Part 17
But though the Indians, in general, appear so reserved in the presence of strangers, yet the firmness of their dispositions forbids them from ever appearing embarrassed, and they would sit down to table in a palace, before the first crowned head on the face of the earth, with as much unconcern as they would sit down to a frugal meal in one of their own cabins. They deem it highly becoming in a warrior, to accommodate his manners to those of the people with whom he may happen to be, and as they are wonderfully observant, you will seldom perceive any thing of awkwardness or vulgarity in their behaviour in the company of strangers. I have seen an Indian, that had lived in the woods from his infancy, enter a drawing room in Philadelphia, full of ladies, with as much ease and as much gentility as if he had always lived in the city, and merely from having been told, preparatory to his entering, the form usually observed on such occasions. But the following anecdote will put this matter in a stronger point of view.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
Our friend Nekig, the Little Otter, had been invited to dine with us at the house of a gentleman at Detroit, and he came accordingly, accompanied by his son, a little boy of about nine or ten years of age. After dinner a variety of fruits were served up, and amongst the rest some peaches, a dish of which was handed to the young Indian. He helped himself to one with becoming propriety; but immediately afterwards he put the fruit to his mouth, and bit a piece out of it. The father eyed him with indignation, and spoke some words to him in a low voice, which I could not understand, but which, on being interpreted by one of the company, proved to be a warm reprimand for his having been so deficient in observation as not to peel his peach, as he saw the gentleman opposite to him had done. The little fellow was extremely ashamed of himself; but he quickly retrieved his error, by drawing a plate towards him, and pealing the fruit with the greatest neatness.
Some port wine, which he was afterwards helped to, not being by any means agreeable to his palate, the little fellow made a wry face, as a child might naturally do, after drinking it. This called forth another reprimand from the father, who told him, that he despaired of ever seeing him a great man or a good warrior if he appeared then to dislike what his host had kindly helped him to. The boy drank the rest of his wine with seeming pleasure.
The Indians scarcely ever lift their hands against their children; but if they are unmindful of what is said to them, they sometimes throw a little water in their faces, a species of reprimand of which the children have the greatest dread, and which produces an instantaneous good effect. One of the French missionaries tells us of his having seen a girl of an advanced age so vexed at having some water thrown in her face by her mother, as if she was still a child, that she instantly retired, and put an end to her existence. As long as they remain children, the young Indians are attentive in the extreme to the advice of their parents; but arrived at the age of puberty, and able to provide for themselves, they no longer have any respect for them, and they will follow their own will and pleasure in spite of all their remonstrances, unless, indeed, their parents be of an advanced age. Old age never fails to command their most profound veneration.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
No people are possessed of a greater share of natural politeness than the Indians: they will never interrupt you whilst you are speaking; nor, if you have told them any thing which they think to be false, will they bluntly contradict you; “We dare say brother,” they will answer, “that you yourself believe what you tell us to be true; but it appears to us so improbable that we cannot give our assent to it.”
In their conduct towards one another nought but gentleness and harmony is observable. You are never witness, amongst them, to such noisy broils and clamorous contentions as are common amongst the lower classes of people in Europe; nor do you perceive amongst them any traces of the coarse vulgar manners of these latter people; they behave on all occasions like gentlemen, and could not so many glaring proofs be adduced to the contrary, you never could imagine that they were that ferocious savage people in war which they are said to be. It must be understood, however, that I only speak now of the Indians in their sober state; when intoxicated with spirits, which is but too often the case, a very different picture is presented to our view, and they appear more like devils incarnate than human beings; they roar, they fight, they cut each other, and commit every sort of outrage; indeed so sensible are they of their own infirmities in this state, that when a number of them are about to get drunk, they give up their knives and tomahawks, &c. to one of the party, who is on honour to remain sober, and to prevent mischief, and who generally does behave according to this promise. If they happen to get drunk without having taken this precaution, their squaws take the earliest opportunity to deprive them of their weapons.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The Indians prefer whiskey and rum to all other spirituous liquors; but they do not seem eager to obtain these liquors so much for the pleasure of gratifying their palates as for the sake of intoxication. There is not one in a hundred that can refrain from drinking to excess if he have it in his power; and the generality of them having once got a taste of any intoxicating liquor, will use every means to gain more; and to do so they at once become mean, servile, deceitful, and depraved, in every sense of the word. Nothing can make amends to these unfortunate people for the introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them. Before their acquaintance with them, they were distinguished beyond all other nations for their temperance in eating and drinking; for their temperance in eating, indeed, they are still remarkable; they esteem it indecorous in the highest degree even to appear hungry; and on arriving at their villages, after having fasted, perhaps, for several days preceding, they will sit down quietly, and not ask for any food for a considerable time; and having got wherewith to satisfy their appetite, they will eat with moderation, as though the calls of hunger were not more pressing than if they had feasted the hour before. They never eat on any occasion in a hurry.
The Indians are by nature of a very hospitable generous disposition, where no particular circumstances operate to the contrary; and, indeed, even when revenge would fain persuade them to behave differently, yet having once professed a friendship for a stranger, and pledged themselves for his safety, nothing can induce them to deviate from their word. Of their generosity I had numberless proofs in the presents which they gave me; and though it must be allowed, that when they make presents they generally expect others in return, yet I am convinced, from the manner in which they presented different trifles to me, that it was not with an expectation of gaining more valuable presents in return that they gave them to me, but merely through friendship. It is notorious, that towards one another they are liberal in the extreme, and for ever ready to supply the deficiencies of their neighbours with any superfluities of their own. They have no idea of amassing wealth for themselves individually; and they wonder that persons can be found in any society, so destitute of every generous sentiment, as to enrich themselves at the expence of others, and to live in ease and affluence, regardless of the misery and wretchedness of members of the same community to which they themselves belong. Their dresses, domestic utensils, and weapons, are the only articles of property to which they lay an exclusive claim; everything else is the common property of the tribe, in promoting the general welfare in which every individual feels himself deeply interested. The chiefs are actuated by the same laudable spirit, and instead of being the richest, are, in many instances, the poorest persons in the community; for whilst others have leisure to hunt, &c. it frequently happens that the whole of their time is occupied in settling the public affairs of the nation.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The generality of the Indian nations appear to have two sorts of chiefs; council chiefs, and war chiefs. The former are hereditary, and are employed principally in the management of their civil affairs; but they may be war chiefs at the same time: the latter are chosen from amongst those who have distinguished themselves the most in battle, and are solely employed in leading the warriors in the field. The chiefs have no power of enforcing obedience to their commands, nor do they ever attempt to give their orders in an imperious manner; they simply advise. Each private individual conceives that he is born in a state of perfect liberty, and he disdains all controul, but that which his own reason subjects him to. As they all have one interest, however, at heart, which is the general welfare of the nation, and as it is well known that the chiefs are actuated by no other motives, whatever measures they recommend are generally attended to, and at once adopted. Savages as they are, yet in no civilized community, I fear, on earth, shall we find the same public spirit, the same disinterestedness, and the same regard to order, where order is not enforced by the severity of laws, as amongst the Indians.
The Indians have the most sovereign contempt for any set of people that have tamely relinquished their liberty; and they consider such as have lost it, even after a hard struggle, as unworthy any rank in society above that of old women: to this cause, and not to the difference that subsists between their persons, is to be attributed, I conceive, the rooted aversion which the Indians universally have for negroes. You could not possibly affront an Indian more readily, than by telling him that you think he bears some resemblance to a negro; or that he has negro blood in his veins: they look upon them as animals inferior to the human species, and will kill them with as much unconcern as a dog or a cat.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTES.]
An American officer, who, during the war with Great Britain, had been sent to one of the Indian nations resident on the western frontier of the States, to persuade them to remain neuter in the contest, informed me, that whilst he remained amongst them some agents arrived in their village to negociate, if possible, for the release of some negro slaves whom they had carried off from the American settlements. One of these negroes, a remarkably tall handsome fellow, had been given to an Indian woman of some consequence in the nation, in the manner in which prisoners are usually disposed of amongst them. Application was made to her for his ransom. She listened quietly to what was said; resolved at the same time, however, that the fellow should not have his liberty, she stepped aside into her cabin, and having brought out a large knife, walked up to her slave, and without more ado plunged it into his bowels: “Now,” says she, addressing herself coolly to the agents; “now I give you leave to take away your negro.” The poor creature that had been stabbed fell to the ground, and lay writhing about in the greatest agonies, until one of the warriors took compassion on him, and put an end to his misery by a blow of a tomahawk.
At Detroit, Niagara, and some other places in Upper Canada, a few negroes are still held in bondage. Two of these hapless people contrived, while we remained at Malden, to make their escape from Detroit, by stealing a boat, and proceeding in the night down the river. As the wind would not permit them to cross the lake, it was conjectured that they would be induced to coast along the shore until they reached a place of safety; in hopes, therefore, of being able to recover them, the proprietor came down to Malden, and there procured two trusty Indians to go in quest of them. The Indians, having received a description of their persons, set out; but had scarcely proceeded an hundred yards, when one of them, who could speak a few words of English, returned, to ask the proprietor if he would give him permission to scalp the negroes if they were at all refractory, or refused coming. His request was peremptorily refused, for it was well known that, had it been granted, he would have at once killed them to avoid the trouble of bringing them back. “Well,” says he, “if you will not let me scalp both, you won’t be angry with me, I hope, if I scalp one.” He was told in answer, that he must bring them both back alive. This circumstance appeared to mortify him extremely, and he was beginning to hesitate about going, when, sorry am I to say, the proprietor, fearful lest the fellows should escape from him, gave his assent to the Indian’s request, but at the same time he begged that he would not destroy them if he could possibly avoid it. What the result was I never learned; but from the apparent satisfaction with which the Indian set out after he had obtained his dreadful permission, there was every reason to imagine that one of the negroes at least would be sacrificed.
[Sidenote: JOSEPH BRANDT.]
This indifference in the mind of the Indians about taking away the life of a fellow creature, makes them appear, it must be confessed, in a very unamiable point of view. I fear also, that in the opinion of many people, all the good qualities which they possess, would but ill atone for their revengeful disposition, and for the cruelties which, it is well known, they sometimes inflict upon the prisoners who have fallen into their power in battle. Great pains have been taken, both by the French and English missionaries, to represent to them the infamy of torturing their prisoners; nor have these pains been bestowed in vain; for though in some recent instances it has appeared that they still retain a fondness for this horrid practice, yet I will venture, from what I have heard, to assert, that of late years not one prisoner has been put to the torture, where twenty would have been a hundred years ago. Of the prisoners that fell into their hands on St. Clair’s defeat, I could not learn, although I made strict enquiries on the subject, that a single man had been fastened to the stake. As soon as the defeat was known, rewards were held out by the British officers, and others that had influence over them, to bring in their prisoners alive, and the greater part of them were delivered up unhurt; but to irradicate wholly from their breasts the spirit of revenge has been found impossible. You will be enabled to form a tolerable idea of the little good effect which education has over their minds in this respect, from the following anecdotes of Captain Joseph Brandt, a war chief of the Mohawk nation.
This Brandt, at a very early age, was sent to a college in New England, where, being possessed of a good capacity, he soon made very considerable progress in the Greek and Latin languages. Uncommon pains were taken to instil into his mind the truths of the gospel. He professed himself to be a warm admirer of the principles of christianity, and in hopes of being able to convert his nation on returning to them, he absolutely translated the gospel of St. Matthew into the Mohawk language; he also translated the established form of prayer of the church of England. Before Brandt, however, had finished his course of studies, the American war broke out, and fired with that spirit of glory which seems to have been implanted by nature in the breast of the Indian, he immediately quitted the college, repaired to his native village, and shortly afterwards, with a considerable body of his nation, joined some British troops under the command of Sir John Johnston. Here he distinguished himself by his valour in many different engagements, and was soon raised, not only to the rank of a war chief, but also to that of a captain in his Majesty’s service.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
It was not long, however, before Brandt sullied his reputation in the British army. A skirmish took place with a body of American troops; the action was warm, and Brandt was shot by a musquet-ball in the heel; but the Americans in the end were defeated, and an officer with about sixty men taken prisoners. The officer, after having delivered up his sword, had entered into conversation with Colonel Johnston, who commanded the British troops, and they were talking together in the most friendly manner, when Brandt, having stolen slily behind them, laid the American officer lifeless on the ground with a blow of his tomahawk. The indignation of Sir John Johnston, as may readily be supposed, was roused by such an act of treachery, and he resented it in the warmest language. Brandt listened to him unconcernedly, and when he had finished, told him, that he was sorry what he had done had caused his displeasure, but that indeed his heel was extremely painful at the moment, and he could not help revenging himself on the only chief of the party that he saw taken. Since he had killed the officer, his heel, he added, was much less painful to him than it had been before.
When the war broke out, the Mohawks resided on the Mohawk River, in the state of New York, but on peace being made, they emigrated into Upper Canada, and their principal village is now situated on the Grand River, which falls into Lake Erie on the north side, about sixty miles from the town of Newark or Niagara; there Brandt at present resides. He has built a comfortable habitation for himself, and any stranger that visits him may rest assured of being well received, and of finding a plentiful table well served every day. He has no less than thirty or forty negroes, who attend to his horses, cultivate his grounds, &c. These poor creatures are kept in the greatest subjection, and they dare not attempt to make their escape, for he has assured them, that if they did so he would follow them himself, though it were to the confines of Georgia, and would tomahawk them wherever he met them. They know his disposition too well not to think that he would adhere strictly to his word.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
Brandt receives from government half pay as a captain, besides annual presents, &c. which in all amount, it is said, to £.500 per annum. We had no small curiosity, as you may well imagine, to see this Brandt, and we procured letters of introduction to him from the governor’s secretary, and from different officers and gentlemen of his acquaintance, with an intention of proceeding from Newark to his village. Most unluckily, however, on the day before that of our reaching the town of Newark or Niagara, he had embarked on board a vessel for Kingston, at the opposite end of the lake. You may judge of Brandt’s consequence, when I tell you, that a lawyer of Niagara, who crossed Lake Ontario in the same vessel with us, from Kingston, where he had been detained for some time by contrary winds, informed us, the day after our arrival at Niagara, that by his not having reached that place in time to transact some law business for Brandt, and which had consequently been given to another person, he should be a loser of one hundred pounds at least.
Brandt’s sagacity led him, early in life, to discover that the Indians had been made the dupe of every foreign power that had got footing in America; and, indeed, could he have had any doubts on the subject, they would have been removed when he saw the British, after having demanded and received the assistance of the Indians in the American war, so ungenerously and unjustly yield up the whole of the Indian territories, east of the Mississippi and south of the lakes, to the people of the United States; to the very enemies, in short, they had made to themselves at the request of the British. He perceived with regret that the Indians, by espousing the quarrels of the whites, and by espousing different interests, were weakening themselves; whereas, if they remained aloof, and were guided by the one policy, they would soon become formidable, and be treated with more respect; he formed the bold scheme, therefore, of uniting the Indians together in one grand confederacy, and for this purpose sent messengers to different chiefs, proposing that a general meeting should be held of the heads of every tribe, to take the subject into consideration; but certain of the tribes, suspicious of Brandt’s designs, and fearful that he was bent upon acquiring power for himself by this measure, opposed it with all their might. Brandt has in consequence become extremely obnoxious to many of the most warlike, and with such a jealous eye do they now regard him, that it would not be perfectly safe for him to venture to the upper country.
He has managed the affairs of his own people with great ability, and leased out their superfluous lands for them, for long terms of years, by which measure a certain annual revenue is ensured to the nation, probably as long as it will remain a nation. He wisely judged, that it was much better to do so than to suffer the Mohawks, as many other tribes had done, to sell their possessions by piecemeal, the sums of money they received for which, however great, would soon be dissipated if paid to them at once.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
Whenever the affairs of his nation shall permit him to do so, Brandt declares it to be his intention to sit down to the further study of the Greek language, of which he professes himself to be a great admirer, and to translate from the original, into the Mohawk language, more of the New Testament; yet this same man, shortly before we arrived at Niagara, killed his only son with his own hand. The son, it seems, was a drunken good for nothing fellow, who had often avowed his intention of destroying his father. One evening he absolutely entered the apartment of his father, and had begun to grapple with him, perhaps with a view to put his unnatural threats into execution, when Brandt drew a short sword, and felled him to the ground. Brandt speaks of this affair with regret, but at the same time without any of that emotion which another person than an Indian might be supposed to feel. He consoles himself for the act, by thinking that he has benefitted the nation, by ridding them of a rascal.
Brandt wears his hair in the Indian style, and also the Indian dress; instead of the wrapper, or blanket, he wears a short coat, such as I have described, similar to a hunting frock.
Though infinite pains have been taken by the French Roman Catholics, and other missionaries, to propagate the gospel amongst the Indians, and though many different tribes have been induced thereby to submit to baptism, yet it does not appear, except in very few instances, that any material advantages have resulted from the introduction of the Christian religion amongst them. They have learned to repeat certain forms of prayer; they have learned to attend to certain outward ceremonies; but they still continue to be swayed by the same violent passions as before, and have imbibed nothing of the genuine spirit of christianity.
[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES.]