******
When John Lawson wrote his A New Voyage to Carolina Europeans were being told of a land where watermelons grew as large as houses, trees on which honey grew, springs of rum and brandy, flax plants that bore woven cloth from their branches, hoop snakes that spun through the swamps coiled as a wheel, whip-snakes that killed cattle by lashing them to death with their tails, and serpents exhaling fatal gasses. To this world John Lawson came and attempted to set the record straight.
The Indians of the Carolina's in 1700 - 1708 were described by Lawson as having an advanced culture that rivaled that of the "Christians" that came to the area. They quickly adapted the best of the settlers ways and added that to their store of knowledge. In his travels, he recorded much as John and William Bartram did (some seventy years later) the culture of the Indians and the environment in which they lived.
They were inventive. Lawson describes how an Indian would take a rifle, fixing it in a Y of a tree and shoot at a target until he had learned to sight above/below to the right/left so that he was extremely accurate. His description of fishing for whales is unique; an Indian would swim out to where a whale was, climb aboard and plug the blow-hole causing the whale to drown. They invented "spotlighting" before the days of flashlights and such. An Indian would use a torch to light an area in the water, and when a fish came to the area, another would spear it. A single species of holly growing in the area contains caffeine The Indians learned to make a pleasant drink from it curing the leaves much as tea is prepared. (Ilex vomitoria is the scientific name for the plant which they called yaupon. It does not cause one to vomit but instead is a stimulant. The Spaniards of Florida were said to have preferred it to coffee.)
The Indians loved a good story and apparently were not beyond creating what was lacking in fact. Lawson met the "King of the Santee Nation" and the chief "Doctor". The Doctor was "warmly and neatly clad with a Match-Coat, made of Turkies Feathers, which makes a pretty Shew, seeming as if it was a Garment of the deepest silk shag. This Doctor had the Misfortune to lose his Nose by the Pox, which Disease the Indians often get by the English Traders that use amongst them; not but the Natives of America have for many Ages (by their own Confession) been afflicted with a Distemper much like the Lues Venerea (syphilis), which hath all the Symptoms of the Pox, being different in this only; for I never could learn, that this Country-Distemper, or Yawes is begun or continu'd with a Gonorrhoea; yet is attended with nocturnal Pains in the Limbs , and commonly makes such a Progress as to vent Part of the Matter by Botches, and several Ulcers in the Body; and other Parts; oftentimes Death ensuing. I have known mercurial Ungents and Remidies work a Cure, following the same Methods as in the Pox; several white People, but chiefly the Criolo's losing their Palates and Noses by this devouring Vulture....
... our Doctor, who in the Time of his Affliction withdrew himself (with one that labour'd under the same Distemper) into the Woods. These two perfected their Cures by proper Vegitables, &c., of which they have Plenty, and are well acquainted with their specific Virture....
After these two had perform'd their Cures at no easier Rate than the Expence of both their Noses, coming again amongst their old Acquaintance so disfigur'd, the Indians admir'd to see them metamorphos'd after that manner; enquir'd of them where they had been all that Time, and what were become of their Noses? They made Answer, That they had been conversing with the white Man above (meaning God almighty) how they were very kindly entertain'd by the Great Being; he being much pleas'd with their Ways, and had promis'd to make their Capacities equal with the white People in making Guns, Ammunition, &c. in Retalliation of which, they had given him their Noses."
The Indians were respectful of their elders and when others were speaking they did not interrupt. Honor came before bravery, and being a good provider was considered to be the ultimate. They are said to not care for material possessions, yet the great men of the village had more fat horses and pretty wives.
In Lawson's report the tribes history was detailed on a number of sticks to which notches were made. From this record of history, they spoke of many events that may be translated as biblical. Certainly, they had a just God and an evil Spirit. This supports Rafinesque's description of Indian history (Walam Olum) which was of the Delaware Indians.
His journey which he recorded as a diary, began in Charleston South Carolina on December 28, 1770 and ended at the mouth of the Tar river in North Carolina on February 24, 1701. Would that it would be possible to retrace his steps. In the years that followed Lawson was an active agriculturalist, transplanting, grafting, and seeding plants from different areas. He wrote of the animals, plants, climate, minerals, peoples of the area. Descriptions are as true today as when they were written, except that many of those things that he observed no longer exist or are in greatly diminished numbers.
While his writing style is not equal to that of William Bartram and his small collection of drawings certainly inferior, considering that he walked the same areas seventy years prior to Bartram and recorded a picture in time of the evolving United States of America justifies this as a classic of which we should all be aware. His Indians are far different from the "poor, dumb, savages, etc." that others characterized as the native inhabitants of our country. Read his "Voyage" and see the Indians as Jim Cook came to know them two centuries later in Nebraska,
****
The Indians of the Carolina's in 1700 - 1708 were described by Lawson as having an advanced culture that rivaled that of the "Christians" that came to the area. They quickly adapted the best of the settlers ways and added that to their store of knowledge. In his travels, he recorded much as John and William Bartram did (some seventy years later) the culture of the Indians and the environment in which they lived.
They were inventive. Lawson describes how an Indian would take a rifle, fixing it in a Y of a tree and shoot at a target until he had learned to sight above/below to the right/left so that he was extremely accurate. His description of fishing for whales is unique; an Indian would swim out to where a whale was, climb aboard and plug the blow-hole causing the whale to drown. They invented "spotlighting" before the days of flashlights and such. An Indian would use a torch to light an area in the water, and when a fish came to the area, another would spear it. A single species of holly growing in the area contains caffeine which the Indians learned to make a pleasant drink from it, curing the leaves much as tea is prepared. (Ilex vomitoria is the scientific name for the plant which they called yaupon. It does not cause one to vomit but instead is a stimulant. The Spaniards of Florida were said to have preferred it to coffee.)
The Indians loved a good story and apparently were not beyond creating what was lacking in fact. Lawson met the "King of the Santee Nation" and the chief "Doctor". The Doctor was "warmly and neatly clad with a Match-Coat, made of Turkies Feathers, which makes a pretty Shew, seeming as if it was a Garment of the deepest silk shag. This Doctor had the Misfortune to lose his Nose by the Pox, which Disease the Indians often get by the English Traders that use amongst them; not but the Natives of America have for many Ages (by their own Confession) been afflicted with a Distemper much like the Lues Venerea (syphilis), which hath all the Symptoms of the Pox, being different in this only; for I never could learn, that this Country-Distemper, or Yawes is begun or continu'd with a Gonorrhoea; yet is attended with nocturnal Pains in the Limbs , and commonly makes such a Progress as to vent Part of the Matter by Botches, and several Ulcers in the Body; and other Parts; oftentimes Death ensuing. I have known mercurial Ungents and Remidies work a Cure, following the same Methods as in the Pox; several white People, but chiefly the Criolo's losing their Palates and Noses by this devouring Vulture....
... our Doctor, who in the Time of his Affliction withdrew himself (with one that labour'd under the same Distemper) into the Woods. These two perfected their Cures by proper Vegitables, &c., of which they have Plenty, and are well acquainted with their specific Virture....
After these two had perform'd their Cures at no easier Rate than the Expence of both their Noses, coming again amongst their old Acquaintance so disfigur'd, the Indians admir'd to see them metamorphos'd after that manner; enquir'd of them where they had been all that Time, and what were become of their Noses? They made Answer, That they had been conversing with the white Man above (meaning God almighty) how they were very kindly entertain'd by the Great Being; he being much pleas'd with their Ways, and had promis'd to make their Capacities equal with the white People in making Guns, Ammunition, &c. in Retalliation of which, they had given him their Noses."
The Indians were respectful of their elders and when others were speaking they did not interrupt. Honor came before bravery, and being a good provider was considered to be the ultimate. They are said to not care for material possessions, yet the great men of the village had the most fattest horses and prettiest wives.
In Lawson's report the tribes history was detailed on a number of sticks to which notches were made. From this record of history, they spoke of many events that may be translated as biblical. Certainly, they had a just God and an evil Spirit. This supports Rafinesque's description of Indian history (Walam Olum) which was of the Delaware Indians.
His journey which he recorded as a diary, began in Charleston South Carolina on December 28, 1770 and ended at the mouth of the Tar river in North Carolina on February 24, 1701. Would that it would be possible to retrace his steps. In the years that followed Lawson was an active agriculturalist, transplanting, grafting, and seeding plants from different areas. He wrote of the animals, plants, climate, minerals, peoples of the area. Descriptions are as true today as when they were written, except that many of those things that he observed no longer exist or are in greatly diminished numbers.
While his writing style is not equal to that of William Bartram and his small collection of drawings certainly inferior, considering that he walked the same areas seventy years prior to Bartram and recorded a picture in time of the evolving United States of America justifies this as a classic of which we should all be aware. His Indians are far different from the "poor, dumb, savages, etc." that others characterized as the native inhabitants of our country. Read his "Voyage" and see the Indians as Jim Cook came to know them two centuries later in Nebraska,
****
Joe Wortham's Home Page , About Joe Wortham , Directory
Questions? Comments? [email protected]