rate some facts connected with my residence in the "Western country."

"Oh, yes," said one of them; "something about the Indians."

"Ah!" said I, 66 your very different from mine.

ideas about Indians are

You think of the fierce

Black Hawk, or the bold and wild Oseola, as savage men, who should not be suffered to live; and you imagine that all red men are of the same disposition. But, when I think of this wronged people, my heart aches. Who shall tell of the aggressions and frauds and oppressions which the whites have practised upon this doomed race; for, as the famous Red Jacket once affectionately said, 'The whites can exaggerate every effort made by the red men to retaliate the injuries and insults we receive; but we have no newspapers to tell what we suffer.' Who shall tell the story of the traders coming to them under the garb of friendship, and giving them the 'fire-water,' as they appropriately styled ardent spirits; and how, under its strange influence, they have been persuaded for a paltry sum to part with their extensive tracts of lands, containing their hunting-grounds, their dense forests, and, more sacred than all, the graves of their fathers. Oh, if you had seen them, as I have, when the time came for the fulfilment of their

contract to remove, leaving the home which their nation had enjoyed for ages past, and departing in a body, while, from time to time, they looked back towards their loved habitations, their bitter wailings testifying to the intensity of their grief, you would at least have sympathised with them. Long after their forms were lost to view, at intervals the loud lamentations of these sons of the forest' were borne on the wind to our ears. It seemed the death-knell of their happiness. Did not that cry go up to heaven, and enter into the ears of the God of mercy?

"It has seemed the intention of Providence to cause this race to pass away from the face of the earth, and to give their possessions to the civilised inhabitants of this continent. While our population is rapidly increasing, they are yearly diminishing in numbers, and in all probability their generations will soon become extinct, and but few imperfect records will be left of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country.

"Their fate has been a cruel, a melancholy one. They have been abused, insulted, oppressed by those who called themselves Christians. No wonder that one of their chiefs said, in answer to a request that they would receive missionaries, 'Let them go and preach to our white brethren, and

teach them not to cheat the poor Indian, and, if they hear them, then we shall be more ready to listen to their words.'

"Yet it has seemed necessary that this offence should come; but does not a fearful weight of guilt rest upon this nation, for their dealings with this people?

"I once lived very near an Indian village or reservation, as it was called, belonging to the tribe of the Tuscaroras. There were also parts of other tribes in the vicinity; indeed, they were quite numerous at the time my father first went to reside in that part of the country. At which time a deputation of chiefs paid him a visit, and in a formal speech, which was interpreted, welcomed us to their neighbourhood.

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Often, as I have been going to school, with only a younger sister in company with me, have I met numbers of them; and, though the road was through the woods, and only two log-cabins to be met with in the distance of a mile, a thought of fear never crossed my mind.

"At the house of one of their traders, (a most worthy and respectable man,) I was sometimes a visitor. Mr. Thomson was often absent from home; and, late at night, the Indians would frequently come to the house, which was far from any other,

and call for whiskey, for Mr. Thomson, though a good man, sold them ardent spirits; for the subject of temperance had not then occupied the attention of the public as it now does. On one occasion, when Mr. Thomson was absent, they were loud in. their demands for 'sneker,' as they called it. Mrs. Thomson opened a window, and said to them:'Mr. Thomson is gone-I am alone with my children, who are asleep-I shall not let you in, or give you any drink-go home.' You would have supposed she was in great danger, and that her house would be broken open. Not so. As

soon as they were acquainted with her defenceless situation, they all departed in silence, and left her without further molestation. How different their conduct from that of those who call themselves Christians! How would a set of white men have acted under like circumstances?

"We found our Indian neighbours a harmless, quiet, peaceable race; never troublesome by coming to the house, which they seldom frequented, except to offer venison or berries for sale. We were always kind to them, and were, I believe, esteemed by them as favourites. We found them to be a very courteous and polite people. They never stared about or noticed furniture, or other articles, unless it was specially pointed out to them,

and then they would notice it as if they had not seen it before. I have seen Red Jacket and his wife at a gentleman's table, where they have conducted themselves with as much propriety as if they had been bred at court. They were indeed patterns of politeness; they never interrupted a person while speaking, and always listened with the greatest attention to what was addressed to them, and paused a moment, to be assured that you were entirely done speaking, before they attempted to reply.

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"I could spend hours in narrating incidents relating to this interesting race; but I must not tire your patience, but proceed with what I was going to tell you of their customs.

"You have all heard or read of the sacrifices of pagan nations. I do not mean human sacrifices only, but those of animals, to appease offended deities, to avert calamities, or to return thanks for favours received. All this you have heard of in the accounts our missionaries have sent home from the far distant nations, where they are endeavouring to spread the gospel of salvation. But, though I never have been a missionary, I can tell you of something of this kind that I have seen within the United States ;-yes, even in the enlightened, civilised, Christianised state of New York.