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American Exploration and Travel Series
A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory During the Year 1819
Thomas Nuttall (1786 – 1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who participated in many expeditions throughout the United States.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1979
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36 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Nuttall
132 booksThomas Nuttall (1786-1859) was an English botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall spent some years as an apprentice printer in England.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2023
Not as adventurous as Bartram's encounters with alligators in Florida, but very interesting in that the author travels further inland, to the river that was the western limit of our country at the time. He spends his time in company of French trappers and settlers, mostly, and encounters Native Americans throughout. The earliest account of travels in the Mississippi River basin I have yet found.
I will need to look up the De Soto expedition, which was a search for the long-lost city of gold and is referenced in the appendices here.
Stuff I want to remember:
"According to the History of the Costume of all Nations, this manner of braiding the hair appears to have been equally prevalent among the women of Siberia, Tartary, Turkey, and China. As an expression of the greatest grief and misfortune, anciently practiced by many other nations of the world, I have, amongst the aborigines of the Missouri, not unfrequently seen both men and women shave away their hair."
"Its component parts are, as usual, moccasins for the feet; leggings which cover the leg and thigh; a breech-cloth; an overall or hunting shirt, seamed up, and slipped over the head; all of which articles are made of leather, softly dressed by means of fat and oily substances, and often rendered more durable by the smoke with which they are purposely imbued. The ears and nose are adorned with pendants and the men, as among many other Indian tribes, and after the manner of the Chinese, carefully cut away the hair of the head, except a lock on the crown, which is plaited and ornamented with rings, wampum, and feathers."
"Among the most remarkable superstitious ceremonies practiced by the Quapaws, is that which I now found corroborated by Hakatton. Before commencing the corn-planting, a lean dog is selected by the squaws, as a sacrifice to the Indian Ceres, and is, with terrific yells and distorted features, devoured alive. This barbarous ceremony, which we derided, he assured us gravely, was conducive to the success of the ensuing crop."
"Perhaps no animal employs a greater diversity of diet than the bear; the common American species feeds upon fruits, honey, wasps, and bees; they will turn over large logs in quest of other insects, and are also destructive to pics and fawns, by which means the hunters, imitating the bleat of the latter, will sometimes decoy them within gunshot."
"Panthers are said to be abundant in the woods of Red River, nor are they uncommon on the banks of the Arkansas. A somewhat curious anecdote of one of these animals was related to me by our guide. A party of hunters in the morning missed one of their doges from the encampment, and after a fruitless search were proceeding on their route, when one of the other dogs, obtaining a scent, discovered to the humans, dead beneath a tree, the dog which had strayed, together with a deer and a wolf in the same condition. It appeared, that the panther, having killed a deer, and eat his fill, got into a tree to watch the remainder, and had, in his own defense, successively fallen upon the wolf and the dog as intruders on his provision."
(mockingbird) "After amusing itself in ludicrous imitations of other birds, perched on the topmost bough of a spreading elm, it at length broke forth into a strain of melody the most wild, varied, and pathetic, that ever I had heard from any thing less then human. In the midst of these enchanting strains, which gradually increased to loudness, it oftentimes flew upwards from the topmost twig, continuing its note as it overpowered by the sublimest ecstasy."
"How much better, my friends, would it be if we could learn to do right and be honest. We should then have friends instead of enemies; but as long as we violate justice, we shall continue to live in fear and shame."
"What Pike, Bradbury, Brackenridge and Nuttall witnessed was memorable enough, but back of group and individual chanting was an elaborate structure, poetical, alliterative, and not in frequently with the suggestion of rhyming, sometimes running in certain rites to fourteen hundred lines, the condensed wisdom of a people in practical and cosmic affairs - all of it unwritten. The Homeric analogy is obvious. Chanting to Wahkonda, the great spirit, occurred, in La Flesches's words, "at dawn, when they saw the reddened sky signaling the approach of the sun, men, women, and children stood in the doors of their houses and uttered their cry for divine help; as the sun reached midheaven they repeated their prayer; and their supplications again arose as the sun touched the western horizon."
"Independent of some resemblance in language, discoverable betwixt the aborigines of North America, and the Tartar tribes of the Russian empire, there is, likewise, something very similar in their habits and morals. They are equally erratic and unsettled in their abode, and have ever been so, according to Herotodus, for thousands of years. The Hamaxobii, of that author, still live in their travelling houses, and occupy the same country without any sensible diminution or increase of numbers. Both people are separated into numerous bands or tribes, characterized by a diversity of language, acknowledging no other rule than that which is patriarchal, and no other alliance than fraternity. They are alike insensible to the wants and comforts and civilization. They know neither poverty nor riches; vice nor virtue. Their simple condition appears to have perpetually partaken of that of the first family of the human race, and they have been alike exempt from the luxuries of ephemeral grander, and the mournful vicissitudes of fortune. Happy equality, with knows neither the sins of ambition, nor the crimes of avarice!"
"Not far from this place, a few days agon were encamped, the miserable remnant of what are called Pilgrims, a band of fanatics, originally about 60 in number. They commenced their pilgrimage from the borders of Canada, and wandered about with their wives and children through the vast wilderness of the western states, like vagabonds, without ever fixing upon any residence. They looked up to accident and charity alone for support; imposed upon themselves, rigid fasts, never washed their skin, or cut or combed their hair, and like the Dunkards wore their beards. Settling nowhere, they were consequently deprived of every comfort which arises from the efforts of industry. Desertion, famine and sickness soon reduced their numbers, and they were everywhere treated with harshness and neglect, as the gypsies of civilized society. Passing through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, they at length found their way down the Mississippi to the outlet of White River and the Arkansas. Thus ever flying from society by whom they were despised, and by whom they had been punished as vagabonds, blinded by fanatic zeal, they lingered out their miserable lives in famine and wretchedness, and have now nearly all perished or disappeared."
"This wilderness, which we now contemplate as a dreary desert, was once thickly peopled by the natives, who, by some sudden revolution, of which we appear to be ignorant, have sunk into the deepest oblivion. In the abridged account of the great enterprise of Ferdinand de Soto by Purchas, begun in the year 1539, we read of numerous nations and tribes, then inhabiting the banks of the Mississippi, of whom, except the Chicacas, the Cherokees (called more properly Chelaques), and the small remnant of the Kaskaskias, and Tonicas, not an individual remains to reveal the destinies of his compatriots. Their extinction will ever remain in the utmost mystery. The agency of this destruction is, however, fairly to be attributed to the Europeans, and the present hostile Indians who possess the country. It is from these exterminating and savage conquerors, that we in vain inquire of the unhappy destiny of this great and extinguished population, and who, like so many troops of assassins, have concealed their outrages by an unlimited annihilation of their victims."
De Soto expedition: "They shipped 22 of the best horses which they had in the camp, and of the rest they made provision. They left Minoya on the second of July, 1543, being now reduced to 320 men, who occupied seven brigantines. They were 17 days in descending to the sea, which they considered to be a distance of about 500 miles... In the course of their descent, they were repeatedly attacked by the natives. ... Such is a brief sketch of this memorable expedition, which opened the northern hemisphere of the New World to the enterprise and industry of the Europeans..."
"The occasion of that signal depopulation which the Natchez had experienced, when first discovered by the French, must ever remain in unaccountable uncertainty. the prevalence of fatal and contagious diseases at one period more than another, is scarcely admissible in a country which had ever exhibited the same aspect, and amongst a people who had never inhabited crowded towns or cities. From the migratory and unsettled character of the more northern natives, and their acknowledged superiority in arms, particularly the Iriquois, with whom they warred, may be with more probability deduced the real cause of this destruction. The valley of the Ohio, and the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee, still exhibit unequivocal and numerous remains of a vast population, who had begun to make some imperfect advances towards power and civilization. Works were constructed for public benefit, which required the united energy, skill, and labor of a devoted multitude. We, in vain, look for similar subordination among the existing natives; by their own tradition they destroyed this race, as foreigners, and gained possession of their country and their fortresses, abandoning them as the barbarians of the north did the cities of Europe, and thus prostrating every advance which had been made beyond the actual limits of savage life."
I will need to look up the De Soto expedition, which was a search for the long-lost city of gold and is referenced in the appendices here.
Stuff I want to remember:
"According to the History of the Costume of all Nations, this manner of braiding the hair appears to have been equally prevalent among the women of Siberia, Tartary, Turkey, and China. As an expression of the greatest grief and misfortune, anciently practiced by many other nations of the world, I have, amongst the aborigines of the Missouri, not unfrequently seen both men and women shave away their hair."
"Its component parts are, as usual, moccasins for the feet; leggings which cover the leg and thigh; a breech-cloth; an overall or hunting shirt, seamed up, and slipped over the head; all of which articles are made of leather, softly dressed by means of fat and oily substances, and often rendered more durable by the smoke with which they are purposely imbued. The ears and nose are adorned with pendants and the men, as among many other Indian tribes, and after the manner of the Chinese, carefully cut away the hair of the head, except a lock on the crown, which is plaited and ornamented with rings, wampum, and feathers."
"Among the most remarkable superstitious ceremonies practiced by the Quapaws, is that which I now found corroborated by Hakatton. Before commencing the corn-planting, a lean dog is selected by the squaws, as a sacrifice to the Indian Ceres, and is, with terrific yells and distorted features, devoured alive. This barbarous ceremony, which we derided, he assured us gravely, was conducive to the success of the ensuing crop."
"Perhaps no animal employs a greater diversity of diet than the bear; the common American species feeds upon fruits, honey, wasps, and bees; they will turn over large logs in quest of other insects, and are also destructive to pics and fawns, by which means the hunters, imitating the bleat of the latter, will sometimes decoy them within gunshot."
"Panthers are said to be abundant in the woods of Red River, nor are they uncommon on the banks of the Arkansas. A somewhat curious anecdote of one of these animals was related to me by our guide. A party of hunters in the morning missed one of their doges from the encampment, and after a fruitless search were proceeding on their route, when one of the other dogs, obtaining a scent, discovered to the humans, dead beneath a tree, the dog which had strayed, together with a deer and a wolf in the same condition. It appeared, that the panther, having killed a deer, and eat his fill, got into a tree to watch the remainder, and had, in his own defense, successively fallen upon the wolf and the dog as intruders on his provision."
(mockingbird) "After amusing itself in ludicrous imitations of other birds, perched on the topmost bough of a spreading elm, it at length broke forth into a strain of melody the most wild, varied, and pathetic, that ever I had heard from any thing less then human. In the midst of these enchanting strains, which gradually increased to loudness, it oftentimes flew upwards from the topmost twig, continuing its note as it overpowered by the sublimest ecstasy."
"How much better, my friends, would it be if we could learn to do right and be honest. We should then have friends instead of enemies; but as long as we violate justice, we shall continue to live in fear and shame."
"What Pike, Bradbury, Brackenridge and Nuttall witnessed was memorable enough, but back of group and individual chanting was an elaborate structure, poetical, alliterative, and not in frequently with the suggestion of rhyming, sometimes running in certain rites to fourteen hundred lines, the condensed wisdom of a people in practical and cosmic affairs - all of it unwritten. The Homeric analogy is obvious. Chanting to Wahkonda, the great spirit, occurred, in La Flesches's words, "at dawn, when they saw the reddened sky signaling the approach of the sun, men, women, and children stood in the doors of their houses and uttered their cry for divine help; as the sun reached midheaven they repeated their prayer; and their supplications again arose as the sun touched the western horizon."
"Independent of some resemblance in language, discoverable betwixt the aborigines of North America, and the Tartar tribes of the Russian empire, there is, likewise, something very similar in their habits and morals. They are equally erratic and unsettled in their abode, and have ever been so, according to Herotodus, for thousands of years. The Hamaxobii, of that author, still live in their travelling houses, and occupy the same country without any sensible diminution or increase of numbers. Both people are separated into numerous bands or tribes, characterized by a diversity of language, acknowledging no other rule than that which is patriarchal, and no other alliance than fraternity. They are alike insensible to the wants and comforts and civilization. They know neither poverty nor riches; vice nor virtue. Their simple condition appears to have perpetually partaken of that of the first family of the human race, and they have been alike exempt from the luxuries of ephemeral grander, and the mournful vicissitudes of fortune. Happy equality, with knows neither the sins of ambition, nor the crimes of avarice!"
"Not far from this place, a few days agon were encamped, the miserable remnant of what are called Pilgrims, a band of fanatics, originally about 60 in number. They commenced their pilgrimage from the borders of Canada, and wandered about with their wives and children through the vast wilderness of the western states, like vagabonds, without ever fixing upon any residence. They looked up to accident and charity alone for support; imposed upon themselves, rigid fasts, never washed their skin, or cut or combed their hair, and like the Dunkards wore their beards. Settling nowhere, they were consequently deprived of every comfort which arises from the efforts of industry. Desertion, famine and sickness soon reduced their numbers, and they were everywhere treated with harshness and neglect, as the gypsies of civilized society. Passing through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, they at length found their way down the Mississippi to the outlet of White River and the Arkansas. Thus ever flying from society by whom they were despised, and by whom they had been punished as vagabonds, blinded by fanatic zeal, they lingered out their miserable lives in famine and wretchedness, and have now nearly all perished or disappeared."
"This wilderness, which we now contemplate as a dreary desert, was once thickly peopled by the natives, who, by some sudden revolution, of which we appear to be ignorant, have sunk into the deepest oblivion. In the abridged account of the great enterprise of Ferdinand de Soto by Purchas, begun in the year 1539, we read of numerous nations and tribes, then inhabiting the banks of the Mississippi, of whom, except the Chicacas, the Cherokees (called more properly Chelaques), and the small remnant of the Kaskaskias, and Tonicas, not an individual remains to reveal the destinies of his compatriots. Their extinction will ever remain in the utmost mystery. The agency of this destruction is, however, fairly to be attributed to the Europeans, and the present hostile Indians who possess the country. It is from these exterminating and savage conquerors, that we in vain inquire of the unhappy destiny of this great and extinguished population, and who, like so many troops of assassins, have concealed their outrages by an unlimited annihilation of their victims."
De Soto expedition: "They shipped 22 of the best horses which they had in the camp, and of the rest they made provision. They left Minoya on the second of July, 1543, being now reduced to 320 men, who occupied seven brigantines. They were 17 days in descending to the sea, which they considered to be a distance of about 500 miles... In the course of their descent, they were repeatedly attacked by the natives. ... Such is a brief sketch of this memorable expedition, which opened the northern hemisphere of the New World to the enterprise and industry of the Europeans..."
"The occasion of that signal depopulation which the Natchez had experienced, when first discovered by the French, must ever remain in unaccountable uncertainty. the prevalence of fatal and contagious diseases at one period more than another, is scarcely admissible in a country which had ever exhibited the same aspect, and amongst a people who had never inhabited crowded towns or cities. From the migratory and unsettled character of the more northern natives, and their acknowledged superiority in arms, particularly the Iriquois, with whom they warred, may be with more probability deduced the real cause of this destruction. The valley of the Ohio, and the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee, still exhibit unequivocal and numerous remains of a vast population, who had begun to make some imperfect advances towards power and civilization. Works were constructed for public benefit, which required the united energy, skill, and labor of a devoted multitude. We, in vain, look for similar subordination among the existing natives; by their own tradition they destroyed this race, as foreigners, and gained possession of their country and their fortresses, abandoning them as the barbarians of the north did the cities of Europe, and thus prostrating every advance which had been made beyond the actual limits of savage life."
August 31, 2020
An old book, like a diary. But includes some amazing tidbits.
The author, Nuttall, was an amazing botanist and adventurer.
The author, Nuttall, was an amazing botanist and adventurer.
July 15, 2023
A fascinating journey by an English naturalist into Arkansas in 1819. Through this relatively enlightened author, much can be learned about the character of Arkansas at that time. The temperature, for instance, never rose above 92 degrees - the 100-plus degree heat we experience in 2023 on a regular basis is historically abnormal thanks to global warming.
The Quapaw, French, Osage, Cherokees, and Americans all are all described in vivid detail. Nuttall offers an objective lens and emphasizes the inhuman and illogical Native removal policy actively being executed by the Americans.
One criticism is that Nuttall spends too little time discussing the Africans he encounters. All are found in slavery, and Nuttall is clearly against that evil institution. However, he falls of short of the ideal and expresses some horrific racist views toward them even while advocating for their liberation.
Overall, highly recommend this primary source for anyone interested in Arkansas history.
The Quapaw, French, Osage, Cherokees, and Americans all are all described in vivid detail. Nuttall offers an objective lens and emphasizes the inhuman and illogical Native removal policy actively being executed by the Americans.
One criticism is that Nuttall spends too little time discussing the Africans he encounters. All are found in slavery, and Nuttall is clearly against that evil institution. However, he falls of short of the ideal and expresses some horrific racist views toward them even while advocating for their liberation.
Overall, highly recommend this primary source for anyone interested in Arkansas history.
August 31, 2020
Diary format. Nuttall was an amazing botanist and adventurer!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews