The use of wampum appears to be very general amongst the Indian nations, but how it became so, is a question that would require discussion, for it is well known that they are a people obstinately attached to old customs, and that would not therefore be apt to adopt, on the most grand and solemn occasion, the use of an article that they had never seen until brought to them by strangers; at the same time it seems wholly impossible that they should ever have been able to have made wampum from the clam shell for themselves; they fashion the bowls of tobacco pipes, indeed, from stone, in a very curious manner, and with astonishing accuracy, considering that they use no other instrument than a common knife, but then the stone which they commonly carve thus is of a very soft kind; the clam shell, however, is exceedingly hard, and to bore and cut it into such small pieces as are necessary to form wampum, very fine tools would be wanting. Probably they made some use of the clam shell, and endeavoured to reduce it to as small bits as they could with their rude instruments before we came amongst them, but on finding that we could cut it so much more neatly than they could, laid aside the wampum before in use for that of our manufacture. Mr. Carver tells us, that he found sea shells very generally worn by the Indians who resided in the most interior parts of the continent, who never could have visited a sea shore themselves, and could only have procured them at the expence of much trouble from other nations.
REMARKS.
The Indians are exceedingly sagacious and observant, and by dint of minute attention, acquire many qualifications to which we are wholly strangers. They will traverse a trackless forest, hundreds of miles in extent, without deviating from the straight course, and will reach to a certainty the spot whither they intended to go on setting out: with equal skill they will cross one of the large lakes, and though out of sight of the shores for days, will to a certainty make the land at once, at the very place they desired. Some of the French missionaries have supposed that the Indians are guided by instinct, and have pretended that Indian children can find their way through a forest as easily as a person of maturer years; but this is a most absurd notion. It is unquestionably by a close attention to the growth of the trees, and position of the sun, that they find their way. On the northern side of a tree, there is generally the most moss, and the bark on that side in general differs from that on the opposite one. The branches towards the south are for the most part more luxuriant than those on the other sides of trees, and several other distinctions also subsist between the northern and southern sides, conspicuous to Indians, who are taught from their infancy to attend to them, which a common observer would perhaps never notice. Being accustomed from their childhood, likewise, to pay great attention to the position of the sun, they learn to make the most accurate allowance for its apparent motion from one part of the heavens to another, and in any part of the day they will point to the part of the heavens where it is, although the sky be obscured by clouds or mists.
ANECDOTE.
An instance of their dexterity in finding their way through an unknown country came under my observation when I was at Staunton, situated behind the Blue Mountains, Virginia. A number of the Creek nation had arrived at that town in their way to Philadelphia, whither they were going upon some affairs of importance, and had stopped there for the night. In the morning some circumstance or another, what could not be learned, induced one half of the Indians to set off without their companions, who did not follow until some hours afterwards. When these last were ready to pursue their journey, several of the towns-people mounted their horses to escort them part of the way. They proceeded along the high road for some miles, but all at once, hastily turning aside into the woods, though there was no path, the Indians advanced confidently forward; the people who accompanied them, surprised at this movement, informed them that they were quitting the road to Philadelphia, and expressed their fears lest they should miss their companions, who had gone on before. They answered, that they knew better; that the way through the woods was the shortest to Philadelphia; and that they knew very well that their companions had entered the woods at the very place they did. Curiosity led some of the horsemen to go on, and to their astonishment, for there was apparently no track, they overtook the other Indians in the thickest part of the wood; but what appeared most singular was, that the route which they took was found, on examining a map, to be as direct for Philadelphia as if they had taken the bearings by a mariner’s compass. From others of their nation, who had been at Philadelphia at a former period, they had probably learned the exact direction of that city from their village, and had never lost sight of it, although they had already travelled three hundred miles through woods, and had upwards of four hundred miles more to go before they could reach the place of their destination.
Of the exactness with which they can find out a strange place that they have been once directed to by their own people, a striking example is furnished us, I think, by Mr. Jefferson, in his account of the Indian graves in Virginia. These graves are nothing more than large mounds of earth in the woods, which, on being opened, are found to contain skeletons in an erect posture: the Indian mode of sepulture has been too often described to remain unknown to you. But to come to my story. A party of Indians that were passing on to some of the sea-ports on the Atlantic, just as the Creeks above mentioned were going to Philadelphia, were observed, all on a sudden, to quit the straight road by which they were proceeding, and without asking any questions, to strike through the woods in a direct line to one of these graves, which lay at the distance of some miles from the road. Now very near a century must have passed over since the part of Virginia, in which this grave was situated, had been inhabited by Indians; and these Indian travellers, who went to visit it by themselves, had, unquestionably, never been in that part of the country before; they must have found their way to it simply from the description of its situation that had been handed down to them by tradition.
ANECDOTE.
The Indians, for the most part, are admirably well acquainted with the geography of their own country. Ask them any questions relative to the situation of a particular place in it, and if there be a convenient spot at hand, they will, with the utmost facility, trace upon the ground with a stick a map, by no means inaccurate, of the place in question, and the surrounding country; they will point out the course of the rivers, and by directing your attention to the sun, make you acquainted with the different bearings. I happened once to be sitting in a house at the western extremity of Lake Erie, whilst we were detained there by contrary winds, and was employed in looking over a pocket map of the state of New York, when a young Seneka warrior entered. His attention was attracted by the sight of the map, and he seemed at once to comprehend the meaning of it; but never having before seen a general map of the state of New York, and being wholly ignorant of the use of letters, he could not discover to what part of the country it had a reference; simply, however, by laying my finger upon the spot where we then were, and by shewing to him the line that denoted Buffalo Creek, on which his village was situated, I gave him the clue to the whole, and having done so, he quickly ran over the map, and with the utmost accuracy pointed out by name, every lake and river for upwards of two hundred miles distant from his village. All the lakes and rivers in this part of the country still retain the Indian names, so that had he named them wrong, I could have at once detected him. His pleasure was so great on beholding such a perfect map of the country, that he could not refrain from calling some of his companions, who were loitering at the door, to come and look at it. They made signs to me to lend it to them; I did so, and having laid it on a table, they sat over it for more than half an hour, during which time I observed they frequently testified their pleasure to one another on finding particular places accurately laid down, which they had been acquainted with. The older men also seemed to have many stories to tell the others, probably respecting the adventures they had met with at distant parts of the country, and which they were now glad of having an opportunity of elucidating by the map before them.
Whenever a track of ground is about to be purchased by government from the Indians, for no private individuals can purchase lands from them by the laws of the province, a map of the country is drawn, and the part about to be contracted for, is particularly marked out. If there be any mistakes in these maps, the Indians will at once point them out; and after the bargain is made, they will, from the maps, mark out the boundaries of the lands they have ceded with the greatest accuracy, notching the trees, if there be any, along the boundary line, and if not, placing stakes or stones in the ground to denote where it runs. On these occasions regular deeds of sale are drawn, with accurate maps of the lands which have been purchased attached to them, and these deeds are signed in form by the contracting parties. I saw several of them in possession of our friend Captain E——, which were extremely curious on account of the Indian signatures. The Indians, for the most part, take upon them the name of some animal, as, The Blue Snake; The Little Turkey; The Big Bear; The Mad Dog, &c. and their signatures consist of the outline, drawn with a pen, of the different animals whose names they bear. Some of the signatures at the bottom of these deeds were really well executed, and were lively representations of the animals they were intended for.
INGENUITY OF THE INDIANS.