Chief Seattle* is also alleged to have written to the American Government in the mid 19th centaury. Here he gives a profound understanding of God, the Creator of all. His apprehension about the conquest of the land his nation held in trust is instructive to the western conquest of tribal lands today for mining and other extractive enterprises.

Indigenous peoples are becoming extinct and the diversity of creation threatened with extinction forever by human activity. We seriously the words of Pope John Paul II “We must therefore encourage and support the 'ecological conversion' which in recent decades has made humanity more sensitive to the catastrophe to which it has been heading”.

CHIEF SEATTLE’S LETTER

“The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? How can you buy or sell the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect - all are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.

The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and humans all belong to the same family. The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.
The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother or sister.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather and grandmother their first breath also received their last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where people can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the daughters and sons of the earth.