June 29, 1834
Sunday. It rained until nine o’clock, then pleasant weather [followed], and Mr. Bodmer went out to make a sketch of the falls. I drove to the meeting (church service) of the Tuscarora Indians, who are settled 8 miles from Niagara; specifically, toward Lake Ontario. My route alternated between forest and fields with isolated wooden houses on the heights along the beautiful Niagara [River]. The woodlands were composed of nice trees—broad-leafed and conifers—Canadian firs, Weymouth pine, oak, chestnut (the latter in bloom now), sassafras, wild cherry trees with unripe fruit, and beautiful oaks of various types.
Most of the European fruit [trees] in this area had not frozen, [and] the trees were rather laden. Near one house we saw Italian poplars; their growth was broad and short, the tips of the branches were mostly dry, [and] the leaves [were] small and bunched. The local climate seems too cold for this tree, as I [saw] in many places.
About 3 miles from Niagara, I had a glorious view of the falls behind me—the high clouds of dust and rain [sic] rose impressively into the air, and the sun illuminated them in incomparable beauty. One and a half miles farther, near an old sawmill, there was a rocky abyss of 150 to 200 feet down to the river and a small ravine, overgrown with firs and broad-leafed trees, [that] extended steeply upward above the green river, [where there was] a long rapid covered [in] white foam. The ravine carries the name Devil’s Hole, or Teufelsloch. The dreadful view and the height of this small rocky ravine have been exaggerated. Far larger and more imposing chasms than this one may be seen in Switzerland and even in German mountain ranges. During the French-American war, a small English corps suffered defeat here in (17[——]) [when] it was driven into this chasm by the Americans and the Indians who were allied with them.
In the forest I came across Turdus rufus, Picus erythrocephalus, [and] the fence mouse (Tamias striatus)—-the latter very frequent. When I [came] out of the forest [and] again into the fields, I saw scattered, individual wooden Indian houses, constructed European style, [and] in front of me, the nice, small, white-painted church of the Tuscaroras.
There was a beautiful view here of the wooded, rocky walls that form the banks of the beautiful Niagara River as well as its outlet into the magnificently green Lake Ontario [and] its dark, wooded shores a short distance away. We had several glorious, distant views [of] this lake [in] various illuminations. We were now driving along above the edge of the Niagara valley and caught a wide view into the distant plain beyond Lake Ontario—a great, awe-inspiring sight! An immense dark forest extended without the least interruption as far as the eye could see [and] into the distant horizon. Near us in the foreground, a dark section was visible in the forest; beneath it, the end of Lake Ontario remained hidden to the eye because of the tall forest.
I drove up to the church of the Tuscaroras, which was completely filled with Indians. The clergyman, a young man who has been here only since last spring, was already at the pulpit. [He] gave a sermon in English, as he did not yet understand the Indian language. Next to him on the right stood the interpreter, who repeated all his phrases. The clergyman wore a simple black frock, and I did not entirely understand his English sermon. He said, for instance, that they had to believe in the person of [the] devil as well as in the existence of hell. When the sermon was over and a prayer had been read, [during which] all Indians remained seated, the interpreter (probably the schoolmaster) began to lead the singing. The Indians (there were only three to four whites present besides them) sang along quite well [and] moderately, the men mostly the second part. When the clergyman went outside, I followed him, and he told me [that] the congregation of the Tuscaroras, whom he headed, consisted of 300 souls. Another group of them lives, I believe, on the Grand River. Very few of them speak English. They are Presbyterians. They live like the Senecas, whom they resemble in language and appearance. However, I found less authenticity among the Tuscaroras than among the Senecas near Buffalo. Their features, color, and hair seem to have already suffered more from mixing with the whites. But I saw nonetheless some pure and characteristic physiognomy, especially [among] the women, who had more pure Indian character and features. The men were mostly dressed in blue cloth overcoats with red or [multicolored?] sashes around their bodies or over their shoulders, often decorated with white glass beads. The women were wrapped in blankets, their broad faces and round heads often half covered with them. The men were of medium height; the women, too, but often short and wide. I could not obtain any books in the language of this nation.
The Tuscaroras made up one of the Six Nations, of whom I wrote further above. They were allied with the British in the American War.
On the way back to the inn at Niagara, I saw several of the jet-black squirrels that are extremely common in this area. The gray squirrel is more scarce by far. A young man, who went out purposely to shoot black squirrels for me, immediately brought five of them home. I also saw several alive in cages, where they become tame. This species is different from the gray squirrel. All the individuals I compared had no white on them at all, and their tails were not completely two-lined and [were] only dark brown (see my zoological diary). This species of squirrel seems to be depicted and described in the description of the London menagerie ([——]), to be precise, at the end of the first volume, p. [——].