The Minnatarees, and all the other Indians who are of the stock of the
grandfather of nations, were once not of this upper air, but dwelt in
the bowels of the earth. The Good Spirit, when he made them, no doubt
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 ordered
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.
They all dwelt under ground, like moles, in one great cavern, which
covered the whole island; when they emerged, it was in different places,
but generally near where they now inhabit. At that time, few of the
Indian tribes wore the human form; some had the figures or semblances of
beasts. The Paukunnawkuts were rabbits, some of the Delawares were
ground-hogs, others tortoises, and the Tuscaroras and a great many
others, were rattlesnakes. The Sioux were the hissing-snake(1); but the
Minatarees were always men. Their part of the great cavern was situated
far towards the Mountains of Snow.
The great cavern in which the Indians dwelt was indeed a dark and dismal
region. In the country of the Minnatarees it was lighted up only by the
rays of the sun which strayed through the fissures of the rock, and the
crevices in the roof of the cavern, while in that of the Mengwe it was
dark and sunless. The life of the Indians was a life of misery compared
with that they now enjoy, and it was endured only because they were
ignorant of a fairer or richer world, or a better or happier state of
being. Clothes they had none; they lived and died naked as they came
into the world. Their food was mice, and snakes, and worms, and moles,
with now and then a bat, and the roots of trees, which crept downward
from the regions of the upper air till they reached the subterranean
abodes of the poor benighted Indian. They ate sand, it is true, and fed
upon a dirt which glittered like the sun, but which was tasteless, and
contained no nutriment, and they grew poor upon it, and early sickened
and died. A miserably poor and weak race they were, and the Great Spirit
was kindest, when he took them from their dismal dwellings to the happy
mansions in the green vales and quiet lakes which lie hid in the
mountains. And, so well convinced were the Indians that the exchange
would be for the better, that they celebrated the death of a man with
great rejoicing, but wept and howled loud and long when a child was
born. And thus they dwelt, in the caverns which lie beneath the surface
of the earth, unknowing of the beautiful and glorious world over their
heads, till the Good Spirit sent agents for their deliverance.
There were among the Minnatarees two boys, who, from the hour of their
birth, showed superior wisdom, sagacity, and cunning. Even while they
were children, they were wiser than their fathers and mothers. They
asked their parents whence the light which streamed through the fissures
of the rock and played along the sides of the cavern came, and whence
and from what descended the roots of the great vine. Their father said
he could not tell; and their mother only laughed at the question, which
appeared to her very foolish. They asked the priest; neither could he
tell, but said he supposed the light came from the eyes of some great
wolf. The boys told him he was a fool. They asked the king tortoise, who
sulkily drew his head into his shell, and made no answer. But, when they
asked the chief rattlesnake, he answered that he knew, and would tell
them all about it if they would promise to make peace with his tribe,
and on no account ever to kill one of his descendants. The boys
promised, and the chief rattlesnake then told them that there was a
world above them, composed of ore more shining than that they had tossed
in boyish play in each other's eyes--a beautiful world, peopled by
creatures in the shape of beasts, having a pure atmosphere and a soft
sky, sweet fruits and mellow water, well-stocked hunting-grounds and
well-filled ponds. He told them to ascend by the roots, which were those
of a great grape-vine. A while after the boys were missing. Another
while they had not returned; nor did they come back until the
Minnatarees had celebrated the feast of rejoicing for their death(2),
and the lying priest had, as he falsely said, in a vision seen them
inhabitants of the Land of Spirits.
One day, the Indians were surprised by the return of the boys. They came
back singing and dancing, and were grown so much, and looked so
different from what they did when they left the cavern, that their
father and mother scarcely knew them. They were sleek and fat; and when
they walked it was with so strong a step that the hollow space rung with
the sound of their feet. Their bodies were covered with something which
the Minnatarees had never seen before, but which they since know was
feathers and the skins of animals. They had blankets wrapt around them
of the skins of racoons and beavers. Each of them had at his back a
bundle of beautiful ripe grapes, and of the flesh of a great animal,
which they had been taught to kill by people looking much like the
Minnatarees, only handsomer and stronger--people who lived by hunting,
and delighted in shedding the blood of each other, who painted their
bodies with strange figures, and loved to drink a water which made them
crazy and boisterous.
On first emerging from the caverns, they came, they said, into a world
where all was light and beauty. It was directly over that part of the
cavern where our tribe dwelt. They saw a great round ball of fire, which
gave light and heat to the earth, and whose beams it was which had shot
down through the fissures of the rock, partially illumining the cavern.
The earth above them they had found covered with green, and scented with
sweet-smelling flowers. Here and there were beautiful groves of trees,
in whose shady branches birds of soft notes and varied and lovely
plumage were singing all the day long. Its waters, which flowed cool and
clear, were peopled by sportive fishes, and by many kinds of fowls,
whose motions in their element were beautiful to the eye; and whose
meat, when cooked, was exceedingly sweet to the taste. They saw a
beautiful river, gliding rapidly through banks, shaded by lofty trees;
its smooth current wafting the Indian brave to distant expeditions of
war and the chase. Here were vast herds of wild animals, called by the
inhabitants bisons, whose flesh they had found very good and juicy, and
which animals were killed with arrows and sharp spears. The eyes of the
boys glistened like coals of fire, and became of double size, while they
described the beauties and wonders of the upper earth.
The Indians were very much delighted with the boys' story. They tasted
of the meat, and the grapes, and liked them so well, that they resolved
to leave their dull residence under ground, for the charms of the upper
air. All the inhabitants of the cavern agreed to leave it for the
newly-discovered hunting-grounds, except the ground-hog, the badger, and
the mole, who said as their maker had placed them there, there they
would live, and there they would die. The rabbit said he would live
sometimes below and sometimes above, and the rattlesnake, and the
tortoise, promised to spend the winter in the caverns, which they always
do.
When the Indians had determined to leave their habitations under ground,
they agreed to do it at different points, that they might sooner be on
the surface. The Minnatarees began, men, women, and children, to clamber
up the vine. One half of them had already reached the surface of the
earth, when a dire mishap involved the remainder in a still more
desolate captivity within its bowels. There was among the Minnatarees a
very big and fat old woman, who was heavier than any six of her nation.
Nothing would do but she must go up before certain of her neighbours.
Away she clambered, but her weight was so great, that the vine broke
with it; and the opening, to which it afforded the sole means of
ascending, closed upon her and the rest of the nation. Other tribes
fared better: in particular the beasts. The tortoise, who always took
the lead, because he was descended from the Great Tortoise who bears the
world on his back, and can live both on the land and in the water, very
easily crept out, but the Monseys or Wolves, who dwelt under Lake
Onondaga, did not emerge so easily. After trying to reach the upper air
for a long time in vain, one of their number, a cunning old wolf,
discovered a hole through which he crept out. He soon caught a deer,
which he carried down to his tribe, who found it so sweet that they
redoubled their exertions to reach a spot where such good things were to
be had, and fortunately soon reached it in company with the Turkeys,
whom they overtook on the way. The Mengwe crept out of the same hole,
but it was a long while afterwards. The Tortoise, the Wolves, and the
Turkeys, all confederated to declare war against the Bears, who were a
very numerous and savage tribe; and the hatchet has not been buried yet.
But they made a firm peace with the Rattlesnakes, which lasted till the
coming of the Big-knives, when the latter broke the calumet of peace by
biting an Indian, whom they mistook for a white man. Since then these
two people have also been at war.
When the Minnatarees arrived in the upper air, they established
themselves on the spot where they now reside. Very soon after, a party
of strange men appeared among them, mounted on animals, or rather they
seemed a part of strange animals, with four legs, possessed of great
fleetness, and whose long and beautiful tails swept the earth where they
trod. They attacked the wonderful creatures with their bows and arrows,
and succeeded in killing one of them, upon which the others ran away.
Not at first perceiving that the man and horse were two distinct
animals, how much were they surprised to see the former fall to the
earth, as if one part of the compound of the animal was dead, and the
other still active, having received no injury. They at length succeeding
in capturing the horse, and, after admiring the beauty of his form, and
becoming familiar with him, they proceeded to tie one of their young men
upon his back with cords that he might not fall off. The horse was then
led cautiously by the halter until he became sufficiently tame to ride
alone, and without a leader. It was in this manner that our nation
procured the horse, and from this one sprung the breed we now have.
Brothers, this is what our fathers told us of the manner in which the
Minnatarees and other Indian tribes became possessed of their present
hunting-grounds, and of the way in which our nation procured the
horse.--I have done.