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Title: Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol 2 of 2]
Author: Weld, Isaac
Language: English
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NORTH AMERICA, AND THE PROVINCES OF UPPER AND LOWER CANADA, DURING THE
YEARS 1795, 1796, AND 1797 [VOL 2 OF 2] ***
Travels Through the States of North America,
and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,
During the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, Vol. II.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_TRAVELS_
THROUGH THE STATES
OF
_NORTH AMERICA_,
AND THE
PROVINCES OF
UPPER AND LOWER CANADA,
DURING
THE YEARS 1795, 1796, AND 1797.
──────────
BY _ISAAC WELD_, JUNIOR.
──────────
SECOND EDITION.
ILLUSTRATED AND EMBELLISHED WITH SIXTEEN PLATES.
──────────
_IN TWO VOLUMES_.
_VOL. II_
════════════════════════════════════
_LONDON_:
PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY.
═══
1799.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_CONTENTS_
To _ VOLUME _ II.
─────────
_LETTER _ XXVIII.
_Leave Quebec.—Convenience of travelling page 1
between that City and Montreal.—Post
Houses.—Calashes.—Drivers.—Canadian
Horses very serviceable.—Salutations
on arriving at different Post
Houses.—Beautiful Prospects from the
Road on the Top of the Banks of the
St. Lawrence.—Female Peasants.—Style
of Farming in Canada.—Considerably
improved of late.—Inactivity of
Canadians in not clearing more
Land.—Their Character contrasted with
that of the People of the
States.—Arrival at Trois
Rivieres.—Description of that Town and
its Vicinity.—Visit to the Convent of
St. Ursule.—Manufactures of Birch
Bark.—Birch Canoes, how formed.—Leave
Trois Rivieres, and reach Montreal._
_LETTER _ XXIX.
_The Party make the usual Preparations page 19
for ascending the St.
Lawrence.—Buffalo Skins.—How used by
Travellers.—Difficulty of proceeding
to Lake Ontario otherwise than by
Water.—Rapids above Montreal.— Village
of La Chine.—King’s Stores
there.—Indian Village on the opposite
Side of the River.—Similitude between
French Canadians and Indians in Person
and Disposition of Mind.—Owing to this
the Power of the French over the
Indians.—Summary View of the Indians
in Lower Canada.—The Party embark in a
Bateau at La Chine.—Mode of conducting
Bateaux against a strong
Current.—Great Exertion
requisite—Canadians addicted to
smoking.—How they measure
Distances.—Description of Lake St.
Louis.—Clouds of Insects over Reed
Banks.—Party encamps on l’Isle
Perot.—Passage of Rapids called Les
Cascades—Their tremendous
Appearance.—Description of the Village
of the Hill of Cedars.—Rapids du
Coteau du Lac.—Wonderful Rapidity of
the Current.—Party encamps.—Lake St.
Francis.—Point au Baudet.—L’Isle aux
Raisins.—Island in the River still the
Property of the Indians.—Not
determined yet whether in the British
Territory or that of the States.—Party
encamps.—Storm.—Unpleasant Situation
of the Party.—Relieved.—Continue the
Voyage.—Account of more Rapids.—Canals
and Locks at different Places on the
River St. Lawrence.—Immense Flights of
Pigeons.—Emigration of Squirrels and
Bears.—Oswegatchee River and Fort la
Galette described.—Advantageous
Position of the latter.—Current above
this gentle.—Bateaux sail on all
Night.—Songs of the Canadians.—Good
Ear for Music.—Lake of a Thousand
Isles.—Arrival at Kingston on Lake
Ontario.—Observations on the
Navigation of the St. Lawrence.—The
St. Lawrence compared with the
Mississippi.—A View of the different
Rivers which open a Water
Communication between the Great Lakes
and the Atlantic.—Great Superiority of
the St. Lawrence over all the rest.—Of
the Lake Trade._
_LETTER _ XXX.
_Description of the Town of page 64
Kingston.—Formerly called Fort
Cadaraqua.—Extensive Trade carried on
here.—Nature of it.—Inhabitants very
hospitable.—Harbours on Lake
Ontario.—Ships of War on that
Lake.—Merchant Vessels.—Naval
Officers.—Expence of building and
keeping up Vessels very great.—Why.—No
Iron Mines yet opened in the
Country.—Copper may be more easily
procured than Iron.—Found in great
Quantities on the Borders of Lake
Superior.—Embark in a Trading Vessel
on Lake Ontario.—Description of that
Lake.—A Septennial Change in the
Height of the Waters said to be
observable—also a Tide that ebbs and
flows every two Hours.—Observations on
these Phenomena.—Voyage across the
Lake similar to a Sea Voyage.—Come in
Sight of Niagara Fort.—Land at
Mississaguis Point.—Mississaguis
Indians.—One of their Chiefs killed,
in an Affray.—How treated by the
British Government.—Their revengeful
Disposition.—Mississaguis good
Hunters.—How they kill Salmon.—Variety
of Fish in the Lakes and Rivers of
Canada.—Sea Wolves.—Sea
Cows.—Description of the Town of
Niagara or Newark.—The present Seat of
Government.—Scheme of removing it
elsewhere.—Unhealthiness of the Town
of Niagara and adjacent Country.—Navy
Hall.—Fort of Niagara surrendered
pursuant to Treaty.—Description of
it.—Description of the other Forts
surrendered to the People of the
United States.—Shewn not to be so
advantageous to them as was
expected.—Superior Position of the new
British Posts pointed out_
_LETTER _ XXXI.
_Description of the River and Falls of page 108
Niagara and the Country bordering upon
the navigable Part of the River below
the Falls_
_LETTER _ XXXII.
_Description of Fort Chippeway.—Plan in page 135
meditation to cut a Canal to avoid the
Portage at the Falls of
Niagara.—Departure from
Chippeway.—Intense Heat of the
Weather.—Description of the Country
bordering on Niagara River above the
Falls.—Observations on the Climate of
Upper Canada.—Rattlesnakes common in
Upper Canada.—Fort Erie.—Miserable
Accommodation there.—Squirrel
hunting.—Seneka Indians.—Their
Expertness at the Use of the
Blow-gun.—Description of the
Blow-gun.—Excursion to the Village of
the Senekas.—Whole Nation
absent.—Passage of a dangerous Sand
Bar at the Mouth of Buffalo
Creek.—Sail from Fort Erie.—Driven
back by a Storm.—Anchor under Point
Abineau.—Description of the
Point.—Curious Sand Hills there.—Bear
hunting.—How carried on.—Dogs, what
Sort of, used.—Wind changes.—The
Vessel suffers from the Storm whilst
at Anchor.—Departure from Point
Abineau.—General Description of Lake
Erie.—Anecdote.—Reach the Islands at
the Western End of the Lake.—Anchor
there.—Description of the
Islands.—Serpents of various Kinds
found there.—Rattlesnakes.—Medicinal
Uses made of them.—Fabulous Accounts
of Serpents.—Departure from the
Islands.—Arrival at Malden.—Detroit
River_
_LETTER _ XXXIII.
_Description of the District of page 170
Malden.—Establishment of a new British
Post there.—Island of Bois
Blanc.—Difference between the British
and Americans respecting the Right of
Possession.—Block Houses, how
constructed.—Captain E—’s
Farm.—Indians.—Description of Detroit
River, and the Country bordering upon
it.—Town of Detroit.—Head Quarters of
the American Army.—Officers of the
Western Army.—Unsuccessful Attempt of
the Americans to impress upon the
Minds of the Indians an Idea of their
Consequence.—Of the Country round
Detroit.—Doubts concerning our Route
back to Philadelphia.—Determine to go
by Presqu’ Isle.—Departure from
Detroit_
_LETTER _ XXXIV.
_Presents delivered to the Indians on page 192
the Part of the British
Government.—Mode of distributing
them.—Reasons why given.—What is the
best Method of conciliating the good
Will of the Indians.—Little Pains
taken by the Americans to keep up a
good Understanding with the
Indians.—Consequences thereof.—War
between the Americans and Indians.—A
brief Account of it.—Peace concluded
by General Wayne.—Not likely to remain
permanent.—Why.—Indian Manner of
making Peace described_
_LETTER _ XXXV.
_A brief Account of the Persons, page 224
Manners, Character, Qualifications,
mental and corporeal, of the Indians;
interspersed with Anecdotes_
_LETTER _ XXXVI.
_Departure from Malden.—Storm on Lake page 296
Erie.—Driven back amongst the
Islands.—Shipwreck narrowly
avoided.—Voyage across the Lake.—Land
at Fort Erie.—Proceed to Buffalo
Creek.—Engage Indians to go through
the Woods.—Set out on Foot.—Journey
through the Woods.—Description of the
Country beyond Buffalo Creek.—Vast
Plains.—Grand Appearance of the Trees
here.—Indian Dogs.—Arrival at the
Settlements on Genesee River.—First
Settlers.—Their general
Character.—Description of the Country
bordering on Genesee River.—Fevers
common in Autumn.—Proceed on Foot to
Bath_
_LETTER _ XXXVII.
_Account of Bath.—Of the page 332
Neighbourhood.—Singular Method taken
to improve
it.—Speculators.—Description of one,
in a Letter from an American
Farmer.—Conhorton Creek.—View of the
Navigation from Bath downwards.—Leave
Bath for Newtown.—Embark in
Canoes.—Stranded in the Night.—Seek
for Shelter in a neighbouring
House.—Difficulty of procuring
Provisions.—Resume our
Voyage.—Lochartsburgh.—Description of
the eastern Branch of the Susquehannah
River.—French Town.—French and
Americans ill suited to each
other.—Wilkes-barré.—Mountains in the
Neighbourhood.—Country thinly settled
towards Philadelphia.—Description of
the Wind-Gap in the Blue
Mountains.—Summary Account of the
Moravian Settlement at
Bethlehem.—Return to Philadelphia_
_LETTER _ XXXVIII.
_Leave Philadelphia.—Arrive at New page 367
York.—Visit Long Island.—Dreadful
Havoc by the Yellow Fever.—Dutch
Inhabitants suspicious of
Strangers.—Excellent Farmers.—Number
of Inhabitants.—Culture of
Corn.—Immense Quantities of Grouse and
Deer.—Laws to protect them.—Increase
of the same.—Decrease of Beavers.—New
York agreeable to
Strangers.—Conclusion_
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_TRAVELS_, &c.
──────
_LETTER _ XXVIII.
_Leave Quebec.—Convenience of travelling between that City and
Montreal.—Post Houses.—Calashes.—Drivers.—Canadian Horses very
serviceable.—Salutations on arriving at different Post
Houses.—Beautiful Prospects from the Road on the top of the Banks of
the St. Lawrence.—Female Peasants.—Style of Farming in
Canada.—Considerably improved of late.—Inactivity of Canadians in not
clearing more Land.—Their Character contrasted with that of the People
of the States.—Arrival at Trois Rivieres.—Description of that town and
its Vicinity.—Visit to the Convent of St. Ursule.—Manufactures of
Birch Bark.—Birch Canoes, how formed.—Leave Trois Rivieres, and reach
Montreal._
Montreal, August.
HAVING remained in Quebec and the neighbourhood as long as we could,
consistently with the plan which we had formed of visiting the Falls of
Niagara, and returning again into the States before the commencement of
winter, we set out for Montreal by land.
In no part of North America can a traveller proceed so commodiously as
along this road between Quebec and Montreal; a regular line of post
houses, at convenient distances from each other, being established upon
it, where calashes or carioles, according to the season, are always kept
in readiness. Each postmaster is obliged to have four calashes, and the
same number of carioles; and besides these, as many more are generally
kept at each stage by persons called aids-de-poste, for which the
postmaster calls when his own happen to be engaged. The postmaster has
the exclusive privilege of furnishing these carriages at every stage,
and, under a penalty, he must have them ready in a quarter of an hour
after they are demanded by a traveller, if it be day-light, and in half
an hour should it be in the night. The drivers are bound to take you on
at the rate of two leagues an hour. The charge for a calash with a
single horse is one shilling Halifax[1] currency per league; no gratuity
is expected by the driver.
Footnote 1:
According to Halifax currency, which is the established, currency of
Lower Canada, the dollar passes for five shillings.
The silver coins current in Canada are dollars, halves, quarters,
eighths, and sixteenths of dollars, pistareens, Spanish coins somewhat
less valuable than quarter dollars, and French and English crowns and
half crowns. Gold coins pass only as bullion by weight. British and
Portugal gold coins are deemed the best; next to them those of Spain,
then those of France.
[Sidenote: CANADIAN HORSES.]
The post calashes are very clumsily built, but upon the whole we found
them easy and agreeable carriages; they are certainly far superior to
the American stage waggons, in which, if persons wish to travel with
comfort, they ought always to set out provided with cushions for their
hips and elbows, otherwise they cannot expect but to receive numberless
contusions before they get to the end of their journey.
The horses in Canada are mostly small and heavy, but extremely
serviceable, as is evident from those employed for the post carriages
being in general fat and very brisk on the road, notwithstanding the
poor fare and ill usage they receive. They are seldom rubbed down; but
as soon as they have performed their journey are turned into a field,
and there left until the next traveller arrives, or till they are wanted
to perform the work of the farm. This is contrary to the regulations of
the post, according to which the horses should be kept in the stable, in
perfect readiness for travellers; however, I do not recollect that we
were at any place detained much beyond the quarter of an hour
prescribed, notwithstanding that the people had frequently to send for
their horses, more than a mile, to the fields where they were employed.
When the horses happened to be at a distance, they were always brought
home in a full gallop, in order to avoid complaints; they were yoked in
an instant, and the driver set off at the rate of nine or ten miles an
hour; a little money, indeed, generally induces them to exceed the
established rate; this, however, does not always answer, but play upon
their vanity and you may make them go on at what rate you please, for
they are the vainest people, perhaps, in the world. Commend their great
dexterity in driving, and the excellence of the Canadian horses, and it
seldom fails to quicken your pace at least two or three miles an hour;
but if you wish to go in a gallop, you need only observe to your
companion, so as to be overheard by the driver, that the Canadian
calashes are the vilest carriages on earth, and so heavy that you
believe the people are afraid the horses would fall down and break their
necks if they attempted to make them go as fast as in other countries;
above all, praise the carriages and drivers of the United States. A few
remarks of this sort at once discompose the tempers of the drivers, and
their passion is constantly vented in lashes on their horses.
[Sidenote: CANADIAN DRIVERS]
To hasten the speed of their horses they have three expressions, rising
above each other in a regular climax. The first, “Marche,” is pronounced
in the usual tone of voice; “Marche-donc,” the second, is pronounced
more hastily and louder; if the horse is dull enough not to comprehend
this, then the “Marche-donc,” accompanied with one of Sterne’s magical
words, comes out, in the third place, in a shrill piercing key, and a
smart lash of the whip follows. From the frequent use made by the
drivers of these words, the calashes have received the nick-name of
“marche-doncs.”
The first post house is nine miles from Quebec, which our drivers, of
their own accord, managed to reach in one hour. No sooner were we in
sight of it, than the postmaster, his wife in her close French cap, and
all the family, came running out to receive us. The foremost driver, a
thin fellow of about six feet high, with a queue bound with eel skins
that reached the whole way down his back, immediately cracked his whip,
and having brought his calash to the door, with a great air he leapt
out, bowed respectfully at a distance to the hostess, then advancing
with his hat off, paid her a few compliments, and kissed both her cheeks
in turn, which she presented to him with no small condescension. Some
minutes are generally spent thus at every post house in mutual
congratulations on meeting, before the people ever think of getting a
fresh carriage ready.
The road between Quebec and Montreal runs, for the most part, close upon
the banks of the River St. Lawrence, through those beautiful little
towns and villages seen to so much advantage from the water; and as the
traveller passes along, he is entertained with prospects, if possible,
superior to those which strike the attention in sailing down the river.
For the first thirty or forty miles in the way from Quebec, the views
are in particular extremely grand. The immense River St. Lawrence, more
like a lake confined between ranges of mountains than a river, appears
at one side rolling under your feet, and as you look down upon it from
the top of the lofty banks, the largest merchant vessels scarcely seem
bigger than fishing boats; on the other side, deep mountains, skirted
with forests, present themselves to the view at a distance, whilst, in
the intermediate space, is seen a rich country, beautifully diversified
with whitened cottages and glittering spires, with groves of trees and
cultivated fields, watered by innumerable little streams: groups of the
peasantry, busied as we passed along in getting in the harvest, which
was not quite over, diffused an air of cheerfulness and gaiety over the
scene, and heightened all its charms.
[Sidenote: FEMALE PEASANTS.]
The female French peasants are in general, whilst young, very pretty,
and the neat simplicity of their dress in summer, which consists mostly
of a blue or scarlet bodice without sleeves, a petticoat of a different
colour, and a straw hat, makes them appear extremely interesting; like
the Indians, however, they lose their beauty very prematurely, and it is
to be attributed much to the same cause, namely, their laborious life,
and being so much exposed to the air, the indolent men suffering them to
take a very active part in the management of the farms.
The style of farming amongst the generality of the French Canadians has
hitherto been very slovenly; manure has been but rarely used; the earth
just lightly turned up with a plough, and without any other preparation
the grain sown; more than one half of the fields also have been left
without any fences whatsoever, exposed to the ravages of cattle. The
people are beginning now, however, to be more industrious, and better
farmers, owing to the increased demand for grain for exportation, and to
the advice and encouragement given to them by the English merchants at
Quebec and Montreal, who send agents through the country to the farmers
to buy up all the corn they can spare. The farmers are bound to have
their corn ready by a certain day on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and
bateaux are then sent by the merchants to receive and convey it to the
port where it is to be shipped.
[Sidenote: CHARACTERS.]
All the settlements in Lower Canada lie contiguous to the River St.
Lawrence: in no place perhaps do they extend farther back than twelve
miles from it, except along the banks of the River St. Jean, the River
des Prairies, and some other navigable streams falling into the St.
Lawrence. This is owing to the disposition of the French Canadians, who,
like the Germans, are fond of living near each other; nay more, as long
as the farm of the father will admit of a division, a share of it is
given to the sons when they are grown up, and it is only when the farm
is exceedingly small, or the family numerous, that they ever think of
taking up a piece of fresh land from the seignior. In this respect a
wonderful difference appears between their conduct and that of the young
people of the United States, particularly of those of New England, who,
as soon as they are grown up, immediately emigrate, and bury themselves
in the woods, where, perhaps, they are five or six hundred miles distant
from every relation upon earth: yet a spirit of enterprize is not
wanting amongst the Canadians; they eagerly come forward, when called
upon, to traverse the immense lakes in the western regions; they laugh
at the dreadful storms on those prodigious bodies of water; they work
with indefatigable perseverance at the oar and the pole in stemming the
rapid currents of the rivers; nor do they complain, when, on these
expeditions, they happen to be exposed to the inclemency of the seasons,
or to the severest pangs of hunger. The spirit of the Canadian is
excited by vanity; he delights in talking to his friends and relatives
of the excursions he has made to those distant regions; and he glories
in the perils which he has encountered: his vanity would not be
gratified by chopping down trees and tilling the earth; he deems this
therefore merely a secondary pursuit, and he sets about it with
reluctance: self interest, on the contrary, it is that rouses the
citizen of the states into action, and accordingly he hastily emigrates
to a distant part of the country, where he thinks land is in the most
rising state, and where he hopes to be able the soonest to gratify a
passion to which he would readily make a sacrifice of every social tie,
and of all that another man would hold dear.
On the second day of our journey from Quebec to Montreal we reached
Trois Rivieres, lying nearly midway between the two places. This town is
situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence, close to the mouth of the
River St. Maurice, the largest of upwards of thirty that fall into the
St. Lawrence, on the north-west side alone, between Quebec and Montreal.
This river, before it unites with the St. Lawrence, is divided into
three streams by two large islands, so that to a person sailing past its
mouth it appears as if three distinct rivers disembogued at the one
spot; from hence it is that the town of Trois Rivieres receives its
name.
The St. Maurice is not navigable for large vessels, neither is it for
sloops more than a few miles above its mouth. In bateaus and canoes,
however, it may be ascended nearly to its source; from whence, if credit
is to be given to the accounts of the Indians, the distance is not very
great to the head of navigable rivers that fall into Hudson’s Bay; at a
future day, therefore, if ever the dreary and inhospitable waste through
which it passes shall put on a different aspect from what it now wears,
and become the abode of human beings instead of wild beasts, the St.
Maurice may be esteemed a river of the first importance in a commercial
point of view; at present there are a few scattered settlements on each
side of it, from its mouth as far as the iron works, which are about
nine miles distant from Trois Rivieres; beyond that the country is but
little known except to Indians.
[Sidenote: TROIS RIVIERES.]
Trois Rivieres contains about two hundred and fifty or three hundred
houses, and ranks as the third town, in point of size, in the provinces.
It is one of the oldest settlements in the country, and its founder, it
is said, calculated upon its becoming in a short time a city of great
extent. It has hitherto, however, increased but very slowly in size, and
there is no reason to imagine that it will increase more rapidly in
future, at least until the country bordering upon the St. Maurice
becomes settled, a period that may be very distant. The bank of iron ore
in the neighbourhood, by the manufacture of which it was expected that
the town would suddenly become opulent, is now nearly exhausted; nor do
we find that this bank has ever furnished more ore than was sufficient
to keep one small forge and one small foundry employed at intervals. The
fur trade also, from which so much benefit was expected, is now almost
wholly centered at Quebec and Montreal; it is merely the small quantity
of furs brought down the St. Maurice, and some of the northern rivers
that fall into the St. Lawrence, nearer to the town of Trois Rivieres
than to Quebec or Montreal, that is shipped there. These furs are laden
on board the Montreal ships, which stop opposite to the town as they go
down the river.
The country in the vicinity of Trois Rivieres has been represented by
some French travellers as wonderfully fertile, and as one of the most
agreeable parts of Canada; but it is totally the reverse. It is a level
barren tract, and so sandy, that in walking along many of the streets of
the town, and the roads in the neighbourhood, you sink into the sand at
every step above the ankles. The sand is of a whitish colour, and very
loose. The air also swarms with musquitoes, a certain proof of the low
damp situation of the place. In none of the other inhabited parts of
Canada, except in the neighbourhood of Lake St. Charles, were we ever
annoyed with these troublesome insects. In Quebec, indeed, and Montreal,
they are scarcely ever seen.
The streets in Trois Rivieres are narrow, and the houses in general
small and indifferent; many of them are built of wood. There are two
churches in the town, the one an English episcopalian, the other a large
Roman catholic parish church, formerly served by the Recollets, or
Franciscan friars, but the order is now extinct in Trois Rivieres. The
old monastery of the order, a large stone building, at present lies
quite deserted; and many of the houses in the neighbourhood being also
uninhabited, that part of the town wherein it is situated has a very
dull gloomy aspect. The college or monastery of the Jesuits, also a
large old building of stone in the same neighbourhood, has been
converted into a gaol.
[Sidenote: ST. URSULE.]
The only religious order at present existing in the town is that of St.
Ursule, the sisterhood of which is as numerous as the convent will well
permit. It was founded by M. de St. Vallier, bishop of Quebec, in the
year 1677. It is a spacious building, situated near that formerly
belonging to the Recollets; and annexed to it, under the same roof,
there is an hospital attended by the nuns. We were introduced to the
chaplain of the order, a poor French emigrant curé, an interesting and
apparently a most amiable man, and under his guidance we received
permission to visit the convent.
The first part we entered was the chapel, the doors of which open to the
street under a porch. It is very lofty, but the area of it is small. The
altar, which is grand, and richly ornamented, stands nearly opposite to
the entrance, and on each side of it is a lattice, the one communicating
with an apartment allotted for sick nuns, the other with the cœur of the
chapel. On ringing a small bell, a curtain at the inside of this last
lattice was withdrawn, and an apartment discovered, somewhat larger than
the chapel, surrounded with pews, and furnished with an altar, at the
foot of which sat two of the sisterhood, with books in their hands, at
their meditations. The fair Ursuline, who came to the lattice, seemed to
be one of those unfortunate females that had at last begun to feel all
the horrors of confinement, and to lament the rashness of that vow which
had secluded her for ever from the world, and from the participation of
those innocent pleasures, which, for the best and wisest of purposes,
the beneficent Ruler of the universe meant that his creatures should
enjoy. As she withdrew the curtain, she cast a momentary glance through
the grating, that imparted more than could be expressed by the most
eloquent words; then retiring in silence, seated herself on a bench in a
distant part of the cœur. The melancholy and sorrow pourtrayed in the
features of her lovely countenance interested the heart in her behalf,
and it was impossible to behold her without partaking of that dejection
which hung over her soul, and without deprecating at the same time the
cruelty of the custom which allows, and the mistaken zeal of a religion
that encourages, an artless and inexperienced young creature to renounce
a world, of which she was destined, perhaps, to be a happy and useful
member, for an unprofitable life of solitude, and unremitted penance for
sins never committed!
[Sidenote: URSULINES.]
The hospital, which lies contiguous to the chapel, consists of two large
apartments, wherein are about twelve or fourteen beds. The apartments
are airy, and the beds neat and well appointed. Each bed is dedicated to
a particular saint, and over the foot of it is an invocation to the
tutelary saint, in large characters, as, “St. Jaques priez pour moi.”
“St. Jean priez pour moi,” &c. The patients are attended by a certain
number of the sisterhood appointed for that purpose. An old priest, who
appeared to be near his death, was the only person in the hospital when
we passed through it; he was seated in an easy chair by the bed-side,
and surrounded by a number of the sisters, who paid him the most
assiduous attention.
The dress of the Ursulines consists of a black stuff gown; a
handkerchief of white linen tied by a running string close round the
throat, and hanging down over the breast and shoulders, being rounded at
the corners; a head-piece of white linen, which covers half the
forehead, the temples, and ears, and is fastened to the handkerchief; a
black gauze veil, which conceals half the face only when down, and flows
loosely over the shoulders; and a large plain silver cross suspended
from the breast. The dress is very unbecoming, the hair being totally
concealed, and the shape of the face completely disguised by the close
white head-piece.
From the hospital we were conduced through a long passage to an
agreeable light parlour, the windows of which opened into the gardens of
the convent. This was the apartment of the “Superieure,” who soon made
her appearance, accompanied by a number of the lay sisters. The
conversation of the old lady and her protegées was lively and agreeable;
a thousand questions were asked us respecting the former part of our
tour, and our future destination; and they seemed by no means displeased
at having a few strangers of a different sex from their own within the
walls of the convent. Many apologies were made, because they could not
take us through the “interieure,” as there was an ordinance against
admitting any visiters into it without leave from the bishop; they
regretted exceedingly that we had not obtained this leave before we left
Quebec. After some time was spent in conversation, a great variety of
fancy works, the fabrication of the sisterhood, was brought down for our
inspection, some of which it is always expected that strangers will
purchase, for the order is but poor. We selected a few of the articles
which appeared most curious, and having received them packed up in the
neatest manner in little boxes kept for the purpose, and promised to
preserve them in memory of the fair Ursulines, that handed them to us,
we bade adieu to the superieure, and returned to our lodgings.
[Sidenote: BARK CANOES.]
It is for their very curious bark work that the sisters of this convent
are particularly distinguished. The bark of the birch tree is what they
use, and with it they make pocket-books, work-baskets, dressing-boxes,
&c. &c. which they embroider with elk hair died of the most brilliant
colours. They also make models of the Indian canoes, and various warlike
implements used by the Indians.
Nearly all the birch bark canoes in use on the St. Lawrence and Utawa
Rivers, and on the nearer lakes, are manufactured at Three Rivers, and
in the neighbourhood, by Indians. The birch tree is found in great
plenty near the town; but it is from the more northern part of the
country, where the tree attains a very large size, that the principal
part of the bark is procured that canoes are made with. The bark
resembles in some degree that of the cork tree, but it is of a closer
grain, and also much more pliable, for it admits of being rolled up the
same as a piece of cloth. The Indians of this part of the country always
carry large rolls of it in their canoes when they go on a hunting party,
for the purpose of making temporary huts. The bark is spread on small
poles over their heads, and fastened with strips of elm bark, which is
remarkably tough, to stakes, so as to form walls on the sides.
The canoes are made with birch bark, as follows: The ribs, consisting of
thick tough rods, are first bound together; then the birch bark is sowed
on in as large pieces as possible, and a thick coat of pitch is laid
over the seams between the different pieces. To prevent the bark being
injured by the cargo, and to make the canoe stronger, its inside is
lined with two layers of thin pieces of pine, laid in a contrary
direction to each other. A canoe made in this manner is so light that
two men could easily carry one on their shoulders capable of containing
six people.
The birch canoes made at Three Rivers are put together with the utmost
neatness, and on the water they appear very beautiful. They are made
from a size sufficient to hold one man only, to a size large enough for
upwards of twenty. It is wonderful to see with what velocity a few
skilful men with paddles can take on of these canoes of a size suitable
to their number. In a few minutes they would leave the best moulded keel
boat, conducted by a similar number of men with oars, far behind. None
but experienced persons ought ever to attempt to navigate birch canoes,
for they are so light that they are apt to be overset by the least
improper movement of the persons in them.
[Sidenote: VILLAGES.]
The day after that on which we quitted Trois Rivieres, we reached
Montreal once more. The villages between the two places are very
numerous, and the face of the country around them is pleasing, so that
the eye of the traveller is constantly entertained as he passes on; but
there is nothing in this part of the country particularly deserving of
mention.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXIX.
_The Party make the usual Preparations for ascending the St.
Lawrence.—Buffalo Skins.—How used by Travellers.—Difficulty of
proceeding to Lake Ontario otherwise than by Water.—Rapids above
Montreal.—Village of La Chine.—King’s Stores there.—Indian Village on
the opposite side of the River.—Similitude between French Canadians
and Indians in Person and Disposition of Mind.—Owing to this the Power
of the French over the Indians.—Summary View of the Indians in Lower
Canada.—The Party embark in a Bateau at La Chine.—Mode of conducing
Bateaux against a strong Current.—Great Exertion requisite.—Canadians
addicted to smoking.—How they measure Distances.—Description of Lake
St. Louis.—Clouds of Insects over Reed Banks.—Party encamps on l’Isle
Perot.—Passage of Rapids called Les Cascades.—Their tremendous
Appearance.—Description of the Village of the Hill of Cedars.—Rapids
du Coteau du Lac.—Wonderful Rapidity of the Current.—Party
encamps.—Lake St. Francis.—Point au Baudet.—L’Isle aux
Raisins.—Islands in the River still the Property of the Indians.—Not
determined yet whether in the British Territory or that of the
States.—Party encamps.—Storm.—Unpleasant Situation of the
Party.—Relieved.—Continue the Voyage.—Account of more Rapids.—Canals
and Locks at different Places on the River St. Lawrence.—Immense
Flights of Pigeons.—Emigration of Squirrels and Bears.—Oswegatchee
River and Fort la Galette described.—Advantageous Position of the
latter.—Current above this gentle.—Bateaux sail on all Night.—Songs of
the Canadians.—Good Ear for Music.—Lake of a Thousand Isles.—Arrival
at Kingston on Lake Ontario.—Observations on the Navigation of_ _the
St. Lawrence.—The St. Lawrence compared with the Mississippi.—A View
of the different Rivers which open a Water Communication between the
Great Lakes and the Atlantic.—Great Superiority of the St. Lawrence
over all the rest.—Of the Lake Trade._
Kingston, September.
[Sidenote: MONTREAL AND KINGSTON.]
ON arriving at Montreal, our first concern was to provide a large
travelling tent, and some camp equipage, buffalo skins[2], a store of
dried provisions, kegs of brandy and wine, &c. &c. and, in short, to
make every usual and necessary preparation for proceeding up the River
St. Lawrence. A few days afterwards, we took our passage for Kingston,
on board a bateau, which, together with twelve others, the commissary
was sending thither for the purpose of bringing down to Quebec the
cannon and ordnance stores that had been taken from the different
military posts on the lakes, preparatory to their being delivered up to
the United States.
Footnote 2:
In the western parts of Lower Canada, and throughout Upper Canada,
where it is customary for travellers to carry their own bedding with
them, these skins are very generally made use of for the purpose of
sleeping upon. For upwards of two months we scarcely ever had any
other bed than one of the skins spread on the floor and a blanket to
each person. The skins are dressed by the Indians with the hair on,
and they are rendered by a certain process as pliable as cloth. When
the buffalo is killed in the beginning of the winter, at which time he
is fenced against the cold, the hair resembles very much that of a
black bear; it is then long, straight, and of a blackish colour; but
when the animal is killed in the summer, the hair is short and curly,
and of a light brown colour, owing to its being scorched by the rays
of the sun.
On the north-west side of the St. Lawrence, except for about fifty miles
or thereabouts, are roads, and also scattered settlements, at no great
distance from each other, the whole way between Montreal and Kingston,
which is situated at the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario; but no one
ever thinks of going thither by land, on account of the numberless
inconveniencies such a journey would be attended with; indeed, the
difficulty of getting horses across the many deep and rapid rivers
falling into the St. Lawrence, would in itself be sufficient to deter
travellers from proceeding by land to Kingston, supposing even that
there were none other to encounter. A water conveyance is by far the
most eligible, and except only between Quebec and Montreal, it is the
conveyance universally made use of in every part of the country, that
is, when people wish merely to follow the course of the rivers, in the
neighbourhood of which alone there are any settlements.
The rapids in the St. Lawrence are so very strong just above Montreal,
that the bateaux are never laden at the town, but suffered to proceed
empty as far as the village of La Chine, which stands on the island of
Montreal, about nine miles higher up. The goods are sent, from Montreal,
thither in carts.
[Sidenote: LA CHINE.]
La Chine is built on a fine gravelly beach, at the head of a little bay
at the lower end of Lake St. Louis, which is a broad part of the river
St. Lawrence. A smart current sets down the lake, and owing to it there
is generally a considerable curl on the surface of the water, even close
to the shore, which, with the appearance of the boats and canoes upon it
in motion, gives the place a very lively air. The situation of the
village is indeed extremely agreeable, and from some of the storehouses
there are most charming views of the lake, and of the country at the
opposite side of it. There are very extensive storehouses belonging to
the King, and also to the merchants of Montreal. In the former the
presents for the Indians are deposited as soon as they arrive from
England; and prior to their being sent up the country they are inspected
by the commanding officer of the garrison of Montreal and a committee of
merchants, who are bound to make a faithful report to government,
whether the presents are agreeable to the contract, and as good as could
be obtained for the price that is paid for them.
In sight of La Chine, on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence, stands
the village of the Cachenonaga Indians, whom I have already had occasion
to mention. The village contains about fifty log houses and a Roman
catholic church, built in the Canadian style, and ornamented within with
pictures, lamps, &c. in such a manner as to attract the eye as forcibly
as possible. The outward shew, and numerous ceremonies of the Roman
catholic religion, are particularly suited to the capacities of the
Indians, and as but very little restraint is imposed upon them by the
missionaries, more of them become converts to that religion than to any
other. The worship of the Holy Virgin meets in a very peculiar manner
with the approbation of the squaws, and they sing her praises with the
most profound devotion.
In this and all the other Indian villages situated in the improved parts
of Lower Canada, a great mixture of the blood of whites with that of the
aborigines is observable in the persons of the inhabitants; there are
also considerable numbers of the French Canadians living in these
villages, who have married Indian wives, and have been adopted into the
different nations with whom they reside. Many of the French Canadians
bear such a close resemblance to the Indians, owing to their dark
complexions, black eyes, and long black hair, that when attired in the
same habits it is only a person intimately acquainted with the features
of the Indians that could distinguish the one race of men from the
other. The dispositions of the two people also accord together in a very
striking manner; both are averse to a settled life, and to regular
habits of industry; both are fond of roving about, and procuring
sustenance by hunting rather than by cultivating the earth; nature seems
to have implanted in their hearts a reciprocal affection for each other;
they associate together, and live on the most amicable terms; and to
this one circumstance more than to any other cause is to be attributed
that wonderful ascendancy which the French were ever known to have over
the Indians, whilst they had possession of Canada. It is very remarkable
indeed, that in the upper country, notwithstanding that presents to such
a very large amount are distributed amongst the Indians through the
hands of the English inhabitants, and that their natural rights are as
much respected by them as they possibly can be, yet an Indian, even at
this day, will always go to the house of a poor French farmer in
preference to that of an Englishman.
[Sidenote: CACHENONAGA INDIANS.]
The numbers of the Cachenonaga nation, in the village near La Chine, are
estimated at one hundred and fifty persons. The other Indian villages,
in the civilized parts of Lower Canada, are, one of the Canasadogas,
situated near the mouth of the Utawas River; one of the Little
Algonquins, near Trois Rivieres; one of the Aberachies, near Trois
Rivieres, at the opposite side of the river; and one of the Hurons, near
Quebec; but none of these villages are as large as that of the
Cachenonagas. The numbers of the Indians in the lower province have
diminished very fast of late years, as they have done in every other
part of the continent, where those of the white inhabitants have
increased; in the whole lower province, at present, it is thought that
there are not more than twelve hundred of them. Many of these Indians
are continually loitering about the large towns, in expectation of
getting spirits or bread, which they are extremely fond of, from the
inhabitants. No less than two hundred, that had come a great distance in
canoes, from the lower parts of the river St. Lawrence, were encamped on
Point Levi when we visited Quebec. These Indians, squalid and filthy in
the extreme, and going about the streets every day in large parties,
begging, presented a most melancholy picture of human nature; and
indeed, if a traveller never saw any of the North American Indians, but
the most decent of those who are in the habit of frequenting the large
towns of Lower Canada, he would not be led to entertain an opinion
greatly in their favour. The farther you ascend up the country, and
consequently the nearer you see the Indians to what they were in their
original state, before their manners were corrupted by intercourse with
the whites, the more do you find in their character and conduct
deserving of admiration.
[Sidenote: BRIGADE OF BATEAUX.]
It was on the 28th day of August that we reached La Chine; the next day
the “brigade,” as it was called, of bateaux was ready, and in the
afternoon we set out on our voyage. Three men are found sufficient to
conduct an empty bateau of about two tons burthen up the St. Lawrence,
but if the bateau be laden more are generally allowed. They ascend the
stream by means of poles, oars, and sails. Where the current is very
strong, they make use of the former, keeping as close as possible to the
shore, in order to avoid the current, and to have the advantage of
shallow water to pole in. The men set their poles altogether at the same
moment, and all work at the same side of the bateau; the steersman,
however, shifts his pole occasionally from side to side, in order to
keep the vessel in an even direction. The poles commonly used are about
eight feet in length, extremely light, and headed with iron. On coming
to a deep bay or inlet, the men abandon the poles, take to their oars,
and strike if possible directly across the mouth of the bay; but in many
places the current proves so strong that it is absolutely impossible to
stem it by means of oars, and they are obliged to pole entirely round
the bays. Whenever the wind is favourable they set their sail; but it is
only at the upper end of the river, beyond the rapids, or on the lakes
or broad parts of it, where the current is not swift, that the sail by
itself is sufficient to impel them forward.
The exertion it requires to counteract the force of the stream by means
of poles and oars is so great, that the men are obliged to stop very
frequently to take breath. The places at which they stop are regularly
ascertained; some of them, where the current is very rapid, are not more
than half a mile distant one from the other; others one or two, but none
of them more than four miles apart. Each of these places the boatmen,
who are almost all French Canadians, denominate “une pipe,” because they
are allowed to stop at it and fill their pipes. A French Canadian is
scarcely ever without a pipe in his mouth, whether working at the oar or
plough; whether on foot, or on horseback; indeed, so much addicted are
the people to smoking, that by the burning of the tobacco in their pipes
they commonly ascertain the distance from one place to another. Such a
place, they say, is three pipes off, that is, it is so far off that you
may smoke three pipes full of tobacco whilst you go thither. A pipe, in
the most general acceptation of the word, seemed to be about three
quarters of an English mile.
[Sidenote: LAKE ST. LOUIS.]
Lake St. Louis, commencing, or rather terminating, at La Chine, for that
village stands at the lower end of it, is about twelve miles in length
and four in breadth. At its uppermost extremity it receives a large
branch of the Utawas River, and also the south-west branch of the River
St. Lawrence, which by some geographers is called the River Cadaraqui,
and by others the River Iroquois; but in the country, generally
speaking, the whole of that river, running from Lake Ontario to the
Gulph of St. Lawrence, goes simply under the name of the St. Lawrence.
At the upper end of Lake St. Louis the water is very shallow, owing to
the banks of mud and sand washed up by the two rivers. These very
extensive banks, are entirely covered with reeds, so that when a vessel
sails over them she appears at a little distance to be absolutely
sailing over dry land. As we passed along this part of the lake we were
enveloped with clouds of little insects, different from any I ever saw
before or afterwards in the country; but they are common, it is said, on
various parts of the River St. Lawrence. Their size was somewhat larger
than that of the gnat; their colour a pure white; and so delicately were
they formed, that by the slightest touch they were destroyed and reduced
to powder. They were particularly attracted by any white object, and
having once alighted were not to be driven away but by force. The leaves
of a book, which I happened to have in my hand, were in a few seconds so
thickly covered by them that it was impossible to discern a single
letter, and no sooner was one swarm of them brushed off than a fresh one
immediately alighted. These insects have very broad wings in proportion
to their size, and fly heavily, so that it is only when the air is
remarkably calm that they can venture to make their appearance.
[Sidenote: ENCAMPMENT.]
About sun-set on this, the first evening of our voyage, we reached the
island of Perot, situated at the mouth of the Utawas River. This island
is about fourteen miles in circumference; its soil is fertile, and it is
well cultivated. There are two considerable villages near its center,
but towards Point St. Claire, at its lower extremity, the settlements
are but very few. We landed at the point, and pitched our tent in a
meadow which stood bordering upon the water. Here the bateaux were drawn
up, and having been properly secured, the different crews, amounting in
all to upwards of fifty men, divided themselves into small parties, and
kindled fires along the shore, in order to cook their provisions for the
succeeding day, and to keep themselves warm during the night. These men,
who are engaged in conducting bateaux in Canada, are, as I have before
observed, a very hardy race: when the weather is fair, they sleep on the
grass at night, without any other covering than a short blanket,
scarcely reaching down to their knees; during wet weather a sail or a
blanket to the weather side, spread on poles stuck into the ground in an
inclined direction, is all the shelter they deem necessary. On setting
out each man is furnished with a certain allowance of salted pork,
biscuit, pease, and brandy; the pease and biscuit they boil with some of
the pork into porridge, and a large vessel full of it, is generally kept
at the head of the bateau, for the use of the crew when they stop in the
course of the day. This porridge, or else cold fat salted pork, with
cucumbers, constitutes the principal part of their food. The cucumber is
a fruit that the lower classes of the French Canadians are extremely
fond of; they use it however in a very indifferent state, as they never
pull it until it has attained a large size, and is become yellow and
seedy. Cucumbers thus mellow, chopped into small pieces without being
peeled, and afterwards mixed with sour cream, is one of their favourite
dishes.
At day-break on the second morning of our voyage, we quitted the island
of Perot, and crossed the Utawas River, in order to gain the mouth of
the south-west branch of the St. Lawrence. A tremendous scene is here
presented to the view; each river comes rushing down into the lake, over
immense rocks, with an impetuosity which, seemingly, nothing can resist.
The waves are as high as what are commonly met with in the British
Channel during a smart breeze, and the breakers so numerous and
dangerous, that one would imagine a bateau could not possibly live in
the midst of them; and indeed, unless it were navigated by men
intimately acquainted with the place, and very expert at the same time,
there would be evident danger of its being filled with water. Several
times, as we passed through the breakers, the water dashed over the
sides of our bateau. Tremendous and dangerous, however, as the rapids
are at this spot, they are much less so than some of those met with
higher up the River St. Lawrence.
The water of the Utawas River is remarkably clear, and of a bright
greenish colour; that of the St. Lawrence, on the contrary, is muddy,
owing to its passing over deep beds of marl for some miles before it
enters into Lake St. Louis. For a considerable way down the lake the
waters of the two rivers may be plainly distinguished from each other.
[Sidenote: THE RAPIDS.]
The Rapids immediately at the mouth of the south-west branch of the St.
Lawrence are called “Les Cascades,” or, “Le Saut de Trou.” In laden
bateaux it is no arduous task to shoot down them, but it is impossible
to mount against the stream even in such as are empty. In order to avoid
the laborious task therefore of carrying them along the shore past the
rapids, as used formerly to be done, a canal with a double lock has been
made here at a great expence. This canal extends but a very little way,
not more than fifty yards perhaps. Beyond this there is a succession of
other rapids, the first of which, called “Le Saut de Buisson” on account
of the closeness of the woods along the shores on each side, is so
strong, that in order to pass it, it is necessary to lighten the bateaux
very considerably. If the cargoes are large, they are wholly taken out
at once, and sent forward in carts to the distance of a mile and a half,
past all the rapids. The men are always obliged here to get out of the
bateaux, and haul them along with ropes, it being wholly impracticable
to counteract the force of the current by means of poles alone.
The passage of these rapids is so very tedious, that we here quitted the
bateaux, took our guns in hand, and proceeded on foot to “Le Coteau des
Cedres,” the Hill of Cedars, about nine miles higher up the river. In
going thither you soon lose sight of the few straggling houses at the
cascades, and enter the recesses of a remarkably thick wood, whose
solemn gloom, together with the loud roaring of the waters at a
distance, and the wild appearance of every object around you, inspire
the mind with a sort of pleasing horror. As you approach “Le Coteau des
Cedres,” the country assumes a softer aspect; cultivated fields and neat
cottages once more appear in view, and the river, instead of being
agitated by tremendous rapids, is here seen gliding on with an even
current between its lofty banks.
The village of the Hill of Cedars contains about thirty houses, amongst
which we were agreeably surprised to find a remarkably neat and
excellent tavern, kept by an English woman. We remained here until three
in the afternoon, when we again set off on foot, partly for the pleasure
of beholding, from the top of the steep banks, the many noble and
beautiful prospects laid open before us, and partly for the pleasure of
stopping occasionally to chat with the lively French girls, that, during
this delicious season of the year, sat spinning in groups at the doors
of the cottages. About five o’clock the bateaux overtook us; but after
proceeding in them for about two miles, we again landed to escape the
tedious process of ascending fresh rapids. These are called the rapids
“du Coteau du Lac St. François;” they are several miles in length, and
though not the most dangerous, are yet the most tremendous to appearance
of any in the whole river, the white breakers being distinctly visible
at the distance of four miles; some travellers have gone so far as to
represent them as even more terrible to the beholder than the falls of
Niagara, but this is a very exaggerated account. Boats are here carried
down with the stream at the rate of fourteen or fifteen miles an hour,
according to the best information I could procure on the subject, though
the Canadian boatmen and others declare that they are carried down at
the rate of twenty miles in the hour. At some of the rapids, higher up
the river, the current is considerably swifter than at this place.
[Sidenote: THE RAPIDS.]
In descending these rapids they pass through the breakers in the middle
of the river, but in going up they keep close in to the shore, on the
north-west side, and being here sheltered by a numerous cluster of
islands, which break the force of the current, and having the benefit of
a short canal and locks, they get past the rapids with less difficulty
even than they pass the cascades. One of the islands here, farther
removed from the shore than the rest, is called Prisoners Island, having
been allotted for the residence of some of the American prisoners during
the last war. There were some buildings on the island at that time, but
it has been quite deserted since, on account of the great difficulty of
getting to it through the strong rapids. During the war, an officer, who
had compelled some of the Canadians, notwithstanding their
remonstrances, to make an attempt to reach the island at an improper
season, perished, with a great number of men, in going thither. Of the
whole party one alone escaped with his life. The St. Lawrence is here
about two miles wide.
This evening, the second of our voyage, the bateaux were drawn up for
the night at the bottom of “Le Coteau du Lac,” the Hill of the Lake, and
we pitched our tent on the margin of a wood, at a little distance from
the river. The next morning we proceeded again on foot for about two
miles, when we came to a tavern, where we waited the arrival of the
bateaux. The people of this house were English. From hence upwards there
are but few French to be met with.
[Sidenote: LAKE ST. FRANCOIS.]
We were detained here nearly half the day in endeavouring to procure a
fresh man, one of the conductor’s crew having been seized with an
intermittent fever. At last a man from a neighbouring settlement made
his appearance, and we proceeded on our voyage. We now entered Lake St.
François, which is about twenty-five miles in length, and five in
breadth; but the wind being unfavourable, we were prevented from
proceeding farther upon it than Point au Baudet, at which place the
boundary line commences, that separates the upper from the lower
province. When the wind comes from the south-west, the immense body of
water in the lake is impelled, directly towards this point, and a surge
breaks in upon the beach, as tremendous as is seen on the sea-shore.
There was one solitary house here, which proved to be a tavern, and
afforded us a well-drest supper of venison, and decent accommodation for
the night.
The next day the wind was not more favourable; but as it was
considerably abated, we were enabled to prosecute our voyage, coasting
along the shores of the lake. This was a most laborious and tedious
business, on account of the numerous bays and inlets, which the wind was
not sufficiently abated to suffer us to cross at their mouths:
notwithstanding all the difficulties, however, we had to contend with,
we advanced nearly twenty-five miles in the course of the day.
At the head of Lake St. François, we landed on a small island, called
“Isle aux Raisins,” on account of the number of wild vines growing upon
it. The bateaux men gathered great quantities of the grapes, wherewith
the trees were loaded, and also an abundance of plumbs, which they
devoured with great avidity. Neither of the fruits, however, were very
tempting to persons whose palates had been accustomed to the taste of
garden fruits. The grapes were sour, and not larger than peas; and as
for the plumbs, though much larger in size, yet their taste did not
differ materially from that of sloes.
[Sidenote: ISLANDS.]
Beyond L’Isle aux Raisins, in the narrow part of the river, there are
several other islands, the largest of which called L’isle St. Regis, is
near ten miles in length. All these islands still continue in the
possession of the Indians, and many of them, being situated as nearly as
possible in the middle of the river, which here divides the British
territory from that of the United States, it yet remains to be
determined of what territory they form a part. It is sincerely to be
desired that this matter may be adjusted amicably in due time. A serious
altercation has already taken place about an island similarly situated
in Detroit River, that will be more particularly mentioned hereafter.
The Indians not only retain possession of these different islands, but
likewise of the whole of the south-east shore, of the St. Lawrence,
situated within the bounds of the United States; they likewise have
considerable strips of land on the opposite shore, within the British
dominions, bordering upon the river; these they have reserved to
themselves for hunting. The Iroquois Indians have a village upon the
Isle of St. Regis, and another also upon the main land, on the
south-east shore; as we passed it, several of the inhabitants put off in
canoes, and exchanged unripe heads[3] of Indian corn with the men for
bread; they also brought with them some very fine wild ducks and fish,
which they disposed of to us on very moderate terms.
Footnote 3:
The heads of Indian corn, before they become hard, are esteemed a
great delicacy; the most approved method of dressing, is to parboil,
and afterwards roast them.
On the fourth night of our voyage we encamped, as usual, on the main
land opposite the island of St. Regis; and the excellent viands we had
procured from the Indians having been cooked, we set down to supper
before a large fire, materials for which are never wanting in this woody
country. The night was uncommonly serene, and we were induced to remain
until a late hour in front of our tent, talking of the various
occurrences in the course of the day; but we had scarcely retired to
rest, when the sky became overcast, a dreadful storm arose, and by
day-break the next morning we found ourselves, and every thing belonging
to us, drenched with rain. Our situation now was by no means agreeable;
torrents still came pouring down; neither our tent nor the woods
afforded us any shelter, and the wind being very strong, and as adverse
as it could blow, there was no prospect of our being enabled speedily to
get into better quarters. In this state we had remained for a
considerable time, when one of the party, who had been rambling about in
order to discover what sort of a neighbourhood we were in, returned with
the pleasing intelligence that there was a house at no great distance,
and that the owner had politely invited us to it. It was the house of an
old provincial officer, who had received a grant of land in this part of
the country for his past services. We gladly proceeded to it, and met
with a most cordial welcome from the captain and his fair daughters, who
had provided a plenteous breakfast, and spared no pains to make their
habitation, during our stay, as pleasing to us as possible. We felt
great satisfaction at the idea, that it would be in our power to spend
the remainder of the day with these worthy and hospitable people; but
alas, we had all formed an erroneous opinion of the weather; the wind
suddenly veered about; the sun broke through the thick clouds; the
conductor gave the parting order; and in a few minutes we found
ourselves once more seated in our bateau.
[Sidenote: THE LONG FALL.]
From hence upwards, for the distance of forty miles, the current of the
river is extremely strong, and numberless rapids are to be encountered,
which, though not so tremendous to appearance as those at the Cascades,
and “Le Coteau du Lac,” are yet both more dangerous and more difficult
to pass. The great danger, however, consists in going down them; it
arises from the shallowness of the water and the great number of sharp
rocks, in the midst of which the vessels are hurried along with such
impetuosity, that if they unfortunately get into a wrong channel,
nothing can save them from being dashed to pieces; but so intimately are
the people usually employed on this river acquainted with the different
channels, that an accident of the sort is scarcely ever heard of. “Le
Long Saut,” the Long Fall or Rapid, situated about thirty miles above
Lake St. Francis, is the most dangerous of any one in the river, and so
difficult a matter is it to pass it, that it requires no less than six
men on shore to haul a single bateau against the current. There is a
third canal with locks at this place, in order to avoid a point, which
it would be wholly impracticable to weather in the ordinary way. These
different canals and locks have been made at the expence of government,
and the profits arising from the tolls paid by every bateau that passes
through them are placed in the public treasury. At these rapids, and at
several of the others, there are very extensive flour and saw mills.
On the fifth night we arrived at a small farm house, at the top of the
“Long Saut,” wet from head to foot, in consequence of our having been
obliged to walk past the rapids through woods and bushes still dripping
after the heavy rain that had fallen in the morning. The woods in this
neighbourhood are far more majestic than on any other part of the St.
Lawrence; the pines in particular are uncommonly tall, and seem to wave
their tops in the very clouds. In Canada, pines grow on the richest
soils; but in the United States they grow mostly on poor ground: a tract
of land covered solely with pines is there generally denominated “a pine
barren,” on account of its great poverty.
[Sidenote: WILD PIGEONS.]
During a considerable part of the next day, we also proceeded on foot,
in order to escape the tedious passage up the “Rapide Plat,” and some of
the other dangerous rapids in this part of the river. As we passed
along, we had excellent diversion in shooting pigeons, several large
flights of which we met with in the woods. The wild pigeons of Canada
are not unlike the common English wood pigeons, except that they are of
a much smaller size: their flesh is very well flavoured. During
particular years, these birds come down from the northern regions in
flights that it is marvellous to tell of. A gentleman of the town of
Niagara assured me, that once as he was embarking there on board ship
for Toronto, a flight of them was observed coming from that quarter;
that as he sailed over Lake Ontario to Toronto, forty miles distant from
Niagara, pigeons were seen flying over head the whole way in a contrary
direction to that in which the ship proceeded; and that on arriving at
the place of his destination, the birds were still observed coming down
from the north in as large bodies as had been noticed at any one time
during the whole voyage; supposing, therefore, that the pigeons moved no
faster than the vessel, the flight, according to this gentleman’s
account, must at least have extended eighty miles. Many persons may
think this story surpassing belief; for my own part, however, I do not
hesitate to give credit to it, knowing, as I do, the respectability of
the gentleman who related it, and the accuracy of his observation. When
these birds appear in such great numbers, they often light on the
borders of rivers and lakes, and in the neighbourhood of farm houses, at
which time they are so unwary that a man with a short stick might easily
knock them down by hundreds. It is not oftener than once in seven or
eight years, perhaps, that such large flocks of these birds are seen in
the country. The years in which they appear are denominated “pigeon
years.”
There are also “bear years” and “squirrel years.” This was both a bear
and a squirrel year. The former, like the pigeons, came down from the
northern regions, and were most numerous in the neighbourhood of lakes
Ontario and Erie, and along the upper parts of the River St. Lawrence.
On arriving at the borders of these lakes, or of the river, if the
opposite shore was in sight, they generally took to the water, and
endeavoured to reach it by swimming. Prodigious numbers of them were
killed in crossing the St. Lawrence by the Indians, who had hunting
encampments, at short distances from each other, the whole way along the
banks of the river, from the island of St. Regis to Lake Ontario. One
bear, of a very large size, boldly entered the river in the face of our
bateaux, and was killed by some of our men whilst swimming from the main
land to one of the islands. In the woods it is very rare that bears will
venture to attack a man; but several instances that had recently
occurred were mentioned to us, where they had attacked a single man in a
canoe whilst swimming, and so very strong are they in the water, that
the men thus set upon, being unarmed, escape narrowly with their lives.
[Sidenote: BEARS AND SQUIRRELS.]
The squirrels, this year, contrary to the bears, migrated from the
south, from the territory of the United States. Like the bears, they
took to the water on arriving at it, but as if conscious of their
inability to cross a very wide piece of water, they bent their course
towards Niagara River, above the falls, and at its narrowest and most
tranquil part crossed over into the British territory. It was
calculated, that upwards of fifty thousand of them crossed the river in
the course of two or three days, and such great depredations did they
commit on arriving at the settlements on the opposite side, that in one
part of the country the farmers deemed themselves very fortunate where
they got in as much as one third of their crops of corn. These squirrels
were all of the black kind, said to be peculiar to the continent of
America; they are in shape similar to the common grey squirrel, and
weigh from about one to two pounds and a half each. Some writers have
asserted, that these animals cannot swim, but that when they come to a
river, in migrating, each one provides itself with a piece of wood or
bark, upon which, when a favourable wind offers, they embark, spread
their bushy tails to catch the wind, and are thus wafted over to the
opposite side. Whether these animals do or do not cross in this manner
sometimes, I cannot take upon me to say; but I can safely affirm, that
they do not always cross so, as I have frequently shot them in the water
whilst swimming: no animals swim better, and when pursued, I have seen
them eagerly take to the water. Whilst swimming, their tail is useful to
them by way of rudder, and they use it with great dexterity; owing to
its being so light and bushy, the greater part of it floats upon the
water, and thus helps to support the animal. The migration of any of
these animals in such large numbers is said to be an infallible sign of
a severe winter[4].
Footnote 4:
In the present instance it certainly was so, for the ensuing winter
proved to be the severest that had been known in North America for
several years.
On the sixth evening of our voyage we stopped nearly opposite to Point
aux Iroquois, so named from a French family having been cruelly
massacred there by the Iroquois Indians in the early ages of the colony.
The ground being still extremely wet here, in consequence of the heavy
rain of the preceding day, we did not much relish the thoughts of
passing the night in our tent; yet there seemed to be no alternative, as
the only house in sight was crowded with people, and not capable of
affording us any accommodations. Luckily, however, as we were searching
about for the driest spot to pitch our tent upon, one of the party
espied a barn at a little distance, belonging to the man of the
adjoining house, of whom we procured the key; it was well stored with
straw, and having mounted to the top of the mow, we laid ourselves down
to rest, and slept soundly there till awakened in the morning by the
crowing of some cocks, that were perched on the beams above our head.
[Sidenote: OSWEGATCHEE RIVER.]
At an early hour we pursued our voyage, and before noon passed the last
rapid, about three miles below the mouth of Oswegatchee River, the most
considerable of those within the territory of the United States, which
fall into the St. Lawrence. It consists of three branches, that unite
together about fifteen miles above its mouth, the most western of which
issues from a lake twenty miles in length and eight in breadth. Another
of the branches issues from a small lake or pond, only about four miles
distant from the western branch of Hudson’s River, that flows past New
York. Both the Hudson and Oswegatchee are said to be capable of being
made navigable for light bateaux as far as this spot, where they
approach within so short a distance of each other, except only at a few
places, so that the portages will be but very trifling. This however is
a mere conjecture, for Oswegatchee River is but very imperfectly known,
the country it passes through being quite uninhabited; but should it be
found, at a future period, that these rivers are indeed capable of being
rendered navigable so far up the country, it will probably be through
this channel that the chief part of the trade that there may happen to
be between New York and the country bordering upon Lake Ontario will be
carried on. It is at present carried on between that city and the lake
by means of Hudson River, as far as Albany, and from thence by means of
the Mohawks River, Wood Creek, Lake Oneida, and Oswego River, which
falls into Lake Ontario. The harbour at the mouth of Oswego River is
very bad on account of the sand banks; none but flat bottomed vessels
can approach with safety nearer to it than two miles; nor is there any
good harbour on the south side of Lake Ontario in the neighbourhood of
any large rivers. Sharp built vessels, however, of a considerable size,
can approach with safety to the mouth of Oswegatchee River. The Seneca,
a British vessel of war of twenty-six guns, used formerly to ply
constantly between Fort de la Galette, situated at the mouth of that
river, and the fort at Niagara; and the British fur ships on the lakes
used also, at that time, to discharge the cargoes there, brought down
from the upper country. As therefore the harbour at the mouth of
Oswegatchee is so much better than that at the mouth of Oswego River,
and as they are nearly an equal distance from New York, there is reason
to suppose, that if the river navigation should prove equally good, the
trade between the lakes and New York will be for the most part, if not
wholly, carried on by means of Oswegatchee rather than of Oswego River.
With a fair wind, the passage from Oswegatchee River to Niagara is
accomplished in two days; a voyage only one day longer than that from
Oswego to Niagara with a fair wind.
[Sidenote: FORT GALETTE.]
Fort de la Galette was erected by the French, and though not built till
long after Fort Cataraguis or Frontignac, now Kingston, yet they
esteemed it by far the most important military post on the St. Lawrence,
in the upper country, as it was impossible for any boat or vessel to
pass up or down that river without being observed, whereas they might
easily escape unseen behind the many islands opposite to Kingston. Since
the close of the American war, Fort de la Galette has been dismantled,
as it was within the territory of the United States: nor would any
advantage have arisen from its retention; for it was never of any
importance to us but as a trading post, and as such Kingston, which is
within our own territory, is far more eligibly situated in every point
of view; it has a more safe and commodious harbour, and the fur ships
coming down from Niagara, by stopping there, are saved a voyage of sixty
miles up and down the St. Lawrence, which was oftentimes found to be
more tedious than the voyage from Niagara to Kingston.
In the neighbourhood of La Galette, on the Oswegatchee River, there is a
village of the Oswegatchee Indians, whose numbers are estimated at one
hundred warriors.
The current of the St. Lawrence, from Oswegatchee upwards, is much more
gentle than in any other part between Montreal and Lake Ontario, except
only where the river is considerably dilated, as at lakes St. Louis and
St. François; however, notwithstanding its being so gentle, we did not
advance more than twenty-five miles in the course of the day, owing to
the numerous stops that we made, more from motives of pleasure than
necessity. The evening was uncommonly fine, and towards sun-set a brisk
gale springing up, the conductor judged it advisable to take advantage
of it, and to continue the voyage all night, in order to make up for the
time we had lost during the day. We accordingly proceeded, but towards
midnight the wind died away; this circumstance, however, did not alter
the determination of the conductor. The men were ordered to the oars,
and notwithstanding that they had laboured hard during the preceding
day, and had had no rest, yet they were kept closely at work until
day-break, except for one hour, during which they were allowed to stop
to cook their provisions. Where there is a gentle current, as in this
part of the river, the Canadians will work at the oar for many hours
without intermission; they seemed to think it no hardship to be kept
employed in this instance the whole night; on the contrary, they plied
as vigorously as if they had but just set out, singing merrily the whole
time. The French Canadians have in general a good ear for music, and
sing duets with tolerable accuracy. They have one very favourite duet
amongst them, called the “rowing duet,” which as they sing they mark
time to with each stroke of the oar; indeed, when rowing in smooth
water, they mark the time of most of the airs they sing in the same
manner.
[Sidenote: ISLANDS.]
About eight o’clock the next, and eighth morning of our voyage, we
entered the last lake before you come to that of Ontario, called the
Lake of a Thousand Islands, on account of the multiplicity of them which
it contains. Many of these islands are scarcely larger than a bateau,
and none of them, except such as are situated at the upper and lower
extremities of the lake, appeared to me to contain more than fifteen
English acres each. They are all covered with wood, even to the very
smallest. The trees on these last are stunted in their growth, but the
larger islands produce as fine timber as is to be found on the main
shores of the lake. Many of these islands are situated so closely
together, that it would be easy to throw a pebble from one to the other,
notwithstanding which circumstance, the passage between them is
perfectly safe and commodious for bateaux, and between some of them that
are even thus close to each other, is water sufficient for a frigate.
The water is uncommonly clear, as it is in every part of the river, from
Lake St. Francis upwards: between that lake and the Utawas River
downwards it is discoloured, as I have before observed, by passing over
beds of marl. The shores of all these islands under our notice are
rocky; most of them rise very boldly, and some exhibit perpendicular
masses of rock towards the water upwards of twenty feet high. The
scenery presented to view in sailing between these islands is beautiful
in the highest degree. Sometimes, after passing through a narrow strait,
you find yourself in a bason, land locked on every side, that appears to
have no communication with the lake, except by the passage through which
you entered; you are looking about, perhaps, for an outlet to enable you
to proceed, thinking at last to see some little channel which will just
admit your bateau, when on a sudden an expanded sheet of water opens
upon you, whose boundary is the horizon alone; again in a few minutes
you find yourself land locked, and again a spacious passage as suddenly
presents itself; at other times, when in the middle of one of these
basons, between a cluster of islands, a dozen different channels, like
so many noble rivers, meet the eye, perhaps equally unexpectedly, and on
each side the islands appear regularly retiring till they sink from the
sight in the distance. Every minute, during the passage of this lake,
the prospect varies. The numerous Indian hunting encampments on the
different islands, with the smoke of their fires rising up between the
trees, added considerably to the beauty of the scenery as we passed it.
The Lake of a Thousand Islands is twenty-five miles in length, and about
six in breadth. From its upper end to Kingston, at which place we
arrived early in the evening, the distance is fifteen miles.
The length of time required to ascend the River St. Lawrence, from
Montreal to Kingston, is commonly found to be about seven days, if the
wind should be strong and very favourable, the passage may be performed
in a less time; but should it, on the contrary, be adverse, and blow
very strong, the passage will be protracted somewhat longer; an adverse
or favourable wind, however, seldom makes a difference of more than
three days in the length of the passage upwards, as in each case it is
necessary to work the bateaux along by means of poles for the greater
part of the way. The passage downwards is performed in two or three
days, according to the wind. The current is so strong, that a contrary
wind seldom lengthens the passage in that direction more than a day.
[Sidenote: THE MISSISSIPPI.]
The Mississippi is the only river in North America, which, for grandeur
and commodiousness of navigation, comes in competition with the St.
Lawrence, or with that river which runs from Lake Ontario to the ocean.
If, however, we consider that immense body of water that flows from Lake
Winnipeg through the Lake of the Woods, Lake Superior, &c. down to the
sea, as one entire stream, and of course as a continuation of the St.
Lawrence, it must be allowed to be a very superior river to the
Mississippi in every point of view; and we may certainly consider it as
one stream, with as much reason as we look upon that as one river which
flows from Lake Ontario to the sea; for before it meets the ocean it
passes through four large lakes, not indeed to be compared with those of
Erie or Superior, in size, but they are independent lakes
notwithstanding, as much as any of the others. The Mississippi is
principally to be admired for the evenness of its current, and the
prodigious length of way it is navigable, without any interruption, for
bateaux of a very large burthen; but in many respects it is a very
inferior river to the St. Lawrence, properly so called. The Mississippi
at its mouth is not twenty miles broad, and the navigation is there so
obstructed by banks or bars, that a vessel drawing more than twelve feet
water cannot ascend it without very imminent danger. These bars at its
mouth or mouths, for it is divided by several islands, are formed by
large quantities of trees that come drifting down from the upper
country, and when once stopped by any obstacle, are quickly cemented
together by the mud, deposited between the branches by the waters of the
river, which are uncommonly foul and muddy. Fresh bars are formed, or
the old bars are enlarged every year, and it is said, that unless some
steps are taken to prevent the lodgments of the trees annually brought
down at the time of the inundation, the navigation may in a few years be
still more obstructed than it is at present. It is notorious, that since
the river was first discovered, several islands and points have been
formed near its mouth, and the different channels have undergone very
material alterations for the worse, as to their courses and depths. The
River St. Lawrence, however, on the contrary, is no less than ninety
miles wide at its mouth, and it is navigable for ships of the line as
far as Quebec, a distance of four hundred miles from the sea. The
channel also, instead of having been impaired by time, is found to be
considerably better now than when the river was first discovered; and
there is reason to imagine that it will improve still more in process of
time, as the clear water that flows from Lake Ontario comes down with
such impetuosity, during the floods in the spring of the year, as
frequently to remove banks of gravel and loose stones in the river, and
thus to deepen its bed. The channel on the north side of the island of
Orleans, immediately below Quebec, which, according to the account of Le
P. de Charlevoix, was not sufficiently deep in the year 1720 to admit a
shallop of a small size, except at the time of high tides, is at present
found to be deep enough for the largest vessels, and is the channel most
generally used.
[Sidenote: NAVIGATION.]
The following table shews for what vessels the St. Lawrence is navigable
in different places; and also points out the various breadths of the
river from its mouth upwards:
Distances Breadth in
Names of Places. in miles miles.
ascending.
─── ─── ───
At its mouth 90
At Cape Cat 140 30
At Saguenay River 120 18
At the lower extremity of the 110 15[5]
Isle of Orleans
At the bason between the Isle 30 5[6]
of Orleans and Quebec
From Quebec to Lake St. Pierre 90
Lake St. Pierre 30 14
To La Valterie 10 1
To Montreal 30 2 to 4[7]
To Lake St. Louis 6 –¾
Lake St. Louis 12 4
To Lake St. Francis 25 ½ to 2
Lake St. Francis 20 5
To the Lake of a Thousand 90 ¼ to 1
Isles
Lake of a Thousand Isles 25 6
To Kingston, on Lake Ontario 15 2½ to 6
───
743
═══
Footnote 5:
This island is 25 miles in length and 6 in breadth, the river on each
side is about 2 miles wide.
Footnote 6:
Thus far, 400 miles from its mouth, it is navigable for ships of the
line with safety
Footnote 7:
To this place, 560 miles, it is navigable with perfect safety for
ships drawing 14 feet water. Vessels of a much larger draught have
proceeded many miles above Quebec, but the channel is very intricate
and dangerous.
During the whole of its course the St. Lawrence is navigable for bateaux
of two tons burthen, except merely at the rapids above Montreal, at the
Fall of the Thicket, and at the Long Fall, where, as has been already
pointed out, it is necessary to lighten the bateaux, if heavily laden.
At each of these places, however, it is possible to construct canals, so
as to prevent the trouble of unlading any part of the cargoes of the
bateaux, and at a future day, when the country becomes rich, such canals
no doubt will be made.
[Sidenote: THE ST. LAWRENCE.]
Although the lakes are not immediately connected with the Atlantic Ocean
by any other river than the St. Lawrence, yet there are several streams
that fall into the Atlantic, so nearly connected with others flowing
into the lakes, that by their means trade may be carried on between the
ocean and the lakes. The principal channels for trade between the ocean
and the lakes are four in number; the first, along the Mississippi and
the Ohio, and thence up the Wabash, Miami, Mushingun, or the Alleghany
rivers, from the head of which there are portages of from one to
eighteen miles to rivers that fall into Lake Erie; secondly, along the
Patowmac River, which flows past Washington, and from thence along Cheat
River, the Monongahela and Alleghany rivers and French Creek to Presqu’
Isle on Lake Erie; thirdly, along Hudson’s River, which falls into the
Atlantic at New York, and afterwards along the Mohawk River, Wood Creek,
Lake Oneida, and Oswego River, which last falls into Lake Ontario;
fourthly, along the St. Lawrence.
The following is a statement of the entire length of each of these
channels or routes, and of the lengths of the portages in each,
reckoning from the highest seaport on each river that will receive
vessels of a suitable size for crossing the Atlantic to Lake Erie, which
is the most central of the lakes to the four ports:
Length Length
of Way of the
in Portages.
Miles.
─── ───
From Montreal 440 22
From Washington 450 80[8]
From New York 500 30
From New Orleans 1,800 1 to
18[9]
Footnote 8:
When the navigation is opened, this will be reduced, it is said, to 50
miles.
Footnote 9:
According to the route followed from the Ohio to the Lake.
[Sidenote: THE ST. LAWRENCE.]
From this statement it not only appears evident that the St. Lawrence
opens a shorter passage to the lakes than any of the other rivers, but
also that the portages are shorter than in any of the other routes; the
portages are also fewer, and goods may be transported in the same boats
the whole way from Montreal to the lakes; whereas in conveying goods
thither either from Washington or New York, it is necessary to employ
different boats and men on each different river, or else to transport
the boats themselves on carriages over the portages from one river to
another. It is always an object of importance to avoid a portage, as by
every change in the mode of conveyance the expence of carriage is
increased, and there is an additional risk of pillage from the goods
passing through the hands of a greater number of people. Independent of
these considerations, the St. Lawrence will, on another account, be
found a more commodious channel than any other for the carrying on of
trade between the ocean and the lakes. Constantly supplied from that
immense reservoir of water, Lake Ontario, it is never so low, even in
the driest season, as not to be sufficiently deep to float laden
bateaux. The small streams, on the contrary, which connect Hudson’s
River, the Patowmac, and the Mississippi with the lakes, are frequently
so dried up in summer time, that it is scarcely possible to pass along
them in canoes. For upwards of four months in the summer of 1796, the
Mohawk River was so low, that it was totally impracticable to transport
merchandize along it during the greater part of its course, and the
traders in the back country, after waiting for a length of time for the
goods they wanted, were under the necessity at last of having them
forwarded by land carriage. The navigation of this river, it is said,
becomes worse every year, and unless several long canals are cut, there
will be an end to the water communication between New York and Lake
Ontario by that route. The Alleghany River and French Creek, which
connect the Patowmac with Lake Erie, are equally affected by droughts;
indeed it is only during floods, occasioned by the melting of the snow,
or by heavy falls of rain, that goods can be transported with ease
either by the one route or the other.
By far the greater part of the trade to the lakes is at present centered
at Montreal; for the British merchants not only can convey their goods
from thence to the lakes for one third less than what it costs to convey
the same goods thither from New York, but they can likewise afford to
sell them, in the first instance, considerably cheaper than the
merchants of the United States. The duties paid on the importation into
Canada of refined sugar, spirits, wine, and coffee, are considerably
less than those paid on the importation of the same commodities into the
United States; and all British hardware, and dry goods in general, are
admitted duty free into Canada, whereas, in the United States, they are
chargeable, on importation from Europe, with a duty of fifteen per cent.
on the value. To attempt to levy duties on foreign manufactures sent
into the states from Canada would be an idle attempt, as from the great
extent of their frontier, and its contiguity to Canada, it would at all
times be an easy matter to send the goods clandestinely into them, in
order to avoid the duties.
The trade carried on from Montreal to the lakes is at present very
considerable, and increasing every year. Already are there extensive
settlements on the British side of Lake Ontario, at Niagara, at Toronto,
at the Bay of Canti, and at Kingston, which contain nearly twenty
thousand inhabitants; and on the opposite shore, the people of the
states are pushing forward their settlements with the utmost vigour. On
Lake Erie, and along Detroit River also, the settlements are increasing
with astonishing rapidity, both on the British and on the opposite side.
[Sidenote: MONTREAL.]
The importance of the back country trade, and the trade to the lakes is
in fact the back country trade, has already been demonstrated; and it
has been shewn, that every seaport town in the United States has
increased in size in proportion to the quantum it enjoyed of this trade;
and that those towns most conveniently situated for carrying it on, were
those that had the greatest share of it; as, therefore, the shores of
the lake increase in population, and of course as the demand for
European manufactures increases amongst the inhabitants, we may expect
to see Montreal, which of all the sea-ports in North America is the most
conveniently situated for supplying them with such manufactures,
increase proportionably in size; and as the extent of back country it is
connected with, by means of water, is as great, and also as fertile as
that with which any of the large towns of the United States are
connected, it is not improbable but that Montreal at a future day will
rival in wealth and in size the greatest of the cities on the continent
of North America.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXX.
_Description of the Town of Kingston.—Formerly called Fort
Cadaraqua.—Extensive Trade carried on here.—Nature of it.—Inhabitants
very hospitable.—Harbours on Lake Ontario.—Ships of War on that
Lake.—Merchant Vessels.—Naval Officers.—Expence of building and
keeping up Vessels very great.—Why.—No Iron Mines yet opened in the
Country.—Copper may be more easily procured than Iron.—Found in great
Quantities on the Borders of Lake Superior.—Embark in a Trading Vessel
on Lake Ontario.—Description of that Lake.—A Septennial Change in the
Height of the Waters said to be observable—also a Tide that ebbs and
flows every Two Hours.—Observations on these Phenomena.—Voyage across
the Lake similar to a Sea Voyage.—Come in Sight of Niagara Fort.—Land
at Mississaguis Point.—Mississaguis Indians.—One of their Chiefs
killed in_ _an Affray.—How treated by the British Government.—Their
revengeful Disposition.—Mississaguis good Hunters.—How they kill
Salmon.—Variety of Fish in the Lakes and Rivers of Canada.—Sea
Wolves.—Sea Cows.—Description of the Town of Niagara or
Newark.—The present Seat of Government.—Scheme of removing it
elsewhere.—Unhealthiness of the Town of Niagara and adjacent
Country.—Navy Hats.—Fort of Niagara surrendered pursuant to
Treaty.—Description of it.—Description of the other Forts surrendered
to the People of the United States.—Shewn not to be so advantageous to
them as was expected.—Superior Position of the new British Posts
pointed out._
Niagara, September.
[Sidenote: KINGSTON.]
KINGSTON is situated at the mouth of a deep bay, at the north eastern
extremity of Lake Ontario. It contains a fort and barracks, an English
episcopalian church, and about one hundred houses, the most of which,
last were built, and are now inhabited by persons who emigrated from the
United States at the close of the American war. Some few of the houses
are built of stone and brick, but by far the greater part of them are of
wood. The fort is of stone, and consists of a square with four bastions.
It was erected by M. le Comte de Frontinac, as early as the year 1672,
and was for a time called after him; but insensibly it lost his name,
and received instead of it that of Cadaraqui, the name of a creek which
falls into the bay. This name remained common to the fort and to the
town until a few years ago, when it was changed to that of Kingston.
From sixty to one hundred men are usually quartered in the barracks.
Kingston is a place of very considerable trade, and it is consequently
increasing most rapidly in size. All the goods brought up the St.
Lawrence for the supply of the upper country are here deposited in
stores, preparatory to their being shipped on board vessels suitable to
the navigation of the lake; and the furs from the various posts on the
nearer lakes are here likewise collected together, in order to be laden
on board bateaux, and sent down the St. Lawrence. Some furs are brought
in immediately to the town by the Indians, who hunt in the neighbouring
country, and along the upper parts of the St. Lawrence, but the quantity
is not large. The principal merchants resident at Kingston are partners
of old established houses at Montreal and Quebec. A stranger, especially
if a British subject, is sure to meet with a most hospitable and
friendly reception from them, as he passes through the place.
During the autumn the inhabitants of Kingston suffer very much from
intermittent fevers, owing to the town being situated on a low spot of
ground, contiguous to an extensive morass.
[Sidenote: KINGSTON BAY.]
The bay adjoining to Kingston affords good anchorage, and is the safest
and most commodious harbour on all Lake Ontario. The bay of Great Sodus,
on the south side of the lake, and that of Toronto, situated on the
north side of the lake, nearly in the same meridian with Niagara, are
said to be the next best to that of Kingston; but the entrance into each
of them is obstructed by sand banks, which in rough weather cannot be
crossed without imminent danger in vessels drawing more than five or six
feet water. On the borders of the bay at Kingston there is a King’s dock
yard, and another which is private property. Most of the British vessels
of burthen on Lake Ontario have been built at these yards. Belonging to
his Majesty there were on Lake Ontario, when we crossed it, three
vessels of about two hundred tons each, carrying from eight to twelve
guns, besides several gun boats; the last, however, were not in
commission, but laid up in Niagara River; and in consequence of the
ratification of the treaty of amity and commerce between the United
States and his Britannic Majesty, orders were issued, shortly after we
left Kingston, for laying up the other vessels of war, one alone
excepted[10]. For one King’s ship there would be ample employment on the
lake, in conveying to the upper country the presents for the Indians and
the stores for the troops, and in transporting the troops across the
lake when they changed quarters. Every military officer at the outposts
enjoys the privilege of having a certain bulk, according to his rank,
carried for him in the King’s vessels, free of all charges. The naval
officers, if their vessels be not otherwise engaged, are allowed to
carry a cargo of merchandize when they sail from one port to another,
the freight of which is their perquisite; they likewise have the
liberty, and are constantly in the practice, of carrying passengers
across the lake at an established price. The commodore of the King’s
vessels on Lake Ontario is a French Canadian, and so likewise are most
of the officers under him. Their uniform is blue and white, with large
yellow buttons, stamped with the figure of a beaver, over which is
inscribed the word, “Canada.” The naval officers are under the controul
of the military officer commandant, at every post where their vessels
happen to touch; and they cannot leave their vessels to go up into the
country at any time without his permission.
Footnote 10:
Subsequent orders, it was said, were issued, during the summer of
1797, to have one or more of these vessels put again in commission.
[Sidenote: MERCHANT VESSELS.]
Several decked merchant vessels, schooners, and sloops, of from fifty to
two hundred tons each, and also numberless large sailing bateaux, are
kept employed on Lake Ontario. No vessels are deemed proper for the
navigation of these lakes but complete sea boats, or else flat bottomed
vessels, such as canoes and bateaux, that can safely run ashore on an
emergency. At present the people of the United States have no other
vessels than bateaux on the lake, and whether they will deem it proper
to have larger vessels, as their harbours are all so indifferent,
remains yet to be determined. The large British vessels ply mostly
between Kingston and Niagara, and but very rarely touch at any other
place.
The expence of building, and equipping vessels on Lake Ontario, is very
considerable; and it is still greater on the more distant lakes, as the
larger part of the iron implements, and all the cordage wanted for that
purpose, are imported from Great Britain, through the medium of the
lower province. There can be no doubt, however, but that when the
country is become more populous, an ample supply of these necessary
articles will be readily procured on the spot; for the soil of the upper
province is well adapted to the growth of hemp, and iron ore has been
discovered in many parts of the country. Hemp already begins to be
cultivated in small quantities; but it has hitherto been the policy of
government to direct the attention of the people to agriculture, rather
than to any other pursuit, so that none of the iron mines, which,
together with all other mines that are, or that may hereafter be
discovered, are the exclusive property of the crown, have yet been
opened. The people of the United States, however, alive to every
prospect of gain, have already sent persons to look for iron ore in that
part of their territory situated conveniently to the lakes. These
persons have been very successful in their searches; and as works will
undoubtedly be established speedily by them in this quarter for the
manufacture of iron, and as they will be able to afford it on much
better terms than that which is brought all the way from Lower Canada,
it is probable that government will encourage the opening of mines in
our own dominions, rather than suffer the people of the States to enjoy
such a very lucrative branch of trade as they must necessarily have, if
the same policy is persisted in which has hitherto been pursued.
[Sidenote: COPPER ORES.]
Copper, in the more remote parts of Upper Canada, is found in much
greater abundance than iron, and as it may be extracted from the earth
with considerably less trouble than any of the iron ore that has yet
been discovered, there is reason to imagine, that at a future day it
will be much more used than iron for every purpose to which it can be
applied. On the borders of a river, which falls into the south-west side
of Lake Superior, virgin copper is found in the greatest abundance; and
on most of the islands on the eastern side it is also found. In the
possession of a gentleman at Niagara I saw a lump of virgin copper of
several ounces weight, apparently as pure as if it had passed through
fire, which I was informed had been struck off with a chisel from a
piece equally pure, growing on one of these islands, which must at least
have weighed forty pounds. Rich veins of copper are visible in almost
all the rocks on these islands towards the shore; and copper ore,
resembling copperas, is likewise found in deep beds near the water: in a
few hours bateaux might here be filled with ore, and in less than three
days conveyed to the Straits of St. Mary, after passing which the ore
might be laden on board large vessels, and conveyed by water without any
further interruption as far as Niagara River. The portage at the Straits
of St. Mary may be passed in a few hours, and with a fair wind large
vessels, proper for traversing Lakes Huron and Erie, may come down to
the eastern extremity of the latter lake in six days.
Not only the building and fitting out of vessels on the lakes is
attended with considerable expence, but the cost of keeping them up is
likewise found to be very great, for they wear out much sooner than
vessels employed commonly on the ocean; which circumstance, according to
the opinion of the naval gentlemen on the lakes, is owing to the
freshness of the water; added to this, no sailors are to be hired but at
very high wages, and it is found necessary to retain them at full pay
during the five months of the year that the vessels are laid up on
account of the ice, as men cannot be procured at a moment’s notice. The
sailors, with a few exceptions only, are procured from sea-ports, as it
is absolutely necessary on these lakes, the navigation of which is more
dangerous than that of the ocean, to have able and experienced seamen.
Lake Ontario itself is never frozen out of sight of land, but its rivers
and harbours are regularly blocked up by the ice.
The day after that on which we reached Kingston, we took our passage for
Niagara on board a schooner of one hundred and eighty tons burthen,
which was waiting at the merchant’s wharf for a fair wind. The
established price of the passage across the lake in the cabin is two
guineas, and in the steerage one guinea, for each person: this is by no
means dear, considering that the captain, for the money, keeps a table
for each respective set of passengers. The cabin table on board this
vessel was really well served, and there was abundance of port and
sherry wine, and of every sort of spirits, for the use of the cabin
passengers. The freight of goods across the lake is dearer in
proportion, being thirty-six shillings British per ton, which is nearly
as much as was paid for the transportation of a ton of goods across the
Atlantic previous to the present war; it cannot, however, be deemed
exorbitant, when the expence of building and keeping the vessels in
repair, and the high wages of the sailors, &c. are taken into
consideration.
[Sidenote: FREIGHTAGE.]
On the 7th of September, in the afternoon, the wind became favourable
for crossing the lake; notice was in consequence immediately sent round
to the passengers, who were dispersed in different parts of the town, to
get ready; all of them hurried on board; the vessel was unmoored, and in
a few minutes she was wafted out into the lake by a light breeze. For
the first mile and a half, in going from Kingston, the prospect is much
confined, on account of the many large islands on the left hand side;
but on weathering a point on one of the islands, at the end of that
distance, an extensive view of the lake suddenly opens, which on a still
clear evening, when the sun is sinking behind the lofty woods that adorn
the shores, is extremely grand and beautiful.
[Sidenote: LAKE ONTARIO.]
Lake Ontario is the most easterly of the four large lakes through which
the boundary line passes, that separates the United States from the
province of Upper Canada. It is two hundred and twenty miles in length,
from east to west, and seventy miles wide in the broadest part, and,
according to calculation, contains about 2,390,000 acres. This lake is
less subject to storms than any of the others, and its waters in
general, considering their great expanse, are wonderfully tranquil.
During the first evening of our voyage there was not the least curl even
on their surface, they were merely agitated by a gentle swell; and
during the subsequent part of the voyage, the waves were at no time so
high as to occasion the slightest sickness amongst any of the
passengers. The depth of the water in the lake is very great; in some
parts it is unfathomable. On looking over the side of a vessel, the
water, owing to its great depth, appears to be of a blackish colour, but
it is nevertheless very clear, and any white substance thrown overboard
may be discerned at the depth of several fathoms from the surface; it
is, however, by no means so clear and transparent as the water of some
of the other lakes. Mr. Carver, speaking of Lake Superior, says, “When
it was calm, and the sun shone bright, I could sit in my canoe, where
the depth was upwards of six fathoms, and plainly see huge piles of
stone at the bottom, of different shapes, some of which appeared as if
they had been hewn; the water was at this time as pure and transparent
as air, and my canoe seemed as if it hung suspended in that element. It
was impossible to look attentively through this limpid medium, at the
rocks below, without finding, before many minutes were elapsed, your
head swim, and your eyes no longer able to behold the dazzling scene.”
The water of Lake Ontario is very well tasted, and is that which is
constantly used on board the vessels that traverse it.
[Sidenote: RISING OF THE WATER.]
It is very confidently asserted, not only by the Indians, but also by
great numbers of the white people who live on the shores of Lake
Ontario, that the waters of this lake rise and fall alternately every
seventh year; others, on the contrary, deny that such a fluctuation does
take place; and indeed it differs so materially from any that has been
observed in large bodies of water in other parts of the globe, that for
my own part I am somewhat tempted to believe it is merely an imaginary
change; nevertheless, when it is considered, that according to the
belief of the older inhabitants of the country, such a periodical ebbing
and flowing of the waters of the lake takes place, and that it has never
been clearly proved to the contrary, we are bound to suspend our
opinions on the subject. A gentleman, whole habitation was situated
close upon the borders of the lake, not far from Kingston, and who, from
the nature of his profession, had more time to attend to such subjects
than the generality of the people of the country, told me, that he had
observed the state of the lake attentively for nearly fourteen years
that he had resided on the borders of it, and that he was of opinion the
waters did not ebb and flow periodically; yet he acknowledged this very
remarkable fact, that several of the oldest white inhabitants in his
neighbourhood declared, previously to the rising of the lake, that the
year 1795 would be the high year; and that in the summer of that year,
the lake actually did rise to a very uncommon height. He said, however,
that he had reason to think the rising of the lake on this occasion was
wholly owing to fortuitous circumstances, and not to any regular
established law of nature; and he conceived, that if the lake had not
risen as it had done, yet the people would have fancied, nevertheless,
that it was in reality higher than usual, as he supposed they had
fancied it to be on former occasions. He was induced to form this
opinion, he said, from the following circumstance: When the lake had
risen to such an unusual height in the year 1795, he examined several of
the oldest people on the subject, and questioned them particularly as to
the comparative height of the waters on this and former occasions. They
all declared that the waters were not higher than they usually were at
the time of their periodical rising; and they affirmed, that they had
themselves seen them equally high before. Now a grove of trees, which
stood adjoining to this gentleman’s garden, and must at least have been
of thirty years growth, was entirely destroyed this year by the waters
of the lake, that flowed amongst the trees; had the lake, therefore,
ever risen so high before, this grove would have been then destroyed.
This circumstance certainly militated strongly against the evidence
which the people gave as to the height of the waters; but it only proved
that the waters had risen on this occasion higher than they had done for
thirty years preceding; it did not prove that they had not, during that
term, risen periodically above their ordinary level.
What Mr. Carver relates concerning this subject, rather tends to confirm
the opinion that the waters of the lake do rise. “I had like,” he says,
“to have omitted a very extraordinary circumstance relative to these
straits;” the Straits of Michillimakinac, between lakes Michigan and
Huron. “According to observations made by the French, whilst they were
in possession of the fort there, although there is no diurnal flood or
ebb to be perceived in these waters, yet from an exact attention to
their state, a periodical alteration in them has been discovered. It was
observed, that they arose by gradual but almost imperceptible degrees,
till they had reached the height of three feet; this was accomplished in
seven years and a half; and in the same space of time they as gently
decreased, till they had reached their former situation; so that in
fifteen years they had completed this inexplicable revolution. At the
time I was there, the truth of these observations could not be confirmed
by the English, as they had then been only a few years in possession of
the fort; but they all agreed that some alterations in the limits of the
straits was apparent.” It is to be lamented that succeeding years have
not thrown more light on the subject; for since the fort has been in our
possession, persons competent to determine the truth of observations of
such a nature, have never staid a sufficient length of time there to
have had it in their power to do so.
[Sidenote: LAKE ONTARIO.]
A long series of minute observations are necessary to determine
positively whether the waters of the lake do or do not rise and fall
periodically. It is well known, for instance, that in wet seasons the
waters rise much above their ordinary level, and that in very dry
seasons they sink considerably below it; a close attention, therefore,
ought to be paid to the quantity of rain that falls, and to evaporation;
and it ought to be ascertained in what degree the height of the lake is
altered thereby; otherwise, if the lake happened to be higher or lower
than usual on the seventh year, it would be impossible to say with
accuracy whether it were owing to the state of the weather, or to
certain laws of nature that we are yet unacquainted with. At the same
time, great attention ought to be paid to the state of the winds, as
well in respect to their direction as to their velocity, for the height
of the waters of all the lakes is materially affected thereby. At Fort
Erie, situated at the eastern extremity of the lake of the same name, I
once observed the waters to fall full three feet in the course of a few
hours, upon a sudden change of the wind from the westward, in which
direction it had blown for many days, to the east-ward. Moreover, these
observations ought not only to be made at one place on the borders of
anyone of the lakes, but they ought to be made at several different
places at the same time; for the waters have encroached, owing to some
unknown causes, considerably and gradually upon the shores in some
places, and receded in others. Between the stone house, in the fort at
Niagara, and the lake, for instance, there is not at present a greater
space than ten yards, or thereabouts; though when first built there was
an extensive garden between them. A water battery also, erected since
the commencement of the present war, at the bottom of the bank, beyond
the walls of the fort, was sapped away by the water in the course of two
seasons, and now scarcely any vestige of it remains. At a future day,
when the country becomes more populous and more wealthy, persons will no
doubt be found who will have leisure for making the observations
necessary for determining whether the lakes do or do not undergo a
periodical change, but at present the inhabitants on the borders of them
are too much engaged in commercial and agricultural pursuits to attend
to matters of mere speculation, which, however they might amuse the
philosopher, could be productive of no solid advantages to the
generality of the inhabitants of the country.
[Sidenote: OBSERVATIONS.]
It is believed by many persons that the waters of Lake Ontario not only
rise and fall periodically every seventh year, but that they are
likewise influenced by a tide, which ebbs and flows frequently in the
course of twenty-four hours. On board the vessel in which I crossed the
lake there were several gentlemen of the country, who confidently
assured me, that a regular tide was observable at the Bay of Canti; that
in order to satisfy themselves on the subject, they had stood for
several hours together, on more than one occasion, at a mill at the head
of the bay, and that they had observed the waters to ebb and flow
regularly every four hours, rising to the height of fourteen inches.
There can be no doubt, however, but that the frequent ebbing and flowing
of the water at this place must be caused by the wind; for no such
regular fluctuation is observable at Niagara, at Kingston, or on the
open shores of the lake; and owing to the formation of the Bay of Canti,
the height of the water must necessarily vary there with, every slight
change of the wind. The Bay of Canti is a long crooked inlet, that grows
narrower at the upper end, like a funnel; not only, therefore, a change
of wind up or down the bay would make a difference in the height of the
water at the uppermost extremity of it; but owing to the waters being
concentrated there at one point, they would be seen to rise or fall, if
impelled even in the same direction, whether up or down the bay, more or
less forcibly at one time of the day than at another. Now it is very
seldom that the wind, at any part of the day or night, would be found to
blow precisely with the same force, for a given space of two hours, that
it had blown for the preceding space of two hours; an appearance like a
tide must therefore be seen almost constantly at the head of this bay
whenever there was a breeze. I could not learn that the fluctuation had
ever been observed during a perfect calm: were the waters, however,
influenced by a regular tide, during a calm the tide would be most
readily seen.
To return to the voyage. A few hours after we quitted Kingston, on the
7th of September, the wind died away, and during the whole night the
vessel made but little way; early on the morning of the 8th, however, a
fresh breeze sprang up, and before noon we lost sight of the land. Our
voyage now differed in no wise from one across the ocean; the vessel was
steered by the compass, the log regularly heaved, the way marked down in
the log book, and an exact account kept of the procedures on board. We
continued sailing, out of sight of land, until the evening of the 9th,
when we had a view of the blue hills in the neighbourhood of Toronto, on
the northern side of the lake, but they soon disappeared. Except at this
place, the shores of the lake are flat and sandy, owing to which
circumstance it is, that in traversing the lake you are generally
carried out of sight of land in a very few hours.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA.]
At day-break on the 10th the fort and town of Niagara appeared under the
lee bow, and the wind being favourable, we had every prospect before us
of getting up to the town in a few hours; but scarcely had we reached
the bar, at the mouth of Niagara River, when the wind suddenly shifted,
and after endeavouring in vain to cross it by means of tacking, we were
under the necessity of casting anchor at the distance of about two miles
from the fort. The fort is seen to great advantage from the water; but
the town being built parallel to the river, and no part of it visible to
a spectator on the lake, except the few shabby houses at the nearest
end, it makes but a very poor appearance. Having breakfasted, and
exchanged our _habits de voyage_, for such as it was proper to appear in
at the capital of Upper Canada, and at the center of the beau monde of
the province, the schooner’s yawl was launched, and we were landed,
together with such of the passengers as were disposed to go on shore, at
Mississaguis Point, from whence there is an agreeable walk of one mile,
partly through woods, to the town of Niagara.
[Sidenote: MISSISSAGUIS.]
This point takes its name from the Mississaguis Indians, great numbers
of whom are generally encamped upon it. The Mississaguis tribe inhabits
the shores of Lake Ontario, and it is one of the most numerous of this
part of the country. The men are in general very stout, and they are
esteemed most excellent hunters and fishers; but less warlike, it is
said, than any of the neighbouring nations. They are of a much darker
complexion than any other Indians I ever met with; some of them being
nearly as black as negroes. They are extremely dirty and slovenly in
their appearance, and the women are still more so than the men; such
indeed is the odour exhaled in a warm day from the rancid grease and
fish oil with which the latter daub their hair, necks, and faces
profusely, that it is offensive in the highest degree to approach within
some yards of them. On arriving at Niagara, we found great numbers of
these Indians dispersed in knots, in different parts of the town, in
great concern for the loss of a favourite and experienced chief. This
man, whose name was Wompakanon, had been killed, it appeared, by a white
man, in a fray which happened at Toronto, near to which place is the
principal village of the Mississaguis nation. The remaining chiefs
immediately assembled their warriors, and marched down to Niagara, to
make a formal complaint to the British government. To appease their
resentment, the commanding officer of the garrison distributed presents
amongst them to a large amount, and amongst other things they were
allowed no small portion of rum and provisions, upon which the tribe
feasted, according to custom, the day before we reached the town; but
the rum being all consumed, they seemed to feel severely for the loss of
poor Wompakanon. Fear of exciting the anger of the British government
would prevent them from taking revenge openly on this occasion; but I
was informed by a gentleman in the Indian department, intimately
acquainted with the dispositions of the Indians, that as nothing but
blood is deemed sufficient in their opinion to atone for the death of a
favourite chief, they would certainly kill some white man, perhaps one
perfectly innocent, when a favourable and secret opportunity offered for
so doing, though it should be twenty years afterwards.
The Mississaguis keep the inhabitants of Kingston, of Niagara, and of
the different towns on the lake, well supplied with fish and game, the
value of which is estimated by bottles of rum and loaves of bread. A
gentleman, with whom we dined at Kingston, entertained us with a most
excellent haunch of venison of a very large size, and a salmon weighing
at least fifteen pounds, which he had purchased from one of these
Indians for a bottle of rum and a loaf of bread[11], and upon enquiry I
found that the Indian thought himself extremely well paid, and was
highly pleased with having made such a good bargain.
Footnote 11:
Both together probably not worth more than half a dollar.
The Indians catch salmon and other large fish in the following manner.
Two men go together in a canoe at night; the one sits in the stern and
paddles, and the other stands with a spear over a flambeau placed in the
head of the canoe. The fish, attracted by the light, come in numbers
around the canoe, and the spearsman then takes the opportunity of
striking them. They are very expert at this business, seldom missing
their aim.
Lake Ontario, and all the rivers which fall into it, abound with
excellent salmon, and many different kinds of sea-fish, which come up
the River St. Lawrence; it also abounds with such a great variety of
fresh water fish, that it is supposed there are many sorts in it which
have never yet been named. In almost every part of the River St.
Lawrence, fish is found in the greatest abundance; and it is the opinion
of many persons, that if the fisheries were properly attended to,
particularly the salmon fishery, the country would be even more enriched
thereby than by the fur trade. Sea wolves and sea cows, amphibious
animals, weighing from one to two thousand pounds each, are said to have
been found in Lake Ontario: of the truth of this, however, there is some
doubt; but certain it is, that in sailing across that lake animals of an
immense size are frequently seen playing on the surface of the water. Of
the large fishes, the sturgeon is the one most commonly met with, and it
is not only found in Lake Ontario, but also in the other lakes that have
no immediate communication with the sea. The sturgeon caught in the
lakes is valuable for its oil, but it is not a well flavoured fish;
indeed, the sturgeon found north of James River in Virginia is in
general very indifferent, and seldom or never eaten.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA RIVER.]
Niagara River runs nearly in a due south direction, and falls into Lake
Ontario on the southern shore, about thirty miles to the east-ward of
the western extremity of the lake. It is about three hundred yards wide
at its mouth, and is by far the largest body of water flowing into Lake
Ontario. On the eastern side of the river is situated the fort, now in
the possession of the people of the States, and on the opposite or
British side the town, most generally known by the name of Niagara,
notwithstanding that it has been named Newark by the legislature. The
original name of the town was Niagara, it was afterwards called Lenox,
then Nassau, and afterwards Newark. It is to be lamented that the Indian
names, so grand and sonorous, should ever have been changed for others.
Newark, Kingston, York, are poor substitutes for the original names of
these respective places, Niagara, Cataragui, Toronto. The town of
Niagara hitherto has been, and is still the capital of the province of
Upper Canada; orders, however, had been issued, before our arrival
there, for the removal of the seat of government from thence to Toronto,
which was deemed a more eligible spot for the meeting of the legislative
bodies, as being farther removed from the frontiers of the United
States. This projected change is by no means relished by the people at
large, as Niagara is a much more convenient place of resort to most of
them than Toronto; and as the governor who proposed the measure has been
removed, it is imagined that it will not be put in execution. The
removal of the seat of government from Niagara to Toronto, according to
the plan laid down, was only to have been a preparatory step to another
alteration: a new city, to have been named London, was to have been
built on the river formerly called La Trenche, but since called the
Thames, a river running into Lake St. Clair; and here the seat of
government was ultimately to have been fixed. The spot marked out for
the site of the city possesses many local advantages. It is situated in
a healthy fertile country, on a fine navigable river, in a central part
of the province, from whence the water communication is extensive in
every direction. A few settlements have already been made on the banks
of the river, and the tide of emigration is setting in strongly towards
that quarter; at a future day, therefore, it is by no means improbable
but that this spot may be deemed an eligible one for the capital of the
country; but to remove the seat of government immediately to a place
little better than a wilderness, and so far from the populous parts of
the province, would be a measure fraught with numberless inconveniencies
to the public, and productive apparently of no essential advantages
whatsoever.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA TOWN.]
The town of Niagara contains about seventy houses, a court house, gaol,
and a building intended for the accommodation of the legislative bodies.
The houses, with a few exceptions, are built of wood; those next the
lake are rather poor, but at the upper end of the town there are several
very excellent dwellings, inhabited by the principal officers of
government. Most of the gentlemen in official stations in Upper Canada
are Englishmen of education, a circumstance which must render the
society of the capital agreeable, let it be fixed where it will. Few
places in North America can boast of a more rapid rise than the little
town of Niagara, nearly every one of its houses having been built within
the last five years: it is still advancing most rapidly in size, owing
to the increase of the back country trade along the shores of the upper
lakes, which is all carried on through the place, and also owing to the
wonderful emigrations, into the neighbourhood, of people from the
States. The motives which lead the citizens of the United States to
emigrate to the British dominions have already been explained. So sudden
and so great has the influx of people, into the town of Niagara and its
vicinity, been, that town lots, horses, provisions, and every necessary
of life have risen, within the last three years, nearly fifty per cent.
in value.
[Sidenote: SICKNESS.]
The banks of the River Niagara are steep and lofty, and on the top, at
each side of the river, are extensive plains. The town stands on the
summit of the western bank, about fifty yards from the water’s edge. It
commands a fine view of the lake and distant shores, and its situation
is in every respect pleasing to the eye. From its standing on a spot of
ground so much elevated above the level of the water, one would imagine
that it must also be a remarkably healthy place, but it is, in fact,
lamentably the reverse. On arriving at the town, we were obliged to call
at no less than four different taverns, before we could procure
accommodations, the people at the first places we stopped at being so
severely afflicted with the ague, that they could not receive us; and on
enquiring, it appeared that there was not a single house in the whole
town but where one or more of the inhabitants were labouring under this
perplexing disorder; in some of the houses entire families were laid up,
and at the fort on the opposite side of the river, the whole of the new
garrison, except a corporal and nine men, was disqualified for doing
duty. Each individual of our party could not but entertain very serious
apprehensions for his own health, on arriving at a place where sickness
was so general, but we were assured that the danger of catching the
disorder was now over; that all those who were ill at present, had been
confined many weeks before; and that for a fortnight past not a single
person had been attacked, who had not been ill in the preceding part of
the season. As a precaution, however, each one of the party took
fasting, in the morning, a glass of brandy, in which was infused a
teaspoonfull of Peruvian bark. This mixture is deemed, in the country,
one of the most certain preventatives against the disorder, and few that
take it, in time, regularly, and avoid the evening dews, suffer from it.
Not only the town of Niagara and its vicinity are unhealthy places, but
almost every part of Upper Canada, and of the territory of the States
bordering upon the lakes, is likewise unhealthy. The sickly season
commences about the middle of July, and terminates about the first week
of September, as soon as the nights become cold. Intermittent fevers are
the most common disorders; but in some parts of the country the
inhabitants suffer from continual fevers, of which there are different
kinds, peculiar to certain districts. In the country, for instance,
bordering upon the Genesee River, which falls into Lake Ontario on the
southern side, a fever is common amongst the inhabitants of a malignant
nature, vulgarly called the Genesee fever, of which many die annually:
and in that bordering upon the Miami River, which falls into Lake Erie,
within the north-western territory of the United States, a fever of a
different kind, again, is common. It does not appear that the exact
nature of these different fevers has ever been accurately ascertained.
In the back parts of North America, in general, medical men are rarely
to be met with, and indeed if they were, the settlements are so far
removed from each other, that they could be of little service.
[Sidenote: EMIGRATIONS.]
It is very remarkable, that notwithstanding that medical assistance is
so rarely to be had in case of sickness in the back country, yet the
Americans, when they are about to change their place of abode, seldom or
ever consider whether the part of the country to which they are going is
healthy or otherwise, at least they are scarcely ever influenced in
their choice of a place of residence either by its healthiness or
unhealthiness. If the lands in one part of the country are superior to
those in another in fertility; if they are in the neighbourhood of a
navigable river, or situated conveniently to a good market; if they are
cheap, and rising in value, thither the American will gladly emigrate,
let the climate be ever so unfriendly to the human system. Not a year
passes over, but what numbers of people leave the beautiful and healthy
banks of the Susquehannah River for the Genesee country, where nine out
of every ten of the inhabitants are regularly seized, during the autumn,
with malignant fevers; but the lands bordering upon the Susquehannah are
in general poor, whereas those in the Genesee country are in many places
so rich, that until reduced by successive crops of Indian corn, wheat,
to use the common phrase, “will run wholly to straw:” where it has been
sown in the first instance, the stalks have frequently been found
fourteen or fifteen feet in length, two thirds of them lying on the
ground.
On the margin of Niagara River, about three quarters of a mile from the
town, stands a building called Navy Hall, erected for the accommodation
of the naval officers on the lake during the winter season, when their
vessels are laid up. Opposite to it there is a spacious wharf to protect
the vessels from the ice during the winter, and also to facilitate the
landing of merchandize when the navigation is open. All cargoes brought
up the lake, that are destined for Niagara, are landed here. Adjoining
the wharf are very extensive stores belonging to the crown, and also to
private persons. Navy Hall is now occupied by the troops; the fort on
the opposite side of the river, where they were formerly stationed,
having been delivered up pursuant to the late treaty between his Majesty
and the United States. The troops, however, are only to remain at the
hall until a blockhouse is erected on the top of the banks for their
accommodation; this building is in a state of forwardness, and the
engineer hopes to have it finished in a few months.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FORT.]
[Sidenote: FEDERAL ARMY.]
The fort of Niagara stands immediately at the mouth of the river, on a
point of land, one side of which is washed by the river and the other by
the lake. Towards the water it is stockaded; and behind the stockade, on
the river side, a large mound of earth rises up, at the top of which are
embrasures for guns; on the land side it is secured by several batteries
and redoubts, and by parallel lines of fascines. At the gates, and in
various different parts, there are strong blockhouses; and facing the
lake, within the stockade, stands a large fortified stone house. The
fort and outworks occupy about five acres of ground; and a garrison of
five hundred men, and at least from thirty to forty pieces of ordnance,
would be necessary to defend it properly. The federal garrison, however,
consists only of fifty men; and the whole of the cannon in the place
amounts merely to four small field pieces, planted at the four corners
of the fort. This fort was founded by the French, and constituted one
link of that extensive chain of posts which they established along the
lakes and the western waters. It was begun by the building of the stone
house, after a solemn promise had been obtained from the Indians that
the artificers should not be interrupted whilst they were going on with
the work. The Indians readily made this promise, as, according to their
notion, it would have been inhospitable and unfriendly in the extreme
not to have permitted a few traders to build a house within their
territory to protect them against the inclemency of the seasons: but
they were greatly astonished when one so totally different from any that
they had ever seen before, and from any that they had an idea of, was
completed; they began to suspect that the strangers had plans in
meditation unfavourable to their interests, and they wished to
dispossess them of their new mansion, but it was too late. In the hall
of the house a well had been sunk to keep it supplied with water; the
house was plentifully stored with provisions in case of a siege; and the
doors being once closed, the tenants remained perfectly indifferent
about every hostile attack the Indians could make against it.
Fortifications to strengthen the house were gradually erected; and by
the year 1759 the place was so strong as to resist, for some time, the
forces under the command of Sir William Johnston. Great additions were
made to the works after the fort fell into the hands of the British. The
stone house is a very spacious building, and is now, as it was formerly,
appropriated for the accommodation of the principal officers of the
garrison. In the rear of the house is a large apartment, commanding a
magnificent view of the lake and of the distant hills at Toronto, which
formerly was the officers mess room, and a pattern of neatness. The
officers of the federal garrison, however, consider it more convenient
to mess in one of the kitchens, and this beautiful room has been
suffered to go to ruin; indeed every part of the fort now exhibits a
picture of slovenliness and neglect; and the appearance of the soldiers
is equally devoid of neatness with that of their quarters. Though it was
on Sunday morning that we visited the fort, on which day it is usual
even for the men of the garrisons in the States to appear better dressed
than on other days, yet the greater part of the men were as dirty as if
they had been at work in the trenches for a week without intermission:
their grisly beards demonstrated that a razor had not approached their
chins for many days; their hair, to appearance, had not been combed for
the same length of time; their linen was filthy, their guns rusty, and
their clothes ragged. That the clothes and accoutrements of the men
should not be better is not to be wondered at, considering how very
badly the western army of the States is appointed in every respect; but
it is strange that the officers should not attend more than they do to
the cleanliness of their men. Their garrisons on the frontiers have
uniformly suffered more from sickness than those of the British; and it
is to be attributed, I should imagine, in a great measure to their
filthiness; for the men are as stout and hardy, apparently, as any in
the world. The western army of the States has been most shamefully
appointed from the very outset. I heard General Wayne, then the
commander in chief, declare at Philadelphia, that a short time after
they had begun their march, more than one third of his men were attacked
in the woods, at the same period, with a dysentery; that the surgeons
had not even been furnished with a medicine chest; and that nothing
could have saved the greater part of the troops from death, had not one
of the young surgeons fortunately discovered, after many different
things had been tried in vain, that the bark of the root of a particular
sort of yellow poplar tree was a powerful antidote to the disorder. Many
times also, he said, his army had been on the point of suffering from
famine in their own country, owing to the carelessness of their
commissaries. So badly indeed had the army been supplied, even latterly,
with provisions, that when notice was sent to the federal general by the
British officers, that they had received orders to deliver up their
respective posts pursuant to the treaty, and that they were prepared to
do so whenever he was ready to take possession of them, an answer was
returned, that unless the British officers could supply his army with a
considerable quantity of provisions on arriving at the lakes, he could
not attempt to march for many weeks. The federal army was generously
supplied with fifty barrels of pork, as much as the British could
possibly spare; notwithstanding which, it did not make its appearance
till a considerable time after the day appointed for the delivery of the
posts. The federal army is composed almost wholly of Irishmen and
Germans, that were brought over as redemptioners, and enlisted as soon
as they landed, before they had an opportunity of learning what great
wages were given to labourers in the States. The natives of the country
are too fond of making money to rest satisfied with the pay of a common
soldier.
The American prints, until the late treaty of amity was ratified, teemed
with the most gross abuse of the British government, for retaining
possession of Niagara Fort, and the other military posts on the lakes,
after the independence of the States had been acknowledged, and peace
concluded. It was never taken into consideration, that if the British
government had thought proper to have withdrawn its troops from the
posts at once, immediately after the definitive treaty was signed, the
works would in all probability have been destroyed by the Indians,
within whose territories they were situated, long before the people of
the States could have taken possession of them; for no part of their
army was within hundreds of miles of the posts, and the country through
which they must have past in getting to them was a mere wilderness; but
if the army had gained the posts, the states were in no condition,
immediately after the war, to have kept in them such large bodies of the
military as would have been absolutely necessary for their defence
whilst at enmity with the Indians, and it is by no means improbable, but
that the posts might have been soon abandoned. The retention of them,
therefore, to the present day, was, in fact, a circumstance highly
beneficial to the interests of the States, notwithstanding that such an
outcry was raised against the British on that account, inasmuch as the
Americans now find themselves possessed of extensive fortifications on
the frontiers, in perfect repair, without having been at the expence of
building them, or maintaining troops in them for the space of ten years,
during which period no equivalent advantages could have been derived
from their possession. It is not to be supposed, however, that the
British government meant to confer a favour on her late colonies by
retaining the posts; it was well known that the people of the new states
would be eager, sooner or later, to get possession or forts situated
within their boundary line, and occupied by strangers; and as there were
particular parts of the definitive treaty which some of the states did
not seem very ready to comply with, the posts were detained as a
security for its due ratification on the part of the States. In the late
treaty of amity and commerce, these differences were finally
accommodated to the satisfaction of Great Britain, and the posts were
consequently delivered up. On the surrender of them very handsome
compliments were paid, in the public papers throughout the States, to
the British officers, for the polite and friendly manner in which they
gave them up. The gardens of the officers were all left in full bearing,
and high preservation; and all the little conveniences were spared,
which could contribute to the comforts of the federal troops.
[Sidenote: REMARKS]
The generality of the people of the States were big with the idea, that
the possession of these places would be attended with the most important
and immediate advantages; and in particular they were fully persuaded,
that they would thereby at once become masters of the trade to the
lakes, and of three-fourths at least of the fur trade, which, they said,
had hitherto been so unjustly monopolized by the British merchants, to
their great prejudice. They have now got possession of them, and
perceive the futility of all these notions.
The posts surrendered are four in number; namely, Fort Oswego, at the
mouth of Oswego River, which falls into Lake Ontario, on the south side;
Fort Niagara, at the mouth of Niagara River; Fort Detroit, on the
western bank of Detroit River; and Fort Michillimachinack, at the
straits of the same name, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. From
Oswego, the first of these, we derived no benefit whatever. The
neighbouring country, for miles round, was a mere forest; it was
inhabited by but few Indians, and these few carried their furs to
Cataragui or Kingston, where they got a better price for them than at
Oswego, as there were many traders there, and of course some competition
amongst them; at the same time, the river, at the mouth of which this
fort stands, was always open to the people of the States, and along it a
small trade was carried on by them between New York and Lake Ontario,
which was in no wise ever interrupted by the troops at the fort. By the
surrender of this place, therefore, they have gained nothing but what
they enjoyed before and the British government is saved the expence of
keeping up a useless garrison of fifty men.
[Sidenote: SURRENDERED FORTS.]
The quantity of furs collected at Niagara is considerable, and the
neighbourhood being populous, it is a place of no small trade; but the
town, in which this trade is carried on, being on the British side of
the line, the few merchants that lived within the limits of the fort
immediately crossed over to the other side, as soon as it was rumoured
that the fort was to be given up. By the possession of a solitary fort,
therefore, the people of the States have not gained the smallest portion
of this part of the lake trade; nor is it probable that any of them will
find it their interest to settle as merchants near the fort; for the
British merchants, on the opposite side, as has already been shewn, can
afford to sell their goods, brought up the St. Lawrence, on much lower
terms than what goods brought from New York can be sold at; and as for
the collecting of furs, it is not to be imagined that the Indians, who
bear such a rooted hatred to the people of the States, who are attached
to the British, and who are not a people ready to forsake their old
friends, will carry their furs over to their enemies, and give up their
connexions with the men with whom they have been in the habit of
dealing, and who can afford to pay them so much better than the traders
on the opposite side of the water.
Detroit, of all the places which have been given up, is the most
important; for it is a town, containing at least twelve hundred
inhabitants. Since its surrender, however, a new town has been laid out
on the opposite bank of the river, eighteen miles lower down, and hither
many of the traders have removed. The majority of them stay at Detroit;
but few or none have become citizens of the States in consequence, nor
is it likely that they will, at least for some time. In the late treaty,
a particular provision for them was made; they were to be allowed to
remain there for one year, without being called on to declare their
sentiments, and if at the end of that period they chose to remain
British subjects, they were not to be molested[12] in any manner, but
suffered to carry on their trade as formerly in the fullest extent; the
portion of the fur trade, which we shall lose by the surrender of this
place, will therefore be very inconsiderable.
Footnote 12:
This part of the late treaty has by no means been strictly observed on
the part of the States. The officers of the federal army, without
asking permission, and contrary to the desire of several of the
remaining British inhabitants, appropriated to their own use several
of the houses and stores of those who had removed to the new town, and
declared their determination of not becoming citizens of the States;
and many of the inhabitants had been called on to serve in the
militia, and to perform duties, from which, as British subjects, they
were exempted by the articles in the treaty in their favour. When we
were at Detroit, the British inhabitants met together, and drew up a
memorial on the subject, reciting their grievances, which was
committed to our care, and accordingly presented to the British
minister at Philadelphia.
The fourth post, Michillimachinack, is a small stockaded fort, situated
on an island. The agents of the North-west Company of merchants at
Montreal, and a few independent traders, resided within the limits of
the fort, and bartered goods there for furs brought in by different
tribes of Indians, who are the sole inhabitants of the neighbouring
country. On evacuating this place, another post was immediately
established, at no great distance, on the Island of St. Joseph, in the
Straits of St. Mary, between lakes Superior and Huron, and a small
garrison left there, which has since been augmented to upwards of fifty
men. Several traders, citizens of the States, have established
themselves at Michillimakinac but as the British traders have fixed
their new post so close to the old one, it is nearly certain that the
Indians will continue to trade with their old friends in preference, for
the reasons before mentioned.
[Sidenote: LAKE TRADE.]
From this statement it appears evident, that the people of the States
can only acquire by their new possession a small part of one branch of
the fur trade, namely, of that which is carried on on one of the nearer
lakes. The furs brought down from the distant regions in the north-west
to the grand portage, and from thence in canoes to Montreal along the
Utawa River, are what constitute by far the principal part, both as to
quantity and value, of those exported from Montreal; to talk, therefore,
of their acquiring possession of three-fourths of the fur trade by the
surrender of the posts on the lakes is absurd in the extreme; neither is
it likely that they will acquire any considerable share of the lake
trade in general, which, as I have already pointed out, can be carried
on by the British merchants from Montreal and Quebec, by means of the
St. Lawrence, with such superior advantage.
It is worthy of remark, that as military posts, all those lately
established by the British are far superior, in point of situation, to
those delivered up. The ground on which the new block house is building,
on the British side of Niagara River, is nine feet higher than the top
of the stone house in the American fort, and it commands every part of
the fort. The chief strength of the old fort is on the land side;
towards the water the works are very weak, and the whole might be
battered down by a single twelve pounder judiciously planted on the
British side of the river. At present it is not proposed to erect any
other works on the British side of the river than the block house; but
should a fort be constructed hereafter, it will be placed on
Mississaguis Point, a still more advantageous situation than that on
which the block house stands, as it completely commands the entrance
into the river.
The new post on Detroit River commands the channel much more effectually
than the old fort in the town of Detroit; vessels cannot go up or down
the river without passing within a very few yards of it. It is
remarkable, indeed, that the French, when they first penetrated into
this part of the country, fixed upon the spot chosen for this new fort,
in preference to that where Detroit stands, and they had absolutely
begun their fort and town, when the whole party was unhappily cut off by
the Indians.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The island of St. Joseph, in the third place, is a more eligible
situation for a British military post than Michillimakinac, inasmuch as
it commands the entrance of Lake Superior, whereas Michillimakinac only
commands the entrance into Lake Michigan, which is wholly within the
territory of the United States.
It is sincerely to be hoped, however, that Great Britain and the United
States may continue friends, and that we never may have occasion to view
those posts on the frontiers in any other light than as convenient
places for carrying on commerce.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXI.
_Description of the River and Falls of Niagara and the Country bordering
upon the Navigable Part of the River below the Falls._
Fort Chippeway, September.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
AT the distance of eighteen miles from the town of Niagara or Newark,
are those remarkable Falls in Niagara River, which may justly be ranked
amongst the greatest natural curiosities in the known world. The road
leading from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie runs within a few hundred yards
of them. This road, which is within the British dominions, is carried
along the top of the lofty steep banks of the river; for a considerable
way it runs close to their very edge, and in passing along it the eye of
the traveller is entertained with a variety of the most grand and
beautiful prospects. The river, instead of growing narrow as you proceed
upwards, widens considerably: at the end of nine or ten miles it expands
to the breadth of a mile, and here it assumes much the appearance of a
lake; it is enclosed, seemingly on all sides, by high hills, and the
current, owing to the great depth of the water, is so gentle as to be
scarcely perceptible from the top of the banks. It continues thus broad
for a mile or two, when on a sudden the waters are contracted between
the high hills on each side. From hence up to the falls the current is
exceedingly irregular and rapid. At the upper end of this broad part of
the river, and nearly at the foot of the banks, is situated a small
village, that has been called Queenstown, but which, in the adjacent
country, is best known by the name of “The Landing.” The lake merchant
vessels can proceed up to this village with perfect safety, and they
commonly do so, to deposit, in the stores there, such goods as are
intended to be sent higher up the country, and to receive in return the
furs, &c. that have been collected at the various ports on lakes Huron
and Erie, and sent thither to be conveyed down to Kingston, across Lake
Ontario. The portage from this place to the nearest navigable part of
Niagara River, above the Falls, is nine miles in length.
About half way up the banks, at the distance of a few hundred yards from
Queenstown, there is a very extensive range of wooden barracks, which,
when viewed a little way off, appears to great advantage; these barracks
are now quite unoccupied, and it is not probable that they will ever be
used until the climate improves: the first troops that were lodged in
them sickened in a very few days after their arrival; many of the men
died, and had not those that remained alive been removed, pursuant to
the advice of the physicians, to other quarters, the whole regiment
might possibly have perished.
From the town of Niagara to Queenstown, the country in the neighbourhood
of the river is very level; but here it puts on a different aspect; a
confused range of hills, covered with oaks of an immense size, suddenly
rises up before you, and the road that winds up the side of them is so
steep and rugged that it is absolutely necessary for the traveller to
leave his carriage, if he should be in one, and proceed to the top on
foot. Beyond these hills you again come to an unbroken level country;
but the soil here differs materially from that on the opposite side; it
consists of a rich dark earth intermixed with clay, and abounding with
stones; whereas, on the side next Lake Ontario, the soil is of a
yellowish cast, in some places inclining to gravel and in others to
sand.
From the brow of one of the hills in this ridge, which overhangs the
little village of Queenstown, the eye of the traveller is gratified with
one of the finest prospects that can be imagined in nature: you stand
amidst a clump of large oaks, a little to the left of the road, and
looking downwards, perceive, through the branches of the trees with
which the hill is clothed from the summit to the base, the tops of the
houses of Queenstown, and in front of the village, the ships moored in
the river; the ships are at least two hundred feet below you, and their
masts appear like slender reeds peeping up amidst the thick foliage of
the trees. Carrying your eye forward, you may trace the river in all its
windings, and finally see it disembogue into Lake Ontario, between the
town and the fort: the lake itself terminates your view in this
direction, except merely at one part of the horizon, where you just get
a glimpse of the blue hills of Toronto. The shore of the river, on the
right hand, remains in its natural state, covered with one continued
forest; but on the opposite side the country is interspersed with
cultivated fields and neat farm houses down to the water’s edge. The
country beyond the hills is much less cleared than that which lies
towards the town of Niagara, on the navigable part of the river.
[Sidenote: PROSPECTS.]
From the sudden change of the face of the country in the neighbourhood
of Queenstown, and the equally sudden change in the river with respect
to its breadth, depth, and current, conjectures have been formed, that
the great falls of the river must originally have been situated at the
spot where the waters are so abruptly contracted between the hills; and
indeed it is highly probable that this was the case, for it is a fact
well ascertained, that the falls have receded very considerably since
they were first visited by Europeans, and that they are still receding
every year; but of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly
presently.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
It was at an early hour of the day that we left the town of Niagara or
Newark, accompanied by the attorney general and an officer of the
British engineers, in order to visit these stupendous Falls. Every step
that we advanced toward them, our expectations rose to a higher pitch;
our eyes were continually on the look out for the column of white mist
which hovers over them; and an hundred times, I believe, did we stop our
carriage in hopes of hearing their thundering sound: neither, however,
was the mist to be seen, nor the sound to be heard, when we came to the
foot of the hills; nor after having crossed over them, were our eyes or
ears more gratified. This occasioned no inconsiderable disappointment,
and we could not but express our doubts to each other, that the wondrous
accounts we had so frequently heard of the Falls were without
foundation, and calculated merely to impose on the minds of credulous
people that inhabited a distant part of the world. These doubts were
nearly confirmed, when we found that, after having approached within
half a mile of the place, the mist was but just discernible, and that
the sound even then was not to be heard; yet it is nevertheless strictly
true, that the tremendous noise of the Falls may be distinctly heard, at
times, at the distance of forty miles; and the cloud formed from the
spray may be even seen still farther off[13]; but it is only when the
air is very clear, and there is a fine blue sky, which however are very
common occurrences in this country, that the cloud can be seen at such a
great distance. The hearing of the sound of the falls afar off also
depends upon the state of the atmosphere; it is observed, that the sound
can be heard at the greatest distance, just before a heavy fall of rain,
and when the wind is in a favourable point to convey the sound toward
the listener: the day on which we first approached the falls was thick
and cloudy.
Footnote 13:
We ourselves, some time afterwards, beheld the cloud with the naked
eye, at no less a distance than fifty-four miles, when sailing on Lake
Erie, on board one of the king’s ships. The day on which we saw it was
uncommonly clear and calm, and we were seated on the poop of the
vessel, admiring the bold scenery of the southern shore of the lake,
when the commander, who had been aloft to make some observations, came
to us, and pointing to a small white cloud in the horizon, told us,
that that was the cloud overhanging Niagara. At first it appeared to
us that this must have been a mere conjecture, but on minute
observation it was evident that the commander’s information was just.
All the other light clouds in a few minutes, flitted away to another
part of the horizon, whereas this one remained steadily fixed in the
same spot; and on looking at it through a glass, it was plain to see
that the shape of the cloud varied every instant, owing to the
continued rising of the mist from the cataract beneath.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA RIVER.]
On that part of the road leading to Lake Erie which draws nearest to the
falls, there is a small village, consisting of about half a dozen
straggling houses: here we alighted, and having disposed of our horses,
and made a slight repast, in order to prepare us for the fatigue we had
to go through, we crossed over some fields towards a deep hollow place
surrounded with large trees, from the bottom of which issued thick
volumes of whitish mist, that had much the appearance of smoke rising
from large heaps of burning weeds. Having come to the edge of this
hollow place, we descended a deep bank of about fifty yards, and then
walking for some distance over a wet marshy piece of ground, covered
with thick bushes, at last came to the Table Rock, so called from the
remarkable flatness of its surface, and its bearing some similitude to a
table. This rock is situated a little to the front of the great fall,
above the top of which it is elevated about forty feet. The view from it
is truly sublime; but before I attempt to give any idea of the nature of
this view, it will be necessary to take a more general survey of the
river and falls.
Niagara River issues from the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, and after
a course of thirty-six miles discharges itself into Lake Ontario, as has
already been mentioned. For the first few miles from Lake Erie, the
breadth of the river is about three hundred yards, and it is deep enough
for vessels drawing nine or ten feet water; but the current is so
extremely rapid and irregular, and the channel so intricate, on account
of the numberless large rocks in different places, that no other vessels
than bateaux ever attempt to pass along it. As you proceed downward the
river widens, no rocks are to be seen either along the shores or in the
channel, and the waters glide smoothly along, though the current
continues very strong. The river runs thus evenly, and is navigable with
safety for bateaux as far as Fort Chippeway, which is about three miles
above the falls; but here the bed of it again becomes rocky, and the
waters are violently agitated by passing down successive rapids, so much
so indeed, that were a boat by any chance to be carried but a little way
beyond Chippeway, where people usually stop, nothing could save it from
being dashed to pieces long before it came to the falls. With such
astonishing impetuosity do the waves break on the rocks in these rapids,
that the mere sight of them from the top of the banks is sufficient to
make you shudder. I must in this place, however, observe, that it is
only on each side of the river that the waters are so much troubled; in
the middle of it, though the current is also there uncommonly swift, yet
the breakers are not so dangerous but boats may pass down, if
dexterously managed, to an island which divides the river at the very
falls. To go down to this island it is necessary to set off at some
distance above Chippeway, where the current is even, and to keep exactly
in the middle of the river the whole way thither; if the boats were
suffered to get out of their course ever so little, either to the right
or left, it would be impossible to stem the current, and bring them
again into it; they would be irresistibly carried towards the falls, and
destruction must inevitably follow. In returning from the island there
is still more difficulty and danger than in going to it. Notwithstanding
these circumstances, numbers of persons have the foolhardiness to
proceed to this island, merely for the sake of beholding the falls from
the opposite side of it, or for the sake of having in their power to say
that they had been upon it.
[Illustration:
_AN EYE SKETCH_ of the FALLS of NIAGARA
_I.Weld del. Neele sculp^t._
_London Published by J. Stockdale Piccadilly 16^{th.} Nov^r. 1798._
Click on the image to see a larger version.
]
[Illustration:
VIEW _of the_ HORSE-SHOE FALL _of_ NIAGARA
_I.Weld del. Neele Scupt._
_Published by J. Stockdale Picadilly._
]
[Illustration:
VIEW _of the Lesser_ FALL _of_ NIAGARA
_I.Weld del. J. Scott sculp^t._
_Published Dec. 22, 1798, by J. Stockdale Picadilly._
]
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
The river forces its way amidst the rocks with redoubled impetuosity, as
it approaches towards the falls; at last coming to the brink of the
tremendous precipice, it tumbles headlong to the bottom, without meeting
with any interruption from rocks in its descent. Just at the precipice
the river takes a considerable bend to the right, and the line of the
falls, instead of extending from bank to bank in the shortest direction,
runs obliquely across. The width of the falls is considerably greater
than the width of the river, admeasured some way below the precipice;
but the annexed plan will enable you to form a better idea of their
position than any written description whatsoever. For its great accuracy
I cannot vouch, as it was done merely from the eye; such as it is,
however, I have sent it to you, conceiving it better that you should
have a plan somewhat imperfect than no plan at all. On looking it over
you will see that the river does not rush down the precipice in one
unbroken sheet, but that it is divided by islands into three distinct
collateral falls. The most stupendous of these is that on the north
western or British side of the river, commonly called the Great, or
Horse-shoe Fall, from its bearing some resemblance to the shape of a
horse shoe. The height of this is only one hundred and forty-two feet,
whereas the others are each one hundred and sixty feet high; but to its
inferior height it is indebted principally for its grandeur; the
precipice, and of course the bed of the river above it, being so much
lower at the one side than at the other, by far the greater part of the
water of the river finds its way to the low side, and rushes down with
greater velocity at that side than it does at the other, as the rapids
above the precipice are strongest there. It is from the center of the
Horse-shoe Fall that arises that prodigious cloud of mist which may be
seen so far off. The extent of the Horse-shoe Fall can only be
ascertained by the eye; the general opinion of those who have most
frequently viewed it is, that it is not less than six hundred yards in
circumference. The island which separates it from the next fall is
supposed to be about three hundred and fifty yards wide; the second fall
is about five yards wide; the next island about thirty yards; and the
third, commonly called the Fort Schloper Fall, from being situated
towards the side of the river on which that fort stands, is judged to
admeasure at least as much as the large island. The whole extent of the
precipice, therefore, including the islands, is, according to this
computation, thirteen hundred and thirty-five yards. This is certainly
not an exaggerated statement. Some have supposed, that the line of the
falls altogether exceeds an English mile. The quantity of water carried
down the falls is prodigious. It will be found to amount to 670,255 tons
per minute, though calculated simply from the following data, which
ought to be correct, as coming from an experienced commander of one of
the King’s ships on Lake Erie, well acquainted in every respect with
that body of water, viz. that where Lake Erie, towards its eastern
extremity, is two miles and a half wide, the water is six feet deep, and
the current runs at the rate of two knots in an hour; but Niagara River,
between this part of Lake Erie and the falls, receives the waters of
several large creeks, the quantity carried down the falls must therefore
be greater than the foregoing computation makes it to be; if we say that
six hundred and seventy-two thousand tons of water are precipitated down
the falls every minute, the quantity will not probably be much
overrated.
[Sidenote: TABLE ROCK.]
To return now to the Table Rock, situated on the British side of the
river, and on the verge of the Horse-shoe Fall. Here the spectator has
an unobstructed view of the tremendous rapids above the falls, and of
the circumjacent shores, covered with thick woods; of the Horse-shoe
Fall, some yards below him; of the Fort Schloper Fall, at a distance to
the left; and of the frightful gulph beneath, into which, if he has but
courage to approach to the exposed edge of the rock, he may look down
perpendicularly. The astonishment excited in the mind of the spectator
by the vastness of the different objects which he contemplates from
hence is great indeed, and few persons, on coming here for the first
time, can for some minutes collect themselves sufficiently to be able to
form any tolerable conception of the stupendous scene before them. It is
impossible for the eye to embrace the whole of it at once; it must
gradually make itself acquainted, in the first place, with the component
parts of the scene, each one of which is in itself an object of wonder;
and such a length of time does this operation require, that many of
those who have had an opportunity of contemplating the scene at their
leisure, for years together, have thought that every time they have
beheld it, each part has appeared more wonderful and more sublime, and
that it has only been at the time of their last visit that they have
been able to discover all the grandeur of the cataract.
Having spent a considerable time on the Table Rock, we returned to the
fields the same way by which we had descended, pursuant to the direction
of the officer of engineers accompanying us, who was intimately
acquainted with every part of the cataract, and of the adjoining ground,
and was, perhaps, the best guide that could be procured in the whole
country. It would be possible to pursue your way along the edge of the
cliff, from the Table Rock, a considerable way downwards; but the bushes
are so exceedingly thick, and the ground so rugged, that the task would
be arduous in the extreme.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
The next spot from which we surveyed the falls, was from the part of the
cliff nearly opposite to that end of the Fort Schloper Fall, which lies
next to the island. You stand here, on the edge of the cliff, behind
some bushes, the tops of which have been cut down in order to open the
view. From hence you have a better prospect of the whole cataract, and
are enabled to form a more correct idea of the position of the
precipice, than from any one other place. The prospect from hence is
more beautiful, but I think less grand than from any other spot. The
officer who so politely directed our movements on this occasion was so
struck with the view from this spot, that he once had a wooden house
constructed, and drawn down here by oxen, in which he lived until he had
finished several different drawings of the cataract: one of these we
were gratified with the sight of, which exhibited a view of the cataract
in the depth of winter, when in a most curious and wonderful state. The
ice at this season of the year accumulates at the bottom of the cataract
in immense mounds, and huge icicles, like the pillars of a massy
building, hang pendent in many places from the top of the precipice,
reaching nearly to the bottom.
[Illustration:
VIEW _of the_ FALLS _of_ NIAGARA
_J. Scott_
_Published Dec.14 1798, by J. Stockdale_
]
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
Having left this place, we returned once more through the woods
bordering upon the precipice to the open fields, and then directed our
course by a circuitous path, about one mile in length, to a part of the
cliff where it is possible to descend to the bottom of the cataract. The
river, for many miles below the precipice, is bounded on each side by
steep, and in most parts perpendicular, cliffs, formed of earth and
rocks, and it is impossible to descend to the bottom of them, except at
two places, where large masses of earth and rocks have crumbled down,
and ladders have been placed from one break to another, for the
accommodation of passengers. The first of these places which you come to
in walking along the river, from the Horse-shoe Fall downwards, is
called the “Indian Ladder,” the ladders having been constructed there by
the Indians. These ladders, as they are called, of which there are
several, one below the other, consist simply of long pine trees, with
notches, cut in their sides, for the passenger to rest his feet on. The
trees, even when first placed there, would vibrate as you stepped upon
them, owing to their being so long and slender; age has rendered them
still less firm, and they now certainly cannot be deemed safe, though
many persons are still in the habit of descending by their means. We did
not attempt to get to the bottom of the cliff by this route, but
proceeded to the other place, which is lower down the river, called Mrs.
Simcoe’s Ladder, the ladders having been originally placed there for the
accommodation of the lady of the late governor. This route is much more
frequented than the other; the ladders, properly so called, are strong,
and firmly placed, and none of them, owing to the frequent breaks in the
cliff, are required to be of inch a great length but what even a lady
might pass up or down them without fear of danger. To descend over the
rugged rocks, however, the whole way down to the bottom of the cliff, is
certainly no trifling undertaking, and few ladies, I believe, could be
found of sufficient strength of body to encounter the fatigue of such an
expedition.
On arriving at the bottom of the cliff, you find yourself in the midst
of huge piles of mishapen rocks, with great masses of earth and rocks
projecting from the side of the cliff, and overgrown with pines and
cedars hanging over your head, apparently ready to crumble down and
crush you to atoms. Many of the large trees grow with their heads
downwards, being suspended by their roots, which had taken such a firm
hold in the ground at the top of the cliff, that when part of it gave
way the trees did not fall altogether. The river before you here is
somewhat more than a quarter of a mile wide; and on the opposite side of
it, a little to the right, the Fort Schloper Fall is seen to great
advantage; what you see of the Horse-shoe Fall also appears in a very
favourable point of view; the projecting cliff conceals nearly one half
of it. The Fort Schloper Fall is skirted at bottom by milk white foam,
which ascends in thick volumes from the rocks; but it is not seen to
rise above the fall like a cloud of smoke, as is the case at the
Horse-shoe Fall; never the less the spray is so considerable, that it
descends on the opposite side of the river, at the foot of Simcoe’s
Ladder, like rain.
Having reached the margin of the river, we proceeded towards the Great
Fall, along the strand, which for a considerable part of the way thither
consists of horizontal beds of limestone rock, covered with gravel,
except, indeed, where great piles of stones have fallen from the sides
of the cliff. These horizontal beds of rock, in some places, extend very
far into the river, forming points which break the force of the current,
and occasion strong eddies along particular parts of the shore. Here
great numbers of the bodies of fishes, squirrels, foxes, and various
other animals, that, unable to stem the current of the river above the
falls, have been carried down them, and consequently killed, are washed
up. The shore is likewise found strewed with trees, and large pieces of
timber, that have been swept away from the saw mills above the falls,
and carried down the precipice. The timber is generally terribly
shattered, and the carcases of all the large animals, particularly of
the large fishes, are found very much bruised. A dreadful stench arises
from the quantity of putrid matter lying on the shore, and numberless
birds of prey, attracted by it, are always seen hovering about the
place.
[Sidenote: FATE OF AN INDIAN.]
Amongst the numerous stories current in the country, relating to this
wonderful cataract, there is one that records the hapless fate of a poor
Indian, which I select, as the truth of it is unquestionable. The
unfortunate hero of this tale, intoxicated, it seems, with spirits, had
laid himself down to sleep in the bottom of his canoe, which was
fastened to the beach at the distance of some miles above the falls. His
squaw sat on the shore to watch him. Whilst they were in this situation,
a sailor from one of the ships of war on the neighbouring lakes happened
to pass by; he was struck with the charms of the squaw, and instantly
determined upon enjoying them. The faithful creature, however, unwilling
to gratify his desires, hastened to the canoe to arouse her husband; but
before she could effect her purpose, the sailor cut the cord by which
the canoe was fastened, and set it adrift. It quickly floated away with
the stream from the fatal spot, and ere many minutes elapsed, was
carried down into the midst of the rapids. Here it was distinctly seen
by several persons that were standing on the adjacent shore, whose
attention had been caught by the singularity of the appearance of a
canoe in such a part of the river. The violent motion of the waves soon
awoke the Indian; he started up, looked wildly around, and perceiving
his danger, instantly seized his paddle, and made the most surprising
exertions to save himself; but finding in a little time that all his
efforts would be of no avail in stemming the impetuosity of the current,
he with great composure put aside his paddle, wrapt himself up in his
blanket, and again laid himself down in the bottom of the canoe. In a
few seconds he was hurried down the precipice; but neither he nor his
canoe were ever seen more. It is supposed that not more than one third
of the different things that happen to be carried down the falls
reappear at bottom.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
From the foot of Simcoe’s Ladder you may walk along the strand for some
distance without inconvenience; but as you approach the Horse-shoe Fall,
the way becomes more and more rugged. In some places, where the cliff
has crumbled down, huge mounds of earth, rocks, and trees, reaching to
the water’s edge, oppose your course; it seems impossible to pass them;
and, indeed, without a guide, a stranger would never find his way to the
opposite side; for to get there it is necessary to mount nearly to their
top, and then to crawl on your hands and knees through long dark holes,
where passages are left open between the torn up rocks and trees. After
passing these mounds, you have to climb from rock to rock close under
the cliff, for there is but little space here between the cliff and the
river, and these rocks are so slippery, owing to the continual moisture
from the spray, which descends very heavily, that without the utmost
precaution it is scarcely possible to escape a fall. At the distance of
a quarter of a mile from the Great Fall we were as wet, owing to the
spray, as if each of us had been thrown into the river.
There is nothing whatsoever to prevent you from passing to the very foot
of the Great Fall; and you might even proceed behind the prodigious
sheet of water that comes pouring down from the top of the precipice,
for the water falls from the edge of a projecting rock; and, moreover,
caverns of a very considerable size have been hollowed out of the rocks
at the bottom of the precipice, owing to the violent ebullition of the
water, which extend some way underneath the bed of the upper part of the
river. I advanced within about six yards of the edge of the sheet of
water, just far enough to peep into the caverns behind it; but here my
breath was nearly taken away by the violent whirlwind that always rages
at the bottom of the cataract, occasioned by the concussion of such a
vast body of water against the rocks. I confess I had no inclination at
the time to go farther; nor, indeed, any of us afterwards attempted to
explore the dreary confines of these caverns, where death seemed to
await him that should be daring enough to enter their threatening jaws.
No words can convey an adequate idea of the awful grandeur of the scene
at this place. Your senses are appalled by the sight of the immense body
of water that comes pouring down so closely to you from the top of the
stupendous precipice, and by the thundering sound of the billows dashing
against the rocky sides of the caverns below; you tremble with
reverential fear, when you consider that a blast of the whirlwind might
sweep you from off the slippery rocks on which you stand, and
precipitate you into the dreadful gulph beneath, from whence all the
power of man could not extricate you; you feel what an insignificant
being you are in the creation, and your mind is forcibly impressed with
an awful idea of the power of that mighty Being who commanded the waters
to flow.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
Since the Falls of Niagara were first discovered they have receded very
considerably, owing to the disrupture of the rocks which form the
precipice. The rocks at bottom are first loosened by the constant action
of the water upon them; they are afterwards carried away, and those at
top being thus undermined, are soon broken by the weight of the water
rushing over them: even within the memory of many of the present
inhabitants of the country, the falls have receded several yards. The
commodore of the King’s vessels on Lake Erie, who had been employed on
that lake for upwards of thirty years, informed me, that when he first
came into the country it was a common practice for young men to go to
the island in the middle of the falls; that after dining there, they
used frequently to dare each other to walk into the river towards
certain large rocks in the midst of the rapids, not far from the edge of
the falls; and sometimes to proceed through the water, even beyond these
rocks. No such rocks are to be seen at present; and were a man to
advance two yards into the river from the island, he would be inevitably
swept away by the torrent. It has been conjectured, as I before
mentioned, that the Falls of Niagara were originally situated at
Queenstown; and indeed the more pains you take to examine the course of
the river from the present falls downward, the more reason is there to
imagine that such a conjecture is well founded. From the precipice
nearly down to Queenstown, the bed of the river is strewed with large
rocks, and the banks are broken and rugged; circumstances which plainly
denote that some great disruption has taken place along this part of the
river; and we need be at no loss to account for it, as there are evident
marks of the action of water upon the sides of the banks, and
considerably above their present bases. Now the river has never been
known to rise near these marks during the greatest floods; it is plain,
therefore, that its bed must have been once much more elevated than it
is at present. Below Queenstown, however, there are no traces on the
banks to lead us to imagine that the level of the water was ever much
higher there than it is now. The sudden increase of the depth of the
river just below the hills at Queenstown, and its sudden expansion there
at the same time, seem to indicate that the waters must for a great
length of time have fallen from the top of the hills, and thus have
formed that extensive deep basin below the village. In the river, a mile
or two above Queenstown, there is a tremendous whirlpool, owing to a
deep hole in the bed; this hole was probably also formed by the waters
falling for a great length of time on the same spot, in consequence of
the rocks which composed the then precipice having remained firmer than
those at any other place did. Tradition tells us, that the great fall,
instead of having been in the form of a horse shoe, once projected in
the middle. For a century past, however, it has remained nearly in the
present form; and as the ebullition of the water at the bottom of the
cataract is so much greater at the center of this fall than in any other
part, and as the water consequently acts with more force there in
undermining the precipice than at any other part, it is not unlikely
that it may remain nearly in the same form for ages to come.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]
At the bottom of the Horse-shoe Fall is found a kind of white concrete
substance, by the people of the country, called spray. Some persons have
supposed that it is formed from the earthy particles of the water, which
descending, owing to their great specific gravity, quicker than the
other particles, adhere to the rocks, and are there formed into a mass.
This concrete substance has precisely the appearance of petrified froth;
and it is remarkable, that it is found adhering to those rocks against
which the greatest quantities of the froth, that floats upon the water,
is washed by the eddies.
We did not think of ascending the cliff till the evening was far
advanced, and had it been possible to have found our way up in the dark,
I verily believe we should have remained at the bottom of it until
midnight. Just as we left the foot of the great fall the sun broke
through the clouds, and one of the most beautiful and perfect rainbows
that ever I beheld was exhibited in the spray that arose from the fall.
It is only at evening and morning that the rainbow is seen in
perfection; for the banks of the river, and the steep precipice, shade
the sun from the spray at the bottom of the fall in the middle of the
day.
At a great distance from the foot of the ladder we halted, and one of
the party was dispatched to fetch a bottle of brandy and a pair of
goblets, which had been deposited under some stones on the margin of the
river, in our way to the great fall, whither it would have been highly
inconvenient to have carried them. Wet from head to foot, and greatly
fatigued, there certainly was not one amongst us that appeared, at the
moment, desirous of getting the brandy, in order to pour out a libation
to the tutelary deities of the cataract; nor indeed was there much
reason to apprehend that our piety would have shone forth more
conspicuously afterwards; however it was not put to the test; for the
messenger returned in a few minutes with the woeful intelligence that
the brandy and goblets had been stolen. We were at no great loss in
guessing who the thieves were. Perched on the rocks, at a little
distance from us, sat a pair of the river nymphs, not “nymphs with
sedged crowns and ever harmless looks;” not “temperate nymphs,” but a
pair of squat sturdy old wenches, that with close bonnets and tucked up
petticoats had crawled down the cliff, and were busied with long rods in
angling for fish. Their noisy clack plainly indicated that they had been
well pleased with the brandy, and that we ought not to entertain any
hopes of recovering the spoil; we e’en slaked our thirst, therefore,
with a draught from the wholesome flood, and having done so, boldly
pushed forward, and before it was quite dark regained the habitations
from whence we had started.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
On returning we found a well-spread table laid out for us in the porch
of the house, and having gratified the keen appetite which the fatigue
we had encountered had excited, our friendly guides, having previously
given us instructions for examining the falls more particularly, set off
by moonlight for Niagara, and we repaired to Fort Chippeway, three miles
above the falls, which place we made our head-quarters while we remained
in the neighbourhood, because there was a tolerable tavern, and no house
in the village near the falls, where sickness was not prevalent.
The Falls of Niagara are much less difficult of access now than they
were some years ago. Charlevoix, who visited them in the year 1720,
tells us, that they were only to be viewed from one spot; and that from
thence the spectator had only a side prospect of them. Had he been able
to have descended to the bottom, he would have had ocular demonstration
of the existence of caverns underneath the precipice, which he supposed
to be the case from the hollow sound of the falling of the waters; from
the number of carcases washed up there on different parts of the strand,
and would also have been convinced of the truth of a circumstance which
he totally disbelieved, namely, that fish were oftentimes unable to stem
the rapid current above the falls, and were consequently carried down
the precipice.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The most favourable season for visiting the falls is about the middle of
September, the time when we saw them; for then the woods are seen in all
their glory, beautifully variegated with the rich tints of autumn; and
the spectator is not then annoyed with vermin. In the summer season you
meet with rattlesnakes at every step, and musquitoes swarm so thickly in
the air, that to use a common phrase of the country, “you might cut them
with a knife.” The cold nights in the beginning of September effectually
banish these noxious animals.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXII.
_Description of Fort Chippeway.—Plan in meditation to cut a Canal to
avoid the Portage at the Falls of Niagara.—Departure from
Chippeway.—Intense Heat of the Weather.—Description of the Country
bordering on Niagara River above the Falls.—Observations on the
Climate of Upper Canada.—Rattlesnakes common in Upper Canada.—Fort
Erie.—Miserable Accommodation there.—Squirrel hunting.—Seneka
Indians.—Their Expertness at the Use of the Blow-gun.—Description of
the Blow-gun.—Excursion to the Village of the Senekas.—Whole Nation
absent.—Passage of a dangerous Sand Bar at the Mouth of Buffalo
Creek.—Sail from Fort Erie.—Driven back by a Storm.—Anchor under
Point Abineau.—Description of the Point.—Curious Sand Hills
there.—Bear hunting.—How carried on.—Dogs, what Sort of, used.—Wind_
_changes.—The Vessel suffers from the Storm whilst at
Anchor.—Departure from Point Abineau.—General Description of Lake
Erie.—Anecdote.—Reach the Islands at the Western End of the
Lake.—Anchor there.—Description of the Islands.—Serpents of various
Kinds found there.—Rattlesnakes.—Medicinal Uses made of
them.—Fabulous Accounts of Serpents.—Departure from the
Islands.—Arrival at Malden.—Detroit River._
Malden, October.
FORT CHIPPEWAY, from whence my last letter was dated, is a small
stockaded fort, situated on the borders of a creek of the same name,
about two hundred yards distant from Niagara River. Had it been built
immediately on the latter stream, its situation would have been much
more convenient; for the water of the creek is so bad that it cannot be
drank, and the garrison is obliged to draw water daily from the river.
The fort, which occupies about one rood of ground only, consists of a
small block house, inclosed by a stockade of cedar posts about twelve
feet high, which is merely sufficient to defend the garrison against
musquet shot. Adjoining to the fort there are about seven or eight farm
houses, and some large stone houses, where goods are deposited
preparatory to their being conveyed up the river in bateaux, or across
the portage in carts, to Queenstown. It is said that it would be
practicable to cut a canal from hence to Queenstown, by means of which
the troublesome and expensive process of unlading the bateaux and
transporting the goods in carts along the portage would be avoided. Such
a canal will in all probability be undertaken one day or other; but
whenever that shall be the case, there is reason to think that it will
be cut on the New York side of the river for two reasons; first, because
the ground on that side is much more favourable for such an undertaking;
and, secondly, because the state of New York is much more populous, and
far better enabled to advance the large sums of money that would be
requisite for cutting a canal through such rugged ground as borders upon
the river, than the province of Upper Canada either is at present, or
appears likely to be.
[Sidenote: FORT CHIPPEWAY.]
About fifteen men, under the command of a lieutenant, are usually
quartered at Fort Chippeway, who are mostly employed in conducting, in
bateaux from thence to Fort Erie, the stores for the troops in the upper
country, and the presents for the Indians.
After we had gratified our curiosity in regard to the wonderous objects
in the neighbourhood, at least as far as our time would permit, we were
obligingly furnished with a bateau by the officer at Fort Chippeway, to
whom we carried letters, to convey us to Fort Erie. My companions
embarked in it with our baggage, when the morning appointed for our
departure arrived; but desirous of taking one more look at the Falls, I
staid behind, determining to follow them on foot in the course of the
day; I accordingly walked down to the falls from Fort Chippeway after
breakfast, spent an hour or two there, returned to the fort, and having
stopped a short time to rest myself after the fatigues of climbing the
steeps about the falls, I set but for Fort Erie, fifteen miles distant
from Chippeway, accompanied by my faithful servant Edward, who has
indeed been a treasure to me since I have been in America. The day was
by no means favourable for a pedestrian expedition; it was intensely
hot, and we had not proceeded far before we found the necessity of
taking off our jackets, waistcoats, and cravats, and carrying them in a
bundle on our backs. Several parties of Indians that I met going down
the river in canoes were stark naked.
The banks of Niagara River, between Chippeway and Fort Erie, are very
low, and covered, for the most part, with shrubs, under whole shade,
upon the gravelly beach of the river, the weary traveller finds an
agreeable resting place. For the first few miles from Chippeway there
are scarcely any houses to be seen; but about half way between that
place and Fort Erie they are thickly scattered along the banks of the
river. The houses in this neighbourhood were remarkably well built, and
appeared to be kept in a state of great neatness; most of them were
sheathed with boards, and painted white. The lands adjoining them are
rich, and were well cultivated. The crops of Indian corn were still
standing here, which had a most luxuriant aspect; in many of the fields
there did not appear to be a stem less than eight feet in height.
Between the rows they sow gourds, squashes, and melons, of which last
every sort attains to a state of great perfection in the open air
throughout the inhabited parts of the two provinces. Peaches in this
part of the country likewise come to perfection in the open air, but in
Lower Canada, the summers are too short to permit them to ripen
sufficiently. The winters here are very severe whilst they last, but it
is seldom that the snow lies longer than three months on the ground. The
summers are intensely hot, Fahrenheit’s thermometer often rising to 96°,
and sometimes above 100°.
[Sidenote: INTENSE HEAT.—SNAKES.]
As I passed along to Fort Erie I killed a great many large snakes of
different sorts that I found basking in the sun. Amongst them I did not
find any rattlesnakes: these reptiles, however, are very commonly met
with here; and at the distance of twenty or thirty miles from the river,
up the country, it is said that they are so numerous as to render the
surveying of land a matter of very great danger. It is a circumstance
strongly in favour of Lower Canada, that the rattlesnake is not found
there; it is seldom found, indeed, to the northward of the forty-fifth
parallel of north latitude.
Fort Erie stands at the eastern extremity of Lake Erie; it is a small
stockaded fort, somewhat similar to that at Chippeway; and adjoining it
are extensive stores as at Chippeway, and about half a dozen miserable
little dwellings. On arriving there I had no difficulty in discovering
my companions; I found them lodged in a small log-house, which contained
but the one room, and just sitting down to a supper, they had procured
through the assistance of a gentleman in the Indian department, who
accompanied them from Chippeway. This habitation was the property of an
old woman, who in her younger days had followed the drum, and now gained
her livelihood by accommodating, to the best of her power, such
travellers as passed by Fort Erie. A sorry habitation it was; the crazy
door was ready to drop off the hinges, and in all the three windows of
it not one pane of glass was there, a young gentleman from Detroit
having amused himself, whilst detained in the place by contrary winds,
some little time before our arrival, with shooting arrows through them.
It was not likely that these windows would be speedily repaired, for no
glazier was to be met with nearer than Newark, thirty-six miles distant.
Here, as we lay folded in our skins on the floor, the rain beat in upon
us, and the wind whistled about our ears; but this was not the worst. In
the morning we found it a difficult matter to get wherewith to satisfy
our hunger; dinner was more difficult to be had than breakfast, supper
than dinner; there seemed to be a greater scarcity of provisions also
the second day than there was on the first. At last, fearing that we
should be famished if we remained longer under the care of old mother
Palmer, we embarked at once on board the vessel of war in which we
intended to cross the lake, where although sometimes tossed about by the
raging contrary winds, yet we had comfortable births, and fared
plenteously every day.
[Sidenote: FORT ERIE.]
Ships lie opposite to Fort Erie, at the distance of about one hundred
yards from the shore; they are there exposed to all the violence of the
westerly winds, but the anchorage is excellent, and they ride in perfect
safety. Three vessels of war, of about two hundred tons, and carrying
from eight to twelve guns each, besides two or three merchant vessels,
lay wind bound whilst we remained here. The little fort, with the
surrounding houses built on the rocky shore, the vessels lying at anchor
before it, the rich woods, the distant hills on the opposite side of the
lake, and the vast lake itself, extending to the farthest part of the
horizon, altogether formed an interesting and beautiful scene.
[Sidenote: SQUIRREL HUNTING.]
Whilst we were detained here by contrary winds, we regularly went on
shore after breakfast to take a ramble in the woods; oftentimes also we
amused ourselves with the diversion of hunting squirrels with dogs,
amongst the shrubs and young trees on the borders of the lake, thousands
of which animals we found in the neighbourhood of the fort. The
squirrels, alarmed by the barking of the dogs, leap from tree to tree
with wonderful swiftness; you follow them closely, shaking the trees,
and striking against the branches with poles. Sometimes they will lead
you a chace of a quarter of a mile and more; but sooner or later,
terrified by your attentive pursuit, make a false leap, and come to the
ground; the dogs, ever on the watch, then seize the opportunity to lay
hold of them; frequently, however, the squirrels will elude their
repeated snaps, and mount another tree before you can look round you. I
have seldom known them to be hurt by their fall, notwithstanding that I
have many times seen them tumble from branches of trees upwards of
twenty feet from the ground.
In our rambles we used frequently to fall in with parties of the Seneka
Indians, from the opposite side of the lake, that were amusing
themselves with hunting and shooting these animals. They shot them
principally with bows and blow-guns, at the use of which last the
Senekas are wonderfully expert. The blow-gun is a narrow tube, commonly
about six feet in length, made of a cane reed, or of some pithy wood,
through which they drive short slender arrows by the force of the
breath. The arrows are not much thicker than the lower string of a
violin; they are headed generally with little triangular bits of tin,
and round the opposite ends, for the length of two inches, a quantity of
the down of thistles, or something very like it, is bound, so as to
leave the arrows at this part of such a thickness that they may but
barely pass into the tube. The arrows are put in at the end of the tube
that is held next to the mouth, the down catches the breath, and with a
smart puff they will fly to the distance of fifty yards. I have followed
young Seneka Indians, whilst shooting with blow-guns, for hours
together, during which time I have never known them once to miss their
aim, at the distance of ten or fifteen yards, although they shot at the
little red squirrels, which are not half the size of a rat; and with
such wonderful force used they to blow forth the arrows, that they
frequently drove them up to the very thistle-down through the heads of
the largest black squirrels. The effect of these guns appears at first
like magic. The tube is put to the mouth, and in the twinkling of an eye
you see the squirrel that is aimed at fall lifeless to the ground; no
report, not the smallest noise even, is to be heard, nor is it possible
to see the arrow, so quickly does it fly, until it appears fastened in
the body of the animal.
The Seneka is one of the six nations which formerly bore the general
name of the Iroquois Indians. Their principal village is situated on
Buffalo Creek, which falls into the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, on
the New York shore. We took the ship’s boat one morning, and went over
to visit it, but all the Indians, men, women, and children, amounting in
all to upwards of six hundred persons, had, at an early hour, gone down
to Fort Niagara, to partake of a feast which was there prepared for
them. We walked about in the neighbourhood of the village, dined on the
grass on some cold provisions that we had taken with us, and in the
evening, returned.
[Sidenote: BUFFALO CREEK.]
Opposite to the mouth of Buffalo Creek there is a very dangerous sand
bar, which at times it is totally impossible to pass in any other
vessels than bateaux; we found it no easy matter to get over it in the
ship’s long boat with four oars on going into the creek; and in
returning the passage was really tremendous. The wind, which was
westerly, and of course impelled the vast body of water in the lake
towards the mouth of the creek, had increased considerably whilst we had
been on shore, and the waves had begun to break with such fury over the
bar, that it was not without a considerable share of terror that we
contemplated the prospect of passing through them: the commodore of the
King’s ships on the lake, who was at the helm, was determined, however,
to cross the bar that night, and accordingly, a strict silence having
been enjoined, that the crew might hear his orders, we boldly entered
into the midst of the breakers: the boat now rolled about in a most
alarming manner; sometimes it mounted into the air on the top of the
mighty billows, at other times it came thumping down with prodigious
force on the bar; at last it stuck quite fast in the sand; neither oars
nor rudder were any longer of use, and for a moment we gave ourselves
over for lost; the waves that rolled towards us broke on all sides with
a noise like that of thunder, and we were expecting that the boat would
be overwhelmed by some one or other of them every instant, when luckily
a large wave, that rolled on a little farther than the rest without
breaking into foam, let us again afloat, and the oarsmen making at that
moment the most vigorous exertions, we once more got into deep water; it
was not, however, until after many minutes that we were safely out of
the tremendous surf. A boat, with a pair of oars only, that attempted to
follow us, was overwhelmed in an instant by a wave which broke over her:
it was in vain to think of attempting to give any assistance to her
crew, and we were obliged for a time to endure the painful thought that
they might be struggling with death within a few yards of us; but before
we lost sight of the shore we had the satisfaction of beholding them all
standing in safety on the beach, which they had reached by swimming.
After having been detained about seven days at Fort Erie, the wind
veered about in our favour, the signal gun was fired, the passengers
repaired on board, and at half an hour before sun-set we launched forth
into the lake. It was much such another evening as that on which we left
Kingston; the vast lake, bounded only by the horizon, glowed with the
rich warm tints that were reflected in its unruffled surface from the
western sky; and the top of the tall forest, adorning the shores,
appeared fringed with gold, as the sun sunk down behind it. There was
but little wind during the first part of the night; but afterwards a
fresh breeze sprang up, and by ten o’clock the next morning we found
ourselves forty miles distant from the fort: the prosperous gale,
however, did not long continue, the sky became overcast, the waves began
to roll with fury, and the captain judging it advisable to seek a place
of shelter against the impending storm, the ship was put about, and with
all possible expedition measured back the way which we had just made
with so much pleasure. We did not return, however, the whole way to Fort
Erie, but run into a small bay on the same side of the lake, about ten
miles distant, sheltered by Point Abineau: by three o’clock in the
afternoon the vessel was safely moored, and this business having been
accomplished, we proceeded in the long boat to the shore, which was
about two miles off.
[Sidenote: POINT ABINEAU.]
Point Abineau is a long narrow neck of land, which projects into the
lake nearly in a due south direction; on each side of it there is an
extensive bay, which affords good anchorage; the extremity of the point
is covered with rocks, lying horizontally in beds, and extending a
considerable way into the lake, nearly even with the surface of the
water, so that it is only in a few places that boats can approach the
shore. The rocks are of a slate colour, but spotted and streaked in
various directions with a dirty yellow; in many places they are
perforated with small holes, as if they had been exposed to the action
of fire. The shores of the bays, on the contrary, are covered with sand;
on digging to the depth of a few feet, however, I should imagine that in
most parts of the shore the same sort of rocks would be found as those
seen on the extremity of the point; for where the sandy part of the
shore commences, it is evident that the rocks have been covered by the
sand which has been washed up by the waves of the lake: the northern
shore of the lake abounds very generally with rocks of the same
description.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
On the western side of Point Abineau the strand differs in no wise, to
appearance, from that of the ocean: it is strewed with a variety of
shells of a large size; quantities of gulls are continually seen
hovering over it; and during a gale of wind from the west, a surge
breaks in upon it, as tremendous as is to be seen on any part of the
coast of England. The mounds of sand accumulated on Point Abineau are
truly astonishing; those next to the lake, that have been washed by the
storms of late years, are totally devoid of verdure; but others,
situated behind them, towards the center of the point, seem coeval with
the world itself, and are covered with oaks of the largest size from top
to bottom. In general these mounds are of an irregular form; but in some
places, of the greatest height, they are so even and straight that it
appears as if they had been thrown up by the hand of art, and you may
almost fancy them to be the old works of some vast fortification. These
regular mounds extend in all directions, but chiefly from north to
south, which demonstrates that westerly winds were as prevalent formerly
in this part of the country as they are at the present day. I should
suppose that some of these mounds are upwards of one hundred feet above
the level of the lake.
The ground on the eastern side of the point is neither so much broken
nor so sandy as that on the opposite one, and there we found two farm
houses, adjoining to each of which were about thirty acres of cleared
land. At one of these we procured a couple of sheep, some fowls, and a
quantity of potatoes, to add to our store of provisions, as there was
reason to apprehend that our voyage would not be speedily terminated:
whilst the men were digging for the latter, the old woman of the house
spread her little table, and prepared for us the best viands which her
habitation afforded, namely, coarse cake bread, roasted potatoes, and
bear’s flesh salted, which last we found by no means unpalatable. The
haunch of a young cub is a dish much esteemed, and we frequently met
with it at table in the upper country; it is extremely rich and oily,
nevertheless they say it never cloys the stomach.
Towards evening we returned to the vessel, and the storm being much
abated, passed, not an uncomfortable night.
[Sidenote: BEAR HUNTING.]
At day-break the next morning I took the boat, and went on shore to join
a party that, as I had been informed the preceding evening, was going a
bear hunting. On landing, I found the men and dogs ready, and having
loaded our guns we advanced into the woods. The people here, as in the
back parts of the United States, devote a very great part of their time
to hunting, and they are well skilled in the pursuit of game of every
description. They shoot almost universally with the rifle gun, and are
as dextrous at the use of it as any men can be. The guns used by them
are all imported from England. Those in most estimation carry balls of
the size of thirty to the pound; in the States the hunters very commonly
shoot with balls of a much smaller size, sixty of them not weighing more
than one pound; but the people in Canada are of opinion that it is
better to use the large balls, although more troublesome to carry
through the woods, as they inflict much more destructive wounds than the
others, and game seldom escapes after being wounded by them. Dogs of a
large size are chosen for bear hunting: those most generally preferred
seem to be of a breed between the blood hound and mastiff; they will
follow the scent of the bear, as indeed most field dogs will, but their
chief use is to keep the bear at bay when wounded, or to follow him if
he attempt to make off whilst the hunter is reloading his gun. Bears
will never attempt to attack a man or a dog while they can make their
escape, but once wounded or closely hemmed in they will fight most
furiously. The young ones, at sight of a dog, generally take to a tree;
but the old ones, as if conscious of their ability to fight a dog, and
at the same time that they cannot fail of becoming the prey of the
hunter if they ascend a tree, never do so, unless indeed they see a
hunter coming towards them on horseback, a sight which terrifies them
greatly.
The Indians generally go in large parties to hunt bears, and on coming
to the place where they suppose these animals are lurking, they form
themselves into a large circle, and as they advance endeavour to rouse
them. It is seldom that the white hunters muster together in sufficient
numbers to pursue their game in this manner; but whenever they have men
enough to divide themselves so, they always do it. We proceeded in this
manner at Point Abineau, where three or four men are amply sufficient to
hem in a bear between the water and the main land. The point was a very
favourable place for hunting this year, for the bears, intent, as I
before mentioned, upon emigrating to the south, used, on coming down
from the upper country, to advance to the extreme end of the point, as
if desirous of getting as near as possible by land to the opposite side
of the lake, and scarcely a morning came but what one or two of them
were found upon it. An experienced hunter can at once discern the track
of a bear, deer, or any other large animal, in the woods, and can tell
with no small degree of precision how long a time before, it was, that
the animal passed that way. On coming to a long valley, between two of
the sand hills on the point, a place through which the bears generally
passed in going towards the water, the hunters whom I accompanied at
once told how many bears had come down from the upper country the
preceding night, and also how many of them were cubs. To the eye of a
common observer the track of these animals amongst the leaves is wholly
imperceptible; indeed, in many instances, even after the hunters had
pointed them out to me, I could but barely perceive the prints of their
feet on the closest inspection; yet the hunters, on coming up to the
place, saw these marks with a glance of the eye.
[Sidenote: BEAR HUNTING.]
After killing a bear, the first care of the hunters is to strip him of
his skin. This business is performed by them in a very few minutes, as
they always carry knives about them particularly suited for the purpose;
afterwards the carcase is cut up, an operation in which the tomahawk, an
instrument that they, mostly, carry with them also, is particularly
useful. The choicest parts of the animal are then selected and carried
home, and the rest left in the woods. The Indians hold the paws of the
bear in great estimation; stewed with young puppies, they are served up
at all their principal feasts. On killing the animal, the paws are
gashed with a knife, and, afterwards, hung over a fire, amidst the
smoke, to dry. The skins of the bears are applied to numberless uses, in
the country, by the farmers, who set no small value upon them. They are
commonly cured by being spread upon a wall or between two trees, before
the sun, and in that position scraped with a knife, or piece of iron,
daily, which brings out the grease or oil, a very considerable quantity
of which oozes from them. Racoon and deer skins, &c. are cured in a
similar manner. The Indians have a method of dressing these different
skins with the hair on, and of rendering them at the same time as
pliable as a piece of cloth; this is principally effected by rubbing the
skins, with the hand, in the smoke of a wood fire.
Towards the middle of the day, the hunt being over, the party returned
to the habitation on the point. On arriving there I found my companions,
who had just come on shore, and after having strolled about the woods
for a time, we all went on board the ship to dine.
[Sidenote: BIRDS.]
The sky had been very gloomy the whole of this day; it became more and
more so as the evening approached, and the seamen foretold that before
morning there would be a dreadful storm. At no time a friend to the
watery element, I immediately formed the resolution of passing the night
on shore; accordingly having got the boat manned after dinner, I took
with me my servant, and landed at the head of the bay on the eastern
side of the point. Here being left to ourselves, we pitched our tent by
moonlight, under the shelter of one of the steep sand hills; and having
kindled a large fire in the front of it, laid down, and were soon lulled
to repose by the hollow roar of the wind amidst the tall trees of the
surrounding forest. Not so my companions, who visited me at an early
hour the next morning, and lamented sorely that they had not accompanied
me on shore. There had been a tremendous sea running in the lake all
night; the wind had shifted somewhat to the southward, and Point
Abineau, in consequence, affording but little protection to the vessel,
she had rolled about in a most alarming manner: one of the stancheons at
her bow started by her violent working; the water came pouring in as
from a pump; a scene of confusion ensued, and the sailors were kept
busily employed the greater part of the night in stopping the leak. The
vessel being old, crazy, and on her last voyage, serious apprehensions
were entertained lest some worse accident should befal her before
morning, and neither the crew nor the passengers felt themselves at all
easy until day-light appeared, when the gale abated. We amused ourselves
this morning in rambling through the woods, and along the shores of the
lake, with our fowling pieces. On the strand we found great numbers of
gulls, and different birds of prey, such as hawks, kites, &c.; here also
we met with large flocks of sand larks, as they are called by the people
of the country, in colour somewhat resembling the grey lapwing; their
walk and manner also are so very similar, that, when on the ground, they
might be taken for the same bird were they but of a larger size; they
are not much bigger than a sparrow. In the woods we fell in for the
first time with a large covey or flock of spruce partridges or
pheasants, as the people call them in this neighbourhood. In colour,
they are not much unlike the English partridge, but of a larger size,
and their flesh differs in flavour little from that of the English
pheasant. They are different in many respects both from the partridge
and pheasant found in Maryland and in the middle states, but in none
more so than in their wonderful tameness, or rather stupidity. Before
the flock took to flight I shot three birds singly from off one tree,
and had I but been acquainted with the proper method of proceeding at
the time, it is possible I might have shot them all in turn. It seems
you must always begin by shooting the bird that sits lowest on the tree,
and so proceed upwards, in which case the survivors are not at all
alarmed. Ignorant, however, of this secret, I shot at one of the
uppermost birds, and the disturbance that he made in falling through the
branches on which the others were perched put the flock to flight
immediately.
On returning from our ramble in the woods to the margin of the lake, we
were agreeably surprised to find the wind quite favourable for
prosecuting our voyage, and in a few minutes afterwards heard the signal
gun, and saw the ship’s boat coming for the purpose of taking us from
shore. We got on board in time for dinner, but did not proceed on our
voyage until midnight; so high a sea still continued running in the
lake, that the captain thought it imprudent to venture out of the bay
before that time. In the morning we found ourselves under the rich bold
lands on the southern side of the lake; the water was smooth, the sky
serene, and every one felt pleased with the voyage. It was on this day
that we beheld the cloud over the Falls of Niagara, as I before
mentioned, at the great distance of fifty-four miles.
[Sidenote: LAKE ERIE.]
Lake Erie is of an elliptical form; in length about three hundred miles,
and in breadth, at the widest part, about ninety. The depth of water in
this lake is not more than twenty fathoms, and in calm weather vessels
may securely ride at anchor in any part of it; but when stormy, the
anchorage in an open part of the lake is not safe, the lands at bottom
not being firm, and the anchors apt therefore to lose their hold.
Whenever there is a gale of wind the waters immediately become turbid,
owing to the quantity of yellow sand that is washed up from the bottom
of the lake; in calm weather the water is clear, and of a deep greenish
colour. The northern shore of the lake is very rocky, as likewise are
the shores of the islands, of which there are several clusters towards
the western extremity of the lake; but along most parts of the southern
shore is a fine gravelly beach. The height of the land bordering on the
lake is very unequal; in some places long ranges of steep mountains rise
from the very edge of the water; in others the shores are so flat and so
low, that when the lake is raised a little above its usual level, in
consequence of a strong gale of wind setting in towards the shore, the
country is deluged for miles.
[Sidenote: INUNDATION.]
A young gentleman, who was sent in a bateau with dispatches across the
lake, not long before we passed through the country, perished, with
several of his party, owing to an inundation of this sort that took
place on a low part of the shore. I must here observe, that when you
navigate the lake in a bateau, it is customary to keep as close as
possible to the land; and whenever there is any danger of a storm, you
run the vessel on shore, which may be done with safety, as the bottom of
it is perfectly flat. I before mentioned the peculiar advantage of a
bateau over a keel boat in this respect. The young gentleman alluded to
was coasting along in this manner, when a violent storm suddenly arose.
The bateau was instantaneously turned towards the shore; unfortunately,
however, in running her upon the beach some mismanagement took place,
and she overset. The waves had already begun to break in on the shore
with prodigious impetuosity; each one of them rolled farther in than the
preceding one; the party took alarm, and instead of making as strenuous
exertions as it was supposed they might have made, to right the bateau,
they took a few necessaries out of her, and attempted to save themselves
by flight; but so rapidly did the water flow after them, in consequence
of the increasing storm, that before they could proceed far enough up
the country to gain a place of safety, they were all overwhelmed by it,
two alone excepted, who had the presence of mind and ability to climb a
lofty tree. To the very great irregularity of the height of the lands on
both sides of it, is attributed the frequency of storms on Lake Erie.
The shores of Lake Ontario are lower and more uniform than those of any
of the other lakes; and that lake is the most tranquil of any, as has
already been noticed.
There is a great deficiency of good harbours along the shores of this
Lake. On its northern side there are but two places which afford shelter
to vessels drawing more than seven feet water, namely, Long Point and
Point Abineau; and these only afford a partial shelter. If the wind
should shift to the southward whilst vessels happen to be lying under
them, they are thereby exposed to all the dangers of a rocky lee shore.
On the southern shore, the first harbour you come to in going from Fort
Erie, is that of Presqu’ Isle. Vessels drawing eight feet water may
there ride in perfect safety; but it is a matter of no small difficulty
to get into the harbour, owing to a long sand bar which extends across
the mouth of it. Presqu’ Isle is situated at the distance of about sixty
miles from Fort Erie. Beyond this, nearly midway between the eastern and
western extremities of the lake, there is another harbour, capable of
containing small vessels, at the mouth of Cayahega River, and another at
the mouth of Sandusky River, which falls into the lake within the
north-western territory of the States. It is very seldom that any of
these harbours are made use of by the British ships; they, indeed, trade
almost solely between Fort Erie and Detroit River; and when in
prosecuting their voyages they chance to meet with contrary winds,
against which they cannot make head, they for the most part return to
Fort Erie, if bound to Detroit River; or to some of the bays amidst the
clusters of islands situated towards the western extremity of the lake,
if bound to Fort Erie. In going up the lake, it very often happens that
vessels, even after they have got close under these islands, the nearest
of which is not less than two hundred and forty miles from Fort Erie,
are driven back by storms the whole way to that fort. Just as we were
preparing to cast anchor under Middle Island, one of the nearest of
them, a squall suddenly arose, and it was not without very great
difficulty that we could keep our station: the captain told us
afterwards, that he really feared at one time, that we should have been
driven back to our old quarters.
[Sidenote: ISLANDS.]
It was about two o’clock on the third day from that of our quitting
Point Abineau, that we reached Middle Island. We lay at anchor until the
next morning, when the wind shifted a few points in our favour, and
enabled us to proceed some miles farther on, to a place of greater
safety, sheltered by islands on all sides; but beyond this the wind did
not permit us to advance for three days. It is very seldom that vessels
bound from Fort Erie to any place on Detroit River accomplish their
voyage without stopping amongst these islands; for the same wind
favourable for carrying them from the eastern to the western extremity
of the lake will not waft them up the river. The river runs nearly in a
south-west direction; its current is very strong; and unless the wind
blows fresh, and nearly in an opposite direction to it, you cannot
proceed. The navigation of Lake Erie, in general, is very uncertain; and
passengers that cross it in any of the King’s, or principal merchant
vessels, are not only called upon to pay double the sum for their
passage, demanded for that across Lake Ontario, but anchorage money
besides, that is, a certain sum per diem as long as the vessel remains
wind bound at anchor in any harbour. The anchorage money is about three
dollars per day for each cabin passenger.
The islands at the western end of the lake, which are of various sizes,
lie very close to each other, and the scenery amongst them is very
pleasing. The largest of them are not more than fourteen miles in
circumference, and many would scarcely be found to admeasure as many
yards round. They are all covered with wood of some kind or other, even
to the very smallest. The larger islands produce a variety of fine
timber, amongst which are found oaks, hiccory trees, and red cedars; the
latter grow to a much larger size than in any part of the neighbouring
country, and they are sent for even from the British settlements on
Detroit River, forty miles distant. None of these islands are much
elevated above the lake, nor are they diversified with any rising
grounds; most of them, indeed, are as flat as if they had been
overflowed with water, and in the interior parts of some of the largest
of them there are extensive ponds and marshes. The fine timber, which
these islands produce, indicates that the soil must be uncommonly
fertile. Here are found in great numbers, amongst the woods, racoons,
and squirrels; bears are also at times found upon some of the islands
during the winter season, when the lake is frozen between the main land
and the islands; but they do not remain continually, as the other
animals do. All the islands are dreadfully infested with serpents, and
on some of them rattlesnakes are so numerous, that in the height of
summer it is really dangerous to land: it was now late in September; yet
we had not been three minutes on shore on Bass Island, before several of
these noxious reptiles were seen amongst the bushes, and a couple of
them, of a large size, were killed by the seamen.
[Sidenote: RATTLESNAKES.]
Two kinds of rattlesnakes are found in this part of the country; the one
is of a deep brown colour, clouded with yellow, and is seldom met with
more than thirty inches in length. It usually frequents marshes and low
meadows, where it does great mischief amongst cattle, which it bites
mostly in the lips as they are grazing. The other sort is of a greenish
yellow colour, clouded with brown, and attains nearly twice the size of
the other. It is most commonly found between three and four feet in
length, and as thick as the wrist of a large man. The rattlesnake is
much thicker in proportion to its length than any other snake, and it is
thickest in the middle of the body, which approaches somewhat to a
triangular form, the belly being flat, and the back bone rising higher
than any other part of the animal. The rattle, with which this serpent
is provided, is at the end of the tail; it is usually about half an inch
in breadth, one quarter of an inch in thickness, and each joint about
half an inch long. The joint consists of a number of little cases of a
dry horny substance, inclosed one within another, and not only the
outermost of these little cases articulates with the outermost case of
the contiguous joint, but each case, even to the smallest one of all, at
the inside, is connected by a sort of joint with the corresponding case
in the next joint of the rattle. The little cases or shells lie very
loosely within one another, and the noise proceeds from their dry and
hard coats striking one against the other. It is said that the animal
gains a fresh joint to its rattle every year; of this, however, I have
great doubts, for the largest snakes are frequently found to have the
fewest joints to their rattles. A medical gentleman in the neighbourhood
of Newmarket, behind the Blue Mountains, in Virginia, had a rattle in
his possession, which contained no less than thirty-two joints; yet the
snake from which it was taken scarcely admeasured five feet;
rattlesnakes, however, of the same kind, and in the same part of the
country, have been found of a greater length with not more than ten
rattles. One of the snakes, which we saw killed on Bass Island, in Lake
Erie, had no more than four joints in its rattle, and yet it was nearly
four feet long.
The skin of the rattlesnake, when the animal is wounded, or otherwise
enraged, exhibits a variety of beautiful tints, never seen at any other
time. It is not with the teeth which the rattlesnake uses for ordinary
purposes that it strikes its enemy, but with two long crooked fangs in
the upper jaw, which point down the throat. When about to use these
fangs, it rears itself up as much as possible, throws back its head,
drops its under jaw, and springing forward upon its tail, endeavours to
hook itself as it were upon its enemy. In order to raise itself on its
tail it coils itself up previously in a spiral line, with the head in
the middle. It cannot spring farther forward than about half its own
length.
The flesh of the rattlesnake is as white as the most delicate fish, and
is much esteemed by those who are not prevented from tasting it by
prejudice. The soup made from it is said to be delicious, and very
nourishing.
In my rambles about the islands under which we lay at anchor, I found
many specimens of the exuviæ of these snakes, which, in the opinion of
the country people of Upper Canada, are very efficacious in the cure of
the rheumatism, when laid over the part afflicted, and fastened down
with a bandage. The body of the rattlesnake dried to a cinder over the
fire, and then finely pulverised, and infused in a certain portion of
brandy, is also said to be a never failing remedy against that disorder.
I conversed with many people who had made use of this medicine, and they
were firmly persuaded that they were indebted to it for a speedy cure.
The liquor is taken inwardly, in the quantity of a wine glass full at
once, about three times a day. No effect, more than from taking plain
brandy, is perceived from taking this medicine on the first day; but at
the end of the second day the body of the patient becomes suffused with
a cold sweat, every one of his joints grow painful, and his limbs become
feeble, and scarcely able to support him; he grows worse and worse for a
day or two; but persevering in the use of the medicine for a few days,
he gradually loses his pains, and recovers his wonted strength of body.
[Sidenote: VARIOUS SERPENTS.]
Many different kinds of serpents besides rattlesnakes are found on these
islands in Lake Erie. I killed several totally different from any that I
had ever met with in any other part of the country; amongst the number
was one which I was informed was venomous in the highest degree: it was
somewhat more than three feet in length; its back was perfectly black;
its belly a vivid orange. I found it amongst the rocks on Middle Island,
and on being wounded in the tail, it turned about to defend itself with
inconceivable fury. Mr. Carver tells of a serpent that is peculiar to
these islands, called the hissing snake: “It is,” says he, “of the small
speckled kind, and about eighteen inches long. When any thing approaches
it, it flattens itself in a moment, and its spots, which are of various
dyes, become visibly brighter through rage; at the same time it blows
from its mouth with great force a subtile wind that is reported to be of
a nauseous smell, and if drawn in with the breath of the unwary
traveller will infallibly bring on a decline, that in a few months must
prove mortal, there being no remedy yet discovered which can counteract
its baneful influence.” Mr. Carver does not inform us of his having
himself seen this snake; I am tempted, therefore, to imagine, that he
has been imposed upon, and that the whole account he has given of it is
fabulous. I made very particular enquiries respecting the existence of
such a snake, from those persons who were in the habit of touching at
these islands, and neither they nor any other person I met with in the
country had ever seen or heard of such a snake, except in Mr. Carver’s
Travels. Were a traveller to believe all the stories respecting snakes
that are current in the country, he must believe that there is such a
snake as the whip snake, which, as it is said, pursues cattle through
the woods and meadows, lashing them with its tail, till overcome with
the fatigue of running they drop breathless to the ground, when it preys
upon their flesh; he must also believe that there is such a snake as the
hoop snake, which has the power of fixing its tail firmly in a certain
cavity inside of its mouth, and then of rolling itself forward like a
hoop or wheel with such wonderful velocity that neither man nor beast
can possibly escape from its devouring jaws.
The ponds and marshes in the interior parts of these islands abound with
ducks and other wild fowl, and the shores swarm with gulls. A few small
birds are found in the woods; but I saw none amongst them that were
remarkable either for their song or plumage.
[Sidenote: DETROIT RIVER.]
At sun-set, on the last day of September, we left the islands, and the
next morning entered Detroit River. The river, at its mouth, is about
five miles wide, and continues nearly the same breadth for a
considerable distance. The shores are of a moderate height, and thickly
wooded; but there was nothing particularly interesting in the prospect
till we arrived within four or five miles of the new British post. Here
the banks appeared diversified with Indian encampments and villages, and
beyond them the British settlements were seen to great advantage. The
river was crowded with Indian canoes and bateaux, and several pleasure
boats belonging to the officers of the garrison, and to the traders,
that had come out in expectation of meeting us, were seen cruizing about
backwards and forwards. The two other vessels of war, which we had left
behind us at Fort Erie, as well as the trading vessels, had overtaken us
just as we entered the river, and we all sailed up together with every
bit of canvass, that we could muster, full spread. The day was
uncommonly clear, and the scene altogether was pleasing and interesting.
The other vessels proceeded up the river to the British post; but ours,
which was laden with presents for the Indians, cast anchor opposite to
the habitation of the gentleman in the Indian department, whom I before
mentioned, which was situated in the district of Malden. He gave us a
most cordial invitation to stay at his house whilst we should remain in
this part of the country; we gladly accepted of it, and accordingly went
with him on shore.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXIII.
_Description of the District of Malden.—Establishment of a new British
Post there.—Island of Bois Blanc.—Difference between the British and
Americans respecting the Right of Possession.—Block Houses, how
constructed.—Captain E—’s Farm.—Indians.—Description of Detroit River,
and the Country bordering upon it.—Town of Detroit.—Head Quarters of
the American Army.—Officers of the Western Army.—Unsuccessful Attempt
of the Americans to impress upon the Minds of the Indians an Idea of
their Consequence.—Of the Country round Detroit.—Doubts concerning our
Route back to Philadelphia.—Determine to go by Presqu’ Isle.—Departure
from Detroit._
Malden, October.
MALDEN is a district of considerable extent, situated on the eastern
side of Detroit River, about eighteen miles below the town of Detroit.
At the lower end of the district there are but few houses, and these
stand very widely asunder; but at the upper end, bordering upon the
river, and adjoining to the new British post that has been established
since the evacuation of Detroit, a little town has been laid out, which
already contains more than twenty houses, and is rapidly increasing.
Hither several of the traders have removed who formerly resided at
Detroit. This little town has as yet received no particular name,
neither has the new post, but they merely go under the name of the new
British post and town near the island of Bois Blanc, an island in the
river near two miles in length, and half a mile in breadth, that lies
opposite to Malden.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
When the evacuation of Detroit was first talked of, the island was
looked to as an eligible situation for the new post, and orders were
sent to purchase it from the Indians, and to take possession of it in
the name of his Britannic Majesty. Accordingly a party of troops went
down for that purpose from Detroit; they erected a small block house on
the northern extremity of it, and left a serjeant’s guard there for its
defence. Preparations were afterwards making for building a fort on it;
but in the mean time a warm remonstrance against such proceedings came
from the government of the United States[14], who insisted upon it that
the island was not within the limits of the British dominions. The
point, it was found, would admit of some dispute, and as it could not be
determined immediately, the plan of building the fort was relinquished
for the time. The block house on the island, however, still remains
guarded, and possession will be kept of it until the matter in dispute
be adjudged by the commissioners appointed, pursuant to the late treaty,
for the purpose of determining the exact boundaries of the British
dominions in this part of the continent, which were by no means clearly
ascertained by the definitive treaty of peace between the States and
Great Britain.
Footnote 14:
Notwithstanding that the government of the United States has thought
it incumbent upon itself to remonstrate against our taking possession
of this island, and thus to dispute every inch of ground respecting
the right to which there could be the smallest doubt, yet the
generality of the people of the States affect to talk of every such
step as idle and unnecessary, inasmuch as they are fully persuaded, in
their own minds, that all the British dominions in North America must,
sooner or later, become a part of their empire. Thus Mr. Imlay, in his
account of the north-western territory: “It is certain, that as the
country has been more opened in America, and thereby the rays of the
sun have acted more powerfully upon the earth, these benefits have
tended greatly to soften the winter season; so that peopling Canada,
for which we are much obliged to you, is a double advantage to us.
First, it is settling and populating a country that must, sooner or
later, from the natural order of things, become a part of our empire;
and secondly, it is immediately meliorating the climate of the
northern states,” &c.
The greatest empires that have ever appeared on the face of the globe
have dissolved in the course of time, and no one acquainted with
history will, I take it for granted, presume to say that the extended
empire of Britain, all powerful as it is at present, is so much more
closely knit together than any other empire ever was before it, that
it can never fall asunder; Canada, I therefore suppose, may, with
revolving years, be disjointed from the mother country, as well as her
other colonies; but whenever that period shall arrive, which I trust
is far distant, I am humbly of opinion that it will not form an
additional knot in that extensive union of states which at present
subsist on the continent of North America; indeed, were the British
dominions in North America to be dissevered from the other members of
the empire the ensuing year, I am still tempted to imagine that they
would not become linked with the present federal American states, and
for the following reasons:
First, because the constitution of the federal states, which is the
bond that holds them together, is not calculated for such a large
territory as that which the present states, together with such an
addition, would constitute.
The constitution of the states is that of the people, who, through
their respective representatives assembled together at some one place,
must decide upon every measure that is to be taken for the public
weal. This place, it is evident, ought in justice to be as central as
possible to every state; the necessity, indeed, of having the place so
situated has been manifested in the building of the new federal city.
Were it not for this step, many of the most enlightened characters in
the states have given it as their opinion, that the union could not
have remained many years entire, for the states so far removed from
the seat of the legislature, before the new city was founded, had
complained grievously of the distance which their delegates had to
travel to meet congress, and had begun to talk of the necessity of a
separation of the states: and now, on the other hand, that a central
spot has been fixed upon, those states to the northward, conveniently
situated to Philadelphia, the present seat of the federal government,
say that the new city will be so far removed from them, that the
sending of delegates thither will be highly inconvenient to them, and
so much so, as to call for a separation of the union on their part. In
a former letter I stated the various opinions that were entertained by
the people of the United States on this subject, and I endeavoured to
shew that the seat of congress would be removed to the new federal
city without endangering a partition of the states; but I am fully
persuaded, that were Canada to become an independent state, and a
place were to be fixed on central to all the states, supposing her to
be one, that neither she, nor the state at the remote opposite end,
would long continue, if they ever did submit, to send their delegates
to a place so far removed, that it would require more than a fourth
part of the year for them (the delegates) to travel, even with the
utmost possible expedition, backward and forward, between the district
which they represented and the seat of congress.
Secondly, I think the two Canadas will never become connected with the
present states, because the people of these provinces, and those of
the adjoining states, are not formed for a close intimacy with each
other.
The bulk of the people of Upper Canada are refugees, who were driven
from the states by the persecution of the republican party; and though
the thirteen years which have passed over have nearly extinguished
every spark of resentment against the Americans in the breasts of the
people of England, yet this is by no means the case in Upper Canada;
it is there common to hear, even from the children of the refugees,
the most gross invectives poured out against the people of the states;
and the people of the frontier states, in their turn, are as violent
against the refugees and their posterity; and, indeed, whilst Canada
forms a part of the British empire, I am inclined, from what I have
seen and heard in travelling through the country, to think that this
spirit will not die away. In Lower Canada the same acrimonious temper
of mind is not observable amongst the people, excepting indeed in
those few parts of the country where inhabited parts of the states
approach closely to these of the province; but here appears to be a
general disinclination amongst the inhabitants to have any political
connection with the people of the states, and the French Canadians
affect to hold them in the greatest contempt. Added to this, the
prevalent language of the lower province, which has remained the same
for almost forty years, notwithstanding the great pains that have been
taken to change it, and which is therefore likely to remain so still,
is another obstacle in the way of any close connection between the
people of the lower province and those of the states. Even in
conducting the affairs of the provincial legislative assembly,
notwithstanding that most of the English inhabitants are well
acquainted with the French language, yet a considerable degree of
difficulty is experienced from the generality of the French delegates
being totally ignorant of the English language, which, as I have
already mentioned, they have an unconquerable aversion against
learning.
Thirdly, I think the British dominions in North America will never be
annexed to those of the states, because they are by nature formed for
constituting a separate independent territory.
At present the boundary line between the British dominions and the
States runs along the river St. Croix, thence along the high lands
bordering upon New England till it meets the forty-fifth parallel of
north latitude, and afterwards along the said parallel until it
strikes the River St. Lawrence, or Cataragui, or Iroquois. Now the
dominions south of the St. Lawrence are evidently not separated from
the United States by any bold determinate boundary line; I therefore
suppose that they may, in some manner, be connected with them; but the
country to the northward, bounded on the north by Hudson’s Bay, on the
east by the ocean, on the south and west by the St. Lawrence, and that
vast chain of lakes which extends to the westward, is separated from
the United States by one of the most remarkable boundary lines that is
to be found on the face of the globe between any two countries on the
same continent; and from being bounded in such a remarkable manner,
and thus detached as it were by nature from the other parts of the
continent, it appears to me that it is calculated for forming a
distinct separate state, or distinct union of states, from the present
American federal states; that is, supposing, with the revolutions of
time, that this arm of the British empire should be some time or other
lopped off. I confess it appears strange to me, that any person should
suppose, after looking attentively over a map of North America, that
the British dominions, so extensive and so unconnected with them,
could ever become joined in a political union with the present federal
states on the continent. There is more reason to imagine that the
Floridas, and the Spanish possessions to the east of the Mississippi,
will be united therewith; for as the rivers which flow through the
Spanish dominions are the only channels whereby the people of some of
the western states can convey the produce of their own country to the
ocean with convenience, it is natural to suppose that the people of
these states will be anxious to gain possession of these rivers, for
which purpose they must possess themselves of the country through
which they pass. But there are certain bounds, beyond which a
representative government cannot extend, and the ocean on the east and
south, the St. Lawrence and the lakes on the north, and the
Mississippi on the west, certainly appear to set bounds to the
jurisdiction of the government of the United States, if indeed it can
extend even so far.
In this particular instance the dispute arises respecting the true
meaning of certain words of the treaty. “The boundary line,” it says,
“is to run through the middle of Lake Erie until it arrive at the water
communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle
of the said water communication.” The people of the States construe the
middle of the water communication to be the middle of the most approved
and most frequented channel of the river; we, on the contrary, construe
it to be the middle of the river, provided there is a tolerable channel
on each side. Now the island of Bois Blanc clearly lies between the
middle of the river and the British main; but then the deepest and most
approved channel for ships of burthen is between the island and the
British shore. In our acceptation of the word, therefore, the island
unquestionably belongs to us; in that of the people of the States, to
them. It appears to me, that our claim in this instance is certainly the
most just; for although the best and most commodious channel be on our
side, yet the channel on the opposite side of the island is sufficiently
deep to admit through it, with perfect safety, the largest of the
vessels at present on the lakes, and indeed as large vessels as are
deemed suitable for this navigation.
Plans for a fort on the main land, and for one on the island of Bois
Blanc, have been drawn; but as only the one fort will be erected, the
building of it is postponed until it is determined to whom the island
belongs: if within the British dominions, the fort will be erected on
the island, as there is a still more advantageous position for one there
than on the main land; in the mean time a large block house, capable of
accommodating, in every respect comfortably, one hundred men and
officers, has been erected on the main land, around which about four
acres or more of ground have been reserved for his Majesty’s use, in
case the fort should not be built on the island.
[Sidenote: BLOCK HOUSE.]
A block house, which I have so frequently mentioned, is a building,
whose walls are formed of thick square pieces of timber. It is usually
built two stories high, in which case the upper story is made to project
about two or three feet beyond the walls of the lower one, and loop
holes are left in the floor round the edge of it, so that if an attempt
were made to storm the house, the garrison could fire directly down upon
the heads of the assailants. Loop holes are left also in various parts
of the walls, some of which are formed, as is the case at this new block
house at Malden, of a size sufficient to admit a small cannon to be
fired through them. The loop holes are furnished with large wooden
stoppers or wedges, which in the winter season, when there is no danger
of an attack, are put in, and the interstices closely caulked, to guard
against the cold; and indeed, to render the house warm, they are obliged
to take no small pains in caulking the seams between the timber in every
part. A block house, built on the most approved plan, is so constructed,
that if one half of it were shot away, the other half would stand firm.
Each piece of timber in the roof and walls is jointed in such a manner
as to be rendered independent of the next piece to it; one wall is
independent of the next wall, and the roof is in a great measure
independent of all of them, so that if a piece of artillery were played
upon the house, that bit of timber alone against which the ball struck
would be displaced, and every other one would remain uninjured. A block
house is proof against the heaviest fire of musquetry. As these houses
may be erected in a very short time, and as there is such an abundance
of timber in every part of the country, wherewith to build them, they
are met with in North America at almost every military out-post, and
indeed in almost every fortress throughout the country. There are
several in the upper town of Quebec.
[Sidenote: FARMS.]
Amongst the scattered houses at the lower end of the district of Malden,
there are several of a respectable appearance, and the farms adjoining
to them are very considerable. The farm belonging to our friend, Captain
E——, under whose roof we tarry, contains no less than two thousand
acres. A very large part of it is cleared, and it is cultivated in a
style which would not be thought meanly of even in England. His house,
which is the best in the whole district, is agreeably situated, at the
distance of about two hundred yards from the river; there is a full view
of the river, and of the island of Bois Blanc, from the parlour windows,
and the scene is continually enlivened by the number of Indian canoes
that pass and repass before it. In front of the house there is a neat
little lawn, paled in, and ornamented with clumps of trees, at the
bottom of which, not far from the water, stands a large Indian wigwam,
called the council house, in which the Indians are assembled whenever
there are any affairs of importance to be transacted between them and
the officers in the Indian department. Great numbers of these people
come from the island of Bois Blanc, where no less than five hundred
families of them are encamped, to visit us daily; and we in our turn go
frequently to the island, to have an opportunity of observing their
native manners and customs.
Our friend has told them, that we have crossed the big lake, the
Atlantic, on purpose to come and see them. This circumstance has given
them a very favourable opinion of us; they approve highly of the
undertaking, and say that we have employed our time to a good purpose.
No people on earth have a higher opinion of their own consequence;
indeed, they esteem themselves superior to every other race of men.
We remained for a short time in Malden, and then set off for Detroit in
a neat little pleasure boat, which one of the traders obligingly lent to
us. The river between the two places varies in breadth from two miles to
half a mile. The banks are mostly very low, and in some places large
marshes extend along the shores, and far up into the country. The shores
are adorned with rich timber of various kinds, and bordering upon the
marshes, where the trees have full scope to extend their branches, the
woodland scenery is very fine. Amidst the marshes, the river takes some
very considerable bends, and it is diversified at the same time with
several large islands, which occasion a great diversity of prospect.
[Sidenote: FRUITS.]
Beyond Malden no houses are to be seen on either side of the river,
except indeed the few miserable little huts in the Indian villages,
until you come within four miles or thereabouts of Detroit. Here the
settlements are very numerous on both sides, but particularly on that
belonging to the British. The country abounds with peach, apple, and
cherry orchards, the richest I ever beheld; in many of them the trees,
loaded with large apples of various dyes, appeared bent down into the
very water. They have many different sorts of excellent apples in this
part of the country, but there is one far superior to all the rest, and
which is held in great estimation, called the pomme caille. I do not
recollect to have seen it in any other part of the world, though
doubtless it is not peculiar to this neighbourhood. It is of an
extraordinary large size, and deep red colour; not confined merely to
the skin, but extending to the very core of the apple: if the skin be
taken off delicately, the fruit appears nearly as red as when entire. We
could not resist the temptation of stopping at the first of these
orchards we came to, and for a few pence we were allowed to lade our
boat with as much fruit as we could well carry away. The peaches were
nearly out of season now, but from the few I tasted, I should suppose
that they were of a good kind, far superior in flavour, size, and
juiciness to those commonly met with in the orchards of the middle
states.
The houses in this part of the country are all built in a similar style
to those in Lower Canada; the lands are laid out and cultivated also
similarly to those in the lower province; the manners and persons of the
inhabitants are the same; French is the predominant language, and the
traveller may fancy for a moment, if he pleases, that he has been wafted
by enchantment back again into the neighbourhood of Montreal or Three
Rivers. All the principal posts throughout the western country, along
the lakes, the Ohio, the Illinois, &c. were established by the French;
but, except at Detroit and in the neighbourhood, and in the Illinois
country, the French settlers have become so blended with the greater
number who spoke English, that their language has every where died away.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
Detroit contains about three hundred houses, and is the largest town in
the western country. It stands contiguous to the river, on the top of
the banks, which are here about twenty feet high. At the bottom of them
there are very extensive wharfs for the accommodation of the shipping,
built of wood, similar to those in the Atlantic sea-ports. The town
consists of several streets that run parallel to the river, which are
intersected by others at right angles. They are all very narrow, and not
being paved, dirty in the extreme whenever it happens to rain: for the
accommodation of passengers, however, there are footways in most of
them, formed of square logs, laid transversely close to each other. The
town is surrounded by a strong stockade, through which there are four
gates; two of them open to the wharfs, and the two others to the north
and south side of the town respectively. The gates are defended by
strong block houses, and on the west side of the town is a small fort in
form of a square, with bastions at the angles. At each of the corners of
this fort is planted a small field-piece; and these constitute the whole
of the ordnance at present in the place. The British kept a considerable
train of artillery here, but the place was never capable of holding out
for any length of time against a regular force: the fortifications,
indeed, were constructed chiefly as a defence against the Indians.
Detroit is at present the head-quarters of the western army of the
States; the garrison consists of three hundred men, who are quartered in
barracks. Very little attention is paid by the officers to the minutiæ
of discipline, so that however well the men may have acquitted
themselves in the field, they make but a poor appearance on parade. The
belles of the town are quite au desespoir at the late departure of the
British troops; though the American officers tell them they have no
reason to be so, as they will find them much more sensible agreeable men
than the British officers when they know them; a style of conversation,
which, strange as it may appear to us, is yet not at all uncommon
amongst them. Three months, however, have not altered the first opinion
of the ladies. I cannot better give you an idea of the unpolished,
coarse, discordant manners of the generality of the officers of the
western army of the States, than by telling you, that they cannot agree
sufficiently amongst themselves to form a regimental mess; repeated
attempts have been made since their arrival at Detroit to establish one,
but their frequent quarrels would never suffer it to remain permanent. A
duellist and an officer of the western army were nearly synonimous
terms, at one period, in the United States, owing to the very great
number of duels that took place amongst them when cantoned at Grenville.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
About two thirds of the inhabitants of Detroit are of French extraction,
and the greater part of the inhabitants of the settlements on the river,
both above and below the town, are of the same description. The former
are mostly engaged in trade, and they all appear to be much on an
equality. Detroit is a place of very considerable trade; there are no
less than twelve trading vessels belonging to it, brigs, sloops, and
schooners, of from fifty to one hundred tons burthen each. The inland
navigation in this quarter is indeed very extensive, Lake Erie, three
hundred miles in length, being open to vessels belonging to the port, on
the one side; and lakes Michigan and Huron, the first upwards of two
hundred miles in length, and sixty in breadth, and the second, no less
than one thousand miles in circumference, on the opposite side; not to
speak of Lake St. Clair and Detroit River, which connect these former
lakes together, or of the many large rivers which fall into them. The
stores and shops in the town are well furnished, and you may buy fine
cloth, linen, &c. and every article of wearing apparel, as good in their
kind, and nearly on as reasonable terms, as you can purchase them at New
York or Philadelphia.
The inhabitants are well supplied with provisions of every description;
the fish in particular, caught in the river and neighbouring lakes, are
of a very superior quality. The fish held in most estimation is a sort
of large trout, called the Michillimakinac white fish, from its being
caught mostly in the straits of that name. The inhabitants of Detroit
and the neighbouring country, however, though they have provisions in
plenty, are frequently much distressed for one very necessary
concomitant, namely, salt. Until within a short time past they had no
salt but what was brought from Europe; but salt springs have been
discovered in various parts of the country, from which they are now
beginning to manufacture that article for themselves. The best and most
profitable of the springs are retained in the hands of government, and
the profits arising from the sale of the salt are to be paid into the
treasury of the province. Throughout the western country they procure
their salt from springs, some of which throw up sufficient water to
yield several hundred bushels in the course of one week.
[Sidenote: DETROIT.]
There is a large Roman catholic church in the town of Detroit, and
another on the opposite side, called the Huron church, from its having
been devoted to the use of the Huron Indians. The streets of Detroit are
generally crowded with Indians of one tribe or other, and amongst them
you see numberless old squaws leading about their daughters, ever ready
to dispose of them, pro tempore, to the highest bidder. At night all the
Indians, except such as get admittance into private houses, and remain
there quietly, are turned out of the town, and the gates shut upon them.
The American officers here have endeavoured to their utmost to impress
upon the minds of the Indians an idea of their own superiority over the
British; but as they are very tardy in giving these people any presents,
they do not pay much attention to their words. General Wayne, from
continually promising them presents, but at the same time always
postponing the delivery when they come to ask for them, has
significantly been nicknamed by them, General Wabang, that is General
To-morrow.
The country around Detroit is very much cleared, and so likewise is that
on the British side of the river for a considerable way above the town.
The settlements extend nearly as far as Lake Huron; but beyond the River
La Trenche, which falls into Lake St. Clair, they are scattered very
thinly along the shores. The banks of the River La Trenche, or Thames,
as it is now called, are increasing very fast in population, as I before
mentioned, owing to the great emigration thither of people from the
neighbourhood of Niagara, and of Detroit also since it has been
evacuated by the British. We made an excursion, one morning, in our
little boat as far as Lake St. Clair, but met with nothing, either
amongst the inhabitants, or in the face of the country, particularly
deserving of mention. The country round Detroit is uncommonly flat, and
in none of the rivers is there a fall sufficient to turn even a grist
mill. The current of Detroit River itself is stronger than that of any
others, and a floating mill was once invented by a Frenchman, which was
chained in the middle of that river, where it was thought the stream
would be sufficiently swift to turn the water wheel: the building of it
was attended with considerable expence to the inhabitants, but after it
was finished it by no means answered their expectations. They grind
their corn at present by wind mills, which I do not remember to have
seen in any other part of North America.
The soil of the country bordering upon Detroit River is rich though
light, and it produces good crops both of Indian corn and wheat. The
climate is much more healthy than that of the country in the
neighbourhood of Niagara River; intermittent fevers however are by no
means uncommon disorders. The summers are intensely hot, Fahrenheit’s
thermometer often rising above 100; yet a winter seldom passes over but
what snow remains on the ground for two or three months.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
Whilst we remained at Detroit, we had to determine upon a point of some
moment to us travellers, namely, upon the route by which to return back
towards the Atlantic. None of us felt much inclined to cross the lake
again to Fort Erie, we at once therefore laid aside all thoughts of
returning that way. Two other routes then presented themselves for our
consideration; the one was to proceed by land from Detroit, through the
north-western territory of the United States, as far as the head waters
of some one of the rivers which fall into the Ohio, having reached
which, we might afterwards have proceeded upwards or downwards, as we
found most expedient: the other was to cross by water to Presqu’ Isle,
on the south side of Lake Erie, and thence go down French Creek and the
Alleghany River, as far as Pittsburgh on the Ohio, where being arrived
we should likewise have had the choice of descending the Ohio and
Mississippi, or of going on to Philadelphia, through Pennsylvania,
according as we should find circumstances most convenient. The first of
these routes was most suited to our inclination, but we soon found that
we must give over all thoughts of proceeding by it. The way to have
proceeded would have been to set out on horseback, taking with us
sufficient provisions to last for a journey through a forest of upwards
of two hundred miles in length, and trusting our horses to the food
which they could pick up for themselves amongst the bushes. There was no
possibility of procuring horses, however, for hire at Detroit or in the
neighbourhood, and had we purchased them, which could not have been done
but at a most exorbitant price, we should have found it a difficult
matter perhaps to have got rid of them when we had ended our land
journey, unless indeed we chose to turn them adrift in the woods, which
would not have been perfectly suitable to our finances. But independent
of this consideration there was another obstacle in our way, and that
was the difficulty of procuring guides. The Indians were all preparing
to set out on their hunting excursions, and had we even been able to
have procured a party of them for an escort, there would have been some
risk, we were told, of their deserting us before we reached our
journey’s end. If they fell in on their journey with a hunting party
that had been very successful; if they came to a place where there was
great abundance of game; or, in short, if we did not proceed just
according to their fancy, impatient of every restraint, and without
caring in the least for the hire we had promised them, they would,
perhaps, leave us in the whim of moment to shift for ourselves in the
woods, a situation we had no desire to see ourselves reduced to: we
determined therefore to proceed by Presqu’ Isle. But now another
difficulty arose, namely, how we were to get there: a small vessel, a
very unusual circumstance indeed, was just about to sail, but it was so
crowded with passengers, that there was not a single birth vacant, and
moreover, if there had been, we did not wish to depart so abruptly from
this part of the country. One of the principal traders, however, at
Detroit, to whom we had carried letters, soon accommodated matters to
our satisfaction, by promising to give orders to the master of one of
the lake vessels, of which he was in part owner, to land us at that
place. The vessel was to sail in a fortnight; we immediately therefore
secured a passage in her, and having settled with the master that he
should call for us at Malden, we set off once more for that place in our
little boat, and in a few hours, from the time we quitted Detroit,
arrived there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXIV.
_Presents delivered to the Indians on the Part of the British
Government.—Mode of distributing them.—Reasons why given.—What is the
best Method of conciliating the good Will of the Indians.—Little pains
taken by the Americans to keep up a good Understanding with the
Indians.—Consequences thereof.—War between the Americans and
Indians.—A brief Account of it.—Peace concluded by General Wayne.—Not
likely to remain permanent.—Why.—Indian Manner of making Peace
described._
Malden, October.
[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]
ADJOINING to our friend’s house at Malden stands an extensive range of
storehouses, for the reception of the presents yearly made by government
to the Indians in this part of the country, in which several clerks are
kept constantly employed. Before we had been long at Malden we had an
opportunity of seeing some of the presents delivered out. A number of
chiefs of different tribes had previously come to our friend, who is at
the head of the department in this quarter, and had given to him, each,
a bundle of little bits of cedar wood, about the thickness of a small
pocket book pencil, to remind him of the exact number of individuals in
each tribe that expected to share the bounty of their great father. The
sticks in these bundles were of different lengths, the longed denoted
the number of warriors in the tribe, the next in size the number of
women, and the smallest the number of children. Our friend on receiving
them handed them over to his clerks, who made a memorandum in their
books of the contents of each bundle, and of the persons that gave them,
in order to prepare the presents accordingly. The day fixed upon for the
delivery of the presents was bright and fair, and being in every respect
favourable for the purpose, the clerks began to make the necessary
arrangements accordingly.
A number of large stakes were first fixed down in different parts of the
lawn, to each of which was attached a label, with the name of the tribe,
and the number of persons in it, who were to be provided for; then were
brought out from the stores several bales of thick blankets, of blue,
scarlet, and brown cloth, and of coarse figured cottons, together with
large rolls of tobacco, guns, flints, powder, balls, shot, case-knives,
ivory and horn combs, looking-glasses, pipe-tomahawks, hatchets,
scissars, needles, vermilion in bags, copper and iron pots and kettles,
the whole valued at about £. 500 sterling. The bales of goods being
opened, the blankets, cloths, and cottons were cut up into small pieces,
each sufficient to make for one person a wrapper, a shirt, a pair of
leggings, or whatever else it was intended for; and the portions of the
different articles intended for each tribe were thrown together in a
heap, at the bottom of the stake which bore its name. This business took
up several hours, as there were no less than four hundred and twenty
Indians to be served. No liquor, nor any silver ornaments, except to
favourite chiefs in private, are ever given on the part of government to
the Indians, notwithstanding they are so fond of both; and a trader who
attempts to give these articles to them in exchange for the presents
they have received from government, or, indeed, who takes from them on
any conditions, their presents, is liable to a very heavy penalty for
every such act, by the laws of the province.
[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]
The presents having been all prepared, the chiefs were ordered to
assemble their warriors, who were loitering about the grounds at the
outside of the lawn. In a few minutes they all came, and having been
drawn up in a large circle, our friend delivered a speech on the
occasion, without which ceremony no business, according to Indian
custom, is ever transacted. In this they were told, “That their great
and good Father, who lived on the opposite side of the big lake (meaning
thereby the king) was ever attentive to the happiness of all his
faithful people; and that, with his accustomed bounty, he had sent the
presents which now lay before them to his good children the Indians;
that he had sent the guns, the hatchets, and the ammunition for the
young men, and the clothing for the aged, women, and children; that he
hoped the young men would have no occasion to employ their weapons in
fighting against enemies, but merely in hunting; and that he recommended
it to them to be attentive to the old, and to share bountifully with
them what they gained by the chace; that he trusted the great spirit
would give them bright suns and clear skies, and a favourable season for
hunting; and that when another year should pass over, if he still
continued to find them good children, he would not fail to renew his
bounties, by sending them more presents from across the big lake.”
This speech was delivered in English, but interpreters attended, who
repeated it to the different tribes in their respective languages,
paragraph by paragraph, at the end of every one of which the Indians
signified their satisfaction by a loud coarse exclamation of “Hoah!
Hoah!” The speech ended, the chiefs were called forward, and their
several heaps were shewn to them, and committed to their care. They
received them with thanks; and beckoning to their warriors, a number of
young men quickly started from the crowd, and in less than three minutes
the presents were conveyed from the lawn, and laden on board the canoes,
in waiting to convey them to the island and adjacent villages. The
utmost regularity and propriety was manifested on this occasion in the
behaviour of every Indian; there was not the smallest wrangling amongst
them about their presents; nor was the least spark of jealousy
observable in any one tribe about what the other had received; each one
took up the heap allotted to it, and departed without speaking a word.
[Sidenote: PRESENTS.]
Besides the presents, such as I have described, others of a different
nature again, namely, provisions, were dealt out this year amongst
certain tribes of the Indians that were encamped on the island of Bois
Blanc. These were some of the tribes that had been at war with the
people of the United States, whose villages, fields of corn, and stores
of provisions had been totally destroyed during the contest by General
Wayne, and who having been thereby bereft of every means of support, had
come, as soon as peace was concluded, to beg for subsistence from their
good friends the British. “Our enemies,” said they, have destroyed our
villages and stores of provisions; our women and children are left
without food; do you then, who call yourselves our friends, shew us now
that you really are so, and give them food to eat till the sun ripens
our corn, and the great spirit gives another prosperous season for
hunting.” Their request was at once complied with; a large storehouse
was erected on the island, and filled with provisions at the expence of
government for their use, and regularly twice a week, the clerks in the
Indian department went over to distribute them. About three barrels of
salted pork or beef, as many of flour, beans or peas, Indian corn, and
about two carcases of fresh beef, were generally given out each time.
These articles of provision the Indians received, not in the thankful
manner in which they did the other presents, but seemingly as if they
were due to them of right. One nation they think ought never to hesitate
about giving relief to another in distress, provided it was not at
enmity with it; and indeed, were their white brethren, the British, to
be reduced by any calamity to a similar state of distress, the Indians
would with the utmost cheerfulness share with them their provisions to
the very last.
The presents delivered to the Indians, together with the salaries of the
officers in the Indian department, are computed to cost the crown, as I
before mentioned, about £.100,000 sterling, on an average, per annum.
When we first gained possession of Canada, the expence of the presents
was much greater, as the Indians were then more numerous, and as it was
also found necessary to bestow upon them, individually, much larger
presents than are now given, in order to overcome the violent prejudices
against us which had been instilled into their minds by the French.
These prejudices having happily been removed, and the utmost harmony
having been established between them and the people on our frontiers,
presents of a less value even than what are now distributed amongst them
would perhaps be found sufficient to keep up that good understanding
which now subsists between us; it could not, however, be deemed a very
advisable measure to curtail them, as long as a possibility remained
that the loss of their friendship might be incurred thereby: and,
indeed, when we consider what a happy and numerous people the Indians
were before Europeans intruded themselves into the territories allotted
to them by nature; when we consider how many thousands have perished in
battle, embroiled in our contests for power and dominion, and how many
thousands more have perished by the use of the poisonous beverages which
we have introduced amongst them; when we consider how many artificial
wants have been raised in the minds of the few nations of them that yet
remain, and how sadly the morals of these nations have been corrupted by
their intercourse with the whites; when we consider, finally, that in
the course of fifty years more no vestige even of these once virtuous
and amiable people will probably be found in the whole of that extensive
territory which lies between the Mississippi and the Atlantic, and was
formerly inhabited solely by them; instead of wishing to lessen the
value or the number of the few trifles that we find are acceptable to
them in their present state, we ought rather to be desirous of
contributing still more largely to their comfort and happiness.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
Acceptable presents are generally found very efficacious in conciliating
the affections of any uncivilized nation: they have very great influence
over the minds of the Indians; but to conciliate their affections to the
utmost, presents alone are not sufficient; you must appear to have their
interest at heart in every respect; you must associate with them; you
must treat them as men that are your equals, and, in some measure, even
adopt their native manners. It was by such steps as these that the
French, when they had possession of Canada, gained their favour in such
a very eminent manner, and acquired so wonderful an ascendency over
them. The old Indians still say, that they never were so happy as when
the French had possession of the country; and, indeed, it is a very
remarkable fact, which I before mentioned, that the Indians, if they are
sick, if they are hungry, if they want shelter from a storm, or the
like, will always go to the houses of the old French settlers in
preference to these of the British inhabitants. The necessity of
treating the Indians with respect and attention is strongly inculcated
on the minds of the English settlers, and they endeavour to act
accordingly; but still they cannot banish wholly from their minds, as
the French do, the idea that the Indians are an inferior race of people
to them, to which circumstance is to be attributed the predilection of
the Indians for the French rather than them; they all live together,
however, on very amicable terms, and many of the English on the
frontiers have indeed told me, that if they were but half as honest, and
half as well conducted towards one another, as the Indians are towards
them, the state of society in the country would be truly enviable.
On the frontiers of the United States little pains have hitherto been
taken by the government, and no pains by the people, to gain the good
will of the Indians; and the latter, indeed, instead of respecting the
Indians as an independent neighbouring nation have in too many instances
violated their rights as men in the most flagrant manner. The
consequence has been, that the people on the frontiers have been
involved in all the calamities that they could have suffered from an
avengeful and cruel enemy. Nightly murders, robberies, massacres, and
conflagrations have been common. They have hardly ventured to stir, at
times, beyond the walls of their little habitations; and for whole
nights together have they been kept on the watch, in arms, to resist the
onset of the Indians. They have never dared to visit their neighbours
unarmed, nor to proceed alone, in open day, on a journey of a few miles.
The gazettes of the United States have daily teemed with the shocking
accounts of the barbarities committed by the Indians, and volumes would
scarcely suffice to tell the whole of the dreadful tales.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
It has been said by persons of the States, that the Indians were
countenanced in committing these enormities by people on the British
frontiers, and liberal abuse has been bestowed on the government for
having aided, by distributing amongst them guns, tomahawks, and other
hostile weapons. That the Indians were incited by presents, and other
means, to act against the people of the colonies, during the American
war, must be admitted; but that, after peace was concluded, the same
line of conduct was pursued towards them, is an aspersion equally false
and malicious. To the conduct of the people of the States themselves
alone, and to no other cause, is unquestionably to be attributed the
continuance of the warfare between them and the Indians, after the
definitive treaty of peace was signed. Instead of then taking the
opportunity to reconcile the Indians, as they might easily have done by
presents, and by treating them with kindness, they still continued
hostile towards them; they looked upon them, as indeed they still do,
merely as wild beasts, that ought to be banished from the face of the
earth; and actuated by that insatiable spirit of avarice, and that
restless and dissatisfied turn of mind, which I have so frequently
noticed, instead of keeping within their territories, where millions of
acres remained unoccupied, but no part, however, of which could be had
without being paid for, they crossed their boundary lines, and fixed
themselves in the territory of the Indians, without ever previously
gaining the consent of these people. The Indians, nice about their
boundary line beyond any other nations, perhaps, in the world, that have
such extensive dominions in proportion to their numbers, made no scruple
to attack, to plunder, and even to murder these intruders, when a fit
opportunity offered. The whites endeavoured to repel their attacks, and
shot them with as much unconcern as they would either a wolf or a bear.
In their expeditions against the white settlers, the Indians frequently
were driven back with loss; but their ill success only urged them to
return with redoubled fury, and their well-known revengeful disposition
leading them on all occasions to seek blood for blood, they were not
merely satisfied with murdering the whole families of the settlers who
had wounded or killed their chiefs or warriors, but oftentimes, in order
to appease the manes of their comrades, they crossed their boundary line
in turn, and committed most dreadful depredations amongst the peaceable
white inhabitants in the States, who were in no manner implicated in the
ill conduct of the men who had encroached upon the Indian territories.
Here also, if they happened to be repulsed, or to lose a friend, they
returned to seek fresh revenge; and as it seldom happened that they did
escape without loss, their excesses and barbarities, instead of
diminishing, were becoming greater every year. The attention of the
government was at last directed towards the melancholy situation of the
settlers on the frontiers, and the result was, that congress determined
that an army should be raised, at the expence of the States, to repel
the foe.
An army was accordingly raised some time about the year 1790, which was
put under the command of General St. Clair. It consisted of about
fifteen hundred men; but these were not men that had been accustomed to
contend against Indians, nor was the General, although an experienced
officer, and well able to conduct an army against a regular force, at
all qualified, as many persons had foreseen, and the event proved, to
command on an expedition of such a nature as he was now about to be
engaged in.
St. Clair advanced with his army into the Indian territory; occasional
skirmishes took place, but the Indians still kept retreating before him,
as if incapable of making any resistance against such a powerful force.
Forgetful of the stratagems of the artful enemy he had to contend with,
he boldly followed, till at last, having been drawn far into their
territory, and to a spot suitable to their purpose, the Indians attacked
him on all sides; his men were thrown into confusion; in vain he
attempted to rally them. The Indians, emboldened by the disorder they
saw in his ranks, came rushing down with their tomahawks and scalping
knives. A dreadful havoc ensued. The greater part of the army was left
dead on the fatal field; and of those that escaped the knife, the most
were taken prisoners. All the cannon, ammunition, baggage, and horses of
St. Clair’s army fell into the hands of the Indians on this occasion.
[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]
A great many young Canadians, and in particular many that were born of
Indian women, fought on the side of the Indians in this action, a
circumstance which confirmed the people of the States in the opinion
they had previously formed, that the Indians were encouraged and abetted
in their attacks upon them by the British. I can safely affirm, however,
from having conversed with many of these young men who fought against
St. Clair, that it was with the utmost secrecy they left their homes to
join the Indians, fearful lest the government should censure their
conduct; and that in espousing the quarrel of the Indians, they were
actuated by a desire to assist a people whom they conceived to be
injured, more than by an unextinguished spirit of resentment against
men, whom they had formerly viewed in the light of rebels.
As the revenge of the Indians was completely glutted by this victory
over St. Clair, it is not improbable, but that if pains had been taken
immediately to negociate a peace with them, it might have been obtained
on easy terms; and had the boundary line then determinately agreed upon
been faithfully observed afterwards by the people of the States, there
is great reason to imagine that the peace would have been a permanent
one. As this, however, was a questionable measure, and the general
opinion was, that a peace could be made on better terms if preceded by a
victory on the part of the States, it was determined to raise another
army. Liberal supplies for that purpose were granted by congress, and
three thousand men were soon collected together.
Great pains were taken to enlist for this new army men from Kentucky,
and other parts of the frontiers, who had been accustomed to the Indian
mode of fighting; and a sufficient number of rifle-men from the frontier
were collected, to form a very large regiment. The command of the new
army was given to the late General Wayne. Upon being appointed to it,
his first care was to introduce strict discipline amongst his troops; he
afterwards kept the army in motion on the frontier, but he did not
attempt to penetrate far into the Indian country, nor to take any
offensive measures against the enemy for some time. This delay the
General conceived would be attended with two great advantages; first, it
would serve to banish from the minds of his men all recollection of the
defeat of the late army; and secondly, it would afford him an
opportunity of training perfectly to the Indian mode of fighting such of
his men as were ignorant of it; for he saw no hopes of success but in
fighting the Indians in their own way.
[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]
When the men were sufficiently trained he advanced, but it was with the
utmost caution. He seldom proceeded farther than twelve miles in one
day; the march was always ended by noon, and the afternoon was regularly
employed in throwing up strong intrenchments round the camp, in order to
secure the army from any sudden attack; and the spot that had been thus
fortified on one day was never totally abandoned until a new encampment
had been made on the ensuing one. Moreover, strong posts were
established at the distance of forty miles, or thereabouts, from each
other, in which guards were left, in order to ensure a safe retreat to
the army in case it should not be successful. As he advanced, General
Wayne sent detachments of his army to destroy all the Indian villages
that were near him, and on these occasions the deepest stratagems were
made use of. In some instances his men threw off their clothes, and by
painting their bodies, disguised themselves so as to resemble Indians in
every respect, then approaching as friends, they committed dreadful
havoc. Skirmishes also frequently took place, on the march, with the
Indians who hovered round the army. These terminated with various
success, but mostly in favour of the Americans; as in their conduct, the
knowledge and discipline of regular troops were combined with all the
cunning and stratagem of their antagonists.
All this time the Indians kept retreating, as they had done formerly
before St. Clair; and without being able to bring on a decisive
engagement, General Wayne proceeded even to the Miami of the Lakes, so
called in contra-distinction to another River Miami, which empties
itself into the Ohio. Here it was that that curious correspondence in
respect to Fort Miami took place, the substance of which was related in
most of the English and American prints, and by which General Wayne
exposed himself to the censure of many of his countrymen, and General,
then Colonel Campbell, who commanded in the fort, gained the public
thanks of the traders in London.
[Sidenote: INDIAN WARFARE.]
The Miami Fort, situated on the river of the same name, was built by the
English in the year 1793, at which time there was some reason to imagine
that the disputes existing between Great Britain and the United States
would not have been quite so amicably settled, perhaps, as they have
been; at least that doubtless must have been the opinion of government,
otherwise they would not have given orders for the construction of a
fort within the boundary line of the United States, a circumstance which
could not fail to excite the indignation of the people thereof. General
Wayne, it would appear, had received no positive orders from his
government to make himself master of it: could he have gained possession
of it, however, by a coup-de-main, without incurring any loss, he
thought that it could not but have been deemed an acceptable piece of
service by the public, from whom he should have received unbounded
applause. Vanity was his ruling passion, and actuated by it on this
occasion, he resolved to try what he could do to obtain possession of
the fort. Colonel Campbell, however, by his spirited and manly answer to
the summons that was sent him, to surrender the fort on account of its
being situated within the boundary line of the States, soon convinced
the American general that he was not to be shaken by his remonstrances
or intimidated by his menaces, and that his two hundred men, who
composed the garrison, had sufficient resolution to resist the attacks
of his army of three thousand, whenever he thought proper to march
against the fort. The main division of the American army, at this time,
lay at the distance of about four miles from the fort; a small
detachment from it, however, was concealed in the woods at a very little
distance from the fort, to be ready at the call of General Wayne, who,
strange to tell, when he found he was not likely to get possession of it
in consequence of the summons he sent, was so imprudent, and departed so
much from the dignity of the general and the character of the soldier,
as to ride up to the fort, and to use the most gross and illiberal
language to the British soldiers on duty in it. His object in doing so
was, I should suppose, to provoke the garrison to fire upon him, in
which case he would have had a pretext for storming the fort.
Owing to the great prudence, however, of Colonel Campbell, who had
issued the strictest orders to his men and officers to remain silent,
notwithistanding any insults that were offered to them, and not to
attempt to fire, unless indeed an actual attack were made on the place,
Wayne’s plan was frustrated, much bloodshed certainly saved, and a
second war between Great Britain and America perhaps averted.
General Wayne gained no great personal honour by his conduct on this
occasion; but the circumstance of his having appeared before the British
fort in the manner he did operated strongly in his favour in respect to
his proceedings against the Indians. These people had been taught to
believe by the young Canadians that were amongst them, that if any part
of the American army appeared before the fort, it would certainly be
fired upon; for they had no idea that the Americans would have come in
sight of it without taking offensive measures, in which case resistance
would certainly have been made. When, therefore, it was heard that
General Wayne had not been fired upon, the Indians complained grievously
of their having been deceived, and were greatly disheartened on finding
that they were to receive no assistance from the British. Their native
courage, however, did not altogether forsake them; they resolved
speedily to make a stand, and accordingly having chosen their ground,
awaited the arrival of General Wayne, who followed them closely.
[Sidenote: PREPARATORY FAST.]
Preparatory to the day on which they expected a general engagement, the
Indians, contrary to the usages of most nations, observe a strict fast;
nor does this abstinence from all sorts of food diminish their exertions
in the field, as from their early infancy they accustom themselves to
fasting for long periods together. The day before General Wayne was
expected, this ceremony was strictly attended to, and afterwards, having
placed themselves in ambush in the woods, they waited for his arrival.
He did not, however, come to the ground on the day that they had
imagined, from the reports given them by their scouts of his motions, he
would have done; but having reason to think he would come on the
subsequent day, they did not move from their ambush. The second day
passed over without his drawing nearer to them; but fully persuaded that
he would come up with them on the next, they still lay concealed in the
same place. The third day proved to be extremely rainy and tempestuous;
and the scouts having brought word, that from the movements General
Wayne had made there was no likelihood of his marching towards them that
day, the Indians, now hungry after having fasted for three entire days,
determined to rise from their ambush in order to take some refreshment.
They accordingly did so, and having no suspicion of an attack, began to
eat their food in security.
Before they began to eat, the Indians had divided themselves, I must
observe, into three divisions, in order to march to another quarter,
where they hoped to surprise the army of the States. In this situation,
however, they were themselves surprised by General Wayne. He had
received intelligence from his scouts, now equally cunning with those of
the Indians, of their proceedings, and having made some motions as if he
intended to move to another part of the country, in order to put them
off their guard, he suddenly turned, and sent his light horse pouring
down on them when they least expected it. The Indians were thrown into
confusion, a circumstance which with them never fails to occasion a
defeat; they made but a faint resistance, and then fled with
precipitancy.
[Sidenote: AMERICAN GENERAL.]
On his arrival at Philadelphia, in the beginning of the year 1796, I was
introduced to General Wayne, and I had then an opportunity of seeing the
plan of all his Indian campaigns. A most pompous account was given of
this victory, and the plan of it excited, as indeed it well might, the
wonder and admiration of all the old officers who saw it. The Indians
were represented as drawn up in three lines, one behind the other, and
after receiving with firmness the charge of the American army, as
endeavouring with great skill and adroitness to turn its flanks, when,
by the hidden appearance of the Kentucky riflemen and the light cavalry,
they were put to flight. From the regularity with which the Indians
fought on this occasion, it was argued that they must doubtless have
been conducted by British officers of skill and experience. How absurd
this whole plan was, however, was plainly to be deduced from the
following circumstance, allowed both by the general and his aides de
camp, namely, that during the whole action the American army did not see
fifty Indians; and indeed every person who has read an account of the
Indians must know that they never come into the field in such regular
array, but always fight under covert, behind trees or bushes, in the
most irregular manner. Notwithstanding the great pains that were taken
formerly, both by the French and English, they never could be brought to
fight in any other manner. It was in this manner, and no other, as I
heard from several men who were in the action with them, that they
fought against General Wayne; each one, as soon as the American troops
were descried, instantly sheltered himself, and in retreating they still
kept under covert. It was by fighting them also in their own way, and by
sending parties of his light troops and cavalry to rout them from their
lurking places, that General Wayne defeated them; had he attempted to
have drawn up his army in the regular order described in the plan, he
could not but have met with the same fate as St. Clair, and general
Braddock did on a former occasion.
Between thirty and forty Indians, who had been shot or bayoneted as they
attempted to run from one tree to another, were found dead on the field
by the American army. It is supposed that many more were killed, but the
fact of the matter could never be ascertained by them: a profound
silence was observed on the subject by the Indians, so that I never
could learn accurately how many of them had fallen; that however is an
immaterial circumstance; suffice it to say that the engagement soon
induced the Indians to sue for a peace. Commissioners were deputed by
the government of the United States to meet their chiefs; the
preliminaries were soon arranged, and a treaty was concluded, by which
the Indians relinquished a very considerable part of their territory,
bordering upon that of the United States.
[Sidenote: INDIAN PEACE.]
The last and principal ceremony observed by the Indians in concluding a
peace, is that of burying the hatchet. When this ceremony came to be
performed, one of the chiefs arose, and lamenting that the last peace
concluded between them and the people of the States had remained
unbroken for so short a time, and expressing his desire that this one
should be more lasting, he proposed the tearing up of a large oak that
grew before them, and the burying of the hatchet under it, where it
would for ever remain at rest. Another chief said, that trees were
liable to be levelled by the storms; that at any rate they would decay;
and that as they were desirous that a perpetual peace should be
established between them and their late enemies, he conceived it would
be better to bury the hatchet under the tall mountain which arose behind
the wood. A third chief in turn addressed the assembly: “As for me,”
said he, “I am but a man, and I have not the strength of the great
spirit to tear up the trees of the forest by the roots, or to remove
mountains, under which to bury the hatchet; but I propose that the
hatchet may be thrown into the deep lake, where no mortal can ever find
it, and where it will remain buried for ever.” This proposal was
joyfully accepted by the assembly, and the hatchet was in consequence
cast with great solemnity into the water. The Indians now tell you, in
their figurative language, that there must be peace for ever. “On former
times,” say they, “when the hatchet was buried, it was only slightly
covered with a little earth and a few leaves, and being always a very
troublesome restless creature, it soon contrived to find its way
aboveground, where it never failed to occasion great confusion between
us and our white brethren, and to knock a great many good people on the
head; but now that it has been thrown into the deep lake, it can never
do any more mischief amongst us; for it cannot rise of itself to the
surface of the lake, and no one can go to the bottom to look for it.”
And that there would be a permanent peace between them I have no doubt,
provided that the people of the States would observe the articles of the
treaty as punctually as the Indians; but it requires little sagacity to
predict that this will not be the case, and that ere long the hatchet
will be again resumed. Indeed, a little time before we reached Malden,
messengers from the southern Indians had arrived to sound the
disposition of those who lived near the lake, and try if they were ready
and willing to enter into a fresh war. Nor is this eagerness for war to
be wondered at, when from the report of the commissioners, who were sent
down by the federal government to the new state of Tenassee, in order to
put the treaty into effect, and to mark out the boundaries of that state
in particular, it appeared that upwards of five thousand people,
contrary to the stipulation of the treaty lately entered into with the
Indians, had encroached upon, and settled themselves down in Indian
territory, which people, the commissioners said, could not be persuaded
to return, and in their opinion could not be forced back again into the
States without very great difficulty[15].
Footnote 15:
The substance of this report appeared in an extract of a letter from
Lexington, in Kentucky, which I myself saw, and which was published in
many of the newspapers in the United States.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
A large portion of the back settlers, living upon the Indian frontiers,
are, according to the best of my information, far greater savages than
the Indians themselves. It is nothing uncommon, I am told, to see hung
up in their chimney corners, or nailed against the door of their
habitations, similarly to the ears or brush of a fox, the scalps which
they have themselves torn from the heads of the Indians whom they have
shot; and in numberless publications in the United States I have read
accounts of their having flayed the Indians, and employed their skins as
they would have done those of a wild beast, for whatever purpose they
could be applied to. An Indian is considered by them as nothing better
than a destructive ravenous wild beast, without reason, without a soul,
that ought to be hunted down like a wolf wherever it makes its
appearance; and indeed, even amongst the bettermost sort of the
inhabitants of the western country, the most illiberal notions are
entertained respecting these unfortunate people, and arguments for their
banishment, or rather extirpation, are adopted, equally contrary to
justice and to humanity. “The Indian,” say they, “who has no idea, or at
least is unwilling to apply himself to agriculture, requires a thousand
acres of land for the support of his family; an hundred acres will be
enough for one of us and our children; why then should these heathens,
who have no notion of arts and manufactures, who never have made any
improvement in science, and have never been the inventors of any thing
new or useful to the human species, be suffered to encumber the soil?”
“The settlements making in the upper parts of Georgia, upon the fine
lands of the Oconec and Okemulgee rivers, will,” says Mr. Imlay,
speaking of the probable destination of the Indians of the south western
territory, “bid defiance to them in that quarter. The settlements of
French Broad, aided by Holston, have nothing to fear from them; and the
Cumberland is too puissant to apprehend any danger. The Spaniards are in
possession of the Floridas (how long they will remain so must depend
upon their moderation and good manners) and of the settlements at the
Natchez and above, which will soon extend to the southern boundaries of
Cumberland, so that they (the Indians) will be completely enveloped in a
few years. Our people (alluding to those of the United States) will
continue to _encroach_ upon them on three sides, and _compel_ them to
live more domestic lives, and assimilate them to our mode of living, or
cross to the western side of the Mississippi.”
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
O Americans! shall we praise your justice and your love of liberty, when
thus you talk of encroachments and compulsion? Shall we commend your
moderation, when we see ye eager to gain fresh possessions, whilst ye
have yet millions of acres within your own territories unoccupied? Shall
we reverence your regard for the rights of human nature, when we see ye
bent upon banishing the poor Indian from the land where rest the bones
of his ancestors, to him more precious than your cold hearts can
imagine, and when we see ye tyrannizing over the hapless African,
because nature has stamped upon him a complexion different from your
own?
The conduct of the people of the States towards the Indians appears the
more unreasonable and the more iniquitous, when it is considered that
they are dwindling fast away of themselves; and that in the natural
order of things there will not probably be a single tribe of them found
in existence in the western territory by the time that the numbers of
the white inhabitants of the country become so numerous as to render
land one half as valuable there as it is at present within ten miles of
Philadelphia or New York. Even in Canada, where the Indians are treated
with so much kindness, they are disappearing faster, perhaps, than any
people were ever known to do before them, and are making room every year
for the whites; and it is by no means improbable, but that at the end of
fifty years there will not be a single Indian to be met with between
Quebec and Detroit, except the few perhaps that may be induced to lead
quiet domestic lives, as a small number now does in the village of
Lorette near Quebec, and at some other places in the lower province.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
It is well known, that before Europeans got any footing in North
America, the increase of population amongst the Indian nations was very
slow, as it is at this day amongst those who remain still unconnected
with the whites. Various reasons have been assigned for this. It has
been asserted, in the first place, that the Indian is of a much cooler
temperament than the white man, has less ardour in pursuit of the
female, and is furnished with less noble organs of generation. This
assertion is perhaps true in part: they are chaste to a proverb when
they come to Philadelphia, or any other of the large towns, though they
have a predilection in general for white women, and might there readily
indulge their inclination; and there has never been an instance that I
can recollect, of their offering violence to a female prisoner, though
oftentimes they have carried off from the settlements very beautiful
women; that, however, they should not have been gifted by the Creator
with ample powers to propagate their species would be contrary to every
thing we see either in the animal or the vegetable world; it seems to be
with more justice that their slow increase is ascribed to the conduct of
the women. The dreadful practice amongst them, of prostituting
themselves at a very early age, cannot fail, I should imagine, to
vitiate the humours, and must have a tendency to occasion sterility.
Added to this, they suckle the few children they have for several years,
during which time, at least amongst many of the tribes, they avoid all
connection with their husbands; moreover, finding great inconveniency
attendant upon a state of pregnancy, when they are following their
husbands, in the hunting season, from one camp to another, they have
been accused of making use of certain herbs, the specific virtues of
which they are well acquainted with, in order to procure abortion.
If one or more of these causes operated against the rapid increase of
their numbers before the arrival of Europeans on the continent, the
subsequent introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them, of which
both men and women drink to the greatest excess whenever an opportunity
offers, was sufficient in itself not only to retard this slow increase,
but even to occasion a diminution of their numbers. Intermittent fevers
and various other disorders, whether arising from an alteration in the
climate, owing to the clearing of the woods, or from the use of the
poisonous beverages introduced amongst them by the whites, it is hard to
say, have likewise contributed much of late years to diminish their
numbers. The Shawnese, one of the most warlike tribes, has been lessened
nearly one half by sickness. Many other reasons could be adduced for
their decrease, but it is needless to enumerate them. That their numbers
have gradually lessened, as those of the whites have increased, for two
centuries past, is incontrovertible; and they are too much attached to
old habits to leave any room to imagine that they will vary their line
of conduct, in any material degree, during years to come, so that they
must of consequence still continue to decrease.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
In my next letter I intend to communicate to you a few observations that
I have made upon the character, manners, customs, and personal and
mental qualifications, &c. of the Indians. So much has already been
written on these subjects, that I fear I shall have little to offer to
your perusal but what you may have read before. I am induced to think,
however, that it will not be wholly unpleasing to you to hear the
observations of others confirmed by me, and if you should meet with any
thing new in what I have to say, it will have the charm of novelty at
least to recommend it to your notice. I am not going to give you a
regular detail of Indian manners, &c.; it would be absurd in me, who
have only been with them for a few weeks, to attempt to do so. If you
wish to have an account of Indian affairs at large, you must read Le P.
Charlevoix, Le P. Hennipin, Le Hontan, Carver, &c. &c. who have each
written volumes on the subject.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXV.
_A brief Account of the Persons, Manners, Character, Qualifications,
mental and corporeal, of the Indians; interspersed with Anecdotes._
Malden.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
WHAT I shall first take notice of in the persons of the Indians, is the
colour of their skins, which, in fact, constitutes the most striking
distinction between their persons and ours. In general their skin is of
a copper cast; but a most wonderful difference of colour is observable
amongst them; some, in whose veins there is no reason to think that any
other than Indian blood flows, not having darker complexions than
natives of the south of France or of Spain, whilst others, on the
contrary, are nearly as black as negroes. Many persons, and particularly
some of the most respectable of the French missionaries, whose long
residence amongst the Indians ought to have made them competent judges
of the matter, have been of opinion, that their natural colour does not
vary from ours; and that the darkness of their complexion arises wholly
from their anointing themselves so frequently with unctuous substances,
and from their exposing themselves so much to the smoke of wood fires,
and to the burning rays of the sun. But although it is certain that they
think a dark complexion very becoming; that they take great pains from
their earliest age to acquire such an one; and that many of them do, in
process of time, contrive to vary their original colour very
considerably; although it is certain likewise, that when first born
their colour differs but little from ours; yet it appears evident to me,
that the greater part of them are indebted for their different hues to
nature alone. I have been induced to form this opinion from the
following consideration, namely; that those children which are born of
parents of a dark colour are almost universally of the same dark cast as
those from whom they sprang. Nekig, that is, The Little Otter, an
Ottoway chief of great notoriety, whose village is on Detroit River, and
with whom we have become intimately acquainted, has a complexion that
differs but little from that of an African; and his little boys, who are
the very image of the father, are just as black as himself. With regard
to Indian children being white on their first coming into the world, it
ought by no means to be concluded from thence, that they would remain so
if their mothers did not bedaub them with grease, herbs, &c. as it is
well known that negro children are not perfectly black when born, nor
indeed for many months afterwards, but that they acquire their jetty hue
gradually, on being exposed to the air and sun, just as in the vegetable
world the tender blade, on first peeping above ground, turns from white
to a pale greenish colour, and afterwards to a deeper green.
Though I remarked to you in a former letter, that the Mississaguis, who
live about Lake Ontario, were of a much darker cast than any other tribe
of Indians I met with, yet I do not think that the different shades of
complexion observable amongst the Indians are so much confined to
particular tribes as to particular families; for even amongst the
Mississaguis I saw several men that were comparatively of a very light
colour. Judging of the Creeks, Cherokees, and other southern Indians,
from what I have seen of them at Philadelphia, and at other towns in the
States, whither they often come in large parties, led either by business
or curiosity, it appears to me that their skin has a redder tinge, and
more warmth of colouring in it, if I may use the expression, than that
of the Indians in the neighbourhood of the lakes; it appears to me also,
that there is less difference of colour amongst them than amongst those
last mentioned.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
Amongst the female Indians also, in general, there is a much greater
sameness of colour than amongst the men. I do not recollect to have seen
any of a deeper complexion than what might be termed a dirty copper
colour.
The Indians universally have long, straight, black, coarse hair, and
black eyes, rather small than full sized; they have, in general, also,
high prominent cheek bones, and sharp small noses, rather inclining to
an aquiline shape; they have good teeth, and their breath, in general,
is as sweet as that of a human being can be. The men are for the most
part very well made; it is a most rare circumstance to meet with a
deformed person amongst them: they are remarkably straight; have full
open chests; their walk is firm and erect, and many amongst them have
really a dignified deportment. Very few of them are under the middle
stature, and none of them ever become very fat or corpulent. You may
occasionally see amongst them stout robust men, closely put together,
but in general they are but slightly made. Their legs, arms, and hands,
are for the most part extremely well shaped; and very many amongst them
would be deemed handsome men in any country in the world.
The women, on the contrary, are mostly under the middle size; and have
higher cheek bones, and rounder faces than the men. They have very
ungraceful carriages; walk with their toes turned considerably inwards,
and with a shuffling gait; and as they advance in years they grow
remarkably fat and coarse. I never saw an Indian woman of the age of
thirty, but what her eyes were sunk, her forehead wrinkled, her skin
loose and shrivelled, and her whole person, in short, forbidding; yet,
when young, their faces and persons are really pleasing, not to say
sometimes very captivating. One could hardly imagine, without witnessing
it, that a few years could possibly make such an alteration as it does
in their persons This sudden change is chiefly owing to the drudgery
imposed on them by the men after a certain age; to their exposing
themselves so much to the burning rays of the sun; sitting so
continually in the smoke of wood fires; and, above all, to the general
custom of prostituting themselves at a very early age.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
Though the Indians are profusely furnished with hair on their heads, yet
on none of the other parts of the body, usually covered with it amongst
us, is the smallest sign of hair visible, except, indeed, on the chins
of old men, where a few slender straggling hairs are sometimes seen, not
different from what may be occasionally seen on women of a certain age
in Europe. Many persons have supposed that the Indians have been created
without hair on those parts of the body where it appears wanting;
others, on the contrary, are of opinion, that nature has not been less
bountiful to them than to us; and that this apparent deficiency of hair
is wholly owing to their plucking it out themselves by the roots, as
soon as it appears above the skin. It is well known, indeed, that the
Indians have a great dislike to hair, and that such of the men as are
ambitious of appearing gayer than the rest, pluck it not only from their
eye-brows and eye-lashes, but also from every part of the head, except
one spot on the back part of the crown, where they leave a long lock.
For my own part, from every thing I have seen and heard, I am fully
persuaded, that if an Indian were to lay aside this custom of plucking
out the hair, he would not only have a beard, but likewise hair on the
same parts of the body as white people have; I think, however, at the
same time, that this hair would be much finer, and not grow as thickly
as upon our bodies, notwithstanding that the hair of their heads is so
much thicker than ours. The few hairs that are seen on the faces of old
men are to be attributed to the carelessness of old people about their
external appearance.
To pluck out their hair, all such as have any connection with the
traders make use of a pliable worm, formed of flattened brass wire. This
instrument is closely applied, in its open state, to the surface of the
body where the hair grows; it is then compressed by the finger and
thumb; a great number of hairs are caught at once between the spiral
evolutions of the wire, and by a sudden twitch they are all drawn out by
the roots. An old squaw, with one of these instruments, would deprive
you of your beard in a very few minutes, and a slight application of the
worm two or three times in the year would be sufficient to keep your
chin smooth ever afterwards. A very great number of the white people, in
the neighbourhood of Malden and Detroit, from having submitted to this
operation, appear at first sight as little indebted to nature for beards
as the Indians. The operation is very painful, but it is soon over, and
when one considers how much time and trouble is saved and ease gained by
it in the end, it is only surprising that more people do not summon up
resolution, and patiently submit to it.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
The long lock of hair on the top of the head, with the skin on which it
grows, constitutes the true scalp; and in scalping a person that has a
full head of hair, an experienced warrior never thinks of taking off
more of the skin than a bit of about the size of a crown piece, from the
part of the head where this lock is usually left. They ornament this
solitary lock of hair with beads, silver trinkets, &c. and on grand
occasions with feathers. The women do not pluck any of the hair from off
their heads, and pride themselves upon having it as long as possible.
They commonly wear it neatly platted up behind, and divided in front on
the middle of the forehead. When they wish to appear finer than usual,
they paint the small part of the skin, which appears on the separation
of the hair, with a streak of vermilion; when neatly done, it looks
extremely well, and forms a pleasing contrast to the jetty black of
their hair.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
The Indians, who have any dealings with the English or American traders,
and all of them have that live in the neighbourhood, and to the east of
the Mississippi, and in the neighbourhood of the great lakes to the
north-west, have now totally laid aside the use of furs and skins in
their dress, except for their shoes or moccasins, and sometimes for
their leggings, as they find they can exchange them to advantage for
blankets and woollen cloths, &c. which they consider likewise as much
more agreeable and commodious materials for wearing apparel. The
moccasin is made of the skin of the deer, elk, or buffalo, which is
commonly dressed without the hair, and rendered of a deep brown colour
by being exposed to the smoke of a wood fire. It is formed of a single
piece of leather, with a seam from the toe to the instep, and another
behind, similar to that in a common shoe; by means of a thong, it is
fastened round the instep, just under the ankle-bone, and is thus made
to fit very close to the foot. Round that part where the foot is put in,
a flap of the depth of an inch or two is left, which hangs loosely down
over the string by which the moccasin is fastened; and this flap, as
also the seam, are tastefully ornamented with porcupine quills and
beads: the flap is edged with tin or copper tags filled with scarlet
hair, if the moccasin be intended for a man, and with ribands if for a
woman. An ornamented moccasin of this sort is only worn in dress, as the
ornaments are expensive, and the leather soon wears out; one of plain
leather answers for ordinary use. Many of the white people on the Indian
frontiers wear this kind of shoe; but a person not accustomed to walk in
it, or to walk barefoot, cannot wear it abroad, on a rough road, without
great inconvenience, as every unevenness of surface is felt through the
leather, which is soft and pliable: in a house it is the most agreeable
sort of shoe that can be imagined: the Indians wear it universally.
Above the moccasin all the Indians wear what are called leggings, which
reach from the instep to the middle of the thigh. They are commonly made
of blue or scarlet cloth, and are formed so as to fit close to the
limbs, like the modern pantaloons; but the edges of the cloth annexed to
the seam, instead of being turned in, are left on the outside, and are
ornamented with beads, ribands, &c. when the leggings are intended for
dress. Many of the young warriors are so desirous that their leggings
should fit them neatly, that they make the squaws, who are the tailors,
and really very good ones, sow them tight on their limbs, so that they
cannot be taken off, and they continue to wear them constantly till they
are reduced to rags. The leggings are kept up by means of two firings,
one on the outside of each thigh, which are fastened to a third, that is
tied round the waist.
They also wear round the waist another string, from which are suspended
two little aprons, somewhat more than a foot square, one hanging down
before and the other behind, and under these a piece of cloth, drawn
close up to the body between the legs, forming a sort of truss. The
aprons and this piece of cloth, which are all fastened together, are
called the breech cloth. The utmost ingenuity of the squaws is exerted
in adorning the little aprons with beads, ribands, &c.
The moccasins, leggings, and breech cloth constitute the whole of the
dress which they wear when they enter upon a campaign, except indeed it
be a girdle, from which hangs their tobacco pouch and scalping knife,
&c.; nor do they wear any thing more when the weather is very warm; but
when it is cool, or when they dress themselves to visit their friends,
they put on a short shirt, loose at the neck and wrists, generally made
of coarse figured cotton or callico of some gaudy pattern, not unlike
what would be used for window or bed curtains at a common inn in
England. Over the shirt they wear either a blanket, large piece of broad
cloth, or else a loose coat made somewhat similarly to a common riding
frock; a blanket is more commonly worn than any thing else. They tie one
end of it round their waist with a girdle, and then drawing it over
their shoulders, either fasten it across their breasts with a skewer, or
hold the corners of it together in the left hand. One would imagine that
this last mode of wearing it could not but be highly inconvenient to
them, as it must deprive them in a great measure of the use of one hand;
yet it is the mode in which it is commonly worn, even when they are
shooting in the woods; they generally, however, keep the right arm
disengaged when they carry a gun, and draw the blanket over the left
shoulder.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
The dress of the women differs but very little from that of the men.
They wear moccasins, leggings, and loose short shirts, and like them
they throw over their shoulders, occasionally, a blanket or piece of
broad cloth, but most generally the latter; they do not tie it round
their waist, however, but suffer it to hang down so as to hide their
legs; instead also of the breech cloth, they wear a piece of cloth
folded closely round their middle, which reaches from the waist to the
knees. Dark blue or green cloths in general are preferred to those of
any other colour; a few of the men are fond of wearing scarlet.
The women in warm weather appear in the villages without any other
covering above their waists than these shirts, or shifts if you please
so to call them, though they differ in no respect from the shirts of the
men; they usually, however, fasten them with a broach round the neck. In
full dress they also appear in these shirts, but then they are covered
entirely over with silver broaches, about the size of a sixpenny piece.
In full dress they likewise fasten pieces of ribands of various colours
to their hair behind, which are suffered to hang down to their very
heels. I have seen a young squaw, that has been a favourite with the
men, come forth at a dance with upwards of five guineas worth of ribands
streaming from her hair.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
On their wrists the women wear silver bracelets when they can procure
them; they also wear silver ear-rings; the latter are in general of a
very small size; but it is not merely one pair which they wear, but
several. To admit them, they bore a number of holes in their ears,
sometimes entirely round the edges. The men wear ear-rings likewise, but
of a sort totally different from those worn by the women; they mostly
consist of round flat thin pieces of silver, about the size of a dollar,
perforated with holes in different patterns; others, however, equally
large, are made in a triangular form. Some of the tribes are very select
in the choice of the pattern, and will not wear any but the one sort of
pendants. Instead of boring their ears, the men slit them along the
outward edge from top to bottom, and as soon as the gash is healed hang
heavy weights to them in order to stretch the rim thus separated as low
down as possible; Some of them are so successful in this operation, that
they contrive to draw the rims of the ear in form of a bow, down to
their very shoulders, and their large ear-rings hang dangling on their
breasts. To prevent the rim thus extended from breaking, they bind it
with brass wire; however, I observed that there was not one in six that
had his ears perfect; the least touch, indeed, is sufficient to break
the skin, and it would be most wonderful if they were able to preserve
it entire, engaged so often as they are in drunken quarrels, and so
often liable to be entangled in thickets whilst pursuing their game.
Some of the men wear pendants in their noses, but these are not so
common as ear-rings. The chiefs and principal warriors wear breast
plates, consisting of large pieces of silver, sea shells, or the like.
Silver gorgets, such as are usually worn by officers, please them
extremely, and to favourite chiefs they are given out, amongst other
presents, on the part of government. Another sort of ornament is
likewise worn by the men, consisting of a large silver clasp or
bracelet, to which is attached a bunch of hair dyed of a scarlet colour,
usually taken from the knee of the buffalo. This is worn on the narrow
part of the arm above the elbow, and it is deemed very ornamental, and
also a badge of honour, for no person wears it that has not
distinguished himself in the field. Silver ornaments are universally
preferred to those of any other metal.
The Indians not only paint themselves when they go to war, but likewise
when they wish to appear full dressed. Red and black are their favourite
colours, and they daub themselves in the most fantastic manner. I have
seen some with their faces entirely covered with black, except a round
spot in the center, which included the upper lip and end of the nose,
which was painted red; others again I have seen with their heads
entirely black, except a large red round spot on each ear; others with
one eye black and the other red, &c.; but the most common style of
painting I observed, was to black their faces entirely over with
charcoal, and then wetting their nails, to draw parallel undulating
lines on their cheeks. They generally carry a little looking glass about
them to enable them to dispose of their colours judiciously. When they
go to war they rub in the paint with grease, and are much more
particular about their appearance, which they study to render as
horrible as possible; they then cover their whole body with red, white,
and black paint, and seem more like devils than human beings. Different
tribes have different methods of painting themselves.
[Sidenote: OF THE INDIANS.]
Though the Indians spend so much of their time in adorning their
persons, yet they take no pains to ornament their habitations, which for
the most part are wretched indeed. Some of them are formed of logs, in a
style somewhat similar to the common houses in the United States; but
the greater part of them are of a moveable nature, and formed of bark.
The bark of the birch tree is deemed preferable to every other sort, and
where it is to be had is always made use of; but in this part of the
country not being often met with, the bark of the elm tree is used in
its stead. The Indians are very expert in stripping it from a tree; and
frequently take the entire bark from off the trunk in one piece. The
skeletons of their huts consist of slender poles, and on them the bark
is fastened with strips of the tough rind of some young tree: this, if
sound, proves a very effectual defence against the weather. The huts are
built in various forms: some of them have walls on every side, doors,
and also a chimney in the middle of the roof; others are open on one
side, and are nothing better than sheds. When built in this last style,
four of them are commonly placed together, so as to form a quadrangle,
with the open parts towards the inside, and a fire common to them all is
kindled in the middle. In fine weather these huts are agreeable
dwellings; but in the depth of winter they must be dreadfully
uncomfortable. Others of their huts are built in a conical shape. The
Nandowessies, Mr. Carver tells us, live entirely in tents formed of
skins. A great many of the families that were encamped on the island of
Bois Blanc, I observed, lived in the canvas tents which they had taken
from St. Clair’s army. Many of the Indian nations have no permanent
place of residence, but move about from one spot to another, and in the
hunting season they all have moveable encampments, which last are in
general very rude, and insufficient to give them even tolerable shelter
from a fall of rain or snow. The hunting season commences on the fall of
the leaf, and continues till the snow dissolves.
[Sidenote: SOAP STONE.]
In the depth of winter, when the snow is frozen on the ground, they form
their hunting sheds of the snow itself; a few twigs platted together
being simply placed overhead to prevent the snow which forms the roof
from falling down. These snowy habitations are much more comfortable,
and warmer in winter time than any others that can be erected, as they
effectually screen you from the keen piercing blasts of the wind, and a
bed of snow is far from being uncomfortable. To accustom the troops to
encamp in this style, in case of a winter campaign, a party of them,
headed by some of the young officers, used regularly to be sent from
Quebec by the late governor, into the woods, there to shift for
themselves during the month of February. Care was always taken, however,
to send with them two or three experienced persons, to shew them how to
build the huts, otherwise death might have been the consequence to many.
In these encampments they always sleep with their feet to the fire; and
indeed in the Indian encampments in general, during cold weather, they
sleep on the ground with their feet to the fire; during mild weather,
many of them sleep on benches of bark in their huts, which are raised
from two to four feet from the ground.
The utensils in an Indian hut are very few; one or two brass or iron
kettles procured from the traders, or, if they live removed from them,
pots formed of stone, together with a few wooden spoons and dishes made
by themselves constitute in general the whole of them. A stone of a very
soft texture, called the _soap stone_, is very commonly found in the
back parts of North America, particularly suited for Indian workmanship.
It receives its name from appearing to the touch as soft and smooth as a
bit of soap; and indeed it may be cut with a knife almost equally
easily. In Virginia they use it powdered for the boxes of their wheels
instead of grease. Soft, however, as is this stone, it will resist fire
equally with iron. The soap stone is of a dove colour; others nearly of
the same quality, are found in the country, of a black and red colour,
which are still commonly used by the Indians for the bowls of their
pipes.
The bark canoes, which the Indians use in this part of the country, are
by no means so neatly formed as those made in the country upon, and to
the north of, the River St. Lawrence: they are commonly formed of one
entire piece of elm bark, taken from the trunk of the tree, which is
bound on ribs formed of slender rods of tough wood. There are no ribs,
however, at the ends of these canoes, but merely at the middle part,
where alone it is that passengers ever sit. It is only the center,
indeed, which rests upon the water; the ends are generally raised some
feet above the surface, the canoes being of a curved form. They bring
them into this shape by cutting, nearly midway between the stem and
stern, two deep slits, one on each side, in the back, and by lapping the
disjointed edges one over the other. No pains are taken to make the ends
of the canoes water tight, since they never touch the water.
[Sidenote: INDIAN DEXTERITY.]
On first inspection you would imagine, from its miserable appearance,
that an elm bark canoe, thus constructed, were not calculated to carry
even a single person safely across a smooth piece of water; it is
nevertheless a remarkably safe sort of boat, and the Indians will
resolutely embark in one of them during very rough weather. They are so
light that they ride securely over every wave, and the only precaution
necessary in navigating them is to sit steady. I have seen a dozen
people go securely in one, which might be easily carried by a single
able-bodied man. When an Indian takes his family to any distance in a
canoe, the women, the girls, and boys, are furnished each with a paddle,
and are kept busily at work; the father of the family gives himself no
trouble but in steering the vessel.
The Indians that are connected with the traders have now, very
generally, laid aside bows and arrows, and seldom take them into their
hands, except it be to amuse themselves for a few hours, when they have
expended their powder and shot: their boys, however, still use them
universally, and some of them shoot with wonderful dexterity. I saw a
young Shawnese chief, apparently not more than ten years old, fix three
arrows running in the body of a small black squirrel, on the top of a
very tall tree, and during an hour or two that I followed him through
the woods, he scarcely missed his mark half a dozen times. It is
astonishing to see with what accuracy, and at the same time with what
readiness, they mark the spot where their arrows fall. They will shoot
away a dozen arrows or more, seemingly quite careless about what becomes
of them, and as inattentive to the spot where they fall as if they never
expected to find them again, yet afterwards they will run and pick them
every one up without hesitation. The southern Indians are much more
expert at the use of the bow than those near the lakes, as they make
much greater use of it.
With the gun, it seems to be generally allowed, that the Indians are by
no means so good marksmen as the white people. I have often taken them
out shooting with me, and I always found them very slow in taking aim;
and though they generally hit an object that was still, yet they
scarcely ever touched a bird on the wing, or a squirrel that was leaping
about from tree to tree.
The expertness of the Indians in throwing the tomahawk is well known. At
the distance of ten yards they will fix the sharp edge of it in an
object nearly to a certainty. I have been told, however, that they are
not fond of letting it out of their hands in action, and that they never
attempt to throw it but when they are on the point of overtaking a
flying foe, or are certain of recovering it. Some of them will fasten a
string of the length of a few feet to the handle of the tomahawk, and
will launch it forth, and draw it back again into their hand with great
dexterity; they will also parry the thrust or cuts of a sword with the
tomahawk very dexterously.
[Sidenote: TOMAHAWKS.]
The common tomahawk is nothing more than a light hatchet, but the most
approved sort has on the back part of the hatchet, and connected with it
in one piece, the bowl of a pipe, so that when the handle is perforated,
the tomahawk answers every purpose of a pipe: the Indians, indeed, are
fonder of smoking out of a tomahawk than out of any other sort of pipe.
That formerly given to the Indians by the French traders, instead of a
pipe, had a large spike on the back part of the hatchet; very few of
these instruments are now to be found amongst them; I never saw but one.
The tomahawk is commonly worn by the left side, stuck in a belt.
For the favourite chiefs, very elegant pipe-tomahawks, inlaid with
silver, are manufactured by the armourers in the Indian department.
Captain E—— has given me one of this kind, which he had made for
himself; it is so much admired by the Indians, that when they have seen
it with me, they have frequently asked me to lend it to them for an hour
or so to smoke out of, just as children would ask for a pretty
plaything; they have never failed to return it very punctually.
The armourers here alluded to are persons kept at the expence of
government to repair the arms of the Indians when they happen to break,
which is very commonly the case.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
An Indian child, soon after it is born, is swathed with cloths or skins,
and being then laid on its back, is bound down on a piece of thick
board, spread over with soft moss. The board is left somewhat longer and
broader than the child, and bent pieces of wood, like pieces of hoops,
are placed over its face to protect it, so that if the machine were
suffered to fall the child would not probably be injured. The women,
when they go abroad, carry their children thus tied down on their backs,
the board being suspended by a broad band, which they wear round their
foreheads. When they have any business to transact at home, they hang
the board on a tree, if there be one at hand, and set them a swinging
from side to side, like a pendulum, in order to exercise the children;
sometimes also, I observed, they unloosened the children from the
boards, and putting them each into a sort of little hammock, fastened
them between two trees, and there suffered them to swing about. As soon
as they are strong enough to crawl about on their hands and feet they
are liberated from all confinement, and suffered, like young puppies, to
run about, stark naked, into water, into mud, into snow, and, in short,
to go wheresoever their choice leads them; hence they derive that vigour
of constitution which enables them to support the greatest fatigue, and
that indifference to the changes of the weather which they possess in
common with the brute creation. The girls are covered with a loose
garment as soon as they have attained four or five years of age, but the
boys go naked till they are considerably older.
The Indians, as I have already remarked, are for the most part very
slightly made, and from a survey of their persons one would imagine that
they were much better qualified for any pursuits that required great
agility than great bodily strength. This has been the general opinion of
most of those who have written on this subject. I am induced, however,
from what I have myself been witness to, and from what I have collected
from others, to think that the Indians are much more remarkable for
their muscular strength than for their agility. At different military
posts on the frontiers, where this subject has been agitated, races, for
the sake of experiment, have frequently been made between soldiers and
Indians, and provided the distance was not great, the Indians have
almost always been beaten; but in a long race, where strength of muscle
was required, they have without exception been victorious; in leaping
also the Indians have been infallibly beaten by such of the soldiers as
possessed common activity: but the strength of the Indians is most
conspicuous in the carrying of burthens on their backs; they esteem it
nothing to walk thirty miles a day for several days together under a
load of eight stone, and they will walk an entire day under a load
without taking any refreshment. In carrying burdens they make use of a
sort of frame, somewhat similar to what is commonly used by a glazier to
carry glass; this is fastened by cords, or strips of tough bark or
leather, round their shoulders, and when the load is fixed upon the
broad ledge at the bottom of the frame, two bands are thrown round the
whole, one of which is brought across the forehead, and the other across
the breast, and thus the load is supported. The length of way an Indian
will travel in the course of the day, when unencumbered with a load, is
astonishing. A young Wyandot, who, when peace was about to be made
between the Indians and General Wayne, was employed to carry a message
from his nation to the American officer, travelled but little short of
eighty miles on foot in one day; and I was informed by one of the
general’s aids-de-camp, who saw him when he arrived at the camp, that he
did not appear in the least degree fatigued.
[Sidenote: MEMORY OF THE INDIANS.]
Le P. Charlevoix observes, that the Indians seem to him to possess many
personal advantages over us; their senses, in particular, he thinks much
finer than ours; their sight is, indeed, quick and penetrating, and it
does not fail them till they are far advanced in years, notwithstanding
that their eyes are exposed so many months each winter to the dazzling
whiteness of the snow, and to the sharp irritating smoke of wood fires.
Disorders in the eyes are almost wholly unknown to them; nor is the
slightest blemish ever seen in their eyes, excepting it be a result from
some accident. Their hearing is very acute, and their sense of smelling
so nice, that they can tell when they are approaching a fire long before
it is in sight.
The Indians have most retentive memories; they will preserve to their
deaths a recollection of any place they have once passed through; they
never forget a face that they have attentively observed but for a few
seconds; at the end of many years they will repeat every sentence of the
speeches that have been delivered by different individuals in a public
assembly; and has any speech been made in the council house of the
nation, particularly deserving of remembrance, it will be handed down
with the utmost accuracy from one generation to another, though
perfectly ignorant of the use of hieroglyphicks and letters; the only
memorials of which they avail themselves are small pieces of wood, such
as I told you were brought by them to Captain E——, preparatory to the
delivery of the presents, and belts of wampum; the former are only used
on trifling occasions, the latter never but on very grand and solemn
ones. Whenever a conference, or a talk as they term it, is about to be
held with any neighbouring tribe, or whenever any treaty or national
compact is about to be made, one of these belts, differing in some
respect from every other that has been made before, is immediately
constructed; each person in the assembly holds this belt in his band
whilst he delivers his speech, and when he has ended, he presents it to
the next person that rises, by which ceremony each individual is
reminded, that it behoves him to be cautious in his discourse, as all he
says will be faithfully recorded by the belt. The talk being over, the
belt is deposited in the hands of the principal chief.
On the ratification of a treaty, very broad splendid belts are
reciprocally given by the contracting parties, which are deposited
amongst the other belts belonging to the nation. At stated intervals
they are all produced to the nation, and the occasions upon which they
were made are mentioned; if they relate to a talk, one of the chiefs
repeats the substance of what was said over them; if to a treaty, the
terms of it are recapitulated. Certain of the squaws, also, are
entrusted with the belts, whose business it is to relate the history of
each one of them to the younger branches of the tribe; this they do with
great accuracy, and thus it is that the remembrance of every important
transaction is kept up.
[Sidenote: WAMPUM.]
The wampum is formed of the inside of the clam shell, a large sea shell
bearing some similitude to that of a scallop, which is found on the
coasts of New England and Virginia. The shell is sent in its original
rough state to England, and there cut into small pieces, exactly similar
in shape and size to the modern glass bugles worn by ladies, which
little bits of shell constitute wampum. There are two sorts of wampum,
the white and the purple; the latter is most esteemed by the Indians,
who think a pound weight of it equally valuable with a pound of silver.
The wampum is strung upon bits of leather, and the belt is composed of
ten, twelve, or more strings, according to the importance of the
occasion on which it is made; sometimes also the wampum is sowed in
different patterns on broad belts of leather.
The use of wampum appears to be very general amongst the Indian nations,
but how it became so, is a question that would require discussion, for
it is well known that they are a people obstinately attached to old
customs, and that would not therefore be apt to adopt, on the most grand
and solemn occasion, the use of an article that they had never seen
until brought to them by strangers; at the same time it seems wholly
impossible that they should ever have been able to have made wampum from
the clam shell for themselves; they fashion the bowls of tobacco pipes,
indeed, from stone, in a very curious manner, and with astonishing
accuracy, considering that they use no other instrument than a common
knife, but then the stone which they commonly carve thus is of a very
soft kind; the clam shell, however, is exceedingly hard, and to bore and
cut it into such small pieces as are necessary to form wampum, very fine
tools would be wanting. Probably they made some use of the clam shell,
and endeavoured to reduce it to as small bits as they could with their
rude instruments before we came amongst them, but on finding that we
could cut it so much more neatly than they could, laid aside the wampum
before in use for that of our manufacture. Mr. Carver tells us, that he
found sea shells very generally worn by the Indians who resided in the
most interior parts of the continent, who never could have visited a sea
shore themselves, and could only have procured them at the expence of
much trouble from other nations.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The Indians are exceedingly sagacious and observant, and by dint of
minute attention, acquire many qualifications to which we are wholly
strangers. They will traverse a trackless forest, hundreds of miles in
extent, without deviating from the straight course, and will reach to a
certainty the spot whither they intended to go on setting out: with
equal skill they will cross one of the large lakes, and though out of
sight of the shores for days, will to a certainty make the land at once,
at the very place they desired. Some of the French missionaries have
supposed that the Indians are guided by instinct, and have pretended
that Indian children can find their way through a forest as easily as a
person of maturer years; but this is a most absurd notion. It is
unquestionably by a close attention to the growth of the trees, and
position of the sun, that they find their way. On the northern side of a
tree, there is generally the most moss, and the bark on that side in
general differs from that on the opposite one. The branches towards the
south are for the most part more luxuriant than those on the other sides
of trees, and several other distinctions also subsist between the
northern and southern sides, conspicuous to Indians, who are taught from
their infancy to attend to them, which a common observer would perhaps
never notice. Being accustomed from their childhood, likewise, to pay
great attention to the position of the sun, they learn to make the most
accurate allowance for its apparent motion from one part of the heavens
to another, and in any part of the day they will point to the part of
the heavens where it is, although the sky be obscured by clouds or
mists.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
An instance of their dexterity in finding their way through an unknown
country came under my observation when I was at Staunton, situated
behind the Blue Mountains, Virginia. A number of the Creek nation had
arrived at that town in their way to Philadelphia, whither they were
going upon some affairs of importance, and had stopped there for the
night. In the morning some circumstance or another, what could not be
learned, induced one half of the Indians to set off without their
companions, who did not follow until some hours afterwards. When these
last were ready to pursue their journey, several of the towns-people
mounted their horses to escort them part of the way. They proceeded
along the high road for some miles, but all at once, hastily turning
aside into the woods, though there was no path, the Indians advanced
confidently forward; the people who accompanied them, surprised at this
movement, informed them that they were quitting the road to
Philadelphia, and expressed their fears lest they should miss their
companions, who had gone on before. They answered, that they knew
better; that the way through the woods was the shortest to Philadelphia;
and that they knew very well that their companions had entered the woods
at the very place they did. Curiosity led some of the horsemen to go on,
and to their astonishment, for there was apparently no track, they
overtook the other Indians in the thickest part of the wood; but what
appeared most singular was, that the route which they took was found, on
examining a map, to be as direct for Philadelphia as if they had taken
the bearings by a mariner’s compass. From others of their nation, who
had been at Philadelphia at a former period, they had probably learned
the exact direction of that city from their village, and had never lost
sight of it, although they had already travelled three hundred miles
through woods, and had upwards of four hundred miles more to go before
they could reach the place of their destination.
Of the exactness with which they can find out a strange place that they
have been once directed to by their own people, a striking example is
furnished us, I think, by Mr. Jefferson, in his account of the Indian
graves in Virginia. These graves are nothing more than large mounds of
earth in the woods, which, on being opened, are found to contain
skeletons in an erect posture: the Indian mode of sepulture has been too
often described to remain unknown to you. But to come to my story. A
party of Indians that were passing on to some of the sea-ports on the
Atlantic, just as the Creeks above mentioned were going to Philadelphia,
were observed, all on a sudden, to quit the straight road by which they
were proceeding, and without asking any questions, to strike through the
woods in a direct line to one of these graves, which lay at the distance
of some miles from the road. Now very near a century must have passed
over since the part of Virginia, in which this grave was situated, had
been inhabited by Indians; and these Indian travellers, who went to
visit it by themselves, had, unquestionably, never been in that part of
the country before; they must have found their way to it simply from the
description of its situation that had been handed down to them by
tradition.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
The Indians, for the most part, are admirably well acquainted with the
geography of their own country. Ask them any questions relative to the
situation of a particular place in it, and if there be a convenient spot
at hand, they will, with the utmost facility, trace upon the ground with
a stick a map, by no means inaccurate, of the place in question, and the
surrounding country; they will point out the course of the rivers, and
by directing your attention to the sun, make you acquainted with the
different bearings. I happened once to be sitting in a house at the
western extremity of Lake Erie, whilst we were detained there by
contrary winds, and was employed in looking over a pocket map of the
state of New York, when a young Seneka warrior entered. His attention
was attracted by the sight of the map, and he seemed at once to
comprehend the meaning of it; but never having before seen a general map
of the state of New York, and being wholly ignorant of the use of
letters, he could not discover to what part of the country it had a
reference; simply, however, by laying my finger upon the spot where we
then were, and by shewing to him the line that denoted Buffalo Creek, on
which his village was situated, I gave him the clue to the whole, and
having done so, he quickly ran over the map, and with the utmost
accuracy pointed out by name, every lake and river for upwards of two
hundred miles distant from his village. All the lakes and rivers in this
part of the country still retain the Indian names, so that had he named
them wrong, I could have at once detected him. His pleasure was so great
on beholding such a perfect map of the country, that he could not
refrain from calling some of his companions, who were loitering at the
door, to come and look at it. They made signs to me to lend it to them;
I did so, and having laid it on a table, they sat over it for more than
half an hour, during which time I observed they frequently testified
their pleasure to one another on finding particular places accurately
laid down, which they had been acquainted with. The older men also
seemed to have many stories to tell the others, probably respecting the
adventures they had met with at distant parts of the country, and which
they were now glad of having an opportunity of elucidating by the map
before them.
Whenever a track of ground is about to be purchased by government from
the Indians, for no private individuals can purchase lands from them by
the laws of the province, a map of the country is drawn, and the part
about to be contracted for, is particularly marked out. If there be any
mistakes in these maps, the Indians will at once point them out; and
after the bargain is made, they will, from the maps, mark out the
boundaries of the lands they have ceded with the greatest accuracy,
notching the trees, if there be any, along the boundary line, and if
not, placing stakes or stones in the ground to denote where it runs. On
these occasions regular deeds of sale are drawn, with accurate maps of
the lands which have been purchased attached to them, and these deeds
are signed in form by the contracting parties. I saw several of them in
possession of our friend Captain E——, which were extremely curious on
account of the Indian signatures. The Indians, for the most part, take
upon them the name of some animal, as, The Blue Snake; The Little
Turkey; The Big Bear; The Mad Dog, &c. and their signatures consist of
the outline, drawn with a pen, of the different animals whose names they
bear. Some of the signatures at the bottom of these deeds were really
well executed, and were lively representations of the animals they were
intended for.
[Sidenote: INGENUITY OF THE INDIANS.]
The Indians in general possess no small share of ingenuity. Their
domestic wooden utensils, bows and arrows, and other weapons, &c. are
made with the utmost neatness; and indeed the workmanship of them is
frequently such as to excite astonishment, when it is considered that a
knife and a hatchet are the only instruments they make use of. On the
handles of their tomahawks, on their powder horns, on the bowls of their
pipes, &c. you oftentimes meet with figures extremely well designed, and
with specimens of carving far from contemptible. The embroidery upon
their moccasins and other garments shews that the females are not less
ingenious in their way than the men. Their porcupine quill work would
command admiration in any country in Europe. The soft young quills of
the porcupine are those which they use, and they dye them of the most
beautiful and brilliant colours imaginable. Some of their dyes have been
discovered, but many of them yet remain unknown, as do also many of the
medicines with which they perform sometimes most miraculous cures. Their
dyes and medicines are all procured from the vegetable world.
But though the Indians prove by their performances, that they have some
relish for the works of art, yet they are by no means ready to bestow
commendations on every thing curious for its workmanship that is shewn
to them. Trinkets or ornaments for dress, though ever so gaudy, or ever
so neatly manufactured, they despise, unless somewhat similar in their
kind to what they themselves are accustomed to wear, and fashioned
exactly to their own taste, which has remained nearly the same since
Europeans first came amongst them; nor will they praise any curious or
wonderful piece of mechanism, unless they can see that it is intended to
answer some useful purpose. Nothing that I could shew them attracted
their attention, I observed, so much as a light double-barrelled gun,
which I commonly carried in my hand when walking about their
encampments. This was something in their own way; they at once perceived
the benefit that must accrue to the sportsman from having two barrels on
the one stock, and the contrivance pleased them; well acquainted also
with the qualities of good locks, and the advantages attending them,
they expressed great satisfaction at finding those upon my piece so
superior to what they perhaps had before seen.
It is not every new scene either, which to them, one would imagine,
could not fail to appear wonderful, that will excite their admiration.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
A French writer, I forget who, tells us of some Iroquois Indians that
walked through several of the finest streets of Paris, but without
expressing the least pleasure at any thing they saw, until they at last
came to a cook’s shop; this called forth their warmest praise; a shop
where a man was always sure of getting something to satisfy his hunger,
without the trouble and fatigue of hunting and fishing, was in their
opinion one of the most admirable institutions possible: had they been
told, however, that they must have paid for what they eat, they would
have expressed equal indignation perhaps at what they saw. In their own
villages they have no idea of refusing food to any person that enters
their habitation in quality of a friend.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The Indians, whom curiosity or business leads to Philadelphia, or to any
other of the large towns in the States, find, in general, as little
deserving of notice in the streets and houses there as these Iroquois at
Paris; and there is not one of them but what would prefer his own wigwam
to the most splendid habitations they see in any of these places. The
shipping, however, at Philadelphia and the other sea-ports, seldom fails
to excite their admiration, because they at once see the utility and
advantage of large vessels over canoes, which are the only vessels they
have. The young Wyandot, whom I before mentioned, as having made such a
wonderful day’s journey on foot, happened to be at Philadelphia when I
was there, and he appeared highly delighted with the river, and the
great number of ships of all sizes upon it; but the tide attracted his
attention more than any thing else whatsoever. On coming to the river
the first day, he looked up at the sun, and made certain observations
upon the course of the stream, and general situation of the place, as
the Indians never fail to do on coming to any new or remarkable spot.
The second time, however, he went down to the water, he found to his
surprise that the river was running with equal rapidity in a contrary
direction to what he had seen it run the day before. For a moment he
imagined that by some mistake he must have got to the opposite side of
it; but soon recollecting himself, and being persuaded that he stood on
the very same spot from whence he had viewed it the day before, his
astonishment became great indeed. To obtain information upon such an
interesting point, he immediately sought out an aid-de-camp of General
Wayne, who had brought him to town. This gentleman, however, only
rendered the appearance still more mysterious to him, by telling him,
that the great spirit, for the convenience of the white men, who were
his particular favourites, had made the rivers in their country to run
two ways; but the poor Wyandot was satisfied with the answer, and
replied, “Ah, my friend, if the great spirit would make the Ohio to run
two ways for us, we should very often pay you a visit at
Pittsburgh[16].” During his stay at Philadelphia he never failed to
visit the river every day.
Footnote 16:
A town situated at the very head of the Ohio.
Amongst the public exhibitions at Philadelphia, the performances of the
horse riders and tumblers at the amphitheatre appear to afford them the
greatest pleasure; they entertain the highest opinion of these people
who are so distinguished for their feats of activity, and rank them
amongst the ablest men in the nation. Nothing, indeed, gives more
delight to the Indians than to see a man that excels in any bodily
exercise; and tell them even of a person that is distinguished for his
great strength, for his swiftness in running, for his dexterous
management of the bow or the gun, for his cunning in hunting, for his
intrepid and firm conduct in war, or the like, they will listen to you
with the greatest pleasure, and readily join in praises of the hero.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The Indians appear, on the first view, to be of a very cold and
phlegmatic disposition, and you must know them for some time before you
can be persuaded to the contrary. If you shew them any artificial
production which pleases them, they simply tell you, with seeming
indifference, “that it is pretty;” “that they like to look at it;” “that
it is a clever invention:” nor do they testify their satisfaction and
pleasure by emotions seemingly much warmer in their nature, on beholding
any new or surprising spectacle, or on hearing any happy piece of
intelligence. The performances at the amphitheatre at Philadelphia,
though unquestionably highly interesting to them, never drew forth from
them, I observed, more than a smile or a gentle laugh, followed by a
remark in a low voice to their friend sitting next to them. With equal
indifference do they behold any thing terrible, or listen to the
accounts of any dreadful catastrophe that has befallen their families or
their nation. This apathy, however, is only assumed, and certainly does
not proceed from a real want of feeling: no people on earth are more
alive to the calls of friendship; no people have a greater affection for
their offspring in their tender years; no people are more sensible of an
injury: a word in the slighted degree insulting will kindle a flame in
their breasts, that can only be extinguished by the blood of the
offending party; and they will traverse forests for hundreds of miles,
exposed to the inclemency of the severest weather, and to the pangs of
hunger, to gratify their revenge; they will not cease for years daily to
visit, and silently to mourn over the grave of a departed child; and
they will risk their lives, and sacrifice every thing they possess, to
assist a friend in distress; but at the same time, in their opinion, no
man can be esteemed a good warrior or a dignified character that openly
betrays any extravagant emotions of surprise, of joy, of sorrow, or of
fear, on any occasion whatsoever. The excellence of appearing thus
indifferent to what would excite the strongest emotions in the minds of
any other people, is forcibly inculcated on them from their earliest
youth; and such an astonishing command do they acquire over themselves,
that even at the stake, when suffering the severest tortures that can be
inflicted on the human body by the flames and the knife, they appear
unmoved, and laugh, as it is well known, at their tormentors.
This affected apathy on the part of the Indians makes them appear
uncommonly grave and reserved in the presence of strangers; in their own
private circles, however, they frequently keep up gay and sprightly
conversations; and they are possessed, it is said, of a lively and ready
turn of wit. When at such a place as Philadelphia, notwithstanding their
appearing so indifferent to every thing before them whilst strangers are
present, yet, after having retired by themselves to an apartment for the
night, they will frequently lit up for hours together, laughing and
talking of what they have seen in the course of the day. I have been
told by persons acquainted with their language, that have overheard
their discourse on such occasions, that their remarks are most
pertinent, and that they sometimes turn what has passed before them into
such ludicrous points of view, that it is scarcely possible to refrain
from laughter.
But though the Indians, in general, appear so reserved in the presence
of strangers, yet the firmness of their dispositions forbids them from
ever appearing embarrassed, and they would sit down to table in a
palace, before the first crowned head on the face of the earth, with as
much unconcern as they would sit down to a frugal meal in one of their
own cabins. They deem it highly becoming in a warrior, to accommodate
his manners to those of the people with whom he may happen to be, and as
they are wonderfully observant, you will seldom perceive any thing of
awkwardness or vulgarity in their behaviour in the company of strangers.
I have seen an Indian, that had lived in the woods from his infancy,
enter a drawing room in Philadelphia, full of ladies, with as much ease
and as much gentility as if he had always lived in the city, and merely
from having been told, preparatory to his entering, the form usually
observed on such occasions. But the following anecdote will put this
matter in a stronger point of view.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
Our friend Nekig, the Little Otter, had been invited to dine with us at
the house of a gentleman at Detroit, and he came accordingly,
accompanied by his son, a little boy of about nine or ten years of age.
After dinner a variety of fruits were served up, and amongst the rest
some peaches, a dish of which was handed to the young Indian. He helped
himself to one with becoming propriety; but immediately afterwards he
put the fruit to his mouth, and bit a piece out of it. The father eyed
him with indignation, and spoke some words to him in a low voice, which
I could not understand, but which, on being interpreted by one of the
company, proved to be a warm reprimand for his having been so deficient
in observation as not to peel his peach, as he saw the gentleman
opposite to him had done. The little fellow was extremely ashamed of
himself; but he quickly retrieved his error, by drawing a plate towards
him, and pealing the fruit with the greatest neatness.
Some port wine, which he was afterwards helped to, not being by any
means agreeable to his palate, the little fellow made a wry face, as a
child might naturally do, after drinking it. This called forth another
reprimand from the father, who told him, that he despaired of ever
seeing him a great man or a good warrior if he appeared then to dislike
what his host had kindly helped him to. The boy drank the rest of his
wine with seeming pleasure.
The Indians scarcely ever lift their hands against their children; but
if they are unmindful of what is said to them, they sometimes throw a
little water in their faces, a species of reprimand of which the
children have the greatest dread, and which produces an instantaneous
good effect. One of the French missionaries tells us of his having seen
a girl of an advanced age so vexed at having some water thrown in her
face by her mother, as if she was still a child, that she instantly
retired, and put an end to her existence. As long as they remain
children, the young Indians are attentive in the extreme to the advice
of their parents; but arrived at the age of puberty, and able to provide
for themselves, they no longer have any respect for them, and they will
follow their own will and pleasure in spite of all their remonstrances,
unless, indeed, their parents be of an advanced age. Old age never fails
to command their most profound veneration.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
No people are possessed of a greater share of natural politeness than
the Indians: they will never interrupt you whilst you are speaking; nor,
if you have told them any thing which they think to be false, will they
bluntly contradict you; “We dare say brother,” they will answer, “that
you yourself believe what you tell us to be true; but it appears to us
so improbable that we cannot give our assent to it.”
In their conduct towards one another nought but gentleness and harmony
is observable. You are never witness, amongst them, to such noisy broils
and clamorous contentions as are common amongst the lower classes of
people in Europe; nor do you perceive amongst them any traces of the
coarse vulgar manners of these latter people; they behave on all
occasions like gentlemen, and could not so many glaring proofs be
adduced to the contrary, you never could imagine that they were that
ferocious savage people in war which they are said to be. It must be
understood, however, that I only speak now of the Indians in their sober
state; when intoxicated with spirits, which is but too often the case, a
very different picture is presented to our view, and they appear more
like devils incarnate than human beings; they roar, they fight, they cut
each other, and commit every sort of outrage; indeed so sensible are
they of their own infirmities in this state, that when a number of them
are about to get drunk, they give up their knives and tomahawks, &c. to
one of the party, who is on honour to remain sober, and to prevent
mischief, and who generally does behave according to this promise. If
they happen to get drunk without having taken this precaution, their
squaws take the earliest opportunity to deprive them of their weapons.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The Indians prefer whiskey and rum to all other spirituous liquors; but
they do not seem eager to obtain these liquors so much for the pleasure
of gratifying their palates as for the sake of intoxication. There is
not one in a hundred that can refrain from drinking to excess if he have
it in his power; and the generality of them having once got a taste of
any intoxicating liquor, will use every means to gain more; and to do so
they at once become mean, servile, deceitful, and depraved, in every
sense of the word. Nothing can make amends to these unfortunate people
for the introduction of spirituous liquors amongst them. Before their
acquaintance with them, they were distinguished beyond all other nations
for their temperance in eating and drinking; for their temperance in
eating, indeed, they are still remarkable; they esteem it indecorous in
the highest degree even to appear hungry; and on arriving at their
villages, after having fasted, perhaps, for several days preceding, they
will sit down quietly, and not ask for any food for a considerable time;
and having got wherewith to satisfy their appetite, they will eat with
moderation, as though the calls of hunger were not more pressing than if
they had feasted the hour before. They never eat on any occasion in a
hurry.
The Indians are by nature of a very hospitable generous disposition,
where no particular circumstances operate to the contrary; and, indeed,
even when revenge would fain persuade them to behave differently, yet
having once professed a friendship for a stranger, and pledged
themselves for his safety, nothing can induce them to deviate from their
word. Of their generosity I had numberless proofs in the presents which
they gave me; and though it must be allowed, that when they make
presents they generally expect others in return, yet I am convinced,
from the manner in which they presented different trifles to me, that it
was not with an expectation of gaining more valuable presents in return
that they gave them to me, but merely through friendship. It is
notorious, that towards one another they are liberal in the extreme, and
for ever ready to supply the deficiencies of their neighbours with any
superfluities of their own. They have no idea of amassing wealth for
themselves individually; and they wonder that persons can be found in
any society, so destitute of every generous sentiment, as to enrich
themselves at the expence of others, and to live in ease and affluence,
regardless of the misery and wretchedness of members of the same
community to which they themselves belong. Their dresses, domestic
utensils, and weapons, are the only articles of property to which they
lay an exclusive claim; everything else is the common property of the
tribe, in promoting the general welfare in which every individual feels
himself deeply interested. The chiefs are actuated by the same laudable
spirit, and instead of being the richest, are, in many instances, the
poorest persons in the community; for whilst others have leisure to
hunt, &c. it frequently happens that the whole of their time is occupied
in settling the public affairs of the nation.
[Sidenote: REMARKS.]
The generality of the Indian nations appear to have two sorts of chiefs;
council chiefs, and war chiefs. The former are hereditary, and are
employed principally in the management of their civil affairs; but they
may be war chiefs at the same time: the latter are chosen from amongst
those who have distinguished themselves the most in battle, and are
solely employed in leading the warriors in the field. The chiefs have no
power of enforcing obedience to their commands, nor do they ever attempt
to give their orders in an imperious manner; they simply advise. Each
private individual conceives that he is born in a state of perfect
liberty, and he disdains all controul, but that which his own reason
subjects him to. As they all have one interest, however, at heart, which
is the general welfare of the nation, and as it is well known that the
chiefs are actuated by no other motives, whatever measures they
recommend are generally attended to, and at once adopted. Savages as
they are, yet in no civilized community, I fear, on earth, shall we find
the same public spirit, the same disinterestedness, and the same regard
to order, where order is not enforced by the severity of laws, as
amongst the Indians.
The Indians have the most sovereign contempt for any set of people that
have tamely relinquished their liberty; and they consider such as have
lost it, even after a hard struggle, as unworthy any rank in society
above that of old women: to this cause, and not to the difference that
subsists between their persons, is to be attributed, I conceive, the
rooted aversion which the Indians universally have for negroes. You
could not possibly affront an Indian more readily, than by telling him
that you think he bears some resemblance to a negro; or that he has
negro blood in his veins: they look upon them as animals inferior to the
human species, and will kill them with as much unconcern as a dog or a
cat.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTES.]
An American officer, who, during the war with Great Britain, had been
sent to one of the Indian nations resident on the western frontier of
the States, to persuade them to remain neuter in the contest, informed
me, that whilst he remained amongst them some agents arrived in their
village to negociate, if possible, for the release of some negro slaves
whom they had carried off from the American settlements. One of these
negroes, a remarkably tall handsome fellow, had been given to an Indian
woman of some consequence in the nation, in the manner in which
prisoners are usually disposed of amongst them. Application was made to
her for his ransom. She listened quietly to what was said; resolved at
the same time, however, that the fellow should not have his liberty, she
stepped aside into her cabin, and having brought out a large knife,
walked up to her slave, and without more ado plunged it into his bowels:
“Now,” says she, addressing herself coolly to the agents; “now I give
you leave to take away your negro.” The poor creature that had been
stabbed fell to the ground, and lay writhing about in the greatest
agonies, until one of the warriors took compassion on him, and put an
end to his misery by a blow of a tomahawk.
At Detroit, Niagara, and some other places in Upper Canada, a few
negroes are still held in bondage. Two of these hapless people
contrived, while we remained at Malden, to make their escape from
Detroit, by stealing a boat, and proceeding in the night down the river.
As the wind would not permit them to cross the lake, it was conjectured
that they would be induced to coast along the shore until they reached a
place of safety; in hopes, therefore, of being able to recover them, the
proprietor came down to Malden, and there procured two trusty Indians to
go in quest of them. The Indians, having received a description of their
persons, set out; but had scarcely proceeded an hundred yards, when one
of them, who could speak a few words of English, returned, to ask the
proprietor if he would give him permission to scalp the negroes if they
were at all refractory, or refused coming. His request was peremptorily
refused, for it was well known that, had it been granted, he would have
at once killed them to avoid the trouble of bringing them back. “Well,”
says he, “if you will not let me scalp both, you won’t be angry with me,
I hope, if I scalp one.” He was told in answer, that he must bring them
both back alive. This circumstance appeared to mortify him extremely,
and he was beginning to hesitate about going, when, sorry am I to say,
the proprietor, fearful lest the fellows should escape from him, gave
his assent to the Indian’s request, but at the same time he begged that
he would not destroy them if he could possibly avoid it. What the result
was I never learned; but from the apparent satisfaction with which the
Indian set out after he had obtained his dreadful permission, there was
every reason to imagine that one of the negroes at least would be
sacrificed.
[Sidenote: JOSEPH BRANDT.]
This indifference in the mind of the Indians about taking away the life
of a fellow creature, makes them appear, it must be confessed, in a very
unamiable point of view. I fear also, that in the opinion of many
people, all the good qualities which they possess, would but ill atone
for their revengeful disposition, and for the cruelties which, it is
well known, they sometimes inflict upon the prisoners who have fallen
into their power in battle. Great pains have been taken, both by the
French and English missionaries, to represent to them the infamy of
torturing their prisoners; nor have these pains been bestowed in vain;
for though in some recent instances it has appeared that they still
retain a fondness for this horrid practice, yet I will venture, from
what I have heard, to assert, that of late years not one prisoner has
been put to the torture, where twenty would have been a hundred years
ago. Of the prisoners that fell into their hands on St. Clair’s defeat,
I could not learn, although I made strict enquiries on the subject, that
a single man had been fastened to the stake. As soon as the defeat was
known, rewards were held out by the British officers, and others that
had influence over them, to bring in their prisoners alive, and the
greater part of them were delivered up unhurt; but to irradicate wholly
from their breasts the spirit of revenge has been found impossible. You
will be enabled to form a tolerable idea of the little good effect which
education has over their minds in this respect, from the following
anecdotes of Captain Joseph Brandt, a war chief of the Mohawk nation.
This Brandt, at a very early age, was sent to a college in New England,
where, being possessed of a good capacity, he soon made very
considerable progress in the Greek and Latin languages. Uncommon pains
were taken to instil into his mind the truths of the gospel. He
professed himself to be a warm admirer of the principles of
christianity, and in hopes of being able to convert his nation on
returning to them, he absolutely translated the gospel of St. Matthew
into the Mohawk language; he also translated the established form of
prayer of the church of England. Before Brandt, however, had finished
his course of studies, the American war broke out, and fired with that
spirit of glory which seems to have been implanted by nature in the
breast of the Indian, he immediately quitted the college, repaired to
his native village, and shortly afterwards, with a considerable body of
his nation, joined some British troops under the command of Sir John
Johnston. Here he distinguished himself by his valour in many different
engagements, and was soon raised, not only to the rank of a war chief,
but also to that of a captain in his Majesty’s service.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
It was not long, however, before Brandt sullied his reputation in the
British army. A skirmish took place with a body of American troops; the
action was warm, and Brandt was shot by a musquet-ball in the heel; but
the Americans in the end were defeated, and an officer with about sixty
men taken prisoners. The officer, after having delivered up his sword,
had entered into conversation with Colonel Johnston, who commanded the
British troops, and they were talking together in the most friendly
manner, when Brandt, having stolen slily behind them, laid the American
officer lifeless on the ground with a blow of his tomahawk. The
indignation of Sir John Johnston, as may readily be supposed, was roused
by such an act of treachery, and he resented it in the warmest language.
Brandt listened to him unconcernedly, and when he had finished, told
him, that he was sorry what he had done had caused his displeasure, but
that indeed his heel was extremely painful at the moment, and he could
not help revenging himself on the only chief of the party that he saw
taken. Since he had killed the officer, his heel, he added, was much
less painful to him than it had been before.
When the war broke out, the Mohawks resided on the Mohawk River, in the
state of New York, but on peace being made, they emigrated into Upper
Canada, and their principal village is now situated on the Grand River,
which falls into Lake Erie on the north side, about sixty miles from the
town of Newark or Niagara; there Brandt at present resides. He has built
a comfortable habitation for himself, and any stranger that visits him
may rest assured of being well received, and of finding a plentiful
table well served every day. He has no less than thirty or forty
negroes, who attend to his horses, cultivate his grounds, &c. These poor
creatures are kept in the greatest subjection, and they dare not attempt
to make their escape, for he has assured them, that if they did so he
would follow them himself, though it were to the confines of Georgia,
and would tomahawk them wherever he met them. They know his disposition
too well not to think that he would adhere strictly to his word.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
Brandt receives from government half pay as a captain, besides annual
presents, &c. which in all amount, it is said, to £.500 per annum. We
had no small curiosity, as you may well imagine, to see this Brandt, and
we procured letters of introduction to him from the governor’s
secretary, and from different officers and gentlemen of his
acquaintance, with an intention of proceeding from Newark to his
village. Most unluckily, however, on the day before that of our reaching
the town of Newark or Niagara, he had embarked on board a vessel for
Kingston, at the opposite end of the lake. You may judge of Brandt’s
consequence, when I tell you, that a lawyer of Niagara, who crossed Lake
Ontario in the same vessel with us, from Kingston, where he had been
detained for some time by contrary winds, informed us, the day after our
arrival at Niagara, that by his not having reached that place in time to
transact some law business for Brandt, and which had consequently been
given to another person, he should be a loser of one hundred pounds at
least.
Brandt’s sagacity led him, early in life, to discover that the Indians
had been made the dupe of every foreign power that had got footing in
America; and, indeed, could he have had any doubts on the subject, they
would have been removed when he saw the British, after having demanded
and received the assistance of the Indians in the American war, so
ungenerously and unjustly yield up the whole of the Indian territories,
east of the Mississippi and south of the lakes, to the people of the
United States; to the very enemies, in short, they had made to
themselves at the request of the British. He perceived with regret that
the Indians, by espousing the quarrels of the whites, and by espousing
different interests, were weakening themselves; whereas, if they
remained aloof, and were guided by the one policy, they would soon
become formidable, and be treated with more respect; he formed the bold
scheme, therefore, of uniting the Indians together in one grand
confederacy, and for this purpose sent messengers to different chiefs,
proposing that a general meeting should be held of the heads of every
tribe, to take the subject into consideration; but certain of the
tribes, suspicious of Brandt’s designs, and fearful that he was bent
upon acquiring power for himself by this measure, opposed it with all
their might. Brandt has in consequence become extremely obnoxious to
many of the most warlike, and with such a jealous eye do they now regard
him, that it would not be perfectly safe for him to venture to the upper
country.
He has managed the affairs of his own people with great ability, and
leased out their superfluous lands for them, for long terms of years, by
which measure a certain annual revenue is ensured to the nation,
probably as long as it will remain a nation. He wisely judged, that it
was much better to do so than to suffer the Mohawks, as many other
tribes had done, to sell their possessions by piecemeal, the sums of
money they received for which, however great, would soon be dissipated
if paid to them at once.
[Sidenote: BRANDT.]
Whenever the affairs of his nation shall permit him to do so, Brandt
declares it to be his intention to sit down to the further study of the
Greek language, of which he professes himself to be a great admirer, and
to translate from the original, into the Mohawk language, more of the
New Testament; yet this same man, shortly before we arrived at Niagara,
killed his only son with his own hand. The son, it seems, was a drunken
good for nothing fellow, who had often avowed his intention of
destroying his father. One evening he absolutely entered the apartment
of his father, and had begun to grapple with him, perhaps with a view to
put his unnatural threats into execution, when Brandt drew a short
sword, and felled him to the ground. Brandt speaks of this affair with
regret, but at the same time without any of that emotion which another
person than an Indian might be supposed to feel. He consoles himself for
the act, by thinking that he has benefitted the nation, by ridding them
of a rascal.
Brandt wears his hair in the Indian style, and also the Indian dress;
instead of the wrapper, or blanket, he wears a short coat, such as I
have described, similar to a hunting frock.
Though infinite pains have been taken by the French Roman Catholics, and
other missionaries, to propagate the gospel amongst the Indians, and
though many different tribes have been induced thereby to submit to
baptism, yet it does not appear, except in very few instances, that any
material advantages have resulted from the introduction of the Christian
religion amongst them. They have learned to repeat certain forms of
prayer; they have learned to attend to certain outward ceremonies; but
they still continue to be swayed by the same violent passions as before,
and have imbibed nothing of the genuine spirit of christianity.
[Sidenote: MISSIONARIES.]
The Moravian missionaries have wrought a greater change in the minds of
the Indians than any others, and have succeeded so far as to induce some
of them to abandon their savage mode of life, to renounce war, and to
cultivate the earth. It is with the Munsies, a small tribe resident on
the east side of Lake St. Clair, that they have had the most success;
but the number that have been so converted is small indeed. The Roman
Catholics have the most adherents, as the outward forms and parade of
their religion are particularly calculated to strike the attention of
the Indians, and as but little restraint is laid on them by the
missionaries of that persuasion, in consequence of their profession of
the new faith. The Quakers, of all people, have had the least success
amongst them; the doctrine of non-resistance, which they set out with
preaching, but ill accords with the opinion of the Indian; and amongst
some tribes, where they have attempted to inculcate it, particularly
amongst the Shawnese, one of the most warlike tribes to the north of the
Ohio, they have been exposed to very imminent danger[17].
Footnote 17:
The great difficulty of converting the Indians to christianity does
not arise from their attachment to their own religion, where they have
any, so much as from certain habits which they seem to have imbibed
with the very milk of their mothers.
A French missionary relates, that he was once endeavouring to convert
an Indian, by describing to him the rewards that would attend the
good, and the dreadful punishment which must inevitably await the
wicked, in a future world, when the Indian, who had some time before
lost his dearest friend, suddenly interrupted him, by asking him,
whether he thought his departed friend was gone to heaven or to hell.
I sincerely trust, answered the missionary, that he is in heaven. Then
I will do as you bid me, added the Indian, and lead a sober life, for
I should like to go to the place where my friend is. Had he, on the
contrary, been told that his friend was in hell, all that the reverend
father could have said to him of fire and brimstone would have been of
little avail in persuading him to have led any other than the most
dissolute life, in hopes of meeting with his friend to sympathise with
him under his sufferings.
The Indians, who yet remain ignorant of divine revelation, seem almost
universally to believe in the exigence of one supreme, beneficent, all
wise, and all powerful spirit, and likewise in the existence of
subordinate spirits, both good and bad. The former, having the good of
mankind at heart, they think it needless to pay homage to them, and it
is only to the evil ones, of whom they have an innate dread, that they
pay their devotions, in order to avert their ill intentions. Some
distant tribes, it is said, have priests amongst them, but it does not
appear that they have any regular forms of worship. Each individual
repeats a prayer, or makes an offering to the evil spirit, when his fear
and apprehensions suggest the necessity of his so doing.
The belief of a future state, in which they are to enjoy the same
pleasures as they do in this world, but to be exempted from pain, and
from the trouble of procuring food, seems to be very general amongst
them. Some of the tribes have much less devotion than others; the
Shawnese, a warlike daring nation, have but very little fear of evil
spirits, and consequently have scarcely any religion amongst them. None
of this nation, that I could learn, have ever been converted to
Christianity.
[Sidenote: LANGUAGE.]
It is a very singular and remarkable circumstance, that notwithstanding
the striking similarity which we find in the persons, manners, customs,
dispositions, and religion of the different tribes of Indians from one
end of the continent of North America to the other, a similarity so
great as hardly to leave a doubt on the mind but that they must all have
had the same origin, the languages of the different tribes should yet be
so materially different. No two tribes speak exactly the same language;
and the languages of many of those, who live at no great distance
asunder, vary so much, that they cannot make themselves at all
understood to each other. I was informed that the Chippeway language was
by far the most general, and that a person intimately acquainted with it
would soon be able to acquire a tolerable knowledge of any other
language spoken between the Ohio and Lake Superior. Some persons, who
have made the Indian languages their study, assert, that all the
different languages spoken by those tribes, with which we have any
connection, are but dialects of three primitive tongues, viz. the Huron,
the Algonquin, and the Sioux; the two former of which, being well
understood, will enable a person to converse, at least slightly, with
the Indians of any tribe in Canada or the United States. All the nations
that speak a language derived from the Sioux, have, it is said, a
hissing pronunciation; those who speak one derived from the Huron, have
a guttural pronunciation; and such as speak any one derived from the
Algonquin, pronounce their words with greater softness and ease than any
of the others. Whether this be a just distinction or not I cannot
pretend to determine; I shall only observe, that all the Indian men I
ever met with, as well those whose language is said to be derived from
the Huron, as those whose language is derived from the Algonquin, appear
to me to have very few labial sounds in their language, and to pronounce
the words from the throat, but not so much from the upper as the lower
part of the throat towards the breast. A slight degree of hesitation is
observable in their speech, and they articulate seemingly with
difficulty, and in a manner somewhat similar to what a person, I should
suppose, would be apt to do if he had a great weight laid on his chest,
or had received a blow on his breast or back so violent as to affect his
breath. The women, on the contrary, speak with the utmost ease, and the
language, as pronounced by them, appears as soft as the Italian. They
have, without exception, the most delicate harmonious voices I ever
heard, and the most pleasing gentle laugh that it is possible to
conceive. I have oftentimes sat amongst a group of them for an hour or
two together, merely for the pleasure of listening to their
conversation, on account of its wonderful softness and delicacy.
The Indians, both men and women, speak with great deliberation, and
never appear to be at a loss for words to express their sentiments.
[Sidenote: INDIAN MUSIC.]
The native music of the Indians is very rude and indifferent, and
equally devoid of melody and variety. Their famous war song is nothing
better than an insipid recitative. Singing and dancing with them go hand
in hand; and when a large number of them, collected together, join in
the one song, the few wild notes of which it consists, mingled with the
sound of their pipes and drums, sometimes produce, when heard at a
distance, a pleasing effect on the ear; but it is then and then only
that their music is tolerable.
The first night of our arrival at Malden, just as we were retiring to
rest, near midnight, we were most agreeably entertained in this manner
with the sound of their music on the island of Bois Blanc. Eager to hear
more of it, and to be witness to their dancing, we procured a boat, and
immediately crossed the river to the spot where they were assembled.
Three elderly men, seated under a tree, were the principal musicians.
One of these beat a small drum, formed of a piece of a hollow tree
covered with a skin, and the two others marked time equally with the
drum, with rattles formed of dried squashes or gourds filled with pease.
At the same time these men sung, indeed they were the leaders of the
song, which the dancers joined in. The dancers consisted solely of a
party of squaws, to the number of twenty or thereabouts, who, standing
in a circle, with their faces inwards and their hands folded round each
other’s necks, moved, thus linked together, sideways, with close short
steps, round a small fire. The men and women never dance together,
unless indeed a pretty squaw be introduced by some young fellow into one
of the men’s dances, which is considered as a very great mark of favour.
This is of a piece with the general conduct of the Indians, who look
upon the women in a totally different light from what we do in Europe,
and condemn them as slaves to do all the drudgery. I have seen a young
chief with no less than three women attendant on him to run after his
arrows, when he was amusing himself with shooting squirrels; I have also
seen Indians, when moving for a few miles from one place to another,
mount their horses and canter away at their ease, whilst their women
were left not only to walk, but to carry very heavy loads on their backs
after them.
[Sidenote: INDIAN DANCES.]
After the women had danced for a time, a larger fire was kindled, and
the men assembled from different parts of the island, to the number of
fifty or sixty, to amuse themselves in their turn. There was little more
variety in their dancing than in that of the women. They first walked
round the fire in a large circle, closely, one after another, marking
time with short steps to the music; the best dancer was put at their
head, and gave the step; he was also the principal singer in the circle.
After having made one round, the step was altered to a wider one, and
they began to stamp with great vehemence upon the ground; and every
third or fourth round, making little leaps off the ground with both
feet, they turned their faces to the fire and bowed their heads, at the
same time going on sideways. At last, having made a dozen or two rounds,
towards the end of which each one of them had begun to stamp on the
ground with inconceivable fury, but more particularly the principal
dancer, they all gave a loud shout at once, and the dance ended.
In two or three minutes another dance was begun, which ended as soon,
and nearly in the same way as the other. There was but little difference
in the figures of any of them, and the only material difference in the
songs was, that in some of them the dancers, instead of singing the
whole of the air, came in simply with responses to the airs sung by the
old men. They beckoned to us to join them in their dance, which we
immediately did, as it was likely to please them, and we remained on the
island with them till two or three o’clock in the morning. There is
something inconceivably terrible in the sight of a number of Indians
dancing thus round a fire in the depths of thick woods, and the loud
shrieks at the end of every dance adds greatly to the horror which their
first appearance inspires.
Scarcely a night passed over but what there were dances, similar to
those I have described, on the island. They never think of dancing till
the night is considerably advanced, and they keep it up till day-break.
In the day time they lie sleeping in the sun, or sit smoking tobacco,
that is, when they have nothing particular to engage them. Though the
most diligent persevering people in the world when roused into action,
yet when at peace with their neighbours, and having got wherewith to
satisfy the calls of hunger, they are the most slothful and indolent
possible.
The dances mentioned are such as the Indians amuse themselves with in
common. On grand occasions they have a variety of others much more
interesting to a spectator. The dances which you see in common amongst
the Shawnese, and certain other tribes, are also, it is said, much more
entertaining than those I have described. There were several families of
the Shawnese encamped on the island of Bois Blanc when we were there;
but as there was not a sufficient number to form a dance by themselves,
we were never gratified with a sight of their performances.
[Sidenote: WAR DANCE.]
Of their grand dances the war dance must undoubtedly, from every account
I have received of it, for I never had any opportunity of seeing it
myself, be the one most worthy the attention of a stranger. It is
performed both on setting out and returning from their war parties, and
likewise at other times, but never except on some very particular and
solemn occasion. The chiefs and warriors who are about to join in this
dance dress and paint themselves as if actually out on a warlike
expedition, and they carry in their hands their warlike weapons. Being
assembled, they seat themselves down on their hams, in a circle, round a
great fire, near to which is placed a large post; after remaining a
short time in this position, one of the principal chiefs rises, and
placing himself in the center, begins to rehearse, in a sort of
recitative, all the gallant actions which he has ever performed; he
dwells particularly on the number of enemies he has killed, and
describes the manner in which he scalped them, making gestures all the
time, and brandishing his weapons, as if actually engaged in performing
the horrid operation. At the end of every remarkable story he strikes
his war club on the post with great fury. Every chief and warrior tells
of his deeds in turn. The song of one warrior often occupies several
hours, and the dance itself sometimes lasts for three or four entire
days and nights. During this period no one is allowed to sleep, a person
who stands at the outside of the circle being appointed (whose business
it is) to rouse any warrior that appears in the least drowsy. A deer, a
bear, or some other large animal is put to roast at the fire as soon as
the dance begins, and while it lasts each warrior rises at will to help
himself to a piece of it. After each person in the circle has in turn
told of his exploits, they all rise, and join in a dance truly
terrifying; they throw themselves into a variety of postures, and
leaping about in the most frantic manner, brandish their knives and
other weapons; at the same time they set up the war hoop, and utter the
most dreadful yells imaginable. In this manner the dance terminates.
[Sidenote: INDIAN FLUTE.]
The Indian flute or pipe is formed of a thick cane, similar to what is
found on the banks of the Mississippi, and in the southern parts of the
United States. It is about two feet or more in length, and has eight or
nine holes in it, in one row. It is held in the same manner as the oboe
or clarinet, and the sound is produced by means of a mouth piece not
unlike that of a common whistle. The tones of the instrument are by no
means unharmonious, and they would admit of a pleasing modulation, but I
never met with an Indian that was able to play a regular air upon it,
not even any one of the airs which they commonly sing, although I saw
several that were extremely fond of amusing themselves with the
instrument, and that would sit for hours together over the embers of
their cabin fires, playing over a few wild melancholy notes. Every
Indian that can bring a sound out of the instrument, and stop the holes,
which any one may do, thinks himself master of it; and the notes which
they commonly produce are as unconnected and unmeaning as those which a
child would bring forth from a halfpenny whistle.
In addition to what I have said on the subject of the Indians, I shall
only observe, that notwithstanding they are such a very friendly
hospitable people, yet few persons, who had ever tasted of the pleasures
and comforts of civilized life, would feel any inclination to reside
amongst them, on becoming acquainted with their manner of living. The
filthiness and wretchedness of their smoky habitations, the nauseousness
of their common food to a person not even of a delicate palate, and
their general uncleanliness, would be sufficient, I think, to deter any
one from going to live amongst them from choice, supposing even that no
other reasons operated against his doing so. For my own part, I had
fully determined in my own mind, when I first came to America, not to
leave the continent without spending a considerable time amongst them,
in the interior parts of the country, in order to have an opportunity of
observing their native manners and customs in their utmost purity; but
the samples I have seen of them during my stay in this part of the
country, although it has given me a most favourable opinion of the
Indians themselves, has induced me to relinquish my purpose. Content
therefore with what I have seen myself, and with what I have heard from
others, if chance should not bring me again into their way in
prosecuting my journey into the settled parts of the States, I shall
take no further pains to cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with
them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXVI.
_Departure from Malden.—Storm on Lake Erie.—Driven back amongst the
Islands.—Shipwreck narrowly avoided.—Voyage across the Lake.—Land at
Fort Erie.—Proceed to Buffalo Creek.—Engage Indians to go through the
Woods.—Set out on Foot.—Journey through the Woods.—Description of the
Country beyond Buffalo Creek.—Vast Plains.—Grand Appearance of the
Trees here.—Indian Dogs.—Arrival at the Settlements on Genesee
River.—First Settlers.—Their general Character.—Description of the
Country bordering on Genesee River.—Fevers common in Autumn.—Proceed
on Foot to Bath._
Bath, November.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE FROM MALDEN.]
TOWARDS the latter end of the month of October, the schooner in which we
had engaged a passage to Presqu’ Isle made her appearance before Malden,
where she was obliged to lay at anchor for three days, the wind not
being favourable for going farther down the river; at the end of that
time, however, it veered about, and we repaired on board, after having
taken a long farewel of our friend Captain E——, whose kindness to us had
been unbounded, and was doubly grateful, inasmuch as it was totally
unexpected by us young strangers, who had not the slighted acquaintance
with him previous to our coming into the country, and had not been
introduced to him even by letter.
The wind, though favourable, was very light on the morning of our
embarkation, but the current being strong we were soon carried down to
the lake. In the afternoon we passed the islands, which had the most
beautiful appearance imaginable. The rich woods with which the shores
were adorned, now tinged with the hues of autumn, afforded in their
decline a still more pleasing variety to the eye than when they were
clothed in their fulled verdure; and their gaudy colours, intermingled
with the shadows of the rocks, were seen fancifully reflected in the
unruffled surface of the surrounding lake. At day-break the next morning
we found ourselves entirely clear of the land; but instead of the azure
sky and gentle breezes which had favoured us the preceding day, we had
thick hazy weather, and every appearance in the heavens indicated that
before many hours were over we should have to contend with some of those
dangerous storms that are so frequent on Lake Erie. It was not long
indeed ere the winds began to blow, and the waves to rise in a
tremendous manner, and we soon became spectators of a number of those
confused and disgusting scenes which a gale of wind never fails to
occasion in a small vessel crowded with passengers. A number of old
French ladies, who were going to see their grandchildren in Lower
Canada, and who now for the first time in their lives found themselves
on the water, occupied the cabin. The hold of the vessel, boarded from
end to end, and divided simply by a sail suspended from one of the
beams, was filled on one side with steerage passengers, amongst which
were several women and children; and on the opposite one with passengers
who had paid cabin price, but were unable to get any better
accommodation, amongst which number was our party. Not including either
the old ladies in the cabin, or the steerage passengers, we sat down to
dinner each day twenty-six in number, which circumstance, when I inform
you that the vessel was only seventy tons burthen, will best enable you
to conceive how much we must have been crowded. The greater part of the
passengers, drooping under sea-sickness, begged for heaven’s sake that
the captain would put back; but bent upon performing his voyage with
expedition, which was a matter of the utmost consequence indeed, now
that the season was so far advanced, and there was a possibility that he
might be blocked up by the ice on his return, he was deaf to their
entreaties. What the earnest entreaties, however, of the passengers
could not effect, the storm soon compelled him to. It was found
absolutely necessary to seek for a place of shelter to avoid its fury;
and accordingly the helm having been ordered up, we made the best of our
way back again to the islands, in a bay between two of which we cast
anchor. This bay, situated between the Bass Islands, which are among the
largest in the cluster, is called, from its being so frequently resorted
to by vessels that meet with contrary winds in going down the lake,
Put-in-Bay, vulgarly termed by the sailors Pudding Bay.
[Sidenote: A STORM.]
Here we lay securely sheltered by the land until four o’clock the next
morning, when the watch upon deck gave the alarm that the vessel was
driving from her anchor, and going fast towards the shore. The captain
started up, and perceiving that the wind had shifted, and the land no
longer afforded any protection to the vessel, he immediately gave orders
to slip the cable, and hoist the jib, in order to wear the vessel round,
and thus get free, if possible, of the shore. In the hurry and confusion
of the moment, however, the mainsail was hoisted at the same time with
the jib, the vessel was put aback, and nothing could have saved her from
going at once on shore but the letting fall of another anchor
instantaneously. I can only account for this unfortunate mistake by
supposing that the men were not sufficiently roused from their slumbers,
on coming upon deck, to hear distinctly the word of command. Only one
man had been left to keep the watch, as it was thought that the vessel
was riding in perfect safety, and from the time that the alarm was first
given until the anchor was dropped scarcely four minutes elapsed.
The dawn of day only enabled us to see all the danger of our situation.
We were within one hundred yards of a rocky lee shore, and depending
upon one anchor, which, if the gale increased, the captain feared very
much would not hold. The day was wet and squally, and the appearance of
the sky gave us every reason to imagine that the weather, instead of
growing moderate, would become still more tempestuous than it either was
or had been; nevertheless, buoyed up by hope, and by a good share of
animal spirits, we eat our breakfasts regardless of the impending
danger, and afterwards sat down to a game of cards; but scarcely had we
played for one hour when the dismal cry was heard of, “All hands aloft,”
as the vessel was again drifting towards the shore. The day being very
cold, I had thrown a blanket over my shoulders, and had fastened it
round my waist with a girdle, in the Indian fashion; but being incapable
of managing it like an Indian, I stopped to disencumber myself of it
before I went on deck, so that, as it happened, I was the last man
below. The readiest way of going up was through the hatchway, and I had
just got my foot upon the ladder, in order to ascend, when the vessel
struck with great force upon the rocks. The women shrieking now flocked
round me, begging for God’s sake that I would stay by them; at the same
time my companions urged me from above to come up with all possible
speed. To my latest hour I shall never forget the emotions which I felt
at that moment; to have staid below would have been useless; I
endeavoured, therefore, to comfort the poor creatures that clung to me,
and then disengaging myself from them, forced my way upon deck, where I
was no sooner arrived than the hatches were instantly shut down upon the
wretched females, whose shrieks resounded through the vessel,
notwithstanding all the bustle of the seamen, and the tremendous roaring
of the breakers amongst the adjacent rocks.
Before two minutes had passed over, the vessel struck a second time, but
with a still greater shock; and at the end of a quarter of an hour,
during which period she had gradually approached nearer towards the
shore, she began to strike with the fall of every wave.
The general opinion now seemed to be in favour of cutting away the
masts, in order to lighten the vessel; and the axes were actually
upraised for that purpose, when one of my companions, who possessed a
considerable share of nautical knowledge from having been in the navy,
opposed the measure. It appeared to him, that as the pumps were still
free, and as the vessel had not yet made more water than could be easily
got under, the cutting away of the masts would only be to deprive
ourselves of the means of getting off the rock if the wind should veer
about; but he advised the captain to have the yards and topmasts cut
away. The masts were spared, and his advice was in every other respect
attended to. The wind unfortunately, however, still continued to blow
from the same point, and the only alteration observable in it was its
blowing with still greater force than ever.
[Sidenote: A STORM.]
As the storm increased, the waves began to roll with greater turbulence
than before; and with such impetuosity did they break over the bows of
the vessel, that it was with the very utmost difficulty that I, and half
a dozen more who had taken our station on the forecastle, could hold by
our hands fast enough to save ourselves from being carried overboard.
For upwards of four hours did we remain in this situation, expending
every instant that the vessel would go to pieces, and exposed every
three or four minutes to the shock of one of the tremendous breakers
which came rolling towards us. Many of the billows appeared to be half
as high as the foretop, and sometimes, when they burst over us, our
breath was nearly taken away by the violence of the shock. At last,
finding ourselves so benumbed with cold that it would be impossible for
us to make any exertions in the water to save ourselves if the vessel
was wrecked, we determined to go below, there to remain until we should
be again forced up by the waves.
Some of the passengers now began to write their wills on scraps of
paper, and to inclose them in what they imagined would be most likely to
preserve them from the water; others had begun to take from their trunks
what they deemed most valuable; and one unfortunate thoughtless man, who
was moving with his family from the upper country, we discovered in the
very act of loading himself with dollars from head to foot, so that had
he fallen into the water in the state we found him, he must inevitably
have been carried to the bottom.
Words can convey no idea of the wildness that reigned in the countenance
of almost every person as the night approached; and many, terrified with
the apprehensions of a nightly shipwreck, began to lament that the cable
had not been at once cut, so as to have let the vessel go on shore
whilst day-light remained: this indeed had been proposed a few hours
after the vessel began to strike; but it was over-ruled by the captain,
who very properly refused to adopt a measure tending to the immediate
and certain destruction of his vessel, whilst a possibility remained
that she might escape.
Till nine o’clock at night the vessel kept striking every minute, during
which time we were kept in a state of the most dreadful suspence about
our fate; but then happily the wind shifted one or two points in our
favour, which occasioned the vessel to roll instead of striking. At
midnight the gale grew somewhat more moderate; and at three in the
morning it was so far abated, that the men were enabled to haul on the
anchor, and in a short time to bring the vessel once more into deep
water, and out of all danger. Great was the joy, as may well be
imagined, which this circumstance diffused amongst the passengers; and
well pleased was each one, after the fatigue and anxiety of the
preceding day, to think he might securely lay himself down to rest.
The next morning the sun arose in all his majesty from behind one of the
distant islands. The azure sky was unobscured by a single cloud, the air
felt serenely mild, and the birds, as if equally delighted with man that
the storm was over, sweetly warbled forth their songs in the adjacent
woods; in short, had it not been for the disordered condition in which
we saw our vessel, and every thing belonging to us, the perils we had
gone through would have appeared like a dream.
[Sidenote: DAMAGE DONE THE SHIP.]
The first object of examination was the rudder. The tiller was broken to
atoms; and the sailors who went over the stern reported, that of the
four gudgeons or hooks on which the rudder was suspended, only one was
left entire, and that one was much bent. On being unshipped, the bottom
of it was found to be so much shivered that it actually resembled the
end of a broom. The keel, there was every reason to suppose, was in the
same shattered condition; nevertheless the vessel, to the great
astonishment of every person on board, did not make much water. Had she
been half as crazy as the King’s vessel in which we went up the lake,
nothing could have saved her from destruction.
A consultation was now held upon what was best to be done. To proceed on
the voyage appeared totally out of the question; and it only remained to
determine which way was the easiest and readiest to get back to Malden.
All was at a stand, when an officer in the American service proposed the
beating out of an iron crow bar, and the manufacturing of new gudgeons.
This was thought to be impracticable; but necessity, the mother of
invention, having set all our heads to work, an anvil was formed of a
number of axes laid upon a block of wood; a large fire was kindled, and
a party of us acting as smiths in turns, by the end of three hours
contrived to hammer out one very respectable gudgeon.
In the mean time others of the passengers were employed in making a new
tiller, and others undertook to fish for the cable and anchor that had
been slipped, whilst the sailors were kept busily employed at the
rigging. By nightfall the vessel was so far refitted that no
apprehensions were any longer entertained about our being able to reach
Malden in safety, and some began to think there would be no danger in
prosecuting the voyage down the lake. The captain said that his conduct
must be regulated entirely by the appearance of the weather on the
following day.
[Sidenote: MEET TWO YOUNG TRAVELLERS.]
Early the next morning, whilst we yet remained stretched in our births,
our party was much surprised at hearing the sound of strange voices upon
deck; but our surprise was still greater, when on a nearer approach we
recognized them to be the voices of two young friends of ours, who, like
ourselves, had crossed the Atlantic to make a tour of the continent of
North America, and whom, but a few days before we had quitted
Philadelphia, we had accompanied some miles from that city on their way
towards the south. They had travelled, it seemed, from Philadelphia to
Virginia, afterwards to Kentucky, and had found their way from the Ohio
to Detroit on horseback, after encountering numberless inconveniences.
There they had engaged a passage in a little sloop bound to Fort Erie,
the last vessel which was to quit that port during the present season.
They had embarked the preceding day, and in the night had run in to
Put-in-Bay, as the wind was not favourable for going down the lake. The
commander of the sloop offered to stay by our vessel, and to give her
every assistance in his power, if our captain chose to proceed down the
lake with him. The offer was gladly accepted, and it was agreed that the
two vessels should sail together as soon as the wind was favourable.
After having breakfasted, we proceeded with our young friends, in the
ship’s boat, to that part of the island off which we had been exposed to
so much danger. Here we found the shore strewed with the oars, spars,
&c. which had been washed overboard, and from the dreadful manner in
which they were shattered, no doubt remained on our minds, but that if
the vessel had been wrecked, two thirds of the passengers at least must
have perished amidst the rocks and breakers. We spent the day rambling
about the woods, and recounting to each other our adventures since the
last separation, and in the evening returned to our respective ships.
About midnight the wind became fair, and whilst we lay wrapt in sleep
the vessels put to sea.
All hopes of being able to get on shore at Presqu’ Isle were now over,
for the captain, as our vessel was in such a ticklish condition, was
fearful of venturing in there, lest he might lose sight of the sloop; we
made up our minds, therefore, for being carried once more to our old
quarters, Fort Erie; and after a most disagreeable passage of four days,
during which we encountered several squalls not a little alarming,
landed there in safety.
[Sidenote: ENGAGE INDIAN GUIDES.]
Our friends immediately set out for Newark, from whence, if the season
would admit of it, and a favourable opportunity offered, they proposed
to sail to Kingston, and proceed afterwards to Lower Canada; we, on the
contrary, desirous of returning by a different route from that by which
we had come up the country, crossed over to Buffalo Creek, in hopes of
being able to procure horses at the Indian village there, to carry us
through the Genesee country. To our disappointment we found, that all
the Indians of the village who had horses had already set out with them
on their hunting expedition; but the interpreters told us, that if we
would consent to walk through the woods, as far as the settlements of
the white people, the nearest of which was ninety miles from Buffalo
Creek, he did not doubt but that he could find Indians in the village
who would undertake to carry our baggage for us; and that once arrived
at the back settlements, we should find it no difficult matter to hire
horses. We readily agreed to his proposals, and he in consequence soon
picked out from the Indians five men, amongst which was a war chief, on
whom he told us we might place every reliance, as he was a man of an
excellent character. The Indians, it was settled, were to have five
dollars apiece for their services, and we were to furnish them with
provisions and liquor. The interpreter, who was a white man, put us on
our guard against giving them too much of the latter; but he advised us
always to give them some whenever we took any ourselves, and advised us
also to eat with them, and to behave towards them in every respect as if
they were our equals. We had already seen enough of the Indians, to know
that this advice was good, and indeed to have adopted of ourselves the
line of conduct which he recommended, even if he had said nothing on the
subject.
Having arranged every thing to our satisfaction, we returned to Fort
Erie; there we disposed of all our superfluous baggage, and having made
some addition to the stores of dried provisions and biscuits which our
kind friend Captain E—— had furnished us with on leaving his hospitable
roof, we embarked, with all belonging to us, in the ship’s boat, for the
village on Buffalo Creek, where we had settled to pass the night, in
order to be ready to start early the next morning.
[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]
The Indians were with us according to appointment at day-break; they
divided the baggage, fastened their loads each on their carrying frames,
and appeared perfectly ready to depart, when their chief requested,
through the interpreter, “that we would give them before they set out a
little of that precious water we possessed, to wash their eyes with,
which would dispel the mists of sleep that still hung over them, and
thus enable them to find out with certainty the intricate path through
the thick forest we were about to traverse;” in other words, that we
would give them some brandy. It is always in figurative language of this
kind that the Indians ask for spirits. We dispensed a glass full of the
precious liquor, according to their desire, to each of them, as well as
to their squaws and children, whom they brought along with them to share
our bounty, and then, the Indians having taken up their loads, we
penetrated into the woods, along a narrow path scarcely discernible,
owing to the quantities of withered leaves with which it was strewed.
After proceeding a few miles, we stopped by the side of a little stream
of clear water to breakfast; on the banks of another stream we eat our
dinner; and at a third we stopped for the night. Having laid down their
loads, the Indians immediately began to erect poles, and cover them with
pieces of bark, which they found lying on the ground, and which had
evidently been left there by some travellers who had taken up their
quarters for the night at this same place some time before; but we put a
stop to their work, by shaking out from the bag in which it was
deposited, our travelling tent. They perceived now that they must employ
themselves in a different manner, and knowing perfectly well what was to
be done, they at once set to work with their tomahawks in cutting poles
and pegs. In less than five minutes, as we all bore a part, the poles
and pegs were cut, and the tent pitched.
One of the Indians now made signs to us to lend him a bag, having
received which he ran into the woods, and was soon out of sight. We were
at a loss to guess what he was in pursuit of; but in a little time he
returned with the bag full of the finest cranberries I ever beheld. In
the mean time another of them, of his own accord, busied himself in
carrying heaps of dried leaves into the tent, which, with our buffalo
skins, afforded luxurious beds to men like us, that had slept on nothing
better than a board for upwards of a month past. In the upper country it
is so customary for travellers to carry their own bedding, that even at
our friend Captain E——’s house we had no other accommodation at night
than the floor of an empty room, on which we spread our skins. As for
themselves, the Indians thought of no covering whatsoever, but simply
stretched themselves on the ground beside the fire, where they lay like
dogs or cats till morning. At day-break we started, and stopped as on
the preceding day beside streams of water to eat our breakfasts and
dinners.
[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]
From Buffalo Creek to the place where we encamped on the first night,
distant about twenty-five miles, the country being very flat, and the
trees growing so closely together that it was impossible to see farther
forward in any direction than fifty yards, our journey after a short
time became very uninteresting. Nothing in its kind, however, could
exceed the beauty of the scenery that we met with during our second
day’s journey. We found the country, as we passed along, interspersed
with open plains of great magnitude, some of them not less, I should
suppose, than fifteen or twenty miles in circumference. The trees on the
borders of these having ample room to spread, were luxuriant beyond
description, and shot forth their branches with all the grandeur and
variety which characterizes the English timber, particularly the oak.
The woods round the plains were indented in every direction with bays
and promontories, as Mr. Gilpin terms it, whilst rich clumps of trees,
interspersed here and there, appeared like so many clusters of beautiful
islands. The varied hues of the woods at this season of the year, in
America, can hardly be imagined by those who never have had an
opportunity of observing them; and indeed, as others have often remarked
before, were a painter to attempt to colour a picture from them, it
would be condemned in Europe as totally different from any thing that
ever existed in nature.
These plains are covered with long coarse grass, which, at a future day,
will probably afford feeding to numerous herds of cattle; at present
they are totally unfrequented. Throughout the north-western territory of
the States, and even beyond the head waters of the Mississippi, the
country is interspersed with similar plains; and the farther you proceed
to the westward, the more extensive in general are they. Amidst those to
the westward are found numerous herds of buffaloes, elks, and other wild
graminivorous animals; and formerly animals of the same description were
found on these plains in the state of New York, but they have all
disappeared long since, owing to their having been so constantly pursued
both by the Indians and white people.
Very different opinions have been entertained respecting the deficiency
of trees on these extended tracts of land, in the midst of a country
that abounds so generally with wood. Some have attributed it to the
poverty of the soil; whilst others have maintained, that the plains were
formerly covered with trees, as well as other parts of the country, but
that the trees have either been destroyed by fire, or by buffaloes,
beavers, and other animals.
[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]
It is well known that buffaloes, in all those parts of the country where
they are found wild, commit great depredations amongst the trees, by
gnawing off the bark; they are also very fond of feeding upon the young
trees that spring up from seed, as well as upon the suckers of the old
ones; it may readily be imagined, therefore, that the entire of the
trees, on very extended tracts of land, might be thus killed by them;
and as the American timber, when left exposed to the weather, soon
decays, at the end of a few years no vestige of the woods would be found
on these tracts, any more than if they had been consumed by fire.
It appears to me, however, that there is more weight in the opinion of
those, who ascribe the deficiency of trees on the plains to the
unfriendliness of the soil; for the earth towards the surface is
universally very light, and of a deep black colour, and on digging but a
few inches downwards you come to a cold stiff clay. On Long Island, in
the state of New York, plains are met with nearly similar to these in
the back country, and the Dutch farmers, who have made repeated trials
of the soil, find that it will not produce wheat or any other grain,
and, in short, nothing that is at all profitable except coarse grass. I
make no doubt but that whenever a similar trial comes to be made of the
soil of the plains to the westward, it will be found equally incapable
of producing any thing but what it does at present.
[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]
After having passed over a great number of these plains of different
sizes, we entered once more into the thick woods; but the country here
appeared much more diversified with rising grounds than it was in any
part we had already traversed. As we were ascending to the top of a
small eminence in the thickest part of these woods, towards the close of
our second day’s journey, our Indian chief, _China-breast-plate_, who
received that name in consequence of his having worn in the American war
a thick china dish as an ornament on his breast, made a sign to us to
follow him to the left of the path. We did so, and having proceeded for
a few yards, suddenly found ourselves on the margin of a deep extensive
pit, not unlike an exhausted quarry, that had lain neglected for many
years. The area of it contained about two acres, and it approached to a
circular form; the sides were extremely steep, and seemed in no place to
be less than forty feet high; in some parts they were considerably
higher. Near the center of the place was a large pond, and round the
edges of it, as well as round the bottom of the precipice, grew several
very lofty pines. The walls of the precipice consisted of a whitish
substance not unlike lime-stone half calcined, and round the margin of
the pit, at top, lay several heaps of loose matter resembling
lime-rubbish. _China-breast-plate_, standing on the brink of the
precipice, began to tell us a long story, and pointing to a distant
place beyond it, frequently mentioned the word Niagara. Whether,
however, the story related to the pit, or whether it related to the
Falls of Niagara, the smoke arising from which it is by no means
improbable might be seen, at times, from the elevated spot where we
stood, or whether the story related to both, we could in no way learn,
as we were totally unacquainted with the Seneka language, and he was
nearly equally ignorant of the English. I never met with any person
afterwards who had seen this place, or who knew any thing relating to
it. Though we made repeated signs to _China-breast-plate_ that we did
not understand his story, he still went on with it for near a quarter of
an hour; the other Indians listened to it with great attention, and
seemed to take no small interest in what he said.
I should have mentioned to you before, that both the Indians and the
white Americans pronounce the word Niagara differently from what we do.
The former lay the accent on the second syllable, and pronounce the word
full and broad as if written Nee-awg-ara. The Americans likewise lay the
accent on the second syllable; but pronounce it short, and give the same
sound to the letters I and A as we do. Niagara, in the language of the
neighbouring Indians, signifies a mighty rushing or fall of water.
On the second evening of our expedition we encamped on a small hill,
from whose top there was a most pleasing romantic view, along a stream
of considerable size which wound round its base, and as far as our eyes
could reach, appeared tumbling in small falls over ledges of rocks. A
fire being kindled, and the tent pitched as usual, the Indians sat down
to cook some squirrels which we had killed on the borders of the plains.
These animals the Indians had observed, as we came along, on the top of
a large hollow tree; they immediately laid down their loads, and each
taking out his tomahawk, and setting to work at a different part of the
tree, it was felled down in less than five minutes, and such of the
squirrels as escaped their dogs we readily shot for them.
The Indian dogs, in general, have short legs, long backs, large pricked
up ears, and long curly tails; they differ from the common English cur
dogs in no respect so much as in their barking but very seldom. They are
extremely sagacious, and seem to understand even what their masters say
to them in a low voice, without making any signs, either with the hand
or head.
[Sidenote: JOURNEY THROUGH THE WOODS.]
Whilst the squirrels were roasting on a forked stick stuck in the
ground, and bent over the fire, one of the Indians went into the woods,
and brought out several small boughs of a tree, apparently of the willow
tribe. Having carefully scraped the bark off from these, he made a sort
of frame with the twigs, in shape somewhat like a gridiron, and heaping
upon it the scraped bark, placed it over the fire to dry. When it was
tolerably crisp he rubbed it between his hands, and put it up in his
pouch for the purpose of smoking.
The Indians smoke the bark of many different trees, and a great variety
of herbs and leaves besides tobacco. The most agreeable of any of the
substances which they smoke are the leaves of the sumach tree,
rhus-toxicodendron. This is a graceful shrub, which bears leaves
somewhat similar to those of the ash. Towards the latter end of autumn
they turn of a bright red colour, and when wanted for smoking are
plucked off and dried in the sun. Whilst burning they afford a very
agreeable perfume. These leaves are very commonly smoked, mixed with
tobacco, by the white people of the country; the smoke of them by
themselves alone, is said to be prejudicial to the lungs. The sumach
tree bears tufted bunches of crimson flowers. One of these bunches
dipped lightly, for a few times, into a bowl of punch, gives the liquor
a very agreeable acid, and in the southern states it is common to use
them for that purpose, but it is a dangerous custom, as the acid, though
extremely agreeable to the palate, is of a poisonous quality, and never
fails to produce a most alarming effect on the bowels if used too
freely.
A sharp frost set in this night, and on the following morning, at
day-break, we recommenced our journey with crossing the river already
mentioned up to our waists in water, no very pleasing task. Both on this
and the subsequent day we had to wade through several other considerable
streams.
A few squirrels were the only wild animals which we met with in our
journey through the woods, and the most solemn silence imaginable
reigned throughout, except where a woodpecker was heard now and then
tapping with its bill against a hollow tree. The birds in general flock
towards the settlements, and it is a very rare circumstance to meet with
them in the depth of the forest.
[Sidenote: MISTAKEN SETTLERS.]
The third evening we encamped as usual. No sooner had we come to our
resting place, than the Indians threw off their clothes, and rolled
themselves on the grass just as horses would do, to refresh themselves,
the day having proved very hot, notwithstanding the frost the preceding
night. We were joined this evening by another party of the Seneka
Indians, who were going to a village situated on the Genesee River, and
in the morning we all set out together. Early in the day we came to
several plains similar to those we had before met with, but not so
extended, on the borders of one of which we saw, for the first time, a
bark hut apparently inhabited. On going up to it, our surprise was not a
little to find two men, whose appearance and manners at once bespoke
them not to be Americans. After some conversation we discovered them to
be two Englishmen, who had formerly lived in London as _valets de
chambre_, and having scraped together a little money, had set out for
New York, where they expected at once to become great men; however they
soon found to their cost, that the expence of living in that city was
not suited to their pockets, and they determined to go and settle in the
back country. They were at no loss to find persons who had land to
dispose of, and happening to fall in with a jobber who owned some of
these plains, and who painted to them in lively colours the advantage
they would derive from settling on good land already cleared to their
hand, they immediately purchased a considerable track of this barren
ground at a round price, and set out to fix themselves upon it. From the
neighbouring settlements, which were about ten miles off, they procured
the assistance of two men, who after having built for them the bark hut
in which we found them left them with a promise of returning in a short
time to erect a log house. They had not, however, been punctual to their
word, and unable to wield an axe, or to do any one thing for themselves,
these unfortunate wretches sat moping in their hut, supporting
themselves on some salt provisions they had brought with them, but which
were now nearly exhausted. The people in the settlements, whom, on
arriving there, we asked some few questions respecting these poor
creatures, turned them into the greatest ridicule imaginable for being
so helpless; and indeed they did present a most striking picture of the
folly of any man’s attempting to settle in America without being well
acquainted with the country previously, and competent to do every sort
of country work for himself.
[Sidenote: DRUNKEN INDIANS.]
It was not without very great vexation that we perceived, shortly after
leaving this hut, evident symptoms of drunkenness in one of the Indians,
and on examining our brandy cask it was but too plain that it had been
pillaged. During the preceding part of our journey we had kept a
watchful eye upon it, but drawing towards the end of our expedition, and
having had every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the Indians,
we had not paid sufficient attention to it this day; and though it could
not have been much more than five minutes out of our sight, yet in that
short space of time the screw had been forced, and the cask drained to
the last drop. The Indian, whom we discovered to be drunk, was advanced
a little before the others. He went on for some time staggering about
from side to side, but at last, stopping and laying hold of his scalping
knife, which they always carry with them by their sides, he began to
brandish it with a threatening air. There is but one line of conduct to
be pursued when you have to deal with Indians in such a situation, and
that is, to act with the most determined resolution. If you betray the
smallest symptoms of fear, or appear at all wavering in your conduct, it
only serves to render them more ungovernable and furious. I accordingly
took him by the shoulder, pushed him forward, and presenting my piece,
gave him to underhand that I would shoot him if he did not behave
himself properly. My companions, whilst I was taking care of him, went
back to see in what state the other Indians were. Luckily the liquor,
though there was reason to apprehend they had all had a share of it, had
not made the same impression upon them. One of them, indeed, was
beginning to be refractory, and absolutely threw down his load, and
refused to go farther; but a few words from _China-breast-plate_ induced
him to resume it, and to go on. On coming up to the first Indian, and
seeing the sad state he was in, they shook their heads, and crying, “No
good Indian,” “No good Indian,” endeavoured by signs to inform us that
it was he who had pillaged the cask, and drank all the brandy; but as it
was another Indian who carried the cask, no doubt remained but that they
must all have had a share of the plunder; that the first fellow,
however, had drank more than the rest was apparent; for in a few minutes
he dropped down speechless under his load; the others hastened to take
it off from his back, and having divided it amongst themselves, they
drew him aside from the path, and threw him under some bushes, where he
was left to sleep till he should come again to his senses.
[Sidenote: GENESEE RIVER.]
About noon we reached the Genesee River, at the opposite side of which
was situated the village where we expected to procure horses. We crossed
the river in canoes, and took up our quarters at a house at the
uppermost end of the village, where we were very glad to find our Indian
friends could get no accommodation, for we knew well that the first use
they would make of the money we were going to give them would be to buy
liquor, and intoxicate themselves, in which state they would not fail of
becoming very troublesome companions; it was scarcely dark indeed when
news was brought us from a house near the river, that they went to after
we had discharged them, that they were grown quite outrageous with the
quantity of spirits they had drank, and were fighting and cutting each
other in a most dreadful manner. They never resent the injuries they
receive from any person that is evidently intoxicated, but attribute
their wounds entirely to the liquor, on which they vent their
execrations for all the mischief it has committed.
Before I dismiss the subject entirely, I must observe to you, that the
Indians did not seem to think the carrying of our baggage was in any
manner degrading to them; and after having received their due, they
shook hands with us, and parted from us, not as from employers who had
hired them, but as from friends whom they had been assisting, and were
now sorry to leave.
The village where we stopped consisted of about eight or nine straggling
houses; the best built one among them was that in which we lodged. It
belonged to a family from New England, who about six years before had
penetrated to this spot, then covered with woods, and one hundred and
fifty miles distant from any other settlement. Settlements are now
scattered over the whole of the country which they had to pass through
in coming to it. The house was commodious and well built, and the people
decent, civil, and reputable. It is a very rare circumstance to meet
with such people amongst the first settlers on the frontiers; in general
they are men of a morose and savage disposition, and the very outcasts
of society, who bury themselves in the woods, as if desirous to shun the
face of their fellow creatures; there they build a rude habitation, and
clear perhaps three or four acres of land, just as much as they find
sufficient to provide their families with corn: for the greater part of
their food they depend on their rifle guns. These people, as the
settlements advance, are succeeded in general by a second set of men,
less savage than the first, who clear more land, and do not depend so
much upon hunting as upon agriculture for their subsistence. A third set
succeed these in turn, who build good houses, and bring the land into a
more improved state. The first settlers, as soon as they have disposed
of their miserable dwellings to advantage, immediately penetrate farther
back into the woods, in order to gain a place of abode suited to their
rude mode of life. These are the lawless people who encroach, as I have
before mentioned, on the Indian territory, and are the occasion of the
bitter animosities between the whites and the Indians. The second
settlers, likewise, when displaced, seek for similar places to what
those that they have left were when they first took them. I found, as I
proceeded through this part of the country, that there was scarcely a
man who had not changed his place of abode seven or eight different
times.
As none but very miserable horses were to be procured at this village on
the Genesee River, and as our expedition through the woods had given us
a relish for walking, we determined to proceed on foot, and merely to
hire horses to carry our baggage; accordingly, having engaged a pair,
and a boy to conduct them, we set off early on the second morning from
that of our arrival at the village, for the town of Bath.
[Sidenote: PICTURESQUE VIEWS.]
The country between these two places is most agreeably diversified with
hill and dale, and as the traveller passes over the hills which overlook
the Genesee River and the flats bordering upon it, he is entertained
with a variety of noble and picturesque views. We were particularly
struck with the prospect from a large, and indeed very handsome house in
its kind, belonging to a Major Wadsworth, built on one of these hills.
The Genesee River, bordered with the richest woods imaginable, might be
seen from it for many miles, meandering through a fertile country; and
beyond the flats, on each side of the river, appeared several ranges of
blue hills rising up one behind another in a most fanciful manner, the
whole together forming a most beautiful landscape. Here, however, in the
true American taste, the greatest pains were taking to diminish, and,
indeed, to shut out all the beauties of the prospect; every tree in the
neighbourhood of the house was felled to the ground; instead of a neat
lawn, for which the ground seemed to be singularly well disposed, a
wheat field was laid down in front of it; and at the bottom of the
slope, at the distance of two hundred yards from the house, a town was
building by the major, which, when completed, would effectually screen
from the dwelling house every sight of the river and mountains. The
Americans, as I before observed, seem to be totally dead to the beauties
of nature, and only to admire a spot of ground as it appears to be more
or less calculated to enrich the occupier by its produce.
The Genesee River takes its name from a lofty hill in the Indian
territory, near to which it passes, called by the Indians Genesee, a
word signifying, in their language, a grand extensive prospect.
[Sidenote: GENESEE RIVER.]
The flats bordering upon the Genesee River are amongst the richest lands
that are to be met with in North America, to the east of the Ohio.
Wheat, as I told you in a former letter, will not grow upon them; and it
is not found that the soil is impoverished by the successive crops of
Indian corn and hemp that are raised upon them year after year. The
great fertility of these flats is to be ascribed to the regular annual
overflowing of the Genesee River, whose waters are extremely muddy, and
leave no small quantity of slime behind them before they return to their
natural channel. That river empties itself into Lake Ontario: it is
somewhat more than one hundred miles in length, but only navigable for
the last forty miles of its course, except at the time of the
inundations; and even then the navigation is not uninterrupted the whole
way down to the lake, there being three considerable falls in the river
about ten miles above its mouth: the greatest of these falls is said to
be ninety feet in perpendicular height. The high lands in the
neighbourhood of the Genesee River are stony, and are not distinguished
for their fertility, but the valleys are all extremely fruitful, and
abound with rich timber.
The summers in this part of the country are by no means so hot as
towards the Atlantic, and the winters are moderate; it is seldom,
indeed, that the snow lies on the ground much longer than six or seven
weeks; but notwithstanding this circumstance, and that the face of the
country is so much diversified with rising grounds, yet the whole of it
is dreadfully unhealthy; scarcely a family escapes the baneful effects
of the fevers that rage here during the autumn season. I was informed by
the inhabitants, that much fewer persons had been attacked by the fever
the last season than during former years, and of these few a very small
number died, the fever having proved much less malignant than it was
ever known to be before. This circumstance led the inhabitants to hope,
that as the country became more cleared it would become much more
healthy. It is well known, indeed, that many parts of the country, which
were extremely healthy while they remained covered with wood, and which
also proved healthy after they had been generally cleared and settled,
were very much otherwise when the trees were first cut down: this has
been imputed to the vapours arising from the newly cleared lands on
their being first exposed to the burning rays of the sun, and which,
whilst the newly cleared spots remain surrounded by woods, there is not
a sufficient circulation of air to dispel. The unhealthiness of the
country at present does not deter numbers of people from coming to
settle here every year, and few parts of North America can boast of a
more rapid improvement than the Genesee country during the last four
years.
[Sidenote: SMALL TOWNS.]
In our way to Bath we passed through several small towns that had been
lately begun, and in these the houses were comfortable and neatly built;
but the greater part of those of the farmers were wretched indeed; one
at which we stopped for the night, in the course of our journey, had not
even a chimney or window to it; a large hole at the end of the roof
supplied the deficiency of both; the door was of such a nature, also, as
to make up in some measure for the want of a window, as it admitted
light on all sides. A heavy fall of snow happened to take place whilst
we were at this house, and as we lay stretched on our skins beside the
fire, at night, the snow was blown, in no small quantities, through the
crevices of the door, under our very ears.
At some of these houses we got plenty of venison, and good butter, milk,
and bread; but at others we could get nothing whatsoever to eat. At one
little village, consisting of three or four houses, the people told us,
that they had not even sufficient bread and milk for themselves; and,
indeed, the scantiness of the meal to which we saw them sitting down
confirmed the truth of what they said. We were under the necessity of
walking on for nine miles beyond this village before we could get any
thing to satisfy our appetites.
The fall of snow, which I have mentioned, interrupted our progress
through the woods very considerably the subsequent morning; it all
disappeared, however, before the next night, and in the course of the
third day from that on which we left the banks of the Genesee River we
reached the place of our destination.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXVII.
_Account of Bath.—Of the Neighbourhood.—Singular Method taken to improve
it.—Speculators.—Description of one, in a Letter from an
American Farmer.—Conhorton Creek.—View of the Navigation
from Bath downwards.—Leave Bath for Newtown.—Embark in
Canoes.—Stranded in the Night.—Seek for Shelter in a neighbouring
House.—Difficulty of procuring Provisions.—Resume our
Voyage.—Lochartsburgh.—Description of the eastern Branch of the
Susquehannah River.—French Town.—French and Americans ill suited to
each other.—Wilkes-barré.—Mountains in the Neighbourhood.—Country
thinly settled towards Philadelphia.—Description of the Wind-Gap in
the Blue Mountains.—Summary Account of the Moravian Settlement at
Bethlehem.—Return to Philadelphia._
Philadelphia, November.
[Sidenote: BATH.]
BATH is a post town, and the principal town in the western parts of the
state of New York. Though laid out only three years ago, yet it already
contains about thirty houses, and is increasing very fast. Amongst the
houses are several stores or shops well furnished with goods, and a
tavern that would not be thought meanly of in any part of America. This
town was founded by a gentleman who formerly bore the rank of captain in
his Majesty’s service; he has likewise been the founder of Williamsburgh
and Falkner’s Town; and indeed to his exertions, joined to those of a
few other individuals, may be ascribed the improvement of the whole of
this part of the country, best known in America by the name of the
Genesee Country, or the County of the Lakes, from its being watered by
that river, and a great number of small lakes.
[Sidenote: LAND SPECULATION.]
The landed property of which this gentleman, who founded Bath, &c. has
had the active management, is said to have amounted originally to no
less than six millions of acres, the greater part of which belonged to
an individual in England. The method he has taken to improve this
property has been, by granting land in small portions and on long
credits to individuals who would immediately improve it, and in larger
portions and on a shorter credit to others who purchased on speculation,
the lands in both cases being mortgaged for the payment of the purchase
money; thus, should the money not be paid at the appointed time, he
could not be a loser, as the lands were to be returned to him, and
should they happen to be at all improved, as was most likely to be the
case, he would be a considerable gainer even by having them returned on
his hands; moreover, if a poor man, willing to settle on his land, had
not money sufficient to build a house and to go on with the necessary
improvements, he has at once supplied him, having had a large capital
himself, with what money he wanted for that purpose, or sent his own
workmen, of whom he keeps a prodigious number employed, to build a house
for him, at the same time taking the man’s note at three, four, or five
years, for the cost of the house, &c. with interest. If the man should
be unable to pay at the appointed time, the house, mortgaged like the
lands, must revert to the original proprietor, and the money arising
from its sale, and that of the farm adjoining, partly improved, will in
all probability be found to amount to more than what the poor man had
promised to pay for it: but a man taking up land in America in this
manner, at a moderate price, cannot fail, if industrious, of making
money sufficient to pay for it, as well as for a house, at the appointed
time.
The numbers that have been induced by these temptations, not to be met
with elsewhere in the States, to settle in the Genesee County, is
astonishing; and numbers are still flocking to it every year, as not one
third of the lands are yet disposed of. It was currently reported in the
county, as I passed through it, that this gentleman, of whom I have been
speaking, had, in the notes of the people to whom he had sold land
payable at the end of three, or four, or five years, the immense sum of
two millions of dollars. The original cost of the land was not more than
a few pence per acre; what therefore must be the profits!
It may readily be imagined, that the granting of land on such very easy
terms could not fail to draw crowds of speculators (a sort of gentry
with which America abounds in every quarter) to this part of the
country; and indeed we found, as we passed along, that every little town
and village throughout the country abounded with them, and each place,
in consequence, exhibited a picture of idleness and dissipation. The
following letter, supposed to come from a farmer, though somewhat
ludicrous, does not give an inaccurate description of one of these young
speculators, and of what is going on in this neighbourhood. It appeared
in a news-paper published at Wilkes-barré, on the Susquehannah, and I
give it to you verbatim, because, being written by an American, it will
perhaps carry more weight with it than any thing I could say on the same
subject.
[Sidenote: METHOD OF IMPROVING PROPERTY.]
“To the Printers of the Wilkes-barré Gazette.
“Gentlemen,
“It is painful to reflect, that speculation has raged to such a
degree of late, that honest industry, and all the humble virtues
that walk in her train, are discouraged and rendered
unfashionable.
“It is to be lamented too, that dissipation is sooner introduced
in new settlements than industry and economy.
“I have been led to these reflections by conversing with my son,
who has just returned from the Lakes or Genesee, though he has
neither been to the one or the other;—in short, he has been to
Bath, the celebrated Bath, and has returned both a speculator
and a gentleman; having spent his money, swopped away my horse,
caught the fever and ague, and, what is infinitely worse, that
horrid disorder which some call the terra-phobia[18].”
Footnote 18:
Our farmer does not seem to have well understood the import of
this word, but we may readily guess at his meaning.
“We can hear nothing from the poor creature now (in his ravings)
but of the captain and Billy—of ranges—townships—
numbers—thousands—hundreds—acres—Bath—
fairs—races—heats—bets—purses—silk
stockings—fortunes—fevers—agues, &c. &c. &c. My son has part of
a township for sale, and it is diverting enough to hear him
narrate its pedigree, qualities, and situation. In fine, it lies
near Bath, and the captain himself once owned, and for a long
time reserved it. It cost my son but five dollars per acre; he
was offered six in half a minute after his purchase; but he is
positively determined to have eight, besides some precious
reserves. One thing is very much in my boy’s favour—he has six
years credit. Another thing is still more so—he is not worth a
sous, nor ever will be at this rate. Previous to his late
excursion the lad worked well, and was contented at home on my
farm; but now work is out of the question with him. There is no
managing my boy at home; these golden dreams still beckon him
back to Bath, where, as he says, no one need either work or
starve; where, though a man may have the ague nine months in the
year, he may console himself in spending the other three
fashionably at the races.
“_A Farmer._”
“_Hanover, October 25th, 1796._”
The town of Bath stands on a plain, surrounded on three sides by hills
of a moderate height. The plain is almost wholly divested of its trees;
but the hills are still uncleared, and have a very pleasing appearance
from the town. At the foot of the hills runs a stream of pure water,
over a bed of gravel, which is called Conhocton Creek. There is a very
considerable fall in this creek just above the town, which affords one
of the finest seats for mills possible. Extensive saw and flour mills
have already been erected upon it, the principal saw in the former of
which gave, when we visited the mill, one hundred and twenty strokes in
a minute, sufficient to cut, in the same space of time, seven square
feet, superficial measure, of oak timber; yet the miller informed us,
that when the water was high it would cut much faster.
[Sidenote: CONHOCTON CREEK.]
Conhocton Creek, about twenty miles below Bath, falls into Tyoga River,
which, after a course of about thirty miles, empties itself into the
eastern branch of the River Susquehannah. During floods you may go down
in light bateaux along the creek, Tyoga and Susquehannah rivers, the
whole way from Bath to the Chesapeak Bay, without interruption; and in
the fall of the year there is generally water sufficient for canoes from
Bath downwards; but owing to the great drought that prevailed through
every part of the country this year, the depth of water in the creek was
found insufficient to float even a canoe of the smallest size. Had it
been practicable, it was our intention to have proceeded from Bath by
water; but finding that it was not, we once more set off on foot, and
pursued our way along the banks of the river till we came to a small
village of eight or ten houses, called Newtown, about thirty miles
distant from Bath. Here we found the stream tolerably deep, and the
people informed us, that excepting at one or two narrow shoals, they
were certain that in every part of it, lower down, there was sufficient
water for canoes; accordingly, determined to be our own watermen, being
five in number including our servants, we purchased a couple of canoes
from two farmers, who lived on the banks of the river, and having lashed
them together, in order to render them more steady and safe, we put our
baggage on board, and boldly embarked.
[Sidenote: CANOES STRANDED.]
It was about three o’clock on a remarkably clear though cold afternoon
that we left the village, and the current being strong, we hoped to be
able to reach before night a tavern, situated, as we were told, on the
banks of the river, about six miles below Newtown. For the first two
miles we got on extremely well; but beyond this the river proving to be
much shallower than we had been led to believe, we found it a matter of
the utmost difficulty to proceed. Our canoes repeatedly struck upon the
shoals, and so much time was consumed in setting them again free, that
before we had accomplished more than two thirds of our voyage the day
closed. As night advanced a very sensible change was observable in the
weather; a heavy shower of hail came pouring down, and, involved in
thick darkness, whilst the moon was obscured by a cloud, our canoes were
drifted by the current, to which, being unable to see our way, we had
consigned them, on a bank in the middle of the river. In endeavouring to
extricate ourselves we unfortunately, owing to the darkness, took a
wrong direction, and at the end of a few minutes found our canoes so
firmly wedged in the gravel that it was impossible to move them. Nothing
now remained to be done but for every one of us to jump into the water,
and to put his shoulder to the canoes. This we accordingly did, and
having previously unlashed, in order to render them more manageable, we
in a short time contrived to haul one of them into deep water; here,
however, the rapidity of the current was so great, that notwithstanding
all our endeavours to the contrary, the canoe was forcibly swept away
from us, and in the attempt to hold it fast we had the misfortune to see
it nearly filled with water.
Deprived thus of one of our canoes, and of a great part of our baggage
in it, which, for ought we knew, was irrecoverably lost, we determined
to proceed more cautiously with the remaining one; having returned,
therefore, to the bank, we carried every thing that was in the canoe on
our shoulders to the shore, which was about forty yards distant; no very
easy or agreeable task, as the water reached up to our waists, and the
current was so strong that it was with the utmost difficulty we could
keep our feet. The canoe being emptied, we brought it, as nearly as we
could guess, to the spot where the other one had been swept away from
us, and one of the party then getting into it with a paddle, we
committed it, pursuant to his desire, to the stream, hoping that it
would be carried down after the other, and that thus we should be able
to recover both it and the things which it contained. In a few seconds
the stream carried the canoe out of our sight, for the moon shone but
faintly through the clouds, and being all of us totally unacquainted
with the river, we could not but feel some concern for the personal
safety of our companion. Before many minutes, however, were elapsed, we
had the satisfaction of hearing his voice at a distance, and having made
the best of our way along the shore to the spot from whence the sound
proceeded, we had the satisfaction to find that he had been carried in
safety close beside the canoe which had been lost, we were not a little
pleased also at finding our portmanteaus at the bottom of the canoe,
though well soaked in water; but such of our clothes as we had taken off
preparatory to going into the water, together with several light
articles, were all lost.
[Sidenote: SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.]
It froze so very hard now, that in a few minutes our portmanteaus, and
such of our garments as had been wetted, were covered with a coat of
ice, and our limbs were quite benumbed, in consequence of our having
waded so often through the river. Desirous, however, as we were to get
to a house, we determined, in the first instance, to dispose of our
baggage in a safe place, lest it might be pillaged. A deep hollow that
appeared under some fallen trees seemed well adapted for the purpose,
and having stowed it there, and covered it with leaves, we advanced
forward. There were no traces whatsoever of a path in the woods where we
landed, and for upwards of a mile we had to force our way through the
bushes along the banks of the river; but at the end of that distance, we
hit upon one, which in a short time brought us to a miserable little log
house. At this house no accommodation whatsoever was to be had, but we
were told, that if we followed the path through the woods for about a
mile farther, we should come to a waggon road, upon which we should find
another house, where probably we might gain admittance. We reached this
house according to the directions we had received; we readily gained
admittance into it, and the blaze of an immense wood fire, piled half
way up the chimney, soon made us amends for what we had suffered from
the inclemency of the weather. The coldness of the air, together with
the fatigue which we had gone through in the course of the day, had by
this time given a keen edge to our appetites; no sooner therefore had we
warmed ourselves than we began to make enquiries about what we could get
to satisfy the calls of hunger; but had we asked for a sheep or an ox
for supper at an inn in England, the man of the house could not, I
verily believe, have been more amazed than was our American landlord at
these enquiries: “The women were in bed”—“He knew not where to find the
keys”—“He did not believe there was any thing in the pantry”—“Provisions
were very scarce in the country”—“If he gave us any there would not be
enough for the family in the morning”—Such were his answers to us.
However we plied him so closely, and gave him such a pitiable
description of our sufferings, that at length he was moved; the keys
were found, the pantry opened, and to satisfy the hunger of five hungry
young men, two little flour cakes, scarcely as big as a man’s hand each,
and about a pint and a half of milk, were brought forth. He vowed he
could give us nothing more; his wife would never pardon him if he did
not leave enough for their breakfasts in the morning; obliged therefore
to remain satisfied, we eat our little pittance, and then laid ourselves
down to rest on our skins, which we had brought with us on our
shoulders.
[Sidenote: SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.]
In the morning we found that the man had really made an accurate report
of the state of his pantry. There was barely enough in it for the
family, and unable to get a single morsel to eat, we set out for the
little house where we had first stopped the preceding night, which was
the only one within two or three miles, there hoping to find the
inhabitants better provided for: not a bit of bread however was to be
had here; but the woman of the house told us, that she had some Indian
corn meal, and that if we could wait for an hour or two she would bake a
loaf for us. This was most grateful intelligence: we only begged of her
to make it large enough, and then set off to search in the interim for
our canoes and baggage. At several other places, in going down the
Susquehannah, we afterwards found an equal scarcity of provisions with
what we did in this neighbourhood. One morning in particular, after
having proceeded for about four or five miles in our canoe, we stopped
to breakfast; but nothing eatable was there to be had at the first house
we went to, except a few potatoes that were roasting before the fire.
The people very cheerfully gave us two or three, and told us at the same
time, that if we went to some houses at the opposite side of the river
we should most probably find better fare: we did so; but here the
inhabitants were still more destitute. On asking them where we should be
likely to get any thing to eat, an old woman answered, that if we went
to a village about four miles lower down the river, we should find a
house, she believed, where “_they did keep victuals_,” an expression so
remarkable that I could not help noting it down immediately. We reached
this house, and finding it well stocked with provisions of every kind,
took care to provide ourselves, not only with what we wanted for
immediate use, but also with what we might want on a future occasion, in
case we came to any place equally destitute of provisions as those which
we had before stopped at; a precaution that was far from proving
unnecessary.
But to return. We found our canoes and baggage just as we had left them,
and having embarked once more, we made the best of our way down to the
house where we had bespoke breakfast, which stood on the banks of the
river. The people here were extremely civil; they assisted us in making
fresh paddles in lieu of those which we had lost the night before; and
for the trifle which we gave them above what they asked us for our
breakfasts they were very thankful, a most unusual circumstance in the
United States.
[Sidenote: SUSQUEHANNAH.]
After breakfast we pursued our way for about seven miles down the river,
but in the course of this distance we were obliged to get into the water
more than a dozen different times, I believe, to drag the canoes over
the shoals; in short, by the time we arrived at a house in the
afternoon, we were so completely disgusted with our water conveyance,
that had we not been able to procure two men, as we did in the
neighbourhood, to conduct our canoes to the mouth of Tyoga River, where
there was reason to imagine that the water would be found deeper, we
should certainly have left them behind us. The men set out at an early
hour in the morning, and we proceeded some time afterwards on foot along
the banks, but so difficult was the navigation, that we reached Tyoga
Point or Lochartzburg, a small town built at the mouth of the river,
several hours before them.
On arriving at this place, we heard to our disappointment, that the
Susquehannah, although generally at this season of the year navigable
for boats drawing four feet water, was now nearly as low as the Tyoga
River, so that in many places, particularly at the rapids, there was
scarcely sufficient water to float a canoe over the sharp rocks with
which the bed of the river abounds; in fine, we were informed that the
channel was now intricate and dangerous, and that no person unacquainted
with the river could attempt to proceed down it without great risk; we
found no difficulty, however, in hiring from amongst the watermen
accustomed to ply on the river, a man that was perfectly well acquainted
with it; and having exchanged our two canoes, pursuant to his advice,
for one of a very large size, capable of holding us all conveniently, we
renewed our voyage.
[Sidenote: SUSQUEHANNAH.]
From Lochartzburgh to Wilkes-barré, or Wyoming, situated on the
south-east side of the Susquehannah, the distance is about ninety miles,
and when the river is full, and the current of course strong, as is
usually the case in the fall and spring of the year, you may go down the
whole of this distance in one day; but owing to the lowness of the water
we were no less than four days performing the voyage, though we made the
utmost expedition possible. In many parts of the river, indeed, we found
the current very rapid; at the Falls of Wyalusing, for instance, we were
carried down three or four miles in about a quarter of an hour; but in
other places, where the river was deep, scarcely any current was
perceptible in it, and we were obliged to work our way with paddles. The
bed of the river abounds with rock and gravel, and the water is so
transparent, that in many parts, where it must have been at least twenty
feet deep, the smallest pebble was distinguishable at the bottom. The
width of the river varies from fifty to three hundred yards, and
scarcely any stream in America has a more irregular course; in some
places it runs in a direction diametrically opposite to what it does in
others. The country through which this (the eastern) branch of the
Susquehannah passes, is extremely uneven and rugged; indeed, from
Lochartzburgh till within a short distance of Wilkes-barré, it is
bounded the entire way by steep mountains either on the one side or the
other. The mountains are never to be met with at both sides of the same
part of the river, except it be at places where the river takes a very
sudden bend; but wherever you perceive a range of mountains on one side,
you are sure to find an extensive plain on the opposite one; scarcely in
any part do the mountains extend for more than one mile together on the
same side of the river, and in many instances, during the course of one
mile, you will perceive more than a dozen different changes of the
mountains from one side to the other. It may readily be imagined, from
this description of the eastern branch of the Susquehannah, that the
scenery along it must be very fine; and, indeed, I think there is no
river in America that abounds with inch a variety and number of
picturesque views. At every bend the prospect varies, and there is
scarcely a spot between Lochartzburg and Wilkes-barré where the painter
would not find a subject well worthy of his pencil. The mountains,
covered with bold rocks and woods, afford the finest foreground
imaginable; the plains, adorned with cultivated fields and patches of
wood, and watered by the noble river, of which you catch a glimpse here
and there, fill up the middle part of the landscape; and the blue hills,
peeping up at a distance, terminate the view in the most pleasing
manner.
The country bordering upon the Susquehannah abounds with deer, and as we
passed down we met with numberless parties of the country people engaged
in driving these animals. The deer, on being pursued in the neighbouring
country, immediately make for the river, where men being concealed in
bushes placed on the strand, at the part to which it is expected they
will come down, take the opportunity of shooting them as soon as they
enter the water. Should the deer not happen to come near these ambushes,
the hunters then follow them in canoes: it seldom happens that they
escape after having once taken to the water.
Very fine fish are found in every part of the Susquehannah, and the
river is much frequented by wild fowl, particularly by the canvass back
duck.
The whole way between Lochartzburg and Wilkes-barré are settlements on
each side of the river, at no great distance from each other; there are
also several small towns on the banks of the river. The principal one is
French Town, situated within a short distance of the Falls of Wyalusing,
on the western side of the river. This town was laid out at the expence
of several philanthropic persons in Pennsylvania, who entered into a
subscription for the purpose, as a place of retreat for the unfortunate
French emigrants who fled to America. The town contains about fifty log
houses; and for the use of the inhabitants a considerable track of land
has been purchased adjoining to it, which has been divided into farms.
The French settled here seem, however, to have no great inclination or
ability to cultivate the earth, and the greater part of them have let
their lands at a small yearly rent to Americans, and amuse themselves
with driving deer, fishing, and fowling; they live entirely to
themselves; they hate the Americans, and the Americans in the
neighbourhood hate, and accuse them of being an idle dissipated set. The
manners of the two people are so very different that it is impossible
they should ever agree.
[Sidenote: WILKES-BARRÉ]
Wilkes-barré, formerly Wyoming, is the chief town of Luzerne county. It
is situated on a plain, bounded on one side by the Susquehannah, and on
the other by a range of mountains, and contains about one hundred and
fifty wooden dwelling houses, a church, court house, and gaol. It was
here that the dreadful massacre was committed, during the American war,
by the Indians under the command of colonel Butler, which is recorded in
most of the histories of the war, and which will for ever remain a blot
on the English annals. Several of the houses in which the unfortunate
victims retired to defend themselves, on being refused all quarter, are
still standing, perforated in every part with balls; the remains of
others that were set on fire are also still to be seen, and the
inhabitants will on no account suffer them to be repaired. The Americans
are equally tenacious of the ruins in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia.
It was our intention at first to have proceeded down the river from
hence as far as Sunburg, or Harrisburgh; but the weather being now so
cold as to render a water conveyance, especially a canoe, where you are
always obliged to sit very still, extremely disagreeable, we determined
to cross the Blue Mountains to Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, situated about
sixty-five miles to the south-east of Wilkes-barré; we accordingly hired
horses, as we had done on a former occasion, to carry our baggage, and
proceeded ourselves on foot. We set out in the afternoon, the day after
that on which we terminated our voyage, and before evening crossed the
ridge of mountains which bounds the plain of Wilkes-barré. These
mountains, which are extremely rugged and stony, abound with iron ore
and coal; for the manufacture of the former several forges have been
established, but no use is made of the coal, there being plenty of wood
as yet in the country, which is esteemed much more agreeable fuel. From
the top of them you have a very grand view of the plain below, on which
stands the town of Wilkes-barré, and of the river Susquehannah, which
may be traced above the town, winding amidst the hills for a great
number of miles.
[Sidenote: WOODS.]
The country beyond the mountains is extremely rough, and but very thinly
settled, of course still much wooded. The people, at the few houses
scattered through it, appeared to live much better than the inhabitants
of any other part of the States which I before passed through. At every
house where we stopped we found abundance of good bread, butter, tea,
coffee, chocolate, and venison; and indeed we fared sumptuously here, in
comparison to what we had done for many weeks preceding.
The woods in many parts of this country consisted almost wholly of
hemlock trees, which are of the pine species, and grow only on poor
ground. Many of them were of an unusually large size, and their tops so
closely matted together, that after having entered into the depth of the
woods you could see the sky in but very few places. The brush wood under
these trees, different from what I ever saw elsewhere, consisted for the
most part of the oleander and of the kalmia laurel, whose deep green
served to render the gloom of the woods still more solemn; indeed they
seemed completely to answer the description given by the poets of the
sacred groves; and it were impossible to enter them without being struck
with awe.
About twenty miles before you come to Bethlehem, in going thither from
Wilkes-barré, you cross the ridge of Blue Mountains at what is called
the Wind-Gap; how it received that name I never could learn. This gap is
nearly a mile wide, and it exhibits a tremendously wild and rugged
scene. The road does not run at the bottom of the gap, but along the
edge of the south mountain, about two thirds of the way up. Above you on
the right, nothing is to be seen but broken rocks and trees, and on the
left you look down a steep precipice. The rocks at the bottom of the
precipice have every appearance, it is said (for we did not descend into
it) of having been washed by water for ages; and from hence it has been
conjectured that this must have been the original channel of the River
Delaware, which now passes through the ridge, at a place about fifteen
miles to the north-west. Whether this were the case or not it is
impossible to determine at this day; but it is certain, from the
appearance of the country on each side of the Delaware, that a great
change has taken place in this quarter, in consequence of some vast
inundation.
[Illustration:
VIEW _of_ BETHLEHEM _a Moravian settlement_.
_I. Weld del. J. Dadley sculp^t._
_Published Dec. 12 1798, by I. Stockdale, Picadilly._
]
On the Atlantic side of the mountains the country is much less rugged
than on the opposite one, and it is more cleared and much more thickly
settled: the inhabitants are for the most part of German extraction.
[Sidenote: BETHLEHEM.]
Bethlehem is the principal settlement, in North America, of the
Moravians, or United Brethren. It is most agreeably situated on a rising
ground, bounded on one side by the river Leheigh, which falls into the
Delaware, and on the other by a creek, which has a very rapid current,
and affords excellent seats for a great number of mills. The town is
regularly laid out, and contains about eighty strong built stone
dwelling houses and a large church. Three of the dwelling houses are
very spacious buildings, and are appropriated respectively to the
accommodation of the unmarried young men of the society, of the
unmarried females, and of the widows. In these houses different
manufactures are carried on, and the inmates of each are subject to a
discipline approaching somewhat to that of a monastic institution. They
eat together in a refectory; they sleep in dormitories; they attend
morning and evening prayers in the chapel of the house; they work for a
certain number of hours in the day; and they have stated intervals
allotted to them for recreation. They are not subjected, by the rules of
the society, to perpetual confinement; but they seldom, notwithstanding,
go beyond the bounds of their walks and gardens, except it be
occasionally to visit their friends in the town.
[Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]
The Moravians, though they do not enjoin celibacy, yet think it highly
meritorious, and the young persons of different sexes have but very
little intercourse with each other; they never enter each other’s
houses, and at church they are obliged to sit separate; it is only in
consequence of his having seen her at a distance, perhaps, that a
batchelor is induced to propose for a young woman in marriage, and he is
not permitted to offer his proposals in person to the object of his
choice, but merely through the medium of the superintendant of the
female house. If from the report of the elders and wardens of the
society it appears to the superintendant that he is able to maintain a
wife, she then acquaints her protegée with the offer, and should she
consent, they are married immediately, but if she do not, the
superintendant selects another female from the house, whom she imagines
would be suitable to the young man, and on his approval of her they are
as quickly married. Hasty as these marriages are, they are never known
to be attended with unhappiness; for being taught from their earliest
infancy to keep those passions under controul, which occasion so much
mischief amongst the mass of mankind; being inured to regular habits of
industry, and to a quiet sober life; and being in their peaceable and
retired settlements out of the reach of those temptations which persons
are exposed to who launch forth into the busy world, and who mingle with
the multitude, the parties meet with nought through life to interrupt
their domestic repose.
Attached to the young men’s and to the young women’s houses there are
boarding schools for boys and girls, under the direction of proper
teachers, which are also inspected by the elders and wardens of the
society. These schools are in great repute, and not only the children of
Moravians are sent to them, but also those of many genteel persons of a
different persuasion, resident in Philadelphia, New York, and other
towns in the neighbouring States. The boys are instructed in the Latin,
German, French, and English languages; arithmetic, music, drawing, &c.:
the girls are likewise instructed in these different languages and
sciences, and, in short, in every thing that is usually taught at a
female boarding school, except dancing. When of a sufficient age to
provide for themselves, the young women of the society are admitted into
the house destined for their accommodation, where embroidery, fine
needle-work, carding, spinning, knitting, &c. &c. and other works
suitable to females, are carried on. A separate room is allotted for
every different business, and a female, somewhat older than the rest,
presides in it, to inspect the work, and preserve regularity. Persons
are appointed to dispose of the several articles manufactured in the
house, and the money which they produce is distributed amongst the
individuals engaged in manufacturing them, who, after paying a certain
sum towards the maintenance of the house, and a certain sum besides into
the public fund of the society, are allowed to keep the remainder for
themselves.
After the boys have finished their school education, they are
apprenticed to the business which accords most with their inclination.
Should this be a business or trade that is carried on in the young men’s
house, they at once go there to learn it, but if at the house of an
individual in the town, they only board and lodge at the young men’s
house. If they are inclined to agricultural pursuits, they are then put
under the care of one of the farmers of the society. The young men
subscribe to the support of their house, and to the public fund, just as
the young women do; the widows do the same; and every individual in the
town likewise contributes a small sum weekly to the general fund of the
society.
[Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]
Situated upon the creek, which skirts the town, there is a flour mill, a
saw mill, an oil mill, a fulling mill, a mill for grinding bark and dye
stuff, a tan yard, a currier’s yard; and on the Leheigh River an
extensive brewery, at which very good malt liquor is manufactured. These
mills, &c. belong to the society at large, and the profits arising from
them, the persons severally employed in conducting them being first
handsomely rewarded for their services, are paid into the public fund.
The lands for some miles round the town, which are highly improved,
likewise belong to the society, as does also the tavern, and the profits
arising from them are disposed of in the same manner as those arising
from the mills, the persons employed in managing the farms, and
attending to the tavern, being nothing more than stewards or agents of
the society. The fund thus raised is employed in relieving the
distressed brethren of the society in other parts of the world, in
forming new settlements, and in defraying the expence of the missions
for the purpose of propagating the gospel amongst the heathens.
The tavern at Bethlehem is very commodious, and it is the neatest and
best conducted one, without exception, that I ever met with in any part
of America. Having communicated to the landlord, on arriving at it, our
wish to see the town and public buildings, he immediately dispatched a
messenger for one of the elders, and in less than a quarter of an hour,
brother Thomas, a lively fresh coloured little man, of about fifty years
of age, entered the room: he was dressed in a plain blue coat and
waistcoat, brown corderoy breeches, and a large round hat; there was
goodness and innocence in his looks, and his manners were so open and
unconstrained, that it was impossible not to become familiar with him at
once. When we were ready to sally forth, he placed himself between two
of us, and leaning on our arms, and chatting without ceremony, he
conducted us first to the young women’s house. Here we were shewn into a
neat parlour, whilst brother Thomas went to ask permission for us to see
the house. In a few minutes the superintendant herself came; brother
Thomas introduced her to us, and accompanied by them both we visited the
different apartments.
[Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]
The house is extensive, and the passages and stair-cases are commodious
and airy, but the work rooms are small, and to such a pitch were they
heated by stoves, that on entering into them at first we could scarcely
breathe. The stoves, which they use, are built in the German style. The
fire is inclosed in a large box or case formed of glazed tiles, and the
warm air is thence conducted, through flues, into similar large cases
placed in different parts of the room, by which means every part is
rendered equally warm. About a dozen females or more, nearly of the same
age, were seated at work in each apartment. The entrance of strangers
did not interrupt them in the least; they went on with their work, and
except the inspectress, who never failed politely to rise and speak to
us, they did not even seem to take any notice of our being in the room.
The dress of the sisterhood, though not quite uniform, is very nearly
so. They wear plain calico, linen, or stuff gowns, with aprons, and
close tight linen caps, made with a peak in front, and tied under the
chin with a piece of riband. Pink ribands are said to be worn as a badge
by those who are inclined to marry; however, I observed that all the
unmarried women wore them, not excepting those whose age and features
seemed to have excluded them from every chance of becoming the votaries
of Hymen.
The dormitory of the female house is a very spacious apartment in the
upper story, which is aired by a large ventilator in the ceiling. It
contains about fifty boarded beds without testers, each calculated to
hold one person. They sleep here during winter time in the German style,
between two feather beds, to which the sheets and blankets are stitched
fast; in summer time the heat is too great here to admit even of a
single blanket.
After having gone through the different apartments of the female house,
we were conducted by the superintendant into a sort of shop, where
different little articles of fancy work, manufactured by the sisterhood,
are laid out to the best advantage. It is always expected that strangers
visiting the house will lay cut some trifling sum here; and this is the
only reward which any member of the society expects for the trouble of
conducting a stranger throughout every part of the town.
The house of the sisterhood exhibits a picture of the utmost neatness
and regularity, as do likewise the young men’s and the widows houses;
and indeed the same may be said of every private house throughout the
town. The mills, brewery, &c. which are built on the most approved
plans, are also kept in the very neatest order.
Brother Thomas, after having shewn us the different public buildings and
works, next introduced us into the houses of several of the married men,
that were most distinguished for their ingenuity, and in some of them,
particularly at the house of a cabinet maker, we were entertained with
very curious pieces of workmanship. This cabinet maker brought us a book
of Indian ink and tinted drawings, his own performances, which would
have been a credit to a person in his situation in any part of the
world.
[Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]
The manufactures in general carried on at Bethlehem consist of woollen
and linen cloths, hats, cotton and worsted caps and stockings, gloves,
shoes, carpenters, cabinet makers, and turners work, clocks, and a few
ether articles of hardware, &c. &c.
The church is a plain building of stone, adorned with pictures from
sacred history. It is furnished with a tolerable organ, as likewise are
the chapels of the young men’s and young women’s houses; they accompany
their hymns, besides, with violoncellos, violins, flutes, &c. The whole
society attends the church on a Sunday, and when any one of the society
dies, all the remaining members attend his funeral, which is conducted
with great solemnity, though with little pomp: they never go into
mourning for their departed friends.
Every house in the town is supplied with an abundance of excellent water
from a spring, which is forced through pipes by means of an hydraulic
machine worked by water, and which is situated on the banks of the
creek. Some of the houses are supplied with water in every room. The
machine is very simple, and would easily raise the water of the spring,
if necessary, several hundred feet.
The spring from whence the houses are supplied with water stands nearly
in the center of the town, and over it, a large stone house with very
thick walls, is erected. Houses like this are very common in America;
they are called spring houses and are built for the purpose of
preserving meat, milk, butter, &c. during the heats of summer. This
spring house in Bethlehem is common to the whole town; a shelf or board
in it is allotted to each family, and though there is no watch placed
over it, and the door be only secured by a latch, yet every person is
certain of finding, when he comes for it, his plate of butter or bowl of
milk, &c. exactly in the same state as when he put it in.
[Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]
The Moravians study to render their conduct strictly conformable to the
principles of the Christian religion; but very different notions,
notwithstanding, are, and, no doubt, will be entertained respecting some
of their tenets. Every unprejudiced person, however, that has visited
their settlements must acknowledge, that their moral conduct is truly
excellent, and is such as would, if generally adopted, make men happy in
the extreme. They live together like members of one large family; the
most perfect harmony subsists between them, and they seem to have but
one with at heart, the propagation of the gospel, and the good of
mankind. They are in general of a grave turn of mind; but nothing of
that stiffness, or of that affected singularity, or pride, as I will
call it, prevalent amongst the Quakers, is observable in their manners.
Wherever their society has extended itself in America, the most happy
consequences have resulted from it; good order and regularity have
become conspicuous in the behaviour of the people of the neighbourhood,
and arts and manufactures have been introduced into the country.
As the whole of the plot of ground, on which Bethlehem stands; belongs
to the society, as well as the lands for a considerable way round the
town, the Moravians here are not liable to be troubled by intruders, but
any person that will conform to their line of conduct will be received
into their society with readiness and cordiality. They appeared to take
the greatest delight in shewing us their town, and every thing belonging
to it, and at parting lamented much that we could not stay longer with
them, to see still more of the manners and habits of the society.
They do not seem desirous of adding to the number of houses in
Bethlehem; but whenever there is an increase of people, they send them
off to another part of the country, there to form a new settlement.
Since Bethlehem was founded, they have established two other towns in
Pennsylvania, Nazareth and Letitz. The former of these stands at the
distance of about ten miles from Bethlehem, and in coming down from the
Blue Mountains you pass through it; it is about half the size of
Bethlehem, and built much on the same plan. Letitz is situated at a
distance of about ten miles from Lancaster.
The country for many miles round Bethlehem is most pleasingly
diversified with rising grounds; the soil is rich, and better cultivated
than any part of America I before saw. Until within a few years past
this neighbourhood has been distinguished for the salubrity of its
climate, but fevers, chiefly bilious and intermittent, have increased to
a very great degree of late, and, indeed, not only here, but in many
other parts of Pennsylvania, which have been long settled. During the
last autumn, more people suffered from sickness in the well cultivated
parts of the country than had ever been remembered. Various reasons have
been assigned for this increase of fevers in Pennsylvania, but it
appears most probably to be owing to the unequal quantities of rain that
have fallen of late years, and to the unprecedented mildness of the
winters.
Bethlehem is visited during summer time by great numbers of people from
the neighbouring large towns, who are led thither by curiosity or
pleasure; and regularly, twice a week throughout the year, a public
stage waggon runs between it and Philadelphia. We engaged this carriage
to ourselves, and early on the second day from that on which we quitted
Bethlehem, reached the capital, after an absence of, somewhat more than,
five months.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_LETTER _ XXXVIII.
_Leave Philadelphia.—Arrive at New York.—Visit Long Island.—Dreadful
havoc by the Yellow Fever.—Dutch Inhabitants suspicious of
Strangers.—Excellent Farmers.—Number of Inhabitants.—Culture of
Corn.—Immense Quantities of Grouse and Deer.—Laws to protect
them.—Increase of the same.—Decrease of Beavers.—New York agreeable to
Strangers.—Conclusion._
MY DEAR SIR, New York, January 1797.
[Sidenote: LEAVE PHILADELPHIA.]
AFTER having remained a few days at Philadelphia, in order to arrange
some matters preparatory to my taking a final leave of that city, I set
out once more for New York. The month of December had now arrived;
considerable quantities of snow had fallen; and the keen winds from the
north-west had already spread a thick crust of ice over the Delaware,
whole majestic stream is always the last in this part of the country to
feel the chilly touch of the hand of winter. The ice however, was not
yet strong enough to sustain the weight of a stage carriage, neither was
it very readily to be broken; so that when we reached the falls of the
river, where it is usual to cross in going from Philadelphia to New
York, we had to remain for upwards of two hours, shivering before the
bitter blasts, until a passage was opened for the boat, which was to
convey us and our vehicle to the opposite side. The crossing of the
Delaware at this place with a wheel carriage, even when the river is
frozen over and the ice sufficiently thick to bear, is generally a
matter of considerable inconvenience and trouble to travellers, owing to
the large irregular masses of ice formed there, when the frost first
sets in, by the impetuosity of the current, which breaking away the
slender flakes of ice from the edges of the banks, gradually drifts them
up in layers over each other; it is only at this rugged part, that a
wheel carriage can safely pass down the banks of the river.
When the ground is covered with snow, a sleigh or sledge is by far the
most commodious sort of carriage to travel in, as neither it nor the
passengers it contains are liable to receive any injury whatsoever from
an overturn, and as, added to this, you may proceed much faster and
easier in it than in a carriage on wheels; having said then that there
was snow on the ground, it will perhaps be a subject of wonder to you,
that we had not one of these safe and agreeable carriages to take us to
New York; if so, I must inform you, that no experienced traveller in the
middle states sets out on a long journey in a sleigh at the commencement
of winter, as unexpected thaws at this period now take place very
commonly, and so rapid are they, that in the course of one morning the
snow sometimes entirely disappears; a serious object of consideration in
this country, where, if you happen to be left in the lurch with your
sleigh, other carriages are not to be had at a moment’s warning. In the
present instance, notwithstanding the intense severity of the cold, and
the appearances there were of its long continuance, yet I had not been
eight and forty hours at New York when every vestige of frost was gone,
and the air became as mild as in the month of September.
[Sidenote: LONG ISLAND.]
This sudden change in the weather afforded me an opportunity of seeing,
to much greater advantage than might have been expected at this season
of the year, parts of New York and Long Islands, which the shortness of
my stay in this neighbourhood had not permitted me to visit in the
summer. After leaving the immediate vicinage of the city, which stands
at the southern extremity of the former of these two islands, but little
is to be met with that deserves attention; the soil, indeed, is fertile,
and the face of the country is not unpleasingly diversified with rising
grounds; but there is nothing grand in any of the views which it
affords, nor did I observe one of the numerous seats, with which it is
overspread, that was distinguished either for its elegant neatness or
the delightfulness of its situation; none of them will bear any
comparison with the charming little villas which adorn the banks of the
Schuylkill near Philadelphia.
On Long Island much more will be found, in a picturesque point of view,
to interest the traveller. On the western side, in particular, bordering
upon the Narrows, or that contracted channel between the islands,
through which vessels pass in sailing to New York from the Atlantic, the
country is really romantic. The ground here is very much broken, and
numberless large masses of wood still remain standing, through the
vistas in which you occasionally catch the most delightful prospects of
the distant hills on Staten Island and the New Jersey shore, and of the
water, which is constantly enlivened by vessels sailing to and fro.
[Sidenote: LONG ISLAND.]
To an inhabitant of one of the large towns on the coast of America, a
country house is not merely desirable as a place of retirement from
noise and bustle, where the owner may indulge his fancy in the
contemplation of rural scenes, at a season when nature is attired in her
most pleasing garb, but also as a safe retreat from the dreadful
maladies which of late years have never failed to rage with more or less
virulence in these places during certain months. When at Philadelphia
the yellow fever committed such dreadful havoc, sparing neither the rich
nor the poor, the young nor the aged, who had the confidence to remain
in the city, or were unable to quit it, scarcely a single instance
occurred of any one of those falling a victim to its baneful influence,
who lived but one mile removed from town, where was a free circulation
of air, and who at the same time studiously avoided all communication
with the sick, or with those who had visited them; every person
therefore at Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, &c. who is sufficiently
wealthy to afford it, has his country habitation in the neighbourhood of
these respective places, to which he may retire in the hot unhealthy
season of the year; but this delightful part of Long Island, of which I
have been speaking, though it affords such a number of charming
situations for little villas, is unfortunately too far removed from New
York to be a convenient place of retreat to men so deeply engaged in
commercial pursuits as are the greater number of the inhabitants of that
city, and it remains almost destitute of houses; whilst another part of
the island, more conveniently situated, is crowded with them, although
the face of the country is here flat and sandy, devoid of trees, and
wholly uninteresting.
[Sidenote: LONG ISLAND.]
The permanent residents on Long Island are chiefly of Dutch extraction,
and they seem to have inherited all the coldness, reserve, and
covetousness of their ancestors. It is a common saying in New York, that
a Long Island man will conceal himself in his house on the approach of a
stranger; and really the numberless instances of shyness I met with in
the inhabitants seemed to argue, that there was some truth in the
remark. If you do but ask any simple question relative to the
neighbouring country, they will eye you with suspicion, and evidently
drive to disengage themselves from you; widely different from the
Anglo-Americans, whose inquisitiveness in similar circumstances would
lead them to a thousand impertinent and troublesome enquiries, in order
to discover what your business was in that place, and how they could
possibly take any advantage of it. These Dutchmen are in general very
excellent farmers; and several of them have very extensive tracts of
land under cultivation, for the produce of which there is a convenient
and ready market at New York. Amongst them are to be found many very
wealthy men; but except a few individuals, they live in a mean,
penurious, and most uncomfortable manner. The population of the island
is estimated at about thirty-seven thousand souls, of which number near
five thousand are slaves. It is the western part of the island which is
the best inhabited; a circumstance to be ascribed, not so much to the
fertility of the soil as its contiguity to the city of New York. Here
are several considerable towns, as, Flatbush, Jamaica, Brooklynn,
Flushing, Utrecht; the three first-mentioned of which contain each
upwards of one hundred houses. Brooklynn, the largest of them, is
situated just opposite to New York, on the bank of the East River, and
forms an agreeable object from the city.
The soil of Long Island is well adapted to the culture of small grain
and Indian corn; and the northern part, which is hilly, is said to be
peculiarly favourable to the production of fruit. The celebrated Newtown
pippin, though now to be met with in almost every part of the state of
New York, and good in its kind, is yet supposed by many persons to
attain a higher flavour here than in any other part of America.
Of the peculiar soil of the plains that are situated towards the center
of this island, I have before had occasion to speak, when describing
those in the western parts of the state of New York. One plain here,
somewhat different from the rest, is profusely covered with stunted oaks
and pines; but no grain will grow upon it, though it has been cleared,
and experiments have been made for that purpose in many different
places. This one goes under the appellation of Brushy Plain. Immense
quantities of grouse and deer are found amidst the brushwood, with which
it is covered, and which is so well calculated to afford shelter to
these animals. Laws have been passed, not long since, to prevent the
wanton destruction of the deer; in consequence of which they are
beginning to increase most rapidly, notwithstanding such great numbers
are annually killed, as well for the New York market, as for the support
of the inhabitants of the island; indeed it is found that they are now
increasing in most of the settled parts of the states of New York, where
there is sufficient wood to harbour them; whereas in the Indian
territories, the deer, as well as most other wild animals, are becoming
scarcer every year, notwithstanding that the number of Indian hunters is
also decreasing; but these people pursue the same destructive system of
hunting, formerly practised on Long Island, killing every animal they
meet, whether young or full grown. Notwithstanding the strong
injunctions laid upon them by the Canadian traders, to spare some few
beavers at each dam, in order to perpetuate the breed, they still
continue to kill these animals wherever they find them, so that they are
now entirely banished from places which used to abound with, and which
are still in a state to harbour them, being far removed from the
cultivated parts of the country. An annual deficiency of fifteen
thousand has been observed in the number of beaver skins brought down to
Montreal, for the last few years.
[Sidenote: RETURN TO NEW YORK.]
From Long Island I returned to this city; which the hospitality and
friendly civilities I have experienced, in common with other strangers,
from its inhabitants, induce me to rank as the most agreeable place I
have visited in the United States: nor am I singular in this opinion,
there being scarcely any traveller I have conversed with, but what gives
it the same preference. Whilst I continue in America it shall be my
place of residence: but my thoughts are solely bent upon returning to my
native land, now dearer to me than ever; and provided that the ice,
which threatens at present to block up the harbour, does not cut off our
communication with the Atlantic, I shall speedily take my departure from
this Continent, well pleased at having seen as much of it as I have
done; but I shall leave it without a sigh, and without entertaining the
slightest wish to revisit it.
FINIS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ There is a pagination error in the printed book——page 340 is
followed by page 441. There is no discontinuity in the text.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);.
○ The use of a caret (^) before a letter, or letters, shows that the
following letter or letters was intended to be a superscript, as
in S^t Bartholomew or 10^{th} Century.
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