Читать книгу Choice Specimens of American Literature, and Literary Reader - Benj. N. Martin - Страница 34

The Five Nations think themselves by nature superior to the rest of mankind. … All the nations round them have, for many years, entirely submitted to them, and pay a yearly tribute to them in wampum; they dare neither make war nor peace without the consent of the Mohawks. Two old men commonly go, about every year or two, to receive this tribute; and I have often had opportunity to observe what anxiety the poor Indians were under while these two old men remained in that part of the country where I was. An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor blanket and a dirty shirt, may be seen issuing his orders with as arbitrary an authority as a Roman dictator. It is not for the sake of tribute, however, that they make war, but from the notions of glory which they have ever most strongly imprinted on their minds; and the farther they go to seek an enemy, the greater glory they think they gain; there cannot, I think, be a greater or stronger instance than this, how much the sentiments impressed on a people's mind conduce to their grandeur. … The Five Nations, in their love of liberty and of their country, in their bravery in battle, and their constancy in enduring torments, equal the fortitude of the most renowned Romans.

[Footnote 2: A native of Scotland, but for many years a resident of New

York, where he was eminent in politics and science.]

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=William Stith, 1755.= (Manual, p. 490.)

From "The History of Virginia."