cruel and sly; the eagle, bold,
daring, and courageous, and the adder, treacherous. Thus men have, all
their different natures and properties from the brutes, and oftentimes
are worse than brutes.

THE COMING OF MIQUON.

Will my brother listen? will he hear what a Mohegan has to say of the
manner in which his nation first became acquainted with the white
people?

A great many seasons ago, when men with a white skin had never been
seen in the land of the Mohegans, before the Fire-eater had come to
take the place of the Yagesho(1), or the pale-face had succeeded to
the less destructive Mammoth(2); some men of our nation, who were out
at a place where the sea widens, espied, far away on the bosom of the
Great Lake, a very large creature floating on the water. It was such
an object as they had never seen before. Fear of this creature
immediately filling their bosoms, they hastily returned to the shore.
Having apprised their countrymen of what they had seen, they pressed
them to accompany them, and make further discoveries of its nature and
its purpose in coming thither. Launching their canoes, they hurried
out together, and saw with increased astonishment the wonderful object
which was approaching. Their conjectures were very various as to what
it was; some believed it to be a great fish, or animal; while others
were of opinion that it was a very big house floating on the bosom of
the Great Lake. They were not long in concluding that this wonderful
and mysterious object was moving towards the land, and they also saw
that it was endued with life. Deeming it proper to inform all their
brethren, to whom intelligence could be conveyed, of what was coming,
that they might be on their guard, they dispatched swift runners and
fast rowers in every direction, to the east, west, and north, to carry
the news to the scattered chiefs, and tribes, that they might gather
their warriors together, and prepare to combat, if need were, the
strange creature. Soon, the chiefs and warriors of the neighbouring
tribes were collected in great numbers, at that part of the shore
which the strange creature was clearly approaching. It soon came so
near that they were able to make it out to be a large moving house,
(though they had never beheld such) in which, as they supposed, the
Great Spirit himself was present, and coming to visit them.

Wishing to receive him in a manner which should mark their sense of
his goodness to them and their