The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1826-01-25
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

NORTH .4JMERIC.AN INDI.aAiS.
From the fftieth number of the North Ameri-
can Review, published on the 31st ult we
insert the following extract, relating to the
North American Indians. 1t is rich repast
for those who are fond of reading the histo-
ny Of the early settlements OF this country,
and will be read with interest by all who
are in the habit of making observation on
the comparative condition OF the aborigines
OF America. Vernaont Patriot.
"More than three centuries have pass
ed away, since the American continent
became known to the Europeans. At
the period of its discovery, it was inhab-
tied by race OF men, in their physical
conformation, their moral habits, their
social and political relations, their Ian
guages and modes of life, differing essen
TALLY from the inhabitants of the old
world. From Hudson's Bayto Mexico,
and from the Atlantic to the Rocky
Mountains, the country was possessed by
numerous petty tribes, resembling one
another in their general features, but
separated into independent communities,
always i'll state of alarm and suspicion,
and generally on terms of open hostility.
These people were in the rudest condi-
ton of society, wandering from place to
place. without sciences and without arts,
flor we cannot dignity with the name Of
: arts the making of bows and arrows, and
the dressing of skins, without metallic
instruments, without domestic animals
raising little corn by the labor of their
women, with clamshell or the scapua
of buffalo devouring il with true saw.
age improyidence, and subsisting, dur.
ing the remainder of the year, upon the
lPrecarious supplies furnished by the
j. chase, and by fishing. They were thin.
/. y scattered over an immense extent Of
+ country, fixing their summer residence
upon some little spot of fertile land, anc
roaming with their families, and theil
= mat or skin houses, during the winter
, through the forests, in pursuit of the an.
imals necessary for food and clothing.
f "Such state of society could not bu
arrest the attention of the adventurer
!, ITO whom every thing was new anc
4 strange. A spirit of inquiry had been
recently awakened in Europe, and the
discovery of the mariners compass, and
the art of printing bad wonderfully en-.
larged the sphere of human observation,
and given new vigor TO the human facul.
ties. And we find, accordingly, that the
man of America soon became the subiec,
of examination and speculation, aBt
many ponderous tome has been writ.
ten on the topic, from the letter of Yer.
eyzani TO Francis the First, in 1924
down to the latest work manufactured in
London, by some professional book max.
er, whose accurate knowledge of the
Indian character and condition has been
acquired, by profound observation with.
IN Temple bar, or who strings together
the talsehoods of such men as the per.
} sonage who calls himself John Dunn
Hunter; and whose finale is always a
Jeremiad, upon the savage treatment NJ
the aborigiDes of this continent, by their
barbarous Anglo-American neighbors.
"In retrospective examination of this
mass OF materials. it is easy to perceive,
that the progress we have made in this
interesting investigation, bears no pro-
portion to the time and labor which
have been expended upon it; nor is il
difficult to account for this unsatisfactory
result.
"Ofthe external habits ofthe Indians
if we may so speak, we have the mosl
ample details. Their wars, their anuse.
ments, their hunting, and the more
prominent facts connected with their &C.
equations and condition, have been de.
scribed with great prolixity, and doubt
less with much fidelity, by a host Of
persons, whose opportunities for obser.
walton, and whose qualifications for de-
scripiions, have been as different as the
places and the eras in which they have
written. Eyes have not been wanting
tosee, nor tongues TO relate, nor pens
to record, the incidents, which, from
time 10 time, have occurred among our
aboriginal neighbors. The eating Of
lire, the swallowing of daggers, the es-
cape from swathed buffalo robes, and
the juggling incantations and ceremo.
nies, by which the dead are raised, the
sick healed, and the living killed, have
been witnessed by many, who related
what they saw, but who were grossly
deceived by their own credulity, and by
the skill of the Indian Waabeno. We
haXe uanEseISss. in the denth and soil.