44 y&my 1749- 



them, before the Europeans invaded this 

 country, and before they (the Indians) 

 were acquainted with the advantages of 

 iron. North America abounds in iron- 

 mines, and the Indians lived all about the 

 country before the arrival of the Europeans, 

 fo that feveral places can be fhewn in this 

 country, where at prefent there are iron- 

 mines, and where, not a hundred years 

 ago, flood great towns or villages of the 

 Indians. It is therefore very remarkable 

 that the Indians did not know how to 

 make ufe of a metal or ore which was al- 

 ways under their eyes, and on which they 

 could not avoid treading every day. They 

 even lived upon the very fpots where iron 

 ores were afterwards found, and yet they 

 often went many miles in order to get a 

 wretched hatchet, knife, or the like, as 

 above defcribed. They were forced to em- 

 ploy feveral days in order to fharpen their 

 tools, by rubbing them againft a rock, or 

 other {tones, though the advantage was far 

 from being equal to the labour. For they 

 could never cut down a thick tree with 

 their hatchets, and with difficulty they 

 felled a fmall one. They could not hol- 

 low out a tree with their hatchets, or do 

 a hundredth part of the work which we can 

 perform with cafe, by the help of our iron 



hatchets, 



