THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Letters 55-63: Of the Miamis and Illinois
(Due to length divided here into two parts)
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Raudot, Antoine Denis, "Memoir Concerning the Different Indian Nations of North America: Translation of Letters 23 to 41 and Letters 45 to 72 inclusive" in Kinietz, W. Vernon, The Indians of the Western Great Lakes: 1615-1700, pp. 383-397. |
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pp. |
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(page 383) have just mentioned than to say that they are
devils on earth, they have nothing human but the shape, they are always nude
and glory in it. One can say of them that they have all the bad qualities of
the other nations without having a single one of their good ones.
The place where they are is well situated for living and seems to make them more ferocious and more insolent. Although they sow wheat there they often live on acorns and beans.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 55
Of the Miamis and Illinois
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At Quebec, the 1710 |
Sir,
The Miamis if all assembled together would number more than eight hundred warriors, included under the names Ouyatanons, Mingkakoia, Peangichia, Chachakingoya, Kiratica, and Pepepikoia. The first live on the St. Joseph River where it flows into Lake Michigan. The second live at Chicagou, at the mouth of the Illinois River on Lake Michigan. The third live on the Malamee River or the Barbue River, which flows into the Mississipy, and the three others live partly on the banks of the Mississipy and partly on the Wabash.
There is near the Malameek a rich lead mine. Too imprudently, a few Frenchmen have taught these savages to melt lead and have even furnished them molds, with the result that we no longer sell it to them and they trade it with other nations.
At the end of this lake is found the Illinois River. The savages of this name are divided into eight nations of which six, who are the Peourias, Caskakias, Moningouenas, Kouerakouitenons, Marouas, and Rapaououas, live on the shores of the lake which the Pimiteouy River forms and the two (page 384) others, who are the Caoukias and the Tamaououas, have villages at eight leagues beyond the mouth of this river that flows into the Mississippy. They could muster, all assembled together, fifteen hundred warriors.
The Miamis and Ilinois have missionaries. Like the other savages of the prairies of which I have told you, they do not use birchback canoes. They almost all have the same customs. I am going to tell you of them in my following letters, especially of the last two nations which are the largest in number. I shall tell you also of the beauty of the climate and of the land which the Ilinois occupy. That of the Miamis is almost the same thing; however, it is neither as beautiful nor as abundant in game.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 56
The
Country the Ilinois Inhabit, the Trees Found There
and the Vegetables Which Are Cultivated There
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At Quebec, the 1710 |
Sir,
The country that the Ilinois inhabit is unquestionably the most beautiful which we know of from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River to that of the Mississipy. There is little snow there, and the longest it lasts at a time is four or five days. There is almost no cold weather there, but then the country is at the latitude of forty degrees twenty minutes.
The land is almost all flat and smooth. There are no mountains, only a few wooded hills. It is nothing but prairies as far as the eye can see, dotted here and there with small patches of woods, with orchards, and with avenues of trees which it seems as if nature took pleasure in making grow in a straight line equally distant one from another.
These woods are full of horse chestnuts, locusts, oaks, ashes, basswoods, beeches, cottonwoods, maples, pecans, medlars, mulberries, chestnuts, and plums. All these trees are (page 385) almost covered with a vine that bears a handsome grape and which has large seeds, but has not an agreeable taste.
The pecan bears an olive-shaped nut twice as large as that fruit. The meat within is of a great delicateness and is found separated equally in two by a very bitter thin shell.
The medlar and the mulberry bear fruits as good as those in France, as does the chestnut, but its nut is smaller.
The plums are as beautiful as those of France. There are several kinds, but they have very thick skins and do not come loose from the seed, nor do they have the agreeable taste that plums should have.
Several kinds of trees are found there which are unknown to us. There is one that does not grow very tall whose trunk is as thick as a leg, it bears a fruit that the savages call assemina ("pawpaw"). The French have given this fruit a name in keeping with its shape, which is that of a medium-sized cucumber. This fruit, whose name it seems to me ought not to be either spoken or written, is very good and has five or six seeds as large as the broad beans and of their color. There are also trees that have large pods in which are found black stones and a kind of green ointment whose usage the savages do not know. Another tree is found whose branches are full of thorns as long as the fingers; it bears pods full of little beans resembling coffee beans and something sticky that is sweet and which it is said that the English used to put in punch.
The black poplar is also a tree of this country. It grows very tall and big and serves these savages in making large canoes for navigating on their rivers and lakes.
Formerly, it was an endless task for them to make these canoes; not using iron, it was necessary to set fire to the foot of a tree, to fell it and scrape it with their stone axes, and to remove the charcoal which remained on, in order that the fire penetrate to the center. After felling it they cut it the same way to the length that they wish and also hollow it out with fire.
The orchards are full of apple trees whose fruit is acrid and not larger than is the api.2
This country produces a quantity of roots and kinds of onions of which these savages eat a great deal. There is a quantity of simples which they know and use to heal their wounds.
Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons grow there abundantly.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 57
The Animals, Land and River Fowl,
and the Fish Which Are
Found in the Country of the Ilinois
Sir,
As the country of the Ilinois is almost entirely full of fruit trees, the plains covered with hay, the beds of the lakes and rivers and their shores full of herbs and roots, and as the climate is very good, there is an abundance of game and fish.
The animals are deer, roebuck, bear, lynx, beaver, otter, muskrat, wolf, buffalo, cougar, and opossum.
The buffalo is of extraordinary size. It has a hump about eight inches high extending from the shoulders to the middle of the back. Its head is covered with mane so that its eyes are scarcely visible. The animal is horrible to see. It has short hair in summer, but from the month of September until the month of June it is covered with a very fine brown wool which is easily spun. Its meat is very good to eat.
The cougars are thus named (les grandes queues) by these savages because of their tails, which are about two feet long. The animal has a head like a cat, a body about three feet long, a very thin stomach, long legs, and very short reddish hair. There are no animals that they do not get hunting, and if they were as common as the wolf one would not see a deer in this country because they live principally on this animal.
The Opossum is the size of our cats, its hair is white, a little reddish, long and fine like that of the marten. The savage women use it to make garters. It has a tail, as thick as the finger, covered with a black skin like that of the muskrat. The female of this animal has two skins under the stomach, which has the same effect as a close coat buttoned above and below and open in the middle. It forms a kind of sack in which she carries, when they are young, as many as eight little ones- the number of her litter. At her slightest cry they assemble there, and she carries them with her.
There is much small game such as hare, grouse, passenger pigeon, quail, wild turkey, and a certain bird which resembles the pheasant.
The marshes are full of all kinds of river game such as Canada goose, mallards, wood ducks, teal, white and gray bitterns, swans, and several others that I do not mention. This game is so abundant that when it is forced to leave the marshes because of the dryness, which happens in certain years in the autumn, the lake and river on which the savages are established are covered so that a canoe could hardly pass without moving them out of the way with the paddles.
In this lake and in this river there are better carp than those of the Seine and brill of such monstrous size that they have measured some which were eighteen inches between the eyes. There are all kinds of other fish in abundance.
Many rattlesnakes are to be found on the prairies. This name was given them because they have some sort of rattles at the end of their tail with which they make a noise when they crawl. We think that this is the viper of this continent. Its bite is very dangerous, and if one is not promptly cared for by the savages who know the simples which cure it, one soon dies. They say that the oil drawn from its fat is good for curing all sorts of pain and is so penetrating that if it is poured on the hand it will pass through.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 58
The Ilinois and Miamis and Their Tendency to Sodomy
Sir,
One seldom sees savages better built than are the Ilinois. Generally, they are neither tall nor short. The waist is well proportioned, and there are some who have such a slender one that one could surround it with two hands. They have a proud carriage, and faces that are fairly good looking and as white as savages always exposed in the open air and bad weather could have. They also have alert piercing eyes, the most regular teeth, and the whitest one may ever see, and they run better than any other people, catching deer in their hunting every day. The Miamis are not generally as well built as they are, but these two nations are exactly alike in regard to the qualities of mind and heart. They are both alert and, with that, idle, proud, and vain, and they say that they are all sons or relatives of chiefs. They are given over to their senses. When they have business with someone they dress themselves up. They dare not look at in private those whom they provoke in public. They take advantage always of the weakness of those with whom they deal. They are excessively jealous, ungrateful, dissembling, perjurers, and often a mere deer is the cause of murder.
When they are young they have their backs tattooed from the shoulders to the heels, and as soon as they are twenty-five they have their stomachs tattooed, their sides and the upper arms, so much so that their bodies are entirely tattooed.
The sin of sodomy is even more prevalent among these savages than it is among the Miamis. They have boys that they raise for this purpose. It is not from a shortage of women for they are plentiful, at least three or four for each one. However, as soon as they see that a boy likes the mattock, the spindle, and the ax, and does not use arrows like other little boys, they put a piece of leather or cloth on him which covers him from waist to knee. They let his hair grow which (page 389) they fasten behind and put a small piece of skin on him for a headband.
These boys are tattooed on the cheeks, the chest, and the arms like the women, imitate their intonation, which is different from that of the men, and finally forget nothing to resemble women exteriorly. There are men brutish enough to have them on the same footing. The women and girls who prostitute themselves with the wretches are regarded as dissolute.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 59
The
Jealousy of the Illinois, the Illinois Women and
their Occupations
Sir,
These savages are jealous to the last degree, and every day they have occasion to be. The women succumb easily to temptation, and the young men are so handsome and pressing and give so many presents to the brothers of these women to get them to love them that they cannot help granting their favors, but when the husbands discover their infidelity some scalp their wives as they do their enemies, stretch the scalps in hoops, and plant them on sticks which they put above their cabins. Others who think themselves more reasonable gather together some thirty young men and say to their wives: "Since you love men so much, I wish to give you a festival of them," and deliver them into the hands of all these youths. Cries are futile. The wife has to succumb in spite of herself and is forced to do that which she only wishes to do willingly. There are husbands who are always present at this. The Miamis are not so rough with their wives. They content themselves with cutting off their noses. These examples, which should make them tremble, do not correct them in any way, for they are no more reasonable for it. There are among these savages those brave enough to go and attack the lovers of their wives and try to shoot them with arrows or stab them with a (page 390) knife. When the one who is wounded does not die, the family does not seek vengeance, but if he dies, in spite of all the presents that can be made, the family has to avenge itself.
Among all these husbands who are brutal to the last degree there are, however, those indulgent enough not to show any resentment of the affront their wives have done them by their infidelity. They content themselves with merely driving them out and taking others who are often less faithful than those they have sent back.
These savage women are rather neat, somewhat homely, rather well built, and as white as savages can be. They have one leg that they always put forward, which is the one on the side on which they sit when taking up their loads. The most beautiful among these savages are those who are tall and slender.
They are very industrious, especially when they are married. The women do all the housework, cultivate the fields, fetch the wood and water for the cabins, and gather the reeds in which they sew a twine made of basswood to make a sort of straw mat which covers their cabins. Two, one over the other, shelters them from the greatest rain.
Besides these things, they make sacks of buffalo wool which they spin, works of porcupine quills, and many other little art works.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 60
The
Passion the Ilinois Have for Games and the Cabins
Where the Women Withdraw for Confinement or
When They as Well as the Girls Have the
Ailment to Which They Are Subject
Sir,
While the women work from morning to night the men are under the scaffolds that the women put up in front of the cabins and which they cover with leaves to prevent the heat of the sun from penetrating into them. There, naked (page 391) as dogs and seated on mats, the men play at straws. Lacrosse is also played by them. They like all games, for sport is one of their dominant passions. Some, after having lost everything, put up their sisters. They are very superstitious about these games as about everything. When their wives are pregnant and they lose, they accuse them of bringing them bad luck.
The pregnant women are not confined in their husbands' cabins nor do they live there nor the girls either during their monthly periods. Hence opposite each cabin they build another to hold just barely two people. It is here that they withdraw. They have a kettle, a spoon, and a dish which they alone, or those who are in the same state, use. When they need anything they call, and it is brought to them.
When a girl first has this ailment she goes to make herself a cabin in the wilderness more than ten arpents distant from the village. All her relatives advise her neither to eat nor drink as long as she is in this state, telling her that she will see the devil and that when once she has seen him she will always be happy and will have the gift of foretelling many things of the future. She yields willingly in these talks, which are repeated to her so often that she does not leave this cabin without imagining or pretending to have seen the devil and talked to him. She even considers it a merit. Her vivid or empty imagination and the weakness of her mind cause her to see things that she has never seen, for there are among these girls some foolish enough to fast all the time they are there.
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I am, sir, etc. |
LETTER 61
An
Ilinois Girl Who Was Six Days Without Eating, and
the Confinements of the Women of This Nation
Sir,
The Ilinois girls have so strong a desire to see the devil that there are some who fast, as I have remarked to you, all (page 392) the time that they are in this cabin. One was there six days without drinking or eating, so that no longer having the strength to support herself, they were obliged after washing her well to carry her to her cabin. She made her father and all her relatives believe that she had seen a buffalo, that he had assured her that her brothers who were on an excursion against the Iroquois would make an attack without losing anyone. The thing happened partly as she had said, her brothers made an attack, but one of them was killed. Although she had not hit it exactly, the jugglers said that she had predicted well, but that as she had, apparently, not fasted all the time that was necessary, the devil had lied to her in part of what he had told her as she had failed in part of that which she should have done.
The women go as I have already told you into the cabins which are opposite those of their husbands for their confinements. When they have difficulty in delivery, forty or fifty men rush on this cabin at the time when the women suspect it the least, making cries similar to those made when, shooting their guns and striking great blows, they fall on their enemies. Surprise and fear make them deliver immediately. There are some of these women who remain fifteen days in this cabin, for, although savages, one finds some who are as much weakened by childbirth as are Frenchwomen.
When they wish to re-enter the cabin of their husbands they go to bathe or if the water is too cold, they wash themselves where they are. The husband on his side, warned of the day that they are to return, shakes all the skins which he has and throws out the ashes of the hearths so that nothing remains and then makes a fire with his fire stick, lights it himself, and sends to tell her to enter.
This fire stick is made of two pieces of wood,
one of which is of white cedar; near the edge of it the savages make little
holes which do not go through the wood, with a notch from each hole through the
edge. They have a piece of hard wood that they turn very fast with both hands
in these holes,
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2 A French variety of small red apple.
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