Hiawatha And The Iroquois Confederation A Study In Anthropology PDF Download

Excerpt from Hiawatha and the Iroquois Confederation: A Study in Anthropology It is well known that the Iroquois tribes, whom our ancestors termed the Five Nations, were, when first visited by Europeans, in the precise condition which. According to all the evidence we possess, was held by the inhabitants of the Old World during what has been designated the Stone Age. Any one who examines the abandoned site of an ancient Iroquois town will find there relics of precisely the same cast as those which are disinterred from the burial mounds and caves of prehistoric Europe, - imple ments of flint and bone, ornaments of shells, and fragments of rude pottery. Trusting to these evidences alone, he might sup pose that the people who wrought them were of the humblest grade of intellect. But the testimony of historians, of travellers, of missionaries, and perhaps his own personal observation, would make him aware that this opinion would be erroneous, and that these Indians were, in their own way, acute reasoners, eloquent speakers, and most skilful and far-seeing politicians. He would know that for more than a century, though never mastering more than five thousand fighting men, they were able to hold the bal ance of power on this continent between France and England. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.