the crowd would form a wide circle round it. The war-chief would leap into the open space, brandishing his hatchet, and would chant his own deeds and those of his fathers, acting out all that he described, and striking at the post as if it were an enemy. Warrior after warrior would follow, till at last the whole band

would be dancing, shouting, and brandishing their weapons, striking and stabbing at the air, and filling the forest with their yells.

Much of the night would pass in this way. In the morning the warriors would leave the camp in single file, still decorated with paint and feathers and ornaments; and, as they entered the woods, the chief

would fire his gun, and each in turn would do the same. Then they would halt near the village, would take off their ornaments and their finery, and would give all these things to the women, who had followed them for this purpose. Then the warriors would go silently and stealthily through the forest to the appointed place of attack. Much of their skill consisted in these silent approaches, and in surprises and stratagems, and long and patient watchings. They attached no shame to killing an unarmed enemy, or to private deceit and treachery, though to their public treaties they were always faithful. They were desperately brave, and yet they saw no disgrace in running away when there was no chance of success. Their weapons were, at first, the bow-and-arrow, and a sort of hatchet, called a 'tomahawk ;" and they had shields of bison-hide, and sometimes breastplates of twigs interwoven with cord. Afterwards they learned the use of fire-arms from the whites, and became skilful with these weapons, losing much of their skill with the bow-and-arrow. Some tribes built strong forts, with timber walls, palisades, banks, and ditches. In these forts they had magazines of stones to hurl down upon those who attacked them ; and there were gutters by which to pour down streams of water, should the fort be set on fire.

When first visited by Europeans, the Indians were said to be already diminishing in number, through war and pestilence; and they have diminished ever since, till many tribes have wholly disappeared. At first they were disposed to be friendly with the white men; but quarrels soon arose, each side being partly to blame. The savages often burned villages, carried away cap

tives, and laid whole regions waste. In return, their villages and forts were destroyed, and their tribes were driven westward, or reduced to a mere handful. Some of these wars will be described farther on in this history; and to this day some of the western settlements of the United States live in constant fear of attack from Indian tribes. But this race is passing away; and in another century there will hardly be a roving Indian within the limits of the United States. Only those tribes will survive which have adopted, in part, the habits of civilization.

CHAPTER IV.

THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN.

THE

HERE is in the city of Newport, R.I., a picturesque old building, the precise history of which is not known. It is commonly called the "Round Tower," or the "Old Stone Mill." It is built of stone, and consists of a low, circular tower, supported on eight arches. Within the memory of living men, there still remained a floor above these arches, making a second story to the building. There are two windows and a fireplace, but nothing to show for what use the building was originally employed. Yet it is not, outwardly, a ruin, since the cement in which the stones are embedded is as strong as ever, and the whole structure seems complete, except that it is roofless. The first mention of this building is by Gov. Benedict Arnold in his will, dated 1677; and he calls it "my stone built windmill.” But it is so unlike any other windmill in America, that it was for a long time doubted whether it could have been built for that purpose.

Some thirty-five years ago, Professor Rafn, of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen, published a book showing that the Northmen, or Scandinavians, undoubtedly visited the shores of North America about A.D. 1000, and that they probably

entered Narragansett Bay. It then occurred to some American antiquarians, that this old building at Newport might have been erected by those early voyagers. Examination was also made, at about the same time, of an inscription on a rock near Dighton, Mass., called the "Dighton Rock;" and it was thought that some words of this were in the Norse language. Then it was remembered that a skeleton in a brass breastplate had been dug up at Fall River, Mass., a town lying between Dighton and Newport; and it was thought that this might be the remains of a Norse viking, or rover. The poet Longfellow has written a ballad about this "Skeleton in Armor." The skeleton was unfortunately destroyed not long after; so that we do not know much about it: but it is now known that the Norsemen did not use brass armor, while the American Indians sometimes used for breastplates pieces of brass kettles, which they got from the English colonists. The inscription at Dighton Rock is now supposed to have been made by the Indians, as it resembles many sculptured rocks in the interior of the continent; and the skeleton may have been that of an Indian warrior. And, as for the "Old Stone Mill," it is found to be very much like some still standing in that very county in England from which Governor Arnold came. So it is not at all likely that any of these memorials could date back as far as the time of the Northmen; and yet it is altogether probable that the Northmen visited America at a very early time.

We must remember that the Northmen were great sailors, like their descendants, the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes. It is rare to find a large crew of sailors