Notes on the State of Virginia (1802)/Appendix 1
APPENDIX.
THE preceding ſheets having been ſubmitted
to my friend Mr. Charles Thompſon, ſecretary
of Congreſs, he has furniſhed me with the
following obſervations, which have too much merit
not to be communicated.
(1.) p. 20. Beſides the three channels of communication metioned between the weſtern waters and the Atlantic, there are two others, to which the Pennſylvanians are turning their attention; one from Preque-iſle, on Lake Erie, to Le Bœuf, down the Alleghaney to Kiſkiminitas, then up the Kiſkiminitas, and from thence, by a ſmall portage, to Juniata, which falls into the Suſquehanna: the other from Lake Ontario to the Eaſt Branch of the Delaware, and down that to Philadelphia. Both theſe are ſaid to be very practicable; and, conſidering the enterpriſing temper of the Pennſylvanians, and particularly the merchants of Philadelphia, whoſe object is concentered in promoting the commerce and trade of one city, it is not improbable but one or both of theſe communications will he opened and improved.
(1.) p. 22. The reflections I was led into on viewing this paſſage of the Patowmac through the Blue ridge were, that this country muſt have ſuffered ſome violent convulſion, and that the face of it muſt have been changed from what it probably was ſome centuries ago: that the broken and ragged faces of the mountain on each ſide of the river; the tremendous rocks, which are left with one end fixed in the precipice, and the other jutting out, and ſemingly ready to fall for want of ſupport; the bed of the river for ſeveral miles below obſtructed, and filled with the looſe ſtones carried from this mound; in ſhort, every thing on which you caſt your eye evidently demonſtrates a diſrupture and breach in the mountain, and that, before this happened, what is now a fruitful vale, was formerly a great lake or collection of water, which poſſibly might have here formed a mighty caſcade, or had its vent to the ocean by the Suſquehanna, where the Blue ridge ſeems to terminate. Beſides this, there are other parts of this country which bear evident traces of a like convulſion. From the beſt accounts I have been able to obtain, the place where the Delaware now flows through the Kittatinny mountain, which is a continuation of what is called the North ridge, or mountain, was not its original courſe, but that it paſſed through what is now called ‘the Wind-gap,’ a place ſeveral miles to the weſtward, and above an hundred feet higher than the preſent bed of the river. This Wind-gap is about a mile broad, and the ſtones in it ſuch as ſeem to have been waſhed for ages by water running over them. Should this have been the caſe, there muſt have been a large lake behind that mountain, and by ſome uncommon ſwell in the waters, or by ſome convulſion of nature the river muſt have opened its way through a different part of the mountain, and meeting there with leſs obſtruction, carried away with it the oppoſing mounds of earth and deluged the country below with the immenſe collection of waters to which this new paſſage gave vent. There are ſtill remaining, and daily diſcovered, innumerable inſtances of ſuch a deluge on both ſides of the river, after it paſſed the hills above the falls of Trenton, and reached the champaign. On the New-Jerſey ſide, which is flatter than the Pennſylvania ſide, all the country below Croſwick hills ſeems to have been overflowed to the diſtance of from ten to fifteen miles back from the river, and to have acquired a new ſoil by the earth and clay brought down and mixed with the native ſand. The ſpot on which Philadelphia ſtands evidently appears to be made ground. The different ſtrata through which they paſs in digging to water, the acorns, leaves, and ſometimes branches, which are found about twenty feet below the ſurface, all ſeem to demonſtrate this. I am informed that at Yorktown in Virginia, in the bank of the river, there are different ſtrata of ſhells and earth, one above another, which ſeem to point out that the country there has undergone ſeveral changes; that the ſea has, for a ſucceſſion of ages, occupied the place where dry land now appears: and that the ground has been ſuddenly raiſed at various periods. What a change would it make in the country below, ſhould the mountains at Niagara, by any accident, be cleft aſunder, and a paſſage ſuddenly opened to drain off the waters of Erie and the upper lakes! While ruminating on theſe ſubjects, I have ofted been hurried away by fancy, and led to imagine, that what is now the bay of Mexico, was once a champaign country; and that from the point or cape of Florida, there was a continued range of mountains through Cuba, Hiſpaniola, Porto rico, Martinique, Gaudaloupe, Barbadoes and Trinidad, till it reached the coaſt of America, and formed the ſhores which bounded the ocean, and guarded the country behind; that, by ſome convulſion or ſhock of nature, the ſea had broken through theſe mounds, and deluged that vaſt plain, till it reached the foot of the Andes; that being there heaped up by the trade-winds, always blowing from one quarter, it had found its way back, as it continues to do through the gulph between Florida and Cuba, carrying with it the loom and ſand it may have ſcooped from the country it had occupied, part of which it may have depoſited on the ſhores of North-America, and with part formed the banks of Newfoundland. But theſe are only the viſions of fancy.
3. p. 46. There is a plant, or weed, called the James-town weed,[1] of a very ſingular quality. The late Dr. Bond informed me, that he had under his care a patient, a young girl, who had put the feeds of this plant into her eye, which dilated the pupil to ſuch a degree, that ſhe could ſee in the dark, but in the light was almoſt blind. The effect that the leaves had when eaten by a ſhip's crew that arrived at James-town, are well known.[2]
(4.) p. 86. Mons. Buffon has indeed given an afflicting picture of human nature in his deſcription of the man of America. But ſure I am there never was a picture more unlike the original. He grants indeed that his ſtature is the ſame as that of the man of Europe. He might have admitted, that the Iroquois were larger, and the Lenopi, or Delawares, taller than the people in Europe generally are. But he ſays their organs of generation are ſmaller and weaker than thoſe of the Europeans. Is this a fact? I believe not; at leaſt it is an obſervation I never heard before. ‘They have no beard.’ Had he known the pains and trouble it coſts the men to pluck out by the roots the hair that grows on their faces, he would have ſeen that nature had not been deficient in that reſpect. Every nation has its cuſtums. I have ſeen an Indian beaux, with a looking-glaſs in his hand, examining his face for hours together, and plucking out by the roots every hair he could diſcover, with a kind of tweezers made of a piece of fine braſs wire, that had been twiſted round a ſtick, and which he uſed with great dexterity.—‘They have no ardor for their females.’ It is true, they do not indulge thoſe exceſſes, nor diſcover that fondneſs which is cuſtomary in Europe; but this is not owing to a defect in nature but to manners. Their ſoul is wholly bent upon war. This is what procures them glory among the men, and makes them the admiration of the women. To this they are educated from, their earliſt youth. When they purſue game with ardor, when they bear the fatigues of the chaſe, when they ſuſtain and ſuffer patiently hunger and cold; it is not ſo much for the ſake of the game they purſue, as to convince their parents and the council of the nation that they are fit to be enrolled in the number of the warriors. The ſongs of the women, the dance of the warriors, the ſage counſel of the chiefs, the tales of the old, the triumphal entry of the warriors returning with ſucceſs from battle, and the reſpect paid to thoſe who diſtinguiſh themſelves in war and in ſubduing their enemies; in ſhort every thing they ſee or hear tends to inſpire them with an ardent deſire for military fame. If a young man were to diſcover a fondneſs for women before he had been to war, he would become the contempt of the men and the ſcorn and ridicule of the women. Or were he to indulge himſelf with a captive taken in war, and much more were he to offer violence in order to gratify his luſt, he would incur indelible diſgrace. The ſeeming frigidity of the men, therefore, is the effect of manners, and not a defect of nature. Beſides a celebrated warrior is oftener courted by the females, than he has occaſion to court: and this is a point of honor which the men aim at. Inſtance ſimilar to that of Ruth and Boaz[3] are not uncommon among them. For though the women are modeſt and difficult, and ſo baſhful that they ſeldom lift up their eyes, and ſcarce ever look a man full in the face, yet, being brought up in great ſubjection, cuſtom and manners reconcile them to modes of acting, which, judged of by Europeans, would be deemed inconſiſtent with the rules of female decorum and propriety. I once ſaw a young widow, whoſe huſband, a warrior, had died about eight days before, haſtening to finiſh her grief, and who by tearing her hair, beating her breaſt, and drinking ſpirits, made the tears flow in great abundance, in order that ſhe might grieve much in a ſhort ſpace of time, and be married that evening to another young warrior. The manner in which this was viewed by the men and women of the tribe, who ſtood round, ſilent and ſolemn ſpectators of the ſcene, and the indifference with which they anſwered my queſtion reſpecting it, convinced me that it was no unuſual cuſtom. I have known men advanced in years, whoſe wives were old and paſt child-bearing, take young wives, and have children, though the practice of polygamy is not common. Does this favor of frigidity, or want of ardor for the female? Neither do they ſeem to be deficient in natural affection. I have ſeen both fathers and mothers in the deepeſt affliction, when their children have been dangerouſly ill; though I believe the affection is ſtronger in the deſcending than the aſcending ſcale, and though cuſtom forbids a father to grieve immoderately for a ſon ſlain in battle.—‘That they are timerous and cowardly,’ is a character with which there is little reaſon to charge them, when we recollect the manner in which the Iroquois met Mons.———, who marched into their country; in which the old men, who ſcorned to fly, or to ſurvive the capture of their town, braved death, like the old Romans in the time of the Gauls, and in which they ſoon after revenged themſelves by ſacking and deſtroying Montreal. But above all the unſhaken fortitude with which they bear the moſt excruciating tortures and death when taken priſoners, ought to exempt them from that character. Much leſs are they to be characteriſed as a people of no vivacity, and who are excited to action or motion only by the calls of hunger and thirſt. Their dances in which they ſo much delight, and which to an European would be the moſt ſevere exerciſe, fully contradict this, not to mention the fatiguing marches, and the toil they voluntarily and cheerfully undergo in their military expeditions. It is true, that when at home, they do not employ themſelves in labor or the culture of the ſoil: but this again is the effect of cuſtoms and manners, which have aſſigned that to the province of the women. But it is ſaid, they are averſe to ſociety and a ſocial life. Can any thing be more inapplicable than this to a people who always live in towns or clans? Or can they be ſaid to have no ‘republic,’ who conduct all their affairs in national councils, who pride themſelves in their national character, who conſider an inſult or injury done to an individual by a ſtranger as done to the whole, and reſent it accordingly? In ſhort this picture is not applicaple to any nation of Indians I have ever known or heard of in North-America.
(5.) p. 128. As far as I have been able to learn, the country from the ſea coaſt to the Alleghaney, and from the moſt ſouthern waters of James River up to Patuxen River, now in the ſtate of Maryland, was occupied by three different nations of Indians, each of which ſpoke a different language, and were under ſeparate and diſtinct governments. What the original or real names of thoſe nations were, I have not been able to learn with certainty: but by us they are diſtinguiſhed by the names of Powhatans, Manahoacs, and Monacans, now commonly called Tuſcaroras. The Powhatans, who occupied the country from the ſea ſhore up to the falls of the rivers, were a powerful nation, and ſeem to have conſiſted of ſeven tribes, five on the weſtern and two on the eaſtern ſhore. Each of theſe tribes was ſubdivided into towns, families, or clans, who lived together. All the nations of Indians in North-America lived in the hunting ſtate and depended for ſubſiſtence on hunting, fiſhing, and the ſpontaneous fruits of the earth, and a kind of grain which was planted and gathered by the women, and is now known by the name of Indian corn. Long potatoes, pumpkins of various kinds, and ſquaſhes, were alſo found in uſe among them. They had no flocks, herds, or tamed animals of any kind. Their government is a kind of patriarchal confederacy. Every town or family has a chief, who is diſtinguiſhed by a particular title, and whom we commonly call ‘Sachem.’— The ſeveral towns or families that compoſe a tribe, have a chief who preſides over it, and the ſeveral tribes compoſing a nation have a chief who preſides over the whole nation. Theſe chiefs are generally men advanced in years, and diſtinguiſhed by their prudence and abilities in council. The matters which merely regard a town or family are ſettled by the chief and principal men of the town: thoſe which regard a tribe, ſuch as the appointment of head warriors or captains, and ſettling differences between different towns and families, are regulated at a meeting or council of the chiefs from the ſeveral towns; and thoſe which regard the whole nation, ſuch as the making war, concluding peace, or forming ailiances with the neighboring nations, are deliberated on and determined in a national council compoſed of the chiefs of the tribe, attended by the head warriors and a number of the chiefs from the towns who are his counſellors. In every town there is a council houſe, where the chief and old men of the town aſſemble, when occaſion requires, and conſult what is proper to be done. Every tribe has a fixed place for the chiefs of the towns to meet and conſult on the buſineſs of the tribe: and in every nation there is what they call the central council houſe, or central council fire, where the chiefs of the ſeveral tribes, with the principal warriors, convene to conſult and determine on their national affairs. When any matter is propoſed in the national council, it is common for the chiefs of the ſeveral tribes to conſult thereon apart with their counſellors, and when they have agreed, to deliver the opinion of the tribe at the national council: and as their government ſeems to reſt wholly on perſuaſion, they endeavor, by mutual conceſſions, to obtain unanimity. Such is the government that ſtill ſubſiſts among the Indian nations bordering on the United States. Some hiſtorians ſeem to think, that the dignity of office of Sachem was hereditary. But that opinion does not appear to be well founded. The Sachem or chief of the tribe ſeems to be by election. And ſometimes perſons who are ſtrangers, and adopted into the tribe, are promoted to this dignity on account of their abilities. Thus on the arrival of captain Smith, the firſt founder of the colony of Virginia. Opechàcanough, who was Sachem or chief of the Chickahominies, one of the tribes or the Powhatans is ſaid to have been of another tribe, and even of another nation, ſo that no certain account could be obtained of his origin or deſcent. The chiefs of the nation ſeem to have been by a rotation among the tribes. Thus when capt. Smith, in the year 1609, queſtioned Powhatan (who was the chief of the nation, and whoſe proper name is ſaid to have been Wohunſonacock) reſpecting the ſucceſſion, the old chief informed him, ‘that he was very old and had ſeen the death of all his people thrice;[4] that not one of theſe generations were then living except himſelf; that he muſt ſoon die and the ſucceſſion deſcend in order to his brother Opichapàn, Opechàncanough, and Catatàugh, and then to his two ſiſters, and their two daughters.’ But theſe were Appellations deſignating the tribes in the confederacy. For the perſons named are not his real brothers, but the chiefs of different tribes. Accordingly in 1618, when Powhatan died, he was ſucceded by Opichapàn, and after his deceaſe Opechàncanough became chief of the nation. I need only mention another inſtance to ſhew that the chiefs of the tribes claimed this kindred with the head of the nation. In 1622, when Raleigh Craſhaw was with Japazàw, the Sachem or chief of the Patomacs, Opechàncanough, who had great power and influence, being the ſecond man in the nation, and next in ſucceſſion to Opichapan, and who was a bitter but ſecret enemy to the Engliſh, and wanted to engage his nation in a war with them, ſent two baſkets of beads to the Patowmac chief, and deſired him to kill the Engliſhman that was with him. Japazàw replied, that the Engliſh were his friends, and Opichapàn his brother, and that therefore there ſhould be no blood ſhed between them by his means. It is alſo to be obſerved, that when the Engliſh firſt came over, in all their conferences with any of the chiefs, they conſtantly heard him make mention of his brother, with whom he muſt conſult, or to whom he referred them, meaning thereby either the chief of the nation, or the tribes in confederacy. The Manahòacs are ſaid to have been a confederacy of four tribes, and in alliance with the Monacans, in the war which they were carrying on againſt the Powhatans.
To the northward of theſe there was another powerful nation, which occupied the country from the head of the Cheſapeak-bay up to the Kittatinney mountain, and as far eaſtward as Connecticut river, comprehending that part of New-York which lies between the Highlands and the ocean, all the ſtate of New-Jerſey, that part of Pennſylvania which is watered, below the range of the Kittatinney mountains, by the rivers or ſtreams falling into the Delaware, and the county of Newcaſtle in the ſtate of Delaware, as far as Duck creek. It is to be obſerved, that the nations of Indians diſtinguiſhed their countries one from another by natural boundaries, ſuch as ranges of mountains or ſtreams of water. But as the heads of rivers frequently interlock, or approach near to each other, as thoſe who live upon a ſtream claim the country watered by it, they often encroached on each other, and this is a conſtant ſource of war between the different nations. The nation occupying the tract of country laſt deſcribed, called themſelves Lenopi. The French writers call them Loups; and among the Engliſh they are now commonly called Delawares. This nation or confederacy conſiſted of five tribes, who all ſpoke one language. 1. The Chihohocki, who dwelt on the weſt ſide of the river now called Delaware, a name which it took from Lord De la War, who put into it on his paſſage from Virginia in the year , but which by the Indians was called Chihohocki. 2. The Wanami, who inhabited the country called New-Jerſey, from the Rariton to the ſea. 3. The Munſey who dwelt on the upper ſtreams of the Delaware, from the Kittatinney mountains down to the Lehigh or weſtern branch of the Delaware. 4. The Wabinga, who are ſometimes called River Indians, ſometimes Mohickanders, and who had their dwellings between the weſt branch of Delaware and Hudſon's River, from the Kittatiney ridge down to the Rariton: and 5. The Mahiccon, or Mahattan, who occupied Staten iſland, York iſland (which from its being the principal ſeat of their reſidence was formerly called Mahatton) Long iſland and that part of New-York and Connecticut which lies between Hudſon and Connecticut rivers, from the highland, which is a continuation of the Kittatinney ridge down to the ſound. This nation had a cloſe alliance with the Shawaneſce, who lived on the Suſquehanna and to the weſtward of that river, as far as the Alleghaney mountains, and carried on a long war with another powerful nation or confederacy of Indians, which lived to the north of them between the Kittatinney mountains or highlands, and the lake Ontario, and who call themſelves Mingos, and are called by the French writers Iroquois, by the Engliſh the Five Nations, and by the Indians to the ſouthward, with whom they were at war, Maſſawomacs. This war was carrying on in its greateſt fury, when captain Smith firſt arrived in Virginia. The Mingo warriors had penetrated down the Suſquehanna to the mouth of it. In one of his excurſions up the bay at the mouth of Suſquehanna, in 1608, captain Smith met with ſix or ſeven of their canoes full of warriors, who were coming to attack their enemies in the rear. In an excurſion which he had made a few weeks before, up the Rappahannock, and in which he had a ſkirmiſh with a party of the Manahoacs, and taken a brother of one of their chiefs priſoner, he firſt heard of this nation. For when he aſked the priſoner, why his nation attacked the Engliſh? the priſoner ſaid, becauſe his nation had heard that the Engliſh came from under the world to take their world from them. Being aſked how many worlds he knew? he ſaid, he knew but one, which was under the ſky that covered him, and which conſiſted of the Powhatans, the Manakins, and the Maſſawomacs. Being queſtioned concerning the latter, he ſaid they dwelt on a great water to the north, that they had many boats, and ſo many men that they waged with all the reſt of the world. The Mingo confederacy then conſiſted of five tribes; three who are the elder, to wit, the Senecas, who live to the weſt, the Mohawks to the eaſt, and the Onondagas between them; and two who are called the younger tribes, namely, the Cayugas and Oneidas. All theſe tribes ſpeak one language, and were then united in a cloſe confederacy, and occupied the tract of country from the eaſt end of lake Erie to lake Champlain, and from the Kittatinney and Highlands to the lake Ontario and the river Cadaraqui, or St. Lawrence. They had, ſometime before that, carried on a war with a nation, who lived beyond the lakes, and were called Adirondacs. In this war they were worſted: but having made a peace with them, through the interceſſion of the French, who were then ſettling in Canada, they turned their arms againſt the Lenopi; and as this war was long and doubtful, they, in the courſe of it, not only exerted their whole force, but put in practice every meaſure which prudence or policy could deviſe to bring it to a ſucceſsful iſſue. For this purpoſe they bent their courſe down the Suſquehanna, warring with the Indians in their way, and having penetrated as far as the mouth of it, they, by the terror of their arms, engaged a nation, now known by the name of Nanticocks, Conoys and Tùteloes, who lived between Cheſapeak and Delaware bays, and bordering on the tribe of Chihohocki, to enter into an alliance with them. They alſo formed an alliance with the Monacans, and ſtimulated them to a war with the Lenopi and their confederates. At the ſame time the Mohawks carried on a furious war down the Hudſon againſt the Mohiccons and River Indians, and compelled them to purchaſe a temporary and precarious peace, by acknowledging them to be their ſuperiors, and paying an annual tribute. The Lenopi being ſurrounded with enemies, and hard preſſed, and having loſt many of their warriors, were at laſt compelled to ſue for peace, which was granted to them on the condition that they ſhould put themſelves under the protection of the Mingoes, confine themſelves to raiſing corn, hunting for the ſubſiſtence of their families, and no longer have the power of making war. This is what the Indians call making them women. And in this condition the Lenopis were when William Penn firſt arrived and began the ſettlement of Pennſylvania in 1682.
(6.) p. 144. From the figurative language of the Indians, as well as from the practice of thoſe we are ſtill acquainted with, it is evident that it was, and ſtill continues to be, a conſtant cuſtom among the Indians to gather up the bones of the dead, and depoſit them in a particular place.—Thus, when they make peace with any nation, with whom they have been at war, after burying the hatchet, they take up the belt of wampum, and ſay, ‘We now gather up all the bones of thoſe who have been ſlain, and bury them, &c.’ See all the treaties of peace. Beſides, it is cuſtomary when any of them die at a diſtance from home, to bury them, and afterwards to come and take up the bones and carry them home. At a treaty which was held at Lancaſter with the ſix nations, one of them died, and was buried in the woods a little diſtance from the town. Some time after a party came and took up the body, ſeparated the fleſh from the bones by boiling and ſcraping them clean, and carried them to be depoſited in the ſepulchres of their anceſtors. The operation was ſo offenſive and diſagreeable, that nobody could come near them while they were performing it.
(7.) p. 147. The Oſwegàtchies, Connoſedàgos and Cohunnegàgoes, or, as they are commonly called, Caghnewàgos, are of the Mingo or Six-nation Indians, who, by the influence of the French miſſionaries, have been ſeparated from their nation, and induced to ſettle there.
I do not know of what nation the Augquàgahs are; but ſuſpect they are a family of the Senecas.
The Nànticocks and Conòies were formerly of a nation that lived at the head of Cheſapeak-bay, and who, of late years, have been adopted into the Mingo or Iroquois confederacy, and make a ſeventh nation. The Monacans or Tuſcaroras, who were taken into the confederacy in 1712, making the ſixth.
The Saponies are families of the Wanamies, who removed from New-Jerſey, and, with the Mohiccons, Munſies, and Delawares, belong to the Lenopi nation. The Mingos are a war colony from the ſix nations; ſo are the Cohunnewagos.
Of the reſt of the northern tribes I never have been able to learn any thing certain. But all accounts ſeem to agree in this, that there is a very powerful nation, diſtinguiſhed by a variety of names taken from the ſeveral towns or families, but commonly called Tàwas or Outawas, who ſpeak one language, and live round and on the waters that fall into the weſtern lakes, and extend from the waters of the Ohio quite to the waters falling into Hudſon's bay.
- ↑ Datura pericarpiis erectis ovatis. Linn.
- ↑ An inſtance of temporary imbecility produced by them is mentioned, Beverl. H. of Virg. b. 2, c. 4.
- ↑ When Boaz had eaten and drank, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn; and Ruth came ſoftly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. Ruth iii. 2.
- ↑ This is one generation more than the poet aſcribes
to the life of Neſtor.
To d’ ede duo men geneai meropon anthropon Ephthiath oi oi proſthen ama traphen ed’ egneonto En pulo egathee, meta de tritatoiſin anaſſen. 1 Hom. II. 250. Two generations now had paſt away, Wife by his rules, and happy by his ſway; Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd, And now the example of the third remain'd. Pope.