History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan | Page 5

their primitive state,
were almost the same as the ten commandments which the God
Almighty himself delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai on tables of stone.
Very few of these divine precepts are not found among the precepts of
the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, except with regard to the Sabbath
day to keep it holy; almost every other commandment can be found,
only there are more, as there were about twenty of these "uncivilized"
precepts. They also believed, in their primitive state, that the eye of this
Great Being is the sun by day, and by night the moon and stars, and,
therefore, that God or the Great Spirit sees all things everywhere, night
and day, and it would be impossible to hide our actions, either good or
bad, from the eye of this Great Being. Even the very threshold or
crevice of your wigwam will be a witness against you, if you should
commit any criminal action when no human eye could observe your
criminal doings, but surely your criminal actions will be revealed in
some future time to your disgrace and shame. These were continual
inculcations to the children by their parents, and in every feast and
council, by the "Instructors of the Precepts" to the people or to the
audience of the council. For these reasons the Ottawas and Chippewas
in their primitive state were strictly honest and upright in their dealings
with their fellow-beings. Their word of promise was as good as a
promissory note, even better, as these notes sometimes are neglected
and not performed according to their promises; but the Indian promise
was very sure and punctual, although, as they had no timepieces, they
measured their time by the sun. If an Indian promised to execute a
certain obligation at such time, at so many days, and at such height of
the sun, when that time comes he would be there punctually to fulfill
this obligation. This was formerly the character of the Ottawa and
Chippewa Indians of Michigan. But now, our living is altogether
different, as we are continually suffering under great anxiety and
perplexity, and continually being robbed and cheated in various ways.
Our houses have been forcibly entered for thieving purposes and
murder; people have been knocked down and robbed; great safes have
been blown open with powder in our little town and their contents
carried away, and even children of the Caucasian race are heard cursing
and blaspheming the name of their Great Creator, upon whose pleasure
we depended for our existence.

According to my recollection of the mode of living in our village, so
soon as darkness came in the evening, the young boys and girls were
not allowed to be out of their lodges. Every one of them must be called
in to his own lodge for the rest of the night. And this rule of the Indians
in their wild state was implicitly observed.
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians were not what we would call entirely
infidels and idolaters; for they believed that there is a Supreme Ruler of
the Universe, the Creator of all things, the Great Spirit, to which they
offer worship and sacrifices in a certain form. It was customary among
them, every spring of the year, to gather all the cast off garments that
had been worn during the winter and rear them up on a long pole while
they were having festivals and jubilees to the Great Spirit. The object
of doing this was that the Great Spirit might look down from heaven
and have compassion on his red children. Only this, that they foolishly
believe that there are certain deities all over the lands who to a certain
extent govern or preside over certain places, as a deity who presides
over this river, over this lake, or this mountain, or island, or country,
and they were careful not to express anything which might displease
such deities; but that they were not supreme rulers, only to a certain
extent they had power over the land where they presided. These deities
were supposed to be governed by the Great Spirit above.

CHAPTER II.
Cases of Murders Among the Ottawas and Chippewas Exceedingly
Scarce --Ceding the Grand Traverse Region to the Chippewas on
Account of Murder--Immorality Among the Ottawas not
Common--Marriage in Former Times.
The murders in cold blood among the Ottawa and Chippewa nations of
Indians in their primitive state were exceedingly few, at least there was
only one account in our old tradition where a murder had been
committed, a young Ottawa having stabbed a young Chippewa while in
dispute over their nets when they were fishing for herrings on the
Straits of Mackinac. This nearly caused a terrible bloody war between

the two powerful tribes of Indians (as they were numerous then) so