Captives among the Indians : $b first-hand narratives of Indian wars, customs, tortures, and habits of life in colonial timesRowlandson, Mary White
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Captives among the Indians : $b first-hand narratives of Indian wars, customs, tortures, and habits of life in colonial times
Rowlandson, Mary White
Indian captivities -- Northeastern States
mind, I will now communicate to you the thoughts of my heart, and those
things that I know to be true.
"_Brother_,--As you have lived with the white people, you have not
had the same advantage of knowing that the great Being above feeds his
people, and gives them their meat in due season, as we Indians have,
who are frequently out of provisions, and yet are wonderfully supplied,
and that so frequently, that it is evidently the hand of the great
Owaneeyo[5] that doth this. Whereas the white people have commonly
large stocks of tame cattle, that they can kill when they please, and
also their barns and cribs filled with grain, and therefore have not
the same opportunity of seeing and knowing that they are supported by
the Ruler of heaven and earth.
[5] This is the name of God, in their tongue, and signifies
the owner and ruler of all things.
"_Brother_,--I know that you are now afraid that we will all perish
with hunger, but you have no just reason to fear this.
"_Brother_,--I have been young, but now am old; I have been frequently
under the like circumstances that we now are, and that some time or
other in almost every year of my life; yet I have hitherto been
supported, and my wants supplied in time of need.
"_Brother_,--Owaneeyo sometimes suffers us to be in want, in order to
teach us our dependence upon him, and to let us know that we are to
love and serve him; and likewise to know the worth of the favors that
we receive, and to make us more thankful.
"_Brother_,--Be assured that you will be supplied with food, and that
just in the right time; but you must continue diligent in the use of
means. Go to sleep, and rise early in the morning and go a-hunting; be
strong, and exert yourself like a man, and the Great Spirit will direct
your way."
The next morning I went out, and steered about an east course. I
proceeded on slowly for about five miles, and saw deer frequently; but
as the crust on the snow made a great noise, they were always running
before I spied them, so that I could not get a shot. A violent appetite
returned, and I became intolerably hungry. It was now that I concluded
I would run off to Pennsylvania, my native country. As the snow was on
the ground, and Indian hunters almost the whole of the way before me, I
had but a poor prospect of making my escape, but my case appeared
desperate. If I staid here, I thought I would perish with hunger, and
if I met with Indians they could but kill me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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