and in the middle, by England and the United States.

north, by Russia; on the south, by Mexico; | many a fold, through more than 4000 miles. But, though exceeded by the Mississippi in length, the St. Lawrence clearly has the advantage in depth and noble expansion towards its mouth, being navigable for the

Between these two ranges of mountains -the Alleghany on the east and the Oregon on the west-lies the immense Cen-largest ships of war as high as Quebec, 340 tral Valley of North America, wider in the north than towards the south, and reaching from the Northern Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most extensive valley in the world, and is composed of two vast sections, separated by a zigzag line of table-land. This ridge, which is of no great elevation, and which commences near the 42° of north latitude on one side, while it terminates near the 49° on the other, stretches across from the Alleghany system to the Oregon, and thus separates, also, the waters that flow southward into the Gulf of Mexico, from those flowing in the opposite direction into the northern seas. Thus the one section of this great valley inclines to the south, the other gently, nay, almost imperceptibly, descends towards the north. The former is drained mainly by one great river and its numerous branches, called, in the pompous language of the Aborigines of the country, the Mississippi, or Father of Waters. The latter is drained by the St. Lawrence, falling into the Northern Atlantic; the Albany and other streams falling into Hudson's Bay; and by M'Kenzie's River, which falls into the Arctic Ocean.

miles; and for large merchant vessels to Montreal, 180 miles farther; whereas the Mississippi does not reach the medium width of a mile, nor a depth in the shallow places of the central channel, when the stream runs low, of more than fifteen feet; so that, excepting when in flood, it is not navigable by ships of 500 tons for more than 300 miles. The St. Lawrence, and all the other considerable rivers of the northern basin, pass through a succession of lakes, some of vast extent, by which the floods caused by melting snows and heavy rains, which otherwise, by rushing down in the spring, and accumulating vast masses of ice in the yet unopened channel of its lower and northern course, would spread devastation and ruin over the banks, are collected in huge reservoirs, and permitted to flow off gradually during the summer months. Wonderful display of wisdom and beneficence in the arrangements of Divine creation and providence! But the Mississippi, as it flows into the warmer regions of the south, needs no such provision; and hence, with the exception of a few small lakes connected with the head streams of the Upper Mississippi in the west, and one These great sections of this immense or two connected with the Alleghany, a valley differ much in character. The north-branch of the Ohio, in the east, no lake ern possesses a considerable extent of comparatively elevated and very fertile land in its southern part; while towards the north it subsides to a low, monotonous, swampy plain, little elevated above the level of the ocean, and, by reason of its marshes, bogs, and inhospitable climate, is almost as uninhabitable as it is incapable of cultivation. The southern section- more commonly called the Valley of the Mississippi-terminates on the low, marshy coast of the Gulf of Mexico; but, with the exception of the part of it which lies on the upper streams of the Red River and La Platte, it everywhere abounds in fertile land, covered, for the most part, even yet, with noble forests, or adorned with beautiful prairies. | The St. Lawrence is the great river of the northern section or basin, though not without a rival in the M'Kenzie's River; while its southern rival, the Mississippi, flows almost alone in its vast domain. There are, however, the Alabama and a few small rivers on its left, and the Sabine, the Brazos, and some others of lesser note on its right. The St. Lawrence boasts a length of more than 2000 miles. That of the Mississippi exceeds 2500; and if the Missouri be considered the main upper branch, as it ought to be, then it may fairly claim the honour of dragging its vast length, with

occurs in the whole of the southern basin. Owing to this difference in these rivers, a sudden rise of three feet in the waters of the St. Lawrence would be more surprising than a rise of thirty feet in the Mississippi. But in order that the country which borders upon the latter may not be too much exposed to great and destructive inundation, the Creator has, in his wisdom, given to it a peculiar configuration. The inclined plane which slopes down from the Oregon Mountains towards the east is much wider than that sloping from the mountains on the opposite side. Hence the rivers from the western side of the valley have a much greater distance to traverse than those that drain the eastern slope,. and the floods which they roll down in the spring are, of course, proportionally later in reaching the Lower Mississippi. În fact, just as the floods of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio, have subsided, those of the Arkansas, the Missouri, and Upper Mississippi begin to appear. these all came down at once, the Lower Mississippi, as the common outlet, by swelling to such an extent as to overflow its banks, would spread destruction far and wide over the whole Delta. Such a calamity, or, rather, something approaching to it, does occasionally occur; but at long in

If

tervals, to teach men their dependance on Divine Providence, as well as to punish them for their sins.

Of the slope between the Oregon Mountains and the Pacific, the northern part, occupied by Russia, is cold, and little of it fit for cultivation; the middle, claimed by the United States and Great Britain, is said to be a fine country in many parts; while that occupied by Mexico has very great natural advantages. The country bordering on the Gulf of California is surpassed by none in North America for pleasantness of climate and fertility of soil.

a few straggling Indians are occasionally seen upon its outskirts. With these exceptions, the whole portion of North America which is now either occupied or claimed by the people of the United States, was, when first visited by Europeans, and for more than a century afterward, one vast wilderness. The luxuriant vegetation with which it had been clothed year after year, for ages, was destined only to decay and enrich the soil. Thus did the work of preparing it to be the abode of millions of civilized men go silently and steadily on; the earth gathering strength, during this long repose, for the sustentation of nations On both sides of the Upper Mississippi, which were to be born in the distant fuas well as on both sides of the Missouri, ture. One vast and almost unbroken for-there are extensive prairies,* as the French, est covered the whole continent, imbowho first explored that country, called soming in its sombre shadows alike the them; that is, in many places there are meandering streamlet and the mighty rivdistricts, some of them very extensive, in- er, the retired bay and the beautiful and cluding hundreds, and even thousands of tranquil lake. A profound and solemn siacres of land, others smaller, and resem-lence reigned everywhere, save when inbling a field or meadow, which are covered terrupted by the songs of the birds which in the summer with tall grass and a great variety of flowers, but on which scarcely anything in the shape of a tree is to be found. Many of these prairies possess a fertile soil; but others produce only a sort of stunted grass and short weeds; and between the upper streams of the Red River and the La Platte, towards the Oregon Mountains, there lies an extensive tract which has been called the Great American Desert. The country there is covered with sand and detached rocks, or boulders, which have evidently come from the Oregon Mountains, and is thinly clothed with a species of vegetation called buffalo grass. The prickly pear may often be seen spreading its huge leaves over the ground. Not a tree, and scarcely a bush, is to be met with in many places for miles. Herds of buffalo sometimes traverse it, and

Much has been said and written on the origin of the prairies of North America; but, after all, no perfectly satisfactory theory has yet been invented. The Indians know nothing on the subject. As to the barren prairies between the upper streams of the Red River and the Platte, mentioned in the text under the name of the Great American Desert, the same cause produced them which produced the Great Sahara in Africa, the utter sterility of the soil. But as it relates to those fertile prairies which one finds in the States of Illinois and Missouri, and in the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, the case is very different. In some respects, the theory that they owe their existence to the annual burning of the dry, decayed grass, and other vegetable matter, in the autumnal months, seems plausible. It accounts well enough for the perpetuation of these prairies, but it fails to account for their origin. How is it that the same cause did not produce prairies in those parts which yet have been, as far as we can learn, occupied by the Aborigines as long as those in which the prairies are found. It is very likely that fire was one of the causes of their origin; but there may have curring circumstances, with respect to which we are wholly in the dark.

of North America where none have ever existed?

been others not less efficient, as well as various con

sported amid the trees, the natural cries of the beasts which roamed beneath, the articulate sounds of the savage tribes around their wigwams, or their shouts in the chase or in the battle. The work of God, in all its simplicity, and freshness, and grandeur, was seen everywhere; that of man almost nowhere; universal nature rested, and, as it were, kept Sabbath.

Two hundred years more pass away, and how widely different is the scene! Along the coasts, far and wide, tall ships pass and repass. The white sails of brig and sloop are seen in every bay, cove, and estuary. The rivers are covered with boats of every size, propelled by sail or oar. And in every water the steamboat, heedless alike of wind and tide, pursues its resistless way, vomiting forth steam and flame. Commerce flourishes along every stream. Cities are rising in all directions. The forests are giving way to cultivated fields or verdant meadows. Savage life, with its wigwams, its blanket-covering, its poverty, and its misery, yields on every side to the arts, the comforts, and even the luxuries of civilization.

CHAPTER II.

THE ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA.

NORTH AMERICA, when discovered by Europeans, was in the occupancy of a great number of uncivilized tribes; some large, but most of them small: and, although differing in some respects from one another, yet exhibiting indubitable evidence of a common origin. Under the belief that the country was a part of the East Indies, to reach which, by pursuing a westerly course, had been the object of their

voyage, the companions of Columbus gave only protection to their feet and legs in the name of Indians to those nations of the coldest weather. The head was adornthe Aborigines which they first saw. Sub-ed with feathers and the beaks and claws sequent and more extensive exploration of of birds, the neck with strings of shells, the coasts of America convinced them of and that of the warrior with the scalps of their mistake, but the name thus given to enemies slain in battle or in ambush. the indigenous tribes has adhered to them Nothing like agriculture was known to this day. among them, save the planting of small A striking similarity of organization per-patches of a species of corn which takes vades the tribes of North America.* All its name from them, and which, when have the same dull vermilion, or cinna- parched, or when pounded and made into mon complexion, differing wholly from paste and baked, is both palatable and nuthe white, the olive, and the black vari- tritious. Having no herds, the use of milk eties of the human family; all have the was unknown. They depended mainly on same dark, glossy hair, coarse, but uni- the chase and on fishing for a precarious formly straight. Their beards are gen- subsistence, not having the skill to furerally of feeble growth, and instead of be- nish themselves with suitable instruments ing permitted to become long, are almost for the prosecution of either with much universally eradicated. The eye is elonga-success; and when successful, as they ted, and has an orbit inclined to a quadran-had no salt, they could preserve an abungular shape. The cheek-bones are prom-dant supply of game only by smoking it. inent; the nose broad; the jaws project-Hence the frequent famines among them, ing; the lips large and thick, though far less so than those of the Ethiopic race.

during the long, cold months of winter.

Poets have sung of the happiness of the Yet there are not wanting considerable natural, in other words, uncivilized life. varieties in the organization and complex- But all who know anything of the aboriion of the Aborigines of North America. ginal tribes of North America, even in Some nations are fairer skinned, some the present times, when those that border taller and more slender than others; and upon the abodes of civilized men live far even in the same tribe there are often more comfortably than did their ancesstriking contrasts. Their limbs, unre-tors three hundred years ago, are well strained in childhood and youth by the appliances which civilization has invented, | are generally better formed than those of the white men. The persons of the males are more erect, but this is not so with the females; these have become bowed down with the heavy burdens which, as slaves, they are habitually compelled to bear.

aware that their existence is a miserable one. During the excitements of the chase, there is an appearance of enjoyment; but such seasons are not long, and the utter want of occupation, and the consequent tedium of other periods, make the men in many cases wretched. Add to this the want of resources for domestic happiness; Their manner of life, when first discov- the evils resulting from polygamy; the deered, was in the highest degree barbarous.pression naturally caused by the sickness They had nothing that deserved the name of houses. Rude huts, mostly for temporary use, of various forms, but generally circular, were made by erecting a pole to support others which leaned upon it as a centre, and which were covered with leaves and bark, while the interior was lined with skins of the buffalo, the deer, the bear, &c. A hole at the top permitted the escape of the smoke; a large opening in the side answered the purpose of a door, a window, and sometimes of a chimney. The skins of animals formed almost the whole cov-who are not yet civilized. ering of the body. Moccasins, and sometimes a sort of boot, made of the skins of the animals slain in the chase, were the

of friends and relatives, without the means of alleviation; the gloomy apprehensions of death; and we cannot wonder that the "red man" should be miserable, and seek gratification in games of chance, the revelries of drunkenness, or the excitements of war. I have seen various tribes of Indians; I have travelled among them; I have slept in their poor abodes, and never have I seen them, under any circumstances, without being deeply impressed with the conviction of the misery of those especially

They are not without some notions of a Supreme Power which governs the world, and of an Evil Spirit who is the enemy of mankind. But their theogony and their *This may be said also of all the aboriginal tribes theology are alike crude and incoherent. of America entire, from the shores of the Northern They have no notion of a future resurrecOcean to the island of Terra del Fuego. But there tion of the body. Like children, they canwas a vast difference in regard to civilization. The inhabitants of Mexico and Peru, when those coun- not divest themselves of the idea that the tries were visited and conquered by Cortes and Pi-spirit of the deceased still keeps company zarro, were far more civilized than the tribes of the portion of North America which we are considering. No remains of antiquity among the latter can be for a moment compared with those of the kingdom of

Montezuma.

with the body in the grave, or that it wanders in the immediate vicinity. Some, however, seem to have a confused impression that there is a sort of elysium for the

departed brave, where they will forever enjoy the pleasures of the chase and of war. Even of their own origin they have nothing but, a confused tradition, not extending back beyond three or four generations. As they have no calendars, and reckon their years only by the return of certain seasons, so they have no record of time past.

Though hospitable and kind to strangers to a remarkable degree, they are capable of the most diabolical cruelty to their enemies. The well-authenticated accounts of the manner in which they sometimes treat their prisoners would almost make us doubt whether they can belong to the human species. And yet we have only to recall to our minds scenes which have taken place in highly-civilized countries, and almost within our own day, when Christian men have been put to death in its most horrible forms by those who professed to be Christians themselves, to be convinced that, when not restrained by the grace and providence of God, there is nothing too devilish for man to do.

Very many of the tribes speak dialects, rather than languages, distinct from those of their neighbours. East of the Mississippi River, and within the bounds of what is now the United States, when the colonization of the country by Europeans commenced, there were eight races, or families of tribes, each comprehending those most alike in language and customs, and who constantly recognised each other as relatives. These were, 1. The ALGONQUINS, consisting of many tribes, scattered over the whole of the New-England States, the southern part of New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. Being the most numerous of all the tibes, they occupied about half the territory east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence and the lakes. 2. The SIOUX, or DACOTAs, living between Lake Superior and the Mississippi. These were a small branch of the great tribe of the same name, to be found about the higher streams of that river, and between them and the Oregon Mountains. Some remains of the law, written origi- 3. The HURON-IROQUOIS nations, who occunally on the heart of man by his Creator, pied all the northern and western parts of are to be found even among the Indian what is now the State of New-York, and a tribes. Certain actions are considered part of Upper Canada. The most imporcriminal and deserving of punishment; tant of these tribes were the Five Nations, others are reckoned meritorious. The as they were long called, viz., the Mohawks, catalogue, it is true, of accredited virtues Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Seneand vices is not extensive. Among the cas. These were afterward joined by the men, nothing can atone for the want of Tuscaroras from the Carolinas, a branch courage and fortitude. The captive war- of the same great family, and then they rior can laugh to scorn all the tortures of took the name of the Six Nations, by which his enemies, and sing in the very agonies title they are better known to history. of a death inflicted in the most cruel man-4. The CATAWBAS, who lived chiefly in ner, what may be termed a song of triumph, what is now South Carolina. 5. The rather than of death! The narrations which CHEROKEES, who lived in the mountainous the Jesuit (French) missionaries, who knew parts of the two Carolinas, Georgia, and the Indian character better, perhaps, than Alabama. Their country lay in the southany other white men that have ever writ-ern extreme of the Alleghany Mountains, ten of them, have left of what they themselves saw, are such as no civilized man can read without being perfectly appalled.* Roman fortitude never surpassed that displayed in innumerable_instances by captured Indian warriors. In fact, nothing can be compared with it except that said to have been exhibited by the Scandinavians, in their early wars with one another and with foreign enemies; and of which we have many accounts in their Elder and Younger Eddas, and in their Sagas.

* The reader is referred to the work entitled "Rélation de ce qui s'est passé en la Nouvelle France," in 1632, and the years following, down till 1660. Also to the work of Creuxius, and the Journal of Marest. Much is to be found on the same horrible subject in Charlevoix's "Histoire de la Nouvelle France;" Lepage Dupratz's "Histoire de la Louisiane;" Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia;" "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," vol. i.; and the volumes of the late excellent Heckewelder, who was for forty years a missionary among the Delaware Indians, and whom the author of this work had the happiness of knowing intimately.

and abounded in ridges and valleys. 6. The UCHEES, who resided in Georgia, in the vicinity of the site occupied at present by the city of Augusta. 7. The NATCHEZ, so famous for their tragical end, who lived on the banks of the Mississippi, in the neighbourhood of the present city of Natchez. 8. The MOBILIAN 'tribes, or, as Mr. Gallatin calls them, the MUSKнOgee-ChocTA, who occupied the country which comprises now the States of Alabama and Mississippi, and the Territory of Florida. The tribes which composed this family, or nation, are well known by the name of the Creeks, the Chickasas, the Choctas, and the Seminoles; to whom may be added the Yamasses, who formerly lived on the Savannah River, but exist no longer as a separate tribe.

The languages of these eight families of tribes are very different, and yet they are marked by strong grammatical affinities. It is most probable that the people who

first settled America, come whence they which they knew not how to protect themmight, spoke different, though remotely re-selves. If the Europeans introduced some lated languages. All the languages of the diseases, it is no less certain that they Aborigines of America are exceedingly found some formidable ones among the complicated, regular in the forms of verbs, natives. A year or two before the Pilgrim irregular in those of nouns, and admitting of changes by modifications of final syllables, initial syllables, and even, in the case of verbs, by the insertion of particles, in a way unknown to the languages of Western Europe. They exhibit demonstrative proof that they are not the invention of those who use them, and that they who use them have never been a highly-civilized people. Synthesis, or the habit of compounding words with words, prevails, instead of the more simple method of analysis, which a highly cultivated use of language always displays.* The old English was much more clumsy than the modern. The same thing is true of the French and German; indeed, of every cultivated language. The languages of the tribes bordering upon the frontier settlements of the United States begin to exhibit visible evidences of the effect of contact with civilization. The half-breeds are also introducing modifications, which show that the civilized mind tends to simplify language; and the labours of the missionaries, who have introduced letters among several tribes, are also producing great results, and leading to decided improvements.

A great deal has been said and written about the gradual wasting and disappearance of the tribes which once occupied the territories of the United States.

Fathers reached the coast of New-England, the very territory on which they settled was swept of almost its entire population by a pestilence. Several of the tribes which existed when the colonists arrived from Europe were but the remnants, as they themselves asserted, of once powerful tribes, that had been almost annihilated by war or by disease. This, as is believed, was the case with the Catawbas, the Uchees, and the Natchez. Many of the branches of the Algonquin race, and some of the Huron-Iroquois, used to speak of the renowned days of their forefathers, when they were a powerful people. It is not easy, indeed, to estimate what was the probable number of the Indians who occupied, at the time of its discovery, the country east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence, comprising very nearly what may be called the settled portion of the United States; and from which the Indian race has disappeared, in consequence of emigration or other causes. But I am inclined to think, with Mr. Bancroft, an American author who deserves the highest praise for the diligent research he has displayed in his admirable work on the United States, and to whom I am greatly indebted on this subject, as well as many others which are treated in this work, that there may have been in all not far from one hundred and eighty thousand souls.* That a considerable number were slain in the numer

the French and English during our colonial days, and in our wars with them after our independence, and that ardent spirits, also, have destroyed many thousands, cannot be doubted. But the most fruitful source of destruction to these poor "children of the wood" has been the occasional prevalence of contagious and epidemic diseases, such as the smallpox, which some years since cut off, in a few months, almost the whole tribe of the Mandans, on the Missouri.

It is not intended to deny that several tribes which figure in the history of the first settlement of the country by Europe-ous wars carried on between them and ans are extinct, and that several more are nearly so. Nor is it denied that this has been partly occasioned by wars waged with them by the white or European population; still more by the introduction of drunkenness and other vices of civilized men, and by the diseases incident to those vices. But while this may be all true, still the correctness of a good deal that has been said on this subject may well be questioned. Nothing can be more certain than that the tribes which once occupied the country now comprised within the United States, were, at the epoch of the first settlement of Europeans on its shores, gradually wasting away, and had long been so; from the destructive wars waged with each other; from the frequent recurrence of famine, and sometimes from cold; and from diseases and pestilences, against * The reader who desires, may see much on the Indian languages in Humboldt's Voyages; Vater's Mithradates, vol. iii.; Baron Will. Humboldt; Publications of the Berlin Academy, vol. xliv.; Gallatin's Analysis; Duponceau's Notes on Zeisberger; American Quarterly Review, vol. iii.; Heckewelder's two works respecting Indian manners, customs, etc.; and Mr. Schoolcraft's publications.

Of the ALGONQUIN race, whose numbers, two hundred years ago, were estimated at ninety thousand souls, only a few small tribes, and remnants of tribes, remain,. probably not exceeding 20,000 persons. Of the HURON-IROQUOIS, not more probably than two or three thousand remain within the limits of the United States. The greater part who survive are to be found in Canada. The Sioux have not diminished. The CHEROKEES have increased. The CATAWBAs are nearly extinct as a nation. The remains of the UCHEES and NATCHEZ have

Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. iii.

p. 253.