USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 5
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2 Bedenckinge over het aenvaerden vander landeryen in N. Nederlandt by
III. 1609.
48
HISTORY OF
BOOK 1. 1609.
The Hackingsacks were the opposite nation to these, on the
west, between whom and the sea, dwelt the Raritans. This tribe, the first of the River Indians with whom Hudson had communication, occupied a rich and fertile valley, situated between two high mountains some distance the one from the other, through which flowed a fresh water river that disem- bogued in the Neywesinck or Navesinck bay on the south side of the Great Bay of the North River, lying between Sandy- hook and Aquehonga Manacknong, or Eghquaous, as Staten Island was called ;1 but from this country the Raritans, some thirty years after this, were forced to migrate by the spring freshets, which frequently destroyed their stock of maize and other provisions, stored in winter in pits under ground, joined to repeated incursions and attacks from the Minsi and Dela- ware, or Lenno Lenape Indians,2 whom the Dutch distin- guished by the name of Sankhicans. Generally speaking, the tribes on one side of the river were the deadly enemies of those on the other.
The Delawares and Minsi occupied the country bounded cast and south by the Hudson river and the Atlantic; west by the height of land which separates the waters falling into the Delaware from those that empty into the Susquehanna and Chesapeake. On the north they were in possession of the country watered by the Schuylkill to its sources. East of the Delaware the Lenape tribes were separated by the Catskill
den Secretaris van Tienhoven Anno 1650. Modern writers on Indian Termi- nology have been at much trouble to explain the reason why the island of New York was first called Manhattans. Some aver that it was because it signifies "the place of the original intoxication ;" others, that the name was derived from " a spe- cies of wood growing There, of which the Indians made their bowe and arrows." These are mere surmises, founded only on fancy. The early Dutch inhabit- ants give an explanation more consonant to common sense. It was so called " from or after the tribe of savages among whom the Dutch made their first settlement." (Den naem van ondts het soo behouden hebbende vander natie vander Wilden daer de Duytsen haer eerst by hadden neergeslaen.) Alb. Rec. xviii. 348. The original Dutch MSS., in book marked PP .; N. Y. Hist. Coll. iii. 375. It was the Dutch, therefore, and not the Indians, who first called the island of New York " Manhattans."
1 Book of Patents iv. 63 ; Alb. Rec. viii. 161. Eghquaous was the Indian name as recorded by the Dutch.
3 Van Tienhoven ut supra.
49
NEW NETHERLAND.
mountains from the Mohawks, who in that quarter seem to CHAP.
have been called Minquas. Between these and the Minsi, the ~ III. Wappings, already mentioned, intervened, but the division 1609. line between the two last tribes is not ascertained.1
Various tribes are mentioned as inhabiting different points of the lands west of the Hudson, as the Naraticongs on the north side of the Raritan, and the Capitannesses, the Gacheos, and the Pomptons. It is added, that the Delawares were sub- divided into the Assunpinks or Stony Creek Indians, the Ran- kokas or Chichequaas, Mingoes, Andastakas, who were located on Christian creek, Wilmington ; Neshaminies, in Bucks co .; Schaka Maxons about Kensington, Philadelphia ; Mantas or Frog Indians, near Burlington ; and the Mennesinks, above the forks of the Delaware.2
The tribes on Long Island are represented to have been of the Delaware stock, though some doubt this allegation. Their settlements were generally on the borders of the island, an ar- rangement induced, it is to be supposed, by the facilities afford- ed for obtaining fish, and those shells from which sewan, or wampum, was manufactured, this section of the country hav- ang been for years the quarter from which that substitute for a circulating medium was obtained.3 The principal tribes that occupied this fertile region were the Canarse, or Canarisse, who claimed the chief part of the lands in what is now called Kings county, Jamaica, and some part of Newtown. The Rockaways were settled on that section which still retains their name ; they owned also some parts of Newtown and Ja- maica. The Merrikoke and Marsapeague nations stretched from Rockaway through what is now Queen's county, into Huntington, on the south side of the island. The territory of the Mattinecock tribe extended from Flushing, through Queen's
1 Gallatin. 2 Proud's Penn. ii., 294, 295
3 Van Tienhoven held out the facilities which this island afforded for the manufacture of wampum as an encouragement to the Dutch, in 1650, to emi- grate to New Netherland. Speaking of the eastern extremity of the island, he says-This Hook is right well situated for carrying on the trade in sewan, (wampum ;) it is the mine of New Netherland. Because around and in the abovementioned waters, and in the islands thereof, are found the cockles whereof Bewan is manufactured, which would afford great profit to such as would estab- lish colonies or plantations there.
7
50
HISTORY OF
BOOK county, to Cowharbor, in Suffolk, on the north side.1 The - Nissaquagues extended their claim from the last-mentioned I. 1609. point to Stony brook, and the Setaukets from this to Wading River. The Corchaug Indians claimed hence to Southold, on the north side, while the territory of the Manhassetts was Shelter Island. The lands of the Secataugs adjoined the Marsapeagues, and extended to Patchogue, which tribe reached to South Hampton. The Shinecock nation extended from Canoeplace to Montauk, whilst these owned the peninsula, the point of which still perpetuates the name of that tribe whose chief was styled the Sachem of Long Island. It is right to mention, however, that much confusion obtains when compar- ing the above names with those handed down by the Dutch authorities-a confusion which is owing, perhaps, to the differ- ence in the language in which these authorities wrote, as well as to the names which they gave the places where the Indians were located.
The most prominent peculiarity that struck Europeans on coming into contact with this new race of men, was the differ- ence which existed in their physical appearance, when com- pared with that of the inhabitants of the Old World-a differ- ence which has since led physiologists to class them as a par- ticular variety of the human species. Though generally well made, broad of shoulder and slender in the waist, capable of enduring much fatigue and hunger, their skin was discovered at once to be of a different color to that with which they had been always most familiar. It was of a red copper, or rather an obscure orange hue, not unlike the bark of the cinnamon- tree. It was at first supposed that this was the effect of cli- mate ; but it is now believed to be artificially produced by the habitual and constant use of unctuous substances, in which the juice of some root is incorporated, and by which this peculiar tinge is communicated to the skin of the Indian tribes of North America.
The face was broad and flat; the cheek-bones high ; the
" This tribe is represented by Van Tienhoven to consist, in 1650, of only thirty families. They formerly had a great number of settlements, he adds, in Martin Gerrittsen's bay, or Mattinehook ; but, at the time he wrote, it was mostly abandoned and waste. Bedenckinge, &c.
Their physical apr ance.
51
NEW NETHERLAND.
forehead low ; the eye sunken, and dark brown ; the nose CHAP. small, with wide nostrils ; and the mouth large, with lips somewhat thick. The hair differed remarkably from that of the Caucasian race. Instead of being fine and soft, it was coarse, Fea- tures. black, and strong; every vestige of this appendage of man- hood being, however, carefully removed from the Indian face, these people regarding a beard with peculiar antipathy. To supply the loss, they indulged, on certain great occasions, in the luxury of bedaubing and painting the face in a most fan- tastic and grotesque manner.
In respect to physical strength, the Indian ranked below the European : but though particularly averse to labor, his powers of perseverance were found to be equal to a vast amount of con- tinued exertion, when such was required. Such a property was providentially bestowed on a people who derived their chief support from the chase. Hunting, with the Indian, was Hunt- not only a pastime, but a necessary avocation of his life, to ing. qualify him for which, as well as for war, all his education in youth, and all the riper energies of his manhood were directed. A rigid course of fasting, accompanied by dreaming and vari- ous superstitions, were the usual preliminaries to setting forth on the great hunt. Arrived at the lairs of the wild animals, a circle was formed, by the gradual contraction of which, all the game was pressed within a narrower compass, till, driven into the very centre of the ring, they fell beneath showers of arrows or spears, or the multiplied blows of clubs. On other occasions, they were driven to the bank of the river, or lake, where canoes were ready to intercept them the mo- ment they took the water. Other means which experience or ingenuity suggested, such as traps, nets, springs, were also used, according as the nature or habits of the prey to be pur- sued dictated ; for the beaver and the bear were different in every respect. But whatever was the game, the success in the chase was sure to be followed by rejoicings, songs, and dances, in which the men of the whole tribe united.
A rude description of agriculture was combined with the Agricul- chase for the purpose of raising food. Patches in the neigh- ture. borhood of the villages were laid under maize, tobacco, pump- kins, and other such products ; and from the interview which
III. 1609.
52
HISTORY OF
BOOK Hudson had with the old chief, it is evident they raised I. abundance of corn. The grain, after harvest, was lodged un- 1609. der ground in holes lined with bark, and afterwards broken Food. between stones, from the meal of which they made coarse bread, or cakes, and a thick sort of porridge called sappaan, a favorite dish among them. They used, however, for ordinary food, though they had no stated hours for their meals, meat and fish of every kind, clean and unclean, which they cooked in the plainest manner, entrails and all, mixing in their coarse cakes, and adding, on extraordinary occasions, beavers' tails, parched corn-meal, or very fat meat stewed with chesnuts. Dogs' flesh seems to have been in high esteem among them.
Notwithstanding the heavy dishes of which they made use, and the gluttony in which, when occasion offered, they in- dulged, consuming almost incredible quantities of food, they were capable of extraordinary abstinence, and even took a pride in long fasts, in which they could persevere for succes- sive days. With all descriptions of intoxicating liquors they were unacquainted until Hudson introduced them to a know ledge of the all-destroying beverage. .
The clothing which they used was in every respect as rude as their food. It consisted, in the winter, of the skins of wild animals sewed together and hanging loosely from the shoulders ; in summer, of a piece of skin tied round the waist. The children went generally naked ; the females wore round their bodies fastened by a girdle their rude robe which extended below the knee, with an under-garment of dressed deer-skin girt round the waist, the lower border of which was tastefully ornamented with wampum. After the settlement of Euro- peans among them subsequently, men and women added to their dress a piece of duffils or coarse cloth, obtained in exchange for furs, which they hung over the right shoulder, the ends extending below the knees. This served as a cloak by day and a blanket by night. Their stockings and shoes were made of dressed deer-skin. The men went usually bare-headed, some wearing their hair only. on one side, some on both sides of the head ; others carried on the top a strip of hair from the forehead to the neck, about three fingers' breadth, which they cut short till about three fingers long,
Cloth- ing.
53
NEW NETHERLAND.
when it stood erect like a cock's comb, on both sides of which CHAP. the hair was cut very close. The whole of this was smeared thickly with bears' grease. The women, on the other hand, usually bound their hair behind in a club, about a hand long, in the form of a beaver's tail, over which was drawn a square cap, ornamented frequently with wampum. Other ornaments of similar manufacture were sometimes encircled around their arms and necks, or pendent from their ears, with a few streaks of paint on their faces, when they desired to be excessively engaging. Both sexes were particularly fond of ornamenting their persons, each using, indiscriminately, ornaments origin- ally intended for the other sex.1 Hudson found the river tribes ornamenting their persons with feathers, shells, and glittering plates of copper suspended from the ears and nose, which, however, were not bored, but slit to such an extent as to allow a stick of wax to be passed through, to which all the orna- ments, intended for these parts of the body, were appended.
Though fond of these baubles and finery, the Indians were a slovenly and dirty race. While the European studied to keep his skin clean, and free from extraneous substance, the Indian's aim was to make his shine, like that of a roasted pig, by means of accumulated oil, grease, and paint.2 Soot scraped from the bottoms of kettles, the juices of herbs of various tints, render- ed adhesive by combination with unctuous substances, were lav- ishly used to make his appearance particularly hideous or terrific.
Their habitations, though those of the Five Nations were Dwell- of a superior class, were on a par with their other social ideas. ings.
1 The Indians had some singular ideas of the presents which, at the first visit, the Europeans gave them. The axes and hoes which they received, they hung as ornaments around their necks; and the stockings they used as tobacco pouch- es .- Heckewelder. The early Freuch writers relate an amusing anecdote to show the confusion of Indian ideas in matters of dress. The Ursuline nuns, having educated a Huron girl, presented her, on her marriage to one of her countrymen, with a complete and handsome suit of clothes in the Parisian style They were much surprised, some days after, to see the husband, who had taken possession of the whole of the bride's attire, arrayed in it, and parading back- ward and forward in front of the convent, betraying every symptom of the most extravagant exultation, which was farther increased on observing the nuns crowding to the window to see him, and smiling at his singular appearance --- Murray, from Creuxius.
" Creuxius, Hist. Nov. Franc.
III. 1609.
Orna- ments.
54
HISTORY OF
BOOK They were of the rudest construction, consisting merely of I. 1609. hickory saplings stuck in the ground and bent at the top into an arch, like a bow. These were covered with the bark of trees, secured to the poles. Some of these huts are repre- sented to have been a hundred and eighty yards long, but none more than twenty feet wide. In the middle was the fire, an opening in the roof permitting the egress of the smoke. The furniture of these dwellings consisted of a few pots, ket- tles, or other such simple necessaries, without chairs, table, knives, or napkins. Their knife at first was a sharpened shell ; their axe a sharpened stone. In wooden mortars they pounded their corn with stone pestles, and ate their food out of wooden bowls. Their couches were of bulrushes or the skins of wild Villages. beasts. A number of such dwellings composed a village, which formed the distinct and separate residence of a tribe, each under its own chief. This village was usually located some fifteen or twenty miles distant from any other, on the side of a steep hill, on the bank of some deep stream, near the corn patch, and was carefully protected by a strong stockade from the attacks of other tribes, for much mutual animosity prevailed between the Indian nations of New Netherland. These villages were not, however, fixed or permanent. The inmates were migratory in their habits, and remained not long in one place. They shifted according as the season prompted. The summer and spring found them on the sea- coast, or river or lake side, in search of fish. In the winter they ranged the forest and hunting-grounds in search of game; and, wherever their business called them, 'twas easy to erect a rude dwelling such as they were accustomed to.
Canoes
Their boats or canoes were as rude in construction as their dwellings. Some consisted of the trunks of trees hollowed out, after an incredible degree of labor, by means of fire, or such miserable tools as they could invent. Others again were made of bark, sewed together with thongs made from the dried entrails or sinews of animals. Some of these canoes were capable of holding from twelve to fourteen persons, or one hundred and fifty bushels of grain.
Women.
Among these people women were nothing better than do- mestic slaves, on whom devolved all sorts of labor; such as
55
NEW NETHERLAND.
planting corn, cutting and hauling firewood, carrying burdens, CHAP. cooking, attending children, and whatever other hard work was to be performed. With such a low estimate of the sex, it is not surprising to learn, that scarcely a trace of what con- stitutes marriage among civilized nations was found among Mar- riage them. The man presented the woman with some offering or gift, which, if she accepted, sealed their agreement to live to- gether, and this they continued to do so long only as it pleased them. They separated the moment they could no longer agree, in which cases the issue followed the mother.1 Poly- Polyga gamy did not prevail much among them ; each man had com- my. monly but one wife. A plurality of wives was, however, al- lowed to the chiefs. Both men and women were excessively unchaste ; though the latter, if married, considered such un- chasteness disgraceful. Otherwise they placed no restraint on their passions, and consented to any act of lewdness for a few shillings.
The period of travail was one in which the woman or squaw, Travail. as the Indian female was called, exhibited proofs of the strongest patience and endurance of suffering. When her time was near, she retired alone to a secluded part of the woods, near a run- ning stream, where, having prepared a shelter for herself, she brought forth her offspring without assistance and without a moan. Immediately after her confinement, she immersed her- self and infant in the cold brook, whatever was the season of the year, and returned home, after having passed a few days in her retirement, to apply herself again withont a murmur to her usual routine of drudgery. Sickness after childbirth was very rare among them, and the children were usually weaned when a year old.
Having thus passed in hasty review the physical and social condition of the Indian race, it remains now for us to examine their political arrangements. These were based upon the funda-
1 Van der Donck and Colden agree on this point. " As all kinds of slavery is banished from the country of the Five Nations ; so (says the latter writer) they keep themselves free from the bondage of wedlock, and when either of the parties become disgusted, they separate withont formality or ignominy to either, unless 'tis occasioned by some scandalous offence in one of them. In case of divorce, the children, according to the natural course of animals, follow the mother."
1609.
56
HISTORY OF
goverr ment
BOOK mental principle, in perfect keeping with their savage state, of the complete exemption from control of each individual ; which 1609. permitted him, of right, to do whatever he pleased, unchecked Police and and unconstrained, save by his own interests or passions. Each tribe had a separate government, separate laws, separate regu- lations, and its own chief ; but during peace this chief had lit- tle or no power or authority, and was scarce better than any other of the nation. He was chosen from among the bravest, when a vacancy occurred, without any respect to the claims of the descendants of those who had already held that high office ; for among them the chieftainship was not hereditary. Public affairs were managed by a council of the wisest, most expe- rienced, and most warlike, called sachems ; who, in like man- ner, obtained their authority by the general opinion entertained of their courage and address, and lost it by a failure in these qualities. Both the sachems and chiefs were, however, gener- ally the poorest of the community, for they were obliged to give away and distribute all the presents or plunder they re- ceived in their treaties or in war, so that they had nothing left to themselves. There was no salary nor fees to make office an object of ambition to these primitive people.
Laws. Law and justice, in our acceptation of the terms, were in a great measure unknown among them. For minor offences there seems to have been scarcely any punishment, and even infanticide passed uncensured. Though capital offences were not frequent, murders were sometimes committed, in which cases the next of kin was the avenger, provided he met the murderer within twenty-four hours after the act, when he was authorized to take his life. Otherwise the murder could be atoned for by the payment of a heavy fine of wampum, and by the relatives of the murderer giving way, or precedence, to the nearest relatives of the murdered person on meeting them. But the rights of man were considered to have been forfeited by those who were taken prisoners in war, towards whom no pity was entertained, nor, in most cases, mercy shown.
With passions uncontrolled, absolute freedom of action, and excessive thirst for excitement and display, long-continued peace was not to be expected, and a state of war became the common lot and condition of the people. The whole tendency
57
NEW NETHERLAND.
of their education and habits led to that point, and to be a great CHAP. warrior was every Indian's highest aim.
1609.
When the resolution was one taken to attack a distant tribe, the chief to whom the command of the expedition was as- Wars. signed, entered on a course of the most rigid training and pre- paration. He examined the condition of the arms at the dis- posal of his followers, and commenced a series of incantations to learn the will of the Great Spirit, who was considered to preside over war. Orations of the most inflammatory descrip- tion were delivered; the wampum belt was thrown on the ground, and was lifted by him only who was judged worthy to fill the post of second in command. The leader then began his series of mystic observances. He was painted black all over, and fasted most rigidly, never eating, nor even sitting down, until after the sun had set. From time to time, how- ever, he drank of a strong decoction of some consecrated herbs, with a view to give vivacity to his dreams, or hallucina- tions, which were carefully noted down and scrutinized by the sages and old men. He was next subjected to the powerful action of the vapor bath ; afterwards carefully washed and painted anew in bright and varied colors, in which red was the most predominant. The great war-caldron was next brought out, and placed over a huge fire. Into that caldron every one present, as well as those allies who had consented to take part in the expedition, threw some offering. A grand feast was now prepared. The chief sang his war-song. Other noted warriors, with faces painted in a most frightful manner, fol- lowed his example, each rising in his turn from his seat, and describing the great actions which he and his ancestors had performed ; all being accompanied by the war-dance, to the sound of a tom-tom, or kettledrum, the only instrument of music they used.
Having now worked their passions up to the fiercest pitch, and converted themselves from men into demons, by the force of song, revelry, and rivalry, they proceeded to arm, after having passed the night in these exciting orgies ; and marched forth with their Manitous, or little gods, placed in a common box as guardian spirits, occasionally yelling, as they went along, their terrific warwhoop.
8
58
HISTORY OF
1609.
BOOK. 1. At the epoch of which we write, the only arms with which the savage was acquainted, were bows and arrows ; the heads of the latter were pointed sharp stones, fastened with resin ; Weap- the war-club, the wooden spear, and a square shield which he ons. bore on the left arm. His bowstrings were the sinews of deer, or wild hemp, and with these he took the field, trusting to numbers, ambuscades, yells, and sudden surprises, for vic- tory over the foe.
On entering the enemy's territory, the strictest silence was observed among those who composed the war party. They crawled, rather than marched forward ; jumping on trunks of trees, or proceeding through swamps and streams, they used every effort to leave no trace of their footsteps. Immediately after the break of day, they made their sudden and unexpected onslaught on the devoted tribe or village which they had come to destroy. In a moment the air was rent with the most un- earthly yells. The twang of the bowstring-the whirr of the deadly arrow, followed in quick succession. The war-club was clutched ; and the contest raged with all the fury of re- venge and agony of despair, as if hell were suddenly opened and all its inmates let loose upon the earth. But the duration of these contests was, fortunately, as short as they were des- perate. The vanquished were either taken alive, or, if slain, the victor placed his foot on the neck of his fallen enemy, and twisting a hand in his hair, drew forth his rude-fashioned knife, and with one sweep detached the scalp from the skull, and lodged it in a bag, the receptacle of these bloody testimonials of his still more bloody triumphs.
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