Chapter I: Introduction: xi

CHAP. I.

The Falls of Niagara 1

CHAP. II.

Niagara Whirlpool 12

CHAP. III.

Geographical description of the Great Lakes of North
America 21

CHAP. IV.

The Author’s motives for undertaking the _Tour_; character
of wild Indians 28

CHAP. V.

Romantic expectations; impressions of nursery tales
respecting Indians; the savage proper; embarkation
from Buffalo; beauties of Lake Erie; arrival
at Detroit 33

CHAP. VI.

History of Detroit:--early trading posts; Pontiac’s
conspiracy; Detroit saved; Pontiac’s death; description
and beauties of the Territory of Michigan 40

CHAP. VII.

Remarkable instance of capital crime 48

CHAP. VIII.

Embarkation from Detroit; Captain Symmes’s theory
of the earth; sail over Lake St. Clair; interest of
the scene; delta of the River St. Clair; relics of
French population; a picture of French and Indians 54

CHAP. IX.

River St. Clair; visit to Fort Gratiot; memoranda of
Lake Huron:--wild and picturesque scenery of its
northern regions; meeting with a canoe, manned by
eight Indians with the paddle; their dexterity and
the celerity of their movement; an Indian encampment;
their lodges; the Indian paddle quicker than
steam; the Indian’s love of money and whiskey;
an Indian salute; and several interesting incidents
of the passage among the islands of the north
margin of Huron 63

CHAP. X.

Arrival at the _Saut de St. Marie_; origin of this name;
the Falls; an interesting young lady, whose mother
was an Indian and her father a Scotchman; peculiar
and moral power of Indian languages 80

CHAP. XI.

Voyage from the Saut de St. Marie to Green Bay;
the thirty-two thousand islands; the scenery they
create; description of Michillimackinack; the sugar-loaf
and arched rock; arrival at Green Bay in the
North-West Territory 88

CHAP. XII.

Political relations of the American Indian tribes; their
rights ostensibly, but not really respected; the pre-emption
right and its operation; the original claims
of Europeans a precedent; late juridical decision
of the American Supreme Court; Great Britain
and the United States both responsible in the treatment
and for the fate of the Indians 96

CHAP. XIII.

Vindication of the American Indians from the charge
of being Savages; their domestic affections kind and
amiable; their savage passions artificial, kindled by
the war-dance, and only for war; the Indian in war
is frantic, and never the aggressor, without a sense
of injury; Indian character essentially modified by
contact with the European race 109

CHAP. XIV.

Gradual extinction of the Eastern tribes; the New
York tribes advised to remove to the North-West
Territory; concurrence of the General Government
in the plan; parts of the Indians agree to it; the
nature of the understanding; their purchase of land
and removal; their expectations; their disappointment;
supposed scheme for breaking up this new
arrangement, and the result of it; the reasons for
this narrative; extracts from the Rev. Dr. Morse’s
Report to Congress, evincing the views then entertained
in regard to this removal of the New York
Indians 122

CHAP. XV.

The design of the Commission of 1830 to Green Bay;
ignorance of Government of the state of the case;
history of the title in dispute and the measures
employed to invalidate it 144

CHAP. XVI.

Burning and massacre of Deerfield in Massachusetts;
the infant daughter of the Rev. Mr. Williams
snatched from the cradle, and carried into captivity;
is retained, and marries an Indian Chief; her descendants;
the Rev. Eleazer Williams, formerly of
the St. Regis, now of the Oneida tribe, one of
them; was brought to New England in childhood,
and there educated; Mr. Williams and the Author
school-fellows; Mr. Williams engaged in the American
army during the late war; afterwards ordained
to the Christian ministry by Bishop Hobart, and
established among the Oneidas, near Utica 154

CHAP. XVII.

The Rev. Mr. Williams takes the lead in the removal
of the New York Indians to Green Bay; after a
long separation, the Author meets him there in
1830; the importance of his public duties in that
infant settlement of his people; ascent of Fox
River; deceitfulness of the Indian canoe; incidents;
arrival at Mr. Williams’s house; Mr. Williams’s developement
of his plans; his disappointment 167

CHAP. XVIII.

An account of the Stockbridge tribe, and their settlement
on Fox River; the Rev. John Sergeant, the first
Christian Missionary to the tribe, from England; the
Oxford Bible (1717) presented by the Rev. Dr.
Francis Ayscouth, in 1745; the improvement of
these Indians in civilization and the Christian religion;
a Sabbath among them; their exemplary
religious order; their attachment to their religious
teachers; Sunday school; their church music and
psalmody; the parish beadle; their dress and manners;
an impromptu-Indian speech; Indian politeness;
reflections 185

CHAP. XIX.

The Oneida settlement at Duck Creek, under the care
of the Rev. Mr. Williams; its flourishing condition;
discouraging prospects of these tribes, and the disturbance
of their relations with the ancient and
wilder tribes of the territory 203

CHAP. XX.

The manner in which the Commission from Government
summoned the Council; instructions imposed
on the Commission, and difficulties created by them;
assembling of the Indians, and the setting up of
their encampments; modes of dress; a city of
Indian lodges; demoralizing influence of these
public councils; drunkenness; the ruin of a young
Indian female 212

CHAP. XXI.

Organization and opening of the Council; the Council-house;
singular formalities; smoking of the pipe;
grotesque appearance of the assemblage; the New
York Indians compared with the wild tribes;[1] the
different tribes represented in Council; modes of
interpretation; the chastened oratory of the New
York Indians; John Metoxen (a Stockbridge
chief); his last Speech in Council; Indian shrewdness;
oratory of the wild Indians, itself wild, but
often powerful; piety of the Indians 226

CHAP. XXII.

Charge of Indian affairs in the War Department; the
course pursued by the New York Indians at the
Council, in the vindication of their rights; the
object of the Commission defeated 245

CHAP. XXIII.

Specimens of Indian speeches 252

CHAP. XXIV.

Freemasonry among the Indians; Medicine-dance;
the faith of the Indians in its miraculous efficacy;
the manner of it; it often kills the patient; the war-dance;
account of one witnessed by the Author;
the preparations; the instruments of music for the
occasion; the horrible manner in which they dress
and paint themselves; the exciting influence of the
exercises; description of them; the motives acting
upon the mind, and working the passions into
frenzy; the war-whoop; its shrill voice, and piercing,
startling effect; an unexpected and alarming
incident;--a second war-dance among the Osages,
west of the Mississippi 271

CHAP. XXV.

Specimens of Indian speeches of former times, with
anecdotes:--the vision of an Indian chief, narrated
by himself; speech of an Indian captain to his
warriors; murder of the family of Logan, and his
speech to Lord Dunmore; the Indian chief’s answer
to General Knox’s inquiry--“What is the
matter, brother? You look sorry;” speech of _Cornplanter_
to General _Washington_; of a Pawnee chief
to President _Monroe_; anecdote of a Pawnee Brave 301

ADVERTISEMENT.

_Prefaces and Introductions are commonly esteemed the_ last _words of the Author, put in the_ first _place, as his right rather than the reader’s privilege, to vex and impede the inclination to get at the main design; and for this reason are very often passed over. But the Author begs leave to say--that in this instance, the Introduction is the_ Key.

_It will be found, that the_ minor _part of the Title indicates the_ major _of the subject in respect to importance, though not perhaps in matter for amusement_.