Western Scenes and Reminiscences Part 23

LITERAL TRANSLATION.

Flitting-white-fire-insect! waving-white-fire-bug! give me light before I go to bed! give me light before I go to sleep. Come, little dancing[21] white-fire-bug! Come little flitting-white-fire-beast! Light me with your bright white-flame-instrument--your little candle[22].

Metre there was none, at least, of a regular character: they were the wild improvisations of children in a merry mood.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] In giving the particle wa, the various meanings of "flitting,"

"waving," and "dancing," the Indian idiom is fully preserved. The final particle see, in the term wa wa tai see, is from the generic root _asee_, meaning a living creature, or created form, not man. By prefixing Ahw to the root, we have the whole cla.s.s of quadrupeds, and by pen, the whole cla.s.s of birds, &c. The Odjibwa Algonquin term for a candle, was sa koon ain je gun, is literally rendered from its elements--"bright--white--flamed--instrument." It is by the very concrete character of these compounds that so much meaning results from a few words, and so considerable a lat.i.tude in translation is given to Indian words generally.

[22]

[Fire-fly, fire-fly! bright little thing, Light me to bed, and my song I will sing.

Give me your light, as you fly o'er my head, That I may merrily go to my bed.

Give me your light o'er the gra.s.s as you creep, That I may joyfully go to my sleep.

Come little fire-fly--come little beast-- Come! and I'll make you to-morrow a feast.

Come little candle that flies as I sing, Bright little fairy-bug--night's little king; Come, and I'll dance as you guide me along, Come, and I'll pay you, my bug, with a song.]

ETHNOLOGY.

SCHOOLCRAFT'S AMERICAN CYCLOPaeDIA, OR ETHNOLOGICAL GAZETTEER OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, NORTH AND SOUTH, COMPRISING THEIR HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND NOMENCLATURE, FROM THE DISCOVERY IN 1492, TO THE PRESENT PERIOD.

ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT.

A prospectus for this work was issued in 1842. While the t.i.tle is slightly modified, the design and plan of its execution have not been essentially changed. The princ.i.p.al object aimed at, under the general idea of the history and geography of the Aboriginal Race, is to furnish a general and standard reference-book, or short encyclopaedia of topics relative to the entire race, alphabetically arranged. By the insertion of the name of each family of tribes, nation, sub-tribe, or important clan, the occasion will be presented of noticing the leading or characteristic events, in their history, numbers, government, religion, languages, arts or distinctive character.

Where the scene or era of their expansion, growth and decay has been so extensive, embracing as it does, the widest bounds and remotest periods, their antiquities have also called for a pa.s.sing notice. Nor could any thing like a satisfactory accomplishment of the plan be effected, without succinct notices of the lives and achievements of their princ.i.p.al chiefs, rulers, and leading personages.

Language is an important means of denoting the intricate thread of history in savage nations. Mr. Pritchard considers it more important than physiological structure and peculiarities. It is, at least, found often to reveal ethnological affinities, where both the physical type, and the light of tradition, afford but little aid. The words and names of a people, are so many clues to their thoughts and intellectual structure; this branch of the subject, indeed, formed the original germ of the present plan, which was at first simply geographical, and has been rather expanded and built upon, than, if we may so say, supplied the garniture of the edifice. In a cla.s.s of transpositive languages, which are very rich in their combinations, and modes of concentrated description, it must needs happen, that the names of places would often recall both a.s.sociations and descriptions of deep interest in contemplating the fate and fortunes of this unfortunate race. Without intruding upon the reader disquisitions which would be out of place, no opportunity has been omitted, from the consideration of their names, to throw around the sites of their former or present residence, this species of interest.

But half the work would have been done, it is conceived, to have confined the work to North America; and it must necessarily have lost, by such a limitation, more than half its interest. We are just beginning in truth to comprehend the true character and bearing of that unique type of civilization which existed in Mexico, Peru, and Yucatan. The rude hand with which these embryo kingdoms of the native race were overturned, in consequence of their horrid idolatries, necessarily led to the destruction of much of their monumental, and so far as their picture writing reached, some of their historical materials, of both of which, we now feel the want. It is some relief, to know, as the researches of Mr. Gallatin, which are now in progress, demonstrate, that by far the greatest amount of the ancient Mexican picture writings, as they are embraced in the elaborate work of Lord Kingsborough, relate to their mythology and superst.i.tions, and are of no historical value whatever. And if the portions destroyed in the Mexican and Peruvian conquests, were as liberally interspersed with similar evidences of their wild polytheism, shocking manners, and degraded wors.h.i.+p, neither chronology nor history have so much to lament.

The early, strong and continued exertions which were made by the conquerors to replace this system of gross superst.i.tion and idolatry, by the Romish ritual, filled Mexico and South America with missions of the Catholic Church, which were generally under the charge of zealous and sometimes of learned and liberal-spirited superintendants, who have acc.u.mulated facts respecting the character and former condition of the race. These missions, which were generally spread parallel to the sea coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific, reaching inland along the banks of the great rivers and plains, have confessedly done much to ameliorate the manners and condition of the native race, to foster a spirit of industry, and to enlighten their minds. Still, it is scarcely known, that numerous and powerful tribes, stretching through wide districts of the Andes and the Cordilleras, never submitted to the conqueror, and yet exist in their original state of barbarism.

In this department of inquiry, the geographical and historical work of De Alcedo, which, so far as the Spanish and Portuguese missions are concerned, is both elaborate and complete in its details, has been taken as a basis. No one can write of South America and its native tribes, without reference to Humboldt. Other standard writers have been consulted, to give this part of the work as much value as possible, not excepting the latest voyages and travels. The design has been, without aiming at too much, to compress a body of leading and characteristic facts, in the shortest practicable compa.s.s, which should, at the same time, present an ethnological view of the various families and groups of the race.

In each department of inquiry, which admitted of it, the author has availed himself of such sources and opportunities of personal observation and experience, as his long residence in the Indian territories, and his study of the Indian history have afforded. And he is not without the hope, that his inquiries and researches on this head may be found to be such as to merit approval.

A.

AB, often p.r.o.nounced with the sound of we, before it,--a particle which, in geographical names, in the family of the Algonquin dialects, denotes light, or the east. It is also the radix of the verb wab, to see, as well as of the derivatives, a-ab, an eye-ball, and wabishka, a white substance, &c.,--ideas which either in their origin or application, are closely allied.

ABACARIS, a settlement of Indians in the Portuguese possessions of the province of Amazon. These people derive their name from a lake, upon which they reside. It is a peculiarity of this lake, that it has its outlet into the river Madiera which, after flowing out of the province turns about and again enters it, forming, in this involution, the large and fertile island of Topanambes. This tribe is under the instruction of the Carmelites. They retain many of their early peculiarities of manners and modes of life. They subsist by the cultivation of maize, and by taking fish in the waters of the Abacaris; or Abacactes in addition to these means, they rely upon tropical fruits. The latest notices of them come down to 1789. But little is known of their numbers, or present condition.

ABACHES, or Apaches, an erratic tribe of Indians, who infest the prairies of western Texas and New Mexico. They are supposed by some, to consist of not less than 15,000 souls. They are divided into petty bands, known under various names. They are the most vagrant of all the wild hunter tribes of the general area denoted. They do not live in fixed abodes, but s.h.i.+ft about in search of game or plunder, and are deemed a pest by the Santa Fe traders. They raise nothing and manufacture nothing. Those of them who are east of the Rio del Norte, subsist on the baked root of the mauguey, and a similar plant called Mezcal, and hence they are called Mezcaleros.

Another division of them, and by far the greatest, rove west of that stream, where they are called Coyoteros, from their habit of eating the coyote, or prairie wolf. They extend west into California and Sonora.

They bear a bad character wherever they are known. If on the outskirts of the ranchos and haciendas, they steal cattle and sheep. If on the wide and dest.i.tute plains which they traverse, they thieve and murder.

Sometimes they are pursued and punished; more frequently, they escape.

The Mexican authorities keep some sort of terms with them by treaties, which the vagrants, however, break and disregard, whenever they are excited by hunger, or the l.u.s.t of plunder. For Indians bearing the name, formerly from the U. States, see Apaches.

ABACO, one of the Bahama islands. The native inhabitants of this, and the adjacent groups of islands, were, early after the discovery, transported to the main, to work in the mines. In 1788 this island, known to nautical men as the locality of the Hole in the Wall, had a population of 50 whites, and 200 Africans.

ABACOOCHE, or COOSA, a stream rising in Georgia. It flows into Alabama, and after uniting with the Tallapoosa, a few miles below Wetumpka it forms the Alabama river. The word is, apparently, derived from Oscooche, one of the four bands into which the Muscogees, were anciently divided.

ABANAKEE, or Eastlanders, a distinct people, consisting of a plurality of tribes, who formerly occupied the extreme north-eastern part of the United States. The word is variously written by early writers. See Abenakies, Abernaquis, Wabunakies.

ABANCAY, the capital of a province of the same name 20 leagues from Cuzco, in Peru. It is memorable for the victories gained in the vicinity by the king's troops in 1542 and 1548 against Gonzalo Pizarro. It lies in a rich and s.p.a.cious valley, which was inhabited by the subjects of the Inca, on the conquest.

ABASCA, or RABASCA, a popular corruption, in the north-west, of Athabasca, which see.

ABANES, an unreclaimed nation of Indians, living in the plains of St.

Juan, to the north of the Orinoco, in New Grenada. They are of a docile character, and good disposition, lending a ready ear to instruction, but have not embraced the Catholic religion. They inhabit the wooded sh.o.r.es of the river, and shelter themselves from the effects of a tropical sun, in the open plains, by erecting their habitations in the small copse-wood. They are bounded towards the west, by the Andaquies and Caberras, and east by the Salivas.

ABANGOUI, a large settlement of the Guarani nation of Indians, on the sh.o.r.es of the river Taquani, in Paraguay. This stream and its inhabitants were discovered by A. Numez, in 1541.

ABECOOCHI, see Abacooche.

ABEICAS, an ancient name for a tribe of Indians, in the present era of the United States, who are placed in the earlier geographies, _south_ of the Alabamas and _west_ of the Cherokees. They dwelt at a distance from the large rivers, yet were located in the districts of the cane, out of the hard substance of which they made a kind of knife, capable of answering the princ.i.p.al purposes of this instrument. They were at enmity with the Iroquois.

ABENAKIES, a nation formerly inhabiting a large part of the territorial area of the states of New Hamps.h.i.+re and Maine. There were several tribes, of this nation the princ.i.p.al of which were the Pen.o.bscots, the Norredgewocks, and the Ameriscoggins. They were at perpetual hostilities with the New England colonists. They had received missionaries, at an early day, from the French in Canada, and acted in close concert with the hostile Indians from that quarter. At length in 1724, the government of Ma.s.sachusetts organized an effective expedition against them, which ascended the Kennebec, attacked the chief town of the Norredgewocks, and killed a large number of their bravest warriors. Among the slain, was found their missionary Sebastian Rasle, who had taken up arms in their defence. There was found, among his papers, a copious vocabulary of the language, which has recently been published under the supervision of Mr.

Pickering. In the year 1754, all the Abenakies, except the Pen.o.bscots, removed into Canada. This nation had directed their attention, almost exclusively, to hunting. At the mouth of the Kennebec they absolutely planted nothing. Their language as observed by Mr. Gallatin, has strong affinities with those of the Etchemins, and of the Micmacs, of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; there are fewer resemblances in its vocabulary to the dialects south of them. This nation appears to have been called Tarrenteens, by the New England Indians. Their generic name for themselves, if they had one, is unknown. The term Abenakie, is one manifestly imposed by Algonquin tribes living west and south of them. It is derived from wabanung, the east, or a place of light, and akee, land.

ABEKAS, a name applied, so late as 1750, to a band of the Muscogees, living on the river Tombigbee, within the present area of Alabama.

ABERNAQUIS, a settlement of the expatriated Abenakies of New England, in Lower Canada. They subsist themselves at this time in a great measure by agriculture, and manifest a disposition to improve. From a report made in 1839 by the American Board of Foreign missions of Boston who employ a missionary and teacher among them, sixty persons attend Protestant wors.h.i.+p, of which number, 24 are church members. Twenty of the youth attend a daily school.

ABIGIRAS, an Indian mission formerly under the charge of the order of Jesuits, in the governmental department of Quito. It is situated on the river Curasari, 30 leagues from its mouth, and 240 from Quito. It was founded in 1665 by father Lorenzo Lucero.

ABINGAS, or WABINGAS, a name for a band, or sub-tribe of the River Indians, of the Mohegan, or Mohekinder stock, who formerly inhabited the present area of Dutchess county, N. Y., and some adjacent parts of the eastern sh.o.r.es of the Hudson, above the High-lands.

ABIPONES, an unreclaimed nation of Indians, who inhabit the south sh.o.r.es of the river Bermejo, in the province of Tuc.u.man, Buenos Ayres. This nation is said, perhaps vaguely, to have formerly numbered 100,000 souls, but was, at the last accounts, about A. D. 1800, much reduced.

They present some peculiar traits, living as nearly in a state of nature as possible. The men go entirely naked, subsisting themselves by hunting and fis.h.i.+ng, and pa.s.sing much of their time in idleness or war. The women wear little ornamented skins called _queyapi_. Physically, the people are well formed, of a lofty stature and bearing, robust and good featured. They paint their bodies profusely, and take great pains to inspire hardihood. For this purpose they cut and scarify themselves from childhood; they esteem tiger's flesh one of the greatest dainties, believing its properties to infuse strength and valor. In war they are most cruel, sticking their captives on the top of high poles, where, exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, they are left to die the most horrid death.

They have no knowledge of G.o.d, of laws, or of policy, yet they believe in the immortality of the soul, and in a land of future bliss, where dancing and diversions shall prevail. Widows observe celibacy for a year, during which time they abstain from fish. The females occupy themselves in sewing hides, or spinning rude fabrics. When the men are intoxicated--a prevalent vice--they conceal their husbands' knives to prevent a.s.sa.s.sinations. They rear but two or three children, killing all above this number.

ABISCA, an extensive mountainous territory of Peru, lying between the Yetau and Amoramago rivers, east of the Andes, noted from the earliest times, for the number of barbarous nations who occupy it. It is a wild and picturesque region, abounding in forests, lakes and streams, and affording facilities for the chase, and means of retreat from civilization, so congenial to savage tribes. An attempt to subjugate these fierce tribes made by Pedro de Andia in 1538, failed. The same result had attended the efforts of the emperor Yupanqui.

ABITANIS, a mountain in the province of Lipas, in Peru. In the Quetchuan tongue, it signifies the ore of gold, from a mine of this metal, which is now nearly abandoned.