Monday 18 September 2023

The War Whoop

Got the book With Burgoyne from Quebec from the library which is a series of letters by Thomas Anburey an officer in Burgoyne's army. This is part of a series of recollections of Mohawk indians.
I am interrupted by the cries of some Indians who are setting up the war whoop, on their bringing in prisoners.
'When they arrive, as they imagine, in hearing of the camp, they set up the war whoop, as many times as they have number of prisoners. It is difficult to describe..... and the best idea I can convey is that it consists in the sound of whoo whoo whoop! which is continued till the breath is almost exhausted, and then broken off with a sudden elevation of voice: some of them modulate it into notes, by placing the hand before the mouth, but both are heard at a great distance.'


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