T.SARTA. 

 
 .WUNNISSOO, 
 
 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK, 
 
 A POEM, WITH NOTES. 
 
 Br WILLIAM ALLEN, D.D., 
 
 A MEMBER OP THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OP MASSACHUSETTS, MAINE NEW 
 
 HAMPSHIRE, NEW YORK, AND NEW JERSEY, LATE PRESIDENT 
 
 OP BOWBOIN COLLEGE, AUTHOR OP THE AMERICAN 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY, 
 
 CLEVELAND. OHIO: JEWETT, PBOCTOE & WOKTHINGTON. 
 
 NEW YOKK: SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & COMPANY. 
 M.DCCC.LVI.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 WILLIAM ALLEN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court 
 of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 AMERICAN STEREOTYPE COMPANY, 28 PH03NIX BUILDING, CORNER OP 
 DEVONSHIRE STREET AND EXCHANGE PLACE, BOSTON.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following poem it has been the aim 
 of the writer to utter truths and sentiments, 
 which are calculated to enlarge and improve 
 the heart and to ennoble the character. He 
 could not deem himself innocent, if his lei 
 sure hours were given to idle, unprofitable 
 minstrelsy ; but, if his harp be so attuned to 
 pure and heavenly strains, as that any should 
 listen with interest and benefit, he would be 
 shielded from self-reproach. 
 
 In the present unusual culture of a literary 
 taste in this country he conceived, that poetry 
 might be made, as it should be, the hand 
 maid of religion. Among the principles of 
 our nature that of fancy has a most impor 
 tant influence upon our happiness ; and, if 
 not occupied in idle musings, but wisely di 
 rected, it may lend illustration and enforce- 
 
 .. -' 
 
 .
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 ment to the weightiest and sublimest truths. 
 The author, it will be seen, has adopted the 
 form of a narrative, wishing to make the 
 story the vehicle of truth and emotion. But 
 the narrative is founded on real events, and 
 never surpasses the bounds of possibility; it 
 has also, as he thinks, the necessary verisimili 
 tude, so as not to awaken a painful feeling of 
 doubt and mistrust. He might have produced 
 a philosophical, moral, religious poem, desti 
 tute of a story and barren of incidents ; but 
 there would have been wanting a common 
 bond to link the different stanzas into one 
 piece ; there would have been wanting also 
 the power of sympathy, by which the con 
 cerns of a fellow-being seize strongly upon 
 our heart, perhaps more strongly than all 
 that is beautiful and grand in nature. 
 
 To those scrupulous minds, that revolt at 
 every thing in the garb of fiction, he would 
 say, that they can hardly have reflected on 
 the multitude of parables or fictitious stories, 
 scattered throughout the Holy Scriptures, and 
 which were uttered by Him, who is the Truth. 
 "When the aim is to instruct, and not to de 
 ceive and delude, who ought to object to a
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 parable, or story ? Indeed, instead of calling 
 instruction thus communicated a fiction, it 
 might be more proper to call it truth in the 
 array of fancy, and to consider it as the visit 
 of an angel in the form of a man. 
 
 He has been accustomed to think, that the 
 interest and value of poetry depend much 
 upon its being the expression of the deep 
 conviction and strong feeling of the writer. 
 Therefore he has uttered nothing but what 
 he thoroughly believes ; nothing but what he 
 has felt. To most of the scenes described he 
 has not been a stranger. He speaks from 
 knowledge ; and he cherishes the hope, that 
 this little book will find a welcome in many 
 a pious heart. 
 
 The writer has ever thought, that simplicity 
 in writing is a great excellence ; but he 
 intends by it, not a childishness of thought, 
 expressed in childishness of language, but 
 natural, and it may be rich and affecting sen 
 timents, presented in pure Saxon, in the most 
 perspicuous manner possible, as one of our 
 clear, northern lakes reveals through its trans 
 parent waters the objects lying at the bottom. 
 Any peculiarities of style, which obscure the
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 thought or divert attention from it, he deems 
 a defect ; and such a defect, as if the lake 
 was frozen, and as if the ice was formed, 
 when the flood was unquiet, or with inter 
 mingled sleet, so that nothing can be seen be 
 low, and the eye is confined to the hues and 
 shapes of the mantle, thrown over the clear 
 waters. When the thought is of no value 
 and there is a poverty of conception, we may 
 allow a gorgeousness of diction and an inver 
 sion and obscurity of style. 
 
 The author is persuaded, that the stanza of 
 Spenser is altogether preferable to any other 
 measure for a poem of the kind, which is here 
 given to the public. It has the advantage of 
 partition into distinct portions of nine lines ; 
 whereas the solid mass of the common heroic 
 verse is rather terrifying to the reader. It has 
 the higher advantage of variety in the pauses. 
 It combines much of the freedom and dignity 
 of blank verse with the pleasures of rhyme. 
 There is also a degree of elevation and mag 
 nificence in the lengthened, closing line of 
 each stanza. 
 
 Yet to the unpractised reader of poetry it 
 may at first appear somewhat perplexed, al-
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 though the rhymes are regular and invariable. 
 But all difficulty will at once vanish, when it 
 is considered, that each stanza consists of 
 alternate rhymes, like Gray's Elegy, with an 
 additional closing line rhyming with the 
 eighth, and with the law, that the fifth line 
 rhyme also with the fourth. 
 
 Of the capabilities of Spenser's stanza, no 
 one can doubt, who is conversant with his 
 Fairy Queen, or with Thomson's Castle of 
 Indolence, Seattle's Minstrel, Campbell's Ger 
 trude of Wyoming, The Pilgrimage of Byron, 
 or Southey's Tale of Paraguay. Of Camp 
 bell's Gertrude, with all its beauties, it may 
 not be improper for an American to remark, 
 that there is a want of correctness in the de 
 scription, a failure in the keeping of the piece. 
 He represents, that exiles from every clime 
 met at Wyoming ; whereas, the inhabitants 
 were a colony from Connecticut. But this is 
 a more pardonable fault, than to speak of the 
 flamingo as disporting on our northern lakes, 
 and of the everlasting aloes, and palm-tree, 
 and crocodile as belonging to the natural his 
 tory and scenery of Pennsylvania. This is 
 like speaking of lions and camels in Spitzber-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 gen ; or bread-fruit trees in the highlands of 
 Scotland. 
 
 It has been the aim of the writer of this 
 poem with what success the reader must 
 judge to preserve truth in the description of 
 natural objects, and of Indian customs and 
 manners. For the freedom of some of his 
 rebukes he makes no apology. However in 
 dulgent we may be to the harmless structures 
 of the imagination, yet eternal truth and 
 immutable virtue have rights and claims, 
 which are never to be disregarded ; and none, 
 who transgress the laws of either, whether 
 maliciously or incautiously, should be shielded 
 from censure or correction. 
 
 The title of this poem carries back the 
 writer to his native village and the scenes of 
 the earlier periods of his life. With the dear, 
 distant vale are connected interesting histori 
 cal facts, some of which are described with 
 such meditations, as were suggested to his 
 mind, and seemed adapted to his object of 
 combining pleasure with important instruc 
 tion. 
 BOWDOIN COLLEGE, Maine, Nov. 25, 1826.
 
 SECOND PREFACE. 
 
 IT is rare, that a long poem is published by 
 a writer, who has travelled beyond the desig 
 nated, scriptural period of human life ; but, al 
 though the author of this poem is an old man, 
 it was not written by an old man. It will be 
 seen by the date of the first preface, that it 
 was written thirty years ago. The history of 
 it is this. While walking amidst a paradise of 
 blessings, with one by my side more dear to 
 me, than beguiled Eve, though exceeding fair, 
 was to Adam, I composed this poem. If the 
 thought of publishing it ever entered my 
 mind, the thought was associated with its 
 being read in print, as it was in manu 
 script, by the kindled eye of affection. But
 
 10 SECOND PREFACE. 
 
 at this moment of my bliss the loved one 
 suddenly passed away, and this testimony 
 of my love was buried with her, but did 
 not, like her, remain fresh in my heart; 
 for it slept among my papers, until in the 
 lapse of years I had forgotten its exist 
 ence. At last my memory was awakened 
 by my being called to deliver a poem at 
 the Berkshire Jubilee, in 1844, at the as 
 sembly of the natives of the Hoosatunnuk 
 Valley, in Pittsfield. But again I laid it 
 aside, and have let it rest once more for 
 a new period, longer than the nine years 
 recommended by Horace. Recently I have 
 read it anew, and have now concluded to 
 offer this poem to the public in the hum 
 ble hope, that it may find readers, whom 
 it may please, and whom it may strength 
 en, in the love and practice of that, which 
 is good. A few verses, it will be seen, are 
 added to the poem in a separate piece,
 
 SECOND PREFACE. 11 
 
 which were written immediately after the 
 funeral of her, to whom it is dedicated. 
 
 I now publish this poem with the same 
 moral aims, which are expressed in the 
 first preface, and of which, as the proper 
 aims of poetry, Dryden was not ignorant. 
 His words are : 
 
 " O, gracious God ! how far have we 
 Profan'd thy heavenly gift of Poesy ? 
 Made prostitute and profligate the muse, 
 Debas'd to each obscene and impious use, 
 Whose harmony was first ordain'd above 
 For tongues of angels and for hymns of love?" 
 
 A high responsibleness rests upon the 
 poet for the correctness and distinctness of 
 the moral and religious sentiments, which 
 he utters ; for error leads to folly and ini 
 quity, and it is truth, which is associated 
 with virtue and happiness. It is a base 
 thing to pollute the fancy, and to infuse a 
 poison into the heart ; and it is hardly less 
 injurious to inculcate error in contradiction
 
 12 SECOND PREFACE. 
 
 to the explicit and authoritative teaching 
 of the divine word. 
 
 In looking at the great mass of English 
 poetry it saddens the heart to think, how 
 much of it bears an immoral character, 
 and how small a portion of it is perfectly 
 consonant with the ennobling principles of 
 the gospel. The heathen poets praised their 
 false gods; but many of our Christian 
 poets seem ashamed to acknowledge the 
 true God, and seem also to be ignorant 
 of the sublime doctrines pertaining to the 
 redemption of the world by the atoning 
 sacrifice of the Son of God, who came 
 down from heaven, the most precious of 
 all the truths, which can be brought to 
 the knowledge of man. 
 
 NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts, April 5, 1856.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE 3 
 
 SECOND PREFACE 9 
 
 DEDICATION 15 
 
 CANTO 1 21 
 
 Youth Embarking 47 
 
 CANTO II 63 
 
 Hymn on the Nativity of Christ 85 
 
 CANTO III 91 
 
 The Ravens' War Hymn 118 
 
 CANTO IV 125 
 
 Hymn of the Redeemed 155 
 
 After the Funeral of my Wife 159 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Wunnissoo 167 
 
 County of Berkshire " 
 
 Massachusetts 169 
 
 Pontoosuc or Pittsfield " 
 
 Rev. Thomas Allen 170 
 
 Origin of Indians 171 
 
 Bunch Words 176 
 
 Mohegan " 
 
 Indian Languages 178 
 
 Indian Trade 192 
 
 Ahkook or Kettle 193 
 
 Love of Onkuppee 194 
 
 John Sergeant 195
 
 14 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Stockbridge and Great Barrington. ...,.,. 196 
 
 Wampum 199 
 
 Birds of New England 201 
 
 Poetic Idolatry " 
 
 Indian Canoe 202 
 
 Indian Belief 204 
 
 Wigwam 205 
 
 Birch Bark " 
 
 Indians described 206 
 
 Indian Stone-Heaps 207 
 
 Dighton Eock 208 
 
 Totems " 
 
 Powwows 209 
 
 Catholic Miracles 210 
 
 Indian Converts 211 
 
 Preachers to Indians 215 
 
 Newell and HaU 218 
 
 Horses to Travellers 219 
 
 Slavery " 
 
 Cicero on Future Existence. 223 
 
 Carter and Woodbury " 
 
 Northern Lights, 224 
 
 Niagara Falls '. " 
 
 Mrs. Gumming 225 
 
 Peace Congress at Paris. " 
 
 Victor Hugo 226 
 
 East Hoosuck Fort 228 
 
 Mr. Stevens and Miss Piercy " 
 
 Sackville , " 
 
 Jonathan Edwards 231 
 
 Mohegan Language 232 
 
 Note for a Memorable Day 236
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 TO 
 
 MARIA MALLEVILLE WHEELOCK ALLEN. 
 
 1. 
 
 MALLEVILLE ! Companion of my earthly way, 
 
 Leading to bright and blessed world above, 
 In fleeting years gone by our feet did stray 
 In that sweet Vale, my harp to sing hath strove, 
 Whither I drew thee from thy much-lov'd 
 
 "Plain," 
 "Where Dartmouth's sons thy Father's care did 
 
 train. 
 
 In that far distant vale the elder born 
 Of our young flock first saw life's pleasant morn : 
 Dear then that spot to them, to thee, to me, 
 And sure my song to please those, whom I love. 
 But higher aims my minstrelsy emmove, 
 To teach the truth divine and godlike charity.
 
 16 DEDICATION. 
 
 2. 
 
 The happy faces, smiling round our board, 
 We have in charge to guide where God doth 
 
 dwell, 
 
 For all in vain for them is earthly hoard 
 Of treasure and of joy, as we know well, 
 And vain the pride of lofty-beaming mind, 
 And vain the glowing fantasy refin'd, 
 Unless with heav'nly hope their bosoms swell, 
 And for them treasures in the skies are stor'd. 
 Our toils pursue this high and holy end 
 From day to day, their untaught steps to guide, 
 That they from heav'nward path may never 
 
 bend 
 
 To stray in downward, crowded way and wide. 
 Yet oft the images of those, we lov'd, 
 The needful, wise admonishment do bring, 
 That we by sudden flight may be remov'd 
 From this our work, from joys that round us 
 
 spring, 
 As quits her nest the startled bird on rapid wing.
 
 DEDICATION. 17 
 
 3. 
 
 If this the will of God, and we should live 
 Within their hearts, as others live in ours, 
 This record of the truths we love, may give 
 Impression deep e'en to their latest hours, 
 And song may teach, when death our frame 
 
 devours. 
 
 Their tabernacle too will death o'erthrow, 
 And bring each bright and beauteous structure 
 
 low; 
 
 But, if they love, as we with fervor pray, 
 The matchless Friend of man, who did not hide 
 His face from contumelious array, 
 But on the tort'ring cross a victim died, 
 This love o'er death a victory will ensure. 
 Their bodies in the grave will sleep secure ; 
 And when the great, eternal morn shall break, 
 And all from their deep slumbers shall awake, 
 
 Both we, and they, and all the good shall rise, 
 
 
 As we do hope, and with immortal wing 
 
 Mount upward to our home in yonder skies, 
 2
 
 18 DEDICATION. 
 
 And for interminable ages sing 
 In strains, my harp to echo vainly tries, 
 And which transcend all mortal carolling, 
 His rapt'rous praise, who to the bliss of heaven 
 doth bring. 
 
 BOWDOIN COLLEGE, Dec. 26, 1826.
 
 nf $5flfl0atmraulk 
 
 CANTO I.
 
 WUNNISSOO, 
 
 THE VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 1. 
 
 THROUGH Hoosatunnuk's Vale there flows the 
 
 stream, 
 
 Along whose banks, in childhood's joyous days, 
 Oft have I stray'd and mark'd its silver gleam 
 And rippling surface, as the gay fish plays, 
 Myself as gay and happy, while the blaze 
 Of noontide sun o'er all the varied scene 
 Scatter'd profuse his rich, delusive rays, 
 Gilding the stream, and tree, and meadow green 
 With more delightful hues, than ever since my eyes 
 have seen.
 
 22 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dear Vale, to vie with thine what strains shall 
 Did ever warbler half so sweetly sing, [dare ? 
 As red-breast, filling all thy od'rous air, 
 What time the sun breaks through the shower of 
 
 spring, 
 
 With clear and hearty notes, that rapture bring, 
 Tuning the praise of Him, whose cov'nant bow 
 Is stretch'd in th' eastern sky on fairy wing, 
 And with his joyous strains, that ceaseless flow, 
 
 Shaming the thankless hearts, which with no fervors 
 glow? 
 
 3. 
 
 Did ever wild-flow'r breathe perfume so sweet, 
 As thine, or ever bear so rich a guise ? 
 The modest violet beneath my feet, 
 The lowly dandelion's golden dyes, 
 The moccasin flow'r, peerless in my eyes, 
 Pluck'd in the well-known swamp of larch and 
 
 brake, 
 
 Now prun'd, alas, a meadow smooth it lies, 
 With snow-white lily, gather'd in the lake, 
 
 All in my glowing heart the purest joys did wake.
 
 CANTO 1. 23 
 
 4. 
 
 Fresh in my heart is now the village-green, 
 Though distant far, and years have rolled away, 
 Where church and school-house stand in graceful 
 
 mien, 
 
 And where my eager childhood held its play. 
 O venerable Elm of proud array, 
 Whose tow'ring head o'ertops the temple's vane, 
 And both point upward to the realms of day ! 
 Beneath thee oft by moonlight have I lain, 
 
 While thy vast shadowy length was stretch'd along 
 the plain. 
 
 5. 
 
 And then the dark-blue mountain, on whose brow, 
 Like turban on the Moor-man's swarthy face, 
 The clouds were often wreath'd in folds of snow, 
 Rais'd his huge form o'er all th' incumbent space, 
 And seem'd the giant guardian of the place. 
 Not e'en th' Olympian mount on Tempe's vale 
 Frowns so sublime, nor with such awful grace ; 
 And in my eye e'en Tempe's charms would fail 
 
 To match the beauties of my lovely, native dale.
 
 24 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 6. 
 
 Pontoosuc then the spot, now Pittsfield named, 
 So call'd from him, whose voice the chapel shook, 
 Where England's Senate sate. With eye inflamed 
 With indignation, with majestic look, [strook, 
 With outstretch'd arm, and tones, which terror 
 He cried, as liberty his great heart warms, 
 " American were I, I would not brook 
 The wrong; and, while your hirelings spread 
 
 alarms, 
 Never ! never ! never ! would I lay down my arms ! " 
 
 7. 
 
 These beauties live, yet all to me are dead : 
 Chang'd is the stream, and hill, and bird, and 
 
 flower, 
 
 For childhood's wondrous garnishment is fled, 
 And many a dear associate of the hour, 
 Whose love bestow'd on all the scene its power, 
 A father's holy face, and sister's heart, 
 And brothers' friendly hands, are now no more. 
 Th' unpitying king has struck them with his dart ; 
 And faded is the bliss, which nature's charms im 
 part.
 
 CANTO I. 25 
 
 8. 
 
 The forms of vanish'd joys do haunt the scene, 
 And, hid from others, glide before my eye : 
 Ah, who can calmly see their mournful mien, 
 And gaze upon th' unreal mockery ? 
 Yet, Hoosatunnuk ! turns my soul to thee, 
 And rooted scenes still in my memory cling; 
 No force can tear them thence, while life may be. 
 Then let me to my God an off'ring bring, 
 While of my native vale with grief and joy I sing. 
 
 9. 
 
 Where Massachusetts' western bound is spread, 
 A river winds toward the noonday light 
 Through fertile fields and meads with flow'rs 
 
 o'erspread, 
 
 On either side uprear'd a mountain height. 
 The vale, now grateful to the ploughshare bright, 
 Cover'd with English herds and flocks of Spain, 
 With pop'lous towns and villages bedight, 
 And waving with tall grass or yellow grain, 
 Was, not twice fifty years ago, a forest plain.
 
 26 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 10. 
 
 It was a wilderness of various wood ; 
 Elm, hemlock, maple, birch on high did climb, 
 But over all the pine in kingly mood 
 Did proudly stand with peerless head sublime. 
 The forest seem'd untouch'd from birth of time, 
 Save where was seen an Indian hamlet's flame, 
 Rising in valley sweet, where waters chime, 
 The place selected both for fish and game : 
 The river and the vale bore Hoosatunnuk's name. 
 
 11. 
 
 The Indians in this fair, retired vale 
 Were scions of the old Mohegan tree, 
 Tallest of all the trees, that feel the gale ; 
 Their language spread from salt to inland sea, 
 With common root, but branching variously. 
 Their toils were chiefly labors of the chase ; 
 They could not boast of skill in husbandry, 
 Save that for maize and climbing beans they 
 
 trace 
 And cultivate by female hands a narrow space.
 
 CANTO I. 27 
 
 12. 
 
 Alas for woman in the savage state, 
 Doom'd like a slave to work her master's will, 
 And bear each burden for her lordly mate, 
 While he pursues the game o'er dale and hill ! 
 Yet better far this drudg'ry to fulfil, 
 Than be the pretty, soulless, flatter'd thing, 
 In softness bred, shrinking from slightest ill ; 
 For toil is questionless of health the spring, 
 While idleness can nothing yield but suffering. 
 
 13. 
 
 The red men in this solitary nook 
 From where they late had liv'd had hither fled ; 
 For ill could they the face of white man brook, 
 Whose axe brings low the forest wide-outspread, 
 And opens to the sun the hunter's shade. 
 Yet even here they scarcely were removed 
 By one day's journey from the plough and spade : 
 The power of culture was around them proved, 
 Save to the north there stretch'd the wilderness, they 
 loved. *
 
 28 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 14. 
 
 Along the mountain ridges they pursued 
 With zeal unwearied and with keen delight 
 The lofty moose, with branching horns endued, 
 Whose clatt'ring hoofs resounded in his flight, 
 The shaggy bear, and deer with feet most light, 
 Whose skins the needful clothing did bestow, 
 And flesh abated their fierce appetite : [low, 
 
 'Twas when a whizzing ball their game brought 
 Their eager minds with savage joy did overflow. 
 
 15. 
 
 Musquash and others of the furry race 
 
 Along the streams and lakes with traps they caught ; 
 
 But chief the beaver, whom they knew to trace 
 
 By riv'let's dam, with skill and labor wrought, 
 
 A wondrous work in animal untaught ; 
 
 Their broad, sharp teeth, like adze, the trees cut 
 
 down, 
 
 And having rais'd the pond with wise forethought, 
 Above the wave their domiciles they crown, 
 Well-order'd commonweal dfid pop'lous, thriving 
 
 town.
 
 CANTO I. 29 
 
 16. 
 
 When thus of furs the Indians had good store, 
 They knew with white men how to urge a 
 
 trade, 
 
 Their needments to procure 'with cautious lore, 
 A shining gun, a knife with sharpest blade, 
 A blanket with desir'd adornments made, 
 Blue cloth to supersede their ancient dress, 
 With silver ornaments to" be displayed : 
 But never, as they went, could they suppress 
 
 The love of Onkuppee, great source of dire dis 
 tress. 
 
 17. 
 
 Seeing their wilder'd, heathen state with ruth, 
 It was resolv'd by gen'rous men and good 
 To offer them the light of heav'nly truth, 
 By which to scatter superstition's brood, 
 And lead them to the Saviour's cleansing blood. 
 Beneath the academic shades of Yale 
 Was found a Teacher of a noble mood, 
 With purpose firm, that knew not how to quail, 
 
 Content for Indian weal to toil till life should fail.
 
 30 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 18. 
 
 O Sergeant ! In this wilderness obscure, 
 Unknown to fame thy worth is greater far, 
 And joys, which gather round thy heart, more 
 
 pure, 
 
 Than worth and joys of men renown'd in war, 
 Enrich'd and honor'd for each perilous scar : 
 For pale-fac'd coward may rush into the fight 
 Compell'd, or titles dazzle from afar, 
 Or scent of blood may urge with foe in sight, 
 
 Or love for the high game may wake the hero's 
 might. 
 
 19. 
 
 Self-conquest is the hardest vict'ry won. 
 To level stubborn pride with mighty blow, 
 Untir'd the race of charity to run 
 Midst shame, ingratitude, and care, and woe, 
 As rivers in rough channels ceaseless flow ; 
 To imitate the God, who sits on high, 
 And sends his rain on good and bad below, 
 This is far nobler truth and reason cry 
 
 Than car of war to guide with eagle's fiery eye.
 
 CANTO I. 31 
 
 20. 
 
 Such humble bliss full many may despise 
 And deem unfit to wake the minstrel's song ; 
 But surely peace and joy are not the prize, 
 That crowns the cares of proud and courtly throng. 
 The mountain peak, glitt'ring with radiance strong 
 And seen afar, is rock array'd in snow, 
 While at its feet, in guise of freshness young, 
 The garden lifts its sweet and gentle brow, 
 And breathes the od'rous plants, which by the 
 stream do grow. 
 
 21. 
 
 Were they estrang'd from bliss and dignity, 
 The poor and humble men, whom Jesus led 
 Along the lowly vales of Galilee, 
 Himself not having where to lay his head ? 
 He on the poor his richest blessings shed ; 
 To them glad tidings from above he brought 
 Of life eternal, free from woe and dread. 
 Then look not on the poor with scornful thought : 
 Thou must in heart be poor, if heav'n is truly sought.
 
 32 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 22. 
 
 At Wnahtukook there liv'd a worthy chief, 
 To hear the Christian story well inclined, 
 Who, while he look'd on heathen rites with grief, 
 Welcom'd the good man on his errand kind. 
 Full soon the truth shed light upon his mind, 
 And he was wash'd in laver undefiled. 
 Nor Kunkapot alone did mercy find ; 
 His daughter too was bless'd, a lovely child, 
 Like beauteous, fragrant flow'r, that springs in forest 
 
 wild. 
 
 23. 
 
 Here liv'd in her sweet solitude the maid, 
 Secluded in her nook by mountain's side, 
 Save when, with journey soon perform'd, she 
 
 strayed 
 
 Where Hudson's noble river rolls his tide, 
 On which the white-wing'd vessels swiftly glide, 
 Fraught with the riches of far distant lands, 
 And where the fort of Albany defied 
 Th' assaults of leagued French and Indian bands, 
 And frowning guardian of the city proudly stands.
 
 CANTO I. 33 
 
 24. 
 
 As thriving vine in this retired vale 
 Upon the river's banks spreads foliage fair, 
 And climbs the elm, unshrinking from the gale, 
 And hangs the purple clusters in the air ; 
 So was her docile mind with pious care 
 To high attainments train'd. She learn'd the 
 
 lore 
 
 Of near and ancient days ; and she did bear 
 The fruits of mind and fruits of heart still more, 
 For which her gladden'd teacher grateful thanks did 
 pour. 
 
 25. 
 
 Her cheek was not the white of driven snow, 
 But, like the glowing cloud of western sky, 
 Ting'd with a blushing hue, as sun sinks low ; 
 A chasten'd brightness gleam'd from her dark eye ; 
 Her raven locks were parted gracefully 
 Above her modest forehead, and behind 
 Two pendent, glossy braids did softly lie, 
 As if to keep her tresses from the wind, 
 Which revels in the curls, that no confinements bind. 
 3
 
 34 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 26. 
 
 A wampum belt compress'd her mantle's fold ; 
 Her moccasins, with hedge-hog quills inlaid 
 Of various dye, her slender feet infold ; 
 And these were all th' adornments of the maid. 
 No silken drap'ry was around her spread ; 
 No sun-born diamonds glitter'd on the sight ; 
 Her gentle form in simplest guise arrayed, 
 Her cheerful face beam'd forth serenely bright, 
 With greater power to charm, than if with pearls 
 
 bedight. 
 
 27. 
 And there was one, whom her sweet face did 
 
 charm. 
 
 Nay, gentle reader, in refinement bred 
 Midst crowded city's pestilential calm, 
 Think not, by erring prejudice misled, 
 That love his nets has ne'er in forest spread. 
 The wild wood-pigeon cooes his tender lay, 
 Where native forests' boundless waves outspread 
 Nor with less soul, than bird with plumage gay 
 Pouring his song in cage, from which he may not 
 
 stray.
 
 CANTO I. 35 
 
 28. 
 
 The Indian youth, who sought Wunnissoo's love, 
 Had been companion of her childish years ; 
 His father's wigwam stood by walnut grove, 
 O'er which the smoke its wreathed column rears. 
 If Hoosatunnuk's vale to him appears 
 With every charm and every grace arrayed, 
 Fairer than moon amid the starry spheres, 
 It was because the image of the maid 
 Was mingled in his mind with stream, and grove, 
 and glade. 
 
 29. 
 
 Mohekun was a manly youth ; his eye 
 Was keen as eagle's in his rapid flight, 
 The distant game as quickly to descry. 
 He sent the arrow with the speed of light, 
 Nor fail'd the shining tube to aim aright ; 
 The hatchet he could throw with guidance true ; 
 In toils of chase he found a sweet delight ; 
 The deer and forest game his skill might rue, 
 And from each stream the crimson-spotted trout he 
 drew.
 
 36 VALE OF HO08ATDNNUK. 
 
 30. 
 
 Yet he was more than noble savage youth ; 
 The good man's ceaseless care had form'd his 
 
 mind 
 
 To love of virtue and of sacred truth : 
 By patient culture soften'd and refined, 
 Religion's power had made him meek and kind. 
 He lov'd God's holy book ; on his glad eye 
 The light beam'd clear, while learning oft is blind, 
 For reas'ning pride the truth will ne'er descry ; 
 
 'Tis nought but heav'nly light, that guides man to 
 the sky. 
 
 31. 
 
 Philosophy has toil'd, but toil'd in vain 
 The erring steps to bring in virtue's way ; 
 The furious passions heed not such weak rein 
 As fitness, order, and the just array 
 Of all related things ; we need the sway 
 Of mighty arm to punish and to bless, 
 The threats, that carry to proud heart dismay, 
 The promises of endless happiness, 
 
 And love divine to melt our heart's strange stub 
 bornness.
 
 CANTO I. 87 
 
 32. 
 
 bootless boast of vain philosophy 
 From error's chain to disenthrall the mind, 
 And wretched heart, enslav'd to sin, set free ! 
 In Greece and Rome, by ev'ry art refined, 
 Philosophy no idol-victim did unbind, 
 Nor misplac'd prayer, from God withheld, set 
 
 right. 
 
 In France she fought a battle of the blind, 
 And seem'd to triumph in the darksome fight ; 
 But error never dies, till truth from heav'n shines 
 bright. 
 
 33. 
 
 As in the gloom of night the thief knows well 
 To creep along, like silent graveyard shade, 
 And lustful paramour and assassin fell 
 Do then both innocence and life invade ; 
 So, when the blessed truth of heav'n is stayed, 
 And ignorance prevails, then error walks, 
 And priestcraft plies its soul-destroying trade ; 
 Then terrifying superstition stalks, 
 Or atheism the aim of heav'nty mercy balks.
 
 38 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 34. 
 
 Nor is the aim of truth fulfill'd by pride, 
 Which, as it views the nations of the earth, 
 Their stupid idol-worship may deride, 
 Yet finds at home of holy deeds a dearth. 
 The name of Christian is of little worth, 
 And boast of light divine can nought avail, 
 Unless, as Jesus taught, a heav'nly birth 
 The wickedness of nature countervail, 
 And love to God and man o'er selfishness prevail. 
 
 35. 
 
 All this Mohekun's heart had felt and known, 
 For Sergeant, with a faithful pastor's care, 
 Had preach'd full oft of God's terrific throne, 
 From which the blazing, vengeful lightnings 
 
 glare, 
 
 Smiting the wicked down to deep despair : 
 And oft he preach'd the Saviour's wondrous love, 
 As seen, when hanging on the cross in air, 
 And by allurements strong he often strove 
 To guide into the path, that leads to heav'n above.
 
 CANTO I. 39 
 
 36. 
 
 Nor did the youth alone his path pursue : 
 Among the travellers in the pleasant way 
 Wunnissoo walk'd with cheerful heart and true, 
 Her eye e'er fix'd on realms of endless day. 
 ' 'Tis therefore that I love thee,' he would say, 
 ' For surely, wert thou still in pagan gloom, 
 Undeck'd with Christian virtue's sweet array, 
 Unfit to join the blest in day of doom, 
 
 Thy image fair should not within my heart find 
 room.' 
 
 37. 
 
 That there was then a fellowship of love 
 Between the two will not awake surprise, 
 Nor that by rites, which God and man approve, 
 The two perchance were bound in strongest ties, 
 Unbroken until one shall gain the skies. 
 O, Milton ! Thou couldst sing of this sweet bond, 
 "When Eve and Adam walk'd in paradise ; 
 But. like a priest estrang'd from speech well 
 conn'd, 
 
 Thy practice to thy glorious song did not respond.
 
 -10 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 38. 
 
 O, blessed union of devoted hearts, 
 Of equal state and not discordant taste, 
 Intent on good, which Christian faith imparts ! 
 They gather joys e'en from the dreary waste 
 Of care, and pain, and grief. Though time may 
 
 haste 
 
 To bear them far from life's short weal and woe ; 
 Yet brighter visions, than by poet traced, 
 As fairy scenes in his rapt vision grow, 
 Visions of heav'nly bliss do cheer them, as they go. 
 
 39. 
 
 But fancy's rapid wing should be restrained, 
 Nor leave my slow-pac'd narrative behind ; 
 As yet this happy union is not gained, 
 Although their hearts the bands of love do bind. 
 Misled by hope, while to the future blind, 
 How oft are phantoms to our eye displayed ? 
 Then let me now resume with balanc'd mind 
 My pleasant task, and sing with zeal allayed 
 Of young Wunnissoo, Hoosatunnuk's lovely maid.
 
 CANTO I. 41 
 
 40. 
 
 Her fingers ne'er had touch'd the fluttering keys 
 Of costly instrument, nor strings of lyre ; 
 Yet she could wake a melody to please, 
 And charm the ear with psalmist's holy fire. 
 Let others listen to the numerous choir, 
 Who pour the flood of harmony along ; 
 The strain of single voice is my desire, 
 A tender heart the prompter of the song, 
 
 And truth and goodness flowing from a maiden's 
 tongue. 
 
 41. 
 
 Oft with her holy notes of joy and praise 
 The deepest solitude of woods would ring, 
 As though a hidden thrush did pour her lays, 
 Or robin in a grove did sweetly sing. 
 O, solitude ! of blessed thoughts the spring, 
 Thy artless, heart-sprung hymns are heard on 
 
 high, 
 
 While e'en the temple's labor'd offering, 
 For man design'd, can never reach the sky : 
 
 In vain in ear of God is heartless minstrelsy.
 
 42 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 42. 
 
 Yet oft with others' notes her own were joined, 
 When sympathetic flame of goodness blazed ; 
 But still 'twas worship of the heart and mind, 
 Sincere, as when the first disciples gazed 
 On form, soon on the cross to be upraised, 
 And in a final hymn outpour'd their souls. 
 Let not such simple hymning be dispraised 
 By men, whom flute or viol soft controls, 
 For whom the wordless organ's tide of music rolls. 
 
 43. 
 
 Hers was a poet's soul ; yet idle strains, 
 Blending wild errors with the purest truth, 
 Commingling fantasies of heathen brains 
 With moral, Christian themes, as oft, in sooth, 
 In far-fam'd modern bards we find with ruth, 
 She could not sing. Her teacher's prudent care 
 Had warn'd her of this fault of giddy youth 
 And older poets too. 'I will declare,' 
 He said, 'the master's rules, which form'd such 
 minstrels rare !
 
 CANTO I. 43 
 
 44. 
 
 ' Invoke Apollo first, Latona's son, 
 God of the vig'rous bow and sounding lyre, 
 Whose well-aim'd arrows sudden vict'ry won 
 O'er serpent Python, fierce and breathing fire ; 
 Where fell the monster by his vengeful ire, 
 There, on Parnassus' bill, a temple rose, 
 Sacred to him ; and there did he inspire 
 The Pythian priestess in her raving throes, 
 And utter'd Delphic oracles in verse and prose. 
 
 45. 
 
 ' Next ask the Muses,' Aonian Muses' aid, 
 Pierian Muses, all the Sisters nine, 
 Who trip it lightly in Parnassian shade, 
 Led by Apollo : see how they combine 
 All lib'ral arts, that soften and refine, 
 But chiefly poetry, of arts the first, 
 Infusing in the soul the gift divine : 
 They hold the springs, for which all poets thirst, 
 And give the harmonies, which from the lyre do 
 burst.
 
 44 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 46. 
 
 ' Speak of Pierian mount in Thessaly, 
 Of spring Pierian, gushing from the hill, 
 Nor less of Pindus' height, that seeks the sky, 
 And fount of Pindus and inspiring rill ; 
 Castalia too, where poet drinks his fill : 
 Forget not the Boeotian eminence, 
 And Heliconian stream, that flows there still ; 
 And ask to drink of all with thirst intense : 
 Let dull bards seek the inspiration of good sense. 
 
 47. 
 ' Ne'er speak of moon ; say Cynthia rides her 
 
 car, 
 
 Or Luna or Diana shows her face ; 
 For sun say Sol, or Phoebus from afar 
 Beams on the world, revealing ev'ry grace ; 
 Instead of spring Vertumnus must have place, 
 Pomona's husband after much delay ; 
 Or charming goddess Flora you may trace, 
 Zephyrus' wife, whose wreathed flowers display 
 Each beauteous form and all the varied hues of day.
 
 CANTO I. 45 
 
 48. 
 
 ' When yellow harvest makes the farmer glad, 
 'Tis Ceres crowns the joyous, fruitful year ; 
 When danger makes the storm-rock'd sailor sad, 
 'Tis Neptune rages with his three-prong'd spear ; 
 That warrior works the will of Mars is clear ; 
 'Tis Juno sends the drizzling show'r from heaven, 
 And Bacchus gives the tippler his good cheer ; 
 When lightning gleams from clouds, by tempests 
 
 driven, 
 By bolt of Jupiter the gnarled oak is riven. 
 
 49. 
 
 1 The Nymphs forget not, thousand Nymphs of sea 
 And land ; the Dryads, that frequent the wood, 
 And Oreads, that trip the mountains free ; 
 The Naiads too, who love the solitude, 
 Where fountains flow, or brooks in brawling mood ; 
 The lovely Nereids in their ocean-cave, 
 Where lawless foot ne'er ventures to intrude, 
 Nereids, whom sailors, when they tempt the wave, 
 Beg to preserve from deep, cold, drear, and sunless 
 grave.
 
 46 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 50. 
 
 ' But last, not least, let Venus be addressed, 
 Goddess of smiles and beauty, queen of love, 
 By all in heav'n and all in earth caressed, 
 With sacred claim to myrtle, rose, and dove ; 
 Whose form the Grecian statuaries strove 
 In vain to bring out from the marble pure ; 
 Venus, attended by the son of Jove, 
 The winged Cupid, infant sly, demure, 
 Whose shaft inflicts a wound, no medicine can cure. 
 
 51. 
 
 4 Such seem the rules, to modern poets given ; 
 And all this folly and impiety 
 Is sung by lips, which know the truth of heaven. 
 The ancient Bards were honest. To their eye 
 Bright gods appeared in ocean, earth, and sky. 
 They worshipp'd whom they sung. But poets 
 
 now 
 
 Attune their harp to phantom of a lie. 
 Shall truth, and sense, and reason cease to flow 
 From hearts, which with sincere and holy fervors 
 
 glow?'
 
 CANTO I. 47 
 
 52. 
 
 Mohekun from the bark of birch laid low, 
 What time the winged songsters fill the grove, 
 Had form'd a light canoe with double prow, 
 Full swift along the silent lake to move, 
 As new moon floats in azure sea above. 
 The bark was launch'd, and on the waters flung, 
 When seated by the maid, whom he did love, 
 He struck the oar, and notes responsive rung, 
 For thus with sweetest, warning voice Wunnissoo 
 sung : 
 
 ' I will sail, for the sky is now clear, 
 And my bark longs to fly from this coast.' 
 
 But whither your course will you steer ? 
 For the ocean is wide, and by tempests oft tost, 
 And your shallop, unguided, in the deep may be 
 lost. 
 
 ' I will steer for renown and for Fame, 
 And proudly in harbor will ride.' 
 
 Beware, lest you enter in shame, 
 Like a bird, that is clipp'd of her feathers and pride, 
 Your canvas blown off, and your masts by the side.
 
 48 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 ' Then I'll aim at the land of Delight, 
 Where joy o'er my senses shall play.' 
 
 Alas ! if the sirens in sight 
 Shall draw you to shore, and charm by their 
 
 lay, 
 In the port of delight your life will they slay. 
 
 ' Then lofty ambition shall guide 
 My shallop to harbor of Power.' 
 
 Know you not, that great perils betide ? 
 'Tis a coast, where the tempests in fury do 
 
 pour, 
 
 And the wrecks lie along the high, rocky 
 shore. 
 
 ' For the mart of the world I will sail, 
 And come freighted with Silver and Gold.' 
 
 . Deep loaded, your vessel will fail ; 
 Then down you will go with your riches untold, 
 And the caves of the deep all your treasures shall 
 hold.
 
 CANTO I. 49 
 
 * I will steer for bright Learning's fair land, 
 Where the waves and the billows ne'er roll.' 
 You should know, there are corsairs at hand ; 
 They may board, when a calm quells the pilot's 
 
 control, 
 
 And with sharp, bloody knife may pierce to your 
 soul. 
 
 ' Then I'll steer for Domestic Repose, 
 Where glisten the eyes of delight.' 
 
 'Tis well : but those eyes death may close, 
 And no kindly emotion spring again from their 
 
 light, 
 
 While their beauty is lost in the grave's dreary 
 night. 
 
 Then away from earth's region depart, 
 And steer for the Heaven of rest : 
 
 Be the gospel your compass and chart ; 
 Then no quicksands nor rocks your course shall 
 
 arrest, 
 
 And you'll enter the port,where Immortals are blest. 
 4
 
 \t Hale nf Iteatmnrak. 
 
 CANTO II.
 
 WUNNISSOO, 
 
 THE VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 CANTO II. 
 1. 
 
 'Tis task, that needs of quenchless zeal the sway, 
 On pagan mind truth's holy light to shed, 
 And misform'd, grisly shapes to chase away, 
 "Which in dark superstition's caves are bred, 
 And as they stalk along do terrors spread. 
 Such wild'ring shapes throng'd Hoosatunnuk's 
 
 vale, 
 
 And nature's boasted children there misled. 
 Yet Sergeant's zeal did o'er the throng prevail 
 By patient toil and prayer, whose power can never 
 
 fail.
 
 54 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 2. 
 
 Unpitying are the rites of mortals blind, 
 
 That grope in heathen gloom their doubtful way : 
 
 They all the sweetest ties of life unbind, 
 
 And cast the purest sympathies away. 
 
 Thus he, who held o'er Argive chiefs the sway, 
 
 When bent his course 'gainst Priam's lofty 
 
 towers, 
 
 His beauteous daughter did with sternness slay, 
 A cruel victim to th' imagin'd powers, 
 Fair Iphigenia in her blooming, gaysome hours. 
 
 3. 
 
 Habits of crime and wild'ring pagan rites 
 Have fix'd their roots deep in the savage mind. 
 The pleasant tale, which eloquence indites, 
 Of man of Nature virtuous, gentle, kind, 
 Unshackled by hard laws, which others bind, 
 With native grace, like untrimm'd forest-grove, 
 Whose foliage waves in summer's softest wind, 
 Is but a web of slend'rest goss'mer wove : 
 It will not bear the touch, which would its texture 
 prove.
 
 CANTO II. 55 
 
 4. 
 
 The deist, whom no truths reveal'd can please, 
 May boast of nature's beams and reason's might, 
 Like simple child, who thinks the sun might cease 
 To shine by day, when all the world is light. 
 On Greek and Eoman minds was there a blight, 
 That they saw not what now, in sooth, is seen 
 Without a ray from heav'n ? Was their sharp 
 
 sight 
 
 Than that of modern infidels less keen, 
 That they of God could not discern the form and 
 mien? 
 
 5. 
 
 'Mid western seas the coral isles were deemed 
 Isles of the blest, where gentleness bore sway ; 
 But truth on fiction's page at length hath gleamed, 
 And fancied forms of good have fled away. 
 Instead of these behold, in dread array, 
 Each raging passion free from virtue's band, 
 The sacrifice of men to gods of clay, 
 Slaughter of infants by a mother's hand, 
 And ruthless wars, whose victims lie along the 
 strand.
 
 56 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 6. 
 
 Go, where you will, through all this wide-spread 
 
 sphere, 
 
 From Greenland's ice-bound shore and hills of snow 
 To southern Patagonia's coast most drear ; 
 Pass with the sun o'er all he views below, 
 O'er Afric's burning zone and India's glow, 
 O'er all the beauteous isles of east and west, 
 Where verdure lives and fragrant breezes blow ; 
 Bring all men to religion's clearest test ; 
 
 All, without light from heav'n, are wanderers un- 
 blest. 
 
 7. 
 
 E'en in the pleasant vale, of which I sing, 
 There was a plenteous growth of sin, and fear, 
 And superstitious rites, which always spring, 
 Where culture fails each heav'nly plant to rear. 
 Though milder was the form of error here, 
 Than oft is seen, where pagan follies grow, 
 Yet nought of peaceful worship did appear, 
 And sacrificcr's knife laid victim low, 
 
 A proof of conscious guilt and dread of vengeful 
 blow.
 
 CANTO II. 57 
 
 8. 
 
 As once beheld, their rites did thus begin : 
 A rough, bark altar, plac'd on wigwam's floor, 
 The flesh of deer as offering for sin, 
 The flesh with skin and horns, in order bore. 
 Dark faces round the gloomy cabin lower : 
 Over the deer an aged priest then stood, 
 And thus he pray'd ' O, thou Almighty Power, 
 We offer this to thee, the source of good, 
 
 And pray thee guard us well, and give us sleep and 
 food.' 
 
 9. 
 
 The prayer o'er, the priest then rais'd a shout, 
 As if to wake the deity's dull ear : 
 And next the boiled flesh was serv'd about, 
 And all with joyful hearts partook the cheer : 
 A string of wampum was the fee of seer ; 
 The skin and slender feet, which late were free, 
 To widow given, drew a grateful tear ; 
 Thus nature taught these heathens, as we see, 
 
 Though join'd with absurd rites, the deed of 
 charity.
 
 58 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 10. 
 
 Were this the whole, their worship well might 
 
 shame 
 
 The homage paid to countless gods of old, 
 To idol gods of high and humble name, 
 Carv'd out of wood, and stone, and brass, and gold, 
 And cast, as fancy led, in various mould ; 
 For here the tribute of the heart was paid 
 To the Good Spirit, source of joys untold. 
 Yet to the Evil Spirit prayer was made, 
 With name of Hobbamock or Mattandoo arrayed. 
 
 11. 
 
 Him would they worship not from love but fear, 
 To avert impending ills, or to prevent 
 Failure of game, as beaver, moose, and deer, 
 Or wasting sickness, in his anger sent ; 
 And, when beneath a dire disease they bent, 
 A Powwow's sorceries were quick employed, 
 Powwow, the devil's priest and implement, 
 As though, by incantations strange decoyed, 
 Diseases would forsake the wretches, they destroyed.
 
 CANTO II. 59 
 
 12. 
 
 See, blazing high, the wigwam's central fire, 
 While fiendish shapes dance round with antic 
 
 gait, 
 
 Led by the Powwow in his wild attire, 
 A bear-skin robe for gravity and state, 
 With paws outstretch'd ; upon his head elate 
 A solemn owl, while dangling from his ears 
 Are snake-skins stufPd. The minister of fate 
 Now hoots and growls, and wakes terrific fears, 
 Then throws into the flame the sacrifice, he bears. 
 
 13. 
 
 The dance, and shout, and maniac revelry, 
 With prayer to Mattandoo, and various spell 
 Of dark, unutterable sorcery 
 To curb the plague, or tide of war to quell, 
 They deem'd fit homage to the prince of hell : 
 From him were sent the tempest and disease, 
 And all the num'rous ills, which them befell ; 
 It were then wise his pow'rful wrath t' appease, 
 And worship pay, which might the angry Spirit 
 please.
 
 60 VALE OF nOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 14. 
 
 We pity such delusion, but perchance 
 Delusion wilder still our minds may hold ; 
 And e'en the pagan yells and giddy dance 
 May shame the Christian impious and bold, 
 Who dares from God true worship to withhold. 
 If morning's glorious sun and evening's shade 
 No homage to Jehovah shall unfold 
 In that great day, when secrets are displayed, 
 
 Far more than pagans will such Christians be dis 
 mayed. 
 
 15. 
 
 I said, the good man's ceaseless pray'r and toil 
 O'er wild'ring superstition did prevail. 
 And yet to rouse the serpent in his coil 
 Was perilous. The Powwow's trade would fail, 
 The dupes beneath his arts would cease to 
 
 quail, 
 
 And much-lov'd revelry would pass away, 
 If truth should shine on Hoosatunnuk's vale. 
 Hence mists at first obscur'd the heav'nly ray ; 
 
 But thickest fogs are scatter'd by the orb of day.
 
 CANTO II. 61 
 
 16. 
 
 An Indian Council was conven'd, when now 
 The teacher for himself a house would rear, 
 If they his lasting settlement allow, 
 And with him a few friends, his life to cheer, 
 And them to guide in industry severe. 
 Did they the residence of whites desire ? 
 And would they all the blessed gospel hear ? 
 When gather'd round the blazing council-fire, 
 A silver-headed man first rose and spake with ire : 
 
 17. 
 
 ' I am an aged hemlock ; and the winds 
 Of fourscore winters through my branches strong 
 Have whistled ; sickness now my strength un 
 binds, 
 
 And I shall fall, like tree decay'd, ere long, 
 Outpouring on the winds my dying song. 
 Then, children ! hear ; the Spirit great and good 
 Hath White and Red men made : to us belong 
 These lands ; to them the lands o'er big, salt flood ; 
 Then wherefore on our hunting-grounds do they 
 intrude ?
 
 62 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 18. 
 
 < They came, and from our fathers took their land ; 
 We melted like the snow in warm, south wind ; 
 Like deer we fled from white man's faithless hand ; 
 But still they follow ; our retreat they find, 
 And with their cheating words our eyes would blind. 
 Children ! they want our lands, they want our 
 
 game, 
 
 Though here in narrow nook we live confined : 
 Our sacred dance will cease, and Indian name 
 
 Will soon be lost and dead, and Indian pride be 
 shame ! ' 
 
 19. 
 
 He ceas'd, and after silence 'due, for ne'er 
 Does Red man interrupt another's speech, 
 A dark-brow'd Prophet claim'd the Council's ear : 
 ' Brothers ! the Whites our ignorance would teach, 
 And'holy gospel they pretend to preach ; 
 But their own Book do they themselves obey ? 
 Are robin's notes e'er heard in owl's wild screech ? 
 Can they, who cheat, lead us in honest way ? 
 
 Brothers ! beware, or to the wolf ye fall a prey.
 
 CANTO II. 63 
 
 20. 
 
 ' Where once arose our fathers' wigwam's smoke, 
 There now are cities, by the White men reared : 
 The chain of friendship they have falsely broke, 
 And old Mohegan rank has disappeared. 
 Full soon our fathers' fate, though now unfeared, 
 Will surely be our own, if we allow 
 The White men here to come. The forests 
 
 cleared, 
 
 Our hunter's trade will cease, and we must bow 
 Like women to the hoe, or White men to the 
 plough. ' 
 
 21. 
 
 Then rose the Christian chief, and made reply : 
 ' Brothers ! in crooked path and darksome night 
 I once did walk ; no light was in my eye ; 
 But now my path is straight ; the sun shines bright ; 
 The good Book shows my path ; it leads me right. 
 Brothers ! the old Mohegan tree is dead, 
 And fall'n ; gone is our fathers' val'rous might : 
 Far from their sepulchres we hither fled, 
 And now the num'rous White men are around us 
 spread.
 
 64 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 22. 
 
 ' Brothers ! when soon our game shall disappear, 
 Where shall we find our children's needful food ? 
 Now to my words attend with list'ning ear ; 
 We have a pleasant vale ; our lands are good, 
 On which we now bestow but culture rude ; 
 The Spirit Great will have us learn to plough 
 And sow ; let us obey with gratitude ; 
 He sends us too his Book, that we may know 
 The path to heav'n above : in that path let us go. ' 
 
 23. 
 
 Reason prevail'd : when finish'd was debate, 
 Th' assembly's voice, by Sachem's counsel 
 
 sway'd, 
 
 Welcom'd the Christian guide to happier state, 
 While angry Powwows shrunk away dismayed, 
 Foreseeing well the end of juggler's trade. 
 Oh, when shall reason all such frauds untwine, 
 And truth the Moslem prophet's gloom invade, 
 And pour its flood of hope and bliss divine 
 On ev'ry land, on which the glorious sun doth 
 shine ?
 
 CANTO II. 65 
 
 24. 
 
 O, happy Indians, with such teacher blest ! 
 Teacher of truth and not of fraudful tale, 
 By monks invented in their idle nest. 
 Ah, what do strange and monstrous lies avail, 
 To cause the stern and wicked will to quail, 
 Or touch the finer movements of the soul ? 
 Fables in vain the love of sin assail, 
 And aim the raging passions to control : 
 For this the truth divine her pages must unroll. 
 
 25. 
 
 The simple truth of God he plainly taught 
 In gentle accents and with ceaseless care ; 
 But popish legends, with false marvels fraught, 
 In wond'ring ear he wish'd not to declare ; 
 Such as the tale of English hermit Clare, 
 By baffled lady doom'd to assassin's blow, 
 "Whose sever'd head the headless trunk did 
 
 bear, 
 
 And plunge into a crystal fountain low, 
 Then carried to his cell, before his life did flow ! 
 5
 
 66 VALE OF HOOSATDNNUK. 
 
 26. 
 
 Nor yet St. Dunstan's wondrous deed of fame, 
 When tried, as others oft have tempted been, 
 By Satan, hid beneath fair woman's frame ; 
 When him the smiling face would draw to sin, 
 The saint the rarest victory did win ; 
 With red-hot tongs he seiz'd the pretty snout, 
 And firmly held the demon, till the din 
 Of his loud roaring was diffus'd about, 
 And all the neighbors flock'd to see the merry rout !' 
 
 27. 
 
 Nor did he tell St. Ivo's tale aloud ; 
 The ghost requir'd an abbot to bestow 
 On his neglected bones a burial proud, 
 Who said 'a cobbler's bones for aught I know ! 
 His paleness yielding to indignant glow, 
 The ghost return'd, and said with sternest 
 
 air 
 
 ' A cobbler I am call'd by thee ; and lo, 
 A pair of boots I bring, which thou must wear 
 In punishment of thy reproach for many a year ! '
 
 CANTO II. 67 
 
 28. 
 
 "When straight the spirit-cobbler seem'd to draw 
 Upon his legs the boots with tort'ring strain, 
 Then sunk away, as snow melts in a thaw. 
 The abbot from that hour ne'er walk'd again ; 
 A miracle, that brought the monks of Ramsey 
 
 gain. 
 
 "Whether a vision or a real scene, 
 A gouty abbot must endure much pain ; 
 And boots like his, now worn, may oft be seen, 
 By spirit too drawn on the swollen legs, I ween. 
 
 29. 
 
 'Tis dark and pitiable sight to see 
 The Indian converts unto popery made, 
 When new succeeds to old idolatry, 
 The heart by love of God and man unswayed, 
 The life with Christian virtues unarrayed. 
 Six hundred such on eastern streams of Maine 
 Still breathe the air : their ancient rank decayed, 
 And nought acquir'd, they savages remain : 
 In penury and sin they pass their days in pain.
 
 68 VALE OF HOOSATDNNUK. 
 
 30. 
 
 They long in Catholic church have been enrolled, 
 And may at Rome be reckon'd converts blest. 
 If such the converts, pompously extolled, 
 By Jesuit zeal secur'd in east and west, 
 The boasted millions, who the cross confessed, 
 Converts untaught, undeck'd with virtue's mien, 
 I know not, that the pagan state unblest 
 Was chang'd to happier or to brighter scene, 
 
 For empty Christian name from judgment cannot 
 screen. 
 
 81. 
 
 The Hoosatunnuk Christians were not such ; 
 But taught to read and think ; and from the page 
 Of sacred writ of truth they learned much, 
 Needful to guide the youth and cheer old age, 
 Of pow'r the sharpest sorrows to assuage, 
 And loftiest hopes to build up in the mind. 
 Though all were not reclaimed from passion's 
 
 rage 
 And to each good and virtuous deed inclined, 
 
 Yet heav'nly light was shed on many of the blind.
 
 CANTO II. G9 
 
 32. 
 
 The Protestant boasts not a warmer zeal, 
 Than sway'd the Jesuit bands, as forth they went, 
 With politic design, where'er the wheel 
 
 
 
 Of commerce rolls, to western continent, 
 Threading the northern wilds with hardiment, 
 Where roaming savages pursued their game, 
 Ascending stream of Paraguay, intent 
 Midst southern boundless plains to rear a name, 
 Or to the farthest east Eome's fables to proclaim. 
 
 33. 
 
 'Tis low and worthless zeal, if all designed 
 A worldly scheme of pow'r and wealth to rear ; 
 Hence pliant maxims, by no rules confined, 
 And base betrayal of the truth severe. 
 Such was the Jesuit teaching far and near ; 
 In China tol'rant to idolatry ; 
 In Europe soothing titled guilt ; and here 
 Urging the savage to his revelry, 
 Kindling the wasting flame of war, which blaz'd on 
 high.
 
 70 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 34. 
 
 A purer zeal burn'd in the holy heart 
 Of Eliot, faithful guide in upward way 
 Of his dear Natick flock ; while to impart 
 In their rude tongue the Book of heav'nly ray 
 He toils with giant force from day to day, 
 Till work unequall'd was completely wrought. 
 A purer zeal the Mayhews did o'ersway, 
 Successive races of congenial thought, 
 
 Who on the Island- Vineyard num'rous Indians 
 taught. 
 
 35. 
 
 The noblest charity, th' uncheck'd control 
 Of purer zeal was, holy Brainerd ! thine, 
 Of feeble frame but with an angel's soul, 
 Too soon, alas, remov'd, in heav'n to shine. 
 Such zeal was Wheelock's, whose enlarg'd design 
 Would rear the teachers of the Indian wild : 
 A School he planted, which like thriving vine 
 Did rapid grow, and in the desert smiled ; 
 
 And Dartmouth's bow'rs display his honors unde- 
 filed.
 
 CANTO II. 71 
 
 36. 
 
 Were these Rome's merchants, traffickers for gain, 
 Agents for despot, builders of his throne ? 
 Oh no ; but they did pass their days in pain 
 And ceaseless toil from charity alone, 
 Pitying the darkness, in which truth ne'er shone. 
 Nor did they toil without a harvest fair, 
 For wanderers to holy path were won, 
 Which the great day, I doubt not, will declare, 
 And show the noble zeal and perseverance rare. 
 
 37. 
 
 I envy not the monarch's golden crown, 
 Nor honors, which proud victor may receive ; 
 Nor treach'rous fame like beauteous bubble blown, 
 Nor transient joys, which gleam but to deceive, 
 No good of texture such as spiders weave ; 
 But I could wish to bear in angels' sight 
 The worth and majesty of men, who leave 
 All earthly joys to spread the gospel light, 
 And pour the rays of truth where all was gloomy 
 night.
 
 72 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 38. 
 
 Great fame hast thou, O Clive : on India's strand 
 Winning great vict'ries o'er th' innum'rous foe, 
 And building up for native, distant land 
 A pow'r o'er dark-hued millions humbled low ; 
 But eye of friendship sees on Newell's brow 
 And Hall's, good men, a more resplendent ray, 
 Who ran to heal the pitiable woe 
 Of myriads, aliens from the blessed sway 
 Of heav'nly truth, which guides to bright, immortal 
 day. 
 
 39. 
 
 By such men's toils, though infidel deride, 
 A holy, glorious kingdom will be reared, 
 Spreading through all the earth its blessings wide. 
 Then down will sink the throne with blood be 
 smeared, 
 
 And sceptrewill be wrench'd from despot feared. 
 Each prison door will ope, and chains will fall, 
 As when to Peter angel form appeared, 
 What time he lay fast bound a wretched thrall, 
 And bid him walk forth free from quaking prison 
 wall.
 
 CANTO II. 73 
 
 40. 
 
 There spreads a rust on slav'ry's clanking chain, 
 And weaker grow its hateful links each day, 
 As truth and heav'nly love prevail. In vain 
 Will pride, and lust, and avarice assay 
 To hold o'er fellow mortals tyrant sway, 
 When reign of charity shall wide extend, 
 And senates shall be just. For this we pray, 
 That tyrants may no more man's life-blood spend, 
 
 Nor crouching slaves before proud masters lowly 
 bend. 
 
 41. 
 
 Yet let not Parent- State reproach her child 
 For practising the lessons, which she taught, 
 And teaches still. By fraudful arts beguiled, 
 Subdued by pow'r, or by her treasures bought, 
 Holds she not slaves ? By barb'rous pressgangs 
 
 caught, 
 
 Her floating tow'rs bear many a slave along 
 O'er the wide sea, while backward runs the thought 
 To country's shore, to free and happy throng, 
 
 To quietude of home, and plighted maiden's song.
 
 74 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 42. 
 
 Has she not subject millions in the East, 
 Slaves all except in name, by pow'r brought 
 
 low, 
 
 Bearers of burdens, like the caravan-beast ? 
 Let her but once freedom's loud clarion blow 
 Through all her western isles, where fetters grow 
 On ev'ry dark-hued limb ; let her first say, 
 To those she holds in bondage and in woe, 
 ' Be free and happy ! ' Then indeed she may, 
 
 Though blushing still, reprove her child, she led 
 astray. 
 
 43. 
 
 Vain boast of liberty in either State ! 
 All are not free ! Then let the good combine 
 Their toils each bitter root to extirpate, 
 That round the oak no fibre shall entwine 
 Of pois'nous weed, or serpent-coiling vine, 
 To check its growth and shrimp its ample shade. 
 Let ev'ry chain be broke, whose links confine 
 Body or mind ; let Clarksons rise to invade 
 
 Tnvet'rate ignorance and sin, that both degrade.
 
 CANTO II. 75 
 
 44. 
 
 And truth and love will triumph at the day, 
 Fix'd by decree, by prophecy foretold. 
 E'en now we see the blessed, dawning ray, 
 And hear the song of praise for joys untold 
 From sun-burnt Afric's wide-spread sands of gold, 
 From Ceylon's fragrant shade of cinn'mon grove, 
 From India's sultry clime, and Greenland's cold, 
 From western wilds, where savage Bed men 
 rove, 
 
 And from far ocean's isles, where late fierce foemen 
 strove. 
 
 45. 
 
 Ere long the glorious Sun of Righteousness 
 Will fling abroad from clear, unclouded skies 
 His beams on ev'ry land to cheer and bless : 
 Idols will sink to dust, and all the lies, 
 Of guilt the refuge, vanish from the eyes : 
 From ev'ry tribe and tongue in sweet accord 
 Ere long the universal shout shall rise, 
 ' An end is come to reign of crime abhorred ; 
 
 All kingdoms of the earth are kingdoms of our Lord ! '
 
 76 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 46. 
 
 Ah, what avails all philosophic pride 
 And learned vanity to save the soul ? 
 The courses of the stars may be descried, 
 And laws resolv'd, by which e'en comets stroll, 
 And elemental agents find control 
 By human pow'r ; all objects we may name, 
 And rank in circles, that in order roll ; 
 But, if we fail a heav'nward course to aim, 
 Our wond'rous science is but ignorance and shame. 
 
 47. 
 
 Nature has charms ; yet idle seems the toil 
 Of tedious monographs of useless plant, 
 And sorting all th' incumbents of the soil 
 For show of science, not for human want. 
 Nature has forms the eye to charm, I grant ; 
 Yet nobler study is the mind of man, 
 "Wisely on kindred beings to descant, 
 Their aims, and hopes, and joys, and griefs to 
 
 scan, 
 And learn to flee each fatal rock, on which they ran.
 
 CANTO II. 77 
 
 48. 
 
 Byron ! Idol of a giddy age, 
 
 Thy secret fears and hopes fain would I know, 
 As thou didst think of death. 'Tis from thy page 
 
 1 learn thy aspirations were but low ; 
 
 Thou wouldst have eagle's pinions on thee grow 
 To " cope with blast ! " Wouldst have an eagle's 
 
 eye 
 
 To gaze on glorious objects here below ! 
 Wouldst be " a part " of mountain, wave, and sky, 
 Pitying the " worldly phlegm," that cannot soar so 
 
 high! 
 
 49. 
 
 O genius of immortal man, how sunk ! 
 When Tully thought of scenes beyond the grave, 
 His spirit totter'd, as with rapture drunk, 
 Hoping to meet the hosts of good and brave, 
 To mingle in their joys, as wave with wave, 
 While heaves the ocean of eternity ! 
 The Christian too, whom Jesus died to save, 
 Would dwell with God and all the blest on high, 
 And share the bliss, that bursts from heaven's rapt 
 
 minstrelsy !
 
 78 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 50. 
 
 Poor earthly poet, and blind, wand'ring Childe ! 
 A friendless spirit on the mountain's height 
 Content to be, or tost on ocean wild ! 
 Vain wishes in a feeble, mortal wight, 
 Destin'd before the throne of dazzling light 
 To give a strict account of life's short race, 
 Of reason's check, and passion's utmost might, 
 Of ev'ry talent's use, and ev'ry grace, 
 And ev'ry stain, that heav'nly image doth efface. 
 
 51. 
 
 A lovely woman once did send a prayer, 
 Pure as an angel's smile, to heav'n for thee ; 
 And, Byron, thou didst feel her pious care, 
 Reading her pray'r in pray'rless Italy, 
 And saidst aright, much rather thou wouldst be 
 Object of such petition, than to shine 
 As Homer, or as Caesar, gloriously. 
 Yet, smoth'ring in thy lust the truth divine, 
 Thou didst persist in wrong and build th' porten 
 tous line.
 
 CANTO II. 79 
 
 52. 
 
 Yet other bards as vile a web have spun, 
 Glaring with images unfit to see : 
 Great Dryden such pollution did not shun, 
 Nor from the taint are Cowley's numbers free, 
 And thus e'en Pope has sinn'd egregiously. 
 Curs'd be the strain, howe'er with genius fraught, 
 Which would corrupt the youthful fancy's eye, 
 And send contagion to the source of thought, 
 Checking the heav'n-ward aim, by holy gospel 
 
 taught. 
 
 53. 
 
 Yet there are English minstrels, from whose lyre 
 No vile Anacreontic notes arise, 
 Nor sullen gleams of fierce, demoniac fire, 
 But all is pure, like melody of the skies. 
 Thus Cowper sung, a name, that never dies, 
 And thus, congenial mind, Montgomery sings ; 
 So Wordsworth's song conies forth in stainless 
 
 guise, 
 
 And others' song, whose lyre in mast'ry rings, 
 Though weightiest truth ne'er strikes the deep- 
 ton'd strings.
 
 80 VALE OF HOOSATUNNOK. 
 
 54. 
 
 From minstrel's harp no sounds, which error bring, 
 Should ever reach the charm'd and list'ning ear ; 
 For bards are call'd divine, and they should sing 
 The truth divine, which angels love to hear : 
 Nor will the dread of scorn, nor melting tear, 
 That bursts from gentle eye at thought of woe, 
 E'er change the mighty master's hand severe, 
 When call'd t' abase the proud and guilty brow, 
 And bring by needful terror's notes the scorner low. 
 
 55. 
 
 And shall there be no woe in future world ? 
 Was this the voice of Him, whose name is Truth, 
 And who th' appalling flag of wrath unfurled, 
 While yet his loving heart was fill'd with ruth ? 
 Was this the voice of Him, in very sooth, 
 Who o'er the guilty city shed his tears, 
 Warning both hoary age and giddy youth, 
 That, when the flaming day of doom appears, 
 The awful word ' Depart ' shall ring in sinner's 
 ears?
 
 CANTO II. 81 
 
 56. 
 
 Has he, who cannot swerve, for our affright 
 Built Mormos up before his children's eyes, 
 And dealt denouncements idle, false, and light ? 
 'Tis true for guilty man the Saviour dies, 
 For all to make atoning sacrifice ; 
 Yet on the unreclaim'd offender's head 
 His expiating blood forever lies. 
 The unbeliever is among the dead ; 
 And deepest midnight gloom of wrath is o'er him 
 spread. 
 
 57. 
 
 Is holy gospel blessed gift of love ? 
 It is to them, who make its good their choice, 
 And yield their hearts to influence from above. 
 It is indeed a spring of heav'nly joys, 
 A rain, which makes the thirsty earth rejoice. 
 But though the cloud rich show'rs of blessings 
 
 bear, 
 
 The blessings fall amidst terrific voice 
 Of angry thunder, and amidst the glare 
 And flashes of consuming bolts, which none may dare. 
 6
 
 82 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 58. 
 
 With untam'd spirit may new bards arise ; 
 Not om'nous meteors, shooting wide dismay, 
 Nor, like archangel fallen from the skies, 
 Winging o'er chaos their advent'rous way, 
 On mischief bent ; but clad in bright array 
 Of truth and love, poets, that touch high strains, 
 Which well th' imperishable mind should sway, 
 The law of holiness, the fiery pains 
 Of sin, and good man's blest reward, which God 
 
 ordains. 
 
 59. 
 
 Wunnissoo lov'd all Nature's varying shapes, 
 The bubbling spring beneath the pine tree's 
 
 shade, 
 
 The gliding brook, which in the grass escapes, 
 The winding stream, the meadow, and the glade. 
 She climb'd the jutting cliff, yet undismayed : 
 The deep blue sky was ocean of delight ; 
 A joy sublime her lofty mind o'erswayed, 
 When angry tempest chang'd the day to night, 
 And from the clouds there burst the streams and 
 
 floods of light.
 
 CANTO II. 83 
 
 60. 
 
 In the wide forest's awful solitude, 
 In its deep shade, excluding noonday beam, 
 She lov'd to stray in meditative mood ; 
 And here her mind with solemn thoughts would 
 
 teem, 
 
 And bright irradiations round her gleam. 
 So in Dodona's wood, hi ancient days, 
 Where flow'd beneath old oaks the gentle stream, 
 The torch unlighted, classic fable says, 
 
 Brought to the pool, would straight be kindled to a 
 blaze. 
 
 61. 
 
 But nature gave her joy, because each scene 
 Awaken'd visions of still brighter hue. 
 She thought of Him, now thron'd in world unseen, 
 That once as man appear'd to human view 
 To bear correction to our wand'rings due, 
 Whose pow'r spread out all glories to the eye ; 
 Of Him, whose love to her seem'd fresh and new 
 By ev'ry beauteous form in earth or sky, 
 
 And all the grandeur floating round most gloriously.
 
 84 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 62. 
 ' Bright, circling Stars !' she said, ' high o'er my 
 
 head, 
 
 Seeming to form, and therefore nam'd a " crown, " 
 With still more glorious wreath is He arrayed, 
 Who once from higher world to earth came down, 
 And died for sins in agonies unknown ; 
 Died for our sins, that we might ever shine 
 Bright as yon stars, o'er heav'n's expansion strown. 
 Then, Christian, let the crown, foretold as thine, 
 Turn Lhee from vain pursuits to seek the bliss divine.' 
 
 63. 
 
 The yellow leaf of autumn on the ground 
 Is hid beneath the white and mantling snow ; 
 The streams in icy fetters now are bound, 
 Or glide beneath the crystal, clogg'd and slow ; 
 Yet joy from cheerful heart fails not to flow. 
 'Twas now that blessed period of the year, 
 When Son of God from heav'n descended low 
 In majesty of virtue to appear ; 
 When thus the maid did meditate and sing with 
 cheer :
 
 CANTO II. 85 
 
 64. 
 
 Th' unequall'd bard, who sang of Paradise 
 Lost by the rebel act of parent-man, 
 And then restor'd by Him, who left the skies, 
 Has hymn'd his natal day, when quick He ran 
 To execute the high, mysterious plan. 
 I too would sing his birth in praises meet, 
 Bringing such grateful present, as I can, 
 And lay my off 'ring at the Saviour's feet ; 
 And Mary's Son an Indian of the west would greet. 
 
 HYMN 
 
 ON THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 IT was a peaceful night, 
 
 And stars were beaming bright, 
 
 And Judah's fertile vales and fields were still ; 
 While weary men now sleep, 
 Their watch the shepherd's keep 
 
 O'er many a flock round Bethlehem's honor'd 
 
 hill, 
 
 As God with more than shepherd's care 
 Watches the starry flocks and hosts of earth and air.
 
 86 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 When lo, an unknown star 
 Its radiance pours afar, 
 
 And in the east attracts their gazing eye ; 
 And then a flood of light 
 O'erwhelms their giddy sight, 
 
 And heav'nly seraph stands resplendent nigh ; 
 He comes the messenger of love 
 To speak to man of wonders ne'er announc'd 
 above. 
 
 As fear the shepherds strook, 
 He cheer'd them with his look, 
 
 And mildly thus he did their ears accost ; ' 
 ' Behold, glad news I bring 
 Of Israel's Shepherd-King, 
 
 Tidings of joy to you and all the lost. 
 The world's great Light beams forth this morn, 
 For Christ, the virgin's Son, in Bethlehem is 
 born. 
 
 ' The babe a manger holds, 
 And swaddling band infolds ;
 
 CANTO II. 87 
 
 Yet comes that child the ruin'd world to 
 
 save ; 
 
 His voice the storm shall quell, 
 And chase the pow'rs of hell, 
 
 And wake the sleeping tenants of the grave ; 
 His voice, when earth has run his race, 
 Shall bid earth's millions to their final dwelling- 
 place.' 
 
 Thus spake the angel fair, 
 When straight through all the air 
 
 Were seen the countless hosts of seraphs 
 
 bright ; 
 
 Each golden harp rings clear, 
 Sweet notes entrance the ear, 
 
 The notes of joy and melody of light : 
 Such strains ne'er fill'd the heav'nly arch, 
 Not e'en when all yon flaming worlds began 
 their march. 
 
 'Tis heaven's new Song of Love, 
 That wakes those strains above,
 
 88 VALE OP HOOSATTJNNUK. 
 
 And from the angel-lips now bursts again ; 
 It sounds through all the sky, 
 ' Glory to God on high, 
 
 Peace on the warring earth, good-will to men ! 
 For God now dwells with man below 
 To cause the guilty soul with seraph's love to 
 glow.' 
 
 My Saviour and my God, 
 Who on this globe hast trod, 
 
 Though million orbs of day for thee are gleam 
 ing! 
 
 My fetter'd soul set free, 
 And teach the minstrelsy, 
 
 The rescued sinner's burning heart beseeming ; 
 Then will I strike my harp of gold, 
 And sing thy grace, and love, and pow'r for years 
 untold !
 
 jt Hal? nf BSnrantammk* 
 
 CANTO III.
 
 WUNNISSOO, 
 
 THE VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 CANTO III. 
 1. 
 
 IN Hoosatunnuk's Vale from day to day 
 Was rudeness chang'd to social polity : 
 Where late the forest's gloomy shadows lay, 
 There busy, beauteous village one might see, 
 Where white and red men liv'd in amity. 
 By roving hunter arts of peace were known ; 
 He till'd his fields ; he planted fruitful tree ; 
 Unchimney'd, smoky wigwam was o'erthrown, 
 And comfortable house he proudly call'd his own.
 
 92 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 2. 
 
 Such dwelling young Mohekun had upreared 
 In little garden by green hillock's side, 
 To which, what time the flow'rs of spring appeared, 
 He led Wunnissoo as his chosen bride, 
 When long delay his loyal heart had tried. 
 It was a gladsome hour to all the vale 
 To see the youth and maid in bonds allied, 
 So strong, that nought their strength could counter 
 vail, 
 
 Save death, before whose pow'r all mortal things 
 must quail. 
 
 3. 
 
 Here liv'd the virtuous pair in humble guise, 
 But with the light of truth and calm of love, 
 With peace and purest bliss below the skies, 
 And hope of endless bliss the skies above. 
 All savage traits of soul effac'd, they strove 
 Each holy, Christian duty to fulfil, 
 With purpose firm, which nothing should remove. 
 Both toil'd in proper sphere with ready will, 
 
 As constant flows the stream, unruffled, clear, and 
 still.
 
 CANTO III. 93 
 
 4. 
 Her hands would pluck of maize the soft, young 
 
 ear, 
 
 And strip its folded drapery away, 
 Till white, like disrob'd babe, the corn appear ; 
 Then from the climbing vine, with blossoms gay, 
 The fruit and blossoms mix'd in glad array, 
 "Would pick the tender bean-pods long and green, 
 In shape like scimitar, which Turks display. 
 Swelling with rip'ning lobe most gladly seen 
 By ev'ry Indian forest-dweller, as I ween. 
 
 5. 
 
 The corn and beans combin'd she knew to boil, 
 And thus delicious nutriment prepare, 
 The Suckatash, the growth of Indian soil, 
 Hunger's revelry, solacer of care. 
 For this an Indian relish I do bear, 
 And deem it unsurpass'd by foreign cook, 
 Working on aliments most dear and rare. 
 With this and crimson-spotted trout from brook, 
 On kingly table none need cast an envious look.
 
 94 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 6. 
 
 But ne'er was table spread with earthly fruit, 
 Deriv'd from field or garden, or with game, 
 Procur'd in vacant hour, of fish or brute, 
 Without the praise of God, from whom they came. 
 Then let th' insensate man be cloth'd with shame, 
 Who sits down to luxurious, costly feast 
 In princely hall, and yet no grateful flame 
 Ascends; who like the head-declined beast 
 Partakes the food, all sense of gratitude surceased. 
 
 7. 
 
 Each night and morn was read the holy Book, 
 And cheerful hymn was sung with melody, 
 And humble pray'r address'd, with rev'rent look, 
 To God, whose throne is in the lofty sky, 
 Yet who to household worshipper is nigh. 
 How welcome always was the day of rest, 
 When, earthly cares and earthly thoughts laid by, 
 They walk'd up to God's house, with awe imprest, 
 To join the common praise, and hear the doctrine 
 blest ?
 
 CANTO m. 95 
 
 8. 
 
 Thus now in those far islands of the west, 
 Where late the homage was to idols paid 
 With cruel rites and sorceries unblest, 
 Pure ofPrings to the living God are made 
 In thronged temple and domestic shade, 
 Shaming the proud and polish'd infidel, 
 Within whose mansion, sumptuously arrayed, 
 No notes of pray'r and praise do ever swell, 
 And nought of Christian peace and hope delights to 
 
 dwell. 
 
 9. 
 
 But chiefly did their hearts with joy o'erflow, 
 When, at the table of their Lord, they ate 
 The bread and wine, memorials of His woe, 
 Who died God's broken law to vindicate, 
 And bear up justice in unsullied state ; 
 And emblems too of that celestial food, 
 By faith receiv'd, which mind and heart can 
 
 sate. 
 
 What peace, and hope, and love, and gratitude 
 They felt is all unknown by strangers to their 
 
 mood.
 
 96 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 10. 
 
 They envied not the monarch's costly feast, 
 His table cover'd o'er with plate of gold, 
 Loaded with viands from the west and east, 
 And deck'd with splendor dazzling to behold. 
 How oft at such a feast, as once of old, 
 The doomful writing glares upon the eye, 
 When down the pageant sinks ? But joys untold 
 Cheer ev'ry humble heart, when Christ is nigh, 
 Master of feast below, sure guide to heav'n on high. 
 
 11. 
 
 Moons roll'd away mid household cares and joy ; 
 And when at last, as high and priceless dower, 
 Mohekun heard the voice of infant boy, 
 His heart was thrill'd with bliss unfelt before, 
 And tide of praise to God he did outpour. 
 I may not speak the parents' hope and fear, 
 When gazing on that infant of an hour, 
 Yet destin'd to outrun the sun's career, 
 And live, when worlds shall be in yellow leaf and 
 sere.
 
 CANTO III. 97 
 
 12. 
 
 That helpless frame is tenanted by soul 
 Immortal in its nature. That soft eye, 
 That seems, unkindled by a thought, to roll, 
 Will soon be lighted with reflection high 
 And all the strongest passions' radiancy : 
 That tongue will speak th' emotions of the breast . 
 But more than all, that mind, dread destiny ! 
 Deprav'd, will sink where wrathful waves ne'er 
 
 rest, 
 Or, stamp'd with good, ascend and be forever blest. 
 
 13. 
 
 'Tis parents' work to train in heav'nly path, 
 From which th' accustom'd feet shall never stray : 
 The faithful discipline is blest ; but wrath 
 Shall strike the slothful in the final day. 
 Oh, parents ! who can paint your grim dismay, 
 If then your child through your neglect be lost, 
 And you, unsav'd, to agony a prey, 
 On the same fiery billows should be tost, 
 Finding, alas, how much your slothfulness has cost ? 
 7
 
 98 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 14. 
 
 Yet stubborn will with resolute arm to quell 
 And make obedience sure ; to check the tide 
 Of early passion, break delusion's spell, 
 Self-love to curb, and humble budding pride, 
 And teach the gospel truth, which men deride ; 
 With mingled awe and love to rule, deny, 
 Restrain, and in each pious path to guide, 
 With constant pray'r to Him, who reigns on 
 
 high, 
 Is arduous work, but work rear'd for eternity ! 
 
 15. 
 
 The proudest piles on this poor, earthly ball 
 Shall crumble into dust, by time o'erthrown : 
 St. Peter's glorious church at Rome shall fall, 
 As other idol temples have sunk down ; 
 The mighty monuments of Nile shall own 
 Decay's sure law ; but mind, when built aright, 
 Ne'er sinks ; and he, who builds, and he alone 
 Has rear'd a holy temple, fair and bright, 
 Destin'd to stand fore'er in heav'n's eternal light !
 
 CANTO III. 99 
 
 16. 
 
 These Indian parents train'd their lovely boy 
 For God and heav'n, and with unchanging aim 
 A character to form without alloy, 
 Of motive right and action without blame. 
 A higher principle, than dread of shame, 
 Or hope of man's applause, it was their care 
 1" infuse into his heart ; a holy flame 
 Of love to God and man, devotion rare, 
 And aspiration after bliss, which angels share. 
 
 17. 
 
 On passion's first outbreakings they impose 
 A wise and strong restraint with utmost care ; 
 As he, who dwells, where Mississippi flows, 
 Watches the slightest current, which may dare 
 To cross the safeguard mount upheaved there, 
 And instant checks th' encroachment, when de 
 scried, 
 
 For by delay the streamlet soon doth wear 
 A broad, deep channel, growing still more wide, 
 Till all his fields are whelm'd beneath the boundless 
 tide.
 
 100 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 18. 
 
 Tis wise to crush the shell of cockatrice, 
 Ere it is hatch'd by heat of summer's sun. 
 Then why should infant anger, avarice, 
 And pride be foster'd ? Is it wisely done 
 To spare the serpent, till his strength is won ? 
 The petty rage may please thy sporting mood, 
 But rage indulg'd is murder just begun ; 
 The arm uncheck'd may strike at last for blood, 
 All blessed promise wither'd and extinct all good. 
 
 19. 
 
 Honor was not an idol to be adored 
 With loss of peace and sacrifice of blood ; 
 But Waunseet knew, taught by the sacred word, 
 That law divine was measure of all good, 
 And therefore that, with courage unsubdued, 
 He should pursue the straight and narrow way, 
 And bear each transient ill with fortitude. 
 It was glad sight to see the youth obey 
 With cheerful heart the rules, which guide to heav'n's 
 bright day.
 
 CANTO HI. 101 
 
 20. 
 
 O, happy child, in rural village born, 
 Nurtur'd in truth, where nature gives delight ! 
 O'er eastern hills he sees the streaks of morn 
 In splendor grow, till highest heav'n is. bright; 
 On stream, mead, grove, and lake, with raptured 
 
 sight, 
 
 He gazes, taught in all things to behold 
 The pow'r and love of Him, who dwells in light ; 
 And train'd, with ready feet and courage bold, 
 To walk in virtue's path and gain her joys untold. 
 
 * 
 
 21. 
 
 To man, who, like Prometheus, is fast bound, 
 At least in heart and soul, to flinty rock, 
 'Tis joyful, when the gem-fraught stone is found, 
 To give the milk-white quartz the hammer's shock, 
 As, Vulcan-like, I've hammer'd on the block, 
 And see the beryl pour its hues of green, 
 Emblem of hope, which failures oft bemock, 
 Or dyes both green and red of tourmaline, 
 With Cleavelandite allied, though brittle, pure and 
 sheen.
 
 102 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 22. 
 
 So once I gather'd Amethystine forms 
 
 On White Hills' side, which rear aloft sublime 
 
 Their snow-crown'd heads, the chosen home of 
 
 storms. 
 
 <f 
 
 O'ertopping all the mounts of country's clime : 
 'Twas near the dwelling, which, in recent time, 
 By thund'ring masses from the mountain's side 
 Was overwhelm'd, whose inmates, in the prime 
 Of manhood, and their children dear all died, 
 
 Swept, as they fled, and crush'd by rocky torrent's 
 tide. 
 
 23. 
 
 Tis joyful to the man, who fragrance breathes, 
 And bears a roseate garland on his brow, 
 And wild-flow'r for his cabinet inwreathes, 
 To him the fairest maiden here below, 
 To creep in bushy vale, where brooklets flow, 
 Or climb the mountain's per'lous, giddy height, 
 E'en to the borders of eternal snow ; 
 If there a new flow'r meet his eager sight, 
 
 He seizes quick the spoil, he feels unknown delight.
 
 CANTO m. 103 
 
 24 
 
 Within my mind is deeply registered 
 The place, where num'rous plants first gave me 
 
 cheer ; 
 
 Where silken leaves of Panax were outspread, 
 Whose root to Chinese appetite is dear, 
 And where, in deep Canadian forest drear, 
 The Sarracenia glow'd in purple pride, 
 Nodding in little swamp, of wood-growth clear, 
 Whose cup-like leaves, to eastern plant allied, 
 May warn each toper, fill'd with sipping flies, who 
 died. 
 
 25. 
 
 To men, like Kirby, with true zeal indeed, 
 Whom insect forms inspire with keen delight, 
 Whom wand'ring butterflies by day mislead, 
 And draw through many a bog, as wizard light 
 Misguides the tempted trav'ller in the night, 
 'Tis gladsome to entangle in small net 
 Some heedless moth, with spangled wings and 
 
 bright, 
 
 Or from decaying log or stump o'erset 
 To catch the tribes, that rush, in their retreat beset.
 
 104 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 26. 
 
 "Tis joyful to the man, who converse holds 
 With wand'ring planets in the sky serene, 
 Or fixed stars, which tube uprear'd unfolds, 
 To catch a ray from orb before unseen, 
 To bear thenceforth his honor'd name, I ween, 
 As fitlier meed for him, than for his king ; 
 Or peep into th' immense, far worlds between, 
 And there discern new systems on the wing, 
 And thence in depths of space new worlds imagining. 
 
 27. 
 
 But sweeter, purer, higher is the joy, 
 From deep inquiry in the book divine 
 To gain the gem, which beams without alloy, 
 The gem of truth ; or round the brow to twine 
 Blossoms of virtue, which unwith'ring shine ; 
 Or in the cab'net of the heart to place 
 The forms of goodness in their proper shrine ; 
 Or with heav'n-piercing vision well to trace 
 The throne of Him, who reigns o'er worlds in bound 
 less space.
 
 CANTO III. 105 
 
 28. 
 
 Science is dwindling down into the art 
 Of marshalling whate'er the eye beholds, 
 Arranging in due place each whole and part, 
 The moral aim unseen, which all infolds ; 
 Like soldiers, whom our green parade now holds, 
 The doughty heroes, spread upon the plain, 
 Arrang'd in line, but whom no skill imbolds, 
 Untaught the use of arms, which vict'ry gain, 
 The idle boast of him, who rules th' accoutred train. 
 
 29. 
 
 Yet let the hewera of rough stones pursue 
 Their humble task ; a builder shall arise 
 To rear the temple to God's glory due. 
 So in the cone-born curve, by Grecian eyes 
 Idly discern'd, the modern sage descries 
 The path, in which all wand'ring planets roll 
 In their vast courses through the azure skies, 
 Tracing that form, howe'er they seem to stroll, 
 Bound to the wondrous curve by strong, divine 
 control.
 
 106 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 30. 
 
 So the smutch'd chemist, erst in search of gold, 
 Each substance would transmute by tort'ring brand ; 
 But vainly toil'd the myst'ry to unfold. 
 Yet by his toils is blaze of science fanned, 
 And later sage extracts discov'ry grand. 
 As at Aladdin's touch the Genius came, 
 Slave of the lamp ; so now, in Davy's hand, 
 Round lamp more wondrous flickers a blue flame; 
 'Tis fire-blast, cavern spirit, slave subdued and 
 
 tame. 
 
 31. 
 
 For ages worshipp'd by the minstrel throng, 
 On mountain top, by brook, in field, and wood, 
 Nature ! thou dost thy maker mighty wrong. 
 Glows not thy beauteous cheek with mantling blood, 
 Thyself to take His praise, * First Fair, First 
 
 Good?' 
 
 Vain Idol ! this thy folly thou shalt rue ! 
 A tempest-voice swells o'er the billowy flood, 
 'The flames shall scorch whate'er false homage 
 
 drew, 
 And all thy beauty's light shall turn to deadly hup ! '
 
 CANTO III. 107 
 
 32. 
 
 I do not love the city's prison walls, 
 The narrow space begirt with brick and stone, 
 The selfish crowd, which timid heart appals ; 
 But I would walk in field and grove alone ; 
 Or lay me down where crystal waters moan, 
 As gently o'er their pebbly bed they flow ; 
 Or stand upon the mountain's rock-built throne, 
 Gazing on all the outspread scene below, 
 
 While glorious, kindling thoughts within my bosom 
 glow. 
 
 33. 
 
 But who shall paint the pleasures ever new, 
 With which our changing seasons e'er abound ? 
 The flakes of wintry snow fall soft, like dew ; 
 Or, when the sleety tempest raves around, 
 Both peace and joy by cheerful fire are found. 
 And then the light of full-orb'd moon, like day, 
 Gleams on the silver vestment of the ground 
 In calmest eve ; or northern streamers play 
 
 Their wondrous frolics in their pure and bright 
 array.
 
 108 VALE OP HOOSATUNNTJK. 
 
 34. 
 
 When spring returns, and southern breezes blow ; 
 When warmer suns arise and rains descend, 
 And melt away at once th' incumbent snow ; 
 Then from the mountain's side, where forests 
 
 bend, 
 
 The torrent comes with thund'ring sound to wend 
 Its foaming, furious way through valley wide, 
 With giant force, no obstacle can fend, 
 Bearing along, with mighty victor's pride, 
 Uprooted trees and icy masses in its tide. 
 
 35. 
 
 So, Niagara ! down the depth profound 
 Plunges thy broad and brightly-gleaming flood, 
 Fed by vast lakes, in symbol-union bound. 
 On Table Rock, now fall'n, in youth I stood, 
 Gazing on all the scene in rapt'rous mood. 
 There, at my level, the majestic stream 
 O'er long-curv'd cliff, with ample plenitude, 
 Begins its stoop in reg'lar, bending gleam ; 
 Then falls, till shape is lost in foam and misty 
 steam.
 
 CANTO in. 109 
 
 36. 
 
 Perch'd on thin leaf of overhanging rock, 
 I venture to the edge and look below : 
 I see the eddying depth ; and feel the shock, 
 The shore all trembling at the earthquake-blow. 
 Ah, what if sudden dizziness should grow, 
 As, at Passaic cliff, in her, who fell ? 
 Or what if shock my foothold-ledge o'erthrow, 
 And to abyss I sink with loosen'd shell ? 
 The solitary's fate no living one could tell. 
 
 37. 
 
 But, though no brother man with me did stand, 
 Yet God was there, who scoop'd the basin wide, 
 And pour'd the flood out from his hollow hand. 
 Yet God was there, whose voice on ev'ry side 
 Issued in thunders from the angry tide. 
 Yet God was there, the cloud-built arch to rear, 
 With mingled hues of beauteous brightness 
 
 dyed, 
 
 Symbol, once caus'd o'er wider flood t' appear, 
 Blest pledge of earth's escape from destiny severe.
 
 110 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 38. 
 
 Stand here, mortal presumptuous ! and say, 
 While ear is stunn'd with torrent's ceaseless roar, 
 And solid rocks do tremble with dismay, 
 Cannot God's hand the flood of vengeance pour, 
 To sweep the proud, where they will boast no 
 
 more? 
 
 Let warring tribes this voice of thunder hear, 
 And hush their rage, lest whirlpool wrath devour ! 
 Christian ! the bow of promise shines forth clear, 
 And thou mayst smile secure, when earth shall 
 quake with fear. 
 
 39. 
 When quiet flood or lake outspread and wide 
 
 Is cloth'd with crystal in the clear, cold night, 
 How joyous o'er the glassy deep to glide 
 As with the wings and speed of angels bright ? 
 But, youngster, then beware, lest rapid flight 
 Bear thee incautious to th' unfrozen wave, 
 And thou, evanish'd quick from human sight, 
 Descendest where no friendly hand can save, 
 Finding amidst thy joy a sudden, wat'ry grave.
 
 CANTO III. Ill 
 
 40. 
 
 Ah then what grief is felt, what tears are shed 
 By doating parents in their failing day, 
 With snows of winter on their weary head ? 
 And what can sister's anguish now allay, 
 Companion of her childhood torn away, 
 With sudden wrench, from all in life most dear ? 
 Then to thy path let prudence lend its ray ; 
 Yet still this true and needful lesson hear, 
 
 'Tis God thy bounds has fix'd, and aims death's 
 fatal spear. 
 
 41. 
 
 The ling'ring breath of winter wholly fled, 
 The earth is cloth'd with flow'rs and living green, 
 And song of birds from tree is carolled, 
 While frisking lambs in sunny fields are seen, 
 And all the air is soft, and sky serene. 
 Then let the heart o'erflow with gratitude 
 To Him, who spreads out all this lovely scene ; 
 And let the soul ascend in pious mood 
 
 To God, the full spring-head of all, that's fair and 
 good.
 
 112 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 42. 
 
 Summer succeeds, when yellow harvests wave, 
 And various fruits hang tempting from the tree. 
 God gives to all what appetite may crave ; 
 Berries to birds, who sing so merrily, 
 Of nuts a store to squirrel brisk and free, 
 To fish the insect dancing on the stream, 
 And flow'r-bred honey to the toiling bee. 
 Then shine, ye rich, with charitable gleam, 
 And cause in widow's eye the priceless tear to beam. 
 
 43. 
 
 The autumn forest glows upon the eye 
 In tints, which shame the summer's sober green ; 
 The oak in russet, beech in yellow dye, 
 And maple's crimson glory deck the scene, 
 With all the intermingled shades between. 
 Thus gleams the year, ere garb of white is spread, 
 As in the face of dying man are seen 
 His last, strong feelings, ere he lays his head, 
 Where all earth's bright and glorious images are 
 fled.
 
 CANTO III. 113 
 
 44. 
 
 Waunseet grew up in nature's loveliest vale, 
 And all was gladd'ning to his eye and ear. 
 But, as sweet earthly pleasures soon must fail, 
 And darkness will o'erspread all brightness here, 
 He oft was urg'd to look beyond earth's sphere 
 And seek the glories of eternity 
 By all, that answers hope, or wakens fear, 
 By dread of God's just indignation high, 
 And hope of joys ineffable in yonder sky. 
 
 45. 
 
 Much have I seen of what the world may show 
 To cheat the vision of the human child : 
 Gay, youthful hopes, which in the spring do blow, 
 But wither'd soon, like flow'r on eastern wild ; 
 Sweet, earthly joys, which for a moment smiled, 
 Then fled, like meteor darting through the sky ; 
 Ambitious honors, soon by envy soiled ; 
 The monarch's sceptre yielded with a sigh, 
 And all the bliss of earth quick fading from the 
 eye. 
 8
 
 114 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 46. 
 
 In vain the wretch shall say, o'erwhelm'd with 
 
 woe, 
 
 ' I have been blest beyond the common joy, 
 And nought of change this boast can overthrow ! ' 
 How bootless is the boast, when cares annoy, 
 And present pains remember'd bliss destroy ? 
 Does heaven's great outcast, in the fiery deep, 
 By thought of bliss, which once he did enjoy, 
 Allay the waves, which vengeful tempests sweep, 
 
 Or quell th' undying worms, which in his breast do 
 creep ? 
 
 47. 
 
 We can endure, when hope upstays the mind, 
 And pain has some proportion to our frame : 
 But, hope all gone, as light from eyeball blind, 
 And agony commix'd with lowest shame, 
 And wrath almighty felt, like furnace-flame, 
 Will proud-tongued mortals bear a resolute front, 
 As they pretend, and dread of God disclaim ? 
 Will infidels then boast, as now they 're wont, 
 
 And dare the flaming indignation to confront ?
 
 CANTO in. 115 
 
 48. 
 
 As well might seaman, when the tempest raves, 
 And tosses ship aloft, as football thrown, 
 Bid proud defiance to the winds and waves : 
 As well might dweller in a tropic town, 
 When earthquake shakes its walled ramparts down, 
 Contemn the perilous rocking of the ground : 
 As well, when mountain torrent has o'erflown 
 Its banks, and rushes on with furious sound, 
 
 May wretch afloat then shut his eyes for sleep pro 
 found. 
 
 49. 
 
 Then, while our present, fleeting joys we taste, 
 Scatter'd profuse amidst our cares and woes, 
 Like diamonds in the sterile soil and waste, 
 Still let us seek the bliss, which ever flows 
 Before God's throne and no defilement knows. 
 'Tis truth and holiness must guide our feet, 
 That gaining good, which no decay o'erthrows, 
 Transferr'd from earth to heav'n with joy com 
 plete, 
 
 Our diadem may gleam with glories infinite.
 
 116 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 50. 
 
 Some years had pass'd in quietness away, 
 When war's alarms came o'er the ocean wide, 
 And fill'd this distant vale with wild dismay. 
 England and France, though living side by side, 
 And boasting name of Christ, the crucified, 
 Yet deem each other nat'ral foes, as though 
 To hate was Christian precept undenied : 
 And when they madly deal the frequent blow, 
 Their furthest colonies must share the guilt and woe. 
 
 51. 
 
 The laurels of triumphant war shall fade, 
 And might compar'd with goodness be disgrace ; 
 But ne'er shall ignominy dare invade 
 The names of benefactors of our race, 
 But they shall ever shine in sweetest grace. 
 In vain shall warrior show his perilous scar ; 
 Let him to men of charity give place : 
 Preacher of peace is title higher far, 
 Than ruler of the storm of desolating war.
 
 CANTO in. 117 
 
 52. 
 
 On warrior's crest let ignominy light ! 
 Among the far-fam'd heroes where is one, 
 Whose character with virtue's beams is bright? 
 Give me. the fame of our own Washington, 
 Who, when invaded liberty was won, 
 Ketir'd a virtuous man to his own home, 
 Shaming the blot of Philip's mighty son, 
 Shaming great Caesar's mastery of Rome, 
 And modern Caesar's grief, unthron'd to find a tomb ! 
 
 53. 
 
 If murder rear a monument to fame, 
 And pow'r to kill be worthy of applause ; 
 Why hail not then with song and loud acclaim 
 The horns of bull, or kingly lion's jaws, 
 Or serpent's fang, or pouncing eagle's claws ? 
 Why praise not then the dark assassin's knife, 
 Demon-contemner of all holy laws ? 
 Is it because he takes a single life, 
 He merits less, than kindler of a nation's strife ?
 
 118 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 54. 
 
 In Hoosatunnuk's vale, where blessed truth 
 Of heav'n dispens'd its calm and holy light, 
 The crimson stain of war was mourn'd with ruth. 
 * Whither has charity now sped her flight,' 
 Wunnissoo said, ' and why will Christians fight ? 
 Were I a bard in palace of a king, 
 Methinks the praise of war I could recite 
 In notes more apt, than courtly bards do sing ; 
 For thus should rise my song, war's glories carol- 
 ling:'- 
 
 THE RAVENS' WAR-HYMN. 
 
 Ye Ravens, whence come ye, that darken the air, 
 With croakings, that rouse the wolf in his lair ? 
 1 0, from the red fields of glory we've come, 
 Where soldiers have fallen far from their home, 
 Where carrion corpses lie on the ground, 
 And delicious repast for ravens is found ! ' 
 
 / 
 
 In the red fields of slaughter who glory can gain ? 
 Does honor spring up from the blood of the 
 slain ?
 
 CANTO III. 119 
 
 * Ye know not the ways of men of your kind, 
 For glory is nurtur'd by blood, ye will find : 
 How little the hero's fame would spread, 
 Unless he did strow the earth with the dead ? 
 
 ' "Where would be the great Alexander's name, 
 Where would be the Koman Caesar's fame, 
 Or where any victor-warrior's praise, 
 Unless of raven-pick'd bones they could raise 
 A monument of towering height, 
 Admir'd by all, who gaze at the sight ? ' 
 
 And what have ye seen in the fields of slaughter, 
 Where blood has been pour'd abundant like 
 
 water ? 
 
 ' We've seen the fair youth, an only son, 
 With shatter'd limbs, as his life-blood run, 
 Speaking of his mother he left but late 
 Then cursing th' enticement to his fate ! 
 
 ' We've seen the gay lover, who had pledg'd his 
 
 vow, 
 And hop'd to return with laurel-crown'd brow
 
 120 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK 
 
 To marry the angel, whose heart he had won, 
 In agony stretch'd on the field all alone : 
 Through his heart what a tide of affections rushed ? 
 But, cursing his end by a wheel was he crushed ! 
 
 ' We've seen the husband of beauteous wife 
 With face all mangled by the foeman's knife ; 
 As he lay dying and weltering in blood, 
 He thought of her, O, how fair and how good ! 
 He feebly just utter'd the lov'd one's name, 
 Then loud curs'd his chieftain of warrior's proud 
 fame! 
 
 ' We've seen the father of a glorious boy 
 In his childhood's bloom, of his heart all the joy ; 
 He had left him for honor ; and now on the ground, 
 As he struggled with death in grimness of wound, 
 How he rav'd, that his son he should see no more ? 
 He curs'd the ambition but life was o'er ! 
 
 1 We've seen many millions writhing in woe r 
 Cursing their prince, as their souls went below ;
 
 CANTO III. 121 
 
 But their curses are vain, for new heroes shall rise, 
 And blood shall yet moisten all lands 'neath the 
 
 skies : 
 
 Then we Ravens will still cry O war ! thou art good, 
 For our young ones provider of carrion food ! ' 
 
 55. 
 
 Thus sung Wunnissoo ; when Mohekun cried, 
 ' Let Eavens be the laureate-bards of war, 
 Privileg'd alone to praise the hero's pride, 
 And give due meed to conqueror's glorious scar ! 
 Their plaudit-scream may warriors hear afar, 
 Shriller than fife's or trumpet's piercing sound, 
 Louder than battle's fierce, discordant jar ; 
 Fit praise of those, who steep with blood the 
 
 ground, 
 And spread the desolating stour full wide around ! '
 
 aie of 
 
 CANTO IV.
 
 WUNNISSOO, 
 
 THE VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 CANTO IV. 
 1. 
 
 AT length the storm came rushing from the north, 
 And burst, where at the lofty mountain's feet 
 Thy stream, O Hoosuck, flows, and issues forth 
 The broad and noble Hudson's waves to greet. 
 A feeble garrison, unfit to meet 
 The num'rous French and savage bands, soon fell, 
 And terror thence was spread on pinions fleet ; 
 For what can now th' invading tempest quell ? 
 And ev'ry breeze may bring the warwhoop and the 
 yell.
 
 126 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 2. 
 
 And hark ! the clatt'ring hoofs of foaming horse, 
 Bearing dishevell'd dame, wild tale to tell ! 
 Where now is he, who rode in front ? A corse ! 
 Shot from his saddle, down the victim fell, 
 When straight arose the savage shout and yell. 
 ^She held her seat, and seiz'd the bridle now, 
 And urg'd her flight from wood and frowning dell, 
 Where her companion felt the sudden blow ; 
 
 And won her strange escape from dark and treach 
 erous foe. 
 
 3. 
 
 Bold hearts must arm the inroad to withstand: 
 Nor was Mohekun backward at the call. 
 Though war be guilt in those, who light the 
 
 brand, 
 
 And heavy woe shall on th' offenders fall ; 
 Yet self-defence he deem'd the right of all : 
 He would not yield himself to wolf a prey, 
 Nor suffer child or wife to be a thrall. 
 He went out on a scout ; but from that day 
 
 His eyes ne'er saw his home ; he's fallen far away !
 
 CANTO IV. 127 
 
 4. 
 
 To God Wunnissoo look'd with strong desire 
 And firmest trust. Passing through waters deep, 
 She was not overwhelm'd ; nor did the fire, 
 Through which she walk'd, along her garments 
 
 creep ; 
 
 She was secure on edge of perilous steep ; 
 So mighty is God's promise to the just, [weep ? 
 Then wherefore, mourner, dost thou ceaseless 
 Though keen the blow, in Him repose your trust, 
 And life and joy shall spring up from the mould 
 ering dust. 
 
 5. 
 
 Her teacher was expert to soothe her woe, 
 And bring out from the word consoling balm. 
 O, blessed sympathy, when keen-felt blow 
 Has smitten deep, and wrought the grievous harm, 
 And blessed care the tempest's rage to calm, 
 The dark despondence of the soul to cheer, 
 And unsubmitting passion to disarm ! 
 'Tis thus, that healing comes to wound severe, 
 And calmness comes, like spring-time after winter 
 drear.
 
 128 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 6. 
 
 * 'Twas hour of grief,' he said, ' when vengeful pride 
 The heav'nly Shepherd smote and laid him low. 
 How mourn'd his scatter'd sheep, that He had 
 
 died? 
 
 Yet soon their hearts with joy did overflow, 
 As He his glorious form alive did show, 
 Unscorch'd by all his fiery suffering ! 
 Then had they bliss, which angels cannot know, 
 Kecover'd hope, a faith of heav'nly wing, 
 And certain vict'ry too o'er death's keen, piercing 
 sting. 
 
 7. 
 
 * That bliss is ours, 'mid all our pains and grief; 
 For Jesus lives, his followers' glorious friend, 
 And he hath promis'd peace, and sweet relief, 
 And his glad presence till the world shall end. 
 Then blow, ye storms, and in confusion blend 
 Each element of earthly good : I hear 
 
 A voice, which all th' tumultuous strife shall end, 
 The pow'rful voice " 'Tis I, why do ye fear ? " 
 When straight the tempest sinks, and sea and sky 
 are clear.
 
 CANTO IV. 129 
 
 8. 
 
 < E'en death now hurls a feeble, blunted lance, 
 And strikes a slight and ineffectual blow, 
 As wounded warrior, dimm'd his eagle glance, 
 With failing arm resists a vig'rous foe. 
 For surely death himself will be brought low : 
 The Prince of Life his promise rich will keep, 
 And, speaking to the dead, will say, we know, 
 In words, that reach death's caverns dark and deep, 
 Lo, tyrant death is dead, and sleeps a lasting sleep I " 
 
 9. 
 
 0, glorious day, when from the quick'ning dust, 
 As shoots up from the ground each vernal flower, 
 Shall spring to life the millions of the just, 
 To bloom untouch'd by death's destroying power ! 
 And shall we see again in that glad hour 
 The much-loVd forms, now vanish'd from our 
 
 sight? 
 
 O, for a seraph's tongue the praise to pour, 
 Due for such rapt'rous joy and pure delight, 
 Forever to be paid hi world of cloudless light !' 
 9
 
 130 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 10. 
 
 With thrilling hopes like these, ah, who can gaze 
 On monarch's tott'ring throne with envious eye ? 
 Or on the crumbling fame, which great men raise, 
 Like Babel's towV, far stretching tow'rd the sky ? 
 Or on the tints, which cheek of beauty dye, 
 As evanescent as the rainbow's hues, 
 Which now adorn the mist, and quickly fly ? 
 Ah, who the meteor good of earth can choose, 
 And full-orb'd Sun of heav'n, forever bright, refuse ? 
 
 11. 
 
 The storm of battle ceas'd : but short repose 
 
 The wasted colonies enjoy'd, ere war 
 
 Again in all its gloomy terrors rose, 
 
 The fertile fields of industry to mar, 
 
 And kindle flames in villages afar. 
 
 E'en scalps were borne from Hoosatunnuk's 
 
 vale 
 " By Indians in the light of morning star. 
 
 Then who shall not be rous'd the foe to trail, 
 And in his dark retreat with vengeance to assail ?
 
 CANTO IV. 131 
 
 12. 
 
 Hard-hearted Frenchman brib'd the savage foe, 
 And onward to their work the " hell-hounds " led, 
 "When tomahawk quick laid the victims low, 
 And scalping knife was felt, e'er life was fled : 
 0, miserable state of those, who bled ! 
 Nor Frenchman bears alone th' enormous guilt ; 
 Man's heart the same, by wicked pride misled : 
 When British pow'r on French o'erthrown was 
 
 built, 
 By English gold procur'd, thus oft was young blood 
 
 spilt. 
 
 13. 
 
 The names of ruthless agents of the crime 
 Are names, which bear vile infamy's deep stain, 
 And will thus bear it down to future time. 
 But why should he escape, in whose dark brain 
 The scheme was plann'd, as miner lays his train ? 
 Sackville ! the warwhoop shall thy praises sing ! 
 Although a peerage thou at last didst gain, 
 Reward of faithful service of thy king ; 
 Yet, coronet, mark'd with blood, remorseful gleam 
 
 must fling.
 
 132 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 14. 
 
 Wunnissoo warn'd in vain, for youthful pride 
 Her son o'erswayM ; fearless he sought the foe 
 With band, that laugh'd at dangers undescried ; 
 But soon the tidings came, that sudden blow 
 From ambushment unfear'd had laid them low, 
 And all had fall'n, but messenger alone. 
 I may not here describe a mother's woe, 
 The silent agony at first, and then the tone 
 Of pious grief, with which she sought the gracious 
 throne. 
 
 15. 
 
 She did not sink beneath th' incumbent weight, 
 As sunk great Mornay's spouse, when her dear son 
 Met on the battle-field his sudden fate, 
 Pierc'd to the heart, as he to vict'ry run. 
 But though she truly said, ' Thy will be done/ 
 Knowing, amidst the storm, that all was right ; 
 Yet there were thoughts, her reason could not 
 
 shun, 
 
 Of force her peacefulness of mind to blight, 
 If faith had not supplied the feebleness of sight.
 
 CANTO IV. 133 
 
 16. 
 
 She was a widow ; he her only child, 
 In her declining years her hope and stay, 
 Whose sweet companionship her cares beguiledt 
 Ah, who shall blame her strong affection's sway, 
 And tears, now lonely wand'rer in the way ? 
 How blest beyond all mortals here beneath 
 Was she by bier, on which her dead son lay, 
 When Christ with voice, that reach'd the ear of 
 
 death, 
 Reviv'd his lifeless frame, restor'd his parted breath ? 
 
 17. 
 
 ' O, could th' unutterable bliss be mine ! ' 
 She said, ' but surely God is just and good, 
 And ne'er, though keen the blow, will I repine.' 
 Few days had pass'd, when lo, before her stood 
 Her living son, escap'd from distant wood, 
 When captive led, in ambushment unslain. 
 And now the sudden change of her mind's mood 
 Had wellnigh sent wild fancies to her brain, 
 Thus seeing him, she had not hop'd to see again.
 
 134 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 18. 
 
 Hast thou not seen along the field wide-spread, 
 When swift-wing'd clouds were passing through 
 
 the sky, 
 
 How light and shade successively have fled 
 In rapid speed, like coursers rushing by ; 
 Now nature beaming forth most gloriously, 
 And now a chilling gloom outspread around? 
 In this man's earthly state we may descry, 
 Which ne'er is fix'd, but ever changeful found, 
 Till midnight shades of death envelop all the ground. 
 
 19. 
 
 Wunnissoo had been griev'd, then rapt in joy, 
 And fill'd with overwhelming gratitude ; 
 But ne'er is earthly bliss without alloy ; 
 Full soon she lost her new recover'd good. 
 The fever, plague of northern latitude, 
 Through Waunseet's youthful veins was creeping 
 
 slow, 
 
 And undermining all youth's hardihood. 
 He sunk from day to day beneath the blow, 
 Till, triumphing, he bid adieu to all below.
 
 CANTO IV. 135 
 
 20. 
 
 Ah, who in this low world would always live, 
 And see his being here unmeasurM grow, 
 Lost to the bliss, which brighter worlds may give, 
 The joys untasted, which in heav'n do flow ? 
 The heart with earthly bliss, in sooth, may glow ; 
 But 'tis like meteor's light in midnight sky, 
 That sudden shoots a beam on earth below, 
 Shining aloft one moment gloriously, 
 Then vanishing away from dark and dreary eye. 
 
 21. 
 
 Hast thou a sweet companion of thy way, 
 Fair as the snow-white lily of the lake, 
 Mild as the breath of morn in fragrant May, 
 Of firmest love, which time can never shake ? 
 Oh envied wight ! Of bliss thou dost partake, 
 Pure and of high degree. But hark, a moan ! 
 Alas, thy blissful heart with grief doth break, 
 For the blest angel of thy path is gone, 
 And thou dost walk a weary pilgrim all alone.
 
 136 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 22. 
 
 Beneath thy shade springs there a glorious plant, 
 Fair image of the parent tree so nigh ? 
 Its form has ev'ry grace and charm, I grant ; 
 Its blooming flow'rs are gladd'ning to the eye. 
 But frowning clouds are gath'ring in the sky ; 
 Now comes the icy storm in fury down, 
 And smites thy gentle plant unpiteously, 
 While all about the ground confus'd are strown 
 The honors of thy son, a transcript of thine own. 
 
 23. 
 
 Such grief, O Spenser, bard of Faery Queen, 
 And desolation such did thee befall : 
 Such was thy mournful destiny, I ween, 
 When rebel fury smote thy castle wall, 
 Beneath whose stroke it totter'd to its fall. 
 And thou from raging storm didst fly in dread, 
 Leaving behind what thou couldst not recall, 
 Thy beauteous child, like flow'r on desert 
 
 spread, 
 Crush'd by the hoof of fiery war-horse in his tread.
 
 CANTO IV. 137 
 
 . 24. 
 
 Such too thy grief, O Beattie, Scotia's pride, 
 For well may virtuous Scotland boast of thee, 
 Champion of Virtue and of Truth allied, 
 And minstrel too of lofty fantasy. 
 In manly youth, with mind enlarg'd and free, 
 Thy son was torn away. Thy heart oppressed 
 Was desolate, like wreck afloat at sea, 
 Borne unresisting by each wave unblest, 
 
 Till, whelm'd beneath the flood, there came the 
 promis'd rest. 
 
 25. 
 
 How idle, then, the poet's visions fair ? 
 But dreams of uncurb'd fancy in the night, 
 But unsubstantial castles in the air, 
 Built on the changing clouds in rapid flight ! 
 We need the hope of good beyond our sight, 
 The confidence of bliss beyond the skies, 
 The joys of piety, the Spirit's might, 
 The beams of kindness from a Saviour's eyes, 
 
 That under heaviest weight of woe we strong may 
 rise.
 
 138 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 26. 
 
 Is there no cause, that wakes the tempest's rage ? 
 Is nought exacted but the bitter tear, 
 And ling'ring grief, which time can scarce assuage ? 
 Ye smitten men ! this needful lesson hear : 
 The storm should lash the pois'nous atmosphere : 
 If worldly bliss a film spread o'er the eye, 
 The vision must be purg'd by hand severe ; 
 The film must be remov'd, or turn'd awry, 
 To ope the way for glorious beam from God on high. 
 
 27. 
 
 Full well we need the discipline of woe. 
 A worldly, narrow heart, and darksome mind, 
 The love of ev'ry bright deceit below, 
 Contempt of moral good enlarg'd, refined, 
 Of direful threats a fearlessness most blind, 
 And equal unbelief of promis'd good, 
 With base ingratitude for love most kind ; 
 These swarm in man, as flies on carrion food, 
 And call for sharp correction of such desp'rate mood.
 
 CANTO IV. 139 
 
 28. 
 Yet vain to most is chastisement applied, 
 
 . The hand, that smites, unseen by sinful eye. 
 The loss of good oft rouses angry pride, 
 And oft calls forth the heavy, hopeless sigh. 
 One to the place of folly then will fly, 
 Or take the wildering cup his grief to drown, 
 Or weave anew the tissue of a lie, 
 Or cast afloat new hopes, as bubbles blown, 
 
 Or seek to build again the structure overthrown. 
 
 29. 
 
 Wunnissoo wept indeed, yet scarce knew why. 
 For her dear boy she could not weep, removed 
 From sin and sufPring to his God on high ; 
 Present with Him, whom she supremely loved ; 
 Secure beyond all danger, and approved, 
 As she might hope, by final Judge of men : 
 She would not call him back : it then behooved 
 Her to rejoice. And for herself the pain 
 Was needful and would prove her everlasting gain.
 
 140 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 30. 
 
 ' My garden draws my steps/ I hear her say, 
 ' When, dropping many a seed in the soft ground, 
 Nought but brown earth my busy eyes survey ; 
 But hope foresees the change, which soon is found. 
 Let warmer airs their influence breathe around, 
 Let rams descend, and glowing suns arise ; 
 The embryo life, that seem'd to sleep profound, 
 Will rise in beauteous flow'rs before my eyes, 
 
 Cloth'd with the wondrous hues of sunset autumn 
 skies. 
 
 31. 
 
 1 Who works this wonder? Tis the blessed Power, 
 Whose promise, that the sleeping dust shall wake 
 And have immortal life at destin'd hour, 
 Cheers my sad heart. Th' eternal morn will 
 
 break, 
 
 And mould'ring bodies forms of beauty take. 
 Then sleep, my lov'd ones, till the time shall be, 
 When angel trump the solid earth shall shake. 
 O, bliss beyond all thought, again to see 
 
 The faces, that I lov'd, in heav'nly ecstasy !
 
 CANTO IV. 141 
 
 32. 
 
 * More thrilling still and higher my delight, 
 When I my Saviour's face shall also see, 
 God's only Son, with glory beaming bright. v 
 I mourn o'er those I lov'd, and that lov'd me : 
 O, how their beauty shone resplendently ? 
 But grace, with loftiest dignity combined, 
 Transcending all, that meets the worldly eye, 
 From Christ shall pour on ev'ry holy mind 
 A tide of heav'nly bliss and raptures undefined.' 
 
 33. 
 
 The mind, that loves the ways of Providence, 
 In all things sees the beams of good and right. 
 So have I seen the wide magnificence 
 Of nature with the purest ice bedight, 
 When ev'ry tree and branch was vested bright 
 With crystal garb, as if by magic wove, 
 And ev'ry twig did glitter on the sight 
 Loaded with gems, a glorious diamond grove, 
 Fit emblem of the world, when seen with eyes of 
 love.
 
 145 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 34. 
 
 The mighty sun, great source of light and joy, 
 His race unwearied runs ; the silver moon 
 Walks in her brightness through the silent sky, 
 Queen of the glitt'ring hosts at night's mild noon; 
 The earth, with countless forms of beauty strown, 
 The kindness and the pow'r divine displays, 
 With living beings fill'd, the fair and boon. 
 The world is one wide temple to the praise 
 Of Him, who built it, and is good hi all his ways. 
 
 35. 
 
 Though sin, like rushing torrent, sweeps along, 
 And wastes the bliss of ev'ry heart impure ; 
 Yet to the holy man, in virtue strong, 
 Belying on his Father's promise sure, 
 And on his mercy, which doth aye endure, 
 No evil happens. From his righteous path 
 To wicked ways no tempter shall allure : 
 On him shall never fall the blazing wrath 
 Of God offended, which the sinning man shall scath.
 
 CANTO IV. 143 
 
 36. 
 
 Wunnissoo throve beneath the primer's hand, 
 As tree, whose laf ral, lower branches gone, 
 Grows upward with more rapid growth. The 
 
 band, 
 
 Fast'ning her to the earth, dissolved, alone 
 In this wide world, she sought a heav'nly throne ; 
 Yet sought it by the deeds of holy love, 
 By list'ning to affliction's humble moan, 
 By soft'ning others' cares, while yet she strove 
 
 By truth and pray'r to guide full many to fieav*n 
 above. 
 
 37. 
 
 She travell'd into years, and long survived 
 Her first beloved teacher, friend, and guide ; 
 And e'en her second pastor she outlived, 
 Edwards, whose mighty intellect descried 
 Deep mysteries, errors with truth allied, 
 And threw broad light on darkness of the mind ; 
 Yet who, unhurt by philosophic pride, 
 Toil'd to instruct the Indian unrefined, 
 
 The wand'ring to reclaim, the fetter'd to unbind.
 
 144 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 38. 
 
 Her death was tranquil, as her life was good : 
 No fearful shapes were gliding in her sight, 
 Nor chang'd her mind's serene and heaVnly mood. 
 Her countenance was calm, save that the light 
 Of joy and hope sublime broke forth in might, 
 As visions of the future fill'd her eye, 
 Visions of quicken'd frame, and mansions bright, 
 Of radiant hosts of blessed saints on high, 
 
 Her Saviour's form, and raptures of eternity ! 
 
 
 
 39. 
 
 So, when the sun was set in autumn's eve, 
 And dark, irreg'lar line of clouds hung low, 
 Like alpine range, yet space beneath did leave 
 
 ^ 
 
 Of purest sky, while all above the glow 
 Of richest hues was spread on clouds of snow, 
 I've gaz'd, entranc'd, with fix'd, unsated eye, 
 As on a distant, soften'd mountain's brow 
 And tranquil silver sea, in which did lie 
 The islands of the blest, while glory beam'd on 
 high.
 
 CANTO IV. 145 
 
 40. 
 ' Long have I liv'd,' she said, ' and tried th' 
 
 extremes, 
 
 Wisely arrang'd, of earthly grief and joy; 
 Along my path were shed now heav'nly gleams, 
 And now the shades, that fall from troubled sky : 
 But all is vanish'd from my death-struck eye. 
 Farewell to all the scenes of earth beneath : 
 I go to share th' unmingled bliss on high ! ' 
 When this was utter'd with her failing breath, 
 Wunnissoo clos'd her eyes in peacefulness of death. 
 
 41. 
 
 The visions of a dying saint are true. 
 
 Death will but lead to life of endless years, 
 The grave to heav'n, where joy is ever new. 
 Then wherefore do we shed the bitter tears, 
 As friend of Jesus sinks and disappears ? 
 Think you, that eye will ne'er again unclose, 
 Nor sound e'er pierce the portals of those ears ? 
 Think you, those lips will ne'er the thought disclose, 
 And that the marble frame ne'er wakes from long 
 repose ? 
 10
 
 146 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 42. 
 
 The many-footed caterpillar creeps 
 
 His destin'd period slow along the ground, 
 
 Then weaves his web, in which he dies, and sleeps, 
 
 While northern streams in icy chains are bound : 
 
 But when the spring returns, and merry sound 
 
 Of songsters fills the grove with melody, 
 
 He bursts the cerements, that had wrapp'd him 
 
 round, 
 
 And comes forth in a form, that charms the eye, 
 To float aloft in air a gilded butterfly. 
 
 43. 
 
 And shall then man, more noble than a worm, 
 Created, like the worm, by pow'r of God, 
 Ne'er feel the influence, that shall change his form, 
 But always sleep beneath the valley's clod ? 
 Shame on the doubt : it should receive the rod 
 Of sharp rebuke in him, who well descries, 
 How life springs up from ev'ry vernal sod, 
 And beauty rises, where corruption lies, 
 All nature teeming with still deeper mysteries.
 
 CANTO IV. 147 
 
 44. 
 
 What reason must admit, by faith is known ; 
 And faith is reason's trust in word divine. 
 On dead man's tomb once lay a sealed stone, 
 While Roman guard stood watching in a line ; 
 Vain toil that side-pierc'd sleeper to confine ! 
 For lo, the warders tremble in despair, 
 For earthquake shook the ground like bursting 
 
 mine, 
 
 And angel's face out-gleam'd with lightning-glare ; 
 The stone was roll'd away ; that sleeper is not there ! 
 
 45. 
 
 He rose the first-fruits of the harvest-grave, 
 Abundant harvest, not for sickle ripe, 
 But rip'ning ev'ry day. He rose to save 
 A guilty world, for which he bore the stripe, 
 And scoff of men, the mock'ry, and the gripe 
 Of death. He rose ; triumphant he did rise, 
 Away the shame and foul reproach to wipe, 
 And bring a glorious hope to man, that dies, 
 And reassume his disrob'd glory in the skies.
 
 148 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 46. 
 
 And as He rose, so all, that sleep in dust, 
 In the great day, which ends the earth's career, 
 Will wake from death. The wicked and the just, 
 The tott'ring frame, that fell without a tear, 
 The beauteous form, to weeping eye most dear, 
 The parent, brother, sister, child, and spouse, 
 Adam's whole race will rise their doom to hear. 
 The angel's trump will pierce each narrow house, 
 And e^ry sleeper from his dreamless bed will rouse. 
 
 47. 
 
 Then will the minist'ring angel-bands divide 
 Th' innum'rous host, as shepherds separate 
 The goats from sheep, and place them on each 
 
 side 
 
 Of glorious Judge on his pure throne elate, 
 As character shall draw the line of fate. 
 Secrets disclos'd, disguises torn away, 
 The heart alone, as fill'd with love or hate, 
 And acts, which law regard or disobey, 
 Will seal the everlasting doom in that great day.
 
 CANTO IV. 149 
 
 48. 
 
 Ah, what avail the monarch's golden crown, 
 And purple robes of earthly dignity 
 With pearls and glitt'ring diamonds thickly strOwn, 
 If now the culprit lifts his conscious eye, 
 Plac'd on the left of heav'n's bright majesty? 
 His pow'r abus'd, and truth and right o'erthrown, 
 Passion uncheck'd, though suffrers rais'd their cry, 
 Pollution wide-spread from the tainted throne, 
 
 Such tow'ring guilt will meet the Judge's darkest 
 frown. 
 
 49. 
 
 The warrior too, who once with eagle eye 
 Gaz'd on the field of slaughter outspread wide, 
 Who lov'd full well the bloody revelry, 
 The glorious array and battle's pride, 
 And deem'd himself a god the storm to guide, 
 Will now, like pale-fac'd coward, stand aghast, 
 His fierceness and his glory laid aside : 
 He shrinks, as woman at the battle's blast, 
 
 And moans like fallen wretch, whose blood is well 
 ing fast.
 
 150 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 50. 
 
 The griping miser too, that wrung his gains 
 From the poor toiler's weary strength and food ; 
 The rich man,thoughno crime his conscience stains, 
 Yet faithless, with a dearth of actions good ; 
 The lustful youth, that in dark solitude 
 Sheds with'ring blast on beauteous virgin's fame ; 
 The man with mighty intellect endued, 
 Who hates God's truth : all these, cast down and 
 
 tame, 
 Will stand dismay'd, the heirs of everlasting shame. 
 
 51. 
 
 False, cruel priests, that in high places sat, 
 The selfish shepherds too, though good their creed, 
 That cloth'd them with the wool, and ate the fat, 
 But fail'd the wand'ring flock to guide and feed ; 
 The proud contemner of the heav'nly meed, 
 Dark hypocrite, who wore a mask of white, 
 All, who are mark'd with vile, unholy deed, 
 All, who of blessed gospel's sound made light, 
 Will look with anguish on the Judge, enthron'd in 
 light.
 
 CANTO IV. 151 
 
 52. 
 
 ' Depart ye cursed, into quenchless fire, 
 Where Satan and his angels fiercely rave/ 
 To them the Judge will say in righteous ire : 
 ' For I was hungry, and no meat ye gave, 
 Thirsty, and yet no drink from death to save ; 
 In prison, and my woe ye would not see ; 
 In sickness, sinking fast into the grave, 
 And coldly ye withheld due charity : 
 Ye did it not to these, ye did it not to ine ! ' 
 
 53. 
 
 O, this is not a dream of fancy wild, 
 Nor bugbear to restrain the vulgar throng, 
 Nor idle tale to terrify the child, 
 Incredible by man of reason strong. 
 The Judge himself, whose words the skeptics 
 
 wrong, 
 
 This awful scene has spread out to the eye, 
 Warning to all. Nor will the time be long, 
 Ere, reader, thou wilt find, 'tis not a lie, 
 But truth of God and terrible reality.
 
 152 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 54. 
 
 Terrible, but not to thee, if on the right 
 Thou then shalt stand among the good and wise ; 
 If in the Saviour's likeness, pure and bright, 
 Thou liftest to thy friend thy raptur'd eyes. 
 Oh, blessed hosts, heirs of the crystal skies, 
 To glory rising from dishonor'd graves ! 
 Ye now shall find, that virtue never dies ; 
 That martyr's zeal, which tyrant's arm outbraves, 
 Leads to a radiant, heav'nly throne, where Jesus 
 
 saves. 
 
 55. 
 
 There stand the prophets and apostles true, 
 And all good champions of the faith. There stand 
 The heroic suff'rers for the doctrine new, 
 The scoff in early age of Roman band ; 
 And all in later days, who bore the brand, 
 The scourge, the wheel and rack, and kindling 
 
 flame, 
 
 Torments, by modern Roman tyrant planned, 
 False priest, assuming good and holy name, 
 But now an outcast with those wretched heirs of 
 
 shame.
 
 CANTO IV. 153 
 
 56. 
 
 There are the heralds of the cross, whose zeal 
 And vig'rous faith, and heav'nly charity 
 Dissolv'd the tend'rest ties, which mortals feel, 
 And urg'd them o'er the waste of boist'rous sea, 
 That they might preach glad tidings, and set free 
 The slaves of Satan from their galling chain, . 
 And give them truth's eternal liberty, 
 Freedom from superstition, sin, and pain ; 
 
 That Saviour's blood, unknown, might not be shed 
 in vain. 
 
 57. 
 
 There in resplendent form of glory shine 
 All holy men, whose lives their goodness prove, 
 Whose minds receiv'd the rays of truth divine, 
 And hearts were kindled with the Saviour's love. 
 Though once in various conflicts fierce they strove, 
 And bore an untold weight of earthly woe, 
 The chastisement from hand of God above 
 Deserv'd, though still in kindness sent ; yet now 
 
 Their Master plants unwith'ring crown upon their 
 brow.
 
 154 VALE OF HOOSATDNNUK. 
 
 58. 
 
 He says, ' ye blessed of my Father, come, 
 Heirs of the kingdom high, for you prepared 
 Ere earth was fonn'd, possess your final home ; 
 For in my want your goods I freely shared ; 
 And when in loathsome prison, undebarred 
 By pride and shame, ye came my grief to know : 
 Such love to mine your love to me declared.' 
 Then have the righteous endless life ; but, lo, 
 The wicked pass away, deep plung'd in endless woe ! 
 
 59. 
 
 Swept quickly off by whirlwind's sudden blast, 
 A calm is left and clear, transparent sky ; 
 When blessed host themselves do prostrate cast 
 In adoration of the King on high ; 
 And then they strike the joyous minstrelsy, 
 That through all heav'n's echoing arches rings, 
 1 Eternal praise to God's high majesty, 
 And glory, honor, pow'r, and thanksgivings 
 Be thine, O holy Lamb, whose blood salvation 
 brings ! '
 
 CANTO IV. 155 
 
 HYMN OF THE REDEEMED. 
 
 ' Holy, holy, holy, Almighty God, 
 
 Who wast, and art, and art for aye to come ! 
 
 Most worthy Thou to bear the sovereign rod, 
 
 And sway all worlds beneath th' empyrean dome,- 
 
 Both settled orbs of light, and orbs that roam ; 
 
 Worthy by all their hosts to be obeyed, 
 
 For thou all worlds and all their hosts hast made. 
 
 ' And worthy Thou, the Lamb of sacrifice, 
 To bear the honors of thy glorious state ! 
 To Thee all blessing, praise, and thanks shall rise, 
 And nought thy full-orb'd glories shall abate, 
 The Father's Son at his right hand elate ; 
 For Thou wast once for our redemption slain, 
 And crucified on yonder smoking plain. 
 
 ' There our first breath did draw the tainted air, 
 And there contagious guilt had seiz'd our mind ;
 
 156 VALE OP HOOSATDNNTJK. 
 
 And we had perish'd in forlorn despair, 
 But Thou the wondrous, healing balm didst find, 
 And in thy skill the wounds of sin didst bind : 
 Thou didst outpour upon the cross thy blood, 
 And we were wash'd in the red, sacred flood. 
 
 * When all our thoughts sunk down, like nightly 
 
 dews, 
 
 Precipitated to the dark, cold earth, 
 The holy, blessed Spirit did infuse 
 New hopes and joys, and give a heav'nly birth, 
 Stamping God's form on mould of little worth ; 
 For such was God's decree of boundless love, 
 Electing mortals to this bliss above. 
 
 * Then straight we breath'd a pure and joyous air ; 
 Bright visions cheer'd us in our heav'nward way 
 Midst earthly woe, and strife, and want, and care 
 Thy steadfast promise was our firmest stay, 
 And nought could shake our hope, nor bring dis 
 may : 
 
 E'en when we walk'd through death's terrific vale, 
 His darts struck harmless our celestial mail.
 
 CANTO IV. 157 
 
 ' And now we bend before th' eternal throne, 
 With body disenthrall'd from chains of night, 
 And glorious, like thine own, Holy One, 
 And spirit pure as this infolding light, 
 While all the Godhead beams upon our sight ; 
 Snatch'd from yon whirlwind's blast, and full en 
 dued 
 With blessed heaven's illimitable good ! 
 
 ' Keen thirst and hunger we shall feel no more, 
 Nor shall the noonday sun our strength bring 
 
 low; 
 
 No lightnings here will strike, nor tempests roar ; 
 No pain shall rack, no bitter tear shall flow, 
 Nor aught of ill be felt, we knew below. 
 The living fount of joy here pours its tide ; 
 And, Jesus, thou in our bright path dost guide ! 
 
 1 To Thee we owe the diadem, we wear, 
 Mocking the earthly diamond-glitt'ring crown ; 
 To Thee we owe th' unmeasured bliss, we share, 
 Th' immortal glories, thick around us strown ;
 
 158 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 And our deep debt we will forever own ; 
 For thou didst stoop to raise us to this height, 
 And fix our home in this out-beaming light. 
 
 ' Then, while th' eternal cycles hold their way, 
 We'll shout aloud love's rapt'rous, ceaseless song. 
 To Thee, whose hands the scars of love display, 
 Saviour from ev'ry tribe of countless throng, 
 To Thee do wisdom, honor, pow'r belong ! 
 Salvation to our God on his high throne, 
 And to the Lamb, the slain and Holy One ! '
 
 CANTO IV. 159 
 
 WRITTEN AFTER THE FUNERAL OF MY BELOVED 
 WIFE, WHO DIED JUNE 3, 1828, AGED 40. 
 
 MY MALLEVILLE ! I've plac'd thee in the grave, 
 And tliou dost sleep now calmly with the dead ; 
 And there wilt sleep till He, whose arm doth save, 
 Shall lift thee from thy lowly, silent bed ; 
 Shall call thee forth, as spring-flow'r bursts the 
 
 clod, 
 To bloom above before the throne of God ! 
 
 Thrice five times have I seen the vernal grove 
 Put forth its budding honors green and fair, 
 Since first thy hand was mine, thy virgin-love, 
 Thy loyal heart, and tender zeal and care : 
 And all this while thy soul hath cleav'd to mine 
 With ties of purity and strength divine.
 
 160 VALE OF HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 How lovely was thy face, when in the bloom 
 Of youth it beam'd upon my raptur'd eye ? 
 How lovely, when, o'erpast the mother's doom, 
 It gaz'd upon thy babes so tenderly ? 
 No face, I've thought in many a blessed hour, 
 Was fram'd like thine for sweetness and for power. 
 
 But I have seen thee in thy deep repose, 
 The sleep of death ; and there was loveliness, 
 Which nought of living beauty ever shows, 
 And which no earthly language can express ; 
 A holy calm, like the still vault above, 
 And dignity, which spoke of heav'nly love ! 
 
 But, O, how lovely will thy form appear, 
 When all the slumb'rers in the silent ground 
 Shall the archangel's piercing trumpet hear, 
 And rise to judgment, as they catch the sound? 
 Then will thy face beam radiance divine, 
 For Jesus' glorious likeness will be thine ! 
 
 Would I recall thee to this painful life ? 
 I would not, if my broken heart I know,
 
 CANTO IV. 161 
 
 No, not again as friend and lovely wife ; 
 For thou art safe. Let raging tempests blow, 
 And toss my shatter'd bark on angry sea ; 
 No storm nor billow can extend to thee ! 
 
 Thy form sleeps where the weary are at rest ; 
 But, high above this ball of mist and shade, 
 Thy purest spirit is in heav'n most blest, 
 And nought thy rapt'rous bliss shall e'er invade, 
 For thou dost dwell in God's eternal light, 
 And thou art guarded by his arm of might. 
 
 A few sad hours have fled, since thou didst say, 
 When from short absence I return'd to thee, 
 ' This unto me has been a weary day, 
 Longing my darling friend again to see.' 
 Alas ! when next were spread the shades of night, 
 The damps of death were settled on thy sight ! 
 
 Yet was thy love unfaltering in death ; 
 For even in thy parting agony 
 Thou didst suppress the struggling of thy breath 
 11
 
 162 VALE OP HOOSATUNNUK. 
 
 To listen to thy husband's broken cry, 
 
 As thy cold, pulseless hand he wildly grasped, 
 
 And pray'd his hold might not yet be unclasped. 
 
 I've lost thy love, the chosen of my heart ! 
 Thine eye is dark ; and all thy winning smile 
 No more the thrilling gladness will impart, 
 Nor thronging, idle cares and griefs beguile. 
 The charm of life is gone ; its hues are fled ; 
 And earth's bright hopes extinct, since thou art 
 dead! 
 
 Yet long we've deem'd life but a meteor's glare, 
 And all the hues of life illusions vain, 
 And all earth's hopes a false, deceitful flare, 
 Since nought, we hold most dear, can we retain. 
 Thus have we thought and said, but now I feel ; 
 I welcome too the woe, for thine's the weal ! 
 
 I've lost thy love ; for in that tide of light, 
 Which from the throne of God doth ever flow, 
 And near th' eternal fountain of delight
 
 CANTO rv. 163 
 
 No thought of thine can reach this world below. 
 Though seraph on earth's mission swiftly flies, 
 Thy rest is in the blessed paradise. 
 
 And thou art joining in the heav'nly song, 
 Bursting, like torrent, from the harps of gold, 
 Resounding through heaven's arches by the throng 
 Of ransom'd sinners, and with joys untold, 
 ' Let wisdom, honor, pow'r in highest strain 
 To Thee, O Lamb, be paid, for thou wast slain ! ' 
 
 I've lost thy love ; and yet it is not lost, 
 For all thy bliss and rapture shall be mine ! 
 A few more days on angry billows tost, 
 And my freed spirit shall be join'd with thine : 
 Together from the dust our forms shall rise, 
 And love will beam again from thy blue eyes !
 
 it $Ult nf
 
 NOTES. 
 
 WUNNISSOO, the name of the leading character in 
 this poem, means in the Hoosatunnuk language, ' She is 
 beautiful ;' and it must be allowed to be a word of a sweet 
 Indian sound. 
 
 As of the four hymns, which close the cantos of this 
 poem, the first happens to be without a title, with which 
 each of the three others is furnished, perhaps it would 
 be brought into harmony with them by what may be 
 deemed an appropriate title, ' The Youth embarking in 
 the Voyage of Life.' 
 
 Through HoosatunnuUs vale there flows the stream. 
 
 Canto I. st. 1. 
 
 THE County of Berkshire, 50 miles by 20 in extent, 
 the most western county and most elevated territory of 
 the State of Massachusetts, borders on New York on the 
 west, Vermont on the north, and Connecticut on the 
 south. It lies chiefly in the vale of the Hoosatunnuk, 
 though resting in part on a mountain ridge on each side, 
 on the east and the west, and including Saddle Moun-
 
 168 NOTES. 
 
 tain on the north. Mount Washington is at the south 
 west corner. The River Hoosatunnuk, flowing through 
 this valley, is constituted by two branches, from Windsor 
 and Lanesborough, which unite in Pittsfield, whence it 
 takes a southerly course, and, after enriching also the 
 towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Harrington, 
 and Sheffield, and moving the thousands of wheels of 
 manufacturing establishments, passes through the State 
 of Connecticut, and empties into Long Island Sound at 
 Stratford, midway between the Connecticut and the 
 Hudson rivers. 
 
 The valley, occupied by these six beautiful and flour 
 ishing towns, bears the name of the river : it is the Vale 
 of the Hoosatunnuk. Dr. Dwight, in his Travels, says, 
 the true word is Hooestennuc, meaning, on the au 
 thority of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, who was skilled in the 
 Indian language, "over the mountain." Its composi 
 tion from any Indian words is not known. 
 
 Pittsfield being in the centre of Berkshire, the towns 
 at the north are Lanesborough, Cheshire, Adams, and 
 Williamstown : from the last place the Hoosuck River 
 flows to the north and west and empties into the Hudson. 
 
 The Indian names of rivers, lakes, mountains, towns, 
 and states, which are still retained in our country, are 
 frequently names of great beauty and significance. The 
 Connecticut means the long river ; the Kennebec, the 
 snake river ; the Mississippi, the great river. What fine 
 sounding names are the Susquehanna, the Monongahela, 
 the Shenandoah, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the 
 Alabama ?
 
 NOTES. 169 
 
 In the centre of Massachusetts is a mountain, called 
 Wachuset, which is the Indian word for mountain, it 
 being indeed a mountain by way of eminence, the highest 
 in that region. The Indian word Massachuset is com 
 pounded of the words Massa, great, and Wachuset, 
 mountain, meaning great mountain. Koger Williams 
 says, " I had learnt, that the Massachusetts was called so 
 from the Blue Hills, a little island thereabout [in Narra- 
 ganset Bay] ; and Canonicus's father and ancestors, liv 
 ing in those southern parts, transferred and brought their 
 authority and name into those northern parts." Smith 
 calls the Blue Hill of Milton, the highest hill in the 
 neighborhood of Boston, " the high mountain of Massa- 
 chusit." 
 
 Pontoosuc then the spot, now Pittsfield named. 
 
 Canto I. st. C. 
 
 That part of the valley of the Hoosatunuuk, which is 
 now occupied by Pittsfield, was called by the Indians 
 Pontoosuc ; and the west branch of the river, Hoosatun- 
 nuk, which in this town unites with the east branch, is 
 called the Pontoosuc. The first white settlement was 
 made in 1752. At a town meeting in 1753, it was voted 
 to build a meeting-house and to raise money for the sup 
 port of a religious teacher. In 1761, Pontoosuc was in 
 corporated by the name of Pittsfield, so named in honor 
 of William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, the friend of 
 America. 
 
 The venerable Elm, which still stands in the centre of 
 the public square, was spared, when the other forest trees 
 
 :'
 
 170 NOTES. 
 
 were cut down. It is 126 feet in height, and its trunk 
 measures 90 feet, ere the limbs branch out. 
 
 Saddle Mountain, lying in Adams and Williamstown, 
 about 20 miles distant at the north, is a beautiful object. 
 Graylock is the name of its highest peak, about 2,800 
 feet above the valley at Williams College and 3,580 feet 
 above the tide-water at Albany. 
 
 A father's holy face, fyc. Canto I. st. 7. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Allen, the first minister of Pittsfield, a 
 native of Northampton and a graduate of Harvard Col 
 lege in 1762, in a distinguished class, including Drs. Eliot 
 and Belknap, Judge Francis Dana, and Governor Ger 
 ry > was ordained April 18, 1764," and died Feb. 11, 
 1810, aged 67 years. He was not only a faithful and elo 
 quent minister, but a patriot of the Revolution, a chaplain 
 in the army, and on one occasion he played the part of 
 a soldier. He thought it his duty to march with a com 
 pany of his own people in a three days' campaign to 
 Bennington, and with them fought in the successful bat 
 tle, which checked the advance of Burgoyne. The third 
 day he returned home, and the next day, Sunday, 
 preached to a joyful congregation. I remember well 
 two large, square, white flint-glass bottles, which he 
 brought as trophies, captured with a Hessian surgeon's 
 horse, the wine of which he gave to the wounded. 
 
 His wife, Elizabeth Lee, daughter of Jonathan Lee, 
 the first minister of Salisbury, Conn., died March 31, 
 1830, aged 82 years. Her descent from William Brad 
 ford, the distinguished early Governor of Plymouth,
 
 NOTES. 
 
 171 
 
 was as follows: 1. His son, Major William Bradford ; 2. 
 Alice Bradford, married in 1674 Rev. William Adams 
 of Dedham; 3. Abiel Adams, married Rev. Joseph 
 Metcalf of Falmouth: 4. Elizabeth Metcalf married 
 Rev. Jonathan Lee. 
 
 Of their 12 children, the names of the deceased, 
 omitting two who were quite young, were as follows : 
 Thomas died in Boston, a member of the Legislature 
 from Pittsfield, in 1806, aged 37 ; Jonathan, a Senator, 
 died in Pittsfield in 1845, aged 72; Elizabeth, married 
 to William P. White, a Boston merchant, died in London 
 in 1 798, aged 23 ; George Washington died in Georgia 
 in 1820, aged 38 ; ^Clarissa, married tf rT? 11 " T **'"ji 1 >i t^~ 
 Northampton, died in 183L aped 52: Captain Samuel 
 Lee died in Georgia in 1816, aged 32 ; Love, married to 
 Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, a general in the war of 1812, 
 died in Louisiana in 1820, aged 34 ; Solomon Metcalf, a 
 Professor in Middlebury College, Vermont, died in 1817, 
 aged 28 ; Elisha Lee, a surgeon in the army, died in 
 Louisiana in 1817, aged 24. 
 
 That the writer of this is now a solitary pilgrim, the 
 only survivor of such a large family, is one of the lessons 
 of providence concerning the delusive, vanishing scenes 
 of the earth, which, to his readers, his fellow-travellers 
 on this little globe, he has aimed to teach in his rhymes. 
 
 Canto I. Stanza 11. 
 
 The origin of our Indian tribes is a question of inter 
 est. As all men descended from Adam, and as the human 
 family was spread from Asia over the earth, the question 
 
 7
 
 172 NOTES. 
 
 naturally arises, whence was the American continent 
 settled ? And yet another question presents itself, 
 were all the ancient inhabitants of America descendants 
 of one branch of the eastern family ? 
 
 As it is only 40 miles across Behring's Straits between 
 America and Asia, that is doubtless a point, at which the 
 inhabitants of Northeastern Asia passed over into Amer 
 ica and spread themselves over North America. There 
 is a general resemblance among a multitude of the Indian 
 tribes and an affinity in their languages, besides that many 
 of the tribes have a tradition, that they came from the 
 northwest. 
 
 ,. .Introspect, however, to the Mexicans, and to the nu 
 merous tribes of the West Indies and Central America 
 
 - ... . - ; 
 
 from Mexico to Panama, and of South America, there is 
 reason to believe, that they had a different origin, or that 
 some of them had, especially the tribes of Mexico and 
 Central America. The difference in religion and in the 
 knowledge of sculpture and architecture is very great 
 and striking. 
 
 Mr. George Jones published in London, in 1843, the 
 History of Ancient America, in which he advances the 
 theory, that the inhabitants of North America were 
 descendants of Israel, and those of Central America the 
 descendants of the Tyrians. According to him, Azelmic 
 was Bang of Tyre, in August, 332 years before Christ, 
 when the city was taken and destroyed by Alexander ; 
 and the fugitives escaped in vessels of Sidon and sailed 
 to the Canaries, and thence to America. From Teneriflfe 
 to Florida, being about 3,300 miles, with a favorable
 
 NOTES. 173 
 
 trade wind, the voyage could be made in a month. Thus 
 this first migration across the Atlantic was 1824 years 
 before the rediscovery by Columbus. 
 
 As to the proof of this theory the writer says, there 
 was a tradition in Mexico, that their fathers first touched 
 in Florida. Then he imagines, that he finds some hints 
 in scriptural prophecy concerning Tyre. But if this 
 and one or two other arguments should be unsatisfactory, 
 another argument is certainly deserving of great consid 
 eration, founded on the resemblance between the Tyrian 
 religion and architecture and the religion and architec 
 ture of the Mexicans and the neighboring tribes. 
 
 The North American Indians have no architectural 
 
 
 
 stone ruins ; but such ruins abound in Central America, 
 at TJxmal, Cholula, Palenque, Copan, and Yucatan, for 
 information concerning which the reader is referred to 
 Humboldt, Stephens, and Norman. The pyramidal 
 ruins, with the peculiar structures on them, are only 
 traceable as Egypto-Tyrian architecture. The sculptures 
 also prove the Tyrian origin, as does also the worship of 
 Saturn, the victim-craving Moloch of Canaan's descend 
 ants. From the Canaanites sprang Sidon, then Tyre, 
 then Carthage : they sacrificed their children by fire to 
 their idols. As the Tynans sacrificed them to Apollo, or 
 the Sun, so the Mexicans made the same sacrifices in the 
 temple of the Sun ; and Mr. Squier, in his work on 
 Nicaragua, among many prints of stone idols, which he 
 discovered, has given one of a frightful idol, found at 
 Bensacola, an island of the Nicaraguan lake, near Gren 
 ada, the eyes of which are large, round, and staring, the
 
 174 NOTES. 
 
 mouth widely distended, the lower jaw held down by the 
 hands, and the tongue reaching to the breast. How 
 awful must it have been to " the devotees of the ancient 
 religion, when the bloody priest daubed the lapping 
 tongue with the yet palpitating hearts of his human vic 
 tims ? " 
 
 Such is the theory of Mr. Jones. It is certainly a re 
 markable fact, that Central America is distinguished from 
 North America by its architecture and sculptures in 
 stone and the sacrifice of human victims to idols ; and 
 there is no easier nor more probable explanation of the 
 fact, than that Central America was settled by the Phe- 
 nicians or the fugitives of Tyre, 15,000 of whom escaped 
 in the ships of Sidon from the flames of the city. 
 
 One would expect, that some light would be thrown 
 upon this subject by the examination and comparison of 
 languages. Here may be a field of future labor and dis 
 covery. At present, we are able to compare the lan 
 guages of the Mohegans of the North, of the Mexicans 
 and other tribes of Central Americans three or four 
 thousand miles distant, and of the Araucanians or Chili 
 ans as many miles south of them ; and we find no affinity 
 whatever as to words. It is remarkable also, that in this 
 respect there is a perfect dissimilarity among tribes liv 
 ing near each other in Guatemala and Nicaragua. 
 
 Mr. Squier has given a table of 200 words in the 
 Nagrandan and Chorotegan languages, near lake Nicara 
 gua and of the Mosquito, but in the three languages no 
 two words appear to be alike. Thomas Gage says, there 
 were 18 languages in Guatemala. The Pochonchi, of
 
 NOTES. 175 
 
 which he gives specimens, has no resemblance to the 
 foregoing nor to the Mexican. To this last, however, 
 there is a strong resemblance in the Niquiran, near the 
 Bay of Fonseca, which is accounted for by the Niquirans 
 being a dispersed colony of Mexicans. It is remarkable, 
 that the Araucanian language extends 1200 miles along 
 the Pacific coast : but this has no resemblance to the 
 Mexican, in which the letters B, D, F, G, R, and S are 
 not to be found : it is said, that in the Peruvian also B, 
 D, G, R, X, and Z are wanting. But in the Chilian all 
 the words terminate in the six vowels and in B, D, F, 
 G, L, M, N, R, and V. 
 
 The Indian languages are rendered peculiar by what 
 are called bunch words, by which are often expressed a 
 whole English sentence by one compound word ; as in 
 Eliot's Bible, ' thou hast dove's eyes ' is in Indian in one 
 word, which any one may undertake to pronounce, who 
 is able namely, Kooskuhwhannansuskesukonom. In 
 the Mohawk the name of Joseph Brant, meaning, ' two 
 sticks of wood bound together,' was in one word, Thay- 
 endanegea. In the following instance by Mather, for 
 ' our question' the English is short and the Indian bunch 
 is sufficiently long, Kummogkodonattoottummooctite- 
 aongannunnonash. 
 
 Were scions of the old Mohegan tree. Canto I. st. 11. 
 
 The word Mohegan is an abridgment of the word 
 Muhhekaneew, in the singular, the plural of which is 
 Muhhekaneok. The word signifies ' the people of the 
 great waters, continually in motion.' Not only the
 
 176 NOTES. 
 
 Stockbridge Indians and those in the neighborhood in 
 the State of New York, extending to the Hudson River 
 at Albany, but the Indians also at Montville, between 
 Norwich and New London, in Connecticut, were called 
 Mohegans. By some they are regarded as one of five 
 associated tribes, the Delawares, called by the French 
 the Loups, being another, speaking the same language. 
 It has been said, that the " Mahiccons occupied Staten 
 Island, York Island, Long Island, and that part of New 
 York and Connecticut, which lies between Hudson and 
 Connecticut rivers, from the Highlands down to the 
 Sound." 
 
 Mr. Heckewelder says, the true name of the Mohegan 
 Indians is Mahicanni, and that the Dutch called them 
 Mahikanders ; the French, Mourigans and Mahingans ; 
 the English, Mohiccons, Mohuccans, Muhhekanew, Scha- 
 ticooks, River Indians. This last name may have been 
 given because they dwelt on the Hudson, Hoosatunnuk, 
 and Connecticut rivers ; or only because they lived on 
 the Mohicannittuck, river of the Mohicans, or the Hud 
 son. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of New York, the principal 
 Indians were denominated Mohegans, consisting of vari 
 ous tribes, or bands, living chiefly on the east side of the 
 Hudson River. When the Director-General, Kieft, and 
 Council, held a treaty Aug. 30, 1645, the Mohegan chief, 
 called Aepjen, was the leader of the assembled red men, 
 and spoke for the Wappinnecks, Wechquaesqueecks, the 
 Sintsings, and the Kitchtawauks : and at this time peace 
 was reestablished. Other Mohesan tribes were the
 
 NOTES. 177 
 
 Shvanoys near Norwalk, the Manhattans, the Pachami, 
 the Wappengins, and the Tankitekes. But most or all 
 these Indians were at this time in a degree of subjection 
 to the Mohawks and paid them tribute. 
 
 Josselyn gives the following description of the Empire 
 city : " New York is situated at the mouth of the great 
 River Mohegan, and is built with Dutch brick, the meanest 
 house therein being valued at 100 pounds. To the land 
 ward it is compassed with a wall of good thickness. At 
 the entrance of the river is an island well fortified, and 
 hath command of any ship, that shall attempt fo pass 
 without their leave." 
 
 Mr. Bolton, in hrs history of Westchester, says, that at 
 the time of the Dutch discovery, " the Mahicanni resided 
 on the east shore of the Hudson." These were the Man- 
 kicani and Mahikans of De Laet, the Mahiccanders and 
 Mohickanders of the Dutch, the Mahikans or Mohegans 
 according to Professor Ebeling, and the Muhhekaneew 
 or Mohegans, known in New England history. Mr. 
 Bancroft says, " the country between the banks of the 
 Connecticut River and the Hudson was possessed by in 
 dependent villages of the Mohegans, kindred with the 
 Manhattans ; whose few smokes once arose amidst the 
 forests on New York island." A small lake, 4 miles from 
 the Hudson at Peek's Ball, is still called Mohegan. 
 
 According to Brodhead, when the Mohegans, who 
 lived opposite to fort Orange or Albany, were expelled 
 by the Mohawks from their ancient abode, they settled 
 themselves on the fresh river, called Connettecock by 
 the natives, under the Sachem Sequeen ; and probably 
 12
 
 178 NOTES. 
 
 at this period they entered the Berkshire or Hoosatun- 
 nuk valley, and spread themselves over the State of Con 
 necticut. As there were 13 bands of Indians on Long 
 Island, among them the Montauks, the Shinecocks, the 
 Rockaways, so the number of small clans was much 
 greater on the main land. The river at New London 
 soon bore the name of Mohegan, and the Indians in that 
 neighborhood were called Moheeks. 
 
 The Mohegan language, concerning which Dr. Ed 
 wards published his Observations, in 1788, is, according 
 to him, " spoken by all the Indians throughout New Eng 
 land. Every tribe, as that of Stockbridge, that of Farm- 
 ington, that of New London, &c., has a different dialect ; 
 but the language is radically the same. This language 
 appears to be much more extensive than any other lan 
 guage in North America. The languages of the Dela- 
 wares in Pennsylvania, of the Penobscots bordering on 
 Nova Scotia, of the Indians of St. Francis in Canada, of 
 the Shawanese on the Ohio, and of the Chippeways at 
 the westward of Lake Huron are all radically the same 
 with the Mohegan. The same is said concerning the 
 languages of the Ottowaus, Nanticooks, Munsees, Me- 
 nomonees, Messisaugas, Saukies, Ottagaumies, Killisti- 
 noes, and Algonkins." 
 
 The following specimens of words from different tribes 
 will show the affinity of many of the Indian languages' 
 Being collected from various writers, of different lan 
 guages, who had no common method of denoting partic 
 ular sounds, there was doubtless a greater similarity in 
 the pronunciation than appears on paper.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 179 
 
 Mohegan, Weehcom, 
 
 uwuhm. 
 
 Norridgewock, Wigwam. 
 St. Francis, Wigwam. 
 Penobscot, Wigwam, Wiket. 
 Miami, Weekaumay. 
 
 House. 
 
 Week- Scoodiac, Wannojilcowam. 
 Shawanese, Wigwa. 
 Algonkin, Wikiwam, 
 Delaware, Wikwam. 
 Munsee, Wichquam. 
 Chippeway, Wigwaum. 
 
 This last gives the sound of the a in warn of the other 
 words. 
 
 River. 
 
 Mohegan, Seepoo, Tseepoo, 
 
 Theepow. 
 
 Massachusetts, or Natick, Sepu. 
 Narraganset, Seip. 
 Norridgewock, Seepoo. 
 St. Francis, Seepoo. 
 Penobscot, Seeboo. 
 Schoodiac, or 
 Passamaquoddy, Seipb. 
 
 Micmac, Sepoon. 
 Skoffie, Shee-eep. 
 Delaware, Seepoo, Sipu. 
 Chippeway, Seepee, Sippim. 
 Algonkin, Sipi, Sipim. 
 Miami, Seepeeway, Sipioue. 
 Pottawatameh, Seebee. 
 Knisteneaux, Sepee. 
 Shawanese, Tliepee, Sepe. 
 
 Mountain. 
 
 Mohegan, W'chu, Whauchoo. 
 Massachusetts, Wadchu, Wad- 
 
 chuash, plural. 
 
 Penobscot, Waad-jo } Wau-cho. 
 Schoodiac, Waadtc, 
 
 Miami, Atcheewee. 
 
 Delaware, Wauchchoo, Wauch- 
 
 chootcall, pi. 
 Chippeway, Wudju, Wudjuuntn, 
 
 pi. 
 
 Fish. 
 
 Mohegan, Namase, Namass. 
 Naticks, Namohs, Namohsoh, 
 
 Namohsog,pl. 
 Narraganset, Namauss. 
 
 Penobscot, Norn-is. 
 Schoodiac, Nom-is. 
 Delaware, Namees. 
 Chippeway, KicTcon. 
 
 Fire. 
 
 Mohegan, ' Thiouw, Stauw. 
 
 Natick, Nootau. 
 
 Narraganset, Squuila,Note, Yote, 
 
 Mickot. 
 
 Norridgewock, Skootai. 
 St. Francis, Scoottah. 
 Penobscot, Scoutay, Skmt-ta. 
 Schoodiac, Skurit, Skoot. 
 
 Mountaineer, Schootoo. 
 Skoffie, Sclikootow. 
 Algonkin, Scoutay. 
 Messisaugas, Scooteh. 
 Chippeway, Scutta, Ish-koo-da. 
 Knisteneaux, Scoutay. 
 Shawanese, Scoote. 
 Miami, Kohteway.
 
 180 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Shoe. 
 
 Mohegan, Mkissin. 
 Natick, Mohkissonash, pi. 
 Narraganset, Mocussinash, pi. or 
 
 Mockussinchash. 
 Norridgewock, Mukkaysen. 
 Penobscot, Mukkaysen. 
 St. Fancis, Mokasin, Mokkausin. 
 
 Mountaineer, Maslitashun. 
 Skoffie, Masteshun. 
 Algonkin, Mauckisin. 
 Chippeway, Maukissin. 
 Knisteneaux, Moscasin. 
 Nanticoke, Mechklssins. 
 Delaware, Maux&n. 
 
 The Sun. 
 
 Mohegan, Keesoj/h. 
 Narraganset, Reesuckquand, the 
 
 Sun-god. 
 
 Norridgewock, Keezoos. 
 St. Francis, Keesoos. 
 Penobscot, Geesoos, Keesoos. 
 Micmac, Nakoushet. 
 
 Mohegan, Hpoon. 
 Natick, Popoon. 
 Narraganset, Papone. 
 Norridgowock, Payboon. 
 St. Francis, Pehboon. 
 Peuobscot, Papoon. 
 Mountaineer, Poopoohen. 
 
 Mountaineer, Beshung. 
 Skoffie, Beeslioon. 
 Algonkin, Kijis. 
 Chippeway, Kissis, Geessessey. 
 Delaware, Gees-chuch. 
 Minsi, Gis-chuch. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Skoffie, Poopoon. 
 Algonkin, Pepoon. 
 Chippeway, Pepoon^ Bebone, 
 
 Peeboan. 
 
 Knisteneaux, Pepoon. 
 Nanticoke, Poopponu, Hoppoon. 
 Miami, Peponway. 
 
 Devil. 
 
 Mohegan, Mtandou, Mannito. 
 Natick, Mattannit. 
 Norridgewock, Malseneweskoo. 
 St. Francis, Mattchantoo. 
 Penobscot, Machihando. 
 Schoodiac, Ma-cM-handt. 
 Algonkin, Matchi, MatcU-mani- 
 too. 
 
 Chippeway, Manitoo, Matchee- 
 
 manitoo. 
 Delaware, Machtanda, Matslii- 
 
 mannitto. 
 
 Shawanese, Matchemenetoo. 
 Nanticoke, Matlannlole. 
 Miami, Matchee-manetoo. 
 
 Mohegan, Mqudh. 
 Natick, Mosq. 
 Narraganset, Mask. 
 Algonkin, Macqua. 
 Chippeway, Mackwdh. 
 
 A Bear. 
 
 Knisteneaux, Masqua. 
 Shawanese, Mauquah. 
 Delaware, Machk. 
 Menomonies, Ouwashah. 
 Miami, Moskway.
 
 Mohegan, Nbey, M'ppeh. 
 Natick, Nippe. 
 Narrnganset, Nip. 
 Norridgewock, Nabee. 
 Penobscot, Kneppi, Nippee. 
 bt. Francis, Nehbee, Nupee. 
 
 NOTES. 181 
 
 Water. 
 
 Algonkin, Neepee, N!pi, Nipei. 
 Chippeway, Nebbi, Nippee. 
 Knisteneaux, Nepee. 
 Messisaugus, Nippee. 
 Miami, Napay. 
 
 Notwithstanding this radical affinity of many of the 
 Indian languages, this identity of many words, yet there 
 is also a great dissimilarity between them. 
 
 Mr. George Catlin, in his remarkable volumes concern 
 ing the American Indians, expresses his belief that of 
 the 48 tribes, which he visited, 30 had languages dis 
 tinct and radically different. 
 
 While Dr. Edwards regarded the Mohegan as the 
 standard Indian language, Mr. Heckewelder, a Mission 
 ary to the Delawares, regarded the Lenni Lennape or 
 Delaware as the standard language ; " each considered 
 the particular dialect, with which he happened to be 
 most familiar, as the principal or standard language, and 
 the rest as branches or dialects of it." 
 
 Perhaps the reader will be satisfied, that Dr. Edwards 
 is right, and that the claims of the Mohegan are superior 
 to those of the Delaware, from the following considera 
 tions. 
 
 Mr. John Pickering has published a vocabulary of 45 
 words in 14 languages supposed to be of a common stock, 
 in which ' to die,' and ' dead ' are in Mohegan Nip and 
 Nepoo, and in Delaware they are Angel, and Angelluk. 
 
 On examining the other dialects, the Munsee has An- 
 gellowoagan for ' to die,' and the Nanticoke has Angel.
 
 182 NOTES. 
 
 No other language has any similar word. But corre 
 sponding to the Mohegan for ' dead,' Nepoo, the Sbaw- 
 anese has Nepwa ; the Narraganset has Nippitch cwo ; 
 the Massachusetts has Nuppoo ; and the Chippeway has 
 Neepoo. 
 
 And corresponding to the Mohegan Nip or Neep, ' to 
 die,' the Narraganset has Nippitch ewo ; the Massachu 
 setts has Ut-nuppun ; the Algonkin has Nip or Nipowen ; 
 the Chippeway has Nip ; and the Knisteneaux has Ne- 
 pew. 
 
 ' A Bear' in Mohegan is Mquoh and in Delaware 
 Machk. The Narraganset has Mosk and the Massachu 
 setts also ; but the Shawanese, Algonkin, Chippeway, 
 and Knisteneaux have Mack-wah or Musk-quaw in two 
 syllables, like the Mohegan. 
 
 ' A beaver ' is Amisque.in Mohegan, also in Knisten 
 eaux ; Amik in Algonkin and Chippeway. The Dela 
 ware has Tamaque, the Shawanese has Amaquah, the 
 Munsee has Amochk ; the Nanticoke has Nataque ; the 
 Narraganset has Tummock ; the Massachusetts Tum- 
 m'unk ; the Penobscot Toumakoi ; the Norridgewock 
 Temakwa ; and the St. Francis Temarqua. Here the 
 Delaware has the strongest party. 
 
 On the other hand, the Mohegan Hpoon for ' winter ' is 
 supported by a similar word in the Nanticoke, Narragan 
 set, Massachusetts, Penobscot, Norridgewock, St. Francis, 
 Algonkin, Chippeway, and Knisteneaux, while the 
 Delaware Lowan for winter has the support only of 
 Munsee. 
 
 Metooque for wood in Mohegan has in the other Ian-
 
 NOTES. 183 
 
 guages Mehtug, Wudtuckqun, Mittick, Meteek, Mistick, 
 while the Delaware Tachan has only the support of Ne- 
 taukun in the Messisaugas. 
 
 The Mohegan Pumisseh for ' go ' has a similar word in 
 five languages, while the Delaware Aal for ' go ' stands 
 alone. 
 
 Mannito in Mohegan means ' spirit; ' so in Algonkin, 
 and Chippeway ; and Mattanit in Massachusetts ; but the 
 Delaware has Tschipey, tschitschank, with the solitary 
 support of Tsee-e-p in Nantieoke. 
 
 On the whole, from this comparison it is evident, that 
 the Mohegan has a greater affinity to more dialects and 
 to more important ones, than the Delaware, and it seems 
 but an act of justice to regard the Mohegan as the lead 
 ing and standard language in the northern part of Amer 
 ica. 
 
 It should be remembered, that at the north there is 
 one language entirely distinct from the Mohegan dialects, 
 and that is the Iroquois, fonnerly of the interior of New 
 York, including the five nations the Mohawks, the 
 Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Senecas, and Cayugas. 
 When the Tuscaroras of North Carolina joined them, 
 they were called the six nations. The Dutch called 
 these Indians the Maquaas. 
 
 It has been claimed by some of our distinguished 
 writers, that the Algonkin should be regarded as the 
 leading language of the central parts of our country 
 from the eastern sea-board to the Mississippi. But I per 
 ceive no good reasons for the allowance of this claim. 
 The Mohegan language of New York, Connecticut, and
 
 184 NOTES. 
 
 the Hoosatunnuk valley has been known from the early 
 settlements, also the Narraganset of Rhode Island, and 
 the Natick of Massachusetts, in which was early printed 
 Eliot's complete translation of the Bible. Either of these 
 languages, as well as the Delaware, it would seem, has 
 claims superior to the Algonkin. 
 
 This term was used by La Hontan, a French officer, 
 who went to Quebec in 1683, and for four years was 
 stationed at different forts from Chambly up to the falls 
 of St. Mary. He was at Green Bay in 1689, and thence 
 he proceeded to the Mississippi. His travels were pub 
 lished in 1705 ; some of his accounts are the inventions 
 of a traveller. His brief vocabulary of the Algonkin 
 has no great authority, for Charlevoix says, that Sagard, 
 Cartier, and La Hontan " took at random a few words 
 from the Huron and others from the Algonkin tongues, 
 which they very ill remembered, and which often signi 
 fied something very different from what they imagined." 
 According to La Hontan himself, the insignificance of 
 the Algonkin nation was such, when he travelled among 
 them, that the whole number did not amount to two hun 
 dred souls. It is obvious, then, that the word Algonkin 
 has no claim to be the generic name to indicate the pre 
 vailing dialect of many thousands of the Indians of the 
 east and the north. It does not appear from what par 
 ticular band of Indians the name was taken, although the 
 Encyclopedia Americana speaks of them as living on the 
 Assiniboin or Rainy Lake, and Prairie de Portage, 
 amounting to 600. " They are in the general practice of 
 polygamy, and much given to the use of intoxicating 
 liquors ; they are declining, and in a miserable state."
 
 NOTES. 185 
 
 Modern writers say, that the Algonkins, the Chippe- 
 ways, and Ojibwas are precisely the same ; then why 
 not remove the confusion, which has been introduced by 
 the use of the three terms, by rejecting the words Al- 
 gonkin and Ojibwa and using only the common, well- 
 known name of Chippeway? Yet of late there has 
 been invented the new term Algic, as though it was the 
 root of Algonkin, and this is employed to comprise the 
 host of languages spread over most of the United States ; 
 but it is a word of no more advantage or authority in 
 this respect, than would be Chippie or Ojibbic, fashioned 
 from the other names of this tribe. Accepting, then, the 
 well-known name of Chippeway, and carefully distin 
 guishing it from the more northern Chepewyan, the ques 
 tion comes, why should not the old Mohegan of New 
 York, Hudson River, and the sea-board be the general 
 term, if any is wanted, to denote the cognate languages, 
 rather than the Chippeway of the lakes and of the north 
 west interior ? 
 
 In his arrangement of the Indian tribes, La Hontan 
 gives first the names of the several tribes in Acadia ; 
 next, those on the St. Lawrence, from the sea to Mon 
 treal, the Papinachois, Montagnois, Gaspesiens, Abena- 
 kis of Sciller, and Algonkins, then, those on Lake 
 Huron, Outaouas, Nockes, Missiaugues, Attekamek, Out- 
 chipoues, called the Sauteurs ; further, on the borders 
 of Lake Illinois, the Illinois of Chegakou, Oumamis, 
 Maskoutens, Kickapous, Outagamis, Malomimis, Pout- 
 eouatamis, Ojatimons, Sakis. He also mentions other 
 tribes. For what reason, it may be asked, can the word
 
 186 NOTES. 
 
 Algonkin have been selected to stand as the representa 
 tive language of all these tribes or Indian nations ? 
 
 As a subdivision of the Northern Indians there is one 
 name, that of the Abenakis, which has been often em 
 ployed and which requires consideration. It is main 
 tained by Mr. Heckewelder, that the Delawares along 
 the Atlantic between the Hudson and the Potomac were 
 called by the western and northern Indians Wapanachki, 
 corrupted into Abenaki, Abenaquis, meaning East- 
 landers, " people at the rising of the sun." But this 
 may be an error ; for Father Ralle had before given the 
 name to some tribes in Maine, especially to the Nor- 
 ridgewogs, among whom he lived, and whose vocabulary 
 is published as the Abnaki. Other tribes were the 
 Ameriscoggans and the Penobscots. These, and some 
 other tribes in Maine might more properly than the 
 Delawares be called ' Eastlanders,' if such be the mean 
 ing of Abenaki. The Openangos of La Hontan mean 
 the Abenaukis. 
 
 In 1812 Mr. Schermerhorn made a report concerning 
 the Indians east of the Mississippi and north of the 
 Ohio to the Lakes, in which he estimated them at about 
 19,000, of which the Chippeways made only 1,000. 
 The other equal tribes were the Wyandots, Ottaways, 
 Delawares, Miamies, Kickapoos ; the still larger tribes 
 were the Putawatamies, Sauks, Foxes, Winnebagoes, and 
 Menomenes. Of the Indians in New England and New 
 York he made no estimate. Perhaps the Chippeways 
 have been so situated, as to be brought more in contact 
 with the travellers along the lakes and the agents of our 
 government ; hence the prominence given to this tribe.
 
 NOTES. 187 
 
 In examining the totems, or pictorial signatures of the 
 Abenakis and their allies, in all nineteen or twenty, among 
 which is that of the Algonkins, there is nothing in the last 
 to distinguish it from the others or to indicate any supe 
 riority. Indeed, the image of a frog will not be regarded 
 as of so high a cLgnity as that of the eagle, the fox, the 
 elk, and of other animals. Mr. McKenney found at the 
 head of an Indian grave a pine bOard with the form of 
 an elk cut in it, " doubtless the totem of the band, to 
 which the deceased had belonged." That band, as ap 
 pears from the totems now before me, was the Pentu- 
 gooay. From the Algonkin totem I should conclude, 
 that it indicated a small clan, as was irdicated by the 
 other totems. 
 
 It is a very remarkable fact in regard to the Indian 
 languages of North and South America, supposed by 
 Adelung to be 1200 in number, that although they may 
 be divided into classes, which bear no resemblance to 
 each other in words, yet they are all alike in a peculiar 
 grammatical structure, by which they are distinguished 
 from all the languages of Europe, and by which they 
 have an affinity with the Hebrew and other languages 
 of the East. The following illustrative examples may 
 be given. 
 
 The Mohegan, representing the dialects from the At 
 lantic in New England to the Mississippi ; the Chero 
 kee, representing the languages of Florida ; the Pocon- 
 chi, representing those of Central America, near 
 Guatemala ; the Orinoco languages ; and the Arauca- 
 nian, representing the dialects of Chili, are dissimilar in
 
 188 NOTES. 
 
 words, but they are all alike in the use of personal pre 
 fixes and suffixes to nouns and verbs. 
 
 In Mohegan, the pronouns I, thou, and he, are Neah, 
 Keah, TJwoh, the first letters of which, N, K, and U, are 
 prefixed to nouns ; as tmohhecan, a hatchet ; ndumhecan 
 is my hatchet ; ktumhecan, thy hatchet ; utumhecan, his 
 hatchet 
 
 So in Cherokee, galuiha, I am tying it ; haluiha, thou 
 art tying it ; kahluiha, he is tying it. 
 
 In Poconchi, the prefixes are V, A, and R : thus, ixim, 
 corn ; vixim, my corn ; avixim, thy corn ; rixim, his 
 corn. Or, if the noun begins with a consonant, the pre 
 fixes are Nu, A, and Ru : as pat, a house ; nupat, my 
 house ; apat, thy house ; rupat, his house. In like man 
 ner tat, father ; holom, head ; cam, hand ; car, fish ; tsi, 
 dog. 
 
 In Orinoco, apoto means a rule ; japatoi, my rule ; 
 avapotoi, thy rule ; itapotoi, his rule. 
 
 In the Araucanian or Chili tongue the pronouns are 
 inche, I ; eimi, you ; teye, which. The word elun means 
 to give ; it also means I give, rendering the use of inche 
 unnecessary. Then we have, elun, I give ; eluimi, thou 
 givest ; elui, he gives. In the case of the last two words 
 the pronouns are affixed, instead of being prefixed. 
 
 In Hebrew the pronouns are ani, ka, as suffix, and hu, 
 or hua. Ni is the suffix for me ; k or ka for the second 
 person ; and vau, the letter u and hu are the suffixes for 
 he and him. Nu expresses us ; so in Mohegan Nuh is 
 used, as noghnuh, our father. 
 
 Mr. Nuttall has pointed out the resemblance in Ian-
 
 NOTES. 189 
 
 guage, habits, and morals between the aborigines of North 
 America and the Tartar tribes of the Russian Empire. 
 From the peculiarity of structure in the American lan 
 guages, distinguishing them from those of Europe, it 
 may perhaps be justly concluded, that all the American 
 Indians had a common Asiatic origin, in accordance with 
 the teaching of the divine word as to the origin of the 
 whole human family. 
 
 In the Mohegan there is no diversity of gender. The 
 same words express he and she, him and her. Hence 
 these Indians in speaking English are apt to . say, if one 
 was speaking of his wife ' he sick, he gone away.' 
 Thus nsconmoo means not only, ' he is malicious,' but 
 also ' she is malicious.' . . The prefixes and suffixes 
 are always used, although other nominatives and accusa 
 tives are expressed, for which reason the Indian speaking 
 English retains his own idiom, however strange to our 
 ears. Instead of saying ' John loves Peter,' the Indian 
 says, 'John he loves him Peter,' John nduhwhunuw 
 Peteran. 
 
 The Mohegan language may be regarded as extending 
 from New York island over Connecticut to Narraganset, 
 including Long Island, and from the Hudson, the old 
 Mohogan River, as high up as Albany, to the Hoosatun- 
 nuk valley. Various specimens of the language are the 
 following. 
 
 Words from the Montauk chief on Long Island by 
 John Lyon Gardiner. Massakeat mund, great good 
 spirit ; saunchen, king ; seaunskq, queen ; wonnux, white 
 man ; wonnuxk, a white woman ; wewauchum, Indian
 
 190 NOTES. 
 
 corn ; mausqueseets, beans ; ausgook, pumpkins ; quau- 
 baug, a round clam ; suxawaug, a long clam ; niep, 
 water ; keagh or cage, land ; yunksquauh, a young wo 
 man ; massakeat mund sumana Inshun wewachum, 
 Great Spirit give Indian corn. Inchun, an Indian ; to- 
 baugsk, tobacco ; cheaganan a hatchet ; mashuee, a ca 
 noe ; squashees, a little girl ; weenai, an old woman ; 
 weadamus, roast corn ; cutdaus, boiled corn ; seaump, 
 pounded corn ; cheesk, small ; chiauk, large ; weegan, 
 good ; muttadeaio, bad ; the numerals, nuckit, neeze, 
 nisk, yuaw, nepaw ; conma, nusus, swans, passecucond, 
 jujunck. 
 
 An Indian woman, named Sarah Mawweek, born in 
 East Haven, lived in 1787 at Derby Bridge, which she 
 called Naukatungk, and gave to President Stiles the fol 
 lowing words yet ignorant of the name of her tribe. 
 Kuuh tah, fire ; toof ku, night ; kee sup, day ; tookh, tree ; 
 k't schwak, a great tree ; iskkaheeg, cider ; m'nukqh 
 wuk, the seven stars ; awaussuse, the ursa major, a bear ; 
 oopht, a deer; n'pee, water; shunneegh, a squirrel; 
 Mioonkh took, East Haven ; quinnepyooghq, the river ; 
 Mautunsq, West rock ; ruink, or rink, man ; weenigh, 
 woman ; kochee, old man ; weeneece, old woman ; see- 
 pooh, river ; kuthun, sea ; m'nuksquo, rock ; wat-chooh, 
 mountain ; woosquat, walnut tree ; unkhkupee, rum ; 
 pawtumpung, break of day. 
 
 The following list of Mohegan words, obtained from 
 the Indians near Norwich, was given me in 1831, by 
 Sarah Lanman Huntington, then their Sunday religious 
 teacher, afterwards the wife of Rev. Dr. Eli Smith of
 
 NOTES. 
 
 191 
 
 Syria, now reaping her reward. It is dated at Moheeg, 
 which was the Indian name of their village at Montville, 
 on the River Thames, formerly the Mohegan River. A 
 bear, wossoos ; eye, nee ; ear, tauog; girl, squassise ; he, 
 noheen ; his heart, wuttah ; his head, noquunnuk ; thou, 
 keen ; his teeth, weebuck ; thank you, taubot ; hair, wish- 
 agan ; I, neen ; water, nip ; how, tuneh ; elder sister, 
 neeticks ; river, osseed ; dead, nuppoo ; devil, jubi ; fire, 
 yote ; marry, ocksoo ; shoe, moccussin ; her husband, 
 wasak ; where, phibug ; winter, uppoon ; numerals, 
 nghud, nees, chusoke, yough, nuppa ; n'quittasuch, nei- 
 suck, ghuhoosk, bossoohoogan, biog. 
 
 If any one is curious to make now a comparison with 
 brief specimens of the Plymouth and Virginia languages, 
 they are here given. The following are all the Indian 
 words of Massasoit and the Indians, connected with Plym 
 outh, which have been preserved. 
 
 Kiehtan or Ketan, God. 
 Sagimus, Sachem, king, prince, 
 
 chief. 
 
 Tpwaum, friend. 
 Pinese, a counsellor^ 
 Maske, probably mosk, bear. 
 Sachimo comaco, a Prince's 
 
 house. 
 
 Coramoco, feast and dance. 
 Witeo, an ordinary house. 
 Squaw-Sachim, the Sachem's 
 
 wife. 
 Neen womasu sagimus, my lov 
 
 ing Sachem. 
 Keen Winsnow? Art thou 
 
 Winslow ? 
 Ahlie, yes. 
 Matta neen wonckanet namen, 
 
 Winsnow! Winslow, I shall 
 
 never see thee again. 
 Hobbamock, the devil. 
 Quatchet, walk abroad. 
 Ho wok, lam taken. 
 Askooke, the snake. 
 Wobsacuck, the eagle. 
 Powah, ajuggler. 
 Pniese, (Pinese?) chief. 
 Mazzium, Indian Corn. 
 Neen Squaes, lam a girl. 
 Chise, old man. 
 Kiehchise, a man of exceeding 
 
 age. 
 Hin'naim namen, by and by it 
 
 should see. 
 
 michen, it should eat. 
 Matta cuts, but not speak. 
 
 This dialect, it would appear from these words, is
 
 192 NOTES. 
 
 strongly allied to the Narraganset, as given by Roger 
 Williams, or is the same. 
 
 The following are a few words from the Virginia Pow- 
 hattan and Pampticoe languages. 
 
 1. Powhattan. 
 
 Broken maize, homony. 
 House, yehawkan, wigwaum. 
 Shoes, mockasin. 
 Axe, tomahawk. 
 Knives, pamesauk. 
 Pickaxes, tockahock. 
 Water, suckahanna. 
 Friends, netoppew. 
 
 Sun, keskough. 
 
 Night, toppgough. 
 
 Star, pummahuwp. 
 
 God, okee. 
 
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, necut, niuyh, nuss, 
 
 yough, parauske. 
 Chief, werowance. 
 Grey goose, cohonk. 
 
 2. Pampticoe. 
 
 Axe, tomdhick. 
 Tobacco, hookpau. 
 "Water, umpe. 
 
 House, wigwaum. 
 Gods , mantoac. 
 Shoes, moggison. 
 
 Hariot says, the Virginians have for their idols tem 
 ples, which they call Machicomuck : this is the Mohegan 
 for Great House for a Sachem. Machauk means in Mo 
 hegan great, and Sachimo-comaco,as used at Plymouth, 
 means Sachem's house. 
 
 Canto I. Stanza 16. 
 
 The trade for furs with the Indians was an important 
 source of profit to the first settlers of New England ; and 
 this profitable trade has been wonderfully extended to 
 the west and the north, and continues to the present day- 
 But instead of only the skins of musquash and beaver 
 and a few other furred animals, a great variety of valuable 
 and costly furs are now carried from America to satisfy 
 the claims of fashion in other parts of the world, such as 
 the ermine, the black and silver fox, the sable, the raccoon,
 
 NOTES. 193 
 
 the fisher, the lynx, the mink, the otter, the squirrel, the 
 martin, the bear. As for the supply of buffalo robes 
 several hundred thousand buffaloes are killed every year ; 
 the race may ere long become extinct. 
 
 Whether "a needment" or not, a pipe is almost in 
 separable from an Indian. The war-pipe is smoked; 
 and in holding a treaty the parties concerned must be 
 gin with smoking the pipe of peace. Very beautiful and 
 splendid calumets the Indians made of a stone, procured 
 only in one place in this country, from the red pipe- 
 stone quarry of the far West, visited and described by 
 Mr. George Catlin, by whom I was favored with a speci 
 men. It lies in the latitude of Montreal, 2 or 300 miles 
 west of the Falls of St. Anthony. 
 
 Among the Indian " needments " the kettle was very 
 important. The Ahkuk or Ohkuke in the Natick lan 
 guage, the kettle, was made of pottery or of stone. The 
 only one of stone, which I have ever seen in Massachu 
 setts, was recently ploughed up in Northampton, the In-, 
 dian Nonotuck, after reposing in the ground nearly 200 
 years. In the Narraganset the word is aucuck ; in the 
 Chippeway, akeek ; in the Delaware, akeek or aukeek; 
 in the Penobscot, kook ; among the Esquimaux, ahkusik. 
 My Nonotuck kettle is made of soap-stone and is inter 
 nally about six inches deep and seven in diameter. From 
 ear to ear is ten inches. In the centre of one side is an 
 oval hole with a neat plug or stopper of the same stone. 
 The kettle was often made of clay earth mixed with 
 feldspar, quartz, and shells. An akeek of pottery was 
 found by Schoolcraft in a cave of the River St. Mary 
 13
 
 194 NOTES. 
 
 Michigan ; it is in the cabinet of the New York Histori 
 cal Society. To this Society I have presented the Non- 
 otuck Ahkook as a memento of the Connecticut River In 
 dians, the last of -whom, at Nonotuck, recently died. 
 She was a native of Mohegan, near Norwich, and a 
 niece of Samson Occum, the celebrated Indian preacher. 
 The following is the inscription on her marble grave 
 stone. " Sally Maminash, the last of the Indians in this 
 town, died Jan. 3, 1853, aged about 88 years. She was 
 a Christian woman of eminent faith and piety ; and in 
 her age and want she found noble Christian friends, 
 whose reward is with God." Mrs. Sophia Clap deserves 
 honorable remembrance for giving a home to Sally for 
 many years ; she died Nov. 2, 1846, and her husband 
 Warham Clap, died Oct. 7, 1852, aged 82. 
 
 The love of Onkuppee, fyc. Canto I. st. 16. 
 The supply of the Indian appetite with rum or 
 whiskey has been a great cause of the continued degrada 
 tion and misery of our copper-colored brethren. Speak 
 ing of the Chippeways, whom he saw on the shores of 
 Lake Superior, Mr. McKenney says, "nothing can ex 
 ceed the poverty and wretchedness of these people, and 
 their love of tobacco and whiskey. One of the old 
 men, who came ashore out of one of these canoes, said 
 he had eaten nothing for two days, and yet his first re 
 quest was for tobacco. In general it is for whiskey. To 
 bacco is the Lethean antidote for all their exposures and 
 wants. An Indian loves to soothe his brain with it, and, 
 as if seeking to do this, never smokes without blowing
 
 NOTES. 195 
 
 the fumes in streams from his nostrils as well as his 
 mouth." The pipe is two feet and a half long, and the 
 bowl rests on the ground. 
 
 I am not sure but among the whites there is a pretty 
 close connection between the smoke of tobacco and the 
 flames of the fire-water ; for who will be found to be so 
 fond of strong drink as great smokers ? And if it be 
 true, as it doubtless is, that the free sale of fire-water 
 and the ready supply of it to the slaves of a debasing 
 appetite is one great cause of crime and misery in the 
 community, how can any man of common sense and 
 common benevolence doubt the right of the people to 
 require of their legislators the enactment of prohibitory 
 and efficacious laws ? We have known laws to reward 
 the killing of crows and to punish the killing of robins, 
 because the former tear up the corn and the latter eat 
 up the insects, which are injurious to the farmer. Will 
 not a small share of the intellectual power, which ap 
 proves of these laws, approve also of laws, interdicting 
 the sale of a poison, which overthrows man's reason and 
 creates an army of criminals and paupers in the com 
 munity ? 
 
 Canto I. Stanza 18. 
 
 The name of John Sergeant should be held in honor 
 in connection with Eliot, the Mayhews, and other friends 
 and teachers of the Indians. He was a native of New 
 ark, a graduate of Yale in 1 729, and after being a tutor 
 four years, he went to Hoosatunnuk as a preacher to the 
 Indians in Oct. 1734. He remained with them as their
 
 196 NOTES. 
 
 teacher till his death July 27, 1749, aged 48, the families 
 of the red men under his care having increased from 8 
 or 10 to 53, the number of souls being 218, which num 
 ber was afterwards increased to 400. Jonathan Ed 
 wards succeeded him as a minister both to the whites 
 and the Indians until his removal to become the Presi 
 dent of Princeton College. 
 
 After the emigration of these Indians, in 1785 and 
 1788, from Stockbridge to New Stockbridge, near Utica, 
 New York, Mr. Sergeant's son, John Sergeant, was to 
 them a missionary, in all 60 years ; he died Sept. 8, 1824. 
 The missionary spirit is not extinct in Mr. S.'s descend 
 ants ; Mrs. De Forest, of Stockbridge, has lately returned 
 on account of ill health from a mission to Syria of 13 
 years. 
 
 At Wnahtukook there liv'd a worthy chief. Cant. I. st. 22. 
 In 1 734 theHoosatunnuk Indians lived in two places, 
 in Stockbridge and Sheffield, 10 miles apart. The 
 settlement, in what is now Stockbridge, was called 
 Wnahktukook meaning Great Meadow ; and that in 
 Sheffield near the line of Great Barrington was called 
 Skatekook. At the former place the chief man was 
 Kunkapot, to whom Governor Belcher gave the com 
 mission of captain about 1 734 ; and at the latter place 
 the chief man was Lieutenant Umpachenee, who died 
 Aug. 10, 1751. Nov. 2, 1735 Mr. Sergeant baptized 
 Kunkapot by the name of John, his wife Mary, and his 
 eldest daughter. The next Sunday he baptized the rest 
 of his family ; and Nov. 16, the lieutenant by the name
 
 NOTES. 197 
 
 of Aaron, his wife Hannah, and the rest of his family. 
 Of him Mr. Sergeant says " he is a clear-headed, smart 
 man, of a deep reach, and pleasant humor ; and is one 
 of the best speakers we hear ; is free in conversation, 
 and talks excellently well." In 1736 the lieutenant 
 and the few Indian families, living with him, removed to 
 Wnahktukook. 
 
 Other Indians were Ebenezer and Sarah, who chose 
 to be married after the English manner : Wnampee and 
 his wife, who were baptized, as was Tohtohkukhoonaut, 
 the lieutenant's brother, and Nawnawnekenuk, a princi 
 pal man, usually called Nawneek. 
 
 Monument Mountain, which is chiefly in Great Bar- 
 rington, just below Wnahtukook, is not unknown to 
 song. As William C. Bryant spent years of his youth 
 and early manhood on the banks of the Hoosatunnuk, 
 his poetry breathes of the scenery around him, and of 
 the events of the valley, as in the pieces, in his volume 
 of poems, 1834, entitled 'Monument Mountain,' 'I 
 broke the Spell,' ' An Indian at the burial-place of his 
 Fathers,' ' Green River,' and ' A Walk at Sunset.' 
 
 Could the Indians now, in this year 1856, revisit their 
 old abodes and places of resort in Berkshire county, 
 with what astonishment would they look upon the mighty 
 changes, which have been produced by patient industry, 
 by enterprise, by science and genius, by inventive pow 
 ers, and the generous and profuse outlays of wealth ? A 
 wilderness has been changed into a paradise. A magnifi 
 cent temple of science stands at the northern gate, 
 fit companion of its near associate, a towering moun-
 
 198 NOTES. 
 
 tain height, in which presides a very learned and much 
 honored son of Berkshire. In the central Pontoosuc is 
 a large and prosperous Institution for the culture of the 
 female mind and heart, with a multitude of other 
 schools of learning scattered over the whole region. 
 Everywhere are the meeting-houses of stone, and brick, 
 and wood with their spires pointing high upwards to the 
 skies. The marble of Berkshire shines out resplen- 
 dently in the magnificent structures of our cities, and in 
 the wide-scattered, humble memorials of the dead. Its 
 lime is boundless, and its iron is everywhere doing its 
 mighty work or smoothing the way of the swift travel 
 ler. Its immense production of paper creates a re 
 pository of intellect for the whole country. Its flocks 
 are associated with the finest of cloths. Improvement 
 is everywhere making its rapid advances. Could an 
 ancient Indian revisit the beloved Hoosatunnuk, he 
 would see at " Brookside," reared in the wilderness oc 
 cupied by his fathers, one mile from the village of Great 
 Barrington, a costly and splendid mansion, the residence 
 of one retiring from the accumulation of wealth in the 
 city to the quietude and varied delights of a residence 
 in the country. With what amazement would he visit 
 in that mansion a gallery of costly and splendid paint 
 ings by foreign and American artists, one of them a 
 large historical picture of Washington at the battle of 
 Monmouth, by Leutze, who also painted Washington 
 crossing the Delaware ? And would not his heart burn 
 with gratitude to Mr. David Leavitt, who in making ex 
 cavations for his buildings, as he found the bones of
 
 NOTES. 199 
 
 about 30 Indians in sitting postures with their faces to 
 the west, had them carefully removed and placed in a 
 new burying-ground with a neat marble monument to 
 their memory ? With what wonder would he look upon 
 that huge cascade barn, unequalled perhaps in the world, 
 with " Roaring Brook " rushing in the midst of it, and 
 accomplishing a multitude of agricultural labors, else 
 where done with human hands ? But more than all the 
 wonders of nature and of art he would behold throngs 
 of men, women, and youth of high intelligence and true 
 virtue, with minds irradiated with eternal truth, and 
 hearts glowing with love to God and man, the redeemed 
 disciples of Jesus Christ, and the heirs of immortal 
 glory, a more happy vale, perhaps, than any of its mag 
 nitude on the face of the earth, and whose sons and 
 daughters have carried the light of the gospel to the 
 ends of the world. 
 
 A wampum belt compressed her mantle's fold. 
 
 Canto I. st. 26. 
 
 The use of wampum by way of ornament in various 
 articles of dress furnished a fine proof of taste and skill 
 on the part of the Indian women. The wampum is a 
 small bead or cylinder, made of a sea shell, a quarter of 
 an inch long, and strung together, and thus attached by 
 way of ornament to a leather belt or other article of 
 clothing. When the beads were in strings or unstrung, 
 they were passed as money, called peag. Commonly 
 these were white ; and hence the name of wampum 
 from wampi, white; but when made of the black or
 
 200 NOTES. 
 
 purple part of a shell, they were of double value. The 
 white were made of the metauhock, or periwinkle, and 
 the black of the paquauhock. Sucki meaning black, 
 they called this black money suckauhock. Before their 
 acquaintance with the English they drilled or bored the 
 shells with stones ; but afterwards with awls. At one 
 tune it required 450 beads to make a strand, worth a 
 dollar and a half. Speaking of these beads, Josselyn 
 said, " they make many curious works with them to 
 adorn the persons of their Sagamores and principal men 
 and young women, as belts, girdles, tablets, borders for 
 their women's hair, bracelets, necklaces, and links to 
 hang in their ears. The English merchant giveth them 
 ten shillings a fathom for their white and as much more 
 for their blue beads." 
 
 The wampum was tastefully employed in making 
 beautiful bracelets, black and white in stripes, nearly 
 a yard long, and worn about the wrist, or in ornament 
 ing the leather moccasins or other parts of dress, and in 
 decorating their various bark baskets. 
 
 The wampum strings were also woven into girdles or 
 belts, the black and white arranged in squares or other 
 figures. This was a rich and elegant part of dress ; and 
 valuable belts were also noble and acceptable presents. 
 
 The moccasins were beautiful Indian shoes, made of 
 soft deerskin, without soles, with a kind of lappets on 
 each side, ornamented with wampum, or porcupine quills 
 dyed of red, yellow, and other colors.
 
 NOTES. 201 
 
 Canto 1. Stanza 29. 
 
 The word Mohekun I have formed by a slight varia 
 tion of the generic word Mohegan, so that the bearer of 
 this name may fitly and by an easy association be viewed 
 as the representative of his tribe. 
 
 Canto I. Stanza 41. 
 
 I should be glad to introduce the poetic nightingale 
 and sky-lark into my verse ; but unhappily they do not 
 belong to America. Nor is the wonderful mocking-bird 
 heard in New England. We have reason to be delighted 
 with the hearty robin and cheerful cat-bird, and other 
 thrushes, as well as with the Baltimore oriole, more recent 
 ly known amongst us. John Gorgas, of Wilmington, Del., 
 imported 42 sky-larks, and liberated them in March and 
 April, 1853, hoping they would increase in this country. 
 
 Such seQp, the rules, to modern poets given. 
 
 Canto I. st. 51. 
 
 That modern poets, believers in the Christian religion, 
 should address in their writings the heathen gods, as if 
 they were real beings, it is not easy to account for, un 
 less it be owing to their perfect familiarity, by reason of 
 their education, with the polytheism of the pagans. 
 The following are a few instances : 
 
 Gray addresses Adversity as the " daughter of Jove," 
 and he calls her " dread goddess." 
 Collins speaks to Liberty : 
 " O, goddess 
 Let not my shell's misguided power
 
 202 NOTES. 
 
 E'er draw thy sad, thy mindful tears." 
 Thomson also deifies Liberty 
 
 " Oh, gracious goddess ! reinspire my song." 
 Akenside calls upon the "goddess of the lyre" 
 " eternal harmony " to descend. 
 
 Armstrong does not explain what he means, when he 
 says 
 
 " Ye, guardian gods, on whom the fates depend 
 Of tottering Albion." 
 Campbell, in his Gertrude, says 
 O, Love ! 
 
 And here thou art a god indeed divine." 
 All this is very much in the manner, in which the 
 Roman Catholics address their worship to the Virgin 
 Mary. For them, however, it may be said, that they 
 believe or endeavor to believe, that their idolatry is in 
 nocent. Without doubt the poets believe, that their 
 worship is very idle, and means nothing. 
 
 Canto I. Stanza 52. 
 
 The Indian canoe, carrying two or more persons, is 
 often very beautiful, and is a remarkable specimen of 
 Indian ingenuity. Josselyn, long ago, gave the following 
 description : 
 
 " Their canoes are made of birch. They shape them 
 with flat ribs of white cedar, and cover them with large 
 sheets of birch-bark, sewing them through with strong 
 threads of spruce roots or white cedar, and pitch them 
 with a mixture of turpentine and the hard rosin, that is 
 dried with the air on the outside of the bark of fir-trees."
 
 NOTES. 203 
 
 " If their canoe overturns, they can swim naturally, 
 striking their paws under their throat like a dog, and 
 not spreading their arms, as we do ; they turn their 
 canoe again, and go into it in the water." 
 
 Mr. McKenney describes one of the larger canoes, in 
 which he travelled on Lake Superior in 1826, as follows: 
 " Its length is thirty feet and its breadth across the widest 
 part about four feet. It is about two and a half feet 
 deep in the centre its bottom is rounded and has no 
 keel. The materials, of which this canoe is built, are 
 birch-bark and red cedar, the whole fastened together 
 with wattap and gum, without a nail or bit of iron of 
 any sort to confine the parts. The entire outside is 
 bark the bark of the birch tree and where the edges 
 join at the bottom or along the sides, they are sewn with 
 this wattap, and then along the line of the seam it is 
 gummed. Next to the bark are pieces of cedar, shaven 
 thin, not thicker than the blade of a knife these run 
 horizontally, and are pressed against the bark by means 
 of these ribs of cedar, which fit the shape of the canoe, 
 bottom and sides, and coming up to the edges are pointed 
 and let into a rim of cedar of about an inch and a half 
 wide, and an inch thick, that forms the gunwale of 
 the canoe, and to which by means of the wattap the 
 bark and the ribs are all sewed; the wattap being 
 wrapped over the gunwale and passed through the 
 bark and ribs. Across the canoe are bars, some 
 five or six, that keep the canoe in shape. These are 
 fastened by bringing their ends against the gunwale,
 
 204 NOTES. 
 
 or edge, and fastening them to it with wattap. The 
 paddles are of red cedar, and are very, light." 
 
 The seats are swung across by means of two pieces of 
 rope passing through each end from the gunwale. The 
 wattap are strips or threads of the roots of the spruce or 
 cedar, and gum is taken from the pine and boiled, when 
 it becomes hard. Such a large canoe carries about a 
 dozen persons and five hundred pounds of baggage. 
 Much of the work in building a canoe is imposed upon 
 the squaws. " From the building of a lodge to the boil 
 ing of a kettle, and from the making of their husbands' 
 moccasins to the construction of their canoes, and to the 
 gumming and sewing them, when they require it, is an 
 Indian woman's employment." 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 7. 
 
 As to the religious opinions of the Hoosatunnuk In 
 dians, some were atheists ; " others believed the sun to 
 be God, or at least the body or residence of the Deity ; 
 but now they generally believed the existence of one 
 supreme, invisible Being, the maker of all things. They 
 believed the seven stars were so many Indians translated 
 to heaven in a dance ; that the stars in Charles's wain are 
 so many men hunting a bear ; that they begin the chase 
 in the spring and hold it all summer ; by the fall they 
 have wounded it, and that the blood turns the leaves 
 red ; by the winter they have killed it, and the snow is 
 made of its fat ; which, being melted by the heat of the 
 summer, makes the sap of trees." Hopkins.
 
 NOTES. 205 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 8. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Springfield, who wrote the 
 Historical Memoirs of these Indians in 1752, describes 
 their houses as follows : " A wigwaum is an Indian 
 house, in building of which they take small flexible poles 
 and stick them into the ground round such space, as they 
 intend for the bigness of their house, whether greater 
 or less ; those poles they bend from each side and fasten 
 them together, making an arch overhead. Then they 
 fasten small sticks to them, cutting the poles at right an 
 gles, which serve for ribs. After which they cover the 
 whole with the bark of trees, leaving a hole in the top 
 for the smoke to go out, and at one or both ends to go in 
 and out" 
 
 A rough bark altar, plac'd on wigwam's floor. 
 
 Canto H. st. 8. 
 
 Some of the various uses, made by Indian ingenuity 
 of the comparatively flexible and beautiful birch bark, 
 are explained by Josselyn : 
 
 " Delicate sweet dishes they make of birch bark, sewed 
 with threads, drawn from spruce or white cedar roots, 
 and garnished on the outside with flourished works, and 
 on the brims with glistening quills, taken from the porcu 
 pine, and dyed, some black, others red. The white are 
 natural. Kettles, too, they make of birchen bark, which 
 they used before they traded with the French for copper 
 kettles, by which you may apparently see, that necessity 
 was at first the mother of all inventions."
 
 206 NOTES. 
 
 Dark faces round the gloomy cabin lower. 
 
 Canto II. st. 8. 
 
 Josselyn, who arrived in 1663, and lived in this coun 
 try several years, and was conversant with the Indians, 
 published New England Rarities, also an account of two 
 Voyages to New England. His description of the ap 
 pearance, character, and manners of the Indians is as 
 follows : 
 
 " They are tall and handsome-timbered people, out- 
 wristed, pale and lean, Tartarian visaged, black-eyed, 
 which is accounted the strongest for sight, and generally 
 black-haired, both smooth and curled, wearing it long. 
 No beards or very rarely ; their teeth are very white, 
 short, and even ; they account them the most necessary 
 and best parts of man. And as the Austrians are known 
 by their great lips, the Bavarians by their pokes under 
 their chins, the Jews by their goggle-eyes, so the Indians 
 by their flat noses ; yet are they not so much depressed, 
 as they are to the Southward." 
 
 " The Indesses, that are young, are some of them 
 very comely, having good features, their faces plump 
 and round, and generally plump of their bodies, as are 
 the men likewise, and as soft and smooth as a mole-skin, 
 of reasonable, good complexions, but that they dye 
 themselves tawny ; many pretty brunettoes and spider- 
 fingered lasses may be seen amongst them." " Very 
 fingurative or thievish, and bold, importunate beggars, 
 both men and women, guilty of misoxeny, or hatred to 
 strangers, a quality appropriated to the old Brittains; 
 all of them cannibals, eaters of human flesh." This
 
 NOTES. 207 
 
 last trait is not very certain, though he asserts, that while 
 he was in the country they seized a boat-load of men 
 and eat them up ; and notwithstanding he had read, that 
 " they would not eat a Spaniard, till they had kept him 
 two or three days to wax tender, because their flesh was 
 hard." In this case they did not have so good fare, as 
 the heathen Irish, who, as Josselyn says, " used to feed 
 upon the buttocks of boys." 
 
 " Their age they reckon by moons, and their actions 
 by sleeps ; as, if they go a journey, or are to do any 
 other business, they will say three sleeps me walk, or 
 two or three sleeps me do such a thing, that is, in two 
 or three days." 
 
 " Their drink they fetch from the spring, and were 
 not acquainted with other, until the French and Eng 
 lish traded with that cursed liquor, called rum, rum-bul 
 lion, or kill-devil. This they love dearly, and will part 
 with all they have to their bare skins for it. Thus, 
 instead of bringing them to the knowledge of Christian 
 ity, we have taught them to commit the beastly and 
 crying sins of our nation for a little profit." 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 9. 
 
 Rev. G. Hawley says : " I have observed in every 
 part of the country and among every tribe of Indians 
 such heaps of stones or sticks. The largest heap is that 
 large collection of small stones on the mountain between 
 Stockbridge and Great Barrington. We have a sacri 
 fice rock, as it is termed, between Plymouth and Sand 
 wich, to which stones and sticks are always cast by In-
 
 208 NOTES. 
 
 dians, who pass it. This custom or rite is an acknowl 
 edgment of an invisible being. We may style him the 
 unknown God, whom this people worship. This heap is 
 his altar." 
 
 Mr. Bryant, in his poems, recites the tradition of a 
 young Indian, who from disappointed love threw herself 
 down the rocky precipice of Monument Mountain, in 
 memorial of whom the stones were supposed to be piled 
 up. 
 
 The Dighton or Assonet inscription on a Rock, which 
 has persuaded some writers, that America was discovered 
 before Columbus, has been satisfactorily explained by 
 Ching-wauk, of St. Mary's River, employed in 1839, by 
 Mr. Schoolcraft. This Indian, called a prophet, is at 
 least skilful in picture-writing. His explanation is, 
 that the inscription relates to two nations of the ancient 
 Wakenakies of New England, recording the exploits of 
 a war captain and prophet. The lynx is a totemic de 
 vice ; the sun is the same, heraldic of the clan. He 
 finds a war camp, pipe, idol, lodge, bow bent, and lance. 
 The three crosses denote three dead bodies. 
 
 A totem is the pictorial device or signature of a clan. 
 Mr. Schoolcraft enumerates 10 totemic devices, as fol 
 lows : 1. crane; 2. marten; 3. bear; 4. catfish ; 5. 
 brant ; 6. long-tailed bear ; 7. sturgeon ; 8. spring 
 duck; 9. eagle; 10. elk. He speaks of an Indian as 
 striking at the totem of a bear, which was on a board in 
 a graveyard. 
 
 As his signature Canonicus made the figure of a bow ; 
 his nephew, Miantonomo, made that of an arrow. Mo-
 
 NOTES. 209 
 
 maugum of Quinnlpiac or New Haven made the signa 
 ture of a bow and string ; Montowese made that of a 
 bow and arrow ; Sawsounk that of what seems to be a 
 hatchet ; and by others were used marks of little ex 
 pressiveness. If one may guess from the rough figures 
 employed, the totem of the Indians of Norridgewock 
 was a dog, of Pentugooay an elk, of Aumissookonti an 
 eagle, of Maunbesic a turtle, of Pegwauki a goose, of 
 Medokteck a fox, of the Micmacs a deer, of Pesmokaunti 
 a crane, of the Algonkins a frog, of the Hurons a duck 
 or other bird, of the Papinachois a monkey. The Nor- 
 akomigoos, Arsikauntegoos, Wauniweenauks, Iroquois, 
 Mickmacks, and Mountaineers had unknown animals for 
 totems. 
 
 As to the Wakenakies, said to be referred to by the 
 Indian, it is not probable, that he ever used the word 
 with reference to the supposed old inhabitants of Massa 
 chusetts near Rhode Island. Abenaki is a word, mean 
 ing the east, used by certain French writers to denote 
 the Indian tribes in Maine, living to the east of Canada, 
 between Quebec and the Atlantic. 
 
 Canto 11. Stanza 11. 
 
 Winslow says, " the office and duty of the Powwow is 
 to be exercised principally in calling upon the devil and 
 curing diseases of the sick and wounded. The com 
 mon people join with him in the exercise of invocation, 
 but do but only assent, or, as we term it, say amen to 
 that he saith ; yet sometimes break out into a short mu 
 sical note with him. The Powwow is eager and free in 
 14
 
 210 NOTES. 
 
 speech, fierce in countenance, and joineth many antic 
 and laborious gestures with the same over the party dis 
 eased." He pretends, that Hobbamock as a snake, 
 askooke, or as an eagle, wobsacuck, sits invisible on his 
 shoulder and licks the wound. In his speech " he prom 
 ises to sacrifice many skins of beasts, kettles, hatchets, 
 beads, knives, and other the best things they have to the 
 fiend, if he will come to help the party diseased. Many 
 sacrifices the Indians use, and in some cases kill chil 
 dren." 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 2528. 
 
 These catholic miracles of the hermit Clare, St. Dun- 
 stan, and St. Ivo, with a multitude of others equally 
 marvellous, are found in authentic Catholic books, 
 particularly in " the Church History of Brittany," writ 
 ten by Father Cressy, a Benedictine Monk, and published 
 by authority in a folio volume, in 1668. A modern 
 Catholic writer, Dr. Milner, in his " End of Controversy," 
 maintains, that God in every age " has illustrated the 
 Catholic church, chiefly by means of his saints, with un 
 deniable miracles." Among his instances, he says, " a 
 stupendous miracle took place in Saragossa in 1640, on 
 one Michael Pellicer, whose leg having been amputated, 
 he, by his prayers, obtained a new natural leg ;" but he 
 does not say, whether it was put on at once, or grew out 
 gradually, as the leg of a lobster, which had been torn 
 away. Another of his miracles is the instant cure, 
 March 10, 1823, at the city of Washington of Mrs. 
 Anne Mattingley, of the palsy, by the prayers of prince
 
 NOTES. 211 
 
 
 
 Hohenlohe in Germany, with the aid of a priest to give 
 her the consecrated bread. She had been sick six years, 
 and was the sister of Capt. Thomas Carberry, Mayor of 
 Washington : her cure was deemed by her friends 
 " equal to the resuscitation of Lazarus from the grave." 
 
 When new succeeds to old idolatry. Canto II. st. 29. 
 The worship of the Virgin Mary in the established 
 Catholic service is most obviously nothing less than idol 
 atry : it is paying to the creature the homage, which is due 
 only to God. And what is the bowing down to a piece 
 of bread but idolatry ? What else than idolatry is the 
 worship of dead saints or of their images, or of a piece 
 of wood or of metal in the shape of a cross ? The divine 
 commandment most explicitly interdicts the worship of 
 any image whatever, and even the making of any image 
 of God. Yet among the works of art in the churches 
 of Catholic Italy it is not uncommon to find pictures of 
 the Almighty, of which even some Protestant travellers 
 speak without expressing any surprise or indignant emo 
 tion. Guido fainted the Eternal Father and Jesus 
 Christ crowning the Virgin, carried by angels to heaven. 
 He also painted the Father, borne on clouds, accompa 
 nied by the Holy Spirit, and Cherubims holding the 
 cross, on which the Son hangs. This picture is in the 
 church at Rome della Trinita di Pellegrini. An en 
 graving was made by Dorigni. Benedetti also painted 
 the Father and the Holy Spirit contemplating the infant 
 Jesus. From Mr. Hillard's travels we learn the follow 
 ing facts : Raphael's first fresco is in the church of S.
 
 212 NOTES. 
 
 
 
 Severe at Perugio, in which is " God the Father -with 
 two child angels." In the church of San Romano at 
 Lucca is a picture, called Madonna della Misericordia, 
 by Fra Bartolomeo. " The Virgin stands with uplifted 
 hands in the attitude of supplication. Above is God 
 the Father with several cherubs. In front are several 
 portrait figures. An old woman in red is admirable." 
 " In the same church is another work by him of uncom 
 mon merit: St. Catharine and Mary Magdalen are 
 kneeling, and the Almighty above. Mary Magdalen is 
 in red and holding a vase St. Catharine is in a kind of 
 monastic robe of yellow both admirable figures." In 
 the Hall of Exchange at Perugio is a fresco, on one side 
 of which are " several sibyls and prophets, with the Al 
 mighty in glory above them," painted by Perugino. 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 31. 
 
 As evidence of the power of the gospel among these 
 Indians the following facts may be mentioned. 
 
 Hannah Umpachenee, wife of the lieutenant, died 
 July 14, 1741, " with a comfortable hopeof eternal life, 
 spending her last moments in exhorting her husband 
 and children to godliness." 
 
 Mary Kunkapot, wife of John Kunkapot, died March 
 29, 1742, of consumption "having enjoyed, all along 
 in her sickness, a good hope through grace of a happy 
 eternity." 
 
 Katharine Kunkapot, eldest daughter of Kunkapot, 
 died in 1 746, " with good hope of future happiness and 
 without any fears of death."
 
 NOTES. 213 
 
 In 1746, died Kewaunnoahkuh, daughter of Naun- 
 aunekennuk, " with a strong hope of eternal life." 
 
 Peter Pohquonnoppeet, graduate of Dartmouth Col 
 lege in 1 780, called Sir Peter, after the death of King 
 Solomon, was one of a council, which governed the 
 Stockbridge Indians or regulated their affairs. The 
 others were Joseph Quanaukaunt, Capt. Hendrick Au- 
 paumut, and Capt. John Kunkapot. The first was 
 really chief but preferred a council. 
 
 The second deacon in the church of Stockbridge was 
 Peter Pauquaunaupeet. 
 
 One of my neighbors, a venerable lady now on the 
 verge of 80, a granddaughter of President Edwards, 
 born in Stockbridge, remembers a Capt. Kunkapot, a 
 principal Indian among the Mohegans, who was born in 
 1775, and was probably a grandson of the first Capt. 
 Kunkapot ; he removed to the West. Madam Dwight 
 has not forgotten this anecdote, that as he once visited 
 Stockbridge on his return from an agency at Washing 
 ton for the benefit of his tribe, he presented the unusual 
 sight of an Indian with a good set of false teeth. When 
 rallied for it, he good-humoredly replied, that it was to 
 please his squaw ! She remembers also, Capt. Hendrick 
 Aupaumut, usually called Hendrick, who died long ago, 
 and his daughter Betsey, an intelligent and excellent 
 woman. She was the correspondent of Miss Edwards, 
 who married Mr. Farrar. Another Indian is by her re 
 membered, David Naunaunekennuk, usually called 
 Nauneek, who was 90 years old about the year 1790. 
 Mr. Sergeant baptized him in 1 735 ; he was then " a
 
 214 NOTES. 
 
 principal man, of a very good temper and good sense, 
 honest, faithful, and obliging." When she was a little 
 girl, she visited him at his house of two rooms on the 
 westerly side of the Hoosatunnuk River. He was said 
 to be very rich, the owner of 60 horses. His house was 
 afterwards owned by the missionary Kirkland, who en 
 larged it and placed his family in it. This estate, fur 
 nishing an admirable site for an elegant mansion, it is 
 said, has recently fallen into the hands of a distinguished 
 poet. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant wrote, that when he first came to Stock- 
 bridge, there were only 8 or 10 families, but that in 1746 
 there were near fifty, and that he had of Indians thirty- 
 five regular members of the church, 13 men and 22 wo 
 men, besides half a dozen members under suspension, 
 probably for being intoxicated with the strong drink, 
 introduced by the Dutch traders. He adds " of our 
 communion have died 8 or 9, most of whom seem to me 
 to have left the world with a good Christian temper and 
 with a well-grounded hope." At the death of Mr. Ser 
 geant there were 218 Indians, of whom 129 had been 
 baptized, and the church-members were 42 : the whole 
 number, by him baptized, was 182. Umpachenee, the 
 lieutenant, died in peace Aug. 10, 1751. He had been 
 overcome by the temptation of intoxicating liquor, but 
 was reclaimed and passed his last days without dishon 
 oring his Christian profession.
 
 NOTES. 215 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 34, 35. 
 
 The names of Eliot and of others, who like him toiled 
 to instruct the Indians in the great truths of the Chris 
 tian religion, deserve to be held in everlasting remem 
 brance. 
 
 John Eliot, called the Apostle of the Indians, was born 
 in 1604, educated at Cambridge, England, and came to 
 this country in 1631. The next year he was settled as 
 the minister of Roxbury, where he died May 20, 1690, 
 aged 86. He first preached to the Indians in their lan 
 guage at Newton in 1646. In 1651 an Indian town was 
 built on Charles River and called Natick. Here he 
 formed the first Indian church in 1660, after the man 
 ner of the Congregational churches. Soon other churches 
 were planted. In 1661 he published the New Testa 
 ment in the Natick or Massachusetts language ; and in 
 1663 his immense work, the translation of the whole 
 Bible, of which a second edition was printed in 1685, 
 entitled Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum 
 God naneeswe Nukkone Testament kah wonk Wusku 
 Testament. The words are generally long. Mark 1: 40. 
 Wuttappesittukqussunnoohwehtunkquoh is one word, 
 meaning 'Kneeling down to him/ He published the 
 Psalms in Indian metre, and among other works ' The 
 Jews in America,' in order to prove that the Indians 
 were Jewish descendants. Mr. Eliot's son, John Eliot, 
 minister of Newton, preached to the Indians in Stough- 
 ton a few years. He died in 1668, aged 32. 
 
 Daniel Gookin, a graduate of Harvard in 1669, was 
 the minister of Sherburne and preached to the Indians 
 at Natick. He died in 1 718.
 
 216 NOTES. 
 
 Thomas Mayhew, Governor of Martha's Vineyard, 
 began at the age of seventy to preach to the Indians, about 
 1659. He died in 1681, aged 92. 
 
 John Cotton, a graduate of Harvard College in 1657, 
 preached to the Indians on Martha's "Vineyard from 
 1664 to 1667, giving great aid to Mayhew. He was 
 afterwards many years the minister of Plymouth. 
 
 John Mayhew, son of Thomas, began to preach to the 
 Indians about 1673, being the minister of Tisbury on 
 Martha's Vineyard. He died 1689, aged 36, leaving an 
 Indian church of 100 communicants and several well- 
 instructed Indian teachers in different congregations. 
 
 His son, Experience Mayhew, began to preach to the 
 Indians in 1694, taking the oversight of five or six 
 of their assemblies. He made a new version of the 
 Psalms and of John in 1709, and died in 1758, aged 85. 
 He published Indian Converts in 1727, giving an account 
 of thirty Indian ministers and of about eighty Indians 
 worthy of remembrance for their piety. 
 
 His son, Zechariah Mayhew, a missionary to the same 
 Indians, was ordained in 1 767, and died in 1806, aged 89. 
 
 Hiacoomes, an Indian preacher, began to teach his 
 brethren on Martha's Vineyard in 1645. When an In 
 dian church was formed, Aug. 22, 1670, he and Tacka- 
 nash were ordained by Eliot and Cotton as its pastor and 
 teacher. He died in 1690, aged nearly 80. Japhet suc 
 ceeded Tackanash. 
 
 Joseph Bourne, a graduate of Harvard College in 
 1 722, was a missionary to the Indians at Marshpee from 
 1729 to 1742, being the successor of Simon Popmonet, 
 and was succeeded by Solomon Briant, an Indian.
 
 NOTES. 217 
 
 Gideon Hawley was a missionary at Marshpee from 
 1758 till his death in 1807, aged 80 years. 
 
 David Brainerd was a missionary four or five years to 
 Indians in New York and New Jersey, and died at Mr. 
 Edwards'sin Northampton in 1747, aged 29. 
 
 John Sergeant was missionary to the Indians at Hoo- 
 satunnuk from 1734 to 1749, when he died at the age 
 of 48. 
 
 Jonathan Edwards was his successor from 1751 to 
 1758, preaching also to the whites. His assistant in 
 teaching the Indians in 1752 and 1753 was Gideon 
 Hawley. 
 
 Dr. Stephen West succeeded Mr. Edwards as the min 
 ister of Stockbridge in 1 759. To his church he admit 
 ted twenty-two Indians. During his ministry they 
 emigrated to New York 
 
 Dr. Eleazar Wheelock, first President of Dartmouth 
 College, opened an Indian school at Lebanon Crank, 
 now Columbia, in Connecticut, in 1754. His first In 
 dian pupil, some years before, was Samson Occom. In 
 1762, he had more than twenty Indian youth under his 
 care. The school was known by the name of Moor's 
 Indian Charity School, and was in 1770 removed to 
 Hanover, New Hampshire, and associated with Dart 
 mouth College, but still kept as a separate institution. 
 Here many Indian youth have been educated, and, 
 among them, two sons of the celebrated Brant. Dr. 
 E. Wheelock died in 1779, aged 68. For enlarged 
 views, for energy and arduous, persevering toils, and 
 the great results of his labors in the cause of religion
 
 218 NOTES. 
 
 and learning, no man is more worthy of being held in 
 honor. His son, John Wheelock, LL.D., succeeded him 
 both as President of the College and President of the 
 Indian School ; and by his successors at the head of the 
 College both offices have in like manner been sus 
 tained. 
 
 Canto IL Stanza 38. 
 
 Samuel Newell and Gordon Hall, two of the first 
 missionaries sent out to the East by the American Board 
 of Missions, sailed in 1812. The former, a graduate of 
 Harvard College in 1807, died of the cholera at Bom 
 bay, in 1821. Mr. Hall, a graduate of Williams Col 
 lege in 1808, died also of the cholera in 1826. Mr. 
 Newell I well knew as an associate of a small company 
 of pious men at Cambridge, and also Mr. Hall as a zeal 
 ous preacher. They wrote together ' The Conversion of 
 the World, or the Claims of Six-hundred Millions.' Mr. 
 Hall's son, of the same name, is now one of the ministers 
 of Northampton ; and his widow lives with his son. 
 
 The real, efficient charity of these American Mission 
 aries, who sacrificed their lives, that they might carry 
 the gospel to the perishing idolaters of the East, was 
 very different from the charity of the East in the idle 
 prayers and cheap expedients, described by M. Hue in 
 his travels in Tartary relating to the benevolent method 
 of sending horses to travellers, as follows : 
 
 " Sandara proposed to us a service of devotion for all 
 travellers through the world. What is it ? You know, 
 that a good many travellers find themselves -on rugged
 
 NOTES. 219 
 
 and toilsome roads. Some are holy lamas on a pilgrim 
 age ; and it often happens, that they cannot proceed, 
 and we aid them by sending them horses. ' That,' said 
 we, ' is an admirable custom, conformable with the prin 
 ciples of Christian charity ; but we cannot participate 
 in the good work, we have only a horse and a little 
 mule to carry us into Thibet.' He clapped his hands 
 and burst into a loud laugh. He ran off, and soon re 
 turned with his hands filled with bits of paper, on which 
 were figures of horses saddled and bridled, going at full 
 gallop. Here are the horses, he said, which we send to 
 travellers. We ascend a high mountain , and after prayer 
 throw a packet into the air. The wind carries them, 
 and by the power of Buddha they are changed into 
 real horses, which offer themselves to the travellers." 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 42. 
 
 Since these lines were written, England, to her eternal 
 honor has liberated all her slaves in the West In 
 dies, an act of humanity and justice to be attributed 
 to the earnest efforts of her enlightened patriots and 
 Christians. 
 
 But I blush to say, that in our American Republic 
 the chains of slavery are every day growing stronger and 
 stronger, and the territories devoted to slavery are 
 growing wider and wider. In 1790, the slaves were 
 less than 700,000; now they are nearly 4,000,000. 
 Once the public sentiment, even at the South, was 
 against the extension of slavery. Washington, in his 
 last will, ordered his slaves to be emancipated on the
 
 220 NOTES. 
 
 death of his wife. John Randolph bequeathed freedom 
 to his numerous slaves. Patrick Henry declared his 
 persuasion, that the principle of slavery is " as repug 
 nant to humanity, as it is inconsistent with the Bible, 
 and destructive to liberty." Mr. Jefferson said, in his 
 Notes on Virginia, in reference to the holding of slaves, 
 " I tremble for my country, when I remember, that God 
 is just ! " 
 
 But at the present moment all the States of the 
 South are struggling, through the aid of the border- 
 ruffians of Missouri, who are slave-holders, to render 
 the territory of Kansas, which by the compromise act 
 of 1820 was forever consecrated to freedom, a slave 
 State, in order that the South may get the certain and 
 lasting control of the government of our country. And 
 I am not certain, that there is a voice in the whole 
 South, which dares now to utter what her great men 
 of clear intellect, embracing the principles of human 
 freedom, in former days could not avoid honestly and 
 loudly proclaiming. 
 
 In respect to the teaching of the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ on this subject, one precept is in my view con 
 clusive : " All things whatsoever ye would, that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them." To an 
 honest slave-holder, inquiring as to his duty, T would 
 recommend, that he should meditate upon this precept, 
 and answer to his own mind the following questions : 
 ' Were you and your children slaves, would you not like 
 to be free ? Would you not wish your master to set 
 you free ? '
 
 NOTES. 221 
 
 As to the import of the Constitution and the powers 
 conferred by it on the General Government in regard 
 to slavery, I know no higher authority, than the opinion 
 of the late Mr. Webster. It was his judgment, 1. That 
 the Constitution does not give the General Govern 
 ment any power to recover out of a State an escaped 
 slave: it only declares the duty of a State to deliver 
 up one escaped from labor or service " on claim of the 
 party" to whom the labor and service are due. 2. 
 That the Constitution gives the General Government 
 power to refuse the admission into the Union of any 
 new slave State. He said in Congress in 1845, "I do not 
 think, that the Free States ever expected, that they 
 should be called on to admit more Slave States, hav 
 ing the unequal advantages arising to them from the 
 mode of apportioning representatives under the existing 
 Constitution." In his speech at Buffalo he said, " I 
 never would consent, that there should be one foot of 
 slave territory beyond what the old 13 States had at 
 the time of the foundation of the Union. Never, 
 
 never ! 
 
 I 
 
 In a speech at New York, in 1837, he said, " When it 
 is proposed to bring new members into this political part 
 nership, the old members have a right to say, on what 
 terms such new partners are to come in, and what they 
 are to bring along with them." 
 
 If the free spirit of the fathers should govern their 
 children, will they not, at this late hour, say, that no new 
 States shall ever henceforth enter into our free Union 
 <' bringing along with them" human beings, immortal
 
 222 NOTES. 
 
 men, as slaves ? But those among us, who have travelled 
 far into years and who have not forgotten the days of 
 Washington, have the bitter, humiliating reflection, that 
 while their memory reaches back to the period, when a 
 band of strugglers for freedom reared up a free, repub 
 lican government, those heroes and their families, all 
 counted, are now equalled in numbers by the men 
 among us, who wear the chains of a miserable slavery. 
 Will not all good men labor and pray to God, that these 
 chains may be broken V 
 
 If the result of the present contest, the most extraor 
 dinary and important, which our country ever witnessed, 
 should be in favor of liberty, and Kansas should be 
 added to the free States, and afterwards no new slave 
 State should ever be added to the fifteen now in our 
 Union of 31 States, still the huge mass of slavery will 
 remain in our country, its reproach, its crime, its peril ; 
 removable not by the action of the General Govern 
 ment, which has no authority as to slavery, as it exists, 
 except in the District of Columbia, and in the Territo 
 ries, and on that great highway, the ocean, but only 
 by the awakened conscience and recovered wisdom of 
 the citizens of the slave-holding States. When the 
 wise, and benevolent, and patriotic men of the South 
 shall apply themselves to the work, they will not plead 
 the danger of freedom ; they cannot fail readily to dis 
 cover the safe method of restoring liberty to their miser 
 able brethren in bondage.
 
 NOTES. 223 
 
 Canto II. Stanza 49. 
 
 Cicero believed the immortal existence of the soul, and 
 in thinking of the hour, when his spirit should pass 
 away from the earth and mingle with the spirits of the 
 departed good and illustrious, he exclaimed : " O prse- 
 clarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animorum con 
 cilium, ccetumque proficiscar, cumque ex hac turba et 
 colluvione discedam ! " 
 
 Canto III. Stanza 19. 
 
 The meaning of Waunseet in the Mohegan language 
 is " the man, who is beautiful." 
 
 Canto III. Stanza 22. 
 
 My companions at the White Hills, nearly forty years 
 ago, as I well remember, were Nathaniel H. Carter and 
 Levi Woodbury. With our coats off we jumped over 
 the Saco, there but a brook, and clambered up the rocky 
 side of the mountain in pursuit of the crystals. The former 
 was a scholar of a fine taste and a most amiable man, who 
 died at Marseilles in 1830. He was the editor of papers 
 in Albany and New York. His interesting letters from 
 Europe, in 2 vols., were published in 1827. The latter, 
 who died in 1851, was very distinguished in public life, 
 a Senator, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, and Judge of the Supreme Court. We found 
 with pleasure the beryls on the hill'; but in thinking of 
 our dead friends the gems of earthly honor do not beam 
 brightly on the eye.
 
 224 NOTES. 
 
 Or Northern streamers play 
 
 Their wondrous frolics in their pure and bright array. 
 
 Canto III. st. 33. 
 
 Of the many beautiful displays of the Northern Lights, 
 which I have witnessed, the most remarkable were those 
 of Nov. 17, 1835, Aug. 12, 1836, Jan. 25, and July 1, 
 1837, Feb. 21, Sept. 14, 1838, and Sept. 3, 6, and 29, 
 1851. The broad bows across the northern heavens, 
 with the masses of light shooting up from their borders, 
 the rich crimson beams overspreading the sky, the rush 
 ing Avaves, the varying hues of the rapid streamers or 
 merry dancers, mounting to the zenith from every point 
 of the horizon, and near the zenith forming a crown as 
 for the author of nature, could not fail to overwhelm 
 me with wonder and delight. 
 
 Canto III. Stanza 35. 
 
 It is now fifty-two years, since in 1804, after a solitary 
 ride of four or five hundred miles on horseback, I reached 
 Buffalo, now a great city, but then a village of nineteen 
 houses : at Black Rock, on the shore of the Niagara, I 
 met a majestic Indian, the famous Red Jacket, or Sagu- 
 oaha, who was attending his little granddaughter, as 
 from a rock she cast her hook into the stream ; and here 
 by a ferry I crossed the river, and rode down to Chippe- 
 way and the Falls on the Canada side. I think it was 
 in 1818, that the projecting shelf, known as Table Rock, 
 fell into the abyss below ; yet the general features of the 
 shore are very little changed from what they were, when 
 in my youth I gazed upon them.
 
 NOTES. 225 
 
 The heavens every day and every night present to 
 the eyes of all men the most magnificent and the sub- 
 limest objects ; but of the things of the earth among the 
 sublimest, which I have been permitted to see, I may 
 mention the Falls of the Niagara, the great lakes of the 
 West and the Atlantic ocean of the East, the view from 
 the top of Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, and 
 at Mont Alvert at the foot of Mont Blanc in Switzer 
 land. Of the beautiful scenes of the earth, that, which 
 delights the eye from the top of Mount Holyoke, which 
 lifts itself up before the window of my house, in which 
 I write, is one of the most beautiful. 
 
 Canto IIL Stanza 36. 
 
 It was in 1812, that Mrs. Sarah Gumming, the wife of 
 Rev. Hooper Gumming, of Newark, fell from the rocks 
 at the Patterson Falls of the Passaic into the gulf below. 
 She was with her husband, and had been married but a 
 few weeks. 
 
 Metliinks the praise of war 1 could recite. 
 
 Canto HI. st. 54. 
 
 The author was among the half dozen of Delegates 
 from Massachusetts, who- in August 1849 attended the 
 large Peace Congress at Paris, consisting of many hun 
 dred members from England, Scotland, and several 
 countries of the Continent. Louis Napoleon was then 
 the President of the Republic : to him the Congress 
 sent a committee with some good resolutions relating to 
 the proportional disbanding by the nations of Europe of 
 14
 
 226 NOTES. 
 
 their costly armies and the settlement of national diffi 
 culties by arbitration. He received the Committee with 
 good words, and one of his ministers made a grand en 
 tertainment for the whole Congress, and treated their 
 ears with martial music from a band of a hundred players. 
 
 When soon afterwards the President, by the aid 
 of the soldiery, and at the expense of much blood, 
 made himself the Emperor of France, what became of 
 the scholarly, eloquent, and illustrious presiding officer 
 of our peace company, Victor Hugo ? He was banished 
 from his country, driven into exile, through fear of his 
 influence in favor of liberty ; and thus he remains, while 
 the triumphant aspirant to a crown lives in high com 
 munion with the kings of Europe and has just finished 
 the sacrifice of one or two hundred thousand strong- 
 bodied Frenchmen at Sebastopol, whose lives would 
 have been spared, if our good peace advice had been 
 followed. 
 
 I cannot doubt, but the illustrious exile will in this 
 moment of triumph, of exultation, and of composure be 
 recalled to his beloved France. Indeed, the Emperor 
 has nothing to fear from him, for henceforth his political 
 life is over, and there is left to him only the life of a 
 scholar. 
 
 At the moment of writing this, May 13th, with great 
 joy I am able to say, that only twenty days ago Victor 
 Hugo reappeared in the city of Paris, not indeed per 
 sonally, but in the heart-born book of ' Contemplations ' 
 in two volumes, a whole edition of which was sold in one 
 day. How is it possible, that his delighted readers will
 
 NOTES. 227 
 
 not be allowed very soon to welcome him in person, as 
 he shall come to dwell for the remainder of his days in 
 his own beautiful city ? 
 
 This book contains his poetry of a quarter of a cen 
 tury, written between 1830 and 1855, poems of joy and 
 of sorrow ; and they are written, as all poetry should 
 be written, from the heart. He says in his preface 
 " What are the Contemplations '? If the expression 
 was not too assuming, they might be called the Memoirs 
 of a Soul. And my life is yours ; your life is mine : 
 you live what I live ; destiny is one. Take then this 
 mirror, and in it look upon yourself." 
 
 This, I am persuaded, is the right conception of the 
 most effective poetry. If the I is banished ; if the poet 
 hides himself ; if the poet's heart feels not and his tongue 
 speaks not, mere abstractions will not have a controlling 
 power over the soul. The poet must utter his own heart 
 felt conceptions ; and they must be right and true and 
 worthy of being uttered. 
 
 Hugo speaks of sorrow " the true, sole sorrow, Death ; 
 the loss of loved ones." As I have not read his book, I 
 know not what are his sources of consolation ; but as I 
 can sympathize with him in his sorrow, even in his 
 precise sorrow of the loss of an eldest daughter, 
 accomplished and in the bloom of youth, and perhaps 
 sympathize the more, because she was of French descent, 
 inheriting the Huguenot name of Malleville, a name 
 dear to me beyond that of all others so I commend 
 him, not to any vain and idle philosophy, but to the grace 
 of the living, enthroned Redeemer of sinners, through
 
 228 NOTES. 
 
 whose death and resurrection " life and immortality are 
 brought to light." 
 
 Canto IV. Stanza 1. 
 
 In the town of East Hoosuck, now Adams, a fort was 
 built in 1742, called Fort Massachusetts, designed to in 
 tercept the French and Indians, who by the way of the 
 Hudson and the Hoosuck might wish to attack the set 
 tlements on the Connecticut. This fort, with only 
 twenty-two effective men, under Col. Hawks, was cap 
 tured by 8 or 900 of the enemy under Gen. De Vau- 
 dreuil, Aug. 22, 1746, after Hawks had exhausted his 
 ammunition in a two days' brave defence of his post. 
 Of the captured was John Norton, the chaplain. As 
 the fort was rebuilding the next year an attack was made, 
 in which a friendly Indian from Stockbridge was killed. 
 Col. Williams defended the fort Aug. 2, 1748, against 
 200 of the enemy ; he was killed at Lake George in 
 Sept. 1755. Again was the fort attacked June 7, 1756. 
 
 Canto IV. Stanza 2. 
 
 Mr. Stevens and Miss Piercy were, in 1755, fleeing 
 from Pittsfield on one horse. At the south part of 
 Lenox, near a ledge of rocks, he was shot by the Indians 
 and fell, while she rode away on the same horse and 
 reached Stockbridge in safety. 
 
 Canto IV. Stanza 13. 
 
 George Sackville, or Lord George Germain, one of 
 the King's Ministers, in his letter of instructions to Sir
 
 NOTES. 229 
 
 Guy Carlton, 1777, says, it was the King's determination 
 to employ most of his forces "upon two expeditions, the 
 one under Lieut. Gen. Burgoyne, who is to force his 
 way to Albany ; the other under Lieut. Col. St. Leger, 
 who is to make a diversion by way of the Mohawk River. 
 As this plan cannot be so advantageously executed with 
 out the assistance of the Canadians and INDIANS, his 
 Majesty strongly recommends to your care to furnish 
 both expeditions with good and sufficient bodies of those 
 men." 
 
 In the last manifesto of the British Commissioners in 
 1778, they say, that if the terms of peace are rejected 
 by the United States, " they were to expect more severe 
 expressions of British vengeance." This called forth in 
 dignant comments in Parliament. The Marquis of 
 Buckingham declared it " a proclamation contrary to hu 
 manity, to Christianity, and to every idea of virtuous 
 policy." The Bishop of Peterborough said, " that in the 
 account of the extraordinaries of the army for the last year, 
 charges were made for the tomahawk and scalping-knife, 
 that is for the Indians in our service exercising their hor 
 rid butcheries." Lord Camden said, " the declaration in 
 the proclamation held forth a war of revenge, such as 
 Moloch in pandemonium of hell advised." Mr. Burke 
 said, ' the extremes of war ' threatened, " meant the 
 killing man, woman, and child, burning their houses, 
 ravaging their lands, annihilating humanity from off the 
 face of the earth, or rendering life so wretched, that 
 death would be preferable. And this dreadful menace 
 was against men conscious of rectitude, who acted in a
 
 230 NOTES. 
 
 good cause, and stood to fight for freedom and their 
 county." The dark-minded Germain was obliged to 
 hear all this, and " attempted to soften and explain 
 away the rigor of the expressions." A venal majority in 
 Parliament prevented the vote of censure ; but thirty- 
 one of the House of Lords entered their protest against 
 " the return of that ferocity, which a beneficial religion, 
 enlightened manners, and true military honor had for a 
 time banished the Christian world." In the phrase, 
 ' true military honor,' there was a point of great keenness 
 to a man, who, though now as the Secretary, managing 
 the scalping-knife war in America, had for his miscon 
 duct in the battle of Minden been solemnly adjudged 
 incapacitated for any military office whatever. 
 
 The next year after Lord George Germain had directed 
 the employment of the Indians , Col. John Butler, a Tory 
 refugee, with 900 Indians and 200 whites, destroyed in 
 July, 1778, Wyoming, on the Susquehanna, in Pennsyl 
 vania, the savages committing a horrible massacre. 
 There were 200 widows made in one day. Charles 
 Miner, in his copious history of Wyoming, 1845, gives 
 a minute description of the horrors of the savage torture 
 and murder of the prisoners, and of the flight in the 
 wilderness of women and children. 
 
 The writer, long ago an admirer, like our young 
 scholars, of the style of the Letters of Junius, was at 
 length led by curiosity to examine with great attention 
 several books on the authorship of those celebrated 
 Letters ; and in his view the evidence was satisfactory 
 and conclusive, as unfolded by G. Coventry in 1825, in
 
 NOTES. 231 
 
 his Critical Enquiry into the Letters of Junius, that 
 Lord George Sackville was the author; and here perhaps 
 the writer may be excused for saying, that he himself 
 was the author of a small anonymous book, published at 
 Boston, in 1828, by Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, 
 entitled ' Junius Unmasked,' restating briefly the exist 
 ing arguments and furnishing many new ones to prove 
 Sackville to be the author. If the proof is good, there 
 is no mistake in ascribing the savage though polished 
 Letters of Junius to the mind of the King's Minister? 
 who, in order to conquer the stubborn Americans, 
 instructed Sir Guy Carlton to employ the Indians with 
 their tomahawks and scalping-knives, and skill in slow 
 tortures. 
 
 Canto IV. Stanza 37. 
 
 As Jonathan Edwards was the name of both father 
 and son, and as each was the President of a College, they 
 are apt to be confounded. The father was the Presi 
 dent of Nassau Hall, Princeton, and died in 1 758 ; the 
 son was the President of Union College, Schenectady, 
 and died in 1801. He had the title of Doctor in Theol 
 ogy, which his father had not, although he was the illus 
 trious teacher of theological and metaphysical learning. 
 The father was the missionary to the Stockbridge In 
 dians, though it was the son, who published ' Observa 
 tions on the Mohegan Language.' The works of Presi 
 dent Edwards were published by his descendant, Dr. 
 Sereno E. D wight, with his life, in 10 vols. : the works 
 of Dr. Edwards, the son, were published in 2 vols.
 
 232 NOTES. 
 
 OF THE MOHEGAN LANGUAGE. 
 
 
 
 The Mohegan, as explained by Dr. Edwards, who ac 
 quired it in childhood, when his father was a missionary 
 in the Hoosatunnuk Valley, was briefly as follows : It 
 abounds in labials, of which the Mohawk is destitute ; 
 as the Mohawks never closed their lips, they used to 
 boast, that they kept their mouths open, while they 
 spoke, and other Indians did not. The same words ex 
 press he and she, him and her : a man would say of his 
 wife, ' he sick ; he gone away.' To a noun an is added 
 to express his ; as wnechun, child ; wnechunan, his child. 
 The plural is formed by the addition of k or uk, as ne- 
 mannau, a man, nemannauk, men ; penumpausoo, a boy, 
 penumpausoouk, boys. An elder and a younger brother 
 are distinguished by the two words, netohcon and nghee- 
 sum ; and so sisters are distinguished by nmass and 
 ngheesum. The younger brother and sister are denoted 
 by the same word. The Mohegans have no use for 
 adjectives to express qualities, which is done by neuter 
 verbs, as wnissoo, he is beautiful ; mtissoo, he is homely. 
 They suffer no inconvenience from this loss of adjectives. 
 As their active verbs are declined, so are these verbs of 
 qualities ; as npumseh, I walk ; kpumseh, thou walkest ; 
 npumsehnuh, he walketh ; npumsehnuh, we walk ; 
 kpumsehmuh, ye walk ; pumissoouk, they walk : so 
 npehtuhquissoo, I am tall; kpehtuhquisseh, thou art tall ; 
 pehtuhquissoo, he is tall, &c. They have participles, as
 
 NOTES. 233 
 
 paumseet, the man who walks ; oioteet, the man who 
 fights. They have no relatives like our who and which : 
 instead of the man who walks, they say, the walking 
 man or the walker. By adverbs they express degrees, 
 as annuweeweh wnissoo, he is more beautiful ; kahnuh 
 wnissoo, he is very beautiful. They have prefixes and 
 affixes like the Hebrews, and sometimes both. They 
 have no absolute word, as father, but always say, nogh, 
 my father ; kogh, thy father, &c. They cannot say I 
 love, but I love him or her ; nor say, John loves Peter, 
 but John he loves him Peter, John uduhwhunuw Peter- 
 an. As Neah is I ; Keah, thou ; TJwoh, he, this man ; 
 so n or ne is prefixed to denote the first person ; k or ka 
 to denote the second ; and u or uw, or oo suffixed to 
 denote the third. The plural has the suffix nuh, as 
 noghnuh, our father. Neaunuh means we, keauwuh 
 means ye. 
 
 The following are the principal Mohegan words, as 
 used in the Hoosatunnuk Valley, which have been pre 
 served. 
 
 Air, Auwon. 
 
 Autumn, T'quauquuh. 
 
 Bad, Maclitit. 
 
 Bean, Tupohquaun. 
 
 Bear, M'quoh. 
 
 He is beautiful, Wnissoo. 
 
 She is beautiful, Wunnis- 
 
 soo. 
 The man who is beautiful, 
 
 Waunseet. 
 
 Beaver, Amisk. 
 Book, OotlwoJiliagaun. 
 Boy, Penumpausoo. 
 Elder brother, Netohcon. 
 Elder brothers, NetoTiconuk. 
 His child, Wnechun. 
 Cloud, M'laucq. 
 Cold, Thautlm. 
 Indian corn, Shamonun. 
 Coward, Matansautee.
 
 234 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 You are a coward, Kmat- 
 
 tanissauteuh. 
 Daughter, O'toosaun. 
 Dawn, Pautaupon. 
 A day, Waukaumauw. 
 Dead, or he is dead, Neepoo, 
 
 or nboo. 
 I die, Nup, 
 To die, Nip. 
 A duck, Queechamo. 
 Ear, Towohq. 
 East, Wauchunoong. 
 I eat, Nmeetseh. 
 Thou eatest, Kmeetseh. 
 He eateth, Meetsoo. 
 Eat thou, Meetseh. 
 Eight, Ghusooh. 
 Evening, Thaughesu, or 
 
 i)onaugooshik. 
 Eye, Hkeesk. 
 His eyes, Ukeesquan. 
 Our father, Noghnuh. 
 My father, Afy/A. 
 Thy father, KogJi. 
 I fight, Ndiotuwoh. 
 The fighter, Oitee*. 
 Fire, Stauw. 
 Fish, Namas, or namase. 
 Four, Nauwoh. 
 Girl, Peesquausoo. 
 
 You are a girl, Kpeesqua- 
 
 sooeh. 
 
 Give it him, Meenuh. 
 God, Pautaumouwoih. 
 He goes, Pumissoo. 
 Good, Wunneet. 
 Good for nothing, M/'i'i. 
 Goose, TFo/3aso. 
 My grandchild, NaugTiees. 
 Great, or he is great, 
 
 Hail, Sassagua. 
 Hair, VFe^f^aw^wn. 
 My hand, Nnisk. 
 Thy hand, Knisk. 
 His hand, Unisk. 
 Handsome, Wnm'. 
 Hatchet, Tmohhecan. 
 My hatchet, Ndumhecan. 
 Thy hatchet, Ktumhecan. 
 His hatchet, Utumhecan. 
 Your hatchet, Ktumliecan- 
 
 noowuh. 
 He, UwoJi. 
 
 His head, C/i!p,also Weensis. 
 His heart, KoA. 
 Hill, Gh'aukoock. 
 He is homely, Mtisissoo. 
 House, 
 Husband,
 
 NOTES. 
 
 235 
 
 Her husband, Waughecheh. 
 
 I, Neah. 
 
 Ice, M'quaumeek, Mooquau- 
 meh. 
 
 Impostor, or he is an impos 
 tor, Mtissoo. 
 
 Indian corn, Skammonun. 
 
 Island, M'nauhaun. 
 
 Dress the kettle, or make a 
 fire, Pootouwah. 
 
 King, Kioweenooh. 
 
 Lake, 'Pquaughon. 
 
 Light, Wauntliaujouw. 
 
 Lightning, Waywassimo. 
 
 Love, Uhwhundowukon. 
 
 I love thee, Ktuhwhunin. 
 
 I love you, Ktuhwhunooh- 
 muh. 
 
 Malice, Nsconmowukon. 
 
 He is malicious, Nsconmoo. 
 
 A man, Nemannauoo. 
 
 He is a man, Nemannauwoo. 
 
 Marry, Weenween. 
 
 Men, Nemannauk. 
 
 Moon, Nepauhauck. 
 
 Month, Geezis. 
 
 More, Anuweeweh. 
 
 Morning, Naujaupauwewar 
 Keegeezhaib. 
 
 Mother, Cfkegaun. 
 
 Mountain, Wchu, Whau- 
 
 choo. 
 
 Good for nought, Mtit. 
 Night, P'quaunaujouh, or 
 
 T, &c. 
 
 Nine, Nauneeweh. 
 Noon, Nauwuckway. 
 North, Keewaydenoong. 
 Old man, 'Kchee. 
 Partridge, Pahpahcogh. 
 Queen, Sunck. 
 Rain, Sookanoun or Thock- 
 
 naun, and Kimewun. 
 Rainbow, Anuquaun. 
 Religion, Perjuhtommauwu- 
 
 kon. 
 
 River, Seepoo, or Theepow. 
 Rock, Thanaumku. 
 The sea, Ktaunnauppeh. 
 Shoe, Mkissin. 
 I sing, NacJigo chema. 
 Sit down, Mattipeh. 
 Sky, Onauwauk. 
 Snow, Psaun or Psaune and 
 
 M'sauneeh. 
 South, Oshawanoong. 
 Star, Anocksuk. 
 Stockbridge, Wnoghque- 
 
 tookoke. 
 Summer, Neepon.
 
 236 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Sun, Keesogh, also a month. 
 
 Ten, Mtannit. 
 
 Thou art tall, Kpehtuhquis- 
 
 seh. 
 
 He is tall, Pehtuhquissoo. 
 Ye are tall, Kpehluhquis- 
 
 seJimuli. 
 
 His teeth, Wepeeton. 
 Thou, Keali. 
 Thunder, Pautquauhan,and. 
 
 Annemeekee. 
 Tree, MacJitok. 
 Two, NeesoJi. 
 He is ugly, MachtilL 
 My uncle, Nsees. 
 Very, Kalmuh. 
 
 To walk, 
 I walk, Npumseh. 
 Thou walkest, Kpumseh. 
 He walking, Paumseet. 
 Ye walk, Kpumsehmuh. 
 Walk thou, Pumisseh. 
 We, Neaunnuh. 
 West, Caubeunoong. 
 White people, Chuckopek. 
 Wife, TFeewone. 
 Wind, Ksaughon. 
 Winter, Poon, or Hpoon. 
 A Woman, P'yhainoom. 
 Ye, Keauwuh. 
 Yesterday, fFnwtwwoA. 
 Young man, Eeowthkenooh. 
 
 Page 159. 
 
 As the first poetical piece in this volume is a dedica 
 tion to my wife, and the last relates to her death, so this 
 last Note is, in the providence of God, not foreign to her. 
 In the course of printing, the stereotype-plate proof 
 sheet of the lines on her death, which was June 3, 1828, 
 came to me yesterday, on the memorable day, June 3, 
 1856 ; and on the same evening a grandchild, two years 
 old, Harriet, daughter of Rev. John Wheelock Allen of 
 Wisconsin, died in my house, being seized only the pre 
 ceding evening by scarlatina. She is to be placed in the
 
 NOTES. 237 
 
 grave by the side of two other grandchildren of the ages 
 of five and six years, victims to the same plague, who 
 a few days ago died in a neighboring house, John and 
 Charlotte, children of Erastus and Charlotte Hopkins. 
 In my sorrow in the loss of these three beautiful chil 
 dren, my daily delight in my old age, I find a source 
 of joy in the persuasion, that ' the elect angels ' have 
 conveyed their spirits to the arms of my Malleville, and 
 thus perhaps added to her bliss in the presence of her 
 Redeemer. Mourners of the earth ! May God in his 
 mercy allow you to cherish the hope of a re-union, in 
 joy uninterrupted, with those, whom you mourn. Fare 
 well.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-50nj-4,'61(B8994s4)444
 
 PS 
 
 1039 /lien - 
 
 Wunnissoo 
 
 PS 
 1039 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 i I II 1 1 III It || | 1 1| || Illll || || | || | 
 
 A 001 374 565 8