When I had passed the wood and came again into the fields, where the scattered houses of the Indians, built in the European style, are situated, I saw before me their small white church, and had a near and charming view of the wooded rocky shores of the splendid green Ontario.[191] The scenery about that lake and the Niagara, and that on the banks of the Hudson, is, unquestionably, the finest that I saw in North America. The road leads along the edge of the valley of the Niagara, and affords a wide view into the distant plain beyond Lake Ontario. A gloomy forest extends, without interruption, to the distant horizon, and in the foreground there is a dark inlet, where the end of the lake is hidden by lofty trees. Volney very accurately describes this scene as "Une vêritable mer de forêts, parsemées de quelque fermes et villages, et de nappes d'eau des lacs Iroquois."
I drove up to the church, which was crowded with Indians; the clergyman was already in the pulpit. As he did not understand the language of the Tuscaroras, he preached in English, and the schoolmaster at his side interpreted all he said.[192] When the sermon was ended and prayers read, during which all the Indians remained sitting, the interpreter began to sing, and the congregation, in which there were only three or four Whites, joined in a very good tone, the men generally singing a second part. The clergyman, a young man, who had not been long in this parish, gave me some account of his congregation, which consisted of about 300 souls. Another portion of the Tuscaroras is settled, I think, on Grand River.[193] Very few understand English—they are Presbyterians, and live on the whole like the Senecas, whom they resemble in external appearance, and whose language is the same. There is less originality among them than among the Senecas at Buffalo. Their features, colour, and hair seem to be more changed by their intercourse with the Whites; yet I saw, now and then, a characteristic physiognomy, especially among the women. They are of middle stature, and their dress is like that of the Senecas at Buffalo. They were allied with the English in the American war.
After a stay of several days, the greater part of which was passed on the banks of the great falls, lost in admiration of their sublimity, I took the stage to Tonawanta, intending to return to New York by Lake Erie and the River Hudson.[194]
FOOTNOTES:
[150] For the Ohio and Erie Canal, see Bullock's Sketch, in our volume xix, p. 151, note 22.—Ed.
[151] Dr. Zina Pitcher (1797-1872) was a graduate (1822) of Middlebury College, Vermont. He entered the army (1822) as assistant surgeon, becoming surgeon with rank of major in 1832. In 1836 he resigned from the army, and began practice in Detroit, where he became a prominent citizen. In 1842 and 1844-47 he was mayor of the city, held the office of county (1843) and city physician (1848-51), and served upon the board of health. Dr. Pitcher was interested in education and was one of the first regents of the University of Michigan (1837-51), giving much time and thought to the establishment of that institution, especially its medical school. Upon retiring from the board of regents, he was made professor emeritus of medicine. Dr. Pitcher's literary interests were considerable; he was librarian of the first Michigan Historical Society, editor of the Peninsular Journal of Medicine, and contributor to Schoolcraft's work on Indians, in whose therapeutics he took much interest. His home in Detroit was the seat of widespread hospitality.
For Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas, see Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, in our volume xx, p. 105, note 73.—Ed.
[152] Indian Creek is a small, eastward-flowing affluent of the Scioto, in Ross County, Ohio. See, for Paint Creek, our volume ix, p. 118, note 56; Chillicothe is noted on p. 186, note 35, of F. A. Michaux's Travels, our volume iii.—Ed.
[153] Chillicothe was a Shawnee term for town or village. This tribe had in the Scioto Valley several dwelling-places thus named; compare Thwaites and Kellogg, Dunmore's War (Wisconsin Historical Society, 1905), p. 292, note 7; see also Croghan's Journals, in our volume i, p. 134, note 102.
For the Wyandot, consult Weiser's Journal, our volume i, p. 29, note 26. The habitat of the Wyandot was in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, but on their hunting excursions ranged to the Shawnee territory.—Ed.