ITS ORIGIN. 21 



Franklin, in the course of a narrative he gives of 

 a Swedish minister who took occasion to inform the 

 chiefs of the Susquehannah Indians, in a kind of 

 sermon, of the principal historical facts on which the 

 Christian religion is founded; and particularly the 

 fall of our first parents. "When the sermon was over, 

 an old Indian orator replied : " What you have told 

 us is very good ; we thank you for coining so far 

 to tell us those things you have heard from your 

 mothers; in return we will tell you what we have 

 heard from ours. 



"In the beginning we had only flesh of animals 

 to eat ; and if they failed, we starved. Two of our 

 hunters having killed a deer, and broiled a part of it, 

 saw a young woman descend from the clouds, and seat 

 herself on a hill hard by. Said one to the other : ' It 

 is a spirit, perhaps, that has smelt our venison ; let 

 us offer some of it to her.' They accordingly gave 

 her the tongue ; she was pleased with its flavour, and 

 said : ' Your kindness shall be rewarded ; come here 

 thirteen moons hence, and you shall find it.' They 

 did so ; and found, where her right hand had touched 

 the ground, maize growing ; where her left hand had 

 been, kidney-beans ; and where she had sat, they 

 found tobacco." 



Hariot, who joined the expedition of 1584, under 

 the auspices of Sir Walter Ealeigh, which resulted 

 in the discovery of Virginia, states, that the natives 

 considered tobacco as a gift from the Great Spirit for 

 their special enjoyment, — one that the Great Spirit 



