THE AMERICANS AND THE ABORIGINES. 317 



venerable trees, gave to the whole scene an air of en- 

 chanting repose and seclusion. 



The inhabitant? of this retired spot, although offer- 

 ing fewer charms than did their residence, were in 

 many respects scarcely less interesting. In front of 

 the foremost hut was assembled a group of creatures 

 with dark shining skins, which, at a first glance, and 

 owing to their comical movements, might well have 

 been taken for a herd of apes. JSTow, like those 

 animals, they leaped the hedges and bushes, and then, 

 like snakes, wound along the ground, or rolled down 

 the river-bank with a rapidity of motion that the eye 

 could scarcely follow. Further on in the village were 

 seen lads of a maturer age, practising warlike games 

 and exercises. They were performing the spy-dance. 

 Whilst one party crept stealthily over the grass, 

 others lay upon the ground in a listening posture, 

 and with their ears pressed to the earth, strove to 

 distinguish the movements of their antagonists. At 

 last, when the two parties had approached each other, 

 they sprang suddenly up, and forming themselves in 

 Indian file, commenced a combat in which they dealt 

 furious blows with their blunt wooden tomahawks, 

 exhibiting in every movement an extraordinary degree 

 of activity and natural grace. Little interest was 

 shown in these evolutions by the adult inhabitants 

 of the village, whose extreme apathy and indifference 

 contrasted curiously with the display of violent exer- 

 tion on the part of the young Indians. Before the 



