_Of their_ MANNERS, QUALIFICATIONS, _&c._
WHEN the Indian women sit down, they place themselves in a decent
attitude, with their knees close together; but from being accustomed to
this posture, they walk badly, and appear to be lame.
They have no midwives amongst them, their climate, or some peculiar
happiness in their constitutions, rendering any assistance at that time
unnecessary. On these occasions they are confined but a few hours from
their usual employments, which are commonly very laborious, as the men,
who are remarkably indolent, leave to them every kind of drugery; even
in their hunting parties the former will not deign to bring home the
game, but send their wives for it, though it lies at a very considerable
distance.
The women place their children soon after they are born on boards
stuffed with soft moss, such as is found in morasses or meadows. The
child is laid on its back in one of these kind of cradles, and, being
wrapped in skins or cloth to keep it warm, is secured in it by small
bent pieces of timber.
To these machines they fasten strings, by which they hang them to
branches of trees; or if they find not trees at hand, fasten them to a
stump or stone, whilst they transact any needful business. In this
position are the children kept for some months. When they are taken out,
the boys are suffered to go naked, and the girls are covered from the
neck to the knees with a shift and a short petticoat.
The Indian women are remarkably decent during their menstrual illness.
Those nations that are most remote from the European settlements, as the
Naudowessies, &c. are more particularly attentive to this point; though
they all without exception adhere in some degree to the same custom.
In every camp or town there is an apartment appropriated for their
retirement at this time, to which both single and married retreat, and
seclude themselves with the utmost strictness during this period from
all society. Afterwards they purify themselves in running streams, and
return to their different employments.
The men on these occasions most carefully avoid holding any
communication with them; and the Naudowessies are so rigid in this
observance, that they will not suffer any belonging to them to fetch
such things as are necessary, even fire, from these female lunar
retreats, though the want of them is attended with the greatest
inconvenience. They are also so superstitious as to think, if a pipe
stem cracks, which among them is made of wood, that the possessor has
either lighted it at one of these polluted fires, or held some converse
with a woman during her retirement, which is esteemed by them most
disgraceful and wicked.
The Indians are extremely circumspect and deliberate in every word and
action; there is nothing that hurries them into any intemperate warmth,
but that inveteracy to their enemies which is rooted in every Indian
heart, and never can be eradicated. In all other instances they are
cool, and remarkably cautious, taking care not to betray on any account
whatever their emotions. If an Indian has discovered that a friend is in
danger of being intercepted and cut off by one to whom he has rendered
himself obnoxious, he does not inform him in plain and explicit terms of
the danger he runs by pursuing the track near which his enemy lies in
wait for him, but he first coolly asks him which way he is going that
day; and having received his answer, with the same indifference tells
him that he has been informed that a dog lies near the spot, which might
probably do him a mischief. This hint proves sufficient; and his friend
avoids the danger with as much caution as if every design and motion of
his enemy had been pointed out to him.
This apathy often shews itself on occasions that would call forth all
the fervour of a susceptible heart. If an Indian has been absent from
his family and friends many months, either on a war or hunting party,
when his wife and children meet him at some distance from his
habitation, instead of the affectionate sensations that would naturally
arise in the breast of more refined beings, and be productive of mutual
congratulations, he continues his course without paying the least
attention to those who surround him, till he arrives at his home.
He there sits down, and with the same unconcern as if he had not been
absent a day, smokes his pipe; those of his acquaintance who have
followed him, do the same; and perhaps it is several hours before he
relates to them the incidents which have befallen him during his
absence, though perhaps he has left a father, brother, or son on the
field whose loss he ought to have lamented, or has been unsuccessful in
the undertaking that called him from his home.
Has an Indian been engaged for several days in the chace, or on any
other laborious expedition, and by accident continued thus long without
food, when he arrives at the hut or tent of a friend where he knows his
wants may be immediately supplied, he takes care not to show the least
symptoms of impatience, or to betray the extreme hunger by which he is
tortured; but on being invited in, sits contentedly down, and smokes his
pipe with as much composure as if every appetite was allayed, and he was
perfectly at ease; he does the same if among strangers. This custom is
strictly adhered to by every tribe, as they esteem it a proof of
fortitude, and think the reverse would intitle them to the appellation
of old women.
If you tell an Indian that his children have greatly signalized
themselves against an enemy, have taken many scalps, and brought home
many prisoners, he does not appear to feel any extraordinary pleasure on
the occasion; his answer generally is, “It is well,” and he makes very
little further enquiry about it. On the contrary, if you inform him that
his children are slain or taken prisoners, he makes no complaints, he
only replies, “It does not signify;” and probably, for some time at
least, asks not how it happened.
This seeming indifference, however, does not proceed from an entire
suppression of the natural affections; for notwithstanding they are
esteemed savages, I never saw among any other people greater proofs of
parental or filial tenderness; and although they meet their wives after
a long absence with the Stoical indifference just mentioned, they are
not in general void of conjugal affection.
Another peculiarity is observable in their manner of paying their
visits. If an Indian goes to visit a particular person in a family, he
mentions to whom his visit is intended, and the rest of the family
immediately retiring to the other end of the hut or tent are careful not
to come near enough to interrupt them during the whole of the
conversation. The same method is pursued if a man goes to pay his
respects to one of the other sex; but then he must be careful not to let
love be the subject of his discourse whilst the daylight remains.
The Indians discover an amazing sagacity, and acquire with the greatest
readiness any thing that depends upon the attention of the mind. By
experience and an acute observation, they attain many perfections to
which Europeans are strangers. For instance, they will cross a forest or
a plain which is two hundred miles in breadth, and reach with great
exactness the point at which they intend to arrive, keeping during the
whole of that space in a direct line, without any material deviations;
and this they will do with the same ease, whether the weather be fair or
cloudy.
With equal acuteness will they point to that part of the heavens the sun
is in, though it be intercepted by clouds or fogs. Besides this, they
are able to pursue with incredible facility the traces of man or beast,
either on leaves or grass; and on this account it is with great
difficulty a flying enemy escapes discovery.
They are indebted for these talents not only to nature, but to an
extraordinary command of the intellectual faculties, which can only be
acquired by an unremitted attention, and by long experience.
They are in general very happy in a retentive memory; they can
recapitulate every particular that has been treated of in council, and
remember the exact time when these were held. Their belts of wampum
preserve the substance of the treaties they have concluded with the
neighbouring tribes for ages back, to which they will appeal, and refer
with as much perspicuity and readiness as Europeans can to their written
records.
Every nation pays great respect to old age. The advice of a father will
seldom meet with any extraordinary attention from the young Indians,
probably they receive it with only a bare assent; but they will tremble
before a grandfather, and submit to his injunctions with the utmost
alacrity. The words of the ancient part of their community are esteemed
by the young as oracles. If they take during their hunting parties any
game that is reckoned by them uncommonly delicious, it is immediately
presented to the oldest of their relations.
They never suffer themselves to be overburdened with care, but live in a
state of perfect tranquillity and contentment. Being naturally indolent,
if provision just sufficient for their subsistence can be procured with
little trouble, and near at hand, they will not go far, or take any
extraordinary pains for it, though by so doing they might acquire
greater plenty and of a more estimable kind.
Having much leisure time they indulge this indolence to which they are
so prone, by eating, drinking, or sleeping, and rambling about in their
towns or camps. But when necessity obliges them to take the field,
either to oppose an enemy, or to procure themselves food, they are alert
and indefatigable. Many instances of their activity on these occasions
will be given when I treat of their wars.
The infatuating spirit of gaming is not confined to Europe; the Indians
also feel the bewitching impulse, and often lose their arms, their
apparel, and every thing they are possessed of. In this case, however,
they do not follow the example of more refined gamesters, for they
neither murmur nor repine; not a fretful word escapes them, but they
bear the frowns of fortune with a philosophic composure.
The greatest blemish in their character is that savage disposition which
impels them to treat their enemies with a severity every other nation
shudders at. But if they are thus barbarous to those with whom they are
at war, they are friendly, hospitable, and humane in peace. It may with
truth be said of them, that they are the worst enemies, and the best
friends, of any people in the whole world.
The Indians in general are strangers to the passion of jealousy; and
brand a man with folly that is distrustful of his wife. Among some bands
the very idea is not known; as the most abandoned of their young men
very rarely attempt the virtue of married women, nor do these often put
themselves in the way of solicitation. Yet the Indian women in general
are of an amorous temperature, and before they are married are not the
less esteemed for the indulgence of their passions.
Whilst I was among the Naudowessies I observed that they paid uncommon
respect to one of their women, and found on enquiry that she was
intitled to it on account of a transaction, that in Europe would have
rendered her infamous.
They told me that when she was a young woman, for at the time I saw her
she was far advanced in life, she had given what they termed a rice
feast. According to an ancient but almost obsolete custom (which, as
Hamlet says, would have been more honoured in the breach, than the
observance) she invited forty of the principal warriors to her tent,
where having feasted them with rice and venison, she by turns regaled
each of them with a private desert, behind a screen fixed for this
purpose in the inner part of the tent.
She had the happiness to obtain by this profusion of courtesy, the
favour of her guests, and the approbation of the whole band. So sensible
were the young Indians of her extraordinary merit, that they vied with
each other for her hand, and in a very short time one of the principal
chiefs took her to wife, over whom she acquired great sway, and from
whom she received ever after incessant tokens of respect, and love.
It is however scarcely once in an age that any of the females are hardy
enough to make this feast, notwithstanding a husband of the first rank
awaits as a sure reward the successful giver of it; and the custom, I
since find, is peculiar to the Naudowessies.
The Indians in their common state are strangers to all distinction of
property, except in the articles of domestic use, which every one
considers as his own, and increases as circumstances admit. They are
extremely liberal to each other, and supply the deficiency of their
friends with any superfluity of their own.
In dangers they readily give assistance to those of their band who stand
in need of it, without any expectation of return, except of those just
rewards that are always conferred by the Indians on merit. Governed by
the plain and equitable laws of nature, every one is rewarded solely
according to his deserts; and their equality of condition, manners, and
privileges, with that constant and sociable familiarity which prevails
throughout every Indian nation, animates them with a pure and truly
patriotic spirit, that tends to the general good of the society to which
they belong.
If any of their neighbours are bereaved by death or by an enemy of their
children, those who are possessed of the greatest number of slaves,
supply the deficiency; and these are adopted by them and treated in
every respect as if they really were the children of the person to whom
they are presented.
The Indians, except those who live adjoining to the European colonies,
can form to themselves no idea of the value of money; they consider it,
when they are made acquainted with the uses to which it is applied by
other nations, as the source of innumerable evils. To it they attribute
all the mischiefs that are prevalent among Europeans, such as treachery,
plundering, devastations, and murder.
They esteem it irrational that one man should be possessed of a greater
quantity than another, and are amazed that any honour should be annexed
to the possession of it. But that the want of this useless metal should
be the cause of depriving persons of their liberty, and that on account
of this partial distribution of it, great numbers should be immured
within the dreary walls of a prison, cut off from that society of which
they constitute a part, exceeds their belief. Nor do they fail, on
hearing this part of the European system of government related, to
charge the institutors of it with a total want of humanity, and to brand
them with the names of savages and brutes.
They shew almost an equal degree of indifference for the productions of
art. When any of these are shewn them, they say, “It is pretty, I like
to look at it,” but are not inquisitive about the construction of it,
neither can they form proper conceptions of its use. But if you tell
them of a person who is able to run with great agility, that is well
skilled in hunting, can direct with unerring aim a gun, or bend with
ease a bow, that can dexterously work a canoe, understands the art of
war, is acquainted with the situation of a country, and can make his way
without a guide, through an immense forest, subsisting during this on a
small quantity of provisions, they are in raptures; they listen with
great attention to the pleasing tale, and bestow the highest
commendations on the hero of it.