istory. They
are a people worthy the separate pen of a historian, and it may be hoped
that an elaborate and full work, may be produced.

Where the Iroquois originated? is a question, which involves the prior
and general one, of the origin of the Red Race. So far as relates to
their proximate origin, on this continent, I am inclined to think, that
it was in the tropical latitudes extending west from the Gulf of
Mexico.--Facts indicate the great tide of our migration, to have been
from that general race. The zea maize which is a southern plant, came
from that quarter, and was spread, as the tribes moved from the south to
the north, the east, and northeast, and north west. Which of the
ancient Indian stocks came first we know not. The Iroquois, if we follow
one of their own authors, have strong claims to antiquity, but we cannot
accept this in full. That they migrated up the valley of the
Mississippi, and the Ohio to its extreme head (they call the Alleghany
Oheo) is probable. Our actual knowledge on this subject, historically
speaking, is very small, and we must grope our way through dark and
shadowy traditions. These, however, sustain the general fact stated,
which is helped out by other accessions. That they had crossed the great
artery of the continent, (the Mississippi river) prior to the Algonquin
race, but after the Alleghans, is shown by the traditions of the latter.
[P.W.][D] With this race, tradition asserts, that they formed an
alliance, at a remote era, and maintained a bloody war, for many years,
against the ancient Alleghans, who are supposed, in these wars, to have
erected the fortifications and mounds, of the Mississippi valley. That
this ancient Alleghanic empire of the West, so to call it, fell before
the combined courage and energy of the Iroquois and Algonquins, and that
the defeated tribes either retired down the waters of the Mississippi,
or were in part incorporated with themselves, or yet exist in the Far
West, under other names, we have various traditions for asserting or
believing.

[D] Indian Picture Writing.

Thus far we are speaking of the ante-historical period. When the
colonies came to be planted, and our ancestors spread themselves along
the Atlantic coast, from the initial points of settlement in Virginia,
Nova Belgica, and New England, the Iroquois were already well seated,
and spoke and acted, whenever they desired to make allusion to the
matter, as if they had been _forever_ seated o