The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-03-29
TRADE AND GENERAL AFFAIRS
Between the Susquehannd Indians
and the SWedes on the Della
ware, About 1850
mr. 16AO

In Du Ponceau's translation of Cam
panius Holm, who wrote of New Sweden
in America, in 1893, which work was
published in 1903, says page ISL, after de-
scribing the other tribes of Indians, which
lived on the Delaware River, and other
places near the Swede settlements on the
Delaware !:
"Besides the Americans whom I have
already spoken of and described, there
were found when the Swedes first came
to this country within eighteen miles,
Swedish miles, being equal to I25 miles
as we know them) ten or twelve other
Indian Nations, who spoke different Ian
guages and had their own sachenls or
chiefs over them. Among these were the
warlike character and were the principal
tribe These Indians lived the distance
of twelve Swedish or SO English miles
from New Sweden, where they daily
came to trade with us. The way to their
land is very bad, being stony, full of
sharp gray stones. with hills and
morasses, so that the Swedes when they
went to them, which happened generally
once or twice year, had to walk in the
water up to their arm pits.
They went thither with cloth, kettles,
axes, hatchets, knives, mirrors and coral
beads, which they sold to them for bea-
yer and other valuable skins and also for
black foxes and fishers skins, which is a
| kind of skin that looks like sable, but
with longer hair and silvery hair, mixed
like some of the best sables with beaver,
velvet black squirrel skins, etc.
"These precious furs are the principal
articles which the Minquas have for sale.
They live on high mountain very steep
and difficult to climb; there they have a
fort or square building, surrounded with
palisades, which they reside in as shown
on page 1873. There they have guns and
small iron cannon with which they shoot
and defend themselves when they go to
war. They are strong and vigorous,
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people but not frightful in appearance.
They forced the other Indians who are
not so warlike as the Minquas to be
afraid of them and made them tributary
to them so that they dare not stir or go to
war. My grandfather, John Campanius,
made a small vocabulary of their lam
guage." 1.-THE Indians make bread out
of maize or corn" says Holm, p. I22,
(Which they prepare in a manner pecu-
liar; they crush the grain between two
stones or on large piece of board; they
moisteu it with water and make it into
small cakes which they wrap up in corn
leaves and then bake them in cakes. The
Swedes made use of it when they first
came here. These Indians can fast many
days. When they are hunting or lying
in wait for enemies they take with them
kind of bread which is made of Indian
corn and tobacco juice, which is very
good to allay hunger and quench thirst,
in case they have nothing else at hand.
when the Swedes first came here the
Indians were in the habit of eating
human flesh. and they generally ate that
of their enemies after broiling it. My
father told ME that some Indians invited
him to one of their feasts, at their home
away in the woods, and he went. When
he arrived at the town they gave him the
best of everything. They had stewed
meat, boiled meat and broiled meat.
However he could not keep it in his
stomach at all. He did not know at the
time that it was human flesh. but after
wards they told him it was the flesh of
some of their enemies recently killed in a
battle"
! Page 1877, Holm says, to show that the
Indians here are the same as those called
Susquehannocks, he says, "These indians
are often at war, especially the Mingoes
but they are afraid of guns and while
they are fearless of their enemies, they
never attack Englishmen or any one
with guns. When ten or twelve are
killed it is called big battle" On p. So
he says, "There is here also a large hor-
. rible serpent which is called rattlesnake.
1t has head like that of dog and can
bite off mans leg as clear as if it had
! been hewn down with an axe.''
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