The Morrises summarized what they learned from Newota and sent the information to Dr. Bartram. Without their asking, Bartram sent them a small stipend on occasion, depending on his judgment of the effort they had expended and the value of the information to him.

•  •  •

One day, Kindred asked Newota, “How do your people go to war?”

“I’ve only witnessed preparations for a serious excursion on one occasion, when I was not yet a man. That day, I remember the group of warriors being led in single file by the chosen leader, who was my father.”

He paused. “That was the last time I saw him alive. He and two other men were killed in that battle, but none of their bodies were taken. They were brought back to the village, and there was even some sense of pride and achievement, because their scalps were intact. The outcome of the battle was not clear, but the honor of our clan was defended. In an attack on well-known neighbors with whom we have had peaceful relations, our purpose is almost always to repay an insult or resolve a dispute over hunting grounds. Usually little blood is shed, and both sides are likely to be satisfied if our integrity is honored.”

Kindred said, “Europeans do the same thing in personal duels with swords or pistols, many of which are not meant to be fatal.”

Newota continued, “We announce our arrival back home with shouts, songs, and whoops. The warriors will fast for three days to remove the pollution of shedding human blood. Women always sing and chant in admiration. A few tribes have begun attacking others in order to take captives, knowing that the British have been eager to buy them as slaves. But when we have taken a mighty warrior whom we have feared and respected, he may be scalped alive and tortured by fire, permitting him to show his bravery and courage while singing a death song.”

Kindred was silent for a while. “I don’t see why you and the Europeans can’t live in peace with one another.”

Newota replied, “My uncle tells me that we have good relations with some foreign people. I have learned that along the Mississippi River and in the northwest, the French have had few permanent settlements and little desire for farming land. What they seem to want is trade, and in this they have been in competition with the British. Also, both sides have used every possible means to recruit our braves to help their army fight the other. Some of the chiefs have learned how to play one white nation against the other, to our maximum advantage, but the gifts and bribes they have received are seldom distributed among the villagers.”

Kindred already knew most of this, at least as it related to the British presence in Georgia and Carolina, but didn’t understand how the Indians assessed the other Europeans.