LYDIA.

CHA P. I.

The Beginning of this Hiftory. Strange Folks in frange Lands. Patriotifm, Heroifm, Fainting, Dying, Loving, Sentiment and Generofity, all amongst Indians in America.

O

N the Banks of the great River Catarakui, near the Cataracts which fall with foaming Thunder from the Cloud-capt Mountains, Deep embofomed in the eternal Woods in America, dwell the antient Nations of the Onnondagons and Cayugans.

No People are equally Renowned through all the western World, from the moft northern bleakeft Track, which human Feet have trodden, to the most fouthern Point of all this habitable Globe.

THEIR Names pronounced with Terror by the Nations round, their Valour recognized beyond all other People; the Tributes annually received from different Kingdoms, evince the Superiority of their military Fame; nor in the milder Parts of legiflative Knowledge, are their Souls deficient. Elocution, Reafon, Truth, and Probity, are not lefs the Characteristics of this People's Genius,

In all the oral,Hiftory of this antient Race delivered down from Sire to Son, no Inftance is to be found of broken Faith with other Nations, no Anecdote of Friends betrayed, or Allies deferted in the Hour of Danger and Diftrefs; their Words are facredly preferved, their Lives offered up in Battle the Proof of it. Vo L. I.

B

AMONGST

AMONGST thefe Nations, fo fuperior to the other Indians, fhone forth two Natives eminently fuperior to their Fellow-countrymen. Cannafslatego bleft the Onnondagans with his Virtues; the Cayugans rejoiced in thofe of Decaneffora, Rivals in Glory, Friends in Military Action, unenvying and unenvied, that Fiend-like Paffion had not touched their Breasts, each to the other's Arm and Valour stood indebted for his Life, fnatched from the Hands of their implacable Enemies alternately by mutual Prowess.

CANNASSA TEGO had now reached his thirtieth Year, in all the Bloom of Manhood; Decanefora but two Years elder, warmed with equal Vigour; no human Form was ever seen more graceful, than that of Canas-fatego, his Perfon was as ftrait as the Arrow which his Hand directed from his fatal Bow, his Stature fix Foot, the most perfect Height in human Nature; on his large Neck his Head ftood erect and bold, his Face was animated with Features that spoke Senfibility of Soul, high and open was his Forehead, from his Eyes flashed forth the Beams of Courage and Compaffion, as each Paffion at different Moments animated his Bofom, within which his Heart beat with honeftThrobbing for his Country's Service; ample were his Shoulders, yet falling off with eafy Grace, his Body all diftinctly mufcular, his Hips united his upper and lower Parts with perfect Symmetry; his Thighs and Legs completely formed forStrength and Agility.

The Air, Attitude, and Expreffion of the beauteous Statue of Apollo, which adorns the Belvedera Palace at Rome, were feen animated in this American the inftant he had discharged his deadly Shaft; and tho' the fair Complexion of the European Natives was not to be found in this Warrior, yet his Shape and Countenance hindered you from perceiving the Deficiency: the Perfection of his Form, and Expreffion of his Vifage was fuch, the Grecian Sculptors of the famed Statue of Laocoon, or the fighting Gladiator, might have studied him with Inftruction and Delight; fuch was the Figure of Cannaffatego.

On his Feet were laced Sandals made of the Stag's Hide, whofe rapid Flight had been stayed by his own

Hands;

Hands; his Legs were cloathed by Stockings formed from the Beaver's Skin, his Veft and Breetches made of the fame Materials, o'er his Shoulders fastened on his Breaft by the Fore-paws in a Knot hung the brindled Skin of the fhaggy Wolf, which reached like a Mantle to his Waift, the Head of the fame Animal formed his Cafque that grinned dreadful on his Forehead; on the left Side of it stood a graceful Ornament, the tufted Plumage of the Eagle's tail, which his fatal Arrows had brought headlong from the Clouds; his fable fhining Hair hung platted to his Waift behind.

AROUND his manly Neck fhone the beauteous Beads of Wampum, compofed of thining Shells of variously reflecting Hues; his Arms were ornamented with the fame Decorations; around his Middle yet a broader Belt held in its varying Girt his fatal War-ax, and his pointed Ponyard; across his Shoulders hung his Bow and Quiver for the Chace; his Arms for War were the Fire-arms of Europe; active as the bounding Roe, courageous as the generous Lion, fagacious as the provident Beaver; fuch were the Drefs, Arms, bodily and mental Powers of Cannaffatego.

DECANESSORA was formed in fomewhat a different Character, he refembled more that Figure which Glycon has given the Farnefian Hercules; his Limbs were broad and brawny, Strength rather than Agility characterized the whole Frame; his Eyes fpoke fixt Refolution more than ardent Courage, Juftice more than Humanity, marked the Outlines of his Features.

On his Head he wore a Cafque formed of the Bear's black Skin, which he had flain with his War-ax, a Fox's Tail decorated the left Side of it, a Mantle of the fame fhaggy Hide fastened on his Breaft like that of Cannassatego's covered his Shoulders to the Waist; beneath, the Otter's Furr enwrapt his Limbs and Body, his Feet were defended from Injury like thofe of the other Warrior ; his Arms, his Ornaments the fame.

THE Onnondagan swifteft of Foot, like the Bird of Jove, overtook his Enemy with fatal Speed; the Cayugan flow like the British Mastiff, resisted with Fatality his oppofing Foes: each expert alike to draw the fatal Yew, or Speed the mortal Bullet to its Goal, to whirl the

B 2

war

War-ax at the diftant Foe, or use it in the close Engagement, fecret and skilled to lay the fraudful Ambush, daring and valiant in the open Field; no Warriors in all the Nations of the Continent could juftly boaft fo many gallant Actions, old Men heard their Stories with Amazement and Delight, the young with Rapture and Inftruction.

FROM Tales of antient Warriors delivered down from Father to Son, from one brave Sachem to another, Cannafatego had been much fmitten with the Accounts of former Times; before the Europeans, these faithlefs Invaders, had reached the Shores of America, it was then the Onnondagans, Cayugans, and others of the five unconquerable Nations, reigned fupreme over all the western World.

He beheld the Indian Chiefs wrapt in European Manufactures, as Men bearing the Badge of Slavery, he detefted the Day which brought them that intoxicating Fluid which had enervated their former Strength and ancientValour; in Reality he confidered the Natives of his Country ill treated, deluded, and destroyed alike, by English and by French, and lamented the fallen Condition of his native Land; in confequence of this manner of Thinking, he had never cloathed himself but in the Skins of thofe Beasts which he had flain with his own Hands, nor tafted that enebriating Liquor, which totally deprives Humanity of Reason.

;

DETERMINED from his early Youth to vifit that Country from whence the Europeans came he had learnt the English Language from a Miffionary who had dwelt among them: with this Intent he had attained the Knowledge of Reading and even Writing it; notwithstanding this, he had always refufed vifiting the Plantations and Cities of the English established on the American Continent; he detefted them for broken Faith, and fraudulent Treaties, for their Perfuafions of his Countrymen to arm and engage in their Defence, and then fhamefully deferting them at the Moment of their Neceffities; their Wives and Children borne off to Slavery, or murdered by the Hands of their Enemies, were the Confequences which he conceived to have followed from the faithlefs Behaviour of the English.

NOTWITH

NOTWITHSTANDING all thefe convincing Proofs, he was eternally dinned by the new Comers amongft his Nation, with the Virtues, Courage, and Magnanimity of the great King who lived enthroned in Splendor; the Purity of the Lives of thofe People who profeffed the Christian Religion in the Regions under him, and of the Millions of brave Men over whom he reigned, and who trembled at his Nod.

THIS Story, from innate Honefty, induced to believe, he imagined that those who had landed on the American Coaft were Exiles from their native Land, doomed to that Punishment for Crimes which they had committed, unworthy the Prefence of fo great a Monarch, and therefore were no longer fuffered to breathe their native Air, and tread the Soil which nurtured them.

THIS he was fecretly convinced was true, from what he had known of their Deceit and Treachery; he therefore determined to vifit the Source from whence thefe Evils came, to pass the Ocean, and be ascertained whether the King and People anfwered to all the grand accounts which he had heard concerning them; he knew perfectly from Tradition, that, before his Time, Indian Chiefs had paffed the Ocean to the British Kingdom, and returned; he therefore entertained no Terror of the Voyage, he could not fear to undertake what had ever been accomplished by Man.

FILLED with this Refolution, which he had long concealed within his Bofom, at length like the hidden Store of fome Vulcano taking Fire, it grew too impetuous to be reftrained; he therefore fummoned together the Onnondagan Chiefs, and thus, ftanding with. decent Grace, and becoming Action opened his defign.

FATHERS and Sachems of the Onnondagan Nation, "hear the Voice of Youth, and approve me if my Coun"cil find Favour in your Hearts; it is my Zeal for this "finking Nation, which prompts me to the Undertaking, i , it is the great Spirit which animates my Soul. "Too long have the Onnondagan and other warlike "Nations been held a Prey to English Perfidy, our "leffened Numbers, our Country ravaged, our Wives "borne off in Slavery, our Children maffacred, have

B 3

too