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النشر الإلكتروني

THE GRAVE OF THE INDIAN KING.

When the hunter shall sit by the mound, and produce his food at noon, "some warrior rests here," he will say; and my fame shall live in his praise.—OSSIAN.

NATURE seems to have made the fair west in one of her sweetest and kindest moods. Beyond the Onondaga hills for a long distance, there are no mountains lifting their bleak and rugged summits to the clouds to break the landscape; no beetling cliffs and shagged precipices, frowning upon the startled beholder; no dark and gloomy ravines "horrid with fern, and intricate with thorn." But the whole region, for hundreds of miles, presents a scene of placid and uninterrupted beauty, varied only by gentle hills, moderate declivities, broad plains, and delightful valleys. The entire face of the country is moreover diversified by a succession of clear and beautiful lakes,-fit residence for the Naiads, and traversed by rivers which wend their way tranquilly to the north, until, by one mighty bound, they leap from the table land into the embrace of the majestic Ontario, and are lost

in the immensity of its waters. But of all the lesser lakes with which this charming country has been rendered thus picturesque and delightful, Skaneatelas unites the suffrage of the travelled world as the most beautiful. Its very name, in the language of the proud race who once ranged its forests, and bounded along its shores with the lofty tread of heaven's nobility, or darted across its bright surface in the light canoe with the swiftness of an arrow, signifies the LAKE OF BEAUTY. It is true that being thus divested of the wildness and grandeur of mountain scenery, the stranger's attention is less powerfully awakened at the first view, than if it had been cast among the adamantine towers of a more rugged region. But there is a quiet loveliness in the country by which it is surrounded—an air of repose-eminently calculated to please and captivate the heart. The lands descend on all sides in a gentle slope to the margin of the lake, forming, as it were, a spacious amphitheatre, having a fountain of liquid silver sparkling in its bosom. Its shores are alternately beautified by the hands of man with cultivated fields, adorned by the living verdure of the meadow, or fringed with banks of flowers. While to augment the charm of variety, some of nature's own stately picturings are left, consisting of ranges of the primitive forest, here towering aloft in giant pride, and there overhanging the shore, and dipping their pendant branches in the clear cool element in which every object is reflected back with fresh and vivid dis

tinctness. Combining so many of the elements of beauty, few spots in the broad map of the occidental world can be designated having equal pretensions to admiration. Still, however, in the eye of untutored man, how much more beautiful must the Skaneatelas have been, before the dense forests in which it was embosomed fell as though struck by the wand of a magician,-when it lay amidst the awful stillness and venerable grandeur which prevailed around--the dark foliage the rich and solemn covering of the woods, giving it an air of indescribable magnificence and beauty-in perfect keeping with the moody and contemplative habits of the mighty chieftains of the wilderness!

The attractive sheet of water which we have thus briefly described, is fourteen miles long, and from one to two miles in breadth. The village, which takes its name from the lake, is pleasantly situated upon a little plain at its northern extremity, elevated but a few feet above the pebbly beach upon which the little crisped billows break so gently as scarce to give sound enough to hush an infant to repose. The view is charming at all times; but nothing can be more delightful-more exquisitely beautiful-than the prospect from this lovely village, on a cool summer's evening, when the queen of night throws her silver mantle over the sparkling waters, lighting them up like a mirror of surpassing brightness. Behind the village the land rises by an easy ascent, into a hill of moderate height, upon the summit of which an open grove

VOL. I.-S

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of primitive forest trees, to the extent of some fifty acres, has been suffered to remain by the proprietor-an English gentleman, who has thus far followed the westward march of empire. From this elevated spot the prospect is enlarged, and, if possible, yet more attractive than below. It includes a wide sweep of fertile country, embracing sections both wild and cultivated, farm-houses and country seats, fields diversified with gardens and meadows, orchards, copses, and groves. Near the centre of this forest rises a little mound, covered with wild and luxuriant herbage, like a druid's grave; and which, from time immemorial, has been respected by the pale-faces who have succeeded the dusky lords to whom the Creator originally granted the fee-simple of the soil, as the lone and hallowed sepulchre of an Indian king. Indeed, tradition has invested it with greater intérest than often attaches to the last narrow habitation even of those who may have figured largely in story and in song. Be mine the humble task to gather up the history of the sacred spot, and rescue the fleeting traditions alike from the dangers of exaggeration, or the repository of oblivion..

The district in which the incidents of our drama occurred, is situated in the heart of what was formerly the territory of the Five Nations of Indiansthe Iroquois of the French, and the Mingoes of the early English history. These nations consisted of the Mohawks, the Oneydoes, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas, and the Senekas. They were a noble

race of the American aboriginals, and have been appropriately designated as the Romans of this western world. Their league resembled a confederated republic, although they had not advanced much beyond the first stage in the science of government. Like the Romans, their conquests were pushed to a vast extent, so that by the right of inheritance, or of arms, their subject territory extended from the mouth of the Sorel on the St. Lawrence up the great chain of lakes to the Mississippi, thence to the junction of the Ohio with this Father of Rivers, south to the country of the Creeks and Cherokees, and from the ocean to the lakes. Like the Romans, they added to their own strength by incorporating their vanquished foes into their own tribes. And of the prisoners thus adopted, those who behaved well were treated as though of their own blood; and if wise at the council-fire, and brave on the war-path, they were advanced to posts of honour. Like the Romans, moreover, their ambition was to extend their conquests, even while their power and influence were on the decline. They cherished a high and chivalrous sense of good faith and honour, according to their own rude notions, and carried on a war for thirty years for a single infraction of the rights of the calumet. Their prowess was great, and their name a terror to other savage nations, long after the whites had planted themselves over a wide space of the country. The grand councils of this powerful confederacy were held in the deep and

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