Cherokee phoenix. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1828-1829, December 03, 1828, Image 1

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    VOL. L.
ADITED BY ELIAS BOUDINOMM.
~ PRINTED WEEKLY BY |
ISAACHE .;%IARRIS,
© Fpog THE CHEROKEE NATION. =
At $250 if paid in advance, $8 in six
‘months, or %3 50 if paid at the end of the
‘year. ;
To subscribers who can read only the
Gherokee langnage the price will be $2,00
‘in advance, or $2,50 to be paidswithin thre
year. : o
Every subscription will be considered as
sontinued unless subscribers give notice to
the contrary before the commencement of a
néw year. = - ]
Any parson procuring six subscribers,
and becoming respon ible for the payment,
shall receive a seventh gratis, :
~ Adyertisements will be inserted at sevens
fw-five cents per square for the first inser
tlon, and thiriy-seven and a half cents for
each continuance;. longer .nes in propor-
Woa. 4
3P Al letters addressed to the Editor,
post paid, will receive due attention.
AGENTS FOR THE 'CHEROKEE
PHENIX, ®
. Thefollowing persons are authorized to
veceive subscriptions and payments for the
Gherokee Phanix.
, Messrs. Prrce & Wirrrans, No. 20
Ma ket St. Boston, Mass.
Groser M. Tracy, Agent ofthe A. B.
®: F. M. New York,
~ Rev. A. D. Eooy, Canandaigua, N. Y,
- aromas Hasrinas, Utica, N, Y.
Porrirp & CoNVERSE, Richmond, Va.
Rav. James Caveeery, Beaufort, S.4C
Wirrian Movurriz Reip, Charleston,
8 X
Gl GeorgE SMITH, Statesville, W. T.
Witriam M, Couss, Nashville ‘Len.
Reav. BENNAT Roserrs—Powal Me,
M-, Tros. R. GoLp, (anitinérant Gen
tleman.) =
Jerpuran AusTis, Mobile Ala.’
~ PFromthe National Intelligencer. )
Gentlemen: Seeing in your paper a
notice from a New York paper, of the
aumber, &¢. of the Winaebago nation
of fndians. from a deputation of whom
we are expecting a visit, and stating
their warriors to be 1200—I take the
liberty of offering you a few observa
tions on the same subject, extracted
from my manuseript journal, made
with great care end circumspection,
whilst travelling in the Winnebago
‘eountry in the Summer of 1827.
4 Yours, &c. P
The Litile i{ill of ihe Dead Fox River,
% August 1827, }
«The Indians in these regions, (the
Winnehagoes particularly,) are be
lieved to increase. ~ From the Salu
brity of the atmosphere, the great
wuantities of wild sice, the number &
quality of thewr corn and bear patches,
but especially the swarms of children,
1 presume it is sO. Maj. Brevoort,
the Asent at Green Bay, thinks there
are not Jess than 3000 Winuebagoes,
and 2,500 Menomonies. But I be-
Yeve his estimate, asto the former, is
‘excessive. Isparedno pains to as
sertain their number wherever I trav
elled, by counting the wigwams and
inhabitants at every village, and esti
‘mating the numbers at the villages
_only heard of, in the same ratio; and I
am confident, that, at the very extent
on Rock river, and in its vicinity, from
¢he mouth of Turtle Creek, (40 miles
#rom the Mississippi,) up, embracing
the large village at the head of Winne
bago Lake, and the two at the foot,
besides the village at Bears-oil Lake
of Fox river, there are not more than
600-souls; and, according to the best
accounts I can get, these are more
thana third part of the whole nation.
If they can muster four hundred war
fiors, it #s as rauch. - :
Winnebago is a name given by oth
er Indians; from Weenybeegk, (a
‘Chippewa town,) or Weenypaykw,
(Menomanie,) which, lam told, signi
fies at the dirty water; literally the peo
ple who lice at the dirty water. It is a
word compounded of something whice,
I don ot know, signifying dirty, & Wee
beesh, (Chippeway,) water—or Nip
paywoo, Menomania,) same significa
tion. Hence, some think they once
dwelt on the borders of Lake Winne
pick ox Weenybeegk. They are eall
ed, very appropriately, by the French,
Puant, (the Stinkers.) To specificate,
[ would say, Peditores; for though all
[ndians are much given to this disgus
ting practice, these eviuce far less
concern in it than any others of whom
‘I have any knowledge. . In other re
spects, they are as sweet a_tribe of In
dians as any, though truly they do
give loose 30~a1ni(‘)st every impulse of
nature, save one, without regard to
age, sex, or condition. The females,
however, are not guife so indecent os
the males. 'l'heir proper nmame is
Hoat-shung-ur-nar, or Oat-shog-ur-ah.
The Wiunebagoes have less inter
course with the Whites than any eth
er Indians east of the Miississippi; con
“sequently, they retain their pristime
‘manners & customs in greater purity,
‘and have contracted fewer vices.—
‘True, they will steal (rom White
People, (but this is no erime with
them,) and, like other indians, are
lazy; yet we lost nothing by them,
though entively at their merey, and
the only uncivilized Indian I ever saw
working in a corn field, was a Winne
bago. Buthe was good deal confu
sod at being detected in the character
of a woman. 'They have no idea of
the strength of-the United States.—
They suppose our chief stréngth 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 mauner of mer
‘chandise; in which there is more truth
‘thai there ought to be. :
~ Considering their ignorance in re
gard to the United States, I do not
‘think a proper course has been pur
isued towards them. 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 intruders.
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 are less known by
“them, than any Indians, perhaps, East
of the Rocky Mountains. They are
ignorant, it is true, of what we know;
but tlrey 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 plucking
out the eye brows, is peculiar, I believe,
to this nation. They paint so freely,
that this peculiarity might be unob
served, & perhaps it is only tempora
ry, as several persons, who have been
trading with them {or years, never ob
served it until I pointed it out to them.
The Winnebagoes have a wonder
ful abhorrence of hanging. There
is, perhaps, no other mode of taking a-
NEW ECHOTA, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3, 18¢S.
way life which they hate and shudder
at. The reason is singular; and e
nough indeed to harrow up 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 death for dogs
—they think that the soul, or spirit, is
stopped by the cord, & entirely prevented
fromescaping.- Supposing the throat to
be its only avenue of escape, they can
formno idea of what has become oi it
when life is extinguished by a cord
round the neck, nnless it be destroyed
or fired in the body, aud _consigned to
eternal amalgamation with it in the
grave, never to reach the happy land
of their fathers and friends. Such
idea, no doabt, canse 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 last
of our provisicss, we were surprised
to see the poor hungry fellow, after
walking and fasting all day, divide it,
l without being requested, among a
number of Indians who had just come
from the village,, He ate but little
' more than one mouthful, &appeared as
well satistied asif hehad ate a full meal.
After our visiters retired, we gave
the generous guide something which
remained of our share, at which he
expressed . the most astonishing sur
prise, joy,-and. thankfulness. It is
seldom that evena child will eat any
thing that i¢ given to it, without first
running with it to its mother to take
part or divide it among all the chil
dren. Ihave frequently been delight
ed with this noble display of infant vir
tue.
The Wirnebagoes not having the
Gospel, hate'the Americans, believing
them to be their enemies.
DUTIES OF THE MIDDLE
: AGED.
Edycation.—The active spirit of
the age is awake on the subject of ed
ucation. On no other subject, per
haps, is it more awake. Ii 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, and de
mand reform and improvement. And
reform and improvement will be the
result. Children may be taught with
but little increase of expense, ¢ 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 literally
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 age,
we shall see such a 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 adopted in our
common schools, as well as in the skill
of the teachers, as shall make the
whole system inconceivably more
practical and efficacious than it now is.
‘Selecting Places for Children —How
often do we hear parents use language
not unlike this: T am going to place
my child with such a person, in this,
or in that, situation. Ido 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 move than all,ghe makes
him the fairest offers, and will proba
bly be the means of setting him up in
the world. The situatiog*ii “there
fore chosen, and the child, at a highly
susceptible age, is consighé&;!’ove:.to
the most pernicions moral influences,
with perhaps a splemn charge pot to
J R
suffer his mind to beaffected by them.
This ismot fancy, but melancholy fact.
| Conduct strongly resembling this is
not unfrequently exhibited; and how
ever 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
himsell against the assaults of the
fiery waves that rolled below.
My friends, you give zour children
%ood moral and religious instruction.
ou 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. i
Influence of Bad Companions.— An
other unhappy cause of failure n mor
al education, too common to be pass
ed over in silence, is the influence of
bad companions. 1 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, toevery practi
cable extent, against such pernicious
influence. He needs but few associ
.ates out of your own family—choose
those for him; and i[you‘éz‘*ot make
“him worthy of such as are good, it
~were better than that he should have
none. No parent ought ever to be iz
norant where, end 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 hay
ing him often encompassed with a
throng, whose example and entire in
fluence is calculated to entice him
from duty, and hursy him down the
broad road to destruction. Strive to
make home pleasant to your children.
Donot 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 beoks, 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 miad 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.
Eiephant Hunling.—Extract of a
letter from a Medical Officer, dated
Hambantoti, Island of Ceylon, Febru
ary 26th: ‘I have just returned from
beholding a sight, which, even in this
country, is a rare occurrence, viz: an
Elephant hunt, conducted under 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
'surroundinga tract of country six or
eight miles in circumference, each
tone‘ 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 fire, 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 barricade. They at length
gain the narrow path of the enclosure,
NO. 40.
the extreme end of which 1s just large
enough to admit one elephant, which
is immediately prevented from breake
ing out. by strong bars laid across.—
To express their passion, their despe~
ration, when thus confined, is impossi
ble; and still more so, to imagine the
facility and admirable contrivance by
which they are removed and tamed.
Thus it is:” A tame elephant is plac
ed on each si'e, to whom the wiid one
is fastened by ropes; he is then allows
ed to pass out, and immediately on his
making the least resistance, the tame
one gives him a most tremendous
squeeze between their sides, and beat
him with their tiunks until he submiiss
they then lead him to a place ready
prepared, to which he is strongly il.s
-tened, and return to perform the same
civility to the next one. In this way,
seventy wild elephants were capture
ed for the purpose of Goverument la
bor. The tame elephants daily tuke
each wild one singly to water and to
feed, until they become quite tame
and docile. The remaining efci s
were shot by the people. I took pose
session of a young one, and have got
him now tied up near my door; he is
quite reconciled, and eats with the
greatest confidence out of my -hand;
he is, however, too expensive to keep
long, and I fear I must evientpa-lix.,shoot
him. Some idea of the expense may.
be supposed, when I tell you that in
one article alone (milk) his allowance
is two gallons per day. I was-at-this
scene with thirty other officers and
their ladies, and we remained in tem
porary huts for nearly ten days.”
- The Lakes of America.—-We publishe
~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
i of its waters into the lakes below. and
that fears were entertained of a sud
den inundation, before many years
shouldhave passed. Some attention
has been drawn to this fact—for a fact
it is stated to be—and intelligent gen
! tlemen living on the borders of the
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 been
~greater than those for many years past.
A regular ebb and flood exists in the
i lakes, not like that in the ocean, but
- occurring every seven years; and pro
| ceeding from a different and unknown
cause. It is contended by some per
sons that this is not the fact: and that
the cause of the unusual height of the
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 theory, the
water should have begun to fall in
- 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 Erie and Ontario; yet all the
lakes below Superior are this summer
much higher than they were last: and
higher, too, than they were known to
be by the oldest person living in theip
vicinity. Lake Superior is now much
lower than it has been for three years
past. 'This fact is accounted for hy
the circumstance of large fragments
of rocks having been recently remoy
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 immense
sheet of water eighteen feet above 1..
Huron. This circumstance clearly
demonstrates that Lake Superior ig
gradually washing away the barriex
which keeps its waters in_theit prop
er glace, and watisfactorily acedunts :
T ᏣᎳᏛ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ ᎯᎠ ᏂᎦᎥᏧᎬᏩᎶᏗ.,
. ᎦᏭᎪᏓᏆᏍᏗ ᎢᎪᎯᏛ ᏌᏉ ᏧᏂᎴᏢᏁᏗ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ.
ᏴᏫᏁᎬ ᏗᏂᏬᏂᏗᏍᎩ ᏦᎢᏁ ᎠᏰᏢ ᎤᎾᎫᏴᏘ
ᏑᏎᏍᏘ, ᎢᏳᏃ ᎢᎬᏪᏅᏛ ᎠᎾᏮᎫᏱᏍᎨᏍᏗ.
ᎢᏳᏃ ᎥᏬᏓᏢ ᎢᏯᏅᎪ ᎢᏴ ᎠᎾᎫᏱᏍᎬᏍᏗ, ᏦᎢ
ᎠᎸᎯᎸ ᎤᎾᎫᏴᏗ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ. ᎠᏕᏗᏱᏍᎬᏃ ᎢᏴ ᎩᎳ
ᎠᎾᎫᏱᏍᎨᏍᏗ, ᏅᎩᏁᎢ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎤᎾᎫᏴᏘ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ.
ᏣᎳᎩᏃ .ᎤᏩᏒ ᏗᏂᏬᏂᏗᏍᎩ, ᏔᎵᏢᏛ. ᎠᏕᎸ
ᏬᎫᏰᏘ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ ᏑᏕᏘᏴᏛ, ᎢᏳᏃ ᎢᎬᏪᏅᏛ ᎠᎧ”
ᎫᏱᏍᏓᏍᏗ.” ᏦᎢᏁᏃ ᎠᏰᏢ ᎾᏍᎩᏉ ᎤᏕᏘᏴ”
ᏌᏗᏘᏒ ᎠᎾᎫᏱᏍᎨᏍᏗ.