The Indians in general possess no small share of ingenuity. Their domestic wooden utensils, bows and arrows, and other weapons, &c. are made with the utmost neatness; and indeed the workmanship of them is frequently such as to excite astonishment, when it is considered that a knife and a hatchet are the only instruments they make use of. On the handles of their tomahawks, on their powder horns, on the bowls of their pipes, &c. you oftentimes meet with figures extremely well designed, and with specimens of carving far from contemptible. The embroidery upon their moccasins and other garments shews that the females are not less ingenious in their way than the men. Their porcupine quill work would command admiration in any country in Europe. The soft young quills of the porcupine are those which they use, and they dye them of the most beautiful and brilliant colours imaginable. Some of their dyes have been discovered, but many of them yet remain unknown, as do also many of the medicines with which they perform sometimes most miraculous cures. Their dyes and medicines are all procured from the vegetable world.
But though the Indians prove by their performances, that they have some relish for the works of art, yet they are by no means ready to bestow commendations on every thing curious for its workmanship that is shewn to them. Trinkets or ornaments for dress, though ever so gaudy, or ever so neatly manufactured, they despise, unless somewhat similar in their kind to what they themselves are accustomed to wear, and fashioned exactly to their own taste, which has remained nearly the same since Europeans first came amongst them; nor will they praise any curious or wonderful piece of mechanism, unless they can see that it is intended to answer some useful purpose. Nothing that I could shew them attracted their attention, I observed, so much as a light double-barrelled gun, which I commonly carried in my hand when walking about their encampments. This was something in their own way; they at once perceived the benefit that must accrue to the sportsman from having two barrels on the one stock, and the contrivance pleased them; well acquainted also with the qualities of good locks, and the advantages attending them, they expressed great satisfaction at finding those upon my piece so superior to what they perhaps had before seen.
It is not every new scene either, which to them, one would imagine, could not fail to appear wonderful, that will excite their admiration.
ANECDOTE.
A French writer, I forget who, tells us of some Iroquois Indians that walked through several of the finest streets of Paris, but without expressing the least pleasure at any thing they saw, until they at last came to a cook’s shop; this called forth their warmest praise; a shop where a man was always sure of getting something to satisfy his hunger, without the trouble and fatigue of hunting and fishing, was in their opinion one of the most admirable institutions possible: had they been told, however, that they must have paid for what they eat, they would have expressed equal indignation perhaps at what they saw. In their own villages they have no idea of refusing food to any person that enters their habitation in quality of a friend.
REMARKS.
The Indians, whom curiosity or business leads to Philadelphia, or to any other of the large towns in the States, find, in general, as little deserving of notice in the streets and houses there as these Iroquois at Paris; and there is not one of them but what would prefer his own wigwam to the most splendid habitations they see in any of these places. The shipping, however, at Philadelphia and the other sea-ports, seldom fails to excite their admiration, because they at once see the utility and advantage of large vessels over canoes, which are the only vessels they have. The young Wyandot, whom I before mentioned, as having made such a wonderful day’s journey on foot, happened to be at Philadelphia when I was there, and he appeared highly delighted with the river, and the great number of ships of all sizes upon it; but the tide attracted his attention more than any thing else whatsoever. On coming to the river the first day, he looked up at the sun, and made certain observations upon the course of the stream, and general situation of the place, as the Indians never fail to do on coming to any new or remarkable spot. The second time, however, he went down to the water, he found to his surprise that the river was running with equal rapidity in a contrary direction to what he had seen it run the day before. For a moment he imagined that by some mistake he must have got to the opposite side of it; but soon recollecting himself, and being persuaded that he stood on the very same spot from whence he had viewed it the day before, his astonishment became great indeed. To obtain information upon such an interesting point, he immediately sought out an aid-de-camp of General Wayne, who had brought him to town. This gentleman, however, only rendered the appearance still more mysterious to him, by telling him, that the great spirit, for the convenience of the white men, who were his particular favourites, had made the rivers in their country to run two ways; but the poor Wyandot was satisfied with the answer, and replied, “Ah, my friend, if the great spirit would make the Ohio to run two ways for us, we should very often pay you a visit at Pittsburgh[[16]].” During his stay at Philadelphia he never failed to visit the river every day.
[16]. A town situated at the very head of the Ohio.
Amongst the public exhibitions at Philadelphia, the performances of the horse riders and tumblers at the amphitheatre appear to afford them the greatest pleasure; they entertain the highest opinion of these people who are so distinguished for their feats of activity, and rank them amongst the ablest men in the nation. Nothing, indeed, gives more delight to the Indians than to see a man that excels in any bodily exercise; and tell them even of a person that is distinguished for his great strength, for his swiftness in running, for his dexterous management of the bow or the gun, for his cunning in hunting, for his intrepid and firm conduct in war, or the like, they will listen to you with the greatest pleasure, and readily join in praises of the hero.
REMARKS.