hey were a singularly fine race of Indians, and
their renown as warriors enabled them to extend protection to such of
the neighboring tribes as entered into alliance with them. Disease had,
indeed, recently reduced their numbers in many of the villages that
were situated in the dense forest, and were thus deprived of a free
circulation of air; and the wigwams at which Tisquantum's party had
arrived were among those that had suffered most severely. Several of
the lodges had been altogether deserted, in consequence of the death of
the proprietors; in which case the Indians frequently strip off the
thick mats which form the outer covering of the wigwam, and leave the
bare poles a perishing monument of desolation! This is only done when
the head of the family dies. The property of which he has not
otherwise disposed during his life, is then buried with him; and his
friends continue, for a long period, to revisit the grave, and make
offerings of food, arms, and cooking utensils. These articles are
deemed sacred to the spirit of the departed, and no Indian would think
of taking them away unless he replaced them with something of equal
value. This is permitted; and the custom must often afford relief to
the hungry traveler through the forests, who comes unexpectedly upon
the burial grounds of some of his race, and finds the graves amply
supplied with maize and tobacco--more useful to the living than to the
dead.

Many such graves, besides that of Uncas, were to be seen in the
vicinity of the Cree village: and it seemed likely that their numbers
would be still augmented; for the disease which had already proved so
fatal, had not left the wigwams, although its violence had considerably
abated. Old Terah, the uncle of Jyanough, and the chief of the present
Sachem's council, lay dangerously ill; and all the charms, and all the
barbarous remedies usually resorted to in such cases, had been employed
by the Cree Powows in vain. Terah was one of the Pinces, or Pnieses--a
dignity conferred only on men of approved courage and wisdom--and many
a successful incursion had he led into the great plains of
Saskatchawan, where dwelt the Stone Indians, with whom the Crees had
long been at enmity--and many a prisoner had he brought back to his
village, and slain as an offering to Maatche-Mahneto, while he hung the
scalp that he had torn from the quivering victim on the walls of his
lodge, as its proudest ornament.

Terah was also as wise in