Newspaper Page Text
* JT’
CHEROKEE
:»St
VOL. I.
NEW ECHOTA, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3, 1828.
■ 1 — -1
NO. 40.
[-SUITED BY ELIAS BOUDINOFT.
PRINTED WEEKLY BY
ISAAC II. HARRIS,
for 'THE CHEROKEE NATION.
A.t #2 50 if paiil in advance, $3 in six
months, or #3 50 if paid at the end of the
year.
To subscribers who can read only the
Cherokee language th<* price will be $2,00
in advance, or $2,50 to be paid within the
year.
Every subscription will be considered as
continued unless subscribers give notice to
the contrary before the commencement ol a
new year.
Any person procuring six subscribers,
and becoming responsible for the payment,
shall receive a seventh gratis.
Advertisements will be inserted at seven-
W-five cents per square for the first inser
tion, and thirty-seven and a half cents lor
lach continuance; longer ones in propor
tion. ^ l
SCF* All letters addressed to the Editor,
post paid, will receive due attention.
J «f .9 U 0* AD IiSiJF. C.® A.
X>9\V£&X TAAfl* V-V* JhrfBAa K4oi)Jt.
B8AF, UTiWhAvey KTJ1 D^P D>ejBJ
TCTZ TF.iBO-f*
TCTZ t»VP -Td&O-A TB DO ii&trtJKo? KT
tpojn.j; p-4<*a. otaA^Ez tb yiv
0-y/tT D,1P 0“e,lBJ *4<»A.
Givyz unesna^y, wp*v**
PS.TSJI I-4<».I r'MBtf", TCTZ TF..U(>!r»D0-
KT/iz d^p Ooty-y* o>».ib-
EMIt D6J»5ot)I v «l^I.
kGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE
PHCENIX.
The following persons are authorized to.
write subscriptings and payments for the
Dherokee Phoenix.
Messrs. Pierce &, Williams, No. 20
Garnet St. Boston, Mass.
George M. Tracy, Agent of the A.B.
5, F. M. New York.
Rev. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y.
Pollard &. Converse, Richmond, Va.
Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C
William Moultrie Reid, Charleston,
i. C.
Col. George Smith, Statesville, W. T.
William M. Combs, Nashville Ten.
Rev. Bennet Roberts—Powal Me.
Mr. Thos. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen-
ieinan.)
Jeremiah Austil, Mobile Ala.
From the National Intelligencer.
Gentlemen: Seeing in your paper a
I ice from a New York paper, of the
imber, &c. of the Winnebago nation
Indians, from a deputation of whom
s are expecting a visit, and stating
eir warriors to be 1200-—I take the
>erty of oiFering you a few observa-
>ns ori the same subject, extracted
im my manuscript journal, made
ith great care and circumspection,
lilst travelling in the Winnebago
untry in the Summer of 1827.
Yours, &c. P-
fVie Little Hill of the Bend Fox River, )
August 1827. )
“The Indians in these regions, (the
innebagoes particularly,) are he
wed tA increase. From the Salu-
ity of the atmosphere, the great
entities of wild rice, the number &
ality of their com and bear patches,
t especially the swarms of children,
iresutne it is so. Maj. Brevooyt,
e Agent at Green Bay, thinks there
e not less than 8000 Winnebagoes,
d 2,500 Menomonies. * 1 , But I be-
ive his estimate, as to the former, is
cessive. 1 spared no pains to as-
irtnin their number wherever I trav-
ed, by counting the wigwams and
labitatlts at every village, and esti-
iting the numbers at the villages
ly heard of, in the same ratio; and I
l confident, that, at the very extent
Rock river, and in its vicinity, from
e mouth of Turtle Creek, (40 miles
>m the Mississippi,) up, embracing
; large village at the hea.d of Winne-
go Lake, and the two at the foot,
sides the village at Bears-oil Lake
Fox river, there are not more than
0 souk; and, according to the best
counts 1 can get, these are more
m a third part of the whole nation.
they can muster four hamdretl war-
rs, it fs as much.
Winndffagoh a name given by oth
er Indians; from Weenybeegk, (a
Chippewa town,) or Weenypaykw,
(Menomanie,) which, I am told, signi
fies at the dirty water; literally the peo
ple who liae at the dirty water. It is a
word compounded of something whi-*
I don ©t know, signify ing dirty, & Wee-
beesh, (Chippeway,) water—or Nip-
pay woo, Menomania,) same significa
tion. Hence, some think they once
dwelt on the borders of Lake Winne-
pick or JVeenybeegk. They are call
ed, very appropriately, by the French,
Puant, (the Stinkers.) To specificate,
I would say, Peditores; lor though all
Indians are much given to this disgus-
ting practice, these evince far less
concern in it than any others of whom
I have any knowledge. In other re-
«per.to, they are as sweet a tribe of In
dians as any, though truly they do
give loose to almost every impulse of
nature, save one, without regard to
age, sex, or condition. The females,
however, are not quite so indecent as
the males. Their proper name is
Hoat-shungrur-nar, or Oat-shog-ur-ah.
The Wiunebagoes have less inter
course with the Whites than any oth.-
er Indians east of the Mississippi; con
sequently, they retain their pristime
manners & customs in greater purity,
and have contracted fewer vices.—
True, they will steal from White
People, (but this is no crime with
them,) and, like other Indians, are
lazy; yet we lost nothing by them,
though entirely at their mercy, and
the only uncivilized Indian l ever saw
working in a corn field, was a Winne
bago. But he was good deal confu
sed at being detected in the character
of a woman. They have no idea of
the strength of the United States.—
They suppose our chief strength lies
at Prairie du Chien, Green Bay, and
the Lead Mines—and those who have
seen St. Louis, think that no town
can surpass it; and they believe that
our nation is entirely dependent on
Great Britain for all manner of mer
chandise; in which there is more truth
than there ought to be.
Considering their ignorance in re
gard to the United States, I do not
think a proper course has been pur
sued towards (hem. They have nev
er, like other Indians, been shewed
the strength of the nation; and the
whites around them, instead of endeav
ouring to conciliate, treat them with
scorn, and as enemies; as inlvyders,
rather than as the rightful owners of
the soil. Were a few of their chiefs
to be taken to our principal cities,
and afterwards some honest man plac
ed among them, who Would be as their
own father, the Government would
have no friends more devotedly at
tached than they. Their language is
badly understood; and it having been
their policy to avoid as much as pos
sible all intercourse with the Ameri
cans, (Mah-hayhuhterra) they know
less of them, and arc less known by
them, than any Indians, perhaps, East
of the Rocky Mountains. They are
ignorant, it is true, of what we know;
but they are naturally sensible and
brave—of a lofty and independant spi
rit—and extremely, jealous of-their
rights. They are warm in their
friendships, but implacable in their
resentments, and of all Indians should
suppose them to be the most difficult
to treat with.
The Wennebagoes of Rock, river
have fewer dogs, but more healthy-
looking children, are more industrious,
drink less, and have better corn and
other patches, than any Indians I have
ever seen. They trim their hair
more like white people than any other
Indians; and the custom of plucldng
out the eye bi'ows, is peculiar, I believe,
to this nation. They paint so freely,
that this peculiarity might be unob
served, St perhaps it is only tempora
ry, as several persons, who have been
trading with them for years, never ob
served it until I pointed it out to them.
The Winnebagoes have a wonder
ful abhorrence of hanging. Tliere
ij», perhaps, no other mode of taking a
way life which they hate and ihudder
at. The reason is singular and e-
nough indeed to harrow ui/ my soul
which has a “longing after immortali
ty,” and make it “shrink back upon
itself” with horror, besides the mor
tification of their pride, which is great,
as they say hanging is the 4eath for dogs
—they think that the soul, or spirit, is
stopped by the cord, entirely prevented
from escaping. Supposing the throat to
be its only avenue of escape, they can
form no idea of what has become of it
when life is extinguished by a cord
round the neck, unless it be deitroyed
or fixed in the body, aud consijmed^o
eternal amalgamation with it in the
grave, never to reach the hapiy land
of their fathers and friends. Such
idea, no doubt, cause them sometimes
to commit suicide in prison.
They are exceedingly generous—
at Bears Oil Lake having shared with
our guide our last supper, and the list
of our provisions, we were surprised
to see the poor hungry fellow, after
walking and fasting all day, divide t,
without being requested, among a
number of Indians who had just cone
from the village. He ate but litte
more than one mouthful, & appeared js
well satisfied as if he had ate a full meal.
After our visiters retired, we gave
the generous guide something which
r emained of our share, at which he
expressed the most astonishing sir-
prise, joy, and thankfulness. It is
seldom that eVen a child will eat aiy
thing that is given to it, without fust
running with it to its mother to tale
part or divide it among all the chil
dren. 1 have frequently been delight
ed with this noble display of infant vir
tue.
The Winnebagoes not having the
Gospel, hale the Americans, believing
them to be. their enemies.
DUTIES OF THE MIDDLE
AGED.
Education.—The active spirit, of
the age is awake on the subject of ed
ucation. On no other subject, per
haps, is it more awake. It begins
to scrutinize the books in current use,
to pry into the different modes of in
struction, to point out deficiencies, to
expose neglects and abuses, aud de
mand reform and improvement. And
reform and improvement will be the
result. Children may be taught with
but little increase of expense, a hun
dred fold more knowledge during the
first fourteen or fifteen years of their
lives, than that which has ordinarily
been obtained within this period.—
You may regard this statement as hy
perbolical; but I believe it literal!^
true, though I cannot, in this place,
enter minutely into the grounds of my
confidence. My firm conviction is
that if God should spare any of us
who are now in middle life, to old agej
we shall see such d complete reform
of the views of parents in regard to the
importance of education, such an im
provement in the books used, and the
modes of instruction Jsdopted in our
common schools, as well as in the skill
of the teachers, as shall make the
whole system inconceivably more
practical and efficacious taan it now is.
Selecting Places for ChiUren ---How
often do we hear parents uie language
not unlike this: I am goinj to place
my child with such a person, in this,
or in that, situation. I do not alto
gether like the place. His employer
is not a man of principle; and I fear
he will not have correct sentiments
instilled into his mind; that he will
not always hear the most decorous
language, or have exhibited before
him the fairest examples of virtue;
but the situation is a very advanta
geous one: my child’s master is skilled
in his art, and is a thorough man of bu
siness; and more than all, he makes
him the fairest offers, and will proba
bly be the means of setting him up in
the world. The situation is there
fore chosen, and the child, at a highly
susceptible age, is consigned over to
the most pernicious moral influences,
with perhaps a solemn charge not to
suffer his mind to be affected by them.
This is not fancy, but melancholy fact.
Conduct strongly resembling this is
not unfrequently exhibited; and how-
eye r consistent it may be with kind
ness of heart, the wisdom it evinces
resembles nothing so much as that of
a parent who should precipitate his
child into the crater of a volanoe,
charging him at the same time to guard
himself against thq assaults of the
fiery waves that rolled below.
My friends, you give your children
good moral and religious instruction.
You do well; shew them both when
you are imparting it, and subsequent
ly—shew them by all that you do,
and say, that you believe what you teach
—that you mean to act according to
the elevated principles which you in
culcate.
Influence of Bad Companions.—An
other unhappy cause of failure in mor
al education, too common to be pass
ed over in silence, is the influence of
bad companions. I here refer to the
companions of childhood. Through
their unhappy agency, your best in
structions and most assiduous efforts
may be entirely defeated. Guard
your dear child then, to every practi
cable extent, against such pernicious
influence. He needs but few associ
ates out of your own family—choose
those for him; and if you cannot make
him worthy of such as are good, it
were better than that he should have
none. No parent ought ever to be ig
norant where, and with whom, his child
spends his hours of recreation, unless
he wishes to educate him for perdi
tion. It is task enough to train up a
child in the way to life, without hav
ing him often encompassed with a
throng, whose example and entire in
fluence is calculated to entice him
from duty, and hurry him down the
broad road to destruction. Strive to
make home pleasant to your children.
Do not needlessly interrupt or dis
courage their innocent amusements;
but strive to raise their minds above
undue attachment to them, by excit
ing a taste for books, and furnishing
them with such as are most interest
ing and instructive, and wisely adapt
ed to their age and attainments. No
person can imagine how much may be
done in this way, till he has made a
thorough trial. The difference in ef
fect, upon the mind and heart, be
tween spending an evening in perusing
an entertaining book, and spending it
with childish, not to say wicked' asso
ciates, in folly, and in vain, perhaps
corrupting conversation, is unspeaka
bly great.—Linsley.
Elephant Hunting.—Extract of a
letter from a Medical Officer, dated
Hambantoti, Island of Ceylon, Febru
ary 26th: “I have just returned from
"I beholding a sight, which, even in this
country, is a rare occurrence, viz: an
Elephant hunt, conducted undar the
orders of Government. A minute de
scription, though well worth pe
rusal, would be far too long for a let
ter; I shall therefore only give you
what is generally termed a faint idea.
Imagine two or three thousand men
surrounding a tract of country six or
eight miles in circumference, each
one armed with different- combusti
bles and’ moving fires; in the midst
suppose three hundred elephants, be
ing driven towards the centre by the
gradual and regular approach of those
fires, till, at last, they are confined
within a circle of about two miles;
they are then driven by the same
means into a space made by the erec
tion of immense logs of ebony, and
other strong wood, bound together by
cane, and of the shape, in minature,
of the longitudinal section of a funnel,
towards which they rush with the
greatest fury, amidst the most horrid
yells, on the approach of tiro, of which
they stand in the greatest dread.—
When enclosed, they become outra
geous, and charge on all sides with
great fury, but without any effect on
the strong barricado- They at length
gain th« narrow path of the enclosure,
the extreme end of which is jusi hu ge
enougii to admit one elephant, wlikh
is immediately prevented from ure 0 n-
ing out by strong bars laid across.—
To express their passion, iheir despe
ration, when thus confined, is impossi
ble; and still more so, to imagine the
facility and admirable contrr. an. i y
which they are removed and tamed.
Thus it is: A tame elephant is plac
ed on each side, to whom the wiid one
is fastened by ropes; he is then allow
ed to pass out, and immediately on . s
making the least resistance, the tame
one gives him a most tremendi h
squeeze between their sides, and beat
him with (heir ti unks until he subirn-s;
they then lead him to a place ready
prepared, to which he is suo;.. ,
tened, and return to perform (lie same
civility to the next one. in this y.ay,
seventy wild elephants were captur
ed for the purpose of Governmei.. la
bor. The tame elephants daily take
each wild one singly Jto water and to
feed, until they become quite tame
and docile. The remaining i «
were shot by the people. I took pos
session of a young one, and have h m
him now tied up near iny door; he is
quite reconciled, and eats il!i t <-
greatest confident e out of my hanc-,;
he is, however, too expensive to ke<
long, and I fear I must eventually sb>. t
him. Some idea of the expense m:y
be supposed, when I (ell you that in
one article alone (milk) his allow ai; e
is tw r o gallons per day. I was at tl is
scene with thirty other officers , d
their ladies, and we remained in tem
porary huts for nearly ten days,”
The Lakes of Jhncnca.—Wc publish
ed a paragraph some time since, in
which it was stated that Lake Supe
rior was gradually wearing away the
barrier which prevented the discharge
of its w aters into the lakes below r d
that fears were entertained of a sud
den inundation, before many ytais
should have passed. Some attention
has been drawn to this fact—for a fa, t
it is slated to be—and intelligent gen
tlemen living on the borders of Hie
lakes have investigated the subject
with considerable scrutiny. Some of
the facts which follow, are the re
sult.
The floods, this season, which have
prevailed in the lakes, have l,
greater than those for many years fast.
A regular ebb and flood exists in the
lakes, not like that in the ocean, but
occurring every seven years, and pio-
ceeding from a different and unknown
cause. It is contended by some per
sons that this is not the fact: and lin t
the cause of the unusual height of' ihe
waters this season, is owing to the
great snows and rains of the preceding-
winter. They refer, triumphantly^
the high water of 1827 to the same
cause. According to their them v the
water should have begun to fall -n
1827—but the fact is," it was then
some inches higher than it had been
the preceding year. Last winter,
1827—8, is known to have furnished
few falls of snow, and comparatively
few of rain; and in the regions of the
lakes, there was less than had been
for many years previous, and the
spring rains were not more than or
dinary round Lake Superior, Michi
gan and Huron, though they were
heavy on Eric and Ontario; yet all the
lakes below Superior are this summer
much higher than they were last; and
higher, too, th»n they were known to
be by the oldest person living in their
vicinity. Lake Superior is now much
lower than it has been for three years
past. This fact is accounted for bv
the circumstance of large fragments
of rocks having been recently remov
ed from the head of the Rapids be
tween Superior & Huron, by the ac
tion of the water on the barrier of lime-
rock which fences up this imme* se
sheet of lvater eighteen feet above L.
Huron. This circumstance clearly
demonstrates that Lake Superior
gradually washing away the barrier
which keeps its waters in their prop,
er plaee, and satisfactorily account#