[1] De Witt Clinton, speaking of the Iroquois, or five nations, says, "Their exterior relations, general interests, and national affairs, were conducted and superintended by a great council, assembled annually in Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of each republic; and eighty sachems were frequently convened at this national assembly. It took cognizance of the great questions of war and peace; of the affairs of the tributary nations, and their negotiations with the French and English colonies. All their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation, and were distinguished for order, decorum, and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of profound policy, they surpassed the assembly of feudal barons, and perhaps were not inferior to the great Amphictyonic Council of Greece." [2] Dollars. Amount of lands sold up to the year 1824 44,229,837 173,176,606 acres unsold, estimated at one dollar per acre. The Congress price was then two dollars, but was subsequently reduced to a dollar and a quarter, and is now 75 cents. 173,176,606 ----------- 217,406,443 Deduct value of annuities, expenses of surveying, &c. &c., being the amount of purchase-money paid for same 4,243,632 ----------- Profit arising to the United States from purchases of land from the Indians 213,162,811 ----------- Allowing 480 cents, to the pound sterling, the gross profit is £44,408,918. 19_s_. 2_d_. [3] There are lands west of the Mississippi, which would be dear at ten cents per hundred acres. CHAPTER III. From Little Sandusky, I passed through Marion, in Marion county. This town, like most others in Ohio, is advancing rapidly, and has at present several good brick buildings. The clap-boarded frame houses, which compose the great mass of habitations in the towns throughout the western country, in general have a neat appearance. I here saw gazetted three divorces, all of which had been granted on the applications of the wives. One, on the ground of the husband's absenting himself for one year: another, on account of a blow having been given: and the third for general neglect. There are few instances of a woman's being refused a divorce in the western country, as dislike is very generally--and very rationally--supposed to constitute a sufficient reason for granting the ladies their freedom.