University of Virginia Library

PREFACE.

No man can learn much of the character of the
aborigines of North America unless by personal observation.
The Indian tales, novels, etc. which teem
from the press and circulating libraries, in which the
savages are dragged from their graves to be murdered
and scalped anew, are proofs of the assertion. By
personal observation, the author does not mean such as
may be made while travelling through the Indian country,
at the rate of an hundred miles per diem; and still
less the knowledge that may be acquired by a residence
near the degraded race that a constant intercourse with
our frontier settlers has made miserable. No, a man
must live, emphatically, live, with Indians; share with
them their lodges, their food, and their blankets, for
years, before he can comprehend their ideas, or enter
into their feelings. Whether the Author has so lived
or not, the reader must judge from the evidence of the
following pages.

If the works above alluded to may be considered a
criterion, it seems to be the commonly received opinion

that the aborigines are all heroes; that they are all
insensible of fear, and strangers to weakness. It
would appear that their strongest passions are hourly
called into exercise; that their lips never part but to
give utterance to a sentiment, and that glory and honor
are to them all, as the breath of their nostrils. Is this
their true character? No; the Author's experience
teaches him that they are neither more nor less than
barbarous, ingorant men. Their passions, when excited,
are more furious than ours, because unrestrained
by principle; and explode with more violence because
they are instructed from early childhood to repress and
conceal, till it may be safe to indulge them. There
are wise and good men among Indians, but they are
few and far apart, as in civilized nations, and about in
the same proportion to their numbers.

They have as many of the vices and follies of human
nature as other people, and it is believed no more.
An Indian may be dishonest as well as a white, and is
about as likely to forgive an injury; if it be not such,
as according to the customs of his tribe, must be expiated
with blood. The heart of man beats neither
slower nor faster under a blanket than beneath a coat
and waistcoat.

The key to much that appears strange in the character
of the aborigines may be found in one word; inconsistency.
No certain judgment can be formed of an

Indian's future conduct, by the past. His behaviour in
all probability will not be the same in the same circumstances.
He is the child of nature, and her caprice
will dictate his course. Thus he may steal from his
neighbor one day, and return him fourfold the next.
When suddenly attacked he may fly; yet when he has
made up his mind to fight, no one shews more courage.
He has no laws, but he has customs which have the
force of laws; yet sometimes interest, or the instinct
of self-preservation, prevails over pride and shame, and
he evades their observance.

Another error is, that he is supposed to speak in the
language of poetry on all occasions. It is thought he

In consequence, those writers who introduce our savages
into their works make their discourse a farrago of
metaphor and absurdity. This folly had its origin in
speeches delivered in councils. Such effusions are not
extemporary, but studied efforts, in which the speaker
purposely obscures his meaning with parables and verbiage,
often not understood by his brethren, and not
always by himself. The author has frequently seen the
half breed interpreters completely at a loss; unable to
comprehend their mother tongue thus garbled. By a
very natural mistake, these orations are taken for specimens
of ordinary Indian discourse; a most lame and
impotent conclusion. In truth, nothing is more flat and
common place than their common conversation. They
speak with as little circumlocution, and as directly to
the point as any people. Some figurative idioms may
indeed be found in their several tongues, as well as
in those of civilized nations; but to cut the matter
short; if any man were to address an Indian in such
language as is put into his mouth by the novelists, he
might as well speak Hebrew.

The object of this work is to give to the public a
knowledge of the character and habits of the aborigines,
gained during seven years' intimate acquaintance
with the tribes in the northwest. To make it acceptable
it has been thrown into short stories. Voltaire says,
l'histoire d'un prince n'est pas l'histoire de tout ce qu'il a
fait; mais de tout ce qu'il a fait de digne d'etere rupporté.
With some modification the Author has conducted his
undertaking upon this maxim. He has not written of all
that Indians do and say; but of what they do and say,
that may, in his opinion, instruct or amuse. It may be
said of his book that it contains too much war and
bloodshed; but he replies, in anticipation, that the
defect is inherent in the subject and could not be
avoided. And with this preamble he delivers himself
up to the tender mercies of the critics and reviewers.