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Incas, were bold adventurers, impelled for the most part by an absorbing avarice and unfitted by habit, as incapable, from education and circumstances, of transmitting to us correct Traditions of the Algonquins. 11 or satisfactor}'^ information respecting the nations with which they were acquainted. The ecclesiastics who followed in their train, from whom more might have been expected, actuated by a fierce bigotry, and eager only to elevate the symbol ot their intolerance over the emblems of a rival pviesthood, misrepresented the religious conceptions of the Indians, and exaggerated the bloody observances of the aboriginal ritual, as an apology, if not a justification, for their own barl)arism and cruelty. They threw down the high altars of Aztec superstition, and consecrated to their own mummeries the solar symbols of the Peruvian temples. They burned the pictured historical and mythological records of the ancient empire in the public square of Mexico ; defaced the sculp; ires on her monuments, and crushed in pieces the statvies of her gods. Yet the next day, with an easy transition, they proclaimed the great impersonation of the female, or productive principle of nature, who in the Mexican, as in every other system of mythology, was the consort of the Sun, to be no other than the Eve of the Mosaic record, or the Mother of Christ ; they even tracked the vagrant St. Thomas in the person of the benign Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican counterpart of the Hindoo Buddha and the Egyptian Osiris ! All these circumstances have contributed to throw doubt and uncertainty over the Spanish accounts of the aboriginal nations. Nor were the circumstances attending European adventure and settlements, in other parts of the continent, much more favorable to the preservation of impartial and reliable records. The Puritan of the north and the gold-hunter of Yirj(,iniaand Carolina, looked with little interest and less complacency upon the " wilde salvages" with which they were surrounded, and of whom Cotton Mather wrote, that " Although we know not when nor lioiv they first be- came inhabitants of this mighty continent, yet we may guess the devil decoyed these miserable salvages hither, in hopes that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would never come to destroy his absolute empire over them." The Jesuits and other enthusiasts, the propagandists of the Catholic faith among the northern tribes, were more observant and correct, but their accounts are very meagre in matters of the 12 The Indian Mi»cellant. most consequeuce, in roseai'dii-'s concerning the history and re- ligion of the aborigines. All treated the religious conceptions and practices and transmitted traditions oi the Indians with little res'ard. Indeed it has been only durinu" the last century, since European communication with the primitive nations of Southern Asia, and a more intimate acquaintance with orieuial literature, have given a new direction to researches into the hisiory of mind and man, that the true value ot the religious notions ai;d the re- corded or transmitted traditions of various nations, in determin- ins: their orisrins and connections, and illustrating their remote history, has been ascertained. And even now there are few who have a just estimation of their importance in these respects. It may however be claimed, in the language of an erudite American, that " of all researches which most effectually aid us to discover the origin of a nation or people, whose history is either unknown, or deeply involved in the obscurity of ancient times, none are perhaps attended with such important results, as the analysis of their theological dogmas, and their religious practices. To such matters mankind adheres with the greatest tenacity, and though both modified and corrupted in the revolutions of ages, they still preserve features of their original construction when language, arts, sciences and political establishments no longer retain distinct lineaments of their ancient constitutions." The traveler Clarke, maintainiua^ the same position, observes, " that by a proper attention to the vestiges of ancient supersti- tion, we are sometimes enabled to refer a whole people to their original ancestors, with as much if not more certainty, than by observations made upon their languages, because the superstition is engrafted upon the stock, but the language is liable to change." However important is the study of military, civil and political history, the science is incomplete without mythological history, and he is little imbued with the spirit of philosophy, who can perceive in the fables of antiquity nothing but the extravagt "■^ of a fervid imaginati :>n.' It is under this view, in the absence v,i ' "The existence of sirailnr religious ideas in remote rcglonB, inliabitert by different races, is an tntercstln|r subject of study ; fiirnishing as it does, one of the most important Units in the great chain of commuuicatiou which binds together the distant famllloB of nattons."— PretcoWt M«xico. Traditions of the Algonquins. 10 such information derivable from early writers, as may form the basis of our inquiries into the history of the American race, its origin, and the rank whiCh it is entitled to hold in the scale of human develo[)ment, that the religious conceptions and opserv- ances, and authentic traditions of the aboriginal nations, become invested with new interest and importance. And although the opportunities for collecting them, at this day, are limited, and much care and discrimination is re(|uisite to separate that which is original from what is derivable, still they perhaps afford the safest and surest means of arriving at the results desired. I^ot that I would be understood as undervaluing physical or philo- logical researches, in their bearings upon these questions ; for if the human mind can ever flatter itself with having discovered the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of different kinds, unite in producing the same result. Impressed with these views, I have, in pursuing investigations in another but cognate department of research, taken considera- ble pains to collect from all available sources, such information as seemed authentic, relating not only to the religious ceremonies and conceptions, but also to the mythological and historical tra- ditions of the aborigines of all parts of the continent. An analysis and comparison of these have led to some most extraordinary results, which it would be impossible, in the narrow scope of this paper, to indicate with necessary fullness. It may be said gener- ally, that they exhibit not only a wonderful uniformity and concurrence in their elements and more important particulars, but also an absolute identity, in many essential respects, with those which existed among the primitive nations of the old world, far back in the monumental and traditional periods. Among the various original manuscripts which, in the course of these investigations, fell into my possession, I rec^eived through the hands of the executors of the lamented Nicollet, a series by the late Prof C. S. Ilafinesque — well known as a man of science and of an inquiring mind, but whose energies were not sufiiciently concentrated to leave a decided impression in any department of research. A man of unparalleled industry, an earnest and in- defatigable collector of facts, he was deficient in that scope of m 14 The Indian Miscellany. TSLxud joined to severe critical powers, indispensable to correct generalization. "While, tliorefore, it is usually safe to reject his conclusions, we may receive his facts, making proper allowances for the haste with which they M^ere got together. Among these manuscripts (" rudis indigestaque moles''), was one entitled the Walum Olum, (literally, -painted sticks), or painted and engraved traditions of the Lenni-Lenape, comprising five divi- sions, the first two embodying the traditions referring to the creation and a general fiood, and the rest comprising a record ot various migrations, with a list of ninety-seven chiefs, in the order of their succession, coming down to the period of the discovery. This manuscript also embraces one hundred and eighty-four com- pound mnemonic symbols, each accompanied by a sentence or verse in the original language, of which a literal translation is given in English, The only explanation which we have concerning it, is contained in a foot note, in the hand of Ttafinesque, in which he states that the manuscript and wooden originals were obtained in Indiana in 1822, and that they were for a long time inexplicable, "until with a deep study of the Delaware, and the aid of Zeis- berger's manuscript dictionary in the library of the Philosophical Societ}', a translation was effected." This translation, it may here be remarked, so far as I have been able to test it, is a faithful one, and there is slight doubt that the original is what it professes to be, a genuine Indian record. The evidence that it is so, is how- ever rather internal and collateral than direct.^ The traditions which it embodies cohicide, in most important respects, with those whiv^h are known to have existed, and which still exist, in forma more or less modified, among the various Algonquin tribes, and the mode in which they are recorded is precisely that which was adopted by the Indians of this stock, in recording events, com- municating intelligence, etc., and which has not inaptly been denominated pieture-ioriting. The scope of this system of picture-writing, and the extent to > Since the above wns written, a copj' of Rnflncgque's American Nations, published in 1836, has fallen nnder my notice. It is a sinjjular jiirablo of (acts and faiicici*, and it is perhaps unfortunate for the manuscript, Bpoken of in the text, that It falls in such a connection. The only additional information we have respecting it, i* that ii was " obtained by the late Dr. Ward of Indiana, of the remuaiit of the Dclawares ou the White river." Traditions of the Algonquins. 15 which it was applied, have not been generally understood nor fully recognized. Without, however, going into an analysis of the system, its principles and elements — an inquiry of much interest — it may be claimed, upon an array of evidence which will admit of no dispute, that under it the Indians were not only able to communicate events and transmit intelligence, but also to record chants and songs, often containing abstract ideas — allusions to the origin of things, the power of nature, and to the elements of their religion. " The Indians," says Heckewelder, " have no alphabet, ncr any mode of representing words to the eye, yet they have certain hieroglyphics, by which they describe facts in so plain a manner, that those who are conversant with their marks, can understand them with the greatest ease — as easily, indeed, as they can understand a piece of writing."^ This writer also asserts that the simple principles of the system are so well recognized, and of so general application, that the members of different tribes could interpret with the greatest facility the drawings of other and remote tribes. Loakiel has recorded his testimony to the same effect. He says : " The Delawares use hieroglyphics on wood, trees and stones, to give caution, for com- munication, to commemorate events and preserve records. Every Indian understands their meaning, etc." ^ Mr. Schoolcraft also observes of the Ojibwas, that " every path has its blazed and figurated tree, conveying intelligence to all that pass, for all can understand these signs, which," he adds, " are taught to the young as carefully as our alphabet." Testimony might bo accunmlated upon this point, to an indefinite extent, were it necessary to our present purpose. Most of the signs used in this system are representations of things ; some however wore derivative, others symbolical, and still others entirely arbitrary. They however were not capable of doing more than to suggest classes of ideas, which would not be expressed in precisely the same words by different individuals. They were taught in connection with certain forms of expression, by which means they are made essentially mnemonic — a simple > Hist. Acct. of the Ind*v\ ^^ationt, p. 118. * Hist. United Brethren in AmeHoa, p. 86. id The Indian Miscellany. or compound sign, thus serving to recall to mind an entire sen- tence or a series of them. A single tigure, vith its adjuncts, would stand for the verse of a song, or for a circumstance which it would require several sentences to explain. Thus the famous Meta'' soncj of the Chippewayt , presented by Mr. Catlin, although embracing hut about thirty signs, occupied, in the slow, monotonous chant of the Indians, with their numerous repetitions, nearly an hour in its delivery. James observes, re- specting the recorded Indian songs — " They are usually carved on a flat piece of wood, and the figures suggest to the minds of those who have learned the songs, the ideas and the order of their succession. The words are not variable, but must be taught; otherwipe, though from an inspection of the tigure the idea might be comprehended, no one would know what to sing." Most of the Indian lore being in the hands of the priests or medicine-men, the teaching of these songs was almost entirely monopolized by them. They taught them only to such as had distinguished them- selves in war and the chase, and then only upon the payment of large prices. Tanner states that he was occupied more than a year in learning the great song for " medicine hunting," and then obtained his knowledge only at the expense of many beaver skins. After the introduction of Christianity, among some of the "Western tribes, prayers were inscribed on pieces of wood, in mnemonic symbols, in the making and teaching of which to their followers, some of the Christian chiefs obtained a profitable monopoly. Admitting then, as we must do upon this evidence, that the Algonquins had the means of imperfectly recording their tradi- tions, songs, etc., we can readily understand how these might be taught by father to son, and perpetuated in great purity through a succession of priests — the sages of the aboriginal races. The fact that they were recorded, even in the rude way here indicated, would give them a degree of fixedness, and entitle them to a consideration which they would not possess if handed down in a simple oral form.^ • " Were it not," 8:iy« Dr. Barton, in his paper on the Origin qf the American Nations, published in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society — ''' Were it not for the traditions of many of the American nations, we might for ever remain in doubt concerning their real origin. These tradi- tions are entitled to much consideration ; for, notwithstanding the rude condition of most of the Traditions of the Algonquins. 17 The manuscript under consideration seems to be a series of In- dian traditional songs, in the original mnemonic signs, with the words attached to them, written out from the recitations of the In- dians, by some person conversant with the Indian tongue, precisely as we find some of the songs recorded by James, in his Appendix to Tanner's Narrative. As already observed, it has strong inter- nal evidence of being what it purports to be — evidence suffi- ciently strong, in my estimation, to settle its authenticity. I may however add, that, with a view of leaving no means unemployed to ascertain its true value, I submitted it, without explanation, to an educated Indian chief (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bovvh), George Copway, \vrho unhesitatingly pronounced it authentic, in respect not only to the original signs and accompanying explanations in the Delaware dialect, but also in the general ideas and conceptions which it embodies. He also bore testimony to the fidelity of the translation. In submitting, therefore, the following paraphrase of these singular records, I feel I am not obtruding the coinage of a curious idler, nor an apocryphal record, but presenting matter deserving of attention, and of important bearing upon many interesting questions connected with the history of our aboriginal nations. It will be readily understood that I have, in numerous Instnnces, been compelled to adopt forms of expression, not common to the Indian languages ; so far as practicable, however, the words have been literally rendered, and the Indian form of expression pre- served ; and I feel some confidence in saying that no violence has been done to the original in the paraphrase. For the sake of convenience, I have divided the manuscript into two parts ; the first embracing the traditions referring to the crea- tion, etc., and the second those which may be regarded as historical. It will be observed that there are various interruptions or pauses in the narrative, which indicate the individual traditions. In illustration of the manner in which the manuscript is written, the first two songs or chants are presented as they appear in the original. We have first, the original sign ; second, the suggested verse or sentence in the Delaware dialect j and third, a literal translation of the same in English. tribes, they are often perpetuated in great parity, as I have disco. o^ed by much attention to their Uitory." 8 18 The Indian Miscellany. j^^ SOJffO I.- THE ORE/TION. 1. Say GAvitalli wemiguraa wokgetaki.' At first there all sea-water above land 2. Hackung-kwolik jwaiiaku >yakyutali Above much water foggy (was) and (or also) there Kitanitowitessop.' Creator ho was. 8.' Sayewis* hallemiwis" nolemiwi Kitanitowit- First-being, Eternal-being, invisible Creator essop. he was. 4. Sohalawak kwelik hakik owak He causes them much water much land much air (or awasagamak. clouds) much heaven. 5. Sohalawak gishuk nipanum alankvvak. He causes them the Sun the moon the stars. ^^_ v-^^ 6. Wcini-sohalawak yulik yuch-aan. All he causes these well to move. 7. Wicli-owagau kshakan moshakwat With action (or rapidly) it blows (w'nd) it clears up kwelik kshipelep. great waters it ran oflf. 8. Opeleken maui-menak delsin-epit. It looks bright made islands is there at. 9. Lappinup Kitanitowit manito manitoak. /\^/^ Again when Creator he made spirits or makers. » The terminal akl is a contraction oihakkl, land, and frequently denotes p/ace simply. " Written Qatanitowit by Heckewelder, p. 422. ' Figure 3 is a representation of the sun, which was the Algonquin symbol of the Great Spirit. *The termination wits or iss makes according to Mr. Schoolcraft, whatever precedes it personal {AlgicRe8.,\Q\A, p. 201). The better translation would therefore be, " The First," "The Eternal," &c. ^AUowini, more, and wiUik, good, enter into most designations of the Supreme.— Heck., p. 428. I IHi Traditions op the Algonquins. 19 t^'^ 10. Owiniwak Augolatawiwak chichankwak First beings also and Angels Souls also wemiwak. and all. 11. Wtenk-manito 'jinwis* lennowak mukom. After he made beings men and grandfather. Ml t 12. Milap netami-gaho owini-gaho. He gave thorn the first mother first-being's- mother. X «^ ^ ^ 13. Namesik-milap tulpewik awesik cholensak. Fishes he gave him turtles beasts birds. 14. Makimani-shak sohalawak makowini Bad Spirit but he causes them bad beings n'akowak amangamek. black snakes monsters (or large reptiles). 15. Sohalawak uchewak sohalawak pungusak. He causes them flies he causes them gnats. 16. N'itisak wemi-owini w'delsinewuap. Friends all beings were then. ' In the Chlppeway, accoidluf *o McKenzie and Long, ninnee or in' ' menns man. Mr. School- craft states that ini/!«« iaibe diminutive form of the word, eignifyiue litue-men, as PuckwudJ-inin«e, "vanishlug little men,'" the lairy-men of Algonquin story. The cognate term of the text seems to have a clightly different meaning : it is translated beings, and is written nijini or 'jinl, beings ; owini, first beings, mako-wini, evil beings, etc. In the Delaware dialect lenno or knna meant man, and is 80 translated in the test. The true desiguatioa ol' the Delaware* was •' Lennl-Lenape," which Is usu- ally understood to mean " Original" or " True men." It Is not impossible that It is compounded of "n{jini,"' beings, and lenno, men ; literally, men-beings. This compound may havo been suggestive of something superior to men in general or collectively. 20 The Indian Miscellany. 17. Kiwie, wunand wishi-inanitoak esBopak. Tliou being good God good spirits were there. 18. Nijini nctnmi lennowak nigoha netami The beings the first men mothers first okwevvi imntinowak. wives little spirits (fairies). 19. Gattamin netami mitzi nijiti Fjit fruits the first food the beings nautili^. little spirits. 20. Wemi wingi-namenep wemi-ksin elan- All willingly pleased all easy think- damop vvullatemanuwi. ing happy. 21. Shukand eli-kimi mekenikink wakon But then while secretly on earth snake-god^ powako init'ako. priest-snake worship snake. 22. Mattalugas pallalugas maktatin owagan Wickedness crime unhappiness actions, payat-cliikutali. coming there then. ^ "^sX..^ . 23. Waktapan-payat wihillan mboagan. J^r~ Bad weather coming distempers death. 24. Wonwemi wiwunch-kamik atak-kitahikan This all very long aforetime beyond great waters nctami-epit. first land at. * ' The Buake among the Algonqnlns was symbolical of evil o- mftli^naiit force. C i If ii : Traditions of the Algonquins. 21 PARAPUHASE OF THE ABOVE aONO. 1. At the first there were great waters above all the land, 2. And above tho waters were thick clouds, and there was God the Creator : 3. The first being, eternal, omnipotent, invisible, was God the Creator. 4. He created vast waters, great lands, and nnich air and heaven ; 5. lie created tho sun, the moon and the stars ; 6. He caused them all to move well. 7. By his power he made the winds to blow, purifying, and the deep waters to run off : 8. All was made bright and tho islands were brought into being. 9. Then again God the Creator made the great Spirits, 10. He made also the first beings, angels and souls : 11. Then made he a man being, the father of men ; 12. He gave him the first mother, trhe mother of the early bom, 13. Fishes gave he him, turtles, beasts and birds. 14. But the Evil Spirit created evil beings, snakes and monsters : 16. He created vermin and annoying insects. 16. Then were all beings friends : 17. There being a good god, all spirits were good — 18. The beings, the first men, mothers, wives, little spirits also. 19. Fat fnxits were the food of the beings and the little spirits : 20. All were then happy, easy in mind and pleased. 21. But then came secretly on earth the snake-(evil) god, the snake- priest and snake-worship : 22. Came wickedness, came unhappiness. 23. Came then bad weather, disease and death. 24. This was all very long ago, at our early home. The grand idea of a Supreme Unity, a Great, Good, Infinite and Eternal Creator, so clearly indicated in the foregoing song, may be regarded by many as the offspring of European inter- course, or as a comparatively late engraftment upon Algonquin tradition. Without denying that the teachings of the early mis- 22 The Indian Miscellany. Bionarica had the oftbct of (inhiric'nit!: this conception, and of givin|( it a more definite form, it may at the Hame tini'" be unhesitatingly claimed that the idea was an original one with the Indian mind. The testimony of ine earliest travelers and of the earliest mis- sionaries themselves, furnishes xm abundant evidence of the fact. " Notliing," says Clmrlevoix, " is more certain than that the In- dians of this continent have an idea of a Supreme Being, the First Spirit, the Creator and Governor of the world.'" And Los- kiel,not less ' licit in his testimony, observes, " The prevailing opinion of all t...- :• nations is, that there is one God, a great and good Spirit, who ureated the heavens and the arth ; wo is Almighty ; who causes the fruits to grow, grants sunshine and provides his children with food."* Says Schoolcraft, " Thev believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, who created material matter, the earth and heavens, men and animals, and filled space with subordinate spirits, having something of his own nature, to whom he gave part of his power." From this great and good being, it was believed, no evil could come ; he was invested with the attribute of universal beneficence, and was symbolized by the sun. He was usually denominated Kitchi-Manitou or Gitchy- Monedo, literally. Great, Good Spirit. Various other names were employed to designate him under his various aspects, as Wdske- dnd, Maker ; Wdosemif/oi/an, Universal Father. Subordinate to this Supreme, Good Being, was an Evil Spirit, MitcM-Manitou, or Mvdje-Monedo (Great Bad Spirit), who, ac- cording to Mr. Schoolcraft, was a subsequent creation, and not coexistent with the Kitchi-Manitou. This seems implied in the song, where he is first spoken of after the creation of men and beings. Great power was ascribed to hjm, and he was regarded as the cause and originator of all the evils which befall mankind. Accordingly his favor was desired, and his anger sought to b Canada, vol. li, p. 141. ' United Brethrenin America, p. 84. • Carver' s.TraveU, p. 381. Ill' Traditions of the Aixjonquins. 28 and other annoying ineects, an article of belief not exclupively Indian. While the symbol of the Good Spirit was the 6' " At present," gays Loskiel, " the DelnwarcBcall the whole conntry as far as the entrance of the river Wabash into the Ohio, AlHgewi-netigk, that is, aland Into which they came from distant parts." — nut. United Brethren, p. 127. Traditions of the Algonquins. 35 61. Epallalichund vi&» chief, and fought tho Mahong^oi, but failed. 62. Jjauffoinuwi wuh cliit'f, and (ho Mahontjiri treniblud. 63. W(Uu/owcinl was chief, yonder between, (?) 54. The Otiiliwi and Waniotowi were his eneniies. 65. Wapachikis (White-crab) was chief, and a friend of the Shore people. 66. Nenachiput was chief towards the sea. 67. Now from north and soutli came the W<>paut became free from Dolojo. We went to Wapahani (White river) to be further from them ; but they followed us everywhere, and we niiide war on them, till they sent Makhiakho (Black- Hnake, ( ienerul Wayne), who made strong war. 10. We next made peace and settled limits, and our chief was Hacking- poiiskan (Ilard-walker), who was good and peaceful. He would not join our brothers, the Shmoanis and Ottaicas, nor Dolojo in the next war. 1 7. Yet after the last peace, the Kichikani- Yankwis came in swarms all around us, and they desired also our lands of Wapahani. It was uselcHs to resist, because they were getting stronger and stronger by joining fires. 18. Kithtilkand and Lapanibit were the chiefs of our two tr.'bes when we resolved to exchange our lands, and return at last beyond the Masispek, near to our old country. 19. We shall be near our foes the Wakon (Osages), but they arj not worse than the Yankwiaakon (English snakes) who want to possess the whole Big-island. 20. Shall we be free and happy, then, at the new Wapahani? We want rest, and peace, and wisdom. So terminate these singular records. It is unfortunate that they lack that kind of authentication, which depends upon a full and explicit account of the circumstances under which they were found, transcribed and translated. Rafinesque was not particular in these matters, and his carelessness and often extravagant assumptions, have rendered his name of little weight in matters of research. Still, upon neither of these grounds may we reject these records. As already observed, they have the internal evi- dence of genuineness, and are well supported by collateral cir- cumstances. Some of these circumstances were presented at the outset, and need not be recapitulated. Rafinesque himself has anticipated, and thus disposes of one objection, not among the least formidable : " That so many generations and names can be remembered, may appear doubtful to some ; but when sym- 38 The Indian Misckllany. bolical signs and paintings are accompanied with songs, and carefully taught from generation to generation, their retention and perpetuation is not so remarkable." To this may with pro- priety be added the subjoined observations of Loskiel : " The Delawares delight in describing their genealogies, and are so well versed in them, that they mark every branch of the family with the greatest precision. They also add the character of their forefathers : such an one was a wise and intelligent counsellor ; a renowned ■warrior, or a rich man, etc. But though they are indifferent about the history of former times, and ignorant of the art of reading and writing, yet their ancestors were well aware that they stood in need of something to enable them to convoy their ideas to a distant nation, or preserve the memory of re- markable events. To this end they invented something like hierogylphics, and also strings and belts of wampum, etc."* I have alluded to the general identity of the mythological tra- ditions here recorded, with those which are known to have been, and which are still current among the nations of the Algonquin stock. The same may be observed of the traditions which are of a historical character, and particularly that which relates to the contest with the people denominated the Tallrgwi. The name of this people is still perpetuated in the w^ord Alleghany, the ori- ginal significance of which is more apparent, when it is written in an unabbreviated form, Tallegwl-henno, or Tallcgwi-hamm liter- ally river of the Tallegwi. It was applied to the Ohio (the present name is Iroquois, and literally rendered by the French La Belle Mivihe), and is still retained as the designation of its northern or principal tributary. The traditionary contest between the Lenape and the Tallegwi is given by Hecke welder, and is adduced in further illustration of the general concurrence above mentioned. The details vary in some points, but I am inclined to give the first position to the tradition as presented in the Walwnolum ; it being altogether the most simple and consistent. It must be observed, that Mr. Heckewelder's diffuse account is much condensed in the following quotations, and that part which refers to the wars with the Cherokees, etc., is entirely omitted : » United Brethren in America, p. 94. l\ Traditions of the Algonquins. 39 " The Lenni Lenape (according to the traditions handed down to them from their anccstorH) resided many Imndred years ago, in a very dis- tant country, in the western part of the American conthient. P"'or some reason, which I do not find accounted for, tliey determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a body. After a very long journey, and many nights' encampment ('night's encamp- ment' is a halt of a year in a place), they at length arrived on the Namaesi-sipu,^ where they fell in with the Mengwi (Iroquois), who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river higher up. Their object Avas the same with that of the Delawai-es ; they Avere proceeding to the eastward, until they should iind a country that pleased them. , The spies which the Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitering, had long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi Avas inhabited by a very power- ful nation, Avho had many large towns built on the great rivers flowing through the land. These i)eople (as I Avas told) called themselves Tallegwi or Talligewi. Col. John Gibson, however, a gentleman who has a thorough knoAvledge of the Indians, and speaks several of their languages, is often of opinion that the^ Avere called AlUgewi." * * " Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been remarkably tall and stout, and there are traditions that there Avere giants among them. It is related, that they had built to themselves regular fortifications or entrenchments, from whence they would sally out, but Avere generally repulsed. * * * When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a message to the Alligetoi, to request permission to settle themselves in their neigh- borhood. This Avas refused them ; but they obtained leave to pass through the country, and seek a settlement further to the eastward. They accordingly commenced passing the Mississippi, when the Alligewi discovering their great numbers became alarmed, and made a furious attack upon those who had crossed. Fired at their treachery, the Lenape consulted on what Av^as to be done ; whether to retreat, or try their strength against their oppressors. While this was going on the Mengwi, who had contented themselves Avith looking on from a distance, offered to join the Lenape, upon condition that they should be entitled to a share of the country, in case the combination was successful. 'This (liirerB from the foroRoint; record, anil is uiulonlifcMlly iiicorroct. It is difficult to derive MisBlesippi from namaeH-sijni, whicli ik ninde up of namaesi, a fish, and sipu, river. The etymol- ogy is clearly mesmi, meitgi, or viicfii, 8ij;nifying great, or as Mr. Qallatin saggests, the whoU and Hpu, river. 40 The Indian Miscellany. I IM 11 ^ I Their prvposal was accepted, and the confederates were able, after many severe conflicts, to drive the Alligcwi down tlie Mississippi river. The conquerors divided the country between themselves ; the Mengwi selecting the lands in the vicinity of the great lakes, and on their tributary streams, while the Lcnape took possession of the country below them. For a long period of "tiray, some say many hundreds of years, the two nations lived peaceably, and increased their numbers with great rapidity. Ultimately some of the most adventurous among them crossed the mountains towards the rising sun, and falling on streams running to the eastward, followed them to the great Bay river (Susquehanna), and thence to the bay (Chesapeake) itself. As they pursued their travels, partly by land and partly by water, sometimes near and sometimes on the great-salt-water lake (as they call the sea), they discovered the great river which we call the Delaware ; and still further to the eastward, the Sheijichhl country, now called New Jersey. Afterwards they reached the stream now called the Hudson. The reports of the adventurers caused large bodies to follow them, who settled upon the four great rivers, the Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna and Potomac, making the Delaware, which they call Lenapewihittuck (the river of the Lenape) the centre of their possessions. " They add that a portion of their people remained beyond the Mis- sissippi, and still another portion tarried between the Mississippi and the mountains. The largest portion, they supposed, settled on the Atlantic. The latter were divided into three tribes, two of which were distinguished as Undmis, or Turtle, and IVnalaehtffo, or Turkey. These chose the lands lying nearest the coast. Their settlements ex- tended from the MohicanittiicJc (river of the Mohicans or Hudson) to beyond the Potomac. * * * The third great tribe, the Mmsi (which we have corrupted into Monsei/s), or tribe of the wolf, lived back of the others, forming a kind of bulwark, and watching the nations of the Mengioi. They were considered the most active and warlike of all the tribes. They extended their settlements from the Minisink, where they had their council-fire, quite to the Hudson on the east, and west- ward beyond the Susquehanna, and northward to the head waters of that stream and the Delaware. * * * From the above three divisions or tribes, comprising together the body of the people called Delawares, sprung many others, who, having for their own convenience chosen dis- tinct spots to settle in, and increasing in numbers, gave themselves names, or received them from others. * * * * Meanwhile trouble ensued with Traditions of the Algonquins. 41 the Mengioi, who occupied the southern shores of the lakes, and re suited in fierce and sanguinary wars. The reverses of the 3fenf/wi in" duced them to confederate, after which time the contests with the Lenape were carried on with vigor until the arrival of the French in Canada." It will be seen that there is a difference between the traditions, as given by Heckewelder, and the Walum-olum in respect to the name of the confederates against the Tallegwi. In the latter the allies are called Talamatan, literally Not-of-thcmselves, and which, in one or two cases, is translated Hurons, with what correctness I am not prepared to say.* Heckewelder calls them Mcngwi, Iro- quois. This must be a mistake, as the Mengiol are subsequently and very clearly alluded to in the Walum-olum, as distinct from the Talamatan. It is remarkable that the traditions of almost all the tribes, on the eastern shore of the continent, refer, with more or less dis- tinctness, to a migration from the westward. " When you ask them," says Lawson, speaking of the Carolina Indians, " whence their fathers came, that first inhabited the country, they will point to the westward and say, ' Where the sun sleeps, our fathers came thence.' " ' Most of the nations speak of the passage of the Mississippi river. The Natchez, who assimilated more nearly to the central American and Peruvian stocks (the Toltecan family), informed Du Pratz thrt they once dwelt at the south-west, " under the sun."^ The Muficogulges or Creeks, according to Bartram's manuscript, assert that they formerly lived beyond the Missis- sippi, and that they relinquished that country in obedience to a dream in which they were directed to go to the country where the sun rises. They claim that they crossed the river in their progress eastward, about the period that DeSoto visited Florida. The Cherokces (a cognate tribe) have a similar tradition. They assert that " a long time ago all the Indians traveled a great distance and came to a great water. Upon arriving there, and ' In Heckewelder we find the HuronB sometimes called DelamatUnos, which is probably but another mode of writing Talamatan. Although speaking a dialect of the Iroquois language, the Hurons seem to have generally maintained friendly relations with the Lenape. * Lawton'a Carolina, p. 170. 'Louitiana, p. 893. 42 TuE Indian Miscellany. immediately before or immediately a^ter crossing, it is not re- membered which, a part went north and another part south. Those who went northwards settled in two towns called Ka-no- wo-gi and Nu-ta-gi; the others at Ka-ga-li-u, or old town, and because they took the lead in the journey were considered the grandfathers of the Indians." ' Roger "Williams informs us that the south-west, or Sdwaniwa^ was constantly referred to by the Indians of New England. " From thence, according to their traditions, they came. There is the court of thei*' great god, Cawtantowit ; there are all their ancestors' souls; there they also go when they die, and from thence came their corn and beans, out of CantimtowW s field." ^ It will thus be seen that the general tenor and some of the more important details of the traditions of the Indians of the Algonquin stock, as they have been presented to us by various authorities, are the same with those of the foregoing remarkable records. These records are peculiar, chiefly as giving ua a greater number of details than we before possessed. Whatever their historical value, they possess the highest interest, as coming to us through the medium of a rude system of representation, which may be taken as the first advance be^'ond a simple oral transmission of ideas, and from which we may trace upwards the progress of human invention to its highest and noblest achieve- ment, the present perfected form of written language. 1 J. H. Payne, manuBcripts. » K4y to the Indian Languages of America, die. A HIDE WITH THE APACHES.' By Herbert C. Dorr. [The following sketch has been prepared from the unpablishcd Narrative of .Tos6 Mendivil, who was a captive of the Apaches, and became by adoption one of the tribe, remaining with them seven years.] The Apaches are in the habit of making, about once a year, a grand visit to the Zuni Indians, for the purpose of trade and talk ; to hear and tell stories ; occasionally, to get wives, or see a sweet- heart secretly. This visit to the Zunis is an event in the Apache calendar — like a journey to some renowned city or great natural wonder — and for it they make much preparation. Their horses are fattened in advance until their coats are glossy and sleek, and they are trained daily, like racers for the racetrack, with the utmost care. Each Indian strives to make the greatest im- pression on his Zuni friends, by the quality of his horse, his ileet- ness and strength, the splendor of his trappings, and the magni- ficence of his rider, as well as by the value and beauty of the presents he carries with him. The trappings of a single horse sometimes have the value of hundreds of dollars. If they can obtain them, by theft or pur- chase, they have the richest Mexican saddles embossed with silver, and sometimes even set with gems, their bridles of the finest wrought leather, resplendent with silver ornaments, and all the adornments which the Mexican, in his luxurious taste, lavishes upon a favorite horse. A half-dozen horses are sometimes killed in the training, before one is found of suflS^cient bottom and fleetness to satisfy the fastidious savage. The horse is shod with rawhide, and many extra pairs of shoes are carried along, lest the hoofs of the favorite should become tender before the home-journey. The Indian himself dresses in the best style that his circumstances will permit. He wears the garments of any nation, or of any class of Mexicans or Americans that he may have recefftly robbed ' Reprinted from The Overland Monthly (San Francisco), for April, 1871. u The Indian Miscellany. I: i Hi! and murdered on the highways of travel. The Mexican garb, with pants open at the sides and garnished with silver bells, pleases him tli*^ best ; but, if all else fail, i^ red or gray shirt taken from a murdered soldier will do, in addition to his national costume of paint and the thchkicah (waistcloth, worn around the loins), which constitutes their only raiment in warm weather. Every body in the encampment manifests the greatest interest in the intended expedition. Nothing else is talked about. They no longer speak of the gcnte (the generic term applied to all civil- ized people, their hereditary enemies) ; no one goes out to see whether there is a distant cloud of dust — the sign of an immi- grant train ; all interest is lost in deer, antelopes, wild turkeys, or bears : they talk of Zunis only — of what presents they shall take, what articles of barter, what presents they probably will get in return, etc. A list of the articles desired is talked over until it is impossible to forget it. An Apache, however, never forgets what his wife, or sister, or sweetheart, and especially his mother, tells him to do. He first remembers and obeys the latter. There is no duty more binding on the Apache warrior, or more willingly performed, than that of pleasing and providing for his mother. The longest life does not release him from the duty of obedience and respect to her. For her all else must give place ; she takes the precedence of all other relations ; her wants are paramount to those of self, or wife, or child. If she commands it, even an enemy is spared for the time, though when she is out of sight vengeance again takes its course. These bloody and re- morseless savages possess singular virtues, in contrast with their extreme cruelties. At length, the long-looked-for morning of departure arrives. The day has hardly dawned before the encampment is all awake, and out of its lodges. Old and young, women and children, are standing around, and all talking. The children are playing all sorts of pranks, to catch the last glance of the departing braves : they run foot-races, play leap-frog, stand on their heads. All is mirth an(f hilarity. All prophesy success and a speedy return. They supply themselves with an abundance of the choicest pro- A Ride with the Apaches. 45 re Is It visions, such as dried meats, wheaten bread, and sweet-cakes made of flour and sugar. The wheat is of their own raising, as they often grow large crops in various places remote from their dwellings ; and it is ground into tiour by their women, in the same mode used by the Mexicans. They carry, on this journey, no water or beverage, but only gourd-cups to drink from ; also, no one accon)panie8 them a part of the way and then comes back, as in their hunting and marauding expeditions. They take extra horses for presents to their ZuSi friends, and others for barter. They also take with them presents and goods for exchange : Mexican saddles and bridles, finely wrought lomillos (lomillo, is the crouper-cloth or bear-skin attached to the saddle behind), lariatas of excellent make, and splendid serapes Saltilleros — a kind of blanket, in which are interwoven gold and silver threads, so fine and soft that one can be put in the coat-pocket. These serapes are made in the city of Saltillo, Mexico, and bought or stolen by the Apaches in their forays. They also take with them fine swords and curiously wrought javelins and daggers, which have been stolen from Mexico, or stripped from travelers. In short, all curious or remarkable things, for which they have no use themselves, they carry to their sesthetic friends, the Zunis, who have boundless tastes for articles of luxury and ornamentation. Finally, having applied the last touches of paint to their faces, until they are so masked that their friends will hardly recognize them, the journey begins ; first at a gallop, amid shouts and cheers, and, after they are out of sight, slackening to a slow pace, and making the pilgrimage in an easy, leisurely manner, resting at every spot where there is good grass for their horses. The distance from the place occupied by the Apaches to the Zuni villages is about three hundred miles, over a country di- versified with mountains, low hills, broad valleys, and some desert spots. One comes suddenly upon an island of trees, in the midst of a plain or valley verdant with waving grass. Again, a narrow belt of cotton-wood and willows, winding along for miles, indicates the place of a, water-course, which, however, contains running water only during the rainy months of the year. A tuft of green 46 The Indian Miscellany. i \ i 1 i i li: willows and rusliea, intermingled with flowering grasses, marks the site of a spring low down on the mountain side. Around these verdant places the painted savages gather, and while one runs to the nearest eminence to keep a lookout against a surpi'ise from some lurking foe, the others tether their horses '' . the grass, and then throw themselves on the ground for a moment's sleep. The more restless young men practice shooting arrows at small game, or engage in a game of cards with a well-worn pack, saved from the sack of an immigrant's baggage, or purchased in the town of Chihuahua. In this manner the five or six days' journey is passed. Wlien within a few miles of the Zuni villages, a final halt is made. The horses are fed and rubbed ; the gallants paint themselves anew ; packs are seen to ; presents are talked over and arranged in the most attractive manner. Now comes the full-dress charge of this barbaric cavalcade. Their long, plaited hair streaming in the wind as they gallop in full career toward th^. entrance to the Zufii towns ; their plumes and gay-colored serapes, jingling spurs, and the gaudy trappings of their glistening steeds, with the crowds of Zunis running to meet them, and shouting their welcome after an absence of a year ; the lofty mountains of the Sierra Madre in the near distance ; the quaint, immemorial architecture of the Zuni buildings, and their strange occupants — sole remnant of the ancient races who lived in the golden age of centuries past — all unite in making a panorama, which for natur.'l, scenic splendor is rarely surpassed. The Apaches now dismount, and mingle with their hereditary friends — friends with whom, for a thousand years, they have never broken faith ; and who, in their turn, through the ages have been friendly with the Apaches. Their language being the same, difiering only in accent, intonation, and cadence, they un- derstand each other without difiiculty. The Zuni, or Apache, language is very flexible and suave, and may at some time have been the court language of the ancient races. It is often as ex- pressive of fine shades of distinction as even the Greek itself. It preserves — in the adyta of its wonderful radicals — the tradi- tional duality of the human race : its dual, as well as singular and plural, forms of speech. A Ride with the Apaches. 47 re ie Groups of Apaches and Zunis may now be seen in dift'erent places in front of the houses, and in the public places under the trees. Meat is brought, and bread with wild fruits is spread in profusion before the hungry guests. The children gather round to see the painted strangers, and the beautiful horses, with their gaudy trappings. After the eating, which is always in the morn- ing (that being the time the Apaches select for entering the ZuSi city), the packs are opened and presents distributed with grave solemnity to the principal men of the city ; for the Zunis have high and low, rich and poor. They have judges and justices of the peace, as well as a sort of high-court of appeal, in which all questions of equity are settled ; they have also policemen and officers like our constables, to arrest oftenders and bring them before the judges. To these men of influence presents are given, without any detinite expectation of an equivalent. If the Zunis give presents in return, it is well ; if not, the Apaches are equally well satisfied. If the Zufii presents are more or less in value, it is all the same : no questions are asked, no remarks made either to their friends or to each other. Next comes the trading. This is carried on with much spirit, and with mutual concessions. When it is over, both parties are satisfied : they never accuse each other of cheating or attempting to cheat, and there is no manifestation of anger on either side. It is not uncommon for them to decide a question of value by a wager. The Apache and the ZuSi agree that the one who can run and jump a longer distance at a single leap, shall have the price he has asked. In such wagers the Apache is almost always the winner, owing to his greater agility from long training, as well as from the difference in modes of life. It sometimes happens that an Apache becomes stricken with one of the Zufii beauties. In that case, if the woman is unmarried, unengaged, and willing to marry him, the arrangement of details with the Zufii chiefs is not impossible. The Apache names the number of horses, or the amount and kind of other goods, he will give for the damsel ; and, if the patriarchs are willing, she returns with her husband. If it should afterward happen that she is tceated cruelly, or that he neglects her, then by the terms 48 The Indian Miscellany. I i Mi of the contract she is free, and may return unmolested to the home of her ancestors, who receive lier back with tenderness and love. It is, however, very rare that a woman ever leaves her Apache husband. Even Mexican female prisoners, who have become wives and mothers, would not accept of liberty, were it offered to them. Jos^ Mendivil, who narrates these things, says that lie has seen many of thcjn refuse to escape when it was per- fectly easy. lie has known them, while in the neighborhood of Mexican towns, when all the Indians were away hunting, to re- fuse to walk into the towns and ask protection, preferring the life of a savage to the aftection and affluence of the homes of their girlhood. When at length the trading, feasting, and perhaps love-making are ended ; when the sports and story-telling are finished, then the Indians b jgin to prepare for their return to their mountain fastnesses. In an instant, all is haste and enthusiasm. Like children, hurrying and talking of their return, they immediately forget every thing but their families waiting for them hundreds of miles away. Slowly and cautiously they had made the out- ward journey, so as not to weary their horses, in order that they might be fresh and fleet, to excite the admiration of the Zuiiis. But now, even the horses seem to know that they are expected to go like the wind on the return career. The Apaches being mounted, a score or more of young Zunis, on their fleetest horses, escort their friends out of the great gate of their walled town, and also many miles on their homeward way. Not unfrequently horses are exchanged, in token of friendship, in the last moments of parting ; but the generous Zuni will never exchange unless he is quite certain his horse has more speed and bottom than the other, lest his friend should fall behind in that terrible homeward race. This race soon begins in earnest. There is no more quarter for horse or rider ; the three hundred miles must be made in two days and nights. On dash the cavalcade, each far from the other, the wild horses snuffing the clear air of the mountains ; on — on — swifter and swifter, increasing their speed constantly. The ruins of Aztec cities and fields seem to fly past like clouds driven A RiDK WITH THE ApACHEI. 49 by the blast. There are deserts of sand and salt, along the green margin of which these demon-steeds sweep with the clatter and noise of a thouHand charging horHos. The 'ips of tlie Apache are firia-set ; his limbs almost encircle his horse ; he leans forward nearly to his neck ; his hair streams out, like a sheet of darkness, above his painted, swelling shoulders. The eyes of rider and horse are like fire, and their mouth^j dry as ashes ; but no water is allowed to wet their lips until more than a hundred miles have been passed over at this terrible speed. Herds of antelopes see the demon-chase, snuff the air, turn to run, wheel and gaze again, while the whole band of savages have passed like meteors out of sight down some precipitous wall of rocks. In a moment their tossing manes and streaming masses of black braids are seen waving, still at a gallop, as they mount up the opposite cliffs and along the crest of the mountain summit, that seems a dark line drawn against the morning sky. A yoll and a wild shout, and down they go into the depths of the forest, whose dim paths only they and the wild beasts have ever known. Streams are passed like dry land, even while the horse and rider are famishing with thirst : they dare not stop and taste, lest their terrible en- ergy for one moment should diminish. On — on — thunder these weird wanderers, looking not to right nor to left, but ever onward toward the turrets and domes of those distant mountains, in whose shaded vales their swarthy wives and kindred are watching for their return. And now the savages take a few hours of sleep while their horses are grazing ; again they mount, and for a few leagues ride slowly ; then is heard a yell and a scream that echo among the hills, and away they dash in full career. The pebbles and stones fly behind them, the plains sweep round them as the horizon around a flying train, and the mountains echo w' ith their screams. Their horses are spotted with foam, like waves in a storm ; their nostrils are wide and red as blood : if they should halt now, they could never start again. One more hill, and one more plain, and the curling smoke of their lodge-flres will be seen against the distant sky. But what is that thick cloud of dust coming directly toward them ? Higher and higher it rises : now the line of horse- 60 The Indian Miscellany. 5! i| i ;l •fi. 1 i 1 t ii i men can be seen, risings and falling like a far-oif bark on the waves; nearer the coining horsemen speed, but the home-bound Apaches stop not, nor turn to rigiit or left : they ride, as if to the charge, right into the faces of the approaching band. They liad seen and recognized eacli other long ago; their keen vision dis- cerned the riders as friends when first they rose, a faint black line, on the horizon, The^fi, too, are Apaches from the camp, mounted on fresh horses, and come to meet their friends for fifty miles, well knowing their reckless speed, and that their horses will drop dead if not exchanged at the end of the race. All cast themselves from their panting steeds, as if by word of command ; and sooner than it can be told, horses are exchanged, the tired ones released from their loads and driven at speed in advance, while on they go toward the distant smoke in the aisles of the hills. At last appear the well-known paths ; and noAV old men, women, and children are seen grouped among the lodges of the tribe. The braves dash wildly in, and leaping to the ground, stretch themselves upon the sward. Their horses are unladen by willing hands, meat is brought to the famishing men, and water is offered. Then the whole story of the journey is told. They boast their own superiority over the Zunis in all athletic games, in the speed of their horses, and the utility of their women for getting food and cultivating the fields. This pleases their women, and, if no husband has returned with a Zuni wife, all are happy. The presents — of inestimable value to the Indians — are dis- tributed as impartially as possible. Soon may be seen Apache women clad in the shell trinkets and the gaudy sashes of the Zunis. Savages walk proudly folded in the splendidly colored blankets of the friendly dwellers in the walled towns, although but Indians like themselves. Thus a day or two is passed, and then all return to the usual routine of hunting, eating, starving, feasting, stealing, and passing life away in savage indifterence. THE CAPTIVITY OF CHRISTIAN FAST.' 3, all ]gh md ng, IJy Gko. W. Hill, M.l). In the month of Juno, 1780, an exjvsdition composed of Indians and Canadians, destined to invade Kentucky, moved from their places of rendezvous at Detroit, the Sandusky, the Miami and the Wahash. The salient point of the campaign was the falls of the Ohio, or Louisville, then containing only a few cabins, and a station for soldiers to protect the scattered settlements of Ken- tucky against Indian in asion. Col. George Rogers Clark, the hero of Kaskaskia and St. Vin- cent, learning that the British and Indians were about to invade that region, stationed a small body of troops at the village of Louisville, to intercept the passage of war parties on their way to the interior of Kentucky. His command was soon increased by the arrival of one hundred and lifty Pennsylvanians and Vir- ginians under the command of Col. Slaughter. For reasons never fully explained, the British expedition com- manded by Col. Byrd, on reaching the mouth of the Great Miami, changed its destination ; and when the boats conveying his troops, cannon and military stores arrived on the Ohio river, instead of descending its rapid current, turned up the stream, and ascended the Licking to its forks, where he landed his men and munitions of war. It is probable the destination of Col. Byrd was changed in consequence of liis advanced Indian spies and scouts coming in contact v/ith the forces of Col. Slaughter in their descent of the Ohio. Some thirty-live or forty miles above the falls, the boats of Col. Slaughter, which were conveying horses and a few soldiers, became separated from the main body of the expedition in the night. At day-light the advanced boats drove an occasional stake near the shore, and attached written directions thereto, to guide the boats in the rear. The boats thus abandoned, being deprived •Reprinted from the AsMand (0.) Prut, for November 36, 1874. 52 The Indian Miscellany. of proper rations for the soldiers, bad no alternative but to sup- ply themselves with such game as could be obtained from the forest. Perceiving a buffalo heifer leisurely feeding a short distance from shore, the larger boat was shoved to a shoal and the heifer shot. It was hastily, skinned, a fire was built, and the soldiers proceeded to prepare breakfast. While in the act of cooking the flesh of the heifer, the party was attacked by Indians, who were probably drawn to the spot by the sound of the guns. The frightened soldiers, who had neglected to station pickets, fled to the boat which had been stranded on the shoal, just as the smaller boats were making toward tlie shore for breakfast. They were unable to shove the boat to the current, and tlie In- dians rushed down the shore firing into the boat, wounding and killing several of the men and horses. All was consternation. Many of the soldiers endeavored to save themselves by leaping ove.'biuird and attempting to swim to the opposite side of the river ; but on reaching it, were again fired upon. Among those who fled to the opposite shore Avas Christian Fast, a youth of about seventeen years of age, who had volun- teered as a cavalry-man, from what is now Fayette county, Penn- sylvania, then a part of "Westmoreland county. Young Fast was an expert swimmer. As the Indians rushed upon the men, he leaped over the opposite side of the horse-boat, and struck out boldly for the Kentucky shore, which he reached in safety. Just as he was about to rise from the water and ascend the bank, two or three Indians approached him saying : " Come on, brother, we will use you well," at the same time reaching out their hands in token of friendship. Knowing the savage character of the red man, he doubted their pacific intentions ; and speedily turning about, started for the middle of the river. He had scarcely got in motion, when they commenced to fire after him, a ball passing so near his head that it stunned him by its concussion in the water, for a moment, while another ball passed through the fleshy part of his thigh, making a painful wound, notwithstanding which, he succeeded in reaching the centre of the river. The boats having floated some distance below the stranded one from which he had fled, i The Captivity op Christian F\rt. 53 hey hat mt, ed ;ed lie resolved to swim after and overtake a small horse boat which was a few rods in the rear of tlie rest. After a vigorous exertion, aided by the current, and a shower of bullets from shore, he reached the boat just as it surrendered. The Indians boarded it at once ; and the prisoners were taken on shore, and the plunder secured. After the prisoners had been deprived of all means of defense, the savages next proceeded to strip them of such wearing ap- parel as they desired. ^^^ f^ct, the majority of the captives were left almost nude. The military suits with which the soldiers were clothed were deemed a God-send to these children of the forest. The appearance of the captives was most distressing ; nevertheless resistance would have been rewarded with a cruel, lingering death by torture. When the exulting savages had se- cured such plunder as they could carry away, it was put up in bundles, and their new prisoners were compelled to pack it. The whole party proceeded on their way through the forest in the direction of Upper Sandusky. The level lands along the Ohio and the Miami, at that season, abounded in rank, almost impene- trable weeds, briars and nettles. The journey was a severe ordeal. Fast was small, had hair as black as a raven, dark eyes, and a swarthy skin ; was exceedingly agile, and very slim and straight. His appearance pleased the Indians ; and an eld Delaware warrior claimed him as his prisoner. The leader of the band was old Thomas Lyon. On the route to Upper Sandusky, which was principally up the Great Miami until they reached the portage, the poor prisoners endured many hardships and cruelties. Having been deprived of their clothing, the nettles, briars, weeds and undergrowth made fearful havoc wdth their uncovered bodies, so much so, that on one occasion, after they had been some hours in the forest, young Fast put down his head and refused to pro- ceed, telling his Indian master to tomahawk him! The old warrior took pity on him and returned most of his clothing. His wound was becoming quite painful. The old warrior assisted in dressing it until it healed. After the war party had been two or three days in the forest, the Indians built a camp-fire and cleared a spot for a dance. The HI 54 The Indian Miscellany. prisoners were all tied so as to prevent their escape. The savages engaged in the dance with much spirit, singing, hopping, leaping, brandishing their tomahawks and scalping knives, and grimacing in a most frightful manner. Their music was a sort of wail, be- tween a shout and a moan, while a kind of time was beaten on a brass kettle by a warrior. When the Indian dance had ended, the prisoners, one by one, were untied and requested to give an exhibition <)f their agility. With bodies torn and bruised, half famished for want of food, wearied with the journey, and almost nude, they endeavored to comply, knowing that a refusal would incur the hate and severity of their savage masters. When the time came for Fast to dance, he felt it impossible to do so, in consequence of his painful wound ; but fearing to incur the cen- sure and vengeance of the warriors, he said to his comrades : " Boys, I can't dance and run on my feet, but I can run on my hands." So, limping into the ring, when the Indian music began, he proceeded a few steps, and then springing upon his hands, he elevated his feet, and commenced a sort of bear dance, accom- panied by sundry singular maneuvrcs on his hands, turning an occasional somersault, and yelling like an Indian! At first the savar-f a seemed amazed at his performances, but soon began to applaud by the most uproarious laughter and shouts, some of them actually rolling on the ground in their merriment. After he had passed around the ring in this gym- nastic manner, several of the warriors who had been most delighted with his antics, put their hands on the ground and desired him to " do so more." He pointed to his wound and refused, saying, he was "too lan»e." His singular vivacity and good nature cajjtivated the Indians, and from that time on, he was the hero of the party ; and was no longer tied at night. On reaching the Shawnee towns on the Great Miami, the prisoners were compelled to run the gauntlet for the amusement of the old Shawnees, the squaws and youth. Several of the prisoners were severely beaten. A man by the name of Baker, a silversmith by trade, from Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- vania, was beaten almost to death. In his desperation, he ran past the council-house two or three times, being blinded by the The Captivity of Christian Fast. 55 the er. blows and fright, and was about to sink, when a friendly voice directed him to enter the door. He did so and was spared. While this performance was going on, the old warrior who had Fast in charge, shoved him back among the Indians, and he did not have to undergo the punishment of the gauntlet. When the party arrived at Upper Sandusky, the prisoners were again compelled to undergo the ordeal of running the gauntlet. They were all handled very severely ; but none of them were killed. Fast was again excused from the gauntlet by his Indian master. His wound by this time had nearly healed. The surviving prisoners soon recruited from their fatigue and were exchanged at Pittsburg and on the Muskingum. Fast was retained and adopted into an old Delaware family in lieu of a son who had lost his life in a border skirmish. His hair was plucked out in the usual manner, leaving a small scalp-lock about the crown — his white blood was all washed away — his ears and the cartilage of his nose perforated and brooches placed therein. After this he was dressed in Indian costume, his hair reached up and filled with feathers of gaudy colors. Being taken to the council house he was regularly indoctrinated as a son of the tribe. He received the name of Mo-lun-the, and was taken to the cabin or wigwam of his new parents. Fast resided on the banks of the Tym tchtee about two years. He was treated very kindly by his Indian mother. He had an Indian brother by the name of Ke-ioas-sa, to whom he became much attached. They often hunted coon and other game. On one occasion, Kewassa invited Fast to accompany him to hunt bear. After traveling some distance in the forest, they discovered evidences of the ascent of a bear up a large elm, which was hollow near the top. After trying sometime in vain to rouse the bear from its retreat, it was proposed that a tree, which stood at a proper distance from the elm, should be felled in such a manner as to lean against the elm to enable Fast to climb to the hole and smoke Bruin out with punk and rotten wood. The tree was cut, and fell against the elm. Fast, being expert in climbing, ascended it to the proposed point, and commenced operations with a view of smoking Bruin into a surrender. Kewassa placed 56 The Indian Miscellany. I himself in a position, gun in hand, where ho could welcome the bear on its appearance to a smell of powder. Fast lighted the dry tinder and threw it into the hole ; but Bruin failed to make his appearance ! While engaged in this fruitless enterprise, a strong breeze struck the leaning tree and it fell to the ground ! Here was a dilemma. Fast was some forty feet from the ground on a large elm ! He could not grasp his arms about it, so as to safely descend. Kewassa was alarmed for his safety. There could be no help ; for the only tree in the vicinity had been cut. After gazing at Fast for some time, without being able to tfer assistance, he hastened to the camp several miles away, expecting that his new brother would be dashed to pieces. Taking in the situation at a glance, Fast concluded that he only hazarded his life by remaining AA'here he was ; and the attempt to descend could result in nothing more than death, but might terminate in safety. Summoning all his strength, he grasped the rough bark with his hands, at the same time making good use of his feet and legs, and commenced the descent, moving cautiously until he came within fifteen or eighteen feet of the ground, when his strength so far failed him, that he was compelled to relax his grip and slid down mangling his hands, the inside of his arms and legs badly. On reaching the ground, he was considerably stunned, but soon revived and started for the camp, where he arrived amidst the grief of his Indian mother and brother, who had given him up as lost. On one occasion, after he had been a captive over a year, when all the warriors were absent from the village, his Indian mother having tlso left the camp for a short time, he became very me- lancholy. Thoughts of home stole upon him. He left the wig- wam and proceeded a short distance into the forest, and seating himself upon a log, soon became absorbed in meditation. While thus musing, he was interrupted by a stranger who suddenly appeared and confronted him. Discovering his embarrassment and dejection, the stranger said in the Delaware language : " Ah young man what are you thinking about ? " Fast. " I am alone, and have no company, and feel very lonesome." The Captivity of Christian Fast. 67 len ler le- is- Stranger. " That is not it, you are thinking of home. Be a good boy and yon shall see your home again." 'After some furtlier conversation, he learned that the stranger was none other than that terror of the pioneers, the renegade, Simon Girty ! Fast afterward became well acquainted with Girty, and was the recipient of many favors at his hands. In fact, Girty 's assurance that he would again see his home in 1' imsylvania, greatly revived his drooping spirits and led him to believe that Girty, though often denounced by the pioneers as a villain, a demon in human shape, was not destitute of sympathy and kind- ness, though associating with the fierce red men of the northwest. During the campaign of Colonel William Crawford, which ended so disastrously, Mr. Fast was with the Delawares on the Tymochtee. Capt. Pipe and Wingemund, leading Delaware chiefs, resided, when in their villages, in that region of Ohio. After the rout of Crawford's army, when the colonel was brought back a prisoner. Fast was present and saw him. He was in hear- ing distance when the Delawares tortured the colonel, and could hear his groans. He was so much affected that he left the spot in company with his Indian brother and mother. Fast, in his lifetime, often related incidents connected with the unfortunate expedition of poor Crawford. As they have been repeated by Dr. Knight, Slover and Heckewelder, it is unnecessary to narrate them here. Shortly after the execution of Crawford, Fast was urged to marry a young S(j:uaw, a daughter of an Indian family of some distinction. He was then about nineteen years of age. It was a question of much delicacy, and required a good deal of tact to repel the proposal in such manner as to avoid ofiense. When the subject was again seriously pressed upon his attention, he intimated he was only a boy, and was too young to marry ! The Delawares were greatly amused at his modesty, and his rea- son for refusing. He added, as a further objection, that no man should marry until he had become a good hunter, and could pro- vide meat. Not being the owner of a gun, it would be impossi- ble for him to supply the quantity of game required for food. Moreover, he thought he could not get along without a cow, an ''ill 58 The Indian Miscellany. t! ■ii essential to every person designing to marry. As soon as these could 1)0 procured he would gladly consent. He professed much admiration for the young squaws, and intimated he could easily select a wife from among them, if his terms could he met. It was agreed that his ideas were cprrect, and that he should accom- pany the first expedition to the settlements along the Ohio, and the first gun captured should he his, and on returning he should be permitted to bring back a cow. In August, 1782, there Avas a grand council at Chilicothe, on or near the Great Miami, in which the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Mingoes, Shawnees, Miamies and Pottawatomies par- ticipated. Simon Girty, Elliott and McKee were present and addressed the assembled warriors. The council resolved to raise two armies, one of six hundred men, and the other of three hund- red and fifty, the larger to march into Kentucky, and the smaller into Western Virginia and Pennsylvania. By the last of August, the greater army appeared under the lead of Simon Girty, at Bryant's Station in the territory of Kentucky. The story is narrated in all the histories of Kentucky. The Indian forces destined to operate against the border settle- ments of Virginia and Pennsylvania, delayed their march until a runner brought tidings of success from Kentucky. Some four hundred fierce warriors assembled on the Sandusky, and were armed and equipped by the agents of the British. The warriors were dressed and painted in the most fantastic manner, their hair being gathered in a sort of cue and drawn through a tin tube, was ornamented by colored hawk or eagle quills. With scalping knives, tomahawks and guns, they presented a formidable appear- ance. For many days and nights before the expedition started, their wild orgies echoed through the forests. Speeches, dances and the like, accompanied by threats of extermination against the white race, were common. Fast was painted in true warrior style, and was furnished a tomahawk, scalping knife and bow, and told he might accompany the expedition. Before departing he buried, in a secure place, his fancy brooches and other orna- ments of silver, so that if he ever returned, he could reclaim them. The expedition passed down the old Wyandot trail through The Captivity of Christian Fast. 59 368 the [or iw, \S, la- whut are now Crawford, Ricliland and Ashland counties, Ohio, hy Moliican — Johnstown ; thence, near the ruins of the Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas. Arriving at that point, a dift'erence of opinion arose as to the exact destination of the expedition. After some consultation in council, as the expedition to Kentucky was proving successful, it was decided that the Indian army should proceed to and attack the small fort or hlock house at what is now the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. On the ap- proach of the Indian army, the expedition was discovered hy John Lynn, a noted spy and frontier hunter, who was scouting through the forests and watching the Indian paths west of the Ohio. He hastened to the stockade and gave the alarm. The stockade had no regular garrison, and had to he defeuded exclu- sively by the settlers who sought security within its walls. On the arrival of Lynn, all retired within the stockade, except a family of Zanes ; and when the attack began, there were but about twenty efhcieut men to oppose nearly four hundred savages led on by James Girty ! The Indian army soon crossed the Ohio river and a])proached the stockade waving British colors ! An immediate surrender was demanded. Col, Silas Zane responded by tiring at the flag borne by the savages. The assault commenced by the Indians and was kept up briskly for three days and nights, but each attack was successfully repelled by the little garrison. While the men within were constantly engaged in firing at the cinemy, the women moulded bullets, loaded and handed guns to the men, and by this means every assault was repulsed. The galling tire poured upon the savages exasperated them to madness. In the night they attempted to burn Zane's house, from which they had sulfered most ; but through the vigilance of Sam, a colored man, their intentions were thwarted. On the return of light on the second day, the savages, after some delay, renewed the siege. A wooden cannon loaded with balls captured from a small boat on its way to the falls of the Ohio, was pointed towards the stockade and amid the yells of the infuriated Indians discharged. They expected to see a section of the stockade blown to splinters, and an opening for the 60 The Indian Miscellany. i 1: warriors created. It exploded, and the fragments tiew in every direction. Several of the warriors were wounded and a number killed, and all were appalled at the result. Recovering from their dismay, and being furious from disappointment, they again pressed to the assault with renewed energy. They were as often repelled by the deadly aim of the little garrison, and forced to retire. The achievements of Elizabeth Zane, on this occasion, are matters of history, and too well known to require repetition in this article. The third day the siege was renewed with terrible ferocity ; but every attempt to storm the fort was successfully resisted. In the afternoon, despairing of success, the Indians resolved to change their programme. About one hundred warriors re- mained to annoy the stockade, lay waste the country, and scour the neighboring settlements. The balance of the army crossed the Ohio, and made a feint of returning to Sandusky ; but the next morning recrossed the river above the stockade, and divided into two parties, and hastened towards the settlements about Fort Rice, some forty miles away, in what is now Washington county, Pennsylvania. On the third night of the siege, learning of the departure of a part of the Indian army and presuming the savages were about to invade his old home, Fast resolved, if possible, to eifect his escape. Late in the night, while reposing beside his Indian brother on his blanket, on the ground, the memory of his home and dear friends came fresh to his recollection, and knowing the whole settlement was imperiled by the approach of his savage companions, intent on revenge and blood, he could not sleep. Kawassa, his Indian brother, wearied with the exertions of a three days' seige, slept soundly. Knowing the nature of an In- dian, when profoundly slumbering, Fast attempted to awaken his brother, stating that he was very thirsty and desired him to go with him to the river for water. He refused to rise, telling Mo- lunthe to wait until morning. Permitting his brother to return to his state of stupor for some time, he again made an effort to arouse him, insisting that he could not wait, but must have water. MMieaMBMHHi The Captivity of Christian Fast. 61 The Indian, having full confidence in Fast, told him to go him- self, as no one would harm him. He was but too happy to com- ply. Taking a small copper kettle, he hastened to the river hank and placed the kettle in a position that might imply that he had fallen into the stream, been drowned and floated down the current. Then carefully wending his way through the Indian lines, he proceeded across the hills and valleys in the direction of Fort Rice, on Buffalo creek, some fifteen or twenty miles from his old home. He groped his way among rocks, down declivities and across small streams, sometimes falling headlong down th » em- bankments, and about day-light, became exhausted from fatigue and want of food, and was compelled to seek repose at the base of a steep blufl\, in a thicket of undergrowth ; and while resting there, could distinctly hear the passing warriors conversing. A short distance hence the trail divided. Carefully concealing himself until all the warriors passed, he again proceeded in the direction of the fort, taking a ridge mid- way between the trails. By a vigorous exertion he got in ad- vance of the savages, and when within about two miles of the fort, he discovered a white man approaching with a bridle and halter in his hand. Springing behind a large tree, he waited until the settler arrived within a few feet of his concealment, when he stepped into the path and confronted him. The white man was taken by surprise and trembled with fear, and was about to flee for life, when the supposed warrior addressed him in English, briefly informing him who he was, where he was going, the approach of the warriors and the danger that environed the settlement. Calmed by the assurances of present safety, the white man caught his horses, which were near, and he and Fast mounted and hastened to the fort and spread the alarm, and suc- ceeded in gathering the settlers, in the vicinity, into it before the savages appeared. The fort consisted of a strong block-house, surrounded by several cabins of the settlers. When all the men were gathered in there were only six. The savages approached with much assurance, and offering to spare all the prisoners, if the little band would surrender. Fast assured the inmates that the cold steel of the tomahawk would 62 The Indian Miscellany. t ; Hi ; m: be the price of such an indiscretion. Their proifers of safety were not accepted. A lierco assault at once commenced. The siege was kept up nil day and night; but the little fort held out. Several of the savages were wounded, and the warriors, finally despairing of success, suddenly withdrew and spread among the scattered settlements in detaclied parties, burning houses, and shooting cattle and liogs. They had probably learned the ap- proach of Colonel Swearinger with relief for Wlieeling, that was yet beleaguered by the red fiends. After the retirement of the savages, Fast hastened to his old liome, painted and dressed as an Indian warrior. On arriving at the cabin of his parents in wliat is now Fayette county, he so nearly resembled a wild Indian warrior of the wilderness, that his parents were unable to distinguish him. Indeed, they were much alarmed at his presence, fearing he was a genuine savage acting as a decoy. He attempted to calm their fears by assuring them, in their own tongue, that his name was Fast, and that he was really their own son ! At length his mother recalling some peculiarity about the pupils of his eyes, and some spots on his breast, recognized him, and rushing forward to embrace him in her arms, was told not to do so, as he was covered with vermin from the Indian camp. The tube in which liis scalp-lock was enclosed was removed, and he repaired to an out building where his infected garments were taken off and burned. Soap and water soon removed the encrusted paint and soil from his person, when he was presented with a clean suit of clothes, which re- stored him to his status as a white man. The joy of his parents on his safe return home, scarcely knew bounds. A full detail of his adventures was given, and often repeated to enquiring friends. On arriving at manhood, Mr. Fast located in Dunker township, Greene county, Pennsylvania, where he married, and remained until the spring of 1815, when he removed with his family, to what is now Orange township, Ashland county, Ohio, and settled about half a mile south-east of the Vermillion lakes. When Mr. Fast and family arrived at the lakes, he found a number of In- dians encamped near where he subsequently erected a cabin. He built a fire and his wife proceeded to prepare supper, surrounded ii i'l saa The CAPTiviir of Christian Fast. 68 its of Is. to bd jr. by a dense forest. While in the act of cooking, their little com- pany was alarmed by the appearance of eight or ten Indians, headed by an old warrior who was extremely ugly, shriveled in flesh, and ferocious in appearance. They had just discovered their new neighbors and came to see who they wtre. On ap- proaching within a few feet of Mr. Fast, and his children, who were seated on a log near where Mrs. Fast vviis preparing supper, the old Indian looked steadfastly at Mr. Fast for a moment, and then rushing forward exclaimed, Molunthe ! at the same time offering his hand in token of friendship. The old warrior was Thomas Lyon, who was present at the capture of Fast on the Ohio, some thirty-five years prior to that time, and was along with the expedition to Wheeling, when his favorite young warrior, Molunthe, n ade his escape. The Indians had never suspected him for desertion, but had always believed he had, in the darkness, fallen into the river and drowned. On find- ing him here, alive, old Tom manifested much gratification and gave many tokens of a friendship that remained very cordial up to 1822, the last appearance of the Delawares in this region. During the ensuing seven years, the Delawares often encamped in the vicinity, regarding Mr. Fast and family as of their tribe. They frequently went into his cabin, in the evening, and danced after the Delaware manner, making rude music by pounding on a stool and singing, while the dancers hopped about the room, flourishing their scalping-knives, shouting and keeping time to the music. In the fall of 1819 old Thomas Lyon and a party of Delawares had a feast on what is now known as the John Freeborn farm, south-west of Savannah, to which Mr. Fast and his sons were in- vited. Being unable to be present, his sons Nicholas and Francis, aged respectively twenty-five and fifteen, attended. The feast was in their camp. There were present some fifty or sixty In- dians, and no whites, except the Fasts. A large black bear had been roasted and boiled. The body being roasted, was cut into small slices and handed around on new bark plates. The head and feet, unskinned, were boiled in a copper kettle, and a sort of soup made therefrom, which was passed around in wooden ladles. 64 The Indian Misoellant. Nicholas and Francis partook, courteously with the Indians. The roast was elegant, hut the soup was not relished. At the conclusion i)t' the feast, Lyon insisted on painting Francis Indian ftiHliion. The hoy readily suhniitted, for the fun of the thing. Old Tom laid on a good coat of vermillion, which gave him the appearance of a young Indian. The paint was so ad- hesive that when he' returned home, he was unable to remove it for a long time ; and was afterwards known as Itidian Frank. Billy Montour, Jim Jirk, Monos, Jonaeake George and Jim Lyon, Buckwheat, Billy Dowdy, Capt. George, and other well known Delawares were at the feast. Christian Fast had nine sons, Jacob, Martin, William, Nicholas, David, Francis, George, Christian and John ; and four daughters, Margaret, Barbara, Isabel and Cliristcna. Christian Fast senior died at his farm in Ashland county, Ohio, in 1849. 1^4 'A 1 "" : f ■ 1 ■ ki \ THE ES Q UIMA UX OF LA BRAD OR. ' By a. S, Packaud, Jn. In tho Hummor of 1864 the writer ha Reprinted from AppUton's Journal (New York), for December 9, 1871. Revised by the author for The Indian Miscellany. 6 66 The Indian Miscellany. ii clad coast, our reveries were often rudely disturbed by a shock and start, as a hard lump of the clearest fresh-water ice jarred our craft frr nti stem to stern. But the sail was a rare one for our yachtmon. The ice-floe, with its prospective dangers of closing in upon us, should the wind veer around to its favorite quarter — the northeast — walled us in from the open sea beyond. We scud along with two reefs in our main-sail, our vessel under the guidance of an Esquimaux pilot, a boy in the employ of a Nor- wegian, himself once a subordinate in the Hudson Bay Company. He knows the courses by which to steer, and some of the dan- gerous rocks in the way ; for the rest we trust to luck, since there are no charts of this rock-and-reef-studded coast. As we sail on, the islands and main-land rise higher and bolder from the water, and their outline against the clear northern sk' is ragged and broken in the extreme. This wild coast-scenery culminates in the strange, volcano-like, glacier-streaked, jagged mountains of Cape Chudleigh, which we had longed and designed to see, but ice and ignorance of the coast forbade. As we ran into Hopcdale harbor, situated at the head of a deep, broad bay, we nearly overhauled the Moravian supply ship Har- mony, just in from London, having made her annual summer trip, bearing supplies to the three Moravian stations, Hopedale, Nain and Okkak. She is a bark of three hundred tons, American measurement, and as neatly kept as a naval vessel. For ninety years the London agent of the Moravian society has sent a Har- mony to this dangerous coast, losing but a couple of men during the whole period, one of these having been upset in a kayak. As our predecessor in these waters nears the station, and before our eyes had fairly distinguished the red roofs of the mission houses, she tired a salute from two nine-pounders, and we observed her flag drooping at half-mat^'., conveying the intelligence of the death during the past year of the London secretary, Latrobe. The boom of the mission gun answered reply, Avith an irregular, rattling volley from the fowling-pieces of the Esquimaux. We noticed the mission flag also at half-mast, as the station had recently lost by death Superintendent Kruth. We secured good anchorage near the Harmony. A clumsy 'L '^v: 3 The Esquimaux of Labrador. 67 "iS ;3' row-boat, native-built, accompanied by a kayak, brought from the shore the three missionaries and their wives. The Harmony had brought out a missionary, who had been absent two years in the fatherland, and Mr. Lii.klater, the agent of the Labrador mis- sions. The meeting parto 3k of all the heartiness of the Germans, the brethren greeting one another with a kiss. The harbor now seemed al' :i with kayaks, hastening to the bark, and then flying over to our craft. Up they scrambled, swarming over our decks — nothing of the stolidity and apparent self-absorption of the Indian in their faces. These intelligent Esquimaux were fully alive to the beauty of our model and spars, the neatness of our decks, the comforts of our cabin, even to the interior of our swill buckets ; and soon, in the course of the trade that sprung up, oar old clothes found their way to their backs and limbs, that seemed lost in them. The tallest Esquimaux just came up to the shoulders of a medium-sized Yankee, and these diminutive folk seemed better fltted for their kayaks and iglooks than for the luxuries of vessels and storied houses. An exodus of sea-worn Caucasians was the result of this im- pro7)iptu visit. We returned the polite attentions of our newly- made friends of the kayaks and iglooks, and novel enough were the scenes of that afternoon. Some of us, with intentions of trade in furs and articles of Esciuimaux vertu, at once, with strings of beads and other stock in trade, struck ofl:' for the huts of the natives, and found their match iti shrewdness and skill in trade. Others — myself among the number — preferred to take a bird's- eye view of this century-old town. We sauntered through the rows of huts, picking our way through the accumulated filth of decades, and the ancient mud-puddles and quagmires interspersed among the streets, gazing upon the various forms of hideousness which, in a curious mixture of seal skins, woollen jumpers, duck jackets, red-bordered swallow-tails, and dirty calico gowns, stared and grinned at the new comers. Aged Esquimaux are not fair to look upon. The patriarch of the place was a woman of seventy years ; for old age creeps rapidly on the Innuit matron, and she does not grow graceful or beautiful with age. There were in this colony three women sixty years old. A man forty- . \ 68 The Indian Miscellany. five years old is considered aged, as tlie autumnal seal-fisheries with all their hardships make them prematurely old. The young women and girls, with black hair, coal-black, shining eyes, stuck like beads between their huge, high, plump cheeks, nearly effac- ing their snub noses, giggled and grinned a welcome. The natives were at first a little shy of us, but gradually a brisk trade sprung Mg. We gave them fishhooks, beads, tobacco and pipes, old clothes, and letter-paper, taking in return seal-skin boots and mittens, skin suits, and ivory models of kayaks, while the naturalists of the party took birds'eggs and other curiosities. The native huts were thirty-five in number, and a description of one will answer for all, as the dirt, squalor, and architecture, nre a characteristic of each and all. They are niade of upright logs, turfed on the outside, with cross logs forming a low roof, pierced for two windows, one in the roof, and of five or six panes each, glazed with the intestines of the seal, while in some the panes were filled with pieces of glass. The interior forms a single room, sometimes tenanted by two families, the tenements sepa- rated by a slight partition. At the farther end of the small, low room, which in the better sort of houses is floored over, and was not high enough for us to stand erect in, is a sort of divan or seat, on which materfamilias reclines. We make her a bow, rendered low both from courtesy and the height of the door-way of the low, narrow portico, pick oiir way among two or three sleeping dogs, give a wide berth to a Scylla of a seal's carcass with more than " an ancient and fish-like smell," steer by a strange sort of vesicular Charybdis, in whose urinary contents lies soaking a seal-skin which is destined to be chewed between the grinders of our hostess, as she may design making a pair of seal-skin boots, and the leather has to be thus softened to be easily sewed. Our spectacled hostess is, however, as we enter, engaged in making a basket of dried rushes, colored blue and red. A shelf within her reach contains a soapstone lamp of the pattern described by Dr. Kane, needles, and other articles of housewifery, together with a well-thumbed Bible printed in the Esquimaux tongue. Indeed, we noticed one in each house, with the name of the owner written in a neat, regu- ■i*:- The Esquimaux of Labrador. 69 lar hand; for it must be remembered that these natives are Christianized and taught to read and write. After all, upon re- flection, considering their antecedents, their mode of life, and the freedom of arctic regions from noisome exhalations, our dusky friends were passably neat, and their houses perhaps orderly enough. After a three days' acquaintance, we found the natives quiet and well-behaved, honest in their dealings, of mild, gentle manners, always ready with a smile and a nod. Tliey are re- markably intelligent, (pick to learn, and far above the Indians in aptness and industry. They are taught to make boats, and there lay in the harbor a schooner of fifty tons, built and manned by Esquimaux. They also learn to read and write and sing. They seem to be good church-goers, and are probably as free from vice, even of the grosser sorts, as their fellow-Christians in more favored lands, who probably make greater pretensions to piety. But these people, so interesting to the students of fossil tribes, whose remains are found in the shell-heaps and caves of the old world, and to the anthropologist generally, are rapidly passing away, and, before another century goes by, Labrador will probably be depopulated of its Esquimaux. They are even now partly dependent for their supplies on the kindness of their German friends, who in their care for their souls do not neglect the outer man. Consumption sweeps them away, about seventy hi; v'ing perished in the previous March from the three colonies of Hopedale, Nain, and Okkak — twenty-one alone having died at Hopedale, which numbers about two hundred souls. The wars between the'Tndians and Esquimaux have now ceased. Formerly, the latter extended down to the straits of Belle-Isle, and four summers previous we saw the last full blooded Esquimaux on the straits — the wife of an Englishman at Salmon bay, at the mouth of Esquimaux river. She was a bold and skilful hunter, even more successful in shooting seals than the hunters in the neighborhood, and withal a neat, capable housewife. During the winter they go on lumbering trips, fifty miles up the rivers, bringing down logs fifty feet in length, and twenty inches in diameter at the butt, a number of which were lying by the mission house. * The girls and young women were, in some 70 The Indian Miscellany. I I li 11 f ■ 1 i *' '■ 1 n I ii -' 1 i 1 IB cases, quite pretty, with a neatly turned foot, and an instep a queen would be proud of. All seemed industrious, some filling orders for skin suits our party had given, or rubbing up their toys and other salable articles for barter. The men do little more than hunt and fish ; but I found that they were very ob- serving, and, through a young man that spoke English, learned some important facts regarding the distribution of arctic animals. He said that the white boar was not unfrequently brought down from the north on the floe-ice, and was seen about the shore during the summer, while the black bear is common in-shore. Indeed, the flora and the fauna were here intensely arctic. On the hills and rocks about us was the little white sandwort, familiar to those rambling among tlie rocks of the summit of Mount "Washington, with many other truly arctic forms, and the butter- flies, moths, and ])eetlcs that hovered over them, or ran among their leaves, were the most typical arctic insects. On showing our interpreter a book with figures of the narwhal and walrus, we learned that one of the older men, when a boy, saw a narwhal off the harbor, indicating that that strange animal, now exclusively confined to the arctic seas^ formerly ranged far to the southward, and may, during the glacial period, have been a New Englander. He also said that the walrus was never seen here. A century ago, however, the walrus lived along the La- brador shore, and our fishermen and whalers exterminated it from the Magdalen islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On showing him a picture of the lobster, he declared that both it and the common shore crab were not found north of Hamilton inlet, where he had observed them. The sea trout is taken here abundantly with the net. This seems to be a truly arctic fish. It was much more abundant than the salmon. The wolverine is not uncommon here. Indeed, this was the border land between the arctic and boreal flora and fauna, the white bear disputing the proprietorship of the soil with the black, the arctic foxes out- numbering the red, and all the humbler forms of animal life being almost purely arctic, with a small percentage of more southern types. The climate is like that of Greenland, the scenic features of the land are thoroughly arctic, and the ice laden sea, The Esquimaux of Labrador. 71 of a temperature bordering on the freezing point, is frozen up fully six months in the year. A voyage of two weeks from Boston or New York will bring one into these Arctic surroundings. The summer days, when the sky is clear, are warm and delightful, the air is wonderfully invigorating, and a voyage to this coast often does wonders in restoring those afflicted with pulmonary diseases, as well as dys- peptics. W/ien the summers are tolerably pleasant, and the coast free from fogs, yachting in these waters, though somewhat dangerous from the want of charts and pilots, is delightful, and our pleasure boats will doubtless often push their way up into these hyperborean regions. Curlew shooting, reindeer hunts, a possible white bear, salmon fishing, duck shooting, and bird's nesting, will entice them to explore the deep, awe-inspiring fiords, the rapid rivers, and the rugged mountains of this picturesque and deserted coast. But the chapel bell tolls the hour of evening prayers. "We have chatted by the language of fingers and signs, with occasional eilars na-mes, aps, and other interjections, having had no difiiculty in conveying our meaning, nor in understanding our host's, and now wend our way to the church. The surroundings about the huts are peculiar. A kayak or two recline on a framework of poles, a bear-skin swings in the breeze on one side of the hut, aU'.' in front of the porch, a string of cut and drying codfish perfume the air. We allow our feminine friends to walk on before us, and their gait, originally awkward enough, is intensi- fied by the swinging tails to their jumpers, and the loosely-setting, low-waisted trousers, when the form of the wearer is not fortu- nate enough to be concealed by a cast-off calico gown. With them, waddling is reduced to a fine art. Entering the chapel, a wooden one-storied building, we find the native portion of the audience already seated, the sexes separately, even having entered by a separate door, and the youngest seated in the front row of unpainted benches. Soon file in the missionaries and their wives, and they sit, the sexes apart, on a stoop next the wall, directly facing the native audience, with the pulpit, or reading-desk, dividing the seat. They sit 72 The Indian Miscellany. t ■ with grave, composed countenances, and among the Esquimaux the utmost reverence for the place and attention to the exercises prevail. The minister makes a short invocation in the Esqui- maux language. The organ strikes up, played hy an Esquimaux hoy, and the minister gives out the numher of the hymn in German ; the people rise, and the quaint melody of an old- fashioned, droning German hymn, composed, for aught we know, in Luther's time, though set to Esquimaux words, lills the cluirch. All stand up reverently during the singing, and the music is not unpleasant, soothing the senses, and douhtless most henelicent in its effects on these untutored minds. Hymn after hymn is thus chanted for perhaps twenty minutes, all the congregation joining ; a short prayer completes the service, and thus ends the day. The audience quietly disperse, retiring in quiet to their homes ; the sun has set, the .shades of night gather about the hamlet, and, if the inquisitive traveler should in a few minutes perambulate the deserted streets, he would meet only the silence of the midnight, as all are abed and asleep. The first day of August was a lovely one ; the thermometer rose to perhaps 70°, the warm rays of the sun encouraging the mosquitoes unduly, which hovered in swarms about our deserted vessel. Groups of Esquimaux accompanied them, clambering up the sides of the vessel, coming off from shore in boats and kayaks. Kayak races and other aquatic sports were now the order of the day, a plug of tobacco being the highest prize. They handled their kayaks in the most approved style. A favorite sport seemed to be for one to paddle his kayak over the bows or stern of another lying still across his track. Our crew and passengers borrowed the kayaks freely, and some soon learned the use of this frail skilf, so as to paddle ashore and back, a distance of nearly a mile. These kayaks had wooden frames, over which seal-skins were stretched, but they seemed broader and clumsier than those from Greenland. We ventured to paddle about in one, and found it very easy to manage, the principal difficulty being to keep the head steadily pointed in the desired course, as a too powerful stroke would make her veer from one side to the other. Of course, if one capsizes, he is in a dangerous predica- 't The Esquimaux of Labrador 73 of rers of of ment, as tlic hole in which he sits closely fits his body, and a tJill man could not extricate himself wliilo head downward in the water. The spears and bladder floats are like those of Greenland. In fishing, the Hopedale Es(iuiniaux use small nets, with which they take the sea trout, a fish with large scales, being a com- pound of the ordinary river and lake trout and the salmon. They catch codfish with the jigger. Though the missionaries have set them an admirable example in pleasantly arranged and highly cultivated gardens, in which quite a number of vegetables were raised with more or less success in this rigorous climate, yet the Esquimaux is no farmer. His sole occupation consists in keeping his family supplied with animal food. The Esquimaux are flesh- eaters, par excellence, and a Grahamite would scarcely be tolerated among them. During the summer, if unusually enterprising, he takes his family and travels al)out with a skin tent, fisliing and shooting )irds, and occasionally killing a seal or bear. In the autumn and spring, seal-hunting is his exclusive care, though waterfowl and a deer or two may sometimes enliven his mono- tonous seal diet, while in the long winter, when the seals are not to be had, and starvation stares him and his family in the face, the kindly aid of his Moravian brethren is invoked. His family is not usually a large one ; the good wife is not blessed with many children in that cold, bleak, harsli climate. Indeed, the days of the Esfiuimaux in Labrador are numbered. They are rapidly disappearing, victims of desolating wars between themselves and the Indians, of consumption and severe colds, and their own shiftlessness and improvidence. Before another century lias passed, the few stragglers living upon this coast will be chiefly interesting to the student of mankind, as relics of a serai-fossil people who figure largely in books on prehistoric times. INDIAN 3IEDIGINE: By John Mason Browne. Every one who has fed his boyish fancy with the stories of pioneers and liunters has heard of the character known among Indians as the medicine man. But it may very likely he the case that few of those familiar with the term really know the import of the word. A somewhat protracted residence among the Blackfoot tribe of Indians, and an extensive observation of men and manners as they appear in the wilder parts of the Rocky mountains and British America, have enabled t!.e writer to give some facts which may not prove wholly uninteresting. By the term medicine, nzuch more is implied than mere curative drugs, or a system of curative practice. Among all the tribes of American Indians, the word is used with a double sig- nification, a literal and narrow meaning, and a general and rather undefined api lication. It signifies not only physical re- n.edies and the art of using them, but second sii;;lit, prophecy, and preternatural power. As an adjective, it embraces the idea of supernatural as well as remedial. As an example of the use of the word in its mystic signification, the following may be given. The horse, as is well known, was to the Indian, on his first importation, a strange and terrible beast. Having no native word by which to designate this hitherto unknown creature, the Indians contrived a name by combining the name of some familiar animal, most nearly resembling the horse, with the medicine term denoting astonishment or awe. Consequently the Blackfeet, adding to the word elk i^pounika) the adjective medicine {tos), called the horse pounika-ma-ta, i. e. medicine elk. This word is still their designation for a horse. With this idea of medicine, and recollecting that the word is used to express two classes of thoughts very different, and separated :f A, I > Reprinted ftrom The Atlantic Monthly (BoBton), for July, 1866. Indian Medicine. 75 by civilization, though confounded by the savage, it will not surprise one to find that the medicine men are conjurers as well as doctors, and that their conjurations partake as much of medical quackery as does their medical practice of affected incantation. As physicians, the medicine men are below contempt, and, but for the savage cruelty of their ignorance, undeserving of notice. The writer has known a man to have his uvula and palate torn out by a medicine man. In that cmsc the disease was a hacking cough caused l)y an elongation of the uvuUi; and the remedy adopted (after preparatory singing, dancing, burning buffalo hair, and other conjurations) was to seize the uvula with a pair of bullet-moulds, and tear from the poor wretch every tissue that would give way. Death of course ensued in a short time. The unfortunate man had, however, died in " able hands,'" and ac- cording to the " highest principles of [Indian] medical art." Were I i j 'ell how barbarously 1 have seen men mutilated, simply to extract an arrow head from a wound, the story would scarce be credited. Common f-ense has no place in the system of Indian medicine men, nor do they appear to have gained an idea, beyond the rudest, from experience. In their (juality of seers, howeve:', they are more important, and frequently more successful persons, attaining, of course, various degrees of proficiency and reputation. An accomplished dreamer has a sure competency in that gift. He is reverently consulted, handsomely paid, and, in general, strictly obeyed. His influence, when once established, is more potent even than that of a war chief. The dignity and profit of the position are baits sufficient to command the attention and ambition of the ablest men; yet it is not unfrequently the case that persons otherwise undistinguished are noted for clear and strong power of medicine. Of the three most distinguished medicine men known to the writer, but one was a man of powerful intellect. Even this per- son preferred a somewhat sedentary, and what might be calle(? a strictly professional life, to the usual active habits of the hunting and warring tribes. He dwelt almost alone on a far northern branch of the Saskatchewan river, revered for his gifts, feared 76 The Indian Miscellany. ii for his power, and alwayw approached with something of reluct- ance l)y tlie Indians, who firndy believed the spirit of the goda to dwell within him. He was an austere and taciturn man, diffi- cult of access, and as vain and ambitious as he was hauglity and contemptuous. Those who professed to have witnsssed the scene told of a trial of power between this man — the Black 8nake, as he was called — and a renowned medicine man of a neighboring tribe. The contest, from what the Indians said, must have oc- curred about 1855. The rival medicine "men, each furnished with his medicine bag, his anmlets, and other professional paraphernalia,, arrayed in full dress, and covered with war paint, met in the presence of a great concourse. Both had prepared for the encounter by long fasting and conjurations. After the pipe, which precedes all important councils, the medicine men sat down opposite to each other, a few feet apart. The trial of power seems to have been conducted on principles of aninuU nuignetism, and lasted a long while with- out decided advantage on either side ; until the Black Snake, concentrating all his power, or " gathering his medicine," in a loud voice con)manded his opponent to die. The unfortunate conjurer succumbed, and in a few minutes " his spirit," as my informant said, " went beyond the sand buttes." The only charm or amulet ever used by the Black Snake is said to have been a small bean-shapod pebble suspended round his neck by a cord of moose sinew. He had his books, it is true, but they were rarely exhibited.' The death of his rival, by means so purely non-mechanical or physical, gave the Black Snake a preeminence in medicine, which he has ever since maintained. It was useless to suggest poison, deception, or collusion, to explain the occurrence. The firm belief was that the spiritual power of the Black Snake had alone secured his triumph. I mentioned this story to a highly educated and deeply religious • The Mountain Asalnaboins, of which tribe the Bincic Snake in (if living) a diptingnished orna- ment, were visited more than a hundred years since l)y an Englisli clergyman named Wolsey, who devised an alphabet for their use. The alphabet is still used by them, and they keep their memo- randa on dressed skins. With the exception of the Cberokecs. they are, perhaps, the only tribe poeaeBBiug a written language. They have no other civilization. :-^- ' v -^ -l uin JH.W.i l WU '" %^ i |^ ..U l il-J- Indian Medicine. 77 man of ray acquaintance. lie was a priest of the Jesuit order, a European by birth, formerly a professor in a continental uni- versity of liigh repute, and beyond doubt a guileless and pious man. ITis acquaintance with Indian life extended over more than twenty years of missionary labor in the wildest parts of the west slope of the Rocky mountains. To my surprise (for I was then a novice in the country), I found him neither astonished, nor sliocked, nor amused, by what seemed to me so gross a superstition. " I have seen," said he, " many exhibitions of power, which my philosophy cannot explain. I have known predictiojis of events far in the future to be literally fulfilled, and have seen medicine tested in the most conclusive ways. I once saw a Kootenai Indian (known generally as Skookum-tamaherewos, from his extraordinary power) command a mountain sheep to fall dead, and the animal, then leaping among the rocks of the mountain- side, fell instantly lifeless. This I saw with my own eyes, and I ate of the animal afterwards. It was unwounded, healthy, and perfectly wild. Ah !" continued he, crossing himself and looking upwards, " Mary protect us ! the medicine men have power from Sathanas." * This statement, made by so responsible a person, attracted my attention to what before seemed but a clumsy species of juggling. During many months of intimate knowledge of Indian life, as an adopted member of a tribe, as a resident in their camps, and their companion on hunts and war-parties, I lost no opportunity of gathering information concerning their religious belief and tra- ditions, and the system of medicine, as it prevails in its purity. It would be foreign to the design of this desultory paper to enter at large upon the history of creation as preserved by the Indians in their traditions, the conflicts of the beneficent spirit with the adversary, and the Indian idea of a future state. With all these, ' I do not feel at liberty to give the uame of thli» escellfnt tiuin. now perhapB no more. In 1861, he lived and labored, with a gentleucsB and zeal worthy of the cause he heralded, as a niieBionary among the Kalispelm Indians, on the west slope of the Hocky mountains. Such devotion to niia- Bionary labor as was his may well clmllonsro admiration even from those who think him In fatal error. His memory will long be cherishid by thone who kncvi- the purity of hit character, his gene- rous catholicity of spirit, and the native and acquired graces of mind which maoy him a companion at once charming and instractive. w . ■!'!: ! ! lil If "I II '! ■ (■ III 78 The Indian Miscellany. the present sketcli ha.s no further concern than a mere statement tlmt iiH'dir'uii' is hiiHcd upon the idea of an overruling and all-povvorful Providence, who acts at His good pleaHure, througli hununi instruinonts. Those among Chriwtians who entertain the (h)ctrine of 8i)ecial providences \\\w.y iind in the untutored Indian a faith as firm as theirs — not sharply defined, or understood hy the Indian JiimHclf, but inborn and ineradicable. The Indian, being thoroughly ignorant of all things not con- nected with war or the chase, is necessarily superstitious. His imagination is active — generally more so than are his reasoning powers — and fits him for a ready belief in tlie powers of any able mediciner. On one occasion, Meldram, a wliite man in the em- ploy of the American Fur Company, found himself suddenly elevated to high rank as a seer by a foolish or petulant remark. He was engaged in making a rude press for l)alingfur8, and had got a heavy lever in position. A large party of Crow Indians who were near at hand, considering his press a marvel of me- clianical ingenuity, were very inquisitive as to its uses. Meldram, with an assumption of severity, told them the machine was snow medicine, and that it would make snow to fall until it reached the end of a cord that dau'jjled from the lever «nd reached within a yard of the grouiul. The fame of so potent a medicine spread rapidly through the Crow nation. The machine was visited by hundreds, and the fall of snow anxiously looked for by the entire tribe. To the awe of every Indian, and the astonishment of the few trappers then at the mouth of the Yellowstone, the snow ac- tually reached the end of the rope, and did not during the winter attain any greater depth. Meldram found greatness thrust upon him. He has lived for more than forty years among the Cro^vs, and when I knew him was much consulted as a medicine man. His chief charms, or amulets, were a large bull's-eye silver watch, and a copy of Ayer's Family Almanac, in which was displayed the human body encircled by the signs of the zodiac. The position and case attendant upon a reputation for medicine power cause many unsuccessful pretenders to embrace the pro- fession ; and it would seem strange that their failures should not have brought medicine into disrepute. In looking closely into this, '''Imi Indian Medicine. 79 a well marked distinction will always bo found between medicine and the medicine-men — quite as brosul as is made with us between religion and the preacher. I have seen would-be medicine men laughed at through the camp — men of reputation as warriors, and respected in council, but whose forte was not the reading of dreams or the prediction of events. On the other hand, I have seen persons of inferior intellect, w:*^hout courage on the war- path or wisdom in the council, revered as the channels through which, in some unexplained manner, the Great Spirit warned or advised his creatures. Of course it is no purpose of this paper to uphold or attack these peculiar ideas. A meagre presentation of a few facts not generally knov, n is all that is aimed at. Whether the system of Indian medicine be a variety of mesmerism, magnetism, spiritu- alism, or what not, others may inquire and determine. One bred a Calvinist, as was the writer, may be supposed to have viewed with suspicion the exhibitions of medicine power that almost daily presented themselves. And while, in very numerous in- stances, they proved to be but the impudent pretensions of char- latans, it must be conceded, if credible witnesses are to be believed, that sometimes there is a power of second-sight, or something of a kindred nature, which defies investigation. Instances of this kind are of frequent occurrence, and easily recalled, I venture to say, by every one familiar with the Indian in his native state. The higher powers claimed for medicine are, in general, doubt- fully spoken of by the Indians. Not that they deny the possibility of the power, but they question the probability of so signal a mark of favor being bestowed on a mere mortal. Powers and medicine privileges of a lower degree are more readily ac- knowledged. An aged Indian of the Assinaboin tribe is very generally admitted, by his own and neighboring tribes, to have been shown the happy hunting-grounds, and conducted through them and returned safely to the camp of his tribe, by special favor of the Great Spirit. He once drew a map of the Indian paradise for me, and described its pleasant prairies and crystal rivevs, its countless herds of fat buffalo and horses, its perennial and luxu- riant grass, and other charms dear to an Indian's heart, in a ii I ! 11 Ii 1 :• 1 : i ■ i ill '■ ^<\ II 1 1 * t I ^ ! ■ i ' n It 'i 80 The Indian Miscellany. rliapsody that was almost poetry. Another, an obscure man ot the Catliead Sioux, is believed to have seen the hole through whieh isHue tlie herds of buffalo wluchthe Great Spirit calls forth from the centre of the eartli to feed his children. Medicine of this degree is not unfavorably regarded by the maHBCH ; but instances of the highest grades are extremely rare, and tlie claimants of such powers few in number. The Black Snake and the Kootenai, before referred to, are, if still alive, the oidy instances with which I am acquainted of admitted and well- authenticated powers so great and incredible. The common use of medicine is in tiffairs of war and the chase. Here the medicine ma . will be found, in many cases, to exhibit a prescience truly as- tounding. Without attempting a theory to account for this, a suggestion may be ventured. The Indian passes a life that knows no repose. Ills vigilance is ever on the alert. No I'our of day or night is to him an hour of assured safety. In the course of years, his perceptions and apprehensions become so acute, in the presence of constant danger, as to render him keenly and deli- cately sensitive to impressions that a civilized maji could scarce recognize. The Indian, in other words, has a development almost like the instinct of the fox or beaver. Upon this delicate baro- meter, wliose basis is physical fear, impressions (moral or physical, wno shall say ?) act with surprising i)Ower. How this occurs, no Indian will attempt to explain. C^ertain conjurations will, they maintain, aid the medicine man to receive impressions ; but how or wherefore, no one pretends to know. This view of vtuior rncdicine is the one which will account for many of its mani- festations. Whether sound or defective, we will not contend. The medicine nuin whom I knew best was Ma-qu^-a-pos (the wolf's word), an igtiorant and unintellectual person. I knew him perfectly well. His nature was simple, innocent, and liarm- less, devoid of cunning, and wanting in those fierce traits that nuike up the Indian character. His predictions were sometimes absolutely astounding. He has, beycmd question, accunitely de- scribed the persons, horses, arms, and destination of a party three hundred miles distant, not oae of whom he had ever seen, and of whose ve)y existence ne. dier he, nor any one in his camp, was before apprised. Indian Medicine. 81 On one occasion, a party of ten voyagcurs set out from Fort Benton, the remotest post of the American Fur Company, for the jjurpose of finding the Kuime, or IMood Bund of the Northern IJluckfeet. Their route lay ahnost due north, crossing tlie British line near the Chief mountain (Nee-na-stA,-ko) and the great Lake 0-mii,x-een (two of the grandest features of liocky mountain scenery, hut scarce ever seen ])y whites), and extending indefi- nitely beyond the Saskatchewan and towards the trihutaries of the Coppermine and Mackenzie rivers. The ex[)edition was perilous from its commencement, and the danger increased with each day's journey. The war-paths, war-party fires, and similar indications of the vicinity of hostile bando, were each day found in greater abundance. It should be borne in mind that an experienced trapper can, at a glance, pronounce what tribe made a war-trail or a camp- tire. Indications wliich would convey no meaning to the inex- perienced are conclusive proofs to the keen-eyed mountaineer. The track of a foot, by a greater or less turning out of the toes, demonstrates from which side of the mountains a party has come. The print of a moccasin in soft earth indicates the tribe of the wearer. An arrow-head or a feather from a war-bonnet, a scrap of dressed deer-skin, or even a chance fragment of jerked buffalo- meat, furnishes data from which unerring conclusions are deduced with marvellous facility. The party of adventurers soon found that they were in the thickest of the Cree war-party operations, and so full of danger was every day's travel that a council was called, and seven of the ten turned V-ck. The remaining three, more through fool- hardiness than for any good reason, continued their journey, until their resolution failed them, and they too determined that, after another day's travel northward, they would hasten back to their comrr ^es. On the atler.ioon of the last day, four young Indians were seen, who, after a cautious approach, made the sign of peace, laid down their arms, and came forward, announcing themselves to be Blackfeet of the Blood Band. They were sent out, they said, by Ma-qu6-a-po8, to find three whites mounted on horses of a pecu- "f 1 82 The Indian Miscellany. 4.' i! 1 1; I I liar color, drcRBcd in ^urmcntH accursitoly (ltHc;ril)cd to thorn, and armed with wcujionH \vlii<;h tlioy, without Hocin^ tlicni, rninutoly dcHcri])C(l. The wliolo history of the oxixjdition had hccn de- tailed to them hy Mar(jue-a-i)OH. The [turpoHe of the journey, the personnel of the party, the exact loeality at which to iinJ — Indian Medicink. 88 tnud of tho MiHsouri — how ho exporirnonted before lie adopted the human frame, as we now have it — Jiow he i)]afied liiH crea- tures in an isolated park far to the ?H)rt]i,and tiien; taught them the rude artn of Indian life — how he staked the Indians on a desperate game of ehanf-e with the spirit of evil — and how the whites ar(! now his p(!(;iiliar care;. Ma-fjU^-a-pos's faith could hardly stand the tcHt of any rciligious m-Ml. Yet it must be said for him, that his Hitri|)licity and innoftence of life might be a model for many, better instructed than he. The wilder tribes are accustonnMJ to certain observances which are generally termed the tribe-medicine. Their leading men inculcat(! them with great care — perhaps to perpetuate unity of tradition and purjiose. In the arrangement of tribe-medicine, trivial observancjes are frequently intermixed with very serious doctrines. Thus, the grand war-council of the Dakotah confed- eracy, comprising thirteen tribes of Sioux, and more than seven- teen thousand warriors, many years since promulgated a national medicine, prescribing a red stone; pipe with an ashen stem for all council i)ur{)OHes, and (herein was tlu; true jjoint) an eternal liostility to the whites. Tho prediction may be saiely ventured, that every Sioux will preserve this medicine until the nation shall cease to exist. To it may be traced the recent Indian war that devastated Minnesota; and there cannot, in the nature of things, and of the American Indian especially, be a peace kept in good faith until the confederacy of the Dakotah is in effect destroyed. The Crows, or IJps^raukas, wili not smoke in council, unless the pipe is lighted with a coal of buffalo chip, and the bowl rested on a fragment of the same substance. Their chief men have for a great while endeavored to (iikgraft teetotal ism upon their national medicine, and hav(; succeeded iKitter than the Indian character would have seemed to i)romise. Among the Flat-Heads female chastity is a national medicine. With the Mandans, friendship for the whites is suppcjsed to be the source of national and individual advantage. Besides the varieties of medicine already alluded to, there are in use charms of almost every kind. When game is scarce, medicine is made to call back the buffalo. The man in the sun e (.;„; Ci i: II 84 Thk Indian MrsoELLANY, IB invoked for fair weather, for huoccbs in war or nliaHe, and for a cure of wouiuIh. The HpiritH of the dead are app Reprinted fromj^otard'* RtgUt«r qf Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), for October i), 1880. LiL Narrative op the Long Walk. 87 friends, and a number of Indian cliiefs. It was said by the old people tliat they walked leisurely, after the Indian manner, sit- ting down sometimes to smoke their pipes, to eat biscuit and cheese, and drink a bottle of wine. It is certain they arrived at the spruce tree in a day and a half, the whole distance rather less than thirty miles ; and the nortliwest boundary being traced out and marked on many trees with the letter P, for Penn ; and all parties being well sutisiied, the above deed was signed by the Indian sachems with their respective hieroglyphics. It is certain that "William Penn did not arrive in Pennsylvania for several months after the date of the above deed. "We are therefore left to conjecture to account for the inconsistency ; the business might have been done in the next year, and the deed dated back for some reason not now known, perhaps to cover some settlement already made ; there might be an error in the date of the original deed or in taking the copy. Pour years after another purchase was made of the natives, the description of which is contained in the following extract from the deed : "Beginning at the before mentioned spruce tree (says the grant) about Makerickhitton (Baker's creek) from thence running along the ledge or foot of the mountains west southwest to a corner white oak marked with the letter P, standing by an Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwicky ; and from thence extending westward to Neshaminah creek, from which line the said tract or tracts hereby granted doth extend itself as far into the woods as a man can go in a day and a half; bounded on the westerly side by the creek called Neshaminah or the most westerly branch thereof as far as the said branch doth extend, and from thence by a line to the utmost extent of the one and a half day's journey, and from thence by a line to the aforesaid river Delaware, and from thence down the several courses of the said river to the first mentioned spruce tree." Dated the 28th of August, 1686. The deed was executed by the parties, and as the Delaware and the Neshaminah were to be the northeast and southwest bounds, most of the lands in Buckingham, Solebury, etc., were located, and as the proprietary was much engaged in other busi- r 88 Thk Indian Miscellany. I ' f I ncHS, the walk was not nmde wlion ho wont to England, and although it Is ovidoiit from tho dood that tho place of hoginning niUHt 1)0 tho wo8t coriior of tho tirHt purchaHO on tho Noshaininah, yet tho IndiauH alwayw insiHtod on going up tho Dolawaro from the spruce tree — and probably for thiw roaHon, nothing vvaw done in the buwinoHH for hIx yearH. In tho year 1692 a white man living at Newtown and Cornelius Spring, a Delaware Indian, accompanied by several IndiariH and white people, undertook and performed the walk in the Indian manner ; but by what authority or by whose direction is not now known. They started from the spruce tree, and walked uj* the river; the Indians jumi)ed over all the streams of water until they came to tho Toliickon, which they positively refused to eross, and therefore they proceeded up the crook on tho south side to its source, and then turning to tho left, they fell in with the Swamp crook, and going down it a small distance, it was noon on the second day, or a day and a half from the time of setting out. To close tho survey it was proposed to go from there to the source of tho west branch of Neshaminah (so called), thence down the creek to the west corner of tho first purchase, and thence to the spruce tree, the place of beginning. These bounds would have included a tract of land rather larger than the first purchase, and no doubt would have been satisfactory to tho Indians. It does not appear to have been n final settlement, or that any thing was done relative to tho subject except talk about it, for forty- three years, in which time a large tract was sold to a company at Durham, a furnace and forges wore erected there, and numer- ous scattered settlements made on tho frontiers as far back as the Lehigh hills. The chief settlements of the Indians at the time were in the forks of the Delaware and Lehigh, below and beyond the Blue mountains. But in the summer season many families migrated in their way, and cabined among the white people in different places, as far down as Pcnnsbury manor, where they long retained a permanent residence on sufferance, and although a general harmony subsisted Ixitwoon tho natives and tho white people, yet they Showed a dislike to tho surveys and settlements that were every year extending .further back in the woods, and i I Narrative or the Long Walk. 89 aH they i)ro8Uiiio(l far boyond tlio proper limitH of tlio land thoy had Hold. In the spring of the year 1735, a Hurvoyor, employed for tlie purpose, run and measured a line beginning where the northweBt boundary of the iirst purehase erossed the J)urhum road, and thenee northwesterly on the said road to somewhere about the Hayeoek, and then turned more to the left through the woods to the Lehigh gap in the Jilue mountain, blazing the southeast side of the trees and saplings in the woods within sight of eaeh other. At some time before this i)eriod, a treaty or eonferenec had been held with some of tlie Indians, who Teedyuseung at the treaty of 1750 called preknderH, and said, as there was no king presumed to do national business without pr(>per authority. At this conference ([)erhapB in 17']4) both parties agreed, by com- promise, to alter the day and an half's walk to one day, and to go a northwest course. The Indians probably presuming that at twenty miles a day, the average of the preceding walks, it would not extend further back than tJM^ hills below Durham; accordingly a new instrument, called arcilease, was made probably for a trifling additional ))resent of a few goods. Preparation was then made for a walk to be pci formed under tlie direction of the sheriff of Bucks county, two men of uncommon abilities for fast walking were employed for the purpose at five [tounds each, or an eijui- Valentin land; and the Indians being notified, a number of them attended, also the sheriff with his sutlers, and several white men on horseback. About the 12th of September, 1735, at sunrise, the whole company started from the old chestnut tree above men- tioned, below Wrightstown meeting house, or near there. The men walked moderately at first, but soon quickened their march, but the Indians called to them to walk, and not run ; and the re- monstrances being frequently repeated without effect, the Indians and a number of white people who had collected to see them set off, left them in ill humor at such conduct, except one Indian who continued with them during the day. The two walkers pursued their course, first on the Durham road and then by the line of marked trees, to the Blue mountain, and going through the gap on a level road, they pursued their way up the river, and 90 The Indian Miscellany. at sunset tlio walkers arrived on a spur of the second, or Broad moun- tain, upwards of sixty miles from where they had set out in the morning, where they piled up a large heap of stones, and marked a number of trees around it. They passed the night in serious apprehensions, as their Indian companion left them and went to an Indian cantico not far off, perhaps the same company that had left them in the morning, who shouted and hallooed a great part of the night. But they were happily favored to return the next day in safety to their respective homes. The northwest boundary was afterwards run on the Pocony, and to the river at the short bend, and down the courses of the Delaware, by a measurement then made more than one hundred miles to the spruce tree. This scandalous transaction was the 8n))ject of much conversa- tion, and an apprehension prevailed, that it would sometime produce serious consequences. Surveyors were sent for six years successively to locate large tracts of land in the forks, even among the Indian towns. They therefore procured letters to be sent to Jeremiah Langhorne and the governor, advising them to remove the settlers or they would take up the hatchet against them. The affair was now become serious, and therefore a deep laid scheme was contrived and carried into execution. The chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations were to attend a treaty at Philadelphia in June, 1742. The Delawarcs, etc., were also invited to attend at the same time, which they did, making nearly one hundred Indians in the whole. And as there was at that time a prospect of a war between England and France, the Six Nations were courted to join in the contest on the side of the English. The record says that handsome dinners were provided, and the health of King George, the proprietaries, the governor, etc., were drank in high good humor, and at a certain time, at one of these sociable canticoes, the subject of the walk was in- troduced, and the several deeds and writings shown and explained by way of appeal to the high authority of the Six Nations, against the conduct of their cousins the Delawares, etc. In a private council among themselves, these mighty Csesars of the lakes and woods determined to chastise and humble their dependents, which II Narrative of the Long Walk. 91 they did in the followinfif deoiBive manner, at a council at Phila- deli)hia. PreKent the governor and his council, Canassatigo, Schickealumy and sundry chiefs of the Six Nations, Sassoonan, and Delawarcs, Nuttinms and Fork Indians ; Conrad Weiser, Pisquitoniun, and Cornelius Spring, interpreters. Canassatigo, on hehalf of the Six Nations, said: "Brethren, the governor and council. The other day you informed us of the misbehavior of our brethren the Delawares, with respect to their continuing to claim, and refusing to remove from some land on the river Delaware, notwithstanding their ancestors had sold it by a deed under their hands and seals to the proprietaries, for a valuable consideration upwards of fifty years ago ; and notwith- standing that they themselves had years ago, after a long and full examination, ratified that deed of their ancestors, and given a fresh one under their hands and seals; and then you re- quested us to remove them, enforcing your request with a string of wampum ; afterwards you laid on the table our own letters by Conrad Weiser, some of our cousin's letters, and the several writings, with a draft of the land in dispute to prove the charge against our cousins. We now tell you, we have perused all these several papers, we see with our own eyes that they have been a very unruly people, and are altogether in the wrong in their dealings with you. We have concluded to remove them, and oblige thetn to go over the river Delaware, and quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they have received pay for them, and it has gone through their guts long ago. To con- firm you that we will see your request executed, we laj' down this string of wampum in return for yours." Then turning to the Delaw^ares, holding a belt of wampum in his hand, spoke to them as follows : " Cousins — let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you ; you ought to be taken by the hair of the head, and shaken severely till you recover your senses and become sober. You don't know what ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. Our brother Onas's cause is very just and plain, and his intentions to preserve friendship. On the other hand, your cause is bad ; your hearts are far from being upright, and you are maliciously bent to break the chain of %, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT.3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 fr IIIIM Hiuu U il.6 i ZPx f ^^ c^ io ^ i 92 The Indian Miscellany. ■li. friendship with our brother Onas and his people. We have seen with our own eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors, above fifty years ago, for this very land, and a release signed not many years ago by some of yourselves and chiefs, now living, to the number of fifteen or upwards. But how came you, to take upon you to sell land at all ? We conquered you, we made women of you — you know you are women, and can no more sell land than women. Nor is it fit you should have the power to sell land, since you abuse it. Tliis land that you claim is gone through your guts ; you have been furnished with clothes, meat and drink, by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again like children, as yoi: are. But what makes you sell land in the dark? Did you ever tell us you had sold this land ? Did we ever receive any part, even the value of a pipe shank, from you for it? You have told us a blind story, that you sent a messenger to us, to inform us of the sale ; but he never came among us, nor we never heard any thing about it. This is acting in the dark ; and very different from the conduct of our Six Nations on such occa- sions. They give public notice, and invite all the Indians of their united nations, and give them all a share of the presents they receive for their lands ; this is the behavior of the wise, united nations ; but we find you are none of our blood, you act a dishonest part, not only in this, but in other matters, your ears are ever open to slanderous reports about our brethren ; you receive them with greediness, and for all these reasons we charge you to remove instantly. We don't give you the liberty to think about it, you are women. Take the advice of a wise man and remove immediately ; you may return to the other side of the Delaware, where you came from (Minisinks). But we do not know whether, considering how you have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted to live there or whether you have not swallowed that land down your throats, as well as the land on this side ; we therefore assign ;you two places to go, Wyoming or Shamokin ; you may go '(< either of those places, and then we yhall have you more under our eye, and shall see how you behave, and deliberate, but remove away and take this belt of wampum." Narrative of the Long Walk. 93 This being interpreted by Conrad Weiser into English, and by Cornelius Spring into the Delaware language, Canassatigo, taking a string of wampum, added further. " After our reproof and absolute order to depart from the land, you are to take notice what we have further to say : this string of wampum serves to forbid you, your children and grand children to the latest posterity, for ever meddling in land affairs ; neither you nor any that shall descend from you arc ever hereafter to presume to sell any lands, for which purpose you are to preserve this string in memory of what your uncles have this day given you in charge. We have some other business to transact with our brethren, therefore depart the council, and consider what has been said to you." When this terrible sentence was ended, it is said that the un- feeling political philosopher walk'^d forward, and taking strong hold of the long hair of the king of the Delawares, he led him to the door, and forcibly sent him out of the room, and stood there, while all the trembling inferiors followed him : he then walked back again to his place like another Cato, and calmly proceeded to another subject, as if nothing of the kind had happened. The poor fellows, in great and silent grief, went directly home, collected their families and goods, and burning their cabins, to signify they were never to return, marched reluctantly to rheir new home beyond ine Susquehanna. This shameful imposition was equally reprobated by all dis- tinguished and candid men in the province, and it was seriously apprehended that mischief would sometime grow out of it. But no doubt there were some land speculators, and those who had conducted the business to such an issue, who enjoyed the triumph with unfeeling satisfaction. Some families of those Indians con- tinued to come down ever}^ summer and cabin in the woods among their former friends, and go back in the fall. But when war began between England and France in 1754, and Washington and Braddock were successively defeated, there can be no doubt, that aggressions upon Indian rights by force and fraud, and in general the extension of settlements by the whites, became popular subjects of inquiry and explanation, at their great council fires ; I l!i 94 The Indian Miscellany. ' ! i II F' ill liif 'Ml M even the Li story of the running walk might then be patiently listened to. And it is said that leave was given by the Six Nations, to their cousins the Dclawares, Shawanees, etc., to strike the white people living on the lands they had been wronged out of. There- fore they immediately fell upon the back inliabitants of North- ampton county, in all the inhuman and cruel manner of Indian warfare, burning houses and barns, killing, scalping, and taking many women and cliildren into captivity ; and these terrible de- predations continued for about eighteen months. And strange as it may now appear to many in retrospect, notwithstanding the evident cause and origin of the vvar, a reward of £100 "^as offered by the governor in the public papers, for the head of Captain Jacobs, and £50 for the head of (^aptain Shingask, two Indian warriors. In this time of great public distress, there was much conversation on the subject; and as there could be no doubt but that it was occasioned by the imposition of the walk, it was pro- posed to try by way of experiment, how far it would have ex- tended if executed according to the deed. Therefore in the month called June, 1756, John Heston and Joseph L^mith (tavern keeper"\ began to walk at the high rocks on the Neshaminah creek in Wrightstown, about a mile below the bridge, thence up the branch north of John Wilkinson's and up the several courses of the creek to the head at Richard Thomas's ; thence followed the county line to Mayer's mill on Perkioming, then crossing the Swamp creek, four miles from the swamp, continued west to Jacob Bonduman's by the main branch of Perkioming, then west three miles into Philadelphia county, and from thence continued their course into the new Coshoppen about three miles into Berks county, and four from Bucks county, on the west side of a hill, near a heap of rocks. Some friendly Indians visited Philadelphia and on conversing freely with them, and the supposed cause of the war being ex- plained, a prospect opened that a peace might be obtained, if proper measures were pursued for that purpose. Therefore a number of Friends or Quakers united in friendly association for regaining and preserving peace with the Indians by pacific measures. Many of the members of this association, with the Narrative op the Long Walk. 95 free concurrence of the governors, Morris and Denny, attended divers conferences and treaties at Philadelphia and Easton, in which their pre3ence, and the remembrance of the fair deal- ings of William Penn with their forefathers were of essen- tial service towards procuring a cessation of hostili*;ie8, and finally the settlement of peace. Governor Hardy of New Yoik and Sir William Johnson, and Christian Frederick Pest, one of the Moravian brethren, afforded their advice and assistance, in favor of peace. Through the interposition of some persons in Philadelphia, also of General Johnson and others, conferences were hel'^ at Phila- delphia and Easton with the Indians ; and at the latter place, November 13th, 1756, Governor Denny enquired of Teedyuscung, king of the Delawares, and agent of the Six Nations, why the Indians struck the white people, and what grievances they had suffered, he answered: "Brother — You have not so much knowledge of things done in this country, as others who have lived longer in it, being lately come over to us. I have not far to go for an instance ; this very land that is under me (stamping his foot on the floor) was my land and inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud; when I say this ground I mean all the land lying between Tohickon creek and Wyoming on the Susquehanna. When I have sold lands fairly I look upon them as fairly sold. A bargain is a bargain. Though I have had nothing for the land I have sold, but broken pipes and such trifles, yet when I have sold them, even for such trifles, I look upon the bargain to be good. Yet I think I should not be ill used on that account by those very people who have had the advantage in their purchases nor be called a fool for it. Indians are not such fools as not to know when they are imposed upon or not to bear it in remembrance." The governor asked him what he meant by fraud in relation to the sale of lands ? He answci'cd : " All the land, extending from Tohickon over the great mountains to Wyoming bupe in the immense natural meadows which abound in that region ; endured hunger, thirst, cold, suf- fering, disease, death. The supposed conversion of a single > Reprinted rrom T^e Democratic Review (New York), for May, 1844. I P-*^ TuK Early Jesuit Missionaries. 103 Indian to the doctrines of the Catholic faith, tlio baptism of u single infant, Hccnis to have been to them an ample reward for all their labor, for all their toil, and for all tlieir suffering. From the slight memorials which have come down to us, of the labors of love of these venerable, intellectual and de- voted sons of the church, it is evident no sacrifice was too great, no Hnfferiiig too severe, no enterprise too hazardous, no toil unen(lura])le, which led to the accomplishment of the great object upon the success of which they had periled their all in this life, and sought that crown of glory in the next, which they felt sanguine would be the reward of their apostolic labors hero. " I have been most amply rewarded for all my trials and suffer- ing," says one of the lowly followers of Jesus, after having, for six days, lived on tripe dc ruche and a part of an Indian mocasin given him by a scjuaw, " I have this day rescued from the burning an infant who died from hunger, its mother's resources, in the general famine, having failed her; I administered to the dying infant the sacred rites of baptism : and tluink God, it is now safe iTom that dreadful destiny which befalls those who die without the pale of our most holy church." With us in the latter days, differing, as most of us do, in our religious opinions, from this school of ecclesiastics, it is almost impossible to do them justice. As a whole, their history has been little studied, and less understood. They have neither had their Livy, nor their Polybius; and if the history of these men, of tlieir exertions, of their influence, of their actions, for good or evil, ever is to be written with candor, it must he in this country — the scene of many of their labors, and we might well add, of their sufferings and their death. No subject would form a more im- posing theme for the historian ; none demands higher qualifica- tions, more -laborious research, and above all, the most dignified superiority to all the prepossessions of age, of country and of creed. The individual who has closely examined the colonial history of the North Western Territory cannot but be struck with the truth of the lemark, that "neither oommerciai enter- prise nor royal ambition, carried the power of France into the heart of our continent; the motive was religion." The same reli- , ,. 104 The Indian Miscellany. gious feeling whicli prompted our pilgrim fathers to plant the banner of the cross on the sterile rocks of IMymouth, carried it to the borders of the Mississippi : and while the inHuence of Calvin is felt in the worship and schools of New Kngland, the no 1( 88 powerful impulses of Loyola and his followers have left their marks upon tlu; whole AlgoM(|uin race, who dwelt on the borders of the Illinois and the Wabash. The morning matin and the evening vespers were heard amidst the war-whoop of the Indian, and the symbol of the Christian's faith to this day hangs in bold relief above the girdle which suspends his toma- hawk. The history of the Jesuit's labors is connected with every tribe from the waters of the Loc lYaei/ to where La Belle liivihe flows into the Michasippd — " not a cape was turned, nor a river entered but a Jesuit led the way." From the period when Charles Raymbault and Isaac Joguer accepted the invitation of the Chippewas to visit their tribe a* the vSault St. Marie in 1641, down to the middle of the eighteenth century, there was a suc- cession of missions, not only along the borders of the lakes, but at St. Joseph, now Vincenncs, on the Wabash, among the Mas- contins, the Pottawotamies, the Miamis ; at I'ooria, among the Illinois ; at Cahokia among the Tamarois or Cahokias ; at Kas- kaskia, and along the shores of the Mississippi; from the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Oldo ; down the whole valley of the Mississippi to the Arkansas, and the Natchez. Wherever the Jleur de (yswas hoisted, and the power of the ^ran(/ monarque made known to the Aborigines of the west, the humble but no less powerful influence of that sign by which the Jesuit conquered the stubborn hearts and pagan superstitions of these powerful nations, was displayed ; a id the Manitou of the Christian was acknowledged and worship od as the ordy true God. The influence of their exertions is telt even in the nineteenth century, among the remnants of those tribes which once lorded it over this Western Barbary ; and it was no idle boast of Le Jeune when he said, " The Mohawk and the feelder Algonquin shall make their home together ; the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and a little child shall lead them." Their bows have indeed been broken, and their tomahawks tumd into plough- ■i The Early Jesuit Missionaries. # 105 fihares ; but wlicther tlicir condition Iiuh been bettered by the progress of civilization, is a problem yet to be solved. There were three routes taken by the Jesuit fathers, on their pilgrimage to the tribes bordering the .MiHHiHHii)pi — all three passing out of Lake Michigan. The first up the St. Joseph's and thence into the Wal)arth ; the second up the Chicago river, thence by a portage actross into the Kankiki (called on the old maps Teakiki) and thence into the lUinoiH; the third the route taken l)y Mar(|uette and Joliet, ascending the Fox, and i 1^ 110 The Indian Miscellany. enemies of their tribe and kindred, the fierce and bloody Iro- quois. The entire dfstru'*tion, in 1655, by the Iroquois, of th'j Nation du Chat, ou Heries, who inhabited the southern borders of Lake Erie, and whose very exirtence as a natioii is known at the present day only by the name given by them to the lake (Erie) on which they dwelt, is a sad memorial of what would have been the fate of the Huron, had he not deserted his iiunting grounds, and the graves of his ancestors, and sought protection from his more warlike neighbors. But even there he was not safe. Many a Huron scalp has been carried as a trophy to his tribe, by the fearless Onondaga, who has sought his victim under the bastions of Fort Levi, or on the plains of Sylleri. In the years 1687-9, Father Maret and another Jesuit estab- lished a mission among the Sioux. In 1663, the Marquis de Tracy, lieutenant general in the French armies, was named viceroy of la Nouvelle France^ M. de Courcelles, governor, and the celebrated Talon, intendant. Affairs then presented a new aspect. The regiment de Cariguan (in which Frangois Mor- gan Vinceunes, the founder of Vincennes on the "Wabash, was an officer), arrived hi the colony in 1665, accompanied by M. de Tracy. An expedition was undertaken against the Iroquois ; many of their settlements destroyed, and this formidable enemy of Is^ew France humiliated. It was a primary object with the viceroy, to endeavor, if possible, to induce the red men to adopt the language, habits and manners of their conquerors ; but this, like every other experiment of the same kind for upwards of a century, entirely failed. In 1667, M. de Tracy returned to France. M. de Talon was left as his successor. In the mean- time, new missions were established in the west. The Ottawas, who had their villages on the east side of the straits connecting Lakes Erie and St. Clair, in the Bay of Sagamon, and the western end of Lake Huron, sent a deputation to Quebec ; and the Father Claude Allonez, at their solicitation, was sent as a missionary to their tribe. The sufferings endured in the same mission, but a few years before, by the Fathers Garreau and Mesnard, did not deter this holy man from the performance of what he conceived his duty to his God and his fellow men. He arrived at the sault The Early JEsniT Missionaries. Ill the first of September, 1668^ but he did not stop there. He em- ployed the whole month of Septf mber in coasting the southern portion of Lake Suporior, v/liere he met many Christians bap- tized by Father Mesnird. '* I had the pleasure," says this vene- rable man, " of assuring ])y baptism the eternal salvation of many a dying infant." His success with the adults seems to have been less. At Chagouamigon or St. Michael, on the southwestern side of Lake Superior, there were gathered eight hundred warriors of different nations ; a chapel was built ; among them were several tribes who understood the Algonquin language. So fine an occasion for exercising his zeal could not be overlooked. " I spoke in the Algonquin language," says he, " for along time, on the subject of the Christian religion, in an earnest and pow- erful manner, but in language suited to the capacity of my audience, I was greatly applauded, but this was the only fruit of my labors." Among the number assembled were three hundred Pottawattamies, two hundred Sauks, eighty Ulinoians. In the year 1668, peace having been established between the French and the Six Nations, many discoveries were made, and many new missions established. In this year Father Dablon and Marquette went to the mission of Sault St. Marie. In the same year. Father Nicholas, who was on the mission with Allonez, conducted a deputation of Nez Perces, an Algonquin tribe, to Quebec ; and Father Allonez went to the mission at Green Bay. Sault St. Marie was made the centre of their missionary labors among the Algonquin tribes. In the year 1671, Nicholas Perrot was sent by M. Courcelles, intendant in the province in the absence of M. Talon who had gone to France, on a special mission to the Algonquin tribes, to induce them to send deputies to the Sault St. Marie for the purpose of entering into an alliance with the French visiting the tribes north, with whom the French had commerce ; he left the straits and went to visit the Miamis at Chicago. Tetenchoua was the head chief of the nation, and could bring into the field four or five thousand combatants. He himself seems to have preserved the dignity and state of royalty, as he never, according to Perrot, moved " without a guard of forty warriors, who kept watch day and night about his cabin." wm T I 112 The Indian Miscellany. I Mil Is I His reception was in accordance with the dignity of the chief, and the rank of tde amhassador. Perrot remained amoT»g the Miamic some days. The chief would have aooonipanied him, but was, owing to iiis age, dissuaded from" doing so by his subjects. H ^ave full power, however, to the deputation of the Pottawatta- mies, who accompanied Perrot, to act for him at the conferenc , at the sault. Perrot was unable to visit the Mascoutins or the Kickapoos, but returned to the straits. The conference took place in the month of May, 1671. Father Allonez made them a speech; deputies were In attendance from all the tribes north as far as Hudson's bay. The deputies acknowledged subjection to the French monarch, and declared they would have no king but the Grand Ononthio of the French. Two cedar posts were placed in the ground, and to these were attached the cross and the arms of France ; and the envoy, M. de St. Lusson, declared, through Father Allonez as his interpreter, that he took possession of the whole country in the name of the French monarch, and placed all the inhabitants under his protection. The whole ceremony finished with a Te Deum and a discharge of fire-arms. In 1671, Louis de Buade Conte de Frotignac became the suc- cessor of M. de Courcelles in the government of New France. In the short space of time that the talented and enterprising M. de Talon was employed as intendant in New France, he estab- lished the authority of his master in the extreme north, and far in the west he had already undertaken new discoveries. Not only by the report of the tribes who dwell along the further end of Lake Superior, but of those who occupied the country in the southern bend of Lake Michigan, as well as from the relation of the Jesuit fathers, it was known that to the west of Nouvelle France, there was a great river, supposed to run south, and most probably emptying into the gulf of Mexico, if it ran that course, or that of California if it ran west. This river was called Me- chassippi by some, by others Micisippi. The spirited and enter- prising Talon was unwilling to leave the province until he had made some arrangement for its exploration. He charged the Father Marquette with the expedition, and gave him for his com- panion the Sieur Joliet, a citizen of Quebec, a man active and The Eakly Jesuit Missionaries. 113 enterprising, and fully capable of sustainin'; the fatigues of such an enterprise. No individual could have been better fitted for such an undertaking than the Father Marquette. In 1663 he was established a^ the mission of St. Joseph, on the river which bears that name, in the northern part of the present state of Indiana, and labored among the Pottavvattamies located there. In 1668, we have seen he was engaged with Father Dablon, at Sault St. Marie, to which place he r.ccompanied Father Dablon, with the Ottawas. He had traversed the great lakes, had intercourse with the various tribes who inhabited there, spoke several of the Al- gonquin languages, and no doubt had heard not only from the Pottawattamies, but from the Sacs, the Sioux, and more particu- larly from the Illinois, who attended the conference at Chagoua- migon, of the exibCence of tlie river, and its general course, of the tribes who dwelt on its borders, and all the particulai's neces- sary to be known to one who contemplated, as he says he did, its discovery. The difficulties of communication between these remote points — Quebec and the banks of tne Mississippi — had probably prevented any communication between the missionaries who had preceded him and their superior, at the time Marquette embarked on his voyage ; though it is to be presumed, that Marquette was not ignorant as late as 1673, when he left Green Bay, that missions had been already established in the Illinois, some years before ; and the 6clat attending the discovery might have induced him to witlihold all the sources of information, which as a discoverer alone, and not as a missionary, might have been in his possession. I feel no disposition to detract at all from the Father Marquette any portion of the merit which properly belongs to him. It is certain, that to his journal we owe our first knowledge of the Father of Waters. With Joliet as his companion, he entered the Mechasippi, in his bark canoe, on the 17th of June, 1673 ; having ascended the Fox from Green Bay, and crossing the por- tage, descended the Ouisconsin until its confluence with the Mis- sissippi. Leaving their frail bark to the guidance of the swift current of the river, they descended to the mouth of the Illinois. Three leagues below the junction of the Missouri (called by 9 I 114 The Indian Miscellany. Marquette, Pekitunoni) with the Mississippi, they found three vilhi^es of the Illinois. They remained here some days, and a<>jain embarking, dcHconded tlio Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. Their provisions and munitions i)eginning to fail them, and be- lievii)'^ it imprudent to advance further into a country whose in- habitants were unknown, and feeling perfectly satisfied from the course of the river that it discharged itself into the Gulf of Mexico and not into the Gulf of California, they retraced their stops to the mouth of the Illinois, ascended that river to the portage, mid thence into Lake Michigan. Maniuette remained at the mission of the Miamis, at Chicago, and alternately attended this and th« mission of the Pottawuttamies, on the St. Joseph. Joliet returned to Quebec, to render an account of their voyage to Talon, but found lie had returned to France. Father Marquette remained at the iiission for two years after his voyage, of which he gave a relation, pul)lishcd in 1687, under the modest title of Dicouverte de queliiucs Pays et Nations de V Amerique Septentrionale." Whan on his voyage from Chicago to the Isle of Mackinaw, he entered, the 18th day of May, 1675, the mouth of a small river on the western shore of Lake Michigan, known on the old maps as Riviere du P. Marquette,* erected his altar, for the pur- pose of saying mass at some little distance from the companions of his voyage, having first requested the two men who were his voyagctirs to leave him alone for the space of half an hour. This time having expired, his companions went in search of him, and were astonished to find him dead. The soul of this good and great man had taken its flight to another and better world ; and in accordance with a presentiment, no doubt entertained by him as he remarked to his companions when landing : " Here will be the end of my voyage." As it was too far from Mackinaw to remove his body there, it was buried on the bank of the river, which, according to Charlevoix, who visited it in 1721, had, since the burial of Marquette, " receded little by little from the grave, as if respecting the burial place." The following year, one of > According to the map of Charlevoix, accompanying his Sistoirt de la Nouvelle Prance, 1734, the location of the Rividre da P. Marquette is placed farther north than it ie on the recent maps of Michigan ; and it is the third river south of Bay du Travers, known on the modem maps ao Rividre au Betsies. lit The Early Jesuit Missionaries. 115 the two voyngeurs who had accoiiipaiiiod him, and aHsiHtcd in performing the hist duties to tliis ontcM'[)riHing and devoted son of the church, returned to the [>lace where he had i)een interred, and carried his remains to Mackinaw. Tlie Indians, after his death, gave to the stream on which lie was buried the name of Riviere de la Robe Noirp ; the French, that of P. Marquette; and these voyageurs of the inland sea of Michigan, for years, did not fail to invoke the spirit of the sainted num, as their frail barks braved the tempest of the lake, on their annual voyages to Mackinaw ; and the Algomiuin, as he coasted its borders, or hunted along its banks, cast his votive offering on the resting place of one, whose amenity of manners, goodness of heart, and kindness of feeling, had endeared him to every tribe from the mouth of the Huron to Sault St. Marie — from Chicago to Michilimackinac. Yet at this time, not a cross marks the place of his death ; not a stone shows that of his grave ; and the traveler, as he is carried by the genius of Fulton, with all the appliances of comfort and luxury, through the waters of Michigan, mny inquire in vain, where he died, or where he was buried. In the prairies to the west of the southern part of Lake Michigan, between the country occupied by the Foxes and the Illinois river, dwelt a tribe in the latter part of the seventeenth century, of whom, 80 far as we know, not a vestige now remains. They were known on the old maps as the Mascontins, or Nation de Feu. Charlevoix states, that the true name was Mascontenec, signifying an open country. The Pottawu^tamies pronouncing it Masconten, from them the French had taken the name ; and as the word in the "Pottawnttamic language, or a word similar to it, was translated fire, the name of ligation de Feu was given to them. The Kick- apoos were their neighbors, and in interest were united with the Mascontens. Whether this last tribe were amalgamated with the first, and lost their original name, it is impossible to say. They were visited by the Jesuit missionaries ; and Fathers Ailonez and Dablon, in 1674, met the chief of the Miamis, Tetenchoua, with three thousai^d braves, at their village. The fear of the Sioux and the Iroquois had united those two tribes against their common enemy. The relation attributed to Tonti, however, i ! 1! h ' ''11 la 1 iJii 116 The Indian Miscellany. mentions MansoHa, a secret emissary of the Irociuois of the neighboring nation of Vlaseontens, as having made Ins appearance in 1678 in the Illinois ; hut wo conceive very little credit is to he attached to tl -* work itself, as Tonti, who was lieutenant of La Salle, and accompanied him to Illinois, wliere he was left in charge in the absence of La Srlle, denies t'le autliorship. Be this as it may, we have no knov ledge of the existence of sucli a nation, cxcei)t the relations of the Jesuit fathers, and the name given to tliom on the early ma[)S ; though they appear to liave been a very numerous tribe. It is possible they may have been entirely destroyed, like the Ileries by the Iroquois, who waged a war of extermination against them, as well as their neighbors the Miamis, the Kickapoos, the Sioux and the Illinois. We shall not follow La Salle in his discoveries, nor Hennepin, nor Tonti's account of them. The last is now known to be fabulous ; and the first was writen by the author, with great prejudice existing towards La Salle. Hennepin was the sul)jcct of the king of Spain ; and his Reprinted from TIu HUtorical Magaaint (Morriaania, N. Y.), for Aoguat, 1866. Comparative Vocabularies. 121 and entitled: "Hitchittee or Chel-o-kee Dialect, spoken by several tribes of the great Muskokee Race." Those speaking the Mikasuke in Florida probably went from Georgia with the Mvskoke family, and some of them, at the time of the cession of the province to the United States by Spain, were living at a well- known lake bearing their name. From names borne by geo- graphical objects, they appear to have widely extended their wanderings over the peninsula. Whatever may be the theoretic history of the early migration of the Seminoles or Mvskokes, this much seems certain : the meaning of the word seminole is wanderer, strayed off, and is ap- plied to the nomadic Mvskoke; that, while traditions among an unlettered people become vague and uncertain in less than three generations from the time of the event they would com- memorate, names preserved in the narratives of the march of Hernando de Soto, attest that the Mvskoke language was in use among the Indians of Georgia, over three centuries since. B^OLI8H. BEMmOLE. MIKASUKE. HITCHITEE. Sound of the vowelB : a aa In far, « as in they, i as in marine, o as in go, v ai in gun. man woman old woman boy girl infant my father (said by son) my father (said daughter) ray mother (said by hvnvnwa hokte chipane choktoche istoche, hipoacbee by chalskee by chvtskee by chaliee chahaiua by chvpuchee chvtshusua son) my mother (said daughter) my husband my wife my son (said father) my son (said mother) my daughter (said by father) chvtshuste my daughter (said by mother) chvtshusua my elder brother chvtslaha my younger brother chachose sister chauanua my elder sister hoktala my younger sister chanunua manitka aa iudiaa iste chats nakvni taikee konchaka ahlehloce taikoche iatochc tate chalhke hoache vnnvk'ue chahvlke ach6che achostaike chachaie chaiapose ham6chaca chafvnke chafvn ochapaCi iatketesch6 nuckenih hohlagih auchebanotche autech auchee Ugih ahgih enukenih chahulgih auchee auchooouhgtda 122 The Indian Miscellany. ti! ENOLISH. people head hair face forehead ear (his) eye (his) nose mouth tongue teeth beard neck arm hand fingers thumb nails body chest belly female breasts leg foot toes bone heart blood town, village chief warrior friend house bread kettle bow arrow axe, hatchet knife canoe moccasins pipe tobacco sky sun moon star day night morning evening spring summer autumn winter wind thunder lightning rain SBMrNOLE. iste icA ica ise itothloftl icahoma iuinha ihustsko itolhu/l iupo ichukua tolasua infitee chukLisse nvkua sakpa inke uisaka inkitski inkikosusua ina ohokpc , nulhke ipisi MIKASUKE. iaton iose ios hiskc tafokee thlafeele hakehobe ete ebe eichi cholase enote choske nokbe thlokfe elbe ilbe uisake ilbeke ilbakose achakne chonokc Ivmpe moache HircnrrBK. ele eeie ile elepalase ileuasaka cuesake fane efone chafike chonosbe chifegaut bitchikchee chata pechekche talofa oele ochgiliohgih micko mikei mickee tusiky&vlge (all) tusikiahlhc tuatenugppc anhise achame ahchormiu choko chiki chickee tvklaike pvlvste chalkvs hvtke ieckhahatkec 'chokotakse iftchekotokbi thi slakee pochusua chiafe islatka eskvlvfkee pithlochee pithlocliee chuse iste libika chuse uelee {huokskin) iche pakua taloobe ^ ichi akchvme aholoche hossote basse haase habsohdih hoslibu haso tale hahsodalih cochochompa oache ke ohwohchikee nitta nihtaki uhbuksee nihli nihthlaki mohsoostee huthijutki hampole iatke opivs tasahchi Ivkhachoslas miske Ivkhache slafo sl4fi hotall fapliche tinitkl tonohkahche toknoukkee atoiohattl lamalecheeche osk6 ok6bache Comparative Vocabularies. ENGLISH. SHOW fire water ice earth, land sea river lake valley prairie liill, mountain island stone, rock salt iron forest tree, wood leaf bark grass pine maize squash flesh, meat dog buffalo bear wolf fox deer elk beaver rabbit, hare tortoise horse fly mosquito snake rattlesnake bird egg feathers wings goose duck (mallard) turkey pigeon flsh name white black red light blue yellow light green great, large small, little stronar old young good 123 SEMINOLB. etote tootka oiva etote ic&na oihatka oislako okhasse oihossi, panofa hiakpo ican halue oti, houitska chat6 okch-vnva ituvlkate itu tuisi itohulhpe pahe chole ache tahaia apesua ita ianasa nopose iaha cholA echo chopiekfi eichhasua chofe locha cholako chana okieha chittoo chittoo miko fosua itshostake tafa italhpa sasakua foch6 pinua pachf thathlo ochifka hvtke Ivste chate holatte ^a?^ . [like) pahi lanomi (looks slakke chukki yikchi achuli mvniti hSinUe MIKASUKE. eptivele ete ohke epte iakne okatke okichobe aiope, okelose penatke hiatle iacnebeke okantakle tale okchahni kochone pahay6ke ahi ahihiske ahehnlbe pahe choie aspe chicoie akne eU ianase ianse oba hose chole eche eichhoke posafe chokfe iokche cauaie choane hoskotone chinte chintmike foose onase hiske tolokbe hoshalg fooche faiti pachi thlathle ochilke hvtke lo6che ketesche onotbe lakvne pahetalukchome choobe uikchosis uante naknosi ojahbl heintloB HITCHITBE. edih okkee ochchahnih ahlee usppe nogasaut ohboorhoose echee The Indian Miscellany. seven eight nine ten eleven twelve twenty thirty forty fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety one hundred one thousand to eat to drink to run to dan to sing to sleep to speak to see to love to kill to sit to stand SBMINOLB. holouak ill uinaki kasuppi haj^e am chiimi imi pomi chinlaki imetahke hiamu ma omulka anachome istainiut opaie ahole yama ma mochanetta paksangke pakse encil ecosche hvnikin hokolen totchinen oosten chaskepen ipaken colapaken chinapaken ostapaken palen hvmkon talakeu hokolokaken pale hokolen " totchinen " osten " chaskepen " ipaken " kola paquen " chinapaken " ostapaken chokpi hvmkin [kin chokpi thloko hvm- hvmpita iskita litkita litkita iahaikita nochita opoonaita hechita anokichita ille icbita laikita hoythlita MIKABUKB. humpikos eie fisahke kabalckosche haieche am chihni inihni pohni chenoche inenohche iyale mame laapke anakapen nohlote opvnke auelosis yale mami emanetaki opiahchama paksaka h6 mates thlamen . toklan tochinan citaken chaskepvn Ipaken colapaken tosnapaken ostapaken pokolen tklauaikvn toklauaican poco toklan " totchinan " sitaken " ch&skepen " lepaken " kolapaken " tosnapaken " lostapaken chokpi thlamen " chobi thlamen empike iskeke isthnitkiki isthnitkiki bopvnke nocheke apvnke hecheke anokachike illi chike chokoliki hachaleke HITCHITBB. thlaii' hai to kai to chay see tall chah kee ee pak ko lapah tos nap pah OS ta pah po kolin po thlah' wai kan po ko to ko lin chok pee thlah' min Comparative Vocabularies. 125 !l ENGLISH. BBMINOLB. MIKASUKB. nrrCHITBB to go ayeta athleki to come atita onteke to walk yakapita chaiake to work atotketft tiikalskake to steal holskopita okepeke to lie laksita olaske to give to laugh emeta emekeke apilita haiakcki to cry hacaihkita hilaihkiki alligator hvlpata hvlpati slave salvfki anope cane coha othlane pumpkin chase chokse turtle olakaa ilakue wildcat coaki koosi ravine panasofki brier-root flour kunti kantiki high hvlui abvnti low kunchapl iakne flute fihpa conbokachichiki gourd iphipi iphipi ghost solope opossum sokha hatka sokeasikeni raccoon uulko shaue persimmon sata othkofe howk aiH akale owl opfi- opake tiger kacha koachobe bean talako shalale Proper Names, with l8tt)poga, iste atepogo^ person drowned. Sem. Okichobe, oki cTiobe, water big. Mik. Halpatioka, hvlpati oka, alligator many. Mik. Wekiwa, water spring. Sem. Pilatka, waca ak pilatka, driving many cows across. Sum. Pithlo-chokco, boat house (ship). Sem. Oclawaha, water muddy in there. Mik. Tohopkilige, tohopki laiki, fort site. Sem. Locktshapopka, loektsha popka, acorn to eat. Sem. Hichepoksasa, hihepok sassa, pipe many. Sem. Wekiwache, oiva vcJie, water. Sem. Homosasa, homo aassa, pepper many. Sem. THEIR Significations. Echasliotee, echas hotee, beaver his house. Sem. Choko-chate, house red. Sem. Choko-liska, house old. Sem PiinasofFke, pane sofke, valley deep. Sem. Withlacooche, oiva slakke uche, y*fater long, narrow. Sem. Chase-howi ska, pumpkin kay. Sem. Alaqua (hiliqua ?) sweet gum. Sem. Fenholloway, fenholoue, young turkey. Sem. Oklokne, okeloknee, much bent. Sem Etawa, one polling (a boat). Sem. Etenaiah, scrub. Sem. Econholloway, icana halue, earth high. Sem. The Lord's Prayer in Mikasuke.* In the last number of The Historical Magazine was published some vocabularies of the Indian languages, to which is now added the Lord's Prayer, given by one of the chiefs. As he did not speak English, and as the letters did not appear to be the same 1 From TJu mttorieal MagOMku for September, 1860. 126 The Indian Miscellany. as ours, and perhaps, if identical, not sounded the same, it was sent to Wasliington to be verified, and is now printed as it comes, rewritten by the competent ability of George Gibbs, Esq., who says, beyond tliis : " I tried to get something approaching a literal " translation, but it was beyond either the comprehension of In- dian, negro, or white man." B.s. Md-minn a-kd-minn mi-ko-sd-pits pokhlki a-bun-ti And now pray our father high tcho-ko-lits ka-kat tche-ho-tchif-kot hol-lat-tish. sits there thy name [be praised] great Md-minn tche-hai-at-lektchot e Id-tish monti a-biinti And thy glory be it heaven na-ki d-kc-lets-ka-kd 6-me-kat md-mi-tcbd-lot yd-leh as thou wishest like yak-a-nun' o-makh-me-tish. Nikh'-tak-a-lamp'-un pa-las'h-te et-le-che-ka-ka 6-men h^-man- e-tak'-e po-me gis. Ma-mik'h nd-ki po-md-ta-kun pun'-ka-pa-ye-cha-chish na-ki p6-md-tukh e-lengli-kdp pa-ye-chan-chi'-ka-ka o-me-cha lun. Shdt-o-pakh-ki'-kun p6-ba nah sho-nd-ba-kun shi-po nd-litsh kisli ma-mish-ka hdm-pa-kun po-tla-nas-chish me-ki-kot tche-nd- kosh wan'-te-e-kot tche-nd-koeh md-minn tchobe-e kot tche-nd- ke e-mong kot om-mish. A SIOUX VISION— TIIICK-HEABEDHORBE'S DREAM.^ By John Hallam. In May, 1845, Calvin Jones, one cf the most remarkable hunters and trappers our frontier has produced, went on a trading expedition to Whirlwind's village,^ in the southeastern part of what is now known as Dakota territory. Whilst there, he met Thick-Headed-Horse, a Sioux Indian, whom he describes as one of the most intelligent of his race, possessed of poetic fancy, a remarkable command of language and withal the best orator he ever heard amongst the aboriginal tribes. He delighted to be in the society of intelligent white men, and never tired in relating to them his experience and observations. During this visit, he related the following strange dream to Mr. Jones, to whom the writer is indebted for it. I went out alone with my gun, bow and knife, to hunt buffaloes in the rich meadows and valleys, towards the land of the Dakotas. I stood in the midst of a vast plain, covered with waving grasses and smiling flowers. The air was freighted with sweet incense, and laughing waters sung to the flowers as they rushed on through the wild meadows. My heart was filled with sunshine, and I loved the God who created and gave this land to the Sioux. Whilst I stood wrapped in meditation, in the midst of this enchanted scene, I looked across the plain and discovered what I conceived to be a buffalo approaching me, and secreted myself to await its approach. Presently it drew near, but I could see nothing but its head and part of its forelegs which supported it. The tall grass concealed the body from view. In my effort to discover the body, I could see nothing but the grass waving, for ' Reprinted from Tht /ntond i/ogroiin* (St. Lonifi), for June, 1876. Revised by the aathorfor Tht Indian MitceUany. * Whirlwind was a noted Sioux chief. If I >l ^iil! ! .;1 if' 128 The Indian Miscellany. four hundred yards to the rear. Tliis surprised and aroused my Indian suspicion and curiosity to their utmost capacity, and I was tempted to run, but my curiosity proved stronger than ray fear, and I stood still. The animal continued to advance, and I soon discovered that it was a monster snake, with the head and forelegs of a buffalo. I was now greatly alarmed, and my gun and bow fell to the ground, whilst I stood paralyzed, and involuntarily suffered the monster to enclose me within its coil. In this condition, for a few moments, I stood speechless and motionless, whilst the monster darted its tongue out thirty feet. I gazed into its brilliant eyes, that glistened like a mirror in the sun, until I was seized with a potent charm, which dispelled all fear, supplanted the normal state of my nature and transfused a new existence into my body. An irresistible inclination then seized me to mount and ride the animal, and I threw myself astride its neck and seized its horns for support. The animal then lengthened itself out and started at the velo- city of one hundred miles an hour, towards the rising sun, and carried me at this high rate of speed near two thousand miles without halting. Eivers, mountains, plains and forests whirled around in a ceaseless circuit, and I was filled with delight, in- fused with ui I defined fear. Th^ excitement supported my strength for a much greater period than the normal state of the body could sustain, but this acquired strength began gradually to wane, with the curiosity which imparted it, and the physical powers began to assert their claims to repose. At this crisis, the neck of the animal distended and assumed the shape of a beautiful carriage, and the scales widened into oval-shaped windows, as transparent as the clearest crystal. In the left hand corner of the apartment thus created, hung a snow- white curtain, made of the downy skin of a swan, which con- cealed a small apartment. Curiosity impelled me to draw this curtain aside, and I beheld the uncooked saddle of an antelope lying on a wickerwork of willow twigs and beside it the white skull of Wanawanda (a great Sioux war-chief, who had died a thousand years before). A Sioux Vision. 129 filled with a crystal liquid. Hunger and thirst, which I had not felt until now, attacked and impelled me to partake of the en- chanted feast before rae. I seized the meat and drew it forth, but it fell from my grasp, on the cushion before me, and a fire, covered with strange wickerwork, instantly appeared under it and commenced roasting the meat. Above the fire a square ch;n?ney, beautifully checkered with figures of red, yellow, purple and white diamonds, pierced the roof, and conducted the smoke away. When the meat was roasted, I took it oft' the fire, and the spit dissolved and disappeared in a white mist. The meat surpassed in flavor and excellence anything the imagination can picture to mortals. I then picked up the skull of Wanawanda and drank from it a nectar sweeter and more delicious than fiction ever pictured for an Indian god. When I set the skull down, it dissolved and Avas transformed into a fairy picture repre- senting a beautiful landscape, covered with many thousan'^. young Sioux warriors arrayed in costumes of great beauty and brilliancy, mounted on horses of surpassing beauty and speed. My Buffalo-snake-horse was still traveling to the east, with unabated celerity. We were now passing through the canon of a mighty range of mountains, and I looked out on them for a moment, but when I turned to gaze on the picture again, it had vanished. It was now far into the night; the full moon was marching through a cloudless sky, the stars glittered with renewed beauty, and lent all of their glory to brighten every corner of the heavens. Again I looked out through the crystal windows, and saw that we approached a range of mountains twenty miles high, with almost perpendicular sides and no pass through or over them. Here I thought nature planted a barrier to further progress, and that my destiny would soon be made known, the mysterious unfolding of which I dreaded ; the nearer it approached, the further ofif I wished it to be. I felt a keen desire and curiosity to know it, but was not yet prepared to accept or embrace it. My heart thumped against its walls of flesh, and, much against my Indian training and in- stincts, told me that I was a coward. As we neared the mountain, my steed halted for the first time, 10 rr 130 The Indian Miscellany. •n i and stood upon itstuil in front of an immeneio cliff, and mounted to the top. In this way it ascended to the summit and coiled its way down to an immense plain below, and again proceeded to- wards tlie rising sun, with unabated vigor. Day was now be- ginning to break in the eawt, an&. I ill ::. f :!l 132 The Indian Miscellany. After collecting my scattered and distorted faculties as well as I could, I told him that I was no designing or voluntary intruder into this world; that I had not come by choice, but by chance, over which I had no control ; and that I would make my escape as soon as possible, to which he replied in a modified tone, in- dicating that his harsh feelings were giving way a little. *' No matter how you came or what agency brought you ; if you came by chance, you can employ the same agency to con- duct you away." And he continued : " That animal, sir, is the devil, in his own proper person, I have seen him before. The people in this happy hunting ground have no use for him, or any person who ii as intimate with him as you appear to be." At this speech I was overpowered with fear, trembled in every limb and spoke in half intelligible sentences. My worst fears were realized. I was with the devil, who seemed willing for me to escape, but another agency had appeared and commanded me to continue with him. When the good old Sioux discovered this, his heart softened and he took pity on me and said, "Don't be alarmed, my friend, I see you are from the land of the Sioux, in the other world. I am from that tribe myself; come into my lodge, I will give you food." I gladly obeyed him now, and he gave me a fat roast of buftalo, and told me I was in the spirit land and happy hunting ground of the Sioux ; that his name was Spotted Wolf, the great medicine man of the Sioux, who was shot on the Missouri river three hundred years ago, by the Rhea Indians, with a round stone cut out of a white buffalo, the only thing against which his life on earth was not charmed. " You have often heard of Spotted Wolf," he said, and I as- sented to the supposed knowledge and feigned great delight at meeting him in the happy hunting ground, which pleased him very much. I then asked him who the little black men were in the upper story or apartments of his lodge, and he said, " They are my little medicine men. I have trinned them to attend the game here. When game is wanted, I send them after it. They possess a potent charm over all game in the happy hunting ground." He was very communicative and seemed desirous of imparting A Sioux Vision. 133 to me his whole stock of information, before questioning me. With other things, he said, " I am a strong man, and can run that devil horse ol yours out of the happy hunting ground, and will show you how to do it yourself, when you sit and rest your- self; but you nmst go with him — we have no use for you here." After I had finished my repast and rested a little, he commanded me to take a large branding iron, heat it to a white heat and apply it to the belly of the beast, and mount him. To this I dissented and told him that if I had to go oft* with the devil, that I had better keep on good terms with him and not make him mad by applying a hot iron to him. This angered Spotted Wolf ; he stamped his foot imperiously on the ground and ordered me to immediately execute his orders. I obeyed him through fear, but determined, in my own mind, not to mount the devil's back after burning him with a hot iron. I much preferred to encounter the displeasure and rage of Spotted Wolf to that of the devil. In the execution of the strategy designed, I was left no alternative but apparently to obey the order ; so I opened the door leading to the beast, and applied the hot iron as gently as possible. At the touch of the iron, he darted away as quick as lightning and prevented, by the celerity of his movement, any attempt to mount his back, and this relieved me from any apparent design to dis- obey my order. Spotted Wolf looked on, and saw that it was almost an impossibility to mount the animal after applying the iron, and though angry, gave me the benefit of the doubt in his mind. I now thought myself rid of any further trouble with the devil, and only thought of devising means to enable me to return home. Spotted Wolf, after the first pangs of disappointment passed away, invited me to remain all night with him, and suggested that I could take an early start next morning. I gladly accepted the proffered hospitality, and hoped that the interval might pro- fitably be employed in devising means to return to my own world. My host gave me a good and bountiful repast of roast deer, boiled corn and broiled fish. Then he told one of his children to hand the pipes and tobacco ; he took one made out of the thigh-bone of a Pawnee warrior and gave me one made out of the arm-bone I !Hli 134 The Indian Miscellany. of a Blackfeet Indian. These, he said, were burir i with his body after he was killed by the Rhea Indians, and were brought by him to the happy hunting ground, as reminders of his worth and valor on earth. He talked long and late into the night, and gave me little opportunity to relate my own history and import- ance. When he perceived that I was weary and sleepy, he gave me a fine robe and told me to go to sleep. The mental and physical exhaustion and torture which I had now undergone, capacitated me to enjoy a profound slumber. I awoke early in the morning, and Spotted Wolf immediately resumed conversa- tion, and gave vent to his curiosity by inquiring into all the de- tails of my journey to the Spirit Land. I told it to him as it is related to the reader, and he listened with profound attention. But he was master of the emotions which stirred his soul within and suffered no movement of the facial muscles to betray his thoughts. In this, he proved him- self master of that Indian philosophy which teaches subjection and control of the passions and emotions in the face of danger, as a means of avoiding it. Whilst relating my wonderful ad- ventures, I eyed him intently, to discover if possible the influence it had upon him and the corresponding influence his action might exert on my destiny, and in this I exerted all my faculties in the full strength of their normal force, but was foiled, and discovered no index. For some moments after my story was ended, he held me in painful suspense and doubt, and hung his head as if in profound meditation, revolving the ominous meaning of my strange visit. The first question he asked me after breaking the deep silence was, whether I had died before leaving the world from which I came. On being answered that I had not, he exclaimed, " It is impossible ; no Sioux ever came to this hunting ground before dying on earth." A moment of silence and profound agony to me then ensued. An issue was thus raised which I was wholly incapacitated to meet ; my integrity was flatly disputed by one whom I regarded as superior in authority and power over me, by one whose fiat would determine my destiny. Hope died within me, apparently mr I A Sioux Vision. 1^5 to rise no more, when Spotted Wolf cried out, in a commanding voice, to his attendants, bidding them to seize and bind me. This command was instantly executed and a council was called to dispose of me. As soon as it assembled, an eagle appeared hovering on its wings over the assembly of wise men, and cried out in a loud voice, in the language of the Sioux, " Turn him loose and let him go, turn him loose and let him go." Conster- nation seized every member of the assembly, and they all dis- persed, leaving me free to follow my own volition. I then proceeded on my journey five miles to the west, and met a great war chief from the Sioux country, who halted and spoke to me in an angry tone. He asked me what I was doing in the happy hunting ground, and I told him that I had not come by choice but by chance, and that I was leaving as fast as I could. To which he replied, " You must get out of here quickly, sir. I am the great war chief of the Sioux. I was killed on Mer' icine Bow river, by the Pawnees, two hundred years ago. Come with me, get your horse and leave at once." I told him that I had no horse, and he said, " why do you speak falsely, like a cowardly dog ; your horse has your brand on him, and is now at my lodge ; he came there yesterday." I was again stricken with fear and amazement, and dared not dispute anything he said, or refuse to obey his orders. I won- dered how, or through what agency he knew all this. I obeyed, and followed along after him like a dog. We soon arrived at his lodge, which was the largest I had ever seen. It was made out of lion skins, finely dressed and painted. "When we arrived in front of his lodge, he did not ask me in, but said, " Your horse is in that rock lodge, go and mount him, and leave this country at once." After this speech, his squaw presented herself and said, " Big Lion, don't send the poor man away on that horse ; he wants to go back to the world he came from ; you know that horse will never take him back there. Have pity on him, for the sake of his wife and children ; they are hungry and in distress on the banks of the Wapka Schicha, in the land of the Sioux, and have no one to provide for them." ■' ■1 - ' 136 TuE Indian Miscellany. At this speech, hope revived in my bosom, and I began to feel joy in my heart. I had found one who espoused my cause, in the land of spirits. But my hopes were again crushed, when Big Lion replied, " I know the horse will never return to the land of the Sioux, and for this reason I make Thick-Headed- Horse mount him ; I want him to ride into the land of the Paw- nees and slay them ; they are the enemies of my people. Big; Lion and his wife had a maiden child born unto them in the happy hunting ground ; she was then ten years old, and was dressed in a white swan skin. Her mother, after her father's speech, called her and told her to bridle the poor man's horse. The little maiden came at her mother's bidding, all radiant with smiles and ran into an apartment of the lodge and returned with a bridle, wrought of white buftlilo hair, with silver bit and gold rings, and beckoned me to follow her. I obeyed, feeling power- less to resist. She opened the door and walked up to the animal, devoid of fear and unconscious of danger. After bridling the animal, she led it out and held the reins until I mounted. She then waved her hand to the north, and it started at a high rate of speed, spreading its neck and folding the skin so as to seat me comfortably. I was conducted a distance of two thousand miles, through this happy hunting ground. We next entered a burnt fore 4, where everything was scorched and blackened with lire. This burnt forest was five hundred miles in width. We emerged from it into an open, rolling, prairie country, covered with vast herds of game, fine horses, beautiful rivers and Indian lodges, but our speed was so great that I could not tell v/hat tribe in- habited this beautiful country. On the same evening of this journey, we approached a vast mountain range, covered with snow. As we neared the foot-hills, a peal of thunder rent a great chasm in the earth, into which the monster entered. I had now settled in the conviction that I was a child of destiny, and was, for some purpose unknown to me, being driven and conducted through a vast network of worlds, by the God who created them all. The fear which every living creature possesses, began to be exhausted in me, and the greatest source of anxiety which I now felt, was at the loss and sorrow of Omarinta and l" A Sioux Vision. 137 the children. I was now conscious that I was passing through one world into another, where a great battle was to be fought with the Pawnees, the hereditary enemy of the Sioux. This much I divined, when Big Lion rejected the entreaiies of his squaw in my behalf. Nature now asserted her dominion over the physical body, and I was soon wrapped in sound, tranquil slumber, from which I awoke as we were emergin'^ into a world of surpassing beauty. I saw hills, valleys, streams, plains and meadows, and great quantities of game, tine horses, birds of rich plumage, and many beautiful Indian villages. At the tenth hour in the day, I saw a vast army. My steed drew near, halted, and awaited its approach. The army spread out on the plains and enclosed the monster in a circle, which gradually diminished as they cautiously approached. They were all young Pawnee warriors, dressed in brilliant armor, and mounted on fine horses. When they drew near, the monster sprang forward, threw its tail around, and repeated the movement until the army, amounting to one hundred thousand, was de- stroyed. After this, ihe beast moved off a few miles at a slow pace, and halted. Then, to my great amazement, it spoke to me in good Sioux, and said : " The god of the Sioux has chosen you above all others of your tribe to lead them. I am the enchanted war-chief of the Sioux in the happy hunting ground. I was killed eight hundred years ago on Snake ri-^er, by the Pawnees and Blackfeet Indians in a great battle. My name is Big Snake. The god of the Sioux commanded me to assume this shape, and conduct you through the worlds as I have done, that you might see all things and become wise and brave and the great chief of a mighty tribe. All the game, horses, birds and people which you have seen, once lived on earth, their spirits have been brought hither to people and populate all the worlds you have seen. The great country we passed through, after crossing the mighty river, is occupied exclusively by Indian gods and their squaws. Each chief, after serving as such in a spirit land for one thousand years, becomes a god, and settles on the margin of the mighty river. You have seen the happy hunting grounds of the Sioux. Arapa- 138 The Indian Miscellany. hoes, Cheyennes, and Pawnees, the Blackfeet and Crows, live in worlds similar to those you have seen. Henceforth you will be invincible in battle, and will raise your tribe to the greatest height of power. You will conquer all the nations who oppose you. From hence you are to return to your tribe in a few hours. Dismount — take your knife, go to the end of my tail and rip open the skin, under the border of hair there, and you will find an enchanted whistle and medicine bow made by the god of the Sioux, for you. With that bow, you will slay thousands of enemies, and will always be victorious. When you blow the whistle, all your desires at that moment will be instantly accom- plished. My mission is now performed. I am no longer your guardian ; you possess now as much favor and power as I do." At this marvelous sp 3h, I was amazed and bewildered, and doubted my own senses. I dismounted, obeyed the order, and found the enchanted bow and whistle. This gave me a degree of confidence, but I was still not satisfied that all these marvel- ous things would prove to be true. The transition from utter dependence and helplessness to power so transcendent was too great, and proved more than my mind could embrace in so short a time. The first thing I did, after possessing myself of the bow and whistle, was to tell the war chief that I wanted a fine spotted war horse, before he left me. I still felt dependent and far from possessing the power his discourse indicated. He rebuked me sharply, for making such a request of him, and said : " Did I not tell you to will and blow your whistle, and your desires would be gratified ?" I am of a sensitive nature, and keenly felt the rebuke. I had suddenly found myself the possessor of vast power without that consummate wisdom which is necessary to direct it in attainment of desirable and worthy ends, and this vision admonishes me that, whenever mortals attempt to assimilate the power and character of the gods, they are to be pitied for their weakness rather than censured for their arrogance. The rebuke of the great war chief recalled my senses, and I blew my enchanted whistle. Instantly one of the finest spotted war horses I ever beheld appeared before me, caparisoned in all mi I A Sioux Vision. 139 the attractive insignia of war. Up to this period, the enchanted chief had maintained his assumed form. He now said, " My labors with you arc finished ; I am going to dissolve and return to my own happy hunting ground, in my natural body." The animal then dropped down .instantly and assumed the shape of an old dried snake-skin and skeleton on the plain, and the chief appeared before me clothed in a fine war dress, and mounted on a snow-white horse. He then called out an army of young Sioux warriors to appear and conduct him home, and five thousand made their appearance, clad in bright armor and mounted on white horses. They saluted him with songs and ravishing music, and all started off in one grand cavalcade. I stood motionless and gazed at them until they disappeared. The reverie which enthralled me at the sight of this grand pageant, caused me to forget my own consequence, and for a few moments I contemplated what to do. The first great pleasure which my new situation imparted was derived from a sense of being freed from danger. That rapturous sensation of delight which is supposed to spring from the possession of power was slow in possessing my soul to the exclusion of more rational ideas. The first sensation of pain which I felt, grew out of a sense of utter loneliness. Man is eminently a social being, and both the rude and refined elements of his nature lie dormant in the pre- sence of solitude. After being alone a short time, the first practical idea which presented itself to my mind was to try the speed of my horse. This I did, and found him as swift as the wind. Next, I tried my enchanted bow in a chase after deer and elk, and found it a weapon which I could use with unerring aim and perfection. Next, I desired to try the merits of my enchanted whistle, and meditated for some time as to the character of the test to be applied. I remembered two Blackfeet Indians who had chased me on Okoboga creek, near the land of the Dakotas, and came near catching me. They were mortal enemies, and I thirsted for revenge. I wished for them to present themselves before me, blew my enchanted whistle, and they appeared immediately. Their sudden appearance at first startled and alarmed me, as %. m 140 The Indian Miscellany. ♦ when I first saw tliem armed and seeking my life, and my first impulse was to run, as I had done before. They stared me fully in the face, and appeared to be wholly unconscious of fear or danger. I gazed at them for a full minute before I again thought of my enchanted bow ; then 1 tired two shots, and each one fell dead. I scalped them. My confidence was now very great in all that Big Snake had told me. The day was now spent, the sun was sinking behind the western plains, the birds in the spirit land were hurrying to their nightly shelter, and I thought of Omarinta and the children. So ecstatic was the thought of seeing them in a few moments that it overpowered me, and nearly took my breath away. As soon as I collected myself a little, T fathered a convulsive wish to be in their presence, blew my whistle, and found myself standing at the door of my lodge. Omarinta seized me by the neck and wept tears of joy as she hung her confiding head on my bosom, and the children seized me by the hands and legs and pulled me down to tlieir level and whare of domestic joy. After the first spasm of domestic; greeting, Omarinta looked embarrassed, as she began to excuse herself for not being able to set a repast before me. For four days she and the children had had nothing to eat but bark and twigs. This imparted a strange confusion of sorrow and joy, and I cried out : " Oh, Omarinta,! am now the strongest medicine man the Sioux ever saw. I will call a bufiiilo to the door in a moment, and we will have a great feast. I am possessed of a potent charm, which gives me control of the world." She involuntarily drew back and looked at me with amazement, evidently thinking me deli- rious or insane. This conviction of my wife for a moment forestalled the pleas- ure I had anticipated, and gave me pain when it was least ex- pected. In the pride and intoxication of supernatural power, I had forgotten the strongest instincts and prejudices of my race. After a little reflection, I recognized the folly of trying to convince her by mere oral declaration of the wonderful powers of which I was master. All the powers of speech of which I was possessed would have been thrown away in an eflbrt to convince her, i i! A Sioux Vision. 141 without oecnlar demonstration, of the powers asserted. I seized my 1)0W and wliistle and stepped out on tlic hanks of the Wapka Schicha, and told h^r t» follow me in the light of tlie moon. She obeyed, hut gave me a look r>f incredulity, which told more forcibly than words could express of the subdued pity which reigned in her bosom. In my eagerness to remove her doubts and vindicate myself, I hurriedly asked her what species of game she preferred, buffalo, deer, elk, antelope or bear. She hesitate "" for a moment, and seemed unwilling to say, because she dreaded the disappointment which she felt sure would react on me. I urged her to speak, and she said ; " There is no game near here, but I prefer elk to any other species." I blew my whistle, and a large elk stood before me. I drew my magical bow and sped an arrow through its chest ; it bounded in the air, floundered on the ground, and died in a few moments. Omarinta screamed with joy, called the half-famished children, cut out the liver, and all of them fell to devouring it. After we had dressed the meat and stowed it away, the children, with their bellies distended, went to slcei), Omarinta picked up the half burned chunks, and we sat down on a robe. I then related my story to her. Tears came to her eyes, alternate joy and amaze- ment asserted their sway ; then incredulity would drive each away from her beautiful face and painfully assert its control ; then love and confidence would assume the mastery of the contending passions, but beneath it all, doubt lingered and asked for further confirmation. I had been a man of some parts, and was respected by my tribe, so I had but little trouble in assembling the tribe to hear my wonderful story. I went to the chief and influenced him to assemble the tribe, and a large concourse attended, not knowing the object for which they were called together. All listened with profound attention until the conclusion, an omen which I regarded as highly favorable. But as soon as I concluded, Old Fox, the cunning medicine man of the tribe, rose, and gravely asserted that all I had said was a lie ; that it was evidently a cunningly devised scheme to supersede him, and become the medicine man of the tribe. When he took his seat, twenty of 142 The Indian Miscellany. I ■ i I I !; i ii his friends rose and all desired to speak at once. After order was rcHtorcd, each iu turn pronounced me a humbug of the first class, and some went so far as to suggest that such a dangerous character ought to ])o disposed of at once. These were succeeded by others more moderate in their criticism, but all concurred in declaring their disbelief in all of my statements. After all had spoken who desired, the chief rose and stated that he concurred in the general verdict, but that he was opposed to resorting to extreme measures in my case, in consideration of my former good standing in the tribe ; that he would consult with Old Fox, and devise a test which would be satisfactory to all. With this conclusion, I was well satisfied, and resolved not to make a too sudden display of the extraordinary powers with which I was clothed. My experience with Omarinta had set me to reflecting, and had imparted a valuable lesson. Old Fox said that he would take me to Fox mountain, three miles distant, and test my capacity to catch wild foxes ; that if I could catch as many foxes' as he could, he would agree that I was a very strong man ; and that if I could even catch one fox, he would agree that no penalty should be inflicted for the imposition I had at- tempted on the tribe. This test was to be immediately r..pplied. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, Old Fox went to the right and I to the left. We were to meet on the opposite side. After he passed out of sight, I blew my whistle, and one thousand foxes, as large as buffalo bulls, apper^red before Old Fox, and gnashed their teeth at him. . I stood still to await the result. He came running to me, and fell, terror stricken, at my feet. After he had collected himself a little, he stated that he had been menaced by a thousand foxes, as large as buflfalo bulls, and that he could not catch one of them ; that, in his opinion, the devil had turned them loose to destroy the Sioux. Presently the foxes approached us. I lassoed one and tied it to a tree ; caught another and mounted its back. Then I struck Old Fox dumb and bade him follow me to the village. 1 The Sionx regard the toDt;ae of a fox us an infallible remedy for any wound inflicted with an arrow, or any puncture of the flesh. They believe that it will draw out a nail, needle, polaonons or virus matter or foreign substance. Olf". Fox was master of this school, and always kept a cage of foxes in Fox mountain, ready for any emergency. When he wanted a fox, he pretended to go anjl catch the wild animal, and had thne acquired great reputation with the Sionx. •i'li A Sioux Vision. 143 I then told the chief what had transpired, and that Okl Fox had hahitually imposed upon the tribe, by keeping a cage of foxes in Fox mountain. Tliis ilid not convince the tribe tliat I was the mighty man I claimed to be, but it for the moment diverted inquiry and criticism from myself to Old Fox. He was severely questioned, and condemned by some, but stood mute. One-half of the tribe was for executing him on the spot, but he had many friends, and the other half seized their weapons to defend him. Civil war was thus imminent, and it required judgment to avert its calamities. To avert this, I ordered the chief and all of his principal men to go to the mountain and bring in the fox I had tied. Wlien we arrived there, I commanded the fox to lie down and the chief to mount it. The order was obeyed with much reluctance and fear. He rode back to the village, and I ordered the foxes re- released. In this exhibition, I was mistaken as to the effect it would pro- duce on the tribe. My powers were generally conceded, but it greatly embittered both the friends and opponents of Old Fox, who again rushed to arms, and necessitated another diversion to prevent civil war. My experience thus far in the exercise of that unlimited power with which I was so unexpectedly invested, convinced me that unrestrained power ought never to be separated from consummate wisdom and that goodness of heart which is the attribute of the gods. At this juncture, I blew my whistle, and instantly five hundred Pawnee and Blackfeet warriors appeared and offered battle. They dashed through the village, and captured large booty, em- bracing the greater portion of the horses belonging to the tribe. This healed all dissension in the tribe. After the enemy had departed with their booty, I commanded them to halt, and sum- moned an army of Sioux warriors from the spirit land, and put the enemy to death. The tribe did not participate in this slaughter. Many looked on as awe stricken spectators ; others fled in dismay, and took shelter in the mountains. I dismissed my warriors to the spirit land, collected the scat- tered Sioux, and was hailed as their mighty chief. They made a litter, and carried me in triumphal march through the village. 114 The Indian Miscellany. All the maidens of the trihe aesemblcd, anointed me with sweet incense and sung son^s of praiHC to the mip^lity warrior of the Sioux. Under my leadership, the Sioux coiKiuered all the sur- rounding nations, and became tiie rulers of the eartli; but my knowledge was not commensurate with my power, and I often experienced the most perplexing difficulties. I often planned the accomplishment of great ends, wliich could not be attained without great injustice to my fellow mortals. These difficulties ever attended me in the execution of the minor as well as that of the most important affiiirs of my government. In my elevation to power, my conscience suffered many rude blasts, and as de- clining years advanced, it continually admonished me that ray glory rested on the broken columns which attested the ruin of multitudes of my fellow mortals. In the evening of a long life, my conscience developed a sound growth and photographed on the walls of my soul all the follies, errors and crimes of my life. Then, could I have done it, I would have gladly exchanged all the pomp and splendor which power had conferred, for the simple, unheralded virtues of my humblest subject. [Ln JOSEPH BRAKT, TIIAYE.YDAN'EGEA, AND IIIS POH- TERITY,^ By Wm, C. Huyant. Brant House. More than a generation has passed away since Col. Stone's elaborate biography of the great Mohawk chieftain was issued from the press. The book, once a thumbed and dog-eared favorite in every district school and circulating library, was eagerly devoured by a class of young readers whose imaginations revelled in its romantic and thrilling pictures of border warfare and forest life, and whose sympathies were irresistibly drawn out toward the central figure in that picturesque group of actors. That Brant and his Mohawks cast their fortunes with the British in the war for independence, did not materially lessen the admiration of that ardent and generous class of readers. It ' Reprinted from The Atnertcan Historical Record (Philadelphia), for Jnly, 1873. meotary note written by the author for the Indian MisctUany. 11 With a supple- 146 The Indian Miscellany. in M was the crowning act of that grand fidelity to the flag of our British ancestors which this loyal race had illustrated in the long and doubtful contest with the French, which they were ready to seal with their blood and which involved the soriows of expa- triation, the sacrifice of home and country. In Col. Stone's volumes. Brant id depicted as a brave and con- summate warrior, a statesman of rare forecast and sagacity, an adroit diplomat and accomplished courtier, a magnanimous foe, a faithful and chivalrous friend. Since then, the iconoclastic tendencies of the age have conspired to cast down Col. Stone's hero from the high pedestal on which that enthusiastic writer had placed him. His success and consequence are held by some writers to have been purely adventitious and largely overestimated. In fact. Brant, divested of the glamour which Col. Stone had thrown around him, has been described as a prosaic and alto- gether commonplace personage, not superior to, if indeed he were not surpassed in native scope and vigor of intellect, and all heroic qualities, by many less prominent cotemporaries of his race. Allowing all reasonable deductions for Col. Stone's enthusiasm and partiality, there is abundant evidence in his pages to show that Brant was a great man — in many respects the most extra- oidinary his race has produced, since the advent of the white man on this continent. There is no contesting the facts that his influence over his own people was controlling ; that he was no mean strategist and won the praise of trained tacticians for the manner in which some of his military enterprises were conducted ; and that he was the pet of the British government which spared no pains to conciliate and retain him in its interests. His humanity toward a captive or fallen foe is too well established to admit of controversy. Brant was never, in any sense, the willing tool of the British government. He possessed the barbarian jealousy without its capriciousness. His letters reveal a proud and sensitive spirit, jealous of its dignity and which could not brook the slightest imputation of dishonor; an irritable though generous temper that involved his correspondents in endless explanations, and Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Posterity. 147 which it was their constant effort to soothe and allay. The ex- tent and amplitude of his mental vision were as remarkable as were his courage, energy of character and resolute will. Nothing eluded his observation, whether it transpired in the cabinets of ministers or in the forest-senates of the far south and west. He would not yield to the persuasions of Lord Dorchester, and other agents of the British crown in 1787, and precipitate a general Indian war against the infant republic because he clearly caw what escaped their sagacity, that such a war would sweep away in a torrent of patriotic fervor the murmurs of popular discontent which so elated the British, and would end in irretrievable dis- aster to the red man and further humiliation to the British arms. Captain Brant was born to no titles or dignities. He was created a chief by the popular voice, and his influence far outweighed that of the higher class of rulers, the hereditary saci^ems.* This influence was not, as has been suggested by some writers, the result of his English education — his superior Htness for being the organ or medium of communication between a cultivated nation and its barbarous allies. He was an illiterate man. There were other Indians, attached to the British interests, who enjoyed superior opportunities for becoming acquainted with the English language and the learning taught in English schools. The fol- lowing letter, printed for the first time, reveals his imperfect acquaintance with the idiom and grammar of our language — a few years later, when he had abandoned the war path and devoted himself to promoting the moral and material interests of his people, the work of self-education commenced and i a its rapid progress developed an astonishing capacity for mental acquisition and development. Cataraqui, Jan. 13, 1786. Sir : Mindful! my promise to you 1 now take the opportunity to inquire after your health which I hope this letter will find you in good state of health and hope you will he able to answer me this, without any delay » The sachemshlpB of the Iroquois descend through the fi;inn\i5 line. John Brant Inherited the office of tekarifu/jea fh)ni his mother. He himself could not have transmitted the title to a son. The family tomb at Brantford pobllshes the error that John Brant " succeeded his father as tckarl- hogea." The monument was bnllt and the Inscription written by whi'e men not versed in the In- dian laws and customs. 148 The Indian Miscellany. m 1! fi and be agreeable your promise to me likewise. I have nothing any particular to inform alone you concerning the public affairs because I live here. I been away from the five nations very near three months. Shortly after I parted with you at F. I was as far as Quebec my way to England but hearing there that Capt. Aaron Hill a Mohoc chief was detained and kept as hostage by the commissioners of Congress which alarmed me made me turn back from there to this place and shall winter myself here. I have wrote letters to his Excellency governor Clinton & to my friend Major Peter Schuyler the time I left at Niagara, but I had no answer, neither of them since. So in short I am at present in the dark as to many points of bx;siness. E^^en T had no true account the manner Capt Hill is kept & where ht is I dont know. Tlie conclusion of that council at Fort Stanwix by the Commissioners I have had no account at all. Therefore I hope you will please explain me some of the heads of that council. I hope those commissioners did not o'^ersett all what you Captain Brant was a staunch churchman and It was mainly through hie exertions that his people, on being transplanted to Canada, were provided wltli a house of worship. For years afterward he labored unsuccessftiUy to secure the services of a resident missionary. In this long interval of Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Posterity. 149 Republics, if not ungrateful, seldom take much interest in the posterity of their heroes, but I have thought that the boys of the last generation, whose massy locks have grown scant and silvery since they followed the fortunes of Thayendanegea through Col. Stone's bulky volumes, might care to learn a few particulars concerning the latter and less eventful history of the family. The gallant and lamented Col. John Brant, Ahyouwaeghs,^ son of Capt. Brant, as all of Stone's readers are aware, fell a victim to the Asiatic cholera in 1832. He left a will devising all his property to his sister Elizabeth who became the sole pro- prietress of an estate of baronial proportions. Although she ad- hered in part to the costume of her poeple, her beauty, intelligence, her queenly graco and refinement of manners, as well as the heroic blood that tinged her cheeks, caused her society to be courted by the most fashionable and aristocratic. Some years after her brother's death Miss Brant married her cousin, William Johnson Kerr, of Kiagara, and who could boast that the blood of a long line of forest kings which coursed in his veins was mingled with that of the most ancient of the Scottish nobility. His father, a first cousin of the Duke of Roxboro, was a surgeon in the British army, and soon after the revolutionary war, married a daughter of Sir William Johnson and the famous MoUie Brant. Mr. Kerr was one of three brothers, the fruit of this marriage. This gentleman died at the old Brant mansion, at Wellington neglect and epirittial destitution the chnrch service was read in the Mohawk tongue every Ba1>bath morning to a larire and devout congregation. Captain Aaron Hill, aforementioned, was the reader. In honor of the day he was wont to put an extra touch of Vermillion on his cheekB, and discharged his sacred office with a dignity and an aspect of sanctity higlily edifying. After the service the youth of the nation would assemble on the neighboring common and engage In the Indian game of ball, to which Captain Aaron would lend the encouragement of his presence. Ue is remembered as a very grave and worthy man. When Elizabeth Brant's youngest daughter, who afterwards became Mrs. Kerr, was thirteen years old she chanced to wander far into the forest in pursuit of blackberries. While engaged in pluck- ing this fruit a large and venomous snake, vulgarly known as the mlssissanga, fastened his fangs npon herfluger. Child as she was, after shaking the reptile off, she had the presence of mind to apply a ligature to the member and then hurried homo for succor. Cap'.. A-iron Hill happened to be tho only male person at her father's house aud seeing her peril be applied his lips to the wound to extract the virus by suction, following this remedy with a lotion of herbs which in a few hours completed the cure. ' Pronounced Ah-fi-wace. The engraved portraits of the chief, and the painting in the state library at Albany, are nulike the original picture at Brant house, and do him great injustice. 150 The Indian Miscellany. H! i I 1 m square, C. W., in 1842. His devoted wife, Elizabeth Brant Kerr, survived the loss of her husband but a few hours. About half a mile M'est of the old historic mansion, known as the Brant house, stands a beautiful little chapel connected with the church of England, and whicii is a fitting monument to the piety and Christian zeal of the daughter of Thayendanegea. It is approached from the street through a long avenue lined with stately forest trees of her own planting. At the end of this avenue, and under the shadow of this chapel which they reared, and in which they long worshiped, are the graves of Colonel and Elizabeth Kerr. Captain Brant and his son sleep in the burying ground attached to the old Mohawk church near Brant- ford. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr left four little children, "Walter Butler, Joseph Brant, Catharine Elizabeth and John William Simcoe. The eldest, "Walter, inherited the principal chieftainship of the Six Nations. Of him Col. Stone wrote, "The infant chief is a fine looking lad, three-quarters Mohawk, with an eye piercing as the eagle's." These children were carefully nurtured and educated by their testamentary guardians. Of the four, however, only the younger two survive. Walter and Joseph were both cut off in early manhood ; the former died in July, 1860, the latter in February, 1870. Walter was a rarely gifted young man, and his untimely death blasted many fond hopes and sent a pang to manj" sympathizing hearts. Joseph, without the brilliancy of his eldest brother, possessed sterling traits, and his amiability and gentle manners won the affections of all who knew him. After the death of Walter Butler Kerr, his aunt, Catharine Brant Johns, who was of the blood royal of the Mohawks, and who according to their customs, had the right of conferring the title of tekarihogea, or principal sachem, nominated her son William Johns to fill the vacant oflice. The writer remembers this chief well. He was a tall, handsome young man with gentle manners and a voice and smile of winning sweetness. Unfortu- nately he became dissipated and met his death in a tragical manner about fifteen years ago. The oflice of tekarihogea thus made vacant was again filled by the nomination of the daughter Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Posterity. 151 of Brant. Her nephew Isaac Lewis, son of her sister Mary, was the fortunate candidate. Lewis was a sober, exemplary man, but in nowise remarkable. He died suddenly in 1863. The venerable daughter of Brant was again called upon to exercise her prerogative and her choice fell upon her nephew, "W. J. Simcoe Kerr, the son of Col. and Mrs. Kerr, and who is probably the last tekarihogea of the Iroquois. The expanding intelligence of his people, and the infectious example of the Senecas of New York, threaten the overthrow of their ancient form of govern- ment and the adoption of another more l ^mpatible with progress. Catharine E., the sister of the chief and a most lovely and accomplished woman, is a teacher among the Mohawks and has conse- crated her life to the mental and moral elevation of her people. About seven hundred of the Mohawks reside on the Grand river near Brantford, and the residue, about three hundred, live on the bay of Quints They have made considerable advancement in husbandry and the mechanic arts, and are believed to be slowly increasing in num- bers. They have always been noted for their indomitable pride, pluming themselves upon the fact of their being W. J. Simcoe Kerr.' the head of the famous league of the Iroquois or Six Nations and accustomed to look down with something like scorn upon other tribes. This pride has stood in the way of their progress. The more tractable Chippewas of Canada, willing to turn their > Hereditary chief of ttie Wolf tribe of ttie Mohawks. hi Hi: li 1>! i ■I ■ fit ?-s 152 The Indian Miscellany. backs upon the past, bid fair to outstrip their ancient enemies, the Iroquois, in the race of civilization. " They were always a haughty pcoY)le," remarked an educated Chippewa to the writer not long since, " but," he added with a slight tone of exultation, " their day is almost gone." While most of the Mohawks are of mixed blood they are more unalterably Indian in their feelings than any other tribe whom I have met. It is their boast that there has never been an in- stance of marriage or cohabitation between individuals of Mohawk and African descent, while the Tusearoras and Senecas furnish many such examples. A few years ago a Mohawk lad, on his way to matriculate at Kenyon college, called on the writer. He was a remarkably handsome youth with a refined Indian cast of features ; clustering hair ; full, lustrous eyes ; skin of the color of gold alloyed Avith copper but melting into carmine on the cheeks ; dazzling white and regular teeth, and limbs rounded and symmetrical as an antique statue, obviously the choice fruit of grafting a scion of our race upon native stock. I asked him if he was not of mixed Caucasian and Indian parentage. He replied, with some confusion, that his people were of fairer com- plexion than other tribes, adding proudly that the Mohawk blood in his veins was unmingled with that of any other race. " But," persisted the writer, " Burning, one of your chiefs whom I have met, is of a deep copper color, the traditional hue of an Indian." " True," he rejoined, with a curl of his handsome lips, " but Burning is half Oneida." " Did not the Oneidas, Mohawks and the other members of the Six N'ations spring from one com- mon stock?" "Yes," he answered quickly, "and so did the blond Germans and swarthy Hindoos whom you class together as Caucasians. Besides, the Mohawks have been Christianized for over a hundred years. The smoke of the pagan wigwams deepens the color on an Indian's cheek." This lad had the blood of Sir Wm. Johnson in his veins, but had it been the blood of the proudest duke in the British realm, it would have aftbrded him no consolation. At the instance of the Prince of Wales this young man was afterwards taken to England to complete his studies at Oxford. Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Posterity. 153 The present chief, W. J. Simcoe Kerr, has received a liberal education, and his manners, naturally engaging, have been softened and refined by European travel and intercourse with the best society. In person he is tall, upwards of six feet in stature, straight as an arrow, with a piercing black eye, raven locks and olive complexion. He married, a few years ago, a daughter of the late Dr. Hunter of Hamilton, C. lada, who was one of the executors of Mrs. Kerr's will and testamentary guardian of one of her children, Catharine Elizabeth ; the other executors being Mr. Beasly, her legal adviser, and the Rev. Dr. McMurray. The young chief resides at Brant house, the old ancestral mansion, where he dispenses the same elegant hospitality for which it has long been noted.* This venerable structure presents nearly the same appearance it did eighty years ago when Cajitain Brant, with a retinue of thirty negro servants, and surrounded by gay soldiers, cavaliers in powdered wigs and scarlet coats, and all the motley assemblage of that picturesque era, held his barbaric court within its walls. To visit this quaint old mansion and find it untenanted for the moment,''a8 chanced to the writer one sunny day last June, is like stepping backward from the nineteenth century into the last quarter of the eighteenth. You enter a spacious hall and turning to the right find yourself in a large, old fashioned draw- ing room whose front windows look out upon the blue expanse of Burlington bay. On tbe opposite side of the room is a grate surmounted by an absurdly tall mantel and flanked on each side by a curious, arched recess. Life-size oil portraits of Brant in his paint and war dress, of John Brant the ideal of an Indian hero ; of Sir "William Johnson and members of his family, in stiff wigs, and scarlet coats richly laced, stare down upon you > The writer eaw this chief sitting in council hiet autumn with the grandsons of Red Jacljct, Cornplanter, Gov. BlacliBualie, Mary Jemipon and other perponagea associated with the revolutionary epoch. Mr. Kerr was attired in the full war dress of his people and looked every inch a chief. This was the first time that a Mohawk chief had met the Senccas in council since the days of Brant. On his late visit to Canada, Prince Alfred spent a day among the Mohawks of Grand river and was complimented by being chosen to a chieftainship secoi:d in rank to that of Mr. Kerr. The ceremo- nies were impressive and were followed by merrymakings and joyous festivities. In the event of war his royal highness will be the lieutenant of tekaribogea, and in council he pledged the honor of a prince that he would be'fouud at the side of that chief when the BummoDB came. : ) Ifi II i 1 ^ ■ ! i 1 : 1^ 154 The Indian Miscellany. from the walls. Upon the mantel lies Brant's dagger which drank the blood of his ruffianly son Isaac ; carelessly disposed upon a table are a pair of richly ornamented duelling pistols, the gift of the Duke of Northumberland; there lies his tomahawk ; yonder hangs the queer conch-shell medal which he wore, and in the corner is flung his small sword, its ivory handle studded with gems, a testimonial from his sacred majesty, George the Third, to his gallant and faithful ally. So carelessly are these and other relics strewn about the room ai'- to lend encouragement to the fancy that the old chief had hurriedly thrown them down expecting momentarily to return and reclaim them. A dreamy atmosphere pervades the apart- ment disposing the mind to revery and rendering it hospitable to visions of the past. The writer, on the occasion mentioned, instinctively cast a look toward the door, expecting to hear the tread of moccasined feet, to catch a glimpse of those swarthy features and be transfijced by a glance of the basilisk eyes which are reproduced in the portrait over the mantel. But the spell was broken by the hum of approaching voices, and a peal of childish laughter, proceeding from three bright little elves, de- scendants in the fourth generation from Joseph Brant.^ I can readily credit the rumor, reported to me in good faith by a neighboring farmer, that Brant house is haunted. Before his departure from home on the eve of the battle of Stony creek, fought near Hamilton during the last war with England, the young chief, John Brant, warned his aged mother that the Brant house would be likely to receive a hostile visit from the invaders and promised to send a runner in time to in- sure the escape of its inmates. The warning came and the family and the servants sought the shelter of the neighboring woods. Returning the next day they found the house in great disorder 1 Among the oil portraits at Brant house Is oncof Peter Johnson of whom Gov. Tryon, in a letter addressed to the Earl of Dartmouth, under date of Feb. 8, 1776, wrote as follows : " The Indians have chosen Peter Johnson, the natural son of Sir Willinm Johnson (by an Indian woman), to bo their chief. He is intrepid and active and took with his own hand Ethan Allen in a burn, after his detachment was routed before Montreal. The Indian department demands all possible attention, and a commission of general to Peter would be pc c." The portrait is of a handsome young man with no preceptible trace of Indian blood. He fei. y the hand of a rival suitor for a young lady's affections in a duel fought soon after the close of the revolationary war. Peter's moth«r was the celebrated Mollie Brant. Joseph Brant, Thatendanegea, and his Posterity. 155 3r sr I, >n '8 le but no irreparable damage done to the buildings. The Ameri- cans had evidently taken alarm and retired before their work of destruction was complete. Of the booty carried away with them tlie loss of nothing was so much deplored as a small pipe toma- hawk, inlaid with silver, which the enemy had found under the pillow of Mrs. Brant's bed, where, in the hurry of her departure, she had left it. It was the gift of her Imsband and she had a fancy for sleeping, with it under hex pillow. This remarkable woman survived her husband just thirty years. A short time before his death she had the misfortune to drop from her finger, when strolling about the grounds, a gold ring, the wedding gift of her husband. Earnest and repeated search failed to find it. Twenty-six years afterwards a plowman turned up the jewel with his furrow and restored it to the de- lighted owner. I lately saw it on the finger of the grand-daughter of Brant from whom I learned this incident. The ring bears the inscription in deeply traced characters, " Thayendanegea to Catha- rine." Catharine Johns, the last survivor of Brant's children, died after a brief illness at Brant house in January, 1867, aged sixty- seven years. Mrs. Johns was a very intelligent and interesting woman. In her youth she was noted for her great personal beauty. When the writer last saw ^ her, in her old age, her car- riage was still erect, her person tall and command- ing and her aspect one of mingled dignity and bene- JosEPH Brant, AGE 43.' volence. She told me she • This is from tho miniature mentioned in tlie text, exquisitely painted on Ivory, from life, whilst Brant was in London in 1785-'8C. It is In I ho poBsession of the Brant family, and has ever been considered the best lUieiiess of him, ever paini id. While he was in England, Brant sat for his por- trait for Lord Percy (afterwards the Dnlce of Northumberland) as he had done for the Earl of War- Wick and Dr. Johnson's friend Boswell, when hs was there ten years hetote.—Lotring. I I i ilU "1 i ' 156 The Indian Miscellany. could readily recall her father's tones and features — remembered sitting on his knee and receiving his caresses. She wore a gold locket containing an exquisite miniature likeness of lier father painted in London. This, she said, was the most faithful like- ness of Capt. Brunt extant. Mrs. Johns adhered to the dress and many of the customs of her people. Her feelings were warmly enlisted in their welfare, and the only shadow that dimmed hor cheerfulness in her last hours was regret that she must die away from the people she loved so well. Her last request was that she should be buried near the old mission church on the Grand river. It is needless to say this wish was piously fulfilled. Father and daughter, surrounded by kindred dust, sleep on the banks of the river where the remnant of their people linger, and where the echoes still repeat the music of the Mohavv'k tongue, so soon to be numbered with those lost, mysterious languages in which Pocahontas pleaded for the English adventurer's life and King Philip roused his warriors to battle. Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 2, 1876. Since the foregoing article was written the two grand children of Thayendanegea have passed from earth. Wm. John Siracoe Kerr died suddenly of heart disease on the 17th day of February, 1875. The brother and sister were tenderly attached to each other. They were still young, the only survivors of a large and interesting family, and were frequently spoken of as " The If.st of the Brants " by their acquaintances. Under date of March 15, 1875, the sister wrote : " My dear brother's death was indeed a very great shock to me. It was not wholly un- expected, owing to his precarious state of health during the past year. I tried to prepare myself for the announcement but only one placed in a like position can comprehend the utter misery of such tidings. Yes, my friend, 1 feel very much alone now, were it not for the loving sympathy of friends I would be more wretched still." The sister died on the 25th day of February, 1876, on the Mohawk reservation. Grand river, Canada. I violate no confidence in publishing the following extract from a letter written by one who long sought to sustain the relation of mother to these oi-phaned children: "The first Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Posterity. 157 intimation I had of my poor Kate's illnesB was a telegram such as you received. We started at once for Onondaga -all was over. On Sunday she had attended church and returned on the ice with several fnends who remarked that they had never seen her look more blooming and lovely or in better spirits. On the following day she felt that she had taken cold, but did not think much of it until Tuesday when she had a chill and fever. Inflammation of the lungs followed. The doctor felt no alarm until Thursday following. On Friday morning he thought her better, when a sudden cliange came. She had, she said, no fear of death, trusting only in her iSaviour.' She was quite conscious to the last, and made all arrangements, requesting to be laid beside her aunt, Mrs. Johns, near the old Mohawk church. So ended tins most precious and beautiful life. :Wl INDIAN MIGRATIONS.^ By Lewis H. Mokcjan. In th'iB article I intend to prcBcnt such evidence bearing upon the nii/^rations of tlie Nortli American Indians as may ])e drawn from a consideration of physical conditions, especaally the influ- ence of abundant means of subsistence ; and such other evidence upon the same subject as may be derived from their systems of consanguinity, their relative positions, languages, and traditions, and in addition, notices of such actual migrations as are known to have occurred. A determination of the probable source of the aboriginal inhabitants of South America will be involved in the general conclusions I seek to establish. Since the materials we now possess are insufficient for a con- clusive discussion of this subject, some of the views presented will be necessarily conjectural. But as philosophical speculations precede systems of philosophy, so historical speculations often lead the way to veritable history. In the present state of our knowledge, the great movements of the American aborigines in prehistoric ages still lie wit bin the domain of speculation. A probable hypothesis with respect to the initial point of these migrations is the utmost we may hope at present to reach. It will be my principal object to bring together a body of facts, bearing upon these migrations, which tend to establish their starting-point in the valley of the Columbia river, anu J: the outset three propositions will be assumed to be true : First, aat there was a time, in the past, when North and South America were destitute of human inhabitants. Second, that at the period of the discovery of their several parts a people were found thinly scattered over their vast areas, who agreed so minutely in physical and mental characteristics, that they all received a common name, and were regarded, whether correctly or incorrectly, as a common stock. And third, that the epoch of their first occupa- tion was of very ancient date. KepriDted from TU North American Review (Boston), for October, 1868, and January, 1870. t*i; Indian Migrations. 169 Witli respect to the first proposition, no flisfmssion is necessary. The ficcond, though of limited significance, is nevertheless im- portant. From New Mexico to Patagonia, including the West India islands, the Spanish navigators and explorers found this singular people universally distributed, and bestowed upon them, all alike, the name of Indians. They observed no diflference in type, but, on the contrary, abundant evidence of a common type. The English and French met the aborigines from near the con- fines of the Arctic sea to New Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and pronounced them, without distinction, American Indians. This uniform testimony of the first discoverers, the gene- ral truthfulness of which has been confirmed by all subsequent observers, tends to establish one of two alternative conclusions — either that all these aboriginal nations were of immediately common descent, or that this uniformity in pl'ysical characteris- tics was the result of a continuous intermingling of blood. Upon the third proposition, it may bo observed that the occu- pation of America by the ancestors of the present Indians extends backward to a remote age, covering a period of many thousand years. If the unity of their origin is assumed, the lapse of niany ages would be requisite to break an original language into the several existing stock languages, of which there are forty, more or less, in North America alone — the number which have per- ished being unknown — and to allow these in turn to pass into the multitude of dialects which are now spoken. On the con- trary, if a diverse origin is assumed, it would still require several thousand years for two or more families genetically unconnected, and occupying jSuch immense areas, to have intermingled so completely as to create a typical stock, such as the Indian stock has become. The hypothesis of a diverse origin would seem further to require that these families should have been restricted, for mutual accessibility, either to North or to South America, and to a limited portion of one of these areas, until the coalescence had become complete ; since the inhabitants of the two continents and of the islands were entirely isolated from, and ignorant of, the existence of each other at the epoch of their discovery. Barbarians, ignorant of agriculture and depending upon fish 160 The Indian Miscellany. and game for subsistence, spread over large areas with great rapidity. Under the operation of purely physical causes, they would reach in their migrations the remotest boundaries of a continent in a much shorter time than a civilized people with all the appliances of civilization. This important and well- established fact should be kept constantly in view. A narrow sea or treeless plain might arrest their progress for centuries ; but wherever their feet could carry them, with subsistence accessible upon the way, they would be certain to go, until a continent as vast as the American in both its divisions had been traversed in all its parts. Agriculture tends to localize nations and wed them to the soil, thus arresting their dispersion oi" con- fining it to contiguous areas. Abundant means of subsistence tend to the same result ; but when there is a surplus population which becomes emigrant, it seeks similar areas, without much regard to distance. Whether the ancestors of the American aborigines were first planted in N^orth or South America remains a question.* Our knowledge of the aboriginal inhabitants of South America, except of those upon the Andes, is still very imperfect. Descrip- tive notices of the people, with some classification of dialects into stock languages, exist, but the aggregate of information fails to meet the requirements of systematic ethnology. The inhabitants of the Andes, who in material progress and in the importance of their position far surpassed all the other aborigines ' Dr. Daniel WilBon, in liis Prehistoric Man, advances the liypotlicsis of a peopling of South America from the Polynesian islands, and of North America from South America. It is with re- luctance that I am compelled to dissent from the views of this eminent scholar, who has done such excellent work for American ethnology. He remarks : " From some one of the early centres of South American population planted on the Pacific coasts hy Polynesian and other migrations, nursed in the neighboring valleys of the Andes in remote prehistoric times, the predominant southern race difi ised itself, or extended its Influence through many ramifications. It spread northward beyond the isthmus, expanded throughout the peninsular region of Central America, and, after occupying for a time the Mexican plateau, it overflowed along either side of the great mountain chpin, reaching towards the northern latitudes of the Pacific, and extending inland to the east of the Rocky mountains through the grcr.t valley watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries. It is not, however, to be supposed that such a hypothesis of migration implies the literal diffusion of a single people from one geographical centre" (p. 595). Farther on he observes: "But independ. ent of all real or hypothetical ramification from southern or insular offsets of oceanic migration, some analogies confiris the prabability of a portion of the North American stock having entered the continent from Asia by Bebring's straits or the Aleutian islands, and more probably by the ktter than the former, for it is the climate that coustitates the real barrier" {lUd., p. 697). Indian Migrations. 161 of South America, were an insulated people. This great chain, with its tahle-lands, mountains, valleys, lakes, and rivers, forms a continent withiii itself; and however satisfactory the informa- tion we possess with respect to the Village Indians of this secondary continent might be regarded, as a guide to trustworthy conclusions concerning tiieir original derivation, some knowledge of the great movements of the remaining nations would be neces- sary. The facts with respect to the movements and relations of the North American Indians are much better understood, and may contain sufficient evidence for a settlement of the question in favor of an original home in North America. It is with an impression of the controlling character of this evidence that I shall treat the migrations of the North '.merican Indians inde- pendently. At the period of their discovery the American aborigines were ignorant of the use of iron, and, consequently, of the arts which require this metal ; but they had undoubtedly made great progress, as compared with their primitive state. They were found in two dissimilar conditions. First were th? Roving Iiidians, depending for subsistence upon tisli and game. Second, the Village Indians, depending chiefly upon agriculture. Be- tween these, and connecting the extremes by insensible gradations, were the partially Roving and partially Village Indians.^ The tirst class had developed many useful arts. They possessed the art of striking iire ; of niaking the bow, with the string of sinew, and the arrow-head, both of fliijt and bone ; of making vessels of pottery ; of curing and tanning skins ; of making moccasins and wearing apparel, together with various implements and utensils of stone, wood, and bone ; of rope and net making from filaments of bark ; of finger-weaving, with warp and woof, the sanij materials into sashes, burden-straps, and other useful fabrics ; of i)a8ket-makingwith osier, cane, and splints; of canoe-making — the skin, birch-bark, and dug-out; of constructing timber-frame lodges and skin tents ; of shaping stone mauls, hammers, and chisels ; of making fish-spears, nets, and bone hooks, implements • Vide North American Review, April, 1869, p. 494. 12 If 162 The Indian Miscellany. •f for athletic games, musical instruments, such as the flute and the drum, weapons, and personal ornaments of shell, bone, and stone. They had invented the art of picture writing, and had also de- veloped a language of signs, which became the common medium of communication between nations speaking languages mutually unintelligible. They possessed a form of government, and clearly defined domestic institutions, which served to regulate their political affairs. When the extent of their progress in these several resj)ect8 is fully appreciated, the differences between them and the Village Indians will be found much less in degree than is usually supposed. Whilst the Village Indians possessed the same arts, imple- ments, and utensils, as well as institutions and forms of govern- ment, they had obtained native copper, had formed copper implements, and, in certain areas, implements and utensils of bronze, and had also worked native gold and silver into various forms. But a knowledge of the use of these metals was limited chiefly to the Village Indians of Mexico and Peru. Even among these, little progress had been made in the employment of them in the practical arts of life. In addition to these means of ad- vancement, they had learned the art of cultivating the ground, which established them in villages, and thus gave them a new impulse forward. It is plain that village life, upon the stable basis of agricultural subsistence, stimulated in a remarkable manner the development of their primitive arts. A decrease in the severity of the struggle for existence, and an increase of numbers in a small area, would necessarily be favorable to this progress ; which is conspicuously shown in their architecture and stone sculptures ; and, perhaps more decisively, in the Maya and Aztec calendars to measure annual time, and in the solstitial stone of the Peruvians.' Ages upon ages of experience, with vicissitudes of lapse and recovery, were required, to produce the progress they had made at the epoch of European discovery. I In the lunar montbB the Iroquois and other northern Indians, we find an early stage of the same thought. In like manner we find In the laiii;unge of signs of the Roving Indians the incipient forms out of which sprung, probably, the picture writings of the Aztecs, and ultimately the still blither ideographs upon the Copan monuments. If either of these forms is ever read, it is not improbable that the key will be found in thislanguagcofsigns, which is still in constant use among the western nations. It is a very ingenious and very expressive language. Indian Migrations. 163 lime rms (her Ible tern Measured from the stand-point of their primitive condition — could the extremity of its rudeness be known — the progress of the Hoving Indians was probably much more remarkable in degree than that of the Village Indians after the change from a roving to a stationary life. The stages of progress in the ages of barl arism were as measured and real as the stages of progress in ages of civilization. Notwithstanding their knowledge ot agriculture, the Village as well as the Roving Indians, were still in the age of stone. They were found using stone implements and utensils, which had not been abandoned even among the more advanced of the former class. Agriculture, however, per- formed an important part in the elevation of the Indian family, although it never reached a sufficient development to give to the Village Indians the mastery of the continent, or to emancipate them from the superior power of the Roving and partially Village Indians, from whose ranks issued the migrating bands which peopled the continent. The principal nations of Village Indiana in Mexico, if their traditions can be trusted, were themselves emigrants from the north but three or four centuries prior to the Spanish conquest. Natural subsistence was contending with agricultural for supremacy when European colonization con)- menced. It will be seen in the sequel that the former appeared to hold the mastery. The American aborigines undoubtedly commenced their ca- reer as fishermen and hunters, but chiefly as fishermen ; and the mass of them remained substantially in that condition down to the period of European discovery. The exceptions were the Village Indians, who, if not a minority of the whole population of both North and South America, were not much superior in numbers to the less advanced nations.^ It will be perceived at once that the hunt is a precarious source of human subsistence. Without the horse to follow the larger animals of the chase upon the plains, it was entirely impossible for nations of men to main- tain themselves from this source exclusively, or even principally. > ThlB opinion Is expresBcd conjecturally . The Village Indians occupied but a small portion ol the continent. They were confronted with Hoving and partially Village Indians on every iide, an! their numberg, there are strong reasons for believing, have been grossly exaggerated. IF^ 164 The Indian Miscellany. II iji I ill !! Increased numbers increased the diligence of the hunt in the same ratio, and this tended, in turn, to diminish the supply of game. Nations would rapidly perish if dependent upon so un- certain a source of maintenance. With the supply of fish the rule is different. In the ocean and in the lakes, which are the nurseries of fish, they are found in unlimited abundance. From these, as they enter the bays and rivers, they are taken in all seasons of the year with facility, and at certain seasons in the largest quantities. There is no doubt whatever that the princi- pal reliance of the American aborigines for subsistence, with the exception at a later day of the Village Indians, was upon fish. This fact will be found to have an important bearing upon the formation of their centres of populations and upon their primary and secondary migrations. They were in reality, from first to last, nations of fishermen, who eked out their scanty sustenance with game, natural fruits, and bread roots, and afterwards — a portion of them — with the products of a limited agriculture. They were found in all the intermediate conditions, from those who subsisted principally upon fish, as the Athapascans and Ojibwas, to those who subsisted principally upon vegetable food, as the Aztecs and Tlascalans, and with no definite boundary line to separate one class from the other. A comparison of the prin- cipal facts bearing upon the point tends to show that Jish was the basis of subsistence of the Indian tribes, to which their increase in numbers and diffusion over North America is to be ascribed. It was by the abundance of this article of food that certain centres of population were created, which first supplied, and afterward replenished, the continent with inhabitants. It should also be observed that the migrations of men are not fortuitous. They are deliberate movements, under the govern- ment of law. The influences by which they are immediately brought about are much less important than the physical condi- tions of climate and subsistence under which they are accom- plished. An initial point of migrations does not become such by accident, but has of necessity a material basis in its natural ad- vantages ; and it may be remote from the place where the first ancestors of a family were planted, and reached only after several ll Indian Migrations. 165 changes of location, and the lapse of centuries of time. Our first inquiry, therefore, should be, whether in fact there was any one region or district of country in North America which pos- sessed advantages for Indian occupation so far superior to all others as to render it a natural centre of population, and conse- quently an initial point of migrations. If any such region existed upon an uninhabited continent, it would, when occupied, stand in a superior and commanding relation to every other por- tion of its area until this was peopled in all its parts, or until these advantages were neutralized by a change of conditions — such, for example, as might result from the development of agricul- ture as a substitute for fishing and hunting. Leaving certain other preliminary considerations which would naturally suggest themselves, I intend, in the remainder of this article, to examine, first, the geographical features of North America with reference to its natural highways or lines of mi- gration ; secondly, to compare its several regions with regard to the amount of subsistence which they respectively afforded to a people living as fishermen and hunters ; thirdly, to test the re- sults thus obtained by the statistics of Indian population in these several areas ; and lastly, to consider the nature and distribution of Indian agriculture in other areas, as a means of counterbalanc- ing these advantages. In this manner the fact can be ascer- tained whether any one region existed in North America possessed of such advantages in furnishing spontaneously means of subsist- ence as to make it the natural nursery of the , 1 )original inhabit- ants of the continent. 1. Geographical Features of North America. — These features may be considered under the threefold division of the prairie, the mountain, and the forest areas ; the first being the least, and the last the most, desirable territory for Indian occupation. First, the prairie areas. The great central prairies occupy the interior of the northern continent. In the vastness of their con- tinuous expanse, and in the exuberance of their vegetation, they are without a parallel in any portion of the earth. They extend from latitude 29°, and south of it, to the north of Peace river in the Hudson-Bay territory, in latitude 60° north. In their M-< i 166 The Indian Miscellany. I greatest lateral expansion they extend from the western part of the state of Indiana, in longitude 9°, to the eastern base of the Rocky mountain chain, in lon_ .' Indian Migrations. 175 the Otawas/ the Georgian ])ay, held by the Hurors, may be cited as examples. The south shore of Lake Ontario, and particularly the inland lake region of central New York, occupied by the Iroquois, possessed excellent fisheries. But little inferior to these were the river districts of New England, in which fish from the ocean were found at particular seasons in great abundance, superadded to which were the shell-fish of the coast. From Hudson river southward to the James, the country, for similar reasons, was favorable for Indian oc<'upation. It required, how- ever, south of the great lakes, the additional resources of game and of a limited agriculture to sustain the numbers found in possession of these several areas at the time of their discovery. The gulf region was inferior to those already named in the means of subsistence it attbrded. It was poorly supplied with fish, ex- cept upon the coitst, and with game ; but these disadvantages were compensated by a genial climate, and by the greater pro- ductiveness of the garden beds, upon which the inhabitants chiefly relied. There is a wide district of country upon both sides of the Ohio river, occupying half th(! space between the great lakes and the gulf, which formed the poorest part of the area east of the Mississippi. It was not destitute of game, but poor in fisheries, and therefore uninhabitable without cultivation of the soil. The absence of lakes throughou't this area, and the turbid character of the waters of tlie Mississippi, which excluded ocean-fish, furnish a sufiicient reason why this entire region was they had found a place which suited them, to fold their wings close to their bodies as they aliglited upon the chosen sjjot, when they uliould he immediately tranHfornied into a man O-t&'-waB : d as In father, a as in ale. 176 The Indian Miscellany. 1 i: i a solitude at the period of European discovery. It also tends to show that the mound-builders, who occupied this area — chiefly north of the Ohio — were Village Indians (probably from New Mexico) ; otherwise they would not have selected this region in preference to others.' Along the east side of the Mississippi, above the Ohio, and upon its tributaries, were settlements of Algonkin nations ; but the occupation of this region by them » The earthworks of the eo-called mound-hnildersseein to remain nn Insoluble problem in American ethnology. The authors of The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley remark in their preface (p. xxxiv), that " the ancient enclosures and groups of works personally examined and surveyed are upwards of one hundred About two hundred mounds of all forms and sizes, and occupy- ing every variety of position, have also been excavated." Out of ninety-flve earthworks (which piobably mark the sites of Indian villages) flgured and described in this memoir, forty-seven are of the same type, and may he assigned unhesitatingly to the niound-biiilders ; fourteen are emblemati- cal earthworks, mostly in Wisconsin, and may probably be assigned to them also ; but the remaining thirty-four arc doubtful . They may or may not belong to the class of Village Indians who constructed the workc In the Scioto va'lcy. If to these are added the tifty or sixty emblematical earthworks In Wisconsin flgured and described by Mr. I.aphum, there may be one hundred and forty such works, large and small, genuine and doubtful, indicating the sites of Indian pueblos, of which something more than one hundred may have been in actual occupation at the same time. The earthworks proper must bo regarded as the sites of so many pueblo villages, constructed and occupied by the mound-builders. The question then recurs, for what purpose did they raise these embankments, at an expenditure of so much labor f If a sensible practical use for these embankments can be found It will be more satisfactory to adopt the suggestion than be subject to the mischief in ethnology which comes from handing such remains over to the category of mysteries. " A large, perhaps the larger portion of these works," observe the same authors, "are regular in outline, the square and the circle predominating The regular works are almost invariably erected on level river terraces The square and the circle often occur in combination, frequently communicating with each other" (Ibid., p. (i). " Most of the circular works are small, varying from two hundred and flfty to three hundred fc"t in diameter, while others are a mile or more in circuit" (Hid., p. 8). The walls of these embankments are for the most part slight, varying from three to six, eight, ten, and twelve feet in height, with a ba^'eol proportionate width, as appears from numerous cross- sections furnished by the authors. Hut the circular embankments are the lowest. I am tempted to submit, for what it is worth, a conjectural explanaticm of the uses made of these embankments, (m tlie reasonable assumption that the mound-builders wore Village Indians from New Mexico, the nearest point from which such emigrants could have come into this area ; who, as such, would liave been apt to clioose this region, so favorable for an agricultural subsistence, though so poor in fish and game. As Village Indians they would understand cultivation, the use of adobe brick, and the art of constructing communal houses, closed in the first story on tlie ground for de- fensive reasons, and entered throu'rh the flat roof by .neans of ladders, with which they ascended also. If, for e.tamnle, a band of Village Indians, with such habits, emigrated from dry New Mexico to tlie Scioto valley in Southwestern Ohio, they would find it Impossible to construct bouses of adobe brick able to resist the frosts and rains of that climate. They would then be compelled to use stone, which they did not ; or to build their houses of poles and bark upon the level ground, and thus change their habits ; or to raise embankments of earth as a substitute for the first story, and con- struct their houses of poles and bark upon this foundation. It is not Improbable that tiiese em- biinkments wuro constructed for tiiis purpose, and wore lined on their tops with long pueblo houses of poles and bark, the best they were able to build. This conjecture has a basis of probal>lhty, and win bear fuitacr examination. If we examine the Scioto valley, the earthworks of which are the best specimens of the class, we find within an extent of twelve miles the remains of seven large pueblo villages, four upon the east, and three upon the west side of the rivor. The remains of each f 'i»t i Indian Mk; rations. 177 was comparatively modern, and their dependence more upon fish aiid game. The open prairies were also solitudes. Bancroft estimates the numl)er of Indians east of the Missis- sippi and south of the chain of lakes, at the heginning of the seventeenth century, at one Imndred and eighty thousand.' Thia is as large a nund)er as our information will justify.^ There is not the slightest reason for supposing that they ever exceeded that number. In the central prairie area, west of the Mississippi, there is of the Beven consist principally of an embankment of earth, sovenil foot high, and correspondiugly broad at the base, enclosing a S'luare or nlightly irregular urea, each of the lour walls or embank- ments beii.^; about a thousand feet long, with an opening or gateway in the middle of each, and usually at each of the four angles of the square. Attached, or ([uitc near, to five of the seven arc large circiilar enclosures, each formed by a similar but lower embankment of earth, and euclouiug a space somewhat larger than the square enclosure. The height of the walls of four of the square enclosures are given respectively at four, six, ten, and twcive feet, with bases from thirty to fifty feet ; and three of the circular embankments are five and six feet high respectively. The embank- ments around the squares were probably the sites of their houses, since as the highest they were best adapted to the purpose. When in use they were of course higher than at present, and probably with flat tops, and sides steeply graded. In houses thus erected upon elevated embankments, some of the features of security enjoyed in a house of the New Mexican model would be realized. Indians accustomed to such houses, and to spending their time upon terraced rooftops, would be apt to resort to ench embankments, if unable to construct houses of stone after finding adobe brick unsuita- ble, rather than to live upon the level ground. A number of these enclosures are ten hundred and eighty feet square, which gives an aggregate lengtli of embankment of four thousand three hundred and twenty feet, without deducting the openings, each of the four embankments being dividedjat the centre. With each of the eight surmounted by a house about five hundred feet long and of the width of one apartment, accommodations would be furnished for a band of twelve hundred Inilians, about the average number in a large pueblo. The aggregate length of the apartments in the pueblo of Chetho Kette, on the Uio de Chaco, In New Mexico, including the several stories, Is four thousand seven hundred feet, about equal in accommodations with one of those on the Scioto, constructed as supposed. With respect to the embankments enclosing circular areas, the smaller ones might have been used in the same way, and even the larger, but for two objections ; first, their want of sufHcIent height, and second, that if so used they would fiirnish accommodations for from two to four thou- ■and additional persons, making, by the addition, too large a number lor nn Indian village. Other uses, such as that of a cemetery, or village common, might be suggested. In some of them mounds are found raised over the remains of deceased chief's. If the conjecture with respect to the higher embankments enclosing squares Is well founded, charcoal and ashes, the remains of fire-pits, should still be found at intervals along their summits, nnlesB the banks have besn greatly reduced by the frosts and rains of centuries. > "We shall approach and perhaps exceed a just estimate of their numbers two hundred years ago, if to the various tribes of the Algonquin race we allow about ninety thousand ; of the Eastern Sioux, less than three thousand ; of the Iroquois^ including their southern kindred, about seventeen thousand ; of the Catawbas, three thousand ; of the Cherokees, twelve thousand ; of the Mobllian confederacies and tribes, that Is, of the Chlckasas, Choctas, and Muskhogecs, fifty thousand ; of the Uchees, one thousand ; of the Natchez, four thousand : in all. It may be, not flir from one hundred and eighty thousand ao\i\6. " — Uistory of the United .States, in, 2.5.3. « Consult, further, Greenhalgh's estimate, KiTT, Col. Hint. N. K., in, 250; Sir William Johnson'B esttmate, 1768, Ibid., vii, 582, and French estimate, 1730, Ibid., ix, 1058, 13 \ :(.i i f ,' '^l 178 The Indian Miscellany. but one district whicli calls for special notice. It is the country upon the head-waters of the Mississippi, which was occupied by the Sioux, or Dakotas, at the period of European colonization. For Indian occupation it is not inferior to the best of those pre- viously described. Being a combination of forest with prairie, and within the range of the elk and the buffalo, it was an excellent game country ; but its chief advantages were the lakes with which Northern Minnesota is literally crowded, which were well stocked with iish.^ The Dakotas were without agriculture, and depended upon fish, game, and wild rice (Zizania aquatica, Linn.). They ranged eastward to Lake Superior, and westward to the Missouri. Their numbers when first discovered we have no means of know- ing accurately. They were one of the great stocks of the North- ern Indians, and stood next to the Iroquois in character and strength. The French estimate of 1786 gave them about twelve thousand.^ They now number upwards of thirty thousand. The Lower Missouri, from the mouth of the Platte river, was a poor country for Indian occupation. Several small nations dwelt upon its banks, and continued to maintain a bare subsist- ence. Above the Platte the forest is confined to the bottom lands within the bluffs, except in places near the mountains, and is interrupted for long distances even within this narrow valley. This river, from its turbid character, is also poorly supplied with fish. Buffalo abounded upon the entire course of the Missouri. They existed in millions upon the central prairies, but without the horse to give chase the Indian hunter was powerless, except by accident of position. Canada and the Hudson-bay territory were, in the main, countries unfavorable to the sustenance of Indians. Fish and rabbits were the principal food of their aboriginal inhabitants. ' These lakes, which are from oue-foiirth of a mile to ten and twenty miles In length, are connected, many of them, by continuous outlets, and are still well supplied with fish. It Is a lacustrine region In the full sense of the term, about one-twentieth of the snrlace being covered with lakes. I counted within an extent of sixty-flve miles sixty-one lakes, In which number were Included such only as contained clear water and were from an eighth of a mile to ten miles In length. They were within a belt not exceeding ten miles in width upon the route traveled, which was as far as the country could be seen, from the rolling character of the surfece. Theee lakes were usually wooded upon the north and oast sides, and bordered with prairie on the south and west, thus showing the prevailing Hlrectiou of the winds. « (Man. Hist. New York, ix, 1069. I i!l 8. cted, glon I such were B the oded the Indian Migrations. 179 The thick wood region lying around Tludson'a hay, and emhraccd within a circuit of three hundred miles from its shores, was cold, rugged, and swampy. Nearly iiulf of this district is under water ; and yet it was thiidy peoi)led from Lake Winnipeg to the confines of the P]skimos on the coast of Labrador. There were no centres of population within this area. North of the prairie area, or of Peace river, there is a gradual descent of a thousand miles to the Northern ocean. Its rivers and lakes are well supplied with fish, and its dwarfed forest with some kinds of game. A short hot summer visits both the Mackenzie and Yukon river districts, but for the remainder of the year it is intensely cold. Rigor of climate, however, is not an absolute barrier to Indian occupation, although unfavorable to an increase of numbers. This region has always sustained a considerable Indian population, which, within the last two centuries, through the peaceful relations preserved among them by the Hudson- Bay company and by the trade in furs, has largely increased. In 1857 Sir George Simpson estimated the entire Indian popu- lation of British America, east of the Rocky mountains, at sixty- seven thousand souls, including the Eskimos and excluding the half-bloods at Red-river settlement. Of this number he remarks : " Twenty-five thousand live principally upon buffalo meat, and thirty thousand live principally upon fish and rabbits.'" West of the mountains, in a territory less than one-eighth of this in extent, he estimates the number of inhabitants at eighty thousand, and the reason for this great difference will presently appear. The significance of this disproportion is increased by the fact that the development of the larger part of the population upon ' Report from the Select Committee on the Hudson-Bay Compuny to Parliament in 1857, p. 96. In the Appendix to this 'eport, at page 370, is the following estimnte, made by Simpson, of the nnmber of Indians in the Hudson-bay territory : — Thick Wood Indians, east side of the Rocky mountains 35,000 The Plain tribes, Blackfeet, etc 25,000 The Esquimaux 4,000 Indians settled in Canada 8,000 Indians in British Oregon and on the northwest coast 80,000 147,000 Whites and Half-breeds in Hudson-bar territory 11 ,000 Total . 168,000 180 The Indian Miscellany. ii .. p I the prairies east '"the mountains was subsequent to their posses- sion of tlie liorse. The general character of the country east of the Rocky mountains and north of New Mexico has now been sufficiently set forth to indicate the sections where a considerable popula- tion was developed, and the basis upon which it was sustained. "West of the mountains there is one particular district which rises in importance above all others upon the continent. On the northwest coast there is a region of ample extent, having Puget's sound as its centre on the Pacific, and the valleys of the Columbia and Frazer's rivers within its circumference, which combined so singularly all the advantages of the moun- tain, the forest, the prairie, and the sea coast as to give it a superiority over every other region either of North or South America. Within a radius of five hundred miles from the head of this sound — from the Umpqua river on the south to Queen Charlotte's sound on the north, and from the sea coast to the western slopes of the Rocky mountains — this country, embracing the greater part of the drainage of the two rivers before named, was singularly well supplied at the time of its discovery with the requisites for the subsistence of Indian tribes. A mild and genial climate was added to its other advantages. In the amount and variety of the means of sub- sistence spontaneously furnished, it had no parallel in any part of the earth. It deserves a somewhat minute examination from the relation in which, by reason of this fact, it stood to the remainder of the continent. A combination of forest and prairie rendered it an excellent game country, although it was not entered by the buffalo. Elk, bear, deer, mountain sheep, the rabbit, and the beaver were abundant, and as they found refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains or on the open prairies their extermination was im- possible. With water and land fowls of different species the region was well supplied, together with wild fruits and berries of various kinds. In the kamash (kii'-mash) root, from which they prepared a species of bread, and which was found in inex- Indian Migrations. 181 haustible supplies upon the prairies, they possessed a resource of no small importance, particularly in seasons of scarcity.' Other bread roots were also found in this area, such as the cayusc and biscuit, and likewise a species of edible black mons,^ each of which entered more or less into thesubsistenceof the aborigines. In these several respects this region was not greatly superior to some of those previously nametl. The signal advantages which it possessed were its inexhaustible salmon and shell fisheries. From these sources, and particularly from the tirst, arose that superabundance of food which tended to render this area the nursery of the Indian family. Along the inlets, bays, and islands of Puget's sound, which has a shore line of fifteen hundred miles, and in the connecting waters of the gulf of Georgia, oysters and clams are found in extensive l)eds, and at low tide are gathered with facility. The neighboring Indians not oidy subsisted upon > The kamash is a white bulbous root resembling the onion. It has a blue flower, and ripens in June, in which mouth it is gathered. In Oregon and Washington it is found in abundance, literally covering, when in flower, some of the prairies. The kamash is flrst baked, then formed into cakes and dried in the sun and air, after which it will keep for a year. It is boiled with meat and also eaten alone. For the purpose of baking they make a cavity in the ground large enough to hold ten and even twenty bushels of the kamash, and line it with pebble stones. After it is filled to the level of the surface with kamash roots, a covering of pebble stones is placed over the mass, then a second covering of grass, upon which a hearth is formed of clay. Upon this hearth a fire is made, and con- tinued for about seventy hours, the time required for baking. If the Are cats through the hearth, which is shown by a rise of steam from the kamash, the place is again covered with mortar. When the kamash is taken out it is black, soft, and very sweet to the taste. It is then made into cakes and dried, after which it is ready for use. The above particulars were communicated to the writer by Father De Smet, S. J., the distinguished Oregon missionary. Governor Stephen thus refers to this root : "The kamash root forms au important article of food when other supplies fail " (Prei. Mess, and Docs. 1854-55, pt. i, p. 42;^) ; and George Gibbs, Esq., remarks: •' The Skagits have a natural resource in their camash, which grows abundantly on the prairies of Whitby's island The camash, it is worth meutioning, improves very much by cultivation, and it is said to attain the size of a hen's egg lin land that has been ploughed" (Explorations for a Railroad Route, etc..,i, 4, as). 3 This moss grows abundantly as a parasite on the pine trees of Oregon and Washington, some of which will yield several bushels. It is gathered and washed, after which it is formed into balls, and baked in ovens in the same manner as the kamash, the baking requiring about forty-eight hours. It comes out in a fluid state, and is much like liquorice to the taste. After drying it In the sun they cnt It into cakes and put it aside for use. They also mix it with the kamash after both are cooked, and let them Iiarden together. When they are hardened separately they are pounded together and made into a kind of cheese. The kamash is highly nutritious ; the moss only moderately so. The biscuit root yields a white flour when pulverized, and is eaten dry. Besides these they have a black edible root called the tobacco root,audthe Inner bark ofa species ofplne, which is sweet in flavor and used as food. There Is a small oak, both In the Rocky and Cascade mountains, which yields plenti- ftiUy an acorn of which they make a palatable and nutritious soup The acorns are gathered in bags holding about eighty pounds, and buried in the sand. After a sutticlent time they are taken up, the shells are removed, and the kernels dried and pounded Into flour. From this flour the soup is made. I : ^ 182 The Indian Miscellany. tliom at certain seasons, but dried thorn on strings for exehange with inland inhabitants and for winter use.* It was the sabnon fisheries, however, tluit gave to this region its preeminence. The salmon were not confined to tlie bays upon the coast, but they entered nil the rivers of th- country, and penetrated the recesses of the mountains as far as the tributary streams were sufficient in volume to admit their passage. Besides the annual run of the Chinook salmon, some species of this fish were found in the Columbia at all seasons of the year. The testimony of all observers is the same with re8[>ect to their marvelous abundance, their large size, and their excellent quality. Dr. Sukley, a sur- geon in the United States army, thus remaks : " They come up annually in great num])er8 on their way to the head-waters of the Columbia. The Indians, as before stated, all collect in the neighborhood of these and other falls, where they riot in feasting on their captured prey. They kill hundreds and thousands of these fish by spearing. The myriads of salmon that ascend the rivers of tlie Pacific coast are almost incredible. In many places the waters appear alive with them, and the shores are thickly lined with the dead and dying fish The Columbia river salmon weigh from six to forty pounds. The Indians along the river collect during the summer the fish which they want for winter use ; these are split open and the bones removed, after which they are scarified in various directions, and then hung up for a short time in ';ha smoke of a fire. They arc then hung on poles or the branches of trees, where they are freely exposed to the wind. In a motith they l)ecome perfectly dry, and are then housed in small storehouses. . . . Salmon thus dried form the ' The Indians of Queen Charlotte's island, as late as fae year 1860, were accustomed to go down by sea to Vancouver's island and spend the winter thero to benefit by these shell-fisheries. They went in red wood canoes, each large enough to carry fifty persons, and safe for miles out at sea. Mr. Gibbs remar'is that " the tribes living upon the eastern shore possess also territory upon the islands, and their usual custom is to resort to them at the end of the salmon season, that is, about the middle of November. It is there thPt they find the greatest supply of shell-fish, which form a large part of their winter stoclc, and which they dry both lor their own use and for sale to those of the interior" {FJxj)torations, etc., i, 482). Speaking of the Chlnooks, at the mouth of the Cowlitz, the same writer remarku: " it was really the principal seat of the Chiuooks proper, who resorted to the Columbia mostly for their spring salmon, while they dug their clams and procured their winter supplies on the bay. It formed. In fact, a perfect Indian paradise in its adaptation to canoe travel and the abundance of sciiU; and nhell fish which it furnished" (,/bUl, i, 427). Vid« also p. 406, for an account of the mussel-shell beds on the Yakima. i i;; Indian Migrations. 183 principal food of the natives during the winter.'" He elsewhere observes : " The salmon of these waters, unlike those of other parts of the world, do not take the hook, and strange as it seems, they are said never to stop searching after the source of the stream they are in. Their march is always ahead until they spawn and die ; they never return to the sea. This seems to be the general opinion of the people with whom I have conversed." Mr. Gibbs, before mentioned, in speaking of the salmon-lisheries of the Yakima river, one of the tributaries of the Columbia, says : " Besides the fisheries at the Dalles, the Yakimas have others on their river, up which the salmon run without interrup- tion far into the mountains. On the main fork in particular they penetrate to Lake Kitchelus, at the very foot of the dividing ridge. In addition to the different kinds of salmon proper, they have also the salmon-trout, two varieties of the speckled trout — the red and black spotted, both of them growing to a large &ize — and some other species of fresh-water fish. The salmon they take in wears and cast-nets. The wears are constructed, with considerable skill, upon horizontal spars and supported by tripods of strong poles erected at short distances apart, two of the legs pointing up stream and one supporting them below. There are several of these wears on the main river, fifty or sixty yards in length. The cast-net is managed by two men in a canoe, one of whom extends it with a pole and the other manages the rope."^ Elsewhere the same writer remarks : " The fishery at the Kettle falls is one of the most important on tlie river ; and the arrangements of the Indians, in the shape of drying-scaffolds and storehouses, are on a corresponding scale. They take the fish by suspending immense baskets upon poles beneath the [water as] traps, into which the salmon spring."* Father De Smet described to the writer this method of basket- ' Explorations for a Railroad Smite, etc., to the Padflc, i, 299. '/Md., p. 407. At the Sanlt Ste. Marie, the Ojibwas use a Bcoop-net to take white-fish in the rapids Two men push out into thu stream in a birch-barlf canoe, one at the'stem to manage the boat with a pole and force it up the rapid, while the other, standing at the bow, taljes the fish by plung- ing the net to the bottom and bagging them as they attempt to run up the rapids. The polo to which the net is attached is about ten feet long. This method is highly successfVil. » Mxploratiomfor a RaUroad Route, etc., to the Pacific, t, 418. mp; 184 The Indian Miscellany. hH I ■,* . *«rs fishing, which ho had frequently witneRSOfl at tliCRO falls. The basket is made of wiHow, from fifteen to twenty feet long, five or six wide, and about four fuetdeep, with a high back u[)on one side, which is designed to rise above the surface of the water. A stick of timber is firndy anchored in the rocks below the falls, extending out over the stream twenty or thirty feet. To this the basket is suspended, and so far sul)nierged as to leave tlie back just above the water up stream, wliilethe opposite side is several inches below the surface of the water, and down stream. The ascending salmon rise up the side of the basket and spring into it, where they are held, their passage up being arrested by the high back; and as they never turn their heads down the current they are retained securely. After the basket in this manner is well filled, a man descends into it and hands out the fish. Two hundred salmon, weighing from six to forty pounds each, have been caught in this way in a few hours. They are also speared in great numbers. It was a common occurrence, he remarked, to take three thousand salmon in a day, since there was no limit to their numbers, and a whole band of Indians were engaged in the work. The fish were divided ec^ually among the women each day, the number of females in each family forming the basis of distribution. He further observed that he once spent thirty days at these falls, in the fishing season, with the Kootenays, and re- ceived for his share of the fish taken a sufficient quantity, when dried, to load thirty pack mules.* These falls are fifteen feet high, but they present no barrier to the passage of the salmon up the river. He had often seen them leap these falls in great numbers ; in doing wdiich they keep near the surface of the de- scending water, and shoot themselves up at one dart, and then continue their course. It is simply swimming up at a faster rate than the water falls. In these attempts they often fail, and are thrown back into the stream. They ascend to the head waters of the Columbia and its tributaries, filling the small streams, where, worn out and exhausted, they perish in myriads. > The Lativesalso prepare fish pcmmicau from theealmoit. After it is dried they pulverize it and mix it 'vith fish oil, and then form it into cakeB. It will not, however, keep as long in this form as when dried. Indian Migrations. 185 They are not found in Clarke's river, however, above the great falls. Lewis and Clarke, the first explorers of the Columbia, make frequent reference to the salmon finheries, the methods by which the fish were taken, and their unlimited numbers. " The multi- tudes of this fish," one of them remarks, " are almost inconceiv- able. The water is so clear that they can readily be seen at fif- teen or twenty feet, but at this season [October, 1805] they float in such quantities down the stream, and are drifted ashore, that the Indians have only to collect, split, and dry them on scaf- folds The Indians assured me by signs that they often used dried fish as fuel for the common occasions of cooking."* Farther on they write : " At the distance [of] two miles below [on the Columbia] are five new huts, the inhabitants of which are all engaged in drying fish, and some of them in their canoes killing fish with gigs ; opposite to this establishment is a small island in a bend towards the right, on which there were such quantities of fish that we counted twenty stacks of dried and pounded salmon."^ These stacks are subsequently explained as follows : " When it [the fish] is sufiiciently dried it is pounded fine between two stones till it is pulverized, and is then placed in a basket about two feet long [deep] and one in diameter, neatly made of grass and rushes, and lined with the skin of a salmon, stretched and dried for the purpose. Here they are pressed down as hard as possible, and the top covered with skins of fish, which are secured by cords through the holes of the basket. The baskets are then placed in some dry situa- tion, the corded part upwards, seven being usually placed as close as they can be put together, and five on the top of them. The whole are then wrapped in mats, made fast by cords, over which mats are again thrown. Twelve of these baskets, each of which contains from ninety to one hundred pounds, form a stack."' Twenty such stacks would contain about twenty-four thousand pounds of dried fish.* » Travels, etc., to the Paciific Ocean. London ed . , quarto, 1814, p.363. » Ibid., p. 363. ' Traveti, etc., to the Padfie Ocean, p. 366. * Inrlng, in his Bonneville (p. 885), gives an account of the salmon fisheries of Snake river, one of ^ ^^^ ▼nO. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // i? :/ 1.0 !t"^ I I.I 1.25 2.5 "« 1^ 1 2.2 40 IIIII2.0 U IIIIII.6 # ^ qv ^^ ^\ '^RV i^ .. ^ 11 I 'I i 'I m III ill 186 The Indian Miscellany. The Columbia-river Indians changed their residences at the different seasons of the year, much in the same manner as the aborigines east of the Mississippi at the period -when they were first visited by Europeans. The Iroquois, for example, after planting their garden beds in the spring, most of them, left their villages for their different fishing encampments, to return again in midsummer when the corn was in the green ear. In the autumn, and again in the winter, parties went out upon the autumn and winte" hunts, to return before winter and spring. Lewis and Clarke describe the routine of the Columbia river Indians at the period of their visit, by saying that " the inhabit- ants of the Columbia plains, after having passed the winter near the mountains, come clown as soon as the snow has left the valleys, and are occupied in collecting and drying roots ti^l about the month of May. Then they crowd the river, and, fixing themselves on its north side to avoid the incursions of the Snake Indians, continue fishing until about the first of September, when the salmon are no longer fit for use. They then bury their fish and return to the plains, where they remain gathering quamash till the snow obliges them to desist. They then come back to the Columbia, and, taking their store of fish, retire to the foot of the mountains and along the creeks which supply timber for their houses, and pass the winter in hunting deer and the tribntaries of the Columbia, as follows : " They take these flah in great quantities and without the least difficulty, simply taking them out of the water with their hands, as they flounder and struggle in the numerous long shoals of the principal streams. At the time the traveler - passeu over these prairies, some of the narrow deep streams by which they were traversed were completely choked with salmon, which they took In great numbers. The wolves and bears frequent these streams at this season to avail 'themselves of these ^reat Psheries." And again on page 396: "It was on the 20th of October when they found themselves once more on this noted stream. The Shoshonees, whom they had met with in such scanty numbers on their journey down the river, now absolutely thronged its banks, to profit by the abundance of salmon and to lay up a stock of winter provisions. Scaffoldings were everywhere erected, and Immense quantities of fish drying upon them. In some places the shores were completely covered with a stratum of dead t>almon, exhausted In ascending the river, or destroyed at the falls — the fetid odor ol' which tainted the air." In the rivers of Maine the same thing is occasionally witnessed, where wagon loads of fish are acmetimes found dead upon the banks, and carried away for manure. This is said to be occasioned by stampedes or panics among the fish themselves, when moving in large nnmbers up stream and encountering some obstruction like shoal water — 'he momentum of those below crowding thos^ above Into a mass, and forcing them finally upon the land, where they remain to perish. In like manner the beds of dead stlmoD found npon the tributaries of the Columbia are probably to be explained. Indian Migrations. 187 elk, which, with the aid of their fish, enables them to subsist till in the spring they resume the circle of their employments.'" Another prominent characteristic of this region is the mildness of the climate as compared with that upon the same parallels on the Atlantic coast. It is important, sinco it rendered less clothing and less subsistence necessary, and thus favored an in- crease of numbers. The mean temperature for spring ranges from 45° to 50° ; for summer, from 60° to 65° ; for autumn, from 50° to 52° ; and for winter, from 35° to 40° ; giving a mean tem- perature for the year ranging from 50° to 52|°. The annual pre- cipitation varied from thirty to sixty inches in different parts of the area.' The 8U[)erior advantages which abundance and variety of food and fineness of climate gave to this region over every other part of North or South America cannot fail to arrest attention. Its superiority for Indian occupation is created in the main by the concurrence of a good climate with the possession of the most bountiful and widely distributed fisheries to be found in any part of the earth. These two elements, superadded to other advan- tages not surpassed if they are equalled elsewhere, must have exercised a potent influence upon population. From the super- abundance of the means of subsistence, which belongs to this re- gion above every other already described, or remaining to be noticed, the inference arises that this area would develop a sur- plus of population from age to age ; and that it would become permanently the point of departure of migrations to different parts of the continent. The facts are sufiScient to raise a pre- sumption that the valley of the Columbia was the region from which both North and South America were peopled in the first instance, and afterwards resupplied with inhabitants. A larger population would be expected in this area than in any other of equal extent, with the exception of districts where agri- culture was the basis of subsistence ; and the population was, in fact, denser, but the excess was not large. The reason must be sought in the nature of the institutions of the Indians, which « Travels, etc., to the Padflc Ocean, p. 444. » Blodgett'e Climatology qfthe United States ; Isothermal and Uyetal Charts. fill IW'I 1 i r ■■.,1, MB 188 The Indian Miscellany. precluded the formation of a state. They were found subdivided into a large number of petty nations, speaking dialects of several different stock languages, which are more numerous in this area than in any other of equal extent in North America, thus afford- ing decisive evidence of the great antiquity of its occupation. It also shows that no single nation had been able to consolidate these several nations into one in this, any more than in other parts of the continent. The constant tendency was to disintegra- tion, subdivision, and displacement. This tendency is inherent in the institutions of barbarous ages, and continues in force until the institutions of pastoral or advar ed agricultural life supplant them. Confederacies of nations serv^e in some measure to coun- teract these results ; but none existed, of which a knowledge is preserved, in the valley of the Columbia. The first estimate of the number of the Indians in that region was made by Lewis and Clarke, in 1805. It included all the nations upon the Columbia and its tributaries of which he obtained knowledge, those upon Puget's sound, and those in the southern part of British Columbia. They were estimated in the aggregate at eighty thousand souls, which was probably an unexaggerated estimate. In 1857, the Indian population in British America, west of the Rocky mountains, was estimated, as has been stated, at eighty thousand. This included the Louchoux or Kutchin (Ku-tchin),^ of the Yukon and Peel rivers,^ and some small bands scattered along the narrow belt of land between the Russian possessions and the Rocky mountains, north of the fifty-fourth parallel of latitude. The bulk of these Indians were south of this line, and within the area described. Vancouver's and Queen Charlotte's islands and the valley of Frazer's river were well adapted to Indian occupation, and, undoubtedly, in 1805, sus- tained a very considerable Indian population. For that part of the area not covered by the estimate of Lewis and Clarke, about fifty thousand may be added, which would give a much larger aggregate number than was found in any other region of equal extent north of Mexico. > u as 00 In food. • Mr. Murray, before mentioned, who eBtabliehcd the first, trading-post on the Yukon, informed the writer, In 1861, that this nation numbered ftom three to four thousand. 1 Indian Migrations. 189 California, which embraces a large area, possessed only ordi- nary advantages for the support of an Indian population. In 1802, the Spanish missionaries estimated the numbei* of Indians at thirty-two thousand and a fraction over; and in 1852 the secretary of state of California estimated them at about the same number.' The Roving and partially Village Indians have now been suffi- ciently considered with respect to their centres of population, their means of subsistence, and their numbers. It remains to notice briefly the strictly Village Indians, who inhabited the comparatively small area from New Mexico to the isthmus of Panama. Portions of this area were occupied by Roving In- dians, other portions by partially Village Indians, and still other portions were either solitudes or neutral grourds separating hostile nations. The largest development of numbers was in and around the valley of Mexico, and in Yucatan and Guatemala. A dense and unsubdued forest overspread the greater part of Central America, and Mexico was, in the main, a forest country. Since the Village Indians depended upon agricultural subsist- ence, and occupied a section of the continent poorly supplied with fish and game, inquiry should be directed to the nature and extent of their agriculture. If the degree of its productiveness could be ascertained, it might afford means of ascertaining their probable numbers, and whether it secured to them any positive advantages over the barbarous nations in a contest for the mas- tery of the continent. Before considering the subject of Indian agriculture, the geographical location of the several nations of Village Indians should be noticed. Of New Mexico they were the chief poi^sessors, occupying the valley of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, and the valleys of the eastern and southern tributaries of the Colorado. They were found, in 1540, living in great communal houses constructed of stone or of -^dobe brijk, and several stories high. They dwelt not in single houses with one family in each, nor in many houses grouped together, but in one great house constructed upon a definite model, containing two hundred apartments, more or less, led ' PreHdmt't Message and Documents, 1855-56, pt. i, p. 576, aud note. 1 1: iU f; I ji Its ( 1 ^£1'' i ; 1 1 , 1 ! 1 I 't 1 4 ] i 'Mi 't 1 ' ' ; 1 1 ■■ ! 190 THE Indian Miscellany. and large enough for an entire band or nation. In rare cases several such houses were grouped together, as at Zuiii ; but usually they were situated a mile or more apart, in the same valley, the different bands being leagued together for mutual de- fen 3e where they spoke the same dialect, or dialects of the same stock language. Castancda, who accompanied the expedition of Coronado to New Mexico, in 1540-1542, estimated the popula- tion of the fourteen villages of Cibola and Tucayan at four thousand men (probably warriors) and that of the numerous villages on and near the Rio Grande and its tributaries at sixteen thousand souls — which would give an aggregate of about fifty thousand Village Indians.' From New Mexico southward for about eight hundred miles the country was unfavorable to Indian occupation. As it was tninly peopled, |)robably its inhabitanti^ never came into promi- nent notice. But thence southward to the isthmus the country was more favorable to a population depending upon agriculture for sustenance. With a tropical climate, relieved by table-lands, the disadvantage of the absence of fisheries and of the larger forest-ar.imals was more than counterbalanced by increased agri- cultural production, and by wild fruits and useful plants. These advantages were again lessened by geographical location and contracted areas. The drift of population seems to have been down the mountain chains to the valley of Mexico, and thence toward the isthmus, the only means of exit from the north- ern half of the continent. Any nation attempting to hold the table lands of Mexico, forming as they do a natural gateway to the distant south, must have been able to repel and turn back this flow of migrating -bands, or have been swept away by the current. Moreover, barbarous nations are strongly attracted to the seats of even partial civilization for purposes of rapine and plunder : witness the continuous assaults of the Apaches and Navajos, within the last hundred years, upon the Village Indians of New Mexico, and the ruined and abandoned pueblos within that area. History furnishes some evidence tending to show that no nation, previous to the Aztec, had been able to hold per- > Coll. Temaux-Compant, vol. tx. Indian Migrations. 191 manently the table-land of Mexico, or to develop a population upon the basis of agriculture, able to maintain itself there, much less to extend its power and influence northward. The Toltecs, of whose previous occupation, advancement in civiliza- tion, and retirement from the valley we have some information, doubtless repeated the experience of nation after na'ion which had preceded them. At the time of the Spanish conquest the Aztecs had been dominant in the valley about two hundred years, and coming, like their predecessors, from the north, they had neither extended their conquests, nor planted a colony north of the borders of the valley. On the contrary, they were confronted by hostile and independent nations on the west, northwest, north- east, and east sides ; that is, upon all sides except the southwest, south, and southeast, in which latter directions they had extended their authority over the more feeble portion of the southern Vil- lage Indians. With respect to the numbers and the social and civil condition of the Village Indians of Mexico and Central America at the time of the conquest, our information is very far from satisfac- tory. From the outset the phenomena of their civilization appear to have been to the invaders an enigma of marvelous interest ; but we have lost the principal facts necessary for its elucidation, in gaining volumes of romance. At that period the areas above named were occupied by forty petty nations — more or less — speaking dialects of several dif- ferent stock languages, living chiefly in villages, and depending upon agriculture for a subsistence. Their villages were constructed in eligible situations upon the margins of lakes, the banks of rivers and streams, and sometimes in positions of natural strength. Since their agriculture was confined to jifarden beds around and near their villages, the greater portion of these countries was a wilderness without inhabitants, except as it was traversed by hunting parties or roving bands. Each nation, or confederacy of nations, was under its own chiefs, and governed in accordance with those usages and customs which were the common inherit- ance of the Indian race. The evidence that any considerable number of these nations ^vere con oiidatod into a state is not satisfactory. In other words, it cannot be aiiirmed that any 1 ' il '. It? ,' ' ' '. i! ^1 J f: :! i ijiii 192 The Indian Miscellany. number of these nations speaking different stock languages had become absorb^^d into one national organization, with common laws, and one executive government to which they all acknow- ledged allegiance and from which they received protection. The Aztec confederacy, the dominant Indian power of the period, had subdued the nations south of the valley, in a westerly and southerly direction to the Pacific, southeasterly to Guatemala, Yucatan, and the gulf of Mexico, and along i:he western shores of the gulf near Vera Cruz ; and they are said to have been the terror ot surrounding nations, from their confederate organization, their numbers, and their sanguinary character. The nations which they had conquered were subjected to tribute, and held in the nominal connection which its payment implies ; but the Aztecs and their confederates did not spread over the territories of these nations, nor attempt to impose upon them either their language, their customs, or their direct civil administration. At least there is no satisfactory evidence that they did. Traces are found among these nr.tions of the three stages of political organization common among the northern Indians : first, the tribe, composed of persons of the same immediate descent ; second, the nation, consisting of several tribes intermingled by marriage and speak- ing the same dialect ; and lastly, the confederacy of nations speak- ing dialects of the same stock language. Most of them appear to have been in the second stage, organized into nations ; but a portion of them had reached the third, of which the Aztec, the Tlascalan, and perhaps the Cholulan and Michuacau confedera- cies are examples. With respect to the tribal organization, the evidence is fragmentary. Among the Aztecs the descent of the oflice of chief from brother to brother, or from uncle to nephew, can be explained only by the hypothesis of a division into tribes, with descent limited to the female line, as among the Iroquois.^ The Aztec confederacy embraced the Aztecs, Tezcucans, and Tlacopans," who spoke either the same, or dialects of the same > League of the Iroquois, p. 87. » There iB Bone uncertainty concerning tlie correct name of the third nation. Tlacopan, on the west side of the lake, was the name of the puehlo of the Tepanecans. one of the gp^en nations who " came ft-om the far countries which lie toward the north, .... to people the land of Mexico" (Joseph Acosta, Nat. and Mor. Hist. East and West Indies, Lond. ed. 1604, Grlmstone's Trans, p. BOO). The latter would seem to be the correct name of this nation. Indian Migrations. 193 id le language, and occupied, in coujunction witli otlier villagers of kindred descent, the valley of Mexico. It is not improbable that the Chalcans, and other villagers wlio maintained a distinctive name, were independent members of the confederacy. The valley is oval in form, being longest from north to south, and is about one hundred and twenty miles in circuit. A large portion of it is covered with lakes. It is surrounded by a series of hills, one rising above the other, with depressions between, encom- passing the valley with a mountain l)arrier. Within it the nations just named resided at the time of the Spanish conquest, in about thirty pueblo villages, more or less. There is no evidence that any considerable portion of the confederates resided outside of the valley and the adjacent hill-slopes ; but, on the contrary, there is satisfactory evidence that the remainder of modern Mexico was then occupied by nations who spoke stock languages diiferent from the Aztec, and most of whom were independent of the Aztec power. This fact has a material bearing upon the probable numbers of the people thus confederated. Any estimate here must be purely conjectural. There are no materials from which an approximation to accuracy can be made. There is no doubt that a much larger population was found in particular dis- tricts of Mexico and Central America than in any other equal area in North America, and that the valley of Mexico contained a larger number of people than any other district of equal ex- tent. But there is no ground for reckoning this population by millions ;* a much smaller number M^ould have exhausted the re- sources of the country as developed by Indian agriculture. Li the ' It is a common statement, running through most of the histories of the conquest, that the pue- blo of Mexico contained dxty thousand houses. Zuazo, who visiiecl Mexico, In 1521, cited by Pres- cott (Conquest of Mexico, ii, 112, note), wrote sixty thousand inhabitants ; the Anonymous Con- queror, " sixty thoasand flres ; " but Gomara and Martyr wrote sixty thowand i «, and the last has since bwen steadily repeated by Clavinero {Uist of Mexico, P^";. ed. 1817, ii, 3d0) ; by Herrera (Hist, of America, Lond. ed. 1725, ii, 360); and by Prescott (Conquest, etc., ii, 112). Soils says sixty thousand families (Hist. Conquest of Mexico, Lond. ed. 1738, r, 399). Torquemadn, cited by Clavigero (Ibid., n, 360, note) Increagos the number to one hundred and twenty thousand houses. There cannot be a reasonable doubt that the houses of the Aztecs were most of them great com- munal edifices like those in New Mexico, some of tliom large enough to accommodate a thousand or more people. This magnifies the exaggeration to an impossibility. If these later writers had any real knowledge of the subject, it must be supposed that they meant apartments, instead of houses, treating each great house as a block of houses, and estimating the number of rooms. Zoazo'a estimate is probably the nearest to the truth. 14 I II 194 'II The Indian Miscellany. ■ t. 11' f i'. u valley of Mexico, excluding the lakes, and including a liberal belt of surrounding hills, there may be fifteen hundred square miles of land. If we allow one hundred and seventy inhabitants to the square mile, which is double the average number to the square mile in the state of New York, it would give to the nations of the valley two hundred and iifty-tive thousand souls. It is diffi- cult to see how so large an estimate can be sustained. With respect to the nations and languages of Mexico, modern research has advanced but little beyond the sketch of Clavigero, except in relation to the grammatical structure of some of these languages. It will be sufficient to follow his authority for the names and locations of the principal remaining nations. He enumerates fourteen stock languages in Mexico and Yucatan.^ The most prominent Indian nations cotemporary with the Aztecs were the Chichemecs, who occupied the country on the northwest border of the valley, and ranged westward, well to- wards the Pacific. They were non-agricultural and inde- pendent of the Aztec confederacy.^ South of them were the Otomics, who for the most part were non-agricultural and in- d pendent. A portion of them near the valley appear to have been subdued by the Aztecs. These nations spoke different languages. South of the Otomies and immediately west of the valley of Mexico were the Michuacans, who occupied a large area extending towards the Pacilic. They spoke the Tarasca lan- guage, and were independent of the Aztecs. Southwest of the valley, and bordering upon it, were the tributary Matlatzincas, an inconsiderable people, who spoke a language of the same name, and occupied, with a portion of the Otomies, the valley of Talocan. On the northeast of the valley, and about eighty miles distant, were the Meztitlans, who spoke a dialect of the Aztec, but were independent. East of the latter, and ranging to the gulf of Mexico, in the region around Tampico, were the Huastecas, who spoke the Hiiastec language, and were inde- ' History of Mexico, iii, 371. ' The ancient and first iuhabitantB of New Spain were men very barbaroue and savage, which lived only by bunting ; lor this reason they were called Chichamecas. They neither sow nor till the ground (\v.w\a,Nat. uiaiMor. Hist., etc.. )>. 497). Allhou{;h Aco^tu makes this a general name for the Roving IndianH in Mexico, there wH^^a dlBtinct nation of this name in the region referred to. m I Wr. Indian Migrations. 195 ill lie o. pendont. iSouth of them, and riui*ifiiig aloii*:!; the gulf as far as Vera Cruz, were the TotoiuicH, who spoke the laiiiruagc of the Hanie iiaiue, 'iiid aeknowledgod the suiiremacy of the Aztec con- i'ederacy. Between tliein and the valley of Mexi(!o,but confined to ail area of moderate dimensions, were the sturdy Tlascalans, also independent. iSouthwest of them were the Cholulans, sup- posed to have been a subdivii.ion of the Tlascalans. Whether the Tlascalan was an independent stock language is not ascer- tained, ft is asserted that the Cholulans were subdued by the Aztecs shortly before the Spanish con([uest; but Clavigero places them in the list of independent republics.' In the areas south of the several nations named, between the valley of Mexico and the Pacific, and extending eastward to Guatemala and Yucatan, were several other nations, of whom the names and locations are })reserved, and but little besides. Among them were the Mixtecas and Zapotecas, who spoke the Mixtec and Zapotec languages ; the Chinantecas, Mazatecas, Tlahuicas, Co- huicas, Popolocas, and several others scarcely needing enumera- tion — all supposed to have been tributary to the Aztec con- federacy.^ Whether these Village Indians were permanently subjugated, and acknowledged their dependence by paying pe- riodical tribute, or whether their submission ended with the foray that enforced the tribute, we are not precisely informed. The Village Indians of Yucatan and Guatemala were, pro- bably, the highest of the class in North America, as well as the oldest in their civilization. They possessed some advantage in their sheltere(' position behind the gulf of Mexico, and ofl' the great highway of migration to South America, toward which the movements of the northern Indians tended to drive the frag- mentary and broken nations. The remains of their pueblos in ruins bear testimony to their higher development. Their agri- culture must have been more efficient, to overcome the superior activity of the forces of nature in a tropical climate. " The ' History of Mexico, i, 6. ' Dofla Marina, the interpreter of Cortes, was born in the province of Coatzacimlco. on the gulf of Mexico, 1 ear tiio Tabasco river, and spol>;c a dialect of tlie Aztec 'anguage. " Dofla Marina under- stood the language ;of Quacacualco and Mexico, which is one and the same " (Bernal Diaz, 7V»/* Bist. Cong, of Mexico, London ed. 1808, i, 76). 196 The Indian Miscellany. \ ■ \ u kingdom of Yucatan," says Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, who Avrote in 1589 the relation from which we quote, *' contained a prodigious numlxjr of pc'o^)le ; the air of the country is very tenij»erate and pleasant; it lias great plenty of fruits, and all the necessaries of life ; it exceeds Mexico itself in fertility The inhubitiints of it are more polite, more civilized, and better civilized in morals and in what belongs to the good order of societies, than the rest of the Indians. There is a remarkable prudence and justness of mind in them, which is not to be found in others."' And Ilcrrera remarks to nearly the same effect: These people were then found living together very politely in towns, kept very clean, without any ill weeds growing about, but with fruit-trees orderly planted. Their temples were in the midst of their towns, and near to them the houses of their prime men and priests, those of the commonalty being farther off; and the common wells were in the squares or market places; and the reason of their being so close together was because of the wars which exposed them to the danger of being taken, sold, and sacrificed ; but the wars of the Spaniards made them disperse.'" From the references of Las Casas to the number and location of the pueblo villages in Yucatan and Guatemala, it is to be inferred that they were numerous, and, when constructed upon the banks of rivers, were so near together as to be in sight of each other, in some cases, for miles together. These tribes seem to have followed precisely the same method of building as the Villags Indiana of New Mexico. Within a few years after the conquest of Mexico the pueblo villages of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Honduras were ravaged by military adventurers, and the people driven from their pueblos into the forests. The Spaniards destroyed in a few years a higher civilization than they substituted in its place. " The pretence," says Las Casas, " of subjecting the Indians to the overnnient of Spain is only made to carry on the design of sub- ' An Account 0/ Tkeftrnt Voyagen and Discoverieg made by the Spaniards in America, London ed. 1699, p. 52. » Hemyra, it, 168. Indian Migrations. 197 lo jectiiig them to the dominion of private men, who make them all their slaves.'" The Maya language waH spoken in Yucatan ; the Quiche, Po- conchi, and some other languages in Guatenuila ; and the Chon- tal in Nicaragua. Oviedo, who was in the last-named province in 1526, states that there were five languages spoken there, of which the one most extensively used was the same as the vXztec' It is not improbable that the nations of Mexico and Ceuttal America above enumerated were so described on the ground of a common language, and that some of them were subdivided into nations speaking dialects of the same stock language. The con- tinuity of territorial possession is usually well preserved by na- tions of the same speech ; but this did not arrest the inevitable tendency to disintegration inseparable from their institutions. The number of nations must be measured by dialects, and not by stock languages. It is further probable that each group of pueblos occupied by people speaking the same dialect was inde- pendent, except as several such groups were confederated for mutual protection. In strictly village life the tendency to dis- ruption was even greater than in the non-stationary condition ; and consequently the Village Indians, although more numerous in equal areas, were probably more disunited and less efficient and warlike than the barbarous nations. Having now considered the most important districts of North America with reference to the means of subsistence which they respectively afforded, and compared the particular advantnges of each with such statistics of actiial population, except as to the Village Indians, as our limited information furnishes, inquiry should next be made into the nature and extent of Indian agri- culture ; and this for the purpose of ascertaining whether a sub- ed. > Account of theflrat Voyages, etc., p. 119. Elsewhere he quotes from the letter of the bishop of St. Martha to the king, as follows: "To redress the grievances of this province, It ought to be delivered from the tyranny of those who ravage It, and committed to the care of persons of Integrity, who will treat the Inhabitants with more kindness and humanity; for if it be left to the mercy of the governors, who commit all sorts of outrages with impunity, tho province will bo destroyed in a veryshovt time" (p. 61). He also says, " Fourscore towns and villages at least were, burned in the kingdom of Xaiisco " (p. 51). The good bishop's numbers must be .eceivod with caution. » Uratu. Am, Etim. Soc, i, 7. w \l 198 The Indian Miscellany. F I sistence derived from ugTiculture, or one procured by fishing and the chase, tended to the more rapid production of a surphis popu- lation to be sent forth as emigrants into other areas. Indian agriculture was based upon, one cereal, Indian corn, mid upon three indigenous plants, the bean, the squash and to- bacco. To these, cotton, a species of pepper, and of onion, were added in some areas. The Aztecs, and some of the nations south of them, had, without cultivation, several useful fruits and plants, such as cocoa — from which they prepared chocolate — the ban- ana and the maguey. The art of cultivating the ground doubtless sprang up as a happy accident, after the Indians had overspread North America and discovered these " gifts of the Great Spirit to the red man. " Where it originated it is impossible to ascertain, though one nuiy reaeonab)'-^ conjecture that it must have been in a tropical climate, in some moist, hot region, where corn is most prolific and was probably indigenous. Its introduc- tion was a great event in the primitive history of the Indians. Without agriculture they could not have reached the second stage of their development, namely, that of permanent villagers. After the art of cultivating corn was acquired, agriculture would spread with the people ; but it would not be restricted to the lines covered by their migrations. In many fortuitous ways it might be transferred from nation to nation by the opportunities of aboriginal life. The art spread, in the course of time, throughout Central America, Mexico, and the West India islands. North- ward it was carried, it must be supposed, first into New Mexico, and thence to the Mississippi valley, whence it spread from the gulf of Mexico to the chain of lakes and as far east as the Kenne- bec river. The Hurons introduced it on the Georgian bay of Lake Huron, the Shiyans on the river of that name, a tributary of the Red river of the north, and the Minnitarees on the Upper Missouri. It was unknown in all other parts of North America, and confined to mere patches of land within the areas nj.yi.ed. Indian agriculture was rude, and of moderate productiveness. It was limited to garden beds upon alluvial soils, where the climate was moist, and to irrigated garden beds where it was dry. This kind of cultivation is the most productive in equal a'.'eas, and with Indian Migrations. 199 irrigation is immensely productive ; but there was a drawback in the smalhiess of the areas that coukl bo cultivated. The thought of subduing the forest never entered the Indian mind. To clear it was impossible without metallic implements, and field agriculture equally impossible without the horse or ox ad the plough, neither of which were known to the American aborigines. They cultivated therefore only small patches of alluvial land upon the margins of rivers and lakes, and such shreds of prairie as they were able to dig over, and such bottom lands, in the dry regions, as they were able to irrigate by means of canals. But little is known of their implements for horticulture (for it was horticulture, rather than agriculture, which they practiced). The Northern Indians probably used the common stone chisel, set in a handle like a pick, as a pointed instrument to break the soil ; but even this is partly conjectural. A stick or a bone was the usual implement. In Mexico and Central America imple- ments of native copper were used to some extent. Clavigero remarks that, " to hoe and dig the ground they [the Aztecs] made use of the coatl, which is an instrument made of copper, with' a wooden handle, but difterent from a spade or mattock. They made use of an axe to cut trees, which was also made of copper, and was of the same form as those of modern times, except that we put the handle in the eye of the axe, whereas they put the axe into an eye of the handle." And he naively concludes : " They had several other instruments of agriculture ; but the negligence of ancient writers on this subject has not left it in our power to attempt their description.'" Ilerrera, speaking of the Village In- dians of Honduras, observes that they have " also Indian wheat, and kidney beans, which they sow thrice a year; and they were wont to grub up great woods with hatchets made of flint, which all could not get before they had the use of iron. They turned up the earth with long staves that had two hooks or branches coming from them, one above and another below, to press hard with the arm and foot, as also sharp shovels ; being wont to sow little, as they were very slothful and often in want, eating several • Qonquett qf .V«xico, ii, 177, 200 The Indian Miscellany. t 1 I i fl^ sorts of roots.'" Bernal Disiz remarks that " copper axes and working tools " were offered for sale in the markets of Mexico, but gives no particulars of thom.^ The implements that they used were doubtless of the simplest and rudest kind. After their garden beds were once formed, the work of planting and culti- vating them would be moderate from year to year ; but the re- duction of the ground in the first instance was the permanent obstacle to the use of large areas. Amongst the partially Village Indians labor was despised by the males ; the cultivation, conse- quently, fell upon the overtaxed females. Nevertheless this class of Indians, east of the Mississippi, raised crops of corn, not large enough to save them at all times from famine, yet sutRcient to sustain them in considerable numbers. In New Mexico and southward the labor of cultivation appears to have been shared more equally between the sexes, which serves to explain the greater productiveness of the horticulture of that region. Irrigation was the favorite method of cultivation with the Village Indians. It was extensively practiced in Mexico, and appears to have been the exclusive method in New Mexico. A brief explanation of the ancient method in the latter territory, where it is still practiced, will assist materially to an understand- ing of Indian agriculture. The sites of their pueblos were usually in narrow valleys, watered by streams often of inconsiderable size. The pueblo was located upon high ground within the valley, but the garden beds were upon the first river terrace. An acequia, or canal, commencing sometimes a mile or more above the village, was excavated deep enough to draw off a por- tion of the water of the river and conduct it back of the garden beds to be irrigated, and not unfrequently one or two miles below the pueblo, where it was discharged into the river. The acequia, starting from the river, was led back to the outer margin of the valley as soon as the descent would permit, and then car- ried past the pueblo at such an elevation that the bottom of the canal would be higher than the garden beds, which were laid out between the canal and the river. These canals were usually ^BUtory « i»i III 202 The Indian Miscella.,t. a small one for each pueblo.' This simple but ingenious method of cultivation is the highest evidence that can be adduced of the progress made by the Village Indians in civilization. Another method of irrigate >n appears to have been practiced, and upon a very extendec' scale, by the Aztecs and their con- federates in the valley of Mexico. Tt is a difficult and hazardous subject to touch. Few i ations as small have elicited such masses of historical writing; auv. .,'ne have had their public affairs de- corated with such wealth of imagination ; yet, when it comes to a practical question as elementary as tho means whereby they lived, these histories aiford very little direct information. It ap- pears that they cultivated in garden beds, and upon a large scale, corn, beans, and pepper; that they raised cotton and tobacco; and that they had cocoa, the banana, and the maguey, the latter of which was utilized in many different ways. Provisions, such as they were, seem to have been abundaiit. But the support of the excessive population credited to this valley, upon the pro- ducts named, in the absence of a field agriculture, would have required horticultural cultivation upon a much more extended scale than there is reason to suppose could ever have existed. The necessity of resorting to conjecture to explain the cultivation of this valley is the best evidence of the imperfect state of our knowledge. The one about to be offered must be taken for what it is worth. In a previous article in this HevieM,'' the writer observed that " Mexico appears to have been surrounded by shallow artificial ponds, which answered as an exterior defence. It may be con- jectured that the water was held there by means of dikes and causeways, and that the supply of water was obtained by dam- ming Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. These lakes at present ' A mlBtaken idea prevails in regard to the great advantages of artificial Irrigation over that of natural rains. It is true that when the cultivator can depend upon an ample supply of water at all seasons in the irrigating cannlg, ho possesses an advantage over him who relies exclusively on nature. But the misfortune is that when water l,i most needed the supply is the scantiest. In Peb- naary and March there is always enough [in New Mexico] for the first irrigation. In April and May the quantity is much diminished : and if the rise expected to take place In the middle of May falls, there is not enough to irrigate properly all the fields prepared for It : the ccseqnenee is a par- tial failure of the cropB."— Bartlett's Personal Narrative, i, 187. » April, 1869, p. 492, note. India?' Migrations. 203 are a little less than live feet higher than the plaza of Mexico, which, in turn, is about six feet higher than the present level of Lake Tezcuco. By means of dams and dikes, with both of which the Aztecs were familiar, tiiis result might have been attained." These suggestions need further development. In the absence of any evidence that the cliniji*"e of Mexico has changed sin' e the Spanish conquest, it must be assumed that the level of Lake Tezcuco was the same then as now ; less the amount of water discharged into it by the small lakes to the northward of Mexico, the outlets of which were turned out of the valley by the tunnel of Huehuetoca, constructed in the beginning of the seventeenth cen- tury. The level of the lake would vary with the relative amounts of precipitation and evaporation. Lake Tezcuco, which is now three miles east of Mexico, is thirteen miles long and nine broad. Lake Chalco is now nine miles south of Tezcuco ; and Lake Xochimilco, at its west end, is iive and half miles south of Mexico. These last lakes are connected by an outlet, and together are fifteen miles long,' and discharge into Lake Tezcuco, through an outlet seven miles long, running along the borders of the present city of Mexico. At the time of the Spanish invasion, in 1619, there is no doubt that the waters of the three lakes were united by a narrow neck, and covered more than twice their present areas, and that the pueblo of Mexico was entirely surrounded by water. " The city of Mexico was then situated," says Clavigero, " as we have already said, upon a small island in Lake Tezcuco h'or the convenience of passing to the mainland, there were three great causeways of earth and stone raised in the lake. That of Iztapalapan, towards the south, upwards of seven miles ; that of Tlacopan, towards the west, about two miles ; and that of Tepe- jacac, toward the north, of three miles in length ; and all three so broad, that ten men on horseback could pass abreast."' And Herrera to the same effect : " Mexico, Tenochtitlan, is every way encompassed with fresh water, though thick, and, being in the lake, has only three avenues along the causeways. One of them * Map of the Vatteyqf Mexico.hy Lieut. Hardcnstle, U.S. A.; General Scott's expedition to Mexico, 1847 ; PresidenCt Message and Docununts, 184T-48, p, 866. » History of Mexico, n, 859. I N iiiii 204 The Indian Miscellany. comes from the west, about half a league in 1 jngth, another from the north, a loague long. On the east there is no civiSeway, but only canoes io come at it. The other causeway is on the south, two leagues in length, along which Cortes anil hia men entered. It is to be observed that, as the lake of Mexico stands, it seems to be but one, yet tliere are tv/o, and of very different nature ; for the water of one of them is brackish, bitter, naught, and neither breeds nor will bear any sort of lish, and the water of the other is fresh, and has fishes, though small. The salt ebbs and flows, more or less, according as the wind blows on it. The fresh is higher, and so runs into the salt, and not the reverse, as some have thought, through six or seven large gaps that are in the causeway that divides them, over which there are large wooden bridges. The salt lake in some places is five leagues over, and eight or ten in length, the compass of it being about fifteen. The fresh water is about the same compass."' The problem then is to explain the former presence of a lake where none now exists, with no change of climate in the interval ; the lake having two sections, one of them brackish, and the other fresh. Since the lake of brackish water still remains, and has no outlet, it explains itself; but the fresh-water lake around Mexico has disappeared. Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco are also much reduced in size. The Aztecs as cultivators were familiar with the uses of water, both for irrigation and as a solvent to assist in the reduction of land. They were also familiar with dams and canals, and constructed dikes miles in length. The marsh lands around the pueblo then , as around the city now, were not available for culti- vation. A series of dams upon the outlet of the fresh-water lakes, from their mouth to Lake Tezcuco, would be the first expedient, followed by lateral dikes for the formation of ponds over the lowlands around the pueblo. These ponds would serve to irrigate the patches of higher and better land. This plan or method of irrigation, followed up for years, would finally produce the result of covering the entire region around the pueblo with water, serving as a defence also, and necessi- tating the construction of the great causeways as they were :« HUtory qf America, ii, 368. Indian Migrations. 205 afterwards found. Earth and mud were thrown up on the oirglns of the ponds and formed into gardens, and every patch rising abcve the wate. or which could be raised by artificial means was put under cultivation. Even floats were constructed upon an extensive scale, covered with earth and mud and planted as garden beds. They were rather a necessity of their method of cultivation, as Clavigero states, than the result of luxury and taste.* Some of the pleasure gardens attracted the attention of the conquerors from their great size and orderly arrangement^ among which are those of Istapalapan and Huaxtepec. Of the first, Clavigero observes : " It was laid out in four squares and planted with every variety of trees, the sight and scent of which gave infinite pleasure to the senses ; through these squares a number of roads and paths led, some formed by fruit-bearing trees, and others by espaliers of flowering shrubs and aromatic herbs. Several canals from the lake watered it." And of the latter : " The garden of Huaxtepec was still more extensive and celebrated than the last. It was six miles in circumference, and watered by a beautiful river which crossed it."^ There were fields of maize and peppei' around Cholula, near Chalco, and other towns as well as near all the pueblos in the valley. Most of them appear by the accounts to have been cultivated by irri- gation. " For the refreshment of their field"," says the same author, " they made use of the water of rivers and small torrents which came from the mountains, raising dams to collect them and forming canals to conduct them."^ There is no doubt that land was also cultivated without irrigation, but with a greater > " NecesBity and indastry together taught them to form movable flelds and gardens, which floated on the waters of the lake. The method which they pursued to make those, and which they still practice is extremely simple. They plait and twist willows and roots of marsh plants together, which are light, but capable of supportin;,' the earth of the garden firmly united. Upon this founda- tion they lay the light bushis which float on the lake, and, over all, the mud and dirt which they draw up from the bottom of the lake. Their regular figure is quadrangular; their length and breadth Taries ; but as far as we can Judge, they are about eight perches long, not more than three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation above the surface of the water. They were the first fields the Mexicans owned after the foundation of Mexico ; there they first cultivated the maize, great pepper, and other plants necessary for their support. In progress of time, as those flelds grew numerous from the industry of those people, there were among them gardens of flowers and odoriferoui plants . " — Hittory of Mexico, n, 176, * History qf Mexico, ii, 180. » ibid, n, 177. ' I I! ! II ■ I f 1 I ,! 206 The Indian Miscellani. expenditure of labor in its reduction. The topographical map of Lientenant Hardcastic bhovvs low ^rounds around Mexico in the precise areas covered by tbe ancient ponds. It is probable that the great square of the Aztec pueblo was lower than the present level of the plaza of Mexico ; and if about two feet above the level of the ponds, tbere would be about two feet difference be- tween the level of the latter and of Lake Tezcuco, which was then probably several inches higher than at present. A series of low dikes between the pueblo and Lake Tezcuco would produce this 'esult with apparently one lake, yet in reality two, as de- scribed by Ilerrera, the fresh water lake being higher and flow- ing insensibly into the lower.' In a short time after the conquest the lake around Mexico had entirely disappeared. Bernal Diaz, who was writing his work in 1558, remarks : " That which was a lake is now a tract of fields of Indian corn, and so entirely altered that the natives themselves could hardly know it."'' If this conjecture with respect to the formation of a great artificial pond or ponds around the pueblo of Mexico, by means of dams and dikes to hold the waters discharged by Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco and by the mountain streams, is accepted as probably true, it tends very much to raise our estimate of the intelligence and industry of the nations of the valley, as well as to bring distinctly before the mind the formidable obstacles which, in their condition, impeded their progress in civilization. The t A- dence which it also affords as to the great amount of labor con- nected with the reduction and cultivation of land by their methods, places a limit to the possible population of these areas. Whether, at the time of the discovery of this continent, a sub- sistence derived from the chase, or one resting upon agriculture, was more favorable to an increase of the numbers and develop- ment of the power of the American aborigines, and whether the preponderating influence in peopling North America be- longed to the Roving and partially Village Indians, or to * " Around the city there were many dikcH and reservoirs for collecting water when it was neccs- BSry, and within it so many canals that there was hardly a district that conld not be approached by boats." — History qf Mexico, ii, 231 . * Conquest of Mexico, i, 188. -*i. . Indian Migrations. 207 th« Village Indians proper, cannot be determined from the facts thus far presented. It will be necessary to consider the actual migrations, and to find the source whence the emi- grants came, to procure the remaining facts necessary to settle these qu istions. For the present it may be remarked, thjic the iirst effect of substituting agriculture in the place of a subsist- ence obtained from fisheries and the chase, was to break up the roving propensity by localizitig the people in villages. This was a substantial advance. It is found to be nearly universally true of both divisions of the American aborigines, that nations speak- ing dialects of the same stock language maintained a territorial continuity with each other. This may have sprung, in part, from the influence of the bonds of kinship of language in securing V utual protection. It often resulted in confederacies. But the areas occupied by kindred nations of Village Indians were much smaller than those held by an equal number of nations of the other class. Moreover, from the direct personal nature of Indian government, each pueblo tended towards a state of independence of every other, while village life increased rathisr than moderated the tendency to political subdivision. This was a hindrance to progress. The inability of the Indians to rise out of the condition in which they were found was the result of the arrested growth of the idea of government. In the first place, they could not prevent the divergence of language into dialects, consequent upon geographical separation and diminished intercourse ; secondly, when confederacies were formed, they were established generally too late to include all the nations of the same immediate descent; and thirdly, they were uuable, with their means of subsistence, to develop population of the same descent in sufficient numbers within the folds of one confederacy to establish a formidable power. Their form of government was not adapted to overstep the barrier of diversity of language and include nations alien in speech, except as tributary, dependent, and humiliated. The idea of government is a growth through successive periods of development. It has its stages of development in barbarous society, and its after stages in civilized society, which are con- tinuations the one of the other, and all stand together in a logical ! 208 The Indian Miscellany. f : .J I 1 series. Its successive forms are founded upon the growth of man's experieiieo in society. The American aborigines, as else- where remarked, had developed the first three stages, whicli belong to the period of barbarism : fij'st, that of chief and followers, as represented by the tribe ; second, that of a council of chiefs over a number of tribes, as represented by the nation ; and third, that of a great council of chiefs over several nations, represented by the confederacy. Out of this came a tendency to advance a head-chief from among the members of the council, as the executive agent of its will. For the sufficient reason that the council remained supreme,^ it was rather a tendency towards, than the establishment of, an executive, a necessity of their form of government rather than a lodgement of irresponsible power in a single person. In judging of the degree of their progress, the permanent existence of a council which held the powers of government must be kept in view. For another significant reason Indian chiefs did not govern according to their sovereign pleasure : l)eeause the power of deposition, as well as of election, was held by the respective tribes. The idea of a state is essen- tially modern in man's history. In its perfect development it is a government of equal and impartial laws enacted by the people themselves, through representatives of their own selection. In such a state the law rules, and not the executive, not the legis- lature, not the magistrate. The American aborigines were very many stages below this idea of a state. From these various considerations it may be seen why it was thit the Village Iiidians did not rise to a supremacy over the continent by reducing the Roving Indians to contracted areas, occupying their best positions, and holding them powerless for aggression. The Aztecs were unable to carry their power a hundred miles beyond the valley of Mexico, either north, west, or east. In warfare they possessed no advantages over the bar- barous nations. On the contrary, there are reasons for believ- ing that the latter were in general superior to the Village Indians in hardihood and courage, and in warlike inclinations. > AcoBta, after deflning four grades of Aztec chiefs, observes that " all these four dignities were of the geat council, without whose advice the king might not do anything of importance," — Nat. ana Mar. HM. East and West Indies, p. 486. Indian Migrations. 209 Between the years 1600 and 1700 A.D., the entire area from the Athintic to the Missiasippi, and from irudHon's bay to the gulf of Mexico, had })een Hufficiently explored by traders, missionaries, and colonists, to render both the English and the French familiar with the location and condition of the several Indian nations within these limits. Some knowledge of the Dakotas and of the Missouri nations hud also been obtained. But it was not until the eighteenth century that the same degree of information was acquired of the nations in the interior of the continent and upon the Pacific coast. Our systematic knowledge of the American aborigines belongs to the present century. Having previously considered the means of subsistence of the aborigines, both natural and agricultural ; the centres of Indian population ; and the natural highways of migration suggested by the topographical features of North America ; it remains to in- vestigate their migrations for the purpose of finding, if possible, the initial point or centre from which, in successive streams, these nations spread abroad. The additional evidence and the conclusions must be sought in their s • stems of consanguinity, languages, mutual relations, and traditions, and in such actual migrations as are known to have occurred. The aboriginal languages, north of Mexico, have been sufli- ciently studied in their vocables and in their grammatical structure to enable us to resolve them into a number of stock languages, which are found to be all constructed upon the same plan, and to remain .. the same stage of development. But investigation has not been carried far enough to unite them in a family of lan- guages u^^on strict linguistic principles. Philologists, therefore, have not claimed for these nations the position of a linguistic family of mankind, like the Aryan and Semitic families. It is very material to the further progress of American ethnology that the unity of oiigin of the American aborigines should be estab- lished, if evidence sufficient to demonstrate the fact can be dis- covered. Inasmuch as their languages are now spoken in a uundred and forty dialects, more or less, it is not probable that these will ever be investigated with sufiicient minuteness, in their grammatical structure, to elicit from this source the proofs it 15 I i I ' m 210 The Indian Miscellany. might afford. If more than one original speech exists, that fact, however, may yet be ascertained by an analysis of a limited number of thdS" 'anguages. Another (lass of facts, however, which may yield the evidence desired is to be found in their systems of consanguinity and affinity.' In this connection it will be sufficient to present such general results of a comparison of these systems as have a bear ing upon Indian migrations. The Indian nations, from the A) lanti-^ to the Rocky mountains, and from the Arctic sea to the gulf of Mexico, with the exception of the Eskimo, have the same system. It is elaborate and complicated in its general form and its details ; and, whilst deviations from uniformity occur in the systems of dift'erent stocks, the radical features are, in the main, constant. This identity in the essential characteristics of a sys- tem so remarkable tends to show that it must have been trans- mitted with the blood to each stock from a common original source. It affords the strongest evidence yet obtained of the unity of origin of the Indian nations within the region wf^ have defined. These several stocks, therefore, may be united into a family of mankind upon the basis of their joint possession of the same system of relationship. The same system has also been found, with more or less distinctness, amongst the nations in the valley of the Columbia, and in the Hudson's-bay territory, and also among the Village Indians of New Mexico and Central and South America. Treating the stocks first named as of one blood, under the name of the Ganowanian family,* such nations of the American aborigines as may be hereafter found to possess this system in its essential characteristics may be admitted, upon the basis of this common institution, into the same connection. Oc- casional references to this system of relationship will be made in the course of this article. The migrations of the North American Indian nations are now to be considered, both those which have occurred within > ThlB subject, with the evidence, has been ftilly treated in a memoir now in course of publication by the Smithsonian lustitution. * Qd-no-%vd'ni-an. This proposed name for the American Indian flimlly is In the Seneca-Iroquola language, from gi-no, an arrow, and wd-S'-no a bow — family of the Bow and Arrow. (S, as a in father ; a, as a in at ; a, ai a in alt.) i ire lin ktion Luols [ain Indian Migrations. 21 1 the 1' itorical period, or a knowledge of wliich has been pre- berved by tradition, and those which, from the various sources of information previously itidicated, it may be inferred have taken place. The classification of several stocks into sub-groups is founded upon a comparison of dialects. I. Algonk'm Migrations. A much larger area was occupied by the Algonkin stock than by any other of the Ganowanian family. North of the chain of the great lakes the nations of this lineage were spread from the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains to the coast of Labrador. South of these lakes, and between the Mississippi and the country of the Iroquois, they were found in possession as far south as the area between the Tennessee and the Mississippi. Along the Atlantic seaboard they were distributed from the St. Lawrence to the northern confines of South Carolina, occupying the whole of New Brunswick, New England, and Virginia, and portions of the intermediate states. They were thinly scattered throughout this immense region ; but they held it free from the intrusion of other stocks, with the exception of the Winnebagoes in Wiscon- sin, and the Iroquois and their congeners in New York and the territories adjacent to New York on the north, south, and west. They were subdivided into a large number of petty nations, all speaking dialects of a common language, but living without unity of organization, or political relations, and without any knowledge of the order of their separation from each other. A comparison of their dialects resolves them into several groups, and tends to show that each member of each group was a subdivision of an original nation, or that they were descended from a common parent nation. 1. Athntic Nations.^ — No movement was in progress among Localities. 's. lcoffle\**!'°.°.*'* } ^^ ^^^ northern shores of the gulf of St. Lawrence. 8. MicmacB Western shores and rivers of this gulf, and in Nova Scotia. 4. atchlmons River St. John, and between It and the Penobscot. 6. Abenakis The Kennebec, and ranging to the Saco. 6. Massachusetts. | 7. Narragansetts. vThese nations eztended from the vicinity of the Saco to the Hudson river. 8. Mohegans ) 9. Montakfi Longlaland. I r ^% I 212 The Indi' " Miscellany. :1|. :#'' .{■H ( the Atlantic Algonkins at the epoch of their d icovery. They were stationary within certain geographical limits. From the relation of the Eastern Algonkin dialects to the western no cer- tain inference can be drawn as to which was original, and which derived; but from the greater amount of divergence among the western dialects, it is a reasonable inference that the western part of the Algonkin area was first and longest occupied. There is also traditionary evidence of a western origin of the Eastern Algonkins. The Mohegans, who inhabited the country between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers, had a well-defined tradition, which was shared by some other ^tVew England nations, that they came originally from the northwest ; but they were without any definite knowledge of the country from which they came. The Delawares communicated to Heckewelder a similar tradition of their western origin. Such evidence, standing alone, possesses but little weight, but, taken in connection with corroborating facts, it is not without significance. It is plainly to be inferred that the Iroquois area was originally Algonkin, and that the irruption of the Iroquois into this area explains the spread of the Algonkin nations southward along the Atlantic coast. 2. Great Lake Nations. — The Ojibwas, Otawas, and Pota- wattomies were derived immediately from each other, or from a common stem.^ This fact is still shown by the close relation- ship of their dialects. In point of development the Ojibwa lan- guage stn;ids at the head of the Algonkin tongues, unless the Shawnee or the Cree may dispute this preeminence. The country of these nations extended from the Otawa river to and along the north shore of Lake Huron, through the peninsula between Lakes Michigan and Superior, and thence into Northern Wisconsin. In the central area, at the outlet of Lake Superior, 10 T)c*lH.w&rPH I n' Minsl ( Between the Hudson and Snsqiiehanna rivera. 12. Nanticokea Eastern shore of Chesapeake bay. 13. Powhattans Virginia. 14. Pamptlcoes North Carolina. The aftiliatlon ol' the Ibnr nations first named le closest with the Kenlstenauz, or Crees, of whom the first two wore probably detached bands. > The Missi sagas were chiefly of the Eagle tribe of the Ojibwas. Their range was north of the Georgian bay of Lake Huron. Indian Migrations. 213 i were the Ojihwas, from which point they rang^ed west to Ontona- gon along its south shore, and upon its northeast shore to the country of the Crees. Shortly before the discovery of the country the Ota was had retired westward from the Otawa river district to the Ma litoulin islands and to the straits of Mackinaw, where they were first known to the French; and from this region they were then spreading southward over Lower Michigan, to the vicinity of Detroit. The third nation, the Pottawattamies, after occupying several localities in Upper Michigan and Wisconsin,* were then drawing southward, to the south end of Lake Michi- gan, near Chicago, and east of that district. At the time of their discovery the Ojihwas, who held the great fishing place at the Sault Ste. Marie, were advancing westward upon the " disputed ground" which separated their territory from that of the Dakotas. The original boundary between these nations was the Montreal river and the Porcupine mountains, a few miles west of Ontona- gon ; but the Ojihwas were then occupying the south shore of Lake Superior, as far west as Chegoimegon, near La Pointe. Father Allouez, however, met the Dakotas in 1665, at the heaid of the lak(^''* At the time of their discovery, these nations were receding westward.^ An explanation is found in the rising power of the Iroquois at that period under their confederate organization. They had forced the Otawas westward from their original seat on the river of that name, and had attacked the Ojihwas on the south shore of Lake Superior. A still more extended region was occupied by the KenisLouauy, or Crees. They ranged from the north shore of Lake Superior > In the Memoir of M. Du Chesnau on the WcHtern Indians, written in 1681, they are mentioned In territorial connection with the Sawka and Winuebagoes, which would place them between Green bay and the MissisBippi. This was probably their country in 1640, when the Jesuit misBlonariefl first reached Lake Superior (Vide Colonial Hletoryof New York, ix, 161). ' Bancroft's History qfthe United States, iii, 151. " There too, at the very extremity of the lake, the missionary met the wild, impassive warriors of the Sioux, who dwelt at the west ol Lake Superior." > After the separation of the three nations, a confederacy was formed among them, which they calli!d ITa-swW ba-ne- zid', the Three Council-flres. In this confederacy the Ojlbwas were styled Elder Brother, th ? Otawas, Next Older Brother, and the Pottawattamies, Younger Brother. It was ornaiiized for common defence against t'ue Iroquois, and was of modern date. Sir William Johnsoni in his enumeration of Indian nations, made in 1736, speaks of the Otawa confederacy, but includei under it other nations (Doc. History iV. Y., i, 96). 1 Ivl - i . ! w- I: 11 214 The Indian Miscellany. to Hudson's bay. and from Lake Winnipeg on the west to the neighborhood le Saguenay, east of Quebec. The Montag- nars, who ha. ^ ^^n represented as holding the eastoj^n part of this area, and of whom as a distinct people but little is known, were probably of Cree descent. With respect to the Cree lan- guage, which is now spoken in three slightly different diale(3ts, it finds its nearest affinity in the Ojibwa, with the exception of the two Eastern Algonkin diiilects, first named in a note on a previous page. The principal facts here ascertained are the es- tablishment of the great lake nations around Lake Superior when first discovered, the closeness of their dialectical connection, and the southern movement then progressing in the case of two of these nations. There is a tradition still preserved among the Ojibwas that they came originally from the northwest. It is highly probable that the shores of Lake Superior were the central seats of the Algonkin stock, from its earliest ap '.a, :ince on the eastern side of the continent, and that emigra,. i went forth from this secondary centre of population to occupy the valley of the St Lawrence and the Atlantic coasts, and also the eastern banks of the Mississippi and its smaller tributaries. 3. Mississippi Nations. — This group of nations occupied the east side of the Mississippi, from the country of the Ojibwas southward to the Ohio, and south of this river between the Ten- nessee and the Mississippi. They ranged eastward to Lake Michigan and to the state of Indiana. By a comparison of dialects they are resolved into five sub-groups, as follows : (1.) The Miamis ; (2.) The Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weas, and Pianke- shaws, who appear to have been known collectively, at one time, as the Illinois ; (3.) The Sawks and Foxes ; (4.) The Menomi- nees ; (5.) The Shawnees. To these the Shiyans (Cheyennes) and Arapahoes, now of Colorado territory, should be added, as a sixth and displaced member of the group. The first two groups, consisting of five nations, who occupied the southern and eastern portion of the area just described, lying north of the Ohio, are so nearly allied in dialect as to show that they are subdivisions of one original nation ; the last four nations speaking substantially the same dialect, while that of the first is Indian Migrations. 215 distinct from the others. These dialects again resemble the Ojibwa and Otawa so closely as to render it probable, if not certain, that the nations above named were derived from the two last named by subdivision or descent. The southern move- ment of the Otawas and Pottawattamies, befoie mentioned, seems to have been made upon the lines of migration of their kindred who had preceded them. It also tends to confirm the position elsewhere taken, that the great region of fisheries upon the south shores of Lake Superior and t.e north shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron had been secondary initial points of emigration of the Algonkin nations to the south and east. In the central parts of Wisconsin the Sawk? and Foxes were found by the first explorers, and south of them the Kikapoos. Their dialects still resemble each other, but they show such an amount of divergence from those of the great lake nations as to preclude the supposition of a direct descent from them. They were, undoubtedly, an early ofishoot from the Algonkin stem. This last remark is equally true of the Menominees, who, when first known, occupied the wild-rice regions upon the Menomi- nee river in Northern "Wisconsin, and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Lastly, the Shawnees were the southernmost nation, in territo- rial position, of the Central Algonkins. They held originally, and before the period of colonization, the western part of Ken- tucky, between the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers.^ Their dialect shows a great divergence from all the dialects of the Mississippi nations. If they came originally from the great lake region, or, which seems more probable, from the head-waters of the Mississippi, their language indicates a separation from the parent stem at an early period. The name by which they call themselves, Sa-wan'-wa-kee' (in Otawa, O-shd'-wa-noke', whence Shawnee), signifying southerners, implies a previous location farther north. It seems probable that they took this name in a boastful sense, to indicate that they were the southernmost of the Algonkin nations. • They removed eastward, flret to North Carolina, as is suppoBcd, aud afterwards to Pennsylvania. They were a party to William Penn's treaty, in 1683.— Harvey's History qf tht Shawne«t, p. 33. 1 216 The Indian Miscellany. There are strong reasons for classing the Shiyans and Ara- pahoes with the Mississippi nations, notwithstanding their ter- ritorial displacement. The original seat of the former nation was upon the Cheyenne river, a tributary of the Red river of the north, from which they were expelled by the Dp.!:otas. In 1804 they were found by Lewis and Clarke west of the Missouri. Their nearest congeners, the Arapahoes, were high up on the Missouri when first discovered. The dialects of these nations, which are closely allied, show an excessive amount of divergence from those of the great lake nations, but their nearest affinity is with the Shawnee, Kikapoo, and Menominee. This fact renders it extremely probable that the original seat of all these nations, except the first, second, and third sub-groupa, was upon the head-waters of the Mississippi, the area occupied by the Dakotas at the time of their discovery ; and that the Dakotas not only were intruders into territory previously Algonkin, but in their progress to the eastern side of the continent dispossessed this stock of the first and most important seat occupied by them. Whether or not the great lake nations emigrated from ♦•,he south is a question hardly worth considering. It must be as- sumed that they were originally non-agricultural ; because if they had ever been agriculturists, it would be difficult to explain the migration of the present northern nations from districts where agriculture was known into the northern wilderness, where it is impossible. The mound-builders had practiced agriculture north of the Ohio before the advent of the Algonkin stock, and it is not probable that the art of cultivation was afterwards lost in this area. On the other hand, the territorial and dialectical con- nections of the Mississippi nations, except the first, second, and third Bub-groups,tendto refer the immediate original stock from which they were derived, not merely to a northern position, but directly to the attractive and desirable area for Indian occupation upon the head- waters of the Mississippi. This is the only region in the western part of the Algonkin area, except that around Lake Superior, which could have developed, without agriculture, the population necessary for the gradual formation of these nations. Wlien forced out by increase of numbers, and finally by an alien J '8 i Indian Migrations. 217 people, they would naturally have sought the prairie area border- ing the Mississippi, and a knowledge of agriculture would have become necessary to secure them a subsistence. Agriculture was practiced by all of these nations when discovered, except the Menominees and Arapahoes. The whole period of time covered by the occupation of the Algonkin stock, and by their dispersion over the areas in which they were found, is not a long one in comparison with that during which the Ganowanian family had possessed North America. This is shown by the present close connection between the Algonkin dialects, the divergences among which may have required a thousand years, more or less, for their production. It is evident that this stock was recent upon the eastern side of the continent. From these and other considera- tions a portion of the Mississippi nations may reasonably be re- ferred to the Lake Superior region, and the remainder to the head-waters of the Mississippi, as the centres from which they issued. A further subdivision occurred, in some cases, in their newly acquired territories.* 4. Rocky Mountain Nations. — Upon the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains, and eastward upon the open prairies, ranging from the Missouri to the Saskatchewan, dwell the Blackfeet, a powerful nation of horsemen, who hold undisputed sway over that section of the continent. Since the time of European coloniza- tion, a portion of the Crees, receding westward, have possessed themselves of the lower half of the district on the Saskatchewan river, where they now confront the Blackfeet ; thus completing the continuity of territorial pc.^session from the Rocky mountains to the Atlantic coast. The Blackfoot, spoken in three closely connect 1 dialects, belongs to the Algonkin speech, but it ex- hibits a large amount of divergence from all the other dialects of this stock, as well as the presence of a large number of voca- bles from foreign or indigenous sources. Nothing is known of the early history of the Blackfeet or their previous location. Im- ' O-je-bic, the root of the name Ojlbwa, slgnlfles root, trunk, or stem people, whence 0-jib-wa an Ojibwa; 0-jib-wa-ka and 0-jib-wage (plural), OjibwRB. The etymology of this term, howerer, carrlee with it no special signiflcance, as it was a common practice amongst Indian nations to call UHemselTes original, and often autochthones. 218 The Indian Miscellany. I :i 1 mediately south of them, at the present time, are the Ahahnelins {Gros-ventres of the prairie), who also speak an Algonkin dialect. This completes the summary of the nations of Algonkin lineage. From the foregoing brief statement of the locations of the several Algonkin nations, and of the relations of their dialects to each other when they severally became known, two important facts are made apparent : first, that the Algonkin stock still in- habit the slopes of the Rocky mountains, over against the valley of the Columbia, thus pointing to that valley as the initial point from which they emigrated to the great lake region, and thence to the Atlantic coasts ; and secondly, that they were climatically a north- ern people. With respect to the first statement, it is sufficient, for the purposes of this discussion, to show that the Algonkins were found in uninterrupted possession of a continuous area from points within a hundred miles of the head-waters of the Columbia to the Atlantic seaboard. If sufficient reason be found, in the su- perabundance of natural subsistence in the Columbia valley, for holding that remarkable area to be the land from which they originally spread, the entire course of their migrations will stand revealed. It may be observed, with respect to the second fact, that the main body of the Algonkin stock was found around Lake Superior and along the St. Lawrence, from which their diffusion to the south was nearly balanced by that towards the north. The only feature in itself peculiar, in the area occupied by them, was its elongation southward along the Atlantic sea- coast, which, as before remarked, seems to find a full explanation in the intrusion of the Iroquois within their original limits. n. Dakotan Migrations, Some evidence, both with respect to the separate migrations of the Dakotan nations, and the general direction of their ad- vance as one of the great stocks of the Ganowanian family, may be derived from the relations of the dialects, and the geographi- cal positions, of the numerous nations of this lineage. The bulk of these nations were strictly Eiver Indians, which gave a pecu- liar character to their occupation of the area possessed by them. Since the rivers traversing the central prairies had a narrow I Indian Migrations. 219 ^ 1 s border of forest, while all beyond was open prairie unsuitable for Indian occupation, the nations of this stock spread over great distances north and south, along the banks of rivers, with- out any corresponding lateral expansion. Besides, as this area, with the exception of one district, was comparatively a poor one, it created a tendency among the more vigorous and warlike bands, like the Iroquois — who were probably an early offshoot of the Dakotan stem — to seek new habitations in distant and disconnected regions. 1. Dakotas. — The Dakotas proper held a broad as well as compact area. When first discovered, they were established upon the head waters of the Mississippi, in the present state of Minnesota, whence they ranged eastward to Lake Superior and westward to the Missouri. A portion of them were permanently established upon the latter river. They are now subdivided into twelve great bands, or embryo nations, and occupy the plains between the Missouri and the Rocky mountains — forced west- ward, as other nations have been, by the progress of the whites. Down to the time of their discovery ^hey had remained in such intimate intercourse with one anccher that their language hau developed but two dialects — the Isauntie, on the Mississippi, and the Teeton, on the Missouri ; with a third, the Yankton, in the incipient stages of formation out of the first. The three forms, however, vary so slightly as to be mutually intelligible with entire facility. From this fact it may be inferred that the Dakotas were comparatively recent in this area, while the supe- rior advantages of this district for Indian subsistence are demon- strated by their unusual numbers. When Carver visited the Dakotas in 1756, they were divided into eleven bands.' They acknowledged seven nations or divisions, as stated by Riggs,^ of which the seventh, the Teetons, was subdivided into eight bands. They are now organized into twelve nations, known as Isaunties, Yanktons, Yanktonais, Sissetons, Ogalallas, Brules, Uncpapas, Blackfoot Dakotas, Ohenonpas, Minikanyes, Sansarcs, andltazip- cos. Isaunties is a generic term used by the Western Dakotas, » Carver's Travels, Phlla. ed. 1796, p. 37. * BiggB'B Dakota Lexicon (Smithsonian Contrlbatlona, iv.), Intro., p. xy. 220 The Indian Miscellany. to designate their kindred on the Mississippi; and Teetons, another, employed by the latter to describe the former. It vnll be seen that the distinction is dialectical. Dakota in the Isauntie dialect, Lacota in the Teeton, which signifies leagued or allied, is the name by which they cal themselves. They also speak of their confederacy as the Seven Council-fires, from their seven political divisions. The Dakotas proper, who are more numer- ous than all of their recognized congeners united, are of imme- diate common descent. 2. Asiniboines. — This nation was one of tho constituent bands of the Dakotas, and became detached and independent shortly before the period of European discovery. They moved north- ward, and became established upon Rainy lake, and ranged thence westward to the Red river of the north, and northward to the vicinity of Lake Winnipeg. At the present time they dwell west of the last named river, ^nd range westward to the Missouri, and northward well towards the Saskatchewan.' Since the separation the Dakotas have regarded them as enemies. After a geographical separation of more than two hundred years, their dialects are mutually intelligible, v/ith entire facility. 3. Missouri Nations. — The nearest congeners of the Dakotas were the eight nations of the Lower Missouri, who inhabited both banks of this river, and the banks of some of its tributaries, from the mouth of the Punka river on the north, to the mouth of the Missouri, and thence southward upon the west side of the Mississippi, to the Arkansas. Their dialects are distinct from each other, but may be resolved into three groups : 1st, That of the Punkas and Omahas, the northernmost nations, whose dialects, although greatly divergent, are more nearly allied to each other than either is to any of those remaining. These nations are probably subdivisions of one original band. South of them, upon the Missouri, and ranging over Iowa, were the lowas, Otoes, and Missouris, whose dialects likewise are more nearly related to each other than to those remaining. These nations also were probably subdivisions of one original nation. > In 1862, 1 met a band of this nation on the Upper Missonrl, below the month of the Yellowstone river. They are a hardy stock, but inferior to the Dalcotas in character and personal appearance. Indian Migrations. 221 :i A I South of these were the Kaws, Osages, and Quappas, who were in like manner subdivisions of one nation, aL ^s shown by the relation of their dialects. The Osages have a tradition that they once occupied the east bank of the Mississippi, south of the Ohio, in what afterwards became the Shawnee area ; and that while there the Quappas separated from them, and emigrated to the mouth of the Arkansas,* where they were found by De Soto, in 1540.^ All of the Missourian nations have changed their seats, from time to time, within their modern areas. The Kaws, when first known to explorers (under the names of Okames and Kansas), resided upon the Kansas river ; but they were formerly established, as one of their chiefs informed the writer in 1859, upon the west bank of the Mississippi, a few miles above the mouth of the Missouri. Their village, at this point, was called Ne-hla-zhe-ta'-ma, which signifies the blue river, and this was their name for the Mississippi ; whilst they called the Missouri Ne-sho'-ja, the muddy river. These eight nations, as before stated, were probably derived from three original nations by sub- division, and the three again from one ; but the degree of the divergence of their dialects from each other, and from the Dakota, indicates a long period of separate national existence. 4. Winnebagoes. — In intimate connection with the Missouri nations, dialectically, must be placed the Winnebagoes. They were first known as Puants, and ranged from Lake Winnebago to Green bay in Wisconsin. They were an early offshoot from the Dakotan stock, which advanced eastward into the forest area ; and their progress seems to have been arrested by Lake Michi- gan, and very likely by the nations in possession of the narrow peninsula between Lakes Michigan and Superior. This was the natural route of migration to the St. Lawrence valley from the Missouri and Mississippi regions. When an original stock subdivides, and the process is repeated from century to century, it becomes impossible to ascertain which was the parent nation. They are, in effect, the common » Report of William Clarke and Lewis Cass to the Secretary of War, in 1826. Sciioolcraft's BU- tory. Condition, ana Prospects of the Indian Tribes, in, 594. « Bancroft's History qf the United States, i, 54 ; Schoolcraft's, in, 694. I 1 ii 222 The Indian Miscellany. descendants of this original stock, which exists only in its branches. That !)ranch only from which a particular nation is immediately derived stands to the latter in the relation of a parent. While thin would be true, as to each band emigrating from the territorial and political connection of the mother nation, the constitution of Indian society tended to subdivision as the people spread abroad over larger areas. It is evident, from the relations of the dialects of the nations we are considering, that the Missouri nations were not derived from the Dakotas. Neither can the latter, nor the Winne])agoes, be derived from cither of the former ; but each is a branch of a common stem back of them all in point of time. There was a definite order of separation, but it is not now ascertainable. The "Winnebagoes affirm that the Missouri nations were descended from them. 5. Upper Missouri Nations. — North of all the nations we ha/e named on the Missouri were the Mandans, who speak a dialect of the Dakotau stock language, and also the Minnitarees, and Crows [Ab-sar'-o-kas), whose dialects have so large an infusion of Dakotan vocables that they are believed to be an offshoot of this stock, or rather of common descent with them. The Mandan dialect appears to be more advanced than any other of the Dako- tan stock, unless the Dakota proper is the superior. Any person familiar with the articulation of Indian languages can form a very correct opinion of their development when heard from the lips of native speakers in council. The Mandan, as used by the chiefs in formal addresses, is a clear sonorous language, with quantity and accent strongly defined ; but it is disfigured with scraping and gutural sounds. It could not have attained its de- gree of advancement without a long and prosperous national career. This dialect is in closer affiliation with those of the Lower Missouri nations than with the Dakota proper; at the same time, judging from a comparison of vocables, it resembles the latter more closely than the latter does the Missouri dialects, thus giving to the Mandans an intermediate position. The Minnitarees and Crows, who are subdivisions of an original na- tion, seem to form a connecting link between the Dakota and Missouri nations on the one hand, and the gulf nations, namely, Indian Migrations. 223 the Creeks, Choctaa, Serainoles, etc., on the other. In their dialects they must be classed with the former, but in their system of consanguinity with the latter. There is a concurrence, in one striking feature, of their respective systems of relationship, which is found in their systems alone, and which seems to require a connection by blood for its explanation. It has elsewhere been stated as probable that the Minnitarees carried agriculture to the Upper Missouri and taught it to the Mandans , and Arickarees, and that they were emigrants from the south. The remembrance of this migration seems still to be preserved in their national name E-nat'-za, signifying the people who came from afar. It thus appears that the nations of Dakotan lineage held a territory, when first discovered, substantially continuous through thirteen parallels of latitude, that is, from the Arkansas river to Rainy lake ; and, in the upper part of the area, of several hundred miles in width. There is no direct evidence, either from tradi- tion or other sources, as to the coun>y from which they came. Their subdivision into the existing nations occurred, presump- tively, after they became possessed of this area, or else they must have followed each other at short intervals from a common ori- ginal seat ; in either case, after the Dakotan stock language had become distinct. So much may be inferred from the present re- lation of its dialects, of which fifteen have been enumerated, and also from the continuity of their territorial possessions. The initial point from which they migrated into this area was neces- sarily remote ; for they held an isolated position in the midst of the central prairies, and in precisely that portion of North America which would be occupied last in point of time by non-agricul- tural nations. On the assumption that the Ganowanian family originated out- side of the American continent and reached it in prehistoric ages, there are no facts of positive weight pointing to a European or African source. There were no people on either of these conti- nents of the same or even similar type, from whom they could have been derived ; consequently there is no occasion to include, as supposable, an hypothesis of their spread westward from the Atlantic coast. On the contrary, there are weighty, even con- ; I ! IU( 224 The Indian Miscellany. elusive indications that they commenced their dispersion over North America from the northwest coast. Their migrations, retraced to the valley of the Columbia, seem next to point back to the Asiatic continent, with which there are two possible routes of connection, and which still contains within its borders nations of a type strikingly similar to theirs.* With respect to the Dakotan stock, the original home of their ancestors must, of necessity, be referred to the western side of the continent. There were but three routes through the prairie area available ; first, by the Saskatchewan, from the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains to Lake Winnipeg, and tlience south by the Red river of the north to the head of the Mississippi, a dis- tance of fifteen hundred miles ; second, by the Platte river, from the same mountains to the Missouri — a distance of about eight hundred miles, nearly all the way through open prairies ; and third, by the Arkansas river to the Mi :=i8sippi, about the same distance, and through a similar region. A migration by the Saskatchewan or by the Arkansas is tar less probable than by the Platte. If by the first, it would seem necessary to derive the Missouri nations from the Dakotas ; if by the second the reverse ; and both of these suppositions present linguistic difiiculties. But if they reached the Missouri by wf.y of the Platte, and spread thence northward and southward along the former river, and eastward to the sources of the Mississippi, into the several areas in which they were found, their movements would fjeem to have been more in accordance with their present relations. This sup- posed route is rendered probable by other facts. The Dakotan stock were, climatically, a northern people, and, with the excep- tion of the Quappas, and, to a limited extent, of the Osages and lowas, also non-agricultural. Had they reached the Mississippi as low down as the Arkansas, they would have come in contact with the gulf nations, who were agricultural in their habits when first discovered by De Soto in 1640; and would themselves have become agricultural, as the Quappas did at a later period, > I have recently seeu a photograph of a Mongolian woman whose foce and features reBembled those of Seneca-Iroquois females so closely that one might be taken for the other if they stood side by side. Indian Migrations. 226 from their efeoe^raphieal position. That tlie latter nation vvus a recent arrival upon the Arkansas in ir)40 is shown by the Osage tradition before referred to. I\' the Dakotns liad been acquainted with the art of cultivating the gi\)und, and afterwards migrated to their northern location, they would ])robably not have aban- doned the advantages to be derived from it. Tliere is another class of facts bearing upon this ((ucstion. At the time Marquette descended the Mi8sissip[)i, in 1073, a portion of the Mississippi Algonkins resided on its west side, near the mouth of the Des Moines river in Iowa, whence they were afterwards expelled. The Kithigami, an Algonkin people, are located on Marquette's map upon the west side of this river, from which they afterwards retired.^ Whether this occupation was an encroachment upon areas previously Bakotan, or indicates that this region was then a part of the Algonkin domain, cannot be determined with cer- tainty. It seems most probable that the latter was the case, and that the Dakotan stock wrected this area, ac well as their princi- pal seat in Minnesota, from the Algonkins. When the Dakotas were discovered, in 1665, they were attempting to gain a footr hold in the forest area on the south shore of Lake Superior ; and the Winnebagoes, as elsewhere stated, had penetrated the Algon- kin area as far eastward as Lake Michigan, and were then sur- rounded by Algonkin nations. There is still another significant fact, in the name of the Shiyans, and of the river upon which they dwelt. They were formerly established in Dakota territory on the great bend of the Cheyenne river, a tributary of the Red river of the north, from which they were expelled by the Dakotas. Their name was bestowed on them by the latter, who called them Shi-yd^ people of an unintelligible tongue. They also called the river Shi-yd wo-zu-pe, the last word signifying plantation or garden. Smee the Shiyans are of Algonkin lineage, if the Dakotas had emigrated from the north or east, the Shiyan language would not have been new to them, and much less so strange as to have elicited such a name ; and if from the south, planting or garden ' Bancroft's HUtory ofth$ United States, m, 160. 16 \\ 226 The Indian Miscellany. beds Avonld not have been such a novelty as to have found ex- pression in this way. On the contrary, from well-known Indian idiosyncrasies in bestowing names, had the Dakotas, advancing eastward from N'ebraska toward the Mississippi, heard for the tirst time the Algonkin speech from the Shiyans, and on their river witnessed for the first time the cultivation of the earth, these names, or something equivalent — it might have been pre- dicted — would be applied to them. It seems therefore extremely probable that the Dakotan stock commenced the occupation of their modern area at some point on t'^" Missouri as high up as the mouth of *^.he Platte, from whicli they advanced northwaid, soutliward, and eastward, and subdivided into independent nations, as they increased in numbers and dwelt apart from each other. With this conclusion estab- lished, a prior migration from the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains, by way of the Platte river and the Black hills of Ne- braska, becomes a necessary inference, although the safe transit of a band of Indians by this or any route through the prairies must have been a happy accident. The next preceding move- ment connects them with the valley of the Columbia. This general conclusion will be mc.terially strengthened by the facts bearing upon the migrations of the remaining stocks. 6. Hodenosaunian Nations. — This group consists of the five Iroquois nations (Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks), the Hurons, or VVyantlotes, Eries, Neutral nation, Susquehannocks, Nottowas, and Tuscaroras. The earlier home of the Iroquois, before they occupied New York, was upon the north bank of the St. Lawrence, in the vicin- ity of Montreal.' Their last migration, of which they have a clear tradition, was from that district into the lake region of Central New York, where they had been established for at least a cen- tury and a half when first discovered, in 1608. The Hurons re- mained in Canada, rnd were found on the Georgian bay of Lake Huron, around Lake Simcoe, and ranging southward toward Lake Erie. The Wyandotes, now of Kansas, are the remains of > Ltagw of tht Jroquoi$, p. 6. tamm Indian Migrations. 227 the ancient Hurons. Upon both banks of the Niagara river, and ranging westward along the northeast shore of Lake Erie, was the Neutral nation, probably a subdivision of the Hurons. On the southeast shore of Lake Erie were the Gakwas, or Eries, sup- posed to have been a subdivision of the Senecas. Both the Neu- tral nation and the Eries were defeated and expelled by the Iroquois about I'oSO-lGoS, and are now extinct. The Susque- hannocks lived on the banks of the lower Susquehanna, in Penn- sylvania, and the Nottowas on the river of the same name in Virginia. These nations are also extinct. Upon the Neuse river, in North Carolina, were the Tuscaroras, who, upon their expulsion, in 1712, moved northward to the country of the Iro- quois, and were admitted as a sixth nation into the Iroquois con- federacy. Of the dialects of these nations the Tuscarorawas the most divergent, but they were all closely affiliated. It will be noticed that these nations are classed as a sixth branch of the Dakotan stock. There are strong reasons for assigning to them this position. Notwithstanding the general conclusion that the Hodenosaunian speech is a distinct stock lai\guage, a com- parison of its several dialects with those of the Dakotan nations shows that if the w^ords do not reach the point of clear identifi- cation, they have, nevertheless, a strong family likeness so plainly marked as to arrest attention, whilst corresponding ^ords from Algonkin dialects are in striking contrast. Their respective systems of relationship are more nearly identical in minute de- tails than those which belong to independent stocks. Among the Wyandotes there is a tradition that the Dakotas were derived from them, which is equivalent to a tradition of common descent.* They still recognize each other as brothers, which is a recognition of blood relationship when applied by one Indian nation to another.* There is some evidence to the same eiFect in the com- ' This tradition wa' communicated to the writer in 1859, at the Wyandote reservation in EaneaB, by Matthew Walker, an educated half-blood Wyandote, who had lived among the Dakotas. Ue accepted the tradition as true. The war-dance of the Iroquois was obtained by them of the Dakotas, and is still called the Dakota dance. Wd-dd-sa-o-no Is their name for the Dakotas, and Wd-sd-sa, for the war-dance. • An investigation of the terms by which Indian nations address each other would lead to valuable historical results. They generally use these terms in such a way as not only to imply blood rela- tlouBhip, but also relative equality, Inferiority, or superiority In age as natloni. Thus the Dakotas ill t: I i M! 228 The Indian Miscellany. nion name applied by the Algonkin nations to the Iroquois and to the Dakotas. It gains inipoHanee from the fact that the Al- gonkin and Dakotan nations have confronted each other during the centuries of their occupation of conterminous areas, and have been mutual witnesses of each other's' subdivision and changes of location. The Great Lake nations call the Iroquois Na-do- wage\ which signifies marcmders. It has a primary meaning equi- valent to enemy, but it was applied to the Iroquois, as a specific national name, by the Algonkin nations. It was also their name for the Hurons, altliough the latter, while residing upon Lake Huron, were in alliance with the Ojibwas and Otawas, and made common cause with them against the Iroquois. It is still applied to the Wyandotes. Moreover the name Nottowas, given to a small nation of the same lineage, in Virginia, who called them- selves Che-ro-ha'-kd, confirms the view that this term was a generic one among the Algoukins for this particular stock. In the next place, the French first learned of the existence and name of the Dakotas proper through the Otawas and Ojibwas, and from French sources came the name Nadoiiessi, or ISTaudouescioux, whence probably the name Sioux, by which the Dakotas were first known. To the early English explorers the same name was given, and written l*J"audowissies. It is evident that the Ojibwa Nd'-do-iod was the root of both terms.* Whilst the strength of the argument in favor of a direct blood relationship between the Iroquois and Dakotas, from the application of this term to both, is weakened by its etymological signification, it is not overthrown. and Wyandotes call each other brothers thereby adralttinR equality as well as kin. The Mlssoarl natioiis call the WlnnebagosB uncles, by which tluiy recognize a common descent, and admit that the Wlnni'bnjjoes are an older branch of the same stem . The Great Lake nations call the Shawnees uncles, thus acknowledging their superior rank as well as greater age. It seems to Imply that the former separated from the main stock, possibly in Minnesota, when they took up their residence at the foot of Lake Superior. Most of the Algonkin nations call the Delawares grandfathers, thus recog- nizing their greater age as a nation, and implying descent from thorn us the mother nation. On the contrary, the Iroquois cnMert the Delnwnres nephews, although belonging to a dift'erent linguistic stock. It was used in this case to express inferiority and the fact of their subjugation. The Mo- hawks, Onondngas, and the Senecas called each other bwthtrs, and called Oneidas. Cayugas, and Tuscnroras sons; while the last three called each tnhar brothers, and called the first ihree fathers. > Now, there is a slight difference made in the two terms. In OjibWi>, nd-dink signifles the act of getting; nd-yddo-tca, one who comes stealthily and takes; whence JVd-do-toa, an Iroquois — h marauder; Nd-kowage (plural), Iroquois; Nddo-wa-see, a Dakota; Nd-do-wa-tee-wug (plural), Dakotas. Indian Migrations. 229 The force of the term is not exhausted hy the fact that these nations, as aliens in speech, were, for that reason, both enemies of the Algonkin stock. These great branches of the Ganowa- nian family had long confronted each other, and it seems a rea- sonable supposition that a name applied originally to the Dakotan stock would be continued to each of its subdivisions as they occurred, thus preserving a knowledge of their blood connection. From what quarter the Hodenosaunian nations entered the Algonkin areas, there is neither positive knowledge nor tradition. It seems at least probable that they were an advanced band or offshoot of the Dakotan stem, who worked their way through the narrow peninsula separating Lakes Michigan and Superior, and thence to the valley of the St, Lawrence, where their traditional history commences. It seems also not unlikely that the Winne- bagoes were following on the same general line, and striving to enter the forest area, when their further progress eastward was arrested by the superior power ot" the nations which held this peninsula. Both migrations antedate, probal)ly, the occupation of Minnesota by the iJakotas. The aborigines progressed slowly in these movements, living upon the territory they inhabited, and, if this was poor and unfavorable, constantly striving for tho possession of a better area. Centuries might elapse before a Missouri nation, moving eastward, would have become established on the east side of the Mississippi, which formed a great natural barrier ; and still other centuries, with many changes of location, before the same nation would reach the valley of the St. Law- rence. The valley of the Ohio, and particularly the region between that river and Lake Erie, so poorly supplied with fish, Beems to have been avoided by the Roving Indians. N'ot until after European colonization had commenced did the Iroquois extend their occupation over this area, as far west as Indiana, although agricultural in their habits. Migr.itions eastward over the territory between the Ohio and Lake Erie were therefore extremely improbable. III. Migrations of the Gulf JSations. Philologists have recognized five stock languages among the nations inhabiting the regions, east of the Mississippi, between M M V 230 The Indian Miscellany. ! I '' !l ii tho Ohio and Neuise rivers — which may serve for the northern houndary — and the gulf of Mexico. These are the Catawba, the Natohes, the Ucho, the Creek, and the Cherokee. Of the Cittawba, there is but one vocabuhiry published, and that a scanty one. Of the existence of anything beyond this the writer is not aware. The conclusion that it is a distinct stock is, therefore, a negative one. A comparison of this vo- cabulary — which is found in the Mithridates, and also in Galla. tin's collection — witli those of the Dakotan dialects discloses strong similarities, rising in some words to the point of identity. It is not improbable that it will ultimately be found to be a dior lect of that stock language. Neither the Uche nor the Natches language has been investi- gated sufficiently to demonstrate its independent position. The Uches, and the remains of the Natches who survived their over- throw by the French, became afterwards, and are now, constitu- ent members of the Creek confederacy. This fact alone tends to prove a remote connection by blood with the Creeks, although it is not conclusive. The dialects of the Creek language are the Muscoke, or Creek proper, the Seminole, the Alabama, the Chocta, and the Chick- asa. The last two are subdivisions of one nation, and the Semi- noles are an offshoot from the Creeks, of no ancient date. The Cherokee, which is spoken in two dialects, and has been thoroughly investigated, has some affinity with the Creek, and also with the Iroquois, but it still holds the position of an inde- pendent stock language. Concerning the migrations of these nations, and of tiie small bands west of the Mississippi, along the northern shores of the gulf, no knowledge is preserved. It is only by ascertaining their connection with nations whose migra- tions are traceable, that this knowledge can be recovered. "We can only say that such of them as possess, in reality, independent languages, are presv.mptively the earliest occupiers of the country east of the Mississippi. nr. Migrations of the Prairie Nations. The Pawnaes and Arickarees speak closely allied dialects, and ! 1(11 Indian Migrations. 231 are subdivisions of an original nation. When first known, the former nation occupied in four divisions the upper waters of the Kansas, and ranged from there to tlie Platte river. They were numerous and powerful for an Indian nation. After their sepa- ration, the Arickarees emigrated to the Upper Missouri, near the Mandans, where they became agricultural, and stationary in villages. Neither they nor the Pawnees ever lived east of the Missouri. The only l-^own congeners of the Pawnees and Arickarees are the Huecos, Witchitas, Keechies, and Towaches of the Canadian river, and of the Ked river of Arkansas. Tliey speak dialects ot the same stock language. All these nations have been Prairie Indians since they were first known to the whites, and they have been able to occupy the prairies — subsisting upon the bufialo — through the possession of horses. This brancli of the Ganowa- nian family is thus referred by its known past history to the Rocky mountain chain, near the head-waters of the Arkansas river, along which, in all probability, they traversed the prairies int their modern areas, Tiie line of their migration, which was undoubtedly subsequent both to the Algonkin and Dakotan, poir, ts to the valley of the Columbia as its starting-point. V. Shoshonee Migrations. The nations speaking dialects of the Shoshonee stock-language are the Shoshonees, or Snake Indians, in subdivisions, who now inhabit Lewis's fork of the Columbia river, and range southward to the Humboldt river, and eastward to the Wind-river mountains; the Utes in several subdivisions, who inhabit the territory of Utah, from the region of Great-salt lake south-ward to iNew Mexico, and the west side of the Colorado as far south as Arizona; the Comanches of Texas ; and the Cawios, Netelas, and other small bands in the peninsula of Lower California. In this stock of the Ganowanian family, the Shoslioneea and Comanches are the most conspicuous in number, inttuence, and character. The former, since their discovery, have held the same area substan- tially, although a portion of them, according to a tradition of the Crow Indians, occupied, several centuries ago, the head waters of the Yellow-stoue river, from which the Crows displaced them. • % 1 1 282 The Indian Miscellany. The Comanches, called at dift'ercnt times Padueas and Hietans, have been known from an early period. It is within a century, however, that they have come into prominence. Mountaineers oria^inally, they became Prairie Indians through possession of the horse, and have far outstripped all of their congeners in number and intelligence. At the time of Coronado's expedition to New Mexico, in 1540, if they were met with at all by those adventur- ers, which is not certain, they were a feeble and inconsiderable nation. When first known to Americans they ranged northward to the Arkansas, and beyond into Kansas, and southward through the western part of Texas, well towards the gulf of Mexico, In some respects the Shoshonee migration is more significant than that of any other stock of the Ganowanian family. Its course is still manifest, as well as the precise region in which it took its rise. The greater part of the area overspread is still held by nations of the Shoshonee speech. It extends from the prin- cipal branch of the Columbia southward, to the Colorado, where it divides into two streams : one, turning southeasterly, and mi- grating apparently by way of the Arkansas, reached Texas ; while the other, keeping west of the Colorado, flowed southwesterly, until its most advanced bands penetrated Lower California — the two extremes being a thousand miles apart from east to west. There is no doubt whatever that the initial point of this migra- tion was in the valley of the Columbia, where a greater abur lance of the means of subsistence than was to be found in other areas favored a rapid increase of numbers ; this surplus population being constantly forced outward by subdivisions resulting from the nature of their institutions. This statement will serve to illustrate the manner in which Indian migrations probably pro- ceeded. The people, flowing out from a permanent centre of population, spread, slowly and step by step, over a continuous area which they strove to hold, and did retain until they were displaced by other emigrants. After portions of a particular stock had become separated by intervening and hostile nations, there was a strong tendency in the separated parts to reunite, by abandoning one of the areas and removing to the other. Thus their territorial positions were constantly shifting. A common n^maumnn Indian Migiiations. 233 language was the bond of peace and the means of confederation for mutual protection ; whilst differences of language in nations confronting each other were the prolific source of interminable warfare. It is not unlikely that successive stocks had occupied the Dakotan and Algonkin areas before the appearance of the latter on the Missouri and the great lakes, and that many nations perished or were absorbed in the struggles of Indian nations with each other for the possession of particular areas. The Shoshonee migration was going on at tlie time of European discovery, and was consummated within the historical period by the develop- ment of the Slioshonee nation in the present territory of Idaho, and of the Comanche power in "Western Texas. Their posses- sions were still substantially continuous and unbroken, and stretched back to the valley from which the stream had flowed. It was in the order of time the last stock language which, having become distinct in the valley of the Columbia, flowed out from that fruitful nursery of tongues, and took its place in the G-ano- wanian family of languages in distant parts of the continent — a language certainly the most oj ulent, in the number of its dialects, ever developed by any portion of the human family. Four definite streams — the Algonkin, the Dakotan, the Paw- nee, and the Shoshonee — have now been considered, all of which seem to proceed from the valley of the Columbia as their original source. In point of time the Algonkins apparently held the advance in the eastern movement, and were thus able to follow the isothermal line, by way of the Saskatchewan, to the great lake region, and thence to the valley of the St. Lawrence ; while the Dakotas, striving to move in the same general direction, took a more southern route, by way of the Platte ; and the Paw- nees and Shoshonees, moving still later, followed a route still farther south. This, at least, seems to be the most probable solution of the order and course of these migrations. VI. Aihapasco-Apache Mirations. The Athapascans, who inhabit the Hudson's-bay territory, and the Apaches and Navajoes of New Mexico, speak dialects of the same stock language. Their migrations present the remarka- 234 The Indian Miscellany. ; ( I :!!!: H i i'ii ble spectacle of a stock dividing in some central area, one branch moving northward and becoming established in a nearly arctic climate, and the other moving southward into a semi-tropical region ; and illustrate the truth that the habitat of man is co- extensive with the earth; his superior and flexible organization enabling him to become arctic or tropical in his habits, as cir- ciimstances may direct his migrations. We are indebted to the late Professor W. W. Turner for the identification of the two great branches of this stock. The evi- dence, wliich is derived from a comparison of vocables, clearly establishes the fact.* The northern branch consists of the Cheppe- yans, Hares, Dog-Ribs, Beavers, Red-Knives, Acheotennes, Kuchin (Koo-tchin'), Mountaineers, and some other bands, east of the Rocky mountains ; and the Tacullies, Umkwas, and Hoopahs, west of those mountains ; as well as several small nations in Alaska. The southern branch is formea by the Apaches in several subdivisions or embryo nations (Lipans, Miscaleros, Jicarillos, Coyoteros, and some other bands), who occupy an extensive district of country, from the ranges of the Comanches on the east nearly to the gulf of California on the west — including the northern parts of the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and the parts of New Mexico not occu- pied by the Village Indians. In the northern part of the latter territory are the Navijoes and Pinols, who belong to the Apache stock.' The Apaches did not come into notice until atter they obtained the horse, which has raised many Indian nations from obscurity. They were mentioned by Father Kino in 1694. At the time of Coronado's expedition, before referred to, they were probably in possession of some part of these regions as wild bands.* In the migrations of this stock a fifth stream is recognized — earlier in point of time than the Shoshonee, and probably later « Kxploratlons for a Railroad Route, etc., to the Pacific, vol. in, Report on Indian tribei, page 84. * Gregg' B Commerce of the Prairies, i, 285, * For a Spanish account of the Apaches In 1799, vide leport of Don Jose Corte/. (Explorations for a Railroad Route, in, 119). Cf. , also, report of M . Steck {President's Message and Documents, 1869, I, 71S) ; and report of B. A. Graves (Ibid,, 1664, 1855, i, 886). Indian Migrations. 236 than the Algonkin — which divided at some point hetween the two extremes in wliich they were found, and moved in opposite di. ections. The only intermediate region to which they can be referred as the place of their origin is the valley of the Columbia. It is a further and important coniirmation of the superior claims of this valley, over the remainder of the continent, to be regarded as the nursery of the Ganowanian family. Vn. — Migrations of the Village In "''^s. 1. The Village Indians of New Mexico and Ai .zoyia. — Without a doubt, the valleys of New Mexico and Arizona have been the seats of the Village Indians from a very ancient date. This view is sustained by the number and position of the present pueblos, by the ruins of deserted pueblos surrounded with traces of culti- vation, and by the number of stock languages still spoken in these limited areas. There are some reasons, derived from the number and extent of the pueblos in ruins in New Mexico and on the San Juan, and on its northern tributaries in the southern part of Utah, for supposing that Village Indian life in this region was in a state of decadence at the time of its discovery. It seems probable that the more northern Village Indians had been over- powered and forced southward by the roving nations. For up- wards of three centuries the Pueblo Indians, as they are called, have been known to us, and have remained substantially in the same condition ; but of their previous history and movements there exists no knowledge. No connection has as yet been dis- covered between their languages and those of the northern or southern Indians. Thei'' village life probably commenced with the introduction of agriculture into this region. It is not neces- sary to assume that they migrated from the south and carried agriculture with them, in order to explain its presence \n New Mexico, any more than it is, to infer that the Shiyans and Hu- rons emigrated from the gulf region into the Dakota territory and Canada, to explain their knowledge of agriculture. In many ways the art of cultivating the ground would spread from place to place by the mere accidents of aborginal life, as well as through deliberate efforts made for its acquisition. It would be a fatal ! \\ 236 The Tkdian Miscellany. 11' error to adopt tho track of agriculture as the lino of original mi- givtion. Indian agriculture must have originated in a tropical clima;/^, from the nature of the cereal upon which it rested, and long after both North and South America had become peopled with roving Indians. No supposition of the dispersion of the aborigines from a -entre within the tropics Is necessary. Whilst agricultural nations wcihl he certain to carry cultivation wherever they migrated, the tendc;'ov of its practice was, to localize a people and arrest changes of ;^velling, except witliin short dis- tances. Agriculture was quite as i'Vely to be ])ropagated back- ward on the line of migration as forwa; V The Village Indians of the lower Color;, 'lo, who speak the Pima and Yuma stock languages, are cultivators of the ground, but not house-builders either in adobe brick or stune. They still use the round-roofed wigwam, constructed of rude maiorials, but large enough for several families. From this fact it may bo inferred, notwithstanding tiie evidence of their long-continued village habiti!, that their transformation from a non-agricul- tural to an agricultural life occurred within their present areas, and more recently than that of the other Village Indians of New Mexico. For their ancestors, it is not neces- sary to look beyond the Northern Roving Indians. It is not improbable that the more advanced class of Village Indiana were equally slow in attaining their knowledge of architecture, and that centuries elapsed, after they became agricultural, before they learned or invented the art of constructing houses with adobe brick and stone. The evidence is decisive, of a very great antiquity of Village Indian life in New Mexico ; but the probability is strong that the ancestors of all these nations were immigrants from the valley of the Columbia. 2. The Village Indians of Mexico and Central America. — In both of these areas the evidence of occupation from a very ancient date is equally decisive from art^hitectural remains and from the number of stock languages. It is not probable that the number of these languages could be reduced below eight or ten, if the materials for comparison were ample. There are supposed to be eighteen. " We can safely affirm," says Clavigero, " that Indian Migrations. 237 there are no living or dead lan^ua^es which can differ more among each other than the langiuigcH of the Mexicans, Otomies, Tarascas, Mayas, and Miztocas — five languages prevailing in different provinces of Mexico.'" Such a result might have been expected from the number of inhabited localities and of inde- pendent nations. Moreover, the higher development of archi- tecture and of stone sculptures in Chiapa and Yucatan affords evidence of a long period of village life in these areas — much longer than that of the Aztecs in the valley of Mexico, if we may judge from a comparison of corresponding works. It does not follow, however, that the whole of their experience in village life was acquired within the areas in which they were found. It is a singular as well as instructive fact that the principal historical nations of Mexico found in possession of the country at the time of the Spanish invasion had resided there but a few hundred years. Their respective migrations were so recent in point of time, that the knowledge of the event, and of the direc- tion from which they came, had not fallen out of remembrance. The particulars, with some degree of minuteness, were preserved by tradition. It becomes then a question of importance how far historical credit can be given to traditions, which are necessarily verbal, and liable to alteration in their transmission. The ques- tion is one worthy of a brief discussion. Indiai] nations usually have a definite tradition of their last migration, particularly when it resulted in a prosperous estab- lishment in a new liome. It would require several centuries to efface all remembrance ui such an experience among a people of ordinary intelligence. An oial tradition of a great migration, embodying an event so influential upon the subsequent life of a nation, would preserve the principal facts with great tenacity. In the absence of improbable circumstances, its o^sential state- ments must be accepted as historical evidence. ThebC Indian traditions usually contain internal evidence of probability ; aiid ^ IJittOTif qf Mexico, III, 100. Ue natncB {Ibid., page 371), the following lauguages, fourteen lu nnmber, of which a grammar, a dictionary, or both had been prepared, viz : Mexican, Otomie, Taraecan, Zapotecau, Mlztecan, Maya, Totouacan, Topolucan, Matlazlncan, Ilnaztecan, Mize, Cakclquel, Taranmaran, and Tepohuanan. 288 The Indian Miscellany. when they speak of no extravagant periods of time or unreason- able occurrences, their credibility may be admitted, on the ground of the extreme improbability that the remembrance of such events should have been lost. These suggestions apply to the historical traditiouH of the principal Mexican nations, to bo stated hereafter, which have an important l)earing upon the general conclusions to which the main discussion in this article tends. Whatever support the written or pictorial records of the Aztecs may add is left out of view. After the lapse of a few centuries, it is not uncommon for a claim to autochthony to spring up, and dispute possession with the tradition of a previous migration from a distant land. Thus the Iroquois have a well-defined tra- dition that they came from the north l)ank of the St. Lawrence near Montreal into Central New York, by way of the Oswego river, coasting the lake in canoes ; and this tradition is confirmed by 8ufB(!ient independent uvlilcuce. They also have a tradition that they sprang out of the ground, the Onondagas near Oswego, and the Senecas near Canandaigua. The traditions of the princi- pal Mexican nations concerning their migration from the north are more specific than that of the Iroquois, They contain such internal evidence of probability that it is difiicult to perceive upon what just ground of criticism their authority can be denied. The Aztecs had a full and circumstantial tradition, not only of their own migration from the north, but also of the migration of several other kindred nations. It is given by Acosta, whose work was first published at Seville in 1589.' He visited Mexico prior to that date,^ and consequently was in the country early enough to reach original sources of information. Substantially the same tradition is given by Herrera and Clavigero. Acosta remarks : " These second peoples, Navatalcas [the first inhabit- ants he calls Chichemecas], camp from other far countries which lie towards the north, where now they have discovered a kingdom which they call New Mexico. There are two provinces in this the one called Aztlan, which is )untry say, a plac > Natural and Moral Hisioryof the East and West Indiet, Lond. ed. 1604, Grimstone's Tram., pp. iff? -604. * Acosta states in his work (p. SOS) that he was in Mexico in 1686. Indian Migrations. 239 herons ; the other Teaculhimoau, whicli Hignifies a land of such whoae grandfathers wore divine The Navataleas paint their beginning and Hrst territory in the tigure of a cave, and eay they came forth of seven caves to come and people the land of Mexico." He fixes the time of the migration of the first of the seven nations at 720 a. d. — which of course must be considered as an approximate date only — and the length of time consumed in the movement at eighty years. In like manner the migration of the Aztecs, the last of the seven nations, was commenced in 1022 A. D., according to the same authority. Acosta states the names of tliese nations and the order of their arrival in Mexico as follows : 1. ISuchimilcos, nation of the seeds of fiowers. They settled upon Lake Xochimilco, 2. Chalcas, people of moutlis. They came long after the former, and settled near them. 3. Tepanecans, people of the bridge. They settled on the west side of the lake of Mexico. Their chief town, Azcapuzalco, signifies the ants' nest. They were numerous. 4. Culhuas, a crooked people. These were the Tezcucans, who came some time after, and settled upon the east side of the lake. 5. Tlatluicans, men of the sierra, or mountain. This nation, finding the country around Lake Tezcuco occupied, passed southward, to the other side of the mountain. 6. Tlascaltecans, men of bread. They settled Tlascalu. 7. Aztecs, or Mexicans. " Three hundred and two years afterwards [1022] those of the seventh cave or line arrived, which is the Mexican nation ; the which, like unto the rest, left Aztlan and 'i'eaculhuacan a polite, cultivated, and war- like nation." Clavigero gives substantially the same tradition. "But of all the nations," he remarks, *' which peopled the region of Anahuac, the most renowned and the most signalized in the history of Mexico were those vulgarly called Nahuatlacas. This name was principally given to those seven nations, or rather those seven tribes of the same nation, who arrived in that country after the Chichemecas, and peopled the little islands, banks, and boundaries of the Mexican lakes. These tribes were the Sochimilcas, the Chalchesc, the Tepanecas, the Colhuas, the Tlahuicas, the Tlascalans, and the Mexicans. The origin of all f iiii^ni i Mi 240 The Indian Miscellany. 1: '•A ' these tribes was the province of Aztlan, from whence came the Mexicans, or from some other contiguous to it, and peopled with the same nation. All historians represent them as originally of one and the same country ; all of them spoke the same language."^ Elsewhere he observes : " The Chichemecas, like the Toltecs, who preceded thiim, and other nations, which came after them, were originally from the north countries, as we may call the north of America, like the north of Europe, the seminary of the human race."* Besides this general tradition, there is another of the Aztec migration exclusively, giving a circumstantial account of the motive in which it originated, the various localities in which the emigrants were established for a time on the way, and the incidents connected with their arrival in the valley, and with the foundation of the pueblo of Mexico. They left Aztlpn. ac- cording to Clavigero, in 1160, arrived at Tulla, north of the valley, in 1196, at Chapultepec in 1245, at Acoloco in 1262, were enslaved by the Cholulans in 1314, freed themselves in 1325, and that year founded Mexico.^ The lirst and general tradition was evidently derived immedi- ately from original sources. Omitting the attempt at a fixed chronology, which is necesarily conjectural even in regard to the century, and also the previous cave-life, which may embody a more ancient tradition, we may accept as credible the principal fact of a migration of these nations from the north, in the order stated, and within a period not remote. It is probable that this tradition, which may possibly have been derived from Aztec re- ^ HUt. of Mexico (Phila. ed. 1817), Callen'B Trans., i, 141. Herrera adopts this tradition, and remaricB upon tlieir nortliern origin as foliows : " Tliey came from remote parts northward, where New Mexico was afterwards found" (History qf America, l^ondi. ed. 1725, Stevens's Trans., in, 188, 189). » Ibid, II, 119. Prescott {Mst. Conq. of Mexico, in, 397), thus refers to the several traditions : " They are admitted to agree in representing the populous north as the prolific hiveof the American races From this quarter the Toltecs, the ChichemecB, and the kindred races of the Nahuatlacs came successively up the great plateau of the Andes, spreading over the hills and valleys down to the gulf of Mexico." Again (Ibid., i, 15) : " The Mexicans, with whom our history is principally concerned, came also, as has been seen, from the remote regions of the north, the populouB hive of nations in the new world, as it has been in the old." • HUtory qf Mexico, i, 160. 1- "•^^^^n Indian Migrations. 241 cords, rests upon the authority of Acosta alone, in which case its repetition by otlier authors does noi increase its weight. Whether Acosta obtained it directly fiojn aboriginal sources or at second- hand, it is probable in itself, and both in stylo and matter bears genuine marks of the Indian mind. The names given to these several nations are in strict accordance with the Indian method of national designation, and find their analogues in the names of northern Indian nations at the present time.' It is also intrin- sically probable that these nations migrated at intervals of time, one following the other, and that years were consumed while these several movements were progressing. Since they must have passed through regions partially inhabited, and were striving to enter a highly desirable area already occupied by other nations, their migrations were necessarily military migrations, in which they contended with hostile nations for the mastery of each area. A successful migration, followed by a prosperous establishment in a desirable home, would involve years of effort and several changes of location. The special and more elaborate tradition of the Aztec migration which rests upon the authority of Clavigero corroborates the first. It is not necessary to adopt the minute circumstances or the chronology. The Aztecs, before their ar- rival in Mexico, could scarcely have possessed an accurate method of recording time ; but the principal events w^hich occurred be- tween the time when they are supposed to have left Aztlan (A.D. 1160) and the Spanish conquest (1520), embracing a period of three hundred and sixty years, would be kept in remembrance. Within this period also the lapse of time between particular events would be known with reaf onable nearness. It is another confirmatory fact that no extras agant antiquity is claimed for the foundation of the pueblo of Mexico. The Aztec records fixed the period at about 1325, but one hundred and ninety-six years prior to the Spanish conquest. To have increased their numbers and their influence from a small and feebls band, such > Thug, Senecas, Mun-da-wii-o-no, great hill people ; Onondagas, O-nun-dd-ga-o-no, people on the hilU ; I0WB8, Paho-chty duBtj noses ; Mlssourls, Ne-oo-cha-td, at the mouih of the stream ; Mi-ni' kan-ye, those who plaut by the water; and Oga-lal-ld, raising camp —the last two being Dakotan nations. 17 242 The Indian Miscellany. !Hii^ as they doutJess were when they founded Mexico, to their pros- perous condition at the latter date, must have required all the time assigned. It would seem also to create the further necessity of moderating materially the current estimates of their advance- ment and numbers. These several traditions could scarcely have been fictions of Spanish writers. They are so intrinsically pro- bable in their main recitals, that they may fairly claim to be re- garded as historical evidence.* But little is known of the migrations of the Village Indians of Yucatan and Central America, and this little rests upon tradi- tion. The Chiapanese had a similar tradition of a northern origin. " They say," observes Clavigero, " that the first peoples came from the quarter of the north, and when they arrived at Soconusco they separated, some going to inhabit the country of ISicaragva, and otheis remaining in Cbiapan." It has elsewhere been stated that Oviedo, in 1526, found a people in Nicaragua who spoke an Aztec dialect which would refer them also to an original home in the north. With these traditions of a northern origin, which seem to have bC' n current in several nations in Mexico and Central America, and with what is still a matter of obvious inference from the ■ " The Honorable John R. Bartlett, whose conclusions as an inveetleator are entitled to great r«- epect, questions these traditions as evidence that the Aztecs were immigrants from the north. Ho observes : " I am uuable to learn from what source the prevailing idea has arisen, of the migration of the Aztecs, or ancient Mexicans, from the north into the valley of Mexico, and the three halts they niude in their journey thither. This is another idea which has been so widely promulgated that it has settled down into an acknowledged fact, although I confess I have seen no satisfactory evidence of its truth The traditions which gave rise to this notion are extremely vague, and were not seriously entertained until Torquemuda. Boturini, and Clavigero gave them currency ; but they must now give way to the more reliable results from linguistic comparisons. No analogy has yet been traced between the language of the old Mexicans and that of any tribe at the north in the district from which they are supposed to have come; uor in any of the relics, ornaments, or works of art do we observe a resemblnnee between them." — Personal Narrative, ii, 283. That a particular Indian language has passed beyond identification with any other in its vocables, and become an independent stock laniiuage, is not decisive evidence against a migration of the people speaking it from any place in which we have reason to suppose it once dwelt. It may be mentioned, however, that some words have been detected in the Koluschian of Sitka, and in some other far northern language, which are believed to be identical with the corresponding words in the Aztec speech. Latham (Notes to I'HcharU's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, p. 31), refers to this fact in the following language: "The Aztec or Mexican words found in this language were Indicated in the Mlihridates. Since the publication, howevei, of that work, they have been shown to exist In other American languages — some inland, some southern, Bome interjacent to the Eoloab and Mex- ican areas, e. g. In California and elsewhere." ik.- >«*>;- ■i.fe*!-'' Indian Migrations. 24 :J geographical features of North America, and the relation of the valley of the Columbia to all its other areas, it is difficult to ar- rive at any other conclusion than tliat the ancestors of all these nations were emigrants from Jiat remarkable valley. 3. The Mound Builders. — The inquiry, thus far, has been re- stricted to the Indian nations in actual possession of the country at the period of European discovery. It is not to be supposed, however, that the nations found in particular areas were the first occupants. In very many cases the contrary is known to be true. Under the inexorable law which perpetually worked the subdi- vision of the Indian tribes as they spread abroad, there was a constant tendency towards an obliteration of many of these frag- mentary nations, through collisions with one another. Large numbers of these nations, both in North and South America, undoubtedly perished in the course of centuries, not necessarily by the process of extermination, but rather from inability to maintain successfully the struggle for independence. They dis- appeared under the blow of some calamity, their fragments be- coming incorporated with other nations. The several stocks belonging to the Ganowanian family, who were found in pos- session of the land, are to be regarded as the descendants and re- presentatives of an original stock, which flowed out in successive streams from some original centre. The remoteness in the past of their first establishment must be estimated by the time re- quired to create the present diversity of speech, both in dialects and stock languages. Among those nations who are without recognized descendants are the mound-builders who lived east of the Mississippi. It is evi- dent that they were agricultural and Village Indians, from their artificial embankments, their implements and utensils, and from their selection of the areas most poorly provided with fish and game. From the absence of all traditionary knowledge of their ' existence, amongst the nations found in possession of their ter- ritories, it is also to be inferred that the period of their occupa- tion was ancient. Their disappearance was probably gradual, and completed before the advent of the present stocks, or simultaneously with their arrival. The small number of sites of 244 The Indian Miscellany. ifir •i ancient villa/.,'08, and t)je Hcanty population assignable to Indian villages even of the largoHt class, particularly in cold climates, are good reaHons for RU]>])orting tlicy were never very numerous. It is a reasonable cotiJcH'turc, as elsewhere stated, that they were Village Indians from New Mexico. In fact, there is no other region from which they could have })een derived ; unless it be asflumcj Indian arts, wore butfalo-robes and other robes |[ 10 246 The Indian Miscellany. •I ' r ; of skins, like the "Roving* Indians. Friar Marcos de Niza, in his relation, speaking of the Cibolans in 1540, remarks: "Their apparel is of cotton and ox-hides, and this is their most commend- able and honorable ajjparel."' They possessed no manufactured fabric capable of becoming- a substitute for skins in the winter season. Fourthly, their institutions were unfavorable to the formation of a state capable of embracing and governing the descendants of an orijxinal stock as it increased In numbers and spread over larger areas. It was impossible to comprehend great numbers of the same lineage and language under one Indian government, and thus create a large homogeneous population ; and it is extremely doubtful whether there ever were at one time, in any part of North America, one hundred thousand Indians who spoke the same dialect. This, if true, is 80 remarkable as well as important a fact, that the disproval ot it would be a vsiluable contribution to the history of the American aborigines. These were organized into small bands or nations, the people of which spoke the same dialect. In many instances two or more such nations speaking dialects of the same stock language were united into a confederacy. The government of each was an oligarchy of chiefs in council, and the system failed to arrest the tendency to repeated subdivision, followed by territorial separation, independence, and the gradual forma- tion of new dialects. As a necessary consequence of this multi- plicity of nations and dialects, without any comprehensive governmental organization, perpetual warfare was superadded to the other hardships of their condition which tended to prevent their increase. The Aztec confederacy was the highest and most successful effort of the North American Indian nations to establish an Indian power. Yet it created neither an empire nor a state, in any proper sense of those terms. It subdued and placed under tribute a number of feeble petty nations, chiefly south of the valley; but it failed to consolidate them into one people, even for govern- mental purposes. On the contrary, it is plain that the confederacy was unable to wield the power of these tributary nations for common > Haklnyt'B CoUectUm of Voyagu, London, England, 1600, m, 879. Indian Migrations. 247 national objects.' A government founded upon territory, resting upon the body of the people, and administered by hiw, is the growth of ages. The American aborigines were thousands of years behind the modern idea of a state in their development. The table-lands of Mexico have no history prior to the Aztec occupation, except the dim account of their Toltec predecessors, and the unimportant history of their contemporaries. No people were ever able to hold these table-lands and valleys long enough to found a state; to rise by force of numbers out of the tribal, national and confederate organizations into a true political life, with a government of fixed and equal laws in the place of the arbitrary will of chiefs and the equally fluctuating determinations of councils. The time had not arrived, in the successive stages of progressive experience, for the American Indian to arrive at the forms of civilization. Fifthly, agriculture transformed them from Roving into Village Indians, which tended to localize them, as has been elsewhere stated; but this, although the numbers speaking the same dialect were thereby considerably increased, restricted them to much smaller areas than those occupied by nations of Roving Indians. Lastly, the productiveness of their agriculture was very limited, fro'n the small extent of land cul- tivated, imperfect implements, and the amount of labor involved. It does not appear, therefore, that there was any centre of population, either in Mexico or elsewhere, which became, on the basis of agricultural subsistence, a competitor with the fish-pro- ducing country of the Columbia in populating the continent. On the contrary, we are compelled to look to the last named re- gion for that constant surplus of numbers, which would furnish successive streams of emigants, through indefinite periods of time, until an equilibrium of population was reached throughout the continent. Since physical causes were superior to human arts and institutions in influencing the movements of the aborigines, these causes remained unaflbcted, except to a limited extent, by the indigenous civilization which sprang up in particular areas. > Bat one of these nations responded to the call for aid againft the Spaniards ; and this tardy force was dtsperiied before it reached the scene of action. 248 The Indian Miscellany. iii'i Tram. Am. Ethn. Soc.y i, 8. ' Immedlntely prior to the foandinc of the pneblo of Mexico (1326) they wore living at Acoloco, which con«it For a comparison of the Tamil and Seneca-Iroquois syBtems, see Proceedings qf American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. vn, p. 466. 18 I 1, I A PERILOUS FOSSIL HUNT.' By William C. Wyckoff. The early days of the present century, when Cuvier first iden- tified in the gypsum quarries of Paris the remains of mighty ex- tinct quadrupeds, and the years shortly following when nations quarreled over similar discoveries, have often been called the golden age of palaeontology. But ten times as many fossil bones have been recently brought to the museum of Yale college as Cuvier ever saw in his whole lifetime — the remains of animals as large, as varied, and as unlike the creatures of the present day as those which he so accurately described. There is reason for believing that the year 1874 marks the extreme point in this class of discoveries ; certainly its collections will be hard to surpass in number and quality. During the summer months Prof. 0. C. Marsh, whose annual journeys in search of vertebrate fossils at the west have become well known, was deeply absorbed in planning and supervising the construction of the new museum of Yale college. But al- though unable himself to take part in explorations in the field, Prof. Marsh's life-work has not halted. The bone business, as his western friends call it, did not slacken with the hard times. Not less than twelve parties of men inured to the business were kept at work by Prof. Marsh at his own expense, and under his constant instructions were exploring various regions at the west for fossils and packing and sending forward the accumulations,, Patient study of the remains thus collected was leading Prof. Marsh to certain conclusions, in respect to the characteristics of extinct vertebrates, that cannot yet be stated. Notwithstanding the accumulated arrivals, the information to be gleaned proved unsatisfactory in determining vexed questions. To insure ac- curacy, the careful comparison of great numbers of specimens is necessary. > Reprinted from the New Ycyrk Tribune Extra, No. 87, March, 1876. A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 251) Last October news came to Prof. Marsh that a most promising- deposit of fossils had been discovered in the Bad lands, south of the Black hills ; the character and condition of these bones, as they lay imbedded in position, would throw additional light on the problem which he was then engaged in working out. It may here be mentioned also that there is no certainty that beds of fossils will remain permanently undisturbed, even where the region is only occupied by savages, for the Indians frequently carry a fossil tooth or bone as an amulet or charm — or as they phrase it, as medicine. The discovery of fossil remains in the locality just mentioned was originally made by an Indian, who brought into camp the molar tooth of an animal which Prof. Marsh has named the Brontotherium. The finder carried the tooth in his tobacco pouch ; his notion about it was that it had belonged to " a big horse, struck by lightning." Gen. E. 0. C. Ord, command- ing the depart- ment of the Platte, and Col. T. II. tStanton, to whom Prof. Marsh was first indebted for Skull of Brontotherium — side view. intormation re- specting the newly found fossil bed, fully appreciated the im- portance of the discovery, and promised him every assistance in utilizing it. The weather was already cold, the season rapidly advancing, and the Indians feverishly sensitive about the approach of white men to the Black hills. But great as were the perils, the attractions were greater ; besides, the professor had not yet had his annual vacation, and everybody conversant with college traditions knows that a vacation is something to be taken like old-school medicine, at all hazards. That he anticipated special hardship and danger from Indians may be inferred from the fact that he took with him no party from New Haven, this expedition differing in that respect from all previous ones. He depended for assistance in the field on a number of frontiersmen who had nm i , ■ 1 ; II J !i • ii^ 260 The Indian Miscellany. been in bis employ as collectors and guides in previous expedi- tions, and on wbom be knew be could implicitly rely. Among tbese was Hank Cliflbrd, wbo bad been bis cbief guide in tbe Niobrara expedition of 1873, and wbose knowledge of tbe country and of tlie Indians bad been fully tested. Otber less famous but promising aspirants for bonors upon tbe bone fields were attached to tbe expedition. Leaving tbe rail road at Cbeyenne, Prof. Marsb reacbed Fort Laramie in tbe early part of November, and tbence proceeded to the Red-Cloud agency, wbere be concentrated tbe men and materials of tbe expedition. Tbe outfit on sucb occasions includes a great variety of articles : implements of war, of science, and of tbe kitcben, witb abundant means for so packing tbe specimens obtained tbat tbey sball be not injured by tbe roughest kind of transportation. Gen. L. P. Bradley, Col. Stanton, Capt. Mix, and Lieut. Hay were of tbe party tbat went from Laramie to tbe Red-Cloud agency ; tbe escort was M Company of tbe 2d Cavalry, Capt. John Mix in command ; Major A. S. Burt and Lieut. W. L. Carpenter joined tbe expedition at the agency, and greatly contributed to its success. It was ascertained tbat the locality of the fossils was not within any of tbe reservations, and hence the Indians would have no evident right to obstruct the explora- tions. Tbe XVItb section of tbe treaty of 1868 with the Sioux would make their permission necessary, if strictly interpreted : but this treaty has become in part a dead letter, being, for instance, not enforced south of White river, while by its pro- visions it extends to Platte river, which is further fo the south- ward. Unfortunately the bone field lay north of the White river. Prof. Marsh was anxious to have a willing assent from the Indians ; a fight with them was no part of his programme. Shortly after the arrival of tbe party at tbe agency. Red Cloud himself put in an appearance and was welcomed to dinner. He is still tbe tall, straight, intellectual-look *ng chieftain tbat he was when he visited our seaboard cities ; temperate in bis habits, and preserving his native dignity. It is certain, however, that he has lost no inconsiderable part of tbe influence over his tribe, especially among the young warriors, that he possessed when he A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 261 was their leader in battle. As he cannot talk Ena^Hsh, all con- versation with him had to take place through the medium of an interpreter. Tke proposed expedicion was only partially dis- cussed at the dinner table, and Red Cloud's sentiments in respect to it were judged not to be unfriendly. But there were many circumstances making the time unpropi- tious. The afi'air of the flagstaff was recent; it occurred before Prof. Marsh left Cheyenne, and occasioned there many misgiv- ings as to his prospects; in fact there was for a while some alarm as to the posnible fate of the agency. The occurrence was de- scribed at the time ; it may here be briefly recapitulated. An attempt was made to raise a flagstaff" and hoist the United States flag at the Red-Cloud agency, as is always done at military posts in the west. This aroused the animosity of Indians encamped in the vicinity ; they cut down the flagstaff and made prepara- tions to Are the large wooden structure occupied by f i Indian agent. He sent to the post for aid. Lieut. Crawford was dis- patched with about thirty men. The resolute bearing of this small force held the Indians for a while in check, and by ener- getic persuasion on the part of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and other chiefs, they were induced to relinquish their design. Great credit is due to Lieut. Crawford for his courageous attitude on this occasion, as the odds against him in case of battle were fearful. The general danger was greatly increased at this time by the presence in the neighborhood of an extraordinary number of Indians, gathered to obtain their annuities. Their numbers did not probably fall short of 13,000. They were encamped within a radius of ten miles around the agency. There were about 9,000 of Red Cloud's band, the Ogallallas; the Cut-Off band under Little Wound, the Arapahoes under their chief Friday, of whom there are romantic stories told which there is not space for here. Besides these there were about 3,000 Northern Indians, of the wilder tribes, Minneconjous, Uncpapas, and Sansarcs, who boast that they have never eaten white man's bread ; who fought Gen. Custer in the Yellowstone expedition. These Indians refused to be registered, having a superstition about being counted. The orders from Washington forbade the issue of annuities to any ex- f. ;■ I.J i^^fr , III U 2G2 The Indian Miscellany. ccpt those who wore rog'i stored. Cheyennes were there, sulky be- cause they had been ordered further south. The Arapahoes were fresli from their tight and h^Hses in the battle on Powder river with Lieut. Baton. Outlaws, renegades and bad Indians, swelled the numbers that surrounded the agency, and made the neighbor- hood unquiet, not to say dangerous. An incident will illustrate the real temper of the class that claim to be good Indians. Within gunshot of the agency a teamster, whom Prof. Marsh had noticed a few minutes before busily engaged in cooking his supper, was indiscreet enough to leave his riiie a few steps away. A young Indian brave passed the professor on horseback, and seeing him well armed, gave him a respectful salutation. Not so with the teamster; the weakness of his position was appre- hended by the brave at a glance. In less time than it takes to tell it, the Indian rode between the teamster and his rifle, and snatching up the latter, made oti", pointing a pistol backward in defiance. The despoiled teamster ran up to the camp, and was very free in the use of " cuss-words ; " but it was the general opinion that he might be considered fortunate in having, while he lost his gun, preserved his hair. In short the whole vicinity was alive with Indians, their families, and their ponies ; they had with them their entire possessions, and their lodges diversified the landscape in every direction. It was impossible to move even a few paces without encountering Indians, Indians everywhere. The agent at the post recommended that a guard should be selected from these warriors to accompany the expedition, and very soon assembled a council of leading chiefs to discuss the matter. As soon as they were brought to- gether, it became evident that they mistrusted the intentions of the bone-hunters, as stated by the agent. Instead of waiting some moments, as they usually do after the object of a council has been stated, White Tail, one of the principal chiefs, sprang at once to his feet and harangued the audience, recounting pre- vious grievances and declared that the proposed bone-seeking was merely a ruse to begin digging for gold and invading the Black hills region. His speech evidently conveyed the senti- ments of the other chiefs; they listened intently, giving \ nt to A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 263 applause and sympathy with guttural ejaculations of " How ! How ! " But a speech from Prof. Marsh, through the medium of an interpreter, promising that their just complaints should be heard at Washington, stating specifically the ()l)ject8 of the ex- pedition, and holding out the prospect of pay for Indian services in bone-hunting, turned the scale at once. Consent was obtained for the expedition to proceed, but coupled with an agreement to take a selected guard of young warriors. The nominal object of this guard was to be a protection against Northern Indians who were encamped across the White river ; the real intent was to keep watch on the proceedings of tlie bone-hunters. Sitting Bull, one of the most influential chieftains, was to select the guard, and himself to go at their head. Prof. Marsh was to let Sitting Bull know when he was ready to move forward. The next day three or four inches of snow fell ; this itself un- fortunately delayed the expedition. Meanwhile the annuities were issued to the Indians, and this quite changed the aspect of affairs. Having got their annuities, the Indians were no longer on their good behavior ; they could raid around for another year. There is at best always a great deal of dissatisfaction among them after the annuities are issued, but even those who had got all they hoped for exhibited a sauciness in marked contra Gt with their previous demeanor. In frontier phrase, " the Indians didn't care a cuss for Uncle Sam." The bone-hunting expedition was dis- cussed in every lodge. They all arrived at one conclusion, that the pretense of seeking fossils was much " too thin." The chief of the bone-hunters was certainly in search of gold. Quite unaware of the change of sentiment the expedition went on with its preparations, and on the second morning after the issue of annuities, broke camp and proceeded to the agency, ex- pecting to get the Indian guard. The whole party, including the soldiers, were drawn up ready for the -start. To reach the agency they had to pass between several villages composed of Indian lodges. The sight of the soldiers and the wagons excited the Indians. They gathered in great numbers about the agency. They were armed quite as well as our soldiers, with breech-loading rifles and revolvers of the most recent patterns. 264 The Indian Miscellanv. Sitting Bull declared that the young men promised as a guard refused to go, being ul'raid of the Nortliorn Indians. Red Cloud, when Prof. Marsh appealed to him, said that his young men believed the object of the search was gold, not bones, and the listening crowd approved his words. Pretty Crow, a chief of note, suddenly precipitated a crisis by shouting : " The white men arc going into our country to find gold ; we must stop them at once." A cry of warning was given. The women and children instantly started and ran out of harm's way. Guns were pointed at the party on every side, and a line of mounted Indians Ibrmed on their front and rear. In all directions runners were seen galloping off to the villages and calling together the warriors. The Indians outnumbered the expedition at least thirty to one. A single shot, or the order "Forward I" would have brought down their fire. To push on under such circumstances would have been mad- ness. The agent and the friendly chiefs pointed out to Prof. Marsh that the presence of the soldiers aggravated the excite- ment of the Indians. Thore was but one thing to do with safety ; that was to withdraw. The entire expedition turned about and retreated to Camp Robinson, a distance of one and a half miles. It is not worth while here to repeat the Jeers which this move- ment elicited from the Indians; they showered insults on the retreating party ; the language of signs is never more efficient than for such a purpose, and it was freely used. Bad as were these insults, they were preferable to bullets. The rest of the day was spent in consultations. The advice of Mr. J. W. Dear and his assistance proved of great service to the party. On the following day beef was issued by the agent to the bands entitled to it. Meanwhile, as a result of many consultations, two con- clusions were arrived at. 1. That something must be done to win the consent of the Indians. 2. That a feast given by Prof. Marsh and a few presents to leading chiefs were the most promis- ing means of attaining consent. The professor was becoming very much disgusted with councils and talks, but decided to have another one. On the day after the beef issue the feast was given. The A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 266 order of precedence is as well established on these occasions as at a European court. Only the more eminent chiefs were admitted ; the following were among them : Red C'oud, Red Dog, 01 1 Man Afraid of his Horses, Spider (a hrothe. )f Red Cloud), Sword (son-in-law of Red Cloud), Sitting Bull, Pawnee Killer, C:!onquer- ing Bear, Friday, American Horse, Torn Belly, Red Leaf, Rocky Bear, Little Wound, Three Bears, White Tail, Young Man Afraid of his Horses, Stabl^er, Hand, Pretty Crow, and some 30 others of less note. The feast was given in one of the largest lodges, and every detail of Lidian eti(iuette was strictly observed. At its close, after Prof. Marsh had again stated the object and character of the expedition, a reluctant consent was again ac- corded, with the warning that the Minneconjous were likely to kill the professor if he crossed the White river. A band of scouts was promised under the leadership of Sword, whose influ- ence is little less than that of his father-in-law. Red Cloud. It was again left with Prof Marsh to name the hour for starting, all else being apparently provided for. Fearing that a consent coupled with so much hesitation might prove unavailable, the profes- sor resolved to test it, and sent word quietly, late in the night after the feast, to his inter- preters and guides, to be ready the next morning. The dread of the Min- necoujous and Unc- papas overcame the blandishments of the feast. Lidian scoutes, guides, and interpreters all alike refused to go. Map op the Region op Fossil Discoveries. Disappointed and not a little exasperated by these repeated delays, Prof. Marsh resolved I— f ^^0 L em A D g 'M I 1 266 The Indian Miscellany. upon the most extraordinary move of this expedition. He de- cided to <^ive the Indians tiie slip. That niglit, shortly after mid- night, he carried out this intention. Marching down between the Indian vilhiges as silently as possible, the expedition sought the White river at the only spot where, for many miles, it is forda- ble. The Indian dogs barked furiously as the party defiled be- tween the lodges, but fortunately their owners slept. If the expedition had been attacked at this time, their case would have been hopeless. It was a bitter night, and after crossing the river, as they ascended the higlilands, the cold was so intense that those on horseback had to dismount and walk to keep from freezing. The stolen march was soon discovered. By daylight scouts could be seen riding from village to village giving the alarm. Before the bone region was reached, Indian sentinels on horse- back, posted on the high buttes, were watching the party. Both on account of the cold and the danger, the march was made with rapidity. On arriving at the localit}', a position for the camp was chosen by Lieut. W. L. Carpenter, of great natural strength, flanked by ravines. But the field of research included a circuit of ten miles, mainly in a deep gorge. From the highest buttes in the vicinity, Harney's peak was visible. The party went to work immediately on their arrival on the grounds : in fact the weather was so intensely cold that work became a necessity. They could not sit on the ground to dig ; moving about was necessary to keep from freezing. As fast as fossils were secured, they were heaped together, and piles of stones were placed to mark the localities of the bones, in the event of a snow-storm. For several days this bitter cold continued. The frugal meal rarely included water, ice-water ceasing to be a luxury. When a tumbler was filled, its contents rapidly froze solid, and before the table in the tent could be set, it was advisable to punch with a fork the ice that was forming in the glasses, and drink what remained fluid as quickly as possible. The bearded members of the party were festooned with icicles, like the Vikings of old, and had to break holes under their mustaches to put food in. During this exceptionally cold weather, there were four officers and many soldiers severely frost-bitten, but none of the bone- I A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 267 hunting party suiForcd injury, prohahly hecauRe they were bo actively employed. At length the cold moderated and there came a snow storm. The places marked by piles of rock were then the scene of re- newed labors. Brooms made of bushes and grass were employed at these points to brush away the snow. Meanwhile, in spite of the cold, the Indians had kept tbeir mounted sentinels on the neighboring hills, watching the operations of the party. One night some Indians attempted to surprise the camp ; its guard^ instead of shooting the approaching savages, awakened the members of the expedition. Tlie Indians perceiving that the camp was alarmed, withdrew. This was far better than shooting would have been, since if an Indian had been shot, the act would have drawn down vengeance on the party. Occasionally in the daytime a few Sioux dropped in with proffers of friendship, probably to obtain a nearer look at the work of the expedition. When success was well nigh assured, and the lahor of collecting was nearly completed, there were fears that a snow-storm which was threatened would check the work. A more serious cause for alarm was found in the representations of a party of Indians, headed by Spider and Sword, who came out to forewarn the expedition of its immediate dangers. They had ascertained that the Northern Indians had taken their wives and children to the Black hills, and were coming to make an attack on the camp. There was good reason to expect the attack that night. To throw the specimens into the wagons and rattle off with them unpacked was simply to break them to pieces. To pack them at night, burning lights in the tents, would be to invite an attack ; the Indian asks no better mark for a shot at long range, than a lighted tent. Great as was the risk of remaining, Prof. Marsh, after due consultation with the officers in command of the escort, decided to stay long enough to pack properly. The expedition broke camp the next day, and not too soon ; subsequent reports state that a large war party of Northern Indians scoured the Bad lands on the following day, in a vain search for the Bone-hunt- ing chief and his band, then en route for New Haven. On his return to the agency. Red Cloud \vus among the first to welcome Prof. Marsh. Some of the chiefs to &' ow their good M 268 The Indian J^'fiscELLANY. will, proposed to give a dog-feast in his honor, the tender canine being c(/nsidered by them a special delicacy. The professor has eaten a variety of Indian viands and frontier dishes, ranging from mule meat to grasshopper short-cake, and vould doubtless have partaken of fricaseed puppy, but for his haste to return. More- over, his previous banquets had proved somewhat expensive, and it was understood that there should be a quid 'pro (juo on his part, which might have made his second joint -.-f bow-wow a costly dish. He sent his regrets and pleaded a previous engagement. Did the results ob- tained jusl./y the ^ expenditure, the time, the danger ? Yes, amply. The bones obtained are those of tropical animals, of the mi- ocene era. There are nearly two tons Skull of Brontoi ferium — top view. of these fossils ; most of them are rare specimens, illustrative of entire families of quadrupeds, of which all that is known has been ascertained within a very few years ; some of the bones are those of animals entirely new to science. The brontotherium is one of the larger qnadrupeds whose remains are entombed in the bed of this mio- cene lake. !>., was as large as an elephant, and bore a general resemblance of form to that animal, but differed in many essen- tial particulars. Its shorter limbs were like those of the rhi- noceros ; its nose was adorned with a pair of huge horns, placed crosswise. Its skull is a yard in length. It had no tusks, or long proboscis, such as vhe elephant possesses ; but its nose was probably elongated and flexible, like the snout of a tapir. In fact its head and neck M^ere so long that it had no need of an elephantine proboscis. These animals must have lived together in herds. P^'obably their remains were washed into die lake by a freshet, and thus were buried in the mud with which the lake ■was finally filled, which now has hardened into stone. Among othei remains found are those of animals nearly allied to the A Perilous Fossil Hunt. 269 rhinoceros, the camel, and the horse of to-day. It is not neces- sary to burden this pago with thoir scientific names, which would convey no ideas of their form or characteristics to most readers. The stratum in which the fossils lay was of the lowest miocene, and could only have been reached by the upper miocene and the pliocene above that, having been washed away by a water-course in this canon. Hence the locality of the fossils was na.rrow, and the expedition was able to get at and remove them entirely. A careful examination of the surrounding region showed that nowhere else had any watercourse cut deep enough to lay bare this stratum. Aside from the novel points obtained concerning specific fossils, the expedition has made an important determination respecting the geology of the region. The fact was ascertained that the miocene lake was of more limited extent than has hitherto been asserted, although larger than any two great lakes of the north- west at the present day would be if combined in one. Its northern limit was the southern slope of the Black Hills; its western margin the Rocky mountains ; its southern limit near the northern line of Kansas. Long after this lake was filled and dried, another tropical lake covered the same region, having the same bounda- ries at the north and west, but extending southward even to Texas. The sands and clay deposits of this more recent lake basin are of the pliocene age ; they are of great thickness, in some places, not less than 1,500 feet. No inconsiderable part of the beds which Prof Hayden has regarded as belonging to the miocene or lower lake formation proves to be of the pliocene or upper lake, the true miocene being visible in occasional depres- sions where the pliocene has been washed away. All or nearly all the high table lands from the White river to the Arkansas are formed of the deposits of the pliocene lake ; it has proved rich in organic remains, especially in fossil horses ; but all the. animals found in it differ from those of the lake below as v, ell as from those now living. Many obscure and some contested points in science will be determined by the material wliich Prof. Marsh's expedition of 1874 has gathered, and the Indians have already found compensation for their " medicine " ravished to adorn the shelves of Yale's new museum. Hi ! -I INDIA JV AFFAIRS AB UND DETR OIT IN 1 706. ' Translated from a French Ms. by Col. Charles Whittlesey. [These transcripts, brought with other historical papers from Paris by Gen. Lewis Cass, are bo negligently made, on poor paper and in a hurried chirography ; that it is frequently difficult to read them. They give a vivid idea of Indian ferocity, duplicity and cruelty, depicted by one of their own number ; from personal observation. It is not icnown that this remarkable speech ; or the reply of Vaudreuil, have before this appeared in print.] aPEEVH OF MU-KOVAKI, BEOTHER OF JEAN LE BLANC, AN OTTAWA OF DE- TROIT, WHO CAME FROM MA CHINA W TO THE MANOIR MENARD » TO MONSIEUB THE MARQUIS DE VA UDREUIL SEPTEMBER mth, 1706. My father, you will be surprised by the bad affairs that I am about to inform you of on the part of Pesant, and of Jean Le Blanc touching what has passed at Detroit. I desire you my father to open to me your door, as to one of your children, and listen to what I have to say. When I left Mackinaw, my father, our old men did not expect me to come so far as this place, hoping you would be still at Montreal. The time is short for me to return. I desire you to be willing to listen to me. Listen — The Ottawa nations who were at Detroit, the Kikia- kous the Sinagoes and the nation DuSables have been killed, and snch as have returned to Mackina.v, came in the greatest distress. It is the Miamis, my father, who have killed us. The reason wc were obliged to light the Miamis is, that having gone to war against the Sioux, as we have said to Sieur Bourmont, we had been informed by a Potawatomie encamped near the fort of the Hurons, that the Miamis, who were at Detroit, had resolved to allow us to deijart and march three days, after which they would tittack our village, and eat our w^omen and children. My father, we were unable to comprehend, and you yourself will be 'surprised, as well as we, when you know that Quarante Sous, who was employed by Le Sieur La Mothe to bring all the nations to Detroit, made use of this pretext, to give them wampum pri- » Reprinted from Tract No. 8, Weitem Reserve and Northern Ohio HistorkcU Society (Cleveland, 0.), December, 187L Revised by tlie translator for the Indian Miscellany. * Tbe Manoir Menard is presumed to be near (Quebec. Indian Affairs Around Detroit in 1706. 271 vately, to engage them to destroy up. I have not come, my father, to lie to you, I have come to speak the truth. You will do after this what shall please you. We have learned by a Pottowatomie named , who married a Miami, that the Miamis would eat our villagers. Upon this news, my father, the war chiefs of three nations of Ottawas with whom we had set out, held a council, and concluded that we should not deliberate upon an affair of this consequence without the consent of Pesant and of Jean Le Blanc, who are their principal chiefs, and who were sent for at once. Le Pesant and Jean Le Blanc, after having heard the ncAvs told us by the , concluded by stamping his foot, that since the Miamis had resolved to kill and boil us, it was necessary to forestall them. When Pesant had said it was necessary to s.^'rike, we soon saw, and Jean Le Blanc first of us all, that he was going to do a wicked thing, but no person dared contradict him, on account of his influence and because we should then have made ourselves contemptible, in the eyes of the young men. My father, my brother and myself inquired what Pesant thought of striking, while our people were divided. Some were at war with the Hurons, some at Montreal, and what would the commandant at Detroit say if we struck at his gate. We said thus to Pesant, but he would not listen. It is he, my father, who has caused all the misfortunes that have happened. Jean Le Blanc, my father, would have come with me but being stripped of everything, and not daring to come as a malefactor he told me to come, and know your mind. He would have come, my father, but according to our custom during all the time we were at war, being at Detroit; he had given the Sieur Bourmont all that we had, thinking it more sate there, than in our fort, and in consequence of the misfortunes that have happened, since our departure to the war with the Sioux, it remains there, and all I can do is to oft'or you this wampum, on the part of my nation, which is all I have, and have taken this from my pouch. According to our resolution, we resumed the way to our fort, and as we approached the fort of the Hurons, we found eight i: i 1 1 1 J' .! -}: 1 272 The Indian Miscellany. m Miami chiefs, who were going there to a feast. As we met them Pesant said, behold our enemies. These are the men which wish to kill us. Since there are the leaders, it is necessary to rid our- selves of them, and thereupon made a cry as a signal, encourag- ing us to let none of them escape. At the first cry no person moved. But Pesant having made a second, as we marched along on each side of the way, and as we were in the midst, we fired ; a)\d none of them saved themselves but Pamakona, who escaped to the French fort. I dare tell you one thing, that I have never said before, and it is, that he is a strong friend of mine. I made a signal to him before the discharge to withdraw, and it is thus he was saved. After those were killed, our young men rose to take such as might remain in the lodges, and as LePesant and Jean Le Blanc could not go as fast as the others, I was one of the first to reach there, but to prevent this some one forced me between the French and our people. The Miamis being camped near their fort when I arrived I found the Miamis had withdrawn into the fort of the French, and one of our young men, a chief, had been killed, and that our youth in despair on account of his death, resolved to burn the fort. I threw myself in the midst of them, and many times snatched the burning arrows repeatedly imploring them with vehemence, not to do the French any injury, for they were not connected with the quarrel we had with the Miamis. I heard during this time a voice crying there is a Black Robe (a priest) and I saw my brother sending the Pere Recolet into the fort, having not harmed him, and having desired him to say to Sieur Bourmont, that he should not fire upon us, nor give any ammunition to the Miamis, but put them out of the fort and leave us alone. We had not known, ray father, that a Pere Recolet and the French soldiers, had been killed, but the next day those who had fired upon them, not being (illegible) then I blamed my brother very much, that he had not detained the Recolet father and the soldiers ; who replied that he thought they would be more safe there than in our fort, on account of the irritation among our young men, for the death of two chiefs that we had lost. Indian Affairs Around Detroit in 1706. 273 1 1 The next day, my father, my brother took a flag that you had given him, and insisted on speaking to Monsieur Bourmont, de- siring him, our arms reversed all around, to give us missionaries, an oppoi-tunity to explain. He said he had no reply for us, but that the Sieur J)e La Foret, whom he had expected early in the spring, would soon arrive with five canoes when we could give our reasons. Seeing he did not wish to listen to us, we were obliged to return ; and that night our young men determined to burn the fort. Our old men were embarrassed, and to prevent them passed three entire days in council. After having been three days in council Jean Blanc rose and said to Pesant, " since it is you who has caused all this difficulty what do you say ? what do you think ? As for me I say we are dead, and that we have killed ourselves by striking the Miamis, at the French stockade. In turn the Miskouakies and the Sina- goes will say the same thing. As soon as the Sieur De Tonty was gone, we were well agreed that affairs were ])ecoming embroiled, of which there were sure signs in this last matter ; since the Sieur De Bourmont being able to arrange everything did not wish to listen to us, referring us always to the arrival of the Sieur De La Foret. However we had certain signs that he wished to fight (illegible) for he put swords at the end of his pike staves. We continued bome time to have parleys with him, and went without fear to the fort of tlie Hurons, believing that they were our allies, but for fear of the Miamis we always went in canoes. My father, the Hurons called the Ottawa Sinago, and said to him, " My brothers it is a long time that we have been brothers, and that together we have fought the Iroquois. When we speak to you we speak to all the nations, Outawase (Ottawas), Sacs, Sauteurs,Poutawatamies, Saukies, Chippevvays and Mississaugies. Look at this string of beads, my brothers, I take it out for you to look at. It is a long time our old men have preserved it. Upon this string there is seen the figuree of men. This string (or belt) signifies much. It is never shown unb.ns we give life or death to those to whom we speak. I return it, and say to you on the part of the French, that he wishes you to meet him at the 19 '■r:'n ! ' 274 The Indian Miscellany. feast. It will not be in the lodges, for you might thus have ap- prehensions, but it will bo near this spot, on the prairie, where the French flag will be |)lante(l, and thei'e you will come to the feast." On the morrow, the day of the feast we were to have, Jean Le Blanc having his garden near the place where the French flag ' was planted, was walking there and saw a number of the French bring wheat and throw it upon a sail cloth, spread out upon the prairie. The Huron women did the same, and brought the wheat and poured it upon the cloth. Then my brother thought the Ilurons had spoken truly, and that we should have a good time, nevertheless ])eing with Pesant tliey reflected, that the French had never been willing to speak to them. It might be that under the name of this feast, the Ilurons would betray them, and giv(! the Miamis the opportunity of at- ta(;king them, while their women and children were gone to fetch the wheat, "^fhey resolved to send out scouts for discov^ery in the woods, and four young men departed, who returned and said, they saw many ways which led into the depths of the forest, and seemed to encircle those which led to the wheat. As some of our people had already departed we caused them to be recalled seeing clearly it was a bait which they had sjjread for us. We then knew it was a design of the French, of the Miamis, as also of the Ilurons, as soon as we should leave our fort to go to the wheat which was intended for us ; and when they thought as we were very hungry, we should enjoy ourselves very much, the greater part of the Miamis and the Ilurons, who were in the thick woods, were to come to take the fort, and the other portion, composed of French, Ilurons and Miamis, were concealed in the glades opposite the flag, and from thence would fall on U8. As we had recalled all of our people, and no one went for the wheat, they were mu<;h deceived on their part, and the Miamis who were in the thick wood, thinking that we had gone out of our fort, or at least a great part of us, rushed forward with great shouts to take it. Our young men who were in the bastion, having discovered them afar ofl", we fought them all day with guns, and lost one of our men, who was killed by a woman. r Indian Affairs Around Detroit in 1706. 270 In the evenings the Miamis r(3turno(l, witliout our being able to determine liow man}' of their peojde wi.-re kiUcd. In returning they met Katalibou and hiH l)r()ther, whom they killed and Beal})ed. The Miamis in attacking our fort took tlie precaution to form two (rompanieH, and one; of them eame along the water, where they threw away Huch of our canoes as tliey found, for the pur- pose of depriving us of the means of escape. The next day, my father, we were convinced that the Ilurons had joined the Miamis. They came together to attack us at our fort, and this day more of the Miamis were killed, than the day before. They returned again the next day. Wc attacked the Hurons, who undertook to overwhelm us with injuries. We had 80 little powder we dare not fire, though we had some. They took new life since Onontio liad abandoned (manuscripts not legilile here). Cletart, the Ijrother of Quarante Sous, said then that our young men, indignant at the injuries that the Ilurons had done us, should make a sortie, and we Ibuglit against them and the Miamis, a long time out of the fort. The Ilurons held their ground, but the Miamis fled, although there were four hundred of tliem. On this day one of our people who had been at war with the Hurons at the (not legible), arrived at our fort, and said that all the others who had started with him and had returned, were hound in the French fort ; that the Hurons had bound them, and that they liad sent him to let us know of it; that two of our war allies of the Hurons were prisoners in their fort, and that the rest had been taken to the French fort, for what reason w(! did not know. The next day the Hurons and Miamis came again and attacked our fort. They had apparently lost some person of consideration among them. They shot, before they left one, of their prisoners, who was one of our allies. Some time after the Hurons (Wyandots) sent for the relatives of those who were confined in the French fort, saying that they well remembered what we had done to them, and that it was by way of reprisal that they had bound our people, but that they did not wish to kill them. We had but to come and cover them according to custom. We caused some to carry blankets thither, !'■. n ill I 276 The Indian Miscellany. and they told us to come and cover them to-morrow (manuscripts defective), we observing a place at the gate of the French fort where the cannon was, and where they phiced poles. They ordered ur to bring presents then,nccording to the favors they were granting us. Our people, believing them to act in good faith, returned, and each one exhausted their goods and carried them, even to the beads of our children. Scarcely had we put on the poles (or pickets) ten pieces of porcelain beads, twenty kettles, two packs of beaver, and all that we had brought, wlien Quarante Sous gave his hand to Jean Blanc. At this moment Jean Blanc received a shot, and at the same time a discharge was made from the fort, upon us, who being there in good faith, were without arms, relying upon the sincerity of the French, and were obliged to fly. The Hurons and the Miamis having made a sortie, those of our people who remained in tl^e fort came to the assistance of those who fled, and the rcmaindei' of th.e day was passed in fighting on both sides. We lost in this treachery, two men, killed at the discharge from the French fort, and five wounded. The last stroke which the Miamis have given us, my father, was done at our homes by their young men. There they killed a woman and took another prisoner, and as we sent after them to know what they would do with her, our people heard cries in the French fort where they were burning her. The exhaustion of war and hunger, obliged our people to send (not legible) one of our chiets to speak to the Ouyatanons. Heretofore the Ouyatanons (a tribe on the waters of the "Wabash, a Miami tribe) had danced with him the calumet of peace. Our people employed this man to speak to the Miamis. He said, my father, the Ouyatanons had treated us as sons in dancing this calumet, and also " I am astonished that you remain so long to kill us at our palibades. Art thou not wrong in killing us, and dost not thou kill thyself also, hast thou no pity on thy young men. An Ouyatanon replied " that it was not his tribe who had done that, but it was the Hurons and the French who wished to oblige them to remain until the Ottiiwas should perish in their Indian Affairs Around Detroit in 1706. 277 fort by hunger," and the Ouyatanons ceased to speak. Having determined to return the shives, we separated. Two of our people were given to the Ouyatanons, two were given to the nation of the Crane, Miamis, who are of the river St Josephs ; one was burnt in the French fort, another shot, and the son of Aiontache a Mississauga saved from death by tlie commandant of a French fort. There was one of our men married to a woman of whom we have no news. The two others, Sieur De La Mothe has re- stored to the Mississaugas. Behold my father all which I know, and the old men have requested me to say to you, that on account of all the treachery that the Hurons have done them, it is \vith difficulty they can restrain their young men from going against him, so long as he remains at Detroit, from whence we have withdrawn only to be less exposed. The two Ottowas, my father, who were given to the Ouyatanons saved themselves on the way and came to rejoin us. They say they were not misused by the Ouyatanons. They report that the Miamis have in killed and wounded fifty persons ; and we have lost twenty-six, including those who were returned from the war, and those the Hurons bound through treachery. My father, I speak in the name of all nations, Ottowas, Poutawotomies, Saukis, Outagamies, Kickapous, Quiuepigs, Matamini, Sauters and Mississaugas, all the people of the country bordering upon the lakes, in short of all our allies, and of their indignation against the Hurons for the treachery they have done us. They desire you through me to allow us to fight him. I desire you, my father, to tell me your thoughts, so that I may. report the same to our people, and that we may fully know each other's wishes. REPLY OF MONSIEUR DE VAUDUEUIL TO MISKOUAKI, BROTHER OF JEAN LE BLANC, AN OTTOW'A UUIICF OF THOSE WHO WERE AT DETROIT, SEPTEMBER 28, 1706. I have listened quietly Miskouaki to all you have said, and al- though I am already informed of what has passed at Detroit, could not fail to be greatly surprised by your recital. I do not reply, because it does not appear to me that you are sent by all 278 The In 01 an Miscellany. m i;;ilf the natiouH, up yon ^ny ; but only by your brother, Jean Le Blaiie, to jireoccupy my mind; and lor tliis purpose you left Mackinaw, intondina- to remain here. It is only tbo arrival of your 1)rotlK'r that has <;;iven you a desire to return. However tliat niay be, I am not sorry to have seen you, and am _ Reprinted from Tfie New Englander (New Haven), for July, 1848. » For the facta and statements contained in this article, we have depended mainly upon the follow- ing works : Trumbull's History qf Connecticut , Bancroft's History of the United States, Hutchinson'i History of Massachusetts, Mather's Marjnalia, Adair's North American Indians, Qooklu's Historical Collections of the Indiana in New England, Wood's New England Prospects, Winslow's JRelation, and Roger Williams's Key to the Indian Languages. Wo make this general acknowledgment, to ftvoid the tedlonsness of repeated reference ; bnt in all cases where information has been derived from other Bourc^s than these, the proper credit will be given by the way. / The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 281 Michigan ; the territovy of Wisconsin ; the lakes Michigan and Superior ; and penetrating the wild regions beyond them, found at last its northern limit in the high latitude of the Great-Slave lake. All the Indians of New England were branches of the Algonquin stock, a fact which rests itcj proof upon their general resemblance in form and feature ; the similarity of their habits and manners, and more than all, the radical identity of the lan- guages spoken by the various tribefi. Historians have been accustomed to reckon five principal Indian nations within the present boundaries of New England. This enumeration, however, is far from perfect, as it makes no mention of the tribes inhabithig Maine, and fails also to include a considerable number of the smaller and less important elans which were scattered, here and there, over the other New Eng- land states. These five nations or confederacies were as follows : the Pawtuckets, inhabiting the sea-coast of New Hampshire ; the Massachusetts, surrounding the bay which still bears their name ; the Pokanokets, a tribe made famous by the exploits of their re- nowned sachem, Philip, whose territories lay in the neighborhood of the Plymouth colony ; the Narragansets, occupying a part of Rhode Island, and finally, the Pequods. These last were almost wholly within the limits of Connecticut, and they were destined to fill one brief but terrible chapter of the history of the state. At the first settlement of the country, the tribe of Pequods was the most warlike and powerful that could any where be found east of the Hudson river. The pestilence which but a short time before had spread such desolation among the neighboring Indians; which reduced the Pokanokets to five hundred war- riors ; the Pawtuckets to two hundred and fifty, and left scarcely one hundred men among the once numerous Massachusetts ;^ this destroying scourge passed lightly over the country of the Pequods, and, certainly not for any virtues in thom, spared this nation of ferocious savages. Not to this fact alone, however, did they owe their relative preeminence among the natives, for they were outnumbered by their immediate neighbors, the Narra- gansets, with whom they were continually at war. The Narra- > Bi$torical lltmoir The Aboriginal Inhabitants or Connecticut. 283 The inhabitants of the Connecticut valley were known among the English by the general appellation of River Indians. There was, however, no bond of political conneciion between the vari- ous tribes included by this single name. Each was governed l>y its own chieftain, independent of all the rest, so far at least as any government was found necessary or possible. In the ancient town of Windsor alone, there were no less than ten distinct sovereignties. Perhaps no place in the United States, of equal territory, could count so many Indian inhabitants as Windsor. They were also numerous in Hartford aud Wethersfield. In East Hartford, upon the river to which they have left their name, the Podunks could muster about two hundred warriors. In Middletown, dwelt the Mattabeset tribe, and in Chatham, on the opposite bank of the river, the Wongungs. Lyme was occupied by the Nehantics, and East Haddam, then called Machemoodus, by a tribe, whose reported intercourse with evil spirits, was for- merly supposed to have some connection with the celebrated Moodus noises. The Indians on the river were generally well disposed toward the English, to whom they looked for protection from their terrible enemies, the Pequods on the one side, and the Mohawks on the other. In many places west of the river they were likewise numerous. At Guilford there was one small tribe, and another in Branford and East Haven. New Haven was occupied by the Quinnipiucks. They were also scattered in considerable numbers along the shores of the sound, in the direction of New York, at Milford, Derby, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich. Milford especially was full of the;n. Back in the interior of the state they had but few settlements ; their dread of the Mohawks hav- ing driven them away from the whole western border. They were found, however, as far west as Woodbury, New Hartford, and Sirasbury, and the pleasant banks of the Tunkis in Farming- ton, were inhabited by a warlike tribe whose numbers, according to President Stiles, were greater than those of any other in the neighborhood of the Connecticut.* Ml f 4 1 ! > Porter'* Historical Discourse, p. 86. II ■ I I 1 li 7. M* 284 The Indian Miscellany. Allusion h£.8 been more than once made to the Mohawks. Although surrounded by the territory of the Algonquins, this tribe belonged to another and a hostile race, speaking a different language, and possessing a different character — the Huron-Iro- quois. The country of the Iroquois embraced large portions of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the greater part of ISTew York, together with the whole peninsula of Upper Canada. Less numerous than the surrounding Algonquins, but far more bold and warlike, they made the terror of their name felt for more than a thousand miles beyond their boundaries. Accustomed to estimate the glory of the warrior only by the number of scalps which hung in his cabin, they were ever on the alert, far and near, to snatch from the heads of their enemies, these ghastly tokens of their prowess. Departing on their distant expeditions, not usually in large numbers, for they trusted more to cunning than to open force, they glided unseen through the closest paths in the forest, patiently enduring cold and hunger and fatigue, they wandered, sometimes over mountains apparently inaccessible, sometimes along the beds of rivers, that they might leave no trail behind them, until they found themselves in the immediate neighbor- hood of the enemy they sought. There they awaited, with patient expectation, the favorable moment for attack, and when it came, sudden and secret as the lightning, their blows were never seen before they fell. When their object was accomplished, they vanished once more into the forest, baffling all pursuit, and leaving no token of the foray, save the ruin v/hich they had wrought. It is not strange, therefore, that the warriors of this daring nation were held in the highest fear by the feebler natives of Connecticut. The latter had no confidence in themselves, how- evermuch superior in numbers, when opposed to their more powerful neighbors ; for the very name of Mohawk was enough to scatter their forces in a moment. All the tribes west of the river were found by the English with the usual marks of subjec- tion upon them ; paying an annual tribute, and groaning under the capricious cruelties which savage masters know so well hew to inflict. « > The Aboriginal Inhaijitants of Connecticut. 285 I > "With regard to the total number of Indians in Connecticut at the settlement of the state, nothing now can be certainly known. Trumbull has reckoned them at twenty thousand, an estimate which is probably n )t very far from the truth. Bancroft, how- ever, gives to the whole Algonquin race a population of only ninety thousand ; so that aUowing both estimates to be substan- tially correct, Connecticut must have been populated out of all proportion to the rest of the Algonquin territory. "We know, indeed, that Vermont was wholly without aboriginal inhabitants ; that large portions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, were in the same condition, and that from some cause unknown, the fruitful fields and flowing rivers of the west were in a great measure destitute of the abundant population which they are so well calculated to sustain. It is possible, therefore, that the opinions of both historians may be correct, although they make it necessary to suppose that the narrow limits of Connecticut embraced more than one-fifth of the whole population of the vast Algonquin country. The origin of the American aborigines has been a favorite sub- ject of speculation ever since the discovery of the continent. The history of populating the various theories which have been elabo- rated for the purpose of the country in a legitimate manner, would furnish the reader with an inexhaustible fund cf amusement or of sorrow, according as he might be disposed to laugh at intellectual folly or to weep over it. But we have neither time nor inclina- tion to enumerate all these theories — two or three of them may be taken at random to set forth their general character. Some writers on this subject have supposed the aborigines of America to be descendants of the Canaannites, who were driven by Joshua out of the promised land.' Some profess to deduce their origin from the old Norwegians ; excluding, however, Yuca- tan and the parts adjacent, which according to this theory were peopled by Ethiopic Christians, thrown upon the coast by storm or otherwise.^ With not a few it has been a favorite speculation, 1 "Gomara ct Jeau de Lury font dcscuiidre tons Ich Aineriqnains dee CananSens, cbaae^ de la terre promise par Josufi."— Charlevoix: Dissertation sur Vorigine des Ameriquains. • Grotius ; De Origine Gentium Americanum. In his opinion respecting Yucatan, Qrotlus fol- lows Peter Martyr. 286 The Indian Miscellany. that the American Indians are the pure-blooded offspring of the lost tribes of Israel ;^ a theory which is likely to profit little by later discoveries of the same wandering race in other parts of the globe. Some have ventured to maintain that the separation which now exists between the eastern and western continents, is of comparatively recent origin ; that the ceutui-y is not very dis- tent when South America was united with Africa, and North America with Asia and Europe.'' Earthquakes of course, the ever ready helpers of a theorist in dilemma, were the causes of the disruption which has taken place. The honor of beginning the population of this continent has also been given by different writers to the Phenicians, the Carthaginians, the Germans, the Welch, the Icelanders, the Moors, the Scythians, the Chinese — indeed scarcely a nation exists in the eastern hemisphere, which some philosophic speculator has not made the undoubted original of the Indian tribes. To this superabundance of theory, Cotton Mather has added a singular notion of his own. His love of the supernatural would not suffer him to admit any agei.cy in this matter less distinguished than that of the great enemy of man- kind. It was he who first moved in the business of emigration, and his devilish object was to carry at least a portion of the human race to a land so distant that the gospel of peace and pardon would never reach them there.^ After this partial enumeration of the various methods of sup- plying America with inhabitants which the ingenuity of the learned has devised, it is no more than just to allow the Indians to speak for themselves upon the question. " They say that they have sprung up and grown in that very place like the trees of the wilderness."'' Let no one smile at the simplicity of this solution, for even the brilliant and learned Voltaire has presented the same. These are his words ; " The providence which placed 1 Adair occupies a large part of hia Tolnmlnoas work in earnestly advocating this opinion. ' AbbS Clavigero: History of Mexico, iii, 109. • " Probably the devil decoyed those miserable savages hither, in hopes that the gospel of onr Lord Jesus Christ would never como here to destroy or disturb his absolute empire over them." Magnolia, Book in. * Bogcr WUliams, in Mass. Sisi. Col., m, 806. The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 287 mankind in Norway, planted tlicm also in America, and under the southern polar circle, even as it planted trees there and made the grass to grow."' This remarkable coincidence completes the circle of folly. Infidel science ends where ignorance began. Learned philosophism and savage superstition rest lovingly to- gether upon the same broad basis. From this wilderness of opmions it is not easy to emerge with- out a hearty acquiescence in the opening remark of Gookin, " concerning the original of the Indians in New England, there is nothing of certainty to be concluded." If any one chooses, however, to rest in the theory of Robertson^ and Dvvight,^ he will probably find less to disturb him there than in almost any other position. This theory holds that the northeastern part of Ame- rica was colonized from the north of Europe, and that the whole continent beside received its population from Asia by way of Behring's strait and the Aleutian archipelago. A glance at the map must convince any one that such an opinion is perfectly rational, for even the White bear, on his cake of ice, has a hun- dred times made longer voyages than the distance which separates the two worlds.* Almost without exception the Indians were tall, straight and muscular. Their manner of life from the earliest period of youth was such as to insure a free and full development of the physical system ; and born as they were of sturdy mothers, they inherited none of those bodily weaknesses which, self-caused or otherwise, 80 heavily curse the females of a later race. Nearly white when new-born, the young Indian turns more and more to the tawny hue as he advances in years, until the copper-color of his nation is finally fixed upon him. A bro; ^ square face, with considera- ble elevation of feature ; hair black and coarse, but never curling ; > La providence qui a mis des homines dans le Norv^ge, en a plants ansei en Amfiriquo et sous le cercle polaire meridional, comme elle y a pluntfi des arbres et fait croitre de VhctXte.''— (Huvres, XVI, 10. * Histort/ of America, Book iv. » Travels in New England, Letter ix. * Bradford's American Antiquities is tlie last, and perhaps the best work on the subject which I have here lightly touched. ,:, .. i i r. 288 The Indian Miscellany. i^j ' :i.: ! 1; 5 ■- eyes small, dark and keen ; these complete his outward, personal description. Amons^ the moral characteristics of the Indian, his passive courage was perhaps the most remarkable. .The endless state of warfare in which he delighted to live, together with the cruelties so generally practiced upon captives taken in battle, gave num- berless occasions for the exercise of a fortitude which the stoic or the fatalist might have wondered to behold. "When fastened to the stake, and yielding up his life by the keenest tortures, not a rebellious muscle testified to the agony of death. No sound escaped his lips ; or if his voice was heard among the yells of his tormentors, it was neither the shriek of pain nor the cry for deliverance, "but a song as defiant aiid triumphant as any that burst from the lips around him. To the extremities of heat and cold, he was in a great degree insensible. The longest journeys could scarcely be said to fatigue him. With a little cake made from the meal of parched corn for his food, and water from any stream for his only drink, he would travel day after day with but scanty resting, and arrive fresh and unwearied at his post. His patient endurance of fatigue and suiFering was marked with one exception, however, which the faithful pen of Williams has not hesitated to record, although it presents a ludicrous contrast to the high heroism with which death was uniformly met. He says that the Indians could not endure the toothache with any kind of equanimity, but that they cried aloud for very pain, when this tormentor was upon them. The Indian was also characterized by a remarkable sense of justice, as we may call it, manifested alike in the opposite direc- tions of revenge and gratitude. The lex talionis was his only law. An injury was never forgiven until expiation had been made, and on the other hand, a benefit never forgotten until repaid in kind. He lived under the great law of nature ; life for life and limb for limb ; a law which was made by Divine authority the rule for the administration of justice by magistrates under the Mosaic syfitem ; which Pharisaic interpretation perverted into a Divine rule of private conduct ; and which Christ forbids as a law of action between individuals, because God has said, " Ven- The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 289 geance is mine; I will repay." Let us not therefore condemn the Indian with too great severity, if in his utter ignorance of the Divine command, and without any competent trihunal of earthly justice to which he might appeal for redress, he so often obeyed the instinctive impulses of his nature, and made himself the judge and avenger of his own wrongs. Let us rather con- template the more agreeable manifestations of this same princi- ple of retribution, when instead of evil for evil, it aimed only at rendering good for good. The elder Winthrop has left an anecdote on record which curiously illustrates the ingenuity of Indian gratitude. MaB- sasoit, the sachem of the Pokanokets, was once restored from dangerous sickness to health by the medical skill of Edward Winslow, a leading man among the lirst settlers of the Plymouth colony. This friendly service he never forgot, but manifested to the whites in every possible manner, his grateful sense of the benefit which he had received from one of their number. On a certain occasion, Winslow, who had been absent for some time in Connecticut, returned tlirough the country of his friend Mas- sasoit, and stopped at his quarters to spend the night with him. Immediately after his arrival, the sachem secretly dispatched his swiftest runner to the colony, bidding him announce with the most truthful air which he could assume, the sudden death of his honored guest ; even the very time and manner of it were minutely dictated. The next morning, refreshed by the hospi- talities of the wigwam, Winslow pursued his homeward journey. On his arrival at Plymouth, he was not a little surprised to find the whc'ie population lamenting his untimely departure, while they were certainly not less amazed to behold him once more in the flesh. When Massasoit next visited the colony, he was requested to explain the object of this singular falsehoof^ With- out seeming to suspect the least impropriety in the cou . he had taken, the old sachem replied, that he was strongly desirous of making his white friends happy, and that he could think of nothing which would give them greater pleasure than to have their friend and counselor suddenly restored to their arms in the very midst of their mourning for his loss. The story stops at 20 290 The Indian Miscellany. this point, but we may reasonably conjecture that while the be- nevolent motive of the old chieftain was properly acknowledged, he was at the same time taught that truth is even more sacred than friendship.' Hospitality was another characteristic of the Indians. The stranger was always welcome. If he came in the night, hungry and weary, men and women roused themselves from slumber, and cheerfully provided for his wants. The best wigwam, usually that of the sachem, was appointed for his habitation while he remained, and he was troul)lutl with no questions concerning the object of his visit or the tituc of his departure. Generosity was also a eoninion virtue. They had little to give, it is true, but whatever they had was freely offered. Whenever one of them had been unusually successful in the chase or on the water, a part of his fish and tlesh was always distributed among his neighbors. Of the sick their friendship was never forgetful. They tilled his hut and crowded round it with ofiers of aid ; not always judicious, indeed, but giving the most ample testimony to the generous warmth of their hearts. On the recovery of the invalid, it was a general custom with them to send him presents, as some compensation for the expenses attendant upon disease ; a custom beautiful in itself, and rendered especially necessary by the improvidence of the Indian, for it was no part of his practical wisdom to make health labor for sickness, or youtli for old age. His aversion to labor was such, indeed, that nothing but the urgency of natural wants could rouse him to exertion ; and when the immediate necessity was satisfied, no thought of the future prevented his return to idleness. He might sufl'er the severest pangs of famine in the long and dismal winters of the north; the winds might pierce his miserable dwelling, and cause even his hardened tlesh to shrink from their icy touch, but the experience of these and similar evils could not persuade him to make any effectual provision against them. "War and the chase alone ex- cepted, the dolce far niente was the paradise of the Indian. But war was his delight, and whenever his energies were roused > Wintbrop's History of New England, i, 188. The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 291 by an impulse of this nature, he exhibited the most abundant resources of cunning, courage, patience and perseverance ; of nearly all the qualities, indeed, which were best calculated to insure success. In the conduct of warfare, the Indian fought with little regard to military discipline or to the commands of his leader. He trusted to himself in a remarkable degree. Sometimes a single warrior, in search of glory or revenge, would .leave his tribe hundreds of mile^: behind him, and penetrate alone the country of his enemy. The history of eivilizt-d nations can furnish no example of greater self-reliance than w;»s exhibited in such enterprises as these. Among the moral characteristics of the Indian, it only remains to notice his comparative indifference to sensual pleasures. In this one respect he presented a striking contrast to nearly every other savage, removed as far as he was from all the restraints of civilized and Christian life. Food of the most simple charr^cter was all that his appetite demanded ; his thirst was always slaked and satisfied with a little water from the spring. K, as was sometimes the case, he was obliged to fast two or three days in succession, he submitted in patience to the necessity, never seeming to regard it as a harciship worthy of complaint. But it may be said that the Indian was inditforent to the pleasures of the palate, only because he was ignoiant of the sources of grati- fication. He knew no food more inviting than his half-cooked fish and flesh ; no drink more pleasant to the ta-^^te uian water; and not being conscious of deficiency, he therefore sought for nothing better than that which he already possessed. It may be so, Let us, however, venture to extend the inquiry to another appetite, which, next to hunger and thirst, is the most imperious of all in its demands ; to that upon which the continued existence of the race depends. Passing upon this ground, we find the same characteristic of comiDarative indifference; the Indian is still " the stoic of the woods." To him the female of his race was not, as in civilized society, a companion and friend ; nor yet, as elsewhere, the mere object of voluptuous desire ; but he seemed to look upon her as little other than a slave and beast of burden. His conduct exhibited none of those tender sentiments which, ' 292 The Indian Miscellany. grounded on the difference of the sexes, soften and harmonize their intercourse, but he stood aloof in liis cold superiority, waited on with trcrnhlin^ l)y Imk femule drudp^es. Duritig the wars which lie so fre(|uently and fiercely waged against the whites, many of their wives and daughters were taken captive and carried into his own country. Although these prisoners were entirely at his disposal; although they were sub- ject to insult and injury of every other kind; there is yet no in- stance recorded of the perpetration of that violence which female virtue reckons worse than death. How shall we account for this remarkable temi)erance ? How can it be accounted for, except upon the ground that the Indian master, whether from natural temperament or munner of life,' or indeed from the joint influ- ence of both these causes, was in a great measure insensible to the ordinary power of female beauty? Nt other explanation is free from insuperable difficulties. The lust of the savage is his law. Whatever dctsire urges and ojjportunity presents to his hand, he does ; restrained even by the slightest barriers of ex- ternal prohibition, and heai'ing the laintest whisper from the voice within, li' then, at any time, be seems to respect the claims of virtue, his continence must be attributed, not so much to a kindred virtue in himself, as to the absence of every impulse toward its violation. When the young Indian arrived at marriageable years, he began to look about him for a companion in life. Having found one that suited his fancy, he paid his addresses to her by the gift of such trinkets and treitsures as he supposed would be most pleasing to her taste. If his presents were rejected, his suit was lost; if received, it was the token of his own acceptance, but marriage did not immediately follow. The young couple lived together for a time on trinl. At the end of the probationary period, if they were pleased with each other, they were united in wedlock ; if not, they separated, each to make another experv ment in a different quarter. Atnr marriage, the first object of the young husband was to provide a dwelling for his wife and » " Slnt! Baccbo et Cflran frlget Venu. The Aboriginal Inhabitants or Connecticut. 293 himself. This was accomplished in the tbllowin/:^ manner. Having chosen a spot for his house, with eH[)e(.ial reference to the con- venient neighhorhood of wood and water, he proceeded to form its roof and walls by bending down toward a common center, the tops of a circle of stout Hapl'iigs, and closely interlacing their trunks with strips of bark. This done, it only remained to cut a hole in the top of the hut for the passage of tho smoke ; to make an opening on tiie side for the ingress and egress of its inhabitants; to cover the structure, witliin and without, with mats to keep it warm, and then the simple dwelling of the Indian was completed. In the division of family duties, the whole drudgery of life was imposed uj)on the female. While the husband \ an engaged in hunting or tishing, the wife was coni[)elled to cultis^ate the field ; to supply the wigwam with food and water ; to carry home the game which her husband had taken — in short, whenever toilsome and inglorious work of any kind was to be done, she was the only laborer. There was but a single exception to this domestic law. The Indian could condescend to labor in the field for one purpose. His darling plant, tobacco, was thought worthy to re- ceive his personal care. The manner of life to which the Indian female, even from a <^hild, was bred, although in itself most ungenerous and oppressive, was attended with at least one salutary effect. It gave her a strength of bodily constitution scarcely inferior to that of her master. Iler powers of endurance were astonishing. The curse of iier sex was nearly lost upon her. " I have often known," says Williams, " in a ((uarter of an hour, a woman merry in the house, and delivered and merry again ; and within two days abroad, and alter four or five days at work." The number of wives was uidimited, yet polygamy, though not rare, was by no means universal among them. Divorces fre- quently took place, for little bepide the inclination of the parties kept them together. Adultery was considered a heinous crime, although the sexual intercourse of the uimiarried was under no restraint, either of law or public o[)iiiion. The childrei. of the Indians were treated by their parents with great affection and in- dulgence, but parental kindness was seldom repaid or even re- 294 The Indian Miscellany. membered. The age J and helpless were frequently left to perish in neglect, without the slightesi token of love or offer of aid from those to whom they had given birth. In the heart of the Indian, the current of affection, forsaking the parents, .ran always forward toward the children ; and this truth continunigfrom one generation to another, it came to pass that filial ingratitude was ever justly punished in the very manner of its own sin. The child who had neglected his parent, becoming a parent himself, was in turn neglected by the children whom be had begotton. Of iron and steel the Indian had no knowledge. All the tools which he used were made of wood, shells, and stone. The hoe with which the Indian women cultivated the fields, was a clam- shell. Their axe was of stone, having a withe fastened round the neck of it for a handle. Their mortars, pestles, and chisels, were also of stone; and they had moreov^er stone knives, sharp- ened to so keen an edge that they could easily cut their hair vrith them. Two methods of hunting were in use among the natives. Sometimes they followed their game in companies of two or three hundred men, scouring the forests, and destroying multitudes of the sylvan inhabitants, with the same weapons which they used in war. Sometimes they filled the woods with traps of various fashions, and spent their time in passing from one trap to another, to secure whatever had been taken in them. In fishing, they employed nets made of hemp ; lines terminating in a hook of bone ; and in shallow water, arrows or sharpened sticks, in the use of which they were very skillful. Their weapons of war were the bow and arrow, the spear, and the tomahawk. The string of the bow was made either of hemp or of the sinew of some wild animal. The arrow was commonly headed with a sharp stone, but sometimes with the horn of the deer, and the claw of the eagle. The spear was nothing more than a long pole, sharpened at the end, and hardened in the fire. The tomahawk, by no means the deadly weapon which the In- dian has used since iron was given him, was merely a stick of two or three feet in length, headed with a knob or a stone. Such were the simple arms of the aborigines, and although with these they were able to carry on the warfare of ambushment and sur- The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 295 prisal, which thty loved so well, yet we cannot wonder that a few shots of European musketry so oi'tew drove hundreds of them from the open field. The Indian was not without a circulating medium, to represent the value of the little property which he possessed. His coin was called wompumpeag, or more briefly, imu/ipum, and was of two kinds, the white and black. The black was double in value to the white It W83 wrought from shells into the form of beads, to be strung as beads are, and reckoned by the fathom. A fathom of wampum Avas worth not far from five English shillings. This Indian money served a double purpose, being used for ornament as well as trade. Chains and bracelets were made of it, and worn upon the neck and wrists, while belts curiously wrought, encircled the body. Indeed nearly the whole dress of the more wealthy was covered by it, for the ostentation of riciies is confined to no state of society, and to no period of the world. There was not any restriction upon the manufacture of this money, but whoever chose to make it, was at liberty to do so. In what is called driving a bargain, the Connecticut Indian was scarcely inferior to the Connecticut white. An old historian says, " they will be at all markets, and try all places, and run twenty, thirty, yea, forty miles and more, and lodge in the woods, to save six pence." Their trade was principally in furs; but sometimes in corn, venison, and fish. It was never safe to allow them credit, for whoever did so, most commonly lost both his debt and his customer. The political institutions of the Indians were of the very sim- plest character. A hereditary sachemdom was the only authority recognized among tlie tribes. In theory, the power of the sachem was absolute ; but whenever a question of more than usual in- terest or difiiculty arose, he always sought the advice, and was guided by the wisdom of his counselors. His actual influence with his subjects depended far more upon personal character, than upon birth or station. The sachem who was not the leader of his tribe, in fact as well as name, could not long command their respect or obedience. Females were not excluded from the regular line of succession, although the early history of New England presents but few examples of such government. Jl^ 296 The (ndian Miscellany. ;; The dignity of tho f>rown was fuistained by the liberal contri- butions of the people. Ofteringa of corn and other productions of the soil were anriually made to the sachem, who received also one-fourth of all venison taken in the chase. If his dominions included any portion of sea-coast, wha+^'".)ever was cast upon the sho 'e -ere it ship or whale, belonged Lo nim. Tl ! administration of justice was among the duties of the sachem, who united in his single person, the legislative, judicial, and exe- cutive functions. The Indian who had transgressed the laws of his tribe, not only received his sentence from the lips of his chief, but ordinarily, the punishment decreed, was inflicted by the hand of the judge himself. In every such instance, the criminal sub- mitted in silence to the discipline of his master. The sachem was assisted in council by a certain order of men called the paniese. He availed himself of their wisdom in time of quiet, and in war they formed his body-guard. Selected as the paniese were, from the most promising of the young men, trained to dare every danger, and endure all hardships, they con- stituted not only the defense of the sovereign, but, in a great measure, the strength of the whole tribe. They founded their claim to the respect of the people, not more upon their personal merits, than upon their pretended intercourse with the invisible world. They were wise enough to know that the great weakness of the savage is his superstition, and taking advantage of this weakness, they established their power in this world on a firmer basis, by deriving their a-:thority from the powers of the world to come. The mind of the Indian, degraded and dark as it might be, was nevertheless not without a few faint glimpses from the eternal world. Although among the lowest of mankind, he was still a man, and therefore not utterly destitute of those religious ideas which, by nature, belong to every human soul. He believed in a Supreme Being, and in a future state ; he recognized a ruling Providence in the afiairs of this world, and a retribution hereafter. These great principles of natural religion were as really, if not so beautifully, developed in the wilds of North America, as they ever had been in the porch and the academy of ancient Greece ; for The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 297 wherever the Almighty enkindles the immortal fire of a human soul, he never leaves it without implanting in its nature a witness of himself. The religion of the Indian was polytheistic in the vei-y highest degree ; but like every other polytheist, he had his greater and his IvJBser deities. KiehMn v;aB his name for the good God, the creator of the world, and the bountiful bestover of every blessing. His hi. ne was in the southwestern heavens, and to his presence went the souls of the good, when death called them to leave the earth. Ho named his devil, ^o66amo^/:. This bad spirit was the fountain of all evil ; and fear, which among savages is always stronger than love, led the Indian to court his favor with prayers and ofi'erings, and nearly every form of deprecatory worship. Beside these two principal deities, there was a multitude of local gods who were known by the general name of MarHou. With these subordinate spirits the whole world of the Indian was over- flowing. The classical student is familiar with the beautiful superstition of that land where every wood has its dryad ; every fountain its naiad — where the rainbow was the garment of one ' god, and the sun the golden chariot of another — where the Lares and Penates watched over the household hearth — where Jupiter thundered in the heavens, and Neptune rose from the sea. But the fancy of the Indian was even more than prodigal of its trea- sures than the poetry of brilliant Greece. He filled and crowded every object in nature with spiritual existence. The great points of the compass, east, west, north, south, had each its peculiar god. The sun, the moon, the sea, and the fire, were all the abodes of supernatural beings. Even the involuntary motions of the body were attributed to the power of resident spirits. It was a god who made the heart to beat , yet another god who filled the lungs I with vital air. It was a god (Somnus by a diflferent name), who sat upon the eyelids and pressed them down in slumber ; still another god who lifted those lids, and let in the light of the morning. So also whenev«^r any thing took place, the cause or manner of which they did no at once perceive, they were always accustomed to say, Manitou, it is a god. " At the apprehension of any excellency in man, woman, birds, beasts, fish, etc.," they : I 298 Tfie Indian Miscellany. still cried out, with a kind of reverential admiration, it ie a god. When the English tir.st came among them, and they beheld the ships which brought them over; the buildings which they erected; their manner of cultivating the fields ; their arms and clothing ; and above all, their books and letters, they exclaimed one to another, Manitouioock, they are gods. In all this we discover, carried out to its full extent, the universal tendency of the un- taught mind to refer all appearances, unusual or difficult of ex- planation, to the immediate agency of supernatural beings. The grand idea of something above and beyond nature, pervades the whole region of humanity, whether developed in the pantheism of the philosopher, the polytheism of the savage, or the heaven- inspired faith of the Christian. With a belief so constantly active in the existence and power of spiritual beings, the Indians were ever seeking to propitiate their favor, by prayers and sacrifices and solemn feasts ; the cus- tomary methods to which nature seems to direct the unenlight- ened soul. Kiehtan, the good god, they approached chiefly with thanksgiving, for benefits received. When victory crowned their warfare, or plenty smiled upon their fields, or success attended their eflforts in any direction, it was piously attributed to the friendly aid of this benevolent spirit, and they expressed their thanks to him in song and dance, and every utterance of grate- ful joy. But their principal worship was paid to Hobbamock, whose dis- position to do them injury they strove by every means to change. They were accustomed to ascribe all their suflferings to the mis- chievous agency of this spirit of evil. Disease, death, defeat in battle, famine, and pestilence ; these and other calamities pro- ceeded forth from him, and fear of his power compelled them to supplicate his mercy with all the earnestness of prayer. The Indian who had lost a child, called up his family at break of day, to join him in his lamentation, and with abundance of tears, ex- claimed, "Oh! God! thou hast taken away my child! thou art angry with me. Oh ! turn thine anger away from me, and spare the rest of my children.'" A fearful dream they conceived to be > Key, chap. xxi. The Aboriginal Inhabitant^ of Connecticut. • 299 a threatening of evil from Hobbamock, and whenever their rest was 80 disturbed, they would rise at all times of the night and fall at once to supplication. But not with prayers alone did the Indian seek the favor, and deprecate the wrath of his gods. Sacrifices were also common among them, and it has even been asserted that human life was occasionally taken for this purpose. The truth of this statement, however, is doubtful, and so long as entire certainty is wanting, we should hesitate to admit that the Indian was ever guilty of so horrible a crime. But whether or not they gave the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul, there is no questicn of their liberality in separating to religious purposes the most valued of their worldly possessions. Kettles, skins, hatchets, beads, and knives, all were cast by the priests into the sacred fire, and consumed to ashes ; and while the conflagration was going on, they gathered around it, sometimes by hundreds, dancing and shouting, and making all kinds of discordant noises. In these religious exer- cises, they were led on by the priests, or as they named them, powoivs, who to sustain their official character, made their devo- tion so excessively earnest, that it often left them utterly exhausted with fatigue. The Indian powow was a physician as well as a priest. In every case of sickness, he was sent for to the cabin of the suflferer, where his mere presence, or if that failed, his magical incantations, were thought suflicient to restore the invalid. The credulous historian of the Narragansets, who was frequently a witness of these superstitious rites, acknowledges that " by the help of the devil, they do most certainly work great cures," although " they administer nothing, but howl and roar and hollow over them." The heaven of the Indian was in the house of Kiehtan, far away in the southwest, where the spirits of the good who had left the earth, were gathered in a most happy society, enjoying in con- stant fullness those pleasures which, to the simple mind of the Indian, were enough to constitute a paradise. There they en- gaged in the occupations which delighted them most in the world they had left behind. "War, followed always by victory — the chase, with a never-failing abundance of game — feasting and 800 The Tndtan Miscetxant. I dancing — these brightened the hours as they rolled along, and filled up the measure of their heavenly happiness. But this heaven is open only to the good. The souls of thieves, liars, and murderers, go also to the house of Kiehtan,.and ask for admission, but he replies that there is no place for them; he bids them de- part, and so " they wander forever in restless want and penury." It is worthy of remark, that the southwest was so generally distinguished by the aborigines as the peculiar quarter of their God and their heaven. This sentiment prevailed not only in Connecticut and Ncav England, but throughout the United States. The reason of this common belief must occur to every one familiar with the climate of the country. The east wind is damp and chilly, bringing clouds and rain from the ocean ; the north wind is piercingly cold ; but the wind from " the sweet southwest," which unites the freshness of the west with the mildness of the south, was to the Indian, as well as to the Greek of old, the Zephyr, the br'mger of life. Whenever his cheek was touched by the summer softness of the breezes which came from that quarter of the sky, it was not difficult for him to believe, v/ith a literal confidence, that they were "airs from heaven." When the Indian died, all his relations and friends went into mourning, to testity their sorrow for his loss. In tlie beginning of sickness, indeed, it was customary f n* the females of the family to blacken their faces with soot and charcoal, and to keep them in this condition day after day ; but only when disease terminated in death, did the men disfigure themselves in the same singular manner. This visible token of grief was accompanied by cries and wailings of the most mournful character. Tears plentiful as rain coursed down the cheeks of the mourners, and mingling with the soot and charcoal which covered them, presented a spec- tacle of woe calculated to move far other feelings than chose of sympathetic sorrow. When the body was brought to the place of burial, it was not immediately committed to the earth, but left at the side of the grave, until the friends of the dead had united once more in vociferous and long-continued lamentation. At such times, not only the women and children suffered their tears to flow freely, but even the " stoutest captains " wept in The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Connecticut. 301 company. This duty done, the corpse was laid in the ground, wrapped in skins and mats, and covered by the same ornaments which had graced it when a living body. Whatever treasures belonged to the deceased, were also laid by his side, together with all the utensils and implements which he had been accus- tomed to use — as if his soul would need them in the world to which it had gone. Sometimes the body was covered with a fine red powder, of a strong scent, but not otfensive, which was evi- dently used as " a kind of embalment.'" The wigwam in which he had died, was considered thenceforth uninhabitable, and always burnad down or otherwise destroyed. The mat upon which the dead had lain, was spread over his grave, and his coat of skins hung up on a neighboring tree, where it was suffered to remain until it dropped to pieces. The continuance of mourning de- pended very much upon the dignity of the deceaeed; in some cases it lasted l)ut a short time ; in others a year wa i not thought too long to bear about the emblems of sorrow. After the funeral ceremonies had been performed, the relatives of the dead were visited by all their acquaintances, who came to express sympathy, and offer consolation. The Indian was never guilty of neglecting this important office of friendship. A singular custom prevailed among them in regard to pro- nouncing the names of the dead. Whoever did so was subjected to a fine, and if the oflfenae was repeated, death was not regarded as a punishment too severe. In 1665, the Sachem Philip crossed from the main land to the island of Nantucket, for the single purpose of taking the life of John Gibbs ; an Indian whose only crime was that he had spoken the name of a deceased relative of Philip. Gibbs had notice of his coming and concealed himself; the English interfered, but all arguments, together with all the money which they could collect for the ransom of the offender, were scarcely able to calm the anger of Philip, and lead him to lay aside his murderous designs.^ The inquiry in which we have thus engaged is not without a mournful interest, when we remember how like a dream when » Chronicles 0/ the PUgrims, p. 142. ■ llacy's acconat of Nantucket, in Matt. EM. Coll., lu, 1B9. 302 The Indian Miscellany. one awaketh, the old lords of the land havo passed away. The pestilence which destroyed thousands of the eastern tribes just before the landing of the pilgrims of the Plymouth colony, was more rapid in its work of death, but not more sure than the surge of emigration which, but a few years li' ter, began to roll in upon the valley of the Connecticut. Whether by sickness, by sword, or by the mere neighborhood of a stronger and wiser race, the destiny of the Indian drove him into one path, and that path led only to destruction. But while it is impossible to regard the disappearance of whole tribes and nations without a feeling near akin to sadness, yet when we estimate aright, in all its bearings and results, the wonderful change in which their ruin was involved, who shall say that there is any room for sorrow ? It is a questionable phi- lanthropy that weeps at such a revolution. Behold the contrast. Barbarism has given place to civilization. Heathenism has yielded to Christianity. The depths of the forest, which for ages had been sacred to darkness, are now laid open to the light of the sun. The resources of the soil, which the Indian wanted industry and skill to develop, are no longer hidden beneath the surface, but on every side we behold, in all abundance and variety, the harvest of his indefatigable successor. Physical comfort, knowledge, peace, liberty, and religion — all that is accounted excellent and desirable in the world — have become the com- mon inheritance of the people, even upon the same soil where, two centuries, ago, they were totally unknown. The whimsical Rousseau might profess to regard the savage state as the most perfect condition of humanity, yet surely, no sound mind, or benevolent heart, can remember with any thing but joy the change which two hundred years have wrought in New England. ) THE INDIAN REISER VATIONS OF CALIFORNIA.' By J. Ross Bkowne. "WTien ilie state of Califoruiu was admitted into the Union, the number of Indians within its borders was estimated at one hundred thousand. Of these, some five or six thousand, residing in the vicinity of the missions, were partially civilized, and sub- sisted chiefly by begging and stealing. A few of the better class contrived to avoid starvation by casual labor in the vineyards and on the farms of the settlers. They were very poor and very cor- rupt, given to gambling, drinkiuL'', and other vices prevailing among M^hite men, and to which Indians have a natural inclina- tion. As the country became more settled, it was considered profitable, owing to the high rate of compensation for white labor, to encourage these Christian tribes to adopt habits of industry, and they were employed very generally throughout the state. In the vine-growing districts they were usually paid in native brandy every P iturday night, put in jail next morning for getting drunk, and bailed out on Monday to work out the fine imposed upon them by the local authorities. This system still prevails in Los Angeles, where I have often seen u dozen of these misera- ble wretches carried to jail roaring drunk of a Sunday morning. The inhabitants of Los Angeles are a moral and intelligent people, and many of them disapprove of the custom on principle, and hope it will be abolished as soon as the Indians are all killed off. Practically, it is not a bad way of bettering their condition; for some of them die every week from the eftects of debauchery, or kill one another in the nocturnal brawls which prevail in the outskirts of the pueblo. The settlers in the northern portions of the state had a still more effectual method of encouraging the Indians to adopt habits of civilization. In general, they engaged them at a fixed rate of wages to cultivate the ground, and during the season of labor ' Beprlnted from Harper'i Magazint (New York), for Aagust, 1861. 804 The Indian Miscellany. ! I t f J"! 11 fed them on beans and gave them u blanket or a shirt each ; after which, when the luirvest was secured, the account was considered squared, and tlie J idians were driven off to forage in the woods for themselves and families during the winter. Starvation usually wound up a considerable number of the old and decrepit ones every season ; and of those that failed to perish from hunger or exposure, some were killed on the general »rinciple that they must have subsisted by stealing cattle, for it well known that cattle ranged in the vicinity ; while others we"* >t unfrequently slaughtered by their employers for iielping themselves to the refuse portions of the crop which had been left in the ground. It may be said that these were exceptions to the general rule ; but if ever an Indian was fully and honestly paid for his labor by a white settler, it was not my luck to hear of it. Certainly, it could not have been of frequent occurrence. The wild Indians inhabiting the coast range, the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, and the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, became troublesome at a very early period after the discovery of the gold mines. It was found convenient to take possession of their country without recompense, rob them of their wives and children, kill them in every cowardly and bar- barous manner that could be devised, and when that was im- practicable, drive them as far as possible out of the way. Such treatment was not consistent with their rude ideas of justice. At best they were an ignorant race of Diggers, wholly unac- quainted with our enlightened institutions. They could not un- derstand why they should be murdered, robbed, and hunted down in this way, without any other pretense or provocation than the color of their skin and the habits of life to which they had always been accustomed. In the traditionary researches of their most learned sages they had never heard of the snakes in Ireland that were exterminated for the public benefit by the great and good St. Patrick. Thr^y were utterly ignorant of the sublime doctrine of General Welfare. The idea, strange as it may appear, never occurred to them that they were suffering for the great cause of civilization, which, in the natural course of things, must extermi- nate Indians. Actuated by the base motives of resentment, a The Indian Reservations of California. 305 few of them occasionally rulliod, prcfcrrini; rather to die than submit to thcHe imaginary wrongs. White nicn were killed from time to time; cattle were driven off; horses were stolen, and various other ini'^;uitou8 oft'enses were committed. The federal government, as is usual in cases where the lives of valuable voters are at st'^ke, was forced to interfere. Troops were sent out to aid the settlers in slau/^htering the Indians. By means of mounted howitzers, muskets, Minie rifles, dragoon pistols, and sabres, u good many were cut to pieces. But, on the whole, the general policy of the government was pacific. It was not designed to kill any more Indians than might be necessary to secure the adhesion of the honest yeomanry of the state, and thus furnish an example of the practical working of our political system to the savages of the forest, by which it was hoped they might profit. Congress took the matter in hand at an early day, and appropriated large sums of money for the purchase of cattle and agricultural implements. From the wording of the law, it would appear that these useful articles were designed for the re- lief and mainteriance of the Indians. Commissioners were ap- pointed at handsome salaries to treat with them, and sub-agents employed to c iperintend the distribution of the purchases. In virtue of this munificent policy, treaties were made in which the various tribes were promised a great many valuable presents, which of course they never got. There was no reason to suppose they ever should ; it being a fixed principle with strong powers never to ratify treaties made by their own agents with weaker ones, when there is money to pay and nothing to be had in return. The cattle were purchased, however, to the number of many thousands. Here arose another difiiculty. Tlie honest miners must have something to eat, and what could they have more nourishing than fat cattle ? Good beef has been a favorite article of subsistence with men of bone and muscle ever since the days of the ancient Romans. So the cattle, or the greater part of them, were driven up to the mines, and sold at satisfactory rates — probably for the benefit of the Indians, though I never could un- derstand in what way their necessities were relieved by this speculation, unless it might be that the parties interested turned 21 306 The Indian Miscellant. I over to them the funds received for the cattle. It is very certain they continued to starve and commit depredations in the most ungrateful manner for some time after ; and, indeed, to such a pitch of audacity did they carry their rebellious spirit against the constituted authorities, that many of the chiefs protested if the white people w^ould only let them alone, and give them the least possible chance to make a living, they would esteem it a much greater favor than any relief they had experienced from the munificent donations of congress. But government was not to be defeated in its benevolent in- tentions. Voluminous reports were made to congress, showing that a general reservation system, on the plan so successfully pursued by the Spanish missionaries, would best accomplish the object. It was known that the missions of California had been built chiefly l)y Indian labor ; that during their existence the priests had fully demonstrated the capacity of this race iv,r the ac- quisition of civilized habits ; that extensive vineyards and large tracts of land had been cultivated solely by Indian labor, under their instruction ; and that by this humane system of teaching many hostile tribes had been subdued, and enabled not only to support themselves but to render the missions highly profitable establishments. No aid was given by government beyond the grants of land necessary for missionary purposes ; yet they soon grew wealthy, owned immense herds of cattle, supplied agricultural products to the rancheros, and carried on a considerable trade in hides and tallow with the United States. If the Spanish priests could do this without arms or assistance, in the midst of a p -"^age country, at a period when the Indians were more numerous and more powerful than they iare now, surely it could be done in a comparatively civilized country by intelligent Americans, with all the lights of experience and the cooperation of a beneficent government. At least congress thought so ; and in 1853 laws were passed for the establishment of a reservation system in California, and large appropriations were made to carry it into effect. Tracts of land of twenty-five thousand acres were ordered to be set apart for The Indian Reservations of California. 307 the use of the Indians ; officers were appointed to supervise the affairs of the service, clothing, cattle, seeds, and agricultural implements were purchased; and a general invitation was ex- tended to the various tribes to come in and learn how to work like white men. The first reservation was established at the Tejon, a beautiful and fertile valley in the southei-n part of the state. Head-quarters for the employes, and large granaries for the crops, were erected. The Indians were feasted on cattle, and every thing promised favorably. True, it cost a great deal to get started, about ""^260,000 ; but a considerable crop was ruised, and there was every reason to hope that the experiment would prove successful. In the course of time other reservations were established, one in the foot-hills of the Sacramento valley, at a place called Nome Lackee ; one at the mouth of the Noyo river, south of Cape Mendocino; and one on the Klamath, below Crescent City ; besides which, there were Indian farms, or ad- juncts, of these reservations at the Fresno, Nome Cult or Round valley, the Mattole valley, near Cape Mendocino, and other points where it was deemed advisable to give aid and instruction to the Indian- , The cost of these establishments was such ab t ; justify the most sanguine anticipations of their success. In order that the appropriations might be devoted to their legitimate purpose, and the greatest possible amount of instruc- tion furnished at the least expense, the executive department adopted the policy of selecting officers experienced in the arts of public speaking, and thoroughly acquainted with the prevailing systems of primary electiors. A similar policy bad been found to operate beneficially in the case of collectors of customs, and there was no reason why it should not in other branches of the public service. Gentlemen skilled in the tactics of state legisla- tures, and capable of influencing those refractory bodies by the exercise of moral suasion, could be relied upon to deal with the Indians, who are not so far advanced in the arts of civilization, and whose necessities, in a pecuniary point of view, are not usually so urgent. Besides, it was known that the Digger tribes were exceedingly ignorant of our political institutions ; and re- quired more instruction, perhaps, in this branch of knowledge 308 The Indian Miscellany. I than in any other. The most intelligent of the chiefs actually had no more idea of the respective merits of the great caiiJidates for senatorial honors in California than if those distinguished gentlemen had never been born. As to priinary meetings and caucuses, the poor Diggers, in their simplicity, were just as apt to mistake them for some favorite game of thimble-rig or pitch- penny as for the practical exercise of the great system of free suffrage. They could not make out why men should drink so much whisky and swear so hard unless they were gambling; and if any further proof was necessary, it was plain to see that the game was one of hazard, because the players were constantly whispering to each other and passing money from hand to hand, and from pocket to pocket. The only difference they could see between the different parties was that some had more money than others, but they had \ ■ ^ea where it came from. To en- lighten them on all these p*. 3 was, doubtless, the object of the great appointing powers in selecting good political speakers to preside over them. After buildig their houses, it was presrmed that there would be plenty of stumps left in the woods from which they could be taught to make speeches on the great questions of the day ; and where a gratifying scene might be witnessed, at no remote period, of big and little Diggers holding forth from every stump in support of the presiding administration. For men who possessed an extraordinary capacity for drinking ardent spirits ; who could number among their select friends the most notorious vagrants and gamblers in the state ; who spent their days in idleness and their nights in brawling grog-shops — whose habits, in short, were in every way disreputable — the authorities in Washington entertained a very profound antipathy. I know this to be the case, because the most stringent regulations were established prohibiting persons in the service from getting drunk, and official orders written warning them that they would be promptly removed in case of any misconduct. Circular letters were also issued, and posted up at the different reservations, for- bidding the employes to adopt the wives of the Indians, which it was supposed they might attempt to do from too zealous a dispo- sition to cultivate friendly relations with both sexes. In support The Indian Reservations op California. 309 of this policy, the California delegation made it a point never to indorse any person for office in the service who was not consi- dered peculiarly deserving of patronage. They knew exactly the kind of men that were wanted, hecause they lived in the state and had read about the Indians in the newspapers. Some of them had even visited a few of the wigwams. Having the public welfare at heart — a fact that can not be doubted, since they re- peatedly asserted it in their speeches — they saw where the great diffic'ilty lay, and did all in their power to aid the executive. They indorsed the very best friends they had — gentlemen who had contributed to their election, and fought for them through thick and thin. Thf capacity of such persons for conducting the affairs of a reservation could not be doubted. If they had culti- vated an extensive acquaintance among pot-house voters, of course they must understand the cultivation of potatoes and onions ; if they could control half a dozen members of the legis- lature in a senatorial contest, why not be able to control Indians, who were not near so difficult to manage ? if they could swallow obnoxious measures of the administration, were they not qualified to teach savages how to swallow government provisions ? if they were honest enough to avow, in the face of corrupt and hostile factions, that they stood by the constitution, and always meant to stand by the same broad platform, were they not honest enough to disburse public funds ? In one respect, I think the policy of the government was un- fortunate — that is, in the disfavor with which persons of intem- perate and disreputable habits were regarded. Men of this kind — and they are not difficult to find in California — could do a great deal toward meliorating the moral condition of the Indians by drinking up all the whisky that might be smuggled on the reservations, and behaving so disreputably in general that no Indian, however degraded in his propensities, could fail to become ashamed of such low vices. In accordance with the views of the department, it was deemed to be consistent with decency tliat these untutored savages should be clothed in a more becoming costume than Nature had bestowed upon them. Most of them were as ignorant of covering as they Bt 1 « i 310 The Indian Miscellany. were of the Leconipton constitution. With the exception of a few who had worked for the settlers, they made cheir first ap- pearance on tlie reservations very much as they appeared when tliey first saw .hiylight. It was a great object to make them sensible of the advantages of civilization by covering their backs while cultivating their brains. Blankets, shirts, and pantaloons, therefore, were purchased for them in large quantities. It is presumed that when the department read the vouchers for these articles and for the potatoes, beans, and cattle that were so plen- tifully sprinkled through the accounts, it imagined that it was " clothing the naked and feeding the hungry!" The blankets, to be sure, were very thin, and cost a great deal of money in proportion to their value ; but, then, peculiar ad- vantages were to be derived from the transparency of the fabric. In some respects the worst material might be considered the most economical. By holding his blanket to the light an Indian could enjoy the contemplation of both sides of it at the same time ; and it would only require a little instruction in architect- ure to enable him to use it occasionally as u window to his wig- wam. Every blanket being marked by a number of blotches, he could carry his window on his back whenever he went out on a foraging expedition, so as to know the number of his residence when he returned, as the citizens of Schilda carried their doors when they went away from home, in order that they should not forget where they lived. Nor was it the least important consider- ation, that when he gambled it away, or sold it for whisky, he would not be subject to any inconvenience from a change of tem- perature. The shirts and pantaloons were in general equally transparent, and possessed this additional advantage, that they very soon cracked open in the seams, and thereby enabled the Bquaws to learn how to sew. As many of the poor wretches were afflicted with diseases in- cident to their mode of life, and likely to contract others from the white employes of the reservations, physicians were appointed to give them medicine. Of course Indians required a peculiar mode of treatment. They spoke a barbarous jargon, and it was not possible that any thing but barbarous compounds could ope- The Indian Reservations of California. 311 rate on their bowels. Of what use would it be to waste good medicines on stomachs that were incapable of comprehending their use? Accordingly, any deficiency in the quality was made up by the quantity and variety. Old drug stores were cleared of their rubbish, and vast quantities of croton oil, saltpetre, alum, paint, scent-bottles, mustard, vinegar, and other valuable laxa- tives, diaphoretics, and condiments were supplied for their use. The result was, that, aided by the peculiar system of diet adopted, the physicians were enabled very soon to show a considerable roll of patients. In cases where the blood was ascertained to be scorbutic, the patients were allowed to go out in the valleys, and subsist for a few months on clover or grass, which was regarded as a sovereign remedy. I was assured at one reservation that fresh spring grass had a more beneficial. effect on them than the medicines, as it generally purged them. The department was fully advised of these facts in elaborate reports made by its special emissaries, and congratulated itself upon the satisfactory progress of the system. The elections were going all right — the country was safe. Feeding Indians on grass was advancing them at least one step toward a knowledge of the sacred scriptures. It was following the time-honored precedent of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, who was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen, and was wet with the dews of heaven till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. An ounce of croton oil would go a great wny in lubricating th" in- testines of an entire tribe of Indians ; and if the paint could not be '/I'ictly classed with any of the medicines known in the official dispensary, it might at least be used for purposes of clothing during the summer months. Red or green pantaloons painted on the legs of the Indians, and striped blue shirts artistically marked out on their bodies, would be at once cool, economical, and picturesque. If these things cost a great deal o^ money, as appeared by the vouchers, it was a consolation to know that, money being the root of all evil, no injurious effects could grow out of such a root after it had been once thoroughly eradicated. The Indians were also taught the advantages to be derived from the cultivation of the earth. Large supplies of potatoes 312 The Indian Miscellany. were purchased in Pan Francisco, at ahout double what they were worth in the vicinity of the reservations. There were only twenty- five thousand acres of public land available at each place for the growth of potatoes oi- any other esculent for which the hungry natives might have a preference ; but it was much easier to pur- chase potatoes than to make farmers out of the white men era- ployed to teach them how to cultivate the earth. Sixteen or seventeen men on each reservation had about as much as they could do to attend to their own private claims, and keep the natives from eating their private crops. It was not the policy of government to reward its friends for their " adhesion to the con- stitution " by requiring them to perform any practical labor at seventy-five or a hundred dollars a month, which was scarcely double the current wages of the day. Good men could obtain employment any where by working for their wages ; but it re- quired the best kind of administration men to earn extraordi- nary compensations by an extraordinary amount of idleness. Not that they were all absolutely worthless. On the contrary, some spent their time in hunting, others in riding about the country, and a considerable number in laying out and supervising private claims, aided by Indian labor and government provisions. The official reports transmitted to congress from time to time gave flattering accounts of the progress of the system. The ex- tent and variety of the crops were fabulously grand. Immense numbers of Indians were fed and clothed — on paper. Like little children who cry for medicines, it would appear that the whole red race were so charmed with the new schools of industry that they were weeping to be removed there and set to work. Indeed many of them had already learned to work " like white men;" they were bending to it cheerfully, and could handle the plow and the sickle very skillfully, casting away their bows and arrows and adopting the more eflfective instruments of agricul- ture. No mention was made of the fact that these working In- dians had acquired their knowledge from the settlers, and that if they worked after the fashion of the white men on the reserva- tions, it was rarely any of them were obliged to go to the hospital in consequence of injuries resulting to the spinal column. The \ The Indian Reservations op California. 313 \ favorite prediction of the officers in charge was, that in a very short time these institutions would be self-sustaining — that ic to say, that neither they nor the Indians would want any more money after a while. It may seem strange that the appropriations < -nanded of con- gress did not decrease in a ratio commensurate > ch these flatter- ing reports. The self-sustaining period had not yet come. On the contrary, as the Indians were advancing into the higher branches of education — music, dancing, and the fine arts, moral philosopliy and ethics, political economy, etc. — it required more money to teach them. The number had been considerably diminished by death and desertion ; but then their appetites had improved, and they were getting a great deal smarter. Besides, politics were becoming sadly entangled in the state, and many agents had to be employed in the principal cities to protect the women and children from any sudden invasion of the natives, while the patriotic male citizens were at the polls depositing their votes. The department, no doubt, esteemed all this to be a close ap- proximation to the Spanish mission system, and in some respects it was. The priests sought the conversion of heathens, who be- lieved neither in the Divinity nor the Holy Ghost ; the depart- ment the conversion of infidels, who had no faith in the measures of the administration. If there was any material dift'erence, it was in the Head of the church and the missionaries appointed to carry its views into effect. But the most extraordinary feature in the history of this ser- vice in California was the interpretation given by the Federal authorities in Washington to the Independent Treasury Act of 1846. That stringent provision, prohibiting any public officer from using for private purposes, loaning, or depositing in any bank or banking institution any public funds committed to his charge ; transmitting for settlement any voucher for a greater amount than that actually paid ; or approjDriating such funds to any other purpose than that prescribed by law, was so amended in the construction of the department as to mean, " except in cases where such officer has rendered peculiar services to the 314 The Indian Miscellany. party and possesses strong influences in congress." When any infraction of the law was reported, it was subjected to the test of this amended reading; and if the conditions were found satisfac- tory, the matter was disposed of in a pigeon-hole. An adroit system of accountability was established by which no property return, abstract of issues, account current, or voucher, was under- stood to mean wiiat it expressed upon its face, so that no account- ing oflicer possessing a clew to the policy adopted could be deceived by the figures. Thus it was perfectly well understood that five hundred or a thousand head of cattle did not necessarily mean real cattle with horns, legs, and tails, actually born in the usual course of nature, purchased for money, and delivered on the reservations ; but prospective cattle, tliat might come into existence and be wanted at some future period. For all the good the Indians got of Jiem, it might as well be five hundred or a thousand head rt voters, for they no more fed upon beef, as a general thing, than they did upon human flesh. Neither was it beyond the capacity of the department to com- prehend that traveling expenses, on special Indian service, might just as well mean a trip to the convention at Sacramento ; that guides and assistants were a very indefinite class of gentlemen of a roving turn of mind ; that expenses incurred in visiting wild tribes and settling difiS.culties among them did not necessarily involve the exclusion of difliculties among the party factions in the legislature. In short, the original purpose of language was 80 perverted in the ofiScial correspondence that it had no more to do with the expression of facts than many of the employes had to do with the Indians. The reports and regulations of the de- partment actually bordered on the poetical. It was enough t"o bring tears into the eyes of any feeling man to read the aflfecting dissertations that were transmitted to congress on the woes of the red men, and the labors of the public functionaries to melio- rate their unhappy condition. Faith, hope, and charity abounded in them. " See what we are doing for these poor children of the forest !" was the burden of the song, in a strain worthy the most pathetic flights of Mr. Pecksniif ; " see how faithful we are to our trusts, and how judiciously we expend the appropriations ! The Indian Reservations of California. 316 Yet they die off in spite of us — wither awa>; ,8 the leaves of the trees in autumn ! Let us hope, nevertheless, that the beneficent intentions of congress may yet be realized. We are the guardians of these unfortunate and defenseless beings ; they are our wards ; it is our duty to take care of them ; we can afford to be liberal, and spend a little more money on them. Through tho judicious efforts of our public functionaries, and the moral influeiices spread around them, there is reason to believe they will yet em- brace civilization and Christianity, and become useful members of society." In accordance with these views the regulations issued by the department, were of the most stringent character — encouraging economy, industry, and fidelity; holding all agents and employes to a strict accountability ; with here and there some instructive maxim of morality — all of which, upon being translated, meant that politicians are very smart fellows, and it was not possible for them to humbug one another. " Do your duty to the Indians as far as you can conveniently, and without too great a sacrifice of money ; but stand by our friends, and save the party by all means and at all hazards. Verbum. sap!" was the practical construction. When public clamor called attention to these supposed abuses, and it became necessary to make some effective demonstration of honesty, a special agent was directed to examine into the affairs of the service and report the result. It was particularly enjoined upon him to investigate every complaint affecting the integrity of public officers, collect and transmit the proofs of malfeasance with his own views in the premises, so tha^ every abuse might be uprooted and cast out of the service. Decency in official con- duct must be respected and the public eye regarded ! Peremp- tory measures would be taken to suppress all frauds upon the treasury. It was the sincere desire of the administration to pre- serve purity and integrity in the public service. From mail to mail, during a period of three years, the agent made his reports ; piling up proof upon proof, and covering acres of valuable paper with protests and remonstrances against the policy pursued ; racking his brains to do his duty faithfully ; sub- jecting himself to newspaper abuse for neglecting it, because no 816 TiTE Tndtan Mircellant. " beneficial result was perceptible, and making enemies as a matter of course. Reader, if ever you aspire to official honors, let the fate of that unfortunate agent be a warning to you. He did exactly what he was instructed to do, which was exactly what he was not wanted to do. In order to save time and expense, as well as further loss of money in the various branches of public service upon which he hud reported, other agents were sent out to ascertain if he had told the truth ; and when they were forced to admit that he had, there was a good deal of trouble in the wigwam of the great chief. Not only did poor Yorick incur the hostility of powerful senatorial influences, but by persevering in his error, and insisting that he had told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, he eventually lost the respect and confidence of the " powers that be," together with his offi- cial head. I knew him well. He \'a8 a fellow of infinite jest. There was something so exquisitely comic in the idea of taking official instructions literally, and carrying them into effect, that he could not resist it. The humor of the thing kept him in a constant chuckle of internal satisfaction ; but it was the most serious jest he ever perpetrated, for it cost him, besides the trou- ble of carrying it out, the loss of a very comfortable per diem. The results of the policy pursued were precisely such as might have been expected. A very large amount of money was annu- ally expended in feeding white men and starving Indians. Such of the latter as were physically able took advantage of the tickets- of-leave granted them so freely, and left. Very few ever remained at these benevolent institutions when there was a possibility of getting anything to eat in the woods. Every year numbers of them perished from neglect and disease, and some from absolute starvation. When it was represented in the official reports that two or three thousand enjoyed the benefit of aid from govern- ment within the limits of each district — conveving the idea that they were fed and clothed at public expense — it must have meant that the territory of California originally cost the United States fifteen millions of dollars, and that the nuts and berries upon which the Indians subsisted, and the fig-leaves in which they were supposed to be clothed, were embraced within the cessions made by Mexico. At all events, it invariably happened, The Indian Reservations of California. 317 when u visitor appeared on the reservations, that the Indians were " out in the mountainH gatherini? nuts and berries." This was the case in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They certainly possessed a remarkable predilection for staying out a long time. Very few of them, Indeed, have yet come back. The only difference between the existing state of things and that which existed prior to the inauguration of the system is, that there were then some thousands of Indians living within the limits of the districts set apart for reservation purposes, whereas there are now only some hundreds. In tiie brief period of six years they huve been very nearly destroyed by the generosity of government. What neglect, starvation, and disease have not done, has been achieved by the cooperation of the white settlers in the great work of extermination. No pretext has been wanted ; no opportunity lost, whenever it has been deemed necessary to get them out of the way. At Nome Cult valley, inuring the winter of 1858-'59, more than a hundred and fifty peaceable Indians, including women and children, were cruelly slaughtered by the whites who had settled there under official authority, and most of whom derived their support either from actual or indirect connection with i-Lc 'reservation. Many of them had been in public employ, and now enjoyed the rewards of their meritorious services. True, a notice was posted up on the trees that the. valley was public land reserved for Indian pur- poses, and not open to settlement; but nobody, either in or out of the service, paid any attention to that, as a matter of course. When the Indians were informed that it was their home, and were invited there on the pretext that they would be protected? it was very well understood that as soon as government had spent money enough there to build up a settlement sufficiently strong to maintain itself, they would enjoy very slender chances of protection. It was alleged that they had driven off and eaten private cattle. There were some three or four handred head of public cattle on the property returns, all supposed to be ranging in the same vicinity; but the private cattle must have been a great deal better, owing to some superior capacity for eating grass. Upon an investigation of this charge, made by the officers T 818 The Indian Miscellany. of the army, it was found to be entirely destitute of truth ; a few cattle had been lost, or probably killed by white men, and this was the whole basis of the massacre. Armed parties went into the rancherias in open day, when no evil was apprehended, and shot the Indians down — weak, harmless, and defenseless as they were — without distinction of age or sex; sh( t down women with sucking babes at their breasts; killed or crippled the naked children that were running about ; and, after they had achieved this brave exploit, appealed to the state government for aid ! Oh, shame, shame ! where is thy blush, that white men should do this with impunity in a civilized country, under the very eyes of an enlightened government ! They did it, and they did more ! For aays, weeks, and months they ranged the hills of Nome Cult, killing every Indian that was too weak to escape ; and, what is worse, they did it under a state commission, which in all charity I must beli'. -e was issued upon false representations. A more cruel series of outrages than those perpetrated upon the poor Indians of Ncme Cult never disgraced a community of white men. The state said the settlers must be protected, and it pro- tected them — protected them from women and children, for the men are too imbecile and too abject to fight. The general go- vernment folded its arms and said, " "What can we do ? We can not chastise the citizens of a state. Are we not feeding and clothing the savages, and teaching them to be moral, and is not that as much as the civilized v/orld can ask of us ?" At King's river, where there was a public farm maintained at considerable expense, the Indians were collected in a body of two or three hundred, and the white settlers, who complained that government would not do any thing for them, drove them over to the agency at the Fresno. After an expenditure of some thirty thousand dollars a year for six years, that farm had scarcely produced six blades of grass, and was entirely unable to support over a few dozen Indians who had always lived there, and who generally foraged for their own subsistence. The new-comers, therefore, stood a poor chance till the agent purchased from the white settlers, on public account, the acorns which they (the In- dians) had gathered and laid up for winter use at King's river. The Indian Reservations of California. 319 Notwithstanding- the acorns they were very soon starved out at the Fresno, and wandered away to iiuu a subsistence wherever they could. Many of them perished of hunger on the plains of the San Joaquin. The rest are presumed to be in the mountains gathering berries. At the Mattole station, near uape Mendocino, a number of Indians were murdered on the public farm within a few hundred yards of the head-quarters. The settlors in the valley alleged that government would not support them, or take any care of them ; and as settlers were not paid for doing it, they must kill them to get rid of them. At Humboldt bay, and in the vicinity, a series of Indian massa- cres by white men continued for over two years. The citizens held public meetings, and protested against the action of the general government in leaving these Indians to prowl upon them for a support. It was alleged that the reservations cont two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, and yet nothing was done to relievo the people of this burden. Petitions were finally sent to the state authorities, asking for the removal of the Indians from that vicinity ; and the state sent out its militia, killed a good many, and captured a good many others, who were finally car led down to the Mendocino reservation. They liked that place so well that they left it very soon, and went back to their old places of resort, preferring a chance of life to the certainty of starvation. During the winter of last year a number of them were gathered at Humboldt. The whites thought it was a favorable opportunity to get rid of them altogether. So they went in a body to the Indian camp, during the night when the poor wretches were asleep, shot all the men, women,, and children they could at the first onslaught, and cut the throats of the remainder. Very few escaped. Next morning sixty bodies lay weltering in their blood — the old and the young, male and female — with every wound gaping a tale of horror to the civilized world. Children climbed upon their mothers' breasts, and sought nourishment from the fountains that death had drained ; girls and boys lay here and there with their throats cut from ear to ear ; men and women, clinging to each other in their terror, were found per- I. I ! I 1 320 The Indian Miscellany. forated with bullets or cut to pieces with knives — all were cruelly murdered ! Let any who doubt this read the newspapers of San Francisco of that date. It will be found there in its most bloody and tragic details. Let them read of .the Pitt river massa- cre, and of all the massacres that for the past three years have darkened the records of the state. I will do the white people who were engaged in these massa- cres the justice to say that they were not so much to blame as the general government. They had at least given due warning of their intention. For years they had burdened the mails with complaints of the inefficiency of the agents ; they had protested in the newspapers, in public meetings, in every conceivable way, and on every possible occasion, against the impolicy of permitting these Indians to roam about the settlements, picking up a sub- sistence in whatever way they could, when there was a fund of $250,000 a year appropriated by congress for their removal to and support on the reservations. What were these establishments for ? Why did they not take charge of the Indians ? Where were the agents ? Wliat was done with the money ? It was repeatedly represented that unless something was done the Indians would soon all be killed. They could no longer make a subsistence in their old haunts. The progress of settlement had driven them from place to place till there was no longer a spot on earth they could call their own. Their next move could only be into the Pacific ocean. If ever an unfortunate people needed a few acres of ground to stand upon, and the poor privilege of making a living for themselves, it Avas these hapless Diggers. As often as they tried the reservations sad experience taught them that these were institutions for the benefit of white men, not Indians. It was wonderful how the employes had prospered on their salaries. They owned fine ranches in the vicinity ; in fact, the reservations themselves wore pretty much covered with the claims of persons in the service, who thought they would make nice farms for white men. The principal work done was to attend to sheep and cattle speculations, and make shepherds out of the few Indians that were left. What did it signify that thirty thousand dollars a year had been . The Indian Reservations of California. 321 expended at the Tejon ? thirty thousand at the Fresno? fifty thousand at Nome Lackee ? ten thousand at Nome Cult ? forty- eight thousand at Mendocino ? sixteen thousand at the Klamath? and some fifty or sixty thousand for miscellaneous purposes? that all this had resulted in the reduction of a hundred thousand Indians to about thirty thousand ? Meritorious services had been rewarded, and a premium in favor of public integrity issued to an admiring world. I am satisfied, from an acquaintance of eleven years with the Indians of California, that had the least care been taken of them these disgraceful massacres would never have occurred. A more inoffensive and harmless race of beings does not exist on the face of the earth. But wherever they attempted to procure a subsistence they were hunted down ; driven from the reserva- tions by the instinct of self-preservation ; shot down by the settlers upon the most frivolous pretexts ; and abandoned to tiieir fate by the only power that could have afforded them protection. This vras the result, in plain terms, of the inefficient au i dis- creditable manner in which public affairs were administered by the federal authorities in "Washington. It was the natural con- sequence of a corrupt political system, which, for the credit of humanity, it is to be hoped will be abandoned in future so far as the Indians are concerned. They have no voice in public affairs. So long as they are permitted to exist, party discipline is a mat- ter of very little moment to them. All they ask is the privilege of breathing the air that God gave to us all, and living in peace wherever it may be convenient to remove them. Their history in California is a melancholy record of neglect and cruelty ; and the part taken by ^Miblic men high in position in wresting from them the very m^^ans of subsistence, is one of which any other than profetjsional politicians would be ashamed. For the execu- tive department there is no excuse. There lay the power and the remedy ; but a paltry and servile spirit, an abject submission to every shifting influence, an utter absence of that high moral tone which is the characteristic trait of genuine statesmen and patriots, have been the distinguishing features of this branch of our government for some time past. Disgusted with their own 22 322 The Indian Miscellany. hi handiwork ; involved in debt throughout the state, after wasting all the money appropriated by congress ; the accounts in an in- extricable state of confusion ; the creditors of the government clamoring to be paid ; the " honest yeomanry " turning against the party in power ; politisal aifairs entangled beyond remedy ; it was admitted to be a very bad business — not at all such as to meet the approval of the administration. The appropriation was cut down to fifty thousand dollars. That would do damage enough. Two hundred and fifty thousand a year, for six or seven years, had inflicted sufficient injury upon the poor Indians. Now it was time to let them alone on fifty thousand, or turn them over to the state. So the end of it is, that the reservations are practically abandoned — the remainder of the Indians are being exterminated every day, and the Spanish mission system has signally failed. THE DOG SA ORIFICE OF THE SENECA S. ' By Samuel Ckowell. On the second day of February, 1830, I witnessed an interest- ing, and to me, a novel religious ceremony of the Seneca tribe of Indians, then occupying that portion of territory now com- prising a part of the counties of Seneca, and Sandusky, Ohio, familiarly known to the inhabitants of this region, as the Seneca reservation. The fact that this nation had recently ceded their reservation to the United States, and were now about to commemorate, for the last time in this country, their annual festival, previous to their emigration to the Rocky mountains, contributed not a little, to add to it an unusual degree of interest. To those acquainted with the characteristic traits of the red men, it is unnecessary to remark, that there is a reservedness attached to them — peculiarly their own ; but, especially when about to celebrate this festival, they seem, so far at least as the pale-faces are concerned, to shroud their designs in impenetrable Becrecy. And the festival of which I now speak, might have been, as many others of a similar character were, observed by themselves with due solemnity, and without the knowledge or .. interference of their white neighbors, but thai the general poverty and reck'.ess improvidence of the Senecas were proverbial. And those were the causes which awakened the suspicions of the in- quisitive white man. In order, therefore, that the approaching festival should not lack in any thing necessary to make it imposing, and impress a permanent recollection of it, on the mind of their rising race — no effort was spared, and no fatigue regarded, that would tend to promote this object. Thus for some time previous to the period of which I am now speaking, by the unerring aim of the Seneca rifle, the antlers, with the body of many a tall and stately ' Sopriated from the Ciaclnnatl (0.) MUetttany for February, 1845. 324 The Indian Miscellany. buck, fell prostrate ; and in crowds the Indian now came into Lower Sandusky with their venison, and their skins ; and the squaws, with their painted baskets and beaded moccasins, not as heretofore, to barter for necessaries, but chiefly for ornaments ! To the penetrating mind of the merchant, they thus betrayed their object ; to wit : that they were preparing to, in the vulgar parlance of the day, "burn their dogs." Inquiry was now on the alert to ascertain the precise period ; and to the often repeated interrogatory put by the boys of our village, " Indian, when will you burn your dogs ?" — an evasive reply would be given ; sometimes saying, " may be " (a very common expression with them), " two days," — " may be, three days," — " may be, one week." Their object being to baffle the inquirer ; so that the further off the intended period was, they would give the shortest time — and vice versa. The principal head-men, or chiefs of the Senecas, were Good Hunter, Hard Hickory, and Tall Chief; there were also some sub or half chiefs; among those of the latter rank, Benjamin F. Warner, a white or half-breed, had considerable influence. In this, as in other nations, civilized as well as savage, though there may be several men of apparent equal rank, yet there usually is one, who either by artificial, or universally acknowledged talent, directs in a great measure, the destinies of the nation ; and such among the Senecas, was Hard Hickory. To a mind of no ordinary grade, he added, from his inter- course with the whites, a polish of manner, seldom seen in an Indian. The French language he spoke fluently, and the English, intelligibly. Scrupulously adhering to the costume of his people, and retaining many of their habits, this chief was much endeared to them ; while on the other hand, his urbanity, and for an Indian, he possessed, as already observed, a large share of the suaviter in modo — his intelligence, his ardent attachment to the whites — and above all, his strict integrity in business transac- tions, obtained for him, and deservedly, the respect and confi- dence of all with whom he traded. Such was the trust the merchants of Lower Sandusky reposed in this chief, that when an indigent Indian came to ask for goods on credit, if Hard The Dog Sacrifice of the Senecas. 325 Hickory would say he would see the sum paid, no more was required. Thus his word passed current with, and current for, the whole nation. And as in the mind of man there is some- thing intuitive, better known than defined, by which instinctively, as it were", we find in the bosom of another a response to our own feelings ; so in the present case, thin noble Indian soon dis- covered in the late Obed Dickinson, a merchant of Lower San- dusky, a generous, confiding and elevated mind, whose honorable vibrations beat in unison with his own. To Mr. Dickinson, therefore, he made known the time when they would celebrate their festival, and cordially invited him to attend as a guest, and if so disposed, he might bring a friend with him. Correctly supposing that I never had an opportunity of witnessing this religious rite, Mr. D. kindly requested me to accompany him to their council-house, on Green creek, in that part of Sandusky county included in the present township of Green Creek. On giving me the invitation, Mr. D. remarked, that by taking a present in our hand, we would, probably, be made the more welcome. In accordance, therefore, with this suggestion, we took with us a quantity of loaf sugar and tobacco. It was sometime in the afternoon of Feb. 1st when we arrived, and immediately thereafter, we were ushered into the council house with demonstrations of public joy and marked respect. As soon as seated, we gave our presents to Hard Hickory, who, rising, held one of them up, and pointing to Mr. Dickinson addressed the Indians in an audible voice, in their own tongue ; then holding up the other, he pointed to me, repeating to them what he had before said — this done, he turned to us, and said : " You stay here long as you want, nobody hurt you." Confiding in the assurances of this chief, I hung up my valise, in which were some important papers, for I was then on my way further east, attending to my official duties as sherifi:' of Sandusky county, and felt perfectly at home. To the inhabitants of this section of Ohio, a minute description of the council house would be deemed unnecessary. Suffice it to say, that its dimensions were, perhaps, sixty by twenty-five feet ; a place in the centre for the fire, and corresponding there- ' ll 326 The Indian Miscellany. n with, an aperturo wa-^ loft in the roof for the smoke to ascend. Contiguous to the fire place were two upright ; sts, four or five feet apart ; hetween these posts, a hoard, twelve or fifteen inches broad, was firmly fastened ; and over this" board the skin of a deer was stretched very tight. On a seat near this board, sat a blind Indian with a gourd in his hand, in which were beans or corn — with this he beat time for the dancers. Sucli was the musician, and such the music. The dancing had conimonced previous to our arrival ; and was continued with little intermission for several successive days and nights. An effort by me to describe their manner of dancing would be fruitless. I have witnessed dancing assemblies in the populous cities of the East, among the refined classes of society — but having seen nothing like this, I must, therefore, pronounce it sui generis. I was strongly solicited by some of the chiefs to unite with them in the dance : I, however, declined the intended honor — but gave to one of them ray cane, as a proxy, with which he seemed much delighted. Several of their white neighbors, both male and female, entered the ring. There was on this occasion a splendid display of ornament. Those who have seen the members of a certain society, in their most prosperous days, march in procession, in honor of their patron saint, decorated with the badges and insignia of their order, may have some conception of the dress and ornamental decora- tions of those head-men, while engaged in the dance. I will select Unum e Pluribus, their Doctor, as he was called, who wore very long hair, and from the nape of his neck, to the ter- mination of his cue, there was a continuous line of pieces of silver — the upper one being larger than a dollar, and the lower one lees than a half dime. Some of the more inferior Indians were " stuck o'er with baubles, and hung round with strings." Many of them wore small bells tied round their ancles ; and those who could not afford bells, had deer hoofs in place thereof; these made a jing- ling sound as they put down their feet in the dance. The squaws also exhibited themselves to the best advantage. Several of them were splendidly attired and decorated. Their dresses were * 1 The Dog SACBincE of the Senegas. 327 > . chiefly of f^ilk, of various colors, and some of them were of good old fashioned queen's gray. These dresses were not cut, as our fair belles would say, a la mode — but they were cut and made after their own fashion : that is ; not so long as to conceal the scarlet hose covering of their ancles, their small feet, or their moccasins, which were so ingeniously beaded, and manufactured by their own olive hands. N^or must I omit saying, that the sobriety and correct demeanor of the Indians, and the modest deportment of the squaws, merited the highest commendation. At the commencement of ^ach dance, or, to borrow our own phraseology, each set dance, a chief iirst arose, and began to sing the words, " Ya-ivo-hah!" with a slow, sonorous, and strong syllabic emphasis, keeping time with his feet, and advancing round the house ; directly, another arose, and then in regular succession, one after the other, rising, and singing the same word, and falling in the rear, until all the men had joined in the dance ; next the squaws at a respectable distance in the rear, in the same manner, by seniority, arose, and united in the dance and the song. N'ow the step was quicker and the pronunciation more rapid, all sing- ing and all dancing, while Jim, the blind musician, struck harder and faster with his gourd, on the undressed deer-skin ; thus they continued the same dance for more than one hour^ without ces- sation ! The Indian boys, who did not participate in the dance, amused themselves the meanwhile discharging heavy loaded muskets through the aperture in the roof the reverberations of which were almost deafening. Taken altogether, to the eye and ear of the stranger, it seemed like frantic festivity. Tall Chief, who was confined to his bed by indisposition, felt it so much his duty to join in the dance with his people, that he actually left his bed, notwithstanding it was mid winter, came to the council house, and took part in the dance as long as he was able to stand. About the " noon of night," Hard Hickory invited Mr. D. and myself to accept a bed at his residence ; to this proposition we readily assented. Here we were not only hospitably provided for, but entertained in a style which I little anticipated. Even among many of our white inhabitants, at this early day, a curtained 328 The Indian Miscellany. bed was a luxury not often enjoyed — such was the bed we oc- cupied. Shortly after our urrivul at the house of this chief, Mr. T>. retired ; not so with our friendly host ahd myself — while sitting near a clean, brick hearth, before a cheerful fire. Hard Hickory unbosomed himself to me unreservedly. Mr. D. was asleep and the chief and I were the only persons then awake in the house. Hard Hickory told me, among other things, that it was owing chiefly to him, that this feast was now celebrated ; that it was in part to appease the anger of the Good Spirit, in consequence of a dream he lately had ; and as an explanation he gave me the following narration : " He dreamed he was fleeing from an enemy, it was, he sup- posed, something supernatural ; perhaps, an evil spirit ; that, after it had pursued him a lon^ time, and for a great distance, and every eftbrt to escape from it seemed impossible as it was just at his heels, and he almost exhausted ; at this perilous juncture, he saw a large water, towards which he made with all his remaining strength, and at the very instant when he expected each bound to be his last, he beheld, to his joy, a canoe near the shore ; this appeared as his last hope ; breathless and faint, he threw himself into it, and, of its own accord, quick as an arrow from the bow, it shot from the shore leaving his pursuer on the beach !" While relating this circumstance to me, which he did with earnestness, trepidation and alarm, strongly expressed in his countenance, he took from his bosom something neatly and very carefully enclosed in several distinct folds of buckskin. This he began to unroll, laying each piece by itself, and on opening the last, there was enclosed therein, a canoe in miniature ! On handing it to me to look at, he remarked, that no other person save himself and me, had ever seen it, and that, as a memento, he would wear it, as " long as he lived." It was a piece of light wood, resembling cork, about six inches long, and, as intended, 80 it was, a perfect model of a canoe. This chief, being now in a communicative mood, I took the liberty to inquire of him " when they intended to burn their k T The Dog Sacrifick of the Senegas. 329 •'< dogs ? " for I began to fear I should miss the express object which I came to witness. After giving mo to understand that " the red men did not care about the pule faces being present at, nor, if they chose, joining in the dance, but burning their dogs was another thing — this was offering sacrifice to, and worshiping the Great Spirit ; and while engaged in their devotions they ob- jected to the presence and interference of the whites ; yet, as I had never been present, and coming as the friend of Mr. Dickin- son, who was a go'^'^ man, he would tell me they would burn their dogs soon to-m>. "ow morning." The night being now far advanced, he pointed lo the bed and told me to sleep there ; but that he must go to the council house, to the dance, for his people would not like it, if he would stay away, and wishing me good night, he withdrew. Anxiety to witness the burnt offering almost deprived me of sleep. Mr. D. and I, therefore, rose early and proceeded directly to the council house, and though we supposed we were early, the Indians were already in advance of us. The first object which arrested our attention, was a pair of the canine species, one of each gender suspended on a cross ! one on either side thereof. These animals had been recently strangled — not a bone was broken nor could a distorted hair be seen ? They were of a beautiful cream color, except a few dark spots on one, naturally, while the same spots had been put on the other, artificially, by the devotees. The Indians are very partial in the selection of dogs entirely white, for this occasion ; and for which they will give almost any price. Kow for part of the decorations to which I have already alluded, and a description of one will suffice for both, for they were par similes. A scarlet ribbon was tastefully tied just above the nose ; and near the eyes another; next round the neck was a white ribbon, to which was attached something bulbous, concealed in another white ribbon ; this was placed directly under the right ear, and I suppose i ^ was intended as an amulet or charm. Then ribbons were bou'^id round the forelegs, at the knees, and near the feet — these were red and white alternately. Round the body was a pi ofuse decoration — then the hind legs were de- i fe •-.(."! r 330 The Indian Miscellany. corated as the fore onea. Thus were the victims prepared and thus ornamented for the burnt oflering. While minutely making this examination, I was almost un- conscious of the collection of a large number of the Indians who were there assembled to oifer their sacrifices. Adjacent to the cross, was a large fire built on a few logs ; and though the snow was several inches deep, they had prepared a suflScient quantity of combustible material, removed the snow from the logs, and placed thereon their fire. I have often re- gretted that I did not sec them light this pile. My own opinion is, they did not use the fire from their council house; because I think they would have considered that as common, and as this was intended to be a holy service, they, no doubt, for this pur- pose struck fire from a flint, this being deemed sacred. It was u clear, beautildl morning, and just as the first rays of the sun were seen in the tops of the towering forest, and its re- flections from the snowy surface, the Indians simultaneously formed a semicircle enclosing the cross, each flank resting on the aforesaid pile of logs. Good Hunter who ofiiciated as high priest, now appeared, and approached the cross; arrayed in his pontifi- cal robes, he looked quite respectable. The Indians being all assembled — I say Indians (for there was not a squaw present during all this ceremony — I saw two or three pass outside of the semi-circle, but they moved as if desirous of being unobserved), at a private signal given by Good Hunter, two young chiefs sprang up the cross, and each taking oflf one of the victims, brought it down, and presented it on his arms to Good Hunter, who, receiving it with great reverence, in like manner advanced to the fire, and with a very grave and solemn air, laid it thereon — and this he did with the other — but to which, whether male or female, he gave the preference, I did not learn. This done, he retired to the cross. In a devout manner, he now commenced an oration. The tone of his voice was audible and somewhat chanting. At every pause in his discourse, he took from a white cloth he held in his left hand, a portion of dried, odoriferous herbs, which he threw on the fire ; this was intended as incense. In the meanwhile his The Dog Sacrifice of the Senecas. 331 auditory, their eyes on the ground, with grave aspect, and in solemn silence, stood motionless, listening attentively, to every word he uttered. Thus he proceeaed until the victims were en- tirely consumed, and the incense exhausted, when he concluded his service ; their oblation now made, and the wrath of the Great Spirit, as they believed, appeased, they again assembled in the council house, for ihe purpose of performing a part in their festival, different from any I yet had witnessed. Each Indian as he entered, seated himself on the floor, thus forming a large circle ; when one of the old chiefs rose, and with that native dignity which some Indians possess in a great degree, recounted his exploits as a warrior ; told in how many fights he had been the victor ; the number of scalps he had taken from his Ciiemies ; and whatj at the head of his braves, he yet intended to do at the Rocky mountains ; accompanying his narration with energy, warmth, and strong gesticulations ; when he ended, he received the unanimous applause of the assembled tribe. This meed of praise was awarded to the chief by three times three articulations, which were properly neither nasal, oral, nor gutural, but rather abdominal. Indeed I am as unable to de- scribe this kind of utterance, as I am, the step in the dance. I have seen some whites attempt to imitate the step, and heard them affect the groan or grunt, but it was a mere aping thereof. Thus many others in the circle, old and young, rose in order, and proforma, delivered themselves of a speech. Among those was Good Hunter ; but he " Had laid his robes away, His mitre and his vest." His remarks were not filled with such bombast as bome others ; but brief, modest, and appropriate ; in fine, they were such as became a priest of one of the lost ten tribes of Israel ! After all had spoken who wished to speak, the floor was deared, and the dance renewed, in which Indian and squaw united, with their wonted hilarity and zeal. Just as this dance ended, an Indian boy ran to me, and with fear strongly depicted in his countenance, caught me by the arm, and drew me to the door, pointing with his other hand towards 332 The Indian Miscellany. i Hi Bomething he wished me to observe. I looked in that direction, and saw the appearance of an Indian running at full sp'^ed to the council house ; in an instant he was in the house, and literally in the fire, which he took in his hands, and threw coals of fire and hot ashes in various directions, through the house, and ap- parently all over himself! At his entrance, the young Indians, much alarmed, had all fled to the further end of the house, where they remained crowded, in great dread of this personification of the evil spirit! After diverting himself with the fire a few moments, at the expense of the young ones, to their no small joy he disappeared. This was an Indian disguised with an hideous false face, having horns on his head, and his hands and feet pro- tected from the effects of the fire. And though not a professed fire king, he certainly performed his part to admiration. During the continuance of this festival, the hospitality of the Senecas was unbounded. In the council house, and at the resi- dence of Tall Chief, were a number of large fat bucks, and fat hogs hanging up, and neatly dressed. Bread also, of both corn and wheat in great abundance. Large kettles of soup ready pre- pared, in which maple sugar, profusely added, made a prominent ingredient, thus forming a very agreeable saccharine coalescence, and what contributed still more to heighten the zest — it was all impune (scot free). All were invited, and all were made welcome ; indeed a refusal to partake of their bounty, was deemed disre- spectful, if not unfriendly. In the afternoon I left them enjoying themselves to the fullest extent : and so far as I could perceive, their pleasure was with- out alloy. They were eating and drinking (on this occasion, no ardent spirits were permitted), dancing and rejoicing — caring not, ^Ad, probably, thinking not of to-morrow. o- IV M THE SPANISH MISSION COLONY ON THE RAPPA- HANNOCK ; THE FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA.^ [Read before the New York Historical Society, October 1, 1872.] By John Gilmary Shea. There is an episode in Virginia history, that will, I think, be new to many of my hearers — a most strange, romantic and tragic prelude to its annals, as we generally find them written : the history of the first house reared by white men on the soil of the Old Dominion. This was the attempt of Spain to plant a missionary colony near the shores of the Chesapeake, which her navigators named St. Mary's bay, and visited years before Sir Walter Raleigh pro- jected his settlement at Eoanoke island. When or from whom St. Mary's bay got its name, our most zealous antiquarians have failed to discover. The name is not on the curious copper globe made by Ulpius in 1540, which once belonged to Pope Marcellus 11, and now adorns our library, but it is mentioned by Oviedo even earlier, and is found on Cabot's map of 1544. Spanish vessels came and went. Cape St. Mary and Cape St. John lured them into the broad expanse, studded with so many islands charming to the sight, whether crowned with groves of stately trees or verdant with wild vines and bushes, that they called it the archipelago. While from the mountains seen afar came down a series of noble rivers, watering a land of forests so dense that grass was a rarity. Doubtless to their eyes, as to those of the English who soon after visited the bay, it seemed " a country that might have the prerogative over the most pleasant places known. Heaven and earth it seemed never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation." > Reprinted from the original manuscript iii 334 The Indian Miscellany. One day a Spanish vessel standing out to sea through the capes, bore on its deck a tall, well formed brave, the brother of a native chieftain, whom some Dominican fathers had per- suaded to accompan}' them to Mexico. The viceroy of that rich province, Don Luis de Velasco, just, upright and disinterested, who so lived that men could boast, that with all his opportunities for acquiring wealth, he died as he had lived poor and in debt — took kindly notice of the Vir- ginian. He had him instructed in the truths of Christianity, and when with all the pomp of his time he was solemnly baptized in the Cathedral of Mexico, the viceroy became Jiis sponsor and the chieftain from the shores of the Chesapeake was thenceforth known by the name of his patron, Don Luis de Velasco. The time came for something mov^ than mere flying visits to the bay. Don Pedro Melendez had scarcely accomplished his bloody task of stamping out French colonization in Florida, be- fore he began his preparations for occupying St. Mary's bay. Through it he hoped to reach China. This in our present fetale of knowledge seems absurd and ridiculous, and we always laugh at Captain John Smith's voyage up the Chickahominy to seek a route to Cathay. But Hudson was seeking it in our harbor, as Gomez had already sought it, and to this day Lachine in Canada, which is simply French for China, records the attempt of the ad- venturous La Salle to reach the middle kingdom. By the letters of the brave but cruel old seaman Melendez, we can see him in his moments of leisure during the winter of 1665, poring over the best maps of his time, some of which, like the copper globe in the library below, show the Pacific running far into our northern continent so as nearly to reach the Atlantic coast about Carolina. By him sits the calm, stoical Luis de Velasco, now a man of fifty, and also a missionary who has just come from China by the usual overland route of that time across Mexico, for Panama with its deadly fevers seems to have been avoided. Father Urdaneta is full of eiories of the Pacific and points out where tha charts should lay down the straits of Anian that separated America from Asia. Don Luis gave his descriptions of his native land which Melendez combined with the data on the maps, and the ideas of his Chinese missionary. The Spanish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock. 335 His letters from St. Aucrustino and Havana at this time show the result which he attained on these investigations. The rivers flowing into St. Mary's bay wf;re to be ascended 80 leagues, then the mountain range was to be crossed. There two arms of the sea were found, one by which canoes go to Newfoundland, bear- ing their rich cargoes of furs to the French traders, the other leading to China. With our knowledge of the country and of the history of northern exploration, we can readily comprehend what Melendez 80 evidently niisunderstooc^. The Salt river or narrow part of the bay receiving the waters of the Susquehanna, led up into the country of the Five Nations and by the Oswego to the lands of tribes who had already begun to carry down flotilla loads of furs to Brest, a French trading post of the time on the Labrador side at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, frequented in Cartier's time and later, but long since fcrsakcn and forgotten. Of this fur trade Melendez, a naiive of northern Spain, had doubtless heard from the Basques who visited the great bank of Newfoundland. Tliat even then an Indian trail well known in the land led from Upper Ca- nada to the Chesapeake we can see by the fact that only forty years later than the period we treat of, the adventurous Cham- plain after founding Quebec pushed boldly on to the shores of Lake Huron — the Freshwater sea — and tlience dispatched one of his fearless Frenchmen, Stephen Brule, with a few Hurons, to the Carantonanais, a tribe on the Susquehanna, who were kindred and allies of the Hurons. And Brule, not without danger indeed, succeeded in reaching them, and returned to re- port ij Champlain. As intercourse was thus kept up between Lake Huron and the lower Susquehanna it is not surprising that the fur trade, which came down from the lakes to the French, was known in Virginia in the days of Melendez. The Potomac, apparently the E8[)iritu Santo of the Spaniards, if ascended to the mountains led to the Monongahela and so to the Mississippi, bringing them to the land of gold and of civilized men. Misled, however, by his idea as to the arms of the sea, Melen- 'f 336 The Indian Miscellany. dez in 1566 dispatched a vessel, bearing thirty soldiers and two Dominican fathers, to begin a station in Axacan, near the Chesapeake, escorted and guided by Don Luis de Velasco ; but these missionaries, corrupted by an easy life in Peru, had no taste for a laborious mission, or perhaps learned the real state of facts. At all events the whole party took alarm and forced the captain to sail oft' for Spain. Four years later Melendez himself trod the soil of the Spanish peninsula, full of his projects and bent on carrying them out. Jesuit missions had now sprung up in Florida, and though one of the fathers had already dyed the earth with his heart's blood, others pressed on. These were to Melendez's mind, the men to plant the standard of Christianity and the banner of Spain cii the shores of the Chesapeake. So the adelantado arranged his plan with that saintly scion of unsaintly race, Francis Borgia. Don Luis de Yelasco was still in Spain, a grave, intelligent man, thoroughly conversant with Spanish afiairs, to all appearance a sincere and correct Christian and friend of the Spaniards. With every mark of joy he oftered to return to Axacan. and do all in his power to further the labors of any missionaries sent over to instruct his brother's tribe. Ere long he was again on the Atlantic, a staunch Spanish ship bearing him from San Lucar with the Jesuit father Quiros and some associates. In Novem- ber, 1570, this vessel anchored before the Spanish fort Santa Elena, on what stDl bears the name Saint Helena sound, South Carolina. There Father Segura, the vice provincial or superior of the Jesuits, arranged the plan of the projected mission. So great a field, it was believed, lay open to the labors of his order, that he resolved to go in person, with Father Quiros, accompanied by five young members of the society, and four Indian boys as catechists and aids for temporal service. With the influence and support of Don Luis, they would require no Spanish guards, and as soldiers were sometimes a detriment to a mission, it was de- termined by the missionaries to trust themselves entirely alone in the hands of the Indians. Don Luis made every promise as to the security of the persons The Spanish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock. 337 of the missionaries confided to his honor. " They shall lack nothing," he declared, " I will be ever at hand to aid them." On the fifth of August, 1570, this little mission colony sailed from Saint Helena sound, and must have crept very slowly along the coast and up the Chesapeake, for it was not till the tenth of September that they reached Axacan, the country of Don Luis and the scene of their intended mission and settlement. Where precisely Axacau was no map or document has yet been found to show. We are therefore left to conjecture. It was evidently either on the Susquehanna or the Potomac, the two great rivers at the head of the bay mentioned in Spanish accounts and by which the object of their exploration, as conceived by Melendez, was to be attained. That it could not have been on the Susquehanna is evident from the fact that that river was held by tribes of Huron race living in palisaded towns, while the tribe of Don Luis were ac- cording to all accounts manifestly a division of the nomadic Algonquins. Axacan was then in all probability on the Potomac, the Espiritu Santo of the Spanish navigators. The vessel that bore the missionaries and two other vessels, subsequently ascended this river for a considerable distance to a point where they landed and proceeded over land six miles to au other river leading to the country of Don Luis, and by which they might have sailed up directly to it, but had apparently passed as a less navigable stream. On the Potomac there is to this day a spot called Oc- coquan, which is near enough to the Spanish Axacan to raise a suspicion of their identity, and not far below, the Potomac and Rappahannock approach so closely as to lead us to suppose that the hamlets of Don Luis were on the Rappahannock. The land which met the eyes of the Spanish missionaries was not one to raise fond hopes or sustain delusions. Of all that the descriptions of Don Luis had prepared them to find, there was absolutely nothing. Just come from the vicinity of Florida with its rich luxuriant vegetation, with fruits of spontaneous growth, and maize abundant, they beheld a land scourged by a six years' sterility, with the starving remnants of decimated and thrice decimated tribes. These wretched beings looked upon Don Luis 23 tmm ■Hi 338 The Indian Miscellany. rl' I i { ■ , as if sent back by heaven, and seeing him whom they had so long mourned as dead, treated with honor, they received the Spaniards with every demonstration of good will, though so des- titute, that they could offer no fruit or maize. With the winter fast approaching, it seemed almost madness for Father Segura and his companions to attempt to establish themselves in this unpromising land, but the previous failure of the Dominican fathers, and the deep interest taken by Melendez in the success of the attempt, doubtless decided the point in the mind of the missionaries. The pilot of the vessel which brought them being short of pro- visions gave them little time for reflection. He reached there on the 10th of September, and hastily landing the missionaries and all th...t belonged to them, he was ready to sail on the following day. Segura had barely time to write to the king and to add a few lines to the letters which Quiros wrote to Melendez urging speedy relief. Among the interesting documents discovered and copied by our late associate Buckingham Smith during his life-long investi- gations in Spain were these autograph letters written from Axacan to Melendez by Fathers Segura and Quiros, and sent back by the vessel which had brought them from St. Helena sound ; and he traced a facsimile of the bignaiures of these daring heralds of the cross, the first to offer up any Christian worship on the soil of Virginia. In this letter Father Quiros writes : " It is certain that these Indians of Don Luis, have shown their good will in such manner as they could. Don Luis seemed to them to have risen from the dead and come to them from heaven, and as most of all those who have remained here are his relatives, they have been con- soled much in his company and have taken courage and hope that God will favor them. They say that they wish to be like Don Luis and ask us to remain in this land with them. The cacique, Don Luis's brother, had a child three years old very sick, some seven or eight leagues from here, and as it seemed to him on the point of death, he prayed us to go and baptize it. The vice provincial accordingly decided to send one of us by night to baptize it, as it was very near death. The Spanish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock. 339 " In view then of the good will manifested by these people, al- though on the other hand as already stated, they are so famine stricken and all expected to die of hunger and cold this winter, as many have done in previous winters, for the deep snows that fall on this land prevent their seeking the roots on which they are accustomed to live — in view however of the great hope we entertain of the conversion of this people, and the service of our Lord, and of his majesty and of reaching the mountain range and China, etc., it seemed proper to the father that we should venture to remain here, although with so little ship's stores and provi- sions, because we ate on the way two of the four barrels of biscuit and the little flour they gave us for the voyage." After announcing this heroic decision, in which we cannot fail to admire their zeal and courage, if we doubt their prudence, they asked speedy relief. " It is very necessary that you should endeavor if possible to supply us with all dispatch, and if it is impossible to do so in winter, at least it is necessary that in March or at the furthest earl} in April, a good supply be sent, so as to furnish all these people with seed corn." He concludes, "From the great want of provisions felt by all in the ship, it has been necessary that arriving here as we did yesterday, they go off to-day leaving us here in this depopulated land, with the discom- forts already described, and hence there has been no opportunity for further information or greater detail." It was arranged by them that about the time the ship should return, Indians would be on the lookout at the mouth of the river on which Don Luis's tribe lived, the Rappahanock as I infer ; where they would build signal fires to attract attention, and deliver to a boat sent from the ship a letter from the missionaries. The little band beheld the vessel hoist her sail and glide down the Potomac. They doubtless lingered, watching what seemed the last tie between them and civilized man, then guided by Don Luis, they started on the six miles' portage to the Rappa- hannock, the Indians bearing some of their scanty, but precious supplies, the missionaries themselves carrying their chapel ser- vice, books and other necessaries. On reaching the river they were to ascend it about six miles in the wretched canoes of the 1 IT 340 The Indian Miscellany. natives, for in their misery they had scarcely a single one fit for any use. The Indians of Virginia did not dwell in palisaded towns, like those on the Susquehanna, and their kindred the Hurons and the Iroquois. They seem to have lived only in scattered bands, each forming a little hamlet of from five to twenty cabins, each lodge in the midst of a rude garden, for they cultivated very little ground, depending almost entirely on the spontaneous pro- ductions of their forests and swamps. The accounts of the subsequent proceedings of this strange colony are derived from a boy, and are somewhat obscure, for unfortunately we have not the formal examination, which must have been forwarded to Spain. These statements seem to make the journey to the hamlets of Don Luis's tribe, a long and weary one through wood and desert and morass, loaded with their baggage, living on roots, and not the short journey that Father Quiros anticipated. The hamlet first reached was a wretched one of naked and starving savages. Here amid the tent-like lodges of the Indians, made of poles bound together at the top and covered with mats or bark, Segura and his companions erected a rude house, a log cabin doubtless, the first white habitation in that part of Ame- rica. One end was devoted to their chapel, the other was their dwelling. Here, doubtless to the wonder of the natives, the service of the Roman church was solemnly performed. Of the party Segura was the soul. He was a native of Toledo, who had become a Jesuit in 1566, and led by his zeal to seek a foreign mission, he had renounced the comforts of Europe and the positions of dignity oflfered him there, to come in 1568 to Florida. He had thus acquired two years' experience of the Indian character and manners and doubtless some insight into the languages spoken at Calos and Santa Elena. In his new mission we can see him attempting, under the guidance of Don Luis, to acquire the language of the Algonquin flock among whom he was r ow to labor. As the missionaries had foreseen that they must winter there and might not receive supplies before March or April Segura The Spanish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock. 341 doubtless began like his Indian neighbors to lay up a winter store from the woods and meadows around the clearing where his chapel stood. Acorns, walnuts, chestnuts and chinquapins were regularly gathered by the natives as well as persimmons and a root like a potato growing in the moist lands. In those narrow tongues of land between the Virginian rivers larger ^ame must have been very scarce, the hunting ground being otf by the mountains. But the mission party had no means of hunting and though the rivers teemed with fish, we find no indication of their being supplied with any means of deriving food from that source. For a time Don Luis remained with them, but as bo generally happens in all attempts to elevate the redmen, old habits returned, he became Indian with the Indiana rather than Spanish with the Spaniards. Ere long he abandoned the missionaries entirely and went off to another place, distant from it a journey of a day and a half. The missionaries were not yet sufficiently versed in the language of the natives to dispense with his aid as teacher and interpreter, and his influence was constantly needed. Hence they felt his desertion keenly. Several times they sent one of the young men to urge his return, but he refused and the winter wore away with great suffering and hardship, not unmingled Avith gloomy fore- bodings. As February approached and there seemed only a short inter- val left before the return of the vessel from Santa Elena which was their only hope of escape from the difiiculties which sur- rounded them, Segura resolved to make a last effort to move Don Luis. He sent Father Quiros with two brothers, De Solis and Mendez, to the hamlet where he resided, to make a last ap- peal. He made many excuses for his absence and continued to beguile them by promises of which they saw too clearly the in- sincerity. They departed heavy hearted, but they had scarcely passed beyond the last cabin of the hamlet when a shower of arrows came whirring upon them. Quiros and his companions fell pierced in countless places by the flinty arrow heads. Their quivering bodies were at once stripped and subjected to all the indignities and mutilations that savage fancy dictated. i I I 342 The Indian Miscellany. (■■ Father Segnra iiiirl tho remainder of his party had spent the interval in prayer. Anxiety deepened as no sign of Father Quiros appeared. On tlie fonrth day, yells and cries announced the approach of u large party, and in a few'moments Don Luis appeared arrayed in the cassock of Father Quiros, attended by his brother and a war party armed with clubs and bows, and dressed in all the finery of war. The closing scene had come. Don Luis sternly demanded from those whom he had promised to protect and aid, all that could serve for a defence, their knives, the axes used for chopping wood. But Segura and his companions had no thought of resist- ance. They surrendered these things without a word of remon- strance. Then they knelt down before their rude altar to await the death they had expected. , Don Luis gave the signal. His braves rushed upon the mission party and slaughtered all but one, a boy named Alphonsus who was protected by a brother of Don Luis and escaped. The account states that Don Luis buried beneath their chapel house the bodies of his victims. Father John Baptist Segura, Brothers Gabriel Gomez, Peter de Linares, Sancho Levallos and Christopher Redondo, with their Lidian attendants. The authorities at the Spanish post, Santa Elena, seem to have shown great indifference as to the fate of this mission band. Under the pretext that no pilot could be found to run along the coast from South Carolina to the Chesapeake, they let the whole autumn and winter pass. In the spring Brother Vincent Gon- zales succeeded in obtaining a vessel and sailed with some Span- iards to the relief of his associates. , They ran up the Potomac and anchored at the spot where Segura had landed. At a dis- tance they beheld men in the garb of the missionaries, but the Indians failed to lure them ashore by the device. Some of the natives even came out saying : " See the fathers who came to U8 : we have treated them well. Land and see them and we will treat you likewise." On the contrary suspecting treachery from the fact that the pretended fathers did not approach as the real ones would have done, the Spaniards seized two of the Indians and sailed back. The Spanish Mission Colony of the Rappahannock. 343 Melendez returning from Spain heard their report and at once sailed to the Chesapeake, to chastise the murderers. Taking a stout though liglit craft, he soon ran up the Potomac to the spot already twice visitell. There a Spanish force fully armed and headed by this determined man, landed. Melendez unfurled the standard of Spain on Virginian soil, and marching inland soon captured several Indians. They confessed the murder of the mission party, laying all the blame on Don Luis. Melendez announced that he would not harm the innocent, but ordered them to deliver up Don Luis. That Indian and his brother, the chief of Axacan, fled to the mountains. The brother, who had saved the life of little Alphonsus, brought him to Melen- dez, who received him with great pleasure. This boy gave an account of all that happened since.they landed, and I need hardly say that it is the basis of all the accounts we have. He pointed out those concerned in the massacre and Melendez hung eight of them at his yu'^d arm. After this summary piece of justice, the founder of Saint Augustine with his mail-clad force embarked, and the Spanish flag floated for the last time over the land of Axacan. So endc the history of the first settlement of white men on the soil of Virginia. The walls of the Capitol at Washington, might well be adorned with a painting of a scene that occurred almost in sight of its dome — the founder of Saint Augustine, the butcher of Ribault, the chosen commander of the Invincible Armada, as he stood surrounded by his grim warriors, planting the standard of Spain on the banks of the Potomac. Raphe Hamor, author of one of the earliest Virginia tracts, says that Powhatan's tribe were driven by the Spaniards from the "West Indies, a loose expression, that will mean any part of Spanish America. Powhatan's confederacy were Algonquins and could scarcely have come from the south. If driven from their original abode by the Spaniards, they may be the very tribe to which Don Luis belonged and which fled from the Potomac and Rappahannock to the shores of the York and James. If so Don Luis de Velasco honorably received at Mexico and Madrid, was a kinsman of Pocahontas treated as a princess in England. I' illiJ l;!J r i . ALASKAN MUMMIES? By W. H. Dai.l, For nearly a hundred years it has been known, through the quaint accounts of the early voyagers, that certain tribes of southern Alaska preserved the bodies of their dead. Up to a very recent period, however, no examples of this practice had reached any ethnological museum, or fallen under the observa- tion of any scientiiic observer. When the territory was pur- chased, had it continued as accessible as during 1868, it might have reasonably been expected to attract many investigators in natural history and ethnology, whose chief difficulty would have been an emharras de richesse. But private interest and public in- difference united to seal it up from inspection. Naturalists generally are less easily muzzled than poorly paid political ap- pointees, and hence the obstacles thrown in the way of explora- tion have been so great that we can hardly wonder that so few have been able to enter this rich and interesting field. During the last four or five years, the investigations of M. Alphonse Pinart, and of the writer, have spread among the resi- dents of the territory some knowledge of the value attached to the ethnological material which surrounds them, and to this fact we owe the collection and preservation of much that is of interest. Among other things which have come to hand in this manner are the only specimens of Alaska mummies extant. The practice of preserving the bodies of the dead was in vogue among the inhabitants of the Aleutian islands and the Kadiak archipelago at the time of their discovery, and probably had been the custom among them for centuries. We find nothing of it on the mainland. It is curious to trace the customs of the wild tribes in this respect in connection with their external sur- roundings. In the Chukchee peninsula on the Asiatic side of Behring strait, there is no soil in many places. The substratum > Beprinted flrom The American NaturalUt (Salem, Mass.), for Auguet, 187S. Alaskan Mummies. 346 of granitoid rock is broken by the frost into hundreds of angular fragments, which are covered with a thin coating of various mosses, which may be stripped off in great pieces like a blanket. There are no trees and but little driftwood. Burial is impracti- cable, cremation impossible, and the natives expose their dead on some hillside to the tender mercies of bears, dogs and foxes. In the Yukon valley at a short distance below the surface the soil is permanently frozen, and excavation without iron tools ex- tremely difficult. But timber abounds, and the bodies of the dead, doubled up to economize space, are placed in wooden coffins which are secured without nails and elevated above the surface of the earth on four posts. To scare away wild beasts poles are frequently erected around the coffin, bearing long strips of fur or cloth which are agitated by the wind. The poor and friendless may be simply covered with a ^jile of logs, secured by heavy stones ; but in general the method is as above. Various modifications are found in various localities ; the coffin on the lower Yukon is sometimes filled in with clay, packed hard ; and the Xowikakhat Indians sometimes place their dead erect, surrounded by hewn timbers secured like the staves of a cask. On the islands the soil is unfrozen and there are no obstacles to digging. But wood is only found on the shores, drifted by the ocean currents, and usually not in large quantities. How- ever there are no wild animals to disturb the remains ; the beetling cliffs which are found on every hand, shattered by fre- quent earthquakes, afford in the talus of broken rock at their bases, abundant and convenient rock-shelters. Here the natural depositories exist, of which the natives have availed themselves. On all these customs, originally prompted by the bare necessities of the case, the slow development of sentiment and feeling (which undoubtedly does take place in savage people, though we may not be able to trace its growth) has grafted animistic ideas, and semi-religious rites and ceremonies. Thus, the original utilitar- ianism is more or less completely masked or concealed. It is a singular fact that no people have ever adopted the plan of com- mitting their dead to the sea. ! '■{ li! ■ i ! CI,' 'il3 The Indian Miscellany. Without attempting, at present, to trace the f^rowth of the custom, I will briefly describe the method adopted by the Kaniag and Aleut branches of the Eskimo stock, in preserving the dead. The details are partly given in the older voyages ; and have been confirmed and supplemented by an examination of a large num- ber of the mummies, and the traditions of the present natives. The body was prepared by making an opening in the pelvic region and removing all the internal organs. The cavity was then tilled with dry grass and the body placed in running water. This in a short time removed most of the fatty portions, leaving only the skin and muscular tissues. The knees ivere then brought up to the chin, and the whole body secured as compactly as pos- sible by cords. The bones of the arms were sometimes broken to facilitate the process of compression. In this posture the remains were dried. This required a good deal of attention, 'he exuding moisture being carefull} wiped off from time to time. When thoroughly dried the cords were removed and the body usually wrapped in a shirt, made of the skins of aquatic birds with the feathers on, and variously trimmed and ornament- ed with exceedingly fine embroidery. Over this were wrapped pieces of matting made of Elymus fibre, carefully prepared. This matting varies from quite coarse to exceedingly fine, the best rivalling the most delicate work of the natives of Fayal. It is, indeed, quite impossible to conceive of finer work done in the material used. The matting ^ as frequently ornamented with checks and stripes of coloreu fibre, with small designs at the intersections of the stripes, and with the rosy breast-feathers of the Leucostide sewed into it. Over this sometimes a water proof material, made from the split intestines of the sea lion sewed together, was placed. The inner wrappings vary in number and kind but they are all referrible to one or the other of the above kinds. Outside of these were usually the skins of the sea otter or other fur animals, and the whole was secured in a case of sealskins, coarse matting or similar material secured firmly by cords and so arranged as to be capable of suspension. The case was sometimes cradle shaped, especially when the Alaskan Mummies. 347 body wiifl that of an infant. On these occaflions it was often of wood, ornamented as highly as their resources would allow, painted with red, blue or green native pigments, carved, adorned with pendants of carved wood and suspended by braided cords of whale sinew from two wooden hoops, like the arches used in the game of croc^uet. The innermost wrapping of infants was usually of the finest fur, and from the invariable condition of the contained remains it is probalile that the bodies were encased without undergoing the process previously described. The practice of suspension was undoubtedly due to a desire to avoid the dampness induced by contact with the soil. The bodies of infants thus prepared were often retained in the house, by the fond mother, for a long time. Afterwards they were sometimes suspended in the open air : but adults were, as far as I have been able to find out, in- variably consigned to caves or rock-shelters. Among the localities which have been visited personally by the writer, are caves in Unga, one of the Shumagin islands, and others on the islands of Amaknak and Atka, further west. In all of these the remains of mummies existed ; but the effect of falling rock from above, and great age, had in all the caves, except that of Unga, destroyed the more perishable portions of the re- mains, and in the latter place onlj' fragments remained. Many stories, however, came to hand in relation to a cave on the " islands of the Four mountains " west of Unalashka, where a large number of perfectly preserved specimens were said to ex- ist, in relation to which the following legend was current among the natives. Many years ago' there lived on the island of Kag^mil (one of the Four mountains) a celebrated chief named Kat-hay-a-kut-chak, small of fet. ture but much feared and respected by the adjacent natives for Lis courage and success in hunting. He had a son whom he fondly loved, and who was about fifteen years old. For this son he made a bidarka (or skin-boat) highly ornamented and of small size. "V.'iien it was finished, the boy entreated his r f r::: > The date Ib fixed as being the fall before the spring In which the flrst RuBsia'as made their appearance at these islands, aboat 1760. Kf;: m allli I 348 The Indian Miscellany. father for permission to try it, and after much coaxing web per- mitted to do 80, on condition that he did lot go far from the shore. After seeing the boat safely launched the father sat on the hillaide watching its progress. The boy became interested in the pursuit of a diving bird at which he threw his dart and which receding from the shore carried the boy away in pursuit, forgetful of his promise. His father shouted to him but the boy was too far away to hear, and presently it becoming dusk, he could no longer see him and the chief returned to his dwelling. The boy did not become conscious of the distance he had paddled until out of sight oi his own island, and in the darkness he made for the nearest shore. In those days an Aleut marrying into another family was ac- customed to leave his wife with her people, at least for a certain time ; and a native of another island wlio had married a daughter of the chief was on his way to visit his wife when he saw a little canoe in front of him and recognized his little brother-in-law. The boy did not, however, recognize the native, and supposing himself pursued paddled away as fast as he could. The brother- in-law tried to frighten him by throwing darts at his canoe, and threw one so carelessly that it hit the boy's paddle and his canoe overturned. The brother-in-law made all speed to catch up with him and attempted to right the boat ; but he could not do it, the boy, as is the custom, being tied into the aperture in the top ; until, when he did succeed, he found that the boy was dead. His grief may be imagined, and at first he thought of abandoning the canoe where it was, but on reflection he took it to the landmg at Kagdmil and securing it in the kelp, that it might not float away, he returned to his own island without having seen his wife. In the morning the chief's servants brought it in, and to his great sorrow Kat-hay-a-kut-chak recognized his beloved son. He caused the body to be prepared for burial, and when the preparation was complete he sent for all the people of the Four Mountain islands to unite in the ceremonies of depositing the body in the place where the Aleuts were used to put their dead. The people collected, and 'ogether with the chief and his family formed in procession, with songs of lamentation, beating the native tambourines on the way to the burying place. It was Alaskan Mummies. 349 autumn and some snow was on the ground which the warm sun had partially melted. On the road lay a large flat stone. The sister of the boy, who was great with child, having her eyes cov- ered, did not see the stone, slipped, and fell, injuring herself se- verely, and bringing on premature delivery, which caused her death with that of the infant, on the spot. Now the poor old chief had three to bury instead of one. So he ordered the pro- cess'on to return to the village, bearing the dead with them. He then had a cave near his house, which had been used as a place for storage, cleaned out, and after due preparation, the bodies were deposited in this cave, and with them many sea-otter skins, implements, weapons, and all the personal eftects of the dead. He then distributed presents and food to the people, saying that he intended to make of this cave, a mausoleum for his family; and when he himself should die it was his desire to be placed there, with his children. He then told them to eat and drink as much as they desired, but as for himself he should fast and weep for his children. His wishes were carried out, and he was placed in the cave after his death, and since that time the Four Mountain islands have been abandoned as a place of residence by the natives and only occupied by casual parties of hunters. The writer attempted in 1873 to reacli this locality, but bad weather prevented anchoring ; as the shores are mostly precipi- tous, and there are no harbors. In the summer of 1874, however, the captain of a trading vessel sent there to take oft" a party of hunters, was guided by some of them to the cave, and succeeded in removing all the perfect mummies and such implements and other ethnological material as could be found. Through the lib- erality of the Alaska Com. Co., these remains have l.>een received by the National Museum and a careful at d detailed account of them has been prepared. Most of the mummies were wrapped up in skins or matting as previously described, but a few were encased in frames covered with sealskin or flne matting, and still retaining the sinew grum- mets by v/hich they were suspended. These cases were tive-sided, the two lateral ends subtriangular ; the back, bottom and sloping top, rectangalar, like a buggy top turned upside down. With them were found some wooden dishes, a few small ivory carvings 350 The Indian Miscellany. and toys, a number of other implements, but no weapons except a few lance or dart heads of stone. Two or three women's work bags with ^their accumulated scraps of embroidery, sinew, tools and raw materials were among the collection. While space will not suffice here to describe this material in detail, it may be mentioned that it contalued thirteen complete mummies, from infants to adults, two of which were retained in California; and two detached skulls. None of the material showed any signs of civili:?ed influences, all was of indigenous production, either native to the islands, or derived from inter- native traffic or drift wood. Tlc latter comprised a few pieces of pine resin and bark, birch bark, and fragments of reindeer skin from Alaska peninsula. It will thus be seen that this is one of the most important ad- ditions to our knowledge of the prehistoric condition of these people. So far as the specimens differed from those in use in more modern times they resembled more nearly the implements in use among the Eskimo of the mainland. The remains are all those of true aboriginal Aleuts. The Kaniagmut Eskimo, inhabiting the peninsula of Alaska, the Kadiak archipelago and the islands south of the peninsula, added, to the practice of mummifying the dead, the custom of preparing the remains in some cases in natural attitudes, dressing them in elaborately ornamented clothing sometimes with wooden armor, and carved masks. They were represented, women as serving or nursing children ; hunters in the chase, seated in canoes and transfixing wooden effigies of the animals they were wont to pursue ; old men beat the tambourine, their recognized employ- ment at all the native festivals. During the mystic dances, for- merly practiced before a stuffed image, the dancers wore a wooden mask which had no eye-holes, but was so arranged that they could only see the ground at their feet. At a certain moment they thought that a spirit, whom it was death or disaster to look upon, descended into the idol. Hence the protection of the mask. A similar idea led them to protect the dead man, gone to the haunts of spirits, from the sight of the supernatural visitor. After their dances were over the temporary idol was destroyed. We found many relics of this practice in the Unga caves. w Alaskan Mummies. 351 In Kadiak still another custom was in vogue. Those natives who hunted the whale formed a peculiar caste by themselves. Although highly respected for their prowess and the important contributions they made to the food of the community, they were considered during the hunting season as unclean. The profession descended in families and the bodies of successful hunters were preserved with religious care by their successors. These mum- mies were hidden away in caves only known to the possessors. A certain luck was supposed to attend the possession of bodies of successful hunters. Hence one whaler, if he could, would steal the mummies belonging to another, and secrete them in his own cave, in order to obtain success in his profession. While M. Pinart was in Kadiak, he heard of the existence of one of these mummies but was unable to discover the locality. Afterwards Mr. Sheeran, the IT. S. deputy collector of the port of Kadiak, through a peculiar superstition of the Christianized (?) natives, was able to discover and secure it. It appears that though nominally all members of the Greek church they still have great faith in the superstitions of their ancestors, and while the whaleman's supersition has passed away, the natives still re- garded the mummy as possessing the power of averting the ill nature of evil spirits, and consequently were accustomed to take to it the first berries and oil of the season. This, they asserted, the mummy ate, as iVe dishes were always empty when they re- turned for them. Thus annually, they furnished the foxes and spermophiles with a feast. By watching, when the spring offer- ing was made, the locality was detected. The mummy was secured by Mr. Sheeran and placed in an outbuilding near his house. During the season the natives came to him and remon- strated at his not feeding the dead man sufficiently ; for he had been seen by a native watchman one foggy night, prowling about the town, presumably in search of food. This mummy was only covered with a tattered gut-shirt or kamlayka, was in a squatting posture, and held in his hand a stoneheaded lance, on the point of which was transfixed a rude figure cut out of sealskin, supposed by the natives to represent the evil spirits which he held in check. It was that of a middle aged man with hair and tissues in good preservation. til I F D YEIKG, SPINNING AND WE A VING, B Y THE CAM- ANCffES, NAVAJOES, AND OTHER INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO.' By J. Henry Peters. Thomas Ewbank, Esq., Dear Sir : Fully appreciating the heartiness and zeal, with which you direct your researches into the various branches of inquiry and learning connected with your important bureau, I with great pleasure, but with diffidence, accede to your request, and give you such information with regard to the manufactures of wool and cotton, as I have acquired in my rambles among our western Indians ; and more especially, among the Camanches, Navajoes, and Apaches of western Texas and southern New Mexico. I have not been further west than Paso del Norte, in Texas, nor further north than Sonora, in New Mexico, and the surrounding county. It is known to every observing traveler in those parts of our country — now no longer remote — that the brilliancy and dura- bility of the various shades of primitive colors, and the few semi- colors that those Indians dye their wool in, are probably not equalled by the learned and scientific chemists of Europe, and our own country — an important fact, that seems not to have excited the curiosity of our otherwise enquiring countrymen. Should I be able, through your instrumentality, to bring to the public notice, such facts as will lead to enquiry and investigation, I should consider myself as having contributed somewhat to our national advancement in one branch of the arts at least, and that one of the most important. The Camanche, Navajoe, and Apache Indians, present the curious spectacle of marauding bands of well mounted men ; seemingly always committing predatory incursions upon their civilized neighbors, the Texans and Mexicans, apparently con- > Reprinted from the Report of the U. S. UommUiion of Patentt, for 1860, part 1. Dyeing, Spinning and Weaving by the Camanches. 353 stantly on the alert for evil, and yet, posaessing great skill in the more peaceful and benevolent habits of the herdsman and shep- herd. The depredations of the immense number of sheep, almost daily chronicled in our gazettes, are not made to appease hunger only ; but to add to the already immense fl loks that overspread, as I have been told by them, the region of country lying west of the Sierra Madre, and east of California. In the spring and summer of 1848, in company with an old friend — one of the Creeks who had emigrated west of the Mis- sissippi, soon after the treaty with them in 1832 — I traveled westward. My guide and companion had acquired a good knowledge of the language and habits of the Camanches, Navajoes and Apaches, and had probably not altogether abstained from joining them occasionally in their irruptions upon the settlements of their timid neighbors of Chihuahua and Sonoro. I found him " as one having authority," and of course, very useful, both in the protection he afforded me, and the information he enabled me to acquire. Among the first objects of interest to me, next to the match- less feats of horsemanship they perform, and which have so often been written of — was the number and variety of articles wrought by them, both useful and ornamental, and which might well vie with the skill of more civilized artizans. Among these were the beautiful fabrics composed of wool, and a kind of grass cloth, and some few of cotton. The object, however, of greatest interest to me, was the art of imparting to wool, etc., the beautiful colors I had often before admired, and to this I gave most attention. Like other Indians, I found them unwilling to impart knowledge voluntarily, and I had in my previous and long intercourse with the western tribes, early learned not to make inquiries that might excite their special attention to my designs. Our Indians are not disposed to impart to their white bretliren, unless their citizens, any thing that might be useful out of their own country, in which particular, they are not unlike the Chinese, so that with the exceptions of their modes of dyeing and spijming, I will not now attempt to give you any certain account. The information 24 rr^ 354 The Indian Miscellany. I derived, and minutes made at the time, will now only enable me to give you the modus operandi of extracting their dyes, without being able to give you the names of the ingredients. The specimens I had been enabled to collect have become dried up, and many have been lost by crumbling, and I was not enabled to procure seeds or other means of reproducing the plant, and am not sufficiently a botanist to give you a technical description of them. I can give you the facts only, but these are of sufficient importance to awaken curiosity, and lead to the investigations of secrets by those more intimately connected with the subject treated of, and I think of sufficient importance to have that enquiry efficiently made under governmental auspices. The colors most admired by the Cainanches and Navajoes are crimson, blue, purple and green; consequently these colors are the most common among them in all their shades ; and though in their weavings they blend these with brown, yellow and other colors, with singular judgment and taste, yet it is the brilliancy of those that you most admire. All their primitive colors are the products of the prairie and mountain flowers, and their semi-colors are composed of these and the inner bark and roots of but few other plants combined in such proportions as the hue intended to be produced. They have no mineral dyes that I am aware of Many of these flowers are small, indeed most of them ; and the plants of low size, and begin to bloom in February, March and April, and continue till summer. During the blooming, the flowers are gathered early in the morning, with the dew upon them, and dried of the dew under a shade. The leaves are carefully picked olF, the stems and. such as have their petals covered with pollen of another color — e. g. — such as are purple or scarlet with petals of yellow or white pollen, are carefully separated from it. Particular flowers only are selected ; all flowers of purple color are not used to dye purple, and so of every other color, but such only as are known to make an indelible dyv<^. When the desired quantity of leaves are collected they are carefully and cleanly bruised and into them a small quantity of ley (I shall hereafter describe it) is put, but only enough to make Dyeing, Spinning and Weaving by the Camanches. 355 a thick paste — which has the property of loosening the dye from, the fabrics, and facilitating its extraction. A small bag shaped like a money purse, and but little larger, made of new dog skin, deer or wolf skin, tanned by the Indians in a manner peculiar to them, is used to compress the juice from the pulp. This bag, a foot or eighteen inches long and three or four inches wide, is half filled with the pulp. Two small handles of wood are stuck through the ends of the bag, about the length of a corkscrew handle, and used to grasp a firm hold, and as levers by which the bag is twisted until the juice is extracted through the pores of the skin, which are very open. Whether extracted or not for immediate use, the dye is care- fully bottled, in glass if it can be procured, or in small bladders, if glass is not to be had. I say small bladders, because if put away in large quantities, the (^ i; sometimes spoils, they say, and produces dingy colors. When put away for future use the light is carefully excluded by overwrapping with skins, or any thing else, and generally buried in the ground under a shelter in which tire is not used, so as to exclude heat. The dyes, however, are generally used soon as extracted, as during the winter the women prepare their best wool, and have it ready in the spring and summer for the process of dying. The pulp after compression is put into a small quantity of the same ley above spoken of, and permitted to remain several hours to extract any remaining dye that might be in it, and undergo the same squeezing process until no dye remains. The ley is made with care of the ashes after burning, of the green wood of a shrub very similar to the Aiiralia Spinosa^ if it be not the same of a stunted growth. So careful are they of pro- curing this ash unadulterated, that they have dry parcels of it laid by with which to ignite the green wood, that the ashes may not be commingled with those of other woods. The ley is usually made in a large gourd, well cleaned and dried, with the butt end cut off, and a small hole bored through the point of the neck to drip from. The gourd is three quarters tilled with the ashes considerably compressed in it, and by a bale or handle suspended from a bar containing several of them. Each is then filled with I 366 The Indian Miscellany. i I [! rain or purs river water : the point is stopped, and the water allowed to remain on the ashes for a day and night, atid then permitted to drip into the vessel placed to. catch the ley. This ley is a little colored, and is claritied by the same process of filtration through clean white sand, or sand that has been used for the same purpose before — when clarified, the ley is used as before stated, and especially to set the colors, which seems to be the principal use of it. It has no caustic quality after filtration, but an astringency peculiar to itself — rather a pungent than burning quality. It is sometimes used to dilute the darker dyes and produce lighter shades. The wool to be dyed is washed in warm water until perfectly cleansed of the natural oil — using the root of a plant very abun- dant in Texas and southern Xew Mexico, as well as most of the southern states, of a very saponaceous quality, and known as the soap plant. In all their best fabrics — blankets, belts, leggings, etc., made of wool, their finest fleeces are used, and it is not un- known to many of our army officers and others, that the Il^avajoes give great attention to their management of sheep, and often produce fleeces almost or quite equal to the merino in fineness and softness of texture, by ilm'ir skilful crosses and selections made after long and minute observations and care. A Camanche and Xavajoe are as much delighted with the possession of a superior ram and ewe as of a fine horse, to the breeding of which they also give much attention. Von Thaer would not be more so with the possession of his finest buck. All their wool is dyed before spinning, and this is done by submerging it in the dye and letting it remain ten or fifteen days, the dye-pot being left covered : but during this soaking the wool is turned over once every day. Sometimes the lighter shades are imparted to the wool by soaking a shorter time — they say this produces a clearer tint. If not dark enough, the same process is repeated with fresh dye. I have been told by my guide, that the Camanches fumigate the wool after dying, over a smoke of the above described wood, to deepen tlw color, but I never saw it done. Their green color is produced from the leaves of several plants, the juice of which is expressed in the same manner as from the flowers, and used in the same manner. Dyeing, Spinning and Weaving by the Camanches. 357 Their brown color is made from the inner bark, roots and nuts of the wahiut and of other trees, much in the same manner as our farmer's wives now dye their wool for home-made jeans. After the dyeing is linishcd, the wool is dried in the shade, and when well dried, exposed to the sun for a few hours ; the dyeing is then complete, and the wool ready for spinning, except sometimes, perhaps, not always, they oil the wool slightly, and diffuse the dampness through it by rubbing and rolling it in the hands. I do not know the precise object of this, but they say it works better. This does not impair the color, for washing re- stores them to their first brightness. It seems to be the peculiar quality of the set that gives the lasting brilliancy of the color. I have seen the Camanche blankets, sifter being used for months, and abused by being put under the saddle, saturated with sweat, rained upon, slept in upon the naked earth, and when carefully washed, present the colors again, as bright as newly dyed silk. The spinning is what you would call twisting the thread ; this is done altogether by the fingers, and somewhat similar to the ancient distaff, though reversing the order of operation. The distaff was used to wrap the raw material upon, and the spool or quill was used not only to wind the thread upon, but as the spindle to twist it. The Camanches reverse this order, and use the raw material for the spindle, and the spool only to wind the thread upon. They use no distaff'. In spinning, a small portion of wool only is used at a time — a mess, say, of a quarter pound weight, atid shaped like an egg, say four or five inches long, and two or three in diameter, is wrapped around with a string sufficiently tight to keep it together, but loose enough at the point to permit the wool to be drawn out for spinning the thread — a small stone, of- an ounce or so in weight, is tied on the middle of a A Camanchk.Spinning. stick of about six inches in length ^l: 358 The Indian Miscellany. (see d), and inserted in the lower part of the bunch. This is to add weight to it without incircjtising the size, and is used as dead weight, to increase and continue tlio velocity when twirled round by the fingers. The spinning is begun by first twisting a thread of five or six inches in length, which is wound around a stick of ten or so inches long, and half an inch in diameter, which is held in the left hand, and serves for the spool to wind the thread upon. After the thread is commenced, the spinning proper begins, and is then continued, by constantly keeping the bunch of wool swiftly rotating horizontally, by twirling it with the thumb and middle fingers; at the moment the twirl is given, a slight jerk downwards is made, to draw out the wool, and a simultaneous slight yielding of the left hand, to prevent the thread separating from the mass until the twist is given it, and when sufilciently spun, is wound upon the spool. They usually spin three or four or six inches at a time — and wind up every time. The thread is usually twisted hard, and always doubled before weaving. I have seen thread spun altogether by the fingers, and the spin- ning and weaving is by no means confined to the women ; men are often engaged in it, and exhibit much taste and skill in de- vising the patterns, as well as blending the colors. After small parcels of the wool are well loosened by picking and straighten- ing with the fingers, it is tied loosely together with a string, to prevent the bunch falling apart ; or it is often put in a small bag, of four or six inches in diameter, and drawn together at the mouth, leaving portions of the wool protruding from it in a point, to facilitate its being drawn out to form the thread. A weight of an ounce or two — usually a flat stone, is tied in the middle of a stick of six inches in length, and half an inch in diameter, and is enclosed within the wool, or the bag, near the bottom of it, and acts as a dead weight to facilitate the momen- tum when turning round. The ends of the stick project from the mass of wool like two handles, and are used to twirl it with the fingers. The thread is usually about the fineness of our good Osnaburg, and spun suflEiciently hard to twist readily when doubled, and Dyeing, Spinntng and Weaving by the Camanches. 359 makes the doubled thread not very hard. After the spinning is finished, and previous to weaving, the thread is measured, by hnnkinfi it over two pins a certain distance apart. This is only to ascertain the length of the thread required, and is then formed into a ball. Navajoes Spinning. The Navajoes have another and a more artistic manner of spinning, for which it has been thought they were indebted to white instructors, but which they indignantly deny. Two boards, of two or three feet in length, and three to six inches in width, as may be procured, are pinned on opposite sides of the crotch of a tree of convenient height, or of two posts set in the ground near each other, or two trees growing near together. Two holes are bored in the boards, one opposite the other, and about one and a half inches in diameter. A limb of any kind of tree with a branch diverging at right angles, is procured. The larger limb is cut off about eighteen inches each way from the branch, so as t lif 360 Tfie Indian Miscellany. to be about throu foot lon/^. The brancli is trimmed oft to tit the holes, and coiistitiites tlie wpindle. The limb is used as the hiindle, avid uh u fly to coutiiuie the momentum. The whole a|)piirutuH is uni((ue, simple ami etHc-ient, and I would say an original one. (See section »S', where ", y the Indians to our own people, is sure to be met with a claim for indemnities, requiring not only judg- ment, but firmness on the part of the agent to allow or reject. To carry on this sort of litigation, there are numerous conferences and " talks," that afford not the "least interesting occa; ions for studying the Indian character. At one of these talks, Bizi/d, or Buffalo, spoke pretty much to this effect upon the subject of Indian aggressions. After offering his salutations, and those of his band who were seated round the hall, first to their great father at Washington, and then to the Indian agent, he said " that his people had been accused of committing aggressions upon the whites — he thouglit it probable that some of the thoughtless young men might have done so, and if he knew who they were he would certainly point out to them how much against their interest it is to do such tilings. He had made some inquiries about the alleged aggressions, and he thought that when tliey came to be examined into they would be found of a very trifling nature, and more intended as a retaliation for much greater aggressions on the part of the white men. He said that his people were satisfied with the assistance and the advice which the great father had caused to be given to them, and that they were thankful to him for his presents. He had advised his people himself, as the agent had last year asked him to do, to turn their attention, more than they had previously done, to the cultivation of their soil, to the planting of corn and of potatoes; but that the wide woods were still full of game, and the deep waters full offish, and that it was difiicult to prevail upon the young men to abandon these resources, to go about turning up the ground. They preferred to leave that to the care of the Women, who seemed to be better fitted for such drudgery. He would, how- ever, continue to advise them gradually to break themselves into I-- A Fortnight Among the Chippewas. 365 this new system, if it were only to keep them from the tempta- tion, when they were pinched hy want, to trespass upon the potato patches of the white men. Yet he was of opinion that if the agent looked carefully into the matter, he would find that the aggressions came most frequently from the whites upon the Indians." He now signified that he had spoken all he had to say. And, advancing to the agent, gave him his hand, and in succession to all those seated round the agent's table. On another occasion, Siiigoup, or Balsam Tree, spoke in some such a strain as this. After making the usual salutation, he said that he probably vvould be considered as having spoken like a child. " The truth is," he said, " I am now a child — the time was when I was a man, and then I spoke like a man ; but now I speak like a child, because my young men treat me as if I was a child. When I was a British Indian I was treated by the British agents like a man — they spoke well of me, which my young men heard, and they gave me presents, which my young men saw, and that caused them to respect me ; but now that I am an Ame- rican Indian, I am not noticed by the great father, and my young men think that I am not in favor, and, therefore, they treat me like a child. I used to give them good advice, whicli they heeded ; but now they don't listen to what I say. It is not my fault. If they become dissatisfied, great mischief may arise out of it — they may again draw the knife — and there may be a great deal of bloodshed. It was not so when I was a British Indian ; but now I am a child, and must expect to be treated like a child." To which the Indian agent replied very ap[)ropriately, "that there was nothing more true than that he had spoken like a child ; but it was not true that he had not l)een as well spoken of or treated as the other chiefs. Whenever it was known that he had given good advice to liis people, he had been hiuded for it, and received presents. As to his taunting him (the agent) with what he was when a ]iritish Indian, it was a matter of perfect inditt'er- ence — the great father at Washington had ample power to keep all children under obedience, and would do so; that he would reward where reward was due, and punish where punishment 366 The Indian Miscellany. ill was merited. He talked of bloodshed ; lie (the agent) could tell them, and he was glad to have an opportunity of saying so in the presence of the young men here assembled, that if they dared to respond to such sentiments as those expressed by the chief, they would sorely repent of it. Yes, Singoup," said the agent, "you have indeed spoken like a child. At one time I thought you were a good man ; I fear now that I was mistaken, though I still hope that your speech was prompted by some momentary ebuli- tion of passion, that your better sense will cause you to repent of. If you wish to speak again, speak like a man, not like a whining child, or a woman." Singoup, who had been during this severe reprimand composedly smoking his pipe, then rose once more and blandly said " that what he had said amounted to nothing at all. He only wished to see what effect it would have upon his young men." He then advanced and shook hands, not a little to the amusement, though surprise of all, at this ingenuous way of getting out of a scrape. There are two occasions when the Indian character shows itself strongly : at their dances and when they arc gambling. During the period of the payment the performance of the pipe-dance, together with the war-dance, is a very frequent exhibition with them ; and as they resort to it for the express purpose of levying a contribution upon the merchants and traders of Lapointe, it has been more significantly called the " begging-dance." Ac- cordingly they make great preparations for its coming ofi' with effect — such as annointing their limbs, painting their bodies in the most fantastical manner, and, barely saving decency, appear almost naked, After promenading the village, they assemble before the agency house, and other places where they expect to be treated, and commence their performances. The pipe-dance is usually a pas seul, danced by the most expert balerini of the troup in turns, and consists in grotesque and violent distortions of the body, indicative more of suppleness than of strength, but having no pretensions whatever to grace. It precedes the war- dance, in which the whole corps de ballet unite in equally violent contortions of limbs, and qtimi martial exercises of march- ing and countermarching, interspersed with the firing oflF of A Fortnight Among the Chippewas. 367 pistols, brandishing of knives, going through the sham action of slaying and scalping an enemy, and making animated harangues. Both dances are accompanied by a monotonous beating upon a kettle, or a tight skin, and the Jingling of bells, that are played by the elders of the band, who seem to delight in the sport, and contribute to it by an incessant chant. Nemeewin is their generic name for a dance ; opwagun-nemeewin is the pipe-dance, and meda- weewin the grand medicine dance. The boys sometimes fall into the dance ; but the women never ; and only a few, ensconced behind the fences, are even spectators of it. The dance being over, the party is usually at the factory treated with some crackers and cheese ; and a pail of sweetened water into which has been poured a bottle or two of essence of peppermint, is brought out to which they help themselves at discretion. They are very fond of this sort of mint julep, which they call mahkahwahgomik. The Indians are inveterate gamblers. They iiave combined a game of cards (ahtahdeweno Cards weie introduced among them by the British and American traders. A Fortnight Among the Chippewa s. 369 The Indian boys [kwewezms) are very fond of wrestling, a gymnastic which they term kahf/nahjeicah-nahawin. They never box; their usual mode of fighting ])eing to kick at each other — tunggishkoo-dahdawin ; they practice this exercise also for amuse- ment. The men (enenewug) never fight except with bloody inten- tions. The M'omen [ojuawug) and girls {cquesens) do frequently, with all the destructive manipulations of the sex in every clime. A very remarkable trait of character in the Indians is, that they never quarrel, nor address insulting epithets to each other. If one wishes to speak ill of another, he will do so in his presence, but addresses himself to a third person ; the insulted party either listens to it in silence, goes away, takes no notice of it, or re- sents it by a manslaughter. The Chippewas appear not to be musical. The Ottowas who assemble at the Sault and at Mackinaw arc much more so, as on the occasions of their payment they buy fifes, flutes, and fiddles, which they use tant Men que mal ; but a Chippewa's notion of music is concentrated in his tarvahegun, or drum, andthc jews- harp maxhoawechegance. They have songs, but they could not be prevailed upon to sing them. It may be said of the Indians that, either by temperament and some peculiarity of physical structure, or from a moral propen- sity, they are essentially a sluggish race — exhibiting none of that restlessness of the white man which is ever in quest of something beyond the complete gratification of the wants of the body. Hunger rather interrupts than overcomes their habit of bodily indolence ; but it is a peculiarity of the Indian character to re- main as long as possible in a state of quiescence. Hence they are essentially too improvident. The only provisions that are made for the long and dreary winter of their climate consist in planting and gathering a few potatoes and a v ry little corn ; the only summer gifts that are hoarded are the wild rice and whortle- berries, dried and put by, not as a delicacy, but for nourishment. The maple sugar is more an object of traffic than a provision. They rely, in fact, mainly upon game and fish. Some of the least improvident prepare a little smoked deer's meat, or other game, and render the tallow or lard of the slain animals, which 26 ; I rTi 370 The Indian Misckllany. they put in holes called cdches. In these caches they also bury fish for great emergencies. The only industrial arts practiced by the Indians are canoe building, making of nets and mats, and the manufacture of a variety of useful and ornamental articles with the birch bark. The birch, indeed, seems to have been made expressly for the Indian. With its bark he makes his canoe, named by him gemaun ; the frame work of which is of yellow cedar, bound together with the fibrous roots of the spruce pine, and this is covered over with birch bark, rolled into sheets of various sizes that are sewed together with cords or threads of the spruce root ; finally, the seams are covered over with gum, made of the exuda- tion of the spruce boiled down to a proper consistency, to which is added powdered charcoal from the pine, to give color to the mastic. The birch bark is made into troughs {■pisketahnahgun) in which the maple sugar [sinzibuckwud) is gathered in March and April, by merely cutting a gash in the tree from downwards up, and putting into it a chip of wood to direct the sap into the trough. With the birch bark is also manufactured the sugar basket (mukkuk), and a variety of other baskets and boxes for useful purposes. There are some families that possess as household utensils from one to two thousand birch troughs, used to collect the saccharine juice of the maple. The wegewan is built of birch bark, and out of this bark the Indian makes himself a scroll {totem) upon which, in hieroglyphics of his own invention, he in- scribes his coat of arms, a bird, a bear, a beaver, an owl, a fish, or animal of any kind, and marks down the number of members, old and young, belonging to his family. The bark is also used in preference to any other substance for kindling fires; it burns with a bright flame that adapts it for use as a torch-light in tak- ing fish by night. The Indian seems to be aware of the peculiar adaption of this tree to his wants; for, if he has anything of value to preserve, he wraps it up carefully in its bark. The wood, too, is useful in its juice as a beverage; its young shoots collect a number ol rabbits, and wild pigeons are particularly fond of its blossoms. In the ornamental articles of Indian manufacture that serve as A Fortnight Among the Chippewa s. 371 portions of their dress, such as the ties or garters for leggins, the holts, saches, pouches, etc., that are made of colored heads, a prevailing idea of the cross is ohserved, probahly imitated from the vestment of the Catholic priests who first settled among them, from whom also they have acquired many usages not riginally theirs. The moccasins worn by the females are frequently very neatly lined with blue cloth, and tastefully ornamented with bead work. Those of the men are decorated on the fore part of the foot, like the worked cloth slipper of the civilized gentleman. The most desirable article of female dress appears to be a shawl of supertine blue cloth, which is more fre- quently borne upon the head than the shoulders. Whether it be that the .women have not so readily the means of procuring them, they do not wear as many ornaments as the men ; hut they are pleased to deck their children with them. A very remarkable trait in the character of the Indian mother is her excessive fondness for her children, who are indulged in every way, are never chastised, and whose loss is bewailed with great demonstrations of sorrow. The men play with the young children, but take no notice of the growing up boys, who are suffered to do just as they please, and are very mischievous. When the men are too much annoyed by them, they knuckle them on the head, but have never recourse to flagellation. In this latter respect they have certainly an advantage over the white man, who has not yet discarded from his system of disci- pline the ferule and the whip. The Indian is also fond of his dogs ; whenever a canoe is met coasting the shores of the lake, the sire is at the helm, the squaw and grown up boys or girls are paddling, the helpless children and a pack of dogs are the steerage passengers. The dogs have their litter in the wigwam ; but if one is accidentally killed, or if necessity compels his slaugh- ter, he is boiled into soup, and feasted upon as a great delicacy. The Indian pets them, as the white man does the lamb, and feeds them to gratify his appetite. The Indians are certainly not what the French would call gourmets, but rather gourmands; in other words whenever the food is provided for them, they are great eaters, and not dainty m\\ I ! ^ iV 'S^ •'**'' <^\^\ '^ iV ■■B I i W 374 The Indian Miscellany. to the great terror of tixcir families, whilst others, completely unnerved, lay down to whine and drivel. The first care of the women, on such occasions, is to conceal the knives and other dangerous weapons, and they show the same solicitude that might be expected from a Christian wife. Within what is called the Indian territory, the introduction of spirituous liquor is prohibited ; but at places under the junsdiction of the states, the federal government has not interfered, and can not; 80 that at Mackinaw, Green Bay, and the Sault, the ex- cesses growing out of the use of ardent spirits are very great, and the women, and even the young people, are likewise maddened by it. The post, under such circumstances, becomes a true pandemo- nium. When in a state of intoxication, the women especially give vent to their sorrow in melancholy chantings and a profuse flow of tears ; the burden of their songs being the death of their friends or other misfortunes. One who listens to these lamentations while darkness and distance interpose to conceal the too often disgusting objects who utter them, and to soften down and mellow the tone of high pitched voices, will often find something afiect- ing in their honest and unpremeditated complaints. Before the whites introduced among them intoxicating drinks, it is probable that assembling together for feasts was their principal and most favorite source of excitement in tim-^s of peace, and compaiative inactivity ; for they are exceedingly fond of feasts, of which they have a great many, and at all of which they gather principally to eat and smoke. They seem to have a peculiar relish for the meat of dogs, which they simply boil without any salt. The soup is served up in a tin pan, from which each one, after taking a long sup, passes it to his next neighbor, and then falls to smoking. In no instance were they heard to enliven their conviviality by the help of a song. Although the Indians, as before stated, are great eaters, yet they enjoin upon young and unmarried persons, of both sexes, rigorous and long continued fasts, that are begun at a very early age. " The parent," says Dr. James, in Tanner's Narrative, " in the morning, offers the child the usual breakfast in one hand and charcoals in the other : if the latter is accepted, the parent is A Fortnight Among the Chippewas. 375 gratified, and some commendations, or marks of favor, are be- stowed on the child. To be able to continue long fasting confers an enviable distinction. They therefore inculcate upon their children the necessity of remaining long without food. Some- times the children fast three, five, seven, and some, as is said, even ten days ; in all of which time they take only a little water^ and that at very distant intervals. During these fasts they pay very particular attention to their dreams, and from the character of these their parents, to whom they relate them, form an opinion of the future life of the child. Dreaming of things above, as birds, clouds, the sky, etc., is considered favorable ; and when the child begins to relate any thing of this kind, the parent in- terrupts him, saying: 'It is well, my child say no more of it.' In these dreams, also, the children receive impressions which continue to influence their character through life. A man, an old and very distinguished warrior, who was some years ago at Red river, dreamed, when fasting ?n his childhood, that a bat came to him, and this little animal he chose for his medicine. To all the costly medicines for war or hunting, used by other Indians, he paid no attention. Throughout his life he wore the ikin of a bat tied to the crown of his head, and in numerous war excur- sions he went Into battle exulting in the confidence that the Sioux, who could not hit a bat on the wing, would never be able to hit him. He distinguished himself in many battles, and killed many of his enemies, but throughout his long life no bullet ever touched him, all of which he attributed to the protecting in- fluence of his medicine, revealed to him, in answer to his fasting in boyhood. Of Net-no-kwa, his foster mother, the author of the foregoing narrative relates that at about twelve years of age she fasted ten successive days. In he^ dream a man came down and stood before her, and, after speaking of many th'ngs, he gave her two sticks, saying : ' I give you these to walk upon, and your hair I give it to be like snow.' In all her subsequent life this excellent woman retained the confident assurance that she should live to extreme old age, and often in times of the greatest distress from hunger, and of apparent danger from other causes, she cheered her family by the assurance that it was given to her to 37b The Indiajm MiscellaiNy. 1 1 IM-Jf crawl on two sticks, unci to have her head like the snow, and roused them to exertion by infusing some part of her own confi- dent reliance upon the protection of a superior and invisible power." Another occasion of excitement with the Indian is during the dying moments of one of the family, when, having satisfactorily pioved the inefficacy oi gushkibitagun, or medicine bag, they have recourse to the bwinahkeek, or medicine drum. The entrance to the lodge is then closed up with a black bear skin, and within its vitiated at^xospliere a continuous drumming upon a tight skin is kept up, without intermission, for hours, accompanied by a monotonous chant, until the miserable sufferer is distracted first, and then literally asphyxiated. No sooner dead than he is buried ; or rather is most usually laid out upon the surface of the ground and simply protected by a roof-shaped covering. Their wake over their dead takes place after this mode of burial, and consists in the lamentations of the women over the entombment for the rest of the day. This is what they are observed to do when thrown in the midst of a civilized settlement ; but it is probable that when left to themselves their ceremonials, on such occasions, may be very different. There is something impressive and affecting in their habit of preserving the jebi, or memorial of the dead, which like our weeds and crapes, finds a place in many a dwelling where little of mourning is visible. Yet, though the place which death had made vacant in their hearts, may have been filled, they seem never to forget the supply they consider due the wants of the de- parted. Whenever they eat or drink, a portion is carefully set apart for the jebi, and this observance continues for years, should they not, in the meantime, have an opportunity to send out this memorial with some war party ; when, if it be thrown down on the field of battle, as they aim always to do, then their obligation to the departed ceases. In sickness, the Indian is very desponding, and if relief be speedily administered to him, is equally grateful. He acknow- ledges services thus rendered to him, in manner and kind, to the utmost of his abilities. He seems to have fallen heir to all the A Fortnight Among the Chippewas. 377 diseases that afflict the human race, and is not known to have any one peculiar to his condition. In their own original and genuine custom, when the doctor — muskekiwainni^ literally medicine man — is called in, it is usual to present him, as he enters the lodge of his patient, a kettle of the best food they are able to pro- cure, and it is very generally the case that the medicine-man com- mences his treatment by assuring his patient that he is suiFering from the malice of some enemy. He may possibly go still further, and not satisfied with telling his patient that he is under the in- fluence of the i'lcantations o'. some body, will name some person, either his .)wn or his patient's enemy, as he may think most for his interest. In other words, the Indian medicine man is a rank impostor or quack. After the distribution of the fresh blankets and new clothing, the Indian encampment assumes a gayer aspect. The women turn out in their newly acquired finery, displaying all the co- quetry of their sex, in which the men are by no means deficient, except that with an inherent love, as it v;ere, of paint, they daub their white blankets with red, blue and black earths, with gro- tesque representations of all sorts, which speedily brings them into the condition of dirty clothes, even before the time of de- parture for their forest homes. Taking a final leave of the Chippewas a few reflections may be indulged, as respects the eftbrts to introduce our Christian civilization among them. It must be conceded, in the first place, that the Catholic missionaries have been most successful. And in reference to missionary labors, generally, among the Indians, it has been justly said that " they originate as well in a diffusive and amiable benevolence as a feeling of justice, and severe, though tardy compunction, which would seek, at this late day, to render to the starved and shivering remnant of the people who received as to their country in our day of small things, some re- compense for the fair inheritance which we have wrested from their forefathers. The example of the Cherokees, and some others in the south, has been sufficient to prove that, under the influence of a mild climate and a fertile soil, these people can be taught habits of settled, if not persevering industry. From this p f 378 The Indian Miscellany. condition of things we can already see how, among that people, habits of enterprise and industry are to spring up, and we look forward with confidence to a source of continued improvement. That all the other bands and tribes, under similar auspices and simi- lar influences, would pursue a similar course, can not be doubted. Philologists and speculative theorists may divide and class as they please ; to the patient and industrious observer, who has mingled intimately with this race in the low and fertile districts of the Mississippi, in the broad and smiling plains of Arkansas and the Red river, in the forests of the upper Mississippi, and among the pines and the mosses of the upper lakes, it will be evident that the aboriginal people of the United States territory are all of one family, not by physical constitation and habit only, but by the structur-^ and temperaments of their minds ; their modes of thinking and acting; and, indeed, in all physical and mental peculiarities which set them apart from the remainder of the human family as a peculiar people. Whatever course has, in one situation, proved in any measure etfectual to reclaim them frorn their vague and idle habits, will certainly succeed in ano ther situation, though perhaps more slowly, as they may be influenced by a less genial climate, or more barren soil.*'^ » Tanner's N^arrativc, THE JANE Mc CREA TRA GED Y. ' By Wilixam L. Stone. Probably no event, either in ancient or modern warfare, has received so many versions as the killing of Miss Jane McOrea during the Revolutionary war. It has been commemorated in story and in song, and narrated in grave histories, in as many different ways as there have been writers upon the subject. As an incident, merely, of the Revolution, accuracy in its relation is not, perhaps, of much moment. When measured, however, by its results, it at once assumes an importance which justifies such an investigation as shall bring out the truth in all its details. The slaying of Miss McCrea was, to the people of New York, what the battle of Lexington was to the New England colonies. In each case the effect was to consolidate the inhabitants more firmly against the invader. The blood of the unfortunate girl was not shed in vain. From every drop hundreds of armed yeomen arose ; and, as has been justly said, her name was passed as a note of alarm along the banks of the Hudson, and, as a "rallying cry among the Green mountains of Vermont, brought down all their fiardy eons." It thus contributed to Burgoyne's defeat, which became a precursor and principal cause of national independence. The story, as told by Bancroft, Irving, and others, is that as Jane McCrea was on her way from Fort Edward to meet her lover at the British camp, under the protection of two Indians, a quarrel arose between the latter as to which should have the promised reward ; when one of them, to terminate the dispute, " sunk," as Mr. Bancroft says, " his tomahawk into the skull " of their unfortunate charge. The correct version, however, of the Jane McCrea tragedy, gathered from the statement made by Mrs. McNeal to General • Reprinted from the Oalaxy (New York), for January, 1867, with Bupplementary note, written by the author for the Indian MUceUany. 1 «it ll iiiim I 380 The Indian Miscellany, Burgoyne, on the 28th of July, 1777, in the marquee of her cousin, General Frazer, and corroborated by several people well ac- quainted with Jane McCroa, and by whom it was related to Judge Hay, of Saratoga Springs — a veracious and industrious his- torian — and taken down from their lips, is different from the version given by Mr. Bancroft. On the moi-ning of the 27th of July, 1777, Miss McCrea and Mrs. McNeal were at the latter's house in Fort Edward, preparing to set out for Fort Miller for greater security, as rumors had been rife of Indians in the vicinity. Their action was the result of a message sent to them early that morning by General Arnold, who had at tho same time despatched to their assistance Lieu- tenant Palmer with some twenty men, witli orders to place their furniture on board a bateau and row the family down to Fort Miller. Lieutenant Palmer having been informed by Mrs. McNeal that nearly all her effects had already been put on the bateau, remarked that he, with the soldiers, was going up the hill as far as an old block-house, for the purpose of reconnoitering, but would not be long absent. The lieutenant and his party, however, not returning, Mrs. McNeal and Jane McCrea concluded not to wait longer, but to ride on horseback to Colonel McCrea's ferry, leaving the further lading of the boat in charge of a black servant. Wlicn the horses, however, were brought up to the door, it was found that one side-saddle was missing, and a boy* was accordingly despatched to the house of a Mr. Gillis for the purpose of borrowing a side-saddle or pillion. "While watching for the boy's return Mrs. McNeal heard a discharge of firearms.'' and looking out of a window, saw one of Lieutenant Palmer's soldiers running along the military road toward the fort, pursued by several Indians, The fugitive, seeing Mrs. McNeal, waved his hat as a signal of danger, and passed on ; which the Indians perceiving, left off' the pursuit and came toward the hou::e. > His name was Norman Morrison . It is not known with certainty what became of him, though tradition states that, being small and active, he escaped from the savages and reached his house in Hartford, Washington county, N. Y. 3 So fatal was this discharge that oat of Lieutenant Palmer's twenty men, only eight remained, Palmer himself being Idlled on the spot. The Jane McCrea Tragedy. 381 Seeing their intention, Mrs. McNeal screamed, " Get down cellar for your lives !" On this, Jane McOrea and the black woman, Eve, with her infant, retreated safely to the cellar, but Mrs. McNeal was caught on the stairs by the Indians, and dragged back by the hair by a powerful savtige, who was addressed by his companions as the " Wyandot Panther." A search in the cellar was then begun, and the result was the discovery only of Jane McCrea, who was brought up from her concealment/ the Wyandot exclaiming upon seeing her, " My squaw, me find um agin — me keep um fast now, foreber, ugh!" By this time the soldiers had arrived at the fort; the alarm drum was beaten, and a party of soldiers started in pursuit. Alarmed by the noise of the drum — which they, in common with Mrs. McNeal and Jenny, heard — the Indians, after a hurried . jr mltation, hastily lifted the two women upon the horses which had been in waiting to carry them to Colonel McCrea's ferry, and started off upon the run. Mrs. McNeal, however, having been placed upon the horse on which there was no saddle, slipped off, and was thereupon carried in the arms of a savage. At this point Mrs. McNeal lost sight of her companion, who, to use the language of Mrs. McNeal, " V, as then ahead of me, and appeared to be firmly seated on the saddle, and held the rein while peveral Indians seemed to guard her — the Wyandot still ascending the hill and pulling along by bridle-bit the affrighted horse upon which poor Jenny rode." The Indians, however, when half way up the hill, were nearly overtaken by the soldiers, who, at this point, began firing by platoons. At ever}' discharge the Indians would fall flat with Mrs. McNeal. By the time the top > the Fort Edward hill had been gained, notan Indian was harmed, and one of thom rLTKP.rked to Mrs. McNeal : " Wagh ! um no kill — um shoot too much high for hit." During the firing, two or three of the bullets of the pursuing party hit Miss McCrea with fatal effect, who, falling from her horse, had her scalp torn off by her guide, the Wyandot > Judge Hay was informed by Adam, after he became a man, that his mother, Eve, had often de- scribed to him how Blie continued to conceal him and herself in an ash-bin beneath a flre-plfi'-e ; he, luckily, not awaking to cry while the search was going on around them In the cellar. This was also conflrmed by the late Mrs, Judge Cowen. 382 The Indian Miscellany. Panther, in revenge for the loss of the reward given by Burgoyne for any white prisoner — a reward considered equal to a barrel of rum. Mrs. McNeal, however, was carried to Griffith's house and there kept by the Indians until the next day, when she was ransomed and taken to the British camp. " I nevr saw Jenny afterward," says Mrs. McNeal, " nor anything that appertained to her person until my arrival in the British camp, when an aide-de-camp showed me a fresh scalp-lock which I could not mistake, because the hair was unusually fine, luxuriant, lustrous, and dark as the wing of a raven. Till that evidence of her death was exhibited I hoped, almost against hope, that poor Jenny had been either rescued by our pursuers (in whose army her brother, Stephen McCrea, was a surgeon), or brought by our captors to some part of the British encampment." While at Griffith's house Mrs. McNeal endeavored to hire an Indian, named Captain Tommo, to go back and search for her companion, but neither he nor any of the Indians could be prevailed upon to venture even as far back as the brow of the Fort Edward hill to look down it for the white squaw, as they called Jenny. The remains of Miss McCrea were gathered up by those who would have rescued her, and buried — together with those of Lieutenant Palmer — under the supervision of Colonel Morgan Lewis (then deputy quartermaster-general), on the bank of the creek, three miles south of Fort Edward, and two miles south of her brother's — John McCrea's — farm, which was across the Hudson, and directly opposite the principal encampment of General Schuyler. The only statement which, while disproving Mr. Bancroft's relation, seems to conflict with the above account of the manner of her death, is the one made by Dr. John Bartlett, a surgeon in the American army. This occurs in his report to the director- general of the hospitals of the northern department, dated at Moses creek headquarters, at 10 o'clock of the night of July 27, 1777, and is as follows : " I have this moment returned from Fort Edward, where a party of hell-hounds, in conjunction with their brethren, the British troops, fell The Jane McCrea Tragedy. 383 upon an advanced guard, inhumanly butchered, scalped and stripped four of them, wounded two more, eacli in the thigh, and four more are misBing. " Poor Miss Jenny McCrea, and the woman with whom she lived, were taken by the savages, led up the hill to where there was a body of British troops, and there the poor girl was shot to death in cold blood, scalped and left on the ground ; and the other woman not yet found. "The alarm came to camp at two p.m. I was at dinner. I immedi- ately sent off to collect all the regular surgeons, in order to take some one or two of them along with me to assist, but tlie devil of a bit of one was to be found. . . . There is neither amputating instrument, crooked needle nor tourniquet in all the camp. I have a handful of lint ai.d two or three bandages, and that is all. What in the name of wonder I am to do in case of an attack, God only knows. Without assistance, without instruments, without everything." This statement, however, was made, as is apparent on its face, hurriedly, and under groat excitement. A thousand rumors were flying in the air ; and there had been no tinie in which to sift out the kernels of truth from the chaff. But, in addition to this, the story of the surgeon is flatly contradicted by testimony both at the tim.e of the occurrence and afterward. General Bur- goyne's famous Bouquet order of the 2l8t of May, and his efforts, by appealing to their fears and love of gain, to prevent any species of cruelty on the part of his savage allies — facts well known to his oflicers and men — render it simply impossible to believe the statement of Surgeon Bartlett, that a " body of Brit- ish troops" stood calmly by and witnessed the murdei of a de- fenceless maiden — and a maiden, too, between whom and one of their comrades in arms there was known to be a betrothment. Leaving, however, probabilities, we have the entirely different and detailed account of Jenny's companion, Mrs. McNr ' " the woman with whom she lived," and who, as " the woman 3t yet found," was endeavoring — while the surgeon was penning his account — to prevail upon the savages to go back and search for Jenny's body, left behind in their hurried flight. The whole matter, however, seems to be placed beyond all doubt, not only by the corroborative statement of the Wyandot Panther, when brought into the presence of Burgoyne — to the 384 The Indian Miscellany. effect that it was not he, but the enemy, that had killed her — but by the statement of General Morgan Lewis, afterward go- vernor of New York state. His account is thus given by Judge Hay in a letter to the writer : " Several years after Mrs. Tearse had departed this, to her, eventful life, T conversed (in the hearing of Mr. David Banks, at his law-book store ill New York), with Governor Lewis. Morgan Lewis thou stated his distinct recollection that there were three gun-shot wounds upon Mihs McCrea's corpse, which, on the day of her death, was, hy direc- tion of himself — and, in fact, under his own personal supervision — removed, together with a subaltern's remains, from a hill near fort Edward to the Three Mile creek, where they were interred. The fact of the bullet wounds, of which I had not befoie heurd, but which was consistent with Mrs. Tearse's statement, was to me ' confinuation strong as proof from Holy Writ' that Jane McCreahad not been killed exclusively by Indians, who could have done that deed either with a tomahawk or scalping-knife, and would not, therefore, be likely (pardon the phrase in this connection) to have wasted their ammunition. In that opinion Governor Lewis, an experienced jurist, if not general, familiar with rules of evidence, concurred." This opinion of two eminent lawyers, as well as the statement of the "Wyandot, receives, moreover, additional confirmation in the fact that when the remains of .Tane McCrea, a few years since, were disinterred and removed to the old Fort Edward burial ground, and consigned to Mrs. McNeal's grave. Doctor William S. Norton, a respectable and very intelligent practitioner of physic and surgery, examined her skull, and found no marks whatever of a cut or a gash.^ This fact, also, strongly confirms the opinion expressed at the time by General Frazer, at the post mortem camp investigation, that Jane McCrea was accidentally, or rather unintentionally, killed by American troops pursuing the Indiana, and, as General Frazer said he had often witnessed, aiming too high, when the mark was on elevated ground, as had occurred at Bunker's (Breed's) Hill. It thus appears, first, that Jane McCrea was accidentally killed ' Miss McCrea's remains have recently again been removed, for the third time, to a new Union Cemetery, situated about half way between Port Edward and Sandy Hill. A large slab of white marble has been placed over the spot by Misa McCrea's niece, Mrs. Sarah H. Payne. The Jane McCuea Tragedy. 385 by the Americans ; und, secondly, that the American loyalist (David Jones) did not send the Indians, much less the ferocious Wyandot, whom he abhorred and dreaded, on their errand. Indeed, the falsity of this latter statement (which, by the way, General Burgoyne never Relieved) is also susceptible of proof. The well-established tiuit that Jones had sent Robert Ayers (father-in-law of ItanHom Cook, Kh([., now residing at Saratoga Springs), with a letter to Miss McCrea asking her to visit the British encampment and accompany its commiiiider-in-chief, with his lady guests, on an excursion to Lake Gdorge, clearly shows how the charge against Jones had crept into a Whig accu- sation concerning supposed misconduct and meanness ; and the dialogue (also well authenticated) between two of her captors, in relation to the comparative value of a living white squaw — esti- mated at a barrel of ''um — and her scalp-lock, accounts, perhaps, for the story of the pretended proffered reward (a barrel of rum), alleged to have caused the quarrel among the Indians which resulted in the supposed catastrophy. All who Jiad been ac- quainted with David Jones knew that he was incapable of such conduct, and so expressed themselves at the time. The rumor, also, which is ^lightly coniirmed in Burgoyne's letter to Gates, that Miss McCrea was op her way to an appointed marriage ceremony, originated in Jones's admission that he had intended, on the arrival of his betrothed at Skeensborough (Whitehall) to solicit her consent to their immediate nuptials — Chaplain Brudenell ofhciating. But Jones explicitly denied having intimated such desire in his letter to Miss McCrea or otherwise. " Such," he added, " was, without reference to my own sense of propriety, my dear Janet's sensibility, that the indelicacy of this supposed proposal would, even under our peculiar circumstances, have thwarted it." Indeed, this question was often a topic of conversation between General Frazer and Mrs. McISTeal, who, with Miss Hunter (afterward Mrs, Tearse), accompanied him from Saratoga to Stillwater, and oi^ his decease returned to Fort Edward after witnessing the surrender of the British general. Jones frankly admitted to his friends, that in consequence of the proximity of the savages to Fort Edward, he 26 386 The Indian Miscellany. ^-i !ff| had engaged several chiefs who had been at the Bouquet encamp- ment, to keep an eye upon the fiercer Ottawas, and especially upon the fierce Wyandot, and persuade them not to cross the Hudson ; but if they could not be deterred from so doing by intimations of danger from rebel scouts, his employes were to watch over the safety of his mother's residence, and also that of Colonel McCrea. For all which, and in order the better to secure their fidelity, Jones promised a suitable but unspecified reward — meaning thereby such trinkets and weapons as were fitted for Indian trafiic, and usually bestowed upon the savages, whetner in peace or war.' But partisanship was then extremely bitter, and eagerly seized the opportunity thus presented of magnifying a slight and false rumor into a veritable fact, which was used most saccessfully in stirring up the fires of hatred against loyalists in general, and the family of Jones in particular. The experiences of the last few years aftbrd fresh illustrations of Low little of partisan asseveration is reliable ; and there is so much of the terrible in civil war which is indisputably true, that it is not difiicult, nor does it require habitual credulity, to give currency to falsehood. One who a hundred years hence should write a history of the late rebellion, based upon the thousand rumors, newspaper cor- respondence, statements of radical and fierce politicians on one or another side, would run great risk of making serious mis- statements. The more private documents are brought to light, the more clearly they reveal a similar, though even more intensi- fied, state of feeling between the tories and the whigs during the era of the revolution. Great caution should therefore be observed when incorporu^ing in history any accounts, as facts, which seem to have been the result of personal hatred or malice.'' » Ab showing how improbable exaggerattone, originating In ratnor, are perpetuated In print, reference is made to a bootc in the State library at Albany, entitled, Travels through America, in a scries of letter ^, by an officer, Thomas Anbury, 1783. » New York, Nov. 1, 1876. —Before digmlBg'ng this subject, it may be well to state that the com- monly received and romantic story, that JoPds, the lover of Jane, never married, but died broken- hearted, is utterly destitute of truth. Ou the contrary, he married, ar.d one nf his grandsons, David JorcB, as late as 1865, commenced four suits in the supreme court of New York state, lor the recovery of the lands of his grandfather, conflBcated by the state. He was unsuccesBful, however; or failing to appear at the trial, Judgement was rendered against him for coBtB iu the Buita on the 8l8t of October 1856. Vidt, the flies of the Sandy HiU (N. Y.) Herald, for 1874 and '76. A VISIT TO THE S TA NDING ROCK A GENC Y. i be om- Len- ivid the rer; the By Daniel Leasure, M.D, On the morninij: of the 24th of July, 1875, I went on board of the steamer Josepliine iit Bismarck, hound for Standing Rock, one of the largest and most important of the Indian agencies on the Upper Missouri. Standing Rock is below Bismarck, about sixty miles overland, but more than double that distance by water. Our trip down was pleasant indeed. In thf afternoon we passed Fort Rice, the point from which the Sta. ley-Custer expedition of two years ago started out. Fort Rice is an infantry post, though sometimes a company of cavalry is stationed there for a short time to look after marauding bands of roving Sioux. We stopped at the fort and I visited the commandant, an old array acquaintance, and an hour later left for Standing Rock. After dark the steamer lay up for the night at a woodyard on the eastern shore, and the woodman came on board for late papers and news from the inside world. He was a rather well informed and intelligent man who had lived in that secluded spot for many years. He was a " squaw man," which is the name given to a white man who marries or cohabits with a squaw. His last wife before the one he has now was a Sioux, and they had two children, but one day, not long since, a band of Reeb came along and killed and scalped her. On being asked if he did not feel her loss very much, he replied : " Of course I did ; it cost me twenty good dollars to get another." Next morning (Sunday) we arrived at the agency, and in com- pany with a friend from Bismarck, I stopped off to await the return of the boat from below. I had imagined that the name Standing Rock was derived from some immense rock on the river shore, or some overhanging cliff constituting the main fea- ture of the spot, and on inquiry, I was informed that the rock was some distance inland. Major Burke, the agent, was absent, > Reprinted from the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Mining ChronicU, for August 21, 39, 1876, revtsed by the author for the Indian Miicellany. n 1! HRi |H|l||p t' |H| Ni i i iti&ictti ta^a i 388 The Indian Miscellany. but his son very kindly took us in an open spring wagon, through the various villages of the Indians, up to the lodge of Two Bears, head chief of the Yanktonnuis, about four miles from the agency buildings. On our way up he stopped and told us that there was the Standing Rock. It was a little boulder about twenty-eight inches in height, by fifteen inches at the base, and eight inches at the top, and was painted over in various colors, and surrounded by pieces of gay colored ribbons, bead work and the ears and tails of small animals, and other tokens, indicating that the In- dian women looked upon it as sacred, and came " to make medicine," in their domestic troubles, or in " white man's talk," to offer sacrifice. The story or myth of Standing Rock is quite as respectable as many another found in the traditions of savage or semi-barbarian people. It is to the effect that " once upon a time," a young Arickaree woman, wife of a great brave, and who loved him dearly, was so mortified and spirit broken because her husband took a second wife, that she went out on the prairie and sat down and neither ate nor drank till she died, and the Great Spirit turned her into that standing stone. To this day, the women of a hostile tribe, the Sioux, who now occupy the country, hold it as a sacred thing, and offer to it their sacrifices to propitiate it, and secure its good oflSces for them in their no doubt sufiiciently frequent little domestic difiiciilties. A man of ordinary strength could carry the stone away, but no one has ever molested it, and it remains a pillar of rock to mark the credulity of a simple and superstitious people. On arriving at Two Bears village we found that he had gone to a sacrificial dance to the God of evil, at the village of the Blackfeet Sioux. His wives, four in number, all sisters (a fifth sister a wife also, being dead), were at home. His favorite daughter received us in state within her father's lodge, which is a double log cabin with sod roof and earthen floor. She was dressed in gay calico as plainly cut as an ordinary working woman's dress, with her hair carefully braided in two long plaits, and ornamented with narrow red ribbons hanging down behind her shoulders, her feet encased in very beautifully ornamented A Visit to the Standing Rock Agency. 389 moccasins, and her face and the skin of the scalp, at the partings of her hair, painted vermillion. She was seated in state upon a bi^^alo robe, laid over a lounge bed, or divan, made of some empty candle boxes, with her hands folded in her lap, or playing with her ear ornaments, which consisted of a kind of shell called Iroquois, worked into a band about ten inches long by one inch at the part next the ear, and two inches at the most dependent part. This form of ear ornament is very much aflected by both sexes, old Two Bears himself sporting an enormous length and breadth, so that they fall clear down over his breast. After talking awhile, through an interpreter, we found she wanted to marry a white man, who would be rich enough to support her in the style to which she has been accustomed, for she alone, of all her father's family, is relieved from the curse of squawdora — hard labor. After the sacrifice at the Blackfeet village was over, Two Bears returned my call and invited me to call again, which I did, but the account of which I postpone for a description of the ceremony at the sacrifice to the G-od of evil, or Indian devil. This sacrifice is similar in its nature and objects to those ofiPered by many savage tribes of men in all ages and all countries. The gods of nearly all primitive men are demons who delight in afflicting mankind, and are all supposed to be blood drinkers, and to be appeased by sacrifices of either men or animals, or, they are to be frightened or over-awed by self torture on the part of men, to convince them that no amount of injury or maiming can give them pain. Thus, they torture themselves and make no sign of distress in order to convince the demon that it is not worth his while to fool away his time tormenting them, for don't he see for himself, that they are insensible to pain, therefore he may spare himself unnecessary trouble in the vain effort to hurt them. With this explanation, the philosophy of that Sunday sacrifice at Standing Rock will be self-evident. A dog is killed by torture, and divided into four parts, which are put into four kettles and set on the fire till boiled tender, or till he is supposed to be as tender as a dog ought to be. A young Bquaw as near as possible to womanhood, but not quite a woman, supposed to represent 300 Tae Indian Miscellany. chastity, then strips herself entirely nude, and to the sound of a low chant by he'' associates, and vijjorous beating on a drum or tom-torn^ performs a peculiar dance with a sidelong motion around the fire, on which are the kettles containing the pieces of dog, and all the time muttering some incantation. At a signal the young braves or old ones either, who wish to take part in the ceremony, in turn step up to one of the kettles, and, reaching in his bare hand and arm, takes out a piece of boiling meat, tears off a mouthful himself and swallows it, and passes it to his next neighbor, who must take it and eat of it in the same way, and so on they keep taking out tlie scalding mess and eating it till the skin of hands, lips and mouth hang loose in whitened shreds, and all this time no sign of pain or discomfort finds an expression on any face, and the seething morsels are slowly masticated and deliberately swallowed with a composure absolutely diabolical, and the miserable dupes feel themselves the better for it. The sun dance is another sacrificial rite of torture, and is a form of sun worship in which that luminary is supposed to be a demon and highly pleased with the self-inflicted pains of his worshipers, and in return he gives them strong hearts to over- come their enemies, or bear with indifference the penalties of captivity. The young braves are admitted at once into the councils of the tribe after undergoing the terrible tortures of these ceremoni.^s which are too horrible to bear description, and are falling into disrepute in proportion as the various bands of the wild tribes come under the influence of white men of the better sort. There are three large bands of the Sioux at the Standing Rock agency, namely, the Yanktonnais, the Uncpapas and Blackfeet, numbering in all about eight to ten thousand, of all ages. The chief of the Yanktonnais, the noted Two Bears, is one of the most intelligent and fair men to be found among Indians. He is naturally a courteous gentleman, though but a few years ago he was a very " bad Injun," till General Sully defeated him and his band, and taught him €ie folly of contending against the mighty arm of the great father. Since that time he has been a peace man, and all his dealings with the whites have been honora- A Visit to the Standing Rock Agency. 391 ble, though sometimes he has had sore provocation. But more of him hereafter. The other sulxihiefs of his hand at the agency are Big Head, Black Eyes and Wolfs Necklace. The chiefs of the Uncpapas are Boar'd Rihs, Running Antelope, Iron Horn, Thunder Hawk, and Belly Fat. I hud much talk, through an interpreter, with Running Ante- lope, who is constitutionally a blatherskite, and likes, above all things, to " shoot his mouth," as " talk making" is called on the border. He is now getting rather too old and fat to run very fast, but he has long been the mercury of the tribes, and has been admitted into the lodges of hostile bands as a messenger, when no other would dare venture into their power. His cos- tume when he called on me was, in addition to the breech clout and leggins, a summer blanket made of four flour sacks, colored by prairie dust, worn negligently over his shoulders ind where the sweat struck through, seemed spotted with grease. At one time, a few years ago, he wanted the steamboatmen to pay his people for the use of the water to float their boats, and on being pressed for a reason, said, " they were wearing out the river,'' but he has gotten bravely over that now since he is an agency Indian, and gets his subsistence brought by the boats. He is a very shiftless individual and always wanting something. The principal chief of the Blackfeet band is Kill Eagle, and the next most noted is John Grass, whose Indian name signifies " the man who stops the bear." His wife is a half breed, and I believe it was at her desire that he accepted the white man's name of John Grass. I met all these chiefs and many of their soldiers or braves at the various villages or at the lodge of Two Bears. "While at Standing Rock some of the oflicers of the military post and attaches of the agency proposed that I should witness a " squaw dance." So about ten o'clock at night they loaded two barrels of hard tack, several boxes of raisins, a large box of can- dies, some webs of flashy calico and divers and sundry trinkets into a wagon, and we started for the village of Two Bears. The interpreter had gone before and given an intimation to the chief, who had sent out to the other villages for a reinforcement of young squaws. "When we arrived, at midnight, they were all ■ 1 392 Thk Indian Miscellany. assembled to the innnhor of about ow. hundred in their highest state of ornamentation of paint and feathers, though it is but fair to say that thoy were all modestly and becomingly dressed in plain (ialico dresses; many of tliem wearing over ail, a dark blanket ornamented witli large t)and8 of handsome parti-colored beadwork. Though none of them were handsome, they all looked well, were neat and tidy and behaved with much decorum. On our arrival the stores were taken out of the wagon and placed in Two Bears' lodge, and John Dillon, the agency farmer and contractor, himself a " squaw man," was master of cere- monies, and introduced me to the assembled chiefs as a big war chief and strong medicine man, a combination that strikes the Indian as something above the ordinary. Two Bears re- quested us all to be seated, my Bismarck friend and myself in the middle of the circle, and lighting his great pipe, he took a whift'and passed it to the " next gentleman," and after a whiff or two he handed it to the next, until it passed around and was refilled and passed again, all the while conversation going on; Dillon acting as interpreter. After our smoke a few strokes on the great drum called all hands to the council house which stood near at hand. It was a circular building of cottonwood logs, set perpendicularly, close to each other, and extending above the ground to a height of six feet, and covered with pun- cheons and sods, leaving an opening in the center for the escape of the smoke from the council fire. All the " bucks" (which is the term by which young male Indians are designated until they reach the honors of braveship) were excluded, and the soldiers of Two Bears formed a cordon of guards around the house to preserve order, permitting only the white men, the young squaws, with a few of the wives of the chiefs and the chiefs themselves, of whom there were about a dozen, to enter. The squaws and the white men formed a circle around the lodge ; there being barely room enough for them all to get in. The great drum, composed of a hoop like an ordinary bass drum, with raw-hide heads, was swung on four forked sticks driven into the ground. Around the drum were squatted all the chiefs, each armed with a big drumstick, except Two Bears, who brought in an old caudle A Visit to the Standing Rock Agency. 393 box, and placing it beside the " band " seated me upon it, with my friend on ray left and Two Bears on my right. At a signal the music burst forth, and such music ! The chiefs chanted a song in a minor key at first, accompanying it by beating very good time on the drum. Presently the dancers started off in their part of the performance. Contrary to the commonly re- ceived idea of savage dances, there was no leaping or capering. Indeed the feet were not raised from the ground at all, but by alternate raising upon the toes and sinking upon the heel, with a queer dip at the knees and a side mo\ em(;nt to the left so as to cause the whole circle to move around from right to left, they kept time to the music with great accuracy. The e'ffect was most unique, and not by any means ungraceful. As the dance went on. Two Bears got excited, and leaving my side on the candle box, squatted beside the drum, and seiz- ing one of the sticks, gave a tremendous yell, and brought down his stick as though he was going to, as Dillon said, knock — out of it. Then raising the song into a higher key he infused new ardor into the dancers. One of his daughters, the princess, sprung out of the circle, and seizing my friend, pulled him off the candle box and into the ring, where he did some of the most astonishing things in the way of dancing to the great gratification of his dusky partner and her admiring friends. Momentarily I expected to be served in the same manner, but I suppose politeness and etiquette forbade,, and I was unmolested. It was a July night, and for want of a thermometer, we could only estimate the heat of that lodge by its effect upon the paint on the faces of the dancers and musicians, and it was determined to adjourn the dance to the outside. Soon a great fire was kindled, my candle box was installed alongside, the ring was again formed, and the word was, " on with the dance." But I now perceived that some of the white men had something in their souls more inspiring than music. Knowing that all were armed, and the bucks were jealous, I thought I had seen enough of the performance, and my friend and I retired with Two Bears into his lodge, where, after another smoke all around, we bade good bye to our host, and quietly stole away to our quarters at 394 The Indian Miscellany. the agenc} at four o'clock in the morning. The rest of ur party however, kept up the d^nce till sunrise, when the presents were distributed by Two Bears, and thus ended the st^uaw dance. During my stay at Standing Rock, I had ample opportunities for observing the operations of the subsistence plan of pacifying the Indians and helping them toward civilization. A large por- tion of the adult males and able-bodied squaws were out on the annual antelope hunt, but daily coming and returning they ex- hibited a fair average of the whole population. They destroyed thousands of antelo^-es ; Bear's Ribs having killed nine hundred himself, but very little of the meat was saved, those beautiful animals being mercilessly slaughtered for their skins, which are not worth more than an ordinary sheepskin. The killing taking place in July, with the mercury at more than a hundred degrees upon the blazing prairie, the preservation of the flesh could not be attempted, save as the squaws cut portions of it into slips and "jerked" it in the sunshine. Later in the season the skins would be worth more, and the flesh, which is delicious, could have been cured for winter use. I visited the farm and gardens where white laborers had ploughed the ground and planted the crops, and depended upon the Indians to tend and keep them clean ; but alas for the atten- tion. The ground was smothered in /eeds, and the poor crops were struggling against fearful odds, and yet, such was the fer- tility of the soil and the favors of the climate, that they would yield what in the east would be deemed a fair, average crop. The truth is, work is disgraceful, and no Indian of spirit would lower himself in the eyes of the squaws, for no squaw would respect a man who worked with his hands. Standing Rock is a Sioux agency under charge of the Catholic church, and is, I think, as faithfully administered as is possible under the circumstances. The bands on the agency are no doubt of the better class of the large tribe or tribes designated Sioux. They do not call themselves Sioux, but Dakota,, which means friends, and the other tribes, with whom they are always in a state of chronic unpleasantness, call them Sioux, which is a cor- ruption of a French-Indian word meaning enemies, or cut- A Visit to the Standinc; Rock Agency. 396 throats. Tliey are no doubt a fair specimen of the beet development of the Indians of the plains, who have made the first step towards civilization in acknowledging the right of private property. The men are rather above the average Indian in de- velopment and prowess, and the women are from necessity chaste. I say chaste from necessity, for although there ar3 instances of unchastity, they are rare, because its punishment is terrible. If an Indian maiden of the Dakota tribe permits herself to receive unchaste advances from one of the bucks, he straightway boasts of it, and thinks it a merit to do so, in order that she may be " passed upon the prairie," which is equivalent to abandoning her to the unbidden lust of every man who meets her ; and she can claim no protection. If she did, none would be given her, and the fear of hell has not more terror for civilized female sinners than the certainty of exposure and its swift penalty have upon their uncivilized sisters. AMONG THE G UA TU808 ; A NARRATIVE OF AD VEN- TURE AND DISCO VERY IN CENTRAL AMERICA.' By O. J. Parker. [There are a few aborlgtaal or Indian tribeH or ramiliei<, scattered at intervals over the continent who, from their inaccesBihIo poHition and other circiimgtancuB, have HiiccuudtiU in maintain'ng an entire isolation from the rcHt or the world, nnd whoxc cliaracterH and habittt are unknown, although probably little altered from what they were at the time of tho discovt^ry. An liitoruKtlng cixainple is afforded by the QuatiiHOH, an Indian tribe ocriipyint^ the; baHin of the Rio Frio, a contdderable stream rising in the mountains of Costa Rica, and rnnning northvard into Lake Nicaragua, which it reaches at very nearly the point of dcbonchure of the Rio San Juun. Many attempts wire made by the Spanish mlsslnnarieK and othiTs toward the close of the last century to penetrate Into this region, bnt they all failed through the Arm and unappi^asable hoBtillty of the Indians. An attempt was made by the Co^ta RIcans, during the war against Walker, In 1850, to send a body of troops down the Rio Frio, to surprise the fort of San Carlos, near Its mouth, but they were met by the GnatnsoB and driven back. As might bo expected the most extravagant stories prevail in Central America concerning these unknown and bellicose Indinnn. They are reported to be nearly white, with red hair, and to be as cruel as warlike. But these stories have recently been set at rest, and the secrets of the valley of the Rio Frio exposed by Captain Parker, who for several years was engaged on the steamers of the Nicaragua Transit Company, plying on the river San Juan and Lake Nica- ragua. He undertook to ascend the river in 1807, in a canoe, and penetrated to thu head of canoe navigation. We eubjoin his simple and unadorned narrative of the expedition, which is now pub- lished for the first time.] My curiosity to penetrate into the valley of the Rio Frio, explore its course and learn its capacities, as well as something of the strange people called the Guatusos, who live on its banks, was early greatly excited by^the numberless stories I had heard concerning the Indians and their country, and I had not been long in Nicaragua before I resolved on the adventure. I, how- ever, sought for companions in vain ; everybody denounced the enterprise as hazardous and foolhardy in the extreme. Some years of service with the Texan Rangers, and my experience in river navigation, led me to think otherwise, and after a year or two of eftbrt, I succeeded in raibing a canoe party, consisting of three Europeans, named A. C. Roberts and Jose Pelang, Franco- Californians, and C. Debbop, a German, long resident in Louisi- ana, to accompany me ; ail good canoemen and experienced shots. Of course we were well and heavily armed, and moreover furnished for a three months' journey. My canoe was of the ' Heprinted from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (New York) for January 26, 1888. Among the Guatusos. 397 ordinary kind in use upon the cotiHt, twenty-two feet long, of a single cedar log, light and strong, capahle of making six knots an hour with ease to three paddles, and drawing twelve inches of water with my party al)oard. Commencing our journey from San Juan del Norte, on arriv- ing at ^\)rt San Carlos, we were quite as agreeably as unex- pectedly joined by Captain Hart, of the Transit Company's steamer, Granada, and two other Americans, William Hanger and William Godden, who offered to accompany us part of the distance on a hunting trip, game being very abundant near the mouth of the river. They brought a light double-oared boat with them. Leaving Fort San Carlos at four o'clock a.m., August 8th, we reached a plantain patch eight miles up the river, belonging to the fort, at sunrise. So far, the banks and adjacent country were low and swampy. By climbing trees on the river side we were able to see numerous lagoons connected by channels with each other, and with the river. This being the height of the rainy season, many of these lagoons were deep lakes, miles in extent, aroui.d which the picturesque coyol palm and gamalota were fringed in the solitary but beautiful landscape, as far as the eye could reach, with here and there small clumps of larger timber pleasantly relieving the uniformity. The river itself at the mouth, and for many hundred yards into the lake, is much obstructed by sand banks and the alluvial deposit of the river, but there is a good though narrow channel to the westward, carrying four feet of water. A short distance from its mouth the stream becomes and continues of an average width of one hundred yards ; depth five feet, with a current in general of one and a half miles per hour. The temperature of the water is at least ten degrees lower than that of the lake ; it also is clearer, and of a bluish color. Game began to be very plentiful, particularly turkeys, ducks and water birds, and on the banks, de*- ', guari (wild-hog), and many varieties of the monkey-tribe. As we ascended the mouths of the creeks we frequently came across the remains of old fish-traps, and fish of many varieties were observed, especially the gnapote, which is a fine-flavored, speckled fish, averaging five pounds in weight. 398 Thk Indian Miscei lany. I I At four in the aftornoon we reached a number of bends in the channel, and Holecting u point in the left bank which we named Godden's bend, went ashore and built a camp, covering a frame of poles with swallowtail grass, known in the country as sweeti/, which begun to be abundant. We adhered to a plan during the trip, which was put in practice the iirst night, to secure us from any surprise or attack, namely, th of building a large camp fire at fifty feet distance from our sh. . and stationing a guard thirty feet in an opposite direction, xibaf .hom the end of a long canoe line was made fast. Sand-flies tind musquitos were numerous, but, having a large muslin bar, we slept soundly until daylight, having traveled thirty-five miles of deep water free from obstructions. Early in the morning of the second day we discovered Indian signs, but not recent ; and at nine a.m. entered Blue lake by a short, deep channel from the left bank. We did not cross it, but estimated its diameter at ten miles. It is fed by the river, through a channel at its south-eastern extremity, but two-thirds of the water thus received is discharged by a channel at the western side, which, possibly, is the Rio Negro, falling into Lake Nicaragua eighteen miles west of San Carlos. Resuming our ascent of the river, we observed high banks of red clay, larger and greater varieties of timber, and a luxurious vegetation. About three p.m. we were much amused in passing an immense drove of large red monkeys (ringtails). They ap- peared for a while determined to ascend the river in our company, swinging along the highest branches with an indescribable amount of chattering and grimacing. Our lowest estimate numbered them at fifteen hundred. We camped at 4.30 p.m. on the right bank, distant from last camp twenty miles. At 9.30 P.M. heard Indians, and making a careful examination, could smell fire ; however, passed the night undisturbed. The third day we continued our course at daybreak. At nine A.M. arrived at the first obstruction in the river. This consisted in the accidental fall of an immense Balsa tree across the river, and through which we were compelled to cut a passage with axes. Close by the bank was tied a small raft, upon which had been a itaoifaifate' i iB Mitf i [i i mwa i i- i nrt-iiiiBtr iB n Among the Guatusos. 399 fire burning recently, and a quantity of freshly-cut plantains. Jumping ashore with Uoberta, we wtruck into a well-worn path up the stream (in some placnH nearly a foot deep), but finding the trail cold, we returned to our party after an hour's absence. At two P.M. Haw another raft, ui)on which two Indians were cooking plantains. They juni}»ed ashore immediately on perceiv- ing us, taking with them their arms (bow8 and spears), and uttering the loudest cries. We hastened to follow them, but, encumbered and cramped as we were, no wonder without success. We had brought several articles of great value in Indian eyes to barter or give away. I had also a gay old uniform, which I was anxious to give to the chief, if we could only effect communica- tions with the tribe. It was pretty evident that they possessed neither firearms nor cutlery — indeed, during our trip we saw no metal of any kind, manufactured or unmanufactured, in their possession. Their arrow-heads and axes are made of coyol (a hard black palm) and stone ; their cooking and other utensils, of coarse red clay ware, similar to that used by the Indians of the lake, while the breech-cloth, which is their only covering, is sim- ply a piece of uk (india-rubber) or mahagua bark, beaten into a kind of felt up^n a smooth stone. The trail upon the left bank is much better than the one upon the right bank of the river ; the latter is perhaps solely used for hunting, or in passing along to the fishing-weirs, etc. We care- fully selected our camping-ground, about four p.m., upon the left bank, on a high point, round which the river winds in a sudden curve, having made, by our estimate, twenty-five miles since morning. Starting at daylight on the fourth day, we began to observe signs of cultivation, and after a while perceived on both sides of the river fair quantities of plantain, cassava, /dliski/, papays, maize and cacao, the last remarkable fine, and the trees, from their great size, evidently old. At nine a.m. passed the entrance of a large sheet of water, Parker lake, which, however, we did not stop to explore, and an hour afterward came unexpectedly upon another Indian, who gave us a better opportunity of ex- amining him, and I may as well take this opportunity of de- 400 The Indian Miscellany. 1)'";, 3 'ti !■■* scribing his appearance, and the characteristics of the tribe we encountered, so far as we could ascertain them. I can do so concisely, by stating that a Guatuso Indian, to the eye, in all respects, resembles a Comanche ; but to- those who may never have had the misfortune to meet this gentle sp'^cimen of human- ity, I will add that in stature they average six feet, and in weight two nundred pounds, the females likewise being of large sise. They are of a clear copper color, untainted, apparently, by ad- mixture with either white or negro blood, and are perfect models of strength and muscular development. Their faces are some- what broader, with higher cheek-bones than the Lake Indians, with coarse but not generally unpleasant features, whilst the long, straight black hair is allowed to fall around the body in both sexes until it sometimes trails on the ground. They were apparently without ornament, or rather disfigurementof any kind ; and altogether, the appearance of us to the Guatusos fully jus- tified the appellation of Wild Indians, in the strictest sense of the term, as applied by the natives of the country, who are, never- theless, not a whit further advanced in the arts of horiculture, road-making, or in social progress than these Guatusos, and physically they are much inferior. We arrived at a small island in the river at 11 a.m. (Hart's island) ; good channel along right bank. Constantly passed old rafts and deserted shanties, the latter being covered with waha leaf only, which is very perishable, and hence one would infer that the Guatusos villages are not located on the river; these buildings being merely used as occasion requires for visiting the plantations, collecting game, etc., and that the people erma- nently reside upon the slopes of the mountains, where they are not molested by musquitos and other troublesome insects, and where the position would Tdc more open and agreeable. From 11 A.M. to 4.30 p.m. passed great numbers of India-rubber trees on both banks, a belt fifteen miles long, and from one hundred to eight hundred yards wide. The most experienced rubber men of our party had never seen such an immense grove before. Several creeks likewise, which fell into the river on both banks, contained scarcely any other timber. The river Among the GuAirsos. 401 here is less tortuous. S\^e camped at 4.30 p.m. on the left bank, opposite Muddy creek, which some of the party declared contained more rubber than the river itself. We also saw seve- ral varieties of cedar of Une growth, and some mahogany. Esti- mated distance this day, thirty-five miles. Finding plenty of fresh signs around our camp, I made the most of our position, which was naturally a good one, by cutting paths from it up and down the stream from camp, and remem- bering old times in Texas, I drove half a dozen stakes into tae ground around the fire, upon which were hung the wet clothes of the party so as to somewhat resemble sitting figures. The guard was stationed near the point where the canoe was moored under a large chilimata tree. In the middle of the night T heard Indians down the stream, and rousing Roberts, heard them pass- ing behind our camp, and soon afterward a slight crackling in the brands near the fire satisfied us of their immediate presence. Without disturbing the balance of the party, we lay waiting for " what would turn up," and shortly afterward an arrow flew with great force amongst the decoy stakes, striking one obliquely, and then glancing to the ground, where it firmly planted itself. Firing a couple of shots in the direction from which the arrow came, we heard no more of our visitors, and slept unmolested the rest of the night. In reconnoitering the vicinity in the morning of the fifth day, we found a spot not half a mile up the river, where at least forty Indians had camped during the night. Fires were burning, and there were plentiful supplies of plaintains ifi every stage of ripe- ness ready for the morning's meal. We went ashore to examine the place, and tapped an immense India-rubber tree. At eight o'clock Captain Hart and his companious parted from us to join the steamer on the San Juan river. Eesuming our upward course alone at about 9.30 a.m., we reached the forks of the river and the head of steam naviga- tion. At the mouth of the eastern fork, which appeared rapid, rocky and unnavigable, is a small island which would be of use as the site of the pioneer fort or depot. We therefore entered the western branch and with considerable labor ascended the 27 402 The Indian Miscellany. -I; channel, which is full of rocks, trees, bars and shoals, a distance of twelve miles, when we arrived at a broad gravel reach, about five hundred yards wide and nearly dry, over which it was im- possible to pass the canoe, and referring to my log, found the distance from the mouth of the river to this point one hundred and thirty-five miles. Leaving the canoe, we proceeded a short distance up the channel, and sunk a hole on a bar in a favorable looking position for gold, but without finding a " color." How- ever, while walking about the bars and adjacent banks, I picked up a piece of bluish quartz, which was subsequently assayed, and yielded very rich returns of both gold and silver. The Marivalles mountains cross the head of this branch nearly at right angles, and at apparently a distance of two or three miles only. Their uniformity and general appearance would, however, lead one to suppose it > to impossible to ilnd through them a pass for a practical roaa .>> the valley beyond. Toward the east, and most likely following the canon of the eastern fork for many miles, is a great depression in the range, which would indicate this as the easiest, as it is the most direct route for a road of communication between the valley of the Rio Grande de Costa Rica and the head of navigation on the Rio Frio. We cut marks upon several soto-cavalho trees with machetes, on the right bank, and commenced our return trip at three P.M. Between this point and the forks we saw in our ascent many groups of shanties, sometimes numbering a dozen together; but they were quickly vacated at our approach. Fires were left burning, and we saw the recent track of children's feet, heard dogs barking, and a great deal of noise made by the Indians in their fiight. About four p.m., we came quietly within twenty-five feet of three Indians on a log at the riverside, shooting fish with arrows. Contemplating us for an instant with the most per- plexed and curious air imaginable, they suddenly raised a great yell, and scrambled up the high bank with the most surprising agility. They, like all the rest, ran into the forest, screaming at the top of their voices. Repassing the forks, we shortly after saw a man and woman landing from rafts tied to the right bank. On examination the Among the Guatusos. 403 ground showed unmistakable signs of at least three hundred persons having crossed quite recently from the left bank. Run- ing the canoe as quickly as possible alongside, we strenuously endeavored by words and signs to induce a parley. Thej were each armed with bows nnd spears, and " retreated in good order " to a plantiiin patch, making several stands meantime, as if to show us that fear had less to do with their movements than polic/ — and soon afterward commenced the usual yelling and screaming, which we unanimously agreed could not be outdone by any other tribe on earth. Two miles below, and whilst regretting the futility of our efforts at communication with the Indians, we approached unob- served a raft tied to the right bank, upon which was seated an Indian busily engaged in plucking the feathers from a speckled bittern nearly the size of a turkey, which he had just shot with his bow, which lay beside him on the raft. When within a few feet of him, he first saw us, and instantly seizing his arms, ran ashore apparently in the greatest fury. He immediately fitted an arrow to his bow, but appeared to disapprove of it, changing it rapidly for another, we in the meantime by every means in our power endeavoring to arrest his movements and attract his attention, calling to him in the v^arious Indian dialects with which we were acquainted — Spanish, French, and English — without any avail. Continuing his preparations amid the wildest cries and gestures, be at length drew the arrow full upon me as I sat in the stern of the canoe, and at the same moment dropped dead by a shot from our party. I very much regretted this unfortunate result, which I did my utmost to avert, strictly enjoining no shot to be fired in any event, unless we were surrounded by numbers, and I was willing to take the chance of the arrow-shot in hopes of securing the Indian afterward. He was about thirty years of age, fully six feet high, and of large, robust limbs. He had a large head, covered with hair reaching below the hips, which, combined with a savage expression of face, rendered his appear- ance and gestures somewhat more ferocious than fascinating. After this unfortunate occurrence, we continued our descent of the river in heavy rain the whole night without stopping, 404 The Indian Miscellany. passing Camp No. 2 about one a.m., and arriving £it Fort San Carlos" soon after daylight, or about fifteen hours after commenc- ing our return. Captain Hart and party had arrived the previous night in safety. Allowing two miles per hour for the current, as the rain had raised the creeks considerably, and an average speed of six miles for the canoe, we have as the length of the river one hundred and twenty miles, of which distance one hundred and eight are capable of steamer navigation. iiim THE REV. JOHN ELIOT, AND HIS INDIAN CON VERTS.' By Rev. Martin Moore. E'o portion of history is more worthy of the careful study of the descendants of the Pilgrims, than that which relates to the life and character of the fsithers of New England. We cannot indeed boast of a long line of illustrious ancestors, who have been distinguished by titles of nobility, or who figured in the days of chivalry. Our ancestors had a nobility, which many of the titled gentlemen of Europe never possessed. It was the nobility of high intellectual attainments, of stern integrity, and devoted piety. They were men of whom the world was not worthy. One of their own number, in^the quaint language of those days, has given their true character. " God," said he, " sifted thre kingdoms, that he might send over choice grain into this wilder- ness." The Pilgrims came to these shores to establish a church on the primitive foundation. Such men were Robinson, Carver, Bradford, Brewster and Winslow, the leaders of the Plymouth colony. Of the same spirit were Endicott, Higginson, and Skel- ton, who founded a plantation at Naumkeage, afterward called Salem, the town of peace. Winthrop, Cotton and Wilson, the leaders of the company that settled around Massachusetts bay, we) . men of the same cast. Davenport, of New Haven, Hooker and Stone of Hartford, partook largely of the same spirit. Men, who were so deeply embued with tlie spirit of Christ, could not be contented to see the Christian religion confined to their own infant settlements. The spirit of devoted Christianity has, in every age, been the spirit of missions. They looked upon the poor savages by whom they were surrounded, with compassion. They viewed them, as among that number whom Christ had died to redeem, and to whom he had commanded them to preach the gospel. Their sense of duty did not permit them to remain « Reprinted from The American Quarterly Register (BoBton) for February, 1843. 406 The Indian Miscellany. II. I i inactive. The Mavhows, on Martha's Vineyard, and Bourne, of Plymouth colony, labored successfully among these untutored sons of the forest. But the most laborious and successful liiissionary to the Indians in the early days of New England, was the "Rev. John Eliot, the first minister of Roxbury. Tie is commonly styled the apostle of the Norih American Indians. Mr. Eliot was born at Nasin, Essex county, England, in 1604. He received a strictly religious education, such as the Puritans uniformly gave their children. He was in after life grateful to his parents for their care of his education. They trained him up in the way in which he should go, and when he was old, he did not depart therefrom. " I do see," said he, " that it was a great favor of God that my early years were seasoned with the fear of God, the word, and prayer." After he left the university, he was engaged for several years in the instruction of youth. During this period, he sat under the ministry of Rev. Thomas Hooker, who afterwards founded Hart- ford, in Connecticut. Hooker exerted a salutary influence in the formation of his character. He came over to America in 1631, and was settled at Roxbury in 1632. The church in Boston was desirous to secure his services ; but he had engaged himself to the company that came over with him, who formed the settlement at Roxbury. A young lady to whom he was pledged before he left England, came over the following year, and became his wife. He did not enter upon his missionary work until he had been located a number of years, at Roxbury. Eliot commenced the study of the Indian language, when he was forty-two years old. It was an unwritten language, attended with great and peculiar difliculties. One word, for example, was expressed by thirty-two, and another by forty-three letters. He took a young Indian into his family, and by constant conversa- tion, acquired the words, one by one, so that he reduced thig spoken to a written language. At the close of his Indian gram- mar, he wrote the following sentence : " Prayers and pains through faith in Christ Jesus, will do any thing." He vras greatly encouraged in his work by the neighboring ministers. They >ften supplied his pulpit while he was absent preaching The Rev. John Eliot and his Indian Converts. 407 among the natives. The Indians among whom Eliot labored, had a general belief in the existence of a great spirit, who createO. all things. They had also some viigue traditions respecting the primitive state of man, the flood, etc. Their pc vows, or priests, had an entire control over them. If they were :, they resorted to the powov/ to drive away the disease. The^ supposed that he, by performing certain incantations, could remove diseases, or deprive an individual of life. The first formal interview that Eliot had with the Indians, was at N"onantum, in the east part of Newton. The following is a partial account of this interview, in his own words: " A little before we came to the wigwam, tiye or six of the cliief men of them met us with English sahitations, bidding ns much wel- come. Leading us into the principal wigwam belonging to Waban, we found many men, women and children, gathered together from all quarters, having been exported thereto by Wabati, their chief minister of justice among them ; who himself gave more hope of serious respect of the things of God, than any I have yet known of that forlorn gene- ration. Beir/g all there assembled, we began with prayer, which was now in Ei-.glish, we being not so acquainted with the Indian language, as to express our hearts therein before God, or them. When prayer was ended, it was an affecting, yet glorious spectacle, to see a company of perishing, forlorn outcasts, diligently attending to the words of salvation then delivered, and professing that they understood all that had been taught tliem in their own tongue. For about an hour and a quarter the sermon was continued ; wherein one of our company ran through all the principal matters of religion ; beginning first with the repetition of the commandments, and the brief explication of them ; then showing tlie curse and dreadful wrath of God against all who break them, or the least of them ; and so applying the whole unto the Indians then present, with much affection. He then preached Jesus Christ unto them as the only means of recovery from sin, wrath, and eternal death ; he explained unto them who Christ was, and whither he is gone, and how he will, one day, come to judge the world. He spake to them of the blessed state of all those who believe in Jesus Clu'ist and know him feelingly ; and he spake to them also, observing his own method, as he was most fit to edify them, concerning the crea- tion and fall of man — the greatness of God — the joys of heaven and the horrors of hell, and then urging thera to repentance for every known 408 The Indian Miscellany. ! ins. LJttto • ri ■ J IS- m L sin wherein they live. On many things of the like nature he discoursed ; not meddling with matters more difficult, until they had tasted more familiar and plainer truths. Having thus in a set discourse familiarly opened the principal niatteis of salvation .to them, we next proposed certam questions to svo what they would say to them, so that we by a variety of means, instructed them in things of religion." Eliot sought to civilize as well as to Christianize the Indians. He had no hope of permanently benefitting them, unless they had settled habitations. Without this state of things, they could not be brought steadily under the influence of divine trutli. He selected a tract of land in the east part of Newton, and called it Nonantum, which in their tongue signified rejoicing. This and other similar settlements that were afterwards formed, were denominated fraying towns. The settlement at Nonantum was begun in 164G. Tt was removed to Natick in 1651. Eliot formed fourteen prav'ug towns in Massachusetts. Natick still retains its original name. Nashobah is now called Littleton ; Punkapag, Stoughton ; Massanamissit, Grafton ; Okommakamessit, Marl- borough ; Wamixit, Tewksbury ; Magunkaquog, Hopkinton; Manchage, Oxford; Chabanakocumwomum, Dudley; Manexit, north part of Woodstock ; Quintisset, south part of Woodstock ; Wabquisset, south-east part of Woodstock. Philip's war produced a disastrous effect upon these praying towns. He formed a confederacy among the natives for the pur- pose of exterminating the English. He used every possible art to draw the praying Indians into this league. The English on the other hand feared that they would turn traitors. The pray- ing Indians stood between two fires. Both parties needed their assistance, and neither of them dared trust t/ in years. ITor dress was peculiar. She had sleeves of moose skin, very finely dressed, and drawn with lines of various colors, in arratic work, arul her buskins were of the same sort ; her mantle was of fine blue cloth, but very short and ty'd about the shoulders, and at the middle with a zone, curi- ously wrought with white and blue beads into pretty figures ; her bracelets and necklace were of the same sort of beads, and she had a little tablet upon her breast very finely decked with jewels and precious stcmes. Her hair was combed back and tied up with a border which was neatly worked with gold and silver." Tradition has handed down to us some anecdotes respecting individuals, which exhibit the shrewdness of the Indian cha- racter. Waban, at whose wigwam at Nonantum Mr. Eliot began to preach, was commissioned as a justice of the peace. Instead of having a long warrant, needlessly multiplying words, as legal instruments do at the present day, he was accustomed to issue his precepts in a very laconic form. When he directed his war- rant to the constable, he simply wrote : " Quick you catch um, fast you hold um, and bring um before '"•e, Justice Waban." On another occasion a young justice asked him what he should do with Indians after they had had a drunken fight, and entered a complaint against any of their number ? His reply was, " Whip um plaintiff, whip um defendant, and whip um witnesses." Mr. Eliot translate 1 the Bible into the language of the Indians. He was often troubled to find words in the Indian language, TiTE Rev. John Eliot and his Tndian Converts. 411 owing to its poverty, to express the precise meaning. In translat- ing the song of Deborah and JJuriik, where the mother of Sisera is represented us h)()king through tlie hittice to see her son re- turn froiii the buttle, ho was at u greut loss for an Indian word to express hittice ; us they lived in wigwunis, und had nothing about them that answered to this term. lie called an Indian and described to him a lattice, as a wicker work, and wanted to know what word there was in their language that would convey the idea. The Indian could think of nothing but an eel-pot. The mother of Sisera looked through an eel-pot. He found that this word would not do ; but what word he substituted I do not know.' • Some facts rcspRctlnj; Eliot's Indian Bible, wero published not longngo In tho Boston liecordir, which It may bo IntcroBtliis for thu rniulcr to refer to in thi« connection . Eliot's Blblo was printed in Cumbrld;?'.', in KHiS, by Samuel Oroen and Mormadnko Johnson, under tho Immediate patronnso of tho society, wlilch Irid l)een formed in England, for tho propagation of tho goi>pcl among f.ie Indians In New England, commonly called the Corporation. Johnson was sent over from Kng. nd by tho Corixiration lor the express piirpnso of assisting in this great work. Orccn Iiad been connected with tho press almoft over since it was first cstablii>hod in Cambridge. The Corporation, at first, had their printing done in England, but when Eliot imd translated his catechism, etc., and eventually tlie Bible, into tlio Indian language, it became necessary that the priming should bo done licrc' Tho first materials for tho work arrived in 1055. In 1068, it seems by tho following record. Green petitioned, tln'ough the geu' r.i! '■nnrt. for more types : "At a General Court liolden at Boston, l!)th ot May, lOfiS; in answci to tho Peticon of Satnuol Orccn, printer at Cambridge, The Court Judgelh it mete to commend tho consideration to tho Com- tnissioncrs of the united colonies at their next meeting, tlint so if they sec meete they may write to the Corporation in England for tho procuring of 20 pounds worth more of letters for the vse of tho Indian Colledg." Whot is here called tho Indian college, was the building used for the printing ofllce. It had been erected by tho Corporation, and designed as a college for Indian youth ; but was afterwards taken for a printing odlco. Tho printing of tho Indian Bible was considered— as It would bo Indeed nt this day - a work of great magnitude. It excited tiio attention of the nobility in England, and the press of Harvard college became famous in consequence of It. Two editions of tho Bible wero printed. The first in 1003, which consisted of 1,000 copies. The whole cost of tho cdllion, includ- ing 600 extra copies of the New Testament, and also an edition of Baxter's Call, tho Psalter, and two editions of Eliot's Catechism, all in the Indian language, was about 1,200^ sterling. Tho second edition of tho Bible of 2,000 copies, was completed in 1086, ond cost con mutability of human affairs, that i\ book thus laboriously prepared, for en- lightening a people then numerous, is now, in less tliiin two centuries, a seal' d book — the race of beings for whose benefit it was designed, is entirely extinct, and probably noia person on earth can read It." The Indian Blblo wns dedicated to King Charles the Second, who had encouraged the undertaking. The following cxtricts from the dedication, will interest the curious reader: " Most Dread Scveralgn.— We are bold to Present to Your Majesty the WHOLE BIBIjE, Trans- lated into the Lf.nguage of the Natives of this country. Ijy ,1 Painful Labourer in that IKorA, and now Printed a. \A Finisfted, by means of ihe Pious Beneficence of Your Majesties Subjects in Eng- land : which lAso by Your Special Favour hath been continued and confirmed to the intended Use and Advancement of so Great and Good Work, as is the Propagation of the Gospel to these poor Barbarians in this (Ere-whlie) Unknown World." " And though there be in this Western World many colonleo of other European nations, yet we humbly conceive no Prince hath had a return of such a Work as this. The Southern colonies of the Spanish Nation have sent home from this American Continent, much Gold and Silver, ns the Fruit and End of their Discoveries and Transplantations ; That (we confess) is a scarce commodity in this colder climate. But (suitable to the Ends of our Undertaking) we present the Fruit of our poor En- deavors to Plant and Propagate the Gospel here ; which upon a true account, is as much better than Gold, as the Souls of men are worth more than the whole World. This is a nobler Fruit (and indeed In the Counsttls of All-Disposing Providence, was an higher intended End) of Columbus his Adven- ture. And though by his Brother's being hindered from a seasonable Application, your Famons Predecessour and Ancestor, King Henry the Seventh, missed of being solo Owner of that lirst Dis- covery, and of the Riches thereof; yet if the Honour of first Discovering the True and Saving Knowledge of the Gospel unto the poor Americans, and ol Erecting the Klngdome of JESUS CHRIST among them, be Reserved for, and do Redound nnto your Majesty, and the English Nation, After ages will not reckon this Inferiour to the other. Religion is the End and Glory of Manklnde. And as it was the Professed End of this Plantation, so we desire ever to keep it in our Eye as our main design (both as to ourselves and the Natives about us) and that our Fi-oducts may be answerable thereunto." 1 Tliero is a tradition — wbicti we believe hia tlie authority of Matlicr's MagnaUa — tliat Mr. Eliot wrote the wb(.le of hia translation with one pen. * "It remained for r icholar of our generation, Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, Conn., to revive this extinct lanKuage, and he has found lis study something more than the mere gratification of literary curiosity."— Field's Tndtan BMlotrapliii, New Tork, 1873. The Rev. John Eliot and his Indian Converts. 413 out, " "Who is there that does not tear the powor of the powows ?" The powows were enraged with the praying Indians, and threatened them with immediate death ; but Hiacoomes chal- lenged them to do their worst. " Let all the powows on the island come together, I will ventui-e myself in the midst of them all. Let them use all tlieir witchcrafts, with the help of God, I will tread upon them all." The heathen Indians were astonished at the boldness of Hiacoomes. But they saw that no harm came nigh him, and they concluded that the God of the English was superior to the God of the powows. The gospel destroyed the tyranny that the sachems were accustomed to exercise over the common people. Hence they were all united in opposing its introduction. After a public lecture, a sachem used threatening and insulting language, and told Eliot that all the sachems in the country were opposed to the work. In giving an account of thi8 interview, Mr. Eliot says, " I was alone and not any Englishman with me ; but it plc?.«ed God to raise up my spirits ; not to a passion, but to a bold resolution, so that I told him it was God's work in which I was engaged ; that He was with me, and that I feared not him, nor all the sachems in the country; and that I was resolved to go on, do what they might." This bold reply caused the sachem to quail before the man of God. King Philip felt the same hostility. After Mr. Eliot had pre- sented to him the great trutlis of the gospel, he took hold of a button on Mr. Eliot's coat, and said, " I care for the gospel just as much as I care for that button." The life of a missionary is not one of luxury and ease, but of toil and trial. He needs much of the spirit of Him that endured great contradiction of sinners, and came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He is called to practice great self-denial. Eliot thus describes his own personal hardships on one occasion : " I was not dry, night nor day, from the third day to the sixth ; but so traveled, and at night I pull oif my boots, wring my .stockings, and on with them again, and so continue, yet God helped. I considered that word 2 Timothy 2, 3. Endure hard- ness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." In the times of Eliot there was no missionary periodical, through 414 The Indian Miscellany. J' which he could communicate the results of his labors. He sent over to England an account of his success, and the hearts of Christians there were affected. Sir Robert Boyle and his friends formed an association to assist Mr. Eliot, which defrayed the expense of publishing two editions of his Bible. Eliot lived to the advanced age of eighty-six. He brought forth fruit in his old age. After he was unable to preach publicly, he was accustomed to give instruction to the negroes, at his own house. Cotton Mather applies the words of Polycarp to Eliot. " These eighty-six years," said the holy man, " have I served the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has been such a good master unto me all the while, that I will not now forsake him." Eliot's last words were, "Welcome joy;" and he departed calling upon the by- standers, " Pray, pray, pray." Mather applies to his death, what he was accustomed to apply to the death of others. When informed of the death of pious men, and asked what shall we do ? he would answer, " "Well, but God lives ! Christ lives ! the Saviour of New England yet lives ! and he will reign till all his enemies are made his footstool." The leading trait in Eliot's character was a desire to do good. This was indeed the secret npring of all his actions. He dosired to do good in the best and highest sense. He wished to improve the temporal condition of the Indians, to break up their savage habits, and introduce among them the arts of civilized life. But his principal object was to bring them to be acquainted with the gospel. For this great and holy purpose of doing good, he reduced their speech to a written language ; translated the Bible, and other religious books ; made painful journeys in the wilder- ness ; partook of coarse fare in their wigwams, and endured opposition from the powows and sachems. He was a true disciple of Him that went about doing good. He was equally ready to do good to hi.^ neighbors as to the sons of the forest. He was indeed sometimes guilty of overmuch generosity. So great was his charity that his salary was often distributed for the relief of his needy neighbors so soon after the period at which it was received, that before another period arrived, his own family wert straitened for the comforts of life. One day the parish treasurer, The Rev. John Eliot and his Indian Converts. 415 on paying the money for the salary due, which he put into a handkerchief, in order to prevent Mr. Eliot's giving away the money before he got home, tied the end of the handkerchief in as many hard knots as he could. The good man received his handkerchief and took leave of the treasurer. He immediately went to the house of a sick and necessitous family. On entering he gave them his blessing, and told them that God had sent them some relief. The sufferers, with tears of gratitude, welcomed their pious benefactor, who, with moistened eyes, began to untie the knots in his handkerchief. After many efforts to get at his money, and impatient at the perplexity and delay, he gave the handkerchief and all the money to the mother of the family, saying, with a trembling accent, " Here, my dear, take it, I believe the Lord designs it all for you." INDIAN LANG UA GES OF THE PA CIFIC STA TES AND TERRITORIES.' By Albert S. Gatschet. A few deccnniums of research in our newly acquired western dominions have acquainted us with the singular fact that clusters of very numerous, and for the larger part narrowly circumscribed areas of languages exist in these vast and remote regions. In California, and north of it, one stock of language" is generally represented by several, sometimes by a large number of dialects and sub-dialects; but there are instances, as in Shasta and in Klamath, where a stock is represented by one idiom only, which never had diverged into dialects, or the sub-dialects of which have become extinct in the course of time. Although certain resemblances between them may be traced in their phonological morphological character, they are totally distinct in their radicals, and by this criterion we are enabled to attempt their classifica- tion by stocks or families. Any other than a (jenealogical classifi- cation is at present impossible, for we do not possess even the most necessary grammatical data for the majority of the lan- guages spoken along the Pacific coast. For the western languages, and those of the great Interior Basil), our main sources of information are (and will be for many years to come) vocabularies of one hundred to two hundred terms each. Those obtained and published frequently bear the stamp of dilettantism, sometimes tha^. of profound ignorance of lin- guistic science on the part of word-collectors, who wholly under- rated the great difiiculty of taking down a set of disconnected words in a totally unknown and phonetically unwieldy idiom. These word-gatherers would have fared much better, and col- lected more reliable material, if they had taken short sentences of popular import or texts containing no abstract ideas. For > This paper was prepared especially for the Indian Miscellany In Dcccm'bcr, 187B, bnt was snb- eeqnently cxtcnclod and published In The Magazine qf American History (Now York), for March, 1877, from wliich it is hero reproduced. Indian Languages op the Pacific States. 417 an Indian is not accustomed to think of terms incoherent, or words disconnected from others, or of abstract ideas, but uses his words merely as integral parts of a whole sentence, or in con- nection with others. This is the true cause of the large incor- porative power of the American tongues, which in many of them culminates in an extended polysynthetism, and embodies whole sentences in one single verbal form. At a time when the principal languages and dialects of Asia, Africa and Australasia, the living as well as the extinot, are being investigated with uncommon ardor ; myths, popular songs, dirges and speeches collected, published and commented upon with erudition and corresponding success, very few of the American languages, north and south, have been the object of thorough research. There is no scarcity of thorough linguists among us, but the reason for their want of activity in this direction simply lies in the want of proper encouragement from the authorities, the publishers, the press and the public. This is very discourag- ing, we confess ; but it shall not hinder us from examining some- what closer this topic, and from trying to get at the true facts. The general public is very ignorant of languages and linguist- ics, and as a rule confounds linguistics with philology. Many people have a horror of philology because the Latin and Q-reek paradigms which they had to study in college classes, recall to them the dreariest days of compulsory education, juvenile misery and birch-rod executions. From these two languages they infer, superficial .y enough, that the study of all other foreign tongues must involve similar mental torments. Others believe that the Indian languages are not real tongues, deserving to be termed so ; but only thwarted productions of tho diseased heathen mind, because they do not agree with classical models, nor with the grammar of the primeval language of the world, the Hebrew, " which was spoken in paradise." The majority, however, suppose that any Indian language i8 simply a gibberish not worth bothering about; they ought to remember that every language, even tlie most harmonious and perfect, is a gibberish to those who do not understand it, sound- ing unpleasantly to their ears, because they are unaccustomed to 28 418 The Indian Miscellany. its cadences and phonetic laws. The mastering of a language is the only remedy against a certain repugnance to it on the side of the listener. A further objection which is sometimes raised against studying the tony-ues of the red man, consists in the erroneous assertion that they have no literature of their own. This statement is founded on a profound ignorance of existing facts, and more- over, is only the expression of the old-fashioned, mistaken idea that languages should be studied only on account of their litera- tures, thus confounding philology with linguistics. Indians never did and do not wilte down their mental productions, simply because they do not trace their immediate origin from the Eastern races, from whom we have received the priceless gift of alphabet- ical writing; but that they really possess such productions, as well as the Malays, Polynesians and South Africans, no one can doubt who has read of Indian prophets, orators and story-tellers, with their fluency and oratorical powers, who has listened to their nmltiform, sometimes scurrilous mythological tales or yarns, heard their war-shouts, the words accompanying their dancing tunes, or in the darkness of the night overheard some of their lugubrious, heart-moving dirges sung b}- wailing women, as they slowly marched in file around the corpse of some relative, the whole scene lit up by the flickering flames of the lurid camp-fires. A volume of Schoolcraft's Indians contains a large number of Odjibway songs, and the author of this article has himself ob- tained over seventy most interesting and popular songs from the Cayusei3, Warm Springs, Klamaths, Taos, Iroquois and Abndkis, in their original form. So the white race alone is to blame for its imperfect knowledge of the unwritten, often highly poetical productions of an illiterate race. The science of linguistics is of so recent a date, that few men have yet grasped its real position among the other sciences. We must henceforth consider it as a science of nature, and reject the old conception of it as a science of the human mind. Stylis- tics and rhetorics of a language may be called the province of the human mind, but language itself is a product of nature, pro- duced through human instrumentality. Man does not invent Indian Languages or the Pacific States. 419 his language, any more than a bird does its twittering, or a tree its leaves. It requires a whole nation to produce a language, and even then hucIi nation must start from phonetic elements already understood. The innumerable agencies which give to a country its climate will also, by length of time, shape man and his language. Noth- ing is fortuitous or arbitrary in human speech and its historical developments; the most insignificant word or sound has its history, and the linguist's task is to investigate its record. Thus every language on this globe is perfect, but perfect only for the purpose it is intended to fulfill ; Indian thought runs in another, more concrete direction than ours, and therefore Indian speech is shaped very difierently from indogermanic models, which we, in our inherited and unjustified pride, are prone to regard as the only models of linguistic perfection. The Indian neglects to ex- press with accuracy some relations which seem of paramount importance to us, as tense and sex, but his language is largely superior to ours in the variety of its personal pronouns, in many forms expressing the mode of action, or the idea of property and possession, and the relations of the person or persons addressed to the subject of the sentence. Another prejudice against the Indian tongues is derived from the filthy or uninviting appearance of the red-skinned man him- seK. It is true that most Indians seem very miserable, disgust- ing, poor, silly, even grotesque and comical ; yet this is partly due to the state of degradation to which he has been reduced by the land-grabbing Anglo-American settler, who has deprived him of his former, natural ways of sul)sistence ; but it is also a charac- teristic of his cinnamon-complexioned race, and has been so for times immemorial. In the numerous settlements, where the condition of the Indian has undoubtedly undergone a great change for the better, through the advent of the white population, he seems just as miserable, shy, sad and filthy as before. To draw conclusions from the exterior appearance of a people on their language, and to suppose that a man not worth lookmg at cannot speak a language worth studying, would be the acme of superficiality, and worthy only of those who in their folly trust to appearances alone. 420 The Indian Miscellany. ; i ( !■! Ill Pursuant to these intimations, I judge that the only means of bringing about a favorable change in public sentiment concern- ing the tongues of our aborigines, is a better understanding of the real object and purpose of linguistic science. Languages are living organisms, natural growths, genuine productions of race and country, and scientifically speaking, it is as important to investigate them as to describe minutely a curious tree, a rare plant, a strange insect or ac^uatic animal. But to gather informa- tion on them with success, a much more accurate method of transcription or transliteration than those generally used by word-collectors must be adopted. The old nonsensical method of using the English orthography, so utterly unscientific and unbearable to the sight of every instructed man, has at last been discarded almost universally. Only scientific alphabets must be here employed, and an alphabet can be considered as such only when one sound is constantly expressed by 07ie and the same letter only. Such alphabets have been proposed by G. Gibbs, Pro- fessors Richard Lepsius, Haldeman, Alex. Ellis, and many others, and it would be a fitting subject for a congress of linguists to decide which system is the most appropriate for transcribing Indian tongues. Cursive Latin characters must be used, and in some cases, altered by diacritical marks, to convey peculiar meanings ; the invention of new alphabetic systems or syllaba- ries like those of Sequoyah, and the hooks and crooks recently used for transcribing Cree and other northern tongues are not a help to science, because they are not readily legible or reducible to the accepted old-world systems of transcribing languages. A debate may also be started by a linguistic congress, what term should be employed instead of Indian, which is unsatisfactory in many respects; a thorough remodelling of the terminology used in Indian grammars would form another fruitful theme of discussion. Our indogermanic ideas of grammar must be entirely disregarded if we would write a correct grammatical sketch of some Indian language. The vocabularies,^ in the shape as we possess them now, are > In 1875, tl , 29th year from i*" foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, In Washington, had collected texts, phraseology, and 771 vocabularies of about 300 words each, but for unknown reasons had published only a small portion of this enormous linguistic material. lis£tiaa mmmmm "y- Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 421 useful in many respects. They do not give us much information about tiie structure of the languages, but serve at least for classifying purposes, and the small number of them which bear tlie stamp of accuracy in their notation of the ac(;ent and the use of a scientific alphabet, at least give a foothold for Indian pho- nology. But men of science need a great deal more than this. Language is a living organism, and to study it, we must not only have the loose bones of its body, but the life-blood which is throbbing in its veins and forms the real essence of human speech. l!^ot the stems or words alone, but the inflectional forms, the syntactical shaping of the spoken word and the sentence itself are desidera- tums mostly craved for. Linguists must therefore, as reliable grammars and full dictionaries (all the words properly accent- uated !) cannot be expected at once, place their hopes in collec- tions of texts illustrating the native customs and manners, the religious beliefs, superstitions, scraps of Indian history, speeches, dialogues, songs and dirges, descriptions of manufactured articles, and of the houses, tools, implements and dress of each nation and tribe visited. These texts should be given in the Indian lanr/uage, and accom- panied by a very accurate, and if possible, an interlinear and verbal translation of the items. All the commentaries and remarks needed for a full understanding of the texts should be added to it. The more material is furnished in this way, the better our linguists will be enabled to disclose the hidden scientific treasures stored up in these curious, but now almost unknown, forms of human speech, and to present them to the world, in the shape of grammars, dictionaries and anthologies of aboriginal prose and poetry. To the ethnologist such texts will be just as valuable as to the historian and the linguist. The Languages of the "Western Slope. A most singular fact disclosed by the topography of language- stocks all over the world is the enormous diflference of the areas occupied by the various families. In the eastern hemisphere, we see the Umlo- Altaic, the Chinese, the Indogermanic, Semitic 422 The Indian Miscellany. IW' ' il! li 111 and Dravidian, tliu Piillo and tho Congo-KatVian or Ba'-iitu family of languages, extending over areas much wider or as wide as the Tinne, Shoshoni, Algonkiii, Dakota, Cluihta-Mdskoki and Guarani stock, while small areas are, perhaps, as numerous in the eastern hemisphere as in the western. Their size evidently depends on the configuration and surface-(iuality of the lands, which again determine the mode of the subsistence of their in- liahitants. The natives of a country, when not iniiuenced by the civiliza- tion of the white race, will in barren plains, steppes, prairies and woodland, generally become hunters ; on the shores of the sea and on the banks v.i the larger rivers, they will resort to fishing, and sometimes, when settled on the coast, turn pirates or form smaller maritime powers, while the inhabitants of table-lands will till the fields, plant i.actiferous trees, or collect esculent roots for their sustenance. Of these three modes of sustenance we see frequently two combined in one tribe. The fishers live peacefully and in small hordes, because large settlements, on one spot of a river bank at least, could not be supplied at all seasons of the year with a sufficient supply of fish from the river. Hunters become, from their nomadic habits, accustomed to a restless, adventurous life, and in their thus acquired warlike disposition will constantly threaten their weaker neighbors ; if opportunity oflt'ers itself will declare war, overwhelm and enslave or destroy them, and thereby extend the dominion of their own language over a wider area. Agricultural pursuits bear in themselves the germs of steadiness, of order and progress ; countries settled and improved by agriculturists will gradually, when the population becomes more dense, consolidate into oligarchies or monarchies, generally of a despotic character. Such political bodies have frequently absorbed neighboring com- munities engaged in similar pursuits, and turned with them into powerful empires, as in the case of the Aztecs, Mayas, Chibchas and Quichhuas, in the western hemisphere. For obvious reasons pastoral pursuits were almost entirely unknown in America, but were powerful agents of culture in Asia and Europe, since they facilitated the transition from the hunter or nomadic state to the state of agriculturists. Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 423 California and portions of the Columbia rivur basin, with their numerous rivers and the enormous quantity of salmon, trout and lamprey eel ascending annually their limpid waters, were essen- tially countries occupied by fisher-tribes, and before the advent of the white man, are supposed to have harbored a dense native population. Among these fisher-tribes we also find the smallest areas of languages ; six of them are crowded on the two banks of the Klamath river and many more around the Sacramento, although these stre; • do not exceed in length, rospectiv^ely, 250 and 400 miles. 1 produce or preserve so many small lan- guage families, totally distinct from each other in their radicals, these tribes must have lived during very long periods in a state of comparative isolation, and have remained almost untouched by foreign invaders, protected as they were by the sea coast, and by the high-towering wall of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. In the wide basin of the upper Columbia river several tribes hunting the bear, buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, roam over the thinly populated prairies, and occupy enormous tracts of barren and sage-brush plains. Hunting tribes need a wide extent of territory, and when it is refused to them they will fight for it. Thus originate the constant wars of extermination among many of these tribes, and their encroachments over others in regard to territory. Of this we find the most conspicuous instances among the nomadic tribes roving between the Rocky mountains and the Mississippi river. In their morphological character the languages of America do not differ nuiterially from the Asiatic tongues of agglutinative structure, except by their more developed power of polysynthet- ism. But in many of their number this faculty remains only in an embryonic state, and by dint of a far-going aiialysis, some of them approach the structure of our modern European analytic languages. Still, in a number of others, the incorporative ten- dency prevails in a high degree.; they are synthetic as much as the Latin, Greek or Gothic — many of them superlatively so. They use not only prefixes and affixes, as we do, but also infixes, viz : particles, or particle-fragments, inserted into the stem. As a general thing, American languages are not sex-denoting, though 424 The Indian Miscellany. Ill we find a distiiuitioii of ssex in the dnal of the Iroquois verb, and in some Central American vcrh-intioctions, where he is distin- guinhed from she in tlie personal iironoun. A true suhstantive verb to be is not found in any Amorican hmgua^o,' and the word- B^'sms have not undergone that process of thorough differention between noun and verb which we observe in German, P]nglifih, and French. These throe hinguages we call accentuating, since the quantity of their syllables is of relative ii'-portance only, the influence of the accentuation being paramount. In many Ame- rican languages we observe, on the contrar}-, that accent shifts from syllable to syllable, though only in a restricted number of words, and that instead of the .accent length and brevity of the syllables receive closer attention. Srch idioms we may call quantitating languages, for their system of prosody does not seem to differ much from those of the classical languages. No plausible cause can as yet be assigned for the frequent, perhaps universal, interchangeability of 6 with p, d with t and n, g with k, x> and the lingual k., m with h and v (w), hh Avith k, x >' but as there is nothing fortuitous in nature or in language, a latent cause 7nust exist for this peculiarity. No preceding or fol- lowing sound seems to have any influence on this alternating process, and the vowels alternate in a quite similar manner. From these general characteristics, to which many others could be added, we pass over to those peculiarities which are more or less specific to the languages of the Pacific slope. It is not possible to state any absolute, but only some relative and gradual differ- ences between these western tongues and thope of the east, of which we give the following : The generic difference of animate, inanimate, and neuter nouns, is of little influence on the grammatical forms of the Pacific languages. A so-called plural form of the transitive and intran- sitive verb exists in Selish dialects, in Klamath, Mutsun, San Antonio (probably also in Santa Barbara), and in the Shoshoni dialects of Kauvuya and Gaitchin. Duplication of the entire > Fnll and detailed infonnation concerning the Btrnctnre prevailing in American languages, will be foand in Prof. J. H. Trumbull's article on Indian Languages^ in Jobneon's New Cycloptedla, Tol. u. New York, 1875. Indian Languages op the Pacific States. 426 root, or "of a portion of it, is extensively observed in the forma- tion of frequentative and other derivative verbs, of augmentative and diminutive nouns, of adjectives (eipeciuUy when designating colors), etc., in the Selish and Huhaptin dialects, in Cayuse, Yakon, Klamath, Pit River, Chokoyem, Cop-eh, Cushna, Santa Barbara, Pima, and is very frequent in the native idioms of the Mexican states. The root or, in its stead, the initial syllable, is redoubled regularly, or frequently, for the purpose of forming a (distribu- tive) plural of nouns and verbs in Relish dialects, in Klamath, Kizh, Santa Barbara, and in the Mexican languages of the Pimas, Opatas (including Heve), Tarahumaras, Tepeguanas, and Aztecs. A definite article the^ or a particle corresponding to it in many respects, is appended to the noun, and imparts the idea of actuality to the verb in Sahaptin, Klamath, Kizh, Gaitchin, Kauvuya, Mohave. In San Antonia this article is placed before the noun. The practice of appending various classifiers or determinatives to the cardinal numerals, to point out the different qualities of the objects counted, seems to be general in the Pacific tongues, for it can be traced in the Selish proper, in the Nisqualli (a western Selish dialect), in Yakima, in Klamath, in Noce or Noze, and in Aztec. In De la Cuestas' Mutsun grammar, however, no men- tion is made of this synthetic feature. The phonological facts, most generally observed throughout the coast lands, from Puget sound to San Diego, are as follows : Absence of the labial sound i^and of our rolling ^ (the guttural kh or X is often erroneously rendered by r) : comparative scarcity of the medial or soft mutes as initial and final consonants of V7ords ; frequency of the A;, or croaking, lingual k, identical with the c castanuelas of the south ; sudden stops of the voice in the midst of a word or sentence ; preponderance of clear and surd vowels over nasalized vowels. From all the information obtain- able at present, we can properly infer that all the above mentioned peculiarities will by future investigators be discovered to exist also in many other tongues of our Pacific states. In the northern sections the consonantic elements predominate to an enormous degree, sometimes stifling the utterance of the vowels; many southern tongues, on the contrary, show a tendency towards The Indian Miscellany. " voealiflm, though the cousoimntic frame of the words is not in any instance disrupted or obliterated by the vocalic element, as we observe it in Polynesia. Langna^os, with a sonorous, sweet, soft, and vocalic utterance, and elem.eutary vocalisin, are the Mohave, Ilualapai, Meewoc, Tuolumne and Wintoon (and Kala- pupa further north), while the dialects of the Santa Jiarbara stock seem to occupy an intermediate position between the above and the northern languages. Unnumbered tongues have in the course of centuries disap- peared from the surface of these western lands, and no monu- ments speak to us of their extent, or give a glimpse at the tribes which used them. Many others are on the verge of extinction : they are doomed to expire under the overpowering influx of the white race. Other languages labor under the continued influence of linguistic corruption and intermixture with other stocks, and the Chinook jargon seems to make havoc among the tongues of the Columbia river. To transmit these languages to posterity in their unadulterated state, is not yet altogether imi)ossible in the decennium in which we live, and would be a highly meritorious undertaking. It would be equivalent almost to rescuing these remarkable linguistic organisms from undeserved oblivion. In the subsequent pages I attempt to give a synoptical survey of our Pacific language-stocks west of the Rocky mountains (ex- cluding the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona), based on the writings of such predecessors as George Gibbs, Latham, H. H. Bancroft, Stephen Powers, and I have taken pains to carefully compare their data with the linguistic material available. For obvious reasons, I have found myself frequently constrained to dissent from them, and I claim the decision of men of undoubted con petency concerning the correctness of my classifications. Shoshoni. — The Shoshoni family borders and encircles all the other stocks of the Pacific slope of the United States, on the eastern side, and my enumeration, therefore, commences with the dialects of this populous and widely-scattered inland nation. The natives belonging to this race occupy almost the whole surface of the great American inland basin, extending from the Rocky mountains to the Sierra Nevada. To the northeast, and all along Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 427 is not in iiient, as 18, sweet, are the iiul Kala- Kini Htock bove and es disap- lo nionu- the tribes :tinction : ux of the influence oeks, and )ngues of 'Sterity in bio in the eritorious ing these ion. al survey itains (ex- 3d on the tn, H. H. carefully ble. For rained to ndoubted :ion8. es all the 8, on the with the on. The lurface of e Rocky all along the western border, they have crossed these towering land-marks, constructed by nature itself, but do not appear to have interfered considerably with the original distribution of the tribes in the Californian valleys and mountain recesses. The dispositions evinced by them are more of a passive and indolent than of an aggressive, offending or implacable nature, though they are savages in the truest sense of the word; some bands of Utahs, for instance, really seem too low-gifted ever to become a cause for dread to peaceful neighbors. We do not yet understand any of their numerous dialects thoroughly, but as far as the southern dialects are concerned, a preponderance of surd and nasalized a, and u vowels over others is undoubted. They all possess a form for the plural of the noun ; the Comanche, even one for the dual. Their dialects, are sketched in the rough, as follows : Snake. — This dialect received its name from the Shoshoni, Lewis or Snake river, on whose shores one of the principal bands of Snake Indians was lirst seen, Granville Stuart, in his Mon- tana as it is (New York, 1865), gives the following ethnological division : Washakeeks, or Green river Snakes, in Wyoming : Took- arikkah, or Salmon river Snakes (literally, Mountain-sheep eaters), in Idaho. These two bands he calls genuine Snakes. Smaller bands are those of the Salt Lake Diggers in Utah, the Salmon Waters on Snake river, the root-digging Bannocks or Pa- nasht, on Boise, Malheur and Owyhee rivers, and a few others, all of whom differ somewhat in their mode of speech. Snakes of the Yahooshkin and Walpahpe bands were settled recently on Klamath reserve in Oregon, together with a few Piutes. Utah {Yiitah, JEutaiv, Ute ; Spanish, ^j/o^e), is spoken in various dialects in parts of Utah, Wyoming and Arizona territories, and in the western desert regions of Colorado, where a reservation of Confederated Utes has been established, with an area of twelve millions of acres. To draw an accurate limit between the numerous bands of the Utahs, and those of the Snakes and Payutes seems to be impos'^ible at present, since all of them show the same national characteristics ; I give the names of some of the more important bands of Utah Indians, which no doubt differ to a certain degree in their sub-dialects : Elk Mountain Utahs in 428 The Indian Miscellany. southeastern Utali ; Fah- Vants on Sevier lake, southeast of Salt lake; iSompitches, on Sevier lake and in Sampitch valley; Task- Utah in northern Arizona; Uinta- Utfihs in Ilnitah valley reserve; Weber-Utahs, northeast of Salt lake; Yampa-Utahs, south of the Uinta-Utahs. Pwjute — {Pah-Utah, Pi-Ute — literally, River-Utah; Utah, as spoken on Colorado river), a sonorous, vocalic dialect, spoken throup^hout Nevada, in parts of Arizona and (Jalitornia. The dialect of the Southern Payutes on Colorado river closely resem- bles that of the neighboring Chemehuevis, but diflers materially from that s|»okon in northern Nevada, and from the dialect of Mono and Inyo counties, California. Other Payute tribes are the Washoes and Gosh-Utes. Kauvuya — [Cdwio ; Spanish, (khuillo). This branch of the Sh68honi stock prevails from the Cabezon mountains and San Bernardino valley, California, down to the Pacific coast, and is at present known to us in four dialects ; Serrano, or mountain dialed, spoken by Indians, who call themselves Takhtam, which means men, people. Kauvuya, in and around San Bernardino valley. Gaitchin or Kechi, a coast dialect in use near the mis- sions of San Juan C/apistrano and San Luis Rey de Francia. NeUl/i is another name for it. Kizh, spoken in the vicinity of the m/ission of San Gabriel by a tribe calling itself Tobikhar, or settlers, and of San Fernando mission, almost extinct. The two last mentioned dialects considerably differ among themselves, and from the mountain dialects of the Takhtam and Kauvuyas. Comanche, formerly called Hietan, Jitan, Na-uni, in northern Texas, in New Mexico and in the Indian territory. They are divided into tliree principal sections, and their language resem- bles in a remarkable degree that of the Snakes. Various Shoshoni dialects have largely influenced the stock of words of a few idioms, which otherwise are foreign to this family. We mean the Pueblo idioms of New Mexico, the Mocjui of Ari- zona, and the Kiowa, s])oken on Red river and its tributaries. There exists a deep-seated conncu'tion between the Shoshoni stock and several languages of northern Mexico in the radicals as well as in the grammatical inflections, which has been pointed Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 429 out and proved in many erudite treatises by Professor T. C. E. Buschmann, once the collaborator of the two brothers Alexander and Williann von Humboldt. Yuma. — The Indians of the Yuma stock are scattered along the borders of the Lower (Jolorudo and its affluents, the Gila river and the_ Bill Williams fork. Their name is derived from one of the tribes — the Yumas — whom their neighbors fre- quently call Cuchans or Ko-u-tchans. Some dialects, as the Mohave, possess a large number of sounds or phonetic elements, the English th amongst them, and are almost entirely built up of syllables, which contain but one consonant followed by a vowel. The verb possesses a plural form. At present we know of about seven dialects : Mohave (Spanish Mqjave), on Mohave river and on Colorado river reservation ; Ilualnpai, on Colorado river agency ; Maricopa, formerly Cocoraaricopa, on Pima reservation, Middle Gila river . Tonto, Tonto- Apaches or Gohun, on Gila river and north of it ; Cocopa, near Fort Yuma and south of it ; Cuchan or Yuma, on Colorado river ; their former seats were around Fort Yuma ; Diegeno and Conioi/ei, around San Diego, along the coast, on New river, etc. Scattered tribes are the koninos, and the Yavipais or Yampais, east of the Colorado river. The term opa, composing several of these tribal names, is taken from the Yuma, and means man : the definite article -tch joined to it tbrms the word ^pach or Apache, man, men, people. Pima. — Dialects of this Ktockarc spoken on the middle course of the Gila river, and south of it on the elevated plains of south- ern Arizona and northern Sonora, (Pimeria alta, Pimeria ba ja). The Pima does not extend int(/ California, unless the extinct, historical Oijuenches, mentioned in Mexican annals, spoke one of the Pima (or Pijmo, Pimo) dialects. Pima, on Pima reserve, Gila river, a sonorous, root-duj>licating idiom ; N^vome, a dialect probably spoken in Sonera, of which wo possess a reliable Spar'ah grammar, published in Shea's LinguisticH; Pdpago, on Pdpago reserve in southwestern Arizona. The Pima hiuguage bears a close relationship to the various dialects of the Gpata family and to a number of languages spoken in the interior Mexican states. The Indian Miscellany. Santa Barbara. — We are not cognizant of any national name given to the race of Indians who spoke the intricate dialects of this languaue family. Its northern dialects diifer as much from the southern as Minitaree does from San tee-Dakota, or Scandi- navian from the dialects of southern Germany. The southern dialects are : Santa Inez, near Santa Inez mis- sion; liturgic specimens, translations of parts of catechisms, etc., of this dialect, and of that of Santa Barbara mission, were for- warded to the Smithsonian Institution by Mr. Alex. S. Taylor, of Santa Barbara city ; Santa Barbara, around Santa Barbara mission, closely related to Kasud or Kashwdh, Spanish Ciene- guita, three miles from Santa Barbara mission ; Santa Qruz island, this dialect reduplicated the root in forming the plural of nouns, and probably extended over the other islands in its vicinity ; it is extinct now. The northern dialects are : San Louis Obispo ; stock of words largely mixed with Mutsun terms. The Indian name of the locality was Tixilini. San Antonio, spoken at or near San An- tonio mission, known to us through Padre Sit^'^r's dictionary. The plural of nouns is formed in more than twelve diiferent ways, and the phonology is quite intricate. Mutsun. — This name, of unknowm signification, has been adopted to designate a family of dialects extending from the en- virons of San Juan Bautista, Cal., in a northwestern direction up to and beyond the bay of San Francisco and the straits of Karquines, in the east reaching probably to San Joaquin river. It is identical with the language called Runsien or Ramsen, and shows a great development of grammatical forms. Its alphabet lacks the sounds of/;, f?,/anil of our rolling r. We can distin- guish the following dialects: San Juan Bautista; Padre F. Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta has left us a grammar and an exten- sive phraseological collection in this idiom, which were pub- lished by John G. Shea, in two volumes of his Linguistic Series. Mission of Carmelo, near the port of Monterey; the Eslenes inhabited its surroundings. Santa Oruz, north of the bay of Monterey ; vocabulary in New York Historical Magazine, 1864 (Feb.), page 68. La Soledad mission ; if this dialect, of Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 431 whose grammatical structure we know nothing, really belongs to the Mutsun stock, it is at least largely intermixed with San Antonio elements. The tribe living around the mission was called Sakhones. Costano, on the bay of San Francisco, spoken by the five extinct tribes of the Ahwastes, Olhones, Altahmos, Ro- monans, Tulomos. See Schoolcraft's Indians, vol. ii, page 494., Under the heading of " Mutsun " I subjoin here a series of dialects spoken north of the bay of San Francisco, which judg- ing from the large number of Mutsun words, probably belong to this stock, but show also a large amount of Chocuyem words, which dialect is perhaps not, according to our present informa- tion, a Mutsun dialect. This point can be decided only when its grammatical elements, as verbal inflection, etc., will be ascertained. The dialects, showing affinities with Mutsun, are as follows : Olamentke, spoken on the former Russian colony about Bodega bay, Marin Co. ; vocabulary in Wrangell, Naehrichten, etc., St. Petersburg, 1839, and reprinted by Prof. Buschmann. San Rafael mission, Marin Co. Vocabulary taken by Mr. Dana; printed in Hale's Report of Exploring Expedition, and in Trans- actions of American Ethnological Society, ii, page 128 ; the words are almost identical with those of Chocuyem. Talatui or Talantai, on Kassima river, an eastern tributary of the Sacramento, is clearly a dialect of Chocuyem; vocabulary by Dana, Tr. Am. Ethn. Soc, vol. ii. Cho/myem or Tchokoyem was the name of a small tribe once inhabiting Marin county, north of the Golden Gate. Their language extended across San Antonio creek into Sonoma valley, Sonoma Co. G. Gibbs's vocabulary published in Schoolcraft, in, 428-sq, discloses the sini.>ular fact that almost all Chocuyem words are dissyllabic, and frequently begin and termi nate in vowels. A Lord's prryer in Chocuyem was published in Duflot de Mofrus' Explorations, ii, 390, and reproduced by Bancroft ; the name of the tribe living around the mission of San Rafael was Youkiousme, which does not sound very alike, nor very difi'erent from Chocayem. Some of the more im- portant terms agreeing in the Chocuyem and in the Mutsun of San Bautista, are as follows : 432 The Indian Miscellany. iliii IS; ENGLISH. CUOCUYEM. MUTSUN. head mdloh mogel teeth ki-iht sit, si-it foot coyok coro house kotcha kuka, ruca white pahkiss palcasmin black mulutA humulusmiu I, myself kani can thou . mi men two osha utsgin father api appa mother enu anan The suppoaition that the Chocuyem belongs to the Mutsun stock is greatly strengthened by the mutual correspondence of these terms, but cannot be stated yet as existing on this ground alone, for the terms for most numerals, parts of human body, and those for fire, water, earth, sun, moon and star disagree entirely. The Chocuyem stock probabh' included also the Petaluma or Yolhios, as well as the Tomalo and other dialects spoken beyond the northern limit of Marin county. From a notice published by Alex. S. Taylor, Esq., we learn that Padre Quijas, in charge of Sonoma mission from 1835 to 1842, composed an extensive dictionary of the idiom spoken in the vicinity of this religious establishment. YocuT. — This tribe lives in the Kern and Tulare basins, and on the middle course of the San Joaquin river. Consolidated in 1860 into one coherent body by their chief, Pascual, the Yocuts show more national solidarity than any other California nation. In the Overland Monthly, Mr. Stephen Powers gave a sketch of this remarkable tribe, and described at length one of their terrific nocturnal weeping dances, called Kotewachil. The following tribes and settlements may be mentioned here : Taches ( Tatches), around Kingston ; Chewenee, in Squaw valley ; Watooga, on King's river ; Chookchancies, in several villages ; a King's river tribe, whose vocabulary is mentioned in Schoolcraft's Indians, vol. iv, 413- 414 ; Coconoons, on Merced river : their vocabulary in School- craft, IV, 413 ; a tribe formerly living at Dent's Ferry, on Stan- f*JM»L Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 433 islaus river, in the Sierra Nevada of Calaveras county, vocabulary given by Alex. S. Taylor in liis California Farmer. In former years many individuals of the Yocut nation were carried as captives to San Luis Obispo, on the coast, and were put to work in the ser- vice of the mission. Meewoc. — Stephen Powers {Overland Monthly, A.^v\\, 1873), calls the Meewoc tribe the largest in California in population, and in extent. " Their ancient dominion reached from the snow-line of the Sierrn Nevada to the San Joaquin river, and from the C6- sumnes to the Fresno : mountains, valleys and plains were thickly peopled." Bands of this tribe lived in a perfectly naked state in the Yosemite valley, when this spot first came into notice. The language is very homogeneous for a stretch of one hundred and fifty miles, and the radicals and words are remarkably vocalic. Meewoc, mi-ua, mivie, is the word for Indian, and osoamit, whence Yosemite, which means the grizzly bear ; wakdlumni is a river, hence Mokelumne was formed by corruption ; kossumi a salmon, hence Cosumnes river. Some of the Meewoc bands were called by the following names, which probably repre- sent as many dialects or sub-dialects : Choomteyas, on middle Merced river ; Quvnees, on Cosunme river ; YuMnees, on Sutter creek : Awnaees in Yosemite valley ; Chowchillas, on middle Chowchilla river; Tuolumne, on Tuolumne river. Their vocabu- lary was taken by Adam Johnson, and published in Schoolcraft's Indians, iv, 413. Four Creek Indians ; vocabulary published in the San Fran»cy> Indian territory. The lan Reprinted from The London (England) Magazine, for Juno, ITGO. Chastisement of the Yamasees. 449 fort, made themselves masters of it. The Rangers they killed and scalped before the poor woman's eyes, whose fears operated even to distraction, whilst she held the tender infant clasped in her arras, and besought the barbarians to spare them. It shall suffice to say, that, after many shocking insults and brutalities, (too gross and too affecting, for your readers' ears) they shot the child in its motlier's arms, and soon after also dispatched the frantic matron in the same manner. One Creek Indian, named Notoway, had the good fortune to escape to a neighboring creek, where a canoe lying, he, unobserved, got from them, and arrived at Savannah with the dreadful tidings. The husband, overwhelmed by a blow that at once reduced him to the utmost misery and distress, soon returned with propc assistance to take revenge upon the savage monsters ; but they were gone, and in vain he pur-iued their tracks ; so far, however, he pursued, that it would have been the greatest rashness to proceed farther. As they had burnt the fort to the ground, he had then opportunity only of paying his last duties to the man- gled remains of his family. He missed no occasions of engaging the Indians of this tribe, who felt, in bloody traits, the power of his arm. Yet never had he met with any of those concerned in the tragedy above related ; for the Indian who escaped had taken such notice of them, that, from his report, he was able to dis- tinguish those most active in the dreadful deed, from any other. At the latter end of the year 1743, a large body of these Yamasees fell upon a remote part of Captain Kerr's plantation, and, after doing considerable miscldef, carried off fifteen of his company of marines, and set off' with them for St. Augustine. It was two days before this fresh irruption was known to Captain Horton, then commanding officer at Frederica ; but then he ordered out a select party of the regiment, a number of friendly Indians, who then happened to be there, and about twenty Rangers under Lieutenant Francis, to pursue them. Francis, with unwearied diligence, reached the lake de Poupa, which he kne\v they must cross in their way to St. Augustine, and imagined they would make such a compass to elude pursuit, as would permit him to arrive there before them. As no tracks were perceived, 30 450 The Indian Miscellany. we imagined we had luckily got the start of them ; and therefore, crossing the lake upon rafts, we lay in ambush for them, well defended from immediate view by the thick-spreading shrubs and palmettoes behind which we prepared to receive our expected visitants. The detachment of the regiment was posted in front ; and on one liauk, the Indians under the famous Tonnahowi, son of Tomo Chichi, king of Yamacraw, both well remembered by the people of London ; on the other, Mr. Francis with his Rangers were concealed. Thus we continued, constantly lying upon our arms for near forty-eight hours, pretty well harrassed by the usual tortures of the climate, heat, musquitoes, wood-ticks, sand- flies, and other insects and vermin. At length one of our Indian scouts discovered them passing the lake, and seemingly in great consternation at the tracks they discovered in their way. Soon after, one of their party, upon the same errand, by an indiscreet and eager discovery of our Indians, returned back to his body with the relation of what he had seen. It was, however, too late to retreat, had they known our real number, which, notwithstand- ing, was much inferior to theirs, who were near one hundred. They then resolutely came up, with their infernal war-whoop, and pushed into the very defile, but were so warmly received, and such a number of them dropped by our first discharge, that, though they fired briskly for a few minutes, yet our Indians and Rangers then running in upon them, as many as escaped their fury fled in the utmost consternation. It was then the gallant Indian chief received his death-wound, valiantly fighting in the cause of his beloved English. Our other loss was very trifling; but near forty of the Yaniasees were killed, many made prisoners, and, perhaps, many more died of their wounds in the woods and marshes to which they fled ; so that it was the greatest blow they had received since the commencement of the war. Amongst the prisoners the faithful Notoway discovered the very villain that shot poor Mrs. Francis ; and, in the first emotions of grief and rage, Francis would have shot him thro' the head; but, recollecting it was in, roper for him to show an example of this sort, he called some of the young Indians, who scalped Chastisement of the Yamasees. 451 him in our presence, whilst he neither changed countenance, nor faltered in the song he chanted, importing how many of the English Indians he hud served in the same manner, what blood he had shed, and particularly boasting of his murder of Mrs. Francis. Enraged as we were, none of us could steadily face this horrid scene ; and his tormentors were ordered to put him to no further torture ; upon which they shot him to death. Thus ended our expedition. But I must remember to tell you, that we rescued our fifteen captives, who had the presence of mind to fling them- selves flat on the earth at the beginning of the engagement, and received no hurt; though by little but their language could they be distinguished from their late masters, being stripped, and scorched by the rays of the sun to nearly the same hue. One prisoner we brought to Frederica, who was given up to the Indians, and burnt by them for the loss of their chief, as we afterwards under- stood. The brave Tonnahowi we buried with military honors at Fort William, in the island of Cumberland ; a respect truly due to his fidelity and bravery. THE LAST OF THE PEQUODSA By Benson J. Lossing. In the vestibule of the lil)rary of the New York Historical Society is the figure of a North American Indian, in purest mar- ble, wrought by the hand of Thomas Crawford. The man is sitting, with his head low bent and resting upon his palm, and his expression is that of one entirely absorbed in deep and sad contemplation. That fine work of art is called The Last of his Race. Art, history, and romance have touchingly depicted that rare, melancholy person, the last of his race or nation, but have yet failed to portray that rare, melancholy being, the last of her race or nation. A dozen years ago I visited that rare woman, the last living survivor of her nation. She was then just one hundred years old, and blessed with a liberal share of bodily and mental vigor. She was undoubtedly the last of the Pequods, a powerful nation (in the limited sense of the term) of Indians, who occupied an ex- tensive region of country along the borders of Long Island sound, in eastern Connecticut. They had come, nobody knew when, from the more vigorous north — a hardy people, inured to the chase and war — and driven away the weaker ichthyophagists of the seaboard. They exercised wide authority, by right of con- quest, over the continent tribes in their vicinity and a greater portion of Long Island ; and they were so aggressive that they won the fear and hatred of all around them. Their national seat was at the mouth of the Thames, and their chief sagamore, when the white people first settled in Connecticut, was Sassacus. He was a sort of emperor, having under his control between the Thames and the Hudson rivers, along the sound, twenty-six chiefs and almost four thousand warriors. His royal residence was upon a hill a little southward of the present village of Groton, then covered with the primeval forest. Upon the Mystic river, ' Reprinted from Scribner't Monthly (New York) for October, 1871. The Last op the Pequods. 453 eastward, not far from Stonington, lie Jiad a strong fort, and around him stood seven hundred young warriors readj to obey his every command. Haughty and insolent, he spurned every overture of the white people, and looked with contempt upon the rebellious doings of Uncas, of the rojal blood, then in armed insurrection against him. The English were but a handful com- pared to his people, and he scorned their friendship. What had he to fear? Much, very much, as a brief campaign against him in May, 1637, proved. The outrages of Sassacus and his followers had made his name so terrible, that white and dusky mothers alike drew their babes closer to their bosoms whenever it was uttered. It was evident that he aspired to be master of all New England, and that his first business toward the accomplishment of that end would be the extermination of the English. Imminent danger caused quick and energetic action. Captain John Mason was sent, with less than one hundred men, to land on the shores of and penetrate the Pequod country, and bring the haughty savages under sub- jection. His little army sailed in pinnaces down Narraganset bay. Two hundred Narraganset warriors, under Miantonomoh, their principal chief, joined the English; so also did many brave Niantics, and the Pequod rebels under Uncas. When, early iu June, Mason approached the fort of Sassacus, on the Mystic, he had full five hundred light and dark warriors following him. At early dawn that little army from the east stealthily crawled up the thick wooded hill crowned by the Pequod fort. The whole garrison were in deep slumber, excepting a solitary sen- tinel ; and at the same moment when he shouted into dull ears, " The English ! The English ! " the invaders scaled the mounds, beat down the palisades, and swarmed into the fort with gun, sword, and tomahawk. The mattings of the wigwams and the dry bushes and timbers of the fort were fired, when seven hun(!red men, women, and children perished by the flames and steel ! The strong, the beautiful, and the innocent were mercilessly slaugh- tered ; and the impious leader in his account said, " God is above us ! He laughs his enemies and the enemies of the English to scorn, making them as a fiery oven. Thus does the Lord judge among the heathen, filling the place with dead bodies." 454 The Indian Miscellany. Swift couriers flew to Sassacus with tlie sad news. Close upon tlie steps of the hearers of evil tidings followed the remnant of his warriors who o8oui)ed the massacre, and were excited to mad- ness by the dreadful calamity. The- sagamore sat, stately and sullen, under a canopy of houghs, while they boldly charged the disasters of the morning to his haughtiness and misconduct. "With violent gestures and frequent yells, they threatened him with deatli ; and they would doul)tles8 have pushed the threat to action had they not been startled by the blast of a trumpet near by. Another foe was upon them. From the head of the Mystic came two hundred armed settlers from Massachusetts and Ply- mouth, to seal the doom of the Pequod nation. Their advent brought despair tv/ Sassacus and his followers, and these instantly set fire to their wigwams and palisades, and crossing the Thames, fled westward, closely pursued by the English, with great slaughter. These spread utter desolation over the beautiful land of the Pequods. Wigwams and gardens disappeared before them, and men, women, and children met the fate of the Canaan- ites before the sword of the son of Nun. With a few followers Sassacus took refuge in Sasco swamp, near the present Fairfield, where all surrendered but the Sagamore and half a dozen war- riors, who escaped to the Mohawks and met death by murder among them. And so it was that a nation was destroyed in a day. None of all that once powerful people remained but the few captives and their families, and the surviving rebels under TJncas himself the last of the Mohegans of tlie royal line of the Pequods. Almost a hundred years later, a descendant of one of these Pequod captives was a man of energy and wisdom, named Mah- wee, or Mahweesum, whose family lived in western Connecticut. With a party of hunters (he was then quite young), he chased a buck to the summit of a range of high hills beyond the usual limits of their hunting. At near sunset they looked down into a beautiful valley flooded with golden light, through which flowed a winding stream. In the morning they descended to the plain and there discovered rich corn-lands. Bringing their families over the hills, they made their homes there, near the mouth of a The Last of the Pequods. 455 little tributary to the river. The corn-lands and the little stream they called Pish-gach-ti-gock — the meeting of the waters — and the river tliey named Iloo'-sa-tah-nook', the stream over the moun- tains. Their place oF settlement was near the present village of Kent, in Litchfield county, Connecticut. Such was the origin of the name of the IlouHatonic river, and the tribal one of the rem- nants of the Pequod, Narraganset, and other New EnglandLidians who settled there, which has been corrupted into Schaghticook. Of this mixed tribe, so formed, Mahwee, about the year 1728, became sachem or civil ruler, and held the scepter until his death. One day, before he became sachem, Mahwee was hunting on the mountains westward of Schaghticook, and from their tops he looked down into a lovely valley covered with rich grass, and broken into little rocky and wooded hills that appeared like islands in a j^reen sea. Through it flowed a sparkling stream that received many a brook from the mountains. It was the valley of the Weebetuck or Ten Mile river, in the town of Dover, N. Y. The mountain sides of the valley were full of game, and the river abounded with fish. There Mahwee built a wigwam for his family, gathered about him an Indian settlement, and be- came its sachem. He afterward dwelt in one or two other places, and finally went back to Schaghticook, where he drew around him the other settlements, and became sachem over all. Several years after that general gathering, Moravian mission- aries had penetrated that region. A station was planted, in 1741, at Shekomeko, in the eastern part of Duchess county, N. Y., and not many miles from the valley of the Weebetuck. The labors of the missionaries among the Indian" were extended to Schaghticook, and the first convert among the tribe there was sachem or King Mahwee, to whom they gave the baptismal name of Gideon. He was baptized by Martin Mack, on the 13th of February, 1743, and to the end of his life he was faithful to his profession. For a long time he was an exhorter among his people. Believing it would add to the dignit}'- of his household, be was married to another wife from among the Stockbridge Indians, farther up the Housatonic river, and took her to Pishgachtigock. But his people'were so offended by the act that he felt compelled 456 The Indian Miscellany. to reside, for a time, iu the valley of the Weebetuck, his old home. There he lived until convinced that he had done wrong, when he sent his secp :d wife back to her people, and returned to his own. Eunice Mali wee, grand-daughter of Sachem Gideon, and who was descended in unmixed blood from her Pequod ancestors, the unfortunate contemporaries of Sassacus, was " the last of her nation " to whom I have alluded. I visited her under circum stances of peculiar interest. The fact that one of their missionary stations had been planted in the province of New Yor;, near the borders of Connecticut, more than a hundred years before, had almost faded from the Moravian mind, and was known only to a few students. A farmer plowed up, on the site of Shekomeko, a fragment of a stone bearing an inscription in the German language. It was an impenetrable enigma until records pointed to the spot as the site of the settlement of the praying Indians. The Moravian Historical Society of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, became interested in the matter. A delegation from it visited the spot as explorers in June, 1869, and it was found that the fragmont was part of a monument erected there at the grave and to the memory of Gottlieb Biittner, one of the two t rliest missionaries at Sheko- meko. The writer accompanied the explorers, and a few months afterward he participated with the Moravian bishop and other clergy and laymen of the United Brethren, in the dedication of a monument erected at the grave of Biittner, and another near Sharon, Connecticut, where the Moravians had a missionary sta- tion. From these interesting places we rode through a most pic- turesque region southward, puft'nng on the wf.y ihe upper borders of the "Weebetuck valley, and arri^; ed av Kent, on the Housatonic, at sunset. The next morning the w hole party rode a short distance down the western side of the river to the Schaghticook reserva- tion, and visited Eunice Mahwee, ;he chief subject of this paper. At that time only about fifty persons composed the remnant of the mixed tribe over which Sachem Gideon had ruled ; and Aunt Eunice, as her friends and neighbors called ^ "ir, was the only one in whose veins then ran the pure blood of the Pequods. As we approached the reservation we foii'^ d the valley very Tee Last of the Pequods. 457 narrow and more picturesque, with the Pisgachtigock or Sehagh- ticook mountain overlooking it. Some of the houses were of logs, and others were framed ; and around each was a patch of cul- tivated land. Some of the dwellings were adorned with flowers, shrubbery, and vines. Thus beautified, was the house in which Eunice dwelt with her grand-daughter Lavinia, who was in the yard Avhen we drew up. She was tidily dressed in faded calico, and had a man's straw hat upon her head, and an implement of labor in her hand. Undisturbed by the sudden arrival of so many strangers, she led us quietly into the house, where, at an open fire-place, before some glowing embers, sat upon a rush- bottomed chair the venerable object of our visit, with a half- finished basket on which she had been working by her side. In an open doorway, con- necting with another room, stood Lavinia's pretty, bright-eyed daughter, a young married woman, with a babe in her arms. So the eye rested upon living members of the same familv born a hundred years apart ! Glancing around the room we saw evi- dences of poverty, but not of want. Three chairs, a deal table, a small cracked look- ing glass. a faded paper window-shade, and a pair of bellows Eunice Maiiwee. composed the furni- ture. On the table was a wooden dish nearly filled with lam- prey eels, a fish which one of the Moravians of the company said was often mentioned in the records of the mission there as a wholesome and abundant article of food in the Bettlement. The Indian Miscellany. Eunice had evidently been a stout, thick-set woman in her prime, a little below the ordinary height of her sex. She had strongly-marked Indian features, evidently lighted in earlier life by brilliant black eyes. Age had now made its furrows everywhere upon her face, and somewhat dimmed her vision ; but her voice, low and clear, had all the force and melody of that of her young womanhood. Her mind was strong, but a little sluggish ; and when, by questions, we tried to draw from her the salient points in the story of her long life, she would sit a moment, with her eyes fixed upon the tire, to summon tardy memory to give us answers. She never failed ; and by patient questioning and more patient waiting our curiosity was satisfied. Eunice was born in Derby, Connecticut, between the Nauga- tuck and Housatonic rivers, in the year 1759. Her father, Gideon Mahwee's second son, was named Joseph, and wore the costume of the white people. She remembered a visit made to him by her grandfather and a few friends, when she was a little child. They were dressed in the Indian manner, and were entertained at dinner, of which they partook with their fingers out of a huge kettle of meat and vegetables, all sitting around it on the ground. Their wild appearance frightened her and she hid in the bushes for fear of being eaten up by them. She lived in Derby until she was married to a Il^arraganset Indian named John Sutnux, who, almost immediately afterward, went to the north with Con- necticut troops, and was engaged in the short campaign that ended in the capture of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga. At that time there were only five Indians in Derby, and soon after her husband's return from camp they settled among the Schaguticooks at Xent, where there was then no sachem, her grand- father being dead, and no person of unmixed blood remaining who might bear the honor. His memory was dear to the people, for he had been a father to them, telling them where and when to plant and sow, and reap and gather. He allowed no drinking of fermented liquors ; and while he lived the tribe flourished and increased. They were so numerous when Eunice first went among them that she was timid for a long time, they seemed so wild. After Gideon's death the tribal bonds became weakened. The Last of the Pequods. 459 Intemperance and idleness marred their prosperity, and the com- munity began to scatter. At the opening of the revolution there were yet a sufficient number to send one hundred warriors to the field. In that war many of them perished. Eunice's husband died at Kent, and she afterward married Peter Sherman. She had borne nine children, and had outlived them all. Skillful in basket making, many years of her woman- hood in the early part of this century were spent in that business. She often wandered over the mountains into the Weebetuck . valley (now Dover plains), selling her wares, and was made wel- come by everybody. Many a night was spent by her in the hospitable mansion of the estate on which the writer now resides, when the young people of the family would listen during a long evening to her marvelous stories of the past. One of these, now almost four-score years of age, and other old residents of this region, have a vivid recollection of the vigorous and wandering Eunice, the basket-woman, and also of her contemporary and friend of the Stockbridge Indians, John Konkepot, who was edu- cated at Nazareth Hall, in Bethlehem, by the Moravians. He was better known as Doctor Konkepot, because he was famous for his certain cures of the bite of the rattlesnake, as well as of almost every other disease, by the use of Indian Fiiedicines. Strong drink became his enemy. He had no cure for that ser- pent which " stingeth like an adder," and he died its victim. Somewhat late in life Eunice again became a widow; and when, in 1844, at the age of eighty-five years, she was baptized and received into the Congregational church at Kent, she took her maiden name of Mahwee, by which she was ever afterward known. In fact, she had assumed it on the death of her second husband, many years before. The Schaghticook reservation was originally more extended than when we visited it. It was bounded on the north by the creek which gave ifc its name, on the south by the Weebetuck, on the east by the Ho^isatonic river, and on the west by a line on the mountains. Snchem Gideon laid out this tract into oblong strips extending from the river to the mountain, and assigned one to each family. This partition gave to each the rigM to The Indian Miscellany. hunt in the mountains and to fish in the river. He compelled each family to till their land and live off of the products, and thereby discouraged laziness. Eunice was still living on land assigned to her family, and she was so much attached to it that she did not want to leave it, even for an hour. She spoke sadly of the decay of her people, and almost contemptuously of those whose blood was mixed with other than that of the Indian race. She remembered when there was a fair degree of prosperity in the settlement, the inhabit- ants quite numerous and the pappooses in the fields as plentiful as squirrels. Alas ! at the time of our visit not more than thirty persons with the Indian purple in their veins were inhabitants of the reservation, and these v/ere of almost every shade of brown. Eunice spoke with honest pride of her own pure blood, and said she was the very last one of the Pequods whose pedigree was free from the taint of amalgamation. Our questions concerning the past excited Eunice's memory of her youthful days. She told us that even so late as in her young womanhood she had heard her people declare how much they loved the Moravians, and delighted to relate the manner and incidents of their visits. Those faithful missionaries came first one and then another, singly, stayed a while, and returned ; and then they came again, with their women. During the few years that they ministered in Eastern Duchess they baptized no less than one hundred and fifty Indians in the Schaghticook settlement. Perceiving signs of weariness in the face of the venerable cen- tenarian, we bade her farewell and continued our journey, satis- fied that we had been face to face with the last survivor of a once powerful nation, whose race inhabited our continent ages, perhaps, before Europeans discovered it — a race now rapidly fading away, there remaining not more than three hundred thousand within the broad domain of our republic of the vast multitude who were here when De Soto and his fellow-invaders, a little more than three hundred years ago, swept over the gulf region from the peninsula of Flowers to the eastern slopes of the Rocky moun- tains. Crawford's grand figure of The Last of his Race is a prophecy soon to be fulfilled. THE TRADITION OF AK INDIAN ATTA CK ON HAD- LEY, MASS., IN 1675.' [Read before the Pocomtnck Valley (Mass.) Memorial AsBociatlon, Feb. 24, 1874, and before the New England Historical Genealogical Society, May 6, 1874.] By George Sheldon. There is probably not one before me, who has not heard the thrilling story of the regicides, Edward Whalley and William Goffe, two of the English judges who sent king Charles I. to the executioner's block in 1649 ; of their flight to New-England on the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne in 1660 ; of their suc- cessful concealment at New Haven and other places, while the minions of Charles II. hunted them through every town in the colonies ; of their final haven of refuge in the house of the Rev. John Russell in Hadley ; and more especially of the angel who appeared Sept. 1, 1675, in the person of General Goffe, to deliver Hadley from the power of the enemy, for this story has been repeated in one form or another all over the civilized world. The alleged appearance of Goffe at Hadley, whether considered in connection with the supposed miracle or as the heroic act of a brave man, has been a fruitful theme for historians and an inspira- tion for poets. Divines have seen in it a special interposition of Providence; the champions of liberty have pointed to it as new evidence of the valor of that strong defender of the rights of man; and the mighty " Wizard of the North " has woven it into the pages of delightful romance. Notwithstanding all this, I make bold to ask your attention while the story of the guardian angel of Hadley is examined from a new point of view, which it is but fair to say, in the beginning, is that of a skeptic. The origin of the story, with its growth and development under the hands of the leading historians, will be shown, and such conclusions drawn as the premises may seem to warrant. The Rev. Increas*.^ Mather, in his history of the war with the Reprinted ftom the J>/ew England HUiorical ar.d Qenealogkal Register (Boston), for Octoboi-, 1874. 462 The Indian Miscellany. Indians, publislied at the close of Philip's war in 1677, makes this statement : " On the Ist of September, 1675, one of the churches in Boston was seeking the face of God, by fasting and prayer before him ; also that very day the church in Hadley was before the Lord in the same way, but were driven from the holy service they were attending by a most sudden and violent alarm which routed them the whole day after." I^othing more is heard of this affair for eighty-nine years, when, in 1764, Gov. Hutchinson published his valuable, history of Massachusetts. In the text of this work he says : " Sept. the first, 1675, Hadley was attacked upon a fast day, while the people were at church, which broke up the service and obliged them to spend the day in a very different exercise." The story has here advanced one step : Mather having spoken only of an alarniy which with Hutchinson has become an attack. "When Hutchinson wrote lie was in possession of a diary kept by Goffe for many years, from which he gives an account of the wanderings and concealments of the regicides. In a marginal note he adds : "I am loth to omit an anecdote handed down through Gov. Leverett's family." Then follows tliis anecdote : '"' The town of Hadley was alarmed by Indians in 1675 in the time of public worship. The people were in the utmost confu- sion. Suddenly a grave elderly person appeared in the midst of them. In his mien and dress he differed from the rest of the people. He not only encouraged them to defend themselves, but put himself at their head, rallied, instructed and led them on to encounter the enemy, who by this means were repulsed. As suddenly, the deliverer of Hadley disappeared. The people were left in consternation, utterly unable to account for this- pheno- menon. It is not probable that they were ever able to explain it." It w^ll ba perceived that this is a great advance in the story, but as yet there is no ai gel, only a mystery. President Stiles, of Yale College, in his History of the Judges, published thirty years later, writes as follows : Though told with some variation in various parts of New- England, the true story of the angel is this. ****** That pious congregation were observing a fast at Hadley on the The Tradition of an Indian Attack on Hadley. 463 occasion of this war ; and being at public worship in the meet- ing house there on a fast day, Sept. 1, 1675, were suddenly sur- rounded and surprised by a body of Indians. It was the usage in the frontier towns, and even at New Haven, in those Indian wars, for a select number of the congregation to go armed to public worship. It was so at Hadley at this time. The people immediately took to their arms, but were thrown into great con- sternation and confusion. Had Hadley ])een taken, the discovery of the judges had been inevitable. Suddenly, and in the midst of the people, there appeared a man of a very venerable aspect, and different from the inhabitants in his apparel, who took the command, arrayed and ordered them in the best military manner, and, under his direction, they repelled and routed the Indians, and the town was saved. He immediately vanished, and the in- habitants could not account for the phenomenon, but by consider- ing that person as an angel sent of God upon that special occasion for their deliverance ; and for some time after, said and believed that they had beer delivered and saved by an angel. Nor did they know or conceive otherwise till fifteen or twenty years after, when it at length became known at Hadley that the two judges had been secreted there ; which probably they did not know till after Mr. Russell's death in 1692. This story, however, of the angel at Hadley was before this universally diffused through New England, by means of the memorable Indian war of 1675. The mystery was unriddled after the revo- lution [of 1688 in England], when it became not so very dan- gerous to have it known that the judges had received an asylum here, and that Goffe was actually in Hadley at that time. The angel was certainly General Goffe, for Whalley was superan- uated in 1675." In the above account the angel is full-fledged ^ and the outline of the battle is given for the first time in print. In 1824, General Epaphras Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass., published some result of his studies in his Antiquarian Researches. In this work, after a detailed account of an attack on Hadley by Indians^ June 12, 1676, he adds : " A curious circumstance occurred in this attack. When the people were in great consternation and rallying to oppose the Indians, a man of venerable aspect, differing from \ '. 464 The Indian Miscellany. the inhabitants in his apparel, appeared, and assuming com- mand, arrayed them in the best manner for defence, evincing much knowledge of military tactics ; and by his advice and ex- ample continued to animate the men throughout the attack. When the Indians drew off, the stranger disappeared, and noth. ing further was heard of him. Who the deliverer was, none could inform or conjecture, but by supposing, as was common at that day, that Hadley had been saved by its guardian angel. It will be recollected that, at this time, the two judges, Whalley and Goffe, were secreted in the village, at the house of the Rev. Mr. Russell. The supposed angel was then no other than General Goffe, who, seeing the village in imminent danger, put all at risk, left his concealment, mixed with the inhabitants, and animated them to a vigorous defence." Observe that the assault has now become a dangerous one, a more particular account of the principal actor is given, but the whole affair is dated nine or ten months later : June, 1676, instead of Sept., 1676. Holmes, in his Annals of America, quotes Mather, Hutchinson, Stiles and Hoyt. He fully credits the story, but doubts whether Hoyt is justified in placing the appearance of Gofte at a later date. In his address, at the bi-centennial celebration at Hadley, June 8, 1859, the Rev. Dr. Huntington, with unqiiestioning faith, says ; " It was, as everybody knows, in the attack of the Indians, Sept. 1, 1675, a day of fasting, while the people were assembled in their meeting-house, that Goffe, willing to incur the sacrifice of exposing his own life to the double enemy, one here in the bushes, and another on the British throne, came suddenly forth from his hiding place, and by valor and skill, arraying the affrighted worshipers in ranks, and putting himself at their head, drove the assailants back." He does not believe that the meeting-house was surrounded, but that the engagement occurred east of the village, adding: " this accords with a traditional feature of the story which I heard for the first time last winter. An aged woman, in a remote part of the town, says she had heard that Goffp saw the Indians The Tradition op an Indian Attack on Hadley. 4G5 entering the town from the niountuins at a di.stance." As iftlie subtle red man, who was nemr seen till he struck his blow, could have been discovered coming over the hills at a distance like an army with l)aggage and bajiners ! Dr. Holland, in his Jlisfori/ of Westei'H Massachusetts, with no apology tor a change of time and circumstance, and with no ai»[)arent misgivings as to the fact of the attack, fixes the date as June 12, 1076, and gives this circumstantial account of the event in question. "' The attack was made with the des[»erate deter- mination to succeed. On the preceding niglit they had laid an ambuscade at the southern extremity of the town, calculating to sweep the place from the north, and by driving the inhabitants southward to force them into the snare there set for them. The enemy Avere warmly received at the palisades. At one point on the north the palisades were pierced, and the Indians succeeded in gaining possession of a house, but were at last forced out of it and beaten back with loss. At this moment of extreme con- fusion and alarm, the course of events was under the keen survey of a pair of eyes that were strangers to all but one or two fami- lies in the town. They were eyes practiced in military affairs, and belonged to a man who held the stake of life on the issue of the conflict. Unable longer to remain an idle s[»ectator of the struggle, he resolved to issue forth. Suddenly he stood in the midst of the affrighted villagers, a man marked in his dress, noble in carriage and venerable in appearance. Self-appointed, he in a measure assumed the command, arranged and ordered the English forces in the best militar}^ manner, encouraged here, commanded there, rallied the men everywhere, filled them with hope and firmness on every hand, and at last succeeded in repell- moi the overwhelminfi: numbers that swarmed on all sides. The discharge of apiece of ordnance put them to flight, and Major Talcott, going over from Xorthampton with his forces, joined the victorious villagers and soldiers of Hadley in chasing the enemy inio the woods. This feat was accomplished with the loss of only two or three men on the part of the English. But the mysterious stranger, who had been partly if not mainly instru- mental in effecting this thorough rout, had retired from sight 31 466 The Indian Miscellany. » I ; ,«( as suddenly as he had made \m advent. Who he was, none knew. That sueh a man could live upon a plantation and not be known was not deemed posHible ; and it is not strange that in the superstitious spirit of the times he should have been regarded by the people as ' an angel sent of God upon this 8i)eeial occasion for their deliverance.' " Sylvester .Fudd, the mont noted antiquary of the Connecticut valley, writing one hundred years later than Hutchinson, can find no new evidence in supjiort of the oft-repeated tale. He quotes Mather and Hutchinson, criticizes shiirply the account by Stiles, thinks Hoyt mistook the date of the occurrence, and says: " The attack was undoubtedly ujjon the outskirts of the town, probably at the north end. The approach of the Indians may have been observed by Goffc from his chamber, which had a window toward the east. There is no reason to believe there was a large body of Indians, but the people being unaccustomed to war, needed Gotfe to arrange and order them. The Indians appear to have fled after a short skirmish." Thus the propor- tions of the story are reduced by Judd. The meeting-house was not surrounded, the attack was at the north end of the town, and there was but a slignt skirmish after all. However, this matter is not to rest here. Palfrey's History of New England, published in 1865, contains so vivid and graphic a picture of the encounter, that we can almost see the wily foe stealing down upon the quiet village, the confusion and dismay when their savage war-whoop burst upon the astounded congrega- tion of worshipers, the awe-struck look but ready obedience of the soldiers and citizens ar. the old hero, Goffe, appeared among them and gave the word of command. We can almost hear the tramp of the steadied line, the sharp crash of musketry, and the final rush of victory. I cannot forbear quoting him at length : " At the end of another week separate attacks were made upon two of the settlements on the Connecticut. At Deerfield, several houses and barns were burned, and two men killed. At Hadley, from which place the Indians had observed most of the garrison to be absent, the inhabitants were keeping a fast, when their de- votion was disturbed by the outcries of a furious enemy. Seiz- The Tradition of an Indian Attack on IIadley. 457 ing the muskets which stood by their sides, the men rushed out of their meeting-house and liastily fell into lino ; but the sudden- ness of the as;sault from a foe now enclosing them all around, was bewildering, and they seemed about to give way, when it is said an unknown man, of advanced years and ancient garb, appeared among them, and abruptly assumed the direction with the bear- ing and tone of one used to battles. His sharp word of com- mand instantly restored order, musket and pike were handled with nerve, the invaders were driven in headlong flight out of the town. When the pursuers collected again, their deliverer had disappeared, nor could any man get an answer by what instru- ment Providence had interposed for their rescue. It was the regicide Colonel Goffe. Sitting at a window of Mr. Ilussell's house, while his neighbors were at worsihip, he had seen the stealthy savages coming down over tbe hills. The old ardor took possession of him once more ; he rushed out to win one more victory for God's people and then went back to the retire- ment from which no man knows that he emerged again." The story has now attained full stature. Mather's alarm has become a furious battle, victory wavering for awhile between the combatants. I now quote from the Rev. Chandler Robbins's Regicides Sheltered in New England. " In the summer of 1676, while Philip's war was raging, a powerful force of Indians made a sudden assault upon Hadley. The inhabitants at the time were assembled in their meeting-house, observing a day of fasting and prayer, but, in apprehension of an attack, they had taken their muskets with them to the house of God. While they were en- gaged in their devotions, the younger of the solitary captives, who perhaps taking advantage of the absence of observers, to enjoy a brief interval of comparative freedom, may have been seated at an open window, or walking near the house, discovered the approach of the wily foe, and hastened to give the alarm. With the air of one accustomed to command, he hastly drew up the little band of villagers in the most approved military order, put himself at their head, and by his own ardor and energy in- spired them with such confidence, that rushing upon the swarm- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) = 11.25 ^ i:£ 12.0 u la, I. •UUt. 1.8 M. 11.6 ^N? \ \ RV ^ '"'^ ^/% i=. 468 The Indian Miscellany. ing savages, they succeeded, with the loss of only twc or three men, in driving them back into the wilderness." Here again the details of the aifair are essentially changed. GofFe discovers the Indians, gives the alarm, and leads the attack, which is made by the whites. Their loss is given, and I do not despair of yet seeing a list of the names of the killed, wounded and missing. I will lastly quote John Farmer, secretary of the New Hamp- shire Historical Society, who gives, as his authority, the Rev. Phineas Cooke, a native of Hadley. With such endorsement this extract should receive especial attention, and have due weight. It was while the regicidf s resided with Mr. liussoll, " and while his people were observing a fast on account of the Philip's war, Sept. 1, 1675, that a party of Indians collected and were about to attack the inhabitants while assembled in the meeting- house. Some accounts represent the scene to have occurred on the Sabbath, but all agree that it happened during a time ot public worship, and while almost the entire population were collected. The party approached the town from the north, with the manifest design to surprise the people at meeting, before they could be prepared to make any effectual resistance. Gen. Goflfe and Gen. "Whalley were the only persons remain- ing at home at Mr. Russell's. GofFe saw from his chamber window the enemy collecting, and approaching towards the meeting-house, and knowing the peril of the congregation, felt himself constrained to give them notice, although it might lead to the discovery of his character and hie place of concealment. He went in haste to the house of God, apprised the assembly that the enemy were near, and preparation must be immediately made for the defence. All was alarm and trepidation. * What shall we do, who will lead us ? ' was the cry from every quarter. In the confusion the stranger said, 'I will lead, follow me.' Im- mediately all obeyed their unknown general and prepared to manih against the enemy. Though some of them were armed, yet their principal weapon of defence was an old iron cannon, sent there sometime before by the government ; but no one of the inhabitants was sufficiently skilled in military tactics to manage it to much purpose. The marvellous stranger knew, The TRADiTiot^ of an Indian Attack on Hadley. 469 and having loaded it proceeded to the attack. Beholding this formidable array, the Indians retreated a short distance, and took refuge in a deserted house on Connecticut river,. The cannon was so directed, that when discharged, the contents threw down the top of the stone chimney about the heads of the Indians, who took fright, and fled with great terror and dismay. The commander ordered his company to pursue, take and destroy as many of the enemy as they could, and while they were in pur- suit of the Indians, he retreated unobserved, and soon rejoined Whalley in their private chamber. When the pursuers returned he was gone, and nothing was heard of him for years afterward. The good people supposed their deliverer was an angel, who having completed his business, had returned to celestial quarters. And when we consider his venerable appearance, his silvery locks, and his pale visage, together with the disposition of the pious of that period to see a special providence in events which they could not comprehend, and the sudden manner of his dis- appearance, it is not surprising they supposed their deliverer came from another world." Let us try to imagine the gentle savages considerately delaying their attack until the confusion had subsided, and the silver- haired leader had loaded to his mind this new instrument for bush fighting, and then retreating in a bf/dy to a deserted house ! The absurdity of this account is only equalled by the credulity of the writer. We will now review in an inverse order these successive ac- counts of the affair at Hadley, that we may discover their basis and historical value. Nothing more need be said of the Farmer and Cooke version of the story. Confused by the conflicting accounts of the local historians (Hoyt, Judd, Huntington and Holland), not satisfied of the truth of either, but seeing no ground for their rejection, Dr. Bobbins aeems to have compromised with himself by endorsing the load- ing points of each. He makes no claim to new sources of inform- ation ; his only references being Dr. Holland's History of West- ern Massachusetts, Dr. Huntington's address, before referred to, and Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak. 470 The Indian Miscellany. While Dr. P.ilfVey a^ives such a j^lowinc description of the assault, he not only fails to hrin<2j any evidence to support it, but throws a sliadovv over what have been considered the best au- thorities. In reference to the story he remarks, in a marginal note, "I am sorry to say that I can find no other authority than Hutchinson,"' and " am disappointed in the hope of finding con- firmation of it in the Connecticut river records or traditions. I can hear of no traditions that are not traceable to Hutchinson's history. Dr. Holland, though giving us ful^^r particulars than preceding writers, quotes no more recent authority to justify his interpre- tation of the stcry. As Dr. Huntington, with few exceptions, gives Judd credit for the historicnl facts of his address, his account and Judd's will be treated as one. The latter, in his careful and minute search after materials for a history of Hadley, has found absolutely nothing to confirm the Lcverctt family tradition, and after his severe scrutiny it seems safe to assert that nothing ever will be found. Both were believers in the whole story as given by Hutchinson. They attempt to account for the silence of Hubbard and other historians on the ground, says Judd, that " It was necessary at that time and long after to throw a veil over the transactions of that day," or, as Huntington expresses it, " considerations of policy fully account for the obscure allusions in the contempo- raneous records " — these considerations being, of course, to prevent the betrayal of the secret of the concealment of the judges at Mr. Russell's. Were it only a question as to the silence of such men, on the appearance of General Gojfe, the argument would be conclusive ; but when made to cover their silence in regard to the attack upon Hadley, as well, H fails to convince. On the contrary, the omis- sion in Hubbard's history of so important a fact as the first attack of the Indians upon a village in the Connecticut valley, must have provoked inquiry as to the cause of such an omission, and inquiry at Hadley under the circumstances must have resulted in the discovery of the fugitives. Suspicion had already been di- rected hei e, and their very house of refuge had been searched by The Tradition op an Indian Attack on Hadley. 471 zealous agents of the crown. Hubbard was undoubtedly ac- quainted with these facts. Iladley, at the time in question, pro- bably contained about five hundred inhabitants, every man, woman and child of whom, t^ave those in the secret, must have been filled with awe and amazement at their supernatural de- liverance. Sifijns and wonders were familiar to the people of those days, but no event of such significance had occurred in the history of New England, and the news of such a marvellous providence must soon have spread over all the colonies ; especially as Hadley became the head quarters of military operations, and wihin that same week hundreds o^ soldiers were collected there from all parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Silence as to this event might perhaps have been imposed upcm the historians and ministers, who were the chief letter-writers vi that period, but it is inconceivable that the lips of this great multitude could have been closed, while from the very nature of the case no good reason could be given for silence. Well might the people say, "Jehovah hath bared His arm in our defence. Let us proclaim from the house-tops his wonderful interposition for our deliver- ance, and spread the glorious tidings ihroughout the length and breadth of the land, that we may thereby encourage the armius of the Lord, and strike terror to the hearts of our superstitious foe." To such an argument there could have been no opposition without betraying the fugitives. If the appearance of Goffe were a fact, it would be strange indeed that so imposing an event should have been entirely lost sight of save in the traditions of one family, that of Governor Leverett. Why have we no trace of it as well in the traditions of the Russell family, the families of Nash, Wells, Hawks or Dickinson, of Hoyt or Barnard ? for the ancestors of those bear- ing these names now among us, were living in Hadley at this period, and must have been eye-witnesses of the events ; or in the tixmilies of Catlin, Stebbins, Clesson or Sheldon, whose ances- tors lived hard by in Northampton ? And it is well nigh impossi- ble, that a secret in the keeping of so many people could by any means escape the keen scent of that subservient and untiring spy on New England, Edwari Randolph, backed as he was by a royal commission and the power of Charles the Second. \i ' |ii|! 1 i! j: 472 The Indian Miscellany. IToyt, while rolntin;j: what, he heh'oved the facts of the story, hut dating it later, says in a marginal note tliat he " finds no evidence of any attack Sept. 1," and " that Huhhard, who wrote his narrative from facts collected du-ring the war and puhlished immediately after, sliould have wholly omitted to jiotice an attack at the time mentioned hy Hutchinson, would he extra- ordinary." He mi^ht have added, that Capt. Appleton, who was in command of the troops at ITadiey certainly within dve days after the alleg-od attack if not on the very day, was an in- hahitant of Ipswich and a iiarishioiier of Mr. Huhhard, which fact renders such an omission still more " extraordinary." A careful examination of the work of President Stiles shows that he made no my^s^V/iTiio?* of tlic auiijcl story. After copying \.hat was to he found in Ilutcliinson, includmrj the traditional anecdote, he says : " Hitherto we have proceeded upon accurate and authentic documents, I shall now collect and exhihit other scattered lights and traditionai-y information, preserved partly in puhlic fame, and partly in traditions in families whose ances- tors were privy to the secrets of these men." Considering the anecifote " accurate and authentic," he seeks only to concentrate the scattered rays of light that may be found elsewhere. Accordingly he visits the scene of the wonder and corresponded with aged people in the vicinity, and says he finds the story is preserved in the traditions at Hadley and N^ew Haven, giving as the best evidence to be found a letter from the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Hadley, dated March 26, 1793. In this letter the writer records particular traditions which he found in several families as to the fact of the regicides having been concealed in Hadley, likewise about the places of their burial, disagreeing, to be sure, but containing evidence that they were founded in fact ; but only general traditions as to the appearance of GoiFe. This we must bear in mind was thirty years after the Leverett anecdote was published by Hutchinson ; time enough for the romance to have become naturalized and wedded to the tradition of their residence and death in Hadley above mentioned. Mr. Hopkins's testimony, so satisfactory to President Stiles, would have more value had it appeared before Hutchinson wrote. The Tradition of an Indian Attack on Hadley. 473 Stiles took the angel story for granted, making no independent investigation. His statements are vague and careless; conse- quently his conclusions should have little weig.'it with historians. In compiling his history, Hutchinson had access to Mather's papers and library, from which great depository of historical matter he drew largely, often quoting from Mather's history of the war as authority. There seems therefore no room for doubt, that Hutchinson's story of the attack, Sept. 1, was his version of Mather's account of the alarm quoted at the beginning of this paper, and that he had no other source of information relating to that event. ITothing in Hutchinson then remains to be ex- amined but the anecdote of the tradition in Governor Leverett's family, before given. After the death of the regicides, their papers came into the possession of the Mather family. Among them was Goffe's diary, containing a record of their adventures for six or seven years. Hutchinson, from this diary, gives a full account of the wander- ings, escapes and concealments of the judges, but not one word from that in support of the story of Goffe's sudden appearance at Hadley. In a marginal note, at the close of this narrative, he thus introduces the tradition : " I am loth to omit an anecdote handed down through Governor Leverett's family." All accounts of Goffe's appearance at Hadley, Sept. 1, 1675, can be traced directly to this anecdote, and there is no pretence of any other authority. The interpretation given to Mather's account by Hutchinson, seems to have been hitherto accepted without question, by all succeeding historians; and upon this slender foundation they have builded and enlarged. Let me repeat Mather's statement : " One of the churches in Boston was seeking the face of the Lord by fasting and prayer before him. Also that very day the church in Hadley was before the Lord in the same way, but were driven from the holy sanctuary by a sudden and violent alarm which routed them the whole day after." We have here no particulars of a tight, no indications of the point or method of an attack, no account of arrangement for defence, no result of battle, no list of losses — all these details are added by subsequent 474 The Indian Miscellany. writers ; in fact he does not assert or hint that there was an attack ; yet this paragraph is literally all the evidence that has been given of an attack on Hadley Sept. 1, 1675. Is it sufficient ? Let me give briefly further reasons which lead me to a differ- ent conclusion, namely : First, that there was no attack on Hadley Sept. 1, 1675. Second, that the story of General Goffe's appearance either as man or angel, at any attack on that town, is a pure romance. An alarm is not necessarily an attack, and we may iind an ex- planation of Mather's language in a letter from the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, to Mather, dated Sept. 15, 1675, in which he gives a long and minute account of the events which had occurred during the three preceding weeks ; events the most important that had transpired in the valley settlements. After describing the pursuit of the Hattield Indians when they fled from their fort to join the Pocomtucks in the interest of King Philip, and the fight with them in the swamp, south of Wequamps or Sugar Loaf mountain, Aug. "25, he continues: "After this fight we hear no more from them till the first of September, when they shot down a garrison soldier of Pocomtuck (now Deerfield), that was looking after his horse, and ran violently up into the town, many people having scarcely time to get into their garrisons. That day, they burned most of their houses and barns, the garrison not being strong enough to sally out upon them, but killed two of them from their forts." When Deerfield was attacked on Feb. 29, 1704, the alarm was given in Hadley so quickly, that men from that town reached the scene of carnage in abc three or four hours from the time the attack was made. Can ^ny one doubt that the news of this earlier assault upon Deerfield, described by Stoddard, might soon have reached the inhabitants of Hadley? — and remembering that this was the first attack by the savages upon any whire set- tlement in the valley, we can conceive the consternation and alarm it must have created among the settlers, and can readily believe that the people of Hadley were " violently alarmed and routed the whole day after." This seems to be a reasonable solution of the whole matter, in which I am confirmed by recorded events of a similar character. The Tradition of an Indian Attack on Hadley. 475 Colonel John Pynchon, writing from Springfield to the govern- or at Boston, says : " It is troublesome times here ; we have had two alaryns lately, which in mercy prove nothing in reality. But the same with other disquiets, takes up my time and prove hard for me." Again, in a letter from Boston to London, daterl Sept. 28, 1675, the writer says : " An alarm was made in Boston about ten in the morning, 1200 men were in arms before eleven, .... One that was on guard at Mendon, thirty miles off, got drunk, and fired his gun, the noise of which alarmed the next neighbors and soon spread to Boston." Governor Hutchinson himself records another event from which he might have taken a hint of Mather's meaning, the lan- guage being so similar. " The 23d of February, 1676, being a fast with the first church in Boston, they were disturbed by an alarm from the report that the uidians were within fifteen miles of Boston." Similar examples might be multiplied. I quote one more. Major Savage, w.'iting from Hadley to Governor Leverett, xMarch 16, 1676, says : " This morning about 2 o'clock we were alarmed from Northampton which was occasioned by Indians being seen on two sides of the town.' Doubtless Mather intended to record only a similar alarm at Hadley, Sept. 1, 1675. Hubbard's narrative of the war, before referred to, was pub- lished under the patronage of the general court only about eighteen months after the supposed attack. A committee from that body examined his manuscript, and pronounced the work " faithfully and truly performed." Yet this book contains no allusion to any disturbance at Hadley, Sept. 1, while it giv^s full accounts of all the movements thereabouts, in those ev .utful weeks of Sept., 1676. Truly, as Hoyt remarks, " an extraordi- nary omission." Cotton Mather wrote a history of Philip's war, detailing the principal events which occurred in the Connecticut valley, with- out hinting at an attack upon Hadley in 1676. Can we account for the omissions of these writers, except on the grounds I have assumed ? Stronger evidence yet remains to be considered. The letter before quoted, from the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, 476 The Indian Miscellany. iHl ilif to Mather, contained a lon^ and circumstantial narrative of the breaking out of rhili})'8 war in tlie valley ; of the attempt to dis- arm tlie Indiana at Hatfield fort, Aug. 24; the tight that followed the next morning near Wequamps ;' the attack on Deerfield, 8* ^)t. 1; the slaughter of the eight men at Northfield, Sept. 2; the lefcat and death of Capt. Beers, Sept. 4 ; the march of Major Treat to Northfield, Sept. 6; the second attack on Deerfield, Sept. 12; tlie expedition to Pine Hill, Sept. 14, in pursuit of the party which made this last attack ; hut not a single word to indi- cate trouble at Hadley, Sept. 1. On Friday, Sept. 3, 1675, Major Treat came into Hadley with a hundred or more Connecticut troops. The ill-fated Capt. Lothrop was there with " the Flower of Essex; " Capt. Appleton was also there, and it is to be supposed his company was with him ; and Capt. Beers, with his company. Yet on that very day, says Hubbard, Capt. Beers " with thirty-six men was sent to Squakcag with supplies both of men and provision to secure the small garrison there, but before they came very near to the town, the" were set upon by many hundreds of Indians out of the bushes by the swamp side, of whom Capt. Beers, with about twenty of his men, were by this sudden surprisal there slain, the rest flying back to Hadley." Is it reasonable to suppose, that the only two days after a ter- rible assault on Hadley, in which the town was barely saved by the interposition of an angel, and while several hundred soldiers under arms were there, a supply train of ox carts should have been sent a distance of thirty miles through the wilderness with a guard of only thirty-six men ? Capt. Beers's expedition, an unpardonable blunder at the best, is only to be accounted for on the supposition that the authorities believed Philip's forces had crossed the Connecticut river, joined the Hatfield tribe and the Pocomtucks in the attack on Deerfield, Sept. 1, and that the hos- tile Indians were then all on the west side of the river. They had not then heard of the assault on Northfield the day before. With a suggestion of the intrinsic improbability of the soldiers at Hadley putting themseves under the lead of a stranger while their veteran commanders were present, I leave this division of my subject. The Tradition of an Indian Attack on Hadley. 477 In regard to my Becond point, namely, that GoiFe's appearance at any time i*-: a pure romance, it may bo asked, admitting that we have proved that there was no attack on lladley Sept. 1, 1675, what evidence is there that Iloyt and Dr. liobbins were not rigiit in their statements that(4offe'8 aj)pearance was on the 12th of June, the next year, when tlie Indians really did fall upon that town ? To this the following facts are a sufficient reply. There is no correspondence between the well-known events of this day. and those of the Leverett tradition. 1st. The 12th of June, 1676, was not a fast day. 2d. The inhabitants were not assembled in the meeting-house. 3d. The attack was made upon a small party who had fallen into an ambuscade. 4th. It was made early in the morning. 5th. The town was not then in a defenceless con- dition; for besides the soldiers of Capt. Turner's company who had survived the Falls light some three weeks previous, and were now under (^apt. Swain, nearly five hundred Connecticut men were in lladley under Major Talcott. two hundred of whom were friendly Indians under Oneko, son of Uncas, the famous sachem of the Mohegans. The Connecticut forces had but recently arrived, and doiibtless Philip's Indians expected to attack a de- fenceless town, but at no time during Philip's war had Hadley been in so good a condition to repel an attack. The spirit which, some years later, caused the arrest and exe- cution in England of Lady Alicia Lisle, for concealing Mr. Hicks and Mr. Nelthoipe, two persons obnoxious to the crown, sent that subtle spy and informer, Edward Randolph, to New Eng- land in March, 1676, to seek matter of accusation against the inhabitants preparatory to abrogating their charters. Special instructions were given him to search for the regicides. Active and crafty, as ho was zealous and malicious, he lost no opportu- nity of serving his master. The fugitives must have been fully informed of his mission and purpose, and fully aware of the con- sequences of their discovery. General Goffe knew that Hadley was in no danger of capture, and that there was no occasion for leaving his hidingplace,thereb3^ exposing himself, his companion in exile and his generous protectors to certain destruction. The End. ERRATA. Pajfe 105, Line 35 and elsewhere — For AUonez read Allouet. 149, " 35 — (In noto) For miasismnga read mississauga. 155, " 22 — For sixty-seven read seventynx. 158, " 84 — (In note) For October, 1868 read October, 1889. 252, " 4 — Omit and a preceding. 254, " 20 — For these articles read this article. 285, " 21 — Omit populating. " " 22 — Alter purpose of insKTt populating. 883, " QS — (In note) For Reprinted rmd Printed. 335, " 26 — For Carantonamds read C'ara?itouanaii. 342, " 20 ~ For Lemllosie&dZevaUos. 350, " 28 — For beat read beating. 352, " 33 — {In note) For Uom7nission resid Cotnmissioner. 361, " 8 — For Prof. 1. 1. Ducatel read Prof. J. J. Ducatel. 400, " 16 — For of m to read to us of. 411, " 38 — (In note) For part salary of his read part of his salary. 416, " 11 — InBert and &itev phonological. 424, " 5 — For differention read differentiation. 426, " 6 — For Kalapupa read Kalapuya. 483, " 22 — For Awnaees read Aioanees. 484, " 37 — For Poomeocs Te&d Pooemocs. 436, " 8 — For Chokuyen re&d Ghokuyem. 487, " 28 — For Eukshiknit read E-ukshikni. Errors in uniformity of orthography not noted. INDEX. Abnakis, 418 ; their locality, 211. Aborigines, ignorant of tlie use of iron, 161 ;ot one family, 37H ; origin of, 285, 286, 287 ; characteristics of, 287 — 802. Absnrolias, 222. Acequias, Mexican, 201 Aclieotennea,234. Adair's North Am. Indians, 280. Adob') liouses, 189. African dialects, 4i7, 423 ; origin, no evi- dence of, 223. Agriculture, Indian, 197, 198. Ahahnelins, 218. Ahyouwaeghs (John Brant), 149. Alabamas conquered, 120. Alaska nations, 234. Alaska peninsula, 255. Alaskan mummies, 344, 349. Aleut Eskimo, 346 ; customs, 348. Aleutian island, source of migration, 255, 256 ; burials, 344. Alfred, Prince, among the Mohawks, }53. Algonkin, migrations, 211, 212, 218 : popu- lation, 285 ; residence, 225 ; settle- ments, 176 ; notion of the turtle, 26 ; spoken by Allouez, 111, 115. Algonkins, religious influences upon, 104 ; their locality, 218 ; historical and mythological traditions of, 9 ; numer- ous, 280; territory of, 280, 281; similarity of stock, 42. Alligewi, see Tallegwi, 40. Allouez, Claude Jean, 105, 110, 112 ; met Dakotas, 213 ; visits Kickapoos, 115. Alphabets suggested, 420, 424. Amaknak island mummies, 347. America, accessible from Asia, 258 ; effects of its discovery, 9. American fur cDmpany, 81 ; trading post 361, 372. American Horse, chief, 265. American Quarterly Register, 405. American Whig Review, 9. Amoukhta pass, 255. Anbury's Travels, 386. Animals unknown to the aborigines, 199 ; west of Rocky mountains, 180. Annuities, Indian, 361. Anonymous conqueror of Mexico, 198. Antelo,w, native of the prairies, 170. Apache language, 46 ; spinners, 852. Ai)ache8, a riile with, 43 ; styles of dress, 43 ; assault Village Indians, 190 ; obtained the horse, 234. Apalaches, 120. Apalachicola villages, 120. Appleton, Capt., at Hadley attack, 472. Appleton's Journal, 65. Arapaho.'s, 216, 261,262. Araucanians, 10. Arickarees, 223, 230, 231. Arickareo woman turned to stone, 888. Arizona idioms, 428. Arkansas river, 104, 114. Asiatic origin of Indians, 287 : indications of, 224 ; considered, 254 ; dialects, 417, 423 ; stocks, affinity of, f.'bti. Asiniboines, their locality, 220 ; Mountain alphabet of, 76. Athapasca lake, 166, 173. Athapascans, fish eaters, 164. Athapasco, Apache migration, 233. Atka island mummies, 347. .\tlantic, Monthly Magazine, 74 ; nations, 211 ; origin, no evidence of, 223. Attou island, 256. Australasian dialects, 417. Axacan settlement, 336 ; abandoned 343. Axe of copy ir, used by Mexicans, 199, 200 ; Azt"c civilization, 196 ; confederacy, power of, 246 ; origin of, 250 ; migrations, 238, 241 ; government, 208 ; pueblo, its plaza, 206. Aztecs, 422, 425; agriculturists, 164; as cultivators, 204 ; held table land of Mexico, 191, 192 ; their houses, 193 ; picture writing of, 162 ; their location, 10. Aztlan, migration from, 240, 241. Bad lands, fossils, 259. Balsam Tree, his speech, 365. Banana, Indian plant, 198, 202. Bancroft's Hist. U. S., 166,280. Barren region, 172. Bartlett, John R., his theory, 242 ; personal narrative, 166, 202. Barti-am, W., liiBtorian, 41. 480 Index. J Pc 1,68, Lieut. , battle with Indiana, 862. Bean, Indian plant, 198, 199, 202. Bear's Ribs, chief, 891. Beavers, 234. Beers, Capt., killed, 476. Bohring's island, 255 ; strait, 25G. Belli! Isle, straits of, 05. Beneitau, Julien, died, 119. Bergier, Jean, died, 118, 119 ; M., mission- ary, 105. Beucher, Philip, 118; died, 119. Bible, Eliot's translation, 411. Big Head, chief, 391. Biittner, Gotlieb, 456. Bill Williama fork dialects, 429. Bismarck, steamer from, 387. Black Eyes, chief, 391. Blackfeet, 217 ; Sioux, 388, 390. Blackfoot Dakotas, 219 ; dirge, 84 ; Indians, 74, 81. Blackhill fossils, 259, 262. Blackhills of Nebraska, 226 ; map of, 265. Blacksnake, Gov., 153. Black Snake medicine man, 76, 80. Blood band of the Blackfeet, 81. Blue lake, 398. Blue mountain surveys, 88, 89. Blue river (Mississippi), 221. Bone-hunters, 259, 263, 269. Bourmont, Sieur, 270, 271, 273. Boyle, Sir Robert, assisted Eliot, 414. Bradford on Indian origin, 287. Bradford, Wm., marine artist, 65. Bradley, Gen. L. P., 260. Brantford, church yard at, 150 ; residence of Mohawks, lol. Brant, John, 149, 153 ; Joseph, portrait of, 155 ; his posterity, 145 ; Mollie, 149 ; house, 145, 153, 154. Brants, last of the, 157. Bread roots, 181. Brebeuf, missionary, 107 ; to the Hurons, 108. Brest, French trading post, 335. British America, Jiraive population, 188. Brontotherium. jkuU of, 259, 268. Browne, J^hn Mason, 74 ; J. Ross, 303. Brules, 819. Brule, Stephen, 335. Buffalo, his speech, 364. Buffalo of the prairies, 170, 178. Burials, 300 ; at Behring's strait, 345. Burns, John, 35. Butler, Walter, 150. Bryant, William C, 145. Byrd, Col., 51. Cabot's map, 133. Cahokias 104, 105, 119. Cahorok dialect, 438. 106 ; mission, 118 California, 112,114; Indian dialects, 416 ; Indian population, 189, 303 ; Indian reservations, 303 ; government aid to, 305 ; abuses of, 306 ; Indians, depopu- lated, 321 ; shortest routes to, 172. Calvin, religious influences of, 104. Calvinists, French, 107. Camanche spinners, 35'i, 357. Camp Robinson, 264. Canaanite origin of Indians, 285. Canada, cadv.d to the French 1632, 107 ; Loui,s XIII in, 106; unfavorable to Indian sustenance, 178. Captain Jacobs, reward for, 94. Carantouanais, 335. Cards introduced among Indians, 368. Carignan, regiment of, 1 10. Cawios, 231. Carolina Indians, whence they came 41. Carpenter, Lieut. W. L., 266. Carver visited Dakotas, 219. Casey, Captain, 180. Cass, Lewis, 221, 270. Castaneda, estimate of population, 190. Catavvbas, 230 : their vocabulary, 230. Cathay, Smith's voyage for, 2'34. Cathead Sioux, his vision, 80. Catlin on the Indian songs, 16. Cawtantowit, Indian God, 42. Cayugas, 226. Cay use tribe, 418, 442. Central America, navigations to, 53 ; ad- venture in, 396. Chagouamigon, 111, 113. Chalcans, 193. Chalco, cultivation at, 205 ; lake, diked, 202, 203. Chamj)lain, in command at Quebec, 106, 107 ; founder of Quebec, 335. Charlevoix, 22, 26, 107,114, 115; on In- dian origin, 285. Charms as medicine, 83. Chat, Nation du, 110 ; see Heries. Chatahooche river, 120. Chegoimegon, 213. Chelaqui vocabulai7, 1^0. Chelokee dialect, 121. Cheppeyans, 234. Cherokees, 230 ; traditions, 41 ; have a written language, 76 ; susceptible of industry, .",77. Chesapeake, first mission colony, 333 Cl-eyenne river, 816. Cheyennes, 268. Chibchas, 488. Chicago, Marquette leavos, 114 ; Miamis visited at. 111 ; prairie touching at, 164 ; river route, 105. Chickahominy, Smith's voyage up, 334. Chichemecas, 194. Chihuahua, 48 ; irruptions on, 853. ^P=S:Ji^!^' Index. 481 Chillicothe, council at, 58. Chii'.a, voyage to, 834 ; vicar of, 106. Chinantecas, 195. Chinook tribe, 443 ; seat of, lb8 ; jargon, 426, 443. C'liippeway, tradition of tlio mother of the liiunan rucf, 26 ; migration, 29 ; metJii song, 16. (Jhippeways, 273 ; a fortn ght among, 361 ; efforts to Christianize, 377 ; invite Jesuits, 104 , of C uiada, 151. Ciiisel of stone in use, 199. Cliocot-harjo, 120. Choctas, 223. Chocuyem dialect, 43S. Cholula, cultivation at, 205. C'holulan confederacy, 192, 195. Chontal language, 197. Chronicle, song of, 80, 35. t/hukchee peninsula, 344. Cincinnati Miscellany, 823. Circe, Augustine Meulande, 106. Civilization problem to be solved, 105. Clark, Geo. Rogers, hero of Kaskaskia, 51. Clarke, the traveler, 12. Clarke's river salmon, 185. Clavigero, estimate of Mexican population, 193, 194. Cletart, chief, 275. Clifford, Hank, guide, 260. Climate, dryness on the prairies, 108 ; of Columbia river, 180. Clothing, 371. Cootiadas, 120. 'Joatl, a Mexican copper implement, 199. Cocoa. Lillian plant, 198, 202. Cohuicas, 195. Colorado, Indian houses, 189; parks of, 170. Columbia river, climate genial, 180, 187 ; migrations from, 158 ; salmon, 184, 185 ; Indians, 186 ; first inhabited, 187 ; valley, its advantages, 252, 253 ; migration from possible, 224, 226. Comanches, 231, 233, 233 ; dialects of, 428. Conjurations, effect of, how accounted for, 80. Connecticut, aborigines of, 330 ; number of, 285 ; valley Indianc, 283. 283. Conquering Bear, 365. Cooke, Phineas, on attack of Hadley, 468 Copan monuments, 163. Copper implements, 199. Coppermine river, 81. Copway, George, 17. Corn, Indian, the only cereal, 198, 202, 205 ; discovery of, 251. Cornplanter, 153. Coronado, expedition of, 190, 232. Cortez, Don Jose, 334. Cotton, Indian pliint, 198, 202. Council house described, 325. Courcelles, governor, 110. 32 Coyoteros, 234. Crane Indian legend, 174, 175. I'rawford, tlul. VVm., 57; executed, 57; Lieut., 261 ; Thomas, sculptor, 452. Cnuition, the song of, 18. Creator, idea of indicated, 21. Cree, characters, 420; war party, 81; nation, 212. 213, 217. Creeks, 41,223,330. Cross, the symbol of, among the Indians, 104. Crows, or Upsaraukas, 83, 223; their locality, 331 ; medicine man, 78. Crowell, Samuel, 323. Cuesta's Grammar, 430. Culinary art, 372. Cumberland island, burial at, 451. Custer, Gen, 261. Cut-off" band, 261. Cuvier on extinct quadrupeds, 258. Dablon, missionary to Sault St. Marie, 111 ; visits Kickapoos, 115. Dakotnh confederacy, 83 ; location, 178 ; migrations, 218, 319 ; signification of name, 394; territory, 127, 213, 216, 220, 223 ; stock, of western origin, 324, 226, 327. Dali, W. H., his paper, 344. Dance, at dog sacrifice, 327 ; customs, 366. Daniel, early missionary to the Hurons, 108. Darion, missi.jnaiy, 119. Dear, J. W.,264. Death chant, 451. Debbon, C, 396. De la Foret, Sieur, 373. Deed to Wm. Penn, 87. Deerfield burned, 466, 476. Delawares, on White river, 14 ; chastised by Six Nations, 91 ; they strike the whites, 94 ; migration ot, 313 ; their locality, 212. Deluge, the song of, 23. Democratic Review, 103. Dequerre, Jean, 105 ; slain in 1661, 105. Derby, Indians at, 458. Do Smet, describes fisherii-s, 183. De Soto, 221, 324; his march, 121 ; invader, 460 ; visited Florida, 41. De Tonty, Sieur, 273. Detroit, Indian affairs aiound, 370. Dialects on Pacific coast, 416, 4,a5. Diaz, Bernal, 300, 306. Dickinson, Obed, 335. Diggers of California, 304, 330. Dillon, John, squaw-man, 392. Dog-Ribs, a tribe, 234. Dog,' meat relished, 374; sacrifice, 889, 390 ; of the Senecas, 323, 329. Donna Marina, interpreter, 195. Dorr, Herbert C.,arido with theApache8,43. 482 Index. Dover, Indian settlement at, 455. Dream of Hard Hickory, 32b. Dreaming, b75. Drocoux, Jean Cliarles, 105. Du Cliesnau, memoir of, 213. Diicatel, J. J., 361. Dunton, Jolin, 409. Du Sable nation, 270. Dyes, Indiiin, 352. Ear-ornaniont, 389. Eartliworks, an insoluble problem, 176. Ecclesiastics who followed the eonquerorti, their superstition and intolerance, 1 1 . Eliot, Kev. John, 405 ; first minister of Roxbury, 406 ; translates Hible, 410; his converts, 412; died, 414. Elk of the prairies, 170, 178. Enatzas, 223. England and France, war between, 100. English population 1675, 408. Eries, or Lynx, 28, 226, 227 ; natives on Lake Eiie, 1 10. Eskimos, 179, 244 ; burials, 346, 348, 350 ; see Esquimaux. Espiritu Santo, 336. Esquimaux, discovery of, 9 ; of Labrador, 65 ; pilot, 66 ; natives flesh eaters, 73 ; beinjx depopulated, 73 ; wars with In- dian" ceased, 09. Etchimons, their locality, 211. Eunice, last of the Pequods, 457, 458. Eurok tribe, 437. European origin, no evidence of, 223 ; set- tlenient. first in Virginia, 333. Evil spirits, 283. Farmer, John, on Hadley attack, 468. Fast, Christian, his captivity, 51 ; died, 64. Fasts, long continued, 374. Favre. Florentin, 119. Feasts, numerous, 374. Females, overtaxed with labor, 200, 372. Fire fiend, 332. Fish, basis of Indian subsistence, 164; drying scaffolds, 183 ; baskets for catching, 184. Fisheries west of Rocky mountains, 181. Flatheads, 83. Flint river, 120. Flora, arctic, 70. Florida, French colony destroyed, 33'*. Floridian tribes, 10. FooB-harjo. educated Indian, 120. Fort Levi, 110. Forest area, 167, 171. Fort Benton, 81 ; Laramie, 260 ; Rice, 387. Fossil, perilous hunt, 258, 269 ; region, 265 ; remains, 258. Four Mountain island mummies, 847. Fox river ascended, 105, 113. Foxes, arctic, 70 ; country of, 115. Francis, Lieut., commands rangers, 449. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 396. Frazinr's river Indians, 188. Frederica, commanding officer at, 449. French vessels captured, 106; Cah'.iist, 107 ; Indian subjection to. 112. Fresno agency, 318, 319 ; expenses of, 321. Friday, chief of Arapahoes, 261, 265. Fulton, 115. Funerals, 300. (ilakwas, 227. (talttxy, the, 379 Gallatin, Mr., linguist, 120. (Jaiiiblers, Indian, 367. Gairelin, niissi nary, 119. Ganowanian family, 210, 211, 217, 228, 229,231,235,243,257. Garreau, si fferings of, 110. Gatschet, Albert W., his paper, 416. Georgia, earlv Indian wars of, 448. Gibbs, George, 126, 420, 426. Gibson, Jolin, on the Tiillegwi, 39. (lideon, .sachem, 455, 450. Gila river, irrigation on, 201 ; dialects, 429. Girty, Simon, 57, 58. God of evil, Sioux, 388. Godden, William, 397. Qoffe, William, regicide, 461 ; his defence of Hadley c(miroverted, 462-478 ; his diary and papers, 473. Qomara on Indian origin, 285 ; estimate of Mexican population, 193. Gomez, Gabriel, massacred, 342. Gonzales, Vincent, missionary, 342. Good Hunter, chief, 324 ; his speech, 381. Good spirit, feast to appease, 329. Qookin on Indian origin, 286 ; account of praying Indians, 409 ; Hist. Coll. of Indians, 280. Goreloi island, 255. Government abuses in California, 321. Grass, John, chief, 391. Grasses, growth how affected, 108. Greal lake nations, 212. Green Bay, Jesuit relics found at, 117 ; mission to, 102. (J ros- ventres, 218. Grotius <• '. Indian origin, 285. Groton, residence of Sassacus, 452. Guatemala, languages of, 197. Guatusos, 396; their stature, etc., 400. Gulf nations, migrations of, 229. (iymnastics, 369. Hadley, attack on, 461, Hamilton inlet, 65, 70. Hamor, Raphe, 343. Hand, chief, 265. Index. 483 3. Hanger, William, 397. Hardcastle, Lieut., his map, 200. Hard HicliDry, cliief, 324 ; his dream, 328. Hares, a tribe, 334. Harrey's i)eak, 260. Harper's Magazine. 303. Hart, Captain, 397. Hartford Iiidians, 283. Hay, Judge, liis testimDny, 381 ,384 ; Lieut., 200. Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, 80. Heckewelder, 57 ; on Indian picture writ- ing, 15, 38. Hennepin, iirejudices of, llO; his return, 118. Herera, 199, 200. Heries destroyed by Iroquois, 110, 110. Heve dialect, 425. Hiacoomes, Indian convert, 412. Hill, Capt. Aaron, 148; George W., ac- count of captivity of Christian Fast, 51. Historical Magazine, 125, 430, 434, 430. Hitchitee vocabulary, 121. Hobbamock, 297, 298. Hodenosttunian nations, 220, 227, 239. Holland, Dr., on attack of Hadley, 405. Holmes, Abiel, on attack of Hadley, 464. Hoopa tribe, 440. Hoopahs, 234. Hoosatnhnook (Hoosatonlc), 455. Hopedale, narwhal at, 70; sail to, 05. C3. Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, on attack of Had- ley, 472. Horse, among the Indians, 74 ; his use in hunting, 163, 178. Horses, expensive trappings of Apache, 43. Horton, Captain, pursues Yamasees, 449. Hoyt, Epaphras, on attack of Hadley, 4(>3. Huastecas, 194. Huaxtepec garden, 205. Hubbard's narrative, 475. Hudson bay region, 170 ; unfavorable to Indian sustiiuance, 178. Huecos, 231. Huehuetoca outlet, 203. Humboldt bay massacres, 319. Hunting-grounds, the Indian paradise de- scribed, 79. Huntington, Rev. Dr., on attack of Hadley, 465. Huron fort, 270. Huron-Iroquois, 284. Hurons, a missionar ''eld, 107, 108 ; con- test with, 28 ; i erent to religion of Jesuits, 108 ; iui. ^uced agriculture, 198 ; of Georgian bay.175 ; Talmatan, ? 41 ; their locality, 226, 337. Hutchinson, Gov., on attack of Hadley, 402; Hist. Mass., 280. Ice floe, extent of, 66. Illinois Indians, 1 11, 114; mission to the, 105, iHO; rive>", il3; first visited by the Jesuits, 117, 118; route, 105. Incrts, concjuerors of, 10. India rubhcr trees, 400, 401. Indian, converts of John Eliot, 405 ; coun- cil at Chillicothe, 58 ; expedition againut the border settlements of Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania, 58 ; medicine, 74, 80 ; memoranda, 70 ; migrations, 158 ; nations, liomogeneity of, 159 ; physique, 38'j' ; justice, 288 ; gratitude, 289 ; hospitality, 290 ; population, es- timate of Bancroft, 177 ; by Simpson, 179 ; walk in 1082 ; do, in 1693, 88 ; in 1735, 89 ; in 1756, 94. Indiana, mission in, 113. Indians, alienated from the French, 107 ; finest specimens where found, 373 ; knowledge of their extent acquired, 209 ; origin of, 12. Industrial arts, 302. Infant baptism, importance of, 103. Inland Magazine, 137. Intoxication of both sexes, 374. Invuctoke bay, 05. lowas, definition of, 341 ; their locality, 230, 224. Iron Horn, chief, 391. Iroquois, 418 ; change of location, 186 ; descent of sachemships, 147 ; trans- planted to Canada, 148 ; Christianized, 152 ; dififer from Talamatan, 41 ; early locality of, 220. 237 ; expedition against, 110 ; families, 10 ; forced Otawas westward, 213 ; in New York, 211,212; killed Father Jogues, 109; attacked Hurons, 110; destroy the nation duChat, 110; league with Sioux, 115 ; their fisheries, l'j'5 ; tradi- tion of migration, 238. Irrigation, Indian, 200, 201, 202. Isauntie dialect, 219. Israelitish origin of Indians, 285, 286. ItazipcoB, 219. Istapalapan causeway, 205. James on the Indian songs, 16. Japan, "icar in, 106. Jeraison, Mary, 153. Jesuit accounts unsatisfactory, 11 ; early, misi^ionaries, in Wisconsin, 102; mis- sionaries of the northwest, 102. Jicarillos, 234. Jogues, Isaac, 104; slain, 109, Johnt), Catharine Brant, 150, 156. Johnson, Mvskoke speaker, 130 ; Peter, chief, 154. Johnstown, Indian t 'ail to, 58. Joliet, his return to Quebec, 114 ; his route, 105, 113. Jones, Calvin, trapper, 127. 484 Index. Judd, Sylvester, on nttnck oP TTndlej'. 466. Kiuiiak luchipflago, 844, 850, 351. Knyramil island, 817. Kaligegajrahbowh, 17. KainiT' ot the liJackfeet, 81. Ka)n]iuy, a trilie, 448 Kalisijelni liidians, missionarv anionjy, 77. Kaijianh root, 180, 181. Kaintchatkr. cape, i!55, 256. Kaiiiajj Eskimo, 346. Kankiki, 105. Kansas, its landscajie, 108. Kaskaskia, 104; mission, 118, 119. Katliayakutchak, chief, 847. Kaws their locality, 221. Kauviiya dialects, 428. Keechies, 281. Kenistenaux, 212, 213. Kint, residence of tiie last of Schajj'hti- cooks, 455. Kentucky, invasion of, 51. Kerr, win. Johnson, 149 ; Elizabeth, 150; W. J. Simcoi', jiortrait of, 151 ; notice of, 153; died, 150; plantation, cap- ture at, 449 Kettle falls fisheries, 183. Kewassa, Indian, 55. KickapooB, 112,115.216. Kill Eajrle, chief, 891. Kinp's river farm, 318. Kiowa idioms of Red river, 428. Kitchelus lake, fish wears, 183. Fiehtan, 297, 300. Klamath, agency expenses, 321; Indians, 489 ; language, 416 ; reserve, 418, 422, 427. Konkepot, .John, Stockbridge Indian, 459. Kootenai Indian, singular power of, 77, 80 ; fisheries, 184 ; language, 446. Knight, captive, 57. Kruth, superintendent, death of, 66. Kutchin Indians, 188, 234. La Belle Riviere, 104. Labrador climate, 170 ; hunting in, 71 ; religious services, 71 ; Kyak races, 72 ; fishing at, 73. Lachine, visited by La Salle, 834. Lac Tracy, 104. Lacustrine region, 178. Lake Erie, first Jesuit mission west of, 109. Lake Michigan, Jesuit routes from, 105. Lake Omaxeen, 81. Lakes, the first white men on, 102. Lake, Superior Chippewas, 361 ; tropical, 269. Lambronde, Jesuit missionary, 118. La Mothe, Sieur, 270, 278. Lampreys, abundant food, 467. Language, number of dialects, 209 ; diver- sity of, 288 ; of the western ^lope, 431. Lapointe, trading post, 361. La Sallt voyage for Ciiina, 334. Las Casas, estimate of Aztecs, 196. Last ()f Ills race, statue of, 452. Latrobe, death of, 66. Lawsoii, John, historian, 41. heasure, Daniel, his paper, 387. LeBlanc, Jean, 270, 273, 274, 276, 377 ; Maxime, missionary, 118. LeJeuni , his boast, 104. Lenape migration, 38, 39 ; bark record of, 9. 14, 39. Lewis and C'.arke, 185 ; their estimate of po|)ulati j long walk, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101. Martyr, Peter, on Indian origin, 285. Mascontenec, 115, 116. Mascontins, 105, 112, 115. Mason, Capt. Jolin, 45!J. Massachusetts nations, locality of, 211. Massasoit, anecdote of, 289. Masse Evremond, 107. Matagorda bay, 166. Mather, Cotton, his notion of the origin of the aborigines, 11 ; history of Philips war, 475 ; his confidence, 414 ; In- crease, his iiccount of the delivery of Hadley, 463 ; Magnalia, 280 ; theory of Indian origin, 2&6. Matlatzincas, 194. Mattabesets, their locality, 383. Mattole station, 319. Mayas, 433 ; language. 197. Mayhews of^ Martha's Vineyard, 406. Mazatecas, 195. Mc(.:rea, Jane, tragedy of, 379. Mechassippi, unknown course ot, 118, 113. Medicine men below contempt, 75 ; extra- ordinary acts of, 76. 77, 78, 79, 80. Meewoc dialects, 433. Migrations, song of, 38. Meidoo nation, 433. Meldrum, his snow medicine, 78. Melendez, Don Pedro, 334, 343. Mendivil, Jose, 48. Mendocino agency expenses, 321 ; reserva- tion, 319. Mengwi, the, 39, 40, 41. Menominees, 316. Mesnard, sufferings of, 110. Mexican causeways, 203 ; migralions, 339, 840 ; population, estimates of, 193 ; languages, 194; records burnt, 11; saddles, expensively ornamented, 43. Mexico founded, 840, 241 ; gulf of, 113, 114; lake of, 204, 306; floating gar- ders, 805 ; migrations from tlie north, 253 ; petty nations of, 191, 195 ; pue- blo villages, 193. Meztitlans, 194. Miamis. 104, 106, 111 ; kill Ottawas, 270, 271. Miantonimoh, chief of Narragansetts, 458. Michasipi)a river, 104, 105. Michel, Jaques, 107. Michigin lake, voyageurs of, 115; pur- chase of, 361 ; Bee Lake Michigan. Michilimakinak (the great turtle), 26. Michuacan confideracy, 193, 194. Micmacs, their locality, 211. Migrations, traditions of i'rom the west, 41 ; routes of, <69. 170, 171, 173, 834 ; 230, 231, 232, 238. 235. 239, 242, 245, 353 ; considered, 210, 212. Mikasuke v()cal)ulary, 129, 125. Mines of California, 305. Minikanyes, 219. Minneconjous, 261, 265. Minnesota, Dakotan occupation of, 289 ; Dakotas located in, 319. Minnitarees, 198, 223. Minsi tribe, 40; their locality, 818. Miscaleros, 334. Miskaouki, speech of, 870, 277. Mission of the Rappahannock, 839 ; de- stroyed, 348. Missions established, 16,68, HI; system a failure, 332. Missisagas, their locality, 312, 373. Mississippi, 104, 105, 114, see Michasippa ; missions, 106; passage «.f, 26, 87; passed by migrations, 41 ; the blue river, 831. Missouri nations, 330 ; river, 113 ; unfavor- able to Indian sustenance, 178 ; the muddy river, 821. Missouri, (iefinition of, 841 ; their locality, 820, 223 see Upper Missouri ; nations, 338. Mix, Capt., 360. Mixtecas, 195. Mobile, Jesuits at, 119. Modocs, 439, 440. Moqui idioms of Arizona, 438. Mohave diiiJect, 429. Mohawks, 226 ; cast their fortunes with the British, 145 ; reside on the Grand river, 151 ; territory, 284 ; prowess, 284 ; massacred last of the Pequods, 454. Mohegans, or Wolves, 28 ; their locality, 211, 312. Molunthe, Indian name of Fast, 55. Mongolian resemblance of Seneca, 224. Mouseys, see Minsi, 40. Montaks, their locality, 311. Montezuma, conquerors of, 10. Montigney, missionary, 119. Moore, Martin, his paper, 405. Moravian, mi.ssionaries, 455, 456; ruins, on the Tuscarawas, 59 ; supply ship, 60 ; agent, 60. Morgan, Lewis H., on Indian migrations, 158. 486 Index. Moss, ed ble, 181. Mound-builcLirs, 176, 210, 243. Mount Venti.ro fort, 44H. Mountnin areas, 170. Mountaineers, 234. Muddy river (Missouri), 221. Mummies, Alu8kon,344, 349. Muscojfulffea, 41. Musical traits, 339. Mutsun dialect, 422, 425, 430, 431. Mvskokes, 120, 121. Mystic river, Indian tort on, 452 ; de- stroyed, 454. Mythological history, importance of, 12. Nanticokes, their locality, 213. Narrajransetts join Enjrlish, 453 ; last remnant ot, 455; tlieir locality, 211. Narwhal at Labrador, 70. Natches, 120, 230 ; assimilated to the 'Poltecans, 41. Natches 104 , Favre at, 119. Natick, prayinir Indian settlement, 409. Nation du Chat destroyed, 110; de Feu (Mascontins), 115. Naumkcage, plantation of, 405. Navijoes, 234 ; assault Village Indians, 190 ; spinners, 352, 359. Neblaska, definition of, 167. Nebraska, its landscape, 168. Nehantic.-^, their locality, 283. Netelas, 231. Neutral nation, their locality, 227. Nevome dialect, 429. New England, Indians, their fisheries, 175; Hist, and Gen Register, 461. New Englander, 280. New France company, vessels captured, 106. New Mexican Indians, 189 ; dialects, 233 ; Indian spinners, 352. New York Historical Society, paper read before, 9. Nez perces, 444 ; mission to. 111. Niantics, join English, 453. Nicaragua, language of, 197, 249. Nicholas, missionary to Nez Perces, 111. Nicollet, 13. Niobarra expedition, 260. Nipmuck territory, 282. Niza, Marcos de, 246. Nome Cult agency, expeases, 321 ; out- rages, 318. Nome Lackee agency, expenses of, 321. Nonantum, Elior at, 407, 408. Nootka dialect, 446. North American Indians, origin of, 253 ; Indian, Crawford's statue of, 452 ; Review, 158, 161. Northampton county destroyed, 94. Northern Blackfeet,81. Northfield, Treat's march to, 476. North western territory, early Jesuit mis- sions to, 102, 103. Nattowas, 226, 228 ; ex\»nct, 227 ; escape of, 449, 450. Nouvelle Frunce, viceroy of, 110. Nowikakhat Indians, 345. Nueces river, 106. Odjibway songs, 418. Ogallahs, 219. Ogallalhihs, 201. Oglethorpe, (General, 448. Ohenonpas, 219. Ohio, falls of, 51 : Indian sacrifice, 323; river, 104 ; jxior for subsistence, 175 ; woodlands, 166. Ojibwas, 212, 213, 217; fish eaters, 164; of Lake Superior, 174; paths blazed, 15. Okames, their locality, 221. Old Man Afraid of his Horses, chief, 265. Oniahas, 220. Oneidas, 226. Oneko, son of Uncus, 477. Onion, Indian plant, 198. Onondaga, definition of, 241. Onondugas, 226 ; enemies of the Hurons, 110. Ontonagon, 213. Ord, Gen. O. C, 259. Osages, their locality, 221. 224, 225. Otawas, 212 ; forced westward, 213 ; of Mackinaw, 174, 175 ; see Oltawas. Otoes, their locality, 220. Otomies, 194. Ottawas, 113; their location, 110 ; deputa- tion to Quebec, 110 ; mission to, 110 ; coasts Lake Superior, HI. Oviedo, 333 ; on Nicaragua languages, 197. Ouyatanons, 278. Pacific Indian languages, 416, 424, 426, 446 ; migrations to, 2.53. Pacification of the Indians, 394. Packard, A. S. Jr., 65. Palfrey, on attack of Hadley, 466. Palmer, Lieut., killed, 380.' Pamakona, 272. Pampticos, their locality, 212. Panama Indians, 189. Parker, O. J., his paper, 396. Parker lake, 399. Parks of the Colorado, 170. Patagonia, Esquimaux of, 10. Patween race 435. Pawnees, 230, 231. Pawnee Killer, chief, 265. Payutes, 427, 428. Peabody, W. O. B., 102. Peace between French and Six Nations, 111. Index. 487 Peace river plateau, 167. Peel river Indians, 1H8. Pelanpr, Jose 896. Pel u, Wni., hid arrival, 86. Pennsljury manor, 81. Pennsylvania Indians, first murder by, 101 ; purcuaeo of, 86, 87. Pepper, ladian plant, 198, 202, 205. Pequod fort di-wtroytd, 1637, 453 ; nation destroyed, 454; their location, 452; their number, 452 ; last of the, 452, 456. Pekitanoni, 114. Perrot, 111, 112. Peruvian Indiana, 41, 162. Pesant, chief, 270, 271, 273, 278. Peters, Henry, his paper, 352. Peoria, 105. Philip, his contempt for the gospel, 413 ; his war, efie t ui)on the Indians, 408 : history by Cotton Mather, 475. Picture writing of aborigines, 15. Pilgrims prompted by religious motives, 104. Pima dialects, 429. Pinart, Alphonse, 344 ; M., 351. Pinet, Hugues, 105 ; successor of, 118. Pinols, 234. Pish-gauh-ti gock, original of Schaghti- cock, 455. Pit river Indians, 439. Pit river massacre. 320. Pittsburgh Evening Chronicle, 387. Platte river, poorly supplied with fish, 178 ; occupied hy Dakotahs, 226, 231. Plow unknown to the aborigines, 199. Plymouth colony, 406. Pocahontas, Veliisco a kinsman of, 343. Pocomtuck Valley Association, 461. Poconchi language, 197. Poduncks, their locality, 283. Pomo race, 436. Popolocas, 195. Population, centre of, 178. Porter, Hist. Discourse, 283. Potomac, Spanish standard planted on, 343 ; the Ert])iritu Santo. 3;i6. Pottawatomies, 104, 106, 111, 118, 114, 115.212,213,273. Poupa, lake, 449 Powder river, battle (m, 202. Powow, 299. Powhatan confederacy Algonquins, 843. Powhattans, their locality, 212. Prairie area, 105, 168, 169 ; line, 167, 170, 171 ; nati(ms, migrations of, 230, 231, 232 ; never occupied by Indians, 169 : nurseries of the antelope, 170 ; soli tudes, 177. Praying Indians, 456 ; number of, 408. Prehistoric immigration, 223. Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, 193. Pretty Crow, chief, 264, 265. ProphtiS, Indian, 418. Protestants prohibited in Canada, 107. Provision of Chippewas, 869, 871. Puants (Winnebagoes), 221. Pueblo idioms, 428 ; Indians, 286. Puget sound, dialects, 425 ; estimate of Indian ])0])ulation, 188 ; region, 180. Punkas, 220. Pynchon, John, 475. Quamash, 186. Quappas, their locality, 221, 224. Quarante Sous, chief, 270, 275, 276. Quebec, 105, 106 ; famine at, 106 ; deputa- tion to. 111 ; records, 117 ; surrendered to the English, 107. Queen Charlotte's island, 182 ; Indians of, 188. Quetzalcoatl, 11. Quiche language, 197. Quichhuas, 422. Quinnipiacks, their location, 288. Quinte, bay of, 151. Rafiuesque, clr racteristics of, 13, 87. Raguenaw, father, 109. Rainy lake, 220. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 338. Randoljih, Edward, pursues regicides, 471, 477. Rapjiahannock, Spanish mission, 333. Hattles'.iake doctor, 459. Ray, Luzerne, 280. Raymbault, Charles, 104, 109. Red Cloud, 265 ; agency, 260, 261 ; map of, 205. Red Dog, 205. Red Jacket, 153. Red Knives, 234. Red Leaf, chief, 265. Redondo, Chrisitopher, massacred, 342. Red river, dreaming at, 375. Rees Indians, 887. Religion of the Indian, 296-99. Religifm the motive of the Jesuit mission- aries, 103 ; also of the Pilgrims, 104. Religious belief of Indiana, 77, 78. Rice, fort, attacked, 60. Richardson's boat voyage, 172. Richelieu, Cardinal, 106. Riggs, Dakotan lexicon, 219. Rio Frio Indians, 390. Rio Grande, 166 ; Indians, 189, 190. R'sing Ileud, noted war chief, 82. River Indians. 218,283. Roanoke island, 838. Robbins, Chandler, on Hadley attack, 467. Robe Noire, riviere du, 115. Roberts, A. C, 896. Rocky Bear, chief, 265. iW^HMPBKffl il;: \\i I ! 488 Index. Rocky mountain, bandH, 284; nations, 217; langungew, extinct, 253 ; scenery, 81. Rocky mountains, harriers lo um'gration, 173. Rogue river Indians, 441. Roman Catholic mlHsiona.ies, success of, 377. Roquemont, M. de, lOG ; captured, 107. Roving Indians, 189, 194; stone, age of, 163 ; avoided Ohio, 229. Roxboro, duke of, 149. Running Antelope, chief, 391. Rupert's land, voyage through. 172. Rutisell, Rev. Mi-., conceals regicides, 401-78. Russian America, cession of, 255. Sabianism, 10. Sacramento valley Indians, 304. Sacrificial dance, 388, 390. Sacs, 273. Sagamon, bay of, 110. Sahaptin, 425 ; stock, 443. Salmon, fisheries, 181, 182 : habits. 183, 184, 186. Salt river, 335. Saltillo blankets, 45. San Carlos, fort, 397. San Joaquin, 319 ; Indians, 804. San Juan del Norte, ascension of, 397. Sans arcs, 219, 261. Santa Barbara dialects, 420, 430. Sassacus, Pequod chief. 452 ; massacred, 454. Saskatchewan, 81, 220, 224; a route of migration, 109, 173 ; migration, 233 ; river, 75. Susquehannocks, 226 ; extinct, 227. Saukies, 273. Sauks, 111, 113,213. Sault St. Marie. 104, 115 ; mission to, 108, 111,112,113,114. Sauteurs, 273. Sawks, their locality, 213. Schaghticooks, how composed, 455, 458 ; reservation, 459; baptisms among,460. Schoolcraft, 15. 18, 22 ; Indians. 418. ScoflSes. their locality, 211. Scott, Walter, on attack of Hadley, 469. Sea trout taken at Labrador, 70. Segura, John Baptist, massacred, 342. Selish dialects, 422 ; family. 444. Seminoles, 223; in Alabama, 120, 121; vocabulary, 120, 125. Semisopochnoi island, 255. Semitchi island, 255. Seneca, definition of, 241. Seneca-Iroquois system, 257 ; resemblance to Mongolian, 224. Senecas, 226, 227. Sequoyah, alphabet suggested, 420. Serpent, a symbol of evil, 20, 23. g'^vwn council fires, 220. Sharoi., Moravian missionary station, 456. Shasta, dialect, 438 ;TJlanguage at, 410. Shawnees, 216 ; area, 221. Shauanos, 120. Shea, John Uilmary, his paper, 333 ; Lin- guistics, 429. Shekomeko monument, 450. Sheldon, (ieorge, his paper, 461. Sherman, John, 459. Sheshatapoosh locality. 211. Shingask, reward for, 94. Shiyans. 198 , of Aljjonkin lineage, 225 ; their locality, 216. Shoshone.' migrations, 231, 232. 233, 234, 248 ; dialects, 422, 420, 428. Shovels of the .Mexicans, 199. Shumagin island mummies, 347. Siam, missionary to, 100. Sickness, despondency in, 370. Sierra Madre, 40 ; sheep herds, 383. Sierra Nevada, 120 ; eflfect upon the wiuds, 168 ; Indians, 304. Simcoe lake, 220. Simon, Louis Hyacinth, 119. Simpson, Sir Ueorge, estimate of Indian population, 179. Siuago, Ottawa chief, 273. Sinagoes, 270. Sioux, league with Iroquois, 115 ; mission among, 110; origin of name, 228; roving, 387 ; sacrificial dance, 389 ; their location, 178, 213 ; treatv, 1868, 260 ; vision, 127. Sissetons. 219. Sitjar's Dictionary, 430. Sitting Bull, 261, 263, 205. Six Nations destroy Hurons, 109 ; in treaty atPhila., 91 ; peace with French, 111. Slaughter, Col., 51. Slover, captive, 57. Smith, Buckingham. 120, 338 ; Capt. John, his voyage for Cathay, 334. Snake dialects, 427 ; Indians, 231 ; river salmon, 186. Snakes, expelled, 27. Snow medicine, 78. Songs of the Indians, 16 Sonora, irruptions on, "" Sonoma mission, 432. Southern dialects, 430. Spanish, mission colony in Virginia, 888 ; priests in California, 306, 813. Spider, chief, 205, 267. Spinners, Indian, 352. Spirituous liquors, 873 ; prohibited, 874. Square island, 05. Squash, Indian plant, 198. Squaw dance, 391. Squaw-man, definition of, 387. Squier, E. G.,his paper on the Walum- olum, 0. Index. 489 456. St. Augusline, founder ol", 343 ; Yumasucs tlco to, 4!!). St. Francis Xiivier, mirision, 103. Ht. llolcnn wound, 'AiW. St. Iirnacti, mission ut '.lackina, 103. St. Jolin'8 cape, 33;5. St. Jos.-pli, 104, lO.l, IIH. 114. St. Louis, mission of, 105; Peoria, 110. 8t. Marie, sault, fishinjj place, 213 ; eault, white Hsii, IHlJ. St. Martha, hisliop of, 147. St. Mary, mission, 103. St. Mary's bay mission, 333, 334. St. Micluu^i, ciiaixl at, 111. Stnbbcr, chid, 2(i."). Standinir Hock, orijjina! of, 388 ; aijency, 388 ; under tiu; C'atliolic church, 304. Stanley-Custer expedition, 387. Stanton, (.'(d.,3(i0. Stiles, Ezra, on lladley attack, 4G3. Stockbridfje Indians, 45.'). Stoddard, Solomon, on Philip's war, 470. Stone ajre, 353. Stone, \Vni. I; , his life of Brant, 145 ; his ]/aper, 379. Stuart Uranvillo. 437. Sub.si.stence, means of, 173, 174,. 175. Suifar manufacture, 370. Sukley, Dr., 183. SuUey, Gen., defeated Two Ber.rs, 390. Sun, the symbol of tlu! jfood spirit, 23. Superior, mission on, 105 ; coasted by Al- louez. 111. Snsciuehanna palisaih^d towns, 340. Sulnux, Jolin, 458. Swain, C"ai)t. , at Hadley, 477. Swan, Caleb, 130. Swearin/er, Col., 63. Sword, chief, 305, 267. Sylleri, plains of, 110. Tacullies, 334. Talamatan, not Iro(iuois, 41. Talcott, xMajor, 477. Tall chief, 334. Tallejiwi, contest with, 26, 38, Talocan valley, 194. Talon, intendant, 110. Taltecs, of Mexico, 191. Tamarois, 104, 105 ; mission, 118, 119. Tamil people, 357. Tampa, 120. Tampico, natives of, 194. Tanner on tlie Indian songs, 16 ; narrative, 378. Taos, 418. Tarasca lanffua^e, 194. Teakiki, 105. Tec urn sell, prediction of, 85. Teedyuskung, treaty with, 89 ; talk with, 95, attacked the whites, 99. Teeton dialect, 319, 230. 33 Tejon a^jency, expenses of, 821 ; reserva. lion, 307. Tekariho^Xea of the Mohawks, 150. Ten .Mile river, 455. Tenochtitlan, Mexico, 203. Tepanecans, 192. Tepejacac causeway, 803. Tetenchoua, cliiof of Miamas, 111 115. Texas, forests of, 160 ; Indian spinners, 353. Tezcuco lake, its elevation, 203. 204, 206. Tezcucans, 193. Tluiyendanejrea (Joseph Brant), 145. Thick-headed-liorse's dream, 127. Three Bears, chief, 305. Tinne Indians, 440. 'J'lr.coi aiis, 193 ; causeway, 203. Tliihuicas, 195. Tlascahin, confederacy, 193, 195 ; agri- culturists, 104. Tobacco, Indian i)lant. 198, 302. Tolewa lanfiuafye, 438. Toltecans, 41. Toltecs, orif Rock ajfency, 387. Vissclier, Matthew, letter to, 148. Vociihuluriea collected by Smithsonian Inst., 420. Voltaire on Indian origin, 280. Voyages, account of the first, 197. Waban, praying Indian, 410. Wabash, 104, 105,110. Walrus exterminated at Labrador, 70. Walum-olum, with translation of, 9, 14, 18. Wanawanda, Sioux chief, 128. War between France and England, 100. Warm Springs, 418. Warner, Bonj. F., 324. War-trail, how detected, 81. Washington, Mount, fiora, 70. Watson, John, narrative of, 86. Weathersfield Indians, 283. Weavers, Indian, 352, 360. Weebetuck river, 455, 456. Weeping dances, 432. Weiser, Conrad, his testimony of the long walk, 06. Weits-pek dialect, 138. Welsh descent of the Mandans, 85, Wequamps fight, -^74, 476. Western Reserve md Ohio Hist. Society, 270. Western slope, languages of, 421. Whalley, Edward, regicide, 461. Wheat, Indian, 199. Wheeling, Va., attack on, 59. Whirlwind's village, 27. White river, 263 ; bonefield, 260. White Tail, chief, 203, 265. Waittle8((y, Col. Charles, his paper, 270. Wild Indians of California, 804. VVilliums, Roger, 42. Wilson, Diiuiel, hi.s theory, 100. VVindb, efliicted by the mountains, 168. Windsor Indians, 283. Winnelmgoea, 211; their locality, 218; their location, 221. Winnipeg lake, 220. Wiiislow's Relation, 280. Win'oon tribes, 434. Wisconsin, its discovery, 102 ; purchase of, 301 ; livor, 104, 105. Wishkosk dialects, 487. Witchitas, 231. Withlacoocho, signification of, 125. Wolfs Necklace, chief, 891. Wolverine found at Labrador, 70. Wongungs, tl»eir, locality, 283. Wyandots, 275 ; ancient liurons, 226. WyckoflF, Wm. C.,258. Xalisco villages burned, 197. Xochimilco lake, dikes of, 202, 203. Yakima salmon fisheries, 183. Yakon tribe, 441. Yale college, fossils at, 358. Yamacraw cliief, Tomochichi, 450. Yanktons, 319. Yellowstone expedition, 261. Yamasees, chastisement of, 448. Yanktonnais, 388, 390. Yenduts, true name of the llurons, 107. Yocuts of California, 432, 433. Young Man Afraid of his Horses, chief,365. Yucatan, languages of, 194, 197 ; popula- tion of, 196. Yuka language, 435. Yukon Indians, 188; vuUey burials, 345. Yuma dialects, of Colorado, 429. Zane, Col. Silas, 59 ; Elizabeth, 60. Zapotecas, 195. Zeisberger's Dictionary, 14. Zevallos, Sancho, massacred, 342. Zuazo, estimate of Mexican population, 193. Zuui Indians, visits to, 43 ; Indian houses, 100 ; language, 46. J. nper, 270. I. ). ills. 108. ttlity, 218; )urchaso of, 128. 70. 18, 226. 203. 450. 8. rons, 107. !8,cbief,265. 1)7 ; popula- urials, 345. !», 60. population, dian houses,