Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their coloniesHowitt, William
History
Colonization and Christianity: A popular history of the treatment of the natives by the; Europeans in all their colonies
Howitt, William
Indians, Treatment of; Indigenous peoples
The slightest glance at this table shews instantly the fact, that where
the white settlers have been the longest there the Indians have wofully
decreased. The farther you go into the Western wilderness the greater
the Indian population. Where are the populous tribes that once camped
in the woods of New York, New England, and Pennsylvania? In those
states there were twenty years ago about 8000 Indians; since then, a
rapid diminution has taken place. In the middle of the seventeenth
century, and after several of the tribes were exterminated, and after
all had suffered severely, there could not be less, according to the
historians of the times, than forty or fifty thousand Indians within
the same limits. The traveller occasionally meets with a feeble
remnant of these once numerous and powerful tribes, lingering amid the
now usurped lands of their country, in the old settled states; but
they have lost their ancient spirit and dignity, and more resemble
troops of gypsies than the noble savages their ancestors were. A
few of the Tuscaroras live near Lewistown, and are agriculturists:
and the last of the Narragansets, the tribe of Miantinomo, are to
be found at Charlestown, in Rhode Island, under the notice of the
Boston missionaries. Fragments of the Six Nations yet linger in the
State of New York. A few Oneidas live near the lake of that name, now
christianized and habituated to the manners of the country. Some of the
Senecas and Cornplanters remain about Buffalo, on the Niagara, and at
the head-waters of the Alleghany river. Amongst these Senecas, lived
till 1830, the famous orator Red-Jacket; one of the most extraordinary
men which this singular race has produced. The effect of his
eloquence may be imagined from the following passage, to be found in
“Buckingham’s Miscellanies selected from the Public Journals.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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