HISTORY OF VERMONT. 263 



In all countries, the succeeding state of so- 

 ciety seems naturally to result from the meas- 

 ures and pursuits of an earlier policy. While 

 zealously engaged in promoting the welfare of 

 his new colony, it was the misfortune of Cham- 

 plain to entail upon it the miseries and curses of 

 war. Three of the most powerful of the savage 

 nations, the Iroquoise, the Algonquins, and the 

 Hurons, were engaged in a fierce and bloody 

 war when Champlain was laying the foundations 

 of Quebec. 



The Iroquoise were spread over an extent of 

 country, nearly eighty leagues in length, and 

 more than forty in breadth. Their country- 

 reached to lake Erie, lake Ontario, the river St. 

 Lawrence, and the countries which now belong 

 to the States of Pennsylvania and Ne\vyork. 

 To the eastward it took in lake Champlain, and 

 the western parts of Vermont, and the Indians 

 on the banks of Susquehanna, Delaware, Hud- 

 son, and Connecticut rivers, were in a kind of 

 subjection to them. The land between these 

 extensive limits was fertile, abounded with 

 game, and was watered by a number of fine 

 rivers, rich in the plenty and variety of their 

 fish. The inhabitants consisted of five nations, 

 and contained many thousand warriors. Their 

 five nations were formed into an united or con- 

 federate body, which oore the appearance of a 

 number of confederate republics. In the grand 

 council of the whole all the affairs of peace and 

 war, and other general concerns were determin- 

 ed. These confederate tribes or five nations, 

 formed a more powerful body than any of the 

 adjacent nations. They were generally at war 



