30 " INDIAN TRIBES. [Chap. I. 



French the Loups, and by themselves Lenni Le- 

 nape, or Original Men, hold the first claim to 

 attention ; for their traditions declare them to be 

 the parent stem whence other Algonquin tribes Jhave 

 sprung. The latter recognized the claim, and, at 

 all solemn councils, accorded to the ancestral tribe 

 the title of Grandfather.^ 



The first European colonists found the conical 

 lodges of the Lenape clustered in frequent groups 

 about the waters of the Delaware and its tributary 

 streams, within the present limits of New Jersey, 

 and Eastern Pennsylvania. The nation was sepa- 

 rated into three divisions, and three sachems formed 

 a triumvirate, who, with the council of old men, 

 regulated all its affairs.^ They were, in some small 

 measure, an agricultural people ; but fishing and 

 the chase were their chief dependence, and through 

 a great part of the year they were scattered abroad, 

 among forests and streams, in search of sustenance. 



When WilUam Penn held his far-famed council 

 with the sachems of the Lenape, he extended the 

 hand of brotherhood to a people as unwarlike in 

 their habits as his own pacific followers. This is 

 by no means to be ascribed to any inborn love of 

 peace. The Lenape were then in a state of degrad- 

 ing vassalage to the Five Nations, who, that they 

 might drain to the dregs the cup of humiliation, 



1 The Lenape, on their part, call the other Algonquin tribes Children, 

 Grandchildren, Nephews, or Younger Brothers ; but they confess the 

 superiority of the Wyandots and the Five Nations, by yielding them the 

 title of Uncles. They, in return, call the Lenape Nephews, or more fre- 

 quently Cousins. 



2 Loskiel, Part I. 130. 



