Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers Part 71

From other quarters and observers less absorbed in the discharge of specific functions, I received several valuable ma.n.u.script communications, chiefly relative, to transactions on the frontiers or to Indian history.

_22d_. Two half-breeds from the upper lakes, whom I shall designate Holyon and Alholyon, made their way to the seat of government during the winter of 1840. Holyon had been dismissed for improper conduct from the office of Indian interpreter at Mackinack about May. Alholyon had been frustrated in two several attempts to get himself recognized as head chief by the Ottawas, and consequently to some influence in the use of the public funds, which were now considerable. One was of the Chippewa, the other of the Ottawa stock. Holyon was bold and reckless, Alholyon more timid and polite, but equally dest.i.tute of moral principles. They induced some of the Indians to believe that, if furnished by them with funds, they could exercise a favorable influence at Washington, in regard to the sale of their lands. The poor ignorant Indians are easily hoodwinked in matters of business. At the same time they presented, in secret council, a draft for $4000 for their services, which they induced some of the chiefs to sign. This draft they succeeded in negotiating to some merchant for a small part of its value. No sooner had they got to head-quarters, and found they were antic.i.p.ated in the _draft matter_, and the _project of a chieftainship_, by letters from the agent, than they drew up a long list of accusations against him, containing every imaginable and abominable abuse of office. This was presented at the Indian office, where its obvious character should have, it would seem, been at once suspected. The head of that Bureau, who began to see from the strong political demonstrations around him, "how the cat was about to jump," acceded to a request of Holyon and Alholyon, that the matter be referred for local examination to one or two of their personal advisers inland. This step (in entire ignorance of the private relations of the parties, it must be presumed,) was a.s.sented to. In a letter of Holyon to J.L.S., of May 19th, 1840, he says: "The department was predisposed against him (the agent), and wanted only a cause to proceed against him." But it left a stain on its fairness and candor by omitting the usual course of furnishing the agent a copy of the charges and requesting his attention thereto, or even of informing him of the pendency of an investigation. As the charges were entirely unfounded, and had been the diseased imaginings of disappointed and unprincipled minds, it only put the agent to the necessity of confronting his a.s.sailants, and with every advantage of accusers, examiners and the appellant power against him, he was triumphantly acquitted, by an official letter, of every charge whatever, and of every moral imputation of wrong. "Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?" (Job xi. 3.)

_24th_. I left Washington for the north, taking my children along from their respective schools at Philadelphia and Brooklyn, for their summer vacation, and only halting long enough at Utica and Vernon, to direct a marble monument to be erected to the memory of my father. The site selected for this was the cemetery on the Scanado (usually spelled without regard however to the popular p.r.o.nunciation _Skenandoah_), Vernon. It appeared expedient to make this a family monument, and I directed the several faces to be inscribed as follows:--

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED In memory of A FATHER, A MOTHER AND A SISTER, By the surviving children.

COLONEL LAWRENCE SCHOOLCRAFT, A soldier of the Revolution of 1776, (He being the second in descent from James, who came from England in the reign of Queen Anne,) Born Feb. 3d, 1757. Died June 7th, 1840, In his 84th year.

He lived and died a patriot, a Christian, and an honest man.

MARGARET ANN BARBARA, Consort of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, Died Feb. 16th, 1832, aged 72.

"Her children rise up and call her blessed."--PROV.

MISS MARGARET HELEN, Daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Ann Barbara Schoolcraft, Born 18th June, 1806 Died 12th April, 1829, in her 23d year.

I reached Detroit early in August. A letter from Mackinack, of the 13th of that month, says: "The children arrived at midnight past, safe and sound, and they seem quite delighted. Eveline seems to be the centre of attraction with them all. I have not a word new to say. A change has come over the spirit of our notables. Samuel, the day before your letter was received, expressed his opinion, that 'it would go hard with you.' A dog when he supposes himself unnoticed in the act of stealing, looks mean, but when he is _discovered_ in the act, he looks meaner still. And I know of no better comparison than _this_ clique, and _that_ dog."

_24th_. Hon. Andrew Stevenson, American Minister in London, responds to my inquiries on certain historical points, respecting which he has kindly charged his agent to inst.i.tute inquiries.

_Sept. 5th_. I reached the agency at Mackinack about the beginning of September. Facilis, a young man of equally ready and respectable talents, writes me, from Detroit, under this date, expressing a wish to be employed in the execution of some of the fiscal duties of the superintendency during the season. "I write to you," he adds, "as a friend. Times are hard, and every little that is directed to aid one in his efforts to stem the current of life, possesses an incalculable value." I yielded the more readily to this request from the chain of circ.u.mstances which, however favorable, had hitherto disappointed his most ardent aims and the just expectations of his friends.

_11th_. Joanna Baillie, the celebrated auth.o.r.ess, who has spent a long life in the most honorable and deeply characteristic literary labors, writes from her residence at Hampstead (Eng.), as if with undiminished vigor of hope, expressing her interest in the progress of historical letters in this (to her) remote part of the world. How much closer bonds these literary sympathies are in drawing two nations of a kindred blood together, than dry and formal diplomatics, in which it is the object, as Talleyrand says, of human language to conceal thought!

_Oct. 16th_. Wisconsin is slowly, but surely, filling up with a healthy population, and founding her moral, as well as political inst.i.tutions, on a solid basis. Rev. Jer. Porter, my old friend during the interesting scenes at St. Mary's, in 1832 and 1833, writes me, that, after pa.s.sing a few years in Illinois, he has settled at Green Bay, as the pastor of a healthful and increasing church. "I have recently," he writes, "made an excursion on horseback, in the interior of the territory. I traveled about 400 miles, being from home sixteen days. I went to meet a convention of ministers and delegates from Presbyterian and Congregational churches, to see if we could form a union of the two denominations in the territory, so that we might have a perfect co-operation in every good work. We had twelve ministers of these denominations present, all but four or five now in the territory, and were so happy as to form a basis of union, which will, I trust, prove permanent, and be a great blessing to our churches. This seems to us a very favorable beginning.

"I find the beautiful prairies of the interior rapidly settling with a very good population from the Eastern States, and the healthiness of the country gives it some advantages over Illinois. With the blessing of the Lord, I think this may yet be one of the best States in the Union."

_20th_. The Rev. Henry Kearney, of Kitternan Glebe, Dublin (Ireland), communicates notices of some of the inroads made by death on the rank of our friends and relatives in that land. "Since my last, the valued friend of the family, the Right Hon'ble Wm. Saurin (late Attorney-General) was removed from this world of changes to the world of durable realities. He was past eighty. The bishop (Dromore) is still alive, not more than a year younger than his brother. Old age--found in the ways of righteousness--how honorable!

"You will have learned, from the European newspapers, the agitated state of all the countries from China to Great Britain. Is the Lord about to bring to pa.s.s the predicted days of retribution on the nations for abused responsibility, and the restoration of the ancient nation of Israel, to be, once more, the depository of his judgment and truth for the recovery of all nations to the great principles of government and religion taught us in His holy word?"

_Nov. 1st_. Having concluded the Indian business in the Upper Lakes for the season, I returned with my family to Detroit, and employed my leisure in literary investigations.

_Dec. 3d_. Mr. Josiah Snow apprizes me that he is about, in a few weeks, to issue the first number of a newspaper devoted to agriculture, in which he solicits my aid.

_15th_. J. K. Tefft, Esq., of Savannah, informs me of my election, on the 9th Sept. last, as an honorary member of the Georgia Historical Society.

_19th_. I wrote the following lines in memory of my father:--

The drum no more shall rouse his heart to beat with patriot fires, Nor to his kindling eye impart the flash of martial ires: Montgomery's fall, Burgoyne's advance, awake no transient fear; E'en joy be dumb that n.o.ble France grasped in our cause the spear.

The cloud that, lowering northward spread, presaging woe and blight, In that wild host St. Leger led, no longer arm for fight; The bomb, the sh.e.l.l, the flash, the shot, the sortie, and the roar, No longer nerve for battle hot--the soldier is no more.

But long shall memory speak his praise, and mark the grave that blest, When eighty years had crowned his days, he laid him down to rest; The stone that marks the sylvan spot, the line that tells his name, The stream, the sh.o.r.e; be ne'er forgot, and freedom's be his fame.

'Twas liberty that fired him first, when kings and tyrants plan'd, And proud oppression's car accurst, drove madly o'er the land; And long he lived when that red car--the driver and the foe Unhorsed in fight, o'ermatched in war--laid impotent and low.

He told his children oft the tale--how tyrants would have bound, And murderous yells filled all the vale, and blood begrimed the ground.

They loved the story of the harms that patriot hands repelled, And glowed with ire of wars and arms, and fast the words they held.

The right, the power, the wealth, the fame, for which the valiant fought, Have long been ours in deed and name--life, liberty, and thought; And while we hold these blessings, bought with valor, blood, and thrall, Embalmed in thought be those who fought and freely periled all.

_23d_. The Detroit Branch of the University of Michigan organized, and the Princ.i.p.al sends me a programme of its studies. Mr. Williams also sends me the programme of the Pontiac Branch.

_31st_. "We were in hopes," says James L. Schoolcraft, in a letter from Mackinack, "of seeing a steamboat up during the fine weather in the latter part of November. It is now, however, since 14th inst., cold.

Theodoric has undertaken to conduct a weekly paper, the _Pic Nic_, which, thus far, goes off well. Lieut. Pemberton, in the fort, is engaged in getting up a private theatre. Thus, you see, we endeavor to ward off winter and solitude in various ways. The rats are playing the devil with your house. I have removed all the bedding. They have injured some of your books."

CHAPTER LXXI.

Philology of the Indian tongues--Its difficulties--Belles lettres and money--Michigan and Georgia--Number of species in natural history--Etymology--Nebahquam's dream--Trait in Indian legends--Pictography--Numeration of the races of Polynesia and the Upper Lakes--Love of one's native tongue--Death of Gen. Harrison--Rush for office on his inauguration--Ornamental and shade trees--Historical collections--Mission of "Old Wing."

1841. _Jan. 12th_. The Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of Pic, Lake Superior, who has studied the Chippewa language, says: "I fully concur in your remarks on the claims of philology. Circ.u.mstances may be easily conceived in which the missionary could in no way serve the cause of Christianity so effectually as by the study of barbarous languages. His primary object, it is true, is Christian instruction; but he would, at the same time, serve the cause of science, by a.s.sisting in the advance of comparative philology. In this light I view your _Algic, Researches_, which I consider a valuable acquisition to the missionary, as it introduces him into the stronghold of Indian prejudices. The introductory remarks I studied with peculiar interest.

"I find the princ.i.p.al difficulty in getting at the principles of the language to be in the compounds. I have long thought upon the subject, but have as yet ascertained no rule to guide me. However, I do not despair. If it cannot be taken by a '_coup de main_,' patience and perseverance may in the end prevail. I intend to bend my mind to this subject for the future. It will probably require much research to settle this matter. There are some compounds that I form readily, in others I fail. I have not observed anything in the language like the rythmatic flow of Greek and Latin poetry; there is no alternation of long and short syllables; some words are composed entirely of long syllables, others of short ones, but generally there is at least one of each in a word.

"I have nothing in the shape of Indian poetry or hieroglyphics, neither have I seen the rocks you mention south-east of this place, but I have heard of them. All their traditions, or comic and tragic lore, should be collected, though it could not all be published in consequence of its obscenity. Almost all the _Ah-te-soo-kaum_ I have heard, has had more or less of this ingredient."

Those who contend for a Welsh element in the languages of the American stocks, find little or no support in modern vocabularies.

ENGLISH. GERMAN. WELSH. ALGONQUIN.

Fire, Feuer, Tan, Schoda.

Water, Wa.s.ser, Duel, Neebi.

Earth, Erde, Daal, Aki.

Welt, Wind, Wind, Gwint, Noden.

Sky, Volka, Avere, Geezhikud.

Sea, Meer, More, Gitchigomi.

Book, Buch, Llyfer, Muzzenyegun.

This topic requires, however, to be investigated on a broad scale. It is merely adverted to here. It is among the western nations that inquiries should be extended.

_Feb. 4th_. I received a diploma of membership from the Georgia Historical Society, forwarded in accordance with a previous notice; and a few days after, through the medium of the Hon. A.S. Porter, the first volume of their transactions. Southern zeal quite outdoes us, in our literary efforts here of late. The truth is, men have speculated so wildly, they have no money to devote to historical or literary plans. A correspondent writes me (Feb. 12th) on these visionary plans of investment.

"H. wants me to go farther in the Ca.s.s Front; But I am determined to fall in the rear, as I have written to him. For the last three years I have been going on the Dutch plan, which, had I always pursued, I should now have had $10,000 in gold in my trunk, instead of having ten thousand trunks full of _ground_."

_7th_. d.i.c.k says that there are about 60,000 species in the animal kingdom. Of these, 600 species are mammalia, or sucklings, mostly four-footed; 4,000 birds, 3,000 fish, 700 reptiles, 44,000 insects, about 3,000 sh.e.l.l fish, and 80 to 100,000 animalcula, invisible to the naked eye. Perhaps these species may reach to 300,000 altogether. Yet here are no estimates for plants, ferns, mosses, madrepores, extinct fossil species, minerals and rocks. What a field for the naturalist! Yet Pope could exclaim--

"Say what the use, were finer optics given, T' inspect a mite--not comprehend the heaven."

We are, in fact, equally and as much in want of microscopic and telescopic knowledge.