above all, unbroken fidelity?"

WASHINGTON IRVING says: "The current opinion of Indian character is too
apt to be formed from the degenerate beings, corrupted and enfeebled by
the vice of society, without being benefitted by its civilization. That
there are those, and a large class of them that have with moral firmness
resisted the temptations, with which they have been surrounded, and
command our highest esteem."

VOLNEY, the French Historian, pronounces the Iroquois "The Romans of the
West."

W. H. C. HOSMER, "The Warriors of Genesee."

ORSEMUS TURNER, in his History of the Holland Purchase, says. "The
existence of the IROQUOIS upon the soil now constituting Western and
Middle New York, is distinctly traced back to the Period of the
discovery of America.

"Their traditions go beyond that period. They fix upon no definite
period in reference to the origin of their confederacy. Their Councils
were held along the southern shores of Lake Ontario, and upon the
Niagara River, before the first adventurers, the Dutch, and French
Jesuits appeared in the valley of the Mohawk; and there are evidences of
a long precedent existence that corresponds with their traditions."

And their Council Fires are still kindled though they burn not as
brightly as of yore. Nor do the young braves listen to the wisdom, or
ever now in their Councils witness the allegorical or figurative
language so beautifully illustrating the discourses of Red Jacket, Corn