constant communion with the grandest
works of nature--or rather, of nature's God. He had gazed on the
stupendous cataract of Niagara, and listened to its thunders,[*] till
he felt himself in the immediate presence of Deity in all its
omnipotence.

[Footnote: O-ni-ga-rah, 'the Thunder of Waters,' is the Indian name for
these magnificent falls.]

He had crossed the mighty rivers of America, that seemed to European
eyes to be arms of the sea; and had passed in light and frail canoes
over those vast lakes that are themselves like inland oceans. And, in
the high latitudes to which the restless and apprehensive spirit of
Tisquantum had led him, he had traveled over boundless fields of snow
in the sledges of the diminutive Esquimaux, and lodged in their strange
winter-dwellings of frozen snow, that look as if they were built of the
purest alabaster, with windows of ice as clear as crystal. And
marvelously beautiful those dwellings were in Henrich's eyes, as be
passed along the many rooms, with their cold walls glittering with the
lamp-light, or glowing from the reflection of the fire of pine
branches, that burnt so brightly in the center on a hearth of stone.
Well and warmly, too, had he slept on the bedsteads of snow, that these
small northern men find so comfortable, when they have strewn them with
a thick layer of pine boughs, and covered them with an abundant supply
of deerskins. And then the lights of the north--the lovely Aurora, with
its glowing hues of crimson and yellow and violet! When this beauteous
phenomena was gleaming in the horizon, and shooting up its spires of
colored light far into the deep blue sky, bow ardently did Henrich
desire the presence of his sister--of his Edith who used to share his
every feeling, and sympathize in all him love and reverence for the
works of God! But in all those days and months and years that elapsed
between the time when we left Henrich in the hunting-grounds of the
west, and the time to which we have now carried him, Oriana had been a
sister--yes, more than a sister-to him; and she had learnt to think as
he thought, and to feel as he felt, till he used to tell her that he
almost fancied the spirit of Edith had passed into her form, and had
come to share his exile.

Certainly, the mind and feelings of the Indian girl did ripen and
expand with wonderful rapidity; and, as she grew to womanhood, her
gentle gracefulness of manner, and her devoted affection towards
Henrich, con