
614 
vated hills, defcribing, for neax fifty miles, 
the northern boundaries of the lake.» In 
the intermediate fpace, you diftin&tly fee 
the fite of Newark, at the northern point 
of the outlet, on its entrance into the lake,. 
and the fortrefs of Niagara on its eaftern 
fhore. 
Such is the prefent ftate of this interefting 
country, as far as my obfervations enable 
me toreprefent it. The fugitive tints of 
the pictures Ihave attempted to delineate, 
from the vicifiitudes of the wonder-work-_ 
ing powers of human labour, will in the 
courfe of a few years change or difappear ; 
and if the memorial of them I have given 
be juft, it may then be a matter of fome 
curiofity to compare the future with the 
palt. 
OF THE INDIANS. 
On our return we croffed the outlet at 
Queenftown, afcended the high ridge as it 
runs eaft, and having pafled two Tufcarora 
villages, encamped at the entrance of a 
large and almoft impaflable morafs. ‘The 
next day we arrived at another fettlement 
on the Tonnewanto rivulet, inhabited by 
the Seneca Indians. I felt extremely 
happy in the midft of the defart, to find 
myfelf in this inhabited little fpot. All 
the principal men were gone from their 
homes for the purpofe of running the lines 
of nimety f{quare miles which had been 
referved to them in the fale to the Hall 
and Company; and we found only the 
old men, women and children in the vil- 
lage. Their huts, which they confiruét 
of hewn planks covered with bark, are 
generally about 30 or 40 feet long, 15 
wide, and as many high. In examining 
one of the moft confiderable, we pafied 
through an outer fhed, in front of which 
was a feat where they fat funning them- 
_felves. The interior fomewhat refembled 
- the long cabin of a packet-boat. On 
each fide was a line of four bed-places 
covered with deer fkins, with a bench run- 
ning before them. ‘Two fires were burn- 
ing on the earthen floor in the area, and 
emitted their fmoke through holes in the 
roof. Above the beds was a floored gra- 
Nary containing their winter’s provifion 
of maize,which, with fome precarious fup- 
plies obtained by hunting and fifhing, is 
their conftant and only food. I difcovered 
no other implements of domeftic ufe than 
two or three iron kettles, fome bafkets, 
and cups made of dried gourds. Several 
families are lodged under one roof, Their 
plantations of corn were about two miles 
..diftant., It is remarkable that all their 
domeftic and agricultural concerns are 
managed. by the women. The men, de- 
~ Country South of Lake Ontario. 
[Sept. 
lighting in the prerogatives of indolence 
and pleafure, are employed principally in 
hunting and lounging about. 
The Six Nations, of whom thistribecon- 
ftitutes one, have fhifted their habitations. 
from {pot to fpot, and this village, among 
others, is of recent fettlement. 
They do 
not at prefent much cultivate the art of | 
war; but their warriors {till appear with 
tomahawks in their hands and cafed knives 
in their girdles. In general they are of 
Innocent difpofitiens, and in their daily 
intercourfe with the inhabitants of the 
United States we hear of few initanees of 
any ferocious irregularity of behaviour. 
I did not find that the rules of commu- 
tative juftice were either fetrled or en- 
forced amongft them by any regular au- 
thority.’ I liftened with a imile to the 
account of their marriage and funeral 
rites.—But this fubject has been fo often 
-treated (and fo completely by Cadwallader 
Colden, in his hiftory of thefe nations) 
that I find nothing leit to add. 
only remark, as a fact falling within 
my obfervation—That, however rnde and 
comfortlefs the fituation of the Indian 
of thefe parts may appear to us, he feels 
no difpofition to change. Inftances are 
hot wanting of thofe who having been re- 
moved to a different hemfiphere returned 
to their beloved and native woods, from 
which no temptations could eftrange 
them. The’ civilized emigrant comes 
often into the defart as deftitute as the 
Indian himfelf; but fuperior energies of 
mind and well-direé&ted labour foon ren- 
der his abode there a matter of choice 
as well as convenience. ‘The favage, 
without any defire to imitate, looks wit 
contempt on the exertions as well as the 
rewards of his indufiry, and envies him 
no other poffeffion but his rum, | 
It is a very interefting fubject of {pe- 
culation to an inquifitive mind, to trace 
the different gradations of improvement 
which our nature undergoes from the fim- 
plicity of favage life to our prefent ex- 
tremes of luxury and refinement. We 
fee here a race of people apparently en- 
_joying as much real happimefs in the fimple 
gratification of the firft wants of nature, 
as-our-more efteemed focieties in the ful} 
poffeffion of all that the arts, the. know- 
ledge, and the acquirements of our Euro- 
pean anceftors in the lapfe of many cen- 
turies have bequeathed to us. To quef- 
tion, however, the propriety of thefe im- 
provements, would’ be to overlook the ge- 
nius of human nature, which has mani- 
fefted an unvaried progrefiion in fociety. 
Much as we may figh for that condition. 
of 
~— 
I fhall - 
