THE INDIAN IN LITERATURE — TEN KATE. 509 



thing new before the public, "figures unfamiliar in literature— so 

 unfamiliar, indeed, that Brown himself does not seem quite at home 

 with them." 



Next comes Washington Irving. In his Sketch Book, which ap- 

 peared for the first time in 1819, there are two fine chapters on 

 Indians— Traits of Indian Character and Philip of Pokanoket, an 

 Indian Memoir. On the whole, Irving's description of Indian char- 

 acteristics is faithful and sympathetic, although necessarily some- 

 what superficial. The latter sketch, which is the more important, is 

 an eloquent memorial to that great Indian patriot, Philip of Poka- 

 noket (Metacom or King Philip), the soul of the war against the 

 English in 1675-76. Irving writes, i. a. : 



With a scanty band of followers, who still remained true to his fortunes, the 

 unhappy Philip wandered back to the vicinity of Mount Hope, the ancient 

 dwelling of his fathers. Here he lurked about like a specter among the deso- 

 lated scenes of former power and prosperity, now bereft of home, of family, 

 and friend. 



Further on he says : 



Even in this last refuge of desperation and despair a sullen grandeur gathers 

 round his memory. We picture him to ourselves seated among his careworn 

 followers, brooding in silence over his blasted fortunes and acquiring a savage 

 sublimity from the wildness and dreariness of his lurking place. Defeated but 

 not dismayed, crushed to earth but not humiliated, he seemed to grow more 

 haughty beneath disaster and to experience a fierce satisfaction in draiuing the 

 last dregs of bitterness. 



More widely known than the Indian work of Brown and Irving 

 are the frontier romances of James Fenimore Cooper. Among the 

 older writers he stands foremost. Several of his works have been 

 translated into various languages, including Dutch. 



Cooper, as we know, passed his youth, in the latter part of the 

 eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, on what was then the 

 frontier, near Otsego Lake, New York. Those days left an indellible 

 impression upon him, and there is no doubt that some characters of 

 his novels, among the whites at least, were depicted from real life. 

 It is, however, somewhat doubtful whether he personally had much 

 intercourse with Indians. It would seem that the greater part of 

 what he tells his readers about the eastern Indians — Delawares, Mo- 

 hicans, Hurons, and Iroquois — is borrowed from frontiersmen, colo- 

 nists, and hunters, and also from various books. Properly speaking, 

 Cooper, like many novelists after him, has given rather a composite 

 description of Indian characteristics, manners, and customs than an 

 exact account of any tribe in particular. Although, on the whole, 

 he did not try to idealize the Indians, he nevertheless, appreciates 

 their good qualities. The Mohican chief, Chingachgook, and his son, 

 Uncas, as painted by Cooper, represent the Indian in his noblest 



