Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 3)

J >> James Athearn Jones >> Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (of 3)

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"And now," said the chief of the rattlesnakes, "what do you propose to
give me for my services? I have been a faithful and true guide, and
have brought you safe through many dangers, to a land of plenty and
glory. I deserve a recompense, surely."

"You do," answered the Hard Heart; "suppose we give you a pair of
mocassins."

"Ha, ha! don't mention the thing again; it will throw me into a rage,"
answered the old fellow, beginning to flatten and swell at the joke.
"But if you come to giving mocassins, they must be very many, for you
know I have many legs. Suppose you give me a Lenape maiden to wife."

"Lenape maiden to wife! What will you do with a Lenape wife? Say,
snake, what would be the cross between a rattlesnake and a Lenape?"

"Don't name the thing again, for I am very passionate," cried the old
snake. "I shall bite. What would be the cross, say you? Why, the
cleverest possible cross--the cross between a wise and valiant snake,
and a beautiful woman, for a beautiful woman she will be, if I have
the choosing of her. But, I demand as a recompense for my services,
that I be allowed to unite myself in marriage with a woman of your
nation. So set about it at once, for I am very hasty in these matters,
and besides, wish to return to my nation, who have been for a long
time without a leader."

Upon receiving this strange proposition, the Lenape chief to whom it
was addressed called together the counsellors of the nation, and
debated with them whether the request should be acceded to. Many were
the arguments which were used for and against, but, at length, they
came to the determination, that the wise old rattlesnake should have
his choice of the Lenape maidens for a wife. The old fellow heard the
acceptance of his proposal with much joy, for, as he said, he was of a
very impatient temper, and in proportion as he bore crosses with a
total want of patience, was his excessive joy, when he succeeded in
his views and wishes. So the maidens were brought out, and he made
choice of a beautiful girl, who had not seen the flowers bloom more
than fifteen times. A tear trembled in the dark eye of this lovely
maiden for a moment, at the thought of the strange and unequal match
she was about to contract. But she was dazzled, as all women are, by
the promised glory of becoming the bride of the great chief of a
nation, and she wiped away the tears of regret, as women have often
done before, with a leaf from the tree of consolation, and became
joyous and light-hearted. They set off the next morning for the Valley
of the Bright Old Inhabitants, and for greater speed she bore him on
her shoulders, being the first bride that ever, as far as my knowledge
goes, carried home her husband in a basket.

The confederates divided the lands they had conquered. The Mengwe took
the lands which lay on the shores of the lakes of the north; the
Lenapes chose those which received the beams of the warm suns of the
south. Many, many ages passed away, the two nations continued at
peace, the war-whoop was banished from the shades of either, and their
numbers waxed very great. At length, some of our young hunters and
warriors crossed the great glades[A], and travelled onward till they
came to the beautiful Lenape wihittuck, where they have remained ever
since. And this is the story which is told throughout the tribes of
the wilderness, of the emigration of our people, and their victory
over the original proprietors of the soil. I have done.

[Footnote A: The mountains.]

NOTES.

(1) _She became his without a wrestle._--p. 143.

Hearne, in his Journey to the Frozen Ocean, says:--"It has ever been
the custom, among those people, for the men to wrestle for any woman
to whom they are attached; and, of course, the strongest party always
carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter, and
well beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man
thinks worth his notice; for at any time when the wives of those
strong wrestlers are heavily laden either with furs or provisions,
they make no scruple of tearing any other man's wife from his bosom,
and making her bear a part of his luggage. This custom prevails
throughout all their tribes, and causes a great spirit of emulation
among their youth, who are, upon all occasions, from their childhood,
trying their strength and skill in wrestling ... The way in which they
tear their women and children from one another, though it has the
appearance of the greatest brutality, can scarcely be called
fighting ... On these wrestling occasions the by-standers never
attempt to interfere in the contest. It sometimes happens that one of
the wrestlers is superior in strength to the other, and, if a woman be
the cause of the contest, the weaker is frequently unwilling to yield,
notwithstanding he is greatly overpowered. I observed that very few of
those people were dissatisfied with the wives which had fallen to
their lot, for, whenever any considerable number of them were in
company, scarcely a day passed without some overtures being made for
contests of this kind, and it was often very unpleasant to me to see
the object of the contest sitting in pensive silence watching her
fate, while her husband and his rival were contending for his prize. I
have, indeed, not only felt pity for those poor wretched victims, but
the utmost indignation, when I have seen them won, perhaps by a man
whom they mortally hated. On these occasions, their grief and
reluctance to follow their new lord has been so great, that the
business has often ended in the greatest brutality; for, in the
struggle, I have seen the poor girls stripped quite naked, and carried
by main force to their new lodgings. At other times it was pleasant
enough to see a fine girl led off the field from the husband she
disliked, with a tear in one eye, and a finger in the other; for
custom, or delicacy, if you please, has taught them to think it
necessary to whimper a little, let the change be ever so much to their
inclination."

(2) _Game of bones--gambling--games of chance._--p. 143.

Gaming seems to be a natural passion of man, and is carried to a great
excess among the American Indians. The games they play are various,
but all are for the acquisition of coveted wealth; they never play
without a stake, and that, considering the amount of their
possessions, a very heavy one. They are emphatically gamblers. I have
supposed that a description of their principal games may not be
uninteresting to the reader, and have therefore subjoined the
following:--

The game of the dish, which they call the _game of the little bones_,
is only played by two persons. Each has six or eight little bones,
which at first sight may be taken for apricot stones; they are of that
shape and bigness. They make them jump up by striking the ground or
the table with a round and hollow dish, which contains them, and which
they twirl round first. When they have no dish, they throw the bones
up in the air with their hands. If in falling they come all of one
colour, he who plays wins five. The game is forty up, and they
subtract the numbers gained by the adverse party. Five bones of the
same colour win but one for the first time, but the second time they
win the game. A less number wins nothing.

He that wins the game continues playing. The loser gives his place to
another, who is named by the markers of his side; for they make
parties at first, and often the whole village is concerned in the
game. Oftentimes also, one village plays against another. Each party
choses a marker, but he withdraws when he pleases, which never happens
but when he loses. At every throw, especially if it happens to be
decisive, they make great shouts. The players appear like people
possessed, and the spectators are not more calm. They make a thousand
contortions, talk to the bones, load the spirits of the adverse party
with curses, and the whole village echoes with imprecations. If all
this does not recover their luck, the losers may put off their party
till next day. It costs them only a small treat from the company.

Then they prepare to return to the engagement. Each invokes his
genius, and throws some tobacco in the fire to his honour. They ask
him above all things for lucky dreams. As soon as day appears, they go
again to play; but, if the losers fancy that the goods in their cabins
made them unlucky, the first thing they do is to change them all. The
great parties commonly last five or six days, and often continue all
night. In the meantime, as all the persons present are in an agitation
that deprives them of reason, they quarrel and fight, which never
happens among the savages but on these occasions, and when they are
drunk. One may judge, if, when they have done playing, they do not
want rest.

It sometimes happens that these parties of play are made by order of
the physician, or at the request of the sick. There needs no more for
this purpose than a dream of one, or the other. This dream is always
taken for the order of some spirit, and then they prepare themselves
for play with a great deal of care. They assemble for several nights
to try and to see who has the luckiest hand. They consult their genii,
they fast, the married persons observe continence; and all to obtain a
favourable dream. Every morning they relate what dreams they have had,
and all things they have dreamt of, which they think lucky; and they
make a collection of all, and put them into little bags, which they
carry about with them; and, if any one has the reputation of being
lucky, _that is_, in the opinion of these people, of having a familiar
spirit more powerful, or more inclined to do good, they never fail to
make him keep near him who holds the dish, they even go a great way to
fetch him; and, if through age or any infirmity he cannot walk, they
will carry him on their shoulders.

There is a game played by the Miamis, which is called the _game of
straws_. These straws are small reeds, about the size of wheat straws,
and about six inches long. They take a parcel, which are commonly two
hundred and one, and always an odd number. After having shuffled them
in well together, making a thousand contortions, and invoking the
genii, they separate them with a kind of awl, or a pointed bone, into
parcels of ten each: every one takes his own at a venture, and he that
happens to get the parcel with eleven, gains a certain number of
points that are agreed on. The whole game is sixty or eighty **** They
have two games more, the first of which is called the _game of the
bat_. They play at it with a ball, and sticks bent, and ending with a
kind of racket. They set up two posts, which serve for bounds, and
which are distant from each other according to the number of players.
For instance, if they are eighty, there is half a league distance
between the two posts. The players are divided into two bands, which
have each their post. Their business is to strike the ball to the post
of the adverse party without letting it fall to the ground, and
without touching it with the hand; for, in either of these cases, they
lose the game, unless he who makes the fault repairs it by striking
the ball at one blow to the post, which is often impossible. These
savages are so dexterous at catching the ball with their bats, that
sometimes one game will last many days together.

The game described by Mackenzie, and called the _game of the platter_,
is the same game, I think, that Charlevoix calls the "Game of the
Bones." Of the passion for gaming of the Beaver Indians, see his
Journal, 149. The same author (page 311), describes another game
played by the Indians of the Rocky Mountains. It was played by two
persons, each of whom had a "bundle of about fifty small sticks,
neatly polished, of the size of a quill, and five inches long; a
certain number of these sticks had red lines round them; and as many
of these as one of the players might find convenient were curiously
rolled up in dry grass, and, according to the judgment of his
antagonist, respecting their number and marks, he lost or won."

(3) _Songs and Dances._--p. 147.

Dancing is the favourite amusement of the savage, and one of his
methods of propitiating the Deity. Does he feel cheerful, he dances;
has he received benefits from a fellow-creature, he makes a dance to
his honour; if from the Supreme Being, he gathers his tribe to his
cabin, and gives thanks in a dance. When he has reason to fear his God
is offended, or when an occurrence takes place, from which he draws an
inference of his displeasure, he begins a solemn dance. Thus we have
seen, that when the Dutch first landed on New York Island, the
inhabitants, who believed them to be celestial beings, began a dance
in order to propitiate them.

The dances of the savages are the common dance, and the dances which
are held upon particular occasions, and the manner of dancing, varies
somewhat. In dancing the _common dance_, they form a circle, and
always have a leader, whom the whole company attend to. The men go
before, and the women close the circle. The latter dance with great
decency, as if engaged in the most serious business; they never speak
a word to the men, much less joke with them, which would injure their
character. They neither jump nor skip, but move lightly forward, and
then backward, yet so as to advance gradually, till they reach a
certain spot, and then retire in the same manner. They keep their
bodies straight, and their arms hanging down close to their bodies.
But the men shout, leap, and stamp, with such violence, that the
ground trembles under their feet. Their extreme agility and lightness
of foot is never displayed to more advantage than in dancing.

Of the dances held on particular occasions, there are many, and,
unlike the last, these are frequent. "Of these," says Loskiel, "the
chief is the _dance of peace_, called also the calumet or pipe dance,
because the calumet or pipe of peace is handed about during the dance.
This is the most pleasing to strangers who attend as spectators. The
dancers join hands, and leap in a ring for some time. Suddenly the
leader lets go the hand of one of his partners, keeping hold of the
other. He then springs forward and turns round several times, by which
he draws the whole company around, so as to be enclosed by them, when
they stand close together. They disengage themselves as suddenly, yet
keeping their hold of each other's hands during all the different
revolutions and changes in the dance, which, as they explain it,
represents the chain of friendship." This writer, who is in general
very indifferent authority for what concerns the Indians, and must
have made up his book from the relations of very careless or very
stupid observers, never, I think from his own observation, differs
very much in his account of this dance from Charlevoix, whose book
generally is by far the best which has treated of the North American
savages. He says, (vol. ii. p. 68) "They were young people equipped as
when they prepare for the march; they had painted their faces with all
sorts of colours, their heads were adorned with feathers, and they
held some in their hands like fans. The calumet was also adorned with
feathers, and was set up in the most conspicuous place. The band of
music and the dancers were round about it, the spectators divided here
and there in little companies, the women separate from the men. Before
the door of the commandant's lodging, they had set up a post, on
which, at the end of every dance, a warrior came up, and gave a stroke
with his hatchet; at this signal there was a great silence, and this
man repeated, with a loud voice, some of his great feats, and then
received the applause of the spectators. When the dance of the calumet
is intended, as it generally is, to conclude a peace, or a treaty of
alliance against a common enemy, they grave a serpent on one side of
the tube of the pipe, and set on one side of it a board, on which is
represented two men of the two confederate nations, with the enemy
under their feet, by the mark of his nation."

Of the two accounts which, it may be seen, differ essentially, I
prefer Loskiel's. I think Charlevoix mistook another dance for the
calumet dance, especially as he confesses they did him (the
commandant) none of the honours which are mentioned. "I did not see
the calumet presented to him, and there were no men holding the
calumet in their hands."

The _war dance_, held either before or after a campaign, is their
greatest dance. It is a dreadful spectacle, the object being to
inspire terror in the spectators. No one takes a share in it, except
the warriors themselves. They appear armed, as if going to battle. One
carries his gun or hatchet, another a large knife, the third a
tomahawk, the fourth a large club, or they all appear armed with
tomahawks. These they brandish in the air, to signify how they intend
to treat, or have treated, their enemies. They affect such an anger or
fury on the occasion, that it makes a spectator shudder to behold
them. A chief leads the dance, and sings the warlike deeds of himself
or his ancestors. At the end of every celebrated feat of valour, he
strikes his tomahawk with all his might against a post fixed in the
ground. He is then followed by the rest, each finishing his round by a
blow against the post. Then they dance all together, and this is the
most frightful scene. They affect the most horrible and dreadful
gestures, threatening to beat, cut, and stab each other. To complete
the horror of the scene, they howl as dreadfully as in actual fight,
so that they appear as raving madmen. Heckewelder's description agrees
herewith. He remarks, that "Previous to going out on a warlike
campaign, the war dance is always performed around the painted post.
It is the Indian mode of recruiting. Whoever joins in the dance is
considered as having enlisted for the campaign, and is obliged to go
with the party."--_Heck. Hist. Acc._ p. 202. The description which
Charlevoix gives of what he calls the "_dance of discovery_" among the
Iroquois, agrees so fully with the above account of the war dance,
that we may presume it is the same, and that his is a new name for an
old thing.

Charlevoix describes another dance, which he calls the _dance of fire_.

This last author describes another dance which is not mentioned by any
other traveller; it is called, he says, the _dance of the bull_, and
is thus described by him: "The dancers form several circles or rings,
and the music, which is always the drum and the chickicoue, is in the
midst of the place. They never separate those of the same family. They
do not join hands, and every one carries on his head his arms and his
buckler. All the circles do not turn the same way, and though they
caper much, and very high, they always keep time and measure. From
time to time, a chief of the family presents his shield: they all
strike upon it, and at every stroke he repeats some of his exploits.
Then he goes, and cuts a piece of tobacco at a post, where they have
fastened a certain quantity, and gives it to one of his friends,"
&c.--_Charlevoix_, ii. 72.

The _dance of the green corn_, referred to in the text, or, more
properly speaking, "the ceremony of thanksgiving for the first fruits
of the earth," is described by Col. Johnston in vol. i. p. 286, of the
Archaelogia Americana. It does not differ materially from their common
feasts. The principal ceremonies are described in the text.

The following is a description of the Powwah or black dance, by which
the devil was supposed to be raised. "Lord's Day, September 1st.--I
spent the day with the Indians on the island. As soon as they were up
in the morning, I attempted to instruct them, and laboured to get them
together, but quickly found they had something else to do; for they
gathered together all their powwows, and set about a dozen of them to
playing their tricks, and acting their frantic postures, in order to
find out why they were so sickly, numbers of them being at that time
disordered with a fever and bloody flux. In this they were engaged for
several hours, making all the wild, distracted motions imaginable,
sometimes singing, sometimes howling, sometimes extending their hands
to the utmost stretch, spreading all their fingers, and seemed to push
with them, as if they designed to fright something away, or at least
keep it at arm's end; sometimes sitting flat on the earth, then bowing
down their faces to the ground, wringing their sides, as if in pain
and anguish, twisting their faces, turning up their eyes, grunting or
puffing. These monstrous actions seemed to have something in them
peculiarly fitted to raise the devil, if he could be raised by any
thing odd and frightful. Some of them were much more fervent in the
business than the others, and seemed to chant, peep, and mutter, with
a great degree of warmth and vigour."--_Brainerd's Diary, E_.

GITTSHEE GAUZINEE.

Before the Bigknives or their fathers came to the land of the red men,
the Indians generally, and the Chippewas in particular, were in the
habit of burying many articles with the dead--if a warrior died, his
weapons of war, his spear, his war-club, and his most valued trophies;
if a hunter, his instruments of hunting were committed to the earth
with him. His beaver-trap, his clothes, even a piece of roasted meat,
and a piece of bread, were deposited with him in his grave. The scalps
he had taken from the heads of his enemies, the skins of the bears
slain by him in encounter foot to foot, were laid by his side, and,
when the earth was thrown upon his breast, the utensils of less moment
were laid upon his grave. If it was a woman who demanded the rites of
burial, various articles which had been most useful to her in life
were destined to the same service. As it was supposed that it would be
her lot in the other world to perform, for the shades of her husband
and family, the duties which she had performed for them while they
were living in this, the various domestic implements used in the cabin
were buried with her. This practice, once so universal, has been
limited, since the coming of the white men among us, to comparatively
a very few articles, such as the deceased was particularly fond of, or
expressed a desire to have deposited with his or her body. The change
I speak of was made in consequence of the following incident, which
occurred in the life of a celebrated chief of former days, who had
often led the Chippewas to victory and glory.

Gittshee Gauzinee, after an illness of only a few days, expired
suddenly in the presence of his numerous friends, by whom he was
greatly beloved, and deeply lamented. He had been an expert hunter,
and had traversed the wild forests, and threaded the mazes of the
wilderness, with a success rarely equalled. As a warrior there was
none to surpass him: he could transfix two enemies with the same
spear; his arm could bend a bow of twice the size of that bent by an
ordinary arm; and his war-whoop sounded loud as the thunder of the
moon of early corn. He was in the habit of cherishing, with deep and
studious care, the weapons of war which had given him his glory, and
among these he particularly attached great value to a fine gun which
he had purchased of the first white man that had come to the city of
the High Rock. It was with this gun that he had acquired his principal
trophies, in remembrance of which he requested that it might be buried
with him. But the importance attached to this article, which then was
rarely met with among our people, and of great value, induced his
friends to pause as to this injunction.

In the meantime, there were some who supposed that his death was not
real, but that the functions of life were merely suspended, and would
again be restored. On this account the body was not interred, but laid
aside in a separate lodge, where it was carefully watched by his
afflicted and weeping widow. It came to her mind that his spirit might
not have left the tenement of clay; and she was inspired with fresh
hopes of his restoration to life, when, upon laying her hand upon his
breast above his heart, she could perceive a feeble pulsation. After
the lapse of four days, their sanguine hopes were realised; he awoke,
as if from a deep sleep, and complained of great thirst. By the kind
attentions of his friends, and the use of certain drugs, with which
every Indian is familiar, his health began to mend rapidly, and he was
soon able to return to the hunt. When he was completely restored, he
related the following account of his death, and recovery to life.

He felt, he said, cold chills creeping over him; his respiration
became impeded; the dim and shapeless forms of things floated before
his eyes, and sounds such as he had never heard before were ringing in
his ears. He felt his breath come and go like the flashes of heat
which dance before the wind on a summer's day. At length it went out
to return no more, and he died.

After death he travelled on in the path of the dead for three days,
without meeting with any thing extraordinary. He kept the road in
which souls go to the Cheke Checkecame, and over mountains, and
through valleys, pursued his way steadily. Hunger at length visited
him, and he began to suffer much from want of food. When he came in
sight of the village of the dead, he saw immense droves of stately
deer, mooses, and other large and fat animals, browzing tamely near
his path. This only served to aggravate his craving appetite, and
excite more eagerly the feeling of hunger, because he had brought
nothing with him wherewith to kill them. The animals themselves seemed
sensible of his inability to do them harm, frolicking fearlessly
around him, now bounding away over the plain in mimic terror, now
advancing in gambols to his very feet. The deer skipped lightly along,
while the moose followed with a more clumsy step; the wild cat
suspended himself by his tail from the trees, while the bear rolled
and tumbled on the green sod. Gittshee Gauzinee now bethought himself
of the fine gun which he had left at home, and at once resolved to
return and obtain it. On his way back, he met a great concourse of
people, men, women, and children, travelling onward to the residence
of the dead. But he observed that they were all very heavily laden
with axes, kettles, guns, meat, and other things, and that each one as
they passed uttered loud complaints of the grievous burdens with which
the officious and mistaken kindness of their friends had loaded them.
Among others, he met a man bowed down by age and infirmity, wearily
journeying to the land of the dead, who stopped him to complain of the
burthen his friends had imposed upon him, and this aged man concluded
his address by offering him his gun, begging him to do so much towards
relieving him of his load. Shortly after, he met a very old woman who
offered him a kettle, and, a little further on, a young man who
offered him an axe. He saw a beautiful and slender young maiden so
heavily laden that she was compelled to rest her load against a tree,
and a warrior bending under a weight twice as great as any that had
ever yet been put on his shoulders. Gittshee Gauzinee accepted the
various presents made him, out of courtesy and good nature, for he
had determined to go back for his own gun, and other implements, and
therefore stood little in need of these: so he journeyed back.

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