178 
RURAL HOURS. 
countenance. They had thrown off the blanket, and were equip- 
ped in ragged coats, pantaloons, and beavers, from the cast-off 
clothing of their white neighbors, with the striking addition, how- 
ever, of bits of tin to match those of the squaws. Some of these 
scraps were fastened round their hats, others were secured on 
their breasts and in the button-holes, where the great men of the 
Old World wear diamond stars and badges of honor. They were 
cutting bows and arrows for the boys of the village, of ash-wood, 
and neither of them spoke to us ; they either did not, or would 
not understand our companion, when addressed in English. The 
women and children were sitting on the ground, busy with their 
baskets, which they make very neatly, although their patterns are 
all simple. They generally dye the strips of ash with colors 
purchased in the villages from the druggists, using only now and 
then, for the same purpose, the juices of leaves and berries, when 
these are in season, and easily procured. 
Since the visit of the Oneida squaws, several other parties have 
been in the village. The very next season a family of three gen- 
erations made their appearance at the door, claiming an hereditary 
acquaintance with the master of the house. They were much 
less wild than our first visitors, having discarded the blanket en- 
tirely, and speaking English very well. The leader and patriarch 
of the party bore a Dutch name, given him, probably, by some of 
his friends on the Mohawk Flats ; and he was, moreover, entitled 
to write Reverend before it, being a Methodist minister — the Rev. 
Mr. Kunkerpott. He was notwithstanding a full-blooded Indian, 
with the regular copper-colored complexion, and high cheek- 
bones ; the outline of his face was decidedly Roman, and his long, 
gray hair had a wave which is rare among his people ; his mouth. 
