The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-12-31
NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

HrvoRY OF THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS AMONGST
,s INDIAN TRIBES or THE UNITED SrArEs-Duni-
gan Brosher.-The present work, notwitnssanc.
ng iss appssently sNciariAn character, possesses
high degree Of interest COZ the general resdsr. 1t il
. record Of the efforts male by the first Catholic
missionaries TO his continent 70 substitute the mild
and civizing indusnces Of Christianity for the bar
bareas religious traditions and demon worship Of
ne Indian tribes. In the execution of this difficult
and frequently dangerous task, those most OPP
posed to the'eccesasticsl system aud teachings Of
the Church Of Rome cannot help admitting that the
snahusiasm, courage, sefdevosion and patience un.
der suffering displayed by these heroes Of the church
militant, are deserving of all admiration and re-
spost. In . historical point Of view, the work is
also valuable, inasmuch as IL supplies us with vast
body Of and interesting facts connected with the
Indian aborigines that cannot be CLEANED from any
Osher source Putting aside it's religious object, the
elssifcaton Of Roman Catholic prop sgandsm, we are
disposed TO view 1t most acceptable contribution
- our stock Of memorials relsting to the early
history Of the colonization of the American continent
eaarding ourselves against being supposed to
endorse any Of the sectarian sentiments expressed
IN n, we viii now proceed to give few extracts
from its pages, in order to afford our esders an
opportunity Of Judging of its merits. Opening with
sketch of the direction taken by the first inspira
t3ons Of missionary zeal, in the Romish Church, We
sssivc AZ the period wnen they took wider scope,
and extended their ab0rs to our own continent =
Let us examine the country at the commencement
It's mission history the middle of the sixteenth century
Let with the first ssionary who then entered our
watershed whence flow the streams that empty into the
Atlantic and Pacific by like CULTS The Irish Saxon
and Norwegian missionaries had once, centuries before
planted the at the opposite extremity but Goa
tnent lay between the scene oil his aoors ana theirs
Yet, vast the region vas it to be conquered to
Christ; the Latin service chanted from Greenland to
Narragansett, TO resound throughout the length
and breadth of that land.
The field yet unmatched for extent and
difficulty. That region, studded with cities and
towns, traversed in every direction by the painting
stea M car or lightning telegraph was then almost
oows of grass towards the western mountains, or was
lost in the sterile salt and sandy plains Of the south
plough turned up the rich alluvia soil, metal
dug from the bowels of the earth had been fash oaed
into instruments to aid in the arts Of and
The simplest arts of civilized life unknown.
In one little section the ella and Rio Grande, the peo
pie spun and wove native cotton manufactured rude
pottery and lived IN houses castletowns Of upburnt
bricks. Elsewhere the cabin of bark hides,
and the arabesQue mat, denoted the highest point of
Elsewhere the whole country was inhabited by tribes
Of nomadic character, rarely collected in villages
cept at particular FOR specific Objects though
here and there found sedentary tribes in VIII
ges OF bark encirced by walls of palisades of
wood whose institutions commercial spirit and agri
culture superior to that of the wild rover seemed to
show the remnant Of some civilized tribe in state
of decadence Around each isolated tribe Law an I'M
broken Wilderness extending for miles every side
where the braves rosmed hunters alike OF beasts and
So little intercourse knowledge of each other
existed, desoate the Wilderness that vagabOnd
tribe might wander from extreme of the continent
to another and language alone could tell the nation to
which they belonged
The whole country thus occupied By comparatively
small but hostile tribes, that almost every
distinct nation. In form, in manners, aud in habits
these tribes presented almost uniform appearance
Language formed the great distinctive mark to the Euro
pean, though the absence of feather line of paint
disclosed to the native the tribe of the wanderer whoE
he met.
In the Geld which we have selected nine great dyi-
sions it is conceded, will include almost all the
scattered and contendng tribes The Algonquin AL c
family occupied the whole bssn of the st Lawrence and
the fifth degree of latitude and the whole Atlantic
shore to about the same parallel Belo them lay the
Mexico. Encirced by these two great families lay
isolated groups, peculiar in all their institutes and
destined TO attain greater eminence than the rest
60 were ths Huronlroquois, extending from Lakes
Huron aud Ontario in sold body in scattered clans
to North Carolina; and south Of them the Cherokees
The mountaineers of aboriginal America
we're IN se & AL 9o the the sSes q Canada
the map will show their chief divisions Above the ST.
Lawrence bordering the Esqumau Of Labrador aud
stretching of towards Hudsons Bay, were the Mon-
tagna below the gulf lay the Gaspesisss and Micmacs,
or sourquos. occupying the present colonies Of New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia Maine occupied By the
tribes OF the Abnakis the heawters Connecticut
by the okos while along the St Lawrence and Ottawa
lay the Agonquius, properly called, with the Nips
sings dwellng on their own lake and the Atseamegues
above Three Rivers Westward STILL the OttawAs aud
Chippewas lay the outlet OF Lake Superior while
below roamed the Menomonec, the sac, the Eek, the
Kkapoo the Mascouten; and around the circug shore
of Lake Michigan the clans of the Illinois
and Mamis who have left their TO the territories
which they possessed
or these tribes we shall frequently speak they
all mission ground In the part occupied by the English
and Dutch other tribes Of the ASon9un STOCK sAsea
preached and who have now mostly persisted. New
England inhabited by the Narragausets, Pequods
and other tribes of similar origin; the hohegans lay on
the Connecticut and Hudson, the Lenni Lenape or the
Delaware and Susquehanna while Virginia was occupied
by the Powhatan chDs, and the banks of the Ohio by
the rowing Shawnees
The Huron roquois more agricultural and sedentary
than the Algonquin tribes with whom they were ever a.
most OF all the Wyandots traders Of the West, lay in
their densely peopled villages well fortified by ditch and
palisade small peninsula in Lake Huhron, soath-
west hay their allies, the Tonontates whose luxurant
Fields Of tobacco for them and their fertile hills the
of Petuns and south and east OF these stretching
beyond the Niagara and its marvellous cataract lay the
many clans Of the Atwandaronk, friends to the Huron
And Als2nquin rienas too to the iroquos ana Called
New York stretching from the Gepesee to til. mouth of
Che Mohawk, lay the five clans Of the Hotnnonchendi
whose names remain in the natural features OF New
York. and who known collectively by the French
name Iroquois West Of these the southern shores
of Lake Ere lay the far famed archer the Fries Co.
tribe, who have melted away like dream the Sus.
auehanna the Andastes Conesogues friends OF
fhe Huron and the swede few but brave and below
them amid the Powhaans, the traveller would find the
vgwam Of the Mesrrn, the Tuteo, and the clan whom
tho Agonquins called Nottoway and still further SOUTH
in modern Carolina ruled the fiery Tuscarora last of tho
clans of the Huron Iroquois
Close the last of this great family the
tain home Of the Cherokee and its sands laden wth gold
Below them STILL from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
found the clans Of the Muscolgeethe Creek the
Yamassee the Apalache, the Coosa the Choctaw, the
Chickasaw with the Natchez and other tribes who
claimed another lineage
West OF the Mississippi from its to the Arkansas
spread tribes of the Dakota famiy-thc Sioux, the As
sinibons the Kappas while on the southwest iS the
New Mexican tribes, and beyond the mountains the
many tribes which stil people California AMI Oregon
Such the field presented to the ltholic q 8
sionaries. II was one studded with difficulties and Oh
etacles to the progress Of the gospel Vile spread as
the families OF which have spoken, they were
cut up into clans each with dialect Of its own often
widely variant from others TO reqairc SC entiac
analogy to show its parentage; thea too wars were OF
constant occurrence between clans OF the sams
family-between the Huron and IroqGos, the Daxpsa
and Assinboip, the Pequol and Narraganset Besilcs
this all in state OF barbarism and, to all appear