284 EVPTnTTTON TO THE 



lieve, that the uncivilized condition of the savage deprives 

 him of, or stifles in him, all passion ; but In is is not the case. 

 The fate of Winona has many parallels, which are not all 

 equally well known. There were in the circumstances of 

 this case, several conditions which tended to impart to it 

 a peculiar interest ; the maid was one who had been a fa- 

 vourite in her tribe ; the warrior whom her parents had 

 selected was one of note ; her untimely end was a public 

 one: many wxre the witnesses to it; it was impressive in 

 the highest degree; the romantic situation of the spot, 

 which may be thought to have had some influence over the 

 mind of a young and enthusiastic female, who found 

 herself at that time " perplex'd in the extreme," must have 

 had a corresponding efiect upon those who witnessed it. 

 Wazecota, who was there at the time, though very young, 

 appeared to have received an indelible impression from it, 

 and when relating it to Major Long in 1817, the feelings 

 and sensations of his youth seemed to be restored ; he lost 

 the garrulity of age, but spoke in a manner which showed 

 that even the breast of the Indian warrior is not proof 

 against the finest feelings of our nature. Had Winona, in- 

 stead of taking the fatal leap, put an end to her existence 

 in the midst of a forest, by suspending herself to a tree, as 

 is generally practised by those Indian women whom distress 

 impels to suicide, her fate would still have been unknown 

 to us ; a few of her friends might have wept over her un- 

 timely lot, but the traveller would have passed over the 

 spot where she had ended her woes, without having his 

 sympathies awakened, as they now are, by the recital of 

 this terrible catastrophe. While the circumstances of this 

 tale were related to us, Mr. Seymour was engaged in 

 sketching this interesting spot. We have introduced his 

 view of it here, (Plate IV.) as it gives a correct idea of 



