time judicious; and the plan combines literary history with a view of the moral and intellectual life of the Spanish nation. The merits of the work have been universally recognised by European scholars, and several translations have already appeared.

INDIAN HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

One of the duties of American literature, has been to collect and preserve the records of the various tribes of Red Indians now passing away from their ancestral dwelling-places. To this task several writers, including Thatcher, Stone, Drake, Catlin, Schoolcraft, Gallatin, Bradford, M'Kenney, and Hall, have contributed their services. Their researches have greatly modified the representations given by romantic writers; but when fiction has been put aside, there still remains a history which must excite compassion for the fate of the aborigines. Of all the descriptions of these wandering tribes, the most unfair is that given by GRUND, a German, who wrote on America. He asserts, that the expelled Indians never had any right to dwell on their native soil; that they were justly treated as wild animals; and that their extinction was necessary, and by no means to be regretted.

Other writers have described, in a more humane manner, the characteristics and the destiny of the red race in America. Mr STONE, in a series of memorials of the Six Nations, has preserved many fragments of Indian history and biography. THATCHER'S Indian Biography gives many sketches of tribes and individuals; and a more comprehensive work, The History of the Indian Tribes of North America, has been published by M'KENNEY and HALL. The portraits given in this work were taken from the Indian chiefs, or delegates, who visited the seat of legislature for the purpose of making treaties or transacting other business. But among all the writers of Indian history and biography, Schoolcraft is probably the highest authority. He has lived among the Red Men; has studied their dialects, and translated their legends; and though he speaks warmly of their virtues, he is not a one-sided advocate. HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT (born 1793) has a high reputation as a man of general cultivation and scientific attainments. His first work, a scientific treatise on Vitreology, published in 1817, described modes of applied chemistry in the fusion of silica and kali for making glass and enamel. His View of the Lead Mines of Missouri (1819), was followed in the next year by the Journal of a Tour in the Interior of Missouri and Arkansas, and soon afterwards by a Narrative Journal of a Tour in the Copper

Region of Lake Superior. In 1821, the author was appointed secretary to the commission for treating with the Indian tribes at Chicago, and afterwards devoted his studies chiefly to Indian ethnology. After all the attempts of fiction-writers to portray the Red Men, readers who would find truth must study the works of Schoolcraft. His statements are founded on extensive observation during his years of service among the remnants of the. Indian tribes. He married a lady who was descended, on the maternal side, from the hereditary chief of Lake Superior. In 1839, he published Algic Researches, consisting of two volumes of Indian legends; and after a visit to Europe and other travels, commenced in 1844 the publication, in numbers, of Oneota, or the 'Red Race in America.' In this and other works, Schoolcraft established his reputation as an authority on the history, traditions, customs, and dialects of the Algic tribes. In 1846, he presented to the legislature of his native state a report, consisting of Contributions to the Statistics, Aboriginal History, and General Ethnology of Western New York.

The writings of Schoolcraft, and other authors already named, enable us to correct the erroneous impressions made by works of fiction respecting the red race.

We have no facts to support the statements of writers who have found refinement and philosophy among the children of the forest. The wigwam was no fit abode for such Indian characters as are seen in romances. It was a smoky den, where families were huddled together in circumstances which made decency and cleanliness impossible. For food, the Indian depended partly on the chase of wild animals; but he was not wholly ignorant of agriculture. With some few exceptions, all the tribes south of the St Lawrence tilled the soil. The use of milk was unknown, which fact distinguishes the American Indians from nomadic tribes of the Old World. The plants cultivated included maize, the vine styled the squash, beans, and tobacco. Arrows tipped with hartshorn, eagles' claws, or sharp flint, were used in the chase; and fish were taken with nets and spears.

The squaw, or Indian's wife, was his slave. When he returned from the chase, he remained idle until hunger again moved him; while the wife tilled the ground, reaped the harvest, pounded the maize, and, in travelling, carried the poles of the wigwam. Scarcity of food was a frequent cause of suffering; for when provisions were plentiful, appetite knew no bounds. The condition of afflicted individuals and old and infirm people was very miserable. Decoctions of herbs and a simple form of vapour-bath were the favourite remedies for various diseases.

The wars, or rather scalp-hunts,' of the natives consisted

chiefly of ambuscade and surprise. Remarkable cunning and keenness of the senses were evinced in following the trail of an enemy. Commonly, a scalping-party included about six or seven Indians, sometimes only two or three; though, on great occasions, as many as forty would go out together, traverse the forest, enter the foe's domain, and lurking behind rocks or trees, wait for their victims. The taking of the scalp of an enemy was the first ambition of the young men.

The treatment of prisoners was even more revolting than the custom of taking scalps. The captive doomed to die was made to pass through lingering tortures, such as Cooper has described in his forest-romances. By his fortitude in bearing all the cruelty of his foes, the Indian gained the highest honour for himself and his tribe. Councils of war or negotiations for peace were conducted with a solemn decorum, and the patience of the Indian in listening to a speech or argument was always exemplary. He seldom interrupted the speech of his opponent.

The oratory of the Red Men has been misrepresented: the tedious long-drawn argument, or the rambling after-dinner speech, was never a characteristic of the Indian. When sober, he was seldom talkative. He spoke in metaphors, reasoned by analogy, and never employed abstract terms. Happiness was a bright sun or a clear blue sky; burying a tomahawk signified peace; a thorny plant symbolised adversity. This metaphorical style naturally gave rise to eloquent but short addresses. A Choctaw chief, who died while on a visit to Washington, finding his end approaching, sent the following message to his people :'I shall die,' said he, 'but you will return to our brethren. As you go along the paths, you will see the flowers and hear the birds sing; but Pushmataha will see them and hear them no more. When you shall come to your home, they will ask you: "Where is Pushmataha?" and you will say to them: "He is no more." They will hear the tidings like the fall of a mighty oak in the stillness of the woods.'

The only style of writing was pictorial. Rude outlines of animals sketched on the bark of a tree, or on a smooth stone, served as symbols of tribes, or as memoranda of events. Remembrance of transactions was assisted by a sort of rosary of shells, or by a small bundle of sticks held in the hand. When Roger Williams, conversing with a chief, spoke of the good faith of the white men, the chief took a stick, and breaking it into ten pieces, related ten instances of bad faith, laying down a short stick to mark each item.

The same want of the power of abstraction or generalisation observed in the language, is found also in the religious notions of

the Indian. Yet he was not a materialist. He could discern between cause and effect; he believed in an unseen power, the manitou, or spirit, as residing in every plant, or animal, or other natural object. As he conceived, there was a manitou, a spirit, which gave the spark from the flint, lived in every blade of grass, flowed in the streams, shone in the stars, and thundered in the water-falls; but in each example the notion of deity was concrete and particular. When missionaries suggested the unity of the Great Spirit pervading all beings, it was very readily received; but it does not appear that this generalisation had been made by the Indian previous to his intercourse with white

men.

The specimens given by Schoolcraft in his Oneota of the myths and legends, or unwritten poetry of the Indians, have the simplicity of stories for children. We may give one example, translated from one of the dialects of the Algonquin language. It bears strong internal evidence of genuineness.

SHINGEBISS:2 AN INDIAN FABLE.

'There was once a Shingebiss living alone in a solitary lodge on the shores of the deep bay of a lake, in the coldest winter weather. The ice had formed on the water, and he had but four logs of wood to keep his fire. Each of these would, however, burn a month; and as there were but four cold winter months, they were sufficient to carry him through till spring.

Shingebiss was hardy and fearless, and cared for no one. He would go out during the coldest day, and seek for places where flags and rushes grew through the ice, and plucking them up with his bill, would dive through the openings in quest of fish. In this way he found plenty of food while others were starving; and he went home daily to his lodge, dragging strings of fish after him on the ice.

Kabebonicca3 observed him, and felt a little piqued at his perseverance and good-luck, in defiance of the severest blasts of wind he could send from the north-west. "Why, this is a wonderful man!" said he; "he does not mind the cold, and appears as happy and contented as if it were the month of June. I will try whether he cannot be mastered." He poured forth tenfold colder blasts and drifts of snow, so that it was next to impossible to live in the open air. Still the fire of Shingebiss did not go out; he wore but a single strip of leather around his body, and he was seen in the

1 The Algonquin language (so called by the French) was spoken, though not exclusively, in a territory that extended through 60 degrees of longitude, and more than 20 degrees of latitude.-Bancroft.

2 The Indian name of a species of wild-duck.

3 A personification of the north-west or wintry wind.

worst weather searching the shores for rushes, and carrying home fish.

"I shall go and visit him," said Kabebonicca one day, as he saw Shingebiss dragging along a quantity of fish; and accordingly that very night he went to the door of his lodge. Meantime Shingebiss had cooked his fish and finished his meal, and was lying, partly on his side, before the fire, singing his songs. After Kabebonicca had come to the door, and stood listening there, he sang as follows:— "Spirit of the North-west,

You are but my fellow-man!"

The hunter knew that Kabebonicca was at his door, for he felt his cold and strong breath; but he kept on singing his songs, and affected utter indifference. At length Kabebonicca entered, and took his seat on the opposite side of the lodge; but Shingebiss did not regard or notice him. He got up as if nobody were present, and taking his poker, pushed the log, which made his fire burn brighter, repeating as he sat down again :

"You are but my fellow-man!"

Very soon the tears began to flow down Kabebonicca's cheeks, which increased so fast that presently he said to himself: "I cannot stand this; I must go out." He did so, and left Shingebiss to his songs; but resolved to freeze up all the flag orifices, and make the ice thick, so that he could not get any more fish. Still Shingebiss, by dint of great diligence, found means to pull up new roots and dive under for fish. At last, Kabebonicca was compelled to give up the contest. "He must be aided by some Monedo," I said he: “I can neither freeze him nor starve him; he is a very singular being. I will let him alone."'

Besides their faith in the manitou, which was so easily led up to a belief in one Great Spirit, the Indians had several forms of superstition regarding charms, incantations, and dreams-such as are commonly found among tribes who live in intimate dependence on the powers of nature.

The medicine-man was a professed sorcerer, prophet, and rain-maker. His spells were supposed to have virtues in making the arrow swift and sure, drawing fish into the net, and outwitting the cunning of the moose-deer. For the cure of sickness, he would prescribe fanciful remedies in some cases, while, in others, he recommended means which might have some good effect-such as rolling in the snow, or exposure to excessive heat. His powers were ascribed to his friendship with a strong manitou, and cases of failure were easily explained-some manitou stronger than his own had attacked the patient. All the logic of

1 A spirit or god.