dition. But when we perceive a capacit|gto m ain-
tain themselves in the face of a European population,
and to adopt the arts and agriculture" of a
higher civilization, the period of their bygone
supremacy is invested with new interest. We
seek-with the more avidity to know1 by what
means they have emerged from their past state,
the rqte of their increase, if there he any,' and
the general capacities they manifest for entering
into the career of civilised life.. Such is the condition
of progress and change, under Which we
are led to inquire into the vital and agricultural
statistics of the Iroquois.
The question of the original generic name, hy
which these tribes were denoted, the - relation
they hear to the other aboriginal stocks of Apieri-
ca, and the probable era "of their arrival, and
location within the present boundaries of this
state, is one, which was naturally suggested by
the statistical inquiries' before me. Difficult and
uncertain as any thing brought forward on these
subjects must necessarilyjie,. it was, yet desita-
ble, in giving a view of the present and former
condition of the people, that the matter should
be glanced at. For, although nothing ybry satisfactory
might be stated, it Was still conceived
to be well to give some answer to the intelligent
inquirer, to the end, that it might at least be
perceived the subject had not escaped notice. •
A tropical climate, ample means of subsistence,
and their consequence, a concentrated
and fixed population, raised the ancient inhabitants
of Mexico, and some other leading nations
on tpe continent, to a state of ease, and semi-civil-
izatipn, which have commanded the surprise
and ad miration of historians. Butitmay be said,
in truth, that, in their fine physical type, and
in their energy of character, and love of independence,
no people, among the aboriginal race,
have,ever exceeded, if any has ever equalled,
the Iroquois. • .
Discoveries made in the settlement of New
.York, west .of .the , or Stanwix
Summit, have led to the belief that there has
been an ancient period of occupation of that fertile
and expanded, portion of the state, which terminat-
ed prior to the arrival of the Iroquois. Evidences
have not been wanting to denote, that a higher
degree of civilization than any of these tribes
possessed, had, at a remote period, begun to de-
-velope itself in that quarter. But, hitherto, the
.notices and examinations of the antiquities referred
to, although highly creditable to the observers,
and abounding in interest, have served
rather to entangle,: than reveal, the archeological
mystery which envelopes them. Some of
these antiquarian traits, not appearing to the first
settlers to be invested with the importance as
industrial pr military vestiges, now attached to
them* have been nearly or quite obliterated
by the plough. The spade of the builder and
excavator has overturned others; and at the rate
of increase, , which has marked our numbers and
industry, since the close of the revolutionary