warrior," they would say, on such occasions, "but laments the loss of a son, a brother, or a friend. And mothers, who have borne with cheerfulness the pangs of child-birth, and the anxiety that waits upon the infancy and ripening maturity of their sons, behold their promised blessings laid low upon the war-path, or perishing at the stake in unutterable torments." "In the depth of their grief, they curse their wretched existence, and shudder at the idea of child-bearing. They were wont, therefore, to conjure their warriors, on account of their suffering wives, their helpless children, their homes and their friends, to interchange forgiveness, to throw down their hatchets, and, smoking together the pipe of peace, embrace as friends those whom they had regarded only as enemies."* Appeals like these would naturally find a response, even from the most savage heart; and the Delawares allege that the Six Nations, availing themselves of this humane characteristic of the Indian race, by artful appeals to their humanity and benevolence, persuaded them, as the only means of saving the red-men from utter extinction by reason of their own frequent and bloody wars, to assume the character of WOMEN, in order that they might be qualified to act as general mediators. In reply to their objections, it was urged upon them by their dissembling foes, that although it would indeed be derogatory for a small and fee

*Heckewelder, and Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.

ble nation to assume the feminine character, yet a great and strong nation, of approved valour, like the Delawares, could not only take that step with impunity, but win immortal renown for their magnanimity. In an evil hour, and in a moment of blind confidence, the Delawares yielded to the importunity of the Mengwe, and formally assumed the petticoat. The ceremony, as the Delawares affirm, was performed at Albany, or rather Fort Orange, about the year 1617, in the presence of the Dutch garrison- whom they charge as having aided the Mengwe in their artful scheme to subdue without conquering them. The arrogance of the Six Nations, and the rights which they assumed over them of protection and command, soon taught the Delawares the extent of the treachery that had been practised against them. But it was then too late.

Such is the clumsy manner in which the Delawares endeavour to account for the degraded relation in which they so long stood in respect to the Six Nations. But "Credat Judæus Apella." The story of the Six Nations has always been consistent upon the subject, viz: that the Delawares were conquered by their arms, and were compelled "to this humiliating concession, as the only means of averting impending destruction." General William Henry Harrison, after a brief rehearsal of the tradition, and the efforts of Mr. Heckewelder to establish its truth, thus summarily and effectually disposes of the question:-"But

even if Mr. Heckewelder had succeeded in making his readers believe that the Delawares, when they submitted to the degradation proposed to them by their enemies, were influenced, not by fear, but by the benevolent desire to put a stop to the calamities of war, he has established for them the reputation of being the most egregious dupes and fools that the world has ever seen. This is not often the case with Indian sachems. They are rarely cowards, but still more rarely are they deficient in sagacity or discernment to detect any attempt to impose upon them. I sincerely wish I could unite with the worthy German, in removing this stigma upon the Delawares. A long and intimate knowledge of them in peace and war, as enemies and friends, has left upon my mind the most favourable impressions of their character for bravery, generosity, and fidelity to their engagements."

*Discourse of Gen. William Henry Harrison, on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio.

CHAPTER III.

Arrival of the Delawares at Wyoming - The Nanticokes-The Moravian Missions Count Zinzendorf-The Assassins and the Rattle-snakeFrench and Indian relations - The Grass-hopper War - Shawanese flee from Wyoming to the Ohio Teedyuscung chosen chief of the Delawares - Removes to Wyoming - Massacre at Gnaddenhutten - Shawanese and Delawares join the French-Interposition of the Quakers for the restoration of peace — Indian Council at Easton-Speech of TeedyuscungStory of Weekquehela — Treaty of peace with Teedyuscung - The embassies of Christian Frederick Post-Efforts of Sir William Johnson - Equivocal conduct of the Six Nations - Mistake of the French General Peace with the Indians.

THE removal of the Delawares from the Forks to Wyoming was as speedy as the order to that end had been peremptory. It has been stated in a preceding page, that some years before the Wyoming Valley had been allotted by the Delawares, to a strong clan of the Shawanese. These latter had planted themselves upon the flats on the west bank of the river; and on their arrival at the same place, the Delawares selected as the site of the town they were to build, the beautiful plain on the eastern side, nearly or quite opposite to the Shawanese town, a short distance only below the present borough of Wilkesbarré. Here was built the town of Maugh-wau-wa-me; the original of Wyoming. Meantime the Nanticoke Indians had removed

from the eastern shore of Maryland to the lower part of the Wyoming Valley, which yet retains their name. "Nanticoke Falls" is a rapid on the Susquehanna, almost precipitous at one place, where the river forces its passage through a narrow gorge of the mountains, and escapes from the beautiful valley in which it had been lingering for upward of twenty miles, into a region wild with rock and glen. The Shawanese made no opposition to the arrival of their new neighbours. Indeed both clans were but tenants at will to the Six Nations, and for a season they lived upon terms sufficiently amicable.

It was during the same year that the soil of Wyoming was first trodden by the feet of a missionary of the Christian religion. The Moravians, or "United Brethren," had commenced their missions in the new world several years before — in Georgia as early as 1734. Their benevolent labours were extended to Pennsylvania and NewYork six years afterward. In 1742, their great founder and apostle, Count Zinzendorf, visited America, to look after their infant missions. He arrived at Bethlehem, near the Forks of the Delaware, in the following year. Affecting representations of the deplorable moral condition of the Indians, had reached the count before he left Germany, and his attention was early directed to their situation, and their wants, while visiting the missionary stations along the Delaware. He made several journies among the Indians deeper in the