blake murphy > wrote in
:

> my favorite part of that story is that the canarsee indians really had
> no plausible claims to ownership of manhattan in the first place

Essentially, it was the Europeans' mistake that if people lived somewhere,
they automatically had a concept of ownership. Can't blame the Indians.
They probably didn't understand and futhermore the Europeans most likely
embellished the story, making it seem like they had made a great deal,
whereas the natives were in fact merely nodding politely and taking what
was being offered simply because it was being handed to them. If they had
no concept of ownership (generally accepted as a fundamental reality of
North American natives), they cannot have valued, negotiated a sale or even
conceived of a trickery.

There is a story. A priest is living among the Hurons in the Georgian Bay
area and he approaches the chief one day.

He says: I want to go to the next village and I may be gone a month or so.
Can I leave my stuff in the longhouse?

The chief says: Sure, no problem.

The priest, somewhat uncertain, asks: So, you're sure it'll all be safe?
Nobody will steal it?

The chief: Don't worry. There isn't another white man for a hundred miles
around.