"It is probably by philosophical and antiquarian researches in Tartary that the history of those civilized nations of North America, of whose great works only the wreck remains, will alone be elucidated."--See Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. iii., chap. xxii.; and Stephens's _Central America_, vol. i., p. 96; vol. ii., chap, xxvi., p. 186, 357, 413, 433. See Appendix, No. XLVII. (see Vol II)] [Footnote 227: "The five nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. The Dutch called them Maquas, the French Iroquois; their appellation at home was the Mingoes, and sometimes the Aganuschion, or United People."--Governor Clinton's _Discourse before New York Historical Society_, 1811. The Iroquois have often, among Europeans, been termed the Romans of the West. "Le nom d'Iroquois est purement francois, et a ete forme du terme _Hiro_, qui signifie, _J'ai dit_, par lequel ces sauvages finissent tout leur discours, comme les Latins faisaient autrefois par leur _Dixi_; et _de Koue_, qui est un cri, tantot de tristesse, lorsqu' on le prononce en trainant, et tantot de joie, lorsqu'on le prononce plus court. Leur nom propre est Agonnonsionni, qui veut dire, _Faiseurs de Cabannes_; parcequ'ils les batissent beaucoup plus solides, que la plupart des autres sauvages."--Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 421. Lafitau gives the Iroquois the same name of Agonnonsionni; they used to say of themselves that the five nations of which they were composed formed but one "Cabane."] [Footnote 228: "Le Pere Brebeuf comptoit environ trente mille ames de vrais Hurons, distribues en vingt villages de la nation. Il y avoit outre cela, douze nations sedentaires et nombreuses, qui parloient leur langue. La plupart de ces nations ne subsistent plus, les Iroquois ces ont detruites. Les vrais Hurons sont reduits aujourd'hui a la petite mission de Lorette, qui est pres de Quebec, ou l'on voit le Christianisme fleurir avec l'edification de tous les Francais, a la nation des Tionnontates qui sont etablis au Detroit, et a une autre nation qui s'est refugiee a la Carolina."--Charlevoix, 1721. "The Tionnontates mentioned above now bear the name of Wyandots, and are a striking exception to the degeneracy which usually attends the intercourse of Indians with Europeans. The Wyandots have all the energy of the savage warrior, with the intelligence and docility of civilized troops. They are Christians, and remarkable for orderly and inoffensive conduct; but as enemies, they are among the most dreadful of their race. They were all mounted (in the war of 1812-13), fearless, active, enterprising; to contend with them in the forest was hopeless, and to avoid their pursuit, impossible.