north-west, of incalculable importance to the Indians frequenting the waters where it grows. This omission, however, may lead to interesting speculations as to the migrations of the aboriginal people.

Another striking characteristic of the Tales is, that they render all nature social, endowing its various products, its animals and trees, &c. with the faculties of reason and speech; and also with powers of transformation, that give them peculiar influence over the fortunes of man. This propensity to give to animals, and even inanimate objects, such an intimate communion with the human race, belongs in a conspicuous degree to the Red men, as appears not only in their traditions, but in their actual condition and daily life; arising, no doubt, in a great measure, from their solitary state as hermits and hunters in the forests and prairies, where they learn and incline to hold converse with the wild creatures, the natural objects, and even with solitude as a spirit around them. Hence their Tales bear the stamp of wild meditation, of excited and visionary states of mind.

The high value of these fictions is to be traced in the bearing which they have on important and difficult problems with regard to a large portion of the human family. But even as tales, they present a considerable degree of interest, and also of variety, in respect of invention, satire, moralizing, and also of occasional sublimity; all which qualities are interspersed throughout them. Take first, an outline of the story of the "Celestial Sisters," a tale of lively fancies, of bold imagination, of tenderness, and even of affecting incident; the whole conveying some lessons and touching sentiments that might be operative in the wilderness.

Waupee, or the White Hawk, is a hermit hunter. Such a separation from all kith and kin is not uncommon in the forest. While thus apart from the world, this son of the desert discovered, in a remote prairie, the resort of certain visitors, who appeared only to touch the earth, not to dwell or abide upon it. This excited his curiosity, and, watching from a covert, he soon heard sweet music coming from the sky, and accompanying a basket, which settled in a magic ring, letting down twelve beautiful sisters, who began to dance. Though all very beautiful, the youngest, as all tales will have it, was the most so. Waupee, of course, fell in love with her, and rushed from his hiding place to woo or seize her; when the whole group, alarmed and offended, leaped into their basket, and reascended to the skies. Waupee now thought of various disguises in the shape of animals, but did not succeed in reaching the "Celestial Sisters," who continued to visit the earth, until he assumed the shape of a mouse, when he was enabled not only to approach them, but to catch the lovely one, who was instantly abandoned to her fate by the others, who returned no more.

The hermit hunter wins by kindness his star-bride, for the sisters were star-maidens, and she seems to be satisfied with the pleasures of the earth, until a son is born, when the skyey influences begin to draw her upwards again, and she resolves to leave her partner and his planet. Her preparations are made secretly, and, having her basket all formed, she goes to the magic ring in the prairie while he is hunting, and ascends to the stars with the child, Waupee's ears catching the well-known sounds, but all too late to arrest his better half and child. He is left disconsolate on earth for many years. At length, however, the natural longing for native scenes, which led his wife to desert the earth, leads the son to wish to revisit it. The star-people consent, that the mother and child may descend and bring up Waupee to their bright spheres. He once more hears the celestial music, again embraces the fair one and son, and accompanies them back to the skies, taking with him a leg, wing, or tail, of any animal which he could kill, as a specimen for his father-in-law. A great feast greets the new comers, when each star present is allowed to take one of the specimens as his own. All approach to make the selection, when suddenly they become transformed into the fowl or beast, of which a member had been taken up, and scatter themselves widely through the heavens; while Waupee, his wife and child, as white hawks, fly down to earth.

There are tender touches and tender lessons pointed at in this tale, showing that gentle and beautiful sympathies have place in the breasts of the Indians. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end in its structure. But how far it embraces the mythology of the people, or touches upon a traditional astronomy, would require a number of tales and narratives to indicate.

The moral lesson taught by many of the Tales, or the side hints given, are often of a useful and plainly practical character. The "White Feather," a Sioux tale, furnishes an example of the consequences of forgetting or neglecting wise injunctions, and yielding to temptation; and is a well-managed allegory. This White Feather, on the possession of which success in difficult contests is made to depend, is won through a dream, when giants of evil are overcome, until one of them, the last to be conquered, assumes the form of a beautiful female, who, although there had been previous warning of her allurements, first deludes and then betrays. Her victim loses not only his magic feather, but the form of a man, being changed into that of a dog, or wolf. But the moral does not end here. Practical justice is finally done. The dog suffers, but is adopted by a modest and virtuous woman, whom he serves with skill and fidelity; and, in due time, he is disenchanted, recovers his feather, and marries his kind patroness.

Some of the Tales are full of necromancy. For example, the "Magician of the Lakes" is an evil spirit with great power, which

he exerts only to injure or destroy. But he has daughters who would cure as fast as he would kill. The self-moving canoe is an ingenious fancy, and the whole tale is a beautiful illustration of the power of innocence, which can evoke efficacious aids in all emergencies, making even the agents of harm minister to its relief. The Magician is at last circumvented, destroyed, and transformed into a tree. This is a tale of a tribe which is said to be now few in number, dwelling on the skirts of the white men's settlements, but inaccessible to all approaches of civilization.

Tales of horror, of course, occur. The "Undying Head" is one of the most striking in respect of incident as well as extravagant invention. "Jamo" is doomed to die, but death begins at his feet, and he cunningly directs his head to be cut off just as the fell enemy reaches the neck; thus saving the upper story with the principle of life in it, to play an important part in the destinies of his friends. The most extraordinary adventures now begin to occur, all for the purpose of winning or preserving a wampum belt. This ornament among the Indians is of great value, and is often invested with magic power. It has mysterious virtues; it records traditions, speaks from the dead to the living, and is transmitted down through generations with reverend care. No object can be more regarded, or more coveted. In this tale a wampum, around the neck of a monstrous she-bear, and guarded by numberless obstacles and terrors, has been sought by thousands, who have all fallen or failed in the enterprise. Ten brothers renew the trial, and, by courage or stratagem, succeed in getting the belt. But they are pursued by the bear, which passes over whole latitudes at a leap. The brothers dream, and Manitos interpose. Still the pursuit only relents for a moment. At last a dream reveals the "Undying Head." It is resorted to, and the she-bear is overcome; when, on her being beaten into fragments, each fragment turns into a cub, and runs off. Hence the race of bears. The ten brothers, in the further course of the tale, are all killed, but are all brought to life again; while the "Undying Head" is reunited to its trunk, recovering life and form in all its original vigour and activity.

The incidents of the tale noticed, and many others, suggest to Mr. Schoolcraft a variety of reflections with regard to the aboriginal notions concerning the dead, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and so forth.

Manabozho, who is called by Mr. Schoolcraft the "incarnation of the North," performs a conspicuous part in many of the Tales. Much information respecting the distinctive opinions of the Indians can be derived from the contemplation of this character, which mingles in all things, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

There are constant allusions in these tales to the manner in which birds have received their form and colour, beasts their propensity

to fatness or leanness, &c.; some of them evincing much fancy, others much drollery. The Indian looks abroad on the infinite variety of form and colour that marks animate and inanimate nature in many of her most striking developments, and may be supposed to indulge in many conjectures as to the cause. In one instance the woodpecker, who sat on a bough watching the ineffectual shooting of a warrior at a monster, gives a hint which leads to a successful shot, and, in reward for his service, has a dab of the victim's blood upon his head, which has made woodpeckers red-headed from that time. The awkward gait of the duck, the placing of the legs far behind, and the perked tail, are all owing to a kick which the duck received from the Manabozho upon the hind part, in punishment for having, after the vigilant manner of its kind, kept one eye open, when both were to have been shut. At the same time and place the beasts and birds took their character for fatness and leanness, the former being the happy consequence of a very punctual and early attendance upon a feast given by Manabozho, and the latter the punishment of tardiness. The first comers served themselves first, and ate up all the fat and choice pieces, like the bear and the opossum; while the moose, the martin, and others, the late comers, found only a fare which has kept them lean to this day.

We have now seen that, while the structure and compass of the Indian languages or dialects are not so defective and limited as had been often alleged, the purposes to which the Red men's speech is directed is not altogether so grovelling and gloomy as has also been usually represented. There is evidence in their fictions of intellectual power, and of quick or accurate observation, and also gleams of imagination. The common impression is, that they are of a saturnine disposition, disinclined to cheerfulness, and apt to look on all things around them with little sympathy, with a moody callousness; the only exciting causes to their feelings or thoughts being supposed to reside in the chase, in war, and in revenge. It now, appears, however, that they are not destitute of lively fancies, and which can invest bird and beast, and even inanimate objects, with social qualities. No doubt the stirring affairs which engage them in conflicts with hostile tribes, or when hunting to appease the cravings of hunger, are paramount. But these Tales show that there may be something to enliven the wigwam fireside; that they have methods of softening affections, of teaching practical wisdom, of exciting laughter, and of sustaining speculations with regard to the mysterious hints of the mighty agencies of which the moral as well as the physical government of the universe gives tokens. At any rate, their oral traditions, fictitious and historical; their hieroglyphics, music, and poetry; and the grammatical structure of their languages, and the actual state of their vocabularies, are all mines worthy of being

explored by the antiquary; each of these departments of study without doubt bearing upon the great questions concerning their origin as a mighty family, and their succeeding history.

But it is high time that we come to notice Mr. Bradford's volume, whose main object is to answer the question, "How was America peopled?" In order to arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to himself, the author takes a survey of the most striking and peculiar antiquities that have been discovered and pointed out by travellers and writers in past times, or that yet remain to be examined on that continent. After having taken this survey, he sets to work with a view to ascertain with considerable precision what was the condition of the people who are to be identified with these antiquities, in regard to civilization,—to mental and social advancement. After this he enters upon a still wider field, viz., to survey the antiquities of the other quarters of the globe; deducing this doctrine from the sweeping examination of primeval monuments all over the world, that traces of a Red race are to be met with, belonging to the earliest times, in Asia and in Europe, as well as in America; Africa, unless Egypt be excepted, appearing to Mr. Bradford to furnish no such evidences. Then, with regard to the point or quarter from which a portion of this wide-spread family passed into America, so as in course of time to people the immense country, he fixes on the South-eastern parts of Asia, or the Indian Archipelago. He also is of opinion that several internal migrations and various revolutions took place, in consequence of which, as well as of a gradual decadence in the lapse of time, the tribes lost much of the civilization they brought with them from China and adjacent parts; some of these tribes declining farther; others less; but all sinking, before the discovery of Columbus, greatly below their primeval state, or the periods when they were able to design, construct, and have use for, those works, implements, and materials, remains of which are to be yet seen from Canada to Patagonia; the evidences of art, however, in respect of number and skill, being much more remarkable and characteristic in certain regions than in others. Mexico and Peru furnish the best.

With regard to the labour and scope of our author, very high praise is due. Perhaps in no other work written with the view of settling the questions relative to the origin and ancient conditionthe population, institutions, and social manners of the American Indians, has there been exhibited such a full array of facts. Then the learning, or rather the amount of reading, brought by Mr. Bradford to bear upon these facts,-to their interpretation, and to the balancing of their individual weight, is of a minute as well as comprehensive nature. When, however, we come to consider his conclusions we have less reason to be satisfied with the Researches ; for while we find that conjectures prevail far beyond the strength