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CHAPTER V.
A description of the Ohioans, [& manner of procuring a living.]
I am now to describe a [species of] nation who have but little resemblance to those [innumerable tribes of] savages, who live along the coasts of the Atlantic. Their complexion, the form and construction of their bodies, their customs manners, laws, government & religion all demonstrate that they must have originated from some other nation & have but a very distant affinity with their savage neighbors. As to their persons, they were taller on an average than I had ever seen in any nation, their bones were large, limbs strait & shoulders broad. Their eyes rather small & sunk deep in the head Their foreheads were prominent, & the face below tapering in such a manner that the chin was formed nearly to a point. As to their complexion, it was bordering on an olive though of a lighter shade. Their eyes were generally of a dark brown or black Their hair of the same color, though I have sometimes seen persons, whose hair was of a reddish hue.
They clothed themselves in cloth which was manufactured [among themselves] from the hair of Mammoths & from cotton which was transported from the south-west westward. The men wore shoes and long stockings, wide trusses, a waistcoat & a garment with wide short sleeves which came down to their knees & in cold weather a cloak over the whole. The covering for the head was generally a kind of a cap which ran up high and tapered to a point. This was generally made of fur skins & was ornamented with feathers. It had a small brim in the shape of an half moon to project over the forehead.
The women beside a stockings & shoes wore a short petticoat, a shirt of cotton, a loose garment with sleeves which they girted round them with belts & a cloak. They had various ornaments such as ribbons made from cotton & colored with different colors, the most beautiful feathers that could be obtained and shells of various kinds. Indeed the higher class of women were extremely fond of ornament & placed a large share of their happiness in the brilliant & gaudy appearance of their garments. The people obtained their living generally by the cultivation of the land, & [they manage] by tending and managing certain animals which had been so long domesticated that they have lost their wild nature & become tame.
Corn, wheat, beans, squashes, & carrots they raised in great abundance. The ground was plowed by horses & generally made very mellow for the reception of the seed.
It was the occupation of a certain part of the men to tend upon the tame animals to drive them to pasture & keep them from straying and feed them when the snow was on the ground. Two men would tend twenty Mammoths, which were indifferent whether they fed on grass or crop the bushes. When these animals were fat, their flesh was highly esteemed. They had droves of elk, which they had so tamed and tutored that they could manage them as they pleased, and they would follow them like a flock of sheep, & it was but seldom that any would leave their companions. The elk constituted a considerable part of their animal food. The horses were managed in the same way & the people thought their meat to be a savory dish.
They had large numbers of turkeys and geese, which though originally wild yet by treating them with great familiarity by cropping their wings and feeding them frequently they discovered no disposition to ramble off but propagated their species & laid eggs in abundance.
Hunting & fishing were the employments of some, others followed mechanical business, others carried on a bartering trade to the southwestward, in order to furnish the people with cotton & other articles whose production was not congenial to the their climate. By pursuing these various employments they generally had a plenty of provisions at all seasons & were comfortably clothed. And here I would remark as one striking characteristic of this people, that they observed great neatness in their dress, in their cookery and in their houses.
The manufacturing of iron & lead was understood but was not carried on to that extent & perfection as in Europe. A small quantity of iron in proportion to the number of inhabitants served to supply them with all the implements which custom had made necessary for their use. By hammering & hardening their iron they would convert it nearly into the consistence of steal & fit it for the purpose of edge tools.
The pottery business was conducted with great ingenuity, & great quantities of stone and earthen ware consisting of [every kind] of vessels of every construction which were needed for family use, were manufactured in every part of this extensive country. These vessels they ornamented with [pictures with] the likenesses of various kinds of animals & trees & impressed upon them such colors as would strike the fancy with delight. The females of the [higher Class] most wealthy class would often have a large and superfluous quantity of this brittle furniture to decorate one apartment of the house. The vessels they arranged in such order as to make a display of taste and impress the mind with the agreeable sensation of beauty.
In architecture there can be no comparison with the civilized nations of Europe. In their most wealthy & populous cities their houses and public buildings, exhibit no elegance, no appearance of wealth & grandeur, all is plain & nothing superfluous. But convenience appears to be the whole object they had in view in the construction of their buildings of every kind.
Their houses were generally but one story high, built of wood, being framed & covered with split clapboards or shingles & in the inside the walls were formed of clay, which was plastered over with a thin coat of lime. Their houses seldom consisted of more than three apartments. As to their chimneys, they constructed a wall of stone about five feet high [for the fire to be] against which they build their fire, from the top of this wall they construct their chimney with thin pieces of split timber on the inside [with wet dirt or clay] of which they plaster wet, dirt or clay, which completely covers & adheres to the timber & prevents the fire form having any operation upon it. The inside of their houses, as the women generally practise neatness makes a much better appearance than the outside.
"It is my opinion," says Trojanus, "that this people display a taste in building which is formed upon the true principles of reason. Their houses are sufficiently spacious for convenience. No expense or labor are thrown away in building useless apartments, or in the erecting their houses higher than what convenience requires. The whole catalogue of ornamental trumpery is neglected. This in Rome produces more than half the labor & expense in buildings." ["Yes," says Lucian & without this, these laboring people must starve for the want of employment, & the citizens of the Roman empire would be deprived of the honor of possessing a splendid Capital & of the exquisite pleasure of beholding the greatest exhibition of human ingenuity in the elegance, [the] splendor [the] symmetry & beauty of their houses, [their,] palaces & public edifices." "True indeed," replies Trojanus, "men may be dazzled & delighted with such objects for a moment. But could not wealth be better bestowed [upon] to promote the interest of the community & for charitable purposes. And these artists better employ their strength & ingenuity in producing some substantial benefits to themselves & others." Rejoins Lucian, "the course reason dictates is to avoid extremes. A slab colored world would tire the senses by its uniformity & too much ornament & splendor would cease to please by its frequency.] Besides, lofty houses can more easily be overthrown by tornadoes or tumbled down upon our heads by earthquakes." "The course," says Lucian, "that reason dictates is to avoid extremes. A slab colored, [would] by its uniformity would tire the senses & by its possessing too much ornament & splendor it would cease to please."
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