WARS WITH THE MENGWE. 41 



for numerous works of fiction, in which the writers 

 have ascribed a loftiness of soul and other noble 

 qualities to these people, of which it would be in 

 vain to seek traces in the present day; and we may 

 without much scepticism assert, that they never 

 really possessed them. Actions prompted only 

 by the caprice of a barbarous people, have been 

 considered as the results of refined sentiment ; and 

 savage cunning, seen through a false medium, has 

 been elevated to the promptings of far-seeing policy. 

 The revolting cruelty with which they tortured 

 prisoners of war, and the stoicism with which, when 

 vanquished, they endured such treatment in their 

 turn, are more certain traits of character. A few 

 men, remarkable for their powers of mind, have cer- 

 tainly appeared among the Eythinyuwuk nations, 

 and from them the abstract idea of a North Ame- 

 rican Indian has been formed by Europeans. 



Among this people there are to be found finer 

 examples of the human figure, handsomer coun- 

 tenances, and a more manly and independent car- 

 riage, than among the Eskimos and 'Tinne; and 

 West's exclamation on seeing the Apollo Belvi- 

 dere, that he was a young Mohawk warrior, may 

 be adduced as evidence of the natural grace which 

 a ranger of the woods, unfettered by artificial 

 restraints, may possess. In fact, the attitudes of 

 the Eythinyuwuk are occasionally, and especially 



