The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 11/From Robert Hunter to Jonathan Swift - 2
FROM GOVERNOR HUNTER.
QUONORGH quaniou diadadega generoghqua aguegon tchitchenágareé; or, lest you should not have your Iroquoise Dictionary at hand, brother, I honour you and all your tribe; though that is to be taken cum grano salis. For one of them has done me much harm. God reward him, &c. For that, and what you want to know beside relating to me, I refer you to the bearer, Mr. Sharp, our chaplain; a very worthy, ingenious, and conscientious clergyman. I wrote to you some time ago by a merchantship, and therein gave you some hints of my sufferings, which are not diminished since that time. In hopes of a better settlement, I wished for your company. Until that comes, I can contribute to nothing but your spleen. Here is the finest air to live upon in the universe: and if our trees and birds could speak, and our assemblymen be silent, the finest conversation too. Fert omnia tellus, but not for me. For you must understand, according to the custom of our country, the sachems are of the poorest of the people. I have got the wrong side of sir Polidore's office; a great deal to do, and nothing to receive. In a word, and to be serious at last, I have spent three years of life in such torment and vexation, that nothing in life can ever make amends for it. Tu interim sis lætus et memor nostrûm. Vale.