Means by which the independence of the Indians was first diminished.
_Indian_—BROTHER, I am come to trade with you; but I forewarn you to be
more moderate in your demands than formerly.
_Trader_—Why, brother, are not my goods of equal value with those you
had last year?
_Indian_—Perhaps they may; but mine are more valuable because more
scarce. The Great Spirit, who has withheld from you strength and ability
to provide food and clothing for yourselves, has given you cunning and
art to make guns and provided scaura;[6] and by speaking smooth words to
simple men, when they have swallowed madness, you have, by little and
little, purchased their hunting grounds, and made them corn lands. Thus
the beavers grow more scarce, and deer fly farther back; yet after I
have reserved skins for my mantle, and the clothing of my wife, I will
exchange the rest.
_Trader_—Be it so, brother: I came not to wrong you, or take your furs
against your will. It is true, the beavers are few, and you go further
for them. Come, brother, let us deal fair first, and smoke friendly
afterwards. Your last gun cost fifty beaver skins, you shall have this
for forty—and you shall give marten and raccoon skins in the same
proportion for powder and shot.
_Indian_—Well, brother, that is equal. Now for two silver bracelets,
with long, pendent ear-rings of the same, such as you sold to Cardarani,
in the sturgeon month,[7] last year. How much will you demand?
Footnote 6:
Scaura is the Indian name for rum.
_Trader_—The skins of two deer for the bracelets, and those of two fawns
for the ear-rings.
_Indian_—That is a great deal; but wampum grows scarce, and silver never
rusts. Here are the skins.
_Trader_—Do you buy any more? Here are knives, hatchets, and beads of
all colours.
_Indian_—I will have a knife and a hatchet, but must not take more: the
rest of the skins will be little enough to clothe the women and
children, and buy wampum. Your beads are of no value; no warrior who has
slain a wolf will wear them.[8]
_Trader_—Here are many things good for you, which you have not skins to
buy; here is a looking-glass, and here is a brass kettle, in which your
woman may boil her maize, her beans, and above all, her maple-sugar.
Here are silver brooches, and here are pistols for the youths.
_Indian_—The skins I can spare will not purchase them.
_Trader_—Your will determine, brother; but next year you will want
nothing but powder and shot, having already purchased your gun and
ornaments. If you will purchase from me a blanket to wrap round you, a
shirt and blue stroud for under garments for yourself and your woman,
and the same for leggings, this will pass the time, and save you the
great labour of dressing the skins, making the thread, &c. for your
clothing, which will give you more fishing and shooting time in the
sturgeon and bear months.
Footnote 7:
The Indians appropriate a month to catch fish or animals, which is at
that time, the predominant object of pursuit: as the bear month, the
beaver month, &c.
Footnote 8:
Indians have a great contempt, comparatively, for the beads we send
them, which they consider as only fit for those plebeians who cannot
by their exertions, win any better. They estimate them, compared with
their own wampum, as we do pearls compared with paste.
_Indian_—But the custom of my fathers.
_Trader_—You will not break the custom of your fathers by being thus
clad for a single year. They did not refuse those things which were
offered to them.
_Indian_—For this year, brother, I will exchange my skins; in the next,
I shall provide apparel more befitting a warrior. One pack alone I will
reserve, to dress for a future occasion. The summer must not find a
warrior idle.
The terms being adjusted, and the bargain concluded, the trader thus
shows his gratitude for liberal dealing.
_Trader_—Corlaer has forbid bringing scaura to steal away the wisdom of
the warriors; but we white men are weak and cold; we bring kegs for
ourselves, lest death arise from the swamps. We will not sell scaura,
but you shall taste some of ours in return for the venison with which
you have feasted us.
_Indian_—Brother, we will drink moderately.
A bottle was then given to the warrior, by way of present, which he was
advised to keep long, but found it irresistible. He soon returned with
the reserved pack of skins, earnestly urging the trader to give him
beads, silver brooches, and above all, scaura, to their full amount.
This, with much affected reluctance at parting with the private stock,
was at last yielded. The warriors now, after giving loose for a while to
frantic mirth, began the war-whoop, made the woods resound with
infuriated howlings; and having exhausted their dear-bought draught,
probably determined, in contempt of that probity, which at all other
times they rigidly observed, to plunder the instruments of their
pernicious gratification. He, well aware of the consequences, took care
to remove himself and his goods to some other place, and a renewal of
the same scene ensued. Where, all this time, were the women, whose
gentle counsels might have prevented these excesses? Alas! unrestrained
by that delicacy which is certainly one of the best fruits of
refinement, they shared in them, and sunk sooner under them. A long and
deep sleep generally succeeded, from which they awoke in a state of
dejection and chagrin, such as no Indian had ever experienced under any
other circumstances. They felt as Milton describes Adam and Eve to have
done after their transgression. Exhausted and forlorn, and stung with
the consciousness of error and dependence, they had neither the means
nor the desire of exercising their wonted summer occupations with
spirit. Vacancy produced languor, and languor made them wish for the
potion which gave temporary cheerfulness.[9] They carried their fish to
the next fort or habitation to barter for rum. This brought on days of
frenzy, succeeded by torpor. When again roused by want of exertion, they
saw the season passing without the usual provision, and by an effort of
persevering industry, tried to make up for past negligence; and then
worn out by exertion, sunk into supine indolence, till the approach of
winter called them to hunt the bear; and the arrival of that, (their
busy season,) urged on their distant excursions in pursuit of deer. Then
they resumed their wonted character, and became what they used to be;
but conscious that acquired tastes and wants, which they had not
themselves the power of supplying, would throw them again on the traders
for clothing, &c. they were themselves out-straining every sinew to
procure enough of peltry to answer their purpose, and to gratify their
newly-acquired appetites. Thus the energy, both of their characters and
constitutions, was gradually undermined—and their numbers as effectually
diminished, as if they had been wasted by war.
Footnote 9:
From Peter Schuyler, brother to the colonel, I have heard many such
details.
The small-pox was also so fatal to them, that whole tribes on the upper
lakes have been entirely extinguished by it. Those people being in the
habit of using all possible means of closing the pores of the skin, by
painting and anointing themselves with bears’ grease, to defend them
against the extremity of cold, to which their manner of life exposed
them; and not being habitually subject to any cutaneous disease, the
small-pox rarely rises upon them; from which it may be understood how
little chance they had of recovering. All this I heard aunt Schuyler
relate, whose observations and reflections I merely detail.
-------