Last of the Mohicans Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Her complexion was not brown, but it rather appeared charged with the color of the rich blood, that seemed ready to burst its bounds. And yet there was neither coarseness nor want of shadowing in a countenance that was exquisitely regular, and dignified and surpassingly beautiful. (1.21)

How do you read this passage, given that we later learn Cora is part black? Is it complimentary? Derogatory? A mixture of both?

Quote #2

"There is reason in an Indian, though nature has made him with a red skin!" said the white man, shaking his head like one on whom such an appeal to his justice was not thrown away. (3.6)

Are Native Americans not supposed to have reason in The Last of the Mohicans? Where else in the book do we see Indians acting reasonably or unreasonably? Is there a pattern?

Quote #3

"I see nothing, nor do I hear the sounds of man or beast; 'tis strange that an Indian should understand white sounds better than a man who, his very enemies will own, has no cross in his blood, although he may have lived with the red skins long enough to be suspected!" (3.45)

Here it seems as though there are Indian attributes that even Hawkeye, who has lived among the Indians for a very long time, cannot access. These attributes are tied to race and genetics rather than culture.