do nothing but wonder and applaud. A large portion of
their admiration, was however, reserved for the man who wore the
glittering red coat, and who, they doubted not, was the Great Spirit.
The curiosity of the people was expressed in a thousand different
ways; the priests wondered whether the Great Spirit knew and
recognised them as old acquaintances; the warriors, whether the men
who accompanied him were fleet, and courageous as themselves; and the
women were very curious to know if the men were like our own men, and
loudly expressed their determination to ascertain the fact. All
agreed in this, that whether beings of this world, or of the land of
dreams, they must be treated with great kindness(3), and fed upon the
choicest viands of the tribe.

Meanwhile, a large hackhack, or gourd, was brought to the man in red
by one of his servants, from which he poured an unknown liquor
resembling rain-water, into a small cup of such an appearance as the
Indians had never before seen. He drank the liquor from this cup, and,
filling it again, he handed it to the Mohegan chief standing next him.
The chief received it, smelt to it, and passed it untested to the
chief standing by him, who did the same, till it had been handled and
smelt to by all the Indians in the circle, while not one had tasted
it. The man who last took the cup was upon the point of returning it
to the supposed Manitou in red; when the Bender of the Pine Bow, one
of the bravest Mohegans, and the stoutest warrior in the nation, rose
and spoke to his brothers thus:

"It is not right for us to return the cup with its contents untested.
It is handed to us by the Manitou, that we may drink as he has done.
To follow his example will be pleasing to him; it will show our
confidence in him, and the courage which we have been told is highly
valued by him. To return the cup with its contents untasted, will
give him reason to think that we believe it to be the juice of the
poison-tree; it will provoke his anger and bring destruction upon us
all. It is for the good of the nation that the contents of the cup
should be swallowed, and, as no one else will do it, the Bender of the
Pine Bow devotes himself to the killing draught. It is better that one
man should perish than that a whole nation should be destroyed."

The Bender of the Pine Bow then took the glass, and, giving many
directions, and bidding a solemn farewell to his family and friends,
resolutely drank its fearful co