The settlement of their country by the European race, has in itself, gradually diminished, or entirely destroyed, the political importance of their tribes, and consequently, the ties binding together the members of each of these communities, and leading them to feel, and to act, in common.
Nor have these been replaced by others.Those growing out of the family relations, in other states of society,--the anxious prospective care of the parent, and the exertions, the pleasures, and the duties thence arising,-have not had time to spring up.Hence the Indian continues to seek shelter in apathy, and to regard life and its enjoyments, both for himself and his children, as did his forefathers, gifts to be made the most of while they last, but which no care can secure, and which, therefore, it is his business not to provide for the continuance of, but to learn calmly to resign when called on.He thus sits, listless, in the midst of the incessant activity and industry that surround him, incapable of discovering an adequate cause for the never-ceasing care and toil.The motives that excite the white man, though possessed of means that would enable him with his more needy brethren, abundantly to enjoy the present, to devote himself, instead, to labors, to which no season brings a respite, in order to bring about events, that may provide for the wants of some remote and uncertain futurity, are to him incomprehensible.Instead of applauding the conduct, in his secret soul he censures the mean, timorous, and, as it seems to him, selfish spirit, which prompts it.
But, besides a want of the motives exciting to provide for the needs of futurity, through means of the abilities of the present, there is a want of the habits of perception and action, leading to a constant connexion in the mind of those distant points, and of the series of events serving to unite them.Even therefore, if, motives be awakened capable of producing the exertion necessary to effect this connexion, there remains the task of training the mind to think, and act, so as to establish it.
These deficiencies in the motives to exertion, and in the habits of action of the Indian, serve to account for the condition of the remnants of the tribes scattered over the North American continent, in situations where they are in contact with the white man.There is a general similarity throughout, that will, I believe, render an example, taken from one part of the continent, sufficiently illustrative of the state of the whole.
Upon the banks of the St.Lawrence, there are several little Indian villages.They are surrounded, in general, by a good deal of land from which the wood seems to have been long extirpated, and have, besides, attached to them, extensive tracts of forest.The cleared land is rarely, I may almost say never, cultivated, nor are any inroads made in the forest for such a purpose.The soil is, nevertheless, fertile, and were it not, manure lies in heaps by their houses.Were every family to inclose half an acre of ground, till it, and plant in it potatoes and maize, it would yield a sufficiency to support them one half the year.They suffer too, every now and then, extreme want, insomuch that, joined to occasional intemperance, it is rapidly reducing their numbers.This, to us, so strange apathy proceeds not, in any great degree, from repugnance to labor; on the contrary, they apply very diligently to it, when its reward is immediate.Thus, besides their peculiar occupations of hunting and fishing, in which they are ever ready to engage, they are much employed in the navigation of the St.Lawrence, and may be seen laboring at the oar, or setting with the pole, in the large boats used for the purpose, and always furnish the greater part of the additional hands, necessary to conduct rafts through some of the rapids.
Nor is the obstacle aversion to agricultural labor.This is no doubt a prejudice of theirs; but mere prejudices always yield, principles of action cannot be created.Where the returns from agricultural labor are speedy, and great, they are also agriculturists.Thus, some of the little islands on lake St.Francis, near the Indian village of St.Regis, are favorable to the growth of maize, a plant, yielding a return of a hundred fold, and forming, even when half ripe, a pleasant and substantial repast.Patches of the best land on these islands are, therefore, every year, cultivated by them, for this purpose.As their situation renders them inaccessible to cattle, no fence is required; were this additional outlay necessary, 1 suspect they would be neglected, like the commons adjoining their village.
These had apparently, at one time, been under crop.The cattle of the neighboring settlers, would now, however, destroy any crop, not securely fenced, and this additional necessary outlay, consequently bars their culture.It removes them to an order of instruments, of slower return, than that which corresponds to the strength of the effective desire of accumulation, in this little society.
