A singular proof of this belief, in both sexes, of the mysterious

influence of the steps of a woman on the vegetable and insect creation,

is found in an ancient custom, which was related to me, respecting

corn-planting. It was the practice of the hunter's wife, when the field

of corn had been planted, to choose the first dark or overclouded

evening, to perform a secret circuit, sans habilement, around the field.

For this purpose she slipt out of the lodge in the evening, unobserved,

to some obscure nook, where she completely disrobed. Then taking her

matchecota, or principal garment in one hand, she dragged it around the

field. This was thought to ensure a prolific crop, and to prevent the

assaults of insects and worms upon the grain. It was supposed they could

not creep over the charmed line.

But if corn-planting be done in a lively and satisfied, and not a

slavish spirit, corn-gathering and husking is a season of decided

thankfulness and merriment. At these gatherings, the chiefs and old men

are mere spectators, although they are pleased spectators, the young

only sharing in the sport. Who has not seen, the sedate ogema in such a

vicinage, smoking a dignified pipe with senatorial ease. On the other

hand, turning to the group of nature's red daughters and their young

cohorts, it may be safely affirmed that laughter and garrulity

constitute no part of the characteristics of civilization. Whatever else

custom has bound fast, in the domestic female circle of forest life, the

tongue is left loose. Nor does it require, our observation leads us to

think, one tenth part of the wit or drollery of ancient Athens, to set

their risible faculties in motion.

If one of the young female huskers finds a _red_ ear of corn, it is

typical of a brave admirer, and is regarded as a fitting present to some

young warrior. But if the ear be _crooked_, and tapering to a point, no

matter what colour, the whole circle is set in a roar, and _wa ge min_

is the word shouted aloud. It is the symbol of a thief in the cornfield.

It is considered as the image of an old man stooping as he enters the

lot. Had the chisel of Praxitiles been employed to produce this image,

it could not more vividly bring to the minds of the merry group, the

idea of a pilferer of their favourite mondámin. Nor is there any doubt

on these occasions, that the occurrence truly reveals the fact that the

cornfield has actually been thus depredated on.

The term wagemin, which unfolds all these ideas, and reveals, as by a

talisman, all this information, is derived in part, from the tri-literal

term Waweau, that which is bent or crooked. The termination in g, is the

animate plural, and denotes not only that there is more than one object,

but that the subject is noble or invested with the importance of

animated beings. The last member of the compound, min, is a shortened

sound of the generic meen, a grain, or berry. To make these coalesce,

agreeably to the native laws of euphony, the short vowel i, is thrown

in, between the verbal root and substantive, as a connective. The

literal meaning of the term is, a mass, or crooked ear of grain; but the

ear of corn so called, is a conventional type of a little old man

pilfering ears of corn in a cornfield. It is in this manner, that a

single word or term, in these curious languages, becomes the fruitful

parent of many ideas. And we can thus perceive why it is that the word

wagemin is alone competent to excite merriment in the husking circle.

This term is taken as the basis of the cereal chorus or corn song, as

sung by the northern Algonquin tribes. It is coupled with the phrase

Paimosaid,--a permutative form of the Indian substantive made from the

verb, pim-o-sa, to walk. Its literal meaning is, he who walks, or the

walker; but the ideas conveyed by it, are, he who walks at night to

pilfer corn. It offers, therefore, a kind of parallelism in expression,

to the preceding term. The chorus is entirely composed of these two

terms, variously repeated, and may be set down as follows:

Wagemin,

Wagemin,

Paimosaid.

Wagemin,

Wagemin,

Paimosaid.

When this chant has been sung, there is a pause, during which some one

who is expert in these things, and has a turn for the comic or ironic,

utters a short speech, in the manner of a recitative, in which a

peculiar intonation is given, and generally interrogates the supposed

pilferer, as if he were present to answer questions, or accusations.

There can be no pretence, that this recitative part of the song is

always the same, at different times and places, or even that the same

person should not vary his phraseology. On the contrary, it is often an

object to vary it. It is a perfect improvisation, and it may be supposed

that the native composer is always actuated by a desire to please, as

much as possible by novelty. The whole object indeed is, to keep up the

existing merriment, and excite fun and laughter.

The following may be taken as one of these recitative songs, written

out, on the plan of preserving the train of thought, and some of those

peculiar interjections in which these languages so much abound. The

chorus alone, it is to be observed, is fixed in its words and metre,

however transposed or repeated, and, unlike an English song, precedes

the stanza or narrative.

CORN SONG.

Cereal chorus. Wagemin! wagemin!

Thief in the blade,

Blight of the cornfield

Paimosaid.

Recitative. See you not traces, while pulling the leaf,

Plainly depicting the TAKER and thief?

See you not signs by the ring and the spot,

How the man crouched as he crept in the lot?

Is it not plain by this mark on the stalk,

That he was heavily bent in his walk?

Old man be nimble! the old should be good,

But thou art a cowardly thief of the wood.

Cereal Chorus. Wagemin! wagemin!

Thief in the blade,

Blight of the cornfield

Paimosaid.

Recitative. Where, little TAKER of things not your own--

Where is your rattle, your drum, and your bone?

Surely a WALKER, so nimble of speed,

Surely he must be a Meta[13] indeed.

See how he stoops, as he breaks off the ear,

Nushka![14] he seems for a moment in fear;

Walker, be nimble--oh! walker be brief,

Hooh![15] it is plain the old man is the thief.

Cereal chorus. Wagemin! wagemin!

Thief in the blade,

Blight of the cornfield

Paimosaid.

Recitative. Wabuma![16] corn-taker, why do you lag?

None but the stars see you--fill up your bag!

Why do you linger to gaze as you pull,

Tell me, my little man, is it most full?

A-tia![17] see, a red spot on the leaf,

Surely a warrior cannot be a thief!

Ah, little night-thief, be deer your pursuit,

And leave here no print of your dastardly foot

FOOTNOTES:

[13] A Juggler.

TO HEALTH.

BY THE LATE JOHN JOHNSTON, ESQ.

Health! dearest of the heavenly powers,

With thee to pass my evening hours,

Ah! deign to hear my prayer;

For what can wealth or beauty give,

If still in anguish doomed to live

A slave to pain and care.

Not sovereign power, nor charms of love,

Nor social joys the heart can move,

If thou refuse thy aid;

E'en friendship, sympathy divine!

Does, in thy absence, faintly shine,

Thou all-inspiring maid.

Return then, to my longing soul,

Which sighs to feel thy sweet control

Transfused through every pore;

My muse, enraptured, then shall sing

Thee--gift of heaven's all bounteous king,

And gratefully adore.

_February 4, 1807._

FOOTNOTES:

[14] A sharp exclamation quickly to behold something striking.

[15] A derogatory exclamation.

[16] Behold thou.

[17] A masculine exclamation, to express surprise.

DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL MANNERS OF THE INDIANS, WHILE ON THEIR WINTERING

GROUNDS.

The Indian, who takes his position as an orator, in front of his people,

and before a mixed assemblage of white men, is to be regarded, in a

measure, as an actor, who has assumed a part to perform. He regards

himself as occupying a position in which all eyes are directed upon him,

in scrutiny, and he fortifies himself for the occasion, by redoubled

efforts in cautiousness and studied stoicism. Rigid of muscle, and

suspicious of mind by nature, he brings to his aid the advantages of

practised art, to bear him out in speaking for his tribe, and to quit

him manfully of his task by uttering sentiments worthy of them and of

himself. This is the statue-like and artistic phasis of the man. It is

here that he is, truly

"A man without a fear--a stoic of the wood."

All this is laid aside, so far as it is assumed, when he returns from

the presence of the "pale-faces," and rejoins his friends and kindred,

in his own village, far away from all public gaze, in the deep recesses

of the forest. Let us follow the man to this retreat, and see what are

his domestic manners, habits, amusements, and opinions.

I have myself visited an Indian camp, in the far-off area of the

NORTHWEST, in the dead of winter, under circumstances suited to allay

his suspicions, and inspire confidence, and have been struck with the

marked change there is in his social temper, character, and feelings.

And I have received the same testimony from Indian traders, who have

spent years among them in these secluded positions, and been received by

them as friends and kindred. All indeed, who have had frequent and full

opportunities of witnessing the red man on his hunting grounds, concur

in bearing evidence to his social, hospitable, and friendly habits and

manners. Viewed in such positions, the most perfect sincerity and

cheerfulness prevail; and their intercourse is marked with the broadest

principles of charity and neighborly feeling. The restraint and ever

watchful suspicion which they evince at the frontier post, or in other

situations exposed to the scrutiny and cupidity of white men, is thrown

aside and gives way to ease, sociability and pleasantry. They feel while

thus ensconced in the shades of their native forests, a security unknown

to their breasts in any other situations. The strife seems to be, who

shall excel in offices of friendship and charity, or in spreading the

festive board. If one is more fortunate than the other, in taking meat,

or wielding the arrow or spear, the spoil is set apart for a feast, to

which all the adults, without distinction, are invited. When the set

time of the feast arrives, each one, according to ancient custom, takes

his dish and spoon, and proceeds to the entertainer's lodge. The

victuals are served up with scrupulous attention that each receives a

portion of the best parts. While at the meal, which is prolonged by

cheerful conversation, anecdote, and little narrations of personal

adventure, the females are generally listeners; and none, except the

aged, ever obtrude a remark. The young women and girls show that they

partake in the festivity by smiles, and are scrupulous to evince their

attention to the elder part of the company. Conversation is chiefly

engrossed by the old men and chiefs, and middle-aged men. Young men, who

are desirous to acquire a standing, seldom offer a remark, and when they

_do_, it is with modesty. The topics discussed at these public meals

relate generally to the _chace_, to the _news_ they have heard, or to

personal occurrences about the village; or to deeds, "real or fabulous,"

of "old lang syne;" but the matters are discussed in a lively, and not

in a grave style. Business, if we may be allowed that term for what

concerns their trade and government intercourse, is never introduced

except in _formal councils_, convened specially, and opened formally by

smoking the pipe. It seems to be the drift of conversation, in these

sober festivities (for it must be recollected that we are speaking of

the Indians on their wintering grounds and beyond the reach, certainly

beyond the free or ordinary use of ardent spirits), to extract from

their hunts and adventures, whatever will admit of a pleasant turn, draw

forth a joke, or excite a laugh. Ridiculous misadventures, or comical

situations, are sure to be applauded in the recital. Whatever is

anti-social, or untoward, is passed over, or if referred to by another,

is parried off, by some allusion to the scene before them.

Religion (we use this term for what concerns the great spirit, sacred

dreams, and the ceremonies of the Meda or medicine dance), like

business, is reserved for its proper occasion. It does not form, as with

us, a free topic of remark, at least among those who are professors of

the dance. Thus they cheat away the hours in pleasantry, free, but not

tumultuous in their mirth, but as ardently bent on the enjoyment of the

present moment, as if the sum of life were contained in these three

words, "eat, drink, and be merry." When the feast is over, the women

return to their lodges, and leave the men to smoke. On their return,

they commence a conversation on what they have heard the men advance,

and thus amuse themselves till their husbands return. The end of all is

generally some good advice to the children.

The company in these ordinary feasts is as general, with respect to the

rank, age or standing of the guests, as the most unlimited equality of

rights can make it. All the aged and many of the young are invited.

There is, however, another feast instituted, at certain times during

the season, to which young persons only are invited, or admitted, except

the entertainer and his wife, and generally two other aged persons, who

preside over the feast and administer its rites. The object of this

feast seems to be instruction, to which the young and thoughtless are

induced to listen for the anticipated pleasure of the feast. Before this

feast commences, the entertainer, or some person fluent in speech, whom

he has selected for the purpose, gets up and addresses the youth of both

sexes on the subject of their course through life. He admonishes them to

be attentive and respectful to the aged and to adhere to their counsels:

never to scoff at the decrepid, deformed, or blind: to obey their

parents: to be modest in their conduct: to be charitable and hospitable:

to fear and love the great Spirit, who is the giver of life and every

good gift. These precepts are dwelt upon at great length, and generally

enforced by examples of a good man and woman and a bad man and woman,

and after drawing the latter, it is ever the custom to say, "you will be

like one of these." At the end of every sentence, the listeners make a

general cry of haá. When the advice is finished, an address, or kind of

prayer to the great Spirit is made, in which he is thanked for the food

before them, and for the continuance of life. The speaker then says,

"Thus the great Spirit supplies us with food; act justly, and conduct

well, and you will ever be thus bountifully supplied." The feast then

commences, and the elders relax their manner and mix with the rest, but

are still careful to preserve order, and a decent, respectful behavior

among the guests.

Let it not be supposed, however, that the Indian's life, while on his

wintering grounds, is a round of feasting. Quite the contrary; and his

feasts are often followed by long and painful fasts, and the severity of

the seasons, and scarcity of game and fish, often reduce himself and

family to the verge of starvation, and even death. When the failure of

game, or any other causes, induce the hunter to remove to a new circle

of country, the labor of the removal falls upon the female part of the

family. The lodge, utensils and fixtures of every kind, are borne upon

the women's backs, sustained by a strap of leather around the forehead.

On reaching the intended place of encampment, the snow is cleared away,

cedar branches brought and spread for a flooring, the lodge set up, the

moveables stowed away, wood collected, and a fire built, and then, and

not until then, can the females sit down and warm their feet and dry

their moccasins. If there be any provisions, a supper is cooked. If

there be none, all studiously strive to conceal the exhibition of the

least concern on this account, and seek to divert their thoughts by

conversation quite foreign to the subject. The little children are the

only part of the family who complain, and who are privileged to

complain, but even they are taught at an early age to suffer and be

silent. Generally, something is reserved by the mother, when food

becomes scarce, to satisfy their clamors, and they are satisfied with

little. On such occasions, if the family have gone supperless to rest,

the father and elder sons rise early in the morning in search of

something. If one has the luck to kill even a partridge or a squirrel,

it is immediately carried to the lodge, cooked, and divided into as many

parts as there are members of the family. On these occasions, the elder

ones often make a merit of relinquishing their portions to the women and

children. If nothing rewards the search, the whole day is spent by the

father upon his snow-shoes, with his gun in his hands, and he returns at

night, fatigued, to his couch of cedar branches and rush mats. But he

does not return to complain, either of his want of success, or his

fatigue. On the following day the same routine is observed, and days and

weeks are often thus consumed without being rewarded with anything

capable of sustaining life. Instances have been well authenticated, when

this state of wretchedness has been endured by the head of a family

until he has become so weak as to fall in his path, and freeze to death.

When all other means of sustaining life are gone, the skins he has

collected to pay his credits, or purchase new supplies of clothing or

ammunition, are eaten. They are prepared by removing the pelt, and

roasting the skin until it acquires a certain degree of crispness. Under

all their sufferings, the pipe of the hunter is his chief solace, and is

a solace often resorted to. Smoking parties are frequently formed, when

there is a scarcity of food not tending, as might be supposed, to

destroy social feeling and render the temper sour. On these occasions

the entertainer sends a message to this effect: "Come and smoke with me.

I have no food; but we can pass away the evening very well without it."

All acknowledge their lives to be in the hand of the great Spirit; feel

a conviction that all comes from him, and that although he allows them

to suffer, he will again supply them. This tends to quiet their

apprehensions; they are fatalists, however, under long reverses, and

submit patiently and silently to what they believe to be their destiny.

When hunger and misery are past, they are soon forgotten, and their

minds are too eagerly intent on the enjoyment of the present good, to

feel any depression of spirits from the recollection of the past, or to

hoard up anything to provide against want for the future. No people are

more easy, or less clamorous under sufferings of the deepest dye, and

none more happy, or more prone to evince their happiness, when

prosperous in their affairs.

October 29th, 1826.

PUGASAING;

OR,

THE GAME OF THE BOWL.

This is the principal game of hazard among the northern tribes. It is

played with thirteen pieces, hustled in a vessel called onágun, which is

a kind of wooden bowl. They are represented, and named, as follows.

[Illustration]

The pieces marked No. 1, in this cut, of which there are two, are called

Ininewug, or men. They are made tapering, or wedge-shaped in thickness,

so as to make it possible, in throwing them, that they may stand on

their base. Number 2, is called Gitshee Kenabik, or the Great Serpent.

It consists of two pieces, one of which is fin-tailed, or a

water-serpent, the other truncated, and is probably designed as

terrestrial. They are formed wedge-shaped, so as to be capable of

standing on their bases length-wise. Each has four dots. Number 3, is

called Pugamágun, or the war club. It has six marks on the handle, on

the _red side_, and four radiating from the orifice of the club end; and

four marks on the handle of the _white side_; and six radiating marks

from the orifice on the club-end, making ten on each side. Number 4 is

called Keego, which is the generic name for a fish. The four circular

pieces of brass, slightly concave, with a flat surface on the apex, are

called Ozawábiks. The three bird-shaped pieces, Sheshebwug, or ducks.

All but the circular pieces are made out of a fine kind of bone. One

side of the piece is white, of the natural colour of the bones, and

polished, the other red. The brass pieces have the convex side bright,

the concave black. They are all shaken together, and thrown out of the

onágun, as dice. The term pugasaing denotes this act of throwing. It is

the participial form of the verb.--The following rules govern the game:

1. When the pieces are turned on the red side, and one of the Ininewugs

stands upright on the bright side of one of the brass pieces, it counts

158.

2. When all the pieces turn red side up, and the Gitshee Kenabik with

the tail stands on the bright side of the brass piece, it counts 138.

3. When all turn up red, it counts 58 whether the brass pieces be bright

or black side up.

4. When the Gitshee Kenabik and his associate, and the two Ininewugs

turn up white side, and the other pieces red, it counts 58, irrespective

of the concave or convex position of the brass pieces.

5. When all the pieces turn up white, it counts 38, whether the

Ozawábiks, be bright or black.

6. When the Gitshee Kenabik and his associate turn up red, and the other

white, it counts 38, the brass pieces immaterial.

7. When one of the Ininewugs stands up, it counts 50, without regard to

the position of all the rest.

8. When either of the Gitshee Kenabiks stands upright, it counts 40,

irrespective of the position of the others.

9. When all the pieces turn up white, excepting one, and the Ozawábiks

dark, it counts 20.

10. When all turn up red, except one, and the brass pieces bright, it

counts 15.

11. When the whole of the pieces turn up white, but one, with the

Ozawábiks bright, it counts 10.

12. When a brass piece turns up dark, the two Gitshee Kenabiks and the

two men red, and the remaining pieces white, it counts 8.

13. When the brass piece turns up bright, the two Gitshee Kenabiks and

one of the men red, and all the rest white, it is 6.

14. When the Gitshee Kenabik in chief, and one of the men turn up red,

the Ozawábiks, bright, and all the others white, it is 4.

15. When both the Kenabiks, and both men, and the three ducks, turn up

red, the brass piece black, and either the Keego, or a duck white, it is

5.

16. When all the pieces turn up red, but one of the Ininewugs, and the

brass piece black, it counts 2.

The limit of the game is stipulated. The parties throw up for the play.

This game is very fascinating to some portions of the Indians. They

stake at it their ornaments, weapons, clothing, canoes, horses, every

thing in fact they possess; and have been known, it is said, to set up

their wives and children, and even to forfeit their own liberty. Of such

desperate stakes, I have seen no examples, nor do I think the game

itself in common use. It is rather confined to certain persons, who hold

the relative rank of gamblers in Indian society--men who are not noted

as hunters or warriors, or steady providers for their families. Among

these are persons who bear the term of Ienadizze-wug, that is, wanderers

about the country, braggadocios, or fops. It can hardly be classed with

the popular games of amusement, by which skill and dexterity are

acquired. I have generally found the chiefs and graver men of the

tribes, who encouraged the young men to play ball, and are sure to be

present at the customary sports, to witness, and sanction, and applaud

them, speak lightly and disparagingly of this game of hazard. Yet, it

cannot be denied, that some of the chiefs, distinguished in war and the

chase, at the west, can be referred to, as lending their example to its

fascinating power.

An analysis of this game, to show its arithmetical principles and

powers, might be gone into; but it is no part of the present design to

take up such considerations here, far less to pursue the comparison and

extension of customs of this kind among the modern western tribes. It

may be sufficient to say, from the foregoing rules, that there seems to

be no _unit_ in the throw, and that the count proceeds by _decimals_,

for all numbers over 8. Doubtless these rules, are but a part of the

whole series, known to experienced players. They comprise, however, all

that have been revealed to me.

"Gambling is not peculiar to our race,

The Indian gambles with as fixed a face."

* * * * *

Herodotus says of the ancient Thracians--that "the most honourable life,

with them, is a life of war and plunder; the most contemptible that of a

husbandman. Their supreme delight is war and plunder." Who might not

suppose, were the name withheld, that this had been said by some modern

writer of the Pawnees, or the Camanches?

REVERENCE AND AFFECTION FOR PARENTS.

There lived a noted chief at Michilimackinac, in days past, called

Gitshe Naygow, or the Great-Sand-Dune, a name, or rather nick-name,

which he had, probably, derived from his birth and early residence at a

spot of very imposing appearance, so called, on the southern shore of

Lake Superior, which is east of the range of the Pictured Rocks. He was

a Chippewa, a warrior and a counsellor, of that tribe, and had mingled

freely in the stirring scenes of war and border foray, which marked the

closing years of French domination in the Canadas. He lived to be very

old, and became so feeble at last, that he could not travel by land,

when Spring came on and his people prepared to move their lodges, from

their sugar-camp in the forest, to the open lake shore. They were then

inland, on the waters of the Manistee river, a stream which enters the

northern shores of Lake Michigan. It was his last winter on earth; his

heart was gladdened by once more feeling the genial rays of Spring, and

he desired to go with them, to behold, for the last time, the expanded

lake and inhale its pure breezes. He must needs be conveyed by hand.

This act of piety was performed by his daughter, then a young woman. She

carried him on her back from their camp to the lake shore, where they

erected their lodge and passed their spring, and where he eventually

died and was buried.

This relation I had from her own lips, at the agency of Michilimackinac,

in 1833. I asked her how she had carried him. She replied, with the

Indian apekun, or head-strap. When tired she rested, and again pursued

her way, on-wa-be-win by on-wa-be-win, or rest by rest, in the manner

practised in carrying heavy packages over the portages. Her name was

Nadowákwa, or the female Iroquois. She was then, perhaps, about

fifty-five years of age, and the wife of a chief called Saganosh, whose

home and jurisdiction were in the group of the St. Martin's Islands,

north of Michilimackinac.

The incident was not voluntarily told, but came out, incidentally, in

some inquiries I was making respecting historical events, in the

vicinity. One such incident goes far to vindicate the affections of this

people, and should teach us, that they are of the same general lineage

with ourselves, and only require letters and Christianity, to exalt them

in the scale of being.

* * * * *

The first words of men, says Harris in his Hermes, like their first

ideas, had an immediate reference to sensible objects; in after days,

when they began to discern with their intellect, they took those words

which they found already made, and transferred them by metaphor, to

intellectual conceptions.

ANDAIG WEOS, OR CROWS-FLESH.

Many persons among the Indian race, have attracted notice from their

exploits on the war-path. Andaig Weos was not among the number of these,

or if he had mingled in such events, his deeds of daring are now lost

amid the remembrance of better qualities. He was a chief of the once

prominent and reigning band of Odjibwa Algonquins, who are called

Chippewas, located at Chegoimgon, on Lake Superior, where his name is

cherished in local tradition, for the noble and disinterested deeds

which he performed in former days. He lived in the latter part of the

18th century.

It was perhaps forty years ago--said my informant, it was while the late

Mr. Nolin, of Sault Ste. Maries was a trader in the Chippewa country,

between lake Superior and the Mississippi, that he wintered one year low

down on the Chippewa river. On his way down this stream, and while he

was still on one of its sources, cold weather set in suddenly, the ice

formed, and he was unable to get on with his goods. He consequently put

them en cache, according to the custom of the country, and proceeded on

foot, with his men to the lower part of the river, to the spot at which

he had determined to winter. Here he felled trees, and built his house,

and having made all things ready, he set out with his men on his return

to his _cache_, in order to bring down his goods.

On the way he fell in with an Indian hunter and his wife, who followed

him to the place where he had secreted his goods. On reaching this, he

filled a bottle with spirits and gave a glass to each of his men, took

one himself, and then filling the glass presented it to the Indian. This

was done after the camp had been made for the night. It so happened that

the Indian was taken suddenly ill that night, and before day light died.

Nolin and his men buried him, and then proceeded back to his wintering

house below, each man carrying a pack of goods; and the widow rejoined

her friends.

After the Indians had taken their credits, and dispersed to their

several wintering grounds, it was rumoured amongst them, that the trader

had administered poison to the Indian who died so suddenly after taking

the glass of spirits. And this opinion gained ground, although the widow

woman repeatedly told the Indians, that the liquor given to her deceased

husband was from the same bottle and glass, that all the French people

had drank from. But it was of no avail; the rumour grew, and Mr. Nolin

began to be apprehensive, as he had already learnt that the Indians

meant to kill him. To confirm this suspicion a party of forty men, soon

after, entered his house, all armed, painted black, and with war dresses

on. They were all presented with a piece of tobacco, as was customary,

when each of them threw it into the fire. No alternative now appeared to

remain to avert the blow, which he was convinced must soon follow.

Almost at the same instant, his men intimated that another party, of six

men more, were arriving.

It proved to be the chief Andaig Weos, from near Lac du Flambeau, in

search of a trader, for a supply of tobacco and ammunition. On entering,

the chief eyed the warriors, and asked Mr. N. whether he had given them

tobacco. He replied that he _had_, and that they had all, to a man,

thrown it in the fire, and, he added, that they intended to kill him.

The chief asked for some tobacco, which he threw down before the

warriors, telling them to smoke it, adding in an authoritive voice, that

when Indians visited traders, it was with an intention of getting

tobacco from them to _smoke_ and not to _throw into the fire_; and

that, for his part, he had been a long time without smoking, and was

very happy to find a trader to supply him with that article. This

present from him, with the rebuke, was received with silent

acquiescence,--no one venturing a reply.

The chief next demanded liquor of the trader, saying, "that he intended

to make them drink." The politic Frenchman remonstrated, saying, "that

if this was done, he should surely be killed." "Fear not, Frenchman,"

replied the chief, boldly. "These are not _men_ who want to kill you:

they are _children_. I, and my warriors will guard you." On these

assurances, a keg of liquor was given, but with the greatest reluctance.

The chief immediately presented it to the war-party, but cautioned them

to drink it at a distance, and not to come nigh the trader during the

night. They obeyed him. They took it a short distance and drank it, and

kept up a dreadful yelling all night, but did not molest the house.

The next morning Andaig Weos demanded tobacco of the still uneasy

_marchand voyageur_, and ordered one of his young men to distribute it

to the Indians in the war-dress. He then rose and addressed them in an

energetic and authoritative speech, telling them to march off, without

tasting food; that they were _warriors_, and needed not any thing of the

kind; and if they did, they were _hunters_,--they had guns, and might

hunt, and kill and eat. "You get nothing more here," he added. "This

trader has come here to supply your wants, and you seek to kill him--a

poor reward for the trouble and the anxiety he has undergone! This is no

way of requiting white people." They all, to a man started, and went

off, and gave the trader no farther molestation while he remained in the

country.

On another occasion Andaig Weos was placed in a situation which afforded

a very different species of testimony to his principles and integrity. A

French trader had entered lake Superior so late in the season, that with

every effort, he could get no farther than _Pointe La Petite Fille_,

before the ice arrested his progress. Here he was obliged to build his

wintering house, but he soon ran short of provisions, and was obliged to

visit La Pointe, with his men, in order to obtain fish--leaving his

house and store-room locked, with his goods, ammunition, and liquors,

and resolving to return immediately. But the weather came on so bad,

that there was no possibility of his immediate return, and the winter

proved so unfavourable that he was obliged to spend two months at that

post.

During this time, the chief Andaig Weos, with fifteen of his men, came

out from the interior, to the shores of the lake, for the purpose of

trading, each carrying a pack of beaver, or other furs. On arriving at

the point La Petite Fille, they found the trader's house locked and no

one there. The chief said to his followers.--It is customary for traders

to invite Indians into their house, and to receive them politely; but as

there is no one to receive us, we must act according to circumstances.

He then ordered the door to be opened, with as little injury as

possible, walked in, with his party, and caused a good fire to be built

in the chimney. On opening the store-door he found they could be

supplied with all they wanted. He told his party, on no account to

touch, or take away any thing, but shut up the door, and said, "that he

would, on the morrow, act the trader's part."

They spent the night in the house. Early the next morning, he arose and

addressed them, telling them, that he would now commence trading with

them. This he accordingly did, and when all was finished, he carefully

packed the furs, and piled the packs, and covered them with an oilcloth.

He then again addressed them, saying that it was customary for a trader

to give tobacco and a keg of spirits, when Indians had traded

handsomely. He, therefore, thought himself authorized to observe this

rule, and accordingly gave a keg of spirits and some tobacco. "The

spirits," he said, "must not be drank here. We must take it to our

hunting camp," and gave orders for returning immediately. He then caused

the doors to be shut, in the best manner possible, and the outer door to

be barricaded with logs, and departed.

When the trader returned, and found his house had been broken open, he

began to bewail his fate, being sure he had been robbed; but on entering

his store-room and beholding the furs, his fears were turned to joy. On

examining his inventory, and comparing it with the amount of his furs,

he declared, that had he been present, he could not have traded to

better advantage, nor have made such a profit on his goods.

These traits are not solitary and accidental. It happened at another

time, that a Mr. Lamotte, who had wintered in the Folle-avoine country,

unfortunately had a quarrel with the Indians, at the close of the

season, just when he was about to embark on his return with his furs. In

the heat of their passion the Indians broke all his canoes in pieces,

and confined him a prisoner, by ordering him to encamp on an island in

the St. Croix river.

In this situation he remained, closely watched by the Indians, till all

the _other_ traders had departed and gone out of the country to renew

their supplies, when the chief Andaig Weos arrived. He comprehended the

case in an instant, and having found that the matter of offence was one

of no importance, he immediately went to the Indian village, and in a

loud and authoritative tone of voice, so as to be heard by all,

commanded suitable canoes to be taken to the imprisoned trader--a

summons which was promptly obeyed. He then went to Mr. Lamotte and told

him to embark fearlessly, and that he himself would see that he was not

further hindered, at the same time lamenting the lateness of his return.

The general conduct of this chief was marked by kindness and urbanity.

When traders arrived at Chagoimegon, where he lived, it was his custom

to order his young men to cover and protect their baggage lest any thing

should be injured or stolen. He was of the lineage of the noted

war-chief, Abojeeg, or Wab Ojeeg. He lived to be very old, so that he

walked nearly bent double--using a cane. The present ruling chief of

that place, called Pezhickee, is his grandson. These anecdotes were

related by Mr. Cadotte, of Lapointe, in the year 1829, and are believed

to be entitled to full confidence.

* * * * *

The Tartars cannot pronounce the letter _b_. Those of Bulgaria pronounce

the word _blacks_ as if written _ilacs_. It is noticeable, that the

Odjibwas and their cognate tribes at the north, not only make great use

of the letter b, in native words, but when they come to pronounce

English words, in which the letter v occurs, they invariably substitute

the b for it, as in village, and vinegar.

There are three letters in the English alphabet which the above tribes

do not pronounce. They are f, r, and l. For f, they substitute, in their

attempts to pronounce foreign words, p. The sound of r, they change to

broad a, or drop. L is changed to n.

* * * * *

Singing and dancing are applied to political and to religious purposes

by the Indians. When they wish to raise a war-party, they meet to sing

and dance: when they wish to supplicate the divine mercy on a sick

person, they assemble in a lodge, to sing and dance. No grave act is

performed without singing and dancing.

ORIGIN

AND

HISTORY OF THE RACE.

WYANDOT TRADITIONS OF THE CREATION, AND OTHER EPOCHS.

The following traditions of the creation of man, and of the Red Race; of

the order of precedence and relationship among the tribes, and the

notice of the first arrival of Europeans on the continent, together with

the allegories of Good and Evil, and of Civilization, and Barbarism, are

extracted from a private journal, kept during the period of my official

intercourse with the various tribes.

Superintendency Indian Affairs,

Detroit, January 30th, 1837.

A delegation of three Wyandot chiefs visited me, this day, from their

location near Amherstburg in Canada, with their interpreter, George C.

Martin. Their names were O-ri-wa-hen-to, or Charlo, On-ha-to-tun-youh,

or Round Head, son of Round Head, the brother of Splitlog, and

Ty-er-on-youh, or Thomas Clark. They informed me, in reply to a

question, that the present population of their band, at that location,

was eighty-six souls. After transacting their business, I proposed

several questions to them respecting their origin and history.

1. What is the origin of the Indians? We believe that all men sprang

from one man and woman, who were made by God, in parts beyond the sea.

But in speaking of the Indians we say, how did they cross the sea

without ships? and when did they come? and from what country? What is

your opinion on the subject?

Oriwahento answered: "The old chief, Splitlog, who could answer you, is

not able to come to see you from his age and feebleness; but he has sent

us three to speak with you. We will do the best we can. We are not able

to read and write, like white men, and what you ask is not therefore to

be found in black and white." (This remark was probably made as they

observed I took notes of the interview.)

"There was, in ancient times, something the matter with the earth. It

has changed. We think so. We believe God created it, and made men out of

it, We think he made the Indians in this country, and that they did not

come over the sea. They were created at a place called MOUNTAINS. It

was eastward. When he had made the earth and those mountains, he covered

something over the earth, as it were, with his hand. Below this, he put

man. All the different tribes were there. One of the young men found his

way out to the surface. He saw a great light, and was delighted with the

beauty of the surface. While gazing around, he saw a deer running past,

with an arrow in his side. He followed it, to the place where it fell

and died. He thought it was a harmless looking animal. He looked back to

see its tracks, and he soon saw other tracks. They were the foot prints

of the person who had shot the deer. He soon came up. It was the creator

himself. He had taken this method to show the Indians what they must do,

when they came out from the earth. The creator showed him how to skin

and dress the animal, bidding him do so and so, as he directed him. When

the flesh was ready, he told him to make a fire. But he was perfectly

ignorant. God made the fire. He then directed him to put a portion of

the meat on a stick, and roast it before the fire. But he was so

ignorant that he let it stand till it burned on one side, while the

other was raw.

"Having taught this man the hunter's art, so that he could teach it to

others, God called the Indians forth out of the earth. They came in

order, by tribes, and to each tribe he appointed a chief. He appointed

one Head Chief to lead them all, who had something about his neck, and

he instructed him, and put it into his head what to say to the tribes.

That he might have an opportunity to do so, a certain animal was killed,

and a feast made, in which they were told to eat it all. The leader God

had so chosen, told the tribes what they must do, to please their maker,

and what they must not do."

Oriwahento further said: God also made Good and Evil. They were

brothers. The one went forth to do good, and caused pleasant things to

grow. The other busied himself in thwarting his brother's work. He made

stony and flinty places, and caused bad fruits, and made continual

mischief among men. Good repaired the mischief as fast as it was done,

but he found his labour never done. He determined to fly upon his

brother and destroy him, but not by violence. He proposed to run a race

with him. Evil consented, and they fixed upon the place. But first tell

me, said Good, what is it you most dread. Bucks horns! replied he, and

tell me what is most hurtful to you. Indian grass braid! said Good. Evil

immediately went to his grandmother, who made braid, and got large

quantities of it, which he put in the path and hung on the limbs that

grew by the path where Good was to run. Good also filled the path of his

brother with the dreaded horns. A question arose who should run first.

I, said Good, will begin, since the proposition to try our skill first

came from me. He accordingly set out, his brother following him. But as

he began to feel exhausted at noon, he took up the grass braid and eat

it. This sustained him, and he tired down his brother before night, who

entreated him to stop. He did not, however, cease, till he had

successfully reached the goal.

The next day Evil started on his path. He was encountered every where by

the horns, which before noon had greatly weakened him. He entreated to

be relieved from going on. Good insisted on his running the course. He

sustained himself 'till sunset, when he fell in the path, and was

finally dispatched by one of the horns wielded by his brother.

Good now returned in triumph to his grandmother's lodge. But she was in

an ill humour, as she always was, and hated him and loved his brother

whom he had killed. He wanted to rest, but at night was awoke by a

conversation between her and the ghost of Evil. The latter pleaded to

come in, but although he felt for him, he did not allow his fraternal

feelings to get the better, and resolutely denied admission. Then said

Evil "I go to the north-west, and you will never see me more, and all

who follow me will be in the same state. They will never come back.

Death will for ever keep them."

Having thus rid himself of his adversary, he thought he would walk out

and see how things were going on, since there was no one to oppose his

doing good. After travelling some time he saw a living object a-head. As

he drew nearer, he saw more plainly. It was a naked man. They began to

talk to each other. "I am walking to see the creation, which I have

made," said Good, "but who are you?" "Clothed man," said he, "I am as

powerful as you, and have made all that land you see." "Naked man," he

replied, "I have made all things, but do not recollect making you." "You

shall see my power," said the naked man, "we will try strength. Call to

yonder mountain to come here, and afterwards I will do the same, and we

will see who has the greatest power." The clothed man fell down on his

knees, and began to pray, but the effort did not succeed, or but

partially. Then the naked man drew a rattle from his belt, and began to

shake it and mutter, having first blindfolded the other. After a time,

now said he, "look!" He did so, and the mountain stood close before him,

and rose up to the clouds. He then blindfolded him again, and resumed

his rattle and muttering. The mountain had resumed its former distant

position.

The clothed man held in his left hand a sword, and in his right hand the

law of God. The naked man had a rattle in one hand, and a war club in

the other. They exchanged the knowledge of the respective uses of these

things. To show the power of the sword, the clothed man cut off a rod,

and placed it before him. The naked man immediately put the parts

together and they were healed. He then took his club, which was flat,

and cut off the rod, and again healed the mutilated parts. He relied on

the rattle to answer the same purpose as the other's book. The clothed

man tried the use of the club, but could not use it with skill, while

the naked man took the sword and used it as well as the other.

Oriwahento continued:--It is said that Evil killed his mother at his

birth. He did not enter the world the right way, but bursted from the

womb. They took the body of the mother and laid it upon a scaffold. From

the droppings of her decay, where they fell on the ground, sprang up

corn, tobacco, and such other vegetable productions as the Indians have.

Hence we call corn, our mother. And our tobacco propagates itself by

spontaneous growth, without planting; but the clothed man is required to

labour in raising it.

Good found his grandmother in no better humor when he came back from the

interview with the naked man. He therefore took and cast her up, and she

flew against the moon, upon whose face the traces of her are still to be

seen.

This comprised the first interview; after a recess during which they

were permitted to refresh themselves and smoke their pipes, I returned

to the office and resumed the inquiries.

2. Where did your tribe first see white men on this continent? The

French say you lived on the St. Lawrence, and afterwards went to the

north, from whence you afterwards came down to the vicinity of Detroit.

That you possess the privilege of lighting up the general council fire

for the Lake tribes; and that you were converted to the catholic faith.

Oriwahento again answered.

When the tribes were all settled, the Wyandots were placed at the head.

They lived in the interior, at the mountains east, about the St.

Lawrence. They were the first tribe of old, and had the first

chieftainship. The chief said to their nephew, the Lenapees, Go down to

the sea coast and look, and if you see any thing bring me word. They had

a village near the sea side, and often looked, but saw nothing except

birds. At length they espied an object, which seemed to grow and come

nearer, and nearer. When it came near the land it stopped, but all the

people were afraid, and fled to the woods. The next day, two of their

number ventured out to look. It was lying quietly on the water. A

smaller object of the same sort came out of it, and walked with long

legs (oars) over the water. When it came to land two men came out of it.

They were different from us and made signs for the others to come out of

the woods. A conference ensued. Presents were exchanged. They gave

presents to the Lenapees, and the latter gave them their skin clothes as

curiosities. Three distinct visits, at separate times, and long

intervals, were made. The mode in which the white men got a footing, and

power in the country was this. First, room was asked, and leave given to

place a chair on the shore. But they soon began to pull the lacing out

of its bottom, and go inland with it; and they have not yet come to the

end of the string. He exemplified this original demand for a cession of

territory and its renewal at other epochs, by other figures of speech,

namely, of a bull's hide, and of a man walking. The first request for a

seat on the shore, was made he said of the Lenapees; alluding to the

cognate branches of this stock, who were anciently settled at the

harbour of New York, and that vicinity.

To the question of their flight from the St. Lawrence, their settlement

in the north, and their subsequent migration to, and settlement on, the

straits of Detroit, Oriwahento said:

The Wyandots were proud. God had said that such should be beaten and

brought low. This is the cause why we were followed from the east, and

went up north away to Michilimackinac, but as we had the right before,

so when we came back, the tribes looked up to us, as holding the council

fire.[18]

3. What relationship do you acknowledge, to the other western tribes?

Answer by Oriwahento: We call the Lenapees, _nephews_; we call the

Odjibwas (Chippewas) Ottawas, Miamis &c. _Younger Brother_. We call the

Shawnees, _the Youngest Brother_. The Wyandots were the first tribe in

ancient times. The first chieftainship was in their tribe.

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS TO THE INTERPRETER.

1. Are the Wyandot and Mohawk languages, alike in sounds. You say, you

speak both.

Ans. Not at all alike. It is true there are a few words so, but the two

languages do not seem to me more akin than English and French. You know

some English and French words are alike. The Mohawk language is on the

_tongue_, the Wyandot is in _the throat_.

2. Give me some examples: Read some of this translation of the Mohawk,

(handing him John's Gospel printed by the American Bible Society in

1818.) He complied, reading it fluently, and appearing to have been

acquainted with the translation.

Further conversation, in which his attention was drawn to particular

facts in its structure and principles, made him see stronger analogies

between the two tongues. It was quite evident, that he had never

reflected on the subject, and that there were, both grammatically, and

philologically, coincidences beyond his depth.

H. R. S.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] This is certainly a dignified and wise answer; designed as it was,

to cover their disastrous defeat and flight from the St. Lawrence valley

to the north. The precedence to which he alludes, on reaching the

straits of Detroit, as having been theirs before, is to be understood,

doubtless, of the era of their residence on the lower St. Lawrence,

where they were at the head of the French and Indian confederacy against

the Iroquois. Among the latter, they certainly had no precedency, so far

as history reaches. Their council fire was kept by the Onondagas.

TRADITIONS OF THE ARCTIDÉS.

There are some curious traditions related by the race of people living

on that part of the continent lying north and west of Athabasca lake,

and the river Unjigah. Mackenzie has described that branch of them, who

are called by the trivial name of Che-pe-wyans. This is an Algonquin

term, meaning puckered blankets, and has reference only to the most

easterly and southerly division of the race. They are but the van of an

extensive race. All that gives identity to their general traditions, and

distinctive character and language, relates as well to the Dogribs, the

Coppermines, the Strongbows, the Ambawtawoots, the Hares, the

Brushwoods, the Sursees, the Tacullies, the Nateotetains, and other

tribes located north of them, extending to the Arctic Ocean, and west

through the Peace river pass of the Rocky Mountains. Philology brings

into one groupe all these dialects of a wide spread race, who extend

from the borders of the Atnah nation on the Columbia, across the Rocky

Mountains eastwardly to the Lake of the Hills and the Missinipi or

Churchill river, covering many degrees of latitude and longitude. In the

absence of any generic name for them, founded on language or character,

I shall allude to them under the geographical phrase of ARCTIDES.

This stock of people have proceeded from the direction of the North

Pacific towards the Atlantic waters, in a general eastern direction, in

which respect, their history forms a striking exception to the other

great stocks of the eastern part of the United States, the Canadas, and

Hudson's bay, who have been in a continual progress towards the WEST and

NORTHWEST. The Arctides, on the contrary, have proceeded EAST and

SOUTHEAST. They may be supposed, therefore, to bring their traditions

more directly from opposite portions of the continent, and from Asia,

and it may be inferred, from more unmixed and primitive sources. Some of

these traditions are, at least, of a curious and striking character.

They believe, like the more southerly tribes, in the general tradition

of a deluge, and of a paradise, or land of future bliss. They have

apparently, veiled the Great Spirit, or creator of the globe, under the

allegory of a gigantic bird. They believe, that there was originally

nothing visible but one vast ocean. Upon this the bird descended from

the sky, with a noise of his wings which produced sounds resembling

thunder. The earth, as he alighted, immediately rose above the waters.

This bird of creative power, then made all the classes of animals, who

were made out of earth. They all had precedency to man. Man alone, the

last in the series, was created from the integument of a dog. This, they

believe, was their own origin, and hence, as Mackenzie tells us, they

will not eat the flesh of this animal, as is done by the other tribes of

the continent. To guard and protect them, he then made a magic arrow,

which they were to preserve with great care, and hold sacred. But they

were so thoughtless, they add, as to carry it away and lose it, upon

which the great bird took his flight, and has never since appeared. This

magic arrow is doubtless to be regarded as a symbol of something else,

which was very essential to their safety and happiness. Indian history

is often disguised under such symbolic forms.

They have also a tradition that they originally came from a foreign

country, which was inhabited by a wicked people. They had to cross a

great lake, or water, which was shallow, narrow, and full of islands.

Their track lay also through snow and ice, and they suffered miserably

from cold. They first landed at the mouth of the Coppermine river. The

earth thereabouts was then strewed with metallic copper, which has since

disappeared.

They believe that, in ancient times, men lived till their feet were worn

out with walking, and their throats with eating. They represent their

ancestors as living to very great ages. They describe a deluge, in which

the waters spread over the whole earth, except the highest mountains, on

which their progenitors were saved.

Their notions of a future state coincide generally with the other

stocks. But their paradise is clothed with more imaginative traits. They

believe, that at death they pass immediately to another world, where

there is a large river of water to cross. They must embark in a stone

canoe, and are borne along into a wide lake, which has an island in its

centre. This is the island of the blest, and the object of the

disembodied soul is to reach it. If their lives have been good, they

will be fortunate, and make it. If bad, they will sink; but they will

only sink to the depth of their chins, so that they may be permitted to

behold the happy land, and strive in vain to reach it. Eternity is

passed in this vain endeavour.

They have also some notion of the doctrine of transmigration. Such are

the traditionary notions of this numerous family of the Red Race, which

are sufficiently distinctive and peculiar,--and while they resemble in

many traits, yet in others they contradistinguish them from the great

Algic race of the eastern part of the continent. The most advanced

branch of these tribes in their geographical position, call themselves,

as reported by Capt. Franklin, People of the Rising Sun, or

_Saw-eesaw-dinneh_.

It seems singular, that the farther north we go, the greater evidences

do we behold of imagination, in the aboriginal race, together with some

fore-shadowings of future punishment.

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS OF THE CHIPPEWAS, ODJIBWAS, OR ODJIBWA-ALGONQUINS.

Of all the existing branches of the Algonquin stock in America, this

extensive and populous tribe appears to have the strongest claims to

intellectual distinction, on the score of their traditions, so far, at

least, as the present state of our inquiries extends. They possess, in

their curious fictitious legends and lodge-tales, a varied and

exhaustless fund of tradition, which is repeated from generation to

generation. These legends hold, among the wild men of the north, the

relative rank of story-books; and are intended both to amuse and

instruct. This people possess also, the art of picture writing, in a

degree which denotes that they have been, either more careful, or more

fortunate, in the preservation of this very ancient art of the human

race. Warriors, and the bravest of warriors, they are yet an

intellectual people.

Their traditions and belief, on the origin of the globe, and the

existence of a Supreme Being, are quite accordant with some things in

our own history and theory. They believe that the Great Spirit created

material matter, and that he made the earth and heavens, by the power of

his will. He afterwards made animals and men, out of the earth, and he

filled space with subordinate spirits, having something of his own

nature, to whom he gave a part of his own power. He made one great and

master spirit of evil, to whom he also gave assimilated and subordinate

evil spirits, to execute his will. Two antagonist powers, they believe,

were thus placed in the world who are continually striving for the

mastery, and who have power to affect the fortunes and lives of men.

This constitutes the groundwork of their religion, sacrifices and

worship.

They believe that animals were created before men, and that they

originally had rule on the earth. By the power of necromancy, some of

these animals were transformed to men, who, as soon as they assumed this

new form, began to hunt the animals, and make war against them. It is

expected that these animals will resume their human shapes, in a future

state, and hence their hunters, feign some clumsy excuses, for their

present policy of killing them. They believe that all animals, and birds

and reptiles, and even insects, possess reasoning faculties, and have

souls. It is in these opinions, that we detect the ancient doctrine of

transmigration.

Their most intelligent priests tell us, that their forefathers

worshipped the sun: this luminary was regarded by them, as one of their

Medas told me, as the symbol of divine intelligence, and the figure of

it is drawn in their system of picture writing, to denote the Great

Spirit. This symbol very often occurs in their pictures of the medicine

dance, and the wabeno dance, and other sacred forms of their rude

inscriptions.

They believe, at least to some extent, in a duality of souls, one of

which is fleshly, or corporeal, the other is incorporeal or mental. The

fleshly soul goes immediately, at death, to the land of spirits, or

future bliss. The mental soul abides with the body, and hovers round the

place of sepulture. A future state is regarded by them, as a state of

rewards, and not of punishments. They expect to inhabit a paradise,

filled with pleasures for the eye, and the ear, and the taste. A strong

and universal belief in divine mercies absorbs every other attribute of

the Great Spirit, except his power and ubiquity; and they believe, so

far as we can gather it, that this mercy will be shown to all. There is

not, in general, a very discriminating sense of moral distinctions and

responsibilities, and the faint out-shadowings, which we sometimes hear

among them, of a deep and sombre stream to be crossed by the adventurous

soul, in its way to the land of bliss, does not exercise such a

practical influence over their lives, as to interfere with the belief of

universal acceptance after death. So firm is this belief, that their

proper and most reverend term for the Great Spirit, is Gézha Monedo,

that is to say, Merciful Spirit. Gitchy Monedo, which is also employed,

is often an equivocal phrase. The term Wäzheáud, or Maker, is used to

designate the Creator, when speaking of his animated works. The compound

phrase Wäosemigóyan, or universal Father, is also heard.

The great spirit of evil, called Mudje Monedo, and Matche Monito, is

regarded as a _created_, and not a pre-existing being. Subordinate

spirits of evil, are denoted by using the derogative form of the word,

in _sh_ by which Moneto is rendered Monetosh. The exceeding flexibility

of the language is well calculated to enable them to express distinction

of this nature.

This tribe has a general tradition of a deluge, in which the earth was

covered with water, reaching above the highest hills, or mountains, but

not above a tree which grew on the latter, by climbing which a man was

saved. This man was the demigod of their fictions, who is called

Manabozho, by whose means the waters were stayed and the earth

re-created. He employed for this purpose various animals who were sent

to dive down for some of the primordial earth, of which a little was,

at length, brought up by the beaver, and this formed the germ or nucleus

of the new, or rather rescued planet. What particular allegories are hid

under this story, is not certain; but it is known that this, and other

tribes, are much in the habit of employing allegories, and symbols,

under which we may suspect, they have concealed parts of their

historical traditions and beliefs. This deluge of the Algonquin tribes,

was produced, as their legends tell, by the agency of the chief of the

evil spirits, symbolized by a great serpent, who is placed, throughout

the tale, in an antagonistical position to the demi-god Manabosho. This

Manabozho, is the same, it is thought, with the Abou, and the Michabou,

or the Great Hare of elder writers.

Of their actual origin and history, the Chippewas have no other certain

tradition, than that they came from Wabenong, that is to say, the land

of the EAST. They have no authentic history, therefore, but such

remembered events, as must be placed subsequent to the era of the

discovery of the continent. Whether this tradition is to be interpreted

as an ancient one, having reference to their arrival on the continent,

or merely to the track of their migration, after reaching it, is a

question to be considered. It is only certain, that they came to their

present position on the banks of Lake Superior, from the direction of

the Atlantic seaboard, and were, when discovered, in the attitude of an

invading nation, pressing westward and northward. Their distinctive name

sheds no light on this question. They call themselves _Od-jib-wäg_,

which is the plural of Odjibwa,--a term which appears to denote a

peculiarity in their voice, or manner of utterance. This word has been

pronounced Chippewa by the Saxon race in America, and is thus recorded

in our treaties and history. They are, in language, manners and customs,

and other characteristics, a well marked type of the leading Algonquin

race, and indeed, the most populous, important, and wide spread existing

branch of that family now on the continent. The term Chippewa, may be

considered as inveterately fixed by popular usage, but in all

disquisitions which have their philology or distinctive character in

view, the true vernacular term of Od-jib-wa, will be found to possess

advantages to writers. The word Algonquin is still applied to a small

local band, at the Lake of Two Mountains, on the Utawas river, near

Montreal, but this term, first bestowed by the French, has long been a

generic phrase for the entire race, who are identified by the ties of a

common original language in the United States and British America.

One of the most curious opinions of this people is their belief in the

mysterious and sacred character of fire. They obtain sacred fire, for

all national and ecclesiastical purposes, from the flint. Their national

pipes are lighted with this fire. It is symbolical of purity. Their

notions of the boundary between life and death, which is also

symbolically the limit of the material verge between this and a future

state, are revealed in connection with the exhibition of flames of

fire. They also make sacrifices by fire of some part of the first fruits

of the chase. These traits are to be viewed, perhaps, in relation to

their ancient worship of the sun, above noticed, of which the traditions

and belief, are still generally preserved. The existence among them of

the numerous classes of jossakeeds, or mutterers--(the word is from the

utterance of sounds low on the earth,) is a trait that will remind the

reader of a similar class of men, in early ages, in the eastern

hemisphere. These persons constitute, indeed, the Magii of our western

forests. In the exhibition of their art, and of the peculiar notions

they promulgate on the subject of a sacred fire, and the doctrine of

transmigration, they would seem to have their affiliation of descent

rather with the disciples of Zoroaster and the fruitful Persian stock,

than with the less mentally refined Mongolian hordes.

MYTHOLOGY, SUPERSTITIONS, AND RELIGION OF THE ALGONQUINS.

THEIR SYSTEM OF MANITO WORSHIP, AS RECENTLY DISCLOSED BY THE

CONFESSIONS OF ONE OF THEIR PROPHETS; THEIR LANGUAGES, AND

CHARACTER OF THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE GOSPEL MADE INTO THESE

DIALECTS; AND THE LEADING MOTIVES OF CHRISTIANS AND PHILANTHROPISTS

TO PERSEVERE IN THEIR CIVILISATION AND CONVERSION.[19]

It is known that the Indian tribes of this continent live in a state of

mental bondage to a class of men, who officiate as their priests and

soothsayers. These men found their claims to supernatural power on early

fastings, dreams, ascetic manners and habits, and often on some real or

feigned fit of insanity. Most of them affect a knowledge of charms and

incantations. They are provided with a sack of mystic implements, the

contents of which are exhibited in the course of their ceremonies, such

as the hollow bones of some of the larger anseres, small carved

representations of animals, cowrie and other sea-shells, &c. Some of

these men acquire a character for much sanctity, and turn their

influence to political purposes, either personally or through some

popular warrior, as was instanced in the success of the sachems

Buchanjahela, Little Turtle and Tecumthè.

We have recently had an opportunity of conversing with one of this class

of sacred person, who has within late years embraced Christianity; and

have made some notes of the interview, which we will advert to for the

purpose of exhibiting his testimony, as to the true character of this

class of impostors. Chusco, the person referred to, is an Ottawa Indian

who has long exercised the priestly office, so to say, to his brethren

on the northern frontiers. He is now a man turned of seventy. He is of

small stature, somewhat bent forward, and supports the infirmities of

age by walking with a staff. His sight is impaired, but his memory

accurate, enabling him to narrate with particularity events which

transpired more than half a century ago. He was present at the great

convocation of northern Indians at Greenville, which followed Gen.

Wayne's victories in the west--an event to which most of these tribes

look back, as an era in their history. He afterwards returned to his

native country in the upper lakes, and fixed his residence at

Michilimackinac, where in late years, his wife became a convert to the

Christian faith, and united herself to the mission church on that

island. A few years after, the old prophet, who despised this mode of

faith, and thought but little of his wife's sagacity in uniting herself

to a congregation of believers, felt his own mind arrested by the same

truths, and finally also embraced them, and was propounded for

admission, and afterwards kept on trial before the session. It was about

this time, or soon after he had been received as an applicant for

membership, that the writer visited his lodge, and entered into a full

examination of his sentiments and opinions, contrasting them freely with

what they had formerly been. We requested him to narrate to us the facts

of his conversion to the principles of Christianity, indicating the

progress of truth on his mind, which he did in substance, through an

interpreter as follows:

"In the early part of my life I lived very wickedly, following the META,

the JEESUKAN, and the WABENO, the three great superstitious observances

of my people. I did not know that these societies were made up of errors

until my wife, whose heart had been turned by the missionaries, informed

me of it. I had no pleasure in listening to her on this subject, and

often turned away, declaring that I was well satisfied with the religion

of my forefathers. She took every occasion of talking to me on the

subject. She told me that the Indian societies were bad, and that all

who adhered to them were no better than open servants of the Evil

Spirit. She had, in particular, _four_ long talks with me on the

subject, and explained to me who God was, and what sin was, as it is

written in God's book. I believed before, that there was One Great

Spirit who was the Master of life, who had made men and beasts. But she

explained to me the true character of this Great Spirit, the sinfulness

of the heart, and the necessity of having it changed from evil to good

by praying through Jesus Christ. By degrees I came to understand it. She

told me that the Ghost of God or Holy Spirit only could make the heart

better, and that the souls of all who died, without having felt this

power, would be burned in the fires. The missionaries had directed her

to speak to me and put words in her mouth; and she said so much that,

at length, I did not feel satisfied with my old way of life. Amongst

other things she spoke against drinking, which I was very fond of.

"I did not relish these conversations, but I could not forget them When

I reflected upon them, my heart was not as fixed as it used to be. I

began to see that the Indian Societies were bad, for I knew from my own

experience, that it was not a good Spirit that I had relied upon. I

determined that I would not undertake to _jeesukà_ or to look into

futurity any longer for the Indians, nor practice the _Meta's_ art.

After a while I began to see more fully that the Indian ceremonies were

all bad, and I determined to quit them altogether, and give heed to what

was declared in God's book.

"The first time that I felt I was to be condemned as a sinner, and that

I was in danger of being punished for sin by God, is clearly in my mind.

I was then on the Island of Bois Blanc, making sugar with my wife. I was

in a conflict of mind, and hardly knew what I was about. I walked around

the kettles, and did not know what I walked for. I felt sometimes like a

person wishing to cry, but I thought it would be unmanly to cry. For the

space of two weeks, I felt in this alarmed and unhappy mood. It seemed

to me sometimes as if I must die. My heart and my bones felt as if they

would burst and fall asunder. My wife asked me if I was sick, and said I

looked pale. I was in an agony of body and mind, especially during _one_

week. It seemed, during this time, as if an evil spirit haunted me. When

I went out to gather sap, I felt conscious that this spirit went with me

and dogged me. It appeared to animate my own shadow.

"My strength was failing under this conflict. One night, after I had

been busy all day, my mind was in great distress. This shadowy influence

seemed to me to persuade me to go to sleep. I was tired, and I wished

rest, but I could not sleep. I began to pray. I knelt down and prayed to

God. I continued to pray at intervals through the night; I asked to know

the truth. I then laid down and went to sleep. This sleep brought me

rest and peace. In the morning my wife awoke me, telling me it was late.

When I awoke I felt placid and easy in mind. My distress had left me. I

asked my wife what day it was. She told me it was the Sabbath (in the

Indian, prayer-day). I replied, 'how I wish I could go to the church at

the mission! Formerly I used to avoid it, and shunned those who wished

to speak to me of praying to God, but now my heart longs to go there.'

This feeling did not leave me.

"After three days I went to the mission. The gladness of my heart

continued the same as I had felt it the first morning at the camp. My

first feeling when I landed, was pity for my drunken brethren, and I

prayed that they might also be brought to find the true God. I spoke to

the missionary, who at subsequent interviews explained to me the truth,

the rite of baptism, and other principles. He wished, however, to try

me by my life, and I wished it also. It was the following autumn, that I

was received into the church."

We now turned his mind to the subject of intemperance in drinking,

understanding that it had been his former habit. He replied that he had

been one of the greatest drunkards. He had not been satisfied with a ten

days' drink. He would go and drink as long as he could get it. He said,

that during the night in which he first prayed, it was one of the first

subjects of his prayers, that God would remove this desire with his

other evil desires. He added, "God did so." When he arose that morning

the desire had left him. The evil spirit then tempted him by suggesting

to his mind--"Should some one now enter and offer you liquor, would you

not taste it?" He averred he could, at that moment, firmly answer No! It

was now seven years since he had tasted a drop of strong drink. He

remarked that when he used first to visit the houses of Christians, who

gladly opened their doors to him, they were in the habit of asking him

to drink a glass of cider or wine, which he did. But this practice had

nearly ruined him. On one occasion he felt the effects of what he had

thus been prevailed on to drink. The danger he felt himself to be in was

such, that he was alarmed and gave up this practice also.

He detailed some providential trials which he had been recently exposed

to. He had observed, he said, that those of his people who had professed

piety and had subsequently fallen off, had nevertheless prospered in

worldly things, while he had found it very hard to live. He was often in

a state of want, and his lodge was so poor and bad, that it would not

keep out the rain. Both he and his wife were feeble, and their clothes

were worn out. They had now but a single blanket between them. But when

these trials came up in his mind, he immediately resorted to God, who

satisfied him.

Another trait in the character of his piety, may here be mentioned. The

autumn succeeding his conversion, he went over to the spot on the island

where he had planted potatoes. The Indian method is, not to visit their

small plantations from the time that their corn or potatoes are

_hilled_. He was pleased to find that the crop in this instance promised

to yield abundantly, and his wife immediately commenced the process of

raising them. "Stop!" exclaimed the grateful old man, "dare you dig

these potatoes until we have thanked the Lord for them?" They then both

knelt in prayer, and afterwards gathered the crop.

This individual appeared to form a tangible point in the intellectual

chain between Paganism and Christianity, which it is felt important to

examine. We felt desirous of drawing from him such particulars

respecting his former practice in necromancy and the prophetic art, as

might lead to correct philosophical conclusions. He had been the great

juggler of his tribe. He was now accepted as a Christian. What were his

own conceptions of the power and arts he had practised? How did these

things appear to his mind, after a lapse of several years, during which

his opinions and feelings had undergone changes, in many respects so

striking? We found not the slightest avoiding of this topic on his part.

He attributed all his ability in deceptive arts to the agency of the

Evil Spirit; and he spoke of it with the same settled tone that he had

manifested in reciting other points in his personal experience. He

believed that he had followed a spirit whose object it was to deceive

the Indians and make them miserable. He believed that this spirit had

left him and that he was now following, in the affections of his heart,

the spirit of Truth.

Numerous symbols of the classes of the animate creation are relied on by

the Indian _metays_ and _wabenos_, to exhibit their affected power of

working miracles and to scrutinize the scenes of futurity. The objects

which this man had appealed to as personal spirits in the arcanum of his

lodge, were the tortoise, the swan, the woodpecker and the crow. He had

dreamed of these at his initial fast in his youth, during the period set

apart for this purpose, and he believed that a satanic influence was

exerted, by presenting to his mind one or more of these solemnly

appropriated objects at the moment of his invoking them. This is the

theory drawn from his replies. We solicited him to detail the _modus

operandi_, after entering the juggler's lodge. This lodge resembles an

acute pyramid with the apex open. It is formed of poles, covered with

tight-drawn skins. His replies were perfectly ingenuous, evincing

nothing of the natural taciturnity and shyness of the Indian mind. The

great object with the operator is to agitate this lodge, and cause it to

move and shake without uprooting it from its basis, in such a manner as

to induce the spectators to believe that the _power of action is

superhuman_. After this manifestation of spiritual _presence_, the

priest within is prepared to give oracular responses. The only articles

within were a drum and rattle. In reply to our inquiry as to the mode of

procedure, he stated that his first essay, after entering the lodge, was

to strike the drum and commence his incantations. At this time his

personal manitos assumed their agency, and received, it is to be

inferred, _a satanic energy_. Not that he affects that there was any

visible form assumed. But he felt their spirit-like presence. He

represents the agitation of the lodge to be due to currents of air,

having the irregular and gyratory power of a whirlwind. He does not

pretend that his responses were guided by truth, but on the contrary

affirms that they were given under the influence of the evil spirit.

We interrogated him as to the use of physical and mechanical means in

effecting cures, in the capacity of a meta, or a medicine man. He

referred to various medicines, some of which he thinks were antibilious

or otherwise sanatory. He used two bones in the exhibition of his

physical skill, one of which was _white_ and the other _green_. His

arcanum also embraced two small stone images. He affected to look _into_

and _through_ the flesh, and to draw from the body fluids, as bile and

blood. He applied his mouth in suction. He characterized both the _meta_

or medicine dances and the _wabeno_ dances by a term which may be

translated _deviltry_. Yet he discriminated between these two popular

institutions by adding that the _meta_ included the use of medicines,

good and bad. The _wabeno_, on the contrary, consisted wholly in a wild

exhibition of mere braggadocio and trick. It is not, according to him,

an ancient institution. It originated, he said, with a Pottawattomie,

who was sick and lunatic a month. When this man recovered he pretended

that he had ascended to heaven, and had brought thence divine arts, to

aid his countrymen.

With respect to the opinion steadfastly maintained by this venerable

subject of Indian reformation, that his deceptive arts were rendered

effectual in the way he designed, by _satanic agency_, we leave the

reader to form his own conclusions. In his mode of stating the facts, we

concede much to him, on the score of long established mental habits, and

the peculiarities arising from a mythology, exceeding even that of

ancient Greece, for the number, variety and ubiquity of its objects. But

we perceive nothing, on Christian theories, heterodox in the general

position. When the truth of the gospel comes to be grafted into the

benighted heart of a pagan, such as Chusco was, it throws a fearful

light on the objects which have been cherished there. The whole system

of the mythological agency of the gods and spirits of the heathen world

and its clumsy machinery is shown to be a sheer system of demonology,

referable, in its operative effects on the minds of individuals, to the

"Prince of the power of the air." As such the Bible depicts it. We have

not been in the habit of conceding the existence of demoniacal

possessions, _in the present era of Christianity_, and have turned over

some scores of chapters and verses to satisfy our minds of the

_abrogation of these things_. But we have found no proofs of such a

withdrawal of evil agency short of the very point where our subject

places it--that is, the dawning of the light of Christianity in the

heart. We have, on the contrary, found in the passages referred to, the

declaration of the full and free existence of such an agency in the

general import, and apprehend that it cannot be plucked out of the

sacred writings.

The language of such an agency appears to be fully developed among the

northern tribes. _Spirit-ridden_ they certainly are; and the mental

slavery in which they live, under the fear of an invisible agency of

evil spirits, is, we apprehend, greater even than the bondage of the

body. The whole mind is bowed down under these intellectual fetters

which circumscribe its volitions, and bind it as effectually as with the

hooks of steel which pierce a whirling Hindoo's flesh. Whatever is

wonderful, or past comprehension to their minds, is referred to the

agency of a spirit This is the ready solution of every mystery in

nature, and of every refinement of mechanical power in art. A watch is,

in the intricacy of its machinery, a spirit. A piece of blue cloth--cast

and blistered steel--a compass, a jewel, an insect, &c., are,

respectively, a spirit. Thunder consists, in their transcendental

astronomy, of so many distinct spirits. The aurora borealis is a body of

dancing spirits, or rather ghosts of the departed.

Such were the ideas and experiences of Chusco, after his union with the

church; and with these views he lived and died, having given evidence,

as was thought, of the reception of the Saviour, _through faith_.

To give some idea of the Indian mythology as above denoted, it is

necessary to conceive every department of the universe to be filled with

invisible spirits. These spirits hold in their belief nearly the same

relation to matter that the soul does to the body: they pervade it. They

believe not only that every man, but also _that every animal, has a

soul_; and as might be expected under this belief, they make no

distinction between _instinct_ and _reason_. Every animal is supposed to

be endowed with a reasoning facility. The movements of birds and other

animals are deemed to be the result, not of mere instinctive animal

powers implanted and limited by the creation, without inherent power to

_exceed_ or _enlarge_ them, but of a process of ratiocination. They go a

step farther, and believe that animals, particularly birds, can look

into, and are familiar with the vast operations of the world above.

Hence the great respect they pay to birds as agents of omen, and also to

some animals, whose souls they expect to encounter in another life. Nay,

it is the settled belief among the northern Algonquins, that animals

will fare better in another world, in the precise ratio that their lives

and enjoyments have been curtailed in this life.

Dreams are considered by them as a means of direct communication, with

the spiritual world; and hence the great influence which dreams exert

over the Indian mind and conduct. They are generally regarded as

friendly warnings of their personal manitos. No labor or enterprise is

undertaken against their indications. A whole army is turned back if the

dreams of the officiating priest are unfavorable. A family lodge has

been known to be deserted by all its inmates at midnight, leaving the

fixtures behind, because one of the family had dreamt of an attack, and

been frightened with the impression of blood and tomahawks. To give more

solemnity to his office the priest or leading _meta_ exhibits a sack

containing the carved or stuffed images of animals, with medicines and

bones constituting the sacred charms. These are never exhibited to the

common gaze, but, on a march, the sack is hung up in plain view. To

profane the medicine sack would be equivalent to violating the altar.

Dreams are carefully sought by every Indian, whatever be their rank, at

certain periods of youth, with fasting. These fasts are sometimes

continued a great number of days, until the devotee becomes pale and

emaciated. The animals that appear propitiously to the mind during these

dreams, are fixed on and selected as personal manitos, and are ever

after viewed as guardians. This period of fasting and dreaming is deemed

as essential by them as any religious rite whatever employed by

Christians. The initial fast of a young man or girl holds the relative

importance of baptism, with this peculiarity, that it is a free-will, or

self-dedicatory rite.

The naming of children has an intimate connection with the system of

mythological agency. Names are usually bestowed by some aged person,

most commonly under the supposed guidance of a particular spirit. They

are often derived from the mystic scenes presented in a dream, and refer

to aerial phenomena. Yellow Thunder, Bright Sky, Big Cloud, Spirit Sky,

Spot in the Sky, are common names for males. Females are more commonly

named from the vernal or autumnal landscape, as Woman of the Valley,

Woman of the Rock, &c. Females are not excluded from participation in

the prophetical office or jugglership. Instances of their having assumed

this function are known to have occurred, although it is commonly

confined to males. In every other department of life they are apparently

regarded as inferior or _inclusive_ beings. Names bestowed with ceremony

in childhood are deemed sacred, and are seldom pronounced, out of

respect, it would seem, to the spirit under whose favor they are

supposed to have been selected. Children are usually called in the

family by some name which can be familiarly used. A male child is

frequently called by the mother, a bird, or young one, or old man, as

terms of endearment, or bad boy, evil-doer, &c., in the way of light

reproach; and these names often adhere to the individual through life.

Parents avoid the true name often by saying my son, my younger, or my

elder son, or my younger or my elder daughter, for which the language

has separate words. This subject of a reluctance to tell their names is

very curious and deserving of investigation.

The Indian "art and mystery" of hunting is a tissue of necromantic or

mythological reliances. The personal spirits of the hunter are invoked

to give success in the chace. Images of the animals sought for are

sometimes carved in wood, or drawn by the metas on tabular pieces of

wood. By applying their mystic medicines to these, the animals are

supposed to be drawn into the hunter's path; and when animals have been

killed, the Indian feels, that although they are an authorized and

lawful prey, yet there is something like accountability to the animal's

_suppositional soul_. An Indian has been known to ask the pardon of an

animal, which he had just killed. Drumming, shaking the rattle, and

dancing and singing, are the common accompaniments of all these

superstitious observances, and are not peculiar to one class alone. In

the wabeno dance, which is esteemed by the Indians as the most

latitudinarian co-fraternity, love songs are introduced. They are never

heard in the medicine dances. They would subject one to utter contempt

in the war dance.

The system of _manito worship_ has another peculiarity, which is

illustrative of Indian character. During the fasts and ceremonial dances

by which a warrior prepares himself to come up to the duties of war,

everything that savors of effeminacy is put aside. The spirits which

preside over bravery and war are alone relied on, and these are supposed

to be offended by the votary's paying attention to objects less stern

and manly than themselves. Venus and Mars cannot be worshipped at the

same time. It would be considered a complete desecration for a warrior,

while engaged in war, to entangle himself by another, or more tender

sentiment. We think this opinion should be duly estimated in the general

award which history gives to the chastity of warriors. We would record

the fact to their praise, as fully as it has been done; but we would

subtract something from the _motive_, in view of his paramount

obligations of a sacred character, and also the fear of the ridicule of

his co-warriors.

In these leading doctrines of an oral and mystic school of wild

philosophy may be perceived the ground-work of their mythology, and the

general motive for selecting familiar spirits. Manito, or as the

Chippewas pronounce it, monédo, signifies simply a spirit, and there is

neither a good nor bad meaning attached to it, when not under the

government of some adjective or qualifying particle. We think, however,

that so far as there is a meaning distinct from an invisible existence,

the tendency is to a bad meaning. A bad meaning is, however, distinctly

conveyed by the inflection, _osh_ or _ish_. The particle _wee_, added in

the same relation, indicates a witch. Like numerous other nouns, it has

its diminutive in _os_, its plural in _wug_, and its local form in

_ing_. To add "great," as the Jesuit writers did, is far from deciding

the moral character of the spirit, and hence modern translators prefix

_gezha_, signifying merciful. Yet we doubt whether the word God should

not be carried boldly into translations of the scriptures. In the

conference and prayer-room, the native teachers use the inclusive

pronominal form of Father, altogether. Truth breaks slowly on the mind,

sunk in so profound a darkness as the Indians are, and there is danger

in retaining the use of words like those which they have so long

employed in a problematical, if not a derogative sense.

The love for mystery and magic which pervades the native ceremonies, has

affected the forms of their language. They have given it a power to

impart life to dead masses. Vitality in their forms of utterance is

deeply implanted in all these dialects, which have been examined; they

provide, by the process of inflection, for keeping a perpetual

distinction between the animate and inanimate kingdoms. But where

vitality and spirituality are so blended as we see them in their

doctrine of animal souls, the inevitable result must be, either to exalt

the principle of life, in all the classes of nature, into immortality,

or to sink the latter to the level of mere organic life. Indian

word-makers have taken the former dilemma, and peopled their paradise

not only with the souls of men, but with the souls of every imaginable

kind of beasts. Spirituality is thus clogged with sensual accidents. The

human soul _hungers_, and it must have food deposited upon the grave.

_It suffers from cold_, and the body must be wrapped about with cloths.

It is in _darkness_, and a light must be kindled at the head of the

grave. It wanders through plains and across streams, subject to the

providences of this life, in quest of its place of enjoyment, and when

it reaches it, it finds every species of sensual trial, which renders

the place not indeed a _heaven of rest_, but _another experimental

world_--very much like this. Of punishments, we hear nothing; rewards

are looked for abundantly, and the idea that the Master of life, or the

merciful Spirit, will be alike merciful to all, _irrespective of the

acts of this life_, or the degree of _moral turpitude_, appears to leave

for their theology a belief in restorations or universalism. There is

nothing to refer them to a Saviour; that IDEA was beyond their

conception, and of course there was no occasion for the offices of the

Holy Ghost. Darker and more chilling views to a theologian, it would be

impossible to present. Yet it may be asked, what more benign result

could have been, or can now be, anticipated in the hearts of an

ignorant, uninstructed and wandering people, exposed to sore

vicissitudes in their lives and fortunes, and without the guidance of

the light of Revelation?

Of their mythology proper, we have space only to make a few remarks.

Some of the mythologic existences of the Indians admit of poetic uses.

Manabozho may be considered as a sort of terrene Jove, who could perform

all things whatever, but lived some time on earth, and excelled

particularly in feats of strength and manual dexterity. All the animals

were subject to him. He also survived a deluge, which the traditions

mention, having climbed a tree on an extreme elevation during the

prevalence of the waters, and sent down various animals for some earth,

out of which he re-created the globe. The four cardinal points are so

many demi-gods, of whom the West, called KABEUN, has priority of age.

The East, North and South are deemed to be his sons, by a maid who

incautiously exposed herself to the west wind. IAGOO (Iagoo) is the god

of the marvellous, and many most extravagant tales of forest and

domestic adventure are heaped upon him. KWASIND is a sort of Samson, who

threw a huge mass of rock such as the Cyclops cast at Mentor. WEENG is

the god of sleep, who is represented to have numerous small emissaries

at his service, reminding us of Pope's creation of gnomes. These minute

emissaries climb up the forehead, and wielding a tiny club, knock

individuals to sleep. PAUGUK is death, in his symbolic attitude. He is

armed with a bow and arrows. It would be easy to extend this

enumeration.

The mental powers of the Indian constitutes a topic which we do not

design to discuss. But it must be manifest that some of their

peculiarities are brought out by their system of mythology and

spirit-craft. War, public policy, hunting, abstinence, endurance and

courageous adventure, form the leading topics of their mental efforts.

These are deemed the appropriate themes of men, sages and warriors. But

their intellectual essays have also a domestic theatre of exhibition. It

is here that the Indian mind unbends itself and reveals some of its less

obvious traits. Their public speakers cultivate a particular branch of

oratory. They are careful in the use of words, and are regarded as

standards of purity in the language. They appear to have an accurate ear

for sounds, and delight in rounding off a period, for which the

languages afford great facilities, by their long and stately words, and

multiform inflexions. A drift of thought--an elevation of style, is

observable in their public speaking which is dropt in private

conversation. Voice, attitude and motion, are deemed of the highest

consequence. Much of the meaning of their expressions is varied by the

vehement, subdued, or prolonged tone in which they are uttered. In

private conversation, on the contrary, all is altered. There is an

equanimity of tone, and easy vein of narration or dialogue, in which the

power of mimicry is most strikingly brought out. The very voice and

words of the supposed speakers, in their fictitious legends, are

assumed. Fear, supplication, timidity or boasting, are exactly depicted,

and the deepest interest excited. All is ease and freedom from

restraint. There is nothing of the coldness or severe formality of the

council. The pipe is put to its ordinary use, and all its symbolic

sanctity is laid aside with the wampum belt and the often reiterated

state epithets, "Nosa" and "Kosinan," i.e. _my father_ and _our father_.

Another striking trait of the race is found in their legends and tales.

Those of the aboriginal race who excel in private conversation, become

to their tribes oral chroniclers, and are relied on for historical

traditions as well as tales. It is necessary, in listening to them, to

distinguish between the gossip and the historian, the narrator of real

events, and of nursery tales. For they gather together everything from

the fabulous feats of Manebozho and Misshozba, to the hair-breadth

escapes of a Pontiac, or a Black Hawk. These narrators are generally men

of a good memory and a certain degree of humor, who have experienced

vicissitudes, and are cast into the vale of years. In the rehearsal of

their tales, transformations and transmigrations are a part of the

machinery relied on; and some of them are as accurately adapted to the

purposes of amusement or instruction, as if Zoroaster or Ovid himself

had been consulted in their production. Many objects in the inanimate

creation, according to these tales, were originally men and women. And

numerous animals had other forms in their first stages of existence,

which they, as well as human beings, forfeited, by the power of

necromancy and transmigration. The evening star, it is fabled, was

formerly a woman. An ambitious boy became one of the planets. Three

brothers, travelling in a canoe, were translated into a group of stars.

The fox, lynx, hare, robin, eagle and numerous other species, retain

places in the Indian system of astronomy. The mouse obtained celestial

elevation by creeping up the rainbow, which Indian story makes a flossy

mass of bright threads, and by the power of gnawing them, he relieved a

captive in the sky. It is a coincidence, which we note, that _ursa

major_ is called by them the bear.

These legends are not confined to the sky alone. The earth also is a

fruitful theatre of transformations. The wolf was formerly a boy, who,

being neglected by his parents, was transformed into this animal. A

shell, lying on the shore, was transformed to the raccoon. The brains of

an adulteress were converted into the _addikumaig_, or white fish.

The power of transformation was variously exercised. It most commonly

existed in magicians, of whom Abo, Manabosh or Manabozha, and Mishosha,

retain much celebrity. The latter possessed a magic canoe which would

rush forward through the water on the utterance of a charm, with a speed

that would outstrip the wind. Hundreds of miles were performed in as

many minutes. The charm which he uttered, consisted of a monosyllable,

containing one consonant, which does not belong to the language; and

this word has no definable meaning. So that the language of magic and

demonology has one feature in common in all ages and with every nation.

Man, in his common shape, is not alone the subject of their legends. The

intellectual creations of the Indians admit of the agency of giants and

fairies. Anak and his progeny could not have created more alarm in the

minds of the ten faithless spies, than do the race of fabulous Weendigos

to the Indian tribes. These giants are represented as cannibals, who ate

up men, women and children. Indian fairies are of two classes,

distinguished as the place of their revels is either the land or water.

Land-fairies are imagined to choose their residences about promontories,

water-falls and solemn groves. The water, besides its appropriate class

of aquatic fairies, is supposed to be the residence of a race of beings

called Nibanaba which have their analogy, except as to sex, in the

mermaid. The Indian word indicates a male. Ghosts are the ordinary

machinery in their tales of terror and mystery. There is, perhaps, a

glimmering of the idea of retributive justice in the belief that ghosts

and spirits are capable of existing in fire.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] New York Lit & Theo. Review.

INDIAN ARROW HEADS, &c.

By far the most numerous relics of the Red Race, now found in those

parts of our country from which it has disappeared, are the small stones

with which they headed their arrows. Being made of the most durable

substances, they have generally remained in the soil, unaffected by time

and the changes of season. They most abound in those rich meadows which

border some of our rivers, and in other spots of peculiar fertility,

though of less extent, where the pasture, or other attractions,

collected game for the Red men. The stones most commonly used were

quartz and flint, which were preferred on account of the facility of

shaping them, the keenness of the points and edges, which they readily

present under the blows of a skilful manufacturer, as well as their

superior hardness and imperishable nature. Multitudes of specimens still

exist, which show the various forms and sizes to which the Red men

reduced stones of these kinds: and they excite our admiration, by their

perfect state of preservation, as well by the skilfulness of their

manufacture.

Other stones, however, were not unfrequently used: and a collection

which we have been making for many years, presents a considerable

variety of materials, as well as of sizes, shapes and colors. Hard

sandstone, trap or graacke, jasper and chalcedony, appear occasionally;

some almost transparent. One of the larger size is made of steatite, and

smooth, as if cut or scraped with a knife, contrary to the common

method, of gradually chipping off small fragments of more brittle stone,

by light blows often repeated. These arrow heads were fastened to the

shaft, by inserting the butt into the split end, and tying round it a

string of deer's sinews. A groove or depression is commonly observable

in the stone, designed to receive the string. But it is sometimes

difficult to imagine how the fastening was effected, as some perfect

arrow-heads show no such depressions, and their forms are not well

adapted to such a purpose. This peculiarity, however, is most frequently

to be observed in specimens of small size, the larger, and especially

such as are commonly supposed to have been the heads of spears, being

usually well shaped for tying.

It is remarkable that some spots have been found, where such relics were

surprizingly numerous. In Hartford, Connecticut, about thirty years ago,

many were picked up in a garden, at the corner of Front and Mill

streets. The spot was indeed on the bank of the Little River, probably

at the head of Indian Canoe navigation: but yet no rational conjecture

could be formed, to account for the discovery, except one. It was

concluded that the place was an ancient burying ground. Many bits of

coarse earthen-ware were found, such as are common in many parts of the

country. About two miles below Middletown, Connecticut, on the slope of

a hill on the southern side of the Narrows, we discovered, some years

since, a great number of small fragments of white quartz, scattered

thickly over the surface of the ground, perhaps for half an acre. Among

them were several arrow heads of various forms, most of them imperfect,

and many pieces of stone, which at first sight resembled them, but, on

closer inspection, seemed to have been designed for arrow heads, but

spoiled in the making. Some had one good edge, or a point or barb, while

the other parts of the same stones showed only the natural form and

fracture. In many instances, it was easy to see that the workman might

well have been discouraged from proceeding any farther, by a flaw, a

break or the nature of the stone. Our conclusion was, that the spot had

long been a place where Indian arrow heads were made, and that we saw

around us the refuse fragments rejected by the workmen. Other spots have

been heard of resembling this.

If such relics were found nowhere else but in our own country, they

would be curious, and worthy of preservation and attention: but it is an

interesting fact, not however generally known, that they exist in many

other parts of the world. Stone arrow and spear heads have been found in

England for hundreds of years, and are believed to have been made and

used by the Britons, who, in respect to civilization, were nearly on a

level with our Indians. These relics are called by the common people

Celts, from the race whose memory they recal; and particular accounts of

them are given, with drawings, in several antiquarian works. They bear a

striking resemblance to our Indian arrow heads; and many of them could

be hardly, if at all, distinguished from those of America.

African arrows have been brought to this country, in which the points

were of the same forms and materials, and fastened in the same manner.

About twelve years ago a vessel from Stonington was attacked by a party

of Patagonians, who threw arrows on board. One of these which we

procured, was pointed with a head of milky quartz, exactly corresponding

with specimens picked up in New England.

Among the relics found in excavating the low mounds on the plain of

Marathon, as we were informed by one of our countrymen, who was at

Athens some years ago, there were spear heads made of flint, which, he

declared, were like those he had often seen ploughed up in his native

fields. These, it was conjectured, might have been among the weapons of

some of the rude Scythians in the Persian army, which met its defeat on

that celebrated battle ground.

A negro, from an obscure group of islands, just north of New Guinea, in

describing the weapons in use among his countrymen, drew the forms of

spear heads, which he said were often made of stones; and, when shown

specimens from our collection, declared that they were very much like

them.

It has been thought, that certain instruments would naturally be

invented by men in particular states of society and under certain

circumstances, as the result of their wants and the means at hand to

supply them. It is not, however, always easy to reconcile this doctrine

with fasts. For example, the black race of the islands north of New

Holland, (of which so little is yet known,) appear to require the use of

the bow as much as any other savage people, yet they are entirely

ignorant of it, though it has been thought one of the simple, most

natural and most indispensable instruments in such a condition of

society.

We are therefore left in doubt, in the present state of our knowledge,

whether the manufacture and use of stone arrow heads have been so

extensively diffused over the globe by repeated inventions, or by an

intercourse between portions of the human race long since ceased, or by

both causes. To whichever of these opinions we may incline, the subject

must still appear to us worthy of investigation, as the history of these

relics must necessarily be closely connected with that of different

families and races of men in every continent and in every zone.

We would invite particular attention to the position and circumstances

of Indian remains which may hereafter be found; and would express a wish

that they might be recorded and made known. Our newspapers offer a most

favorable vehicle for the communication of such discoveries and

observations, and our editors generally must have taste and judgment

enough to give room for them.

It was remarked in some of our publications a few years ago, that no

unequivocal remains of the Red men had yet been discovered in the earth,

below the most recent strata of soil, excepting cases in which they had

been buried in graves, &c. Perhaps later observations may furnish

evidence of the longer presence of that race on our continent than such

a statement countenances.

One of the most interesting objects of enquiry, with some antiquaries,

is whether there are any ancient indications of Alphabetical writing in

our continent. A small stone found in the Grave-Creek Mound, and others

of a more doubtful character, are quite sufficient to awaken interest

and stimulate enquiry.

A few specimens of rude sculpture and drawing have been found in

different parts of the U. States; and shells, ornaments, &c., evidently

brought from great distances. There may be others, known to individuals,

of which antiquaries are not aware. After perusing the foregoing pages,

it will be easy to realize that all such remains may be worthy of

attention. Not only copies should be made and dimensions taken, but

descriptions should be written, local information and traditions

collected, measures taken to preserve the originals, and some notice

given which may reach persons interested in such subjects.--_E._

INDIAN MUSIC, SONGS, AND POETRY.

No. 1.