A Treatise on the Six Nation Indians
J >>
James Bovell Mackenzie >> A Treatise on the Six Nation Indians
Produced by Sean Barrett, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
This file was produced from images generously made available by the
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions.
A TREATISE ON THE SIX-NATION INDIANS
By J. B. MACKENZIE
---------------------
(_Page 28--lines 7-9_.)
It has seemed to me that it was not quite ingenuous in myself to attribute
to the Indian writer in question (Rev. Peter Jones), the reflection on
his countrymen, obviously conveyed in my expression, "discovering in
him such in-dwelling monsters as revenge, mercilessness, implacability."
That writer's position, more fairly apprehended, is this: That, while
confessing these to be blots on the Indian nature, in the abstract,
he yet seeks to fasten them on _many_ whites as well.
---------------------
A TREATISE
ON THE
SIX-NATION INDIANS
BY J. B. MACKENZIE
PREFACE.
The little production presented in these pages was designed for, and
has been used as, a lecture; and I have wished to preserve, without
emendation, the form and character of the lecture, as it was delivered.
J. B. M.
A TREATISE ON THE SIX NATION INDIANS
INTRODUCTORY
As knowledge of the traditions, manners, and national traits of the
Indians, composing, originally, the six distinct and independent tribes
of the Mohawks, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, and Cayugas;
tribes now merged in, and known as, the Six Nations, possibly, does
not extend beyond the immediate district in which they have effected a
lodgment, I have laid upon myself the task of tracing their history from
the date of their settlement in the County of Brant, entering, at the
same time, upon such accessory treatment as would seem to be naturally
suggested or embraced by the plan I have set before me. As the essay,
therefore, proposes to deal, mainly, with the contemporary history of
the Indian, little will be said of his accepted beliefs, at an earlier
epoch, or of the then current practices built upon, and enjoined by,
his traditionary faith. Frequent visits to the Indian's Reservation, on
the south bank of the Grand River, have put me in the way of acquiring
oral data, which shall subserve my intention; and I shall prosecute my
attempt with the greater hope of reaping a fair measure of success,
since I have fortified my position with gleanings (bearing, however,
solely on minor matters of fact) from some few published records,
which have to do with the history of the Indian, generally, and have
been the fruitful labour of authors of repute and standing, native
as well as white. Should the issue of failure attend upon my effort,
I shall be disposed to ascribe it to some not obscure reason
connected with literary style and execution, rather than to the fact
of there not having been adequate material at hand for the purpose.
THE INDIAN'S CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT.
The conditions which govern the Indian's occupation of his Reserve are,
probably, so well known, that any extended reference under this head
will be needless.
He ceded the whole of his land to the Government, this comprising,
originally, a tract which pursued the entire length of the Grand River,
and, accepting it as the radiating point, extended up from either side
of the river for a distance of six miles, to embrace an area of that
extent. The Government required the proprietary right to the land, in
the event of their either desiring to maintain public highways through
it themselves, or that they might be in a position to sanction, or
acquiesce in, its use or expropriation by Railway Corporations, for the
running of their roads; or for other national or general purposes. The
surrender on the part of the Indian was not, however, an absolute one,
there having been a reservation that he should have a Reservation, of
adequate extent, and the fruit of the tilling of which he should enjoy
as an inviolable privilege.
As regards the money-consideration for this land, the Government stand to
the Indian in the relation of Trustees, accounting for, and apportioning
to, him, through the agency of their officer and appointee, the Indian
Superintendent, at so much _per capita_ of the population, the
interest arising out of the investment of such money.
_Sales_ of lands among themselves are permissible; but these, for
the most part, narrow themselves down to cases where an Indian, with the
possession of a good lot, of fair extent, and with a reasonable clearing,
vested in him, leaves it, to pursue some calling, or follow some trade,
amongst the whites; and treats, perhaps, with some younger Indian, who,
disliking the pioneer work involved in taking up some uncultured place
for himself, and preferring to make settlement on the comparatively well
cultivated lot, buys it. The Government, also, allow the Indian, though
as a matter of sufferance, or, in other words, without bringing the law
to bear upon him for putting in practice what is, strictly speaking,
illegal, to _rent_ to a white the lot or lots on which he may be
located, and to receive the rent, without sacrifice or alienation of
his interest-money.
Continued non-residence entails upon the non-resident the forfeiture of
his interest.
The Indian is, of course, a minor in the eye of the law, a feature of
his estate, with the disabilities it involves, I shall dwell upon more
fully at a later stage.
Should the Indian intermarry with a white woman, the receipt of his
interest-allowance is not affected or disturbed thereby, the wife coming
in, as well, for the benefits of its bestowal; but should, on the other
hand, an Indian woman intermarry with a white man, such act compels,
as to herself, acceptance, in a capitalized sum, of her annuities for a
term of ten years, with their cessation thereafter; and entails upon the
possible issue of the union _absolute_ forfeiture of interest-money.
In any connection of the kind, however, that may be entered into, the
Indian woman is usually sage and provident enough to marry one, whose hold
upon worldly substance will secure her the domestic ease and comforts, of
which the non-receipt of her interest would tend to deprive her. Should
the eventuality arise of the Indian woman dying before her husband,
the latter must quit the place, which was hers only conditionally,
though the Indian Council will entertain a reasonable claim from him,
to be recouped for any possible outlay he may have made for improvements.
The Government confer upon the Indian the privilege of a resident medical
officer, who is paid by them, and whose duty it is to attend, without
expectation of fee or compensation of any kind, upon the sick. His
relation, however, to the Government is not so defined as to preclude
his acceptance of fees from whites resident on the Reserve, provided
the advice be sought at his office. The Government, probably, being
well aware of the stress of work under which their medical appointee
chronically labours, and appreciating the consequent unlikelihood of
this privilege being exercised to the prejudice of the Indian, have not,
as yet, shorn him of it.
Another privilege that the Indian enjoys, and which was granted to him by
enactment subsequent to that which assured to him his Reserve, is that
of transit at half-fare grates on the different railroads. This is a
right which he neither despises, nor, in any way, affects to despise,
since it meets, and is suited to, his common condition of slender and
straitened means. The moderate charge permits him to avail frequently
of the privilege at seasons (which comprehend, in truth, the greater
portion of the year) when the roads are almost unfit for travel, the
Indian, as a rule, going in for economy in locomotive exercise (so my
judgment decrees, though it has been claimed for him that, at an earlier
period of his history, walking was congenial to him) hailing and adopting
gladly the medium which obviates recourse to it.
HIS MEETINGS OF COUNCIL.
The Indian Council has a province more important than that which our
Municipal Councils exercise. Its decisions as to disputes growing out
of real estate transactions, unless clearly wrong, have in them the
force of law.
The ordinary Council is a somewhat informal gathering as regards a
presiding officer or officers, and, also, in respect of that essential
feature of a quorum, for which similar bodies among ourselves hold out
so exactingly. The Chiefs of the tribes, who, alone, are privileged to
participate in discussions, can scarcely be looked upon in the light of
presidents of the meeting; nor can there be discovered in the privileges
or duties of any one of them the functions of a presiding officer.
The Chiefs of the Mohawks and Senecas, who sit on the left of the house,
initiate discussion on all questions. The debating is then transferred
to the opposite side of the house, where are seated the Chiefs of the
Tuscaroras, Oneidas, and Cayugas, and is carried on by these Chiefs. The
Chiefs of the Onondagas, who are called "Fire-Keepers" (of the origin
of the name "Fire-Keeper," I will treat further, anon) then speak
to the motion, or upon the measure, and, finally, decide everything;
and they are, in view of this power of finality of decision with all
questions, regarded as the most important Chiefs among the confederated
tribes. The decision of the "Fire-Keepers" does not, by any means,
always show concurrence in what may have been the _consensus_
of opinion expressed by previous speakers, very frequently, indeed,
embodying sentiments directly opposite to the weight of the judgment
with those speakers. As illustrating, more pointedly, the arbitrary
powers committed to these Chiefs, they may import into the debate a
fresh and hitherto unbroached line of discussion, and, following it,
may argue from a quite novel standpoint, and formulate a decision based
upon some utterly capricious leaning of their own. I have not been able
to learn whether the decision of these Chiefs, to be valid, requires to be
established by their unanimous voice, or simply by a majority of the body.
The reason or cogency of the system of debate followed in the Indian
Council has not seemed to me clearly demonstrable; nor is the cause for
the honour attaching to the Chiefs of the Mohawks and Senecas, and of
the Onondagas, respectively, of commencing and closing discussion, very
explicable. I believe, however, that the principle of kinship subsisting
between the tribes, the Chiefs of which are thus singled out for these
duties, governs, in some way, the practice adopted; and am led, also,
to imagine that exceptional functions, in other matters as well, vest
in these Chiefs; and that they enjoy, in general, precedence over the
Chiefs of the other tribes.
The Chiefs in Council take cognizance of the internal concerns,
and control and administer, generally, the internal affairs, of the
community. There are often special and extraordinary deliberations of the
body, which involve discussion upon points that transcend the operation
of the Indian Acts, and require the Government to be represented; and,
in these cases, the Indian Superintendent, whose presence is necessary
to confer validity on any measure passed, is the presiding officer.
As mention is made here of the Superintendent, or, as his title runs in
full, the Visiting Superintendent and Commissioner, it will be opportune
now to define his powers, so far as I understand them.
It may be said, in general, that he exercises supervisory power over
everything that concerns the well-being and interests of the Indian. By
the representations made by him to the Government in his reports (and by
those, of course, who hold the like office in other Indian districts)
has been initiated nearly every law, or amendment to a law, which the
pages of the Indian Acts disclose.
He will often watch (though in his commission no obligation, I believe,
rests upon him to do this) the trial of an Indian, where some one of the
graver crimes is involved, that he may, perchance, arrive at the impelling
cause for its perpetration. This may have had its origin, perhaps, in
the criminal's having over-indulged in drink, or in his having resigned
himself to some immoral bent; or it may have been connected, generally,
with some deluging of the community with immorality. If, haply, the
origin of the crime be traced, the Superintendent embodies in his report
a reccommendation looking to a change in the law, which shall tend to
suppress and control the evil. If there be indication that a particular
order of crime prevails, or that, unhappily, some new departure in its
melancholy category is being practised, it will, again, be his place to
represent the situation to the Government, to the end that a healthier
state of things may be brought about. He is authorized, in certain cases,
to make advances on an individual Indian's account, and, also, on the
general account, where some emergency affecting the entire tribe arises,
such as a failure of the crops, confronting the Indian with the serious,
and, but for this Governmental provision, insuperable, difficulty of
finding the outlay for seeding for the next season's operations.
It is customary for the Superintendent to attend important examinations
of the Indian schools, that he may have light upon the pupils' progress,
and may report accordingly.
Where an occurrence of unusual moment in the history of any of the
Churches takes place; the projecting, perhaps, of some fresh spiritual
campaign amongst the Indians; or one, marking some specially auspicious
event, he will often lend his presence, with the view to enlightenment
as to the spiritual state of his charges.
I have already said, that through the agency of the Superintendent, the
Indian receives his interest-money, and it may, perhaps, be interesting to
detail the manner in which this is usually drawn. The tribes are told off
for this purpose, and, I believe, certain other purposes, into a number
of bands; and a given day is set (or, perhaps, three or four days are
assigned) whereon the members of a particular band shall be privileged
to draw. If the drawing of the money be not marked by that expedition
which the plan is designed to secure, but rather suggests that there
are a number of stragglers yet to come forward to exercise their right,
the turn of another band comes, and so on, the straggling ones of each
band being treated with last.
It is usual for the head of each family to draw for himself and his
domestic circle.
The present incumbent of the Superintendent's office is a gentleman of
fine parts, and one who has striven, during a term of nearly twenty years,
with tact and ability, to conserve the interests of the Indian. Speaking
of tact, the Indian character exacts a large display of it from one whose
relation to him is such as that which the Superintendent occupies, his
overseer and, to a large extent, his mentor. There have been outcries
against his course in some matters, though these have been indulged in
only a small section; but the Indian chafes under direction, and is,
for the most part, a chronic grumbler; and his discontent frequently
finds expression in delegations to the Government, which, though they
_may_ be planned with the view of ventilating some grievance, are
more generally conceived of by him in the light of happy expedients
for giving play to his oratory, or for setting about to establish
his pretensions to eminence in that regard, in a somewhat exacting
quarter; or, mayhap, for conveying to the powers that be, by palpable
demonstration, the fact of his continued existence, and more, of his
continued _dissatisfied_ existence.
But to return to the Council. Where complaint of irregular dealing is
preferred by either party to a transfer or sale of real estate, it comes
within the scope of the Chief's powers to decree an equitable basis upon
which such transfer or sale shall henceforward be viewed, and carried
out. The jurisdiction of the Chiefs also ranges over such matters as
the considering of applications from members of the various tribes for
licensing the sale to whites of timber, stone, or other valuable deposit,
with which the property of such applicants may be enriched; and they
likewise treat with applications for relief from members of the tribes,
whom physical incapacity debars from earning living, or who have been
reduced to an abject state of poverty and indigence; and have authority
to supplement the interest-annuities of such, should they see fit,
with suitable amounts.
The silent adjudging of a question is something abhorrent to the genius
of the Indian, and is in reality unknown. Dishonouring thus the custom,
he can grandly repudiate the contemptuous epithet of "voting machine;"
so unsparingly directed against, and pitilessly fastening upon, certain
ignoble legislators among ourselves. The manner of proceeding that
obtained with the Ojibways was somewhat different from the practice I have
detailed, and I allude to it now, because the tribe of the Delawares,
who are now treated as an off-shoot of the Oneidas, and are merged with
their kin in the Six Nations, belonged originally to the Ojibways. With
them the decision was come to according to the opinions expressed by the
majority of the speakers--a plan resolving itself into the system of a
show of hands (or a show of _tongues_, which shall it be?) it having
been customary for all who proposed to pass upon a measure to speak as
well. The issue upheld by the greater number of hands shown, naturally,
as with us, succeeded. Where a measure, in the progress of discussion,
proved unpopular, it was dropped, an arrangment which should convey a
wise hint to certain bodies I wot of.
It will be readily gathered from what has been said, that the method of
voting, in order to establish what is the judgment of the greater number,
does not prevail with the Indian Councils.
HIS ORATORY.
As it is at his meetings of Council, and during the discussions that
are there provoked, that the Indian's powers of oratory come, for the
most part, into play, and secure their freest indulgence, that will
appropriately constitute my next head.
We are permitted to adjudge the manner and style of the Indian's oratory,
whether they be easy or strained; graceful or stiff; natural or affected;
and we may, likewise, discover, if his speech be flowing or hesitating;
but it is denied to us, of course, to appreciate in any degree, or to
appraise his utterances. I should say the Indian fulfils the largest
expectations of the most exacting critic, and the highest standard of
excellence the critic may prescribe, in all the branches of oratory that
may (with his province necessarily fettered) fitly engage his attention,
or be exposed to his hostile shafts.
The Indian has a marvellous control over facial expression, and this,
undeniably, has a powerful bearing upon true, effective, heart-moving
oratory. Though his _spoken_ language is to us as a sealed book,
his is a mobility of countenance that will translate into, and expound
by, a language shared by universal humanity, diverse mental emotions;
and assure, to the grasp of universal human ken, the import of those
emotions; that will express, in turn, fervor, pathos, humor; that,
to find its completest purpose of unerringly revealing each passion,
alternately, and for the nonce, swaying the human breast, will traverse,
as it were, and compass, and range over the entire gamut of human emotion.
The Indian's grace and aptness of gesture, also, in a measure, bespeak
and proclaim commanding oratory. The power, moreover, which with the
Indian resides in mere gesture, as a medium for disclosing and laying
bare the thoughts of his mind, is truly remarkable. Observe the Indian
interpreter in Court, while in the exercise of that branch of his duty
which requires that the evidence of an English-speaking witness or, at all
events, that portion of it which would seem to inculpate the prisoner at
the bar, or bear upon his crime, shall be given to him in his own tongue;
and, having been intent upon getting at the drift of the testimony, mark
how dexterously the interpreter brings gesture and action into play,
wherever the narration involves unusual incident or startling episode,
provoking their use! What a reality and vividness does he not throw, in
this way, into the whole thing! It records, truly, a triumph of mimetic
skill. Again, the opportune gesture used by the Indian in enforcing
his speaking must seem so patent, in the light of the after-revelation
by the interpreter, that we can scarcely err in confiding in it as
a valuable aid in adjudging his qualities of oratory. We are, often,
indeed, put in possession of the facts, in anticipation of the province
of the interpreter, who merely steps in, with his more perfect key, to
confirm our preconceived interpretation. It may be contended by some
gainsayer, that the Indian vocabulary, being so much less full and rich
than our own, gesture and action serve but to cover up dearth of words,
and are, in truth, well-nigh the sum of the Indian's oratory; a judgment
which, while, perhaps, conceding to the Indian honour as a pantomimist,
denies him eminence as a true orator. This may or may not be an aptly
taken objection, yet I have no hesitation in assigning the Indian high
artistic rank in these regards, and would fain, indeed, accept him as
a prime educator in this important branch of oratory.
The attention of his hearers, which an Indian speaker of recognized merit
arrests and sustains, also lends its weight to substantiate his claim,
to good oratory; unless, indeed, the discriminating faculties of the
hearers be greatly at fault, which would caution us not to esteem this
the guide to correct judgment in the matter that it usually forms.
The Indian enlivens his speaking with frequent humorisms, and has,
I should say, a finely-developed humorous side to his character; and,
if the zest his hearers extract from allusions of this nature be not
inordinate or extravagant, or do not favor a false or too indulgent
estimate, I would pronounce him an excessively entertaining, as well as
a vigorous, speaker.
There are in the Indian tongue no very complex, rules of grammar. This
being so, the Indian, pursuing the study of oratory, needs not to
undertake the mastery of unelastic and difficult rules, like those
which our own language comprehends; or to acquire correct models of
grammatical construction for his guidance; and, being fairly secure
against his accuracy in these regards being impeached by carping critics,
even among his own brethren, can better and more readily uphold a claim
to good oratory than one of ourselves, whose government in speaking, by
strict rules of grammar is essential, and whom ignorance or contempt of
those rules would betray into solecisms in its use, which would attract
unsparing criticism, and, indeed, be fatal to his pretensions in this
direction.
HIS PHYSICAL MIEN AND CHARACTERISTICS.
It will be interesting, perhaps, to notice the particulars, as to physical
conformation, in which the Indian differs from his white brother.
He maintains a higher average as to height, to fix which at five feet
ten would, I think, be a just estimate. It is rare, however, to find
him attain the exceptional stature, quite commonly observed with the
white, though, where he yields to the latter in this respect, there is
compensation for it in the way of greater breadth and compactness. There
are, of course, isolated cases, in which he is distinguished by as great
height as has ever been reached by ordinary man, and, in these instances,
I have never failed to notice that his form discloses almost faultless
proportions, the Indian being never ungainly or gaunt. I think, on the
whole, that I do no injustice to the white man, when I credit the Indian
with a better-knit frame than himself.
I am disposed to ascribe, in great measure, the evolving of the erect
form that the Indian, as a rule, possesses, to the custom in vogue of
the mother carrying her child strapped across the back, as well as to
the fact of her discouraging and interdicting any attempts at walking
on the part of the child, until the muscles shall have been so developed
as to justify such being made. To this practice, at least, I am safe in
attributing the rarity, if not the positive absence, with the Indian, of
that unhappy condition of bow-leggedness, of not too slight prevalence
with us, and which renders its victim often a butt for not very charitable
or approving comment.
The Indian is built more, perhaps, for fleetness than strength; and
his litheness and agility will come in, at another place, for their due
illustration, when treating of certain of his pastimes.
The Indian has a large head, high cheek bones, in general, large lips
and mouth; a contour of face inclining, on the whole, to undue breadth,
and lacking that pleasantly-rounded appearance so characteristic of the
white. He has usually a scant beard, his chin and cheeks seldom, if ever,
asserting that sturdy and bountiful growth of whisker and moustache, in
such esteem with adults among ourselves, and which they are so careful
to stimulate and insure. Indeed, it is said that the Indian holds rather
in contempt what we so complacently regard, and will often testify to
his scorn by plucking out the hairs which protrude, and would fain lend
themselves to his adornment.