And here let me acknowledge my obligations to that
accomplished historian, and no less accomplished gentleman, for most of
the facts here stated, and if I have used his own language in
portraying them to a great extent, it was because it was so pure and
beautiful I could not resist it, the excuse the Brazilian gave for
stealing the diamond.
With regard to these people, their mode of life was that of most of the
other tribes. They lived principally by the chase; their only
cultivation was the Indian corn, pumpkins, and a species of wild beans
or peas, perfectly black, until their intercourse with the French, and
then they only added a few of the coarser vegetables. From whom they
derived the pumpkin is not known.
Their wars were not more frequent or more destructive than those of
their neighbors; and their general habits were the same. Still they
were going on to decay, and they contemplated with stolid calmness
their coming extinction. They felt it a destiny not to be averted or
avoided by anything they could do, and were content with the excuse of
folly for all its errors and sins.
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