Now when Kindred was with Newota, fishing, hunting, trapping, or exploring, they discussed the relationship between the Indians and the whites more than the characteristics of plants and animals.

Kindred said, “I know that some of your own people have lived with us and then come back to the tribes. Don’t they learn how much we have in common and how to get along with each other?”

“Yes, a few have lived with white men and later returned to their families, but with little knowledge of the earth or forests. They cannot tell the simplest of odors, bear either hunger or cold, and cannot walk silently, kill a deer, or survive without assistance from others. They wish to wear heavy clothes and sleep under many blankets. Some have learned how to be good farmers, usually a woman’s work, but they can run only a few miles and have no knowledge of how to hunt and defeat an enemy or even protect their own home and village. There is no swearing in our language, but they bring back filthy words. Like many of us have now become, they are obsessed with the love of possessions and an easy way of life.

“When white traders use them in negotiations for pelts, we know that their loyalty is to the one who pays them. We do not trust them, and they are ridiculed. One old man said that the Indian agent was so stingy that he carries a white rag in his pocket and blows his nose in it for fear that he will blow away something valuable!”

They both enjoyed the joke and continued their walk through the woods. Newota continued his discourse.

“There are other things that we find amusing. We eat in silence, perhaps smoke a pipe, nod to each other, and depart. Thus, we honor our host. Our leaders who have been to Savannah tell us that white men eat noisily, finding it necessary to talk constantly. A brief period of silence seems to be embarrassing. After the food and drink are consumed, the guests are expected to say foolish things before departing.”