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UNITED STATES. 



28. Indians. The vicinity of the whites has been generally fatal to the aboriginal race. 



Those who survive the communication are in 

 a state of decay, and have lost the virtues of 

 their former stale, witliout acquiring from civili- 

 zation any thing hut its vices. The Clierokees, 

 Creeks, Choctaws, &c., have made the greatest 

 advance in civilization. The first step was to 

 subsist by agriculture rather than hunting, and 

 to have a settled home. 'J'he Cherokees have 

 many of them large possessions, a becoming 

 dress, and sufl^.cient knowledge in the usefu.' 

 arts to manufacture clothing and various imple- 

 ments of v\ ocd and iron. They have reduced 

 their language to a system, and have a newspa 

 per published in their own alphabet. They havf 

 mounted giiards well armed, who have great au 

 thority, and who constantly ride in every direc 

 tion. The missionaries have had good success 

 among the Cherokees, and there are many books 

 in their own tongue scattered among them. It 

 is not pretended that this people have reached 

 a state of refinement ; but their present state 

 establishes the fact that the aborigines may live 

 together in large communities by the pursuits of 

 agriculture, and increasing knowledge. Some of 

 their anuisements are of a very athletic kind, 

 particularly the game of ball, which is pursued 

 by whole villages and even tribes, with so much 

 animation that a stranger would suppose it a battle. 



Many general traits run through all the tribes, or nations, as they are sometimes called, being 

 independent and distinct from each other. All, or nearly all, have the same fatal and irrepres- 

 sible thirst for spirituous liquors, which has become the bane of the race. To obtain this 

 gratification they will part with whatever they value most ; and though placable to each other 

 when sober, they w'ill, under the influence of liquor, commit the most brutal and sanguinary crimiCS. 

 In all other respects the Indians are distinguished for self-restraint. They will bear hunger and 

 pain without complaint, and so far restrnin all outward expression of grief or agony, that it is hard 

 to discover that they suffer either. But all restraint, all self-command, deserts them at the sight 

 of spirits. This appetite for ruinous indulgence is general, though some tribes remote in situ- 

 ation, and others who have never tolerated the introduction of spirits, have escaped the fatal con- 

 sequences. But the vicinity of the traders will destroy this safeguard. In all the tribes it is in- 

 culcated that it is honorable to bear pain without complaining ; and in appearance, at least, the 

 Indian has arrived at the perfection of Stoicism. He has been truly called a " Stoic of the woods, 

 a man without a tear." The best trained courtier has not a countenance so inaccessible to the 

 impulse of emotion, as that of the Indian. It is highly honorable to the Indians that with them, 

 and in any exasperated state of warfare, the honor of a female captive is always safe : the oppres- 

 sion of females is, however, no less general, and it is doubtful if the restraint arises altogether 

 from sentiments of justice or mercy. The condition of females invariably marks the state of 

 civilization, and we must, therefore, rank at a low rate the state of society among the most 

 enlightened of the Indian tribes. The sterner passions are developed, while the softer ones 

 are subdued. Courage is ranked above justice, and artifice above truth. The females are 

 invariably slaves ; though in some tribes the servitude is less oppressive than in others. To 

 make war and to hunt, are the sole employments of the men ; to cut wood, to draw water, to 

 carry burdens, to be humble, obedient and passive, is the lot of women. In such a state of 

 society some of the chief elements of moral sentiment arc wanting. Want of chastity is gene- 

 rally disgraceful in an unmarried female, and adultery is severely punished by the husband, if 

 committed without his connivance. 



Polygamy is very generally practised, though in some tribes it is unknown. In general the 

 Fndians, remote A'oni the influence of whites, live in a state of warfare, in which they commit 



Indian in fall dress. 



