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Show TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: their kincl to what they them(elves arc :1ccurtomcd to wear, aml fa(hioncd cxaClly to their own t:tl1c, which ha n.:mained nearly the fune fincc Europeans firi1: came amongi1: them; nor will they pr:!ife_ n_n~ cnrious or wonderful piece of n ' Chani(m, unle(s they can fee that 1t lS 1ntcndcd to anfwcr fome uft:ful purpolt:. Nothing that I c nld (hew them attraCted their attention, I obfcrvcd, fo much a a light doubk-barrelkd gun, which I commonly carried in my baud wllen walking about their encampments. This was fomcthing in th ir wn way; they at once perceived the benefit that mufl: accrue to the fport(man from having two barrels on the one fiock, and the contrivance ple, fed them; well :-tcquaintcd alfo with the qualitiL:s of 0"00 1 locks, and the advantag s attc~Hling thetn, they expreOcd great ftttisfaC:tion at finding thofe upon my ptecc [o fupcrior to what they perhaps had before fee n. It is not every new fc ·ne either, which to them, one would jmag inc, could not fail to appear wonderful, that will excite their admiration. A French writer, I forget wh , tells us of fome Iroquois Indians that walked through fcveral of tb finei1: firects of Paris, but without cxpreffing the leai1: pka(ure at ::1.ny thing they faw, until they at lafi came to a cook's D1op; this calkd forth their wanncfl: praife; a D1op where a man was always furc of getting fomething to fatisfy his hunger, without the trouble and fati0 ue of hunting and fi(hing, was in their opinion one of the moi1: admirahle infiitutions po{Tible: had they been told, however, that they mui1: have paid for what they cat, they would have cxprcficd equal indignation perhaps at what they faw. In their own villages they have no idea of refufing food to any pcr[on that enters their habitation in quality of a friend. The Indian , whom curiofity or bufinc(s leads t Philadt:lphi.l, or to any other of the large towns in the t~ltcs, £nd, in general, as little dcferving of notice in the firccts and honfcs there as thcfc Iroquois at Paris; and there is not one of them but what would prefer his own wigwam to the moil: fplcnclid habitations th y fee in any of thefe places. The {hipping, however, at Philadelphia and the other fea-ports, fddom £1ils to excite their admiration, becaufe they at once fcc the utility and udvantagc A N E C D 0 1' E. 397 ~tlvnnta~~ of large vcHcls over canoes, which arc the only vc1Tds they J~ .1vc. 1 he young Wyandot, whom I before mentioned, ns having made fuch a wonderful day's journey on foot, l1appened to be at Philadelphia when I was there, and he app ared highly delighted with the river, and the great number of D1ips of all fiz cs upon it; but the tide attraCted !1is att<..:ntio'l more than any thing el!C whatfoever. On oming to the river t1Jc firlt day, he looked up at the fun, and maJe certain ob(ervation upon the c urfe of the fin.:am, and general fituation of the place, as the Indians nev r ftil to do on coming to any new or r markablc fp ot. Th~; fecond time, however, he went down to the water, he found to his fur~ ri[e that the river was running with equal rapidity in a contrary directJOn to what l1c had (cen it run the day before. .For a moment he imagined that by fomc mifhl·c he mufl: have got to the oppofitc fide of .it; but foon rccollcCliltg him(df, and being perfuadcd that he flood on the very fune fpot from whence he had viewed it the day before, his aftoninlment became great indeed. To obt,tin information upon fuch an intercl1ing point, he immediately fought out an aid-de-camp of General Wayne, who had brought him to town. This gentleman, however, only rendered the appearance fiill more myftcrious to him, by telling him, that the grea t fpirit, for the convcnienc of the white men, wh . were his particular f..wour.ite ·,had made th rivers in their country to rua two ways; but the poor Wyandot was f1tisfied ,,vith the anfwu·, and replied, (( Ah, my friend, if the great fpirit would make the Ohio H to run two ways for us, we iliould very often pay you a viJit at Pitts" burgh ·:+i ." During his fiay at Philadelphia he ne\'er failed to vilrt the riv revery day. Amongi1: the public exhibitions at Philadelphia, the performances of the horfe riders and tumblers at the amphitheatre appear to affod them the greatc.:ft plca(urc; they entertain the highei1: opinion of thefe people who arc fo difiinguin1cd for their feats of aClivity, and rank them amongfl: the ablefl: men in the nation. Nothing, indeed, gives more delight to the Indians than to fee a man that e ·eel· in any bodily cxcr-i( e; and tell them cvcn of a p rfon that is dil1:inguiJJtcd for his grc. t "' A town fituatcu at the very head of the Ohio. ftrcngth |
