The American Indians Part 28

ANGAMOCUTIRO, a settlement of the same district with the preceding, containing 106 Indian families.

ANGARAES, a province of Peru, containing six curacies or parishes of Indians.

ANGELES, PUEBLA DE LOS, the capitol of the province of Tlaxcala, in New Spain, or Mexico, founded in 1533. The entire number of Indian families within this important jurisdiction is 3,200, which, at the ordinary rate of the estimation of Indian population here, that is, five souls to a family, gives an aggregate of 16,000. These are descendants of the ancient Azteecs, who inhabited the country on its conquest.

This is, however, but the population of the chief town or capital. The entire intendency of Pueblos de los Angeles contained, in 1793, 508,098 souls. Of this number, 373,752 were Indians of pure blood, divided into 187,531 males, and 186,221 females. There were also 77,908 of the mixed race, divided into 37,318 males, and 40,590 females. But 54,980 were Spaniards, or whites, exclusive of 585 secular ecclesiastics, 446 monks, and 427 nuns.

This preponderance of the native Indian population is still more striking in the government of Ilaxcala, which, of course, includes the capital above named. In 1793, it contained a population of 59,177 souls; of which, 42,878 were Indians, divided into 21,849 males, and 21,029 females. The town is governed by a Cacique, and four Indian Alcaldes, who represent the ancient heads of the four quarters, still called Teepectipac, Ocotelalco, Quiahtuitztlan, and Tizatlan. By virtue of a royal cedula of 16th April, 1585, the whites have no seat in the munic.i.p.ality. The Cacique, or Indian Governor, enjoys the honors of an _alferez real_. Notwithstanding the zeal of a Spanish intendant general, the progress of the inhabitants in industry and prosperity has been extremely slow. The secret of this is, perhaps, revealed in the fact that four fifths of the whole property belongs to mort-main proprietors, that is to say, to communities of monks, to chapters, corporations, and hospitals. Their trade is also depressed by the enormous price of carriage from the table lands, and the want of beasts of burden.

The geology and antiquities of this part of Mexico, are equally interesting. The intendency of Puebla is traversed by the high cordilleras of Anahuac, which, beyond the 18th degree of lat.i.tude, spreads into a plain, elevated from 1,800 to 2,000 metres above the level of the ocean, or from 5,905 to 6,561 feet. In this intendency is also the Popocatepetl, the highest mountain in Mexico. Humboldt's measurement of this volcano makes it 600 metres (1,968 feet,) higher than the most elevated summit of the old continent. It is, indeed, only exceeded between Panama and Behring's Straits, by Mt. St. Elias.

The table land of Puebla exhibits remarkable vestiges of ancient civilization. The fortifications of Tlaxcala are posterior in the date of their construction to the great pyramid of Cholula. This pyramid, or teocalli, is the most stupendous monument erected by the race. Its squares are arranged in exact accordance with the astronomical parallels. It is constructed in stages or terraces, the highest of which is 177 feet above the plain. It has a base of 1423 feet. By a pa.s.sage excavated into the north side of it, a few years ago, it is found to be solid, and to consist of alternate layers of brick and clay. Its centre has not, however, been reached. Its height exceeds the third of the great Egyptian pyramids of the group of Ghiza. In its base, however, it exceeds that of all other edifices found by travellers in the old continent; it is almost double that of the great pyramid of Cheops. To conceive of the vastness of the structure, let the traveller imagine a square four times the size of the Place Vendome, piled up with brick, in terraces, twice the utmost height of the palace of the Louvre.

The Indians of the province of Tlaxcala speak three languages, differing from one another, namely: the Mexican, Totonac, and Tlapanac. The first is peculiar to the inhabitants of Puebla, Cholula, and Tlascalla; the second to the inhabitants of Zacatlan; and the third is preserved in the environs of Tlapa. The population of the entire intendency of Puebla, in 1803, that is, ten years after the census above noted, had advanced to 813,300 in an extent of 2,696 square leagues, giving 301 inhabitants to the square league. Small as this may appear, it is four times greater than that of Sweden, and nearly equal to that of the Kingdom of Arragon.

ANIALIS, a barbarous nation of South American Indians, in the llanos of Casanare and Meta, in the new kingdom of Grenada. They are descended from the Betoyes. They are very numerous, and of a gentle nature. The Jesuits established a mission among them in 1722.

ANNACIOIS, or ANNACOUS, a barbarous nation of Indians, of the province of Puerto Seguro, in Brazil. They inhabit the woods and mountains to the west, and near the rivers Grande and Yucara. They are in a constant state of warfare, night and day. They are irreconcileable enemies of the Portuguese, whose colonies and cultivated lands they continually infest, and which they destroyed in 1687.

ANNEMOSING, the name of the Ottowas, and Chippewas, for the Fox Islands, of lake Michigan. It is derived of Annemose, a young dog or fox, and _ing_, a particle denoting place, or locality.

ANNEMIKEENS, a Chippewa hunter of Red River, in Hudson's bay, who survived a conflict with a grisly bear. After being terribly lacerated, in his face and limbs, but not deprived of consciousness, he affected death. The animal then seized him gently by the neck, and dragged him to a thicket, where he was left, as it was thought, to be eaten when the calls of hunger should demand. From this position he arose, first setting up, and binding parts of his lacerated flesh down, and afterwards rose, and succeeded in reaching his wigwam, where, by skill in the use of simples, his wounds were entirely healed. The name signifies little thunder, being a compound from Annimikee, thunder, and the diminutive inflection in us.

ANNUTTELIGO, a hammock brought to notice in the late war with the Seminoles, in Florida. It is situated east of the Withlacooche river.

ANOLAIMA, a settlement of Iocaima, in New Granada, containing a small, but indefinite population of Indians.

ANTALIS, a barbarous and warlike nation of Indians, in the kingdom of Chile, to the west of Coquimbo. They valorously opposed the progress of the Inca Yupanqui, compelling him, in the end, to terminate his conquests on the other side of the river Maule, the last boundary of Peru.

ANTIQUITIES. See the articles Grave Creek, Marrietta, Circleville, &c.

ANTHONY, ST., the falls of, being the fourth and lowermost of the perpendicular, or prominent falls of the Mississippi, and by far the greatest.

The first fall of this stream is the Kakabika, situated about half a day's journey below Itasca lake; the second is called Pukagama, and occurs below the influx of the Leech lake branch. The third is below Elk river and is pa.s.sable in boats and canoes. St. Anthony's is the most considerable of the series, and the only one which presents an abrupt plunge of the stream from horizontal rocks. They were thus named by Hennepin, about 1680. By the Dacotah Indians, who inhabit the country, they are called Haha. It is at this point, that the Mississippi, which gathers its waters from high table lands, and has its course, for several hundreds of miles, through diluvions superimposed on the primitive, first plunges into the great secondary formation. For more than a thousand miles, in its way southward, its banks are rendered imposing and precipitous by this formation. At or near the Grand Tower, and its adjunct precipice, on the Missouri sh.o.r.e, this formation ceases, and the river enters the great delta, which still confines it, for a like distance, before it expands itself, by its bifurcations, and final exit, in the Gulf of Mexico, at the Balize.

ANTONIO, SAN. The following statistical facts, denote the Indian population, of sundry settlements, bearing this name, within the former government of New Spain, now Mexico. In the limits of Toliman, 32 families; in Tampolomon, 128; in Toluca 51; in Metepec 261; in Coronango, 44; in Huehuetlan, 140; in Chapala, 27.

APACAHUND, or WHITE EYES, a Delaware chief of note, of the era of the American revolution, who is frequently mentioned in doc.u.ments of the times.

APACES, SAN JUAN BAUTISTA DE, a settlement of Zelaga in the province and bishopric of Mechoacan, containing 135 Indian families. Another settlement, of the same name, with the dedicatory t.i.tle of Santa Maria, in the district of Zitaguaro, contains 24 families.

APACHES, a nation of Indians, located between the Rio del Norte and the sources of the Nuaces, who were reported, in 1817, at 3,500. In an official report submitted to Congress, in 1837, their numbers "within striking distance of the western frontier," are vaguely put at, 20,280.

APALLACHIANS, a nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the extreme southern portion of the United States, and have left their name in the leading range of the Apallachian mountains. In 1539 De Soto found them in Florida, a term at that era comprehending also the entire area of the present states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other portions of the southern territory. They were numerous, fierce, and valorous. They were clothed in the skins of wild beasts. They used bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They did not, as many nations of barbarians do, poison their darts. They were temperate, drinking only water. They did not make wars on slight pretences, or for avarice, but to repress attacks, or remedy injustice. They treated their prisoners with humanity, and like other persons of their households. They were long lived, some persons reaching a hundred years. They worshipped the sun, to which they sang hymns, morning and evening. These facts are to be gleaned from the narrative. What were their numbers, how far they extended their jurisdiction, what were their affiliations by language, customs, and inst.i.tutions with other tribes, cannot be accurately decided. Much that is said of their civil and military polity, buildings, ceremonies and other traits, applies to the Floridian Indians generally, and may be dismissed as either vague, or not characteristic of the Appalachians. A quarto volume was published in London in 1666, by John Davies, under the t.i.tle of a "History of the Caribby Indians," in which he traces the caribs of the northern groups of the West Indies, to the Apallachians, and relates many incidents, and narrates a series of surprising wars and battles, reaching, in their effects, through the Mississippi valley up to the great lakes, which have the appearance of fable. How much of this account, which speaks of "cattle" and "herds," may be grafted on ancient traditions, it is impossible to tell. There are some proofs of such an ancient civilisation in the Ohio valley and other sections of the country, but they are unconnected with any Indian traditions, which have survived, unless we consider the mounds and remains of antique forts as monumental evidences of these reputed wars. The Lenapee accounts of these ancient wars with the Tallagees or Allegewy, may be thought to refer to this ancient people, who had, if this conjecture be correct, extended their dominion to the middle and northern lat.i.tudes of the present area of the United States, prior to the appearance of the Algonquin and Iroquies races. Mr. Irving has suggested the name of Apallachia, or Allegania, derived from the stock, for this division of the continent.

LANGUAGE.

LECTURES ON THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE OF THE INDIAN LANGUAGE.

The course of lectures, of which the following are part, were delivered before the St. Mary's committee of the Algic Society. Two of them only have been published. They are here continued from the article "Indian Languages," at page 202 of the "Narrative of the Discovery of the actual Source of the Mississippi, in Itasca Lake," published by the Harpers, in 1834. The family of languages selected as the topic of inquiry, is the Algonquin. All the examples employed are drawn from that particular type of it which is called Chippewa, in our transactions with them, but which they uniformly p.r.o.nounce themselves, Od-jib-wa. These terms are employed as perfect synonyms. The phrase "Odjibwa-Algonquin," wherever it occurs, is intended to link, in the mind of the inquirer, the species and the genus (if we may borrow a term from natural history) of the language, but is not fraught with, or intended to convey, any additional idea. The three terms relate to one and the same people.

LECTURE III.

Observations on the Adjective--Its distinction into two cla.s.ses denoted by the presence or absence of vitality--Examples of the animates and inanimates--Mode of their conversion into substantives--How p.r.o.nouns are applied to these derivatives, and the manner of forming compound terms from adjective bases, to describe the various natural phenomena--The application of these principles in common conversation, and in the description of natural and artificial objects--Adjectives always preserve the distinction of number--Numerals--Arithmetical capacity of the language--The unit exists in duplicate.

1. It has been remarked that the distinction of words into animates and inanimates, is a principle intimately interwoven throughout the structure of the language. It is, in fact, so deeply imprinted upon its grammatical forms, and is so perpetually recurring, that it may be looked upon, not only as forming a striking peculiarity of the language, but as const.i.tuting the fundamental principle of its structure, from which all other rules have derived their limits, and to which they have been made to conform. No cla.s.s of words appears to have escaped its impress. Whatever concords other laws impose, they all agree, and are made subservient in the establishment of this.

It might appear to be a useless distinction in the adjective, when the substantive is thus marked; but it will be recollected that it is in the plural of the substantive only, that the distinction is marked. And we shall presently have occasion to show, that redundancy of forms, are, to considerable extent, obviated in practice.

For the origin of the principle itself, we need look only to nature, which endows animate bodies with animate properties and qualities, and vice versa. But it is due to the tribes who speak this language, to have invented one set of adjective symbols to express the ideas peculiarly appropriate to the former, and another set applicable, exclusively, to the latter; and to have given the words good and bad, black and white, great and small, handsome and ugly, such modifications as are practically competent to indicate the general nature of the objects referred to, whether provided with, or dest.i.tute of the vital principle.

And not only so, but by the figurative use of these forms, to exalt inanimate ma.s.ses into the cla.s.s of living beings, or to strip the latter of the properties of life--a principle of much importance to their public speakers.

This distinction is shown in the following examples, in which it will be observed, that the inflection _izzi_, generally denotes the personal, and _au_, _un_, or _wud_, the impersonal forms.

Adj: _Inanimate_. Adj: _Animate_.

Bad Monaud ud Monaud izzi.

Ugly Gushkoonaug wud Gushkoonaug oozzi.

Beautiful Bishegaindaug wud Bishegaindaug oozzi.

Strong Song un Song izzi.

Soft Nok un Nok izzi.

Hard Mushkow au Mushkow izzi.

Smooth Shoiskw au Shoisk oozzi.

Black Mukkuddaw au Mukkuddaw izzi.

White Waubishk au Waubishk izzi.

Yellow Ozahw au Ozahw izzi.

Red Miskw au Miskw izzi.

Blue Ozhahwushkw au Ozhahwushkw izzi.

Sour Sheew un Sheew izzi.

Sweet Weeshkob un Weeshkob izzi.

Light Naung un Naung izzi.

It is not, however, in all cases, by mere modifications of the adjective, that these distinctions are expressed. Words totally different in sound, and evidently derived from radically different roots, are, in some few instances, employed, as in the following examples:

Adj: _Inanimate_. Adj: _Animate_.

Good Onisheshin Minno.

Bad Monaudud Mudjee.

Large Mitshau Mindiddo.

Small Pungee Uggaushi.

Old Geekau Gitizzi.

It may be remarked of these forms, that although the impersonal will, in some instances, take the personal inflections, the rule is not reciprocated, and minno, and mindiddo, and gitizzi, and all words similarly situated, remain unchangeably animates. The word pungee, is limited to the expression of quant.i.ty, and its correspondent uggaushi, to size, or quality. Kisheda, (hot) is restricted to the heat of a fire; keezhauta, to the heat of the sun. There is still a third term to indicate the natural heat of the body, _Kizzizoo_. Mitshau (large) is generally applied to countries, lakes, rivers, &c. Mindiddo, to the body, and gitshee, indiscriminately. Onishishin, and its correspondent onishishsha, signify, handsome or fair, as well as good. Kwonaudj a. a.

and kwonaudj ewun a. i. mean, strictly, handsome, and imply nothing further. Minno, is the appropriate personal form for good. Mudgee and monaudud, may reciprocally change genders, the first by the addition of i-e-e, and the second by altering ud to izzi.

Distinctions of this kind are of considerable importance in a practical point of view, and their observance or neglect, are noticed with scrupulous exactness by the Indians. The want of inanimate forms to such words as happy, sorrowful, brave, sick &c., creates no confusion, as inanimate nouns cannot, strictly speaking, take upon themselves such qualities, and when they do--as they sometimes do, by one of those extravagant figures of speech, which are used in their tales of transformations, the animate forms answer all purposes. For in these tales the whole material creation may be clothed with animation. The rule, as exhibited in practice, is limited, with sufficient accuracy, to the boundaries prescribed by nature.