REMARKS.
The Indians prefer whiskey and rum to all other spirituous liquors; but they do not seem eager to obtain these liquors so much for the pleasure of gratifying their palates as for the sake of intoxication. There is not one in a hundred that can refrain from drinking to excess if he have it in his power; and the generality of them having once got a taste of any intoxicating liquor, will use every means to gain more; and to do so they at once become mean, servile, deceitful, and depraved, in every sense of the word. Nothing can make amends to these unfortunate people for the introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them. Before their acquaintance with them, they were distinguished beyond all other nations for their temperance in eating and drinking; for their temperance in eating, indeed, they are still remarkable; they esteem it indecorous in the highest degree even to appear hungry; and on arriving at their villages, after having fasted, perhaps, for several days preceding, they will sit down quietly, and not ask for any food for a considerable time; and having got wherewith to satisfy their appetite, they will eat with moderation, as though the calls of hunger were not more pressing than if they had feasted the hour before. They never eat on any occasion in a hurry.
The Indians are by nature of a very hospitable generous disposition, where no particular circumstances operate to the contrary; and, indeed, even when revenge would fain persuade them to behave differently, yet having once professed a friendship for a stranger, and pledged themselves for his safety, nothing can induce them to deviate from their word. Of their generosity I had numberless proofs in the presents which they gave me; and though it must be allowed, that when they make presents they generally expect others in return, yet I am convinced, from the manner in which they presented different trifles to me, that it was not with an expectation of gaining more valuable presents in return that they gave them to me, but merely through friendship. It is notorious, that towards one another they are liberal in the extreme, and for ever ready to supply the deficiencies of their neighbours with any superfluities of their own. They have no idea of amassing wealth for themselves individually; and they wonder that persons can be found in any society, so destitute of every generous sentiment, as to enrich themselves at the expence of others, and to live in ease and affluence, regardless of the misery and wretchedness of members of the same community to which they themselves belong. Their dresses, domestic utensils, and weapons, are the only articles of property to which they lay an exclusive claim; everything else is the common property of the tribe, in promoting the general welfare in which every individual feels himself deeply interested. The chiefs are actuated by the same laudable spirit, and instead of being the richest, are, in many instances, the poorest persons in the community; for whilst others have leisure to hunt, &c. it frequently happens that the whole of their time is occupied in settling the public affairs of the nation.
REMARKS.
The generality of the Indian nations appear to have two sorts of chiefs; council chiefs, and war chiefs. The former are hereditary, and are employed principally in the management of their civil affairs; but they may be war chiefs at the same time: the latter are chosen from amongst those who have distinguished themselves the most in battle, and are solely employed in leading the warriors in the field. The chiefs have no power of enforcing obedience to their commands, nor do they ever attempt to give their orders in an imperious manner; they simply advise. Each private individual conceives that he is born in a state of perfect liberty, and he disdains all controul, but that which his own reason subjects him to. As they all have one interest, however, at heart, which is the general welfare of the nation, and as it is well known that the chiefs are actuated by no other motives, whatever measures they recommend are generally attended to, and at once adopted. Savages as they are, yet in no civilized community, I fear, on earth, shall we find the same public spirit, the same disinterestedness, and the same regard to order, where order is not enforced by the severity of laws, as amongst the Indians.
The Indians have the most sovereign contempt for any set of people that have tamely relinquished their liberty; and they consider such as have lost it, even after a hard struggle, as unworthy any rank in society above that of old women: to this cause, and not to the difference that subsists between their persons, is to be attributed, I conceive, the rooted aversion which the Indians universally have for negroes. You could not possibly affront an Indian more readily, than by telling him that you think he bears some resemblance to a negro; or that he has negro blood in his veins: they look upon them as animals inferior to the human species, and will kill them with as much unconcern as a dog or a cat.
ANECDOTES.
An American officer, who, during the war with Great Britain, had been sent to one of the Indian nations resident on the western frontier of the States, to persuade them to remain neuter in the contest, informed me, that whilst he remained amongst them some agents arrived in their village to negociate, if possible, for the release of some negro slaves whom they had carried off from the American settlements. One of these negroes, a remarkably tall handsome fellow, had been given to an Indian woman of some consequence in the nation, in the manner in which prisoners are usually disposed of amongst them. Application was made to her for his ransom. She listened quietly to what was said; resolved at the same time, however, that the fellow should not have his liberty, she stepped aside into her cabin, and having brought out a large knife, walked up to her slave, and without more ado plunged it into his bowels: “Now,” says she, addressing herself coolly to the agents; “now I give you leave to take away your negro.” The poor creature that had been stabbed fell to the ground, and lay writhing about in the greatest agonies, until one of the warriors took compassion on him, and put an end to his misery by a blow of a tomahawk.
At Detroit, Niagara, and some other places in Upper Canada, a few negroes are still held in bondage. Two of these hapless people contrived, while we remained at Malden, to make their escape from Detroit, by stealing a boat, and proceeding in the night down the river. As the wind would not permit them to cross the lake, it was conjectured that they would be induced to coast along the shore until they reached a place of safety; in hopes, therefore, of being able to recover them, the proprietor came down to Malden, and there procured two trusty Indians to go in quest of them. The Indians, having received a description of their persons, set out; but had scarcely proceeded an hundred yards, when one of them, who could speak a few words of English, returned, to ask the proprietor if he would give him permission to scalp the negroes if they were at all refractory, or refused coming. His request was peremptorily refused, for it was well known that, had it been granted, he would have at once killed them to avoid the trouble of bringing them back. “Well,” says he, “if you will not let me scalp both, you won’t be angry with me, I hope, if I scalp one.” He was told in answer, that he must bring them both back alive. This circumstance appeared to mortify him extremely, and he was beginning to hesitate about going, when, sorry am I to say, the proprietor, fearful lest the fellows should escape from him, gave his assent to the Indian’s request, but at the same time he begged that he would not destroy them if he could possibly avoid it. What the result was I never learned; but from the apparent satisfaction with which the Indian set out after he had obtained his dreadful permission, there was every reason to imagine that one of the negroes at least would be sacrificed.
JOSEPH BRANDT.