All the appointment of embassadors to conclude a treaty. the gravest demeanor, and proceedings were accompanied by

" the most impressive dignity. stranger could councils without a sensation of respec t."

No

visit their

x

Law and justice, as civilized nations understand those terms, were to them unknown, yet both they had in a degree

suited to

Assaults, murders, and other acts regarded as criminal offenses by all nations, were so regarded by them,

their

necessities.

was vested- in the injured constituted judges as well as executioners,

but the execution of punishment family, who were

the claim to antiquity and their ancient position, in the great Algonquin He says " It family of the Lenapcs. is believed that there are no members of in both

:

this

generic

family of tribes,

certainly

none of the existing tribes in the north and west, who are known to us personally, who do not acknowledge the ancient Lenapes under the title of grandfather."

OF HUDSON'S RWER.

and who could grant pardons or accept atonements. The rights of property they understood and respected ; and half their wars

were retaliatory for the taking of their territory without making There was not a man among just and proper compensation. them that did not know the bounds of his own land as accu Their customs were their unwritten laws, more effective than those which fill

rately as though defined by a surveyor's chain.

the tomes of civilized governments, because taught to the people

from infancy and woven into every condition and necessity of Their chiefs were poor and without revenue, yet