ers in his hair, and not being so splendidly painted as he ought to have been. He wore under his white woolen blanket a blue European surtout, which he appeared anxious to have also included in the portrait. He evidently considered this as something out of the common way. He seemed a little uneasy to sit, and not at all comfortable when the interpreter was out of the room. The Indians universally believe that a likeness on paper takes away from the life of the person represented, and on that account many Indians will not allow their portraits to be taken.

The young Indian woman followed the old chief; she came attired in her wedding-dress of embroidered scarlet woolen stuff, and with actual cascades of silver rings, linked one within another, and hanging in clusters from her ears, round which the whole cluster was fastened; down to her shoulders, her neck and breast were covered with masses of coral, pearls, and other ornaments. The head was bare and devoid of ornament. She was so brilliant and of such unusual beauty that she literally seemed to light up the whole room as she entered. Her shoulders were broad and round, and her carriage drooping, as is usual with Indian women, who are early accustomed to carry burdens on their back; but the beauty of the countenance was so extraordinary that I can not but think that if such a face were to be seen in one of the drawing-rooms of the fashionable world, it would there be regarded as the type of a beauty hitherto unknown. It was the wild beauty of the forest, at the same time melancholy and splendid. The bashful gloom in those large, magnificent eyes, shaded by unusually long, dark eyelashes, can not be described, nor yet the glance, nor the splendid light of the smile which at times lit up the countenance like a flash, showing the loveliest white teeth. She was remarkably light-complexioned for an Indian; the round of the chin was somewhat prominent, which gave rather too

much breadth to her face, but her profile was perfect. She was quite young, and had been married two years to a brave young warrior, who, I was told, was so fond of her that he would not take another wife, and that he would not allow her to carry heavy burdens, but always got a horse for her when she went to the town. She is called Mochpedaga-Wen, or Feather-cloud-woman. A young Indian girl who came with her was more painted, but not so handsome, and had those heavy features and that heavy expression which characterize the Indian women, at least those of this tribe.

I made a sketch of Mochpedaga-Wen in her bridal attire. She was bashful, with downcast eyes. It was with a pleasure mingled with emotion that I penetrated into the mysteries of this countenance. A whole nocturnal world lay in those eyes, the dark fringes of which cast a shadow upon the cheek. Those eyes glanced downward into a depth, dreamy, calm, without gloom, but at the same time without joy and without a future. The sunlight of the smile was like a sunbeam of a cloudy day. The Feather-cloud had no light within itself. It was lit up from without, and was splendidly tinted only for a moment.

After this gentle and beautiful, but melancholy image, I must introduce to you the brave young warrior, and the great Sprude-bosse, or Dandy-"Skonka Shaw," or "White Dog," the husband of the "Feather-cloud," who entered duly painted and in great pomp of attire, with a huge tuft of feathers helmet-wise falling backward from the head, and with three dark eagles' feathers, with tufts of scarlet wool, stuck aloft in his hair, and with the marks of five green fingers on his cheeks, to indicate that he was a brave warrior and had killed many enemies. He was tall and flexible of form, and he entered with a gay, animated aspect, amid a torrent of words, equally fluent with what I had heard in the House of Representatives at Wash

ington, and of which I understood-about as much. His countenance had the same characteristics that I had already observed among the Indians, the hawk nose, broad at the base, clear, acute, but cold eyes, which opened square, with a wild-beast-like glance; the mouth unpleasing, and for the rest, the features regular and keen. I made a sketch also of him; his countenance was much painted with red, and yellow, and green; there was nothing shy about it, and it looked very warlike. But that which won for him favor in my eyes was that he was a good husband and loved his beautiful Feather-cloud.

Mrs. Ramsay, in the mean time, had gone out with her, and put on her costume. And as she was very pretty— of the pure Quaker style of beauty - she appeared really splendidly handsome in that showy costume, and the Feather-cloud seemed to have great pleasure in seeing her in it. But the handsome young white lady had not, after all, the wonderful, mystic beauty of Feather-cloud. There was between them the difference of the primeval forest and the drawing-room.

I observed in the conversations of these Indians many of those sounds and intonations which struck me as peculiar among the American people; in particular, there were those nasal tones, and that piping, singing, or lamenting sound which has often annoyed me in the ladies Probably these sounds may have been acquired by the earliest colonists during their intercourse with the Indians, and thus have been continued.

While I am with the Indians I must tell you of a custom among them which appears to me singular; it refers to their peculiar names and their mode of acquiring them. When the Indians, either man or woman, arrive at maturity, they go out into some solitary place, and remain there fasting for several days. They believe that the Spirit which has especial guardianship over them will then reveal itself; and that which during these days

strongly attracts their sight or affects their imagination, is regarded as the image or token by means of which their guardian angel reveals itself to them, and they adopt a name derived from that object or token. When they have obtained the wished-for revelation, they return to their family, but under a kind of higher guidance, and with a greater right of self-government.

From a list of Indian names I select the following:

Horn-point; Round-wind; Stand-and-look-out; The Cloud-that-goes- aside; Iron-toe; Seek-the-sun; Ironflash; Red-bottle; White-spindle; Black-dog; Two-feathers-of-honor; Gray-grass; Bushy-tail; Thunder-face; Goon-the-burning-sod; Spirits-of-the-dead.

And among the female names, these:

Keep-the-fire; Spiritual-woman; Second-daughter-ofthe-house; Blue-bird, and so on.

Feather-cloud must have looked especially toward heaven to find her guardian angel. May it conduct her lightly along her earthly pilgrimage, and preserve her from the fate of Winnona and Ampota Sapa! But-those deep eyes, full of the spirit of night, seem to me prophetic of the death-song.

The death-song consists of unmusical tones, almost devoid of melody, by which the Indians, male or female, relate the cause of their death, accuse their enemies, or praise themselves.

They believe that the spirit after death still lingers for a time near those earthly precincts which they have just left, and that they continue to be still, in a certain manner, akin to earth. Therefore are maize and other provisions placed at the foot of the corpse during the time that it lies on its elevated scaffold, exposed to the influence of light and air. The deceased has not as yet entered into the realm of spirits; but when the flesh is withered from the bones, these are buried with songs and dances. Then has the departed spirit arrived in the land of spirits.

"We believe," said a celebrated Indian chief to one of my friends, "that when the soul leaves the body, it lingers for some time before it can be separated from its former circumstances, during which it wanders over vast plains in the clear, cold moonlight. Finally, it arrives at a great chasm in the earth, on the other side of which lies the land of the blessed, where there is eternal spring, and rich hunting-grounds abundantly supplied with game. There is, however, no other means of crossing this gulf excepting by a barked pine-tree, which is smooth and slippery. Over this the spirits must pass if they would reach the land of bliss. Such spirits as have lived purely and well in this world are able to pass this narrow bridge safely, and safely to reach those regions of the blessed. Such, however, as have not done so can not pass over this smooth tree-stem, but lose their footing and fall into the abyss."

This, for savages, is not so very bad an idea of retribution after death. The Indians' estimate, however, of good and evil is, in other respects, very imperfect and circumscribed; and their idea of reward and punishment after death is merely the reflex of their earthly joys and misfortunes.

They believe, as we do, in a Spirit of spirits, a supreme God, who rules over every thing and all things, and the Indians of the Northwest call him the "Great Manitou." He appears to be a power without the peculiar moral attributes. They also believe in a number of lesser Manitous, or divinities, and it seems to me that, as regards their theology, they are rather Pantheists than Monotheists. They behold a transformed divinity in the forest, in stones, in animals, in every thing which lives or which evinces an in-dwelling power. Manitou is in the bear and the beaver, in the stone which emits the spark of fire, but above all, in the forest which whispers and affords protection to man.