“the mouth,” and _Aàh_, “to move.” _Opáe_ is the name of a war-leader,
because he is to move his mouth to O E A, or invoke YO HE WAH, while he
carries the beloved ark to war, and is sanctifying himself and his
party, that they may obtain success against the enemy. But _Pae-Minggo_
signifies a far-off, or distant chieftain. _Pa yak Matàháh_, is the high
name of a war-leader, derived from _Páah_, to raise the voice to YAH,
and _Tahàh_, “finished,” meaning his war-gradation: the _M_ prefixed to
it, makes it a substantive, according to the usage of the Hebrews. Any
thing liquid they term _Ookche_, from _Ookka_ and _che_: and _Ookchaah_
signifies “alive.” It is drawn from _Ookka_, “water,” _Ch_, a note of
resemblance, and _Aàh_, “moving;” _i. e._ a living creature resembles
moving water. In like manner, _Ookchà_ signifies to awake out of sleep;
and also to plant any vegetable substance, alluding to their three
different states—they first were enabled to move about—then rest, or
sleep is necessary, and also being planted in the earth—but they hope
that in due time, they shall be moved upward, after they have slept a
while in the earth, by the omnipotent power of _Yah_. They have an idea
of a resurrection of the dead body, according to the general belief of
the Jews, and in conformity to St. Paul’s philosophical axiom, that
corruption precedes generation, and a resurrection.
_Keenta_ signifies “a beaver,” _Ookka_ “water,” and _Heenna_ “a path;”
but, for a smooth cadence, they contract them into one word,
_Keentookheenna_; which very expressively signifies “a beaver-dam.”
The Indian compounded words, are generally pretty long; but those that
are radical, or simple, are mostly short: very few, if any of them,
exceed three or four syllables. And, as their dialects are guttural,
every word contains some consonants; and these are the essential
characteristics of language. Where they deviate from this rule, it is by
religious emblems; which obviously proceeds from the great regard they
paid to the names of the Deity; especially, to the four-lettered,
divine, essential name, by using the letters it contains, and the vowels
it was originally pronounced with, to convey a virtuous idea; or, by
doubling, or transposing them, to signify the contrary. In this they all
agree. And, as this general custom must proceed from one primary cause,
it seems to assure us, they were not in a {68} savage state, when they
first separated, and variegated their dialects, with so much religious
care, and exact art. Blind chance could not direct so great a number of
remote and warring savage nations to fix on, and unite in so nice a
religious standard of speech. Vowels are inexpressive of things, they
only typify them; as _Oo-E-A_, “to ascend, or remove:”—_O E A_, a most
sacred affirmation of the truth. Similar to these are many words,
containing only one consonant: as _To-e-u_, “it is very true;” _O-se-u_,
“very good;” _Y-O-U_, “evil, or very bad;” _Y-â-a_, “he moves by the
divine bounty;” _Nan-ne Y-a_, “the divine hill, or the mount of God,”
&c. If language was not originally a divine gift, which some of our very
curious modern philosophers deny, and have taken great pains to set
aside; yet human beings are possessed of the faculties of thinking and
speaking, and, in proportion to their ideas, they easily invented, and
learned words mixed with consonants and vowels, to express them. Natural
laws are common and general. The situation of the Indian Americans, has
probably been the means of sinking them into that state of barbarism we
now behold—Yet, though in great measure they may have lost their
primitive language, not one of them expresses himself by the natural
cries of brute-animals, any farther than to describe some of the animals
by the cries they make; which we ourselves sometimes imitate, as
_Choo-qua-lê-qua-lôô_, the name they give that merry night-singing bird,
which we call “Whip her will my poor wife,” (much like our cuckoo) so
termed from its musical monotony. No language is exempt from the like
simple copyings. The nervous, polite, and copious Greek tongue had the
loud-sounding _Böô Böao_, which the Romans imitated, by their bellowing
_Boves Böum_; and the Indians say _Pa-a_, signifying the loud noise of
every kind of animals, and their own loud-sounding war _Whoô Whoóp_.
Where they do not use divine emblems, their words have much articulation
of consonants. Their radicals have not the inseparable property of three
consonants, though frequently they have; and their words are not so
long, as strangers conjecturally draw them out. Instead of a simple
word, we too often insert the wild picture of a double, or
triple-compounded one; and the conjugation of their verbs, utterly
deceives us. A specimen of this, will shew it with sufficient clearness,
and may exhibit some useful hints to the curious searchers of antiquity.
_A-nô-wa_ signifies “a rambler, renegadoe, or a person of no settled
place of abode.” _A-nó-wah_, the first person, and _Ish-na_, the second
person {69} singular, but they have not a particular pronoun for the
third; they distinguish it by custom. _Si-a_, or _Sy-ah_, is “I am;”
_Chee-a_, or _Chy-ah_, “you are;” and _Too-wah_, “he is.” _Ay-ah_
signifies “to go;” _Ay-a-sa_, “I remain;” _Ish-i-a-sa_, “you remain;”
_A-sa_, “he remains.” _A-OO-E-A_ is a strong religious emblem,
signifying “I climb, ascend, or remove to another place of residence.”
It points to _A-nó-wah_, the first person singular, and O-E-A, or YO HE
WAH; and implies, putting themselves under his divine patronage. The
beginning of that most sacred symbol, is, by studious skill, and a
thorough knowledge of the power of letters, placed twice, to prevent
them from applying the sacred name to vain purposes, or created things.
In like manner they say, _Nas-sap-pe-O Ish-OO-E-A_, “You are climbing a
very great acorn-tree,” meaning an oak; for _Nas-se_ is the name of an
acorn; and the mid part of that triple compounded word, is derived from
_Ap-pê-la_, “to help;” _Che-ap-pê-la A-wa_, “I do not help you.” The
termination, according to their mixed idiom, magnifies it to a
superlative. _Quoo-ran-hê-qua_, a noted old camping place, fourteen
miles above the settlement of _Ninety-six_, and eighty-two below the
Cheerake, signifies, in their dialect, “the large white oaks.” _Oos-sak_
is the name of a “hickory-nut,” and _Oos-sak Ap-pe-O_ as above. _Oot-te_
signifies “a chestnut;” _Noot-te_, “a tooth;” _Soot-te_, “a pot;” and
_Oo-te_, “to make a fire,” which may be called an Indian type for eating
boiled chestnuts.
When they say, “He is removing his camp,” they express it in a most
religious manner, _Al-bé-na-OO-E-A_. _Al-be-nâs-le_ signifies “I
camped;” _Al-be-nâs-le-chû_, “I shall, or will, camp:” but, according to
their religious mode of speaking, _Al-bé-na A-OO-E-A-re_, expresses the
former, and _Al-bé-na A-OO-E-A-ri-chû_, the latter phrase; likewise,
_Al-bé-na OO-E-As_ signifies _Castra Moveto_, imperatively. It is worthy
of notice, that as they have no pronoun relative to express the third
person singular, they have recourse to the first syllable of the
essential word, _Toowah_, “He is.” In allusion to that word, they term
the conjunction copulative, _Ta-wah_, and _Tee-U-Wah_, “resting.” So
mixed a train of nice and exact religious terms, could not be invented
by people, as illiterate and savage as the Indians now are, any more
than happen by accident.
Though they have lost the true meaning of their religious emblems,
except what a very few of us occasionally revive in the retentive
memories of their old inquisitive magi; yet tradition directs them to
apply them properly.{70} They use many plain religious emblems of the
divine names, YOHEWAH, YAH, and ALE,—and these are the roots of a
prodigious number of words, through their various dialects. It is
surprising they were unnoticed, and that no use was made of them, by the
early voluminous Spanish writers, or by our own, for the information of
the learned world, notwithstanding the bright lights they had to direct
them in that æra, when the decorations of their holy temples and
priests, their religious ceremonies, and sacred hymns of praise to the
Deity, of which hereafter, so nearly corresponded with the Israelitish,
and might have been readily discovered by any who eyed them with
attention. In our time, by reason of their long intercourse with
foreigners, we have necessarily but a few dark traces to guide our
inquiries, in the investigation of what must have been formerly, shining
truths.
I must beg to be indulged with a few more remarks on their verbs.[28]—If
we prefix _As_ to _A-a_, “to move,” it becomes _A-sâ-a_, “to offend.”
The monosyllables _Ish_ and _Che_, variously denote the second person
singular; but when the former is by custom prefixed to a verb, the
latter then expresses either the accusative or ablative case singular of
the pronoun relative; as _Ish-a-sâ-ah_, “you are offended, or moved to
say Ah;” _Ish-a-sâ-a-re_, “you were displeased;” but _Che-a-sâ-ah_
signifies “I am displeased with you;” and _Che-a-sâ-a-re_ “I was
offended by you;” _Che-a-sâ-a-chee-le_ is “I occasion, or have
occasioned you to be displeased,” literally, “I produce, or have
produced offence to you;” and _Che-a-sâ-a-cheê-le Awa_, “I shall not
cause you to be displeased.” In like manner, they say _A-ân-ha_, which
signifies “I despise,” or literally, “I move _ha_;” for the mid letter
is inserted for distinction-sake, according to their idiom. So
_A-chîn-ha-chu_, “I shall contemn you;” _A-chîn-ha-cheê-la A-wa_, “I
shall not cause you to become despicable.” _Chee-le_ signifies
literally, “to bring forth young.” So that the former method of
expression is very significant, and yet it shews a sterility of
language, as that single word is applicable to every species of female
animals, fowls not excepted: Thus, _Phoo-she Chee-le_, “the birds lay.”
_Oe-she_ signifies “a young animal,” of any kind—and likewise an egg.
When mentioned alone, by way of excellence, it is the common name of an
infant; but when the name of the species of animals is prefixed to it,
it describes the young creature. _An-push-koosh oo-she_, is what the
tender mother says to her well-pleased infant. The two words import the
same thing. The former resembles the Hebrew, and the latter is likewise
a substantive; they {71} say _Chool-loo-she Teeth-lâ-a-ta-hâh_, “the
fox-cubs are run off;”—_Choo-la_ being the name of a fox.
_Phut-choos-oo-she Wah kâ-as_, “let the young duck fly away;” and
_Phoo-soo-she Hish-she Ool-pha-quî-sa_, “the young wild bird’s hairs, or
feathers, are not sprung, or budded.” _Pa-se_ signifies the hair of a
man’s head, or the mane of animals. _Sha-le_ signifies pregnant,
literally, “to carry a burthen;” as _Oo-she shâ-le_, “she bears, or
carries, an infant;” but, when it is born, _Shoo-le_ is the name for
carrying it in their arms. This bears off from the divine radix, with
great propriety of language. _Im_ prefixed to a verb, denotes the
masculine and feminine pronouns, _illum_ and _illam_. As this is their
fixed method of speech, the reader will easily understand the true idiom
of their language. _Sal-le_ signifies “I am dead,” _Chil-le_, you, &c.
_Il-leh_, he, &c. And this is likewise a substantive, as _Il-let
Min-te_, “death is approaching,” or coming: _Min-té-cha_ signifies “come
you;” and _A-min-té-la A-wa_, or _Ac-min-tá-qua-chu_, “I will not come.”
The former word, _Shâ-le_, “to carry a burthen,” or, she is pregnant,
seems to be derived from ש and אל and, as _A-shâ-le_, _Ish-shâ-le_, and
_E-shâ-le_, are the first, second, and third persons singular of the
present tense, the latter may allude to her conception by the power of
the Deity: and it also points to שול, _Sha-wô-le_, or Saul, “the grave,
or sepulchre,” out of which the dead shall come forth to a new world of
light. In like manner _Chee-le_ “to bring forth,” or _A-chee-lá-le_, “I
brought forth,” appears to be derived from כ, a note of resemblance, and
אל, _A-le_, the fruitful Omnipotent. All the American nations, like the
Jews, entertain a contemptible opinion of their females that are
barren—sterility they consider as proceeding from the divine anger, on
account of their conjugal infidelity.
To enable grammarians to form a clear idea of the Indian method of
variegating their verbs, and of the true meaning they convey, we must
again recur to the former essential word, or rather divine emblem,
_A-ah_, “he moves.” They say _A-as_, “let him move,” and _Ee-má-ko_, or
_Blâ-sas A-â-á-re_, “I now move,” or “yesterday I moved;” for, like the
Hebrews, they sometimes use the preterperfect, instead of the present
tense. _A-â-a-ra-chu_ is the first person singular of the future tense,
in the indicative mood. _A-â-ta-hah_ expresses the third person plural
of the present tense, and same mood. _A-â-ta-hâh-ta-kô-a_ signifies, by
query, “have ye, or will ye move?” It is their method of conjugating
their verbs, that occasions any of their {72} radical or derivative
verbs to exceed three or four syllables; as we see by this, which,
though composed only of two vowels, or short syllables, is yet so
greatly deflected. With them two negatives make an affirmative, as
_Ak-hish-ko-quá_, “I shall not drink;” add the strong negative
termination _A-wa_, it is, “I will certainly drink.” An affirmative
question frequently implies a strong negative; as _Ai-a-râ-ta-kô-a_,
literally, “will, or should, I go?” that is, “I really will not, or
should not go:” and on the contrary, a negative query imports an
affirmative assertion; as _A-kai-u-quâ-ta-kô-a_, “should not I go?” or,
“I surely should go.” _Ee-á ko A-pâ-ret Sa-kâi-a-qua-ta kô-a_, is
literally, “if I ate, should not I be satisfied?” which implies, “If I
ate, I should be fully satisfied.” To drinking, they apply a word that
signifies content; and indeed, they are most eager to drink any sort of
spiritous liquors, when their bellies are quite full. When they are
tired with drinking, if we say to any of them, _Un-ta Ang-go-na
Che-ma-hîsh-kó-la Chû_, “Well, my friend, I will drink with you;”
_Che-a-yôok-pa-chêe-re Too-gat_, “for, indeed, I rejoice in your
company;” he replies, _Hai-a, Ook-ka Hoo-me Hish-ko Sa-nook-tá-ra_;
which is, “No; for I am content with drinking bitter waters.” They
constantly prefix the substantive before the adjective, and place the
accusative case before the verb. If we translate the following words,
_Ook-ka Pangge Hum-ma Law-wa A-hish-kó-le Bla-sas_, they literally
signify, “yesterday I drank a great deal of red-grape water,” meaning
claret. Thus they say, _Tik-ké-ba, Ing-glee-she Fren-she Ee-lap
A-bing-ga E-tee-be_, “formerly, when the English and French fought
against each other;” _Fren-she Ing-glee-she A-be-tâ-le_, “the French
were killed by the English.”
The verbs are seldom defective, or imperfect: though they may seem to be
so to persons who do not understand the idiom of their language, they
are not; they only appear as such by the near resemblance of words,
which convey a different meaning—as _A-kai-a_, “I go,” _Sa-kai-a_, “I am
satisfied with eating,” and _Sal-kai-a_, “I am angry, cross, vexed, or
disturbed in mind;” _Shee-a_, _Che-kai-a_, and _Chil-kai-a_, in the
second person; _Ai-a_, _E-kai-a_, and _Al-kai-a_, in the third person
singular. _A-pee-sa_ signifies “to see,” and _Al-pêê-sa_, “strait, even,
or right;” _Al-poo-ê-ak_, the general name of mercantile goods, I
subjoin, as such a word is uncommon with them; they seldom use so harsh
a termination. I shall here close this argument, and hope {73} enough
hath been said to give a clear idea of the principles of the Indian
language and dialects, its genius and idiom, and strong similarity to,
and near coincidence with the Hebrew—which will be not easily accounted
for, but by considering the American Indians as descended from the Jews.
ARGUMENT VI.
They count TIME after the manner of the Hebrews.
They divide the year into spring—summer—autumn, or the fall of the
leaf—and winter: which the Cheerake Indians call _Kogeh_, _Akooèa_,
_Oolekóhstè_, _Kòra_; and the Chikkasah and Choktah nation, _Otoolpha_,
_Tóme palle_, _Ashtòra-móona_, _Ashtòra_. _Kógeh_ is drawn from
_Anantòge_, the general appellation for the sun and moon; because, when
the sun returns from the southern hemisphere, he covers the vegetable
world with a green livery. _Akooèa_ alludes strongly to the essential
divine name, as we have seen in the former argument. With regard to
_Oolekohste_, “the fall of the leaf,” as they call a buzzard, _Soore_,
or _Soole_; and as _Soolekohste_ signifies troublesome, offensive,
disagreeable, the word signifies, that “the fall of the year is as
disagreeable a sight, as that of a buzzard.” _Kora_, as with the
Hebrews, signifies the winter; and is likewise the name of a bone: and
by joining _Hah_, an Hebrew note of admiration, to the end of it, as
_Kora-Hah_, it becomes the proper name of a man, signifying, “all
bones,” or very bony. _Otool-phà_, “the spring season,” is derived from
_Oolpha_, the name of a bud, or to shoot out; because then the solar
heat causes vegetables to bud and spring. _Tomeh_ signifies “the solar
light,” and _Palle_, “warm or hot;” _Ashtora_, “winter,” and _Moona_,
“presently,” &c.
They number their years by any of those four periods, for they have no
name for a year; and they subdivide these, and count the year by lunar
months, like the Israelites, who counted by moons, as their name
sufficiently testifies; for they called them ירחים, the plural of ירח,
the moon. The Indians have no distinct proper name for the sun and moon;
one word, with a note of distinction, expresses both—for example; the
Cheerake {74} call the sun _Eus-se A-nan-tó-ge_, “the day-moon, or sun;”
and the latter, _Neus-se A-nan-tó-ge_, or “the night-sun, or moon.” In
like manner, the Chikkasah and Choktah term the one, _Neetak-Hasséh_,
and the other, _Neennak-Hasséh_; for _Neetak_ signifies “a day,” and
_Neennak_, “a night.”
Here I cannot forbear remarking, that the Indians call the penis of any
animal, by the very same name, _Hasse_; with this difference only, that
the termination is in this instance pronounced short, whereas the other
is long, on purpose to distinguish the words. This bears a strong
analogy to what the rabbins tell us of the purity of the Hebrew
language, that “it is so chaste a tongue, as to have no proper names for
the parts of generation.” The Cheerake can boast of the same decency of
style, for they call a corn-house, _Watóhre_ and the penis of any
creature, by the very same name; intimating, that as the sun and moon
influence and ripen the fruits that are stored in it, so by the help of
Ceres and Bacchus, Venus lies warm, whereas on the contrary, _sine
Cerere & Bacchus, friget Venus_.
They count certain very remarkable things, by knots of various colours
and make, after the manner of the South-American Aborigines; or by
notched square sticks, which are likewise distributed among the head
warriors, and other chieftains of different towns, in order to number
the winters, &c.—the moons also—their sleeps—and the days when they
travel; and especially certain secret intended acts of hostility. Under
such a circumstance, if one day elapses, each of them loosens a knot, or
cuts off a notch, or else makes one, according to previous agreement;
which those who are in the trading way among them, call broken days.
Thus they proceed day by day, till the whole time is expired, which was
marked out, or agreed upon; and they know with certainty, the exact time
of any of the aforesaid periods, when they are to execute their secret
purposes, be they ever so various. The authors of the romantic Spanish
histories of Peru and Mexico, have wonderfully stretched on these
knotted, or marked strings, and notched square sticks, to shew their own
fruitful inventions, and draw the attention and surprise of the learned
world to their magnified bundle of trifles.
The method of counting time by weeks, or sevenths, was a very ancient
custom, practised by the Syrians, Egyptians, and most of the oriental
nations; {75} and it evidently is a remain of the tradition of the
creation. The Creator, indeed, renewed to the Hebrews the old precept of
sanctifying the seventh day, on a particular occasion. And Christianity
promoted that religious observance in the western world, in remembrance
of the work of redemption. The Greeks counted time by decads, or tens;
and the Romans by nones, or ninths. The number, and regular periods of
the Indians public religious feasts, of which presently, is a good
historical proof, that they counted time by, and observed a weekly
sabbath, long after their arrival on the American continent.
They count the day also by the three sensible differences of the sun,
like the Hebrews—sun-rise, they term, _Hassé kootcha meente_, “the sun’s
coming out;”—noon, or mid-day, _Tabookòre_;—and sun-set, _Hassé Oobèa_,
literally, “the sun is dead;” likewise, _Hasse Ookka’tòra_, that is,
“the sun is fallen into the water;” the last word is compounded of
_Ookka_, water, and _Etòra_, to fall: it signifies also “to swim,” as
instinct would direct those to do, who fell into the water. And they
call dark, _Ookklille_—derived from _Ookka_, water, and _Illeh_, dead;
which shews their opinion of the sun’s disappearance, according to the
ancients, who said the sun slept every night in the western ocean. They
subdivide the day, by any of the aforesaid three standards—as half way
between the sun’s coming out of the water; and in like manner, by
midnight, or cock-crowing, &c.
They begin the year,[29] at the first appearance of the first new moon
of the vernal æquinox, according to the ecclesiastical year of Moses:
and those synodical months, each consist of twenty-nine days, twelve
hours, and forty odd minutes; which make the moons, alternately, to
consist of twenty-nine and of thirty days. They pay a great regard to
the first appearance of every new moon, and, on the occasion, always
repeat some joyful sounds, and stretch out their hands towards her—but
at such times they offer no public sacrifice.
Till the 70 years captivity commenced, (according to Dr. Prideaux, 606
years before the Christian æra) the Israelites had only numeral names
for the solar and lunar months, except אביב and האתנים; the former
signifies a green ear of corn; and the latter, robust, or valiant. And
by the first {76} name, the Indians, as an explicative, term their
_passover_, which the trading people call the green-corn dance. As the
Israelites were a sensual people, and generally understood nothing but
the shadow, or literal part of the law; so the Indians closely imitate
them, minding only that traditional part, which promised them a
delicious land, flowing with milk and honey. The two Jewish months just
mentioned, were æquinoctial. Abib, or their present Nisan, was the
seventh of the civil, and the first of the ecclesiastical year,
answering to our March and April: and Ethanim, which began the civil
year, was the seventh of that of the ecclesiastical, the same as our
September and October. And the Indians name the various seasons of the
year, from the planting, or ripening of the fruits. The green-eared moon
is the most beloved, or sacred,—when the first fruits become sanctified,
by being annually offered up. And from this period they count their
beloved, or holy things.
When they lack a full moon, or when they travel, they count by sleeps;
which is a very ancient custom—probably, from the Mosaic method of
counting time, “that the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Quantity they count by tens, the number of their fingers; which is a
natural method to all people. In the mercantile way, they mark on the
ground their numbers, by units; or by X for ten; which, I presume they
learned from the white people, who traded with them. They readily add
together their tens, and find out the number sought. They call it
_Yakâ-ne Tlápha_, or “scoring on the ground.” But _old time_ they can no
way trace, only by remarkable circumstances, and æras. As they trade
with each other, only by the hand, they have no proper name for a pound
weight.
The Cheerake count as high as an hundred,[30] by various numeral names;
whereas the other nations of East and West-Florida, rise no higher than
the decimal number, adding units after it, by a conjunction copulative;
which intimates, that nation was either more mixed, or more skilful,
than the rest: the latter seems most probable. They call a thousand,
_Skoeh Chooke Kaiére_, “the old,” or “the old one’s hundred:” and so do
the rest, in their various dialects, by interpretation; which argues
their former skill in numbers. {77}