carnivorous species, to which they addressed f of this trip revealed to me some of the most intalks as they flew. This subject, I perceived, teresting scenes of Indian domestic life." connected itself with the notions of war and the enemy's country. "On one occasion after we had entered Lake Superior, and were leisurely paddling, not remote from the shore, one of the Indians fired at and wounded a duck. The bird could not rise so as to fly, but swam ashore, and, by the time we reached land, was completely missing. A white man would have been nonplussed Not so the Indian. He saw a fallen tree, and carefully looked for an orifice in the under side, and, when he found one, thrust in his hand and drew out of it the poor wounded bird. Frightened and in pain, it appeared to roll its eyeballs completely round. By their conversation and familiar remarks, I observed that they were habitually under the influence of their peculiar mythology and religion. They referred to classes of monetos, which are spirits, in a manner which disclosed the belief that the woods and waters were replete with their agency. On the second day we reached and entered the Tacquimenon River. It carried a deep and strong current to the foot of the first falls, which they call Fairy Rocks. This Indian word denotes a species of little men or fairies, which, they say, love to dwell on rocks. The falls are broken into innumerable cascades, which give them a peculiarly sylvan air. From the brink of these falls to the upper falls, a distance of about six miles, the channel of the river is a perfect torrent, and would seem to defy navigation. But before I was well aware of it, they had the canoe in it, with a single man with a long pole in the bow and stern. I took my seat between the centre bars, and was in admiration at the perfect composure and sang froid with which these two men managed it-now shooting across the stream to find better water, and always putting in their poles exactly at the right instant, and singing some Indian cantata all the while. The upper falls at length burst on our view on rounding a point. The river has a complete drop of some forty feet, over a formation of sandstone. The water forms a complete curtain. There is nothing to break the sheet, or intercept it, till it reaches the deep water below. They said there was some danger of the canoe's being drawn under the sheet by a kind of suction. This stream in fact, geologically considered, crosses through, and falls over, the high ridge of sandstone rock which stretches from Point Iroquois to the Pictured Rocks. I took sketches of both the upper and lower falls. "Being connected by marriage with an educated and intelligent lady, who is descended by her mother's side from the former ruler of the Chippewa nation-a man of renown-I was received, on this trip, with a degree of confidence and cordiality by the Indians, which I had not expected. I threw myself, naked handed, into their midst, and was received with a noble spirit of hospitality and welcome. And the incidents One of the inquiries once put into Mr. Schoolcraft's hands by Gov. Cass was, whether the Indians used any words equivalent to the civilized habit of swearing. This is his note : DO INDIANS SWEAR? Many things the Indians may be accused of, but of the practice of swearing they cannot. have made many inquiries into the state of their vocabulary, and do not, as yet, find any word which is more bitter or reproachful than matchi annemoash, which indicates simply, bad-dog. Many of their nouns have, however, adjective inflections, by which they are rendered derogative. They have terms to indicate cheat, liar, thief, murderer, coward, fool, lazy man, drunkard, babbler. But I have never heard of an imprecation or oath. The genius of the language does not seem to favor the formation of terms to be used in oaths or for purposes of profanity. It is the result of the observation of others, as well as my own, to say, that an Indian cannot curse." A novel feature of Mr. S.'s book is its introduction of the correspondence of living persons: this occasionally furnishes us with interesting details. We have, too, frequently notices of persons with whom the writer has been brought into contact. The late Capt. Marryatt, evidently no favorite, is introduced to us at Detroit, in 1837; and Mrs. Jameson, at the same time, who is spoken of with more affection. Of these personal notices, the most interesting is a conversation with the late Albert Gallatin, at his house in Bleecker street, in 1838. The variety of topics discussed by Mr. Gallatin in this chance interview, and the acumen and freshness on each, display a richly-freighted mind. A VISIT TO ALBERT GALLATIN. "Dec. 6th. I visited Mr. Gallatin at his house in Bleecker street, and spent the entire morning in listening to his instructive conversation, in the course of which he spoke of early education, geometric arithmetic, the principles of languages and history, American and European. He said, speaking of the "EARLY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.-Few children are taught to read well early, and, in consequence, they never can become good readers. A page should, as it were, dissolve before the eye, and be absorbed by the mind. Reading and spelling correctly cannot be too early taught, and should be thoroughly taught. "Arithmetic.-G. There is no good arithmetie in which the reasons are given, so as to be intelligible to children. Condorcet wrote the best tract on the subject, while in confinement at a widow's house near Paris, before his execution. The language of arithmetic is universal, the | welder meant by whistling sound,' in the prefix eight digits serving all combinations. They pronouns. I told Mr. Duponceau that it had were not introduced till 1200. The Russians been better that the gentleman's MSS. were left count by sticks and beads. The Romans must as he originally wrote them, with mere correchave had some such method. M stood for tions as to grammar-that we should then, in 1000, D for 500, C for 100, L for 50, X for ten, fact, have had Indian information. For HeckeV for five, and I for one. But how could they welder thought and felt like a Delaware, and bemultiply complex sums by placing one under lieved all their stories." another? "LANGUAGES.-S How desirable it would be if so simple a system could be applied to lan "G. Ah! it. was not designed by the Creator. He evidently designed diversity. I have recently received some of the native vocabularies from Mackenzie-the Blackfeet and Fall Indians, &c. Parker had furnished in his travels vocabularies of the Nez Perces, Chinooks, &c. "LEADING FAMILIES.-S. The term Algonquin, as commonly understood, is not sufficiently comprehensive for the people indicated. "G. I intended to extend it by adding the term 'Lenape.' The Choctaw and the Muscogee is radically the same. The Chickasaw and Choctaw has been previously deemed one. Du Pratz wrote about the Mobilian language without even suspecting that it was the Choctaw. "G. The National Institute at Paris has printed Mr. Duponceau's Prize Essay on the Algonquin. Dr. James wrote unsuccessfully for the prize. Duponceau first mentioned you to me. He has freely translated from your lectures on the subject, which gives you a European reputation. "PUBLISHERS ON PHILOLOGY.--G. There is no patronage for such works here. Germany and France are the only countries where treatises on philology can be published. It is Berlin or Paris, and of these Berlin holds the first place. In Great Britain, as in this country, there is not sufficient interest on the subject for booksellers to take hold of mere works of fact of this sort. They are given to reading tales and light literature, as here. "ORAL TALES OF THE INDIANS.-G. Your 'Indian Tales' and your Hieroglyphics' would sell here; but grammatical materials on the languages will not do, unless they can be arranged as appendixes. S. I urged Governor Cass to write on this subject, and he declined. "G. Does he understand the languages? "S. Pronouns, in our Indian languages, are of a more permanent character than philologists have admitted. They endure in some form, in kindred dialects, the most diverse. G. This is true, the sign is always left, and enables one clearly enough to trace stocks. Dialects are easily made. There are many in France, and they fill other parts of Europe. Every department in France has one. "DISCRIMINATING VIEWS OF PHILOLOGY AND PHILOLOGISTS.-G. It is not clear what Hecke 66 MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGE.-G. You have. asserted that all the Indian roots are monosyllables. "S. Most of them, not all. This is a branch to which I have paid particular attention; and if there is anything in Indian philology in which I deem myself at home, it is in the analysis of Indian words, the digging out of roots, and showing their derivatives and compounds. "G. The societies would print your observations on these topics. They are of much in terest. "ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN LANGUAGE.--S. The Hebrew is based on roots like the Indian, which appear to have strong analogies to the Semitic family. It is not clearly Hindostanee, or Chinese, or Norse. I have perused Rafn's Grammar by Marsh. The Icelandic (language) clearly lies at the foundation of the Teutonic. "G. I have not seen this. The grammatical principles of the Hebrew are widely different (from the Indian). There is, in this respect, no resemblance. I think the Indian language has principles akin to the Greek. The middle moods, or voices, in the Greek and Indian dialects are alike; they make the imperfect past, or aorist, in a similar manner. "PATOIS.-G. The great impediment to popular instruction in France is the multiplicity of patois, and the tenacity of the peasantry for them. The same objection exists to the use of so many Indian dialects by such numbers of petty tribes. Pity these were not all abolished. They can never prosper without coming on to general grounds in this respect. "CHINESE.-Mr. Duponceau had published Col. Galindo's account of the Ottomic of Mexico, and likened it to the Chinese. It was the very reverse. "ENGLISH LANGUAGE. S. The English language of Chaucer's day is based on the Frisic, Belgic, and Low Dutch; and not on the Saxon. (Examples were given. He fully assented to this, and used his familiarity with European history to demonstrate it.) "G. There was, in fact, no Anglo-Saxon but that of Alfred, which was the old English. The early migrations were from Belgium. Doubtless the Teutons had made the conquest ascribed to them, but I think they did not revolutionize the language. They conquered the people, but not the language. "WASHINGTON IRVING.-G. Washington Irving is the most popular writer. Anything from his pen would sell. "JOHN JACOB ASTOR.-Several years ago, J. J. A. put into my hands the journal of his traders on the Columbia, desiring me to use it. I put it into the hands of Malte Brun, at Paris, who employed the geographical facts in his work, but paid but little respect to Mr. Astor, whom he regarded merely as a merchant seeking his own profit, and not a discoverer. He had not even sent a man to observe the facts in the natural history. Astor did not like it. He was restive several years, and then gave Washington Irving $5,000 to take up the MSS. This is the History of Astoria.' RAFINESQUE.-This erratic naturalist being referred to, he said 66 6 Who is Rafinesque, and what is his cha racter ?' "NAPOLEON AND NERO.-Bonaparte was a mathematician; but, whatever he did, he did not appreciate other branches of science and research. On taking Rome he carried to Paris all the Pope's archives, containing, in fact, the materials for the secret history of Europe. The papers occupied seventy large boxes, which were carefully corded and sealed, and put away in a garret of the Louvre at Paris, and never opened. On the restoration of the Bourbons, Louis XVIII. gave them back to the Pope's nuncio. The seals had never been broken. "Bonaparte hated Tacitus. He was an aristocrat, he said, and lied in his history. He had blackened the character of Nero merely because he was a republican. That may be, sire,' said 'but it is not the generally received opinion, and authorities sustain him.'Read Suetonius,' said he. Truly,' said M. Gallatin, 'it is there stated that the people strewed flowers on Nero's grave for years.' "ALGIC RESEARCHES.-The oral legends of the Indians collected by me being alluded to, he said Take care that, in publishing your Indian legends, you do not subject yourself to the imputations made against Macpherson.' BY THE THE valley sleeps; the valley sunned, That veils them with a gauzy veil THE That hangs as sleepily, that lies When sudden through the summer heat "Rise! dreamer on the Hill of Doubt, The mist is rifted for thy sight, HILL. * AUTHOR OF LIFE."" The mist so white 'twas seeming lightSuch light is only from without. *NOTE TO EDITORS: -I send you a few verses written (as is quite common in my versifying) with a double purpose. The objective picture may be regarded as a simple one of parental joy upon the birth of a first child. Beneath, the subjective shows how the parental sentiment when awakened in the human heart will suggest the idea and proof analogical of a God's existence and love: the parental instinct or passion awakened in the heart of an earthly parent reflecting there the love of a heavenly Father, where before had rested the haze of scepticism or irreligionawakened in one who was reposing wrapped in worldly ease and conscious of no vital religious principle and belief. In other words, one who had rested looking at the valley world in the hazy light of his own reason. (the light without), not having yet felt that awakening of Faith (the light within) through experience of joy or grief; through the visitation of God upon his own heart. Up, dreamer, from thy nooning rest! Arouse thee from thy lethargy! Then upward from his heart they gushed The thoughts that struggled with each other, The feelings that must vent or smotherThen upward from his breast they rushed. It rent the heart, it rent the breast, The passion of that holy hour, The passion of a wakened power, The passion that would never rest. It rent the dress of words apart, It left the palpable that bound, The gross, the clog of words, the sound Behind for meaner use of art. As down upon his knees he dropped, And out into the holy air A spirit that would not be stopped. Went forth the soul of silent prayer- The electric circle made complete, From one both lofty now and lowly, THE SPANISH MOTHER Countries generally reverse the order of Nature, deriving nutriment and support from, instead of bestowing them upon, their offspring. A colony is considered a good vache à lait, and milked accordingly; the government, however, getting only for its share the skimmed milk, its officers appropriating to themselves all the cream. This is well illustrated in this little book. SYSTEM IN PERU. In the year 1735, George and Anthony Ulloa were sent out, in company with some French astronomers, on a scientific expedition, in order to measure the length of a terrestrial degree on the equator, with a view to a settlement of the Copernican theory in regard to the figure of the earth. The scientific object of the expedition having been accomplished, the Ulloas proceeded to the investigation of the condition of the ancient kingdom of Peru, embracing the present republics of Ecuador and Peru, and a portion of the existing empire of Brazil. The result of that investigation was embodied in a secret report to King Ferdinand VI. of Spain, which by some means or other, of which we are not told, an Englishman got possession of and published in Spanish. The present book is an abridged translation of that report by an American. It gives a sad history of the injustice, cruelty, and oppres sion on the part of the governors, and of the suffering, misery, and servile subjection on the part of the governed. The natives were mercifully cared for in theory by Spain, but mercilessly treated in practice by its officials. Good laws were enacted, while bad judges administered. The remoteness of the colonies from the home government led to irre sponsibilty, and thence to corruption and injustice. It is quite easy to understand how the rapid fortunes were made by these corregidores, when, setting up in business on their own acccount, they not only forced their customers to buy what they did want at any price the corgid wes were pleased to ask, not want at the same reabut what th sonable · ere is an illustration of TRADING WITH INDIANS. "So much being premised, the corregidor receives a part of all which the dealer has for sale, takes it to his department, and distributes it collectively, as it is not to be supposed he would lose those things which are useless to the Indians. Of what possible service can three quarters or a yard of velvet, at forty or fifty dollars, be to one of those serfs, who might be compared to the most clownish and wretched peasants of Spain, and who is employed in digging the ground, or travelling on foot behind his master's mule to earn a day's wages, which scarcely suffice for his bare wants? And of what value to him would be a similar amount of silk or satin? What use could he make of a pair of silk stockings, when he would thank God if he could be allowed woollen ones, even of the coarsest texture? What occasion has an Indian for mirrors whose hut is the abode of poverty, and in which nothing but smoke is visible? How can he be in want of a padlock, if, even when all his family are absent, by simply turning a door made of reeds or skins, he protects a habitation whose jewels are safe, because they are of no value? But even this could be passed over, in comparison of what is more worthy of notice. The Indians, by their peculiar constitution, are wholly destitute of beard, nor do they ever shave their hair; and yet they are furnished with razors, for which they pay a very handsome price. Surely this looks like making sport of that unfortunate race. And what shall The corregidores-the governors sent out we say of the practice of compelling them to by Spain to rule the colonies were of that buy pens and blank paper, when the greater numerous class of jolly beggars, sons, foot-part do not understand Spanish, and when their men, cousins, and pimps of Spanish grandees, own language has never been reduced to writing? such as we read of in Gil Blas, as dividing Playing-cards, likewise, are distributed for their among themselves whole provinces and use, when they do not even know their figures, countless Spanish pistoles. These governor has that people any inclination for gamnors were sent out on an income of two bling; as also cases for tobacco, when the instance is not known of any one who has ever thousand Spanish dollars a year, and returned in the course of five years-having used them." lived probably luxuriously in the meantime -with their hundreds of thousands. This was wrung from the sweat and toil of the Indians, by dint of oppression, stripes, torture, cruelty even to blood, starvation, sickness, death. The Spaniard, in his conduct towards the Indians, is made out to have been a monster of cruelty. His nature was supposed by the Indians to be so inhuman, that his very cruelty, his stripes, were considered evi dences of affection, and his blow, like the | deadly hug of the bear, was thought to be an endearment. A SPANIARD'S CARESSES. "The natives have become so accustomed to chastisement that they not only cease to fear it, but even regard an occasional truce from it with apprehension and alarm. The Indian boys (cholitos) who wait upon the curates and other individuals are wont to look sad, and even to flee away, after a long interval of exemption from punishment; and if questioned as to the cause of their sadness or flight, they reply, in their simplicity, that their masters do not appear to love them, because they no longer chastise them. The souree of this error is not to be looked for in their simplicity, nor in any partiality the mature Indian may have to chastisement in itself; but, having been accustomed to ill treatment ever since the conquest, they have conceived the idea that the Spaniards are a class of people whose very caresses and fondnesses are stripes and blows; and this is either no mistake, or, if it be one, it is pardonable in the Indians; for their masters, after having chastised them with merciless cruelty, always say to them that they punish them because they love them, and the simple Indian has learned to give to this barbarous expression its literal import. Parents teach it to their children, and the unsuspecting innocence of the latter is easily made to believe that it is doing them a kindness to make them weep and bathe themselves in tears of anguish; hence it is that they are accustomed to give thanks to their tormentor, kneeling before him and kissing his hand, although it be that of a negro, with expressions of gratitude for an act of cruelty, as if it had been the dictate of mercy." The priests were worse than the corregi dores. They sold their spiritual wares at the most exorbitant rates. It was ruin to live, ruin to die, and ruin to go to heaven. Hard labor, and the expense of living, beggared and killed the Indian; his funeral expenses, and the high-priced prayers for the dead, ruined his family. The priest having lost credit with heaven for his impiety, pretended to be acting for God while he was acting for himself; like the bankrupt trader, who professes to be an agent for others while he is putting the money in his own pocket. The priests plundered the Indian, dishonored his wife and his daughters, and cheated him out of admission to heaven, by selling him a forged ticket at a monstrous price. Here is an incident that reads like a chapter out of a French novel, with rather a better moral however: Cuenca, the curacy of which pertains to one of the orders, a friar was serving as curate at a time that the cacique of the town had a young daughter, who, for an Indian girl, possessed no ordinary share of beauty. The curate had used every artifice to accomplish her destruction; but her own firmness, as well as the estimable character of her father, had saved her from falling into the fatal snare. The curate could not tolerate the contempt of the Indian woman, and had the impudence to make known his designs to her father; but the latter prided himself so much on the rank of his family, as well as on the circumstance of his daughter's being the only heiress of the chiefship, that he rejected with scorn the wicked and shameful proposal. The curate, discovering that the cacique was unfavorable to his designs, invented a falsehood (to set aside the difficulty) as perverse as could be dictated by the infernal spirit himself. He went to the cacique to ask her in marriage; and, with a view to overcome the repugnance which such a novel occurrence might excite, he told him that he would obtain a license from his bishop, in which case he would be allowed to marry. He further attempted to remove all the doubts which might suggest themselves to the mind of the cacique on the subject, by informing him that, although this practice was not a common one, such licenses were generally refused only on the ground that they could not be burdened with the expense of maintaining the widows and children which might become dependent upon them; but that this circumstance did not obtain in him, inasmuch as he possessed an estate adequate to the support of a family, not to mention the terms of intimacy in which he had always lived with the bishop. Finally, he cited to him false precedents and fictitious documents, by which the cacique was convinced of his sincerity, and promised him his daughter in marriage as soon as he should obtain the requisite permission. In order to deceive the cacique, he immediately sent although for a very different purpose, to the provincial of his order in Quito, and, while awaiting his return, he drew up, with the aid of his assistant, a false patent, in which he set forth that that prelate had granted him a license to marry. The messenger returned, and when the cacique called at the curate's to know the result, he showed him the document, and the cacique, with evident marks of satisfaction, congratulated him on the favorable result. The and the curate's assistant officiated as priest, mock nuptials were celebrated that very night, without the presence of witnesses, or any regard an express, to the usual forms; for the priest maliciously insinuated to him that these were not requisite in cases of that kind. The ceremony was performed, and from that day they continued to lead a married life. The Indians of the village spread the report of the curate's having married the cacique's daughter, but no one could persuade himself to believe that it could have been "In a village belonging to the jurisdiction of so in reality, but supposed he had taken her as a CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. |