al attention.

The letters of Mr. Hodgson were originally published in the London Christian Observer, and were received, we understand, very cordially by the readers of that highly respectable work. We have repeatedly observed him designated, by his countrymen, as the "popular tourist;" and there are already, many proofs that his letters have exerted a salutary influ ence on the other side of the Atlantie, in the way of diminishing prejudice, and removing misapprehension, with respect to this country.

From Mr. Hodgson's description of his visit to Elliot and Brainerd, with his eloquent reflections on the state and prospects of the Indians, we made copious extracts in our 18th volume, pp. 149-153 and 182-185. These extracts of course we shall not repeat. But in the 6th letter is a passage, which as it relates to his visit to the former place, and involves no repetition, we cannot forbear copying it. It is a good specimen of Mr. Hodg.

son's manner.

Never shall I forget my sensations the two nights I passed in Mr. Kingsbury's little room, which was kindly and courteously assigned to me during my stay. A log cabin, detached from the other wooden buildings, in the middle of a boundless forest, in an Indian country, consecrated, if I may be allowed the expression, by standing on missionary ground, and by forming at once the dormitory and the sanctuary of a "man of God;" it seemed to be indeed the prophet's chamber, with "the bed and the table, and the stool and the candlestick." It contained, also, a little book-case, with a valuable selection of pious books, periodical, biographical, and devotional; among which I found many an old acquaintance in this foreign land, and which enable Mr. Kingsbury, in his few moments of leisure, to converse with many, who have long since joined the spirits of just men made perfect, or to sympathize with his fellow laborers in Otaheite, Africa, or Hindoostan.

Mr. Kingsbury spent a great part of the second night in my room, inquiring with great interest, about England, and other parts of Europe, with respect to which his intelligence had been very scanty since his seclusion among the Indians. About midnight, we became thirsty with talking so much; and Mr. Kingsbury proposed that we should walk to the spring at a little distance. The night was beautifully serene after the heavy showers of the preceding evening, and the coolness of the air, the fresh fragrance of the trees, the deep stillness of the midnight hour, and the soft light which an unclouded moon shed on the log-cabins of the missionaries, contrasted with the dark shadows of the surrounding forest, impressed me with feelings which I never can forget. We looked cautiously around us, lest we should be surprised by wild beasts;

me a plant, which, if swallowed immediately after the attack of a rattle-snake, proves an effectual antidote to the poison. He said that he never stirred from home without some of it in his waistcoat pocket: and that in the state of Mississippi, it was commonly carried by all persons who traversed the forest. I could not help regarding this as a fresh illus. tration of that providential kindness which so frequently ordains the proximity of the bane and antidote. pp. 60–62.

The Letter "on the comparative expense of free and slave labor," is deserving of serious attention from the owner of slaves, as well as from the political economist.

From the Letters, which form the greater, and not least interesting part of the vol ume, we now make some further extracts; but shall not remark upon them, their purport being sufficiently obvious.

Our boarding house is near the Mississippi, which is now falling a foot every day; the Spring flood having reached its height while I

was at New-Orleans; but the flood from the Missouri has not yet arrived. Nearly opposite the windows of the room in which I am writing, the river takes one of its noblest sweeps, under what are called the Bluffs, from which you look down over it upon a dense forest, which stretches to the horizon, and in which the sun seems to extinguish his latest rays. On these Bluffs I generally take my evening walk, and please myself with the idea that a few hours previously, you may have been watching the setting of this glorious luminary behind our favorite hills; for in

"These lands, beneath Hesperian skies, Our daylight sojourns, till your morrow rise." Indeed there is something in the vicinity of Natchez which perpetually reminds me of home. The thick clover, the scattered knolls with their wood-crowned summits, differing only from those most familiar to me in the magnificence of the foliage with which they are shaded, and the neat husbandry of the intervening plantations, give the whole country the appearance of an English park. An Irishman with whom I was riding last night remarked, that the roads strongly resemble those through the large domains in Ireland. I leave you to make due allowance for our anxiety to trace every little resemblance to our native land. At this distance from home, we are not solicitous by too accurate a discrimination to dispel an illusion, if it be one, which affords us so much pleasure. You remember Humboldt's beautiful observation: "If amid this exotic nature, the bel. low of a cow, or the roaring of a bull were heard from the depth of a valley, the remembrance of our country was awakened suddenly at the sound. They were like distant voices resounding from beyond the ocean, and with magical force transporting us from one hemisphere to the other." But the giganti

plane and maple trees, a large proportion of the seventy or eighty different species of the American oak, the Sassafras, the Hiccory, the Pride of India, the Catalpa, the Liquid Amber Styraciflua, the Liriodendron Tulipifera, above all, the Magnolia Grandiflora, one hundred feet high, with its deep green leaves and broad white flowers expanded like a full blown rose, remind us that we are far from home; while at night the brilliancy of the stars, the delicious fragrance of the surrounding woods, and especially the fire-flies which sparkle on every side, seem almost to transport us into the regions of eastern romance. We are also often gratified with the sight of many beautiful birds which are strangers to us, and sometimes catch a glimpse of the wild deer. pp. 167-169.

Churches are not religion; nor the ministratrons of a pastor, an unerring criterion of the piety of his hearers. In a country, however, in which contributions to places of public worship are for the most part voluntary, a liberal dissemination of sacred edifices is a very favorable symptom; while the number of faithful ministers, and the frequent occurrence of large congregations listening attentively to unwelcome truths from pastors appointed by their own election, and dependent on them for support, afford something more than a vague presumption of the existence of no inconsiderable degree of vital piety in the community.

My favorable impressions were strengthened as I proceeded, by noticing the attention generally paid on the Atlantic coast to the external observance of the Sabbath; by meeting continually with Bibles, and other religious books, in the steam-boats and houses of entertainment; and by witnessing the efforts every where apparent for the extension of Christian piety. p. 49.

On my return from Canada through Ver. mont and New-Hampshire, I visited the Theological Institution at Andover; where the handsome collegiate edifice, the spacious grounds, the houses of the professors, and the excellent inn in some degree attached to the establishment, bore as ample testimony to the munificence, as the object of the institution to the piety, of its founders. It is from this establishment that the American Board of Missions has drawn nearly, all its laborers. After tea we adjourned to the college chapel, where religious intelligence from various parts of the United States was communicated by the students or professors. We had then prayers, after which we separated. It was a beautiful star-light night in autumn; and while looking out of my window, at midnight, on this quiet scene-- where many who were then laboring in distant regions of the globe first felt those ardent aspirings after extensive future usefulness, which prompted them to encounter the trials of a missionary life, and where many were then preparing for the same honorable enterprise-I could not but contrast the privileges of a life thus early and entirely dedicated to the noblest cause, with those of the most successful commercial or political career, where the flame of piety, if not extinguished by the very atmosphere

which surrounds it, is exposed to a thousand blasts from which the religious zeal of the missionary is sheltered by his peculiar situation. pp. 51, 52.

AMERICAN INDIANS.

Indian account of the first arrival of the Dutch at New York Island.

THIS and the succeeding notice of the traditions, manners and customs of the aborigines of this country, are from the interesting pen of the late Rev. Mr. Hechewelder, for a long time a Moravian missionary among them. It will appear from the first extract, that at least the Indians on the Hudson River did not conceive of God as a spirit. Indeed it does not appear, that the Indians had in their languages, at the time this country was settled by the whites, if they have now, any word corresponding with "Great Spirit.”

The Lenni Lenape claim the honor of having received and welcomed the Europeans on their first arrival in the country, situated between New England and Virginia. It is probable, however, that the Mahicani or Mohicans, who then inhabited the banks of the Hudson, concurred in the hospitable aet. The relation I am going to make was taken down many years since from the mouth of an intelligent Delaware Indian, and may be considered as a correct account of the tradition existing among them of this momentous event. I give it as much as possible in their own language.

A great many years ago, when men with a white skin had never yet been seen in this land, some Indians who were out a fishing at a place where the sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. These Indians immediately rẻturning to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they had observed, and pressed them to go out with them and discover what it might be. They hurried out together, and saw with astonishment the phenomenon which now appeared to their sight; but could not agree upon what it was; some believed it to be an uncommonly large fish or animal, while others were of opinion it must be a very big house floating on the sea. At length the specta tators concluded that this wonderful object was moving towards the land, and that it must be an animal or something else that had life in it; it would therefore be proper to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard. Accordingly they sent off a number of runners and watermen to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send off in every direction for the warriors, with a message that they should come on immediately. These arriving in numbers, and having themselves viewed the strange appearance, and observing that it was actually moving towards the entrance of the river or bay; concluded it to be a remarkably large house in which the

Mannitto (the Great or Supreme Being) himself was present, and that he probably was coming to visit them. By this time the chiefs were assembled at York Island and deliberating in what manner they should receive their Mannitto on his arrival. Every mea sure was taken to be well provided with plenty of meat for a sacrifice. The women were desired to prepare the best victuals. All the idols or images were examined and put in order, and a grand dance was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Great Being, but it was believed that it might, with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute to appease him if he was angry with them. The conjurers were also set to work, to determine what this phenomenon portended, and what the possible result of it might be. To these and to the chiefs and wise men of the nations, men, women and children were looking up for advice and protection. Distracted between hope and fear, they were at a loss what to do; a dance, however, commenced in great confusion. While in this situation, fresh runners arrive declaring it to be a large house of various colors, and crouded with living creatures. It appears now to be certain, that it is the great Mannitto, bringing them some kind of game, such as he had not given them before, but other runners soon arriving declare that it is positively a house full of human beings, of quite a different color from that of the Indians, and dressed differently from them; that in particular one of them was dressed entirely in red, who must be the Mannitto himself. They are hailed from the vessel in a language they do not understand, yet they shout or yell in return by way of answer, according to the custom of their country; many are for running off to the woods, but are pressed by others to stay, in order not to give offence to their visitor, who might find them out and destroy them. The house, some say, large canoe, at last stops, and a canoe of a smaller size comes on shore with the red man and some others in it; some stay with his canoe to guard it. The chiefs and wise men, assembled in council, form themselves into a large circle, towards which the man in red clothes approaches with two others. He salutes them with a friendly countenance, and they return the salute after their manner. They are lost in admiration; the dress, the manners, the whole appearance of the unknown strangers is to them a subject of wonder; but they are particularly struck with him who wore the red coat all glittering with gold lace, which they could in no manner account for. He, surely, must be the great Mannitto, but why should he have a white skin? Meanwhile, a large Hackhack" is brought by one of his servants, from which an unknown substance is poured out into a small cup or glass and handed to the supposed Mannitto. He drinks-has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief standing next to him. The chief receives it, but only smells the contents and passes it on to the next chief, who does the same. The glass or cup thus passes through the circle, without the liquor being tasted by any one, and is up

*Hackhack is properly a gourd, but since they have seen glass bottles and decanters, they call them by the

same name.

on the point of being returned to the red clothed Mannitto, when one of the Indians, a brave man and a great warrior, suddenly jumps up and barangues the assembly on the impropriety of returning the cup with its contents. It was handed to them, says he, by the Mannitto, that they should drink out of it, as he himself had done. To follow his example would be pleasing to him; but to return what he had given them might provoke his wrath, and bring destruction on them. And since the orator believed it for the good of the nation that the contents offered them should be drunk, and as no one else would do it, he would drink it himself, let the consequence be what it might; it was better for one man to die, than that a whole nation should be destroyed. He then took the glass, and bidding the assembly a solemn farewell, at once drank up its whole contents. Every eye was fixed on the resolute chief, to see what effect the unknown liquor would produce. He soon began to stagger, and at last fell prostrate on the ground His companions now bemoan his fate, he falls into a sound sleep, and they think he has expired. He wakes again, jumps up and declares, that he has enjoyed the most delicious sensations, and that he never before felt himself so happy as after he had drunk the cup He asks for more, his wish is granted; the whole assembly then imitate him, and all become intoxicated.

After this general intoxication had ceased, for they say that while it lasted the whites had confined themselves to their vessel, the man with the red clothes returned again, and distributed presents among them, consisting of beads, axes, hoes, and stockings such as the white people wear. They soon became familiar with each other, and began to converse by signs. The Dutch made them understand that they would not stay here, that they would return home again, but would pay them ano. ther visit the next year, when they would bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile; but as they could not live without eating, they should want a little land of them to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs and vegetables to put into their broth. They went away as they had said, and returned in the following season, when both parties were much rejoiced to see each other; but the whites laughed at the Indians, seeing that they knew not the use of the axes and hoes they had given them the year before; for they had these hanging to their breasts as ornaments, and the stockings were made use of as tobacco pouches. The whites now put handles to the former for them, and cut trees down before their eyes, hoed up the ground, and put the stockings on their legs. Here, they say, a general laughter ensued among the Indians, that they had remained ignorant of the use of such valuable implements, and had borne the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks, for such a length of time. They took every white man they saw for an inferior Mannitto, attendant on the supreme Deity who shone superior in the red and laced clothes. As the whites became daily more familiar with the Indians, they at last proposed to stay with them, and asked only for so much ground for a garden spot as, they