AS RELATED TO TASTE. 63 



and the delicate tracery of bead-work without a pat- 

 tern, but also the symbols of his expressive lan- 

 guage. His words are of leaves for number, the 

 rose and violet for beauty, the eagle for swiftness, 

 the fawn for gentleness, and the snake for stealth. 

 There is beauty in his language, and it is borrowed 

 from natural objects, and every thing written re- 

 specting him draws necessarily its beauty from the 

 same source. 



When the poet would sing of the Indian's legends 

 and traditions, he repeats them " as he heard them 

 from the lips of Nawadaha, as he found them 



" In the birdVnest of the forest, 

 In the lodges of the beaver, 

 In the hoof-prints of the bison, 

 In the eyry of the eagle." 



The Indian's allegory of "Winter and Spring beau- 

 tifully illustrates their use of the bright images of 

 Nature. 



" When I shake my hoary tresses, 

 Said the old man, darkly frowning, 

 All the land with snow is cover'd, 

 All the leaves from all the branches 



