This idea they accepted, and altlioug'h they did not or could not give him tlie attributes of the Christian's God, the Great Spirit became " a distinct existence, a pervading power in the universe, and a dispencer of justice." This idea the Jesuits had to accept, although in exceptional cases, they seemed to impress their idea of God upon some of their converts while they had them at the missions, but they were sure to become apostates when they returned to their people in the wilderness. So you will see that " The Great Spirit " of the Indians is a modern idea received from the whites and not, as some think, a Supreme Being evolved ages ago from the Amerind mind.
Parkman says : " The primative Indian believed in the immortality of the soul, and that skilful hunters, brave warriors, and men of influence went, after deafli, to the happy hunting-grounds, while the slothful, the cowardly, the weak were doomed to eat serpents and ashes in dreary and misty regions, but there was no belief that the good were to be rewarded for moral good, or the evil punished for a moral evil." So you will see that the writing of a history of the Mohawks would be an arduous task, a history filled with mystery and supersitition together with kindly deeds and warlike acts, a history of a people ertdowed with minds that were able to conceive a union of tribes, states or nations, call them what you may, and to perpetuate that union for centuries, the success of which suggested to our forefathers the union of states, the government under which we now live.
I- Of C. *' HOLLANDER."