FOUR INDIAN KINGS.


ADDISON, JOSEPH, editor. The Spectator, no L. London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, at the Dolphin, April 27, 1711. Folio (305 x 195 mm). 2 pp. Disbound. Toned. Left margin rough.An amusing story, purportedly the transcription of the words of King Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, in which he tells of the strange people and customs he observes among the English during his 1710 visit to London as one of the three Mohawk chiefs and one Mohican chief who comprised the "Four Indian Kings." The visit was part of a diplomatic mission organized by Pieter Schuyler, mayor of Albany. The Kings were received as diplomats, and had an audience with Queen Anne. The King writes: "Their Dress is likewise very barbarous, for they almost strangle themselves about the Neck, and bind their Bodies with many Ligatures ... Instead of those beautiful Feathers with which we adorn our Heads, they often buy up a monstrous Bush of Hair, which covers their Heads, and falls down in a large Fleece below the Middle of their Backs, with which they walk up and down the Streets, and are as proud of it as if it was of their own Growth."