[5]
But the most tangible evidence of both their linguistic and literary
ability is the work some of these natives have accomplished in European
tongues. It does not come within the limits of my plan to enter fully
into an examination of this branch of literature; but it is worth while
mentioning some of the more prominent native writers, who have composed
in European languages, as their productions are an easy test of what the
faculties of the red race are in this direction.
As the colonizers of the New World have been chiefly from Spain and
Great Britain, so naturally the English and Spanish languages have been
brought most widely to the knowledge of the natives. The half-civilized
tribes, within the area of the United States, have produced several
authors of merit. Perhaps the earliest of these was David Cusick, who,
in 1825, printed his _Ancient History of the Six Nations_. He was a
full blood Tuscarora, and his English is far from correct. Yet the
arrangement of his matter is skillful, and some passages quaintly vivid
and forcible. Another member of the Iroquois confederacy, Peter
Dooyentate Clarke, has taken up the _Origin and Traditional History of
the Wyandotts_, and has made a readable little book (published at
Toronto, 1870); while still more lately, Chief Elias Johnson, of the
Tuscaroras, has published a _History of the Six Nations_, very
creditably composed.
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