Upon the walls were
hung numerous specimens both of the dress and of the
equipments of the savages, and mingled with these were
many natural curiosities, the gifts of Indian chiefs to
the commandant at various periods before the war.
Nothing could be more unlike the embellishments of a
modern European boudoir than those of this apartment,
which had, in some degree, been made the sanctum of its
present occupants. Here was to be seen the scaly carcass
of some huge serpent, extending its now harmless length
from the ceiling to the floor--there an alligator, stuffed
after the same fashion; and in various directions the
skins of the beaver, the marten, the otter, and an
infinitude of others of that genus, filled up spaces that
were left unsupplied by the more ingenious specimens of
Indian art. Head-dresses tastefully wrought in the shape
of the crowning bays of the ancients, and composed of
the gorgeous feathers of the most splendid of the forest
birds--bows and quivers handsomely, and even elegantly
ornamented with that most tasteful of Indian decorations,
the stained quill of the porcupine; war clubs of massive
iron wood, their handles covered with stained horsehair
and feathers curiously mingled together--machecotis,
hunting coats, mocassins, and leggings, all worked in
porcupine quill, and fancifully arranged,--these, with
many others, had been called into requisition to bedeck
and relieve the otherwise rude and naked walls of the
apartment.
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