Before the council dispersed, he recounted the

services he had rendered to his people, and urged

serve the union they had formed.

" If

them to pre

you preserve this," said

u and admit no

foreign element of power, by the admission of other nations, you will always be free, numerous and happy. he,

If other tribes and nations are admitted to your councils, they will sow the seeds of jealousy and discord, and you will become

Remember these words, they are few, feeble and enslaved. The Great the last you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha.

OF HUDSON'S RIVER. Master of breath

calls

me to go.

am

have patiently waited his

As his voice go. ready the ears of the on the burst sweet from ceased, sounds, air, multitude and while all attention was engrossed in the celestial summons.

Farewell."

to

;

melody, Hiawatha was seen, seated in his white canoe, in the mid-air, rising with every choral chant that burst out, till the clouds shut out the sight and the melody ceased. Every war rior now plucked a feather from the great bird as a memorial,

and took their departure. 1

The precise date of the formation of the confederacy cannot, of course, be ascertained.

Pyrlaus,

a missionary

among the

as the result of his investigations, that Mohawks, " one alliance took place age, or the length of a man's states

before

the

white

people

came

into

the country."

the life,

Another

1414 ; while a third confirms the state ment of Pyrlaus. Whatever may have been its date, it was a practical and effective alliance by which the democratic principle, which was the basis of the government of the cantons, was writer fixes the date at