|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
CHAPTER VI.
Description of the Learning [Religion & customs of the Ohioans]
Learning appears to be so consonant to the nature of man & [a good] convenient share of it so easy to obtain, that some may wonder why it is not universally defused through the world:* [But] If we can place any reliance on the dark annals of ancient history, it is a certain fact that letters are indebted for their existence to the inventive genius of certain extraordinary characters. Egypt & Chaldea contended for the honor of being the first+ who invented letters. Perhaps they were invented in each nation nearly at the same time. [But] let this be as it may, could no other other nation in the world produce as great geniuses as Egypt or Chaldea? Is there any natural obstacle to prevent their production in America as well as in Asia? Whatever may be the reasonings of some on this subject, the fact is, that I found [letters or] some share of learning, though in a very imperfect state, among this people. At present I shall wave the account of its introduction & shall merely describe the state of learning as it existed among the Ohioans. They had characters which represent words, & all compound words had each part represented by its appropriate character. The variation of cases moods & tenses was designated by certain marks placed under the character. They generally wrote on parchment, & beginning at the right wrote from the top to the bottom, placing each character directly under the preceding one, & having finished one column or line they [begin the] wrote the next on the left of that & so continue on until they cover the parchment if the subject require it in a work of considerable Labor & time to obtain such a knowledge of their characters & and the application as to be able to read with fluency & to write with ease & accuracy.
*But the wonder would cease when it is considered that mankind with but few exceptions to walk in the tracts of their fathers & pursue the road marked out by their education.
+ Though the most probable conjecture is that they were communicated from one nation to the other.
In their principal Cities & towns the Government appoint learned men to instruct the sons of the higher class of citizens & in the course of four or five years they will make such proficiency as to become tolerable scholars.
The works of the learned are not very voluminous. Records are kept of the transactions of their government. Their constitution & laws are committed to writing, [A sacred roll in in manuscript is preserved among the records of their emperors & kings] & are dispersed throughout the empire, & much pains is taken to defuse the knowledge of them among the people. In all their large towns & cities they have deposited under the care of a priest a sacred roll, which contains the tenets of their theology & a description of their religious ceremonies. This order of men publish comments upon these sacred writings, they publish some tracks on moral philosophy, & some containing a collection of proverbs & the wise sayings of their sages.
But the kind of composition in which they most excel is poetry. In poetic numbers they describe the great events, which take place, & the exploits and mighty achievements of their heroes. In soft elegies they paint the amours of lovers & in pathetic strains they delineate the calamities & sorrows of the unfortunate. In their assemblies it is very common for a certain class of the learned to entertain the company with a repetition of poetic pieces describing the battle and exploits of their warriors, or to sing some amorous or witty ballad. As for theaters they have none, but as a kind of substitute there are actors, who entertain the people by pronouncing dialogues or plays, in which they display all the arts of mimicry & [act out the] express in their countenance their gesture & the tone of their voices different passions of the human mind. As only a small proportion of the people are instructed in the arts of reading & writing, of consequent the great mass, must possess a large share of ignorance, but not so great a share as savages who have no learning among them. They head the conversation & the lectures of their sages. [They are entertained with] Their poetic orators entertain them with the productions of their poets, containing the history of great events & mighty achievements. Their actors divert and please them by exciting the various passions [at the same time communicating instruction & correcting the natural savageness of manners by] & as the pieces they rehearse contain many ideas & sentiments tending to expose the deformity of vice, the folly of superstition & the disgustfulness of rude & clownish manners, the people of consequence are improved & considerably refined. Add to this their living in compact towns or cities in which there is a constant and reciprocal communication of ideas, which of course would have no small effect to inform their minds. To all these causes combined the [Ohioans] the great mass of the people are indebted for possessing a considerable share of knowledge and civilization.
Main Table of
Contents