Ponteach, or the Savages of America

by Tiffany Potter

  The size and decorations of their calumets are commonly proportioned to the quality of the personas they are presented to, and the esteem or regard they have for them, and also to the importance of the occasion.

  Another instrument of great esteem and importance among them is the tomahawk. This is an ancient weapon universally used by them in war, before they were taught the use of iron and steel; since which hatchets have been substituted in lieu of them. But this instrument still retains its use and importance in public transactions, and, like the pipe, is often very significant. This weapon is formed much like an hatchet, having a long stem or handle; the head is a round ball or knob of solid wood well enough calculated to knock men’s brains out, which on the other side of the stem terminates in a point where the edge would be, if made an hatchet, which point is set a little hooking or coming towards the stem; and near the center, where the stem or handle pierces the head, another point projects forward of a considerable length, which serves to trust with like a spear, or pike-pole.

  The tomahawk likewise is ornamented with feathers and paintings, disposed and variegated in many significant forms, according to the occasion and end for which it is used; and on it they keep journals of their marches, and most important and noted occurrences, in a kind of hieroglyphics. When the council is called to deliberate on war, the tomahawk is painted all over red, and when the council sits it is laid down by the chief; and if war is concluded upon, the captain of the young warriors takes it up, and with it in his hands dances and sings the war-song, as before-mentioned; when the council is over, this hatchet, or some other of the kind, is sent by the hands of some warrior to every tribe concerned, and with it he presents a belt of wampum, and delivers his message, throwing the hatchet on the ground, which is taken up by one of their most expert warriors, if they chuse to join; if not, they return it, and with a belt of their wampum suitable to the occasion.

  Every nation or tribe have their distinguishing ensigns or coats of arms, which is generally some beast, bird, or fish. Thus among the Five Nation are the bear, otter, wolf, tortoise and eagle; and by these names the tribes are generally distinguished, and they have the shapes of these animals curiously pricked and painted on several parts of their bodies; and when they march through the woods, generally at every encampment they cut the figure of their arms on trees, especially if it be from a successful campaign, that travellers that way may know they have been there, recording also, in their way, the number of scalps or prisoners they have taken.

  Their military dress has something in it very romantic and terrible, especially the cut of their hair, and the paintings and decorations they make use of. They cut off, or pull our all their hair, excepting a spot about the size of two English crowns near the crown of their heads, their beards and eye-brows they totally destroy. The lock left upon their head is divided into several parcels, each of which is stiffened and adorned with wampum, beads, and feathers of various shapes and hues, and the whole twisted, turned, and connected together, till it takes a form much resembling the modern Pompadour upon the top of their heads. Their heads are painted red down to the eyebrows, and sprinkled over with white down. The gristles of their ears are split almost quite round, and then distended with wire or splinters, so as to meet and tie together in the knap of their necks. These also are hung with ornaments, and have generally the figure of some bird or beast drawn upon them. Their noses are likewise bored, and hung with trinkets of beads, and their faces painted with divers colours, which are so disposed as to make an aweful appearance. Their breasts are adorned with a gorget, or medal of brass, copper, or some other metal; and that horrid weapon the scalping-knife hangs by a string which goes round their necks.

  Thus attired, and equipped with the other armour they make use of, and warlike stores, they march forth, singing the war-song, till they lose sight of the castle or village from which they marched, and are generally followed by their women for some considerable space, who assist them in carrying their baggage, whether by land or water, but commonly return before they proceed to any action.

  When a small party goes out, they seldom have more than one commander, i.e. if the number does not exceed ten, which is one of their companies; if there by twenty, they have two commanders; if forty, four, &c. and when it comes to 100 or upwards, a general is appointed over the others, not properly to command, but to give his opinion and advice, which they make no scruple to disregard, if it does not happen to tally with their own; however, it is very rare that the directions of the general is disregarded, especially if countenanced and supported by the advice of the old men, which seems to be the highest authority both in the state and army amongst them.

  The generalissimo, or commander in chief, as well civil as military, among all the Indians to the northward, who speak the Roundock dialect, is elective, which election is attended with many ceremonies of singing and dancing; and the chief, when chose, never fails making a panegyric upon the person to whom he succeeds.

  The Indians have no stated rules of discipline, or fixed methods of prosecuting a war; they make their attacks in as many different ways as there are occasions on which they make them, but generally in a very secret, skulking, underhand manner, in flying parties that are equipped for the purpose, with a thin light dress, generally consisting of nothing more than a shirt, stocking, and mogasons, and sometimes almost naked.

  The weapons used by those who have commerce with the English and French, are commonly a firelock, hatchet, and scalping-knife; the others use bows, tomahawks, pikes, &c.

  In any considerable party of Indians, you will generally find a great number of headmen, or chiefs, because they give that title to all whoever commanded; but all these are subordinate to the commander of the party, who, after all, is a general without any real authority, and governs by advice only, not by orders; for he can neither reward nor punish, and every private man has a right to return home when he pleases, without assigning any reason for it; or any number may leave the main body, and carry on a private expedition, when, how, and where they please, and are never called to account for so doing.

  The commander every morning harangues the detachment under his command, and gives his advice for the conduct of affairs during the day. If he wants to detach a party for reconnoitering, or on any occasion, he proposes the matter, and gives his opinion how, when, where, what number, &c. and it seldom happens that he is opposed in any of his measures. So greatly are the savages influenced by a sense of honour, and the love of their country, that coercive penal laws are needless to restrain and govern them upon these occasions; but then it should be observed, that the qualifications indispensibly necessary to recommend a person to the chief command among them, are, that he must be fortunate, brave, and disinterested; and no wonder that they chearfully obey a person in whom they firmly believe that all these qualifications are united; to which may be added, that of secrecy in all his operations; in which art they greatly excell, their designs being seldom known to any but themselves, till they are upon the point of being executed.

  The chiefs seldom speak much themselves at general meetings, or in public assemblies, counting it beneath their dignity to utter their own sentiments upon these occasions in an audible manner; they therefore intrust them with a person to declare for them, who is called their speaker or orator, there being one of this profession in every tribe and town; and their manner of speaking is generally natural and easy, their words strong and expressive, their stile truly laconic, nothing being said but what is to the purpose, either to inform the judgment, or raise such passions as the subject-matter naturally excites.

  Those who profess oratory, make it their business to be thoroughly acquainted with the subject they are to speak upon, and have the whole matter and method well fixed in their memories beforehand, that they may be at no loss what to say, or how to express themselves; tho’ they hold no regular parliaments, or courts of justice, yet they have frequent opportunities to display their talents this way, they being
almost constantly busied in making fresh, or renewing former treaties, in tenders of their services, in solicitations, in addresses on the birth, death, or advancement of some great person, &c.

  In their private petty debates, not only the orators, but every person is heard who chuses to intermiddle in it; and generally, if one has given a present to a sachem for his vote one way or another, he is pretty sure to have it, for they seldom fail of performing engagements of this kind, which renders justice in the redress of private grievances very precarious.

  But this is not attended with so bad consequences as one would imagine, for their contentions of a private nature are few, and are generally compromised by the interposition of friends.

  Avarice, and a desire to accumulate those great disturbers of the peace of society, are unknown to them; they are neither prompted by ambition, nor actuated by the love of gold; and the distinctions of rich and poor, high and low, noble and ignoble, do not so far take place among them as to create the least uneasiness to, or excite the resentment of any individual; the brave and deserving, let their families or circumstances be what they will, are sure to be esteemed and rewarded.

  In short, the great and fundamental principles of their policy are, that every man is naturally free and independent; that no one or more on earth has any right to deprive him of his freedom and independency, and that nothing can be a compensation for the loss of it.

  When the Indians return from a successful campaign, they manage their march so as not to approach their village till towards the evening. When night comes on, they send two or three forwards to acquaint their chief, and the whole village, with the most material circumstances of the campaign. At day-light next morning they cloathe their prisoners with new cloaths, adorn their heads with feathers, paint their faces with various colours, and put into their hands a white staff or want, tosseled round with the tails of deer. When this is done, the war-captain or commander in this expedition sets up a cry, and gives as many holloos or yells as he has taken scalps and prisoners, and the whole village assemble at the water-side, if there be one near. As soon as the warriors appear, four or five of their young men, well cloathed, get into a canoe, if they came by water, or otherwise march by land: the two first carry each a calumet, and go singing to search the prisoners, whom they lead in triumph to the cabin where they are to receive their doom. It is the prerogative of the owner of this cabin to determine their fate, tho’ very often it is left to some woman, who has lost her husband, brother, or son, in the war; and, when this is the case, she generally adopts him into the place of the deceased, and saves his life. The prisoner, after having been presented, has victuals immediately given him to eat, and while he is at this repast a consultation is held; and if it be resolved to save the prisoner’s life, two young men untie him, and, taking him by the hands, lead him directly to the cabin of the person into whose family he is to be adopted. But if the sentence be death, the whole village set up the death holloo or cry, and the execution is no longer deferred than till they can make the necessary preparations for it. They first strip the person who is to suffer from head to foot, and, fixing two posts in the ground, they fasten to them two pieces crossways, one about two feet from the ground, the other about five or six feet higher; they then oblige the unhappy victim to mount upon the lower cross piece, to which they tie his legs a little asunder. His hands are extended, and tied to the angles formed by the upper cross piece; and in this posture they burn him all over the body, sometimes first daubing him with pitch. The whole village, men, women, and children, assemble round him, and every one has a right to torture him in what manner they please, and as long as there is life in him. If none of the bystanders are inclined to lengthen out his torments, he is not long kept in pain, but is either shot to death with arrows, or inclosed with dry bark, to which they set fire: they then leave him on the frame, and in the evening run from cabin to cabin, and strike with small twigs their furniture, the walls and roofs of their cabins, to prevent his spirit from remaining there to take vengeance for the evils committed on his body; the remainder of the day, and the night following, is spent in rejoicings.

  The above is their most usual method of executing prisoners; but sometimes they fasten them to a single stake, and build a fire round them; at other times they gash and cut off the fingers, toes, &c. of their prisoners joint by joint; and at other times they scald them to death. They often kill their prisoners on the spot where they take them, or in their way home, when they have any fear of their escaping, or when they find it inconvenient to carry them further.

  But if they have been unsuccessful, things wear quite a different face; they then return, and enter the village without ceremony by day, with grief and melancholy in their countenances, keeping a profound silence: or if they have sustained any loss, they enter in the evening, giving the death hoop, and naming those they have lost, either by sickness or by the enemy. The village being assembled, they sit down with their heads covered, and all weep together, without speaking a single word for some considerable time. When this silence is over, they begin to lament aloud for their companions, and every thing wears the face of mourning among them for several days.

  Such in general are the manners and customs of the Indians called the Five Nations, which in the main agree to those of all the Indians with whom we have any connexions or commerce, as they all endeavour to imitate these. But all the tribes have some things peculiar to themselves. Among the Hurons (who are called fathers by the Five Nations, and who are doubtless of the same nation) the dignity of Chief is heredity, and the succession is in the female line: so that, on the death of the Chief, it is not his son, but his sister’s son, that succeeds him, and, in default of him, his nearest relation in the female line; and in case this whole line should be extinct, the most noble matron of the tribe or town makes choice of any one she pleases for a Chief. If the person who succeeds is not arrived to years sufficient to take the charge of the government, a regent is appointed, who has the whole authority, but acts in the name of the minor.

  The Delawares and Shawanees are remarked for their deceit and perfidy, paying little or no regard to their word and most solemn engagements.

  The Tweeghtwees and Yeahtanees are remarkably mild and sedate, and seem to have subdued their passions beyond any other Indians on the continent. They have always been steady friends to the English, and are fond of having them in their country; they might no doubt be made very useful subjects, were proper steps taken to christianize and civilize them.

  The Cherokees are governed by several Sachems or Chiefs (something like the United Provinces or States of Holland) which are elected by their different tribes or villages. The Creeks and Chictaws are governed in the same manner. The Chickesaws have a King, and a Council for his assistance, and are esteemed a brave people; they are generally at war with all the other Indians east of the Mississipi; the Chictaws, Creeks, and Cherokees, and these Southern Indians, often fight pitched battles with them on the plains of their country; having horses in plenty, they ride to the field of battle, and there dismount, where the women fight as well as the men, if they are hardly pushed.

  It is supposed that the Chickesaws came from South America, and introduced horses into the North. The Creeks and Chictaws punish their women when they prove disloyal to their husbands, by cutting off their hair, which they will not suffer to grow again until the corn is ripe the next season. The Chickesaws, their neighbours, are not at all troubled with a spirit of jealousy, as say it demeans a man to suspect a woman’s chastity. They are tall, well-shaped, and handsome featured, especially their women, far exceeding in beauty any other nation to the southward; but even these are exceeded by the Huron women upon Lake Erie, who are allowed to be the best shaped and most beautiful savages on the continent, and are universally esteemed by the other nations. They dress much neater than any others, and curiously adorn their heads, necks, wrists, &c. notwithstanding which you will seldom find a jealous husband, either among the Hurons or the Five
Nation Indians.