This we know: the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to God and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many people and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone!

Where will the eagle be? Gone! …………

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us. As we are part of the land, you too are part of the

land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

One thing we know - there is only one God. No one, be they Red or White, can be apart. We are ALL brothers and sisters after all.”

* Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians, gave his famous speech in downtown Seattle in December 1854. He was then in his late fifties or early sixties. The only known version of this speech comes to us from Dr. Henry A. Smith, a settler and writer who took notes at the time and transcribed them some 30 years later.