and grander groupes of trees came into view, and mighty oaks and chesnuts seemed to stalk forward, with majestic slowness, from the surrounding obscurity, and, after a time, to give place to a succession of others, by retiring amidst the darkness from which they had at first emerged. Tremours of awe began to pervade my frame, and I almost expected that the tones of some superhuman voice would break the appalling silence that prevailed in the wilderness around me.

My mind, by degrees, became so calm, that I dropped into a half slumber, during which I had a distinct perception where I was, but totally forgot the circumstances connected with my situation. A slight noise at length startled me, and I awaked full of terror, but could not conceive why I should feel such alarm, until recollection made the form of Thakakawerenté flash upon my mind. I saw a number of indistinct forms moving backwards and forwards, a little way from me, and heard something beating gently upon the ground. A small cloud floated before the moon, and I waited with breathless impatience till it passed away, and allowed her full radiance to reach the earth. I then discovered that five deer had come to drink at the rivulet, and that the noise of them striking their fore-feet against its banks had aroused me. They stood gazing at me with an aspect so meek and beautiful, that they almost seemed to incorporate with the moonlight, but, after a little time, started away, and disappeared among the mazes of the forest.

When I surveyed the heavens, I perceived by the alteration which had taken place in their appearance, that I had slept a considerable time. The moon had begun to descend towards the horizon; a new succession of stars glittered upon the sky; the respective positions of the different constellations were changed; and one of the planets which had been conspicuous from its dazzling lustre, a few hours before, had set, and was no longer distinguish able. It was overpowering to think that all these changes had been effected without noise, tumult, or confusion, and that worlds performed their revo lutions, and travelled through the boundlessness of space, with a silence too profound to awaken an echo in the noiseless depths of the forest, or dis

turb the slumbers of a feeble human being.

I waited impatiently for the appearance of Outalisso, who had not informed me at what hour I might expect to see him. The stars now twinkled feebly amidst the faint glow of dawn that began to light the eastern horizon, and the setting moon appeared behind some pines, and threw a rich yellow radiance upon their dark-green boughs. Gentle rustlings among the trees, and low chirpings, announced that the birds began to feel the influence of approaching day; and I sometimes observed a solitary wolf stealing cautiously along in the distance. While engaged in contemplating the scene, I suddenly thought I saw an Indian a little way off. I could not ascertain whether or not it was Outalisso, but fearing it might be Thakakawerenté, whom I dreaded to encounter in my unarmed state, I retired from the roots of the tree, and concealed myself among some brushwood.

I remained there for some time, but did not perceive any one near me, and thinking that I had been deceived by fancy, I resolved to return to my former station, and accordingly set out towards the great tree, but shortly became alarmed at neither reaching it nor seeing it so soon as I expected. I turned back in much agitation, and endeavoured to retrace my steps to the brushwood, but all in vain. I examined the most remarkable trees around me, without being able to recollect of having seen one of them before. I perceived that I had lost myself. The moment I became aware of this, my faculties and perceptions seemed to desert me one after another, and at last I was conscious of being in existence only by the feeling of chaotic and insupportable hopelessness which remained; but after a little time, all my intellectual powers returned with increased vigour and a cuteness, and appeared to vie with each other in giving me a vivid sense of the horrors of my situation. My soul seem→ ed incapable of affording play to the tumultuous crowd of feelings that struggled to manifest themselves. I hurried wildly from one place to another, calling on Outalisso and Thakakawerente by turns. The horrible silenee that prevailed was more distracting than a thousand deafening noises

would have been. I staggered about in a state of dizzy perturbation. My ears began to ring with unearthly sounds, and every object became distorted and terrific. The trees seemed to start from their places, and rush past each other, intermingling their branches with furious violence and horrible crashings, while the moon careered along the sky, and the stars hurried backwards and forwards with eddying and impetuous motions.

I tried in vain for a long time to compose myself, and to bring my feelings under due subordination. The remembrance of the past was obliter ated and renewed by fits and starts; but at best, my recollection of any thing that had occurred to me previous to the breaking up of the ice upon the lake, was shadowy, dim, and unsatisfactory, and I felt as if the former part of my life had been spent in another world. I lay down among the withered leaves, and covered my face with my hands, that I might avoid the mental distraction occasioned by the sight of external objects. I began to reflect that I could not possibly have as yet wandered far from the great tree, and that if I called upon Outalisso at intervals, he might perhaps hear me and come to my relief. Consoled by the idea, I gradually became quiet and resigned.

1

1 soon began to make the woods resound with the name of Outalisso; but, in the course of the day, a tempest of wind arose, and raged with so much noise that I could hardly hear my own voice. A dense mist filled the air, and involved every thing in such obscurity that the sphere of my vision did not extend beyond five or six yards. The fog was in continual agitation, rolling along in volumes, ascending and descending, bursting open and closing again, and assuming strange and transitory forms. Every time the blast received an accession of force, I heard a confused roaring and crashing at a distance, which gradually increased in strength and distinctness, till it reached that part of the forest that stretched around me. Then the trees began to creak and groan incessantly, their boughs were shattered against each other, fibres of wood whirled through the air in every direction, and showers of withered leaves caught up, and swept long by the wind, met and mingled with them, and rendered the

confusion still more distracting. I stood still in one spot, looking fearfully from side to side, in the prospect of being crushed to death by some immense mass of falling timber, for the trees around me, when viewed through the distorting medium of the fog, often appeared to have lost their perpendicularity, and to be bending towards the earth, although they only waved in the wind. At last I crept under the trunk of an oak that lay along the ground, resolving to remain there until the tempest should abate..

A short time before sunset the wind. had ceased, the mists were dissipated, and a portion of the blue sky appeared directly above me. Encouraged by these favourable appearances, I ventured from my place of refuge, and began to think of making another attempt to regain the great tree, when I heard the report of a rifle. I was so. petrified with joy and surprise that I had no power to call out till the firing was repeated. I then shouted " Outalisso" several times, and soon saw him advancing towards me.

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"Why are you not at the place I appointed," cried he; I feared you had lost yourself, and discharged my gun as a signal,-but all danger is past-Thakakawerenté is dead, I killed him." There was soine blood on Outalisso's dress, but he looked so calm and careless that I hesitated to believe what he told me.,

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"I do not deceive you," said he, " and I will tell you how Thakakawerenté came by his death. He awaked soon after midnight, and not finding you in the camp, suspected that I had told you that he intended to kill you. He taxed me with having done so, and I scorned to deny it. His anger made him forget the truth, and he said I had betrayed my trust, and at the same time struck me on the face. Now you know an Indian never forgives a blow, or an accusation such as he uttered. I buried my tomahawk in his head. His friends lay asleep in the wigwam, and I dragged away his body to some distance, and covered it with leaves, and then concealed myself till I saw them set out on their journey, which they soon did, doubtless supposing that Thakakawerenté and I had gone on before. I have been at the great tree since morning, but the mist and the tempest prevented me from secking

you till now. Be satisfied, you shall see the corpse of Thakakawerenté.Follow me!"

Outalisso now began to proceed rapidly though the forest, and I walked behind him without uttering a word. We soon reached the spot where the Indians had slept the preceding night, and found the wigwam remaining, and likewise several embers of fire. My companion immediately farmed them mto a state of brightness, and then collected some pieces of dry wood that lay around, and piled them upon the charcoal. The whole soon burst into a blaze, and we both sat down within its influence, Outalisso at the same time presenting me with a quantity of pemican, which proved very acceptable, as I had eat nothing for more than twenty hours.

After we had reposed ourselves a little, Outalisso rose up, and motioned that I should accompany him. He conducted me to a small pile of brushwood and dry leaves, part of which he immediately removed, and I saw the corpse of Thakakawerenté stretched beneath. I shrunk back, shuddering with horror, but he pulled me forwards, and said, I must assist him in conveying the body to the fire. Seeing me still unwilling, he took it up in his arms, and hurrying away, deposited it in the wigwam. I followed him; and asked what he meant by doing so. "Are you ignorant of our customs?" said he: "When an Indian dies, all his property must be buried with him. He who takes any thing that belonged to a dead person, will receive a curse from the Great Spirit in addition. After I had killed Thakakawerenté, I took up his tomahawk by mistake, and carried it away with me. I must now restore it, and also cover him with earth lest his bones should whiten in the sun."

Outalisso now proceeded to arrange the dress of the dead man, and likewise stuck the tomahawk in his girdle. He next went a little way into the forest

for the purpose of collecting some bark to put in the bottom of the grave, and I was left alone.

The night was dark, dim, and dreary, and the fire blazed feebly and irregularly. A superstitious awe stole over me, and I dared hardly look around, though I sometimes cast an almost involuntary glance at the corpse, which had a wild and fearful appearance. Thakakawerenté lay upon his back, and his long, lank, black hair was spread confusedly upon his breast and neck. His half-open eyes still retained a glassy fustre, and his teeth were firmly set against each other. Large dashes of blood stained his vest, and his clenched hands, and contracted limbs, shewed what struggles had preceded death. When the flickering light of the fire happened to fall upon him, I almost fancied that he began to move, and would have started away, had not a depressing dread chained me to the spot; but the sound of Outalisso's axe, in some degree, dissipated the fears that chilled my heart, and I spent the time in listening to the regular recurrence of its strokes, until he came back with an armful of bark.

I assisted him in burying Thakakawerenté under the shade of a tall walnut tree; and when we had accomplished this, we returned to the fire, and waited till moonlight would enable us to pursue our journey. Outalisso had willingly agreed to conduct me home, for he wished to change his abode for a season, lest Thakakawerenté's relations should discover his guilt, and execute vengeance upon him.

We set out about an hour after midnight, and travelled through the woods till dawn, when we came in sight of the river, on the banks of which I had first fallen in with the Indians. In the course of the day, Outalisso procured a canoe, and we paddled up the stream, and next morning reached the trading post on the side of the lake.

Now, I send you a specimen of this poetry. Supported by the advice of a friend, I endeavoured to translate it as well as I could into English. The original is in the old Bohemo-Sclavonic dialect, and had been discovered by accident in the year 1817. The manuscript from which it has been published, judging by its hand-writing, as Dubrowski, one of the first Bohemian literati, supposes, is to be referred between the years 1290-1310. It contained several historical ballads. I give you the oldest: you will see from its subject, that it is anterior to the conversion of the Sclavonians to Christianity.

The tale belongs to the heroic kind. The place of action, as I suppose, is Bohemia or Moravia. The woods mentioned in it is the famous Silva Heru nia, stretching through Germany, and ending in Bohemia. The blue mountains, probably one range of the Carpathian mountains, or perhaps the Giant Mountains, where lived once a people, who, from the growth and strength of their bodies, were called Obry Giants. Of the two holy rivers, one might be Elba or Danube. The foes against whom they had to fight were perhaps the tribes of Avari and Francs, or, what is more likely, Charles the Great, or one of his successors, Ludovic, who might be brought forward into the poem under the name of Ludick, the hostile chief.

Pray excuse the roughness of the translation; it could have been easier to render it more elegant than toler

Of

All that we know, upon the whole, about those bards, called in our language piewcy, (singers) is, that they were held in great esteem, their per sons were sacred and inviolable, they performed religious rites, went in embassies to their own princes and foreign kings, and two such Sclavonic bards, from the shores of the Baltic, history mentions, as having been on that duty at the Byzantine court. Besides, they celebrated the heroes of their country, and sung and sat at the tables of their princes. In the west of Europe, there has been a Round Table; and you see the east had also its own ;-it was in Kior, at Prince Waldimer's court. You know its poetry, from the German translation I had the pleasure to communicate to you.

The Sclavonic bards appear sometimes in the attendance of foreign princes, sought for for their skill and amenity in song. Attila, King of the Huns, after having won a victory, called two bards. They sung in a foreign language,-it was the Sclavonic. They sung feats of war, and praises of he

Those bards did not remain in one particular place or country, but went from tribe to tribe as judges, mediators, priests, and instructors. They wandered with their songs and their gests a sort of musical harp-from one land to another. Their sonorous lay rung often in the scattered villages, over the extensive plains, sometimes re-echoed amid the Carpathian mountains, sometimes along the banks of Vistula, Elba, Wolga, and Danube. The waters of this last river, in preference, were praised by them as holy. Toland, your countryman, if his authority is to be trusted, asserts even, that the Celtic bards had borrowed their harp from their Scythian fellow-bards; and the Scythians, according to the historical researches, are the same as the Sclavonians.

Time changing the form of things, brought also change into our poetry. The abolishment of the democratical, or rather patriarchal government, prevailing at that time over all Sclavonian countries-troubles ensued between the numerous petty princes-the increase of their unlimited power over the people these, and such other circumstances, influencing the exterior state of society, acted likewise injuriously on poetry; for having reduced man and all his welfare to a fluctuating form, and subjected to a capricious disposal of an arbitrary will, they oppressed also his mind, his feeling, and imagination; and thus bringing into the human existence a dismay and servility, brought at the same time a mental incapacity and darkness. An interruption, or rather a total blank of mental exertions ensued, and reigned for many centuries in the literary history of that extensive nation.

The zeal of Christian convertors finished what slavery had begun, and with all its heaviness, would not have accomplished. Their eagerness could not suffer any other song besides their liturgy. They endeavoured to check and silence the free and natural effusions of the human heart as impure for the lips of a Christian. But in spite of

The occasions at which this happens are different; they seem, however, to be such as were predominant in the days of the former existence of that nation; in like manner, as there are moments in the human life, which are pre-eminent above all others, the remembrance of which is lasting, and almost indissoluble from its duration.

Thus, on St John's night, at the summer tropic of the sun, you would see, in all the Sclavonian countries, in some more, in others less frequent, burning fires on the fields, or on the banks of rivers; the manly youth, with strong arms, rubbing pieces of dry wood on each other, and eliciting what they call the pure and holy fire; hereafter dancing around, and jumping over its high blazing flames. At the same time you would see unmarried daughters of villages, kindle at this fire their waxcandles, and with the wreaths twined of wild flowers, send them down with the current of the streams. From their slowness or rapidity in floating along, they predict for themselves the sooner or later fulfilment of their vows and wishes. During this act, they used to sing old songs, some of them so old, that their meaning in the progress of ages has been lost, but the more mysterious is the riddle of their words, the more are they relished and dear to their anxious hearts.

You would see before the sun-set of a fine autumn day, approach towards the White Hall, (dwelling of a landlord,) a crowd of both sexes, old and young, with solemn song and rural music. They are the reapers-they come to celebrate the festival of harvest, and to be joyous. At the head of this crowd proceed two virgins, beauties of the village-their heads crowned with wreaths, one of the ears of wheat, the other of rye, both interwoven with manifold flowers. When they are before the White Hall, they