matter. It is mere civility. A Swedish divine, having assembled the chiefs of the Sasquehannah Indians, preached a sermon to them, acquainting them with the principal historical facts on which our religion is founded; such as the fall of our first parents by eating an apple; the coming of Christ to repair the mischief; his miracles and sufferings, &c. When he had finished, an Indian orator stood up to thank him. "What you have told us," says he, “is all very good. It is, indeed, bad to eat apples. It is better to make them all into cyder. We are much obliged by your kindness in coming so far to tell us those things which you have heard from your mothers; in return, I will tell you some of those which we have heard from ours. In the beginning, our fathers had only the flesh of animals to subsist on, and if their hunting was unsuccessful they were starving. Two of our young hunters, having killed a deer, made a fire in the woods to broil some part of it. When they were about to satisfy their hunger, they beheld a beautiful young woman descend from the clouds, and seat herself on that hill which you see yonder among the blue mountains. They said to each other it is a spirit that, perhaps, has smelt our broiling venison, and wishes to eat of it: let us offer some to her. They presented her with the tongue; she was pleased with the taste of it, and said, Your kindness shall be rewarded: come to this place after thirteen moons, and you shall find something that will be of great benefit in nourishing you and your children to the latest generations. They did so, and to their surprise found plants that they had never seen before, but which

it to their children. They are the records of the council, and they preserve traditions of the stipulations in treaties one hundred years back, which, when we compare them with our writings, we always find exact. He that would speak rises. The rest observe a profound silence. When he has finished and sits down, they leave him five or six minutes to recollect; that if he has omitted any thing he intended to say, or has any thing to add, he may rise again and deliver it. To interrupt another even in common conversation, is reckoned highly indecent. How different this is from the conduct of a polite British house of commons, where scarcely a day pafses without some confusion, that makes the Speaker hoarse in calling to order; and how different from the mode of conversation in many polite companies of Europe, where, you do not deliver your sentence with great rapidity, you are cut off in the middle of it by the impatient loquacity of those you converse with, and never suffered to finish it!

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The politeness of these savages in conversation is indeed carried to excefs, since it does not permit them to contradict or deny the truth of what is afserted in their presence. By this means indeed they avoid dispute; but then it becomes difficult to know their minds, or what impression you make upon them, The missionaries who have attempted to convert them to christianity all complain of this as one of the great difficulties of their mission. The Indians hear with patience the truths of the gospel explained to them, and give their usual tokens of afsent and approbation:

matter. It is mere civility. A Swedish divine, having assembled the chiefs of the Sasquehannah Indians, preached a sermon to them, acquainting them with the principal historical facts on which our religion is founded; such as the fall of our first parents by eating an apple; the coming of Christ to repair the mischief; his miracles and sufferings, &c. When he had finished, an Indian orator stood up to thank him. "What you have told us," says he, "is all very good. It is, indeed, bad to eat apples. It is better to make them all into cyder. We are much obliged by your kindness in coming so far to tell us those things which you have heard from your mothers; in return, I will tell you some of those which we have heard from ours. In the beginning, our fathers had only the flesh of animals to subsist on, and if their hunting was unsuccessful they were starving. Two of our young hunters, having killed a deer, made a fire in the woods to broil some part of it. When they were about to satisfy their hunger, they beheld a beautiful young woman descend from the clouds, and seat herself on that hill which you see yonder among the blue mountains. They said to each other it is a spirit that, perhaps, has smelt our broiling venison, and wishes to eat of it: let us offer some to her. They presented her with the tongue; she was pleased with the taste of it, and said, Your kindnefs shall be rewarded: come to this place after thirteen moons, and you shall find something that will be of great benefit in nourishing you and your children to the latest generations. They did so, and to their surprise found plants that they had never seen before, but which

from that ancient time have been constantly cultivated among us to our great advantage. Where her right hand had touched the ground they found maize; where her left hand had touched it they found kidneybeans; and where her backside had sat on it they found tobacco. The good mifsionary, disgusted with this idle tale, said, What I delivered to you, were sacred truths; but what you tell me, is mere fable, fiction, and falsehood. The Indian, offended, replied: My brother, it seems your friends have not done you justice in your education; they have not well instructed you in the rules of common civility. You saw that we, who understand and practise those rules, believed all your stories: why do you refuse to believe ours?

When any of them, come into our towns, our people are apt to crowd round them, gaze upon them, and incommode them where they desire to be private; this they esteem great rudeness, and the effect of want of instruction in the rules of civility and good manners. We have, say they, as much curiosity as you; and when you come into our towns, we wish for opportunities of looking at you; but, for this purpose, we hide ourselves behind bushes where you are to pass, and never intrude ourselves into your company.

Their manner of entering one another's villages has likewise its rules. It is reckoned uncivil in travelling strangers to enter a village abruptly, without giving notice of their approach; therefore, as soon as they arrive within hearing, they stop and hollow, remaining there till invited to enter. Two old men usually

every village a vacant dwelling, called, the stranger's house. Here they are placed, while the old men go round from hut to hut, acquainting the inhabitants that strangers are arrived, who are probably hungry and weary; and every one sends them what he can spare of victuals, and skins to repose on. When the strangers are refreshed, pipes and tobacco are brought; and then, but not before, conversation begins, with inquiries who they are, whither bound, what news, &c. and it usually ends with offers of service, if the strangers have occasion for guides or any necefsaries for continuing their journey; and nothing is exacted for the entertainment.

The same hospitality, esteemed among them as a principal virtue, is practised by private persons; of which Conrad Weiser, our interpreter, gave me the following instance. He had been naturalized among the Six Nations, and spoke the Mohock language well. In going through the Indian country to carry a mefsage from our governor to the council at Onondaga, he called at the habitation of Conefsdego, an old acquaintance, who embraced him, spread furs for him to sit on, placed before him some boiled beans and venison, and mixed some rum and water for his drink. When he was well refreshed, and had lit his pipe, Canefsdego began to converse with him, asked how he had fared the many years since they had seen each other, whence he then came, what occasioned the journey, &c. &c. Conrad answered all his questions, and when the discouse began to flag the Indian to continue it, said: "Conrad, you have lived long among the white people, and know something of their cus