218 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Fish/' when they fell in with the Mengwe, who had likewise emigrated 

 from a distant country, and had struck upon this river somewhat 

 higher up. [The Mengwe were the Iroquois.] " Their object was the 

 same with that of the Delawares : they were proceeding on to the east- 

 ward until they should find a country that pleased them. The spies 

 which the Lenape had sent forward for the purpose of reconnoitering 

 had long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the 

 Mississippi was inhabited by a very powerful nation, who had many 

 large towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land." 

 These people called themselves Tallegewi or Allegewi. [According to 

 later research this is the aboriginal rendering of the name " Tselaki " 

 which De Soto gives to the Cherokee when he encountered them at a 

 much later date farther south.] 



Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to 

 have been remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were 

 giants among them, people of much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape. 

 It is related that they had built for themselves regular fortifications or en- 

 trenchments, whence they would sally out, but were generally repulsed. I have 

 seen many of the fortifications said to have been built by them. 



When the Lenape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a 

 message to the Allegewi to request permission to settle themselves in their 

 neighborhood. This was refused them, but they obtained leave to pass through 

 the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly 

 began to cross the Namaesi-sipu, when the Allegewi, seeing that their numbers 

 were so very great, and in fact consisted of many thousands, made a furious 

 attack on those who had crossed, threatening them all with destruction if they 

 dared to persist in coming over to their side of the river. Fired at the treachery 

 of these people and the great loss of men they had sustained, and besides not 

 being prepared for a conflict, the Lenape consulted on what was to be done, 

 whether to retreat in the best manner they could, or try their strength and let 

 the enemy see that they were not cowards, but men, and too highminded to suffer 

 themselves to be driven off before they had made trial of their strength and 

 were convinced that the enemy was too powerful for them. The Mengwe, who 

 had hitherto been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, offered to 

 join them on condition that after conquering the country they should be en- 

 titled to share it with them. Their proposal was accepted, and the resolution 

 was taken by the two nations to conquer or die. 



Having thus united their iorces, the Lenape and the Mengwe declared war 

 against the Allegewi, and great battles were fought in which many warriors 

 fell on both sides. The enemy fortified their larger towns, and erected fortifica- 

 tions, especially on large rivers and near lakes, where they were successively 

 attacked and sometimes stormed by the allies. An engagement took place in 

 which hundreds fell, who were afterward buried in holes, or laid together in 

 heaps, and covered with earth. No quarter was given, so that the Allegewi at 

 last finding that their destruction was inevitable if they persisted in their 

 obstinacy, abandoned the country to their conquerors, and fled down the Mis- 

 sissippi River, whence they never returned. [Mr. Heckewelder gives some 

 further details of the war, the result of which was that the Mengwe, or Iroquois, 

 chose the country round the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and the 

 Lenape settled farther south. After a time the Lenape moved farther east, and 

 even to the sea.] 



