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Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethern for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen, From Their Commencement to the Year 1817
Historical Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethern for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen From Their Commencement to the Year 1817 Author:John Holmes General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1827 Original Publisher: Printed for the author Subjects: Moravians Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Mil... more »lion-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAP. III. MISSION IN NORTH AMERICA. WHEN the first Europeans came to North America they found it inhabited by numerous nations, comprehended under the general name of Indians. The principal of these nations are the Delawares and Iroquois, divided into several tribes. Besides these there are numerous other tribes, but of inferior note. These nations occupy a territory extending from the 87th to the 48th degree of north latitude, and from the 77th to the 92nd degree of west longitude from London; being in length about eight hundred, and in breadth about eleven hundred miles. It is bounded by New York and Pennsylvania on the east, by the river Ohio on the south, by the river Misssisippj on the west, and by Canada on the North. It includes the five large Canadian lakes, and is intersected by some of the noblest rivers in the world, besides a number of smaller streams. f The climate, in general, is very cold in winter and extremely hot in summer; though in some parts of the country it is more variable. The soil is naturally rich, abounding in trees and shrubs of almost every kind, and very fit for agriculture ; but the Indians bestow little labour on the cultivation of their lands, as they chiefly live by hunting and fishing, and never manure their grounds, but, whenever the strength of the soil is exhausted in one place, remove to another, and lay out new plantations, Iroqvoi is the name given to these nations by the French, and as it has been adopted by Loskiel in his History of the Mission in North America, it has been retained in the s...« less