S. A. Ferrall

“ The silly attempts that have been made to establish an oriental origin for the North American Indians, have never produced any other conviction in an unbiased mind, than that the facts brought forward to support that theory existed only in the imaginations of those who advanced them. The colour, the form, the manners, habits, and propensities of the Indians, all combine to establish that they are a distinct race of human beings, and could never have emanated from any people of European, Asiatic, or African origin. ”

“ Hardgrove's is perhaps the handsomest prairie in Illinois—before us lay a rich green undulating meadow, and on either side, clusters of trees, interspersed through this vast plain in beautiful irregularity—the waving of the high grass, and the distant groves rearing their heads just above the horizontal line, like the first glimpse of land to the weary navigator, formed a combination of ideas peculiar to the scene which lay before us. ”

“ The Indians are destitute of almost every comfort for the want of what is due to them. If it is longer withheld from them, it can only be so, upon the grounds that the poor Indian, who is unable to compel the United States to a compliance with solemn treaties, must linger out a miserable degraded existence, while those who have power to extend to him the measure of justice, will be left in the full possession of all the complacency arising from the solemn assurance, that they are either the stupid or guilty authors of his degradation and misery. ”

“ Thus situated, an occasional spell of squally weather is by no means uninteresting:—the lowering aspect of the sky—the foaming surges, which come rolling on, threatening to overwhelm the tall ship, and bury her in the fathomless abyss of the ocean—the laugh of the gallant tars, when a sea sweeps the deck and drenches them to the skin—all these incidents, united, rather amuse the voyager, and tend to dispel the inanity with which he is afflicted. ”

“ The Cherokees in their petition and memorials to Congress show, that Great Britain never exercised any sovereignty over them;—that in peace and in war she always treated them as a free people, and never assumed to herself the right of interfering with their internal government:—that in every treaty made with them by the United States, their sovereignty and total independence are clearly acknowledged, and that they have ever been considered as a distinct nation, exercising all the privileges and immunities enjoyed by any independent people. ”

“ My Father has a piece on which he lives (Council bluffs) , and we wish him to enjoy it—we have enough without it—but we wish him to live near us, to give us good council—to keep our ears and eyes open, that we may continue to pursue the right road—the road to happiness. He settles all differences between us and the whites, between the red-skins themselves—he makes the whites do justice to the red-skins, and he makes the red-skins do justice to the whites. He saves the effusion of human blood, and restores peace and happiness in the land. You have already sent us a father (Major O'Fallon) ”

“ Breakfast being despatched, you again go on deck—promenade—gaze on the clouds—then read a little, if perchance you have books with you—lean over the gunwale, watching the waves and the motion of the vessel; but the eternal water, clouds, and sky—sky, clouds, and water, produce a listlessness that nothing can overcome. In the Atlantic, a ship in sight is an object which arouses the attention of all on board—to speak one is an æra, and furnishes to the captain and mates a subject for the day's conversation. ”

“ I have frequently heard a long-legged, sallow-looking backwoodsman talk of having come lately from Paris, or Mecca, when instead of meaning the capital of La grande nation, or the city of "the holy prophet," he spoke of some town containing a few hundred inhabitants, situated in the backwoods of Kentucky, or amidst the gloomy forests of Indiana. The Americans too speak in prospective, when they talk of great places; no doubt "calculating" that, one day, all the mighty productions of the old world will be surpassed by their ingenuity and perseverance. ”

“ I shall conclude these rambling sketches by observing, that there are two things eminently remarkable in America: the one is, that every American from the highest to the lowest, thinks the Republican form of government the best; and the other, that the seditious and rebellious of all countries become there the most peaceable and contented citizens.
We sailed from New York on the 1st of October, 1830. The monotony of a sea voyage, with unscientific people, is tiresome beyond description. The journal of a single day is the history of a month. ”

“ During these periods, I have been for hours watching the motions of the "stormy petrel" (procellaria pelagica) , called by sailors, "mother Carey's chickens." These birds are seldom seen in calm weather, but appear to follow the gale, and when it blows most heavily they are seen in greatest numbers. The colour is brown and white; the size about that of the swallow, whose motions oh the wing they resemble. They skim over the surface of the roughest sea, gliding up and down the undulations with astonishing swiftness. ”

“ The rushing of the waters over such immense precipices—the dashing of the spray, which rises in a white cloud at the base of the Falls, and is felt at the distance of a quarter of a mile—the many and beautiful rainbows that occasionally appear,—united, form a grand and imposing coup d'oeil. ”

“ Who counts more scalps than the Lenni Lenapé warrior?—he can never be conquered—the stranger shall never dwell in his glades.' Where now is the "Delaware of the hills?"—gone!—his very name is unknown in his own land, and not a vestige remains to tell that there once dwelt a great and powerful tribe. ”

“ Nearly the whole newspaper press of the city maintain a death-like silence, while the great Red Harlot of Infidelity is madly and triumphantly stalking over the city, under the mantle of 'working-men,' and making rapid progress in her work of ruin. ”

“ The port of New Orleans presents the most extraordinary medley of any port in the world. Craft of every possible variety may be seen moored along the levées, and the markets and adjacent streets crowded with people of almost every nation in Europe, Africa, and America, who create a frightful confusion of tongues. A particular part of the quay is appropriated to each description of craft, and a penalty is enforced for any deviation from port regulations. The upper part is occupied with flat-boats, arks, peeroges, rafts, keel-boats, canoes, and steam-boats ”

“ Some of the poor creatures are now travelling among us, almost starved, begging for something to eat—they are actually worse than Indians. If they can't get by begging, they steal. To make us clear of these evils, and make us happy for ever, the unabating avarice of some of the Georgians, by their repeated acts of cruelty, point us to homes in the west—but as long as we have a pony or a hog to spare them, we will never go, and not then. ”

“ The white-man, when he wishes to trade profitably with the Indian, fills the cup, and holds it forth—he says, 'drink, my brother, it is good'—the red-man drinks, and the wily white points at his condition, says he is uncivilized, and should go forth from the land, for his presence is contamination!
As to the charge of hypocrisy—this too has been taught or forced upon the Indians by the conduct of the whites. Missionaries have been constantly going among them, teaching dogmas and doctrines, far beyond the comprehension of some learned white-men, and to the savage totally unintelligible. ”

“ The term gentleman is used here in a very different sense from that in which it is applied in Europe—it means simply, well-behaved citizen. All classes of society claim it—from the purveyor of old bones, up to the planter; and I have myself heard a bar-keeper in a tavern and a stage driver, whilst quarrelling, seriously accuse each other of being "no gentleman." The only class who live on the labour of others, and without their own personal exertions, are the planters in the south. There are certainly many persons who derive very considerable revenues from houses ”

“ The United States government has made several offers to the Cherokees for their lands; which they have as constantly refused, and said, "that they were very well contented where they were—that they did not wish to leave the bones of their ancestors, and go beyond the Mississippi; but that, if the country be so beautiful as their white brother represents it, they would recommend their white brother to go there himself." ”

“ I have observed their progress, and whenever I look back to see what has taken place of old, I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were the forerunners of their dispersion; that they always excited enmities and quarrels amongst them; that they introduced the white people on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of their property; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and decrease, and be driven back, in proportion to the number of preachers that came among them.
"Each nation has its own customs and its own religion. ”

“ In Europe, the name of America is so associated with the idea of emigration, that to announce an intention of crossing the Atlantic, rouses the interfering propensity of friends and acquaintances, and produces such a torrent of queries and remonstrances, as will require a considerable share of moral courage to listen to and resist. All are on the tiptoe of expectation, to hear what the inducements can possibly be for travelling in America. America!! ”

“ Our vessel was manned with a real American crew, that is, a crew, of which scarcely two men are of the same nation—which conveys a tolerably correct notion of the population of the United States. The crew consisted of one Russian, one German, one Italian, one Scotchman, one Newfoundlander, one Irishman, two Englishmen, two New Englanders, and two Negros—the cook and steward. The seamen of America are better paid, and better protected, than those of any other nation; but work harder, and must understand their duty well. ”