while he is willing to assist us, and can't discover our enemy 

 till it is too late ! 



" By what we can understand by the reports of our back 

 inhabitants, most of the Indians which are so cruel, are such as 

 were almost daily familiars at their houses, ate, drank, cursed, 

 and swore together were even intimate playmates ; and now, 

 without any provocation, destroy all before them with fire, ball, " 

 and tomahawk. They commonly now shoot with rifles, with 

 which they will at a great distance, from behind a tree, fence, 

 ditch or rock, or under the covert of leaves, take such sure aim 

 as seldom misseth their mark. If they attack a house that is 

 pretty well manned, they creep behind some fence, or hedge, or 

 tree, and shoot red hot iron slugs, or punk, into the roof, and 

 fire the house over their heads ; and if they run out they are 

 sure to be shot at, and most or all of them killed. If they 

 come to a house where most of the family are women and chil- 

 dren, they break into it, kill them all, plunder the house, and 

 burn it with the dead in it ; or if any escape out, they pursue 

 and kill them. If the cattle are in the stable, they fire it and 

 burn the stable ; if they are out, they are shot, and the barn 

 burnt. If our captains pursue them in the level woods, they 

 skip from tree to tree like monkeys ; if in the mountains, like 

 wild goats they leap from rock to rock, or hide themselves, and 

 attack us in flank and rear, when, but the minute before, we 

 pursued their track and thought they were all before us. 

 They are like the angel of death give us the mortal stroke 

 when we think ourselves secure from danger. 



" Pennsylvania ! thou that was the most flourishing and 

 peaceable province in North America, art now scourged by 

 the most barbarous creatures in the universe. All ages, sexes, 

 and stations, have no mercy extended to them." . . . 



History does not contain a more graphic description of the 

 character of early Indian warfare. Those amongst us who are 

 disposed to be very severe upon the first settlers in New Eng- 

 land for their frequent contests with the natives, and indulge 

 themselves in invidious comparisons, might read this corres- 

 pondence with profit. The question has two sides ; and let us 

 ever remember, with Jeremy Taylor, that severe judgment 

 should begin at home. 



