This morning I read a passage from a book on William Bartram, naturalist in the 1700s. He was a Quaker and a peaceful soul who traveled to observe and identify species of plants as well as observing animals and humans.
My husband has been urging me to read several pages that describe Bartram’s view on the tribal people who lived on this land before Europeans arrived. He knows of my interest in tribal ways.
In the book, excerpts from Bartram’s writing told of how the native tribes helped the newcomers, how they extended the hand of friendship and trust to our ancestors. (I speak as a Caucasian of partly British descent when I refer to my or “our” ancestors.) He spoke of the similarities between the 2 ways of governments, industry, and worship. Great Spirit was acknowledge by the tribes to be the same as the deity that was worshipped by the “visitors.” They we open to adopt the religion, the practices, the currency and many of the ways of our forefathers. They were willing to accept decisions of our leaders in important issues that went beyond the considerations and matters of their individual tribe.
The tribal leaders entered into agreements with the government of the white men and honored those agreements.
The people who inhabited these lands, ceded part of their lands and moved for the convenience and wellbeing of those who came from afar.
The native people who Bartram encountered opened their hearts to their brothers from across the sea.
The Europeans brought pottery and metal tools for cooking, agriculture, etc. They brought woven fabrics for clothing and other utility. The native people appreciated and traded for these items. After a couple of generations, passed, they lost the ability to fashion the tools they once made to, including implements of stone and bone to grind grain, to hunt animals, and to live their lives independently with the resources of the land. This made them weak when the tide turned against them. They could not defend themselves or even resume their prior independent livelihoods – trapping and trading and working with animal hides. They could no longer easily grow their own food. Their hunting grounds were no longer available to them.
It was not difficult to control, displace, or defeat those who had once reached out in trust and friendship, helping to secure the footing of the white man on these lands.
Bartram and a few others of his day were called “Indian lovers,” – a derogatory term. Their knowledge of and interaction with native people was not appreciated or aligned with the greater perspective of those of European descent.
There are aspects of this information that I did not previously know. I was especially not aware of how weakened the tribes were by there acceptance of the ways of the colonists. It does not take long to forget old ways.
I have witnessed this myself with the ways of increased technological solutions to life’s challenges. A man who once printed a local newspaper could not interest his son – or anyone – in carrying on his work. Very few of us know how to can or dry food, weave fabric, forge metal implements, create pottery bowls, or even plant a garden. It is worrisome to know that we can not survive on our own. Especially in a time when our structures seem so precarious.
My thoughts return now to my experience with my peace pipe when I lived in CT. The pipe was fashioned by a Native American woman in Illinois. My sharing of the pipe ceremony eventually led me to a confrontation with members of the Native American community in the greater Hartford area. LINK
Today I have a much better and deeper understanding of the mistrust the tribal people I encountered felt toward me.
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8 hummingbird way 