the last of mohicans james fenimore cooper

The lengthened sheet of the Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada, deep within the borders of the neighboring province of New York, forming a natural passage across half the distance that the French were compelled to master in order to strike their enemies. The facilities which nature had there offered to the march of the combatants were too obvious to be neglected. Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontiers can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods than the country which lies between the head waters of the Hudson and the adjacent lakes. But, emulating the patience and self-denial of the practiced native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty and it would seem that, in time, there was no recess of the woods so dark, nor any secret place so lovely, that it might claim exemption from the inroads of those who had pledged their blood to satiate their vengeance, or to uphold the cold and selfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe. The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at his side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict.

A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts could meet. The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold:. “Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared: You should visit Browse Happy and update your internet browser today! The embedded audio player requires a modern internet browser.

The last of mohicans james fenimore cooper