USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. I > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
* The Tuscaroras were received upon a supposition that they were originally of the same stock with the Five Nations, because there is some similitude between their languages.
t Their instruments of conveyances are signed by signatures which they make with a pen, representing these animals.
# An Indian, in answer to his question, " What the white people meant by covetousness? was told by another, that it signified, " A desire of more than a man had need of." " That's strange !" said the querist.
53
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
circumscribed by no boundaries, who live by hunt- ing, and not by agriculture, must always be free, and therefore subject to no other authority than such as consists with the liberty necessarily arising from their circumstances. All their affairs, whether respecting peace or war, are under the direction of their sachems, or chief men. Great exploits and public virtue procure the esteem of a people, and qualify a man to advise in council, and execute the plan concerted for the advantage of his country : thus whoever appears to the Indians in this advan- tageous light, commences a sachem without any other ceremony.
As there is no other way of arriving at this dig- nity, so it ceases, unless an uniform zeal and activity for the common good, is uninterruptedly continued. Some have thought it hereditary, but that is a mis- take. The son is indeed respected for his father's services, but without personal merit he can never share in the government; which, were it otherwise, must sink into perfect disgrace. The children of such as are distinguished for their patriotism, moved by the consideration of their birth, and the perpe- tual incitements to virtue constantly inculcated upon them, imitate their father's exploits, and thus attain to the same honours and influence ; which accounts for the opinion that the title and power of sachem are hereditary.
Each of these republics has its own particular chiefs, who hear and determine all complaints in council, and though they have no officers for the execution of justice, yet their decrees are always obeyed, from the general reproach that would follow
54
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
a contempt of their advice. The condition of this people exempts them from factions, the common disease of popular governments. It is impossible to gain a party amongst them by indirect means ; for no man has either honour, riches, or power to bestow .*
All affairs which concern the general interest are determined in a great assembly of the chiefs of each canton, usually held at Onondaga, the centre of their country. Upon emergencies they act separately ; but nothing can bind the league but the voice of the general convention.
The French, upon the maxim divide et impera, have tried all possible means to divide these repub- lics, and sometimes have even sown great jealousies amongst them. In consequence of this plan, they have seduced many families to withdraw to Canada, and there settled them in regular towns, under the command of a fort and the tuition of missionaries.
The manners of these savages are as simple as their government. Their houses are a few crotched stakes thrust into the ground, and overlaid with bark. A fire is kindled in the middle, and an aper- ture left at the top for the conveyance of the smoke. Whenever a considerable number of those huts are collected, they have a castle, as it is called, consist- ing of a square without bastions, surrounded with
* The learned and judicious author of " The Spirit of Laws," speaking of a people who have a fixed property in lands, observes: " That if a chief would deprive them of their liberty, they would immediately go and seek it under another, or retire into the woods and live there with their families." The Five Nations can never be enslaved till they grow rich by agriculture and commerce. Property is the most permanent basis of power. The authority of a sachem depending only upon his reputation for wisdom and courage, must be weak and precarious, and therefore safe to the people.
55
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
pallisadoes. They have no other fortification ; and this is only designed as an asylum for their old men, their wives, and children, while the rest are gone out to war. They live almost entirely without care. While the women, or squaws, cultivate a little spot of ground for corn, the men employ themselves in hunting. As to clothes, they use a blanket girt at the waist, and thrown loosely over their shoulders ; some of their women indeed have, besides this, a sort of petticoat, and a few of their men wear shirts ; but the greater part of them are generally half naked. In winter, their legs are covered with stock- ings of blanket, and their feet with socks of deer skin. Many of them are fond of ornaments, and I have seen rings
their taste is very singular. affixed, not only to their ears, but their noses. Bracelets of silver and brass round their wrists are very common. The women plait their hair and tie it up behind in a bag, perhaps in imitation of the French beaus in Canada. Though the Indians are capable of sustaining great hardships, yet they cannot endure much labour, being rather fleet than strong. Their men are taller than the Europeans, rarely corpulent, always beardless,* straight limbed, of a tawny complexion, and black uncurled hair. In their food they have no manner of delicacy, for though venison is their ordinary diet, yet sometimes they eat dogs, bears, and even snakes Their cook- ery is of two kinds, boiled or roasted ; to perform the latter, the meat is penetrated by a short sharp stick set in the ground, inclining towards the fire,
* Because they pluck out the hairs. The French writers, who say they have naturally no beards, are mistaken; and the reasons they assign for it are ridiculous.
56
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
and turned as occasion requires. They are hospi- table to strangers, though few Europeans would relish their highest favours of this kind, for they are very nasty both in their garments and food. Every man has his own wife, whom he takes and leaves at pleasure : a plurality, however, at the same time, is by no means admitted amongst them. They have been generally commended for their chastity, but I am informed by good authority, that they are very lascivious ; and that the women, to avoid reproach, frequently destroy the fœtus in the womb. They are so perfectly free. that unless their children, who generally assist the mother, may be called ser- vants, they have none. The men frequently asso- ciate themselves for conversation, by which means they not only preserve the remembrance of their wars and treaties, but diffuse among their youths, incitements to military glory, as well as instruction in all the subtleties of war.
Since they became acquainted with the Europeans, their warlike apparatus is a musket, hatchet,* and a long knife. Their boys still accustom themselves to bows and arrows, and are so dextrous in the use of them, that a lad of sixteen will strike an English shilling five times in ten, at twelve or fourteen yards distance. Their men are excellent marksmen, both with the gun and hatchet ; their dexterity at the latter is very extraordinary, for they rarely miss the object, though at a considerable distance. The hatchet in the flight perpetually turns round, and yet always strikes the mark with the edge.
* Hence, to take up the hatchet, is with them a phrase signifying to declare war; as on the contrary to bury it, denotes the establishment of a peace.
57
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
Before they go out, they have a feast upon dog's flesh, and a great war dance. At these, the warriors, who are frightfully painted with vermilion, rise up and sing their own exploits, or those of their ances- tors, and thereby kindle a military enthusiasm in the whole company. The day after the dance, they march out a few miles in a row, observing a profound silence. The procession being ended, they strip the bark from a large oak, and paint the design of their expedition on the naked trunk. The figure of a canoe, with the number of men in it, determines the strength of their party; and by a deer, a fox, or some other emblem painted at the head of it, we discover against what nation they are gone out.
The Five Nations being devoted to war, every art is contrived to diffuse a military spirit through the whole body of their people. The ceremonies attending the return of a party, seem calculated in particular for that purpose. The day before they enter the village, two heralds advance, and at a small distance set up a yell, which by its modulation intimates either good or bad news. If the former, the village is alarmed, and an entertainment pro- vided for the conquerors, who in the mean time approach in sight: one of them bears the scalps stretched over a bow, and elevated upon a long pole. The boldest man in the town comes out, and receives it, and instantly flies to the hut where the rest are collected. If he is overtaken, he is beaten unmercifully ; but if he out-runs the pursuer, he participates in the honor of the victors, who at their first entrance receive no compliments, nor VOL. I .- 8
1
58
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
speak a single word till the end of the feast. Their parents, wives, and children, then are admitted, and treat them with the profoundest respect. After these salutations, one of the conquerors is appointed to relate the whole adventure, to which the rest attentively listen, without asking a question, and the whole concludes with a savage dance.
The Indians never fight in the field, or upon equal terms, but always skulk and attack, by sur- prise, in small parties, meeting every night at a place of rendezvous. Scarce any enemy can escape them, for by the disposition of the grass and leaves, they follow his track with great speed any where but over a rock. Their barbarity is shocking to human nature. Women and children they generally kill and scalp, because they would retard their progress, but the men they carry into captivity. If any woman has lost a relation, and inclines to receive the prisoner in his stead, he not only escapes a series of the most inhuman tortures, and death itself, but enjoys every immunity they can bestow, and is esteemed a member of the family into which he is adopted To part with him would be the most ignominious conduct, and considered as selling the blood of the deceased ; and, for this reason, it is not without the greatest difficulty that a captive is redeemed.
When the Indians incline to peace, a messenger is sent to the enemy with a pipe, the bowl of which is made of soft red marble ; and a long reed, beau- tifully painted, and adorned with the gay plumage of birds, forms the stem. This is his infallible protection from any assault on the way. The envoy
59
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
makes his proposals to the enemy, who, if they approve them, ratify the preliminaries to the peace, by smoking through the pipe, and from that in- stant, a general cessation of arms takes place. The French call it a Calumet. It is used, as far as I can learn, by all the Indian nations upon the conti- nent. The rights of it are esteemed sacred, and have only been invaded by the Flat Heads ; in just indignation for which, the Confederates maintained a war with them for near thirty years.
As to the language of the Five Nations, the best account I have had of it, is contained in a letter from the Rev. Mr. Spencer, who resided amongst them in the year 1748, being then a missionary from the Scotch Society for propagating Christian Knowledge. He writes thus :
" SIR, Though I was very desirous of learning the Indian tongue, yet through my short residence at Onoughquage, and the surly disposition of my interpreter, I confess my proficiency was not great.
" Except the Tuscaroras, all the Six Nations speak a language radically the same. It is very masculine and sonorous, abounding with gutturals and strong aspirations, but without labials. Its solemn grave tone is owing to the generosity of its feet, as you will observe in the following transla- tion of the Lord's Prayer, in which I have distin- guished the time of every syllable by the common marks used in prosody .*
* If we had a good dictionary, marking the quantity as well as emphasis of every syllable in the English language, it would conduce to an accuracy and uniformity of pronunciation. The dignity of style, so far as the ear is concern- ed, consists principally in generous feet ; and perhaps it may be a just remark, that no sentence, unless in a dialogue, ends well without a full sound ; Gordon
60
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
" Soungwauneha, caurounkyawga, tehseetaroan, U sauhsoneyousta, esa, sawaneyou, Ökettauhsela, eh- neauwoung, na, caurounkyawga, nughwonshauga, neattewehnesalauga, taugwaunautoronoantoughsick, -UU toantaugweleewheyoustaung, cheneeyeut, chaqua- tautalehwheyoustaunna, toughsau, taugwaussareneh, tawautottenaugaloughtoungga, nasawne, sacheau- - taugwass, coantehsalohaunzaickaw, esa, sawaune- - you, esa, sashautzta, esa, soungwasoung, chenneau- haungwa, auwen.
" The extraordinary length of Indian words, and the guttural aspirations, necessary in pronouncing them, render the speech extremely rough and dif- ficult. The verbs never change in their termina- tions, as in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, but all their variations are prefixed. Besides the singular and plural, they have also the dual number. A strange transposition of syllables of different words, euphonic gratid, is very common in the Indian tongue, of which I will give an instance. OGILLA signifies fire, and CAWAUNNA great, but instead of joining the ad- jective and substantive to say great fire, CAWĀUNNA OGILLA, both words would be blended into this one, CO-GILLA-WAUNNA. The dialect of the Oneidas is softer than that of the other nations; and the reason is, because they have more vowels, and often supply the place of harsh letters with liquids. Instead of R, they always use L : Rebecca would be pronounced Lequecca."
and Fordyce rarely swerve from this rule, and Mr. Mason, an ingenious author, has lately written with great applause on this attribute of style. .
61
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
The art of public speaking is in high esteem among the Indians, and much studied. They are extremely fond of method, and displeased with an irregular harangue, because it is difficult to be remembered. When they answer, they repeat the whole, reducing it into strict order. Their speeches are short, and the sense conveyed in strong meta- phors. In conversation they are sprightly ; but solemn and serious in their messages relating to public affairs. Their speakers deliver themselves with surprising force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their countenances, the flowing blanket, elevated tone, naked arm, and erect stature, with a half circle of auditors seated on the ground, and in the open air, cannot but impress upon the mind, a lively idea of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome.
At the close of every important part of the speech, ratifying an old covenant, or creating a new one, a belt is generally given, to perpetuate the remem- brance of the transaction. These belts are about four inches wide, and thirty in length. They con- sist of strings of conque shell beads fastened to- gether .*
With respect to religion, the Indians may be said to be under the thickest gloom of ignorance. If they have any, which is much to be questioned, those who affirm it, will find it difficult to tell us wherein it consists. They have neither priest nor
Those beads which pass for money, are called by the Indians, wampum, and by the Dutch, sewant; six beads were formerly valued at a styver. There are always several poor families at Albany, who support themselves by coining this cash for the traders.
62
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
temple, sacrifice nor altar. Some traces, indeed, appear of the original law written upon their hearts ; but they have no system of doctrines, nor any rites and modes of public worship. They are sunk unspeakably beneath the polite pagans of antiquity . Some confused notions, indeed, of beings superior to themselves, they have: but of the Deity and his natural and moral perfections, no proper or tolerable conception ; and of his general and particular providence they know nothing. They profess no obligations to him, nor acknowledge their dependence upon him. Some of them, it is said, are of opinion, that there are two distinct, powerful beings, one able to help, the other to do them harm. The latter they venerate most, and some allege, that they address him by a kind of prayer. Though there are no public monuments of idolatry to be seen in their country, yet the missiona- ries have discovered coarse imagery in wooden trinkets, in the hands of their jugglers, which the converts deliver up as detestable. The sight of them would remind a man of letters, of the Lares and Penates of the ancients, but no certain judg- ment can be formed of their use. The Indians sometimes assemble in large numbers, and retire far into the wilderness, where they eat and drink in a profuse manner. These conventions are called Kenticoys. Some esteem them to be debauched revels or Bacchanalia; but those who have privately followed them into these recesses, give such accounts of their conduct, as naturally lead one to imagine, that they pay a joint homage and supplication to some invisible being. If we suppose they have a
63
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
religion, it is worse than none, and raises in the gene- rous mind, most melancholy ideas of their depraved condition. Little has been done to illuminate these dark corners of the earth with the light of the Gospel. The French priests boast indeed of their converts, but they have made more proselytes to politics than religion. Queen Anne sent a mis- sionary amongst them, and gave him an appointment out of the privy purse. He was a man of a good life, but slow parts ; and his success very incon- siderable. The Rev. Mr. Barclay afterwards resided among the Mohawks, but no suitable provision being made for an interpreter, he was obliged to break up the mission. If the English Society for propagating the Gospel, that truly venerable body, instead of maintaining missionaries in rich Christian congrega- tions along the continent, expended half the amount of their annual contributions on evangelists among the heathen, besides the unspeakable religious benefits that would, it is to be hoped, accrue to the natives, such a proceeding would conduce greatly to the safety of our colonies, and his majesty's service. Much has been written upon this subject in America ;* and why nothing to purpose has yet been attempted in England, towards so laudable a design, can only be attributed to the amazing false- hoods and misrepresentations, by which some of the missionaries have long imposed upon benevolent minds in Great Britain.t
As to the history of the Five Nations, before their
* See Mr. Hobart's Letters to the Episcopalians in New-England. The Account of the Scotch Mission at Stockbridge. Douglass's Summary, &c. + See Note H.
1
64
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
acquaintance with the Europeans, it is wrapt up in the darkness of antiquity. It is said that their first. residence was in the country about Montreal ; and that the superior strength of the Adirondacks, whom the French call Algonquins, drove them into their present possessions, lying on the south side of the Mohawks River, and the great Lake Ontario .* Towards the close of those disputes, which continued for a long series of years, the confederates gained advantages over the Adirondacks, and struck a general terror into all the other Indians. The Hurons on the north side of the Lake Erie, and the Cat Indians on the south side, were totally conquered and dispersed. The French, who settled Canada in 1603, took umbrage at their success, and began a war with them which had well nigh ruined the new colony. . In autumn 1665, Mr. Courcelles, the governor, sent out a party against the Mohawks. Through ignorance of the country, and the want of snow-shoes, they were almost perished, when they fell in with Schenectady. And even there the Indians would have sacrificed them to their barbarous rage, had not Corlear, a Dutchman, interposed to protect them. For this seasonable hospitality, the
Charlevoix, in partiality to the French, limits the country of the Five Nations, on the north, to the 44th degree of latitude ; according to which, all the country on the north side of the Lake Ontario, and the river issuing thence to Montreal, together with a considerable tract of land on the south side of that river, belongs to the French. Hennepin, a Recollet friar, has more regard to truth than the Jesuit; for he tells us in effect, that the Iroquois possessed the lands on the north as well as the south side of the lake, and mentions several of their villages in 1679, viz. Tejajahon, Kente, and Ganneousse. The map in his book agrees with the text. Charlevoix is at variance with his geographer; for Mr. Bellin, besides laying down these towns in the map, contained in the fifth volume, writes on the north side of the protraction of Lake Ontario. Les Iroquois du Nord.
65
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
French governor invited him to Canada, but he was unfortunately drowned in his passage through the Lake Champlain. It is in honour of this man, who was a favourite of the Indians, that the governors of New-York, in all their treaties are addressed by the name of Corlear. Twenty light companies of foot, and the whole militia of Canada, marched the next spring into the country of the Mohawks ; but their success was vastly unequal to the charge and labour of such a tedious march of seven hundred miles, through an uncultivated desert ; for the In- dians, on their approach, retired into the woods, leaving behind them some old sachems, who pre- ferred death to life, to glut the fury of their enemies. The emptiness of this parade on the one hand, and the Indian fearfulness of fire arms on the other, , brought about a peace in 1667, which continued for several years after. In this interval, both the English and French cultivated a trade with the natives, very profitable to both nations. The latter, however, were most politic and vigorous, and filled the Indian country with their missionaries. The Sieur Perrot, the very year in which the peace was concluded, travelled about 1,200 miles westward, making proselytes of the Indians every where to the French interest. Courcelles appears to have been a man of art and industry. He took every measure in his power for the defence of Canada. To pre- vent the irruptions of the Five Nations, by the way of Lake Champlain, he built several forts, in 1665, between that and the mouth of the river Sorel. In 1672, just before his return to France, under pretence of treating with the Indians more commo- VOL. I .- 9
66
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
diously, but in reality, as Charlevoix expresses it, " to bridle them," he obtained their leave to erect a fort at Cadaracqui, or Lake Ontario, which Count Frontenac, his successor, completed the following spring, and called after his own name .* The com- mand of it was afterwards given to Mr. de la Salle, who, in 1678, rebuilt it with stone. This enter- prising person, the same year, launched a bark of ten tons into the Lake Ontario, and another of sixty tons, the year after, into Lake Erie, about which time he inclosed with palisadoes, a little spot at Niagara.
Though the Duke of York had preferred colonel Thomas Dongan to the government of this province on the 30th of September, 1682, he did not arrive here till the 27th of August, in the following year. He was a man of integrity, moderation, and genteel manners, and though a professed Papist, may be classed among the best of our governors.
The people, who had been formerly ruled at the will of the duke's deputies, began their first par- ticipation in the legislative power under Colonel Dongan ; for shortly after his arrival, he issued orders to the sheriffs, to summon the freeholders for choosing representatives, to meet him in as- sembly on the 17th of October, 1683. Nothing could be more agreeable to the people, who, whether Dutch or English, were born the subjects of a free state ; nor, indeed, was the change of less advantage to the duke than to the inhabitants. For such a
In May, 1721, it was a square with four bastions, built of stone, being a quarter of a French league in circumference ; before it, are many small islands, and a good harbour, and behind it a morass .- Charlevoix.
67
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
general disgust had prevailed, and in particular in Long Island, against the old form which Colonel Nicolls had introduced, as threatened the total subversion of the public tranquillity. Colonel Don- gan saw the disaffection of the people at the east end of the island, for he landed there on his first arrival in the country ; and to extinguish the fire of discontent, then impatient to burst out, gave them his promise, that no laws or rates for the future should be imposed, but by a general assembly. Doubtless, this alteration was agreeable to the duke's orders, who had been strongly importuned for it,* as well as acceptable to the people, for they sent him soon after an address, expressing the highest sense of gratitude, for so beneficial a change in the government. This is a copy of it, entitled " The humble address of the sheriffs to the most illus- trious prince, James, duke of York and Albany :"
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.