USA > New Jersey > Historical collections of the state of New Jersey : containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical desciptions of every township in the state. > Part 8
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" In 1704, in the latter part of November and December, and in Janua- ry, 1705, there were many great and lasting snow-storms. Few persons could remember so severe a winter.
" The winter of 1708 was very cold ; and it continued so very late. On the 5th of April the cold was so intense, that water thrown upon the ground at noon immediately froze.
" For six weeks in June, July, and August of 1705, there was a great deal of bad weather.
"The beginning of 1714 was uncommonly warm. Mr. S. saw a wild- flower in the woods on the 8th of February. The spring was also very mild. Some rye was in the ear on the 10th of April.
" There was an appearance of locusts in 1715, of which Mr. Sandel has given the following account :- ' In May, 1715, a multitude of locusts came out of the ground everywhere, even on the solid roads. They were wholly covered with a shell, and it seemed very wonderful that they could with this penetrate the hard earth. Having come out of the earth, they crept out of the shells, flew away, sat down on the trees, and made a peculiar noise until evening. Being spread over the country in such numbers, the noise they made was so loud that the cow bells could scarcely be heard in the woods. They pierced the bark on the branches of trees, and deposited their eggs in the opening. Many apprehended that the trees would wither in consequence of this, but no symptom of it was observed next year. Hogs and poultry fed on them. Even the Indians did eat them, especially when. they first came, boiling them a little. This made it probable that they were
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of the same kind with those eaten by John the Baptist. They did not con- tinue long, but died in the month of June.
" The same year was very fruitful. A bushel of wheat cost two shillings, or two shillings and three-pence ; a bushel of corn twenty-two pence ; of rye twenty pence. A barrel of cider cost six shillings."
HISTORY OF THE INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY.
" It would be vain to pretend to give a particular account of all the different tribes or nations of Indians that inhabited these prov- inces before the Europeans came among them, there being proba- bly a tribe in some parts for every ten or twenty miles, which were commonly distinguished by the names of creeks or other noted places where they resided ; thus, there were the Assunpink,* the Rankokas,t the Mingo, the Andastaka, the Neshamine, and the Shackamaxon Indians ; and those about Burlington were called the Mantas ; } but these and others were all of them distinguished from the back Indians, who were a more warlike people, by the general name of the Delawares. The nations most noted from home, that sometimes inhabited New Jersey, and the first settled parts of Pennsylvania, were the Naraticongs, on the north side of . Raritan river, the Capitinasses, Gacheos, the Munseys, the pomp- tons, the Senecas, and the Maquaas ;|| this last was the most nu- merous and powerful. Different nations were frequently at war with each other, of which husbandmen sometimes find remaining marks in their fields ; a little below the falls of Delaware on the Jersey side ; at Point-no-point in Pennsylvania, and several other places, were banks that have been formerly thrown up for in- trenchments against incursions of the neighboring Indians, who, in their canoes, used sometimes to go in warlike bodies from one prov- ince to another.
" It was customary with the Indians of West Jersey, when they buried their dead, to put family utensils, bows and arrows, and sometimes money (wampum) into the grave with them, as tokens of their affection. When a person of note died far from the place of his own residence, they would carry his bones to be buried there ; they washed and perfumed the dead, painted the face, and followed singly ; left the dead in a sitting posture, and covered the grave pyramidically. They were very curious in preserving and repair- ing the graves of their dead, and pensively visited them; did not love to be asked their judgment twice about the same thing. They generally delighted in mirth ; were very studious in observing the
* " Stony Creek. t Lamikas, or Chichequas was the proper Indian name; they did not pronounce the r at all.
# " Frogs : a creek or two in Gloucester county are called Manta, or Mantau, from a larger tribe that resided there; the Indians were probably both of the same stock.
H " The Five Nations before the sixth was added ; but few of these had their residence in New Jersey. They are supposed to have been sometimes in fishing seasons among the others here ; the Dutch called them Mahakuase.
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virtues of roots and herbs, by which they usually cured themselves of many bodily distempers, both by outward and inward applica- tions : they besides frequently used sweating, and the cold bath .* They had an aversion to beards and would not suffer them to grow, but plucked the hair out by the roots. The hair of their heads was black, and generally shone with bear's fat, particularly that of the women, who tied it behind in a large knot; sometimes in a bag. They called persons and places by the names of things remarkable, or birds, beasts, and fish ; as pea-hala, a duck ; cou- hawuk, a goose ; quink-quink, a tit ; pulluppa, a buck ; shingas, a wild-cat ; and they observed it as a rule, when the rattle-snake gave notice by his rattle before they approached, not to hurt him ; but if he rattled after they had passed, they immediately returned and killed him. They were very loving to one another; if several of them came to a Christian's house, and the master of it gave one of them victuals and none to the rest, he would divide it into equal shares among his companions ; if the Christians visited them, they would give them the first cut of their victuals ; they would not eat the hollow of the thigh of any thing they killed. Their chief em- ployment was hunting, fishing, and fowling ; making canoes, bowls, and other wooden and earthen ware ; in all which they were, con- sidering the means, ingenious : in their earthen bowls they boiled their water. Their women's business chiefly consisted in planting Indian corn, parching or roasting it, pounding it to meal in mortars. or breaking it between stones, making bread, and dressing victuals; in which they were sometimes observed to be very neat and clean- ly, and sometimes otherwise : they also made mats, ropes, hats, and baskets, (some very curious,) of wild hemp and roots, or splits of trees. Their young women were originally very modest and shamefaced, and at marriageable ages distinguished themselves with a kind of worked mats, or red or blue bays, interspersed with small rows of white and black wampum, or half rows of each in one, fastened to it, and then put round the head, down to near the middle of the forehead. Both young and old women would be highly offended at indecent expressions, unless corrupted with drink. The Indians would not allow of mentioning the name of a friend after death. They sometimes streaked their faces with black, when in mourning ; but when their affairs went well they painted red. They were great observers of the weather by the moon ; delighted in fine clothes ; were punctual in their bargains, and observed this so much in others, that it was very difficult for a person who had once failed herein, to get any dealings with them afterward. In their councils they seldom or never interrupted or
* " The manner was first to inclose the patient in a narrow cabin, in the midst of which was a red-hot stone ; this frequently wet with water, occasioned a warm vapor ; the patient, sufficiently wet with this and his own sweat, was hurried to the next creek or river, and plunged into it: this was repeated as often as necessary, and sometimes great cures performed. But this rude method at other times killed, notwithstanding the hardy natures of the patients ; especially in the small-pox and other European disor- ders.
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« contradicted one another, till two of them had made an end of their discourse ; for if ever so many were in company, only two must speak to each other, and the rest be silent till their turn. Their language was high, lofty, and sententious. Their way of counting was by tens, that is to say, two tens, three tens, four tens, &c .; when the number got out of their reach, they pointed to the stars, or the hair of their heads. They lived chiefly on maize, or Indian corn, roasted in the ashes, sometimes beaten and boiled with water, called hommony ; they also made an agreeable cake of their pounded corn ; and raised beans and peas ; but the woods and rivers afforded them the chief of their provisions. They pointed their arrows with a sharpened flinty stone, and of a larger sort, with withs for handles, cut their wood ; both of these sharpened stones are often found in the fields. Their times of eating were commonly morning and evening ; their seats and tables the ground. They were naturally reserved, apt to resent, to conceal their re- sentments, and retain them long ; they were liberal and generous, kind and affable to the English. They were observed to be un- easy and impatient in sickness for a present remedy, to which they commonly drank a decoction of roots in spring water, forbearing flesh, which if they then ate at all, it was of the female. They took remarkable care of one another in sickness, while hopes of life remained ; but when that was gone, some of them were apt to neglect the patient. Their government was monarchical and successive, and mostly of the mother's side, to prevent a spurious issue .* They commonly washed their children in cold water as soon as born ; and to make their limbs straight, tied them to a board, and hung it to their backs when they travelled ; they usually walk- ed at nine months old. Their young men married at sixteen or seventeen years of age, if by that time they had given sufficient proof of their manhood, by a large return of skins. The girls married about thirteen or fourteen, but stayed with their mothers to hoe the ground, bear burdens, &c., for some years after marriage. The women, in travelling, generally carried the luggage. The mar- riage ceremony was sometimes thus :- the relations and friends being present, the bridegroom delivered a bone to the bride, she an ear of Indian corn to him, meaning that he was to provide meat, she bread. It was not unusual, notwithstanding. to change their mates upon disagreement ; the children went with the party that loved them best, the expense being of no moment to either ; in case of differ- ence on this head, the man was allowed the first choice if the chil- dren were divided, or there was but one. Very little can be said as to their religion : much pains were taken by the early Christian · settlers, and frequently since, to inform their judgments respecting the use and benefit of the Christian revelation, and to fix restraints;
* "That is, the children of him now king will not succeed, but his brother by the mother, or children of his sister, whose sons (and after them the male children of ber daughters) were to reign ; for no woman inherited.
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but generally with unpromising success, though instances have now and then happened to the contrary. They are thought to have believed in a God and immortality, and seemed to aim at public worship ; when they did this, they sometimes sat in several circles, one within another ; the action consisted of singing. jump- ing, shouting, and dancing ; but mostly performed rather as some- thing handed down from their ancestors, than from any knowledge or inquiry into the serious parts of its origin. They said the great King that made them dwelt in a glorious country to the southward. and that the spirits of the best should go there and live again. Their most solemn worship was the sacrifice of the first-fruits, in which they burnt the first and fattest buck, and feasted together upon what else they had collected ; but in this sacrifice broke no bones of any creature they eat ; when done, they gathered and buried them very carefully ; these have since been frequently ploughed up. They distinguished between a good and evil ma- netta, or spirit ; worshipped the first for the good they hoped ; and some of them are said to have been slavishly dark in praying to the last for deprecation of evils they feared ; but if this be true in a general sense, some of the tribes much concealed it from our settlers. They did justice upon one another for crimes among themselves, in a way of their own ; even murder might be atoned for by feasts, and presents of wampum ; the price of a woman killed was double, and the reason, because she bred children, which men could not do. If sober, they rarely quarrelled among them- selves. They lived to sixty, seventy, eighty, and more, before rum was introduced, but rarely since. Some tribes were commendably careful of their aged and decrepit, endeavoring to make the re- mains of life as comfortable as they could : it was pretty generally so except in desperate decays ; then indeed, as in other cases of the like kind, they were sometimes apt to neglect them. Strict ob- servers of property, yet, to the last degree, thoughtless and inactive in acquiring or keeping it. None could excel them in liberality of the little they had, for nothing was thought too good for a friend ; a knife, gun, or any such thing given to one, frequently passed through many hands. Their houses or wigwams were sometimes together in towns, but mostly moveable, and occasionally fixed near a spring or other water, according to the conveniences for hunting, fishing, basket-making, or other business of that sort, and built with poles laid on forked sticks in the ground, with bark, flags, or bushes on the top and sides, with an opening to the south, their fire in the middle ; at night they slept on the ground with their feet towards it; their clothing was a coarse blanket or skin thrown over the shoulder, which covered to the knee, and a piece of the same tied round their legs, with part of a deer-skin sewed round their feet for shoes. As they had learned to live upon little, they seldom expected or wanted to lay up much. They were also mod- erate in asking a price for any thing they had for sale. When a company travelled together, they generally followed each other in
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silence, scarcely ever two were seen by the side of one another ; in roads the'man went before with his bow and arrow, the woman after, not uncommonly with a child at her back, and other burdens besides ; but when these were too heavy, the man assisted. To know their walks again, in unfrequented woods, they heaped stones or marked trees.
" In person they were upright, and straight in their limbs, beyond the usual proportion in most nations ; their bodies were strong, but ' of a strength rather fitted to endure hardships than to sustain much bodily labor, very seldom crooked or deformed ; their features reg- ular; their countenances sometimes fierce, in common rather re- sembling a Jew than Christian; the color of their skin a tawny reddish brown ; the whole fashion of their lives of a piece, hardy, poor, and squalid. When they began to drink, they commonly con- tinued it as long as the incans of procuring it lasted. In drink they often lay exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather which introduced a train of new disorders among them. They were grave, even to sadness upon any common, and more so upon serious occasions ; observant of those in company, and respectful to the old; of a temper cool and deliberate ; never in haste to speak, but waited for a certainty that the person who spoke before them had finished all he had to say. They seemed to hold Euro- pean vivacity in contempt, because they found such as came among them apt to interrupt each other, and frequently speak all together. Their behavior in public councils was strictly decent and instruc- tive ; every one in his turn was heard, according to rank of years or wisdom, or services to his country. Not a word, a whisper, or a murmur, while any one spoke ; no interruption to commend or condemn ; the younger sort were totally silent. They got fire by rubbing wood of particular sorts, (as the ancients did out of the ivy and bays,) by turning the end of a hard piece upon the side of one that was soft and dry ; to forward the heat they put dry rotten wood and leaves ; with the help of fire and their stone axes, they would fell large trees, and afterward scoop them into bowls, &c. From their infancy they were formed with care to endure hard- ships, to bear derision, and even blows patiently ; at least with a composed countenance. Though they were not easily provoked, it was generally hard to be appeased whenever it happened. Liber- ty, in its fullest extent, was their ruling passion ; to this every other consideration was subservient. Their children were trained up so as to cherish this disposition to the utmost ; they were indulged to · a great degree, seldom chastised with blows, and rarely chided : their faults were left for their reason and habits of the family to correct ; they said these could not be great before their reason commenced ; and they seemed to abhor a slavish motive to action, as inconsistent with their notions of freedom and independency : even strong persuasion was industriously avoided, as bordering too much on dependence, and a kind of violence offered to the will. They dreaded slavery more than death. They laid no fines for
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INDIAN HISTORY.
crimes, for they had no way of exacting them ; the atonement was voluntary. Every tribe had particulars in whom they reposed a confidence, and unless they did something unworthy of it, they were held in respect : what were denominated kings, were sachems distinguished among these ; the respect paid them was voluntary, and not exacted or looked for, nor the omission regarded. The sachems directed in their councils, and had the chief disposition of lands. To help their memories in treaties, they had belts of black and white wampum ; with these closed their periods in speeches, delivering more or less, according to the importance of the matter treated of ; this ceremony omitted, all they said passed for nothing. They treasured these belts when delivered to them in treaties, kept them as the records of the nation, to have recourse to upon future contests ; governed by customs and not by laws, they greatly re- vered those of their ancestors, and followed them so implicitly, that a new thought or action seldom intruded. They long remembered kindnesses ; families or particulars that had laid themselves out to deal with, entertain and treat them hospitably, or even fairly in dealings, if no great kindness was received, were sure of their trade : this also must undoubtedly be allowed, that the original and more uncorrupt very seldom forgot to be grateful, where real ben- efits had been received. And notwithstanding the stains of perfidy and cruelty, which, in 1754, and since, have disgraced the Indians on the frontiers of these provinces, even these, by an uninterrupted intercourse of seventy years, had, on many occasions, given irre- fragable proofs of liberality of sentiment, hospitality of action, and impressions that seemed to promise a continuation of better things. But of them enough at present.
" Among a people so immediately necessary to each other, where property was little, and the anxiety of increasing it less, the inter- course naturally became free and unfettered with ceremony : hence, every one had his eye upon his neighbor ; misunderstandings and mistakes were easily rectified. No ideas of state or grandeur ; no homage of wealth, office, birth, rank, or learning ; no pride of house. habit, or furniture ; very little emulations of any kind to interrupt ; and so much together, they must be friends, as far at least as that term could be properly applied to them ; this was general in some of the tribes : attachments of particulars to each other were con- stant and steady ; and in some instances far exceeding what might be expected. Companies of them frequently got together to feast, dance, and make merry ; this sweetened the toils of hunting: ex- cepting these toils, and the little action before described, they scarcely knew any. A life of dissipation and ease, of uncertainty and want, of appetite, satiety, indolence, and sleep, seemed to be the sum of the character, and chief that they aimed at.
1
"Notwithstanding their government was successive, it was, for extraordinary reasons, sometimes ordered otherwise : of this there is an instance in the old king Ockanickon, who dying about this time at Burlington, declared himself to this effect :-
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INDIAN HISTORY.
"' It was my desire that my brother's son, Iahkursoe, should come to me, and hear my last words ; for him have I appointed king af ter me.
"' My brother's son, this day I deliver my heart into your bosom ; and mind me. I would have you love what is good, and keep good company ; refuse what is evil, and by all means avoid bad com- pany.
"' Now, having delivered my heart into your bosom, I also de- liver my bosom to keep my heart in: be sure always to walk in a good path, and if any Indians should speak evil of Indians or Christians, do not join in it, but look at the sun from the rising of it to the setting of the same. In speeches that shall be made be- tween the Indians and the Christians, if any wrong or evil thing be spoken, do not join with that ; but join with the good. When speeches are made, do not you speak first ; be silent, and let all speak before you, and take good notice what each man speaks, and when you have heard all, join to that which is good.
"' Brother's son, I would have you cleanse your ears, and take all foulness out, that you may hear both good and evil, and then join with the good and refuse the evil ; and also cleanse your eyes, that you may see good and evil, and where you see evil, do not join with it, but join to that which is good.
"' Brother's son, you have heard what has passed; stand up in time of speeches ; stand in my steps, and follow my speeches : this do, and what you desire in reason, will be granted. Why should you not follow my example ? I have had a mind to be good and do good, therefore do you the same. Sheoppy and Swampis were to be kings in my stead, but understanding, by my doctor, that Sheoppy secretly advised him not to cure me, and they both being with me at John Hollingshead's house, I myself saw by them, that they were given more to drink, than to take notice of my last words ; for I had a mind to make a speech to them, and to my brethren, the English commissioners ; therefore I refuse them to be kings after me, and have now chosen my brother's son Iahkursoe in their stead to succeed me.
"' Brother's son, I advise you to be plain and fair with all, both Indians and Christians, as I have been ; I am very weak, otherwise I would have spoken more.'
" After the Indian had delivered this counsel to his nephew, T. Budd, one of the proprietors, being present, took the opportunity to remark, that ' there was a great God, who created all things ; that he gave man an understanding of what was good and bad ; and after this life rewarded the good with blessings, and the bad ac- cording to their doings.' He answered-' It is very true, it is so : there are two ways, a broad and a straight way; there are two paths, a broad and a straight path : the worst and the greatest number go in the broad, the best and fewest in the straight path.' This king dying soon afterward, was attended to his grave in the Quaker's burial-place in Burlington, with solemnity, by the Indians
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in their manner, and with great respect by many of the English settlers ; to whom he had been a sure friend."
The foregoing history of the Indians, &c., is copied from Smith's History of New Jersey. The following is from a series of articles recently published in the Newark Sentinel, entitled " Glimpses of the Past in New Jersey :"
" During the dominion of the Dutch, hostile relations existed on two or three occasions. De Vries tells us, (New York Historical Collections, ) that, in 1630, thirty-two men were killed by the Indians on the Delaware; and he gives a detailed account of difficulties with those of East Jersey, in 1640 and 1643. In the former year, an expedition, fitted out against those on the Raritan, accused, although wrongfully, of having committed thefts and other trespasses, caused some of the leading chiefs to be maltreated, and led to retaliatory measures upon the settlers of Staten Island, who were killed, and their plantations broken up.
" This matter, in connection with the refusal of the Indians to give up the author of a murder subsequently committed, brought on hostilities. The Dutch authorities were guilty of great duplicity, (New York Colonial Re- cords, in Historical Collections,) in beguiling the natives into the belief that no evil was brewing against them; for they directed that ' the kind inter- course and the trade in corn should be continued with them as before, till God's will, and proper opportunity is offered.' This opportunity came early in 1643. The Indians in the vicinity of Fort Orange, (Albany,) having commenced a war with their more southern brethren, Gov. Kieft joined with them; and, on the night of the 25-26th of January, a detachment of troops was sent over to Pavonia, and eighty Indians were murdered in their sleep, or in attempting to escape. 'This was the feat,' says De Vries, alluding to a remark of the governor in relation to it, 'worthy of the heroes of old Rome, to massacre a parcel of Indians, and to butcher them in the presence of their parents, and throw their mangled limbs into the fire or water. Other sucklings had been fastened to little boards, and in this position they were cut to pieces. Some were thrown into the river, and when the parents rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented their landing, and let parents and children drown.' As the orders given to the officer commanding the expedition, as they appear on record, were 'to spare as much as it is pos- sible their wives and children, and to take the savages prisoners,' we might attribute this cruelty entirely to the excited passions of the men; but the same author tells us they were rewarded, and that 'the same night forty Indians more were murdered at Corlaer's plantation.'
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