[6] Figurative expression. See Loskiel’s History, Part I. c. 10.[9]]
[7] For “declaring at the same time” read “and declared afterwards.”
[8] [John Christopher Pyrlæus was sent by the heads of the Moravian Church at Herrnhut, Saxony, to Bethlehem, Pa., in the autumn of 1741, to do service in the Indian Mission. Having assisted Count Zinzendorf, during his sojourn in the Province in 1742, in the work of the ministry among a portion of the German population of Philadelphia, we find him, in January of 1743, prosecuting the study of the Mohawk under the direction of Conrad Weiser, the provincial interpreter, at Tulpehocken, (near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa.) This was in view of fitting himself for the office of corresponding secretary of the Mission Board at Bethlehem, and for the duties of an evangelist among the Iroquois stock of Indians, to whom it was purposed by the Moravians to bring the Gospel. At the expiration of three months he returned to Bethlehem, and in the following June, accompanied by his wife, who was a daughter of John Stephen Benezet, a well-known merchant of Philadelphia, set out for the Mohawk country, his destination being the Mohawk castle of Canajoharie. Here he remained upwards of two months, in which interval of time he visited the remaining Mohawk castles, and by constant intercourse with the Indians strove assiduously to perfect himself in their language. Such was his progress then and subsequently, that in 1744 he felt himself competent to impart instruction in that important dialect of the Iroquois to several of his brethren at Bethlehem, who were training for missionaries. In 1748, while settled at Gnadenhütten, on the Mahoning, (Lehighton, Carbon County, Pa.,) he rendered similar service. Meanwhile he had acquired a knowledge of the Mohican, and in 1745 there appeared his first translations of German hymns into that tongue—the beginnings of a collection for use in Divine worship in the Mission churches. Eight of the eleven years of his stay in this country were mainly spent in labors of the kind just enumerated. Having been liberally educated, Mr. Pyrlæus was well qualified for the work in which he engaged. Several of his contributions to this novel department of philology, in manuscript, are deposited in the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Among these are essays on the grammatical structure of the Iroquois dialects, and a collection of notes on Indian traditions. The former Mr. Heckewelder names on a subsequent page, and from the latter he makes frequent extracts. In 1751 Mr. Pyrlæus sailed for England, where he was active in the ministry of his Church until his recall to Germany in 1770. He died at Herrnhut in 1785.]
[9] [The passage referred to by Mr. Heckewelder is quoted in full by way of annotation on a subsequent page.]
[10] [Norman’s Kill, named after Albert Andriese Bratt De Norman, an early settler of Beverwyck, rises in Schenectady County, has a south-east course of about twenty-eight miles, and empties into the Hudson, two miles south of Albany, in the town of Bethlehem. In records of 1677 it is called Bethlehem’s Kil. The Indian name of the stream was Tawalsantha. In the spring of 1617 the United New Netherlands Company erected a fort near the banks of Norman’s Kill, and in 1621 the Dutch made a solemn alliance and treaty of peace with the Five Nations, near its mouth.—Munsell’s Collections of the History of Albany. Albany, 1870.]
[11] For “Mohicans” read “Lenape.”
[12] [”The History of the Five Indian Nations depending on the Province of New York in America, by Cadwallader Colden.” The first edition of this rare book was dedicated by the author to his Excellency, William Burnet, Esq., and was printed and sold by William Bradford in New York, 1727. Colden emigrated from Scotland in 1708, and first settled in Pennsylvania, engaging in the practice of medicine. Removing to New York in 1718, he was some time surveyor-general, subsequently a member of the King’s Council, and in 1761 commissioned Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. This commission he held at the time of his death at his seat on Long Island, in September of 1776.]
[13] [The proceedings of these conferences and treaties with the Indians are spread upon the minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, which were authorized to be printed by the Act of Legislature of April 4th, 1837, and published subsequently in seven volumes. They are known as “The Colonial Records.”]
[14] At a Treaty, at Easton, in July and November, 1756.
[15] [Should be Thomson.]