that principle, which constitutes their own vital principle. They have
even no word in their language that answers to that of soul in ours. The
term approaching nearest thereto that we can find, is _M'cheejacmih_,
which signifies _Shade_, and may be construed something in the nature of
the _Manes_ of the Romans.
The general belief amongst them is, that, after death, they go to a
place of joy and plenty, in which sensuality is no more omitted than in
Mahomet's paradise. There they are to find women in abundance, a country
thick of all manner of game to humor their passion for hunting, and bows
and arrows of the best sort, ready made. But these regions are supposed
at a great distance from their's, to which they will have to travel; and
therefore it's requisite to be well-provided, before they quit their own
country, with arrows, long poles fit for hunting, or for covering
cabbins, with bear-skins, or elk-hides, with women, and with some of
their children, to make their journey to that place more commodious,
more pleasant, and appear more expeditious. It was especially in
character for a warrior, not to leave this world without taking with him
some marks of his bravery, as particularly scalps. Therefore it was,
that when any of them died, he was always followed by, at least, one of
his children, some women, and above all, by her whom in his life he had
most loved, who threw themselves into the grave, and were interred with
him. They also put into it great strips, or rolls of the bark of birch,
arrows, and scalps. Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, light upon
some of these old burying-places in the woods, with all these funeral
accompanyments; but of late, the interment of live persons has been
almost entirely disused.
I never could learn whether they had any set formulary of prayer, or
invocation to the _great Manitoo_; or whether they made any sacrifices
of beasts or peltry, to any other _Manitoo_, in contradiction to him, or
to any being whom they dreaded as an evil genius. I could discover no
more than what I have above related of the ceremonies in honor of the
sun. I know, indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, which
they invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake any
journeys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set for
their game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to it:
"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our benefit,
supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to him, thou hast
concurred to make us spring out of that earth we have inhabited from the
first ages of the world, and takest particular care of us, that the
malignant air of the night, should not kill the principle and bud of
life within us. Thou regardest us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hast
not, from the first time, discontinued to treat us like a true mother.
Thou guidest us in our nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light it
is, that we have often struck great strokes in war; and more than once
have our enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thy
clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted us,
for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have enabled
us not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but often to surprize
him asleep. However we might be wanting to ourselves, thy regular course
was never wanting to us. Beautiful spouse of the sun! give us to
discover the tracks of elks, moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears,
when urged by our wants, we pursue by night the hunt after these beasts.
Give to our women the strength to support the pains of child-birth
[_Lucina fer opem_, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens],
render their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible fountains."
I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition or
knowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with such
unsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on that
head.
This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man how old
he is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy head?"
Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. When we
would say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they express it by, "I
shall be a moon and a half on it."
Before _we_ knew them, it was common to see amongst them, persons of
both sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty years of age.
But these examples of longevity are grown much more rare.
By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly decreased. Some
imagine this is owing to that inveterate animosity, with which these so
many petty nations were continually laboring one another's destruction
and extirpation. Others impute it to the introduction by the Europeans,
of the vice of drunkenness, and to the known effect of spirituous
liquors in the excesses of their use, to which they are but too prone,
in striking at the powers of generation, as well as at the principles of
health and life. Not improbably too, numbers impatient of the
encroachments of the Europeans on their country, and dreading the
consequences of them to their liberty, for which they have a passionate
attachment, and incapable of reconciling or assimilating their customs
and manners to ours, have chosen to withdraw further into the western
recesses of the continent, at a distance impenetrable to our approach.
But which ever of these conjectures is the truest, or whether or not all
of these causes have respectively concurred, in a lesser or greater
degree, the fact is certain, that all these northern countries are
considerably thinned of their natives, since the first discovery of them
by the Europeans. Nor have I reason to think, but that this is true of
America in general, wherever they have carried their power, or extended
their influence.
It is also true, that the women of this country are naturally not so
prolific as those of some other parts of the world in the same latitude.
One reason for this may be, their not having their menstrual flux so
copiously, or for so long a time as those of Europe. Yet one would
think, the plurality of wives permitted amongst them, might in some
measure compensate for this defect, which, however, it evidently does
not.
Their women have always observed, not to present themselves at any
public ceremony, or solemnity, whilst under their monthly terms, nor to
admit the embraces of their husbands.
At stated times they repair to particular places in the woods, where
they recite certain formularies of invocation to the _Manitoo_ dictated
to them by some of their oldest _Sagamees_, or principal women, and more
frequently by some celebrated Juggler of the village, that they may
obtain the blessing of fruitfulness. For it is with them, as amongst the
Jews, that barrenness is accounted opprobrious. A woman is not looked
upon as a woman, till she has proved it, by her fulfilling what they
consider as one of the great ends of her creation. Failing in that, she
is divorced from her husband, and may then prostitute herself without
any scandal. If she has no inclination or relish for this way of life,
they compel her to it, in regard to their young men, who do not care to
marry, till they are arrived at full-ripe years, and for whom, on their
return from their warlike or hunting expeditions, they think it
necessary to provide such objects of amusement. They pretend withal,
that they are subject to insupportable pains in their loins, if such a
remedy is not at hand to relieve them. But once more you are to
remember, that I am only speaking of those people not yet converted to
Christianity, by which this licentiousness is not allowed. And yet,
notwithstanding the maxims we inculcate to them, the natives continue no
other than what they were before, that is to say, as much addicted to
venery as ever, and rarely miss an occasion of gratifying their appetite
to it. The only way we can think of to prevent their offending religion,
is to have them married as soon as they begin to feel themselves men.
The restraint however in this point is, what they can least endure.
In their unconverted state, their manner of courtship and marriage is as
follows: When a youth has an inclination to enter into the connubial
state, his father, or next relation, looks out for a girl, to whose
father the proposal is made: this being always transacted between the
parents of the parties to be married. The young man, who is commonly
about thirty years of age, or twenty at the least, rarely consults his
own fancy in this point. The girl, who is always extreamly young, is
never supposed to trouble her head about the measures that are taking to
marry her. When the parents on each side have settled the matter, the
youth is applied to, that he may prepare his calumet as soon as he
pleases.
The calumet used on these occasions, is a sort of spungeous reed, which
may furnish, according to its length, a number of calumets, each of
which is about a foot long, to be lighted at one end, the other serving
to suck in the smoak at the mouth, and is suffered to burn within an
inch of the lips.
The speech made to the youth on this occasion is as follows: "Thou
may'st go when thou wilt, by day or by night, to light thy calumet in
such a cabbin. Thou must observe to direct the smoak of it towards the
person who is designed for thee, and carry it so, that she may take such
a taste to this vapor, as to desire of thee that she may smoak of thy
calumet. Show thyself worthy of thy nation, and do honor to thy sex and
youth. Suffer none in the cabbin to which thou art admitted, to want any
thing thy industry, thy art, or thy arrows can procure them, as well for
food, as for peltry, or oil, for the good of their bodies, inside and
outside. Thou hast four winters given thee, for a trial of thy patience
and constancy."
At this the youth never fails of going to the place appointed. If the
girl, (who knows the meaning of this) has no particular aversion to him,
she is soon disposed to ask his calumet of him. In some parts, but not
in this where I am, she signifies her acceptance by blowing it out. Here
she takes it from him, and sucking it, blows the smoak towards his
nostrils, even sometimes so violently, as to make him qualm-sick, at
which she is highly delighted. Nothing, however, passes farther against
the laws of modesty, though she will tress his hair, paint his face, and
imprint on various parts of his body curious devices and flourishes, all
relative to their love; which she pricks in, and rubs over with a
composition that renders the impression uncancellable.
If the parents of the girl are pleased with the procedure of the suitor,
they commonly, at the end of the second year, dispense, in his favor,
with the rest of the probation-time; and, indeed, they could not well
before, the girl almost always wanting, from the time she is first
courted, at least two years to bring on the age of consummation. They
tell him, "Thou may'st now take a small part of the covering of thy
beloved whilst she sleeps." No sooner is this compliment made him, than,
without saying any thing, he goes out of the cabbin, armed with his bow
and arrows, and hurrying home acquaints his friends, that he is going to
the woods, whence he shall not return till it pleases his beloved to
recall him.
Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the woods, and stays there for two
or three days, diverting himself with hunting; at the end of which it
has been agreed on, to send all the youths of the village to fetch him:
and they come back loaded with game of all sorts, though the bridegroom
is not suffered to carry any thing. There is also great provision made
of seal and sea-cows for the wedding-feast.
The head Juggler of the village, meets the bridegroom who is at the head
of the procession, takes him by the hand, and conducts him to the cabbin
of the bride, where he is to take part of her bed; upon which he lies
down by her side, and both continue unmoveable and silent like two
statues, whilst they are obliged to hear the long tedious harangues of
the Juggler, of the parents of both, and of their oldest relations.
After that, they both get up, and are led, the one by the young men, the
other by the girls, to the place of entertainment, all singing,
shooting, and dancing.
The bridegroom is seated amongst the young men on one side, and the
bride amongst the girls on another. One of his friends takes an
_Oorakin_, loads it with roast-meat, and sets it down by him, whilst one
of her's does the same thing, with an _Oorakin_ of the same size, and
nearly alike, which is placed by the bride's side. After this ceremony
of placing the _Oorakin_, the Juggler pronounces certain magical words
over the meat: he foretels, especially to the bride, the dreadful
consequences she must expect from the victuals she is about to eat, if
she has in her heart any perfidiousness towards her husband: that she
may be assured of finding in the _Oorakin_ that contains them, a certain
prognostic of her future happiness, or unhappiness: of happiness, if she
is disposed never in her life to betray her nation, nor especially her
husband, upon any occasion, or whatever may befal her: of unhappiness,
if through the caresses of strangers, or by any means whatever she
should be induced to break her faith to him, or to reveal to the enemy
the secrets of the country.
At the end of every period, all the assistants signify their assent to
the Juggler's words, by a loud exclamation of _Hah!_ Whilst he is
talking, the particular friend of the bridegroom, and that of the bride,
keep their eyes fixed on the two _Oorakins_; and as soon as he has done,
the bride's friend making as if she did not think of what she was about,
takes the _Oorakin_ allotted for the bridegroom, and carries it to the
bride, whilst the bridegroom's friend, (the thing being pre-concerted)
acts the like mummery of inadvertence, and sets before the bridegroom
the _Oorakin_ belonging to the bride; after which the dishes are served
in to the rest of the company. When they are all served, the two friends
of the parties musing a little, pretend to have just then discovered
their exchange of the bride and bridegroom's _Oorakins_. They declare it
openly to each other, at which the Juggler takes up his cue, and with a
solemn face says, "The _Manitoo_ has had his designs in this mistake: he
has vouchsafed to give an indubitable sign of his approbation of the
strait alliance this day contracted. What is the one's, is the same as
the other's. They are henceforward united, and are as one and the same
person. It is done. May they multiply without end!" At this the
assistants all start up, and with cries of joy, and congratulation, rush
to embrace the bride and bridegroom, and overwhelm them with caresses.
After which they sit very gravely down again to the entertainment before
them, and dispatch it in great silence. This is followed by dances of
all kinds, with which the feast for the day concludes, as must this
letter, in which I have certainly had less attention to the observing
the limits of one, than to the gratifying your curiosity, with respect
to these people, amongst whom my lot has so long been cast.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient
Humble servant,
_To understand the following piece, it is necessary to know, that after
the insidious peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the savage nations, especially
the Mickmakis and Maricheets continued hostilities against the English,
at the underhand instigation of the French, who meant thereby to
prevent, or at least distress, as much as obstruct, our new settlements
in Nova-Scotia. For this purpose, the French missionaries had their cue
from their government to act the incendiaries, and, to inflame matters
to the highest pitch. These being, however, sensible, that the part
assigned them was a very odious one, and inconsistent with the spirit of
that religion for which they profess such zeal, one of them, by way of
palliation, and in order to throw the blame on the English themselves,
drew up the following state of the case, between our nation and the
savages, viz._
MEMORIAL
OF THE
Motives of the Savages, called _Mickmakis_
and _Maricheets_, for continuing
the War with _England_ since the last
Peace.
Dated _Isle-Royal_, 175-.
These nations have never been able to forget all that the English
settled in North-America have done since the very first of their
establishment, towards destroying them root and branch. They have
especially, at every moment, before their eyes the following
transactions:
In 1744, towards the end of October, Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps Goreham)
deceased, commanding a detachment of the English troops, sent to observe
the retreat the French and savages were making from before Port-Royal
(Annapolis) in Acadia, (Nova-Scotia): this detachment having found two
huts of the Mickmaki-savages, in a remote corner, in which there were
five women and three children, (two of the women were big with child)
ransacked, pillaged, and burnt the two huts, and massacred the five
women and three children. It is to be observed, that the two pregnant
women were found with their bellies ripped open. An action which these
savages cannot forget, especially as at that time they made fair war
with the English. They have always looked on this deed as a singular
mark of the most unheard-of cruelty. [Who would not look on it in the
same light? But as no nation on earth is known to have more than ours
constitutionally, a horror for such barbarities, especially in cold
blood; it may be very easily presumed, that this fact was, if true,
committed by some of the savages themselves, without the knowledge of
the commander, or of any of the English troops.]
Five months before this action, one named _Danas_, or _David_, an
English privateer, having treacherously hoisted French colors in the
Streights of Fronsac, by means of a French deserter he had with him,
decoyed on board his vessel the chief of the savages of Cape-Breton,
called James Padanuque, with his whole family, whom he carried to
Boston, where he was clapped into a dungeon the instant he was landed;
from which he was only taken out to stifle him on board of a vessel, in
which they pretended to return him safe to Cape-Breton. His son, at that
time a boy of eight years of age, they will absolutely not release;
though, since their detention of that young savage, they have frequently
had prisoners sent back to them, without ransom, on condition of
restoring the young man to his country: but though they accepted the
condition, they never complied with it.
In the month of July, 1745, the same Danas, with the same success,
employed the same decoy on a savage-family, which could not get out of
their hands, but by escaping one night from their prisons.
About the same time one named Bartholomew Petitpas, an appointed
savage-linguist, was carried away prisoner to Boston. The savages have
several times demanded him in exchange for English prisoners they then
had in their hands, of whom two were officers, to whom they gave their
liberty, on condition of the Bostoners returning of Petitpas; whom,
however, they not only kept prisoner, but afterwards put to death.
In the same year, 1745, a missionary of the savages of Cape Breton,
Natkikouesch, Picktook, and of the island of St. John, having been
invited by several letters, on the part of the commodore of the
_English_ squadron, and of the general of the land-forces, to a parley,
those gentlemen desired with him, concerning the savages, repaired to
Louisbourg, at that time in possession of the English, on the assurances
they had given him in writing, and on the formal promises they had bound
with an oath, of full liberty to return from whence he came, after
having satisfied them in all they wanted of him. They detained him at
Louisbourg, where they gave him a great deal of ill usage, and obliged
him to embark, all sick as he was, and destitute of necessaries, on
board of one of the ships of the squadron, in which he was conveyed to
England, from whence he at length got to France. [Most probably he had
not given the satisfaction required by those gentlemen, which had been
confessedly by himself made the condition of his return.]
The same year, 1745, several bodies of the savages, deceased, and buried
at _Port Tholouze_, were dug up again by the Bostoners, and thrown into
the fire. The burying-place of the savages was demolished, and all the
crosses, planted on the graves, broke into a thousand pieces.
In 1746, some stuffs that the savages had bought of the English, who
then traded in the bay of Megagouetch at _Beau-bassin_, there being at
that time a great scarcity of goods over all the country, were found to
be _poisoned_, [Is it possible a missionary of the truths of the Gospel
could gravely commit to paper such an infernal lie? If even the savages
had been stupid enough of themselves to imbibe such a notion, was it not
the duty of a Christian to have shewn them the folly of it, or even but
in justice to the Europeans? But what must be their guilt, if they
suggested it? Surely, scarce less than that of the action itself.] so
that more than two hundred savages of both sexes perished thereby.
In 1749, towards the end of the month of May, at a time that the
suspension of arms between the two crowns was not yet known in New
France, the savages, having made prisoners two Englishmen of
Newfoundland, had from these same prisoners the first news of the
cessation of hostilities. They believed them on their bare words,
expressed their satisfaction to them, treated them like brothers,
unbound them, and carried them to their huts. The said prisoners rose in
the night, and massacred twenty-five of these savages, men, women, and
children. There were but two of the savages escaped this carnage, by
being accidentally not present. [_How improbable is the whole of this
story?_]
Towards the end of the same year, the English being come to Chibuckto,
made the report be every where spread [The missionaries in those parts
might indeed raise such reports; the which giving the savages an
aversion to the English, forced them to take hostile measures against
them in their own defence: but who would suspect the English themselves
of raising them, in direct opposition to their own interest?], that they
were going to destroy all the savages. They seemed to act in consequence
thereto, since they sent detachments of their troops, on all sides, in
pursuit of the savages.
These people were so alarmed with this procedure of the English, that
from that time they determined, as weak as they were, to declare open
war against them. Knowing that France had concluded a peace with
England, they nevertheless resolved not to cease from falling on the
English, wherever they could find them; saying, they were indispensably
obliged to it, since, against all justice, they wanted to expel them out
of their country. They then sent a declaration of war in form to the
English, in the name of their nation, and of the savages in alliance
with it.
As to what concerns the missionaries to the savages, they cannot be
suspected of using any connivence in all this, if justice is done to the
conduct they have always observed amongst them, and especially in the
time of the last war. How many acts of inhumanity would have been
committed by this nation, naturally vindictive, if the missionaries had
not taken pains, in good earnest, to put such ideas out of their heads?
It is notorious, that the savages believe that there are no extremities
of barbarity, but what are within the rules of war against those whom
they consider as their enemies. Inexpressible are the efforts which
these same missionaries have employed to restrain, on such occasions,
this criminal ferocity, especially as the savages deemed themselves
authorized by right of reprisals. How many unfortunate persons of the
English nation would have been detained for ever captives, or undergone
the most cruel deaths, if, by the intervention of the missionaries, the
savages had not been prevailed on to release them?