Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/145

Rh Weſtward of all theſe tribes, beyond the mountains, and extending to the great lakes, were the Maſſawomees, a moſt powerful confederacy, who harraſſed unremittingly the Powhatans and Manahoacs. Theſe were probably the anceſtors of tribes known at preſent by the name of the Six Nations.

Very little can now be diſcovered of the ſubſequent hiſtory of theſe tribes ſeverally. The Chickahominies removed about the year 1661, to Mattapony River. , Their chief, with one from each of the tribes of the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, attended the treaty of Albany in 1685. This ſeems to have been the laſt chapter in their hiſtory. They retained however their ſeparate name ſo late as 1705, and were at length blended with the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, and exiſt at preſent only under their names. There remain of the Mattaponies three or four men only, and they have more negro than Indian blood in them. They have loſt their language, have reduced themſelves, by voluntary ſales, to about fifty acres of land, which lie on the river of their own name, and have from time to time been joining the Pamunkies, from whom they are diſtant but 10 miles. The Pamunkies are reduced to about 10 or 12 men, tolerably pure from mixture with other colors. The older ones among them preſerve their language in a ſmall degree, which are the laſt veſtiges on earth, as far as we know, of the Powhatan language. They have about 300 acres of very fertile land, on Pamunkey River, ſo encompaſſed by water that a gate ſhuts in the whole. Of the Nottaways, not a male is left. A few women conſtitute the remains of that tribe. They are