THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 
distinctive features of our aboriginal Indian population. 
Being regarded mainly as obstacl ea’ in the way of advancing 
civilization, or, commercially, as a source of immediate 
gain, neither the settler, the trader, or even the missionary, 
are qualified to give us an unbiased view of the original 
possessors of the soil we now occupy. Hence, the materials 
for a correct history have to be laboriously exhumed out of 
ae military wy ale Lae missionary narratives, 
nd fugiti e correspondence 
accidentally preserved. As yet, no histone Agassiz or Hitch- | 
cock has appeared to reconstruct these dim tracks into liv- 
ing history. Hence, in our attitude as simple inquirers, we 
can hardly do better than to take the advice of a western 
writer, who, in alluding to the obscure subject of Indian 
antiquities, remarks: ‘We are standing in the midst of 
monuments that are dumb ; let us keep questioning—they may 
hereafter speak to us.” 
Viewed only from the present standpoint, the past history 
of the aboriginal races on this continent presents no attract- 
ive features; it is but a record of continued, persistent, and 
relentless destruction. Except in the pages of romance, its 
whole history may well be written in blood. Even the 
precious seed of the Gospel, heroically sown and carefully 
nurtured, has fallen upon an unfruitful soil, save here and 
there a few scattered sheaves worthy to be gathered into the 
heavenly garner; all else presents a scene of moral waste 
and desolation, more repulsive and less hopeful than that 
which externally characterizes the most barren of our inte- 
rior desert wastes. Turn we from this dark picture. 
In the early civilized history of this continent, three great 
European powers occupied almost exclusively the domain 
of history. Spain, France, and England, extended their 
wars, their rivalries, and their enterprises, from the old 
world to the new, and in the midst of their incessant and 
varied contests, the cradle of American civilization was 
