CHAPTEE XXIIl. 



1645-1648. 

 A DOOMED NATION. 



Indian Infatuation. — Iroquois and Huron. — Huron Triumphs. 

 — The Captive Iroquois. — His Ferocity and Fortitude. — 

 Partisan Exploits. — Diplomacy. — The Andastes. — The Hu- 

 ron Embassy, — New Negotiations. — The Iroquois Ambas- 

 sador. — His Suicide. — Iroquois Honor. 



It was a strange and miserable spectacle to 

 behold the savages of this continent at the time 

 when the knell of their common ruin had already 

 sounded. Civilization had gained a foothold on 

 their borders. The long and gloomy reign of bar- 

 barism was drawing near its close, and their united 

 efforts could scarcely have availed to sustain it. 

 Yet, in this crisis of their destiny, these doomed 

 tribes were tearing each other's throats in a wolfish 

 fury, joined to an intelligence that served little 

 purpose but mutual destruction. 



How the quarrel began between the Iroquois 

 and their Huron kindred no man can tell, and it is 

 not worth while to conjecture. At this time, the 

 ruling passion of the savage Confederates was the 

 annihilation of this rival people and of their Algon- 



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