Chapter VII: Appendix (3)

_Loak_ signifies fire, and _Loak Ishtohoollo_, “the holy or divine fire,” or the anger of Ishtohoollo, “the great, holy One;” which nearly agrees with the Hebrew להט, that which flames, or scorches with vehement heat. And it is the scripture method of conveying to us a sensible idea of the divine wrath, according to the cherubic name אש, which likewise signifies fire. But the Persians worshipped the burning fire, by the name of _Oromazes_; and darkness, or the spirit, by that of _Aramanius_; quite contrary to the religious system of the Indian Americans: and the aforesaid Indian method of expression, seems exactly to coincide with the Hebrew idiom.

_Buk-she-ah-ma_ is the name of their Indian flap, or broad slip of cloth with which the men cover their nakedness; but the word they use to express our sort of breeches, is a compound, _Bala-phooka_, derived from the Hebrew באל, which signifies, behind; and the Indian _Naphooka_, a coat, any kind of clothes, or covering; _Baloka_ signifies, behind; silently telling us, they formerly wore a different sort of breeches to what they use at present. They likewise say, _Neeppe-Phú-ka_, “A flesh-covering.”

The father of King Saul was called Kish, “podex;” which signifies also the rear of an army, or the hindermost person, according to the Hebrew idiom. Thus the Indians, by _Kish_, express the podex of any animal—the hindermost person—the gavel-end of an house, and the like. _Kish Kish_, is with them a superlative, and, as before hinted, used to convey the contempt they have for that proper name. May not the contemptible idea the West-Florida-Missisippi Indians affix to the name of Kish, be on account of his son’s succession to the throne, at the end of the theocracy of Israel, and beginning a despotic regal government?

The Indians, according to the usage of the Hebrews, always prefix the substantive to the adjective; as _Netak Chookòma_, “A good day;” _Nakkàne_ and _Eho Chookòma_, “A goodly man and woman.” The former of which is termed, in Hebrew, _Yoma Tobe_, signifying, according to our method of salutation, a good-day, a merry season, a festival day, &c. And the Indian appellatives are similarly exprest in Hebrew, _Behtobe_ and _Ashe-Tobe_, “A good, goodly, discreet, or wise man and woman.” _Chookoma_, with the Indians, is the proper name of a comely woman, when _A_ is prefixed to it; as _A-chookòma_, “My goodly, or beautiful:” they use it for a warrior, {44} when it is compounded without the _A_; as _Chookòma hummáshtàbe_, “One who killed a beautiful, great, red, or war-chieftain;” which is compounded of _Chookoma_, comely, _Humma_, red, אש, _Ash_, fire, and _Abe_, a contraction of אבל, _Abele_, signifying grief, or sorrow. Hence it appears, that because the Hebrews affixed a virtuous idea to _Tobe_, goodly; the Indians call white by the same name, and make it the constant emblem of every thing that is good, according to a similar Hebrew custom. Of this the sacred oracles make frequent mention.

The Jews called that, which was the most excellent of every thing, the _fat_; and the Indians, in like manner, say, _Oosto Neehe_, “The fat of the pompion,” _Tranche Neehe_, “The fat of the corn.” _Neeha_ is the adjective, signifying _fat_, from which the word _Neeta_, “a bear,” is derived. They apply the word _heart_, only to animate beings.

As the Deity is the soul of every system—and as every nation, from the remotest ages of antiquity, believed that they could not live well, without some god or other; when, therefore, we clearly understand the name, or names, by which any society of people express their notions of a deity, we can with more precision form ideas of the nature of their religious worship, and of the object, or objects, of their adoration. I shall therefore here give a plain description of the names by which the Indian Americans speak of God.

_Ishtohoollo_ is an appellative for God. Ishtohoollo points at the greatness, purity, and goodness, of the Creator in forming איש and אישא: it is derived from _Ishto_, GREAT, which was the usual name of God through all the prophetic writings; likewise, from the present tense of the infinitive mood of the active verb, _Ahoollo_, “I love,” and from the preter tense of the passive verb, _Hoollo_, which signifies “sanctifying, sanctified, divine, or holy.” Women set apart, they term, _Hoollo_, _i. e._ sanctifying themselves to Ishtohoollo: likewise, _Netakhoollo_ signifies “a sanctified, divine, or holy day;” and, in like manner, _Ookka Hoollo_, “water sanctified,” &c. So that, _Ishtohoollo_, when applied to God, in its true radical meaning, imports, “The great, beloved, holy Cause;” which is exceedingly comprehensive, and more expressive of the true nature of God, than the Hebrew name _Adonai_, which is applicable to a human being. Whenever the {45} Indians apply the epithet, compounded, to any of their own religious men, it signifies the great, holy, beloved, and sanctified men of the Holy One.

They make this divine name point yet more strongly to the supreme author of nature; for, as אב, signifies father; and as the omnipresent Spirit of the universe, or the holy father of mankind, is said to dwell above, they therefore call the immense space of the heavens, _Aba_, _Abáse_, and _Abatàra_: and, to distinguish the King of kings, by his attributes, from their own _Minggo Ishto_, or great chieftains, they frequently name him _Minggo Ishto Aba_, &c.; _Ishto Aba_, &c.; _Minggo Aba_, &c.; and, when they are striving to move the passions of the audience, _Ishtohoollo Aba_. The Hebrew servants were not allowed to call their master or mistress אב, _Abba_, till they were adopted: to which custom St. Paul alludes, _Rom._ viii. 15.

They have another appellative, which with them is the mysterious, essential name of God—the _tetragrammaton_, or great four-lettered name—which they never mention in common speech,—of the time and place, when, and where, they mention it, they are very particular, and always with a solemn air.

There is a species of tea, that grows spontaneously, and in great plenty, along the sea-coast of the two Carolinas, Georgia, and East and West Florida, which we call _Yopon_, or _Cusseena_:[22] The Indians transplant, and are extremely fond of it; they drink it on certain stated occasions, and in their most religious solemnities, with awful invocations: but the women, and children, and those who have not successfully accompanied their holy ark, _pro Aris et Focis_, dare not even enter the sacred square, when they are on this religious duty; otherwise, they would be dry scratched with snakes teeth, fixed in the middle of a split reed, or piece of wood, without the privilege of warm water to supple the stiffened skin.

When this beloved liquid, or supposed holy drink-offering, is fully prepared, and fit to be drank, one of their _Magi_ brings two old consecrated, large conch-shells, out of a place appropriated for containing the holy things, and delivers them into the hands of two religious attendants, who, after a wild ceremony, fill them with the supposed sanctifying, bitter liquid: then they approach near to the two central red and white seats, (which the {46} traders call the war, and beloved cabbins) stooping with their heads and bodies pretty low; advancing a few steps in this posture, they carry their shells with both hands, at an instant, to one of the most principal men on those red and white seats, saying, on a bass key, Y’AH, quite short: then, in like manner, they retreat backward, facing each other, with their heads bowing forward, their arms across, rather below their breast, and their eyes half shut; thus, in a very grave, solemn manner, they sing on a strong bass key, the awful monosyllable, O, for the space of a minute: then they strike up majestic HE, on the treble, with a very intent voice, as long as their breath allows them; and on a bass key, with a bold voice, and short accent, they at last utter the strong mysterious sound, WAH, and thus finish the great song, or most solemn invocation of the divine essence. The notes together compose their sacred, mysterious name, Y-O-HE-WAH.[23]

That this seems to be the true Hebrew pronunciation of the divine essential name, יהוה, JEHOVAH, will appear more obvious from the sound they seem to have given their characters. The Greeks, who chiefly copied their alphabet from the Hebrew, had not _jod_, but ιοτα, very nearly resembling the sound of our _Y_. The ancient Teutonic and Sclavonian dialects, have _Yah_ as an affirmative, and use the consonant _W_ instead of _V_. The high importance of the subject, necessarily would lead these supposed red Hebrews, when separated from other people in America, to continue to repeat the favourite name of God, YO HE WAH, according to the ancient pronunciation.

Contrary to the usage of all the ancient heathen world, the American Indians not only name God by several strong compounded appellatives, expressive of many of his divine attributes, but likewise say YAH at the beginning of their religious dances, with a bowing posture of body; then they sing YO YO, HE HE, and repeat those sacred notes, on every religious occasion: the religious attendants calling to YAH to enable them humbly to supplicate, seems to point to the Hebrew custom of pronouncing, יה, _Yah_, which likewise signifies the divine essence. It is well known what sacred regard the Jews had to the four-lettered divine name, so as scarcely ever to mention it, but once a year, when the high-priest went into the holy sanctuary, at the expiation of sins. Might not the Indians copy from them, this sacred invocation? Their method of invoking God, in a {47} solemn hymn, with that reverential deportment, and spending a full breath on each of the two first syllables of the awful divine name, hath a surprizing analogy to the Jewish custom, and such as no other nation or people, even with the advantage of written records, have retained.

It may be worthy of notice, that they never prostrate themselves, nor bow their bodies, to each other, by way of salute, or homage, though usual with the eastern nations, except when they are making or renewing peace with strangers, who come in the name of YAH; then they bow their bodies in that religious solemnity—but they always bow in their religious dances, because then they sing what they call divine hymns, chiefly composed of the great, beloved, divine name, and addressed to YO HE WAH. The favoured persons, whom the religious attendants are invoking the divine essence to bless, hold up the shells with both hands, to their mouths, during the awful sacred invocation, and retain a mouthful of the drink, to spirt out on the ground, as a supposed drink-offering to the great self-existent Giver; which they offer at the end of their draught. If any of the traders, who at those times are invited to drink with them, were to neglect this religious observance, they would reckon us as godless and wild as the wolves of the desart[XI]. After the same manner, the supposed holy waiters proceed, from the highest to the lowest, in their synedrion: and, when they have ended that awful solemnity, they go round the whole square, or quadrangular place, and collect tobacco from the sanctified sinners, according to ancient custom; “For they who serve at the altar, must live by the altar.”

Footnote XI:

The Mosaic law injoined the offering of libations; as _Exod._ xxix.
and _Numb._ xv. And the heathens, especially the ancient Greeks and
Romans, mimicked a great deal of the Mosaic institution. They observed
the like ceremonies in their idolatrous sacrifices. The priests only
tasted, and then spilt some wine, milk, or other liquor, in honour of
the Deity, to whom the sacrifice was offered. Alexander is said to
have sacrificed a bull to Neptune, and to have thrown a golden vessel
used for the libation, into the sea.

The Cheerake method of adjuring a witness to declare the truth, strongly corroborates the former hints, and will serve as a key to open the vowels of the great, mysterious, four-lettered name of God. On small affairs, the judge, who is an elderly chieftain, asks the witness, _Cheeakõhgà (sko?)_ “Do you lie?” To which he answers, _Ansa Kai-e-koh-gà_, “I do not lie.” But {48} when the judge will search into something of material consequence, and adjures the witness to speak the naked truth, concerning the point in question, he says “O E A (_sko_?)” “What you have now said, is it true, by this strong emblem of the beloved name of the great self-existent God?” To which the witness replies, O E A, “It is true, by this strong pointing symbol of YO HE WAH.” When the true knowledge of the affair in dispute, seems to be of very great importance, the judge swears the witness thus: O E A—YAH (_sko_?) This most sacred adjuration imports, “Have you now told me the real truth by the lively type of the great awful name of God, which describes his necessary existence, without beginning or end; and by his self-existent literal name, in which I adjure you.” The witness answers, O E A—YAH, “I have told you the naked truth, which I most solemnly swear, by this strong religious picture of the adorable, great, divine, self-existent name, which we are not to prophane; and I likewise attest it, by his other beloved, unspeakable, sacred, essential name.”

When we consider that the period of the adjurations, according to their idiom, only asks a question; and that the religious waiters say YAH, with a profound reverence, in a bowing posture of body, immediately before they invoke YO HE WAH,—the one reflects so much light upon the other, as to convince me, that the Hebrews, both invoked and pronounced the divine tetragrammaton, YO HE WAH, and adjured their witnesses to give true evidence, on certain occasions, according to the Indian usage; otherwise, how could they possibly, in a savage state, have a custom of so nice and strong-pointing a standard of religious caution? It seems exactly to coincide with the conduct of the Hebrew witnesses even now on the like religious occasions—who being sworn, by the name of the great living God, openly to declare the naked truth, hold up their right hand, and answer, אמנ אמנ _Amen Amen_, or “very true;” “I am a most faithful witness.” The Hebrew word signifies faithful, and by being repeated twice, becomes a superlative, and O E A—YAH is one of the highest degree.

St. John, in his gospel, according to the Hebrew method of adjuration, often doubles the _Amen_. And the same divine writer, at the beginning of each of his seven epistles, in describing the glorious and transcendant qualities of Jesus Christ, and particularly in the epistle to the church of Laodicea, points at the same custom, “These things saith the _Amen_, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” {49}

The Cheerake use another expression, which bears a strong analogy to the former method of adjuration; though it is not so sacred in their opinion, because of one letter prefixed, and another subjoined. The judge, in small controversies, asks the witness, _To e u (sko?)_ To which he answers, _To e u_, or _To e u hah_, “It is very true,” or “a most certain truth.” Such an addition of any letter, or letters, to the vowels of the supposed divine, four-lettered name, seems to proceed from a strict religious custom of proportioning them to the circumstances of persons and things, lest, otherwise, they should blaspheme, or prophane the emblems of the great divine name. And the vowel _U_ seems to allude to אחד, _i. e._ ONE—a name of God, figuratively—for, in their dialect, when it is a period, it makes a superlative, according to their usage in applying the rest of the divine appellatives, symbols, or names.

They esteem _To e u hah_ so strong an assent to any thing spoken, that _Cheesto Kaiēhre_, “the old rabbet,” (the name of the interpreter) who formerly accompanied seven of their head warriors to London,[24] assured me, they held there a very hot debate, in their subterranean lodgings, in the dead hours of the night of September the 7th, 1730, whether they should not kill him, and one of the war-chieftains, because, by his mouth, the other answered _To e u hah_ to his Majesty’s speech, wherein he claimed, not only their land, but all the other unconquered countries of the neighbouring nations, as his right and property. When they returned home, they were tried again, by the national sanhedrim, for having betrayed the public faith, and sold their country, for acknowledged value, by firm compact, as representatives of their country; they having received a certain quantity of goods, and a decoying belt of white wampum: but, upon serious deliberation, they were honourably acquitted, because it was judged, the interpreter was bound, by the like oath, to explain their speeches; and that surprise, inadvertence, self-love, and the unusual glittering show of the courtiers, extorted the sacred assent, _To e u hah_, out of the other’s mouth, which spoiled the force of it; being much afraid, lest they should say something amiss, on account of the different idiom of the English, and Indian American dialects[XII]. As there is no alternative between a falsehood, and a lie, they {50} usually tell any person, in plain language, “You lie,” as a friendly negative to his reputed untruth. The cheerful, inoffensive _old rabbet_ told me, he had urged to them, with a great deal of earnestness, that it was certain death by our laws, to give his Majesty the lie to his face; and cautioned them to guard their mouths very strongly from uttering such dangerous language: otherwise, their hearts would become very heavy, and even sorrowful to death; as he would be bound as firmly by our holy books, to relate the bare naked truth, as they were by repeating _To e u ah_, or even O-E-A—YAH.

Footnote XII:

The strong sentiments, natural wit, and intense love of liberty, which
the Indians shew themselves possessed of, in a high degree, should
direct our colonists to pursue a different method of contracting
Indian covenants than they have commonly used. First, let them
consider the general good of the community, who chose them for that
end; and then make a plain agreement with the Indians, adapted to
their fixed notion of liberty, and the good of their country, without
any deluding sophisms. If they do not keep these essential points of
amity in view, we shall fare again, as hath Georgia; for, by a
childish treaty with the Muskohge Indians, when defeated An. 1715, its
most northern boundaries are confined to the head of the ebbing and
flowing of Savannah river. We are said to have flourished off very
commodious Indian treaties in the _council-books_, with the Muskohge,
which the community know nothing of, except a few plain common
particulars, as they some years since declared.

The Chikkasah and Choktah method of adjuring a witness to give true evidence, is something similar to the former attestation, by _To e u hah_: when they ask them, whether they do not lie, they adjure them thus, _Chiklooska ke-e-u Chua?_ The termination implies a question of the second person, singular number, and the whole oath signifies literally, “Do not you lie? Do you not, of a certain truth?” To which he answers by two strong negative asseverations, _Aklooska Ke-e-u-que-Ho_, “I do not lie; I do not, of a certain truth.” When the Choktah are averring any thing asked of them, they assert it, by saying YAH. This shews their ignorance of the vowels of the supposed divine four-lettered name, in comparison of the Cheerake; and that they are become less religious, by prophaning the divine name, YAH; which confirms me in the opinion, that the Cheerake Indians were a more civilized people than any of the other neighbouring Indians.

We are told that the northern Indians, in the time of their rejoicings, repeat YO HA HAN; which, if true, evinces that their corruption advances, in proportion as they are distant from South-America, and wanted a {51} friendly intercourse with those who had an open communication with those southern regions[XIII]. Living in moderate high latitudes, would naturally prevent them from sinking into effeminacy, and inspire them with martial tempers, (as we are told of the Chili Indians) without being originally a bloodier people than any of the southern nations. However, we should be sparing of credit to what unskilful writers have carefully copied from each other, and transmitted to the learned world.

Footnote XIII:

They who have a desire to see the genuine oratory of the Indians, may
find it partly exhibited to the public, by the laborious Mr. Colden,
mostly in the manner, as I am told, he found it in the
_council-books_. As that gentleman is an utter stranger to the
language and customs of the Indians, it was out of his power to do
justice to the original. Their speech, in general, abounds with bolder
tropes and figures than illiterate interpreters can well comprehend,
or explain. In the most essential part of his copied work, he
committed a very material blunder, by writing in the first edition,
the Indian solemn invocation, YO HA HAN. I was well assured by the
intelligent Sir William Johnson, and the skilful, benevolent, pious,
and reverend Mr. John Ogilvie, that the northern Indians always
pronounce it YO HE A `AH; and so it is inserted in the second edition.
In justice to this valuable luminary of the church, and the worthy
laity of the city of New-York, I must observe, that, while the rest of
his sacerdotal brethren were much blamed for neglecting their office
of teaching, and instead thereof, were militating for an _episcopate_,
that gentleman was universally beloved by all ranks of people. He
spent his time, like a true servant of God, in performing the various
duties of his sacred office; and had the utmost pleasure in healing
breaches, both in public society, and in private families. Great
numbers of the poor negroe slaves, were instructed by him in the
principles of Christianity, while the other clergymen were earnestly
employed in disturbing the quiet of the public, for the sake of their
favourite Peter’s pence.

I shall hereafter, under another argument, shew, that the Indians variously transpose, shorten, and lengthen, each syllable of the great divine name, YO HE WAH, in a very extraordinary manner, when they are singing and dancing to, and before, the divine essence: and that they commonly derive such words as convey a virtuous idea, from, or compound them with that divine, essential name.

I shall now shew a farther parity, between the Hebrew language, and the Aboriginal American dialects.

_Pushkoosh_ signifies an infant, _Neetta_ a bear, _Nassooba_ a wolf, &c.——By joining the word _Ooshe_, to the end of the names of animals, it makes a {52} distinction; as _Nassoob-ooshe_, a wolf-cub, _Neett’-ooshe_ a bear-cub: but though the word _Oophe_ signifies a dog, as an exception to their general method of speech, they call a puppy _Ooph-ishik_, because he is so domestic, or sociable, as ישק, to kiss, or fondle. In like manner, _Pishi_ signifies milk; and _Pishik_ a woman’s breast, or the udder of any animal; as the young ones, by kissing, or sucking, shade the breast, פי, with their mouth, and thereby receive their nourishment. With the Hebrews,עפך (_Oophecha_) signifies active, or restless: which, according to the Indian idiom, expresses the quality of a dog; _Oophe_ is therefore the name of this animal, and their period denotes a similarity, according to the usage of the Hebrews.

_Shale_ and _Shatèra_, signify to carry, _Shapore_, a load. The former word consists of _Sheth_ and _Ale_. _Illeh_ imports dead, and _Kaneha_ lost. They say _Shat Kaneha_, to carry a thing quite away, or to Canaan.—Likewise, _Illeht Kaneha_, literally, dead, and lost, or probably, gone to Canaan. Several old Indian American towns are called _Kanāai_; and it hath been a prevailing notion with many Jews, that when any of their people died in a strange land, they passed through the caverns of the earth, till they arrived at Canaan, their attractive centre. And the word _Oobèa_, likewise imports dead, or cut off by O E A, or _Yohewah_; for they firmly believe, as before hinted, they cannot outlive the time the Deity has prescribed them. They likewise say, _Hasse Ookklīlle Cheele_, “the sun is, or has been, caused to die in the water,” _i. e._ sun-set. When they would say, “Do not obscure, or darken me,” they cry _Ish-ookkīlle Chīnna_, verbatim, “Do not occasion _Ish_, me, to become like the sun, dead in the water.” They call the new moon, _Hasse Awáhta_, “the moon is called upon to appear by Yohewah:” which plainly shews, that they believe the periodical revolutions of the moon to be caused, and the sun every day to die, or be extinguished in the ocean, by the constant laws of God. When we ask them, if to-day’s sun is drowned in the western ocean, how another can rise out of the eastern ocean to-morrow? they only reply, _Pilla Yammi_, or _Yammi mung_; or such is the way of God with his people. It seems to be a plain contraction of יה and אממי _Ammi_; which was the name of Israel during the theocracy. Besides, _Aeemmi_ signifies, “I believe;” as the peculiar people believed in Yohewah. And it likewise imports, “I am the owner of, &c.”——according to the Hebrew idiom, the words and meaning nearly agree. {53}

_Ette_ signifies wood; and they term any kind of chest, box, or trunk, _Eette Oobe_; and frequently, _Oobe_; which seems to point to the “ark of the purifier,” that was so fatal to the laity even to touch; a strong emanation of the holy fire, light, and spirit, residing in it, as well as in that which the priests carried to war, against the devoted enemy.

The Chikkasah settled a town, in the upper, or most western part of the Muskohge country, about 300 miles eastward of their own nation, and called it _Ooe-ása_;[25] which is derived from O E A, and _Asa_, “there,” or “here, is;” _i. e._ “YO HE WAH presides in this place.” And, when a person is removing from his former dwelling, they ask him, _Ish-ooè-à (tūm?)_ “are you removing hence, in the name, or under the patronage, of YO HE WAH?” And it both signifies to ascend, and remove to another place. As, O E A, ABA, the omnipresent father of mankind, is said to dwell above, so the Indian hopes to remove there from hence, by the bounty of Ishtohoollo, the great holy One: according to their fixed standard of speech, had they made any nearer approach to O E A, the strong religious emblem of the beloved four-lettered name, it would have been reckoned a prophanation.

_Phutchik_ signifies a star, and _Oonna_ “he is arrived:” but _Phutchik Oonnache_, “the morning-star;” because he is the forerunner of light, and resembles the sun that reflects it. And _Oonna-hah_ signifies to-morrow, or it is day. The termination denotes their gladness, that the divine light had visited them again: and, when they are asking if it is day, they say _Onna He (tak?)_. The last monosyllable only asks a question; and the fæminine gender treble note is the mid syllable of the great divine name—which may reflect some light upon the former observations.

Although the Hebrews had a proper name for the human soul, calling it נפש; yet in _Prov._ xx. 27, it is called נר יהוה, “The candle, or lamp of God;” and figuratively applied, it conveys a strong idea of the human soul: Thus the Indians term it, _Nāna Ishtohoollo_, “something of, or a relation to, the great holy One;” very analogous to the former method of expressing the rational Fire, as they believe the Deity resides in the new year’s, supposed principle, in allusion to the celestial cherubic name אש, _Ashe_, holy fire. Because _Ish_, Man, received his breath from the divine inspiration of the beneficent creator YAH, they term the human {54} species, in their strong-pointing language, _Yāhwè_; which, though different from the divine, essential, four-lettered name, in sound has יה, YAH, for its radix. But, because the monkey mimics _Yahweh_, or the rational creation, more than any other brute, in features, shape, gesture, and actions; in proportion to the similitude, they give him a similar name, _Shaw-we_. This indeed makes a near approach to _Ish_ and _Yah_, and to _Yahwe_; but it wants the radix of both, and consequently bears no signification of relation to either. While they urge, that the regularity of the actions of the brute creatures around them, expresses a nice understanding or instinct; they deny their being endued with any portion of the reasoning, and living principle, but bear only a faint allusion to _Nana Ishtohoollo_, the rational soul. The most intelligent among them, say the human soul was not made of clay, like the brute creation, whose soul is only a corporeal substance, attenuated by heat, and thus rendered invisible.

Through a seeming war-contempt of each other, they all use a favourite termination to their adjectives, (very rarely to their substantives) and sometimes to their verbs; especially when they are flourishing away, in their rapid war-speeches, which on such occasions they always repeat with great vehemence. I shall give a specimen of two words, in the dialects of our southern Indians. _RI_ is the favourite period of the Katāhba Indians; as _Mare-ŕi_, or _Wahre-ŕi_, “Good,” and _Maretawah-ŕi_, or _Wah-rètawàh-ŕi_, “best,” or very good; _Wah_, the last syllable of the great divine name, is evidently the radix, and magnifies the virtuous idea to a superlative. In like manner, _Shegàre-Wahŕi_, “not bad,” but _Sheekàre-ŕi_, signifies “bad.” With these Indians, _Sheeke_ is the name of a buzzard, which they reckon to be a most impure fowl, as it lives on putrid carcasses; upon which account, they choose that word to convey a vicious idea.

_Quo_ is the sounding termination of the Cheerake; as _Seohsta-quo_, “good,”—and _O-se-u_, “best,” or very good. Here they seem to have studiously chosen the vowels:—As the following words will illustrate, _Tonnàte-ū_, “very honest,” or virtuous, and _Y-O-U_, “Evil,” or very bad. To corroborate the hints I gave, concerning the Indian names of monkey, and the human species, let it be observed, that though their words convey a virtuous or vicious idea, in proportion as they are constituted out of {55} any of their three divine names, YOHEWAH, YAH, and ISHTOHOOLLO; or contain the vowels of the great sacred name, yet the aforesaid word Y-O-U, is so far from being a deviation from that general custom, it is an emphatical, and emblematical term to express evil, by the negative of good; for, as it is the only substantive or adjective of that word, it is a strong expressive symbol of the nature, and physical cause of moral evil, by separating _YO_, the first syllable of the divine four-lettered name into two syllables; and adding _U_, as a superlative period, to make it _malum malorum_.

_Shèh_ is the sounding criterion of the Muskohge, or Creek Indians,—a kind of cant jargon, for example; _Heettla-sheh_, signifies “good,” and _Heettla-wah-E-sheh_, “very good;” according to their universal standard of speech, it becomes a superlative, by subjoining that part of the divine name to it. With the Chikkasah and Choktah, _Heettla_ signifies dancing; probably because that religious exercise was good and highly pleasing to them, when, according to ancient custom, they danced in their symbolical circles, to, and before, YO HE WAH. With the former, _Apullowhage sheh_, expresses “bad,” or evil, thereby inverting the divine letters.

_Skeh_ is the favourite termination of the Chikkasah and Choktah—as _Chookòma-skeh_, “good,” _Chookòmasto-skeh_ (alluding to _Ishto_) “very good;” and _Ookproo-skeh_, “bad.” Likewise, _Ookproosto_, “worst,” or very bad; for, by annexing the contracted initial part of the divine name, _Ishtohoollo_, to the end of it, it is a superlative. These remarks may be of service to the inhabitants of our valuable and extensive barriers, in order to discover the national name of those savages, who now and then cut them off.

_Ookproo-see_, with those Indians, signifies “accursed;” the two last letters make only a _samech_, which implies a neuter passive: and, as _Ookproo_ is the only substantive or adjective they use to express “evil,” by doubling the leading vowel of the four-lettered divine name, both at the beginning and end of the word; may we not conjecture at its origin, as glancing at the introduction of sin or evil by man’s overacting, or innovating, through a too curious knowledge, or choice? “Ye shall be as gods,” and, in order to gain the resemblance, they ate what was forbidden. {56}

The greater number of their compounded words, (and, I believe, every one of them) which convey a virtuous or pure idea, either have some syllables of the three divine names, or visibly glance at them; or have one or two vowels of the sacred name, YO HE WAH, and generally begin with one of them; which I shall exemplify, with a few Chikkasah and Cheerake words. _Isse-Ahowwè_, “Deer;” _Yanàsa_, Buffalo, which as it begins with the divine name, YAH, contains no more of their beloved vowels: in like manner, _Wahka_, “cattle;” _Ishke-Oochēa_, “a mother.” This last seems to be drawn from _Isha_, the mother of all mankind. _Ehó_ and _Enekia_ signify “a woman.” The latter is derived from the active verb, _Akekiuhah_, signifying “to love ardently,” or like a woman; _Nakkàne Askai_, “a man.” From this word, the Chikkasah derive _Nakke_, the name of an arrow or bullet: and with the Cheerake _Askai_ signifies “to fear;” as all the American brute animals were afraid of man, &c.

Words, which imply either a vicious or impure idea, generally begin with a consonant, and double those favourite vowels, either at the beginning and end, or in the middle, of such words; as _Nassooba Woheea_, “a wolf.” With the Chikkasah, _Eassooba_ signifies “bewildered;” _Patche_, “a pigeon,” and _Patche Eassooba_, “a turtle-dove.” _Soore_ and _Sheeke_ are the Chikkasah and Cheerake names of a “Turkey-buzzard;” _Choola_ and _Choochòla_, “a fox;” _Shookqua_ and _Seequa_, an “opossum,” or hog; _Ookoonne_, “a polecat;” _Ookoonna_, “a badger;” _Chookphe_ and _Cheesto_, “a rabbet.” The last word is derived from the defective verb _Chesti_, “forbear,” or do not meddle with; and rabbets were prohibited to the Israelites. In like manner, _Ooppa_ and _Ookookoo_, “a night-owl;” _Oophe_ and _Keera_, “a dog;” _Nahoolla_ and _U-nēhka_, “white people,” or “impure animals.” The Chikkasah both corrupt and transpose the last part of the divine name, Ishtohoollo; and the Cheerake invert their magnifying termination _U_, to convey an impure idea. And through the like faint allusion to this divine name, _Hoollo_ signifies “idols, pictures, or images;” a sharp-pointed sarcasm! for the word, _Hoollo_, signifies also “menstruous women,” who were for the time an equal abomination to the Israelites, and with whom they were to have no communion. These two words seem to bear the same analogy to each other, as אל, _Al_, a name of God, and אלה, _Aleh_, signifying the covenant of the holy One to redeem man, and אלוה, _Aloah_, execrated, or accursed of God, as idols were. {57}

With the Cheerake, _Awwa_, or _Amma_, signifies “water,” and _Ammoi_, “a river;” not much unlike the Hebrew. They likewise term salt, _Hawa_; and both the conjunction copulative, and “to marry,” is _Tawa_. The name of a wife is _Awah_; which written in Hebrew, makes הוה, _Eve_, or _Eweh_, the name of our general mother. So that the Indian name of a wife, is literally and emphatically, HIS AND, “One absolutely needful for the well-being of _Ish_, or man;” _Ishtawa (tim?)_ signifies “have you married?” We gain additional light from the strong significant appellative, _Ish-ke_, “a mother;” which is an evident contraction of _Isha_, the mother of _Yawe_, or mankind, with their favourite termination, _ske_, subjoined; the word becomes thus smoother than to pronounce it at its full length, _Isha-ske_. If we consider that the Hebrews pronounced ו, _Vau_, when a consonant, as _W_, here is a very strong, expressive gradation, through those various words, up to the divine, necessary, AND, who formed and connected every system of beings; or to the Hebrew divine original YO HE WAH: at the same time, we gain a probable reason why so many proper names of old Indian places, in South-Carolina, and elsewhere, along the great continent, begin with our Anglo-Saxon borrowed character, _W_; as _Wampee_, _Watboo_, _Wappoo_, _Wadmolā_, _Wassamèsāh_, &c. Chance is fluctuating, and can never act uniformly.

To elucidate the aforesaid remarks, it may not be amiss to observe, that, according to the Israelitish custom both of mourning, and employing mourners for their dead, and calling weeping, the lifting up of their voices to God, the Choktah literally observe the same custom; and both they and the Chikkasah term a person, who through a pretended religious principle bewails the dead, _Yah-ah_, “Ah God!” and one, who weeps on other occasions, _Yāhma_, “pouring out salt tears to, or before God;” which is similar to יהמי. When a person weeps very bitterly, they say, _Yahmishto_, which is a compounded word, derived from יה, and ומי, with the initial part of the divine name, _Ishtohoollo_, subjoined, to magnify the idea, according to the usage of the Hebrews. When the divine penman is describing the creation, and the strong purifying wind, which swept along the surface of the waters, he calls it, “the air, or spirit;” and, more significantly, “the wind of God,” or a very great wind: and, in other parts of the divine oracles, great hail, a {58} great lion, and the like, are by the same figure, called the hail of God. They also apply the former words, _Yah-ah_, _Yah-ma_, and the like, to express the very same ideas through all the moods and tenses as _Cheyaàras_, “I shall weep for you;” _Sawa Cheyaàra Awa_, “Wife, I will not weep for you.” And when the violence of their grief for the deceased, is much abated, the women frequently, in their plaintive notes, repeat _Yo Hé (tà) Wāh, Yo Hé (tà) Weh, Yò Hé ta Há, Yo Hê tà Héh_; with a reference probably to the Hebrew custom of immoderately weeping and wailing for their dead, and invoking the name of God on such doleful occasions; and which may have induced these supposed red Hebrews to believe the like conduct, a very essential part of religious duty. _Neetak Yah-ah_ signifies “a fast day,” because they were then humbly to say _Ah_, and afflict their souls before YAH. In like manner, _Yah Abe_ signifies “one who weeps for having killed, or murdered another.” Its roots are יה, _Yah_, their continual war-period, and, אבל, _Abele_, signifying “sorrow or mourning;” for, as killing, or murdering, is an hostile act, it cannot be drawn from אבה, which signifies brotherly love, or tender affection. _Nana-Yah-Abe_ describes a person weeping, while another is killing him. Now, as _Nana_ is “a relation,” _Yah_ “God,” and _Abe_ as above, the true meaning seems to be, “One, like bleeding Abele, weeping to God.” Likewise their name for salt, _Hawa_, may inform us, that though at present they use no salt in their religious offerings, they forbore it, by reason of their distant situation from the sea-shore, as well as by the danger of blood attending the bringing it through an enemy’s country; for, according to the idiom of their language, if they had not thought salt an essential part of the law of sacrificature, they most probably, would not have derived it from the two last syllables of the great divine name; whereas they double the consonant, when they express water, without drawing it from the clear fountain of living waters, YO HE WAH.

With the Hebrews, as before observed[XIV], טפל, _Tephale_, signifies “shaking or pulling of the hand, cohesion, conjunction, or entering into society;” and “praying, or invoking.” In conformity to that original standard, when the Indians would express a strong, lasting friendship, they have no {59} other way, than by saying, _Aharattlè-la pheena chemanumbóle_, “I shall firmly shake hands with your discourse, or speech.”

Footnote XIV:

Page 42.

When two nations of Indians are making, or renewing peace with each other, the ceremonies and solemnities they use, carry the face of great antiquity, and are very striking to a curious spectator, which I shall here relate, so far as it suits the present subject. When strangers of note arrive near the place, where they design to contract new friendship, or confirm their old amity, they send a messenger a-head, to inform the people of their amicable intention. He carries a swan’s wing in his hand, painted all over with streaks of white clay, as an expressive emblem of their embassy. The next day, when they have made their friendly parade, with firing off their guns and whooping, and have entered the beloved square, their chieftain, who is a-head of the rest, is met by one of the old beloved men, or magi, of the place. He and the visitant approach one another, in a bowing posture. The former says, _Yò, Ish la chu Anggòna?_ “Are you come a friend in the name of God?” Or, “Is God with you, friend?” for, _Yo_ is a religious contraction of _Yohewah_,—_Ish_ “the man,” _La_ a note of joy, _Chu_ a query, and _Anggona_ “a friend.” The other replies, _Yah—Arahre-O, Anggona_, “God is with me, I am come, a friend, in God’s name.” The reply confirms the meaning of the questionary salute, in the manner before explained. The magus then grasps the stranger with both his hands, around the wrist of his right hand, which holds some green branches—again, about the elbow—then around the arm, close to his shoulder, as a near approach to the heart. Then his immediately waving the eagles tails over the head of the stranger, is the strongest pledge of good faith. Similar to the Hebrew word, _Phále_ with the Indians, signifies “to wave,” and likewise to shake; for they say, _Skooba—Phále_, “shaking one’s head.” How far the Indian oath, or manner of covenanting, agrees with that of the Hebrews, on the like solemn occasion, I refer to the intelligent reader. Their method of embracing each other, seems to resemble also that custom of the Hebrews, when a stranger became surety for another, by giving him his wrist; to which Solomon alludes, “If thou hast stricken hand with the stranger, &c.”—Their common method of greeting each other, is analogous with the above; the host only says, _Ish-la Chu?_ and the guest replies, _Arahre-O_, “I am come in the name of O E A,” or YO HE WAH. {60}

When _O_ is joined to the end of words, it always denotes a superlative, according to their universal figurative abbreviations of the great beloved name; thus with the Chikkasah, _Isse_, “deer,” and _Isse-O_, “very great deer;” _Yanása_, “a buffalo,” _Yanas-O_, “a very extraordinary great buffalo;” which is, at least, as strong a superlative, as אל ביח אל, signifying “the house of the Omnipotent,” or “the temple.”

With the Cheerake Indians, _A (wàh tà) howwe_ signifies “a great deer-killer:” it is compounded of _Ahowwe_, “a deer,” _Wah_—the period of the divine name, and _Ta_, a note of plurality. The title, “the deer-killer of God for the people,” was, since my time, very honourable among them, as its radical meaning likewise imports. Every town had one solemnly appointed; him, whom they saw the Deity had at sundry times blessed with better success than the rest of his brethren, in supplying them with an holy banquet, that they might eat, and rejoice, before the divine essence. But now it seems, by reason of their great intercourse with foreigners, they have left off that old social, religious custom; and even their former noted hospitality. I will also observe, that though necessity obliged them to apply the bear’s-grease, or oil, to religious uses, they have no such phrase as _(Wah ta) eeōna_; not accounting the bear so clean an animal as the deer, to be offered, and eaten in their religious friendly feasts; where they solemnly invoked, ate, drank, sung, and danced in a circular form, to, and before, YO HE WAH.

The Indian dialects, like the Hebrew language, have a nervous and emphatical manner of expression.—The Indians do not personify inanimate objects, as did the oriental heathens, but their style is adorned with images, comparisons, and strong metaphors like the Hebrews; and equal in allegories to any of the eastern nations. According to the ages of antiquity, their war-speeches, and public orations, always assume a poetical turn, not unlike the sound of the measures of the celebrated Anacreon and Pindar. Their poetry is seldom exact in numbers, rhymes, or measure: it may be compared to prose in music, or a tunable way of speaking. The period is always accompanied with a sounding vehemence, to inforce their musical speech: and the music is apparently designed to please the ear, and affect the passions. {61}

After what hath been said of their language, it may be proper here to shew how they accent the consonants: I shall range them in the order of our alphabet, except those they pronounce after our manner. When _CH_ begins a word, or is prefixed to a vowel, it conveys a soft sound, as _Cháa_, “high;” but otherwise it is guttural: as is _D_, which is expressed by fixing the tip of the tongue between the teeth, as _Dawi_, for David. _G_ is always guttural, as we accent _Go_. They cannot pronounce _Gn_; and they have not the _Hh_, neither can it be expressed in their dialects, as their leading vowels bear the force of guttural consonants. They have not the JOD, as I can any way recollect, or get information of; nor can they repeat it, any nearer than _Chot_. They pronounce _K_, as in _Ko_; _L_ and _N_, as _D_—_S_, by fixing the tongue to the lower teeth; _T_ like _D_, as in the old Hibernian, or Celtic affirmative, _Ta_. They cannot pronounce _V_, or _X_; they call the governor of Moveel, (Mobille) _Goweno-Moweeleh_: and they have not a word which begins or ends with _X_. _KS_ are always divided into two syllables; as _Hak-se_, “mad,” &c. They have not the letter _Z_; much less any such harsh sound as _Tz_, although they have _Tl_. As they use the Hebrew consonants _Y_ and _W_, in their most solemn invocation YO HE WAH, instead of the present Hebrew _Jod_ and _Vau_; so they seem to exclude them intirely out of their various dialects: the pronunciation therefore of the Hebrew characters, which are supposed to convey the other sounds, they are unacquainted with; and those which seem to be transposed, may be clearly ascertained by persons of proper capacity and leisure, by comparing a sufficient number of Hebrew and Indian words together. The Indian accents, _Oo_, and _O_, _Qu_, and _Tl_, may, prove a pretty good key to speculative enquirers.

_Tl_ often occur in their words; as _Tlumba_, “to bleed with a lancet, to bore, scoop, or make any thing hollow;” and _Heettla_, “to dance.” And the South-Americans, we are told, had likewise the same sound, as in that national name, _Tlaskala_: it seems to have been universal over the extensive continent. And, from a similarity of the Hebrew manners, religious rites, civil and martial customs, we have a strong presumptive proof, that they used the aforesaid double vowels, and likewise a single vowel, as a termination, to give their words a soft accent: and it is plain to me, that the Hebrew language did not sound so harsh, as it is now commonly expressed, but like the American dialects it was interspersed with vowels, {62} and a vowel was commonly subjoined to each word, for the sake of a soft cadence; as _Abele_, and _Ale_, instead of אבל, _Abel_, and אל, _Al_ &c.

The English characters cannot be brought any nearer to the true pronunciation of the Indian words, than as above set down: so that former writers have notoriously strayed, by writing conjecturally, or taking things on the wing of fame. What Indian words we had, being exceedingly mangled, either by the fault of the press, or of torturing pens, heretofore induced skilful persons to conjecture them to be hieroglyphical characters, in imitation of the ancient Egyptian manner of writing their chronicles.

The Indians express themselves with a great deal of vehemence, and with short pauses, in all their set speeches; but, in common discourse, they express themselves according to our usual method of speech, only when they scold each other: which I never observed, unless they were intoxicated with spiritous liquors, or casually overheard a husband when sober in his own family. They always act the part of a stoic philosopher in outward appearance, and never speak above their natural key. And in their philosophic way of reasoning, their language is the more sharp and biting, like keen irony and satyr, that kills whom it praises. They know, that thus they correct and subdue the first boilings of anger; which, if unchecked, proves one of the most dangerous passions to which human nature is subject. So that remote savages, who have heard only the jarring screeches of night-owls, and the roaring voices of ravenous beasts of prey, in this respect give lessons, and set a worthy example to our most civilized nations.

I have heard several eloquent Indian leaders, just as they were ready to set off for war, to use as bold metaphors and allegories in their speeches—and images almost as full and animating, as the eloquent penman of the old divine book of Job, even where he is painting, with his strong colours, the gladness and contempt of the beautiful war-horse, at the near approach of the enemy. I heard one of their captains, at the end of his oration for war, tell the warriors that stood outermost, he feelingly knew their guns were burning in their hands; their tomohawks thirsty to drink the blood of their enemy; and their trusty {63} arrows impatient to be on the wing; and, lest delay should burn their hearts any longer, he gave them the cool refreshing word, “Join the holy ark, and away to cut off the devoted enemy.” They immediately sounded the shrill whoo-whoop, and struck up the solemn, awful song, _Yo_, &c.

In Virginia, resides the remnant of an Indian tribe, who call themselves Sepóne;[26] which word, with the Egyptians, signifies the time of putting their wine into vessels; derived, according to mythologists, from _Saphan_, “to inclose or conceal.” From thence they formed the fictitious _Tisiphone_, the punisher of sins, animated with hatred; and also the rest of their pretended furies, from the like circumstances of the year. Our early American writers have bestowed on these Indians an emperor, according to the Spanish copy, calling him _Pawhatan_—contrary to the Indian method of ending their proper names with a vowel; and have pictured them as a separate body of fierce idolatrous canibals. We however find them in the present day, of the same temper and religious tenets, as the rest of the Indian Americans, in proportion to their situation in life. Considering the nearness of Egypt to Judea, they might have derived that appellative from the Egyptians,—especially, as here, and in several of our American colonies, (particularly on the north side of Susquehāna river, in Pensylvania) are old towns, called _Kanāa_. There was about thirty years ago, a remnant of a nation, or subdivided tribe of Indians, called _Kanāai_; which resembles the Hebrew proper name, כנענ, (_Canaan_, or _Chanoona_). Their proper names always end with a vowel: and they seldom use a consonant at the end of any word[XV]. I cannot recollect {64} any exceptions but the following, which are sonorous, and seem to be of an ancient date; _Ookkàh_, “a swan;” _Ilpàtak_, “a wing;” _Kooshàk_, “reeds;” _Sheenuk_, “sand;” _Shūtik_, “the skies;” _Phutchik_, “a star;” _Soonak_, “a kettle;” _Skin_, “the eye;” _Ai-eep_, “a pond;” and from which they derive the word _Ai-ee-pe_, “to bathe,” which alludes to the eastern method of purifying themselves. _Ilbàk_ signifies “a hand;” and there are a few words that end with _sh_; as _Soolish_, “a tongue,” &c.

Footnote XV:

If we consider the proximity of those Indians to a thick-settled
colony, in which there are many gentlemen of eminent learning, it will
appear not a little surprizing that the name _Canaanites_, in the
original language, according to the Indian method of expressing it, as
above, did not excite the attention of the curious, and prompt them to
some enquiry into the language, rites, and customs, of those
Aborigines: which had they effected, would have justly procured them
those eulogia from the learned world, which their society profusely
bestowed on the artful, improved strokes of a former prime magistrate
of South-Carolina, whose conduct in Indian affairs, was so exceedingly
singular, if not sordid and faulty, (as I publicly proved when he
presided there) that another year’s such management would have caused
the Cheerake to remove to the French barrier, or to have invited the
French to settle a garrison, where the late unfortunate Fort-Loudon
stood. But a true British administration succeeding, in the very
critical time, it destroyed their immature, but most dangerous
threatening scheme. This note I insert here, though rather out of
place, to shew, that the northern gentlemen have not made all those
observations and enquiries, with regard to the Indians, which might
have been reasonably expected, from so numerous and learned a body.