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THE

INDIAN MISCELLANY;

OONTAININO

Papers on the History, Antiquities, Arts, Languages,
Religions, Traditions and Superstitions

THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES;

WITH

Descriptions of their Domestic Life, Manners, Customs,
Traits, Amusements and Exploits ;

TRAVELS AND ADVENTUR2S IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY;

inmHtntfi at ^otAtv WnxUxt ; pij^j^siouHi^a g^ltttiuuiS, tie,

EDITED BY W. W. BEACH.

ALBANY:
J. MXJNSELL, 82 STATE STREET.

1877.

TO THE MEMORY

SAMUEL GARDNER DRAKE,

WHO THROUGHOUT A LONG AND STUDIOUS LIFE DEVOTED CONSTANT
AND UNWEARIED EFFORT TO THE RECOVERY AND PRE-
SERVATION OF WHATEVER RELATED TO THE HIS-
TORY OF A RACE WHOSE ANNALS MUST
ERELONG CONSTITUTE THEIR
ONLY MONUMENT,

ADVERTISEMENT.

The purpose of this publication is to preserve, in
convenient form, interesting fugitive papers concern-
ing the aborigines of America. Reprinted mainly from
reviews, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets and other
ephemera, these articles are reproduced in the exact
language of the originals; excepting an occasional
change of title, the omission of what was deemed ir-
relevant or redundant, and in the several instances
where authors have revised or extended their essays
expressly for this work.

CONTENTS.

y — ~ —

Historical and Mythological Traditions of thk Alqonqcins ; with
A Translation op the Walum-Olum, or Bark Record op the
LenniLenape— ByE. G. Squier g

ARidewiththe Apaches -By Herbert C. Dorr 43

The Captivity op Christian Fast — By Geo. W. Hill, M.D. ... 51

The Esquimaux OP Labrador - By A. S. Packard, JR 65

teDiAN Medicine — By John Mason Browne .'.... 74

Narrative op the Long Walk - By John Watson, Father and Son . 86

The Early Jesuit Missionaries op the North Western Territory —
By W. B. 0. Peabody . ^^2

Comparative Vocabularies op the Seminole and Makasuke Tongues -
By Buckingham Smith .„-

A Sioux Vision - Thick-Headed- Horse's Dream - By John Hallam . 127

Joseph Brant, Thayendanegea, and his Postekity— By Wm. C. Bryant 145

IndianMigrations— By Lewis H.Morgan jgg

A Perilous Fossil Hunt -By William C.Wyckopp .... 268

Indian Apfairs Around Detroit in 1-'^« -By Col." Charles Whittlesey 270

v/the Aboriginal Inhabitants op Con. xticut - By Luzerne Ray . aso

The Indian Reservations of California _ By J. Ross Browne . . 808

The Dog Sacrifice OP THE Senegas -By Samuel Crowell . . 838

The Spanish Mission Colony on the RArr.vuANNOCK ; The Firsv
European Settlement in Virginia-By John Gilmary Shea . . 888

844

/ ' - Contents.

^ Alaskan MtrmriEs _By W. H Dall

8. QAT8CHET . . '''' f EURITOBIES - By Albkrt

Chastisement OF thfVa«»<, * ' '416

. 448

^THEUST0.THEPE..0.S.-B.BE.S0...0SS.C ' ' ^ '

The Tradition o^ an Indian Attack on r. ' ' '

George Sheldon . ^^''''^^' ^^^^^- in 1675-By

453

461

THE INDIAN MISCELLANY.

HISTORICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS OF

THE ALG ONQ (/INS.

mm A THANSLATION OF TIIK MTALVMOLUM, OH BARK RECORD OF THE LENNl

LENA pi:. ^

[Read before tho New York Historical Society nt itB regular meeting in Juno, 1848.]

By K. G. Scji'iKR.

The discovery of America, in the iifteentii century, constitutes
a grand era in the history of tlie worhl. From it we may date
the rise of that mental energy and physical enterprise, Avhich
has since worked such wonderful changes in the condition of the
human race. It gave a new and powerful impulse to the nations
of Europe, then slowly rousing from the lethargy of centuries.
Love of adventure, hope, ambition, avarice — the most powerful
incentives to human action — directed the attention of all men to
America. Thither flocked the boldest and most adventurous
spirits of Europe , and half a century of startling events sufficed
to lift the veil of night from a vast continent, unsurpassed in the
extent and variety of its productions, abounding in treasures, and
teeming with a strange people, divided into numberless families,
exhibiting many common points of resemblance, yet differing
widely in their condition, manners, customs, and civil and social
organizations.

Along the shores of the frozen seas of the north, clothed with
the furs of the sea-monsters whose flesh had supplied them with
food, burrowing in icy caverns during the long polar nights, were
found the dwarfed and squalid Esquimaux. In lower latitudes,
skirting the bays and inlets of the Atlantic, pushing their canoes
along the shores of the jj ir^at lakes, op chasing the buffalo on the
vast meadows of the west, broken up into numerous families,

« Reprinted from The AtntricanWhig Review (New Yorlt), for February, 1840.

The Indian Misc^xlany.

subdivided into tribes, warring constantly, and ever struggling
for ascendency over eacb otlier, were tbe active and fearless
hunters, falling cbietly within the modern extended denomina-
tions of the Algonquin and Iroquois families. Still lower down,
in the mild and fertile regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico,
more fixed in their habits, half hunters, half agriculturists, with
a systematized religion, and a more consolidated civil organization,
and constituting the connecting link between the gorgeous semi-
civilization of Mexico and the nonuidic state of the northern
families, were the Floridian tribes, in many respects one of the
most interesting groups of the r ..itinent. Beneath the tropics,
around the bases of the volcanic ranges of Mexico, and occupying
her high and salubrious plains, Cortez found the Aztecs and their
dependencies — nations rivaling in their barbarous magnificence
the splendors of the oriental world — far advanced in the arts,
living in cities, constructing vast works of public utility, and
sustaining an imposing, though bloody religious system. Passing
the nations of Central America, whose architectural monuments
challenge comparison with the proudest of the old world, and
attest the advanced condition and great power of their builders,
Pizarro found beneath the equator a vast people, living under a
well-organized and consolidated government, attached to a primi-
tive Sabianism, fixed in their habits and custom.^, and happy in
their position and circumstances. Still beyond these to the south-
ward, were the invincible Araucanians, together with numerous
other nations, with distinctive features, filling still lower places
in the scale of advancement, and finally subsiding into the squalid
counterparts of the Es([uimaux in Patagonia.

These numerous nations, exhibiting contrasts so striking, and
institutions so novel and interesting, it might be supposed, would
have at once attracted the attention of the learned of that day, and
insured at their hands a full and authentic account of their govern-
ment, religion, traditions, customs, and modes of life. The
men, however, who subverted the empires of Montezuma and
th>^. 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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."

The Indian Miscellany.

j^^

<t>

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.

IHi

Traditions op the Algonquins.

t^'<y^-'^>^

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.

12. Milap netami-gaho owini-gaho.
He gave thorn the first mother first-being's-
mother.

«^

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.

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.

i If ii :

Traditions of the Algonquins.

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-

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<r
averted by sacrifices and ofl'erings. The power of the Mitchi-
Manitou was not, however, supposed to extend to the future life.'
He is represented in the text as the creator of flies and gnats,

> Canada, vol. li, p. 141.

' United Brethrenin America, p. 84.

• Carver' s.TraveU, p. 381.

Ill'

Traditions of the Aixjonquins.

and other annoying ineects, an article of belief not exclupively
Indian. While the symbol of the Good Spirit was the 6'<m, that
of the chief of the Evil Spirits was the. Serpent, up<lcv which form
he appears in the Chippeway tradition of his contest with the
demi-god Manabozho.

The idea of a destruction of the world by water seems to have
been general amongst the Algonquin nations. The traditionary
details vary in almost every instance where they have been re-
corded, but the traditionary event stands out r»roniincntly. The
catastrophe is in all cases ascribed to the Evil Spirit; who, as
already observed, was symbolized as a great Serpent. He is
generally placed in antagonism to Manabozho, a powerful demi-
god or intermediate spirit. These two mythological characters
have frequent conflicts, and the flood is usually ascribed to the
final contest between them. In these cases the destruction of the
world is but aif incident. As recorded in the Walum Olum^
it originates in a general conflict between the Good Spirits, " the
beings," and the Evil Spirit, Maskinako. The variation is, how-
ever, unimportant, for in this, as in all the other versions of the
tradition, Manabozho appears in the character of Preserver. The
concurrence in the essential parts of the several traditions, is
worthy of remark.

BONO 11.- THE DELUGE.

1. Wulamo maskan-ako-anup lennowak
Long ago powerful snake when men also

makowini essopak.
bad beings had become.

2. Maskanako shingalusit nijini-essopak
Strong snake enemy beings had become

shawalendamep ekin-shingalan.
became troubled together hating.

3. Nishawi palliton nishawi machiton, nishawi
Both fighting both spoiling both

matta lungundowin.
not peaceful (or keeping peace).

The Indian Miscellany.

4. Mattapewi wiki
Less men with

nihanlowit mekwazuan.
dead keeper fighting.

5. Maskanako gichi penauwelendamep
Strong snake great resolved

lennowak owini palliton.

men beings to destroy (fight).

6. N'akowa petonep, amangam petonep
Black snake he brought, monster he brought

akopehella petonep.

rushing snake water he brought,

7. Peliella-pchella, pohoka-pohoka, eshohok-
Much water rushing, much go to hills, much

eshohok palliton-palliton.
penetrating, much destroying.

8. Tulapi. menapit Nanaboush,
At Tula (or turtle land) at that island Nanabush

maska-boush, owinimokom linowimokom.
(strong) of beings the grandfather of men
the grandfather.

dSS ^W '< ^

9. Qishikin-pommixin tulagishatten-lohxin.
Being born creeping at Tula he is ready to
move and dwell.

10. Owini linowi wemoltin pehella gahani
Beings men all go forth flood water

pommixin nahiwi tatalli

creeping (floating?) above water which

tulapin.
way (where) turtle-back.

11. Amangamek makdopamek alendguwek
Monsters of the sea they were many some of

metzipannek.
them they did eat.

Traditions op the Algonquins.

12. Manito-dasin mokol-wichemass palpal
Spirit daughters boat helped come, come

payat payat wemichemap.

coming coming all helped.

13. Nanaboash, Nanaboush, wemimokom
Nanabush, Nanabush, of all the grandfather,

winimokom linnimokom tula-
of beings the grandfather, of men the grand-

mokom.
father, of turtles the grandfather.

14. Linapima tulapima tulapewi tapitawi.
Man theij turtle then turtle they altogether.

15. Wishanem tulpewi pataman
Frightened (startled ? ) turtle he praying

tulpewi paniton wuliton.

turtle he let it be to make well.

16. Kshipehelen penkwihilen k"v/amipokho
Water running off it is drying piain and moun-

sitwalikho maskan wagan

tain path of cave powerful or dire action

palliwi.
elsewhere.

• PABAPHBASE.

1. Long ago came the powerful serpent {Maskanako), when men had

become evil.

2. The strong serpent was the foe of the beings, and they became

embroiled, hating each other.

3. Then they fought and despoiled each other, and were not peaceful.

4. And the small men {3Iattapewi) fought with the keeper of the dead

{Nihanloioit).

6. Then the strong serpent resolved all men and beings to destroy

immediately.
The black serpent, monster, brought the suake-water rushing,

7. The wide waters rushing, wide to the hills, everywhere spreading,

everywhere destroying.

8. At the island of the turtle {Tula) was Manabozho, of men and

beings the grandfather —

9. Beiug bom creeping, at turtle land he is ready to move and dwell.

The Indian Miscellany.

10. Men and beings all go forth on the flood of waters, moving afloat,

every way seeking the back of the turtle {Tulapin).

11. The monsters of the sea were many, and destroyed some of them.

12. Then the daughter of a spirit helped them in a boat, and all joined,

saying, Come help !

13. Manabozho, of all beings, of men and turtles, the grandfather !

14. All together, on the turtle then, the men then, were all together.

15. Much frightened, Manabozho prayed to the turtle that he would

make all well again.

16. Then the waters ran off, it was dry on mountain and plain, and the

great evil went elsewhere by the path of the cave.

The allusion to the turtle, in the tradition, is not fully under-
stood. The turtle was connected, in various ways, with the
mythological notions of the upper Algonquins. According to
Charlevoix and Hennepin, the Chippeways had a tradition that
the mother of the human race, having been ejected from heaven,
was received upon the back of a tortoise, around which matter
fr idually accumulated, forming the earth.' The great turtle,
according to Henry, was a chief spirit of the Chippeways, the
" spirit that never lied," and ■«', as often consulted in reference to
various undertakings. An account of one of these ceremonies is
given by this author.^ The island of Michilimakanak (literally,
great turtle) was sacred to this spirit, for the reason, probably,
that a large hill near its centre was supposed to bear some resem-
blance, in form, to a turtle.* The turtle tribe of the Lenape, says
Heckewelder, claim a superiority and ascendency, b'^cause of their
relationship to the great turtle, the Atlas of their mythology,
who bears this great island (the earth) on his back.*

With these few illustrative observations, which might be greatly
extended, I pass to the second or historical portion of the tradi-
tional record, with the simple remark that the details of the
migrations here recounted, particularly so far as they relate to
the passage of the Mississippi and the subsequent contest with
the Tallegwi or Allegwi, and the final expulsion of the latter.

' Charlevoix, vol. li., p. 143; Hennepin, p. 55.

» Henry's Travels, p. 168.

»/ft.,37, 110.

* Heckewelder, p. 246.

Traditions of the Algonquins.

coincide, generally, with those given by various authors, and
well known to have existed among the Belawares.

The traditions, in their order, relate first to a migration from
the north to the south, attended by a contest with a people de-
nominated Snakes, or Evil, who are driven to the eastward. One
of the migrating families, the Lowaniwi, literally northlings,
afterwards separate and go to the snow land, whence they sub-
sequently go to the east, towards the island of the retreating
Snakes. They cross deep waters, and arrive at Shinaki, the Land
of Firs. Here the Wunkenapi, or Westerners, hesitate, preferring
to return.

A hiatus follows, and the tradition resumes, the tribes still
remaining at Shinaki or the Fir land.

They search for the great and fine island, the land of the Snakes,
where they finally arrive, and expel the Snakes. They then
multiply and spread towards the south, to the Akolaki or beau-
tiful land, which is also called Shore-land, and Big-fir land. Here
they tarried long, and for the first time cultivated corn and built
towns. In consequence of a great drought, they leave for the
Shillilakiny or Buifalo land. Here, in consequence of disaffection
with their chief, they divide and separate, one party, the Weta-
mowi, or +he Wise, tarrying, the others going off. The Wetamowi
build a town on the Wisaioana or Yellow river (probably the
Missouri), and for a long time are peaceful and happy. War
finally breaks out, and a succession of warlike chiefs follow, under
whom conquests are made, north, east, south and v/est. In the
end Opekasit (literally east-looking) is chief, who, tired with so
much warfare, leads his followers towards the sun-rising. They
arrive at the Messussipu, or Great river (the Mississippi), where,
being weary, they stop, and their first chief is Yagawanend, or
the Hut-maker, under whose chieftaincy it is discovered that a
strange people, the Ihllegwi, possess the rich east land. Some
of the Wetamowi are slain by the Tallegwi, and then the cry of
palliton ! paUiton ! ! war ! war ! ! is raised, and they go over and
attack the Tallegwi. The contest is continued during the lives
of several chiefs, but finally terminates in the Tallegwi being
driven Bouthwards. The conquerors then occupy the country on

The Indian Miscellany.

the Ohio below the great lakes — the Shawanipekis. To the north
are their friends, the Talcmatun, literally not-of -themselves, trans-
lated Hurons. The Hurons, however, are not always friends,
and they have occasional contests with them.

Another hiatus follows, and then the record resumes by saying
that they were strong and peaceful at the land of the Tallegwi.
They built towns and planted corn. A long succession of chiefs
followed, when war again broke out, and finally a portion under
Linkewinnek, or the Sharp-looking, went eastward beyond the
Talegachukung or Alleghany mountains. Here they spread widely,
warring against the Mengwi or Spring-people, the PungeUka, Lynx
or Eries, and the Mohegans or "Wolves. The various tribes into
which they became divided, the chiefs of each in their order, with
the territories which they occupied, are then named — bringing
the record down until the arrival of the Europeans. This latter
portion we are able to verify in great part from authentic history.

BONO 111.— MIGRATIONS.

1. After the flood the true men {Lennapewi) were with the turtle, in
the cave house, the dwelling of Talli.
It was then cold, it froze and stormed, and '

From the northern plain, they went to possess milder lands,
abounding in game.

4. That they might be strong and rich, the new comers divided the

land between the hunters and tillers ( WikhichiJc, Elowichik).

5. The hunters were the strongest, the best, the greatest.

6. They spread north, east, south and west ;

1. In the white or snow country (Ziumo^oaki), the north country, the
turtle land and the hunting country, were the turtle men or
Linapiwi.

8. The Snake (evil) people being afraid in their cabins, the Jake priest

{Nhkopowa) said to them, let us go away.

9. Then they went to the east, the Snake land sorrowfully leaving.
10. Thus escaped the Snake people, by the trembling and burned land

to their strong island {Akomenaki).
Free from opposers, and without trouble, the Northlings {Lowaniwi)

all went forth separating in the land of snow ( Winiaken),
By the waters of the open sea, the sea of fish, tarried the fathers of

the White-eagle (tribe ?) and the White-wolf.

2,
3.

11.

12.

Traditions of the Algonquins.

13. Our fathers we'*e rich ; constantly sailing in their boats, they dis-

covered to the eastward the Snake island.

14. Then said the Head-beaver ( Wihlamok) and the Great-bird, let us

go to the Snake land.

15. All responded, let us go and annihilate the Snakes.

16. All agreed, the northerlings, the easterlings, to pass tne frozen

waters.
\1. Wonderful ! They all went over the waters of the hard, stony sea,
to the open Snake waters.

18. In vast numbers, in a single night, they went to the eastern or Snake

island ; all of them marching by night in the darkness.

19. The northerlings, the easterlings, the southerlings (iShawanapi),

the Beaver-men {Tamakwapis), the Wolf -men, the Hunters or
best men, the priests {Potcatapi), the Wiliwapi, with their wives
and daughters, and their dogs.

20. They all arrived at the land of Firs (Shinaking), where they tarried ;

but the Western men ( Wimke?iapi) hesitating, desired to return
to the old Turtle land {Tulpaking).

It may be suggested that the account of the second migration,
across frozen waters, is so much in accordance with the popular
prejudice, as to the mode in which the progenitors of the Ame-
rican race arrived in America, that it throws suspicion upon the
entire record. It is not impossible, indeed, that the original
tradition may have been slightly modified here, by the dissemi-
nation of European notions among the Indians. McKenzie,
however, observes of the traditions of the northern Chippeways :
" The Indians say that they originally came from another country,
inhabited by a wicked people, and had traversed a great lake,
which was shallow, narrow and full of islands, where they suffered
great hardships and much misery, it being always winter, with
ice and deep snows. * * * They describe the deluge when the
waters spread over the whole earth, except the highest mountain,
on the top of which they were preserved."^

The preceding songs have something of a metrical character,
and there is in some of the verses an arrangement of homophones
which has a very pleasing effect. For instance, the last verse of
the above song is as follows :

* McKemU, p. US.

30 The Indian Miscellany.

Wemipayat gune^inga shinaking
Wunkenapi chanelendam payaking
Allowelendam kowiyey-tulpaking.

How far this system was carried it is difficult to say, but it is
not unlikely that most of the transmitted songs or chants had
something of this form.

The next song resumes* after the lapse of an indefinite period,
as follows :

SONG IV.- TEE CHRONICLE.

1. Long ago our fathers were at Shinaki or Fir land.

2. The White Eagle ( Wapalaneica) was the path-leader of all to this

place.

3. They searched the great and fine land, the island of the Snakes.

4. The hardy hunters and the friendly spirits met in council.

5. And all said to Kalaioil (Beautiful-head) be thou chief {sakima)

here.

6. Being chief he commanded they should go against the Snakes.

7. But the Snakes were weak and hid themselves at the Bear hills.

8. After Kalawil, Wapagokhas (White-owl) was sakima at Fir land.

9. After him Jantowit y^Maker) was chief.

10. And after him Ghilili (Snow-bird) was sakima. The south, he

said

11. To our fathers, they were able, spreading, to possess.

12. To the south went Chilili ; to the east went Tamakwi (the Beaver).

13. The South land {Shawanaki) was beautiful, shore-land, abounding

in tall firs.

14. The East land ( Wapanaki) abounded in fish ; it was the lake and

buffalo land.
16. After Chilili, Agamek (Great warrior) was chief.

16. Then our fathers warred against the robbers. Snakes, bad men, and

stony men, Chikonapi, Akhonapi, Makatapi, Assinapi (Assini-
boins ?)

17. After Agamek came ten chiefs, and then were many wars, south,

east and west.

18. After them was Langundowi (the Peaceful) sakima, at the Ahola-

king (Beautiful land).

19. Following him Tasukamend (Never-bad), who was a good or just

man.

lillilll'ITT -

II "ii'il i'lt' —

Traditions of the Algonquins.

20. The chief after him was Pemaholend (Ever-beloved), who did good.

21. Then Matemik (Town-builder), and Pilwihalen.

22. And after these, in succession, GunoKtni, who was father long, and

Mangipitak (Big-t eth).

23. Then followed Olu n (Bundler-of -sticks), who taught them

pictures (records).

24. Came then Takwachi (Who-shivers-with-cold), who went southward

to the Corn land {Minihaking),

25. Next was Huminiend (Corn-eater), who caused com to be planted.

26. Then Alko-ohit (the Preserver), who was useful.

27. Then Shiwapi (Salt-man), and afterwards Penkwonowi (the Thirsty),

when

28. There was no rain, and no com, and he went to the east, far from

the great river or shore.

29. Passing ovei a hollow mountain ( Oiigonunk) they at last found

food at Shililaking, the plains of the Buffalo land.

30. After Penkwonowi, came Mekwochella (the Weary), and Chin-

galsawi (the Stiff).

31. After him Kwitikwund (the Reprover), who was disliked and not

willingly endured.

32. Being ang-y, some went to the eastward, and some went secretly

afar off.
35. The wise tarried, and made Makaholend (the Beloved) chief.

34. By the Wisawana (Yellow river) they built towns, and raised com

on the great meadows.

35. All being friends, Tamenend (the Amiable, literally beaver-like)

became the first chief.

36. The best of all, then or since, was Tamenend, and all men were his

friends.

37. After him was the good chief, Maskansisil (Strong-buffalo), and

38. Machigokhos (Big-owl), and Wapikicholeti (White-crane).

39. And then Wingenund (the Mindful or Wary), who made feasts.

40. After him came Lapawin (the White), and Wallama (the

Painted), and

41. Waptiioapit (White-bird), when there was war again, north and

south.

42. Then was Ihmaskan (Strong- wolf), chief, who was wise in council

and

43. Who made war on all, and killed Maskcnaini (Great-stone).

The Indian* Miscellany.

44. Measissuwi (the Whole) was next chief, and made war on the

^nakes {Akowini).
46. ChitamouUt (Strong-and-good) followed, and made war on the

northern enemies {Lowannskl).

46. Alkouwi (the Lean) was next chief, and made war on the Father-

snakes {Towakon).

47. Opekasit (East-looking) being next chief, was sad because of so

much warfare,

48. Said, let us go to the sun-rising ( Wapagishek) ; and many went

east together.

49. The great river {Messussipu) divided the land, and being tired, they

tarried there.

60. Yagmca7iend (Hut-maker) was next sakima, and then the Tallegwi

were found possessing tlie east.

51. Followed C'ltanitis (Strong- friend), who longed for the rich east-
land.

62. Some went to the east, but the Tallegwi killed a portion.

53. Then all of one mind exclaimed, war, war !

64. The Talamatan (Not-of-themselves), and the Nitilowan, all go

united (to the war).

65. Kinnehejyend (Sharp-looking) was their leader, and they went over

the river.

66. And they took all that was there, and despoiled and slew the

Tallegwi.

61, Pimokhasuici (Stirring-about) was next chief, and then the Tallegwi

were much too strong.

68. Tenchekensit (Open-path) followed, and many towns were given up

to him.

69. Paganchihilla was chief, and the Tallegwi all went southward.

60. Hattanwidatou (the Possessor) was sakima, and all the people

were pleased.

61. South of the lakes they settled their council-fire, and north of the

lakes were their friends the Talamatan (Ilurons ?)

62. They were not always friends, but conspired when G%initakan was

chief.

63. Next was Limiiwalamen, who made war on the Talamatan.^

64. Shakagapewi followed, and then the Talamatan trembled.

Traditions of the Algonquins.

BONO V.~ THE CHRONICLE CONTINUED.

1. All were peaceful, long ago, at the land of the Tallegwi.

2. Then was Ttnudyancud (Huaver-leader) chief at the White river

( Wapalaneuff, Wabash).

3. Wajmchuwi (White-lynx) followed, and much com was planted.

4. After came Walichlnik', and the poojilo became very numerous.

5. Next was Lekhihitin, and made many records {walum-olnmin,

or painted-sticks).

6. Followed Kolachuiaen (Blue-bird), at the place of much fruit or

food {Makdimhig).
1. Pematalli was chief over many towns. ^

8. And Pcpomahemen (Paddler), at many waters (or the great waters).

9. And Tanhmcon (Little-cloud) was chief, and many went away.

10. The Nentegos and the tihmoanis went to the south hinds.

11. /i!^c/t^7rt^yia^• (Big-beaver) was chief at tlio White lick {^Wapdho-

ning).

12. The Good-prophet ( Onoxoatok) went to the west.

13. He visited those who were abandoned there and at the south-west.

14. Pmcanami (Water-turtle) was chief at the Talegahonah (Ohio)

river.
16. LakweUnd (Walker) was next chief, and there was much warfare.

16. Against the 7'M0rtA;o (Father Snakes), against the Hinako {^loxiQ or

Mountain Snakes), and against the Lowako (North Snakes).

17. Then was Mokolmokoui (Grandfather-of-boats) chief, and he

warred against the Snakes in boats.

18. Whieloioich (Snow-hunter) was chief at the North land {Loxoashkin).

19. And Linkwekinuk (Sharp-seer) was chief at the Alleghany moun-

tains (^l^alcgachukang).

20. And Wa2yalawikwan (East-settler) was chief east of the Tallegwi

land.

21. Large and long was the east land ;

22. It had no enemies (snakes), and was a rich and good land.

23. And Oikenopalat (Great-warrior) was chief towards the north ;

24. And Hanaholend (Stream-lover) at the branching stream (^Sask-

wihanang or Susquehanna).
26. And Gattawisi (the Fat) was sakima at the Sassafras land,

( Winaki).
26. All were hunters from the big Salt water {Gishikshapipek, Chesa-

The Indian Miscellany.

peake, or literally Salt sea of the sun), to the again (or other)
sea.

27. Makliuawip (Hcd-urrow) was cliief at title water {Lapihnneng).

28. And Wblomenap was chief at the Strong falls {Maskekitong,

Trenton?)

29. And the Wopoictid and the Tiotmnand wore to the north.

30. Walitpallat (Ciood-fighter) was chief and set out against the north.

31. Then trembled \\\v 3f<iho7i(jwi {i\w. Tnxjuois ?) and the Punyelika

(Lynx-like, or Paries).

32. Then the second Tl^mewewf? (Beaver) was chief, and he made peace

with all.

33. And all were fricjids, all united under this great chief.

34. After him was Kichitaniak ((4reat-good-beaver) chief in the Sassa-

fras land.
36. Wapahakey (White-body) was chief at the Sea shore {Sheyabi).

36. Elangonel (the Friendly) was chief, and much good was done.

37. And Piter mnen was chief, and people came from somewhere.

38. At this time from the east sea came that which was white (vessels ?)

39. M<(kdom.ush was chief and made all happy.

40. Wttlakeninc/iis was next chief, and was a warrior at the south.

41. He made war on the Otalividko (Cherokee snakes or enemies), and

upon the Akovietako (Coweta ? snakes).

42. Wopagamoski (White-otter) was next chief, and made the 2Wa-

matans (Ilurons) friends.

43. Wapiishum followed, and visited the land of Tallegioi at the west. '

44. Tliere were the Ililinikl (Illinois), the Shmoanis (Shawanoes), and

the Kenowiki (Kenhawas?)

45. Nitispayat was also chief, and went to the great lakes.

46. And he visited the Woniamik (Beaver-children, or Miamis), and

made them friends.

47. Then came Packimitzin (Cranberry-eater), who made the Tawa

(Ottawas) friends.

48. Loioajyonskan was chief, and visited the Noisy place ( Ganshowenik),

49. And Tashawinso was chief at the Seashore [iShayahing),

60. Then the children divided into three parts, the Unarnini (Turtle
tribe), the Mi7ii. mini (Wolf tribe), the Chikimini (Turkey
tribe).

> " 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.

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<>pa<j(tchiJc (White-comers).

68. Professing to ))e friends, in big-birds (ships). Who are they ?

Here stop the pictured records. There is, liowever, a fragment
in the original manuscripts, which may be taken as a continua.
tion, and concerning wliich Rafinesquc says nothing more than
that it " was translated from the Lcnape by John Burns." The
references, so far as I am able to verify them, are historically
correct. It is here given in its original form, with no attempt at
paraphrase. It resumes with an answer to the question which
concludes the last song, " who are these Wapsinis ?"

SONO IV.- THE MODERN CHRONICLE.

1. Alas, alas ! we now knov^ who they are, these Wapsinis (East-

people), who came out of tiio «ea to rob us of our lands. Starving
wretches ! they came with smiles, but soon became snakes (or
enemies).

2. The Walumolnm was made hy Lckhib it (the writer), to record our

glory. Shall I write another to record our fall ? No ! Our
foes have taken care to do that ; but I speak what they know
not or conceal.

3. We have had many other chiefs since that unhappy time. There

were three before the friendly Mikwon (Miqiion or Penn) came.
Jlfa«a«iA;wwi' (Not-8trong)wi.8 chief when the Winakoli (Swedes)
came to Winaki ; Nahumen (Raccoon) when the Sinalwi
(Dutch) came, and Ikwahon (Fond-of-women) when the Yank-
%ois (English) came. Miquon (Penn) and his friends came soon
after.

4. They were all received and fed with corn ; but no land was ever

sold to them : we never sold any land. They were allowed to

' Note by Rafine»qii«. " Mattanikum was chief in 1615. Ho is called Matta-horn by Uolm, whe
by a bliiiidur, has made his name half Swedish. Uomla not Lenapi. Mattawikum tneant Not-
homed, without horns, emblem of having little strength."

The Indian Miscellany.

dwell with UH, to build hoTises and jilant com, as friends and
allies. BecauHe they were hungry and we thought tliem child-
ren of Gishakl (or Sun-land), and not serpents and children of
serpents.
6. And they were traders, bringing fine new tools, and weapons, and
cloth, and beads, for wliich we gave them skins and shells and
corn. And we liked them and the things they brought, for we
thought them good and made by the children of (rlnhaki.

6. Tint they brought also fire-guns, and fire-waters, which burned and

killed ; also baubles and trinkets of no use, for we had better
ones before.

7. After Mikwon, came the sons of Dolojo-sakima (King George),

who said, more land, more land we must have, and no limit could
be put to their steps.

8. But in the north were the children of Lowi-sakinia (King Louis),

who were our good friends, friends of our friends, foes of our
foes ; yet with Dolojo wished always to war.

9. We had three chiefs after Mikwon came — iSkalichi, who was

another Tamenendy and Sasunam- Wikwikhoii (Our-unde-the-
builder), and Tutami (Beaver-taker), who was killed by a Yank-
wako (English-snake), and then we vowed revenge.

10. N'etatawis (First-new-being) became chief of all the nations in the

west. Again at Ihlligewink (Ohio, or pl^ce of Tallegwi) on the
river Cuyahoga, near our old friends the Ihlamatana. And he
called on all them of the east (to go to war).

11. But Tadeskung was chief in the east at Mahoning^ and was bribed

by Yankwis / then he was burnt in his cabin, and many of our
people were killed at Hickory (Lancaster) by the land-robber
Yankwis.

12. Then we joined Lowi in war against the Yankwis ; but they were

strong, and they took Lowanaki (North-land, Canada) from
Xowi, and came to us in Tahgawink, when peace was made, and
we called them Kichikani (Big-knives).

13. Then Alimi (White-eyes) and G^e/e^en?<Mj (Buck-killer) were chiefs,

and all the nations near us were friends, and our grand-children
again.

14. When the Eastern-fires began to resist Dolojo^ they said we should

be another fire with them. But they killed our chief Unamiwi
(the Turtle) and our brothers on the Muskingum. Then Hopo-

Traditions op the Alqonquins.

kan (Strong-pipo) of tho Wolf tribe was made chief, and he
made war on tho Kichikani- Yufiktoia, and became the friend
of Dolojoy who was tlien very strong.

16. But the Kastcrn-fircH were stronger ; they did not take Lowinaki,

*>ut 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-

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.

Traditions of the Algonquins.

" 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.

The Indian Miscellany.

I IM

^ 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.

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.

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.

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

i \

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

I i

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.

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-

The Indian Miscellany.

•fi.

1 i

1 t

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.

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,

The Captivity op Christian F\rt.

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

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

■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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

t ;

Hi ;

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.

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.

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

"" :

f ■ 1

■

THE ES Q UIMA UX OF LA BRAD OR. '
By a. S, Packaud, Jn.

In tho Hummor of 1864 the writer ha<l a rare opportunity of
visiting the coast of Labrador, in company with William Brad-
ford, the well-known marine artist. * ♦ *

For a month our tieet-winged schooner, ill adapted for the
dangers of arctic navigation, had been held ice-bound, for
several days at Belles-Amours, in the straits of Belle-Isle ; also
at Henley harbor, a noble fiord nearly opposite Belle-Isle ; and
for a fortnight at a little box of a harbor in Hquare island, south
of the entrance of Hamilton inlet, or, as it was earlier named,
Invuctoke bay, where the floe-ice crovvded and almost jammed
in the sides of our vessel, and for many days formed a natural
bridge for us to pass ashore. From the mountains above us we
watched, day by day, the ceaseless march of icebergs and cakes,
large and small, composing an ice-pack, extending probably a
thousand miles or more from the banks of Newfoundland up
to the arctic regions, and perhaps a hundred miles in width (some-
times vessels coming from London strike it two liundred miles
off shore), the ice-king occasionally forcing into his ranks a
Newfoundland or Nova Scotia fishing-smack, which was either
carried far to the southward, or exposed to the danger of being
crushed between immense masses of floe-ice, or foundering, should
a storm arise. We had escaped these perils ; a fresh westerly
breeze forcet. the ice-pack oft* shore, leaving a channel, studded
with small lumps of ice, l)etween the shore and the ice-floe. Two
or three days previous, on the 25th of July, while laid up in a
harbor, so very snug and narrow that we had not room to swing
by our cable, a snow storm visited us, leaving drifts a foot deep
on the hills rising five hundred to eight hundred feet above us.

Our sail to Hopedale, under these auspices, reminded us of
the experiences of arctic voyagers. As we glided along the snow-

> Reprinted from AppUton's Journal (New York), for December 9, 1871. Revised by the author
for The Indian Miscellany.

The Indian Miscellany.

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

'^v:

The Esquimaux of Labrador.

"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-

. \

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

f ■

1 i *' '■

1 n

I ii -'

1 i

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.

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

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-

The Esquimaux of Labrador

rers

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

> Reprinted ftrom The Atlantic Monthly (BoBton), for July, 1866.

Indian Medicine.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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.

. ■!'!:

! ! lil

If "I

'! ■ (■

III

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.

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

I !

1 :•

1 :

i ■

ill '■

^<\

II 1 1

^ !

■

i '

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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

4.'

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 iin<l the tliree
who ixsrsevered, had been detailed hy him with aw much fidelity
as could hav(! been done hy one of the vvliiten themHclveH. And
so convinced were the rndiann of the truth of the old man's
medicine, that the four youn^ men were pent to appoint a ren-
dezvous, for four days later, at a spot a hundred miles distant.
On arriving there, accompani(jd hy the young [ndians, the whites
found the entire (!amp of liising Head, a noted war-chief,
awaiting them. The objects of the expedition were speedily
accomplished ; and the whites, after a few days' rest, returned to
safer haunts. The writer of this paptsr was at the head of the
party of whites, and himself met the Indian messengers.

Upon questioning the chief men of the Indian camp, many of
whom afterwards became my warm personal friends, and one of
them my a(h)])ted brother, no sus[)icion of the facts, as luirrated,
could l)e sustained. Ma-(|ue-a-po8 could give no explanation
beyond the general one, that he " saw us coming, and heard us
talk on our journey." He had not, during that time, been absent
from the Indian camp.

A subsequent intimate acquaintance with Ma-qu^-a-pos dis-
closed a remarkable medicine faculty as accurate as it was inex-
plicable. He was tested in every way, and almost always stood
the ordeal successfully. Yet he never claimed that the gift en-
titled him to any peculiar regard, except as the instrument of a
power whose operations he did not [)retend to understand. He
had an imperfect knowledge of the Catholic worship, distorted
and intermixed with the wild theogony of the red num. He
would talk with passionate devotion of the Mother of God, and
in the same breath tell how the Great Spirit restrains the rain
spirits from drowning the world, by tying them with the rain-
bow. I have often seen him make the sign of the cross, while
he recounted, in all the soberness of implicit belief, liow the old
man (the god of the lilackfeet) formed the human race from the

. .^— ,.:-L*.^w*-^i-Ji>J —

Indian Medicink.

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

(.;„;

Ci i:

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<!aHed by medi-
cin«f son^B and off'eriiigH. I'he curiosity of Home may be attracted
by the foMowing rude and literal translation of the song of a
Blackfoot woman to the Hpirit of her son, who was killed on his
lirst war-party. The words were written down at the time, and
are not in any respect changed or smoothed.

"O my H«n, farowoll I
You liavo jjoriH beyond tli« j^reat river.
Your Hpirit m on the other Bide of the aand buttes,
1 will not HMi you for a hundred winters ;
You will scalp the enemy in the green prairie,
Beyond tlie (^reat river.
Wlien the warriors of the Bluckfeet meet,
When tliey mnoke th«! medicine-pipe and dance the war-dance,
Tliey will aslt, ' Wliere \h Isthumalta? —
Where is tlie bravest of the Mannikappi?'
He fell on the wnr-path.

Mai-ram-l)o, mai-ram-bo.

" Many scaljjs will be taken for your death ,
The f.'rowB will lose many liorst's:
Their women weep for their braves,
They will curse the spirit of Isthumuka
Oh my son ! I will come to you
And jnake raoccusins for the wurpath,
As I did when you struck the lod(;e
Of the Horse (iuard with the tomahawk.
Farewell, my son I I will see you
Beyond the broad river.

Mai-ram-bo, mairambo," etc., etc.

Sung in a plaintive minor key, and in a wild, irregular rhythm,
the dirge was far more impressive than tlie words would indicate.

It cannot be denied that the whites, who consort much with
the ruder tribcH of Indians, imbibe, to a considerable degree,
their veneration for medicine. The old tra})perH and voyageurs
are, almost without exception, observers of omens and dreamers
of dreams. They claim that medicjine is a faculty wliidi can in
some degree be cultivated, and aspire to its possession as eagerly
as does the Indian. Sometimes they acquire a reputation that
is in many ways beneficial to them.

As before said, it is no object of this paper to defend or com-

Indian Medicink.

bat tfu! Indian notion of medicine. Such a Hystem exists as a
fact; and whoever writes upon American Denionology will find
many fruitful topics of investi/^ation in the daily life of the un-
contatniriated Indian. There may be nothing of truth in the
Bupi)Osed prediction by Tecumseh, that Tu(jka])atchee would be
destroyed by an earthquake on a day which he named ; the gifts
of the prophd may be overstated in the traditions that yet
linger in Kentucky and Indiana; the descent of the Mandans
from Prince Madoc and his adventurous Welchmcin, and the
consideration accorded them on that account, may V(!ry possibly
be altogether fanciful ; but whoever will take the trouble to in-
vestigate will fmd in the real Indian a faith, and occasionally a
power, that quite equal the faculties claimed by our civilized
clairvoyants, and will approach an untrodden t)ath of curious, if
not altogether useful research.

i 1

I liH

. I flip '

NARRATTVE OF TTIE LONG WALK:

By John Watsox, 'FATrrEH axd Sox.

[Communicated to the Historical CommlttcH of the American Philosophical Society, Philadel-
phia, In 18-22.]

William Penn witli a iiuinher of settlers caine to Pennsylvania
in the year 1682. Tlis Hrst eare was to establish a good under-
standing with the natives by personal socialnlity antl friendly
aets of hospitality and generosity, and regarding them as men,
whose rights were not to be invaded either by force or fraud.
He therefore purchased of them a tract of land, for a price agreed
upon, of the following destription, taken from the original deed:

" Beginning at a white oak in the land now in the tenure of

John Wood, and by him called the Grey Stones, over against

the falls of Delaware river, and from thence up the river side to

a corner spruce tree, marked with the letter P, at the foot of the

mountains (this tree stood 140 pei'ches above the mouth of Baker's

creek) — and from the said tree along by the ledge or foot of the

mountains west southwest to a corner white oak, marked with

the letter P (on land now Benjamin Hampton's) — standing by

the Indian path that leads to an Indian town called Playwicky

and near the head of a creek called Towsisnick, and from thence

westward to the creek called Neshaminah (this line crosses where

the Newtown road now is), at the old chestnut tree below Doctor

' Isaac Chapman's lane end and along by the said Neshaminah to

the river Delaware, alias Makerickhickon, and so bounded by the

said main river, to the first mentioned white oak in John Wood's

land (above Morrisville) with the several islands in the river,"

etc. Dated 15th July, 1682.

This purchase was limited by previous agreement to extend as
far up the river from the mouth of Neshaminah as a man might
walk in a day and a half — which tradition has said to have been
executed by William Penn himself, on foot, with several of his

> Reprinted fromj^otard'* RtgUt«r qf Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), for October i), 1880.

LiL

Narrative op the Long Walk.

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-

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.

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

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

Narrative of the Long Walk.

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

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The Indian Miscellany.

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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.

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

The Indian Miscellany.

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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.

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 b<i,s been
taken from me by fraud ; for when I had agreed to sell the land
to the old proprietary by the course of the river, the young pro-
prietary came and got it run by a straight course, by the compass,

'I '

■' 1

i»^!

The Indian Miscellany.

and by that means took in double (ho might have said five times)
the quantity intended to be sold."

Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, and Richard Poters, Esq.,
being asked what they knew about the subject, they agreed in
substance, that they had heard of the- Indians' uneasiness, but re-
ferred to the final settlement made of the dispute by the judg-
ment of the Six Nations at the treaty at Philadelphia in 1742;
but when Peters came out of the council he said the walk was
dishonorable, and could not be defended, and therefore it was
agreed to make the Indians a present speedily, on that account,
which was afterwards done accordingly, which in common ac-
ceptation goes to prove which of the parties had been in the
wrong.

In consequence of Teedyuscung's complaint, that the Indians
had been cheated out of their land by the walk, some of the
members of th"^ Friendly Association above mentioned applied
to the governor's secretary for leave to search the Provincial
Records relative to the subject, which he refused to admit, although
they were immediately interested in the Indian claim being ex-
tinguished on land they had purchased agreeably to the pro-
prietary's agreement with the first settlers.

There may be some small errors in the foregoing narrative,
but it is presumed the principal facts are correctly stated as they
have been taken from original Indian treaties and from copies
and notes, made by John Watson, surveyor, and in some minor
parts derived by oral tradition, directly received from persons
who were living at the time of the long walk, and such as had the
best opportunities of being acquainted with the particulars of
that unhappy affair.

It may be proper to remark, that William Penn went to Eng-
land in 1701 and died in 1718 ; that those who succeeded him in
managing the executive business of the province, especially
about the year 1742, were not governed by those principles of
generosity and justice that the Indians so highly respected in the
conduct of the first worthy proprietary of Pennsylvania, or other-
wise there might not have been any disturbance with the natives

Naruative of tiik Long Walk.

during the administration of the Penn family, a period of more
than ninety years.

(Signed) John Watson.

Buckingham^ Pa., 1815.

The preceding narrative was written by my father about seven
years ago, and was then published in the Pennsylvania Gorrespond-
ent, printed iit Doylestown, from which I have copied it ; but ap-
prehending it to be incorrect in some particulars, I visited Moses
Marshall who in his eightieth year is yet in the full possession of
his faculties, and from his general character through life may safely
be relied on. He informed me that his father was one of the per-
sons employed to walk out the purchase made by William Penn
of the Delaware Indians, that he has frequently heard him relate
the particulars which he well remembers, and gave me the follow-
ing account which I took down as he related it.

That he always understood from his lather that William Penn,
soon after his arrival in this country, pui chased a tract of
land of the Indiana, to be bounded by the rix'er Delaware on the
northeast and the Neshaminy on the northwest, and to extend
as far back as a man could walk in three days ; that he and the
Indians began to walk out this land at the mouth of the Nesha-
miny, and walked up the Delaware ; that in one day and a half
they got to a spruce tree near the mouth of Baker's creek when
Penn concluding this would include as much hind as he would
then want, a line was run and laarked from the spruce tree to
Neshaminy, and the remainder left to be walked out when it
should be wanted for settlement.

That in the year 1733, notice was given in the public papers
that the remaining day and a half walk was to be made, and
offering 500 acres of land any where in the purchase and £5 in
money to the person who should attend, and walk the furthest
in the given time.

By previous agreement the governor was to select three white
persons and the Indians a like number of their own nation.
The persons employed by the governor were Edward Marshall,
8

The Indian Miscellany.

James Yates, and Solomon Jennings ; one of the Indians was
called Combush, but he bad forgotten the names of the other two.

That about the 20th of September (or when the days and nights
are equal), in the year aforesaid, they met before sunrise, at the old
chestnut tree below Wrightstown meeting house, together with
a great number of persons as spectators. The walkers all stood
with one hand against the tree until the sun rose, and I hen started.
In two hours and a half they arrived at Red Hill in Bedminster,
where Jennings and two of the Indians gave out. The other
Indian (Combush) continued with them, to near where the road
forks at Easton, where he laid down a short time to rest, but on
getting up was unable to proceed further. Marshall and Yates
went on and arrived, at sun down, on the north side of the
Blue mountain. They started again next morning at sun rise ;
while crossins: a stream of water at tbe foot of the mountain
Yates became faint and fell ; Marshall turned back and supported
him until others came to his relief, and then continued the walk
alone, and arrived at noon on a spur of the second or Broad
mountain, estimated to be eighty-six miles from the place of
starting, at the chestnut tree below Wrightstown meeting house.

He says they walked from sunrise to sunset without stopping,
provisions and refreshments having been previously provided at
different places along the road and line that had been run and
marked for them to walk by to the top of the Blue mountain,
and persons also attexided on horseback by relays with liquors
of several kinds.

When they arrived at the Blue mountain they found a great
number of Indians collected expecting the walk would there end,
but when they found it was to go half a day further, they were
very angry, and said they were cheated. Penn had got all their
good land, but that in the spring every Indian was to bring him
a buck skin and they would have their land again, and Penn
might go to the devil with his poor land. An old Indian said
" no sit down to smoke, no shoot a squirrel, but lun, lun, lun all
day long."

He says his father never received any reward ^or the walk,
although the governor frequently promised to have the 500 acres
of land run out for him, and to which he was justly entitled.

'•-'!as3!-.Trri"ilKS*JiS£Kii

s:S£S,k: iJSSfcMStKKr

Narrative or the Long Walk.

Some time after a man came to their house having a summons
for his father to appear belore the Lord Loudon in Philadelphia.
His father went with him, and was vtiy particularly examined
respecting the walk, his account taken down in writing, in order
to be sent home to England. While in Philadelphia he was
strictly guarded by two grenadiers, and not suffered to talk to
any other person respecting the walk or his present business.
When he was about to return home James Logan made him a
present of £10, as a compensation for his time and expenses.

In 1754, his father lived about eighteen miles above Easton. In
the next year two hundred Indians, headed by their chief or King
Teedyuscung, made an attack on the white inhabitants ; they tired
on a company attending a funeral, but killed none ; these fled and
gave the alarm, and they all got off. His father's family went back
in the year 1756, but lived until the fall of the next year on the
Jersey side of the river, when they returned to the farm. Soon
after about sixteen Indians attacked the house in the absence of
his father of whom they always appeared afraid. One of them
threw his match coat on a bee hive by the side of the garden, the
bees came out and stung them, by which means five small children
that were playing in the garden got away. They shot one of his
sisters as she was running, the ball entered her right shoulder
and came out below the left breast, yet she got away and re-
covered. They took his mother, who was not in a condition to
escape them, some miles and then killed her. There were five
guns in the house all loaded, which they never touched, and
took nothing away, except a coat with £B in money in the pocket,
belonging to Matthew Hughes who boarded with the Marshalls.

In 1758, the people having forted together, the Indians came
and turned the creatures into the wheat field ; five young men went
out of the fort to turn them out again. The Indians waylaid them
and shot two, one of whom was his brother.

His father said the Indians always insisted that the walks
should have been up the river, along the nearest path, which was
also his opinion, and that they had been improperly dealt with,
and cheated out of their land, but would have quietly submitted
if the walk had not extended beyond the Blue mountain.

100

Thk Indian Miscellany.

From the foregoinpr statement of Moses Marshall, as well as
from what I remember to have JK'ard from a few old people
when I was young, I am inclined to believe my father must have
been mistaken in a few particulars, tirst with respect to the ori-
ginal purchase made by William Penn. I believe it was three days'
walk, but w^hen one and a half days were measured out, the grant
or deed was made and executed for so much, and the other deed
four years after for the remainder, for it appears the first walk
was made by William Penn and tbe Indians themselves, up the
river, and they always insisted that the remainder should be in
like manner measured out by walking up the river and to begin
where the former had ended.

Again my father says the day and a half was changed by agree-
ment to one day, and to go a northwest course. Mr. Marshall
is positive that his father walked a day and a half, and so I have
always understood it. He says two persons of uncommon abili-
ties for fast walking were employed for the purpose, at <£5 each
or an equivalent in hind. Mr. M. says there were three and gives
their names, and says they were offered 500 acres of land and
£5 in monej. i^erhaps my father may have been led into the
first mistake, from the circumstance of there being two deeds
or grants of different dates — the extracts from which used by
him I have now in my possession among the papers left by John
Watson, surveyor — the others probably from wrong information
received about the time the narrative was written, as I remea iber
he took considerable pains and called on several old persons to
assist him.

I have for several years past been anxious that a correct history
should be written of the first settlement of the United States, as that
settlement was connected with the history of, and interested the
Indian nations, the true original cause and consequence to them
of the wars that ensued between them and the white people, not
as they have been related by interested or prejudiced historians,
professing to live under the dispensation of the gospel of peace,
and proud of the advantages of civilization, but as they would be
narrated by intelligent Indians ; and I have been the most anxious
to see such a history written, as I apprehend many important

Narrative of the Long Walk.

101

facts necessary thereto, oven now only linger in the recollection
of a few old men, and in a short time, unless collected at present,
will be lost for ever.

A prominent fact of this description in my view is what has
been called the long walk, and the foregoing contains perhaps
as true an account of it as it is now possible to collect. It is im-
portant as hoing the cause of the first uneasiness of the Indians
in Penns^^ivania, and the first murder committed by them in the
province, being on the very land they believed themselves thus
cheated out of; and it appears this is yet remembered as one of
the wrongs committed on them by the white men of which they
complain.

(Signed) John "Watson.

Greenville 9th of 9th mo., 1822.

THE EARLY JESUIT MISSIONA lUI'JS OF THE NORTH
WESTERN TERRITOR Y.

By W. \^. O. Pkahody.

There is no ono suhjcct which presentfl to the mind of the
antiquarian and the scholar, a liner iiekl for investigation, than
the early settlement of that region once known as the North
"Western Territory — now comprehending within its limits an
empire embracing the three great states of Indiana, Illinois, and
Michigan, and the present territory of Oidsronsin ; for such was,
and such should now be, the name of the territory alluded to,
and known on the modern maps, as Wisconsin. When a portion
of this territory was first discovered, is unknown. The Jesuit
father, no doubt, was the first white man who " paddled his light
canoe" over those inland seas, extending from the St. Lawrence
to the further limits of Lake Superior ; and long before civiliza-
tion or empire had extended their star westward, he had unfurled
the banner of the cross on the shores of Lakes Huron, Michigan
and Superior ; and the missions of St. Fran9oi8 Xavier at Green
Bay, of St. Ignace at Mackina, of St. Mary at the straits, in the
latter part of the seventeenth century, show conclusively, with
what zeal and ardor these heralds of the cross pushed their
" tabernacles in the wilderness," and made known to these wan-
dering Arabs of the prairies the symbols of the Christian's faith,
and the mysteries of their holy religion. But it was not simply
as stationed preachers, that these good and great men attempted
the conversion of the innumerable multitude who then swarmed
the shores of the lakes, and spread from Lake Erie to the Ohio —
from the Miami to the Father of Waters. They followed the
Indian to his hunting ground, threaded forests, swam rivers,
bivouacked with their >upe 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.

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 <lescend-
ing the Wihconsin to the Mississippi, That one or more of these
routes had been traversed by the Jesuit fathers, years before Mar-
quette and Joliet lauiuilied their frail bark, in 167'1, on the waters
of the Mississippi, is susceptible of proof; and that tlie Missis-
sippi had been known, and the tri])es inhabiting it visited, and
missions established before Manpiette even coasted its borders,
is now well understood. As early as the year 1G53, twenty
years before Marquette and Joliet started on their voyage of
discovery to the "great river Mechasippi," Father Jean I)e-
querrc, Jesuit, went from the mission on the Superior to the
Illinois, and established a flourishing mission, j)robably the mis-
sion of St. Louis where Peoria is now situated. He visited
various Indian nations on the borders of the Mississippi, and was
slain in the midst of his apostolical labors in 1661.

In 1657, Father Jean Charles Drocoux, Jesuit, went to the
Illinois, and returned to Quebec the same year.

In 1670, Father Ilugueb Pinet, Jesuit, went to the Illinois, and
established a mission among the Tamarois, or Cahokias, at or
near the present site of the village of Cahokia, on the borders of
the Mississippi. He remained there until the year 1686, and
was at that mission when Mar(juette and Joliet went down the
Mississippi. In the same year M. Bergier, priest of the Seminary
of Quebec, succeeded him in the mission to the Tamarois or
Cahokias ; and Father Pinet returned to the mission of St. Louis
(Peoria), where ho remained until he died, the 16th of July,
1704, at the age of seventy-nine.

In 1663, Father Claude Jean Allonez, was appointed vicar
general of the north and west, including Illinois. He preaclied

106 \

The Indian Miscellany.

I if

5- II

to the Pottawotaniics and Miamis about Green Bay ; in 1665, lie
returned to Quebec, and went to the Illinois in 1668, and visited
the missions on the Mississippi.

In 1670, M. Augustine Meulan de Circe, priest of the Seminary
of Quebec, went to Illinois. He left the mission there in 1675,
returned to France, was sent missionary to Siam, made bishop
in 1708, nominated vicar apostolical of China, and in 1713 was in
Japan. Thus it will be seen that for tioenty years, to wit, from
1653 to 1673, anterior to the discovery of Marquette and Joliet,
there was a succession of missions in the Illinois, and one of them,
that of Cahokia, established on tne very banks of the Mississippi.
There are no other memorials of these missions now extant, as
known to us, except those preserved in the Seminary of Quebec ;
from a copy of which the above notices are taken. The only
object is to show, that for years before Marquette and Joliet
visited the country, the Mississippi had been discovered, and
missions actually established on its borders. That these good
fathers made notes of their travels, and rendered an account of
the various Indian tribes, which they visited along the Father of
Waters, to their superior, there can be no doubt. What have
become of these memorials of early western adventure and dis-
covery now it is impossible to say. That they would throw much
light on the early history of the west, there can be no doubt.

It will be remembered, by all who have taken any interest in
the settlement of la Nouvelle France, that in the year 1628, the
government of Canada, civil and military, was confided by Louis
Xin to one hundred associates ; at the head of whom was the
celebrated Cardinal Richelieu. Hostilities commenced the same
year between England and France, and tlie first vessels sent out
by the company of New France were captured by the English.
M. de Champlain commanded at Quebec. The inhabitants, re-
duced to seven ounces of bread per diem, and the garrison with
but five hundred pounds of powder in the magazine, were sum-
moned to a surrender. Champlain, although at the greatest
extremity, refused to do so.

To add to the misfortunes of the colony, the French squadron,
under command of M. de Roquemont, one of the associates, and

The Early Jesuit Missionaries.

107

bringing relief to the colony, was captured by the English in the
St. Lawrence. The "avage allies of the French, since the ap-
proach of the English, became alienated ; and all the firmness of
Champlain could not arrest the disorders daily accruing in this
new settlement. The necessary consequence was, the surrender
of the garrison with the honors of war to the English. The
French were permitted to retire without molestation ; but the
greater part of the inhabitants chose to remain in the province.
The capture of Quebec is attributed by Charlevoix to the perfidy
of some French Calvinists, among whom the most conspicuous
w'j,8 Jacques Michel ; and who, according to Charlevoix, was
acting on board the English squadron in the capacity of vi(;e-
admiral. Whether this was so or not, it is now too late to de-
termine. Suflice it to say, that Canada, in the year 1632, was
again ceded to the French crown by the treaty of St. Germain.
In 1633, the company of New France was restored to all its
rights ; and M. de Champlain being appointed governor general
of Canada, sailed from France with a squadron to take possession
of it, carrying with him the Jesuit fathers Brebeuf and Evremond
Masse. Precise orders were given by Louis XIII that no l*ro-
testant should settle in Canada, and no other religion than the
Catholic should be tolerated. Among the great number of Indian
tribes which were found in the country, and which opened to the
missionaries a vast field for the exercise of their functions, none
seemed to claim their attention more than the Hurons. Cham-
plain had for a long time formed the design of making an estab-
lishment in their country. Inhabiting the immense region
between the Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, mostly along the
northern and eastern borders of the two last, a nation numerous;,
amounting to 40 or 50,000 souls, when first known to the French,
whose true name was Yendats, but to whom the French had
given the name of Harons, from the French word hure, owing to
the peculiar manner in which they woi leir hair. " Quelles
Hures ?" said the French, when they first saw them ; hence the
word Hurons.* The object of Champlain was to make this country
the centre of the missionary labors of the Jesuits, from whence,

1 Charlevoix, i, 184.

108

The Indian Miscellany.

\\ 1

■ 1

' '" If

ilH

as a starting point, they might spread the Catholic religion
among the vast tribes supposed to inhabit the country south and
west. The Fathers Brebeuf and Daniel were the first mission-
aries. In 1834, after great delay, owing to the unwillingness of
the Hurons to take them, they departed from Quebec, and with
great diflSculty and danger, arrived a^ their nssion, and built a
small chapel, which they dedicated to St. , jseph. The fruit of
their labors was small. Some five or six a _'.t3 were baptized :
but they consoled themselves with the fact " of having assured
the eternal safety of a great number of infants, who expired im-
mediately after having received the rites of baptism." The
Indians listened to the relations of these good fathers, relative to
the mysteries of their most holy religion ; but it must be ac-
knowledged the results were but indifterent ; and even when
they exhibited the marks of entire conviction, " it was evident
they had not paid the least attention to what was said, nor com-
prehended it if they had."

" I saw you had no person to keep you company," said one of
the Huron chiefs to. the missionary, whom, from the attention,
modesty and reverence manifested, the good father hoped to
convert — "I saw you had no person to keep you company, and
pray with you. I had compassion on your solitude, I therefore
remained with you. As others now wish to render you the same
service, I will retire."

Even some who went so far as to demand and receive baptism,
and performed, for some time, all the outward duties of a con-
vert, acknowledged they had done it with a view of pleasing the
robe noire who had persuaded them to change their religion.

" You preach well," said a Huron chief to Father Brebeuf,
" and there is nothing in all you teach us, but what is probably
true enough, and will answer for those beyond the sea, from
whence you came ; but do you not see we inhabit a world entirely
different from yours, and should have another heaven, and by
consequence another way to get there ?"

Such were the unsophisticated notions of these sons of the
forest.

" These savages," says one of these reverend fathers, "have pro-

The Early Jesuit Missionaries.

109

posed for our consideration, all the objections to our faith, ever
made by the wisest of the Greeks and Romans, to the earliest
apostles."

This was the lirst mission established west of Lake Erie, yet,
before the end of the year 1036^ there v ere counted six Jesuit
missionaries in the different Huron villages, besides many French-
men who had followed them. In the year 1642, the Jesuits
established their mission at Sault St. Marie. A deputation of
the tribe dwelling there came to St. Joseph, and Fathers Isaac
Jogues and Charles Raymbault were sent with the deputation to
the sault. They were soon, however, recalled. This is the same
Father Jogues, who, on his return from the Huron mission to
Quebec, v/as taken prisoner by the Iroquois, suffered the greatest
indignities, was mutilated in his hands, scourged in three villages,
and finally redeemed by a Dutch officer from Fort Orange, now
Albany. He returned to France, and demanded from the pope
the liberty of (Celebrating mass with his mutilated hands. Con-
sent was given in these words : " Indignum esset Christi mar-
tyrem Christi non bibere sanguinem." He returned from France
to Canada, established a mission among th-e Iroquois, and was
slain by them in 1646.

The fate of the Hurons was truly pitiable. Of their various
villages, those which were not destroyed by pestilence and famine,
were attacked by their old enemies, the Iroquois ; and as no
quarter was given by these modern Goths, they were butchered
en masse. Weak, powerless, overcome, the very name of an
Iroquois alarmed them. Two whole villages voluntarily sur-
rendered themselves, and were adopted into the Six Nations ;
others fled to the tribes south and west, others joined the English,
and some established themselves in what is now the state of
Pennsylvania. Not only the country of the Hurons, but the
whole borders of the Ottawas, were abandoned, and three hundred
Hurons, accompanied by their missionary. Father Raguenaw,
were in 1650 led back by him from the mission of St. Joseph to
the very walls of Quebec, where, under the guns of the fort and
the protection of their " great father Ononthio," they were in-
duced to believe the^ could find safety from the exterminating

i ■'if

ir>i

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."

112

The Indian Miscellany.

I Mil

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

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,

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 <imor jyitrm was by no means agreeable to the
courtly, polished, and French La Salle. The French were at
war with the Spaniards ; and one of the vessels of his squadron
had been captured at St. Domingo by two Spanish pirogues.
This circumstance by no means helped to conciliate these sub-
jects of two rival nations ; and it is evident from reading " Le
voyage en un pays, plus grand que 1' Europe, entre la mer glaciale
et le Nouveau Mexique," that the prejudices of Father Hennepin,
even tlie unfortunate and untimely death of th'; Sieur La Salle
had not mitigated. His works, therefore, must be taken with
some grains of allowance; though in the main, furnishing some
important particulars in reference to the early discoveries in the
northwest. He accompanied La Salle on his expedition to the
Illinois, and gives a very lively, but very romantic picture of this
nouvcl pays. In the midst of much chaff, there are some grains
of wheat to be gathered in the works of the reverend father ; and
after nearly two centuries, we must be thankful even for the few
details which, in the relations, the works of Marquette, Allonez,
Hennepin, Tonti, Hontan and Charlevoix, have come down to
UB. That, in the archives of the French government, in those of

The Early Jesuit Missionaries.

117

the superior of the Jes ts, in the records in Quebec, much in-
teresting matter might be found coimected witii this subject, is
beyond a doubt. The liistorian of the nortiiwest will hrve a
task in collecting the materials; the collating of them when
gathered would be a work of but little labor. Two centuries
have elapsed since the Jesuit fathers launched their bark canoes
on the waters of the Illinois. Where now arc the rude temples
which these pious men dedicated in the wiidernesH to the service
of the ever living God ? Where the fathers themselves ? Where
the memorials of their worship ?' Where their neophytes ?
Where the red men of the forest who lingered around the symbols
of the Christian's faith, and bending bciore the sign by which
they were spiritually conquered, worshiped the Mauitou of the
stranger, and yielded obedience to the heralds of the cross?
PJcho answers — Where ? The monuments of their piety are
broken down. Each succeeding winter's gale, each summer's
sun, for a century and a half, has but made their destruction
more certain. So that now, " even the places which cnce knew
them, know them no more for ever.' The hiss of the snake
may now be heard, where once ascended the 2\ Deum Lam^imus.
The harsh cry of the raven and the melancholy whoop of the owl
answer now, where once responded the aborigines of the forest
to the morning matin and evening vesper. But the untutored
yet faithful worshiper is gone. The grass of the prairie, long
and coarse, waves over the graves of the curate and his flock.
And where once ascended the notes of praise and thanksgiving,
the thistle rears its tall head in triumph ; the nettle and the fox-
glove, and the deadly night-shade thrive undisturbed; or perhaps
the sturdy settler, as " he drives his team a-field," runs his furrows
over the bones of the accomplished, leanxed, enterprising and
zealous Jesuit fathers, who, nearly two centuries since, left the
cloisters of Paris, or the Seminary of Quebec, to carry the banner
of the cross to the tribes who dwelt on the Father of Waters.
Fallen obelisks, broken head-stones, and mossy tombs, nowhere

' The newspapers state, that In digging a cellar for a house lately at Green Bay, where the first
Catholic church was erected by the Jesuits, a silver plate — evidently a part of the communion
■enrice — was.foond, with an inicrlption in French, dated 1681 .

1 ! ^ t^

118

The Indian Miscellany.

mark the resting places of these great and good men — the
pioneers of civilization and Christianity in the western wilds ;
and as the antiquarian searches for some alight memorial of these
holy men — of the places which they once inhahited on the bor-
ders of the lake, the shores of the Illinois or the Mississippi —
the modern preemptioncr looks with jealousy at the stranger,
and imagines that the corners of sections, quarter sections, and
forty acre tracts, excite his curiosity, or awaken the avarice of
the speculating land hunter — a melancholy' but certain lesson
relative to those changes which are constantly going on with
empires as with men. Time, in its resistless course, as it sweeps
on to eternity, whispers of the one, as well as the other, " they

WHO SLEEP HERE, ARE SOON FORGOTTEN ! "

Note. — It may not be uninteresting to know the successors
of Father Marquette in the Illinois mission, down to the com-
mencement of the 18th century, and their fate. It is a melan-
choly tale of suffering and death ; and an evidence of the warmth,
zeal, and piety of these faithful followers of the cross — a zeal
and piety, which might put to shame many of their Protestant
successors.

Father Gabriel Lambronde, Jcuit, went missionary to the
Illinois in 1678 ; was slain at his mission in 1680.

Father Maxime Le Clerc went to the Illinois in 1678; was
killed by thfe Indians in 1687.

Father Zenobe Mambr6, Recollet, went to the Illinois in 1678;
and returned in 1680, employed in visiting the tribes on the
Mississippi.

Father Louis Hennepin went to the Illinois in 1678 with La
Salle ; occupied in making discoveries on the Mississippi ; re-
turned in 1680.

M. Jean Bergier, mentioned as the successor of Father Pinet,
priest of the Seminary of Quebec, went to the Illinois in 1686 ;
was at the Tamarois or Cahokia mission, died there in 1699; was
buried by Father Marest, who was in the mission to the Kas-
kaskias.

M. Philip Beucher, priest of the Seminary of Quebec, was sent

nil

The Early Jesuit Missionaries.

119

to the Tamarois or Cahokia mission, to assist M. Bergier ; re-
mained with him untill696, when he went to visit the Arkansas
and other Indian tribes on the lower Mississippi ; returned and
died at Peoria in 1719.

In 1692, Father Louis Hyacinth Simon, went as missionary to
St. Louis, Peoria ; went from there in 1694 to visit the different
establishments and posts on the Mississippi ; returned to Quebec
in 1699.

Father Florentin Flavr6, Jesuit priest, went to the Illinois 'n
1694 ; established a mission on the Mississippi ; descended that
stream in 1708 to Natchez ; returned to Illinois in 1703 ; remained
there until I'is deatn in 1713.

Father Julieii Benettau, Jesuit priest, went to the Illinois in
1696 ; labored at the mission of St. Louis with great success;
difid there in 1709.

M. Fran9ois Joliet de Montigney, priest, in 1696 was sent to
Louisiana in the character of vicar-general, by the bishop of
Quebec. He visited the missions in Illinois, St. Louis, the
Tamarois or Tahokias, while M. Bergier was there, traversed the
whole country, and returned to Quebec in 1718.

M. Michael Antoine Gamelin, priest of the Seminary of Quebec,
accompanied him. They desc3nded the Mississippi, and went
as far as Mobile.

Father Gabriel Marest, Jesuit, went to the Illinois in 1699 ;
fixed his residence at Kaskaskitt ; died there in 1727.

Father Antoine Darion, priest, went in 1700 on a mission to the
Tunicas, a tribe living on the Mississippi ; and adjoining the
Natchez He went from Quebec.

■,i.

COMPARATIVE VOCABULARIES OF THE SEMINOLE
AND MIKASIJKE TONG UES.'

By Buckingham Smith.

These words were recently taken down in Washington from
the mouth of a Seminole delegation from Arkansas — Foos-harjo,
an educated Iniian, and Johnson, a hlack, speaking the Mvskoke,
and Chocot-harjo, the Mikasuke, the last communicating through
the Mvskoke, and sometimes himself writing out the words in
his own tongue. The Indians were born in Florida, the negro
in Alabama.

Major Caleb Swan, U. S. A., in a report to the department of
war respecting the Seminoles in the year 1790-1, states that they
were inhabiting country in Alabama, Florida and the state of
Georgia ; and, according to tradition, that they came originally
in roving bands from the northwest with the name Seminole ;
that subsequently they conquered the Alabamas, and, according
to their policy, united that people to their own nation, called
Mvskoke ; that later, the Apal aches were added, and, at the
time of writing, he speaks of their having Mikasuka and some
other permanent villages on the Apalachicola river. The lan-
guage had then undergone so great change among the wandering
hordes, still called Seminoles, that it was hardly understood by
the Creeks (Mvskokes inhabiting fixed settlements), or, in gene-
ral, even by themselves. It must be remembered, that, at the
time he writes the nation had already added to their number the
remnants of the Alabamas or Coosadas, Uchees, Natches, Hitchi-
tis and Shauanos, with their several languages, six constituting
the number spoken by the members of the confederacy.

The Hitchitis resided on the Flint and Chatahooehe rivers.
They are near of kin to the Mikasukes, to judge from the words
of a small vocabulary taken by Mr. Gallatin from a Chelaqui,
reprinted here with numerals taken at Tampa by Capt. Casey,

> 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

chalskee

chvtskee

chaliee
chahaiua

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

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

chiimi

imi

pomi

chinlaki

imetahke

hiamu

omulka

anachome

istainiut

opaie

ahole

yama

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

chihni

inihni

pohni

chenoche

inenohche

iyale

mame

laapke

anakapen

nohlote

opvnke

auelosis

yale

mami

emanetaki

opiahchama

paksaka

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

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

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

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.

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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

130

The Indian Miscellany.

•n

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<l I fell asleep from physical
exhaustion. This Hhimber close<l the gate against the enchanted
scenes around me, and let in another vision more true to nature,
to delight and yet disturb my weary brain.

This apparition came in the form of Omarinta (my wife), and
three little hungry children, whom I much loved, and had left
in our lodge on the banks of the Wapka Schicha, in the land of
the Sioux. They implored me to return home and not desert
them in their hunger and destitution. I swore by all the gods
of the Sioux, to disenthrall myself and break away from the
power of the monster. For a moment my courage rone to a
height worthy of the greatest warriors of my tribe. I dT3W my
knife, which was yet in my belt, and attempted to cutoff the head
of the monster, but it fell harmlessly from my hand. The courage
inspired by the suffering condition and appeal of Omariata waa
but momentary and soon vanished, to give way to the contempla-
tion of my own helplessness and the scenes around me. At this
stageofthe wonderful journey, I heard a mighty roaring of waters,
which woke me. I looked out, and beheld my steed struggling
in tiie roaring waters of a mighty river, the waves of which rose
and lashed each other high over its body, but it kept head and
neck high above the foaming billows and sped its onward course.
In an hour it reached the shore, and gained a woodland country,
varying in every respect from all the countries we had passed
through. The people, fields, rivers, mountains and animals were
much larger, but all animate nature fled at the appearance of the
monster, and the high rate of velocity which it continued to
maintain prevented closer observation.

The sun was again high in the heavens ; the animal kept on,
and I wondered when it would stop. The next moment a peal
of thunder leaped from its stormy throne in the heavens and rent
an immense chasm in the earth, into which the monster entered,
and descended into the earth with the same velocity it had main-

A Sioux Vision.

131

tained in pasfling over its surface. For awliile all was darkness,
and sickening despair overwhelmed nie; but after awhile my
sense began to return, and with it a dark and shadowy light to
quicken my vision. This let in a ray of hope, which is more
tenacious than any faculty which animates the soul, and I yet
indulged the idea of escape and deliverance, but I had no defined
idea of the agency which was to accompliHh my desires, and I felt
no power within myself to do it. The only rational idea of escape
which I could indulge was, that chance had n:ade me the victim
of a weird wizard, as strong as the elements and swifter than the
wind, and that the same agency could release me. Reason began
to assert its sway, as time and contact with the monster lessened
my terror and told me that my present destruction was not sought,
because that, if desired, was the easiest of all things.

At sunrise the next day, we emerged into a new and beautiful
world, with rivers, meadows, flowers, fine horses and an abundance
of game. At the tenth hour of the morning, I looked ahead and
saw we were approaching an immense black lodge, with a hole
in the basement story large enough to admit my steed, into which
it went, and dragged me off. At this I felt a sense of great relief,
but was far from feeling either happy or secure from danger in
this new world, into which I had been so unceremoniously and
involuntarily thrust.

I immediately faced the west and started oft', but had proceeded
but a few paces until I heard a voice cry out, " Stop ! " I looked
up to the eave of the lodge from whence the voice proceeded, and
saw twelve round apartments finely constructed and lined with
furs, in each one of which stood a small black man, looking and
laughing at me. This omen, or seeming mockery of my misfor-
tune, portended no good, and I started oft' again, at increased
speed.

I proceeded but a few paces, before a large, fine looking man
opened a door in the basement of the lodge and told me to come
back and get my horse. He spoke good Sioux, and I obeyed
him, through fear, but I bitterly denied having any horse, to
which the man replied, " You dog, you rode one here and you
shall take him away. You can't leave such an animal on my
premises."

i I

li ^

fi \}

^li^H !

->&. I ill
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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

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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."

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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

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

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

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.

With a supple-

146

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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 <fc
me have settled there. I intend to be at Montreal the 10th of February.
I think it would not be of miss if one of you should be there the same
time to talk over of those agreements made at our meeting at Fort
Stanwix. If it should be so, I think it would be for the interest of
both parties, that is il' our minds are not changed allready of what we
agreed there. I wish Major Peter Schuyler should be the person that
would meet me at Montreal. Sir I remain your most

Humbl servant

To Matthew Visscher, Esq. ^°^' B»^*^-

This letter, brief and clumsily phrased as it is, reveals the
secret of Brant's greatness — his enterprising and dauntless
spirit, his calm self-reliance and steadiness of purpose, his anxiety
to thoroughly interpret and fathom every event and measure
affecting his people, or the honor of the flag that sheltered them,
and that rare fidelity which led him to abandon a voyage to
Europe when on a point of embarkation, and after a journey
weary and formidable in those days, and all because an obscure
chief was detained as a hostage for causes or upon a pretext with
which Brant had not been made acquainted.^

> 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.

i I

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:

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.

: )

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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

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.

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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.

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.

iji

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

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-<

166

The Indian Miscellany.

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_<j:;itude 28° west of Washing-
ton. From this line of their greatest width from east to west,
they contract gradually as they stretch both northward and
southward, forming a vast inland plain, carpeted with grass,
watered by great rivers, and encompassed by forests. The
boundaries of this central prairie region will be made familiar
by tracing briefly their circuit. Commencing upon the Rio
Grande, which forms, in part, the southern boundary of the
United States, and following the general line that separates the
forest from the prairie northeasterly, a narrow belt of forest is
found in Texas, bordering the gulf of Mexico, but penetrated
here and there by the prairie, which reaches the gulf at several
points, as at the mouth of the Kucces * and at Matagorda bay.'
Louisiana, the eastern part of Arkansas, and the southeastern
part of Missouri, were originally forest ; while all west of this
line was prairie, with the exception of narrow fringes of forest
along the rivers and water-courses, and of small and irregular
belts of timber upon the lowlands. Crossing the Mississippi
above the mouth of the Ohio, the prairies follow the wide belt of
woodlands along the northern bank of the Ohio, until they reach
and penetrate the state of Indiana, where their eastern limit is
found with the exception of prairie openings in central and eastern
Indiana and in western Ohio. Turning thence in a northwesterly
direction, the prairie touches the foot of Lake Michigan at Chi-
cago, from which point northward the belt of forest along the
western shore of Lake Michigan widens, so that the dividing line
passes a number of miles west of the head o. Lake Superior,
whence it continues near the chain of small lakes to Lake Winni-
peg. Keeping to the west of this lake and of Lake Manitobar,
which is also bordered with forest, the boundary line of the
prairies runs northwesterly to near the west end of Athapasca
lake, where it crosses Peace river, and extends beyond, to Hay
river, near the sixtieth parallel, after which it bears southwesterly

» Bartlett'8 Pergonal Narrative, ii, E29.

« Bancroft's History of the United States, m, 171.

Indian Migrations.

167

to the slopes at the foot of the Rocky mountains. East, north,
and northwest of this line there is forest, whilst all within is
prairie.' Upon the plateau of Peace river, in the far north, are
found the northern limits of these magniiicent and verdant fields,
upon which no eye can rest without wonder and admiration.
Southward, along the base of the Rocky mountain chain, the
lower slopes of which are wooded to the edge of the plains, the
prairies spread uninterruptedly to our starting-point on the Rio
Grande.

This vast area, which traverses thirty-one parallels of latitude
and nineteen parallels of longitude, in its greatest continuous
expanse, measures more than seventeen hundred miles from north
to south, more than a thousand miles from east to west, and em-
braces upwards of eight hundred thousand square miles. It is
not entirely a treeless region, neither is it separated from the
surrounding forests by a sharply defined line. East of the Mis-
sissippi river the prairie area is a combination of forest and
prairies, the latter greatly predominating. There are margins of
forest along the rivers and water-courses, upon the hills, and in
numerous districts of lowlands. Besides these there are irregular
belts of forest, which run for miles independently of rivers and
streams. Climate is an efficient cause of the production of forest
in the prairie area east of this river. The humidity of the atmos-
phere from the prevalence of winds from the gulf of Mexico, which
determines the climate of the region, tends constantly though
slowly, to extend the forest over the prairie and to increase the
extent of its development upon the borders of the rivers. After
crossing the Mississippi, in going westward, one finds a gradual
diminution of the relative extent of forest, and this change be-
comes more rapid and marked beyond the Missouri, in Kansas
and Nebraska.^ As we recede from the influence of the gulf
winds and come in contact with the true climate of the prairies,
it becomes constantly drier, since the remaining region is now
shut in upon the west by the double barrier of the Rocky moun-

' There are patches of prairie northwest of Hay river, in which the timher hnffalo, so called, is
found. This animal is smaller than the ordinary bnffalo, l)ut believed to be the same species.
Having traversed the intermediate forests, he has remained permanently in this far northern region.

« Ne-blaa-ka, name of Platte river in the Kaw dialect, " overspreading flats with shallow water."

iii

168

The Indian Miscellany.

m i !fi

tainfl and the Sierra Nevada, wliicli deprive the winds of their
moisture on their passasjc from the Pacific eastward. After
traversing about one hundred and fifty miles of Kansas, to the
twenty-second meridian west of Washington, the western limit
of arable land in the ])rairic area under consideration* is reached.
"Westward of this line the dryness of the climate continues to in-
crease, the trees diminish in number and decrease in size, and
finally disappear from the margins of the rivers. The grasses,
yielding to the same influences, become less and less luxuriant,
until the prairies, long l)efore they reach the base of the mountains,
degenerate under the summer sun into arid plains. Northward,
on the Upper Missouri, the grasses never attain the Inxuriance
which they disphiy in Eastern Kansas and Nebraska, by reason
of the western trend of this river, but on the Upper Mississippi
and along the Red river of the north to Lake Winnepeg they
maintain a vigorous growth.

The most perfect display of the prairies is found in the eastern
parts of Kansas and Nebraska. It is no exaggeration to pro-
nounce this region, as left by the hand of nature, the most beau-
tiful country in its landscape upon the face of the earth. Here
the forest is restricted to narrow fringes along the rivers and
streams, the courses of which are thus defined as far as the
eye can reach, whilst all between is a broad expanse of meadow-
lands, carpeted with the richest verdure and wearing the appear-
ance of artistically graded lawns. They are familiarly called
the rolling prairies, because the land rises and falls in gentle
swells, wdiich attain an elevation of thirty feet, more or less, and
descend again to the original level, within the distance of one or
more miles. The crest-lines of these motionless waves of land
intersect each other at every conceivable angle, the effect of
which is to bring into view the most extended landscape, and to
show the dark green foliage of the forest trees skirting the
streams in pleasing contrast with the light green of the prairie
grasses. In their spring covering of vegetation these prairies
wear the semblance of an old and once highly cultivated country,
from the soil of which every inequality of surface, every stone

* Explorations for a BaUroad Route, etc., to the Pacific, i, 85.

Indian Migrations.

169

and every bush has been carefully removed and the surface rolle<l
down into absolute uniformity. The marvel is sugt^estcd bow
Nature could liave kept these verdant fields in such luxuriance
after man had apparently abandoned them to waste. This
striking display is limited to about one hundred and thirty miles
in the eastern part of Kansas and a narrower belt in Eastern
Nebraska.

The great extent and peculiar features of the central prairie
area have been brought tbus prominently forward for the pur-
pose of calling attention to two facts. In the lirst place, that
this region interposed a serious, if not insuperable, barrier to free
communication between the Pacific and Atlantic sides of North
America. Between the thirty-second and fifty-fifth parallels,
that is, from the southern boundary of New Mexico to the regions
north of the Saskatchewan river, there are but three or possibly
four routes of migration from one side of the continent to the
other — by the Saskatchewan to Lake "Winnipeg, and thence
by the chain of lakes to the valley of the»St. Lawrence; by the
Missouri to the Mississippi, the least probable of the four ; by
the Platte to the Missouri and thence to the Mississippi ; and
by the Arkansas to the Mississippi. On either route eight hun-
dred miles of prairie, more or less, must be traversed in de-
pendence upon the limited supply of game which the fringe of
forest upon these rivers and the open prairies might be able to
furnish, and over which American emigrants, aided by the ap-
pliances of civilization, have been barely able to pass. In the
second place, that the greater part of this area west of the
Mississippi, and nearly all of it west of the Missouri, was a
solitude at the period of European discovery. It is perfectl}'
evident from the nature of these prairies that they were never
occupied by Indian nations, except in districts of very limited
extent along the wooded margins of the great rivers by which
they are traversed. A region more inviting to nomadic nations
possessed of flocks and herds can scarcely be found upon any
continent; but inasmuch as the American aborigines were fisher-
men and hunters, and could not lead a nomadic life upon these
plains until they had obtained the horse, these vast pastures

<lll

170

The Indian Miscellany.

\ ■ I

I!'

ii •

were to them a waste, except as the nurseries of the antelope,
the elk, and the bufhdo. America, generous in every other re-
spect, had denied to her primitive inliabitants all useful animals
capable of domestication, except the llama of the Andes.

West of the liocky mountains there are 'arge expanses of
prairie, in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona; in
California, Oregon, and Washington ; and also in British Colum-
bia. Southward, in Mexico, the spread and boundaries of the
prairies have not been so definitely ascertained. Chihuahua,
Sonora, and Zacatecas have broad prairies within their limits,
and patches of prairie land are said to be found, here and there,
southward to the valley of Mexico.

2. Mountai7i .Ircas. — The mountain regions of North America
are extensive, from the great length and lateral expansion of the
Rocky mountain chain, which, under diifcrent names, extends
in substantial continuity from the isthnms of Panama to the
Arctic sea. In its central part it sends oif spurs and transverse
ranges to such an extent, that, when to these are added the
parallel ranges of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, a
large portion of the continent, west of the central prairies, is so
broken up as to render it substantially a mountain country.
Below the snow-line the declivities of most of these mountains
are wooded, as well as their lower slopes for considerable dis-
tances outward. Portions of these ranges are sterile, from the
dryness of the atmosphere, yet the greater part of them are not
only habitable for man, but were in the main well stocked with
game, and their vaUeys with bread roots.' These great ranges
furnished, as well as suggested, highways of migration. They
also gave to these movements a general direction from north to

• Among the pecaliarities of the Rocky monutains are the parks. " The parkB of Colorado are
elevated howls In the mountain country, havint; the appearance of heds of inland seas upheaved and
emptied of their waters by volcanic agency. They present to the eye scenery raagniflceut beyond
description, made up of far-reaching forests, fertile meadows, and beautiful streams, surrounded by
the lofty peaks of the great Rocky range. The principal of these parks are the North park, . . .

Middle park, . . . South park Huerfano park, and the grand San Luis park in the southern

part of Colorado, having an area of 18,00(1 (square miles, watered by thirty-flve streams — sixteen of
them emptying into the Rio (Grande del Norte, which flowri through its southern limits, and nine-
teen into San Luis lake, which extends sixty miles from north to south in the centre of the park,
and apparently without an outlet. This park is remarkable for its natural scenery, the grandeur
of its forests, the fertility of Its soil, the purity of its waters, and the vast deposits of peat in the
vicinity of San Luis lake."— Beport of the Commisaioner of Oeneral Land Office for 1868, p. 6L

Indian Migrations.

171

south, or the reverse. It is not only probable, but it can be
proved with reasonable certainty, that the migrations upon the
Pacific side of the continent followed these mountain ctiains,
rather than the prairies or the sea-coast. With respect to the
method of these movements, it is not to be supposed that they
were a series of flights of tribes or nations under the impulse of
fear, seeking a distant habitation by the most convenient route,
and leaving not a trace behind ; they were rather a gradual
spread from an original centre, preserving the continuity of the
people over a large area, for the possession of which it was con.
tending with bordering nations as it advanced outward. Such
movements would result from the displacement from within of
unsuccessful competitors for the occupation of an overstocked
area.

It is another singular feature of the northern division of the
continent, tliat no mountain chain occurs east of the Rocky
mountains until the confines of the Atlantic are reached, where
the moderately elevated Alleghanies are found, with more than
fifteen hundred miles of prairie and forest between. The last
named range possesses but little importance with reference to
the migrations of the Indian nations, as it was encompassed on
all sides by the great American forests. The same is true of the
mountain districts in the British provinces.

3. The Forest Area. — The remaining, which is much the
largest, part of North America, was covered with forests at the
epoch of European discovery. To the American aborigines, as
fishermen and hunters, they aftbrded a not inhospitable home.
They oftered every advantage which could render the lives of
men in their condition capable of maintenance. But the vigor-
ous and overmastering growth of forest vegetation, against
which they had no power to contend, must have constantly re-
tarded their advance in civilization. It is impossible to conceive
of a region more unfavorable to the progress of nations out of
a state of barbarism. And when, in course of time, the Indians
obtained corn and the art of tilling the ground, the sturdy forces
of nature first resisted and then tended to overwhelm their
feeble appliances in husbandry. Notwithstanding these hin-

|H I 1 I

li 1 1 i

172

The Indian Miscellany.

drances, and the oppreBsivo burdens of forest life, the finest speci-
mens of the Indian, north of Mexico, were found in strictly forest
nations. The progrcHS they had actually made, under such
immense disadvantages, although small, must heighten our ap-
preciation of their natural capacities.

There are two sections of country not included in the areas
already considered — the Barren grounds, and the Colorado
basin. The former occupy the northeastern corner of the con-
tinent, west of Hudson's bay. They are bounded by a line
drawn from the shore of this bay in latitude 61° north to the
east end of Great-Slave lake, and thence northeasterly to the
Arcti' sea. North and east of this line the entire region is des-
titute uf trees and of every species of vegetation except the lichen.
It is utterly barren, and more dreary than tlie ordinary desert,
from its arctic climate.' The Colorado basin is a district of con-
8idera})le extent, traversing several parallels of latitude and
meridians of longitude, situated south of the Humboldt moun-
tains and between the Colorado river and the Sierra Nevada.
Later explorations show that this area is not probably a basin.
There is a series of seven basins around and within the rim of
the Great basin, above Avhich the lowest parts of the central area
rise more than a thousand feet. The central portion, which
forms much the larger part of the area, is broken up into moun-
tain ranges running north and south, and having an average alti-
tude of fiVe thousand feet.^ The sterility of the basin is explained
by the dryness of the climate, the annual precipitation being
estimated at five inches.^ Notwithstanding its inhospitable cha-
racter, this region still sustains a considerable Indian population,
but of the lowest grade.

By the distribution of the prairie, the forest, and the moun-

' Richardson's Journal of a Boat Voyage through RuperVs Land, London ed, 1851, i, 151.

* The Shortest Route to California across the Great Basin of Utah, by Brevet Brig-Gen. T. H.
Si;np8on, 1869.

3 " This great arid region may be said to embrace ten degrees of longitude and seventeen of lati-
tude, drained only by the Columbia and Great Colorado rivers in any outlet to the sea. Pally half
of it is the Great basin of the interior, which does not receive sufficient water to require any exter-
nal drainage. Taking the basin as nearly eight degrees of latitude and seven of longitude, we have
ten hundred thousand square miles, so deficient in rain ns to send out no rivers and to accumulate
no considerable lakes."— BlodgetCs Climatology of the United States, p. 862 ; and Uyetal Chart, p.
854.

Indian Migrations.

178

tain areas of North America, ])oth the primary and the secondary
lines of migration are clearly revealed. The princij)al line, upon
the western half, is north and south. It was a great central
route furnished and suggested by the Rocky mountain chain.
Parallel with this, and nearer to the Pacilic, was a second high-
way along the continuous chains of the Cascade and Sierra
Nevade mountains, which extend from a point opposite Queen
Charlotte's sound to near the head of the gulf of California. A
third was the sea-coast. Between the Rocky mountains on the
west, and the Mississippi and St. Lawrence valleys on the east,
the natural lines of migration were the great rivers, which were
secondary in attractiveness and importance. North of Atha-
pasca lake the forest offered a free commnnii'ation between the
mountains and Hudson's bay, although the principal rivers run
northward. From this high northern region to the southern
limits of New Mexico, the central prairie area could be traversed
only on the lines of the rivers which flowed through them east-
ward. Of these there are but three, perhaps four, possible lines,
as before stated. First, that of the Saskatchewan, which fur-
nished the most feasible route ; second, that of the Arkansas,
possessing nearly equal advantages; third, that of the Platte,
which is more difficult than either; and lastly, that of the Mis-
souri, which is substantially an impracticable route, since the river
runs for twenty-live hundred miles through open prairies. For the
first four hundred miles east of the Rocky mountains these rivers
flow through dry and substantially treeless regions, and for the
next four hundred through lands not much more inviting to
fisbfi^men and hunters. These obstacles presented a formidable
barrier as before remarked, to all communication between the
Pacific and Atlantic sides of the continent. It is not improbable
that a 1 ('iginal family of mankind, planted in and overflowing
from the valley of the Columbia as a nursery land, would reach
Patagonia sooner than Florida, migrating under the influence
exclusively of physical causes. The influence upon Indian mi-
grations produced by the comparative facilities aflbrded by these
several routes will be referred to aijain.
4. Means of S-bsistence and Centres of Population. — The abun-

174

The Indian Miscellany.

dance or scarcity of food, in ditfcrent parts of the continent, must
have exercised a decisive influence upon the course of Indian
migrations, hoth as to stock families ard individual nations.
The people would necessarily he drawn towards the regions wl.ere
subsistence was most easily procured. In such places the largest
development of numbers; would naturally he found. These
movements would be gradual, and represent long periods of time,
as well as a series of struggles for the possession of the most de-
sirable areas. It is difficult to form even a vague conception of
the actual condition of the American aborigines in the early
periods of their existence. They were thinly scattered over the
greater part of the continent, and held together in small bands
as titihermen and hunters, by the slender ties of Indian national
life. With neither metallic implements with which to cultivate
tl'C soil, nor domestic animals for pastoral purposes, they were
disunited, belligerent, and mutually destructive. One of the
chief marvels connected with their history is the simple fact that
so man}'^ of them, as we have reason to believe existed, were able
to maintain life upon resourcep so limited and so fl^uctuating. It
serves to demonstrate that the arts and appliances of barbarous
nations are much more efl'ective for human maintenance than a
superficial examination of them would lead us to suppose.

A comparison of the principal regions of North America, north
of Mexico, will reveal material differences as to the abundance
of spontaneous means of subsistence. East of the Mississippi
the most valuable portion was that which bordered upon the
great lakes. These inland seas produced fish in abundance.
The aborigines were able to take thein in the bays that indented
their shores, in the streams flowing into them, and in the rivers
by which they were connected in a continuous chain. Although
the shore line of these lakes measures thousands of miles, there
were particular districts which concentrated the ^.dvantages of
each, or these, the rc*pids at the outlet of Lake Superior, held
by the Ojibwas,' the straits of Mackinaw, held at a later day by

' The Crane tribe of the OJibwas have the following legend of tuelr origin : " The Great Spirit
. eated two cranes, » male and a female, In the upper world, and, having let them through an opening
Id the Bky, directed them to eeek a habitation for theraHelveB upon the earth. They were told, when

I > .'

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 <tnd woman. The
pair flew down to the earth and spent a lonj; time in visitingdiiretcMt parts of the continent. They
r/e' , jver the prairies, and tasted the meat of the bull'alo, which tlioy found to lie good, but they
also came to the conclusion that it would not last. They passed over the great forests and tasted
the flesh of the elk, the deer, the beaver, and of many other animals, all of which they found to be
excellent ; but they feared the supply of food from these sources would also fail. Alter niakin"' the
circuit of the great lakes, and tasting the various kinds of flsh with which their waters wero supplied
they came at last to the rapids at the outlet of I,ake Superior, where they found flsh in great abun-
dance making their way through its noisy waters. They discovtued that they could be isken with
ease, and that the supply was inexhaustible. ' Hero,' th. . said to each other, ' is food forovci , here we
Will make our homes.' Near the site of Fort Braiiy, upon a little knoll near the foot of the raplda
of the St. Mary, which is still pointed out, the cranes alighted, lolding their wings as directed. The
Great Sp'''t Immediately changed them into a man and woman, who became the first parents, and
the ^geultors of the Crane tribe of the Ojibwas." This legend was communicated to the writer
by Vv i-b6-gc-Bln (White Hawk) an OJibwa of the Crane tribe.

> 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

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,

:(.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

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.

: ^

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.

■,* .

*«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

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TEST TARGET (MT-3)

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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

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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.

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.

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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

'. It? ,' ' ' '.

^1 J f: :!

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.

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.

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.

\ ■ \

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

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.

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

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 <if America, iv, 133.

» history of the Conquest of Mexico, i, 106.

Indian Migrations.

201

about ten feet wide at the bottom, with sloping banks, and tlie
flowing water within them about a foot and a half deep. If the
c )il was loose, and the water not abundant, the bottom was often
paved with cobble stones, or, in some cases, with flat tiles of clay.'
Lots were laid oflf with a frontage upon the main canal, and sepa-
rated from each other by dividing ridges. Each family, or group
of families of related persons, had their own lot which was private
property. These lots measured on the canal, varied from fifty
to two hundred feet in width, and extended from the canal to the
river, or as far as the proprietf i- chose to cultivate. Each lot was
subdivided into garden beds about twenty feet square, surrounded
by embankments about a foot high ; so that a lot sixty feet front
on the canal and two hundred feet deep would contain thirty
such beds. After the ground was prepared, and before the seeds
were planted, a sluice was cut from the main canal to the first
lot, and the several garden beds overflowed with water to the
depth of about eight inches ; openings being made through the
low embankments separating the several garden beds, until the
water was conducted ov'er the entire lot. In thus irrigating it
was necessary to dam the main canal, below the side cut, in order
to turn the flow of water into the garden. This process was re-
peated from day to day, until all the garden lots of the pueblo
had been submerged, and by the absorption of the water brought
into a proper condition for the seeds. The same process of irri-
gation was repeated when the growing corn was about eight
inches high; and usually a third time at a later stage of its
growth, the number of times depending upon the amount of rain
which might fall during the grov/ing season. • Very large crops
of corn, beans, and squashes were thus raised upon small areas ;
but it will be seen that it involved such an amount of labor to
prepare and grade the ground as to restrict the area cultivated to

• There are miles of acequla now In rue in New Mexico, and the remalne of miles of abandoned
BCequiaa near thn pueblos In j. Captain Johnson, U. S. A., thus spcnks of a district on the

Gila fifteen miles long: "The gio „d In view was about fifteen miles, all of whlc'., it would seem,
had been irrigated by the waters of the Gila. I also found the remains of an acequla, which followed
the range of houses for miles. It had been very large."— iJeco«noi««on« in New Mexico, Journal
Captain A. R. Johnson, Ex. Doc. No. 41, 80th Congress, 1847-48,p, 598.

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.

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! !

■ 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.

: .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 '

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.)

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

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

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).

Ivl

- i . !

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.

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

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 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

Indian Migrations.

219

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

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

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.

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

I i

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

230

The Indian Miscellany.

! I

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 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

iiii^ni

240

The Indian Miscellany.

'•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.

"•^^^^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.

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
asflumc<l that, originally Koving Indians, they had become, after
their establishment east of the Mississippi, Village Indians of the
highest type — of which there is not the sliglitest probability. It
seems more likely that their retirement from the country was
voluntary, than that they were expelled by an influx of roving
nations. If their overthrow had been the result of a protracted
warfare, all remembrance of so remarkable an event would
scarcely have ])een lost among the nations by whom they were
displaced. A warm climate was to some extent necessary for
the suf"'cs3ful maintenance of the highest form of Village Indian
life. In the struggle for existence in the colder (tlimates, Indian
arts and ingenuity have been taxed quite as severely to provide
clothing as food. It is, therefore, not improbable that the attempt
to transfer the tyi)e of village life of New Mexico to the Ohio
valley proved .i failure ; and that after great ettbrts, continued
for more centuries than one, it was finally abandoned, and they
gradually withdrew, first into the gulf states, and lastly from the
country altogetlier.

No reference has been made to the Eskimo, for the reason that
their system of consanguinity and affinity disconnects them from
the Ganowanian family. The Eskimo were originally emigrants
from Asia, if the fact tliat a portion of this stock still exists upon
the Asiatic side of the strait of Behring can be considered suffi-
cient evidence. On the assumption that the Ganowanian family
came out of Asia, their migration was ncessarily very much
earlier than that of the Kskimo. This is sufficiently demonstrated
by the number of stock languages and dialects now existing in
the former family, which, on the supposition of an Asiatic origin,
v/ould have required for their formation immctiHcly long periods
of time after their arrival on this continent. On the contrary, the
dialects of the Eskimo, from the gulf of Anadyr in Asia, through

Indian Migrations.

246

Arctic Aniericu .and Greenland, still l)el<)n^ to the same stock
language, which precludes the sujiposition of any great antiquity
of the Eskimo on the American continent.

This concludes the suggestions the writer intended to make
with respect to {(articular migrations. Ilu; discussion has been
made sufficiently comprehensive tQ include the body of the
American aborigines found in possession at the period of
European discovery. If the views herein presented as to these
stocks are sound, those which have disappeared, and those which
remain unnoticed, m t have followed the same routes. Some
genera! considerations will <'oncludc these articles.

With respect to the influence of agricultural subsistence in
sending to create sc^parate centres ol" population, either in South
qr North America, able collectively to offset the superior advan-
tages in point of natural means of subsistence possessed by the
valley of the Columbia, some furtlier discussion may be necessary,
lest a doubt should remain u[)on this material question. An
outgrowth of civilization in a particular area, founded upon a
subsistence obtained ])y agriculture, might, if carried far enough,
have neutralized the previously superior advantages oftlie valley
of the Columbia, and thus liave created a more fruitful centre
of population, able to send forth larger streams to overpower
those issuing from that area. J3ut there is not a fact to show
that the Village Indians of Central America or Mexico ever
spread northward, or comjjeted with the Northern Indians for
the possession of any part of the continent north of the immediate
valley of Mexico ; while several reasons may be assigned against
the supposition of a movement in that direction. In the tirst
place, the principal historical nations found in Mexico were
themselves emigrants from the north. Secondly, climatic con-
siderations, in the absence of overcrowded territories, would
tend to repress migi'ations from a warm to a colder region.
Thirdly, their type of village life was not adapted to cold climates.
Although possessed of cotton, and the art of spinning and weav-
ing it into light fabrit s, this was incai)able ot aftbrding them a
warm apparel. The V'^illagc Indians of New Mexico, although
well advanced i>j Indian arts, wore butfalo-robes and other robes

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

<fei

■sW

1 !

It 18 surprising how small an excess of natural advantages will
invest a single district of country with permanent control over
an entire continent in the primitive periods of man's existence;
and with how great diflieulty that superiority is neutralized and
overcome. The reason is found in the uniformity of the opera-
tion of physical causes. We have seen that the Shoshonee mi-
gration was in progress at the time of European colonization ;
and that, at the last moment of the exclusive possession of North
America by its aboriginal inhabitants, the valley of the Columbia
was sending out another stock language and an independent
people, to take their pUu'c in the midst of the languages and
nations that had preceded them from the same land. Likewise
the ultimate fact is reached, that a tish subsistence created the
surplus of numbers which first spread abroad from this initial
point to people North America, and from time to time supplied
the successive bands of emigrants which replenished the conti-
nent with inhabitants.

It remains to apply the facts and conclusions, thus reached
in relation to the North American Indians, to the aborigines of
South America, for the purpose of ascertaining whether they
are sufficient to sustain a similar hypothesis with regard to the
peopling of the southern from the northern continent.

"We are now prepared to recognize the existence of a constant
tendency of the aboriginal population to flow southward from
the valley of the Columbia, down the mountain chains toward
the isthmus of Panama. A movement northward would be less
probable, from climatic reasons, and eastward still less, from the
barrier of the cetitral plains. Mexico and Central America pre-
sumptively were first reached and occupied. Each successive
stream of population would press upon its predecessors, tending
to force the first emigrants southward through the isthmus into
South. America, where the Andes, a continuation substantially
of the Rocky mountain chain, would direct the movement toward
Patagonia. It is also probable, as has been elsewhere suggested,
that both divisions of the continent were overspread with Roving
Indians before the discovery of corn and the art of cultivating it.
Neither can it supposed that the remote ancestors of the

fc-i'-i' -'* H

Indian Migrations.

249

American aborigines were as far advanced in the arts of life as
the Roving Indians were when first discovered ; for there are
many stages of progress in the ages of barbarism, as well as in
the age of civilization. Whatever may be the experience of
particular luitions or stocks, the human family forever pro-
gresses. Century after century might have elapsed before the
thought of utilizing corn and the lican dawned upon the Indian
mind. The art of cultivating the earth, upon the limited scale
on which they practiced it, created a new epoch in the Indian
family. It not only favored, but necessitated village life, imper-
fectly attained before, which in turn tended to a rapid develop-
ment of Indian arti'. The condition and antecedents of the
Mexican and Central American nations, at the period of the
Spanish conquest, render it probable that the struggle between
the Roving and Village Indians for the possession of these regions
had been continuous from age to age, the former expelling the
latter and becoming themselves Village Indians, to be afterwards
forced southward by succeeding immigrants. The attractive
character of the table-lands and valleys of Mexico, and their
position on the narrowing highway to the gate of Panama, made
it extremely difficult to hold these lands against advancing bands,
except by superior numbers, or a higher knowU^dge of the art
of war. In the latter respect it is well known that the Village
Indians had made no advance beyond the Roving Indians, except
in the art of constructing great communal edifices of the nature
of fortresses, which the Aztecs had carried a step farther by
surrounding their pueblo with water defences. The bow and
arrow and the war-club were the principal weapons of all alike,
and the most destructive of which they had any knowledge.

The first people in the valley of Mexico, of whom any know-
ledge has been preserved, were the Toltecs. They are supposed
to have made considerable progress in civilization ; but this did
not enable them to hold the valley any more successfully than
their predecessors, whoever they may have been. They evi-
dently yielded to the infiuence of some calamity, and silently
departed, none knew whither. After the discovery by Oviedo,
in 1526, of a people in Nicaragua who spoke a dialect of the

250

The Indian Miscellany.

Aztec language, this was supposed to he the remains of that
nation ;* and whether it was so or not, the finding of an Aztec
stock in this extreme southern position seems to confirm the
general conclusion, that the drift of po[)ulation, particularly of
fragments of nations, was southward. The facts collectively
seem to sustain the inference that nation after nation, through
century after century, had tried the experiment of holding these
tahle lands and valleys against the Roving Indians constantly
flowing down upon them, and that, one after the other, they had
been borne on toward the south, and many of them, doubtless,
swept through the isthmus into South Americ-a. Last, the Aztecs
and their confederates tried the experiment, with the probable
additional advantage of reaching the valley as agricultural and
Village Indians. Sufficient time, however, had not elapsed to
demonstrate their ability to hold an area lying across the natural
highway of the continent southward. It should be observed
that, within the sliort period of two hundred years before the
Spanish, conquest, the Aztec confederacy had risen from very
small beginnings.^ At the time of the Spanish invasion they
were still confronted upon the east, north, and west by independ-
ent and hostile nations, whose power they had not been able to
break. It may be a question whether the confederacy would
have been able to maintain its position permanently, if it had
been left to the natural course of events, free from European
interference. Its position, surrounded by water defences sub-
stantially impregnable to Indian warfare, was the strongest

> 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<tcd, iays Clavip;ero, "of a nuinbur of small islands in the southern extremity of the

lake There, for the space of flfly-two years, they led thu most miserable life ; they subsisted

on fish and all sorts of insects, and the roots of the marshes, and covered themselvea with the

leaves of the amoxtii, which grows plentifully ill that lake Their habitations were wretched

huts, made of the reeds and rushes which the lake produced. It would be totally incredible that
for so many years they were able to keep in existence in a place so disadvantageous, where they
were so ttinted in the necessaries of life, were it not verifled by their historiaus and by succeeding
events."— (//w<. Conq. Mexico, i, 156.)

The Aztecs were the first occupiers of the site of Mexico. But other nations of the same descent,
who entered the valley before them, were in possession of the margins of the lakes, and would
hardly have overlooked the great natural strength of this site, had it then been surrounded by Lake
Tezcuco. Their neglect of it confirms the suggestion, elsewhere made, that the pneblo of Mexico
was Borronaded by artificial ponds made by the Aztecs.

Indian Migrations.

251

guaranty of Ruccessful resistance, and the accumnlation of inde-
pendent bands on its northern frontier was the source of its
greatest danger. "With the possession of this fertile valley, and
with the advantages of climate and of agricultural productions,
it might have been expected that some native stock would have
been able to develop a nation within this area, sufficiently
numerous and powerful to influence materially the peopling of
both divisions of tlie continent. But the Aztecs would probably
have failed of such a destiny, as all previous confederacies, if
such existed, had failed, and for reasons inherent in their insti-
tutions.

It cannot have escaped attention that the general course of
Indian migrations upon the North-American continent, under
the influence of physical causes, would tend to an early peopling
of South America. If the general views which have been now
presented with reference to the initial point and general direc-
tion of those migrations are considered established, they are
sufficient to create a strong presumption that South America
received its first inhabitants from the north ; and this presump-
tion would require strong evidci -e to rebut it. Whether the
discovery, of corn and the introduction of agriculture occurred
north or south of the isthmus of Panama, it is at least plain that
it spread at a remote period over Central America and Mexico ;
and from that time forward the efl^ect of the general course of
Indian migrations was to expel agricultural and Village Indians
from North into South America. This process, long continued,
would tend to give to South America a superior class of inhabit-
ants, and, possibly, an older and higher civilization. The north-
ern continent, in which barbarous nations preponderated, was
thus impoverished to some extent by losing a portion of its most
advanced and cultivated inhabitants for the benefit of the south-
ern. The geographical features of America, and the relative
distribution of the natural means of subsistence, are such as to
render it extremely probable that a primitive family planted in
the valley of the Columbia, and migrating from this area under
the exclusive influence of physical causes, would have reached
Patagonia, as I have elsewhere suggested, sooner than they

262

The Indian Miscellany.

would Florida. It may thereforo he daimed, with a strong
degree of prohahility, that the ancestors of the South American
Indians originated in tliis valley.

In this and a preceding article, an attempt has heen made to
embody the principal facts hearing ni)()n the migrations of the
North American Indians, in order to form an hypothesis for ex-
plaining the initial [loint of those migrations and their general
courses. It was found that these migrations were controlled
almost exclusivelj' by physical causes; and thiit their natural
highways were indicated by the direction of the mountain chains,
and the courses of the great rivers : while a free communication
between the western and eastern sidi's of North America was
interrupted by the formidable barrier of the central prairie area.
In the second place, a comparison of the several districts of
North America, with reference to the natural means of subsists
ence aftorded by them, revealed great differences, and showed
that the valley of the Columbia surpassed all other regions of
America in tlie abundance and variety of food it furnished, to
which was added the advantage of a mild and genial climate.
There, and there alone, was found a region capable of furnishing
a surplus population developed from the stable, unvarying supply
of fsh subsistence, and thrown off at such intervals of time as
would explain the relations of the several stocks to each other,
and to the land of their common origin. In the third place,
certain facts were presented tending to show that Indian agricul-
ture was never carried far enough to 'counterbalance the advan-
tages of the abundant tish subsistence ot i\ e Columbia river. It
was further ghoAvn that the Village Inc.ans were unable to
develop, upon agricultural subsistence, numbers sufhcientto over-
flow the areas of the Roving mitions and accomplish their dis-
placement; and that, on the contrary, the latter nations from
time to time penetrated the agricultural districts and became them-
selves Village Indians, thus contributing to their numbers ; and
finally, that the Roving and partially Village Indians seem, from
first to last, to have taken the leading part in peopling the areas
of North America. The migrations of particular stocks were
then considered, and the relations of the subdivisions of each

7fm\

Tndian Migrations.

263

were indicated. ConipuriHoiiB were also made of the relative
amounts of 8iil)siHtenct' atforded hy nature in different parts of
the continent, in order to find tlie secondary centres from which
population spread. After these had heeu pointed out, we next
endeavored, tlirou^h the i^cneral relations of these stocks to each
other, and from their h»n^ua<;eH, traditions, and known migra-
tions, to find the initial point where these several streams took
their rise. These investigations and comparisons seemed to es-
tablish, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the following con-
clusions: tirst, that the distribution of the ai)origine8 over North
America began on the Pacific side of the continent: second, that
the several stock languages east of the Rocky mountains and
north of New Mexico bad become distinct before these stocks
migrated eastward ; third, that the nations of Mexico and Cen-
tral America were emigrants from the north ; and last, that the
initial point of all tliese migrations was in the valley of the
Columbia. In this valley a land is disct.vered so amply endowed
by nature with the means of subsistence, and standing in such
geographical relations to the remainder of North America, as to
explain and harmonize the phenomena under consideration. All
the conditions of an adec^uate and satisfactory hypothesis for the
explanation of the migrations of the American Indians seem to
have been fulfilled. Since subsistence on the bounties of nature
necessarily precedes agriculture in the order of time, any hypo-
thesis looking to any other nursery of population will fail for the
want of the indispensable condition of a superabundant supply,
by nature, of the means of subsistence. It is entirely immaterial
at what place on the shores of the Pacific, between the Arctiv 3ea
and Mexico, the Indian family made its first appearance. If, in
fact, it came from beyond the sea, it would gravitate irresistibly
to the valley of the Columbia. That valley and the adjacent sea-
coasts contained the paradise of the red man in the age of stone,
when fish was bis main sustenance, and game and bread-roots
accessories for the promotion of his physical development. It
will be impossible to explain the peopling of North America from
any other centre. Had the Indian family l)een tirst planted in
South America, and their descendants in course of time reached

254

The Indian Miscellany.

this valley, it would, from and after that event, have reversed the
course of Indian migrations and become the source from which
both divisions of the continent would have received inhabitants.
No other area in either could compete with it in advantages for
the support and increase of population. Ample time must have
elapsed since the first occupation of this valley to efface beyond re-
covery all traces of a migration from South America, if such ever
occurred.

With respect to the anterior question, whether the Indian
family reached North or South America first, on the assumption
that it had an Asiatic origin, we are left to a choice of probabili-
ties. It is plain, however, that physici.^ considerations and the
types of man in northeastern Asia point to this section of Asia
as the source, and to the Aleutian islands as the probable avenue,
of this antecedent migration. This is no new hypothesis. A
belief in his Asiatic origin was one of the first conclusions which
followed the discovery of the Indian and a knowledge of his
physical characteristics. Subsequent investigations have strength-
ened the grounds upon which this belief was based.

It will furnish a not appropriate conclusion to these articles
to restate briefly the facts and reasono which support the infer-
ence of a derivation of the Indian family from northeastern Asia.

In the first place the number of distinct types of mankind in
Asia, contrasted with the single type, aside from the Eskimo,
existing in America, shows conclusively that the Asiatic conti-
nent has been occupied by man much the longer of the two.
The striking afiinities in physical characteristics between the
Mongolian and Tungusian stocks of Asia and the Indian stocks
of America, and the near approach of other Asiatic stocks to
both, seem to compel us to assume an Asiatic origin for the
American Indian, unless the independent creation of man in
America be assumed. Secondly, there are two existing avenues
between the two continents ; one of which, across the straits
of Behring, has been actually proved to be practicable, by the
Eskimo migration ; and the other, by the Aleutian islands, is
rendered a probable route by the fact that most of these islands
are now inhabited by a people of common descent, who have

Indian Migrations.

255

spread from island to island. Whether the Eskimo had been
forced northward in Asia by the pressure of circumstances is
immaterial, since it was necessary that they should be hyperbo-
rean in their habits to render possible their transit across the icy
strait, which is about Mty miles wide where it is narrowest.'
But it was not necessary that the ancestors of the American
aborigines should have become hyperboreans in Asia, to explain
their migration to America. The Aleutian islands furnish a
possible as well as much more probable route. It is not to be
supposed that it was a deliberate migration in numbers which
brought the Ganowanian family to America, if they came from
Asia. The natural obstacles presented to a transit by the Aleu-
tian islands lead to the inference that the migration must have
been purely accidenta , and limited, it is not unlikely, to a canoe
load of men and women. It may have been repeated at several
different times in different ages, under similar circumstances,
but limited in each case to inconsiderable numbers. If such
accidental emigrants chanced to be of different stocks, the later
ones would make but a 'slight impression upon the first stock
that reached America. These islands, the summits of a chain
of submarine mountains, stretch continuously and substantially
in sight of each other from the peninsula of Alaska to the cape
of Kamtchatka, with the following principal interruptions: The
Amoukhta pass, separating two groups of these islanUs, is about
sixty miles across ; from the island of Goreloi to the island of
Semisopochnoi is the same distance; from the latter to Semitchi
island is about fifty miles ; from the island of Attou to Copper
island — which is much the widest interval between any two
islands of the chain — is two hundred and thirty miles ; and from
Behring's island, the last, and one of the largest, of the series, to
Cape Kamtchatka on the Asiatic coast is one hundred miles.'
A migration by way of these islands is not improbable, and there
are two facts which create a presumption in favor of the occur-
rence of such a migration by the mere accidents of the sea before

• Map qf Alaska and tht Aleutian Islands, U. S. Coast Survey Ofllce, attached to speech of Hon.
Cbarlei Sumuer lu the Senate of the United States on The Cession qf Russian America, 1867.

t .

256

The Indian Miscellany.

the lapse of many ages after Asia was overspread with inhabit-
ants. The first is the ocean stream of the Asiatic coast — the
counterpart of the gulf stream of the North Atlantic — which,
rising in the South Pacific and flowing northward, skirts the
shores of the Japanese and Kurilian islands nearly to the Cape
of Kanitchatka, where it is deflected to the eastward, and divides
into two streams. One of these, following the coast, enters Beh-
ring's strait, but the other, the main stream, crosses the Pacific
eastward along the south shores of the Aleutian islands to Alaska,
where it turns down the American coast. It is not entirely lost
until it reaches the shores of California. This ocean stream
might easily bear oft* canoe-men, once thrown upon itb current,
from the Kurilian islands, and from the coasts of Asir,, to the
Aleutian islands. After Attou island, which is but four hundred
and forty miles from the n< arest point in Asia, was gained, the
problem of reaching Alaska would l)e substantially solved. It
would thus seem that an instrumentality was provided in this
ocean stream, whereby the American continent might become
accessible from Asia in the early ages of the human family. The
second fact is the character and position of the Amoor, one of
the great rivers of Asia, which stands in nearly the same relation
to the northeastern section of that continent that the Columbia
does to the northwestern portion of the American. This river,
from its fisheries, although inferior to the Columbia, must have
attracted inhabitants to its banks at a very early period in Asiatic
history. Its occupation would, in due time, have led to boat
navigation, to familiarity with the sea, to the exploration and
occupation of the adjacent sea coasts and islands, and would
thus have prepared the way for peopling the Aleutian islands in
the manner stated. It is a striking fact that the Tungusian and
Mongolian stocks, the nearest in type, of existing Asiatics, to
the American aborigines, still hold the Amoor river, upon which
they have lived from time immemorial.

In the third and last place, the systems of consanguinity and
aflinity of several Asiatic stocks agree with that of the American
aborigines. Omitting all discussion of the results of a com-
parison of systems, it may be stated that the system of the

Indian Migrations.

257

Seneca-Iroquois Indians of New York is identical, not only in
radical characteristics, but also in the greater portion of its
minute details, with that of the Tamil people of South India.^
This identity in complicated and elaborate systems is hardly
accidental. There are but four hypotheses conceivable for its
explanation — first, by borrowing one from the other ; second by
accidental invention by different peoples in disconnected areas
(the system being treated as arbitrary and artificial) ; third, by
spontaneous growth or development, in similar conditions of
society (the system l)eing treated as natural) ; and fourth, by in-
heritance with the blood from a common original source. The
first assumes territorial connection, and the consequent Asiatic
origin of the Ganowanian family. The second is an impossible
hypothesis. As the system embodies upwards of twenty arbitrary
particulars, the improbability of their accidental concurrence in
the Seneca-Iroquoi 3 and the Tamil, increasing with the addition,
of each particular from first to last, becomes finally an impossi-
bility. The third hypothesis is substantial, and deserves con-
sideration. It assumes that the system is natural in its origin,
and in accordance with the nature of descents. It must there-
fore further assume that the ancestors of the Seneca-Iroquois,
and of the Tamilian people of India, if created in independent
zoological provinces, have not only passed through the same ex-
periences, but also have developed through gro.it relbrmatory
movements the same sequence of customs and institutions, and
have wrought out by organic growth the Ganowanian system in
America and the Turanian system in Asia ; the two remaining
identical after having been severally transmitted with the blood
through centuries of time. In view of these ditiiculties, it will
probably be found, in the sequel, that the fourth hypothesis, that
of transmission with the blood from common ancestors, is the
most satisfactory.

> For a comparison of the Tamil and Seneca-Iroquois syBtems, see Proceedings qf American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. vn, p. 466.

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

, ■

;

!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

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

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-

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

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

1
1

.! -}:

272

The Indian Miscellany.

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

'■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.

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

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.

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 _<i;lad to
hoar what you have said, touebiiiii; the conduct of your brother.

You wish to know my thou^ijhts, Miskouaki, you desire me to
irive them to you. Listen to me well, I am u good father, and
so long as tuj' children listen to my voice, no evil will happen
to them. You hav.e |)roofs of this in what happened at Detroit,
and if Le Pesant and dean Le Blanc, had not undertaken anything
without knowing my wishes, you would not have attacked the
Miamis. You would not have killed of rv.ine, and you would
not have been in the distress and misery where you are now.

"We have been killed, Miskouaki, and until I see all the nations
whom T have always regarded as my children, come here, re-
cognize tlicir fault and ask pardon, I cannot forget that I have
lost at Detroit a missionary and a soldier, who are of value among
us.

This is what you can say to your brother and to all the nations,
when'your arrive there. I have seen and examined the speech
you have delivered. As you have yourself said that the belt you
drew from your pouch, was not given you by your people when
y^n departed, E return it to you, and do not receive it, not because
I daspise it as coming from you, but because I cannot reply to it,
since it does not come directl}'^ from them, and I am pleased to
return it to you as a thing that belongs to you, that you may use
it to accommodate the bad affairs which might happen.

In regard to what has passed at Detroit, I say to all your peo-
ple that I stop the tomahawk, and prohibit them from going to
war, either with the Ilurons or Miamis, or any one else, and
order them to remain strictly on the defensive, until I am better
informed. As to other matters, T expect news daily from
M. De La Mothe, and during the winter I shall examine all you
have said, and that which he shall advise, in order to be able to
regulate affairs.

If the recital you have made us is true, as a consequence of

isa

Indian Affairs Around Detroit in 1706. 279

the present state of things, you cannot move aside very far in
hunting this winter. Your people will be able to come hero
early in the spring, with the Frcncbrnen I leave above, to know
my thoughts.

Tliis is what they should have done this year, and not to liave
sent you alone, and without belts on the part of all the nations.
It is not beads, Miskouaki, that I dennvnd, neither presents where
ray children have disobeyed, and done sucli wrongs as you have.
The blood of Frenchmen is not paid by beaver skins.

It is constant reliance in my goodness that I demand, a real
repentance of faults they have committed, and entire resigna-
tion to my will. When your people shall be in this state of
mind, I will accomodate everything as before ; but for this it is
necessary to come early in the coming spring, or at least a part
of the chiefs. It is necessary that they lead here all the French,
and that your young men assist tliem to bring down their furs.

It is necessary also that they remain quietly upon their mats,
without going to war, either with the Hurons or the Miamis or
others, that they remain entirely on the defensive, and even if
they are attacked at home, to be content until the coming year
to defend themselves, and to come here and make their com-
plaints to me.

These, Miskouaki, are my thoughts and it is thus you can speak
to all the nations on my part. I do not make you presents for
your brothers nor the other chiefs, it not being natural to recom-
pense children when in a state of disobedience like you. I take
pity however on you on account of the trouble you have been
at, and the confidence you have shown in me. I give you a
blanket, a shirt, some trinkets, powder, lead and tobacco, to ex-
cite you to diligence on your return and in the expectation you
will behave yourself in the upper country, and also that the
father Marest will report to me, in such a manner that I shall
have consideration for you, and it will be for you to conduct your-
self, 80 as to receive evidences of my goodness, when you shall
jeturn here with the others.

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THE ABOE ICr IN A L I Nil A 7i IT A NTS OF C ON-

NECTICUT.^
By Luzerne Ray.

The Indians of North America, when they first became known
to Europeans, were separated into subdivisions almost number-
less. Every prominent feature in natural scenery; the river —
the bay — the mountain — gave its name to the few natives that
clustered round it. "Without central government ; with no systems
of general law, and no very definite limits of territory; the sepa-
rate fractions of the race presented, at first view, none of the
external marks which lead at once to aA/ider classification. But
a longer and more intimate acquaintance with the multitudinous
tribes, has fully established the fact, that a few great classes or
families embraced them all. In the inquiry before us, our at-
tention will be fixed, for the most part, upon one of these fami-
lies — upon that, namely, which, sometimes called the Chippeway,
is best known, however, by its French name, Algonquin.'^

The Algonquin tribes were once the most numerous, and so
far as numbers can give strength, the most powerful in North
America. Beginning at the gulf of St. Lawrence, their territory
ran along the Atlantic coast as far south as southern Virginia;
bounded in this quarter by the country of the Cherokees and
Tuscaroras, it passed westward across the mountains, reaching
the Mississippi at the mouth of the Ohio, and separated by the
former river from the great family of Dahcotas, which inhabits
its w^estern bank ; from this point advancing northward, it em-
braced the present states of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and

> 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 <if Plymouth, by BaylieB, i, 45.

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282

The Indian Miscellany.

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ganseta also surpassed them in civilization, if such a word can be
properly applied to any portion of the Indian race. It was their
bravery and ferocity in battle ; their love of warfare and cruelty
to their captives, which made the very name of Pequod a fearful
sound in the ear of every native whom their power could reach.

The tradition is, that this tribe came down from the interior
at some period not very remote, and conquering for themselves
the fine country in the southeastern part of Connecticut, estab-
lished their chief quarters in the territory now occupied by the
towns of New London, Groton, and Stonington. When the
English first vis! . :d the state, Sassacus, the chief sachem of the
Pequods, held his royal residence in a large fortress on a com-
manding hill in Grroton, from whence he was continually making
hostile incursions into the surrounding country, and whither he
was wont to retire, whenever he could not safely keep the field.

Directly north of the Pequods, and separated from them by
uncertain boundaries, lay the country of the Mohegan tribe;
the only one which from first to last, proved friendly to the
whites. The dominion of this tribe extended to the northern
limits of Connecticut, including by conquest, a portion of the
Nipmuck territory, which, for this reason, was sometimes called
the Mohegan conquered country. The numbers of the Mo-
hegan tribe were originally small. There is reason indeed to
believe that it was no more than a fractional portion of the
Pequods, living in separation and rebellion. It is certain at least
that Uncas, the sachem to whose talents as a warrior and ruler,
the tribe owed its subsequent importance, was himself of Pequod
origin, and that he married a Pequod wife.

Having thus ascertained the aboriginal inhabitants of the east-
ern section of the state, we pass next to the rich and beautiful
valley of the Connecticut. Perhaps no other part of the United
States, certainly none in New England, was so densely populated
as this. The fine meadows which lay spread out on each side of
the river, were easy of cultivation, and abundant in their har-
vests ; the river itself was full of fish, and in the forests which
skirted the valley, might be found great numbers of bears, wolves,
deer, foxes, and such other wild animals as the Indian hunted
for amusement, or sought for food.

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.*

f 4

> Porter'* Historical Discourse, p. 86.

■

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.

,:, ..

288

The Indian Miscellany.

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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

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.

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"!

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

306

The Indian Miscellant.

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.

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

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

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

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

322

The Indian Miscellany.

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.

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

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-

•-.(."!

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.

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.

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-

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

tmm

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338

The Indian Miscellany.

rl'

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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

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.

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.

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.

! '■{

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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

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;:

allli

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.

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

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

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

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

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 ", <i, is the spindle, 6, 6, the
boards, and r, a pin to keep the spindle in its place.)

The spinning is commenced like the first process, by twisting
witii the fingers a short thread, then fastening it to the point of
the spindle. The spinner has already prepared, by picking with
her fingers, a quantity of wool which she has in her basket or
bag, tied around her waist, or in a bundle like the one described
in the previous process. A person twirls around the handle or
lly(see <l), and th(^ spinner keeps movingbackwards, as the thread
is formed. The process is much the same as that by which our
rope makers spin hemp by hand. A thread of six or eight feet in
length, is spun before being wound up.

The Indian never spins until ho or she has a specific work to
perform. The tize, plan, configuration, and every other re-
quisite, is first determined. The (quantity of thread required for
any piece of work, is from long habit, pretty accurately known.
I think I have said already, that all their weaving is done with
a double and twisted thread. They waste no thread. They
usually spin a small quantity and weave, and then spin again,
and so on, until the work is completed. The process is the same
for cotton, wool, grass, etc.

"Weaving is the most elaborate of their arts, and they make
beautiful work. Their blankets, or I should call them shawls,
are often rich, strong and showy. Some have a resemblance to
the Persian shawl. They frequently sell in Mexico for three
hundred dollars, and I have seen them sell in New Orleans for
two hundred dollars. I have one in my possession, taken by
Gen. Houston at the battle jof San Jacinto, which cost three
hundred dollars. They are usually impervious to water, very
heavy, and are rather plaited together than woven. The time
occupied in making one of these, is from four to six, and some-
times eight months.

A FORTNIGHT AMONG THE CHIPPEWAS OF LAKE

SUPERIOR.'

By Pkof. T. I. DucATEL.

One of the conditions, in the purchase from the Chippewa In-
dians of the vast tract of land lying in Wisconsin territory, and
partly in the state of Michigan to the south of Lake Superior, is
the payment to them of a stipulated annuity, consisting of articles
of clothing, blankets, kettles, guns, and ammunition, together
with a certain amount in specie. To receive this annuity, they
are notified by the Indian agents to assemble at the~most con-
venient places for the transportation of the goods within some
specified period. This year (1835), those inhabiting the southern
coast of Lake Superior from the Ance up, those to the east of the
Mississippi, and on the head waters of that river, as far as Leech
lake, were r(M[uired to assemble on the 10th of August at La-
pointe, the principal trading post of the American FuryCompany.
It appears that the whole number of these Indians entered upon
the rent roll of that year was 5030, of whom, however, not one-
half of the number came forward, the remainder being represented
by proxy. The amount to be distributed was twenty-eight thou-
sand dollars in clothing, and twenty-two thousand dollars in cash,
with a further allowance of five thousand dollars for provisions
dealt out to them during their stay at the post and the balance of
which they are permitted to take along with them. Among tiiose
admitted to this distribution are, not oidy the roving Indians,
but likewise the settled half breeds ; these being supposed to
have inherited a share in the sovereignty of the soil.

The annual recurrence of this payment {L'bahmahtin, as the
Indians call it), brings together a great many families ; for not
only do the men come, but they bring along w^ith them the women
and children and dogs. They build up their wigwams along the
shores of the beautiful bay of Lapointe, locating t/iemselves ac-

Reprinted from The United States Catholic Magaxine (Baltimore), for Tanaary and February, 1846.

362

The Indian Miscellany.

cording: to bands, but without any reference to conveniency of
srrangement — the I'csult seemingly of an unpremeditated impulse.
Their lodges, that ai a dome-shaped, made of bent saplings and
covered with birch bark, are carelessly put up and unsightly,
and, being in scattered groups, without any line of bearing, as a
geologist would say, they produce no picturesque effect by them-
selves, but require other adventitious circumstances to relieve the
sameness of their appearance. On the present occasion there are
not more than two thousand Indians assembled, and their per-
sonal appearance is far from being prepossessing — but very few
good looking men and still fewer well looking vromen. The
children alone are attractive by their healthful look, their play-
fulness, and their noise. The half-naked men are wrapped up
in dirty blankets, with their faces horridly besmeared with paint;
the women are docently covered, but unwashed and uncombed ;
their children pretty much in the same bodily condition, except
that some have a little clothing on, whilst others have none at all.

The animation of an Indian camp consists in a motley set of
half-clad human beings of the male sex, squatted upon the ground,
sullenly smoking their pipes, or seated in circular groups playing
cards, or their favorite and more animated mukkesinnahdah'
dewug (which Avill be presently described) ; women and little
girls moving about the fires, cooking and fetching water, and a
parcel of idle boys kicking at each other, wrestling and scream-
ing at the top of their voices, or teazing a whole gang of half-
starved dogs that bark and growl.

The old women scarcely ever leav" the lodges ; young women
or maidens are never seen intermixed with the mc , or partici-
pating in their amusements. They move ai a distance from them ;
the mothers with their babes, swaddled , in a hod which is carried
on the back, or simply supported, in the same way, by a blanket
worn as a shawl. The young women aio cheerful in their looks,
and modest i'.i their deportment. They have a more cleanly ap-
pearance than the squaws, are more talkative among themselves,
and the better sort ornament their arris and ankles AiVt bands of
bead work, and wear decent ear rings with bead necklaces. They
seldom disfigure themselves with paint. This fr-l ' ■ is principally

A Fortnight Among the Chippewas.

363

confined to the men, who seem, indeed, much fonder also of
trinkets than the women. A warrior will be seen with a dozen
of eagle s feathers banded round his head, his face painted red,
blue, and black, with a red circle around one eye and a blue
one around the other, a great slit in his ear, from which de-
pends a profusion of tinselled ornaments and the like hung
round his neck, a gaudily embroidered belt of bead work, with
leggins of the same material, and thus attired, he struts about
like a peacock. One of this class oftered five dollars for a
turkey cock ; on being asked what he wanted to do with it, it
was solely to possess its tail- feathers to ornament his head.
Strange are their notions of improvement in this conchoidal
appendage to the human head. They will stick long plated
arrows into them, even as our Own fair countrywomen stick
similar darts through their hair. They fix knives and forks
into these auricular slits, and some have been seen with a comb
thus preposterously located. The young female barbarian does
not venture upon these extravagances; but, like a Christian
daughter, is satisfied with a simple ear ring. Useless as it may
be, this supererogatory fixture conroys no meretricious intention
on the part of the Indian girl , ibr it is worn alike by the
woman and the maid ; but upon what notion of good taste do our
civilized daughters imitate this savage custom ? As our young
women don't take snuflf, why not hang rings to their noses, like-
wise ? Surely a fine engraving of Queen Victoria would set off
her royal majesty's head much better without the bodkins.

But to return to the payment. It is accomplished in this way.
The agent having adjusted the rent-roll, which he does upon the
returns of the chiefs of the several bands — each of whom is the
bearer of a bundle of small sticks that represent the number of
members belonging to his clan, and, strange to say, this is the
only way they can be made t^ enumerate themselves — the goods
are then allotted and distributed by bands.

This adjustment of the rent-roll is not, however, unattended
with diflicultics ; the agent being the auditor of all claims and
bars against the regular division of the property. Some of the
claims against the payment in full to a band are peculiar to the

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364

The Indian Miscellany.

Indian social condition. Thus, if a manslaughter has been com-
mitted to the damage of a family of any one band, by an indi-
vidual of another, the injured party demands indemnity from the
aggressor out of his portion of the annuity, if he be able to give
it; if not, he asks it from the whole band to which he belongs.
In the same way any accidental or mischievous damage done by
one band to another, or l>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<j) which is said by those who play it
to be full of interest and ingenuity. But their favorite game is
the makesimiahdahdewog , or moccasin game. It is played with
four bullets (one of which is jagged) and four moccasins. The
four bullets are to be hid, one under each moccasin, by the first
player, whose deal is decided by throwing up a knife and letting
it fall on the blanket, the direction of the blade indicating the
person who is to hide first. The four bullets are held in the right
hand, and the left hand is kepi moving from one moccasin to
the othei ; whilst the |)layer, with a peculiar manner calculated
to divert the attention of tlie one with whom he is playing, and
with an incessant chant accompanied by a swinging motion of
the head and trunk, passes his bullet hand under the moccasins
depositing a bullet under each. Tlie other is to guess where the
jagged bullet is, but not at the first trial; for if he strike upon
it the first time, he loses four sticks — there being twenty alto-
gether, that are used as counters ; if the second time he make a
similar guess, then he loses three sticks; but if he guess the
situation of the jagf: d bullet the third time, then ha (jams four
sticks; finally should the bullet remain under the fourth mocca-
sin, the guesser loses four sticks. The game contiimes until the

W»

368

The Indian Miscellany.

twenty sticks have passed from one hand to the other. At this
game, of which they are very fond, they stake every thing about
them, and sometimes come away literally stripped. The groups
that are thus collected present the most eha'.acteristic of Indian
habits. There will be twenty sitting down and as many standing
round, intent upon the progress of the game, which is carried on
in silence, except on the part of the hider.

Another game of chance, and perhaps the only other alter
cards, and the one just described, is the pahgehsehwog, or pan-play,
which consists in guessing at any thing, or number of things,
enclosed between two pans. The men also amuse themselves
at foot races for a wager, and shooting with the bow and arrow,
which is termed pahpahmetehgioahdah. The boys have a few games
of their own : one consists in pitching pins into a hole as our boys
pitch marbles ; this is called ahtahdedah-ne3aguahbedeun. They
also play at ball by throwing it out and catching it with a stick,
the end of which is curled up and makes the opening a pocket of
net work ; this is their pahgahto-urnhnak. But tlieir favorite amuse-
ment seems to be a game at marbles, which must have been
taught to them by the French Catholic missionaries ;^ for it is
the same that is played at all the Catholic schools and colleges
of our country, was at one time exclusively played at these insti-
tutions, though now known every where. It is what our boys
call, if the recollection serves well, " knuckling." The Indian
boys call it rdnijoweh-ehdehdah. They play also at " hop-scop,"
and they have their shosehma7i, or snow stick, about the length of
a common walking cane cut out in the shape of a sledge, which
they cause to slide over the snow or ice. He who sends it farthest,
upon a bet wins. The only plays observed among the girls, is
the pahpahjekf hoewog, a sort of substitute for oui " graces,"
which fiim])ly consists in catching with two sticks a twine loaded
at each end with a ball ; and another, to which they give the
name of paskahwewog, is a sort of " cup-and-ball," in which a pin
is used instead of the ball, and is caught, by a similar arrange-
ment to our game, on its point.

> 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

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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\\

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<st i .

372

The Indian Miscellant.

at. that. Their culinary art is even more circuraseribed than
their handicraft, since it extends no further than boiling their
meat, fisii and vegetables in one promiscuous chowder, with not
even salt as a condiment. This disrelish for salt, or perhaps it
might be better stated, this indifference to the use of it, is equally
remarkable amongst the half breeds, and even with the Canadian
voyagcurs of Lake Superior, who seism to be quite satisfied with
what is contained of it in the packed pork, of which they are
so fond as to liave richly merited the cognomen of " mangeurs de
lard."

At the liistribution of the rations, during their sojourn at the
post where the annuity is paid off to them, other traits of man-
ners are observable, not at all of a disparaging character, as they
evince a spirit of concession, and a sense of justice, which, on
the contrary, are highly creditable to them. The rations are
dealt from the store house of the American Fur Company, upon
a requisition given by the Indian agent to the chief of each band,
who sends the women and children to receive them — the
drudgery of domestic affairs always devolving upon the women.
It is amusing to see them trudging along under their load of
provisions that are very liberally distributed, the little naked
papooses, with their stomachs inordinately distended by a previous
feeding, and carrying nearly their own weight of provender.
The women have a full share of the burden, though, if a barrel
of flour form a portion of the allotment, the chieftain, or his male
subdelegate, faithful to his disrelish of manual exercises, kicks it
to its destination. Arrived at their camping ground, the women'
and young members of the clan seat themselves in a circle two
or three deep, and the chief proceeds in the distribution accord-
ing to families, the whole procedure being conducted with much
order, apparent mutual satisfaction, and without noise.

The only disturbances noticed during the encampment at La-
pointe, took place once on the occasion of a trader beating his
squaw, and then the excitement seemed to be principally amongst
the travelers, who indignantly pi-otested against this summary
mode of punishing a refractory wife. The Indians took no part in
the excitement, because it was understood taat the discipline had

A Fortnight Among the Chippewas.

373

been recommended by the woman's own parents. The poor
thing was perfectly submissive under rather an uimecessarily
severe castigation. The Indians themselves never beat their
wives. On a second occasion, during a thunder storm of great
violence which raged through the night, the whole camp suddenly
became dreadfully' distressed, the men expressing their alarm by
yells, the women and children by moanings and loud sobs, as if
they had already realized some dreadful calamity. At every
vivid flash of lightning, as if to efface its trace, they would Are
off volleys of musquetry, and each rolling peal of thunder was
accompanied by shouts and whoops, calculated if not to drown,
at least to divert the attention from the raging of the elements.
There was some danger in this strife; for the unprotected store
house contained a large nund)er of powder kegs, whose explo-
sion would have made sad havoc in the camp.

But a much more melancholy occurrence took place on the last
night of the payment. Jt is a very judicious custom with the In-
dian agents to withhold the specie payment of the annuity until
the final day, so as to prevent as much as possible any impositions
to be practiced by the white traders upon the Indians, or to
guard against any allurements by the unprincipled conduct of
some of these mercenary venders, in the way especially of the
sale of liquor. The cupidity of a few, however, will defy all laws,
and notwithstanding the penalty of confiscation of their entire
stock in trade, they contrive to introduce ardent spirits amongst
the Indians, which is dealt out somewiiat in this style. A whisky
vender, standing upon a raised platform behind his groggery,
lures them on, one by one, to a taste of his " vinegar," knowing full
well that the unfortunate savage, when he has once tasted of it,
can no longer control his thus excited insatiable appetite for
more. The vender is of course willing to " accommodate " him
for the trifling sum of fifty cents a gulp, and in tbe same accom-
modating spirit, repeats it until his victim from a savage has
become a brute. One of the traders of notorious villainy had
succeeded in introducing the poison into the camp, the con-
sequences of which were exceedingly distressing if not alarming.
Some of the men became infuriated, destroying their own lodges,

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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.

«it

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

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

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

|H|

i
i

iti&ictti ta^a

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

■

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.

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

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

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-

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/<em. The number
of praying Indians was about 3,000. Th^ whole number of
English was about 20,000. Philip's confederacy probably num-
bered less. It was quite an object with both parties, who were
nearly balanced, to secure the praying Indians. The English
were so fearful of them that at the commencement of the contest
they dared not take them to the war. The general court finally
removed them to Deei island in Boston harbor. In December,
1675, Gen. Gookin and Mr. Eliot visited them. " I observed in

TuE Rev. John Eliot and his Indian Converts. 409

all my visit to them," says Gookin, " that they carried themselves
patiently, humbly and piously, without murmuring or complain-
ing against the English for their suil'erings (which were not few),
for thej chiefly lived upon clams and shell fish, that they digged
out of the sand at low water. The island was bleak and cold ;
their wigwams were poor and mean ; their clothes few and thin.
Some little corn they had of their own, which the court ordered
to be fetched from their plantations, and conveyed to them by
little and little ; also a boat and man was appointed to look after
them. I may say in the words of truth that there appeared much
of practical Christianity in this time of their trial." One of their
number thus bewailed his condition to Mr. Eliot : " Oh sir,"
said he, " I am greatly distressed, this day, on every side ; the
English have taken away some of my estate, my corn, my cattle,
my plough, cart, chain, and other goods. The enemy Indians
have taken part of what I had ; and the wicked Indians mock
and scoff at me, saying ' now what is come of your praying ot
God V The English also censure me and say I am a hypocrite.
In this distress I have no where to look but up to God in the
heavens to help me. Now my dear wife and eldest son (through
the English threatening) run away, and I fear will perish in the
woods for want of food ; also ray aged mother is lost, and all
this doth aggravate my grief. Yet I desire to look up to God
in Christ Jesus, in whom alone is help." Being asked whether
he had not assisted the enemy in their wars when he was amongst
them, he answered, " I never joined with them against the Eng-
lish. Indeed they often solicited me, but I utterly denied and
refused them. I thought within myself, it is better to die than
fight against the church of Christ." After the war had raged a
while, the minds of the English were softened towards them.
They let them go forth to the war under the command of Eng-
lish officers. General Gookin says that they took and destroyed
not less than four hundred of Philip's men.

In 1686, a Mr. John Dunton, an English bookseller, visited
Natick, the principal settlement of the praying Indians. He
went out with a party to attend one of Mr. Eliot's lectures, and
recorded the incidents of his visit as here follows :

410

The Indian Miscellany.

" We had about twenty miles to Natick, where the best accommoda-
tious wo could meet with, wore very coarse. We ty'd up our horses
in two old barns, that wore almost laid in ruins. But there was no
place where we could bestow ourselvtis, unless upon tlio green sward,
till the lecture began. While we were making discoveries around the
Indian village, we were informed that the sachem, or th*; Indian king
and his queen were there. The place, it is true, did noL look like the
royal residence, however wo could easily V)elieve tlie report, and went
immediately to visit their king and queen ; and hero my courage did
not fail me, for I stopt up and kissed the Indian (puu'n, making hor two
very low bows, which she returned very civilly. The sachem was very
tall and well limbed ; but had no beard, and a sort of horse face. The
queen was very well shaped, and her features might pass very well.
She had eyes black as jet, and tooth white as ivory ; her hair was very
black and long ; she was considerably ..}> 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<ddcrably less than the first.
Mr. Eliot gave a part salary of his towards it.

The Bible was printed in quarto, on paper of tho pot size. It had marginal notes, nnd contained
an Indian translation of the New England version of tho Psalms. Tlio title was as follows: "Tho
Holy Bible; containing the Old Testamcn'and tho New. Translated into the Indian language, and
ordered to bo printed by tho Commissioners of tho United Colonies In Now England, at the charge
and with the consent of tho Corporation in England for the Propagation of tho Gospel amongst the
Indians in New England." The title in tho Tndian language Is as follows: " Mamusso Wunncctu-
panuiamwe TJp-Biblum God nonecswo Nukkonc-Testament kah wonk VVusku-Tcstament. No qaosb-

^ '^\:i\ J wai nn Indian who bad been Instructed ot the Cbnrlty icbool In Cambridge, to read and write the Engllih
languiige, wbo bcci.ine a printer, and wni culled by tho name of .Tamca Printer. Ho aultted In pnutingtbe IndlAB
Bibis. Wltbin tbe lut half ccutury lomo of hli deiceudanli were living la Qraftoii.

Iffllfr '1

412

The Indian MiscEUxiNY.

A few of Eliot's converts entered Harvard College. A brick
building was erected for their particular accommodation. Only
one or two ever completed their collogiute course.

The work of converting the Indians was o^jposcd, both by the
powows and sachems. The people stood in awe of the sachems.
Hiacoomes, a convert of the Mayhews on Martha's Vineyard,
defied the power of the powows. In the midst of a great assembly
on the island, the power of the powows was debated. One called

klnnumuk nashpo Wnttlnuciimoh Christ noh osooweiin John Eliot. Nahohtocu ontehotoo
Printewoorauk. Cambridge : Prlnteuoop nashpu Sanmcl Green kah Marmndtike Johnson."

It 1b Imposslblo nt thU day to form any concoplton o( the labor anil patient Industry which this
Work ninst have cost Mr. Ell Jt. To rcdnce to writinsj the rude lani,'uaf,'e of the Indians, to tranHlate
Into It the whole Bible, and then to superintend the printing by prrxons unacquainted with the
language ; and all this in the midst of unremitted efforli* to bring the Indians to the knowledge of
the truth, and In addition to his labors as pastor of the church in Koxbury — was an undertaking
which might well haifc tired tlie strongest hand, and discouraged the stoutest heart.' It Is a strik-
ing illustration oft' '> 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.

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

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.

li<ffft'M"iviif:i'.T-i.-.i?irtwiwwi<>s£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!

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 .

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<!isco Wide West in July, 1856, under the name of
Kahweyah, but differing considerably in the words given by Mr.
Powers. Some further Meewoc bands are called after the car-
dinal points of the compass.

Meidoo. — The Meidoo nation formerly extended from Sacra-
mento river to the snow-line, and from Big Chico creek to Bear
river, the cognate Neeshenams from Bear river to the Cosumnes,
where the language changed abruptly. The Meidoos are a joyful,
merry and dance-loving race. Their language is largely made
up of vocalic elements ; vowpls and n's terminate more than one-
half of their words. We possess vocabularies of the following
bauds : Yuba, opposite the mouth of Yuba river, a tributary of

434

The Indian Miscellany.

Feather river. A collection of some forty words was made by
Lieut. Edward Ross, and published in Historical Magazine of New
York, 1863, page 123. Cushna, on mountains of South Yuba
river, Nevada county. Vocabulary by Adam Johnson, an Indian
agent, published in Schoolcraft, ii, page 494. Pujuni, or Bush-
umnes, on western bank of Sacramento river ; Secumnes, also west
of Sacramento river. Short vocabularies of both dialects were
collected by Mr. Dana, and reprinted in Tr. Am. Ethnol. Soc,
vol. II. Neeshenam, south of Bear river ; Powers separates them
as a distinct nation from the Meidoos ; but from the words given,
it appears that both speak dialects of the same language. Their
bands are partly called after the points of the compass. Of other
Meidoo tribes or bands, we mention the Otdkumne in the Otakey
settlement ; the Ollas, opposite mouth of Bear river, and the
Concows or Cancows, in Concow valley. Mr. Powers gives the
names of about a dozen more. Perhaps the little tribe of the
undersized Noces or Nozes, in Round mountain. Oak run and
vicinity, should be classified here, because a few of their numerals,
which almost all end in mona, agree with those of the Cushnas.
Mr. Powers supposes these and the ferocious Mill Creek Indians
to be of foreign origin.

WiNTOON. — The timid, superstitious, and grossly sensual race of
the Wintoons is settled on both sides of upper Sacramento and
upper Trinity rivers, and is found also on the lower course of
Pit river. Stephen Powers calls their language rich in forma
and synonyms ; the dialect studied by Oscar Loew forms the
plurals of its nouns by means of a final -t preceded by a redupli-
cated vowel of the root. Loew's vocabulary, published with one
of the Uinta-Utah and thirteen others by the author of this article
in his recent publication, Zivblf Sprachen aus dem Sudwesten
Nord-Amerikas ; Weimar^ 1876 (150 pages), ofliers a few words
of very difiicult guttural pronunciation ; but in general the lan-
guage (called Digger in that vocabulary) is of a soft and sonorous
character.

Some of the more noteworthy Wintoon tribes are as follows :
£)oivpum Wintoons, on Cottonwood creek, the nucleus of this
race : Noemoes or southern people ; Poomeocs or eastern people ;

Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 435

Nome Lakees or western talkers ; Wikaimnocs, on extreme
upper Trinity river and Scott mountain ; Normocs, on Hay
Fork ; 7'ehdmas, near Tehdnui Town ; Mag Beading Wintoons :
vocabulary taken about 1852, by Adam Johnson, and pub-
lished in Schoolcraft, iv, p. 414. Cop-ih. A tribe of this name
was found at the head of Putos creek, the words of which are
mostly vlissyilabic, and partake of the vocalic nature of southern
languages.

Stephen Powers calls by the name Patioeen a race inhabiting
the west side of the middle and lower Sacramento, Cache and
Putos creek, and Napa valley. Physically, the Patvveens do not
dijffer from the Wintoons. Their complexion varies from brassy
bronze to almost jet-black, they walk pigeon-toed, and have very
small and depressed heads, the arch over their eyes forming
sometimes a sharp i-idge. They are socially disconnected and
have no common name ; but their language does not diifer much
in its dialects, and belongs, as far as we are acquainted with it,
to the Wintoon stock. Powers [Ooerland Monthly^ December,
1874, p. 542, sqq.) classes under this heading a number of clans
or bands, of which we mention : — Suisuns, in Suisun valley,
Solano Co. ; Ululatos, in Ulatus creek, near Vacaville : Lewytos
and Putos, in Putos creek; Napas, in Napa valley,; Lolsels, east
of Clear lake ; Corusies, near Colusa, on Sacramento river; Chen-
posels, on Cache creek . Noyukies, inter-married with Wintoons,
on Stony creek. Guilidos or GuilUlas, in Sonora valley. A
Lord's prayer given in their dialect, by Duflot de Mofras, ii, p.
391, dilFers entirely from the Chocuyera, hence the Guilulo may
belong to the Patween stock. The words of the Napa root-dig-
gers, collected by Major Bartlett, and another vocabulary of the
Napa have not yet been published by the Smithsonian Institution.

YuKA. — The Yuka or Uka language extends over a long and
narrow strip of territory parallel for a hundred miles to the Porao
dialects and the coast, in and along the coast range. The
area of the Porno language, however, breaks across that of
the Yuka from the west at Ukiah and surrounds Clear lake.
The revengeful race of the Yukas, who are conspicuous by very
large heads placed on smallish bodies, originally dwelt in Round

436

The Indian Miscellany.

vuUey, east of Upper Eel river. Nome Cult, meaning western
tribe, is the Wintoon name for this solitary and fertile valley,
which has become the seat of an Indian reservation. Of the
Yuka we have a short vocabulary by Lieut. Edward Ross in New
York Historical .Magazine for April, 1863. Surd vowels, perhaps
nasalized, are frequent ; also the ending -urn, -an, which is pro-
bably the plural termination of nouns. No connection with the
Chokuyen is perceptible, but a faint resemblance with the Cushna
can be traced in a few words. Other tribes speaking Yuka are
the Ashoehernies or Wappos, formerly inhabiting the mountain
tract from the Geysers down to Calistoga Hot springs ; the Shu-
meias, at the heatl of Eel river ; and the Tahtoos, on the middle
and south forks of Eel river, and at the head of Potter valley.

PoMO. — The populous, unoftending Pomo race is settled along
the coast, on Clear lake and on the heads of Eel and Russian
rivers ; a portion of them now inhabit the reservation of Round
valley, together with their former tormentors, the Yukas. Those
of the interior show more intelligence and a stronger physical
constitution than the coast Pomos. The Cahto Pomos and the
Ki Pomos, on Eel river, have adopted the Tinne dialect of the
Wi Lakee, which is closely allied to the Hoopa. Powers considers
as the nucleus of the numerous Pomo tribes the Pome Pomos, liv-
ing in Potter valley, a short distance northwest of Clear lake. The
language rapidly changes fiom valley to valley ; but the majority
of the dialects are sonorous, and the vocalic elementpreponderates.

We enumerate the following bauds : — Potne Pomos, earth peo-
ple, in Potter valley. Ballo Ki Pomos, Wild Oat valley people,
in Potter valley. Clioan Chadila Pomos, Pine-pitch people, in
Redwood valley. Matomey Ki Pomos, Wooded valley people,
around Little lake. Ushls or CamaUl Pomas, on Usal creek.
Skebalne Pomos, neighbor people, in Sherwood valley. Gallino-
meros, below Healdsburg; a few grammatical informations given
in H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. iii, part second. Yuka-i
or Ukiah, on Russian river (not to be confounded with Yuka in
Round valley) ; vocabulary by G. Gibbs in Schoolcraft, vol. in
(1853). Choweshak, at the head of Eel river ; Gibbs's vocabulary
in Schoolcraft, in, pp. 434, sqq. Batemdikaie, at the head of Eel

Indian Languages op the Pacific States.

437

river, called after the valley in which they live; vocabulary in
Schoolcraft, iii, 434, sqq. Kulanapo, on southwest shore of Clear
lake; vocabulary in Schoolcraft., iir, 4 28. Bancroft has called
attention to the fact that many words of this and other dialects,
spoken south of it, correspond to Polynesian and Malay terms,
but on account of the uncertain nature of Oceanic consonantisra,
he is unwilling to draw any ethnological deductions from this
coincidence. Kulanapo agrees pretty closely with Choweshah and
Bateradikaie, but differs somewhat from Ohwachamaju. Chwa-
nhamqju, to the north of Bodega bay. The words in "Wrangell's
vocabulary (see Olamentke, mutsun) appear to agree more closely
with Yuka-i than with any other Pomo dialect.

WiSHOSK. — Spoken on a very small area around the month of
the Eel river, on the seacoast, and called so from tlie Indian name
for Eel river. We know of two sub-dialects almost entirely iden-
tical, and showing a rather consonantic word-structure. Vocabu-
laries were collected with care by (reorge Gibbs, and published
in Schoolcraft, iii, p. 422. Weeyot^ or Veeard, on mouth of Eel
river; Wishosk on northern part of Humboldt bay, near mouth
of Mad river; Patawat, identical with Gt. Gibbs's Kowilth, or
Koquilth ; and about a dozen other settlements speaking dialects
of the same language. — Proceeding through the basin of the
Klamath river, we meet with a number of small, socially inco-
herent, bands of natives engaged in salmon or trout fishing on
the shores of this stream and of its tributaries. Some do not
possess any tribal name, or name for their common language,
and were in a bulk called Klamath river Indians, in contradis-
tinction to' the Klamath lake Indians, E-ukshiknit on the head
of Klamath river. These latter I call here Klamaths.

EuROK. — The Euroc tribe inhabits both banks of the Klamath
river, from its mouth up to the Great bend at the influx of the
Trinity river. The name simply means down (down the river),
and another name given them by their neighbors, Pohlik, means
nearly the same. Their settlements frequently have three or
four names. Requa is the village at the mouth of the Klamath
river, froria which they set out when fishing at sea. The language
sounds rough and guttural ; the vowels are surd, and often lost

438

Thk Indian Miscellany.

between the ooiisonniifs, as in inrpr, nose : clilh, chlec, earth ;
Avrh-yenex, child. In converHation, the Euroes terminate many
words by cntoliing sound (-h'-) with a grunt : with other Indiana
wc observe this less frequently. 'Phe.y are of darker complexion
than the Cahroks, and in 1870 numbered 2,700 individuals in
the short stretch of forty miles along the river.

Weits-pek. — In Schoolcraft we find a vocabulary named after
the Indian encampment at Weits-pek, a few miles above the
great bend of Klamath river, on the north shore, whose words
totally disagree from Eurok, Cahrok, Shasta, or any other neigh-
boring tongue.

Cahrok. — Oihrok, or Carrook, is not a tribal, but simply a con-
ventional name, meaning above, upwards (up the Klanuith river,
as Eurok means down, and Modoo — probably — at the head of
the river). The Cahrok tribe extends along Klamath river from
Bluff" creek, near Weits-pek, to Indian creek, a distance of
eighty miles. Pehtsik is a local name for a part of the Cahroks ;
another section of them, living at the junction of Klamath and
Salmon (or Quoratera) rivers, go by the name of Ehnek. Stephen
Powers thinks that the Cahroks are probably the finest tribe in
California ; that their language much resembles the Spanish in
utterance, and is not so guttural as the Euroc. In Schoolcraft
we find vocabularies from both tribes.

ToLEWA. — The few words of the Tolewa, or Tahlewah language
on Smith river, between Klamath and Rogue rivers, which were
given to G. Gibbs by an unreliable Indian from another tribe,
show a rough and guttural character, and ditFer entirely in their
radicals from any other language spoken in the neighborhood.

Shasta. — At the time of the Rogue river war the Shastas, or
Shasteecas, became involved in the rebellion of their neighbors,
and after their defeat the warriors of both tribes were removed,
with their families, to the Grand Ronde and Siletz reserves ir
Oregon. Hence, they almost entirely disappeared from their old
homes in the Shasta and Scott valleys, which are drained by
affluents of the Klamath river, and also from their homes on
Klamath river, from Clear creek upwards. Nouns form their

Indian Languages of the Pacihc States. 439

plurals hv adding oggAra, uk.-lra, m/inji, and the language does
not sound disagreeably to our ears. We know this vocalic
tongue only through a few words, colh <'ted by Dana; the Smith-
sonian Institution owns three vooaltularies. The Scott's valley
band was called Watsahuwa ; the names of other bands were
T-ka, Iddoa, H.)teday, We-ohow.

Pit Rivkr. — The Pit river Indians, a poor and very abject-look-
ing lot of natives, live on upper Pit river and its side creeks. In
former years they suffered exceedingly from the raids of the
•Modocs and Klamath lakes, who kidnapped and kept them as
slaves, or sold them at the slave-market at Yiinex in southern
Oregon. Like the Pomos and most other Californians, they
regard and worship the coyote-wolf as the creator and benefactor
of mankind. Powers calls their language "'hopelessly conso-
nantal, harsh and sesquipedalian, very unlike the swtot and
simple tongues of the Sacramento river." Redoubling of the
root seems to prevail here to a large extent. A few words from
a sub-dialect are given by Mr. Bancroft, which do not difi'er
materiiilly from the Palaik (or mountaineer) vocabulary printed
in TrnDsach'ons of Am. EthnoL Soc, vol. ii, p. 98. After a
military expedition to their country, (reneral Crook ordered a
removal of many individuals of this tribe to the Round valley
reserve, where they are now settled. Pu-su, Pu-isu is the Win- .
toon name of the Pit river Indians, meaning eastern people.
According to Mr. Powers's statement [Overland Monthly^ 1874, pp.
412, sgg.), the Pit river Indians are sub-divided in : Achomdwes
in the Fall river basin ; from achoma river, meaning Pit river.
Homefcuttelies, in Big valley. Astakaywas or Astakyioich, in Hot
spring valley ; from astakdy, hot spring lUmawes, opposite
Fort Crook, south side of Pit river. Pdcamallies, on Hat creek.

Klamath. — The watershed between the Sacramento and Col-
umbia river basin- consists of a broad and mountainous table-
land rising to an average height of four to five thousand feet,
and embellished by beautiful sheets of fresh water. The central
part of this plateau is occupied by the Klamath reservation,
which includes lakes, prairies, volcanic ledges, and is the home
of the Klamath stock of Indians, who inhabit it together with

440

The Indian Miscellany.

the two Sli^Rhoni tiil»ts inentioned ahovo. The nation calls itself
(and other Indians) Mdldnhs, the encamped, the settlers, a
term vvliicli has bet-n transi-rihod into Knj^Iisli Mu<- ho fucks,
and ought to inclnde all the four divisions s^ivi-n below. About
14.5 Modocs were, alter the Modoe war of 1878, removed to
Quiipaw a,iici'>»cy> Indian territory. The lan<?nage is rich in
words and synonyms, only slightly polysynthotic, and lacks the
sounds /' and r. They divide themselves into: Klamaths or
Klamath Lakef^, E-v/,sh'k»i, from e-ush, lake ; on Big Klamath
lake. Modocs originally inhabiting the shores of Little Klamath
lake, now at YAnex. The Pit Rivers call them Lutuam ; and
they call the Pit Rivers, M6((tuash or southern dwellers.
Kdmhatiiash, grotto or cave dwellers, from their abode in the
Lava Bed caves — a medley of different races. Some Mdlele or
MoUle, renegades of the Cayuse tribe, have recently become
mixed with Rogue Rivers and Klamaths, and have adopted the
Klamath language in consequence. No Klamath sub-dialects
exist, the idioms of all these tribes being almost identical.
Klamaths and other southern Oregonians communicate with
other tribes by means of the Chinook jargon.

The TiNNE Famiy. — The Tinne family of languages, which
extends from the inhospitable shores of the Yukon and Mackenzie
rivers to Fraser river, and almost to Hudson's bay, sent in by-
gone centuries a powerful ottshoot to the Rio Grande del Norte
and the C^Ila rivers, now represented by the Apache, Lipan and
Ndvajo. O^^ier fragments of the Tinne stock, represented by less
populous tr\»e8, wandered south of the Columbia river, and
settled on the coast of the Pacific ocean ; they were the
Kwalhioqua, Tlatskanai, Umpqua, Rogue Rivers (or Rascal
Indians) and the Hoopa. Following them up in the direction
from south to north, we begin with the Hoopa.

Hoopa. — The populous and compact Hoopa (or better, Hupo)
tribe has its habitation on the Trinity, near its influx into Klamath
river, California, and for long years kept in awe and submission
the weaker part of the surrounding tribes and clans, exacting
tributes, and even forcing their language upon some of them, as
upon the Chimalaquays on New river, the Kailtas on Redwood

Indian Languages op the Pacthc States.

441

creek, and upon the two Porno bands above mentioned. Powers
holds their language to be copious in words, robust, strong in
utterance, antl of martial simplicity and rudeness. The Wylaldes^
or, Wi Lakee^', near the western base of Shasta butte, speak a
TToopa dialect. No information is at hand to decide whether
the Lassies on Mad river, the Tahahteens on Smith river, and a
few other tribes, speak, as the assumption is, Tinn6 dialects or not.

Rogue Hirer.— The Tototeii, Tootooten, or Tittutamys tribe, living
on Rogue river and its numerous side creeks, Oregon, speaks a
language which is, like the majority of Oregonian and northern
tongues, replete of guttural and croaking sounds. According to
Dr. Hubbard, whose -ocabulary is published in Taylor's California
Farmer, this nation comprised in 1856 thirteen bands, consisting
in allcf 1,205 individuals. {Seii articlo Shasta.) The appearance
of the numerals, the terms for the parts of the human frame,
many other nouns and the pronoun, mine, my (ho, hwo,
hu), induced me to compare them with the Tinne languages.
They differ considerably from Iloopa and Taculli, but singularly
agree with Apache and Navajo, and Tototen has, therefore, to be
introduced as a new offshoot of the coast branch into the great
Tinne or Athapascan family of languages. The Smithsonian
Institution owns two vocabularies, inscribed " Rogue River,"
two " Tootooten," and one " Toutouten."

Umpqua. — The Umpquas live in and around Alsea sub-agency,
on the sea coast, together with the Alsea, Sayustkla and Coos
Indians. Their idiom is softer than the other branches of the
Tinne stock. Further north w^ find two other small tribes of
the same origin, whose languagv. j were studied only by Horatio
Hale, of Wilkes's exploring expedition. One of them was the
Tlatskanai, south of Columbia river ; the other, the KwaUiioqua,
at the outlet of th^''? stream, both extrcTTiely guttural. On account
of the smallness of the tribes speaking them, these idioms have
probably become extinct ; their owners merged into other tribes,
and were identified with them beyond recognition. They roved
in the mountains at some distance from the coast and the
Columbia, living on game, berries and esculent roots.

Yakon. — Before 1848, the Yakon tribe was settled on the

442

The Indian Miscellany.

Oregon coast, south of the Tillamuks, numherina: then about
seven hundred aidividuals. In the collection of fifty Yakon
words, given in Transactions of Am. Ethn. Soc, ii, part 2d, pp.
9it sqq., we discover very few monosyllables, but many clusters
of consonants, not easily pronounced by English speaking people,
as kwotx^, Jingers ; pusuntpj^lp^a, three.

Cayuse. — The national appellation of the Cayuses, whose home
is in the valley of Dos Chutes river, Oregon, is Way'iletpu, the
plural form of Wa-'ilet, one Cayuse man. The Wayiletpu
formerly were divided into Cayuses and Moleles, but the latter
separated, w ^nt south and joined other tribes (see Klamath), or
were removed to the GTrande Ronde reserve. The Cayuses are
rapidly assimilating, or identifying themselves, with the Wala-
walas on and around CTmatilla agency, about seventy miles east
of Des Chutes river outlet, and a majority of them has forgotten
already their paternal idiom. Judging from the Cayuse words
printed in the Transactions of Am. Ethn. Society^ ii, p. 97, this
language prefers consonantic to vocalic endings, and possesses
the aspirates th and/. The occurrence of both sounds, especially
of/, is not uncommon in Oregonian languages.

Kalapuya. — The original seats of this tribe were in the upper
Willamette valley. The laws of euphony are numerous in this
language, whose utterance is soft and harmonious; thus it forms
a remarkable contrast with all the surrounding languages, the
sounds of which are uttered with considerable pectoral exertion.
The personal pronoun is used also as a possessive ; no special ter-
mination exists for the dual or plural of nouns. YamkalU, on
head of Willamette river, is a dialect of Kalapuya.

Chinook. — The populous, Mongol -featured nation of the Chi-
nooks once dwelt on both sides of the Lower Columbia ; but
after the destruction of four-fifths of their number in 1823 by a
terrible fever-epideniy, a part of the survivors settled north, and
now gradually disappear among the Chehalis. The pronun-
ciation is very indistinct, the croakings in lower part of the
throat frequent, the syntaxis is represented as being a model of
intricacy. To confer with the Lower, the Upper Chinooks had

Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 443

to use interpreters, although the language of both is of the same
lineage. The dialects and tribes were distributed as follows :
Lower Chinook, from mouth of Columbi.'». river up to Multnomah
island, Clatsop ; Chinook proper ; "Wakiakuir. ; Katlamat. Mid-
dle Chinook — Multnomah, Skilloot. Upper Chinook — Watlala
or Wat^l^la, showing a dual and a plural form in the inflection
of the noun ; Klakamat, south-east of Portlaud, a t"'be once dis-
possei=sed of its homes bj the Moleles ; the idiom of the Cascade
Indians, and of the extinct Waccanessisi. Following the au-
thority of George Gibbs, I mention also as an Upper Chinook
dialect the Wasco or Cathlasco language. From their original
homes east of the Dalles, the Wascoes were removed to the
Warm Spring agency.

Chinook Jargon. — The location of the Chinooks in the central
region of western border commerce, and on the outlet of the
international roadw^ay of Columbia river, rendered the acquis!
tion of the Chinook, or Tsimik language very desirable for the
surrounding tribes. But the nature of this language made this
a rather difficult task, and so a trade language gradually formed
itself out of Chinook, Chehali, Selish, ]Mootka and other terms,
which, on the advent of the whites, were largely increased by
French, and in a less degree by English words. The French
words were derived from the Canadian and Missouri patois of
the fur traders. Two-fifths of the jargon terms, were taken from
Chinook dialects, and as the inflectional forms, prefixes and
affixes of these unwieldy idioms were dropped altogether, and
replaced by particles or auxiliaries, the acquisition of the jargon
became easy. A comprehensive sketch of this idiom will be
found in the preface to George Gibbs's Dictionary of the Chinook
Jargon^ New York, 1863 (in Shea's Linguistics).

We have similar instances of medley jargons from very dis-
parate languages in the Lingua Franca of the Mediterranean
ports, in the Pidgin English of Canton, the Negro -English-
Dutch of Surinam, the Slave on the Upper Yukon river, in a
Sahaptin slave-jargon, and in the numerous women-languages
of South America.

Sahaptin. — This name belongs to a small affluent of the Koos-

444

The Indian Miscellany.

kooskie or Clearwater river, and has been adopted to designate
the stock of languages spoken in an extensive territory on the
middle and lower Columbia river, and on its tributaries, Ydkima,
Paluse, Clearvater and Snake rivers. ' The morphological part
of the Sahaptin grammar is rich and well developed, and poly-
synthetism is carried up to a high degree. The exterior of the
race recalls the bodily structure, not the complexion, of the Mon-
golian type of mankind. The easternmost tribe is:

Nez-Perch, the most numerous and powerful Sahaptin tribe,
settled on a reserve in northern Idaho (about 2,800 Indians), or
roaming i)* the neighborhood. A sketch of their grammar
was published in Transactions of American Ethn. Society. The
western and northern Sahaptin tribes are the following: Wdla-
wdla (rivcrmen), on Umatilla agency, in northeastern Oregon:
Palus or Paloose, on Palus river and Ydkima reservation;
Ydkama or Yakima, on Yakima reserve, Washington terri-
tory. Rev. Pandosy wrote a Grammar, Texts and Dictionary of
this dialect, which were published in Mr. Shea's Linguistic
Series. From their habitat they are called Pshuanwappum,
dwellers in tlie stony country. Klikitat, on Yakima reserve
and vicinity, formerly roaming through the woodlands around
Mount St. Helens. Umatilla, on Oregon side of Columbia river
and on Umatilla agency. No vocabularies. Warm Spring In-
dians on west side of Middle Des Chutes river. They call them-
selves Tishx^ni-hhUma, after a locality on that water-course, or
Milli-hhlama, from the thermal sources surging on the territory
of their reservation {milli, bubbling, or tepid, hhldma " belong-
ing to, pertaining). A slave jargon exists among the Nez-
Perce Indians, which originated through their intercourse with
prisoners of war, and contains expressions for eye, horse, man,
looman and other most common terms, which are entirely foreign
to Sahaptin.

Selish. — The Selish family extends from the Pacific ocean and
the straits of Fuca, through America and partly through British
territory to the Rocky mountains and the 113. meridian. This
race is most densely settled around Puget sound, and its main
bulk resides north of Columbia river. By joining into one name

Indian Languages of the Pacific States. 445

their westernmoet and easternmost dialect, their language has
been called also Tsihaili-Selish, or Chehdli-Selish. A large num-
ber of words of this truly northern and superlatively jaw-break-
ing language are quite unpronounceable to Anglo-Americans
and Europeans — i. e., tsatxlsh, shoes; skai^lentxl, looman in
Tsihaili ; shitxltso, shoes in Atnah. This stock abounds in inflec-
tional and syntactical forms, and redoubles the root or part of it
extensively, but always in a distributive sense. It divides itself
into a large number of dialects and subdialects, among which
we point out the subsequent ones as probably the most important,
going from west to north, and then to the east : Nsietshawus or
Tillamuk (Killamuk), on Pacific coast, south of Columbia river ;
Tsihaili, Chehdli ; on or near Pacific coast Washington territory :
has three subdialects ; Tsihaili proper on Chehali river and in
Puyallup agency ; Quiantl, Quaiantl or Kwantlen ; Qahdauitl. A
few Chehalis and Chinooks inhalnt Shoalwatei* bay. Cowlitz or
Kd-uulitsk, spoken on Puyallup agency. Their ancient home is
the valley of the Cowlita river, a northern tributary of the Lower
Columbia river. Soaiatlpi, west of Olympia city. This tribe
once included the Kettlefalls Indians. Nisgualli, N'skwdli ; east
of Olympia, on Nisqualli river, settled there in company with
the Squaxins, on Puyallup agency. Clallam. [S^ Clallam) on
S'Kokoraish agency, northwest of Olympia city. Twana, in
same locality. Dwami:h, partly settled on Tulalip sub-agency.
Lummi, on I^ootsak or Lummi river, near the British boundary.
This dialect is largely impregnated with Nootka and other foreign
elements. The Shushioap, Suwapam.uck or Southern At)iah belongs
to the Selish stock, but does not extend from middle course of
Fraser river and its afiluents so far south as to reach American
territory. It closely resembles Selish proper. The eastern
Selish dialects are: CKinakane [Okanagan), with the subdialect
St'lakam, on Okanagan river, a northern tributary of LTpper
Columbia river and on Colvillc reserve, which is located in the
northeastern angle of Washington territi)ry. Kullespelm, Kallis-
pelvi, or Pend d'Orcille of Washington territory, on Pcnd d'Oreille
river and Lake Callispelm. The Upper Pcnd d'Oreille are settled
on Flathead or Jocko reservation, Montana. Spokane, on Col-

446

The Indian Miscellany.

ville reserve and vicinity ; three subdialects ; Sngomenei, Snpoil-
schi, Syk'eszilui. Skitsuish or Coenr d'Alene; on a reservation
in northern Idaho. Selish proper or Flathead. The tribe
speaking it resides on Flathead reservation, and is called so
without any apparent deformity of the head. The dialect lacks
the sounds b, d, f, r ; it has been studied by a missionary, Rev.
Gregory Mengarini, who at present is writing a second edition
of his Grammatical linguae Selicae ; the jfirst edition was pub-
lished in ITew York, 1861 (in Shea's Linguistics). Piskwaus or
Piskwas, on middle Columbia river and on Yakima reservation,
Washington territory.

NooTKA. — The only dialect of this stock spoken within the
limits of the United States is that of the Makah, Classet or Klaiz-
zaht tribe in Neah bay, near Cape Flattery. The Smithsonian
Institution published in 1869 a very elaborate ethnological sketch
of this fisher-tribe, written by James G. Swan. Nootka dialects
are mainly in use on Vancouver's island, which is divided in
four areas of totally different families of languages.

Kootenai. — The Kootenai, Kitunaha, or Flatbow language
is spoken on Kootenay river, an important tributary of Upper
Columbia river, draining some remote portions of Idaho, Mon-
tana and the British possessions. A Lord's prayer in Kootenai
is given in Bancroft's Native Paces, vol. in, p. 620.

In bestowing the greatest care and accuracy on the composi-
tion of this topographical survey of Pacific languages, my princi-
pal purpose was to give a correct division, of the idioms into stocks,
and their dialects and subdialects, and I shall be very grateful
for suggestions correcting my statements, if any should be found
erroneous. To have given another location for a tribe than the
one it occupies at present, cannot be considered as a grave error,
for many American tribes are nomadic, and shift constantly from
one prairie, pasture or fishing place to another, or are removed
to distant reservations by government agents. For want of
information, I was unable to classify the Hhana in Sacramento
valley, the Hagnaggi on Smith river, California, the Chitwout or
Similkameen on the British- American border, and a few other

Indian Languages of the Pacific States.

447

tongues ; but, in spite of this, I presume that the survey will be
useful for orientation on this linguistic field, where confusion
has reigned supreme for so many generations.

For the better guidance of students in' ethnology and linguist-
ics, I propose to classify all the Indian dialects in a very simple
and clear manner, by adding to their dialect name that of the
stock or family, as it is done in zoology and botany with the
genera and species. In the same manner as the Mescaleros and
Lipans are called Mescalero- Apaches and Lipan- Apaches, we can
form compound names, as : Warm-Spring Sahaptin Piskwaus
Selish, Wat^hila Chinook, Kwalhioqua Tinne, Hoopa Tinne,
Dowpum Wintoon, Gallinomero Pomo, Coconoon Yocut, Kizh
Shoshoni (or Kizh Kauvuya), Comoyei Yuma, Ottare Cherokee,
Seneca Iroquois, Abnaki Algonkin, Delaware Algonkin, and so
forth. The help afforded to linguistic topography by this method
would be as important as the introduction of Linnean termin-
ology was to descriptive natural science, for genera and species
exist in human speech as well as among animals and plants.

The thorough study of one Indian tongue is the most powerful
incentive to instructive and capable travelers for collecting as
much linguistic material as possible, and as accurately as possi-
ble, chiefly in the shape of texts and their translations. It is
better to collect little information accurately, than much infor-
mation of an unreliable nature. The signs used for emphasizing
syllables, for nasal and softened vowels, for explosive, lingual,
croaking, and other consonantic sounds, must be noted and ex-
plained carefully ; and the whole has to be committed to such
publishers or scientific societies as are not in the habit of procras-
tinating publications. Stocks and dialects become rapidly ex-
tinct in the west, or get hopelessly mixed, through increased
inter-tribal commerce, so that the original shape, pronunciation
and inflection can no longer be recognized with certainty. The
work must be undertaken in no distant time by zealous men,
for after "the last of the Mohicans" .will have departed this lifr,
there will be no means left for us to study the most important
feature of a tribe — its language — if it has not been secured in
time by alphabetical notation.

CHASTISEMENT OF TffE YA3TASEES.

AN INCIDENT OF THE EARLY INDIAN WARS IN GEORGIA.^

[ To the Author of the London Magazine.

Sin : Wo have received many accounts of the barbarous ravages and niassacres of the Indians, In
America, during tlie courhc oftlie present war, owing to onr irapoliticic treatment of therafor many
years past, and tliu tame and corrupt measures pursued by a late ministry, or rattier confederacy
against llio honour and Interest of their country. Perhaps an occurrence that happened, In the last
war, in that part of the world, may be amusing to your readers: Sure I am, that it contains a strik-
ing Instance of the righteous judgments Providence inflicts, for wise ends and purposes, sometimes
even in this life, on the cruel, the base, and the treacherous. In the latter part of the transaction
I myself was an actor ; and therefore you may depend upon it as a fact not to be disputed.— I am,
your constant reader,

June, 8, ITCO. Amerious.]

About the year 1740, and, I think, towards the close of the
year, General Oglethorpe, then commanding in Georgia, had
erected a small fort at a place called Mount Venture, about 96
miles from Savannah, capital of that province, to protect the
Indian traders, and keep the communication open for the friendly
savages. One Mr. Francis, a brave and honest officer of Rangers,
commanded the garrison, consisting of but a few men, though
strength sufficient for a defence against the attacks of a consi-
derable party of Indians, whilst witliin the fort, and able to man-
age their swivels and small arms. Mr. Francis had also with
him his wife and an infant son ; and some circumstances had
happened in their union, that made them a fond, endeared, and
happy pair. It was necessary, now and then, for the commander
to repair with a party of his men to Savannah, or Fort Argyle,
for provisions and ammunition ; and, as the Yamasee Indians,
then the most troublesome nation attached to the Spaniards, had
been severely handled in the preceding year, he ventured now
to leave the fort, and his beloved family, with fewer protecting
hands than usual.

He had scarce been set out a day before a scouting party of
these Indians discovered themselves, and, to the great terror of
Mrs. Francis and the two or three Rangers with her, surrounded
the palisade, and soon, notwithstanding a smart fire from the

> 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,

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

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-

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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.

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.

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

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<m, 188; Isaac, tekarihogoa,
151 ; Morgan, his testimony, 384.

Linares, Peter de, massacred, 342.

Linguistics, 418 ; confounded with phi-
lology, 417.

Linklater, Mr., 67.

Li pans, 234.

Little Wound, 261, 265.

Llama of the Andes, 170.

Lobsters unknown at Labrador, 70

Lodges, how constructed, 362.

London Magazine, 448.

Long Walk, narrative of, 86, 97, 98.

Los Angeles, 303.

Loskiel onlndian picture writing, 15, 34,38.

Lotising, Benson J. , his paper, 452.

Louchoux Indians, 188.

Louisville, attack on, 51.

Loyola, influences of, 104.

Lynn, John, spy, 59.

Lyon, Thomas, Indian leader, 53, 68.

Mack, Martin, missionary, 455.
Mackerzie river, 81.
Mackin... mission to, 103.
Mackinaw, isle of, 114, 115.
Magazine of An.. History, 416.
Magdalen islands, walrus exterminated in,

70.
Maguey, Indian plant, 198, 203.
Mahwee, Eunice, last of the Pequods, 456 ;

Joseph, 458 ; Pequod captive, 454, 455.
Maine salmon fisheries, 186.
Mambre, Zenobe, missionary, 118.
Manabozho, the demigod, 28.
Manatoulin islands, 313.
Mandans, 83 ; of Welsh descent, 85 ; their

location, 232.
Manitou, 104, 297; the bad spirit, 23.
Manitouwock, 298.
Manoir Menard, 370.
Mansolia, emissary of Iroquois, 116.
Manufactures. 370.
Maqueapos, medicine man, his extiaordi-

nary predictions, 80, 83, 83.
Marest, Gabriel, died, 119 ; Jesuit, 379.
Maret, Jesuit missionary, 110.

Index.

485

er-
21.

of,

of
oa,

hi-

38.

in,

6;
i5.

Marines captured, 449.

Marivallea mountains, 403.

Marquett':?, 2i^5 ; cliarsfed to explore Mis-
sissippi, 112, 1 liJ ; his route, 105 ; died
114 ; mission to Sault St. Marie, \\l,
112, 114; riviere du, 114, 115; re
mains taken lo Macltinaw, 115; his
successors, 118.

Marriages among Apaches and Znnis,
87.

Marsh, 0. C, fossil student, 258, 263.

Marshall, Edward, concerned in tlie long
walk, 98 ; Mosiis, his testimony of > 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.

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, ori<rinal seat of, 240, 247, 249.

Tomochichi, chief, 450.

Ton uthowi, chief, 450 ; buried, 451.

Tonti, his Relation, 115; lieutenant of La
Salle, 110.

Tonpiemada, estimate cf Mexican popu-
lation, 193.

Torn Belly, chief, 265.

Totonacs, 195.

Tototen, tribe, 441.

Towaches, 231.

Tracey, Manjuis, viceroy, 110.

Traders, villainy of, 373.

Trapper, keen scent on a trail, 81.

Treat, Major, march of, 476.

Treaty at Philadeli)lna, 1742, 90.

Trout, varieties, 183.

Trumbull, J. Hammond, 413.

Trumbull's Hist Connecticut, 280.

Tuckabatchee, prediction of, 85.

Tunicas, mission to the, 119.

Turanian system, 257.

Turner, W. W., linguist, 234.

Turner's falls fight, 477.

Turtle, mythology of, 36.

Tuscar-jra's, 226 ; removal of, 227.

Two Bears' lodge, 388.

Tyraochtee river, 55, 57.

Uchees, 120, 230.

Ul plus's map, 338.

Umkwas, 234.

Umpquasof Alsea, agency. 441.

Unalaslika, 347.

Uncas, 383 ; Pequod rebel, 453 ; last of the

Mohegans, 454.
Uncpapas, 219, 261, 390.
Unga caves, mummies of, 847, 350.
United States Catholic magazine, 361.

490

Upper Missouri nations, 232.
Utali dlalocts, 427, 428.

Index.

Vancouver Indians, 188.
Vaudreuil, speecli to, 270, 277.
Velasco, Don Luis de, 334, 843.
Vermont, witliout Indian population, 285.
Villapfu Indians, lUl ; arts nmonpf, 102,

103 ; niijjrintionB, 235, 230, 242, 243 ;

mound huildcrH, 170; of Mexico, 191,

105, 207; ttl)U8('8 of, 197; of New

Mexico, 189, 190; their power, 208;

tlieir system, 210.
Vinciuines, 104, 110 ; Francois Morjfnn, 110.
Virginia, first European settlement, 333 ;

Spanisli Htuiulurd planted in, 343.
Visit to tlu) Stivi)din>f 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.

nper, 270.

ills. 108.

ttlity, 218;

)urchaso of,

128.
70.
18, 226.

203.

450.

rons, 107.

!8,cbief,265.
1)7 ; popula-

urials, 345.

!», 60.

population,
dian houses,