ness, from which the dew seems almost ready to drop. In the tooth-pick moments of the dessert in summer, he sails them by the direction of his finger among the eternal frosts of the polar seas, and shows them the whales gamboling amidst the mountains of ice. Not only is a vast mass of useful knowledge thus presented to their view, in its most attractive form, but the very mind itselfis enlarged by stretching itself to the contemplation of such extended and magnificent views of nature. It would be useless to enter into detail of the utility of these great works to science, commerce and the arts, or to explain their diversified bearings upon the advancement of society.

A disposition to become acquainted with our own great and beautiful country is but just beginning to develope. There are thousands of reading men in the Atlantic country, who know less about the Mississippi valley, naturally the most interesting and fertile country in the world, than they do about China or New Holland. An immense and most interesting stretch of country, to-wit: from the sources of Arkansas and Red rivers to the Californian gulf, embracing the great ridges of the rocky mountains, regions of mineral and vegetable and animal wealth and novelty, and the sources of those long rivers, the lower courses of which are weekly ploughed by steam boats, while their fountains are almost as unknown, as those of the Niger or the Nile; this vast range of country is, to all the purposes of science and exact knowledge, a terra incognita both to our own and the Mexican republics. Our territorial limits there, are lines of latitude, and marked only on the sky.

We have more than once felt keenly for the honor and information of the Western country, in finding, that not one in a hundred even of our reading men has read the interesting and splendid works, to which we allude. We have not a doubt, that if scientific British travels in their colonies, or even hackneyed tours of Europe had been published among us, they would have been far more eagerly and universally read. We exceedingly regret our want of space to give these books an ample analysis. We have seldom read works with more interest and profit, than the volumes of Long's first expedition. The narration is sustained throughout in a modest, simple and yet dignified strain, and has all the freshness of original remark, and the impressiveness of descriptions by persons, who do not give us the 'shadow of a shade,' but what they personally saw, and observed. We noted a great many passages, which seemed to us to be written with genuine eloquence, although the stile is generally plain, and unpretending. Indeed, the most obvious feature of these volumes is an air of calm, dignified and philosophical reach of thought, hardly to have been expected from men so young, as those who composed the expedition. So far as we have travelled over the ground, which falls under their observations, we can attest to the fidelity of their descriptions, and the truth of their painting. In

going with some particularity into the history of the Omawhaws, they have given us, we being judges, more clear, philosophical and just accounts of the Indians, than any, with which we have ever met. The picture of their manners is strikingly correct, and the vocabulary of their language of signs, a work, as unique, as it is faithful. There are some stories which are read with great interest. The picture of the display of the passion of jealousy among the squaws is given with the true humor of Addison, and the narrative of the trader, who married, and deserted his Indian wife, together with the heroic and yet feminine manifestation of the strength of her natural affection, and her persevering attachment to her worthless paramour, would form the outline of an interesting novel. The department of natural history might have been expected, to suffer from the premature death of the learned man, to whom that province had been entrusted. Even as it was, nothing seems to have escaped their observation.

6

The same general features mark the narrative of the second expedition, that did the first. A kind of journal is given of the route of the persons, composing it, from Philadelphia to Wheeling. Ample notices of the geology of the Alleghanies occur. In travelling over the national road, that great work seems not to have struck them so favorably, as it did us. We do not at all doubt the impositions, which they relate to have been practised by the contractors on the government, Uncle Sam,' in their slang dialect, is a personage, that many of the public jobbers hold it meritorious to cheat, even did they not themselves pocket the spoils. Their route through the northern extent of Ohio was equally interesting, and undescribed. Their track from fort Wayne leads us through pathless forests, and wide prairies, occasionally giving us views of the fur trade, and the Pottawattomies. To us there is an indescribable charm in following them in these sequestered regions, in the passage of unknown rivers, and on the shores of vast lakes, which have seldom been explored, except by trappers and savages. Their views of the country about Chicago accord with ours. In a sterile region of junipers and sand heaps, swept by the bleak and desolating gale of the lake, and cheered by no sound but the angry dashing of its surge, they found a very different country from the paradise, which some travellers have imagined there. Their journal thence becomes more interesting, as they advance. They give extensive views of the geology and natural history of the country, through which they pass. Their account of Wennebea, the brother of the Sauk chief, and of his views of religion, is eloquent and impressive. We would extract the whole of it, did our limits admit. It occurs vol. 1. p. 210. The following passage, p. 213, strikes us, as eloquent.

'It was eight o'clock when they left the Wisconsan, and about eleven when they reached the Mississippi. This ride, at a late hour, was one of a

most romantic character; the evening was fair and still; not a breath of wind interrupted the calmness of the scenery; the moon shone in her full, and threw a pale light over the trackless course which we travelled. Our way lay cross a beautiful country, where steep and romantic crags contrasted pleasantly with widely extended prairies, which, seen by the uncertain light of the moon, ap peared to spread around like a sheet of water. Our party was sufficiently numerous to form a long line, which assumed a more imposing character from the dark and lengthened shadows which each cast behind him. All seemed to have their spirits excited by the sublimity of the scene. Even the Indian, whose occupations must have accustomed him to such excursions, appeared to have received an accession of spirits, and the loud whoops which he occasionally gave, as he raised the summit of a hill, enlivened the ride. Our course was a winding one along the glens which divide the bluffs; and whenever we rode in the direction of the moon's rays, the vivid flashes of light, reflected by our military accoutrements, contributed to impart to the whole, a character entirely new to many of the gentlemen of the expedition. It was impossible to be a sharer in this splendid prospect, without joining in the enthusiasm to which it naturally gave rise; and however much disposed the mind may be at such an hour, and in such a solitude, to recall, with deep feeling, the image of abodes endeared by the presence of far distant friends, it would have been impossible for any one of us to wish himself at that moment on any other spot, but in the deep and narrow valleys, or on the smooth prairies, which have imparted to this portion of the scenery of the Mississippi, a character of sublimity and beauty, which we would perhaps vainly seek for on any other point of the long extended course of the Father of Rivers.'

Their views of the Dacotas, remind us of their graphic and faithful pictures of the Omawhaws in the former expedition. They give us a very striking and impressive view of the scenery along the shores of lake Pepin. Coming in view of an Indian lover's leap, a high and precipitous crag, overlooking the expanse of this isolated and beautiful lake, their guide gives them an interesting story of the love and despair of Winona, a Dacota beauty, which we can not deny ourselves the pleasure of extracting.

"There was a time,' our guide said, as we passed near the base of the rock, when this spot, which you now admire for its untenanted beauties, was the scene of one of the most melancholy transactions, that has ever occurred among the Indians. There was, in the village of Keoxa, in the tribe of Wapasha, during the time that his father lived and ruled over them, a young Indian female whose name was Winona, which signifies the first born.' She had conceived an attachment for a young hunter who reciprocated it; they had frequently met, and agreed to an union in which all their hopes centred; but on applying to her family, the hunter was surprised to find himself denied; and his claims superceded by those of a warrior of distinction, who had sued for her. The warrior was a general favorite with the nation; he had acquired a name, by the services which he had rendered to his village when attacked by the Chippewas; yet notwithstanding all the ardour with which he pressed his suit, and the countenance which he received from her parents and brothers, Winona

persisted in preferring the hunter. To the usual commendations of her friends in favor of the warrior, she replied, that she had made choice of a man who, being a professed hunter, would spend his life with her, and secure to her comfort and subsistence, while the warrior would be constantly absent, intent upon martial exploits. Winona's expostulations were, however, of no avail, and her parents, having succeeded in driving away her lover, began to use harsh measures in order to compel her to unite with the man of their choice. To all her entreaties, that she should not be forced into an union so repugnant to her feelings, but rather be allowed to live a single life, they turned a deaf ear. Winona had at all times enjoyed a greater share in the affections of her family, and she had been indulged more, than is usual with females among Indians. Being a favorite with her brothers, they expressed a wish that her consent to this union should be obtained by persuasive means, rather than that she should be compelled to do it against her inclination. With a view to remove some of her objections, they took means to provide for her future maintenance, and presented to the warrior all that in their simple mode of living an Indian might covet. About that time a party was formed to ascend from the village to Lake Pepin, in order to lay in a store of the blue clay which is found upon its banks, and which is used by the Indians as a pigment. Winona and her friends were of the company. It was on the very day that they visited the lake that her brothers offered their presents to the warrior. Encouraged by these, he again addressed her, but with the same ill success. Vexed at what they deemed an unjustifiable obstinacy on her part, her parents remonstrated in strong language, and even used threats to compel her into obedience. 'Well,' said Winona, ‘you will drive me to despair: I said I loved him not, I could not live with him; I wished to remain a maiden; but you would not allow me. You say you love me; that you are my father, my brothers, my relations, yet you have driven from me the only man with whom I wished to be united; you have compelled him to withdraw from the village; alone, he now ranges through the forest, with no one to assist him, none to spread his blanket, none to build his lodge, none to wait on him; yet was he the man of my choice. Is this your love? But even it appears that this is not enough; you would have me do more; you would have me rejoice in his absence; you wish me to unite with another man, with one whom I do not love, with whom I never can be happy. Since this is your love, let it be so; but soon you will have neither daughter, nor sister, nor relation, to torment with your false professions of affection.' As she uttered these words, she withdrew, and her parents, heedless of her complaints, decreed that that very day Winona should be united to the warrior. While all were engaged in busy preparations for the festival, she wound her way slowly to the top of the hill; when she had reached the summit, she called out with a loud voice to her friends below; she upbraided them for their cruelty to herself and her lover. You,' said she, 'were not satisfied with opposing my union with the man whom I had chosen, you endeavoured by deceitful words to make me faithless to him, but when you found me resolved upon remaining single, you dared to threaten me; you knew me not if you thought that I could be terrified into obedience; you shall soon see how well I can defeat your designs.' She then commenced to sing her dirge; the light wind which blew at the time, wafted the words towards the spot where her friends were;

they immediately rushed, some towards the summit of the hill to stop her, others to the foot of the precipice to receive her in their arms, while all, with ears in their eyes, entreated her to desist from her fatal purpose; her father promised that no compulsive measures should be resorted to. But she was resolved, and as she concluded the words of her song, she threw herself from the precipice, and fell, a lifeless corpse, near her distressed friends. Thus,' added our guide, 'has this spot acquired a melancholy celebrity; it is still called the Maiden's rock, and no Indian passes near it, without involuntarily casting his eye towards the giddy height, to contemplate the place, whence this unfortunate girl fell a victim to the cruelty of her relentless parents.' Vol. 1. p. 280.

The exploring party, by clear and striking views of the country, take us along with them through Dacota villages, and over extended prairies, and along the undescribed meanders of the St. Peters. The trip, which must have been to them so fatiguing, and not without severe privations and dangers, is to the reader delightful and exhilirating. The country about lake Winnipeek is to us entirely new. This singular region of numberless lakes in basins of black granite, of rushing waters, and of cascades, which almost rival that of Niagara, has seldom been seen, except by the coureurs du bois. We have never received more impressive perceptions of scenery than from the beautiful engravings of prospects, on Winnepeek river and the Lake of the Woods. The Lake of the Woods,' is a significant appellation. We have been accustomed to think of it, as the ultima Thule of nature. We should find it difficult, to convey the impressions of lonely beauty, which we received from the engraving of a view on that lake. The north shore of lake Superior appears to be a region of granite, and the dividing line between primitive and secondary formations. We have a brief, but interesting account of lord Selkirk's colony, and the country which his people inhabit. We are led to think more highly of the benevolent intentions of that excellent man, than of his wisdom and foresight in founding this colony. Nature seems to have been as lavish in supplying those inhospitable regions with buffalos, and various kinds of excellent fish, as she has been parsimonious in her other allotments. The view of the falls of Kakabika, or the cleft rock, strike us, as sublime, as does a view on the north shore of lake Superior. There is added to the work a copious appendix of natural history, comprising the zoology and botany of the country, through which they passed. At the close are given astronomical calculations, and the copious and admirable thermometrical tables of Dr. LOVELL.

We repeat our regret, that our limits compel us, to take so rapid a view of these interesting volumes, which ought to have had four times the space for an adequate analysis. If we objected to any thing in them, it would be in a remark, which seems to us equally applicable to most of the works of natural history, and