40 



dress from an Englifli pen, but founded on a 

 real tradition. 1 ha\'e questioned, through their 

 interpreters, various and distant nations of In- 

 dians, and have known of many others, and all 

 their accounts agree in the main story, though 

 they vary in some of the subordinate parts. 



INDIAN TRADITION. 



" Ten thousand moons ago, when nought 

 but gloomy forests covered this land of the 

 sleeping sun ; long before the pale men, with 

 thunder and fire at their command, rushed on 

 the wings of the wind to ruin this garden of 

 nature ; when nought but the untamed wan- 

 derers of the woods, and men as unrestrained as 

 they, were the lords of the soil ; a race of ani- 

 mals existed, huge as the frowning precipice, 

 cruel as the bloody panther, swift as the de- 

 scending eagle, and terrible as the angel of 

 night. The pines crashed beneath their feet, 

 and the lake shrunk when they slaked their 

 thirst ; the forceful javelin in vain was hurled, 

 and the barbed arrow fell harmless from their 

 side. Forests v*^ere laid waste at a meal -, the 

 groans of expiring animals were every where 

 heard ; and whole villages, inhabited by men. 



