‘The roving tribes, who live in the great plains of the west, differ little in language or character from their more stationary brethren. They encamp near the vast herds of buffaloes, kill as many as they want, eat the flesh, dress in the skins, and sell as many robes to the traders as will procure them cloth and guns. They are wilder and more primitive than their neighbors, and more addicted to plunder and massacre those who are not of their blood. They are generally well mounted and armed with guns, bows and arrows, spears and shields. They kill the buffalo at full speed. If the drove removes, they pluck up their tents and follow. If any man frightens the cattle, certain police officers, called soldiers, punish him by stripes and the destruction of his horses and property. Their persons are held sacred, and no one thinks of resisting them. Some of these wanderers are like the children of Ishmael in that every man’s hand is against them, and their hand is against every man. The Assinneboins are an example. Their time is spent in indolence, war and the chase.
‘The wars of Indians among themselves are seldom very destructive. The war chief dreams or pretends to dream that the enemy will be delivered into his hands, and sets out for the field of strife with, perhaps, twenty followers. The greatest caution is observed, and if the party find reason to think that the enemy is apprised of their intention, they turn back. If, however, their plans succeed, a small number of the enemy are surprised and butchered. Few are ever spared. Within a few months, this paltry onslaught is repaid in kind, and the account is balanced. These wars have been from time immemorial, and will probably continue till time shall be no more. Such is the modern state of Indian warfare; but tradition tells of more serious hostilities. Hundreds of Dahcotahs and Mandans perished less than a century ago in a battle between the two tribes. The Assinneboins were once nearly exterminated by the former tribe. Those times are gone, and a mightier influence is sweeping the red men from the face of the earth.
‘The Algonquin or Chippeway race is even more widely extended than the Dahcotahs. Judging from the remains of the languages which have descended to our times, the entire aboriginal population of New England sprung from this stock. Their manners and habits corroborate this supposition. The Delawares are supposed to have had the same origin. The language of the powerful and chivalrous Iroquois is said to be allied to the Chippeway. The Saque and Fox tribes are evidently branches of the same tree. The Ottawas and Pottawattamies claim the same descent. It is thought that the Menomenies share the same blood. The Kinisteneaux speak a dialect of the same tongue, and many other tribes may be traced to the same origin. All these tribes are and have ever been dwellers in the woods, and save that they now dress in articles made by the whites and that they love rum, they are now very nearly what they were two hundred years ago. They have proved themselves possessed of some mechanical ingenuity by inventing the birch canoe, a vehicle which has been the admiration of all travellers.
‘The Chippeway race differ little from other tribes living in the woods,whose manners and habits are too well known to need comment here. They are a nation of hunters and warriors, skilful in the chase, bold in battle, eloquent in council, and, in a word, possessing all the half-formed virtues, all the vices, all the ignorance and all the barbarism already ascribed to the Dahcotahs. Those of them who live in high northern latitudes, are more needy, and consequently more industrious, than those who dwell in more favored climes. Between this great nation and the Dahcotahs, a war has been waged so long that tradition itself conveys no knowledge of its cause or the date of its commencement. The deadly feud has been transmitted from father to son with such inveteracy, that all efforts to staunch it have proved abortive. A great deal of inherited hatred, and the strong thirst for martial renown, which is an inherent part of Indian character, have co-operated to perpetuate this state of things.
‘The language of these two great races are like no forms of speech known in the old world. They are wonderfully expressive, both defective and redundant, and said to be difficult of acquisition. The verbs of the Dahcotah language appear to have no roots, and to be entirely irregular in their modifications. The nominative case neither precedes nor follows the verb, as in the languages of the old world, but is incorporated with it, sometimes at the end of the word, sometimes in the middle, sometimes abbreviated, and sometimes entire. We have known traders to fail to acquire it during a trial of thirty years. From the little acquaintance we were able to gain, we thought it a collection of phrases, with scarce the resemblance of rule or order, and conclude that, to be learned at all, it must be learned by rote.
‘We can give but brief notices of other tribes. The Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and Choctaws are known to us by their wrongs, and by the advances they have made in civilization.The measures taken to remove them beyond the Mississippi, already partially successful, will probably ere long be fully so. It would be an ungrateful as well as a useless task to enter into a discussion of a subject so generally understood; nevertheless, it may not be impertinent to offer a few remarks on the probable future fate of these unfortunate tribes.
‘We have already expressed our views respecting what we think the only sure mode of civilizing Indians. That mode, or, in other words, the necessity of a change of manners, was in successful operation upon the four southern nations. By transferring them to an unlimited range of territory, that necessity has been removed, and if they do not relapse into their primitive barbarism, they are radically unlike any other Indians with whom we are acquainted, or farther advanced in civilization than we are prepared to believe. The influences which make and continue the hunter state of the Indians, operate on the whites also. For every Indian who has voluntarily relinquished the life of his fathers, ten whites may be found who have become hunters.
‘It is proposed, by placing these tribes west of the Mississippi, to protect them from the encroachments of the whites, an intention which is certainly not founded on precedent or analogy. If the most solemn treaties, if repeated retrocessions have not hitherto been adequate to protect the savage from the overpowering tide of white population, how can it be supposed that his new abode in Arkansas will be respected when he shall have made it valuable, if indeed, he ever should make it valuable? There, he is thrownin contact with other tribes, as warlike, and more barbarous than his own, and much misery and bloodshed has already been the consequence.
‘Moreover, it is proposed, by casting the lot of several distinct tribes together, to amalgamate them, and thereby preserve them from decay. If the experience of past times is to be trusted, this measure is much more likely to produce division than to prevent it. Who ever saw two Indian tribes amalgamate, unless when one, reduced to a mere handful, sought the protection of the other? Thus the remnant of the Saques sought protection of the Foxes, the Stockbridge Indians of the Six Nations. On the other hand, we have only to refer to the Dahcotah and Algonquin races, severally derived from two great roots, but now divided into an almost infinite number of petty hordes. If people, thus connected by the bonds of common origin and language, have so divided, what is to be expected from others, who have no basis of union, and who, in some instances, entertain hostile feelings toward each other? We hope the best; but to us the future prospect of the expatriated tribes appears overshadowed with clouds and darkness.
‘Beside the two great divisions already noticed, there are many other tribes, of whose origin and languages little is known, save that they are wholly distinct from each other. Such are the natives of the Columbia river, for an account of whom we must refer the reader to the travels of Lewis and Clarke, and of Roos Coxe. M’Kenzie and Franklin tell all that is known of the Dog-rib and Coppermine Indians, two feeble and miserable tribes which inhabit the frozen regions north of the Great Slave lake. The Flat-heads, who live on the upper waters of the Columbia, muster five hundred determined warriors, and derive their name from their custom of compressing the head, in infancy, into a hideously unseemly shape; a practice common to most of the tribes of Oregon, and formerly in use among the Caraibs. They war upon their eastern neighbors, the buffalo-following Blackfeet, a desperate and ferocious tribe, who are friendly to the English, and abhor the very name of an American. This animosity arose from the fact that one or two of them were killed, more than thirty years ago, by Lewis and Clarke. The Mandans and Minnetarees dwell in permanent villages on the Missouri, speak distinct languages from each other, and from all other tribes, and claim consanguinity with none. The Crows are a separate and powerful race of vagrant horsemen, and so are the Shiannes, who were formerly expelled by the Dahcotahs from the lands which the latter now occupy. The Pawnees and Arikarees compose three tribes who speak one language; the Pawnee Wolves are in no wise connected with them. The Shoshonees live and starve among the Rocky mountains. Among other distinct races may be numbered the Wyandots, or Hurons, the Comanches, the Appaches, and many others. All of these tribes, excepting the Wyandots, are more or less in the vagabond state, and ride over the boundless prairies, chasing the buffalo, and warring upon all whom they dare attack. All are bold warriors, skilful hunters, and inveterate horse-stealers, in all of which characters they glory. The manners of all are nearly alike; all practise the same indiscriminate hospitality; all have the same code of morals, religion, and policy; almost all detest the people of the United States, for what reasons it is unnecessary here to inquire. By classing all these hordes together, we do not mean to imply that there is no difference whatever in their habits, ideas, andcharacters; but that there is a very strong general resemblance between them all.