Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-12-15
Home Of the Indians.
The Surroundings which Influenced their Selee-
tiOnE Of ResideHees--The Works Of the Mound
Builders.

American ReUieIU is a very interest
ing article by Lewis H. Morgan upon
the subject of Indian Migrations,"
in which he propOunds some very in
penious theories and discusses the
question of the origin and distribution
Of the red men of this country in a
yery skiIlful and entertaining man.
ner, speaking at some length of the
Indians of the Great Lakes.
He assumes that there was a time
when both North and South America
were destitute of human inhabitants;
that at the period of the discovery of
the country a people were found thin
ly scattered over its area, who agreed
so infinitely in physical and mental
characteristics that they all received
a common name, and were regarded
as a common stock; and finally that
the epoch of their first occupation was
of very ancient date.
The two first assumptions require /
no argument to prove them. AS to the |
third, il seems clear that if the unity |
of the origin of the Indian race is as
sumed, the lapse of many ages would /
be requisite to break an original Ian
guage into the many existing stock of |
languages, of which there are about |
forty in North America alone, and to |
allow these to pass into the multitude |
of dialects which are now spoken. On |
the contrary, if diverse origin of the |
race is assumed, it would require a
long time-Mr. Morgan thinks sever
al thousand years-for families genet
ically unconnected, and occupying
such immense areas, to have inter-
mingled so completely as to form
typical stock so complete as the In
dian stock has become.
Whether the ancestors OF the an
cient AbOrigines were first planted in
North or South America is still moot
ed question among Investigators of
this subject, but Mr.. Morgan thinks
they were first posted in North Amer
! lea, and he argues that Ihey were orig
| inaIIy settled in one section of the
country, and gradually, through their
rowing habits and the necessities of
situation, spread over the whole coun-
try. He thinks they undoubtedly
commenced their career as fishermen
and hunters, but chiefly as fishermen.
and that the mass of them remained
substantially in that condition until
| the time of their discovery by the Eu-
]
/ site of the original location of the Abb
Origines and the places where they
would substantially congregate would
be in the immediate vicinity of bodies
of water, which yielded fish in abund-
ance, and where the forest, with a sup
ply of game, was at their backs.
Many parts of the country answer
ed these requirements to greater or
/ less extent, but there were few
which especially recommended them
selves to the Indians as homes. Fore
most among these were the great
northern lakes, the southern shores of
Lake Ontario, and the vicinity of the
beautiful interior lakes of the State of
New York, the rivers of New Eng
land, and-Mr. Morgan declares-the
territory now known as Oregon with
its great rivers, which always yielded
immense supplies of fish and game
Indeed the advantages of that region
seem so great to Mr.. Morgan that he
does not hesitate to declare it to be the
original seat of Indian power, from
which, he thinks, they spread out
over the whole country, selecting SIM
liar sections in which to locate.
There is no doubt that the Abort
gines were most numerous and most
powerful in these belts of country
along the lakes and rivers so long as
| they remained a rowing race, subsist-
ing by fishing and the chase, until
! they become what are known as Vii
! lage Indians, like the AZtecs, and Pc
ruvians, and it is even a matter of
doubt whether the latter with all their
superior civilization, were a match in
| battle for the warlike tribes which
clustered around the great lakes. Mr..
| Morgan shows that, although the
whole coast of the lakes was favorite
residence of the Indians, there were
some spots which were deemed desira-
BILE, and were held by the tribes chanc-
ing to have occupied them with great
| tenacity.
Among these were the rapids at the
outlet of Lake Superior, held by the
| Oiibways; the Straits of Mackinaw,
| controlled by the Ottawas; Georgian
Bay, along the shores of which lived
! powerful branches of the Hurons -
! Detroit River, where several tribes of
! Indians were wont to have their
camping grounds, and the shores of
! Lake Ontario, and the neighborhood
of Lakes Cayuga, Seneca and other
small bodies of water. in that vicinity,
where the powerful Six Nations dwelt.
So Canada, along the shores of the
lakes and on the river St. Lawrence,
was filled with Indians, powerful and
warlike, but as soon as the shore belt
was crossed, and one proceeded into
| the interior, all travellers concur that
the country was an uninhabited will
derness.
The Indians of this State seem to
4 have penetrated the interior to q con-
| siderable extent, and 10 have subsist-
ed at intervals in the vicinity of the
! little lakes and fish-bearing rivers in
which Michigan is so rich, but as per-
manent homes they clearly preferred
the shores of the great lakes and the
great channels joining them. In con-
neetion with this philosophy of the
| causes which led the Indians to con-
gregate in such numbers about these
lakes, Mr.. Morgan says that the Ojib-
ways had a legend that the Great
Spirit created two cranes, male and
female, and sent through an opening
in the sky, directing them to seek a
home upon the earth. They were to
alight when they found place which
suited them, and they would be trans
formed into a man and woman.
They flew to the earth, and spent
long time in visiting various sections
of the country, tasting on the prairies
and in the woods the flesh of the buff
falo, the elk, the deer, the beaver, and
many other animals, but, though they
found all palatable, they feared none
would constitute a reliable source of
subsistence, which would not fail. At
last in their wanderings, they came to
the rapids at the outlet of Lake Supe-
rior, where they found fish in abund-
ance, and of the most delicious flavor.
making their way through the noisy
waters. They saw that they could be
taken with ease at all seasons of the
year, and at once fixed upon this as
their future home, which was hence
forth the residence of the Crane tribe
of the Ojibways.
Mr.. Morgan also describes at length
the earth-works of the so-called Mound
Builders, which were found in great
numbers in Ohio, in the Mississippi
Valley, and lately have been noticed
in Wisconsin. OF these, 140 have been
described 10y Mr.. Lapham in his treat
;.o Fbo anA NJ MOrOaU