The following is said to be the origin of the term "fire-water," as applied by the Indians to whisky: When the Fur Company first began to supply ardent spirits to the Indians in order to help their trade, the liquor was imported from England. It was the cheapest and most poisonous brand manufactured at the time, and for that reason was all the more acceptable to the Indian. When it reached the Hudson Bay territory, or the great region within which the rival fur companies traded, it had to be carried overland to the various posts. For convenience of transportation, barrels of such whisky were divided into kegs. The carriers soon learned that they could make a profit by diluting the liquor with water, when changing it from the barrels into kegs. The Indians, however, missed the powerful effects and suspected that they were being cheated. They learned how to test the liquor before exchanging their peltries for it. They poured a small quantity of the liquor on the fire and if the flame was extinguished it was evident to them that the liquor was watered, and they at once pronounced it "bad." If, on the contrary, the liquor added to the flame, they knew that the alcohol had not been tampered with, and it was accepted as genuine "fire-water."
That the "fire-water" supplied to the Indians of that day was comparable to the villainous stuff of present-day manufacture is illustrated by the statement of an Indian chief who had experienced its effects, and who had witnessed the sad havoc it had produced among his people. "Fire-water," exclaimed this savage, "can only be distilled from the hearts of wildcats and the tongues of women, it makes my people at once so fierce and so foolish."
The reference to the Hudson Bay Company reminds us of a speech made by Smohalla, chief of the Wa Napum, or "Columbia River" Nez Perces. Said he, "I know all kinds of men. First there were my people (the Indians); God made them first. Then he made a Frenchman (referring to the Canadian voyagers of the Hudson Bay Company), and then he made a priest (priests accompanied these expeditions). A long time after that came Boston men (Americans are thus called because the first of our nation came into the Columbia River in 1796 in a ship from Boston), and then King George men (the English). Later came black men, and last God made a Chinaman with a tail. He is of no account and has to work all the time like a woman. All these are new people. Only the Indians are of the old stock. After a while, when God is ready, he will drive away all the people except those who have obeyed his laws. Those who cut up the lands or sign papers for lands will be defrauded of their rights and will be punished by God's anger.
"It is a bad word that comes from Washington. It is not a good law that would take my people away from me to make them sin against the laws of God.
"You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest. You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I can not enter her body to be born again.
"You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich, like white men! But how dare I cut off my mother's hair? It is a bad law and my people can not obey it. I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come back to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother." {FN}
{FN} MacMurray's Notes.
Chief Charles Journey Cake, the aged Baptist minister and head of the Delawares, of Indian Territory, was credited with the following account of the origin of the three races of people known to the Indians, the Chinese, or yellow race, being unknown at the time this was spoken.
Said Journey Cake, "In the beginning the Great Spirit created three men and placed them on the earth. As they were all made, in the image of God, they were all white.