Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1912-08-09
HOW AMERICA
WAS SETTLED.
Written for the Recorder by OF. Morton
FIRST ARTICLE

w
.merica began, the Indians through
ut our country are thought to have
unbeared 400 900 These figures
mnnd like quite Il host, vet they
mean only one Indian to each 20.
100 acres. For Highland county |
he proportion would be only 9
antilles; 3 to each district. Indian
'iIlage and squaw patches around
t did not cover the hundreth part
If hundredth part of the entire
surface. The remaining $3.50 per-
cent was pure wilderness. Never
theless, the gallant resistance OF a
handful of red men to the glacier
like encroachment of the over
whelming white population is with
out a parallel in the history of the
Eastern Hemisphere. Then why
did they not wipe off the face OF
the earth the weak bands of white
people who landed at jamestown,
Plymouth and Manhattan? The
answer is not so difficult as it would
seem.
In the first place it is not..a error
the Indians were a rowing people
continually at war among themsel-
yes. Each tribe lad a we'll defined
territorial area, just the same as IN
the case Of the nations of Europe.
Their sense of inhabitiveness, their
:ove for the home of their fathers,
was quite as storing as among the
the white people. And asfor war,
this sort of pastime seems to have
been little more common than In
Europe.
In the second place, the tribes
east of the Allegheny range were
few in numbers and less inclined to
war than were those of the interior.
In the north they had been greatly
reduced by presidential disease, and
in the central region the Delawares
.ad been compelled by the conquer
ing Lroquois to follow the ways OF
neace. There was more land on
the coast than the weak tribes could
occupy. For while, therefore,
these Indians beheld no particular
danger to themselves in the little
first shiploads of white people. And
until they were treated roughly,
they wereinclined to make friends
of the newcomers. When at length
they found themselves being crowd
ed out of their lands, they were too
few in number for successful resis-
lance. Yet for the Allegheny
mountains, which held at more than
arms length the fierce western
t.ibes, there might have been a Diff
ferent story to tell.
The school-book describes to us
the coming of small groups of Eng
lish, French, Hollonders, and
Swedes. Lack of space prevents
the little volume from giving full
and clear account of why these
people came, and why later on the
Scotch Irish and the Germans also
came.
The proportion of each square
mile which the Indian had reduced
to his crude agriculture would be
hidden out of sight by a log cabin
26ft square; only one square rod
out of 9400 acres. So to the Euro
pean mind here was an abundance
of new soil to be had in exchange
for few trinkets. Accordingly,
the choice islands, of Manhattan
and Rhode Island were purchased
at the rate of s acres for one cents
worth of glass beads and other gew-
gaws. Yet it was not the prospect
of good land on even these easy
terms that operated first of all to
draw the Europeans here.
1t was no holiday trip to cross
the Atlantic. There were none but
sailing vessels in those days, and it
sometimes took them a hundred
days to maka the distance. When
the winds remain contrary, provis-
ions and water grew scarce, and in
the crowded vessel sickness could
hold sway. Smallpox, the scourge
of that day, would sometimes make
havoc of the crew as we'll as the
As if this were not
there were the pirates.
These robbers of the sea were sonnet
lines of the same nationality a
he passengers themselves. Yes
his cosideration had little weight |
With the human brutes of the pir-
tie ship. They were after plumber,
md they acted on the motto that
lead men tell no tales. What was
'aluable in the captured vessel was
aiken away. If the craft itself |
we're of no use to them it was burn
ID or sunk. As for the passengers,
md If the vessel were far from
hore, they were left to drown, un-
ess in particular instances the pir-
ties could make use of them.
only in rare instances did the immi-
rant to America revisit his native
and. He was therefore separated
rom his klnfolk, excepting those
Who preceded him and those who
night follow him.
How was it with the first ship