proceeded to Nilco, which the Indians said was contiguous to the
Mississippi (or Rio Grande), from whence it was his determination to
proceed to the sea, and procure a reinforcement of men and horses,
as now he had but 400 men left out of the thousand with which he
landed, and 40 horses, some of which were become lame. De Soto
here experienced an irreparable loss in the death of John Ortiz, a
Spaniard, who had accompanied the previous expedition of Pamphilo de
Narvaez, being taken prisoner by the natives of the bay of Spirito
{260} Santo, in East Florida, amongst whom he had acquired much of
the manners and language of the Indians. Besides his loss as an
interpreter, they were likewise bereft of a guide, and made many
unnecessary wanderings and errors in their route. They spent 10
days in travelling from Autiamque to a province called Ayays; and
came again to a town situated near to the Washita (or the river of
Cayas and Autiamque). Here he passed the river by means of a boat
which they built on purpose, but for four days after they could not
travel for snow. When the snow had now ceased, they went through a
wilderness, and a country so enswamped and full of lakes, that they
travelled one time a whole day in water from the knee to the stirrup,
and sometimes they were obliged to swim. At length, they arrived at a
town called Tutelpinco, which was abandoned, and destitute of maize;
near to it there passed a lake communicating with the river, by an
outlet which now ran with a considerable current.
De Soto spent a whole day in seeking a passage across this lake, and
all without success. Returning at night to the town, he met with
two Indians, who showed him the passage, which they effected the
following day by means of hurdles or rafts of cane. After travelling
three days, they came to a town of the territory of Nilco, called
Tianto. Here they took 30 natives, and among them two chiefs. De
Soto, according to his custom of levying contribution on the natives,
dispatched a party beforehand to Nilco, to prevent the Indians from
gaining time to carry away their provision. The party passed through
three or four large towns, and in the town where the chief resided,
which was four miles from where the governor had remained, they found
many Indians armed with their bows and arrows, standing apparently on
the defensive. But as soon {261} as the Spaniards began to approach,
without more ado, they set fire to the house of the chief, and fled
over a contiguous lake, which was not fordable for the horses.
The next day they arrived at Nilco, and lodged in the cazique’s town,
which stood in a prairie, and was inhabited for the space of half a
mile. Within three miles were other large towns, well stored with
the usual kind of provision. The Spaniards considered this as the
best inhabited country which they had seen in Florida, except Coça
and Apalache. A deputation came to Soto in the name of the chief,
with a present of a garment of fur, and a string of pearls, to which
the commander made a suitable return. This Indian promised to return
in two days, but never fulfilled his promise, and in the night, the
Indians were perceived carrying away their maize, and erecting
cabins on the opposite side of the river.
This river, which ran by Nilco, was again recognized as the same
which passed by Cayas and Autiamque, and from its contiguity to
the Mississippi, appears to have been the Red river. Near to
its confluence, was situated what La Vega calls the province of
Guachoya. Three days after his arrival at Nilco, the commander came
to Guachoya, where he hoped to hear of the sea, and recruit his
men while the brigantines should be building, which he intended to
dispatch to the Spanish settlements. He took up his residence in the
town of the chief, which was fortified with pickets, and situated
about a cross-bow shot from the Mississippi.
The chief of Guachoya came to the commander, accompanied by many of
his people, who brought presents of fish, dogs, deer skins, and woven
garments. He was asked concerning the distance from hence to the
sea, to which {262} he could receive no answer, and was, moreover,
informed that no more towns or settlements were to be met with on
that side of the river in descending. Soto suspecting the truth of
this disagreeable information, sent one of his officers with eight
horsemen down the river to acquire more certain intelligence, and to
learn, if possible, the distance and practicability of proceeding to
the sea. This messenger travelled eight days through sunken lands,
and was not able to proceed in all that time more than about 30
miles, in consequence of the obstruction of bayous, cane brakes,
and almost impenetrable forests, which were entirely destitute of
habitations.
At this news, as well as at the desperate situation of his affairs,
the commander fell sick with despondence. But previous to taking
to his bed, he sent an Indian messenger to the chief of Quigalta,
to declare to him, that he was of the offspring of the sun (a
pretention which was supported by the princes of the Natchez), and
that, as such, he had been every where obeyed and served; that he
requested him to accept of his friendship, and visit him, as he would
be gratified by his presence; and that, as a mark of his esteem
and obedience, he hoped he would bring something with him, of that
which was most esteemed in his country; to which, however, the chief
returned the following independent answer:
“That as to his relation with the sun, he would believe it if he
would dry up the river. He paid no visits, but, on the contrary,
received obedience and tribute, either willingly or by force, from
all the people with which he was acquainted. Therefore, if he desired
an interview, it would be most proper for him to pay the visit.
If his intentions were peaceable, he would be received {263} with
hospitality, but if he wished for war, he could attend him in the
town where he now resided, but that, for him, or any other mortal, he
would not step back a foot.”
When the messenger returned with this unexpected answer, the governor
was confined to his bed, and sick of a fever, but expressed a
mortification that he was not immediately prepared to cross the river
(Mississippi), which was here very rapid, and chastise the pride of
this chief of Quigalta.[262] The river is here described as being
a mile in width, and 16 fathoms deep, having both banks thickly
inhabited by the natives.
The enterprising Soto, sensible of the approach of death, called
around him the officers of his ruined army, and, in their presence,
appointed Louis de Mososco de Alvarado their succeeding captain
general and governor. The following day, the 21st of May, 1542,
Ferdinand de Soto died, near to the confluence of Red river with
the Mississippi. Mososco, now reduced to stratagem, determined to
conceal his death from the natives, because that Soto had made them
believe that the Christians were immortal, and because they were
impressed with a high opinion of his vigilance and valour, and,
seeing him now removed by death, they might be instigated to take up
arms against the miserable handful of troops that remained. Knowing
the inconstancy of their friendship, and their credulity, de Soto
made them believe he possessed the art of prying into their inmost
secrets, without their knowledge; and, that the figure which appeared
in a mirror, which he showed them, disclosed to him all their
intentions, by which means they were often deterred from practising
treachery against him.
{264} Mososco, after concealing the body of Soto for three days, had
him at length removed and buried in the secrecy of the night, near
one of the gates of the town within the wall. The Indians, however,
having seen him sick, suspected what in truth had happened; and,
passing by the place of his interment, where the earth was fresh,
the circumstance became a matter of conversation among them, in
consequence of which, Mososco had the body disinterred in the night,
and wrapt up with a ballast of sand, and committed to the deep of the
river. At length, the chief of Guachoya inquired for Soto, and was
informed by Mososco, that he was gone for a while to heaven, as he
had often done before, and because his stay was now to be protracted
for a considerable time, he had appointed him to fill his place in
the interim. The chief, still, however, believed that he was dead,
and ordered two handsome Indians to be brought and sacrificed,
according to their custom on the death of a chief, in order that
they might wait upon him hereafter. Mososco still insisted, that de
Soto was not dead, but gone to heaven, and that of his own soldiers,
he had taken such as were necessary to serve him, and desiring the
Indians to be loosed, advised the chief hereafter to desist from such
an inhuman practice. Upon this, the intended victims being set at
liberty, one of them refused to return with his chief because of his
inhumanity, and attached himself to Mososco.
After some deliberation concerning their intended route, they came,
at length, to the conclusion of attempting a passage to New Spain
over land, as more practicable than the way by sea. After passing
through several Indian towns whose names are now unintelligible, we
find him, at length, among the Naguatex (or Natchitoches).
{265} After proceeding in a western direction, about 300 miles from
the Mississippi, they came to a river called Daycao, which Purchas
conjectures to be the Rio del Oro of Cabeza de Vaca. From hence,
after encountering the inclemencies and hardships of the commencing
winter, they found it necessary to return to the confluence of Red
river and the Mississippi, as it was impossible for them to subsist
among the wandering natives of the sterile wilderness they were
approaching, and over which, the natives themselves merely migrated
and hunted, being destitute of any supply of maize, and spending a
wandering life, like that of the Arabs, subsisting upon the Tunas
(prickly pears), and roots of the plains.
Having returned to Minoya, considerably reduced by a sickness, which
bordered on the typhus fever, they commenced building boats for the
purpose of descending the Mississippi to the sea. In the month of
March, though there had not been rain previous for a month, the river
took such a rise, that in its overflow it reached to Nilco, 18 miles
distant, and from the natives, Mososco understood that the flood was
equally extensive on the opposite side. In the town occupied by the
Spaniards, which was somewhat elevated, the water reached to the
stirrups on horseback; and for two months they never stirred out of
their houses, except on horseback or in canoes.
From an Indian, who was tortured for the purpose, Mososco learnt,
that the caziques of Nilco, Guachoya, Taguanate, and others, to the
number of about 20 chiefs, commanding many people, had determined to
fall upon him by treachery. The signal for the destruction of the
Spaniards on which they had agreed, was the time of making a present
to the commander. The Indian, who gave this {266} information, was
detained in close confinement, and the day arriving for the delivery
of the first presents, 30 Indians appearing with fish, Mososco
ordered their right hands to be cut off, and sent them back in
this condition to their chief. He also sent word to the cazique of
Guachoya, that he and the rest of the conspirators might come when
they pleased, as he was prepared for them, and could readily divine
all their intentions as soon as thought of. This circumstance threw
them into consternation, and the chiefs respectively came forward to
excuse themselves.
Their boats being finished in the month of June, the summer flood
again visited the town, and without any farther trouble, the boats
were now launched and conveyed into the Mississippi. They shipped 22
of the best horses which they had in the camp, and of the rest they
made provision. They left Minoya on the second of July, 1543, being
now reduced to 320 men, who occupied seven brigantines. They were 17
days in descending to the sea, which they considered to be a distance
of about 500 miles from the place of their departure; and, indeed,
pretty well corresponding with the present estimated distance. In the
course of their descent, they were repeatedly attacked by the natives.
On the 18th of July, they arrived in the gulf with a fair wind,
and continued with a moderate breeze for two days, to their great
astonishment still in fresh water, and were greatly tormented by
musquetoes. After coasting two and fifty days, they at length arrived
in the river of Panuco the 10th of September, 1543, and were in all
311 men.
Such is a brief sketch of this memorable expedition, which opened
the northern hemisphere of the New World {267} to the enterprize and
industry of the Europeans, and whence civilized society has derived
far more lasting and important advantages, than could ever have
accrued from the mere discovery of the precious metals.
{268} SECTION II
THE HISTORY OF THE NATCHEZ
We see nothing, says Charlevoix, in their outward appearance that
distinguishes them from the other savages of Canada and Louisiana.
They seldom made war, living in quiet possession of their country,
and having no ambition to distinguish themselves by conquering their
neighbours. Their despotic form of government, accompanied by some
taste for parade and courtly magnificence, and the great servility of
their subjects, appeared to be the shadow of a departing power, and
concomitant population, such as had been unparalleled in the history
of the northern natives.
Their great chief pretended to derive his origin from the Sun, which
was likewise the principal object of their adoration.[263] He was
always chosen from the family of the nearest female relative of his
predecessor, and his mother was also invested with considerable
power,[264] and considered {269} as an auxiliary chief. She, no less
than the Great Sun, dispensed with the lives and liberties of their
subjects. The lesser chiefs and the people never approached them
without uttering three salutations, in a loud and mournful tone,
which it was necessary to repeat on retiring, and also to walk out
from their presence backwards. Even when they happened to meet them,
they were obliged to arrange themselves on either side of the path,
and repeat the customary salutation as they passed. Their subjects
likewise brought them the best of their harvests, of their hunting,
and their fishing. And no person, not even their nearest relatives,
or those of noble families, when invited to eat with them, had a
right to put their hand to the same dish, or to drink out of the same
vessel.
Every morning, as the sun appeared, the great chief came to the door
of his cabin, and turning himself towards the East, bowed to the
earth, and howled three successive times. A pipe dedicated to this
purpose was then brought to him, out of which he smoked tobacco,
blowing the fume towards the sun, and the other three quarters of the
world.[265]
{270} The actions of the Great Chief were allowed to be without
impeachment; and his life, according to an ancient and solemn
compact, could never become forfeited by his crimes. Indeed the death
of the Great Sun was considered the greatest national calamity which
could happen, and superstition had brought it to be considered as
an omen of the cessation of their theocracy, and of the destruction
of the world. Their sons were termed nobles, an honour which was
likewise attainable by the meritorious of inferior rank. The common
people laboured under a degrading {271} appellation, not indeed very
different from the French epithet of _canaille_, or our own term the
mob, or the vulgar. They carried this distinction even into their
language, as there were different modes of addressing the vulgar and
nobles.[266]
When either the male or female sun died, all their _allouez_, or
intimate attendants, devoted themselves to death, under a persuasion
that their presence would be necessary to maintain the dignity of
their chief in the future world. The wives and husbands of these
chiefs were likewise immolated for the same purpose, and considered
it the most honourable and desirable of deaths. More than a
hundred victims were sometimes sacrificed to the names of the Great
Chief.[267] The same horrible ceremonies, in a more {272} limited
degree, were also exercised at the death of the lesser chiefs.
At the death of one of their female chiefs, Charlevoix relates, that
her husband not being noble was, according to their custom, strangled
by the hands of his own son. Soon after, the two deceased being laid
out in state, were surrounded by the dead bodies of 12 infants,
strangled by the order of the eldest daughter of the late female
chief, and who had now succeeded to her dignity. Fourteen other
individuals were also prepared to die and accompany the deceased. On
the day of interment, as the procession advanced, the fathers and
mothers who had sacrificed their children, preceding the bier, threw
the bodies upon the ground at different distances, in order that
they might be trampled upon by the bearers of the dead. The corpse
arriving in the temple where it was to be interred, the 14 victims
now prepared themselves for death by swallowing pills of tobacco and
water, and were then strangled by the relations of the deceased, and
their bodies cast into the common grave, and covered with earth.
The Natchez, together with the remains of the Grigras and Thioux,
who had become incorporated with them, did not, in 1720, amount to
more than 1200 warriors.[268] Only six or seven years prior to this
period, their warriors were estimated at 4000. This rapid decrease
they attributed to the prevalence of contagious diseases, by which
they had been wasted, for it does not appear that they were ever
addicted to war, having long lived in peace with the neighbouring
nations, who venerated their sacred institutions, and acknowledged
their political ascendancy and power. Their dominion once extended
from the borders of bayou {273} Manchac to the banks of the Ohio, and
they numbered not less than 500 suns or caziques. Descended from,
and confederated with them, were the Taensas of the Mobile, and the
Chetimashas of bayou Placquemine, remnants of whom still exist,
not far from the sites where they were first found by the French
colonists, and against whom they waged an unsuccessful war.
The Natchez had a distinct tradition of migrating to the Mississippi,
from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, at two distinct periods of
time. A part of the nation (probably about the period of the first
establishment of the Mexican monarchy) fled from the threatening
oppression of their natural enemies, and living in undisturbed
tranquillity for several generations in their newly acquired
territory, they became very populous, and were only joined by the
Great Sun after the arrival and invasion of the Spaniards, with whom
at first they had entered into an alliance. As to their ultimate
oriental origin, it appears to be merely connected with their
presumption of a descent from the sun, which first illuminates the
eastern hemisphere. It was this superstition which proved so fatal
to the Mexicans, who venerated as a celestial race the Spanish
conquerors, because they had arrived from the region of the rising
sun. Traces of the natural worship of the two great luminaries of day
and night, were every where visible throughout the regions of the New
World, and continue to be practised by those who are still unbiassed
by the influence of the European nations.[269] The Hurons, no {274}
less than the Muyscas of the plain of Bogota, in the equatorial
regions, personified the moon in their female deity, Atahentsic, who
was the mother of the fratricide {275} Jouskeka, or the sun,[270]
betwixt whom were divided the powers of good and evil. The moon
possessing the attributes of Hecate, and the sun those of Phœbus,
Apollo, or Osiris the brother of Isis, or the moon.[271]
{276} The great ritual of this religion, which obtained throughout
America, is the pipe which was filled with the inebriating tobacco,
and smoked in offering to this great luminary, and to the four
quarters, or the surrounding horizon of the visible world, which
it illuminates. Associated with this adoration, as simple as
natural, was that of preserving an eternal fire in some sacred
place appropriated to this purpose, as well as for the celebration
of their festivals and deliberative councils. The pipe was brought
forward on every solemn occasion, and to ratify every serious pledge
of peace, integrity, and friendship. The rites of hospitality,
sanctioned by this ceremony, were irrefragable, as well as every
commercial and political contract. The Hurons say, that the Indian
nations derived the sacred pipe from the great luminary to whom it
is dedicated, and, that it was first presented to the western nation
of the Pawnees,[272] a tradition which I have found corroborated
by the nation of the Mandans and the Minitarees. Those people, as
well as the Naudowessies, influenced by an idolatrous regard for
the sun, make offerings of their most valuable effects,[273] and,
occasionally, even of the lives of their prisoners. The Mexicans
immolated hosts of human victims to their cruel and imaginary deities.
If the Natchez refrained from cruel offerings to their {277} gods,
they failed not to sacrifice many human victims at the death of their
caziques, who pretended to derive their origin from the sun.
In their other superstitions, manners, and customs, they differ too
little from the rest of the aborigines to tolerate the repetition.
Their peculiar usages are in some degree still kept up by those
confederated tribes which we call the Creeks or Muskogolgees, to whom
they appear to have been more intimately related, than any other of
the remaining aborigines. Among these people fire is still venerated,
and the appearance of the new moon announced with festivity and
gladness. According to the relation of my venerable friend, Wm.
Bartram, there existed also among them a language of distinction
and of honour, and an aristocratic acknowledgment of superior and
inferior order in their society.
The occasion of that signal depopulation which the Natchez had
experienced, when first discovered by the French, must ever remain
in unaccountable uncertainty. The prevalence of fatal and contagious
diseases at one period more than another, is scarcely admissible
in a country which had ever exhibited the same aspect, and amongst
a people who had never inhabited crowded towns or cities. From the
migratory and unsettled character of the more northern natives, and
their acknowledged superiority in arms, particularly the Iroquois,
with whom they warred,[274] may be with more probability deduced
the real cause of this destruction. The valley of the Ohio, and
the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee, still exhibit unequivocal
and numerous remains of a vast {278} population, who had begun to
make some imperfect advances towards power and civilization. Works
were constructed for public benefit, which required the united
energy, skill, and labour of a devoted multitude. We, in vain,
look for similar subordination among the existing natives; by their
own tradition they destroyed this race, as foreigners, and gained
possession of their country and their fortresses, abandoning them
as the barbarians of the north did the cities of Europe, and thus
prostrating every advance which had been made beyond the actual
limits of savage life.
These devoted people, the Mexicans of the north, were not, however,
relieved by their acquaintance with the civilized world. They had
peaceably suffered the French to settle around them, and assisted
them when in the utmost want and necessity. They thus saved the lives
of those, who were about to prove their mortal enemies and oppressors.
The first quarrel which took place betwixt the French and Natchez,
in the year 1722, was occasioned by the insolence and injustice of a
common soldier of the fort, who, demanding in an unreasonable manner
a debt from an aged warrior of the White Apple village, proceeded by
unjust pretences to instigate the guard to shoot him, which proved
mortal, and for which rashness he received from the commander nothing
more than a reprimand.
The village, determined on revenge, fell upon two Frenchmen in their
neighbourhood, and at last upon the settlement of St. Catharine. The
great chief, however, called the Stung Serpent, at the entreaty of
the commandant of Fort Rosalie, succeeded in producing a cessation of
hostilities, and soon afterwards a peace.
Notwithstanding this favourable posture of affairs, M. {279} De
Biainville, the governor, violating every principle of honour and of
justice, a few months afterwards, in the midst of peace, surprised
the unfortunate Natchez of the offending village, and falling upon
them in cold-blooded treachery, obliged them to give up their aged
chief, whose head he had demanded of his people.
Some years after this affair, the tyranny and injustice of the Sieur
de Chopart, who commanded the post of Natchez, had nearly proved
fatal to the whole of the French settlement in Louisiana. Soon after
arriving at the post, he projected forming an eminent settlement,
in order to gratify his ambition, and amongst all the situations
which he examined, none could satisfy him but the village of the
White Apple, which was not less than a square league in extent. The
commandant, without further ceremony, ordered the chief to remove his
huts and his people, as soon as possible, to some other quarter. To
which the Sun of the Apple deliberately replied, that his ancestors
had lived in that village for almost as many years as there were
hairs in his head, and that therefore they had a just right to
continue there unmolested.
The Sun, without making any impression on the mind of the inexorable
Chopart, withdrew, and assembled the council of his village, who
represented to the commandant that, at present, their corn was only
shooting, and if now neglected, would be lost both to themselves and
the French, who were not numerous enough to tend it. But this excuse,
though just and reasonable, was menacingly rejected.
At length, the old men proposed to the commandant, to be allowed
to remain in their village until harvest, and to have time to dry
their corn, on condition, that each hut of the village should pay,
at a time appointed, a basket of corn and a fowl, a measure which
would also afford them {280} time to deliberate on some method of
delivering themselves from the tyranny of the French.
This proposal succeeded with the avaricious Chopart, who pretended
to grant them this respite as a favour. The Sun and council of the
village, now consulted together on the means of ridding themselves
and their nation of the French. They entered into a secret conspiracy
to destroy the whole settlement at a blow, on that odious day
appointed for the delivery of the stipulated tribute. They were also
to endeavor to gain over the other neighbouring nations into the
plot, in order to complete their success, and accelerate the fatal
project.
To obtain uniformity in the execution, bundles of rods, equal in
number, were to be delivered to their several allies, and also
retained by themselves in the recess of their temple; one of which
was to be withdrawn and broken each day, until the accomplishment of
the stated period.[275]
The secret councils which were held among the nobles and elders,
gave some alarm to the people, and aroused the curiosity of the
Stung Arm, mother to the Grand Sun, who, at length, wrung from this
chief the fatal secret. Influenced either by caprice or compassion,
she destroyed the concert of the execution, which was to have been
seconded by the Choctaws, by withdrawing a number of the rods, and
so hastening the approaching time of the massacre. All the warnings
which she gave to the commander and other individuals, were treated
with disdain, as the effects of fear and cowardice.
On the eve of St. Andrew, 1729, the Natchez left their towns
preparatory to the execution of their plot, and to show their
contempt for the commandant, they had left his execution in the hands
of one of the vulgar, who was {281} armed with a wooden hatchet, no
warrior deigning to kill him. At the time appointed, the massacre
became general and instantaneous, and of about 700 persons, but few
escaped to bear the fatal intelligence to New Orleans, the capital.
The Choctaws were greatly displeased at the acceleration of the
period appointed for the accomplishment of the plot by the Natchez,
and were, in consequence, easily induced, soon afterwards, to join
the French against them. Arriving early in the following spring, the
troops appointed by M. Perier, then governor of Louisiana, joined by
the Choctaws, made their attack on the fort of the Natchez. After the
lapse of several days employed in firing without any great effect,
the besieged, fearing the worst, began to sue for peace, and offered
as a condition to deliver up all their prisoners. The Natchez gaining
time by these offers of pacification, took advantage of the following
night, and evacuated their fort with all their families, baggage, and
plunder.
After the Natchez had abandoned the fort, it was demolished to the
ground.
A short time after their flight, determined on revenge against the
Tonicas, who were allies of the French, they destroyed them by
stratagem, under pretence of offering them terms of peace.
The Natchez had now abandoned the east side of the Mississippi, and
fortified themselves near to Silver creek connected with the Washita.
M. Perier and his brother, with a considerable armament, penetrated
to the retreat of the unfortunate Natchez, who, struck with terror
at the sight of their relentless and formidable enemies, shut
themselves up in their fort, and abandoned themselves to despair
and desperation. Soon after the battery had commenced, a bomb {282}
happening to fall in the midst of their fort amongst the women and
children, they were so struck with terror and grief at the cries of
the helpless, that they instantly made the signal of capitulation.
They, however, started difficulties again to obtain time. The night
was granted them, and they attempted a second flight, but were, for
the greatest part, checked and obliged to retire into the fort.
Those who did escape, joined a party who were out a hunting, and
they altogether retired to the Chicasaws.[276] The rest surrendered
themselves prisoners, among whom were the Grand Sun, and the female
chiefs; they were carried to New Orleans in slavery, and there
consigned to prison, but were shortly after sold in the king’s
plantations. Bent upon their annihilation, the French afterwards
transported them to St. Domingo, and in this way terminated the fate
of the Natchez as a nation, whose only fault was that of patriotism,
and an inviolable love of rational liberty.
It appears that the small party who had sought refuge among the
Chicasaws, still insecure from the bitter hostilities of the French,
had at last retired into the country of the Creeks; and, at this
time occupy a small village called Natchez, on the banks of the
Tallipoosee, whose chief, Coweta, fought under the banners of general
Jackson. Their language (said to be destitute of the letter _r_), and
their positive affinities to any existing nation of the aborigines,
has never yet been ascertained, and remains open to the inquiries
of the curious, who will not probably long enjoy the advantage
of contemplating the character of this feeble fragment of a once
numerous, powerful, and rational people.
{283} SECTION III
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHICASAWS AND CHOCTAWS
The Chicasaws and Choctaws, who speak a language considerably
related, entertain a tradition in common with the Iroquois, the
Delawares, the Illinois, and most of the nations of North America,
of having once migrated from the west, and crossed the Mississippi
to their present residence. They are said to derive their name from
two distinguished leaders, Choctawby and Chicasawby, who instigated
their warlike and political movements. These personal appellations
were frequently employed by the aborigines in the time of Soto,
who speaks, for example, of the Kaskaskias and others by those who
then held the rule, as the cazique or chief of Casqui, of Nilco, of
Cayas, &c., all which, as far as still recognizable, have passed
very improperly into so many epithets apparently national, but which
were, in fact, as we discover both by language and confederation,
merely so many bands of the same people receding from the residence
of the original stock, either through ambitious caprice, enterprize,
or necessity. This connection among the Delawares or Lleni-lenapés,
affording an easy clue of origin, was always readily acknowledged
under the epithets of grandfather, the original stock, and brothers
or collateral descendants, by which were designated the receding
tribes, and by a mere reference to which, never for a moment
disputed, the paternal and ruling authority of the ancient household
was universally acknowledged and venerated. From a neglect of this
genealogical analysis has arisen that confusion of {284} origin,
and those fallacious ideas of Indian nations and languages which
many suppose to exist; as if the human family in America, had ever
consisted of as many paltry and radically dismembered fragments, as
there were names employed to designate them.
It is not a little singular, that to all inquiries of ultimate
residence which have ever been made among the American natives,
they should so uniformly refer back apparently almost to the same
period and the same country. The occasion of this simultaneous
migration, however urgent and important, is now perpetually locked
in mystery. It was, undoubtedly, instigated by some important human
revolution, which appears to have set in motion a vast hive of the
human race in search of some more commodious state of subsistence.
They were too barbarous to have adventured in quest of pecuniary
wealth, and could have had naturally no other object for separation
greater than that which slowly dispersed the first patriarchs of
the world. Their migrations, as described by the Mexicans, probably
took up a period of ages, and the vicissitudes of fortune which
attended their progress, unrecorded by the circumstantial pen of
history, and limited by chronology, may, probably, contribute to that
extraordinary appearance of simultaneous and uninterrupted movement,
which was rather carried on through an extended cycle of time, than
in the short space requisite to the completion of an expedition.
There is one thing, however, certain in regard to the Chicasaws and
their collateral bands, that they have for at least the three last
centuries occupied the countries in which we still find them. For it
was here that they were discovered by De Soto, and where they had
not then apparently by any means recently established themselves.
On what footing they had resided as near {285} neighbours to the
Natchez, I am unable to ascertain; they appear from the first to have
been a jealous and hostile nation, and became the bold, cunning, and
successful enemies of the whites from their first interview with the
Spaniards, who certainly, as wanton invaders, did not act in a way to
conciliate the esteem of the natives. The Natchez asserted that they
could once number no less than 500 Suns (or chiefs who pretended to
derive their origin from that luminary which they adored), and that
their possessions extended in a continual line from Natchez to the
mouth of the Ohio. Whether they had been dispossessed and reduced
to the feeble state in which they were discovered by the French,
through the enmity of the Chicasaws, Iroquois, or the Illinois, we
cannot now determine, though, from the contiguity of the latter,
and their former strength, we should rather conclude them, or the
northern confederates, to have been the destroyers of the Natchez,
than the Chicasaws, as we find them and the Choctaws to have been
the abettors of the Natchez, in their unfortunate contest with the
French, yet of a character extremely versatile and revengeful,
insomuch that the Choctaws, who had at one time proffered their
assistance, withdrew it in favour of their enemies, in consequence of
the unforeseen circumstance which to the Natchez prematurely hastened
the secret attack they had concerted against their enemies, and which
was to have been regulated by the consummation of a period of time,
designated by a bundle of rods deposited in the temple, each of which
counted for a day. The completion of this fatal period was, however,
secretly hastened, to destroy the concert with the Choctaws, by the
revengeful sister of the Great Sun, who, resenting the secrecy her
brother had observed towards her, withdrew a number of {286} the
tallies, and though by this means the main object was not defeated,
yet it excited the fatal jealousy and enmity of the Choctaws, who
were consequently disconcerted in completing the intended measure of
vengeance.
From the high tone in which the chief of Quigalta answered the
requisitions of Soto, (and who, occupying the identical spot where
Natchez now stands, could, by the concurrence of their traditions,
scarcely have been any other than the same people), we perceive their
power and independence, although concentrated within narrower limits,
still highly respectable.
In the time of Charlevoix, an active war was carried on betwixt the
ever restless and rapacious Chicasaws and the Illinois, who, by them
and the Iroquois, in the end appear to have been exterminated as a
nation.
From the situation which the Chicasaws and their branches occupied on
this continent, from the earliest period of history, we may, I think,
consider them as among the most ancient of the existing aborigines.
To give a more correct idea of their former extent and influence,
considered in the most general point of view, I shall bring together
their scattered branches, so as to afford a retrospect of the whole.
Although we have chosen to speak of the Chicasaw as the principal
band, which it now is, in consequence of the reduction or extinction
of most of the rest; yet, in point of numbers, the Mobilians, now,
I believe, extinct, must have far exceeded the Chicasaws. They were
discovered by De Soto, dwelling in the vicinity of the present bay
and river of Mobile. Their name, by De Soto, is Mouvill. Unwilling to
acknowledge the arbitrary usurpation of their Spanish discoverers, a
battle ensued, which, in consequence probably of the inequality of
arms and skill, proved very destructive {287} to the Mouvillians,
who lost 2500 men. From so considerable a loss at the first outset,
and that without a surprise, it is evident that their numbers must
have been considerable. They were nearly extinct in the time of
Charlevoix, who, concerning their religious rite of preserving an
eternal fire in a temple, remarks, that it appeared probable, the
Mobilians had, over all the people of Florida, a kind of primacy
of religion, for it was at their sacred fire that the others were
obliged to kindle _that_, which, by accident or neglect, had been
suffered to go out.[277] In the vicinity of the Mobilians lived also
the Chatots, in the time of Du Pratz, occupying a village of about 40
huts. A little north of Fort Louis, on the Mobille, according to the
same author, lived the Thomez, who were not more numerous than the
Chatots.
To the north of the Apalaches, who gave name to the mountains so
called, lived the Alibamas, and to the north of the Alibamas, were
the Abeikas and Conchacs, apparently the same people. Their language
was scarcely at all different from that of the Chicasaws, and their
name of _conchac_ is the Chicasaw word for the knives which they
formerly made of sharpened splits of cane.
The Aquelou Pissas, formerly living within three or four miles of the
site of New Orleans, had removed, in the time of Du Pratz, to the
borders of lake Ponchartrain.
Upon the Yazoo river, lived the Chacchi-oumas (or Red Cray-fish),
consisting of about 50 huts. Not far from them, also dwelt the
Oufe-Ogoulas (or the Nation of the Dog), occupying about 60 huts.
The Tapoussas likewise lived upon the banks of this river, and had
not more than 25 cabins. These, as well as the Oumas of the {288}
Mississippi, who still lived on the present site of the great
plantation of General Wade Hampton, in the time of the author already
mentioned, did not use the letter r in their language, and, as well
as all the above named natives, appeared to be branches of the
Chicasaws, as they spoke either that language or its dialects.
Most part of these small nations, after joining the Natchez in their
unsuccessful plot against the French, retired among the Chicasaws,
and were finally incorporated with them.
The language of the Chicasaws, it appears, was not unknown on the
western side of the Mississippi: the Caddoes or Cadoda-quioux,
divided into several extensive branches, as well as the Natchitoches,
although possessed of a peculiar language, as well as all the
Indians of Louisiana generally, were more or less acquainted with
the Chicasaw or Mobilian.[278] And it was, no doubt, from this
circumstance that John Ortiz, who had escaped the fate of the
adventurers of Pamphilo de Narvaez, and who was discovered by De Soto
living among the Indians of East Florida, rendered himself so easily
understood throughout the whole of that extensive route which was
pursued by Soto.
From the earliest settlement of the French on the borders of the
Mississippi, the Chicasaws evinced a hostile disposition, which,
indeed, they had probably cherished from their ancestors, who had
severely punished the little army of De Soto. Their hostility is
attributed by Charlevoix to the friendship which subsisted between
the French and the Illinois, their enemies. They appear, however,
afterwards to have remained neutral, and would have {289} continued
so, had not the tyrannical Biainville commenced hostilities against
them, for the customary hospitality which they had shewn to the
unfortunate remains of the Natchez, whom they had received and
adopted. To the requisitions of Biainville to give up the Natchez,
whom he was bent on exterminating, the Chicasaws answered, that
the Natchez having sought their protection, had been received and
adopted by them, so that they now constituted but one people. If
Biainville, said they, had received our enemies, should we demand
them? or, if we did, would they be given up?
Without listening to reason, Biainville commenced warlike
preparations against the Chicasaws. Supplies of ammunition were sent
up the Mississippi to the post of Illinois, desiring the commandant
to equip as many of the Indians, inhabitants, and troops, as
possible, to join him at the Chicasaws, by the 10th of the following
May. The Indians attempted in vain to surprise the convoy, which,
proceeding in safety to the fort at the mouth of the Arkansa, left
the gunpowder there without any manifest reason, which Artaguette,
the commandant at Illinois, understanding, from those who had
neglected to convey it, immediately sent down a boat for the purpose
of obtaining it, which was taken by a party of the Chicasaws, after
killing all the crew except two individuals, whom they made slaves.
In the mean time, Biainville proceeding to fort Mobile, engaged the
Choctaws to join him as mercenaries.
On the 10th of March, 1736, the troops being assembled, began their
march the 2d of April, and arrived at Tombecbee on the 20th, where
they fortified their camp, and remained till the 4th of May, detained
by a conspiracy among themselves to destroy the commandant and
garrison. {290} The Choctaws, who joined them, were about 1200 in
number, and commanded by their principal chief.
On the 26th of May, they marched to the fort of the Chicasaws,
crossing an adjoining rivulet of considerable depth; the fort
defended the village, which was situated upon an agreeable plain.
This defensive position was thrown up on an eminence with an easy
ascent, around it stood several huts, and others at a greater
distance, which appeared to have been put in a state of defence; and
close to the fort ran a little brook, which watered a part of the
plain.
On approaching the fort they observed four Englishmen enter it,
and that the British flag was flying. The attack was made, and
obstinately maintained for a considerable time on both sides, but
greatly to the disadvantage of the French. The Indians, protected by
a strong stockade, were under cover from every attack, and could have
defended themselves by their loop-holes. In addition to which, they
formed a gallery of flat pallisadoes quite round, covered with earth,
which screened it from the effects of grenadoes. Thus the troops,
after lavishing their ammunition against the wooden posts of the
Indian fort, were obliged to retreat, with the loss of 32 men killed,
and almost 70 wounded; and, abandoning the country, retired to fort
Mobile, from whence the militia and Indians were disbanded.
Mr. Artaguette, with his Illinois troops and Indian allies, arriving
in the Chicasaw country on the 9th of May, waited the arrival of the
French until the 21st, when, hearing nothing of them, and fearful
of the impatience of the Indians, made the attack with success, at
first, having forced the Chicasaws to quit their village and fort.
They also attacked another village with the same success, but {291}
hurried away in the pursuit, M. d’Artaguette received two wounds,
which caused him and a small body of his men, 46 soldiers and two
sergeants, to be abandoned by the Indians, and, after defending their
commander all that day, they were at last obliged to surrender. The
troops under Biainville having retired, and the Indians consequently
finding no opportunity of gaining a ransom for their prisoners, put
them all to death by slow fire, except a sergeant, who, meeting with
an indulgent master, found means to make his escape.
Biainville, desirous to take vengeance upon the Chicasaws, wrote both
to France and Canada, requesting succours.
The reinforcements having arrived from France, proceeded up the
Mississippi to the Cliffs of Prud’homme, now called the Chicasaw
Bluffs, where they landed, and fortified their encampment, which
was situated on a fine plain, and called fort Assumption, in
commemoration of the day on which they landed.
They made wagons and sledges, and cleared out roads for the
conveyance of cannon, ammunition, and every thing necessary for
forming a regular siege. They were also immediately reinforced by
the forces which they had requested from Canada, consisting of a
mixed multitude of French, Iroquois, Hurons, Episingles, Algonquins,
and other nations, led by the commandant of the Illinois, with the
garrison inhabitants and neighbouring Indians, as many as could be
brought together, and furnished with a considerable number of horses.
This formidable army, the greatest that had ever been seen in the
interior of America, remained in camp without undertaking any thing,
from the month of August, 1739, to the succeeding month of March.
Provisions, which {292} were at first in plenty, became at last so
scarce, that they were obliged to eat up the horses, which were
intended to draw the artillery, ammunition, and provisions. They were
also seriously attacked by sickness, which at length inclined M.
Biainville to have recourse to mild methods. He therefore detached
a small body of troops and Canadian Indians against the Chicasaws,
with orders to make offers of peace to them in his name, if they were
inclined to sue for it.
What the general had foreseen did indeed happen. For no sooner had
the Chicasaws seen the French, followed by the Indians of Canada,
then they apprehended the approach of the rest of the numerous army,
and making signals of peace, came out of their fort in the most
humble manner, hazarding all the consequences of such an exposure, in
the hope of obtaining peace. They solemnly protested an inviolable
friendship to the French, and avowed that they had been instigated
by the English to take up arms against them, and seeing their error
they had already separated from them, and had, at that very time, two
of that nation whom they had made slaves, and of the truth of which
assertion, they might, if they pleased, now satisfy themselves.
Lieutenant de St. Laurent, accompanied by a young slave, therefore,
went in order to ascertain the truth of their professions; as he
passed through the village, the women were heard to demand him as
a sacrifice to their hatred, but were prevented by the men from
offering him any injury. Peace was now instantly concluded, and a
few days after, they accompanied the commander of the detachment
in a considerable body, to carry the pipe of peace to the French
governor, and to deliver up the two Englishmen. They behaved before
M. Biainville with {293} the utmost submission, and offered, if
necessary, to attest their friendship by making war upon the English.
Thus concluded the war of the French with the Chicasaws, about the
beginning of April, 1740.
In the revolutionary war with Great Britain, they appear to have
sided with the republicans; and displayed considerable fidelity and
courage in the late war against the Creeks, under the command of
general Jackson.
After the Iroquois, we are not acquainted with any nation of
the aborigines of North America, who have been so restless and
enterprising as the Chicasaws, and who have better maintained their
ground against every species of hostility. They have not only, says
Du Pratz, cut off a great many nations who were adjoining them,
but have even carried their love of war and vengeance as far as
New Mexico, near 600 miles from the place of their residence, to
exterminate a nation that had removed to that distance from them. In
this enterprise they were, however, deceived and cut off.
The Choctaws, still equally numerous, reckoned, in the time of Du
Pratz, 25,000 warriors. We know but little of them more than a few
detached customs, and the tradition, that they had made a sudden
arrival in the country which they now occupy. There is a small
village of them in the vicinity of the town of Arkansas, but made
up principally of those, who had rendered themselves obnoxious to
the rest of the nation, who, probably, as well as the Cherokees and
Creeks, have found the necessity of introducing corporeal and general
punishments, for the benefit and security of society.
As we cannot discover any mention of them by the historian of De
Soto, they were perhaps, at that period, included amongst the
Chicasaws. And, from the extinction {294} of the Mobilians and other
nations, met with by that adventurer, we are inclined to believe
them the modern usurpers of the country which they now possess. Many
of them live on the borders of the Yazoo, and other parts of the
Mississippi and Louisiana territories. It is certain, as we have
had already occasion to notice, that they made war against the
Chicasaws, in aid of the French, and that, though they professed
to aid the cause of the Natchez, yet that afterwards, through mere
jealousy, they had joined with the French against them.
The Choctaws, till very late years, had a practice, not indeed
peculiar, of exposing their dead upon scaffolds till such time as
the flesh decayed, which was then separated from the bones by a set
of old men, who devoted themselves to this custom, and were called
“bone-pickers,” after which, the bones were interred in some place
set apart for the purpose.
This custom unquestionably arose out of a veneration for the
deceased, and an attachment to their remains, which, among a
wandering and unsettled people, were thus conveniently removed. A
circumstance of this kind is related by Charlevoix,[279] where the
Indians on removing their village, carried with them also the bones
of their dead.
{295} SECTION IV
THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE ARKANSA
TERRITORY, DURING THE YEAR 1819
================================
A.M. deg.
January 20 12 67
21 12 67
March 9 12 50
10 12 50 P.M. deg.
12 8 66 3 76
13 48 3 60
14 48 3 56
15 56 3 73
16 8 28 5 34
17 8 34 3 48
18 8 42 3 50
19 8 38 2 50
20 8 48 3 58
21 6 22 5 48
22 8 48 3 66
23 7 60 3 72
24 6 60 2 70
25 7 54 4 78
26 7 42 5 64
27 8 46 1 66
28 7 52 3 54
29 6 60 2 54
30 7 40 3 44
31 6½ 32 12 58
April 1 7 48 2 68
2 6½ 58 3 60
3 7 52 2 64
4 7½ 44 2 60
5 7 40 2 70
6 7 50 1 70
7 6½ 60 2 76
at 7 76
8 7 64 2 74
9 7 56 2 66
10 7 60 1 64
11 7 52 3 76
12 7 54 2 74
13 7 62 3 76
14 7 64 2 74
15 7 64 3 78
16 7 64 3 66
17 7 54 3 70
18 10 56 4 65
19 8 54 2 70
20 6 60 1 74
21 6 62 3 76
22 66 6 70
23 6 56 1 76
24 6 62 3 72
25 6 56 2 78
26 7 63 3 70
27 6 56 3 77
28 6 66 9 75
29 7 69 1 80
5 80
30 6 66 12 75
May 1 8 68
2 7 60 4 80
3 7 68 12 82
7 82
4 7 68 3 78
5 7 68 3 76
6 7 68 3 68
7 7 68 3 78
8 7 60 3 66
9 8 68 3 70
10 8 70 3 86
11 6 77 4 86
12 8 76 2 86
13 7 78 4 68
14 7 62 4 66
15 7 54
{296} June 23 4 80
24 6 68 3 82
25 7 74 3 80
26 6 72 3 76
27 7 74 3 76
28 7 68 3 80
29 7 70 4 84
30 7 73 3 88
July 1 7 76 3–5 86
2 7 72 3–5 84
3 7 73 3 88
4 8 72 3 74
5 7 68 3 74
6 7 68 3 78
7 7 69 3 90
8 7 74 3 88
9 7 78 3 90
10 7 80 3 90
11 7 73 3 86
12 7 72 3 92
13 6 78 3 90
14 7 78 3 90
15 7 80 3 91
16 7 76 3 86
17 6 70 3 84
18 6 60 3 88
19 6 64 3 86
21 7 70 3 76
22 7 72 3 82
23 7 72 3 88
24 7 78 3 86
25 7 72 3 85
26 7 72 3 90
27 7 70 3 88
28 7 73 3 90
29 7 76 3 90
30 7 76 3 90
31 7 76 3 90
August 1 8 76 3 90
2 8 72 3 90
3 8 72 3 82
4 8 72 3 76
5 8 72 3 84
6 8 76 3 84
7 7 76 3 84
8 7 76 3 84
9 7 76 3 84
10 7 78 3 86
11 8 76 3 86
12 76 3 86
13 7 76 3 86
14 7 76 3 86
15 7 76 3 86
16 76 3 86
17 76 3 86
18 76 3 86
19 76 3 86
20 76 3 86
21 76 3 86
22 74 3 82
23 70 3 78
24 70 3 78
25 70 3 78
26 70 3 78
27 70 3 78
28 70 3 78
29 70 3 78
30 70 3 78
31 70 3 78
Sept. 1 72 3 82
2 72 3 82
3 74 3 86
4 74 3 86
5 76 3 86
6 76 3 86
7 76 3 86
8 76 3 86
9 76 3 86
10 76 3 86
11 74
12 76 3 86
13 70 3 86
14 52
17 62 3 88
18 64 3 86
19 72 3 86
20 74 3 89
21 68 3 84
22 62 3 82
23 60 3 80
24 58 3 88
25 49 3 70
26 51 3 80
27 54 3 84
28 64 3 88
FOOTNOTES:
[248] Purchas’s Pilgrims, vol. IV. p. 1546.--NUTTALL.
[249] This Peruvian title for chieftain is employed throughout the
narrative, by Garcilasso de la Vega, the author of the history, and
himself a descendant of the Incas, who chose to follow the fortunes
of Soto, one of the conquerors of his country.--NUTTALL.
[250] Called Prunes by the Spaniards.--NUTTALL.
[251] The same apparently with Kaskaskia, spelled Kaskasquia by
Father Charlevoix, and Caskaquia by Du Pratz. This band, as well
as the Kahoquias, Tamaroas, Peorias, and Pimeteois, formed part
of the Illinois nation, now nearly all extinct, though they could
once enumerate as many as twenty thousand souls. They were found
inhabiting the rivers which still retain their name, and have fallen
before the Iroquois, and the Chicasa nations, with whom they waged
war. Their name of Illinois, or Illinese of La Hontan, so much like
Leni-Lenape, or that of the Delawares, and signifying, in common
with that appellation, the _original_ or _genuine men_, besides the
tradition of their having come in company with the Miamies from the
borders of Hudson’s bay or the North Pacific, and their speaking
nearly the same language, as related by Charlevoix,[A] appear as so
many proofs of the common origin of these two people. It is also
related by the same author (before their arrival in the country,
which they so extensively occupied in the time of Soto’s incursion,
and in which they lived till the period of their approaching
extinction), they had settled along the borders of the river des
Moins, or Moingona, of the Mississippi, which gave name to one of
their tribes. The friendship which they cultivated, about a century
ago, with the Osages, and the Arkansas, who are the same people, and
some incidental resemblances between them, lead us to believe them
also commonly related by language and descent.--NUTTALL.
[A] Fifty years ago (1720) the Miamis were settled at Chicago,
and were, at this time, “divided into three villages, one at the river
St. Joseph, a second on Miami of Lake Erie, and the third called
the Watanons of the Wabash.” “There is scarcely a doubt,” adds
Charlevoix, “but that this nation and the Illinois were not long
since one people, considering the affinity of their languages.”
_Charlevoix, Hist. Journ._ p. 114.
[252] These “mantels,” as they are called by Purchas, were fabricated
from coarse threads of the bark of trees and nettles.--NUTTALL.
[253] Probably Pecans (_Carya olivœformis_).--NUTTALL.
[254] _Prunus chicasa?_--NUTTALL.
[254A] _P. hiemalis._--NUTTALL.
[255] Of this singular fish, I received circumstantial accounts
at the Post of Arkansa. It also exists in the Ohio, and is the
_Platyrostra edentula_ of Lesueur, described in the Journal of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. i. part 2, pp. 227,
228, and 229, and allied to the _Polyodon_ of Lacepède. The plain
description of this very local and curious animal, affords additional
evidence, if it were necessary, of the truth of the relations of
Garcilassa de la Vega, notwithstanding the scepticism of some of the
later French writers.--NUTTALL.
[256] This inundated country appears to be the Great Swamp, which
commences below Cape Girardeau, said to be 60 miles long.--NUTTALL.
[257] Called ox-hides--NUTTALL.
[258] This mountainous country and province of Coligoa, was, in all
probability, situated towards the sources of the St. Francis, or the
hills of White river.--NUTTALL.
[259] The same people with the Tunicas, called also Tonicas, by
Charlevoix and Du Pratz.--NUTTALL.
[260] These are evidently the salt waters of the Washita.--NUTTALL.
[261] Probably the same as the Quapaws.--NUTTALL.
[262] From the geographical situation, this aboriginal province must
have been that of the Natchez.--NUTTALL.
[263] The Hurons also, according to the same author, pretended that
their hereditary chiefs were descended from the sun, and continued
the descent by the females in the same manner.--NUTTALL.
[264] In a speech made to governor Clinton, in 1788, by Domine
Peter, a native orator, on the part of the Senecas and Cayugas, the
authority of the female chieftains is acknowledged, by the speaker,
and thus apologized. “Our ancestors considered it a great offence to
reject the counsels of their women, particularly (that) of the female
governesses (or chieftains). They were esteemed the mistresses of the
soil (as they solely attended to the labours of agriculture). Who,
said they, bring us into being? Who cultivate our lands, kindle our
fires (or administer food to the calls of hunger), but our women?
&c.” _Governor Clinton’s Discourse, December, 1811, App. p. 80._
As the mothers of the slain in battle, the women had the controul
of prisoners, either to adopt or destroy them at will, and their
interposition to procure peace, and stay hostilities, was universally
acknowledged. We have a remarkable example of this in the history
of the Delawares, who, at the instigation of the Iroquois, became a
nation of mediators, and were thus said to have assumed one of the
distinguishing functions of the female sex, and were, consequently,
debarred from active war and masculine distinction. _See Heckewelder’s
History of the Delawares, in the report of the Historical Committee of
the American Philosophical Society._--NUTTALL.
[265] This, which Sir William Jones considered as the ritual of the
Tartars, is also employed by the Sioux or Naudowessies, as I have
repeatedly witnessed.
According to the observations of Mr. Wm. Bartram, the Creeks
likewise practised the same ceremony.
An invocation not very dissimilar to this sacred ceremony, is that
of Agamemnon in the Iliad; thus translated by Pope:
Then loudly thus before th’ attentive bands
He calls the gods, and spreads his lifted hands:
O first and greatest power! whom all obey,
Who high on Ida’s holy mountain sway,
Eternal Jove! and yon _bright orb_ that rolls
From east to west, and views from pole to pole!
Thou mother _Earth_! and all ye living _Floods_;
Infernal Furies! and Tartarian Gods;
----Hear and be witness.
_Pope’s Iliad_, Book III. lines 344–354.
According to Humboldt, in his Monumens de l’Amérique, vol. ii.
pp. 54 and 55, the Mexican cycle of 52 years was divided into four
indictions of 13 years, in reference to the _four seasons_ of the
year, the _four elements_, and the _cardinal points_. The most ancient
division of the zodiac, according to Albategnius,[B] is that into
four parts. “These four signs,” he adds, “of the equinoxes and the
solstices, chosen from a series of 20 signs” (the number of days in
the Mexican month), “recall to mind the four _royal stars_, Aldebaran,
Regulus, Antares, and Fomahault, celebrated in all Asia, and presiding
over the seasons.[C] In the new continent, the indictions of the cycle
of 52 years, formed, as we would say, the four seasons of the _grand
year_, and the Mexican astrologers were pleased to see presiding over
each period of 13 years one of the four equinoctial or solstitial
signs.”--NUTTALL.
[B] De Scientia Stellarum, cap. 2 (ed. Bolon. 1645) p. 3.
[C] Firmicus, lib. vi. c. 1.
[266] The following example of the noble and common language of the
Natchez, is given by Du Pratz.[D] In calling one of the common people
he would say, _aquenan_, that is, “hark ye;” if to a sun or one of
the nobles, the address would be _magani_, which also signifies the
same. To one of the common people, calling at his house, he would
say, _tachte-cabanacte_, “are you there,” or “I am glad to see you.”
To a sun the same thing is expressed by the word _apapegouaiché_.
Again, according to their custom, I say to one of the common people,
_petchi_, “sit you down;” but to a sun, _caham_. In other respects
the language is the same; as the difference of expression seems only
to take place in matters relating to the persons of the suns and
nobles, to distinguish them from the people.--NUTTALL.
[D] Hist. Louisian. p. 328.
[267] Among the Mexicans, prisoners, rather than domestics and
attendants, were devoted to death at the obsequies of the great,
as victims to that spirit of revenge so deeply cherished by savage
or barbarous nations. So even Achilles, lamenting over the body of
Patroclus, says,
Ere thy dear relics in the grave are laid,
Shall Hector’s head be offer’d to thy shade;
That, with his arms, shall hang before thy shrine;
And twelve the noblest of the Trojan line,
Sacred to vengeance, by this hand expire:
Their lives effus’d around thy flaming pyre.
_Pope’s Iliad_, Book XVIII. lines 391–396.--NUTTALL.
[268] Du Pratz Hist. Louisian. p. 313 (_Ed. Lond._).--NUTTALL.
[269] The great Deity of the savages of the river Bourbon, and the
river St. Therese, Hudson’s Bay, is the sun. When they deliberate on
any important affair, they make him, as it were, smoke. They assemble
at day-break in a cabin of one of their chiefs, who, after having
lighted his pipe, presents it three times to the rising sun; then he
guides it with both hands from the east to the west, praying the sun
to favour the nation. This being done, all the assembly smoke in the
same pipe. _Charlevoix, Hist. Journ. p. 108_ (Ed. Lond.). The Sioux
also practise the same rites.
Gookin, in 1674, says, “Some, for their God, adore the sun; others
the moon; some the earth, others the fire, and like vanities. Yet,
generally, they acknowledge one great supreme doer of good; and him
they call Woonand or Mannitt; another, that is, the great doer of
evil or mischief; and him they call Mattand, which is the Devil, &c.”
Compare this relation with the invocation of Agamemnon, already quoted,
from which it scarcely differs in any particular.
Traces of the adoration of the sun are discoverable also in
Colden’s History of the Five Nations, not only among the Iroquois, but
also with the neighbouring nations: thus among the attestations to a
treaty of peace made with the Iroquois, by a band of the Utawas, we
find the following. “Let the sun, as long as he shall endure, always
shine upon us in friendship.” With which apostrophe was delivered a
figure of the sun, sculptured of red marble.[E] A similar figure was
again presented to the Five Nations by the Utawas and a branch of the
Hurons (called Dionondadies) jointly, in another treaty concluded
between them.[F]
At a treaty in which general Harrison assisted, towards the
commencement of the last war, the council-house being crowded, a chief
arriving late was suffered to stand some time unheeded, until the
general sent him a chair, as from his father. He refused the offer,
saying, probably in allusion to their ancient belief, “The sun is my
father, the earth my mother, and my seat is the ground.”
The sacred, or eternal, fire is also described in the following
incidental remark, made by a chief speaker of the Five Nations: “Before
the Christians arrived amongst us, the general council of the Five
Nations was held at Onondago, where there has, from the beginning (or
from the remotest time) been kept a fire continually burning, made of
two great logs whose flame was never extinguished.”[G]--NUTTALL.
[E] Colden’s Hist. Five Nations, third edition, i. p. 115.
[F] Ibid. i. p. 185.
[G] Ibid. vol. i. p. 176.
[270] Charlevoix, Hist. Journ. p. 249. (_Ed. Lond._).--NUTTALL.
[271] In ancient times, before the moon accompanied the earth (says
the mythology of the Muyscas or Mozcas Indians), the inhabitants
of the plain of Bogota lived like barbarians, naked, without
agriculture, without laws, and without worship. Suddenly there
appeared among them an aged man, who came from the plains east of the
Cordillera of Chingasa: he seemed to be of a different race from that
of the indigenes, for he had a long and tufted beard. He was known by
three different names; under that of _Bochica_, _Nemquetheba_, and
_Zuhè_. This aged person, after the manner of Manco-Capac, taught
men to clothe themselves, to construct dwellings, to cultivate the
earth, and to unite in society. He brought with him a woman, to whom
tradition gave also the three names of _Chia_, _Yubecayguaya_, and
_Haythaca_. This female was of an uncommon beauty, but exceedingly
wicked, counteracting her husband in every thing which he undertook
for the good of men. By her magic art she swelled the river Funzha to
such a degree, that the water inundated the whole valley of Bogota.
This deluge destroyed the greatest part of the inhabitants, a few
only escaping upon the summits of the neighbouring mountains. The
old man, irritated, drove the beautiful Haythaca from the earth;
she then became the moon, which, from that period, commenced to
enlighten our planet during the night. Afterwards Bochica, son of the
sun, taking pity on the men who were dispersed upon the mountains,
broke, with his powerful hand, the rocks which close the valley on
the side of Canaos and Tequendama. By this opening he carried off
the water of the lake of Funzha, reunited again the people of the
valley of Bogota, constructed towns, introduced the _worship of the
sun_, nominated two chiefs, between whom he divided the ecclesiastic
and secular power, and then retired, under the name of _Idacanzas_,
into the sacred valley of Iraca, near to Tanja, where he devoted
himself to exercises of the most austere penance, for the space of
two thousand years. _Humboldt’s Vues des Cordillères, et Monumens des
Peuples indigènes de l’Amérique._ Vol. I. pp. 87, 88. (Ed. Octavo.).
The Jouskeka, who destroyed his brother, and the Atahentsic of the
Hurons, also, in some measure, resemble the Cihuacohuatl or woman of
the serpent, adored by the Mexicans, and figured in their hieroglyphic
paintings. This goddess was regarded as the mother of the human
race, and in the painting alluded to, published by Humboldt, she is
accompanied familiarly by a serpent, and in the same symbolical sketch
there are two smaller figures engaged in combat, as if to designate
the Cain and Abel of the Hebrews, and which were considered in Mexico
as the children of the female deess. _Humboldt_, vol I. pp. 235,
236.--NUTTALL.
[272] Charlevoix, p. 133.--NUTTALL.
[273] They present robes of the bison painted with the rays of the
sun, exposing them upon poles, set up in the prairies.--NUTTALL.
[274] When La Salle was among the Natchez, in 1683, he saw a
party of that people, who had been on an expedition against the
Iroquois. Tonti’s account of La Salle’s Expedition (Ed. Lond.), p.
112.--NUTTALL.
[275] This method of recording the lapse of time was also practised
by the Chicasas and Muskogolgees, according to the relation of
Adair.--NUTTALL.
[276] Mr. Brackenridge adds, that, after the defeat by Perire, about
200 of the Natchez fortified themselves some distance up Red river,
but were attacked and destroyed by St. Dennis. _Hist. Louisiana_, p.
44.--NUTTALL.
[277] Charlevoix’s Hist. Journ. p. 323.--NUTTALL.
[278] Du Pratz’s Hist. Louisiana, p. 318.--NUTTALL.
[279] Historical Journal, p. 334. (_Ed. Lond._).--NUTTALL.
Transcriber’s Note:
Numbers within braces are page references to the original manuscript.
Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent
hyphenation in the text. These were left unchanged. Seven misspelled
words were corrected.
Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Superscript is contained within braces and preceded by a
carat, e.g. THO^{S}. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and
were moved to the end of the chapter. Footnotes to footnotes
were alphabetized sequentially. Obvious printing errors, such as
backwards, upside down, or partially printed letters, were corrected.
Missing punctuation and diacriticals were added.
The following items were changed:
Math in Footnote [243] was corrected.
Capitalized one instance each of Fort Smith and Fort Massac.
Changed one instance Port Smith to Fort Smith.