OR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RED RACE OF AMERICA. FROM ORIGINAL NOTES AND MANUSCRIPTS. For BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, Memb. Royal Geographical Society of London, and of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, NEW YORK & LONDON: 1845. Park. 19.18 Hard Ollege Library 3: mest of FRANCIS PARKMAN Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. S W. BENEDICT, STER. AND PRINT, 16 Spruce Street, New York. MICROFILMED AT HARVARD 47.41 INDEX. The White Stone Canoe.... The Lynx and Hare, a Fable ............................ Onawutaquotto, or the Worship of the Sun.. Shingebiss.... Names of the American Lakes. Shingaba-Wossins, or Image Stones (with a Print) Pawnee Barbarity Personal Reminiscences.. Picture Writing among the North American Indians (with a Print). 7 9 10 13 15 17 20 22 27 A Wyandot Tradition, recorded by J H. Kinzie, Esq., under the name of Ho-tshung-rah Personal Incidents and Impressions of the Red Race. Part I....... ..129 ....135 Bosh Kwa Dosh, a Tradition of the Elephant or some large Pachydermata. Summary view of Brant, Red Jacket, Uncas and Miontonimo Autobiographical Letters of John Johnston, Esq Idea of an American Literature based on Indian Mythology... The Legend of the Little Spirit, or Boy-Man.... A Synopsis of Cartier's Second Voyage, 1535 Ethnology (Continued)....... Autobiographical Letters of J. Johnston, Esq. (Continued). Wanbojeeg, or the White Fisher of Lake Superior..... .233 -246- .248 .254 ..256 ..260 .263 267 274 285 .286 .295 ..306 .318 320 .321 .332 .345 .352 ..by the same ... ......348 ...........352 .......364 A Sketch of the Mythology and Superstitions of the Algonquins.. Indian Property Appraised by Government........ Death of Gen. Clark, the Companion of Lewis, in Exploring the Columbia PREFACE. THE following announcement in the First Number of this work, in August, 1844, denotes its origin : “More than thirty years have passed since, by a change of residence from Central to Western New York, the writer was first placed in a position to observe the Red Race of this continent. The public are apprised, that he had devoted several years of this period in exploratory journeys, in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri, before he entered the service of the U. S. Government, as an Agent for these tribes. Two and twenty years of his life, he may add, have been passed in the various capacities of an Executive Agent, a Commissioner, and a Superintendant of Indian Affairs, for the Northern Department. "Having received numerous letters of inquiry from various quarters on this head, since his return from the Eastern Hemisphere to his native State, it is supposed that a general interest may be felt to know something more fully of the results of his experience, observation and adventurous positions, in so wide a field. It is, in truth, to test this opinion, which is not, perhaps, well founded or general, that the following extracts and memoranda, selected from his notes and papers, are published. The design is to continue them for a few numbers, at convenient intervals, to enable the reader to form his own opinion on the subject. "In making this essay, it was thought appropriate that a title for it should be selected from the language of the people, whose history and traits are brought into discussion. The term Oneóta is the name of one of these aboriginal tribes (the Oneidas). It signifies, in the Mohawk dialect, the people who are sprung from a Rock. It is a term which will do as well as any for the entire race, until we obtain better lights." In giving to these detached issues a consolidated form, the author has thought that some further notice of his plan and details would not be inappropriate. Some readers have expressed to him strong objections to the retention of the title ONEÓTA, as a synonym for the volume; others have been equally candid in their disapproval of the plan of a miscellany; but while he respects the opinions of friends, he has not been able to yield to the force of these objections. No one has so complete a view of the materials at his command, as the author himself. It still appears to him that a term derived from one of the languages of the people who are the subject of remark, is best suited to give individuality to the work; while the materials themselves, being chiefly membra disjecta of his researches and studies in the American forest, naturally assume a miscellaneous aspect. The work is, indeed, essentially a miscellany; its papers are, to a great extent, independent of each other, often diverse in their subject, and owing their character to witnesses living at, or traditions gleaned from, remote places; and no attempt has been made, or was originally designed, to digest them into a compact whole. |