Part 1
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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.”
COMPILED BY JAMES NAPIER BAILEY.
“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 which he has been placed. We must follow him in his progress through the different stages of society, as he gradually advances from the infant state of civil life towards its maturity and decline. We must observe at each period, how the faculties of his understanding unfold; we must attend to the efforts of his active powers, watch the various movements of desire and affection as they rise in his breast, and mark whither they tend, and with what ardour they are exerted.”
ROBERTSON.
Leeds: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOSHUA HOBSON, MARKET STREET, BRIGGATE; SOLD BY ABEL HEYWOOD, OLDHAM STREET, MANCHESTER; PATON AND LOVE, NELSON STREET, GLASGOW; JOHN CLEAVE, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET, LONDON; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1841.
SKETCHES OF INDIAN CHARACTER.
The history of nations fully establishes the fact, that the character of man results from the operation of circumstances on his organism. This great and important truth is written in such broad and legible characters on the face of human annals, as may easily be distinguished and can scarcely be mistaken. Among rude and savage tribes we discern features of character, which are distinctly referable to the influence of causes peculiar to the savage state; and among the members of civilized communities, we behold the manifestation of virtues, vices, and talents, which are also traceable to the operation of circumstances differing from those which determine the character of barbarous nations. There is a marked dissimilarity between the barbarian of Labrador and the native of London or Paris; yet this difference is more the child of accident than of nature, and would probably disappear in course of time were the parties to be subjected to the influence of similar institutions.
Among no people do we find more striking confirmations of the truth of the above doctrine than among the Aborigines of the North American Continent. In the character of that unhappy, but noble, race of men, we find many striking peculiarities which can be ascribed only to the influence of those circumstances in which the Indian tribes are placed, and which mark them out as objects of peculiar interest to the philosophic historian.
The European is polished, sagacious, and cunning; the Asiatic vainly proud and ostentatiously voluptuous; the African, patient, servile and debased; and the North American Indian, haughty, warlike and independent. Undoubtedly there are causes for all these varied peculiarities of national character, the developement of which, in relation to the Indians of America, shall form the subject of the present treatise.
In endeavouring to prove that man is the creature of circumstances by rapidly surveying the condition of the North American Indians, there are two methods which present themselves to our attention. The first and most obvious, consists in selecting the principal features of Indian character, and tracing them to the operation of causes peculiar to the Indian tribes. The second method consists in taking a view of the efforts made by white men for the civilization of the Americans, and the good or ill success which has attended their exertions. In discussing the subject, therefore, we shall adopt both these methods as far as our space and ability will allow.
The Indian character may be said to be a compound of the virtues and vices of savage life. Brave, generous, haughty and cruel, the North American savage moves with a firmness of step and a dignity of bearing, which distinguish him as the monarch of the wilderness. The African submits to slavery; the North American Indian prefers banishment, and even death to it. We pity and oppress the former, because his patient endurance of labour renders him of importance, while we endeavour by cruel encroachments to exterminate the latter, because his lands are serviceable, and he scorns to become our servant. Such has ever been the policy of professed Christians, and such the efforts of European civilization with respect to this unhappy race of men.
The Red Indian is fast disappearing from his native forests. The Prairie which once echoed with his shrill warwhoop now resounds with the roar of the Western rifle. His hunting grounds have become the prey of the pale faces; the big knife has prevailed over the tomahawk; and the grave of a freeman already yawns to receive the savage of the wilds.
When Las Casas appeared before the Emperor Charles V. to dispute with Quevedo, Bishop of Darien, on the capacity of the South American Indians for social improvement, “he rejected,” says Robertson, “with indignation, the idea that any race of men was born for servitude; and contended that the faculties of the Americans were not despicable but unimproved; that they were capable of receiving instruction in the principles of religion, as well as of acquiring the industry and arts which would qualify them for the various offices of social life; and that the mildness and timidity of their nature rendered them so docile and submissive that they might be led and formed with a gentle hand.” On the contrary, the Bishop of Darien contended “that they were a race of men marked out by the inferiority of their talents for servitude; and whom it would be impossible to instruct or improve, unless they were kept under the continual inspection of a master.”[1] To the disgrace of the Spanish name, the sentiments of Quevedo obtained more general credence than the truths uttered by the impassioned, and eloquent Las Casas. The Indians were still kept in a state of servitude, by the discoverers and tyrants of the West; and under pretext of reclaiming them from idolatry, and instructing them in the principles of the _Christian faith_ they were obliged to endure the most galling servitude, and compelled to perform a variety of unwholesome labours which soon terminated their existence, and left scarcely a remnant of their devoted race to tell the story of their oppression and their sufferings!
Such has ever been the policy of those who, spurred on by an exorbitant and all grasping selfishness, desire to tyrannize over their fellow beings, and trample on their rights, their liberties and their lives. Nor is this policy wanting on the part of those who either are, or desire to be, the oppressors of the North American Indians. The whites have, with few exceptions, denounced the savages of America as a cruel, blood-thirsty, and treacherous race of men—incapable of improvement, and therefore unworthy of that attention which has been devoted to the civilization of other barbarians. That this is a mere pretext under colour of which the most horrid crimes might be perpetrated,—an opiate for a guilty and accusing conscience,—must be evident to all who have made the Indian character the subject of their peculiar study. But because Europeans, blessed with all the lights of civilization, and all the influence of a religion purporting to be from heaven, have not only endeavoured, but are continually endeavouring, to encroach on the hunting territories of the Indians, some excuse must of course be invented to palliate their enormities, and screen their conduct from that general reprobation which it deserves. The Aborigines of America are therefore represented as false, cruel and blood-thirsty, as well as incapable of emerging from their present state of ignorance and barbarism.
Before the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill, the opponents of that measure were accustomed to represent the inhabitants of Ireland, as factious, discontented, and rebellious. Admitting, for the sake of argument, the truth of these allegations, we ask why did the inhabitants of Ireland evince these national characteristics? Simply because they had been galled and oppressed for a long course of time, by the enactments of an illiberal government. And if we admit that the Indians of America are still in a state of barbarism, and that they exhibit most, if not all, the vices incident to the savage state, may we not enquire the reason why they continue in this condition? The answer we think is obvious. The whites have seldom attempted to raise them from their state of original wildness; for almost all the measures they have adopted, in relation to the Indians, have been better adapted to oppress than to reclaim, to destroy than to regenerate.
In attempting to lay before the reader a rough delineation of Indian character, it is necessary that we should attend to all the elements which enter into its composition. We shall therefore treat in the first place—
_Of the bodily constitution of the North American Indians, and of the measure of their intellectual faculties._
Robertson, in his graphic representations of Indian character, affirms or rather insinuates, that the constitution of the American Indian labours under some physical defect. But that this defect is an accident arising from the influence of peculiar institutions, and the mode of training prevalent among the Indian tribes, is evidenced by the facts which that historian himself relates. The American Indian may be indolent during a season of peace. Extreme lassitude and an apparent want of physical energy may form the more prominent traits in his character. But when war demands his exertions in the field, or when pressed by the necessities of nature to go in quest of food, he displays a courage, an address, and an amount of bodily energy which prove him to be possessed of physical strength equal to that which the natives of more polished and civilized climes exhibit. It is during a season of hunting or of war that the most strenuous exertions of courage, force, and activity are called forth. The savage of America, at such a time, appears to shake off the native indolence of his disposition. He becomes patient, active, courageous and indefatigable. All the powers of his mind and of his body are roused into exertion; and he performs feats of agility and of strength, and exhibits a degree of perseverance, which prove him to be in these respects equal to the natives of Europe.
It is true the exhibition of perseverance and strength, on the part of the American savage, is not constant but casual. It is only when fierce passions stimulate him to exertion, that he puts forth all his powers. Nevertheless the casual exhibition of this strength and perseverance proves, that the opposite qualities are not essential to his nature; and seemingly warrants the conclusion that the indolence and want of energy which mark his character, are the results of that peculiar system of training to which he has been subjected.
Of the persevering speed of the Americans many instances are on record. Adair mentions a Chikkasah warrior who ran through woods and over mountains, three hundred computed miles in a day and a half and two nights. “I have known the Indians,” he observes in another place, “to go a thousand miles for the purpose of revenge, in pathless woods, over hills and mountains, through huge cane swamps, exposed to the extremities of heat and cold, the vicissitudes of seasons, to hunger and thirst. Such is their over-boiling revengeful temper, that they utterly contemn all these things as imaginary trifles, if they are so happy as to get the scalp of the murderer or enemy to satisfy the craving ghosts of their deceased relations.” Robertson, in the notes to his History of America, states that “M. Godin le Jeune, who resided fifteen years among the Indians of Puru and Quito, and twenty years in the French Colony of Cayenne, in which there is a constant intercourse with the Galibis, and other tribes on the Orinoco, observes, that the vigour of constitution among the Americans is exactly in proportion to their habits of labour. The Indians, in warm climates, such as those on the coasts of the South Sea, on the river of Amazons, and the river Orinoco, are not to be compared for strength with those in cold countries; and yet, says he, boats daily set out from Para, a Portugese settlement on the river of Amazons, to ascend that river against the rapidity of the stream; and with the same crew they proceed to San Pablo, which is eight hundred leagues distant. No crew of white people or even of negroes, would be found equal to a task of such persevering fatigue as the Portugese have experienced; and yet the Indians, being accustomed to this labour from their infancy, perform it.”[2]
These facts prove, that whatever may be the accidental indolence of the Indian tribes, they do not labour under any physical defect essential to them as men, and not peculiar to the natives of other climes. The fine gentleman of Europe, who has been nursed in the lap of luxury and refinement, would, if compelled to labour, exhibit as great a want of physical strength as the Indian of America. The difference in this respect between the Aborigines of the Western world, and the inhabitants of more civilized regions, is purely accidental. Reared within the pale of a civilized community, and surrounded with innumerable objects adapted to awaken thought, stimulate curiosity, and call his mental and bodily powers into exertion, the European feels a variety of wants, and is subject to a variety of influences to which the savage is a stranger. Experience gives him foresight and wisdom, and induces him to act with a view to remote advantage, as well as to present gratification. The numerous casualties and reverses of fortune which happen to individuals in civilised society, teach him to be provident for the future. The simple necessities of nature, as well as the more numerous class of wants which follow in the train of civilization, stimulate him to engage in long courses of action by which his mental faculties are enlarged, his bodily strength disciplined, and his power of persevering increased. But with the Indian of America the case is in many respects reversed. His food and drink are in most cases obtained with little trouble, and his natural wants, which are few, are easily satisfied. The flesh of the wild animals he ensnares or kills in the chase, the roots of native plants and vegetables, and a small proportion of maize or Indian corn, along with fruits and other things obtained with as little art, serve him for food; the skins of beasts for clothing; and a week-wam, constructed with a small amount of skill and labour, affords him shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Surrounded with abundance of hunting territory, wherein the (to him) staple commodities of life are plentiful, he is satisfied, and lives in a state of comparative independence. Believing that his own lot is the happiest, and accustomed to roam the forest from his infancy, he feels not the force of those powerful motives which affect the bosoms of other men. The love of gain is in his case modified by the extent of his information respecting it; and as the commodities, which to him are articles of wealth, are easily procured, he consequently becomes indolent when surrounded by abundance.
We do not attempt to insinuate that the North American Indian is equal to the European in address, wisdom, or even physical ability, at the present time. We only contend that the lack of physical energy, which some authors say the Aborigines of America exhibit, proceeds not from any constitutional defect peculiar to them as a race, but from accidental causes over which they have but little control. Let these causes be removed—let the Indians be subjected to a different mode of treatment—let them be placed under those influences which affect the inhabitants of civilized communities, and we have reason to opine that they would exhibit a character as vigorous as that of Europeans.
The following general description of the physiological part of Indian character we quote from a modern writer:—“the natives of this part of the world are in general of a robust frame, and a well proportioned figure. Their complexion is of bronze, or reddish copper hue—rusty coloured, as it were, and not unlike cinnamon. Their hair is black, long, coarse, and shining, but not thickly set on the head. Their beard is thin and grows in tufts. Their forehead is low, and their eyes are lengthened out, with the outer angles turned up towards the temples; the eyebrows high, the cheekbone prominent; the nose a little flattened but well marked; the lips extended, and the teeth closely set and pointed. In their mouth there is an expression of sweetness, which forms a contrast with the harsh character of their countenance. Their head is of a square shape, and their face is broad, without being flat, and tapers towards the chin. Their features viewed in profile, are prominent and deeply sculptured. They have a high chest, massy thighs, and arched legs: their feet are generally large, though some have been noticed to have small feet and hands; and their whole body is squat and thick-set. Though the shape of the forehead and of the vertex frequently depends on artificial means, yet independently of the custom which prevails among them of disfiguring the heads of infants, there is no other people in the world in whom the frontal bone is so much flattened above; and generally speaking, the skull is light. Such are said to be the general characteristics of all the natives of America, with the exception, perhaps, of those who occupy the two extremities. The Northern Esquimaux, for instance, are below the middle stature; the Abipones, it is said, and still more the Patagonians, exceed the ordinary height. This muscular constitution, with a tall figure, is in some degree met with among the natives of Chili, as well as the Caribbeans, on the banks of the Caroni, a tributary of the Orinoco, and amongst the Arkansas, who are esteemed the handsomest natives of this continent.
“The copper or bronze hue of the skin is, with some slight exceptions, common to all the natives of America, upon which the climate, the situation, or the mode of living appear not to exercise the slightest influence. Some of the tribes in Guiana are described as nearly black, though easily distinguished from the negro. The colour of the natives of Brazil and of California is deep, although the latter inhabit the temperate zone, and the former live near the tropic. The natives of New Spain are darker than the Indians of Quito and New Granada, who inhabit a precisely analogous climate. The nations dispersed to the North of the Rio Gola are darker than those that border on the kingdom of Guatemala. The Indians who, in the torrid zone, inhabit the most elevated table land of the Cordilleras of the Andes, have a complexion as much copper coloured as those who cultivate the Banana under a burning sun in the narrowest and deepest valleys of the equinoctial regions. The Indians who inhabit the mountains are clothed, and were so long before the conquest; while the Aborigines that wander on the plains of South America, are perfectly or nearly naked, and consequently are always exposed to the sun. These facts show that the colour of the American depends very little on the local situation which he actually occupies; and never, in the same individual, are those parts of the body that are constantly covered, of a fairer colour than those in contact with the air; the infants, moreover, are never white when they are born.
“It was formerly supposed that the Americans were without beards, and certainly there are many among them who have neither beard nor hair on any part of their person except the head. But the Indians who inhabit the torrid zone and South America, have generally a small beard which becomes longer by shaving; and among the Patagonians there are many who have beards. A late traveller (Temple) asserts that the Chiriguano Indians of the province of Tarija are beardless, without stating any opinion as to this being natural or the effect of plucking out the hair. Almost all the Indians near Mexico, and some on the North West coast, wear moustachios. An inference has been drawn that the Indians have a larger quantity of beard in proportion to their distance from the equator. The deficiency of beard does not exclusively belong to the Americans, nor is it by any means a certain sign of degeneracy; for some beardless races, such as the negroes of Congo, are very robust and of colossal size.”[3]
Another description of Indian character we borrow from Adair’s “History of the Aborigines of North America.” We quote it with great pleasure, as fully bearing out our own argument with respect to the physical capacity of the North American Indians, and as being the testimony of a man who resided long among them.
“As the American Indians,” he observes, “are of a reddish or copper colour, so, in general, they are strong, well proportioned in body and limbs, surprisingly active and nimble, and hardy in their own way of living.
“They are ingenious, witty, cunning and deceitful; very faithful indeed to their own tribes, but privately dishonourable and mischievous to the Europeans and Christians. Their being honest and harmless to each other, may be through fear of resentment and reprisal, which is unavoidable in case of any injury. They are very close and retentive of their secrets; never forget injuries; and are revengeful of blood to a degree of distraction. They are timorous and consequently cautious; very jealous of encroachments from their Christian neighbours; and likewise content with freedom in every turn of fortune. They are possessed of a strong comprehensive judgement, can form surprisingly crafty schemes, and conduct them with equal caution, silence, and address; they admit none but distinguished warriors and old beloved men, into their councils. They are slow, but very persevering, in their undertakings; commonly temperate in their eating, but excessively immoderate in drinking. They often transform themselves by liquor, into the likeness of mad foaming bears. The women, in general, are of a mild, amiable, and soft disposition; exceedingly modest in their behaviour, and very seldom noisy in the single or married state.
“The men are expert in the use of fire arms—in shooting the bow and throwing the feathered dart into the flying enemy. They resemble the lynx with their sharp penetrating black eye, and are exceedingly swift of foot, especially in a long chase. They will stretch away through the rough woods, by the bare track, for two or three hundred miles, in pursuit of a flying enemy, with the continued speed and eagerness of a staunch pack of bloodhounds, till they shed blood. When they have allayed this burning thirst, they return home at their leisure, unless they chance to be pursued, as is sometimes the case; whence the traders say, ‘that an Indian is never in a hurry, but when the Devil is at his heels.’