come between the two nations he might die, and no longer be able to fight for the benefit of the sovereign and people to whom he appeared to be most devotedly attached. The commissioner with a winningness of manner replied to him in tone and terms calculated to conciliate his feelings, and incline him to abandon the delusive prospect of a foreign protector while being in the country and under the jurisdiction of his Great Father at Washington, who felt for all his red children alike, and who was doing every thing in his power to render them comfortable and happy. Waa-em-besh-ka listened with seeming attention to the language of the commissioner, but was evidently deeply distressed, and seldom thereafter appeared in the council to listen to its debates, or to participate in the proceedings. His thought still dwelt with fond remembrance on his illustrious ally beyond the "big water," and he yet cherished a lingering regard for the silvery boon he had given him. Like many of a whiter skin, he esteemed more highly the bauble of a King, than a present intrinsically as valuable from a republican Chief Magistrate. In the Council he wore a head-dress of silver, and bracelets by way of ornaments on his arms, evincing a pride of appearance which the aristocracy of the aborigines so ardently delight in. He was seldom seen without his pipe as an accompaniment, and which was profusely and richly decorated with feathers of a gaudy hue. After he retired from the treaty ground, nothing important ever was heard of the subject of the sketch among the white men; and it is probable that he has long ere this sunk into that oblivion to which an unrelenting destiny has consigned the members of his tribe. He flitted his brief hour upon the fields of life, and has now departed to an unknown world. The state of this chieftain is now eternal.

In commemorating the characters and chronicling the actions of chiefs and braves. of the Indian nations on our borders, it can hardly be considered a work of supererogation to contemplate, for a moment, the character of the females to whom those chiefs and warriors are united, either in the conjugal relation, or as daughters, sisters, or mothers. In all these relations, the female Indian may with justice claim a character pre-eminently excellent, and in many instances worthy the imitation of the highly cultivated females of our white population to whom we are by every tie endeared. The opportunities of the aboriginal females for the acquisition of knowledge are necessarily confined to a very narrow circle; and the school of nature is almost the only one in which their education can be obtained, or their minds and manners moulded for the purposes of social or domestic life. In this school the best affections are carefully cultivated, and the Indian wife and mother are examples of fidelity and love to the husband, and of tenderness and maternal solicitude for the children. No task is too arduous, no labour too severe, no toil too tiresome, no watchfulness too weary for them to bestow, for the future well-being of their offspring. Patience and suffering are twin virtues in which they excel.

In the plate appended to this sketch is portrayed, with truth and accuracy, the general appearance, costume, and character of a portion of the female aborigines in their native unadorned simplicity. Those of our readers who have never enjoyed the opportunity of beholding these unsophisticated daughters of the forest, these

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Indian Queens of America, - may in the luxuriance of their civilized imaginations be taught to inquire for the crowns, the coronets, the robes of state, and ornaments of grace and gorgeousness which were formerly figured by fancy as the decorations and ornaments of these legitimate Queens of the woods and prairies of our western wilds. As such we feel called upon to state, that the unostentatious virtue and native simplicity of the female Indian constitutes her claim to esteem amongst her tribe, and her chief dowry to her husband. To him she is obedient in all things; to him she surrenders her purest love, and to him she accords her most unfeigned respect. He is the idol that she worships; his breast the altar on which her vows are paid; his arms the resting-place for her fond, devoted soul. To merit his favour and to win his affections, no duties however painful, no privation however severe, are spared or complained of. For his sake she bears the most weighty burdens; for his comfort she gathers aud carries on her shoulders the wood to cook his daily meals, and to warm his cold and weary limbs. The game acquired in the chase is dressed by her hands and prepared for the repast. If corn is raised for food 'tis she who does it, and afterwards pounds and converts it into bread. All the painful labours of life devolve upon her, and the carriage and care of the children are confided to her hands. She is patient under all her toils, and cheerful amidst all her sufferings and privations. In her husband's sympathies she joyfully participates, and she is the depository of all his anxieties and cares. When he smiles, she smiles responsive, and when he is grave she is reserved and silent. Her soul yearns after him when absent, and her heart adores and renders him a grateful homage when present. All the pangs and sorrows that he suffers, she poignantly feels. In sickness she watches over him. with unsleeping eyes; and when he dies, she not only mourns until the fountains of her heart are dry, but inflicts upon herself the most painful tortures to propitiate the spirit of her beloved dead. For months after his decease will she at morning's dawn wend her weary and lonely way to the place of his interment, and falling prostrate on his cold grave with her dishevelled locks floating in the wind, will pour out her tears in torrents, and mingle her sad moans with the breeze. In lugubrious notes she bewails him day and night, until the streams of grief are at the fountain. In those moments of wo and sorrow she fancies that the spirit of her warrior chief looks down complacently from the skies, and compassionates her loneliness and grief. She dreams in fancy that he is happy with the blessed; that he is now in the rich and fertile "hunting grounds" of the "Great Spirit," where the deer, the buffalo, and the beaver abound, and are subject to his unerring aim: where the sky is unshadowed by a solitary cloud and the streams are ever limpid, pure, and clear. She forgets not the tomahawk, the belt of wampum, nor the pipe of peace that were buried with him in his grave to aid and comfort him on his invisible journey to a better and happier world. All these recur to her memory with a soft though sad delight: but her

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