Anecdote. 
257 
contrary winds, and was employed in looking 
over a pocket map of the state of New York, 
when a young Seneka warrior entered. His 
attention was attracted by the sight of the 
map, and he seemed at once to comprehend 
the meaning of it; but never having before 
seen a general map of the state of New York, 
and being wholly ignorant of the use of letters, 
he could not discover to what part of the 
country it had a reference; simply, however, 
by laying my finger upon the spot where we 
then were, and by shewing to them the line that 
denoted Buffalo Creek, on which his village 
was situated, I gave him the clue to the whole, 
and having done so, he quickly ran over the 
map, and with the utmost accuracy pointed 
out by name, every lake and river for upwards 
of two hundred miles distant from his village. 
All the lakes and rivers in this part of the 
country still retain the Indian names, so that 
had he named them wrong I could have at 
once detected him. His pleasure was so great 
on beholding such a perfect map of the coun¬ 
try, that he could not refrain from calling some 
of his companions, who were loitering at the 
door, to come and look at it. They made signs 
to me to lend it to them; I did so, and hav¬ 
ing laid it on a table, they sat over it for 
more than half an hour, during which time I 
observed they frequently testified thek plea- 
VOL. II. $ 
