pestilence. They made
war upon us, and drove us from our cornfields; they killed our old
men, and sent away our young men and maidens into slavery. O, Manito,
thus hath the accursed pale faces requited our kindness.

"Wast thou displeased with the red men O, Manito? Had the children of
the Forest offended thee, that thou didst deliver them into the hand
of their enemies? See, what thine inconsiderate anger hath done. Thou
hast destroyed us, and injured thyself. Where are the offerings that
once covered these rocks, the bears' meat and the venison, the
wampum, the feathers of the eagle, and sweet-smelling tobacco? Who now
honoreth the Manito of the loud voiced Yaupaae? I listen, but I hear
no answer."

Thus far the voice of Ohquamehud was low and melancholy, as the wail
of a broken heart, and his face sad, as of one lamenting for a friend,
but now it changed to a loftier expression, and the words were hissed
out with a guttural roughness, without being spoken much louder.

"O, Manito!" he continued, "I alone am left to offer thee the
sacrifice of the fragrant tobacco. Behold! I will fill thy pipe many
times if thou wilt assist me. Onontio hath done me much mischief. He
hath burned the villages of my people, and slain our warriors. Why
shouldst thou favor him? Is he not a dog which thou wilt kick away
from the door of thy lodge? He cometh, sometimes, and sitteth upon the
highest rock, to look down upon thy dwelling-place. It is to nourish
the pride of his heart. It is to exult that, as far as his eye can
see, it beholds no wigwam, nor one bringing thee gifts. Help Manito!
Think upon thine own wrongs,--remember the sufferings of the red man,
and give me the scalp of Onontio. Accept my offering."

Having thus spoken, and conciliated by every means that occurred to
his untutored mind, the good-will of the tutelary Spirit of the Falls,
recounting the generosity of the Indians, and the ingratitude of the
whites, remonstrating with the Manito for his supposed anger, and
pointing out its folly, trying to stimulate his indignation on account
of the neglect of himself, and, to tempt his love of presents by
promises, Ohquamehud threw a quantity of tobacco in the leaf, which
the Indians were accustomed to raise themselves around their cabins,
into the flames. But an incident took place, which, for a time,
dashed his hopes to the ground, and covered him with mortification and
confusion.

The day, as we have already intimated,