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Title: History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations Who Once
Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighbouring States.

Author: John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder

Commentator: William Cornelius Reichel

Release date: October 31, 2015 [eBook #50350]
Most recently updated: October 22, 2024

Language: English

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MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE INDIAN NATIONS WHO ONCE
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Publications
OF THE

Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

HISTORY,

MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
OF THE

I N D I A N N AT I O N S .

HISTORY,
MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
OF

T h e I n d i a n N at i o n s
WHO ONCE INHABITED PENNSYLVANIA AND
THE NEIGHBOURING STATES.
BY THE

REV. JOHN HECKEWELDER,
OF BETHLEHEM, PA.
New and Revised Edition.
WITH AN

INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY THE

REV. WILLIAM C. REICHEL,
OF BETHLEHEM, PA.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLICATION FUND OF
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
No. 820 SPRUCE STREET.
1881.

“The Trustees of the Publication Fund of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania” have published nine volumes, viz.:

The History of Braddock’s Expedition.
Contributions to American History.
Record of Upland, and Denny’s Journal.
Reissue of Vol. 1 of the Memoirs.
Minutes of Defence of Philadelphia, 1814-1815.
Correspondence of Penn and Logan, Vols. 1 and 2.
History of New Sweden, by Israel Acrelius.
Heckewelder’s History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations.

The investments held by the trustees of the Fund now amount to twenty-
three thousand dollars, the interest only of which is applied to publishing.
By the payment of twenty-five dollars, any one may become entitled to
receive, during his or her life, all the publications of the Society. Libraries
so subscribing are entitled to receive books for the term of twenty years.

The Society desire it to be understood that they are not answerable for any
opinions or observations that may appear in their publications: the Editors

of the several works being alone responsible for the same.

John Jordan, Jr., }
Aubrey H. Smith, }Trustees.
Fairman Rogers, }

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PHILADELPHIA.
LIPPINCOTT’S PRESS.

MEMOIRS
OF THE

HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF

PENNSYLVANIA.
VOL. XII.
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLICATION FUND OF
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
No. 820 SPRUCE STREET.
1881.

INTRODUCTION.
BY THE EDITOR.

OHN GOTTLIEB ERNESTUS HECKEWELDER, the author of
“An Account of the History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian
Nations who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring
States,” was born March 12th, 1743, at Bedford, England. His
father, who was a native of Moravia, a few years after his arrival at
Herrnhut, Saxony, was summoned to England to assist in the religious
movement which his church had inaugurated in that country in 1734. In his
eleventh year, the subject of this sketch accompanied his parents to the New
World, and became a resident of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Here he was
placed at school, and next apprenticed to a cedar-cooper. While thus
employed, he was permitted to gratify a desire he had frequently expressed
of becoming an evangelist to the Indians, when in the spring of 1762 he was
called to accompany the well-known Christian Frederic Post, who had
planned a mission among the tribes of the then far west, to the Tuscarawas
branch of the Muskingum. Here Post, in the summer of 1761, had built
himself a cabin (it stood near the site of the present town of Bolivar), and
here on the 11th day of April, 1762, the intrepid missionary and his youthful
assistant began their labors in the Gospel. But the times were unpropitious,
and the hostile attitude of the Indians indicating a speedy resumption of
hostilities with the whites, the adventurous enterprise was abandoned before
the expiration of the year. Young Heckewelder returned to Bethlehem, and
the war of Pontiac’s conspiracy opened in the spring of 1763.

In the interval between 1765 and 1771, Mr. Heckewelder was, on several
occasions, summoned from his cooper’s shop to do service for the mission.
Thus, in the summer of the first mentioned year, he spent several months at
Friedenshütten, on the Susquehanna (Wyalusing, Bradford county,
Pennsylvania), where the Moravian Indians had been recently settled in a

body, after a series of most trying experiences, to which their residence on
the frontiers and in the settlements of the Province subjected them, at a time
when the inroads of the savages embittered the public mind
indiscriminately against the entire race. This post he visited subsequently on
several occasions, and also the town of Schechschiquanink (Sheshequin),
some thirty miles north of Wyalusing, the seat of a second mission on the
Susquehanna.

A new period in the life of Mr. Heckewelder opened with the autumn of
1771, when he entered upon his actual career as an evangelist to the
Indians, sharing the various fortunes of the Moravian mission among that
people for fifteen years, than which none perhaps in its history were more
eventful. The well-known missionary David Zeisberger, having in 1768
established a mission among a clan of Monseys on the Allegheny, within
the limits of what is now Venango county, was induced in the spring of
1770 to migrate with his charge to the Big Beaver, and to settle at a point
within the jurisdiction of the Delawares of Kaskaskunk. Here he built
Friedensstadt, and hither the Moravian Indians of Friedenshütten and
Schechschiquanink removed in the summer of 1772. Mr. Heckewelder was
appointed Zeisberger’s assistant in the autumn of 1771, and when in the
spring of 1773 Friedensstadt was evacuated (it stood on the Beaver,
between the Shenango and the Slippery Rock, within the limits of the
present Lawrence county), and the seat of the mission was transferred to the
valley of the Muskingum, Mr. Heckewelder became a resident of the Ohio
country. Here in succession were built Schönbrunn, Gnadenhütten,
Lichtenau and Salem, flourishing towns of Moravian Indians, and here our
missionary labored with his associates hopefully, and with the promise of a
great ingathering, when the rupture between the mother country and her
transatlantic colonies, gradually involved them and their cause in the most
perplexing complications. On the opening of the western border-war of the
Revolution in the spring of 1777, the Moravian missionaries on the
Muskingum realized the danger of their position. Strictly neutral as they
and their converts were in reference to the great question at issue, their
presence on debatable ground rendered them objects of suspicion
alternately to each of the contending parties; and when, in 1780, the major
part of the Delaware nation declared openly for the British crown, it was
evident that the mission could not much longer hold its ground. It was for

the British to solve the problem; and at their instigation, in the autumn of
1781, the missionaries and their converts in part were removed to Upper
Sandusky, as prisoners of war, under suspicion of favoring the American
cause. Thence the former were twice summoned to Detroit, the seat of
British dominion in the then Northwest, and arraigned before the
commandant of that post. Having established their innocence, and at liberty
once more to resume their Christian work, the Moravians resolved upon
establishing themselves in the neighborhood of Detroit, with the view of
collecting their scattered converts, and gradually resuscitating the mission.
The point selected was on the Huron (now the Clinton), forty miles by
water northwest of Detroit. Here they built New Gnadenhütten, in 1782.
Four years later, New Gnadenhütten was abandoned, and a settlement
effected on the Cuyahoga, in the present county of that name in northern
Ohio. It was here that Mr. Heckewelder closed his missionary labors, and
years memorable in his life, in the course of which he was “in journeyings
often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of his countrymen, in
perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in weariness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness,” and yet
spared, as to his life, to a good old age, in the quiet days of which, when
resting from his labors, he drew up a narrative of this remarkable period in
his own experience, and in the history of his church.

On severing his connection with the mission on the Cuyahoga, in the
autumn of 1786, Mr. Heckewelder settled with his wife (Sarah m. n.
Ohneberg, whom he married in 1780), and two daughters at Bethlehem.
This change, however, brought him no rest, as much of his time for the next
fifteen years was devoted to the interests of his church’s work among the
Indians, in behalf of which he made frequent and trying journeys to the
west.

In the summer of 1792, Mr. Heckewelder was associated by Government
with General Rufus Putnam (at that gentleman’s request), to treat for peace
with the Indians of the Wabash, and journeyed on this mission as far as Post
Vincennes, where, on the 27th of September, articles of peace were
formally signed by thirty-one chiefs of the Seven Nations represented at the
meeting. This was a high testimonial of confidence in his knowledge of
Indian life and Indian affairs. In the spring of the following year, he was a

second time commissioned to assist at a treaty which the United States
purposed to ratify with the Indians of the Miami of the Lake, through its
accredited agents, General Benjamin Lincoln, Colonel Timothy Pickering,
and Beverly Randolph. On this mission he travelled as far as Detroit. The
remuneration Mr. Heckewelder received for these services, was judiciously
economized for his old age, his immediate wants being supplied by his
handicraft, and the income accruing from a nursery which he planted on his
return from the western country. In the interval between 1797 and 1800, the
subject of this sketch visited the Ohio country four times, and in 1801 he
removed with his family to Gnadenhütten, on the Tuscarawas branch of the
Muskingum. Here he remained nine years, having been intrusted by the
Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the
Heathen, founded at Bethlehem, in 1788, with the superintendence of a
reservation of 12,000 acres of land on the Tuscarawas, granted by Congress
to the said Society for the benefit of the Moravian Indians, as a
consideration for the losses they incurred in the border-war of the
Revolution. During his residence in Ohio, Mr. Heckewelder was also for a
time in the civil service, being a postmaster, a justice of the peace, and an
associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

In 1810 he returned to Bethlehem, built a house of his own, which is still
standing, planted the premises with trees and shrubs from their native
forest, surrounded himself with birds and wild flowers, and through these
beautiful things of nature, sought by association to prolong fellowship with
his beloved Indians in their distant woodland homes. He was called in 1815
to mourn the departure of his wife to the eternal world.

At a time when there was a growing spirit of inquiry among men of science
in our country in the department of Indian archæology, it need not surprise
us that Mr. Heckewelder was sought out in his retirement, and called upon
to contribute from the treasure-house of his experience. In this way
originated his intimacy with Du Ponceau and Wistar of the American
Philosophical Society, and that career of literary labor to which he dedicated
the latter years of his life. In addition to occasional essays, which are
incorporated in the Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee
of that society, Mr. Heckewelder, in 1818, published under its auspices, the
“Account of the History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who

once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring States.” His “Narrative of
the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohican
Indians,” appeared in 1820, and in 1822 he prepared his well-known
collection of “Names, which the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians, gave
to Rivers, Streams, and Localities within the States of Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, with their Significations.” This was his last
literary effort; another year of suffering, and on the 31st of January, 1823,
the friend of the Delawares having lived to become a hoary old man of
seventy-nine winters, passed away.

He left three daughters, Johanna Maria, born April 6, 1781, at Salem,
Tuscarawas county, Ohio—the first white female child born within the
borders of that State (she died at Bethlehem, September 19, 1868); Anna
Salome, born August 13, 1784, at New Gnadenhütten, on the River Huron
(Clinton), Michigan; she married Mr. Joseph Rice, of Bethlehem, and died
January 15, 1857; and Susanna, born at Bethlehem, December 31, 1786; she
married Mr. J. Christian Luckenbach, of Bethlehem, and died February 8,
1867.

Mr. Heckewelder was a fair representative of the Moravian missionaries of
the last century, a class of men whose time was necessarily divided between
the discharge of spiritual and secular duties; who preached the Gospel and
administered the Sacraments in houses built by their own hands; who
wielded the axe, as well as the sword of the Spirit, and who by lives of self-
denial and patient endurance, sustained a mission among the aborigines of
this country in the face of disappointments and obstacles, which would have
discouraged any but men of their implicit faith in the Divine power of the
Christian religion.

The subject of this notice made no pretensions to scholarship on taking the
author’s pen in hand. He was eminently an artless man, and artlessness is
his characteristic as a writer. The fascinating volume to which this brief
sketch is deemed a sufficient introduction, was received with almost
unqualified approbation on its appearance in 1818. It was translated into
German by Fr. Hesse, a clergyman of Nienburg, and published at Göttingen
in 1821. A French translation by Du Ponceau appeared in Paris in 1822.
True, there were those who subsequently took exception to Mr.

Heckewelder’s manifest predilection for the Lenape stock of the North
American Indians, and others who charged him with credulity, because of
the reception of their national traditions and myths upon the pages of his
book. Knowing, as we do, that even the most prudent of men are liable to
err in their search after truth, it would be presumptuous to claim infallibility
for our author. It would, however, be as presumptuous to refuse his
statements all claim to respect. Hence it may not be denied that John
Heckewelder’s contributions to Indian archæology, touching their
traditions, language, manners, customs, life, and character, while supplying
a long-felt want, are worthy of the regard which is usually accorded to the
literary productions of men whose intelligence, honesty, and acquaintance
with their subject have qualified them to be its expounders.

In the preparation of his account, Mr. Heckewelder acknowledges his
indebtedness to Moravian authorities, contemporaries, or colleagues of his
in the work of missions among the aborigines of this country. He refers
frequently to the Rev. J. Christopher Pyrlæus, and introduces extracts from
the collection of notes and memoranda made by that clergyman during his
sojourn in America. His references to Loskiel, the historian of the Moravian
mission among the North American Indians, are more frequent. In fact, it is
evident that he availed himself largely of the introductory chapters of that
history, the material of which was furnished to Loskiel by the veteran
missionary, David Zeisberger. In this way then, Mr. Heckewelder
supplemented his personal experience, and the knowledge he had gained by
intercourse with the Indians, touching those subjects of which he treats in
his charming narrative.

Both the text and the author’s footnotes, as found in the edition of 1818, are
faithfully reproduced in the present issue; neither have been tampered with
in a single instance. Such a course was deemed the only proper one,
although it was conceded that the omission of occasionally recurrent
passages, and a reconstruction of portions of the volume might render the
matter more perspicuous, and the book more readable, without detracting
from its value as a repository of well authenticated facts.1

AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
OF THE
I n d i a n N at i o n s ,
WHO ONCE INHABITED PENNSYLVANIA AND
THE NEIGHBOURING STATES.
BY THE
REV. JOHN HECKEWELDER,
OF BETHLEHEM.

PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ABRAHAM SMALL,
No. 112 Chestnut Street.
1819.

DEDICATION
TO
CASPAR WISTAR, M.D.,
PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY, ETC.

Dear Sir.—Having, at your particular request, undertaken the arduous task
of giving to the Historical Committee of our Society an Account of those
Indian Nations and Tribes which once inhabited Pennsylvania and the
adjoining States, including those who are known by the name of the “Six
Nations;” I have now, as far as has been in my power, complied with your
wishes, or at least I have endeavoured so to do.

Foreseeing the difficulties I should labour under, in writing the history of a
people, of whom so many had already written, I could not but consider the
undertaking both as unpleasant and hazardous; being aware, that it would
be impossible for me in all respects to coincide with those who have written
before me; among whom there are not a few, who, although their good
intentions cannot be doubted, yet from their too short residence in the
country of the Indians, have not had sufficient opportunities to acquire the
knowledge which they undertake to communicate. Ignorant of the language,
or being but superficially acquainted with it, they have relied on ignorant or
careless interpreters, by whom they have been most frequently led astray; in
what manner, this little work will abundantly shew.

The sure way to obtain correct ideas, and a true knowledge of the
characters, customs, manners, &c., of the Indians, and to learn their history,
is to dwell among them for some time, and having acquired their language,
the information wished for will be obtained in the common way; that is, by
paying attention to their discourses with each other on different subjects,

and occasionally asking them questions; always watching for the proper
opportunity, when they do not suspect your motives, and are disposed to be
free and open with you.

The political state and connexions of the two once great and rival nations,
the Mengwe, (or Six Nations) and the Lenape (or Delawares, as we call
them), being little, or but imperfectly known to many of us, I have been at
some pains in unfolding the origin and true cause of their rivalship; and the
means resorted to by the one nation, to bring themselves into consequence
with the white people, for the purpose of subduing the other.

How far the Six Nations have succeeded in this, we know; at least, we
know so much, that they sold the country of the Lenape, Mohicans, and
other tribes connected with them, by piecemeals to the English, so that they
were finally obliged to wander to the West, while their enemies, during all
this time, remained in full and quiet possession of their country.

If we ought, or wish to know the history of those nations from whom we
have obtained the country we now live in, we must also wish to be informed
of the means by which that country fell into our hands, and what has
become of its original inhabitants. To meet this object, I have given their
traditions respecting their first coming into our country, and their own
history of the causes of their emigrating from it.

On all the subjects which I have treated respecting the different tribes, I
have endeavoured to be impartial. Yet, if I should still be thought to have
shewn some partiality for the Delawares and their connexions, with respect
to the affairs between them and the Six Nations, I have only to reply, that
we have been attentive to all the Six Nations told us of these people, until
we got possession of their whole country; and now, having what we wanted,
we ought not to turn them off with this story on their backs, but rather, out
of gratitude and compassion, give them also a hearing, and acquit them
honourably, if we find them deserving of it.

What I have written, concerning their character, their customs, manners,
and usages, is from personal knowledge, and from such other information
as may be relied on; and in order to be the better understood, I have
frequently added anecdotes, remarks, and relations of particular events. In

some instances I have had reference to authors, and manuscript notes taken
down upwards of seventy years since, by individuals well deserving of
credit.

To you, Sir, I need not apologise for my deficiency in point of style and
language, which has been known to you long since. I have endeavoured to
make amends for this defect, by being the more careful and correct in my
narrations, so as at least to make up in matter what in manner may be
deficient.

I am, Sir, with great respect,
Your obedient humble servant,
November, 1817. JOHN HECKEWELDER.

Since the above was written, my excellent friend Dr. Wistar has
departed this life, lamented by the whole country, of which he was an
ornament. To me he was more than I can express; he directed and
encouraged my humble labours, and to his approbation I looked up as
my best reward. He is gone, but his name and his virtues will long be
held in remembrance. By me, at least, they shall never be forgotten.
This Dedication, therefore, will remain, as a testimony of the high
respect I bore to this great and good man while living, and as a tribute
justly due to his memory.

J. H.

Bethlehem, March, 1818.

CONTENTS
PART I.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF
THE INDIAN NATIONS WHO ONCE INHABITED
PENNSYLVANIA AND THE NEIGHBOURING STATES.

PAGE
Introduction by the Editor vii
Dedication xvii
Introduction by the Author xxiii
CHAPTER
I. Historical Traditions of the Indians 47
Indian Account of the first arrival of the Dutch
II. 71
at New York Island
Indian Relations of the conduct of the Europeans
III. 76
towards them
Subsequent fate of the Lenape and their kindred
IV. 83
tribes
V. The Iroquois 95
VI. General character of the Indians 100
VII. Government 107
VIII. Education 113
IX. Languages 118
X. Signs and hieroglyphics 128
XI. Oratory 132
XII. Metaphorical expressions 137

XIII. Indian names 141
XIV. Intercourse with each other 145
XV. Political manœuvres 150
XVI. Marriage and treatment of their wives 154
XVII. Respect for the aged 163
XVIII. Pride and greatness of mind 170
XIX. Wars and the causes which lead to them 175
XX. Manner of surprising their enemies 177
XXI. Peace messengers 181
XXII. Treaties 185
XIIIGeneral observations of the Indians on the
XXIII. 187
white people
XXIV. Food and cookery 193
XXV. Dress and ornamenting of their persons 202
XXVI. Dances, songs, and sacrifices 208
XXVII. Scalping—whoops or yells—prisoners 215
XXVIII. Bodily constitution and diseases 220
XXIX. Remedies 224
XXX. Physicians and surgeons 228
XXXI. Doctors or jugglers 231
XXXII. Superstition 239
XXXIII. Initiation of boys 245
XXXIV. Indian mythology 249
XXXV. Insanity—suicide 257
XXXVI. Drunkenness 261
XXXVII. Funerals 268
XXXVIII. Friendship 277
XXXIX. Preachers and prophets 290
Short notice of the Indian chiefs Tamanend and
XL. 300
Tadeuskund
Computation of time—astronomical and
XLI. 306
geographical knowledge

XLII. General observations and anecdotes 310
XLIII. Advice to travellers 318
XLIV. The Indians and the whites compared 328
Conclusion 346

PART II.
CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING THE INDIAN
LANGUAGES.

PAGE
Introduction 351
LETTER
I. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 9th January, 1816 353
II. Dr. C. Wistar to Mr. Heckewelder (same date) 354
III. Mr. Heckewelder to Dr. Wistar, 24th March 356
IV. The Same to the Same, 3d April 358
V. Mr. Duponceau to Dr. Wistar, 14th May 359
VI. Dr. Wistar to Mr. Heckewelder, 21st May 359
VII. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 27th May 361
VIII. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 10th June 364
IX. The Same to the Same, 13th June 369
X. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 20th June 371
XI. The Same to the Same, 24th June 375
XII. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 13th July 376
XIII. The Same to the Same, 18th July 379
XIV. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 22d July 380
XV. The Same to the Same, 24th July 383
XVI. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 31st July 387

XVII. The Same to the Same, 3d August 392
XVIII. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 12th August 395
XIX. The Same to the Same, 15th August 399
XX. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 21st August 403
XXI. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 26th August 409
XXII. The Same to the Same, 27th August 414
XXIII. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 30th August 416
XXIV. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 5th September 422
XXV. Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Heckewelder, 1st October 426
XXVI. Mr. Heckewelder to Mr. Duponceau, 10th October 430

PART III.

WORDS, PHRASES, AND SHORT DIALOGUES 437

INTRODUCTION

HE reader of the following pages, having already seen what has
induced me to come forward with an historical account of the
Indians, after so many have written on the same subject, will
perhaps look for something more extraordinary in this than in
other works of the kind which he has seen. Not wishing any one to raise his
expectations too high, I shall briefly state that I have not written to excite
astonishment, but for the information of those who are desirous of knowing
the true history of those people, who, for centuries, have been in full
possession of the country we now inhabit; but who have since emigrated to
a great distance. I can only assure them, that I have not taken the
information here communicated from the writings of others, but from the
mouths of the very people I am going to speak of, and from my own
observation of what I have witnessed while living among them. I have,
however, occasionally quoted other authors, and in some instances copied
short passages from their works, especially where I have thought it
necessary to illustrate or corroborate my own statements of facts.

In what I have written concerning the character, customs, manners, and
usages of these people, I cannot have been deceived, since it is the result of
personal knowledge, of what I myself have seen, heard, and witnessed,
while residing among and near them, for more than thirty years. I have
however to remark, that this history, like other histories of former times,
will not in every respect comport with the character of the Indians at the
present time, since all these nations and tribes, by their intercourse with the
white people, have lost much of the honourable and virtuous qualities
which they once possessed, and added to their vices and immorality. Of
this, no one can be a better judge than a missionary residing among them.
And if,2 what these people told us more than half a century ago; that lying,
stealing, and other vicious acts, before the white men came among them,

were considered as crimes, we may safely conclude—and we know it to be
fact—that from that time to this, and especially within the last forty years,
they have so much degenerated, that a delineation of their present character
would bear no resemblance to what it was before.—It is therefore the
history of early times, not of the present, that I have written; and to those
times my delineations of their character must be considered to apply; yet, to
shew the contrast, I have also delineated some of their present features.

It may be proper to mention in this place, that I have made use of the proper
national name of the people whom we call Delawares, which is: “Lenni
Lenape.” Yet, as they, in the common way of speaking, merely pronounce
the word “Lenape,” I have, in most instances, when speaking of them, used
this word singly. I have also made use of the word “Mengwe,” or Mingoes,
the name by which the Lenape commonly designate the people known to us
by the name of the Iroquois, and Five or Six Nations. I shall give at the end
a general list of all the names I have made use of in this communication, to
which I refer the reader for instruction.

As the Indians, in all their public speeches and addresses, speak in the
singular number, I have sometimes been led to follow their example, when
reporting what they have said; I have also frequently, by attending
particularly to the identical words spoken by them, copied their peculiar
phrases, when I might have given their meaning in other words.

On the origin of the Indians, I have been silent, leaving this speculation to
abler historians than myself. To their history, and notions with regard to
their creation, I have given a place; and have also briefly related the
traditions of the Lenape on the subject of their arrival at, and crossing the
river Mississippi, their coming to the Atlantic coast, what occurred to them
while in this country, and their retreat back again.

As the relation of the Delawares and Mohicans, concerning the policy
adopted and pursued by the Six Nations towards them, may perhaps appear
strange to many, and it may excite some astonishment, that a matter of such
importance was not earlier set forth in the same light, I shall here, by way of
introduction, and for the better understanding of the account which they
give of this matter, examine into some facts, partly known to us already, and

partly now told us in their relation; so that we may see how far these agree
together, and know what we may rely upon.

It is conceded on all sides that the Lenape and Iroquois carried on long and
bloody wars with each other; but while the one party assert, that they
completely conquered the other, and reduced them by force to the condition
of women, this assertion is as strongly and pointedly denied by the other
side; I have therefore thought that the real truth of this fact was well
deserving of investigation.

The story told by the Mingoes to the white people, of their having
conquered the Lenape and made women of them, was much too implicitly
believed; for the whites always acted towards the Delawares under the
impression that it was true, refused even to hear their own account of the
matter, and “shut their ears” against them, when they attempted to inform
them of the real fact. This denial of common justice, is one of the principal
complaints of the Lenape against the English, and makes a part of the
tradition or history which they preserve for posterity.

This complaint indeed, bears hard upon us, and should, at least, operate as a
solemn call to rectify the error, if such it is found to be; that we, in our
history, may not record and transmit erroneous statements of those
Aborigines, from whom we have received the country we now so happily
inhabit. We are bound in honour to acquit ourselves of all charges of the
kind which those people may have against us, who, in the beginning
welcomed us to their shores, in hopes that “they and we would sit beside
each other as brothers;” and it should not be said, that now, when they have
surrendered their whole country to us, and retired to the wilds of a distant
country, we turn our backs upon them with contempt.

We know that all Indians have the custom of transmitting to posterity, by a
regular chain of tradition, the remarkable events which have taken place
with them at any time, even often events of a trivial nature, of which I could
mention a number. Ought we then, when such a source of information is at
hand, to believe the story told by the Six Nations, of their having conquered
the Lenape, (a powerful nation with a very large train of connexions and
allies) and forcibly made them women? Ought we not, before we believe
this, to look for a tradition of the circumstances of so important an event;

for some account, at least, of the time, place, or places, where those battles
were fought, which decided the fate of the Lenape, the Mohicans, and of a
number of tribes connected with them? Are we to be left altogether ignorant
of the numbers that were slain at the time, and the country in which this
memorable event took place; whether on the St. Lawrence, on the Lakes, in
the country of the conquerors, or of the conquered? All these I am inclined
to call first considerations, while a second would be: How does this story
accord with the situation the first Europeans found these people in on their
arrival in this country? Were not those who are said to be a conquered
people, thickly settled on the whole length of the sea coast, and far inland,
in and from Virginia to and beyond the Province of Maine, and had they not
yet, at that very time, a great National Council Fire burning on the banks of
the Delaware? Does not the joint tradition of the Delawares, Mohicans and
Nanticokes, inform us, that their great National Council House3 then
extended from the head of the tide on the (now) Hudson river, to the head of
the tide on the Potomack? All this we shall find faithfully copied or written
down from their verbal tradition, and that this Council House “was pulled
down by the white people!”4 and of course was yet standing when they
came into the country; which alone is sufficient to prove that the Lenape, at
that time, were not a conquered people; and if they had been conquered
since, we might expect to find the fact, with its particulars, somewhere on
record.

It is admitted, however, by the Lenape themselves, that they and their allies
were made women by the Iroquois. But how did this happen? Not surely by
conquest, or the fate of battle. Strange as it may appear, it was not produced
by the effects of superior force, but by successful intrigue. Here, if my
informants were correct, and I trust they were, rests the great mystery, for
the particulars of which, I refer the reader to the history of the Lenape and
Mohicans themselves, as related in part by Loskiel in his “History of the
Mission of the United Brethren among the North American Indians,”5 and
in this work. In the first, he will find three material points ascertained, viz.
1st, “that the Delawares were too strong for the Iroquois, and could not be
conquered by them by force of arms, but were subdued by insidious means.
2d, that the making women of the Delawares was not an act of compulsion,
but the result of their own free will and consent; and 3d, that the whites
were already in the country at the time this ceremony took place, since they

were to hold one end of the great Peace Belt in their hands.”6 In the
following History, which I have taken from the relation of the most
intelligent and creditable old Indians, both Delawares and Mohicans, not
only the same facts will be found, but also a more minute account of this
transaction; in which it will be shewn, that the Dutch not only were present
at, but were parties to it, that it was in this manner that the Six Nations were
relieved from the critical situation they were in, at that very time, with
regard to their enemies, the Delawares, Mohicans, and their connexions,
and that the white people present coaxed and persuaded them to cause the
hatchet to be buried, declaring at the same time7 that they “would fall on
those who should dig it up again;” which was, on the part of the Hollanders,
a declaration of war against the Delawares and their allies, if they, or any of
them, should attempt again to act hostilely against the Six Nations. All this,
according to the tradition of the Lenape, was transacted at a place, since
called “Nordman’s Kill,” a few miles from the spot where afterwards
Albany was built, and but a short time after the Dutch had arrived at New
York Island, probably between the years 1609 and 1620.

The Rev. Mr. Pyrlæus,8 who had learned the Mohawk language of Conrad
Weiser, and was stationed on the river of that name, for some time between
the years 1742 and 1748, has noted down in a large manuscript book, that
his friend there, the Mohawk chief, had told him, that at a place about four
miles from Albany, now called Nordman’s Kill,10 the first covenant had
been made between the Six Nations and the white people; which is in
confirmation of the correctness of the above tradition of the Mohicans.11

This was then, according to the best accounts we have, the time when this
pretended “conquest” took place; and the Delawares, (as the Six Nations
have since said) were by them made women. It was, however, a conquest of
a singular nature, effected through duplicity and intrigue, at a council fire,
not in battle. “And, (say the Delawares and Mohicans, in their tradition,)
when the English took the country from the Dutchemaan, (Hollanders) they
stepped into the same alliance with the Six Nations, which their
predecessors had established with them.”

Colden, in his “History of the Five Nations,”12 informs us, page 34, that this
took place in the year 1664; and in page 36, gives us full proof of this

alliance, by the following account—He says: “The Five Nations being now
amply supplied by the English with fire-arms and ammunition, gave full
swing to their warlike genius, and soon resolved to revenge the affronts
they had at any time received from the Indian nations that lived at a greater
distance from them. The nearest nations, as they were attacked, commonly
fled to those that were further off, and the Five Nations pursued them. This,
together with the desire they had of conquering, or ambition of making all
the nations around them their tributaries, or to make them acknowledge the
Five Nations to be so far their masters, as to be absolutely directed by them
in all affairs of peace and war with their neighbours, made them overrun
great part of North America. They carried their arms as far south as
Carolina; to the northward of New England; and as far west as the river
Mississippi; over a vast country, which extends twelve hundred miles in
length, from north to south, and about six hundred miles in breadth; where
they entirely destroyed many nations, of whom there are now no accounts
remaining among the English,” &c.

To what a number of important questions would not the above statement
give rise? But I will confine myself to a few, and enquire first, for what
purpose the Five Nations were armed, and so “amply supplied with
ammunition?” and secondly, what use did they make of those arms? The
Delawares and Mohicans believed that the white people, first the Dutch and
then the English, did all that was in their power to make the Mengwe a
great people, so that they might rule over them and all other nations, and
“that they had done what they wanted them to do,” &c. For an answer to the
second question, we have only to believe what Colden himself tells us, of
what the same Mengwe or Iroquois did, after having received arms and
ammunition from the English, which it clearly appears they could not have
done before. Now, if we even were willing to admit that they had only gone
off, “to revenge the affronts they had at any time received from the Indian
Nations,” yet, we would be willing to know, of what nature those affronts
had been; otherwise we might conclude, that they were no other than that
those nations had refused “to become tributary to them; would not submit to
their mandates, nor have them for their masters;” and therefore had beaten
them off, when they came into their country for the purpose of bringing
them under subjection, and perhaps also paid them a visit in return, after
they had murdered some of their people.

If we were permitted to omit the words, “revenge the affronts they had
received from other nations,” &c., we need not one moment be at a loss to
know precisely what they went out for, as the historian himself tells us, that
they, soon after receiving fire-arms and ammunition, “gave full swing to
their warlike genius, and went off with a desire of conquering nations—of
making all those around them their tributaries, and compelling them all to
acknowledge the Five Nations to be their masters, and to be absolutely
directed by them, in all affairs of peace and war.” We then know with
certainty, what the object was for which they took the field.

We are here also told, of the vast tract of country over which the Six
Nations had carried their arms, subduing, and even “so destroying many
nations, that no account of them was now remaining with the English!”

In reply to this I might bring forward some sayings and assertions of the
Delawares and Mohicans, which would not comport with the above story,
nor apply to the great name the Six Nations have given themselves, which,
as Colden tells us, is Ongwe-honwe, and signifies “men surpassing all
others, superior to the rest of mankind:” but my object here is merely to
discuss the fact, whether, previous to the white people’s coming into the
country, and while unsupplied with fire-arms, hatchets, &c., those Iroquois
had done such wonders among nations as they report; or, whether all this
was done since that time, and in consequence of their being put into
possession of those destructive weapons which they had not before; for how
are we to judge, and decide on the comparative bravery of two different
nations, without knowing whether or not the combatants were placed on an
equal footing with regard to the weapons they used against each other?

I might ask the simple question, whether the Dutch, and afterwards the
English, have favoured their “brethren,” the Delawares, Mohicans, and
other tribes connected with them, who lived between them and the Six
Nations, and on the land which they wanted to have, in the same manner
that they have favoured their enemies?

Colden, in his Introduction to the History of the Five Nations, page 3, says:
“I have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time
when the Mohawks made war on their Indians,” (meaning here the
Mohicans, or River Indians, as they often were called,) “that as soon as a

single Mohawk was discovered in the country, their Indians raised a cry,
from hill to hill, a Mohawk! a Mohawk! upon which they all fled, like sheep
before wolves, without attempting to make the least resistance, whatever
odds were on their side,” and that, “the poor New England Indians
immediately ran to the Christian houses, and the Mohawks often pursued
them so closely, that they entered along with them, and knocked their brains
out in the presence of the people of the house,” &c.

This is indeed a lamentable story! It might be asked, How could the white
people, whom those very Mohicans had hospitably welcomed, and
permitted to live with them on their land, suffer an enemy to come into the
country to destroy their benefactors, without making any opposition? Why
did these Indians suffer this? Why did they not with spirit meet this enemy?

The answer to this last question will be found in their traditional history of
the great meeting at Nordman’s Kill, where they were expressly told, after
they had consented to bury the hatchet, wherewith they warred against the
Six Nations, “That whatsoever nation, (meaning the Mohicans and
Delawares) should dig up the hatchet again, on them would the white
people fall and take revenge!”

Thus, then, arms were put into the hands of the Six Nations, and with them
the Dutch, and afterwards the English, sided; but the Delawares and
Mohicans were compelled to remain unarmed, for fear of being cut up by
the white people, who had taken part with their enemies. May we not
conclude, that these poor New England Indians were placed between two
fires?

We do not, I believe, find that in the then middle colonies, the Mohawks, or
any of the Five Nations, had ventured so far in their hostile conduct against
the Delawares, as they had done to the Mohicans of New England, though
the alliance between the Dutch and the Five Nations, and afterwards
between the English and the latter, was much against both, and indeed more
against the Delawares than the Mohicans: yet, by turning to treaties and
councils, held with these nations between the years 1740 and 1760, in
Pennsylvania,13 we find much insolent language, which the Iroquois were, I
will say, permitted, but which, the people concerned say, they were “bid or

hired to make against the Delawares, for the purpose of stopping their
mouths, preventing them from stating their complaints and grievances, and
asking redress from the colonial government.”

The result of such high toned language, as that which was made use of to
the Delawares, by the Six Nations, at a council held at the proprietors, in
July, 1742, and at other times afterwards,14 might easily have been foretold.
For although now, these defenceless people had to submit to such gross
insults, instead of seeing their grievances redressed, yet they were not
ignorant of the manner in which they one day might take revenge, the door
to the French, who were enemies to the English, being always open to them;
they had but to go “on one side” (as they expressed themselves) to be out of
the way of the Iroquois, and they could obtain from the possessors of
Canada, and Louisiana, all that they wanted, fire-arms, hatchets, scalping-
knives, ammunition, &c. They did so, and withdrew to the Ohio country,
whither they were followed by others from time to time, and by the time the
French war broke out, they were in perfect readiness, and joining the
enemies of Britain, they murdered great numbers of the defenceless
inhabitants of Pennsylvania, laid the whole frontier waste, and spread terror
and misery far and wide by the outrages they committed; I have been
myself a witness to those scenes, and to the distresses of hundreds of poor
people, only in this one quarter.

A work, entitled: “An Enquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the
Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British Interest,” written by
Charles Thompson,15 Esq., and printed in London, in 1759, which some
time since fell into my hands, well merits to be read with attention, on
account of the correctness of the information that it contains.

By this time, the Delawares were sensible of the imposition which had been
practised upon them. They saw that a plan had been organised for their
destruction, and that not only their independence, but their very existence,
was at stake; they therefore took measures to defend themselves, by
abandoning the system of neutrality into which they had been insidiously
drawn.

It was not without difficulty that I obtained from them these interesting
details, for they felt ashamed of their own conduct; they were afraid of
being charged with cowardice, or at least with want of forethought, in
having acted as they did, and not having discovered their error until it was
too late.

And yet, in my opinion, those fears were entirely groundless, and there
appears nothing in their whole conduct disparaging to the courage and high
sense of honour of that brave nation. Let us for a moment place ourselves in
the situation of the Delawares, Mohicans, and the other tribes connected
with them, at the time when the Europeans first landed on New York Island.
They were then in the height of their glory, pursuing their successes against
the Iroquois, with whom they had long been at war. They were in
possession of the whole country, from the sea coast to the Mississippi, from
the River St. Lawrence to the frontier of Carolina, while the habitations of
their enemies did not extend far beyond the great Lakes. In this situation,
they are on a sudden checked in their career, by a phenomenon they had till
then never beheld; immense canoes arriving at their shores, filled with
people of a different colour, language, dress, and manners, from
themselves! In their astonishment they call out to one another: “Behold! the
Gods are come to visit us!”16 They at first considered these astonishing
beings, as messengers of peace, sent from the abode of the Great Spirit, and
therefore, employed their time in preparing and making sacrifices to that
Great Being who had so highly honoured them. Lost in amazement, fond of
the enjoyment of this new spectacle, and anxious to know the result, they
were unmindful of those matters which hitherto had taken up their minds,
and had been the object of their pursuits; they thought of nothing else but
the wonders which now struck their eyes, and their sharpest wits were
constantly employed in endeavouring to divine this great mystery! Such is
the manner in which they relate that event, the strong impression of which
is not yet obliterated from their minds.

It was the Delawares who first received and welcomed these new guests on
New York Island; the Mohicans who inhabited the whole of the North River
above, on its eastern side, were sent for to participate in the joy which was
felt on being honoured by such visitants. Their tradition of this event is

clear and explicit. None of the enemy, say they, (meaning the Five
Nations17) were present.

It may possibly be asked, how the Dutch could favour the Five Nations so
much, when none of them were present at the meetings which took place on
their arrival in America? how they came to abandon their first friends, and
take part against them with strangers? and how the Dutch became
acquainted with those strangers? I shall simply, in answer, give the
traditional accounts of the Mohicans in their own words: “The Dutch
Traders (say they) penetrating into our country, high up the Mohicanichtuck
(the Hudson River), fell in with some of the Mingo warriors, who told them
that they were warring against the very people, (the Delawares and
Mohicans) who had so kindly received them; they easily foresaw, that they
could not carry on their trade with their old friends, while this was the case;
neither would the Mingoes suffer them to trade with their enemies, unless
they (the Dutch) assisted them in bringing about a peace between them.
They also made these traders sensible, that they at that time, were at war
with a people of the same colour with theirs (meaning the French), who
had, by means of a very large river which lay to the North, come into the
country; that they (the Mengwe) were the greatest and most powerful of all
the Indian nations; that if the people they belonged to, were friends to their
enemies, and sided with them in their wars, they would turn their whole
force against them; but if, on the other hand, the Dutch would join them in
effecting a peace with them, so that their hatchet should be buried forever,
they would support and protect them in all their undertakings;18 that these
traders being frightened, had returned home, and having stated the matter to
their chief (the Dutch Governor), a vessel soon after went high up the river
to an appointed place, where meeting with the Maqua (Five Nations), a
conference was held, at which the Dutch promised them, that they would
use their best endeavours to persuade their enemies to give up the hatchet to
be buried, which, some time afterwards, actually took place.”

These are (as they say) the circumstances which led to the league which
was afterwards established between the white people and the Five Nations,
which was the cause of much dissatisfaction, injustice, and bloodshed, and
which would not have taken place, if the rights and privileges of the

different nations and tribes had been respected, and each left to act for
itself, especially in selling their lands to the Europeans.

Having seen how the Five, afterwards Six Nations, rose to power, we have
next to state by what means they lost the ascendancy which they had thus
acquired.

The withdrawing of the principal part of the Delawares, and the Shawanos,
from the Atlantic coast, between the years 1740 and 1760, afforded them an
opportunity of consulting with the western tribes, on the manner of taking
revenge on the Iroquois for the many provocations, wrongs and insults they
had received from them; when ten nations immediately entered into an
alliance for that purpose, the French having promised to assist them.19 In
the year 1756, they agreed to move on in detached bodies, as though they
meant to attack the English, with whom they and the French were then at
war, and then turn suddenly on the Six Nations and make a bold stroke.
Though, for various reasons, their designs could not at that time be carried
into effect, yet they did not lose sight of the object, waiting only for a
proper opportunity.

It would, however, have been next to impossible, under existing
circumstances, and while the Six Nations were supported by such a
powerful ally as the English, for the Delawares and their allies, to subdue,
or even effectually to chastise them. These Nations, however, at the
commencement of a war between the English nation and the Colonies, were
become so far independent, that such of them as lived remote from the
British stations or garrisons, or were not immediately under their eye, were
at full liberty to side with whom they pleased; and though the Six Nations
attempted to dictate to the Western Delawares, what side they should take,
their spirited chief, Captain White Eyes, did not hesitate to reply, in the
name of his nation: “that he should do as he pleased; that he wore no
petticoats, as they falsely pretended; he was no woman, but a man, and they
should find him to act as such.” That this brave chief was in earnest, was
soon after verified, by a party of Delawares joining the American army.

In 1781, when almost all the Indian nations were in the British interest,
except a part of the Delawares, among whom were the Christian Indians

between 2 and 300 souls in number,20 the British Indian agent at Detroit
applied to the great council of the Six Nations at Niagara, to remove those
Christian Indians out of the country: the Iroquois upon this sent a war
message to the Chippeways and Ottawas,21 to this effect: “We herewith
make you a present of the Christian Indians, to make soup of;22” which in
the war language of the Indians, is saying: “We deliver these people to you
to be murdered!” These brave Indians sent the message immediately back
again with the reply: “We have no cause for doing this!”

The same message being next sent to the Wyandots, they likewise
disobeyed their orders, and did not make the least attempt to murder those
innocent people. The Iroquois, therefore, were completely at a loss how to
think and act, seeing that their orders were every where disregarded.

At the conclusion of the revolutionary war, they had the mortification to
see, that the trade which they had hitherto carried on, and to them was so
agreeable and profitable, that of selling to the English the land of other
nations, to which they had no possible claim, was at once and forever put an
end to by the liberal line of conduct which the American Government
adopted with the Indian Nations, leaving each at liberty to sell its own
lands, reserving, only to themselves the right of purchase, to the exclusion
of foreigners of every description.

In addition to this, the bond of connexion which subsisted between these
Six Nations, if it was not entirely broken, yet was much obstructed, by a
separation which took place at the close of that war, when a part, and the
most active body of them, retired into Canada. No nation then any more
regarded their commands, nor even their advice, when it did not accord
with their will and inclination; all which became evident during the whole
time the Western Nations were at war with the United States, and until the
peace made with them in 1795.23

At last, being sensible of their humbled situation, and probably dreading the
consequence of their former insolent conduct to the other Indian Nations,
and principally the Delawares, whom they had so long and so much
insulted, were they not to make some amends for all this contumely? They
came forward, at the critical moment, just previous to the Treaty concluded

by General Wayne, and formally declared the Delaware nation to be no
longer Women, but Men.

I hope to be believed in the solemn assertion which I now make: That in all
that I have written on the subject of the history and politics of the Indian
Nations, I have neither been influenced by partiality for the one, or undue
prejudice against the other, but having had the best opportunities of
obtaining from authentic sources, such information in matters of fact, as has
enabled me to make up my mind on the subject, I have taken the liberty of
expressing my opinion as I have honestly formed it, leaving the reader,
however, at liberty to judge and decide for himself as he may deem most
proper.

I wish once more to observe, that in this history it is principally meant to
shew, rather what the Indians of this country were previous to the white
people’s arrival, than what they now are; for now, the two great nations, the
Iroquois and the Delawares, are no longer the same people that they
formerly were. The former, who, as their rivals would assert, were more
like beasts than human beings, and made intrigue their only study, have, by
their intercourse with the whites, become an industrious and somewhat
civilised people; at least many of them are so, which is probably owing to
their having been permitted to live so long, (indeed, for more than a
century) in the same district of country, and while the British possessed it,
under the protection of the superintendent of Indian affairs; while the latter
have always been oppressed and persecuted, disturbed and driven from
place to place, scarcely enjoying themselves at any place for a dozen years
at a time; having constantly the lowest class of whites for their neighbours,
and having no opportunity of displaying their true character and the talents
that nature had bestowed upon them.

My long residence among those nations in the constant habit of unrestrained
familiarity, has enabled me to know them well, and made me intimately
acquainted with the manners, customs, character and disposition of those
men of nature, when uncorrupted by European vices. Of these, I think I
could draw a highly interesting picture, if I only possessed adequate powers
of description: but the talent of writing is not to be acquired in the
wilderness, among savages. I have felt it, however, to be a duty incumbent

upon me to make the attempt, and I have done it in the following pages,
with a rude but faithful pencil. I have spent a great part of my life among
those people, and have been treated by them with uniform kindness and
hospitality. I have witnessed their virtues and experienced their goodness. I
owe them a debt of gratitude, which I cannot acquit better than by
presenting to the world this plain unadorned picture, which I have drawn in
the spirit of candour and truth. Alas! in a few years, perhaps, they will have
entirely disappeared from the face of the earth, and all that will be
remembered of them will be that they existed and were numbered among
the barbarous tribes that once inhabited this vast continent. At least, 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 civilisation has surrounded the original inhabitants
of this land, would undertake the task of doing justice to their many
excellent qualities, and raise a small frail monument to their memory.

I shall conclude with a few necessary remarks for the information of the
reader.

Lenni Lenape being the national and proper name of the people we call
“Delawares,” I have retained this name, or for brevity’s sake, called them
simply Lenape, as they do themselves in most instances. Their name
signifies “original people,” a race of human beings who are the same that
they were in the beginning, unchanged and unmixed.24

These people (the Lenni Lenape) are known and called by all the western,
northern, and some of the southern nations, by the name of Wapanachki,
which the Europeans have corrupted into Apenaki, Openagi, Abenaquis,25
and Abenakis.26 All these names, however differently written, and
improperly understood by authors, point to one and the same people, the
Lenape, who are by this compound word, called “people at the rising of the
Sun,” or as we would say, Eastlanders; and are acknowledged by near forty
Indian tribes, whom we call nations, as being their grandfathers. All these
nations, derived from the same stock, recognise each other as Wapanachki,
which among them is a generic name.

The name “Delawares,” which we give to these people, is unknown in their
language, and I well remember the time when they thought the whites had
given it to them in derision; but they were reconciled to it, on being told
that it was the name of a great white chief, Lord de la War, which had been
given to them and their river. As they are fond of being named after
distinguished men, they were rather pleased, considering it as a
compliment.

The Mahicanni have been called by so many different names,27 that I was at
a loss which to adopt, so that the reader might know what people were
meant. Loskiel calls them “Mohicans,” which is nearest to their real name
Mahicanni, which, of course, I have adopted.

The name “Nanticokes” I have left as generally used, though properly it
should be Néntico, or after the English pronunciation Nantico.

The “Canai,” I call by their proper name. I allude here to those people we
call Canais, Conois, Conoys, Canaways, Kanhawas, Canawese.

With regard to the Five, or Six Nations, I have called them by different
names, such as are most common, and well understood. The Lenape
(Delawares) are never heard to say “Six Nations,” and it is a rare thing to
hear these people named by them otherwise than Mengwe; the Mahicanni
call them Maqua, and even most white people call them Mingoes. When
therefore I have said the Five or Six Nations, I have only used our own
mode of speaking, not that of the Indians, who never look upon them as
having been so many nations; but divisions, and tribes, who, as united, have
become a nation. Thus, when the Lenape (Delawares) happen to name them
as one body, the word they make use of implies “the five divisions together,
or united,” as will be seen in another place of this work. I call them also
Iroquois, after the French and some English writers.

The Wyandots, or Wyondots, are the same whom the French call Hurons,
and sometimes Guyandots. Father Sagard, a French Missionary, who lived
among them in the 17th century, and has written an account of his mission,
and a kind of dictionary of their language, says their proper name is
Ahouandâte, from whence it is evident that the English appellation
Wyandots has been derived.

There being so many words in the language of the Lenape and their kindred
tribes, the sound of which cannot well be represented according to the
English pronunciation, I have in general adopted for them the German
mode of spelling. The ch, particularly before a consonant, is a strong
guttural, and unless an Englishman has the use of the Greek χ, he will not
be able to pronounce it, as in the words Chasquem (Indian corn), Cheltol
(many), Ches (a skin), Chauchschisis (an old woman), and a great many
more. Sometimes, indeed, in the middle of a word substitutes may be found
which may do, as in the word Nimachtak (brethren), which might be written
Nemaughtok, but this will seldom answer. This is probably the reason that
most of the English authors have written Indian words so incorrectly, far
more so than French authors.

The Delawares have neither of the letters R, F, nor V, in their language,
though they easily learn to pronounce them. They have a consonant peculiar
to them and other Indians, which is a sibilant, and which we represent by W.
It is produced by a soft whistling, and is not unpleasant to the ear, although
it comes before a consonant. It is not much unlike the English sound wh in
what, but not so round or full, and rather more whistled. W before a vowel
is pronounced as in English.

PART I.

HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS
OF

T H E I N D I A N N AT I O N S ,
WHO ONCE INHABITED PENNSYLVANIA AND
THE NEIGHBOURING STATES.

(Note.—In annotating this work, the editor consulted, among other
authorities, The Life of John Heckewelder, by the Rev. Edward Rondthaler,
Heckewelder’s Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the

Delaware and Mohegan Indians, History of the Mission of the United
Brethren among the Indians in North America, The Life and Times of David
Zeisberger, Memorials of the Moravian Church, The Transactions of the
Moravian Historical Society, The Moravians in New York and Connecticut,
and Butterfield’s Crawford’s Campaign against Sandusky.

He omitted to state, in the course of the introductory biographical sketch of
the missionary, that his Account of the History, Manners, and Customs of
Indian Nations has been translated into both French and German. The
French translation was published at Paris, in 1822; it is entitled, “Histoire,
Mœurs et Coutumes des Nations Indiennes qui habitaient autrefois la
Pennsylvanie et les Etats voisins; par le Révérend Jean Heckewelder,
Missionnaire Morave, traduit de l’Anglais, par le Chevalier Du Ponceau.”
The German translation, published at Göttingen in 1821, is entitled,
“Johann Heckewelder’s evangelischen Predigers zu Bethlehem, Nachricht
von der Geschichte, den Sitten und Gebräuchen der Indianischen
Völkerschaften, welche ehemals Pennsylvanien und die benachbarten
Staaten bewohnten. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt und mit den Angaben
anderer Schriftsteller über eben dieselben Gegenstände (Carver, Loskiel,
Ling, Volney), vermehrt von Fr. Hesse, evangelischen Prediger zu Nienburg.
Nebst einem die Glaubwürdigkeit und den anthropologischen Werth der
Nachrichten Heckewelder’s betreffenden Zusatze von G. E. Schulze.”)

History, Manners, and Customs
OF THE
INDIAN NATIONS.
CHAPTER I.
HISTORICAL TRADITIONS OF THE INDIANS.

HE Lenni Lenape (according to the traditions handed down to
them by their ancestors) resided many hundred years ago, in a
very distant country in the western part of the American
continent. For some reason, which I do not find accounted for,
they determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out
together in a body. After a very long journey, and many nights’
encampments28 by the way, they at length arrived on the Namæsi Sipu,29
where they fell in with the Mengwe,30 who had likewise emigrated from a
distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. Their
object was the same with that of the Delawares; they were proceeding on to
the eastward, until they should find a country that pleased them. The spies
which the Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitring, had
long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi
was inhabited by a very powerful nation, who had many large towns built
on the great rivers flowing through their land. Those people (as I was told)
called themselves Talligeu or Talligewi. Colonel John Gibson,31 however, a
gentleman who has a thorough knowledge of the Indians, and speaks
several of their languages, is of opinion that they were not called Talligewi,
but Alligewi, and it would seem that he is right, from the traces of their
name which still remain in the country, the Allegheny river and mountains
having indubitably been named after them. The Delawares still call the
former Alligéwi Sipu, the River of the Alligewi. We have adopted, I know
not for what reason, its Iroquois name, Ohio, which the French had literally

translated into La Belle Riviere, The Beautiful River.32 A branch of it,
however, still retains the ancient name Allegheny.

Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to
have been remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were
giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the
Lenape. It is related that they had built to themselves regular fortifications
or entrenchments, from whence they would sally out, but were generally
repulsed. I have seen many of the fortifications said to have been built by
them, two of which, in particular, were remarkable. One of them was near
the mouth of the river Huron, which empties itself into the Lake St. Clair,
on the north side of that lake, at the distance of about 20 miles N. E. of
Detroit. This spot of ground was, in the year 1786, owned and occupied by
a Mr. Tucker. The other works, properly entrenchments, being walls or
banks of earth regularly thrown up, with a deep ditch on the outside, were
on the Huron river, east of the Sandusky, about six or eight miles from Lake
Erie. Outside of the gateways of each of these two entrenchments, which
lay within a mile of each other, were a number of large flat mounds, in
which, the Indian pilot said, were buried hundreds of the slain Talligewi,
whom I shall hereafter with Colonel Gibson call Alligewi. Of these
entrenchments, Mr. Abraham Steiner, who was with me at the time when I
saw them, gave a very accurate description, which was published at
Philadelphia, in 1789 or 1790, in some periodical work the name of which I
cannot at present remember.33

When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a
message to the Alligewi to request permission to settle themselves in their
neighbourhood. This was refused them, but they obtained leave to pass
through the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They
accordingly began to cross the Namæsi Sipu, when the Alligewi, seeing that
their numbers were so very great, and in fact they consisted of many
thousands, made a furious attack on those who had crossed, threatening
them all with destruction, if they dared to persist in coming over to their
side of the river. Fired at the treachery of these people, and the great loss of
men they had sustained, and besides, not being prepared for a conflict, the
Lenape consulted on what was to be done; whether to retreat in the best
manner they could, or try their strength, and let the enemy see that they

were not cowards, but men, and too high-minded to suffer themselves to be
driven off before they had made a trial of their strength, and were convinced
that the enemy was too powerful for them. The Mengwe, who had hitherto
been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, offered to join them,
on condition that, after conquering the country, they should be entitled to
share it with them; their proposal was accepted, and the resolution was
taken by the two nations, to conquer or die.

Having thus united their forces, the Lenape and Mengwe declared war
against the Alligewi, and great battles were fought, in which many warriors
fell on both sides. The enemy fortified their large towns and erected
fortifications, especially on large rivers, and near lakes, where they were
successively attacked and sometimes stormed by the allies. An engagement
took place in which hundreds fell, who were afterwards buried in holes or
laid together in heaps and covered over with earth. No quarter was given, so
that the Alligewi, at last, finding that their destruction was inevitable if they
persisted in their obstinacy, abandoned the country to the conquerors, and
fled down the Mississippi river, from whence they never returned. The war
which was carried on with this nation, lasted many years, during which the
Lenape lost a great number of their warriors, while the Mengwe would
always hang back in the rear, leaving them to face the enemy. In the end,
the conquerors divided the country between themselves; the Mengwe made
choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great lakes, and on their tributary
streams, and the Lenape took possession of the country to the south. For a
long period of time, some say many hundred years, the two nations resided
peaceably in this country, and increased very fast; some of their most
enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the great swamps,34 and falling
on streams running to the eastward, followed them down to the great Bay
River,35 thence into the Bay itself, which we call Chesapeak. As they
pursued their travels, partly by land and partly by water, sometimes near
and at other times on the great Saltwater Lake, as they call the Sea, they
discovered the great River, which we call the Delaware; and thence
exploring still eastward, the Scheyichbi country, now named New Jersey,
they arrived at another great stream, that which we call the Hudson or North
River. Satisfied with what they had seen, they, (or some of them) after a
long absence, returned to their nation and reported the discoveries they had
made; they described the country they had discovered, as abounding in

game and various kinds of fruits; and the rivers and bays, with fish,
tortoises, &c., together with abundance of water-fowl, and no enemy to be
dreaded. They considered the event as a fortunate one for them, and
concluding this to be the country destined for them by the Great Spirit, they
began to emigrate thither, as yet but in small bodies, so as not to be
straitened for want of provisions by the way, some even laying by for a
whole year; at last they settled on the four great rivers (which we call
Delaware, Hudson, Susquehannah, and Potomack) making the Delaware, to
which they gave the name of “Lenapewihittuck,”36 (the river or stream of
the Lenape) the centre of their possessions.

They say, however, that the whole of their nation did not reach this country;
that many remained behind in order to aid and assist that great body of their
people, which had not crossed the Namæsi Sipu, but had retreated into the
interior of the country on the other side, on being informed of the reception
which those who had crossed had met with, and probably thinking that they
had all been killed by the enemy.

Their nation finally became divided into three separate bodies; the larger
body, which they suppose to have been one half of the whole, was settled
on the Atlantic, and the other half was again divided into two parts, one of
which, the strongest as they suppose, remained beyond the Mississippi, and
the remainder where they left them, on this side of that river.

Those of the Delawares who fixed their abode on the shores of the Atlantic
divided themselves into three tribes. Two of them, distinguished by the
names of the Turtle and the Turkey, the former calling themselves Unâmis
and the other Unalâchtgo, chose those grounds to settle on, which lay
nearest to the sea, between the coast and the high mountains. As they
multiplied, their settlements extended from the Mohicannittuck (river of the
Mohicans, which we call the North or Hudson river) to beyond the
Potomack. Many families with their connexions choosing to live by
themselves, were scattered not only on the larger, but also on the small
streams throughout the country, having towns and villages, where they lived
together in separate bodies, in each of which a chief resided; those chiefs,
however, were subordinate (by their own free will, the only kind of
subordination which the Indians know) to the head chiefs or great council

of the nation, whom they officially informed of all events or occurrences
affecting the general interest which came to their knowledge. The third
tribe, the Wolf, commonly called the Minsi, which we have corrupted into
Monseys, had chosen to live back of the two other tribes, and formed a kind
of bulwark for their protection, watching the motions of the Mengwe, and
being at hand to afford their aid in case of a rupture with them. The Minsi
were considered the most warlike and active branch of the Lenape. They
extended their settlements, from the Minisink, a place named after them,
where they had their council seat and fire, quite up to the Hudson on the
east; and to the west or south west far beyond the Susquehannah: their
northern boundaries were supposed originally to be the heads of the great
rivers Susquehannah and Delaware, and their southern boundaries that ridge
of hills known in New Jersey by the name of Muskanecun, and in
Pennsylvania, by those of Lehigh, Coghnewago, &c. Within this boundary
were their principal settlements; and even as late as the year 1742, they had
a town, with a large peach orchard, on the tract of land where Nazareth, in
Pennsylvania, has since been built;37 another on Lehigh (the west branch of
the Delaware), and others beyond the blue ridge, besides small family
settlements here and there scattered.

From the above three tribes, the Unâmis, Unalâchtgo, and the Minsi,
comprising together the body of those people we call Delawares, had in the
course of time, sprung many others, who, having for their own conveniency,
chosen distant spots to settle on, and increasing in numbers, gave
themselves names or received them from others. Those names, generally
given after some simple natural objects, or after something striking or
extraordinary, they continued to bear even after they ceased to be
applicable, when they removed to other places, where the object after which
they were named was not to be found; thus they formed separate and
distinct tribes, yet did not deny their origin, but retained their affection for
the parent tribe, of which they were even proud to be called the
grandchildren.

This was the case with the Mahicanni or Mohicans, in the east, a people
who by intermarriages had become a detached body, mixing two languages
together, and forming out of the two a dialect of their own: choosing to live
by themselves, they had crossed the Hudson River, naming it

Mahicannituck River after their assumed name, and spread themselves over
all that country which now composes the eastern states. New tribes again
sprung from them who assumed distinct names; still however not breaking
off from the parent stock, but acknowledging the Lenni Lenape to be their
grandfather: the Delawares, at last, thought proper to enlarge their council
house for their Mahicanni grandchildren, that they might come to their fire,
that is to say, be benefited by their advice, and also in order to keep alive
their family connexions and remain in league with each other.

Much the same thing happened with a body of the Lenape, called
Nanticokes, who had, together with their offspring, proceeded far to the
south, in Maryland and Virginia; the council house was by their grandfather
(the Delawares), extended to the Potomack, in the same manner and for the
same motives as had been done with the Mahicanni.

Meanwhile the Mengwe, who had first settled on the great Lakes between
them, had always kept a number of canoes in readiness to save themselves,
in case the Alligewi should return, and their number also increasing, they
had in time proceeded farther, and settled below the Lakes along the River
St. Lawrence, so that they were now become, on the north side, neighbours
of the Lenape tribes.

These Mengwe now began to look upon their southern neighbours with a
jealous eye, became afraid of their growing power, and of being
dispossessed by them of the lands they occupied. To meet this evil in time,
they first sought to raise quarrels and disturbances, which in the end might
lead to wars between distant tribes and the Lenape, for which purpose, they
clandestinely murdered people on one or the other side, seeking to induce
the injured party to believe, that some particular nation or tribe had been the
aggressor; and having actually succeeded to their wishes, they now stole
into the country of the Lenape and their associates, frequently surprising
them at their hunting camps, occasionally committing murders, and making
off with the plunder. Foreseeing, however, that they could not go on in this
way without being detected, they had recourse to other artful means, by
which they actually succeeded in setting tribe against tribe, and nation
against nation. As each nation or tribe has a particular mark on their war
clubs, different from that of the others; and as on seeing one of these near

the dead body of a murdered person, it is immediately known what nation
or tribe has been the aggressor; so the Mengwe having left a war club, such
as the Lenape made use of, in the Cherokee country, where they had
purposely committed a murder, of course the Cherokees naturally
concluding that it had been committed by the Lenape, fell suddenly upon
them, which produced a most bloody war between the two nations. The
treachery of the Mengwe, however, having been at length discovered, the
Lenape determined on taking an exemplary revenge, and, indeed, nothing
short of a total extirpation38 of that deceitful race was resolved on; they
were, besides, known to eat human flesh,39 to kill men for the purpose of
devouring them; and therefore were not considered by the Lenape as a pure
race, or as rational beings; but as a mixture of the human and brutal kinds.

War being now openly declared against the Mengwe, it was carried on with
vigour; until, at last, finding that they were no match for so powerful an
enemy as the Lenape, who had such a train of connexions, ready to join
them if necessity required, they fell upon the plan of entering into a
confederacy with each other, by which they would be bound to make a
common cause, and meet the common enemy with their united force, and
not, as the present prospect was, be destroyed by tribes, which threatened in
the end the destruction of the whole. Until this time, each tribe of the
Mengwe had acted independent of the others, and they were not inclined to
come under any supreme authority, which might counteract their base
designs; for now, a single tribe, or even individuals of a tribe, by the
commission of wanton hostilities, would draw the more peaceable among
them into wars and bloodshed, as particularly had been the case with the
Senecas, who were the most restless of the whole; and though the Lenape
had directed their force principally against the aggressors, yet the body of
the nation became thereby weaker; so that they saw the necessity of coming
under some better regulations and government.40

This confederation took place some time between the 15th and 16th
century;41 the most bloody wars were afterwards carried on for a great
length of time, between the confederated Iroquois, and the Delawares and
their connexions, in which the Lenape say that they generally came off
victorious. While these wars were carrying on with vigour, the French
landed in Canada, and it was not long before they and the now combined

Five Nations, or tribes, were at war with each other, the latter not being
willing to permit that the French should establish themselves in that
country. At last the Iroquois, finding themselves between two fires, and
without any prospect of conquering the Lenape by arms, and seeing the
necessity of withdrawing with their families, from the shores of the St.
Lawrence, to the interior of the country, where the French could not easily
reach them, fell upon a stratagem, which they flattered themselves would, if
successful, secure to them not only a peace with the Lenape, but also with
all the other tribes connected with them; so that they would then have but
one enemy (the French) to contend with.

This plan was very deeply laid, and was calculated to deprive the Lenape
and their allies, not only of their power but of their military fame, which
had exalted them above all the other Indian nations. They were to be
persuaded to abstain from the use of arms, and assume the station of
mediators and umpires among their warlike neighbours. In the language of
the Indians, they were to be made women.42 It must be understood that
among these nations wars are never brought to an end but by the
interference of the weaker sex. The men, however tired of fighting, are
afraid of being considered as cowards if they should intimate a desire for
peace. It is not becoming, say they, for a warrior, with the bloody weapon in
his hand, to hold pacific language to his enemy. He must shew to the end a
determined courage, and appear as ready and willing to fight as at the
beginning of the contest. Neither, say they, is it proper, to threaten and to
sue in the same breath, to hold the peace belt in one hand, and the
tomahawk in the other; men’s words, as well as their actions, should be of a
piece, all good or all bad; for it is a fixed maxim of theirs, which they apply
on all occasions, that good can never dwell with evil. They also think that a
treaty produced by threats or by force, cannot be binding. With these
dispositions, war would never have ceased among Indians, until the
extermination of one or the other party, if the tender and compassionate sex
had not come forward, and by their moving speeches persuaded the enraged
combatants to bury their hatchets, and make peace with each other. On
these occasions they were very eloquent, they would lament with great
feeling the losses suffered on both sides, when there was not a warrior,
perhaps, who had not lost a son, a brother, or a friend. They would describe
the sorrows of widowed wives, and, above all, of bereaved mothers. The

pains of child-birth, the anxieties attending the progress of their sons from
infancy to manhood, they had willingly and even cheerfully suffered; but
after all these trials, how cruel was it for them to see those promising youths
whom they had reared with so much care, fall victims to the rage of war,
and a prey to a relentless enemy; to see them slaughtered on the field of
battle, or put to death, as prisoners, by a protracted torture, in the midst of
the most exquisite torments. The thought of such scenes made them curse
their own existence, and shudder at the idea of bearing children. Then they
would conjure the warriors by every thing that was dear to them, to take
pity on the sufferings of their wives and helpless infants, to turn their faces
once more towards their homes, families, and friends, to forgive the wrongs
suffered from each other, to lay aside their deadly weapons, and smoke
together the pipe of amity and peace. They had given on both sides
sufficient proofs of their courage; the contending nations were alike high-
minded and brave, and they must now embrace as friends those whom they
had learned to respect as enemies. Speeches like these seldom failed of their
intended effect, and the women by this honorable function of peace-makers,
were placed in a situation by no means undignified. It would not be a
disgrace, therefore; on the contrary, it would be an honour to a powerful
nation, who could not be suspected of wanting either strength or courage, to
assume that station by which they would be the means, and the only means,
of preserving the general peace and saving the Indian race from utter
extirpation.

Such were the arguments which the artful Mengwe urged to the Lenape to
make them fall into the snare which they had prepared for them. They had
reflected, they said, deeply reflected on their critical situation; there
remained no resource for them, but that some magnanimous nation should
assume the part and situation of the woman. It could not be given to a weak
or contemptible tribe, such would not be listened to; but the Lenape and
their allies would at once possess influence and command respect. As men
they had been dreaded; as women they would be respected and honored,
none would be so daring or so base as to attack or insult them; as women
they would have a right to interfere in all the quarrels of other nations, and
to stop or prevent the effusion of Indian blood. They entreated them,
therefore, to become the woman in name and, in fact, to lay down their arms
and all the insignia of warriors, to devote themselves to agriculture and

other pacific employments, and thus become the means of preserving peace
and harmony among the nations.

The Lenape, unfortunately for themselves, listened to the voice of their
enemies. They knew it was too true, that the Indian nations, excited by their
own unbridled passions, and not a little by their European neighbours, were
in the way of total extirpation by each other’s hands. They believed that the
Mengwe were sincere, and that their proposal had no object in view but the
preservation of the Indian race. In a luckless hour they gave their consent,
and agreed to become women. This consent was received with great joy. A
feast was prepared for the purpose of confirming and proclaiming the new
order of things. With appropriate ceremonies, of which Loskiel has given a
particular description,43 the Delawares were installed in their new
functions, eloquent speeches were delivered, accompanied, as usual, with
belts of wampum. The great peace belt and the chain of friendship (in the
figurative language of the Indians) was laid across the shoulders of the new
mediator, one end of which, it was said, was to be taken hold of by all the
Indian nations, and the other by the Europeans.44 The Lenape say that the
Dutch were present at that ceremony, and had no inconsiderable share in the
intrigue.45

The old and intelligent Mahicanni, whose forefathers inhabited the country
on the east side of the North river, gave many years since the following
account of the above transaction. They said that their grandfather (the Lenni
Lenape), and the nations or tribes connected with them, were so united, that
whatsoever nation attacked the one, it was the same as attacking the whole;
all in such cases would unite and make a common cause. That the long
house (council house) of all those who were of the same blood, and united
under this kind of tacit alliance, reached from the head of the tide, at some
distance above where Gaaschtinick (Albany) now stands, to the head of the
tide water on the Potomack. That at each end of this house there was a door
for the tribes to enter at. That the Mengwe were in no way connected with
those who had access to this house; but were looked upon as strangers. That
the Lenape, with the Mohicans and all the other tribes in their connexion,
were on the point of extirpating the Five Nations, when they applied to the
Dutchemaan, who were now making a settlement at or near Gaaschtinick,
to assist them in bringing about a peace with the Lenape. That accordingly

these new comers invited the Lenape and Mohicans to a grand council, at a
place situated at some distance from where Albany now stands, which the
white people have since called by the name of Nordman’s Kill. That when at
length, by their united supplications and fair speeches, they had got the
hatchet out of the hands of the Lenape, they buried that weapon at
Gaaschtinick, and said that they would build a church over the spot, so that
the weapon could never any more be got at, otherwise than by lifting up the
whole church, and whatever nation should dare to do this, on them the
Dutchemaan would take revenge. That now, having succeeded in getting the
weapon out of the hands of the Lenape, the ceremony of placing them in the
situation of “the woman,” for the purpose of being mediators, took place,
when the Mengwe declared them henceforth to be their cousins, and the
Mahicanni, they said, they would call their nephews.

The Mahicanni further say, that it was fear which induced the Dutchemaan
to aid the Five Nations in bringing about this peace, because at the place
where they were at that time making their settlement, great bodies of
warriors would pass and repass, so that they could not avoid being
interrupted in their undertakings, and probably molested, if not destroyed,
by one or the other of the war parties, as their wars, at that time, were
carried on with great rage, and no quarter was given. That in producing this
peace, the white people had effected for the Mengwe, what no other nation
could have done, and had laid the foundation of the future greatness of their
Iroquois friends, as the same policy was pursued by the English, after they
came into possession of this country.—So far the tradition of the
Mahicanni.

The Rev. Mr. Pyrlæus, in his notes, after fixing as near as he could the time
when the Five Nations confederated with each other, proceeds in these
words: “According to my informant, Sganarady, a creditable aged Indian,
his grandfather had been one of the deputies sent for the purpose of entering
into a covenant with the white Europeans; they met at a place since called
Nordman’s Kill, about four miles below where afterwards Albany was built,
where this covenant of friendship was first established, and the Mohawks
were the active body in effecting this work.”

From these three separate accounts of the Lenape, of the Mahicanni, and of
the Mohawks, as related by Mr. Pyrlæus, it appears to be conclusively
proved, that the Europeans were already in this country, when the Lenape
were persuaded to assume the station of the woman, and that the Dutch
were assisting in the plot, and were at least the instigators, if not the authors
of it. It was the Dutch who summoned the great council near Albany; the
tomahawk was buried deep in the ground, and the vengeance of the Dutch
was threatened if it should ever be taken up again; the peace belt was laid
across the shoulders of the unfortunate Delawares, supported at one end by
the Five Nations, and at the other by the Europeans; all these circumstances
point so clearly to European intrigue, that it is impossible to resist the
conclusion that the whites adopted this means to neutralize the power of the
Delawares and their friends, whom they dreaded, and strengthen the hands
of the Iroquois, who were in their alliance.

The Iroquois have denied that these machinations ever took place, and say
that they conquered the Delawares in fair battle, and compelled them by
force to become women, or in other words that they obliged them to submit
to the greatest humiliation to which a warlike spirited people can ever be
reduced; not a momentary humiliation, as when the Romans were
compelled by the Samnites to pass under the Caudine forks, but a
permanent disgrace, which was to last as long as their national existence. If
this were true, the Lenape and their allies, who, like all other Indian nations,
never considered a treaty binding when entered into under any kind of
compulsion, would not have submitted to this any longer than until they
could again have rallied their forces and fallen upon their enemy; they
would have done long before the year 1755, what they did at last at that
time, joined the French in their wars against the Iroquois and English, and
would not have patiently waited more than a century before they took their
revenge for so flagrant an outrage. Their numbers, acknowledged to have
been far superior to that of their Indian enemies, and the vast extent of
territory which they possessed, furnished them with ample means to have
acted hostilely, if they had thought proper. On the contrary, they lived at
peace with the Iroquois, and their European allies, until that decisive war,
by which the French lost at once all their extensive possessions on the
continent of America.

In addition to these positive proofs, negative evidence of the strongest kind
may be adduced. The Iroquois say, indeed, that they conquered the
Delawares and their allies, and compelled them to become women. But
there is no tradition among them of the particulars of this important event.
Neither Mr. Pyrlæus, nor Mr. Zeisberger,46 who both lived long among the
Five Nations, and spoke and understood their language well, could obtain
from them any details relative to this supposed conquest; they ought,
certainly, to have been able to say how it was effected; whether by one
decisive fight or by successive engagements, or at least, when the last battle
took place; who were the nations or tribes engaged in it; who the chiefs or
commanders; what numbers fell on each side; and a variety of other facts,
by which the truth of their assertion might have been proved: the total
absence of such details appears to me to militate against them in the
strongest manner, and to corroborate the statement of their adversaries.

The Delawares are of opinion, that this scheme of the Five Nations,
however deeply laid, and meant essentially to injure them, would not,
however, have operated against them, but on the contrary, have greatly
subserved their national interest, if the Europeans had not afterwards come
into the country in such great numbers, and multiplied so rapidly as they
did. For their neutral position would greatly have favoured their increase,
while the numbers of the other Indian nations would have been reduced by
the wars in which they were continually engaged. But unfortunately for
them, it happened that the Europeans successively invaded the country
which they occupied, and now forms what are called the middle states, and
as they advanced from the Atlantic into the interior, drove before them the
Lenape and their allies, and obtained possession of their lands; while the
Iroquois, who happened to be placed in the neighbourhood of Canada,
between the French and English, who were frequently at war with each
other, had an enemy, it is true, in the French nation, but had strong
protectors in the English, who considered them as a check upon their
enemies, and, being the most numerous people, were best able to afford
them protection; thus they were suffered to increase and become powerful,
while the Lenape, having no friend near them, the French being then at too
great a distance, were entirely at the mercy of their English neighbours,
who, advancing fast on their lands, gradually dispersed them, and other
causes concurring, produced at last their almost entire destruction. Among

those causes the treacherous conduct of the Five Nations may be considered
as the principal one.

Before that strange metamorphosis took place, of a great and powerful
nation being transformed into a band of defenceless women, the Iroquois
had never been permitted to visit the Lenape, even when they were at peace
with each other. Whenever a Mengwe appeared in their country, he was
hunted down as a beast of prey, and it was lawful for every one to destroy
him. But now, the woman could not, consistently with her new station and
her engagements, make use of destructive weapons, and she was bound to
abstain from all violence against the human species. Her late enemies,
therefore, found no difficulty in travelling, under various pretences, through
her country, and those of her allies, and leaving here and there a few of their
people to remain among them as long as they pleased, for the purpose, as
they said, of keeping up a good understanding, and assisting them in the
preservation of the general peace. But while they were amusing the Lenape
with flattering language, they were concerting measures to disturb their
quiet by involving them in difficulties with the neighbouring nations. I shall
relate one among many instances of a similar conduct. They once sent their
men into the Cherokee country, who were instructed secretly to kill one of
that nation, and to leave a war club near the person murdered, which had
been purposely made after the manner and in the shape of those of the
Delawares. Now leaving a war club in an Indian country, is considered by
those nations as a formal challenge or declaration of war. The Cherokees,
deceived by appearances, and believing that their grandfather the Lenape
had committed the murder, collected a large party to go into their country
and take their revenge. Meanwhile, the Iroquois sent a messenger to the
Lenape, to inform them of the approach of an enemy, who, they had learned
from their hunters, was coming towards their settlement, and to advise them
to send a number of their men immediately to a certain place, where they
would be met by a large body of the Five Nations, who would take the lead,
march in front, and fight their battles, so that they would have little else to
do than to look on and see how well their friends fought for them. The
Lenape, being in no wise prepared to meet a powerful foe, assembled in
haste a few of their men, and repaired to the place of rendezvous, where
they were disappointed by not meeting any of their pretended protectors.
The enemy, however, was close upon them; the Lenape fought with great

courage, but were overpowered by an immense superiority of numbers, and
defeated with considerable loss. Now the Iroquois made their appearance,
and instead of attacking or pursuing the Cherokees, loaded the Delawares
with reproaches, for their temerity, as they called it, in having dared, being
women, to take the lead in attacking men. They told them that the Five
Nations being their superiors, they ought to have waited for them before
they attacked the Cherokees, that then their protectors would have fought
and defeated them, but that as they had thought proper to act by themselves,
they had received the punishment justly due to their presumption.

It was thus that the Five Nations rewarded the confidence that the
Delawares had placed in them. Their treachery was not, however, suspected
for a long time; but it was at last discovered; it was even found out that in
this last engagement, a number of the Iroquois had joined in fight against
them with their enemies. The Lenape then determined to unite their forces,
and by one great effort to destroy entirely that perfidious nation. This, they
say, they might easily have done, as they were then yet as numerous as the
grasshoppers at particular seasons, and as destructive to their enemies as
these insects are to the fruits of the earth; while they described the Mengwe
as a number of croaking frogs in a pond, which make a great noise when all
is quiet, but at the first approach of danger, nay, at the very rustling of a
leaf, immediately plunge into the water and are silent.

But their attention was now diverted by other scenes. The whites were again
landing in great numbers on their coast, in the east and south, and this
spectacle once more engaged all the capacity of their minds. They were lost
in admiration at what they saw, and were consulting and deliberating
together on what they should do. The Five Nations, who lived out of the
reach of all danger, nevertheless also came; but bent on their own interest,
while they were instigating the other nations to fall upon the new comers, or
drive them off from their shores, by which they caused useless hostilities, in
which they did not appear to participate, they were insinuating themselves
into the favour of the powerful strangers, professing great friendship for
them, persuading them that they were superior to the other Indian nations,
that they had controul over them all, and would chastise those who should
disturb their peace.

William Penn came, with his train of pacific followers. Never will the
Delawares forget their elder brother Miquon, as they affectionately and
respectfully call him. From his first arrival in their country, a friendship was
formed between them which was to last as long as the sun should shine, and
the rivers flow with water. That friendship would undoubtedly have
continued to the end of time, had their good brother always remained
among them, but in his absence, mischievous people, say they, got into
power, who, not content with the land which had been given to them,
contrived to get all that they wanted; and when the Lenape looked round for
the friends of their brother Miquon, to hear their just complaints, and
redress their wrongs, they could not discover them, and had the misfortune
to see their greatest enemies, the Mengwe, brought on for the purpose of
shutting their mouths, and compelling them to submit to the injustice done
them.

They cannot conceive how the English could turn from the people by whom
they had been so kindly received and welcomed with open arms; from those
who had permitted them to sit down upon their lands in peace, and without
fear of being molested by them; who had taken delight in supplying all their
wants,47 and who were happy in smoking the pipe of friendship with them
at one and the same fire; how they could not only see them degraded and
injured by a base and perfidious nation, but join with that nation in sinking
them still lower. For to the countenance of the English, they say, is entirely
owing the great preponderance which the Iroquois at last attained: they
complain that the English did support that enemy against them, that they
even sanctioned their insolence, by telling them to make use of their
authority as men, and bring these women (the Lenape) to their senses. That
they were even insulted and treated in a degrading manner, in treaties to
which the English were parties, and particularly in that which took place at
Easton,48 in Pennsylvania, in July, 1742,49 when the Six Nations were
publicly called on to compel the Delawares to give up the land taken from
them by the long day’s walk. But for these repeated outrages, they would
not have taken part with the French in the memorable war of 1755.50 Nor,
perhaps, would they have done so, had not they been seduced into the
measure by the perfidious Iroquois. At the commencement of that war, they
brought the war belt, with a piece of tobacco, to the Delawares, and told
them: “Remember that the English have unjustly deprived you of much of

your land, which they took from you by force. Your cause is just; therefore
smoke of this tobacco, and arise; join with us our fathers, the French, and
take your revenge. You are women, it is true, but we will shorten your
petticoats, and though you may appear by your dress to be women, yet by
your conduct and language you will convince your enemies that you are
determined not tamely to suffer the wrongs and injuries inflicted upon you.”

Yielding to these solicitations, the Delawares and their connexions took up
arms against the English in favor of the French, and committed many
hostilities, in which the Iroquois appeared to take no part. Sir William
Johnson requested them to use their ascendancy and to persuade the hostile
Indians to lay down the hatchet, instead of which, instead of conforming to
the ancient custom of Indian nations, which was simply to take the war-
hatchet back from those to whom they had given it, they fell on a sudden on
the unsuspecting Lenape, killed their cattle, and destroyed their town on the
Susquehannah, and having taken a number of them prisoners, carried them
to Sir William Johnson, who confined and put them in irons. This cruel act
of treachery, the Delawares say, they will never forget nor forgive.

Thus the Lenape, whose principal settlements were then on the frontier of
Pennsylvania, took part with the French, and acted hostilely against the
English during the whole of the war of 1755. The animosity which mutual
hostilities produced between them and the settlers concurred, no doubt, with
other causes, in producing the murder of the Conestogo Indians, which took
place at the close of that war, in December, 1763, and is feelingly related by
Loskiel, part I., ch. 14 and 15.51

The revolutionary war put an end to the exorbitant power of the Iroquois.
They were, indeed, still supported by the British government, but the
Americans were now the strongest party, and of course against them. They
endeavored to persuade the other Indian nations to join them, but their
expectations were deceived. At a meeting which took place at Pittsburg in
1775, for the express purpose of deliberating on the part which it became
Indians to take in the disturbances which had arisen between the King of
Great Britain and his subjects, Capt. White Eyes, a sensible and very
spirited warrior of the Lenape,52 boldly declared to a select body of the
Senecas, that his Indians would never join any nation or power, for the

purpose of destroying a people who were born on the same soil with them.
That the Americans were his friends and brothers, and that no nation should
dictate to him what part he should take in the existing war. Anticipating the
measure which the American Congress took in the succeeding year, he
declared himself,53 in behalf of his nation, free and independent of the
Iroquois; they had pretended that they had conquered him, they had made a
woman of him and dressed him in woman’s apparel, but now he was again a
man, he stood before them as a man, and with the weapons of a man he
would assert his claim to all yonder country, pointing to the land on the
west side of the Allegheny river; for to him it belonged, and not to the Six
Nations, who falsely asserted that they had acquired it by conquest. In the
year 1778 or 1779, the Lenape bravely asserted their national independence
by joining Col. Brodhead’s troops in an expedition against the Senecas.54 If
they did not do as much in that war as might have been expected of them,
and took only a partial revenge, it was owing to the death of their brave
chief, White Eyes, who died of the small pox at Pittsburg, I think, in the
year 1780. He was a Christian in his heart, but did not live to make a public
profession of our religion, though it is well known that he persuaded many
Indians to embrace it.55

Although the Lenape acted independently in the war of 1755, and made a
formal declaration of their independence at the beginning of the
revolutionary war, yet the Six Nations persevered in their pretensions, and
still affected to consider them as women. Finding, however, that this
obsolete claim was no longer acknowledged, and that it was useless to insist
upon it any longer, they came forward of their own accord, about the time
of Wayne’s treaty, and formally declared that the Lenape and their allies
were no longer women, but MEN.

The Delawares and Mohicans agree in saying, that from the time of the fatal
treaty in which they were persuaded to assimilate themselves to women,
and, indeed, ever since the Europeans first came into the country, the
conduct of the Iroquois was treacherous and perfidious in the extreme. That
it was their constant practice to sally out secretly and commit depredations
on the neighbouring nations, with intent to involve them in wars with each
other. That they would also commit murders on the frontier settlers, from
Virginia to New England, and charge the tribes who were settled in the

neighbourhood with the commission of those crimes. That they would then
turn negotiators, and effect a peace, always at the expense of the nation
whom they had injured. They would sell the lands of other nations to the
English and receive the money, pretending to a paramount right to the
whole territory, and this, say the Lenape, was their manner of CONQUERING
NATIONS!

CHAPTER II.
INDIAN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST ARRIVAL OF THE DUTCH AT
NEW YORK ISLAND.

HE Lenni Lenape claim the honour of having received and
welcomed the Europeans on their first arrival in the country,
situated between New England and Virginia. It is probable,
however, that the Mahicanni or Mohicans, who then inhabited the
banks of the Hudson, concurred in the hospitable act. The relation I am
going to make was taken down many years since from the mouth of an
intelligent Delaware Indian, and may be considered as a correct account of
the tradition existing among them of this momentous event. I give it 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 Indians who were out a fishing, at a place where the
sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large floating
on the water, and such as they had never seen before. These Indians
immediately returning to the shore, apprised their countrymen 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 astonishment the
phenomenon which now appeared to their sight, but could not agree upon
what it was; some believed it to be an uncommonly large fish or animal,
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 guard.
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 moving towards the entrance of the river
or bay; concluded 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.56 By this time the chiefs were assembled at York
island, and deliberating in what manner in which57 they should receive their
Mannitto on his arrival. 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 agreeable entertainment for the
Great Being, but it was believed that it might, with the addition of a
sacrifice, contribute to appease him if he was angry with them. The
conjurers were also set to work, to determine 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 protection. Distracted between hope and fear, they were at
a loss what to do; a dance, however, commenced in great confusion. While
in this situation, fresh runners arrive 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
understand, 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 visitor, 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 with his canoe to guard it. The chiefs and
wise men, assembled in council, form themselves into a large circle,
towards which the 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 wonder; 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 Hackhack58 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 destruction on them. And since the orator believed it for
the good of the nation that the contents offered them should be drunk, and
as no one else would do it, he would 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 farewell, 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 bemoan his fate, he falls into a sound sleep, and they think
he has expired. 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 stockings such as the white people wear. They soon
became 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 awhile; but as
they could not live without eating, they should want a 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 rejoiced 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 ornaments, 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 ensued among the 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 upon the supreme Deity who shone superior in the red
and laced clothes. As the whites became daily more familiar 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 by 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
avoiding its breaking. It was drawn out into a circular form, and being
closed at its ends, encompassed a large piece of ground. The Indians were
surprised at the superior wit of the whites,59 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 Mahicannittuck, until the
Indians began to believe that they would soon want all their country, which
in the end proved true.

CHAPTER III.
INDIAN RELATIONS OF THE CONDUCT OF THE EUROPEANS
TOWARDS THEM.

ONG and dismal are the complaints which the Indians make of
European ingratitude 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 regularity. 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
kindred 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 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 we were loth to part with it, as we saw they
had already 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 Dutchemaan60 arrived at Manahachtánienk,”61 (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 a bullock’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, indeed, 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.” Here, of
course, is related at full length, the story which we have told in the first
chapter. Then the Delawares62 proceed.

“When the Yengeese63 arrived at Machtitschwanne,64 they looked about
everywhere for good spots of land, and when they found 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 white 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 came to Pennsylvania;
others went far to the westward and mingled with other tribes.

“To many of those, Pennsylvania was a last, delightful asylum. But here,
again, the Europeans disturbed them, and forced them to emigrate, although
they had been most kindly and hospitably received. On which ever side of
the Lenapewihittuck65 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 out of the woods. Such was our

conduct to the white men66 who inhabited this country, until our elder
brother, the great and good Miquon,67 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 knew what had passed between him and our
ancestors, were no longer listened to; the strangers68 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 what our good brother had said, they became
angry, and sent word to our enemies, the Mengwe, to meet them at a great
council which they were to hold with us at Læhauwake,69 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 further into the country, at the place which they themselves pointed
out at Wyoming.”70

Thus these good Indians, with a kind of melancholy pleasure, recite the
long history of their sufferings. After having gone through these painful
details, they seldom fail to indulge in bitter, but too just reflections, 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 house71 extended 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 them welcome, and let them sit down by our side.
The land they settled on was ours. We knew not but the Great Spirit had
sent them to us for some good purpose, and therefore we thought they must
be a good people. We were mistaken; for no sooner had they obtained a
footing on our lands, than they began to pull our council house down,72 first

at one end and then at the other, and at last meeting each other at the centre,
where the council fire was yet burning bright, they put it out,73 and
extinguished it with our own blood!74 with the blood of those75 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 whereby to kindle a new fire;76 we were compelled to withdraw
ourselves beyond the great swamp,77 and to fly to our good uncle, the
Delamattenos,78 who kindly gave us a tract of land to live on. How long we
shall be permitted to remain in this asylum, the Great Spirit only knows.
The whites will not rest contented until they shall have destroyed the last of
us, and made us disappear entirely 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 tablets of their memories they
preserve this record for posterity. I, at one time, in April, 1787,79 was
astonished when I heard one of their orators, a great chief of the Delaware
nation,80 go over this ground, recapitulating the most extraordinary events
which had before happened, and concluding in these words: “I admit that
there are good white men, but they bear no proportion to the bad; the bad
must be the strongest, for they rule. They do what they please. They enslave
those who are not of their colour, although created by the same Great Spirit
who created us.81 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 moment destroy him. And so you
(addressing himself to the Christian Indians) will also be treated by them
before long. Remember! 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 Christian 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 III., ch. 10.82

CHAPTER IV.
SUBSEQUENT FATE OF THE LENAPE AND THEIR KINDRED
TRIBES.

FTER the murder of the Conestogo Indians, the Lenni Lenape
thought proper, for their safety, to withdraw altogether from the
interior of the white settlements, into the wilds of the
Susquehannah country; and Government, conscious that they
could no longer protect any Indians, or body of Indians, whether Christians
or not, in the settled parts of the province, advised the Christian Indians,
whom, during the last troubles, they had with difficulty prevented from
sharing the fate of the Conestogos, to retire into the back country. They did
so, and settled at Wyalusing,83 which then became the nearest settlement of
Indians to the white inhabitants, being upwards of 150 miles north of
Philadelphia, and about 100 miles from the frontier settlers beyond the blue
mountains; all the other Indians of that nation, together with the Nanticokes,
lived then higher up the Susquehannah. For about five years, the Indians on
this river enjoyed peace, and the Christian Indians lived quietly here and at
another settlement they had made thirty miles higher, built good houses for
themselves, together with a spacious church, planted fruit trees, and put
large bodies of land under cultivation. But, while they were flattering
themselves with the most favourable prospect, they were informed that the
Six Nations had sold the whole country, including the land they lived on, to
the English. They soon saw the object of this clandestine proceeding, of
which they had not received the least notice, and foreseeing what kind of
neighbours they should have, if they should stay where they were, they
determined to move off in a body to the Ohio, where they had received an
invitation to settle from the grand council of their nation. Accordingly, two
hundred and forty-one souls set off directly for the Muskingum river, where
a large tract of land was given them, out of that which the Wyandots had

formerly granted and confirmed to their people; the other Indians of the
same nation residing on the Susquehannah soon followed, some settling at
one place, some at another; the Mouseys,84 however, joined their own tribe,
who long since had emigrated and were settled on the head waters of the
Allegheny river; and so the whole country east of the Allegheny mountains
was cleared of its original inhabitants.

The Delawares thus became at once released from their troublesome
neighbours the Iroquois, who had calculated on their settling near them, at a
place they had already fixed upon; but they were mistaken, for with all their
fair speeches they could not persuade the Lenape, who gave them plainly to
understand that they were no longer inclined to listen to a people who had
so long and so often deceived them.

This happened in the year 1768,85 about six years before the beginning of
the revolutionary war. During which short period of tranquillity, the
numbers of the Christian Indians on the Ohio rapidly increased, and never
was there such a fair prospect of their being fixed in a state of prosperous
civilisation. But the revolution put an end to these hopes, and this
opportunity was lost, perhaps, never to return again. It was not the fault of
the American government, who were truly desirous of seeing the Indians
adopt a neutral line of conduct, and repeatedly advised them not to interfere
in the quarrel between the colonies and the mother country; happy would it
have been if the British government had acted in the same manner; but they
pursued a different plan. These poor deluded people were dragged into a
war in which they had no concern, by which not only their population was
gradually reduced, but they lost the desire of becoming a civilised people;
for the Americans, at last, become exasperated against them, and
considering all Indians as their enemies, they sent parties out from time to
time to destroy them. The murder of the Christian Indians on the
Muskingum in 1782, completed their alienation. Those who yet remained
were driven to despair, and finally dispersed.

It is not in my power to ascertain the whole number of the Lenni Lenape, or
Delaware Indians, still existing at the present time. As far as I am informed,
they are very much scattered, a number of them, chiefly of the Monsey
tribe, living in Upper Canada, others are in the state of Ohio, and some on

the waters of the Wabash in the Indiana territory. A considerable number of
them has crossed the Mississippi. Their first emigrations to that country had
already begun between the years 1780 and 1790. What the numbers of this
nation were when the Europeans first came into this country is difficult to
tell; all I can say is, that so early as 1760, their oldest men would say that
they were not then as many hundreds as they had been thousands. They
have considerably decreased since that period. I saw them myself between
the years 1754 and 1760, by hundreds at a time, and Loskiel in his history
gives an account of upwards of 800 having been fed at Bethlehem in one
year. In the year 1762, while I lived at Tuscorawas on the Muskingum, they
were settled on that river and its branches, and also on the Cayahoga river,
which empties into Lake Erie, in the neighbourhood of which they had
since a small Christian settlement called Pilgerruh (Pilgrim’s rest.)86,87

The Shawanos or Sawanos.88

The history of these people is here given, principally from the relations of
old Indians of the Mohican90 tribe, who say that they formerly inhabited the
Southern country, Savannah in Georgia, and the Floridas. They were a
restless people, delighting in wars, in which they were constantly engaged
with some of the neighbouring nations. At last their neighbours, tired of
being continually harassed by them, formed a league for their destruction.
The Shawanos finding themselves thus dangerously situated, asked to be
permitted to leave the country, which was granted to them, and they fled
immediately to the Ohio. Here their main body settled, and sent messengers
to their elder brother91 the Mohicans, requesting them to intercede for them
with their grandfather the Lenni Lenape, that he might take them under his
protection. This the Mohicans willingly did, and even sent a body of their
own people to conduct their younger brother into the country of the
Delawares. The Shawanos finding themselves safe under the protection of
their grandfather, did not all choose to proceed farther to the eastward, but
many of them remained on the Ohio, some of whom settled even as high up
that river as the long island, above which the French afterwards built Fort
Duquesne, now Pittsburg. Those who proceeded farther, were accompanied

by their chief, named Gachgawatschiqua, and settled principally at and
about the forks of Delaware, some few between that and the confluence of
Delaware and Schuylkill, and some even on the spot where Philadelphia
now stands; others were conducted by the Mohicans into their own country,
where they intermarried with them and became one people. When those
settled near the Delaware had multiplied, they returned to Wyoming on the
Susquehannah, where they resided for a great number of years.

In the mean while, those who had remained on the Ohio increased in
numbers, and in process of time began again to be troublesome to their
neighbours. At last, they crossed the Allegheny mountains, and falling upon
the camps of the Lenape on Juniata river, they committed several murders
and went off with their plunder. It was soon discovered who were the
aggressors; but the Lenape had now assumed the station of “the woman,”
and could not engage in wars. They could only apply for protection to the
Five Nations, which they did, expecting that they would immediately
pursue the offenders and inflict an exemplary punishment upon them, but
the Five Nations found means to evade their demand for the present. They
told the Delawares that the season was too far advanced to commence a
war; that it was better to put off their intended expedition until the ensuing
spring; that in the mean time, both nations should put themselves in
readiness, and keep their preparations secret, and that as soon as the season
should open, they would march off separately and meet together at an
appointed time and place on the Allegheny, then push on together for the
Shawano towns below the confluence of that river and the Monongahela,
where they could fall together unawares on the aggressors and punish them.
The Iroquois promised, as usual, that they would place themselves in the
front of the battle, so that the Delawares would have nothing to do but to
look on and see how bravely their protectors would fight for them, and if
they were not satisfied with that, they might take their revenge themselves.

Agreeably to this plan, the Lenape remained quiet till the spring, when, with
a body of their most valiant men, they marched to the appointed spot; but
how great was their surprise when their pretended champions did not make
their appearance? They suspected treachery, and were not mistaken; for
having immediately marched forward to the Shawano towns, bent on taking
an exemplary revenge, they had the disappointment to see on their arrival

their enemies pushing off as fast as they could down the Ohio river in their
canoes. Some of them were flying by land, as probably they had not a
sufficient number of canoes to convey their whole number; these they
pursued and attacked, beat them severely, and took several prisoners. Here
they had a striking instance of the treachery of the Mengwe, who had
warned the Shawanos of their approach. Some time after this, the Shawanos
who resided on the north branch of the Susquehannah, began to draw off by
degrees, first to the west branch of that river and the Juniata, and then to the
Ohio; so that at the commencement of the French war in 1755, they had all,
except a few families, with whom was their chief Paxnos, retired to the
Ohio, where they joined their countrymen in a war against the English.92

Peace was made in 1763 between Great Britain and France; but the restless
spirit of the Shawanos did not permit them to remain quiet; they
commenced war93 against their southern neighbours, the Cherokees, who,
while in pursuit of the aggressors, would sometimes through mistake fall
upon the Lenape, who resided in the same country with the Shawanos,
through whom they also became involved in a war with that nation, which
lasted some time. The Mengwe being then also at war with the Cherokees,
and frequently returning with their prisoners and scalps through their
country, the warlike spirit was kept alive among all, until at length, in 1768,
the Cherokees sought a renewal of the friendship formerly existing between
them and their grandfather, the Lenape, which being effected, they, by their
mediation, also brought about a peace between them and the Five Nations.

The Shawanos not being disposed to continue the war with the Cherokees
by themselves, and having been reprimanded by their grandfather for being
the instigators of all those troubles, willingly submitted to the dictates of the
Lenape, and from that time remained at peace with all the nations until the
year 1774, when they were involved in a war with the people of Virginia,
occasioned by some murders which were committed on Logan’s family
connexions and others by white people. In this instance it cannot, I think, be
said that they were the aggressors, yet their thirst for revenge was so great,
and the injured Mengwe at their side called out so loudly for revenge, that
they with great spirit engaged into a war with the Virginians, which,
however, was of but short duration, as they were opposed with an equal
degree of courage, and after a severe battle between the two rivals, at or

near the mouth of the Great Kanhawa, and the destruction of many of their
towns by the Virginians, the Shawanos were brought to make peace once
more;94 which did not last long, as they joined the British against the
American people, some time after the commencement of the Revolution,
and remained our enemies after that time, never establishing a firm peace
with us, until the memorable treaty which took place in 1795, after the
decisive defeat of the nations by the late General Wayne.

The Shawanos lost many of their men during these contests; but they were
in a manner replaced by individuals of other nations joining them. Thus,
during the Revolutionary war, about one hundred turbulent Cherokees, who
could not be brought by their own nation to be at peace with the American
people, and were on that account driven out of their country, came over to
the Shawanos, while others from the Five Nations joined them or became
their neighbours.

The Shawanos are considered to be good warriors and hunters. They are
courageous, high spirited and manly, and more careful in providing a supply
of ammunition to keep in reserve for an emergency, than any other nation
that I have heard of. Their language is more easily learned than that of the
Lenape, and has a great affinity to the Mohican, Chippeway and other
kindred languages. They generally place the accent on the last syllable.

The Nanticokes.

The Delawares say that this nation has sprung from the same stock with
them, and the fact was acknowledged by White,95 one of their chiefs, whom
I have personally known. They call the Delawares their grandfathers. I shall
relate the history of the Shawanos,96 as I had it from the mouth of White
himself.

Every Indian being at liberty to pursue what occupation he pleases, White’s
ancestors, after the Lenape came into their country, preferred seeking a
livelihood by fishing and trapping along the rivers and bays, to pursuing
wild game in the forest; they therefore detached themselves, and sought the

most convenient places for their purpose. In process of time, they became
very numerous, partly by natural increase, and partly in consequence of
being joined by a number of the Lenape, and spread themselves over a large
tract of country. Thus they became divided into separate bodies,
distinguished by different names; the Canai, they say, sprung from them,
and settled at a distance on the shores of the Potomack and Susquehannah,
where they lived when the white people first arrived in Virginia; but they
removed farther on their account, and settled higher up the Susquehannah,
not far from where John Harris afterwards established a ferry.97 The main
branch, or the Nanticokes proper, were then living in what is now called the
Eastern shore of Maryland. At length, the white people crowded so much
upon them, that they were also obliged to seek another abode, and as their
grandfather was himself retreating back in consequence of the great influx
of the whites, they took the advice of the Mengwe, and bent their course at
once to the large flats at Wyoming, where they settled by themselves, in
sight of the Shawanos town, while others settled higher up the river, even as
high as Chemenk98 (Shenango) and Shummunk, to which places they all
emigrated at the beginning of the French war. White’s tribe resided there
until the Revolutionary war, when they went off to a place nearer to the
British, whose part they had taken, and whose standard they joined. White
himself had joined the Christian Indians at Schschequon,99 several years
previous to the war, and remained with them.

Nothing, said White, had equalled the decline of his tribe since the white
people had come into the country. They were destroyed in part by disorders
which they brought with them, by the small pox, the venereal disease, and
by the free use of spirituous liquors, to which great numbers fell victims.

The emigration of the Nanticokes from Maryland was well known to the
Society of the United Brethren. At the time when these people were
beginning their settlement in the forks of Delaware, the Rev. Christian100
Pyrlæus noted down in his memorandum book, “that on the 21st day of
May, 1748, a number of the Nanticokes from Maryland, passed by
Shamokin in ten canoes, on their way to Wyoming.” Others, travelling by
land, would frequently pass through Bethlehem, and from thence through
the Water Gap to Nescopeck or Susquehannah, and while they resided at
Wyoming, they, together with the Shawanese, became the emissaries of the

Five Nations, and in conjunction with them afterwards, endeavoured to
remove the Christian Indians from Gnadenhütten, in Northampton county,
to Wyoming; their private object being to have a full opportunity to murder
the white inhabitants, in the war which they already knew would soon break
out between the French and English.

These Nanticokes had the singular custom of removing the bones of their
deceased friends from the burial place to a place of deposit in the country
they dwell in. In earlier times, they were known to go from Wyoming and
Chemenk, to fetch the bones of their dead from the Eastern shore of
Maryland, even when the bodies were in a putrid state, so that they had to
take off the flesh and scrape the bones clean, before they could carry them
along. I well remember having seen them between the years 1750 and 1760,
loaded with such bones, which, being fresh, caused a disagreeable stench,
as they passed through the town of Bethlehem.

They are also said to have been the inventors of a poisonous substance, by
which they could destroy a whole settlement of people, and they are
accused of being skilled in the arts of witchcraft; it is certain that they are
very much dreaded on this account. I have known Indians who firmly
believed that they had people among them who could, if they pleased,
destroy a whole army, by merely blowing their breath towards them. Those
of the Lenape101 and other tribes, who pretend to witchcraft, say that they
learned the science from the Nanticokes; they are not unwilling to be taxed
with being wizards, as it makes them feared by their neighbours.

Their national name, according to the report of their chief, White, is
Nentégo. The Delawares call them Unéchtgo, and the Iroquois
Sganiateratieh-rohne. These three names have the same meaning, and
signify tide water people, or the sea shore settlers. They have besides other
names, by-names, as it were, given them with reference to their occupation.
The Mohicans, for instance, call them Otayáchgo, and the Delawares
Tawachguáno,102 both which words in their respective languages, signify a
“bridge,” a “dry passage over a stream;” which alludes to their being noted
for felling great numbers of trees across streams, to set their traps on. They
are also often called the Trappers.

In the year 1785, this tribe had so dwindled away, that their whole body,
who came together to see their old chief, White, then residing with the
Christian Indians on the Huron river,103 north of Detroit, did not amount to
50 men. They were then going through Canada, to the Miami country, to
settle beside the Shawanos, in consequence of an invitation they had
received from them.

The Mahicanni, or Mohicans.

This once great and renowned nation has also almost entirely disappeared,
as well as the numerous tribes who had descended from them; they have
been destroyed by wars, and carried off by the small pox and other
disorders, and great numbers have died in consequence of the introduction
of spirituous liquors among them. The remainder have fled and removed in
separate bodies to different parts, where they now are dispersed or mingled
with other nations. So early as the year 1762, a number of them had
emigrated to the Ohio, where I became acquainted with their chief who was
called by the whites “Mohican John.” Others have fled to the shores of the
St. Lawrence, where numbers of them incorporated themselves with the
Iroquois, and where their descendants live at the present time, a mixed race,
known by the name of the Cochnewago Indians. Upwards of one hundred
of them, who lived in the colonies of Connecticut and New York, having
through the labours of the United Brethren embraced Christianity,
emigrated to Pennsylvania, some time between 1742 and 1760, where they
afterwards became incorporated with the Delawares.104 A considerable
number migrated from Hudson’s river about the year 1734, and settled at
Stockbridge, in Massachusetts; between the year 1785 and 1787, they
removed to Oneida, in the country of the Six Nations, and gave to their
settlement the name of New Stockbridge. Before their removal their
numbers had gradually diminished. In 1791, they were reduced to 191
persons.105 They were once very numerous in Connecticut, and in the year
1799, there still were 84 individuals of them, in the county of New
London,106 the remains of a once large and flourishing settlement. It is
probable that by this time they are nearly if not entirely extinct.

It is believed that the Mahicanni are the same nation who are so celebrated
in the History of New England, under the name of Pequods or Pequots.107
The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, late President of Union College at
Schenectady, in the State of New York, published in the year 1788 in a
pamphlet form, some observations on their language, which were
republished at New York in 1801. This small tract, as well as the translation
of the Bible into the Natick, by the venerable Eliot, and his grammar of that
language, put it beyond a doubt that the idiom of the Mohicans and those of
the other New England Indians proceeded from the same source with that of
the Lenni Lenape.

CHAPTER V.
THE IROQUOIS.

HE most intelligent and credible Indians of the Lenape stock,
including the Mohicans, have ever asserted, that in the whole
country bounded on the north by the river St. Lawrence and the
Great Lakes (including what is now Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick), on the west by the Mississippi, on the east by the Great Salt-
water Lake,108 and on the south by the country of the Creeks, Cherokees,
and other Florida Indians, there were but two nations, the Mengwe, and
themselves. Theirs was by far the most numerous and the most extensively
settled, for their tribes extended even beyond the Mississippi. On the other
side of the St. Lawrence, the Algonquins, the Killistenos or Knisteneaux,
and others, speaking dialects of their language, prove their origin from the
same stock. The Mengwe, on the contrary, were comparatively few, and
occupied a much less portion of territory, being almost confined to the
vicinity of the great lakes. But few tribes are known to be connected with
them by descent and language; the principal ones are the Wyandots,
otherwise called Hurons, and the Naudowessies. Almost every other nation
within the boundaries described, is of the Lenape family.

Each of these two great nations, say the Delawares, had an ancient national
name, and a tradition of their respective origin, handed down to them by
their ancestors, and diffused among all the kindred tribes. By whatsoever
names those tribes might be called, and whatever their numbers were, still
they considered themselves, and were considered by others, as the offspring
of the same original stock. All the tribes who had sprung from the Lenape
called the mother nation grandfather, and received, in return, the
appellation of grandchildren. They were all united by the strongest ties of
friendship and alliance; in their own expressive language, they made but
one house, one fire, and one canoe, that is to say, that they constituted

together, one people, one family. The same thing took place between the
Mengwe and the tribes descended from them. They and the Lenape had no
relationship with each other, though they came over the Mississippi
together at the same time. They considered each other as nations entirely
distinct.

The Mengwe or Iroquois were always considered by the Lenape as only one
nation, consisting of several confederated tribes. The name of Five and
afterwards Six Nations, was given to them by the English, whose allies they
were, probably to raise their consequence, and magnify the idea of their
strength; but the Indian nations never did flatter them with that high
sounding appellation, and considered them merely as confederated tribes.

The late Rev. Mr. Pyrlæus, in a large volume of MS. notes which he wrote
between the years 1740 and 1760 (upwards of 70 years ago), has taken
down on this subject the account given by the Iroquois themselves, as he
had it from the mouth of an intelligent Mohawk chief,109 whose veracity
might be depended upon. After giving some details respecting the origin of
their confederation, the time about which it took place, the names of the
delegates from each of the confederated tribes, &c., he proceeds thus:
“They then gave themselves the name Aquanoshioni, which means one
house, one family, and consisted of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes,
Cayugas, and Senecas. This alliance having been first proposed by a
Mohawk chief, the Mohawks rank in the family as the eldest brother, the
Oneidas, as the eldest son; the Senecas, who were the last who at that time
had consented to the alliance, were called the youngest son; but the
Tuscaroras, who joined the confederacy probably one hundred years
afterwards, assumed that name, and the Senecas ranked in precedence
before them, as being the next youngest son, or as we would say, the
youngest son but one.”

The Rev. David Zeisberger also says: “That the Iroquois call themselves
Aquanoschioni, which means united people, having united for the purpose
of always reminding each other that their safety and power consist in a
mutual and strict adherence to their alliance.”110 He adds, that Onondago is
the chief town of the Iroquois.

Thus, in the different translations of the name which these people gave
themselves, we find nothing that conveys the ideas of nations, it implies no
more than a family, an united people, a family compact. The different
sections take ranks in this family, of which the Onondagoes are the head,
while the others are brothers and sons; all which tends clearly to prove, that
they were originally but tribes, detached bodies of the same people, who,
when brought together in close union, formed a complete family and
became entitled to the name of a Nation.

We also see that self-preservation was the cause of their uniting, and that
they were compelled by necessity to this measure, on which their existence
depended. And though we have a right to suppose that that tribe which
always takes the lead in the government of an Indian nation (the Turtle
tribe), existed among them, yet it is evident that its authority at that time
was either wholly disregarded, or at least, was too weak to give complete
efficacy to its measures.

If, then, we believe the information given us by both Pyrlæus and
Zeisberger to be correct, we must be fully convinced that the Iroquois
confederacy did not consist of Five or Six Nations, but of as many tribes or
sections of the same people, forming together one nation. These two
Missionaries are known to have been men of the strictest veracity; they
were both, I may say, critically acquainted111 with the Mengwe idiom, and
they had their information from the most respectable and intelligent men
among that nation, the former from the Mohawk, the latter from the
Onondaga tribe. There is no reason, therefore, why the truth of their
statements should be doubted.

The Lenape and their kindred tribes never have called the Iroquois “the
Five or Six Nations.” In conversation, they call them the Mengwe, and
never make use of any other but this generic name when speaking of them.
In their councils, however, they occasionally distinguished them by the
name Palenach endchiesktajeet.113 These two words, literally translated
mean “the five divisions, sections or parts together,” and does not in any
manner imply the idea of nations. Had they meant to say “the Five
Nations,” they would have expressed it by the words Palenach ekhokewit;

those which they used, on the contrary, expressly imply sectional divisions,
and leave no doubt about their meaning.

The Iroquois themselves, as we have already seen, had adopted a name,
Aquanoschioni, merely indicative of their close union. After, however, they
came to be informed of the meaning of the name which the English had
given them, they were willing to let it pass as correct. The Indians are very
fond of high sounding names; I have known myself chiefs who delighted to
be called Kings, after they had learned from us that the rulers of the English
and French nations were distinguished by that title.

Thus the proper name of those six united tribes is in their own language
Aquanoschioni. By other nations they are called Mengwe, Maquas,
Mingoes, and Iroquois. The Lenape call them by the first, the Mohicans and
Dutch by the second, the English and Americans by the third, and the
French by the fourth. I employ these different names indiscriminately in the
course of this work.

As detached bodies or tribes, their names with the Lenape are the following:

1. Sankhícani, the Mohawks, from Sankhican, a gunlock, this people being
the first who were furnished with muskets by the Europeans, the locks of
which, with their effect in striking fire, was a subject of great astonishment
to them; and thus they were named, as it were, the fire-striking people.

2. W’Tássone, the Oneidas. This name means the stone-pipe makers, and
was given to them on account of their ingenuity in making tobacco pipes of
stone.

3. Onondágoes, the Onondagoes. This name signifies in their own language
on the top of the hill, their town being so situated.

4. Queúgue, Cayugas, thus called after a lake of the same name.

5. Mæchachtínni, the Senecas. This name means Mountaineers, and was
given them because they inhabited the hilly parts of the country.

6. The Tuscaroras, the sixth and last tribe in the league, they call by the
same name, yet I have never heard the Lenape speak of the six divisions or
tribes; when they describe them in that manner, it is always by the number
Five.

CHAPTER VI.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INDIANS.

HE Indian considers himself as a being created by an all-powerful,
wise, and benevolent Mannitto;114 all that he possesses, all that he
enjoys, he looks upon as given to him or allotted for his use by
the Great Spirit who gave him life: he therefore believes it to be his duty to
adore and worship his Creator and benefactor; to acknowledge with
gratitude his past favours, thank him for present blessings, and solicit the
continuation of his good will.115

As beings who have control over all beasts and living creatures, they feel
their importance; before they saw white people or men of a different colour
from their own, they considered themselves as God’s favourites, and
believed that if the Great Mannitto could reside on earth he would associate
with them and be their great chief.

The Indian also believes, that he is highly favoured by his Maker, not only
in having been created different in shape and in mental and bodily powers
from other animals, but in being enabled to controul and master them all,
even those of an enormous size and of the most ferocious kinds; and
therefore, when he worships his Creator in his way, he does not omit in his
supplications to pray that he may be endowed with courage to fight and
conquer his enemies, among whom he includes all savage beasts; and when
he has performed some heroic act, he will not forget to acknowledge it as a
mark of divine favour, by making a sacrifice to the great and good
Mannitto, or by publicly announcing that his success was entirely owing to
the courage given him by the all-powerful Spirit. Thus, habitual devotion to
the great First Cause, and a strong feeling of gratitude for the benefits
which he confers, is one of the prominent traits which characterise the mind
of the untutored Indian.

Not satisfied with paying this first of duties to the Lord of all, in the best
manner they are able, the Indians also endeavour to fulfil the views which
they suppose he had in creating the world. They think that he made the
earth and all that it contains for the common good of mankind; when he
stocked the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for
the benefit of a few, but of all. Every thing was given in common to the
sons of men. Whatever liveth on the land, whatsoever groweth out of the
earth, and all that is in the rivers and waters flowing through the same, was
given jointly to all, and every one is entitled to his share. From this
principle, hospitality flows as from its source. With them it is not a virtue
but a strict duty. Hence they are never in search of excuses to avoid giving,
but freely supply their neighbour’s wants from the stock prepared for their
own use. They give and are hospitable to all, without exception, and will
always share with each other and often with the stranger, even to their last
morsel. They rather would lie down themselves on an empty stomach, than
have it laid to their charge that they had neglected their duty, by not
satisfying the wants of the stranger, the sick or the needy. The stranger has a
claim to their hospitality, partly on account of his being at a distance from
his family and friends, and partly because he has honoured them by his
visit, and ought to leave them with a good impression upon his mind; the
sick and the poor because they have a right to be helped out of the common
stock: for if the meat they have been served with, was taken from the
woods, it was common to all before the hunter took it; if corn or vegetables,
it had grown out of the common ground, yet not by the power of man, but
by that of the Great Spirit. Besides, on the principle, that all are descended
from one parent, they look upon themselves as but one great family, who
therefore ought at all times and on all occasions, to be serviceable and kind
to each other, and by that means make themselves acceptable to the head of
the universal family, the great and good Mannitto. Let me be permitted to
illustrate this by an example.

Some travelling Indians having in the year 1777, put their horses over night
to pasture in my little meadow, at Gnadenhütten on the Muskingum, I called
on them in the morning to learn why they had done so. I endeavoured to
make them sensible of the injury they had done me, especially as I intended
to mow the meadow in a day or two. Having finished my complaint, one of
them replied: “My friend, it seems you lay claim to the grass my horses

have eaten, because you had enclosed it with a fence: now tell me, who
caused the grass to grow? Can you make the grass grow? I think not, and no
body can except the great Mannitto. He it is who causes it to grow both for
my horses and for yours! See, friend! the grass which grows out of the earth
is common to all; the game in the woods is common to all. Say, did you
never eat venison and bear’s meat?—‘Yes, very often.’—Well, and did you
ever hear me or any other Indian complain about that? No; then be not
disturbed at my horses having eaten only once, of what you call your grass,
though the grass my horses did eat, in like manner as the meat you did eat,
was given to the Indians by the Great Spirit. Besides, if you will but
consider, you will find that my horses did not eat all your grass. For
friendship’s sake, however, I shall never put my horses in your meadow
again.”

The Indians are not only just, they are also in many respects a generous
people, and cannot see the sick and the aged suffer for want of clothing. To
such they will give a blanket, a shirt, a pair of leggings, mocksens, &c.
Otherwise, when they make presents, it is done with a view to receive an
equivalent in return, and the receiver is given to understand what that ought
to be. In making presents to strangers, they are content with some trifle in
token of remembrance; but when they give any thing to a trader, they at
least expect double the value in return, saying that he can afford to do it,
since he had cheated them so often.

They treat each other with civility, and shew much affection on meeting
after an absence. When they meet in the forenoon, they will compliment
one another with saying, “a good morning to you!” and in the afternoon, “a
good evening.” In the act of shaking hands with each other, they strictly
attend to the distinguishing names of relations, which they utter at the time;
as for instance, “a good morning, father, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin,”
and so down to a small grandchild. They are also in the habit of saluting old
people no ways related to them, by the names of grandfather and
grandmother, not in a tone of condescending superiority or disguised
contempt, but as a genuine mark of the respect which they feel for age. The
common way of saluting where no relationship exists, is that of “friend;”
when, however, the young people meet, they make use of words suitable to
their years or stage in life; they will say “a good morning, comrade,

favourite, beloved, &c.” Even the children salute each other affectionately.
“I am glad to see you,” is the common way in which the Indians express
themselves to one another after a short absence; but on meeting after a long
absence, on the return of a messenger or a warrior from a critical or
dangerous expedition, they have more to say; the former is saluted in the
most cordial manner with some such expression: “I thank the Great Spirit,
that he has preserved our lives to this time of our happily meeting again. I
am, indeed, very glad to see you.” To which the other will reply: “you speak
the truth; it is through the favour of the great and good Spirit that we are
permitted to meet. I am equally glad to see you.” To the latter will be said:
“I am glad that the Great Spirit has preserved your life and granted you a
safe return to your family.”

They are not quarrelsome, and are always on their guard, so as not to offend
each other. When one supposes himself hurt or aggrieved by a word which
has inadvertently fallen from the mouth of another, he will say to him:
“Friend, you have caused me to become jealous of you,” (meaning that he
begins to doubt the sincerity of his friendship,) when the other explaining
and saying that he had no bad intention, all is done away again.

They do not fight with each other; they say that fighting is only for dogs
and beasts. They are, however, fond of play, and passing a joke, yet very
careful that they do not offend.

They are ingenious in making satirical observations, which though they
create laughter, do not, or but seldom give offence. For instance, seeing a
bad hunter going out into the woods with his gun, they will ask him if he is
going out for meat? or say to one another: “now we shall have meat, for
such a one is gone a hunting,” (not believing any such thing.) If they see a
coward joining a war party, they will ask him ironically at what time he
intends to come back again? (knowing that he will return before he has met
the enemy,) or they will say to one another: “will he return this way with his
scalps?”

Genuine wit, which one would hardly expect to find in a savage people, is
not unfrequent among them. I have heard them, for instance, compare the
English and American nations to a pair of scissors, an instrument composed
of two sharp edged knives exactly alike, working against each other for the

same purpose, that of cutting. By the construction of this instrument, they
said, it would appear as if in shutting, these two sharp knives would strike
together and destroy each other’s edges; but no such thing: they only cut
what comes between them. And thus the English and Americans do when
they go to war against one another. It is not each other that they want to
destroy, but us, poor Indians, that are between them. By this means they get
our land, and, when that is obtained, the scissors are closed again, and laid
by for further use.

They are remarkable for the particular respect which they pay to old age. In
all their meetings, whether public or private, they pay the greatest attention
to the observations and advice of the aged; no one will attempt to contradict
them, nor to interfere in any manner or even to speak, unless he is specially
called upon. “The aged,” they say, “have lived through the whole period of
our lives, and long before we were born; they have not only all the
knowledge we possess, but a great deal more. We, therefore, must submit
our limited views to their experience.”

In travelling, one of the oldest will always take the lead, unless another is
specially appointed for that purpose. If such a one stops to hunt, or in order
to stay and encamp at the place for some time, all halt together, all are
pleased with the spot and declare it to be judiciously chosen.

I shall expatiate further on this interesting part of the Indian character, in the
sequel of this work.

They have a strong innate sense of justice, which will lead them sometimes
to acts which some men will call heroic, others romantic, and not a few,
perhaps, will designate by the epithet barbarous; a vague indefinite word,
which if it means anything, might, perhaps, be best explained by something
not like ourselves. However that may be, this feeling certainly exists among
the Indians, and as I cannot describe 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
Ramée, 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 interesting, 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
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 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 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 to make thee comfortable
while thou livest.” The woman approving of the proposal, forthwith adopted
him as her son, and took the whole family to her house.

But we must now look to the other side of the picture. It cannot but be
acknowledged that the Indians are in general revengeful and cruel to their
enemies. That even after the battle is over, they wreak their deliberate
revenge on their defenceless prisoners; that in their wars they are indifferent
about the means which they pursue for the annoyance and destruction of
their adversaries, and that surprise and stratagem are as often employed by
them as open force. This is all true. Deprived of the light of the only true
Christian Religion, unchecked by the precepts and unswayed by the
example of the God of peace, they indulge too much, sometimes, the
violence of their passions, and commit actions which force the tear from the
eye of humanity. But, upon the whole, are we better than they are? I reserve
this question for a separate chapter.

CHAPTER VII.
GOVERNMENT.

LTHOUGH the Indians have no code of laws for their
government, their chiefs find little or no difficulty in governing
them. They are supported by able experienced counsellors; men
who study the welfare of the nation, and are equally interested
with themselves in its prosperity. On them the people rely entirely,
believing that what they do, or determine upon, must be right and for the
public good.

Proud of seeing such able men conduct the affairs of their nation, the
Indians are little troubled about what they are doing, knowing that the result
of their deliberations will be made public in due time, and sure that it will
receive their approbation. This result is made known to them by the chief
through the orator, for which purpose they are called together and assemble
at the council-house; and if it be found necessary to require a contribution
of wampum, for carrying the decision of the chiefs into effect, it is
cheerfully complied with by the whole assembly.

The chiefs are very careful in preserving for their own information, and that
of future generations, all important deliberations and treaties made at any
time between them and other nations. Thus, between the years 1770 and
1780, they could relate very minutely what had passed between William
Penn and their forefathers, at their first meeting and afterwards, and also the
transactions which took place with the governors who succeeded him. For
the purpose of refreshing their own memories, and of instructing one or
more of their most capable and promising young men in these matters, they
assemble once or twice a year. On these occasions they always meet at a
chosen spot in the woods, at a small distance from the town, where a fire is
kindled, and at the proper time provisions are brought out to them; there, on

a large piece of bark or on a blanket, all the documents are laid out in such
order, that they can at once distinguish each particular speech, the same as
we know the principal contents of an instrument of writing by the
endorsement on it. If any paper or parchment writings are connected with
the belts, or strings of wampum, they apply to some trusty white man (if
such can be had,) to read the contents to them. Their speaker then, who is
always chosen from among those who are endowed with superior talents,
and has already been trained up to the business, rises, and in an audible
voice delivers, with the gravity that the subject requires, the contents,
sentence after sentence, until he has finished the whole on one subject. On
the manner in which the belts or strings of wampum are handled by the
speaker, much depends; the turning116 of the belt which takes place when
he has finished one half of his speech, is a material point, though this is not
common in all speeches with belts; but when it is the case, and is done
properly, it may be as well known by it how far the speaker has advanced in
his speech, as with us on taking a glance at the pages of a book or pamphlet
while reading; and a good speaker will be able to point out the exact place
on a belt which is to answer to each particular sentence, the same as we can
point out a passage in a book. Belts and strings, when done with by the
speaker, are again handed to the chief, who puts them up carefully in the
speech-bag or pouch.

A message of importance is generally sent on to the place of its destination,
by an inferior chief, by a counsellor, or by the speaker, especially when an
immediate answer is expected. In other cases, where for instance only an
answer to a speech is to be sent, two capable young men are selected for the
purpose, the one to deliver the message or answer, and the other to pay
attention while his companion is delivering it, that no part be forgotten or
omitted. If the message be of a private nature, they are charged to draw or
take it under ground, that is, not to make it known to any person
whatsoever, except to him to whom it is directed. If they are told to enter
into the earth with the message or speech, and rise again at the place where
they are to deliver it, it is to desire them to be careful not to be seen by the
way by any person, and for that purpose to avoid all paths, and travel
through the woods.

No chief pays any attention to reports, though they may carry with them the
marks of truth. Until he is officially and in due form apprised of the matter,
he will, if questioned on the subject, reply that he had not heard it. It will,
until then, be considered by him as the song of a bird which had flown by;
but as soon as he is officially informed, through a string of wampum from
some distant chief or leading man of the nation, whose situation entitles him
to receive credit, he then will say: “I have heard it;” and acts accordingly.

The Indians generally, but their chiefs more particularly, have many
figurative expressions in use, to understand which requires instruction.
When a nation, by message or otherwise, speaks to another nation in this
way, it is well understood; but when they speak to white people after this
manner, who have not been accustomed to such language, explanations are
necessary.

Their belts of wampum are of different dimensions, both as to the length
and breadth. White and black wampum are the kinds they use; the former
denoting that which is good, as peace, friendship, good will, &c., the latter
the reverse; yet occasionally the black also is made use of on peace errands,
when the white cannot be procured; but previous to its being produced for
such purpose, it must be daubed all over with chalk, white clay, or any thing
which changes the colour from black to white. The pipe of peace, being
either made of a black or red stone, must also be whitened before it is
produced and smoked out of on such occasions.

Roads from one friendly nation to another, are generally marked on the belt,
by one or two rows of white wampum interwoven in the black, and running
through the middle, and from end to end. It means that they are on good
terms, and keep up a friendly intercourse with each other.

A black belt with the mark of a hatchet made on it with red paint, is a war
belt, which, when sent to a nation together with a twist or roll of tobacco, is
an invitation to join in a war. If the nation so invited smoke of this tobacco,
and say it smokes well, they have given their consent, and are from that
moment allies. If however they decline smoking, all further persuasion
would be of no effect; yet it once117 happened, that war messengers
endeavoured to persuade and compel a nation to accept the belt, by laying it

on the shoulders or thigh of the chief, who, however, after shaking it off
without touching it with his hands, afterwards, with a stick, threw it after
them, as if he threw a snake or toad out of his way.

Although at their councils they do not seat themselves after the manner of
the white people, yet the attitude they place themselves in is not chargeable
to them as a want of respect. Faithful to the trust committed to them, they
are careless of ceremonies, from which the nation cannot derive any benefit.
They seat themselves promiscuously around a council fire, some leaning
one way, some another, so that a stranger on viewing them, might be led to
conclude they were inattentive to what was said, or had become tired of
attending. Not so! even sitting in this posture gives them the opportunity of
being intent on what is said, and attentive to the subject under their
consideration. They have no object to look at, which might draw off their
attention. They are all ears, though they do not stare at the speaker! The fact
is, that nothing can draw their attention from the subject they are
deliberating on, unless the house they are sitting in should take fire or be
attacked by an enemy.

To prove the correctness of the above assertion, I shall relate the following
fact, which happened at Detroit in the winter of 1785 and 1786.

When two most audacious murderers of the Chippeway nation, who, for
many months, had put the town and whole country in fear, by the threats
and the daring murders they had committed in the settlement, were taken,
and brought before the commandant (their chiefs having been previously
sent for, and being now assembled in the council house), heard him
pronounce the words: “that according to the laws of their Father (the
English) they should118 be punished with death,” the younger of the two,
who was the son of the other, sprang from his seat, and having forced his
way to119 the door, endeavoured with a knife or dagger he had hidden under
his blanket, to work his way through the strong guard placed outside of the
door and120 in the street to prevent their escape; in this attempt, however, he
was stabbed and fell; all which occasioned much noise and commotion
without, and not a little fear and uneasiness within, among the spectators
and officers of government; yet, not one of the chiefs, who were many in
number, either moved from his seat, nor looked around, or even at one

another; but they all remained sitting in the same posture as before,
smoking their pipes as if nothing had happened.

Though there are sometimes individuals in a nation, who disregard the
counsel and good advice given by the chiefs, yet they do not meet with
support so as to be able to oppose the measures of government. They are
generally looked upon as depraved beings, who not daring to associate with
the others, lurk about by themselves, generally bent on mischief of a minor
kind, such as pilfering small articles of goods and provisions. As soon,
however, as they go a step further, and become known thieves and
murderers, they are considered a disgrace to the nation, and being in a
manner disowned by it, they are no longer entitled to their protection.

In the year 1785, an Indian of this description, murdered a Mr. Evans at
Pittsburg; when, after a confinement of several months, his trial was to be
brought on, the chiefs of his (the Delaware nation,) were invited to come to
be present at the proceedings and see how the trial would be conducted,
and, also, if they chose, to speak in behalf of the accused. These chiefs,
however, instead of coming, as wished for, sent to the civil officers of that
place the following laconic answer: “Brethren! You inform us that N. N.
who murdered one of your men at Pittsburg, is shortly to be tried by the
laws of your country, at which trial you request that some of us may be
present! Brethren! knowing N. N. to have been always a very bad man, we
do not wish to see him! We, therefore, advise you to try him by your laws,
and to hang him, so that he may never return to us again.”

I shall conclude this subject with another anecdote. When in the winter of
1788 and 1789, the Indian nations were assembling at Fort Harmer, at the
mouth of the Muskingum, where a treaty was to be held, an Indian of the
Seneca nation was one morning found dead on the bank of the river. The
Cornplanter, chief of this nation, observing some uneasiness among the
officers and people of the place, and fearing the murder at this time and
place, might perhaps create much disturbance, waited in the morning on the
Governor, whom he desired “not to be uneasy about what had happened the
preceding night, for the man who had been killed was of no consequence.”
This meant in other words, that he was disowned for his bad conduct by his
countrymen, and that his death would not be a loss to his nation.

CHAPTER VIII.
EDUCATION.

T may justly be a subject of wonder, how a nation without a
written code of laws or system of jurisprudence, 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 people can be
well and effectually governed 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, nevertheless, is the spectacle which
an Indian nation exhibits to the eye of a stranger. I have been a witness to it
for a long series of years, and after much observation 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 the pains which the Indians take
to instill at an early age honest and virtuous principles upon the minds of
their children, and to the method which they pursue in educating them. This
method I will not call a system; for systems are unknown to these sons of
nature, who, by following alone her simple dictates, have at once
discovered and follow without effort that plain obvious path which the
philosophers of Europe have been so long in search of.

The first step that parents take towards the 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 certain
great purposes. That he has given them a fertile extensive country well
stocked with game of every kind for their subsistence, and that by one of his
inferior spirits he has also sent down 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 pleasing in his sight.

This is in substance the first lesson taught, and from time to time repeated
to the Indian children, which naturally leads them to reflect and gradually to
understand that a being which hath done such great things for them, and all
to make them happy, must be good indeed, and that it 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
enjoyment of it, must have been informed of what would be most pleasing
to this good being, and of the manner in which his favour could be most
surely obtained, and they are directed to look up for instruction to those
who know all this, to learn 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
instill 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 aged, the chiefs, the men superior in wisdom, they
may also rise to glory, and be called Wisemen, an honourable title, to which
no Indian is indifferent. They are finally told that if they respect the aged
and infirm, and are kind and 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
sensible 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 given them nothing, and who cannot give them any thing
that is good, because he has it not, and therefore he envies them that which
they 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 him in his
own way, that is to say, in the way in which he was himself taught by his
own parents. It is not the lesson of an hour nor of a day, it is rather a long
course more of practical than of theoretical instruction, a lesson, which is
not repeated at stated seasons 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
contrary, 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 even 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 father needs only to say
in the presence of his children: “I want such a thing done; I want one of my
children to go upon such an errand; let me see who is the good child that
will do it!” This word good 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 decrepid 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 good child that must be, which pays such attention to the aged!
That child, indeed, looks forward to the time when it will likewise be old!”
or he will say, “May the great Spirit, who looks upon him, grant this good
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 person, all in the house will
join in calling him a good child. They will ask whose child he is, and on
being told, will exclaim: what! has the Tortoise, or the little Bear (as the

father’s name may be) got such a good child? If a child is seen passing
through the streets leading an old decrepid person, 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 good child
that must be. And so, in most instances, this method is resorted to, for the
purpose of instructing children in things that are good, proper, or
honourable in themselves; while, on the other hand, when a child has
committed a bad act, the parent will say 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 to depress the
mind, and by that means to make determined 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 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 aged.”

In this indirect manner is instruction on all subjects given to the young
people. They are 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 increased by the reflection 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 believe, common to most Indian
nations; it is so, at least, amongst all those that I have become acquainted
with, and lays the foundation for that voluntary submission to their chiefs,
for which they are 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 are no positive laws, but only long established habits and

customs, no code of jurisprudence, but the experience of former times, no
magistrates, but advisers, to whom the people, nevertheless, 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 attachment 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 pursues its course, and as they pass through
successive generations.

CHAPTER IX.
LANGUAGES.

N all the North American territories bounded to the north and east
by the Atlantic ocean, and to the south and west by the river
Mississippi, and the possessions of the English Hudson’s Bay
company, there appears to be but four principal languages,
branching out, it is true, into various dialects, but all derived from one or
the other of the four mother tongues, some of which extend even beyond
the Mississippi, and perhaps, as far as the Rocky Mountains. These four
languages are:

I. The Karalit.

This language is spoken by the inhabitants of Greenland and on the
Continent by the Eskimaux Indians of the coast of Labrador. Its forms and
principles are sufficiently known by means of the Grammar and Dictionary
of the venerable Egede,121 and the works of Bartholinus, Wœldike,
Thornhallesen,122 Cranz123 and others. It is much cultivated by the
Missionaries of the Society of the United Brethren, by whom we may
expect to see its principles still further elucidated. It is in Greenland that
begin those comprehensive grammatical forms which are said to
characterise the languages of the vast American continent, as far as they are
known, and are the more remarkable when contrasted with the simplicity of
construction of the idioms spoken on the opposite European shores, in
Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and other countries. It appears evident from this
single circumstance, that America did not receive its original population
from Europe.

II. The Iroquois.

This language in various dialects is spoken by the Mengwe or Six Nations,
the Wyandots or Hurons, the Naudowessies, the Assinipoetuk, called by the
French Assiniboils, Assinipoils, or Sioux, and by other tribes, particularly
beyond the St. Lawrence. Father La Hontan distinguishes this class of
languages by the name of the Huron, probably because that nation was
better known to the French, whose allies they were, than the Iroquois, who
were in alliance with the English.124 All these languages, however they may
be called in a general sense, are dialects of the same mother tongue, and
have considerable affinity with each other. Mr. Carver is mistaken when he
describes the Naudowessie as belonging to a class different from the
Iroquois.125 It is sufficient to compare the vocabularies that we have of
these two idioms, to see the great similitude that subsists between them. We
do not, unfortunately, possess a single grammar of any of these dialects; we
have nothing, in fact, besides the fragment of Zeisberger’s Dictionary,
which I have already mentioned, but a large vocabulary of the Huron,126
composed by Father Sagard, a good and pious French Missionary, but of
very limited abilities, and who also resided too short a time among that
nation to be able to give a correct account of their language. He represents it
in his preface, as poor, imperfect, anomalous, and inadequate to the clear
expression of ideas, in which he is contradicted by others whom we have
reason to believe better informed. Zeisberger considered the Iroquois (of
which the Huron is a dialect,) as a rich and comprehensive idiom. It is to be
regretted that a grammar which he had composed of it, and the best part of
his Dictionary, are irretrievably lost. Sir William Johnson speaks highly of
the powers of this language;127 Colden,128 though he did not know it
himself, speaks in the same manner from the information of others. Indeed,
Father Sagard’s Dictionary itself, when attentively read by a person
acquainted with the forms of Indian languages, affords sufficient intrinsic
evidence of the mistakes of the good father who composed it.

III. The Lenape.

This is the most widely extended language of any of those that are spoken
on this side of the Mississippi. It prevails in the extensive regions of
Canada, from the coast of Labrador to the mouth of Albany river which
falls into the southernmost part of Hudson’s bay, and from thence to the
Lake of the Woods, which forms the north-western boundary of the United
States. It appears to be the language of all the Indians of that extensive
country, except those of the Iroquois stock, which are by far the least
numerous. Farther to the north-west, in the territories of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, other Indian nations have been discovered, such as the Blackfoot
Indians, Sussee Indians, Snake Indians, and others, whose languages are
said to be different from the Iroquois and the Lenape, but we are not able to
form a very correct judgment respecting those idioms from the scanty
vocabularies which have been given us by Mackenzie, Umfreville and other
travellers. We must wait for further light before we decide.

Out of the limits of Canada few Iroquois are found, except the remnants of
those who were once settled in the vicinity of the great Lakes, in the
northern parts of the now State of New York. There are yet some Wyandots
in the vicinity of Detroit. All the rest of the Indians who now inhabit this
country to the Mississippi, are of the Lenape stock, and speak dialects of
that language. It is certain that at the time of the arrival of the Europeans,
they were in possession of all the coast from the northernmost point of
Nova Scotia to the Roanoke. Hence they were called Wapanachki, or
Abenakis, men of the East. La Hontan gives us a list of the Indian nations of
ancient Acadia, all speaking dialects of the Abenaki, or as he calls it, of the
Algonquin. They were the Abenakis, Micmacs, Canibas, Mahingans
(Mohicans), Openangos, Soccokis, and Etchemins, from whom all Nova
Scotia, (excepting the peninsula,) and a part of the now district of Maine,
were once called by the French the country of the Etchemins. He does not
speak of the Souriquois, who are also known to have inhabited Acadia, and
likewise spoke a dialect of the Lenape.

In the interior of the country we find every where the Lenape and their
kindred tribes. The Miamis, or Twightwees, the Potowatomies, the
Messissaugees, the Kickapoos, all those Indian nations who once inhabited,
and parts of whom still inhabit the interior of our country on this side of the
Mississippi and the great Lakes, are unquestionably, from their dialects, of

Lenape origin. The Shawanos, it is said, formerly dwelt upon the river
Savannah, in Georgia, and a part of them remaining in that country,
associated with the Creeks, still retain their language.129 As far as we are
able to judge from the little knowledge that has been transmitted to us of the
language of the Indians who once inhabited Maryland, Virginia, and North
Carolina, they all appear to have belonged to the same stock, the
Nanticokes have been shewn to have been intimately connected with the
Lenape, and among those who called them grandfather. Two pretty copious
vocabularies of their language, in the possession of the Historical
Committee of the American Philosophical Society, one of them
communicated by Mr. Jefferson and the other by myself, prove it beyond a
doubt to have been a dialect of the Lenape.130 The Canai or Kanhawas, who
have given their name to a river in Virginia which empties itself into the
Ohio, are known to have been of the same stock. The Indian names of
rivers, mountains, and towns, through that vast extent of country, appear
generally derived from the Lenape language.

The Baron de La Hontan, is one of the first writers, I believe, who have
spoken of the universality of this idiom; but it is extraordinary that he has
not said a word of the Lenni Lenape, that great and powerful nation. He
calls this language the Algonquin tongue, although he describes that people
as “an erratic sort of savages, who, like the Arabs, had no settled abode,”131
and admits, that at the time when he wrote, their number did not exceed
200. What he says on this subject, however, is so much to my purpose, that
I hope I shall be permitted to make a small extract from it.

“There are,” says the Baron, “but two mother tongues in the whole extent of
Canada, which I confine within the limits of the Mississippi; they are the
Huron and the Algonquin. The first is understood by the Iroquois, for the
difference between these two is no greater than that between the Norman
and the French. The second, namely the Algonquin, is as much esteemed
among the savages as the Greek and Latin are in Europe; though it would
seem that the aborigines, to whom it owes its original, disgrace it by the
thinness of their nation, for their whole number does not amount to two
hundred.”133

What the Baron says here of this language is very correct; but why does he
call it the Algonquin, and ascribe its origin to that miserable wandering
tribe? He had the Abenakis at hand, whom in another place he puts at the
head of the tribes inhabiting Nova Scotia, and who still preserved the
generic name of the whole nation, Wapanachki, which the French have
softened to suit the analogy of their own tongue, by which name the
different nations and tribes of the Lenape stock still recognise each other to
this day. It is probable that he did not sufficiently understand their
language,134 to have much conversation with them, otherwise they would
have informed him that they derived their origin from a great and powerful
nation residing in the interior of the country, whom they revered as their
grandfather, at whose door the great national council fire was kept
constantly burning, whose badge was the Turtle, and whose supremacy was
acknowledged by all the kindred tribes.

Father Charlevoix, who also speaks of the universality of this language,
commits the same error in ascribing its origin to the Algonquins. “In the
southern part of Hudson’s Bay,” says he, “the trade is carried on with the
Matassins, the Monsonies, the Christinaux (Knisteneaux), and the
Assinipoils, the three first of which speak the Algonquin language.”135 In a
later publication, (I think by a Mr. Winterbotham,) of which, during my
travels, some years ago, I had merely a glance, I found by some words he
had put down in the language of those people, that they were Minsi or
Monseys, a branch of the wolf tribe of the Lenape. So indeed, one of their
names, Monsonies, seems of itself to indicate. The name of the Matassins,
means in their language a tobacco pipe, and so it does in the Monsey to this
day. And they all speak the Algonquin, a language, say both Charlevoix and
La Hontan, universally known for a thousand leagues round. The last
mentioned author subjoins a vocabulary of what he calls the Algonquin
tongue, which bears a greater affinity to the language of the Unamis or
Turtle136 tribe of the Lenape than that does to the idiom of the Monsey or
Wolf tribe of the same nation. I find many words in the Algonquin (as given
by La Hontan), which are exactly the same as in the Unami, while others
bear more resemblance to the Chippeway, also a dialect of the Lenape,
spoken by a tribe in connexion with the Delawares, and who call them
grandfather.

There can be no doubt, therefore, that this universal language, so much
admired and so generally spoken by the Indian nations, is that of the Lenni
Lenape, and is improperly named the Chippeway by Carver, and the
Algonquin by La Hontan. The celebrated Professor Vater, in his excellent
continuation of Adelung’s Mithridates, calls the class of languages derived
from this source, “the Chippewayo-Delawarian, or Algonkino-Mohican
stock.”137 It is, perhaps, indifferent for philological purposes, whether a
language be called the Delaware or the Chippeway, the Algonquin or the
Mohican; but every body must be sensible of the inconvenience of those
long compound names, which leave no fixed or determinate idea upon the
mind. For the purpose of general description it seems better to designate the
languages of those connected tribes by the name of their common
grandfather, the Lenni Lenape, or by the generic denomination universally
adopted among them, Wapanachki, or Abenaki. I have preferred the former
as a mark of respect to an ancient and once powerful nation, and in the hope
that her name may be preserved, at least, in the records of philological
science.

This beautiful language, and those which are derived from it, though more
has been written upon them than on any of the other languages of these
parts of the North American continent, are as yet but little known. The
grammar of the Natick dialect published by Eliot, at Cambridge in
Massachusetts, in the year 1666, has long been out of print, and is to be
found only in very few libraries in the United States; Dr. Edwards’s little
tract on the Mohican language, although printed twice, does not appear to
have had much circulation, and is not alone sufficient to give an idea of the
forms and construction of these Indian dialects. Zeisberger’s Delaware
spelling book is but a collection of words, and does not contain any
grammatical explanations. The learned Vater has taken immense pains,
from the scanty helps within his reach, to discover the grounds and
principles of these idioms, and what he has written on the subject is a proof
of what talents and industry can effect with little means. But still the matter
is not sufficiently understood. There is in the library of the society of the
United Brethren in this town, an excellent MS. grammar of the Lenni
Lenape, written in German by Zeisberger. I understand that the Historical
Committee of the American Philosophical Society are going to publish an
English translation of this valuable work. I rejoice in the prospect of this

publication, which will give a clear and satisfactory view of the true genius
and character of the languages of the Indian nations. At the request of the
same Committee, I have endeavoured to give some further development of
the principles which that grammar contains, in a series of letters to their
Secretary, which, I am informed, are also to be printed. This supersedes the
necessity of my entering here into more details on this interesting subject. I
hope the result of these publications will be to satisfy the world that the
languages of the Indians are not so poor, so devoid of variety of expression,
so inadequate to the communication even of abstract ideas, or in a word so
barbarous, as has been generally imagined.

IV. The Floridian.

I call by this generic name, the languages spoken by those Indian nations
who inhabit the southern frontier of the United States and the Spanish
Province of Florida. They are the Creeks or Muskohgees, Chickesaws,
Choctaws, Pascagoulas, Cherokees or Cheerakees, and several others. It is
said that there once existed among them a powerful nation called the
Natchez, whose language was the mother tongue of all those southern
dialects. We are told also of an Apalachian nation, who it is said lived in the
western parts of Louisiana, and were a part of the great nation of the
Apalachians, who resided in the mountains which bear their name, and
whose branches were settled under different denominations, in the vast
extent of country situated between Louisiana, Canada and New England.138
In this great Apalachian nation we cannot help recognising our friends the
Lenape, or Wapanachki, whose name the French in the south have as easily
corrupted into Apalaches, as those in the north into Abenakis. It was they
who gave their name to the Apalachian mountains, once so called, but
which of late have resumed their former appellation of Alligewi, or
Allegheny. Mr. Vater thinks that the remains of those Apalachians are still to
be found in the Catawbas,139 who are sometimes named Chaktawas140 and
probably are the same who by contraction are now called Choktaws.

Other writers speak to us of the Mobilians,141 as the nation from which the
neighbouring tribes derived their origin, and whose language was their

mother tongue. The fact is, that we know very little about these southern
Indians, and on the subject of their languages we have nothing to guide our
enquiries, but a few words given us by Adair, and some that have been
collected from various sources by the late Dr. Barton. We are not, however,
without the means of obtaining full and accurate information on this
interesting subject, and I hope the historical committee will be successful in
the measures which they are about to take to procure it. Mr. Meigs, the
United States agent with the Cherokees, Mr. Mitchell, agent to the Creeks,
and the Rev. John Gambold, who has long lived as a Missionary of the
Society of the United Brethren with the former of these nations, are well
able to satisfy their enquiries, and I have no doubt will be happy to give
their aid to the advancement of the literature of their country.

It is a fact worthy of remark, and much to be regretted, that the French and
English, who have been so long in possession of the immense country
extending from Labrador to the Mississippi, have written so little respecting
the Indian languages of this part of the American continent. Among the
English, Eliot alone, and among the French, Father Sagard, can be said to
have published anything on this subject that is worth notice. Zeisberger was
a German, and Mr. Edwards an American. On the contrary, the Spaniards142
have published a great number of grammars and dictionaries of the Indian
languages spoken within the limits of their American possessions, and
deserve much credit for these exertions. It is not yet too late for the
independent Americans to retrieve the neglect of their forefathers; but no
time should be lost, as the Indian nations are fast disappearing from the face
of our country, and our posterity may have to regret hereafter that greater
pains were not taken to preserve the memory of their traditions, customs,
manners, and LANGUAGES.

CHAPTER X.
SIGNS AND HIEROGLYPHICS.

T has been asserted by many persons that the languages of the
Indians are deficient in words, and that, in order to make
themselves understood, they are obliged to resort to motions and
signs with their hands. This is entirely a mistake. I do not know a
nation of whom foreigners do not say the same thing. The fact is, that in
every country, signs and motions with the hands more or less accompany
discourse, particularly when delivered with a certain degree of earnestness
and warmth. Foreigners, who are not very conversant with a language, pay
in general as much and sometimes more attention to these motions than to
the words of the speaker, in order the better to be able to understand what
falls from him. Hence, almost every nation charges the others with too
much gesticulation in speaking. For a similar reason, a foreign language is
generally thought to be spoken quicker than our own, while the truth is, that
it is our ear which is slow in distinguishing the words, not the voice which
speaks that is too quick in uttering them.

The Indians do not gesticulate more when they speak than other nations do.
In their public speeches they will, like our preachers and lawyers, enforce
what they say by gestures and motions of the body and hands, in order to
give greater weight to their observations, or to represent the subject they
speak of in a more lively manner than can be done by words alone; but in
common conversation they make few of those motions, and not more, I
believe, than we do ourselves; even the women, who every where speak
more than the men, never want words to express themselves, but rather
seem to have too many, and they do not oftener employ gestures in aid of
their conversation than the vivacity of their sex induces them to do every
where else.

It is true that the Indians have a language of signs, by which they
communicate with each other on occasions when speaking is not prudent or
proper, as, for instance, when they are about to meet an enemy, and by
speaking they would run the risk of being discovered. By this means they
also make themselves understood to those nations of Indians whose
languages they are not acquainted with, for all the Indian nations
understand each other in this way. It is also, in many cases, a saving of
words, which the Indians are much intent on, believing that too much
talking disgraces a man. When, therefore, they will relate something
extraordinary in a few words, they make use of corresponding signs, which
is very entertaining to those who listen and attend to them, and who are
acquainted both with the language and the signs, being very much as if
somebody were to explain a picture set before them. But they never make
use of signs to supply any deficiency of language, as they have words and
phrases sufficient to express every thing.

I have frequently questioned Indians who had been educated at our schools,
and could understand, read, write, and speak both English and German,
whether they could express their ideas better in either of those languages
than in their own, and they have always and uniformly answered that they
could express themselves with far the greatest ease in their own Indian, and
that they never were at a loss for words or phrases in which to clothe every
idea that occurred to them, without being in any case obliged to gesticulate
or make motions with their hands or otherwise. From the knowledge which
I have acquired of their language, I have reason to be satisfied that it is so.
Indeed, how can it be doubted, when we have the whole of the Bible and
New Testament translated into one of their dialects, and when we see our
ministers, when once familiar with the language of the nation with which
they reside, preach to them without the least difficulty on the most abstruse
subjects of the Christian faith? It is true, that ideas are not always expressed
in those languages in the same words, or under the same grammatical forms
as in our own; where we would use one part of speech, we are obliged to
employ another, and one single word with them will not seldom serve a
purpose for which we would have to employ several; but still, the ideas are
communicated, and pass with clearness and precision from mind to mind.
Thus the end of oral language is completely obtained, and more, I think,
cannot be required.

The Indians do not possess our art of writing, they have no alphabets, or143
any mode of representing to the eye the sounds of words spoken, yet they
have certain hieroglyphics, by which they describe facts in so plain a
manner, that those who are conversant with those marks can understand
them with the greatest ease, as easily, indeed, as we can understand a piece
of writing. For instance, on a piece of bark, or on a large tree with the bark
taken off for the purpose, by the side of a path, they can and do give every
necessary information to those who come by the same way; they will in that
manner let them know, that they were a war party of so many men, from
such a place, of such a nation and such a tribe; how many of each tribe were
in the party; to which tribe the chief or captain belonged; in what direction
they proceeded to meet the enemy; how many days they were out and how
many returning; what number of the enemy they had killed, how many
prisoners they had brought; how many scalps they had taken; whether they
had lost any of their party, and how many; what enemies they had met with,
and how many they consisted of; of what nation or tribe their captain was,
&c.; all which, at a single glance, is perfectly well understood by them. In
the same manner they describe a chase: all Indian nations can do this,
although they have not all the same marks; yet I have seen the Delawares
read with ease the drawings of the Chippeways, Mingoes, Shawanos, and
Wyandots, on similar subjects.

While Indians are travelling to the place of their destination, whether it be
on a journey to their distant hunting grounds or on a war excursion, some of
the young men are sent out to hunt by the way, who, when they have killed
a deer, bear, or other animal, bring it to the path, ready to be taken away by
those who are coming along, (often with horses) to the place of
encampment, when they all meet at night. Having hung up the meat by the
side of the path, these young men make a kind of sun-dial, in order to
inform those who are coming of the time of day it was at the time of their
arrival and departure. A clear place in the path is sought for, and if not
readily found, one is made by the side of it, and a circle or ring being drawn
on the sand or earth, a stick of about two or three feet in length is fixed in
the centre, with its upper end bent towards that spot in the horizon where
the sun stood at the time of their arrival or departure. If both are to be noted
down, two separate sticks are set; but generally one is sufficient, namely,
for the time of departure.

Hunters have particular marks, which they make on the trees, where they
strike off from the path to their hunting grounds or place of encampment,
which is often at the distance of many miles; yet the women, who come
from their towns to fetch meat from these camps, will as readily find them
as if they were conducted to the spot.

I shall conclude this chapter with an anecdote, which will at once shew how
expressive and energetic is this hieroglyphic writing of the Indians. A white
man in the Indian country, met144 a Shawanos riding a horse which he
recognised for his own, and claimed it from him as his property. The Indian
calmly answered; “Friend! after a little while, I will call on you at your
house, when we shall talk of this matter.” A few days145 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 striking figures on the door of the house, the one
representing 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.

CHAPTER XI.
ORATORY.

HE eloquence of the Indians is natural and simple; they speak
what their feelings dictate without art and without rule; their
speeches are forcible and impressive, their arguments few and
pointed, and when they mean to persuade as well as convince,
they take the shortest way to reach the heart. I know that their oratorical
powers have been strongly controverted, and this is not astonishing, when
we consider the prejudice that exists against their languages, which are in
general believed to be poor, and inadequate to the expression of any but the
most common ideas. Hence all the specimens that have been given to the
world of their oratory have been viewed with a suspicious eye; the
celebrated speech of Logan, authenticated as it is by the respectable
authority of Col. John Gibson, has been denied to be genuine even in this
country. For my part, I am convinced that it was delivered precisely as it is
related to us, with this only difference, that it possessed a force and
expression in the Indian language which it is impossible to transmit into our
own.

I hope the exertions and researches of the Historical Committee will make
the character and genius of the Indian languages better known than they
have hitherto been. The world will then be better able to judge of their
extent and powers, and to decide whether or not they are adequate to the
purposes of oratory. In the meantime, I shall content myself with presenting
another specimen of Indian eloquence; one which I did not receive at
second hand, but at the delivery of which I was present in person. The
translation which I offer will give but a faint idea of the strength and spirit
of the original; I vouch, however, for its being as correct as it has been in
my power to make it.

This speech was spoken at Detroit,146 on the frontier of Canada, on the 9th
of December,147 1801, by Captain Pipe,148 a chief of the Delaware nation,
and was addressed to the commanding officer of that post, then in
possession of the British. The Delawares, it will be recollected, had been
the steadfast friends of the French, in the war of 1756. The peace which was
concluded in 1763, between the two great nations who then contended for
the supremacy of this continent, was not for several years regarded by the
Indians, and they continued their hostilities against the subjects and
government of Great Britain. They were obliged, however, to submit to
superior force; not without hopes that their father, the king of France, would
soon send over a powerful army to retake Canada. They were in this
situation when the war of the revolution broke out. It is well known that it
was a part of the system of the British administration to employ the savages
to subdue those whom they called their revolted subjects. The Delawares, in
general, as I have before related, having in vain endeavoured to remain
neutral, took part with the Americans. Captain Pipe, however, with a party
of the Wolf tribe, joined the English in the beginning of the war, and soon
after repented it. But it was too late. He was now reluctantly compelled to
go out against the Americans with the men under his command. On his
return from one of those expeditions, he went to make his report to the
British commandant at Detroit,149 by whom he was received in state at the
council house, in the presence of a great number of Indians, British officers
and others. There were several Missionaries present, among which I was.
The chief was seated in front of his Indians, facing the commandant. He
held in his left hand an human scalp tied to a short stick. After a pause of
some minutes he rose, and addressing the governor, delivered the following
speech:

“Father!” (Here the orator stopped, and turning round to the audience, with
a face full of meaning, and a sarcastic look, which I should in vain attempt
to describe, he went on in a lower tone of voice, as addressing himself to
them;)—“I have said father, although, indeed, I do not know why I am to
call him so, having never known any other father than the French, and
considering the English only as brothers. But as this name is also imposed
upon us, I shall make use of it and say: (Here he fixed his eyes on the
commandant.)

“Father! Some time ago you put a war hatchet into my hands, saying: Take
this weapon and try it on the heads of my enemies the long knives, and let
me afterwards know if it was sharp and good.

“Father! At the time when you gave me this weapon, I had neither cause
nor inclination to go to war against a people who had done me no injury;
yet in obedience to you, who say you are my father and call me your child, I
received the hatchet; well knowing that if I did not obey, you would
withhold from me150 the necessaries of life, without which I could not
subsist, and which are not elsewhere to be procured but at the house of my
father.

“Father! You may, perhaps, think me a fool, for risking my life at your
bidding, in a cause, too, by which I have no prospect of gaining anything;
for it is your cause and not mine. It is your concern to fight the long knives;
you have raised a quarrel amongst yourselves, and you ought yourselves to
fight it out. You should not compel your children, the Indians, to expose
themselves to danger for your sakes.

“Father! Many lives have already been lost on your account!—Nations
have suffered and been weakened!—Children have lost parents, brothers
and relatives!—Wives have lost husbands!—It is not known how many
more may perish before your war will be at an end!

“Father! I have said that you may, perhaps, think me a fool, for thus
thoughtlessly rushing on your enemy!—Do not believe this, Father! Think
not that I want sense to convince me, that although you now pretend to keep
up a perpetual enmity to the long knives, you may, before long, conclude a
peace with them.

“Father! You say you love your children, the Indians.—This you have often
told them; and indeed it is your interest to say so to them, that you may
have them at your service.

“But, Father! who of us can believe that you can love a people of a
different colour from your own, better than those who have a white skin,
like yourselves?

“Father! Pay attention to what I am going to say. While you, Father, are
setting me151 on your enemy, much in the same manner as a hunter sets his
dog on the game; while I am in the act of rushing on that enemy of yours,
with the bloody destructive weapon you gave me, I may, perchance, happen
to look back to the place from whence you started me, and what shall I see?
Perhaps, I may see my father shaking hands with the long knives; yes, with
those very people he now calls his enemies. I may, then, see him laugh at
my folly for having obeyed his orders; and yet I am now risking my life at
his command! Father! keep what I have said in remembrance.

“Now, Father! here is what has been done with the hatchet you gave me.”
(Handing the stick with the scalp on it.) “I have done with the hatchet what
you ordered me to do, and found it sharp. Nevertheless, I did not do all that
I might have done. No, I did not. My heart failed within me. I felt
compassion for your enemy. Innocence152 had no part in your quarrels;
therefore I distinguished—I spared. I took some live flesh,153 which, while I
was bringing to you, I spied one of your large canoes, on which I put it for
you. In a few days you will receive this flesh, and find that the skin is of the
same colour with your own.

“Father! I hope you will not destroy what154 I have saved. You, Father!
have the means of preserving that which with me would perish for want.
The warrior is poor and his cabin is always empty; but your house, father! is
always full.”

Here we see boldness, frankness, dignity, and humanity happily blended
together and most eloquently displayed. I am much mistaken if the
component 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 unknown to this savage. The peroration at the end is short, but
truly pathetic, and I would even 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.

It is but justice here to say, that Capt. Pipe was well acquainted with the
noble and generous character of the British officer to whom this speech was

addressed. He is still living in his own country, an honour to the British
name. He obeyed the orders of his superiors in employing the Indians to
fight against us, but he did it with reluctance and softened as much as was
in his power the horrors of that abominable warfare. He esteemed Captain
Pipe, and I have no doubt, was well pleased with the humane conduct of
this Indian chief, whose sagacity in this instance is no less deserving of
praise than his eloquence. It is thus that great minds understand each other,
and even in the most difficult and trying situations, find the means of
making the cause of humanity triumph.

CHAPTER XII.
METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS.

HE Indians are fond of metaphors. They are to their discourse
what feathers and beads are to their persons, a gaudy but tasteless
ornament. Yet we must not judge them too severely on that
account. There are other nations besides the American Indians
who admire this mode of expression. Even in enlightened Europe, many
centuries have not elapsed since the best and most celebrated writers
employed this figure in a profuse manner, and thought it a great
embellishment to their poetical and prose compositions; the immortal
Shakspeare, himself, did not disdain it.

The following examples will be sufficient to give an idea of the
metaphorical language of the Indians.

1. “The sky is overcast with dark blustering clouds.”—We shall have
troublesome times; we shall have war.

2. “A black cloud has arisen yonder.”—War is threatened from that quarter,
or from that nation.

3. “Two black clouds are drawing towards each other.”—Two powerful
enemies are in march against each other!

4. “The path is already shut up!”—Hostilities have commenced. The war is
begun.

5. “The rivers run with blood!”—War rages in the country.

6. “To bury the hatchet.”—To make, or conclude a peace.

7. “To lay down the hatchet, or to slip the hatchet under the bedstead.”—To
cease fighting for a while, during a truce; or, to place the hatchet at hand, so
that it may be taken up again at a moment’s warning.

8. “The hatchet you gave me to strike your enemies, proved to be very dull,
or not to be sharp; my arm was wearied to little purpose!”—You supplied
me so scantily with the articles I stood in need of, that I wanted strength to

execute your orders. The presents you gave me were not sufficient for the
task you imposed upon me, therefore I did little!

9. “The hatchet you gave me was very sharp!”—As you have satisfied me, I
have done the same for you; I have killed many of your enemies.

10. “You did not make me strong!”—You gave me nothing, or but little.

11. “Make me very strong!”—Give me much, pay me well!

12. “The stronger you make me, the more you will see!”—The more you
give me, the more I will do for you!

13. “I did as you bid me, but SEE nothing!”—I have performed my part, but
you have not rewarded me; or, I did my part for you, but you have not kept
your word!

14. “You have spoken with your lips only, not from the heart!”—You
endeavour to deceive me; you do not intend to do as you say!

15. “You now speak from the heart!”—Now you mean what you say!

16. “You keep me in the dark!”—You wish to deceive me; you conceal your
intentions from me; you keep me in ignorance!

17. “You stopped my ears!”—You kept the thing a secret from me; you did
not wish me to know it!

18. “Now I believe you!”—Done! agreed! It shall be so!

19. “Your words have penetrated into my heart!”—I consent! am pleased
with what you say!

20. “You have spoken good words!”—I am pleased, delighted with what you
have said!

21. “You have spoken the truth!”—I am satisfied with what you have said!

22. “Singing birds!”—Tale bearers—story tellers—liars.

23. “Don’t listen to the singing of the birds which fly by!”—Don’t believe
what stragglers tell you!

24. “What bird was it that sung that song?”—Who was it that told that
story, that lie?

25. (To a chief,) “Have you heard the news?”—Have you been officially
informed?

26. “I have not heard anything!”—I have no official information.

27. “To kindle a council fire at such a place.”—To appoint a place where
the national business is to be transacted; to establish the seat of government
there.

28. “To remove the council fire to another place.”—To establish another
place for the seat of government.

29. “The council fire has been extinguished.”—Blood has been shed by an
enemy at the seat of government, which has put the fire out; the place has
been polluted.

30. “Don’t look the other way!”—Don’t lean to that side; don’t join with
those!

31. “Look this way!”—Join us, join our party.

32. “I have not room to spread my blanket!”—I am too much crowded on.

33. “Not to have room enough for an encampment.”—To be too much
confined to a small district; not to have sufficient range for the cattle to feed
on, or sufficient hunting ground.

34. “I will place you under my wings!”—(meaning under my arm pits) I
will protect you at all hazards! You shall be perfectly safe, nobody shall
molest you!

35. “Suffer no grass to grow on the war path!”—Carry on the war with
vigor!

36. “Never suffer grass to grow on this war path!”—Be at perpetual war
with the nation this path leads to; never conclude a peace with them.

37. “To open a path from one nation to another, by removing the logs, brush
and briars out of the way.”—To invite the nation to which the path leads, to
a friendly intercourse; to prepare the way to live on friendly terms with
them.

38. “The path to that nation is again open!”—We are again on friendly
terms; the path may again be travelled with safety.

39. “I hear sighing and sobbing in yonder direction!”—I think that a chief
of a neighbouring nation has died.

40. “I draw the thorns out of your feet and legs, grease your stiffened joints
with oil, and wipe the sweat off your body!”—I make you feel comfortable
after your fatiguing journey, that you may enjoy yourself while with us.

41. “I wipe the tears from your eyes, cleanse your ears, and place your
aching heart, which bears you down to one side, in its proper position!”—I
condole with you; dispel all sorrow! prepare yourself for business! (N. B.
This is said when condoling with a nation on the death of a chief.)

42. “I have discovered the cause of your grief!”—I have seen the grave
(where the chief was buried.)

43. “I have covered yon spot with155 fresh earth; I have raked leaves, and
planted trees thereon!”—means literally, I have hidden the grave from your
eyes; and figuratively, “you must now be cheerful again!”

44. “I lift you up from this place, and set you down again at my dwelling
place!”—I invite you to arise from hence, and come and live where I live.

45. “I am much too heavy to rise at this present time!”—I have too much
property! (corn, vegetables, &c.)

46. “I will pass one night yet at this place.”—I will stay one year yet at this
place.

47. “We have concluded a peace, which is to last as long as the sun shall
shine, and the rivers flow with water!”—The peace we have made is to
continue as long as the world stands, or to the end of time.

48. “To bury the hatchet beneath the root of a tree!”—To put it quite out of
sight.

49. “To bury deep in the earth,” (an injury done)—To consign it to oblivion.

CHAPTER XIII.
INDIAN NAMES.

HE proper names of Indians are in general given to them after
animals of various kinds, and even fishes and reptiles. Thus they
are called the Beaver, Otter, Sun-fish, Black-fish, Rattle-snake,
Black-snake, &c. They have also other descriptive names, from
their personal qualities or appearances, and sometimes from fancy or
caprice; but many of those are given them by the whites, such as Pipe,
White-eyes, Kill-buck, &c., which are not real Indian names. They do not
always preserve the names first given to them, but often assume a new one
after they have come to man’s estate.

Indians, who have particularly distinguished themselves by their conduct, or
by some meritorious act, or who have been the subjects of some remarkable
occurrence, have names given to them in allusion to those circumstances.
Thus, I have known a man whose name would signify in our language the
beloved lover, and one who was named Met by love. Another, a great
warrior, who had been impatiently waiting for day-light to engage the
enemy, was afterwards called Cause day-light, or Make day-light appear.
So, one who had come in with a heavy load of turkies on his back, was
called The Carrier of Turkies, and another whose shoes were generally torn
or patched, was called Bad Shoes. All those names are generally expressed
in one single word, in compounding which the Indians are very ingenious.
Thus, the name they had for the place where Philadelphia now stands, and
which they have preserved notwithstanding the great change which has
taken place, is Kúequenáku,156 which means, The grove of the long pine
trees.

They have proper names, not only for all towns, villages, mountains,
valleys, rivers, and streams, but for all remarkable spots, as for instance,

those which are particularly infested with gnats or musquitoes, where
snakes have their dens, &c. Those names always contain an allusion to such
particular circumstance, so that foreigners, even though acquainted with
their language, will often be at a loss to understand their discourse.

To strangers, white men for instance, they will give names derived from
some remarkable quality which they have observed in them, or from some
circumstance which remarkably strikes them. When they were told the
meaning of the name of William Penn, they translated it into their own
language by Miquon, which means a feather or quill. The Iroquois call him
Onas, which in their idiom means the same thing.

The first name given by the Indians to the Europeans who landed in
Virginia was Wapsid Lenape (white people;) when, however, afterwards
they began to commit murders on the red men, whom they pierced with
swords, they gave to the Virginians the name Mechanschican, (long
knives,) to distinguish them from others of the same colour.

In New England, they at first endeavoured to imitate the sound of the
national name of the English, which they pronounced Yengees. They also
called them Chauquaquock, (men of knives) for having imported those
instruments into the country, which they gave in presents to the natives.157
They thought them better men than the Virginians; but when they were
afterwards cruelly treated by them, and their men shipped off to sea, the
Mohicans of that country called them Tschachgoos; and when next the
people of the middle colonies began to murder them, and called on the
Iroquois to insult them and assist in depriving them of their lands, they then
dropped that name, and called the whites by way of derision, Schwannack,
which signifies salt beings, or bitter beings; for in their language the word
Schwan, is in general applied to things that have a salt, sharp, bitter, or sour
taste. The object of this name, as well as of that which the Mohicans gave to
the eastern people, was to express contempt as well as hatred or dislike, and
to hold out the white inhabitants of the country as hateful and despicable
beings. I have, however, in many instances observed that the Indians are
careful not to apply this opprobrious name to any white person whom they
know to be amicably disposed towards them, and whom they are sure to be
a good, honest, well-meaning man. I have heard them charge their children

not to call a particular white man Schwannack, but Friend. This name was
first introduced about the year 1730. They never apply it to the Quakers,
whom they greatly love and respect since the first arrival of William Penn
into the country. They call them Quœkels, not having in their language the
sound expressed by our letter R. They say they have always found them
good, honest, affable and peaceable men, and never have had reason to
complain of them.

These were the names which the Indians gave to the whites, until the
middle of the Revolutionary war, when they were reduced to the following
three:

1. Mechanschican or Chanschican (long knives). This they no longer
applied to the Virginians exclusively, but also to those of the people of the
middle states, whom they considered as hostilely inclined towards them,
particularly those who wore swords, dirks, or knives at their sides.

2. Yengees. This name they now exclusively applied to the people of New
England, who, indeed, appeared to have adopted it, and were, as they still
are, generally through the country called Yankees, which is evidently the
same name with a trifling alteration. They say they know the Yengees, and
can distinguish them by their dress and personal appearance, and that they
were considered as less cruel than the Virginians or long knives. The proper
English they158 call Saggenash.

3. Quœkels. They do not now apply this name exclusively to the members
of the Society of Friends, but to all the white people whom they love or
respect, and whom they believe to have good intentions towards them.

Not only the Delawares, but all the nations round them, make use of these
names, and with the same relative application. I have myself, in 1782, while
at Detroit, witnessed the Chippeways, who on meeting an American
prisoner, who was walking about, called out Messamochkemaan (long
knife), though he had no knife, sword, or dirk at his side. I was one day
about the same time hailed in that manner as I was walking up the river, and
apprehending that I might be seized as a runaway prisoner, I immediately
answered: Kau! Saggenash; No! an Englishman; and they passed on. I
might with great propriety make this answer, as I was born in England.

In the year 1808, while I was riding with a number of gentlemen through
Greentown159 (an Indian town in the State of Ohio), I heard an Indian in his
house, who through a crevice saw us passing, say in his language to his
family: “See! what a number of people are coming along!—What! and
among all these not one long knife! All Yengees!” Then, probably observing
me, he said correcting himself, “No! one Quækel.”

Such are the observations which the Indians make on the white people, and
the names which they give to them. They may sometimes be in the wrong;
but, as they make it their particular study to become acquainted with the
actions, motions, deportment, and dress of the different nations, they
seldom commit mistakes, and in general, they apply their different names
precisely to those whom they are meant to designate or describe.

CHAPTER XIV.
INTERCOURSE WITH EACH OTHER.

T is a striking fact that the Indians, in their uncivilised state, should
so behave towards each other as though they were a civilised
people! I have in numerous instances witnessed their meeting
together, their doing business and conversing with each other for
hours, their labouring together, and their hunting and fishing in bodies or
parties; I have seen them divide their game, venison, bear’s meat, fish, &c.,
among themselves, when they sometimes had many shares to make, and
cannot recollect a single instance of their falling into a dispute or finding
fault with the distribution, as being unequal, or otherwise objectionable. On
the contrary, on such occasions they even receive what is allotted to them
with thanks; they say “anischi” I am thankful! as if it was a present given to
them.

They certainly (I am here speaking of the men) show a reverence for each
other, which is visible on all occasions; they often meet for the purpose of
conversation, and their sociability appears to be a recreation to them, a
renewal of good fellowship. Their general principle, that good and bad
cannot mingle or dwell together in one heart, and therefore must not come
into contact, seems to be their guide on all occasions. So, likewise, when
travelling, whether they are few, or many, they are cheerful, and resigned to
the accidents which may befal them; never impatient, quarrelsome, or
charging any one, or one another, with being in fault, or the occasion of
what had happened; even though one should lose his all by the neglect or
carelessness of the other, yet they will not fly into a passion, but patiently
bear with the loss, thinking within themselves that such a one feels sorry
enough already, and therefore it would be unreasonable to add to his pain.
They judge with calmness on all occasions, and decide with precision, or
endeavour so to do, between an accident and 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 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 abed, asking for the loan of his
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 your160 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 left in such a condition that by a
touch it went off. A cry was heard from all sides in the house: O! 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 fired, 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 you, though you had one to give, after you have satisfied me
that you killed mine by accident? No, indeed! for the same misfortune
might also happen to me.

An aged Indian who had gone out to shoot a turkey, mistook a black hog in
the bushes for one of those birds, and shot him; finding out by enquiry to
whom the hog belonged, he informed the owner of 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 meat in, gave him a leg of the animal,
because he thought that the unfortunate man, as well on account of his
disappointment, in not feasting on turkey as he expected soon to do when

he shot the hog, as for his honesty in informing of what he had done, was
entitled to a share of what he had killed.

Two Indians with a large canoe, going down the Muskingum river to a
certain distance, were accosted by others going by land to the same place,
who requested them to take their heavy articles, as kettles, axes, 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 discussed, 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:

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
below it, (which was but a short distance,) as was 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, and been
equally unfortunate.

3. That the canoe men having had all their own property 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 themselves and others the misfortune
which had happened, and therefore the circumstance must be ascribed
entirely to accident.

Such is the disposition of the Indians with regard to those who inadvertently
meet with a disaster, whereby others are injured. They are ready to overlook
a fault, and more disposed in such cases to commiserate, than to punish; but
with those who wilfully and intentionally commit aggressions and injure
others, they think and act quite differently; a malicious person is generally

despised, and if he intrudes himself into good company, they will, without
saying a word, steal off one by one, and leave him alone to suffer the
mortification which it is intended he should feel. For murderers and thieves
they have no compassion, and punish them according to the nature of their
crimes, if not publicly, still privately, for they are considered as a nuisance,
and a disgrace to the nation, and so much so were persons of this
description considered and despised in former times among the Delawares,
before the white people came, that it was a rare thing to hear of any such
being among them. This I have repeatedly been told, between the years
1770 and 1780, by Indians of that nation; one of whom, when a boy, resided
on the spot where Philadelphia now stands, when the first house was
building there, and assisted in furnishing the workmen with fish, and caught
rabbits for them; the other, who was still older, lived with his parents on the
spot where afterwards was built Perth Amboy in New Jersey: both were
respectable men, highly esteemed by all who knew them.

I do not believe that there exists a people more attentive to paying common
civilities to each other than the Indians are; but this, from a want of
understanding their language, as well as their customs and manners,
generally escapes the notice of travellers, although some of them, better
observers than the rest, have touched upon this subject. In more than one
hundred instances, I have with astonishment and delight witnessed the
attention paid to a person entering the house of another, where, in the first
instance, he is desired to seat himself, with the words, “sit down, my
friend!” if he is a stranger, or no relation; but if a relation, the proper title is
added. A person is never left standing, there are seats for all; and if a dozen
should follow each other in succession, all are provided with seats, and the
stranger, if a white person, with the best. The tobacco pouch next is handed
round; it is the first treat, as with us a glass of wine or brandy. Without a
single word passing between the man and his wife, she will go about
preparing some victuals for the company, and having served the visiters,
will retire to a neighbour’s house, to inform the family of the visit with
which her husband is honoured, never grumbling on account of their eating
up the provisions, even if it were what she had cooked for her own family,
considering the friendly visit well worth this small trouble and expense.

It is true, that among themselves, they expect the same attention and
hospitality paid to them in return; yet that is not their main object, for I have
seen a number of instances in which a return was out of the question, where
poverty would not admit of it, or distance of abode put it out of the power
of the visiter to return the same civilities to his host: when white people are
treated in this way, with the best entertainment the house affords, they may
be sure it is nothing else than a mark of respect paid to them, and that the
attentions they receive do not proceed from any interested view.

CHAPTER XV.
POLITICAL MANŒUVRES.

N the management of their national affairs, the Indians display as
much skill and dexterity, perhaps, as any people upon earth.
When a political message is sent to them from a neighbouring
nation,161 they generally contrive to send an answer so
ambiguously worded, that it is difficult to come at their real meaning; they
conceive this to be the best way of getting rid of a proposal which they do
not like, because those who sent them the message are for some time, at
least, at a loss to comprehend the meaning, and not knowing whether the
answer is favourable or unfavourable, their proceedings are necessarily
suspended until they can discover its true sense; in this manner have
operations been sometimes entirely prevented, and matters have remained
in the same situation that they were in before.

It may be supposed, perhaps, that such an artful manner of treating each
other might be thought provoking, and cause jealousies and disputes among
the different parties; such is not, however, the case, as nothing insulting is
ever contained in those messages; and as offence is not meant, it is not
taken. The Indians consider it on all sides as a kind of diplomatic
proceeding, an exercise which tends to invigorate the mind, of which they
are very fond. It gives them opportunities to reflect and think deeply on
matters of importance, and of displaying their genius, when they have found
or discovered the secret of an answer sent to them, or hit upon the true
meaning of an ambiguous message.

At the time of the Revolutionary war I witnessed a curious scene of
diplomatic manœuvres between two great men of the Delaware nation, both
of whom had in their time signalised themselves as brave and courageous
men, and had acquired the character of two great war chiefs. The war that I

speak of, which had but lately begun, had made it necessary for the Indians
to consult their present and future safety. Captain White Eyes, of the Turtle
tribe, who was placed at the head of his nation, had its welfare much at
heart. He was in favour of their following the advice given them by the
American Congress, which was to remain neutral, and not to meddle in the
quarrel between the Americans and the parent country. He advised his
people, therefore, to remain in friendship with both sides, and not to take up
arms against either, as it might bring them into trouble, and perhaps, in the
end, effect their ruin.

On the other hand, Captain Pipe, of the Wolf tribe, who resided at the
distance of fifteen miles, where he had his council fire, was of a different
opinion, and leaned on the side of the British. He was an artful, ambitious
man, yet not deficient in greatness of mind, as I have shewn in a preceding
chapter. But his head at that time was full of the wrongs which the Indians
had suffered from the Americans, from their first coming into the country;
his soul panted for revenge, and he was glad to seize the opportunity that
now offered. He professed his readiness to join in proper measures to save
the nation, but not such measures as his antagonist proposed; what his real
object was he did not openly declare, but privately endeavoured to
counteract all that was done and proposed by the other. White Eyes,
however, was a sensible upright man, and never was deficient in means to
support his own measures, and extricate himself from the snares with which
he was on all sides surrounded by Captain Pipe. Thus they went on for
upwards of two years, Pipe working clandestinely, and keeping his spies
continually on the watch upon the other, while White Eyes acted openly and
publicly, as though he knew nothing of what was machinating against him.

At last, a circumstance took place which apparently justified Captain Pipe
in the measures he wished to pursue. In March 1778, a number of white
people, of those whom we called Tories, among whom were M’Kee, Eliott,
Girty,162 and several others, having escaped from Pittsburg, told the Indians
wherever they came, “that they must arm and be off immediately, and kill
all the Americans wherever they found them, for they had determined to
destroy all the Indians, and possess themselves of their country.” White
Eyes, not believing what these men said, advised his people to remain quiet,
for this report could not be true. Pipe, on the contrary, called his men

together, and in a speech which he addressed to them, pronounced every
man an enemy to his country who endeavoured to dissuade them from
going out against the Americans, and said that all such ought to be put to
death. Captain White Eyes was not disconcerted; he immediately assembled
his warriors, and told them “that if they meant in earnest to go out, as he
observed some of them were preparing to do, they should not go without
him. He had taken peace measures in order to save the nation from utter
destruction. But if they believed that he was in the wrong, and gave more
credit to vagabond fugitives, whom he knew to be such, than to himself,
who was best acquainted with the real state of things; if they had
determined to follow their advice, and go out against the Americans, he
would go out with them; he would lead them on, place himself in the front,
and be the first who should fall. They only had to determine on what they
meant to do; for his own mind was fully made up not to survive his nation,
and he would not spend the remainder of a miserable life in bewailing the
total destruction of a brave people, who deserved a better fate.”

This spirited, and at the same time pathetic, speech of Captain White Eyes,
made such an impression on the minds of the audience, that they
unanimously declared that they would obey his orders, and listen to no
person but himself, either white or of their own colour. Indeed, there was
too much force, too much majesty in this address to be resisted; when this
was reported to Pipe by his emissaries, he was absolutely confounded, and
knew not what to do. A few days afterwards, the council of the Delaware
nation received the most friendly and flattering messages from the
commandant and Indian agent at Pittsburg, cautioning them, “not to listen
to those worthless men who had ran off from them in the night, and to be
assured of the steady friendship of the Government of the United States.”
Pipe was so put to the blush, and took this matter so much to heart, that he
soon after threw off the mask, permitted his men to go out and murder the
Americans, and afterwards went off with them to Sandusky, under the
protection of the British Government. We have seen in a former chapter that
he afterwards saw how impolitic his conduct had been, and probably
wished to retrace his steps, but it was too late. He had suffered himself to be
misled by his passions, excited by the remembrance of former wrongs, and
thus was betrayed into his injudicious conduct. Perhaps also his jealousy of
Captain White Eyes, whose superiority his proud mind could not bear, did

not in a small degree contribute to it. Pipe was certainly a great man, but
White Eyes was, in my opinion, the greatest of the two. I was present when
he made the speech which I have related, and never shall forget the
impression it made upon me.

Thus Indian politicians work and manage matters against each other
without newspaper wrangles, abuse of character, personal quarrels, or open
insults. Their ingenuity, when joined to a good cause, generally makes them
come off victorious. In a bad cause, on the contrary, they sure163 to meet
with detection and defeat, as Captain Pipe, for his misfortune, sadly
experienced.

CHAPTER XVI.
MARRIAGE AND TREATMENT OF THEIR WIVES.

HERE are many persons who believe, from the labour that they
see the Indian women perform, that they are in a manner treated
as slaves. These labours, indeed, are hard, compared with the
tasks that are imposed upon females in civilised society; but they
are no more than their fair share, under every consideration and due
allowance, of the hardships attendant on savage life. Therefore they are not
only voluntarily, but cheerfully submitted to; and as women are not obliged
to live with their husbands any longer than suits their pleasure or
convenience, it cannot be supposed that they would submit to be loaded
with unjust or unequal burdens.

Marriages among the Indians are not, as with us, contracted for life; it is
understood on both sides that the parties are not to live together any longer
than they shall be pleased with each other. The husband may put away his
wife whenever he pleases, and the woman may in like manner abandon her
husband. Therefore the connexion is not attended with any vows, promises,
or ceremonies of any kind. An Indian takes a wife as it were on trial,
determined, however, in his own mind not to forsake her if she behaves
well, and particularly if he has children by her. The woman, sensible of this,
does on her part every thing in her power to please her husband, particularly
if he is a good hunter or trapper, capable of maintaining her by his skill and
industry, and protecting her by his strength and courage.

When a marriage takes place, the duties and labours incumbent on each
party are well known to both. It is understood that the husband is to build a
house for them to dwell in, to find the necessary implements of husbandry,
as axes, hoes, &c., to provide a canoe, and also dishes, bowls, and other
necessary vessels for house-keeping. The woman generally has a kettle or

two, and some other articles of kitchen furniture, which she brings with her.
The husband, as master of the family, considers himself bound to support it
by his bodily exertions, as hunting, trapping, &c.; the woman, as his help-
mate, takes upon herself the labours of the field, and is far from considering
them as more important than those to which her husband is subjected, being
well satisfied that with his gun and traps he can maintain a family in any
place where game is to be found; nor do they think it any hardship imposed
upon them; for they themselves say, that while their field labour employs
them at most six weeks in the year, that of the men continues the whole year
round.

When a couple is newly married, the husband (without saying a single word
upon the subject) takes considerable pains to please his wife, and by
repeated proofs of his skill and abilities in the art of hunting, to make her
sensible that she can be happy with him, and that she will never want while
they live together. At break of day he will be off with his gun, and often by
breakfast time return home with a deer, turkey, or some other game. He
endeavours to make it appear that it is in his power to bring provisions
home whenever he pleases, and his wife, proud of having such a good
hunter for her husband, does her utmost to serve and make herself agreeable
to him.

The work of the women is not hard or difficult. They are both able and
willing to do it, and always perform it with cheerfulness. Mothers teach
their daughters those duties which common sense would otherwise point
out to them when grown up. Within doors, their labour is very trifling; there
is seldom more than one pot or kettle to attend to. There is no scrubbing of
the house, and but little to wash, and that not often. Their principal
occupations are to cut and fetch in the fire wood, till the ground, sow and
reap the grain, and pound the corn in mortars for their pottage, and to make
bread which they bake in the ashes. When going on a journey, or to hunting
camps with their husbands, if they have no horses, they carry a pack on
their backs which often appears heavier than it really is; it generally
consists of a blanket, a dressed deer skin for mocksens, a few articles of
kitchen furniture, as a kettle, bowl, or dish, with spoons, and some bread,
corn, salt, &c., for their nourishment. I have never known an Indian woman

complain of the hardship of carrying this burden, which serves for their own
comfort and support as well as of their husbands.

The tilling of the ground at home, getting of the fire wood, and pounding of
corn in mortars, is frequently done by female parties, much in the manner of
those husking, quilting, and other frolics (as they are called), which are so
common in some parts of the United States, particularly to the eastward.
The labour is thus quickly and easily performed; when it is over, and
sometimes in intervals, they sit down to enjoy themselves by feasting on
some good victuals, prepared for them by the person or family for whom
they work, and which the man has taken care to provide before hand from
the woods; for this is considered a principal part of the business, as there are
generally more or less of the females assembled who have not, perhaps for
a long time, tasted a morsel of meat, being either widows, or orphans, or
otherwise in straitened circumstances. Even the chat which passes during
their joint labours is highly diverting to them, and so they seek to be
employed in this way as long as they can, by going round to all those in the
village who have ground to till.

When the harvest is in, which generally happens by the end of September,
the women have little else to do than to prepare the daily victuals, and get
fire wood, until the latter end of February or beginning of March, as the
season is more or less backward, when they go to their sugar camps, where
they extract sugar from the maple tree. The men having built or repaired
their temporary cabin, and made all the troughs of various sizes, the women
commence making sugar, while the men are looking out for meat, at this
time generally fat bears, which are still in their winter quarters. When at
home, they will occasionally assist their wives in gathering the sap, and
watch the kettles in their absence, that the syrup may not boil over.

A man who wishes his wife to be with him while he is out hunting in the
woods, needs only tell her, that on such a day they will go to such a place,
where he will hunt for a length of time, and she will be sure to have
provisions and every thing else that is necessary in complete readiness, and
well packed up to carry to the spot; for the man, as soon as he enters the
woods, has to be looking out and about for game, and therefore cannot be
encumbered with any burden; after wounding a deer, he may have to pursue

it for several miles, often running it fairly down. The woman, therefore,
takes charge of the baggage, brings it to the place of encampment, and
there, immediately enters on the duties of housekeeping, as if they were at
home; she moreover takes pains to dry as much meat as she can, that none
may be lost; she carefully puts the tallow up, assists in drying the skins,
gathers as much wild hemp as possible for the purpose of making strings,
carrying-bands, bags and other necessary articles, collects roots for dyeing;
in short, does every thing in her power to leave no care to her husband but
the important one of providing meat for the family.

After all, the fatigue of the women is by no means to be compared to that of
the men. Their hard and difficult employments are periodical and of short
duration, while their husband’s labours are constant and severe in the
extreme. Were a man to take upon himself a part of his wife’s duty, in
addition to his own, he must necessarily sink under the load, and of course
his family must suffer with him. On his exertions as a hunter, their existence
depends; in order to be able to follow that rough employment with success,
he must keep his limbs as supple as he can, he must avoid hard labour as
much as possible, that his joints may not become stiffened, and that he may
preserve the necessary strength and agility of body to enable him to pursue
the chase, and bear the unavoidable hardships attendant on it; for the
fatigues of hunting wear out the body and constitution far more than manual
labour. Neither creeks nor rivers, whether shallow or deep, frozen or free
from ice, must be an obstacle to the hunter, when in pursuit of a wounded
deer, bear, or other animal, as is often the case. Nor has he then leisure to
think on the state of his body, and to consider whether his blood is not too
much heated to plunge without danger into the cold stream, since the game
he is in pursuit of is running off from him with full speed. Many dangerous
accidents often befal him, both as a hunter and a warrior (for he is both),
and are seldom unattended with painful consequences, such as rheumatism,
or consumption of the lungs, for which the sweat-house, on which they so
much depend, and to which they often resort for relief, especially after a
fatiguing hunt or warlike excursion, is not always a sure preservative or an
effectual remedy.

The husband generally leaves the skins and peltry which he has procured by
hunting to the care of his wife, who sells or barters them away to the best

advantage for such necessaries as are wanted in the family; not forgetting to
supply her husband with what he stands in need of, who, when he receives
it from her hands never fails to return her thanks in the kindest manner. If
debts had been previously contracted, either by the woman, or by her and
her husband jointly, or if a horse should be wanted, as much is laid aside as
will be sufficient to pay the debts or purchase the horse.

When a woman has got in her harvest of corn, it is considered as belonging
to her husband, who, if he has suffering friends, may give them as much of
it as he pleases, without consulting his wife, or being afraid of her being
displeased; for she is in the firm belief that he is able to procure that article
whenever it is wanted. The sugar which she makes out of the maple tree is
also considered as belonging to her husband.

There is nothing in an Indian’s house or family without its particular owner.
Every individual knows what belongs to him, from the horse or cow down
to the dog, cat, kitten and little chicken. Parents make presents to their
children, and they in return to their parents. A father will sometimes ask his
wife or one of his children for the loan of his horse to go out a hunting. For
a litter of kittens or brood of chickens, there are often as many different
owners as there are individual animals. In purchasing a hen with her brood,
one frequently has to deal for it with several children. Thus, while the
principle of community of goods prevails in the state, the rights of property
are acknowledged among the members of a family. This is attended with a
very good effect; for by this means every living creature is properly taken
care of. It also promotes liberality among the children, which becomes a
habit with them by the time they are grown up.

An Indian loves to see his wife well clothed, which is a proof that he is fond
of her; at least, it is so considered. While his wife is bartering the skins and
peltry he has taken in his hunt, he will seat himself at some distance, to
observe her choice, and how she and the traders agree together. When she
finds an article which she thinks will suit or please her husband, she never
fails to purchase it for him; she tells him that it is her choice, and he is
never dissatisfied.

The more a man does for his wife the more he is esteemed, particularly by
the women, who will say: “This man surely loves his wife.” Some men at

their leisure hours make bowls and ladles, which, when finished, are at their
wives’ disposal.

If a sick or pregnant woman longs for any article of food, be it what it may,
and however difficult to be procured, the husband immediately sets out to
endeavour to get it. I have known a man to go forty or fifty miles for a mess
of cranberries to satisfy his wife’s longing. In the year 1762 I was witness to
a remarkable instance of the disposition of Indians to indulge their wives.
There was a famine in the land, and a sick Indian woman expressed a great
desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband having heard that a trader at
Lower Sandusky had a little, set off on horseback for that place, one
hundred miles distant, and returned with as much corn as filled the crown of
his hat, for which he gave his horse in exchange, and came home on foot,
bringing his saddle back with him. Squirrels, ducks, and other like
delicacies, when most difficult to be obtained, are what women in the first
stage of their pregnancy generally long for. The husband in every such case
will go out and spare no pains nor trouble until he has procured what is
wanted.

In other cases, the men and their wives do not in general trouble themselves
with each other’s business; but the wife, knowing that the father is very
fond of his children, is always prepared to tell him some diverting anecdote
of one or the other of them, especially if he has been absent for some time.

It very seldom happens that a man condescends to quarrel with his wife, or
abuse her, though she has given him just cause. In such a case the man,
without replying, or saying a single word, will take his gun and go into the
woods, and remain there a week or perhaps a fortnight, living on the meat
he has killed, before he returns home again; well knowing that he cannot
inflict a greater punishment on his wife for her conduct to him than by
absenting himself for a while; for she is not only kept in suspense, uncertain
whether he will return again, but is soon reported as a bad and quarrelsome
woman; for, as on those occasions, the man does not tell his wife on what
day or at what time he will be back again, which he otherwise, when they
are on good terms, never neglects to do, she is at once put to shame by her
neighbours, who soon suspecting something, do not fail to put such
questions to her, as she either cannot, or is ashamed to answer. When he at

length does return, she endeavours to let him see by her attentions, that she
has repented, though neither speak to each other a single word on the
subject of what has passed. And as his children, if he has any, will on his
return hang about him and soothe him with their caresses, he is, on their
account, ready to forgive, or at least to say nothing unpleasant to their
mother. She has, however, received by this a solemn warning, and must take
care how she behaves in future, lest the next time her husband should stay
away altogether and take another wife. It is very probable, that if at this
time they had had no children, he would have left her, but then he would
have taken his property with him at the same time.

On the return of an Indian from a journey, or long absence, he will, on
entering the house, say, “I am returned!” to which his wife will reply,164 “I
rejoice!” and having cast his eyes around, he will enquire, whether all the
children are well, when being answered in the affirmative, he replies, “I am
glad!” which for the present is all the conversation that passes between
them; nor does he relate anything at this present time that occurred on his
journey, but holds himself in readiness to partake of the nourishment which
his wife is preparing for him. After a while, when the men of the village
have assembled at his house, his wife, with the rest, hears his story at full
length.

Marriages are proposed and concluded in different ways. The parents on
both sides, having observed an attachment between two young persons,
negotiate for them. This generally commences from the house where the
bridegroom lives, whose mother is the negotiatrix for him, and begins her
duties by taking a good leg of venison, or bear’s meat, or something else of
the same kind, to the house where the bride dwells, not forgetting to
mention, that her son has killed it: in return for this the mother of the bride,
if she otherwise approves of the match, which she well understands by the
presents to be intended, will prepare a good dish of victuals, the produce of
the labour of woman, such as beans, Indian corn, or the like, and then taking
it to the house where the bridegroom lives, will say, “This is the produce of
my daughter’s field; and she also prepared it.” If afterwards the mothers of
the parties are enabled to tell the good news to each other, that the young
people have pronounced that which was sent them very good, the bargain is
struck. It is as much as if the young man had said to the girl, “I am able to

provide you at all times with meat to eat!” and she had replied, “and such
good victuals from the field, you shall have from me!” From this time not
only presents of this kind are continued on both sides, but articles of
clothing are presented to the parents by each party, by way of return for
what they have received, of which the young people always have a share.
The friendship between the two families daily increasing, they do their
domestic and field work jointly, and when the young people have agreed to
live together, the parents supply them with necessaries, such as a kettle,
dishes or bowls, and also what is required for the kitchen, and with axes,
hoes, &c. to work in the field.

The men who have no parents to negotiate for them, or otherwise choose to
manage the matter for themselves, have two simple ways of attaining their
object. The first is: by stepping up to the woman whom they wish to marry,
saying: “If you are willing I will take you as wife!” when if she answer in
the affirmative, she either goes with him immediately, or meets him at an
appointed time and place.

The other mode of celebrating marriage will appear from the following
anecdote.

An aged Indian, who for many years 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 year before he marry!—well!—may be then
got very good wife—but may be not!—may be very 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!165 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 see 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—see him smile—which is all
one he say, Yes! so he take him home—no danger he be cross! no! no!
Squaw know too well what Indian do if he cross!—throw him away and
take another! Squaw love to eat meat! no husband! no meat! Squaw do

every thing to please husband! he do the same to please Squaw! live
happy!”

CHAPTER XVII.
RESPECT FOR THE AGED.

HERE is no nation in the world who pay greater respect to old age
than the American Indians. From their infancy they are taught to
be kind and attentive to aged persons, and never to let them suffer
for want of necessaries or comforts. The parents spare no pains to
impress upon the minds of their children the conviction that they would
draw down upon themselves the anger of the Great Spirit, were they to
neglect those whom, in his goodness, he had permitted to attain such an
advanced age, whom he had protected with his almighty power through all
the perils and dangers of life, while so many had perished by wars,
accidents, and sickness in various forms, by the incantations of the wizard,
or the stroke of the murderer, and not a few by the consequences of their
own imprudent conduct.

It is a sacred principle among the Indians, and one of those moral and
religious truths which they have always before their eyes, that the Great
Spirit who created them, and provided them so abundantly with the means
of subsistence, made it the duty of parents to maintain and take care of their
children until they should be able to provide for themselves, and that having
while weak and helpless received the benefits of maintenance, education,
and protection, they are bound to repay them by a similar care of those who
are labouring under the infirmities of old age, and are no longer able to
supply their own wants.

Thus, a strong feeling of gratitude towards their elders, inculcated and
cherished from their earliest infancy, is the solid foundation on which rests
that respect for old age for which Indians are so remarkable, and it is further
supported by the well-founded hope of receiving the like succours and
attentions in their turn, when the heavy hand of time shall have reduced

them to the same helpless situation which they now commiserate in others,
and seek by every means in their power to render more tolerable. Hence,
they do not confine themselves to acts of absolute necessity; it is not
enough for them that the old are not suffered to starve with hunger, or
perish with cold, but they must be made as much as possible to share in the
pleasures and comforts of life. It is, indeed, a moving spectacle to see the
tender and delicate attentions which, on every occasion, they lavish upon
aged and decrepid persons. When going out a hunting, they will put them
on a horse or in a canoe, and take them into the woods to their hunting
ground, in order to revive their spirits by making them enjoy the sight of a
sport in which they can no longer participate. They place them in particular
situations, where they are sure that the game they are in pursuit of will pass
by, taking proper measures at the same time to prevent its escape, so that
their aged parents and friends may, at least, as our sportsmen call it, be in at
the death. Nor is this all; the hoary veterans must also enjoy the honours of
the chase; when the animal, thus surrounded, is come within reach of their
guns, when every possibility of escape is precluded, by the woods all
around being set on fire, they all, young and old, fire together, so that it is
difficult to decide166 whose ball it was that brought the animal to the
ground. But they never are at a loss to decide, and always give it in favour
of the oldest man167 in the party. So, when the young people have
discovered a place where the bears have their haunts, or have resorted to for
the winter, they frequently take with them to the spot, such of the old men
as are yet able to walk or ride, where they not only have an opportunity of
witnessing the sport, but receive their full share of the meat and oil.

At home the old are as well treated and taken care of as if they were
favourite children. They are cherished and even caressed; indulged in health
and nursed in sickness; and all their wishes and wants are anticipated. Their
company is sought by the young, to whom their conversation is considered
an honour. Their advice is asked on all occasions, their words are listened to
as oracles, and their occasional garrulity, nay, even the second childhood
often attendant on extreme old age, is never with Indians a subject of
ridicule, or laughter. Respect, gratitude, and love are too predominant in
their minds to permit any degrading idea to mix itself with these truly
honourable and generous feelings.

On every occasion, and in every situation through life, age takes the lead
among the Indians. Even little boys, when going on parties of pleasure,
were it only to catch butterflies, strictly adhere to this rule, and submit to
the direction of the oldest in their company, who is their chief, leader and
spokesman; if they are accosted on the way by any person, and asked
whither they are going, or any other question, no one will presume to
answer but their speaker. The same rule is observed when they are grown
up, and in no case whatever will one of a party, club or meeting, attempt to
assume authority over the leader, or even to set him right if he should
mistake the road or take a wrong course; much less will any one contradict
what he says, unless his opinion should be particularly asked, in which case,
and no other, he will give his advice, but with great modesty and diffidence.

And yet there have been travellers who have ventured to assert that old
people among the Indians are not only neglected and suffered to perish for
want, but that they are even, when no longer able to take care of
themselves, put out of the way of all trouble. I am free to declare, that
among all the Indian nations that I have become acquainted with, if any one
should kill an old man or woman for no other cause than that of having
become useless or burdensome to society, it would be considered as an
unpardonable crime, the general indignation would be excited, and the
murderer instantly put to death. I cannot conceive any act that would
produce such an universal horror and detestation, such is the veneration
which is everywhere felt for old age.

Indeed, I have had sufficient reason to be convinced that this principle,
excellent as it is in itself, is168 even carried too far by the Indians, and that
not a little inconvenience is occasioned by it. A few instances will make this
better understood than any explanations that I could give.

In the year 1765, the great body of Christian Indians, after having remained
sixteen months at and near Philadelphia, were permitted to return to their
own country, peace having been concluded with the Indian nations, who
still continued at war, notwithstanding the pacification between the
European powers. They resolved to open a path through the wilderness
from the frontier settlements beyond the Blue Mountains, directly to
Wyoming on the Susquehannah. This path they laid off and cut as they

proceeded, two, three or four miles at a time, according to the nature of the
ground and the convenience of water, bringing up their baggage by making
two or more trips, as they had no horses to carry it. Having arrived at the
great Pine Swamp, then supposed to be about fourteen miles wide, it was
found very difficult to cut a passage on account of the thickets and of the
great number of fallen trees which incumbered it; they were, besides,
unacquainted with that part of the country. An old Indian,169 however, took
the lead, and undertook to be their guide. After a tedious march of near two
weeks, attended with much labour, he brought them across the Swamp, to
the large creek which borders upon it on the opposite side. There they found
a very steep mountain, through which no passage could be found either
above or below. Discouraged at the prospect before them, they now saw no
alternative but to return the same way they had come, and take the route by
Fort Allen170 to Nescopeck, and so up the Susquehannah to Wyoming, a
distance of nearly one hundred miles round. In this difficulty, it fortunately
struck their Missionary, Mr. Zeisberger, that a certain Indian named David,
who was one of their party and had followed them all the way, was
acquainted with that part of the country, and might, perhaps, be able to
point out to them some better and shorter road. He soon found that he was
not mistaken. David was perfectly acquainted with the country, and knew a
good road, through which the party might easily pass, but not having been
questioned on the subject, had hitherto kept silence, and followed with the
rest, though he knew all the while they were going wrong. A dialogue then
took place between him and the Missionary.

Zeisb.—David! You are, I believe, acquainted with this country; perhaps
you know a better road171 and a shorter one than that which we are going to
take.

David.—Yes, I do; there is such a road,171 which we may easily get
through, and have a much shorter distance to travel than by that which is
proposed; I am sure of it.

Zeisb.—What; David! we were all going wrong, and yet you are with us?

David.—Yes, ’tis so.

Zeisb.—And yet you said nothing, and followed with the rest as if all had
been right!

David.—Yes; the guides are somewhat older than myself; they took the
lead, and never asked me whether I had any knowledge of the country. If
they had enquired, I would have told them.

Zeisb.—Will you now tell them?

David.—No, indeed; unless they ask me. It does not become an Indian to
instruct his elders.

The question was then asked him at the instigation of Mr. Zeisberger, when
he immediately told them that they must all return to a certain spot, six
miles back, and then direct their course more to the north-east, which would
bring them to a gap in the mountain, where they could pass through with
great ease. They did so, and he followed them, and being now desired to
take the lead, he did it, and brought them to the very spot he had described,
and from thence led them all the way to Wyoming. This difficult part of the
road, in the swamp, has been since called David’s path, and the state road
now passes through it.172

This anecdote was told me by Mr. Zeisberger himself, whom I have never
known to say anything that was not strictly true. I therefore give it full
credit; the more so, as I have myself witnessed two similar instances, with
the relation of which I shall conclude this chapter.

The first happened in the year 1791. I had parted by accident from the
company I was with, and lost my way in the woods. I had with me an
Indian lad about twelve or thirteen years of age, and wished him to take the
lead, to which, however, he would not consent. We were at last found by
our party, who had gone in search of us. I complained to them of the boy,
for not doing what I had bidden him; but they answered, “that he had done
right, and that it did not become a boy to walk before a man and be his
leader.”

The second occurrence of the like kind, took place in the year 1798. I was
on a journey with two young Indians, from Upper Canada to the

Muskingum, round the head of Lake Erie.173 Neither of these Indians
having ever been in the country we were going to, they received their
instructions from others before their departure. The leader, however, whose
name was Leonhard, having once mistaken a path, we travelled several
miles in a wrong direction, until, at last, I discovered the mistake, by our
having the Owl creek to our left, when we ought to have had it to our right.
I observed this to Christian, the young Indian in the rear, who coinciding
with me in opinion, I desired him to run forward to Leonhard, who was far
ahead of us, and to bring him back; but the lad answered that he could not
do it. I asked him the reason. “It is,” said he, “because I am younger than he
is.” “Will you then,” replied I, “take my message to him, and tell him that I
desire him to return to this place, where I will wait for him?” The young
man immediately consented, went forward to Leonhard, and brought him
back, on which we took an eastward course through the wood to the Owl
creek, and, after crossing it, fell into our right path.

CHAPTER XVIII.
PRIDE AND GREATNESS OF MIND.

HE Indians are proud but not vain; they consider vanity as
degrading and unworthy the character of a man. The hunter never
boasts of his skill or strength, nor the warrior of his prowess. It is
not right, they say, that one should value himself too much for an
action which another may perform as well as himself, and when a man
extols his own deeds, it seems as if he doubted his own capability to do the
like again when he pleased. Therefore, they prefer in all cases to let their
actions speak for themselves. The skins and peltry which the hunter brings
home, the deer’s horns on the roof of his cabin, the horses, furniture and
other property that he possesses, his apparel and that of his family, the visits
with which he is honored by the first and best men among his nation; all
these things show what he is and what he has done, and with this he rests
satisfied.

So with the warrior; it is enough for him that he is known to be a man of
spirit and courage by the scalps and prisoners that he brings home; he never
is seen going about boasting of his warlike exploits, and when questioned
on the subject, he makes his answer as short as possible. Even when he is
entering a town with his prisoners and scalps, he does not stare about to see
whether the people are looking at him, but walks his usual steady pace and
marches straight forward without appearing to see any body. When at some
of their particular festivals, every warrior is called upon to relate his feats of
arms, they make it a point to be as brief as possible, leaving it to those who
have done but little, to swell their actions into importance, and give
themselves credit for what they have done. I cannot illustrate this subject
better than by a few anecdotes.

In the year 1779, two war chiefs, the one a young man of the Shawano
tribe, and the other an old warrior of the Wyandots, living near Detroit,
much celebrated for his great actions, but who during the whole of the
Revolutionary war, could not be persuaded to take the field against the
Americans, met accidentally at my house on Muskingum, where they had
separately come to pay me a friendly visit. The Shawano (whose nation, by
the bye, are noted for much talk,) entered upon the subject of war, and with
much earnestness in words and gestures, related the actions he had been
engaged in, showing at the same time on his arm the mark of a bullet
wound. During all this time, the Wyandot, smoking his pipe, listened with
great attention and apparent surprise; and having afterwards to answer,
according to custom, by relating what he had done, he laid down his pipe,
and deliberately drawing off his clothes, except the breech-cloth, rose up
and said: “I have been in upwards of twenty engagements with the enemy
and fought with the French against the English; I have warred against the
southern nations, and my body shows that I have been struck and wounded
by nine balls. These two wounds I received at the same moment, from two
Cherokees, who, seeing me fall, rested their guns against a tree, and ran up
with their tomahawks to dispatch me, and take off my scalp. With the aid of
the Great Spirit I jumped up, just at the moment when they were about to
give me the stroke. I struck them and they both fell at my feet. I took their
scalps and returned home.” Thus this grave and respectable veteran gave a
lesson to the young Shawano, which, if he well understood, he, no doubt,
ever after remembered; for in a few words, and in less than five minutes, he
showed him at once the contrast between great actions briefly and modestly
told, and every day occurrences related and dwelt on with pompous
minuteness. This contrast, indeed, was particularly striking, the more so as
the modest warrior did not seem to enjoy his triumph, nor to be even
conscious of the accession to his fame which must result from the publicity
of the account which he had given. As both parties spoke the Shawano
language, I well understood every thing they said, and I paid the most
particular attention to their discourse, which was of itself sufficiently
interesting.

This passion of the Indians, which I have called pride, but which might,
perhaps, be better denominated high-mindedness, is generally combined
with a great sense of honour, and not seldom produces actions 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 nation, who was
considered as a very dangerous person, and was much dreaded on that
account, had publicly declared that as soon as another Indian, who was then
gone to Sandusky, should return from thence, he would certainly kill him.
This dangerous Indian called in one day at my house on the Muskingum to
ask me for some tobacco. While this unwelcome guest was smoking his
pipe by my fire, behold! the other Indian whom he had threatened to kill,
and who at that moment had 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 astonishment 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 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 thunderstruck, and
without replying a word, slunk off and left the house.

The anecdote with which I am going to conclude this chapter, 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 chief of the
Wyandots 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,174 for the purpose of being adopted into
his family, in the place of one of his sons, who had been killed the
preceding year, while at war with the people on the Ohio. The prisoner
arrived, and was presented to the Half-king’s wife, but she refused to

receive him, which, according to the Indian rule, was, in fact, a sentence of
death. The young man was, therefore, taken away, 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. Arundel and Robbins (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 exertions to endeavour to save the
prisoner’s life by offering a ransom to the war chief, which he, however
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 producing, and to this strong and noble passion they
directed their attacks: “But,” said they, in reply to the answer which the
chief had made them, “among all those chiefs whom you have mentioned,
there is none who equals you in greatness; you are considered not only as
the greatest and bravest, but as the best man in the nation.” “Do you really
believe what you say?” said at once the Indian, looking them full in the
face. “Indeed, we do.” Then, without saying another word, he blackened
himself, and taking his knife and tomahawk 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 my 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,
where175 the commandant, being informed of the transaction, sent him by
water to Niagara, where he was soon afterwards liberated. The Indians who
witnessed this act, said that it was truly heroic; they were so confounded 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.

CHAPTER XIX.
WARS AND THE CAUSES WHICH LEAD TO THEM.

T is a fixed principle with the Indians, that evil cannot come out of
good, that no friend will injure a friend, and, therefore, that
whoever wrongs or does harm to another, is his ENEMY. As it is
with individuals, so it is with nations, tribes, and other
independent associations of men. If they commit murder on another people,
encroach on their lands, by making it a practice to come within their bounds
and take the game from them, if they rob or steal from their hunting camps,
or, in short, are guilty of any act of unjust aggression, they cannot be
considered otherwise than as ENEMIES; they are declared to be such, and the
aggrieved nation think themselves justifiable in punishing them. If murder
has been perpetrated, revenge is taken in the same way. If a lesser injury has
been done, a message is sent to the chief of the nation to which the wrong-
doers belong, to enquire whether the act complained of was authorised, if
not to give them warning not to permit the like thing to be done again. If
theft or some other like offence has been committed, restitution is at the
same time demanded, or such reparation as the case admits of, and the
chiefs are desired to forbid their “young people” to do so any more, or that
they will have to abide by the consequence.

There are tribes among the Indians, who claim the exclusive right of
hunting within certain bounds, and will not suffer others to intrude and take
their game from them, as they call it; and there have been instances, when
such intruders, being found trespassing after a fair warning, have had their
ears and noses cut off, and have been sent home to tell their chiefs that the
next time they came again, they should be sent home without their scalps.
While the Christian Indians of the Lenape nation were settled for a few
years on the land of the Chippeways beyond Detroit, where they had taken
refuge and were permitted to remain for their safety; though the

Chippeways professed reverence for them, and called them Grandfather,
yet they were continually complaining of their killing their game. They had
no objection to their tilling the ground, but every deer, raccoon, or other
animal which they killed or took, was a cause of displeasure to their hosts;
and in consequence of that, they pressed them so often to remove from their
lands, that they at last went off.

When the Indians have determined to take revenge for a murder committed
by another nation, they generally endeavour to make at once a bold stroke,
so as to strike their enemies with terror; for which purpose, they penetrate
into the hostile country as far as they can without being discovered, and
when they have made their stroke, they leave a war club near the body of
the person murdered, and make off as quick as possible. This war club is
purposely left that the enemy may know to what nation the act is to be
ascribed, and that they may not wreak their vengeance on an innocent tribe.
It is meant also to let them know that unless they take measures to discover
and punish the author of the original aggression, this instrument will be the
means of revenging the injury, or, in other words, war will be forthwith
declared against them.

If the supposed enemy is peaceably inclined, he will in such case send a
deputation to the aggrieved nation, with a suitable apology. In general the
chief sends word, that the act complained of was committed without his
knowledge, by some of “his foolish young men;” that it was altogether
unauthorised and unwarranted; that it was highly reprobated by himself and
his council, and that he would be sorry that on that account a breach should
be made between the two nations, but, on the contrary, wishes for peace;
that he is willing to make reparation for the offence by condoling with the
relations of the person slain and otherwise satisfying them. Such an offer is
generally accepted, and in this manner all differences are adjusted between
the parties, and they are friends again as they were before. But should the
offending nation refuse to apologise and sue for peace, war is then
immediately declared and is carried on with the greatest vigour.

CHAPTER XX.
MANNER OF SURPRISING THEIR ENEMIES.

OURAGE, art, and circumspection are the essential and
indispensable qualifications of an Indian warrior. When war is
once begun, each one strives to excel in displaying them, by
stealing upon his enemy unawares, and deceiving and surprising
him in various ways. On drawing near to an enemy’s country, they
endeavour as much as possible to conceal their tracks; sometimes they
scatter themselves, marching at proper distances from each other for a
whole day and more, meeting, however, again at night, when they keep a
watch; at other times they march in what is called Indian file, one man
behind the other, treading carefully in each other’s steps, so that their
number may not be ascertained by the prints of their feet. The nearer they
suppose themselves to be to the enemy, the more attentive they are to
choosing hard, stony, and rocky ground, on which human footsteps leave no
impression; soft, marshy and grassy soils are particularly avoided, as in the
former the prints of the feet would be easily discovered, and in the latter the
appearance of the grass having been trodden upon might lead to detection;
for if the grass or weeds are only bent, and have the least mark of having
been walked upon, it will be almost certainly perceived, in which the
sharpness and quickness of the Indians’ sight is truly astonishing.

In some instances they deceive their enemies by imitating the cries or calls
of some animal, such as the fawn, or turkey. They do this so admirably well,
that they even draw the dam of the one and the mate of the other to the spot
to which they want to come. In this manner they often succeed in decoying
the enemies to the place where they are lying in ambush, or get an
opportunity of surrounding them. Such stratagems, however, cannot be
resorted to in all seasons; with the turkey, it only answers in the spring, and
with the fawn’s dam until about midsummer. In the same manner, when

scattered about in the woods, they easily find each other by imitating the
song of some birds, such as the quail and the rook, and at evening and
morning, and particularly in the night, the cry of the owl. By this means
they all join each other, though not at the same time, as they are not,
perhaps, all within hearing; but the cry of the owl is repeated from time to
time until they are all assembled.

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 are those among them who pretend to be able to
discriminate among various marks of human footsteps the different nations
of those to whom they respectively belong. I shall not undertake to assert
thus far, but I shall relate an anecdote, 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 unexpectedly committed by a party of Indians, on
fourteen white settlers within five miles of Shamokin.176 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 Duke Holland,177 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 accompany him, he would go
with them in quest of the murderers, and was sure he could discover them

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 an 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 dragged
over the rocks, and removed or loosened the leaves lying there, so that they
lay no more flat, as in other places; all which the Indian could perceive as
he walked along, 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 footprints, 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 off their leggings178 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
nation, 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 tomahawk 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 writing at the time. I had been acquainted with this
Indian for upwards of twenty years, and knew him to be honest, intelligent
and a lover of truth. Therefore I gave full credit to what he told me, and as
yet have had no reason to disbelieve or even to doubt it. I once employed
him to save the life of a respectable gentleman, now residing at Pittsburg,
who was in imminent danger of being killed by a war party. Duke Holland
conducted him safely through the woods, from the Muskingum to the Ohio
settlement. He once found a watch of mine, which had been sent to me from
Pittsburg by a man who had got drunk, and lost it in the woods about fifty
miles from the place where I lived. Duke Holland went in search of it, and
having discovered the tracks of the man to whom it had been entrusted, he
pursued them until he found the lost article, which he delivered to me.

CHAPTER XXI.
PEACE MESSENGERS.

HILE the American Indian remained in the free and undisturbed
possession of the land which God gave to them, and even for a
long time after the Europeans had settled themselves in their
territory, there was no people upon earth who paid a more
religious respect than they did to the sacred character of the ambassadors, or
(as they call them) Messengers of peace. It is too well known that since
about the middle of the last century a great change has taken place, the
cause of which, I am sorry to say, the Indians lay entirely to our charge.

The inviolability of the person of an ambassador is one of those sacred
fundamental principles of the law of nature which the Almighty Creator has
imprinted upon the heart of every living man. History teaches us that the
most barbarous and savage nations have at all times admitted and carried it
into practice. It is a lamentable truth that all the violations of it that stand
upon record, are to be ascribed to civilised man or to his contagious
example.

It is certain that among our Indians the person of an ambassador was
formerly held most sacred and inviolable. All the nations and tribes were
agreed upon this point, that a messenger, though sent by the most hostile
people, was entitled not only to respect but to protection. To have, I will not
say murdered, but knowingly ill treated a person of this description, was
with them an unpardonable crime. War parties were always instructed, if
they should find a messenger on his way from one nation to another, not
only to give him protection but hospitality, and see him safely conducted to
the people to whom he was sent.

In the same manner, when a messenger was sent to them by a nation with
whom they were at war or at variance, though they might be ever so much
exasperated against them, and even though they had firmly determined not
to listen, that is to say, not to consent to their propositions, whatever they
might be, still they would grant their protection to the man of peace, and tell
him in their expressive language “that they had taken him under their
wings, or placed him under their arm pits, where he was perfectly safe.” It
was with them a point of religious belief, that pacific messengers were
under the special protection of the Great Spirit, that it was unlawful to
molest them, and that the nation which should be guilty of so enormous a
crime would surely be punished by being unsuccessful in war, and perhaps,
by suffering a total defeat. Therefore, frequent instances happened of such
messengers being sent back with the most threatening messages, such as,
that it was determined to wage a war of blood and destruction, and that no
quarter would be given, yet the ambassadors themselves did not meet with
the least insult or disrespect; they were protected during all the time that
they remained in the hostile country, and were safely conducted to their
own nation, or at least, so far on their way as to be out of danger from the
enemy’s warriors, leaving them a sufficient time to reach their houses,
before a fresh stroke was made, to give notice that the truce was at an end
or that the war was begun. I have heard of messengers being sent back with
a message to this effect: “I return to your bosom, safe and unmolested, the
messengers you sent me. The answer to the speech they brought me from
you, you will learn from my young warriors, who are gone to see you.” The
nature of the visit thus announced may be easily guessed at. The message
was in fact a declaration of war, with a fair notice that an invasion of the
enemy’s country was immediately to take place.

Such were the principles, such was the manly conduct of the Indians in
former times. How different it is at present I need not say. We yet remember
the unhappy fate of Messrs. Trueman, Freeman, and Hardin. These three
respectable American gentlemen, were in the year 1792, sent to the Indians
with flags of truce and peace proposals, and were all wantonly murdered.179
To whom is this horrid state of things to be attributed? I will not pretend to
judge, but let us hear what the Indians say.

The principal reasons which they assign as having brought about this great
change, are comprised under the following general heads.

I. That the white people have intermeddled with their national concerns, by
dictating to one nation how they should treat another, and even how they
should speak and what they should say to them, and by this means have
entirely destroyed their national independence. That they have even
encouraged and supported one Indian nation in not only affecting but
actually exercising dominion and supremacy over all the others.

II. That the whites have treated the Indians as a contemptible race and paid
no regard themselves to the sacred character of messengers, but murdered
them as well as their chiefs in numerous instances without distinction. That
they even polluted what among them is esteemed most holy and inviolable,
their council fires, extinguishing them (as they express themselves) with
streams of the best blood of their nation, in violation of their professions
and most solemn promises! That their whole conduct in short has appeared
as if they would say to them: “We do not care for you; we despise you—all
we want is your lands, and those we will have.”

Nor are they at a loss when called upon to specify the particular injuries of
which they complain. Amidst a long list of similar grievances, I shall select
a few of the most prominent.

1. The protection given against them to the Iroquois, encouraging that
nation to insult them, to treat them as women made such by conquest, and
to exercise a tyrannical superiority over them.

2. The murder of the Conestogo Indians, at the very place where a council
fire was burning at the time; where treaties had been held with them in early
times, and where even a treaty had been concluded in 1762, the year
preceding the murder; and that too in the country of their brother Miquon,
in the Quaker country, in Pennsylvania.

3. The horrid murder committed between the years 1776 and 1779, on the
great and much valued Shawano chief Cornstalk, at Kanhawa, where it was
known that he was on a friendly and interesting errand.180

4. The firing upon and severely wounding a noted Shawano in the year
1774, while on his return from Pittsburgh, to which place he had, out of
friendship and humanity, conducted several white traders and protected
them against an enraged body of Indians, on whose relations the white
people had committed most horrid murders.

5. The attacking the peaceable encampment of the Delaware chiefs on the
island at Pittsburgh, where one Messenger and several others were
murdered.

6. The murder of the Christian Indians on Muskingum, by Williamson’s
party, together with the chief from Achsinning, (the standing stone,)
although the persons thus murdered were known to be friends to the whites.

The Indians relate many more outrages committed on messengers, visiters,
and other friendly Indians, of which I shall spare the painful recital to my
readers. From this series of unjust and cruel acts, the Indian nations, have at
last come to the conclusion that the Americans are in their hearts inimical to
them, and that when they send them messengers of peace, they only mean
to lull them into a fancied security, that they may the easier fall upon and
destroy them. It was in consequence of this conviction that the three
respectable gentlemen whom I have already mentioned, met with their
unhappy fate.

CHAPTER XXII.
TREATIES.

N early times, when Indian nations, after long and bloody wars,
met together, for the purpose of adjusting their differences, or
concluding a peace with each other, it was their laudable custom,
as a token of their sincerity, to remove out of the place where the
peacemakers were sitting, all warlike weapons and instruments of
destruction, of whatever form or shape. “For,” said they, “when we are
engaged in a good work, nothing that is bad must be visible. We are met
together to forgive and forget, to bury the destructive weapon, and put it
quite out of sight; we cast away from us the fatal instrument that has caused
so much grief to our wives and children, and has been the source of so
many tears. It is our earnest hope and wish that it may never be dug up
again.” So particular were they on this point, that if a single weapon had
been in sight, while a treaty was negotiating, it would have disturbed their
minds by recalling the memory of past events, and instead, (as they say) of
gladdening their hearts, by the prospect of a speedy peace, would, on the
contrary, have filled them with sorrow.

Nor would they even permit 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 possible similar to those where they used to meet
their brother Miquon, and there lay all his “words” or 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 guns 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 cannon’s mouth; where all the
stipulations are on one side, where all is concession on the one part and 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 themselves no longer bound by them
than they are compelled by superior power. Are they right in this or are they
wrong? The impartial reader must decide.

CHAPTER XXIII.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE INDIANS ON THE WHITE
PEOPLE.

HE Indians believe that the Whites were made by the same Great
Spirit who created them, and that he assigned to each different
race of men a particular employment in this world, but not the
same to all. To the whites the great Mannitto gave it in charge to
till the ground and raise by cultivation the fruits of the earth; to the Indians
he assigned the nobler employment of hunting, and the supreme dominion
over all the rest of the animal creation.

They 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 Lenni Lenape, an Original People, 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, knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found it
necessary to give them a great Book,181 and taught them how to read it, that
they might know and observe 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 distinguish 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 discovered their
mistake, having found them an ungrateful, insatiable people, who, though

the Indians had given them as much land as was necessary to raise
provisions for themselves and their families, and pasture 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, which they said were 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!”

They, nevertheless, are sensible that they have many friends among the
white people, and only regret that from their being scattered and at a
distance, they cannot be useful to them and to each other. Of those whom
they know to be their friends, they always speak with warmth and affection.
They also speak of the Gentellemaan (gentlemen) as a particular class
among the whites which deserves to be distinguished; but they never apply
that descriptive title to a person whom they know to be their enemy, or
believe to be ill disposed towards them.

The Indians have a keen eye; by looking at a person, they think that they
can judge of his friendly or unfriendly disposition to their race; and, indeed,
it has been allowed by many whites who have lived among them, that they
are, in general, pretty good physiognomists. They are very quick among
themselves in giving a name to a stranger or person of note that comes to
them, and that name is always significant or descriptive of something
remarkable which they have observed about his person, which serves them
to remember him as a friend or otherwise, as the case may be; when they
believe a person to be their friend, they will do everything in their power to
oblige him, it being their principle that “good ought always to be rewarded
with good.” They prefer a plain man, simple in his manners and who treats
them with frankness and familiarity. Such a man, they say, loves them.

From a proud haughty man they do not expect friendship; whatever may be
his professions, they think him incapable of loving anybody but himself, or
perhaps, at most, his equal, and that, they think, an Indian can, in his
opinion, never be.

They sometimes amuse themselves by passing in review those customs of
the white people which appear to them most striking. They observe,
amongst other things, that when the whites meet together, many of them,
and sometimes all, speak at the same time, and they wonder how they can
thus hear and understand each other. “Among us,” they say “only one
person speaks at a time, and the others listen to him until he has done, after
which, and not before, another begins to speak.” They say also that the
whites speak too much, and that much talk disgraces a man and is fit only
for women. On this subject they shrewdly observe, that it is well for the
whites that they have the art of writing, and can write down their words and
speeches; for had they, like themselves, to transmit them to posterity by
means of strings and belts of wampum, they would want for their own use
all the wampum that could be made, and none would be left for the Indians.

They wonder that the white people are striving so much to get rich, and to
heap up treasures in this world which they cannot carry with them to the
next. They ascribe this to pride and to the desire of being called rich and
great. They say that there is enough in this world to live upon, without
laying anything by, and as to the next world, it contains plenty of
everything, and they will find all their wants satisfied when they arrive
there. They, therefore, do not lay up any stores, but merely take with them
when they die as much as is necessary for their journey to the world of
spirits.

They believe, or, at least, pretend to believe, that the white people have
weak eyes, or are near-sighted. “For,” say they, “when we Indians come
among them, they crowd quite close up to us, stare at us, and almost tread
upon our heels to get nearer. We, on the contrary, though, perhaps, not less
curious than they are, to see a new people or a new object, keep at a
reasonable distance, and yet see what we wish to see.” They also remark,
that when the white people meet together, they speak very loud, although
near to each other, from whence they conclude that they must be hard of

hearing. “As to us,” they say, “we never speak loud when we come together,
and yet we understand each other distinctly; we only speak in a high tone of
voice before a public audience, in council, at the head of our warriors, or
when we are met together for some important purpose.”

The Indians also observe, that the white people must have a great many
thieves among them, since they put locks to their doors, which shews great
apprehension that their property otherwise would not be safe: “As to us,”
say they, “we entertain no such fears; thieves are very rare among us, and
we have no instance of any person breaking into a house. Our Indian lock
is, when we go out, to set the corn pounder or a billet of wood against the
door, so that it may be seen that no body is within, and there is no danger
that any Indian would presume to enter a house thus secured.” Let me be
permitted to illustrate this by an anecdote.

In the year 1771, while I was residing on the Big Beaver, I passed by the
door of an Indian, who was a trader, and had consequently a quantity of
goods in his house. He was going with his wife to Pittsburg, and they were
shutting up the house, as no person remained in it during their absence. This
shutting up was nothing else than putting a large hominy pounding-block,
with a few sticks of wood outside against the door, so as to keep it closed.
As I was looking at this man with attention while he was so employed, he
addressed me in these words: “See my friend, this is an Indian lock that I
am putting to my door.” I answered, “Well enough; but I see you leave
much property in the house, are you not afraid that those articles will be
stolen while you are gone?”—“Stolen! by whom?”—“Why, by Indians, to
be sure.”—“No, no,” replied he, “no Indian would do such a thing, and
unless a white man or white people should happen to come this way, I shall
find all safe on my return.”

The Indians say, that when the white people encamp in the woods they are
sure to lose something; that when they are gone, something or another is
always found which they have lost, such as a knife, flints, bullets, and
sometimes even money. They also observe that the whites are not so
attentive as they are to choosing an open dry spot for their encampment;
that they will at once set themselves down in any dirty and wet place,
provided they are under large trees; that they never look about to see which

way the wind blows, so as to be able to lay the wood for their fires in such a
position that the smoke may not blow on them; neither do they look up the
trees to see whether there are not dead limbs that may fall on them while
they are asleep; that any wood will do for them to lay on their fires, whether
it be dry or wet, and half rotten, so that they are involved during the whole
night in a cloud of smoke; or they take such wood as young green oak,
walnut, cherry, chestnut, &c., which throws sparks out to a great distance,
so that their blankets and clothes get holes burned in them, and sometimes
their whole camp takes fire. They also remark that the whites hang their
kettles and pots over a fire just kindled, and before the great body of smoke
has passed away.

They, however, acknowledge that the whites are ingenious, that they make
axes, guns, knives, hoes, shovels, pots and kettles, blankets, shirts, and
other very convenient articles, to which they have now become accustomed,
and which they can no longer do without. “Yet,” say they, “our forefathers
did without all these things, and we have never heard, nor has any tradition
informed us that they were at a loss for the want of them; therefore we must
conclude that they also were ingenious; and, indeed, we know that they
were; for they made axes of stone to cut with, and bows and arrows to kill
the game: they made knives and arrows’ points with sharp flint stones and
bones, hoes and shovels from the shoulder blade of the elk and buffaloe;
they made pots of clay, garments of skins, and ornaments with the feathers
of the turkey, goose and other birds. They were not in want of anything, the
game was plenty and tame, the dart shot from our arrows did not frighten
them as the report of the gun now does; we had therefore everything that we
could reasonably require; we lived happy!”

Finally, they think, that the white people have learned much of them in the
art of war; for when they first began to fight the Indians, they stood all
together in a cluster, and suffered themselves to be shot down like turkies.
They also make a distinction between a warrior and a murderer, which, as
they explain it, is not much to our advantage. “It is not,” say they, “the
number of scalps alone which a man brings with him that prove him to be a
brave warrior. Cowards have been known to return, and bring scalps home,
which they had taken where they knew there was no danger, where no
attack was expected and no opposition made. Such was the case with those

who killed the Conestogoes at and near Lancaster, the Christian Indians on
the Muskingum, the friendly Indians near Pittsburg, and a great number of
scattered, peaceable men of our nation, who were all murdered by cowards.
It was not thus that the Black Snake,182 the great General Wayne acted; he
was a true warrior and a brave man; he was equal to any of the chiefs that
we have, equal to any that we ever had.”

Thus, the Indians, while they deeply resent the wrongs and injuries which
they have suffered, yet pay due homage to worth, bravery, and military
skill, even in an enemy. Strong as their feelings are, they do not extinguish
their sense of justice, and they are still generously disposed to allow that
there are great and good individuals among a race of men, who, they
believe, have doomed them to utter destruction.

CHAPTER XXIV.
FOOD AND COOKERY.

HE principal food of the Indians consists of the game which they
take or kill in the woods, the fish out of the waters, and the maize,
potatoes, beans, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, melons, and
occasionally cabbages and turnips, which they raise in their
fields; they make use also of various roots of plants, fruits, nuts, and berries
out of the woods, by way of relish or as a seasoning to their victuals,
sometimes also from necessity.

They commonly make two meals every day, which, they say, is enough. If
any one should feel hungry between meal-times, there is generally
something in the house ready for him.

The hunter prefers going out with his gun on an empty stomach; he says,
that hunger stimulates him to exertion by reminding him continually of his
wants, whereas a full stomach makes a hunter easy, careless, and lazy, ever
thinking of his home and losing his time to no purpose. With all their
industry, nevertheless, and notwithstanding this strong stimulant, many a
day passes over their heads that they have not met with any kind of game,
nor consequently tasted a morsel of victuals; still they go on with their
chase, in hopes of being able to carry some provisions home, and do not
give up the pursuit until it is so dark that they can see no longer.

The morning and evening, they say, are the precious hours for the hunter.
They lose nothing by sleeping in the middle of the day, that is to say,
between ten o’clock in the morning and four in the afternoon, except in
dark, cloudy, and rainy weather, when the whole day is nearly equally good
for hunting. Therefore the hunter, who happens to have no meat in the
house, will be off and in the woods before daylight, and strive to be in again

for breakfast with a deer, turkey, goose, bear, or raccoon, or some other
game then in season. Meanwhile, his wife has pounded her corn, now
boiling on the fire, and baked her bread, which gives them a good breakfast.
If, however, the husband is not returned by ten o’clock in the forenoon, the
family take their meal by themselves, and his share is put aside for him
when he comes home.

The Indians have a number of manners of preparing their corn. They make
an excellent pottage of it, by boiling it with fresh or dried meat (the latter
pounded), dried pumpkins, dry beans, and chestnuts. They sometimes
sweeten it with sugar or molasses from the sugar-maple tree. Another very
good dish is prepared by boiling with their corn or maize, the washed
kernels of the shell-bark or hickory nut. They pound the nuts in a block or
mortar, pouring a little warm water on them, and gradually a little more as
they become dry, until, at last, there is a sufficient quantity of water, so that
by stirring up the pounded nuts the broken shells separate from the liquor,
which from the pounded kernels assumes the appearance of milk. This
being put into the kettle and mixed with the pottage gives it a rich and
agreeable flavour. If the broken shells do not all freely separate by
swimming on the top or sinking to the bottom, the liquor is strained through
a clean cloth, before it is put into the kettle.

They also prepare a variety of dishes from the pumpkin, the squash, and the
green French or kidney beans; they are very particular in their choice of
pumpkins and squashes, and in their manner of cooking them. The women
say that the less water is put to them, the better dish they make, and that it
would be still better if they were stewed without any water, merely in the
steam of the sap which they contain. They cover up the pots in which they
cook them with large leaves of the pumpkin vine, cabbages, or other leaves
of the larger kind. They make an excellent preserve from the cranberry and
crab-apple, to which, after it has been well stewed, they add a proper
quantity of sugar or molasses.

Their bread is of two kinds; one made up of green corn while in the milk,
and another of the same grain when fully ripe and quite dry. This last is
pounded as fine as possible, then sifted and kneaded into dough, and
afterwards made up into cakes of six inches in diameter and about an inch

in thickness, rounded off on the edge. In baking these cakes, they are
extremely particular; the ashes must be clean and hot, and if possible come
out of good dry oak barks, which they say gives a brisk and durable heat. In
the dough of this kind of bread, they frequently mix boiled pumpkins, green
or dried, dry beans, or well pared chestnuts, boiled in the same manner,
dried venison well pounded, whortleberries, green or dry, but not boiled,
sugar and other palatable ingredients. For the other kind of bread, the green
corn is either pounded or mashed, is put in broad green corn blades,
generally filled in with a ladle, well wrapped up, and baked in the ashes,
like the other. They consider this as a very delicate morsel, but to me it is
too sweet.

Their Psindamócan or Tassmanánc, as they call it, is the most nourishing
and durable food made out of the Indian corn. The blue sweetish kind is the
grain which they prefer for that purpose. They parch it in clean hot ashes,
until it bursts, it is then sifted and cleaned, and pounded in a mortar into a
kind of flour, and when they wish to make it very good, they mix some
sugar with it. When wanted for use, they take about a table spoonful of this
flour in their mouths, then stooping to the river or brook, drink water to it.
If, however, they have a cup or other small vessel at hand, they put the flour
in it and mix it with water, in the proportion of one table spoonful to a pint.
At their camps they will put a small quantity in a kettle with water and let it
boil down, and they will have a thick pottage. With this food, the traveller
and warrior will set out on long journeys and expeditions, and as a little of
it will serve them for a day, they have not a heavy load of provisions to
carry. Persons who are unacquainted with this diet ought to be careful not to
take too much at a time, and not to suffer themselves to be tempted too far
by its flavour; more than one or two spoonfuls at most at any one time or at
one meal is dangerous; for it is apt to swell in the stomach or bowels, as
when heated over a fire.

Their meat they either boil, roast, or broil. Their roasting is done by running
a wooden spit through the meat, sharpened at each end, which they place
near the fire, and occasionally turn. They broil on clean coals, drawn off
from the fire for that purpose. They often laugh at the white hunters, for
baking their bread in dirty ashes, and being alike careless of cleanliness
when they broil their meat. They are fond of dried venison, pounded in a

mortar and dipped in bear’s oil. The Delawares, Mohicans, and Shawanos
are very particular in their choice of meats, and nothing short of the most
pressing hunger can induce them to eat of certain animals, such as the
horse, dog, wild cat, panther, fox, muskrat, wolf, &c., all which I have
several times seen the Chippeways feast upon with a seemingly good
appetite. The Iroquois are said to have been formerly very dirty in their
eating. They dried the entrails of animals without cleaning, or even
emptying them of their contents; then cut them into pieces and put them
into their pottage, by way of seasoning.183 The late Mr. Zeisberger has often
related to me how he once mistook for black pepper or some other kind of
spice, a certain unpleasant ingredient which he found floating in small
grains on the surface of their broth.

Far different in this respect are the Lenape and their kindred tribes,
particularly the three which I have named above. They are not only cleanly
in their eating, but even delicate, and they will sometimes resist the pressing
calls of hunger rather than eat the flesh of those animals which they
consider as not being proper food for man. Of this I shall give an instance in
the following anecdote.

I was travelling in the spring of 1773, from Muskingum to the Big Beaver,
with more than twenty Indians, five of whom were old men and the rest
women and children, all (except our guide) strangers to the country, having
come but the year before from Wyalusing on the Susquehannah. Having
been at one time confined two days by the overflowing of two large creeks,
between which we were, we found our provisions at an end. Every man
who had a gun was called upon to turn out into the woods, and try to kill
something. Their endeavours, however, were to no purpose; the day passed
away, and they all, except the well-known Popunhank184 who had lost
himself, returned to camp at night without bringing any thing of the meat
kind but a wild cat, which our guide had shot. The Indians never despair,
not even in the worst of times and under the severest trials; when placed in
difficult situations they never use discouraging language, but always
endeavour to raise their spirits and prevent them from sinking, under the
hardships or dangers to which they are exposed. True to this national
character, one of our old Indians immediately pronounced this wild cat to be
“good, very good eating,” and it was immediately ordered to be put on the

spit and roasted for our supper. While this was performing, the old Indian
endeavoured to divert the company by extolling in a jocular manner the
country they had now got into, and where such good things were to be had;
to which some one or other of the old men would reply; “all very true.” At
length, about nine o’clock at night, the call was given by the old cook (for
so I now call him) that the meat was done and we might come in to eat. I,
who had heard so much in praise of this repast, being greatly pinched with
hunger, had kept myself in readiness for this expected call; but seeing
nobody rise, and observing much merriment through the camp, I began to
suspect that something was the matter, and therefore kept my seat. The
night was spent without any body attempting to eat of the wild cat, and in
the morning a different call was given by one of the old men, signifying that
a large kettle of tea had been made by some of the good women, who
invited all to come and take their share of it. Every one obeyed this call, and
I went with the rest, the jovial old cook taking the roasted wild cat with him
to the mess. The scene was not only very diverting, but brought on an
interesting discussion between the men on the propriety or impropriety of
eating the flesh of all animals without restriction, some contending that they
were all by the will of the great Creator ordained for some use, and
therefore put in the power of man; and how were we to know which were
intended for our nourishment and which not? The old cook had himself
taken that position, adding that the hog and the bear fed on dirty things, and
yet we ate their meat with a good appetite. The cat, however,
notwithstanding all the arguments in its favour, remained untouched, and
was taken back by the old hunter and cook to its former place at his fire.

But now, Popunhank, whom we believed to be lost, and our guide, who
once more had gone out, and exerted himself in vain to kill a deer, came in
together. The guide had been desired as he pursued his hunt to look for our
lost companion, and had the good luck to find him at the distance of five or
six miles, with a fine deer that he had killed. He lost no time in bringing
him back to our camp.

The sight of these two men dragging a large deer along was truly joyful to
us, as well on account of the recovery of our lost friend, as of the meat that
he brought. All felt the cravings of hunger, all were delighted with the
certain prospect of immediate relief, yet no boisterous or extraordinary

rejoicing took place, but all called out with one voice: Anischi! Anischi! we
are thankful. The wild cat, which yet remained untouched, was thrown out
of the camp, and dismissed by the old cook with these words: “Go, cat, we
do not want you this time!”

The woods and waters, at certain times and seasons, furnish to the Indians
an abundant supply of wholesome nourishing food, which, if carefully
gathered, cured and stored up, would serve them for the whole year, so that
none need perish or even suffer from hunger; but they are not accustomed
to laying in stores of provisions, except some Indian corn, dry beans and a
few other articles. Hence they are sometimes reduced to great straits, and
not seldom in absolute want of the necessaries of life, especially in the time
of war. Yet, notwithstanding the numerous famines they have been visited
with, they have among their traditions but one instance on record in which
an human life was taken for the support of others, although they relate
many cases in which numbers of them were actually starved to death. The
case I allude to was so singular a circumstance, that it seems the cruel act to
which it gave rise was almost unavoidable. I shall relate it here as I have
received it from the most unquestionable authority.

In the winter of 1739-40, ever since remembered as the hard winter, when
the ground was covered with a very deep snow, a woman with three
children, was coming from beyond the Allegheny mountains on a visit to
her friends or relations residing at the great island on the west branch of the
Susquehannah. After she had reached that river somewhere about
Achtschingi Clammui, which the whites have corrupted into
Chingleclamoose,185 the snow fell in earlier than had been before known, to
such a depth, that she could not proceed any farther. She began with putting
herself and her children on short allowance, in hopes that the weather might
become more moderate, or the snow so hard that they could walk over it.
She strove to make her little store of provisions last as long as she could, by
using the grass which grew on the river’s edge, and certain barks as
substitutes, which she boiled to make them digestible; but more snow
falling, until at last it rose to the height of a fathom or six feet, she was
deprived even of that wretched food, and the wolves hovering about day
and night, often attempting to rush into her little encampment, her whole
time was taken up with procuring wood and making fires to prevent herself

and her children from being frozen to death, and keeping those voracious
animals at a distance by throwing out fire-brands to them. Her situation, at
last, became intolerable. Having no alternative but that of sacrificing one of
her children, she resolved on destroying the youngest, in order to preserve
the others and herself from the most dreadful death. After much hesitation,
she turned away her eyes and with a trembling hand gave the fatal stroke,
filling at the same time the air with her loud lamentations.—She now
thought she had obtained a temporary relief, and that she might be able to
support herself and her surviving children until a change in the weather
should take place, so that they could be able to proceed on their journey; but
the wolves getting the scent of the slaughtered child, became more furious
than before, her danger every moment became more imminent. She now
filled the air with her cries and supplications to the Great Spirit that he
would look down with compassion on their awful condition, and save them
by his almighty power.—But still the danger increased, the horrid food was
almost exhausted, and no relief came. Already she contemplated sacrificing
another child; she looked at each of them again and again with a mother’s
eye, now resolving on killing the one, then changing her mind, and
endeavouring to determine on the destruction of the other; she hesitated,
wept, despaired, and the children, well understanding what she meant,
prayed that they might all die together. While in this situation, her hand
already lifted to strike the fatal stroke, the yell of two approaching Indians
strikes her ear, and the murderous weapon falls from her hand. The men
with rackets to their feet now appear and the dreadful scene is at once
closed. They had provisions with them. They made a pair of rackets for the
woman to walk on, and brought her and her children along in safety to the
Big Island, where my informants resided at the time. I cannot remember
whether they told me that they had gone to that spot in consequence of a
dream, or of some strong presentiment that they should find human
creatures in distress; certain I am, however, that it was owing to one or
other of these causes.

The place where this awful event took place was since called Enda
Mohátink, which means “where human flesh was eaten.” This name has
been very familiar to the Indians who resided in that part of the country.

There is a spot of land at the edge of the great Pine or Beech Swamp,
precisely where it is crossed by the road leading to Wyoming, which is
called the Hermit’s Field, and of which the following account is given. A
short time before the white people came into Pennsylvania, a woman from
some cause or other had separated herself from society, and with her young
son, had taken her abode in this swamp, where she remained undiscovered
until the boy grew up to manhood, procuring a livelihood by the use of the
bow and arrow, in killing deer, turkeys and other animals, planting corn and
vegetables, and gathering and curing nuts and berries of various kinds.
When after her long seclusion she again saw Indians, she was much
astonished to find them dressed in European apparel. She had become so
attached to her place of abode, that she again186 returned thither and
remained there for several years. I was shewn by the Indians in the year
1765, and often afterwards, the corn hills that she had made; the ground,
being a stiff clay, was not wasted or worn down, but was covered with
bushes, and the traces of the labour of the female hermit were plainly
discoverable.

Thus the Indians will support themselves in the midst of the greatest
difficulties, never despairing of their fate, but trusting to their exertions, and
to the protection of the Almighty Being who created them.

CHAPTER XXV.
DRESS, AND ORNAMENTING OF THEIR PERSONS.

N ancient times, the dress of the Indians was made of the skins of
animals and feathers. This clothing, they say, was not only
warmer, but lasted much longer than any woollen goods they
have since purchased of the white people. They can dress any
skin, even that of the buffaloe, so that it becomes quite soft and supple, and
a good buffaloe or bear skin blanket will serve them many years without
wearing out. Beaver and raccoon skin blankets are also pliant, warm and
durable; they sew together as many of those skins as is necessary, carefully
setting the hair or fur all the same way, so that the blanket or covering be
smooth, and the rain do not penetrate, but run off. In wearing these fur
blankets they are regulated by the weather; if it is cold and dry the fur is
placed next the body, but in warm and wet weather, they have it outside.
Some made themselves long frocks of fine fur, and the women’s petticoats
in the winter season were also made of them, otherwise of dressed deer
skins, the same as their shirts, leggings and shoes. They say that shoes made
of dressed bear skins, with the hair on and turned inside, are very warm, and
in dry weather, durable. With the large rib bones of the elk and buffaloe
they shaved the hair off the skins they dressed, and even now, they say that
they can clean a skin as well with a well prepared rib-bone as with a knife.

The blankets made from feathers were also warm and durable. They were
the work of the women, particularly of the old, who delight in such work,
and indeed, in any work which shews that they are able to do their parts and
be useful to society. It requires great patience, being the most tedious kind
of work I have ever seen them perform, yet they do it in a most ingenious
manner. The feathers, generally those of the turkey and goose, are so
curiously arranged and interwoven together with thread or twine, which
they prepare from the rind or bark of the wild hemp and nettle, that
ingenuity and skill cannot be denied them. They show the same talent and
much forethought in making their Happis, the bands with which they carry
their bags and other burdens; they make these very strong and lasting.

The present dress of the Indians is well known to consist in blankets, plain
or ruffled shirts and leggings for the men, and petticoats for the women,
made of cloth, generally red, blue, or black. The wealthy adorn themselves
besides with ribands or gartering of various colours, beads and silver

broaches. These ornaments are arranged by the women, who, as well as the
men, know how to dress themselves in style. Those of the men principally
consist in the painting of themselves, their head and face principally,
shaving or good clean garments, silver arm spangles and 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 blue or scarlet cloth
blanket or covering with choice ribands of various colours, or with
gartering, on which they fix a number of silver broaches, or small round
buckles. They adorn their leggings in the same manner; their mocksens,
(properly Maxen, or according to the English pronunciation Moxen), are
embroidered in the neatest manner, with coloured porcupine quills, and are
besides, almost entirely covered with various trinkets; they have, moreover,
a number of little bells and brass thimbles fixed round their ancles, 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 admire 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.

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
acquaintance 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 ensuing evening. Having finished his head dress, about an hour before
sunset, he came up, as he said, to see me, but I and my companions judged
that he came to be seen. To my utter astonishment, I saw three different
paintings or figures on one and the same face. He had, by his great
ingenuity and judgment in laying on and shading the different colours,
made his nose appear, when we stood directly in front of him, as if it were
very long and narrow, with a round knob 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 represented 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
execution, and having his looking-glass with him, he contemplated 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
anything else, I should like it very well and often look at it. But, asked he,
why not so as it is? Because I cannot see the face that is hidden under these
colours, so as to 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.

Thus, for a single night’s frolic, a whole day is spent in what they call
dressing, in which each strives to outdo the other.

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 drawing it on
with their outspread fingers, bring the streaks to a serpentine form. The
garments of some of their principal actors are singular, and decorated with
such a number of gewgaws and trinkets, that it is impossible to give a
precise description of them. Neither are they all alike in taste, every one
dressing himself according to his fancy, or the custom of the tribe to which
he belongs. While the women, as I have already said, have thimbles and
little bells rattling at their ancles, the men have deers’ claws fixed to their
braced garters or knee bands, and also to their shoes, for the same purpose;
for they consider jingling and rattling as indispensably necessary to their
performances in the way of dancing.

The notion formerly entertained that the Indians are beardless by nature and
have no hair on their bodies, appears now to be exploded and entirely laid
aside. I cannot conceive how it is possible for any person to pass three
weeks only among those people, without seeing them pluck out their
beards, with tweezers made expressly for that purpose. Before the

Europeans came into the country, their apparatus for performing this work,
consisted of a pair of muscle shells, sharpened on a gritty stone, which
answered very well, being somewhat like pincers; but since they can obtain
wire, of which that of brass is preferred, they make themselves tweezers,
which they always carry with them in their tobacco-pouch, wherever they
go, and when at leisure, they pluck out their beards or the hair above their
foreheads. This they do in a very quick manner, much like the plucking of a
fowl, and the oftener they pluck out their hair, the finer it grows afterwards,
so that at last there appears hardly any, the whole having been rooted out.
The principal reasons which they give for thus plucking out their beards and
the hair next to their foreheads, 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 use among them,
especially with those who had distinguished themselves by their valour, and
acquired celebrity. They say that either painting or tattooing on a hairy face
or body would have a disgusting appearance.

As late as the year 1762, when I resided at Tuscorawas on the Muskingum,
tattooing was still practised by some Indians; a valiant chief of that village,
named Wawundochwalend, desirous of having another name given him, had
the figure of a water-lizard engraved or tattooed on his face, above the chin,
when he received the name Twakachshawsu, the water-lizard. The process
of tattooing, which I once saw performed, is quickly done, and does not
seem to give much pain. They have poplar bark in readiness burnt and
reduced to a powder, the figures that are to be tattooed are marked or
designed on the skin; 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 this
powder is laid and left on to dry. Before the whites came into this country,
they scarified themselves for this purpose with sharp flint stones, or pricked
themselves with the sharp teeth of a fish.

In the year 1742, a veteran warrior of the Lenape nation and Monsey tribe,
renowned among his own people for his bravery and prowess, and equally
dreaded by their enemies, joined the Christian Indians who then resided at
this place.187 This man, who was then at an advanced age, had a most
striking appearance, and could not be viewed without astonishment. Besides

that his body was full of scars, where he had been struck and pierced by the
arrows of the enemy, there was not a spot to be seen, on that part of it which
was exposed to view, but what was tattooed over with some drawing
relative to his achievements, so that the whole together struck the beholder
with amazement and terror. On his whole face, neck, shoulders, arms,
thighs and legs, as well as on his breast and back, were represented scenes
of the various actions and engagements he had been in; in short, the whole
of his history was there deposited, which was well known to those of his
nation, and was such that all who heard it thought it could never be
surpassed by man.188 Far from, murdering those who were defenceless or
unarmed, his generosity, as well as his courage and skill in the art of war,
was acknowledged by all. When, after his conversion, he was questioned
about his warlike feats, he frankly and modestly answered, “That being now
taken captive by Jesus Christ, it did not become him to relate the deeds he
had done while in the service of the evil spirit; but that he was willing to
give an account in the manner in which he had been conquered.” At his
baptism, on the 23d of December 1742, he received the name of Michael,
which he preserved until his death, which happened on the 23rd of July
1756. He led the life of a true Christian, and was always ready and willing
to relate the history of his conversion, which I heard myself from his own
mouth. His age, when he died, was supposed to be about eighty years.

The cutting of the ears, which formerly was practised among the Indians, is
now no longer so common with them. Their reasons for laying this custom
aside, are that the operation is painful, not only when performed, but until
the ears are perfectly healed, which takes a long time, and that they often
lose that part of their ears which is separated from the solid part, by its
being torn off by the bushes, or falling off when frost-bitten. I once heard of
a gay Indian setting off on a severe cold morning for a neighbouring village
not more than three miles distant, whose ears had been touched by the frost,
and dropped off before he arrived at the place to which he was going. He
had not even felt that he had lost them, and when told of it, he was so
chagrined that he was going to destroy himself. I have seen a great many
Indians with torn ears; but now the custom of cutting them is nearly if not
entirely disused.

CHAPTER XXVI.
DANCES, SONGS, AND SACRIFICES.

HE dances of the Indians vary according to the purposes for which
they are intended. We have seen, in the second chapter of this
work, that when the Dutch first landed on New York island, the
inhabitants who believed them to be celestial beings, began a
solemn dance, in order to propitiate them. It is not uncommon for men who
are deprived of the light of revealed religion, to believe that the divinity will
be pleased with the same things from which they themselves receive
pleasure.

It is a pleasing spectacle to see the Indian dances, when intended merely for
social diversion and innocent amusement. I acknowledge I would prefer
being present at them for a full hour, than a few minutes only at such dances
as I have witnessed in our country taverns among the white people. Their
songs are by no means unharmonious. They sing in chorus; first the men
and then the women. At times the women join in the general song, or repeat
the strain which the men have just finished. It seems like two parties
singing in questions and answers, and is upon the whole very agreeable and
enlivening. After thus singing for about a quarter of an hour, they conclude
each song with a loud yell, which I must confess is not in concord with the
rest of the music; it is not unlike the cat-bird which closes its pretty song
with mewing like a cat. I do not admire this finale. The singing always
begins by one person only, but others soon fall in successively until the
general chorus begins, the drum beating all the while to mark the time. The
voices of the women are clear and full, and their intonations generally
correct.

Their war dances have nothing engaging; their object, on the contrary, is to
strike terror in the beholders. They are dressed and painted, or rather

bedaubed with paint, in a manner suitable to the occasion. They hold the
murderous weapon in their hand, and imitate in their dance all the warlike
attitudes, motions and actions which are usual in an engagement with the
enemy, and strive to excel each other by their terrific looks and gestures.
They generally perform round a painted post set up for that purpose, in a
large room or place enclosed or surrounded with posts, and roofed with the
bark of trees; sometimes also this dance is executed in the open air. There
every man presents himself in warrior’s array, contemptuously looking
upon the painted post, as if it was the enemy whom he was about to engage;
as he passes by it he strikes, stabs, grasps, pretends to scalp, to cut, to run
through; in short, endeavours to shew what he would do to a real enemy, if
he had him in his power.

It was an ancient custom among the Indians to perform this dance round a
prisoner, and as they danced, to make him undergo every kind of torture,
previous to putting him to death. The prisoner appeared to partake in the
merriment, contemptuously scoffing at his executioner, as being unskilled
in the art of inflicting torments: strange as this conduct may appear, it was
not without a sufficient motive. The object of the unfortunate sufferer was
to rouse his relentless tormentors to such a pitch of fury, that some of them
might, at an unguarded moment, give him the finishing stroke and put him
out of his pain.

Previous to going out on a warlike campaign, the war-dance is always
performed round the painted post. It is the Indian mode of recruiting.
Whoever joins in the dance is considered as having enlisted for the
campaign, and is obliged to go out with the party.

After returning from a successful expedition, a dance of thanksgiving is
always performed, which partakes of the character of a religious ceremony.
It is accompanied with singing and choruses, in which the women join. But
they take no part in the rest of the performance. At the end of every song,
the scalp-yell is shouted as many times as there have been scalps taken from
the enemy.

The Indians also meet occasionally for the purpose of recounting their
warlike exploits, which is done in a kind of half-singing or recitative. The
oldest warrior recites first, then they go on in rotation and in order of

seniority, the drum beating all the time, as it were to give to the relation the
greater appearance of reality. After each has made a short recital in his turn,
they begin again in the same order, and so continue going the rounds, in a
kind of alternate chanting, until every one has concluded. On these
occasions, great care must be taken not to give offence by affecting
superiority over the others, for every warrior feels his own consequence,
and is ready, if insulted, to shew by his actions, what he has performed in
war and is still able to do. I well remember an instance of the kind, when an
insulted warrior stepped out of the circle in which he was dancing, and
struck dead the impudent boaster who had offended him.

Their songs are in general of the warlike or of the tender and pathetic kind.
They are sung in short sentences, not without some kind of measure,
harmonious to an Indian ear. The music is well adapted to the words, and to
me is not unpleasing. I would not attempt to give an idea of it by means of
our musical notes, as has been done by other writers, lest I should be as
unsuccessful as those who have tried in the same manner to describe the
melodies of the ancient Greeks. It would be well if I could describe at one
and the same time the whole combination of effects which acted upon my
ear, but it is vain to endeavour to do it partially. It is, indeed, much the same
with their poetry; yet I cannot resist the temptation of translating as well as
I can, the words of the Lenape’s song, when they go out to war. They sing
it, as I give it here, in short lines or sentences, not always the whole at one
time, but most generally in detached parts, as time permits and as the
occasion or their feelings prompt them. Their accent is very pathetic, and
the whole, in their language, produces considerable effect.

The Song of the Lenape Warriors going against the Enemy.

“O poor me!
Whom am going out to fight the enemy,
And know not whether I shall return again,
To enjoy the embraces of my children
And my wife.
O poor creature!
Whose life is not in his own hands,
Who has no power over his own body,
But tries to do his duty
For the welfare of his nation.
O! thou Great Spirit above!
Take pity on my children
And on my wife!
Prevent their mourning on my account!
Grant that I may be successful in this attempt—
That I may slay my enemy,
And bring home the trophies of war
To my dear family and friends,
That we may rejoice together.
O! take pity on me!
Give me strength and courage to meet my enemy,
Suffer me to return again to my children,
To my wife
And to my relations!
Take pity on me and preserve my life
And I will make to thee a sacrifice.”

The song of the Wyandot warriors, as translated to me by an Indian trader,
would read thus: “Now I am going on an errand of pleasure—O! God, take
pity on me, and throw good fortune in my way—grant that I may be
successful.”

Thus their Almighty Creator is always before their eyes on all important
occasions. They feel and acknowledge his supreme power. They also
endeavour to propitiate him by outward worship, or sacrifices.

These are religious solemnities, intended to make themselves acceptable to
the Great Spirit, to find favor in his sight, and obtain his forgiveness for past
errors or offences. It is not, as some white persons would lead us to believe,
that knowing the Great Spirit to be good, they are under no apprehensions
from his wrath, and that they make sacrifices to the evil spirit, believing
him alone to be capable of doing them hurt. This cannot be true of a people,
who, as I have already said in another part, hold it as a fixed principle “that
good and evil cannot and must not be united,” who declare and
acknowledge the great and good Spirit to be “all powerful,” and the evil one
to be “weak and limited in power;” who rely alone on the goodness of the
author of their existence, and who, before every thing, seek by all the means
in their power to obtain his favour and protection. For, they are convinced,
that the evil spirit has no power over them, as long as they are in favour
with the good one, and to him alone, acknowledging his continued
goodness to them and their forefathers, they look for protection against the
Devil, and his inferior spirits.

It is a part of their religious belief, that there are inferior Mannittos, to
whom the great 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 (something in their
nature between God and man) see and report to him what 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 approach of a storm or
thunder-gust, address the Mannitto of the air, to avert all danger from them;
I have also seen the Chippeways, on the Lakes of Canada, pray to the
Mannitto of the waters, that he might prevent the swells from rising too
high, while they were passing over them. In both these instances, they
expressed their acknowledgment, or shewed their willingness to be grateful,
by throwing tobacco in the air, or strewing it on the waters.

There are even some animals, which though they are not considered as
invested with power over them, yet are believed to be placed as guardians
over their lives; and of course entitled to some notice and to some tokens of

gratitude. Thus, when in the night, an owl is heard sounding its note, or
calling to its mate, some person in the camp will rise, and taking some
Glicanican, or Indian tobacco, will strew it on the fire, thinking that the
ascending smoke will reach the bird, and that he will see that they are not
unmindful of his services, and of his kindness to them and their ancestors.
This custom originated from the following incident, which tradition has
handed down to them.

It happened at one time, when they were engaged in a war with a distant
and powerful nation, that a body of their warriors was in the camp, fast
asleep, no kind of danger at that moment being apprehended. Suddenly, the
great “Sentinel” over mankind, the owl, sounded the alarm; all the birds of
the species were alert at their posts, all at once calling out, as if saying:
“Up! up! Danger! Danger!” Obedient to their call, every man jumped up in
an instant; when, to their surprise, they found that their enemy was in the
very act of surrounding them, and they would all have been killed in their
sleep, if the owl had not given them this timely warning.

But, amidst all these superstitious notions, the supreme Mannitto, 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. These religious ceremonies are not
always performed in the same manner. I had intended to have given some
details upon this subject, but I find that it has been almost exhausted by
other writers,189 although I will not pretend to say that they are correct on
every point. But I do not wish to repeat things which have already been told
to the world over and over. Therefore, if on some subjects, relating to the
manners and customs of the Indians, I should be thought to have passed
over too quickly, and not to have sufficiently entered into particulars, let it
be understood that I have done so to avoid the repetition of what others
have said, although I am afraid I have been inadvertently guilty of it in
more than one instance. I would not presume to communicate my little
stock of knowledge, if I did not think that it will add something to what is
already known.

I do not recollect that it has already been mentioned, that previous to
entering upon the solemnity of their sacrifices, the Indians prepare

themselves by vomiting, fasting, and drinking decoctions from certain
prescribed plants. This they do to expel the evil which is within them, and
that they may with a pure conscience attend to the sacred performance, for
such they consider it. Nor is the object of those sacrifices always the same;
there are sacrifices of prayer and sacrifices of thanksgiving, some for all the
favours received by them and their ancestors from the great Being, others
for special or particular benefits. After a successful war, 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 conquer their enemies.

CHAPTER XXVII.
SCALPING—WHOOPS OR YELLS—PRISONERS.

CALPING is a practice which the Indians say has obtained with
their nations for ages. I need not describe the manner in which the
operation is performed, it has been sufficiently done by others.190
Indian warriors think it necessary to bring home the scalps of those they
have killed or disabled, as visible proofs of their valour; otherwise they are
afraid that their relations of the combat and the account they give of their
individual prowess might be doubted or disbelieved. Those scalps are dried
up, painted and preserved as trophies, and a warrior is esteemed in
proportion to the number of them that he can shew.

It is a well known fact that the Indians pluck out all their hair except one
tuft on the crown of their heads, but the reason of this exception is not,
perhaps, so well understood, which is no other than to enable themselves to
take off each other’s scalps in war with greater facility. “When we go to
fight an enemy,” say they, “we meet on equal ground; and we take off each
other’s scalps, if we can. The conqueror, whoever he may be, is entitled to
have something to shew to prove his bravery and his triumph, and it would
be ungenerous in a warrior to deprive an enemy of the means of acquiring
that glory of which he himself is in pursuit. A warrior’s conduct ought to be
manly, else he is no man.” As this custom prevails among all the Indian
nations, it would seem, as far as I have known, to be the result of a tacit
agreement among them, to leave the usual trophies of victory accessible to
the contending warriors on all sides; fearing, perhaps, that if a different
custom should be adopted by one nation from motives of personal safety, or
to destroy the warlike reputation of their rivals or enemies, it might be
easily imitated on the other side, and there would be an end to Indian valour
and heroism. Indeed, it is certain, that all the weapons which the Indians
make use of in war are intended for offence, they have no breast-plates,

helmets, nor any arms or accoutrements of the defensive kind, and it is not
the least remarkable trait in their warlike character, that they make it even a
point of honour to offer a hold of their persons to their enemy, by which if
he should be possessed of greater skill or courage than themselves, he may
not only the more easily destroy them, but is enabled to carry home their
bloody spoils as trophies of his victory.

I once remarked to an Indian that if such was their reason for letting a tuft
of hair grow on the top of their heads, they might as well suffer the whole to
remain, and I could not perceive why they were so careful in plucking it
out. To this observation he answered: “My friend! a human being has but
one head, and one scalp from that head is sufficient to shew that it has been
in my power. Were we to preserve a whole head of hair as the white people
do, several scalps might be made out of it, which would be unfair. Besides,
the coward might thus without danger share in the trophies of the brave
warrior, and dispute with him the honour of victory.”

When the Indians relate their victories, they do not say that they have taken
so many “scalps,” but so many “heads,” in which they include as well those
whom they have scalped, but left alive (which is very often191 the case), and
their prisoners, as those whom they have killed. Nor does it follow, when
they reckon or number the heads of their prisoners, that they have been or
are to be put to death.

It is an awful spectacle to see the Indian warriors return home from a
successful expedition with their prisoners and the scalps taken in battle. It is
not unlike the return of a victorious army from the field, with the prisoners
and colours, taken from the enemy, but the appearance is far more frightful
and terrific. The scalps are carried in front, fixed on the end of a thin pole,
about five or six inches192 in length; the prisoners follow, and the warriors
advance shouting the dreadful scalp-yell, which has been called by some
the death-halloo, but improperly, for the reasons which I have already
mentioned. For every head taken, dead or alive, a separate shout is given. In
this yell or whoop, there is a mixture of triumph and terror; its elements, if I
may so speak, seem to be glory and fear, so as to express at once the
feelings of the shouting warriors, and those with which they have inspired
their enemies.

Different from this yell is the alarm-whoop, which is never sounded but
when danger is at hand. It is performed in quick succession, much as with
us the repeated cry of Fire! Fire! when the alarm is very great and lives are
known or believed to be in danger. Both this and the scalp-yell consist of
the sounds aw and oh, successively uttered, the last more accented, and
sounded higher than the first; but in the scalp-yell, this last sound is drawn
out at great length, as long indeed as the breath will hold, and is raised
about an octave higher than the former; while in the alarm-whoop, it is
rapidly struck on as it were, and only a few notes above the other. These
yells or whoops are dreadful indeed, and well calculated to strike with
terror, those whom long habit has not accustomed to them. It is difficult to
describe the impression which the scalp-yell, particularly, makes on a
person who hears it for the first time.

I am now come to a painful part of my subject; the manner in which the
Indians treat the prisoners whom they take in war. It must not be expected
that I shall describe here the long protracted tortures which are inflicted on
those who are doomed to the fatal pile, nor the constancy and firmness
which the sufferers display, singing their death songs and scoffing all the
while at their tormentors. Enough of other writers have painted these
scenes, with all their disgusting horrors; nor shall I, a Christian, endeavour
to excuse or palliate them. But I may be permitted to say, that those
dreadful executions are by no means so frequent as is commonly imagined.
The prisoners are generally adopted by the families of their conquerors in
the place of lost or deceased relations or friends, where they soon become
domesticated, and are so kindly treated that they never wish themselves
away again. I have seen even white men, who, after such adoption, were
given up by the Indians in compliance with the stipulations of treaties, take
the first opportunity to escape from their own country and return with all
possible speed to their Indian homes; I have seen the Indians, while about
delivering them up, put them at night in the stocks, to prevent their escaping
and running back to them.

It is but seldom that prisoners are put to death by burning and torturing. It
hardly ever takes place except when a nation has suffered great losses in
war, and it is thought necessary to revenge the death of their warriors slain
in battle, or when wilful and deliberate murders have been committed by an

enemy of193 their innocent women and children, in which case the first
prisoners taken are almost sure of being sacrificed by way of retaliation.
But when a war has been successful, or unattended with remarkable acts of
treachery, or cruelty on the part of the enemy, the prisoners receive a milder
treatment, and are incorporated with the nation of their conquerors.

Much has been said on the subject of the preliminary cruelties inflicted on
prisoners when they enter an Indian village with the conquering warriors. It
is certain that this treatment is very severe when a particular revenge is to
be exercised, but otherwise, I can say with truth, that in many instances, it is
rather a scene of amusement, than a punishment. Much depends on the
courage and presence of mind of the prisoner. On entering the village, he is
shewn a painted post at the distance of from twenty to forty yards, and told
to run to it and catch hold of it as quickly as he can. On each side of him
stand men, women and children, with axes, sticks, and other offensive
weapons, ready to strike him as he runs, in the same manner as is done in
the European armies when soldiers, as it is called, run the gauntlet. If he
should be so unlucky as to fall in the way, he will probably be immediately
despatched by some person, longing to avenge the death of some relation or
friend slain in battle; but the moment he reaches the goal, he is safe and
protected from further insult until his fate is determined.

If a prisoner in such a situation shews a determined courage, and when bid
to run for the painted post, starts at once with all his might and exerts all his
strength and agility until he reaches it, he will most commonly escape
without much harm, and sometimes without any injury whatever, and on
reaching the desired point, he will have the satisfaction to hear his courage
and bravery applauded. But woe to the coward who hesitates, or shews any
symptoms of fear! He is treated without much mercy, and is happy, at last,
if he escapes with his life.

In the month of April 1782, when I was myself a prisoner at Lower
Sandusky, waiting for an opportunity to proceed with a trader to Detroit, I
witnessed a scene of this description which fully exemplified what I have
above stated. Three American prisoners were one day brought in by
fourteen warriors from the garrison of Fort M’Intosh. As soon as they had
crossed the Sandusky river, to which the village lay adjacent, they were told

by the Captain of the party to run as hard as they could to a painted post
which was shewn to them. The youngest of the three, without a moment’s
hesitation, immediately started for it, and reached it fortunately without
receiving a single blow; the second hesitated for a moment, but recollecting
himself, he also ran as fast as he could and likewise reached the post unhurt;
but the third, frightened at seeing so many men, women and children with
weapons in their hands, ready to strike him, kept begging the Captain to
spare his life, saying he was a mason, and he would build him a fine large
stone house, or do any work for him that he should please. “Run for your
life,” cried the chief to him, “and don’t talk now of building houses!” But
the poor fellow still insisted, begging and praying to the Captain, who, at
last finding his exhortations vain, and fearing the consequences, turned his
back upon him, and would not hear him any longer. Our mason now began
to run, but received many a hard blow, one of which nearly brought him to
the ground, which, if he had fallen, would at once have decided his fate. He,
however, reached the goal, not without being sadly bruised, and he was
besides bitterly reproached and scoffed at all round as a vile coward, while
the others were hailed as brave men, and received tokens of universal
approbation.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
BODILY CONSTITUTION AND DISEASES.

HE Indians are in general a strong race of men. It is very common
to see a hunter come in with a whole deer on his back, fastened
with a Happis, a kind of band with which they carry loads; it rests
against the breast, that which the women use rests against the
forehead. In this manner they will carry a load which many a white man
would not have strength enough to raise from the ground. An Indian, named
Samuel, once took the flour which was ground out of a bushel of wheat
upon his back at sun-rise within two miles from Nazareth, and arrived with
it in the evening of the same day at his camp at Wyoming. When the Indians
build houses, they carry large logs on their shoulders from the place where
the tree is cut down to where they are building.

Nevertheless, when put to agricultural or other manual labour, the Indians
do not appear so strong as the whites; at least, they cannot endure it so long.
Many reasons may be given for this, besides their not being accustomed to
that kind of work. It is probably in part to be ascribed to their want of
substantial food, and their intemperate manner of living; eating, when they
have it, to excess, and at other times being days and weeks in a state of
want. Those who have been brought up to regular labour, like ourselves,
become robust and strong and enjoy good health. Such was the case with
the Christian Indians in the Moravian settlements.

So late as about the middle of the last century, the Indians were yet a hardy
and healthy people, and many very aged men and women were seen among
them, some of whom thought they had lived about one hundred years. They
frequently told me and others that when they were young men, their people
did not marry so early as they did since, that even at twenty they were
called boys and durst not wear a breech-cloth, as the men did at that time,

but had only a small bit of a skin hanging before them. Neither, did they
say, were they subject to so many disorders as in later times, and many of
them calculated on dying of old age. But since that time a great change has
taken place in the constitution of those Indians who live nearest to the
whites. By the introduction of ardent spirits among them, they have been
led into vices which have brought on disorders which they say were
unknown before; their blood became corrupted by a shameful complaint,
which the Europeans pretend to have received from the original inhabitants
of America, while these say they had never known or heard of it until the
Europeans came among them. Now the Indians are infected with it to a
great degree; children frequently inherit it from their parents, and after
lingering for a few years at last die victims to this poison.

Those Indians who have not adopted the vices of the white people live to a
good age, from 70 to 90. Few arrive at the age of one hundred years. The
women, in general, live longer than the men.

The Indians do not appear to be more or less exempt than the whites from
the common infirmities of old age. I have known old men among them who
had lost their memory, their sight, and their teeth. I have also seen them at
eighty in their second childhood and not able to help themselves.

The Indian women are not in general so prolific as those of the white race. I
imagine this defect is owing to the vicious and dissolute life they lead since
the introduction of spirituous liquors. Among our Christian Indians, we
have had a couple who had been converted for thirty years and had always
led a regular life, and who had thirteen children. Others had from six to
nine. In general, however, the Indians seldom have more than four or five
children.

The Indian children, generally, continue two years at the breast, and there
are instances of their sucking during four years. Mothers are very apt to
indulge their last child; children in this respect enjoy the same privilege
alike.

I have never heard of any nation or tribe of Indians who destroyed their
children, when distorted or deformed, whether they were so born or came to
be so afterwards. I have on the contrary seen very particular care taken of

such children. Nor have I ever been acquainted with any Indians that made
use of artificial means to compress or alter the natural shape of the heads of
their children, as some travellers have, I believe, pretended.

The disorders to which the Indians are most commonly subjected are
pulmonary consumptions, fluxes, fevers and severe rheumatisms, all
proceeding probably from the kind of life they lead, the hardships they
undergo, and the nature of the food that they take. Intermitting and bilious
fevers set in among them regularly in the autumn, when their towns are
situated near marshy grounds or ponds of stagnant water, and many die in
consequence of them. I have observed that these fevers generally make their
first appearance in the season of the wild plum, a fruit that the Indians are
particularly fond of. Sometimes also after a famine or long suffering for
want of food, when they generally make too free an use of green maize,
squashes and other watery vegetables. They are also subject to a disease
which they call the yellow vomit, which, at times, carries off many of them.
They generally die of this disease on the second or third day after the first
attack.

Their old men are very subject to rheumatisms in the back and knees; I have
known them at the age of 50 or 60 to be laid up for weeks and months at a
time on this account, and I have seen boys 10 and 12 years of age, who
through colds or fits of sickness had become so contracted that they never
afterwards recovered the use of their limbs.

Worms are a very common disorder among Indian children, and great
numbers of them die from that cause. They eat a great deal of green corn
when in the milk, with beans, squashes, melons, and the like; their bellies
become remarkably large, and it is probably in that manner that the worms
are generated. I rather think that Indian children suffer less in teething than
the whites.

The gout, gravel, and scrofula or king’s evil, are not known among the
Indians. Nor have I ever known any one that had the disorder called the
Rickets. Consumptions are very frequent among them since they have
become fond of spirituous liquors, and their young men in great numbers
fall victims to that complaint. A person who resides among them may easily

observe the frightful decrease of their numbers from one period of ten years
to another. Our vices have destroyed them more than our swords.

CHAPTER XXIX.
REMEDIES.

HE Materia Medica of the Indians consists of various roots and
plants known to themselves, the properties of which they are not
fond of disclosing to strangers. They make considerable use of
the barks of trees, such as the white and black oak, the white
walnut, of which they make pills, the cherry, dogwood, maple, birch, and
several others. They prepare and compound these medicines in different
ways, which they keep a profound secret. Those preparations are frequently
mixed with superstitious practices, calculated to guard against the powers of
witchcraft, in which, unfortunately, they have a strong fixed belief. Indeed,
they are too apt to attribute the most natural deaths to the arts and
incantations of sorcerers, and their medicine is, in most cases, as much
directed against those as against the disease itself. There are, however,
practitioners among them who are free from these prejudices, or at least do
not introduce them into their practice of the medical art. Still there is a
superstitious notion, in which all their physicians participate, which is, that
when an emetic is to be administered, the water in which the potion is
mixed must be drawn up a stream, and if for a cathartic downwards. This is,
at least, innocent, and not more whimsical perhaps, nor more calculated to
excite a smile, than some theories of grave and learned men in civilised
countries.

In fevers the Indians usually administer emetics which are made up and
compounded in various ways. I saw an emetic once given to a man who had
poisoned himself with the root of the May Apple.194 It consisted of a piece
of raccoon skin burned with the hair on and finely powdered, pounded dry
beans and gunpowder. These three ingredients were mixed with water and
poured down the patient’s throat. This brought on a severe vomiting, the
poisonous root was entirely discharged and the man cured.

In other complaints, particularly in those which proceed from rheumatic
affections, bleeding and sweating are always the first remedies applied. The
sweat oven is the first thing that an Indian has recourse to when he feels the
least indisposed; it is the place to which the wearied traveller, hunter, or
warrior looks for relief from the fatigues he has endured, the cold he has
caught, or the restoration of his lost appetite.

This oven is made of different sizes, so as to accommodate from two to six
persons at a time, or according to the number of men in the village, so that
they may be all successively served. It is generally built on a bank or slope,
one half of it within and the other above ground. It is well covered on the
top with split plank and earth, and has a door in front, where the ground is
level to go or rather to creep in. Here, on the outside, stones, generally of
about the size of a large turnip, are heated by one or more men appointed
each day for that purpose. While the oven is heating, decoctions from roots
or plants are prepared either by the person himself who intends to sweat, or
by one of the men of the village, who boils a large kettleful for the general
use, so that when the public cryer going his rounds, calls out Pimook! “go
to sweat!” every one brings his small kettle, which is filled for him with the
potion, which at the same time serves him as a medicine, promotes a
profuse perspiration, and quenches his thirst. As soon as a sufficient number
have come to the oven, a number of the hot stones are rolled into the middle
of it, and the sweaters go in, seating themselves or rather squatting round
those stones, and there they remain until the sweat ceases to flow; then they
come out, throwing a blanket or two about them that they may not catch
cold; in the mean while, fresh heated stones are thrown in for those who
follow them. While they are in the oven, water is now and then poured on
the hot stones to produce a steam, which they say, increases the heat, and
gives suppleness to their limbs and joints. In rheumatic complaints, the
steam is produced by a decoction of boiled roots, and the patient during the
operation is well wrapped up in blankets, to keep the cold air from him, and
promote perspiration at the same time.

Those sweat ovens are generally at some distance from an Indian village,
where wood and water are always at hand. The best order is preserved at
those places. The women have their separate oven in a different direction
from that of the men, and subjected to the same rules. The men generally

sweat themselves once and sometimes twice a week; the women have no
fixed day for this exercise, nor do they use it as often as the men.

In the year 1784,195 a gentleman whom I had been acquainted with at
Detroit, and who had been for a long time in an infirm state of health, came
from thence to the village of the Christian Indians on the Huron river, in
order to have the benefit of the sweat oven. It being in the middle of winter,
when there was a deep snow on the ground, and the weather was
excessively cold, I advised him to postpone his sweating to a warmer
season; but he persisting in his resolution, I advised him by no means to
remain in the oven longer than fifteen or at most twenty minutes. But when
he once was in it, feeling himself comfortable, he remained a full hour, at
the end of which he fainted, and was brought by two strong Indians to my
house, in very great pain and not able to walk. He remained with me until
the next day, when we took him down in his sleigh to his family at Detroit.
His situation was truly deplorable; his physicians at that place gave up all
hopes of his recovery, and he frequently expressed his regret that he had not
followed my advice. Suddenly, however, a change took place for the better,
and he not only recovered his perfect health, but became a stout corpulent
man, so that he would often say, that his going into the sweat oven was the
best thing he had ever done in his life for the benefit of his health. He said
so to me fifteen years afterwards when I saw him in the year 1798. He had
not had the least indisposition since that time. He died about the year 1814,
at an advanced age.

CHAPTER XXX.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.

Y these names I mean to distinguish the good and honest
practitioners who are in the habit of curing and healing diseases
and wounds, by the simple application of natural remedies,
without any mixture of superstition in the manner of preparing or
administering them. They are very different from the doctors or jugglers, of
whom I shall speak in the next chapter. In one point, only, they seem to
participate in their ridiculous notions, that is, in the different manner, which
I have already noticed, of drawing water up or down the current of a stream,
as it is to be respectively employed as a vehicle for an emetic or a cathartic.
This singular idea prevails generally among the Indians of all classes. They
think that as the one remedy is to work upwards and the other downwards,
care should be taken in the preparation to follow the course of nature, so
that no confusion should take place in the stomach or bowels of the patient.

With this only exception the Indian physicians are perhaps more free from
fanciful theories than those of any other nation upon earth. Their science is
entirely founded on observation, experience and the well tried efficacy of
remedies. There are physicians of both sexes, who take considerable pains
to acquire a correct knowledge of the properties and medical virtues of
plants, roots and barks, for the benefit of their fellow-men. They are very
careful to have at all times a full assortment of their medicines on hand,
which they gather and collect at the proper seasons, sometimes fetching
them from the distance of several days’ journey from their homes, then they
cure or dry them properly, tie them up in small bundles, and preserve them
for use. It were to be wished that they were better skilled in the quantity of
the medicines which they administer. But they are too apt, in general, to
give excessive doses, on the mistaken principle that “much of a good thing
must necessarily do much good.”

Nevertheless, I must say, that their practice in general succeeds pretty well.
I have myself been benefited and cured by taking their emetics and their
medicines in fevers, and by being sweated after their manner while
labouring under a stubborn rheumatism. I have also known many, both
whites and Indians, who have with the same success resorted to Indian
physicians while labouring under diseases. The wives of Missionaries, in
every instance in which they had to apply to the female physicians, for the
cure of complaints peculiar to their sex, experienced good results from their
abilities. They are also well skilled in curing wounds and bruises. I once for
two days and two nights, suffered the most excruciating pain from a felon
or whitlow on one of my fingers, which deprived me entirely of sleep. I had
recourse to an Indian woman, who in less than half an hour relieved me
entirely by the simple application of a poultice made of the root of the
common blue violet.

Indeed, it is in the cure of external wounds that they particularly excel. Not
only their professional men and women, but every warrior is more or less
acquainted with the healing properties of roots and plants, which is, in a
manner, indispensable to them, as they are so often in danger of being
wounded in their engagements with the enemy. Hence this branch of
knowledge is carried to a great degree of perfection among them. I firmly
believe that there is no wound, unless it should be absolutely mortal, or
beyond the skill of our own good practitioners, which an Indian surgeon (I
mean the best of them) will not succeed in healing. I once knew a noted
Shawano, who having, out of friendship, conducted several white traders in
safety to Pittsburgh, while they were sought for by other Indians who
wanted to revenge on them the murders committed by white men of some
of their people, was on his return fired at by some white villains, who had
waylaid him for that purpose, and shot in the breast. This man, when I saw
him, had already travelled eighty miles, with a wound from which blood
and a kind of watery froth issued every time he breathed. Yet he told me he
was sure of being cured, if he could only reach Waketemeki, a place fifty
miles distant, where there were several eminent Indian surgeons. To me and
others who examined the wound, it appeared incurable; nevertheless, he
reached the place and was perfectly cured. I saw him at Detroit ten years
afterwards; he was in sound health and grown to be a corpulent man. Nine
years after this I dined with him at the same place.

CHAPTER XXXI.
DOCTORS OR JUGGLERS.

CALL these men Doctors, because it is the name given them by
their countrymen who have borrowed it from our language,196
and they are themselves very fond of this pompous title. They are
a set of professional impostors, who, availing themselves of the
superstitious prejudices of the people, acquire the name and reputation of
men of superior knowledge, and possessed of supernatural powers. As the
Indians in general believe in witchcraft, and ascribe, as I have already said,
to the arts of sorcerers many of the disorders with which they are afflicted
in the regular course of nature, this class of men has risen among them, who
pretend to be skilled in a certain occult science, by means of which they are
able not only to cure natural diseases, but to counteract or destroy the
enchantments of wizards or witches, and expel evil spirits.

These men are physicians, like the others of whom I have spoken, and like
them are acquainted with the properties and virtues of plants, barks, roots,
and other remedies. They differ from them only by their pretensions to a
superior knowledge, and by the impudence with which they impose upon
the credulous. I am sorry that truth obliges me to confess, that in their
profession they rank above the honest practitioners. They pretend that there
are disorders which cannot be cured by the ordinary remedies, and to the
treatment of which the talents of common physicians are inadequate. They
say that when a complaint has been brought on by witchcraft, more
powerful remedies must be applied, and measures must be taken to defeat
the designs of the person who bewitched the unfortunate patient. This can
only be done by removing or destroying the deleterious or deadening
substance which has been conveyed into them, or, if it is an evil spirit, to
confine or expel him, or banish him to a distant region from whence he may
never return.

When the juggler has succeeded in persuading his patient that his disorder
is such that no common physician has it in his power to relieve, he will next
endeavour to convince him of the necessity of making him very strong,
which means, giving him a large fee, which he will say, is justly due to a
man who, like himself, is able to perform such difficult things. If the patient
who applies, is rich, the Doctor will never fail, whatever the complaint may
be, to ascribe it to the powers of witchcraft, and recommend himself as the
only person capable of giving relief in such a hard and complicated case.
The poor patient, therefore, if he will have the benefit of the great man’s
advice and assistance, must immediately give him his honorarium, which is
commonly either a fine horse, or a good rifle-gun, a considerable quantity
of wampum, or goods to a handsome amount. When this fee is well secured,
and not before, the Doctor prepares for the hard task that he has undertaken,
with as much apparent labour as if he was about to remove a mountain. He
casts his eyes all round him to attract notice, puts on grave and important
looks, appears wrapt in thought and meditation and enjoys for a while the
admiration of the spectators. At last he begins his operation. Attired in a
frightful dress, he approaches his patient, with a variety of contortions and
gestures, and performs by his side and over him all the antic tricks that his
imagination can suggest. He breathes on him, blows in his mouth, and
squirts some medicines which he has prepared in his face, mouth and nose;
he rattles his gourd filled with dry beans or pebbles, pulls out and handles
about a variety of sticks and bundles in which he appears to be seeking for
the proper remedy, all which is accompanied with the most horrid
gesticulations, by which he endeavours, as he says, to frighten the spirit or
the disorder away, and continues in this manner until he is quite exhausted
and out of breath, when he retires to wait the issue.

The visits of the juggler are, if the patient requires it, repeated from time to
time; not, however, without his giving a fresh fee previous to each visit.
This continues until the property of the patient is entirely exhausted, or until
he resolves upon calling in another doctor, with whom feeing must begin
anew in the same manner that it did with his predecessor.

When at length the art of the juggling tribe has after repeated trials proved
ineffectual, the patient is declared incurable. The doctors will say, that he
applied to them too late, that he did not exactly follow their prescriptions, or

sometimes, that he was bewitched by one of the greatest masters of the
science, and that unless a professor can be found possessed of superior
knowledge, he is doomed to die or linger in pain beyond the power of relief.

Thus these jugglers carry on their deceit, and enrich themselves at the
expense of the credulous and foolish. I have known instances in which they
declared a patient perfectly cured and out of all danger, who nevertheless
died of his disorder a very few days afterwards, although his doctors
affirmed that the evil spirit or the effects of witchcraft were entirely
removed from him; on the other hand, I have seen cases in which the patient
recovered after being pronounced incurable and condemned to die. In those
cases, however, he had had the good sense to apply to some of the honest
physicians of one or the other sex, who had relieved him by a successful
application of their medicines.

The jugglers’ dress, when in the exercise of their functions, exhibits a most
frightful sight. I had no idea of the importance of these men, until by
accident I met with one, habited in his full costume. As I was once walking
through the street of a large Indian village on the Muskingum, with the
chief Gelelemend,197 whom we call Kill-buck, one of those monsters
suddenly came out of the house next to me, at whose sight I was so
frightened, that I flew immediately to the other side of the chief, who
observing my agitation and the quick strides I made, asked me what was the
matter, and what I thought it was that I saw before me. “By its outward
appearance,” answered I, “I would think it a bear, or some such ferocious
animal, what is inside I do not know, but rather judge it to be the Evil
Spirit.” My friend Kill-buck smiled, and replied, “O! no, no; don’t believe
that! it is a man you well know, it is our Doctor.” “A Doctor!” said I, “what!
a human being to transform himself so as to be taken for a bear walking on
his hind legs, and with horns on his head? You will not, surely, deceive me;
if it is not a bear, it must be some other ferocious animal that I have never
seen before.” The juggler within the dress hearing what passed between us,
began to act over some of his curious pranks, probably intending to divert
me, as he saw I was looking at him with great amazement, not unmixed
with fear; but the more he went on with his performance, the more I was at
a loss to decide, whether he was a human being or a bear; for he imitated
that animal in the greatest perfection, walking upright on his hind legs as I

had often seen it do. At last I renewed my questions to the chief, and begged
him seriously to tell me what that figure was, and he assured me that
although outside it had the appearance of a bear, yet inside there was a man,
and that it was our doctor going to visit one of his patients who was
bewitched. A dialogue then ensued between us, which I shall relate, as well
as I can recollect it, in its very words:

Heckew. But why does he go dressed in that manner? Won’t his patient be
frightened to death on seeing him enter the house?

Killb. No! indeed, no; it is the disorder, the evil spirit, that will be
frightened away; as to the sick man, he well knows that unless the doctor
has recourse to the most powerful means, he cannot be relieved, but must
fall a sacrifice to the wicked will of some evil person. And, pray, don’t your
doctors in obstinate and dubious cases, also recur to powerful means in
order to relieve their patients?

Heckew. To my knowledge, there are no cases where witchcraft is assigned
as the cause of a disorder, of course our doctors have nothing to do with
that; and though they may sometimes have occasion to apply powerful
remedies in obstinate diseases, yet it is not done by dressing themselves like
wild beasts, to frighten, as you say, the disorder away. Were our doctors to
adopt this mode, they would soon be left without patients and without
bread; they would starve.

Killb. Our doctors are the richest people among us, they have everything
they want; fine horses to ride, fine clothes to wear, plenty of strings and
belts of wampum, and silver arm and breast plates in abundance.

Heckew. And our doctors have very fine horses and carriages, fine houses,
fine clothes, plenty of good provisions and wines, and plenty of money
besides! They are looked upon as gentlemen, and would not suffer your
doctor, dressed as he is, to come into their company.

Killb. You must, my friend! consider that the cases are very different. Had
the white people sorcerers among them as the Indians have, they would find
it necessary to adopt our practice and apply our remedies in the same

manner that our doctors do. They would find it necessary to take strong
measures to counteract and destroy the dreadful effects of witchcraft.

Heckew. The sorcerers that you speak of exist only in your imagination; rid
yourselves of this, and you will hear no more of them.

The dress this juggler had on, consisted of an entire garment or outside
covering, made of one or more bear skins, as black as jet, so well fitted and
sewed together, that the man was not in any place to be perceived. The
whole head of the bear, including the mouth, nose, teeth, ears, &c.,
appeared the same as when the animal was living; so did the legs with long
claws; to this were added a huge pair of horns on the head, and behind a
large bushy tail, moving as he walked, as though it were on springs; but for
these accompaniments, the man, walking on all fours, might have been
taken for a bear of an extraordinary size. Underneath, where his hands were,
holes had been cut, though not visible to the eye, being covered with the
long hair, through which he held and managed his implements, and he saw
through two holes set with glass. The whole was a great curiosity, but not to
be looked at by everybody.

There are jugglers of another kind, in general old men and women, who
although not classed among doctors or physicians, yet get their living by
pretending to supernatural knowledge. Some pretend that they can bring
down rain in dry weather when wanted, others prepare ingredients, which
they sell to bad hunters, that they may have good luck, and others make
philters or love potions for such married persons as either do not, or think
they cannot love each other.

When one of these jugglers is applied to to bring down rain in a dry season,
he must in the first instance receive a fee. This fee is made up by the
women, who, as cultivators of the land are supposed to be most interested,
but the men will slily slip something in their hands in aid of their collection,
which consists of wampum beads, tobacco, silver broaches, and a dressed
deer skin to make shoes of. If the juggler does not succeed in his
experiment, he never is in want of an excuse; either the winds are in
opposition to one another, the dry wind or air is too powerful for the moist
or south wind, or he has not been made strong enough, (that is sufficiently
paid,) to compel the north to give way to the south from whence the rain is

to come, or lastly, he wants time to invoke the great Spirit to aid him on the
important occasion.

In the summer of the year 1799, a most uncommon drouth happened in the
Muskingum country, so that every thing growing, even the grass and the
leaves of the trees, appeared perishing; an old man named Chenos, who was
born on the river Delaware, was applied to by the women to bring down
rain, and was well feed for the purpose. Having failed in his first attempt, he
was feed a second time, and it happened that one morning, when my
business obliged me to pass by the place where he was at work, as I knew
him very well, I asked him at once what he was doing? “I am hired,” said
he, “to do a very hard day’s work.”

Q. And, pray, what work?

A. Why, to bring down rain from the sky.

Q. Who hired you to do that?

A. The women of the village; don’t you see how much rain is wanted, and
that the corn and every thing else is perishing?

Q. But can you make it rain?

A. I can, and you shall be convinced of it this very day.

He had, by this time, encompassed a square of about five feet each way,
with stakes and barks so that it might resemble a pig pen of about three feet
in height, and now, with his face uplifted and turned towards the north, he
muttered something, then closely shutting up with bark the opening which
had been left on the north side, he turned in the same manner, still muttering
some words, towards the south, as if invoking some superior being, and
having cut through the bark on the southwest corner, so as to make an
opening of two feet, he said: “now we shall have rain enough!” Hearing
down the river the sound of setting poles striking against a canoe, he
enquired of me what it was? I told him it was our Indians going up the river
to make a bush net for fishing. “Send them home again!” said he, “tell them
that this will not be a fit day for fishing!” I told him to let them come on

and speak to them himself, if he pleased. He did so, and as soon as they
came near him, he told them that they must by no means think of fishing
that day, for there should come a heavy rain which would wet them all
through. “No matter, Father!” answered they in a jocular manner, “give us
only rain and we will cheerfully bear the soaking.” They then passed on,
and I proceeded to Goschachking, the village to which I was going.198 I
mentioned the circumstance to the chief of the place, and told him that I
thought it impossible that we should have rain while the sky was so clear as
it then was and had been for near five weeks together, without its being
previously announced by some signs or change in the atmosphere. But the
chief answered: “Chenos knows very well what he is about; he can at any
time predict what the weather will be; he takes his observations morning
and evening from the river or something in it.” On my return from this
place after three o’clock in the afternoon, the sky still continued the same
until about four o’clock, when all at once the horizon became overcast, and
without any thunder or wind it began to rain, and continued so for several
hours together, until the ground became thoroughly soaked.

I am of the opinion that this man, like others whom I have known, was a
strict observer of the weather, and that his prediction that day was made in
consequence of his having observed some signs in the sky or in the water,
which his experience had taught him to be the forerunners of rain; yet the
credulous multitude did not fail to ascribe it to his supernatural power.

The ingredients for a bad hunter, to make him have good luck, are tied up in
a bit of cloth, and must be worn near his skin while he is hunting. The
preparations intended to create love between man and wife, are to be slily
conveyed to the frigid party by means of his victuals or drink.

CHAPTER XXXII.
SUPERSTITION.

REAT and powerful as the Indian concieves himself to be, firm
and undaunted as he really is, braving all seasons and weathers,
careless of dangers, patient of hunger, thirst and cold, and fond of
displaying the native energy of his character even in the midst of
tortures, at the very thought of which our own puny nature revolts and
shudders; this Lord of the Creation, whose life is spent in a state of constant
warfare against the wild beasts of the forest and the savages of the
wilderness, who, proud of his independent existence, strikes his breast with
exultation and exclaims “I am a man!”—the American Indian has one weak
side, which sinks him down to the level of the most fearful and timid being,
a childish apprehension of an occult and unknown power, which, unless he
can summon sufficient fortitude to conquer it, changes at once the hero into
a coward. It is incredible to what a degree the Indians’ superstitious belief in
witchcraft operates upon their minds; the moment that their imagination is
struck with the idea that they are bewitched, they are no longer themselves;
their fancy is constantly at work in creating the most horrid and distressing
images. They see themselves falling a sacrifice to the wicked arts of a vile
unknown hand, of one who would not have dared to face them in fair
combat; dying a miserable, ignominious death; a death, to which they
would a thousand times prefer the stake with all its horrors. No tale, no
tradition, no memorial of their courage or heroic fortitude will go down
with it to posterity; it will be thought that they were not deserving of a
better fate. And, (O! dreadful thought to an Indian mind!) that death is to
remain forever unrevenged;—their friends, their relations, the men of their
own tribe, will seek the murderer in vain; they will seek him while, perhaps,
he is in the midst of them, unnoticed and unknown, smiling at their
impotent rage, and calmly selecting some new victim to his infernal art.

Of this extraordinary power of their conjurers, of the causes which produce
it, and the manner in which it is acquired, the Indians as may well be
supposed, have not a very definite idea. All they can say is that the sorcerer
makes use of a “deadening substance,” which he discharges and conveys to
the person that he means to “strike,” through the air, by means of the wind
or of his own breath, or throws at him in a manner which they can neither
understand nor describe. The person thus “stricken,” is immediately seized
with an unaccountable terror, his spirits sink, his appetite fails, he is
disturbed in his sleep, he pines and wastes away, or a fit of sickness seizes
him, and he dies at last a miserable victim to the workings of his own
imagination.

Such are their ideas and the melancholy effects of the dread they feel of that
supernatural power which they vainly fancy to exist among them. That they
can destroy one another by means of poisonous roots and plants, is certainly
true, but in this there is no witchcraft. This prejudice that they labour under
can be ascribed to no other cause than their excessive ignorance and
credulity. I was once acquainted with a white man, a shrewd and correct
observer, who had lived long among the Indians, and being himself related
to an Indian family, had the best opportunities of obtaining accurate
information on this subject. He told me that he had found the means of
getting into the confidence of one of their most noted sorcerers, who had
frankly confessed to him, that his secret consisted in exciting fear and
suspicion, and creating in the multitude a strong belief in his magical
powers, “For,” said he, “such is the credulity of many, that if I only pick a
little wool from my blanket, and roll it between my fingers into a small
round ball, not larger than a bean, I am by that alone believed to be deeply
skilled in the magic art, and it is immediately supposed that I am preparing
the deadly substance with which I mean to strike some person or other,
although I hardly know myself at the time what my fingers are doing; and
if, at that moment, I happen to cast my eyes on a particular man, or even
throw a side glance at him, it is enough to make him consider himself as the
intended victim; he is from that instant effectually struck, and if he is not
possessed of great fortitude, so as to be able to repel the thought, and divert
his mind from it, or to persuade himself that it is nothing but the work of a
disturbed imagination, he will sink under the terror thus created, and at last

perish a victim, not indeed, to witchcraft, but to his own credulity and
folly.”

But men of such strong minds are not often to be found; so deeply rooted is
the belief of the Indians in those fancied supernatural powers. It is vain to
endeavour to convince them by argument that they are entirely founded in
delusion and have no real existence. The attempt has been frequently made
by sensible white men, but always without success. The following anecdote
will shew how little hope there is of ever bringing them to a more rational
way of thinking.

Sometime about the year 1776, a Quaker trader of the name of John
Anderson, who among the Indians was called the honest Quaker trader,
after vainly endeavouring to convince those people by argument that there
was no such thing as witchcraft, took the bold, and I might say the rash,
solution to put their sorcerers to the test, and defy the utmost exertions of
their pretended supernatural powers. He desired that two of those magicians
might be brought successively before him on different days, who should be
at liberty to try their art on his person, and do him all the harm that they
could by magical means, in the presence of the chiefs and principal men of
the village. The Indians tried at first to dissuade him from so dangerous an
experiment; but he persisted, and at last they acceded to his demand; a
conjurer was brought to him, who professed himself fully competent to the
task for which he was called, but he could not be persuaded to make the
attempt. He declared that Anderson was so good and so honest a man, so
much his friend and the friend of all the Indians, that he could not think of
doing him an injury. He never practised his art but on bad men and on those
who had injured him; the great Mannitto forbid that he should use it for
such a wicked purpose as that for which he was now called upon.

The Indians found this excuse perfectly good, and retired more convinced
than ever of the abilities of their conjurer, whom they now revered for his
conscientious scruples.

The one who was brought on the next day was of a different stamp. He was
an arch sorcerer, whose fame was extended far and wide, and was much
dreaded by the Indians, not only on account of his great powers, but of the
wicked disposition of his mind. Every effort was made to dissuade Mr.

Anderson from exposing himself to what was considered as certain
destruction; but he stood firm to his purpose, and only stipulated that the
magician should sit at the distance of about twelve feet from him; that he
should not be armed with any weapon, nor carry any poison or any thing
else of a known destructive nature, and that he should not even rise from his
seat, nor advance towards him during the operation. All this was agreed to,
the conjurer boasting that he could effect his purpose even at the distance of
one hundred miles. The promised reward was brought and placed in full
view, and both parties now prepared for the experiment.

The spectators being all assembled, the sorcerer took his seat, arrayed in the
most frightful manner that he could devise. Anderson stood firm and
composed before him at the stipulated distance. All were silent and attentive
while the wizard began his terrible operation. He began with working with
his fingers on his blanket, plucking now and then a little wool and breathing
on it, then rolling it together in small rolls of the size of a bean, and went
through all the antic tricks to which the power of bewitching is generally
ascribed. But all this had no effect. Anderson remained cool and composed,
now and then calling to his antagonist not to be sparing of his exertions.
The conjurer now began to make the most horrid gesticulations, and used
all the means in his power to frighten the honest Quaker, who, aware of his
purpose, still remained unmoved. At last, while the eyes of all the spectators
were fixed on this brave man, to observe the effects of the sorcerer’s craft
upon him, this terrible conjurer, finding that all his efforts were in vain,
found himself obliged to give up the point, and alleged for his excuse “that
the Americans199 eat too much salt provisions; that salt had a repulsive
effect, which made the powerful invisible substance that he employed recoil
upon him; that the Indians, who eat but little salt, had often felt the effects
of this substance, but that the great quantity of it which the white men used
effectually protected them against it.”

The imposition in this instance was perfectly clear and visible, and nothing
was so easy as to see through this sorcerer’s miserable pretence, and be
convinced that his boasted art was entirely a deception; but it was not so
with the Indians, who firmly believed that the salt which the Americans199
used was the only cause of his failure in this instance, and that if it had not

been for the salted meat which Mr. Anderson fed upon, he would have
fallen a victim as well as others to the incantations of this impostor.

I have received this story from the mouth of Mr. Anderson himself, who
was a most respectable gentleman, and also from several credible Indians
who were present at the time. After this bold and unsuccessful experiment,
it is impossible to expect that the superstitious notions of the Indians on the
subject of witchcraft can ever by any means be rooted out of their minds.200

CHAPTER XXXIII.
INITIATION OF BOYS.

DO not know how to give a better name to a superstitious practice
which is very common among the Indians, and, indeed, is
universal among those nations that I have become acquainted
with. By certain methods which I shall presently describe, they
put the mind of a boy in a state of perturbation, so as to excite dreams and
visions; by means of which they pretend that the boy receives instructions
from certain spirits or unknown agents as to his conduct in life, that he is
informed of his future destination and of the wonders he is to perform in his
future career through the world.

When a boy is to be thus initiated, he is put under an alternate course of
physic and fasting, either taking no food whatever, or swallowing the most
powerful and nauseous medicines, and occasionally he is made to drink
decoctions of an intoxicating nature, until his mind becomes sufficiently
bewildered, so that he sees or fancies that he sees visions, and has
extraordinary dreams, for which, of course, he has been prepared
beforehand. He will fancy himself flying through the air, walking under
ground, stepping from one ridge or hill to the other across the valley
beneath, fighting and conquering giants and monsters, and defeating whole
hosts by his single arm. Then he has interviews with the Mannitto or with
spirits, who inform him of what he was before he was born and what he will
be after his death. His fate in this life is laid entirely open before him, the
spirit tells him what is to be his future employment, whether he will be a
valiant warrior, a mighty hunter, a doctor, a conjurer, or a prophet. There are
even those who learn or pretend to learn in this way the time and manner of
their death.

When a boy has been thus initiated, a name is given to him analogous to the
visions that he has seen, and to the destiny that is supposed to be prepared
for him. The boy, imagining all that happened to him while under
perturbation, to have been real, sets out in the world with lofty notions of
himself, and animated with courage for the most desperate undertakings.

The belief in the truth of those visions is universal among the Indians. I
have spoken with several of their old men, who had been highly
distinguished for their valour, and asked them whether they ascribed their
achievements to natural or supernatural causes, and they uniformly
answered, that as they knew beforehand what they could do, they did it of
course. When I carried my questions farther, and asked them how they
knew what they could do? they never failed to refer to the dreams and
visions which they had while under perturbation, in the manner I have
above mentioned.

I always found it vain to attempt to undeceive them on this subject. They
never were at a loss for examples to shew that the dreams they had had
were not the work of a heated imagination, but that they came to them
through the agency of a mannitto. They could always cite numerous
instances of valiant men, who, in former times, in consequence of such
dreams, had boldly attacked their enemy with nothing but the Tamahican201
in their hand, had not looked about to survey the number of their opponents,
but had gone straight forward, striking all down before them; some, they
said, in the French wars, had entered houses of the English filled with
people, who, before they had time to look about, were all killed and laid in
a heap. Such was the strength, the power and the courage conveyed to them
in their supernatural dreams, and which nothing could resist.

If they stopped here in their relations, I might, perhaps, consider this
practice of putting boys under perturbation, as a kind of military school or
exercise, intended to create in them a more than ordinary courage, and
make them undaunted warriors. It certainly has this effect on some, who
fancying themselves under the immediate protection of the celestial powers,
despise all dangers, and really perform acts of astonishing bravery. But it
must be observed, that all that are thus initiated are not designed for a
military life, and that several learn by their dreams that they are to be

physicians, sorcerers, or that their lives are to be devoted to some other civil
employment. And it is astonishing what a number of superstitious notions
are infused into the minds of the unsuspecting youth, by means of those
dreams, which are useless, at least, for making good warriors or hunters.
There are even some who by that means are taught to believe in the
transmigration of souls.

I once took great pains to dissuade from these notions a very sensible
Indian, much esteemed by all who knew him, even among the whites. All
that I could say or urge was not able to convince him that at the time of his
initiation (as I call it) his mind was in a state of temporary derangement. He
declared that he had a clear recollection of the dreams and visions that had
occurred to him at the time, and was sure that they came from the agency of
celestial spirits. He asserted very strange things, of his own supernatural
knowledge, which he had obtained not only at the time of his initiation, but
at other times, even before he was born. He said he knew he had lived
through two generations; that he had died twice and was born a third time,
to live out the then present race, after which he was to die and never more
to come to this country again. He well remembered what the women had
predicted while he was yet in his mother’s womb; some had foretold that he
would be a boy, and others a girl; he had distinctly overheard their
discourses, and could repeat correctly every thing that they had said. It
would be too long to relate all the wild stories of the same kind which this
otherwise intelligent Indian said of himself, with a tone and manner which
indicated the most intimate conviction, and left no doubt in my mind that he
did not mean to deceive others, but was himself deceived.

I have known several other Indians who firmly believed that they knew, by
means of these visions, what was to become of them when they should die,
how their souls were to retire from their bodies and take their abodes into
those of infants yet unborn; in short, there is nothing so wild and so
extraordinary that they will not imagine and to which, when once it has
taken hold of their imagination, they will not give full credit. In this they
are not a little aided by certain superstitious notions which form a part of
their traditionary belief, and of which I shall take notice in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
INDIAN MYTHOLOGY.

HE Indians consider the earth as their universal mother. They
believe that they were created within its bosom, where for a long
time they had their abode, before they came to live on its surface.
They say that the great, good, and all powerful Spirit, when he
created them, undoubtedly meant at a proper time to put them in the
enjoyment of all the good things which he had prepared for them upon the
earth, but he wisely ordained that their first stage of existence should be
within it, as the infant is formed and takes its first growth in the womb of its
natural mother. This fabulous account of the creation of man needs only to
be ascribed to the ancient Egyptians or to the Brahmins of India, to be
admired and extolled for the curious analogy which it observes between the
general and individual creation; but as it comes from the American savage, I
doubt whether it will even receive the humble praise of ingenuity, to which,
however, it appears to me to be justly entitled.

The Indian Mythologists are not agreed as to the form under which they
existed while in the bowels of the earth. Some assert that they lived there in
the human shape, while others, with greater consistency contend that their
existence was in the form of certain terrestrial animals, such as the ground-
hog, the rabbit, and the tortoise. This was their state of preparation, until
they were permitted to come out and take their station on this island202 as
the Lords of the rest of the Creation.

Among the Delawares, those of the Minsi, or Wolf tribe, say that in the
beginning, they dwelt in the earth under a lake, and were fortunately
extricated from this unpleasant abode by the discovery which one of their
men made of a hole, through which he ascended to the surface; on which, as
he was walking, he found a deer, which he carried back with him into his

subterraneous habitation; that there the deer was killed,203 and he and his
companions found the meat so good, that they unanimously determined to
leave their dark abode, and remove to a place where they could enjoy the
light of heaven and have such excellent game in abundance.

The other two tribes, the Unamis or Tortoise, and the Unalachtigos or
Turkey, have much similar notions, but reject the story of the lake, which
seems peculiar to the Minsi tribe.

These notions must be very far extended among the Indians of North
America generally, since we find that they prevail also among the Iroquois,
a nation so opposed to the Delawares, as has been shewn in the former parts
of this work, and whose language is so different from theirs, that not two
words, perhaps, similar or even analogous of signification may be found
alike in both. On this subject I beg leave to present an extract from the
manuscript notes of the late Reverend Christopher Pyrlæus, whom I am
always fond of quoting with respect, as he was a man of great truth, and
besides well acquainted with the Six Nations and their idioms.204 The
account that he here gives of the traditions of that people concerning their
original existence, was taken down by him in January 1743, from the mouth
of a respectable Mohawk chief named Sganarady, who resided on the
Mohawk river.

The Extract.

“Traditio.—That they had dwelt in the earth where it was dark and where
no sun did shine. That though they followed hunting, they ate mice, which
they caught with their hands. That Ganawagahha (one of them) having
accidentally found a hole to get out of the earth at, he went out, and that in
walking about on the earth he found a deer, which he took back with him,
and that both on account of the meat tasting so very good, and the
favourable description he had given them of the country above and on the
earth, their mother, concluded it best for them all to come out; that
accordingly they did so, and immediately set about planting corn, &c. That,

however, the Nocharauorsul, that is, the ground-hog, would not come out,
but had remained in the ground as before.”

So far Mr. Pyrlæus. From these traditions of the Iroquois, and those of the
Delawares and Mohicans, it seems to follow that they must have considered
their numbers very small, when they dwelt in the earth; perhaps, no more
than one family of each tribe, and that the custom of giving to their tribes
the names of particular animals, must have been very ancient. The ground-
hog, say the Mohawks, would not come out. But who was this hog? Might
it not formerly have been the name of one of their tribes, who was made the
subject of this fable?

However ridiculous these stories are, the belief of the Indians in them is not
to be shaken. When I was a boy between twelve and fifteen years of age, I
had often heard of white people conversant with the Indians, who at that
time would continually come to this place, (Bethlehem) in great numbers,
even by hundreds, that the Indians did not eat rabbits, because they thought
them infected with the venereal disease, and that whoever ate of their flesh,
was sure to take that disorder. Being then myself fond of catching those
animals in traps, I asked questions on this subject of several Mohican
Indians, who spoke the German language; but though they said nothing
about the disease that rabbits were said to be infected with, yet they advised
me by no means to eat of their flesh. They gave me no reason whatever to
induce me to abstain from this food; but afterwards, in the year 1762, when
I resided at Tuscorawas on the Muskingum, I was told by some of them,
that there were some animals which Indians did not eat, and among them
were the rabbit and the ground-hog; for, said they, they did not know but
that they might be related to them!

I found also that the Indians, for a similar reason, paid great respect to the
rattle-snake, whom they called their grandfather, and would on no account
destroy him. One day, as I was walking with an elderly Indian on the banks
of the Muskingum, I saw a large rattle-snake lying across the path, which I
was going to kill. The Indian immediately forbade my doing so; “for,” said
he, “the rattle-snake is grandfather to the Indians, and is placed here on

purpose to guard us, and to give us notice of impending danger by his rattle,
which is the same as if he were to tell us ‘look about!’ Now,” added he, “if
we were to kill one of those, the others would soon know it, and the whole
race would rise upon us and bite us.” I observed to him that the white
people were not afraid of this; for they killed all the rattle-snakes that they
met with. On this he enquired whether any white man had been bitten by
these animals, and of course I answered in the affirmative. “No wonder,
then!” replied he, “you have to blame yourselves for that! you did as much
as declaring war against them, and you will find them in your country,
where they will not fail to make frequent incursions. They are a very
dangerous enemy; take care you do not irritate them in our country; they
and their grandchildren are on good terms, and neither will hurt the other.”

These ancient notions have, however in a great measure died away with the
last generation, and the Indians at present kill their grandfather the rattle-
snake without ceremony, whenever they meet with him.

That the Indians, from the earliest times, considered themselves in a manner
connected with certain animals, is evident from various customs still
preserved among them, and from the names of those animals which they
have collectively, as well as individually, assumed. It might, indeed, be
supposed that those animals’ names which they have given to their several
tribes were mere badges of distinction, or “coats of arms” as Pyrlæus calls
them; but if we pay attention to the reasons which they give for those
denominations, the idea of a supposed family connexion is easily
discernible. The Tortoise, or as it is commonly called, the Turtle tribe,
among the Lenape, claims a superiority and ascendency over the others,
because their relation, the great Tortoise, a fabled monster, the Atlas of their
mythology, bears according to their traditions this great island on his back,
and also because he is amphibious, and can live both on land and in the
water, which neither of the heads of the other tribes can do. The merits of
the Turkey, which gives its name to the second tribe, are that he is
stationary, and always remains with or about them. As to the Wolf, after
whom the third tribe is named, he is a rambler by nature, running from one
place to another in quest of his prey; yet they consider him as their
benefactor, as it was by his means that the Indians got out of the interior of
the earth. It was he, they believe, who by the appointment of the Great

Spirit, killed the deer whom the Monsey found who first discovered the way
to the surface of the earth, and which allured them to come out of their
damp and dark residence. For that reason, the wolf is to be honoured, and
his name preserved for ever among them. Such are their traditions, as they
were related to me by an old man of this tribe more than fifty years ago.

These animals’ names, it is true, they all use as national badges, in order to
distinguish their tribes from each other at home and abroad. In this point of
view Mr. Pyrlæus was right in considering them as “coats of arms.” The
Turtle warrior draws either with a coal or paint here and there on the trees
along the war path, the whole animal carrying a gun with the muzzle
projecting forward, and if he leaves a mark at the place where he has made
a stroke on his enemy, it will be the picture of a tortoise. Those of the
Turkey tribe paint only one foot of a turkey, and the Wolf tribe, sometimes a
wolf at large with one leg and foot raised up to serve as a hand, in which the
animal also carries a gun with the muzzle forward. They, however, do not
generally use the word “wolf,” when speaking of their tribe, but call
themselves Pauk-sit205 which means round-foot, that animal having a round
foot like a dog.

The Indians, in their hours of leisure, paint their different marks or badges
on the doors of their respective houses, that those who pass by may know to
which tribe the inhabitants belong. Those marks also serve them for
signatures to treaties and other documents. They are as proud of their origin
from the tortoise, the turkey, and the wolf, as the nobles of Europe are of
their descent from the feudal barons of ancient times, and when children
spring from intermarriages between different tribes, their genealogy is
carefully preserved by tradition in the family, that they may know to which
tribe they belong.

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 animals and are very proud of that superiority; although
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 difference between themselves and the brute

kind, and the dominion 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 themselves a constituent part. Hence, in
their languages, these 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 exclude 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 themselves do not very well understand, as they have
no metaphysicians among them to analyse their vague notions, and perhaps
confuse them still more. But I can illustrate what I have said by some
characteristic anecdotes, with which I shall conclude this chapter.

I have already observed206 that 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,
stood up close to him, and addressed him in these words: “Hark ye! bear;
you 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.207 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 he thought that 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,208 who had
been when a boy taken prisoner by a tribe of the Wabash Indians, by whom
he was brought up, and had imbibed all their notions, had so wounded a
large bear that he could not move from the spot, and the animal cried
piteously like the one I have just mentioned. 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 acting 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 conquered, 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 fallen into the power of my enemy, I would not have disgraced my
nation as he did, but would have died with firmness and courage, as
becomes a true warrior.”

I leave the reader to reflect upon these anecdotes, which, I think, convey
more real information than any further attempts that I could make to explain
the strange notions which gave them rise.

CHAPTER XXXV.
INSANITY—SUICIDE.

NSANITY is not common among the Indians; yet I have known
several who were afflicted with mental derangement. Men in this
situation are always considered as objects of pity. Every one,
young and old, feels compassion for their misfortune; to laugh or
scoff at them would be considered as a crime, much more so to insult or
molest them. The nation or colour of the unfortunate object makes no
difference; the charity of the Indians extends to all, and no discrimination is
made in such a lamentable case.

About the commencement of the Indian war in 1763, a trading Jew, named
Chapman, who was going up the Detroit river with a batteau-load of goods
which he had brought from Albany, was taken by some Indians of the
Chippeway nation, and destined to be put to death. A Frenchman, impelled
by motives of friendship and humanity, found means to steal the prisoner,
and kept him so concealed for some time, that although the most diligent
search was made, the place of his confinement could not be discovered. At
last, however, the unfortunate man was betrayed by some false friend, and
again fell into the power of the Indians, who took him across the river to be
burned and tortured. Tied to the stake and the fire burning by his side, his
thirst, from the great heat, became intolerable, and he begged that some
drink might be given to him. It is a custom with the Indians, previous to a
prisoner being put to death, to give him what they call his last meal; a bowl
of pottage or broth was therefore brought to him for that purpose. Eager to
quench his thirst, he put the bowl immediately to his lips, and the liquor
being very hot, he was dreadfully scalded. Being a man of a very quick
temper, the moment he felt his mouth burned, he threw the bowl with its
contents full in the face of the man who had handed it to him. “He is mad!
He is mad!” resounded from all quarters. The bystanders considered his

conduct as an act of insanity, and immediately untied the cords with which
he was bound, and let him go where he pleased.

This fact was well known to all the inhabitants of Detroit, from whom I first
heard it, and it was afterwards confirmed to me by Mr. Chapman himself,
who was established as a merchant at that place.

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 derangement, and the person
who destroys himself is to them an object of pity. Such cases do not
frequently occur. Between the years 1771 and 1780, four Indians of my
acquaintance took the root of the may-apple, which is commonly used on
such occasions, 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, perhaps, be thought
uninteresting.

One of those 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 about coming, I went myself to the delightful spot which he had
judiciously selected for his dwelling. Here I always found the family
cheerful, sociable and happy, until some time before the fatal catastrophe
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 between 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 visitor at his home, in close conversation with his faithless
wife. This last stroke was more than he could bear; without saying a single
word, 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 with his cake of sugar, saying, “My friend! you have
many a time served me with a good pipe of tobacco, and I have not yet done
anything to please you. Take this as a reward for your goodness, 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 afternoon, 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 language as he could not
endure. Too highminded 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, the composition of which I have already described,209 was
forcibly poured down his throat. He recovered after some time, but never
was again the strong healthy man he had been before; his wife however
took warning from this desperate act, and behaved better ever after.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
DRUNKENNESS.

N treating of this subject, I cannot resist the impression of a
melancholy feeling, arising from the comparison which forces
itself upon my mind of what the Indians were before the
Europeans came into this country, and what they have become
since, by a participation in our vices. By their intercourse with us, they have
lost much of that original character by which they were once distinguished,
and which it is the object of this work to delineate, and the change which
has taken place is by no means for the better. I am not one of those wild
enthusiasts who would endeavour to persuade mankind that savage life is
preferable to a state of civilisation; but I leave it to every impartial person to
decide, whether the condition of the healthy sober Indian, pursuing his
game through forests and plains, is not far superior to that of the gangrened
drunken white man, rioting in debauchery and vice?

I have already before taken notice210 of the assertion which our aborigines
do not hesitate to make, that before the Europeans landed in those parts of
the American continent, they were unacquainted with that shameful
disorder which attacks generation in its sources. I am well aware that this
complaint is generally believed to have been communicated by the new
world to the old. I do not know upon what proofs this opinion rests, but I
am disposed to give credit to the uniform assertion of our northern Indians,
that this contagion was first introduced among them by emigrants from
Europe. However it may be, it is a lamentable fact that they are now very
generally infected with it, and that their population cannot long resist its
destructive operation upon their once strong and healthy constitutions,
particularly as it is associated with the abuse of strong liquors, now so
prevalent among them.

Of the manner in which they have acquired this latter vice, I presume there
can be no doubt. They charge us in the most positive manner with being the
first who made them acquainted with ardent spirits, and what is worse, with
having exerted all the means in our power to induce them to drink to excess.
It is very certain that the processes of distillation and fermentation are
entirely unknown to the Indians, and that they have among them no
intoxicating liquors but such as they receive from us. The Mexicans have
their Pulque, and other indigenous beverages of an inebriating nature, but
the North American Indians, before their intercourse with us commenced,
had absolutely nothing of the kind. The smoke of the American weed,
tobacco, was the only means that they at that time had in use to produce a
temporary exhilaration of their spirits.

I have related in a former chapter,211 the curious account given by the
Delawares and Mohicans of the scene which took place when they were
first made to taste spirituous liquors by the Dutch who landed on New York
Island. I have no doubt that this tradition is substantially founded on fact.
Indeed, it is strongly corroborated by the name which, in consequence of
this adventure, those people gave at the time to that island, and which it has
retained to this day. They called it Manahachtanienk, which in the
Delaware language, means “the island where we all became intoxicated.”
We have corrupted this name into Manhattan, but not so as to destroy its
meaning, or conceal its origin. The last syllable which we have left out is
only a termination, implying locality, and in this word signifies as much as
where we. There are few Indian traditions so well supported as this.

How far from that time the dreadful vice of intoxication has increased
among those poor Indians, is well known to many Christian people among
us. We may safely calculate on thousands who have perished by the baneful
effect of spirituous liquors. The dreadful war which took place in 1774
between the Shawanese, some of the Mingoes, and the people of Virginia,
in which so many lives were lost, was brought on by the consequences of
drunkenness. It produced murders, which were followed by private revenge,
and ended in a most cruel and destructive war.

The general prevalence of this vice among the Indians is in a great degree
owing to unprincipled white traders, who persuade them to become

intoxicated that they may cheat them the more easily, and obtain their lands
or212 peltries for a mere trifle. Within the last fifty years, some instances
have even come to my knowledge of white men having enticed Indians to
drink, and when drunk, murdered them. The effects which intoxication
produces upon the Indians are dreadful. It has been the cause of an infinite
number of murders among them, besides biting off noses and otherwise
disfiguring each other, which are the least consequences of the quarrels
which inebriation produces between them. I cannot say how many have
died of colds and other disorders, which they have caught by lying upon the
cold ground, and remaining exposed to the elements when drunk; others
have lingered out their lives, in excruciating rheumatic pains and in wasting
consumptions, until death came to relieve them from their sufferings.

Reflecting Indians have keenly remarked, “that it was strange that a people
who professed themselves believers in a religion revealed to them by the
great Spirit himself; who say that they have in their houses the Word of
God, and his laws and commandments textually written, could think of
making a beson,213 calculated to bewitch people and make them destroy
one another.” I once asked an Indian at Pittsburgh, whom I had not before
seen, who he was? He answered in broken English: “My name is Black-fish;
when at home with my nation, I am a clever fellow, and when here, a hog.”
He meant that by means of the liquor which the white people gave him, he
was sunk down to the level of that beast.

An Indian who had been born and brought up at Minisink, near the
Delaware Water Gap, and to whom the German inhabitants of that
neighbourhood 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 always called “the Devil’s blood,” and was firmly
persuaded that the Devil, or some of his inferior spirits had a hand in
preparing it.

Once in my travels, I fell in with an Indian and his son; the former, though
not addicted to drinking, had this time drank some liquor with one of his
acquaintances, of which he now felt the 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!” said 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?”

Heckew. “Yes; and I called to you at the time to look, how I was standing
on it; and if you have 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 uncommonly large snake, moving as
if it intended to bite me!—I cannot get over my surprise, that the liquor I