Note 41 — Chapter III

The Indians of the North-West coast and the wooded region protected by the great rivers always take heads as trophies. The heads are subsequently fixed on poles in front of their cedar-board lodges. The prairie Indians and the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains generally take, and always took, scalps alone, owing, perhaps, to the difficulty of carrying heads. This is no obstacle to fighting men travelling in canoes, on the bows of which they are often fastened while the warriors are returning from hostile expeditions.