“_Brothers_,—We all belong to one family; we are all children of the
Great Spirit; we walk in the same path; slake our thirst at the same
spring; and now affairs of the greatest concern leads us to smoke the
pipe around the same council fire!
“_Brothers_,—We are friends; we must assist each other to bear our
burdens. The blood of many of our fathers and brothers has run like water
on the ground, to satisfy the avarice of the white men. We, ourselves,
are threatened with a great evil; nothing will pacify them but the
destruction of all the red men.
“_Brothers_,—When the white men first set foot on our grounds, they were
hungry; they had no place on which to spread their blankets, or to kindle
their fires. They were feeble; they could do nothing for themselves.
Our fathers commiserated their distress, and shared freely with them
whatever the Great Spirit had given his red children. They gave them
food when hungry, medicine when sick, spread skins for them to sleep on,
and gave them grounds, that they might hunt and raise corn. Brothers,
the white men are like poisonous serpents; when chilled, they are feeble
and harmless; but invigorate them with warmth, and they sting their
benefactors to death.
“The white people came among us feeble; and now we have made them strong
they wish to kill us, or drive us back, as they would wolves and panthers.
“_Brothers_,—The white men are not friends to the Indians; at first, they
only asked for land sufficient for a wigwam, now nothing will satisfy
them but the whole of our hunting grounds, from the rising to the setting
sun.
“_Brothers_,—The white men want more than our hunting grounds; they wish
to kill our warriors; they would even kill our old men, women, and little
ones.
“_Brothers_,—Many winters ago, there was no land; the sun did not rise
and set: all was darkness. The Great Spirit made all things. He gave
the white men a home beyond the great waters. He supplied these grounds
with game, and gave them to his red children; he gave them strength and
courage to defend them.
“_Brothers_,—My people wish for peace; the red men all wish for peace;
but where the white people are, there is no peace for them, except it is
on the bosom of our mother.
“_Brothers_,—The white men despise and cheat the Indians; they abuse and
insult them; they do not think the red men sufficiently good to live.
“The red men have borne many and great injuries; they ought to suffer
them no longer. My people will not; they are determined on vengeance;
they have taken up the tomahawk; they will make it fat with blood; they
will drink the blood of the white people.
“_Brothers_,—My people are brave and numerous; but the white people are
too strong for them alone. I wish you to take up the tomahawk with them.
If we all unite, we will cause the rivers to stain the great waters with
their blood.
“_Brothers_,—If you do not unite with us, they will first destroy us, and
then you will fall an easy prey to them. They have destroyed many nations
of red men because they were not friends to each other.
“_Brothers_,—The white people send runners among us; they wish to make us
enemies, that they may sweep over and desolate our hunting grounds, like
devastating winds, or rushing waters.
“_Brothers_,—Our Great Father, over the great waters, is angry with the
white people, our enemies. He will send his brave warriors against them:
he will send us rifles, and whatever else we want—he is our friend, and
we are his children.
“_Brothers_,—Who are the white people that we should fear them? They
cannot run fast and are good marks to shoot at; they are only men; our
fathers have killed many of them; we are not squaws, and we will stain
the earth red with their blood.
“_Brothers_,—The Great Spirit is angry with our enemies; he speaks
in thunder, and the earth swallows up villages, and drinks up the
Mississippi. The great waters will cover the lowlands; their corn cannot
grow; and the Great Spirit will sweep those who escape to the hills from
the earth with his breath.
“_Brothers_,—We must be united, we must smoke the same pipe; we must
fight each others’ battles; and more than all, we must love the Great
Spirit; he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red
children happy.”
In Jefferson’s notes on the state of Virginia, we find a speech reported
to have been made by Logan, a Mingo chief to Lord Dunmore when governor
of the State of Virginia. The circumstances under which it was made were
the following:—
“In the spring of the year 1774, a robbery was committed by some Indians
on certain land adventurers on the river Ohio. The whites in that
quarter, _according to their custom_, undertook to punish this outrage in
a summary way. Captain Michael Cresap, and a certain Daniel Greathouse,
leading on these parties, surprised at different times travelling and
hunting parties of the Indians having their women and children with
them, and murdered many. Among these were, unfortunately, the family of
Logan; a chief celebrated in peace and war, and long distinguished as
the friend of the whites. This unworthy return provoked his vengeance.
He accordingly signalised himself in the war which ensued. In the autumn
of the same year a decisive battle was fought at the mouth of the great
_Kanhaway_, between the collected forces of the Shawanese, Mingoes, and
Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia militia. The Indians were
defeated, and sued for peace.
“Logan, however, disdained to be seen among the suppliants. But lest the
sincerity of a treaty should be disturbed, from which so distinguished a
chief absented himself, he sent the following speech to be delivered to
Lord Dunmore.
“‘I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan’s cabin
hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he
clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan
remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for
the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, ‘Logan
is the friend of the white men.’ I had even thought to have lived with
you but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in
cold blood and unprovoked murdered all the relations of Logan, not even
sparing my women and children. _There runs not a drop of my blood in the
veins of any living creature._
“‘This called on me for revenge, I have sought it; I have killed many. I
have glutted my vengeance: for my country I rejoice at the beams of peace.
“‘But do not harbour a thought that mine is the _joy of fear_; Logan
never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is
there to mourn for Logan? Not one.’”
Who can blame Logan the Mingo warrior for his deeds when the provocation
he received is taken into consideration? “Not one!”
_Of the Political state and Institutions of the American Indians._
Among savage nations there is generally a degree of individual
independence which is highly unfavourable to the establishment and
consolidation of regular government. Men accustomed to victory and the
use of arms, and inured to danger and fatigue, are not likely to submit
to those restraints of law and jurisprudence which exist in civilized
communities. The will of the savage is, in most cases, the only law which
he acknowledges or submits to. It is only when the tribe to which he
belongs is menaced by some foreign foe that he submits to follow a leader
to the field and to be controuled by his mandates. Even then, his actions
are not constrained, but voluntary. His natural ardour, and warlike
disposition, hurry him on to battle more than any compulsory edict issued
by the council of his nation. But in a season of peace he is his own
master. Scarcely any rule except that of custom does he deign to follow;
hence his actions spring spontaneously from the impulses of his own mind.
In considering the political institutions of any people, our first
enquiry should relate to their mode of subsistence. “According as that
varies,” to use the language of Robertson, “their laws and policy must
be different. The institutions suited to the ideas and exigencies of
tribes which subsist chiefly by fishing or hunting, and which have as yet
acquired but an imperfect conception of any species of property, will
be much more simple than those which must take place when the earth is
cultivated with regular industry, and a right of property, not only in
its productions but in the soil itself, is completely ascertained.”
The American nations live chiefly by hunting, fishing, and the
spontaneous products of their bountiful soil. Agriculture is but little
practised amongst them. A large tract of territory, therefore, is
requisite for the support of a tribe. “The chase,” observes Robertson,
“even where prey is abundant, and the dexterity of the hunter much
improved, affords but an uncertain maintenance; and at some seasons it
must be suspended altogether. If a savage trusts to his bow alone for
food, he and his family will be often reduced to extreme distress. Hardly
any region of the earth furnishes man spontaneously with what his wants
require. In the mildest climates and most fertile soils, his own industry
and foresight must be exerted in some degree to secure a regular supply
of food. Their experience of this surmounts the abhorence of labour
natural to savage nations, and compels them to have recourse to culture
as subsidiary to hunting. In particular situations, some small tribes may
subsist by fishing, independent of any production of the earth raised by
their own industry. But throughout all America we scarcely meet with any
nation of hunters which does not practice some species of cultivation.”
This is the condition of most of the American tribes at the present time.
Their agriculture, however, is neither extensive nor laborious. Among
some tribes as the Oneidas and Senecas, agriculture prevails more than
among others. This is to be attributed to the benevolent efforts of the
Quakers, which shall be described in a subsequent part of this work. The
Indians in the interior of America, who are less exposed to the influence
of the whites, subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing. Agriculture is
only accounted subsidiary to these. It is adopted as a resource against
famine, and to supply the deficiency of game. It is not pursued as
the chief mode of obtaining subsistence, and as a consequence has not
risen to that state of perfection among the Indians, as among civilized
nations. Hunting and fishing may be said to be the staple business of
life among the more primitive tribes in North America. The character,
therefore, of their political institutions, may be deduced from their
peculiar mode of obtaining subsistence.
Robertson, in treating this subject has expressed himself with such
clearness, and reasoned upon facts with such accuracy, that it would be
impossible for us to do better than to quote his remarks.
He observes, “They were divided into small independent communities. While
hunting is the chief source of subsistence, a vast extent of territory
is requisite for supporting a small number of people. In proportion
as men multiply and unite, the wild animals, on which they depend for
food, diminish, or fly at a greater distance from the haunts of their
enemy. The increase of a society in this state is limited by its own
nature, and the members of it must either disperse, like the game which
they pursue, or fall upon some better method of procuring food, than by
hunting. Beasts of prey are by nature solitary and unsocial; they go
not forth to the chase in herds, but delight in those recesses of the
forest where they can roam and destroy undisturbed. A nation of hunters
resembles them both in occupation and in genius. They cannot form into
large communities, because it would be impossible to find subsistence;
and they must drive to a distance every rival who may encroach on those
domains which they consider as their own. This was the state of all
the American tribes: the numbers in each were inconsiderable, though
scattered over countries of great extent; they were far removed from
one another, and engaged in perpetual hostilities or rivalship. In
America, the word nation is not of the same import as in other parts
of the globe. It is applied to small societies, not exceeding perhaps,
two or three hundred persons, but occupying provinces greater than some
kingdoms in Europe. The country of Guiana, though of larger extent than
the kingdom of France, and divided among a greater number of nations, did
not contain above twenty-five thousand inhabitants.[12] In the provinces
which border on the Orinoco, one may travel several hundred miles in
different directions, without finding a single hut, or observing the
foot steps of a human creature.[13] In North America, where the climate
is more vigorous, and the soil less fertile, the desolation is still
greater. There, journeys of some hundred leagues have been made through
uninhabited plains and forests.[14] As long as hunting continues to be
the chief employment of man to which he trusts for subsistence, he can
hardly be said to have occupied the earth.
“Nations which depend upon hunting are, in a great measure, strangers
to the idea of property. As the animals on which the hunter feeds are
not bred under his inspection, nor nourished by his care, he can claim
no right to them, while they run wild in the forest. Where game is
so plentiful that it may be catched”—[caught] “with little trouble,
men never dream of appropriating what is of small value, or of easy
acquisition. Where it is so rare, that the labour or danger of the chase
requires the united efforts of a tribe, or village, what is killed is
a common stock, belonging equally to all, who, by their skill or their
courage, have contributed to the success of the excursion. The forest, or
hunting grounds are deemed the property of the tribe, from which it has a
title to exclude every rival nation. But no individual arrogates a right
to any district of these, in preference to his fellow-citizens. They
belong alike to all; and thither, as to a general and undivided store,
all repair in quest of sustenance. The same principle by which they
regulate their chief occupation, extends to that which is subordinate.
Even agriculture has not introduced among them a complete idea of
property. As the men hunt, the women labour together; and after they have
shared the toils of the seed time, they enjoy the harvest in common.[15]
Among some tribes, the increase of their cultivated lands is deposited
in a public granary, and divided among them at stated times, according
to their wants.[16] Among others, though they lay up separate stores,
they do not acquire such an exclusive right of property, that they can
enjoy superfluity, while those around them suffer want.[17] Thus the
distinctions arising from the inequality of possessions are unknown. The
term rich or poor enter not into their language; and being strangers to
property, they are unacquainted with what is the great object of laws and
policy, as well as the chief motive which induced mankind to establish
the various arrangements of regular government.[18]
“People in this state retain a high sense of equality and independence.
Wherever the idea of property is not established, there can be no
distinction among men, but what arises from personal qualities. These can
be conspicuous only on such occasions as call them forth into exertion.
In times of danger, or in affairs of intricacy, the wisdom and experience
of age, are consulted, and prescribe the measure which ought to be
pursued. When a tribe of savages takes the field against the enemies
of their country, the warrior of most approved courage leads the youth
to the combat.[19] If they go forth in a body to the chase, the most
expert and adventurous hunter is foremost, and directs their motions. But
during seasons of tranquility and inaction, when there is no occasion
to display those talents, all pre-eminence ceases. Every circumstance
indicates that all the members of the community are on a level. They feed
on the same plain fare. Their houses and furniture are exactly similar.
No distinction can arise from the inequality of possessions. Whatever
forms dependence on one part, or constitutes superiority on the other, is
unknown. All are freemen; all feel themselves to be such, and assert with
firmness the rights which belong to that condition.[20] This sentiment of
independence is imprinted so deeply in their nature, that no change of
condition can eradicate it, and bend their minds to servitude. Accustomed
to be absolute masters of their own conduct, they disdain to execute
the orders of another; and having never known control, they will not
submit to correction. Many of the Americans, when they found that they
were treated as slaves by the Spaniards, died of grief; many destroyed
themselves in despair.[21]
“Among people in this state, government can assume little authority,
and the sense of civil subordination must remain very imperfect. While
the idea of property is unknown or incompletely conceived; while the
spontaneous productions of the earth, as well as the fruits of industry,
are considered as belonging to the public stock, there can hardly be any
such subject of difference or discussion among the members of the same
community, as will require the hand of authority to interpose, in order
to adjust it. Where the right of separate and exclusive possession is
not introduced, the great object of law and jurisdiction does not exist.
When the members of a tribe are called into the field, either to invade
the territories of their enemies, or to repel their attacks; when they
are engaged together in the toil and dangers of the chase, they then
perceive that they are a political body. They are conscious of their
own connexion with the companions in conjunction with whom they act;
and they follow and reverence such as excel in conduct and valour. But,
during the intervals between such common efforts, they seem scarcely to
feel the ties of political union.[22] No visible form of government is
established. The names of _magistrate_ and _subject_ are not in use.
Every one seems to enjoy his natural independence almost entire. If
a scheme of public utility be proposed, the members of the community
are left at liberty to choose whether they will or will not assist in
carrying it into execution. No statute imposes any service as a duty,
no compulsory laws oblige them to perform it. All their resolutions are
voluntary, and flow from the impulse of their own minds.[23] The first
step towards establishing a public jurisdiction has not been taken in
these rude societies. The right of revenge is left in private hands.[24]
If violence is committed, or blood is shed, the community does not assume
the power either of inflicting or of moderating the punishment. It
belongs to the family or friends of the person injured or slain to avenge
the wrong, or to accept of the reparation offered by the aggressor. If
the elders interpose, it is to advise, not to decide, and it is seldom
their councils are listened to; for as it is deemed pusillanimous to
suffer an offender to escape with impunity, resentment is implacable
and everlasting.[25] The object of government is rather foreign than
domestic. They do not aim at maintaining interior order and police by
public regulation, or the exertions of any permanent authority; but
labour to preserve such union among the members of their tribe, that they
may watch the motions of enemies, and act against them with concert and
vigour.
“Such was the form of political order established among the greater part
of the American tribes. In this State were almost all the tribes spread
over the provinces extending eastward of the Mississippi, from the mouth
of the St. Lawrence to the confines of Florida. In a similar condition
were the people of Brazil, the inhabitants of Chili, several tribes in
Paraguay and Guiana, and in the countries which stretch from the mouth of
the Orinoco to the Peninsula of Yucatan. Among such an infinite number
of petty associations, there may be peculiarities which constitute a
distinction, and mark the various degrees of their civilization and
improvement. But an attempt to trace and ennumerate these would be in
vain, as they have not been observed by persons capable of discerning
the minute and delicate circumstances, which serve to discriminate
nations resembling one another in their general character and features.
The description which I have given of the political institutions that
took place among those rude tribes in America, concerning which we have
received most complete information, will apply, with little variation,
to every people, both in its Northern and Southern division, who have
advanced no farther in civilization than to add some slender degree of
agriculture to fishing and hunting.[26]
“But these political institutions, however defective, did not exist among
all the American tribes. The system of government adopted by some of
them approximated more closely the system which prevails in civilized
communities. Thus, “among the Natchez, a powerful tribe, (now extinct,)
formerly situated on the banks of the Mississippi, a difference of rank
took place with which the Northern tribes were altogether unacquainted.
Some families were reputed noble, and enjoyed hereditary dignity.
The body of the people was considered as vile, and formed only for
subjection. This distinction was marked by appellations which intimated
the high elevation of the one state, and the ignominious depression
of the other. The former were called _respectable_; the latter the
_stinkards_. The great chief, in whom the supreme authority was vested,
was reputed to be a being of a superior nature—the brother of the sun,
the sole object of their worship. They approached this great chief with
religious veneration, and honoured him as the representative of their
deity. His will was law, to which all submitted with implicit obedience.
The lives of his subjects were so absolutely at his disposal, that if
any one had incurred his displeasure, the offender came with profound
humility and offered him his head. Nor did the dominion of the Chiefs
end with their lives: their principal officers, their favourite wives,
together with many domestics of inferior rank, were sacrificed at their
tombs, that they might be attended in the next world by the same persons
who served them in this; and such was the reverence in which they were
held, that those victims welcomed death with exultation, deeming it a
recompence of their fidelity and a mark of distinction, to be selected
to accompany their deceased master. Thus a perfect despotism, with its
full train of superstition arrogance and cruelty, was established among
the Natchez; and by a singular fatality, that people tasted of the
worst calamities incident to polished nations, though they themselves
were not far advanced beyond the tribes around them in civility and
improvement.”[27]
In the political institutions of the Natchez, however despotic and
imperfect they may be considered, we discover a bond of union which did
not exist among other tribes who trusted for subsistence to hunting and
fishing without any species of cultivation. Their wants were few and
simple; they therefore formed into separate tribes, and acted together
from instinct or habit rather than from any formal concert or contract.
Hence their political institutions were as simple as their wants; and
hardly any appearance of regular government could be discerned among them.
From the foregoing statements it may be inferred that the political
institutions of the American Indians arise from the peculiarity of their
condition. Their military tactics, their form of government, their
peculiar religious opinions, and their unconquerable spirit of revenge,
all spring out of their peculiar state of semi-civilization. That the
circumstances around them determine the character of their political
and other institutions will be fully proved by us when we come to speak
of the efforts of the Quakers in civilizing the Oneidas and Senecas of
the Five Nations. The Socialist will readily perceive how the foregoing
statements, respecting the political institutions of the American
Aborigines confirm and illustrate the truth of his principles.
_Of the Military Tactics of the North American Indians._
There are two motives which stimulate savage nations to war; these are
_interest_ and _revenge_. The latter operates with a fierceness among
rude nations, unknown among civilized people. The desire of vengeance is
the first and almost only principle which the savage instils into the
mind of his children. This grows with his growth and strengthens with
his strength, and acquires a force and a preponderance over all other
passions, which causes it to resemble the instinctive rage of a tiger or
hyæna. “When under the dominion of this passion,” says Robertson, “man
becomes the most cruel of all animals. He neither pities, nor forgives,
nor spares. The force of this passion is so well understood by the
Americans themselves, that they always apply to it in order to excite
the people to take up arms. If the elders of any tribe attempt to rouse
their youth from sloth, if a chief wishes to allure a band of warriors
to follow him in invading an enemy’s country, the most persuasive topics
of their martial eloquence are drawn from revenge. ‘The bones of our
countrymen,’ say they, ‘lie uncovered; their bloody bed has not been
washed clean. Their spirits cry against us; they must be appeased. Let us
go and devour the people by whom they were slain. Sit no longer inactive
upon your mats; lift the hatchet, console the spirits of the dead, and
tell them that they shall be avenged.’”
Animated with such exhortations, the youth snatch their arms in a
transport of fury, raise the song of war, and burn with impatience
to embrue their hands in the blood of their enemies. Private chiefs
assemble small parties, and invade a hostile tribe, without consulting
the rulers of the community. A single warrior, prompted by caprice or
revenge, will take the field alone, and march several hundred miles to
surprise and cut off a straggling enemy. The exploits of a noted warrior,
in such solitary excursions, often form the chief part in the history
of an American campaign; and their elders connive at such irregular
sallies, as they tend to cherish a martial spirit, and accustom their
people to enterprise and danger.[28] But when a war is national, and
undertaken by public authority, the deliberations are formal and slow.
The elders assemble; they deliver their opinions in solemn speeches;
they weigh with maturity the nature of the enterprise, and balance its
beneficial or disadvantageous consequences with no inconsiderable portion
of political discernment or sagacity. Their priests and soothsayers are
consulted, and sometimes they ask even the advice of their women.[29] If
the determination be for war, they prepare for it with much ceremony. A
leader offers to conduct the expedition, and is accepted. But no man is
constrained to follow him; the resolution of the community to commence
hostilities, imposes no obligation upon any member to take part in
the war. Each individual is still master of his own conduct, and his
engagement in the service is perfectly voluntary.[30]
The maxims, by which they regulate their military operations, though
extremely different from those which take place in more civilized and
populous nations, are well suited to their own political state, and the
nature of the country in which they act. They never take the field in
numerous bodies, as it would require a greater effort of foresight and
industry, than is usual among savages, to provide for their subsistence
during a march of some hundred miles through dreary forests, or during a
long voyage upon their lakes and rivers. Their armies are not encumbered
with baggage or military stores. Each warrior, besides his arms, carries
his mat and a small bag of pounded maize, and with these, is completely
equipped for any service. While at a distance from the enemy’s frontier,
they disperse through the woods, and support themselves with the game
which they kill, or the fish which they catch. As they approach nearer
the territories of the nation which they intend to attack, they collect
their troops, and advance with great caution. Even in their hottest
and most active wars, they proceed wholly by stratagem and ambuscade.
They place not their glory in attacking their enemies with open force.
To surprize and destroy is the greatest merit of a commander, and
the highest pride of his followers. War and hunting are his only
occupations, and they conduct both with the same spirit and the same
arts. They follow the track of their enemies through the forest. They
endeavour to discover their haunts; they lurk in some thicket near to
these, and, with the patience of sportsmen lying in wait for game, will
continue in their station day after day, until they can rush upon their
prey when most secure, and least able to resist them. If they meet no
straggling party of the enemy, they advance towards their villages, but
with such solicitude to conceal their own approach, that they often creep
on their hands and feet through the woods, and paint their skins of the
same colour as the withered leaves, in order to avoid detection.[31] If
so fortunate as to remain unobserved, they set on fire the enemy’s huts
in the dead of night, and massacre the inhabitants, as they fly naked and
defenceless from the flames. If they hope to effect a retreat without
being pursued, they carry off some prisoners whom they reserve for a more
dreadful fate. But if, notwithstanding all their address and precautions,
they find that their motions are discovered, that the enemy has taken the
alarm, and is prepared to oppose them, they usually deem it most prudent
to retire. They regard it as extreme folly to meet an enemy who is on his
guard, upon equal terms, or to give battle in an open field. The most
distinguished success is a disgrace to a leader if it has been purchased
with any considerable loss of his followers; and they never boast of a
victory, if stained with the blood of their own countrymen.[32] To fall
in battle, instead of being reckoned an honourable death, is a misfortune
which subjects the memory of a warrior to the imputation of rashness or
imprudence.[33]
Buchanan in his Sketches of the North American Indians, speaking of the
military tactics of the Five Nations observes, “Previous to setting out
on any warlike expedition they have a feast, to which all the noted
warriors of the nation are invited; when they have their war-dance to the
beat of kettle drums. The warriors are seated on two rows; each rises in
turn, and sings the deeds he has performed; so that they work up their
spirits to a high degree of enthusiasm. They come to these dances with
faces painted in a frightful manner, to make themselves look terrible
to their enemies. By these war-songs they preserve the history of their
great achievements. The solemn reception of these warriors, and the
acclamation of applause which they receive at their return, cannot but
have on the hearer the same effect in raising an emulation for glory,
that a triumph had on the old Romans. After their prisoners are secured
they never offer them the least bad treatment, but on the contrary,
will rather starve themselves than suffer them to want; and I have been
always assured that there is not one instance of their offering the
least violence to the chastity of any woman that was their captive. The
captives are generally distributed among those who have lost a member
of their family in battle: if they are accepted, they enjoy all the
privileges which the person had; but if otherwise, they die in torment to
satiate the revenge of those who refuse them.
“They use neither drum nor trumpet, nor any kind of musical instruments
in their wars; their throats serve them on all occasions. We find the
same was practised by Homer’s heroes:—
‘Thrice to its pitch, his lofty voice he rears,
O friend! Ulysses’ shouts invades my ears’”!
The mode of torturing prisoners taken in battle, alluded to in the
preceding extract, prevails among all the Indian tribes in North America.
_Heckewelder_, a Moravian Missionary, who had acquired a great deal of
information respecting Indian customs, during a residence of the greater
part of his life among the Indians of Pennsylvania and the adjoining
states, thus speaks of this custom:—
“Much has been said on the subject of the preliminary cruelties inflicted
on prisoners, when they enter an Indian village with the conquering
warriors. It is certain that this treatment is very severe when a
particular revenge is to be exercised; but otherwise I can say with
truth, that in many instances, it is rather a scene of amusement than
of punishment. Much depends on the courage and presence of mind of the
prisoner. On entering the village, he is shown a painted post at the
distance of from twenty to forty yards, and told to run to it and catch
hold of it as quickly as he can. On each side of him stand men, women
and children, with axes, sticks, and other offensive weapons, ready to
strike him as he runs, in the same manner as is done in the European
armies, when soldiers, as it is called run the gauntlet. If he should
be so unlucky as to fall in the way, he will probably be immediately
despatched by some person, longing to avenge the death of some relation
or friend slain in battle; but the moment he reaches his goal, he is safe
and protected from farther insult, until his fate is determined.
“If a prisoner in such a situation shows a determined courage, and when
bid to run for the painted post, starts at once with all his might,
and exerts all his strength and agility until he reaches it, he will
most commonly escape without much harm, and sometimes without any
injury whatever, and on reaching the desired point, he will have the
satisfaction to hear his courage and his bravery applauded. But woe to
the coward who hesitates, or shows any symptoms of fear! He is treated
without much mercy, and may consider himself happy, at last, if he escape
with his life.
“In the month of April, 1782, when I was myself a prisoner at Lower
Sandusky, waiting for an opportunity to proceed with a trader to Detroit,
I witnessed a scene of this description, which fully exemplified what I
have above stated. Three American prisoners were one day brought in by
fourteen warriors, from the garrison of Fort M’Intosh. As soon as they
had crossed the Sandusky river to which the village lay adjacent, they
were told by the Captain of the party, to run as hard as they could
to a painted post which was shown to them. The youngest of the three,
without a moment’s hesitation, immediately started for it, and reached
it, fortunately, without receiving a single blow; the second hesitated
for a moment, but recollecting himself, he also ran as fast as he could,
and likewise reached the post unhurt; but the third, frightened at seeing
so many men, women, and children, with weapons in their hands, ready to
strike him, kept begging the Captain to spare his life, saying he was a
mason, and he would build him a fine large stone house, or do any thing
for him that he should please. ‘Run for your life,’ cried the chief to
him, ‘and don’t talk now of building houses’! But the poor fellow still
insisted, begging and praying to the Captain, who at last finding his
exhortations vain, and fearing the consequences, turned his back upon
him, and would not hear him any longer. Our mason now began to run,
but received many a hard blow, one of which nearly brought him to the
ground, which, if he had fallen, would at once have decided his fate.
He, however, reached the goal, not without being sadly bruised, and he
was besides, bitterly reproached and scoffed at all round as a vile
coward, while the others were hailed as brave men, and received tokens of
universal approbation.”
_Of the Religion of the North American Indians._
S. F. Jarvis, D. D., A. A. S., of New York, in his discourse on the
religion of the North American Indians, details many facts illustrating
the notions which they entertain respecting Deity and a future state.
His statements on this head exhibit both research and accuracy; though
in the first part of his discourse he has digressed from the subject for
the purpose of discharging a clerical arrow at the memory of Volney and
Voltaire. This however, is pardonable in an individual holding the title
of Doctor of Divinity. After indulging in many speculations respecting
the true religion, and the modes in which it became corrupted, he
observes:—
“Having thus seen that all false religions are, in a greater or less
degree, departures from the true; that there is a tendency in the human
mind to form low and limited views of the Supreme Being; and that,
in fact, all nations have fallen into the corruptions of polytheism
and idolatry, we should conclude, even in reasoning _à priori_, that
the religion of the Indians would be found to partake of the general
character. Accordingly, the fact is amply attested, that while they
acknowledge one Supreme Being, whom they denominate the _Great Spirit_,
or the _Master of Life_, they also believe in subordinate divinities, who
have the chief regulation of the affairs of men.
“Charlevoix, who had all the opportunities of obtaining information which
personal observation, and the united testimony of the French missionaries
could give, is an unexceptionable witness with regard to the Hurons, the
Iroquois, and the Algonquins. Nothing, says he, is more certain, though
at the same time obscure, than the conception which the American savages
have of a Supreme Being. All agree that he is the Great Spirit, and that
he is the master, creator, and governor of the world.[34] The Hurons call
him Areskoui; the Iroquois, by slight variation, Agreskooue. He is with
them the god of war. His name they invoke as they march. It is the signal
to engage, and it is the war-cry in the hottest of the battle.[35]
“But, beside the Supreme Being, they believe in an infinite number of
subaltern spirits, who are the objects of worship. These they divide into
good and bad. The good spirits are called by the Hurons, _Okkis_, by the
Algonquins, _Mannitous_. They suppose them to be the guardians of men,
and that each has his own tutelary deity. In fact, every thing in nature
has its spirit, though all have not the same rank nor the same influence.
The animals they hunt have their spirits. If they do not understand any
thing, they immediately say it is _a spirit_. If any man performs a
remarkable exploit, or exhibits extraordinary talents, he is said to be
_a spirit_, or in other words, his tutelary deity is supposed to be of
more than ordinary power.[36]
“It is remarkable, however, that these tutelary deities are not supposed
to take men under their protection till something has been done to merit
the favour. A parent who wishes to obtain a guardian spirit for his
child, first blackens his face, and then causes him to fast for several
days. During this time it is expected that the spirit will reveal himself
in a dream; and on this account, the child is anxiously examined every
morning with regard to the visions of the preceding night. Whatever
the child happens to dream of the most frequently, even if it happen to
be the head of a bird, the foot of an animal, or any thing of the most
worthless nature, becomes the symbol or figure under which the _Okki_
reveals himself. With this figure, in the conceptions of his votary,
the spirit becomes identified; the image is preserved with the greatest
care—is the constant companion on all great and important occasions, and
the constant object of consultation and worship.[37]
“As soon as a child is informed what is the nature or form of his
protecting deity, he is carefully instructed in the obligations he is
under to do him homage, to follow his advice communicated in dreams, to
deserve his favours, to confide implicitly in his care, and to dread the
consequences of his displeasure. For this reason, when the Huron or the
Iroquois goes to battle or to the chase, the image of his _Okki_ is as
carefully carried with him as his arms. At night, each one places his
guardian idol on the palisades surrounding the camp, with the face turned
from the quarter to which the warriors, or hunters, are about to march.
He then prays to it for an hour, as he does also in the morning before he
continues his course. This homage performed, he lies down to rest, and
sleeps in tranquility, fully persuaded that his spirit will assume the
whole duty of keeping guard, and that he has nothing to fear.
“With this account of Charlevoix, the relations which the Moravian
missionaries give, not only of the Iroquois, but also of the Lenapés,
or Delawares, and numerous tribes derived from them, perfectly accord.
‘The prevailing opinion of all these nations is,’ says Loskiel, ‘that
there is one God, or as they call him, one great and good spirit, who
has created the heavens and the earth, and made man and every other
creature. But beside the Supreme Being, they believe in good and evil
spirits, considering them as subordinate deities. Our missionaries have
not found rank polytheism, or gross idolatry, to exist among the Indians.
They have, however, something which may be called an idol. This is the
_manitto_, representing in wood, the head of a man in miniature, which
they always carry about them, either on a string round their neck, or
in a bag. They hang it also about their children, to preserve them
from illness, and ensure to them success. When they perform a solemn
sacrifice, a _manitto_, or a head as large as life, is put upon a pole
in the middle of the house. But they understand by the word _manitto_,
every being to which an offering is made, especially all good spirits.
They also look upon the elements, almost all animals, and even some
plants, as spirits; one exceeding the other in dignity and power. The
manittoes are also considered as tutelar spirits. Every Indian has one
or more, which he conceives to be peculiarly given to him to assist
him and make him prosper. One has, in a dream, received the sun as his
tutelar spirit, another the moon; a third, an owl; a fourth, a buffalo.
An Indian is dispirited, and considers himself as forsaken by God, till
he has received a tutelar spirit in a dream; but those who have been thus
favoured, are full of courage and proud of their powerful ally.”[38]
This account is corroborated by Heckewelder, in his late interesting
history of the Indian nations.
“It is a part of their religious belief” says he, “that there are
inferior _manittoes_ to whom the great and good being has given the
rule and command over the elements; that being so great, he, like their
chiefs, must have his attendants to execute his supreme behests: these
subordinate spirits, (something in their nature between God and man) see
and report to him what is doing upon earth; they look down particularly
upon the Indians, to see whether they are in need of assistance, and
are ready at their call to assist and protect them against danger. Thus
I have frequently witnessed Indians, on the approach of a storm or
thunder-gust, address the _manitto_ of the air to avert all danger from
them; I have also seen the Chippeways, on the lakes of Canada, pray to
the _manitto_ of the waters, that he might prevent the swells from rising
too high, while they were passing over them. In both these instances they
expressed their willingness to be grateful, by throwing tobacco in the
air or strewing it on the waters. ‘But amidst all these superstitious
notions, the supreme _manitto_, the creator and preserver of heaven
and earth, is the great object of their adoration. On him they rest
their hopes; to him they address their prayers, and make their solemn
sacrifices.’[39]
“The Knistineaux Indians who inhabit the country extending from Labrador,
across the continent, to the Highlands which divide the waters on
Lake Superior, from those of Hudson’s Bay, appear, from Mackenzie’s
account, to have the same system, of one great Supreme, and innumerable
subordinate deities. ‘The great master of life,’ to use their own
expression, is the sacred object of their devotion. But each man carries
in his medicine bag a kind of household god, which is a small carved
image, about eight inches long. Its first covering is of down, over which
a piece of beech bark is closely tied, and the whole is enveloped in
several folds of blue and red cloth. This little figure is an object of
the most pious regard.
“It is remarkable, that the description given by Peter Martyr, who was
the companion of Columbus, of the worship of the inhabitants of Cuba,
perfectly agrees with this account of the Northern Indians, by Mackenzie.
They believed in the existence of one supreme, invisible, immortal and
omnipotent Creator, whom they named _Jocahuna_, but at the same time
acknowledged a plurality of subordinate deities. They had little images
called Zemes, whom they looked upon as only a kind of messengers between
them and the eternal omnipotent and invisible God. These images they
consider as bodies inhabited by spirits, and oracular responses were
therefore received from them as uttered by the divine command.”[40]
“The religion of Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, was the same as
that of Cuba; for the inhabitants were of the same race, and spoke the
same language. The Caribbean Islands, on the other hand, were inhabited
by a very fierce and savage people who were continually at war with the
milder natives of Cuba and Hispaniola, and were regarded by them with the
utmost terror and abhorence. Yet ‘the Charaibeans,’ to use the language
of the elegant historian of the West Indies, ‘while they entertained an
awful sense of the one great Universal Cause, of a superior, wise, and
invisible Being of absolute and irresistible power, admitted also the
agency of subordinate divinities. They supposed that each individual
person had his peculiar protector, or tutelar deity; and they had
their laws and penalties, gods of their own creating.’ Hughes, in his
history of Barbadoes, mentions many fragments of Indian idols, dug up
in that island, which were composed of the same materials as their
earthen vessels. ‘I saw the head of one,’ says he, ‘which alone weighed
above sixty pounds. This, before it was broken off, stood upon an oval
pedestal, about three feet in height. The heads of all the others were
very small. These lesser idols were, in all probability, made small for
the ease and conveniency of being carried with them in their several
journeys, as the larger sort were perhaps designed for the stated places
of worship.’”[41]
“Thus, in this vast extent of country, from Hudson’s Bay, to the West
Indies, including nations whose languages are radically different,
nations unconnected with, and unknown to, each other, the greatest
uniformity of belief prevails, with regard to the supreme Being, and
the greatest harmony in their system of polytheism. After this view,
it is impossible not to remark, that there is a similar departure from
the original religion among the Indians of America, as among the more
civilized nations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The idea of the Divine
Unity is much more perfectly preserved; the subordinate divinities
are kept at a much more immeasurable distance from the Great Spirit;
and, above all, there has been no attempt among them to degrade to
the likeness of men the invisible and incomprehensible Creator of the
universe. In fact, theirs is exactly that milder form of idolatry which
‘prevailed everywhere from the days of Abraham, his single family
excepted,’ and which, after the death of that patriarch and of his son
Isaac, infected, from time to time, even the chosen family itself.”[42]
“The belief of a future state of rewards and punishments, has been kept
alive among all heathen nations, by its connection with the sensible
enjoyments and sufferings, and the consequent hopes and terror of men.
“Its origin must have been in divine revelation;[43] for it is impossible
to conceive that the mind can have attained to it by its own unassisted
powers. But the thought, when once communicated, would in the shipwreck
of dissolving nature, be clung to with the grasp of expiring hope. Hence
no nation have yet been found, however rude and barbarous, who have not
agreed in the great and general principle of retributive immortality.
When, however, we descend to detail, and inquire into their peculiar
notions with regard to this expected state, we find that their traditions
are coloured by the nature of their earthly occupations, and the opinions
they thence entertained on the subject of good and evil.
“This remark is fully verified by the history of the American Indians.
‘The belief most firmly established among the American Savages,’ says
Charlevoix, ‘is that of the immortality of the soul. They suppose that
when separated from the body, it preserves the same inclinations which
it had when both were united. For this reason, they bury with the dead
all that they had in use when alive. Some imagine that all men have
two souls, one of which never leaves the body, unless it be to inhabit
another. This transmigration, however, is peculiar to the souls of those
who die in infancy, and who therefore have the privilege of commencing a
second life, because they enjoyed so little of the first. Hence children
are buried along the highways, that the women as they pass may receive
their souls. From this idea of their remaining with the body, arises the
duty of placing food upon their graves;[44] and mothers have been seen
to draw from their bosoms that nourishment which these little creatures
loved when alive, and shed it upon the earth which covered their
remains.’”[45]
“When the time has arrived for the departure of those spirits which leave
the body, they pass into a region which is destined to be their eternal
abode, and which is therefore called the country of souls. This country
is at a great distance towards the West, and to go thither costs them
a journey of many months. They have many difficulties to surmount, and
many perils to encounter. They speak of a stream in which many suffer
shipwreck; of a dog from which they with difficulty defend themselves; of
a place of suffering where they expiate their faults; of another in which
the souls of those prisoners who have been tortured are again tormented,
and who therefore linger on their course, to delay as long as possible
the moment of their arrival. From this idea it proceeds that after the
death of these unhappy victims, for fear their souls may remain around
the huts of their tormentors from the thirst of vengeance, the latter are
careful to strike every place around them with a staff, and to utter such
terrible cries as may oblige them to depart.”[46]
“To be put to death as a captive, is, therefore, an exclusion from the
Indian paradise; and, indeed, the souls of all who have died a violent
death, even in war, and in the service of their country, are supposed
to have no intercourse in the future world with other souls. They,
therefore, burn the bodies of such persons, or bury them, sometimes
before they have expired. They are never put into the common place of
interment, and they have no part in that solemn ceremony which the Hurons
and the Iroquois observe every ten years, and other nations every eight,
of depositing all who have died during that period in a common place of
sepulture.
“To have been a good hunter, brave in war, fortunate in every enterprise,
and victorious over many enemies, are the only titles to enter their
abode of bliss. The happiness of it consists in the never-failing supply
of game and fish, an eternal spring, and an abundance of every thing
which can delight the senses without the labour of procuring it. Such are
the pleasures which they anticipate, who often return weary and hungry
from the chase, who are often exposed to the inclemencies of a winter
sky, and who look upon all labour as an unmanly and degrading employment.
“The Chippewayans live between the parallels of lat. 60 and 65 north, a
region of almost perpetual snows; where the ground never thaws, and is so
barren as to produce nothing but moss.[47]
“To them, therefore, perpetual verdure and fertility, and waters
unincumbered with ice, are voluptuous images. Hence they imagine that,
after death, they shall inhabit a most beautiful island in the centre of
a most extensive lake. On the surface of this lake they will embark in
a stone canoe, and if their actions have been generally good, will be
borne by a gentle current to their delightful and eternal abode. But if,
on the contrary, their bad actions predominate, the stone canoe sinks,
and leaves them up to their chins in the water to behold and regret the
reward enjoyed by the good, and eternally struggling, but with unavailing
endeavours, to reach the blissful island from which they are excluded for
ever.[48]
“On the other hand the Arrowauks, or natives of Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto
Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad, would naturally place their enjoyments in
every thing that was opposite to the violence of a tropical climate. They
suppose, therefore, that the spirits of good men were conveyed to the
pleasant valley of _Coyaba_; a place of indolent tranquillity, abounding
with _Guavas_ and other delicious fruits, cool shades, and murmuring
rivulets; in a country where drought never rages, and the hurricane is
never felt.[49]
“While these voluptuous people made the happiness of the future state
to consist in these tranquil enjoyments, their fierce enemies, the
Charaibes, looked forward to a paradise, in which the brave would
be attended by their wives and captives. The degenerate and the
cowardly they doomed to everlasting banishment beyond the mountains;
to unremitting labour in employments that disgrace manhood—disgrace
heightened by the greatest of all afflictions, captivity and servitude
among the Arrowauks.”[50]
“To all the inferior deities, whether good or malevolent, the Hurons,
the Iroquois, and the Algonquins, make various kinds of offerings. To
propitiate the God of the waters, says Charlevoix, ‘they cast into the
streams and lakes, tobacco, and birds which they have put to death. In
honour of the sun, and also of inferior spirits, they consume in the
fire a part of every thing they use, as an acknowledgement of the power
from which they have derived these possessions. On some occasions they
have been observed to make libations, invoking at the same time, in a
mysterious manner, the object of their worship. These invocations they
have never explained; whether it be, that they have in fact no meaning,
or that the words have been transmitted by tradition, unaccompanied by
their signification, or that the Indians themselves are unwilling to
reveal the secret. Strings of wampum, tobacco, ears of corn, the skins,
and often the whole carcases of animals, are seen along difficult or
dangerous roads, on rocks, and on the shores of rapids, as so many
offerings made to the presiding spirit of the place. In these cases, dogs
are the most common victims; and are often suspended alive upon trees by
the hinder feet, where they are left to die in a state of madness.’[51]
“What Charlevoix thus affirms with regard to the Hurons, Iroquois
and Algonquins, is mentioned by Mackenzie, as practised among the
Knisteneaux. ‘There are stated periods’ says he ‘such as the spring
and autumn, when they engage in very long and solemn ceremonies. On
these occasions dogs are offered as sacrifices: and those which are
fat and milk-white are preferred. They also make large offerings of
their property, whatever it may be. The scene of these ceremonies,
is in an open enclosure, on the banks of a river or lake, and in the
most conspicuous situation, in order that such as are passing along,
or travelling, may be induced to make their offerings. There is also
a particular custom among them, that on these occasions if any of the
tribe, or even a stranger, should be passing by, and be in real want of
any thing that is displayed as an offering, he has a right to take it,
so that he replaces it with some article he can spare, though it be of
far inferior value; but to take or touch any thing wantonly is considered
as a sacrilegious act, and highly insulting to the _great master of
life_, who is the sacred object of their devotion.’ At the feasts made by
their chiefs, he further observes, ‘a small quantity of meat or drink is
sacrificed before they begin to eat, by throwing it into the fire, or on
the earth.’[52]
“A similar account is given by Adair of the practice among the Creeks,
Katàbahs, Cherokees, Chocktaws, and other Southern Indians. ‘The Indian
women,’ says he, ‘always throw a small piece of the fattest of the meat
into the fire, when they are eating, and frequently before they begin to
eat. They pretend to draw omens from it, and firmly believe that it is
the mean of obtaining temporal blessings, and averting temporal evils.
The men, both in their summer and winter hunt, sacrifice in the woods a
large fat piece of the first buck they kill, and frequently the whole
carcase. This they offer up, either as a thanksgiving for the recovery of
health, and for their former success in hunting, or that the divine care
and goodness may still be continued with them.’[53]
“The song of the Lenapé warriors, as they go out to meet their enemy,
concludes with the promise of a victim if they return in safety.
O! Thou Great Spirit above!
…
Give me strength and courage to meet my enemy;
Suffer me to return again to my children,
To my wife,
And to my relations!
Take pity on me and preserve my life.
And I will make to thee a sacrifice.
“Accordingly, ‘after a successful war,’ says Heckewelder, ‘they never
fail to offer up a sacrifice to the great Being, to return him thanks
for having given them courage and strength to destroy or conquer their
enemies.’”[54]
“Loskiel, who has given a minute account of the sacrifices offered by
the Lenapés or Delawares and who is said by Heckewelder to have almost
exhausted the subject, affirms that they are offered on all occasions,
the most trivial as well as the most important. ‘They sacrifice to a
hare,’ says he, ‘because according to report, the first ancestors of
the Indian tribe had that name.’ To Indian corn they sacrifice bear’s
flesh, but to deer and bears Indian corn; to the fishes, small pieces of
bread in the shape of fishes; but they positively deny that they pay any
adoration to these subordinate good spirits, and affirm that they only
worship the true God through them: ‘for God,’ say they, ‘does not require
men to pay offerings or adoration immediately to him.’ He has, therefore,
made known his will in dreams, notifying to them what beings they have to
consider as _manittoes_, and what offerings to make to them.”[55]
When a boy dreams that he sees a large bird of prey, of the size of a
man, flying towards him from the North, and saying to him ‘roast some
meat for me,’ the boy is then bound to sacrifice the first deer or bear
he shoots to this bird. This sacrifice is appointed by an old man, who
fixes on the day and place in which it is to be performed. Three days
previous to it, messengers are sent to invite the guests. These assemble
in some lonely place, in a house large enough to contain three fires.
At the middle fire, the old man performs the sacrifice. Having sent for
twelve straight and supple sticks, he fastens then into the ground, so as
to enclose a circular spot, covering them with blankets. He then rolls
twelve red-hot stones in the enclosure, each of which is dedicated to one
god in particular. The largest belongs, as they say, to the great god in
heaven; the second to the sun, or the god of the day; the third, to the
sun or the moon; the fourth, to the earth; the fifth, to the fire; the
sixth, to the water; the seventh, to the dwelling or house of God; the
eighth, to Indian corn; the ninth, to the West; the tenth, to the South;
the eleventh, to the East; the twelfth to the North. The old man then
takes a rattle, containing some grains of Indian corn, and leading the
boy, for whom the sacrifice is made, into the enclosure, throws a handful
of tobacco upon the red-hot stones, and as the smoke ascends, rattles his
calabash, calling each god by name, and saying:—‘This boy (naming him)
offers unto thee a fine fat deer, and a delicious dish of sapan! Have
mercy on him, and grant good luck to him and his family.’[56]
“All the inhabitants of the West Indies offered sacrifices; and of these
the Charaibes were accustomed, at the funerals of their friends, to offer
some of the captives who had been taken in battle.[57] I scarcely need
advert to the well-known fact, that human sacrifices were offered by
the Mexicans. Of these, all the Spanish historians have given the most
horrible and disgusting account, and they are described more especially
by Bernal Diaz, who was an eye-witness, with the most artless and
affecting simplicity. Of this practice, however, there are no traces
among the present Indian tribes, unless the tormenting of their captives,
as Charlevoix seems to intimate, be considered as a sacrifice to the god
of war.
“Having seen that Sacrifice is practised among the Indians, we are
naturally led to consider the question, whether they have among them a
priesthood: and on this point, the testimony of travellers is somewhat
discordant. Mackenzie mentions that the Chipewyans have high-priests;[58]
yet he describes the public sacrifices of the Knisteneaux, as offered by
their chiefs, and the private, by every man in his own cabin, assisted
by his most intimate friend.[59] Charlevoix says, that among the Indians
of whom he writes, ‘in public ceremonies, the chiefs are the priests;
in private, the father of each family; or where there is none, the most
considerable person in the cabin. An aged missionary,’ he says, ‘who
lived among the Ottàwas, stated that with them an old man performed the
office of priest.’ Loskiel says of the Lenapé, or Delaware Indians,
that ‘they have neither priests regularly appointed, nor temples. At
general and solemn sacrifices the oldest men perform the offices of
priests; but in private parties, each man bringing a sacrifice is priest
himself. Instead of a temple, a large dwelling-house is fitted up for
the purpose.’ He afterwards speaks of the place of offering under the
name of ‘the house of sacrifice,’ and mentions it as being ‘in a lonely
place.’[60]
“On the other hand, Bartram, in his account of the Southern tribes,
says, ‘there is in every town, or tribe, a high-priest, with several
inferior or junior priests, called by the white people jugglers, or
conjurers.’[61] To the same purpose, Adair asserts, that they ‘have
their high priests, and others of a religious order.’ ‘Ishtahoollo,’ he
observes, ‘is the name of all their priestly order, and their pontifical
office descends by inheritance to the eldest.’[62]
“Notwithstanding this diversity, however, the difference is more in
appearance than in reality. Various meanings attached to the same words,
in consequence of arbitrary associations, may produce a diversity of
description. If a priest be one whose exclusive duty it is to celebrate
the rites of religion, then it must be admitted that a priesthood exists
among the Indians; for those who deny that they have priests, allow that
in their public sacrifices the chiefs are the only persons authorized
to officiate. The only difference, then, lies in this, whether the
priesthood be, or be not, connected with the office of the magistrate.
“Among Christians, as among the Jews, the priesthood is distinct from the
civil authority; but previous to the separation of the family of Aaron,
these two offices were generally united. Melchizedeck was both king of
Salem and priest of the most High God. Jethro was, at the same time,
priest and prince of Midian; and Abraham himself, who is called a prince,
performed the sacerdotal functions. We find this union of the regal and
sacerdotal characters existing among heathen nations. Homer described the
aged Pylian king as performing religious rites;[63] and Virgil tells of
the monarch of Delos, who was both priest and king:—
‘Rex Anius, rex idem, hominum Phœbique sacerdos.’[64]
“Among the Creeks and other Southern Indians, a monarchical form of
government seems to prevail; among the Northern Indians, a republican.
In both, the sacerdotal office may be united with civil authority; and
therefore partake of its peculiar character. Among the one, it may be
hereditary; among the other elective. If this be not sufficient to
reconcile the discordant accounts, we are bound, I think, to respect the
united testimony of Charlevoix and Loskiel, in preference to any other,
as they do not appear to have had any system to serve which might give
a bias to their statements. And if this be so, it will be seen that
the religion of the Indians approaches much nearer to the patriarchal,
than to that of the Jews. Their public sacerdotal offices are performed
by their chiefs, and in their private, the head of every family is its
priest.
“But there is another office which Carver, Bartram and others have
confounded with the priesthood, which exists among all the Indian
tribes, and concerning which there is no diversity in the statements of
travellers. To this class of men the French missionaries gave the name
of _Jongleurs_, whence the English have derived that of jugglers or
conjurers. To use the definition of Charlevoix, they are those servants
of their God, whose duty it is to announce their wishes, and to be their
interpreters to men: or, in the language of Volney, those ‘whose trade
it is, to expound dreams, and to negotiate between the _Manitto_ and
the votary.’ ‘The Jongleurs of Canada,’ says Charlevoix, ‘boast that by
means of the good spirits whom they consult, they learn what is passing
in most remote countries, and what is to come to pass at the most remote
period of time; that they discover the origin and nature of the most
secret disorders, and obtain the hidden method of curing them; that they
discern the course to be pursued in the most intricate affairs; that
they learn to explain the obscurest dreams, to give success to the most
difficult negociations, and to render the gods propitious to warriors and
hunters.’ ‘I have heard,’ he adds, ‘from persons of the most undoubted
judgment and veracity, that when these imposters shut themselves up in
their sweating stones, which is one of their most common preparations
for the performance of their sleight of hand, they differ in no respect
from the descriptions given by the poets, of the priestesses of Apollo,
when seated on the Delphic Tripod. They have been seen to fall into
convulsions, to assume tones of voice, and to perform actions, which
were seemingly superior to human strength, and which inspired with
an unconquerable terror even the most prejudiced spectators.’ Their
predictions were sometimes so surprisingly verified, that Charlevoix
seems firmly to have believed that they had a real intercourse with the
father of lies.[65]
“This account of the Jongleurs of Canada, is confirmed by Mr.
Heckewelder, in his late work on the Indian tribes. ‘They are a set,’
he observes, ‘of professional impostors, who availing themselves of the
superstitious prejudices of the people, acquire the name and reputation
of men of superior knowledge, and possessed of supernatural powers. As
the Indians in general believe in witchcraft, and ascribe to the arts
of sorcerers many of the disorders with which they are afflicted in the
regular course of nature, this class of men has arisen among them, who
pretend to be skilled in a certain occult science, by means of which they
are able, not only to cure natural diseases, but to counteract or destroy
the enchantments of wizards or witches, and expel evil spirits.’[66]
“There are jugglers of another kind, in general old men and women, who
get their living by pretending to supernatural knowledge, to bring down
rain when wanted, and to impart good luck to bad hunters. In the summer
of 1799, a most uncommon drought happened in the Muskingum country.
An old man was applied to by the women to bring down rain, and after
various ceremonies, declared that they should have rain enough. The sky
had been clear for nearly five weeks, and was equally clear when the
Indian made this declaration. But about four in the afternoon the horizon
became overcast, and, without any thunder or wind, it began to rain, and
continued to do so till the ground became thoroughly soaked. Experience
had doubtless taught him to observe that certain signs in the sky or in
the water were forerunners of rain; yet the credulous multitude did not
fail to ascribe it to his supernatural power.[67] It is incredible to
what a degree the superstitious belief in witchcraft operates on the mind
of the Indian. The moment his imagination is struck with the idea that
he is bewitched, he is no longer himself. Of this extraordinary power
of their conjurers, of the causes which produce it, and the manner in
which it is acquired, they have not a very definite idea. The sorcerer,
they think, makes use of some deadening substance, which he conveys
to the person he means to strike, in a manner which they can neither
understand or describe. The person thus stricken is immediately seized
with an unaccountable terror. His spirits sink, his appetite fails, he is
disturbed in his sleep, he pines and wastes away, or a fit of sickness
seizes him, and he dies at last, a miserable victim to the workings of
his own imagination.[68]
“A remarkable instance of this belief in the power of these sorcerers,
and of the wonderful effects of imagination, is related by Hearne, as
having occurred during his residence among the northern or Chepewyan
Indians. Matonabbee, one of their chiefs, had requested him to kill one
of his enemies, who was at that time several hundred miles distant. ‘To
please this great man,’ says he, ‘and not expecting that any harm could
possibly arise from it, I drew a rough sketch of two human figures on a
piece of paper, in the attitude of wrestling; in the hand of one of them
I drew the figure of a bayonet, pointing to the breast of the other.
This, said I, to Matonabbee, pointing to the figure which was holding the
bayonet, is I, and the other is your enemy. Opposite to those two figures
I drew a fine tree, over which I placed a large human eye, and out of
the tree projected a human hand. This paper I gave to Matonabbee, with
instructions to make it as public as possible. The following year when he
came to trade, he informed me that the man was dead. Matonabbee assured
me, that the man was in perfect health when he heard of my design against
him, but almost immediately afterwards became quite gloomy, and, refusing
all kinds of sustenance, in a very few days died.’[69]
“Bartram, in his account of the manners and habits of the tribes which
inhabit Florida and the south of the United States, relates, as their
general belief, that their seer has communion with powerful invisible
spirits, who have a share in the government of human affairs, as well
as of the elements. His influence is so great, as frequently to turn
back an army when within a day’s journey of their enemy, after a march
of several hundred miles. ‘Indeed,’ he adds, ‘the predictions of these
men have surprised many people. They foretell rain or drought, pretend
to bring rain at pleasure, cure diseases, exercise witchcraft, invoke or
expel evil spirits, and even assume the power of directing thunder and
lightening.’[70]
“The power, then, of these imposters, is supposed to consist in the
miraculous cure of diseases; the procuring of rain, and other temporal
blessings, in the same supernatural manner; the miraculous infliction of
punishment upon the subjects of their displeasure, and the foretelling
of future events. It will immediately be seen, that these are, in fact,
the characteristics of the prophetic office; those I mean, which are
external, which produce therefore, a lasting impression on the senses of
men, and from the force of ocular tradition, would naturally be pretended
to, even after the power of God was withdrawn.”
_Of the mode in which the North American Indians educate their children._
Many of the Asiatic nations and African tribes sell their children
without compunction; but no emolument or hope of advantage can induce
a North American Indian to part with his child to strangers. Of the
tenderness with which the American Indians regard their offspring,
Buchanan witnessed the following manifestation:—
“A mother with an infant at her breast, and two other children, one
about eleven and the other eight or nine years of age, were in a canoe
near a mile from land, during a violent squall. The wind came in sudden
gusts, and the waves dashed in rapid succession over the frail vessel.
The poor woman, with a small oar in one hand and the other surrounding
her babe, directed the two young ones, who each had a paddle, to get the
head of the canoe to the wind while the squall lasted; which, with much
labour on the part of these tender little mariners, aided by the mother,
was at length effected; but during the effort it was very touching to
see the strong emotions of maternal love, evidenced to the poor infant
at her breast. She would clasp it tightly to her agitated bosom, then
cast a momentary look at her other children, and with an anxious and
steady gaze, watch the coming wave. In this scene was exhibited such
high degrees of fortitude, dexterity, and parental affection, that I
would have wished many of our civilized mothers, who look and think with
contempt on the poor Indian, had beheld her.”
It might be expected that those who display such tenderness to their
offspring, should be particularly careful of their subsequent education.
Accordingly, we find that the Indians pay particular attention to this
matter. “It may be justly a subject of wonder,” says Mr. Heckewelder,
“how a nation without a written code of laws or system of jurisprudence,
without any form or constitution of government, and without even a single
elective or hereditary magistrate, can subsist together in peace and
harmony, and in the exercise of the moral virtues; how a people can be
well and effectually governed, without any external authority, by the
mere force of the ascendency which men of superior minds have over those
of a more ordinary stamp; by a tacit, yet universal submission to the
aristocracy of experience, talent, and virtue! Such, nevertheless, is
the spectacle which an Indian nation exhibits to the eye of a stranger.
I have been a witness to it for a long series of years, and after much
observation and reflection to discover the cause of this phenomenon, I
think I have reason to be satisfied that it is in a great degree to be
ascribed _to the pains which the Indians take to instil at an early age
honest and virtuous principles into the minds of their children, and to
the method which they pursue in educating them_. This method I will not
call a system, for systems are unknown to these sons of nature, who,
by following alone her dictates, have at once discovered, and followed
without effort, that plain obvious path which the philosophers of Europe
have been so long in search of.”[71]
The manner of this education is described by our good missionary as
follows:—
“The first step that parents take towards the education of their
children, is to prepare them for future happiness, by impressing upon
their tender minds, that they are indebted for their existence to a
great, good, and benevolent spirit, who not only has given them life,
but has ordained them for certain great purposes. That he has given them
a fertile extensive country, well stocked with game of every kind for
their subsistence; and that by one of his inferior spirits he has also
sent down to them from above, corn, pumpkins, squashes, beans, and other
vegetables for their nourishment; all which blessings their ancestors
have enjoyed for a great number of ages. That this great spirit looks
down upon the Indians, to see whether they are grateful to him and make
him a due return for the many benefits he has bestowed, and therefore,
that it is their duty to show their thankfulness by worshiping him, and
doing that which is pleasing in his sight.