whose attentions most probably saved his life. His feet and legs were so swelled, from the exposure to heat and cold, that it was necessary to cut off his pantaloons: his hands and feet were affected by the most violent cramps. After a short respite, he retraced his steps to Belle Point fort, where he learnt the unhappy tidings of Dr. Russel's death, as well as of two missionaries, about to proceed to the Osages. A variety of amusing details accompany the narrative of Mr. Nuttall's return to Osark, or Arkansa, at which place, he found, to his surprise, that during the twelve months which had elapsed since his first visit, there had been a great influx of lawyers, doctors, and mechanics, and that a weekly newspaper had been established. A process was then going on in the criminal court, against a wretch who had committed a rape upon the daughter of his late wife. His punishment was as brutal as his offence. Mr. Nuttall recommends the penitentiary law of Pennsylvania and New York, in preference to the sanguinary retribution of some of the provincial laws; concluding with the following remark, in which we perfectly coincide: "To sacrifice all that portion of the community to infamy, who happen to fall beneath the lash of the law, is incompatible with the true principles of justice. Maim a man, or turn him out with the stigma of infamy into the bosom of society, and he will inevitably become a still greater scourge to the world, in which he now only lives to seek revenge, by the commission of greater but better concealed crimes."-p. 225. ments of his wealth. Their common allowance of food is about a quart of corn per day! Depredation with all its severity of punishment-tyranny on the one hand, and revolt on the other—are continually ravaging the territories of Louisiana. Added to which, the fear of inundation, and the fatal terrors of the climate, induce the proprietors to wring as much as possible from the devoted African in the shortest possible time, for the chance of enjoying it in security elsewhere. The epidemic which raged in New Orleans during the summer of 1819, carried off 6000 individuals, chiefly emigrants. The hospital is described as being badly regulated, and totally inadequate to such a crisis. Medical assistance is scarce and expensive, and the selfish and fearful supineness which seizes upon all classes when the contagion appears, leaves little chance of escaping from it. Though the commerce of New Orleans is so extensive, and its population so great, every thing like intellectual improvement is at a stand, and three or four bibliopoles have the exclusive patronage of the place. A museum which was begun to be formed a few years since, is now converted into a gambling-house! With his arrival at New Orleans, Mr. Nuttall's narrative, terminates; and having deposited him safely at an inn, with a comely negro to pour out his coffee, we proceed to remark upon some points of his narrative connected with the present state of the Indian tribes. With the exception of the Osage Indians, forming a remote settlement In a few days Mr. Nuttall again to the westward, the various tribes to arrived in the Mississippi, finding it, which our author refers appear to be at this season, one of the "most mag-gradually assimilating to civilized benificent of rivers, which appeared in ings. Their idolatry is of a less gross an unbroken and meandering sheet, kind than prevails in many countries stretching over an extended view of much further advanced in improvemore than 12 miles," and skirted by ment, though each family has its one impenetrable forest. In his pro- penates or guardian spirit from among gress to New Orleans, he mentions those various objects of creation that the extensive settlements of the plant- are remarkable for sagacity. They ers along the coast. Upon one of have a firm belief in a future state. these estates, General Wade Hamp- Among some of them, however, a ton's, there were then four hundred barbarous custom prevails at seedslaves. It had produced, the preced-time, of seizing a lean dog as a sacriing year, 500 hogsheads of sugar, and 1000 bales of cotton; or, in twelve months, the sum of 150,000 dollars! Yet this monopolizer of human liberty scarcely allows the common necessaries of life to these wretched instru fice to the Indian Ceres, and with horrid yells devouring it alive. The Arkansas particularly are very gentle and very brave: it is related of them, that in a contest with an hostile tribe a few years since, the latter were re treating for want of ammunition, leaving the contest undecided. The Arkansas made signs for a parley, emptied the whole of their powder into a blanket, shared it with their enemies, and conquered them. Their country is exceedingly fertile, and comparatively salubrious; as a proof of which, Mr. Nuttall mentions the healthy looks of the inhabitants, and the absence of doctors. IN The Osages, from whom Mr. Nuttall experienced such ill usage in the remote districts through which he penetrated, are treacherous, cruel, and rapacious. From their wandering habits, and exposure to the elements, he found them acquainted with the positions and configurations of many of the heavenly bodies; the polar star, the Pleiades, and the three stars in Orion's belt. Their minor periods of time are regulated by the waxing and waning of the moon, and their years by the number of moons and the change of seasons. Polygamy of a curious species is practised among them; the man who first marries into a family, possessing the control of all the wife's sisters, whom he may either espouse, or bestow upon others. These Indians carefully extract the marks of pubescence from every part of the body, plucking out their eye-brows and shaving their heads. Mr. Nuttall conjectures, that, from their jealousy of the Whites, they, who, like the Quakers and Moravians, say the least about religion, and preach rather by benevolent example and the introduction of useful arts, will make the most durable and favourable impression. He corroborates this opinion by an anecdote which is worth extracting: He alludes with pleasure to the comfortable cabins and farms of the Cherokees, who are no longer strangers to the distinctions of wealth, and, when our author visited them, were busily employed in felling trees and preparing for seed-time. The great work of civilization has been not a little accelerated among them, by the exertions of one "Nancy Ward," commonly called "The Beloved." She introduced the domesticated cow, and her influence extends even to matters of life and death. Mr. Nuttall, however, laments, that with the blessings of civilized life, they should likewise have acquired that selfish attachment to property, that love of riches, to which he traces (not very intelligibly we confess) an "accumulation of laws and punishments from which the patriarchal state was happily exempt." But, when he afterwards speaks of polygamy, in its grossest shape, being practised by these half-enlightened beings of the diabolical use of abortion, which prevails to an unlimited extent among them-of their insatiate and indiscriminating pursuit of revenge, which makes no distinction between murder and manslaughter, and is wreaked upon the brother or nearest relative of the culprit that happens to fall in their way,-we cannot but wish them much further removed from a state of patriarchal simplicity, and the blessings of religious knowledge, ever An amusing instance is given (p. 192) concomitant on civilization, diffused of their skill and effrontery in thieving; more extensively among them. In and a melancholy one (p. 187) of their fact, Mr. Nuttall, a little further on in barbarous conduct to Mr. M'Farlane, his Journal, exclaims-" But the a white hunter, found within their want of legal restraint, and of an territory, whom they murdered in the efficient government, in spite of all most inhuman manner; so jealous are our admiration of the patriarchal rule, they of strangers travelling without have proved the ever baneful means of an express protection from the goaboriginal depopulation." It is worth vernment. It was with good reason, mentioning, that a short time since, this therefore, that Mr. Nuttall was under particular tribe had a place or city the greatest apprehensions for his perof refuge," to which from time imme-sonal safety, whilst within the range morial every delinquent fleeing was of these semi-barbarians. Nor is the sure of a sanctuary. spirit of their females less savage; for 66 "Mr. Bougie informed me, that last winter, while accidentally engaged in reading the New Testament, two or three young men, of the Osages, coming into his store, inquired of him what was said in that book. He answered, that it informed him of the descent of God upon the earth, who was seen by men, conversed with them, and wrought miracles. If that was true, they asked, why did he not come down now among men as he did then? To which Mr. B. replied, Because the world was now so wicked. They looked at one another, held their hands to their mouths, as they always do in token of surprise, and, smiling, said, The book may tell you so, but we don't believe it.'"-pp. 195–196. one of them, seeing her husband in contention with a stranger, and proceeding to a scuffle, seized a hatchet, and would have dispatched the latter in a moment, had she not been prevented. Upon the whole, as the face of these extensive regions seems endowed with every thing that can contribute to the wealth, the comfort, and the grandeur of cultivated life-as empires are gradually rising into importance around it as the tide of population and improvement is rapidly encroaching on its forests and wilds-another century will probably have witnessed the extinction of these rude tenants, or their quiet amalgamation with the peaceful settlers from the east. But, in the mean time, what ample scope is there for the exertions of the philanthropist, and of those religious institutions which this country especially upholds for the culture and illumination of the heathen! From the extended sketch which we have given of Mr. Nuttall's work, the public will be enabled to form a pretty accurate estimate of its value. The materials we have extracted will shew that it is not deficient in general interest; whilst to the botanist and geologist it presents a magazine of rarities, which none but themselves are capable of appreciating. Published in the hasty form of a journal, it contains many inaccuracies and flippancies, which a little caution would have removed; but, as a manual for the multitude of emigrants or tourists, who are destined to follow Mr. Nuttall's track, it presents a valuable compendium of accurate and essential information. To the spirit, perseverance, and intelligence, with which he performed his hazardous undertaking, every one, we imagine, must readily bear tribute. REVIEW.-Angelica, or the Rape of passionately enamoured of this fair daughter of Prospero; nor is Celatis, a sea-nymph, or mermaid, less in love with Ferdinand. The latter sings her enchanting strains beneath the prow of the Neapolitan vessel, at the moment when the mariners, supposing they have made the desired haven, are about to lower their anchor: 66 P. 47. With a superstitious obedience, they follow the advice of her song, and steer a mile a-head upon the western bow." Here, however, the treacherous syren had prepared a comfortable sand-bank, upon which the ill-fated vessel strikes: her crew mermaid has already in imagination are on the brink of destruction-the transported the prince to her coral cave, whilst the shrieks of his Angelica, whom the sea-god Proteus is dragging to his ocean bed, transport him with horror; when Neptune and Amphitrite appear, and a general blow-up ensues: The catastrophe is evident: Ferdinand and Angelica are united; and Ariel, having returned from the depths of the ocean, (no one knows "how deep, how deep," p. 57,) with the emerald stone of Thetis as a nuptial THE Rape of Proteus is intended as a gift to the bride, is freed from her supplement to Shakspeare's beautiful servitude and dismissed. Old Prosplay of the Tempest. Angelica is sub- pero, we should have mentioned, is stituted for Miranda, whom Prince quietly asleep in his cave, whilst his Ferdinand of Naples, having obtain- darling child is thrown into this immied the consent of the states, is return-nent peril: an avocation which ill ing in a gallant vessel to marry, and carry thither. Proteus, however, is accords either with his parental anxiety and foresight, at such a critical juncture, or with the preternatural | Not Caliban, though he be vile, The Mermaid seems to be the most pleasing person in the whole group. Her songs, if not so singular as Ariel's in the Tempest, are yet very poetical and very appropriate. The best is that commencing: "I am she who smooth the seas, p. 47. Of her morality we say nothing; for quis modus adsit amori?" She thus tempts Angelica to comply with the wishes of Proteus: "I ask thee, then, Are there not golden pleasures, which in na ture Are to be priz'd, and lov'd for their own sake; Jove being the author, by whose gift we use them? And most so, when revenge doth add her To sharpen the free will, already apt: And be both wise and happy." "Alas, and wilt thou lose th' imperial rule And Neptune courts thee to partake his bed, The following extract from her colloquy with Proteus, will give a favourable specimen of the imaginative powers displayed in the poem. She tells him that, "Love, who skims the seas, And on the sands does what he please, Hath work'd against thee with this guile. And mark'd young Cupid squeeze a flower, And of that crimson milk the flow'r pp. 10-12. "O thou good maiden! whelm him in the ven. p. 27. "She who forsakes her subject, cannot blame Her subject for forsaking." p. 28. Proteus having advised Celatis to shipwreck Ferdinand, |