The American Indians. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

THE CHOCTAW INDIANS.

       A SYNOPSIS OF CARTIER'S VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AT NORTH AMERICA. FIRST VOYAGE.

       SECOND VOYAGE.

       THIRD VOYAGE.

       THE INFLUENCE OF ARDENT SPIRITS ON THE CONDITION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

       VENERABLE INDIAN CHIEF.

       FATE OF THE RED RACE IN AMERICA

       NURSERY AND CRADLE SONGS OF THE FOREST.

       CHAPTER XIX.

       PAWNEE BARBARITY.

       "THE LOON UPON THE LAKE."

       ODJIBWA SONG.

       NIAGARA, AN ALLEGORY.

       A PSALM.

       TRADITIONARY WAR SONGS

       ODJIBWA ALGONQUINS.

       DEATH SONG.

       APPENDIX.

       NARRATIVE

       ALEXANDER HENRY, Esq.

       NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY

       FRANCES NOBLE.

       NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY

       QUINTIN STOCKWELL.

       NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY

       PETER WILLIAMSON.

       NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY

       JONATHAN CARVER.

       NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY

       MRS. SCOTT.

       THE END.

      FROM

ORIGINAL NOTES AND MANUSCRIPTS.

       Table of Contents

      BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

       Table of Contents

      TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THRILLING NARRATIVES, DARING EXPLOITS, ETC. ETC.

       NEW REVISED EDITION.

ROCHESTER:

       WANZER, FOOT AND CO.

       Table of Contents

      1851.

       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

       by GEO. H. DERBY & CO.,

       In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the

       Northern District of New York.

       JEWETT, THOMAS & CO., PRINTERS, BUFFALO.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.

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      It is now twenty-six years since I first entered the area of the Mississippi valley, with the view of exploring its then but imperfectly known features, geographical and geological. Twenty-two years of this period have elapsed since I entered on the duties of an Executive Agent for the United States Government in its higher northern latitudes among the Indian tribes in the west. Having devoted so large a portion of my life in an active sphere, in which the intervals of travel left me favourable opportunities of pursuing the languages and history of this branch of the race, it appears to be a just expectation, that, in sitting down to give some account of this people, there should be some preliminary remarks, to apprise the reader how and why it is, that his attention is recalled to a topic which he may have supposed to be well nigh exhausted. This it is proposed to do by some brief personal reminiscences, beginning at the time above alluded to.

      The year 1814 constituted a crisis, not only in our political history, but also in our commercial, manufacturing, and industrial interests. The treaty of Ghent, which put a period to the war with England, was a blessing to many individuals and classes in America: but, in its consequences, it had no small share of the effects of a curse upon that class of citizens who were engaged in certain branches of manufactures. It was a peculiarity of the crisis, that these persons had been stimulated by double motives, to invest their capital and skill in the perfecting and establishment of the manufactories referred to, by the actual wants of the country and the high prices of the foreign articles. No pains and no cost had been spared, by many of them, to supply this demand; and it was another result of the times, that no sooner had they got well established, and were in the high road of prosperity than the peace came and plunged them headlong from the pinnacle of success. This blow fell heavier upon some branches than others. It was most fatal to those manufacturers who had undertaken to produce fabrics of the highest order, or which belong to an advanced state of the manufacturing prosperity of a nation. Be this as it may, however, it fell with crushing force upon that branch