the position of woman amid the Mohawk Indians:

"Lady Mary Montague says, that the court of Vienna was the paradise of
old women, and that there is no other place in the world where a woman
past fifty excites the least interest. Had her travels extended to the
interior of North America, she would have seen another instance of this
inversion of the common mode of thinking. Here a woman never was of
consequence, till she had a son old enough to fight the battles of his
country. From that date she held a superior rank in society; was allowed
to live at ease, and even called to consultations on national affairs.
In savage and warlike countries, the reign of beauty is very short, and
its influence comparatively limited. The girls in childhood had a very
pleasing appearance; but excepting their fine hair, eyes, and teeth,
every external grace was soon banished by perpetual drudgery, carrying
burdens too heavy to be borne, and other slavish employments considered
beneath the dignity of the men. These walked before erect and graceful,
decked with ornaments which set off to advantage the symmetry of their
well-formed persons, while the poor women followed, meanly attired, bent
under the weight of the children and utensils, which they carried
everywhere with them, and disfigured and degraded by ceaseless toils.
They were very early married, for a Mohawk had no other servant but his
wife, and, whenever he commenced hunter, it was requisite he should have
some one to carry his load, cook his kettle, make his moccasons, and,
above all, produce the young warriors who were to succeed him in the
honors of the chase and of the tomahawk. Wherever man is a mere hunter,
woman is a mere slave. It is domestic intercourse that softens man, and
elevates woman; and of that there can be but little, where the
employments and amusements are not in common; the ancient Caledonians
honored the fair; but then it is to be observed, they were fair
huntresses, and moved in the light of their beauty to the hill of roes;
and the culinary toils were entirely left to the rougher sex. When the
young warrior made his appearance, it softened the cares of his mother,
who well knew that, when he grew up, every deficiency in tenderness to
his wife would be made up in superabundant duty and affection to her. If
it were possible to carry filial veneration to excess, it was done here;
for all other charities were absorbed in it. I wonder this system of
depressing the