_place of rocks_.
NYAC.–This appears to be the name of a band of Indians who lived there. The termination in _ac_, is generally from _acke_, land.
CROTON.–Historically, this is known to have been the name of a noted Indian chief, who resided near the mouth of the river. The word appears to be derived from _noetin_, a wind. If we admit the interchange of sounds of _n_ for _r_, as being made, and the ordinary change of _t_ for _d_, between the Holland and Indian races, this derivation is probable. The letter c seems to be the sign of a pronoun.
TAPPAN SEA.–It is perceived from Vanderdonk, and from old maps and records, that a band of Indians lived here, who were called the “_Tappansees_.”
POUGHKEEPSIE is a derivative of _Au-po-keep-sing, i.e._, Place of shelter. The entrance of the Fall Kill into the Hudson is the feature meant.
COXACKIE, is evidently made up in the original from _kuk_, to cut, and _aukie_, earth, which was, probably, in old days, as it is in fact yet, a graphic description of a ridge cut and tumbled in by the waters of the Hudson pressing hard on that shore.
CLAVERACK is not Indian. _Clove_, in the Hollandais, is an opening or side-gorge in the valley. _Rack_, is a reach or bend in the river, the whole length of which was known, as we see, to the old skippers as separate _racks_. The _reach of cloves_ began at what is now the city of Hudson, the old Claverack landing.
TAWASENTHA.–Normanskill is the first Iroquois name noticed. It means the hill of the dead. Albany itself has taken the name of a Scottish dukedom for its ancient Iroquois cognomen, Ske-nek-ta-dea: of this compound term, _Ske_ is a propositional particle, and means beyond; _nek_ is the Mohawk name for a pine; and the term _ta-dea_ is descriptive of a valley.
_18th_. Reached Detroit in the steamer “Gen. Wayne,” and assumed the duties of my new appointment. One of the earliest Washington papers I opened, gave an account of the death of Mr. William Ward, a most valuable clerk in the Indian Bureau; a man of a fine literary taste, who formerly edited and established the _North-west Journal_, at the City of Detroit.
_19th_. A singular denouement is made this morning, which appeals strongly to my feelings. On getting in the stage at Vernon, in Western New York, a gentleman of easy manners, good figure, and polite address, whom we will call Theodoric, kindly made way for me and my family, which led us to notice him, and we traveled together quite to Detroit, and put up at the same hotel. This morning a note from him reveals him to be a young Virginian, seeking his fortune west, and out of funds, and makes precisely such an appeal as it is hard, and wrong in fact, to resist. I told Theodoric to take his trunk and go, by the next steamer, to my house at Mackinack, and I should be up in a short time, and furnish him employment in the Indian department.
_25th_. Rev. Mr. Lukenbach, of the Moravian towns, Canada, writes, that the proportional annuity of the Christian Indians, for 1838, is unpaid. He says they were paid 33/100ths, in 1837, being one-third of the original annuity. He states that Mr. Vogler and Mr. Mickeh arrived on the Kanzas with upwards of seventy souls, having left nearly one hundred at Green Bay, who are to follow them; and that these two men have commenced a new mission among the Delawares. Mr. L. says that there are but about one hundred and twenty souls left, who propose to remain in Canada with him.
_30th_. Ke-bic! An exclamation of the Algonquins in passing dangerous rocky shores in their canoes, when the current is strong. Query. Is not this the origin of the name Quebec?
_May 2d_. Major Garland, my predecessor in the disbursements, writes from Washington: “You have a heavy task on your hands for this season; and, in addition to the hands of Briareus, you will need the eyes of Argus.”
_3d_. I made the payments to the Saginaw chiefs in specie, under the treaty of the 14th of January, 1837.
_10th_. Mr. F.W. Shearman, the able and ingenious editor of the _Journal of Education_, writes from Marshall, that it receives an increased circulation and excites a deeper interest in the people, with his plans for further improvements.
_16th_. Letters from Mackinack informs me that the Ottawas design leaving their location in the United States for the Manitouline Islands, in Canada, where inducements are held out to them by agents of the British government. They fear going west: they cling to the north.
_20th_. The Harpers, publishers at New York, send me copies of the first issue of my _Algic Researches_, in two vols., 12mo. They intend to _publish_ the work on the 1st proximo.
_23d_. Letters from Washington speak of the treasury as being low in specie funds.
_24th_. Sales of the lands of the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas, are made at the Land Office in Detroit, in conformity with the treaty of May 9th, 1836. The _three_ years that have elapsed in this operation, have brought the prices of lands from the summer heat to the zero of prices.
_27th. Na_, in the Algonquin language, means excellent or transcendent, and _wa_, motion. Thus the names of two chiefs who visited me to day on business, are _Na-geezhig_, excellent or transcendent day, and _Ke-wa-geezhig_, or returning cloud. Whether the word _geezhig_ shall be rendered day, or cloud, or sky, depends on the nature of its prefix. To move back is _ke-wa_, and hence the prefixed term to the latter name.
_June 4th_. Received from Col. De Garme Jones, Mayor of Detroit, sundry manuscript documents relative to the administration of Indian affairs of Gov. Hull, of the dates of 1807, ‘8 and ‘9.
Mr. Johnstone, of Aloor, near Edinburgh, Scotland, brings me a note of introduction from Gen. James Talmadge, of New York. Mr. J. is a highly respected man at home, and is traveling in America to gratify a laudable curiosity.
_7th_. Reached Mackinack, on board the steamer Great Western, Capt. Walker.
_10th_. _The Albany Evening Journal_ has a short editorial under the head of _Algic Researches_: “Such is the title of a work from our countryman Schoolcraft, which the Harpers have just published, in two volumes. It consists of Tales and Legends, which the Author has gleaned in the course of his long and familiar intercourse with the children of the Forest, illustrating the mental powers and characteristics of the North American Indians.
“Mr. Schoolcraft has traveled far into the western wilds. He has lived much with the Indians, and has studied their character thoroughly. He is withal a scholar and a gentleman, whose name is a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of all he writes.”
_11th_. I set out to complete the appraisement of the Indian improvements on the north shore of Lake Huron, under the 8th article of the treaty of March 28th, 1836.
_12th_. Paid the Indians of L’Arbre Croche villages at Little Traverse Bay, the amount of the appraisement of their _public_ improvements, made under the treaty of 1836.
_13th_. Proceed to Grand Traverse Bay, to view the location of a mission by Messrs. Dougherty and Fleming. Found it located on the sands, near the bottom of the bay, where a vessel could not unload, at a point so utterly destitute of advantages that it would not have been possible to select a worse site in the compass of the whole bay, which is large, and abounds in ship harbors. Condemned the site forthwith, and the same day removed the site of operations to Kosa’s village, on a bay near the end of the peninsula. I afterwards encamped on the open lake shore, behind a sand drift, to avoid the force of the wind, and, as soon as the waters of the lake lulled, made the traverse to the Beaver Islands, to appraise the value of the Indian improvements at that place, and, having done this, put across to the main shore north, for the same purpose. In this trip Mr. Turner accompanied me to keep the lists, and Dr. Douglass to vaccine the Indians, the latter of whom reported 214 persons as having submitted to receive the virus.
The Albany papers continue to publish notices of _Algic Researches_. The _Argus_ of the 13th June, says: “Mr. H.R. Schoolcraft has added another to his claims upon the consideration of the reading public, by a recent work (from the press of the Messrs. Harper), entitled ‘_Algic Researches_, comprising inquiries respecting the mental characteristics of the North American Indians.’ It is the first of a series, which the author promises to continue at a future day, illustrative of the mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character of the aborigines. These volumes comprise their oral tales, with preliminary observations and a general introduction. The term _Algic_, is introduced by the author, in a generic sense, for all the tribes, with few exceptions, that were found in 1600 spread out between the Atlantic and the Mississippi.
“To those who care to look into the philosophy of the Indian character, these oral fictions will be read with interest. They are curious in themselves, and not less so as a material step in the researches that may serve, in the sequel, to unveil the origin, as well as the intellectual traits, of these tribes. They will at least establish the fact of ‘an oral imaginative lore’ among the aborigines of this continent, of which they give us faithful specimens.
“Probably no man in this country is better qualified to pursue these researches than Mr. Schoolcraft. A long residence in the Indian country, and official intercourse with the tribes, have given him an access to the Indian mind which few have enjoyed, and which none have improved to a greater extent by habits of observation and philosophical investigation. A residence at Mackinaw is of itself calculated to beget, as it is to gratify, a taste for the prosecution of these inquiries. It is described by Miss Martineau as ‘the wildest and tenderest piece of beauty that she had yet seen on God’s earth.’ It is indeed a spot of rare attractiveness. Standing upon the promontory, in the rear of the fort and town, the view embraces to the north the head waters of the Huron and the far-off isles of St. Martin, to the west Green Isle and the straits of Mackinaw, and to the east and south Bois Blanc and the Great Lake. It is a delightful summer retreat, and many are the legends and reminiscences of the scenes of enjoyment passed here in absolute, and we are assured happy, exclusion from the outward world, during the winter months. It has been regarded, at no distant day, as important not only as the rendezvous of the Fur Companies’ agents and employers and the Indian traders, but as a government military post. It is still a great resort of the northern Indians. Often their lodges and their bark canoes, of beautiful construction, line the pebbly shore; and the aboriginal habits and mental characteristics may be studied on the spot.
“It is to be hoped that Mr. S. will resume the course of inquiry and research that he has marked out for himself; and that he will be induced to give to the public the results of his long and intimate familiarity with the Indian life and character.”
_17th_. The _Detroit Daily Advertiser_, of this day, has the following critical notice on the work of _Algic Researches_, under the head of _Indian Tales and Legends_.
“This work has just been offered for sale at our book-stores, and we strongly recommend it to all those who feel an interest in the character of our aborigines. It is well known to many of us here, that Mr. Schoolcraft has, for the last several years, been industriously engaged in collecting facts which illustrate the ‘mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character’ of the Indians. His researches have embraced ‘their oral tales, fictitious and historical; their hieroglyphics, music, and poetry; and the grammatical structure of their languages, the principles of their construction, and the actual state of their vocabulary.’ The materials he has now on hand afford him the means of fulfilling this extensive plan, and this ‘first series’ is only a leading publication.
“When the position which Mr. S. has occupied for the last seventeen or more years is recollected, as well as his fitness and exertions to improve all its advantages, we shall at once see the benefit to the literary and scientific world which his researches in these various departments are likely to produce. The subjects which have engaged his attention are regarded with deep interest by the philanthropist, the philologist, the archaeologist, as well as many other liberal inquirers, both in Europe and America, who, amid the scanty facts, cursory observations, and hurried, random conjectures of those who have been favored with a comparatively near view of them, have lamented the want of such deliberate investigations and comparative examinations, continued with sober judgment through a long series of years, as are now offered to the public. We trust that a proper and enlightened patronage will warrant Mr. Schoolcraft in completing his design. No man, possessing his qualifications, has enjoyed his advantages. He has been able to take up, at his leisure, the scattered links of a broken chain, and fit them together. A chaos of aboriginal facts will be reduced, under his hand, to some degree of order.
“Mr. Schoolcraft and Mr. Catlin have done more to preserve the fleeting traits of aboriginal character and history than all their predecessors in this field of inquiry, and none can follow them with the same success, as none can have the same range of subjects before them. The scene is changing with each year, and the past, with respect to the Savages, does not recur. They fall back with no hope to recover lost ground; they diminish with no hope to increase again; they degenerate with no hope to revive in physical or moral strength. Those who have seen them most during the last few years, have seen them best. After observers will find mere fragments, or a heterogeneous mass, in which all original identity is distorted or gone.
“The Tales now published must not be estimated for their intrinsic merit alone. They may have less variety of construction, less beauty of imagination, less singularity of incident, than belong to oriental tales, the productions of more refined times, or more excitable people. But the estimate must not be comparative. They are to be regarded as the type of aboriginal mind, as the measure of intellectual power of our Sons of the Forest; as speaking their sentiments, their hopes and their fears, whatever they were or are, whether elevated or depressed, whether raising the race or sinking it in the scale of untutored nations. Whether they prove a poverty of mental energy, a feebleness of imagination, a want of invention, or the reverse, cannot affect the value of these volumes in the opinion of those who look into them for evidences of the true character of the Indians. Mr. Schoolcraft, or any other gentleman of taste and skill, might have formed out of these materials a series of Tales, highly finished in their unity and design, strikingly colored by fancy, such as would have caught the popular whim. But this was not his object. He has been honest in his renderings of the aboriginal sense, whether pointed or mystical, of the Indian’s mythology, whether intelligible or obscure; of their shadowy glimpses of the past and the future; of the beginning and end of things, without alteration or embellishment. Such a work was wanted, and such a work was expected from Mr. Schoolcraft.
“If we have room, we will quote one or two of the shorter tales, such as ‘Mon-daw-min, or the origin of Indian corn,’ and the ‘Celestial Sisters,’ both of which are very characteristic, and show, under the garb of much figurative beauty, how Indians appreciate the blessings of a kind Providence, and, how his domestic affections may glow and endure. Indeed, there are few of these tales that would not give interest to our columns, and we shall be pleased to give our readers an occasional taste, provided we thereby induce them to supply themselves with the full feast in their power.”
_20th_. It is stated that the oldest town in the United States is St. Augustine, Florida, by more than forty years. It was founded forty years before Virginia was colonized. Some of the houses are yet standing which are said to have been built more than three centuries ago, that is to say, about 1540. De Soto landed in Florida in 1539. Narvaez, in his unfortunate expedition, landed in 1537. Both these expeditions were confined to the exploration of the country west and north of the Bay of Espiritu Santo, reaching to the Mississippi. De Soto crossed the latter into the southeastern corner of the present State of Missouri, and into the area of Arkansas, where he died.
_21st_. _The Detroit Free Press_, of this day, has the following remarks:–
“Much interest is manifested in this work of Mr. Schoolcraft, as a timely rescue from oblivion of an important portion of the great world of mind–important inasmuch as it is a manifestation of two principles of human nature prominent in an interesting variety of the human race, the sense of the marvelous and the sense of the beautiful, or the developments of wonder and ideality. The character of a people cannot be fully understood without a reference to its tales of fiction and its poetry. Poetry is the offspring of the beautiful and the wonderful, and much of it the reader will find embodied in the Indian tales to which the author of the _Algic Researches_ has given an enduring record.
“Much of this work strongly reminds the reader of the Grecian Mythology and the _Arabian Nights Entertainments_.
“According to one of the Odjibwa tales, the morning star was once a beautiful damsel that longed to go to ‘the place of the breaking of daylight.” By the following poetic invocation of her brother, she was raised upon the winds, blowing from ‘the four corners of the earth,’ to the heaven of her hopes:–
Blow winds, blow! my sister lingers From her dwelling in the sky,
Where _the morn with rosy fingers_, Shall her cheeks with vermil dye.
There, my earliest views directed, Shall from her their color take,
And her smiles, through clouds reflected, Guide me on, by wood and lake.
“The work abounds with similar beautiful thoughts and inventions.
“Catlin may be called the red man’s painter; Schoolcraft his poetical historian. They have each painted in living colors the workings of the Indian mind, and painted nature in her unadorned simplicity. They have done much which, without them, would, perhaps, have remained undone, and become extinct with the Indian race. As monuments of history for future ages, their works are not sufficiently appreciated.
“The author of these volumes has stamped upon his page much of the intellectual existence of the simple children of the forest, and bequeathed us a detail map of their _terra incognita_–their fireside amusements in legendary lore.”
I am willing to notice this and some other criticisms of this work as popular expressions of opinion on the subject. But it is difficult for an editor to judge, from the mere face of the volumes, what an amount of auxiliary labor it has required to collect these legends from the Indian wigwams. They had to be gleaned and translated from time to time. Seventeen years have passed since I first began them–not that anything like this time, or the half of it, has been devoted to it. It was one of my amusements in the long winter evenings–the only time of the year when Indians will tell stories and legends. They required pruning and dressing, like wild vines in a garden. But they are, exclusively (with the exception of the allegory of the vine and oak), wild vines, and not pumpings up of my own fancy. The attempts to lop off excrescences are not, perhaps, always happy. There might, perhaps, have been a fuller adherence to the original language and expressions; but if so, what a world of verbiage must have been retained. The Indians are prolix, and attach value to many minutiae in the relation which not only does not help forward the denouement, but is tedious and witless to the last degree. The gems of the legends–the essential points–the invention and thought-work are all preserved.
Their chief value I have ever thought to consist in the insight they give into the dark cave of the Indian mind–its beliefs, dogmas, and opinions–its secret modes of turning over thought–its real philosophy; and it is for this trait that I believe posterity will sustain the book.
A literary friend, of good judgment, of Detroit, writes (19th): “Your tales have reached me, and I have read them over with a deep interest, arising from a double source–the intrinsic value of such stories and the insight they give of Indian intellect and modes of thought. They form a truly important acquisition to our literary treasures, as they throw a light oft the Indian character which has been imparted from no other quarter. They form a standard by which to determine what is true and what is false in the representations made heretofore of the aboriginal nations on most prominent subjects. No one will doubt that you render the genuine Indian mind and heart. Those who conform to these renderings will pass muster; the rest will be rejected. Let Mr. Cooper and others be thus measured.”
_24th_. Muk-kud-da Ka-niew (or the Black War Eagle), chief of the coasts of Arenac, brought me an antique pipe of peculiar construction, disinterred at Thunder Bay. It was found about six feet underground; and was disclosed by the blowing down of a large pine, which tore up a quantity of earth by its roots. The tree was two fathoms round, and would make a large canoe. With the pipe were found two earthen vases, which broke on taking them up. In these vases were some small bones of the pickerel’s spine. He saw also the leg bones of an Indian, but the upper part of the skeleton appeared to be decomposed, and was not visible. He thinks the tree must have grown up on an old grave. The pipe consisted of a squared and ornamented bowl, with a curved and tapering handle, all made solid from a sort of coarse _terra cotta_. He says it was used by taking the small end in the mouth, and thinks such was the practice of the ancient Indians, although the mode is now so different by their descendants. The chief ornament consists of eight dots on each face, separated by longitudinal strokes, leaving four in a compartment. If the tree was four feet diameter, as he states, it denotes an ancient occupation of the shores of Lake Huron, which was probably of the old era of the mining for copper in Lake Superior.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
American antiquities–Michilimackinack a summer resort–Death of Ogimau Keegido–Brothertons–An Indian election–Cherokee murders–Board of Regents of the Michigan University–Archaeological facts and rumors–Woman of the Green Valley–A new variety of fish–Visits of the Austrian and Sardinian Ministers to the U.S.–Mr. Gallup–Sioux murders–A remarkable display of aurora borealis–Ottawas of Maumee–Extent of auroral phenomena–Potawattomie cruelty–Mineralogy–Death of Ondiaka–Chippewa tradition–Fruit trees–Stone’s preparation of the Life and Times of Sir William Johnson–Dialectic difference between the language of the Ottawas and the Chippewas–Philological remarks on the Indian languages–Mr. T. Hulbert.
1839. _June 25th_. ALEX V.V. BRADFORD, Esq., of New York, being about to publish a work on American antiquities,[93] solicits permission to use some of my engravings. I am glad to see an increasing interest in our archaeology, and hope to live to see the day when the popular tastes will permit books to be published on the subject.
[Footnote 93: This work was published, I think, in 1841.]
_26th_. Mrs. Morris brings a letter from Hon. A.E. Wing, of Monroe. She contemplates spending the summer on the island on account of impaired health. The pure air and fine summer climate of Mackinack begin to be appreciated within a year or two by valetudinarians. It is a perfect Montpelier to them. The inhaling of its pure and dry atmosphere in midsummer is found to act very favorably on the digestive organs. No process of _health-making gymnastics_ is prescribed by physicians. They merely direct persons to walk about and enjoy the sights and scenes about them, to saunter along its winding paths, or go fishing or gunning. Its woods are delightful, and its cliffs command the sublimest views. One would think that if the muses are ever routed from the bare hills of Olympus and the springs of Helicon, they would take shelter in the glens of Michilimackinack, where the Indian _pukwees_, or _fairies_, danced of old. I received intelligence of the death of Ogimau Keegido (Speaker Chief), the head sachem of the Saginaws. He had indulged some time in drinking, and, after getting out of this debauch, was confined by sickness three days. Death came to his relief. Some years ago this man met with an accident by the discharge of a gun, by which his liver protruded; he took his knife and cut off a small piece, which he ate as a panacea. He was a man of strong passions and ungoverned will. He visited Washington in 1836, and, with other chiefs, sold the Saginaw reservations.
The party of Saginaws who brought me the above information had among them twenty-two orphan children, whose parents had died of small-pox. They were on their way to the Manitoulines.
_28th_. Mud-je-ke-wis, a minor chief of Grand Traverse Bay, surrenders a belt of blue and white wampum, and a gilt gorget, which he had received from some officer of the British Indian Department in Canada, saying he renounces allegiance to that government, and reports himself, from this day, as an American.
_29th_. Chingossamo (Big Sail), of Cheboigan, having migrated to the Manitouline Islands with thirteen families, about seventy-nine souls, an election was this day held, at this office, by the Indians, to supply the place of ruling chief. Sticks, of two colors, were prepared as ballots for the two candidates. Of these, Keeshowa received two-thirds, and was declared duly elected. I granted a certificate of this election. The present population is reduced to forty-four souls, who live in thirteen families. This band are Chippewas.
Gen. Scott arrives at this post, on a general tour of inspection of the northern posts, and proceeds the same day to Sault St. Marie, accompanied by Maj. Whiting.
_July 2d_. The _Wisconsin Democrat_, of this date, contains an interesting sketch of the history of the Brotherton Indians, which is represented to be “composed of the descendants of the six following named tribes of Indians, viz., the Naragansetts, of Rhode Island; the Stoningtons, or Pequoits, of Groton, Connecticut; the Montauks, of Long Island; the Mohegans, Nianticks, and Farmington Indians, also of Connecticut. Several years before the American Revolution, a single Indian of the Montauk tribe left his nation and traveled into the State of New York. He had no fixed purpose in view more than (as he expressed it) to see the world. During his absence, however, he fortunately paid a visit to the Oneidas, then a very large and powerful tribe of Indians residing in the State of New York. With them he concluded to rest a short time. They, discovering that he possessed ‘some of the white man’s learning,’ employed him to teach a common reading and writing school among them. He remained with them longer than he at first intended. During this time the Oneida chief made many inquiries respecting his (the Montauk) tribe, and the other tribes before mentioned, and received, for answer, ‘that they had almost become extinct–that their game was fast disappearing–that their landed possessions were very small–that the pure blood of their ancestors had become mixed with both the blood of the white man and the African—that new and fatal diseases had appeared among them–that the curse of all curses, the white man’s stream of liquid fire, was inundating their very existence, and the gloomy prospect of inevitable annihilation seemed to stare them in the face–that no ‘hope with a goodly prospect fed the eye.’ The Oneida chief, actuated partly with a desire to extend the hand of brotherly affection to rescue the above tribes from the melancholy fate that seemed to await them, and partly with a desire to manifest his deep sense of the valuable services rendered to him and his nation in his having taught among them a school, gave to the schoolteacher a tract of land twelve miles square for the use and benefit of his tribe, and the other tribes mentioned.”
The treaty of the 14th of January, 1837, with the Saginaws, is confirmed by the Senate.
_3d_. The _Arkansas Little Rock Gazette_, of this date, states that the long existing feud in the Cherokee nation, which has divided its old and new settlers, has terminated in a series of frightful murders. Its language is this:–
“We briefly alluded in our last to a report from the west that John Ridge, one of the principal chiefs of the Cherokee nation, had been assassinated. More recent accounts confirm the fact, and bring news of the murder of Ridge’s father, together with Elias Boudinot and some ten or twelve men of less distinction (some accounts say thirty or forty), all belonging to Ridge’s party.
“These murders are acknowledged to have been committed by the partisans of John Boss, between whom and Ridge a difference has for a long time subsisted, growing out of the removal of the Cherokees from the old nation to the west, Ridge having uniformly been favorable to that course and Ross opposing it.”
A council was recently held to consult in relation to the laws to be adopted by the united nation in their present country, there being some essential differences between the code by which that portion of the nation recently emigrated from the east had been governed, and the laws adopted by the old settlers in the west. Each party contended for the adoption of its own code, and neither would concede to the other, and the council finally broke up without being able to come to any understanding on the subject. On his way from this council, Ridge was murdered. Ridge, although a recent emigrant, we understand agreed with the old settlers in regard to the adoption of their laws, while Ross contended for those of the old nation east.
After the murder of Ridge, General Arbuckle, the commander of the United States forces on this frontier, sent a detachment of dragoons to Ross, with a request that he would come to the garrison, who declined unless he could be allowed to bring with him some six or seven hundred of his armed partisans, and take them into the garrison with him. This, of course, could not be allowed, and so the detachment returned to the garrison, and after that the murders subsequent to that of Ridge were committed. One of them was perpetrated within the bounds of Washington County, in this State, and we hope the necessary steps will be taken by our authorities to secure and bring to trial the murderer, and thus preserve inviolate the jurisdiction of our State over her own soil. “We learn that a council was called of the whole nation, to be held yesterday, with a view of settling the existing difficulties, and we hope it may result in establishing peace among them.”
_3d_. I received a letter introducing Mr. and Mrs. Kane, of Albany. We love an agreeable surprise. I recognized in Mrs. K. the daughter of an old friend–a most lady-like, agreeable, and talented woman; and deemed my time agreeably devoted in showing my visitors the curiosities of the island.
_6th_. The business of my superintendency calls me to Detroit. Fiscal questions, the employment of special agents, the collection of treasury drafts, the payment of annuities; these are some of the constant cares, full of responsibilities, which call for incessant vigilance. I reached the city in the steamer “Gen. Wayne,” at 8 o’clock, in the morning.
_8th_. John A. Bell, and Sand Watie, Cherokee chiefs, publish in the _Arkansas Gazette_, an appeal to public justice, on the murder of the Ridges and Boudinot, which took place on the 22d of June previous.
_13th_. Rev. Mr. Duffield informs me of some geological antiquities, reported to have been recently discovered in Ohio, made in the course of the excavations on the line of the canal, between Cleaveland and Beaver.
_15th_. The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan inform me, by their secretary, of my having been placed on a committee, as chairman, to report “such amendments to the organic law of the University, as they shall deem essential, with a view to their presentation to the next legislature.”
_25th_. Being on my passage from Detroit to Mackinack, on Lake Huron, a Mr. Wetzler, of Rock River, Wisconsin, stated to me that a Mr. Davy, an English emigrant, found, in making an excavation in his land near “Oregon,” some antiquities, consisting of silver coins, for which Mr. Wetzler offered him, unsuccessfully, $50. The story looks very much like a humbug, but it was told with all seriousness by a respectable looking man.
A Mr. Ruggles, of Huron, Ohio, who was aboard of the same vessel, said, that hacks of an axe were found in buried cedars, some years ago, at a depth of about 40 feet below the surface, near the east edge of Huron County, Ohio. There are no cedars, he adds, now growing in that section of Ohio.
The _Burlington Gazette_ (Iowa) says, “that a Sac and Fox war party recently returned from the Missouri, bringing eight scalps, and a number of female prisoners, and horses. The Indians murdered were of the Omaha tribe. The party consisted of ten men, with their squaws; and, although only eight scalps were brought in, it is supposed that not a single man escaped. We are not aware that feelings of hostility have heretofore existed between these nations. The ostensible object of the Sac and Fox party was to chastise the Sioux. The expedition was headed by Pa-ma-sa, the bold and daring brave who recently inflicted a dangerous wound upon the person of Ke-o-kuk.”
_26th_. Arrived at Mackinack, in the steamer “United States,” at 4 o’clock in the morning, after an absence of about twenty days.
_27th_. Mr. John R. Kellogg says, that during the early settlement of Onondaga, N.Y., say about 1800, in cutting into a tree, in the vicinity of Skaneateles, _iron_ was struck. On searching, they cut out a rude chain, which was wound about in the wood, and appeared to have been fastened above. Query, had this been a pot trammel of some ancient explorer? Onondaga is known to have been early visited.
He also stated that three distinct hacks of an axe, of the ordinary size, were found, in cutting down an oak, at the same period, in Ontario County. Six hundred cortical layers were found _outside_ of these antique hacks, indicating that they were made in the 12th century. I record these archaeological memoranda merely for inquiry.
_29th_. Osha-wus-coda-waqua, a daughter of Wabojeeg, a celebrated war chief of the close of last century, of Lake Superior, visited the office. She states that her name is the result of a dream, by some ancient crone, who officiated at her nativity, and that it means _the Woman of the Green Valley_. She is now about 60 years of age. When about 15 or 16, she is said to have been a slender, comely lass, with large bright hazel eyes, and a graceful figure. At this age, she married a young gentleman from the north of Ireland, of good family and standing, and high connections, who made a wild adventure into this region. This is the origin of the Johnston family, in the basin of Lake Superior, and the Straits of St. Mary’s. She has had eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity, and all but the eldest are now living. Her husband, who became a noted merchant or outfitter, a man of great influence with the Indians, and high intelligence and social virtues, died in 1828, at the age of about 66 years. She is now subject to some infirmities; fleshy and heavy, and strongly inclined, I should judge, to apoplexy. Her father, Wabojeeg, died of consumption, not very old. She told me that the hieroglyphics and pictures which the Indians cut on trees, or draw on barks, or rocks, which are designed to convey _instruction_, are called KE-KEE-WIN–a word which has its plural in _un_. It is a noun inanimate. She laughs at the attempts of the American and foreign traders to speak the Indian, the rules of which they perpetually, she says, violate.
_31st_. A new species of white fish appears in the St. Mary’s this spring. It is characterized by a very small mouth, and pointed head, and a crowning back, and is a remarkably _fat_ fish. The Odjibwas call it _o-don-i-bee,_ or water-mouth. Hence the Canadian word _Tulibee_.
Wakazo, an Ottawa chief of Waganukizzie, and his band visit the office, to confer on their affairs. He persists in his former determination to form an agricultural settlement with his people, on the North Black River, Michigan shore, and says that they will go down, to open their farms, soon after the payment of the annuities.
_Aug. 1st_. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian Minister at Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister of the kingdom of Sardinia. These gentlemen both impressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and perfect freedom from all pretence. I went out with them, to show them the Arched Rock, the Sugar-loaf Rock, and other natural curiosities. At the Sugar-loaf Rock they got out of the carriage and strolled about. The baron and count at last seated themselves on the grass. The former was a tall, rather grave man, with blue eyes, well advanced in years, and a German air; the latter, three or four inches shorter of stature, with black eyes, an animated look, and many years the junior.
_4th_. My children arrived at Mackinack this evening, from their respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, on their summer vacation, and have, on examination, made good progress.
_7th_. Albert Gallup, Esq., of Albany, lands on his way to Green Bay as a U.S. commissioner to treat with the Stockbridges. This gentleman brought me official dispatches relative to his mission and the expenditures of it, and, by his ready and prompt mode of acting and speaking, led me to call to mind another class of visitors, who seem to aim by extreme formality and circumlocution to strive to hide want of capacity and narrow-mindedness. Mr. Gallup mentioned a passage of Scripture, which is generally quoted wrong–“he who reads may run”–which set me to hunting for it. The passage is “that he may run that readeth it.”–HABAKKUK ii. 2.
_10th_. Mr. Stringham, of Green Bay, reports that he had recently visited the scene of a battle or affray between the Sioux and Chippewas, on Lake St. Croix, near the mouth of the St. Croix River, Upper Mississippi. One or two Sioux, it seems, had been killed by some thoughtless young men of a party of Chippewas, about three hundred strong. This party encamped on the south shores of Lake St. Croix. They were secretly followed by the Sioux, who, watching their opportunity, fell on the camp while they were asleep, near daylight. One hundred and twenty were killed in the onset. As soon as the Chippewas discovered their position, and recovered their self-possession, they rallied, and, attacking the assailants, drove them from the field, killed twenty, and chased them to near their village. Hearing of this, the captain of the steamer, on board of which Mr. S. was, went into the lake, and they viewed the dead bodies.
_24th_. Returned to Mackinack, after a trip of eight days to Detroit. The Iowa papers give accounts of the recent shocking murders committed by the Sioux. “We learn,” says the _Burlington Patriot_, “from Governor Lucas and another gentleman, who came passengers on the ‘Ione,’ last evening, that two hundred and twenty Indians were killed in the upper country about the 1st inst. The facts, as they were related by a young gentleman who was at the treaty, are as follows: The Sioux had invited the Chippewas to meet them at St. Peter’s, for the purpose of making a treaty of everlasting friendship. The Chippewas assembled accordingly–the pipe of peace was smoked–and they parted apparently good friends. A large party of the Chippewas was encamped at the Falls of St. Anthony, and a smaller party encamped on the St. Croix, on their way home, without the least suspicion of treachery on the part of the Sioux. While they were thus peaceably encamped, they were surprised by the Sioux, who commenced their butchery. They immediately rallied, but before the battle terminated the Chippewas lost one hundred and fifty at the Falls and twenty on the St. Croix. The number of Sioux killed on the occasion amounted to about fifty. We do not much wonder at the hostility that has been exhibited by the Sauks and Foxes against the Sioux, if this latter tribe has always been as treacherous as they were on the above occasion.”
_Sept. 3d_. A remarkable and most magnificent display of the Aurora Borealis occurred in the evening. It began a quarter before eight, as I was sitting on the piazza in front of my house, which commands a view of the lake in front, and the whole southern hemisphere. From the zenith points of light flared down the southern hemisphere. The north had none. For five minutes the appearance, was most magnificent. Streaks of blue and crimson red light appeared in several parts. At ten minutes to eight, long lines began to form on the east, then west, and varying to north-west, very bright, silvery and phosphorescent. Before nine, the rays shot up from the horizon north-east, and finally north–the southern hemisphere, at the same time, losing its brilliance. This light continued in full activity of effulgence to ten, and, after my retiring from the piazza, its gleams were visible through the windows the greater part of the night, till two o’clock or later.
_11th_. A chief from St. Mary’s, called Iawba Waddik (Male Reindeer), visited the office. This man’s name affords an evidence of the manner in which a noun or adjective prefix is joined to a noun proper, namely, by the interposition of a consonant before the noun, whenever the latter _begins_, and the former _ends_, with a vowel. We cannot say, iawba-_addik_–male deer; but euphony requires that, in these cases, the letter _w_ should precede, and soften the sound of the initial _a_.
This chief was first introduced to me in 1822. His tall and lithe form, his ease of manners, and a certain mild and civilized air, made me notice him. He turned out to be the youngest son of a noted war chief, called the White Fisher–Wa-bo-jeeg. He had, however, never been on the war path, but addressed himself early to the art of hunting, in which he excelled, and furnished his family with a plentiful supply of food and clothing. He had had twelve children by one wife, giving an impressive lesson, that peaceful habits and a plentiful supply of the means of subsistence, are conducive to their usual results.
He is now about 45 years of age. The seventeen years during which I have known him, have not detracted from his erect figure, his mild and easy manners, or his docile and decidedly domestic disposition.
_12th_. The payment of the Indian annuities, which commenced on the 3d instant, was continued till the 10th, and, skipping the 11th (Sunday), finished this day. These payments were made as usual, in specie, and _per capita_–man, woman, and child faring alike. The annuities in provisions, tobacco, salt, &c., were, in conformity with custom, turned over to the chiefs of bands in bulk; and by them divided, with scrupulous care, among their people. The payments and deliveries have engaged the whole force of the department for seven or eight days, and have ended satisfactory to the Indians, who have been subsisted, meantime, on the public provisions, without trenching on their own stock.
_13th_. The Maumee Ottawas arrive at Louisville, Ky., on their way to the west. Among this band there are two chiefs, Anto-kee, the head chief, and Petonoquette, a much younger man. Anto-kee is a son of the celebrated chief Tushquaquier, who was looked upon by the Ottawas as the father of the tribe. Petanoquette is half French, son of Louisan, a distinguished chief, who was killed, when Petonoquette was a mere child, by that most barbarous and ferocious of all warriors, Kish-kau-go, who afterwards committed suicide in the Detroit jail, in which he was confined for murder. Anto-kee and Petonoquette are represented as very good men, well informed, and not much inclined to barbarity. The former is said to be a relative of the great Pontiac.
_14th_. Leave Mackinack for Detroit.
_27th_. Return from an official visit to the office at Detroit.
_30th_. A London paper of Sept. 4th notices a brilliant display of the aurora borealis and falling stars, on the same day of the extraordinary display of the same kind, witnessed on this island. The first impression in that city, was of a great fire in some distant part of the city, there being, at first, a dense red light. The difference between the two places is about 25 deg. of latitude. Its commencement was about half, or three quarters of an hour later. The editor says:–
“Between the hours of ten last night and three this morning in the heavens were observed one of the most magnificent specimens of that extraordinary phenomena–the falling stars and northern lights–ever witnessed for many years past. The first indication of this singular phenomenon was about ten minutes before ten, when a light crimson, apparently vapor, rose from the northern portion of the hemisphere, and gradually extended to the centre of the heavens, and by ten o’clock, or a quarter past, the whole, from east to west, was in one vast sheet of light. It had a most alarming appearance, and was exactly like that occasioned by a terrific fire. The light varied considerably; at one time it seemed to fall, and directly after rose with intense brightness. There were to be seen mingled with it volumes of smoke, which rolled over and over, and every beholder seemed convinced that it was ‘a tremendous conflagration.’ The consternation in the metropolis was very great; thousands of persons were running in the direction of the supposed catastrophe. The engines belonging to the fire brigade stations in Baker Street, Farringdon Street, Wattling Street, Waterloo Road, and likewise those belonging to the West of England station; in fact, every fire-engine in London was horsed, and galloped after the supposed ‘scene of destruction’ with more than ordinary energy, followed by carriages, horsemen, and vast mobs. Some of the engines proceeded as far as Highgate and Holloway before the error was discovered.
“These appearances lasted for upwards of two hours, and towards morning the spectacle became one of more grandeur. At two o’clock this morning, the phenomenon presented a most gorgeous scene, and one very difficult to describe. The whole of London was illuminated as light as noonday, and the atmosphere was remarkably clear. The southern hemisphere, at the time mentioned, although unclouded, was very dark, but the stars, which were innumerable, shone beautifully. The opposite side of the heavens presented a singular but magnificent contrast; it was clear to the extreme, and the light was very vivid; there was a continual succession of meteors, which varied in splendor. They apparently formed in the centre of the heavens, and spread till they seemed to burst; the effect was electrical; myriads of small stars shot out over the horizon, and darted with that swiftness towards the earth that the eye scarcely could follow the track; they seemed to burst also and throw a dark crimson over the entire hemisphere. The colors were the most magnificent that ever were seen. At half-past two o’clock the spectacle changed to darkness, which, on dispersing, displayed a luminous rainbow in the zenith of the heavens and round the ridge of darkness that overhung the southern portion of the country. Soon afterwards, columns of silvery light radiated from it; they increased wonderfully, intermingled amongst crimson vapor, which formed at the same time; and, when at the full height, the spectacle was beyond all imagination. Stars were darting about in all directions, and continued until four o’clock, and all died away. During the time that they lasted, a great many persons assembled on the bridges across the river Thames, where they had a commanding view of the heavens, and watched the progress of the phenomenon attentively.”
_Oct. 2d_. Mr. J.H. Kinzie, of Chicago, mentioned to me, in a former interview, a striking trait of the barbarity of the Potawattomies in the treatment of their women. Two female slaves, or wives of Wabunsee, had a quarrel. One of them went, in her excited state of feeling, to the chief, and told him that the other had ill-treated his children. He ordered the accused to come before him. He told her to lie down on her back on the ground. He then directed the other (her accuser) to take a tomahawk and dispatch her. She split open her skull, and killed her immediately. He left her unburied, but was afterwards persuaded to direct the murderess to bury her. She dug a grave so shallow, that the Wolves dug out the body that night and partly devoured it.
_3d_. James L. Schoolcraft brought me some mineralogical and geological specimens from _Isle Cariboo_–the land of golden dreams and fogs in Lake Superior. The island has a basis of chocolate-colored sandstone.
_5th_. The _Oneida Whig_ mentions the death, on the 20th ultimo, near Oneida Castle, New York, of Ondayaka, head chief of the Onondagas, aged about ninety-six. At the time of his death, Ondayaka, and the subordinate chiefs and principal men of his nation, were on their way to join in the ceremonies of electing a head chief of the Oneidas. Within a few miles of the council house of the latter tribe, Ondayaka placed himself at the head of the deputation of the Onondagas, and commenced the performance of the ceremonies observed on such occasions, when he was suddenly seized with the bilious colic. Calling the next chief in authority to fill his station, he withdrew to the road side, when he soon after expressed a consciousness that “it was the will of the _Great Spirit_ that he should live no longer upon the earth.” He then sent for his people, and took leave of them, after counseling them to cultivate and practice temperance and brotherly love in their councils and among the people of the nation, and friendship and integrity with all. He soon after became unable to speak, and in a few hours his spirit was gathered to the Great Spirit who gave it.
_7th_. The following is an Odjibwa tradition. Adjejauk and Oshugee were brothers, living at St. Mary’s Falls. Oshugee was the elder. One day he took his brother’s fishing-pole into the rapids, and accidentally broke it. This caused a quarrel. Oshugee went off south, and was referred to as Shawnee. This was the origin of that tribe who call the Chippewas _Younger Brother_, to this day. This is said by Nabunwa. The Shawnee (southman) here named is not the Shawnee tribe. With this explanation, the tradition may be admitted. It was probably the origin of the Potawattomies.
_10th_. Two plum trees, standing in front of the agency, which had attained their full growth, and borne fruit plentifully, for some few years, began to droop, and finally died during the autumn. I found, by examination, that their roots had extended into cold underground springs of water, which have their issue under the high cliff immediately behind the agency. They had originally been set out as wall fruit, within a few feet of the front wall of the house, on its southern side. The one was the common blue plum, the other an egg plum.
A mountain ash, standing some twenty feet west of them, had protruded its roots into a similar cold moisture, but, so far from injuring it, the tree grew more luxuriantly, putting forth leaves and berries in the greatest profusion. Seeing this disposition to flourish by its proximity to underground currents, I cut the bark of the tree, which is of a close binding character, to allow it to expand, and found this to have an excellent effect. This tree bears a white bell-shaped cluster of blossoms, which originate the most beautiful scarlet berries in the autumn. The one species is a native, the other an exotic.
_12th_. _Pemid-jee_, signifies in Chippewa across, sideways. _Go-daus_ is a garment, or cloth designed for it. Hence _mad-jee-co-ta_ a skirt or side-cloth.
_17th_. Col. Wm.L. Stone writes that he is making progress in his _Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, and begs a copy of the old Military Orderly Book, in my possession, detailing the siege and taking of Fort Niagara, &c. He says of _Algie Researches_: “By the way, what a delightful book you furnished us. Don’t you remember that I told you not to go to —- for revision? He would have spoiled your simple and beautiful tales. President Wayland, my brother-in-law, was delighted with them.”
_Dec.5th_. Abraham Schoolcraft, Special Emigrating Agent, reports the safe arrival of the Swan Creeks at their destination on the river Osage. The lands are fertile, the waters good, forest trees in abundance for fire-wood and fences. Everything promises well for their future prosperity.
_13th_. Wrote to Col. Stone, transmitting him a copy of the old journal, before alluded to, of the siege of Niagara, in 1759, the march of Gen. Bradstreet for the relief of Detroit, in 1763, &c.
_26th_. Mackinack has again assumed its winter phase. We are shut in from the tumult of the world, and must rely for our sources of intellectual sustenance and diversion on books, or researches, such as may present themselves.
The following words, I am assured, are different, in the Ottawa and Chippewa dialects:–
CHIPPEWA. OTTAWA.
1. Axe, Wag-a-kwut, Nah-bah-gun. 2. Point, Na-au-shi, Sin-gang. 3. Spring (season), Se-gwun, Me-no-ka-mi. 4. Scissors, Mozh-wa-gun, Sip-po-ne-gun. 5. Spear, Ah-nit, Nah-bah-e-gun. 6. Stop; cease; be still, Ah-no-wa-tan, Mah-ga-nick. 7. It’s flown away, Ke-pah-ze-qwah-o, Ke-ke-ze-kay. 8. Maple tree, In-ne-nah-tig, As-sin-ah-mish. 9. Milk, To-dosh-a-bo, Mo-nah-gan-a-bo. 10. Small lake, or pond, Sah-gi-e-gan, Ne-bis. 11. He smokes, Sug-gus-wau, Pin-dah-qua. 12. It is calm, Ah-no-wa-tin, To-kis-sin. 13. It will be a severe,
or bad day, Tah-mat-chi-geezh-ik-ud. Tah-goot-au-gan. 14. I will visit, Ningah-mah-wa-tish-e-way, Ningah-Ne- bwatch-e-way. 15. He will quarrel
(with) you, Kegah-Ke-kau-mig, Kegau-ne-tehi-we-ig. 16. He will strike you, Kegah-Puk-e-tay-og, Kegah-wa-po-taig. 17. Hammer, Puk-ke-tai-e-gun, Wap-o-ge-gin. 18. Dog, An-ne-moosh, An-ne-mo-kau-gi. 19. My mother, Nin-guh, Nin-gush, 20. Yes, Aih, Au-nin-da.
It is evident that these dialectic differences arise, not from the use of a different language, but a different mode of applying the same language–a language in which every syllable has a well-known primitive meaning. Thus, in the name for maple tree(8), the Chippewa means, spouted, or man tree (alluding to its being tapped for its sap), and the Ottawa, stoned, or cut tree, alluding to the same feature. The same terms are equally well known, and proper in both dialects. So in 10, the one says a collection of running water, the other, a little mass of water. So in 13, the one says, literally, it will be a bad day; the other, it will storm. So in 17, the one says strike-instrument; the other swing-instrument. So in 20, one uses an affirmative particle, the other says, certainly.
_31st_. Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of the Pic, on the north shores of Lake Superior, writes about the orthography and principles of the Indian languages. When this gentleman was on his way inland, he stopped at my house, and evinced much interest in the oral traditions of the Indians, as shown in _Algic Researches_, and presented me the conjugation of the Indian verb “_to see_,” filling many pages of an old folio account book–all written in the wretched system of notation of Mr. Evans.[94] I stated to him the analytical mode which I had pursued in my lectures on the structure of the languages, with the very best helps at St. Mary’s; and that I had found it to yield to this process–that the Algonquin was, in fact, an aggregation of monasyllabic roots: that words and expressions were formed entirely of a limited number of original roots and particles, which had generic meanings. That new words, however compounded, carried these meanings to the Indian ear, and were understood by it in all possible forms of accretion and syllabication. That the derivatives founded on these roots of one or two syllables, could all be taken apart and put together like a piece of machinery. That the principles were fixed, philosophical, and regular, and that, although the language had some glaring defects, as the want of a feminine pronoun, and many redundancies, they were admirably adapted to describe geographical and meteorological scenes. That it was a language of _woods and wilds_. That it failed to convey knowledge, only because it had apparently never been applied to it. And that those philologists who had represented it as an _agglutinated mass_, and capable of the most recondite, pronominal, and tensal meanings, exceeding those of Greece and Rome, had no clear conceptions of what they were speaking of. That its principles are not, in fact, polysynthetic, but on the contrary _unasynthetic_: its rules were all of one piece. That, in fine, we should never get at the truth till we pulled down the, erroneous fabric of the extreme polysynthesists, which was erected on materials furnished by an excellent, but entirely unlearned missionary. But that this could not be done now, such was the _prestige_ of names; and that he and I, and all humble laborers in the field, must wait to submit our views till time had opened a favorable door for us. It was our present duty to accumulate facts, not to set up new theories, nor aim, by any means, to fight these intellectual giants while we were armed but with small weapons.
[Footnote 94: A Wesleyan missionary, some time at Port Sarnia, opposite Fort Gratiot, Canada.]
Mr. Hurlbut entered into these views. He had now reflected upon them, and he made some suggestions of philological value. He was an apt learner of the language, as spoken north of the basin of Lake Superior.
“Orthography,” he writes, “though of much importance, did not engage so much of my attention as the construction of the language. I am not so sanguine as to that performance (the conjugation of the verb _to see_) as to be anxious to bring forward another. I am aware that an Indian speaker, who had never studied his own language, would pronounce much of that incorrect (in following a particular system imposed on him), particularly in the characterizing (definitive) form, for in this conjugation the root always undergoes a change. If the first syllable be short, it is lengthened, as _be-moo-za, ba-moo-zad._ If it be long, another is added, as _ouu-bet, ou-euu-bed._[95] But when a particle is used, as is more generally the case, the root resumes its original form, as _guu-ouu-bed._ I thought it best to preserve uniformity. I inserted a note explaining this. Upon this, principle of euphony, Mr. Evans’ orthography will answer better than may at first appear. When the towel is short, the final consonant is sharp, as _mek, muk, met_; but when the vowel is long, it sounds like _meeg, seeg, neeg, nuug, meed_.”
[Footnote 95: This is in Mr. Evans’ System of Orthography.]
I had thought of making a collection of words, as a commencement for a lexicon, but there are impediments in jay way for the present: 1st, I want a plan; I want the opinion of those versed in the language, as two roots frequently coalesce and form compound terms, and sometimes two verbs and a noun amalgamate by clipping all; and it requires a skillful hand to dissect them and show the originals. Should all these compound terms be introduced (in the contemplated lexicon), it would swell the work to a good size. If this be not done, _we must find some rule for compounding the terms_, that the learner may be able to do it for himself. This (the rule) I have not yet ascertained.
“I am favorably situated for making philological observations. I observe that the Cree, although essentially the same language as the Chippewa, yet drops, or never had, many of the suffix expletive particles of the latter, though the prefix particles are pretty much the same in both. The Cree has not, I believe, the double negative nor the adverbial and plaintive forms of verbs, as I have termed them. This renders the language less complex, and much more easy of acquisition than the Chippewa.
“One thought was forcibly impressed on my mind while perusing the publications of the American Antiquarian Society. In these publications they introduce the names of things in order to show the affinity of different tribes. From my knowledge of Indian, I am inclined to think that the names of things change the soonest in any language, and that, in order to ascertain the original stock of any tribe or nation by comparing languages, we must descend to the groundwork of the languages and search, not so much for similarity of sound as for the arrangement and essential and peculiar principles of the languages.
“A principle that prevails in the American languages, as far as my information extends, is, that the verb, with its nominative and objective cases, be inseparably connected. The Delaware, the Chippewa (under whatever name), and the Cree, &c., make the change in person, number, &c., by a change in the prefix or suffix. But the Mohawk and Chippewyan [96] make the change, in some cases, in the middle of the word, when the Chippewa and others always remain unchanged.”
[Footnote 96: It must be remembered that the Chippewas and Chippewyans, are diverse tribes. The two words are both Chippewa; but the tribes are of different groups. The one is ALGONQUIN; the other ATHAPASCA. The Mohawk belongs to a third group of languages, namely, the IROQUOIS.]
CHAPTER LXIX.
Popular error respecting the Indian character and history–Remarkable superstition–Theodoric–A missionary choosing a wild flower–Piety and money–A fiscal collapse in Michigan–Mission of Grand Traverse–Simplicity of the school-girl’s hopes–Singular theory of the Indians respecting story-telling–Oldest allegory on record–Political aspects–Seneca treaty–Mineralogy–Farming and mission station on Lake Michigan.
1840. _Jan. 1st_. Having determined to pass another winter (some ten weeks of which are past) at Mackinack, I have found my best and pleasantest employment in my old resource, the investigation of the Indian character and history. The subject is exhaustless in every branch of inquiry, but the more it is turned over and sifted, the more cause there is to see that there is error to be encountered at almost every step. Travelers have been chiefly intent on the picturesque, and have given themselves but little trouble to investigate. The historian has had his mind full of prepossessions derived from ancient reading, and has, generally, been seated three thousand miles across the water, where the work of personal comparison was impossible. Left to the repose of himself, mentally and physically, without being placed in the crucible of war, without being made the tool of selfishness, or driven to a state of half idiocy by the use of liquor, the Indian is a man of naturally good feelings and affections, and of a sense of justice, and, although destitute of an inductive mind, is led to appreciate truth and virtue as he apprehends them. But he is subject to be swayed by every breath of opinion, has little fixity of purpose, and, from a defect of business capacity, is often led to pursue just those means which are least calculated to advance his permanent interests, and his mind is driven to and fro like a feather in the winds. _This_ man, and _that_ man, are continually bringing up Indians to speak for some selfish object, which, being a little out of sight, he does not perceive in its true light, but which he nevertheless is soon made to comprehend, if a public agent sets it plainly before him. But there is a perpetual watch necessary to protect him from deception, and this necessity becomes stringent in the exact proportion that a tribe has _funds_ or _treaty rights_ of any kind. If these attempts to make the Indian a stalking-horse for masked or misstated objects be independently met, and with just sentiments of dissent, the agent of the government is liable to calumniation, and it becomes the policy of unscrupulous men to get their affairs placed in hands having less well-defined notions of moral right, or more easily swayed in their opinions.
_7th_. The season of New-year has been as usual a holiday, that is to say, a time of hilarity and good wishes, with the Indians in this vicinity, numbers of which have visited the office.
_20th_. Some of the superstitions of the Indians are explicable only on the ground of their belief in magic. An old blind man of Grand Traverse Bay, called Ogimauwish (literally bad chief), referring to the early period of the visits of Europeans to the continent, related the following:–
When the whites first came to this country, wars and atrocious cruelties existed between the new race of men and the Indians. When this animosity began to abate, a treaty was held, which was attended by the Indians far and wide. They were told by an interpreter, one of the white men who had already learned their language, that the Indian tribes appeared, in the eyes of white men, while in action, like the beasts of the forests and the birds of prey, changing from one form to the other, and that the bullets of the foreigners had no effect on them. The reason for this exemption from harm was this:–
In those times the Indians made use of the Pazhikewash, or buffalo-weed, which is still used by some of them to this day, especially on war excursions. This made them invulnerable to balls. They made a liquor from it, and sprinkled themselves and their implements, and carried it in their meda bags. They are under the belief that this medicine not only wards off the balls and missiles, but tends to make them invisible. This, with their reliance on the guardian spirits of whom they have dreamed at their initial fasts, throws around them a double influence, making them both invisible and invulnerable.
There is a root used by the Pillagers, to which they attribute similar protecting influences, or attribute the gift of courage in war. It is called by them OZHIGAWAK.
_22d_. Theodoric (_vide ante_, April 19th,) writes me from Detroit in terms of the kindest appreciation for my kindness of him. On his arrival at Mackinack he most acceptably executed several trusts–writing a good hand, being of gentlemanly manners and deportment, and an obliging disposition, and withal a high moral tone of character–as the winter drew on, I judged he would make a good representative for the county in the legislature, and started him in political life. He received the popular vote, and proceeded to the Capitol accordingly.
He writes: “I wish to say to you that my reception here, both in my public and private capacity, has been all that my best friends could desire, and far above what I had any reason to expect. I allude to this subject because it furnishes me with an occasion to acknowledge my deep indebtedness to your kindness, and it affords me pleasure to recognize it, under God, as the chief instrument in conferring on me my present advantages. And I assure you my great and constant anxiety shall be, so to conduct myself as not to disappoint any expectations which you may have been instrumental in raising in regard to me.”
_28th_. A zealous and pious missionary of the Church of England came to the Chippewas located on the left, or British, side of the St. Mary’s River some years ago, under the patronage of the ecclesiastical authorities of Toronto. At this place he married one of the daughters of the Woman of the Green Valley (Ozhawuscodawaqua) heretofore noticed as the daughter of Wabojeeg. He now writes from Canada West: “Charlotte and myself are very much obliged to you for your kind offer of assistance, of which we will avail ourselves. Although I have now a promise of this Rectory, or I may say, a former one has been confirmed by Bishop Strachan two or three days ago.”
_31st_. A friend–a trustee of one of the principal churches at Detroit, writes: “You may think it strange that we of the first Protestant Society of this city are not able to pay our very worthy and deserving pastor, and so it is; but it is no less strange than true! Some of our subscribers are dead; some have failed, and so they can pay nothing, and others have left the country in search of a more congenial clime, and those remaining and much difficulty in meeting their money engagements, though nearly all are in the habit of attending the preaching of this best of men, and we are driven to the necessity of making a call on you, though at a distance.
“Mr. Duffield is continuing his Sunday evening lectures, with his Thursday evening Bible class exercises, and they are constantly increasing in interest. We think him a _wonder;_ he renders every subject he touches, simple, and gives the doctrines he treats upon, what the Scriptures pronounce them to be, ‘A man, though a fool, need not err therein.’
“Our legislature is moving on slowly; the shafts of wit wielded at each other by —-, and —-, are, as the common phrase is, ‘a caution;’ it requires a man of more than common discernment to see their point. You have, doubtless, before this, seen the announcement of the appointment of Hastings and Stuart, as Auditor and Treasurer; what will become of the Internal Improvement system, is doubtful. Committees are now engaged in examining the Bank of Michigan, and the Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank.”
Another friend, who was _au fait_ on fiscal affairs (5th Feb.), says: “We get on quite well. The legislative committee will be compelled to state facts, and if they do nothing more they must give us a clean bill of health. I miss you much this winter, and hope, if we are spared, you will not immure yourself again so long.”
The fiscal crisis that was now impending over Michigan, it was evident was in the process of advance; but it was not possible to tell when it would fall, nor with what severity. All had been over-speculating–over-trading–over-banking, overdoing everything, in short, that prudence should dictate. But the public were _in_ for it, and could not, it seems, back out, and every one hoped for the best. My best friends, the most cautious guides of my youth, had entered into the speculating mania, and there appeared to be, in fact, nobody of means or standing, who had been proof against the temptation of getting rich soon. I “immured” myself far away from the scene of turmoil and strife, and was happy so long as I kept my eyes on my books and manuscripts.
_Feb. 8th_. The mission recently established by the Presbyterian Board at Grand Traverse Bay, flourishes as well as it is reasonable to expect. Mr. Johnston writes: “The chief Kosa, and another Indian, have cut logs sufficient for their houses. This finishes our pinery on this point. We cannot now get timber short of the river on the south-east side of the bay, or at the bottom of it, twelve miles distant. Mr. Dougherty has a prayer meeting on Saturday night, and Bible class on Sabbath afternoon. His meetings on Sunday are regularly attended by all the Indians who spend the winter with us; they continue to manifest a kind feeling towards us, and appear anxious to acquire useful knowledge.”
_March 7th_. While politicians, financiers, speculators in real estate, anxious holders of bank stock, and missionaries careful of the Indian tribes are thus busy–each class animated by a separate hope–it is refreshing to see that my little daughter (Jane) who writes under this date from her school at Philadelphia, is striving after p’s and g’s. “I am getting along in my studies very well. I love music as much as ever. I like my French studies much. I have got all p’s for my lessons, but one g. G is for good, and p for perfect.” What a pity that all classes of adult men were not pursuing their g’s and p’s with equal simplicity of emulation and purity of purpose.
_10th_. Prof. L. Fasquelle, of Livingston, transmits to me a translation of the so-called “Pontiac manuscript.” This document consists of an ancient French journal, of daily events during the siege of the fort of Detroit by that redoubtable chief and his confederates in 1763. It was found in the garret of one of the French _habitants_, thrust away between the plate and the roof; partly torn, and much soiled by rains and the effects of time.
_13th_. The Chippewa Indians say that the woods and shores, bays and islands, are inhabited by innumerable spirits, who are ever wakeful and quick to hear everything during the summer season, but during the winter, after the snow falls, these spirits appear to exist in a torpid state, or find their abodes in inanimate bodies. The tellers of legends and oral tales among them are, therefore, permitted to exercise their fancies and functions to amuse their listeners during the winter season, for the spirits are then in a state of inactivity, and cannot hear. But their vocation as story tellers is ended the moment the spring opens. The shrill piping of the frog, waking from his wintry repose, is the signal for the termination of their story craft, and I have in vain endeavored to get any of them to relate this species of imaginary lore at any other time. It is evaded by some easy and indifferent remark. But the true reason is given above. Young and old adhere to this superstition. It is said that, if they violate the custom, the snakes, toads, and other reptiles, which are believed to be under the influence of the spirits, will punish them.
It is remarkable that this propensity of inventing tales and allegories, which is so common to our Indians, is one of the most general traits of the human mind. The most ancient effort of this kind by far, in the way of the allegorical, is in the following words: “The Thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the Cedar, saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast and trod down the Thistle.” (2 Kings, xiv. 9.)
_April 5th_. A representative in Congress writes from Washington: “The House moves very slowly in its business–that is, the business of the nation. The principal object seems to be to make or unmake a President.”
_6th_. The Rev. Benj. Dorr, of Christ Church, Philadelphia, commends to my attentions a Mr. Wagner, a gentleman of intelligence, refinement, and scientific tastes, who leaves that city on a tour to the lakes and St. Anthony’s Falls. “His object is to see as much as possible, in one summer’s tour, of our great Western World, and I hope he may stop a short time at Mackinack, that he may have an opportunity of forming your acquaintance, of seeing your beautiful island, and examining your splendid cabinet of minerals, which would particularly interest him, as he, has a taste for geological studies.”
_8th_. Hon. A. Vanderpool, M.C. from N.Y., observes: “The Senate has, by the casting vote of the Vice President, decided in favor of the Seneca treaty, i.e., that the Indians shall be removed. Much opposition has been made to the treaty, as you will perceive from the speech of Senator Linn, which I send you.”
It has been alleged against this treaty that it was carried through by the zealous efforts of the persons holding (by an old compact) the reversionary right to the soil after the Senecas should decide to leave it, and that the obvious interests of these persons produced an undue influence on this feature in the result. It is averred that the Tonewonda band of the Senecas, who hold a separate and valuable reservation on the banks of the Tonewonda River, opposed the proposition altogether, and refused to place their signatures to the instrument.
It was supposed that small Indian communities, living on limited reservations, surrounded entirely on all sides by white settlements, could not sustain themselves, but must be inevitably swept away. But the result, in the case of the Senecas and other remnants of the ancient Iroquois, does not sustain this theory. It is true that numbers have yielded to dissipation, idleness, and vice, and thus perished; but the very pressure upon the mass of the tribes, and the danger of their speedy destruction without resorting to agriculture, appear to have brought out latent powers in the race which were not believed to exist. They have taken manfully hold of the plough, cultivated crops of wheat and corn, and raised horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. They have adopted the style of houses, fences, implements, carriages, dress, and, to some extent, the language, manners, and modes of transacting business, of their neighbors. And, perceiving their ability to sustain themselves by cultivation and the arts, now turn round and solicit the protecting arms of the State and General Government to permit them to develop their industrial capacities. Too late, almost, they have been convinced of the erroneous policy of their ancestors, &c. Every right-thinking man must approve this.
_May 12th_. Prof. Orren Root, of Syracuse Academy, New York, appeals to me to contribute towards the formation of a mineralogical cabinet at that institution.
_30th_. The new farming station and mission for the Chippewas of Grand Traverse Bay is successfully established. The Rev. Mr. Dougherty reports that a school for Indian children has been well attended since November. A blacksmith’s shop is in successful operation. The U.S. Farmer reports that he has just completed ploughing the Indian fields. He has put in several acres of oats, and the corn is about six inches above the ground. The Indians generally are making large fields, and have planted more corn than usual, and manifest a disposition to become industrious, and to avail themselves of the double advantage that is furnished them by the Department of Indian Affairs and by the Mission Board which has taken them in hand.
CHAPTER LXX.
Death of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft–Perils of the revolutionary era–Otwin–Mr. Bancroft’s history in the feature of its Indian relations–A tradition of a noted chief on Lake Michigan–The collection of information for a historical volume–Opinions of Mr. Paulding, Dr. Webster, Mr. Duer, John Quincy Adams–Holyon and Alholyon–Family monument–Mr. Stevenson, American Minister at London–Joanna Baillie–Wisconsin–Ireland–Detroit–Michilimackinack.
1840. _June 7th_. The first of June found me in Detroit, on my way to Washington, where I was in a few days met by the appalling intelligence of the death of my father (Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft), an event which took place on this day at Vernon, Oneida County, New York. He had reached his eighty-fourth year, and possessed a vigor of constitution which promised longer life, until within a few days of his demise. A dark spot appeared on one of his feet, which had, I think, been badly gashed with an axe in early life. This discoloration expanded upwards in the limb, and terminated in what appeared to be a dry mortification.
In him terminated the life of one of the most zealous actors in the drama of the American Revolution, in which he was at various times a soldier and an officer, a citizen and a civil magistrate. “Temperate, ardent and active, of a mind vigorous and energetic, of a spirit bold and daring, nay, even indomitable in its aspirations for freedom, he became at once conspicuous among his brethren in arms, and a terror to his country’s foes.” [97]
[Footnote 97: Nat. Intell. July 31, 1840.]
His grandfather was an Englishman, and had served with reputation under the Duke of Marlborough in some of his famous continental battles, in the days of Queen Anne, and he cherished the military principle with great ardor. He spoke fluently the German and Dutch languages, and was thus able to communicate with the masses of the varied population, originally from the Upper Rhine and the Scheldt, who formed a large portion of the inhabitants of the then frontier portions of Albany County, including the wild and picturesque range of the Helderbergs and of the new settlements of Schoharie, the latter being in immediate contact with the Mohawk Iroquois. The influence of the British government over this tribe, through the administration of Sir William Johnson, was unbounded. Many of the foreign emigrants and their descendants were also under this sway, and the whole frontier was spotted with loyalists under the ever hateful name of Tories. These kept the enemy minutely informed of all movements of the revolutionists, and were, at the same time, the most cruel of America’s foes, not excepting the Mohawks. For the fury of the latter was generally in battle, but the former exercised their cruelties in cold blood, and generally made deliberate preparations for them, by assuming the guise of Indians. In these infernal masks they gave vent to private malice, and cut the throats of their neighbors and their innocent children. In such a position a patriot’s life was doubly assailed, and it was often the price of it, to declare himself “a son of liberty,” a term then often used by the revolutionists.
He had just entered his seventeenth year when the war against the British authorities in the land broke out, and he immediately declared for it; the wealthy farmer (Swartz) with whom he lived, being one of the first who were overhauled and “spotted” by the LOCAL COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, who paraded through the settlement with a drum and fife. He was at the disarming of Sir John Johnson, at Johnstown, under Gen. Schuyler, where a near relative, Conrad Wiser, Esq., was the government interpreter. He was at Ticonderoga when the troops were formed into hollow square to hear the Declaration of Independence read. He marched with the army that went to reinforce Gen. Montgomery, at Quebec, and was one of the besieged in Fort Stanwix, on the source of the Mohawk, while Gen. Burgoyne, with his fine army, was being drawn into the toils of destruction by Gen. Schuyler, at Saratoga–a fate from which his _supersedeas_ by Gen. Gates, the only unjust act of Washington, did not extricate him.
The adventures, perils, and anecdotes of this period, he loved in his after days to recite; and I have sometimes purposed to record them, in connection with his name; but the prospect of my doing so, while still blessed with an excellent memory, becomes fainter and fainter.
_8th_. Otwin (_vide ante_) writes from La Pointe, in Lake Superior, in the following terms:–
“I often look back to the happy days I spent in your family, and feel grateful in view of them. A thousand blessings rest on your head, my dear friend, and that of your wife, for all your kindness to me, when first a stranger in a distant land. I cannot reward you, but know that you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the just.”
_9th_. “I know of no good reason,” says a correspondent, “why a man should not, at all times, stand ready to sustain the truth.” This is a maxim worthy Dr. Johnson; but the experience of life shows that such high moral independence is rare. Most men will speak out, and even vindicate the truth, _sometimes_. But the worldling will stand mute, or _evade_ its declaration, whenever his interests are to be unfavorably affected by it.
I reached Washington on public business during the heats of June, and, coming from northern latitudes, felt their oppressiveness severely.
_27th_. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, pursues exactly the course he should, to ferret out all facts, new and old. He does not hold himself too dignified to pick up information, or investigate facts, whenever and wherever he can find them. In what he has to say about the Indians, a subject that lies as a superstratum under his work, he is anxious to hear all that can be said. “Let me hear from you,” he adds in a letter of this date, “before you go back. I want to consult you on my chapter about the Indians, and for that end should like to send you a copy of it.”
The chief, Eshquagonaby, of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, relates the following traditions: When Gezha Manido (the Good Spirit) created this island (continent), it was a perfect plain, without trees or shrubs. He then created an Indian man and woman. When they had multiplied so as to number ten persons, death happened. At this the man lamented, and went to and fro over the earth, complaining. Why, he exclaimed, did the Good Spirit create me to know death and misery so soon? The Good Spirit heard this, and, after assembling his angels to counsel, said to them, What shall we do to better the condition of man? I have created him frail and weak. They answered, O, Good Spirit, thou hast created us, and thou art everlasting, and knowest all things; thou alone knowest what is best.
Six days were given to this consultation. During this time not a breath of wind blew to disturb the waters. This is now called _unwatin_ (a calm). On the seventh day not a cloud was seen; the sky was blue and serene. This is called _nageezhik_ (excellent day) by the Indians.
During this day he sent down a messenger, placing in his right bosom a piece of white hare skin, and in his left, part of the head of the white-headed eagle. Both these substances had a blue stripe on them of the nature and substance of the blue sky, being symbols of peace.
The messenger said to the man that complained: “Your words are heard, and I am come from the Good Spirit with good words. You must conform yourself to his commands. I bring pieces of the white hare skin and the white eagle’s head, which you must use in your MEDAWA (religico-medical rites), and whatsoever is asked on those occasions will be granted, and long life given to the sick.” The messenger also gave them a white otter skin, with a blue stripe painted on the back part of the head. Other ceremonial rites and directions were added, but these may suffice to indicate the character of Mr. Eshquagonaby’s tradition, which has just been sent to me.
_July 1st_. I was now anxious to collect materials for the publication of a volume of collections by the Michigan Historical Society, and addressed several gentlemen of eminence on the subject. Mr. J. K. Paulding, Sec. of the Navy (July 9th), pleads official engagements as preventing him from doing much in the literary way while thus employed.
Dr. Noah Webster, of New Haven, expresses his interest in the history of the country generally, and his willingness to contribute to the collection and preservation of passing materials. “In answer to the request for aid in collecting national documents, I can sincerely say it will give me pleasure to lend any aid in my power. Respecting the State of Michigan, I presume I could furnish nothing of importance. Respecting the history of our government for the last fifty years, I might be able to add something to the stock of information possessed by the present generation, for I find men in middle life absolutely ignorant of some material facts which have a bearing on our political concerns. But little can be expected, however, from a man of _eighty-two,_ whose toils must be drawing to a close.”
The Hon. John A. Duer, Prest. Col. College (July 15th), while expressing a sympathy in the object, declares himself too much occupied in the duties of his charge to permit him to hold forth any promise of usefulness in the case specified.
Hon. John Quincy Adams forwarded, with the expression of his interest in the subject, twelve pamphlets of historical value, the titles of each of which he carefully recites in his letter. “It will give me much pleasure,” he says, “to transmit to the society, when it may be in my power, any of the articles pertaining to the history of the country and mentioned in your letter, as suited to promote the purposes for which it was instituted.”
From other quarters and observers less absorbed in the discharge of specific functions, I received several valuable manuscript communications, chiefly relative, to transactions on the frontiers or to Indian history.
_22d_. Two half-breeds from the upper lakes, whom I shall designate Holyon and Alholyon, made their way to the seat of government during the winter of 1840. Holyon had been dismissed for improper conduct from the office of Indian interpreter at Mackinack about May. Alholyon had been frustrated in two several attempts to get himself recognized as head chief by the Ottawas, and consequently to some influence in the use of the public funds, which were now considerable. One was of the Chippewa, the other of the Ottawa stock. Holyon was bold and reckless, Alholyon more timid and polite, but equally destitute of moral principles. They induced some of the Indians to believe that, if furnished by them with funds, they could exercise a favorable influence at Washington, in regard to the sale of their lands. The poor ignorant Indians are easily hoodwinked in matters of business. At the same time they presented, in secret council, a draft for $4000 for their services, which they induced some of the chiefs to sign. This draft they succeeded in negotiating to some merchant for a small part of its value. No sooner had they got to head-quarters, and found they were anticipated in the _draft matter_, and the _project of a chieftainship_, by letters from the agent, than they drew up a long list of accusations against him, containing every imaginable and abominable abuse of office. This was presented at the Indian office, where its obvious character should have, it would seem, been at once suspected. The head of that Bureau, who began to see from the strong political demonstrations around him, “how the cat was about to jump,” acceded to a request of Holyon and Alholyon, that the matter be referred for local examination to one or two of their personal advisers inland. This step (in entire ignorance of the private relations of the parties, it must be presumed,) was assented to. In a letter of Holyon to J.L.S., of May 19th, 1840, he says: “The department was predisposed against him (the agent), and wanted only a cause to proceed against him.” But it left a stain on its fairness and candor by omitting the usual course of furnishing the agent a copy of the charges and requesting his attention thereto, or even of informing him of the pendency of an investigation. As the charges were entirely unfounded, and had been the diseased imaginings of disappointed and unprincipled minds, it only put the agent to the necessity of confronting his assailants, and with every advantage of accusers, examiners and the appellant power against him, he was triumphantly acquitted, by an official letter, of every charge whatever, and of every moral imputation of wrong. “Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?” (Job xi. 3.)
_24th_. I left Washington for the north, taking my children along from their respective schools at Philadelphia and Brooklyn, for their summer vacation, and only halting long enough at Utica and Vernon, to direct a marble monument to be erected to the memory of my father. The site selected for this was the cemetery on the Scanado (usually spelled without regard however to the popular pronunciation _Skenandoah_), Vernon. It appeared expedient to make this a family monument, and I directed the several faces to be inscribed as follows:–
THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED
In memory of
A FATHER, A MOTHER AND A SISTER, By the surviving children.
* * * * *
COLONEL LAWRENCE SCHOOLCRAFT,
A soldier of the Revolution of 1776, (He being the second in descent from James, who came from England in the reign of Queen Anne,) Born Feb. 3d, 1757. Died June 7th, 1840, In his 84th year.
He lived and died a patriot, a Christian, and an honest man.
* * * * *
MARGARET ANN BARBARA,
Consort of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, Died Feb. 16th, 1832, aged 72.
“Her children rise up and call her blessed.”–PROV.
* * * * *
MISS MARGARET HELEN,
Daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Ann Barbara Schoolcraft, Born 18th June, 1806
Died 12th April, 1829, in her 23d year.
I reached Detroit early in August. A letter from Mackinack, of the 13th of that month, says: “The children arrived at midnight past, safe and sound, and they seem quite delighted. Eveline seems to be the centre of attraction with them all. I have not a word new to say. A change has come over the spirit of our notables. Samuel, the day before your letter was received, expressed his opinion, that ‘it would go hard with you.’ A dog when he supposes himself unnoticed in the act of stealing, looks mean, but when he is _discovered_ in the act, he looks meaner still. And I know of no better comparison than _this_ clique, and _that_ dog.”
_24th_. Hon. Andrew Stevenson, American Minister in London, responds to my inquiries on certain historical points, respecting which he has kindly charged his agent to institute inquiries.
_Sept. 5th_. I reached the agency at Mackinack about the beginning of September. Facilis, a young man of equally ready and respectable talents, writes me, from Detroit, under this date, expressing a wish to be employed in the execution of some of the fiscal duties of the superintendency during the season. “I write to you,” he adds, “as a friend. Times are hard, and every little that is directed to aid one in his efforts to stem the current of life, possesses an incalculable value.” I yielded the more readily to this request from the chain of circumstances which, however favorable, had hitherto disappointed his most ardent aims and the just expectations of his friends.
_11th_. Joanna Baillie, the celebrated authoress, who has spent a long life in the most honorable and deeply characteristic literary labors, writes from her residence at Hampstead (Eng.), as if with undiminished vigor of hope, expressing her interest in the progress of historical letters in this (to her) remote part of the world. How much closer bonds these literary sympathies are in drawing two nations of a kindred blood together, than dry and formal diplomatics, in which it is the object, as Talleyrand says, of human language to conceal thought!
_Oct. 16th_. Wisconsin is slowly, but surely, filling up with a healthy population, and founding her moral, as well as political institutions, on a solid basis. Rev. Jer. Porter, my old friend during the interesting scenes at St. Mary’s, in 1832 and 1833, writes me, that, after passing a few years in Illinois, he has settled at Green Bay, as the pastor of a healthful and increasing church. “I have recently,” he writes, “made an excursion on horseback, in the interior of the territory. I traveled about 400 miles, being from home sixteen days. I went to meet a convention of ministers and delegates from Presbyterian and Congregational churches, to see if we could form a union of the two denominations in the territory, so that we might have a perfect co-operation in every good work. We had twelve ministers of these denominations present, all but four or five now in the territory, and were so happy as to form a basis of union, which will, I trust, prove permanent, and be a great blessing to our churches. This seems to us a very favorable beginning.
“I find the beautiful prairies of the interior rapidly settling with a very good population from the Eastern States, and the healthiness of the country gives it some advantages over Illinois. With the blessing of the Lord, I think this may yet be one of the best States in the Union.”
_20th_. The Rev. Henry Kearney, of Kitternan Glebe, Dublin (Ireland), communicates notices of some of the inroads made by death on the rank of our friends and relatives in that land. “Since my last, the valued friend of the family, the Right Hon’ble Wm. Saurin (late Attorney-General) was removed from this world of changes to the world of durable realities. He was past eighty. The bishop (Dromore) is still alive, not more than a year younger than his brother. Old age–found in the ways of righteousness–how honorable!
“You will have learned, from the European newspapers, the agitated state of all the countries from China to Great Britain. Is the Lord about to bring to pass the predicted days of retribution on the nations for abused responsibility, and the restoration of the ancient nation of Israel, to be, once more, the depository of his judgment and truth for the recovery of all nations to the great principles of government and religion taught us in His holy word?”
_Nov. 1st_. Having concluded the Indian business in the Upper Lakes for the season, I returned with my family to Detroit, and employed my leisure in literary investigations.
_Dec. 3d_. Mr. Josiah Snow apprizes me that he is about, in a few weeks, to issue the first number of a newspaper devoted to agriculture, in which he solicits my aid.
_15th_. J. K. Tefft, Esq., of Savannah, informs me of my election, on the 9th Sept. last, as an honorary member of the Georgia Historical Society.
_19th_. I wrote the following lines in memory of my father:–
The drum no more shall rouse his heart to beat with patriot fires, Nor to his kindling eye impart the flash of martial ires: Montgomery’s fall, Burgoyne’s advance, awake no transient fear; E’en joy be dumb that noble France grasped in our cause the spear.
The cloud that, lowering northward spread, presaging woe and blight, In that wild host St. Leger led, no longer arm for fight; The bomb, the shell, the flash, the shot, the sortie, and the roar, No longer nerve for battle hot–the soldier is no more.
But long shall memory speak his praise, and mark the grave that blest, When eighty years had crowned his days, he laid him down to rest; The stone that marks the sylvan spot, the line that tells his name, The stream, the shore; be ne’er forgot, and freedom’s be his fame.
‘Twas liberty that fired him first, when kings and tyrants plan’d, And proud oppression’s car accurst, drove madly o’er the land; And long he lived when that red car–the driver and the foe Unhorsed in fight, o’ermatched in war–laid impotent and low.
He told his children oft the tale–how tyrants would have bound, And murderous yells filled all the vale, and blood begrimed the ground. They loved the story of the harms that patriot hands repelled, And glowed with ire of wars and arms, and fast the words they held.
The right, the power, the wealth, the fame, for which the valiant fought, Have long been ours in deed and name–life, liberty, and thought; And while we hold these blessings, bought with valor, blood, and thrall, Embalmed in thought be those who fought and freely periled all.
_23d_. The Detroit Branch of the University of Michigan organized, and the Principal sends me a programme of its studies. Mr. Williams also sends me the programme of the Pontiac Branch.
_31st_. “We were in hopes,” says James L. Schoolcraft, in a letter from Mackinack, “of seeing a steamboat up during the fine weather in the latter part of November. It is now, however, since 14th inst., cold. Theodoric has undertaken to conduct a weekly paper, the _Pic Nic_, which, thus far, goes off well. Lieut. Pemberton, in the fort, is engaged in getting up a private theatre. Thus, you see, we endeavor to ward off winter and solitude in various ways. The rats are playing the devil with your house. I have removed all the bedding. They have injured some of your books.”
CHAPTER LXXI.
Philology of the Indian tongues–Its difficulties–Belles lettres and money–Michigan and Georgia–Number of species in natural history–Etymology–Nebahquam’s dream–Trait in Indian legends–Pictography–Numeration of the races of Polynesia and the Upper Lakes–Love of one’s native tongue–Death of Gen. Harrison–Rush for office on his inauguration–Ornamental and shade trees–Historical collections–Mission of “Old Wing.”
1841. _Jan. 12th_. The Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of Pic, Lake Superior, who has studied the Chippewa language, says: “I fully concur in your remarks on the claims of philology. Circumstances may be easily conceived in which the missionary could in no way serve the cause of Christianity so effectually as by the study of barbarous languages. His primary object, it is true, is Christian instruction; but he would, at the same time, serve the cause of science, by assisting in the advance of comparative philology. In this light I view your _Algic, Researches_, which I consider a valuable acquisition to the missionary, as it introduces him into the stronghold of Indian prejudices. The introductory remarks I studied with peculiar interest.
“I find the principal difficulty in getting at the principles of the language to be in the compounds. I have long thought upon the subject, but have as yet ascertained no rule to guide me. However, I do not despair. If it cannot be taken by a ‘_coup de main_,’ patience and perseverance may in the end prevail. I intend to bend my mind to this subject for the future. It will probably require much research to settle this matter. There are some compounds that I form readily, in others I fail. I have not observed anything in the language like the rythmatic flow of Greek and Latin poetry; there is no alternation of long and short syllables; some words are composed entirely of long syllables, others of short ones, but generally there is at least one of each in a word.
“I have nothing in the shape of Indian poetry or hieroglyphics, neither have I seen the rocks you mention south-east of this place, but I have heard of them. All their traditions, or comic and tragic lore, should be collected, though it could not all be published in consequence of its obscenity. Almost all the _Ah-te-soo-kaum_ I have heard, has had more or less of this ingredient.”
Those who contend for a Welsh element in the languages of the American stocks, find little or no support in modern vocabularies.
ENGLISH. GERMAN. WELSH. ALGONQUIN.
Fire, Feuer, Tan, Schoda.
Water, Wasser, Duel, Neebi.
Earth, Erde, Daal, Aki.
Welt,
Wind, Wind, Gwint, Noden.
Sky, Volka, Avere, Geezhikud. Sea, Meer, More, Gitchigomi.
Book, Buch, Llyfer, Muzzenyegun.
This topic requires, however, to be investigated on a broad scale. It is merely adverted to here. It is among the western nations that inquiries should be extended.
_Feb. 4th_. I received a diploma of membership from the Georgia Historical Society, forwarded in accordance with a previous notice; and a few days after, through the medium of the Hon. A.S. Porter, the first volume of their transactions. Southern zeal quite outdoes us, in our literary efforts here of late. The truth is, men have speculated so wildly, they have no money to devote to historical or literary plans. A correspondent writes me (Feb. 12th) on these visionary plans of investment.
“H. wants me to go farther in the Cass Front; But I am determined to fall in the rear, as I have written to him. For the last three years I have been going on the Dutch plan, which, had I always pursued, I should now have had $10,000 in gold in my trunk, instead of having ten thousand trunks full of _ground_.”
_7th_. Dick says that there are about 60,000 species in the animal kingdom. Of these, 600 species are mammalia, or sucklings, mostly four-footed; 4,000 birds, 3,000 fish, 700 reptiles, 44,000 insects, about 3,000 shell fish, and 80 to 100,000 animalcula, invisible to the naked eye. Perhaps these species may reach to 300,000 altogether. Yet here are no estimates for plants, ferns, mosses, madrepores, extinct fossil species, minerals and rocks. What a field for the naturalist! Yet Pope could exclaim–
“Say what the use, were finer optics given, T’ inspect a mite–not comprehend the heaven.”
We are, in fact, equally and as much in want of microscopic and telescopic knowledge.
_20th_. An Indian, a Chippewa, recently visited the office, whose name is Nageezhik. This is one of the simplest compounds. I spent some time, however, with the man and his companions to get its exact etymology. _Geezhik_ is the sky, or visible firmament, seen through the clouds. The word denotes two phenomena: first, something visible to the eye that is fixed and does not move, which is implied by the root _geezh_, and the inflection _ik_, which seems applicable to all inanimate substances, to denote the fact of their substantivity. The sky is thus described apparently as a created, or made thing. _Na_ (the _aa_ in Aaron) is a qualifying particle of very general use. It appears to place substances to which it is affixed in a superlative sense, and always as exalting the object. Thus its meaning may be fair, admirable, or excellent. Applied to geezhik, it implies an excellent quality in only one sense, that is excellent or fair, for a spot on the blue profound, of which geezhik is the description. For fairness or excellence cannot exist, or be described in their language, unless seen plainly by the eye. It is the spot made by a small cloud that makes it excellent or fair. The meaning is the fair or excellent (spot) on the sky.
_March 1st_. Madwaybuggashe, a Chippewa Indian, of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, related the following dream of Nebahquam, an Indian who recently died at that place:–
Nebahquam dreamed that he saw a white man coming towards him, who said, You are called. He replied, Where am I called? The white man pointed to a straight path, leading south-east. Follow that. Nebahquam obeyed and followed it, till he came to a thick wooded country through which the path led. He soon came to stumps of trees newly cut down, and afterwards heard a cock crowing. He next passed through a new town, where he was inclined to stop, but was told to go on. Again the cock crew. He next came to an immense plain, through which his path led straight forward for some time, till he came to the foot of a ladder. He was told to ascend this, but it reached up as he went, till, looking back, he had a wide bird’s-eye view of towns, cities, and villages. He continued to go up until he reached the skies. Here stood another white man, who told him to look round a new earth. There were four splendid houses. His guide told him to enter one of these. As he got near it, a door opened, and he entered into a splendid apartment where four white men were seated. Two of these had heads white as snow. They spoke to him saying, Here is the place to which you are called. No Indian has ever reached here before. Few white men come here. Look down and behold the bones of those who have attempted to ascend, bleaching at the foot of the ladder.
The two venerable men then gave him a bright-red deer’s tail, and an eagle’s feather, which he was directed to wear on his head; they were talismans that would protect him from peril and danger, and insure him the favor of the Master of Life. Both white and red men could have reached the place, they continued, but for refusing to receive Him who was sent to save them, and for reviling and killing him. Look around again, they continued to say, and he saw animals and birds of every kind in abundance. These are for the red men, and are placed here to show the peculiar care of the Great Spirit for them.
Nebahquam was a Roman Catholic, and died in that faith. But he said that he had heard the dream in his youth, and he regarded it as sacred. Such are the blendings of superstition and religion in the Indian mind.
_3d_. Some of the incidents of the fictitious legends of the Indians teach lessons which would scarcely be expected. Manibozho, when he had killed a moose, was greatly troubled as to the manner in which he should eat the animal. “If I begin at the head,” said he, “they will say I eat him head first. If I begin at the side, they will say I eat him sideways. If I begin at the tail, they will say I eat him tail first.”
While he deliberated, the wind caused two limbs of a tree that touched to make a harsh creaking noise. “I cannot eat with this noise,” said he, and immediately climbed the tree to prevent it, where he was caught by the arm and held fast between the two trees. Whilst thus held, a pack of hungry wolves came that way and devoured the carcass of the moose before his eyes.
The listener to the story is plainly taught to draw this conclusion: If thou hast meat in thy wanderings, trouble not thyself as to little things, nor let trifles disturb thy temper, lest in trying to rectify small things thou lose greater ones.
_13th_. Some years ago, a Chippewa hunter of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, found that an Indian of a separate band had been found trespassing on his hunting grounds by trapping furred animals. He determined to visit him, but found on reaching his lodge the family absent, and the lodge door carefully closed and tied. In one corner of the lodge he found two small packs of furs. These he seized. He then took his hatchet and blazed a large tree. With a pencil made of a burned end of a stick, he then drew on this surface the figure of a man holding a gun, pointing at another man having traps in his hands. The two packs of furs were placed between them. By these figures he told the tale of the trespass, the seizure of the furs, and the threat of shooting him if he persevered in his trespass. This system of figurative symbols I am inclined to call pictography, as it appears to me to be a peculiar and characteristic mode of picture-writing.
_22d_. Mr. Ellis, in his Polynesian Researches, represents the Pacific Islands as being inhabited by two distinct races of men, each of whom appears to preserve the separate essential marks of a physical and mental type. The first, which is thought the most ancient, consists of the Oceanic negroes, who are distinguished by dark skins, small stature, and woolly or crisped hair. They are clearly Hametic. They occupy Australia, and are found to be aborigines in Tasmania, New Guinea, New Britain, New Caledonia and New Hebrides. The other race has many of the features of the Malays and South Americans, yet differs materially from either.
Yet what is most remarkable, the latter have an ingenious system of numeration, by which they can compute very high numbers. They proceed by decimals, precisely like the Algonquin tribes, but while the arithmetical theory is precisely the same, a comparison shows that the names of the numerals have not the slightest resemblance.
POLYNESIAN. ALGONQUIN.
One, Atabi, Pazhik.
Two, Arua, Neezh.
Three, Atora, Niswi.
Four, Amaha, Newin.
Five, Arima. Nanun.
Six, Aono, Ningodwaswa. Seven, Ahitu, Nizhwaswa.
Eight, Avaru, Schwaswa.
Nine, Aiva, Shonguswa. Ten, Ahuru, Metonna.
The Polynesians, like the Algonquins, then say, ten and one for eleven, &c., till twenty, which is _erua ahuru_, this is two tens; twenty-one consists of the terms for two tens and one. In this manner they count to ten tens, which is _rau_. Ten _raus_ is one _mano_, or thousand; ten _manos_ one million, and so on. How exactly the Algonquin method, but not a speck of analogy in words.
_27th_. One of the emigrant Germans who swarm about the city, a poor ill-dressed wood-sawyer, met me, on coming out of my office door, and, mistaking me for the owner of a visible pile of wood, addressed me in one of the Rhine dialects, inquiring the owner. I replied: _Ich wies necht–es is necht mein_. He looked with delighted astonishment at an American speaking his language–“a stranger in a strange land”–and was ready to proffer any services in his power.
_April 4th_. A friend from Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, writes: “It was my luck to be called to Washington the latter part of February, and to be detained until the 11th ultimo, and in that great city business occupied my attention all the time. The congregation of strangers from all parts of the Union was immense; the number estimated at fifty thousand. Thirty thousand of them, at least, expectants, or thinking themselves worthy of office. But, alas! for the ingratitude of man, they were, almost to a man, sent home without getting their share of the pottage…. There has yet been no change in the head of the Indian Bureau, although there are three candidates in the field.
“I have just heard the rumor of the death of Gen. Harrison (the newly-elected President of U.S.), and, upon inquiry, find that it is well founded. It is said that he died last night at twelve o’clock. He has been suffering for a week past with a severe attack of pneumonia, or bilious pleurisy. Should this be so,[98] it will make a great change in the political destiny of the country for four years to come. Mr. Tyler is a southern man with southern principles, rather a conservative, opposed to a heavy tariff, if in favor of any. There will be a different policy pursued, and you will find great disappointment and confusion. He is not a man who will pursue a proscriptive course in turning out and putting into office, but who will go upon the great principle of the Virginia school in regard to office-holders. ‘Is he honest? Is he