rts of the Red Man's forest land.

All the relations of Europeans to the Indian have been alike fatal to
him, whether of peace or war; as tyrants or suppliants; as conquerors
armed with unknown weapons of destruction; as the insidious purchasers
of his hunting-grounds, betraying him into an accursed thirst for the
deadly fire-water; as the greedy gold-seekers, crushing his feeble frame
under the hated labors of the mine; as shipwrecked and hungry wanderers,
while receiving his simple alms, marking the fertility and
defenselessness of his lands; as sick men enjoying his hospitality,
and, at the same time, imparting that terrible disease[203] which has
swept off whole nations; as woodmen in his forest, and intrusive tillers
of his ground, scaring away to the far West those animals of the chase
given by the Great Spirit for his food: there is to him a terrible
monotony of result. In the delicious islands of the Caribbean Sea, and
in the stern and magnificent regions of the northeast, scarcely now
remains a mound, or stone, or trace even of tradition, to point out the
place where any among the departed millions sleep.

The discovery of the American Indians brought to light not only a new
race, but also a totally new condition of men. The rudest form of human
society known in the Old World was far advanced beyond that of the
mysterious children of the West, in arts, knowledge, and government.
Even among the simplest European and Asiatic nations the principle of
individual possession was established; the beasts of the field were
domesticated to supply the food and aid the labors of man, and large
bodies of people were united under the sway of hereditary chiefs. But
the Red Man roamed over the vast forests and prairies of his
undiscovered continent, accompanied by few of his fellows, unassisted by
beasts of burden,[204] and trusting alone to his skill and fortune in
the chase for a support. The first European visitors to the New World
were filled with such astonishment at the appearance and complexion of
the Red Man, that they hastily concluded he belonged to a different
species from themselves. As the native nations became better known,
their warriors, statesmen, and orators commanded the admiration of the
strangers. Especially in the northern people, every savage virtue was
conspicuous; they were gentle in peace, but terrible in war; of a proud
and noble bearing, honest, faithful, and hospitable, loving order though
without