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MORGAN, ] HECKEWELDER’S GENERAL ACCOUNT. AY 
reached from one to the other.”" After crossing the Mississippi, of which 
De Soto was the first discoverer, he “rested in Pacaha forty days, in all 
which time the two caciques served him with great store of fish, mantles, 
and skins, and strove who should do him greatest service.” 
The justly celebrated Moravian missionary, John Heckewelder, obtained, 
through a long experience, an intimate acquaintance with the mamers and 
customs of the Indian tribes. He was engaged in direct missionary labor, 
among the Delawares and Munsees chiefly, for fifteen years (1771-1786) on 
the Muskingum and Cuyahoga in Ohio, where, besides the Delawares and 
Munsees, he came in contact with Tuscaroras and other tribes of Lroquois lin- 
eage. He was conversant with the usages and customs of the Indian tribes 
of Pennsylvania and New York. His general knowledge justifies the title 
of his work, ‘History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations, who 
once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring States,” and gives the 
highest credibility to his statements. 
In discussing the general character of the Indians, he remarks as fol- 
lows: “They think that he [the Great Spirit] made the earth and all that 
it contains for the common good of mankind; when he stocked the country 
that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for the benefit of a few, 
but of all. Everything was given in common to the sons of men. *What- 
ever liveth on the land, whatsoever groweth out of the earth, and all that 
is in the rivers and waters flowing through the same, was given jointly to 
all, and every one is entitled to his share. From this principle hospitality « 
flows as from its source. With them it is not a virtue, but a strict duty; 
hence they are never in search of excuses to avoid giving, but freely sup- 
ply their neighbors’ wants from the stock prepared for their own use. They 
give and are hospitable to all without exception, and will always share with 
each other and often with the stranger to the last morsel. They rather 
would lie down themselves on an empty stomach than have it laid to their 
charge that they had neglected their duty by not satisfying the wants of 
the stranger, the sick, or the needy. The stranger has a claim to their hos- 
pitality, partly on account of his being at a distance from his family and 
friends, and partly because he has honored them with his visit and ought to 
'Tb. p. 152. 2Tb. p. 175. 
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