USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 17
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"The beauty of their [the Indians] imagination equals its vivacity, which appears in all their discourses. They are very quick at repartee, and their harangues are full of shining passages which would have been applauded at Rome or Athens. Their eloquence has a strength, nature and pathos which no art can give, and which the Greeks admired in the barbarians."
"An Indian council is one of the most imposing spectacles in savage life," wrote Horatio Hale about 1845. "It is one of the few occasions in which the warrior exercises his right of suffrage, his influence and his talents in a civil capacity, and the meeting is conducted with all the gravity and all the ceremonies and ostentation with which it is possible to invest it. The matters to be considered, as well as all the details, are well digested beforehand, so that the utmost decorum must prevail, and the decision be unanimous. The chiefs and sages-the leaders and orators-occupy the most conspicuous seats ; behind them are arranged the younger braves, and still farther in the rear appear the women and the youth as spectators. All are equally attentive. A dead silence reigns throughout the assemblage. The great pipe, gaudily adorned with paint and feathers, is lighted and passed from inouth to mouth,
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commencing with the chief highest in rank, and proceeding by regular gradation to the inferior order of braves. If two or three nations be represented, the pipe is passed from one party to the other, and saluta- tions are courteously exchanged before the business of the council is opened by the respective speakers. Whatever jealousy or party spirit may exist in the tribe is carefully excluded from this dignified assem- blage, whose orderly conduct and close attention to the proper subject before them might be imitated with profit by some of the most enlight- ened bodies in Christendom."
It is a curious fact that while the American Indian of earlier days possessed oratorical gifts in a large measure, his musical talents were meager-at least from the white man's point of view. The so-called musical instruments of the Indians were (and are) of the crudest and most primitive form-the principal one being the tambour, or drum. This was formerly rudely made by straining a piece of raw hide over a hoop, or over the head of a sort of keg, generally made by cutting away all the inner portion of a section of a log of wood, leaving only a shell. Besides the drum they used several kinds of whistles and rattles -the latter being usually made of tortoise shells dried and beautifully polished, and containing several small pebbles.
We are told by well-informed writers on the subject that the music of the Indians is solely and simply vocal. They know no other way of expressing emotion in melodic form. Their songs are compositions which have in them nothing borrowed from instruments and nothing of artificial instigation ; while a large proportion of them are entirely withi- ont words-syllables being used to carry the tones. There are, of course, songs which have fragments of words ; but these are quite distinct from the syllables which are used solely for musical purposes. Catlin says, in his "Letters and Notes" previously mentioned :
"It has been said by some travelers that the Indian has neither harmony nor melody in his music, but I am unwilling to subscribe to such an assertion, although I grant that for the most part of their vocal exercises there is a total absence of what the musical world would call melody ; their songs being made up chiefly of a sort of violent chant of harsh and jarring gutturals, of yelps and barks and screams, which are given out in perfect time, not only with 'method ( but with harmony ) in their madness.' "'
"But there are times * * when the Indian lies down by his fireside, with his drum in his hand, which he lightly and alnost imperceptibly touches over, as he accom- panies it with his stifled voice of dulcet sounds that might come from the most tender and delicate female. These quiet and tender songs are very different from those which are sung at their dances, in full chorus and with violent gesticulations, and many of them seem to be quite rich in plaintive expression and melody, though barren of change and variety."
Both songs and the musical instruments previously mentioned were used in connection with the numerous dances by which the Indians amused themselves, celebrated some important event or performed certain rites of worship or devotion. Some of these dances were the "Welcome Dance," the "Calumet Dance," the "Buffalo Dance," the "Bear Dance," the "Ghost Dance," the "Green Corn Dance," the "Snake Dance" the "Feather Dance," the "War Dance" and the "Scalp Dance."
The "War Dance" was one of the most exciting and spirited of the dances, and was performed by the warriors, or braves, before starting out on the war-path, and quite often after their return, when they boasted how they had met the enemy, taken their scalps, etc. This dance, as performed by the Delawares, was often given in time of peace, and was considered very beautiful. It always took place in the daytime, and the
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warriors all appeared in full war-outfit with paint, feathers and weapons, and some with animals' horns fastened to their heads. In time of war a scalp would be fastened to a pole, and the dance would take place around the pole. The musicians, standing on the outside of the circle of warriors, would beat quicker time than for other dances, and would sing their war-songs, which would be answered by the braves with cries of approval and war-whoops. The dancers seemed to move with great caution and care, with very wild expressions in their eyes, and looking and watching as if expecting an approach of the enemy at any moment. Then they would make sudden springs to the right or left, or backward or forward, strike at an invisible foe or dodge an imaginary blow, and then, suddenly, as if the foe were conquered, resume a slow and cautious march, all the while going around the pole. The action of the dancers was guided, or governed, by the war-song, for they acted out what was sung. In time of peace, instead of a pole with a scalp on it a fire would be built in the center of the ring ; but in other respects the dance would be the same .*
A "SCALP DANCE," AS SEEN IN 1832.
The foregoing illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing made by George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes." It illustrates a "Scalp Dance" witnessed by him in 1832 at the mouth of Teton River. The following is Mr. Catlin's description of the dance :
"This barbarous and exciting scene is the Indian mode of celebrating a victory, and is given fifteen nights in succession when a war-party returns from battle bringing home with them the scalps from the heads of their enemies. This dance is danced at a late hour in the night, by the light of torches, and a number of young women are selected to aid (though they do not actually join in the dance ) by stepping into the center of the ring and holding up the scalps that have recently been taken, whilst the warriors dance (or rather jump) around in a circle, brandishing their weapons, vaunting forth the most extravagant boasts of their wonderful prowess in war, and barking and yelping in the most frightful manner-all jumping on both feet at the same time, with a simultaneous stamp and blow and thrust of their weapons as if they were actually cutting and carving each other to pieces. During these frantic leaps and yelps and thrusts every man distorts his face to the utmost of his muscles, darting his glaring eye-balls about and snapping his teetli as if he were in the heat of battle. No description that can be written could ever convey more than a feeble outline of the frightful effects of these scenes enacted in the
* "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 300.
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dead of night, under the glaring light of blazing flambeaux ; nor could all the years allotted to mortal man in the least obliterate or deface the vivid impress that one scene of this kind would leave upon his memory."
Brief mention is made earlier in this chapter* of the Indian calu- met, or pipe, and later, of the "Calumet Dance." The calumet was sometimes looked upon as a sacred object. Its stem was painted ill different colors and decorated usually with the war-eagle's quills, but often with the heads, tails and wings of beautifully plumaged birds. Rogers, in his "Account of North America" (1766), says :
"The use of the calumet is to smoke either tobacco, or some bark, leaf or herb which they [the Indians] often use instead of it, when they enter into an alliance, or any serious occasion, or solemn engagements-this being among thein the most sacred oath that can be taken ; the violation of which is esteemed mnost infamous, and desery- ing of severe punishment from Heaven. When they treat of war the whole pipe and all its ornaments are red ; sometimes it is only red on one side, and by the disposition of the feathers, &c., one acquainted with their customs will know at first sight what the nation wlio presents it intends or desires. Smoking the calumet is also a religious cere- mony on some occasions, and in all treaties is considered as a witness between the parties, or rather as an instrument by which they invoke the sun and moon to witness their sincerity, and to be, as it were, a guarantee of the treaty between them."
Catlin says that the "Calumet Dance," or "Pipe of Peace Dance," was given at the conclusion of a treaty of peace, after smoking through the sacred stem of the special pipe. The dance was also often given out of regard for a brave, and was looked upon as the highest compliment that could be paid to his courage and bravery.
"It is a notable fact that the Indian tribes of north-eastern America, belonging to the Iroquoian and Algonkian families, who, at the first coming of the white colonists occupied the eastern portions of what are now the United States and Canada, and who are often styled savages, had two inventions or usages which are ordinarily deemed the special concomitants of an advanced civilization. These were a monetary cur- rency and the use of a form of script for conveying intelligence and recording facts. *
* * In a paper which was read before the Britishı Association for the Advancement of Science, at Montreal in August, 1884, and was published in the Popular Science Monthly for January, 1886, I produced the evidence which seemed to me to show that the shell money of North America was derived from the ancient tortoise-shell money of China. This shell money preceded the metallic coins com- monly known as cash-which are circular discs of copper, perforated in the center, and usually strung on a string. These came into use more than 2,000 years before the Christian era. The shell money which preceded thie copper cash has been traced eastwardly * *
to the coasts of California and Oregon, where it is in use among the Indians to this day, and whence it has apparently made its way across the conti- nent to the eastern coast."t
This shell money, known to us as wampum, consisted of a certain kind of beads, some inade of the white and some of the black or colored parts of marine shells. They were formed in the shape of cylinders, each about one-fourth of an inch long and one-eiglith of an inch in diameter, were highly polislied and were perforated lengthwise with a small hole through which the Indians strung them together with strips of deerskin, or thread made from filaments of slippery-elin bark or flax. As the fabrication of wampum was free to all persons, every one was
* See pages 94 and 104.
+ Horatio Hale, in Popular Science Monthly, L : 481 (1897).
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director of his own mint, and, verifying the words of the Book of Proverbs-"the hand of the diligent maketh rich"-he who most assid- uously sought the simple bullion from which wampum was coined was in the way of becoming the wealthiest of his race. But, although any one was entirely free to manufacture for himself as much wampum as he pleased, the difficulties of the process seem to have prevented men from thus becoming rich by their own handiwork. The rich men were those who accumulated wampum through trade and war, so that gener- ally the possession of an unusual quantity of it betokened some real ability or bravery.
Wampum was called by the Dutch settlers "sewant." Adriaen Van der Donck, in his "Description of the New Netherlands" (1653), says that the species of sewant were black and white; "but the black is worth more by one-half than the white. The black is made fromn conch- shells which are to be taken from the sea, or which are cast ashore from the sea twice a year. They strike off the thin parts of these shells and preserve the pillars or standards, which they grind smooth and even, and reduce the same according to their thickness, and drill a hole through every piece, and string the same on strings, and afterwards sell their strings in that manner. This is the only moneyed medium among the natives with which any traffic can be driven. Many thousand strings are exchanged every year near the seashore, where the wampum is only made, and where the peltries are brought for sale." In Smith's "History of New Jersey" (1876) we are told that the white wampum was fabricated from the inside lining or layer of the great conchs, and the black or purple from the inside portion of the shell of the clam or mussel-"from the Indian name of which last shell-fish the termn 'wam- pum' was derived."
The beads were bored by means of a flint awl, many of which are still to be found in the shell heaps along the New England coast. After the coming of the English iron awls were substituted, but even then the process of manufacture must have been extremely tedious. It is said that by a day's hard labor it was barely possible for a man to produce wam- pum having a money value equivalent to fifteen cents in present-day money. Whether the work was done by the inen or the women cannot be known, but it may well have been shared by both.
Dr. Beauchamp says* that "while shell beads were probably of early manufacture along the seashore-being made and used by the Algonkins-they were very little known in the interior and west of the Hudson before the seventeenth century. Accordingly we find few tra- ditions of their origin among the river and shore Indians, while their use among the Iroquois was so sudden and conspicuous an event as to make a great and lasting impression. According to them the origin of wampum was coeval with that of their League. Hiawatha decreed and regulated its use."+
In The New England Magazine for February, 1903, Frederic A.
Ogg says :
"If one wished to indicate the most obvious characteristic of the Indians of the Atlantic seaboard, at the time of the English settlement in New England, he could not
* In "Wampum and Shell Articles," published in Bulletin No. 41, Vol. 8 (March, 1901), of the New York State Museum.
+ Dr. Beauchamp is one of those who hold that the Iroquois League was organized by Hiawatha as late as about the year 1600. See ut supra, pages 338 and 421 ; also, page 108, ante.
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perhaps make better selection than their general eagerness to possess and display large quantities of wampum. It meant all to the Indian that money does to us, and infinitely more. Not merely did it serve him as a medinin of exchange and a standard of values, but worn as an ornament it was his badge of wealth and position, in the hands of the chiefs his record-book and ledger, and through the favor of the Great Spirit its possession became in no small degree the passport to the happy hunting-grounds of the future world. The use of wampum constituted a bond of union among the Indians such as was scarcely supplied by language, religion or racial customs."
The colonists never came to regard wampum as anything more than a convenience for the prosecution of trade with the Indians. Never- theless they were forced sometimes to use it in their dealings with each other, and even in the payment of their taxes. When so employed, however, it was not regarded as any form of money, but, as the Rhode Island Colonial Records for 1662 say, "It is but a commodity, and it is unreasonable that it should be forced upon any man." In 1627 Isaac De Razier, Secretary of the New Netherlands, while in command of a trading vessel took £50 worth of wampum from New Amsterdam to Plymouth ; and in 1630 the maiden voyage of the Blessing of the Bay -the first ship built in New England, by Winthrop-was despatched to the Dutch on Long Island to obtain a stock of Indian money.
The use of wampum, as money, among the settlers in the northern Colonies was at its height about 1640. At that time, despite the suspi- cions of many with regard to wampum and their reluctance to accept it, it was by far the nearest approach to a universal currency that the colonists had. In 1648 Massachusetts ordered that wampum, if good, should be legal tender to the amount of forty shillings. In 1658 the Sheriff of New Netherlands, acting as commissary, was selling goods in small quantities for wampum. In 1666 Connecticut made a grant of "fifty fathoms of wompom." Rhode Island recognized it officially as late as 1670. By proclamation of the Governor and Council of the New Netherlands in 1673 the value of this Indian money was fixed at the rate of six white or three black (instead of eight white or four black, which had been the rate) to one stiver-twenty stivers being equal to one guilder, which at that time was worth six pence currency, or four pence sterling. As late as the beginning of the eighteenth century wampum was used in the payment of ferriage between the city of New York and Brooklyn. It was used in southern Connecticut as late as 1704, and in the backwoods regions of the northern and middle Colonies well down into the eighteenth century.
It is the belief of Dr. Beauchamp and other investigators that the ancient, or primitive, wampum always consisted of strings of beads, but that about the beginning of the Dutch settlement and trade in this country wampum belts of different widths and lengths, and wrought in a variety of designs, began to make their appearance. In the language of an early writer some of these belts, "by a proper arrangement of the beads of different colors, were figured like carpeting with different figures, according to the various uses for which they were designed. They were made use of by the Indians in their treaties and intercourse with each other, and served to assist their memory and preserve the remembrance of transactions. When different tribes or nations made peace or alliance with each other they exchanged belts of one sort ; when they excited each other to war they used another sort. Hence the belts were distinguished by the names of 'peace-belts' and 'war- belts.' Every message sent from one tribe to another was accompanied
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by a string or strings or a belt of wampum, and the string or belt was smaller or greater according to the importance of the subject."
The original purpose of wampum belts was probably exclusively mnemonic. In an account of a conference at Montreal in 1756 it is said in a note :
"These belts and strings of wampum are the uni- versal agent among Indians, serving as money, jewelry, ornaments, annals and for registers. 'Tis the bond of nations and individuals-an inviolable and sacred pledge which guarantees messages, promises and treat- ies. As writing is not in use among them, they make a local memoir by means of these belts, each of which signifies a particular affair or a circumstance of affairs. The chiefs of the villages are the depositories of them, and communicate them to the young people, who thus learn the history and engagements of their nation."
George Henry Loskiel, in his "History of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians in North America" (Livonia, 1788), says :
"At certain seasons they [the chiefs] meet to study their [belts of wampum] meaning, and to renew the ideas of which they were an emblem or confirma- tion. On such occasions they sit down around the chest, take out one string or belt after the other, hand- ing it about to every person present ; and, that they may all comprehend its meaning, repeat the words pronounced on its delivery in their whole convention. By these means they are enabled to remember the prom- ises reciprocally made by the different parties. And it is their custom to admit even the young boys, who are related to their chiefs, to their assemblies. They be- come early acquainted with all the affairs of the State, and thus the contents of their documents are trans- mitted to posterity, and cannot easily be forgotten."
Strings of wampum served as credentials for messengers and ambassadors to and from Indians. They were looked upon as letters of introduction-certificates of authority-and, armed with such credentials, the bearer would be listened to by any chief or council. Then, too, it was considered that with all important speeches delivered at councils presents should be given. The following paragraplı, from the journal of Witham Marshe-mentioned in the foot-note on page 81-describes the inanner in which belts and strings were some- times delivered and received in councils :
THE "PENN" BELT .* (By courtesy of the publishers of "Pennsylvania-Colonial and Federal.")
"Whilst Mr. Jenings delivered his speech, he gave the interpreter a string and two belts of wampum, which were by him presented to the Sachem Canassatego ; and the Indians thereupon gave the cry of approbation. By this we were sure the speech was well approved by the Indians. This cry is usually made on presenting wampum to the Indians in a treaty, and is performed thus : The grand chief and speaker amongst them pronounces the word 'jo-hah !' with a loud voice, singly ; then all the others join in this sound, 'woh !' dwelling some little while upon it, and keeping exact time with each
* A photo-illustration of the wampum belt delivered by the Lenni Lenape sachems to William Penn at the "Great Treaty" of 1683, mentioned on pages 10 and 113. The original belt is now in possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, to which it was presented in 1857 by a great- grandson of William Penn. It is a moderate-sized belt, composed of about 3,000 white and purple beads arranged in eighteen rows.
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other, and immediately, with a sharp noise and force, utter this sound-'wugh !' This is performed in great order, and with the utmost ceremony and decorum, and with the Indians is like our English 'huzza !' "
Dr. Beauchamp says this sound may still be recognized in meetings of Six Nation Indians in New York.
The following, written by Horatio Hale* and published in 1846 in his book entitled "The Wilderness and the War Path," is an interesting description of a council held at North Bend, Ohio, by and between Brig. Gen. George Rogers Clarkt and others (commissioners in behalf of the United States) and the Shawanese Indians. It sets forth how wampum belts were sometimes presented and rejected.
"It was an alarming evidence of the temper now prevailing among them, and of the brooding storm that filled their minds, that no propriety of demeanor marked the entrance of the savages into the council-room. The usual formalities were for- gotten, or purposely dispensed with, and an insulting levity substituted in its place. The chiefs and braves stalked in, with an appearance of light regard, and seated themselves promiscuously on the floor in front of the commissioners. An air of insolence marked all their movements, and showed an intention to dictate terms, or to fix a quarrel upon the Americans. A dead silence rested over the group ; it was the silence of dread, distrust and watchfulness, not of respect. The eyes of the savage band gloated upon the banquet of blood that seemed already spread out before them ; the pillage of the fort and the bleeding scalps of the Americans were almost within their grasp; while that gallant little band saw the portentous nature of the crisis, and stood ready to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
"The commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in dne form. They lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it. Colonel Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command and the easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the cominis- sioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawanese, and that the President had no wish to continue the war ; he had no resentment to gratify, and if the red men desired peace they could have it on liberal terms. 'If such be the will of the Shawanese,' he concluded, 'let some of the wise men speak.'
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