We can see they are passing away, but who can decide the interesting
question of their origin? They told me that their nation had always
lived in the valley of the Mississippi--that their wise men had asserted
this for ages past. Some who have lived among them, think they crossed
over from Persia in ships--and that they once possessed the knowledge of
building large vessels, though they have now entirely lost it. This idea
bears too little probability to command any confidence. The most general
opinion is the often told one, that they are a remnant of God's ancient
and chosen people. Be this as it may, they are "as the setting sun, or
as the autumn leaves trampled upon by powerful riders."
They are receding rapidly, and with feeble resistance, before the giant
strides of civilization. The hunting grounds of a few savages will soon
become the haunts of densely peopled, civilized settlements. We should
be better reconciled to this manifest destiny of the aborigines, if the
inroads of civilization were worthy of it; if the last years of these,
in some respects, noble people, were lit up with the hope-inspiring rays
of Christianity.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52