Ponteach, or the Savages of America

by Tiffany Potter

  The men of the Ottawawas, or Souties, are lusty, square, and strait limb’d. The women short, thick, and but very indifferent for beauty, yet their husbands are very prone to be jealous of them; and whenever this whim comes in their heads, they cut off the tip of the suspected wife’s nose, that she may for ever after be distinguished by a mark of infamy.

  The Indians on the lakes are generally at peace with one another, having a wide extended and fruitful country in their possession. They are formed into a sort of empire, and the Emperor is elected from the eldest tribe, which is the Ottawawas, some of whom inhabit near our fort at Detroit, but are mostly further westward towards the Mississipi. Ponteack is their present King or Emperor, who has certainly the largest empire and greatest authority of any Indian Chief that has appeared on the continent since our acquaintance with it. He puts on an air of majesty and princely grandeur, and is greatly honoured and revered by his subjects. He not long since formed a design of uniting all the Indian nations together under his authority, but miscarried in the attempt.

  In the year 1760, when I commanded and marched the first detachment into this country that was ever sent there by the English, I was met in my way by an embassy from him, of some of his warriors, and some of the chiefs of the tribes that are under him; the purport of which was, to let me know, that Ponteack was at a small distance, coming peacably, and that he desired me to halt my detachment till such time as he could see me with his own eyes. His ambassadors had also orders to inform me, that he was Ponteack, the King and Lord of the country I was in.

  At first salutation when we met, he demanded my business into his country, and how it happened that I dared to enter it without his leave? When I informed him that it was not with any design against the Indians that I came, but to remove the French out of his country, who had been an obstacle in our way to mutual peace and commerce, and acquainted him with my instructions for that purpose. I at the same time delivered him several friendly messages, or belts of wampum, which he received, but gave me no other answer, than that he stood in the path I travelled in till next morning, giving me a small string of wampum, as much as to say, I must not march further without his leave. When he departed for the night, he enquired whether I wanted any thing that his country afforded, and he would send his warrior to fetch it? I assured him that any provisions they brought should be paid for; and the next day we were supplied by them with several bags of parched corn, and some other necessaries. At our second meeting he gave me the pipe of peace, and both of us by turns smoaked with it; and he assured me he had made peace with me and my detachment; that I might pass thro’ his country unmolested, and relieve the French garrison; and that he would protect me and my party from any insults that might be offered or intended by the Indians; and, as an earnest of his friendship, he sent 100 warriors to protect and assist us in driving 100 fat cattle, which we had brought for the use of the detachment from Pittsburg, by way of Presque Isle. He likewise sent to the several Indian towns on the south-side and west-end of Lake Erie, to inform them that I had his consent to come into the country. He attended me constantly after this interview till I arrived at Detroit, and while I remained in the country, and was the means of preserving the detachment from the fury of the Indians, who had assembled at the mouth of the strait with an intent to cut us off.

  I had several conferences with him, in which he discovered great strength of judgment, and a thirst after knowledge. He endeavoured to inform himself of our military order and discipline. He often intimated to me, that he could be content to reign in his country in subordination to the King of Great Britain, and was willing to pay him such annual acknowledgment as he was able in furs, and to call him his uncle. He was curious to know our methods of manufacturing cloth, iron, &c. and expressed a great desire to see England, and offered me part of his country if I would conduct him there. He assured me, that he was inclined to live peaceably with the English while they used him as he deserved, and to encourage their settling in his country; but intimated, that, if they treated him with neglect, he should shut up the way, and exclude them from it; in short, his whole conversation sufficiently indicated that he was far from considering himself as a conquered Prince, and that he expected to be treated with the respect and honour due to a King or Emperor, by all who came into his country, or treated with him.

  In 1763, this Indian had the art and address to draw a number of tribes into a confederacy, with a design first to reduce the English forts upon the lakes, and then make a peace to his mind, by which he intended to establish himself in his Imperial authority; and so wisely were his measures taken, that, in fifteen days time, he reduced or took ten of our garrisons, which were all we had in his country, except Detroit; and had he carried this garrison also, nothing was in the way to complete his scheme. Some of the Indians left him, and by his consent made a separate peace; but he would not be active or personally concerned in it, saying, that when he made a peace, it should be such an one as would be useful and honourable to himself, and to the King of Great Britain: but he has not as yet proposed his terms.

  In 1763, when I went to throw provisions into the garrison at Detroit, I sent this Indian a bottle of brandy by a Frenchman. His counsellors advised him not to taste it, insinuating that it was poisoned, and sent with a design to kill him; but Ponteack, with a nobleness of mind, laughed at their suspicions, saying it was not in my power to kill him, who had so lately saved my life.

  In the late war of his, he appointed a commissary, and began to make money, or bills of credit, which he hath since punctually redeemed. His money was the figure of what he wanted in exchange for it, drawn upon bark, and the shape of an otter (his arms) drawn under it. Were proper measures taken, this Indian might be rendered very serviceable to the British trade and settlements in this country, more extensively so than any one that hath ever been in alliance with us on the continent.

  In travelling northward from Montreal, towards the Ottawawas river, you meet with some few villages belonging to the Round Heads, and the Ottawawas. The Round Heads are so called from the shape of their heads, there being all possible pains taken by their mothers to make their heads round in their infancy, this being esteemed a great beauty.

  On the banks of the river St. Joseph, that flows into Lake Meshigan, are two towns settled not long since by the Pottawatamees and Yeahtanees. The Miamee Indians were formerly settled upon this river, but are now despersed into several parts of the country, upon the Miamee and the Wabach that empties into the Ohio; the last are now known by the name of the Yeahtanees; they are remarkably good-humoured and well-disposed, and always treat their prisoners with kindness, contrary to the practice of most other Indians.

  The language of almost all the Indians to the northward, is undoubtedly derived either from that of the Five Nations or the Ottawawas; and any one who is master of these two tongues, may make himself thoroughly understood by upwards of 100 tribes of Indians; for though each tribe has some peculiarities in their language, no great difficulty arises therefrom in conversation.

  The Ottawawas, of the two, is understood and spoke by the greatest number. Indeed the Five Nations speak five distinct dialects, tho’ they perfectly understand each other.

  The Mohock dialect is the most copious, pathetic, and noble. Their discourses run like a gentle flowing stream, without noise or tumult. Their lips scarcely move through a whole speech. The Ottawawas is spoke quicker, and with greater emotion; but both languages are strong and expressive; and, what is more remarkable, they are observed universally to utter themselves with great propriety; a false syntax, or wrong pronunciation, is seldom known among them. Their language is in many respects very deficient, as they have few words expressive of our abstracted ideas, for before their acquaintance with us they talked about few things that were not present as sensible; so that we are obliged, in order to communicate some of our ideas to them, to make use of numberless circumlocutions, which are tedious and perplexing both to speaker and hearer.

&n
bsp; The Indians, especially to the southward, do not neglect to fortify themselves, many of their towns being well stockadoed, so as to stand a long siege against an enemy unacquainted with the arts of war. The Five Nations were formerly accounted the best architects on the continent, and are now inferior to those only near Lake Superior, and some nations to the westward. The Indian hunting houses are generally but the work of half an hour at the most, and sometimes they range through the woods for months together, without any house at all, or covering but a skin or blanket.

  It is very disagreeable travelling with them, on account of their being enemies to conversation; for they not only never speak themselves but when necessity obliges them, but are displeased with their company if they talk or converse upon a march by land, or a voyage by water. Among the Chickesaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and others to the southward, you will find a conjuror in almost every village, who pretends to great things, both in politicks and physick, undertaking to reveal the most hidden secrets, and to tell what passes in the most secret cabinets, and cause the most difficult negotiations to succeed, to procure good fortune to their warriors and hunters, &c. The conjuror, to prepare himself for these exploits, takes a sound sweat in a stove, and directly after it plunges into a river or lake, be it ever so cold. But the principal employment of these artists, is the practice of physick and surgery. The Indians have few distempers among them, in comparison of what we have. The gout, gravel, bilious cholic, apoplexy, and many other disorders common to us, are unknown to them; nor was the small pox among them till we gave them the infection, since which it hath greatly thinned the numbers of several tribes. They make use of simples in wounds, fractures, dislocations, &c. pouring in the juice or infusion of roots, herbs, &c. into the wound, or into an incision made for the purpose. They likewise make frequent use of bathing, and, during the course of the means, the patient has very little nourishment allowed him; and when these simple means (which almost every one among them knows how to apply) prove ineffectual, the conjuror is called, who exercises his legerdemain over the patient; and whether the patient lives or dies, the worthy doctor is sure to save his credit; for when he sees all hope of recovery past, he never fails to prescribe something that cannot be procured or performed, pretending it to indispensibly necessary, and its efficacy in the present case infallible.

  The Indians certainly have remedies that seldom fail in many disorders of their desired effect, particularly in the palsy, dropsy, and the venereal disorder. They frequently make use of cupping and phlebotomy; but their most universal remedy is sweating, and the cold bath immediately after it. They very often take a sweat by way of refreshment, to compose their minds, and to enable them to speak with greater fluency in publick.

  They never think a person very dangerously sick till he refuses all kinds of nourishment; and, when this is the case, frequently attribute the disorder to witchcraft, and then the conjurer is sure to be called, who, after sweating, crying, and beating himself, and invoking his genius, confidently assigns the cause of the disorder and a remedy.

  The savages who inhabit, or rather wander upon the coasts of Labrador, about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the straits of Belleisle, bear very little resemblance to any of the other Indians in America. They wander in large parties, are great cowards; their horrid appearance is the chief thing to be feared from them; they muffle themselves up in such manner as almost conceals their faces, their shirts terminating in a kind of hood about their head, and at top comes out a tuft of hair that hangs over their foreheads; their coat hangs behind as low as their thighs, and terminates before in a point a little below their girdle; from their girdle dangle a border of trinkets, shells, bones, &c. Their chief cloathing are skins and furs, which they put on one over another, to a great number; notwithstanding which heavy dress they appear to be suple and active. They are governed by the old men of each tribe, who form a kind of a senate. Our acquaintance with the Siaux Nippissongs, and other northern Indians, is yet but very slender; but, by the accounts we have, they are idle, savage, cruel, and beastly, beyond any other nations on the continent.

  The Seguntacooks, or the Abnaques, settled in New England, were formerly very numerous, as were the Mimaux in Nova Scotia. Of the Penobscots, Narigeewalks, the Saint John Indian, and many others to the eastward and southward of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, there are now scarce any footsteps to be found, except a few families dispersed up and down.

  The bark-canoes, used by the Indians, seem for their curious workmanship to deserve particular notice. They are made of two kinds of bark, viz. elm and birch. Those made of elm are generally shorter than the others, and not so neatly constructed. The birch-canoes are used by the English as well as the Indian upon the inland lakes and rivers; they distend the bark, which is very thick, upon a frame of cedar or pine; between the bark and the frame they put small splinters, which help to stiffen and strengthen the canoe. The two ends rise gradually, and terminate in sharp points exactly alike. He that sits behind steers, and he that is forward looks out to prevent their running foul of any thing that might damage the vessel. They sit flat on the bottom, or kneel upon it; their paddles are five or six feet in length, and are in general made of maple. When they go against a current, they use setting poles; but in doing this great care must be taken to preserve an equilibrium; the canoes being very light, are easily overset.

  The bark ribs and bars are sewed together with spruce or pine roots, split to a suitable size, which are more pliant, and do not dry so quick as the elm-bark. All the seams are besmeared with gum, inside and out, and every day they examine them. A large canoe will carry twelve men, and some of them more. Among all the savages the Ottawawas are the best builders.

  The Indians, in the months of February and March, extract the juice from the maple-tree, which is wholesome and delicious to the palate. The way they extract it is by cutting a notch in the body of the tree, and, by means of a piece of wood or quill, convey the juice from the tree to a vessel placed to receive it. The same tree may be tapped for several years successively. The liquor is as clear as spring-water, and is very refreshing. It is accounted a very good pectoral, and was never known to hurt any one, tho’ he drank ever so freely of it. The liquor will not freeze, but, when kept any time, becomes excellent vinegar. The Indians, by boiling it, make from it a kind of sugar, which has a taste very much like honey, but is milder, and answers all the ends of sugar for sweetening; and, no doubt, was it properly manufactured, might be rendered equal to that extracted from sugar-cane. A manufactory of this kind is begun in the Province of New York, near South Bay, which I am told answers very well, and produces considerable quantities of powder and loaf sugar.

  There have been many conjectures concerning the different nations of Indians in America, as who, what, and from whence they are, it being taken for granted that they are emigrants from some other country. But as the Indians are very solicitous and careful to hand down their own story from father to son, perhaps the account they give of themselves is most deserving of credit. The Hurons and Five Nation Indians, and all the other nations to the southward (except the Chickesaws) agree that they came from the setting of the sun into this country. The Chickesaws came from South America since the Spaniards took possession of it. The Indians on the great lakes north of the River St. Lawrence, and those between that river and the Bay of Fundy, and quite to Hudson’s Bay northward (except the Eskimaux) tell us that they came from the northward.

  It will perhaps be agreeable to some to subjoin here an account of the most remarkable animals in America, and of the manner in which the savages take them. And among these the Beaver is deserving of the first notice. This animal was not unknown in Europe before the discovery of America. It is an amphibious quadrupede, that continues not long at a time in the water, but yet cannot live without frequently bathing in it. A large beaver will weigh 60 or 70 lb. Their colour is different, according to the country they are taken in. To the northward they are quite black, and to the southward they are almost w
hite, and in the country of the Illinois they are almost the colour of the deer, and some have been seen of a yellowish or straw colour; but it is observed, that the lighter their colour, the less valuable is their fur.

  The beaver lives to a great age; the females generally bring forth four young ones at a time. Its jaws are furnished with two cutters and eight grinders; the upper cutter is two inches and a half long, and the lower something longer. The upper jaw projects over the lower one; the head is shaped like the head of a rat, and is small in proportion to the body; its snout is long, its eyes are small and short, and round and shaggy on the outside, but have no hair within. Its fore-feet are not more than five or six inches long, the nails are indented, and hollow like a quill; the hind-feet are flat, and webbed between the toes like those of a duck; they walk very slow, but swim fast; the tail is shaped like the blade of a paddle, is four inches broad where it joins the body, five or six in the middle, and three at the extremity, about an inch thick, and a foot long; and there is no flesh, fowl, or fish, that is more agreeable to the palate and the stomach than this part of the beaver; it is covered with a scaly skin, the scales being near a quarter of an inch long, and fold over each other like those of a fish.