Re: OFF: Chief Seattle's letter

FFlores scripsit:
>
> I know it's off-topic, but I'd like to know
> if anybody in the list has the text of the famous
> letter that Chief Seattle (or Seathl), of the Suwamish
> tribe, sent to US President Franklin Pierce to reply
> to his offer of buying their land. I have a translation
> here, and I'd like to have the English text. If anyone
> has it or can mail me a link to it, I'll be grateful.
It's all over the place.  Search the Web for "Chief Seattle" using
AltaVista or your favorite Web search engine.

Be aware, however, that the usual text is a phony written by a
scriptwriter, Ted Perry, for a film (not with the intention to deceive on
the writer's part).  There is internal evidence to this effect:
the canonical text mentions "rotting buffaloes", an event which
happened 2000 km away from Seattle's part of the country.

There is a "legitimate" version which can also be found;
it is the reconstruction, not published till near 20 years later,
of what Seattle was thought to have said at the time.
I don't know which version you have there.

--
John Cowan                                      cowan@ccil.org
                e'osai ko sarji la lojban.