Excerpt from History of the Indians, of North and South America To give, therefore, a historical account of the Ameri can Indians is a task beset with not a few difficulties. Io sources of information must be almost wholly de rived from their conquerors and foes; and though the incidents related may be in the main correct, and the causes that lie on the surface be easily known, yet the more hidden ones, the secret springs of action, are be. Yond our reach. We have not the Indian himself rm cording fbr us the motives that ...
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Excerpt from History of the Indians, of North and South America To give, therefore, a historical account of the Ameri can Indians is a task beset with not a few difficulties. Io sources of information must be almost wholly de rived from their conquerors and foes; and though the incidents related may be in the main correct, and the causes that lie on the surface be easily known, yet the more hidden ones, the secret springs of action, are be. Yond our reach. We have not the Indian himself rm cording fbr us the motives that have prompted his stern spirit, carefully veiling his designs from all around, nourishing the dark purpose, and maturing his plans. We are not admitted to the council of the warriors or wise men, and allowed to listen to their relation of the wrongs, real or fancied, they have su ered, or to see how one after another of the chiefs or counsellors utt ters his Opinions, and the deep plot is laid which is to issue in wreaking a dire revenge, even to extermina tion, on the hated intruders. All these various incentives to action, are near ly or quite beyond our inspection. Yet it is in the contemplation of such only, that Indian history can be truly estimated; for all these particulars throw their lights and shades across and into the portraiture of this most singular people. It could hardly be expected, that they, who suffered from the fearful revenge of the red man, who saw, as it were, the scalping-knife gleaming around the head of a beloved wife, or child, or friend, or who felt the arrow quivering in their own esh, or who heard the war-whoop ringing terrifically on the domestic quiet of their habitation, it could hardly, indeed, be expected, that such persons should be as truthful or impartial as if they had been called to record scenes of a more peaceful and grateful kind. Without, therefore, doing the early writers the injustice of supposing that they mean to misrepresent facts, yet, in glancing over their descriptions of perfidy, ploy, murders, cruelties, and revenge, we must remember that the red man had no one of his race to record for him his history, and be candid and just in our judg ments, where there may often be not a little to exten uate, if not wholly to excuse from blame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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