Sketches of Indian Character Being a Brief Survey of the Principal Features of Character Exhibited by the North American Indians; Illustrating the Aphorism of the Socialists, that "Man is the creature of circumstances"

Mr. Buchanan says: “In passing down the St. Lawrence in the summer of 1819, I stopped my batteaux at a tavern, where I proposed to remain all night. Two squaws were there with a...

In the political institutions of the Natchez, however despotic and imperfect they may be considered, we discover a bond of union which did not exist among other tribes who trust...

“Their first step was to address circular letters to the different tribes in 1796, accompanied by one from the executive government of the United States, expressive of its appro...

“He addressed them in long, eloquent, and pathetic strains; and an assembly more numerous than had ever been witnessed on any former occasion, listened to him with an intensely...

“It is remarkable that there are no deformed Indians; however, they are generally weaker and smaller bodied, between the tropics, than in higher latitudes; but not in an equal p...

“Thus, in this vast extent of country, from Hudson’s Bay, to the West Indies, including nations whose languages are radically different, nations unconnected with, and unknown to...

“A remarkable instance of this belief in the power of these sorcerers, and of the wonderful effects of imagination, is related by Hearne, as having occurred during his residence...

“In order to complete the history of the human mind, and attain to a perfect knowledge of its nature and operations, we must contemplate man in all those various situations in w...

“Glikhican never forgave himself for having committed this crime, although many times, and long before his becoming a Christian, he had begged the woman’s pardon with tears in h...

After thus stating the circumstances which qualified him to give an opinion on the subject of Indian civilization, he asserts that the efforts of religious missionaries have not...