those -of some' other leading stocks of the continent,
carry them buck to a period* of wars with
giants and demons and monsters of the sea, the
land, and the air, and are fraught with strange
and grotesque fancies of wizards and enchanters.
But history, guiding the pen of the French
desuit, describes them as pouring in their canoes
through the myriad streams that interlace in
western'New York, and debouching, now on
the gulf cdtheiSt. l^sfren^ now on the Gliesa-
peake^=glancing again over the waves of Michigan,
and now again plying their paddles- in the
waters of the turbid Mississippi. Wherever
they went> they carried proofs of their energy,
courage* and enterprise.
. At one period weAeatythe sound of their war
cry along the straif^ t® h e St. Mary’s, and at
the foot of Lake Superior. At another under the
walls ;of Quehccy where they finally defeated the
Hurons, under the eyes of the French. They
put out the fires of the G ahkwas - and Fries,
They eradicated the SusqUehannocks. - They
placed the Lenapes, the- Nanticokes, and* the
Munsees under the yoke of subjection, They
put the Metoacks and the Manhattans under
tribute. They spread the terror of their aryns
over all New , England. They traversed the
whole length of the Appalachian chain, and descended,
like the. enraged yagisho and mega-
lonyx, on the Cherokees and the Cafawbas.
Smith encountered their warriors in the settlement
of Virginia, and La Salle on the discovery
ofyfhe Jllinpis. Nations trembled when they
heard the“name of the Konoshioni.
They possessed a physical structure, and they
Jived v in a. climate which imparted energy to
their motions, They used a sonOrous and commanding
language, which had its dual number,
and its neuter, masculine, and feminine genders.
They were excellent natural orators* and expert
diplomatists. They began early to cherish a national
/pride, which grew. with?- their conquests.
They -had, like the Algohquins? in the organization
of the..several clans, or- families, which composed
each tribe, a curious* heraldic tie, founded
op Original relationship, which exereiscd a strong
influence, but which has-neyer been satisfhetorily
explained. They werji governed by hereditary
chieftaincies, like others of the aboriginal stocks,
hut ^contrary to the usage of these other stocks,
the claims of their chiefs were -subjected to the
deqisionof a national council. The aristocratic
and democratic principles were thus both brought
into requisition, in candidates for office. But in
all that constituted national action, they, were a
pure republic. So far was this carried, that it is
believed thé-veto-of any one chief, to a public
measure, was Sufficient to arrest its adoption by
the couhcih *
In the- development of their nationality, they
have produced, several mén of energy and ability,
who were/equal, in natural force of character,
to some of the öiost shining warriors and orators
of antiquity. - Few war captains have exceeded