University of Virginia Library

[3] INTRODUCTION.

Chapter I.

It is highly probable that the continent of America
was known to the Ancient Carthaginians, and that it was
the great island Atalantis, of which mention is made by
Plato, who represents it as larger than Asia and Africa.
The Carthaginians were a maritime people, and it is
known that they extended their discoveries beyond the
narrow sphere which had hitherto limited the enterprise
of the mariner. And although Plato represents Atalantis
as having been swallowed by an earthquake, and all
knowledge of the new continent, if any such ever existed,
was entirely lost, still it is by no means improbable, that
it had been visited by some of the inhabitants of the old
world, prior to its discovery by Columbus in 1492. The
manner of this discovery is well known, as is also the fact
that Americo Vespucci, a Florentine, under the authority
of Emmanuel king of Portugal, in sailing as far as Brazil
discovered the main land and gave name to America.

These discoveries gave additional excitement to the
adventurous spirit which distinguished those times, and
the flattering reports made of the country which they had
visited, inspired the different nations of Europe, with the
desire of reaping the rich harvest, which the enlightened
and enterprising mind of Columbus, had unfolded to their
view. Accordingly, as early as March 1496, (less than two
years after the discovery by Columbus) a commission was
granted by Henry VII king of England, to John Cabot
and his three sons, empowering them to sail under the
English banner in quest of new discoveries, and in the
event of their success to take possession, in the name of

the king of England, of the countries thus discovered and
not inhabited by Christian people.

The expedition contemplated in this commission was
never carried into effect. But in May 1498 Cabot with his
son Sebastian, embarked on a voyage to attain the desired
object, and succeeded in his design so far as to effect a discovery
of [4] North America, and although he sailed along
the coast from Labrador to Virginia, yet it does not now
appear that he made any attempt either at settlement or
conquest.

This is said to have been the first discovery ever made
of that portion of our continent which extends from the
Gulph of Mexico to the North pole; and to this discovery
the English trace their title to that part of it, subsequently
reduced into possession by them.[1]

As many of the evils endured by the inhabitants of the
western part of Virginia, resulted from a contest between
England and France, as to the validity of their respective
claims to portions of the newly discovered country, it
may not be amiss to take a general view of the discoveries
and settlements effected by each of those powers.

After the expedition of Cabot, no attempt on the part
of England, to acquire territory in America, seems to have
been made until the year 1558. In this year letters patent
were issued by Queen Elizabeth, empowering Sir Humphrey
Gilbert to "discover and take possession of such remote,
heathen, and barbarous lands, as were not actually
possessed by any christian prince or people." Two expeditions,
conducted by this gentleman terminated unfavorably.
Nothing was done by him towards the accomplishment
of the objects in view, more than the taking possession
of the island of New Foundland in the name of the
English Queen.

In 1584 a similar patent was granted to Sir Walter

Raleigh, under whose auspices was discovered the country
south of Virginia. In April of that year he dispatched
two vessels under the command of Amidas and Barlow,
for the purpose of visiting, and obtaining such a knowledge
of the country which he proposed to colonize, as
would facilitate the attainment of his object. In their
voyage they approached the North American continent
towards the Gulph of Florida, and sailing northwardly
touched at an island situate on the inlet into Pamlico
sound, in the state of North Carolina. To this island they
gave the name of Wocoken, and proceeding from thence
reached Roanoke near the mouth of Albemarle sound.
After having remained here some weeks, and obtained
from the natives the best information which they could
impart concerning the country, Amidas and Barlow returned
to England.

In the succeeding year Sir Walter had fitted out a
squadron of seven ships, the command of which he gave
to Sir Richard [5] Grenville. On board of this squadron
were passengers, arms, ammunition and provisions for a
settlement. He touched at the islands of Wocoken and
Roanoke, which had been visited by Amidas and Barlow,
and leaving a colony of one hundred and eight persons
in the island of Roanoke, he returned to England.
These colonists, after having remained about twelve
months and explored the adjacent country, became so discouraged
and exhausted by fatigue and famine, that they
abandoned the country. Sir Richard Grenville returning
shortly afterwards to America, and not being able to find
them, and at a loss to conjecture their fate, left in the
island another small party of settlers and again set sail
for England.

The flattering description which was given of the
country, by those who had visited it, so pleased Queen
Elizabeth, that she gave to it the name of Virginia, as a
memorial that it had been discovered in the reign of a Virgin
Queen.

Other inefficient attempts were afterwards made to
colonize North America during the reign of Elizabeth, but
it was not 'till the year 1607, that a colony was permanently

planted there. In December of the preceding year
a small vessel and two barks, under the command of captain
Newport, and having on board one hundred and five
men, destined to remain, left England. In April they
were driven by a storm into Chesapeak bay, and after a
fruitless attempt to land at Cape Henry, sailed up the
Powhatan (since called James) River, and on the 13th of
May 1607, debarked on the north side of the river at a
place to which they gave the name of Jamestown. From
this period the country continued in the occupancy of
the whites, and remained subject to the crown of Great
Britain until the war of the revolution.

A new charter which was issued in 1609 grants to
"the treasurer and company of the adventurers, of the
city of London for the first colony of Virginia, in absolute
property the lands extending from Point Comfort along
the sea coast two hundred miles to the northward, and
from the same point, along the sea coast two hundred
miles to the southward, and up into the land throughout
from sea to sea, west and north-west; and also all islands
lying within one hundred miles of the coast of both seas
of the precinct aforesaid." Conflicting charters, granted
to other corporations, afterwards narrowed her limits;
that she has been since reduced to her present comparatively
small extent of territory, is attributable exclusively
[6] to the almost suicidal liberality of Virginia herself.

On the part of France, voyages for the discovery and
colonization of North America were nearly contemporaneous
with those made by England for like objects. As
early as the year 1540, a commission was issued by Francis
1st for the establishment of Canada.[2] In 1608, a French
fleet, under the command of Admiral Champlaine, arrived

in the St. Lawrence and founded the city of Quebec. So
successful were her attempts to colonize that province,
that, notwithstanding its proximity to the English colonies,
and the fact that a Spanish sailor had previously entered
the St. Lawrence and established a port at the mouth
of Grand river—neither of those powers seriously contested
the right of France to its possession.—Yet it was
frequently the theatre of war; and as early as 1629 was
subdued by England. By the treaty of St. Germains in
1632 it was restored to France, as was also the then province
of Acadie, now known as Nova Scotia. There is no
doubt but that this latter province was, by priority of
settlement, the property of France, but its principal town
having been repeatedly reduced to possession by the English,
it was ceded to them by the treaty of Utrecht in
1713.

To the country bordering the Mississippi river, and its
tributary streams, a claim was made by England, France
and Spain. The claim of England (based on the discovery
by the Cabots of the eastern shore of the United States,)
included all the country between the parallels of latitude
within which the Atlantic shore was explored, extending
westwardly to the Pacific ocean—a zone athwart the continent
between the thirtieth and forty-eighth degrees of
North latitude.

From the facility with which the French gained the
good will and friendly alliance of the Natives in Canada,
by intermarrying with, and assimilating themselves to the
habits and inclinations of, these children of the forest, an
intimacy arose which induced the Indians to impart freely
to the French their knowledge of the interior country.
Among other things information was communicated to
them, of the fact that farther on there was a river of great
size and immense length, which pursued a course opposite
to that of the St. Lawrence, and emptied itself into an
unknown sea. It was conjectured that it must necessarily
flow either into the Gulph of Mexico, or the South Sea;
and in 1673 Marquette and Joliet, French missionaries,
together with five other men, commenced a journey

[7] from Quebec to ascertain the fact and examine the
country bordering its shores.

From lake Michigan they proceeded up the Fox river
nearly to its source; thence to Ouisconsin; down it to the
Mississippi, in which river they sailed as far as to about
the thirty-third degree of north latitude. From this point
they returned through the Illinois country to Canada.

At the period of this discovery M. de La Salle, a
Frenchman of enterprise, courage and talents but without
fortune, was commandant of fort Frontignac. Pleased
with the description given by Marquette and Joliet, of the
country which they had visited, he formed the determination
of examining it himself, and for this purpose left Canada
in the close of the summer of 1679, in company with
father Louis Hennepin and some others.[3] On the Illinois
he erected fort Crevecœur, where he remained during the
winter, and instructing father Hennepin, in his absence to
ascend the Mississippi to its sources, returned to Canada.
M. de La Salle subsequently visited this country, and establishing
the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, left them
under the command of M. de Tonti, and going back to
Canada, proceeded from thence to France to procure the
co-operation of the Ministry in effecting a settlement of
the valley of the Mississippi. He succeeded in impressing
on the minds of the French Ministry, the great benefits
which would result from its colonization, and was the first
to suggest the propriety of connecting the settlements on
the Mississippi with those in Canada by a cordon of forts;
a measure which was subsequently attempted to be carried
into effect.

With the aid afforded him by the government of
France, he was enabled to prepare an expedition to accomplish
his object, and sailing in 1684 for the mouth of the
Mississippi, steered too far westward and landed in the
province of Texas, and on the banks of the river Guadaloupe.
Every exertion which a brave and prudent man

could make to effect the security of his little colony, and
conduct them to the settlement in Illinois, was fruitlessly
made by him. In reward for all his toil and care he was
basely assassinated; the remnant of the party whom he
was conducting through the wilderness, finally reached the
Arkansas, where was a settlement of French emigrants
from Canada. The colonists left by him at the bay of St.
Bernard were mostly murdered by the natives, the remainder
were carried away by the Spaniards in 1689.

[8] Other attempts made by the French to colonize the
Mississippi near the Gulph of Mexico, were for some time
unavailing. In an expedition for that purpose, conducted
by M. Ibberville, a suit of armor on which was inscribed
Ferdinand de Soto, was found in the possession of some
Indians. In the year 1717 the spot, on which New Orleans
now stands, was selected as the centre of the settlements,
then first made in Louisiana, and the country continued in
the possession of France until 1763. By the treaty of Paris
in that year, she ceded to Great Britain, together with
Canada her possessions east of the Mississippi, excepting
only the island of New Orleans—this and her territory on
the west bank of that river were transferred to Spain.

The title of Spain to the valley of the Mississippi, if
made to depend on priority of discovery, would perhaps,
to say the least, be as good as that of either of the other
powers. Ferdinand de Soto, governor of Cuba, was most
probably the first white man who saw that majestic
stream.

The Spaniards had early visited and given name to
Florida. In 1528 Pamphilo de Narvaez obtained a grant
of it, and fitting out an armament, proceeded with four or
five hundred men to explore and settle the country. He
marched to the Indian village of Appalachas, when he was
attacked and defeated by the natives. The most of those
who escaped death from the hands of the savages, perished
in a storm, by which they were overtaken on their voyage
home. Narvaez himself perished in the wreck, and was
succeeded in his attempt at colonization by de Soto.

Ferdinand de Soto, then governor of Cuba, was a man
of chivalrous and enterprising spirit, and of cool, deliberate

courage. In his expedition to Florida, although attacked
by the Indians, immediately on his landing, yet,
rather seeking than shunning danger, he penetrated the
interior, and crossing the Mississippi, sickened and died on
Red river. So frequent and signal had been the victories
which he had obtained over the Indians, that his name
alone had become an object of terror to them; and his followers,
at once to preserve his remains from violation, and
prevent the natives from acquiring a knowledge of his
death, enclosed his body in a hollow tree, sunk it in the
Red river and returned to Florida.

Thus, it is said, were different parts of this continent
discovered; and by virtue of the settlements thus effected,
by [9] those three great powers of Europe, the greater portion
of it was claimed as belonging to them respectively, in
utter disregard of the rights of the Aborigines. And
while the historian records the colonization of America as
an event tending to meliorate the condition of Europe, and
as having extended the blessings of civil and religious liberty,
humanity must drop the tear of regret, that it has
likewise forced the natives of the new, and the inhabitants
of a portion of the old world, to drink so deeply from the
cup of bitterness.

The cruelties which have been exercised on the Aborigines
of America, the wrong and outrage heaped on
them from the days of Montezuma and Guatimozin, to the
present period, while they excite sympathy for their sufferings,
should extenuate, if not justify the bloody deeds,
which revenge prompted the untutored savages to commit.
Driven as they were from the lands of which they
were the rightful proprietors—Yielding to encroachment
after encroachment 'till forced to apprehend their utter
annihilation—Witnessing the destruction of their villages,
the prostration of their towns and the sacking of cities
adorned with spendid magnificence, who can feel surprised
at any attempt which they might make to rid the country
of its invaders. Who, but must applaud the spirit which
prompted them, when they beheld their prince a captive,
the blood of their nobles staining the earth with its crimson
dye, and the Gods of their adoration scoffed and derided,

to aim at the destruction of their oppressors.—
When Mexico, "with her tiara of proud towers," became
the theatre in which foreigners were to revel in rapine and
in murder, who can be astonished that the valley of
Otumba resounded with the cry of "Victory or Death?"
And yet, resistance on their part, served but as a pretext
for a war of extermination; waged too, with a ferocity,
from the recollection of which the human mind involuntarily
revolts, and with a success which has forever blotted
from the book of national existence, once powerful and
happy tribes.

But they did not suffer alone. As if to fill the cup of
oppression to the brim, another portion of the human
family were reduced to abject bondage, and made the unwilling
cultivators of those lands, of which the Indians
had been dispossessed. Soon after the settlement of North
America was commenced, the negroes of Africa became
an article of commerce, and from subsequent importations
and natural [10] increase have become so numerous as to
excite the liveliest apprehensions in the bosom of every
friend to this country. Heretofore they have had considerable
influence on the affairs of our government; and
recently the diversity of interest, occasioned in Virginia,
by the possession of large numbers of them in the
country east of the blue ridge of mountains, seemed
for a while to threaten the integrity of the state.—Happily
this is now passing away, but how far they may effect the
future destines of America, the most prophetic ken cannot
foresee. Yet, although the philanthopist must weep over
their unfortunate situation, and the patriot shudder
in anticipation of a calamity which it may defy human
wisdom to avert; still it would be unfair to charge the existence
of slavery among us to the policy of the United
States, or to brand their present owners as the instruments
of an evil which they cannot remove. And while others
boast that they are free from this dark spot, let them remember,
that but for them our national escutcheon might
have been as pure and unsullied as their own.[4]

We are indebted to the Dutch for their introduction
into Virginia, and to the ships of other than slave holding
communities, for their subsequent unhallowed transportation
to our shores. Yet those who were mainly instrumental
in forging the chains of bondage, have since rendered
the condition of the negro slave more intolerable
by fomenting discontent among them, and by "scattering
fire brands and torches," which are often not to be extinguished
but in blood.

Nothwithstanding those two great evils which have
resulted from the discovery and colonization of America,
yet to these the world is indebted for the enjoyment of
many and great blessings. They enlarged the theatre of
agricultural enterprise, and thus added to the facilities of
procuring the necessaries of life. They encouraged the
industry of Europeans, by a dependence on them for almost
every species of manufacture, and thus added considerably
to their population, wealth and happiness; while
the extensive tracts of fertile land, covering the face of
this country and inviting to its bosom the enterprising [11]
foreigner, has removed a far off any apprehension of the
ill effects arising from a too dense population.

In a moral and political point of view much good has
likewise resulted from the settlement of America. Religion,
freed from the fetters which enthralled her in Europe,
has shed her benign influence on every portion of our country.
Divorced from an adulterous alliance with state, she
has here stalked forth in the simplicity of her founder;
and with "healing on her wings, spread the glad tidings
of salvation to all men." It is true that religious intolerance
and blind bigotry, for some time clouded our horizon,
but they were soon dissipated; and when the sun arose
which ushered in the dawn of our national existence scarce
a speck could be seen to dim its lustre. Here too was

reared the standard of civil liberty, and an example set,
which may teach to the nations of the old world, that as
people are really the source of power, government should
be confided to them. Already have the beneficial effects
of this example been manifested, and the present condition
of Europe clearly shows, that the lamp of liberty, which
was lighted here, has burned with a brilliancy so steady as
to have reflected its light across the Atlantic. Whether it
will be there permitted to shine, is somewhat problematical.
But should a "holy alliance of legitimates" extinguish
it, it will be but for a season. Kings, Emperors and
Priests cannot succeed much longer in staying the march
of freedom. The people are sensibly alive to the oppression
of their rulers—they have groaned beneath the burden
'till it has become too intolerable to be borne; and
they are now speaking in a voice which will make tyrants
tremble on their throne.

[12] Chapter II.

When America was first visited by Europeans, it was
found that its inhabitants were altogether ignorant of the
country from which their ancestors had migrated, and of
the period at which they had been transplanted to the new
world. And although there were among them traditions
seeming to cast a light upon these subjects, yet when thoroughly
investigated, they tended rather to bewilder than
lead to any certain conclusion. The origin of the natives
has ever since been a matter of curious speculation with
the learned; conjecture has succeeded conjecture, hypothesis
has yielded to hypothesis, as wave recedes before wave,
still it remains involved in a labyrinth of inexplicable difficulties,
from which the most ingenious mind will perhaps
never be able to free it.

In this respect the situation of the aborigines of America
does not differ from that of the inhabitants of other
portions of the globe. An impenetrable cloud hangs over
the early history of other nations, and defies the researches
of the learned in any attempt to trace them to their origin.
The attempt has nevertheless been repeatedly made; and
philosophers, arguing from a real or supposed conformity
of one people to another, have vainly imagined that they
had attained to certainty on these subjects. And while
one has in this manner, undertaken to prove China to have
been an Egyptian colony, another, pursuing the same course
of reasoning, has, by way of ridicule, shewn how easily a
learned man of Tobolski or Pekin might as satisfactorily
prove France to have been a Trojan, a Greek or even an
Arabian colony; thus making manifest the utter futility
of endeavoring to arrive at certainty in this way.[5]

[13] Nor is this to be at all wondered at, when we reflect
on the barbarous state of those nations in their infancy,
the imperfection of traditionary accounts of what had
transpired centuries before, and in many instances the entire
absence of a written language, by which, either to perpetuate
events, or enable the philosopher by analogy of
language to ascertain their affinity with other nations.
Conjectural then as must be every disquisition as to the
manner in which this continent was first peopled, still
however, as many men eminent for learning and piety
have devoted much labor and time to the investigation of
the subject, it may afford satisfaction to the curious to see
some of those speculations recorded. Discordant as they
are in many respects, there is nevertheless one fact as to
the truth of which they are nearly all agreed; Mr. Jefferson
is perhaps the only one, of those who have written on
the subject, who seems to discredit the assertion that

America was peopled by emigrants from the old world.
How well the conjecture, that the eastern inhabitants of
Asia were descendants of the Indians of America can be
supported by any knowledge which is possessed of the
different languages spoken by the Aborigines, will be for
others to determine. "Neque confirmare argumentis,
neque refellere, in animo est; ex ingenio suo, quisque
demat vel addat fidem."

Among those who have given to the world their opinions
on the origin of the natives of America, is Father
Jos. Acosta, a Jesuit who was for some time engaged as a
missionary among them. From the fact that no ancient
author has made mention of the [14] compass, he discredits
the supposition that the first inhabitants of this country
found their way here by sea. His conclusion is that
they must have found a passage by the North of Asia and
Europe which he supposes to join each other; or by those
regions which lie southward of the straits of Magellan.

Gregorio Garcia, who was likewise a missionary
among the Mexicans and Peruvians, from the traditions
of those nations, and from the variety of characters, customs,
languages and religion, observable in the new world,
has formed the opinion that it was peopled by several different
nations.

John de Laet, a Flemish writer, maintains that America
received its first inhabitants from Scythia or Tartary,
and soon after the dispersion of Noah's grand-sons. The
resemblance of the northern Indians, in feature, complexion
and manner of living, to the Scythians, Tartars, and
Samojedes, being greater than to any other nations.

Emanuel de Moraez, in his history of Brazil, says
that this continent was wholly peopled by the Carthaginians
and Israelites. In confirmation of this opinion, he
mentions the discoveries which the Carthaginians are
known to have made beyond the coast of Africa. The
progress of these discoveries being stopped by the Senate
of Carthage, those who happened to be in the newly discovered
countries, cut off from all communication with
their countrymen, and being destitute of many of the
necessaries of life, easily fell into a state of barbarism.

George de Huron, a Dutch writer on this subject, considering
the short space of time which elapsed between the
creation of the world and the deluge, maintains that
America could not have been peopled before the flood.
He likewise supposes that its first inhabitants were located
in the north; and that the primitive colonies extended
themselves over the whole extent of the continent, by
means of the Isthmus of Panama. It is his opinion that
the first founders of these Indian colonies were Scythians;
that the Phœnicians and Carthaginians subsequently got
to America across the Atlantic, and the Chinese across the
Pacific ocean, and that other nations might have landed
there by one of these means, or been thrown on the coast
by tempest: since through the whole extent of the continent,
both in its northern and southern parts there are
evident marks of a mixture of the northern nations with
those who have come from other places.

[15] He also supposes that another migration of the
Phœnicians took place during a three years voyage made
by the Tyrian fleet in the service of king Solomon. He
asserts, on the authority of Josephus, that the port at which
this embarkation was made, lay in the Mediterranean. The
fleet, he adds, went in quest of Elephants' teeth and Peacocks,
to the western coast of Africa, which is Tarshish,
then for gold to Ophir, which is Haite or the Island of
Hispaniola. In the latter opinion he is supported by Columbus,
who, when he discovered that Island, thought he
could trace the furnaces in which the gold had been refined.

Monsieur Charlevoix, who travelled through North
America, is of opinion that it received its first inhabitants
from Tartary and Hyrcania. In support of this impression
he says that some of the animals which are to be found
here, must have come from those countries: a fact which
would go to prove that the two hemispheres join to the
northward of Asia. And in order to strengthen this conjecture,
he relates the following story, which he says was
told to him by Father Grollon, a French Jesuit, as matter
of fact.

Father Grollon said, that after having labored some

time in the missions of New France, he passed over to
China. One day as he was travelling in Tartary he met a
Huron woman whom he had known in Canada. He asked
her by what adventure she had been carried into a country
so very remote from her own; she replied that having been
taken in war, she was conducted from nation to nation,
until she reached the place where she then was.

Monsieur Charlevoix narrates another circumstance of
a similar kind. He says that he had been assured, another
Jesuit had met with a Floridian woman in China. She
also had been made captive by certain Indians, who gave
her to those of a more distant country, and by these again
she was given to those of another nation, 'till having been
successively passed from country to country, and after having
travelled through regions extremely cold, she at length
found herself in Tartary. Here she had married a Tartar,
who had attended the conquerors in China, and with whom
she then was.

Arguing from these facts and from the similarity of
several kinds of wild beasts which are found in America,
with those of Hyrcania and Tartary, he arrives at what he
deems, a [16] rational conclusion, that more than one nation
in America had Scythian or Tartarian extraction.

Charlevoix possessed a good opportunity of becoming
acquainted with the character and habits of the American
Indians. His theory however has been controverted by
some, possessing equal advantages of observation. Mr.
Adair, an intelligent gentleman who resided among the
nations during the space of forty years, and who became
well acquainted with their manners, customs, religion, traditions
and language, has given to them a very different
origin. But perfect soever as may have been his knowledge
of their manners, customs, religion and traditions,
yet it must be admitted that any inquiry into these, with
a view to discover their origin, would most probably prove
fallacious. A knowledge of the primitive language, alone
can cast much light on the subject. Whether this knowledge
can ever be attained, is, to say the least, very questionable—Being
an unwritten language, and subject to
change for so many centuries, it can scarcely be supposed

now to bear much, if any affinity, to what it was in its
purity.

Mr. Adair says, that from the most exact observation
he could make during the long time which he traded
among the Indians, he was forced to believe them lineally
descended from the Israelites, either when they were a
maritime power, or soon after the general captivity; most
probably the latter.

He thinks that had the nine tribes and a half, which
were carried off by Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, and
which settled in Media, remained there long, they would,
by intermarrying with the nations of that country, from a
natural fickleness and proneness to idolatry, and from the
force of example, have adopted and bowed before the Gods
of the Medes and Assyrians; and have carried them along
with them. But he affirms that there is not the least trace
of this idolatry to be discovered among the Indians: and
hence he argues that those of the ten tribes who were the
forefathers of the natives, soon advanced eastward from
Assyria and reached their settlements in the new continent,
before the destruction of the first Temple.

In support of the position that the American Indians
are thus descended, Mr. Adair adduces among others the
following arguments:

1st, Their division into tribes.

"As each nation has its particular symbol, so each tribe
has [17] the badge from which it is denominated. The
Sachem is a necessary party in conveyances and treaties,
to which he affixes the mark of his tribe. If we go from
nation to nation among them, we shall not find one, who
does not distinguish himself by his respective family.
The genealogical names which they assume, are derived
either from the names of those animals whereof the cherubim
is said in revelation to be compounded; or from such
creatures as are most similar to them. The Indians bear
no religious respect to the animals from which they derive
their names; on the contrary they kill them whenever an
opportunity serves.

"When we consider that these savages have been upwards
of twenty centuries without the aid of letters to

carry down their traditions, it can not be reasonably expected,
that they should still retain the identical names of
their primogenial tribes: their main customs corresponding
with those of the Israelites, sufficiently clear the subject.
Moreover they call some of their tribes by the
names of the cherubinical figures, which were carried on
the four principal standards of Israel."

2nd, Their worship of Jehovah.

"By a strict, permanent, divine precept, the Hebrew
nation was ordered to worship at Jerusalem, Jehovah the
true and living God, who by the Indians is styled `Yohewah.'
The seventy-two interpreters have translated this
word so as to signify, Sir, Lord, Master, applying to mere
earthly potentates, without the least signification or relation
to that great and awful name, which describes the
divine presence."

3rd, Their notions of a theocracy.

"Agreeably to the theocracy or divine government of
Israel, the Indians think the deity to be the immediate
head of the state. All the nations of Indians have a great
deal of religious pride, and an inexpressible contempt for
the white people. In their war orations they used to call
us the accursed people, but flatter themselves with the name
of the beloved people, because their supposed ancestors
were, as they affirm, under the immediate government of
the Deity, who was present with them in a peculiar manner,
and directed them by Prophets, while the rest of the
world were aliens to the covenant.[6] When the old Archimagus,

or any of their Magi, is [18] persuading the people at
their religious solemnities, to a strict observance of the old
beloved or divine speech, he always calls them the beloved or
holy people, agreeably to the Hebrew epithet, Ammi, (my
people) during the theocracy of Israel. It is this opinion,
that God has chosen them out of the rest of mankind, as
his peculiar people, which inspires the white Jew, and the
red American, with that steady hatred against all the
world except themselves, and renders them hated and despised
by all."

5th, Their language and dialects.

"The Indian language and dialects appear to have the
very idiom and genius of the Hebrew. Their words and
sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, sonorous
and bold; and often both the letters and signification are
synonymous with the Hebrew language." Of these Mr.
Adair cites a number of examples.

6th, Their manner of counting time.

"The Indians count time after the manner of the Hebrews.
They divide the year into spring, summer, autumn
and winter. They number their year from any of these
four periods, for they have no name for a year; and they
subdivide these and count the year by lunar months, like
the Israelites who counted time by moons, as their name
sufficiently testifies.

"The number and regular periods of the religious feasts
among the Indians, is a good historical proof that they
counted time by and observed a weekly Sabbath, long
after their arrival in America. They began the year at
the appearance of the first new moon of the vernal equinox,
according to the ecclesiastical year of Moses. 'Till
the seventy years captivity [19] commenced, the Israelites
had only numeral names for their months, except Abib
and Ethanim; the former signifying a green ear of corn,
the latter robust or valiant; by the first name the Indians
as an explicative, term their passover, which the trading
people call the green corn dance."

7th, Their prophets or high priests.

"In conformity to, or after the manner of the Jews, the
Indians have their prophets, high priests, and others of a

religious order. As the Jews have a Sanctum Sanctorum,
so have all the Indian nations. There they deposit their consecrated
vessels—none of the laity daring to approach that
sacred place. The Indian tradition says, that their forefathers
were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit by
which they foretold future events; and that this was transmitted
to their offspring, provided they obeyed the sacred
laws annexed to it.[7] [20] Ishtoallo is the name of all their
priestly order and their pontifical office descends by inheritance
to the eldest. There are traces of agreement,
though chiefly lost, in their pontifical dress. Before the
Indian Archimagus officiates in making the supposed
holy fire for the yearly atonement of sin, the Sagan
clothes him with a white ephod, which is a waistcoat without
sleeves. In resemblance of the Urim and Thummim
the American Archimagus wears a breastplate made of a
white conch-shell, with two holes bored in the middle of it,
through which he puts the ends of an otter-skin strap;
and fastens a buck-horn white button to the outside of
each; as if in imitation of the precious stones of the
Urim."

In remarking upon this statement of Mr. Adair, Faber,
a learned divine of the church of England, has said, that
Ishtoallo (the name according to Adair of the Indian
priests) is most probably a corruption of Ish-da-Eloah, a man
of God, (the term used by the Shunemitish woman in
speaking of Elisha;) and that Sagan is the very name by
which the Hebrews called the deputy of the High Priest,
who supplied his office and who performed the functions of
it in the absence of the high priest, or when any accident
had disabled him from officiating in person.

8th, Their festivals, fasts and religious rites.

"The ceremonies of the Indians in their religious worship,
[21] are more after the Mosaic institution, than of
Pagan imitation. This could not be the fact if a majority
of the old nations were of heathenish descent. They are
utter strangers to all the gestures practiced by Pagans in
their religious rites. They have likewise an appellative,
which with them is the mysterious, essential name of
God; the tetragrammaton, which they never use in common

speech. They are very particular of the time and place,
when and where they mention it, and this is always done
in a very solemn manner. It is known that the Jews had
so great and sacred regard for the four lettered, divine
name, as scarcely ever to mention it, except when the High
Priest went into the sanctuary for the expiation of sins."

Mr. Adair likewise says that the American Indians,
like the Hebrews, have an ark in which are kept various
holy vessels, and which is never suffered to rest on the bare
ground. "On hilly ground, where stones are plenty, they
always place it on them, but on level land it is made to
rest on short legs. They have also a faith, in the power
and holiness of their ark, as strong as the Israelites had in
theirs. It is too sacred and dangerous to be touched by
any one, except the chieftain and his waiter. The leader
virtually acts the part of a priest of war protempore, in
imitation of the Israelites fighting under the divine military
banner."

Among their other religious rites the Indians, according
to Adair, cut out the sinewy part of the thigh; in
commemoration, as he says, of the Angel wrestling with
Jacob.

12th, Their abstinence from unclean things.

"Eagles of every kind are esteemed by the Indians to
be unclean food; as also ravens, crows, bats, buzzards and
every species of owl. They believe that swallowing gnats,
flies and the like, always breed sickness. To this that divine
sarcasm alludes `swallowing a camel and straining at
a gnat.' " Their purifications for their Priests, and for having
touched a dead body or other unclean thing, according
to Mr. Adair, are quite Levitical. He acknowledges however,
that they have no traces of circumcision; but he
supposes that they lost this rite in their wanderings, as it
ceased among the Hebrews, during the forty years in the
wilderness.

15th, Their cities of refuge.

"The Israelites had cities of refuge for those who
killed persons unawares. According to the same particular
divine [22] law of mercy, each of the Indian nations has
a house or town of refuge, which is a sure asylum to protect

a man-slayer, or the unfortunate captive, if they can but
once enter into it. In almost every nation they have
peaceable towns, called ancient holy, or white towns.
These seem to have been towns of refuge; for it is not in
the memory of man, that ever human blood was shed in
them, although they often force persons from thence and
put them to death elsewhere."

16th, Their purifications and ceremonies preparatory.

"Before the Indians go to war they have many preparatory
ceremonies of purification and fasting like what
is recorded of the Israelites."

21st, Their raising seed to a deceased brother.

"The surviving brother, by the Mosaic law, was to
raise seed to a deceased brother, who left a widow childless.
The Indian custom looks the very same way; but
in this as in their law of blood, the eldest brother can redeem."

With these and many arguments of a like kind, has
Mr. Adair endeavored to support the conjecture, that the
American Indians are lineally descended from the Israelites;
and gravely asks of those who may dissent from his
opinion of their origin and descent, to inform him how
they came here, and by what means they formed the long
chain of rites and customs so similar to those of the Hebrews,
and dissimilar to the rites and customs of the pagan
world.

Major Carver, a provincial officer who sojourned some
time with the Indians and visited twelve different nations
of them, instead of observing the great similarity, mentioned
by Adair as existing between the natives and Hebrews,
thought he could trace features of resemblance between
them and the Chinese and Tartars; and has undertaken
to shew how they might have got here. He says,

"Although it is not ascertained certainly, that the continents
of Asia and America join each other, yet it is proven
that the sea which is supposed to divide them, is full of
islands the distance from which to either continent, is comparatively
trifling. From these islands a communication
with the main land could be more readily effected than
from any other point." "It is very evident that the manners

and customs of the American Indians, resemble that
of the Tartars; and I have no doubt that in some future
era, it will be reduced to a certainty that in some of the
wars between the Chinese and Tartars, a part [23] of the
inhabitants of the northern provinces were driven from
their country and took refuge in some of these islands,
and from thence found their way to America. At different
periods each nation might prove victorious, and the
conquered by turns fly before the conquerors; and hence
might arise the similitude of the Indians to all these people,
and that animosity which exists among so many of
their tribes."

After remarking on the similarity which exists between
the Chinese and Indians, in the singular custom of
shaving or plucking out the hair leaving only a small spot
on the crown of the head; and the resemblance in sound
and signification which many of the Chinese and Indian
words bear to each other, he proceeds, "After the most
critical inquiry and mature deliberation, I am of opinion
that America received its first inhabitants from the northeast,
by way of the islands mentioned as lying between
Asia and America. This might have been effected at different
times and from different parts: from Tartary,
China, Japan or Kamschatka, the inhabitants of these
countries resembling each other, in color, feature and
shape."

Other writers on this subject, coinciding in opinion
with Carver, mention a tradition which the Indians in
Canada have, that foreign merchants clothed in silk
formerly visited them in great ships: these are supposed
to have been Chinese, the ruins of Chinese ships having
been found on the American coast. The names of many
of the American kings, are said to be Tartar; and Tartarax,
who reigned formerly in Quivira, means the Tartar.
Manew, the founder of the Peruvian empire, most probably
came from the Manchew Tartars. Montezuma, the
title of the emperors of Mexico, is of Japanese extraction;
for according to some authors it is likewise the appellation
of the Japanese Monarch. The plant Ginseng,
since found in America, where the natives termed it

Garentoguen, a word of the same import in their language,
with Ginseng in the Tartar, both meaning THE
THINGS OF A MAN.

Dr. Robertson is decidedly of opinion, that the different
tribes of American Indians, excepting the Esquimaux,
are of Asiatic extraction. He refers to a tradition among
the Mexicans of the migration of their ancestors from a
remote country, situated to the north-west of Mexico, and
says they point out their various stations as they advanced
into the interior provinces, which is precisely the route
they must have held, if they had been emigrants from
Asia.

Mr. Jefferson, in his notes on Virginia, says, that the
passage from Europe to America was always practicable,
even to the imperfect [24] navigation of the ancient times;
and that, from recent discoveries, it is proven, that if Asia and
America be separated at all it is only by a narrow streight.
"Judging from the resemblance between the Indians of
America and the eastern inhabitants of Asia, we should
say that the former are descendants of the latter, or the
latter of the former, except indeed the Esquimaux, who,
from the same circumstance of resemblance, and from
identity of language, must be derived from the Greenlanders.
A knowledge of their several languages would
be the most certain evidence of their derivation which
could be produced. In fact it is the best proof of the
affinity of nations, which ever can be referred to."

After regretting that so many of the Indian tribes
have been suffered to perish, without our having collected
and preserved the general rudiments of their language, he
proceeds,

"Imperfect as is our knowledge of the tongues spoken
in America, it suffices to discover the following remarkable
fact. Arranging them under the radical ones to
which they may be palpably traced, and doing the same
by those of the red men of Asia, there will be found probably
twenty in America, for one in Asia, of those radical
languages; so called because if ever they were the same,
they have lost all resemblance to one another. A separation
into dialects may be the work of a few ages only, but

for two dialects to recede from one another, 'till they have
lost all vestiges of their common origin, must require an
immense course of time; perhaps not less than many people
give to the age of the earth. A greater number of
those radical changes of language having taken place
among the red men of America proves them of greater antiquity
than those of Asia.

Indian traditions say, that "in ancient days the Great
Island appeared upon the big waters, the earth brought
forth trees, herbs and fruits: that there were in the world
a good and a bad spirit, the good spirit formed creeks and
rivers on the great island, and created numerous species
of animals to inhabit the forests, and fishes of all kinds to
inhabit the water. He also made two beings to whom he
gave living souls and named them Ea-gwe-howe, (real
people). Subsequently some of the people became giants
and committed outrages upon the others. After many
years a body of Ea-gwe-howe people encamped on the
bank of a majestic stream, which they named, Kanawaga
(St. Lawrence.) After a long time a number of foreign
people sailed from a part unknown, but unfortunately the
winds drove them off and they ultimately landed on the
southern part of the great island and many of the crew
perished. Those who survived, selected a place for residence,
erected fortifications, became a numerous people
and extended their settlements."[8]

Thus various and discordant are the conjectures respecting
the manner in which this continent was first
peopled. Although some [25] of them appear more
rational and others, yet are they at best but hypothetical
disquisitions on a subject which will not now admit of
certainty. All agree that America was inhabited long anterior
to its discovery by Columbus, and by a race of human
beings, who, however numerous they once were, are
fast hastening to extinction; some centuries hence and
they will be no more known. The few memorials, which
the ravages of time have suffered to remain of them, in
those portions of the country from which they have been

long expelled; have destruction dealt them by the ruthless
hand of man. History may transmit to after ages, the
fact that they once were, and give their "local habitation
and their name." These will probably be received as the
tales of fiction, and posterity be at as much loss to determine,
whether they ever had an existence, as we now are
to say from whence they sprang.

Chapter III.

The aborigines of America, although divided into
many different tribes, inhabiting various climates, and without
a community of language, are yet assimilated to each
other in stature and complexion, more strikingly than are
the inhabitants of the different countries of Europe. The
manners and customs of one nation, are very much the
manners and customs of all; and although there be peculiarities
observable among all, yet are they fewer and less
manifest than those which mark the nations of the old
world, and distinguish them so palpably from each other.
A traveller might have traversed the country, when occupied
exclusively by the natives, without remarking among
them, the diversity which exists in Europe; or being impressed
with the contrast which a visit across the Pyrennes
would exhibit, between the affability and vivacity of a
Frenchman at a theatre or in the Elysian fields, and the
hauteur and reserve of a Spaniard at their bloody circus,
when "bounds with one lashing spring the mighty brute."

[26] Nor is there much in savage life, calculated to
inspire the mind of civilized man, with pleasurable sensations.
Many of the virtues practised by them, proceed
rather from necessity or ignorance than from any ethical
principle existing among them. The calm composure with
which they meet death and their stoical indifference to
bodily pain, are perhaps more attributable to recklessness
of life and physical insensibility,[9] than to fortitude or
magnanimity; consequently they do not much heighten
the zest of reflection, in contemplating their character.
The christian and the philanthropist, with the benevolent

design of improving their morals and meliorating their
condition, may profitably study every peculiarity and trait
of character observable among them; it will facilitate their
object and enable them the more readily to reclaim them
from a life of heathenish barbarity, and to extend to them
the high boons of civilization and christianity.

It has been observed that the different tribes of natives
of North America, resemble each other very much in stature
and complexion, in manners and customs; a general
description of these will therefor be sufficient.

The stature of an Indian, is generally that of the medial
stature of the Anglo Americans; the Osages are said
to form an exception to this rule, being somewhat taller.
They are almost universally straight and well proportioned;
their limbs are clean, but less muscular than those of the
whites, and their whole appearance strongly indicative of
effeminacy. In walking, they invariable place one foot directly
before the other—the toes never verging from a
right line with the heel. When traveling in companies,
their manner of marching is so peculiar as to have given
rise to the expression, "Indian file;" and while proceeding
in this way, each carefully places his foot in the vestige of
the foremost of the party, so as to leave the impression
of the footsteps of but one. They have likewise in their
gait and carriage something so entirely different from the
gait and carriage of the whites, as to enable a person to
pronounce on one at a considerable distance. The hair of
an Indian is also strikingly different from that of the
whites. It is always black and straight, hangs loose and
looks as if it were [27] oiled. There is a considerable resemblance
in appearance, between it and the glossy black
mane of a thoroughbred horse; though its texture is finer.

In the squaws there exist, the same delicacy of proportion,
the same effeminacy of person, the same slenderness
of hand and foot, which characterise the female of
refined society; in despite too of the fact, that every
laborious duty and every species of drudgery, are imposed
on them from childhood. Their faces are broad, and between
the eyes they are exceedingly wide; their cheek
bones are high and the eyes black in both sexes—the noses

of the women inclining generally to the flat nose of the
African; while those of the men are more frequently aquiline
than otherwise.

Instances of decrepitude and deformity, are rarely
known to exist among them: this is probably owing to
the manner in which they are tended and nursed in infancy.
It is not necessary that the mother should, as has been
supposed, be guilty of the unnatural crime of murdering
her decrepid or deformed offspring—the hardships they
encounter are too great to be endured by infants not possessed
of natural vigor, and they sink beneath them.

Their countenances are for the most inflexible, stern
and immovable. The passions which agitate or distract
the mind, never alter its expression, nor do the highest
ecstacies of which their nature is susceptible, ever relax its
rigidity. With the same imperturbability of feature, they
encounter death from the hand of an enemy, and receive
the greetings of a friend.

In their intercourse with others, they seem alike insensible
to emotions of pleasure and of pain; and rarely
give vent to feelings of either. The most ludicrous scenes
scarcely ever cause them to laugh, or the most interesting
recitals draw from them more than their peculiar monosyllabic
expression of admiration.

In conversation they are modest and unassuming; indeed
taciturnity is as much a distinguishing trait of Indian
character, as it ever was of the Roman. In their councils
and public meetings, they never manifest an impatience to
be heard, or a restlessness under observations, either grating
to personal feeling or opposite to their individual ideas
of propriety: on the contrary they are still, silent and attentive;
and each is heard with the respect due to his
years, his wisdom, his experience, or the fame which his
exploits may have acquired him. [28] A loud and garrulous
Indian is received by the others with contempt, and a
cowardly disposition invariably attributed to him—

is as much and truly an apothegm with them as with us.

Their taciturnity and irrisibility however, are confined
to their sober hours. When indulging their insatiate thirst
for spirit, they are boisterous and rude, and by their obstreperous
laughter, their demoniacal shrieks and turbulent
vociferations, produce an appalling discord, such as
might well be expected to proceed from a company of infernal
spirits at their fiendish revels; and exhibit a striking
contrast to the low, monotonous tones used by them
at other times.

There can be no doubt that the Indians are the most
lazy, indolent race of human beings. No attempt which
has ever been made to convert them into slaves, has
availed much. The rigid discipline of a Spanish master,
has failed to overcome that inertness, from which an Indian
is roused only by war and the chase—Engaged in
these, he exhibits as much activity and perseverance, as
could be displayed by any one; and to gratify his fondness
for them, will encounter toils and privations, from which
others would shrink. His very form indicates at once, an
aptitude for that species of exercise which war and hunting
call into action, and an unfitness for the laborious drudgery
of husbandry and many of the mechanic arts. Could
they have been converted into profitable slaves, it is more
than probable we should never have been told, that "the
hand of providence was visible in the surprising instances
of mortality among the Indians, to make room for the
whites."

In their moral character many things appear of a nature,
either so monstrous as to shock humanity, or so
absurd as to excite derision; yet they have some redeeming
qualities which must elicit commendation. And while
we view with satisfaction those bright spots, shining more
brilliantly from the gloom which surrounds them, their
want of learning and the absence of every opportunity for
refinement, should plead in extenuation of their failings
and their vices. Some of the most flagrant of these, if
not encouraged, have at least been sanctioned by the
whites. In the war between the New England colonies
and the Narragansetts, it was the misfortune of the brave
Philip, after having witnessed the destruction of the

[29] greater part of his nation, to be himself slain by a Mohican.
After his head had been taken off, Oneco, chief of
the Mohicans, then in alliance with the colonists, claimed
that he had a right to feast himself on the body of his
fallen adversary. The whites did not object to this, but
composedly looked on Oneco, broiling and eating the flesh
of Philip—and yet cannibalism was one of their most savage
traits of character.

This was a general, if not an universal custom among
the Indians, when America became known to the whites.
Whether it has yet entirely ceased is really to be doubted:
some of those who have been long intimate with them,
affirm that it has not; though it is far from being prevalent.

The Indians are now said to be irritable; but when Europeans
first settled among them, they were not more irascible
than their new neighbors. In their anger however,
they differ very much from the whites. They are not talkative
and boisterous as these are, but silent, sullen and revengeful.
If an injury be done them, they never forget,
they never forgive it. Nothing can be more implacable
than their resentment—no time can allay it—no change
of circumstances unfix its purpose. Revenge is to them
as exhilarating, as the cool draught from the fountain, to
the parched and fevered lips of a dying man.

When taking vengeance of an enemy, there is no
cruelty which can be exercised, no species of torture,
which their ingenuity can devise, too severe to be inflicted.
To those who have excited a spirit of resentment in the
bosom of an Indian, the tomahawk and scalping knife
are instruments of mercy. Death by the faggot—by
splinters of the most combustible wood, stuck in the flesh
and fired—maiming and disemboweling, tortures on which
the soul sickens but to reflect, are frequently practiced.
To an enemy of their own color, they are perhaps more
cruel and severe, than to the whites. In requiting upon
him, every refinement of torture is put in requisition, to
draw forth a sigh or a groan, or cause him to betray
some symptom of human sensibility. This they never
effect. An Indian neither shrinks from a knife, nor

winces at the stake; on the contrary he seems to exult
in his agony, and will mock his tormentors for the leniency
and mildness of their torture.[10]

[30] Drinking and gambling are vices, to which the
Indians, as well as the whites, are much addicted. Such
is their fondness for spirit of any kind that they are rarely
known to be sober, when they have it in their power to
be otherwise. Neither a sense of honor or of shame has
been able to overcome their propensity for its use; and
when drunk, the ties of race, of friendship and of kindred
are too weak, to bind their ferocious tempers.

In gambling they manifest the same anxiety, which
we see displayed at the card table of the whites. The
great difference seems to be, that we depend too frequently
on sleight and dexterity; whereas while they are shaking
their gourd neck of half whited plumbstones, they only
use certain tricks of conjuration, which in their simplicity
they believe will ensure them success. To this method of
attaining an object, they have frequent recourse. Superstition
is the concomitant of ignorance. The most enlightened,
are rarely altogether exempt from its influence—with
the uninformed it is a master passion, swaying
and directing the mind in all its operations.

In their domestic economy, Indians are, in some respects,
like the rude of all countries. They manifest but
little respect for the female; imposing on her not only the

duties of the hut, but also the more laborious operations
of husbandry; and observing towards them the hauteur
and distance of superior beings.

There are few things, indeed, which mark with equal
precision, the state of civilization existing in any community,
as the rank assigned in it to females. In the
rude and barbarous stages of society, they are invariably
regarded as inferior beings, [31] instruments of sensual
gratification, and unworthy the attention and respect of
men. As mankind advance to refinement, females gradually
attain an elevation of rank, and acquire an influence
in society, which smoothes the asperities of life and produces
the highest polish, of which human nature is susceptible.

Among the Indians there is, however rude they may
be in other respects, a great respect always paid to female
chastity. Instances in which it has been violated by
them, if to be found at all, are extremely few. However
much the passion of revenge may stimulate to acts of
cruelty, the propensities of nature never lead them to infringe
the virtue of women in their power.

The general character of the Indians, was more estimable,
when they first became known to Europeans, than
it is at present. This has been ascribed to the introduction
of ardent spirits among them—other causes however,
have conspired to produce the result.

The cupidity of those who were engaged in commerce
with the natives, too frequently prompted them to
take every advantage, for self aggrandizement, which they
could obtain over the Indians. In the lucrative traffic carried
on with them, the influence of honesty was not predominant—the
real value of the commodity procured, was
never allowed; while upon every article given in exchange,
extortion alone affixed the price. These examples
could not fail to have a deteriorating effect upon their untutored
minds; and we find them accordingly losing their
former regard for truth, honesty and fidelity; and becoming
instead deceitful, dishonest and treacherous. Many
of their ancient virtues however, are still practised by
them.

The rights of hospitality are accorded to those who
go among them, with a liberality and sincerity which
would reflect credit on civilized man. And although it
has been justly said that they rarely forgive an enemy,
yet is it equally true that they never forsake their friends;
to them they are always kind, generous and beneficient.

After the ceremony of introduction is over,[11] a captive
enemy, [32] who is adopted by them, is also treated with
the utmost humanity and attention. An Indian cheerfully
divides his last morsel with an adopted son or brother;
and will readily risk life in his defence. Such indeed, is
the kindness which captives thus situated invariably receive,
that they frequently regret the hour of their redemption,
and refuse to leave their red brethren, to return and
mingle with the whites.

As members of a community, they are at all times
willing to devote their every faculty, for the good of the
whole. The honor and welfare of their respective tribes,
are primary considerations with them. To promote these,
they cheerfully encounter every privation, endure every
hardship, and face every danger. Their patriotism is of
the most pure and disinterested character; and of those
who have made us feel so sensibly, the horrors of savage
warfare, many were actuated by motives which would reflect
honor on the citizens of any country. The unfortunate
Tecumseh was a remarkable example of the most ardent
and patriotic devotion to his country.

Possessed of an acute and discerning mind, he witnessed
the extending influence of the whites, with painful
solicitude. Listening with melancholy rapture, to the traditionary
accounts of the former greatness of his nation,
and viewing in anticipation the exile or extinction of his
race, his noble soul became fired with the hope that he
might retrieve the fallen fortune of his country, and restore
it to its pristine dignity and grandeur. His attachment
to his tribe impelled him to exertion and every nerve was
strained in its cause.

Determined if possible to achieve the independence of
his nation, and to rid her of those whom he considered
her oppressors, he formed the scheme of uniting in hostility
against the United States, all the tribes dwelling
east of the Mississippi river. In the prosecution of this
purpose, he travelled from Mackinaw to Georgia,[12] and with
wonderful adroitness practised on the different feelings of
his red brethren. Assuming at times the character of a
prophet, he wrought powerfully on their credulity and superstition.—Again,
depending on the force of oratory, the
witchery of his eloquence drew many [33] to his standard.
But all was in vain—His plans were entirely frustrated.
He had brought none of his auxiliaries into the field; and
was totally unprepared for hostilities, when his brother,
the celebrated Shawanese prophet, by a premature attack
on the army under Gen. Harrison, at an inauspicious moment,
precipitated him into a war with the United States.

Foiled by this means, Tecumseh joined the standard
of Great Britain in the war of 1812; and as a Brigadier
General in her army, lost his life, bravely supporting the
cause which he had espoused. He deserved a better fate;
and but for prejudice which is so apt to dim the eye and
distort the object, Tecumseh would, most probably, be
deemed a martyr for his country, and associated in the
mind with the heroes of Marathon and Thermopylæ.

To contemplate the Indian character, in a religious
point of view, is less gratifying than to consider it in regard
to the lesser morals. At the period of the settlement
of Western Virginia, excepting the Moravians, and a few
others who had been induced by the zeal and exertions of
Roman catholic missionaries to wear the cross, the Indians
north west of the Ohio river, were truly heathens. They
believed indeed in a First Cause, and worshiped the Good
Spirit; but they were ignorant of the great truths of
Christianity, and their devotions were but superstitious
acts of blind reverence. In this situation they remain

generally at the present day, notwithstanding the many
laudable endeavors which have been made to christianize
them.

Perhaps there was never a tribe in America, but believed
in the existence of a Deity; yet were their ideas
of the nature and attributes of God, not only obscure, but
preposterous and absurd. They believe also in the existence
of many inferior deities, whom they suppose to be
employed as assistants in managing the affairs of the world,
and in inspecting the actions of men. Eagles and Owls are
thought by some to have been placed here as observers of
the actions of men; and accordingly, when an eagle is seen
to soar about them by day, or an owl to perch near them
at night, they immediately offer sacrifice, that a good report
may be made of them to the Great Spirit.

They are likewise believers in the immortality of the
soul; and have such an idea of a future state of existence,
as accords with their character and condition here.
Strangers to [34] intellectual pleasures, they suppose that
their happiness hereafter will consist of mere sensual
gratifications; and that when they die, they will be translated
to a delightful region, where the flowers never fade,
nor the leaves fall from the trees; where the forests abound
in game, and the lakes in fish, and where they expect to
remain forever, enjoying all the pleasures which delighted
them here.[13]

In consequence of this belief, when an Indian dies,
and is buried, they place in the grave with him, his bow
and arrows and such weapons as they use in war, that he
may be enabled to procure game and overcome an enemy.
And it has been said, that they grieve more for the death
of an infant unable to provide for itself in the world of
spirits, than for one who had attained manhood and was
capable of taking care of himself. An interesting instance
of this is given by Major Carver, and furnishes at
once, affecting evidence of their incongruous creed and of
their parental tenderness. Maj. Carver says:

"Whilst I remained with them, a couple whose tent
was near to mine, lost a son about four years old. The
parents were so inconsolable for its loss, and so much
affected by its death, that they pursued the usual testimonies
of grief with such uncommon vigor, as through
the weight of sorrow and loss of blood, to occasion the
death of the father. The mother, who had been hitherto
absorbed in grief, no sooner beheld her husband expire,
than she dried up her tears, and appeared cheerful and resigned.

"As I knew not how to account for so extraordinary
a transition, I took an opportunity to ask her the reason
of it. She replied, that as the child was so young when
it died, and unable to support itself in the country of
spirits, both she and her husband had been apprehensive
that its situation would be far from pleasant; but no sooner
did she behold its father depart for the same place, and
who not only loved the child with the tenderest affection,
but was a good hunter and [35] able to provide plentifully
for its support, than she ceased to mourn. She added that
she saw no reason to continue her tears, as the child was
now happy under the protection of a fond father; and that
she had only one wish remaining to be gratified, and that
was a wish to be herself with them."[14]

In relation to the Indian antiquities so frequently met

with in America, much doubt still exists. When and for
what purpose many of those vast mounds of earth, so
common in the western country, were heaped up, is matter
of uncertainty. Mr. Jefferson has pronounced them to
be repositories of the dead; and many of them certainly
were designed for that purpose; perhaps all with which
he had become acquainted previous to the writing of his
notes of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson did not deem them
worthy the name of monuments. Since the country has
been better explored, many have been discovered justly
entitled to that appellation, some of which seem to have
been constructed for purposes other than inhumation.[15]
These are frequently met with in the valley of the Mississippi,
and are said to extend into Mexico. The most celebrated
works of this class, are believed to be those at Circleville
in Ohio, which have so frequently been described,
and are justly considered memorials of the labor and perseverance
of those by whom they were erected.

There is a tradition among the Indians of the north,
which if true would furnish a very rational solution to the
question, "for what purpose were they constructed?"
According to this tradition about "two thousand two
hundred years, before Columbus discovered America, the
northern nations appointed a prince, and immediately after,
repaired to the south and visited the Golden city, the capital
of a vast empire. After a time the emperor of the
south built many forts throughout his dominions, and extending
them northwardly almost penetrated the lake
Erie. This produced much excitement. The people of
the north, afraid that they would be deprived of the country
on the south side of the great lakes, determined to
defend it against the infringement of any foreign people;
long and bloody wars ensued which lasted about one hundred

years. The people of the north, being more skillful
in the use of bows and arrows, and capable of enduring
hardships which proved fatal to those of the south, gained
the conquest; and all the towns and forts, which had been
erected by their enemy, were totally destroyed and left in
a heap of ruins."[16]

The most considerable of those tumuli or sepulchral
mounds, which are found in Virginia, is that on the bottoms
of Grave creek, near its entrance into the Ohio, about
twelve miles below Wheeling, and is the only large one in
this section of the country. Its diameter at the base, is
said to be one hundred yards, its perpendicular height
about eighty feet, and the diameter at its summit, forty-five
feet. Trees, of all sizes and of various kinds, are
growing on its sides; and fallen [36] and decayed timber,
is interspersed among them; a single white oak rises out
of a concavity in the centre of its summit.[17]

Near to Cahokia there is a group (of about two hundred)
of these mounds, of various dimensions.[18] The largest
of these is said to have a base of eight hundred yards circumference,
and an altitude of ninety feet. These and the
one mentioned as being on Grave creek and many smaller
ones in various parts of the country, were no doubt places
of inhumation.[19] —Many have been opened, and found to
contain human bones promiscuously thrown together. Mr.

Jefferson supposed the one examined by him, (the diameter
of whose base was only forty feet and height twelve) to
contain the bones of perhaps a thousand human beings,
of each sex and of every age. Others have been examined,
in which were the skeletons of men of much greater
stature, than that of any of the Indians in America, at the
time of its discovery, or of those with whom we have since
become acquainted.

It is a well known fact, that since the whites became
settled in the country, the Indians were in the habit of
collecting the bones of their dead and of depositing them
in one general cemetery; but the earth and stone used by
them, were taken from the adjacent land. This was not
invariably the case, with those ancient heaps of earth
found in the west. In regard to many of them, this singular
circumstance is said to be a fact, that the earth, of
which they are composed, is of an altogether different nature,
from that around them; and must, in some instances,
have been carried a considerable distance. The tellurine
structures at Circleville are of this sort; and the material
of which they were constructed, is said to be distinctly
different, from the earth any where near to them.

The immensity of the size of these and many others,
would induce the supposition that they could not have
been raised by a race of people as indolent as the Indians
have been, ever since a knowledge was had of them.
Works, the construction of which would now require the
concentrated exertions of at least one thousand men, aided
by the mechanical inventions of later days, for several
months, could hardly have been erected by persons, so
subject to lassitude under labor as they are: unless indeed
their population was infinitely greater than we now conceive
it to have been. Admitting however, this density
of population to have existed, other circumstances would
corroborate the belief, that the country once had other inhabitants,
than the progenitors of those who have been
called, the aborigines of America: one of these circumstances
is the uncommon size of many of the skeletons
found in the smaller mounds upon the hills.

If the fact be, as it is represented, that the larger skeletons

are invariably found on elevated situations, remote
from the larger water courses, it would tend to show that
there was a diversity of habit, and admitting their cotemporaneous
existence, perhaps no alliance or intercourse
between those, whose remains they are, and the persons
by whom those large mounds and fortifications were
erected, [37] these being found only on plains in the contiguity
of large streams or inland lakes; and containing
only the bones of individuals of ordinary stature.

Another and stronger evidence that America was occupied
by others than the ancestors of the present Indians,
is to be found in those antiquities, which demonstrate that
iron was once known here, and converted to some of the
uses ordinarily made of it.

In graduating a street in Cincinnati, there was found,
twenty-five feet below the surface of the earth, a small
horse shoe, in which were several nails. It is said to present
the appearance of such erosion as would result from
the oxidation of some centuries. It was smaller than
would be required for a common mule.[20]

Many are the instances of pieces of timber found,
various depths below the surface of the earth, with the
marks of the axe palpably visible on them.[21] A sword too,
said to have been enclosed in the wood of the roots of a
tree not less than five hundred years old, is preserved in
Ohio as a curiosity. Many other instances might, if necessary,
be adduced to prove, that implements of iron were in
use in this country, prior to its occupation by the whites.
Now if a people once have the use of that metal, it is far

from probable that it will ever after be lost to them: the
essential purposes to which it may be applied, would preserve
it to them. The Indians however, 'till taught by the
Europeans, had no knowledge of it.

Many of the antiquities discovered in other parts of the
country, show that the arts once flourished to an extent beyond
what they have ever been known to do among the Indians.
The body found in the saltpetre cave of Kentucky,
was wrapped in blankets made of linen and interwoven with
feathers of the wild turkey, tastefully arranged. It was much
smaller than persons of equal age at the present day, and
had yellowish hair. In Tennessee many walls of faced
stone, and even walled wells have been found in so many
places, at such depths and under such circumstances,
as to preclude the idea of their having been made by the
whites since the discovery by Columbus.

[38] In this state too, have been found burying grounds,
in which the skeletons seem all to have been those of pigmies:
the graves, in which the bodies had been deposited,
were seldom three feet in length; yet the teeth in the skulls
prove that they were the bodies of persons of mature age.

Upon the whole there cannot be much doubt, that
America was once inhabited by a people, not otherwise
allied to the Indians of the present day, than that they
were descendants of him, from whom has sprung the whole
human family.