“Obs. They are as full of business, and as impatient of hinderance, (in their kind,) as any merchant in Europe. Many of them naturally princes, or else industrious persons, are rich; and the poor amongst them will say they want nothing.” Williams, ch. 7. “Obs. The women of the family will commonly raise two or three heaps (of corn) of twelve, fifteen, or twenty bushels a heap, which they dry in round broad heaps; and if she has help of her children or friends, much more.” Ch. 16. “I could never discern that excess of scandalous sins amongst them which Europe aboundeth with. Drunkenness and gluttony generally they know not what sins they be. And although they have not so much to restrain them (both in respect of knowledge of God and laws of men) as the English have, yet a man shall never hear of such crimes among them, of robberies, murders, adulteries.” Ch. 22. Quotations to the same effect might be adduced from nearly all the early writers. Yet we are told that in all that regards their moral condition, the Indians have been gainers by their intercourse with the whites! It is probably within the recollection of many persons now living, when the very considerable quantities of corn required for the fur trade in the country about Lake Superior, were purchased from the Indians, by whom it was raised at a place called Ketekawwe Seebee, or Garden river, a small stream falling into the strait between Lakes Superior and Huron, about six miles below the Saut St. Marie. “The Indians at the first settlement of the English, performed many acts of kindness towards them: they instructed them in the manner of planting and dressing the Indian corn,” and “by selling them corn when pinched with famine, they relieved their distresses, and prevented them from perishing in a strange land, and uncultivated wilderness.” Trumbull’s History of Connecticut, Vol. I. Ch. 3. In another place, speaking of a famine among the colonists, he says, “In this distressful situation a committee was sent to an Indian settlement called Pocomtock, where they purchased such quantities, that the Indians came down to Windsor and Hartford with fifty canoes at one time laden with Indian corn.” Vol. I. Ch. 6. The Indians on Block Island, according to the same authority, “had about two hundred acres of corn.” This the English, after two days spent on the Island “burning wigwams,” and “staving canoes,” destroyed, and then sailed for the Pequot country. Ib. Ch. 5. Charlevoix, a less exceptionable authority than most of the early French writers, says, that in an incursion into the country of the Senecas, the French destroyed four hundred thousand minots (1,200,000 bushels) of corn. “They also killed a prodigious number of swine, which caused much sickness.” Hist. de la Nouvelle France, liv. XI. It is unnecessary to cite passages, hundreds of which might be adduced to prove, what few, except the reviewer above quoted ever considered doubtful. It is a prevailing belief, to which the influence of established superstition has given an astonishing power, that the necromancers, men and women of medicine, or those who are acquainted with the hidden powers of their wusks, can, by practising upon the Muz-zin-ne-neence, exercise an unlimited control over the body and mind of the person represented. As it may have been, in former times, among the people of our race, many a simple Indian girl gives to some crafty old squaw her most valued ornaments, or whatever property she may possess, to purchase from her the love of the man she is most anxious to please. The old woman, in a case of this kind, commonly makes up a little image of stained wood and rags, to which she gives the name of the person whose inclinations she is expected to control; and to the heart, the eyes, or to some other part of this, she, from time to time, applies her medicine, or professes to have done so, as she may find necessary to dupe and encourage her credulous employer. But the influence of these images and conjurations, is more frequently tested in cases of an opposite character; where the inciting cause is not love, but hatred, and the object to be attained, the gratification of a deadly revenge. In cases of this kind, the practices are similar to those above mentioned, only different medicines are used. Sometimes the Muz-zin-ne-neence is pricked with a pin, or needle, in various parts, and pain or disease is supposed to be produced in the corresponding part of the person practiced upon. Sometimes they blacken the hands and mouth of the image, and the effect expected, is the change which marks the near approach of death. In the sanguinary chapter of the Calica Puran, we find reference to a similar superstition among the Asiatics. “Let a figure be made, either of barley meal or earth, representing the person with whom the sacrificer is at variance, and the head of the figure struck off. After the usual texts have been used, the following is to be used in invoking the axe on the occasion: Effuse, effuse blood! be terrific, be terrific! seize, seize! destroy, for the love of Ambica, the head of this enemy. Having struck off the head let him present it, using the texts laid down hereafter for the occasion, concluding with the word PHAT. Water must be sprinkled on the meal or earthen victim, which represents the sacrificer’s enemy, using the text commencing with Racta draibaih, (i. e. by streams of blood,) and marks must be made on the forehead with red sanders; garlands of red flowers must be put round the neck of the image, and it must be dressed in red garments, tied with red cords, and girt with a red girdle. Then placing the head towards the north, let it be struck off with an axe, using the Scanda text.” So general and prevalent, among the Indians, is the confidence in the efficacy of these charms, and of those practised by means of a hair from the head of the intended victim, that the belief in them has extended to many of the more ignorant of the Canadians who reside with the Indians, and even to some of the traders. Instances in which a hair is used in place of the image, or mus-zin-ne-neence, are frequently those of young women; and various, and sometimes dreadful, are the consequences supposed to result. So confident are the representations of whites, and those even of some shrewdness, and so strong the belief of the Indians, in the power of these drawings, as to enforce the conviction that effects have been produced in connection with these mummeries, either by the influence of imagination, or the still more powerful and certain operation of poison, administered secretly. Poisoning is a crime of perhaps greater frequency among the Indians than could have been expected from their situation; and they attribute equal guilt to the poisoner, whether he actually and craftily administers some powerful drug, or whether, at the distance of one or two hundred miles, or at any place, however remote, he so applies medicine to the Muz-zin-ne-neence, or to a hair, as to produce pain, sickness, death, or other suffering, in his enemy. The influence of these superstitions and absurd fears is boundless, and would, perhaps, surpass comprehension and belief if we could not look back to the time when the minds of our own race were similarly enthralled, and when the dread of supernatural powers in the hands of the malicious or the envious, formed one among the most serious and real evils in the life even of the most enlightened and independent. Many cases of sudden sickness occur among them, and many deaths happen entirely in the way of nature, which they, being ignorant of the true cause, attribute to poison, or more frequently to bad medicine; but enough of well authenticated instances exist to prove that they, in some cases, practice upon each other by poison; sometimes using such noxious plants, or other substances as their own country affords, and in other instances procuring arsenic, or other drugs, from the whites. To destroy life in this way is perfectly in accordance with their ideas of bravery, or toughness of heart, (Soug-ge-da-win;) he being often esteemed the bravest man who destroys his enemy with least risk to his own life. The Chippewyans, whose bleak and inhospitable country, affords neither birch bark nor other similar article, indeed nothing from the vegetable kingdom to serve as a substitute for the birch bark, and whose extreme rudeness has left them ignorant of any method of preparing from stones or earth any things suitable to write or delineate figures upon, use, in their preparations for the medicine hunt, the scapular bone of the rein deer, or such other animals as are found in their country. With an apparent poverty of language, corresponding to the meagerness of their soil, and the bluntness of their intellects, they denominate the drawing used in this kind of hunting, El-kul-lah ke-eet-ze, (the shoulder blade bone.) It would appear, also, that the accompanying ceremonies of this superstition are proportionately rude and inartificial. After awkwardly sketching the rein deer, or whatever animal they may happen to consider as indicated to them by their dream, they cast the bone on which the drawing is made into the fire, if, by chance, they happen to have one, and this fulfills all those important ends, which, in the imagination of the Ojibbeway hunter, are dependent upon the proper application of his medicines, and the patient chanting of his prayers.
4. Kekaupoag, Kickapoos. 5. Oshawanoag, Shawneese, or southern people. 6. Wawbunukkeeg, Stockbridge, or white tops. 7. Muskotanje, Muskantins of the early French writers; formerly lived at Wawkwunkizze, whence they were driven by the Ottawwaws, and the latter now consider them as lost. By some they are supposed to have been a band of Potiwattomies; but the Ottawwaws enumerate them as a distinct people. 8. Osaugeeg, Sankewi. 9. Mahnomoneeg, Menomonies, (wild rice people.) 10. Kneestenoag, Crees. They are said to call themselves Nah-hahwuk. 11. Muskegoag, Muskegoes, (swamp people.) 12. Muskegoag, Nopemit Azhinneneeg, or Nopemetus Anineeg, (back woods people,) a second relationship of Muskegoes. 13. Sheshebug, Ducks. 14. Bowwetegoweninnewug, Fall Indians. 15. Tuskwawomeeg, Uskwawgomees; near Montreal. The above fifteen tribes are thought to speak languages which resemble Ottawwaw. 16. Nautowaig, Naudoways, (rattle snakes.) 17. Mat-che-naw-to-waig, Bad Naudoways. 18. Ioewaig, Ioways. 19. Nabuggindebaig, Flat heads; said to have lived below the Illinois River. 20. Winnebagoag, Winnebagoes, or Puants. 21. Bwoinug, Sioux; Naudowesseeg, Ott., Roasters. 22. Ussinebwoinug, Assinneboins, (stone roasters.) 23. Agutchaninnewug, Minnetahres, (settled people.) 24. Kwowahtewug, Mandans. 25. Ahmeekkwun Eninnewug, Beaver People; among the Fall Indians. 26. Mukkudda Ozitunnug, Black Feet. 27. Ussinnewudj Eninnewug, Rocky Mountain Indians. 28. Pahneug, Pawnees. 29. Wamussonewug. 30. Kokoskeeg. 31. Aguskemaig, Esquimaux, (those who eat their food raw.) 32. Weendegoag, Cannibals. This last is an imaginary race, said to inhabit an island in Hudson’s Bay. They are of gigantic dimension, and extremely given to cannibalism. The Muskegoes, who inhabit the low and cheerless swamps on the borders of Hudson’s Bay, are themselves reproached by other tribes as cannibals, are said to live in constant fear of the Weendegoag. 33. Ojeeg Wyahnug, Fisher Skins. The resemblance between the Algonkin deity, (Na-na-bush,) and Saturn and Satyavrata, or Iswara, of the Sanscrit, may be farther traced in each being figured with a serpent, sometimes held in the hand, and in other instances, as in many of the Roman figures of Saturn, in the mouth. This resemblance is, perhaps, the more worthy of remark, as the Americans seem not to have retained any very satisfactory explanation of this circumstance. It will not be supposed that these vague resemblances in religious opinions, if they may be so called, afford the means of tracing the American tribes to their origin. That these people have customs and opinions closely resembling those of the Asiatics, particularly of the Hebrews, previous to the Christian dispensation, will not be denied; but the final result of all inquiries into this subject will, perhaps, be the adoption of the opinion of Bryant, of Sir William Jones, and other men of profound research, that Egyptians, Greeks, and Italians, Persians, Ethiopians, Phenecians, Celts, and Tuscans, proceeded, originally, from one central place, and that the same people carried their religion and sciences into China and Japan, to Mexico and Peru, and, we may add, to the banks of the Mississippi, and the coasts of Hudson’s Bay. Some of the arguments adduced in support of the favourite opinion, that the American tribes are the long lost remnant of the children of Israel, certainly require no answer. An intimate acquaintance with many languages is now so widely diffused, as to supersede the necessity of remarking, or of proving, that a strong similarity in the sound of some few words of different languages, even though they should be found similar in meaning, does not establish the fact of community of origin; and the wide dissimilarity between the American and the Hebrew, and its cognate dialects, in the one particular, of the compounding of words, is probably, to the learned, conclusive proof that our tribes are, in no sort, derived from the Hebrew stock. It is also to be observed, that this renovation of the earth is clearly distinguished, in the traditions of the Attawwaws, from the original creation, which was long previous. How much of the instructions of the Jesuits, and of other whites, may now be combined in these legends, it is difficult to say. But they relate that men, before the flood, though they had been long before upright and good, had now become exceedingly degenerate; but they do not assign this as the cause for which the deluge was brought upon the earth. They say that the younger brother of Na-na-bou-jou was slain by the Great Spirit, the father of both, and it was in grief and in anger that Na-na-bou-jou himself caused the earth to be overwhelmed. To so great an extent did he carry his resentment against the Great Spirit, and the other Spirits, that they, with the hope of appeasing him, restored his brother to life. But Na-na-bou-jou said, “No, my brother, this cannot be, that any should die and come again to live here as before; return again to the place to which they had sent you; it is there that many of my uncles and aunts must come every year. You shall be the friend and the protector of those, as I am of the living, who are here on this earth.” He returned accordingly, and it is this brother of Na-na-bou-jou, who is now spoken of as Ning-gah-be-ar-nong Man-i-to, (the western god,) though this is not his name, by which he was known to his brother. He is the god of the country of the dead, the towns of the Je-bi-ug, which are always towards the setting sun. Several of the consonant sounds are used interchangeably, not only in different dialects, but even in the same, and by people of the same band: thus, m for n, g for k, or t for either, b for p, d for t, l for n, and r for either of these. In the Cree dialect, for example, the word, e-rin-ne signifies man; in the Ojibbeway it is e-nin-ne; in some other dialect approaching the Delaware, it is il-len-ni; in the Delaware, according to Zeisberger, len-no; in the Menomonie e-nain, or e-nai-new, when the meaning of the verb substantive is combined. This observation should be borne in mind by all who take the trouble to compare and examine the written words of any Indian language. To many of the Algonkin dialects the sound of b is entirely foreign; others have no r. Many of the guttural and nondescript sounds of the Chippewyan, as well as several of those in the Winnebago, and the nasal in the Algonkin, cannot be represented by our alphabet. Meyers Printing Company Transcriber’s Note: The following changes have been made to the text to correct suspected printing errors. Minor changes of punctuation and formatting are not noted; spelling and hyphenation are simply inconsistent. Page xxi, “forgotton” changed to “forgotten” (it should not be forgotten) Page xxiii, “then” changed to “than” (of more value than all that has been effected) Page xxv, “subsistance” changed to “subsistence” (the means of subsistence it offers them) Page xxvi, “demonds” changed to “demons” (wild beasts, bloodhounds, heathen demons) Page xxxiv, “meaures” changed to “measures” (By a system of measures of this kind) Page 14, “run” changed to “ran” (he cut himself loose, and immediately ran) Page 27, “the” changed to “to” (we continued on to the Lake of the Woods) Page 75, “hestiate” changed to “hesitate” (I did not hesitate to carry) Page 79, “pusilanimity” changed to “pusillanimity” (I reproached him for pusillanimity) Page 84, “abut” changed to “about” (do all that is needful about your lodge) Page 85, “a” added (where we spent a great part of the summer) Page 107, “repluse” changed to “repulse” (The Indians laughed heartily at my repulse) Page 140, “Ba-gis-kun-mung” changed to “Ba-gis-kun-nung” (the band to whom Ba-gis-kun-nung belonged) Page 145, “Diety” changed to “Deity” (if the Deity had any communications to make) Page 153, “they” changed to “them” (telling them they preferred) Page 160, “retured” changed to “returned” (and had returned home) Page 244, “a” added (the house of a man, whose name, ... was Morgan) Page 251, “set” changed to “sit” (as long as I was able to sit up) Page 255, “An-num-mun-se” changed to “An-num-mun-ne” (the mouth of the An-num-mun-ne Se-be) Page 267, “he” changed to “the” (they accepted the presents) Page 279, “aproached” changed to “approached” (As the time approached) Page 300, “Wolverne” changed to “Wolverene” (Gwin-gwaw-ah-ga—Wolverene, (tough beast.)) Page 321, “Beer” changed to “Bear” and “dear” changed to “deer” (Bear moon, Ott.; deer rutting moon, Men.) Page 337, “artifical” changed to “artificial” (polished and artificial structure) Page 343, “mischeivous” changed to “mischievous” (We learn how mischievous are these superstitions) Page 377, “occasionlly” changed to “occasionally” (occasionally aiding with his finger) Page 377, “fifty” changed to “fifth” (in the fifth and sixth verses) Page 395, “??s?sa? e d???e??, John xvi. 25.” changed to “??s?sa? e d??ea?, John xv. 25.” Footnote 27, “instatnces” changed to “instances” (enough of well authenticated instances exist) Footnote 27, “prorportionately” changed to “proportionately” (proportionately rude and inartificial) Footnote 50, “foretel” changed to “foretell” (to foretell that some one is coming) Footnote 62, “innundation” changed to “inundation” (during the inundation) Footnote 62, “bo” changed to “be” (have had ample time to be obliterated) Footnote 62, “godesses” changed to “goddesses” (gods and goddesses of ancient Rome) Footnote 62, “Persions” changed to “Persians” (Italians, Persians, Ethiopians, Phenecians) ******* This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed. 1.F. 1.F.3. 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