Carroll County, Indiana - Introdrctouv Cnnsidlirations - What I Iv, 1882

Introdrctouv Cnnsidlirations - What I Iv

1 TPON the tii'st introduction of Eiu'opeans among the primitive * - ^ inhabitant's of this country, it was the prevailing opinion among the white people that the vast domain since designated as the " American Continent" was peopled by one common family, of like habits, and speaking the same language. The error, however, was soon dispelled by observation, which at the same time established the fact of the great diversity of their characteristics^ language and physical development, the diversity arising sometimes from one cause and sometimes from another. Especially within the past centmy, the subject of ethnological investigation has acquired new interest, the unfoldings of the period adding largely to the stock of knowledge appertaining thereto. These investigations, in many instances, have elicited facts of gi'eat moment, by the consideration, in the light of the present age, of ob served conditions as consequent upon causes before unknown to science.

In what follows, the reader's attention will be directed to an examination of such of the featm-es of the investigation as pertain to the classes, families and tribes of the Indian race that have from time to time inhabited this valley, or whose history may have been incidentally connected therewith. Certain radical divisions there are, into which, by common consent, the race has been separated, and these now must claim our attention.

The principal division known at this period is the Algonquin, embracing, among other powerful tribes, the Miamis, recognized as one of the mast perfect types, and, in past ages, one of the most extensive on the continent. Next in rank to the Miamis, if. indeed, they are not entitled to precedence, are the Delawares, or Lenne Lenapes, and the Shawanoes. The Miamis were early known as the Twa'-twas,' Omes and Omamees. Next in rank were the Peorias. Kaskaskias. Weas and Piankeshaws, who, collectively, were known as the Ilinese, or Illinois Indians. Then, the Ottawas. The Chippewas and Mississauges were interchangeably known as Nepersinians, Nipissings, Ojibwas, Santaux and Chibwas. After these were the Kickapoos, or Miscoutins; the Pottawatomies, or Poiix; and the Sacs (or Saux) and Foxes (or Reynai-ds). The Muusees was another name for the Delawai-es. This is the classification and arrangement of Schoolcraft, in his history of the " Indians of North America." Another division, the Hm'ons, Hm'on-Iroquois or Wyandots, embraced all the remaining tribes with whose history we ai'e immediately interested. Of this division, the Hurons, better known as the Wyandots, enter especially into oiu: local history. Of these matters, however, more will appear in subsequent pages.

The Algonquins

The Algonquins, or i)rimitive family, as sometimes called, received that name from the French as a mark of distinction when compared with other families of the aboriginal race. It appears to have been first applied by the missionaries at Montreal, before the middle of the sixteenth centiiry. As first employed, it meant only "the people of the other side." Cartier, in 1535, having the previous year discovered the St. Lawrence, entered the gulf known by that na .le and ascended the river, in one of his ships, to Lake St. Peters, whence he proceeded in boats to the island of Hochelega, the present site of Montreal or Moimt Royal, as originally called. This jjlace was then populated by numerous bands of Indians, who, it was readily perceived, were of the Iroquois stock. These were found to be the ancient tribe since known as the Wyandots, but called, by the French, Hurons, from the wild manner of dressing their hair. They occupied the eastern and southern shores of the St, Lawrence, extending westward to the Niagara River, and southeast to the Lake Champlain, in common with other Iroquois cantons, and were expert canoemen, during the fishing season descending the St. Lawrence to the gulf. On a map published at Amsterdam in 1654, the country inhabited by them was designated by the name of Ii'ocosia, the country of the Loquois. The opposite side of the River St. Lawrence, on the other hand, was occupied by a people speaking a different language, who were, however, on good terms with the Wyandots, and - according to Colden, who followed the early French writers - excelling them in military skill and renown. This Northern people, occupying a position on the other side of the river, were called Algomeequins, or, by contraction, to Algonquins, to tlistinguish them from the Ii'oquois, who occupied the lower side of the St. La^vi'ence. The Algonquins ti-aced their origin to the high and mountainous tract of lakes and cliffs which stretches fi-om the sources of the Utawas River to the entrance of the Saguenay at Tadousac, and hence ai-e refen-ed to by eai'ly French wi-iters as Montagnes. From the Ttawas and its sources south, west and north, this jieople spread throughout the entire area of the upper lakes. Later, they abandoned the valley of the St, Lawi-euce and moved westward, still repeating the traditions of their removal fi'om the Far East, Though divided into numerous local bands, bearing distinctive names, the difference in their language, looks, manners or customs being scai'cely appreciable. At the earliest dates refen-ed to in their traditions, the Attawas, or Ottawas, occupied the country to the northward of the St. Lawrence, and afterward the chain of Manitouline Islands in Lake Huron, The Nipercinians, however, who ai'e deemed the ti'ue or original Algonquins, lived at Lake Nepissing; the Ojibwas. on the Straits of St. Mary's and on the shores of Lake Superior.

The traditions of the Ottawas and Chippewas represent those tribes as a nation, as first coming into hostile collision with a people who appear to have been their predecessors in the lake region, on the inner shores of the island of Portagimasee, now known as Dnimmond Island, and on the nan-ow peninsula of Point Detour,

Lake Hm'ou, the latter being the western cape of the entrance into the Straits of St. Mary's, and, defeating, drove them westward. This 2>rimitive people were known as Mushkodians, or Little Prairie Indians, and to them the Ottawas atti'ibute the construction of the small mounds and all garden-beds in the Grand Kiver Valley and elsewhere, and the authorship of the trenches filled with human bones on Bound Island, in Lake Huron, as well as having been the workers of the ancient copper mines on Lake Superior. Algonquin traditions rejiresent, further, that the sepai'ation of the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies took place in the vicinity of Michilimackanack; that subsequently, the Ottawas went to live with the Pottawatomies on the southern shore of Lake Michigan; but, becoming dissatisfied with the situation, were sold by the latter they might go back toward the North if they did not like them - that they had made a fire for themselves. From this circumstance, it is said, the name of Pottawatomies (signifying they who assume separate sovereignty by building a coimeil tire for themselves) was derived.

The Algonquin family, considered with reference to the intellectual capacity of its members, occupies a position, when compared with the other families of the Indian race, far above mediocrity, being surpassed in this regard only by the Dacotahs and Iroquois, the latter standing, probably, in the first rank. The language is euphonious and expressive, abounding in vowel sounds capable of numerous and exceedingly nice, regular modifications. Aside fi'om their distinctive individualities, there are few physical peculiarities which distinguish the Algonquins from other divisions. "All possess, though in various degrees, the long, lank, black hair, the heavy eyebrows, the dull and appai-ently sleepy eye, the full and compressed lips, and the salient but dilated nose. A similar conformity of organization is not less obvious in the cranial structiu-e of these peoples. The Indian skull is of a decidedly rounded form. The occipital portion is flattened in the upward direction; and the transverse diameter, as measm-ed between the parietal bones, is remarkably wide, and often exceeds the longitudinal line. The forehead is low and receding, and rarely arched, as in other races ; a feature that is regarded by Humboldt, Lund and other naturalists as characteristic of the American race, and seiTing to distinguish it even from the Mongolian. The cheek bones are high, but not much exjianded; the whole maxillary region is salient and ponderous, with teeth of a corresponding size and singularly free from decay."

Bancroft, speaking of the Algonquin as the primitive language of the aborigines, says: " It was the mother tongue of those who greeted the colonists of K'aleigh at Roanoke, of those who welcomed the Pilgrims to Plymouth. It was heard from the Bay of Gaspe to the valley of the Des Moines; from Cape Fear, and it may be from the Savannah, to the land of the Esquimaux; fi-om the Cumberland River of Kentucky to the southern bank of the Mississippi. It was spoken, though not exclusively, in a territory that extended through sixty degrees of longitude and more than twenty degi'ees of latitude."*

The Hurons Or Huron- Iroquois

This family, so called by the French, otherwise known as the Wyandots, were of those who inhabited the Island of Hochalega, at the time of the advent of Jacques Cartier in 1535, their domain extending westward to the west end of Lake Erie, and thence northward along the margin of the lake since known by their name. They were, it is understood, of the family of the Iroquois, though in alliance with the Algonquins, who inhabited, at that time, the region of the Northern lakes. At the time of the discovery of America, and for a time subsequent thereto, as we have seen, the nations speaking the dialects of this family were very numerous and powerful, diffused over a wide expanse of territory. " The peninsula inclosed between Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario had then long been the dwelling place of the five confederated tribes of the Hurons. After their defeat by the Five Nations, a part descended the St. Lawrence, and their progeny may still be seen neai' Quebec; a part were adopted on equal terms into the tribes of their conquerors: the Wyandots fled beyond Lake Superior and hid themselves in the dreary wastes that divided the Chippewas from their Western foes. In 1671, they retreated before the powerful Sioux, and made their home first at St. Mary's and at Michilimackinack, and afterward near the post of Detroit. Thus the Wyandots within our borders were emigrants fi-om Canada. Having a mysterious influence over the Algonquin tribes, and making treaties with the Five Nations, they spread along Lake Erie ; and, leaving to the Miamis the country beyond the Miami of the lakes, they gradually acquired a claim to the territory fi-om that river to the western boundary of New York."*

Charlevoix, in his journal of travels through North America, in 1720-22, discusses the character of the Huron language in this wise: "The Huron language has a copiousness, an energy and a sublimity perhaps not to be found united in any of the finest that we know; and those whose native tongue it is, though they are now but a handful of men, have such an elevation of soul that agrees much better with the majority of then- language than with the sad fate to which they ai'e reduced. Some have fancied they found in it some similitude with the Hebrew ; others, and the greatest number, have maintained that it had the same origin as the Greek; but nothing is more trifling than the proofs they bring for it. We must not depend especially upon the vocabulary of Brother Sagbard, a Recollet, who hath been cited to support this opinion; much less on those of James Cartier and the Baron de la Honton. These three authors took at random some terms, some of which were Hm'on, others Algonquin, which they ill retained, and which often signified qutie diffeieut fi'om what they thought. And how many errors have been occasioned by such mistakes of many travelers. * * * l7i the Huron language, all is conjugated; a certain device, which I cannot well explain to you, distinguishes the verbs, the nouns, the pronouns, the adverbs, etc. The simple verbs have a double conjugation - one absolute, the other reciprocal; the third persons have the two gendere. for there are but two in these languages; that is to say, the noble and the ignoble gender. As to the numbers and tenses, they have the same differences as in the Greek; for instance, to relate travels, they express themselves differently according, as it was, by laud or by water. The verbs active multiply iis often as there are things which fall under action; as the verb which signifies to eat, varies as many times as there are things to eat. The action is expressed differently in respect to anything that has life and an inanimate thing; thus, to see a man and to see a stone ai'e two verbs; to make use of a thing that belongs to him that uses it, or to him to whom we speak, are two different verbs."

Of the people who speak the Huron language, he says, " they have always applied themselves more than the othei-s to cultivating the land; they have also extended themselves much less, which has produced two offoct*i; for, iu the first place, they are better settled, better lodged arid better fortified: and there has alwaj's been amongst them more policy, and a more distingiaished form of government The quality of a chief, at least among the true Hiu-ons, which are the Tionnontates, is hereditaiy. In the second place, till the Iroquois wai's, of which we have been witnesses, their coimtry was more peopled, though they never allowed polygamy. They are also reputed more industrious, more dextrous in their afl'airs. and more prudent in their resolutions, which cannot be attributed but to a spirit of society which they have preserved better than the others. This is remai'ked particularly of the Hurons, that, though scarcely any longer a nation, and reduced to two villages not vei^ large, and at a gi-eat distance one from the other, yet they are the soul of all the coimcils when they consult on any general afl'airs. It is true that, in spite of that difi'erence which is not seen at the fii-st glance, there is much resemblance in the sense, the manners, and all the customs of the savages of Canada; but this is the consequence of the intercom-se which has been always between them for many ages."*

A-t a later date, fi-om the latter pai-t of the eighteenth eentm-y and the first years of the nineteenth, the Wyandots (Hurons) had a residence among the native tribes of the Northwestern Territory; and, during the Indian wars that preceded the settlement of the Wabash Valley, they occupied a conspicuous part in the movements incident to the warfare that succeeded the adoption of the coercive policy of the United States toward the Indian tribes, which culminated in the battle of Tippecanoe, in Xovemlier. 1811.

THEIK I'DSITION IN THE ALGONyUIN FAMILY - TllEIIi EAKLV OctT PATION OK TeHKITOUY AISOVE THE LAKES OK THE NOKTII ANL THElll .SUBSECJUENT MIGRATIONS - AT CHICAGO, SOUTU ANl probably did not take place prior to the year 1600, since nothing is heard of them for a number of yeai-s subsequent to that time. Having separated themselves, however, they located somewhere to the southwiu-d of Lake Nipissing, or on the peninsula ea.stof Lake Michigan. Here their aptness in catching the beaver and ether fiir-bearing animals of the higher grades insm-ed their early acquaintance with traders of the class that then traversed the i Coimtry. The strifes incident to competition in trade, and the I jealousies engendered thereby in the end, induced a resort to every species of chicanery consistent with securing a good trade. They were designated first, by the English traders and others, as I Twightwees, or Twig-twees. Later, tkrough the agency of these deceptions, practiced by the English no doubt to oflfset the supe- ! rior diplomacy of the French, the name became obnoxious. At [ this juncUu'e, the French, to maintain the ascendant and secure i their confidence thereafter, called them M'Amis (Miamis) - my j friends - significant of the confidential relationship between them. I The general con-ectness of this version of the incidents connected I with the name of this ancient tribe has, in addition to its probability, the accej)tance, in substance, at least, of some old vpriters whose statements are every way worthy of credence.

Next to the Delawares, perhaps, the Miamis are entitled to be recognized as the leading branch of the Algonquin group, tracing their individuality, with the Ottawas and Nipercinians, from the ( coimtry north of the St. Lawrence, in the latter end of the sixteenth century, when the French navigators and traders began first to establish posts as the antecedents of permanent settlements in New France. Whatever is true of their relationship to the parent stock, whether immediate or remote, it is a fact, nevertheless, that many of the primitive characteristics of the generic group are preserved in the habits and language of the Miami nation.

THE Miamis, according to the opinion of ethnologists generally, occupy a high position among the tribes recognized as typifying the primitive or Algonquin family. As a tribe, they have been variously designated as the 'Twa-'twas, Twe-twees, Twightwees, Omes, Omamees, Aimiiamis, and finally the Miamis. Just at what time this latter name became the generally accepted one is uncertain. As to the origin of the name, however, there is little doubt. At an early period in the history of the^Algonquin family, while it inhabited the region of the Northern lakes, and before the general dispersion of the tribes, this branch was recognized not so much by a distinct name, in the sense of a specific division, as by particularities of manner and habit, or otherwise, from its location. At that period, in common with the Ottawas and adjacent bands, their chief avocation appears to have been fur- gathering, for they were hunters and trappers, and had acquired considerable notoriety in this special calling. From the contiguity of their location and similarity of habit with the Ottawas, as separate bands, they were perhaps distinguished by the appellation of 'T-oua-touas, or 'Twa-twas, indicating that they were of the hunters, or were hunters, the Ottawas being especially known by that name, from which the modification of the term derives its significance. The tribal relation was not recognized imtil the severance from the parent stock was consummated. This a variety of terms, a propriety of terms, a regularity, which astonishes. But what is more sm-prising is that among these barbai'ians, who never study to speak well, and who never had the use of writing, there is not introduced a bad word, an improper term or a vicious construction; and even children preserve all the purity of the language in their common discom-se. On the other hand, the manner in which thej' animate, they say, loaves no room to doubt of their comprehending all the worth of their expressions and all the beauty of their language."

Touching the question of their first or primitive settlement as a b-ibe, and its subsequent movements. Little Turtle, one of the most intelligent of his tribe, in a speech before Gen. WajTie at the treaty of Greenville, in August, 1795, gives the following review of the tribe's histoiy: " It is well known by all my brothers present that my forefather kindled the tii-st fire at Detroit; from there he extended his lines to the headwaters of the Scioto; from there to its mouth; from there down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; and from there to Chicago, on Lake Michigan." Though given without reference to dates, yet the movements are stated in the exact order of their occuiTence, and, relatively therefore, ai-e, without doubt, strictly acciu-ate. ,

The iii'st historical accoimt we have of this tribe was in the year 1669, in the vicinity of Green Bay, where they were visited by the French missionary. Father Allouez, and subsequently by Father Dablon. It is stated that from there they passed to the southward of Lake Michigan, in the vicinity of Chicago. At a later date, they settled on the St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, and established there a village, another on the Kiver Miami of Lake Erie (Ke-ki-ong-a, now Fort Wayne), and a third one on the AVabash (Ouiatenon, on the "Wea Plains, a few miles below La Fayette, Ind.). CJharlevoix says these villages were established as early as 1070, for at that date the Miamis had been in possession, occupying the territory sm-rounding, for a period of many years anterior thereto. A portion of them remained at Detroit and above that point until near the close of the seventeenth century, when they were induced to emigi-ate southward and join the other Miamis in the southern portion of the Michigan peninsula. Diu-- ing the major part of the latter half of the century, they had been and were in alliance with the French, and, thi-ough their instrumentality, the principal settlements of them were made in Northern Indiana and Illinois. French missionaries were among them at those several villages as early as 1670-79, as we find from the records of Jesuit 'priests, who were themselves familiar with the facts stated. Simultaneous with or prior to the visitation of these points by the priests, rude forts had been erected by the authorities of the French Government for the protection of trado and the maintenance of their supremacy of these their Indian allies. One of these forts had been erected at the instance of Sieur de La Salle, at Kekionga, in 1669 or 1670, and, in 1679, after his plans had been interfered with at Kekionga by war parties of the Iroquois passing that way, at the mouth of St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, some account of which has already been given. Within about the same period, the exact date of which does not now appear, a similar fort or post was erected and maintained at Ouiatenon - all within the jiulsdiction of New France, and within the region occupied by the Miamis.

At a very early period, but just what time is not now to be ascertained, the Miamis, because of their extensive dominion, power and influence, and of the nimierous consanguinous , branches acknowledging their relationship, came to be known as the Miami Confederacy. In 1765, the confederacy was composed of Jhe following branches, with the mimber of warriors belonging to each : The Twightwees, at the head of the Maumee River, with 250 available waiTiors; the Ouiatenons, in the vicinity of Post Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, with 800 warriors; the Piankeshaws, on the Vermillion River, with^ 300 warriors; and the [Shookeys, on territory lying on the Wabash, between Vincennes and Post Ouiatenon, with 200 warriors. At an earlier date, perhaps, the Miamis, with their confederates, were able to muster a much more formidable force, as the citation from the history of the Five Nations would seem to show.

In 1748, the English merchants and^traders seciu-ed a limited trade with the Miamis, in consequence, it is said, of the failure of the French traders - who had held the supremacy in this department during the preceding century - to supply the increasing wants of the Miamis, especially those on the borders of the Ohio and its tributaries. Thus a favorable influence was exerted on the part of the Miamis toward the English, which resulted in a treaty of alliance and fi-iendship between the English and the Twightwees (Miamis) on the 23d of July of that year, whereby the latter became and were recognized as " Good friends and allies of the English nation, ***** subjects of the King of Great Britain, * » * * entitled to the privilege and protection of the English laws." This treaty was signed by the representatives, deputies, from the Twightwees (Miamis), on or about the Kivor Ouabaehe, a branch of the River Mississippi." There were three of these representatives or deputies of the Miamis who signed that treaty on behalf of that people. The first or principal of those whose names are attached to that instrument was Aque-nack-que, head chief of the Miamis and the father of- Me-che-quin-no-qua (Little Tm-tle). He was at that time, and for many years previously, a resident of the Turtle village on Eel River, a few miles to the northwestward fi'omFort Wayne, where, about one year pi-evious to the signatiu-e by his father to that treaty, the noble chief Little Tiu'tle was born.

Customs Incident To War

The Miamis, in their preparations for war, had a custom peculiar to themselves. Charlevoix, who is good authority on the subject, thus speaks of that peculiai- featm-e of their history: "After a solemn feast, they placed on a kind of altar some pagods made with bear-skins, the heads of which were painted gi-een All the savages passed this altar bowing their knees, and the jugglers led the van, holding in their hands a sack which contained all the things which they use in their conjm'ations. They all sti'ive to excel each other in their contortions, as any one distinguished himself in this way, they applaud him with great shouts. AATien they had thus paid their fu-st homage to the Idol, all the people danced in much confusion to the sound of a di'um and a Chichicou6; and dm-ing this time the jugglers make a show of bewitching some of the savages, who seemed ready to expire; then, putting a certain powder upon their lips, they make them recover. When this farce had lasted some time, he who presided at the feast, having two men and two women, run through all the cabins to give the savages notice that the sacrifices were going to begin. Whun. he met any one in his way, he put both his hands on his head, and the person met embraced his knees. The victims were to be dogs, and one heard on every side +he cries of these animals, whose throats they cut; and the savages, who howled with all their strength, seemed to imitate their cries. As soon as the flesh was dressed, they offered it to the idols ; and they ate it and bui'nt the bones. All this while, the jugglers never ceased raising the pretended dead, and the whole ended by the distribution that was made to these quacks of wha.tever was found most to their liking in all the village.

" From the time that the resolution is taken to make war till the departure of the warriors, they sing their war songs every night. The days are passed in making prepai-ations. They depute some warriors to go to sing the war songs amongst their neighbors and allies, whom they engage beforehand by secret negotiations. If they are to go by water, they build or repair their canoes. If it is winter, they fiu-nish themselves with snow-shoes and sledges. The raquettes which they must have t» walk on the snow ai-e about three feet long, and about fifteen or eighteen inches in their greatest breadth. Their shape is oval, excepting the end behind, which terminates in a point; little sticks placed across at five or six inches from each end serve to sb-ongthen them, and the piece which is before in the shape of a bow, where the foot is fixed, and tied with leather thongs. The binding of the raquette is made of slips of leather about a sixth part of an inch wide, and the circiunfereuce is of light wood, hai-dened by fire. To wnlk well with these raquettes, they must tm-n their knees inwards and keep their legs wide asunder. It is some trouble to accustom one's self to it, but, when one is used to it, one walks with as much ease and as little fatigue as if one had nothing on one's feet. It is not possible to use the raquettes with our common shoes; we must take those of the savages, which are a kind of socks, made of skins dried in the smoke, folded over at the end of the foot and tied with strings. The sledges, which serve to carry the baggage, and, in ease of need, the sick and woiinded, are two little boards, very thin, about half a foot broad each board, and six or seven feet long. The forepart is a little bent upward, and the sides are bordered by little bands to which they fasten straps to bind what is on the sledge. However loaded these carriages may be, a savage can draw them with ease by the help of a long band of leather, which he^puts over his breast and which they call collars. They draw bui'dens this way, and the mothers use them to carry children with their cradles, but then it is over their forehead that the band is fixed.

"All things being ready, and the day of departure being come, they take their leave with great demonstration of real tenderness. Everybody desires something that has been used by the warriors, and in return give them some pledges of their friendship and assurances of perpetual remembrance. They scai-ce enter any cabin, but they take away their robe to give them a better - at least one as good. Lastly, they all meet at the cabin of the chief; they find him armed as he was the first day he spoke to them, and as he always appeared in public from that day. They then paint their faces, every one according to his own fancy, and all of them in a very frightful manner. The chief makes them a short speech; then he comes out of his cabin, singing his song of death. They all follow him in a line, keeping profonnd silence, and they do the same thing every morning when they renew their march. Here the women go before with provisions, and, when the warriors come up with them, they give them their clothes and remain almost naked - at least, as the season will permit.

" Formerly, the arms of this people were bows and arrows, and a kind of javelin, which, as well as their arrows, was armed with a point of bone wi-ought in different shapes. Besides this, they had what they call the head-breaker. This is a little club of very hard wood, the head of which is round, and has on one side an edge to cut. The greatest part have no defensive arms, but, when they attack an iutrenchment, they cover their whole body with light boards. Some have a sort of cuirass made of rushes or small, pliable sticks, pretty well wrought. They also had defenses for their arms and thighs of the same matter. But, as this armor was not found to be proof against tii-earms, they have left it off, and use nothing in its stead. The Western savages always make use of bucklers of bull-hides, which are very light, and which a musket ball will not pierce. It is something surprising that the other nations do not use them.

" When they make use of our swords, which is very seldom, they use them like spontoons; but when they get guns and powder and ball, they lay aside their bows and arrows and shoot very well. We have often had reason to repent of letting them have firearms; but it was not we who ticrst did it. The Iroquois, having got some of the Dutch, then in possession of New York, we were under a necessity of giving them to our allies. These savages have a kind of ensign to know one another and to rally by. These are little pieces of bark, cut round, which they put on the top of a pole, and on which they have traced the mai-k of their nation and of their village. If the party is numerous, each family or tribe has its ensign, with its distinguishing mark. Their arms are also distinguised with different figui-es, and sometimes with a particular mark of the chief."* wheat straw and about six inches long. They take a parcel, which are commonly 201, and always an odd number. After having shuffled them well together, making a thousand contortions and invoking the genii, they separate them with a kind of an awl, or a pjiiad>d bane, into parcels of ten each. Every one takes one at a veatui-e, anl he that happens to get the parcel with eleven, gains a certain number of points that are agreed on. The whole game is sixty or eighty." Another of these games is called the game of the bat. " They play at it with a ball, and sticks bent and ending in a kind of racket. They set up two posts, which serve for boanis, and which are distant from each other according to the number of players. For instance, if there are eighty, th3re is a half -lea jue distance between the posts. The players are divided into two bands, which have each their post. Iheir business is to strike the ball to the post of the adverse party without letting it fall to the ground and without touching it with the hand; for, in either of these cases, they lose the game, unless he who makes the fault repairs it by striking the ball at one blow to the post, which is often impossible. These savages are so dexterous at catching the ball with their bats that sometimes one game will last many days together."

Another similar game is thus played: " They mark out two bounds, as in the first, and the players occupy al! the space between. He that is to begin, throws a ball up in the air as perpendicularly as possible, that he may catch it the better and throw it toward the bounds. All the others have their hands lifted up, and he that catches the ball repeats the same, or throws the ball to one of his band that he judges more nimble and dexterous than himself; for, to win the game, the ball jnust never have been in the hands of the adverse party before it comes to the bound. The women also play at this game, but it is but seldom. Their bands consist of fom' or five, and the first that lets the ball fall loses the game."*

Amusements, Etc

The p.fople of every nation and kindi'ed. barbarous as well as civilized, have had their periods of amusements and meny-making - seasons when the cares of the present and past were forgotten for the moment, cast aside for the enjoyment, temjiorary though it might be, of occasions of festivity and amusement. The customs of the Miamis as a nation were not an exception to the rule, while many of them were peculiar to themselves- It was a time-honored custom among this people " that, when a member of a family died, a meeting of the family and immediate villagers would take place at a certain time subsequent to the death of the perspn, with a view to replacing the deceased, which was done by means of a game of chance, there being often a number of candidates for the place. The lucky one at once fell heir to all the effects of the deceased; after which they all joined in a meny dance, called the replacement dance."

Another dance sometimes indulged in by the Miamis was known as the beggar dance, the object of which " was to obtain presents, or indeed anything the stranger, trader or settler might feel disposed to give them; and, with no covering on their bodies but a part of a deer or other skin about their waists, the rest of the body and face painted with some bright colors, with perhaps some gay ornament or feathers about their heads, often several in number would pass from agency to agency, in front of wbose doors they would go through the liveliest movements of dancing, singing, etc., which, to the spectators, was often very amusing, and who seldom failed to give the rude dancers some tobacco, a

The comiilimentary dance, among the Miamis, was of more rare occurrence, yet, when indulged in, was done so with great zest. " In the complimentary dance, it was the custom to obtain permission of the pai'ty to be complimented "to dance for him.' Thisgi-anted, preparations were made by painting the face elaborately, and marking the body, which was usually bai-e about the chest and shoulders. In addition to this, a profusion of ornaments, in the form of feathers, etc., were added to the hair, and most 'happy was he, who, in virtue of having taken one or more scalps, was entitled to proclaim it by a corresponding number of eagle's feathers. The less fortunate made a substitute of the feathers of the wild tm-key,' or other game." The medicine dance was also of this class. " Sometimes it happened that a person who had had a severe illness, which had yielded to the prescriptions of one of the members, was considered a proper object of choice from a sort of claim thus established. When he was about to be initiated, a great feast was made, of com'se, at the expense of the candidate, for, in the most simple as in the most civilized life, the same principle of politics held good, and honors were to be paid for. An animal was killed and di-essed, of which the people partook; there were dances and songs, and speeches in abundance. Then the chief medicine man took the candidate and privately began to instnict him in all the ceremonies and knowledge necessary to make him an accomplished member of the fi-aternity.

" In the springtime, as a matter of reverence to the Great Spirit (Much-a-te-Auoeke) - ' the man with the l)lack robe,' the 'good man ' or ' preacher ' - asking him to aid in the production or gi-owth of a bountiful crop, they had the corn-planting dance. A great deal of importance was attached to this dance, which was conducted with an air of marked solemnity and earnestness, all the villagers pai'taking in it."* Another, called the green-corn dance, took place in the early fall, while the corn was yet in the milk, be fore coming to matm-ity - very much after the fashion of the one just cited, but with less solemnity, thankfulness and general enjoyment ruling the hour. These latter dances were not unfrequently participated in by white settlers.

Treaty Relations

The great treaty entered into by the Miamis and the Commissioners on the j)art of the United States, iinder the provisions of which the first important cession of territory in this part of Indiana was made, was concluded on the 0th of October, 1818, at St. Mary's, Ohio. The boundaries of the territory embraced in this session were substantially the following:

"Commencing near the town of La Gro, on the Wabash, where the Salamonie unites with the Wabash Eiver; running thence thj-ough Wabash and Grant Counties, into Madison County, its southeast corner was about fom' miles southeast of Independence, at the center of Section 17; thence running south of west, with the general course of the Wabash Kiver, across Tipton County, close to the town of Tipton, just north thereof to where it intersects a line running north and south fi'om Logansport, which is the western Ixiundary oE Howsu'd County, one mile west of Range Line No. 1 east; thence north to Logansport; thence up the Wabash to the mouth of the Salamonie River, to the place of beginning." There was cimtained within these boundaries 1»30,000 acres. The greater |iai-t of this reservation remaini>d in

By the treaty of October "23, IS'ili, held at Paradise Springs, known as the " Old Treaty Ground," the chiefs and warriors of the Miamis, in council with Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, Commissioners on the part of the United States, ceded to the latter power " all their claim to lands in the State of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash and Miami Rivers, and of the cession made by the said ti-ibe to the United States, by the treaty concluded at St. Mary's October 6. 1818." By further provision of the same ti-eaty, the State of Indiana was authorized to lay out a canal or road tlu'ough any of the resei'vations, and for the use of a canal, six chains in width along the same, was appropriated. In payment for this land, they received $31,040.53 in goods; S31,O40.53 incash; the following year, 1827, they received $61,259.47 in addition, and in 1828, $30,000. After that date, they were to receive a permanent annuity of $25,000.

Again, in 1834, the Government purchased of them 177,000 acres, including a strip seven miles wide off the w^est side of the reserve, in what is now Cass, Howard and Clinton Counties, which was transferred to the State of Indiana to be used for the completion of the Wabash & Erie Canal from the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. A sti'ip live miles wide along the Wabash had been previously appropriated to the constmction of the canal to the mouth of the Tippecanoe. The consideration paid for this was $335,680.

By treaty of November 0, 1838, they made a fui-ther cession to the United States of certain lands reserved by former treaties. Finally, on the 28th of. November, 1840, they relinquished their right to all the remaining lands in Indiana, except certain specific reservations, for which they received the sum of $550 000, and agreed to vacate these lands within five years. They did not move, however, until 1847.

By their several ti-eaties with the United States, the Miamis have ceded an aggregate of 6,853,020 acres. Aggregate of land given exchange, 44,640, the value of which was $55,800. The aggregate consideration paid for these lands in money and goods was $1,205,907; total consideration paid was $1,261,707, as shown by the official records of those transactions in the pro])er department of the national capitol.