(1) _Stealing horses_--p. 148.
Stealing horses is one of the most meritorious acts an Indian can
perform, and is boasted of at his feasts among his other praiseworthy
deeds. Next to scalping, it is the greatest feat of the Indian warrior.
Before going out to war they pray to the Great Spirit to favour them,
among other things, with the ability to steal horses.
(2) _Struck dead bodies._--p. 148.
Striking the dead, or the disabled body of a living person, is
considered the third in the scale of honours. These things are
regulated, among the Indians, with the nicety which attends the
distribution of academical prizes at the Universities.
(3) _Lived in the same cabin, &c._--p. 149.
All the wives of an Indian reside under the same roof. As an Indian is
despotic in his family, there is seldom any domestic disagreement in his
cabin; if there be, the whip is called in to arbitrate the difference,
and the dispute is soon adjusted. I shall notice this subject in a note
in another part of the work.
(4) _Lodge of his father._--p. 152.
The dwelling-place of the Supreme Being is variously located by the
Indians. I shall not notice their reported belief, which places the Good
Spirit "above the blue sky," and gives the Evil Spirit the Antipodes.
Such, as it is mentioned by Loskiel and by Purchas, are the opinions of
the Eastern Indians. These are obviously derived from the white people.
The following may be pronounced the unsophisticated traditions of the
different tribes on this point, and they are very curious.
"About thirty miles below the falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived
the tenth day after I left Lape Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an
amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe, that is, the Dwelling of
the Great Spirit. The entrance into it is about four feet wide; the
height of it fire feet. The arch within it is near fifteen feet high,
and about thirty feet broad. The bottom of it consists of fine, clear
sand. About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of
which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the
darkness of the cave prevents all possibility of acquiring a knowledge
of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of it with my
utmost strength: I could hear that it fell into the water, and,
notwithstanding that it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing
and horrible noise, that reverberated through all those gloomy regions.
I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very
ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with
difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the
inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft,
that it might easily be penetrated with a knife; a stone every where to
be found near the Mississippi." _Carver's Travels_, p. 39, 40.
Very many of the Western Indians believe that the Supreme Being has his
residence in the Rocky Mountains; and some of them make him the
Sun.--_Charlevoix_, ii, 180, 117.
The Chippeways suppose the islands in Lake Superior to have been, from
their first formation, the residence of the Great Spirit, and relate
many stories of enchantment and magical tricks that had been experienced
by such as were obliged, through stress of weather, to take shelter
there.--See one of them further on.
The Hurons believe that Michabou, the God of the Waters, and sometimes
their Great Spirit, formerly dwelt at Michillimackinac where he was
born.
(5) _The thunder_.--p. 153.
The Indians have but one way to account for atmospherical phenomena; it
is always by the intervention of a Supreme or Spiritual Being of the
earth, the air, or the waters. Thus they ascribe earthquakes to the
moving of the Great Tortoise which bears the _Island_ (continent) on its
back. They say he shakes himself or changes his position. The Missouri
Indians believe earthquakes to be the effect of supernatural agency,
connected like the thunder with the immediate operations of the Master
of Life. Thunder and lightning impress them with inconceivable terror.
Their opinions of the cause are various. Some take it for a voice of a
particular species of men who fly in the air. Others say the noise comes
from certain birds that are unknown to them. The Montagnais say it is
the effort of a genius to bring up a snake which he hath swallowed; and
they found this notion on observing that when the thunder falls upon a
tree, it leaves something like, the shape of a snake.
The Konzas believe that, when a man is killed in battle, the thunder
takes him up, they do not know whither. In going to battle each man
traces an imaginary figure of the thunder on the soil, and he who
represents it incorrectly is killed by the thunder.
The Delawares, who knew nothing of the cause of natural phenomena, nor
do they desire to be informed of them, conceived thunder to be a spirit
dwelling in the mountains, and now and then sallying forth to make
himself heard. Some of them imagined it to proceed from the crowing of a
monstrous turkey-cock in the heavens; others from enraged evil spirits.
Carver says in his _Travels_: "We had just landed, and were preparing to
set up our tents for the night, when a heavy cloud overspread the
heavens, and the most dreadful thunder, lightning, and rain, issued from
it that ever I beheld. The Indians were greatly terrified, and ran to
seek such shelter as they could. The Indian chiefs themselves, though
their courage in war is usually invincible, could not help trembling at
the horrid combustion."--_Carver_, 56. The southern Indians believe
thunder to be the voice of the Almighty.--_Adair,_ 86. They believe that
Minggo Ishto Eloa, "the great chieftain of thunder" sometimes binds up
the clouds and withholds rain.--_Ibid_., 89.
Eclipses they attribute to the attempts of the Evil Spirits to embarrass
the labours of the luminary which is eclipsed. "The first lunar
eclipse," says Adair, "I saw, after I lived with the Indians, was among
the Cherokees in 1736; and, during the continuance of it, their conduct
appeared surprising to one who had not seen the like before; they all
ran wild, this way and that way, like lunatics, firing their guns,
whooping and hallooing, beating of kettles, ringing horse-bells, and
making the most horrid noises that human beings possibly could. This was
done to assist the suffering moon."--_Adair_, 65.
(6) _The chief gives her to him_.--p. 156.
Marriages among the Indians are proposed and concluded in different
ways. Thus, among the Delawares, the parents on both sides, having
observed an attachment growing up 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 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 women--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." From this time (if the presents be accepted) not only
presents of this kind are continued on both sides, but articles of
clothing are presented to the parents of each party by way of return for
what they have received, and of these 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, bowls, &c. &c.
The men who have no parents to negotiate for them, or who 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 answers in the affirmative, she either goes with him
immediately, or meets him at an appointed time or place. The other
method is--(I give it in their bad English)--"Indian, when he see
industrious squaw, which he like, he go to _him,_ place his two
fore-fingers 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."
Among the Iroquois, Miamis, &c. treaties of marriage are entirely
carried on by the parents; the parties interested do not appear at all,
but give themselves up entirely to the will of those on whom they
depend. The parents, however, do not conclude any thing without their
consent, but this is only a formality. The first advances must be made
by the matrons. Not but that, if any girl were to continue too long
without being sued for, her family would act underhand to procure her a
suitor.
In some places the young man is contented to go and sit by the side of
the young woman in her cabin; and, if she suffers it and continues in
her place, it is taken for her consent, and the marriage is concluded.
The customs of the different tribes do not essentially vary. What should
you say, my fair readers, at being "wooed and won" in this way?
(7) _Indian farm of marriage_.--p. 156.
The Indian nations differ but little from each other in their marriage
ceremonies. The tribes that inhabit the borders of Canada have the
following custom:--When every preliminary is agreed on, and the day
appointed, the friends and acquaintance of both parties assemble at the
house or tent of the oldest relation of the bridegroom, where a feast is
prepared on the occasion. The company who meet to assist at the festival
are sometimes very numerous; they dance, they sing, and enter into every
other diversion usual at any of their public rejoicings. When these are
finished, all those who attended merely out of ceremony depart, and the
bridegroom and the bride are left alone with three or four of the
nearest and oldest relations on either side; those of the bridegroom
being men, and those of the bride women.
Presently the bride, attended by these few friends, having withdrawn
herself for the purpose, appears at one of the doors of the house, and
is led to the bridegroom, who stands ready to receive her. Having now
taken their station on a mat, placed in the centre of the room, they lay
hold of the extremities of a wand about four feet long, by which they
continue separated, whilst the old men pronounce some short harangues
suitable to the occasion. The married couple after this make a public
declaration of the love and regard they entertain for each other, and
still holding the rod between them they dance and sing. When they have
finished this part of the ceremony, they break the rod into as many
pieces as there are witnesses present, who each take a piece, and
preserve it with great care. The bride is then re-conducted out of the
door as she entered, where her young companions wait to attend her to
her father's house; there the bridegroom is obliged to seek her.
Another manner of performing the ceremony is said to be peculiar to the
Naudowessies. When one of their young men has fixed on a young woman he
approves of, he discovers his passion to her parents, who give him an
invitation to come and live with them in their tents. He accordingly
accepts their offer, and by so doing engages to reside in it for a whole
year in the character of a menial servant. During this time he hunts,
and brings all the game he kills to the family; by which means the
father has an opportunity of seeing whether he can provide for the
support of his daughter and the children that might be the consequence
of their union. When this period is expired, the marriage is solemnized
after the custom of the country, in the following manner:--Three or four
of the oldest male relations of the bridegroom, and as many of the
bride's, accompany the young couple from their respective tents to an
open part in the centre of the camp. The chiefs and warriors being here
assembled to receive them, a party of the latter are drawn up into two
ranks on each side of the bride and bridegroom, immediately on their
arrival. The principal chief then acquaints the whole assembly with the
design of their meeting, and tells them that the couple before them,
mentioning at the same time their names, are come to avow publicly their
intention of living together as man and wife. He then asks the young
people alternately whether they desire that the union may take place.
Having declared, with an audible voice, that they do so, the warriors
fix their arrows, and discharge them over the needs of the married pair;
this done, the chief pronounces them man and wife. The bridegroom then
turns around, and, bending his body, takes his wife upon his back, in
which manner he carries her, amidst the acclamations of the spectators,
to his tent. The ceremony is concluded by the most plentiful feast the
new-married man can afford, and songs and dances, according to the usual
custom, conclude the festival.
Among the Quapaws, as I have been informed, the husband, on the
consummation of his marriage, presents his wife with a leg of deer, and
she in return offers him an ear of maize.