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00 - Introduction - The Last Of The Mohicans - James Cooper · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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  Introduction. It is believed that the scene of this tale, and most of
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  the information necessary to understand its illusions, are rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader
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  in the text itself or in the accompanying notes. Still, there is so
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  much obscurity in the Indian traditions, and so much confusion in the Indian names,
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  to render some explanation useful. Few men exhibit greater diversity, or,
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  if we may so express it, greater antithesis of character, than the native
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  warrior of North America. In war. He is daring, boastful, cunning,
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  ruthless, self denying, and self devoted in peace, just generous,
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  hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, and commonly chased. These are qualities,
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  it is true, which do not distinguish all alike. But they are
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  so far the predominating traits of these remarkable people as to be characteristic. It
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  is generally believed that the Aborigines of the American continent have an Asiatic origin.
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  There are many physical as well as moral facts which corroborate this opinion, and
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  some few that would seem to weigh against it. The color of the Indian,
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  the writer believes, is peculiar to himself, and while his cheekbones have
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  a very striking indication of Tartar origin, his eyes have not. Climate may
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  have had great influence on the former, but it is difficult to see how
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  it can have produced the substantial difference which exists in the latter. The imagery
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  of the Indian, both in his poetry and his oratory, is Oriental,
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  chastened and perhaps improved by the limited range of his practical knowledge. He draws
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  his metaphors from the clouds, the seasons, the birds, the beast,
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  and the vegetable world. In this perhaps he does no more than any other
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  energetic and imaginative race would do, being compelled to set bounds to fancy by
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  experience. But the North American Indian clothes his ideas in a dress which is
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  different from that of the African, and is Oriental in itself. His language
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  has the richness and sententious fullness of the Chinese. He will express a phrase
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  in a word, and he will qualify the meaning of an entire sentence by
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  a syllable. He will even convey different significations by the simplest inflections of the
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  voice. Philologists have said that there are but two or three languages properly speaking.
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  Among all the numerous tribes which formerly occupied the country that now composes the
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  United States. They ascribe the known difficulty one people have to understand another to
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  corruptions and dialects. The writer remembers to have been present at an interview between
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  two chiefs of the great prairies west of the Mississippi, and when an interpreter
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  was in attendance, who spoke both their languages, the warriors appeared to be
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  on the most friendly terms, and seemingly conversed much together. Yet according to
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  the account of the interpreter, each was absolutely ignorant of what the other said.
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  They were of hostile tribes, brought together by the influence of the American
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  government, and it is worthy of remark that a common policy led them both
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  to adopt the same subject. They mutually exhorted each other to be of use
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  in the event of the chances of war, throwing either of the parties into
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  the hands of his enemies. Whatever may be the truth as respects the root
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  and genius of the Indian tongues, it is quite certain that they are now
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  so distinct in their words as to possess most of the disadvantages of strange languages,
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  hence much of the embarrassment that has arisen in learning their histories, and
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  most of the uncertainty which exists in their traditions. Like nations of higher pretensions,
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  the American Indian gives a very different account of his own tribe or race
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  from that which is given by other people. He is much addicted to overestimating
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  his own perfections and to undervaluing those of his rival or his enemy, a
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  trait which may possibly be thought corroborative of the mosaic account of the creation.
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  The Whites have assisted greatly in rendering the traditions of the Aborigines more obscure by
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  their own manner of corrupting names. Thus the term used in the title of
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  this book has undergone the changes of Mehicane, Mohicans, and Mohegans, the
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  latter being the word commonly used by the Whites. When it is remembered that
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  the Dutch who first settled New York, the English, and the French all
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  gave appellations to the tribes that dwelt within the country which is the scene of
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  this story, and that the Indians not only gave different names to their enemies,
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  but frequently to themselves. The cause of the confusion will be understood in
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  these pages. Lenni, Lenape, Lenope, Delawares, Wapinachki, and Mohicans
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  all mean the same people or tribes of the same stock. The Mangue,
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  the Maquas, the Mingoes, and the Iroquois, though not all strictly the
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  same, are identified frequently by the speakers being politically confederated and opposed to those
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  just named. Mingo was a term of peculiar reproach, as were Mangue and
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  Maqua. To a lesser degree. The Mohicans were the possessors of the country
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  first occupied by the Europeans in this portion of the continent. They were consequently
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  the first dispossessed, and the seemingly inevitable fate of all these people who disappear
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  before the advances, or it might be termed the inroads of civilization, as
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  the vender of their native forest falls before the nipping frost is represented as having
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  already befallen them. There is sufficient historical truth in the picture to justify the
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  use that has been made of it. In point of fact, the country
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  which is the scene of the following tale has undergone as little change since the
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  historical events alluded to had place as almost any other district of equal extent within
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  the whole limits of the United States. There are fashionable and well attended watering
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  places at and near the spring where Hawkeye halted to drink, and roads traversed
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  the forest where he and his friends were compelled to journey without even a path.
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  Glenn's has a large village, and while William Henry and even a fortress
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  of later date are only to be traced as ruins, there is another village
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  on the shores of the Horican. But beyond this, the enterprise and energy
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  of a people who have done so much in other places have done little here.
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  The whole of that wilderness in which the later incidents of the legend occurred
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  is nearly a wilderness still, though the Red Man has entirely deserted this part
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  of the state. Of all the tribes named in these pages, there exist
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  only a few half civilized beings of the Unitas on the reservations of their people
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  in New York. The rest have disappeared, either from the regions in which
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  their fathers dwelt, or all together from the earth. There is one point
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  on which we would wish to say a word. Before closing this preface,
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  Hawkeye calls the Loch d Saint Sacrament the Horican. As we believe this to
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  be an appropriation of the name that has its origin with ourselves. The time
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  has arrived, perhaps when the fact should be frankly admitted. While writing this
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  book fully a quarter of a century since, it occurred to us that the
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  French name of this lake was too complicated, the American too commonplace, and
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  the Indian too unpronounceable for either to be used familiarly in a work of fiction.
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  Looking over an ancient map, it was ascertained that a tribe of Indians,
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  called Les Horicans by the French existed in the neighborhood of this beautiful sheet
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  of water. As every word uttered by Natty Bumpo was not to be received
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  as rigid truth, we took the liber of putting the Horican into his mouth
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  as the substitute for Lake George. The name has appeared to find favor,
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  and all things considered, it may possibly be quite as well to let it
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  stand. Instead of going back to the House of Hanover for the appellation of
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  our finest sheet of water, we relieve our conscience by the confession all events,
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  leaving it to exercise its authority as it may see fit. End of introduction