USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Germantown > The settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the beginning of German emigration to North America > Part 16
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CHAPTER XI.
THE INDIANS.
HE settlers of German- town, in making their homes out in the woods, in a new land, were brought into continual contact with the savages. Among them- selves there was much of wonderment, and among their relatives in Holland and Ger- many, much of curiosity with CE respect to the appearance, origin, habits and manner of life of these denizens of the forest. To this fact we owe the preservation of a series of pictures of Indian life at that early time, the most thorough and complete in exist- ence with respect to the Indians in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, enlivened with anecdote and filled with
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Indian Habits.
interesting details, which, because they were hidden in a foreign language and in inaccessible books, have remained almost entirely unknown. The Dutch and Germans at Germantown did not approach the Indians with a purpose of first getting their corn, and then killing them and taking possession of their lands, a course of conduct prevalent in so many of the American colonies,133 but they seemed to regard the situation as offering an unlimited opportunity for the cultivation of the Mennonite principles of peace and the extension of Pietistic mysticism.
Pastorius says the wild people came to barter fish, birds, deer, and skins of beaver, otter, and foxes, some- times for drink, and sometimes for their own money, which consisted only of coral strung upon a string, and split mussel shells, some white and some a light brown. This kind of coral money they knew how to twist ingeniously together, and they used it instead of gold chains. The King had a crown of it. Twelve pieces of the brown and twenty-four of the white were worth a Frankfort albus.
They were a strong, active and agile people, dark in color, who at first went naked, except a cloth around the loins, but had begun to wear shirts. They had coal black hair. They cropped the hair on the head, and smeared on fat and let a long cue grow on the right side. The child- ren at first were white enough, but their parents rubbed them with fat and exposed them to the hot sun, so as to make them brown. They are entirely candid, keep to their promises, and deceive and mislead nobody. They are hospitable and are true, and often live together quietly.
133 " And tooke with them parte of ye corne and buried up ye rest. . . . Hear they gott seed to plant them corne ye next year, or else they might have starved for they had none nor any likelihood to get any." "Others fell to plaine stealing both night and day from ye Indians." "Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies." Bradford's History of Plymouth.
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Their huts are made of bent saplings, which they cover with bark. They use neither table nor bench, and have no furniture, except a pot, in which they cook their meat. He says : I once saw four of them eating together in the greatest pleasure, and all they had was a pumpkin cooked in water, without butter or spice. The table and bench were the dear earth. Their spoons were mussel shells, with which they supped up the warm water. Their plates were the leaves from a nearby tree, which they carefully washed after the meal, and preserved for the future. I thought to myself these wild people have never heard the teachings of Jesus concerning temperance and moderation in their whole lives, and yet observe them much better than Christians. They are earnest and use few words, and express wonder when they hear the continuous and light talk of the Christians. Each has but one wife, and they sorely hate whoring, kissing and lying. They have no images, but worship one almighty and good God, who restrains the power of the devil. They believe in an undying soul, which after the course of their life is run, may expect, through the almighty power of God, a suitable reward. They carry on their religious services with sing- ing, and make wonderful gestures and movements with their hands and feet, and when they remember the death of their relatives and friends, they begin to howl and weep very pitifully. In our meetings they are very still and at- tentive, so that I firmly believe at the day of judgment, they will sit above those of Tyre and Sydon and put to shame mere name and mouth Christians. As to their manner of living, the men do the hunting and fishing. The women bring up their children with the greatest care, and dissuade them from vice. They plant about their huts Indian corn and beans, but pay no attention to further
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Indian Habits.
cultivation of the ground, and to cattle, and wonder much that the Christians are so much troubled over eating and drinking, clothing and houses, as though they doubted that God would care for them. Their speech is very grave, and in pronunciation, like the Italian, but the words are entirely strange. They dye their faces, both men and women use tobacco, and spend their time with a pipe in their mouths in continual idleness.
I was the other day at the table of our Governor William Penn, and met there a King of the savages. William Penn told him that I was a German, and came from lands the farthest away. A few days afterwards he came with his Queen to Germantown to see me. I treated them as well as I could with food and drink, whereupon he showed a great attachment to me and called me Caris- simo, which is brother. Another time King Colkamicha came to our Governor and showed a great inclination to the Christian religion and to the light of the truth in his heart. He had an unexpected attack of disease, deter- mined to stay with us, and as his illness increased, had his nephew, Jahkiolol, brought to him, and in the presence of many of our people and his, in these words, made him King :
" My brother's son, on this day I give thee my heart in thy bosom, and I will that thou lovest that which is good, and shunnest that which is evil and evil company ; also when there is any discourse, do not speak first, but let all speak before thee, and take well in thought what each says, and when thou hast heard all, take that which is good, as I have done. Although I had intended to make Schoppii king in my stead, I have learned from my phy- sician that Schoppii told him secretly since I was sick not to cure me or make me better, and when he was with me
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in Hulling Schead's house, 134 I saw he was more inclined to be drunk than to listen to my words. Therefore, I said to him he should not be king, and I have chosen thee, my brother's son, in my place. Dear brother's son, I will that thou doest right by the Indians, as well as the Christians, as I have done. I am very weak or I would say more," and soon after he died.
A very cunning savage came to me one day and offered to bring me a turkey hen for a certain price. But he brought me instead an eagle, and insisted upon it that it was a turkey. But I showed him that I knew very well the difference between the birds. Then he said to a Swede standing by that he had not supposed that a German so lately arrived would know these birds apart.
They are much better contented with and more careless about the future than are we Christians. They circum- vent nobody in trade or conduct. They know nothing of the proud manner and modes of dress, to which we so ad- here. They do not swear and curse. They are temperate in eating and drinking, and if one once in a while imbibes too much, the result is usually with the mouth-Christians, who, for their own profit, sell the cursed strong drink. During my ten years abode here I have never heard of their using force toward anybody, much less committing murder, which they could readily do in concealment in the great and thick woods.
In reply to a question of his brother Augustine Adam, as to how the Indian kings held their courts, Pastorius says : Their royal palaces are so poorly constructed that I can scarcely describe them. There is only a single room or chamber in a tree hut covered with bark, without
134 Hollingshead.
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Indian Education.
chimney, steps or privy. These kings go upon the hunt, shoot wild animals, and earn their living with their hands. They have neither knights nor lackeys, nor maids nor maidens of state, and what would they do with a master of the stables who have no horse and go on foot. No tutor is necessary, where only the bodily wants of wife and children are to be supplied. They live in a state of nature, quae paucis contenta est. Their bartering with us Christians consists in this, that they bring to market bear, elk and deer hides, beaver, marten, otter and other skins, also turkeys, game and fish, for which they get powder, lead, woolen covers and brandy, which last with all strong drinks, it is contrary to law to sell, since it is misused by them and leads to their injury. They use no bakeoven, but bake their bread in the ashes. So many of these wild people have died since I came here that no more than a fourth remain of those who were here ten years ago.
They are forest people who instruct one another, and the old teach the young by traditions. They are usually long of stature, strong of body, broad of shoulders and head, proud and stern in appearance, with black hair. They smear their faces with bear's fat, and all kinds of dyes, have no beard, are free and open in spirit, use few words, but do it with emphasis. They can neither read nor write, but are nevertheless intelligent, keen, earnest and unabashed. They purchase enough and pay readily, can endure hunger long, love drink, work but little, spend their lives in hunting and fishing, and no one of them can ride upon a horse. In summer they are covered with nature's covering, but in winter wrap themselves in a great square cloth, and cover themselves in their huts with bear and deer skins. Instead of shoes they use doeskins and have no hats. The women are light-hearted, chatty and proud, and bind their hair in a knot. They have high
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breasts and black necks, as are also their ears and arms, about which they hang coral. As the men hunt in the woods, so the women plant beans and Turkish corn. They love their children very much. As soon as they are born, they are bound upon shingles, and when they cry, are stilled by moving them rapidly to and fro. While still quite young they are put into the warm streams to harden them. When they are young they must catch fish with hooks, and as they grow stronger, they are exercised in hunting. The maidens when they are grown cover their faces, and thus show that they are ready to marry. All their crimes they punish with fines, even the death blow. If a man strike a woman, he must pay double, be- cause women bring forth children, which men cannot do. They say God dwells in the great sun land, to which, after death, they must hasten. Their religion consists of two kinds of service, singing and sacrifice. The first of the hunt they kill with such rapidity for sacrifices, that their bodies are thrown into perspiration. When they sing, they dance around in a circle, and in the midst two dance and start a sad song. All join in a wierd cry. Then they weep, snap with their teeth, soon crack their fingers, stamp with their feet, and continue this laughable play earnestly and zealously. When they are sick they eat no flesh, except that of a female. When they bury their dead, they throw whatever is valuable into the grave in order to give it to be understood that good will towards the departed has not perished. Their mourning, which continues for a whole year, is shown in their blackened faces. Their huts they build of trees and bushes, and no one of them is so unskilled in the art of building that he cannot construct one for himself and his family in three or four hours.
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Indian Language.
Their speech is shown in the following dialogue :
Eitanithap,
Welcome, good friend.
A eitha,
You, too, are welcome.
Tan Komi,
Whence come you ?
Past ni anda qui, Gecho lucendi,
Not from far.
What is your name?
Franciscus.
o letto,
It is good. Be seated.
Noha mattappi,
Gecho Ki Wengkinum,
What do you want?
Husko Lallaculla,
I am very hungry.
Langund ag boon,
Give me bread.
Lamess,
Fish.
Acothita,
Fruit.
Hittuck nipa,
There is a tree full.
Chingo Metschi,
When do you depart.
Alappo,
To-morrow.
Nacha Kuin,
Day after to-morrow.
Alla,
Mother.
Squaa,
Wife.
Hexis,
An old woman.
Menitto,
The Devil.
Murs,
A cow.
Kusch Kusch,
A pig.
Wicco,
A house.
Hockihockon,
Estate.
Pocksuckan,
Knife.
Pastorius closes this letter and his description of the In- dians, by saying : " Whatever professor can hunt out the origin and roots of these Indian words will win my praise. Interim, my paper is small, the pen is a stump, the ink will not run, there is no more oil in the lamp, it is late at
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The Settlement of Germantown.
Curieufe Raditiont Don PENSYLVANIA in Porden = America Melcbe / Wuf Begehren guter Freunde/ Elber vorgelegte 103. Sta gen / ben finer Mbreit aus Fewfays land nach obigem Lande Anno 1700. ertheilet/und nun Anno 1702 in Den Druc gegeben morden. Don Daniel Halfnern/ Profeffore, Burgern und Pilgrim allba.
Grand'furt und Leipzig / Bu finden ben Andreas Otto/ Buchhändlern. Jm Jabr. Chrifti 1703.
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Falckner's Book.
CONTINUATIO Der Befchreibung Der Sandfdhafft PENSYLVANIÆ An Denen End: Branten AMERICA. Uber vorige des herrn Dafiorii Relationes. Sn fich haltend : Die Situation, und fruchtbarteit des Erdbodens. Die Schiffreiche und andere Fluffe. Die Anzahl Derer bighero gebauten Stabte. Die feltjame Creaturen an Ebieren / Mogeln und Fifthen. Die Mineralen und Cbelgefteine Deren eingebobrnen mil Den Boldfer Sprachen / Religionund Gebrauche. Und Die erften Chrifliden DRanger and Minbaner Diefes Landes. Befchrieben von GABRIEL THOMAS Is. Såbrigen Anwohner Diefes Landes. Welchem Tractåtlein noch bengefuget find : Des Su. DANIEL'FALCKNERS Burgers und pilgrims in Penfylvania 193. Beantwortungen uff vorgelegte fragen von guten freunden.
Brandfurt und Leipzig! Bu. finden ben Andreas Otto/ Buchhändlern
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The Settlement of Germantown.
night, my eyes are full of sleep. Take care of yourself. I close."
Daniel Falckner, whose book, in 1702, is in great part made up of a description of the Indians and their habits, writes : Their number, since they have been attacked by the diseases brought by the Europeans into the country, have been very much decreased, so that where one hun- dred were seen thirty years ago there is now scarcely one. Others must bend to their humor and follow their inclinations, since they stand fast in their own way, and they do, speak and appear as they choose. The simple plan of going along with them is the best rule. When they are drunk it is better to let them alone.
Their virtue of all virtues is to strive persistently for those things upon which they have determined. They are naturally simple in their wants, and therefore when they take trouble, they do not think of making a profit or benefit for themselves, but it gives them a satisfaction, since it can be seen that they can do it, although the great love for strong drink and the desire for better clothing give them the selfish wish for gain. They are generally so- ciable, generous, earnest and show wrath, especially to- wards their own people. The chief of their occupations is hunting and fishing, and their women plant a little In- dian corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, etc. They prepare skins and make stockings and liga, that is shoes, and also wooden platters and spoons out of the knots that grow on trees. The women cut wood, cook, wait upon the children, make purses of wild hemp, cards, tapestry of dyed straw, baskets of dyed bark, and covers twisted with feathers. Among the children there is seldom one crip- pled or lamed. It is remarkable that there is so little un- chastity among them, since they go nearly naked and
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Indian Habits.
have every opportunity. Among us Europeans we have the punishment of the law and the earnest command of God, and yet the men cannot be made and kept as pure as these are without any law. The marriage ceremony is in this wise : The man gives the woman a deer foot, which imports that he will secure her meat. The woman gives the man a handful of corn, which imports that she will look after the bread and cooking. A man is permitted to have two wives if he undertakes to support them, but it is a reproach to them.
It is easy to learn their language, since they have no more words than things. Their verbs and nouns have neither time nor number. The others are mere proper names and appellations. In the want of conjunctions they have taken some from the Swedes and others, to wit, Ok and Ni.
They cannot say R. They talk more with their gestures and accent than with words; therefore those who speak with them, and that of which he speaks, must be present. Thus they say Lanconti, when they want to give some- thing to somebody, and also when they have already given something. They cannot keep many things in their minds, and cultivate more the sense of oblivion than of science and memory, and therefore have no monuments of an- tiquity. But when they want something preserved they call their young people together and impress it upon them, and when they think it worth the trouble they com- mand these that they in turn in their old age tell it and impress it upon the young. In intercourse with them it is important to follow their humor and mingle in their earn- estness and laughter, since they are inclined to anger and easily think they are insulted. To secure and keep their confidence we let them come to our houses, and do not let
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them go without eating and drinking, and when they come in the evening we give them permission to lie by the fire, and so when we go to them they are more kindly and hos- pitable.
Good and evil are with them nature and custom, and have no certain boundaries. In murder, robbery and adul- tery, which are capital, the king speaks the sentence. The reward of the good consists in honor and in a present measured by their ability. Punishment is indicated by the words of the king, " Beat him dead," which the accused accepts, since they do not much regard life.
Each king rules over a certain territory, and a king must be the best hunter and the bravest man, so as to be able to give the best counsel. The king's word is abso- lute, but he is himself the first to obey the command. His service does not differ from the rest, and he has no ser- vants. If he has enemies his retainers are at his command, and remain in their huts by him. He confers with the boldest of his people when anything of importance is to be considered. When there is room they sit around the king's fire. The property of the retainers is at his dispo- sal, but it does him no good, and the king's property is at the disposal of the retainers. Sometimes the retainers bring some of their money, which they call wampon, and is black and white, like a kind of enamel or glass pattern, or cut straw, which money is of value to the Europeans also, and Lagio is given for it. But they do not tell how they make it. When they go far upon a hunt, or to war, it is permitted to the women to go along, but the king orders some of the men to protect those who remain at home. Small crimes they punish with a fine. When a man dies in debt the relatives pay it, so that they be not disgraced. Still they ask indulgence.
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Indian Habits.
The king must be the wisest and most skillful, strong and the best hunter, therefore rule is not inheritable. He and his wife have somewhat more of ornament than the others, but it only appears in this, that they string their kind of money together like pearls, according to the shad- ing, and fasten them upon the head like a crown, or upon the breast, or in the top knot.
Concerning their diseases and cures Falckner says : When they have feverish attacks, or do not feel well, they cook the black hulls of nuts in water and drink the extract in great quantities, and they bind themselves about the body and head with bands of coiled hemp. They sweat in the following manner : They make a low hut, just high enough to sit in and cover it to the ground with the bark of trees and skins. Then they heat some stones outside, and carrying them into the kennel, sit upon them and sweat so violently as to wet the earth. A European could not possibly stand it. When they have sweated sufficiently they run out and jump into the cold water. Then they are cured.
They have a root which keeps away the snakes. They bind it upon the bone, and run into the woods and are un- injured by the snakes. If they have not this root, and are bitten, they cut the bite out of the flesh.
To cure swellings, fluxes or sprains of the limbs they let them bleed, and cut with a sharp flint through the skin without touching a vein, which they know well how to avoid, and hold the member by the fire, and scrape off with a piece of wood the blood that prevents the flow till it stops bleeding. Then they wash the wound with water and lay on it a certain root, which they rub between two stones, and some little green leaves. In a single night the wound heals. When they get splinters in their feet they cut them
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The Settlement of Germantown.
clean out with a knife and smear the wound with snake fat ; then it heals.
For inner disorders they eat the small entrails of young beasts with fat.
They are seldom at peace. The fighting happens first in single parties, where man fights with man, or two or three together with bows, axes, reeds and flints, and it generally occurs upon their hunts. They take prisoners and sell them. When their enemies collect and form a battle array they arrange themselves in a circle, so that on all sides their faces are turned to the foe, and when one is shot dead or wounded they draw him inside the circle and make it smaller. When they take prisoners they sell two or three of the fattest to be broiled and eaten. All the southern Indians believe that a man cannot more avenge himself upon an enemy than by eating his flesh. They re- gard the flesh of the natives as better than game, for the reason that this flesh is not salted, but entirely sweet, but on the other hand that of the English and French is salty and disagreeable. They use all kinds of stratagems to overcome their enemies, whether single or in parties ; they examine the bushes and grass, from which they can tell with certainty whether a man, women or child, European or savage, has passed. They go in the night upon the high mountains and look around where fires are made in the woods. Then they go to the other side of the fire, creep up and shoot or kill their foes, while they are asleep. Against parties they make a plan to drive them into a corner, so that they may be taken prisoners.
Their dwelling is in no settled place, and their house- keeping is variable. The house is sometimes made in an old fallen tree, but when complete it stands clear and is only the height of a man. In the middle it is open, so
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Making Pone.
that the smoke of the fire, which is in the center, may es- cape. The hut is covered with the bark of trees, and in the same way is protected around. Inside they put straw or long grass. Some make tapestry of dyed straw and ornament the house, which, in their speech, is called a Wickwam. If they are caught away from home in the rain they take a cover they have with them and spread it out like a roof and get under it, or they make a great fire and throw foul wood upon it to make much smoke, and lie on that side of it toward which the wind drives the smoke, so that the smoke scatters the rain, and that which falls is by the smoke and heat made warm. In the huts they throw quantities of grass or deer skins, and at night cover themselves with them, or with bear skins, or with a woolen cover, or with a cover of turkey feathers, very skillfully worked together, and then they put the smallest child in front of them and one at the back.
Their furniture consists of a piece of a hewed tree, or one which stands with its root in the ground, in the midst of which they burn a hole like a deep dish or mortar, in which they pound their Indian corn. They make bread of this corn, which they call Ponn, and they make soup of it, which they call Sapan. They sprinkle the corn with hot water, and beat it to get the peel off, and pound it small, sift the smallest through a straw basket, and make loaves like great goat's cheeses. They stick these in the hot ashes, and scrape the coals over them, and so bake them. When it is ready they wash the bread off with water. Sometimes they mix red or other colored beans under the bread, which then looks as though raisins were baked in it. 135 They have also a pot in which they cook the deer's
135 I know of no other such graphic description of the Indian women making their pone.
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meat, but this they do not wash, and think the strength would thus be taken out. Nor do they skim it, but what runs over they let go. They like the meat bloody and regard it as healthy. Then they cook beans or pounded corn in the meat broth. They cook also tortoises (terra- pin?) without a pot under the coals in their own shells. They do not take much time with birds when they are small, but burn the feathers off in the fire. But the feathers of turkeys they use to work into covers. They eat also foxes, fat dogs, civet cats, beavers, squirrels and hawks. For roasting they have nothing except a stake, which they make sharp at both ends. They stick one end in the ground ; upon the other end they stick the meat cut thin and at times turn it.
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