134 



blc to perfuade an Indian to repeat deliberately, fentence by fentence, 

 and word for word, thofe compofitions which his rapid imagination bo- 

 dies 



nature, " The heavens and the earth are indiflblubly connefled ; thefe are their bright 

 " bends ; behold the fountain of the clouds, here the fecrets of creation are difclo- 

 fed, the veil is withdrawn." Till the firft folemn and commanding emotions are paft, 

 the mind is too full of the effeft to pafs with a capacity of enjoyment to the de- 

 tails. Curiofity muft be fufpended ; the fcene muft be abandoned and revifited again 

 and again, before you are left free to analyze it, to feparate the awfu! from the mag- 

 nificent, and to contrail the beautiful with the grand. At times Niagara feems to 

 fufpend its operations and to repofe. Its thunders become fallen founds ; its evapo- 

 rations, fcarcely furmounting its cliffs, fade into air ; no dazzling illuminations, no for- 

 mation of clouds ; till agairi of a fudden the great work is refumed, as if the genius 

 of the place were roufed. Day after day, and let me add night after night, furnifli 

 new and furprifing varieties. Every change in the fh.adows, in the v.eight of the at- 

 mofphere, in the mafs of waters, in the illuminations of the fun and moon, ftamps Nia- 

 gara with greatly diltinguiflied features. For feveral weeks I vifited and explor- 

 ed, and almoft dwelt upon its fcenes, feldom without obferving fomething which 

 I had not before attended to, and never for a moment without a rich recompence. 

 But I have wandered to things from words, of which the following fhort colleflion 

 prefents many which are harmonious and exprefEve, whatever may be the errors of 

 their arrangement. 



Makua Ifpatina, Inini Saki't Otayna, 



7of bear the mountain, man loves the peopled village, 



Pafletina Befheki, gai Sagaegan Wabifi ; 



7he extended plain the buffalo, and the luide lake the fiuan, 



Papimifli Omimi, Nanakteffi nakama, 

 Flits on the ivin^ the dove, echo repeats, 



Pepezigoganzi tattabbe pimouffi Popufqua. 



J he animated horfe hri/hly hounds over the plain^ 



I fhall make ufe of thefe colleSions of words to convey by reference a few obfervations 

 upon tlie nature and flruflure of the Algonkin tongue. Note i, Kns in the iirft line 

 of the firft colleflion, is a compound ; w fignilics a father, k>is your father,, n^s 

 my father, nous, his father, by the junffion of the particles ni hi and a, properly 

 perfonal pronouns, often ufed as poffelEve. Note 2, lifts (the fun) in the firil line, de- 

 iiia Cgnifies night, and deliia-iifis the moon, the fun or luminary of the night ; hence 



iifis 



