"At the time of my last earth-life your little England was ruled by a sickly but very good and able sovereign, Queen Elizabeth. Philip the Second ruled Europe for the Pope, Suleiman the Great had command of the Mediterranean and held a splendid Empire for Mahomet. A still wealthier and better-ordered empire was held for the Prophet by Akbar the Magnificent, who reigned over Hindustan. Greatest and most stable of all was the throne of China. In every case the princes were tyrants, the people what we should call war slaves.
"I believe that Iceland was first of Republics—but half the people there were only slaves.
"In my little nation, the Iroquois, only the women could own lands or houses, only the mothers could elect the President. Women and men sat together in congress.
"As President, it was my dream to put an end to war. For that ideal of an everlasting peace I called four other nations into counsel. They made me President of the Five Nations, the Federated Republic of the Iroquois.
"Here in the west there were many visitors from other lands, Polynesians, Chinese, and Japanese. They say that our first news of Europe came with the Saint Quetzal-Coatl to the Toltec nation, and to his memory they built a temple at Cholula four times as large as the Great Pyramid in Egypt. To my own people came the hero Leif Ericson, and he was followed by many Norsemen who traded with us or hewed out cargoes of hardwood timber.
"Five centuries later, Columbus came, but he never visited North America. His people brought us horses, but also they carried with them germs of disease, of pestilences which are sweeping away almost the whole Red Indian race."
"Sweeping us away?" asked Rain.
"Yes."
Thunder Feather lifted the death wail, mourning for her people.
Hiawatha sheltered Rain in his arms: