Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished.

Chief Seattle

Every Part of this Soil

“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors.”

Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle (c. 1786 – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish Tribe (Suquamish) and Dkhw'Duw'Absh (Duwamish) chief. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans' land rights had been attributed to him. However, what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting. The name Seattle is an anglicization of the modern Duwamish conventional spelling Si'ahl.

(1786-1866) Native American Religions
1854 Oration

Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 131 [Chief Seattle, 1854 Oration].

Chief Seattle