began to make the air ring with their roarings. Atala said to me: 'Let us quit these spots.' I hurried away the daughter of Simaghan to the foot of the hills which formed galfs of verdure as their promontories sloped into the Savannas. Grandeur and repose pervaded the desert. The stork clamored around his nest; the woods resounded with the monotonous song of the quail, the whistling of the paroquets, the bellowing of the bisons and the neighing of the Seminolean ponies.

"Our walk was almost mute. I marched by the side of Atala; she held the end of the cord, which I had forced her to take back. Sometimes we shed tears, sometimes we tried to smile. A glance sometimes raised to heaven, sometimes fixed to the earth; an ear listening to the music of the birds, a gesture towards the setting sun, a hand tenderly pressed, a bosom palpitating by turns, by turns tranquil; the names of Chactas and of Atala gently repeated at intervals * * * O first walk of love, the memory of thee must be all powerful, since after so many years of misfortune you agitate again the heart of old Chactas!

'How incomprehensible are mortals agitated by passions. I had just abandoned the generous Lopez, I had just exposed myself to every danger in order to be free; in an instant the glance of a woman had changed my tastes, my resolutions, my thoughts! Forgetting my country, my mother, my wigwam and the frightful death which awaited me, I became indifferent to every thing that was not Atala. Without power enough to raise myself to the reason of man, I had fallen back suddenly into a kind of infancy; and, far from being able to avoid the evils which awaited me, it was almost necessary that some one should feed me, and guard me in my sleep.

'It was therefore all in vain that after our excursion in the Savanna, Atala, casting herself at my knees, urged me anew to leave her. I protested to her that I would return alone to the camp, if she refused to tie me again to the foot of my tree. She was obliged to satisfy me, hoping to persuade me at another

time.

"The next day after this, which decided the destiny of my life, they halted in a valley, not far from Cuscowilla, the capital of the Seminoles. These Indians, leagued with the Muscogulges, formed with them the confederation of the Creeks. The daughter of the land of palms visited me at midnight. She led me into a great

forest of pines, and renewed her prayers to induce me to fly. Without making any reply, I took her hand in my hand, and I forced that thirsty hind to wander with me in the forest. The Genii of the air shook their blue locks, embalmed with the perfume of the pines; and we breathed the delicate odor of amber which the crocodiles exhaled in their bed under the tamarinds of the streams. The moon shone forth from a spotless azure, and her pearly tinted light descended on the vaguely determined ridge of the forests. No sound was heard, except a mysterious distant harmony which reigned in the depth of the woods: one might say that the soul of the solitude sighed throughout the whole body of the desert.

"Through the trees we perceived a young man who, holding a torch in his hand, resembled the Genius of Spring coursing through the forest to reanimate nature. It was lover who was going to receive his doom at the wigwam of his mistress.

'If the virgin extinguish the torch, she accepts the offered vows, if, without extinguishing it, she veils herself she rejects a spouse.

"The warrior while gliding in the shadows, with a demi-tone chanted these words:

'I will outstrip the foot of day on the summit of the mountains, 'to seek my lonely dove amid the wild oaks of the forest.'

'I have bound around her neck a lace of porcelaines,19) there 'are three red berries for my love, three violet for my fears, three 'blue for my hopes.'

'Mila has the eyes of an ermine, and the light locks of a field of ❝rice; her mouth is a rosy shell work, trimmed with pearls; her bosom 'is like two spotless little kids, born the same day, of one mother.' 'May Mila extinguish this torch! May her mouth cast upon it 'a voluptuous shadow! I will fertilize her womb. The hope of the 'country shall hang upon her teeming breast, and I will smoke my 'calumet of peace around the cradle of my son.'

"Ah! let me outstrip the foot of day on the summit of the mount'ains, to seek my lonely dove amid the wild oaks of the forest!' "Thus sang the young man, whose tones carried trouble to the bottom of my soul, and changed the countenance of Atala. Our united hands trembled in one another. But we were diverted from this scene by a scene not less dangerous for us.

19) Kind of shell work.

'We passed near by the tomb of an infant, which marked the boundary of two nations. It was placed by the side of the path, according to custom, so that young married women, while going to the fountain, might attract in their bosom the soul of the innocent creature, and restore it to the country. At that moment there were seen women just married, who, entertaining the sweet longings of maternity, were seeking, with lips barely open, to catch the soul of the little infant, which they thought they saw wandering among the flowers. The real mother then came to lay down a bundle of Indian corn and white flower-de-luce on the tomb. She sprinkled the earth with her milk, seated herself on the moist grass, and talked to her infant in a plaintive tone.

'Why do I mourn thee in thy cradle of earth, O my new-born? "When the little bird grows large, it must seek its own food; and it 'finds in the desert many bitter berries. Thou at least knowest 'nothing of tears; thy heart at least has never been exposed to the 'consuming breath of man. The bud, that withers ere it blossoms, 'passes away with all its perfumes, like thee, O my child, with all 'thy innocence. Happy are they who die in their cradle! they 'have known only the kisses and the smiles of a mother!'

'Already subdued by our own heart, we were overwhelmed by these images of love and of maternity, which seemed to pursue us in these enchanted solitudes. I transported Atala in my arms to the depth of the forest, and I said things to her, which I would strive in vain to-day to find upon my lips. The wind of the south, my dear son, loses its warmth while passing over mountains of ice. The memories of love in the heart of an old man are like the fires of day reflected by the calm orb of the moon, when the sun is gone to rest, and when silence hovers over the wigwam of the Savages.

'What could save Atala? What could hinder her from yielding to nature? Doubtless, nothing but a miracle; and that miracle was performed. The daughter of Simaghan had recourse to the God of the Christians; she cast herself upon the earth, and uttered a fervent orison, addressed to her mother and to the Queen of virgins. From that moment, O René, I conceived a wondrous idea of that religion, which, in the forests, perfectly secluded from every eye, could lavish thousands of gifts upon the unfortunate; of that religion, which, opposing its power to the torrent of passions, was capable alone to resist them, when all things favored them, the secrecy

of the woods, the absence of men, and the fidelity of the shades! Ah! how divinely appeared before me, the simple Savage, the ignorant Atala, who, falling on her knees before the trunk of an old pine, as at the foot of an altar, offered to her God vows for an idolatrous lover! Her eyes raised towards the star of night, her cheeks brilliant with the tears of religion and of love, beamed with an immortal beauty. Often she seemed just taking her flight to the skies; often I thought, I saw, descending on the rays of the moon, and heard, in the branches of the trees, those Genii which the Christian's God sends to the hermits of the rocks, when he desires to call them back to himself. I was afflicted at the scene, for I feared that Atala had only a short time to stay upon the earth. 'Yet she shed so many tears, she manifested so much misery, that I was on the point of yielding and quitting her, while the scream of death rung through the forest. Four men armed rushed upon me; we had been discovered; the war-chief had given the order to pursue us.

'Atala who resembled a queen in the pride of her bearing, disdained to speak to these warriors. She darted a haughty glance at them, and surrendered herself to Simaghan.

'She could obtain no favor. They redoubled my guards, they multiplied my bonds, they separated me from my sweetheart. Five nights rolled by, and we saw Apalachucla, located on the bank of the river Chata-Uche. They crowned me immediately with flowers; they painted my face with azure and vermillion; they fastened pearls to my nose and to my ears, and they put in my hand a chichikoué.20)

'Arrayed thus for the sacrifice, I entered into Apalachucla amid the reiterated clamors of the crowd. All hope of life was lost, when suddenly the roar of a conch was heard; and the Mico, or chief of the nation, ordered them to meet in council.

"Thou knowest, my son, the torments with which the savages inflict their prisoners of war. Christian Missionaries, at the peril of their life, and with a charity that is never weary, have succeeded, among many nations, in substituting a slavery somewhat mild, in the stead of the horrors of the wood pile of death. The Muscogulges had not yet adopted that custom; but a numerous party had declared in its favor. The Mico convoked the Sachems to pro

20) A musical instrument among the Savages.

nounce upon this important affair. They led me to the place of their deliberations.

Upon an isolated mound, not far from Apalachucla, the pavilion of Council was built. Three circles of columns formed the elegant architecture of this rotunda. The columns were of cypress burnished and sculptured; they increased in length and breadth, and diminished in number, in proportion as they approached the centre, marked by a single pillar. From the top of this pillar rolls of bark starting out passed around the tops of the other columns, covering the pavilion in the form of an open-worked fan.

"The Council assembled. Fifty old men in robes of beaver, ranged themselves around on a species of benches placed facing the door of the pavilion. The great chief is seated in the center of this assembly, holding in his hand the calumet of peace, half stained for At the right of the old men are placed fifty women, decked with a robe of swan-plumes. The chiefs of war, having a tomahawk") in their hand, and a hawk-feather on their head, arms and breast dyed with blood, take the left side.

war.

'At the foot of the central column, the council fire is burning. The first Juggler, surrounded by eight guardians of the temple, arrayed in long robes, and wearing on his head a straw-stuffed owl, pours the balm of copalme on the flame, and offers a sacrifice to the sun. This triple range of old men, of matrons, of warriors; these priests, these clouds of incense, this sacrifice; every thing tends to give an imposing appearence to this Council.

'I was standing bound, in the midst of the assembly. The sacrifice ended, the Mico began the talk, and with simplicity explained the cause that convened the Council. He threw a blue belt on the floor, in testimony of what he had just said.

Then a Sachem of the tribe of the Eagle arose and thus spoke "My Father Mico, Sachems, matrons, warriors of the four tribes 'of the Eagle, of the Beaver, of the Snake and of the Tortoise, let 'us change nothing of the customs of our ancestors; let us burn 'the prisoner, and let us not soften our hearts. That which is 'proposed to you is a custom of the whites; it can be only perni'cious. Cast the red wampum which expresses my words. I have 'spoken!"

And he threw a red belt in the assembly.

21) The hatchet.