more rigidly from rule than the Indians, his whole conduct is regulated
according to some general maxims early implanted in his mind. The moral
laws which govern him are few, but he conforms to them all. The white man
abounds in laws and religion, morals, and manners, but how many of them
does he violate. In their intercourse with the Indians the white people
were continually trampling upon their religion and their sacred rights.
They were expected to look merely on while the graves of their fathers
were robbed of their treasures, and the bones of their fathers were left
to bleach upon the fields. And when exasperated by the brutality of their
conquerors, and driven to deeds of vengence, there was very little
appreciation of the motives which influenced them, and no attempt was
made to palliate their cruelties.

It was their custom to bury the dead with their best clothing, and the
various implements they had been in the habit of using whilst living. If
it was a warrior that they were preparing for burial, they placed his
tomahawk by his side and his knife in his shield; with the hunter, his
bow and arrows and implements for cooking his food; with the woman, their
kettles and cooking apparatus and also food for all. Tobacco was
deposited in every grave; for to smoke was an Indian's idea of felicity
in the body and out of it, and in this there was not so much difference
as one might wish, between them and gentlemen of a paler hue.

Among the Iroquois, and many other Indian nations, it was the custom to
place the dead upon scaffolds, built for the purpose, from tree to tree,
or within a temporary inclosure, and underneath a fire was kept burning
for several days.

They had known instances of persons reviving after they were supposed to
be dead, and this led to the conclusion that the spirit sometimes