324 Expedition, &c. 



drive the Americans. Their subsequent inability to comply 

 with this promise, together with an indistinct idea of some 

 of the conflicts, both by land and water, on our Canadian 

 frontier, lead them to suppose that the Americans conquered 

 in that war, and that they are now the most powerful of the 

 nations of the earth. 



Like the ancients the Indians have no rhymes in their 

 poetry. They imitate the sounds of the voice of various ani- 

 mals, and of some, with so much success, as to deceive even 

 such persons as are familiar with the animals thus imitated. 

 This mimicry extends to the voices of the bear, bison, deer, 

 wolves, prairie dog, turkey, owl, &c, together with those of 

 some smaller birds, the notes of which are simple. But in 

 these imitations we knew of no individual, whose art enabled 

 him to execute so great a variety of notes, and with so much 

 melody, as we have heard from civilized performers, who 

 have publicly exhibited their talents in this way, in our 

 cities. 



An Indian at his temporary night encampment, hearing 

 the unexpected cry of an owl, wolf, &c, is generally sus- 

 picious of its proceeding from a human enemy, who is thus 

 endeavouring to lull him into fancied security ; such sounds 

 being often made by war parties, on their nocturnal approach 

 to their victims, to induce a belief that the animals around 

 them are undisturbed. 



They also imitate the motions of different animals, play- 

 fully, sometimes grotesquely, in their dances. 



