On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
res ; to plant fruit trees ; to raise and spin cotton , £ LX ) d 9 in several instances , to weave it ; to depend on their farms for food , and , aided by the wheel and the loom , foj : clothing : to seek , in their improvements , for the necessaries of life 5 and in hunting : for amusement only .
«« For the first three or four years I esperienced-a continued rudeness of opposition . In the succeeding three or four , success was slowly progressive ; hut even during this period , I reaped scarcely any other than a harvest of
ingratitude . At length , however , by persevering in the course I had adopted , I have brought : the Indian mind to yield , though slowly and reluctantly , to the evidence of facts ; and the plan is now no longer problematical . < c Several of the Indians have sowed
wheat , planted fruit-trees , and used the plough . Several of them have made spinaing-wheels and looms ; and some weave cloth . Among the lower Creeks , we have more than twenty looms in use ; and , of these , eight were made , as -well as are wrought , by the hands of Indians . Of blankets made ; by an Indian , superior to the Yorkshire duffell , a
sample has been sent to government ; and the whole process , from the sheep to the blanket , was the work of Indians , the irons for the loom excepted . We have homespun cotton cloth , of five or six hundred , equal to that of our neighbours , and the dies and stripes in some instances as good : and I believe we have
now nearly three hundred spinningwheels , occasionally in use by Indian women . Although the last year was uncommonly unfavourable to raising cotton , the demand for wheels , cards , looms , ploughs , and other implements of husbandry , is greater than 1 can supply . Some few of the Indians have tanned
leather , and made saddles . Several have made ornaments for themselves ; and some , butter and cheese . ^ * When I first came here , there were not ten women in the Oconnee . who wore
petticoats lower than thb knees j and jqow the long petticoat is in general use . The women were the only labourers ; but now the men partake in the labours of the field , as well a& in spinning and "Weaving ,
Untitled Article
• ' At the Oconneey I have a large farm , where we raise corn , pease , wheat , barley , rye , rice , oats , flax , cotton , potatoes , ( sweet and Irish , ) melons , pumpkins , turnips , &c . I have peaches in great variety , and of excellent quality ; and all the varieties of gardeii-roots and
vegetables . 1 have a grist and a sawmill , a taii-yard , a shoe and boot maker , a tinman , a cooper , two wheelwrights , a cabinet-maker , an instructor in spinning and weaving , a loom and weaver , a set of blacksmiths , and a schoolmaster . We have saddlers , ancf shall soon have
a hatter . 3 VTy family of eighty persons are c ? othed in our own homespun . Our wool , flax , and cotton , are of our own raising ; as are our dye-stuffs . Our wheels and looms are also of our own
manufacture ; and we have introduced the flying shuttle into ^ general use among the Indians . From this state of improvement , y 6 u will readily believe it isi » ecome the comon topic of conversation among them . " The Moravian Brethren have twice
sent the . Rev . Mr . —— on a visit to me , with the offer of a minister of he gospel : but my opinion being that the proper time was not yet come , on my intimating that I would accept of mechanics from them in aid of my plan ,
they , after consulting their brethren in Europe , sent me two ; one a tin-man and cooper ; the other a house-joiner and wheelwright . The first finds sale for his manufactures , either with me or the Indians ; and hitherto I have found a market for all the other can make . Both
are exemplary in their lives , and veryuseful . One is a native of Holftein , in Denmark ; and the other , of Prussia . I make figures precede letters . Every figure presents a distinct idea to the eye and mind . With figures , a knowledge of wei g hts , measures , and money , and their relative connexion , is acquired . Wtehave , in a few solitary instances , some halj-breeds and Indians taught to read and write .
** With sincere wishes for your happiness , I am , my venerable friend ! " Your obedient servant , « p . » . " in *
Untitled Article
$ 2 O Iftttlligtrnce ^ Thc Civilization of the Ifi dians *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1809, page 520, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1740/page/46/
-