133 



perfuaded I fliould efcape the ordinary cenfure, that unqualified praife 

 is the offspring and betrayer of ignorant admiration : but it is impoffi- 



ble 



fome lines which I wrote in Canada, not as Indian poetry, but as an arrangement of 

 Indian words, with/o»!« resard to meajure, which will, at all events, furnifli the ground- 

 work for a few remarks on the language. I have fubjoLned the import of the words 

 in the order in which they ftand. 



Kinoze Niagara, kss kifis, saiaafsang 



Sublime Niagara your father (is) the fun, lightnings 



Mingsfe, mochlkindam, nipagan kiaanike ; 

 Impetuous, CKultiug, your bed excavated ; 



Kich-kichi-gami ainenti Chinquichinaban. 

 The great ocean therein laid her doiun. 



Kin oguin tapia, ki tapi Oguin Awanek ; 



Tour mother fhe is, you are the parent of exhalations; 



Kineio Mindokanek saffeiik Konia Kijik 

 Tour dews Jhine the fiher of heaven ; 



Seguis ki Animiki, gal fakia ki Onagwan. 



Fears you the thunder, and loves you the rainbow. 



The chafm at Niagara, the fubjeft of the above lines, which receives the waters of 

 four immenfe lakes, in its abyfs, at firft fight ftrikes the imagination as the ftupendous 

 work of fome caufe ftill in operation, manifefting its powerful agency by the vibrations 

 of the earth, and the continued concuflions of the air. The vapours and exhalations 

 of the tumultuous fea buried in the abyfs, collefting in volumes beneath, and afcend- 

 ing from the chafm in fleecy purity, cloathed with Ught, as it were in a ftateoffplen- 

 dld refurreaion, exhibit dazzling piftures to the eye ; and as they rife into the higher 

 regions of the atmofphere, difplay the moft beautiful work of fecondary creation, the 

 formation of clouds : which (lowly fwelling with the vapour, now almoft aerial, after 

 lingering for a time over their fource, at length gradually break the Clvery filaments 

 which held them, and are drifted into the expanfe, making way for fucceflive and ftiU 

 fucceeding creations; thus peopling fpace with form, and decorating the ftarry heavens 

 with fubordinate fplendors. Thefe gave the firft awful and fublime impreffions, I was 

 confcious of in viewing Niagara. For a moment the cliffs, the falls, the vapours, the 

 clouds, the illuminations, the thunders, feemed to me one harmonious accord of blended 

 piftures and founds, manifefting and proclaiming aloud, in the colouring and language of 



