GENERAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE INDIANS ON THE WHITE PEOPLE.
The 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.