Bringier on the Region of the Mississippi, S^c, 35 



except what the United States paid out of their annuity? 

 Was there ever one seen sober, where spirituous liquors 

 could be got? Is there any hospitality amongst the Chero^ 

 kees? No ! I will dispense with answering the first ques- 

 tions; but I will warn the travellers, who should happen to 

 cross their settlement on the Arkansas, to be on their guard 

 wherever they incarap ; otherwise they are sure to be left 

 on foot next morning, unless their horses should be of very 

 little consequence. In that case, an officious fellow will of- 

 fer himself to go and hunt the horses, sometimes for as much 

 as they are worth,* and he will always be sure to find them 

 where the thieves had left them under the care of another 

 Cherokee, often fifteen and twenty miles out of the way. 

 They are haughty and deceitful to the last degree, and, in 

 one word, completely perverted. It is true that these Cher- 

 okees on the Arkansas, are those who have been driven 

 away, and have fled from the old nation on the Tennessee 

 river, (with whom I am not acquainted.) However, it is 

 notorious that all the Indian tribes in a state of civilization, 

 within the limits of the United States, are extremely cor- 

 rupted, whilst those under the Spanish iron rod, are mild, 

 and possess no other vices, except those inseparable from 

 ignorance. 



Indian Languages. 



Some may object that they can be of a different temper; 

 but I will mention a circumstance, which evinces that there 

 is no great diiFerence between these very Cherokees, and 

 the Othomite Indians in th« province of Michioican,(in Mex- 

 ico,) who, notwithstanding their great distance apart, speak 

 nearly the same language, (at least I found much resem- 

 blance with some words, and a perfect one with others, 

 which I noted in a journal, whilst I was viewing the 

 province of Michioican, which is mostly inhabited by the 

 Othomite Indians, who are seldom found to speak Spanish.) 

 As water is very scarce in those parts, I often had to en- 

 quii'e where I could find some at hand for my horses; and 

 very often I was presented with salt, instead of water. By 

 making further inquiry, I found out that ama was water, and 



*' They never agree to go out until they think you have given up al! 

 hopes of finding them. 



