were not a Cayuga--: "No," says he, "an Oneida," placing both his hands on
his breast--"a _clear_ Oneida." I could not help smiling at his national
pride;--yet this is man: in every country and condition he is proud of his
descent, and loves the race to which he belongs. This Oneida was a widow's
son. He had sixteen acres of cleared land, which, with occasional
assistance, he cultivated himself. When the produce was sold, he divided
the proceeds with his mother, and then set out, and travelled until his
funds were exhausted. He had just then returned from a tour to New York
and Philadelphia, and had visited almost every city in the Union. As
Guedeldk--that was the Oneida's name--and I were rambling along, we met a
negro who was journeying in great haste--he stopped to inquire if we had
seen that day, or the day previous, any nigger-woman going towards the
lake. I had passed the day before two waggon loads of negros, which were
being transported, by the state, to Canada. A local law prohibits the
settlement of people of colour within the state of Ohio, which was now put
in force, although it had remained dormant for many years.

There was much hardship in the case of this poor fellow. He had left his
family at Cincinnati, and had gone to work on the canal some eighteen or
twenty miles distant. He had been absent about a week; and on his return
he found his house empty, and was informed that his wife and children had
been seized, and transported to Canada. The enforcement of this law has
been since abandoned; and I must say, although the law itself is at
variance with the Constitution of the United States, which is paramount to
all other laws, that its abandonment is due entirely to the good feeling
of the people of Ohio, who exclaimed loudly against the cruelty of the
measure.

FOOTNOTES: