Chapter V: Appendix (1)

CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF THE FLORIDAS, THE MISSISSIPPI 481
LANDS, WITH THEIR PRODUCTIONS—THE BENEFITS OF COLONIZING
GEORGIANA, AND CIVILIZING THE INDIANS—AND THE WAY TO MAKE
ALL THE COLONIES MORE VALUABLE TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY

A
HISTORY
OF THE
NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS,
THEIR CUSTOMS, &c.

_Observations on the colour, shape, temper, and dress of the Indians of
America._

The Indians are of a copper or red-clay colour—and they delight in every thing, which they imagine may promote and increase it: accordingly, they paint their faces with vermilion, as the best and most beautiful ingredient. If we consider the common laws of nature and providence, we shall not be surprized at this custom; for every thing loves best its own likeness and place in the creation, and is disposed to ridicule its opposite. If a deformed son of burning Africa, was to paint the devil, he would not do it in black colours, nor delineate him with a shagged coarse woolly head, nor with thick lips, a short flat nose, or clumsy feet, like those of a bear: his devil would represent one of a different nation or people. But was he to draw an agreeable picture,—according to the African taste, he would daub it all over with sooty black. All the Indians are so strongly attached to, and prejudiced in favour of, their own colour, that they think as meanly of the whites, as we possibly can do of them. The English traders among them, experience much of it, and are often very glad to be allowed to pass muster with the Indian chieftains, as fellow-brethren {1} of the human species. One instance will sufficiently shew in what flattering glasses they view themselves.

Some time past, a large body of the English Indian traders, on their way to the _Choktah_ country, were escorted by a body of Creek and Choktah warriors. The Creeks having a particular friendship for some of the traders, who had treated them pretty liberally, took this opportunity to chide the Choktahs, before the traders, in a smart though friendly way, for not allowing to the English the name of human creatures:—for the general name they give us in their most favourable _war-speeches_, resembles that of a contemptible, heterogeneous animal.

The hotter, or colder the climate is, where the Indians have long resided, the greater proportion have they either of the red, or white, colour. I took particular notice of the Shawano Indians,[1] as they were passing from the northward, within fifty miles of the Chikkasah country, to that of the Creeks; and, by comparing them with the Indians which I accompanied to their camp, I observed the Shawano to be much fairer than the Chikkasah[II]; though I am satisfied, their endeavours to cultivate the copper colour, were alike. Many incidents and observations lead me to believe, that the Indian colour is not natural; but that the external difference between them and the whites, proceeds entirely from their customs and method of living, and not from any inherent spring of nature; which will entirely overturn Lord Kames’s whole system of colour, and separate races of men.

Footnote II:

S is not a note of plurality with the Indians; when I mention
therefore either their national, or proper names, that common error is
avoided, which writers ignorant of their language constantly commit.

That the Indian colour is merely accidental, or artificial, appears pretty evident. Their own traditions record them to have come to their present lands by the way of the west, from a far distant country, and where there was no variegation of colour in human beings; and they are entirely ignorant which was the first or primitive colour. Besides, their rites, customs, &c. as we shall presently see, prove them to be orientalists: and, as the difference of colour among the human species, is one of the principal causes of separation, strife, and bloodshed, would it not greatly reflect on the goodness and justice of the Divine Being, ignominiously to brand numerous tribes and their posterity, with a colour odious and hateful in the sight and opinion of those of a different colour. Some writers have contended, from {2} the diversity of colour, that America was not peopled from any part of Asia, or of the old world, but that the natives were a separate creation. Of this opinion, is Lord Kames, and which he labours to establish in his late publication, entitled, _Sketches of the History of Man_. But his reasoning on this point, for a local creation, is contrary both to revelation, and facts. His chief argument, that “there is not a single hair on the body of any American, nor the least appearance of a beard,” is utterly destitute of foundation, as can be attested by all who have had any communication with them—of this more presently.[2]—Moreover, to form one creation of _whites_, a second creation for the _yellows_, and a third for the _blacks_, is a weakness, of which infinite wisdom is incapable. Its operations are plain, easy, constant, and perfect. The variegation therefore of colours among the human race, depends upon a second cause. Lord Kames himself acknowledges, that “the Spanish inhabitants of Carthagena in South-America lose their vigour and colour in a few months.”

We are informed by the anatomical observations of our American physicians, concerning the Indians, that they have discerned a certain fine cowl, or web, of a red gluey substance, close under the outer skin, to which it reflects the colour; as the epidermis, or outer skin, is alike clear in every different creature. And experience, which is the best medium to discover truth, gives the true cause why this corpus mucosum, or gluish web, is red in the Indians, and white in us; the parching winds, and hot sun-beams, beating upon their naked bodies, in their various gradations of life, necessarily tarnish their skins with the tawny red colour. Add to this, their constant anointing themselves with bear’s oil, or grease, mixt with a certain red root, which, by a peculiar property, is able alone, in a few years time, to produce the Indian colour in those who are white born, and who have even advanced to maturity. These metamorphoses I have often seen.

At the Shawano main camp[III], I saw a Pensylvanian, a white man by birth, and in profession a christian, who, by the inclemency of the sun, {3} and his endeavours of improving the red colour, was tarnished with as deep an Indian hue, as any of the camp, though they had been in the woods only the space of four years.

Footnote III:

In the year 1747, I headed a company of the cheerful, brave Chikkasah,
with the eagles tails, to the camp of the Shawano Indians, to
apprehend one Peter Shartee, (a Frenchman) who, by his artful
paintings, and the supine conduct of the Pensylvanian government, had
decoyed a large body of the Shawano from the English, to the French,
interest. But fearing the consequences, he went around an hundred
miles, toward the Cheerake nation, with his family, and the head
warriors, and thereby evaded the danger.

We may easily conclude then, what a fixt change of colour, such a constant method of life would produce: for the colour being once thoroughly established, nature would, as it were, forget herself, not to beget her own likeness.[3] Besides, may we not suppose, that the imagination can impress the animalculæ, in the time of copulation, by its strong subtile power, with at least such an external similitude, as we speak of?—The sacred oracles, and christian registers, as well as Indian traditions, support the sentiment;—the colour of Jacob’s cattle resembled that of the peeled rods he placed before them, in the time of conception. We have good authority of a Spanish lady, who conceived, and was delivered of a negro child, by means of a black picture that hung on the wall, opposite to the bed where she lay. There is a record among the Chikkasah Indians, that tells us of a white child with flaxen hair, born in their country, long before any white people appeared in that part of the world; which they ascribed to the immediate power of the Deity impressing her imagination in a dream. And the Philosophical Transactions assure us of two white children having been born of black parents. But waving all other arguments, the different method of living, connected with the difference of climates, and extraordinary anointings and paintings, will effect both outward and inward changes in the human race, all round the globe: or, a different colour may be conveyed to the fœtus by the parents, through the channel of the fluids, without the least variation of the original stamina. For, though the laws of nature cannot be traced far, where there are various circumstances, and combinations of things, yet her works are exquisitely constant and regular, being thereto impelled by unerring divine Wisdom.

As the American Indians are of a reddish or copper colour,—so in general they are strong, well proportioned in body and limbs, surprisingly active and nimble, and hardy in their own way of living.

They are ingenious, witty, cunning, and deceitful; very faithful indeed to their own tribes, but privately dishonest, and mischievous to the Europeans and christians. Their being honest and harmless to each other, may be through fear of resentment and reprisal—which is unavoidable in case of any injury. {4} They are very close, and retentive of their secrets; never forget injuries; revengeful of blood, to a degree of distraction. They are timorous, and, consequently, cautious; very jealous of encroachments from their christian neighbours; and, likewise, content with freedom, in every turn of fortune. They are possessed of a strong comprehensive judgment,—can form surprisingly crafty schemes, and conduct them with equal caution, silence, and address; they admit none but distinguished warriors, and old beloved men, into their councils. They are slow, but very persevering in their undertakings—commonly temperate in eating, but excessively immoderate in drinking.—They often transform themselves by liquor into the likeness of mad foaming bears. The women, in general, are of a mild, amiable, soft disposition: exceedingly modest in their behaviour, and very seldom noisy, either in the single, or married state.

The men are expert in the use of fire-arms,—in shooting the bow,—and throwing the feathered dart, and tomohawk, into the flying enemy. They resemble the lynx, with their sharp penetrating black eyes, and are exceedingly swift of foot; especially in a long chase: they will stretch away, through the rough woods, by the bare track, for two or three hundred miles, in pursuit of a flying enemy, with the continued speed, and eagerness, of a stanch pack of blood hounds, till they shed blood.[4] When they have allayed this their burning thirst, they return home, at their leisure, unless they chance to be pursued, as is sometimes the case; whence the traders say, “that an Indian is never in a hurry, but when the devil is at his heels.”

It is remarkable, that there are no deformed Indians—however, they are generally weaker, and smaller bodied, between the tropics, than in the higher latitudes; but not in an equal proportion: for, though the Chikkasah and Choktah countries have not been long divided from each other, as appears by the similarity of their language, as well as other things, yet the Chikkasah are exceedingly taller, and stronger bodied than the latter, though their country is only two degrees farther north. Such a small difference of latitude, in so healthy a region, could not make so wide a difference in the constitution of their bodies. The former are a comely, pleasant looking people; their faces are tolerably round, contrary to the visage of the others, which inclines much to flatness, as is the case of most of the other Indian Americans. The lips of the Indians, in general, are thin. {5}

Their eyes are small, sharp, and black; and their hair is lank, coarse, and darkish.[5] I never saw any with curled hair, but one in the Choktah country, where was also another with red hair; probably, they were a mixture of the French and Indians. Romancing travellers, and their credulous copyists, report them to be _imbarbes_, and as persons _impuberes_, and they appear so to strangers. But both sexes pluck all the hair off their bodies, with a kind of tweezers, made formerly of clam-shells, now of middle-sized wire, in the shape of a gun-worm; which, being twisted round a small stick, and the ends fastened therein, after being properly tempered, keeps its form: holding this Indian razor between their fore-finger and thumb, they deplume themselves,[6] after the manner of the Jewish novitiate priests, and proselytes.—As the former could not otherwise be purified for the function of his sacerdotal office; or the latter, be admitted to the benefit of religious communion.

Their chief _dress_ is very simple, like that of the patriarchal age; of choice, many of their old head-men wear a long wide frock, made of the skins of wild beasts, in honour of that antient custom: It must be necessity that forces them to the pinching sandals for their feet. They seem quite easy, and indifferent, in every various scene of life, as if they were utterly divested of passions, and the sense of feeling. Martial virtue, and not riches, is their invariable standard for preferment; for they neither esteem, nor despise any of their people one jot more or less, on account of riches or dress. They compare both these, to paint on a warrior’s face; because it incites others to a spirit of martial benevolence for their country, and pleases his own fancy, and the eyes of spectators, for a little time, but is sweated off, while he is performing his war-dances; or is defaced, by the change of weather.

They formerly wore shirts, made of drest deer-skins, for their summer visiting dress: but their winter-hunting clothes were long and shaggy, made of the skins of panthers, bucks, bears, beavers, and otters; the fleshy sides outward, sometimes doubled, and always softened like velvet-cloth, though they retained their fur and hair. The needles and thread they used formerly, (and now at times) were fish-bones, or the horns and bones of deer, rubbed sharp, and deer’s sinews, and a sort of hemp, that grows among them spontaneously, in rich open lands. The women’s dress consists only in a {6} broad softened skin, or several small skins sewed together, which they wrap and tye round their waist, reaching a little below their knees: in cold weather, they wrap themselves in the softened skins of buffalo calves, with the wintery shagged wool inward, never forgetting to anoint, and tie up their hair, except in their time of mourning. The men wear, for ornament, and the conveniencies of hunting, thin deer-skin boots, well smoked, that reach so high up their thighs, as with their jackets to secure them from the brambles and braky thickets. They sew them about five inches from the edges, which are formed into tossels, to which they fasten fawns trotters, and small pieces of tinkling metal, or wild turkey-cockspurs. The beaus used to fasten the like to their war-pipes, with the addition of a piece of an enemy’s scalp with a tuft of long hair hanging down from the middle of the stem, each of them painted red: and they still observe that old custom, only they choose bell-buttons, to give a greater sound.

The young Indian men and women,[7] through a fondness of their ancient dress, wrap a piece of cloth round them, that has a near resemblance to the old Roman toga, or prætexta. ’Tis about a fathom square, bordered seven or eight quarters deep, to make a shining cavalier of the _beau monde_, and to keep out both the heat and cold. With this frantic apparel, the red heroes swaddle themselves, when they are waddling, whooping, and prancing it away, in their sweltery town-houses, or supposed synhedria, around the reputed holy fire. In a sweating condition, they will thus incommode themselves, frequently, for a whole night, on the same principle of pride, that the grave Spaniard’s winter cloak must sweat him in summer.

They have a great aversion to the wearing of breeches; for to that custom, they affix the idea of helplessness, and effeminacy. I know a German of thirty years standing, chiefly among the Chikkasah Indians, who because he kept up his breeches with a narrow piece of cloth that reached across his shoulders, is distinguished by them, as are all his countrymen, by the despicable appellative, Kish-Kish Tarākshe, or _Tied Arse_.—They esteem the English much more than the Germans, because our limbs, they say, are less restrained by our apparel from manly exercise, than theirs. The Indian women also discreetly observe, that, as all their men sit down to make {7} water, the ugly breeches would exceedingly incommode them; and that, if they were allowed to wear breeches, it would portend no good to their country: however, they add, should they ever be so unlucky, as to have that pinching custom introduced among them, the English breeches would best suit their own female posture on that occasion; but that it would be exceedingly troublesome either way. The men wear a slip of cloth, about a quarter of an ell wide, and an ell and an half long, in the lieu of breeches; which they put between their legs, and tye round their haunches, with a convenient broad bandage. The women, since the time we first traded with them, wrap a fathom of the half breadth of Stroud cloth[8] round their waist, and tie it with a leathern belt, which is commonly covered with brass runners or buckles: but this sort of loose petticoat, reaches only to their hams, in order to shew their exquisitely fine proportioned limbs.

They make their shoes for common use, out of the skins of the bear and elk, well dressed and smoked, to prevent hardening; and those for ornament, out of deer-skins, done in the like manner: but they chiefly go bare-footed, and always bare-headed. The men fasten several different sorts of beautiful feathers, frequently in tufts; or the wing of a red bird, or the skin of a small hawk, to a lock of hair on the crown of their heads. And every different Indian nation when at war, trim their hair, after a different manner, through contempt of each other; thus we can distinguish an enemy in the woods, so far off as we can see him.

The Indians flatten their heads, in divers forms: but it is chiefly the crown of the head they depress, in order to beautify themselves, as their wild fancy terms it; for they call us _long heads_, by way of contempt. The Choktah Indians flatten their fore-heads, from the top of the head to the eye-brows with a small bag of sand; which gives them a hideous appearance; as the forehead naturally shoots upward, according as it is flattened: thus, the rising of the nose, instead of being equidistant from the beginning of the chin, to that of the hair, is, by their wild mechanism, placed a great deal nearer to the one, and farther from the other.[9] The Indian nations, round South-Carolina, and all the way to New Mexico, (properly called Mechiko) to effect this, fix the tender infant on a kind of cradle, where his feet are tilted, above a foot higher than a horizontal position, {8} —his head bends back into a hole, made on purpose to receive it, where he bears the chief part of his weight on the crown of the head, upon a small bag of sand, without being in the least able to move himself. The skull resembling a fine cartilaginous substance, in its infant state, is capable of taking any impression. By this pressure, and their thus flattening the crown of the head, they consequently make their heads thick, and their faces broad: for, when the smooth channel of nature is stopped in one place, if a destruction of the whole system doth not thereby ensue, it breaks out in a proportional redundancy, in another. May we not to this custom, and as a necessary effect of this cause, attribute their fickle, wild, and cruel tempers? especially, when we connect therewith, both a false education, and great exercise to agitate their animal spirits. When the brain, in cooler people, is disturbed, it neither reasons, nor determines, with proper judgment? The Indians thus look on every thing around them, through their own false medium; and vilify our heads, because they have given a wrong turn to their own. {9}

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Footnote 1:

The earliest home of the Shawnee Indians in historic times was on the
Cumberland River, in Tennessee, which for a long period was called by
the French, and so named on their maps, Chaouanon (Shawnee) Riviere. A
branch of the tribe moved from there southward across the Tennessee
where the Savannah River took their name. Shortly before 1715 the
Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians combined and drove the Shawnees from
their long-established settlements on the Cumberland. Haywood says
that a part of the tribe returned to the region (about 1745) to be
again expelled, going to the Creeks.

The true date seems to be 1749. In a letter of May 4th of that year,
Comte de Jony wrote that the “Chaouanons, because of the antipathy of
most of the other nations to them, had decided to separate into two
bands.... The latter band, after ascending a part of the river of the
Cherokis [Tennessee] decided to go and join the Creeks.” _Wis. His.
Col._ XVIII. It is to this band that Adair refers, probably.

The Shawnees, after a stay in Pennsylvania, had settlements on Scioto
River in the Ohio Country. They were known as “gypsies of the forest,”
and a wandering band is referred to by Adair. Prior to 1700 the
Chickasaws and the Shawnees had as allies fought the Illinois Indians.
Shea, _Early Mississippi Voyages_, 60, 66, 120. Lawson (1709)
describes them as formerly living on the waters of the Mississippi,
“and removed thence to the head of one of the rivers of South
Carolina” (the Savannah). _History of North Carolina_, 100.

For generations, from their stronghold on the Scioto, they made war on
the Overhill Cherokees, with only brief intervals of peace. On the
Shawnees, see: Haywood, _History of Tennessee_, 426; Hanna, _The
Wilderness Trail_, II, 240; Thwaites, _Jesuit Relations_, XL, 145;
Margry, _Decouvertes_, III, 589; Schoolcraft, _Historical Information
... Indian Tribes_, IV, 256; Swanton, _Early History of the Creeks_,
317, 415; Loskiel, _History of the Mission of the United Brethren
Among the Indians_, pt. ch. 10, and Mooney’s _Myths of the Cherokees_,
494.

Footnote 2:

p. 7 _post_.

Footnote 3:

Since a newborn infant of Indian parentage is of varying degrees of
dusky red, Adair’s argument is that the color was produced by exposure
and the use of cosmetics by previous generations; not that each
individual is born white and later takes on a copper color.

Footnote 4:

Speaking of the Indians of the Mississippi River region, John Lawson
in his _History of North Carolina_ (1710) says, p. 133: “They are the
hardiest of all Indians, and run so fast that they are never taken;
neither do any Indians outrun them if they are pursued.” See also,
Williams, _Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake_, 79.

Footnote 5:

Schoolcraft says the hair of Indians is invariably cylindrical in
structure; that of Caucasians oval.

Footnote 6:

Confirmation: Schoolcraft, _Historical Information_, II 322; Cushman,
_History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians_ (1899), 204.
Cushman says, however, that the Choctaws and Chickasaws of unmixed
blood have no hair on any part of the body except the head and, on the
chins of males, a bare patch of beard.

Footnote 7:

Compare the account of Wm. Bartram in _Travels_ (1793), p. 499; of Du
Pratz in _History of Louisiana_, (1763) II, 231, and of Lawson,
_History of Carolina_ (1712) p. 190.

Footnote 8:

Stroudwater, as Wm. Byrd II, called it at an earlier day; cloth
manufactured in Stroud, Gloustershire, England, and widely sold to
early Indian traders for blankets or garments; usually scarlet-dyed.

Footnote 9:

Therefore, the Choctaws were called by the traders Flat-Heads (Fr.
Têtes Plates) a term that came into general use as descriptive of the
tribe. See on artificial head deformation, Catlin, _North American
Indians_, and Hodge, _Handbook of American Indians_, I, pp. 97, 465.
Dumont gives as reason: “So that when they grow up they may be in
better condition to bear all kinds of loads.” _Memoires Historique sur
La Louisiane_ (1753) I, 140.

_Observations on the origin and descent of the Indians._

The very remote history of all nations, is disfigured with fable, and gives but little encouragement to distant enquiry, and laborious researches. Much of the early history and antiquities of nations is lost, and some people have no records at all, and to this day are rude and uncivilized. Yet a knowledge of them is highly interesting, and would afford amusement, and even instruction in the most polished times, to the most polite. Every science has certain principles, as its basis, from which it reasons and concludes. Mathematical theorems, and logical propositions, give clear demonstrations, and necessary conclusions: and thus other sciences. But, _history_, and the _origin_ of tribes and nations, have hitherto been covered with a great deal of obscurity. Some antient historians were ignorant; others prejudiced. Some searchers into antiquities adopted the traditional tales of their predecessors: and others looking with contempt on the origin of tribes and societies, altogether exploded them, without investigation. My design is, to examine, and if possible, ascertain the genealogy and descent of the Indians, and to omit nothing that may in the least contribute to furnish the public with a full INDIAN SYSTEM.

In tracing the origin of a people, where there are no records of any kind, either written, or engraved, who rely solely on oral tradition for the support of their antient usages, and have lost great part of them—though the undertaking be difficult, yet where several particulars, and circumstances, strong and clear, correspond, they not only make room for conjecture, but cherish probability, and till better can be offered, must be deemed conclusive.

All the various nations of Indians, seem to be of one descent; they call a buffalo, in their various dialects, by one and the same name, “_Yanasa_.” And there is a strong similarity of religious rites, and of civil and martial customs, among all the various American nations of Indians we {10} have any knowledge of, on the extensive continent; as will soon be shewn.

Their language is copious, and very expressive, for their narrow orbit of ideas, and full of rhetorical tropes and figures, like the orientalists. In early times, when languages were not so copious, rhetoric was invented to supply that defect: and, what barrenness then forced them to, custom now continues as an ornament.

Formerly, at a public meeting of the head-men, and chief orators, of the Choktah nation, I heard one of their eloquent speakers[10] deliver a very pathetic, elaborate, allegorical, tragic oration, in the high praise, and for the great loss, of their great, judicious war-chieftain, _Shu-las-kum-másh-tà-be_, our daring, brave friend, _red shoes_.[11] The orator compared him to the sun, that enlightens and enlivens the whole system of created beings: and having carried the metaphor to a considerable length, he expatiated on the variety of evils, that necessarily result from the disappearance and absence of the sun; and, with a great deal of judgment, and propriety of expression, he concluded his oration with the same trope, with which he began.

They often change the sense of words into a different signification from the natural, exactly after the manner also of the orientalists. Even, their common speech is full of it; like the prophetic writings, and the book of Job, their orations are concise, strong, and full of fire; which sufficiently confutes the wild notion which some have espoused of the North American Indians being Præ-Adamites, or a separate race of men, created for that continent. What stronger circumstantial proofs can be expected, than that they, being disjoined from the rest of the world, time immemorial, and destitute also of the use of letters, should have, and still retain the ancient standard of speech, conveyed down by oral tradition from father to son, to the present generation? Besides, their persons, customs, &c. are not singular from the rest of the world; which, probably, they would, were they not descended from one and the same common head. Their notions of things are like ours, and their organical structure is the same. In them, the soul governs the body, according to the common laws of God in the creation of Adam. God employed six days, in creating the heavens, this earth, and the innumerable species {11} of creatures, wherewith it is so amply furnished. The works of a being, infinitely perfect, must entirely answer the design of them: hence there could be no necessity for a second creation; or God’s creating many pairs of the human race differing from each other, and fitted for different climates: because, that implies imperfection, in the grand scheme, or a want of power, in the execution of it—Had there been a prior, or later formation of any new class of creatures, they must materially differ from those of the six days work; for it is inconsistent with divine wisdom to make a vain, or unnecessary repetition of the same act. But the American Indians neither vary from the rest of mankind, in their internal construction, nor external appearance, except in colour; which, as hath been shewn, is either entirely accidental, or artificial. As the Mosaic account declares a completion of the manifestations of God’s infinite wisdom and power in creation, within that space of time; it follows, that the Indians have lineally descended from Adam, the first, and the great parent of all the human species.

Both the Chikkasah and Choktah Indians, call a deceitful person, _Seente_, a snake: and they frequently say, they have not _Seente Soolish_, the snake’s tongue; the meaning of which, is very analogous to דפי, a name the Hebrews gave to a deceitful person; which probably proceeded from a traditional knowledge of Eve’s being beguiled by the tempter, in that shape; for the Indians never affix any bad idea to the present reptile fraternity, except that of poisonous teeth: and they never use any such metaphor, as that of a snake’s teeth.

Some have supposed the Americans to be descended from the _Chinese_: but neither their religion, laws, customs, &c., agree in the least with those of the Chinese: which sufficiently proves, they are not of that line. Besides, as our best ships now are almost half a year in sailing to China, or from thence to Europe; it is very unlikely they should attempt such dangerous discoveries, in early time, with their (supposed) small vessels, against rapid currents, and in dark and sickly monsoons, especially, as it is very probable they were unacquainted with the use of the load-stone to direct their course. China is above eight thousand miles distant from the American continent, which is twice as far as across the Atlantic ocean.—And, we are not informed by any antient writer, of their maritime skill, or so much as any inclination that way, besides {12} small coasting voyages.—The winds blow likewise, with little variation, from east to west, within the latitudes of thirty and odd, north and south, and therefore they could not drive them on the American coast, it lying directly contrary to such a course.

Neither could persons sail to America, from the north, by the way of Tartary, or ancient Scythia; that, from its situation, never was, or can be, a maritime power, and it is utterly impracticable for any to come to America, by sea, from that quarter. Besides, the remaining traces of their religious ceremonies, and civil and martial customs, are quite opposite to the like vestiges of the old Scythians.

Nor, even in the moderate northern climates, is to be seen the least vestige of any ancient stately buildings, or of any thick settlements, as are said to remain in the less healthy regions of Peru and Mexico. Several of the Indian nations assure us they crossed the Missisippi, before they made their present northern settlements; which, connected with the former arguments, will sufficiently explode that weak opinion, of the American Aborigines being lineally descended from the Tartars, or ancient Scythians.

It is a very difficult thing to divest ourselves, not to say, other persons, of prejudices and favourite opinions; and I expect to be censured by some, for opposing commonly received sentiments, or for meddling with a dispute agitated among the learned ever since the first discovery of America. But, TRUTH is my object: and I hope to offer some things, which, if they do not fully solve the problem, may lead the way, and enable others, possessing stronger judgment, more learning, and more leisure, to accomplish it. As I before suggested, where we have not the light of history, or records, to guide us through the dark maze of antiquity, we must endeavour to find it out by probable arguments; and in such subjects of enquiry, where no material objections can be raised against probability, it is strongly conclusive of the truth, and nearly gives the thing sought for.

From the most exact observations I could make in the long time I traded among the Indian Americans, I was forced to believe them lineally descended from the Israelites, either while they were a maritime power, {13} or soon after the general captivity; the latter however is the most probable. This descent, I shall endeavour to prove from their religious rites, civil and martial customs, their marriages, funeral ceremonies, manners, language, traditions, and a variety of particulars.—Which will at the same time make the reader thoroughly acquainted with nations, of which it may be said to this day, very little have been known. {14}

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Footnote 10:

“The Choctaws were superior orators. They spoke with good sense, and
used the most beautiful metaphors. They had the power of changing the
same words into different significations, and even their common speech
was full of these changes.” Pickett, _History of Alabama_, (Ed. 1896)
127.

Footnote 11:

Red Shoes, a noted chief of the Choctaws, is frequently mentioned in
later chapters. For sketch, p. 335M.

_Observations, and arguments, in proof of the American Indians being
descended from the Jews._

A number of particulars present themselves in favour of a Jewish descent. But to form a true judgment, and draw a solid conclusion, the following arguments must not be partially separated. Let them be distinctly considered—then unite them together, and view their force collectively.

ARGUMENT I.

As the Israelites were divided into TRIBES, and had chiefs over them, so the Indians divide themselves: each tribe forms a little community within the nation—And as the nation hath its particular symbol, so hath each tribe the badge from which it is denominated. The sachem of each tribe, is a necessary party in conveyances and treaties, to which he affixes the mark of his tribe, as a corporation with us doth their public seal[IV].—If we go from nation to nation among them, we shall not find one, who doth not lineally distinguish himself by his respective family. The genealogical names which they assume, are derived, either from the names of those animals, whereof the _cherubim_ are said in revelation, to be compounded; or from such creatures as are most familiar to them. They have the families of the _eagle_, _panther_, _tyger_, and _buffalo_; the family of the _bear_, _deer_, _racoon_, _tortoise_, _snake_, _fish_; and, likewise, of the _wind_. The last, if not derived from the appearance of the divine glory, as expressed by the prophet Ezekiel, may {15} be of Tyrian extraction. We are told in the fragment of Sanchoniathon, that the Tyrians worshipped fire and the ærial wind, as gods; and that Usous, the son of Hyposouranias, built a sacred pillar to each of them: so that, if it is not of Israelitish extraction, it may be derived from the Tyrians their neighbours—as may, likewise, the appellative name of _fish_; especially, as the Indians, sometimes, invoke the eagle, and the fish, when they are curing their sick. The Tyrians were the people, in early times, who, above all others, enriched themselves in the natural element of the fish.

Footnote IV:

Many of the ancient heathens followed the Jewish custom of dividing
themselves into tribes, or families. The city of Athens was divided
into ten parts, or tribes, and which the Greeks called _Phule_, a
tribe. They named each of the heads that presided over them, Archegos,
Archiphulogos, &c. And writers inform us, that the East-Indian pagans
have to this day tribes, or casts; and that each cast chuses a head to
maintain its privileges, to promote a strict observance of their laws,
and to take care that every thing be managed with proper order. The
ancient heathens mimicked a great deal of the Jewish ceremonial law.

The Indians, however, bear no religious respect to the animals from which they derive the names of their tribes, but will kill any of the species, when opportunity serves. The _wolf_ indeed, several of them do not care to meddle with, believing it unlucky to kill them; which is the sole reason that few of the Indians shoot at that creature, through a notion of spoiling their guns.[12] Considering the proximity of Tyre to Egypt, probably this might be a custom of Egyptian extraction; though, at the same time, they are so far from esteeming it a deity, they reckon it the most abominable quadruped of the whole creation.

There is no tribe, or individual, among them, however, called by the name opossum[V], which is with the Cheerake stiled _seequa_; and with the Chikkasah and Choktah Indians, _shookka_, synonymous with that of a _hog_. This may be more material than at first appears, as our natural histories tell us, that the opossum is common in other parts of the world. Several of the old Indians assure us, they formerly reckoned it as filthy uneatable an animal, as a hog; although they confess, and we know by long observation, that, from the time our traders settled among them, they are every year more corrupt in their morals; not only in this instance of eating an impure animal, but in many other religious customs of their forefathers.

Footnote V:

A creature that hath a head like a hog, and a tail like a rat.

When we consider the various revolutions these unlettered savages are likely to have undergone, among themselves, through a long-forgotten measure of time; and that, probably, they have been above twenty centuries, without the use of letters to convey down their traditions, it cannot be reasonably expected they should still retain the identical names of {16} their primo-genial tribes. Their main customs corresponding with those of the Israelites, sufficiently clears the subject. Besides, as hath been hinted, they call some of their tribes by the names of the cherubimical figures, that were carried on the four principal standards of Israel.

I have observed with much inward satisfaction, the community of goods that prevailed among them, after the patriarchal manner, and that of the primitive Christians; especially with those of their own tribe. Though they are become exceedingly corrupt, in most of their ancient commendable qualities, yet they are so hospitable, kind-hearted, and free, that they would share with those of their own tribe, the last part of their provisions even to a single ear of corn; and to others, if they called when they were eating; for they have no stated meal-time. An open generous temper is a standing virtue among them; to be narrow-hearted, especially to those in want, or to any of their own family, is accounted a great crime, and to reflect scandal on the rest of the tribe. Such wretched misers they brand with bad characters, and wish them the fate of Prometheus, to have an eagle or vulture fastened to their liver: or of Tantalus, starving in the midst of plenty, without being able to use it. The Cheerake Indians have a pointed proverbial expression, to the same effect—_Sinnawah nà wóra_; “The great hawk is at home.”[13] However, it is a very rare thing to find any of them of a narrow temper: and though they do not keep one promiscuous common stock, yet it is to the very same effect; for every one has his own family, or tribe: and, when one of them is speaking, either of the individuals, or habitations, of any of his tribe, he says, “He is of my house;” or, “It is my house.” Thus, when King David prayed that the divine wrath might only fall on his house, he might mean the tribe of Judah, as well as his own particular family, exclusive of the aggregate body of Israel.

When the Indians are travelling in their own country, they enquire for a house of their own tribe; and if there be any, they go to it, and are kindly received, though they never saw the persons before—they eat, drink, and regale themselves, with as much freedom, as at their own tables; which is the solid ground covered with a bear-skin. It is their usual custom to carry nothing along with them in the journies but a looking-glass, and red paint, hung to their back—their gun and shot pouch—or bow and quiver {17} full of barbed arrows; and, frequently, both gun and bow: for as they are generally in a state of war against each other, they are obliged, as soon as able, to carry those arms of defence. Every town has a state-house, or synedrion, as the Jewish sanhedrim, where, almost every night, the head men convene about public business; or the town’s-people to feast, sing, dance, and rejoice, in the divine presence, as will fully be described hereafter. And if a stranger calls there, he is treated with the greatest civility and hearty kindness—he is sure to find plenty of their simple home fare, and a large cane-bed covered with the softened skins of bears, or buffaloes, to sleep on.[14] But, when his lineage is known to the people, (by a stated custom, they are slow in greeting one another) his relation, if he has any there, addresses him in a familiar way, invites him home, and treats him as his kinsman.

When a warrior dies a natural death, (which seldom happens) the war-drums, musical instruments, and all other kinds of diversion, are laid aside for the space of three days and nights. In this time of mourning for the dead, I have known some of the frolicksome young sparks to ask the name of the deceased person’s tribe; and once, being told it was a _racoon_, (the genealogical name of the family) one of them scoffingly replied, “then let us away to another town, and cheer ourselves with those who have no reason to weep; for why should we make our hearts weigh heavy for an ugly, dead racoon?”

But notwithstanding they are commonly negligent of any other tribe but their own, they regard their own particular lineal descent, in as strict a manner as did the Hebrew nation.

-----

Footnote 12:

Mooney witnessed a confirmation among the Cherokees of the Eastern
Band, in North Carolina: “A man standing one night upon a fish trap
was scented by a wolf, which came so near that the man was compelled
to shoot it. He at once went home and had the gun exorcised by a
conjurer.” _Myths of the Cherokees_, 448.

Footnote 13:

Mooney gives Cherokee myths built upon Tlanuwa (the great hawk). On
the north bank of Little Tennessee River, in Blount County, Tennessee,
is a high overhanging cliff in which is a cave, the place where lived
the mythic great hawk. _Myths of the Cherokees_, 315. A reciter of one
of the myths insisted that the whites must also believe in it, as
evidence pointing to a coin of the United States and to what he called
the Tlanuwa, holding in its talons the arrows and in its beak the
serpent of the myth. _Ibid._, 466.

Footnote 14:

Confirmed as of later date: Cushman, _op. cit._, 487.

ARGUMENT II.

By a strict, permanent, divine precept, the Hebrew nation were ordered to worship at Jerusalem, _Jehovah_ the true and living God, and who by the Indians is stiled _Yohewah_; which the seventy-two interpreters, either from ignorance or superstition, have translated _Adonai_; and is the very same as the Greek _Kurios_, signifying Sir, Lord, or Master; which is commonly applied to earthly potentates, without the least signification of, or relation to, that most great and awful name, which describes the divine essence, who naturally {18} and necessarily exists of himself, without beginning or end. The ancient heathens, it is well known, worshipped a plurality of gods—Gods which they formed to themselves, according to their own liking, as various as the countries they inhabited, and as numerous, with some, as the days of the year. But these Indian Americans pay their religious devoir to _Loak-Ishtōhoollo-Aba_, “the great, beneficent, supreme, holy spirit of fire,” who resides (as they think) above the clouds, and on earth also with unpolluted people. He is with them the sole author of warmth, light, and of all animal and vegetable life. They do not pay the least perceivable adoration to any images, or to dead persons; neither to the celestial luminaries, nor evil spirits, nor any created being whatsoever. They are utter strangers to all the gestures practised by the pagans in their religious rites. They kiss no idols;[15] nor, if they were placed out of their reach, would they kiss their hands, in token of reverence and a willing obedience.

The ceremonies of the Indians in their religious worship, are more after the Mosaic institution, than of pagan imitation: which could not be, if the majority of the old natives were of heathenish descent; for all bigots and enthusiasts will fight to death for the very shadow of their superstitious worship, when they have even lost all the substance. There yet remain so many marks, as to enable us to trace the Hebrew extraction and rites, through all the various nations of Indians; and we may with a great deal of probability conclude, that, if any heathens accompanied them to the American world, or were settled in it before them, they became proselytes of justice, and their pagan rites and customs were swallowed up in the Jewish.

To illustrate the general subject, I shall give the Indian opinion of some of the heathen gods, contrasted with that of the pagan.

The American Indians do not believe the SUN to be any bigger than it appears to the naked eye. Conversing with the Chikkàsah archi-magus, or high-priest, about that luminary, he told me, “it might possibly be as broad and round as his winter-house; but he thought it could not well exceed it.” We cannot be surprised at the stupidity of the Americans in this respect, when we consider the gross ignorance which now prevails among the general part of the Jews, not only of the whole system of nature, but of the essential meaning of their own religious ceremonies, received from the Divine Majesty. {19} —And also when we reflect, that the very learned, and most polite of the ancient Romans, believed (not by any new-invented mythology of their own) that the sun was drawn round the earth in a chariot. Their philosophic system was not very dissimilar to that of the wild Americans; for Cicero tells us, Epicurus thought the sun to be less than it appeared to the eye. And Lucretius says, _Tantillus ille sol_, “a diminutive thing.” And, if the Israelites had not at one time thought the sun a portable god, they would not have thought of a chariot for it. This they derived from the neighbouring heathen; for we are told, that they had an house of the sun, where they danced in honour of him, in circuits, and had consecrated spherical figures; and that they, likewise, built a temple to it; for “they purified and sanctified themselves in the gardens, behind the house, or temple of Achad.” In _Isa._ xvii. 8, we find they had _sun-images_, which the Hebrews called _chummanim_, made to represent the sun, or for the honour and worship of it: and the Egyptians met yearly to worship in the temple of Beth-Shemesh, a house dedicated to the sun. Most part of the old heathens adored all the celestial orbs, especially the sun; probably they first imagined its enlivening rays immediately issued from the holy fire, light, and spirit, who either resided in, or was the identical sun. That idolatrous ceremony of the Jews, Josiah utterly abolished about 640 years before our Christian æra. The sacred text says, “He took away the horses, which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.” At Rhodes, a neighbouring island to Judæa, they consecrated chariots to the sun, on account of his glorious splendour and benign qualities. Macrobius tells us, that the Assyrians worshipped Adad, or Achad, an idol of the sun; and Strabo acquaints us, the Arabians paid divine homage to the sun, &c. But the Indian Americans pay only a civil regard to the sun: and the more intelligent sort of them believe, that all the luminaries of the heavens are moved by the strong fixt laws of the great Author of nature.

In 2 _Kings_ xvii. 30, we read that the men of Babylon built Succoth-Benoth, “tents for young women;” having consecrated a temple to Venus, they fixed tents round it, where young women prostituted themselves in honour of the goddess. Herodotus, and other authors, are also sufficient witnesses on this point. Now, were the Americans originally heathens, or not of Israel, when they wandered there from captivity, in quest of {20} liberty, or on any other accidental account, that vicious precedent was so well calculated for America, where every place was a thick arbour, it is very improbable they should have discontinued it: But they are the very reverse. To commit such acts of pollution, while they are performing any of their religious ceremonies, is deemed so provoking an impiety, as to occasion even the supposed sinner to be excluded from all religious communion with the rest of the people. Or even was a man known to have gone in to his own wife, during the time of their fastings, purifications, &c. he would also be separated from them. There is this wide difference between the impure and obscene religious ceremonies of the ancient heathens, and the yet penal, and strict purity of the natives of America.

The heathens chose such gods, as were most suitable to their inclinations, and the situation of their country. The warlike Greeks and Romans worshipped _Mars_ the god of war; and the savage and more bloody Scythians deified the _Sword_. The neighbouring heathens round Judæa, each built a temple to the supposed god that presided over their land. _Rimmon_, was the Syrian god of pomegranates: and the Philistines, likewise, erected a temple to _Dagon_, who had first taught them the use of wheat; which the Greeks and Romans changed into _Ceres_, the goddess of corn, from the Hebrew, _Geres_, which signifies grain. But the red Americans firmly believe, that their war-captains, and their reputed prophets, gain success over their enemies, and bring on seasonable rains, by the immediate reflection of the divine fire, co-operating with them.

We are informed by Cicero, that the maritime Sidonians adored _fishes_: and by the fragment of Sanchoniathon, that the Tyrians worshipped the element of _fire_, and the _ærial wind_, as gods:—probably having forgotten that the first and last names of the three celestial cherubic emblems, only typified the deity. Ancient history informs us, that Zoroaster, who lived An. M. 3480, made _light_ the emblem of good, and _darkness_ the symbol of evil—he taught an abhorrence of images, and instructed his pupils to worship God, under the figurative likeness of _fire_: but he asserted two contrary original principles; the one of good, and the other of evil. He allowed no temples, but enjoined sacrificing in the open air, and on the top of an hill. The ancient Persians kept up their reputed holy fire, without suffering it to be extinguished; which their pretended successors observe with the {21} strictest devotion, and affirm it has been burning, without the least intermission, several thousand years. But the Indian Americans are so far from the idolatry of the Sidonians, that they esteem fish only as they are useful to the support of human life; though one of their tribes is called the _fish_:—they are so far from paying any religious worship to the aerial wind, like the Tyrians, that they often call the bleak northwind, explicatively, very evil, and accursed; which they probably, would not say, if they derived the great esteem they now have for the divine fire, from the aforesaid idolatrous nations: neither would they wilfully extinguish their old fire, before the annual sacrifice is offered up, if, like the former heathens, they paid religious worship to the elementary fire; for no society of people would kill their own gods, unless the papists, who go farther, even to eat him. The Indians esteem the old year’s fire, as a most dangerous pollution, regarding only the supposed holy fire, which the archi-magus annually renews for the people.