lowing reasons: I. Their ancestors affirm that they came from the south-west, and return thence when they die. II. Because they separate their women, in a little wigwam by themselves, at certain seaIII. Beside their god Kuttand, to the south-west, they hold that Nanawitnawit, (a God overhead), made the heavens and the earth; and he avers, also, that he, (the writer), had found "some taste of affinity with the Hebrew."

The similarity of practices, or even of a number of terms in a language, can, however, be no conclusive proof of sameness of origin. It may be merely incidental, or in respect to customs more particularly, may be owing to similarity of circumstances. "Who will pretend that different people, when placed under similar circumstances, will not have similar wants, and hence similar actions? that like wants will not prompt like exertions? and like causes produce not like effects?" The slight resemblances existing, or fancied to exist, between the Indians and the Israelites, may be owing to a cause like the one pointed out. As to the language of the Indians, William Wood, an old writer upon this subject, says: "Some have thought that they might be of the dispersed Jews, because some of their words be near unto the Hebrew; but, by the same rule, they may conclude them to be of the gleanings of all nations, because they have words after the Greek, Latin, French, and other tongues."

Hubbard, an American historian, who wrote about 1680, has this among other passages on the subject: "If any observation be made of their manners and dispositions, it is easier to say from what nations they did not, than from whom they did derive their original. Doubtless their conjecture, who fancy them to be descended from the ten tribes of the Israelites, carried captive by Salamaneser and Esarhaddon, hath the least show of reason of any other, there being no footsteps to be observed of their propinquity to them more than to any other of the tribes of the earth, either as to their language or manners."

Thomas Morton, an early New England historian, refers their origin to the scattered Trojans, observing, "for after that Brutus, who was the fourth from Eneas, left Latium, upon the conflict held with the Latins, where, although he gave them a great overthrow to the slaughter of their grand captain, and many others of the heroes of Latium, yet he held it more safely to depart unto some other place and people, than by staying to run the hazard of an unquiet life or doubtful conquest; which, as history maketh mention, he performed. This people was dispersed there is no question; but the people that lived with him, by reason of their conversation with the Grecians and Latins, had a mixed language that participated of both." Morton maintains the great similarity of the languages of the Indians to the Greek and Roman, as an instance of which, he fancied he heard among their words Pasco-pan, and hence thinks without doubt their ancestors were acquainted with the god Pan.

John Josselin, who resided some time in New England, toward the middle part of the seventeenth century, pronounces the speech of the Mohawks to be a dialect of the Tartars. He says He says "the north-east people of America—that is, New England, etc., are judged to be Tartars, called Samoades, being alike in complexion, shape, habit and manners."

That the Indians were Scythians, is an opinion expressed in a decided manner by Cotton Mather. He was confirmed in it, on meeting with this passage of Julius Cæsar: "Difficilis invenire quam interficere," rendered by him, "It is harder to find them than to foil them." Cæsar was speaking of the Scythians, and the aptness of the language, as expressing one peculiarity of the Indians in their warfare—their sudden attacks and retreats-is noticeable.

Dr. S. L. Mitchell, of New York, a voluminous writer in his day, thought that he had settled the question of the origin of the Indians. They came, in his opinion, from the north-east of Asia, and that is now the more common belief. He thinks that they possessed originally the same color as that of the north-eastern nations of Asia.

Dr. Swinton, author of many parts of the Universal History, after stating the different opinions of various authors, who have advocated in favor of "the dispersed people," the Phoenicians and other eastern nations, observes, "that, therefore, the Americans in general were descended from a people who inhabited a country not far distant from them as Egypt and Phoenicia, one will, as we apprehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitched upon so proper and convenient for this purpose, as the north-eastern part of Asia, particularly Great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the peninsula of Kamschatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America, and peopled the most considerable part of the New World."

At the period of the settlement of the Dutch and English colonies in America, savage tribes of Indians were scattered over the country. In many respects they possessed similar character, usages and institutions-a bond of affinity running through their several communities and tribes. As a race of men, they were distinct from all the races found in the Old World. Their history was unknown, and to us, in these times, dates no farther back than to the European discovery here. They had, indeed, their traditions; but these, like the traditions of all other nations, are no farther entitled to credit than they are confirmed by appearance or probable conjecture. If the hypothesis be correct of the Asiatic origin of the Aborigines of America, by way of the Behring straits, there would seem to be a probability in the general account given of their migration toward the east, and of their conquest of a more civilized race, then occupying the country. Such a race seems to have been once in existence, judging from the monuments and relics that have been occasionally found among us. They

were called the Allegewi, and their more rude conquerors styled themselves the Lenape and the Mengwe, or the Iroquois. These seem chiefly to have divided the country between them, after they had expelled the Allegewi. The general name of the Delawares has since been given to the former, and their language, called by the French, the Algonquin. The Iroquois inhabited more the upper parts of the country, along the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The Lenape, or Delawares, extended themselves to the south and east.

When our fathers came to these shores, they found here the descendants of these savage conquerors. They were entirely uncivilized, having, probably, undergone no process of civilization, from the time of the migration of their ancestors to the Mississippi and the Atlantic slope. As distributed through the various parts of the thirteen original States, they may be mentioned, as to their confederacies or tribes, in the following order:

In the central and southern parts of New England there were five principal tribes: the Wampanoags or Pokanokets, the Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Narragansets, and the Pequods. The Pokanokets were the first known to the civilized settlers. The territory inhabited by this tribe, was that which now constitutes the south-eastern part of Massachusetts and the eastern part of Rhode Island. To the chief of this tribe, who was Massasoit, at the time of the English emigration, other smaller tribes were subject, dwelling principally on the adjacent islands. His residence, as was also that of Philip, his son, was at Montaup, now Mount Hope, in Bristol, Rhode Island.

The tribe of Pawtuckets occupied the lands upon the Merrimack, near its mouth, as their principal seat, though they extended themselves south until they came in contact with the Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts were found about the bay which bears the name of the tribe. They were bound by the Pawtuckets on the north, and the Pokanokets on the south. Their head sachem held under his rule several smaller tribes, some of which were known by the name of the Neponsetts, the Nashuas, and the Pocumtucks. The acknowledged sovereign of the confederacy, at the time of the English settlement, was the widow of a powerful chief, styled sometimes the "Massachusetts queen." They were situated in a delightful region, where now stands the metropolis of New England.

The tribe of the Narragansets held their chief seat on the island of the Canonicut, in the bay called after their name. Here, also, their grand sachem resided. They extended west to the Pawcatuck river, where they came into the neighborhood of the Pequods. The Pokanokets bordered them on the east. They occupied a beautiful country, and happily adapted to their mode of life, which was fishing and hunting. Their disposition was more mild and peaceable than usually appeared in the Indian character. When the English arrived in that region, they found there Canonicas, the grand sachem of the tribe, who proved a benefactor of Rhode Island.

The tribes of Pequods were situated in the eastern part of Connecticut, having the Narragansets on their eastern border. They were a fierce and warlike race. Their grand sachem, Sassacus, resided on the heights of Groton, near the river called by their name, now the Thames. Sassacus held the Mohegans subject to his authority. These were a tribe occupying the place where Norwich now stands. Uncas, the leader of the latter, joined the whites in their war with the Pequods. These several tribes, at the period referred to, were singularly diminished in number and power, on account of a wasting sickness, which had been sent among them a few years before.

In the northern portion of New England, roved the Indians whose general name was that of Tarenteens, or Abenakis. They inhabited the coast of Maine throughout and extended into New Hampshire.

Their character was ferocious, and the settlers suffered severely from their wars, murders and depredations. Stealing in, at the dead of night, upon the villages or dwellings, they burned or plundered, indiscriminately, whatever came in their waybutchering men, women and children, without mercy.

The five tribes, or nations, that spread out east of Lake Erie, and south of Lake Ontario, were the Iroquois, or Mengwe, who had become thus divided, in consequence of being pressed by the Hurons, and one or two other tribes, inhabiting the St. Lawrence. They were called the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks. They at length became a powerful race in their new abodes, and not only overcame the Hurons, but made war upon the Delawares, and were objects of dread far and near. The most warlike community of the whole was said to be the Mohawks. Their power and exactions reached east and south to a great distance.

The Indians, in the southerly portion of the country, were of course earlier known to the Dutch and English than those already mentioned; this was true of the tribes at least that inhabited Virginia, in 1607. The nucleus of an entire confederacy, inhabiting the territory from the sea-coast to the falls of the rivers, was the Powhatan nation. This confederacy included no less than thirty tribes, and the number of warriors was estimated at eight thousand. The chief of the same name, who figures so much in the history of Virginia, was the great sachem of the confederacy. The seat of the hereditary dominions was near the present site of the city of Richmond. Here the noble Pocahontas was born, and passed her early, uncultivated life.

The Indians who dwelt on the highlands, between the falls of the

rivers and the mountains, were divided into two confederacies, not long after the arrival of the English. One division consisted of the Monahoaks, in eight tribes, on the north. The other consisted of the Monacans, in five tribes, stretching on the south in Carolina. The latter went under the name of Tuscaroras, and connected with the Iroquois.

Of the Indians in the southern extremity of the country, the principal confederacies were the Creeks, whose locality was mostly in Georgia-the Cherokees, who inhabited the mountainous back country— and the Choctaws, and Chickasaws, who dwelt in the region between the mountains and the Mississippi. Two or three other tribes occupied particular localities, which need not be indicated.

At the time of the discovery the Raritan Indians were in possession of the Island; but they held it subject to the will of the powerful Mohawk tribes. The Raritans were a branch of the Delawares or LeniLenapes. How long they had been here is not known; there is a tradition that the Island was taken away from one of the southern tribes, mentioned in this chapter, and then ceded to the Delawares in consideration of services rendered in the war. The Raritans of Staten Island, (now generally called Aquehongas), were not a strong and warlike nation. Generally speaking, they were shiftless and cowardly; yet among them, as is generally the case where large numbers are assembled, there were those who were honorable and really noble. They were often driven off of the Island by the Mohawks, as a source of punishment for offences given, and their villages were destroyed. At such times they would make pilgrimages into Monmouth County, New Jersey, where they would join their friends and become sufficiently strong to resist the advances of their enemies. It was among the Indian villages of Old Monmouth that the Brainards, of blessed memory, labored, and indeed broke through the cruel superstitions of our own Staten Island Indians. The story of the Christ was told them by those brave missionaries, and many believed it.

There are various indications of Indian villages on the Island, such as collections of skulls and bones. Some are near the shores, where fish were easily procured. A number of burial places are also located. One of these was in the great sand bank that stood in front of the Dongan manor house at West New Brighton. Hundreds of skeletons were exhumed as, from time to time, the earth was removed. At the foot of this embankment was a once-famous spring of water, around which the harvest festivals were celebrated in the old days, and where treaties of peace were arranged after many a bloody conflict among the tribes. The family burial ground of the Billopps, below Tottenville, contained the remains of many an Indian, for each generation of that noted family was on friendly terms with their uncivilized neighbors. The Corson farm, near New Springville, also contains the dust of many a warrior, while at Holland's Hook, Great Kill and Green Ridge also rest all that was mortal of hundreds of a by-gone race.