OCR Text |
Show THE MANDANS----ERRONEOUS OPINIONS OF VOLNEY AND OTHERS. 351 mother-in-law never speaks to her son-in-law; but if he comes home, and brings her the scalp of a slain enemy, and his gun, she is at liberty, from that moment, to converse with him. This custom is found among the Manitaries, who have, doubtless, borrowed it from the Mandans, but not among the Crows and Arikkaras. Among the Chippeways, and the Algonquins in general, the name must not be changed; and persons with the same name must not marry, but consider each other as brothers and sisters. Among all the North American Indian nations there are men dressed and treated like women, called, by the Canadians, Bardaches, of whom Me Kenzie, Tanner, Langsdorff, and others, have spoken ; but there was only one such among the Mandans, and two or three among the Manitaries. Volney, and some other writers, have spoken rather too unfavourably of the moral character of the aborigines of North America, and their domestic habits. According to them, distrust and hostile feeling prevail among them, for which reason they never leave their huts unarmed; but I can bear witness that they are frequently seen in their villages, as well as in the environs, without arms, and that it is only at greater distances, and when they appear in state, that they carry their weapons in their hands. I have never observed any disputes among them, but, on the contrary, much more unity and tranquillity than in civilized Europe. It has often been asserted that the Indians are inferior in intellectual capacity to the Whites; but this has been now sufficiently refuted; and Harlan is not wrong in saying that, among the races of men, of which Blumenbach reckons five, the American should be ranked immediately after the Caucasian. If man, in all his varieties, has not received from the Creator equally perfect faculties, I am, at least, convinced that, in this respect, the Americans are not inferior to the Whites. Many of the Mandans manifest a great thirst for knowledge, and much desire to hear something of objects of a higher order; and if they were not so much attached to the prejudices inherited from their ancestors, many of them might be very easily instructed. The bad examples which they so often observe in the white men, who roam about their country in quest of gain, are not calculated to inspire them with much respect for our race, or to improve their morality. And if they have not been found inclined to the Christian religion, this is, certainly, in some measure, the consequence of the bad conduct of the Whites, who call themselves Christians, and are often worse, and more immoral, than the most uncivilized of the Indians. Many American and foreign works have taken notice of the striking good sense and wit, the correct judgment of the Indians, in all the occurrences of daily life, and it would be mere repetition here to quote examples. One is often at a loss to answer their questions, founded on correct and natural judgment. The inactive mode of life natural to the Indians, which disdains all laborious exertion, is a great obstacle to their adopting a different system. But they are not deficient in talent for drawing, music, &c, and this is quite manifest at first sight. Several Mandans not only took much pleasure in drawing, but had a decided talent for it. The hieroglyphics are well known, which the Indians employ |