hog's flesh in your belly. Had you conquered me, I would have borne it with courage and died like a brave warrior; but you, bear, sit here and cry, and disgrace your tribe by your cowardly conduct." I was present at the delivery of this curious invective; when the hunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how he thought the poor animal could understand what he said to it? "Oh!" said he in answer, "the bear understood me very well; did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was upbraiding him ?"

Another time I witnessed a similar scene between the falls of the Ohio and the river Wabash. A young white man, named William Wells, who had been when a boy taken prisoner by a tribe of the Wabash Indians, by whom he was brought up, and had imbibed all their notions, had so wounded a large bear that he could not move from the spot, and the animal cried piteously like the one I have just mentioned. The young man went up to him, and with seemingly great earnestness, addressed him in the Wabash language, now and then giving him a slight stroke on the nose with his ram-rod. I asked him, when he had done, what he had been saying to this bear? "I have," said he, "upbraided him for acting the part of a coward; I told him that he knew the fortune of war, that one or the other of us must have fallen; that it was his fate to be conquered, and he ought to die like a man, like a hero, and not like an old woman; that if the case had been reversed, and I had fallen into the power of my enemy, I would not have disgraced my nation as he did, but would have died with firmness and courage, as becomes a true warrior."-HECKEWELDER.

*The same whom Mr. de Volney speaks of in his excellent View of the Soil and Climate of United States." Supplement, No. VI. page 356. Philadelphia Edition, 1804.

SUICIDE.

Suicide is not considered by the Indians either as an act of herosim or of cowardice, nor is it with them a subject of praise or blame. They view this desperate act as the consequence of mental derangement, and the person who destsoys himself is to them an object of pity. Such cases do not frequently occur. Between the years 1771 and 1780, four Indians of my acquaintance took the root of the may-apple, which is commonly used on such occasions, in order to poison themselves, in which they all succeeded, except one. Two of them were young men, who had been disappointed in love, the girls on whom they had fixed their choice, and to whom they were engaged, having changed their minds and married other lovers. They both put an end to their existence. The two others were married men. Their stories, as pictures of Indian manners, will not, perhaps, be thought uninteresting.

One of these unfortunate men was a person of an excellent character, respected and esteemed by all who knew him. He had a wife whom he was very fond of and two children, and they lived very happily together at the distance of about a half a mile from the place where I resided. He often came to visit me, and as he was of a most amiable disposition, I was pleased with his visits, and always gave him a hearty welcome. When I thought he was too long without coming, I went myself to the delightful spot which he had judiciously selected for his dwelling. Here I always found the family cheerful, sociable and happy, until some time before the fatal catastrophe happened, when I observed that my friend's countenance bore the marks of deep melancholy, of which I afterwards learned the cause. His wife had received the visits of another man; he foresaw that he would soon be obliged to separate from her, and he shuddered when lie thought that he must also part from his two lovely

children; for it is the custom of the Indians, that when a divorce takes place between husband and wife, the children remain with their mother, until they are of a proper age to choose for themselves. One hope, however, still remained. The sugarmaking season was at hand, and they were shortly to remove to their sugar camp, where he flattered himself his wife would not be followed by the disturber of his peace, whose residence was about ten miles from thence. But this hope was of short duration. They had hardly been a fortnight in their new habitation, when, as he returned one day from a morning's hunt, he found the unwelcome visiter at his home, in close conversation with his faithless wife. This last stroke was more than he could bear; without saying a single word, he took off a large cake of his sugar, and with it came to my house, which was at the distance of eight miles from his temporary residence. It was on a Sunday, at about ten o'clock in the forenoon, that he entered my door, with sorrow strongly depicted on his manly countenance. As he came in he presented me with his cake of sugar, saying, "My friend! you have many a time served me with a good pipe of tobacco, and I have not yet done any thing to please you. Take this as a reward for your goodness, and as an ac knowledgement from me as your friend." He sai no more, but giving me with both his hands, a warr ⚫ farewell squeeze, he departed and returned to the camp At about two o'clock in the afternoon a runner from thence passing through the town to notify his deat at the village two miles farther, informed us of th shocking event. He had immediately on his returr remained a short time in his house, indulging in th last caresses to his dear innocent children; then re tiring to some distance, had eaten the fatal root, am before relief could be administered by some person who had observed him staggering from the othe

side of the river, he was on the point of expiring, and all succours were vain.

The last whom I have to mention, was also a married man, bat had no children. He had lived happy with his wife, until one day that she fell into a passion and made use to him of such abusive language as he could not endure. Too high-minded to quarrel with a woman, he resolved to punish her by putting an end to his existence. Fortunately he was seen in the first stage of his fits, and was brought into a house, where a strong emetic diluted in lukewarm water, was forcibly poured down his throat. He recovered after some time, but never was again the strong healthy man he had been before; his wife however, took warning from this desperate act, and behaved better ever after.-HECKEWELder.

DRUNKENNESS.

An Indian who had been born and brought up at Minisink, near the Delaware Water Gap, and to whom the German inhabitants of that neighbourhood had given the name of Cornelius Rosenbaum, told me near fifty years ago, that he had once, when under the influence of strong liquor, killed the best Indian friend he had, fancying him to be his worst avowed enemy. He said that the deception was complete, and that while intoxicated, the face of his friend presented to his eyes all the features of the man with whom he was in a state of hostility. It is impossible to express the horror with which he was struck when he awoke from that delusion; he was so shocked, that he from that moment resolved never more to taste of the maddening poison, of which he was convinced that the devil was the inventor; for it could only be the evil spirit who made him see his enemy when his friend was before him, and produced so strong a delusion on his bewildered senses, that he actually killed him. From that time

until his death, which happened thirty years afterwards, he never drank a drop of ardent spirits, which he always called "the Devil's blood," and was firmly persuaded that the Devil, or some of his inferior spirits, had a hand in preparing it.

Once in my travels, I fell in with an Indian and his son; the former, though not addicted to drinking, had this time drunk some liquor with one of his acquaintances, of which he now felt the effects. As he was walking before me, along the path, he at once flew back and aside, calling out "O! what a monstrous snake!" On my asking him where the snake lay, he pointed to something and said, "Why, there, across the path!" "A snake!" said I, "it is nothing but a black-burnt sapling, which has fallen on the ground." He, however, would not be persuaded; he insisted that it was a snake, and could be nothing else; therefore, to avoid it, he went round the path, and entered it again at some distance farther. After we had travelled together for about two hours, during which time he spoke but little, we encamped for the night. Awaking about midnight, I saw him sitting up smoking his pipe, and appearing to be in deep thought. I asked him why he did not lay down and sleep? To which he replied, "O my friend! many things have crowded on my mind; I am quite lost in thought!"

Heckew." And what are you thinking about ?" Indian,-" -"Did you say it was not a snake of which I was afraid, and which lay across the path?"

Heckew."I did say so; and, indeed, it was nothing else but a sapling burnt black by the firing of the woods."

Indian," Are you sure it was that?"

Heckew.-"Yes; and I called to you at the time to look, how I was standing on it; and if you have yet a doubt, ask your son, and the two Indians with me, and they will tell you the same."

Indian," O strange! and I took it for an un