Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/308

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294
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.

between Cheſapeak and Delaware bays, and bordering on the tribe of Chihohocki, to enter into an alliance with them. They alſo formed an alliance with the Monacans, and ſtimulated them to a war with the Lenopi and their confederates. At the ſame time the Mohawks carried on a furious war down the Hudſon againſt the Mohiccons and River Indians, and compelled them to purchaſe a temporary and precarious peace, by acknowledging them to be their ſuperiors, and paying an annual tribute. The Lenopi being ſurrounded with enemies, and hard preſſed, and having loſt many of their warriors, were at laſt compelled to ſue for peace, which was granted to them on the condition that they ſhould put themſelves under the protection of the Mingoes, confine themſelves to raiſing corn, hunting for the ſubſiſtence of their families, and no longer have the power of making war. This is what the Indians call making them women. And in this condition the Lenopis were when William Penn firſt arrived and began the ſettlement of Pennſylvania in 1682.

(6.) p. 144. From the figurative language of the Indians, as well as from the practice of thoſe we are ſtill acquainted with, it is evident that it was, and ſtill continues to be, a conſtant cuſtom among the Indians to gather up the bones of the dead, and depoſit them in a particular place.—Thus, when they make peace with any nation, with whom they have been at war, after burying the hatchet, they take up the belt of wampum, and ſay, ‘We now gather up all the bones of thoſe who have been ſlain, and bury them, &c.’ See