CAPTIVE'S LIFE AMONG INDIANS.


ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF THE "WHITE WOMAN."

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To be taken captive by the Indians, was, among the early colonists,
considered the most terrible of all calamities, and it was indeed a
fearful thing to become the victim of their revenge. But those who were
enduring the actual sufferings of captivity, or suffering still more from
terror of uncertain evils, thought little of the provocation given by the
white people. The innocent suffered for the guilty, and however
persevering--I suppose the efforts of the government to be just--in its
infancy, in a wild unknown country it was impossible to control
unprincipled marauders. Some atrocious act was first committed by white
men, which drove the Indian to retaliation, and thinking pale faces were
all alike, he did not wait till the real offender fell into his hands.

When the white men first came, the Indian looked upon them as superior
beings. They were ready to worship Columbus and his little party, and all
others along the coast, until their simple trust was outraged beyond
endurance, they welcomed the strangers, gave them food when they were
hungry, and sheltered them when they were cold. It was not till their
encroachments became alarming, that the Indians asserted their rights,
and if in all cases they had been as justly and kindly dealt with as by