In 2000, Germany issued this stamp commemorating Zinzendorf's meeting with the Indians in 1742. Kleines Lexikon zur Geschichte in Baden und Württemberg

On Friday, September 10/21, the following brethren and sisters bade us a cordial farewell: Bro. Ludwig; Anna Nitschmann; Bro. Pyrlaeus; Jannetje, Bro. Mart. Mack's wife; Bro. Josua, an Indian; and Henrich Leinbach, from Oley. They began their journey from Bethlehem to the Indian nations with the heartfelt blessing of the congregation ... [26]

The journey on horseback took several weeks through areas no white man had seen, and where no roads existed other than narrow paths. In her diary, Anna Nitschmann wrote:

"Our last journey was into the heart of the Indian country, where we sojourned 49 days, encamping under the open heavens, in a savage wilderness amid wild beasts and venomous snakes."[27]

"Our way lay through the forest, over rocks and frightful mountains, and across streams swollen by heavy rains. This was a fatiguing and dangerous journey, and on several occasions we imperiled our lives in fording the creeks which ran with impetuous current."[28]

"Painted with red and black, each with a large knife in his hand, they came in crowds about the tent again and again."

Supplies were running out and the party ate boiled beans for 10 days. The Indians remained suspicious. Mack wrote that he feared "it would be their greatest delight to make way with us."

In fact, there is a story, more legendary than factual, about an assassination attempt: As a party of would-be killers stealthily approached Zinzendorf's tent, they startled a rattlesnake, which crawled over Zinzendorf's body without harming him. The sight caused the Indians to believe that the Great Spirit protected Zinzendorf and they decided not to kill him.

Mack, an eyewitness, had a less dramatic tale:

"The tent was pitched on an eminence. One fine sunny day as [Zinzendorf] sat on the ground within, looking over his papers that lay scattered about him, and as the rest of us were outside, I observed two blow-snakes basking at the edge of the tent. Fearing that they might crawl inside, I moved toward them, intending to dispatch them. They were, however, too quick for me, slipped into the tent, and gliding over [Zinzendorf's] thigh, disappeared among his papers.

"On examination we ascertained that he had been seated at the mouth of their den. Subsequently the Indians informed me that our tent was pitched on the site of an old burying-ground in which hundreds of Indians lay buried. They also told us that there was a deposit of silver ore in the hill, and that we were charged by the Shawanese with having come for the silver and for nothing else.

"This statement proved to be a fiction invented by the wily savages in order to afford them some grounds for an altercation with us, and to bring us into general disrepute; for we subsequently learned that the hill on which our tent had been pitched was not the locality of the precious ore."[29]

"We were completely foiled, and saw that our mission was a failure," Mack wrote. The danger to their lives was imminent.

Fortunately, Weiser, who had been called away on "business for the Province," reached the missionary camp. As a government agent, he held some authority with the Indians. His arrival probably saved their lives, though some Indians continued to swarm around the tent in a threatening manner. Zinzendorf finally decided to pack it in, and the party left. They had been gone from Bethlehem for seven weeks.

(Despite this initial setback, the Moravians established several missions among the native Americans.)

Chapter 8