In winter, they hang about them simply an undressed deer or bear or panther skin; or they take some beaver and otter skins, wild cat, raccoon, martin, otter, mink, squirrel or such like skins, which are plenty in this country, and sew some of them to others, until it is a square piece, and that is then a garment for them… They make themselves stockings and also shoes of deer skin, or they take leaves of their corn, and plait [braid] them together and use them for shoes.
They generally live without marriage; and if any of them have wives, the marriage continues no longer than seems good to one of the parties, and then they separate, and each takes another partner. I have seen those who had parted, and afterwards lived a long time with others, leave these again, seek their former partners, and again be one pair.
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- Johannes Megapolensis’ descriptions of the Mohawk. He was a thirty-nine-year-old Dutch minister who made his way to Fort Orange with his wife and four children in 1642. The fort, built north of New Amsterdam (New York City) along the Hudson River, was very important for the Dutch fur trade. Megapolensis had a six-year contract with the West India Company, the Dutch company that monopolized the Netherlands’ North American trade, and so the fur trade. He was send to Fort Orange as a pastor, to fill the spiritual needs of the inhabitants of the area. Megapolensis described his experience in a series of letters that were later published as a book.
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