Treatise on the Six-Nation Indians

Treatise on the Six-Nation
Indians

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Title: A Treatise on the Six-Nation Indians
Author: James Bovell Mackenzie
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6581] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 29,
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A TREATISE ON THE SIX-NATION INDIANS By J. B.
MACKENZIE
---------------------
(_Page 28--lines 7-9_.)
It has seemed to me that it was not quite ingenuous in myself to
attribute to the Indian writer in question (Rev. Peter Jones), the
reflection on his countrymen, obviously conveyed in my expression,
"discovering in him such in-dwelling monsters as revenge,
mercilessness, implacability."
That writer's position, more fairly apprehended, is this: That, while
confessing these to be blots on the Indian nature, in the abstract, he yet
seeks to fasten them on many whites as well.
---------------------

A TREATISE ON THE SIX-NATION INDIANS BY J. B.
MACKENZIE

PREFACE.
The little production presented in these pages was designed for, and has
been used as, a lecture; and I have wished to preserve, without
emendation, the form and character of the lecture, as it was delivered.

J. B. M.

A TREATISE ON THE SIX NATION INDIANS
INTRODUCTORY
As knowledge of the traditions, manners, and national traits of the
Indians, composing, originally, the six distinct and independent tribes
of the Mohawks, Tuscaroras, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, and
Cayugas; tribes now merged in, and known as, the Six Nations,
possibly, does not extend beyond the immediate district in which they
have effected a lodgment, I have laid upon myself the task of tracing
their history from the date of their settlement in the County of Brant,
entering, at the same time, upon such accessory treatment as would
seem to be naturally suggested or embraced by the plan I have set
before me. As the essay, therefore, proposes to deal, mainly, with the
contemporary history of the Indian, little will be said of his accepted
beliefs, at an earlier epoch, or of the then current practices built upon,
and enjoined by, his traditionary faith. Frequent visits to the Indian's
Reservation, on the south bank of the Grand River, have put me in the
way of acquiring oral data, which shall subserve my intention; and I
shall prosecute my attempt with the greater hope of reaping a fair
measure of success, since I have fortified my position with gleanings
(bearing, however, solely on minor matters of fact) from some few
published records, which have to do with the history of the Indian,
generally, and have been the fruitful labour of authors of repute and
standing, native as well as white. Should the issue of failure attend
upon my effort, I shall be disposed to ascribe it to some not obscure
reason connected with literary style and execution, rather than to the
fact of there not having been adequate material at hand for the purpose.

THE INDIAN'S CONDITIONS OF SETTLEMENT.
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 point, extended up from either side of

the river for a distance of six miles, to embrace an area of that extent.
The Government required the proprietary right to the land, in the event
of their either desiring to maintain public highways through it
themselves, or that they might be in a