Volume 2 — LETTER XXXV.

A brief Account of the Persons, Manners, Character, Qualifications, mental and corporeal, of the Indians; interspersed with Anecdotes.

Malden.

OF THE INDIANS.

WHAT I shall first take notice of in the persons of the Indians, is the colour of their skins, which, in fact, constitutes the most striking distinction between their persons and ours. In general their skin is of a copper cast; but a most wonderful difference of colour is observable amongst them; some, in whose veins there is no reason to think that any other than Indian blood flows, not having darker complexions than natives of the south of France or of Spain, whilst others, on the contrary, are nearly as black as negroes. Many persons, and particularly some of the most respectable of the French missionaries, whose long residence amongst the Indians ought to 225have made them competent judges of the matter, have been of opinion, that their natural colour does not vary from ours; and that the darkness of their complexion arises wholly from their anointing themselves so frequently with unctuous substances, and from their exposing themselves so much to the smoke of wood fires, and to the burning rays of the sun. But although it is certain that they think a dark complexion very becoming; that they take great pains from their earliest age to acquire such an one; and that many of them do, in process of time, contrive to vary their original colour very considerably; although it is certain likewise, that when first born their colour differs but little from ours; yet it appears evident to me, that the greater part of them are indebted for their different hues to nature alone. I have been induced to form this opinion from the following consideration, namely; that those children which are born of parents of a dark colour are almost universally of the same dark cast as those from whom they sprang. Nekig, that is, The Little Otter, an Ottoway chief of great notoriety, whose village is on Detroit River, and with whom we have become intimately acquainted, has a complexion that differs but little from that of an African; and his little boys, who are the very image of the father, are just as 226black as himself. With regard to Indian children being white on their first coming into the world, it ought by no means to be concluded from thence, that they would remain so if their mothers did not bedaub them with grease, herbs, &c. as it is well known that negro children are not perfectly black when born, nor indeed for many months afterwards, but that they acquire their jetty hue gradually, on being exposed to the air and sun, just as in the vegetable world the tender blade, on first peeping above ground, turns from white to a pale greenish colour, and afterwards to a deeper green.

Though I remarked to you in a former letter, that the Mississaguis, who live about Lake Ontario, were of a much darker cast than any other tribe of Indians I met with, yet I do not think that the different shades of complexion observable amongst the Indians are so much confined to particular tribes as to particular families; for even amongst the Mississaguis I saw several men that were comparatively of a very light colour. Judging of the Creeks, Cherokees, and other southern Indians, from what I have seen of them at Philadelphia, and at other towns in the States, whither they often come in large parties, led either by business or curiosity, it appears to me that their skin has a redder tinge, and more warmth of colouring 227in it, if I may use the expression, than that of the Indians in the neighbourhood of the lakes; it appears to me also, that there is less difference of colour amongst them than amongst those last mentioned.

OF THE INDIANS.

Amongst the female Indians also, in general, there is a much greater sameness of colour than amongst the men. I do not recollect to have seen any of a deeper complexion than what might be termed a dirty copper colour.

The Indians universally have long, straight, black, coarse hair, and black eyes, rather small than full sized; they have, in general, also, high prominent cheek bones, and sharp small noses, rather inclining to an aquiline shape; they have good teeth, and their breath, in general, is as sweet as that of a human being can be. The men are for the most part very well made; it is a most rare circumstance to meet with a deformed person amongst them: they are remarkably straight; have full open chests; their walk is firm and erect, and many amongst them have really a dignified deportment. Very few of them are under the middle stature, and none of them ever become very fat or corpulent. You may occasionally see amongst them stout robust men, closely put together, but in general they are but slightly made. Their legs, arms, and hands, are for the most part extremely well shaped; and very 228many amongst them would be deemed handsome men in any country in the world.

The women, on the contrary, are mostly under the middle size; and have higher cheek bones, and rounder faces than the men. They have very ungraceful carriages; walk with their toes turned considerably inwards, and with a shuffling gait; and as they advance in years they grow remarkably fat and coarse. I never saw an Indian woman of the age of thirty, but what her eyes were sunk, her forehead wrinkled, her skin loose and shrivelled, and her whole person, in short, forbidding; yet, when young, their faces and persons are really pleasing, not to say sometimes very captivating. One could hardly imagine, without witnessing it, that a few years could possibly make such an alteration as it does in their persons This sudden change is chiefly owing to the drudgery imposed on them by the men after a certain age; to their exposing themselves so much to the burning rays of the sun; sitting so continually in the smoke of wood fires; and, above all, to the general custom of prostituting themselves at a very early age.

OF THE INDIANS.

Though the Indians are profusely furnished with hair on their heads, yet on none of the other parts of the body, usually covered with it amongst us, is the smallest sign of hair visible, except, indeed, on the chins of old men, where 229a few slender straggling hairs are sometimes seen, not different from what may be occasionally seen on women of a certain age in Europe. Many persons have supposed that the Indians have been created without hair on those parts of the body where it appears wanting; others, on the contrary, are of opinion, that nature has not been less bountiful to them than to us; and that this apparent deficiency of hair is wholly owing to their plucking it out themselves by the roots, as soon as it appears above the skin. It is well known, indeed, that the Indians have a great dislike to hair, and that such of the men as are ambitious of appearing gayer than the rest, pluck it not only from their eye-brows and eye-lashes, but also from every part of the head, except one spot on the back part of the crown, where they leave a long lock. For my own part, from every thing I have seen and heard, I am fully persuaded, that if an Indian were to lay aside this custom of plucking out the hair, he would not only have a beard, but likewise hair on the same parts of the body as white people have; I think, however, at the same time, that this hair would be much finer, and not grow as thickly as upon our bodies, notwithstanding that the hair of their heads is so much thicker than ours. The few hairs that are seen on the faces of old men are to be attributed to the carelessness of old people about their external appearance.

230To pluck out their hair, all such as have any connection with the traders make use of a pliable worm, formed of flattened brass wire. This instrument is closely applied, in its open state, to the surface of the body where the hair grows; it is then compressed by the finger and thumb; a great number of hairs are caught at once between the spiral evolutions of the wire, and by a sudden twitch they are all drawn out by the roots. An old squaw, with one of these instruments, would deprive you of your beard in a very few minutes, and a slight application of the worm two or three times in the year would be sufficient to keep your chin smooth ever afterwards. A very great number of the white people, in the neighbourhood of Malden and Detroit, from having submitted to this operation, appear at first sight as little indebted to nature for beards as the Indians. The operation is very painful, but it is soon over, and when one considers how much time and trouble is saved and ease gained by it in the end, it is only surprising that more people do not summon up resolution, and patiently submit to it.

OF THE INDIANS.

The long lock of hair on the top of the head, with the skin on which it grows, constitutes the true scalp; and in scalping a person that has a full head of hair, an experienced warrior never thinks of taking off more of the skin 231than a bit of about the size of a crown piece, from the part of the head where this lock is usually left. They ornament this solitary lock of hair with beads, silver trinkets, &c. and on grand occasions with feathers. The women do not pluck any of the hair from off their heads, and pride themselves upon having it as long as possible. They commonly wear it neatly platted up behind, and divided in front on the middle of the forehead. When they wish to appear finer than usual, they paint the small part of the skin, which appears on the separation of the hair, with a streak of vermilion; when neatly done, it looks extremely well, and forms a pleasing contrast to the jetty black of their hair.

OF THE INDIANS.

The Indians, who have any dealings with the English or American traders, and all of them have that live in the neighbourhood, and to the east of the Mississippi, and in the neighbourhood of the great lakes to the north-west, have now totally laid aside the use of furs and skins in their dress, except for their shoes or moccasins, and sometimes for their leggings, as they find they can exchange them to advantage for blankets and woollen cloths, &c. which they consider likewise as much more agreeable and commodious materials for wearing apparel. The moccasin is made of the skin of the deer, elk, or buffalo, which is commonly 232dressed without the hair, and rendered of a deep brown colour by being exposed to the smoke of a wood fire. It is formed of a single piece of leather, with a seam from the toe to the instep, and another behind, similar to that in a common shoe; by means of a thong, it is fastened round the instep, just under the ankle-bone, and is thus made to fit very close to the foot. Round that part where the foot is put in, a flap of the depth of an inch or two is left, which hangs loosely down over the string by which the moccasin is fastened; and this flap, as also the seam, are tastefully ornamented with porcupine quills and beads: the flap is edged with tin or copper tags filled with scarlet hair, if the moccasin be intended for a man, and with ribands if for a woman. An ornamented moccasin of this sort is only worn in dress, as the ornaments are expensive, and the leather soon wears out; one of plain leather answers for ordinary use. Many of the white people on the Indian frontiers wear this kind of shoe; but a person not accustomed to walk in it, or to walk barefoot, cannot wear it abroad, on a rough road, without great inconvenience, as every unevenness of surface is felt through the leather, which is soft and pliable: in a house it is the most agreeable sort of shoe that can be imagined: the Indians wear it universally. 233Above the moccasin all the Indians wear what are called leggings, which reach from the instep to the middle of the thigh. They are commonly made of blue or scarlet cloth, and are formed so as to fit close to the limbs, like the modern pantaloons; but the edges of the cloth annexed to the seam, instead of being turned in, are left on the outside, and are ornamented with beads, ribands, &c. when the leggings are intended for dress. Many of the young warriors are so desirous that their leggings should fit them neatly, that they make the squaws, who are the tailors, and really very good ones, sow them tight on their limbs, so that they cannot be taken off, and they continue to wear them constantly till they are reduced to rags. The leggings are kept up by means of two strings, one on the outside of each thigh, which are fastened to a third, that is tied round the waist.

They also wear round the waist another string, from which are suspended two little aprons, somewhat more than a foot square, one hanging down before and the other behind, and under these a piece of cloth, drawn close up to the body between the legs, forming a sort of truss. The aprons and this piece of cloth, which are all fastened together, are called the breech cloth. The utmost ingenuity of the squaws is exerted in adorning the little aprons with beads, ribands, &c.

234The moccasins, leggings, and breech cloth constitute the whole of the dress which they wear when they enter upon a campaign, except indeed it be a girdle, from which hangs their tobacco pouch and scalping knife, &c.; nor do they wear any thing more when the weather is very warm; but when it is cool, or when they dress themselves to visit their friends, they put on a short shirt, loose at the neck and wrists, generally made of coarse figured cotton or callico of some gaudy pattern, not unlike what would be used for window or bed curtains at a common inn in England. Over the shirt they wear either a blanket, large piece of broad cloth, or else a loose coat made somewhat similarly to a common riding frock; a blanket is more commonly worn than any thing else. They tie one end of it round their waist with a girdle, and then drawing it over their shoulders, either fasten it across their breasts with a skewer, or hold the corners of it together in the left hand. One would imagine that this last mode of wearing it could not but be highly inconvenient to them, as it must deprive them in a great measure of the use of one hand; yet it is the mode in which it is commonly worn, even when they are shooting in the woods; they generally, however, keep the right arm disengaged when they carry a gun, and draw the blanket over the left shoulder.

OF THE INDIANS.

235The dress of the women differs but very little from that of the men. They wear moccasins, leggings, and loose short shirts, and like them they throw over their shoulders, occasionally, a blanket or piece of broad cloth, but most generally the latter; they do not tie it round their waist, however, but suffer it to hang down so as to hide their legs; instead also of the breech cloth, they wear a piece of cloth folded closely round their middle, which reaches from the waist to the knees. Dark blue or green cloths in general are preferred to those of any other colour; a few of the men are fond of wearing scarlet.

The women in warm weather appear in the villages without any other covering above their waists than these shirts, or shifts if you please so to call them, though they differ in no respect from the shirts of the men; they usually, however, fasten them with a broach round the neck. In full dress they also appear in these shirts, but then they are covered entirely over with silver broaches, about the size of a sixpenny piece. In full dress they likewise fasten pieces of ribands of various colours to their hair behind, which are suffered to hang down to their very heels. I have seen a young squaw, that has been a favourite with the men, come forth at a dance with upwards of five guineas worth of ribands streaming from her hair.

OF THE INDIANS.

236On their wrists the women wear silver bracelets when they can procure them; they also wear silver ear-rings; the latter are in general of a very small size; but it is not merely one pair which they wear, but several. To admit them, they bore a number of holes in their ears, sometimes entirely round the edges. The men wear ear-rings likewise, but of a sort totally different from those worn by the women; they mostly consist of round flat thin pieces of silver, about the size of a dollar, perforated with holes in different patterns; others, however, equally large, are made in a triangular form. Some of the tribes are very select in the choice of the pattern, and will not wear any but the one sort of pendants. Instead of boring their ears, the men slit them along the outward edge from top to bottom, and as soon as the gash is healed hang heavy weights to them in order to stretch the rim thus separated as low down as possible; Some of them are so successful in this operation, that they contrive to draw the rims of the ear in form of a bow, down to their very shoulders, and their large ear-rings hang dangling on their breasts. To prevent the rim thus extended from breaking, they bind it with brass wire; however, I observed that there was not one in six that had his ears perfect; the least touch, indeed, is 237sufficient to break the skin, and it would be most wonderful if they were able to preserve it entire, engaged so often as they are in drunken quarrels, and so often liable to be entangled in thickets whilst pursuing their game.

Some of the men wear pendants in their noses, but these are not so common as ear-rings. The chiefs and principal warriors wear breast plates, consisting of large pieces of silver, sea shells, or the like. Silver gorgets, such as are usually worn by officers, please them extremely, and to favourite chiefs they are given out, amongst other presents, on the part of government. Another sort of ornament is likewise worn by the men, consisting of a large silver clasp or bracelet, to which is attached a bunch of hair dyed of a scarlet colour, usually taken from the knee of the buffalo. This is worn on the narrow part of the arm above the elbow, and it is deemed very ornamental, and also a badge of honour, for no person wears it that has not distinguished himself in the field. Silver ornaments are universally preferred to those of any other metal.

The Indians not only paint themselves when they go to war, but likewise when they wish to appear full dressed. Red and black are their favourite colours, and they daub themselves in the most fantastic manner. I have 238seen some with their faces entirely covered with black, except a round spot in the center, which included the upper lip and end of the nose, which was painted red; others again I have seen with their heads entirely black, except a large red round spot on each ear; others with one eye black and the other red, &c.; but the most common style of painting I observed, was to black their faces entirely over with charcoal, and then wetting their nails, to draw parallel undulating lines on their cheeks. They generally carry a little looking glass about them to enable them to dispose of their colours judiciously. When they go to war they rub in the paint with grease, and are much more particular about their appearance, which they study to render as horrible as possible; they then cover their whole body with red, white, and black paint, and seem more like devils than human beings. Different tribes have different methods of painting themselves.

OF THE INDIANS.

Though the Indians spend so much of their time in adorning their persons, yet they take no pains to ornament their habitations, which for the most part are wretched indeed. Some of them are formed of logs, in a style somewhat similar to the common houses in the United States; but the greater part of them are of a moveable nature, and formed of bark. The 239bark of the birch tree is deemed preferable to every other sort, and where it is to be had is always made use of; but in this part of the country not being often met with, the bark of the elm tree is used in its stead. The Indians are very expert in stripping it from a tree; and frequently take the entire bark from off the trunk in one piece. The skeletons of their huts consist of slender poles, and on them the bark is fastened with strips of the tough rind of some young tree: this, if sound, proves a very effectual defence against the weather. The huts are built in various forms: some of them have walls on every side, doors, and also a chimney in the middle of the roof; others are open on one side, and are nothing better than sheds. When built in this last style, four of them are commonly placed together, so as to form a quadrangle, with the open parts towards the inside, and a fire common to them all is kindled in the middle. In fine weather these huts are agreeable dwellings; but in the depth of winter they must be dreadfully uncomfortable. Others of their huts are built in a conical shape. The Nandowessies, Mr. Carver tells us, live entirely in tents formed of skins. A great many of the families that were encamped on the island of Bois Blanc, I observed, lived in the canvas tents which they had taken from St. Clair’s army. Many of 240the Indian nations have no permanent place of residence, but move about from one spot to another, and in the hunting season they all have moveable encampments, which last are in general very rude, and insufficient to give them even tolerable shelter from a fall of rain or snow. The hunting season commences on the fall of the leaf, and continues till the snow dissolves.

SOAP STONE.

In the depth of winter, when the snow is frozen on the ground, they form their hunting sheds of the snow itself; a few twigs platted together being simply placed overhead to prevent the snow which forms the roof from falling down. These snowy habitations are much more comfortable, and warmer in winter time than any others that can be erected, as they effectually screen you from the keen piercing blasts of the wind, and a bed of snow is far from being uncomfortable. To accustom the troops to encamp in this style, in case of a winter campaign, a party of them, headed by some of the young officers, used regularly to be sent from Quebec by the late governor, into the woods, there to shift for themselves during the month of February. Care was always taken, however, to send with them two or three experienced persons, to shew them how to build the huts, otherwise death might have been the consequence to many. 241In these encampments they always sleep with their feet to the fire; and indeed in the Indian encampments in general, during cold weather, they sleep on the ground with their feet to the fire; during mild weather, many of them sleep on benches of bark in their huts, which are raised from two to four feet from the ground.

The utensils in an Indian hut are very few; one or two brass or iron kettles procured from the traders, or, if they live removed from them, pots formed of stone, together with a few wooden spoons and dishes made by themselves constitute in general the whole of them. A stone of a very soft texture, called the soap stone, is very commonly found in the back parts of North America, particularly suited for Indian workmanship. It receives its name from appearing to the touch as soft and smooth as a bit of soap; and indeed it may be cut with a knife almost equally easily. In Virginia they use it powdered for the boxes of their wheels instead of grease. Soft, however, as is this stone, it will resist fire equally with iron. The soap stone is of a dove colour; others nearly of the same quality, are found in the country, of a black and red colour, which are still commonly used by the Indians for the bowls of their pipes.

242The bark canoes, which the Indians use in this part of the country, are by no means so neatly formed as those made in the country upon, and to the north of, the River St. Lawrence: they are commonly formed of one entire piece of elm bark, taken from the trunk of the tree, which is bound on ribs formed of slender rods of tough wood. There are no ribs, however, at the ends of these canoes, but merely at the middle part, where alone it is that passengers ever sit. It is only the center, indeed, which rests upon the water; the ends are generally raised some feet above the surface, the canoes being of a curved form. They bring them into this shape by cutting, nearly midway between the stem and stern, two deep slits, one on each side, in the back, and by lapping the disjointed edges one over the other. No pains are taken to make the ends of the canoes water tight, since they never touch the water.

INDIAN DEXTERITY.

On first inspection you would imagine, from its miserable appearance, that an elm bark canoe, thus constructed, were not calculated to carry even a single person safely across a smooth piece of water; it is nevertheless a remarkably safe sort of boat, and the Indians will resolutely embark in one of them during very rough weather. They are so light that they ride securely over every wave, and the only precaution 243necessary in navigating them is to sit steady. I have seen a dozen people go securely in one, which might be easily carried by a single able-bodied man. When an Indian takes his family to any distance in a canoe, the women, the girls, and boys, are furnished each with a paddle, and are kept busily at work; the father of the family gives himself no trouble but in steering the vessel.

The Indians that are connected with the traders have now, very generally, laid aside bows and arrows, and seldom take them into their hands, except it be to amuse themselves for a few hours, when they have expended their powder and shot: their boys, however, still use them universally, and some of them shoot with wonderful dexterity. I saw a young Shawnese chief, apparently not more than ten years old, fix three arrows running in the body of a small black squirrel, on the top of a very tall tree, and during an hour or two that I followed him through the woods, he scarcely missed his mark half a dozen times. It is astonishing to see with what accuracy, and at the same time with what readiness, they mark the spot where their arrows fall. They will shoot away a dozen arrows or more, seemingly quite careless about what becomes of them, and as inattentive to the spot where they fall as if they never expected to find them again, yet 244afterwards they will run and pick them every one up without hesitation. The southern Indians are much more expert at the use of the bow than those near the lakes, as they make much greater use of it.

With the gun, it seems to be generally allowed, that the Indians are by no means so good marksmen as the white people. I have often taken them out shooting with me, and I always found them very slow in taking aim; and though they generally hit an object that was still, yet they scarcely ever touched a bird on the wing, or a squirrel that was leaping about from tree to tree.

The expertness of the Indians in throwing the tomahawk is well known. At the distance of ten yards they will fix the sharp edge of it in an object nearly to a certainty. I have been told, however, that they are not fond of letting it out of their hands in action, and that they never attempt to throw it but when they are on the point of overtaking a flying foe, or are certain of recovering it. Some of them will fasten a string of the length of a few feet to the handle of the tomahawk, and will launch it forth, and draw it back again into their hand with great dexterity; they will also parry the thrust or cuts of a sword with the tomahawk very dexterously.

TOMAHAWKS.

The common tomahawk is nothing more 245than a light hatchet, but the most approved sort has on the back part of the hatchet, and connected with it in one piece, the bowl of a pipe, so that when the handle is perforated, the tomahawk answers every purpose of a pipe: the Indians, indeed, are fonder of smoking out of a tomahawk than out of any other sort of pipe. That formerly given to the Indians by the French traders, instead of a pipe, had a large spike on the back part of the hatchet; very few of these instruments are now to be found amongst them; I never saw but one. The tomahawk is commonly worn by the left side, stuck in a belt.

For the favourite chiefs, very elegant pipe-tomahawks, inlaid with silver, are manufactured by the armourers in the Indian department. Captain E—— has given me one of this kind, which he had made for himself; it is so much admired by the Indians, that when they have seen it with me, they have frequently asked me to lend it to them for an hour or so to smoke out of, just as children would ask for a pretty plaything; they have never failed to return it very punctually.

The armourers here alluded to are persons kept at the expence of government to repair the arms of the Indians when they happen to break, which is very commonly the case.

REMARKS.

An Indian child, soon after it is born, is 246swathed with cloths or skins, and being then laid on its back, is bound down on a piece of thick board, spread over with soft moss. The board is left somewhat longer and broader than the child, and bent pieces of wood, like pieces of hoops, are placed over its face to protect it, so that if the machine were suffered to fall the child would not probably be injured. The women, when they go abroad, carry their children thus tied down on their backs, the board being suspended by a broad band, which they wear round their foreheads. When they have any business to transact at home, they hang the board on a tree, if there be one at hand, and set them a swinging from side to side, like a pendulum, in order to exercise the children; sometimes also, I observed, they unloosened the children from the boards, and putting them each into a sort of little hammock, fastened them between two trees, and there suffered them to swing about. As soon as they are strong enough to crawl about on their hands and feet they are liberated from all confinement, and suffered, like young puppies, to run about, stark naked, into water, into mud, into snow, and, in short, to go wheresoever their choice leads them; hence they derive that vigour of constitution which enables them to support the greatest fatigue, and that indifference to the changes of the weather which 247they possess in common with the brute creation. The girls are covered with a loose garment as soon as they have attained four or five years of age, but the boys go naked till they are considerably older.

The Indians, as I have already remarked, are for the most part very slightly made, and from a survey of their persons one would imagine that they were much better qualified for any pursuits that required great agility than great bodily strength. This has been the general opinion of most of those who have written on this subject. I am induced, however, from what I have myself been witness to, and from what I have collected from others, to think that the Indians are much more remarkable for their muscular strength than for their agility. At different military posts on the frontiers, where this subject has been agitated, races, for the sake of experiment, have frequently been made between soldiers and Indians, and provided the distance was not great, the Indians have almost always been beaten; but in a long race, where strength of muscle was required, they have without exception been victorious; in leaping also the Indians have been infallibly beaten by such of the soldiers as possessed common activity: but the strength of the Indians is most conspicuous in the carrying of burthens on their backs; 248they esteem it nothing to walk thirty miles a day for several days together under a load of eight stone, and they will walk an entire day under a load without taking any refreshment. In carrying burdens they make use of a sort of frame, somewhat similar to what is commonly used by a glazier to carry glass; this is fastened by cords, or strips of tough bark or leather, round their shoulders, and when the load is fixed upon the broad ledge at the bottom of the frame, two bands are thrown round the whole, one of which is brought across the forehead, and the other across the breast, and thus the load is supported. The length of way an Indian will travel in the course of the day, when unencumbered with a load, is astonishing. A young Wyandot, who, when peace was about to be made between the Indians and General Wayne, was employed to carry a message from his nation to the American officer, travelled but little short of eighty miles on foot in one day; and I was informed by one of the general’s aids-de-camp, who saw him when he arrived at the camp, that he did not appear in the least degree fatigued.

MEMORY OF THE INDIANS.

Le P. Charlevoix observes, that the Indians seem to him to possess many personal advantages over us; their senses, in particular, he thinks much finer than ours; their sight is, indeed, quick and penetrating, and it does not 249fail them till they are far advanced in years, notwithstanding that their eyes are exposed so many months each winter to the dazzling whiteness of the snow, and to the sharp irritating smoke of wood fires. Disorders in the eyes are almost wholly unknown to them; nor is the slightest blemish ever seen in their eyes, excepting it be a result from some accident. Their hearing is very acute, and their sense of smelling so nice, that they can tell when they are approaching a fire long before it is in sight.

The Indians have most retentive memories; they will preserve to their deaths a recollection of any place they have once passed through; they never forget a face that they have attentively observed but for a few seconds; at the end of many years they will repeat every sentence of the speeches that have been delivered by different individuals in a public assembly; and has any speech been made in the council house of the nation, particularly deserving of remembrance, it will be handed down with the utmost accuracy from one generation to another, though perfectly ignorant of the use of hieroglyphicks and letters; the only memorials of which they avail themselves are small pieces of wood, such as I told you were brought by them to Captain E——, preparatory to the delivery of the presents, and belts of wampum; 250the former are only used on trifling occasions, the latter never but on very grand and solemn ones. Whenever a conference, or a talk as they term it, is about to be held with any neighbouring tribe, or whenever any treaty or national compact is about to be made, one of these belts, differing in some respect from every other that has been made before, is immediately constructed; each person in the assembly holds this belt in his band whilst he delivers his speech, and when he has ended, he presents it to the next person that rises, by which ceremony each individual is reminded, that it behoves him to be cautious in his discourse, as all he says will be faithfully recorded by the belt. The talk being over, the belt is deposited in the hands of the principal chief.

On the ratification of a treaty, very broad splendid belts are reciprocally given by the contracting parties, which are deposited amongst the other belts belonging to the nation. At stated intervals they are all produced to the nation, and the occasions upon which they were made are mentioned; if they relate to a talk, one of the chiefs repeats the substance of what was said over them; if to a treaty, the terms of it are recapitulated. Certain of the squaws, also, are entrusted with the belts, whose business it is to relate the history of each one of them to the younger branches of 251the tribe; this they do with great accuracy, and thus it is that the remembrance of every important transaction is kept up.

WAMPUM.

The wampum is formed of the inside of the clam shell, a large sea shell bearing some similitude to that of a scallop, which is found on the coasts of New England and Virginia. The shell is sent in its original rough state to England, and there cut into small pieces, exactly similar in shape and size to the modern glass bugles worn by ladies, which little bits of shell constitute wampum. There are two sorts of wampum, the white and the purple; the latter is most esteemed by the Indians, who think a pound weight of it equally valuable with a pound of silver. The wampum is strung upon bits of leather, and the belt is composed of ten, twelve, or more strings, according to the importance of the occasion on which it is made; sometimes also the wampum is sowed in different patterns on broad belts of leather.

The use of wampum appears to be very general amongst the Indian nations, but how it became so, is a question that would require discussion, for it is well known that they are a people obstinately attached to old customs, and that would not therefore be apt to adopt, on the most grand and solemn occasion, the use of an article that they had never seen until brought to them by strangers; at the same 252time it seems wholly impossible that they should ever have been able to have made wampum from the clam shell for themselves; they fashion the bowls of tobacco pipes, indeed, from stone, in a very curious manner, and with astonishing accuracy, considering that they use no other instrument than a common knife, but then the stone which they commonly carve thus is of a very soft kind; the clam shell, however, is exceedingly hard, and to bore and cut it into such small pieces as are necessary to form wampum, very fine tools would be wanting. Probably they made some use of the clam shell, and endeavoured to reduce it to as small bits as they could with their rude instruments before we came amongst them, but on finding that we could cut it so much more neatly than they could, laid aside the wampum before in use for that of our manufacture. Mr. Carver tells us, that he found sea shells very generally worn by the Indians who resided in the most interior parts of the continent, who never could have visited a sea shore themselves, and could only have procured them at the expence of much trouble from other nations.

REMARKS.

The Indians are exceedingly sagacious and observant, and by dint of minute attention, acquire many qualifications to which we are wholly strangers. They will traverse a trackless forest, hundreds of miles in extent, without 253deviating from the straight course, and will reach to a certainty the spot whither they intended to go on setting out: with equal skill they will cross one of the large lakes, and though out of sight of the shores for days, will to a certainty make the land at once, at the very place they desired. Some of the French missionaries have supposed that the Indians are guided by instinct, and have pretended that Indian children can find their way through a forest as easily as a person of maturer years; but this is a most absurd notion. It is unquestionably by a close attention to the growth of the trees, and position of the sun, that they find their way. On the northern side of a tree, there is generally the most moss, and the bark on that side in general differs from that on the opposite one. The branches towards the south are for the most part more luxuriant than those on the other sides of trees, and several other distinctions also subsist between the northern and southern sides, conspicuous to Indians, who are taught from their infancy to attend to them, which a common observer would perhaps never notice. Being accustomed from their childhood, likewise, to pay great attention to the position of the sun, they learn to make the most accurate allowance for its apparent motion from one part of the heavens to another, and in any part of the day they will 254point to the part of the heavens where it is, although the sky be obscured by clouds or mists.

ANECDOTE.

An instance of their dexterity in finding their way through an unknown country came under my observation when I was at Staunton, situated behind the Blue Mountains, Virginia. A number of the Creek nation had arrived at that town in their way to Philadelphia, whither they were going upon some affairs of importance, and had stopped there for the night. In the morning some circumstance or another, what could not be learned, induced one half of the Indians to set off without their companions, who did not follow until some hours afterwards. When these last were ready to pursue their journey, several of the towns-people mounted their horses to escort them part of the way. They proceeded along the high road for some miles, but all at once, hastily turning aside into the woods, though there was no path, the Indians advanced confidently forward; the people who accompanied them, surprised at this movement, informed them that they were quitting the road to Philadelphia, and expressed their fears lest they should miss their companions, who had gone on before. They answered, that they knew better; that the way through the woods was the shortest to Philadelphia; and that they knew very well that their companions had entered 255the woods at the very place they did. Curiosity led some of the horsemen to go on, and to their astonishment, for there was apparently no track, they overtook the other Indians in the thickest part of the wood; but what appeared most singular was, that the route which they took was found, on examining a map, to be as direct for Philadelphia as if they had taken the bearings by a mariner’s compass. From others of their nation, who had been at Philadelphia at a former period, they had probably learned the exact direction of that city from their village, and had never lost sight of it, although they had already travelled three hundred miles through woods, and had upwards of four hundred miles more to go before they could reach the place of their destination.

Of the exactness with which they can find out a strange place that they have been once directed to by their own people, a striking example is furnished us, I think, by Mr. Jefferson, in his account of the Indian graves in Virginia. These graves are nothing more than large mounds of earth in the woods, which, on being opened, are found to contain skeletons in an erect posture: the Indian mode of sepulture has been too often described to remain unknown to you. But to come to my story. A party of Indians that were passing on to some of the sea-ports on the Atlantic, 256just as the Creeks above mentioned were going to Philadelphia, were observed, all on a sudden, to quit the straight road by which they were proceeding, and without asking any questions, to strike through the woods in a direct line to one of these graves, which lay at the distance of some miles from the road. Now very near a century must have passed over since the part of Virginia, in which this grave was situated, had been inhabited by Indians; and these Indian travellers, who went to visit it by themselves, had, unquestionably, never been in that part of the country before; they must have found their way to it simply from the description of its situation that had been handed down to them by tradition.

ANECDOTE.

The Indians, for the most part, are admirably well acquainted with the geography of their own country. Ask them any questions relative to the situation of a particular place in it, and if there be a convenient spot at hand, they will, with the utmost facility, trace upon the ground with a stick a map, by no means inaccurate, of the place in question, and the surrounding country; they will point out the course of the rivers, and by directing your attention to the sun, make you acquainted with the different bearings. I happened once to be sitting in a house at the western extremity of Lake Erie, whilst we were detained there by 257contrary winds, and was employed in looking over a pocket map of the state of New York, when a young Seneka warrior entered. His attention was attracted by the sight of the map, and he seemed at once to comprehend the meaning of it; but never having before seen a general map of the state of New York, and being wholly ignorant of the use of letters, he could not discover to what part of the country it had a reference; simply, however, by laying my finger upon the spot where we then were, and by shewing to him the line that denoted Buffalo Creek, on which his village was situated, I gave him the clue to the whole, and having done so, he quickly ran over the map, and with the utmost accuracy pointed out by name, every lake and river for upwards of two hundred miles distant from his village. All the lakes and rivers in this part of the country still retain the Indian names, so that had he named them wrong, I could have at once detected him. His pleasure was so great on beholding such a perfect map of the country, that he could not refrain from calling some of his companions, who were loitering at the door, to come and look at it. They made signs to me to lend it to them; I did so, and having laid it on a table, they sat over it for more than half an hour, during which time I observed they frequently testified their pleasure 258to one another on finding particular places accurately laid down, which they had been acquainted with. The older men also seemed to have many stories to tell the others, probably respecting the adventures they had met with at distant parts of the country, and which they were now glad of having an opportunity of elucidating by the map before them.

Whenever a track of ground is about to be purchased by government from the Indians, for no private individuals can purchase lands from them by the laws of the province, a map of the country is drawn, and the part about to be contracted for, is particularly marked out. If there be any mistakes in these maps, the Indians will at once point them out; and after the bargain is made, they will, from the maps, mark out the boundaries of the lands they have ceded with the greatest accuracy, notching the trees, if there be any, along the boundary line, and if not, placing stakes or stones in the ground to denote where it runs. On these occasions regular deeds of sale are drawn, with accurate maps of the lands which have been purchased attached to them, and these deeds are signed in form by the contracting parties. I saw several of them in possession of our friend Captain E——, which were extremely curious on account of the Indian signatures. The Indians, for the most part, take upon them 259the name of some animal, as, The Blue Snake; The Little Turkey; The Big Bear; The Mad Dog, &c. and their signatures consist of the outline, drawn with a pen, of the different animals whose names they bear. Some of the signatures at the bottom of these deeds were really well executed, and were lively representations of the animals they were intended for.

INGENUITY OF THE INDIANS.

The Indians in general possess no small share of ingenuity. Their domestic wooden utensils, bows and arrows, and other weapons, &c. are made with the utmost neatness; and indeed the workmanship of them is frequently such as to excite astonishment, when it is considered that a knife and a hatchet are the only instruments they make use of. On the handles of their tomahawks, on their powder horns, on the bowls of their pipes, &c. you oftentimes meet with figures extremely well designed, and with specimens of carving far from contemptible. The embroidery upon their moccasins and other garments shews that the females are not less ingenious in their way than the men. Their porcupine quill work would command admiration in any country in Europe. The soft young quills of the porcupine are those which they use, and they dye them of the most beautiful and brilliant colours imaginable. Some of their dyes have been discovered, but many of them yet remain unknown, 260as do also many of the medicines with which they perform sometimes most miraculous cures. Their dyes and medicines are all procured from the vegetable world.

But though the Indians prove by their performances, that they have some relish for the works of art, yet they are by no means ready to bestow commendations on every thing curious for its workmanship that is shewn to them. Trinkets or ornaments for dress, though ever so gaudy, or ever so neatly manufactured, they despise, unless somewhat similar in their kind to what they themselves are accustomed to wear, and fashioned exactly to their own taste, which has remained nearly the same since Europeans first came amongst them; nor will they praise any curious or wonderful piece of mechanism, unless they can see that it is intended to answer some useful purpose. Nothing that I could shew them attracted their attention, I observed, so much as a light double-barrelled gun, which I commonly carried in my hand when walking about their encampments. This was something in their own way; they at once perceived the benefit that must accrue to the sportsman from having two barrels on the one stock, and the contrivance pleased them; well acquainted also with the qualities of good locks, and the advantages attending them, they expressed great satisfaction 261at finding those upon my piece so superior to what they perhaps had before seen.

It is not every new scene either, which to them, one would imagine, could not fail to appear wonderful, that will excite their admiration.

ANECDOTE.

A French writer, I forget who, tells us of some Iroquois Indians that walked through several of the finest streets of Paris, but without expressing the least pleasure at any thing they saw, until they at last came to a cook’s shop; this called forth their warmest praise; a shop where a man was always sure of getting something to satisfy his hunger, without the trouble and fatigue of hunting and fishing, was in their opinion one of the most admirable institutions possible: had they been told, however, that they must have paid for what they eat, they would have expressed equal indignation perhaps at what they saw. In their own villages they have no idea of refusing food to any person that enters their habitation in quality of a friend.

REMARKS.

The Indians, whom curiosity or business leads to Philadelphia, or to any other of the large towns in the States, find, in general, as little deserving of notice in the streets and houses there as these Iroquois at Paris; and there is not one of them but what would prefer his own wigwam to the most splendid habitations 262they see in any of these places. The shipping, however, at Philadelphia and the other sea-ports, seldom fails to excite their admiration, because they at once see the utility and advantage of large vessels over canoes, which are the only vessels they have. The young Wyandot, whom I before mentioned, as having made such a wonderful day’s journey on foot, happened to be at Philadelphia when I was there, and he appeared highly delighted with the river, and the great number of ships of all sizes upon it; but the tide attracted his attention more than any thing else whatsoever. On coming to the river the first day, he looked up at the sun, and made certain observations upon the course of the stream, and general situation of the place, as the Indians never fail to do on coming to any new or remarkable spot. The second time, however, he went down to the water, he found to his surprise that the river was running with equal rapidity in a contrary direction to what he had seen it run the day before. For a moment he imagined that by some mistake he must have got to the opposite side of it; but soon recollecting himself, and being persuaded that he stood on the very same spot from whence he had viewed it the day before, his astonishment became great indeed. To obtain information upon such an interesting point, he immediately sought out 263an aid-de-camp of General Wayne, who had brought him to town. This gentleman, however, only rendered the appearance still more mysterious to him, by telling him, that the great spirit, for the convenience of the white men, who were his particular favourites, had made the rivers in their country to run two ways; but the poor Wyandot was satisfied with the answer, and replied, “Ah, my friend, if the great spirit would make the Ohio to run two ways for us, we should very often pay you a visit at Pittsburgh^[16].” During his stay at Philadelphia he never failed to visit the river every day.

Amongst the public exhibitions at Philadelphia, the performances of the horse riders and tumblers at the amphitheatre appear to afford them the greatest pleasure; they entertain the highest opinion of these people who are so distinguished for their feats of activity, and rank them amongst the ablest men in the nation. Nothing, indeed, gives more delight to the Indians than to see a man that excels in any bodily exercise; and tell them even of a person that is distinguished for his great strength, for his swiftness in running, for his dexterous management of the bow or the gun, for his cunning in hunting, for his intrepid 264and firm conduct in war, or the like, they will listen to you with the greatest pleasure, and readily join in praises of the hero.

REMARKS.

The Indians appear, on the first view, to be of a very cold and phlegmatic disposition, and you must know them for some time before you can be persuaded to the contrary. If you shew them any artificial production which pleases them, they simply tell you, with seeming indifference, “that it is pretty;” “that they like to look at it;” “that it is a clever invention:” nor do they testify their satisfaction and pleasure by emotions seemingly much warmer in their nature, on beholding any new or surprising spectacle, or on hearing any happy piece of intelligence. The performances at the amphitheatre at Philadelphia, though unquestionably highly interesting to them, never drew forth from them, I observed, more than a smile or a gentle laugh, followed by a remark in a low voice to their friend sitting next to them. With equal indifference do they behold any thing terrible, or listen to the accounts of any dreadful catastrophe that has befallen their families or their nation. This apathy, however, is only assumed, and certainly does not proceed from a real want of feeling: no people on earth are more alive to the calls of friendship; no people have a greater affection for their offspring in their tender years; no 265people are more sensible of an injury: a word in the slighted degree insulting will kindle a flame in their breasts, that can only be extinguished by the blood of the offending party; and they will traverse forests for hundreds of miles, exposed to the inclemency of the severest weather, and to the pangs of hunger, to gratify their revenge; they will not cease for years daily to visit, and silently to mourn over the grave of a departed child; and they will risk their lives, and sacrifice every thing they possess, to assist a friend in distress; but at the same time, in their opinion, no man can be esteemed a good warrior or a dignified character that openly betrays any extravagant emotions of surprise, of joy, of sorrow, or of fear, on any occasion whatsoever. The excellence of appearing thus indifferent to what would excite the strongest emotions in the minds of any other people, is forcibly inculcated on them from their earliest youth; and such an astonishing command do they acquire over themselves, that even at the stake, when suffering the severest tortures that can be inflicted on the human body by the flames and the knife, they appear unmoved, and laugh, as it is well known, at their tormentors.

This affected apathy on the part of the Indians makes them appear uncommonly grave and reserved in the presence of strangers; in 266their own private circles, however, they frequently keep up gay and sprightly conversations; and they are possessed, it is said, of a lively and ready turn of wit. When at such a place as Philadelphia, notwithstanding their appearing so indifferent to every thing before them whilst strangers are present, yet, after having retired by themselves to an apartment for the night, they will frequently lit up for hours together, laughing and talking of what they have seen in the course of the day. I have been told by persons acquainted with their language, that have overheard their discourse on such occasions, that their remarks are most pertinent, and that they sometimes turn what has passed before them into such ludicrous points of view, that it is scarcely possible to refrain from laughter.

But though the Indians, in general, appear so reserved in the presence of strangers, yet the firmness of their dispositions forbids them from ever appearing embarrassed, and they would sit down to table in a palace, before the first crowned head on the face of the earth, with as much unconcern as they would sit down to a frugal meal in one of their own cabins. They deem it highly becoming in a warrior, to accommodate his manners to those of the people with whom he may happen to be, and as they are wonderfully observant, 267you will seldom perceive any thing of awkwardness or vulgarity in their behaviour in the company of strangers. I have seen an Indian, that had lived in the woods from his infancy, enter a drawing room in Philadelphia, full of ladies, with as much ease and as much gentility as if he had always lived in the city, and merely from having been told, preparatory to his entering, the form usually observed on such occasions. But the following anecdote will put this matter in a stronger point of view.

ANECDOTE.

Our friend Nekig, the Little Otter, had been invited to dine with us at the house of a gentleman at Detroit, and he came accordingly, accompanied by his son, a little boy of about nine or ten years of age. After dinner a variety of fruits were served up, and amongst the rest some peaches, a dish of which was handed to the young Indian. He helped himself to one with becoming propriety; but immediately afterwards he put the fruit to his mouth, and bit a piece out of it. The father eyed him with indignation, and spoke some words to him in a low voice, which I could not understand, but which, on being interpreted by one of the company, proved to be a warm reprimand for his having been so deficient in observation as not to peel his peach, as he saw the gentleman opposite to 268him had done. The little fellow was extremely ashamed of himself; but he quickly retrieved his error, by drawing a plate towards him, and pealing the fruit with the greatest neatness.

Some port wine, which he was afterwards helped to, not being by any means agreeable to his palate, the little fellow made a wry face, as a child might naturally do, after drinking it. This called forth another reprimand from the father, who told him, that he despaired of ever seeing him a great man or a good warrior if he appeared then to dislike what his host had kindly helped him to. The boy drank the rest of his wine with seeming pleasure.

The Indians scarcely ever lift their hands against their children; but if they are unmindful of what is said to them, they sometimes throw a little water in their faces, a species of reprimand of which the children have the greatest dread, and which produces an instantaneous good effect. One of the French missionaries tells us of his having seen a girl of an advanced age so vexed at having some water thrown in her face by her mother, as if she was still a child, that she instantly retired, and put an end to her existence. As long as they remain children, the young Indians are attentive in the extreme to the advice of their 269parents; but arrived at the age of puberty, and able to provide for themselves, they no longer have any respect for them, and they will follow their own will and pleasure in spite of all their remonstrances, unless, indeed, their parents be of an advanced age. Old age never fails to command their most profound veneration.

REMARKS.

No people are possessed of a greater share of natural politeness than the Indians: they will never interrupt you whilst you are speaking; nor, if you have told them any thing which they think to be false, will they bluntly contradict you; “We dare say brother,” they will answer, “that you yourself believe what you tell us to be true; but it appears to us so improbable that we cannot give our assent to it.”

In their conduct towards one another nought but gentleness and harmony is observable. You are never witness, amongst them, to such noisy broils and clamorous contentions as are common amongst the lower classes of people in Europe; nor do you perceive amongst them any traces of the coarse vulgar manners of these latter people; they behave on all occasions like gentlemen, and could not so many glaring proofs be adduced to the contrary, you never could imagine that they were that ferocious savage people in war which they are 270said to be. It must be understood, however, that I only speak now of the Indians in their sober state; when intoxicated with spirits, which is but too often the case, a very different picture is presented to our view, and they appear more like devils incarnate than human beings; they roar, they fight, they cut each other, and commit every sort of outrage; indeed so sensible are they of their own infirmities in this state, that when a number of them are about to get drunk, they give up their knives and tomahawks, &c. to one of the party, who is on honour to remain sober, and to prevent mischief, and who generally does behave according to this promise. If they happen to get drunk without having taken this precaution, their squaws take the earliest opportunity to deprive them of their weapons.

REMARKS.

The Indians prefer whiskey and rum to all other spirituous liquors; but they do not seem eager to obtain these liquors so much for the pleasure of gratifying their palates as for the sake of intoxication. There is not one in a hundred that can refrain from drinking to excess if he have it in his power; and the generality of them having once got a taste of any intoxicating liquor, will use every means to gain more; and to do so they at once become mean, servile, deceitful, and depraved, in every sense of the word. Nothing can make 271amends to these unfortunate people for the introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them. Before their acquaintance with them, they were distinguished beyond all other nations for their temperance in eating and drinking; for their temperance in eating, indeed, they are still remarkable; they esteem it indecorous in the highest degree even to appear hungry; and on arriving at their villages, after having fasted, perhaps, for several days preceding, they will sit down quietly, and not ask for any food for a considerable time; and having got wherewith to satisfy their appetite, they will eat with moderation, as though the calls of hunger were not more pressing than if they had feasted the hour before. They never eat on any occasion in a hurry.

The Indians are by nature of a very hospitable generous disposition, where no particular circumstances operate to the contrary; and, indeed, even when revenge would fain persuade them to behave differently, yet having once professed a friendship for a stranger, and pledged themselves for his safety, nothing can induce them to deviate from their word. Of their generosity I had numberless proofs in the presents which they gave me; and though it must be allowed, that when they make presents they generally expect others in return, yet I am convinced, from the manner in which 272they presented different trifles to me, that it was not with an expectation of gaining more valuable presents in return that they gave them to me, but merely through friendship. It is notorious, that towards one another they are liberal in the extreme, and for ever ready to supply the deficiencies of their neighbours with any superfluities of their own. They have no idea of amassing wealth for themselves individually; and they wonder that persons can be found in any society, so destitute of every generous sentiment, as to enrich themselves at the expence of others, and to live in ease and affluence, regardless of the misery and wretchedness of members of the same community to which they themselves belong. Their dresses, domestic utensils, and weapons, are the only articles of property to which they lay an exclusive claim; everything else is the common property of the tribe, in promoting the general welfare in which every individual feels himself deeply interested. The chiefs are actuated by the same laudable spirit, and instead of being the richest, are, in many instances, the poorest persons in the community; for whilst others have leisure to hunt, &c. it frequently happens that the whole of their time is occupied in settling the public affairs of the nation.

REMARKS.

The generality of the Indian nations appear to have two sorts of chiefs; council chiefs, and 273war chiefs. The former are hereditary, and are employed principally in the management of their civil affairs; but they may be war chiefs at the same time: the latter are chosen from amongst those who have distinguished themselves the most in battle, and are solely employed in leading the warriors in the field. The chiefs have no power of enforcing obedience to their commands, nor do they ever attempt to give their orders in an imperious manner; they simply advise. Each private individual conceives that he is born in a state of perfect liberty, and he disdains all controul, but that which his own reason subjects him to. As they all have one interest, however, at heart, which is the general welfare of the nation, and as it is well known that the chiefs are actuated by no other motives, whatever measures they recommend are generally attended to, and at once adopted. Savages as they are, yet in no civilized community, I fear, on earth, shall we find the same public spirit, the same disinterestedness, and the same regard to order, where order is not enforced by the severity of laws, as amongst the Indians.

The Indians have the most sovereign contempt for any set of people that have tamely relinquished their liberty; and they consider such as have lost it, even after a hard struggle, 274as unworthy any rank in society above that of old women: to this cause, and not to the difference that subsists between their persons, is to be attributed, I conceive, the rooted aversion which the Indians universally have for negroes. You could not possibly affront an Indian more readily, than by telling him that you think he bears some resemblance to a negro; or that he has negro blood in his veins: they look upon them as animals inferior to the human species, and will kill them with as much unconcern as a dog or a cat.

ANECDOTES.

An American officer, who, during the war with Great Britain, had been sent to one of the Indian nations resident on the western frontier of the States, to persuade them to remain neuter in the contest, informed me, that whilst he remained amongst them some agents arrived in their village to negociate, if possible, for the release of some negro slaves whom they had carried off from the American settlements. One of these negroes, a remarkably tall handsome fellow, had been given to an Indian woman of some consequence in the nation, in the manner in which prisoners are usually disposed of amongst them. Application was made to her for his ransom. She listened quietly to what was said; resolved at the same time, however, that the fellow should not have his liberty, she stepped aside into her cabin, 275and having brought out a large knife, walked up to her slave, and without more ado plunged it into his bowels: “Now,” says she, addressing herself coolly to the agents; “now I give you leave to take away your negro.” The poor creature that had been stabbed fell to the ground, and lay writhing about in the greatest agonies, until one of the warriors took compassion on him, and put an end to his misery by a blow of a tomahawk.

At Detroit, Niagara, and some other places in Upper Canada, a few negroes are still held in bondage. Two of these hapless people contrived, while we remained at Malden, to make their escape from Detroit, by stealing a boat, and proceeding in the night down the river. As the wind would not permit them to cross the lake, it was conjectured that they would be induced to coast along the shore until they reached a place of safety; in hopes, therefore, of being able to recover them, the proprietor came down to Malden, and there procured two trusty Indians to go in quest of them. The Indians, having received a description of their persons, set out; but had scarcely proceeded an hundred yards, when one of them, who could speak a few words of English, returned, to ask the proprietor if he would give him permission to scalp the negroes if they were at all refractory, or refused coming. 276His request was peremptorily refused, for it was well known that, had it been granted, he would have at once killed them to avoid the trouble of bringing them back. “Well,” says he, “if you will not let me scalp both, you won’t be angry with me, I hope, if I scalp one.” He was told in answer, that he must bring them both back alive. This circumstance appeared to mortify him extremely, and he was beginning to hesitate about going, when, sorry am I to say, the proprietor, fearful lest the fellows should escape from him, gave his assent to the Indian’s request, but at the same time he begged that he would not destroy them if he could possibly avoid it. What the result was I never learned; but from the apparent satisfaction with which the Indian set out after he had obtained his dreadful permission, there was every reason to imagine that one of the negroes at least would be sacrificed.

JOSEPH BRANDT.

This indifference in the mind of the Indians about taking away the life of a fellow creature, makes them appear, it must be confessed, in a very unamiable point of view. I fear also, that in the opinion of many people, all the good qualities which they possess, would but ill atone for their revengeful disposition, and for the cruelties which, it is well known, they sometimes inflict upon the prisoners who have fallen into their power in battle. Great pains 277have been taken, both by the French and English missionaries, to represent to them the infamy of torturing their prisoners; nor have these pains been bestowed in vain; for though in some recent instances it has appeared that they still retain a fondness for this horrid practice, yet I will venture, from what I have heard, to assert, that of late years not one prisoner has been put to the torture, where twenty would have been a hundred years ago. Of the prisoners that fell into their hands on St. Clair’s defeat, I could not learn, although I made strict enquiries on the subject, that a single man had been fastened to the stake. As soon as the defeat was known, rewards were held out by the British officers, and others that had influence over them, to bring in their prisoners alive, and the greater part of them were delivered up unhurt; but to irradicate wholly from their breasts the spirit of revenge has been found impossible. You will be enabled to form a tolerable idea of the little good effect which education has over their minds in this respect, from the following anecdotes of Captain Joseph Brandt, a war chief of the Mohawk nation.

This Brandt, at a very early age, was sent to a college in New England, where, being possessed of a good capacity, he soon made very considerable progress in the Greek and 278Latin languages. Uncommon pains were taken to instil into his mind the truths of the gospel. He professed himself to be a warm admirer of the principles of christianity, and in hopes of being able to convert his nation on returning to them, he absolutely translated the gospel of St. Matthew into the Mohawk language; he also translated the established form of prayer of the church of England. Before Brandt, however, had finished his course of studies, the American war broke out, and fired with that spirit of glory which seems to have been implanted by nature in the breast of the Indian, he immediately quitted the college, repaired to his native village, and shortly afterwards, with a considerable body of his nation, joined some British troops under the command of Sir John Johnston. Here he distinguished himself by his valour in many different engagements, and was soon raised, not only to the rank of a war chief, but also to that of a captain in his Majesty’s service.

BRANDT.

It was not long, however, before Brandt sullied his reputation in the British army. A skirmish took place with a body of American troops; the action was warm, and Brandt was shot by a musquet-ball in the heel; but the Americans in the end were defeated, and an officer with about sixty men taken prisoners. The officer, after having delivered up his 279sword, had entered into conversation with Colonel Johnston, who commanded the British troops, and they were talking together in the most friendly manner, when Brandt, having stolen slily behind them, laid the American officer lifeless on the ground with a blow of his tomahawk. The indignation of Sir John Johnston, as may readily be supposed, was roused by such an act of treachery, and he resented it in the warmest language. Brandt listened to him unconcernedly, and when he had finished, told him, that he was sorry what he had done had caused his displeasure, but that indeed his heel was extremely painful at the moment, and he could not help revenging himself on the only chief of the party that he saw taken. Since he had killed the officer, his heel, he added, was much less painful to him than it had been before.

When the war broke out, the Mohawks resided on the Mohawk River, in the state of New York, but on peace being made, they emigrated into Upper Canada, and their principal village is now situated on the Grand River, which falls into Lake Erie on the north side, about sixty miles from the town of Newark or Niagara; there Brandt at present resides. He has built a comfortable habitation for himself, and any stranger that visits him may rest assured of being well received, and of finding 280a plentiful table well served every day. He has no less than thirty or forty negroes, who attend to his horses, cultivate his grounds, &c. These poor creatures are kept in the greatest subjection, and they dare not attempt to make their escape, for he has assured them, that if they did so he would follow them himself, though it were to the confines of Georgia, and would tomahawk them wherever he met them. They know his disposition too well not to think that he would adhere strictly to his word.

BRANDT.

Brandt receives from government half pay as a captain, besides annual presents, &c. which in all amount, it is said, to £.500 per annum. We had no small curiosity, as you may well imagine, to see this Brandt, and we procured letters of introduction to him from the governor’s secretary, and from different officers and gentlemen of his acquaintance, with an intention of proceeding from Newark to his village. Most unluckily, however, on the day before that of our reaching the town of Newark or Niagara, he had embarked on board a vessel for Kingston, at the opposite end of the lake. You may judge of Brandt’s consequence, when I tell you, that a lawyer of Niagara, who crossed Lake Ontario in the same vessel with us, from Kingston, where he had been detained for some time by contrary winds, informed us, 281the day after our arrival at Niagara, that by his not having reached that place in time to transact some law business for Brandt, and which had consequently been given to another person, he should be a loser of one hundred pounds at least.

Brandt’s sagacity led him, early in life, to discover that the Indians had been made the dupe of every foreign power that had got footing in America; and, indeed, could he have had any doubts on the subject, they would have been removed when he saw the British, after having demanded and received the assistance of the Indians in the American war, so ungenerously and unjustly yield up the whole of the Indian territories, east of the Mississippi and south of the lakes, to the people of the United States; to the very enemies, in short, they had made to themselves at the request of the British. He perceived with regret that the Indians, by espousing the quarrels of the whites, and by espousing different interests, were weakening themselves; whereas, if they remained aloof, and were guided by the one policy, they would soon become formidable, and be treated with more respect; he formed the bold scheme, therefore, of uniting the Indians together in one grand confederacy, and for this purpose sent messengers to different chiefs, proposing that a general meeting should be 282held of the heads of every tribe, to take the subject into consideration; but certain of the tribes, suspicious of Brandt’s designs, and fearful that he was bent upon acquiring power for himself by this measure, opposed it with all their might. Brandt has in consequence become extremely obnoxious to many of the most warlike, and with such a jealous eye do they now regard him, that it would not be perfectly safe for him to venture to the upper country.

He has managed the affairs of his own people with great ability, and leased out their superfluous lands for them, for long terms of years, by which measure a certain annual revenue is ensured to the nation, probably as long as it will remain a nation. He wisely judged, that it was much better to do so than to suffer the Mohawks, as many other tribes had done, to sell their possessions by piecemeal, the sums of money they received for which, however great, would soon be dissipated if paid to them at once.

BRANDT.

Whenever the affairs of his nation shall permit him to do so, Brandt declares it to be his intention to sit down to the further study of the Greek language, of which he professes himself to be a great admirer, and to translate from the original, into the Mohawk language, more of the New Testament; yet this same man, 283shortly before we arrived at Niagara, killed his only son with his own hand. The son, it seems, was a drunken good for nothing fellow, who had often avowed his intention of destroying his father. One evening he absolutely entered the apartment of his father, and had begun to grapple with him, perhaps with a view to put his unnatural threats into execution, when Brandt drew a short sword, and felled him to the ground. Brandt speaks of this affair with regret, but at the same time without any of that emotion which another person than an Indian might be supposed to feel. He consoles himself for the act, by thinking that he has benefitted the nation, by ridding them of a rascal.

Brandt wears his hair in the Indian style, and also the Indian dress; instead of the wrapper, or blanket, he wears a short coat, such as I have described, similar to a hunting frock.

Though infinite pains have been taken by the French Roman Catholics, and other missionaries, to propagate the gospel amongst the Indians, and though many different tribes have been induced thereby to submit to baptism, yet it does not appear, except in very few instances, that any material advantages have resulted from the introduction of the Christian religion amongst them. They have learned to repeat certain forms of prayer; they have 284learned to attend to certain outward ceremonies; but they still continue to be swayed by the same violent passions as before, and have imbibed nothing of the genuine spirit of christianity.

MISSIONARIES.

The Moravian missionaries have wrought a greater change in the minds of the Indians than any others, and have succeeded so far as to induce some of them to abandon their savage mode of life, to renounce war, and to cultivate the earth. It is with the Munsies, a small tribe resident on the east side of Lake St. Clair, that they have had the most success; but the number that have been so converted is small indeed. The Roman Catholics have the most adherents, as the outward forms and parade of their religion are particularly calculated to strike the attention of the Indians, and as but little restraint is laid on them by the missionaries of that persuasion, in consequence of their profession of the new faith. The Quakers, of all people, have had the least success amongst them; the doctrine of non-resistance, which they set out with preaching, but ill accords with the opinion of the Indian; and amongst some tribes, where they have attempted to inculcate it, particularly amongst the Shawnese, one of the most warlike tribes to the north of the Ohio, they 285have been exposed to very imminent danger^[17].

The Indians, who yet remain ignorant of divine revelation, seem almost universally to believe in the exigence of one supreme, beneficent, all wise, and all powerful spirit, and likewise in the existence of subordinate spirits, both good and bad. The former, having the good of mankind at heart, they think it needless to pay homage to them, and it is only to the evil ones, of whom they have an innate dread, that they pay their devotions, in order to avert their ill intentions. Some distant tribes, it is said, have priests amongst them, but it does not appear that they have any regular 286forms of worship. Each individual repeats a prayer, or makes an offering to the evil spirit, when his fear and apprehensions suggest the necessity of his so doing.

The belief of a future state, in which they are to enjoy the same pleasures as they do in this world, but to be exempted from pain, and from the trouble of procuring food, seems to be very general amongst them. Some of the tribes have much less devotion than others; the Shawnese, a warlike daring nation, have but very little fear of evil spirits, and consequently have scarcely any religion amongst them. None of this nation, that I could learn, have ever been converted to Christianity.

LANGUAGE.

It is a very singular and remarkable circumstance, that notwithstanding the striking similarity which we find in the persons, manners, customs, dispositions, and religion of the different tribes of Indians from one end of the continent of North America to the other, a similarity so great as hardly to leave a doubt on the mind but that they must all have had the same origin, the languages of the different tribes should yet be so materially different. No two tribes speak exactly the same language; and the languages of many of those, who live at no great distance asunder, vary so much, that they cannot make themselves at all understood to each other. I was informed 287that the Chippeway language was by far the most general, and that a person intimately acquainted with it would soon be able to acquire a tolerable knowledge of any other language spoken between the Ohio and Lake Superior. Some persons, who have made the Indian languages their study, assert, that all the different languages spoken by those tribes, with which we have any connection, are but dialects of three primitive tongues, viz. the Huron, the Algonquin, and the Sioux; the two former of which, being well understood, will enable a person to converse, at least slightly, with the Indians of any tribe in Canada or the United States. All the nations that speak a language derived from the Sioux, have, it is said, a hissing pronunciation; those who speak one derived from the Huron, have a guttural pronunciation; and such as speak any one derived from the Algonquin, pronounce their words with greater softness and ease than any of the others. Whether this be a just distinction or not I cannot pretend to determine; I shall only observe, that all the Indian men I ever met with, as well those whose language is said to be derived from the Huron, as those whose language is derived from the Algonquin, appear to me to have very few labial sounds in their language, and to pronounce the words from the throat, but not so much from the 288upper as the lower part of the throat towards the breast. A slight degree of hesitation is observable in their speech, and they articulate seemingly with difficulty, and in a manner somewhat similar to what a person, I should suppose, would be apt to do if he had a great weight laid on his chest, or had received a blow on his breast or back so violent as to affect his breath. The women, on the contrary, speak with the utmost ease, and the language, as pronounced by them, appears as soft as the Italian. They have, without exception, the most delicate harmonious voices I ever heard, and the most pleasing gentle laugh that it is possible to conceive. I have oftentimes sat amongst a group of them for an hour or two together, merely for the pleasure of listening to their conversation, on account of its wonderful softness and delicacy.

The Indians, both men and women, speak with great deliberation, and never appear to be at a loss for words to express their sentiments.

INDIAN MUSIC.

The native music of the Indians is very rude and indifferent, and equally devoid of melody and variety. Their famous war song is nothing better than an insipid recitative. Singing and dancing with them go hand in hand; and when a large number of them, collected together, join in the one song, the few 289wild notes of which it consists, mingled with the sound of their pipes and drums, sometimes produce, when heard at a distance, a pleasing effect on the ear; but it is then and then only that their music is tolerable.

The first night of our arrival at Malden, just as we were retiring to rest, near midnight, we were most agreeably entertained in this manner with the sound of their music on the island of Bois Blanc. Eager to hear more of it, and to be witness to their dancing, we procured a boat, and immediately crossed the river to the spot where they were assembled. Three elderly men, seated under a tree, were the principal musicians. One of these beat a small drum, formed of a piece of a hollow tree covered with a skin, and the two others marked time equally with the drum, with rattles formed of dried squashes or gourds filled with pease. At the same time these men sung, indeed they were the leaders of the song, which the dancers joined in. The dancers consisted solely of a party of squaws, to the number of twenty or thereabouts, who, standing in a circle, with their faces inwards and their hands folded round each other’s necks, moved, thus linked together, sideways, with close short steps, round a small fire. The men and women never dance together, unless indeed a pretty squaw be introduced by some young 290fellow into one of the men’s dances, which is considered as a very great mark of favour. This is of a piece with the general conduct of the Indians, who look upon the women in a totally different light from what we do in Europe, and condemn them as slaves to do all the drudgery. I have seen a young chief with no less than three women attendant on him to run after his arrows, when he was amusing himself with shooting squirrels; I have also seen Indians, when moving for a few miles from one place to another, mount their horses and canter away at their ease, whilst their women were left not only to walk, but to carry very heavy loads on their backs after them.

INDIAN DANCES.

After the women had danced for a time, a larger fire was kindled, and the men assembled from different parts of the island, to the number of fifty or sixty, to amuse themselves in their turn. There was little more variety in their dancing than in that of the women. They first walked round the fire in a large circle, closely, one after another, marking time with short steps to the music; the best dancer was put at their head, and gave the step; he was also the principal singer in the circle. After having made one round, the step was altered to a wider one, and they began to stamp with great vehemence upon the ground; and every third or fourth round, 291making little leaps off the ground with both feet, they turned their faces to the fire and bowed their heads, at the same time going on sideways. At last, having made a dozen or two rounds, towards the end of which each one of them had begun to stamp on the ground with inconceivable fury, but more particularly the principal dancer, they all gave a loud shout at once, and the dance ended.

In two or three minutes another dance was begun, which ended as soon, and nearly in the same way as the other. There was but little difference in the figures of any of them, and the only material difference in the songs was, that in some of them the dancers, instead of singing the whole of the air, came in simply with responses to the airs sung by the old men. They beckoned to us to join them in their dance, which we immediately did, as it was likely to please them, and we remained on the island with them till two or three o’clock in the morning. There is something inconceivably terrible in the sight of a number of Indians dancing thus round a fire in the depths of thick woods, and the loud shrieks at the end of every dance adds greatly to the horror which their first appearance inspires.

Scarcely a night passed over but what there were dances, similar to those I have described, on the island. They never think of dancing 292till the night is considerably advanced, and they keep it up till day-break. In the day time they lie sleeping in the sun, or sit smoking tobacco, that is, when they have nothing particular to engage them. Though the most diligent persevering people in the world when roused into action, yet when at peace with their neighbours, and having got wherewith to satisfy the calls of hunger, they are the most slothful and indolent possible.