The Delawares
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The reduction of Canada by the English, and the consequent overthrow of the French power and domination on the western continent, did not afford our frontiers entire immunity from savage atrocity and outrage, as the settlers had hoped. An era of better fellowship seemed to be dawning between the two races, which for awhile seemed to promise much; but when the War for American Independence broke out, the natives again entered upon the war-path, urged thereto by British Influence, and, as has been asserted, and by facts substantiated, by proffers of British gold.
The Delawares are no more seen along the rivers and valleys of the Shawangunk region. If the blood of the Leni-Lenape of the Neversink and Walkill valleys yet flows in the veins of the living, it is to be looked for in the scattered remnants of the Indian clans of the far distant west.
The Indian, like his prototype the Mastodon, who aforetime roamed through these fertile valleys, bids fair, as a race, to become extinct. Years ago, a poor, friendless Delaware came into the vicinity, the last of the tribe that was ever seen here. He was last noticed at Bridgeville, Sullivan County, where he was made the sport of a lot of vicious boys. A Mr. Rice, then an invalid, whom all supposed in an advanced stage of consumption, rescued him from his tormentors, and gave him a hat and some money. The Indian received them gratefully, and after gazing thoughtfully for some time on his benefactor, he left the neighborhood, never more to return. Some months elapsed, and the incident had nearly passed out of mind, when Mr. Rice received a letter from the Indian, in which the latter gave a minute description of his complaint, with directions for its cure. The treatment was undertaken, and the remedy proved so efficacious that Mr. Rice's health was completely restored. The grateful savage had travelled forty miles from his home in the wilderness to deposit his letter in the post-office.
Mr. Rice, then an invalid, whom all supposed in an advanced stage of consumption, rescued him from his tormentors, and gave him a hat and some money. The Indian received them gratefully, and after gazing thoughtfully for some time on his benefactor, he left the neighborhood, never more to return. Some months elapsed, and the incident had nearly passed out of mind, when Mr. Rice received a letter from the Indian, in which the latter gave a minute description of his complaint, with directions for its cure. The treatment was undertaken, and the remedy proved so efficacious that Mr. Rice's health was completely restored. The grateful savage had travelled forty miles from his home in the wilderness to deposit his letter in the post-office. Competent judges have pronounced the Delaware language the most perfect of any Indian tongue, it being distinguished, they say, by "great strength, beauty, and flexibility." The tribe have left behind them, as mementoes of their former dominion over the soil, names that they gave to mountains, streams and localities. No people, ancient or modern, bestowed more beautiful names on water-courses and valleys than did the Delawares. However long one may have been accustomed to perfect euphony and exact rhythm, these appellations delight the ear as does the rich, sweet cadence of the hermit thrush that sings upon their banks--such words, for instance, as Wyoming, Mamekoting, Moyamensing and Osinsing. Their names of mountains, on the other hand, are harsh and rugged, as Shawangunk, Mohunk, Wachung, Scunnemunk, and others.
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