Mackenzie, J. B. A Treatise of the Six Nation Indians. Guardian Printing Office. 1882.
The conditions which govern the Indian’s occupation of his Reserve are, probably, so well known, that any extended reference under this head will be needless. He ceded the whole of his land to the Government, this comprising, originally, a tract which pursued the entire length of the Grand River, and, accepting it as the radiating […]
The Six Nations Indian’s Conditions of Settlement Read More »
The consciousness of unsatisfied pecuniary obligation does not, as a rule, weigh heavily on the Indian mind, nor does it usually awaken, or offer food for, burdensome reflection. The Indian Act, which decrees his minority, disables him from entering into a contract of any kind, though it scarcely needs any statement from me to assure
The pagan, though not so alive to the serene beauties of the Christian life, and not so attracted by the power, the promises, and the assurances of the Christian religion, as to evince the one, and embrace the other, or to make trial of the moral safeguards that its armoury supplies, would yet so honor,
The Indian Council has a province more important than that which our Municipal Councils exercise. Its decisions as to disputes growing out of real estate transactions, unless clearly wrong, have in them the force of law. The ordinary Council is a somewhat informal gathering as regards a presiding officer or officers, and, also, in respect
It will be interesting, perhaps, to notice the particulars, as to physical conformation, in which the Indian differs from his white brother. He maintains a higher average as to height, to fix which at five feet ten would, I think, be a just estimate. It is rare, however, to find him attain the exceptional stature,
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It is often claimed for the Indian that, before the white man put him in the way of a freer indulgence of his unhappy craving for drink, he was as moral a being as one unrenewed by Divine grace could be expected to be. Unfortunately, this statement involves no definition of what might be considered
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The missionary demands notice as he, above all others, has left his impress on the life and character of the Indian. The Ven. Archdeacon Nelles may be regarded as the pioneer missionary to the Indian. His work covers half a century, and, though, for some years, he has not been an active worker amongst the
The Indian Law, it is well known, puts a restraint, not only upon the purchase of liquor by the Indian, but upon its sale to him by the liquor-seller, or its supply, indeed, in any way, by any one. It forbids, as well, the introducing or harboring of it, in any shape, under any plea,
Lacrosse, it is well-known, is the Indian’s national game. The agile form with which nature has gifted him, and which I have mentioned already as one of his physical characteristics, brings an essential pre-requisite for success or eminence to a game, where the laggard is at heavy discount. Though a white team can often boast
The Indian has little hope of occupying a sphere, where the discipline and cultivation of the mind shall be essential to the proper balancing and developing of its powers, and shall render it equal to the collision with other keen intellects. It would, therefore, be equally idle and unprofitable to attempt to measure his mental
In its very nature this essay will partake largely of the element of historical preciseness, and if it do not, I have so far failed to gain my end. I have wished to introduce matter of a kind calculated to relieve this, and to insure the escape of the essay from the charge of a
The dignity of a chief comes to the holder through the principle of hereditary succession, confined to, and operating only with, certain families. In the cage of the death of one of these chiefs, the distinction and powers he enjoyed devolve upon his kinsman, though not necessarily upon the next of kin. The naming and
We cannot estimate the transforming power that his enfranchisement might exert over the Indian character. The Indian youth, who is now either a listless wanderer over the confines of his Reserve; or who finds his highest occupation in putting in, now and then, desultory work for some neighboring farmer at harvest-time; who looks even upon
Reflections as to the Possible Effect upon Indians of Enfranchisement Read More »
As it is at his meetings of Council, and during the discussions that are there provoked, that the Indian’s powers of oratory come, for the most part, into play, and secure their freest indulgence, that will appropriately constitute my next head. We are permitted to adjudge the manner and style of the Indian’s oratory, whether
As knowledge of the traditions, manners, and national traits of the Indians, composing, originally, the six distinct and independent tribes of the Mohawks, Tuscarora, Onondagas, Seneca, Oneidas, and Cayuga; tribes now merged in, and known as, the Six Nations, possibly, does not extend beyond the immediate district in which they have effected a lodgement, I
