The Lenape Stone; or, The Indian and the MammothMercer, Henry C.
History
The Lenape Stone; or, The Indian and the Mammoth
Mercer, Henry C.
Delaware Indians; Mammoths; Picture-writing, Indian
"In the end," continues the account, "the conquerors divided the
country between themselves," as the wigwams (_h_ and _i_) above each
totem might denote. "The Mengwe made choice of the lands in the
vicinity of the great lakes" and on their tributary streams, again
suggested, perhaps, by the snow-shoe (_j_) "and the Lenape took
possession of the country to the south. For a long period of time--some
say many hundred years--the two nations resided peacefully in this
country and increased very fast. Some of their most enterprising
huntsmen and warriors crossed the great swamps, and falling on
streams running to the eastward, followed them down to the great Bay
River (Susquehannah), and thence into the bay itself, which we call
Chesapeak." As they pursued their travels, partly by land and partly
by water, in this primitive reconnaissance of the great wilderness now
our homes, journeying sometimes near and at other times on the "great
salt-water lake" (the sea), they finally discovered the river which we
call the Delaware.
"Thence exploring still eastward," continues the account, "they
discovered the Scheyichbi country, now named New Jersey, and at length
arrived at another great stream--that which we call the Hudson or
North River. Satisfied with what they had seen, they (or some of
them), after a long absence, returned to their nation and reported
the discoveries they had made. They described the country they had
discovered as abounding in game and various kinds of fruits, and the
rivers and bays with fish, tortoises, etc., together with abundance of
water-fowl, and no enemy to be dreaded. They considered the event as a
fortunate one for them, and concluding this to be the country destined
for them by the Great Spirit, they began to emigrate thither, as yet
but in small bodies, so as not to be straitened for want of provisions
by the way, some even laying by for a whole year. At last they settled
on the four great rivers (which we call Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna,
and Potomac), making the Delaware, to which they gave the name of
'_Lenapewihittuck_,' (the river or stream of the Lenape), the centre of
their possessions."
Here the ancient portion of the chronicle and its parallelism with the
figures on the stone seems to end, the remainder being devoted to long
wars with the Mengwe, relations with the whites, and the more modern
events of the history of the tribe in the east.
The other figures upon the stone--the star (_k_), the calumet (_l_),
the deer (_m_), the curve crossed by three oblique lines (_n_),
probably a war canoe, and the fish-like figure (_o_) at the end of the
stone--are hardly suggested by the narrative, yet may refer to further
details of the passage of the Alleghenies, and the exploration and
settlement of the country to the east, along the great rivers and by
the sea-coast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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