“When Nye next met my view Injin Dick was his mate; And the two around town was a-lying In a frightfully dissolute state.” and, continuing, “Which the war dance they had Round a tree at the Bend Was a sight that was sad; And it seemed that the end Would not justify the proceeding As I quiet remarked to a friend.” The Indians never forgot and rarely forgave an injury. They imitated the wild beasts in their cruelty and ferocity in wreaking vengeance on a foe. Their crude idea of justice included an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and so on. By their unwritten code the thief was compelled to restore the stolen article or its value, and for a second offense he was stripped of all his goods. When one killed another it was left to the dead Indian’s relatives to slay the offender, but unless this was done within twenty-four hours, it was usual to accept a pecuniary recompense, payable in wampum. The simple savage, living in close contact with nature, sees only health as the normal condition of man. When the form, once animated and vigorous, lay still and cold, it was an unfathomable mystery to him, and, according to Dr. Brinton, in all the Indian tribes, there was no notion of natural death. No Indian “died,” he was always “killed.” Death in the course of nature was unknown to the Indians. When one died by disease they supposed he had been killed by sorcery, or some unknown venomous creature. The Indians’ dread of death would lead them to speak of it by circumlocution or euphemism, as “You are about to see your grandfathers,” or, as among the whites, “If anything should happen.” They had a vague belief that the spirit of the dead haunted their earthly homes, which Philip Freneau has thus apostrophized: “By midnight moons, o’er moistening dews, In vestments for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer, a shade.” A very important feature of conference with the Indians was an exchange of presents. The wily savages saw no sense in giving away valuables unless they received presents of equal value in return, and if their gifts were not reciprocated they quietly took them back, whence we get the phrase “Indian giver,” which we learn in childhood to call the playmate who gives us an apple or a stick of candy and later takes it back. The conferences between the colonists and the Indians were attended with much formality and ceremony. At a conference held at Easton, Pennsylvania, October 16th, 1758, there were present the governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, gentlemen of their councils, Indians and interpreters. Governor Francis Bernard of New Jersey spoke to the Indians, and said: “Brethren of all the confederated nations: As you proposed your questions concerning Teedyescung separately, I think proper to give you a separate answer thereto.