their parents from infancy unto manhood and womanhood, or until they
were separated from their families.

These precepts or moral commandments by which the Ottawa and Chippewa
nations of Indians were governed in 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