"Then no snow in hair, no lame in leg, and my people dwell beside the great river toward the sun-rising.

We were a great nation, with slaves to work our land, warriors to fight our battles, and priests to make sacrifice.

Then we had much of treasure from our fathers." He bowed his head, mumbling indistinctly; then continued, as if talking to himself, after the fashion of the aged: "Long time before that there came to our village men in canoes, floating down the great river out of the north.

They were of white face, and wore shining things on their bodies and heads, and bore in their hands that which spouted fire and death.

This was before I was born, yet I was told it often of my fathers.