NIAGARA. 



69 



boring a hole through his abdomen to put his bow through. I hesitated a moment, 

 and then addressed her : 



" Is the heart of the forest maiden heavy ? Is the Laughing Tadpole lonely ? 

 Does she mourn over the extinguished council-fires of her race, and the vanished 

 glory of her ancestors ? Or does her sad spirit wander afar toward the hunting- 

 grounds whither her brave Gobbler-of-the- Lightnings is gone ? Why is my daughter 

 silent? Has she aught against the 

 paleface stranger?" 



The maiden said — 



" Faix, an' is it Biddy Malone ye 

 dare to be callin' names ? Lave this, 

 or I'll shy your lean carcass over 

 the cataract, ye sniveling blaggard !" 



I adjourned from there also. 



"Confound these Indians ! " I said. 

 '■ They told me they were tame ; but, 

 if appearances go for anything, I 

 should say they were all on the war 

 path." 



I made one more attempt to fra- 

 ternize with them, and only one. I 

 came upon a camp of them gathered 

 in the shade of a great tree, making wampum and moccasins, and addressed them 

 in the language of friendship : 



" Noble Red Men, Braves, Grand Sachems, War Chiefs, Squaws, and High Muck- 

 a-Mucks, the -paleface from the land of the setting sun greets you ! You, Beneficent 

 Polecat — you, Devourer of Mountains — you. Roaring Thundergust — you. Bully Boy 

 with a Glass eye — the paleface from beyond the great waters greets you all ! War 

 and pestilence have thinned your ranks, and destroyed your once proud nation. 

 Poker and seven-up, and a vain modern expense for soap, unknown to your glorious 

 ancestors, have depleted your purses. Appropriating, in your simplicity, the prop- 

 erty of others, has gotten you into trouble. Misrepresenting facts, in your simple 



