[99] The Rev. Mark Pattison, according to one biographer, Mr. Althaus, had cultivated a habit of reticence, till it became one of his most marked characteristics. His usual response to any remark was “Ah”; but his biographer adds: “It was interesting to observe of what a variety of shades of meaning that characteristic ejaculation ‘Ah’ was capable. Many times it was his sole answer. Mostly it signified that something had aroused his interest; sometimes it conveyed approval, sometimes surprise, sometimes doubt; sometimes it was said in a way that indicated he did not wish to express himself on the point in question.” [100] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to Pacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39. [101] _Reports of Explorations and Surveys for Route for a Railroad to Pacific Ocean_, 1885. Part iii. p. 39. [102] _Reports of Secretary of War, U.S._, 1850, p. 67. [103] _Transactions of Anthropol. Soc., Washington_, ii. 130. [104] _United States Exploring Expedition_, vii. 644. [105] _Burton’s City of the Saints_, p. 157. [106] _Explorations and Surveys, Washington_, 1856, iii. 10, 36. [107] _Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc._ iii. 222. [108] _The Lenape and their Legends_, p. 53. [109] _Ibid._, pp. 60, 104. [110] See pp. 300, 301 for examples in Iroquois. VI THE HURON-IROQUOIS: A TYPICAL RACE IT has already been noted in treating of pre-Aryan American men that throughout the northern continent, from the Arctic circle to the Mexican Gulf, no trace has been recovered of the previous existence of anything that properly admits of the term “native civilisation.” The rude arts of Europe’s Stone age belong to a period lying far behind its remotest traditions; unless we appeal to the mythic allusions of Hesiod, or to such poetic imaginings as the _Prometheus_ of Æschylus. But all available evidence serves to show that the condition of the native tribes throughout the northern continent has never advanced beyond the stage which finds its aptest illustration in the arts of their Stone period, including the rudimentary efforts at turning to account their ample resources of native copper without the use of fire.