We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white
people think we do not know their value; but we know that
the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for
it are soon worn out and gone.
Canassatego - Treaty negotiations with Six Nations
You who are so wise must know that different nations have
different conception of things. You will not therefore take
it amiss if our ideas of the white man's kind of education
happens not to be the same as yours. We have had some experience
of it.
Several of our young people were brought up in your colleges.
They were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they
came back to us, they were all bad runners, ignorant of every
means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or
hunger. They didn't know how to build a cabin, take a deer,
or kill an enemy. They spoke our language imperfectly.
They were therefore unfit to be hunters, warriors, or counsellors;
they were good for nothing.
We are, however, not the less obliged for your kind offer,
though we decline accepting it. To show our gratefulness,
it the gentleman of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their
sons, we will take great care with their education, instruct
them in all we know, and make men of them.
Canassatego - Treaty of Lancaster
Native American Legends A-B