THE ARRIVAL OF THE DELAWARES AT WYOMING. On their arrival at Wyoming, the Delawares found the valley in possession of the Shawanese; but as these Indians acknowledged the authority of the Six Nations, and knew that the removal of the Delawares was in consequence of their orders, resistance was thought to be inexpedient, and the Delawares, having taken quiet possession of a part of the valley, built their town of Maughwauwama on the east bank of the river, upon the lower flat, below the mouth of a small stream, and nearly opposite the first island above the mouth of Toby's Creek. Such was the origin of the Indian town of Wyoming. COUNT ZINZENDORF. Soon after the arrival of the Delawares, and during the same season (the summer of the year 1742), a distinguished foreigner, Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, visited the valley on a religious mission to the Indians. This nobleman is believed to have been the first white person that ever came to Wyoming. He was the reviver of the ancient church of the United Brethren, and had given protection in his dominions to the persecuted Protestants who had emigrated from Moravia, thence taking the name of Moravians, and who, two years before, had made their first settlement in Pennsylvania. Upon his arrival in America, Count Zinzendorf manifested great anxiety to have the Gospel preached to the Indians, and although he had heard much of the ferocity of the Shawanese, formed a resolution to visit them. With this view he repaired to Tulpehocken, the residence of Conrad Weiser, a celebrated Indian interpreter, and Indian agent for the Government, whom he wished to engage in the cause, and to accompany him to the Shawanese town. Weiser was too much occupied in business to go immediately to Wyoming; but he furnished the count with letters to a missionary of the name of Mack, and the latter, accompanied by his wife, who could speak the Indian language, proceeded immediately with Zinzendorf on the projected mission. THE ALARM OF THE SHAWANESE. The Shawanese appeared to be alarmed at the arrival of the strangers, who pitched their tents on the banks of the river a little below the town, and a council of the chiefs having assembled, the declared purpose of Zinzendorf was deliberately considered. To these unlettered children of the wilderness, it ap peared altogether improbable that a stranger should brave the dangers of a boisterous ocean, three thousand miles broad, for the sole purpose of instructing them in the means of obtaining happiness after death, and that too without requiring any compensation for his trouble and expense; and as they had observed the anxiety of the white people to purchase lands of the Indians, they naturally concluded that the real object of Zinzendorf was either to procure from them the lands at Wyoming for his own uses, to search for hidden treasures, or to examine the country with a view to future conquest. It was accordingly resolved to assassinate him, and to do it privately, lest the knowledge of the transaction should produce a war with the English, who were settling the country below the mountains. THE RATTLESNAKE LESSON. Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated on a couch of dry weeds, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary to his comfort and convenience. A curtain formed of a blanket, and hung upon pins, was the only guard to the entrance of his tent. The heat of his small fire had aroused a large rattlesnake, which lay in the weeds not far from it; and the reptile, to enjoy it more effectually, crawled slowly into the tent, and passed over one of his legs undiscovered. Without all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river at the rapids, some distance below. At this moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and, slightly removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay extended before him. At a sight like this, even the hearts of the savages shrunk from the idea of committing so horrid an act, and, quitting the spot, they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions that the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his legs without attempting to injure him. THE COMING OF THE NANTICOKES. In May, 1748, large numbers of a tribe of Indians called the Nanticokes, who inhabited the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, having difficulties with the increasing English settlements in that region, removed to Wyoming with their chief sachem, called White. Finding the principal part of the valley in possession of the Shawanese and Delawares, the Nanticokes built their town at the lower end of the valley, on the east bank of the river, just above the mouth of a small creek still called Nanticoke Creek. EARLY ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENTS OF WYOMING BY THE WHITES. Although Count Zinzendorf was the first white man that ever visited Wyoming, and some of the religious body with which he was connected, and of which he was the head, doubtless followed him to the valley shortly after, it does not appear that the Moravians made any attempt to remain permanently there; they only visited it as missionaries, and in their efforts to Christianize the Indians they met with a measure of success. The permanent abode of the Brethren had been established at Bethlehem, on the Lehigh, which has been retained by them to the present time. THE CONNECTICUT COMPANY. In the summer of 1755, a company procured the consent of the colony of Connecticut for the establishment of a settlement within the limits of a purchase which had been made from the authorities of that |