This file was produced from images generously made available by theCanadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. A TREATISE ON THE SIX-NATION INDIANS By J. B. MACKENZIE --------------------- (_Page 28--lines 7-9_. ) It has seemed to me that it was not quite ingenuous in myself to attributeto the Indian writer in question (Rev. Peter Jones), the reflection onhis countrymen, obviously conveyed in my expression, "discovering inhim such in-dwelling monsters as revenge, mercilessness, implacability. " That writer's position, more fairly apprehended, is this: That, whileconfessing these to be blots on the Indian nature, in the abstract, he yet seeks to fasten them on _many_ whites as well. --------------------- A TREATISE ON THE SIX-NATION INDIANS BY J. B. MACKENZIE PREFACE. The little production presented in these pages was designed for, andhas been used as, a lecture; and I have wished to preserve, withoutemendation, the form and character of the lecture, as it was delivered. J. B. M. A TREATISE ON THE SIX NATION INDIANS INTRODUCTORY As knowledge of the traditions, manners, and national traits of theIndians, composing, originally, the six distinct and independent tribesof the Mohawks, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, and Cayugas;tribes now merged in, and known as, the Six Nations, possibly, doesnot extend beyond the immediate district in which they have effected alodgment, I have laid upon myself the task of tracing their history fromthe date of their settlement in the County of Brant, entering, at thesame time, upon such accessory treatment as would seem to be naturallysuggested or embraced by the plan I have set before me. As the essay, therefore, proposes to deal, mainly, with the contemporary history ofthe Indian, little will be said of his accepted beliefs, at an earlierepoch, or of the then current practices built upon, and enjoined by, his traditionary faith. Frequent visits to the Indian's Reservation, onthe south bank of the Grand River, have put me in the way of acquiringoral data, which shall subserve my intention; and I shall prosecute myattempt with the greater hope of reaping a fair measure of success, since I have fortified my position with gleanings (bearing, however, solely on minor matters of fact) from some few published records, which have to do with the history of the Indian, generally, and havebeen the fruitful labour of authors of repute and standing, nativeas well as white. Should the issue of failure attend upon my effort, I shall be disposed to ascribe it to some not obscure reasonconnected with literary style and execution, rather than to the factof there not having been adequate material at hand for the purpose. THE INDIAN'S CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT. The conditions which govern the Indian's occupation of his Reserve are, probably, so well known, that any extended reference under this headwill be needless. He ceded the whole of his land to the Government, this comprising, originally, a tract which pursued the entire length of the Grand River, and, accepting it as the radiating point, extended up from either sideof the river for a distance of six miles, to embrace an area of thatextent. The Government required the proprietary right to the land, inthe event of their either desiring to maintain public highways throughit themselves, or that they might be in a position to sanction, oracquiesce in, its use or expropriation by Railway Corporations, for therunning of their roads; or for other national or general purposes. Thesurrender on the part of the Indian was not, however, an absolute one, there having been a reservation that he should have a Reservation, ofadequate extent, and the fruit of the tilling of which he should enjoyas an inviolable privilege. As regards the money-consideration for this land, the Government stand tothe Indian in the relation of Trustees, accounting for, and apportioningto, him, through the agency of their officer and appointee, the IndianSuperintendent, at so much _per capita_ of the population, theinterest arising out of the investment of such money. _Sales_ of lands among themselves are permissible; but these, forthe most part, narrow themselves down to cases where an Indian, with thepossession of a good lot, of fair extent, and with a reasonable clearing, vested in him, leaves it, to pursue some calling, or follow some trade, amongst the whites; and treats, perhaps, with some younger Indian, who, disliking the pioneer work involved in taking up some uncultured placefor himself, and preferring to make settlement on the comparatively wellcultivated lot, buys it. The Government, also, allow the Indian, thoughas a matter of sufferance, or, in other words, without bringing the lawto bear upon him for putting in practice what is, strictly speaking, illegal, to _rent_ to a white the lot or lots on which he may belocated, and to receive the rent, without sacrifice or alienation ofhis interest-money. Continued non-residence entails upon the non-resident the forfeiture ofhis interest. The Indian is, of course, a minor in the eye of the law, a feature ofhis estate, with the disabilities it involves, I shall dwell upon morefully at a later stage. Should the Indian intermarry with a white woman, the receipt of hisinterest-allowance is not affected or disturbed thereby, the wife comingin, as well, for the benefits of its bestowal; but should, on the otherhand, an Indian woman intermarry with a white man, such act compels, as to herself, acceptance, in a capitalized sum, of her annuities for aterm of ten years, with their cessation thereafter; and entails upon thepossible issue of the union _absolute_ forfeiture of interest-money. In any connection of the kind, however, that may be entered into, theIndian woman is usually sage and provident enough to marry one, whose holdupon worldly substance will secure her the domestic ease and comforts, ofwhich the non-receipt of her interest would tend to deprive her. Shouldthe eventuality arise of the Indian woman dying before her husband, the latter must quit the place, which was hers only conditionally, though the Indian Council will entertain a reasonable claim from him, to be recouped for any possible outlay he may have made for improvements. The Government confer upon the Indian the privilege of a resident medicalofficer, who is paid by them, and whose duty it is to attend, withoutexpectation of fee or compensation of any kind, upon the sick. Hisrelation, however, to the Government is not so defined as to precludehis acceptance of fees from whites resident on the Reserve, providedthe advice be sought at his office. The Government, probably, beingwell aware of the stress of work under which their medical appointeechronically labours, and appreciating the consequent unlikelihood ofthis privilege being exercised to the prejudice of the Indian, have not, as yet, shorn him of it. Another privilege that the Indian enjoys, and which was granted to him byenactment subsequent to that which assured to him his Reserve, is thatof transit at half-fare grates on the different railroads. This is aright which he neither despises, nor, in any way, affects to despise, since it meets, and is suited to, his common condition of slender andstraitened means. The moderate charge permits him to avail frequentlyof the privilege at seasons (which comprehend, in truth, the greaterportion of the year) when the roads are almost unfit for travel, theIndian, as a rule, going in for economy in locomotive exercise (so myjudgment decrees, though it has been claimed for him that, at an earlierperiod of his history, walking was congenial to him) hailing and adoptinggladly the medium which obviates recourse to it. HIS MEETINGS OF COUNCIL. The Indian Council has a province more important than that which ourMunicipal Councils exercise. Its decisions as to disputes growing outof real estate transactions, unless clearly wrong, have in them theforce of law. The ordinary Council is a somewhat informal gathering as regards apresiding officer or officers, and, also, in respect of that essentialfeature of a quorum, for which similar bodies among ourselves hold outso exactingly. The Chiefs of the tribes, who, alone, are privileged toparticipate in discussions, can scarcely be looked upon in the light ofpresidents of the meeting; nor can there be discovered in the privilegesor duties of any one of them the functions of a presiding officer. The Chiefs of the Mohawks and Senecas, who sit on the left of the house, initiate discussion on all questions. The debating is then transferredto the opposite side of the house, where are seated the Chiefs of theTuscaroras, Oneidas, and Cayugas, and is carried on by these Chiefs. TheChiefs of the Onondagas, who are called "Fire-Keepers" (of the originof the name "Fire-Keeper, " I will treat further, anon) then speakto the motion, or upon the measure, and, finally, decide everything;and they are, in view of this power of finality of decision with allquestions, regarded as the most important Chiefs among the confederatedtribes. The decision of the "Fire-Keepers" does not, by any means, always show concurrence in what may have been the _consensus_of opinion expressed by previous speakers, very frequently, indeed, embodying sentiments directly opposite to the weight of the judgmentwith those speakers. As illustrating, more pointedly, the arbitrarypowers committed to these Chiefs, they may import into the debate afresh and hitherto unbroached line of discussion, and, following it, may argue from a quite novel standpoint, and formulate a decision basedupon some utterly capricious leaning of their own. I have not been ableto learn whether the decision of these Chiefs, to be valid, requires to beestablished by their unanimous voice, or simply by a majority of the body. The reason or cogency of the system of debate followed in the IndianCouncil has not seemed to me clearly demonstrable; nor is the cause forthe honour attaching to the Chiefs of the Mohawks and Senecas, and ofthe Onondagas, respectively, of commencing and closing discussion, veryexplicable. I believe, however, that the principle of kinship subsistingbetween the tribes, the Chiefs of which are thus singled out for theseduties, governs, in some way, the practice adopted; and am led, also, to imagine that exceptional functions, in other matters as well, vestin these Chiefs; and that they enjoy, in general, precedence over theChiefs of the other tribes. The Chiefs in Council take cognizance of the internal concerns, and control and administer, generally, the internal affairs, of thecommunity. There are often special and extraordinary deliberations of thebody, which involve discussion upon points that transcend the operationof the Indian Acts, and require the Government to be represented; and, in these cases, the Indian Superintendent, whose presence is necessaryto confer validity on any measure passed, is the presiding officer. As mention is made here of the Superintendent, or, as his title runs infull, the Visiting Superintendent and Commissioner, it will be opportunenow to define his powers, so far as I understand them. It may be said, in general, that he exercises supervisory power overeverything that concerns the well-being and interests of the Indian. Bythe representations made by him to the Government in his reports (and bythose, of course, who hold the like office in other Indian districts)has been initiated nearly every law, or amendment to a law, which thepages of the Indian Acts disclose. He will often watch (though in his commission no obligation, I believe, rests upon him to do this) the trial of an Indian, where some one of thegraver crimes is involved, that he may, perchance, arrive at the impellingcause for its perpetration. This may have had its origin, perhaps, inthe criminal's having over-indulged in drink, or in his having resignedhimself to some immoral bent; or it may have been connected, generally, with some deluging of the community with immorality. If, haply, theorigin of the crime be traced, the Superintendent embodies in his reporta reccommendation looking to a change in the law, which shall tend tosuppress and control the evil. If there be indication that a particularorder of crime prevails, or that, unhappily, some new departure in itsmelancholy category is being practised, it will, again, be his place torepresent the situation to the Government, to the end that a healthierstate of things may be brought about. He is authorized, in certain cases, to make advances on an individual Indian's account, and, also, on thegeneral account, where some emergency affecting the entire tribe arises, such as a failure of the crops, confronting the Indian with the serious, and, but for this Governmental provision, insuperable, difficulty offinding the outlay for seeding for the next season's operations. It is customary for the Superintendent to attend important examinationsof the Indian schools, that he may have light upon the pupils' progress, and may report accordingly. Where an occurrence of unusual moment in the history of any of theChurches takes place; the projecting, perhaps, of some fresh spiritualcampaign amongst the Indians; or one, marking some specially auspiciousevent, he will often lend his presence, with the view to enlightenmentas to the spiritual state of his charges. I have already said, that through the agency of the Superintendent, theIndian receives his interest-money, and it may, perhaps, be interesting todetail the manner in which this is usually drawn. The tribes are told offfor this purpose, and, I believe, certain other purposes, into a numberof bands; and a given day is set (or, perhaps, three or four days areassigned) whereon the members of a particular band shall be privilegedto draw. If the drawing of the money be not marked by that expeditionwhich the plan is designed to secure, but rather suggests that thereare a number of stragglers yet to come forward to exercise their right, the turn of another band comes, and so on, the straggling ones of eachband being treated with last. It is usual for the head of each family to draw for himself and hisdomestic circle. The present incumbent of the Superintendent's office is a gentleman offine parts, and one who has striven, during a term of nearly twenty years, with tact and ability, to conserve the interests of the Indian. Speakingof tact, the Indian character exacts a large display of it from one whoserelation to him is such as that which the Superintendent occupies, hisoverseer and, to a large extent, his mentor. There have been outcriesagainst his course in some matters, though these have been indulged inonly a small section; but the Indian chafes under direction, and is, for the most part, a chronic grumbler; and his discontent frequentlyfinds expression in delegations to the Government, which, though they_may_ be planned with the view of ventilating some grievance, aremore generally conceived of by him in the light of happy expedientsfor giving play to his oratory, or for setting about to establishhis pretensions to eminence in that regard, in a somewhat exactingquarter; or, mayhap, for conveying to the powers that be, by palpabledemonstration, the fact of his continued existence, and more, of hiscontinued _dissatisfied_ existence. But to return to the Council. Where complaint of irregular dealing ispreferred by either party to a transfer or sale of real estate, it comeswithin the scope of the Chief's powers to decree an equitable basis uponwhich such transfer or sale shall henceforward be viewed, and carriedout. The jurisdiction of the Chiefs also ranges over such matters asthe considering of applications from members of the various tribes forlicensing the sale to whites of timber, stone, or other valuable deposit, with which the property of such applicants may be enriched; and theylikewise treat with applications for relief from members of the tribes, whom physical incapacity debars from earning living, or who have beenreduced to an abject state of poverty and indigence; and have authorityto supplement the interest-annuities of such, should they see fit, with suitable amounts. The silent adjudging of a question is something abhorrent to the geniusof the Indian, and is in reality unknown. Dishonouring thus the custom, he can grandly repudiate the contemptuous epithet of "voting machine;"so unsparingly directed against, and pitilessly fastening upon, certainignoble legislators among ourselves. The manner of proceeding thatobtained with the Ojibways was somewhat different from the practice I havedetailed, and I allude to it now, because the tribe of the Delawares, who are now treated as an off-shoot of the Oneidas, and are merged withtheir kin in the Six Nations, belonged originally to the Ojibways. Withthem the decision was come to according to the opinions expressed by themajority of the speakers--a plan resolving itself into the system of ashow of hands (or a show of _tongues_, which shall it be?) it havingbeen customary for all who proposed to pass upon a measure to speak aswell. The issue upheld by the greater number of hands shown, naturally, as with us, succeeded. Where a measure, in the progress of discussion, proved unpopular, it was dropped, an arrangment which should convey awise hint to certain bodies I wot of. It will be readily gathered from what has been said, that the method ofvoting, in order to establish what is the judgment of the greater number, does not prevail with the Indian Councils. HIS ORATORY. As it is at his meetings of Council, and during the discussions thatare there provoked, that the Indian's powers of oratory come, for themost part, into play, and secure their freest indulgence, that willappropriately constitute my next head. We are permitted to adjudge the manner and style of the Indian's oratory, whether they be easy or strained; graceful or stiff; natural or affected;and we may, likewise, discover, if his speech be flowing or hesitating;but it is denied to us, of course, to appreciate in any degree, or toappraise his utterances. I should say the Indian fulfils the largestexpectations of the most exacting critic, and the highest standard ofexcellence the critic may prescribe, in all the branches of oratory thatmay (with his province necessarily fettered) fitly engage his attention, or be exposed to his hostile shafts. The Indian has a marvellous control over facial expression, and this, undeniably, has a powerful bearing upon true, effective, heart-movingoratory. Though his _spoken_ language is to us as a sealed book, his is a mobility of countenance that will translate into, and expoundby, a language shared by universal humanity, diverse mental emotions;and assure, to the grasp of universal human ken, the import of thoseemotions; that will express, in turn, fervor, pathos, humor; that, to find its completest purpose of unerringly revealing each passion, alternately, and for the nonce, swaying the human breast, will traverse, as it were, and compass, and range over the entire gamut of human emotion. The Indian's grace and aptness of gesture, also, in a measure, bespeakand proclaim commanding oratory. The power, moreover, which with theIndian resides in mere gesture, as a medium for disclosing and layingbare the thoughts of his mind, is truly remarkable. Observe the Indianinterpreter in Court, while in the exercise of that branch of his dutywhich requires that the evidence of an English-speaking witness or, at allevents, that portion of it which would seem to inculpate the prisoner atthe bar, or bear upon his crime, shall be given to him in his own tongue;and, having been intent upon getting at the drift of the testimony, markhow dexterously the interpreter brings gesture and action into play, wherever the narration involves unusual incident or startling episode, provoking their use! What a reality and vividness does he not throw, inthis way, into the whole thing! It records, truly, a triumph of mimeticskill. Again, the opportune gesture used by the Indian in enforcinghis speaking must seem so patent, in the light of the after-revelationby the interpreter, that we can scarcely err in confiding in it asa valuable aid in adjudging his qualities of oratory. We are, often, indeed, put in possession of the facts, in anticipation of the provinceof the interpreter, who merely steps in, with his more perfect key, toconfirm our preconceived interpretation. It may be contended by somegainsayer, that the Indian vocabulary, being so much less full and richthan our own, gesture and action serve but to cover up dearth of words, and are, in truth, well-nigh the sum of the Indian's oratory; a judgmentwhich, while, perhaps, conceding to the Indian honour as a pantomimist, denies him eminence as a true orator. This may or may not be an aptlytaken objection, yet I have no hesitation in assigning the Indian highartistic rank in these regards, and would fain, indeed, accept him asa prime educator in this important branch of oratory. The attention of his hearers, which an Indian speaker of recognized meritarrests and sustains, also lends its weight to substantiate his claim, to good oratory; unless, indeed, the discriminating faculties of thehearers be greatly at fault, which would caution us not to esteem thisthe guide to correct judgment in the matter that it usually forms. The Indian enlivens his speaking with frequent humorisms, and has, I should say, a finely-developed humorous side to his character; and, if the zest his hearers extract from allusions of this nature be notinordinate or extravagant, or do not favor a false or too indulgentestimate, I would pronounce him an excessively entertaining, as well asa vigorous, speaker. There are in the Indian tongue no very complex, rules of grammar. Thisbeing so, the Indian, pursuing the study of oratory, needs not toundertake the mastery of unelastic and difficult rules, like thosewhich our own language comprehends; or to acquire correct models ofgrammatical construction for his guidance; and, being fairly secureagainst his accuracy in these regards being impeached by carping critics, even among his own brethren, can better and more readily uphold a claimto good oratory than one of ourselves, whose government in speaking, bystrict rules of grammar is essential, and whom ignorance or contempt ofthose rules would betray into solecisms in its use, which would attractunsparing criticism, and, indeed, be fatal to his pretensions in thisdirection. HIS PHYSICAL MIEN AND CHARACTERISTICS. It will be interesting, perhaps, to notice the particulars, as to physicalconformation, in which the Indian differs from his white brother. He maintains a higher average as to height, to fix which at five feetten would, I think, be a just estimate. It is rare, however, to findhim attain the exceptional stature, quite commonly observed with thewhite, though, where he yields to the latter in this respect, there iscompensation for it in the way of greater breadth and compactness. Thereare, of course, isolated cases, in which he is distinguished by as greatheight as has ever been reached by ordinary man, and, in these instances, I have never failed to notice that his form discloses almost faultlessproportions, the Indian being never ungainly or gaunt. I think, on thewhole, that I do no injustice to the white man, when I credit the Indianwith a better-knit frame than himself. I am disposed to ascribe, in great measure, the evolving of the erectform that the Indian, as a rule, possesses, to the custom in vogue ofthe mother carrying her child strapped across the back, as well as tothe fact of her discouraging and interdicting any attempts at walkingon the part of the child, until the muscles shall have been so developedas to justify such being made. To this practice, at least, I am safe inattributing the rarity, if not the positive absence, with the Indian, ofthat unhappy condition of bow-leggedness, of not too slight prevalencewith us, and which renders its victim often a butt for not very charitableor approving comment. The Indian is built more, perhaps, for fleetness than strength; andhis litheness and agility will come in, at another place, for their dueillustration, when treating of certain of his pastimes. The Indian has a large head, high cheek bones, in general, large lipsand mouth; a contour of face inclining, on the whole, to undue breadth, and lacking that pleasantly-rounded appearance so characteristic of thewhite. He has usually a scant beard, his chin and cheeks seldom, if ever, asserting that sturdy and bountiful growth of whisker and moustache, insuch esteem with adults among ourselves, and which they are so carefulto stimulate and insure. Indeed, it is said that the Indian holds ratherin contempt what we so complacently regard, and will often testify tohis scorn by plucking out the hairs which protrude, and would fain lendthemselves to his adornment. The Indian, normally, has a stolid expression, redeemed slightly, perhaps, by its exchange often for a lugubrious one. I should feel disposed topredict for him the scoring of an immense success in the personationof such characters as those of the melancholy Dane; or of Antonio, in the Merchant of Venice, after the turn of the tide in his fortunes, when the vengeful figure of the remorseless Shylock rests upon his lifeto blight and to afflict it. He is easily-moved to tears, though, perhaps, his facile transition fromthe condition presented in the foregoing allusion, into a positivelylachrymose state, will be readily conceived of, without proclaimingspecially, the fact. He will maintain a mien, which shall consisteminently with the atmosphere of the house of mourning; in truth, as anefficient mourner, the Indian may be freely depended upon. It is contended that the complexion of the Indian has had the tendency togrow darker and darker, from his having inhabited smoky, bark wigwams, and having held cleanliness in no very exceptional honor; and thecontention is sought to be made good by the citing of a case of a young, fair-skinned boy, who, taking up with an Indian tribe, and adopting inevery particular their mode of life, developed by his seventieth yeara complexion as swarthy, and of as distinctively Indian a hue, as thatof any pure specimen of the race. If we accept this as a sound view, which, however, carried to its logicalsequence, should have evolved, one would imagine, the negro out of theIndian long are this, why may we not, in the way of argument, fairly andlegitimately provoked by the theory, look for and consider the conversepicture (now that the Indian lives in much the same manner as the ordinarypoor husbandman, and now that we have certainly no warrant for imputingto him uncleanly habits) the gradual approach in his complexion to theAnglo-Saxon type? If we entertain this counter-proposition, it will thenbe a question between its operation, and his marriage with the white, as to which explains the fact of the decline now of the dark complexionwith the Indian. The custom of piercing the nose, and suspending nose-jewels therefrom, has fallen into disrepute, the Indian, perhaps, having been brought toview these as contributing, in a questionable way, to his adornment. The Indian woman has a finer development, as a rule, than the whitewoman. We may, in part, discover the cause for this in the prevalenceof the custom, already alluded to, of the mother carrying her offspringon her back, which, with its not undue strain on the dorsal muscles, no doubt, promotes and conserves muscular strength. The Indian womanbeing commonly a wife and mother before a really full maturity has beenreached, or any absolute unyieldingness of form been contracted, thefigure yet admits of such-like beneficent processes being exerted upon it. In making mention of this custom, and, in a certain way, paying it honor, let me not be taken as wishing to precipitate a revolution in the acceptedmodes, with refined-communities, of bringing up children. To a community, however, like that of which we are treating, such plan is not ill-suited, the Indian mother being secure against any very critical observation ofher acts, or of the fashion she adopts. Let the custom, then, continue, as it can be shown, I think, to favour the production of a healthierand stronger frame both in the mother and in the child. A good figure isalso insured to the Indian woman, from her contemning, perhaps at the bidof necessity, arising from her poverty, though, I verily believe, froma well-grounded conception of their deforming tendencies, the absurdlyirrational measures, which, adopted by many among ourselves to promotesymmetry, only bring about distortion. The Indian has very symmetrical hands, and the variation in size, in this respect, in the case of the two sexes, is often very slight, and, sometimes, scarce to be traced. The compliment, in the case of theman, has, and is meant to have, about it a quite appreciable tinge ofcondemnation, as suggesting his self-compassionate recoiling from manualexertion; and the explanation of the near approach in the formation of thehand of the woman to that of the man, may be found in the delegating toher, by the latter, in unstinted measure, and in merciless fashion, workthat should be his. It is rare, also, to find a really awkwardly shapedfoot in an Indian. The near conformity to a uniform size in the case ofthe two sexes, which I have noticed as being peculiar with the hand, may also be observed with the foot. I would sum up my considerationshere with the confident assertion that the examination of a number ofspecimens of the hand or foot in an Indian, would demonstrate a rangein size positively immaterial. The Indian woman keeps up, to a large extent, the practice of wearingleggings and moccasins. I should be disposed to think that the blood coursing through the Indian'sframe is of a richer consistency, and has, altogether, greater vitalizingproperties than that in ourselves, since on the severest day in winterhe will frequently scorn any covering beyond his shirt, and the nethergarments usually suggested by its mention, and, so apparelled, will notrecoil from the keenest blast. HIS CHIEFS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS. The dignity of a chief comes to the holder through the principle ofhereditary succession, confined to, and operating only with, certainfamilies. In the cage of the death of one of these chiefs, the distinctionand powers he enjoyed devolve upon his kinsman, though not necessarilyupon the next of kin. The naming and appointing of a successor, and theadjudicating upon the point as to whether he fulfils the qualificationsesteemed necessary to maintain the dignity of the chiefship, are confidedto the oldest woman of the tribe, thus deprived by death of one ofits heads. She has a certain latitude in choosing, and, so long as sherespects in the selection of her appointee, the principle of kinshipto the dead chief (whether this be proximate or remote is immaterial)her appointment is approved and confirmed. The chiefs are looked upon as the heads or fathers of the tribe, and they rely, to a large extent, for their influence over the tribe, upon their wisdom, and eminence generally in qualities that excite orcompel admiration or regard. In an earlier period of the history of theIndian communities, when their forests were astir with the demon of war, eligibility for the chiefship contemplated in the chief the conjoiningof bravery with wisdom, and these were the keynote to his power over hispeople. He, by manifesting on occasion, these, desirable traits, had hisfollowers' confidence confirmed in his selection; upheld those followers'and his own traditions; and often assured his tribe's pre-eminence. Thechief, in addition, by bringing these qualities to bear in any contact ortreaty with a hostile tribe, compelled in a sense the recognition by hisenemies of the prestige and power of his entire following. Hospitalitywas also considered a desirable trait in the chief, who, while habituallydispensing it himself, strove (having his endeavors distinctly secondedby the advocacy of the duty enforced in the kindly precepts of the oldsages of the tribe) to dispose the minds of his followers to entertaina perception of the happy results which would flow to themselves bytheir being inured to its practice, the expanding of the heart, and theoffering of a vent to the unselfish side of their nature. If the chief do not, in the main, conserve the qualities that are deemedbefitting in the holder of the chiefship; or if he originate any measurewhich finds popular disfavour, his power with the people declines. A number of the chiefs have supplementary functions, conferred uponthem by their brother dignitaries. There is, for example, one calledthe Forest-Ranger, whose place it is to interpose for the effectualprevention and checking of sales of timber to whites, by members ofthe different tribes; or removal by whites of timber from the Reserve, where a license, which suffers either to be done, has not been granted. In cases where an Indian meditates, in a spirit of lofty contempt forthe license, any such illicit sale; or attempts to abet any such unlawfulremoval, this functionary has authority to frustrate both objects. The chief who, at present, fulfils these duties has not been permitted tohold barren or dormant powers. In putting into effect that interferencewhich his office exacts of him, he has been more than once terriblyassaulted by whites, foiled in their plans, and exasperated by the agencythat had stepped in for the baffling of their ill-formed designs. Onone occasion, his death was all but brought about by a cruelly concertedattack upon him. Certain other chiefs are called Fire-keepers, though their functionsare not in any way suggested by their rather remarkable title. They are, however, very important persons, and I have already, in treating of theIndian's meetings of Council, touched upon their duty. I believe thename Fire-keeper is retained from the circumstance that, in by-gone days, when the council was an open-air affair, the lighting of the fire was theinitiatory step, and, taken in this way, therefore, the most importantstep, in the proceedings. Another chief is called Marshal, and it is incumbent upon him toco-operate with the officers of the law in effecting the capture of anysuspected criminal or criminals, who may lie concealed, or be harbored, on the Reserve. He is a duly qualified county constable, though hisservices are not often in request, as the Chief of Police in Brantford, whose place it is to direct the way in which crimes (committed, ofcourse, in the city) shall be ferreted out, or their authors tracked, usually confides in his own staff to promote these desirable purposes, from the fact of their accountability to him being well defined, whereasthe county constable yields no obedience to him. HIS CHARACTER, MORAL AND GENERAL. It is often claimed for the Indian that, before the white man put him inthe way of a freer indulgence of his unhappy craving for drink, he wasas moral a being as one unrenewed by Divine grace could be expected tobe. Unfortunately, this statement involves no definition of what might beconsidered moral, under the circumstances. Now, there will be disagreeingestimates of what a moral character, upon which there has been nodescent of heavenly grace, or where grace has not supervened to essay itsrecreation, or its moulding anew, should be; and there will also, I think, be divergent views as to a code of morals to be practised which shallcomport with the exhibition of a _reasonably_ seemly morality. Icannot, at least, concur in that definition of a moral character, uponwhich no operation of Divine grace has been expended, for its raising orits beautifying, which accepts that of the pagan Indian as its highestexpression; and, distinctly, hesitate to affirm that a high moral instinctinheres in the Indian, or that such is permitted to dominate his mind;and, when I find one of these very writers who claim for him a highinborn morality, discovering in him such indwelling monsters as revenge, mercilessness, implacability, the affirmation falters not the less uponmy tongue. That very many of the graver crimes laid at the Indian'sdoor, and the revolting heinousness of which the records of our courtsreveal; may be traced to his prescribing for himself, and practising, a lax standard of morals, is a statement which it would be idle todispute. That the marriage tie exacts from him not the most onerous ofinterpretations, and that the scriptural basis for a sound morality, involved in the declaration, "and they twain shall be one flesh, " notseldom escapes, in his case, its full and due honoring, are, likewise, affirmations not susceptible of being refuted. That, for instance, isnot a high notion of marital constancy (marital is scarcely the term, for I am speaking now of the pagan, who rejects the idea of marriage, though often, I confess, living happily and uninterruptedly with the womanof his choice) which permits the summary disruption of the bond betweenman and woman; nor is paternal responsibility rigorously defined by one, who causes to cease, at will, his labor and care for, and support of, his children, leaving the reassuring of these to those children contingentupon the mother finding some one else to give them and herself a home. To follow a lighter vein for a moment. The Police Magistrate atBrantford, before whom many of these little domesticities come fortheir due appreciation (for they disclose, often, elements of reallybaffling complexity) not less than their ventilation and unravelling, is an eminently peace-loving man, and quite an adept at patching upsuch-like conjugal trifles. He will dispense from his tribunal sageadvice, and prescribe remedial measures, which shall have untold efficacy, in dispelling mutual mistrust, restoring mutual confidence, and bringingabout a lasting re-union. He will interpose, like some potent magician, to transform a discordant, recriminating, utterly unlovely couple, intoa pair of harmless, peaceable, love-consumed doves. There rises beforemy mind a case for illustration. A couple lived on the Reserve, whosedomestic life had become so completely embittered that every vestigeof old-time happiness had fled. The agency of the Police Magistrate wassought to decree terms of separation, as there was an adamantine resolveon the part of each to no longer live with the other. Thus, in a frameof mind altogether repelling the notion of conversion to gentler views, or the idea of laudable endeavor, on the part of another, to instilmilder counsels, being availingly expended, they repaired to the PoliceMagistrate's office. He, by invoking old recollections on either side, and judiciously inviting them to a retrospection of their former mutualcourtesies, and early undimmed pleasures, gradually brought the would-besundered people to a wiser mind. I believe there have only been two orthree outbursts of domestic infelicity since. Certain notions, bound up with the Indian's practice, in times nowhappily passed away, of polygamy, may be construed into an advocacyof the Deceased Wife's Sister's Bill, which engaged the attention ofParliament last session, and bids fair to take up the time and thought ofour legislators, in sessions yet to come. The Indian usually sought tomarry two sisters, holding that the children of the one would be lovedand cared for more by the other than if the wives were not related. Theconcurrent existence of both mothers is, of course, presumed here. Thequestion remains to be asked, would the children of the one sister, were their mother dead, be as well loved and cared for by the survivingsister, were she called upon to exercise the functions of a step-mother;and would the children of the dead sister love the children of the livingsister, were they not viewed upon the same footing as those children? That the Indian--the _Christian_ Indian--frequently contemns themeans unsparingly used, and the attempts and arguments put forth, by hisspiritual overseers, to restrain his immoral propensities, to bridle hisimmoral instinct, and to ameliorate and elevate, generally, his moraltone, I fear, will not be gainsaid. That very many, on the other hand, practice a high morality, and set before themselves an exalted conceptionof conjugal duty, and strive, with a full-hearted earnestness, to fulfilthat conception, none would-be so blind or so unjust as to deny. There are some features in the Indian character to which unstinted praiseis due, and shall be rendered. He is very hospitable; and (herein nobly conserving his traditions) itis in no wise uncommon for him to resign the best of the rude comforts hehas, in the way of accommodation, to some belated one, and content himselfwith the scantest of those scant comforts, impressing, at the same time, with his native delicacy, the notion, that he courts, rather than shrinksfrom, the almost penitential regime. Though one would naturally think, that the scorn of material comforts, suggested here, and which many othersof his acts evince, would scarcely breed indolence in the Indian, yet thisis with him an almost unconquerable weakness. It is, indeed, so ingrainedwithin him, as to resist any attempt, on his own part, to excise it fromhis economy; and as to defy extirpating or uprooting process sought tobe enforced by another. The Indian is, in truth, a supremely indolentbeing, and testifying to an utter abandonment of himself to the powerof indolence over him, has often been known, when recourse solely to thechase was permitted him for the filling of his larder, to delay his stepsto the forest, until the gnawing pangs of hunger should drive him there, as offering him the only plan for their appeasing. When I have said that the Indian is hospitable, I have said that he iskind and considerate, for these are involved with the other. He hasmuch of native delicacy and politeness; and though, from deep-seatedprepossession, he denies the woman equal footing with himself; and, though through misconception of woman's true purpose and mission inthe world, or through failing to apprehend that higher, greater, morepalpable helpfulness she brings to man (all these, because self-dictated, self-enforced) he commits to her much of the drudgery, and imposes uponher many of the heavy burdens, of life, the Indian is not wholly devoidof chivalric instinct. He is usually reticent in his manner with strangers, (but this is readilyexplained by his imperfect command of English, and his reluctance toexpose his deficiency) though voluble to the last degree when he fallsin with his own people. The Indian has been lauded and hymned by Longfellow and others as thehunter _par excellence;_ but, to apply this to his present condition, and look there for its truth, would be idle. The incitements to indulgehis taste for hunting are now so few, and of such slight potency, and theopportunities for giving it play so narrowed down, and so rare, that thepursuit of the chase has become well-nigh obsolete, and something to himredolent only, as it were, with the breath of the past. As the Indianis at present circumstanced and environed, he can beat up little or nogame, and his poverty frequently putting out of his reach the procuringof the needful sporting gear, where he _does_ follow hunting, itis pursued with much-weakened ardor, and often bootless issue. He ismoved now to its pursuit, solely with the hope of realizing a paltrygain from the sale of the few prizes he may secure. Though his reputation as a hunter has so mournfully declined, the Indianis yet skilled in tracking rabbits, in the winter season, the youth, particularly, finding this a pleasant diversion. I trust I do not invokethe hasty ire of the sportsman if, in guilelessness of soul, I call thishunting. This very circumscribing of the occasions, and inefficacy ofthe motive powers, for engaging in hunting, will tend, it is hoped, tocorrect the indolent habits that the Indian nurses, and the inveteracyof which I have just dwelt upon, and emphasized; for it will not, I think, be denied that his former full-hearted pursuit of the chase(in submission, largely though it was, to imperious calls of nature), isresponsible, mainly, for the inherence of this unpleasing trait. Though, of course, hunting in its very nature, enforces a certain activity, itis an activity, so far as any beneficent impressing of the character isconcerned, void of wholesomeness, and barren of solid, lasting results;and, viewed in this way, an activity really akin to indolence. Withthe craving for hunting subdued, the Indian may take up, with lessdistraction, and devote himself, to good advantage, to his farming, and to industrial callings. Want of energy and of steadiness of purpose are with the Indianconspicuous weaknesses, and their bearing upon his farming operationsmay be briefly noticed. He will not devote himself to his work in thefields with that full-intentioned mind to put in an honest day's toil, that the white man brings to his work, often being beguiled, by someoutside pleasure or amusement, into permitting his day's work to sustaina break, which he laments afterwards in a melancholy refrain, of farmingoperations behind, and domestic matters unhinged, generally. Though thewhite has endeavored (and I the more gladly bear my witness to theseattempts at the redemption of the Indian from some of his weaknesses, since the white has been so freely charged with ministering to hisappetite for drink, and to the evil side of his nature generally)to infuse these qualities of energy and resolution into the Indian, my observation has not yet discerned them in him. Though irresolutehimself, the Indian will not tolerate, but is sufficiently warm in hisdisapprobation, of any unmanly surrender to weakness or vacillation onthe part of whites set in authority over him. He imbibes freely (I fear the notion of a certain physiological processis embraced by some minds, and that these words will be taken as curtlyenunciating the Indian's besetting weakness; but pray be not too eagerto dissever them from what is yet to come, as I protest that I am notnow wishing to revert to this sad failing). He imbibes freely--thecurrent fashions of the hour amongst whites. If raffling, for instance, be held in honour as a method for expediting the sale of personal effects, the Indian will adapt the practice to the disposal of every conceivablechattel that he desires to get off his hands. HIS PRONENESS TO DRINK. The Indian Law, it is well known, puts a restraint, not only uponthe purchase of liquor by the Indian, but upon its sale to him by theliquor-seller, or its supply, indeed, in any way, by any one. It forbids, as well, the introducing or harboring of it, in any shape, under anyplea, on the Reserve. The law, in this respect, frequently proves a deadletter, since, where the Indian has not the assurance and hardihood toboldly demand the liquor from the hotel-keeper, or where the latter, imbued with a wholesome fear of the penalty for contravening the law, refrains from giving it, the agency of degraded whites is readilysecured by the Indian, and, with their connivance, the unlawful objectcompassed. Of course the white abettor in these cases risks trifling, if any, publicity in the matter, and is inspired with the less fear ofdetection. There are some few hotel-keepers who, though they more thansuspect the purpose to which the liquor these whites are demanding isto be applied, permit rapacity to overpower righteous compunction orscruple, and lend themselves, likewise, though indirectly, to the law'sinfraction. Happily, the penalty is now so heavy ($300) that the evil is, I think, being got under control. The effect of drink on the Indian is: to dethrone his; reason; cloud, even narcotize, his reasoning faculties; annul his self-control; confineand fetter all the gentler, enkindle and set ablaze, all the baser, emotions; of his nature, inciting him to acts lustful and bestial; and, with direful transforming power, to make the man the fiend, to leave him, in short, the mere sport of demoniac passion. It may be thought thatthis is an overdrawn picture, and that, even if it were true, whichI aver that it is, to have withheld a part of its terribleness wouldbe the wiser course. I wish, however, in exposing all its frightfulfeatures, to secure the pointing of a moral to all who lend themselvesto the draughting of such a picture, or, in any way, hold in favor thedraughts which lead to its draughting. Let not the Indian, then, resentthis picturing of him in such unpleasing and repugnant light, but let himrather apply and use the lesson it is sought to teach, that it may turnto his enduring advantage. Let him overmaster the enslaving passion; lethim foreswear the tempting indulgence; let him recoil from the envenomedcup, which savors of the hellish breath and the ensnaring craft of theEvil One, ever seeking to draw chains of Satanic forging about him. TheIndian will plead utter obliviousness of the _fracas_, followingsome drunken bout, and during the progress of which the death-stroke hasbeen dealt to some unhappy brother. He will disavow all recollection ofthe apparently systematic doing to death, when drunk, under circumstancesof the most revolting atrocity, of an unfortunate wife. Though the proximate result of drink is with the Indian more alarming thanwith the white, the ultimate evils and sorrows wrought by continued excessin drink are, of course, identical in both cases: moral sensibilitiesblunted; manhood degraded; mind wrecked; worldly substance dissipated;health shattered; strength sapped; every mendacious and tortuous bentof one's nature stimulated, and given free scope. HIS HUMOR. In its very nature this essay will partake largely of the elementof historical preciseness, and if it do not, I have so far failed togain my end. I have wished to introduce matter of a kind calculated torelieve this, and to insure the escape of the essay from the charge ofa well-sustained dryness. Of the humorous instinct of the Indian, as indulged toward hisfellow-Indian, I cannot speak with confidence; of the malignoperation upon myself of the same instinct, I can speak with somewhatmore exactness, and with somewhat saddening recollections. The cases, indeed, where I have been exposed to the play of his humor exhibit himin so superlatively complacent an aspect, and myself in so painfullyinglorious a one, that I refrain, nay shrink, from rehearsing thediscomposing circumstances. I should be pleased if I could call to mindany instance which would convey some notion of the Indian's aptness inthis line, and yet not involve myself, but I cannot. I would say, in ageneral way, that the Indian is a plausible being, and one needs to bewary with him, and not too loth to suspect him of meditating some direpractical joke, which shall issue in the utter confusion and discomfitureof its victim, whilst its author shall appropriate the main comfort andjubilation. Though the Indian, perhaps, does not conceive these in thedeterminedly hostile spirit with which the Mohometan who seeks to compassthe Christian's undoing is credited, there is yet such striking accordin the two cases, so far as exultant approval of the issue is concerned, that I am disposed to look upon his creed in this respect as a modifiedMahometanism. I could relate many instances, affecting myself, wheretrustfulness has incurred payment in this coin, but, having no desireto stimulate the Indian's existing proneness to practical joking, I staymy hand at further mention of the peculiarity. HIS INTELLECTUAL GIFTS. The Indian has little hope of occupying a sphere, where the disciplineand cultivation of the mind shall be essential to the proper balancingand developing of its powers, and shall render it equal to the collisionwith other keen intellects. It would, therefore, be equally idle andunprofitable to attempt to measure his mental capabilities, until weshall have experience of his intellectuality, with proper stimulatingand inciting influences in play, or under circumstances, conducing, generally, to mental strength and vigor, to note; and which we may employas a reliable basis for judgment; and it would be manifestly unfairto argue weak mental calibre, or to presage small mental capacity inthe Indian, from his present deplorable state of inertness, a conditionwhich has been sadly impressed and confirmed by repressive legislation, and of which that legislation, by practically denying him occupation ofimproving fields of thought, and, indeed, scope for any enlarged mentalactivity, seeks to decree the melancholy perpetuity. In some of the few cases where supervenient aid has enabled him toqualify for, and embrace, a profession, I have perceived a tendencyto subordinate its practice to the demands of some less exactingcalling, which has rendered nugatory any efficient mastery of theprofession. Memory is, undoubtedly, the Indian's strong point, and I canmyself testify to exhibitions of it, truly phenomenal. The interpreterwill placidly proceed to translate a long string of sentences, justfallen from a speaker's lips, to engraft which upon our memory would bea performance most trying and difficult; and to have their repetition. Even with a proximate adherence to the sense and the expressions used, imposed upon us, in the peremptory fashion in which it is sprung uponthe interpreter, would carry the wildest dismay to our mind. Thoseunderstanding the Indian tongue have frequently assured me that theIndian, when interpreting, reproduces with minuteness, if he be granted, of course, a certain latitude for differences of idiom, the speaker'sthought and expressions. It is said by one of his own writers that theIndian is much more prone to follow the evil than the moral practicesof the white; and there can be no doubt, I think, that, if habituallythrown with a corrupt community, or one where a low order of moralityshould obtain, the acquisition of higher knowledge would tend to makehim better skilled in planning works of iniquity, than to give himhigher and purer tastes. Actual experience of the Indian, in one or twocases, where there has been a more than common accession to his mentalaccomplishments, rather gives color to the notion of the misdirectionof those accomplishments (even without the baneful white influence)that has been hinted at. I should think the Indian would, probably, even with proper disciplineto bear, lack powers of concentration, with the kindred faculty of beingable to direct the mind to the achieving or subserving of some one grandpurpose or aim, and would, likely, be deficient in other allied ways, by which a gifted and powerful mind will be asserted; and would imagine, on the whole, that there is slight ground for thinking him capable, under the most favourable circumstances, of imperilling the eminence ofthe white in respect of intellectual power and attainments. HIS PASTIMES. Lacrosse, it is well-known, is the Indian's national game. The agile formwith which nature has gifted him, and which I have mentioned already asone of his physical characteristics, brings an essential pre-requisitefor success or eminence to a game, where the laggard is at heavy discount. Though a white team can often boast of two or three individual runners, whose fleetness will outstrip the capacity of an equal number on theside of the Indians, I think, perhaps, that it will be allowed thatthe Indian team, as a rule, will comprehend the greater number of fleetmembers. While the Indian, then, can scarcely be said to yield to thewhite in this respect, he lacks obviously that mental quick-sightednesswhich, with the latter, defines, as it were, intuitively, the exactlocation on the field, of a friend, and, with unerring certitude, calculates the degree of force that shall be needed to propel the ball, and the precise direction its flight shall take, in order to insureits reposing on the net of that friend. In the frequently recurring_mêlees_, begotten of the struggle amongst a number of contestantsfor the possession of the ball, the Indian exhibits, perhaps, in moremarked degree than the white, the qualities of stubborn doggedness, and utter disregard of personal injury. The worsting of the Indian by the white in the majority of competitions ofthis kind is due to the latter submitting to be governed by system, andto his recognizing a directing power in the captain. The Indian, on theother hand, will not bend to such controlling influence, but chafes underdirection of any kind. He has good facilities for practice at this game, and, I believe, really tries to excel in it, often, indeed, the expense ofduties, which imperatively call him elsewhere than to the lacrosse-field. The Indian is a proficient canoeist, and will adventure himselfwith confidence in a canoe of the frailest construction, which hewill guide in safety, and with surpassing skill. He will dispel thefears of his disquieted and faithless fellow-voyager (for the motionat times in canoeing is, unmistakably, perturbing and discomposing;indeed, in this unsettling experience, the body is a frequent, if notan inevitable, sharer) who, in view of his sublime disregard of danger, will quickly re-assert the courage that had waned. If, however, therebe a second Indian in the canoe, he usually strives to counteract thereassuring effect that the pilot's bearing has upon you. He stands up inthe bottom, and sways, to and fro, and, with fell and malignant intentproceeds to evolve out of the canoe a more approved see-saw action than_a priori_ and inherently attaches to that order of craft. On thatreally "Grand" river, which was his sometime heritage, the Indian canwell improve his skill in this modest branch of nautical science. HIS TRADING RELATIONS WITH WHITES. The consciousness of unsatisfied pecuniary obligation does not, as arule, weigh heavily on the Indian mind, nor does it usually awaken, or offer food for, burdensome reflection. The Indian Act, which decrees his minority, disables him from enteringinto a contract of any kind, though it scarcely needs any statementfrom me to assure my hearers that the law does not secure, nor does themajestic arm of that law exact, from him, the most rigid compliance. The Indian will make and tender to a white creditor his promissory notewith a gleeful complacency. There are usually two elements contributing, in perhaps equal degree, to produce in him this complacent frame of mind:The first, that, for removing from his immediate consideration a debt, he is adopting a temporizing expedient, which in no way vouches for, and in no sense bespeaks, the ultimate payment of the debt; the other, that his act records his sense of rebellion against a restrictive law, ever welling up in his breast, and seeking such-like opportune vent forits relief. In trading with a merchant, who, appreciating the wiliness of hiscustomer, felt a natural concern about trading upon as safe a basis asmight be secured, it was, until quite recently, customary with the Indianto anticipate his interest-money, in paying for his goods. That themerchant might have a guarantee that previous instances of the settingon foot of this plan in the individual Indian's case, had not effectedthe entire appropriation or exhaustion of his allowance, or that inthe immediate transaction with him, the Indian's allowance would not beexceeded, a chief of the particular tribe to which the Indian belonged, who was assumed to keep track of the various amounts that at differenttimes impaired the interest-fund, signed an order for him to tender tothe merchant; and in order that the Superintendent might properly awardand pay the balance coming, these orders would go into his possession, before he should proceed with the season's payments. Now, however, theplace and times at which interest payments are made, are not allowed tobe viewed by merchants and others as a collection depôt, or as occasionson which their orders from Indians may be confirmed, or debts from thoseIndians made good. The merchant, foreseeing that a large proportion of the debts from Indiansthat he books are not recoverable, will frequently--and I presume thereis nothing savoring of dubious dealing in the matter--add, perhaps, thirty or forty per cent. To the usual retail price of the goods soldto them, that the collection of some of the debts may, as it were, offset the loss from those that are irrecoverable. It is not pleasant to impugn the character of the Indian for uprightnessand probity, but that there is no conspicuous prevalence of thesequalities with him, I fear, can be sufficiently demonstrated. I amdisposed to ascribe this state of things, to a large extent, to theoperation of the Indian Law. If the Indian who buys, and does not pay, and who never intends to pay, were not exempted from the salutary lessonwhich the distraint, at suit of a creditor, upon his goods, teaches, he would not seek to evade payment of his debts. If, again, the Indian were not regarded as one "childlike, " shall I say, "and bland" (no! I must dissever these words from the otherwise aptquotation, as, though this be to proclaim how immeasurably he has fallen, and to dissipate cherished popular beliefs about him, I conceive him tobe bland, without being so decreed by the law) there would be a manifestaccession to his fund of self-respect. The idea of holding him a minor, and as one who cannot be kept to his engagements is a mistake, and itseffect is only to stimulate the dishonest bent of his nature, promptinghim to take advantage of his white brother in every conceivable way, where the latter's business relations with him are concerned. HIS RELIGION. The pagan, though not so alive to the serene beauties of the Christianlife, and not so attracted by the power, the promises, and the assurancesof the Christian religion, as to evince the one, and embrace the other, orto make trial of the moral safeguards that its armoury supplies, would yetso honour, one would think, the persuasive Christian influences, operatingaround him and about him in so many benign and kindly ways, as to abandonmany of the practices that savour of the superstition of a by-gone age. Though there has been a decline, if not a positive discontinuance, ofhis traditionary worship of idols; though his adoration of the sun, ofcertain of the birds of the air, and of the animal creation, is not nowblindly followed, and the invocation of these, for the supposed assuringof success to various enterprises, is rarely put in effect, there is yetpreserved a relic of his old traditions, in the designs with which heembellishes certain specimens of the handiwork, with which he oft vexesthe public eye. (I must really, though, pay my tribute of admirationfor the skilled workmanship many of these specimens disclose. ) It iscommon for him, when at work upon the elaborate carving in wood that hepractises, to engrave some hideous human figure, intended, obviously, to represent an idol. Does it not excite wonder with us that suchrefinements upon hideousness and repulsiveness could ever have provokedthe worship or adoration of any one? One almost insuperable difficulty that the missionary experiences in hisattempts to instil religious principles into the Indian mind, is to gethim to entertain the theory that the human race sprang originally fromone pair. The pagan believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, though, his idea of that Being's benignity and consideration relates solely toan earthly oversight of him, and a concern for his daily wants. Hisconception of future bliss is almost wholly sensual, and wrapped upwith the notion of an unrestrained indulgence of animal appetite, anda whole-souled abandonment to feasting and dancing. His supreme viewof happiness is that he shall be, assigned happy hunting-grounds, whichshall be stocked with innumerable game, and where, equipped in perfectionfor the chase, he shall ever be incited to its ceaseless pursuit. Of course, such impressions, clogged and clouded as they are withearthliness, have been dispelled in the cases of those, who have openedtheir minds to the more desirable promises of the Gospel. The Indian's expectation of attaining and enjoying a future state ofbliss, which shall transcend his mundane experience, is often presentto his mind. I remember once walking with rather measured gait alongone of the roads of the Reserve, bearing about me, it _may_ be, the idea of supreme reflection, when an Indian stopped me, and asked(though, as my eyes sought the ground at the time, I cannot conceive howhis attributing to me thoughts of celestial concernment could have beensuggested) if I were thinking of heaven. I should have been pleased toown to my mind's being occupied at the time with heavenly meditations, a confession not only worthy, if true, to have been indulged in, but onehaving in it possibly force for him, as helping, perhaps, to confirm thecourse of his thoughts in the only true and high and ennobling channel, which his question would suggest as being their frequent, if not theirhabitual, direction. Truth, however, compelled me to admit the subserviency of my mind, at the moment, to earthly thought. The pagan Indian celebrates what he calls dances, which frequently, if liquor can only be had, degenerate into mere drunken orgies. Herethe war-whoop, with its direful music, greets the ear, carrying terrorand dismay to the breasts of the uninitiated; and here the war-dance, with all the accessories of paint and feathers, gets free indulgence. HIS MODE OF LIFE. A mode of life will be suggested by the individual's estate andsurroundings, and will, naturally, be accommodated to the exactions merelyof the society in which he moves. With the Indian, poverty shapes hishabits of life, and he bends to compulsion's decree in the matter. Ifwe consider his hypothetical translation to a higher sphere, the Indianmight develop and maintain a course of living which should not, in thosealtered circumstances, discredit him. As our notions of early Indian life are so associated with the wigwam, a description of the manner and stages of its construction may beinteresting. Poles, twelve or fourteen feet long, are placed in theground, these meeting at the top, and leaving an opening through whichthe smoke may escape. Over the poles are placed nets, made of flags, or birch bark, and, sometimes, the skins of animals. The Indian, in defining comfort, evidently does not mean soft beds andgenerous covering. His couch, as often as not, is the bare floor, withoutmattrass, or, indeed, aught that might be conceded to a weak impulse;and his covering _nil_, as a rule, in summer, and a buffalo robe, or some kindred substitute, in winter. He adopts very frugal fare, doing high honour to maize, or Indian corn. Indeed, to the growth andcultivation of this order of grain he appropriates the greater part ofhis land. In walking, the man usually goes before the woman, as he thinks itundignified to walk alongside. Nothing like social intercourse ever goeson between man and wife; and in their domestic experience they have nolittle pursuits in common, such as cheer and brighten life with us. The hut (for, in the majority of cases, it is really little better) that, with excess of boldness, commingles its cramped, unpleasing outlines withthe forest's wealth of foliage; and has reared its unshapely structure onthe site of the historic wigwam, obliterating, in its ruthless, intrusive, advent, that lingering relic of the picturesque aspect of Indian life--arelic that, with its emblems and inner garniture of war, bids a scionof the race indulge a prideful retrospect of his sometime grandeur, and pristine might; that has power to invoke stirring recollections ofa momentous and a thrilling past; to re-animate and summon before himthe shadowy figures of his redoubtable sires, and re-enact their loftydeeds: in view of which, there is wafted to him a breath, laden withmoving memories of that glorious age, when aught but pre-eminence wasforeign to his soul; when, though a rude and savage, he was yet a lordly, being; when he owned the supremacy, brooked the dictation, of none;when his existence was a round of joysome light-heartedness, and he, a stranger to constraint--this habitation of the Indian, to my mind, emphasizes his melancholy, and, perhaps, inevitable decadence, ratherthan symbolizes his partnership with the white in the more palpablepursuits of a practical, enlightened, and energetic age, or co-activitywith him on a theatre of enlarged and more vigorous action. It is in somerespects more comfortless than even was his experience under his primitivestyle of living, and is usually composed of one room, answering all thepurposes of life--eating-room, bed-room, reception-room, principally, however, for the snow and mud, which have been persuaded here to relaxtheir hold, after antecedent demonstration of their adhering qualities. HIS ALLEGED COMMISSION OF PERJURY. The Indian very frequently has the crime of perjury alleged against him, though what is assumed to be perjury is usually demonstrated to havenothing whatever of that element in it. These imputations come about in this way: If the Indian, about to giveevidence, be declared to have a reasonable mastery of English, the Court, sometimes rather hastily, I think, dispenses with the interpreter, in order to save time. A question is put to a witness, who, thoughnot understanding it sufficiently to appreciate its full import andbearing, yet protesting, in a self-sufficient spirit, that he does (forthe Indian likes to have imputed to him extensive knowledge of English)returns an answer apart from the truth, and one which he really neverintended to give, and becomes, through the interpreter, committed to iton the records. Or, the allegation may arise after this fashion:--The interpreter, having to master several different languages, will almost insensibly, in the confusion of idioms, misinterpret what has been said. Theoutrageous prevalence of this supposed perjury would of itself point toan explanation of this kind, since, we cannot believe that the Indianwishes to canonize untruthfulness. THE INDIAN AS A MUSICIAN. The Indian's musical taste is conceded on all hands. He is a proficientin the use of brass instruments, the Mohawk Brass Band always taking highrank at band competitions. He has usually fine vocal power, and is ingreat request as a chorister. He has a full repertory of plaintive airs, the singing of which he generally reserves for occasions, resemblingmuch the "wakes" that obtain with Roman Catholics, where he watches overnight the body of some departed member of the tribe. THE INDIAN AS AN ARTIST. As an artist in wood-carving, the Indian, I should say, stands almostwithout a rival. He will elaborate the most beautiful specimens in thiskind of work; though he generally directs his skill to the embellishingof walking sticks and the like articles, which (their ornate appearancealone precluding their practical use) the white only buys with the viewof preserving as ornaments. The Indian, therefore, would do well toallow his skill in this line to take a wider range, since, by so doing, he would not only bring about larger sales to enrich his not over-filledmoney-chest, but he would also extend his fame as an artist. The pencil, in the hand of the Indian, is often made to limn exquisite figures, and to trace delightful landscape-work. I am confident that he would, with appropriate training, cause his fame to be known in this linealso. The Indian woman is a marvellous adept at bead-work, though herspecimens disclose, usually, finer execution, than they do a tastefulor faultless associating of colours. HIS SCHOOLS. The New England Company, an English Corporation have established, andmaintain, in addition to the Mohawk Institute, which is on unreservedlands, a large number of schools for the education of the Indian youth. Itis a question whether these schools really secure the patronage thatthe philanthropic spirit of their founders hoped for. The shyness of thegirls is so marked (a trait I have observed even among the adult women)as to lead to a small attendance, of this element, at least, where theteacher is a white young man--in truth, a very ultra-manifestation ofthe peculiarity. The Mohawk Institute contemplates the receiving of pupils who havereached a certain standard of proficiency, their boarding, and theireducation. It is an institution the aim of which is truly a noble one, the throwing back upon the Reserve of educated young men and women, whoshall be qualified to go about life's work, fortified with knowledge, to pave the way to success in any walk of life that may be chosen. The Mohawk Institute has secured, in the person of its principal anddirecting power, one who is imbued with the desire so to use its powerfulagency as to compass the maximum of good among the Indians. HIS MISSIONARIES. The missionary demands notice as he, above all others, has left hisimpress on the life and character of the Indian. The Ven. Archdeacon Nelles may be regarded as the pioneer missionary tothe Indian. His work covers half a century, and, though, for some years, he has not been an active worker amongst the Indians, a solicitude fortheir welfare still actuates him. His province has been rather that ofgeneral superintendence of the New England Company's servants, than oneinvolving much active mingling with the Indians. The association of hisname with that time-honoured and revered structure, the old Mohawk Church, is his, grandest testimonial to his fruitful labour on the Reserve. The Rev. Adam Eliot, whose widow still lives in the old missionary home, was a man of a singularly gentle and lovable disposition. In his contactwith the Indian, the influence, if haply any could be exerted, was certainto be on the side of the good. He was one who moved about the Reservewith the savor of a quiet and godly life ever cleaving to him, a life, radiating forth, as it were, to circle and embrace others in the foldsof its benign influence. He was tender, and unaffected in his piety. Hislife and work have left their abiding mark on the Indian character. The Rev. R. J. Roberts was the first missionary who was really aconstant resident on the Reserve, and this circumstance, no doubt, assured in larger measure his usefulness. I believe him to have beenfilled strongly with the missionary spirit, and with ardent zeal for thefurthering of his Master's cause. His poor health always handicapped him, but I feel confident he leaves behind him, in the kind memories of manyof his charges, a monument of his work not to be despised. The Rev. James Chance was one of the old English type of clergyman, cheery, genial, and whole-souled. Had he planned nothing higher than theinfusing of some of his own geniality into the Indian nature; and, had hismissionary work effected nothing greater than this, his would have beenno unworthy part. As the spiritual husbandman, he strove so to break upthe fallow ground, that the harvest of souls might be the more bountiful. I have not referred to the later or present occupants of the mission-fieldamongst the Indians, as they were, or have been identified for so short atime with them. I would also say, that it is from no denial to them of theachieving of solid, lasting work, that I have not alluded to missionariesoutside of the Episcopal body. I have merely made such allusions hereas personal contact with the missionaries has enabled me to record. It may be thought that any work which contemplates the chronicling ofthe Indian's history, will be incomplete, which should fail to trace thecareer of Thayandanagea, or Chief Joseph Brant; or which should, at least, withhold reference to that mighty chieftain. Lest my making no mentionof Brant here might be taken as denying to him the possession of thosesublime qualities, which have formed the theme for so much of laudatorywriting, I make a passing allusion to his life, passing, because his actsand career have engaged the ability and eloquence of so many writers ofrepute for their due commemoration, that I cannot hope to say anythingthat should cause further honour or glory to attach to his name. Brant, above all others of his race, deserves an abiding place in thememories of his countrymen, and he is entitled to be held in enduringremembrance by us also. In the war waged by Britain against the United States in 1812-15, heallied himself, it is well known, with the British. He bridled license andexcess among his people, and strove to add lustre to the British arms, by dissuading them from giving rein to any of those practices, nay, byputting his stern interdict on all those practices, into which Indiantribes are so prone to be betrayed, and to which they are frequentlyincited by merciless chiefs. He posed, indeed, during the war as theapostle of clemency, not as the upholder of the traditional cruelty ofthe Indian. He always displayed conspicuous bravery, and was the exponent, in hisown person, of that intense and unflinching loyalty, which I verilybelieve to be bound up with the life of every Indian. His loyalty was untainted with the slightest suspicion of treachery, another vile characteristic from which he redeemed the Indian nature. The position of Brant and of Sir Walter Scott, so far as each hasleft living descendant to uphold his name, is almost analogous, andmarks a rather interesting coincidence. The male line in both familiesis extinct. Sir Walter's blood runs now only in the daughter of hisgrand-daughter: two daughters alone of a grand-daughter are living, who own the blood of Brant. Brant is buried in the graveyard of the old Mohawk Church, a buildinginstinct with memories of the departed might and prowess of the Indian. CONSIDERATIONS UPON HIS STANDING AS A MINOR. Is it a wise or a politic thing in the Government to seek to brand theIndian, in perpetuity, as a minor in the eye of the law? Repressing inhim anything like self-assertion, is not, to hold him such, fatal to hisself-respect? Does it not make him doubt his manhood entirely? Does itreally, save in the single respect of the restraining of his drinking, conserve his true interests? Is that a judicious law, which, while decreeing the Indian's disabilityfor making a contract with a white man, yet visits upon him no penaltywhen he evades and contemns such law; which, guaranteeing to himimmunity for violating or dishonouring his engagement, prompts him tocast about for some new and, haply, more admired expedient, whereby hemay circumvent and defraud his creditor? Is that an enviable position forone to be placed in, who, ignorant of the disability I have mentioned, and guileless enough to suppose, that an Indian, who has fair worldlysubstance, when he gives a promissory note, means to pay it, and who, inthat belief, surrenders to him valuable property, only to find afterwardsthat the debt is irrecoverable by legal process, and the chattels arelikewise, by moral, or any other effectual, process? It will be said that the white should not be a party to a contract withan Indian. Well, man is often trustful, and he does not always foreseethe disaster that his trustfulness shall incur. He frequently creditshis white fellow with an honourable instinct: why may he not, sometimes, impute it to the Indian? The law, so far as it involves the restraining of the Indian's drinking, cannot be impeached: and in the application to the white of a similarlaw lies the only solution of the temperance problem. REFLECTIONS AS TO THE POSSIBLE EFFECT UPON HIM OF ENFRANCHISEMENT. We cannot estimate the transforming power that his enfranchisement mightexert over the Indian character. The Indian youth, who is now either a listless wanderer over the confinesof his Reserve; or who finds his highest occupation in putting in, nowand then, desultory work for some neighbouring farmer at harvest-time;who looks even upon elementary education as useless, and as somethingto be gone through, perforce, as a concession to his parents' wish, orat those parents' bid, would, if enfranchisement were assured to him, esteem it in its true light, as the first step to a higher training, which should qualify him for enjoying offices or taking up callings, from which he is now debarred, and in which, mayhap, he might achieve adegree of honour and success which should operate, in an incalculableway, as a stimulus to others of his race, to strive after and attainthe like station and dignity. There can, I think, be no gainsaying of the view that the Indian, if hewere enfranchised, would avail much more generally than he does now, of the excellent educational facilities which surround him. The veryconsciousness, which would then be at work within him, of his eligibilityfor filling any office of honour in the country, which enfranchisementwould confer, would minister to a worthy ambition, and would spur himon to develop his powers of mind, and, viewing education as the onegrand mean for subserving this end, he would so use it and honour it, as that he should not discredit his office, if, haply, he should bechosen to fill one. CONCLUDING REMARKS. The present Indian legislation, in my judgment, operates in every wayto blight, to grind, and to oppress; blasts each roseate hope of anameliorated, a less abject, estate: quenches each swelling aspirationafter a higher and more tolerable destiny; withers each ennoblingaim, cancels each creditable effort that would assure its eventuation;opposes each soul-stirring resolve to no longer rest under the galling, gangrenous imputation of a partial manhood. Though not authorised to speak for the Indian, I believe I express hisviews, when I say that he cherishes an ardent wish for enfranchisement, a right which should be conceded to him by the Legislature, thoughit should be urged only by the silent, though not, therefore, the lessweighty and potent, appeal, of the unswerving devotion of his forefathersto England's crown. He desires, nay, fervently longs, to break free from his condition oftutelage; to bring to the general Government the aid of his counsels, feeble though such may seem, if we measure him by his present status; aid, which, erstwhile, was not despised, but was, rather, a mighty bulwark ofthe British crown; and pants for the occasion to assert, it may be on thehonour-scroll of the nation's fame, his descent from a vaunted ancestry. ADDENDA TO SECTION ON ENFRANCHISEMENT. It will be said, perhaps, that to harbor the idea of the Indian'selevation, following, in any way, upon his closer assimilation with thewhite; his divestiture of the badge of political serfdom, and deliverancefrom even the suggestion of thraldom--all of which his enfranchisementcontemplates; or that these would assure, in greater degree, his nationalweal, would be to indulge a wild chimera, which could but superinducethe purest visionary picture of his condition under the operationof the gift. Some might be found, as well, to discredit the notionthat there would supervene, on the consigning to the limbo of inutilepolitical systems of the disabling regime that now governs, an epoch, which would witness the shaking off, by the heavy, phlegmatic red man ofthe present, of his dull lethargy, with the casting behind him of formerinaction and unproductiveness; and his being moved to assert a healthy, genuine, wholesome activity, to be directed to lofty or soulful purpose, or expressed in high and honourable endeavour. And it might be set downas a reasoning from the standpoint of an illusory optimism, to look for, through any change in the Indian's political condition, the incoming ofan age, which should be distinguished by a hopeful and helpful accessionto his character of honesty, uprightness, and self-respect, or by theirconservation; or which should be the natal time for the benign ruleover him of contentment, charity, and sobriety, or for the dominanceof a seemly morality. That, likewise, might be deemed idle expectancy, which would foresee, as a result of the changed order of things, now beingprospectively considered, a season in the Indian's experience, when shouldbe illustrated the greater sacredness of the marriage relation, and thehappy prevalence of full domestic inter-communion, harmony, and order;or should be honored a more gracious definition of the woman's province, with the license to her to embrace a kindlier lot than one decreeing forher mere slavish labour; or project a mission, to see its fruit in thesoftening and refining, and in the reviving of the slumbrous chivalry, of the man, or to leave, mayhap, some beauteous impress on the race. It may be maintained, indeed, that the withdrawal from the Indian ofthe Government's protecting arm, and the recognition of his position, as no longer that of a needy, grovelling annuitant, but as one of equalfooting with the white before the law, would--far from bringing blessingsin their train--promote, with other evils, a pernicious development, with calamitous reaction upon him, of the aggrandizing instinct ofthe white, who would lure and entrap him into every kind of disastrousnegotiation--its outcome, in truth, a very maelstrom of artful intrigueand shameless rapacity, looking to the absorption of the Indian's land, and of the few worldly possessions he now has. Nay, many would foreseefor the Indian, through the consummation of his enfranchisement, naughtbut gloom and sorest plight. These would invest their picture with thesombrest hues; and, making this assume, under their pessimist delineation, blackest Tartarean aspect, would crown it with the exhibition of theIndian, as one sunken, at the instance of the white, in extremest depthsof human sorrow; as plunged, engulphed, and detained in a horrible sloughof degradation and misery. Such would, in short, have an era opened up, which should mark, at once, the exaltation of the white to a revoltingheight of infamy, proclaiming the high carnival of unblushing trickery andchicane; and should signalize the whelming of the Indian in the noxiousflood of the high-handed, unrighteous, and unprincipled practice of thewhite, who would project for him, and through whose unholy machinations hewould be consigned to, a state of existence which should be the hideousclimax of physical and moral debasement. Now I contend that the claim to ascendancy of the Indian over the white, in respect of sagacity and cunning and craft, which this condition ofthings presupposes, is not satisfactorily made out. And I can readilyconceive of the application of that astuteness, that distinguishes theIndian in his present trading relations with the white, to the widerfield for its display, which would arise from the extended intercourse andmore frequent contact with the white, that would ensue upon the Indian'senfranchisement; and of this astuteness operating as his efficientshield against evil hap or worsting by the white in any coping of thekind with him. I do not deny, however, that there might be realization, in part, ofsuch painful spectacle, as has just been imagined, were enfranchisement, _pure and simple, _ conferred upon the Indian; and I would distinctlydemur to being taken as an advocate of enfranchisement for him withoutcertain safeguards. Yet I honor a somewhat wide use of the term, anddiscredit the system of individual election for the right (if I mayso call it)--which, I believe, obtains--with its vexatious exactionsas to mental and moral fitness, and the very objectionable feature, to my mind, of laying upon the band, as a collective organization, theobligation of assigning to the individual member seeking enfranchisementso much land, thus imposing upon it, in effect, the onus of conferringthe land qualification. Let its consummation be approached gradually, and with caution; and let a modified form of it, designed to meetthe Indian's peculiar situation, be recognized and enforced. Let theenfranchisement be made a tentative thing; and let there be a provisionfor the divestiture of the Indian of the right, in case disaster to himshould supervene upon its application. I have spoken elsewhere of the _fact_ of the Indian's enfranchisementprompting him, in view of the prospect of occupying various stationsof dignity in the country, which, through the extension to him of thefranchise, would be thrown open to him, to set a greater value uponeducation, as qualifying him for enjoying and filling with credit thesestations. Perhaps, it would be the stricter view, and more apropos, to regard the Indian's more thorough education as that which would leadhim to more readily perceive and better appreciate the full import and. Significance of enfranchisement; which would bring home to his mind aclear apprehension of the duties and obligations it exacts, and enablehim, as well, to exercise the rights thereto pertaining with a wiserforesight and greater intelligence. Let a higher order of mental attainment than he now displays be insured, by all means, and if possible, to the Indian; and, to this end, letthe authorities concerned invite, through the inducement of somethingbetter than a mere bread-and-butter salary, the accession to the Reserveof teachers, no one of whom it shall be possible for an Indian youth oftender years to outstrip in knowledge; or shall be reduced to parrying, as best as he can, the questionings of a pupil on points bearing uponmerely elementary education. I would mention a prospective result of the Indian's enfranchisement, which would suggest, forcibly, the desirability of, and the need for hisanticipatory instruction in the English language. He, unlike the Germanor Frenchman, has never been able to maintain, indeed, has never had, a literature; and I can scarcely conceive of his _tongue_ evensurviving the more general mingling with the white, which would be thecertain concomitant of enfranchisement, which, indeed, with its othersubverting tendencies, would seem to me to ordain its utter effacement.