Anecdotes of the American Indians, illustrating their eccentricities of character
History
Anecdotes of the American Indians, illustrating their eccentricities of character
Indians of North America -- Anecdotes
When Boston was settled _Chickataubut_ visited Governor _Winthrop_, and
presented him with a hogshead of corn. Many of his ‘sanops and squaws’
came with him, but were most of them sent away after they had all
dined, Chickataubut probably fearing they would be burdensome, although
it thundered and rained and the Governor urged their stay. At this
time he wore English clothes, and sat at the Governor’s table, where
he behaved himself soberly, &c. as an Englishman. “Not long after he
called on Governor Winthrop and desired to buy of him a suit of clothes
for himself, the governor informed him that ‘English Sagamores did not
use to truck;’ but he called his tailor and gave him orders to make
him a suit of clothes, whereupon he gave the governor two large skins
of coat beaver. The clothes being ready, the governor put him into a
very good new suit from head to foot, and after, he set meat before
them; but he would not eat till the governor had given thanks, and
after meat he desired him to do the like, and so departed.”
CONDITION OF THE INDIAN WOMEN.
Polygamy is not uncommon among them; and the husband occasionally finds
it necessary to administer a little wholesome castigation to his more
quarrelsome or refractory squaws. But many are satisfied with one wife.
The care of the tent and the whole drudgery of the family devolve on
the women. They gather fuel, cook the provisions, and repair every
article of dress; cultivate the ground, where any is cultivated; carry
the baggage on a journey; and pitch the tent when they halt. In these
and similar employments, their lordly fathers, husbands, and brothers,
think it degrading to assist them, and unworthy of warriors to engage
in such employments.
Mr. Catlin whose long residence among the Indians, and careful
observation of their habits, entitle his opinion to great respect,
regards the assignment of drudgery to the women as no more than an
equitable distribution of the labour necessary to the support of
the household. He considers the toils of war and the chase, which
are almost incessant, and are solely performed by the men, as a
complete offset to the domestic and agricultural cares of the women.
On the whole he thinks that the condition of the Indian women is as
comfortable as it is possible to render it by any arrangement which
would not completely change their mode of life. To withdraw the men
from the chase and confine them to the culture of the ground, would
render the Indians an agricultural and not a hunting people. Still
the condition of the Indian woman is a miserable and degraded one,—a
condition of incessant labour and care.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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