. The Iroquois : or, the bright side of Indian character. hich, traces of the existence of thepractice may be discerned to a much later period. * Zurita was an eminent jurist from Spain, who residednineteen years among the Aztecs, and is indignant thatthey should be called barbarians^ saying, ^ It is an epithetwhich could come from no one who had personal knowl-edge of the capacity of the people or their institutions,and which in some respects is quite as well merited byEuropeans. If the Aztecs did not deserve the term barbarians^surely I shall be thought just in denying the term savageto belo
. The Iroquois : or, the bright side of Indian character. hich, traces of the existence of thepractice may be discerned to a much later period. * Zurita was an eminent jurist from Spain, who residednineteen years among the Aztecs, and is indignant thatthey should be called barbarians^ saying, ^ It is an epithetwhich could come from no one who had personal knowl-edge of the capacity of the people or their institutions,and which in some respects is quite as well merited byEuropeans. If the Aztecs did not deserve the term barbarians^surely I shall be thought just in denying the term savageto belong to the Iroquois; and from their mythology, ifnothing else, it is evident that they were destitute neitherof genius nor of poetry. They were heathen and Pagans,but not savages, and before we boast that we have attained * Prescott. 66 THE IROQUOIS. unto perfection, let us remember that Spiritualists andMormons have arisen in the nineteenth century, and mul-titudes have wended their way to Salt Lake City, whowere trained in the churches of New England !. CHAPTER IV. CUSTOMS AND INDIVIDUAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER. The more I read, and the better I understand Indianhistory, the more am I impressed with the injustice whichhas been done the Iroquois, not only in dispossessing themof their inheritance, but in the estimation which has beenmade of their character. They have been represented, asseen in the transition state, the most unfavorable possiblefor judging them correctly. I In the chapter upon National Traits of Character, Ihave, in two or three instances, quoted Washington Irving,and might again allow his opinions to relieve my ownfrom the charge of partiality. He says, in speaking of this same subject, that thecurrent opinion of Indian character is too apt to be formedfrom the miserable hordes which infest the frontiers, andhang on the skirts of settlements. These are too com-monly composed of degenerate beings, corrupted and en-feebled by the vices of society, without being bene
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