As the Mengwe confederation grew more
powerful they assumed all the arrogance of a protectorate. They sold the
lands of their dependents. They resented all action of the Lenape on
their own account. If the Lenape went to war on some quarrel of their
making, they had the Mengwe to reckon with as well as the enemy. As the
years rolled by in scores, this fiction gradually assumed all the
binding force of fact, till now it was felt that only by the avowal of
the truth by some powerful tribe, both ancient and contemporary, such as
the Cherokee,--who, although allied neither linguistically nor
consanguineously, by some abstruse figment of Indian etiquette affected
an affiliation to the Lenape and called them "grandfather,"--could their
rightful independence be recognized, reestablished, and maintained.
Therefore, "Give me a belt!" cried Tscholens pertinaciously, offering in
exchange the official belt of the Delawares, or, as they were called,
Lenni Lenape.
Nothing less would content him. He hardened himself as flint against all
suave beguilements tending to effect a diversion of interest. He would
not see the horse-race.
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