http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/mohawks.htm
This is an account by a Dutch minister, Johannes Megapolensis who travelled to the Dutch colony of Fort Orange at the head of the Hudson River in 1642 with his wife and 4 children. He had been given his passage in order to “fill the spiritual needs of the inhabitants of the area”. It doesn’t define whether this means other settlers or the native inhabitants. Megapolensis’s account of the Mohawk people, with whom the Dutch did the majority of their trade, in fur in particular, gives an insight into their way of life including relationships and child bearing. I felt this passage was particularly interesting as it seems that the Native Americans had managed to wage war with more simple weapons until the settlers introduced them to their guns. “Their weapons in war were formerly a bow and arrow, with a stone axe and mallet; but now they get from our people guns, swords, iron axes and mallets. “ There is also mention of the violence of the tribe including eating their enemies but that the settlers didn’t feel afraid of them.
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