Native
Americans and Europeans have historically looked upon one another
with great curiosity. The Europeans found it difficult to comprehend
the Indian's life with no permanent home, no hereditary government
and no accumulation of wealth.
The
Indians thought the Europeans equally as odd. The
whites lived cramped together like ants in large cities; their leaders
were chosen because of their families and not their ability; and
they bought and sold the land as if they owned it. Possibly the
most curious of all to the Indian was the written word. The letters,
documents and maps of the whites seemed to have the magical ability
to take land from the Indian. Here, two hunters have come across
a document chest lost upon a frontier trail. They carefully leaf
through a journal and wonder at its mysteries.
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