Proverbs and Sayings of the Chinese.
What is told in the ear is often heard a hundred miles.
Riches come better after poverty, than poverty after riches.
Who aims at excellence will be above mediocrity; who aims at mediocrity will fall short of it.
Old age and faded flowers, no remedies can revive.
One lash to a good horse; one word to a wise man.
A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child.
He who toils with pain, will eat with pleasure.
A wise man forgets old grudges.
Pocahontas rescuing Captain Smith.
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, &c., of the Indians of America.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Indians in the United States—of Virginia.—Powhattan.—Arrival of Captain Smith—taken by the Indians—saved by Pocahontas.—Some account of her.—War of the colonists.—Indians.—Fate of the latter.
A little more than 200 years ago, all the country which now belongs to the United States of America, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, was inhabited by a race of savage Indians, who roamed, free and independent, through the vast forests which then covered the land, and gained a scanty subsistence, mostly by the arts of hunting and fishing. They were warlike and cruel, always delighting in blood, and never forgiving an injury; cunning in their plans against their enemies, and very crafty in concealing them. But towards their friends they were fair and honest, always keeping their word when once pledged.
They were not, like the Mexicans, united in one nation, living under the same sovereign; but they were broken up into a multitude of small independent tribes, under their own chiefs, and almost always at war with each other. But in their appearance, their manners and customs, they were all very much alike. We will, therefore, give a short history of some of their principal tribes, and then an account of the manners and customs of the whole.
If we begin at the southern part of North America and go north, we shall find that the farther we proceed, the Indians will be fewer in number, and more barbarous and ignorant; at the same time that they are broken up into many more and smaller tribes. In Mexico, for instance, we find a great, and, as we may say, civilized nation, living in large cities, and cultivating the earth for a subsistence. Farther north, we come to the great southern tribes of the United States. These are the Cherokees, the Chickasaws, the Creeks, and the Choctaws.
When the country was first settled by the English, these tribes were all large and powerful; but now they are greatly reduced by their wars with their white neighbors, the English and French, and by the vices introduced, by these: still they comprise several hundred warriors, and large tracts of land in some of the southern states. These states naturally dislike to have such large, independent tribes within their borders, and are also desirous of obtaining the fine land of the Indians, which is known to contain several valuable gold mines. The government, therefore, is endeavoring to induce them to remove beyond the Mississippi, by offering them large sums of money, and a fine tract of land for their new country.
Many have accordingly removed; but there are some yet unwilling to leave their farms, their firesides, and the graves of their fathers, to seek new homes and new fields in a strange and distant land. It will, perhaps, be better that they should go; for, as long as they remain where they now are, they must expect to be oppressed and insulted by their more powerful and more civilized neighbors.
North of these tribes, were the Indians of Virginia. They were called the Powhattans, and were governed by a king of the same name. In his country, the first English colony in America was settled, in the year 1607, under the direction of Captain John Smith, a bold and sagacious man. The manner in which the first interview between Smith and Powhattan took place, was romantic and singular.
Smith had gone out in a boat, with a small number of men, to procure provisions for the colonists, who were almost starving. After sailing up the river as far as he was able, he left the boat in the care of the crew, and went out himself to shoot some game for their supper. But the men whom he had left with the boat were very careless; they all left it, and wandered along the shore. On a sudden, the Indians set upon them, wounded several, and took one man prisoner. This man, after they had compelled him to inform them which way Smith had gone, they put to death with cruel tortures.
They then followed after Smith. When he first saw them coming, he attempted to escape to the boat. The Indians pressed on him; but he used his firearms so well that he soon laid three dead on the ground, and compelled the rest to keep so far off that their arrows had little effect. But unluckily, as he was retreating hastily towards the river, he suddenly sunk up to his middle in a marsh, whence he found it impossible to get out. After struggling in the cold mire until he was almost frozen, he threw away his arms and surrendered.
The savages instantly seized upon him and dragged him out in triumph. They began at once to make ready to put him to death by torture; but here his sagacity was a means of saving his life. He took out a round ivory compass, and showed it to them, explaining by signs, as well as he could, its properties and use, while the Indians listened and stared in wondering silence. They looked with curiosity at the needle which always pointed to the north; but when they attempted to touch it, and found their fingers stopped by the glass, which they could feel, but not see, they shouted with amazement. They concluded that the instrument must be the white man’s god, and that he was a great medicine, or conjurer; they therefore resolved to carry him to their king, and know his will in disposing of their wonderful captive.
Accordingly, after leading him in triumph through all the principal towns, they brought him to a place called Wecowocomoco, where Powhattan resided. Here Smith was introduced to the royal presence. Powhattan, a majestic and finely formed savage, sat at the farther end of the hall, on a seat something like a bedstead, clothed in an ample robe of raccoon skins, with all the tails hanging over him. Along each wall of the house sat a row of women, and a row of men in front of them. When Smith was led in, a female of rank brought him water to wash his hands, and another a bunch of feathers for a towel. The chiefs then held a long consultation as to his fate.
The result was against him;—he was condemned to die. Two great stones were laid before Powhattan, and Smith was compelled to lie down, and place his head upon them; a huge savage stood ready with a club uplifted, to dash out his brains,—when Pocahontas, the beloved daughter of the king, rushed forward, and with tears besought her father to spare the life of the white man. The royal savage refused;—the fatal club was about to descend; and the Indian girl, as a last resource, knelt by the side of Smith, threw her arms around him, laid her head on his, and declared that she would perish with him.
The heart of the stern chief relented, and he consented to spare the victim. Smith was released, and soon after sent home to Jamestown.
From this time, as long as Smith remained in the colony, peace was kept up between the English and the savages. This was owing, mostly, to the vast ideas which the natives had been led, by certain fortunate accidents, to form concerning the power of the colonists, and especially of Smith. The following is one of them:
A pistol having been stolen, Smith seized upon one of the natives, and threatened to hang him, if it were not returned. The poor fellow was shut up in a dungeon, with some victuals and a fire, while his brother went out to seek for the pistol. In a short time, he returned with it; but when they went to liberate the poor prisoner, they found that the smoke of his charcoal fire had spread into the room and nearly smothered him. As it was, he lay, to all appearance, dead, while his brother was almost distracted with his loss. Smith, in order to quiet his grief, promised that if he would behave well and never steal any more, he would bring his brother to life again. The delighted savage made all sorts of vows and protestations; and the captain, although he had hardly any hope of being able to recover the smothered man, ordered him to be carried to his house; where, by a good use of various remedies, and a sound sleep by the fire, he was completely restored to his senses. The next morning, the two Indians departed, rendered happy by the gift of a small piece of copper, and spread among their tribe the belief that Captain Smith could make a dead man live.
A few such lucky events inspired the simple Indians with so great a fear of the captain, that as long as he remained in the colony, they continued to be friendly; but soon after he departed for England, the savages began to harass the settlement; at first they refused to trade, until the colonists, not receiving their usual supply of corn, began to suffer from famine; the Indians next attacked and cut off many stragglers from the colony, and shut up the rest in the town. They were now threatened with absolute starvation; many died of hunger; and of six hundred emigrants, only sixty at last remained alive.
At this critical period, two ships arrived from England, bringing supplies; they were received by the colonists, as may well be imagined, with transports of joy. The next thing, of importance, was to make peace with Powhattan. A good opportunity, as they thought, soon presented itself. They heard that Pocahontas, was now on a visit to the wife of a chief, on the banks of the Potomac. They thought that if they should be able to get possession of the favorite daughter of the king, he would be willing to redeem her at the greatest ransom.
A small vessel was soon prepared; and Captain Argall ascended the river to the place where Pocahontas was residing. He easily found means of enticing her on board, and then suddenly set sail for Jamestown. The captive princess was, at first, much alarmed and offended. But the kind words and good treatment of her captors soon soothed her agitation, and she waited with patience the effect of an embassy which was sent to Powhattan, with the tidings.
But the haughty savage, much as he loved his child, disdained to yield to the emotions of his heart; he would not allow his enemies to obtain any advantage from their treacherous seizure, and for many months no message was received from him at Jamestown. During this time, a young gentleman, of good birth and fine person, named John Rolfe, conceived a warm affection for the engaging Indian girl, who returned it with equal ardor. When Powhattan heard of this, he was highly pleased; he sent his permission to their union, and from this time, till his death, continued ever the firm friend of the English.
You will, doubtless, wish to hear something more of his interesting daughter. After her marriage, she lived one or two years in Jamestown, during which time she became a convert to the Christian religion, and was baptized by the name of Rebecca. She afterwards, with her husband, made a voyage to England, where she was received by the queen, and other noble ladies, with all the attention due to her high rank and her charming character. But she soon became sick of the crowd, the noise, and the smoke of a large city, and longed for the fresh air and green forests of her own country, which, alas! she was never more to see. As she was about to embark, with her husband, for America, she was taken ill, and died, in the twenty-second year of her age. Her death caused the greatest sorrow among her friends on both sides of the Atlantic, who knew her rare virtues; and who hoped that through her means a lasting peace might be secured between her father’s subjects and her husband’s countrymen.
Powhattan was succeeded by his brother, Opitchipan, a weak and infirm old man. But the whole power was in the hands of a chief, named Opechancanough, who is said to have emigrated to Virginia from a country far to the south-east, perhaps Mexico. In his intercourse with the English he showed much art, lulling all suspicion by his open and friendly conduct, while all the time he was preparing for a sudden and deadly blow.
On the 22d of March, 1622, the savages were observed to enter the English plantations in rather unusual numbers. But as they came apparently unarmed, and merely for the purpose of trading, no suspicion was excited. They were allowed even to enter the houses, and lodge in the bedchambers. On a sudden, the signal was given, and the work of destruction began; hundreds of armed Indians, from the woods, rushed on to aid those who were already on the spot. Great numbers of the English were slain; neither age nor sex—man, woman, nor child, was spared; and, but for the information of a Christian Indian, who betrayed the plot to the English, every man in the colony would have perished. As it was, more than the hundred of the whites were slaughtered, and, of eighty plantations, six only were saved.
From the time of this massacre, a deadly war raged between the natives and the English, in which no mercy was shown on either side. It ended, as might be expected, in the destruction of the former. Opechancanough was taken prisoner, his subjects defeated, their villages plundered, and their cornfields burnt. The feeble remnants of this once powerful tribe lingered for awhile around the scenes of their former greatness, and were finally destroyed by pestilence and the sword, or went to join their more fortunate brethren of the north and west.
CHAPTER XX.
Account of the Delawares.—The Mingoes.—Unite and become the “Five Nations.”—Their bravery and cruelty.—The Five Nations, or Iroquois make war on the Delawares.—Craft of the Iroquois.—Subjection of the Delawares.—Arrival of William Penn.—His interview with the Indians.—Their love and respect for him.—Wars with the English colonists.—Destruction of the Indian nation in Pennsylvania.
When William Penn, the good Quaker, landed in the country called from him Pennsylvania, he found it inhabited by a great tribe of Indians, whom he called the Delawares. The name which they gave themselves was the Lenni Lenape, which means—“original people;” and they declared that their tribe was the main stock, or, as they called it, grandfather of all the other tribes in the United States, except the Mingoes or Six Nations, of New York. The account which they give of themselves, before the arrival of the English, as we find it in the history of the good missionary, Heckewelder, who lived among them more than forty years, seems very probable.
They say that many hundred years ago, their ancestors resided in a very distant country in the western part of the American continent. For some reason or other, they determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly set out together in a body. After a very long journey of several years, they at length arrived at the Mississippi, or “river of fish,” where they fell in with the Mingoes, who had likewise emigrated from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhere higher up. They were also proceeding to the eastward, in search of a better country.
They found the region on the other side of the Mississippi occupied by a powerful nation, the Alligewi, who dwelt in large towns, and had many extensive fortifications; some of these are yet to be seen in Ohio, and several of the other Western States. This people, seeing such a numerous body of strangers about to enter their country, resolved to oppose them. Accordingly, as the Lenni Lenape were crossing the river, they received from the Alligewi such a furious attack, they were in great doubt whether to force a passage by arms, or to return to their former country.
While they were thus hesitating, at a loss what to do, they received from the Mingoes a promise of assistance, provided they would share with them the land which they should attain. This was at once agreed to: and the two nations together, succeeded after many bloody contests, in utterly defeating their enemies, and driving them down the Mississippi. The conquerors then divided the land between them; the Mingoes[9] taking the country about and north of the great lakes, and the Lenape, that to the southward, lying on the Delaware and Susquehannah rivers.
The Lenni Lenape, or Delawares, as we shall hereafter call them, remained for a long time in peace and prosperity, increasing in number, and enlarging in territory. Their grand council-fire always remained on the banks of the Delaware; but they sent out colonies as far as Maine on the north, and the Potomac on the south. The tribes of New England, the Narragansetts, the Mohicans, and the Pequots, acknowledged their descent from them; the Shawanese and the Miamis of Ohio, and even the Sacs and Foxes of the far north-west, called them grandfather.
The Mingoes, on the other hand, remained still but an insignificant tribe on the banks of the St. Lawrence. They were more cruel and savage in their customs than the Delawares, but at the same time less warlike and civilized. In a war which they carried on against the powerful tribe of Adirondacks, they were completely worsted, and compelled to retreat over the St. Lawrence, to the land where is now the State of New York.
Till this time, the Mingo nation had consisted of five independent tribes, unconnected with each other, except by the bond of mutual danger. While suffering under defeat, it came to the minds of some of the chiefs, that if they should all be united, and always act in concert, they would be much more powerful, and less easily conquered, than while each tribe acted, as seemed best to itself, without reference to the others. Accordingly, they proposed to the tribes, a strict union, both in war and in peace. After a long debate, this proposal was assented to; and thus arose that celebrated Indian confederacy, the Five Nations, who so long carried on a triumphant and desolating contest, with the other tribes of the continent, and even the whites themselves, and spread the terror of their arms from Labrador to Florida.[10]
They first tried their united strength against the petty neighboring tribes. Some they exterminated, others they expelled from the country, and a few were taken into the union. They next turned their arms against their old enemy, the Adirondacks. Here, also, they were successful; this haughty and once powerful nation was defeated with great loss, and compelled to beg the aid of the French, who had just began to settle in Canada. But the numbers and courage of the conquering Iroquois, as the Six Nations were called by the French, prevailed even over civilized arms and discipline. The Adirondacks were exterminated, and Montreal, the chief colony in Canada, was taken and sacked by them.
The victorious Iroquois now turned their arms against their southern neighbors. But their conquests in this direction were speedily checked by a nation of warriors as haughty and brave as themselves. Their ancient allies, the Delawares, with their numerous dependent tribes, opposed their farther progress; and a war ensued between the two nations, in which the Mingoes, or Iroquois, were worsted.
They now, according to the Delaware traditions, determined to resort to stratagem. They represented to the Delawares, that the Indians of the continent were gradually destroying themselves by their continual wars, and that if a speedy end were not put to the desolating contests, they would soon be too much weakened to resist the encroachments of the whites; it became them, therefore, as members of the same great family, henceforth to bury the hatchet, and live as brothers in peace and contentment. But, in order to bring about this desirable end, it was necessary that some great nation, feared for its power, and respected for its wisdom and antiquity, should take upon itself the office of mediator, between the rest. Such a nation was the Delawares, whose warriors were like the leaves of the forest, and whose origin was lost in the darkness of ages.
By such flattering speeches, the Delawares were at length prevailed upon, in an evil hour, to lay aside the hatchet and act as mediators in the native wars; in the Indian phrase, they consented to become old women;—for among these nations wars are never brought to an end, except by the interference of females. For they think it unbecoming a warrior, however tired of the contest, while he holds the hatchet in one hand, to sue for peace with the other.
By consenting to become women, the Delawares gave up all right of fighting, even in their own defence. Henceforth, they were to devote themselves to the arts of peace, while the Six Nations were to protect them from their enemies. But the deluded Delawares soon found that the protection which they afforded, was worse than their open enmity. The treacherous Mingoes first secretly excited other nations to war against their defenceless grandfather, and then, instead of standing forth to protect him, they left him to the mercy of his enemies.
At the same time, say the Delawares, the English, landing in New England and Virginia, and forming alliances with the deceitful Mingoes, began to add their persecutions to those of their savage foes, and this once powerful and warlike nation, attacked from every quarter, knew not where to turn for relief. In this distressed situation they were, when the good Penn first landed in their country.
When they first saw him coming with his crowd of followers, they naturally expected only a renewal of the ill-treatment and oppressions which they had already suffered from his countrymen. But when they heard his mild and friendly words, and understood his kind offers of peace and brotherly alliance, their delight at this unexpected and happy fortune was unspeakable. It was under the wide-spreading branches of a lofty elm, near the place where now rises the great city of Philadelphia, that the good and the joyful Delawares made their famous treaty of peace and friendship, which was to last as long as the sun and moon should endure. On the part of the Indians, at least, it has never been broken; and to this day, when they see the broad-brimmed hat, and square coat of a Quaker, they say, with a mournful pleasure, “He is a son of our good father Miquon,[11] the friend of the Indians.”
But the friendship of their father Miquon, could not save them from the fate which sooner or later overwhelms the native tribes of this country. The power of their enemies finally prevailed; their lands were seized, their council-fire extinguished, and they, themselves, were driven to seek a refuge in the cold climes of Canada, or in the regions beyond the Mississippi.
A like fate soon overtook their chief enemies, the Six Nations. During the revolutionary war, this people remained always faithful to the English cause, and suffered severely from the arms of the Americans. Since that time, they have rapidly declined, both in numbers and power; some have emigrated to Canada,—but the greater part of the remnant of this warlike nation still remains, sunk in crime and wretchedness, on a few tracts of land which have been reserved for them in the State of New York.
[9] The fear created by the Mingoes, of which the Mohawks were a part, appears to have continued to a late date. Colden, in his “History of the Five Nations,” says, “I have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time when the Mohawks made war on their Indians, that as soon as a single Mohawk was discovered in the country, their Indians raised a cry, from hill to hill—a Mohawk! a Mohawk!—upon which, they all fled like sheep before wolves, without attempting the least resistance.
“The poor New England Indians immediately fled to the Christian houses, and the Mohawks often pursued them so closely, that they entered along with them, and knocked their brains out in the presence of the people of the house. But if the family had time to shut the door, they never attempted to force it, and on no occasion did any injury to the Christians.”
[10] The Five Nations consisted of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneydas, and Mohawks. The Tuscaroras, a southern tribe, afterwards joined them, and they were then called the Six Nations.
[11] When the Delawares learned the meaning of the word Pen in English, they always called their white friend, Miquon, which means quill in their language.
