The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-16 00:00:00

THE CREEK INDIANS.

(From Hall's Travdd in North America.)
On the Ist day of April, 1828, we crossed •'
the river Chatahoochie, and entered the country
of the Creek Indians. At the Agency, and along
the sides of the road, for a considerable distance,
we saw crowds of those miserable wretches who
had been dislodged from their ancient territory
to the eastward of the river, but had not yet
taken root in the new lands allotted to them. It
is true, they had received a pecuniary compensa-
tion on the extinction of their titles to the land
of their forefathers ; yet they were men of far too
improvident habits to have brought their new
lands into cultivation ; and consequently, when
their stock of money was expended, they were
left in a state bordering on 'starvation. In similar
circumstances, a party of New Englanders would
have cleared away the trees, built themselves
houses, and the whole right bank of the river,
with every other spot of fertile soil, would have
been under the plough in half the time. But
to these poor Indians, who had lived chiefly by
hunting and whose farming operations were con-
fined to a garden near their huts, the labour of
clearing a new country was quite out of the
question ; and great numbers of them actually
perished from want. ;The United States agent,
however, I was glad to see, was assisting them
with provisions 'and clothing, and I have no
doubt relieved their distress materially. As we
left the Chatandochie behind us, and travelled
through the woods to the Westward, we gradually
lost sight of that part of the Creek tribe who
were wandering about like bees whose hive has
been destroyed, and came upon Indians of the
same race, who were still allowed to live on the
lands which had descended to them from their
ancestors.

On the evening of the second day, after leav-
ing Colombus, we reached the house of another
of the United States agents, who resides among,
the Indians, and is one of the channels of com-
munication between them and the Government.
We could not have arrived at a more fortunate
moment, as it was the eve of one of their grand
ball-plays ; an exhibition, the agent told us, well
worth seeing—from its being a perfectly genuine,
unsophisticated display of the • Indians who had
resided on the spot from time immemorial. The
play itself was to take place next morning, but
our considerate host advised me to see the pre-
paratory ceremonies, and very kindly offered to
accompany the to one of their council squares,
distant about a league from his house.
It appears, that the inhabitants of one Indian
village always play against those of another, and
as those games are not mere matters of sport, but
the chief object of their lives, a great deal of cere-
mony, and many previous arrangements are
necessary.
The moon rose when we were about half wav
to the scene where the Indians were assembled.
The night was bright and frosty, and so perfectly
still that we could hear the shrill cries of the
savages, and the thumpings of their barbarous
music, at the distance of more than a mile.
The pine barren, seen by moon-light, had a very
striking appearance ; and so had one of the In-
dian villages through which we passed. It con-
sisted of about 20 log huts, each of them. guard-
ed by a brace of dogs, which, in the absence of
their masters, assembled in a circle round our
horses, and made us glad enough to pass on.
"We found the Indians in a square court, about
twenty yards across, formed by four covered
sheds, in which were seated several of the
chiefs, and more than 100 of the other natives.
In each of these sheds there was erected a raised
shelf or door, about a foot and a half from the
ground, sloping towards the court, and covered
by a smooth, hard mat, made of split canes,
sewed together. On this the principal Indians
were seated in state, cross-legged, or stretched,
with equal dignity, at their full length.
In the middle of the court blazed an immense
fire of pitch-pine wood, the light from which,
added to that of the moon, which was now well

up, made every thing quite distinct. Round the
fire sat, or rather squatted, about a dozen elderly
Indians—none of them much encumbered with
clothing—smoking pipes, which they hand from
one to the other, laughing and shouting with

great animation, and turning back from time to
time to speak to another circle of younger men,
who were standing near enough to warm them-
selves, or even to reach over the heads of the
seniors to catch up a piece of burning timber to
light their pipes with.
On one side of the illuminated square, in the
front part of the shed, sat two musicians, one of
whom was hammering away with his fingers on
a drum, formed of a piece of deer skin stretched
over the hollowed trunk of a tree, while the other
kept time with a large gourd containing a hand-
ful! of gravel. In the square itself, and fronting
the shed, which contained this primitive orchestra,
twenty squaws, or female Indians, were ranked
in a semicircle, with their backs to the rest of the
company—such being, I suppose the fashionable
etiquette Amongst the Creeks. As these ladies
never once turned round their faces, I am saved
the delicate task of describing their looks. Their
' dance, however, if the very slight movements
of their feet and bodies could be so called, was
merely a sort of wriggle of the body ; but as the
whole party kept excellent time in these move-
ments, it had a most ludicrous appearance. At
every fourth or fifth bar, they all struck in with
a short, faint, sharp cry, of a particularly wild,
and, I thought, somewhat mournful sound.
These damsels wore no head-dress, but allowed
their black, oily hair to hang down upon their
necks and shoulders, over which was thrown,
most decorously, a gaudy cotton shawl—weaved
for ought I know in Manchester or Paisley.
I was sitting beside the principal chief, and
-
thinking the scene rather dull, which he perhaps
suspected, when he uttered a few words of com
mind. In a moment about thirty young Indians
flew to the side of the court, where each of them
snatched up a couple of the sticks or bats used in
the ball-play afterwards to be described. After
marshalling themselves fora minute or two, they
rushed forward again like so many demons, till
they formed a circle round the fire, yelling,
screaming, and shouting all the time, in the most
horrible way, tumbling heels over head, perform-
ing various antics, and waving their sticks as if
they had been frantic. I have no idea of any
thing being more completely savage, nor shall I
soon forget the way in which their shrieks
pierced through and through my head.
After this exhibition was over, torches were
ordered, and I was invited by another of the chiefs
to adjourn to a neighbouring building, an im-
mense hut, of a fiat, sugar-loaf shape, rising in the
4
centre to least thirty wet, and measuring about
sixty, or perhaps eighty, feet across the floor. It
had no wall, as the roof, which was thatched,
reached to the ground. A circular seat, skirting
the inside, ten feet broad, touched the roof all
the way round. In the middle of the sandy floor
afire was burning, round which were assembled
some of the most athletic young men of the village,

who had been previously selected by the elders as
performers in the next day's sport.
These youths were not long in stripping off
all their clothes, except a slight rapper round the
middle. I could see at once that something re-
markable was about to take place, but What it
was I could not conjecture. Their first opera-
tion was to tie cords tightly round one another's
arms and thighs, so as effectually to check the
course of the blood in the veins. As soon as

this was done, they splashed themselves over
with water from head to foot, and then very de-
liberately allowed their limbs to be scratched, or
rather scarified, by some old Indians, who at-
tended for that purpose with instruments, the
name of which I forget. Some of these were
made of common needles stuck in a piece of
wood, but those most in fashion were formed
out of the teeth of the fish called Gar. I pur-
cl'iased one of them, which is now in my posses-
sion ; it consists of two rows, one of fifteen, the
other of fourteen sharp teeth, tied firmly, by
means of a grass fibre, to the core of the maize,
or to what is called in America a corn-cob.

Each of the young Indians, who was to be
operated upon, placed himself in a sloping posi-
tion against one of the wooden pillars which sup-
ported the roof, clasping it with his hands. The
experienced performer then drew the instrument
I have just described, apparently as hard as he
could press it, along the arms and, legs of these
resolute fellows, over a space of 'about nine inches
in length, so that each of the teeth cut into:the
skin, or, at all events, made a very decided mark,
or furrow, along the surface. The sharp sound
of these scrapings was very disagreeable to the ear.
Five separate scratchings were made on each
man's leg below the knee, five on each thigh,
and five on each arm ; in all, thirty sets of cuts.
As the instrument contained abuut thirty teeth,
each Indian must in every case haVe had several
hundred lines drawn on his skin. The blood
'flowed profusely as long as the bandages were
kept tight. This, indeed, seemed to be one of
their principal objects, as the Indians endea-
voured to assist the bleeding by throwing their
arms and legs about, holding them over, and
sometimes placing them almost in the fire for a
second or two. It was altogether a hideous and
frightful scene. For my own part, I scarcely
knew how to feel when I found myself amongst
some dozen of naked savages, streaming with
blood from top to toe, skipping and yelling
round a fire, or talking at the top of their
voices in a language of which I knew nothing, or
laughing as merrily as if it were the best fun in
the world to be cut to pieces. Not one of these
lads tittered the slightest complaint during the
operation ; but when I watched their counte-
nances closely, I observed that only two or three
bore the discipline without shrinking or twisting
their faces a little.

1 was told that these searifications and bleed-

ings render the men more limber and active, and
bring them into proper condition to undergo the
exertion of the ball-play on the following morn-
ing. I don't know how this may be with my
friends the Creeks ; but I suspect half a dozen
of the cuts, of which each of these young fellJws
received some hundreds, would have laid me up
for a week.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS' COURT, JULY 15.
MUNNINGS V. BURY.

This was a bill filed to compel the Hope Insurance
Company to deliver up certain title-deeds of an estate
in Essex, belonging to the plaintiff.
The facts of the case are shortly these :—The
plaintiff having engaged with several other individuals
in a commercial speculation to the Cape of Good
Hope, went out in one of the vessels belonging to the
company, for the purpose of superintending the ad-
venture. This occurred in 181.5; the speculation
turning out less favourably than was expected, and
returns being slowly made, it became necessary to
raise a sum of money on the partnership account in
England. The plaintiff, on quitting thii country,
had deposited with his wife the tide-deeds of an
estate which he possessed in Essex, and in the latter
end of 1817 Mrs. Munnings and her son-in-law, Mr.
Burley, obtained an advance of 12,0001. from the
Hope Insurance Company on these title-deeds, at
the same time entering into an engagement to pro-
cure the plaintiff to execute a regular mortgage of the
property within 18 months. Collateral security was
given to the Insurance Company by several individuals,
who passed their bonds for various sums, amounting
in all to 12,0001. Some of these bonds have since
been paid. On his return to England, Mr. Munnings
applied to the Hope Insurance Company for a fur-
ther advance on the Essex property, offering to
secure it and the former loan by a mortgage. This
application not having been complied with by the
Company, the plaintiff refused to execute , a mort-
gage for the original advance. However, he offered
to pay what he considered his own share of the
12,0001. under the partnership, and called upon the
Insurance Company to deliver up • the title-deeds
upon his so doing. This they refused to do, on the
ground that the several obligers under the bonds
given to them as collateral securities, and now in
part paid, looked to the plaintiff's Essex estate as
an indemnification. Under these circumstances, the
plaintiff filed his bill to oblige the Company to give
up the title-deeds, or, in the event of that being re-
fused, calling for an account in order to ascertain
what part of the 12,0001. was payable by him.
Mr. ROSE having been heard at considerable
length for the plaintiff,
Mr. LYNCH (who was with him) argued that the
parties who passed their bonds to the Hope In-
surance Company as collateral securities for the ad-
vance of 12,0001. never became the plaintiff's sure-
ties at his request, or by the desire of any one
authorized to act for him ; that there had been no
valid deposit of the the title-deeds ; and, finally, that
there had been no confirmation by the plaintiff of
what he ( Mr. Lynch) ventured to designate as not
only a void, but a fraudulent transaction.
The MASTER of the ROLLS, without calling upon
the defendant's Counsel for an answer to the case,
proceeded immediately to give judgment, and ob-
served, I am clearly of opinion that these sureties
are entitled to a lien on the estate in respect of the
sums paid by them on account of the 12,0001. The
decree will be for the defendant, and will include
principal, interest, and costs. With regard to the
surety who was one of the partners, the partnership
accounts must be referred to the Master. An ac-
count will also be taken of what sum is due to the
Hope Insurance Company ; and on . satisfying these
claims, the plaintiff will be entitled to redeem.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JULY 15.
EYRE V. RAYNER.

This was an action of trover to recover the value
of certain articles of household furniture.
The Jury, without hesitation, found for the de-
fendant.