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COURAME'; OR THE LOVE OF NATIVE COUNTRY. 

 Translated from the French, by a Lady. 



The following simple narrative is founded upon an interesting 

 fact, which goes far to prove how deeply patriotism is engraven in 

 the human heart. 



A young Indian girl, of the tribe of the Noragues, when about 

 nine years old, had strayed into the forests of Guiana, where she was 

 found by some hunters, and taken to the residence of Madame 

 de St. Croix, the widow of a rich Cayenne planter, by whom she was 

 nurtured. In the land of her fathers this child was called Courame, 

 which signifies in the Galibis language, " the beautiful." It is the 

 custom of many savage nations to give names to their children ex- 

 pressive of some agreeable attribute, or of something which strikes 

 their fancy, in the smiling scenes of outward nature, which they feel 

 and understand so well. This custom has been handed down, amongst 

 them, from the remotest ages. In the house of Madame de St. 

 Croix, Courame was baptized by the name of Demetrie, the most ten- 

 der cares were lavished on her by her adoptive mother, and no pains 

 were spared in perfecting her education. As she grew up in beauty, 

 the gifts of nature were still further displayed by the embellishments 

 and elegance of dress. Amongst her accomplishments she was taught 

 music and dancing, which latter amusement is too frequently made a 

 complicated art, rather than cultivated as a simple means of express- 

 ing, by the movements of the body, the light and joyous feelings of 

 the heart. 



Courame wanted for nothing, she knew not a privation, but by a 

 singular want of judgment in those with whom she associated, con- 

 stant reference was made, in her presence, to the wilds where she 

 had been found, to the miseries attendant upon the condition of sa- 

 vages, and to the happy fate which awaited her in the world, through 

 the goodness of her benefactress. They thought by such conversa- 

 tion the more to endear her new situation to her, but it produced a 

 contrary effect ; so true is it that intuitive propensities are in some 

 degree strengthened by contradiction. There appears to be an innate 

 principle which determines the nature of the desires and characteristic 

 inclinations of every living being. The bird which is produced from 

 an egg, though hatched by a strange mother, does not the less obey its 



