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OF THE

HISTORY, MANNERS & CUSTOMS

OF THE

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS,

WITH

A PLAN FOR THEIR MELIORATION,

BY JAMES BUCHANAN, ESQ.

HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSUL FOR THE STATE OF NEW-YORK.

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RELIGION AND LANGUAGES.

ON THE

RELIGION OF THE INDIAN TRIBES

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

BY S. F. JARVIS, D. D. A. A. S.
(OF NEW-YORK.)

IN Surveying these portions of American history, from which I might select a subject for the present occasion, it appeared to me that the religion of the Indian tribes of North America, had not been viewed with the largeness of observation, which is the characteristic of enlightened philosophy. Various causes may be mentioned, which have hitherto conspired to prevent, or to impede, such an examination. In the first place, the horror proceeding from the cruelties of their warfare, forbade the calmness of investigation. As long as they were formidable, curiosity was overpowered by terror; and there was neither leisure, nor inclination, to contemplate their character as a portion of the human family, while the glare of conflagration reddened the midnight sky, and the yells of the savage, mingling with the shrieks of butchered victims, rode, as portentous messengers, upon every gale. But that state of things has long ceased to exist. The white men of America have become too numerous, to fear any longer the effects of savage barbarity; and the tales, which once carried terror to the stoutest heart, are now scarcely heard beyond the precincts of the nursery. In the room of fear, should now arise a sen<

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