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Popular common school education--Iroquois name for Mackinack--Its
scenic beauties poetically considered--Phenomenon of two currents of
adverse wind meeting--Audubon's proposed work on American
quadrupeds--Adario--Geographical range of the mocking-bird--Removal
from the West to the city of New York--An era accomplished--Visit to
Europe.
1841. May 3d. F. SAWYER, Jr., Esq., a gentleman recently
appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction, from Ann Arbor,
writes: "Yours of the 19th April came during my absence at Marshall,
and I take the first opportunity to reply, thanking you for the
suggestions made. It is my intention to attempt the publication of a
monthly, something after the manner of the Boston Common School
Journal, one of the best things of the kind, in my humble
opinion, to be found in the Union. As the legislative resolution
authorizing a subscription for such a publication is repealed, a
journal, if started, will depend upon the disposition of the people
to sustain it.
"My intention is to address a circular to the different Boards of
School Inspectors throughout Michigan, urging upon them the
necessity of doing something for the cause, and invoking their
efficiency in the matter. If they will take hold and raise a certain
amount in their district, and pledge their constant exertions to
excite and keep alive public interest on the subject of common
schools, much will have been effected.
"To succeed, the journal must treat of subjects in the most popular
manner, avoiding, as far as is consistent with the dignity of the
object in view, very elaborate and prosy disquisitions. I shall
endeavor to get a circular out next week. Meantime accept my thanks
for the interest you take in the subject, and be assured that if I
succeed in starting the journal, I shall, at all times, be grateful
for contributions from you."
22d. Landed at Mackinack after having passed the winter at
Detroit. It appears from Colden that the Iroquois called this island
Teiodondoraghie. What an amount of word-craft is here--what a poetic
description thrown into the form of a compound phrase! The local
term in doraghie is apparently the same heard in Ticonderoga--the
imprecision of writing Indian making the difference. Ti is
the Iroquois particle for water, as in Tioga, &c. On
is, in like manner, the clipped or coalescent particle for hill or
mountain, as heard in Onondaga. The vowels i, o, carry the
same meaning, evidently, that they do in Ontario and Ohio, where
they are an exclamatory description for beautiful scenery. What a
philosophy of language is here!
June 15th. The balmy, soft influence of a June atmosphere,
resting upon this lovely scene of water, woods, and rocks--a perfect
gem in creation, deeply impressed me. Under a strong sense of its
geological frame-work of cliffs and winding paths, it appeared that
it only required a poetic drapery to be thrown over it and its
historical associations, to render it a pleasing theme of
description. So unlike English scenery, and yet so
characteristic--so very American.
21st. While standing on the piazza in front of the agency
house at Mackinack, about five o'clock P.M., my attention was
directed to the strong current which set through the strait, west,
under the influence of a strong easterly wind. The waves were worked
up into a perfect series of foam wreaths, succeeding each other for
miles. While admiring this phenomenon, a cloud gathered suddenly in
the west, and, in a few minutes, poured forth a gust of wind towards
the east, attended with heavy rain. So suddenly was this jet of wind
propagated towards the east, that the foam of waves running west was
driven back eastwardly, before the waves had time to reverse their
motion, which created the unusual spectacle of two opposing currents
of wind and waves, in the most active and striking manner. The wave
current still running west, while the wind current seized its foam
and carried it in a long line towards the east. The new current soon
prevailed. At half-past six o'clock the storm had quite abated, and
the wind settled lightly from the south-west.
26th. Mr. John J. Audubon announces his intention to prepare
a complete work on American quadrupeds, correspondent, in the style
of execution, to his great work on ornithology. "As I do not know,"
he modestly says, "whether you are aware of my having published a
work on the birds of America, I take this opportunity to assure you
that I have, and, at the same time, to apprise you of my having
undertaken, and in fact, began another on the viviparous quadrupeds
of our country, which it is also my intention to publish as soon as
I can.
"In all such undertakings, the simple though unintermitted labors of
an individual are not sufficient, and assistance from others is not
only agreeable, but is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary to
render them as complete as possible.
"Having not only heard, but also read, of your having rendered
essential services to Charles Bonaparte, Mr. Cooper of this city,
and other eminent naturalists, I think that perhaps, you would not
look upon my endeavors to advance science as not unworthy of the
same species of assistance at your hands, and I will therefore say,
at once, what my desires are, and wish of you to have the goodness
to let me know, whether it is agreeable or convenient for you to
assist me.
"My wishes are to procure of quadrupeds, of moderate and small
sizes, preserved entire in the flesh, and in strong common rum (no
other spiritous liquor will preserve them equally well), and the
heads and feet of the larger species, likewise in rum.
The large animals in the skins, after having taken accurate notes of
measurements, the color of the eyes, date of capture, locality, and
also, whatever may relate to their habits and habitats!
By the first of which, I more particularly mean, their usual and
unusual postures, gaits, &c., and whether they climb trees, or are
altogether terrestrial. My desire to have the animals in the flesh,
is in connection with my wish to give their anatomy, or as much of
it as may be thought useful or necessary to the student of nature,
and by which the species may be better hereafter known than
heretofore."
28th, Maj. Delafield writes respecting the contemplated work
of Audubon: "If in your power to aid him as proposed, you will
contribute to another magnificent American work on natural science,
intended to be on the same grand scale with his ornithology."
July 7th. Among the most noted aboriginal characters who
have, in bygone times, lived here, was Adario, a Wyandot, who
flourished while that tribe were in exile on this island. He appears
to me, from the descriptions given of him, to have had larger
inductive powers than the Indians generally though they were only
employed on stratagems and in negotiations, in which, curiously
enough, he succeeded in making the Iroquois vengeance fall on the
French, his allies. To be wise with him was more than to be just.
Look at Colden. The philosophy put into his mouth by La Hontan,
probably has some basis, in actual talk, with the gay baron.
The following appear to be turning points in
Iroquois history:-- |
Father de Moyn discovers the Onondaga country |
1653 |
Erie war closes |
1655 |
New Amsterdam surrenders to the Duke of York |
1664 |
First treaty of the Iroquois with the French |
1667 |
La Salle builds the first vessel on the lakes |
1679 |
La Salle lays the foundation of Fort Niagara |
1679 |
English revolution bringing in a new dynasty in William |
1688 |
Capture and burning of Schenectady |
1690 |
27th. I received notice of my election as an honorary
member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society.
Aug. 1st. During the number of years I have passed in the
country of the upper lakes, I have noticed the mocking bird, T.
polyglottis, but once or twice as far north as the Island of
Michilimackinack. I have listened to its varied notes, during the
spring season, with delight. It is not an ordinary inhabitant, nor
have I ever noticed it on, the St. Mary's Straits, or on the shores
of Lake Huron north of this island. This island may, I think, be
referred to as its extreme, northern and occasional limit.
10th. I determined to remove from Michilimackinack to the
city of New York. More than thirty years of my life have been spent
in Western scenes, in various situations, in Western New York, the
Mississippi Valley, and the basins of the Great Lakes, The position
is one which, however suitable it is for observation on several
topics, is by no means favorable to the publication of them, while
the seaboard cities possess numerous advantages of residence,
particularly for the education of the young. So much of my time had
been given to certain topics of natural history, and to the
languages and history, antiquities, manners, and customs of the
Indian tribes, that I felt a desire to preserve the record of it,
and, in fact, to study my own materials in a position more favorable
to the object than the shores, however pleasing, of these vast
inland seas. The health of Mrs. Schoolcraft having been impaired for
several years, furnished another motive for a change of residence.
However great was the geographical area to be traversed, the change
could be readily effected, and promised many of the highest
concomitants of civilization. Beyond all, it was a return to my
native State after long years of travel and wandering, adventure,
and residence, which would bear, I thought, to-be looked at and
reflected on through the mellowed medium of reminiscence and study.
The journey was easily performed by steamers and railroads, which
occupy every foot of the way, and it was accomplished without any
but agreeable incidents. I left the island, which is the object of
so many pleasant recollections, about the middle of August, and
reached the city of New York during that month, in season, after
some weeks agreeably passed at a hotel, to take a private
dwelling-house in the upper part of it (Chelsea, 19th street) early
in September. I now cast myself about to publish the results of my
observation on the RED RACE, whom I had found, in many traits, a
subject of deep interest; in some things wholly misunderstood and
misrepresented; and altogether an object of the highest humanitarian
interest. But our booksellers, or rather book-publishers, were not
yet prepared in their views to undertake anything corresponding to
my ideas. The next year I executed my long-deferred purpose of
visiting England and the Continent with this plan in view, and was
highly gratified with the means of comparison which these finished
countries afforded with the rough scenes of Western America. France,
Belgium, Prussia, Germany and Holland were embraced in this tour.
This visit was one of high intellectual gratification, and carried
me into scenes and situations for which the reading of books had but
poorly prepared me. I kept a journal to refresh my memory of things
seen and heard, approved and disapproved.
The Western World, they tell me, turns too fast, By European optics
scanned and glassed; But when we look at Europe, although fair, They
must have had new Joshuas working there; For, be our eagerness just
what it will, She, spell-bound, seems to stand profoundly still.
This site includes some historical
materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language
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Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the
Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers, 1851
Thirty
Years with the Indians
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