 I will insert here a little tale about the bear, which has not before appeared in print, as representing their human way of looking on these animals, even when engaged in their pursuit. To me such stories give a fine sense of the lively perceptions and exercise of fancy enjoyed by them in their lives of woodcraft. Makhwa or the bear A young Indian who lived a great while ago when he was quite young killed a bear, and the tribe from that circumstance called him Makhwa. As he grew up he became an expert hunter, and his favorite game was the bear, many of which he killed. One day he started off to a river, far remote from the lodges of his tribe, and where berries and grapes were very plenty, in pursuit of bears. He hunted all day but found nothing, and just at night he came to some lodges, which he thought to be those of some of his tribe. He approached the largest of them, lifted the curtain at its entrance, and went in. Then he perceived the inmates to be bears, who were seated around the fires smoking. He said nothing, but seated himself also and smoked the pipe which they offered him, in silence. An old gray bear who was the chief, ordered supper to be brought for him, and after he had eaten it addressed him as follows. My son, I am glad to see you come among us in a friendly manner. You have been a great hunter, and all the she-bears of our tribe tremble when they hear your name, but cease to trouble us and come and live with me. We have a very pleasant life, living upon the fruits of the earth, and in the winter, instead of being obliged to hunt and travel through the deep snow, we sleep soundly until the sun unchains the streams, and makes the tender buds put forth for our subsistence. I will give you my daughter for a wife, and we will live happily together. Bara was inclined to accept the old bear's offer, but when he saw the daughter who came and took off his wet moccasins and gave him dry ones, he thought that he had never seen any Indian woman so beautiful. He accepted the offer of the chief of the bears, and lived with his wife very happily for some time. He had by her two sons, one of whom was like an Indian, and the other like a bear. When the bear-child was oppressed with heat, his mother would take him into the deep, cool caves, while the Indian child would shiver with cold and cry after her in vain. As the autumn advanced, the bears began to go out in search of acorns, and then the she-bear said to Makwa, �Stay at home here and watch our house, while I go to gather some nuts.� She departed and was gone for some days with her people. By and by Makwa became tired of staying at home, and thought that he would go off to a distance and resume his favorite bear-hunting. He accordingly started off, and at last came to a grove of lofty oaks which were full of large acorns. He found signs of a bear, and soon aspied a fat she-bear on the top of a tree. He shot at her with a good aim, and she fell, pierced by his unerring arrow. He went up to her, and found it was his sister-in-law who reproached him with his cruelty, and told him to return to his own people. Makwa returned quietly home, and pretended not to have left his lodge. However, the old chief understood, and was disposed to kill him in revenge, but his wife found means to avert her father's anger. The winter season now coming on, Makwa prepared to accompany his wife into winter quarters. They selected a large tamarack tree, which was hollow, and lived there comfortably until a party of hunters discovered their retreat. The she-bear told Makwa to remain quietly in the tree, and that she would decoy off the hunters. She came out of the hollow, jumped from a bow of the tree, and escaped unharmed, although the hunters shot after her. Some time after she returned to the tree, and told Makwa that he had better go back to his own people. Since you have lived among us, said she, we have nothing but ill fortune. You have killed my sister, and now your friends have followed your footsteps to our retreats to kill us. The Indian and the Bear cannot live in the same lodge, for the Master of Life has appointed for them different habitations. So Makwa returned with his son to his own people, but he never afterward shoot a she-bear for fear that he should kill his wife. I admire this story for the Savoir-faire, the nonchalance, the Vivian graism of Indian life. It is also a poetical expression of the sorrows of unequal relations, those in which the Master of Life was not consulted. Is it not pathetic the picture of the mother carrying off the child that was like herself into the deep, cool caves, while the other, shivering with cold, cried after her in vain? The moral, too, of Makwa's return to the bear lodges, thinking to hide his sin by silence, while it was at once discerned by those connected with him, is fine. We have a nursery tale, of which children never weary, of a little boy visiting a bear-house and holding intercourse with him on terms as free as Makwa did. So perhaps the child of Norman Saxon-blood, no less than the Indian, finds some pulse of the Orson in his veins. As they love to draw the lower forms of nature up to them, divining their histories and imitating their ways in their wild dances and paintings, even so did they love to look upward and people the atmosphere that enfolds the earth with fairies and manitos. The sister, obliged to leave her brother on the earth, bids him look up at evening and he will see her painting her face in the west. All places distinguished in any way by nature arouse the feelings of worship, which, however ignorant, are always elevating. See his instances in this kind the stories of Nanabuju and the Winnebago Prince at the Falls of St. Anthony. As with the Greeks, beautiful legends grow up which express the aspects of various localities. From the distant sand-banks in the lakes, glittering in the sun, come stories of enchantresses combing on the shore the long golden hair of a beautiful daughter. The Lorelei of the Rhine with her siren song and the sad events that follow is found on the lonely rocks of Lake Superior. The story to which I now refer may be found in a book called Life on the Lakes or A Trip to the Pictured Rocks. There are two which purport to be Indian tales. One is simply a romantic narrative, connected with a spot at Mackinaw called Robinson's Folly. This no less than the other was unknown to those persons I saw on the island, but as they seem entirely beyond the powers of the person who writes them down, and the other one has the profound and original meaning of Greek tragedy, I believe they must be genuine legends. The one I admire is the story of a young warrior who goes to keep on these lonely rocks the fast which is to secure him vision of his tutelary spirit. There the loneliness is broken by the voice of sweet music from the water. The Indian knows well that to break the fast, which is the crisis of his life, by turning his attention from seeking the great spirit to any lower object will deprive him through life of heavenly protection, probably called down the severest punishment. But the temptation is too strong for him. Like the victims of the Lorelei he looks, like them beholds a maiden of unearthly beauty, to him the harbinger of earthly woe. The development of his fate that succeeds, of love, of heartbreak, of terrible revenge, which back upon itself recoils, may vie with anything I have ever known of stern tragedy, is altogether unlike any other form, and with all the peculiar expression we see lurking in the Indian eye. The demon is not frightful and fantastic, like those that haunt the German forest, but terribly human, as if a full manhood reared in the shadow of the black forests. An Indian sarcasm vibrates through it, which, with Indian fortitude, defies the inevitable torture. The Indian is steady to that simple creed which forms the basis of all this mythology, that there is a God, and a life beyond this, a right and wrong which each man can see betwixt which each man should choose, that good brings with it its reward, and vice its punishment. Their moral code, if not refined as that of civilized nations, is clear and noble in the stress light upon truth and fidelity. And all unprejudiced observers bear testimony that the Indians, until broken from their old anchorage by intercourse with the Whites, who offer them instead a religion of which they furnish neither interpretation nor example, were singularly virtuous, if virtue be allowed to consist in a man's acting up to his own ideas of right. Old Dare, who lived forty years among the Indians, not these tribes indeed but the Southern Indians, does great justice to their religious aspiration. He has persuaded that they are Jews, and his main object is to identify their manifold ritual and customs connected with it with that of the Jews. His narrative contains much that is worthless and is written in the most tedious manner of the folios. But his devotion to the records of ancient Jewry has really given him power to discern congenial traits elsewhere, and for the sake of what he has expressed of the noble side of Indian character, we pardon him are having to wade through so many imbecilities. An infidel, he says, is, in their language, one who has shaken hands with the accursed speech. A religious man, one who has shaken hands with the beloved speech. If this be a correct definition, we could wish a Dare more religious. He gives a fine account of their methods of purification. These show a deep reliance on the sustaining spirit. By fasting and prayer they make ready for all important decisions and actions. Even for the war-path, on which he is likely to endure such privations, the brave prepares by a solemn fast. His reliance is on the spirit in which he goes forth. We may contrast with the opinion of the missionary, as given on a former page, the testimony of one who knew them as a Dare did to their heroism under torture. He gives several stories illustrative both of their courage, fortitude, and resource in time of peril, and of which I will cite only the two first. The Shawano Indians took a Muscogee warrior, known by the name of Old Scranny. They bastionadoed him in the usual manner, and condemned him to the fiery torture. He underwent a great deal without showing any concern. His countenance and behavior were as if he suffered not the least pain, and was formed beyond the common laws of nature. He told them with a bold voice that he was a very noted warrior, and gained most of his martial performance at the expense of their nation, and was desirous of showing them, in the act of dying, that he was still as much their superior as when he headed his gallant countrymen against them. That, although he had fallen into their hands in forfeiting the protection of the divine power by some impurity or other, yet he had still so much virtue remaining as would enable him to punish himself more exquisitely than all their despicable, ignorant crowd could possibly do if they gave him liberty by untieing him, and would hand to him one of the red hot gun barrels out of the fire. The proposal, and his method of address, appeared so exceedingly bold and uncommon that his request was granted. Then he suddenly seized one end of the red hot barrel, and, brandishing it from side to side, he found his way through the armed and surprised multitude, and leaped down a prodigious steep and high bank into a branch of the river, dived through it, ran over a small island, passed the other branch amidst a shower of bullets, and, though numbers of his eager enemies were in close pursuit of him, he got to a bramble swamp and in that naked, mangled condition reached his own country. He proved a sharp thorn in their side afterwards, to the day of his death. The shawano also captivated a warrior of the Anatulia, and put him to the stake according to their usual cruel solemnities. Having unconcernedly suffered much sharp torture, he told them with scorn they did not know how to punish a noted enemy. Therefore he was willing to teach them, and would confirm the truth of his assertion, if they allowed him the opportunity. Accordingly he requested of them a pipe and some tobacco, which was given to him. As soon as he lighted it he sat down, naked as he was, on the women's burning torches that were within his circle, and continued smoking his pipe without the least discomposure. On this a head warrior leaped up and said they had seen plain enough that he was a warrior and not afraid of dying, nor should he have died, but that he was both spoiled by the fire and devoted to it by their laws. However, though he was a very dangerous enemy, and his nation a treacherous people, it should appear that they paid a regard to bravery, even in one who was marked over the body with war-streaks at the cost of many lives of their beloved kindred. And then, by way of favour, he with his friendly tomahawk put an end to all his pains. Though this merciful but bloody instrument was ready some minutes before it gave the blow, yet I was assured the spectators could not perceive the sufferer to change, either his posture or his steady erect countenance in the least. Some stories as fine but longer follow. In reference to which Adair says, the intrepid behaviour of these red stoics, their surprising contempt of and indifference to life or death, instead of lessening, helps to confirm our belief of that supernatural power which supported the great number of primitive martyrs who sealed the Christian faith with their blood. The Indians have as much belief and expectation of a future state as the greater part of the Israelites seem to have. But the Christians of the first century may justly be said to exceed even the most heroic American Indians, for they bore the bitterest persecution with steady patience in imitation of their divine leader Messiah, in full confidence of divine support and of a glorious recompense of reward, and instead of even wishing for revenge on their cruel enemies and malicious tormentors, which is the chief principle that actuates the Indians, they not only forgave them, but in the midst of their tortures earnestly prayed for them, with composed countenances, sincere love, and unabated fervour. And not only men of different conditions, but the delicate women and children suffered with constancy, and died praying for their tormentors. The Indian women and children, with their young men untrained to war, are incapable of displaying the like patience and magnanimity. Thus, impartially, looks the old traitor. I meant to have inserted other passages, that of the encampment at Yohani, and the horse race to which he challenged them, to show how well he could convey, in his garrulous fashion, the whole presence of Indian life. That of Yohani especially takes my fancy much, by its wild and subtle air, and the old nurse fashion in which every look and gesture is detailed. His enjoyment, too, at outwitting the Indians in their own fashion is contagious. There is a fine history of a young man, driven by a presentiment, to run upon his death. But I find to copy these stories, as they stand, would have filled this little book, and compression would spoil them. So I must wait some other occasion. The story later of giving an Indian liquid fire to swallow, I give it full length, to show how a kind-hearted man, and one well disposed towards them, can treat them, and view his barbarity as a joke. It is not then so much wonder, if the traitor, with this same feeling that they may be treated, as however brute should not be, brutally, mixes red pepper and damaged tobacco with the rum, intending in their fever to fleece them of all they possess. Like Murray and Henry, he has his great Indian chief, who represents what the people should be, as pericles and foshan what the Greek people should be. If we are entitled to judge by its best fruits of the goodness of the tree, Adair's red shoes, and Henry's wawatum, should make us respect the first possessors of our country, and doubt whether we are in all ways worthy to fill their place. Of the whole tone of character, judgment may be formed by what is said of the death of red shoes. His chief, by his several transcendent qualities, had arrived at the highest pitch of the red glory. He was murdered for the sake of a French reward by one of his own countrymen. He had them as fortune to be taken very sick on the road, and to lodge apart from the camp, according to their custom. A Judas, tempted by the high reward of the French for killing him, officiously pretended to take great care of him. While red shoes kept his face toward him, the barbarian had such feelings of awe and pity that he had not power to perpetrate his wicked design. But when he turned his back, then gave the fatal shot. In this manner fell this valuable brave man, by hands that would have trembled to attack him on inequality. Adair, with all his sympathy for the Indian, mixes quite unconsciously some white man's views of the most decided sort. For instance, he recommends that the tribes be stimulated as much as possible to war with each other, that they may the more easily and completely be kept under the dominion of the whites, and he keeps the following record of brutality as quite a jocos and a droit procedure. I told him, on his importuning me further, that I had a full bottle of the water of Ain Whom, bitter ears, meaning long pepper, of which he was ignorant. We were of opinion that his eager thirst for liquor, as well as his ignorance of the burning quality of the pepper, would induce the Bacchanal to try it. He accordingly applauded my generous disposition, and said, his heart had all along told him I would not act beneath the character I bore among his country-people. The bottle was brought, I laid it on the table, and then told him, as he was spitting very much, a general custom among the Indians when they are eager for anything. If I drank it all at one sitting it would cause me to spit in earnest, as I used it only when I ate, and then very moderately. But though I loved it, if his heart was very poor for it I should be silent, and not the least grudge him for pleasing his mouth. He said, your heart is honest indeed, I thank you, for it is good to my heart and makes it greatly to rejoice. Without any further ceremony he seized the bottle, uncorked it, and swallowed a large quantity of the burning liquid, till he was nearly strangled. He gasped for a considerable time, and as soon as he recovered his breath he said, Ha! And soon after kept stroking his throat with his right hand. When the violence of this burning draught was pretty well over he began to flourish away in praise of the strength of the liquor and bounty of the giver. He then went to his companion and held the liquor to his mouth, according to custom, till he took several hearty swallows. This Indian seemed rather more sensible of its fiery quality than the other, for it suffocated him for a considerable time. But as soon as he recovered his breath he tumbled about the floor like a drunken person. In this manner they finished the whole bottle into which two others had been decanted. The burning liquor so highly inflamed their bodies that one of the chalk-taws to cool his inward parts drank water till he almost burst. The other, rather than bear the ridicule of the people and the inward fire that distracted him, drowned himself the second night after in a broad and shallow clay hole. There was an incident similar which happened among the Cherokees. When all the liquor was expended the Indians went home, leading with them, at my request, those that were drunk. One, however, soon came back, and earnestly importuned me for more nawati, which signifies both physic and spiritous liquor. They, as they are now becoming great liars, suspect all others of being infected with their own disposition and principles. The more I excused myself, the more anxious he grew, so as to become offensive. I then told him I had only one quarter of a bottle of strong physic, which sick people might drink in small quantities, for the cure of inward pains, and laying it down before him I declared I did not on any account choose to part with it. But as his speech had become very long and troublesome he might do just as his heart directed him concerning it. He took it up, saying, his heart was very poor for physic, but he would cure it and make it quite straight. The bottle contained three gills of strong spirits of turpentine, which in a short time he drank off. Such a quantity would have demolished me or any white person. The Indians in general are either capable of suffering exquisite pain longer than we are, or of showing more constancy and composure in their torments. The troublesome visitor soon tumbled down and foamed prodigiously. I then sent for some of his relations to carry him home. They came. I told them he drank greedily and too much of the physic. They said it was his usual custom when the red people bought the English physic. They gave him a decoction of proper herbs and roots. The next day sweated him, repeated the former draft, and he got well. As these turpentine spirits did not inebriate him, but only inflamed his intestines, he well remembered the burning quality of my favourite physic, and cautioned the rest from ever teasing me for any physic I had concealed in any sort of bottles for my own use. Otherwise they might be sure it would spoil them like the eating of fire. We are pleased to note that the same white man, who so resolutely resisted the encroachments of Kiwenowat, devised a more humane expedient in a similar dilemma. Mr. B. told me that when he first went into the Indian country, they got the taste of his peppermint, and after that, collocks prevailed among them to an alarming extent, till Mrs. B. made a strong decoction of flag-root, and gave them, in place of their favourite medicine. This affected, as might be supposed, a radical cure. I am inclined to recommend a dare to the patient reader, if such may be found in these United States, with the assurance that, if he will have tolerance for its intolerable prolixity in dryness, he will find, on rising from the book, that he has partaken of an infusion of real Indian bitters, such as may not be drawn from any of the more attractive memoirs on the same subject. Another book of interest, from its fidelity and candid spirit, though written without vivacity, and by a person neither of large mind nor prepared for various inquiry, is Carver's Travels, for three years throughout the interior parts of America, for more than five thousand miles. He set out from Boston in June 1786, and proceeded by way of Albany and Niagara to Mitchell-a-Maconac, a fort situated between the lakes Huron and Michigan, and distant from Boston thirteen hundred miles. It is interesting to follow his footsteps in these localities, though they be not bold footsteps. He mentions the town of the Sacks, on the Wisconsin, as the largest and best-built he saw, composed of ninety houses, each large enough for several families. These are built of hewn plank, neatly jointed, and covered with bark so compactly as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors are placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit, when the weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular and spacious. In their plantations, which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they raise great quantities of Indian corn, beans, and melons. Such settlements compare very well with those which are found on the Mohawk. It was of such that the poor Indian was thinking, whom our host saw gazing on the shore of Nobaban Lake. He mentions the rise and fall of the lake waters, by a tide of three feet, once in seven years, a phenomenon not yet accounted for. His view of the Indian character is truly impartial. He did not see it so fully drawn out by circumstances, as Henry did, of whose narrative we shall presently speak, but we come to similar results from the two witnesses. They are in every feature Romans, as described by Carver, and patriotism their leading impulse. He deserves the more credit for the justice he is able to do them, that he had undergone the terrors of death at their hands, when present at the surrender of one of the forts, and had seen them in that mood which they express by drinking the blood and eating the hearts of their enemies, yet is able to understand the position of their minds, and allow for their notions of duty. No selfish views, as he, influence their advice or obstruct their consultations. Let me mention here the use they make of their vapor baths. When about to decide on some important measure, they go into them, thus cleansing the skin, and carrying off any peccant humours, so that the body may, as little as possible, impede the mind by any ill conditions. They prepare the bath for one another, when any arrangement is to be made between families, on the opposite principle to the whites, who make them drunk before bargaining with them. The bath serves them instead of a cup of coffee, to stimulate the thinking powers. He mentions other instances of their kind of delicacy, which, if different from ours, was perhaps more rigidly observed. Lovers never spoke of love till the daylight was quite gone. If an Indian goes to visit any particular person in a family, he mentions for whom his visit is intended, and the rest of the family, immediately retiring to the other end of the hut or tent, are careful not to come near enough to interrupt them during the whole of the conversation. In cases of divorce, which was easily obtained, the advantage rested with the woman. The reason given is indeed contemptuous toward her, but a chivalric direction is given to the contempt. The children of the Indians are always distinguished by the name of the mother, and if a woman marries several husbands, and has issue by each of them, they are called after her. The reason they give for this is that, as their offspring are indebted to the father for the soul, the invisible part of their essence, and to the mother for their corporeal and apparent part, it is most rational that they should be distinguished by the name of the latter, from whom they indubitably derive their present being. This is precisely the division of functions made by Ovid, as the father sees Hercules perishing on the funeral pyre. Like Nisima Ternov, Volcanum parte potentum sentiet, Eternum est, ame quad traxit et experis, atque imune nesis, nelaque domabile flama. He is not enough acquainted with natural history to make valuable observations. He mentions, however, as did my friend the Indian girl, that those splendid flowers, the wikipi and the root of the wake robin, required valuable medicines. Here, as in the case of the Lobelia, nature has blazoned her drug in higher colors than did ever quack doctor. He observes some points of resemblance between the Indians and Tartars, but they are trivial and not well considered. He mentions that the Tartars have the same custom, with some of these tribes, of shaving all the head except a tuft on the crown. Volcanum says, this is intended to afford a convenient means by which to take away the scalp, for they consider it a great disgrace to have the foemen neglect this, as if he considered the conquest of which the scalp is the certificate, no addition to his honors. The Tartars, he says, had a similar custom of sacrificing the dog, and among the Cumshotkins was a dance resembling the dog-dance of our Indians. My friend, who joined me at Mackinaw, happened on the homeward journey to see a little Chinese girl who had been sent over by one of the missions, and observed that, in features, complexion, and gesture, she was a counterpart to the little Indian girls she had just seen playing about on the lakeshore. The parentage of these tribes is still an interesting subject of speculation, though if they be not created for this region they have become so assimilated to it as to retain little trace of any other. To me it seems most probable that a peculiar race was bestowed on each region, as the lion on one latitude and the white bear on another. As man has two natures, one, like that of the plants and animals, adapted to the uses and enjoyments of this planet, another which presages and demands a higher sphere, he is constantly breaking bounds in proportion, as the mental gets the better of the mere instinctive existence. As yet he loses in harmony of being what he gains in height and extension. The civilized man is a larger mind, but a more imperfect nature than the savage. It is pleasant to meet on the borders of these two states one of those persons who combines some of the good qualities of both, not as so many of these adventurers do, the rapaciousness and cunning of the white with the narrowness and ferocity of the savage, but the sentiment and thoughtfulness of the one with the boldness, personal resource and fortitude of the other. Such a person was Alexander Henry, who left Quebec in 1760 for Mackinac and the Sault Ste. Marie, and remained in those regions, of which he has given us a most lively account, sixteen years. His visit to Mackinac was premature. The Indians were far from satisfied. They hated their new masters. From the first the omens were threatening, and before many months passed the discontent ended in the seizing of the Ford at Mackinac and massacre of its garrison, on which occasion Henry's life was saved by a fine act of Indian chivalry. Wawatam, a distinguished chief, had found himself drawn by strong affinity to the English stranger. He had adopted him as a brother in the Indian mode. When he found that his tribe had determined on the slaughter of the whites, he obtained permission to take Henry away with him, if he could. But not being able to prevail on him, as he could not assign the true reasons, he went away deeply saddened, but not without obtaining a promise that his brother should not be injured. The reason he was obliged to go was that his tribe felt his affections were so engaged that his self-command could not be depended on to keep their secret. Their promise was not carefully observed, and in consequence of the baseness of a French Canadian in whose house Henry took refuge. Baseness such as has not, even by their foes, been recorded of any Indian. His life was placed in great hazard. But Wawatam returns in time to save him. The scene in which he appears, accompanied by his wife, who seems to have gone hand in hand with him in this matter, lays down all his best things in a heap in the middle of the hall as a ransom for the captive, and his little quiet speech are as good as the Iliad. They have the same simplicity, the same lively force and tenderness. Henry goes away with his adopted brother and lives for some time among the tribe. The details of this life are truly interesting. One time he is lost for several days while on the chase. The description of these weary, groping days, the aspect of natural objects and of the feelings thus inspired, and the mental change after a good night's sleep, form a little episode worthy the epic muse. He stripped off the entire bark of a tree for a coverlet in the snowstorm, going to sleep with the most distracted thoughts in the world while the wolves around seemed to know the distress to which he was reduced. But he waked in the morning another man, clear-headed, able to think out the way to safety. When living in the lodge he says, at one time much scarcity of food prevailed. We were often twenty-four hours without eating, and when in the morning we had no vitals for the day before us the custom was, to black our faces with grease and charcoal, and exhibit through resignation a temper as cheerful as in the midst of plenty. This wise and dignified proceeding reminds one of a charming expression of what is best in French character, as described by Rigolette in the Mysteries of Paris, of the household of Père Créto and Ramonnet. He bears witness to much virtue among them. Their superstitions, as described by him, seem childlike and touching. He gives with much humour traits that show their sympathy with the lower animals, such as I have mentioned. He speaks of them as, on the whole, taciturn, because their range of topics is so limited, and seems to have seen nothing of their talent for narration. Catlin, on the contrary, describes them as lively and garrulous, and says that their apparent taciturnity among the whites is owing to their being surprised at what they see and unwilling from pride to show that they are so, as well as that they have little to communicate on their side that they think will be valuable. After peace was restored and Henry lived long at Mackinac and the Sault Ste. Marie as a trader, the traits of his biography and intercourse with the Indians are told in the same bold and lively style. I wish I had room for many extracts, as the book is rare. He made a journey one winter on snowshoes to Prairie de Chez, which is of romantic interest as displaying his character. His companions could not travel nearly so fast as he did, and detained him on the way. Provisions fell short. Soon they were ready to perish of starvation. Apprehending this on a long journey in the depth of winter, broken by no hospitable station, Henry had secreted some chocolate. When he saw his companions ready to lie down and die, he would heat water, boil in it a square of this, and give them. By the heat of the water and the fancy of nourishment they would be revived and induced to proceed a little further. At last they saw antlers sticking up from the ice and found the body of an elk which had sunk in and been frozen there and thus preserved to save their lives. On this an excellent soup made from bones they found they were sustained to their journey's end, thus furnishing, says Henry, one other confirmation of the truth, that despair was not made for man. This expression and his calm consideration for the Canadian woman that was willing to betray him to death denote the two sides of a fine character. He gives an interesting account of the tribe called the Weepers, on account of the rites with which they interrupt their feasts in honour of their friends. He gives this humorous notice of a chief called the Great Road. The chief, to whose kindly reception we were so much indebted, was of a complexion rather darker than that of the Indians in general. His appearance was greatly injured by the condition of his hair, and this was the result of an extraordinary superstition. The Indians universally fix upon a particular object as sacred to themselves, as the giver of prosperity and as their preserver from evil. The choice is determined either by a dream or some strong predilection of fancy, and usually falls upon an animal, part of an animal, or something else which is to be met with by land or by water. But the Great Road had made choice of his hair, placing like Samson all his safety in this portion of his proper substance. His hair was the fountain of all his happiness. It was his strength in his weapon, his spear in his shield. It preserved him in battle, directed him in the chase, watched over him in the march, and gave length of days to his wives and children. Hair of a quality like this was not to be profaned by the touch of human hands. I was assured that it had never been cut nor combed from his childhood upward, and that when any part of it fell from his head he treasured that part with care. Meanwhile, it did not escape all care even while growing on his head, but was in the especial charge of a spirit who dressed it while the owner slept. The spirit style of hairdressing was peculiar, the hair being matted into ropes which spread in all directions. I insert the following account of a visit from some Indians to him at Mackinaw, with a design to frighten him, and one to carver for the same purpose, as very descriptive of Indian manners. At two o'clock in the afternoon the Chippeways came to my house, about sixty in number, and headed by Mina Vavanna, their chief. They walked in single file, each with his tomahawk in one hand, and scalpy knife in the other. Their bodies were naked from the waist upwards, except in a few examples where blankets were thrown loosely over the shoulders. Their faces were painted with charcoal, worked up with grease. Their bodies with white clay in patterns of various fancies. Some had feathers thrust through their noses, and their heads decorated with the same. It is unnecessary to dwell on the sensations with which I beheld the approach of this uncouth, if not frightful, assemblage. Looking out, I saw about twenty naked young Indians, the most perfect in their shape, and by far the handsomest I had ever seen, coming towards me, and dancing, as they approached to the music of their drums. At every ten or twelve yards they halted, and set up their yells and cries. When they reached my tent I asked them to come in, which, without daining to make me any answer, they did. As I observed they were painted red and black, as they are when they go against an enemy, and perceived that some parts of the war-dance were intermixed with their other movements, I doubted not, but that they were set on by the hostile chief, who refused my salutation. I therefore determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. To this purpose I received them sitting on my chest, with my gun and pistols beside me, and ordered my men to keep a watchful eye on them, and be also on their guard. The Indians being entered they continued their dance alternately, singing at the same time of their heroic exploits, and the superiority of their race over every other people. To enforce their language, though it was uncommonly nervous and expressive, and such as would of itself have carried terror to the firmest heart, at the end of every period they struck their war-clubs against the poles of my tent, with such violence that I expected every moment it would have tumbled upon us. As each of them in dancing round passed by me, they placed their right hands over their eyes, and, coming close to me, looked me steadily in the face, which I could not construe into a token of friendship. My men gave themselves up for lost, and I acknowledged for my own part that I never found my apprehensions more tumultuous on any occasion. He mollified them, however, in the end, by presence. It is pity that Lord Edward Fitzgerald did not leave a detailed account of his journey through the wilderness, where he was pilot of an unknown course for twenty days, as Murray and Henry have of theirs. There is nothing more interesting than to see the civilized man thus thrown wholly on himself and his manhood, and not found at fault. And Hall's book upon the Indians is a valuable work. The portraits of the chiefs alone would make a history, and they are beautifully colored. Most of the anecdotes may be found again in Drake's book of the Indians, which will afford a useful magazine to their future historian. I shall, however, cite a few of them, as especially interesting to myself. Of Guess, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, it was observable in the picture, and observed in the text, that his face had an oriental cast. The same, we may recall, was said of that of the Cirrus of Prevorst, and the circumstance presents pleasing analogies. Intellect, dawning through features still simple and national, presents very different apparitions from the expressive and historical faces of a broken and cultured race, where there is always more to divine than to see. Of the picture of the flying pigeon, the beautiful and excellent woman mentioned above, a keen observer said, If you cover the forehead, you would think the face that of a Madonna. But the forehead is still savage. The perceptive faculties look so sharp, and the forehead is not molded like a European forehead. This is very true. In her, the moral nature was most developed, and the effect of a higher growth upon her face is entirely different from that upon guess. His eye is interned, while the proper Indian eye gazes steadily, as if on a distant object. That is half the romance of it, that it makes you think of dark and distant places in the forest. Guess always preferred inventing his implements to receiving them from others, and, when considered as mad by his tribe, while bent on the invention of his alphabet, contented himself with teaching it to his little daughter, an unimpeachable witness. Redjacket's face, too, is much more intellectual than almost any other. But in becoming so it loses nothing of the peculiar Indian stamp, but only carries these traits to their perfection. Irony, discernment, resolution, and a deep smoldering fire that disdains to flicker where it cannot blaze, may there be red. Nothing can better represent the sort of unfeelingness the Whites have toward the Indians than their conduct towards his remains. He had steadily opposed the introduction of white religion or manners among the Indians. He believed that for them to break down the barriers was to perish. On many occasions he had expressed this with all the force of his eloquence. He told the preachers, if the great spirit had meant your religion for the red man, he would have given it to them. What they, the missionaries, tell us, we do not understand, and the light they ask for us makes the straight and plain path trod by our fathers dark and dreary. When he died he charged his people to enter him themselves. Take my grave yourselves and let not the white man pursue me there. In defiance of this last solemn request and the invariable tenor of his life the missionaries seized the body and performed their service over it amid the sullen indignation of his people, at what, under the circumstances, was sacrilege. Of Indian religion a fine specimen is given in the conduct of one of the war chiefs, who, on an important occasion, made a vow to the son of entire renunciation in case he should be crowned with success. When he was so he first went through a fast and sacrificial dance involving great personal torment and lasting several days. Then, distributing all his property, even his lodges and mats among the tribe, he and his family took up their lodgings upon the bare ground beneath the bare sky. The devotion of the stylites and the hair-cloth saints is, in act, though not in motive, less noble, because this great chief proposed to go on in common life where he had lived as a prince, a beggar. The memoir by Cornplant of his early days is beautiful. Very fine anecdotes are told of two of the western chiefs, father and son, who had the wisdom to see the true policy toward the whites and steadily to adhere to it. A murder having taken place in the jurisdiction of the father, he delivered himself up with those suspected to imprisonment. One of his companions chafed bitterly under confinement. He told the chief, if they ever got out he would kill him, and did so. The son, then a boy, came in his rage and sorrow to this Indian and insulted him in every way. The squaw angry at this urged her husband to kill the boy at once, but he only replied with the joy of the valiant. He will be a great brave, and then delivered himself up to a tone for his victim, and met his death with the noblest Roman composure. This boy became rather a great chief than a great brave, and the anecdotes about him are of signal beauty and significance. There is a fine story of an old mother, who gave herself to death instead of her son. The son at the time accepted the sacrifice, seen with Indian coolness, that it was better she should give up her few solitary and useless days than he, a young existence full of promise. But he could not abide by this view, and after suffering a while all the anguish of remorse, he put himself solemnly to death, in the presence of the tribe, as the only atonement he could make. His young wife stood by with her child in her arms, commanding her emotions as he desired. For no doubt it seemed to her also a sacred duty. But the finest story of all is that of Patalasharo, in whose tribe at the time, and not many years since, the custom of offering human sacrifices still subsisted. The fire was kindled. The victim, a young female captive, bound to the stake, the tribe assembled round. The young brave darted through them, snatched the girl from her peril, placed her upon his horse, and both had vanished before the astonished spectators had thought to interpose. He placed the girl in her distant home and then returned. Such is the might of right, when joined with courage, that none ventured a word of resentment or question. His father, struck by truth, endeavored, and with success, to abolish the barbarous custom in the tribe. On a later occasion Patalasharo again offered his life, if required, but it was not. This young warrior visiting Washington, a medal was presented him in honor of these acts. His reply deserves sculpture. When I did it, I knew not that it was good. I did it in ignorance. This medal makes me know that it was good. The recorder, through his playful expressions of horror and a declaration so surprising to the civilized good, shows himself sensible to the grand simplicity of heroic impulse it denotes. Were we too so good as to need a medal to show us that we are? The half-breed and half-civilized chiefs, however handsome, look vulgar beside the pure blood. They have the dignity of neither race. The death of Osceola, as described by Catlin, presents a fine picture in the stern warlike kind, taking leave with kindness as a private friend of the American officers, but as a foe in national regards he raised himself in his dying bed and painted his face with the tokens of eternal enmity. The historian of the Indians should be one of their own race, as able to sympathize with them, and possessing a mind as enlarged and cultivated as John Ross, and with his eye turned to the greatness of the past rather than the scanty promise of the future. In the reign of the Wampum belts, supposed to have been sent to our tribes by Montezuma on the invasion of the Spaniard, we feel that an Indian who could glean traditions familiarly from the old men might collect much that we could interpret. Still, any clear outline, even a portion of their past, is not to be hoped, and we shall be well contented if we can have a collection of genuine fragments that will indicate as clearly their life as a horse's head from the Parthenon, the genius of Greece. Such to me are the stories I have cited above, and even European sketches of this greatness, distant and imperfect though they be, yet convey the truth if made in a sympathizing spirit. Adair's red shoes, Murray's old man, Catlin's noble manned in chief, Henry's Wawatum, with what we know of Philip, Pontiac, Tecumseh and Redjacket, would suffice to give the ages a glimpse at what was great in Indian life and Indian character. We hope, too, there will be a national institute containing all the remains of the Indians, all that has been preserved by official intercourse at Washington, Catlin's collection, and a picture gallery as complete as can be made, with a collection of skulls from all parts of the country. To this should be joined the Scanty library that exists on the subject. I have not mentioned Mackenzie's travels. He is an accurate observer, but sparing in his records, because his attention was wholly bent on his own objects. This circumstance gives a heroic charm to his Scanty and simple narrative. Yet what will happen, or who will go back, he cannot. He must find the sea, along those frozen rivers, through those starving countries, among tribes of stinted men, whose habitual interjection was, it dwee it is hard, uttered in a quarryless tone. Distrusted by his followers, deserted by his guides, on, on, he goes, till he sees the sea, cold, lowering, its strand bristling with foes. But he does see it. His few observations, especially on the tribes who lived on fish, and held them in such superstitious observance, give a lively notion of the scene. A little pamphlet has lately been published, giving an account of the massacre at Chicago, which I wish much I had seen while there, as it would have imparted an interest to spots otherwise barren. It is written with animation and in an excellent style, telling just what we want to hear and no more. The traits given of Indian generosity are as characteristic as those of Indian cruelty. A lady who was saved by a friendly chief, holding her under the waters of the lake, while the balls were whizzing around, received also in the heat of the conflict a reviving draft from a squaw, who saw she was exhausted, and, as she lay down, a mat was hung up between her and the scene of butchery, so that she was protected from the sight, though she could not be from sounds full of horror. I have not wished to write sentimentally about the Indians, however moved by the thought of their wrongs and speedy extinction. I know that the Europeans who took possession of this country felt themselves justified by their superior civilization and religious ideas. Had they been truly civilized or Christianized, the conflicts which sprang from the collision of the two races might have been avoided. But this cannot be expected in movements made by masses of men. The mass has never yet been humanized, though the age may develop a human thought. Since those conflicts and differences did arise, the hatred which sprang from terror and suffering on the European side has naturally warped the whites still farther from justice. The Indian, brandishing the scalps of his friends and wife, drinking their blood and eating their hearts, is by him viewed as a fiend, though at a distant day he will no doubt be considered as having acted the Roman or Carthaginian part of heroic and patriotic self-defense according to the standard of right and motives prescribed by his religious faith and education. Looked at by his own standard, he is virtuous when he most injures his enemy, and the white, if he be really the superior in enlargement of thought, ought to cast aside his inherited prejudices enough to see this, to look on him in pity and brotherly goodwill, and do all he can to mitigate the doom of those who survive his past injuries. In McKenney's book is proposed a project for organizing the Indians under a patriarchal government, but it does not look feasible, even on paper. Could their own intelligent men be left to act unimpeded in their behalf, they would do far better for them than the white thinker with all his general knowledge. But we dare not hope the designs of such will not always be frustrated by the same barbarous selfishness they were in Georgia. There was a chance of seeing what might have been done, now lost forever. Yet let every man look to himself how far this blood shall be required at his hands. Let the missionary, instead of preaching to the Indian, preach to the traitor who ruins him, of the dreadful account which will be demanded of the followers of Kane, in a sphere where the accents of purity and love come on the ear more decisively than in ours. Let every legislator take the subject to heart, and if he cannot undo the effects of past sin, try for that clear view and right sense that may save us from sinning still more deeply. And let every man and every woman, in their private dealings with the subjugated race, avoid all share in embittering by insult or unfeeling prejudice the captivity of Israel. End of Chapter 6 Part 2 Chapter 7 of Summer on the Lakes in 1843. Nine days I passed alone at Mackinac, except for occasional visits from kind and agreeable residents at the Fort and Mr. and Mrs. A. Mr. A., long engaged in the fur trade, is gratefully remembered by many travellers. From Mrs. A. also I received kind attentions, paid in the vivacious and graceful manner of her nation. The society at the boarding-house entertained, being of a kind entirely new to me. There were many traders from the remote stations, such as La Pointe, Arbor-Croche, men who had become half-wild and wholly rude by living in the wild, but good-humored, observing, and with a store of knowledge to impart of the kind proper to their place. There were two little girls here that were pleasant companions for me. One gay, frank, impetuous, but sweet and winning. She was an American, fair and with bright brown hair. The other, a little French-Canadian, used to join me in my walks, silently take my hand and sit at my feet when I stopped in beautiful places. She seemed to understand without a word, and I shall never forget her little figure, with its light but pensive motion, and her delicate grave features, with the pale clear complexion and soft eye. She was motherless, and much left alone by her father and brothers who were boatmen. The two little girls were as pretty representatives of Allegro and Pensaroso as one would wish to see. I had been wishing that a boat would come in to take me to the Sault Saint-Marie, and several times started to the window at night in hopes that the pant and dusky red light crossing the waters belonged to such in one. But they were always boats for Chicago or Buffalo. Till on the twenty-eight of August, Allegro, who shared my plans and wishes, rushed in to tell me that the general Scott had come, and in this little steamer, accordingly, I set off the next morning. I was the only lady, and attended in the cabin by a Dutch girl and an Indian woman. They both spoke English fluently, and entertained me much by accounts of their different experiences. The Dutch girl told me of a dance among the common people at Amsterdam, called the Shepherd's Dance. The two leaders are dressed as shepherd and shepherdess. They invent to the music all kinds of movements, descriptive of things that may happen in the field, and the rest were obliged to follow. I have never heard of any dance which gave such free play to the fancy as this. French dances merely describe the polite movements of society. Spanish and Neapolitan love. The beautiful Mazurkas in company are warlike or expressive of wild scenery. But in this one is great room both for fun and fancy. The Indian was married when young, by her parents, to a man she did not love. He became dissipated and did not maintain her. She left him, taking with her their child, for whom, and herself, she earns a subsistence by going his chambermaid in these boats. Now and then she said, her husband called on her, and asked if he might live with her again, but she always answered, no. Here she was far freer than she would have been in civilized life. I was pleased by the nonchalance of this woman, and the perfectly national manner she had preserved after so many years of contact with all kinds of people. The two women, when I left the boat, made me presence of Indian work, such as traveller's value, and the manner of the two was characteristic of their different nations. The Indian brought me hers when I was alone, looked bashfully down when she gave it, and made an almost sentimental little speech. The Dutch girl brought hers in public, and, bridling her short chin with the self-complacent air, observed she had bought it for me. But the feeling of affection at regard was the same in the minds of both. Island after island we passed, all fairly shaped and clustering friendly, but with little variety of vegetation. In the afternoon the weather became foggy, and we could not proceed after dark. That was as dull an evening as ever fell. The next morning the fog still lay heavy, but the captain took me out in his boat on an exploring expedition, and we found the remains of the old English fort on Point St. Joseph's. All around was so wholly unmarked by anything but stress of wind and weather, the shores of these islands in their woods so like one another, wild and lonely, but nowhere rich and majestic, that there was some charms in the remains of the garden, the remains even of chimneys and a pier. They gave feature to the scene. Here I gathered many flowers, but they were the same as at Mackinaw. The captain, though he had been on this trip hundreds of times, had never seen this spot, and never would, but for this fog, and his desire to entertain me. He presented a striking instance how men, for the sake of getting a living, forget to live. It is just the same in the most romantic as the most dull and vulgar places. Men get the harness on so fast that they can never shake it off, unless they guard against this danger from the very first. In Chicago how many men who never found time to see the prairies or learn anything unconnected with the business of the day, or about the country they were living in? So this captain, a man of strong sense and good eyesight, rarely found time to go off the track or look about him on it. He lamented, too, that there had been no call which induced him to develop his powers of expression, so that he might communicate what he had seen for the enjoyment or instruction of others. This is a common fault among the active men, the truly living, who could tell what life is. It should not be so. Literature should not be left to the mere literati, eloquence to the mere orator. Every Caesar should be able to write his own commentary. We want a more equal, more thorough, more harmonious development, and there is nothing to hinder it from the men of this country except their own supineness or sordid views. When the weather did clear, our course up the river was delightful. Long stretched before us the island of St. Joseph's, with its fair woods of sugar maple. A gentleman on board, who belongs to the fort at the Sioux, said their pastime was to come in the season of making sugar and pass some time on this island, the days at work and the evenings in dancing and other amusements. I wished to extract here Henry's account of this, for it was just the same sixty years ago as now, but have already occupied too much room with extracts. Work of this kind, done in the open air, where everything is temporary, and every utensil prepared on the spot, gives life a truly festive air. At such times there is labour and no care. Energy with gaiety, gaiety of the heart. I think with the same pleasure of the Italian vintage the scotch harvest home, with its evening dance in the barn, the Russian cabbage feast even, and our huskings and hop-gatherings. The hop-gatherings, where the groups of men and girls are pulling down and filling baskets with the gay festoons, present as graceful pictures as the Italian vintage. I should also like to insert Henry's description of the method of catching trout and whitefish, the delicacies of this region, for the same reason as I want his account of the gendeter, the savages among savages, and his tales, dramatic, if not true, of cannibalism. I have no less grieve to omit Carver's account of the devotion of a Winnebago Prince at the Falls of St. Anthony, which he describes with a simplicity and intelligence that are very pleasing. I take the more pleasure in both Carver and Henry's power of appreciating what is good in the Indian character, that both had run the greatest risk of losing their lives during their intercourse with the Indians, and had seen them in their utmost exasperation, with all its revolting circumstances. I wish I had a thread long enough to string on it all these beads that take my fancy, but, as I have not, I can only refer the reader to the books themselves, which may be found in the library of Harvard College, if not elsewhere. How pleasant is the course along a new river, the sight of new shores! Like a life, wood but life flow is fast, and up bear us with as full a stream. I hoped we should come inside of the rapids by daylight, but the beautiful sunset was quite gone, and only a young moon trembling over the scene, when we came within hearing of them. I sat up long to hear them merely. It was a thoughtful hour. These two days, the 29th and 30th August, are memorable in my life. The latter is the birthday of a near friend. I pass them alone, approaching Lake Superior, but I shall not enter into that truly wild and free region, shall not have the canoe voyage, whose daily adventure, with the camping out at night beneath the stars, would have given an interlude of such value to my existence. I shall not see the pictured rocks, their chapels, and urns. It did not depend on me. It never has, whether such things shall be done or not. My friends, may they see and do and be more, especially those who have before them a greater number of birthdays, and of a more healthy and unfettered existence. To Edith on her birthday. If the same star our fates together bind, why are we thus divided, mind from mind? If the same law one grief to both in part, how couldst thou grieve a trusting mother's heart? Our aspiration seeks a common aim. Why were we tempered of such differing frame? But tis too late to turn this wrong to right. Too cold, too damp, too deep has fallen the night. And yet the angel of my life replies, upon that night a morning star shall rise, fairer than that which ruled the temporal birth, undimmed by vapours of the dreamy earth. It says that, where a heart thy claim denies, genius shall read its secret ere it flies. The earthly form may vanish from thy side. Pure love will make thee still the spirit's bride. And thou, un-gentle, yet much-loving child, whose heart still shows the untamed, haggard wild, a heart which justly makes the highest claim, too easily is checked by transient blame. Air such an orb can ascertain its sphere, the ordeal must be various and severe. My prayers attend thee, though the feet may fly. I hear thy music in the silent sky. I should like, however, to hear some notes of earthly music to-night. By the faint moonshine I can hardly see the banks, how they look I have no guess, except that there are trees. Now and then a light lets me know there are homes with their various interests. I should like to hear some strains of flute from beneath those trees, just to break the sound of the rapids. When no gentle eye-beam charms, no fond hope the bosom warms, of thinking the lone mind is tired, not seems bright to be desired. Music, be thy sails unfurled, bear me to thy better world, or a cold and weltering sea, blow thy breezes warm and free. By sad sighs they ne'er were chilled, by sceptic spell were never stilled. Take me to that far-off shore where lovers meet to part no more. There doubt and fear and sin are o'er, the star of love shall set no more. With the first light of dawn I was up and out, and then was glad I had not seen all the night before. It came upon me with such power in its dewy freshness. Oh, they are beautiful indeed, these rapids. Their grace is so much more obvious than the power. I went up through the old chip-away burying-ground to their head, and sat down on a large stone to look. A little way off was one of the home lodges, unlike in shape to the temporary ones at Mackinaw, but these have been described by Mrs. Jamison. Women too I saw coming from the woods, stooping under great loads of cedar-bows that were strapped upon their backs. But in many European countries women carry great loads, even of wood, upon their backs. I used to hear the girls singing and laughing as they were cutting down bows at Mackinaw. This part of their employment, the laborious, gives them the pleasure of being a great deal in the free woods. I had ordered a canoe to take me down the rapids, and presently I saw it coming, with the two Indian canoe-men in pink calico shirts, moving at about with their long poles, with the grace and dexterity worthy fairy-land. Now and then they cast the scoop-net, all looked just as I had fancied, only far prettier. When they came to me they spread a mat in the middle of the canoe. I sat down, and in less than four minutes we had descended the rapids, a distance of more than three-quarters of a mile. I was somewhat disappointed in this being no more of an exploit than I found it. Having heard such expressions used as darting or shooting down these rapids, I had fancied there was a wall of rock somewhere, where descent would somehow be accomplished, and that there would become some one gasp of terror and delight, some sensation entirely new to me. But I found myself in smooth water, before I had time to feel anything but the buoyant pleasure of being carried so lightly through this surf amid the breakers. Now and then the Indians spoke to one another in a vehement jabber, which however had no tone that expressed other than pleasant excitement. It is no doubt an act of wonderful dexterity to steer amid these jagged rocks when one rude touch would tear a hole in the birch canoe. But these men are evidently so used to doing it, and so adroit, that the silliest person could not feel afraid. I should like to have come down twenty times that I might have had leisure to realize the pleasure. But the fog which had detained us on the way shortened the boat's stay at the Sioux, and I wanted my time to walk about. While coming down the rapids the Indians caught a whitefish for my breakfast, and certainly it was the best of breakfasts. The whitefish I found quite another thing caught on this spot and cooked immediately from what I had found it at Chicago or Mackinaw. Before I had had the bad taste to prefer the trout, despite the solemn and eloquent remonstrances of the habituaries to whom the superiority of whitefish seemed a cardinal point of faith. I am here reminded that I have omitted that indispensable part of a traveling journal, the account of what we found to eat. I cannot hope to make up, by one bold stroke, all my omissions of daily record, but that I may show myself not destitute of the common feelings of humanity. I will observe that he whose affections turn in summer towards vegetables should not come to this region, till the subject of diet be better understood. That of fruit, too, there is little yet, even at the best hotel tables. That the prairie chickens require no praise from me, and that the trout and whitefish are worthy the transparency of the lake waters. In this brief mention, I, by no means, mean to give myself an air of superiority to the subject. If a dinner in the Illinois woods, on dry bread and drier meat, with water from the stream that flowed hard by, pleased me best of all. Yet at one time, when living at a house where nothing was prepared for the table fit to touch, and even the bread could not be partaken of without a headache and consequence, I learnt to understand and sympathize with the anxious tone in which fathers of families about to take their innocent children into some scene of wild beauty ask, first of all, is there a good table? I shall ask just so in future. Only those whom the powers of furnished small traveling cases of ambrosia can take exercise all day and be happy without even bread morning or night. Their voyage back was all pleasure. It was the fairest day. I saw the river, the islands, the clouds, to the greatest advantage. On board was an old man, an Illinois farmer whom I found a most agreeable companion. He had just been with his son and eleven other young men on an exploring expedition to the shores of Lake Superior. He was the only old man of the party, but he had enjoyed most of any the journey. He had been the counselor and playmate, too, of the young ones. He was one of those parents, why so rare, who understand and live a life in that of their children instead of wasting time and young happiness in trying to make them conform to an object and standard of their own. The character and history of each child may be a new and poetic experience to the parent, if he will let it. Their farmer was domestic, judicious, solid. The son, inventive, enterprising, superficial, full of follies, full of resources, always liable to failure, sure to rise above it. The father conformed to and learnt from a character he could not change and won the sweet from the bitter. His account of his life at home and of his late adventures among the Indians was very amusing, but I want talent to write it down. I have not heard the slang of these people intimately enough. There is a good book about Indiana called The New Purchase, written by a person who knows the people of the country well enough to describe them in their own way. It is not witty, but penetrating, valuable for its practical wisdom and good-humored fun. There were many sportsmen stories told, too, by those from Illinois and Wisconsin. I do not retain any of these well enough, nor any that I heard earlier, to write them down, though they always interested me from bringing wild, natural scenes before the mind. It is pleasant for the sportsmen to be in countries so alive with game, yet it is so plenty that one would think that shooting pigeons or grouse would seem more like slaughter than the excitement of skill to a good sportsman. Hunting the deer is full of adventure and needs only a scope to describe it to invest the Western Woods with historic associations. How pleasant it was to sit and hear rough men tell pieces out of their own common lives in place of the frippery talk of some fine circle with its conventional sentiment and timid second-hand criticism. Free blew the wind and boldly flowed the stream, named for Mary, Mother Mild. A fine thundershower came in on the afternoon. It cleared its sunset just as we came inside of beautiful Mackinaw over which a rainbow bent in promise of peace. I have always wondered in reading travels at the childish joy travellers felt at meeting people they knew and their sense of loneliness when they did not, in places where there was everything new to occupy the attention. So childish, I thought, always to be longing for the new in the old and the old in the new. Yet just such sadness I felt when I looked on the island glittering in the sunset, canopied by the rainbow, and thought no friend would welcome me there. Just such childish joy I felt to see unexpectedly on the landing the face of one whom I called friend. The remaining two or three days were delightfully spent in walking or boating or sitting at the window to see the Indians go. This was not quite so pleasant as they're coming in, though accomplished with the same rapidity, a family not taking half an hour to prepare for departure, and the departing canoe a beautiful object. But they left behind on all the shore the blemishes of their stay, old rags, dried boughs, fragments of food, the marks of their fires. Nature likes to cover up and gloss over spots and scars, but it would take her some time to restore that beach to the state it was in before they came. S. and I had a mind for a canoe excursion, and we asked one of the traders to engage us two good Indians that would not only take us out, but be sure and bring us back, as we could not hold converse with them. Two others offered their aid, beside the chief's son, a fine-looking youth of about sixteen, richly dressed in blue broadcloth, scarlet sash and leggings with a scarf of brighter red than the rest tied around his head, its ends falling gracefully on one shoulder. They thought it, apparently, fine amusement to be attending to white women. They carried us into the path of the steamboat which was going out and paddled with all their force, rather too fast indeed, for there was something of a swell on the lake, and they sometimes threw water into the canoe. However, it flew over the waves, light as a seagull. They would say, pull away, and they're warm, and after these words would laugh gaily. They enjoyed the hour, I believe, as much as we. The house where we lived belonged to the widow of a French trader, an Indian by birth, and wearing the dress of her country. She spoke French fluently, and was very ladylike in her manners. She is a great character among them. They were all the time coming to pay her homage, or to get her aid and advice, for she is, I am told, a shrewd woman of business. My companion carried about her sketchbook with her, and the Indians were interested when they saw her using her pencil, though less so than about the sunshade. This lady of the tribe wanted to borrow the sketches of the beach, with its lodges and wild groups, to show to the savages, she said. Of the practical ability of the Indian women, a good specimen is given by McKinney, in an amusing story of one who went to Washington, and acted her part there in the first circles, with a tact and sustained assimilation worthy of Calliostro. She seemed to have a thorough love of intrigue for its own sake, and much dramatic talent. Like the chiefs of her nation, when on an expedition among the foe, whether for revenge or profit, no impulses of vanity or wayside seductions had power to turn her aside from carrying out her plan as she had originally projected it. Although I have little to tell, I feel that I have learned a great deal of the Indians, from observing them even in this broken and degraded condition. There is a language of eye and motion which cannot be put into words, which teaches what words never can. I feel acquainted with the soul of this race. I read its nobler thought in their defaced figures. There was a greatness, unique and precious, which he who does not feel will never duly appreciate the majesty of nature in this American continent. I have mentioned that the Indian orator, who addressed the agents on this occasion, said, the difference between the white man and the red man is this. The white man no sooner came here than he thought of preparing the way for his posterity. The red man never thought of this. I was assured that this was exactly his phrase, and it defines the true difference. We get the better because we do look before and after. But from the same cause we pine for what is not. The red man, when happy, was thoroughly happy. When good, was simply good. He needed the medal to let him know that he was good. These evenings we were happy, looking over the old fashioned garden, over the beach, over the waters and pretty island opposite, beneath the growing moon. We did not stay to see it full at Mackinaw. At two o'clock one night, or rather morning, the Great Western came snorting in, and we must go. And Mackinaw, and all the northwest summer, is now to me no more than picture and dream, a dream within a dream. These last days at Mackinaw have been pleasanter than the lonesome nine, for I have recovered the companion with whom I set out from the east, one who sees all, prizes all, enjoys much, interrupts never. At Detroit we stopped for half a day. This place is famous in our history, and the unjust anger at its surrender is still expressed by almost everyone who passes there. I had always shared the common feeling on this subject, for the indignation at a disgrace to our arms that seemed so unnecessary has been handed down from father to child, and few of us have taken the pains to ascertain where the blame lay. But now, upon the spot, having read all the testimony, I felt convinced that it should rest solely with the government, which, by neglecting to sustain General Hull, as he had a right to expect they would, compelled him to take this step, or sacrifice many lives, and of the defenseless inhabitants, not of soldiers, to the cruelty of a savage foe, for the sake of his reputation. I am a woman, and unlearned in such affairs, but, to a person with common sense and good eyesight, it is clear when viewing the location that, under the circumstances, he had no prospect of successful defense, and that to attempt it would have been an act of vanity, not valor. I feel that I am not biased in this judgment by my personal relations, for I have always heard both sides, and, though my feelings had been moved by the picture of the old man sitting down, in the midst of his children, to a retired and dispoiled old age, after a life of honor and happy intercourse with the public, yet tranquil, always secure that justice must be done at last, I supposed, like others, that he deceived himself, and deserved to pay the penalty for failure to the responsibility he had undertaken. Now on the spot I change, and believe the country at large must, ere long, change from this opinion. And I wish to add my testimony, however trifling its weight, before it be drowned in the voice of general assent, that I may do some justice to the feelings which possessed me, here and now. A noble boat, the Wisconsin, was to be launched this afternoon. The whole town was out in many-colored array, the band plain. Our boats swept round to a good position, and all was ready, but the Wisconsin, which could not be made to stir. This was quite a disappointment. It would have been an imposing sight. In the boat many signs admonished that we were floating eastward. A shabbily dressed phrenologist laid his hand on every head which would bend, with half conceited, half sheepish expression, to the trial of his skill. Lots of people gathered here and there to discuss points of theology. A bereaved lover was seeking religious consolation in Butler's analogy, which he had purchased for that purpose. However, he did not turn over many pages before his attention was drawn aside by the gay glances of certain damsels that came on board at Detroit, and, though Butler might afterwards be seen sticking from his pocket, it had not wait to impede him from many a feat of lightness and liveliness. I doubt if it went with him from the boat. Some there were, even, discussing the doctrines of Fourier. It seemed pity they were not going to rather than from the rich and free country where it would be so much easier than with us to try the great experiment of voluntary association and show, beyond a doubt, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, a maxim of the wisdom of nations which has proved of little practical efficacy as yet. Better to stop before landing at Buffalo, while I have yet the advantage over some of my readers. The book, to the reader who opens, as American readers often do, at the end, with doggerel submission. To see her cousin in her country home, if at the time of blackberries you come, welcome, my friends, she cries with ready glee. The fruit is ripened and the paths are free. But, madam, you will tear that handsome gown. The little boy be sure to tumble down, and in the thickets where they ripen best, the matted ivy, too, its bower has dressed. And then the thorns your hands are sure to rend, unless with heavy gloves you will defend. Amidst most thorns the sweetest roses blow. Amidst most thorns the sweetest berries grow. If undeterred you to the fields must go, you tear your dresses and you scratch your hands. But in the places where the berries grow, a sweeter fruit the ready-sense commands, of wild, gay feelings, fancies springing sweet, of bird-like pleasures fluttering in fleet. Another year you cannot go yourself to win the berries from the thickets wild. And housewife's skill, instead, has filled the shelf with blackberry jam, by best receipts compiled, not made with country sugar, for too strong, the flavors that the maple juice belong. But foreign sugar, nicely mixed, to soothe the taste, spoils not the fragrance of the fruit. "'Tis pretty good, half-tasty,' you reply. I scarce should know it from fresh blackberry. But the best pleasure such a fruit can yield, is to be gathered in the open field. If only as an article of food, cherry or crab-apple are quite as good, and, for occasions of festivity, West India sweet meats you had better buy. Thus such a dish of homely sweets as these, in neither way may chance the taste to please. Yet try a little with the evening bread. Bring a good needle for the spool of thread. Take fact with fiction, silver with the lead. And, at the mint, you can get gold instead. In fine, read me, even as you would be read."