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L V. iff s> fiu*"- ;4, »-,i^.^ps:y^3»vi*^^ \, , \v 4fi -^/: \/ I / ;>' fr,nrhJ!/^\K f\ ' / . ..--r -TC-., ft^, Ji'JjTr . .'1,11 \ I /..li" •.K"""' X-V^, )^^i t,,,,,../-'";' Wt'^ Jrrfo»» I ( ■ C) l,^ ^ 4f 7:»'""', ^ \i,i.:ii>:ii^ ■f^ j''.i'Jii,iiA \Man-}* , ''.(hn'tftfii (' V L F < J \v',ii,',uiJ''»''-*C^i<;.-.\. % .f !>'• ^^ \ i SjB "f*^ *.-# i*»«»*i' ■ SKETCHES r y or 7HE HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTO.MS OP THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. BY JAMES BUCHANAN, Esa. HIS majesty's consul for the STATC OF NEW YORK. LONDON: PRINTED FOR BLACK, YOUNG, AND YOUNG TAVISTOCK-STREET. MDCCCXXIV. / -i s^m I ^^ , ( LONDON; fRlNTEl) «V W. fXOWKS. McrihiimbeTl»nd toiirt \ DEDICATION. TO HIS EXCELLENCY LIEUT.-GENERAL THE EARL DALHOUSIE, G.C.B. COVKRSOR-CENKRAr. ASD COMMASDI^RISCHIEP OF At.t. HIS MAJESTY'S POSSESSIONS IS SORTH AXBRICA, *i. ffc. S,(, Well aware, my Lord, of the effects produced by splendid talents, great personal worth, and hereditary rank, in promoting any work of benevolence, I solicited and obtained permission to dedicate the following pages to your Excellency. It is quite unnecessary to speak here of your Lordship's deeds ; they are too recent, too illustrious, too intimately connected with the history and the glory of the British Empire. Wishing your Excellency long to enjoy a reputation thus acquired and merited, 1 have the honour to remain, Your Lordship's Most obedient, humble servant, JAS. BUCHANAN. NdW'Yorh, \st May, 1821. o PREFACE. In attempting to lay before the Public a sketch of the History of the Red Indians of North America, with a view to excite a general sympathy in behalf of an oppressed and suf- fering people, I am aware of the great importance of my undertaking, and sensibly feel my inability to stand forward as an advocate, in any degree equal to the task I have thus imposed on myself. With but few exceptions, the American Indians have been abandoned by the Christian world, as a cruel, blood-thirsty, and treacherous race, incapable of civilization, and therefore, unworthy of that attention which the inhabitants of other barbarous climes have received from the zeal and devotion of many learned and pious members of society. — Thousands have raised their voices against the wrongs of our black brethren of Africa. From one end of Europe to the other, the humane have been aroused to a sense of their injuries, and are now actively engaged in the prosecution of every measure calculated to alleviate their sufferings ; while but few have been stimulated to similar exertions in behalf of the Red American Indians, from whose native soil the wealth of a great portion of the civilized world has been derived. The African is submissive ; his patient endurance of labour renders his servile and debased state important to us; he is therefore, preserved. The North American Indian, on the contrary, prefers banishment, and even death, to slavery; but his lands are serviceable to us, therefore his extinction b 8 via PREFACE. £ieems to be desired. The one submits to the yoke, — we oppress and pity him : the other disdains to become the servant of man — and his whole race is devoted to gradual extermination ; for such must be the inevitable consequence of all those measures which have been, and still are in operation against him, though their infliction is marked by different shades of guilt. In a few ages, perhaps a few years, these sons of £dom will be so far removed from the reach or eye of any but those engaged in the work of destruction, that no trace will be left to posterity of the wrongs which have been perpetrated upon the Aborigines of the great American Continent. I confess that I had no other idea of an American In-, dian, than that he was the most ferocious of human beings. Whenever he became named, his scalping-knife, tomahawk warwhoop, and thirst of blood, were at once associated in my mind ; and hence I was led to concur in the almost universal opinion, that he was totally incapable of being ren- dered subservient to the arts of civilized life. In the course of my travels through the United States and Upper Canada, I met with several Indians, whose external wretchedness in- duced me to make inquiries as to their present condition; and although many persons to whom I addressed myself ap- peared to be perfectly indifferent on the subject, and spoke of them in the most degrading terms, I was led to seek for further information respecting their character, in the pursuit of which I have been engaged for three years. Little did I imagine, that one of the most interesting sub- jects that can present itself to the human mind, would open upon me ; the full developement of which would require the united and extended labours of men of talent and research, the absolute devotion of their time and energies, to place before the world an impartial view of the Indians of North America, whose virtues, independence of mind, and nobleness of cha- racter, have procured from their oppressors, as a justiticatiun PREFACE. IX of those measures oi' jevcrity which have been practised toward them, the most foul and unjust representations. They have been gradually wasting away from the etFecta of cruelty and oppression, unheeded and unpitied, until their aggregate num- bers, it is conjectured, has been reduced to less than two millions. It has hitherto been the policy of those by whom the North American Indians have been most oppressed, to represent them as very contemptible in numbers ; and although they have become nearly extinct on the borders, and in settled portions of the continent, it may be fairly presumed that the more war- like and active tribes, have removed into the interior, as they have been found in numerous bodies by parties engaged in all the late expeditions. A sufficient number, however, yet re- mains to excite our sympathy. The wrongs which have been inflicted upon their whole race, have furnished ample regions for the occupancy of civilized man. And doe < not our past neglect of their suffering and abandoned state, loudly call upon us to make reparation for the ills they have endured — to re- turn to acts of justice, mercy, and kindness ; and, though late, to recommend to the surviving Indians the religion we profess, by all those means which the gospel enjoins ? In the earnest hope that many may be led to a serious contemplation of this great and glorious object — that many with the talents, energy, and benevolence of a Wilberforce, both in the United States and in Great Britain, may yet be foimd to interpose their power and energies in behalf of a race destitute of the u-e of letters — to vindicate their character, and to set forth some por- tion of their wrongs, I have been led to prosecute my inquiries respecting the North American India.is. While engaged in these pursuits, I learnt that the Historical Society of Philadelphia, actuated by a laudable desire to pre- serve an account of the Aborigines, had requested the Rev. John Heckcweldcr, a Moravian Missionary, to furnish a de- tail of the information he hud acquired ciuring a residence of PREFACE. ) !. the greater portion of his life among the Indians' of Pennsyl- vania and the adjoining states. That gentleman, although seventy-five years of age, readily engaged in the arduous under- taking, and his ** Historical Account of the Indian Nations" has been puhlished in the transactions of the Society, who have thus rendered an important service to science and to mankind ; while the reverend author has left on record an unparalleled example of benevolence, sympathy, patience, and self-devotion. From the fulness of his work, I deemed the further prosecu- tion of my labours unnecessary, lest my efforts might appear to many as a mere presumptuous display. I had, therefore, aban- doned all intention of placing myself before the public ; but upon my arrival in London in the summer of 1820, having casually spoken of the interest I had taken in the present state of the North American Indians, it was suggested, that from my observations and researches, which extended to other tribes than those more particularly noticed by Mr. Heckewelder, to- gether with extracts from such parts of his useful and interest- ing volume * as tend to confirm and illustrate the facts I had collected, or the views I had taken of the subject, the Public might be presented with a work, in some degree calculated to facilitate the adoption of measures in favour of the Indians. Under t\As impression, I have consented to place my hum- ble labours before the Public, disclaiming 'he slightest preten- sion to merit as an author, and having no view to pecuniary advantage from the publication: yet I can with confidence state, that with diligence and zeal I have availed myself of every opportunity of collecting information from the most au- thentic sources. Many curious statements have been rejected, though perhaps true ; and the reader is earnestly entreated to keep in mind the fable of the Lion and the Panther, as he will * Mr. Heckewelder's " Historical Account' exists only in the printed transactions of the Philadclphian Society. It is, on this account, little, if at all, known among the British Puhlic; and I have therefore been oopious in ray extracts from tlic Rev. Author's pages. PREFACE. XI J thereby be induced to view with jealousy, reports which may be prejudicial to the Indian character. Let him also remem- ber, that they have no historians, to record their wrongs, or plead their cause against their oppressors; — yet they believe, as I do, that the Great Spirit hears their sighs and regards their sufferings, and that He will appear to the oppressor and the oppressed as a God of Justice. Many recent acts of barbarity which have been committed upon the Indians, I have deemed it prudent to omit in the present work ; but those who read the speeches ^in Con- gress on the late war against the Semanole Indians, will find therein much to excite their sympathy. My object is not to awaken national feelings or prejudices, but to unite the efforts of all good men in behalf of these oppressed children of the wilderness; so that societies may be formed, to watch over their rights, and, by the powerful agency of the press, to re- strain lawless power from further acts of cruelty and injustice. — Happily this feeling has of late been extended in the United States; and the humane and just sentiments promulgated by His Excellency De Witt Clinton, Governor of the State of New York, the unwearied zeal of Mr. Colden, the mayor, and the humane disposition of many persons of the highest respect- ability in the United States, lead me to avoid even the appear- ance of wishing to allow any sentiment to mingle in this work, which might attach to it an air of nationality. The kindness and civility which I have experienced from all ranks in the United States, I shall ever be ready to acknowledge. With this exposition of my motives, sources of information, and desires, 1 trust my feeble efforts will be supported by all classes of people ; and, entreating a favourable feeling towards the execution and arrangement, I commit the cause of the American Indians to an enli<;htened and benevolent Public. New York, 1 May, 1821. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. IVlY design in the following pages is rather to collect a series of facts and observations, bearing on the recent and present stale and character of the North American Indians, than to furnish an account of their remote history. Whether they are or are not the Aborigines ; whether their derivation is to be sought anrtong the Tartars, who, in ages past, according to the sublime hypothesis of Governor De Witt CHnton, over-ran and exterminated nations who then inhabited great part of North America, and who had made consi- derable progress in tlie arts of civilized life ; whether the theory adopted by Adair and Dr. Boudinot be true, that they are the descendants of the long-lost ten tribes of Israel ; whether, in short, America was peopled from any of the countries of the old hemi- sphere, or those Irom America, are questions which, however interesting, I leave to be discussed by abler Antiquarians than myself. My anxiety, awakened by the present oppressed and demoralized condition of the red Indians, has indeed glanced backwards a few B 2 JXTRODUCTIOX. years to ascertain their character previous to their intercourse with European man ; and I think it might be salely asserted that until that fatal period of their history, they were, in the unsophis<^icated qualities of mind, one of the noblest people of the earth. It is indeed astonishing how, without the aid of science or letters, they could have acquired so much of that moral power, dignity, and courtesy, which in our pride we attribute exclusively to civilized life. Their religious belief is, to say the least of it, purer than that of refined and philosophical Greece and Rome ; and they follow its doctrines with perfect sincerity. Neither infidelity, luke-warmness, nor hypocrisy in regard to spiritual matters is ever found among them, excepting, indeed, their prophets, priests, and con- jurers. We are told by M. De la Salle, in the ac- count of his last expedition and discoveries in North America, in 1678, '* that at the decrease of the moon the Indians carried a great dish of their greatest dainties to the door of the temple, as an ob- latory sacrifice ; which the priests offered to their god, and then they carried it home, and feasted themselves with it.'' Here, at any rate, is a little touch of sacerdotal refinement, worthy of an Euro- pean Friar. Their languages are characterized by abundance, strength, comprehensiveness of expression, and ad- mirable method in their grammatical structure ; ** indeed," says Mr. Duponceau, " from the view offered by Mr. lleckewelder of the Lenni Lenape idiom, it would rather appear to have been formed. INTRODUCTION. a o their t might of their ualities 'th. It science of that L in our Their ir than Rome ; cerity. ;risy in them, d con- le ac- North t)f the their an ob- their asted httle Euro- lance, d ad- ture; view inape rmed . by philosophers in their closets, than by savages in the wilderness *'." And in their oratory, which they take great pains to cultivate, they have never been exceeded, in ancient or modern h *^ates, for perti- nent argument, and eloquence both imaginative and pathetic. Governor Clinton, speaking of the Iroquois or Five Nations, tells us that, " their ex- terior relations, general interests, and national affairs were conducted and superintended by a great coun- cil, assembled annually in Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of each republic ; and eighty sachems were frequently convened at this national assembly. It took cognizance of the great questions of war and peace ; of the affairs of the tribu- tary nations, and of their negotiations with the French and English colonies. All their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation, and were^ distin- guished for order, decorum, and solemnity. In elo- quence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of pro- found policy, they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were perhaps not far inferior to the great AmphyctionJc Council of Greece f." In another place he s; eaks of the sublime display of intellectual power in the address of Garangula, an Onondaga chief, to M. Delabarre, a French general, who in 1683, marched with an army against the Iroquois. This rhetorical talent, however, is declared by the same authority to be peculiar to the Five Nations. * Diiponccivii's Report to the Ainerican PliiloH,)pliHal Societv, held at Phihidelphia, |». 14. •t Dc W\it Clmton*8 Discourse to the New York Society, p. 40, 50. K 2 4' INTRODlJcTION. 1,i ** The most remarkable difference," he states, ** existed between the confederates and the other Indian nations, with respect to eloquence. You may search in vain in the records and writings of the past, or in events of the present times, for a single model of eloquence among the Algonkins,' Hhe Abe- naquis, the Delawares, the Shawanese, or any- other nation of Indians except the Iroquois*." On the other hand, the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, who has spent the greater portion of a long life among tlie Lenni Lenape, or Delawares, has affirmed in his historical account of the Indian nations, (of which the Lenni Lenape and the Iroquois form the two great divisions,) that the Delawares are also con- spicuous for oratorical ability. He quotes a speech of Captain Pipe, a chief of that nation, and has made use of the following words in commenting on it. " Here we see boldness, frankness, dignity, and hu- manity happily blended together, and most elo- quently displayed. I am much mistaken if the com- ponent parts of this discourse are not put together much according to the rules of oratory which are taught in the schools, and which were certainly un- known to this savage. The peroration is short, but truly pathetic, and I would say, sublime ; and then the admirable way in which it is prepared ! I wish I could convey to the reader's mind only a small part of the impression which this speech made on me and on all present when it was delivered'!'." * De Witt Clinton's Discourse to the New York Society, p. 71. t Hcckewelder's Historical Account of the Indian Nations, p, 124. FNTRODCt TIUX. The assertion of Governor Clinton seems to have resulted from his knowing more of the Five Nations than of any other tribe of Indians. The Shawanese, no less than the Delawares, are among his list of excep- tions ; and yet we find, in the book lately published by Mr. Hunter, a most splendid example of elo- quence in a speech of Te-cum-seh, a Shawanee warrior*. The effect it had on his hearers, one of whom was Mr. Hunter himself, was electrical ; and I will quote his account of it, in order to shew that the high opinion of Indian oratory is not derived from any one authority which might be exaggerated, or through the medium of professed translators, who might be disposed to manufacture these harangues, after a given model, into the European tongues ; but that it operates upon all alike, and shines with the same character through every variety and acci- dent of interpretation. The Indian orations have been rendered by illiterate persons sent among them to concilitate their favour ; by prisoners, male and female, who learnt the language during their capti- vity ; by learned missionaries ; by traders, who will not perhaps be suspected of romantic enthu- siasm; by Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Englishmen, and Americans ; and the result, in all cases, has been very similar. The doubts, therefore, which haVe been, and still continue to be, entertained as to In- dian eloquence, are, to say the least of them, incon- siderate. The probability is that they are injured, rather than improved, by transmission into Euro- * Hunter's Memoirs of a Captivity amon"^ the North American Indians, ]). 43, ^r. 6 iNTRoniirriox. fir I I pean languages. ** 1 wish it was in my power,'* says Mr. Hunter, speaking of Te-cum-seh, " to do justice to the eloquence of this distinguished man ; but it is utterly impossible. The richest colours, shaded with a master's pencil, would fall infinitely short of the glowing finish of the original. The oc- casion and subject were peculiarly adaj^ied to call into action all the powers of genuine patriotism; and such language, such gestures, such feelings, and fulness of soul contending for utterance, were exhi- bited by this untutored native of the forest in the central wilds of America, as no audience, I am per- suaded either in ancient or modern times, ever be- fore witnessed. His discourse made an impression on my mind, which I think, will last as long as I live." The hospitality of the Indians has been pretty generally allowed ; and it is no small proof of the ex- cellent regulation of their minds, that they are not in the lightest degree addicted to the pernicious prac- tice of back-biting. ** Even the profligate look with contempt on the slanderer ; while he is singled out with the finger of scorn by the more respectable, who shun him as they would the poisonous serpent. None will venture to traduce those who sustain a fair and honorable character ; and as for the worthless, they never condescend to talk about them. Slander, therefore, the most pitiful vice of little and malicious minds, is beneath the notice even of the Indian womeii*." A strong sense of justice is innate among the In- * Hunter» p. :875. INTUODIK I'loV, dians; they entertain the greatest respect for the aged and tender, and are unwearied in lavishing deli- cate attentions on them ; their friendship is inviolable; and we are told by Carver in his travels, with what moderation, humanity, and delicacy they treat fe- male prisoners, and particularly pregnant women. Their conduct in this latter particular is not confined to females of their own colour, but is extended to white women, the mothers of their inexorable de- stroyers. Of this I shall have occasion, in the course of my work, to cite a touching instance from the valuable pages of Mr. Heckewclder. I might, perhaps, be thought their indiscriminate panegyrist, were I to go on and state the simple beauty and wisdom of their system of education ; the faith they keep in their treaties ; their lofty cour- age, and the magnanimity they display on occasions in private life which are too apt to stir up the resent- ment and envy, and all the mean passions of civil- ized man. It will be naturally expected, that having given this summary of Indian virtues, I should say something of Indian vices ; and I am happy that the latter will bear no proportion to the former catalogue. Cruelty and an eager appetite for revenge, are the chief, if not the onlv, deformities of their nature ; and these are scarcely ever manifested, except in their open hostilities, the causes of which are precisely similar to those which actuate civilized nations. Then, indeed, their ferocity breaks out with almost demonaical fury; their captives are generally doomed to death ; but it is not until they have undergone the the moyt exquisite tortures, the niost ingenious, uu- O INTIHUHir'iloN. • • utterable, and protracted a^fony, that the final blow is given. These atrocious practices are not, how- ^ ever, peculiar to our unlettered Indians. The metal * boot and wedge, the thumb-screw, the rack, the /" * gradual burnings of Smithfield, the religious butch^rjf :• V. of the bloody Piedmontese "who rolled motfier^'Y^lth *• '* •*• infant down the rocks," the dismemberment by horses, ' , ' ' ** Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of stpel;". ' • • • • sufficiently attest the claims of enlightened man 'to.* distinction in the art of torture. " But the Five Na- • tions," says Governor Clinton, in his masterly and- . eloquent discourse, " notwithstanding their horrible?* '.^ cruelty, are in one respect entitled to singular com- *.••.'.•.< mendationforthe exercise of humanity ; those enemies they spared in battle they made free ; whereas, with all other barbarous nations," and he miorht havetidded with most civilized nations, " slavery was the com- mutation of death. But it becomes not us, if we value the characters of our forefathers ; it becomes not the civilized nations of Europe who have had American possessions, to inveigh against the merci- less conduct of the savage. His appetite for blood was sharpened and whetted by European instigation, and his cupidity was enlisted on the side of cruelty by every temptation*." Our author in seeking for causes to extenuate the inhumanity of the Indians, might have said something of their natural and just resentment of the aggressions and tyranny of the man of Europe, by whom they have been reduced to the lowest state of wretchedness. In the wars be- tween France and England and their colonies, theif * De Witt Clinton's Discourse, p, 56. T .•< * .- .. . .1 •• f r a d L)W the * f • el;".. ' 1 to. iSa- . • . and* .*. ibl^" '..". • • '. ^^ • . • . ■ Olu- < nies vith ided tom- we fmes had erci- lood tion, lelty »• for ians, just f the ed to s be- their .'••; <%iiien6.of,^a*ssachusctl6jgave^welvce pounds jpr. every '''. [..' ''InVlyin.scdlpl'in-thdt yearr the pr^rniUm was rai%e4 • . / /-vA^i^rft* "ppiyitls^ but fn 1 722, it^ was. augmented* to.' ..' •, '-(^neiJijfhdred pojntch! a sum sufficicint to p!iijchtise*al' '.. • cohsiderablg otent of Arperican land.* An act was ' I ' .'•passed on the 25th of February 1745, by the AiAeri-* I ^ • can colonial legislature, entitled, '* An Act for ^ving :a reward I on such scalm, Sec. Sec.*' Not content with this execrable pollution of their minds by the agency • '••:,i'pf l«(;re,%we have sown party division among the • .':;"•. Indians, wliiph in all its discordant shapes rages with • " ■ . dricontPolled sway. ** Their nations are split up into •*• fragmei^s ; the son is arrayed against the father; • •;'bf other, against brother; families against families; Iribes against tribes ; alid canton against canton. They are divideii into factions, religious, political and personal ; Christian and Pagan ; American and Brit- ish ; the followers of Cornplanter and Sagoua Ha ; of Skonadoi and Captain Peter. The minister of de- struction is h6vering over them, and before the pas- sing away of the present generation, not a single » Iroquois will be seen in the state of New York*." Yet with all this guilt at our doors we call the/ poor Indians V savages, — barbarians." Yes, they have, indeed, become so since they were debauched and contaminated by the liquor and the example of European man. *'0«r vices,'' says Heckewelder, *' have dtstroi/cd them more than oitr sicoi'ds.'' 1 do not hesi- tate to say that, in my opinion, their ignorance of * Dc Witt Cliijton, p. S8, 59, • • . H « m 10 iNTRODU{;TIOx\. letters has been the only hinderance to their being, politically speaking, a most powerful people. With the faculty of circulating and improving their natural information, by means of literature, they would either not have been objects for the crafty arts of civilized man, or they would have been invulnerable to them, and never could have been driven from their terri- tories. Their courage and warlike character, un- aided by learning, are things but of inferior force. " Knowledge" says Bacon, " is power." How with such elements of mind as they possess, they could, unlike other originally great people, have continued destitute of written wisdom, must ever remain a mystery. It is thi-: important want which compels them to endure their wrongs in silence. They have no means of making their grievances known to the rest of the world; but must look for intercessors among those who have robbed and enslaved them. ** Why then," I may ask with the benign Heckewel- der, *' should not a white man, a Christian, who has been treated by them at all times with hospitality and kindness, plead their honest cause, and defend them as they would defend themselves, if they had but the means of bringing their facts and their argu- ments before an impartial public? Let it not be said that among the whole race of white Christian men, not one single individual could be found, who, rising above the cloud of prejudice with which the pride of civilization has surrounded the oriq^inal inhabitants of this land, would undertake the task of doing jus- tice to their many excellent ([ualitics, and raise a small iVail monument to their memorv,'* »> H CHAPTER II. LVDIAN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH AT NEW YORK ISLAND. The following simple and touching relation of this important event, was taken down many years since from the mouth of an intelligent Delaware Indian, by Mr, Heckewelder, and may be considered as a correct account of the tradition existing among them. It is given as much as possible in their own language. " A great many years ago, when men with a white skin had never yet been seen in this land, some In- dians who were out a fishing at a place where che sea widens, espied at a great distance something- remarkably large floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. These Indians imme- diately returning to the shore, apprized their coun- trymen of what they had observed, and pressed them to go out with them and discover what it might be. They hurried out together, and saw with astonish- ment the phenomenon which now appeared to their sight, but could not agree upon what it was ; some believed it to be an uncommonly large lish or animal, 12 LXIHAX A( COUNT OT TIIK while others were of opinion it must be a very big house floating on the sea. At length the spectators concluded that this wonderful object was moving towards the land, and that it must be an animal or something else that had life in it ; it would therefore be proper to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guaid. Accordingly they sent off a number of runners and watermen to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send off in every direction for the warriors, with a message that they should come on immediately. These arriving in numbers, and having themselves viewed the strange appearance, and observing that it was actually mov- ing towards the entrance of the river or bay, con- cluded it to be a remarkably large house in which the Mannitto (the Great or Supreme Being) himself was present, and that he probably was coming to visit them. " By this time the chiefs were assembled at York Island and deliberating as to the manner in which they should receive their Mannitto on his ar- rival. Every measure was taken to be well provided with plenty of meat for a sacrifice. The women were desired to prepare the best victuals. All the idols or images were examined and put in order, and a grand dance was supposed not only to be an agree- able entertainment for the Great Being, but it was believed that it might, with the addition of a sacri- fice, contribute to appease him if he was angry with them. FiaST ARRIVAL OF THK mJT( H. l'^ i> " The conjurers were also set to work, to deter- mine what this phenomenon portended, and what the possible result of it might be. To these and to the chiefs and wise men of the nations, men, women and children were looking up for advice and pro- tection. Distracted between hope and fear, they were at a loss what to do ; a dance, however, com- menced in great confusion. " While in this situation, fresh runners arrived declaring it to be a large house of various colours ; and crowded with living creatures. It appears now to be certain, that it is the great Mannitto, bringing them some kind of game, such as he had not given them before ; but other runners soon after arriving declare that it is positively a house full of human beings, of quite a different colour from that of the Indians, and dressed differently from them ; that in particular one of them was dressed entirely in red, who must be the Mannitto himself. They are hailed from the vessel in a language they do not under- stand ; yet they shout or yell in return by way of answer, according to the custom of their country. Many are for running off to the woods, but are pressed by others to stay, in order not to give offence to their visiter, who might find them out and destroy them. The house, some say, large canoe, at last stops, and a canoe of a smaller size comes on shore with the red man and some others in it ; some stay wit^ his canoe to guard it. ** The chiefs and wise men, assembled in council form themselves into a large circle, towards which u INDIAN' ACCOUNT OF TUB tlie man in red clothes approaches with two others. He salutes them with a friendly countenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are lost in admiration ; the dress, the manners, the whole appearance of the unknown strangers is to them a subject of woiider ; but they are particularly struck with him who wore the red coat all glittering with gold lace, which they could in no manner account for. He, surely, must be the great Mannitto, but why should he have a white skin ? Meanwhile, a large Hackhack* is brought by one of his servants, from which an unknown substance is poured out into a small cup or glass, and handed to the supposed Mannitto. He drinks — has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief standing next to him. The chief receives it, but only smells the contents and passes it on to the next chief, who does the same. The glass or cup thus passes through the circle, without the liquor being tasted by any one, and is upon the point of being returned to the red-clothed Mannitto, when one of the Indians, a brave man and a great warrior, suddenly jumps up and harangues the assembly on the impropriety of returning the cup with its contents. It was handed to them, says he, by the Mannitto, that they should drink out of it, as he himself had done. To follow his example would be pleasing to him ; but to return what he had given them might provoke his wrath, and bring destruc- tion on them. And since the orator believed it for * H.ickhack is properly a j^oiir^l, but siinre they liave seen glass bottles and decanters, they call them by the same name. ' ' tl S a tl FIRST ARRIVAL OF TflR DUTCH \r, the good of the nation that the contents offered them should be drunk, and as no one else would do it, he v/ould drink it himself, let the consequence be what it might; it was better for one man to die, than that a whole nation should be destroyed. He then took the glass, and bidding the assembly a solemn fare- well, at once drank up its whole contents. Every eye was fixed on the resolute chief, to see what effect the unknown liquor would produce. He soon began to stagger, and at last fell prostrate on the ground. His companions now bemoaned his fate, he falls into a sound sleep, and they think he has ex- pired. He wakes again, jumps up and declares, that he has enjoyed the most delicious sensations, and that he never before felt himself so happy as after he had drunk the cup. He asks for more, his wish is granted ; the whole assembly then imitate him, and all become intoxicated. *' After this general intoxication had ceased, (for they say that while it lasted the whites had confined themselves to their vessel.) the man with the red clothes returned again, and distributed presents among them consisting of beads, axes, hoes and stock- ings, such as the white people wear. They soon be- came familiar with each other, and began to converse by signs. The Dutch made them understand that they would not stay here, that they would return home again, but would pay them another visit the next year when they would bring them more presents, and stay with them a while; but as they could not live without eating, they should want a. 10 INDIAN A( COl'NT OF THE little land of them to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs and vegetables to put into their broth. They went away as they had said, and returned in the following season, when both parties were much re- joiced to see each other; but the whites laughed at the Indians, seeing that they knew not the use of the axes and hoes they had given them the year before ; for they had these hanging to their breasts as orna- ments, and the stockings were made use of as tobacco pouches. The whites now put handles to the former for them, and cut trees down before their eyes, hoed up the ground, and put the stockings on their legs. Here, they say, a general laughter en- sued among tlie Indians, that they had remained ignorant of the use of such valuable implements, and had borne the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks, for such a length of time. They took every white man they saw for an inferior Mannitto, attendant on the supreme Deity who shone superior in the red and iaced clothes. As the whites be- came daily more I'amiliar with the Indians, they at last proposed to stay with them, and asked only for so much ground for a garden spot as, they said, the hide of a bullock would cover or encompass, which hide was spread before them. The Indians readily granted this apparently reasonable request ; but the whites then took a knife and beginning at one end of the hide, cut it up to a long rope, not thicker than a child's finger, so that bj'^ the time the whole was cut up, it made a great heap ; they then took the rope at one end, and drew it gently along, carefully ARRIVAL OP THE DUTCH. 17 avoiding its breaking. It was drawn out into a cir- cular form, and being closed at its end, encompassed a large piece of ground. The Indians were sur- prised at the superior wit of the whites*, but did not wish to contend with them about a little land, as they had still enough themselves. The white and red men lived contentedly together for a long time, though the former from time to time asked for more land, which was readily obtained, and thus they gradually proceeded higher up the Mahicanittuck, until the Indians began to believe that they would soon want all their country, which in the end proved true." ♦These Dutchmen were probably acquainted with what is related of Queen Dido in ancient history, and thus turned their classical knowledge tc» a g-ood account. r 18 CHAPTER III. h INDIAN RELATIONS OF THE CONDUCT OP THE EUROPEANS TOWARDS THEM. Long and dismal, says the reverend author* ■whose work I have so often alluded to, are the com- plaints which the Indians make of European ingrati- tude and injustice. They love to repeat them, and always do it with the eloquence of nature, aided by an energetic and comprehensive language, which our polished idioms cannot imitate. Often I have listened to these descriptions of their hard sufferings, until I felt ashamed of being a white man. They are, in general, very minute in these recitals, and proceed with a great degree of order and regu- larity. They begin with the Virginians, whom they call the long knives, and who were the first European settlers in this part of the American continent. *' It " was we," say the Lenape, Mohicans, and their kin- dred tribes, " who so kindly received them on their •* first arrival into our country. We took them by the " hand, and bid them welcome to sit down by our ** side, and live with us as brothers ; but how did ** they requite our kindness? They at first asked * Heckewelder, from whose work this and the foregoing chapter are ex- tracted. I have had the less scniple in using- them, because the two chapters are in themselves nothing more than a concentration of the difft^ent tradi- ti(ms which are floating up and down among the Indian tribes. INDIAN RELATIONS. Sec. 19 i( (( *' only for a little land on which to raise bread for " themselves and their families, and pasture for their cattle, which we freely gave them. They soon wanted more, which we also gave them. They saw *' the game in the woods, which the Great Spirit had *• given us for our subsistence, and they wanted that *' too. They penetrated into the woods, in quest of ** game, they discovered spots of land which pleased " them ; that land they also wanted, and because wo *' were loth to part with it, as we saw they had al- " ready more than they had need of, they took it ** from us by force and drove us to a great distance " from our ancient homes. •* By and by the Dutchemaan* arrived ^iManahach' " tiimenk-\" (here they relate with all its details what has been said in the preceding chapter.) •' The great " man wanted only a little, little land, on which to *' raise greens for his soup, just as much as abul- ** lock's hide would cover. Here we first might have *' observed their deceitful spirit. The bullock's hide ** was cut up into little strips, and did not cover, in- *• deed, but encircled a very large piece of land, ** which we foolishly granted to them. They were *' to raise greens on it, instead of which they planted •' great guns ; afterwards they built strong houses, " made themselves masters of the island, then went '* up the river to our enemies, the Mengwe, made a ** league with them, persuaded us by their wicked " arts to lay down our arms, and at last drove us " entirely out of the country. ■^ The Ilollanaers. Mauhattuii, or New York Isiiud. t: 2 20 INDIAN RELATIONS OP THF (( 4( H i( H it it it it tt it it it it tl it it it ti it tt it (( tl " When the Fc^jgccve* arrived at Mac7i/t7.9cAirflw;je-t they looked about every where for good spots ^l land, and when they fovnid one they immediately and without ceremony possessed themselves of it ; we were astonished, but still we let them go on, not thinking it worth while to contend for a little land. But when at last they came to our favourite spots, those which lay most convenient to our fisheries, then bloody wars ensued : we would have been contented that the white people and we should have lived quietly beside each other ; but these whi te men encroached so fast upon us, that we saw at once we should lose all, if we did not resist them. The wars that we carried on against each other were long and cruel. We were enraged when we saw the white people put our friends and relatives whom they had taken prisoners on board of their ships, and carry them off to sea, whether to drown or sell them as slaves, in the country from which they came, we knew not, but certain it is that none of them have ever returned or even been heard of. At last they got possession of the whole of the country which the Great Spirit had given us. One of our tribes was forced to wander far beyond Quebec; others dispersed in small bodies, and sought places of refuge where they could ; some * An Indian corniption of the word EnfrUshfWXxencQ probably the nick- name Yankees. •i- Tliis word moans •' a clnstor of Islands with chaiinels every way, ao that "it is in no j)l:»('e slml np or impassable for craft." The Indians think that tltt^ white people have corrupted this word into MassrirlntRtlfx. It deserves t«» be remarked as an examph; of tbe comprehensiveness of the Indiau lani'iiam"^-. 1 V (OiNDUCT OF Tlin EUROPEANS. 21 «< (( (( came to Pennsylvania ; others went far to the west- ward and mnigled with other tribes. *♦ To many of those, Pennsylvania was a last, de- lightful asylum. But here, again, the Europeans disturbed them, and forced them to emigrate, al- though they had been most kindly and hospitably received. On which ever side of the Lcnapewihit- liick*y the white people landed, they were welcomed as brothers by our ancestors, who gave them lands to live on, and even hunted for them, and furnished them with meat cut of the woods. Such was cur conduct to the white menf, who inhabited this country, until our elder brother, the great and good MiquoN'J:, came and brought us words of peace and good will. We believed his words, and his memory is still held in veneration among us. But it was not long before our joy was turned into sorrow : our brother Miquon died, and those of his good counsellors who were of his mind, and kfiew what had passed between him and our an- cestors, were no longer listened to; the strangers §, who had taken their places, no longer spoke to us of sitting down by the side of each other as brothers of one family ; they forgot that friendship which their great man had established with us, and was to last to the end of time ; they now only strove to get all our land from us by fraud or by force, and when we attempted to remind them of M^hat our good brother had said, they became angry, and 'JMic Oolawarr rivrr, I Willirtui Penii. •i' The SuTflrs aivl DiUfh. JLaiid trrtdero ant) specuhit'jia, ^ INDIAN RELATIONS OP THE " sent word to our enemies the Mengwc, to meet *' them at a great council which they were to liold with •* us at Lahaiiwake*, where they should take us by '* the hair of our heads, and shake us well. The ** Mengwe came, the council was held, and in the "** presence of the white men, who did not contradict '** them, they told us that we were women, and that " they had made us such ; that we had no right to *• any land, because it was all theirs ; that we must ** be gone; and that as a great favour they permitted •• us to go and settle f;irthcr into the country, at " the place which they themselves pointed out at " Wyoming i'." Thus these good Indians, with a kind of melan- choly pleasure, recite the long history of their suffer- ings. After having gone through these painful details, they seldom fail to indulge in bitter, but too just re- flections upon the men of Europe. " We and our *' kindred tribes," say they, " lived in peace and " harmony with each other, before the white people *• came into this country; our council house J ex- ** tended far to the north and far to the south. In the ** middle of it we would meet from all parts to " smoke the pipe of peace together. When the white " men arrived in the south, we received them as ** friends ; we did the same when they arrived in the ** east. It was we, it was our forefathers, who made * Eiiston. •i- This actiiiilly took place at a treaty licltl at EastoTi, in July and No- vember, \7')6. X Council house here incany, " Connexion Dibtrltt." V ■■jp- rONDUCT OF triE EUROPEANS. 23 ** them welcome, and let them sit down by our side. ** The land they settled on was ours. We knew not ** out the Great Spirit had^sent them to us for some " good purpose, and therefore we thought they must *• be a good people. We were mistai:en; for no ** sooner had they obtained a footing on our lands, " than they began to pull our council house down* *' first at one end and then at the other, and at last " meeting each other at the centre, where the cov.,^- " cil fire was yet burning bright, they put it outf, •' and extinguished it with our own blood [[I with the " blood of those§ who with us had received them ! ** who had welcomed them in our land ! Their blood " ran in streams into our fire, and extinguished ** it so entirely, that not one spark was left us wherc- '* by to kindle a new fire||; we were compelled to * PiilUnff the council house down. Destroyinjf, dispersing' the comiiiu- nityi preventing their further intercourse with each other, by settKnt;^ be- tween them on their land. t PnUing the fire out. Murdering thctn or their people, w'jcrc they assemble for pacific purposes, where treaties arc held, Sfc. X Our own blood. The bhiod flowing- from the veins of some of our community. ^ Alludingf to the nmrder of the Concstog;o Indians, who though of another tribe, yet had joined them in welcoming' the white people to their shores. In a narrative of this lamentable event, supposed to have been written by the late Dr. Franklin, it is said: "On the first arrival of the English in '• Pennsylvania, messengers from this tribe came to welcome them with " presents of venison, corn and skins, and the whole tribe entered into % " treaty of friendship with the first proprietor, William Ponn, which was *• to last as long as the sun should shino, or the waters run in the rivers." II The fire was ent'nrly extinguished by the blond of the murdered running into it ; not a spark ivas left to kindle a new fire. 'Phis alludeti to the last fire that was kindled by the Pcnnsylvanian government and them* 24 INDIAN RELATIONS OF THE " withdraw ourselves beyond the great swamp *, and *' to fly to our good uncle the Delamattenos-\, who *' kindly gave us a tract of land to live on. How *' long we shall be permitted to remain in this asy- " lum, the Great Spirit only knows. The whites ** will not rest contented until they shall have de- " stroyed the last of us, and made us disappear en- ** tirely from the face of the earth." I have given here only a brief specimen of the charges which they exhibit against the white people. There are men among them who have by heart the whole history of what took place between the whites and the Indians, since the former first came into their country ; and relate the whole with ease and with an eloquence not to be imitated. On the tab- lets of their memories they preserve this record for posterity. I, at one time, in April 1787, was aston- ished when I heard one of their orators, a great chief of the Delaware nation, go overth's ground, recapi- tulating the most extraordinary events which had before happened, and concluding in these words : *' I admit there are good white men, but they *' bear no proportion to the bad ; the bad must be " the strongest, foi they rule. They do what they ** please. They enslave those who are not of their selves at Lancaster, where the last treaty was held witli them in 1762, the year preceding this murder, which put an end to all business of the kind in the province of Pennsylvania. « The irreat Sivai.ip. The Glades on the Alleefhcny mountains. + Drlamaffcnns. The Huron or Wyatulots, whom they call their umle. These, though speaking a dialect of the Iroquois language, urc in conuc.viuu with the Lcnapc. CONDUCT OF THE EUROPLANS. 25 *, and , who How s asy- vhites ire de- ;ar en- of the eople. irl the whites le into 36 and le tab- ord for aston- t chief ecapi- h had vords : t they lust be t they f their 1762, the ic kind in " coiour, although created by the same Great Spirit " who created us. They would make slaves of us *• if they could, but as they cannot do it, they kill us ! *' There is no faith to be placed in their words. They *' are not like the Indians, who are only enemies ** while at war, and are friends in peace. They will " say to an Indian, * My friend ! my brother !* They " will take him by the hand, and at the same mo- *' ment destroy him. And so you" (addressing him- self to the Christian Indians) ** will also be treated " by them before long. Remember I that this day I " have warned you to beware of such friends as these. ** I know the long knives ; they are not to be trusted." Eleven months after this speech was delivered by this prophetic chief, ninety-six of the same Chris- tian Indians, about sixty of them women and children, were murdered at the place where these very words had been spoken, by the same men he had alluded to, and in the same manner that he had described. See Loskiel's History, Part HI. ch. 10. IS. oir uncle, ouuc.viou 26 CHAPTER IV. 4 EVIDENCKS OF GENERAL CAPACITY AND TRUE . CONCEPTION OF COURTESY AMONG THE PRESENT INDIANS. In the summer of 1819, during the yellow fever at New York, I took a tour, accompanied by two of my daughters, and a gentleman, to the Falls of Niagara, and through a considerable part of Upper Canada. After stopping more than a week under the truly hospitable roof of the Honourable Colonel Clarke, at the Falls, I determined to proceed by land round Lake Ontario, to York; and Mrs. Clarke offered to give my daughters a letter of introduction to a Miss Brandt, advising us to arrange our time so as to sleep and stop a day or two in the house of that lady, as she was certain we should be much pleased with her and her brother. Our friend did not intimate, still less did we suspect, that the in- troduction was to an Indian Prince and Princess. Had we been in the least aware of this, our previous arrangements would all have given way, as there was nothing I was more anxious to obtain than an opportunity, such as this was so well calculated to afford, of seeing in what degree the Indian character would be modified by a conformity to the habits and comforts of civilized life. Proceeding on our journey, we stopped at an inn, i EVIDENCES OF GENERAL CAPACIIT, &f. 27 ■' N 'I romantically situated, where I determined to remain all night. Among other things I inquired of the landlord if he knew the distance to Miss Brandt's house, and from him I learned that it was about twenty miles off. He added that young Mr. Brandt had passed that way in the morning, and would, no doubt, be returning in the evening, and that if I wished it, he would be on the look out for him. This I desired the landlord to do, as it would enable me to intimate our introduction to his sister, and in- tention of waiting on her the next morning. At dusk Mr. Brandt returned, and being intro- duced into our room, we were unable to distinguish his colour, and conversed with him believing him to be a young Canadian gentleman. We did not, how- ever, fail to observe a certain degree of hesitation and reserve in the manner of his speech. He cer- tainly expressed a wish that we \v ould do him and his sister the favour of spending a few days with them in order to refresh ourselves and our horses ; but we thought his style more laconic than hospitable. Be- fore candles were brought in, our new friend de- parted, leaving us still in error as to his nation and colour. By four o'clock in the morning, we resumed our journey. On arriving at the magnificent shores of Lake Ontario, the driver of our carriage pointed out at the distance of five miles, the house of Miss Brandt, which had a very noble and commanding aspect; and wc anticipated much pleasure in our visit; as beside the enjoyment ofso beautiful a spot, 'I ■■■ 28 EVIDENCES OF GENERAL CAPACITY we should be enabled to form a competent idea of Canadian manners and style of living. Young Mr. Brandt, it appeared, unaware that with our car- riage we could have reached his house so soon, had not arrived before us ; so that our approach was not announced ; and we drove up to the door under the full persuasion that the faiiiily would be apprized of our coming. The outer door, leading to a spa- cious hall, was open. We entered, and remained a few minutes, when seeing no person about, we pro- ceeded into the parlour, which like the hall, had no body in it. We, therefore, had an opportunity of looking about us c.t our leisure. It was a room well furnished with a carpet, pier and chimney glasses, mahogany tables, fashionable chairs, a guitar, a neat hanging book-case, in which, among other volumes, we perceived a church of England prayer-book, translated into the Mohawk tongue, and several small elementary works. Having sent our note of introduction in by the coachman, and still no person waiting on us, we began to suspect, (more especially in the hungry state we were all in), that some delay or difficulty about breakfast stood in the way of the young lady's appearance. Various were our conjectures, and momentarily did our hun- ger seem to gain rapid strides upon us. I can as- sure my readers that a keen morning's ride on the shores of an American lake, is a thing of all others calculated to make the appetite clamorous, if not insolent. We had already penetrated into the par lour: and were bciiinin'y to mcdilaie a luither AMONG THK INDIANS. 29 exploration in search of the pantry, when to our un- speakable astonishment, in walked a charming, no- ble-looking Indian girl, dressed partly in the native, and partly in the English costume. Her hair was confined on the head in a silk net, but the lower tresses, escaping from thence, flowed down on her shoulders. Under a tunic or morning dress of black silk, was a petticoat of the same material and co- lour, which reached very little below the knees. Her silk-stockings and kid shoes were, like the rest of her dress, black. The grace and dignity of her movement, the style of her dress and manner, so new, so unexpected, filled us all with astonishment. With great ease, yet by no means in that common- place mode so generally prevalent on such occasions, she inquired how we had found the roads, accom- modation, &c. No flutter was at all apparent on ac- count of the delay in getting breakfast; no fidgeting and fuss-making, no running in and out, no idle ex- pressions of regret, such as, " Jh, dear me ! had I known of your coming, youwould not have been kept in this way ;" but with perfect ease she main- tained the conversation, until a Squaw *, wearing a man's hat, brought in a tray with preparations for breakfast. A table-cloth of fine white damask being laid, we were regaled with tea, coftee, hot-rolls, butter in water and ice-coolers, eggs, smoked-beef and ham, broiled chickens, Ike. ; all served in a truly neat and comfortable style. The delay, we * Tlio uiiiiie uf all (iiilian vvoiiien. EVIDENCES OP GENERAL CAPACITY afterwards discovered, arose from the desire of our hostess to supply us with hot rolls, which vrere ac- tually baked while we waited. I have been thus minute in my description of these comforts, as they were so little to be expected in the house of an Indian. After breakfast, Miss Brandt, as we must still call her, took my daughters out to walk, and look at the picturesque scenery of the country. She and her brother had previously expressed a hope that we would stay all day ; but though I wished of all things to do so, and had determined, in the event of their pressing their invitation, to accept it, yet I declined the proposal at first, and thus forfeited a pleasure which we all of us longed in our hearts to enjoy ; for, as I have afterwards learned, it is not the custom of any uncorrupted Indian to repeat a request if once rejected. They believe that those to whom they offer any mark of friendship, and who give a reason for refusing it, do so in perfect sincerity, and that it would be rudeness to require them to alter their determination, or break their word. And as the Indian never makes a shew of civility, but when prompted by a genuine feeling, so he thinks others are actuated by similar candour. I really feel ashamed when I consider how severe a rebuke this carries with it to us who boast of civili- zation, but who are so much carried away by the general insincerity of expression pervading all ranks, that few indeed are to be found who speak just what they wish or know. This duplicity is the effect of what AMONG THE INDIANS. 31 i lat lat is termed a high state of refinement. We are taught so to conduct our language, that others cannot dis- cover our real views or intentions. The Indians are not only free from this deceitfulness, but surpass us in another instance of true good-breeding and de- corum, namely, of never interrupting those who converse with them, until they have done speaking ; and then they reply in the hope of not being them- selves interrupted. This was perfectly exemplified by Miss Brandt and her brother ; and 1 hope the lesson my daughters were so forcibly taught by the natural politeness of their hostess, will never be forgotten by them, and that I also may profit by the example. After stopping a few hours with these interesting young Indians, and giving them an invitation to pay us a visit at New York, which they expressed great desire to fulfil, and which I therefore confidently anticipate, we took our leave with real regret on all sides. As we passed through the Hall, I expected to see some Indian instruments of war or the chase ; but perceiving that the walls were bare of these customary ornaments, I asked Mr. Brandt where all the trophies were that belonged to his family ? He told me, and I record it with shame, that the nu- merous visiters that from time to time called on him, expressed their desire so strongly for these trophies, that one by one he had given all away; and now he was exempt from these sacrifices, by not having any thing of the kind left. He seemed, never- theless, to cherish with fondness the memory of these relics of his forefathers. How ill did the aue- .''I'l 30 EVIDENCES OP GENERAL CAPACITY Ihed visiters requite the liospitality they experienced under the roof whose doors stand open to shelter and feed all who enter ! As all about our young hostess is interesting, I will add some further particulars. Having inquired for her mother, she told me she remained generally with her other sons and daughters, who were living in the Indian settlement on the grand river that falls into Lake Erie : that her mother preferred being in the Wig-warns, and disapproved, in a certain degree, of her and her brother John s conforming so much to the habits and costume of the English. It may be added that this family are the children of the celebrated Mohawk Indian Chief, Captain Brandt, who was introduced to his late Majesty, and who translated the prayer-book, and part of the scriptures into one of the Indian languages; and that the house where we were so hospitably entertained, was built upon a grant of land bestowed by George the Third on that Mohawk Prince. My Uuis becoming acquainted with this young lady and her brother, fully establishes in my mind all I was anxious to prove by the education of a young Indian ; and many such instances might be adduced which would evince that wisdom, science, and exaltation of character, are not the exclusive property of any colour, tribe, or nation. The bravery, political sagacity, and knowledge of govern- ment, manifested by the negroes who now govern in St. Domingo (not to mention other well-known instances), are calculated to allay the doubts which AMONG THE INDIANS. 33 ii used to prevail as to the capacity of the African. But between the Indian of North America, and the African, there is a remarkable difference. The for- mer never can be bowed to become the slave of man, to pay tribute, or to submit, by any hope of reward, to live in vassalage. Free, like the son of Ishmael, he will die rather than yield his liberty ; and he is, therefore, hunted down by people who boast of civi- lization and Christianity, and who, while they value their own freedom, do not hesitate to extend their lands and property by the merciless destruction of the unoffending original proprietor. But let not those who still claim the British name, nor the citi- zens of the United States, deceive themselves in the belief that because the poor Indians, whose lands they possess, and whose rivers they navigate, have no powerful voice to blazon their wrorgs, and hold them up to the abhorrence of mankind, they will al- ways rest unavenged ; or that the civilization which is pompously carried on, but which is in fact a slow consuming system of extinction, will avert the re- tributive justice which God will assuredly render. The poor Indians confess that for their crimes they are now placed by the Great Spirit under the feet of the white men, aud in the midst of their sufferings, they pathetically warn their cruel oppressors that the time may yet come when the Lord will have pity on them, and in turn, punish the Europeans. Truly the ways of the Almighty are wonderful ! The ap- parent prosperity of the wicked are among the most unaccountable features of the will of our Crea- D ' 1 1 34 i:viDKX( RS or ctxeral capacitv tor, and would be utterly without a solution had we not the Bible to guide us into a right understanding of his designs. However the deist may scott', or the philosopher doubt, yet therein we see that though the wrath of God may be long delayed, the punish- ment of iniquity will assuredly come to pass. The re-action of crime and punishment is to be seen in the history of all nations. Let the European op- pressors of the Indian savage, as he is called, look to it in time ; and while the diffusion of the true principles of Christianity throughout the British empire, is followed by clemency and mercy to the African, it is to be hoped the same benevolent spirit will extend itself to the noble-minded Aborigines of North America; and that instead of supplying arms, ammunition, blankets, and rum, we may lead them to the arts and blessings of peace, and to the im- provement of their admirable native talent. With regard to the terms, " barbariaivi'' and *' savages,'' which it is the fashion to lavish so pro- digally on our Indians, let us hear what the philoso- phical French essayist, Montaigne, said of them, in reference to these appellations, between two and three hundred years ago. " I find that there is no- thing barharons and savage in this nation, by any thing I can gather, excepting that every one gives the title of barbarity to every thing that is not in use in his .own country : as indeed we have no other level of truth and reason, than the example and idea of the opinions and customs of the place wherein \se live. There is always the true religion; there i ■^ AMONG THE INDIANS. 35 the perfect government, and the most exact and ac- complished usance of all things. They are savages at the same rate, that we say fruits are wild, which nature produces of herself, and by her own ordinary progress ; whereas, in truth, ire ought rather to call those icildy whose natures ice have changed by our arti- ficCf and diverted from the common order. ***** These nations, then, seem tome to be so far barbarous, as having received but very little form and fashion from art and human invention, and consequently, not much remote from their original simplicity. The laws of nature, however, govern them still, not, as yet, much vitiated with any mixture of ours; but in such purity, that I am sometimes troubled we were no sooner acquainted with these people, and that they were not discovered in those better times, when there were men much more able to judge of them, than we are. I am sorry that Lycur- gus and Plato had no knowledge of them ; for to my apprehension, what we now see in those natives, does not only surpass all the images with which the poets have adorned the golden age, and all their in- ventions in feigning a happy estate of man ; but, moreover, the fancy and even the wish of philosophy itself. So native and so pure a simplicity, as we, by experience, see to be in them, could never enter into the imagination of the ancient philosophers, nor could they ever believe that human society could have been maintained with so little artifice. Should I tell Plato that it is a nation wherein there is no manner of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no science 7 11 4'' f %'-A :• 1 D U ^ 36 EVFDENTE OF OENERAL CAPA( ' &r. of numbers, no name of magistrate, nor political superiority, no use of service, norichct or povertii/, no contracts, no successions, no dividends, no pro- prieties, no employments but those of leisure, no re- spect of kindred, but common, no clothing, no agri- culture, no metal, no use of corn or wine, and whc^re so much as the very words that aignify lying, trea- chery, dissimulation, avarice, detraction, and par- don, were never heard of, — how much w^uld he find his imaginary republic short of this perfection*." Our author, in the detail of his negations, is a little incorrect, but the passage, on the whole, is a noble and profound vindication of this primitive people. * Montaigne's Essays, book 1. t'ha|). 30. Cotton's truuslutiua. 37 CHAPTER V. FEELIXOS AND VIRWS OF THE INDIANS AT THE PRE- SENT HOUR, niTH SOME SPECIMENS OF THEHl RECENT ORATORY. * , he Sf.verai, chiefs from the Missouri territory, (a part of North Americji which is inhabited by tribes of Indians, who, from the remoteness of their situ- ation, do not so often as others, come in contact with white men), were brought by order of the government of the United States, to Washington under the guidance of Major 0*Fallon. They were subsequently taken on to New York, where, as at Washington, every thing calculated to impress their minds was exhibited to them. Previous to their departure to their native homes, they were intro- duced to the President of the United States, when the following speeches were delivered by them. The reader, I think, will not fail to discern in these addresses a grand vein of original eloquence, united with great sagacity ; another proof of the error of his Excellencv De Witt Clinton, in confining the rhetorical talent solely to the Iroquois or Five Nations. It is with feelings of humility that I allude again to this inaccurate statement. No one can have a higher respect for this gentleman than myself. His discourse delivered to the Historical Society of New York, is not surpassed by any docu- 38 FEELINGS AND VIEWS meiit I ever read, for profoundness of intellect, phi- lanthropy of sentiment, exquisite beauty of compo- sition, and extent of historical knowledge condensed within a brief space. Speeches of .several of the Chiefs of the Delegation of Indians^ under Major O'Fallony to the President of the United Stales, in Council, on the Ath of Februan/j ] 822. THE PAWNKE CHIEF. Ml/ Great Father : — I have travelled a great dis- tance to see you — 1 have seen you and my heart rejoices. I have heard your words — they have entered one ear and shall not escape the other, and I will carry them to my people as pure as they came from your mouth. Ml/ Great Father: — I am going to speak the truth. The Great Spirit looks down upon us, and I call Him to witness all that may pass between us on this occasion. If I am here now and have seen your people, your houses, your vessels on the big lake, and a great many wonderful things far beyond my comprehension, which [appear to have been made by the Great Spirit and placed in your hands, I am indebted to my Father here, who invited me from home, under whose wings I have been protected *. Yes, my Great Father, I have travelled with your chief; I have followed him, and trod in his tracks; but there is still another Great Father to whom I am * Poinfinc;- to MiijorO'Fiilloii. 4 ■% i OF THE INDIANS AT PRESENT. 39 € much indebted — it / cium^u our iial)i(s, (o uinkc \\h work aud livu like tliu wliilt; |)i'0|)lo. 1 will uot (ell u lir — I aui |< l)eav(U'. and I he other wdd animals of our country, and 1 will trade their skins with your pcopl(^ I have jL;rown up, ami lived thus long without work — I a!U in hopes y«ui will sutler me to di(^ without it. We have phmty ol" bullalo, beaver, ticcr ane(!ome ho preeariouH as to nec:d and cMubraei. !he assistance ol those ^ood people. 'I'herc* was a lime when wo diey were always within our control — w(^ had then Hcen nothini; which w(^ could not i^'ct. nctlon; our intercomKe with the ir/iltcs (who liave canH(;d such a destruction in our >^^am(^j we could lit; down to sleep, and when w(; awoke w(^ would iinas from — which was at Conewaugus, on the Genesee River. When 1 was a child, I jjlaycd with the butterfly, the grasshopper and the frogs ; and as I grew up, I 56 FEELINGS AND VIEWS began to pay some attention and play with the Indian boys in the neighbourhood, and they took notice of my skin being a different colour from theirs, and spoke about it. I inquired of my mother the cause, and she told me that my father was a residenter in Albany. I still eat my victuals out of a bark dish — I grew up to be a young man, and married me a wife — and I had no kettle or gun. I then knew where my father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a white man, and spoke the English language. He gave me victuals whilst I was at his house, but when I started to return home, he gave me no provision to eat on the way. He gave me neither kettle nor gun ; neither did he tell me that the United States were about to rebel against the government of England. I will now tell you, brothers, who are in session of the legislature of Pennyslvania, that the Great Spirit has made known to me that I have been wicked ; and the cause thereof was the revolu- tionary war in America. The cause of Indians hav- ing been led into sin, at that time, was that many of them were in the practice of drinking and getting intoxicated. Great Britain requested us to join with them in the conflict against the Americans, and pro- mised the Indians land and liquor. I, myself, was opposed to joining in the conflict, as I had nothing to do with the ditticulty that existed between the two parties, I have now informed you how it hap- pened that the Indians took a part in the revolution, and will relate to you some circumstances that oc- i OF THE INDIANS AT PRES. 'T. 57 currcd after the close of the war. General Putnam, who was then at Philadelphia, told me there was to be a council at Fort Stanwix ; and the Indians requested me to attend on behalf of the Six Nations — which I did, and there met with three commis- sioners, who had been appointed to hold the coun- cil. They told me they would inform me of the cause of the revolution, which I requested them to do minutely. They then said that it had originated on account of the heavy taxes that had been im- posed upon them by the British government, rvhich had been, for fifty years, increasing upon them; that the Americans had grown weary thereof, and refused to pay, which aftVonted the king. There had likewise a difficulty taken place about some tea (which they wished me not to use, as it had been one of the causes that many people had lost their lives). And the British government now being affronted, the war commenced, and the cannons began to roar in our country. General Putnam then told me at the council at Fort Stanwix, that by the late war, the Americans had gained two objects : they had established themselves an independent na- tion, and had obtained some land to live upon — the division-line of which, from (aieat Britain, ran through the lakes. I then spoke, and said that I wanted some land for the Indians to live on, and General Putnam said that it should be granted, and I should have land in the state oi New York, for the Indians. General Putnam then encourasred me to use my endeavours to pacify the Indians generally ; i ■ ?>>'■.: 58 FEELINGS AND VIEWS and as he considered it an arduous task to perform, wished to know what I wanted for pay therefore ? I replied to him, that I would use my endeavours to do as he had requested, with the Indians, and for pay therefore, 1 would take land. I told him not to pay me money or dry goods, but land. And for having attended thereto I received the tract of land on which I now live, which was presented to me by Governor Mifflin. I told General Putnam, that I wished the Indians to have the exclusive privilege of the deer and wild game — which he assented to. I also wished the Indians to have the privilege of hunting in the woods, and making fires — which he likewise assented to. The treaty that was made at the aforementioned council, has been broken by some of the white peo- ple, which I now intend acquainting the governor with : — Some white people are not willing that Indians should hunt any more, whilst others are satisfied therewith ; and those white people who reside near our reservation, tell us that the woods are theirs, and they have obtained them from the governor. The treaty has been also broken by the white people using their endeavours to destroy all the wolves — which was not spoken about in the council at Fort Stanwix, by General Putnam, but has originated lately. It has been broken again, which is of recent origin. White people wish to get credit from Indians, and do not pay them honestly, according to their agree- ment. In another respect it has also been broken 4 I OF THR INDIANS AT PRESENT. 5!) by white people, who reside near my dwelling; for when I plant melons and vines in my field, they take them as their own. It has been broken again by white people using their endeavours to obtain our pine trees from us. We have very few pine trees on our land, in the state of New York ; and white peo- ple and Indians often get into dispute respecting them. There is also a great quantity of whiskey brought near our reservation by white people, and the Indians obtain it and become drunken. Another circumstance has taken place which is very trying to me, and I wish the interference of the governor. The white people, who live at Warren, called upon me, some time ago, to pay taxes for my land; which I objected to, as I had never been called upon for that purpose before ; and having refused to pay, the white people became irritated, called upon me frequently, and at length brought four guns with them and seized our cattle. I still refused to pay, and was not willing to let the cattle go. After a time of dispute, they returned home, and I under- stood the militia was ordered out to enforce the col- lection of the tax. I went to Warren, and, to avert the impending difficulty, was obliged to give my note for the tax, the amount of which was forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents. It is my desire tliat the governor will exempt me from j)uying taxes for my land to white people ; and also cause that the money I am now obliged lo pay, may be rcfmuled to me, as I am very p(^or The governor is the person who attends to the situation of the puui>le, '■X '• fi* (JO FEELINGS AND VIEWS and I wish him to send a person to Alleghany, that I may inform him of the particulars of our situation, and he be authorized to instruct the white people, in what manner to conduct themselves towards Indians. The government has told us that when any diffi- culties arose between Indions and white people, they would attend to having them removed. We are now in a trying situation, and I wish the governor to send a person, authorized to attend thereto, the forepart of next summer, about the time that grass has grown high enough for pasture. The governor formerly requested me to pay at- tention to the Indians, and take care of them : — we are now arrived at a situation that I believe Indians cannot exist, unless the governor should comply with my request, and send a person authorized to treat between us and the white people, the approach- ing summer. I have now no more to speak. CoiiNrLAXTER, His >< Mark, Joseph Elkinton, Interpreter and iScrioener. To Joseph Heisttr^ Gocernor of Pennsf/lvania. I will conclude this chapter with the oration of 'J'e-cum-seh, the celebrated Shawanee warrior, as rendeied by Mr. Hunter. It appears, from his ac- count, that " some of the white people among the Osages were traders, and others were reputed to be runners from their Great Father beyond the great waters, to invite the Indians to take up the toma- I OF THE INDIANS AT PRESENT. fil luiwk against the settlers. They made many long talks, and distributed many valuable presents ; but without being able to shake the resolution which the Usages had formed, to preserve peace with their (Ireat Father, the president. Their determinations were, however, to undergo a more severe trial : — Te-cum-seh now made his appearance among them." '* He addressed them in long, eloquent, and pathe- tic strains ; and an assembly more numerous than had ever been witnessed on any former occasion, listened to him with an intensely agitated, though profoundly respectful, interest and attention. In fact, so great was the effect produced by Te-cum-seh's eloquence, that the chiefs adjourned the council shortly alter he had closed his harangue ; nor did they finally come to a decision on the great ques- tion in debate for several days afterwards*." His proposals were, however, in the end, rejected. ■» . ;•■.■■■'«■ .' , ..M :;,.., II W' of as ac- the > be eat ma- *' Brothers, — We all belong to one family ; we are all children of the Great Spirit ; we walk in the same path ; slake our thirst at the same spring ; and now affairs of the greatest concern leads us to smoke the pipe around the same council fire! •* Brothers, — We are friends ; we must assist each other to bear our burthens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves, are threatened with a great evil ; nothing will pacify them but tho destruction of all the red men. * Hunters Memoirs, p. 48. 1 62 FEELINGS AND VFKWS " BrolherSi — When the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were hungry ; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle their fires. They were feeble ; they could do nothing for themselves. Our fathers commiserated their dis- tress, and shared freely with them whatever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on, and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn. — Brothers, the white people are like poisonous serpents : when chilled, they are feeble and harmless ; but invigo- rate them with warmth, and they sting their bene- factors to death. *' The white people came among us feeble ; and now we have made them strong, they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers. *' Brothers, — The white men arc not friends to the Indians : at first, they only asked foi land sufficient for a wigwam ; now nothing will satisfy them but the whole of our hunting grounds, from the rising to the setting sun. •' Brothers, — The white men want more than our hunting grounds; they wish to kill our warriors; they would even kill our old men, women, and little ones. " Brothers, — Many winters ago, there was no land ; the sun did not rise and set: all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all things. He gave the white people a home beyond the great waters. He sup- plied these grounds with game, and gave them to his OP THE IKOTANS AT PRESENT. m red children ; and he gave them strength and courage to defend them. " Brothers, — My pcoj)le wish for peace ; the red men all wish for peace : but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it be on the bosom of our mother. *' Brothers, — The white men despise and cheat the Indians ; they abuse and insult them ; they do not think the red men sutHciently good to live. •' The red men have borne many and great injuries; they ought to sutler them no longer. My people will not; they are determined on vengeance; they have taken up the tomahawk : they will make it fat with blood; they will drink the blood of the white people. " Brothers, — My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are too strong for them alone. I M^ish you to take up the tomahawk with them. If we all unite, we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with their blood. " Brothers, — If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations of red men because they were not united, because they were not I'riends to each other. ** Brothers. — The white peo])le send runners amongst us ; they wish to make us enemies, that they may sweep over and desolate our hunting grounds, like devastating winds, or rushing waters. " Brothers, — Our Great Father, over the great waters, is angry with the white people, our enemies. •■f ;"f U • ' ..•|V- :, Ul ■ ) .', ti- ■:'■ I ■'I ( 64 FEEUNfiS OF THE INDIANS, &r. He will send his brave warriors against them ; he will send us rifles, and whatever else we want — he is our friend, and we are his children. ** Brothers, — Who are the white people that we should fear them ? They cannot run fast, and are good marks to shoot at: they are only men ; our fathers have killed many of them : we are not squaws, and we will stain the earth red with their blood. ** Brothers, — The Great Spirit is angry with our enemies ; he speaks in thunder, and the earth swal- lows up villages, and drinks up the Mississippi. The great waters will cover their lowlands ; their corn cannot grow ; and the Great Spirit will sweep those who escape to the hills from the earth with his terrible breath. •* Brothers, — We must be united ; we must smoke the same pipe ; we must fight each other's battles ; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit : he is for us ; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy." Gi a ad f CHAPTER VI. ATTACHMENT TO, AMJ EDlICATrOX OF. THElll CIIfLDHEN. Inconsequence of the universal sentiment that the Indians, from defect of intellect, are incapable of civilization, I fully determined to endeavour to pro- cure a young deserted infant (if such could be found), whom I would have taken and educated with, and as one of my own. My speculations on this plan were, however, frustrated; as all who were intimate with the Indians, concurred in affirming- that to obtain one of their children would be impossible. No emolument, or hope of advancement, would induce an Indian to part with his child. What an exalted virtue is here established ! People who are esteemed most civi- lized, most refined, have very different feelin<^s as to their offspring", which in many instances are cast off at their birth to be nursed by a hireling; alienated from their early home, and abandoned to the too often careless guardiansliip of an academy; consigned to a college, where if they learn something of Virgil and the mathematics, they also get initiated, before their manhood, into every species of dissipation; and finally sent to remote parts of the globe (no matter where) with little, if any, regard to a single consi- deration other than tl:c acquirement of wealth. How few of the duties obligatory oi* parents are fulfilled by the majoi'ity of Christian fathers and mothers! .* iv ^:. %-\ I \ f: 1 f CG ATTACHMENT TO AND EDLTATIOX The tender solicitude of the Indian women, in respect of their children, I have had several oppor- tunities of wilnessinff ; but it was nevermore com- j>letely developed than by the following incident which took place before my eyes. A mother with an infimt at her breast, and two other children, one about eleven and the other eight or nine years of age, were in a canoe near a mile from hind, during a violent squall. The wind came in sudden gusts, and the waves dashed in rapid suc- cession over the frail vessel. The poor woman, with ;i small oar in one hand and the other surrounding her babe, directed the two young ones, who each had a paddle, to get the head of the canoe to the wind while the squall lasted ; which, with much labour on the part of these tender little tr.ariners, jiidcd by the mother, was at length effected ; but during the effort it was very touching to see tae strong emotions of maternal love, evidenced to the poor iii(\\nt at her breast. She would clasp it tightly to her agitated bosom, then cast a momentary look at her other children, and with an anxious and steady gaze, watcii the coming wave. In this scene were exhibited such high degrees of fortitude, dexterity, and j)arcntal affection, thut I could have wished many of our civilized mothers, who look and think with contempt on the poor Indian, had beheld her. This tenden>.;:>.s in the early nurture of their off- sj)ring, is follow d by the most exact care in their subsequent education. " It may justly be a subject of wonder," says Air. lleckcwelder, *' how a nation. OF THEIR CHILDREN'. OT without a written code of laws or system of juris- prudence, without any form or constitution of government, and without even a single elective or hereditary magistrate, can subsist together in peace and harmony, and in the exercise of the moral virtues; how a peo])le can be well and effectually guverned, without any external authority, by the mere force of the ascendancy which men of superior minds have over those of a more ordinary stamp; by a tacit, yet universal submission to the aristocracy of experience, talents, and virtue! Such, neverthe- less, is the spectacle which an Indian nation exhibits to the eye of a stranger. 1 have been a witness to it for a long series of years, and alter much obser- vation and reflection to discover the cause of this phenomenon, I think I have reason to be satisfied that it is in a great degree to be ascribed to i/tc pain'i w/iich I he Indians lake to instil at an tar/i/ ai^e hontat and virtuous jninciplcs upon the iniiuls of their children, and to the method whuh Ihcj/ pursue in educating them. This method I will not call a system, for systems are unknown to these sons of nature, who, by fol- lowing alone her dictates, have at once discovered, and fiillow without ellurt, that plain obvious path which the philosophers of Europe have been so long in search of*." The manner of this education is described by our good missionary as follows: — '* The first step that parents take towards the •. •■ « u v- > * Hc'ckewi'lflcrs Hmmrical A^cuiiiit, p. 9b. K % 08 ATTACHMENT TO AND EDUf ATfOX education of their children, is to prepare them for future happiness, by impressing upon their tender minds, that they are indebted for their existence to a great, good, and benevolent Spirit, who not only has given them life, but has ordained them for cer- tain great purposes. That he has given them a fer- tile extensive country, well stocked with game of every kind for their subsistence; and that by one of liis inferior spirits he has also sent dovvn to them from above, corn, pumpkins, squashes, beans and other vegetables for their nourishment ; all which blessings their ancestors have enjoyed for a great number of ages. That this great Spirit looks down upon the Indians, to see whether they are grateful to him and make him a due return for the many benefits he has bestowed, and therefore that it is their duty to show their thankfulness by worshipping him, and doing that which is p easing in his sight. ** This is in substance the first lesson taught, and from time to time repeated to the Indian children, which n \turally leads them to reflect and gradually to unders.'and that a Being which hath done such great things for them, and all to make them happy, must be good indeed, and that H is surely their duty to do something that will please him. They are then told that their ancestors, who received all this from the hands of the great Spirit, and lived in the enjoy- ment of it, must have been informed of what would be most pleasing to this good Being, and of the man- ner in which his favour could be most surely obtained, and they are directed to look up for instruction to >ii OF 'J'HKFR rHFLDREN. 69 I those who know all this, to learu from them, and revere them for their wisdom and the knowledge which they possess ; this creates in the children a strong sentiment of respect for their elders, and a desire to follow their advice and example. Their young ambition is then excited by telling them that they were made the superiors of all other creatures, and are to have power over them ; great pains are taken to make this feeling take an early root, and it becomes, in fact, their ruling passion through life; for no pains are spared to instil into them, that by following the advice of the most admired and extolled hunter, trapper, or warrior, they will at a future day acquire a degree of fame and reputation, equal to that which he possesses ; that by submitting to the counsels of the a»ed, the chiefs, the men superior in wisdom, they may also rise to glory, and be called Wise mciij an honourable title, to which no Indian is indifferent. Tiiey are iinally told that if they respect the aged and infirm, and are kind ard obliging to them, they will be treated in the same manner when their turn comes to feel the infirmities of old age. ** When this first and most important lesson is thought to be sufficiently impressed upon children's minds, the parents next proceed to make them sen- sible of the distinction between good and evil; they tell them that there are good actions and bad actions, both equally open to them to do or commit; that good acts are pleasing to the good Spirit which gave them their existence, and that on the contrary, all that is bad proceeds from the bad spirit who has \ , . • f w 70 ATTACH>»GNT TO AXH EDUrATION given them nothing, and who cannot give them any thing that is good, because he has it not, apd there- fore he envies them that which th^y have received from the good Spirit, who is far superior to the bad one. **' This introductory lesson, if it may be so called, naturally makes them wish to know what is good and what is bad. This the parent teaches them in his own way ; that is to say, in the way in which he was himself tauglit by his own parents, ft is not the lesson of an hour nor of a day, it is rather a long course more of practical than of theoretical instruc- tion; a lesson, which Is not repeated at stated sea- sons or times, but which is shewn, pointed out, and demonstrated to the child, not only by those under whose immediate guardianship he is, but by the whole community, who consider themselves alike interested in the direction to be given to the rising generation. " When this instruction is given in the form of precepts, it must not be supposed that it is done in an authoritative or forbidding tone, but, on the con- trary, in the gentlest and most persuasive manner: nor is the parent's authority ever supported by harsh or compulsive means; no whips, no punishments, no threats are c ver used to enforce commands or compel obedience. The child's pride is the feeling to which an appeal is made, which proves successful in almost every instance. A I'allier nreds only to say in the presenco of his children ' I want such ♦ a thing done; I want one of my children to go OF THKiH run.niiKN. 71 ' upon such an errand; let me see who is the ^ood * child that will do it!' This word "ood operates, as it were, by magic, and the children immediately vie with each other to comply with the wishes of their parent. If a father sees an old decrepit man or woman pass by, led along by a child, he will draw the attention of his own children to the object by saying, * What a jiood child that must be, which * pays such attention to the aged! That child, in- * deed, looks forward to the time when it will like- ' wise be old!' or he will say, * May the great ' Spirit, who looks upon him, grant this (rood child * a long life!' *' In this manner of bringing up children, the parents, as I have already said, are seconded by the whole community. If a child is sent from his father's dwelling to carry a dish of victuals to an aged per- son, all in the house will join in calling him a i!;ond child. They will ask whusc child he is, and on beint": told, will exclaim, what ! has the Toriom^ or the Litllc Bear, (as the father's name may be) got such a proid child?' If a child is seen passing through the streets leading an old decrepit |)ersnn, the villagers will in his hearing, and to encourage all the other children who may be present to take example from him, call on one another to look on and see what a frood child that must be. And so, in most instances, this method is resorted to, for the purpose of instructing children in t!;i:igs that are good, proper, or honour- able in themselves; while, on the; other hand, when a child has committed a dud act, the parent will bay . I . r 72 ATTAf FF.MKNT TO AND KDITCATIOX to him, * O ! how grieved I am that my child has * done this bad act ! I hope he will never do so ' again.' This is generally effectual, particularly if said in the presence of others. The whole of the Indian plan of education tends to elevate rather than depress the mind, and by that means to make deter- mined hunters and fearless warriors. " Thus, when a lad has killed his first game, such as a deer or a bear, parents who have boys growing up will not fail to say to some person in the presence of their own children, * That boy must have listened * attentively to the aged hunters, for, though so ' young, he has already given a proof that he will * become a good hunter himself.' If, on the other hand, a young man should fail of giving such a proof, it will be said of him * that he did not pay attention ' to the discourses of the a!»cd.' '• In this indirect manner is instruction on all sub- jects given to the yoiuig people. They arc to learn the arts of hunting, trapping, and making war, by listening to the aged when conversing together on those subjects ; each in his turn relating how he acted ; and opportunities are afforded to them for that purpose. By this mode of instructing youth, their respect for the aged is kept alive, and it is in- creased by the reiiection that the same respect will be paid to them at a future day, when young persons will be attentive to what they shall relate. " This method of conveying instruction is, I be- lieve, common to most Indian nations ; it is so, at least, amongst all those that 1 have beconie at- OV TIIKIH (IIII>l)Ri:X. quaintcd with, and lays the foundation for that volun- tary submission to their chiefs, for which they arc so remarkable. Thus has been maintained for ages, without convulsions and without civil discords, this traditional government, of which the world, perhaps, does not offer another example; a government in which there arc no positive laws, but only long estabiisb'^d habits and customs; no code of jurispru- dence, but the experience of former times; no magis- trates, but advisers, to whom the people, neverthe- less, pay a willing and implicit obedience, in which age confers rank, wisdom gives power, and moral goodness secures a title to universal respect. All this seems to be effected by the simple means of an excellent mode of education, by which a strong at- tachment to ancient customs, respect for age, and the love of virtue are indelibly impressed upon the minds of youth, so that these impressions acquire strength as time pursue, its course, and as they pass through successive generations.*' ;,'■ > 1 74. CHAPTER Vll. SEXSiniMTV-flRATfTrnK— CRUKJr, fOXDUCT EXER- CISKI) TOWAIinS THE INDiANS. Ix passinjj^ down tlie St. Lawrence in the summer of 1810, I stopped my batteaux at a tavern where I purposed to jciiiain all night. Two squaws were there with a basket of ^ild straw])erries for sale, and I directed the mistress of the tavern to purchase some that I might liave them witli cream for my supper. It was soon, liowever, to be perceived by the conversation in bargaining, that my landlady and the Indian women could not come to terms. There seemed to be much harshness in the manner of the former ; but the replies of the latter were so meek, and their demeanour so submissive, that had I been making the barfi^ain under the impression of my feel- ings, few words would have been necessary. The christian purchaser, ho^\ever, contiiuied so extor- tionate in lier demands that the poor disappointed heal hens turned awav from her. Truly unreasonable indeed must the lady have been, for tiiere was neither village, nor other house near likely to afford a market for the poor Indian hawkers, who it seemed had come to this very tavern with the hope of selling their fruit. Under this impression 1 followed the poor women, put hall" a dollar into the hands of one of then), nnd hastily passed on, while they gazed at )ne with aslunishmcnt at so uncx[)ectcd a lar^asy 1 m (OX DUCT TOUARPR TIIK INDIANS. 7;> for so it appeared to them. On my return from a walk along the river, I was surprised to see the two squaws standing at the corner of the house patiently waiting for me ; when, with eyes sparkling with emotions which I could not misunderstand, but which I am incapable of portraying, they presented me with a bowl top-full of picked strawberries, which 1 rejected at first, being desirous of convincing them there were some, if not many, white men who felt kindly towards them. But their expression of entreaty was so vehement, their importunity so great, that I felt it necessary to their happiness to accept their present, for they had no other way of shewing their gratitude. This humble offering fur- nished my supper, and sweet indeed would my meal have been, had not commiseration for the wrongs of these sorely abused, persecuted, forlorn, and abandoned people, mingled with my enjoyment. I am so fully impressed with their undeserved misery, and with the nobleness of their character, that 1 should esteem the devotion of my life in their cause the most honourable way in which it could be de- voted; btit alas, years and circumstances prevent my doing more than making this feeble effort to rouse the energies of youthful talent in their behalf; and as benevolence pervades the youthful mind more powerfully than that of the aged, I am not without a hope that thousand^; will yet start up to advocate the cause of the Mcj] Indians, and prosecute nieasnres for the amelioration of their state. The above instance of want of charity, nay, of 1 , :Vl- »> ;••• \> U;:^ ■' f- .1 ^ 76 ( IIUKI. (ONDUCT KXKlU'lSKn common decency on the part of white people in their intercourse with the Indians, is not by any means of rare occurrence. My reader will already have seen the complaints and pathetic appeals to justice which the poor children of the wilderness are so frequently compelled, by the treachery of their civilized neigh- bours, to make ; and I am sorry to add another spe- cimen to the long list of these atrocious outrages, which, in large and petty aggressions, is daily swelling and becoming more and more enormous. In passing, on the very day I have just adverted to, through the thousand islands, one of the boatmen who were rowing me, hallooed to a canoe in which some Indians were fishing, who immediately came towards us, and a barter commenced between them and the boatmen. The boatmen held up a piece of cold pork and a loaf, for which they were to receive fish. The poor young Indians, (for the eldest was not above fourteen, and there were two little girls younger) shewed what tish they would give ; yet warily kept at a distance, fearing what in spite of their precaution, actually took place. The boatmen struck suddenly at the canoe with their oars, and in the confusion which this attack caused, grasped the fish ; the bread and pork they at first offered were, I need hardly say, withheld. Having achieved this noble enterprise they shouted and assailed the unre- sisting and defenceless children (who paddled off evi- dently fearful of further outrage,) with taunts and mockery. These men were Canadians ; there were lour of them j and 1 had no other means of punishing TOWARDS Tin: INDIANS. 77 them on this occasion than by wilhholding the iisiuil pecuniary fee. I was in some measure at their mercy ; but though compelled to l)e a cahn spectator of so dastardly a theft, I confess I was still more incensed at seeing how heartily some inhabitants of Canada, who were my fellow-passengers, seemed lo enjoy the juke. The fact is, the Indians are esteemed lawful prey. Such is the feeling of thousands of men called christians, who boast of civilization, but who derive their subsistence by intercourse with the Indians; and however just many in the United States are, and however careful the British government is to guard the rights of the red men, yet as this guardian- ship is chiefly committed to those who are partakers in the spoils of the Indians, the care, instead of being wise and benign, is rather to debauch their untutored minds by the introduction of spirits among them. Every cup to them is indeed " unblessed, and the ingredient is a devil !" Gradually, therefore, are they diminishing, and receding from the haunts of what we term dcilizalionf That this charge does not apply to all, and rarely to the heads of these depart- ments, I rejoice to admit; but still those heads of departments are responsible for all the acts of their subordinate agents, and should exercise a vigilant superintendence, impartially punishing any, the least, infringement of their regulations. No man should be connected with the Indian department who is direct- ly or indirectly interested in trade with the Indians. I will not declaim on this subject, but let the fol- lowing facts, derived from Mr. lleckcwelder's ac- count, speak for themselves. ^B IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) i.O I.I 1.25 IfriM IIM I ^ Ilia I 1^ 12.0 11= U IIIIII.6 V] ^ /a m ^l o 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N./. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ iP V :\ -q V \ A ^ 'if is: 78 CRUFL CONDUCT EXERCISED " In the summer of the year 17G3, some friendly In- dians from a distant pUice, came to Bethlehem to dispose of their peltry for manufactured goods and necessary implements of husbandry. Returning home v/ell satisfied, they put up the first night at a tavern, eight miles distant. ■* The landlord not being at home, his wife took the liberty of encouraging the people who frequented her house for the sakeof drink- ing, to abuse those Indians, adding, that she would freely give a gallon of rum to any one of them that should kill one of those black devils. Other white people from the neighbourhood came in during the night, who also drank freely, made a great deal of noise, and increased the fears of those poor Indians, who, for the greatest part, understanding English, could not but suspect that something bad was in- tended against their persons. They were not, how- ever, otherwise disturbed ; but in the morning, when, after a restless night they were preparing to set off, they found themselves robbed of some of the most va- luable articles they had purchased, and on mentioning this to a man who appeared to be the bar-keeper, they were ordered to leave the house. Not being wiUing to lose so much property, they retired to some dis- tance into the woods, where, some of them remaining Avith what was left them, the others returned to Bethlehem and lodged their complaint with a justice of the peace. The magistrate gave them a letter to H * This relation is ;iiitlieiitic ; I have received it, says Mr. Heokewelder, from tiie mouth of tlie ciiicr of the injured party, and hia statement was con- firmed by coinmunications made at the time by two respectable magistrates of the county. " :% \der, [•iUes TOWARDS THR INDIANS. 79 the landlord, pressing liiin without delay to restore to the Indians the goods that had been taken from them. But behold 1 when they delivered that letter to the people at the inn they were told in answer, * that if they set any value on their lives, they must * make off with themselves immediately.' They veil understood that they had no other alternative, and prudently departed without having received buck any of their goods. Arrived at Nescopeck on the Susquehannah, they fell in with some other Dela- wares, who had been treated much in the same manner, one of them having had his rifle stolen from him. Here the two parties agreed to take revenge in their own way, for those insults and robberies for which they could obtain no redress ; and that they determined to do as soon as war should be again declared by their nation against the English. ** Scarcely had these Indians retired, when in another place, about fourteen miles distant from the former, one man, two women and a child, all quiet Indians, were murdered in a most wicked and bar- barous manner, by drunken militia officers and their men, for the purpose of getting their horse and the goods they had just purchased*. One of the women, falling on her knees, bogged in vain for the life of herself and her child, while the other woman seeing what was doing, made her escape to the barn, where she endeavoured to hide herself on the top of the grain. She however was discovered, and inhumanly * Justice Geiger's letter to Justice Horsefield proves this fact. « I- ' ■ -r > . ,!^- ■\ •'1 ■■!■ •:l ■it , M %^ •it 80 CRDEL CONDUCT EXFJlCfSEO thrown down on the thrashing floor with such force that her brains flew out. " Here, then, were insults, robberies and murders, all committed within the short space of three months, unatoned for and unrevenged. There was no prospect of obtaining redress; the survivors were therefore obliged to seek some other means to ob- tain revenge. They did so ; the Indians, already- exasperated against the English in consequence of repeated outrages, and considering the nation as re- sponsible for the injuries which it did neither prevent nor punish, and for which it did not even ofter to make any kind of reparation, at last declared war, and then the injured parties were at liberty to re- dress themselves for the wrongs they had suffered. They immediately started against the objects of their hatred, and finding their way imseen and undis- covered, to the inn which had been the scene of the first outrage, they attacked it at day-break, fired into it on the people within who were lying on their beds. Strange to relate ! the murderers of the man, two women, and child, were among them. They were mortally wounded, and died of their wounds shortly afterwards. The Indians, after leaving this house, murdered by accident an innocent family, having mistaken the house that they meant to at- tack, after which they returned to their homes. •' Now a violent hue and cry was raised against the Indians — no language was too bad, no crimes too black to brand them with. No faith was to be pla- ced in those savages; treaties with them were of no TOWARDS THE INDIAXS. SI effect; they ought to be cut off from the face of the earth ! Such was the language at that time in every- body's mouth ; the newspapers were filled with accounts of the cruelties of the Indians ; a variety of false reports were circulated in order to rouse the people against them ; while they, the really injured party, having no printing presses among them, could not make known the stori/ of their grievances. " * No faith can be placed in what the Indians pro- * mise at treaties; for scarcely is a treaty concluded * than they are again murdering us.' Such is our complaint against these unfortunate people ; but they will tell you that it is the white men in whom no faith is to be placed. They will tell you, that there is not a single instance in which the whites have not vio- lated the engagements that they had made at treaties. They say that when chey had ceded lands to the white people, and boundary lines had been established — * firmly established !' beyond which no whites were to settle ; scarcely was the treaty signed, when white intruders again were settling and hunting on their lands ! It is true that when they preferred their complaints to the government, the government gave them many fair promises and assured them that men would be sent to remove the intruders by force from the usurped lands. The men, indeed, came, but with chain and compass in their hands, taking surveys of the tracts of good land, which the intruders, from their knowledge of the country, had pointed out to them ! " What was then to be done, when those intruders i '. I '•iv ' 5' ■ ■ ^ . r. 82 CRUEL CONDUCT EXERCISED would not go oiF from the land, but, on the contrary, increased m numbers? *0h!' said those people, (and I have myself frequently heard this language in the Western country,) * a new treaty will soon give • us all this land ; nothing is now wanting but a * pretence to pick a quarrel with them!' Well, but in what manner is this quarrel to be brought about ? A David Owen, a Walker, and many others, might, if they were alive, easily answer this question. A pre- cedent, however, may be found, on perusing Mr. Jefferson's Appendix to his Notes on Virginia, On all occasions, when the object is to murder Indians, strong liquor is the main article required ; for when you have them dead drunk, you may do to them as you please, without running the risk of losing your life. And should you find that the laws of your country may reac!; you where you are, you have only to escape or conceal yourself for awhile until the storm has blown over ! I well recollect the time when thieves and murderers of Indians fled from impending punishment across the Susqiiehannah where they considered themselves safe ; on which account this river had the name given to it of * the rogues' river.' I have heard other rivers called by similar names. *' In the year 1742, the Reverend Mr. Whitefield offered the Nazareth Manor (as it was then called) for sale to the United Brethren. He had already begun to build upon it a spacious stone house, intended as a school-house for the education of Indian children. The Indians, in the meanwhile, loudly exclaimed ■i vii* <' 7i i i TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 83 ao^ainst the white people for settling in this part of the country, which had not yet been legally purchased of them, but, as they said, had been obtained by fraud.* The Brethren declined purchasing any lands on which the Indian title had not been properly ex- tinguished, wishing to live in peace with all the In- dians around them. Count Zinzendortt' happened at that time to arrive in the country ; he found that the agents of the proprietors would not pay to the Indians the price which they asked for that tract of land ; he paid them out of his private purse the whole of the de- mand which they made in the height of their ill tem- per, and moreover gave them permission to abide on the land, at their village, (where, by the by, they had a fine large peach orchard,) as long as they should think proper. But among those white men, who af- terwards came and settled in the neighbourhood of their tract, there were some who were ewcmies to the Indians; and a young Irishman, without cause or provocation, murdered their good and highly re- spected chief, Taclemi, a man of such an easy and friendly address, that he could not but be loved by all who knew him. This, together with the threats of other persons ill disposed towards them, was the cause of their leaving their settlement on this manor, and removing to places of greater safety. ** It is true, that when flagrant cases of this de- scription occurred, the government, before the revo- ; * Alluding; to what was at that tu))C known by the name of the long (lay's walk. G 2 ■ii 84 CRUEL CONDUCT EXERCrSED lution, issued proclamations offering rewards for apprehending the offenders ; and in later times, since the country has become more thickly settled, those ■who had been guilty of such oftences were brought before the tribunals to take their trials. But these formalities have proved of little avail. In the first case, the criminals were seldom, if ever, appre- hended; in the second, no jury could be found to convict them , for it was no uncommon saying among many of the men of whom juries in the frontier coun- tries were commonly composed, that no man should be put to death for killing an Indian ; for it was the same thing as killing a wild beast! " In the course of the revolutionary war, in which (as in all civil commotions) brother was seen fighting against brother, and friend against friend, a party of Indian warriors, with whom one of those white men, who, under colour of attachment to their king, in- dulged in every sort of crimes, was going out against the settlers on the Ohio, to kill and destroy as they had been ordered. The chief of the expedition had given strict orders not to molest any of the white men who lived with their friends the Christian In- dians ; yet, as they passed near a settlement of these converts, the white man, unmindful of the orders he had received, attempted to shoot two of the Mission- aries who were planting potatoes in their field, and though the captain warned him to desist, he still obstinately persisted in his attempt. The chief, in anger, immediately took his gun from him, and kept him under guard until they had reached a consider- I I i TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 85 able distance from the place. I have received this account from the chief himself, who on his return sent word to the Missionaries that they would do well not to go far from home as they were in too great danger from the ivJiiln people. *' Another white man of the same description, whom I well knew, related with a kind of barbarous exultation, on his return to Detroit from a war ex- cursion with the Indians in which he had been engaged, that the party with which he was, having taken a woman prisoner who had a sucking babe at her breast, he tried to persuade the Indians to kill the child, lest its cries should discover the place where they were ; the Indians were unwilling to commit the deed, on which the white man at once jumped up, tore the child from its mother's arms, and taking it by the legs dashed its head against a tree, so that the brains flew out all around. The monster in relating this story said, * The little dog all the ' time was making iceef He added, that if he were sure that his old father, who some time before had died in Old Virginia, would, if he had lived longer, have turned rebel, he would go all the way into Vir- ginia, raise the body, and take off his scalp! " Let us now contrast with this the conduct of the Indians. Carver tells us in his travels with what moderation, humanity and delicacy they treat female prisoners, and particularly pregnant women*. I refer th^ reader to the following fact, as an instance * Carver's Travels, cli. 9. p. I'JO. ♦ f <,' 86 CRUEL CONDUCT EXERCISED of their conduct in such cases. If his admiration is excited by the behaviour of the Indians, I doubt not that his indignation will be raised in an equal degree by that of a white man who unfortunately acts a part in the story. " A party of Dclawarcs, in one of their excursions during the revolutionary war, took a white female prisoner. The Indian chief, after a march of several days, observed that she was ailing, and was soon convinced (for she was far advanced in her preg- nancy) that the time of her delivery was near. He immediately made a halt on the bank of a stream, where, at a proper distance from the encampment^ he built for her a close hut of peeled barks, gathered dry grass and fern to make her a bed, and placed a blanket at the opening of the dwelling as a substi- tute for a door. He then kindled a fire, placed a pile of wood near it to feed it occasionally, and placed a kettle of water at hand where she might easily use it. He then took her into her little infirmary, gave her Indian medicines, with directions how to use them, and told her to rest easy , and she might be sure that nothing should disturb her. Having done this, he returned to his men, forbade them from making any noise, or disturbing the sick woman in any man- ner, and told them that he himself should guard her during the night. He did so ; and the whole night kept watch before her door, walking backward and forward, to be ready at her call at any moment, in case of extreme neccsf:ity. The night passed quietly ; but in the morning, as he was walking by ^ TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 87 on the b?nk of the stream, seeing him through the crevices, she called to him and presented her babe. The good chief, with tears in his eyes, rejoiced at her safe delivery ; he told her not to be uneasy, that he should lay by for a few days and would soon bring her some nourishing food, and some medicines to take. Then going to his encampment, he ordered all his men tc go out a hunting, and remained him- self to guard the camp." Forgive me, reader, if, for a moment, I disturb the order of my ext^'act. There is nothing that I know within the whole scope of anecdotal history more affecting than the present narration. How exalted was the humanity of this Indian Chief! how refined his delicacy ! how watchful and tender his care ! — The pathos, though deep, is sweet; and Mr. Hecke- welder has communicated the story in a style of feel- ing and simplicity worthy of it. He has made us wit- nesses of the transaction. We see, through the dark- ness of the night, the swarthy warrior walking anxi- ously backward and forward before the hut of bark, — the " little infirmary" of the labouring woman. The morning comes ; and in the pale dawn behold ! the poor creature pointing, in a state of utter exhaustion, to her babe, delivered in the wilderness — in night and solitude! Yet was she not entirely without sup- port ; for, over and above the secret aid which came to her pangs from high, see ! she meets with sympa- thy in a wild man, a stranger, a warrior ; who melts into tears at the sight! My heart, too, swells as I read. Bear with me — we will resume our extract. I , ■•r- r 88 c'RiJKL roM)U( r EXEiinsKn " Now for the reverse of the picture. Among the meuwhuin this chief had under his command, was one of those white vaj2;abonds whom 1 have before de- scribed. The captain was much afraid of him, knowing him to be a bad man ; and as he had expressed a great desire to go a hunting with the rest, he believed him gone, and entertained no fears for the woman's safety. But it was not long before he was undeceived. While he was gone to a small distance to dig roots for his poor patient, he heard her cries, and running with speed to her hut, he was informed by her that the white man had threatened to take her life if she did not immediately throw her child into the river. The captain, enraged at the cruelty of this man, and the liberty he had taken with his prisoner, hailed him as he was running off, and told him * That the moment he should miss the child, the * tomahawk should be in his head.' After a few days this humane chief placed the woman carefully on a liorse, and they went together to the place of their destination, the mother and child doing well. I have heard him relate this story, to which he added, that whenever he should go out on an excur- sion, he never would suffer a white man to be of his party. " Yet I must acknowledge that I have known an In- dian chief who had been guilty of the crime of killing the child of a female prisoner. His name was Glik- hican. In the year 1770, he joined the congregation of the Christian Indians; the details of his conversion are related at large by Loskiel in his History of the Mis- ^ 1 ■1 1 To\VAiU)s Tin: ixpiaxs. 8!) sions '^. Before that time he had been conspicuoius as a warrior and a counsellor, and in oratory it is said he never was surpassed. This man, having joined the French in the year 1754 or 1 75o, in their war against the English, and being at that time out with a party ol' Frenchmen, took among other prisoners, a young woman, named Rachel Abbott, from the Conegoclie- aofue settlement, who had at her breast a suckin«>' babe. The incessant cries of the child, the hurry to get off, but above all, the persuasions of his whiu companions, induced him, much against his inclina- tion, to kill the innocent creature ; while the mother, in an agony of grief, and her face suffused with tears, begged duit its life might be spared. The woman, liowever, was brought safe to the Ohio, where she was kindly treated and adopted, and some years afterwards was married to a Delaware chief of re- spectability, by whom she had several children, who are now living with the Christian Indians in Upper Canada. *' Glikhican never forgave himself for having com- mitted this crime, although many times, and long before his becoming a Christian, he had begged the woman's pardon with tears in his eyes, and received her free and full forgiveness. In vain she pointed out to him all the circumstances that he could have alleged to excuse the deed ; in vain she reminded him of his unwillingness at the time, and his having been in a manner compelled to it by his French asso- ,'■■ V I' ■ * Losklcl, p. 3. ch. 3. 90 CRUEL CONDUCT EXERCISED ciates ; nothing that she did say could assuage his sorrow or quiet the perturbation of his mind ; he called himself a wretch, a monster, a coward (the proud feelings of an Indian must be well understood to judge of the force of this self-accusation), and to the moment of his death the remembrance of thiu fatal act preyed like a canker-worm upon his spirits. I ought to add, that from the time of his conversion he lived the life of a Christian, and died as such. ** The Indians are cruel to their enemies ! — In some cases they are, but perhaps not more so than white men have sometimes shewn themselves. There have been instances of white men flaying or taking off the skin of Indians who had fallen into their hands, then tanning those skins or cutting them in pieces, making them up into razor-straps, and exposing those for sale, as was done at or near Pittsburg some- time during the revolutionary war. Those things are abominations in the eyes of the Indians, who, indeed, when strongly excited, inflict torments on their prisoners and put them to death by cruel tor- tures, but never are guilty of acts of barbarity in cold blood. Neither do the Delawares and some other Indian nations, ever on any account disturb the ashes of the dead. ** The custom of torturing prisoners is of ancient date, and was first introduced as a trial of courage. I have been told, however, that among some tribes it has never been in use ; but it must be added that those tribes gave no quarter. The Delawares accuse the Iroquois of havmg been the inventors of this N TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 91 piece of cruelty, and charge them further with eat- ing the flesh of their prisoners after the torture was over. Be this as it may, there are now but few instances of prisoners being put to death in this manner. " Rare as these barbarous executions now are, I have reason to believe that they would be still less frequent, if proper pains were taken to turn the In- dians away from this heathenish custom. Instead of this, it is but too true that they have been excited to cruelty by unprincipled white men, who have joined in their war-feasts and even added to the bar- barity of the scene. Can there be a more brutal act than, after furnishing those savages, as they are called, with implements of war and destructior. to give them an ox to kill and to roast whole, to dance the war dance with them round the slaughtered ani- mal, strike at him, stab him, telling the Indians at the same time, * Strike, stab! thus you must do to * your enemy!' Then taking a piece of the meat and tearing it with their teeth, * So you must eat * his flesh !' and sucking up the juices, * Thus you * must drink his blood ;' and at last devour the whole as wolves do a carcass. This is what is known to have been done by some cf those Indian agents that I have mentioned. " Is this possible ? the reader will naturally ex- claim. Yes, it is possible, and every Indian war- rior will tell you that it is true. It has come to me from so many credible sources that I am forced to believe it. How can the Indians now be reproached with acts of cruelty to which they have been excited '^, •i ■if ', ■. i . 92 CONDUCT TO THE INDIANS. * by those who pretended to be Christians and civi- lized men, but who were worse savages than those whom, no doubt, they were ready to brand with that name. '* When hostile governments give directions to employ the Indians against their enemies, they surely do not know that such is the manner in which their orders are to be executed ; but let me tell them and every government who will descend to employing these auxiliaries, that this is the only way in which their subaltern agents will and can proceed to make their aid effectual. The Indians are not fond of in- terfering in quarrels not their own, and will not fight with spirit for the mere sake of a livelihood which they can obtain in a more agreeable manner by hunt- ing and their other ordinary occupations. Their passions must be excited, and that is not easily done when they themselves have not received any injury from those against whom they are desired to fight. Behold, then, the abominable course which must unavoidably be resorted to — to induce them to do what ? — to lay waste the dwelling of the peaceable cultivator of the land, and to murder his innocent wife and his helpless children ! I cannot pursue this subject further, although I am far from having ex- hausted it. I have said enough to enable the im- partial reader to decide which of the two classes of men, the Indians and the whites, are most justly entitled to the epithets of brutes, barbarians, and savages. It is not for me to anticipate his decision*," * See Heckewelder, chap. 44. 93 CHAPTER VIII. VANITY AS TO DRESS, AND OTHER PERSONAL DECORATION. The warriors and chiefs are distinguished by their ornaments. The present dress of the Indians is well known to consist in blankets, plain or ruffled shirts and leggings for the men, and cloth petticoats for the women, generally red, blue, or black. The blankets are sometimes made of feathers. This manufacture requires great patience, being a very tedious kind of work ; yet the Indians do it in a most ingenious manner. The feathers (generally those of the turkey and goose) are curiously arranged and interwoven together with a sort of thread or twine, which they prepare from the rind or bark of the wild hemp and nettle. The wealthy adorn themselves with ribands or gartering of various colours, beads, and silver broaches. They wear, moreover, broad rings or bands on their arms, fin- gers, arid round their hats; these ornaments are highly valued if of silver, but if only plated they are despised, and would hardly be worn. I have seen in young children, three rings in each ear. These decorations are arranged by the women, who, as well as the men, know how to dress themselves in style. Those of the men consist in the painting of themselves (their head and face principally), wear- ing gaudy giirments, with silver arm spangles and >■. :V S ' ♦ 1 ' 91. VANITY AS TO DRESS, &c. breast- plates, and a belt or two of wampum hanging to their necks. The women, at the expense of their husbands or lovers, line their petticoat and blanket with choice ribands of various colours, or with gar- tering, on which they fix a number of silver broaches or small round buckles. They adorn their leggings in the same manner ; their mocksens are neatly em- broidered with coloured porcupine quills, and are besides, almost entirely covered with various trin- kets ; they have also a number of littl^. bells and brass thimbles fixed round their ankles, which, when they walk, make a tinkling noise, which is heard at some distance ; this is intended to draw the attention of those who pass by, that they may look at, and ad- mire them. The women make use of vermilion in painting themselves for dances; but they are very careful and circumspect in applying the paint, so that it does not offend or create suspicion in their husbands ; there is a mode of painting which is left entirely to loose women and prostitutes. The following diverting anecdote is told by my old friend the Moravian missionary : — " As I was once resting in my travels at the house of a trader who lived at some distance from an Indian town, I went in the morning to visit an Indian ac- quaintance and friend of mine. I found him engaged in plucking out his beard, preparatory to painting himself for a dance which was to take place the en- duing evening. Having finished his head-dress, about an hour before sunset, he came up, as he said, to VANITY AS TO DRESS, &c. 95 to see me, but I and my companions judged that he came to be seen. To my utter astonishment, 1 saw three different paintings or figures on one and the s^me face. He had, by his great ingenuity and judgment in laying on and shading the different colours, made his nose appear, when we stood di- rectly in front of him, as if it were very long and narrow, with a round nob at the end, much like the upper part of a pair of tongs. On one cheek there was a red round spot, about the size of an apple, and the other was done in the same manner with black. The eye-lids, both the upper and lower ones, were reversed in the colouring. When we viewed him in profile on one side, his nose repre- sented the beak of an eagle, with the bill rounded and brought to a point, precisely as those birds have it, though the mouth was somewhat open. The eye was astonishingly well done, and the head, upon the whole, appeared tolerably well, shewing a great deal of fierceness. When we turned round to the other side, the same nose now resembled the snout of a pike, with the mouth so open, that the teeth could be seen. He seemed much pleased with his execu- tion ; and having his looking-glass with him he con- templated his work, seemingly with great pride and exultation. He asked me how I liked it? I answered that if he had done the work on a piece of board, bark, or any thing else, I should like it very well, and often look at it. * But,' asked he, * why not so as it is? * Because,' said I, *I cannot see the face that is hidden under these colours, so as to ^^ • ' i k r % ■ • • f ♦ 96 VANITY AS TO DRESS, Sic. know who it is.' * Well/ he replied, ' I must go now ; and as you cannot know me to-day, I will call to-morrow morning before you leave this place.' He did so, and when he came back, he was washed clean again." When the men paint their thighs, legs, and breast, they generally, after laying on a thin shading coat of a darkish colour, and sometimes of a whitish clay, dip their fingers' ends in black or red paint, and then spreading them out, bring the streaks to a serpen- tine form. The notion formerly entertained that the Indians are beardless by nature, and have no hair on their bodies, is now entirely exploded. It is scarcely possible, indeed, for any person to pass a few weeks only among these people, without seeing them pluck out their beards with tweezers made expressly for that purpose. They perform the operation in a very quick manner, much like the plucking of a fowl; and the oftener it is done, the liner the hair grows, till at last the roots are so destroyed, that little or no hair appears left. The reasons they give for thus deracinating their hair, are that they may have a clean skin to lay the paint on, when they dress for their festivals or dances, and to facilitate the tattooing themselves; a custom formerly much in vogue among them, especially with those who had acquired cele- brity by their valour. They say that either painting or tattooing on a hairj^ face or body would have a disgusting appearance. Tattooing is now greatly discontinued. The pro- n % HP^i"^ VANITY AS TO DRESS. &c. 9: ■ ^'- M cess is quickly done, and does not seem to give mucu pain. They have poplar-bark in readiness, burnt and reduced to a nowder ; the figures that are to be tattooed are marked or designed on the fVin ; the operator, with a small stick, rather larger than a common match (to the end of which some sharp needles are fastened) quickly pricks over the whole so that blood is drawn; then a coat of the above powder is laid and left on to dry. I was travelling in the United States, near Lake Erie, accompanied by a gentleman who, like my- self, was a stranger in the country; and after riding several miles through the woods in great suspense, as scarcely any track was discernible, we at length arrived at an Indian hut. Night was now approach- ing, and we determined to return ; but, observing through the trees a number of Indians coming to- wards us, we changed our purpose, lest our going off might have been considered an indication of fear, a thing they are very apt to resent. We, therefore, spurred our horses forward, and proceeded towards several well-constructed framed houses, near one of which stood two Indian men. Having alighted, we fastened our horses to the railinq* that enclosed a small garden, and accosted the men with assumed confidence, though not altogether without fear, for as they were living within the States, it occurred to our minds that they might not be friendly if they per- ceived we were British. These men were eii gaged sharpening an axe at a grindstone. When the Indian who turned the stone, discovered he was looked at, he immediately changed hands at his * >• . - 'I U a • ■■■'' I. 98 VANITY AS TO DRESS, &c. work, and with secret pride, but affected careless- ness, extended the little finger of the hand now em- ployed, on which we could not avoid seeing a large silver ring. No sweet clergyman, in odour with the ladies, could have better displayed a jewel over the edge of his pulpit, — no spruce physician, con- scious of his brilliants, while feeling his patient's pulse ; or dandy, taking a pinch of snufF with an eye to the exhibition of his trinkets, could have done the thing with a finer air than our Indian. This high mark of civilization, I must confess, inspired me with courage. I went past them to the house, into which we entered without ceremony, though the door was shut. We there found a young squaw who took little notice of us. The house was a framed one, well boarded outside, and lined and floored with the same material within. It was about twenty feet square, and ten high. In the side there was a loft, which seemed to be used as a kind of store-house for cobbs, or heads of Indian corn, wool, &c. There Mere two bedsteads with blankets and covers of striped woollen and linen, a small table, and some rude chairs. On each side the fire stood a hollow trunk of a tree, about two feet ten inches high, in the bottom of each of which were a hard stone, and a large wooden pounder or pestle for bruising Indian corn. There were, moreover, some pots, pans, wooden plates and dishes, a churn for milk, and pails for milking, scooped out of the the solid tree. Few cabins in Ireland surpassed the one I am describing; and very few indeed, I grieve to say, equal it. Other buildings, still more com- VANITY AS TO DRESS, &r. 99 moclious, appeared at a distance; but as night was gaining upon us, and we had still seven miles through the woods to go, we hurried away from the inter- esting scene. On our road we met two squaws, each riding a very good horse. Upon seeing us, they imitated the polished airs of the most refined people ; holding themselves more erect, reining in their steeds, and looking at us with real modesty of manner. As soon as they passed they dashed for- ward with laug ter, being highly amused at the astonishment apparent in us. My own observations have convinced me that miiny of the feelings and acquirements which in the most fashionable constitute the surest marks of civi- lization, are to be found abundantly among the Indians. The men are fond of war and religion, of hunting, fishing, and feasting ; averse to labour, and impatient of control. Does this prove them savages ? The women affect dress and distinction ; are dotingly fond of their children, whose wants, together with the wanls of their husbands, they labour to supply. They are also warmly attached to their kindred and tribe. As some of these characteristics are not to be found in civilized life, the women may, for ought I know, bear some mark of savages. But with such inherent qualities, what might not these tribes become, both men and women ? Another trait of the Indian character is that they are kind and merciful masters to their horses; and cattle of every description are well fed, and kept in good condition by them. H2 /■ ■, > , '? ••f 100 RECENT ATTEMPTS TO CHAPTER IX. ATTEMPTS RECENTLY MADE TO LEAD THE INDIAN TRKBES TO ADMIT TEACHERS OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG THEM; WITH OBSERVATIONS THEREON, AND HINTS TO MISSIONARIES. Several scattered tribes, in various parts of th3 United States, and in Upper and Lower Canada, have nominally embraced Christianity as professed by the Roman Catholics and other sects ; and recent efforts have been made by Missionary Societies to forward among all the nations a willingness to ad- mit teachers to instruct them in the Christian profes- sion. A grand council of the Indians of many scat- tered and distant tribes, Avas to be held in the autumn or fall of 1819, for the purpose of delibera- ting and deciding whether these religious teachers were or were not to be allowed a footing among them. I happened at the time to be in the neigh- bourhood of their assembling, (not far distant from Buffalo) ; but finding that the subject would occupy many days, perhaps weeks, and that the discussions would be held among themselves, and in their own languages, I was prevented from attending the council. I availed myself, however, of every op- portunity of getting at the turning point of this im- portant subject. On my journey from Buffalo towards Canada, 1 met an Indian Chief proceeding to the council fire to enter upon the above delibera- I CONVERT THE INDIANS. 101 tion. He had an excellent horse, saddle, and bridle; his rifle-pistols, tomahawk, and blanket were slung on his horse; the scalping knife and pipe were attached to his person. The tout-ememblc of his dress was finery itsell*. He had silver clasps on his arms, long peacock-feathers in his cap, and conspi- cuous above aii, was a large silver cross, about eighteen inches long, suspended by a string of wam- pum round his neck. This indicated that he was a champion of Christianity. He had alighted from his horse, and was leaning against a rail fence, but in so beastly a state of drunkenness, that although he made many efforts to remount, he was unable, while I continued to observe him, to accomplish it. The very stirrup seemed to baffle him, and swing away from his foot : like another ecclesiastical adventurer (Hudibras), " he had imifh ado To reach it with his desperate toe." I would willingly have offered my aid to the chief, but fearing to give offence, I continued my journey, deeply mortified at what I had witnessed ; yet I re- flected that many champions of the cross had at all times gone forth like this poor besotted Indian ; like him accompanied by arms and external decorations, and if not drunk with rum, intoxicated with the love of earthly distinctimis, power, and dominion ; and overall, the cross! as if that emblem could sanctify the warlike spirit and abomination that it covered. In a few days afterwards, I was fortunate enough 102 RECENT ATTEMPTS TO to meet with an intclliii^ent young Iii<]ian chief, from whom I learned many important particulars relative to the grand council mcctinj^. It appeared that for many years the subject had been debated, and I was enabled to acquire from my young informant, a knowledge of the positions which the different parties took upon this important question. The favourers of Christianity alleged that the Great Spirit had ceased to regard them on account of their crimes, and had given them into the hands of the white men: that many years had gone over since the white men obtained a footing among them, and that while they (the Indians), were melting away from the face of the earth, the whites were every year increasing. This must evidently proceed from the determination of the- Great Spirit, and it was wis- dom, therefore, to yield to the religion of the Euro- peans, as the only means of avoiding the total de- struction of their tribes ; by doing so they would find more favour and security, not only from their father at Washington, but from their great father beyond the salt lake *. (For as this council was at- tended by chiefs from tribes in the United States, so also were many there from the British side.) The opposers of the measure urged, in reply, that the Great Spirit was angry with the Indians but for a season, and had only given temporary power to white men to punish them. The Indians had in former times enjoyed many and great blessings, and * The King' of England. CONVERT TIFK INDfANS. 103 should do so ag^ain. Why, therefore, ouo-ht they to depart from the worship of their fore-fathers, and follow the relii^ion called Christian ? As under the name of that reli<^io!i,and from those who professed it, had they experienced all their wrongs and suf- ferings, and had arrived at their present wasted condition ! Surely they should not embrace a faith that would tolerate such wickedness. What treaty had Christians kept with them? What just princi- ples had they not violated ? Had they not despoiled them of their lands, of their hunting grounds, of their lakes, and their mountains ? Had they not slain their young men and their old warriors i Had they not taught them to act as beasts, yea, worse than the beasts of the forest, by the use of spirituous liquors ? Did they not give rum to them to deceive and cheat them ; to take from them their fields and their skins ? And had they not derived loathsome diseases and other evils from those professing Christianity ? Can the God of the Christians approve such acts ? — ** Away," concluded these reasoners, *• with the religion and the name of Christian, why should we embrace it ?" I have thus embodied the outline of the contro- versy ; and alas ! how painful is it to admit that these objections are but too well founded. Never- theless, the young Indian chief seemed to think that the majority will consent to receive Christianity. As this young man could read English very well, I endeavoured to point out to him that true Chris- tianity no more countenanced oppression nor unjust r^ '■' i. < ' 104i RECENT ATTEMPTS TO 'I conduct than the Great Spirit did, from whom it came ; and that what Jesus Christ taught and prac- tised, was alone to be found in the New Testament, where his own words were recorded, and where the effects produced upon all who believed them, were to be seen. I told him that our Saviour denied those to be his people who acted unjustly to any : that his religion made no distinction between white and black men — between men of any name or nation under Heaven : that he who truly did unto his neigh- bour as he would be done by, was approved of Christ, while he who did wrong was condemned. All men were sinners ; but the Lord Jesus, in his in- finite compassion, came into the world to give his life a ransom for their offences. Such, therefore, as believed in his exceeding love and propitiation, and were led, by such belief, to forsake their sins, to love each other, to be at peace with all men, to perform the duties of life uprightly, to obey their parents, masters, and governors, and live piously with God in their hearts, were true Christians. I strongly endeavoured to impress on the mind of my young friend, that Christianity was not to be known by the professions made in the present day, which were nothing more than a system of opinions, ar- ranged so as to acquire respect to a certain order of men, that they might the more easily grasp worldly power and wealth; whereas the religion of the Cross, as taug'^t by Jesus and his xApostlos, and as we have it set forth in the Scriptures, does not countenance a lust after secular honours or dominion, i CONVERT THE INDIANS. 105 but expressly forbids it to his followers ; merely re- quiring of them that they should yield honour where honour is due, and that their lives should be meek, holy, harmless, and undefiled ; not returning evil for evil, but good for evil. The earnestness with which these observations were attended to by the young Indian, greatly in- terested me ; and how should I rejoice that Chris- tianity should be exhibited to these simple people, by acts of benevolence, charity, and mercy, leaving the speculations and systems to the learned and re- fined. The Moravian missionaries set a laudable example in this respect, and the consequences have been that their labours have proved more successful than those of all other sects whatever. Preparation is necessary previous to the reception of any prin- ciples ; and in this way God was graciously pleased to act. The Jewish dispensation was the forerunner of the Gospel; the Prophets, (and the last and greatest of them, John the Baptist,) were all sent to prepare the way for the appearance of the Saviour of men ; and when the Lord of life and glory came, he gradually initiated the minds of men to receive the full display of his mercy and his divine character. But now, forsooth, those who assume the name of Missionaries, or, in another word, that of Apostles, despise this mode, and at once open upon the poor mind of the heathen, the whole artillery of their college stores of doctrine and wisdom, forgetting that bodily wants and comforts must be established, before the mind can be fitted to receive instruction. i •* fff ■ 106 RECENT ATTEMPTS TO .»r :; The glad tidinofs of salvation to poor sinners can be taught without books: it was so propagated at first : it is a plain statement of facts, easy to be re- collected. We have several accounts of the manner of the original publication of the Gospel; especially in the 2nd, 10th, and 1 3th of " Acts." The things therein stated were what the early Christians be- lieved ; and m the mere belief of which they found joy and salvation; and such things the Indians are fully capable of bearing in their minds. Until we return to the simple teaching of ihi primitive apostles, and abandon our school-wisdom, success with the Indians cannot, I feel fully persuaded, be looked for with confidence. That our endeavours hitherto, have indeed been worse than ineffectual, the following most important letter from an Indian chief to the governor of one of the United States, (New York) will abundantly shew. LETTER FROM RED JACKET. Canandaigiiaf ISth Jan. 1821. ** BKOTHEll I'ARRISH, " I address my r elf to you, and through you to the governor. " The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you to Albany, to do business with the governor; I also was to have been with you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out of my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not to blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should fce so. CONVERT THE INDIANS. 107 ** The object of the Onondagas is to purchase oui* lands at Tonnewanta. This, and all other business that they may have to do at Albany, must be trans- acted in the presence of the governor. He will see that the bargain is fairly made, so that all parties may have reason to be satisfied with what shall be done ; and when our sanction shall be wanted to the transaction it will be freely given. •' I much regret that at this time the state of my health should have prevented me from accompany- ing you to Albany, as it was the wish of the nation that I should state to the governor some circum- stances, which shew that the chain of friendship between us and the white people is wearing out and wants brightening. *' I proceed now, however, to lay them before you by letter, that you may mention them to the gover- nor, and solicit redress. He is appointed to do justice to all, and the Indians fully confide that he will not suffer them to be wronged with impunity. •' The first subject to which we would call the at- tention of the governor, is the depredations that are daily committed by the white people upon the most valuable timber on our reservations. This has been a subject of complaint with us for many years ; but now, and particularly at this season of the year, it has become an alarming evil, and calls for the immediate interposition of the governor in our behalf. •' Our next subject of complaint is, the frequent thefts of our horses and cattle by the white people, and their habit of taking and using them whenever l\ •f :■■.; ■ l-s 108 RECENT ATTEMPTS TO ■(..,. they please, and without ourleare. These are evils which seem to increase upon us with the increase of our white neighbours, and they call loudly for redress. " Another evil arising from the pressrre of the whites upon us, and our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency with which our chiefs, and warriors, and Indians, are thrown into jail, and that too for the most trifling causes. This is very galling to our feelings, and ought not to be permitted to the extent to which, to gratify their bad passions, our white neighbours now carry this practice. " In our hunting and fishing too, we are greatly interrupted by the whites. Our venison is stolen from the trees, where we have hung it to be re- claimed after the chase. Our hunting camps have been fired into, and we have been warned that we shall no longer be permitted to pursue the deer in those forests which were so lately all our own. The fish, which in the Buffalo and Tonnewanta Creeks, used to supply us with food, are now, by the dams and other obstructions of the white people, prevented from multiplying, and we are almost entirely ae- prived of that accustomed sustenance. '* Our Great Father, the president, has recom- mended to our young men to be industrious, to plough and to sow. This we have done, and we are thankful for the advice, and for the means he has afforded us of carrying it into effect. We are hap- pier in consequence of it; but another thing recom- mended to us, has created great confimon among us, and CONVERT THE INDIANS. 109 is making us a quarrelsome and dimded people ; and that is, the introduction nf preachers into our nation. These black-coats contrive to get the consent of some of the Indians to preach among us, and wherever this is; the case, confusion and disorder are sure to fol- low, and the encroachments of the whites upon our lands, are the invariable consequence. The governor must not think hard of me for speaking thus of the preachers; I have observed their progress, and when I look back to see what has taken place of old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were the forerunners of their disper- sion ; that they always excited enmities and quarrels among them ; that they introduced the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of their property ; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and decrease, and be driven back in proportion to the number of preachers that came among them. " Each nation has its own customs and its own religion. The Indians have theirs given to them by the Great Spirit, under which they were happy. It was not intended that they should embrace the re- ligion of the whites, and be destroyed by the at- tempt to make them think differently on that subject from their fathers. " It is true these preachers have got the consent of some of the chiefs to stay and preach among us, but I and my friends know this to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed ; besides we have been threatened by Mr. Hyde, who came among us as a - ' ••• •»■ :^:'* • I- *^. no RECENT ATTEMPTS TO school-master and a teacher of our children, but has now become a black coat, and refused to teach them any more, that unless we listen to his preaching and become christians, we will be turned off our lands. We wish to know from the governor if this is to be so, and if he has no right to say so, we think Jw ought to be turned oft' our lands, and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at peace while he is among us. " We are afraid too that these preachers, by and by, will become poor, and force us to pay them for living among us, and disturbing us. •' Some of our chiefs have got lazy, and instead of cultivating their lands themselves, employ white people to do so. There are now eleven white fami- lies living on our reservation at Buffalo; this is wrong and ought not to be permitted. The great source of all our grievances is that the white men are among us. Let them be removed, and we will be happy and contented among ourselves. We now cry to the governor for help, and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily give us redress. *•' Red Jacket." i:-| This letter was dictated by Red Jacket, and in- terpreted by Henry Obeal, in the presence of the following Indians: Red Jacket's son. Corn Planter, John obb, Peter, Young King's brother, !f ■. CONVERT THE INDIANS. Ill Tom the Infant, Blue Sky, John Sky, Jemmy Johnson, Marcus, Big Fire, Captain Jemmy. The mistakes that have prevailed on the subject of civilization in general ought to have taught us to alter our plans. There is a cry in favour of educa- tion, which has produced, and continues to produce, lasting evils. Education is now understood to con- sist in reading, writing, arithmetic, and knowledge of languages ; and by the applic-^tion of these, we are told that the miseries and crimes which pervade civilized Europe are to be removed ; the people to be made happy ; society, in short, to be regenerated. In this belief the mania for education has seized on all ranks ; yet poverty, discontent, and crime seem to keep pace with all our endeavours. If the Indians are to be improved, or civilized, ** Why edu- cation, to be sure, will do it: that is all that is wanted. But the education must be commenced by a missionary, and this missionary must undergo a certain series of scholastic studies to be fitted for his duty." Now let us look a little at this, the usual mode of proceeding. To civilize the Heathen, thousands, with the purest zeal, contribute their schemes ; but the little success resulting from them all, has furnished the means of triumph to the infidel *'•■ f . :■- ■• )• . ■..•> •; :; | 112 HINTS TO MISSIONARIES. and deist, occasioned lukewarni..^ss in many who at first were ardent in the cause, and led to a con- clusion either that the subjects of such philanthropy- are incapable of receiving its benefits ; that the Al- mighty has decreed that the time is not yet come for their condition to be ameliorated ; or that such attempts are made merely for interested and similar ends. I appeal to all who have had an opportunity of knowing the general character of missionaries, whether the following brief view is not the mode by which five sixths of them have been selected. Ser- mons are preached ; prayer meetings are held avowedly to promote the conversion of the Heathen; a cry is heard, " Who will devote himself to the ser- vice of God ?'* Hence many of acknowledged weak- ness of intellect, and some whose pecuniary em- barrassments lead them to seek for support in this way, offer to undergo perils by land and by water in this, to their heated or interested imaginations, glorious work. These persons are accordingly sent to an academy to learn languages, the capacity for which constitutes a chief ingredient in their quali- fication. Thev are then sent forth, at a considerable expense, to evangelize the Heathen ; and their great aim is to preach what they call the Gospel to the old, and to civilize the young, by what I denominate, for sake of distinction, " book education'. That so much failure, nay, that almost uniform failure, has arisen from the employment of such in- struments, should surely have been expected ; for, while I freely admit that of all undertakings this is HINTS TO MISSIONARIES. 113 among the most praise-worthy, if followed with a single eye to the glorj^ of God, and good of man, I feel convinced that none requires more profound knowledge of human nature, and intimate acquaint- ance, not only with the passions of others, but with our own. When I read the manner in which the Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples, I find that the doctrines concerning himself and his kingdom were the last things he inculcated, and even then very sparingly. When questions, bearing on the subject, were excited by his conduct and actions, he answered them; but never made the doctrinal the prominent part of his mission. His first public act was in ad- ministering to the amusement and festivity of the people by converting water into wine ; the next was attention to their sick ; on another occasion he pro- vided them with food ; and his whole divine life, was spent in going about promoting their bodily comforts, having in] ultimate view the good of their souls; so that the great object was kept, as it were, in the back-ground. See how merciful he was to their offences : how he repressed all severity in judging or condemning; and evermore refused to be a ruler, assuming only the meek and lowly rank of one that served ! In short, let us carefully examine the means which He, who had the hearts of all men in his hands, and who could turn them as he pleased, adopted for the instruction of mankind, and much light will be afforded in all future attempts to instruct those na- tions denominated heathen or savage. The INlora- T : I. J ■f- !■ 114. HINTS TO MISSIONARIES. vians, as before mentioned, have been more suc- cessful than all other sects put together, in cor'^e- quence, I conceive, of their having had more regard to the Christian plan as adverted to. The following hints I offer with humility, as means which, from my obs'^rvation of man in his natural and polished state, appear, to me at least, likely to succeed : The Indians, as already shewn, are fond of silver rings, collars, and other trinkets, as ornaments of dress ; of music, fishing, and hunting, as sources of amusement; and are by no means insensible to the bodily advantages arising from a store of food and clothing against the time of want. Upon these, their main desires, I would found my plan. I would select a blacksmith, provide him with a portable forge, portable scantlings of iron, and all necessary instruments for polishing iron and cop- per. There should also be a man uniting the car- penter's and cart-maker's trades, well furnished with suitable tools. To these I would add one or two persons who could play on the clarionet, flute, vio- lin, or other musical instrument of simple construc- tion. This estabhshment should be under the super- intendence of a man of discretion, divested of gloomy habits and those false views that connect austerity of manners with the essentials of Christia- nity. He should make allowance for the prejudices and passions of those under his charge, that he might the better give them a just direction ; and, HINTS TO MISSIONARFES. 115 > ••• ' . .'V especially in the commencement of his authority, he should deal tenderly wich offences, redoubling his care with regard to the delinquent. Under the eye of such a person, the operations should begin in a fertile place, in the neighbourhood of such of the tribes as might desire an establish- ment of this nature ; making the pleasures of music, or the possession of manufactures, the reward for devoting themselves to industry. In this way I would assist them in building houses, so as to induce them to value a fixed habitation ; and the house so built should belong h the tribe to bestow as they pleased. By repairing their tools and instruments of agriculture, assisting in raising their houses, in- structing such as wished it to handle the axe for their own benefit, and making the hearing and learning of music the reward for industry, I should confidently hope to induce some few to abandon the migratory life they have hitherto led, which, in my opinion, is the most important point to be gained. After this shall be firmly established, a time will gradually come on when the inculcation of book- knowledge will be highly beneficial ; but in our early efi^brts it is worse than useless. If the Indian can be prevailed on to aid in building a house ; if he finds there a solace after his fatigues, and the means of allaying his hunger, I am warranted by all that I have seen and heard, in asserting that the best rudiments of civilization will be immoveably fixed. The above establishment should be capable of being transferred from tribe to tribe. Its members I 2 ;■••■ 1 f V' t. 116 HINTS TO MrsSrONARIES. should have their wives and families with them ; no man should be sent without his wife on any account. The party should, moreover, consist of persons duly sensible of the blessings and privileges of the Christian religion, and should at stated times assem- ble for worship, paying great attention to solemnity, decorum, and order, in doing so ; yet havi.ig espe- cial care to avoid all kind of constraint with regard to the Indians, or any species of penalty for non-at- tendance on their part. The Lord's day should never- theless be truly kept as a Sabbath by all, as far as cessation from worldly labour is concerned. The Indians should be told the reason of resting thereon ; that such rest was at first instituted by God to per- petuate the remembrance of his having created the world, and all things therein ; and latterly to keep in the minds of men the memory that Christ arose from the dead on the first day of the week, having completed the work of redemption. The good news of salvation to sinners of all nations, through the atonement on the cross, should be proclaimed with joy and praise and ti-^.^nksgiving, and not with those gloomy severities, which are regarded as true piety by many. The Indians would thus be led to in- quire concerning God and the Saviour; when por- tions of the Bible, descriptive of the attributes of the Most High, and the life of the Lord Jesus, should be read ; carefully avoiding to pass from one por- tion until it should be firmly fixed in their recollec- tion, (of which their capacity is great), nor until they desired to hear more. These means, always IIFNTS TO MISSIONARIES. 117 accompanied by kindness and sympathy, I confi- dently hope God would approve and bless. I by no means desire to be understood as wishing to discourage the efforts of persons who may differ with my views of the subject ; neither do I arrogate that those I have set forth are infallible ; but I do conceive that the great qualification of humUili/^ of being and acting as a servant to the heathen, has not been sufficiently tried. Few men can resist the temptation of power, when within reach ; and I have proofs, too abundant, before me, that many who seem humble before their superiors, are haughty and tyrannical among the Indians. The letter from Red Jacket to Governor Clinton, quoted in this chapter, shows how wide this evil has spread ; and I fear the spirit of Mr. Hyde is not so rare as, for the honour of human nature, one could wish it to be. No species of vileness can be more injurious, or more opposed to the example of Christ and his Apostles. I have been led to recommend music, as I found that of the articles sent here by the British Govern- ment, a large quantity of jews' harps, (the parent of all instruments), were selected by the Indians in preference to knives, and other valuable articles. Is there any sentence more common than the follow- ing words of the poet? Music ImUi chiirms to soothe the havat^'c breast, To soften rocks, and bend the knotted oak ! Yet when and where has it been tried as an auxiliary in the work of civilization } I .'•; I ' i. ' I I '^/'A'-;^. 118 ii -^ ■,t 1 '• 'V H . CHAPTER X. REMONSTRANCES OF TUi<: INDIANS TO THE GOVERN MENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1790. It is no less curious than lamentable to observe the uniform and withering persecution which the Indians have laboured under from their earliest acquaintance "with white men to the present day. Whatever dis- similarity may have existed in the characteristics, political and moral, of the various nations of Europe, they seem to have resembled each other in this one thing, namely, inextinguishable, unsparing oppres- sion of the North American Indians. Dutch, French, English, and even those who, in one sense, may be termed their own countrymen, the citizens of the United States, have all agreed in keeping no faith with the original inhabitants of this vast continent. No : their dominions were too fertile in sources of wealth, for them to expect any thing like fair-deal- ing from their refined invaders, who first flattered and cajoled them, and then rewarded their hospi- tality with the sword and the cannon. The United States, especially about the time of their struggle with the mother-country for their own independence, it might be thought would have had so lively a sense of the value and blessing of liberty, as not to at- tempt any undue control or tyranny over their red brethren ; but alas, like other nations, their worship ■ REMONSTRANCES OP THE INDIANS. 119 of freedom was not as it existed in the abstract, but only as it affected their own happiness. Tills will be illustrated in the following interesting correspondence between the Senecas and General Washington, in 1700. To the Great Council of the Thirteen Fires *. The Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, Chiefs and Counsellors of the Seneca Nation. Father., — The voice of the Seneca Nations speaks to you, the great counsellor, in whose heart the wise men of all the Thirteen Fires have placed their wisdom ; it may be very small in your ears, and we therefore entreat you to hearken with attention, for we are about to speak of things which are to us very great. When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you the town-destroyer; and to this day, when your name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to tha necks of their mothers. Our counsellors and warriors are men, and cannot be afraid ; but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and children, and desire that it may be buried so deep as to be heard no more. When you gave us peace wc called you father, because you promised to secure us in the possession of our lands. Do this, and so long as the land shall remain, that beloved name shall be in the heart of every Seneca. * Thirteen Stiitos. ■' ^..i. if • 120 REMONSTRANCES OF ,«.... Father^ — We mean to open our hearts before you, and we earnestly desire that you will let us clearly understand what you resolve to do. When our chiefs returned from the treaty at Fort Stanwix, and laid before our council what had been done there, our nation was surprised to hear how great a country you had compelled them to give up to you, without your paying to us ^nv thing for it. Every one said, that your hearts were yet swelled with resentment against us for what had happened during the war, but that one day you would consider it with more kindness. We asked each other, what have we done to deserve such severe chastisement ? Father, — When you kinuied your Thirteen Fires separately*, the wise men assembled at them told us, that you were all brothers ; the children of one great father, who regarded the red people as his children. They called us brothers, and invited us to his protection. They told us that he resided be- yond the great water where the sun first rises ; that he was a king whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was as bright as the sun : what they said went to our hearts. We accepted the invitation, and promised to obey him. What the Seneca Nation promises they faithfully perform; and when you refused obedience to that king, he com- manded us to assist his beloved men in making you sober. In obeying him, we did no more than your- selves had led us to promise. The men who claimed this promise told us, that you were children and had no guns ; that when they had shaken you, you * Before the union of the States, THE INDIANS IN 1790. 121 would submit. We hearkened unto them, and were deceived until your army approached our towns. We were deceived, but your people teaching us to confide in that king, had helped to deceive us, and we now appeal to your heart, is all the blame ours ? Father, — When we saw that we had been deceived, and heard the invitation which you gave us to draw near to the fire you had kindled and talk with you concerning peace, we made haste toward it. You then told us you could crush us to nothing, and you demanded from us a great country, as the price of that peace which you had offered to us; as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights. Our chiefs had felt your power and were unable to con- tend against you, and they therefore gave up that country. What they agreed to has bound our na- tion ; but your anger against us must by this time be cooled, and although our strength is not increased, nor your power become less, we ask you to consi- der calmly : Were the terms dictated to us by your commissioners reasonable and just? Father, — Your commissioners, when they drew the line which separated the land then given up to you, from that which you agreed should remain to be ours, did most solemnly promise, that we should be secured in the peaceable possession of the land which we inhabited, east and north of that line. — Does this promise bind you? Hear now, we entreat you, what has since hap- pened concerning that land. On the day we finished the treaty at Fort Stanwix, commissioners .- ». !• • ^..?^; t-:-. 122 REMONSTRANCES OP from Pennsylvania told our chiefs, that they had come there to purchase from line 3 of their state ; and they told us that all the lands belonging to us within the line, would strike the river Susquehanna below Tioga branch. They then left us to consider of the bargain until next day. The next day we let them know, that we were unwilling to sell all the land within their state, and proposed to let them have a part of it, which we pointed out to them in their map. They told us that they must have the whole, that it was already ceded to them by the great king, at the time of making peace with you, and was then their owxi ; but they said that they would not take advantage of that, and were willing to pay us for it, after the manner of their ancestors. Our chiefs were unable to contend at that time, and therefore they sold the lands up to the line, which was then shown them as the line of that state. What the commissioners had said about the land having been ceded to them at the peace, they considered as intended only to lessen the price, and they passed it by with very little notice, but since that time we have heard so much from others about the right to our lands which the king gave when you made peace with him, that it is our earnest desire that you will tell us what it means. Our nation empowered J. L. to let out a part of our lands; he told us that he was sent by Congress to do this for us, and we fear he has deceived us in the writing he obtained from us ; ibr since the time oi' our giving that power, a man named P — , has THE INDIANS IN 1790. 123 come and claimed our whole country northward of the line of Pennsylvania, under a purchase from that L. to whom he said he had paid twenty thou- sand dollars for it ; he also said, that he had bought it from the council of the Thirteen Fires, and paid them twenty thousand more for the same ; and he also said, that it did not belong to us, for that the great king had ceded the whole of it, when you made peace with him. Thus he claimed the whole country north of Pennsylvania, and west of the lands belonging to theCayugas. He demanded it; he in- sisted on his demand, and declared to us that he would have it all. It was impossible for us to grant him this, and we immediately refused it. After some days he proposed to run a line a small dis- tance eastward of our western boundary, which we also refused to agree to. He then threatened us with immediate war if we did not comply. Upon this threat our chiefs held a council, and they agreed that no event of war c^ aid be worse than to be driven, with our wives and children, from the only country which we had any right to ; and therefore, weak as our nation was, they determined to take the chance of war rather than submit to such unjust demands, which seemed to have no bounds. Mr. Street, the great trader at Niagjvra, was tlicii with us, having come at the request of P — ; and as he had ahvays professed to be our great friend, we consulted him on this subject. He also told us that our lands had been ceded by the king, and that we must give them up. Astonished at what we heard - 1 t\ if- 124 REMONSTRANCES OP from every quarter, with hearts aching with com- passion for our women and children, we were thus compelled to give up all our country north of the line of Pennsylvania, and east of the Chenesee river up to the great forks, and east of a south-line drawn up from that fork to the line of Pennsylvania. For this land P. agreed to pay us ten thousand dollars in hand, and one thousand dollars a year for ever. He paid us two thousand five hundred dollars, and he sent for us to come last spring and receive our money; but instead of paying us the residue (or re- mainder) of the ten thousand dollars, and the one thousand dollars due for the first year, he offered only five hundred dollars, and insisted that he had agreed with us for that sum to be paid yearly. We debated with him for six days, during all which time he persisted in refusing to pay us our just demand; and he insisted that we should receive the five hundred dollars ; and Street from Niagara also insisted on our receiving the money as it was offered us. The last reason which he assigned for continuing to refuse paying us was — that the king had ceded the land to the Thirteen Fires, and that he had bought them from you and paid you for them. FatheVy — We could bear this confusion no longer, and determined to press through every difficulty, and lift up our voice so that you might hear us, and to claim that security in the possession of our lands, which your commissioners so solemnly promised us; and we now entreat you to inquire into our com- plaints, and to redress our wrongs. •r- THE INDIANS IN 1790. 125 Father, — Our writings were lodged in the hands of S. of Niagara, as we supposed him to be our friend; but when we saw P. consulting S. on every occasion, we doubted of his honesty towards us ; and we have since heard that he was to receive for his endeavours to deceive us, a piece of land ten miles in width west of the Chenesee river ; and near forty miles in length extending to Lake Ontario ; and the lines of this tract have been run accordingly, although no part of it is within the bounds which limit his purchase. Father^ — You have said that we were in your hand, and that by closing it you could crush us to nothing. Are you then determined to crush us ? If you are, teJl us so, that th /se of our nation who have become your children, and have determined to die so, may know what to do. In this case one chief has said, he would ask you to put him out of his pain. Another, who will not think of dying by the hand of his father, or of his brother, has said he will retire to the Chataughque, eat of the fatal root, and sleep with his fathers in peace. Before you determine a measure so unjust, look up to God, who made us as well as you ; we hope he will not permit you to destroy the whole of our nation. Father, — Hear our case : Many nations inhabited this country, but they had no wisdom, therefore they warred together; the Six Nations were powerful and compelled them to peace. The land for a great extent was given up to them, but the nations which were not destroyed all continued on those lands; ■ I- J 20 REMONSTRANCES OP f-.,, and claimed the protection of the Six Nations, as brothers of tlieir fathers. They were men, and when at peace had a right to live upon the earth. The French came among- us, and built Niagara ; they became our fathers, and took care of us. Sir William Johnson came, and took that fort from the French; he became our father, and promised to take care of us, and he did so until you were too strong for his king. To him we gave four miles rouiu^ Niagara as a place of trade. We have already said how we came to join against you : we saw that we were wrong, we wished for peace, you demanded a great country to be given up to you, it was sur- rendered to you as the price of peace, and we ought to have peace and possession of the little land which you then left us. Father, — When that great country was given up to you there were but few chiefs present, and they were compelled to give it up. And it is not the Six Nations only that reproach those chiefs with having given up that country. The Chipaways, and all the nations who lived on these lands westward, call to us, and ask us, *' Brothers of our fathers, where is the place which you have reserved for us to lie down upon ?" Father, — You have compelled us to do that which makes us ashamed. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. When last spring they called upon us to go to war to se- cure them a bed to lie down upon, the Senecas entreated the i to be quiet until svc had spoken to THE INDIANS IN 1790. 127 the to the lown you ; but on our way down, we heard that your army had gone towards the country which those na- tions inhabited ; and if they meet together, the best blood on both sides will stain the ground. Father, — We will not conceal from you that the great God, and not men, has preserved the Corn Plant from the hands of his own nation. For they ask continually, " Where is the land on which our children, and their children after them, are to lie down upon? You told us," say they, " that the line drawn from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, would mark it for ever on the east, and the line running from Bea- ver Creek to Pennsylvania, would mark it on the west, and we see that it is not so ; for first one, and then another, come and take it away by order of that people which you tell us promised to secure it to us." He is silent, for he has nothing to answer. When the sun goes down he opens his heart be- fore God ; and earlier than the sun appears again upon the hills, he gives thanks for his protection during the night; for he feels that among men, be- come desperate by the injuries they sustain, it is God only that can preserve him. He loves peace, and all he had in store he has given to those who have been robbed by your people, lest they should plunder the innocent to repay themselves. The whole season, which others have employed in pro- viding for their families, he has spent in endeavours to preserve peace ; and this moment his wife and children are lying on the ground, and in want of food : his heart is in pain for them, but he perceives 128 REMONSTRANCES OP that the Great Spirit will try his firmness in doing what is right. Father, — The game which the Great Spirit sent into our country for us to eat, is going from among us. We thought he intended we should till the ground with the plough as the white people do, and we talked to one another about it. But before we speak to you concerning this, we must know from you whether you mean to leave us and our children any land to till. Speak plainly to us concerning this great business. All the land we have been speaking of belonged to the Six Nations : no part of it ever belonged to the King of England, and he could not give it up to you. The land we live on our fathers received from God, and they transmitted it to us for our children, and we cannot part with it. Father, — We told you that we would open our hearts to you; hear us once more. At Fort Stanwix we agreed to deliver up those of our people who should do you any wrong, and that you might try them and punish them according to your law. We delivered up two men accordingly ; but instead of trying them according to your law, the lowest of your people took them from your magistrate, and put them immediately to death. It is just to punish the murderer with death, but the Senecas will not deliver up their people to men who disregard the treaties of their own nation. Father, — Innocent men of our nation are killed, one after another, and of our best families; but THE INDIANS IN 1790. 129 none of your people who have committed those mur- ders have been punished. We recollect that you did promise to punish those who killed our people ; and we ask, was it intended that your people should kill the Senecas, and not only remain unpunished, but be protected from the next of kin ? Father^ — These are to us very great things ; we know that you are very strong, and we have heard that you are wise, and we shall wait to hear your answer that we may know that you are just. Signed at Philadelphia, December, 1790. his By the Corn + Plant, mark, his Half + Town, murk, his Big + Tree, In the presence of mark. Joseph Nicholson, Interpreter, and sundry others. 4 if. The Reply of the President of the United States, to the Speech of the Corn PIcnt, Half Town, and Big Tree, Chiefs and Counsellors of the Seneca Nation of Indians. I, the President of the United States, by my own mouth, and by a written speech, signed by my own hand, and sealed with the seal of the United States, K 130 REMONSTRANCES OF '■*'[ ,,-,. speak to the Seneca Nations, and desire their atten- tion, that they would keep this speech in remem- brance of the friendship of the United States. I have received your speech with satisfaction, as a proof of your confidence in the justice of the United States ; and I have attentively examined the several objects which you have laid before me, whether de- livered by your chiefs at Tioga Point in the last month to Colonel Pickering, or laid before me m the present month by Corn Plant and other Seneca Chiefs now in Philadelphia. In the first place, I observe to you, and I request it may sink deep in your minds, that it is my desire, and the desire of the United States, that all the miseries of the late war should be forgotten, and buried for ever. That, in future, the United States and the Six Nations should be truly brothers, pro- moting each other's prosperity by acts of mutual friendship and justice. I am not uninformed that the Six Nations have been led into some difficulties with respect to the sale of their lands since the peace. But I must inform you that these evils arose before the general government ,of the United States was established, when the separate states, and individuals under their autho- rity, undertook to treat with the Indian tribes re- specting the sale of their lands. But the case is now entirely altered. The general government only has the power to treat with the Indian Nation, and any treaty formed and held with- out its authority will not be binding. THE INDIANS IN 17flO. 131 Here then is the security for the remainder of your lands. No state or person can purchase your lands, unless at some public treaty held under the authority of the United States. The general govern- ment will never consent to your being defrauded, but it will pi jtect you in all your rights. Hear well, and let it be heard by every person in your nation, that the President of the United States declares that the general government considers itself bound to protect you in all the lands secured you by the treaty at Fort Stanwix, the 22d day of October, 1784, ex- cept such part as you may since have fairly ^oid to persons properly authorized to purchase of you. You complain that J — L — and — P — have obtained your lands, assisted by Mr. S — of Niagara, and that they h ive not complied with their agree- ment. It appears, upon inquiry of the governor of New York, that J — L — was not legally authorized to treat with you, and that every thing he did with you has been declared null and void, so that you may rest easy on that account. But it does not appear from any proofs, yet in ♦he possession of government, that O — P — has de- frauded you. If however you should have any just cause of complaint against him, and can make satis- factory proof thereof, the Federal Courts will be open to you for redress, as to all other persons*. i. * Refprrlnsf an Indian Cliiof to tlic courts of law For redress, is worse than a plain denial, b. K 2 132 REMONSTRANCES OF But your great object seems to be, the security of your remaining lands, and I have therefore upon this point meant to be sufficiently strong and clear. That in future you cannot be defrauded of your lands. That you possess the right to sell, and the right of refusing to sell your lands ; that therefore the sale of your lands, in future, will depend en- tirely on yourselves. But that when you may find it for your interest to sell any part of your lands, the United States must be present by their agent, and will be your security that you shall not be defrauded in the bargain you may make. It will however be important, that, before you make any further sale of your land, you should de- termine among yourselves, who are the persons among you that shall give such conveyances thereof, as shall be binding upon your nation, and for ever preclude all disputes relative to the validity of the sale. That, besides the before-mentioned security for your land, you will perceive, by the laws of Con- gref^s, for regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, the fatherly care the United States intend to take of the Indians. For the particular meaning of this law, I refer you to the explanations given thereof by Col. Pickering at Tioga, which, with the laws, are herewith delivered to you. You have said in your speech, lliut tlie game is going away from among you, and that you tliought of the Great Spirit that you till the design THr: INDIANS IN 1790. 133 grcund ; but before you speak upon this subject you want to know, whether the United States meant to leave you any land to till. You now know that all the lands secured to you by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, excepting such parts as you may once have fairly sold, are yours, and that only your own acts can convey them away. Speak therefore your wishes on the subject of tilling the ground : the United States will be happy to afford you every assistance in the only business which will add to your numbers and happiness. The murders which have been committed upon some of your people by the bad white raea, I sin- cerely lament and reprobate, and I earnestly hope that the real murderers will be secured and punished as they deserve*. This business has been suffi- ciently explained to you here by the governor of Pennsylvania, and by Col. Pickering, in behalf of the United States, at Tioga. The Senecas may be assured, that the rewards offered for apprehending the murderers, will be con- tinued until they are secured for trial, and that when they shall be apprehended, they will be tried and punished, as if they had killed white men. Having answered the most material parts of your speech, I shall inform you that some bad Indians, and the outcast of several tribes, who reside at the Miami village, have long continued their murders and depredations upon the frontiers lying along the , '■«•.•■ '1.:' :> V * No attempt was ever made to piiniiih them, d. r'f 134 REMONSTRANCES OF Ohio. That they have not only refused to listen to my voice, inviting them to peace, but that, upon receiving it, they renewed their incursions and mur- ders with greater violence than ever. I have there- fore been obliged to strike those bad people, in order to make them sensible of their madness. I sincerely hope they will hearken to reason, and not require to be further chastised. The United States desire to be friends of the Indians upon terms of justice and humanity ; but they will not suffer the depredations of the bad Indians to go unpunished. My desire is, that you would caution all the Se- necas, and Six Nations, to prevent their rash young men from joining the Miami Indians ; for the United States cannot distinguish the tribes to which bad Indians belong, and every tribe must take care of their own people. The merits of the Corn Plant, and his friendship for the United States, are well known to me, and shall not be forgotten ; and as a mark of the esteem of the United States, I have directed the secretary of war to make LiiT» a present of two hundred and fifty dollars, either in money or goods, as the Corn Plant shall like best, and he may depend on the future care and kindness of the United States. And I have also directed the secretary of war to make suitable presents to the other chiefs present in Philadelphia, and also that some further tokens of friendship be forwarded to the other chiefs aow in their nation. Remember my words, Senecas : continue to be strong in your friendf?hip for the United States, as f t THE INDIANS IN 1790. 135 the only rational ground of your future happiness, and you may rely upon their kindness and protection. An agent shall soon be appointed to reside in some place convenient to the Senecas and Six Na- tions ; he will represent the United States. Apply to him on all occasions. If any man brings you evil reports of the inten- tions of the United States, mark that man as your enemy, for he will mean to deceive you, and lead you into trouble. The United States will be true and faithful to their engagements. Given under my hand and seal of the United States, at Philadelphia, this twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord 1790, and in the fifteenth year of the Sove- reignty and Independence of the United States, G. Washington. By the president, T. Jefferson. Enrolled in the Rolls-Office, for the State of Penn- sylvania, in Commission Book No. 1, page 255, &c. Matt. Irvin. ■ »• HM r 41 '♦.' " « -T- I To the President of the United States of America, The Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Bi^ Tree, Chiefs of the Seneca Nation. Father, — Your speech, written on the great paper, is to us like the first light of the morning to a sick 136 REMONSTRANCES OF man, whose pulse beats too strongly in his temples, and prevents him from sleeping ; he sees it and re- joices, but is not cured. You say you have spoken plainly on the great point ; that you will protect us in our lands, secured to us at Fort Stanwix; and that we have the right to sell, or refuse to sell it. This is very good. But our nation complain that you compelled us, at that treaty, to give up too much of our lands. We confess, that our nation was bound by what was done there, and acknowledge your power. We have now appealed to yourselves against that treaty, as made while you were too angry at us, and therefore unreasonable and unjust. To this you have given us no answer. Father, — That treaty was not with a single state, it was with the Thirteen States ; we should never have given all that land to one state. We know that it was before you had the great authority ; and as you have more wisdom than the commissioners, who forced us into that treaty, we expect you have more regard to justice, and will now at our request re-consider the treaty, and restore to us part of that land. Father, — The land which lies between the line run- ning south from the Lake Erie, to the boundary of Pennsylvania^ as mentioned in the treaty at Fort Stan- wix ; and the eastern boundary of that land which you sold, and the Scnecas confirmed to Pennsylva- nia, is the land on which Half Town and all his peo- ple live, with other chiefs, who always have been, THE INDIANS IN 1790. 137 and still are, dissatisfied with the treaty at Fort Stanwix. They grew out of this land, and their fathers' fathers grew out of it, and they cannot be persuaded to part with it ; we therefore entreat you to restore to us this little piece. Father^ — hook at the land we gate to you at the treati/, and then cast your eyes upon what we now ask you to restore to us ; and you will see that what we ask is a very little piece. By giving it back again you will satisfy the whole of our nation. The chiefs who signed that treaty will be in safety ; and peace between your children and our children will continue so long as your lands continue to join ours. Every man of our nation will turn his eyes away from all the other lands, which we then gave up to you, and forget that our fathers even said that they belonged to them. Father^ — We see that you ought to have the path at the carrying place from Lake Erie to Niagara, as it was marked down at Fort Stanwix ; and we are willing it should remain to be yours. And if you desire to reserve a passage, through the Conne- waugo, and through the Chataughque Lake, and land for a path from that Lake to Lake Erie, take it where you like best. Our nation will rejoice to see it an open path for you and your children, while the land and water remain; but let us pass along the same way, and continue to take the fish in these waters in common with you. Father J— Yon say you will appoint an agent to take care of us. Let him come and take care of our 138 REMONSTRANCES OP trade : but we desire he may not have any thing to do with our lands ; for the agents which have come among us, and pretended to take care of us, have always deceived us whenever we sold lands ; both when the king and when the separate states have bargained with us. They have by this means occa- sioned many wars, and we are unwilling to trust them again. Father, — When we return home, we will call a great council, and consider well how land may be hereafter sold by our nation : and when we have agreed upon it, we will send you notice thereof; but we desire you will not depend on your agent for information concerning land. Father, — We will not hear lies concerning you ; and we desire that you will not hear lies concerning us ; and then we shall certainly live in peace with you. Father, — ^There are men who go from town to town, and beget children, and leave them to perish, or to grow up without instruction, unless better men take care of them. Our nation has long looked round for a father, but they found none that would own them for their children, until you now tell us that your courts are open to us, as to your own people. The joy we feel on this great news so mixes with the sorrows that are past, that we cannot express our gladness, nor conceal the remembrance of our affliction : we will speak of it another time. ather, — We are ashamed that we have listened to L 's lies, or been influenced with threats of us ot Ice THE INDIAN* x^ 1790. 139 war from P- and would hide that whole trans- action from the world, and from ourselves, by quietly receiving from P what he promised to give us for the lands they cheated us of. But as P will not pay us even according to that fraudulent bar- gain, we must lay the whole proceedings before your courts. When the evidence which we can pro- duce is heard, we think it will appear that the whole bargain was founded in lies, which he placed one upon another ; that the goods which he charged to us as part payment, were plundered from us ; and that if P was not directly concerned in the theft, he knew of it at the time, and concealed it from us ; and that the persons we confided in were bribed by him to deceive us in the bargain ; and if these facts appear, that your courts will not say that such bar- gains are just, but set the whole aside. Father, — We expect that our evidence might be called for, as ? was here apd knew what we had said concerning him; and as Ebenezer Allen knew something of the matter, we desired him to continue here. Nicholson, the interpreter, is very sick, and we desire that Allen may remain a few days longer, as he speaks our language. FatheVf — The blood that was spilt near Pine Creek is covered, and we shall never look where it lies. We know Pennsylvania will satisfy us for that which we speak of to them, before we speak to you. The chain of friendship will now, we hope, be made strong, as you desire it to be. We will hold it fast, and our end of it shall never rust in our hands. Fathery — We told you what advice we gave to the i'u ■.*. 4' V 't V »:!• ' "^V * 140 REMONSTRANCES OF people you are now at war with ; and we now tell you they have promised to come again next spring to our towns. We shall not wait for their coming, but set out very early in the season, and show them what you have done for us, which must convince them that you will do for them every thing that they ought to ask. We think they will hear us, and fol- low our advice. Father, — You gave us leave to speak our minds concerning tilling of the ground. We ask you to teach us to plough and grind corn, and supply us with broad-axes, saws, augers, and other tools, to assist us in building saw-mills, so that we may make our houses more comfortable and durable; that you will send smiths among us ; and above all that you will teach our children to read and write, and our women to spin and weave. The manner of doing these things for us, we leave to you who understand them ; but we assure you we will follow your advice as far as we are able. The President of the United States, his second Reply to the Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, Chiefs of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Brothers, — I have maturely considered your second written speech. You say your nation complain, that at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, you were com- pelled to give up too much of your lands; that you confess your nation is bound by what was then done, and acknowledging the power of the United States J that you have now appealed to ourselves THE INDIANS IN 1790. Ml against that treaty, as made while we were angry against you ; and that the said treaty was therefore unreasonable and unjust. But while you complain of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1784, you seem entirely to forget, that you yourselves, Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, with others of your nation, confirmed by the treaty at Fort Harmar upon the Muskingum, so late as the 9th of January, 1 789, the boundaries marked at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, and that m consequence thereof, you then received goods to a considerable amount. Although it is my sincere desire, in looking for- ward, to endeavour to promote your happiness by all just and humane arrangements, yet I cannot dis- annul treaties formed by the United States before my administration; especially as the boundaries mentioned therein have been twice confirmed by yourselves. The lines fixed at Fort Stanwix and Fort Harmar must therefore remain established. But Half Town and others, who reside upon the lands you desire may be relinquished, have not been disturbed in their possession; and I should hope, while he and they continue to demean them- selves peaceably, and to manifest their friendly dis- positions to the people of the United States, that they will be suffered to remain where they are. And the agent who will be appointed by the United States will be your friend and protector: he will not be suffered to defraud you or to assist in defrauding you of your lauds, or of any other thing; and all his l)roceedings must be reported in writing, so as to be submitted to the President of the United States. H 142 REMONSTRANCES OP You mention your design of going to the Miami Indians, to endeavour to persuade them to peace. By this humane measure you will render those mis- taken people a great service, and probably prevent their being swept from the face of the earth. The United States require only that those people should demean themselves peaceably ; but they may be as- sured that the United States are able, and will most certainly punish them severely for all their robberies and murders. You may, when you return from this city to your own country, mention to your nation, my desire to promote their prosperity, by teaching them the use of domestic animals, and the manner that the white people plough and raise so much corn , and if, upon consideration, it would be agreeable to the nation at large to learn those valuable arts, I shall find some means of teaching them, at such places within their country as shall be agreed on. I have nothing more to add, but to refer you to my former speech, and to repeat my wishes for the happiness of the Seneca Nation. Given under my hand, and the seal of the United States, at Philadelphia, this 19th day of January, 1791. G. Washington. By the president, Thomas Jefferson, Enrolled in Commission Book, No, 1, page 259, &c., for the State of Pennsylvania. Matthew Irvik. THE INDIANS IN 1790. 145 To the Great Coumellor of the Thirteen F'lrea, The Speech of Corn Plant, Half Town, and Big Tree, Seneca Chiefs. Father, — No Seneca ever goes from the fire of his friend until he has said to him, ** I am going." We therefore tell you, that we are now setting out for our own country. Father, — We thank you from our hearts that we now know that there is a country that we may call our own, and on which we may lie down in peace. We see that there will be peace between our children and your children, and our hearts are very glad. We will persuade the Wyandots, and other western nations to open their eyes, and look towards the bed which you have made for us, and to ask of you a bed for themselves and their children that will not slide from under them. We thank you for your presents to us, and rely on your promise to instruct us in raising corn as the white people do. The sooner you do this the better for us ; and we thank you for the care which you have taken to pre- vent bad people coming to trade among us. If any come without your license, we will turn them back ; and we hope our nation will determine to spill all the rum that shall hereafter be brought to our towns. Father, — We are glad to hear that you are det<^r- mined to appoint an agent that will do us justice, in taking care that bad men do not come to trade among us ; but we earnestly entreat you, that you will let us have an interpreter, in whom we can confide, to lU REMONSTRANCES OF reside at Pittsburgh. To that place our people and other nations will long resort: there we must send what news we hear when we ^o among the western nations, which we are deter- mined shall be next spring. We know Joseph Nicholson — he speaks our language, so that we clearly understand what you say to us, and depend on what he says. If we were able to pay him for his services, we would do it ; but when we give him land for pay, it has not been confirmed to him, and he will not serve any longer unless you will pay him. Let him stand between us and you, we entreat you. Father, — You have not asked of us any surety for peace on our part ; but we have agreed to send nine Seneca boys to be under your care for education ; tell us at what time you will receive them, and they shall be sent at that time. This will assure you that we are indeed at peace with you, and deter- mined to continue so. If you can teach them to be wise and good men, we will take care that our na- tion shall be willing to be instructed by them. Signed in the presence of Joseph Nicholson, Interpreter. Thomas Proctor. Timothy Matlack. Philadelphia, Febrmrj/ 7, 1791. THE INDIANS IN 1700. 115 The subscriber, the Secretary of War, has sub- mitted your speech of yesterday to the President of the United States, who has commanded him to as- sure you of his good wishes for your happiness, and that you may have a pleasant journey to your own country. The Governor of the Western Territory will ap- point you an interpreter, whenever one shall be necessary. The President of the United States does not choose to interfere on this point. The President of the United States thinks it will be the best mode of teaching you how to raise corn, by sending one or two sober men to reside in your nation, with proper implements of husbandry. It will therefore be proper that you should, upon con- sultation, appoint a proper place for such persons to till the ground : they are not to claim the lands on which they shall plough. The President of the United States also thinks it will be the best mode of teaching your children to read and write, to send a schoolmaster among you, and not for you to send your children among us ; he will therefore look out for a proper person for this business. As soon as you shall learn any thing of the inten- tions of the Western Indians, you will inform the Governor of the Western Territory thereof, or the officer commanding at Fort Washington, in order to be communicated to the President of the United Sates. Given at the War Office of the United States, the 8th of February, 1791. (Copy.) Knox, Secretary of War. ' V i U I 146 TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES. A Treaii/ between the United States of America, and the Tribes of Indians called the Six Nations, The President of the United States having deter- mined to hold a conference with the Six Nations of Indians, for the purpose of removing from their minds all causes of complaint, and establishing a firm and permanent friendship with them; and Timothy Pickering being appointed sole agent for that purpose ; and the agent having met and con- ferred with the Sachems, Chiefs, and Warriors of the Six Nations, in a general Council : Now, in order to accomplish the good design of this conference, the parties have agreed on the following articles; which, when ratified by the President, with the ad- vice and consent of the Senate of the United States, shall be binding on them and the Six Nations : Article I. Peace and friendship are hereby firmly established, and shall be perpetual, between the United States and the Six Nations. Article II. The United States acknowledge the lands reserved to the Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga Nations, in their respective treaties with the state of New York, and called their reservations, to be their property ; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them, or either of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoy- ment thereof: but the said reservations shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the peo- ple of the United States who have the right to purcliase. AND THE INDIANS OP THE SIX NATIONS. 147 Article III. The land of the Seneca Nation is bounded as follows : Beginning on Lake Ontario, at the north-west corner of the land thev sold to Oliver Phelps, the line runs westerly along the lake, as far as 0-yong-wong-yeh Creek, at Johnson's Landing- place, about four miles eastward from the Fort of Niagara ; then southerly up that Creek to its main fork; then straight to the main fork of Stedman's Creek, which empties into the river Niagara above Fort Schlosser ; and then onward, from that fork, continuing the same straight course, to that river ; (this line, from the mouth of 0-yong-wong-yeli Creek to the river Niagara above Fort Schlosser, being the eastern boundary of a strip of land, ex- tending from the same line to Niagara river, which the Seneca Nation ceded to the King of Great Britain, at a treaty held about thirty years ago, with Sir William Johnson ;) then the line runs along the river Niagara to Lake Erie ; then along Lake Erie to the north-east corner of a triangular piece of land which the United States conveyed to tlie state of Pennsylvania, as by the President's patent, dated the third day of March, 1792; then due south to the northern boundary of that state; then due east to the south-west corner of the land sold by the Seneca Nation to Oliver Phelps; and then north and north- erly, along Phelps' line to the place of beginning on Lake Ontario. Now, the United States acknow- ledge all the land within the afore-mentioned boun- daries to be the property of the Seneca Nation^ and the United States will nevei claim the same, nor L t >. ■ 1 :x.i 118 TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES, disturb the Seneca Nation, nor any of the Six Na- tions, or of their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof; but it shall remain theirs until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase. Akticlk IV. The United States having thus de- scribed and acknowledged what lands belong to the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, and engaged never to claim the same, nor to disturb them, or any of the Six Nations, or their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof: Now, the Six Nations and each of them hereby engage that they will never claim any other lands within the boun- daries of the United States ; nor ever disturb the people of the United States in the free use and en- joyment thereof. Article V. The Seneca Nation, all others of the Six Nations concurring, cede to the United States the right of making a waggon road from Fort Schlosser to Lake Erie, as far south as Buffalo Creek ; and the people of the United States shall have the free and undisturbed use of this road for the purposes of tra- velling and transportation. And the Six Nations and each of them will for ever allow to the people of the Uritcd States a free passage through their lands, and the free use of the harbours and rivers adjoining* and within their respective tracts of land, for the pass- ing and securing of vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes where necessary for their safety. tra- ining- AND THE INDIANS OP THE SIX NATIONS. 149 Article VI. In consideration of the peace and friendship hereby established, and of the engage- ments entered into by the Six Nations ; and because the United States desire, with humanity and kind- ness, to contribute to their comfortable support; and to render the peace and friendship hereby esta- blished strong and perpetual; the United States now deliver to the Six Nations and the Indians of the other nations residing among, and united with them, a quantity of goods of the value of ten thou- sand dollars. And for the same considerations, and with a view to promote the future welfare of the Six Nations and of their Indian friends aforesaid, the United States will add the sum of three thousand dollars to the one thousand five hundred dollars heretofore allowed them by an article ratified by the President on the twenty-third day of April, 1792; making in the whole four thousand five hundred dol- lars ; which shall be expended yearly for ever, in purchasing clothing, domestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils suited to their cir- cumstances, and in compensating useful artificers who shall reside with or near them, and be employed for their benefit. The immediate application of the whole annual allowance now stipulated, to be made by the Superintendent appointed by the President for the affairs of the Six Nations and their Indian friends aforesaid. Artkli: Vll. Lest the firm peace and friendship now established should be interrupted by the mis- conduct of individuals, the United States and Six Nations agree, that for injuries done by individuals. I f \ ii '• 150 TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES, on either side, no private revenge or retaliation shall take place ; but instead thereof, complaint shall be made by the party injured to the other: by the Six Nations or any of them, to the President of the United States, or the Superintendent by him appointed : and by the Superintendent, or other person appointed by the President, to the principal chiefs of the Six Nations, or of the nation to which the offender be- longs : and such prudent measures shall then be pur- sued as shall be necessary to preserve our peace and friendship unbroken; until the legislature (or great council) of the United States shall make other equitable provision for the purpose. Note. It is clearly understood by the parties to this treaty, that the annuity stipulated in the sixth article is to be applied to the benefit of such of the Six Nations and of their Indian friends united with them as aforesaid, as do or shall reside within the boundaries of the United States : For the United States do not interfere with nations, tribes, or fami- lies of Indians elsewhere resident. In witness whereof, the said Timothy Pickering, and the Sachems and War-chiefs of the said Six Nations, have hereto set their hands and seals. — Done at Konon-daigua, in the state of New York, the eleventh day of November, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four. (l. s.) Timothy Pickering. Si^j^HLii bjj Fifljj-Ninc CIdcfi of the Six Nations, AND THE INDIANS OF THE SIX NAa.ONS. 151 I grant there is some fairness, and an appearance of more, in the replies of the American government; but it cannot be denied that in one or two instances the complaints of the Indians are evaded, and in others wholly overlooked. The consideration, such as it is, did not come spontaneously, but was brought about by a strong appeal which it was not possible to neglect. The redress altogether is in- adequate. The United States, perhaps, went as far as their expediencies would allow; but justice is another thing. i-;, I I ■.' s I 152 CHAPTER XI. SALE OP LANDS BY THE INDIANS. The following is a statement of land purchased by the United States from the Indians up to the year 1820: Total quantity, 191,778,536 acres. In payment for which, sums to the amount of 2,542,916 dollars have been appropriated. Of these lands 18,601,930 acres, have been vended by the States' Government, and there remain in thcT possession 173,176,606 acres. The sum of 22,229,180 dollars has actually been paid into the treasury of the United States, in part of the purchases of the above land ; leaving still due, (for which the land is a security) 22,000,657 dollars. The account, then, will stand thus : ^mm CO CA Q 55 SALE OF LANDS BY THE INDIANS. 153 O N • CO Mi as ^^ s a 8 -5i 0) S s o a o bO OS 0) en a CO o CO (M o GO eo N CO CO 1 ■ 1 1 1 ' ^ ••. i it , * 1 V s O (S v4 CO o o v« 00 w (O or •« ^ ^ s «o (O 9i CO N 2 •c 154< SALE OP LANDS BY THE INDIANS. How irresistibly, to say nothing of natural rights, do these transactions establish the claim of the In- dians to protection and kindness from the United States ! The purchases of land from the Indians by the British Government do not exceed ten millions of acres; for 7,491,190 of which, the Indians receive goods annually amounting in value to 4155/. Halifax currency, or 10,620 dollars. The British Government has not sold its lands, but, with the exception of a few hundred acres lately disposed of near Yorkin Upper Canada, has made gratuitous grants of them. Besides which, about 20,000 Indians annually receive from the British government, blankets, and presents of various kinds— so that while the Ameri- cans have gained so largely by their intercourse with the natives within their territories, the British are annually losers. But both are awfully deficient in using means to improve the condition of the Indians. 155 CHAPTER XII. NAMES OF THE DIFFERENT INDIAN NATIONS HITHER- TO DISCOVERED IN NORTH AMERICA, THE SITUA- TION OF THEIR COUNTRIES, WITH THE NUiV JER OF THEIR FIGHTING MEN. 4,500 150 750 2,500 150 The Choctaws or Fiatheads, on the Molect TheNatches The Chukesws, Mississippi The Cherokees, South Carolina .... The Chatabas, between North and South Carolina The Peantias, a wandering tribe, both sides of the Mississippi 800 The Kasgresquios or Illinois 600 The Piankishaws "^ ii50 on the Wabash .... 4on • • • • • • • tjUO The Shawancse or Sciota 500 The Delawares, on the west of Ohio .... 300 The Miamis ;J50 The Upper Creeks back of Georgia' The Middle Creeks, North Horida I . . . . 4,000 The Lower Creeks, East Florida . The Caocutas, on the East of the River Alibamous . 700 The Alibamous, West of the Alibamous . . . 600 The Arkansas 2,000 The Qurachtenons The Kikapous West Skit'. The Anjoues, North of the Missouri The Padilonians, West of the Mississipi The White Panis, South of the Mississipi The Freckled or Prickled Panis . The Cansas The Osages The Grand Eaux South of the Mississipi Carried forward 1,000 500 2,000 2,000 1,600 600 1,000 27,550 V r •V- I I »„,, nn 156 NAMES OP THE DIFFERENT or I • • • • I South of Pecan's Bay Brought forward The Missouri, upon the River Missouri The Sioux of the Woods, towards the heads The Sioux of the Meadows of the Missouri The Blanks Barbus, or White Indians with Beards The Assiniboils, farther North near the Lakes The Christaneaux The Orusconsins, on the river of the same name, fallin into the Mississipi The Mascordins The Sakis . The MechnouakisJ Tolle Avoini, or Wild Oat Indians The Peans .... The Potawatamis, near Detroit The Missisagues, or River Indians, being wandering tribes on Lakes Huron and Superior The Ottapoas, Lake Superior .... The Chepewas The Weandots, Lake Erie . . . . The Six Nations or Iroquois .... The Round-headed Indian, near Ottawas . The Algonkins, near the above .... The Nepessins, near ditto .... The Chatas, St. Lawrence .... The Amelestes, or tlie Bark .... The Mukmacks, Bark of Nova Scotia The Abenaques, ditto The Conaway Crunas, near the Falls of St. Lewis 27,550 3,000 1,800 2,500 1,500 1 ,500 3,000 500 500 400 250 350 700 350 2,000 900 5,000 300 1,500 2,500 300 400 130 550 700 350 200 Total . 58,730 Warriors. 58,730 warriors, one-third old men, makes 78,306. Multiplying by six gives 469,836 souls, men, women, and children*. * The publishers think it necessary to state that the M.S. of the above Indian names was in an almost illegible hand ; and the author being in America, they had no means of correcting it. INDIAN NATIONS, &r. 137 '• PS. The foregoing list I received from old Mr. Hecke- welder, the Missionary, to whom I paid a visit a short time ago at Bethlehem, where he resides. His active and constant exertions, in the cause of benevo- lence, seem to have been rewarded with health and long life. He is now in his eighty-eighth year, and his faculties are vigorous and alert. From him I learnt that it is not in the power of man to come at any thing demonstrative as to the numbers of the Indians. The list now before the reader, refers to what was known between the years 1770 and 1780, and I have no reason whatever to doubt its accuracy. I find in the records of 1794, that a treaty was ar- ranged at Philadelphia with the President of the United States, which comi)rehended upwards of fifty- seven thousand Indian warriors. This statement, therefore, could not have included the inhabitants of the immense regions from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, and North to Hudson's Bay. But travellers have in all places found numbers, so that having reference to extent of territory, I do not overrate the population of the Indian nations at two millions ; taking in from the Isthmus of Panama, and consequently including Mexico. It should be borne in mind that the great body of any Indian tribe never appear to strangers : only the scouts are seen. r %• VC in 158 CHAPTER XIII. INDIAN ANECDOTES. Justice, The Indians have a strong innate sense of justice, which will lead them sometimes to acts which some men will cal! heroic, others romantic, and not a few, perhaps, will designate by the epithet barbarous; a vague indefinite word, which if it means any thing, might, perhaps, be best explained by wmdhlng not like ourselves. However that may be, this feeling cer- tainly exists among the Indians, and as I cannot de- scribe it better than by its effects, I shall content myself with relating on this subject a characteristic anecdote which happened in the year 1793, at an Indian village called La Chine, situated nine miles above Montreal, and was told me in the same year by Mr. La Ramee, a French Canadian inhabitant of that place, whom I believe to be a person of strict veracity. I was then on my return from Detroit, in company with General Lincoln and several other gentlemen, who were present at the relation, and gave it their full belief. I thought it then so inte- resting, that I inserted it in my journal, from which I now extract it. There were in the said village of La Chine, two remarkable Indians, the one for his stature, being six feet four inches in height, and the other for his INDIAN ANECDOTES. 159 Strength and activity. These two meeting together one day in the street (a third being present,) the former in a high tone made use of some insulting language to the other, which he could not well put up with: he called him a coward, said he was his inferior in every respect, and so provoked his anger, that unable any longer to contain himself, the latter instantly replied : *• You have grossly insulted me ; " but I will prevent you from doing the like again !" and at the same moment stabbed him through the body with his knife, so that he dropped down dead by his side. The alarm being immediately spread through the village, a crowd of Indians assembled, and the murderer having seated himself on the ground by the side of the dead body, coolly awaited his fate, which he could not expect to be any other than immediate death, particularly as the cry of the people was ** Kill him! Kill him!" But although he placed his body and his head in a proper posture to receive the stroke of the tomahawk, no one attempted to lay hands on him ; but after removing the dead body from where it lay, they left him alone. Not meeting here with his expected fate, he rose from this place for a more public part of the village, and there lay down on the ground, in the hope of being the sooner despatched ; but the spectators, after viewing him, all retired again. Sensible that his life was justly forfeited, and anxious to be relieved from a state of suspense, he took the resolution to go to the mother of the deceased, an aged widow, whom he addressed in these words ; " Woman, I « '! 16C INDIAN ANECDOTES. *' have killed thy son ; he had insulted me, it is true ; " but still he was thine, and his life was valuable to " thee. I, therefore, now surrender myself up to " thy will. Direct as thou wilt have it, and relieve " me speedily from misery." To which the woman answered : " Thou hast, indeed, killed my son, who ** was dear to me, and the only supporter I had in " my old age. One life is already lost, and to take *' thine on that account, cannot be of any service to " me, nor better my situation. Thou hast, however, *• a son, whom if thou wilt give me in the place of ** my son whom thou hast slain, all shall be wiped " away." The murderer then replied: " Mother, " my son is yet but a child, ten years old, and can ** be of no service to thee, but rather a trouble and " charge ; but here am I, truly capable of supporting ** and maintaining thee : if thou wilt receive me as " thy son, nothing shall be wanting on my part tj *' make thee comfortable while thou livest." The wonian, approving of the proposal, forthwith adopted him as her son, and took the whole family to her house.— Heckewelder. Forbearance of Temper in Accidental Misfortunes. They judge with calmness on all occasions, and decide with precision, or endeavour to do so, be- tween an accident ind a wilful act ; — the first (they say) they are all liable to commit, and therefore it ought not to be noticed, or punished ; — the second being a wilful or premeditated act, committed with INDIAN ANECDOTES. 161 a bad design, ought on the contrary to receive due punishment. To illustrate this subject, I shall relate a few of the cases of this description which have come within my knowledge. One morning early, an Indian came into the house of another who was yet a-bed, asking for the loan of \\u gun for a morning hunt, his own being out of repair. The owner readily consented, and said : " As my gun is not loaded, you will have " to take a few balls out of your pouch !" In taking the gun down, it, however, by some accident went off, and lodged the contents in the owner's head, who was still lying on the bed, and now expired. The gun, it appeared, was loaded, though unknown to him, and the lock loft in such condition that by a touch it went off. A cry was heard from ail sides in the house: "0! the accident !'' for such it was always considered to have been, and was treated as such. A hunter went out to kill a bear, some of those animals having been seen in the neighbourhood. In an obscure part of a wood, he saw at a distance something black moving, which he took for a bear, the whole of the animal not being visible to him ; he tired, and found he had shot a black horse. Having discovered the mistake, he informed the owner of what had happened, expressing at the same time his regret that he was not possessed of a single horse, with which he could replace the one he had shot. What ! replied the Indian whose horse had been killed, do you think I would accept a horse from 162 INDIAN ANECDOTES. you, though you had one to give, after you have satisfied me that you killed mine hjf accident? No, indeed ! for the same misfortune might also happen to me. An aged Indian who had gone out to shoot a tur* key, mistook a black hog in the bushes for one of those birds, and shot him ; finding out by inquiry to whom the hog belonged, he informed the owner f^f the mistake he had made, offering to pay for the hog; which the other, however, not only would not accept of, but having brought the mc at in, gave him a leg of the animal, because he thought that the un- fortunate man, as well on account of his disappoint- ment, in not feasting on turkey as he expected soon to do when he shot the hog, as for his honesty in in- forming of what he had done, wa« entitled to a share of what he had killed. Two Indians with a large car le, going down the Muskingum river to a certain distance, were ac- costed by others going by land to the same place, who requested them to take their heavy articles, a» kettles, axv-^s, hoes, &c., into their canoe, which they freely did, but unfortunately were shipwrecked at the rocks of White Eyes's falls (as the place is called,) where the whole cargo was lost, and the men saved themselves by swimming to the shore. The question being put and fully discussedj, whether those men with the canoe, who had taken charge of the property of the others, and by this neglect lost the whole, were not liable to pay for the loss ? It was decided in the negative, on the following grounds :— low ii vUStOl to run iandb might, throug been e 3. T party ( nnd wi thev hi not hav selves r and th entirelj Had the time translate in his ti Divorce have cLi hitternci INDIAN ANECDOTES. 163 ilit ich ced [) is the ore. her eof lost was 1. That the canoe men had taken the articles on board, with the pleasing hope that they thereby would oblige their fellow men, and did not expect any recompense for that service. 2. That although they might have avoided the danger and the loss, by unloading the canoe at the head of the fall, and carrying the cargo by land be- low it, (which was but a short distance,) as waa customary, when the river was not in a proper state to run through, yet that, had those who travelled by land been in the place of those in the canoe, they might, like them, have attempted to have run through, as is sometimes done with success, ar.d been equally unfortunate. 3. That the canoe men having had all their own pro- perty on board, which was all lost at the same time, and was equally valuable* to them, it was clear that they had expected to run safely through, and could not have intentionally or designedly brought on them- selves and others the misfortune which had happened, and therefore the circumstance must be ascribed entirely to accident. — Heckemeldeu. Matrimony and Divorce. Had the following anecdote being in existence in the time of our great poet Milton, would he not have translated it into his high style, and given it a place in his treatise on the ** Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce? ' One can easily conceive how he would have chuckled over such a thing in the midst of the bitterness (caused by hia wife's misconduct,) with M 'i ii 164 INTIAN ANECDOTES. ' -'! "which he sat down to compose his ** Tetrachordon/' and other tracts on the subject. B. An aged Indian, who for many > ears had spent much of his time among the white people both in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, one day about the year 1770 observed, that the Indians had not only a much easier way of getting a wife than the whites, but were also more certain of getting a good one ; * For," (said he in his broken English,) " White * man court, — court, — may be one whole year! — * may be two years before he marry '.—well ! — may * be then got rety good wife — but may be not! — may * be re/7/ cross ! — Well now, suppose cross ! scold ' so soon as get awake in the morning ! scold all day ! ' scold until sleep ! — all one ; he must keep him *! * White people have law forbidding throwing away * wife, be he ever so cross ! must keep him always ! * Well ! how does Indian do ? — Indian when he sec * industrious Squaw, which he like, he go to him, * place his two forefingers close aside each other, * make two look like one — look Squaw in the face i — sec him smile — which is all one he says. Yet ! * so he take him home — no danger he be cross ! no ! ' no ! Squaw know too well what Indian do if ht * cross ! — throw him away and take another ! Squaw * love to eat m^at ! no husband ! no meat ! Squaw * do every thing to please husband ! he do the same ' to please Squaw ! live happy !'* — Heckewelder. * The priinuuuH in the liidiuii language have nu feminine geni'.cr. i( INDIAN ANECDOTES. 165 Pride. This passion of the Indians, which I have called pridcj but which miglit, perhaps, be better denomi- nated high-mindedncssj is generally combined with a great sense of honour, and not seldom produces ac- tions of the most heroic kind. I am now going to relate an instance of this honourable pride, which I have also witnessed. An Indian of the Lenape na- tion, who was considered as a very dangerous per- son, and was much dreaded on that account, had publicly declared that as soon as another Indian, who was then gone to Sandusky, sliould return from thence, he would certainly kill him. This danger- ous Indian called in one day at my house on the Muskingum to ask me for some tobacco. While this unwelcome guest was smoking his ])ipc by my lire, behold ! the other Indian whom he had threat- ened to kill, and who at thatmomenthad just arrived, also entered the house. I was much frightened, as I feared the bad Indian would take that opportunity to carry his threat into execution, and that my house would be made the scene of a horrid murder. I walked to the door, in order not to witness a crime that I could not prevent, when to my great astonish- ment I heard the Indian whom I thought in danger, address the other in these words: '* Uncle, you " have threatened to kill me — you have declared " that you would do it the first time we should meet. '• Now I am here, and we are together. Am I to •' take it for granted that you are in earnest, and i 166 INDIAN ANECDOTES. ' ) ** that you are really determined to take my life as *• you have declared ? Am I now to consider you *' as my avowed enemy, and in order to secure my ** own life against your murderous designs, to be *' the first to strike you and embrue my hands in ** your blood ? — I will not, I cannot do it. Your " heart is bad, it is true, but still you appear to be " a generous foe, for you gave me notice of what *' you intended to do ; you have put me on my guard, *' and did not attempt to assassinate me by surprise; ** I, therefore, will spare you until you lift up your *' arm to strike, and then, uncle, it will be seen " which of us shall fall!" The murderer was thun- derstruck, and without replying a word, slunk off' and left the house. The next anecdote will display an act of heroism produced by this elevation of mind which I have called pride, which, perhaps, may have been equalled, but, I dare say, was hardly ever surpassed. In the spring of the year 1782, the war cliief of the Wyan- dots of Lower Sandusky sent a white prisoner (a young man whom he had taken at Fort M'Intosh) as a present to another chief, who was called the Half-king of Upper Sandusky, for the purpose of being adopted into his family, in the place of one of his sons, who had been killed the preceding year, M'hilc at war with the people on the Ohio. The pri- soner arrived, and was presented to the Half-king's wife, but she refused to receive him, which, accord- ing to the Indian rule, was, in fact, a sentence of death. The young man was, therefore, taken away, INDIAN ANECDOTES. 167 for the purpose of being tortured and burnt on the pile. While the dreadful preparations were making near the village, the unhappy victim being already tied to the stake, and the Indians arriving from all quarters to join in the cruel act or to witness it, two English traders, Messrs. Aritmkl and Rohbim, (I delight in making this honourable mention of their names,) shocked at the idea of the cruelties which were about to be perpetrated, and moved by feelings of pity and humanity, resolved to unite their exer- tions to endeavour to save the prisoner's life by offering a ransom to the war chief, which he, how- ever refused, because, said he, it was an established rule among them, that when a prisoner who had been given as a present, was refused adoption, he was irrevocably doomed to the stake, and it was not in the power of any one to save his life. Besides, added he, the numerous war captains who were on the spot, had it in charge to see the sentence carried into execution. The two generous Englishmen, however, were not discouraged, and determined to try a last effort. They well knew what effects the high-minded pride of an Indian was capable of pro- ducing, and to this strong and noble passion they directed their attacks : " But," said they, in reply to the answer which the chie^' had made them, *' among ail those chiefs whom yor. have mentioned, " there is none who equals you in greatness ; you '* are considered not only as the greatest and bra- *' vest, but as the best man in the nation." ** Do •' you really believe what you say T said at once 168 INDIAN ANECDOTES. the Indian, looking them full in the face. ** Indeed ** we do." Then, without saying another word, he blackened himself, and taking his knife and tomohawk in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the unhappy victim, crying out with a loud voice : " What have you to do with nn/ prisoner ?" and at once cutting the cords with which he was tied, took him to his house which was near Mr. Arundel's, whence he was forthwith secured and carried off by safe hands to Detroit, where the com- mandant, being informed of the transaction, sent him by water to Niagara, where he was soon after- wards liberated. The Indians who witnessed this act, said that it was truly heroic ; they were so con- founded by the unexpected conduct of this chief, and by his manly and resolute appearance, that they had not time to reflect upon what they should do, and before their astonishment was well over, the prisoner was out of their reach. — Heckeweldeu. Mauvei.lois Sagacity in tuacing Footsteps. It is certain that the Indians, by the prints of the feet and by other marks and signs perceivable only to themselves, can readily discover, not only that men have passed through a particular path or line of march, but they can discriminate to what particular nation those men belong, and whether they are their friends or their enemies. They also sometimes make discoveries by examining obscure places, and by that means get informed of an enemy's design. Nay, there arc those among them who pretend to INDIAN ANECDOTES. 169 » be able to discriminate among various marks of human footsteps the different nations of those to whom they respectively belong. I shall not under- take to assert thus far, but I shall relate an anec- dote, the truth of which I firmly believe, in proof of their extraordinary sagacity in this respect. In the beginning of the summer of the year 1755, a most atrocious and shocking murder was unex- pectedly committed by a party of Indians, on four- teen white settlers within five miles of Shamokin. The surviving whites, in their rage, determined to take their revenge by murdering a Delaware Indian, who happened to be in those parts and was far from thinking himself in any danger. He was a great friend to the whites, was loved and esteemed by them, and in testimony of their regard, had received from them the name of Du/tc Holland, by which he was generally known. This Indian, satisfied that his nation was incapable of committing such a foul murder in a time of profound peace, told the enraged settlers, that he was sure that the Delawares were not in any manner concerned in it, and that it was the act of some wicked Mingoes or Iroquois, whose custom it was to involve other nations in wars with each other, by clandestinely committing murders, so that they might be laid to the charge of others than themselves. But all his representations were vain ; he could not convince exasperated men whose minds were fully bent upon revenge. At last, he offered that if they would give him a party to accom- pany him, he would go with them in quest of the 170 INDIAN ANECDOTES. murderers, and was sure he could discover Ihcm by the prints of their feet and other marks well known to him, by which he would convince them that the real perpetrators of the crime belonged to the Six Nations. His proposal was accepted ; he marched at the head of a party of whites and led them into the tracks. They soon found themselves in the most rocky parts of a mountain, where not one of those who accompanied him was able to discover a single track, nor would they believe that man had ever trodden upon this ground, as they had to jump over a number of crevices between the rocks, and in some instances to crawl over them. Now they began to believe that the Indian had led them across those rugged mountains in order to give the enemy time to escape, and threatened him with instant death the moment they should be fully convinced of the fraud. The Indian, true to his promise, would take pains to make them perceive that an enemy had passed along the places through which he was leading them ; here he would shew them that the moss on the rock had been trodden down by the weight of a human foot, there that it had been torn and dragged forward from its place ; further he would point out to them that pebbles or small stones on the rocks had been removed from their beds by the foot hitting against them, that dry sticks by being trodden upon were broken, and even that in a particular place, an Indian's blanket had being dragged over the rocks, and removed or loosened the leaves lying there, so that they lay no more flat as in other places ; all tt tt t( (( INDIAN ANECDOTES, 171 n which the Indian could perceive as he walked alonjj, without even stopping. At last arriving at the foot of the mountain on soft ground, where the tracks were deep, he found out that the enemy were eight in number, and from the freshness of the foot prints,- he concluded that they must be encamped at no great distance. This proved to be the exact truth, for after gaining the eminence on the other side of the valley, the Indians were seen encamped, some having already laid down to sleep, while others were drawing oft' their leggings * for the same purpose, and the scalps they had taken were hanging up to dry. " See !" said Duke Holland to his astonished companions, '* there is the enemy ! not of my na- " tion, but Mingoes, as I truly told you. They are "in our power; in less than half an hour they will " all be fast asleep. We need not fire a gun, but go " up and tomohawk them. We are nearly two to " one, and need apprehend no danger. Come on, " and you will now have your full revenge !" But the whites, overcome with fear, did not choose to follow the Indian's advice, and urged him to take them back by the nearest and best way, which he did, and when they arrived at home late at night, they reported the number of the Iroquois to have been so great, that they durst not venture to attack them. This account is faithfully given as I received it from Duke Holland himself, and took it down in * lud'mn blockings IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) {/ ^4^ ^ (• 1.0 1.25 PM IIM 1^ £ us 112.0 1.8 U 11.6 PhoiDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN aTREET WEBSTER, NY. M580 (716) 873-4503 ^ fV \\ ^w-, INDIAN ANiiTDOTES. Civilized Indian guilty of Forgery. 175 The following are curious documents concerning the above fact. They are now first printed from the originals in my possession. There is something very simple and touching in the memorial of the Chiefs ; but the letter of the offender himself is ra- ther too canting. Education seems in his instance, to have obliterated every atom of real and native eloquence. It is to be hoped that he was sincere in his contrition ; but real shame and sorrow seldom seek for fine phrases ; and poor Josiah, it must be acknowledged, expresses himself too much like a Milliner's apprentice who had been studying the '* Complete Letter Writer.'* The penmanship is in a plain, strong hand. I have had the letter printed without any alteration whatever in either spelling or punctuation. B. To his Excdlemy De Witt Clinton^ Governor of the State of New York. The memorial and petition of the undersigned Chiefs Peace makers and warriors of the Muhhi- connuk or Stockbridge Tribe of Indians humbly re- presenteth : That whereas a certain young man of our Tribe by the name of Josiah W, Andrew had committed a forgery about one year ago last March, and was sen- tenced to the State's Prison at Auburn for the term of five years. And we have thought it was our du- ty to write few Imes to your Excellency on his be- half. Be it known to your Excellency that it is .( > 176 INDIAN ANECDOTES. well known to all cur Tribe, that previous to the crime for which said Joskh was committed, he had always maintained a good character, and was consi- dered by the nation to be a good meaning, inno- cent, and inoffensive young man, and was never known to be guilty of any heinous crime, only that he was subject to intemperate habits, which finally brought him to the place where he is now in con- finement. The said Josiah, has an aged and poor father who is very infirm, and wishes to see his son in order to have his help and to comfort him in his declining years, as he has no other son or daughter in this country to render him any assistance. We therefore hope and pray your Excellency will condescend to have the goodness to pardon the said poor Josiah, as we Lave reason to believe that he will reform if he will be restored to society once more. And we believe he has already reformed by the information we have received from him. This is the desire of the whole of our nation, and hope that your Excellency will hear us and grant us our request. Done in a general Council, at New Stockbridge, this 16th day of January, 1821. Hendrick Aupauraut, Isaac Littleman, Jacob Kimkopot/ Elisha Konkapot, Solomon Q. Hemluik, John Littleman, Abner W. Hendrick, John Baldwin, Abram Man-maim-teth-e-con Cornelius Aaron, John W. Quiuney, Abram Pie, Solomon U. Hendrick, Clk. Thomas J. Hendrick, William Tompson, Thomas Palmer Harry Aaron, Jacob Cheekthauron, Francis P. Aaron, In behalf of tk' Tribe. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 177 Auburn, December 2M, 1820. Mr,. Sargent sir. I imbrace this oppertunity of conversing with you by way of writing to inform you of my health which is as good as I can expect, confined as I am within the walls of this drery and cold prison whilst I hope you and yours injoy the bless- ing and at your liberties which is the greatist bless- ing that mortals can injoy in this vain and delusive world but alas that bounty I have violated that fatal deed which my heart bleeds when i reflect but I am ditermined if ever I can again be restored to my former injoyments that I will put a double restrain on my conduct and never again violate the laws of my country Mr. Sargent I hope you will be so good as to see my friends and will indeaver with them to assist me this ounce to my liberty for which favour I shall ever conceder myself 'inder the greatist obligations — consider me sir as a mortal liable to the frowns of fortune for we are none of us exempt I hope you will not leave me to linger out my few remaning years in this wreatcbed abode I once more intreat you to have compassion on me as you expect mercy of your creator for each of us as mortals have kneed of mercy from that divine being — I wish sir you would see my father and see what has been the cause of my never recev- ing any word from him as I never have receved any word from him since I was first arested aslc him sir if he considers me dead because I have N .•• •'■. c ■4-' 178 INDIAN ANECDOTES. once done wrong tell him his erring son is yet alive and earnistly solisits your pardon and a pardon from the government against which he has offended I hope he with your assistence will soon restore me to my liberty and my futer good conduct shall apologise for the past do not neglect me sir for I am heartyly sorry for my fault Mr. Sargent I hope you will send me an answer as soon as you receve this give my love to my cousin Jacob Chicks and his family with all inquir- ing friends This from your unhappy but sincere friend Jo SI AH W. Andrew. To the Rev. John Sargent, Verno}i, Coiniti/ Oneida, N. Yor'L Cwith speed,) i Attach:ment to the Memory of deceased Friknds. A distinguished Oneida Chief named Skenandou, having yielded to the teaching of his minister, (the Rev. Mr. Kirkland,) and hved a reformed man for fifty years, said, in his 120th year, just before he died, " I am an aged hemlock. The winds of one hundred years have whistled through my branches. I am dead at the top." (He was blind.) " Why I yet live, the great good Spirit only knows. Pray to my Jesus that I may wait with patience my ap- pointed time to die ; and when I die, lay me by the side of my minister and father, that I may go up with him at the great resurrection." INDIAN ANECDOTES. 179 Method of Writing. The Indian writing consists of figures or hiero- glyphics ; and the following anecdote will shew that sometimes it is very much to the purpose : A white man in the Indian country, met a Shawanos riding a horse which he affected to recognise for his own, and claimed it from him as his property. The Indian calmly answered " Friend 1 after a little while, I " will call on you at your house, when we shall talk " of this matter." A few days afterwards, the Indian came to the white man's house, who insisting on having his horse restored, the other then told him : **' Friend ! the horse which you claim belonged " to my uncle who lately died ; according to the " Indian custom, I have become heir to all his " property." The white man not being satisfied, and renewing his demand, the Indian immediately took a coal from the fire-place, and made two strik- ing figures on the door of the house, the one repre- senting the white man taking the horse, and the other, himself, in the act of scalping him ; then he coolly asked the trembling claimant " whether he could read this Indian writing?" The matter thus was settled at once, and the Indian rode off. — Hfx'kewelder. .•t. Constancy of an Indian Girl. In passing thro' Lake Pepin our interpreter point- ed out to us a high precipice, on the east shore of the lake, from which an Indian girl, of the Sioux N 2 II 180 INDIAN ANECDOTES. I nation, had, many years ago, precipitated herself in a fit of disappointed love. She had given her heart, it appears, to a young chief of her own tribe, who was very much attached to her, but the alliance was opposed by her parents, who M^ished her to marry an old chief, renowned for his wisdom and influence in the nation. As the union was insisted upon, and no other way appearing to avoid it, she determined to sacrifice her life in preference to a violation of her former vow ; and while the preparations for the mar- riage feast were going forward, left her father's cabin, without exciting suspicion, and before she could be overtaken threw herself from an awful precipice, and was instantly dashed to a thousand pieces. Such an instance of sentiment is rarely to be met with among barbarians, and should redeem the name of this noble-minded girl from oblivion. It was Oo- la-i-ta. — Schoolcrcift's JoKnial. Belief in the Understanding of Beasts. I have often reflected on the curious connexion which appears to subsist in the mind of an Indian between man and the brute creation; and found much matter in it for curious observation. Although they consider themselves superior to all other ani- mals and are very proud of that superiority ; al- though they believe that the beasts of the forest, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the waters, were created by the Almighty Being for the use of man ; yet it seems as if they ascribe the diffierence between themselves and the brute kind, and the dominion INDIAN ANECDOTES. 181 which they have over them, more to their superior bodily strength and dexterity than to their immortal souls. All beings endowed by the Creator with the power of volition and self-motion, they view in a manner as a great society of which they are the head, whom they are appointed, indeed, to govern, but between whom and themselves intimate ties of connexion and relationship may exist, or at least, did exist in the beginning of time. They are, in fact, according to their opinions, only the first among equals, the legitimate hereditary sovereigns of the whole animated race, of which they are them- selves a constituent part. Hence, in their languages those inflections of their nouns which we call genders, are not, as with us, descriptive of the masculine and feminine species, but of the animate and inanimate kinds. Indeed, they go so far as to include trees and plants within the first of these descriptions. All animated nature, in whatever degree, is in their eyes a great whole, from which they have not yet ventured to separate themselves. They do not ex- clude other animals from their world of spirits, the place to which they expect to go after death. I find it difficult to express myself clearly on this abstruse subject, which, perhaps, the Indians them- selves do not very well understand, as they have no metaphysicians among them to analyze their vague notions, and perhaps confuse them still more. But I can illustrate what I have said by some character- istic anecdotes. 182 INDIAN ANK( DOTES. The Indian includes all savage beasts within the number of his enemies. This is by no means a metaphorical or figurative expression, but is used in a literal sense, as will appear from what I am going to relate. A Delaware hunter once shot a huge bear and broke its back bone. The animal fell and set up a most plaintive cry, something like that of the panther when he is hungry. The hunter, instead of giving him another shot, s^ood up close to him, and ad- dressed him in these words : " Hark ye ! bear ; " vou are a coward, and no warrior as you pretend " to be. Were you a warrior, you would shew it '' by your firmness, and not cry and whimper like an " old woman. You know, bear, that our tribes are " at war with each other, and that yours was the " aggressor*. You have found the Indians too *' powerful for you, and you have gone sneaking ** about in the woods, stealing their hogs ; perhaps *' at this time you have hog's flesh in your belly. ** Had you conquered me, I would have borne it " with courage and died like a brave warrior ; but ** you, bear, sit here and cry, and disgrace your " tribe by your cowardly conduct." I was present at the delivery of this curious invective ; when the hunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how * Probably alluding to a tradition which the Indians have of a very fcroi'iuus kind of bear, called the naleil hear, which they say once ex- isted, but was totally destroyed by their ancestors. The last was killed in the New York state, at a place they called IloosinU, M'hich means the Basin, urmorc properly the Kettle. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 183 he thought the poor animal could understand what he said to it ? ** Oh !*' said he in answer, ** the bear " understood me very well; did you not observe how " ashamed he looked while I was upbraiding him :" Another time I witnessed a similar scene between the falls of the Ohio and the river Wabash. A young white man, named William Wells'^', who had been when a boy taken prisoner by a tribe of the "NVabash Indians, by whom he was brought up, and had im- bibed all their notions, had so wounded a large bear that he could not move from the spot, and the ani- mal cried piteously like the one I have just men- tioned. The young man went up to him, and with seemingly great earnestness, addressed him in the Wabash language, now and then giving him a slight stroke on the nose with his ram-rod. I asked him, when he had done, what he had been saying to this bear ? "I have," said he, '' upbraided him for act- " ing the part of a coward ; I told him that he knew " the fortune of war, that one or the other of us " must have fallen; that it was his fate to be con- " quered, and he ought to die like a man, like a " hero, and not like an old woman ; that if the case " had been reversed, and I had Men into the power " of my enemj/, I would not have disgraced my na- " tion as he did, but would have died with firm- " ness and courage, as becomes a true warrior." — Heckewelder. * The same whom Mr. de Volncy speaks of in liis excellent " View o't the Soil and Climate of United States." Supplement, No. VI page a56. Phaadelphia Edition, 1801. 184< INDIAN ANECDOTES. Suicide. Suicide is not considered by the Indians either as an act of heroism or of cowardice, nor is it with them a subject of praise or blame. They view this desperate act as the consequence of mental derange- ment, and the person who destroys himself is to them an object of pity. Such cases do not frequently occur. Between the years 1771 and 17S0, four Indians of my acquaintance took the root of the may-apple, which is commonly used on such oc- casions, in order to poison themselves, in which they all succeeded, except one. Two of them were young men, who had been disappointed in love, the girls on whom they had fixed their choice, and to whom they were engaged, having changed their minds and married other lovers. They both put an end to their existence. The two others were married men. Their stories, as pictures of Indian manners, will not, per- haps, be thought uninteresting. One of these unfortunate men was a person of an excellent character, respected and esteemed by all who knew him. He had a wife whom he was very fond of and two children, and they lived very happily together at the distance of about half a mile from the place where I resided. He often came to visit me, and as he was of a most amiable disposition, I was pleased with his visits, and always gave him a hearty welcome. When I thought he was too long without coming, I went myself to the delightful spot which he had judiciously selected for his dwelling. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 185 Here I always found the family cheerful, sociable and happy, until some time before the fatal cata- strophe happened, when I observed that my friend's countenance bore the marks of deep melancholy, of which I afterwards learned the cause. His wife had received the visits of another man ; he foresaw that he would soon be obliged to separate from her, and he shuddered when he thought that he must also part from his two lovely children ; for it is the custom of the Indians, that when a divorce takes place be- tween husband and wife, the children remain with their mother, until they are of a proper age to choose for themselves. One hope, however, still remained. The sugar-making season was at hand, and they were shortly to remove to their sugar camp, where he flattered himself his wife would not be followed by the disturber of his peace, whose residence was about ten miles from thence. But this hope was of short duration. They had hardly been a fortnight in their new habitation, when, as he returned one day from a morning's hunt, he found the unwelcome visiter at his home, in close conversation with his faithless wife. This last stroke was more than he could bear ; without saying a single vord, he took off a large cake of his sugar, and with it came to my house, which was at the distance of eight miles from his temporary residence. It was on a Sunday, at about ten o'clock in the forenoon, that he entered my door, with sorrow strongly depicted on his manly countenance. As he came in he presented me :.i^ 186 INDIAN ANECDOTES. li'- I with his cake of sugar, saying, '* My friend ! you " have many a time served me with a good pipe o^ " tobacco, and I have not yet done any thing to *' please you. Take this as a reward for your good- " ness, and as an acknowledgment from me as your '* friend." He said no more, but giving me with both his hands, a warm farewell squeeze, he departed and returned to the camp. At about two o'clock in the forenoon a runner from thence passing through the town to notify his death at the village two miles farther, informed us of the shocking event. He had immediately on his return, remained a short time in his house, indulging in the last caresses to his dear innocent children ; then retiring to some distance, had eaten the fatal root, and before relief could be administered by some persons who had observed him staggering from the other side of the river, he was on the point of expiring, and all succours were vain. The last whom I have to mention, was also a married man, but had no children. He had lived happy with his wife, until one day that she fell into a passion and made use to him of such abusive lan- guage as he could not endure. Too high-minded to quarrel with a woman, he resolved to punish her by putting an end to his existence. Fortunately he was seen in the first stage of his fits, and was brought into a house, where a strong emetic diluted in lukewarm water, was forcibly poured down his throat. He recovered after some time, but never was agam the strong healthy man he had been INDIAN ANECDOTES. 187 before ; his wife however, took warning from this desperate act, and behaved better ever after, — Heckewelder. Drunkenness. An Indian who had been born and brought up at Minisink, near the Delaware Water Gap, and to whom the German inhabitants of that neighbour- hood had given the name of Cornelius Rosenbaum, told me near fifty years ago, that he had once, when under the influence of strong liquor, killed the best Indian friend he had, fancying him to be his worst avowed enemy. He said that the deception was complete, and that while intoxicated, the face of his friend presented to his eyes all the features of the man with whom he was in a state of hostility. It is impossible to express the horror with which he was struck when he awoke from that delusion ; he was so shocked, that he from that moment resolved never more to taste of the maddening poison, of which he was convinced that the devil was the inventor ; for it could only be the evil spirit who made him see his enemy when his friend was before him, and produced so strong a delusion on his bewildered senses, that he actually killed him. From that time until his death, which happened thirty years afterwards, he never drank a drop of ardent spirits, which he al- ways called " the Devil's blood," and was firmly persuaded that the Devil, or some of his inferior spirits, had a hand in preparing it. p 188 INDIAN ANECDOTES. I] Once in my travels, I fell in with an Indian and his son ; the former, though not addicted to drink- ing, had this time drunk some liquor with one of his acquaintances, of which he now felt tne effects. As he was walking before me, along the path, he at once flew back and aside, calling out ** O ! what a monstrous snake !*' On my asking him where the snake lay, he pointed to something and said ** Why, there, across the path !" *' A snake!" paid I, **it "is nothing but a black-burnt sapling, which has " fallen on the ground." He, however, would not be persuaded ; he insisted that it was a snake, and could be nothing else ; therefore, to avoid it, he went round the path, and entered it again at some distance further. After we had travelled together for about two hours, during which time he spoke but little, we encamped for the night. Awaking about midnight, I saw him sitting up smoking his pipe, and appearing to be in deep thought. I asked him why he did not lay down and sleep ? To which he replied, *' O my friend! many things have crowded " on my mind ; I am quite lost in thought !" Heckew. — " And what are you thinking about ?" Indian, — " Did you say it was not a snake of which I was afraid, and which lay across the path ?" Heckew. — " I did say so ; and, indeed, it was nothing else but a sapling burnt black by the firing of the woods.'' Indian, — *' Are you sure it was that?" Heckeic.—'' Yes ; and I called to you at the time *' to look, how I was standing on it ; and if you have INDIAN ANECDOTES. 189 ** yet a doubt, ask your son, and the two Indians ** with me, and they will tell you the same." Indian, — " O strange ! and I took it for an uncom- " monly large snake, moving as if it intended to " bite me ! — I cannot get over my surprise, that the *' liquor I drank, and, indeed, that was not much, ** should have so deceived me ! but I think I have " now discovered how it happens that Indians so " often kill one another when drunk, almost without " knowing what they are doing ; and when after- •* wards they are told of what they have done, they " ascribe it to the liquor which was in them at the ** time, and say the liquor did it. I have thought ** that as I saw this time a living snake in a dead " piece of wood, so I might, at another time, take ** a human being, perhaps one of my own family, for " a bear or some other ferocious beast and kill him. *' Can you, my friend, tell me what is in the beson* *' that confuses one so, and transforms things in that *' manner ? Is it an invisible spirit ? It must be " something alive ; or have the white people sorcer- " ers among them, who put something in the liquor '* to deceive those who drink it } Do the white peo- " pie drink of the same liquor that they give to the *' Indians ? Do they also, when drunk, kill people, ** and bite noses off, as the Indians do ? Who taught " the white people to make so pernicious a beson V I answered all these questions, and several others that he put to me, in the best manner that I could, * This word means liquor, and is also used in the sense of a medicinal draught, or other compound potion. ■i. ■»'.' 190 INDIAN ANECDOTES. I to which he replied, and our conversation continued as follows : Indian^ — *' Well, if, as you say, the bad spirit can- ** not be the inventor of this liquor ; if, in some cases *' it is moderately used among you as a medicine, " and if your doctors can prepare from it, or with '* the help of a little of it, some salutary besom, still, ** I must believe that when it operates as you have " seen, the bad spirit must have some hand in it, *' either by putting some bad thing into it, unknown " to those who prepare it, or you have conjurers who " understand how to bewitch it. — Perhaps they only " do so to that which is for the Indians ; for the devil " is not the Indians' friend, because they will not <' worship him, as they do the good spirit, and there- ** fore I believe he puts something into the beson, for " the purpose of destroying them.'* Heckew. — '* What the devil may do with the liquor " I cannot tell ; but I believe that he has a hand in " every thing that is bad. When the Indians kill " one another, bite off each other's noses, or com- " mit such wicked acts, he is undoubtedly well satis- *' fied; for, as God himself has said, he is a destroyer ** and a murderer." Indian, — *' Well, now, we think alike, and hence- " forth he shall never again deceive me, or entice " me to drink his beson.'' In the year 17G9, an Indian from Susquehannah hav- ing come to Bethlehem with his sons to dispose of his peltry, was accosted by a trader from a neighbour- ing town, who addressed him thus : " Well ! Thomas, INDIAN ANECDOTES. 191 ' I really believe you have turned Moravian." *' Mo- ' ravian!" answered the Indian, "what makes you 'think so?" — ** Because," replied the other, "you * used to come to us to sell your skins and pcitry, ' and now you trade them away to the Moravians." ' So !" rejoined the Indian, " now I understand you ' well, and I know what you mean to say. Now ' hear me. — See, my friend ! when I come to this * place with my skins and peltry to trade, the peo- * pie are kind, they give me plenty of good victuals ' to eat, and pay me in money or whatever I want, * and no one says a word to me about drinking * rum — neither do I ask for it ! When I come to ' your place with my peltry, all call to me : * Come, ' Thomas ! here's rum, drink heartily, drink I it will ' not hurt you.' All this is done for the purpose of ' cheating me. When you have obtained from me * all you want, you call me a drunken dog, and kick * me out of the room. — See ! this is the manner in * which you cheat the Indians when they come to * trade with you. So now you know when you see * me coming to ^'^our town again, you may say to * one another : * Ah ! there is Thomas coming again ^ ' he is no longer a Moravian, for he is coming to us ' to be made drunk — to be cheated — to be kicked ' out of the house, and be called a drunken dog f " — Heckevvelder. FuiENDSIlIP. In the year 1779, the noted Girty with his mur- dering parly of Mingoes, nine in number, fell iu 192 INDIAN ANECDOTES. .u J"* with the Missionary Zeisberger, on the path leading from Goschacking to Gnadenhlitten ; their design was to take that worthy man prisoner, and if they could not seize him alive, to murder him and take his scalp to Detroit. They were on the point of laying hold of him, when two young spirited Dela- wares providentially entered the path at that critical moment, and in an instant presented themselves to defend the good Missionary at the risk of their lives. Their determined conduct had the desired success, and his life was saved. His deliverers afterwards declared that they had no other motive for thus ex- posing themselves for his sake, than that he was a friend to their nation and was considered by them as a good man. . : In the year 1777, while the revolutionary war was raging, and several Indian tribes had enlisted on the British side, and were spreading murder and devastation along our unprotected frontier, I rather rashly determined to take a journey into the country on a visit to my friends. Captain White Eyes, an Indian chief, resided at that time at the distance of seventeen miles from the place where I lived. Hear- ing of my determination, he immediately hurried up to me, with his friend Captain Wingenund, (whom I shall presently have occasion further to mention) and some of his young men, for the purpose of es- corting me to Pittsburg, saying, " that he would " not suffer me, to go, while the Sandusky warriors " were out on war excursions, without a proper " escort and himself at my side." He insisted on IVDIAN AXECDOTES. 193 accompanying me, and we set out together. One day, as we were proceeding along, our spies discovered a suspicious track. White Eyes, who was riding before me, inquired whether I felt afraid ? I an- swered that while he was with me, I entertained no fear. On this he immediately replied, ** You are •' right ; for until I am laid prostrate at your feet, ** no one shall hurt you." ** And even not then," added Wingenund, who was riding behind me ; " before this happens, I must be also overcome, and " lay by the side of our friend Kogiiethagechtoii* .'* I believed them, and I believe at this day that these great men were sincere, and that if they had been put to the test, they would have shewn it, as did another Indian friend by whom my life was saved in the spring of the year 1781. From behind a log in the bushes where he was concealed, he espied a hostile Indian at the very moment he was levelling his piece at me. Quick as lightning he jumped be- tween us, and exposed his person to the musket shot just about to be fired, when fortunately the ag- gressor desisted, from fear of hitting the Indian, whose body thus effectually protected me, at the imminent risk of his own life. Captain White Eyes, in the year 1774, saved in the same manner the life of David Duncan, the peace-messenger, whom he was escorting. He rushed, regardless of his own life, up to an inimical Shawanese, who was aiming at our ambassador from behind a bush, and forced hini to desist. * The Indian name of Capt. White Eyes. 194< INDUN ANECDOTES. i In the year 1782, a settlement of Christian Indians on the Sandusky river, were cruelly mur- dered by a gang of banditti, under the command of one Williamson. Not satisfied with this horrid out- rage, the same band, not long afterwards marched to Sandusky, where it seems they had been informed that the remainder of that unfortunate congregatioL had fled, in order to perpetrate upon them the same indiscriminate murder. But Providence had so or- dered it that they had before left that place, where they had found that they could not remain in safety, their ministers having been taken from them and carried to Detroit by order of the British govern- ment, so that they had been left entirely unprotected. The murderers, on their arrival, were much disap- pointed in finding nothing but empty huts. They then shaped their course towards the hostile Indian villages, where being, contrary to their expectations, furiously attacked, Williamson and his band took the advantage of a dark night and ran off, and the whole party escaped, except one Colonel Crawford and another, who being taken by x\\e Indians, were carried in triumph to their village, where the former was condemned to death by torture, and the punish- ment was inflicted with all the cruelty that rage could invent. The latter was demanded by the Shawanese and sent to them for punishment. While preparations were making for the execution of this dreadful sentence, the unfortunate Crawford recollected that the Delaware chief Wingenund*, * This name, according to tlie English orthography, should be written INDIAN ANECDOTES. 195 tion ford of whom I have spoken in the beginning of this chapter, had been his friend in happier times ; he had several times entertained him at his house, and shewed him those marks of attention which are so grateful to the poor despised Indians. A ray of hope darted through his soul, and he requested that Wingenund, who lived at some distance from the village, might be sent for. His request was granted, and a messenger was despatched for the chief, who, reluctantly, indeed, but without hesita- tion, obeyed the summons, and immediately came to the fatal spot. This great and good man was not only one of the bravest and most celebrated warriors, but one of the most amiable men of the Delaware nation. To a firm undaunted mind, he joined humanity, kindness and universal benevolence; the excellent qualities of his heart had obtained for him the name of Wing- enund which in the Lenape language signifies the well beloved. He had kept away from the tragical scene about to be acted, to mourn in silence and solitude over the fate of his guilty friend, which he well knew it was not in his power to prevent. He was now called upon to act a painful as well as diffi- cult part : the eyes of his enraged countrymen were fixed upon him ; he was an Indian and a Delaware; he was a leader of that nation, whose defenceless members had been so cruelly murdered without dis- tinction of age or sex, and whose innocent blood Winganoond or fFingaifnoond, the second syllable Hccented and long", wid the last syllable short. O 2 .;•!• 10(5 INDIAN AXErOOTKS. called aloud for the most signal revenge. Could he take the part of a chief of the base murderers? Could he forget altogether the feelings of ancient fellowship and give way exclusively to those of the Indian and the patriot ? Fully sensible that in the situation in which he was placed the latter must, in appearance, at least, predominate, he summoned to his aid the firmness and dignity of an Indian warrior, approached Colonel Crawford and waited in silence for the communications he had to make. The fol- lowing dialogue now took place between them : Crawf. — Do you recollect me, Wingenund ? Wingen,—! believe I do ; are you not Colonel Crawford ? Crawf. — I am. How do you do ? I am glad to see you, Captain. Wingen. — (embarrassed) So ! yes, indeed. Crawf. — Do you recollect the friendship that al- ways existed between us, and that we were always glad to see each other? fVingen. — I recollect all this. I remember that we have drunk many a bowl of punch together. I re- member also other acts of kindness that you have done me, Crawf. — Then I hope the same friendship still sub- sists between us. Wingen. — It would, of course, be the same, were you in your proper place and not here. Crawf. — And why not here. Captain ? I hope you would not desert a friend in time of need. Now is the time for you to exert yourself in my behalf, as y^ ould do for you, were you in my place. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 197 IVingeii.— Colonel Crawford! you have placed yourself in a situation which puts it out of my power and that of others of your friends to do any thing for you. Crawf.—Uow so, Captain Wingenund ? Wingen.—By joining yourself to that execrable man, Williamson and his party; the man, who, but the other day murdered such a number of the Moravian Indians, knowing them to be friends; knowing that he ran no risk in murdering a people who would not fight, and whose only business was praying. CVrtHy*.— Wingenund, I assure you, that had I been with him at the time, this would not have hap- pened ; not I alone, but all your friends and all good men, wherever they are, reprobate acts of this kind. Wingen. — That may be ; yet these friends, these good men did not prevent him from going out again, to kill the remainder of those inoffensive, yet foolish Moravian Indians ! I say foolish, because they be- lieved the whites in preference to us. We had often told them that they would be one day so treated by those people who called themselves their friends ! We told them that there was no faith to be placed in what the white men said ; that their fair promises were only intended to allure us., that they might the more easily kill us, as they have done many Indians before they killed these Moravians. Crawf — I am sorry to hear you speak thus ; as to Williamson's going out again, when it was known that he was determined on it, I went out with him to prevent him from committing fresh murders. *. 198 INDIAN ANECDOTES. '15 Wingen, — This, Colonel, the Indians would not believe, were even I to tell them so. Crawf, — And why would they not believe it ? Wingen. — Because it would have been out of your power to prevent his doing what he pleased. Crawf, — Out of my power ! Have any Moravian Indians been killed or hurt since we came out ? Wingen. — None ; but you went first to their town, and finding it empty and deserted you turned on the path towards us. If you had been in search of warriors only, yoi:i would not have gone thither. Our spies watched you closely. They saw you while you were embodying yourselves on the other side of the Ohio ; they saw you cross that river ; they saw where you encamped at night ; they saw you turn off from the path to the deserted Moravian town; they knew you were going out of your way; your steps were constantly watched, and you were Buffered quietly to proceed until you reached the spot where you were attacked. Craipf. — What do they intend to do with me ? Can you tell me ? Wingen. — I tell you with grief, Colonel. As Williamson and his whole cowardly host ran off in the night, at the whistling of our warriors' balls, being satisfied that now he had no Moravians to deal with, but men who could fight, and with such he did not wish to have any thing to do ; I say, as he escaped, and they have taken you, they will take revenge on you in his stead. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 199 rrem;/*.— And is there no possibility of preventing this ? Can you devise no way to get me off ? You shall, my friend, be well rewarded if you are in- strumental in saving my life. Wingen. — Had Williamson been taken with you, I and some friends, by making use of what you have told me, might perhaps, have succeeded to save you, but as the matter now stands, no man would dare to interfere in your behalf. The king of England himself, were he to come to this spot, with all his wealth and treasures could not effect this purpose. The blood of the innocent Moravians, more than half of them women and children, cruelly and wan- tonly murdered calls aloud for revenge. The relatives of the slain, who are among us, cry out and stand ready for reunge. The nation to which they be- longed will have revenge. The Shawanese, our grand-children, ha\o asked for your fellow prisoner; on him they will take revenge. All the nations con- nected with us cry out Revenge : revenge ! The Mo- ravians whom you went to destroy having fled, in- stead of avenging their brethren, the offence is be- come national, and the nation itself is bound to take revenge! Crawf. — Then it seems my fate is decided, and I must prepare to meet death in its worst form ? Wingen. — Yes, Colonel ! — I am sorry for it ; but cannot do any thing for you. Had you attended to the Indian principle, that as good and evil cannot dwell together in the same heart, so a good man ought not to go into evil company ; you would not >■!■■ 200 LVDIAN ANECDOTES. I I be in this lamentable situation. You see, now, when it is too late, after Williamson has deserted you, what a bad man he must be ! Nothing now remains for you but to meet your fate like a brave man. Farewell, Colonel Crawford ! they are coming* ; I will retire to a solitary spot. I have been assured by respectable Indians that at the close of this conversation, which was related to me by Wingenund himself as well as by others, both he and Crawford burst into a flood of tears ; they then took an affectionate leave of each other, and the chief immediately hid himself in the bushes, as the Indians express it, or in his own language, retired to a solitary spot. He never, afterwards, spoke of the fate of his unfortunate friend without strong emotions of grief, which I havo several times witnessed. Once, it was the first time that he came into Detroit after Crawford's sufferings, I heard him censured in his own presence by some gentle- men who were standing together for not having saved the life of so valuable a man, who was also his par- ticular friend, as he had often told them. He listened calmly to their censure, and first turning to me, said in his own language : " These men talk like fools," then turning to them, he replied in English : " If *• king George himself, if your king had been on ^' the spot with all the ships laden with goods and ** treasures, he could not have ransomed my friend, * The people were at that moment advanring, with shouts and yells, to o rture and put him to death. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 201 *' nor saved his life from the rage of a justly exas- " perated multitude." — Heckeweldeii. Satirical Wit. An Indian, who spoke good English, came one day to a house where 1 was on business, and desired me to ask a man who was there and who owed him some money, to give an order in writing for him to get a little salt at the store, which he would take in part payment of his debt. The man, after reproving the Indian for speaking through an interpreter when he could speak such good English, told him that he must call again in an hour's time, for he was then too much engaged. The Indian went out and returned at the appointed time, when he was put off again for another hour, and when he came the third time, the other told him he was still engaged and he must come again in half an hour. My Indian friend's pa- tience was not exhausted, he turned to me and ad- dressed me thus in his own language : ** Tell this man," said he, " that while I have been waiting for " his convenience to give me an order for a little salt, " I have had time to think a great deal. I thought " that when we Indians want any thing of one an- " other, we serve each other on the spot, or if we " cannot, we say so at once, but we never say to any *' one ' call again ! call again 1 call again ! three times " call again!' Therefore when this man put me off '' in this manner, I thought that, to be sure, the white *' people were very ingenious, and probably he was '* able to do what no body else could, I thought 209 INLIAN ANECDOTES, ** that as it was afternoon when I first came, and He " knew I had seven miles to walk to reach my canip, '• he had it in his power to stop the sun in its course, *' until it suited him to give me the order that I " wanted for a little salt. So thought I, I shall still " have day ligtit enough, I shall reach my camp " before night, and shall not be obliged to walk in *' the dark, at the risk of falling and hurting myself " by the way. But when I saw that the sun did " not wait for him, and I had at least to walk seven " miles in an obscure night, I thought then, that it ** would be better if the white people were to learn *' something of the Indians." I once asked an old Indian acquaintance of mine, who had come with his wife to pay me a visit, where he had been, that I had not seen him for a great while ? ** Don*t you know," he answered, ** that the ''white people some time ago summoned us to a *' treaty, to buy land of them ?"— ** That is true," replied I, "I had indeed forgotten it ; I thought you was just returned from your fall hunt."— No, no," replied the Indian, "my fall hunt has '* been lost to me this season; I had to go and get ** my share of the purchase money for the land we " sold.' — ** Well then," said I, ** I suppose yoa got " enough to satisfy you ?'* Indian,—" I can shew you all that I got. I have " received such and such articles," (naming them and the quantity of each,) " do you think that is " enough ?" (( it INDIAN ANECDOTES. 203 Heckew.'^** That I cannot know, unless you tell •* me how much of the land which was sold came to "your share.'' Tndmn, — (after considering a little) " Well, you, " my friend ! know who I am, you know I am a " kind of chief. I am, indeed, one, though none of •* the greatest. Neither am I one of the lowest grade, ♦' but I stand about in the middle rank. Now, as " such, I think I was entitled to as much land in the " tract we sold as would lie within a day's walk ** from this spot to a point due north, then a day's " walk from that point to another due west, from " thence another day's walk due south, then a day*s " walk to where we now are. Now you can tell me " if what I have shewn you is enough for all the land lying between these four maiks V* Hechw, — " If you have made your bargain so with the white people, it is all right, and you pro- " bably have received your share.'' Inclian, — " Ah ! but the white people made the "bargain by themselves, without consulting us. " They told us that they would give us so much, " and no more." Heckcw. — " Well, and you consented thereto r" Indian,— ** What could we do, when they told us that they must have the land, and for such a price? " Was it not better to take something than nothing? " for they would have the land, and so we took what " they gave us.'* Heckew.'—'' Pernaps the goods they gave you ** came high in price. The goods which come over n « (( I 204 INDIAN ANECDOTES. l I <( (( " the great salt-water lake sometimes vary in their " prices." Indian, — " The traders sell their goods for just " the same prices that they did before, so that I ** rather think it is the land that has fallen in value. " We, Indians, do not understand selling lands to " the white people; for, when we ^ell, the price of " land is always low ; land is then cheap, but when *' the white people sell it out among themselves, it •' is always dear, and they are sure to get a high *' price for it. 1 had done much better if I had staid at home and minded my fall hunt. You know I am a pretty good hunter and might have killed a ' great many deer, sixty, eighty, perhaps a hundred, ' and besides caught many racoons, beavers, otters, wild cats, and other animals, while I was at this " treaty. I have often killed five, six, and seven " deer in one day. Now I have lost nine of the best " hunting weeks in the season by going to get what " you see ! We were told the precise time when *' we must meet. We came at the very day, but the " great white men did not do so, and without them " nothing could be done. When after some weeks " they at last came, we traded, we sold our lands " and received goods in payment, and when that " was over, I went to my hunting grounds, but the " best time, the rutting time, being over, I killed " but a few. Now, help me to count up what I have *' lost by going to the treaty. Put down eighty deer ; say twenty of them were bucks, each buck- skin one dollar; then sixty does and young bucks i( (< << INDIAN ANECDOTES. 205 " at two skins for a dollar; thirty dollars, and twenty " for the old bucks, make fifty dollars lost to me in "* deer skins. Add, then, twenty dollars more to " this for racoon, beaver, wild cat, black fox, and *'otter skins, and what does the whole amount to?" Heckew. — " Seventy dollars." Indian, — ^''Well, let it be only seventy dollars, " but how much might I have bought of the traders " for this money ! How well we might have lived, " I and my family in the woods during that time ! " How much meat would my wife have dried ! how " much tallow saved and sold or exchanged for salt, " flour, tea and chocolate ! All this is now lost to " us ; and had I not such a good wife (stroking hor " under the chin) who planted so much corn, and so '* many beans, pumpkins, squashes, and potatoes " last summer, my family would now live most " wretchedly. I have learned to be wise by going " to treaties, I shall never go there again to sell my " land and lose my time." — Heckewelder. Use op the Bible bv White People. The Indians will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They say that the hair of their heads, their features, the various colours of their eyes, evince that they are not like themselves hemii Lmape, an Original Pkople, a race of men that has existed unchanged from the beginning of time; but they are a mixed race, and therefore a troublesome one ; wherever they may be, the Great Spirit, know- ing the wickedness of their disposition, found it 206 INDIAN ANECDOTES. !i necessary to give them a great Book*, and taught them how to read it, that they might know and ob- serve what he wished them to do and to abstain from. But they, the Indians, have no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker ; they find it engraved on their own hearts ; they have had sufficient discernment given to them to distin- guish good from evil, and by following that guide, they are sure not to err. It is true, they confess, that when they first saw the whites, they took them for beings of a superior kind. They did not know but that they had been sent to them from the abode of the Great Spirit for some great and important purpose. They therefore, welcomed them, hoping to be made happier by their company. It was not long, however, before they dis- covered their mistake, having found them an ungrate- ful insatiable people, who, though the Indianshad given them as much land as was necessary to raise provi- sions for themselves and their families, and pastme for their cattle, wanted still to have more, and at last would not be contented with less than the whole country. " And yet," say those injured people, " these white men would always be telling us of *• their great Book which God had given to them ; " they would persuade us that every man was good " who believed in what the Book said, and every " man was bad who did not believe in it. They told " us a great many things, wiiich they said were I * The Bible. INDIAN ANECDOTES. 207 " written in the good Book, and wanted us to believe '* it all. We would probably have done so, if we ** had seen them practise what they pretended to *' believe, and act according to the good words which ** they told us. But no ! while they held their big *' Book in one hand, in the other they had murderous *' weapons, guns and swords, wherewith to kill us, ♦*poor Indians! Ah! and they did so too, they killed " those who believed in their Book, as well as those "who did not. They made no distinction!" — Heckewelder. Treaties. The Indians in early times would never even per- mit any warlike weapons to remain within the limits of their council fire, when assembled together about the ordinary business of government. It might, they said, have a bad effect, and defeat the object for which they had met. It might be a check on some of the persons assembled, and perhaps, prevent those who had a just complaint or representation to make, from speaking their minds freely. William Penn, said they, when he treated with them, adopted this ancient mode of their ancestors, and convened them under a grove of shady trees, where the little birds on their boughs were warbling their sweet notes. In commemoration of these conferences (which are always to Indians a subject of pleasing remembrance) they frequently assembled together in the woods, in some shady spot as nearly as pos- sible similar to those where they used to meet their brother Miquon, and there lay all his " words' or ■ -J 208 INDIAN ANECDOTES. speeches, with those of his descendants, on a blanket or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go successively over the whole. This practice (which I have repeatedly witnessed) continued until the year 1780, when the disturbances which then took place put an end to it, probably for ever. These pleasing remembrances, these sacred usages are no more. " When we treat with the white * people," do the Indians now say, "we have not the * choice of the spot where the messengers are to ' meet. When we are called upon to conclude a * peace, (and what a peace ?) the meeting no longer * takes place in the shady grove, where the innocent * little birds with their cheerful songs, seem as if ' they wished to soothe and enliven our minds, tune * them to amity and concord and take a part in the ' good work for which we are met. Neither is it at * the sacred council house, that we are invited to * assemble. No ! — It is at some of those horrid ' places, surrounded with mounds and ditches, ' where the most destructive of all weapons, where * great gwis, are gaping at us with their wide mouths^ ' as if ready to devour us; and thus we are prevented ' from speaking our minds freely, as brothers ought 'to do!" How then, say they, can there be any sincerity in such councils? how can a treaty of this kind be binding on men thus forced to agree to what is dictated to them in a strong prison and at the can- non's mouth ; where all the stipulations are on one side, where all is concession on the one part and INDIAN ANECDOTES. 209 no friendship appears on the other! From these considerations, which they urge and constantly dwell upon, the treaties which they make with the white men have lost all their force, and they think them- selves no longer bound by them than they are com- pelled by superior power. Are they right in this or are they wrong ? The impartial reader must decide.— Heckewelder. •i 't I ■ ». RELIGION AND LANGUAGES, P 3 • ( f t r s n OJV THE RELIGION OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA. By S. F. JARVIS, D. D., A. A. S. (Of New York.) In surveying those portions of American history, from which I might select a subject for the present occasion, it appeared to me that the religion of the Indian tribes of North America, had not been viewed with that largeness of observation, which is the characteristic of enlightened philosophy. Vari- ous causes may be mentioned, which have hither- to conspired to prevent, or to impede, such an exa- mination. In the first place, the horror proceed- ing from the cruelties of their warfare, forbade the calmness of investigation. As long as they were formidable, curiosity was overpowered by terror; and there was neither leisure, nor inclination, to contemplate their character as a portion of the human family, while the glare of conflagro.tion reddened the midnight sky, and the yells of the savage, min- gling with the shrieks of butchered victims, rode, as portentous messengers, upon every gale. But that «tate of things has long ceased to exist. The white men of America have become too numerous, to fear any longer the eifects of savage barbarity ; and the f' 2U RELIGION. « ;! tales, which once curried terror to the stoutest heart, are now scarcely heard beyond the precincts of the nursery. In the room of fear, should now arise a sentiment of pity. " The red men are melting," to borrow the expressive metaphor of one of their most celebrated warriors* — " like snow before the sun ;" and we should be anxious, before it is too late, to copy the evanescent features of their character, and perpetuate them on the page of history. But when fear ceases, contempt is a natural consequence. The Indian, whose character was once so lofty and independent, is now seen begping at our doors for the price of his perdition ; and, as our foot spurns the suppliant, we are apt to think, that nothing, connected with one so vile, can be worthy of our attention. But is it fair to judge from so vitiated a specimen ? When a race of men are mingled with others, who consider them as inferiors, they inevitably become so. Submission to con- tempt, is an acknowledgment of its justice. If, therefore, the Indian would avoid degradation, he must retire from the habitations of while men; and if we v/ish to see him in his original character, we must follow him to his native forests. — There, surely, he is worthy of our attention. The lovers of the physical sciences explore the woods of America, to cull her plants, and to investigate the habits of her animals. Shall not the lovers of the moral sciences, be equally ardent and industrious ? Shall man, who * The noted Miami ('hief MMiikinjikwa, or Little Turtle, uliocoTitri- buted most to the defeat of St. Clair. Sec Volney's View of tlie Soil and Climate of the United States. Supplement, No. VI. Philad. 1S04, p. 3Sa RELIGION. 215 stands at the summit of earthly creation, be forgotten amid the general scrutiny ? The sources of prejudice which I have mentioned, influence the examination of every subject, connected with the Indian character : there are peculiar diffi- culties, with regard to that on which I have chosen to address vou. ■ The Indians themselves are not communicative in relation to their religion ; and it requires a good deal of familiar, attentive, and I may add, unsuspected observation, to obtain any knowledge respecting it. Hence, many who have been transiently resident among them, have very confidently pronounced, that they have no religion ; an assertion, which subse- quent and more accurate travellers, have shown to be entirely unfounded. Those, also, on whom we rely for information, have either been too little informed to know what to observe, or they have been influenced by peculiar modes of thinking, which have given a tinge to all they have said on the subject. The various speculations, for example, on the question, whence America was peopled, led to many misrepresentations of the religious rites of its inhabi- tants; and aflinities were discovered which existed no where but in the fancy of the inventor. Gomara, Lerius, and Lescarbot, inferred from some resem- blances of this kind, that America was peopled by the Canaanites when they we*e expelled by Joshua; and the celebrated Grotius, adopting the sentiment of Martyr, imagined that Yucatan was first peopled by Ethiopians, and that those Ethiopians were Christians » •I: ; -, i. 4. r 216 RELIGION. ¥ i The human mind derives pleasure from paradox, for the same reason that it delights in wit. Both produce new and surprising combinations of thought; and the judgment, being overpowered by the fer- vour of imagination, becomes for a time insensible to their extravagance. It is well known, that, among the philosophers of Europe, the opinion has very generally prevailed, that the natives of America were, both as to physi- cal and mental powers, a feeble race ; and, impress- ed with this belief, they hardly considered the reli- gion of the Indians as worthy of minute attention. The celebrated historian of America, has uncon- sciously fallen into this error, at the very moment in which he was censuring others, for suffering their relation of facts to be perverted, by an attachment to preconceived theories *. Volney, in opposition to the sentiments of Rous- seau, has endeavoured to sink the character of the savage, in the same proportion as that eccentric au- thor sought to raise it. On the subject of the In- dian religion especially, no one should be read with greater caution. He who could imagine that Chris- tianity was only an astronomical allegory, and that the birth of our Saviour meant no more than that the sun had entered the constellation Virgo, can hardly be considered as perfectly sane, even when he treats on the religion of heathens f . We need not be sur- * See Robertson's America, book iv. ^. vii. •!• See Les Ruines, iw Meditations sur les Revolutions dcs Empires, par M. Vohiey. NoudcUc nliUon con-i^ec, Paris, 1792, Svo. cbap. '■22. p. 185. 221-4. In this work, Volney liad the hardihood to maintain, not only that RELIGION. 217 prised, therefore, at the assertion that the Indians have no regular system of religion ; that each one employs thje liberty allowed him of making a reli- gion for himself; and that all the worship they know is oflfered to the authors of evil*. Never was there an assertion more unfounded ; but it enabled him to quote that maxim of the Epicurean poet, which is so frequently in the mouths of unbelievers, that all religion originated in fear: Prinios ia orde Dcos fecit timor. On the other hand, an hypothesis has somewhat extensively prevailed, which exalts the religion of the Indians as much above its proper level, as Vol- ney has debased it below ; I mean that, which sup- poses them to be the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. This theory so possessed the mind of Adair, that, although he had the greatest opportunities of obtaining knowledge, his book is, com^-aratively, of little use. We are constantly led to suspect the fidelity of his statements, because his judgment had lost its equipoise, and he saw every thing through a discoloured medium. I feel myself bound to notice this hypothesis the more, because it has lately been our Saviour was an alleoforical jjcrsonag-e, but that all religions, Heathen, Mahometan, and Jewish, as well as Christian, are in substance the same ; that all have arisen from a literal interpretation of the figurative language of astronomers; and that the very idea of a God, sprung from a personifica- tion of the elements, and of the pliysical powers of tlie universe. At the sight of this monstrous creation of a disordered fancy, one cannot help ex- claiming with Stilliugfleet, " Oh what will not Atheists believe, rather than a Deity and Providence." * Volncy's View of the United States, utsupr. trans, by Brown, p. 4lG. r i ■»/ 218 REUniON. !■ revived and brought before the public, by a venera- ble member of this society, whose exalted character renders every opinion he may defend a subject of re- spectful attention *. To the mind of every religious man, the history of the Hebrews is a subject of peculiar interest ; and it is impossible to read of the extermination of the kingdom of Israel, without a feeling of compassion for the captives, who were thus torn from the land of their prerogative. The impenetrable darkness which hangs over their subsequent history, combines with this sentiment of pity, the powerful excite- ment of curiosity. It is not, then, to be wondered at, that when the disquisitions arose respecting the peopling of America, the idea of tracing to these western shores the long-lost tribes of Israel, should also have arisen before the eve of imadnation with captivating splendour ; that the thought should have been seized with avidity by men who were pious, and ardent, and contemplative ; and that, in the establishment of a theory which every one could wish to be true, facts should be strained from their natural bent, and resemblances imagined, which have no existence in reality. The most unequivocal method of tracing the origin of the aborigines of America, as Charlevoix has sen- sibly remarked, is to ascertain the character of their '* See Dr. Ijoiuliiiofs Star in ihc West, or a humble attempt totllst"yptus portenta colat ? Porrum et csepe nefas violare, aut frangere raorsu. O sanctas gentes, quibus ha3c nascuntur in hortis Niimma! Juvenal. S\T. xv.t Then it was that the Almighty was pleased to give the nations over " to a reprobate mind J," and to select a peculiar people, to be a signal example of his providence, tiie witness of his wonders, and the guardian of that revelation with which he sought to check the waywardness of human corruption. I. Having thus seen that all false religions are, in a greater or less degree, departures from the * Gcti. XXXV. 2, 4. t Who knows not to what monstrous gfods, my friend, The iiiad inhabitants of Es^ypt bend? "j'lg dang-erous here To violate an onion, or to stain The sanctity of leeks, with tooth profane. O holy nations ! Sacro-sanct abodes! Where every g-ardon propagates its sods! — Gipford. t Rom. i. 28. RELIGION. 227 true ; that there is a tendency in the human mind, to form low and limited views of the Supreme Being; and that, in fact, all nations have fallen into the corruptions of polytheism and idolatry ; we should conclude, even in reasoning d priori, that the reli- gion of the Indians would be found to partake of the general character. Accordingly, the fact is amply attested, that while they acknowledge One Supreme Being, whom they denominate the Great Spirit, or the Master of Life, they also believe in Subordinate Divinities, who have the chief regulation of the af- fairs of men. Charlevoix, who had all the opportunities of ob- taining information which personal observation, and the united testimony of the French missionaries could give, is an unexceptionable witness with re- gard to the Hurons, the Iroquois, and the Algon- quins. Nothing, says he. is more certain, though at the same time obscure, than the conception which the American savages have of a Supreme Being. All agree that he is the Great Spirit, and that he is the master, creator, and governor of the world*. The Hurons call him Areskoui ; the Iroquois, by a slight variation, Agreskoiit'. He is, with them, the God of war. His name they invoke as they march. It is the signal to engage, and it is the war-cry in the hottest of the battlef . * Charlevoix, Journal, &c. let. xxiv. p. 3\3. t Charlevoix, Journal, &i'. lot. xxiv. p. lUl. " II paroit que dans ces chansons (de gfiierre) on invoque le Dicn do la .iuerre, cpie les Hurons ai)[)clleut Areskoui, et Ics Iroquois /tff)rs/\ou^. Je ne s9ai pas quel noia coloi,'ie d Homcrc, on troiive la TJicine d'ou seniblent di'rivcr plusieurs tonnes de la lanjjue lluronnc ft Iroquoise, qui ont rapport a lu guerre ? Arvgoncu signifie, fairc la guerre, et so conjuguc ainsi : Garcoo, jc fais la guerre ; Sarcsrn, tu fais la auerrc : Arcifo, il fait la guerre. Au i,'?ste, Areskon" n'cst pas sctdeincnt le >Mars de ecs pcuplcs ; il est encore le !^>onvcraiii dc;^ Dieu\, ou, coniuie ils s'ex- prinient, le Grand Esprit, le Crtateur ct le Jvluitre da iMnnde, Ic Gi'nie qui goiivernc tout : niais e"est prineipalcment pour les expeditions niilitaire;;, qu'on rinvixjue, couuuc si la qualite, qui lui fait le plus d'hinineur etoit cello de Dieu des arnieos. Sou. nom est h eri de s;nerre avant le comhui et an fort de la melee : dans les mnrehes mune on le ripete souvent, com- inc pour sencouragrr, et pour implorer son assistance." Ibid, p. SOS. * Charlevoix, Journal, &c., let. xxlv. p. 345-5. RELIGION. 229 spirit for his child, first blackens his face, and then causes him to fast for several days. During this time it is expected that the spirit will reveal himself in a dream ; and on this account, the child is anxi- ously examined every morning with regard to the visions of the preceding night. Whatever the child happens to dream of the most frequently, even if it happen to be the head of a bird, the foot of an animal, or any thing of the most worthless nature, becomes the symbol or figure under which the Okki reveals himself. With this figure, in the concep- tions of his votary, the spirit becomes identified ; the image is preserved with the greatest care — is the constant companion on all great and important occasions, and the constant object of consultatioa and worship *. As soon as a child is informed what is the nature or form of his protecting deity, he is carefully in- structed in the obligations he is under to do him homage — to follow his advice communicated in dreams — to deserve his favours — to confide implicit- ly in his care — and to dread the consequences of his displeasure. For this reason, when the Huron or the Iroquois goes to battle or to the chase, the image of his okkiis as carefully carried with him as hi". arms. At night, each one places his guardian idol on the palisades surrounding the camp, with the i'ace turned from the quarter to which the warriors, or hunters, are about to march. He then prays to it for an hour, as he does also in the morning * Charlevoix, ut supr. p. 346. V .■ ■■I : 230 RELIGION. before he continues his course. This homa{?e per- formed, he lies down to rest, and sleeps in tran- quillity, fully persuaded that his spirit will assume the whole duty of keeping guard, and that he has nothing to fear*. With this account of Charlevoix, the relations which the Moravian missionaries give, not only of the Iroquois, but also of the Lenapes, or Delawaies, and the numerous tribes derived from them, per- fectly accord. " The prevailing opinion of all these nations is," says Loskiel, ** that there is one God, or, as they call him, one great and good Spirit, who has created the heavens and the earth, and made man and every other creature." But *' beside the Supreme Being, they believe in good and evil spirits, * ** Mais ce que Ton oublieroit encore moins que les amies, ct cc que I'on conserve avec le plus ijrand soiti dout los sauvagos sont capables, ce soni les Ma nitons. J'en parlerai ailleurs plus aniplcment: il suffit ici rte dire que cc sont les syniboles, sous lesquels chacun sc represeiite son esprit familier. On les met tons dans un sac fait de ,loncs, et peint de difl'ereutcs couleurs ; et souvent, pour faire honneur au chef, on place cc sac sur Ic devant de son canot. S'ily a trop de Manitous pour tenir dans un soul sac, on les distribue dans plusieurs, qui sont confies si la a;arde du lieuten- ant et des ancicns de chaque faniille. Alors on y joint los presens, qui ont 6te faits pour avoir des prioonniers, avtv les Imigufs tie tons les animunx, qu'on a tites pendant la v.ampngne, et dont on doit faire nu retoitr un sacrifice aux esprits:' Charlevoix, Journal, p. 223. " On canipe lont^tems avant le soleil ooiu;1r\ et pour I'ordinaire on laissc devant lecainp un grand espace environne d"uue pulissade, ou pliitot dune cspece de treillis, sur leipicl on pliice hs jUanitous toiirnt's du cote, oii Ton vent aller. On les ij invoqne pendant nnf hmn; it on en fait aidant tons les matins, avant ijitc dc derauipir. Aprh rcla on rrolt ti'arnir rien acraindrc, tnLsupifose (jne Icsrspri's sr vlinnrnd de fn're sen! ^entinflle, et tontc I'armc- dort traniu<'i>i sons In/r sanve-ganl' ' Ibid, i*. im. ill RELIC, rON. 231 considering them as subordinate deities." " Our missionaries have not found rank polytheism, or gross idolatry, to exist among the Indians. They have, however, something which may be called an idol. This is the Manitto, representing, in wood, the head of a man in miniature, which they always carry about them, either on a string round their neck, or in a bag. They hang it also about their children, to preserve them from illness, and ensure to them success. When they perform a solemn sacrifice, a manitto^ or a head as large as life, is put upon a pole in the middle of the house. But they understand by the word mamUoy every being to which an offering is made, especially all good spirits. They also look upon the elements, almost all animals, and even some plants, as r^pirits, one exceeding the other in dignity and power. The manittoes are also considered as tutelar spirits. Every Indian has one or more, which he conceives to be peculiarly given to assist him and make him prosper. One has, in a dream, received the sun as his tutelar spirit, another the moon ; a third, an owl ; a fourth ^ a buffalo. An Indian is dispirited, and considers himself as forsaken by God, till he has received a tutelar spirit in a dream ; but those who have been thus favoured, are full of courage, and proud of their powerful ally*. This account is corroborated by Heckewelder in his late interesting history of the Indian nations. " It is a part of their religious belief," says he, *' that there are inferior manillos, to whom the great * Loskiol, part 1. thap, ill. p.. 3 ^, 35, 39. 40. Loiul 179 ^ 232 RELIGION. 1* f and good Being has given the rule and command over the elements ; that being so great, he, like their chiefs, must have his attendants to execute his supreme behests ; these subordinate spirits (some- thing in their nature between God and man) see and report to him v^rhat is doing upon earth ; they look down particularly upon the Indians, to see whether they are in need of assistance, and are ready at their call to assist and protect them against danger. Thus I have frequently witnessed Indians, on the ap- proach of a storm or thunder-gust, address the manitto of the air to avert all danger from them ; I have also seen the Chippeways, on the lakes of Canada, pray to the manitto of the waters, that he might prevent the swells from rising too high, while they were passing over them. In both these in- stances, they expressed their acknowledgment, or showed their willingness to be grateful, by throwing tobacco in the air, or strewing it on the waters." — '* But amidst all these superstitious notions, the Su- preme Manitto, the creator and preserver of heaven and earth, is the great object of their adoration. On him they rest their hopes — to him they address their prayers, and make their solemn sacrifices*.'* The Knistineaux Indians, who inhabit the country extending from Labrador, across the continent, to the Highlands which divide the waters on Lake Su- perior from those of Hudson's Bay, appear, from IVIackenzie's account, to have the same system, of one great Supreme, and innumerable subordinate * HeckcM'elder, p. 205, 6. RELIGION. 233 deities. *' The Great Master of Life," to use their own expression, *' is the sacred object of their devo- tion. But each man carries in his medicine bag a kind of household God, which is a small carved image about eight inches long. Its first covering is of down, over which a piece of beech bark is closely- tied, and the whole is enveloped in several folds of red and blue cloth. This little figure is an object of the most pious regard*." It is remarkable, that the description given by Peter Martyr, who was the companion of Columbus, of the worship of the inhabitants of Cuba, perfectly agrees with this account of the Northern Indians by Mackenzie. They believed in the existence of one supreme, invisible, immortal, and omnipotent Crea- tor, whom they named Jocahuna, but at the same time acknowledged a plurality of subordinate deities. They had little images called Zemes, whom they looked upon as only a kind of messengers between them and the eternal, omnipotent, and invisible God. These images they considered as bodies inhabited by spirits, and oracular responses were therefore received from them as uttered by the divine com- mand f. The religion of Porto Rico, Jamaica, and His- paniola, was the same as that of Cuba ; for the in- * IMackcnzic's ^''oyagcs frtnn jMontrcal, on the river St. Laurence, tlnough the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in the years 1789 and 1793. Loud. 1801. 4to. p. ci. cii. 8vo. 1802. vol. i. p. 124. t Pet. Mart, decad i. lib. ix. apiid Stillin^fleet's Orisjincs Sacree, vol, i.p, 3 Edwards' West-Indies, vol. i. p. 8'3. 1- 234 JIELK.IOX. f I habitants were of the same race, and spoke the same language. The Carribean Islands, on the other hand, were inhabited by a very fierce and savage people, who were continually at war with the milder natives of Cuba and Hispaniola, and were regarded by them with the utmost terror and abhorrence. Yet '* the Charaibes," to use the language of the elegant historian of the West Indies, ** while they entertained an awful sense of one great Universal Cause, of a superior, wise, and invisible Being of absolute and irresistible power, admitted also the agency of subordinate divinities. They supposed that each individual person had his peculiar protector or tutelary deity ; and they had their lares and pe- nates, gods of their own creating." " Hughes, in his History of Barbadoes, mentions many fragments of Indian idols, dug up in that island, which were com- posed of the same materials as their earthen vessels. ' I saw the head of one,' says he, * which alone weighed above sixty pounds. This, before it was broken off, stood upon an oval pedestal, about three feet in height. The heads of all the others were very small. These lesser idols were, in all pro- bability, made small for the ease and conveniency of being carried with them in their several journeys, as the larger sort were perhaps designed for some stated places of worship*.' " Thus, in this vast extent of country, from Hud- son's Bay to the West Indies, including nations whose lanii'uaii^es are radically different, nations un- E«lwarils, vol. i. p. IS-O. and HugJies, p. 7. apud Edwards lit. siip. RRLIGIOX. 235 connected with, and unknown to, each other, the greatest uniformity of belief prevails with regard to the Supreme Being, and the greatest harmony in their system of polytheism. After this view, it is impossible not to remark, that there is a smaller de- parture from the original religion among the Indians of America, than among the more civilized nations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The idea of the Divine Unity is much more perfectly preserved ; the subordinate divinities are kept at a much more im- measurable distance from the Great Spirit; and, above all, there has been no attempt among them to degrade to the likeness of men, the invisible and in- comprehensible Creator of the universe. In fact, theirs is exactly that milder form of idolatry which " prevailed every where from the days of Abraham, his single family excepted," and which, after the death of that patriarch and of his son Isaac, in- fected, from time to time, even the chosen family itself*. II. The belief of a future state of rewards and punishments has been kept alive among all heathen nations, by its connexion with the sensible enjoy- ments and sufferings, and the consequent hopes and terrors of men. Its origin must have been in divine revelation ; for it is impossible to conceive that the mind could have attained to it by its own unassisted powers. But the thought, when once communicated, would, in * Horsslrv's IMsscrtation, fsujir ut. p. 47- 236 RRLir.ION. I:v, I . the shipwreck of dissolving nature, be clung to with the grasp of expiring hope. Hence no nations have yet been found, however rude and barbarous, who have not agreed in the great and general prmciple of retributive immortality. When, however, we de- scend to detail, and inquire into their peculiar no- tions with regard to this expected state, we find that their traditions are coloured by the nature of their earthly occupations, and the opinions they thence entertain on the subject of good and evil. This remark is fully verified by the history of the American Indians. " The belief most firmly esta- blished among the American savages," says Charle- voix, " is that of the immortality of the soul. They suppose, that when separated from the body, it pre- serves the same inclinations which it had when both were united. For this reason, they bury with the dead all that they had in use when alive. Some imagine that all men have two souls, one of which never leaves the body unless it be to inhabit an- other. This transmigration, however, is peculiar to the souls of those who die in infancy, and who there- fore have the privilege of commencing a second life, because they enjoyed so little of the first. Hence children are buried along the highways, that the women, as they pass, may receive their souls. From this idea of their remaining with the body, arises the duty of placing food upon their graves* ; and mothers have been seen to draw from their bosoms that nourishment which these little creatures loved * Journal Historiquc, p,a51. RELIGION. 237 when alive, and p/hed it upon the earth which co- vered their remains*." " When the time has arrived for the departure of those spirits which leave the body, they pass into a region which is destined to be their eternal abode, and which is therefore called the Country of Souls. This country is at a great distance toward the west, and to go thither costs them a journey of many months. They have many difficulties to surmount, and many perils to encounter. They speak of a stream in which many suffer shipwreck ; — of a dog from which they, with difficulty, defend themselves; of a place of suffering where they expiate their faults; — of another in which the souls of those prisoners who have been tortured are again tor- mented, and who therefore linger on their course, to delay as long as possible the moment of their ar- rival. From this idea it proceeds, that after the death of these unhappy victims, for fear their souls may remain around the huts of their tormentors from the thirst of vengeance, the latter are careful to strike every place around them with a staff, and * " On a vi'i (Ics meres ^anler des annics entities Ics cadavrcsde Icurs on fansct ne pouvoir s'en eloigner ; et d'autrcs sc tircr du lait dc la mauielle, et le rt'pandre aur la u»nibc do cos pctitcs crwitiircs. Si Ic fen prcnd a un vil- lage, on il y ait dcs corps niorts, c'cst la premiere chose qu'on met en siireti" on sc dej)ouille dc ce (pi'on a de plus precieux, pour en parer Ics' dt'-funts : dc tenis en tcms on dceouvrc lours cercueils i)onr Ics clianger d'liabits, et Ton s'arrachc Ics morceaux dc la bouclio, pour los porter sur leur sepulture, et dans les lieux, oil Ton s'linaiifine que Icurs antes se {)romcnenl," Char- levoix, Journal, ut supr. p. 372-3^ 238 RELIGION. r to utter such terrible cries as may oblige them to depart*." To be put to death as a ca{)tive, is, therefore, an exclusion from the Indian paradise; and, indeed, " the souls of all who have died a violent death, even in war, and in the service of their country, are supposed to have no intercourse in the future world with other souls f. They therefore burn the bodies of such persons, or bury them, sometimes before they have expired. They are never put into the common place of interment, and they have no part in that solemn ceremony which the Hurons and the Iroquois observe every ten years, and other nations every eight, of depositing all who have died during that period in a common place of sepulture J." To have been a good hunter, brave in war, fortu- nate in every enterprise, and victorious over many enemies, are the only titles to enter their abode of bliss. The happiness of it consists in the never-fail- ing supply of game and fish, an eternal spring, and an abundance of every thing which can delight the senses without the labour of procuring it§." Such * .Iimnial Historiquc, ut siipr. \}.:i!)2. t How (liflcinil from tlu> opinions of fhe Scandinavian Nations, from wliosc paratliso all wcvo c\c\mli'd whu i^-.iobly died in the common roursi* of nature. N llic iiiiisils td" tliclr iliildrcii. n V 2U RELIGION. cally different, but, if I am not mistaken, that con- nexion with the patriarchal religion which might na- turally be supposed to exist, if the one be considered as a corruption of the other. All who have been conversant with the worship of the American tribes, unite in the assertion, that thev offer sacrifices and oblations, both to the Great Spirit, and to the subordinate or intermediate Divi- nities. To all the inferior deities, whether good or male- volent, the Ilurons, the Iroquois, and the Algon- kins, make various kinds of offerings. *' To pro- pitiate the God of the Waters,' says Charlevoix, " they cast into the streams and lakes, tobacco, and birds which they have put to death. In honour of the sun, and also of inferior spirits, they consume in the fire apart of every thing they use, as an acknow- ledgment of the power from which they have derived these possessions. On some occasions, they have been observed to make libations, invoking at the same time, in a mysterious manner, the object of their worship. These invocations they have never explained ; whether it be, that they have in fact no meaning, or that the words have been transmitted by tradition, unaccompanied l)y their signification, or that the Indians themselves arc unwilling to re- veal the secret. Strings of wampum, tobacco, ears of corn, the skins, and often the whole carcasses of animals, are seen along ditlicult or dangerous roads, on rocks, and on the shores of rapids, as so many offerings made to the presiding spirit of the place. i\ RELlGIvlN. 2i5 In these cases, dogs are the most common "victims; and are often suspended alive upon trees by the hinder feet, where they arc left to die in a state of madness *.'* What Charlevoix thus affirms, with regard to the Hurons, Iroquois, and xilgonkins, is mentioned by Mackenzie, as practised among the Knisteneaux. •* There are stated periods," says he, " such as the spring and autumn, when they engage in very long and solemn ceremonies. On these occasions, dogs are offered as sacrifices : and those which are fat and milk-white are preferred. They also make large offerings of their property, whatever it may be. The scene of these ceremonies, is in an open enclo- sure, on the bank of a river or lake, and in the most conspicuous situation, in order that such as are pass- ing along, or travelling, may be induced to make their offerings. There is also a particular custom among them, that on these occasions, if any of the tribe, or even a stranger, should be passing by, and be in real want of any thing that is displayed as an offering, he has a right to take it, so that he replaces it with some article he can spare, though it be of far inferior value ; but to take or touch any thing wan- tonly is considered as a sacrilegious act, and highly insulting to the Great Ma^kr of Life, who is the sacred object of their devotion." At the feasts made by their chiefs, he farther observes. '* a small cjuantity of meat or drink is sacrificed before they i * CharlcvttiN, Journal, p. 317-8, * 246 RELIGION. if I begin to eat, by throwing it into the fire, or on the earth*." A similar account is given by Adair of the prac- tice among tlie Creeks, Katabahs, Cherokees, Choc- taws, and other southern Indians. " The Indian women," says he, •' always throw a small piece of the fattest of the meat into the fire, when they are eating, and frequently before they begin to eat. They pretend to draw omens from it, and firmly believe that it is the mean of obtaining temporal blessings, and averting temporal evils. The men, both in their summer and winter hunt, sacrifice in the woods a large fat piece of the first buck they kill, and fre- quently the whole carcass. This they offer up, either as a thanksgiving for the recovery of health, and for their former success in hunting, or that the Divine care and goodness may still be continued to themf." The song of the Lenape warriors, as they go out to meet their enemy, concludes with the promise of a victim if they return in safety. O! Tlum Great Spirit al)<»vc ! fiive inc strength and courapfc to meet my enemy ; j^ Suffer me to rctiira again to my rhiUlren, T<» my wife. And to my relations ! 'J'ake pity on me and preserve my life. And I will make to thee asarrifiec. Accordingly, *' after a successful war,'' says * fieji. Hist, of Fur Trade, 4(o. p. c. v\. cii. civ. Svo. vol. i. p. 12 J-4, ]2H, r Adair, Hist, of North American Indians, p. 115, 117. RELIGION. 247 Heckewelder,*' they never fail to offer up a sacrifice to the great Being, to return him thanks for having given them courage and strength to destroy or con- quer their enemies *." Loskiel, who has given a minute account of the sacrifices offered by the Lenape or Delawares, and who is said, by Heckewelder, to have almost ex- hausted the subject, affirms that they are offered upon all occasions, the most trivial, as well as the most important. " They sacrifice to a hare,** says he, " because, according to report, the first ances- tor of the Indian tribes had that nume f." To In- dian corn, they sacrifice bear's flesh, but to deer and bears, Indian corn; to the fishes, small pieces of bread in the shape of fishes ; but they positively deny, that they pay any adoration to these subordi- nate good spirits, and affirm, that they only worship the true God, through them : For God, say they, does not require men to pay offerings or adoration immediately to him. He has, therefore, made known his will in dreams, notifying to them, what beings they have to consider as Manittoes, and what oft'erings to make to them J." — '* When a boy dreams, that he sees a large bird of prey, of the size of a man, flying towards him from the north, and saying to him, * Roast some meat for me,' the bey is then * Herkowcldor, Hist. Arc. of fiid. p. 20 1, 207. •I- This uiiiy Hccomit for tlie fullo\viii!f stiitcinciit l)\ Charlevoix: " Prcs- (liio toiitcs les Nations Ali,''oii((Miiirs out (htiiini it* iioiu do srrnnd Liivre Hii ptrinior Ksprit. Qiu'hi'.ics iins i'apin'Iioiit Mirhahon ; d'autres Atahuran," .loillliai, p. liW: X Lasif ^51 RELIGION. I house of sacrifice," and mentions it as being " in a *^ lonely place*.'* On the other hand, Bartram, in his account of the Southern tribes, says, " There is in every town, or tribe, a High Priest, with several inferior, or junior priests, called by the white people jugglers, ^ or conjurers f." To the same purpose, Adair as- sei ts, that they *' have their High Priests, and others of a religious order.'' ** Ishtohoollo," he observes, ** is the name of all their priestly order, and their pontifical ofhce descends by inheritance to the eldest J." '^ Notwithstanding this diversity, however, the dif- ference is more in appearance than in reality. Va- rious meanings attached to the same words, in con- sequence of arbitrary associations, may produce n diversity of description. If a priest be one whose exclusive duty it is to celebrate the rites of religion, then it must be admitted that a priesthood exists among the Indians ; lor those who deny that they have priests, allow that in their public sacriliccs the chiefs are the only persons authorized to officiate. The only dilference, then, lies in this, whether the priesthood be or be not connected with the office oi the magistrate. Among Christians, as among the Jews, the priest- * lioskipl, p, .'in, 40, V2. ad ciilc. A house of snrrifice is only aiiotlier iiiiiiir for t(>in|ile. t IJartraui, TriivoN tliiMiiirli Sorth iunl Soutli Carolina, (irorifia, Kiisi uiid \\'<'st riori.la, kr. Lmul. 1792. Svo. p. 1.9.'). I .\