tions. Hosts of a small fairy-like creation, called Ininees, little
men, or Pukwudj Ininees, vanishing little men, inhabit cliffs, and
picturesque and romantic scenes. Another class of marine or water
spirits, called Nebunabaigs, occupy the rivers and lakes. There is an
articulate voice in all the varied sounds of the forest--the groaning
of its branches, and the whispering of its leaves. Local Manitos, or
fetishes, inhabit every grove; and hence he is never alone.

To facilitate allusion to the braggadocio, or the extravagant in
observation, the mythos of Iagoo is added to his vocabulary. The North
and the South, the East and the West, are prefigured as the brothers of
Hiawatha, or the laughter-provoking Manubozho. It is impossible to
peruse the Indian myths and legends without perceiving the governing
motives of his reasons, hopes, wishes, and fears, the principles of his
actions, and his general belief in life, death, and immortality. He is
no longer an enigma. They completely unmask the man. They lay open his
most secret theories of the phenomena of spirit life; of necromancy,
witchcraft, and demonology; and, in a special manner, of the deep and
wide-spread prevalence throughout the world of Indian opinion, of the
theory and power of local Manitos. It is here that the Indian prophet,
powwow, or jossakeed, throws off his mask, and the Indian religionist
discloses to us the secrets of his fasts and dreams. His mind
completely unbends itself, and the man lives over, in imagination, both
the sweet and the bitter scenes of a hunter's life. To him the clouds,
which chase each other, in brilliant hues and constantly changing
forms, in the heavens, constitute a species of wild pictography, which
he can interpret. The phenomena of storms and meteorological changes
connect themselves, in the superstitious mind, with some engrossing
mythos or symbol. The eagle, the kite, and the hawk, who fly to great
heights, are deemed to be conversant with the aerial powers, who are
believed to have an influence over men, and hence the great regard
which is paid to the flight of these birds in their war and hieratic
songs.

Fictitious tales of imaginary Indian life, and poems on the aboriginal
model, have been in vogue almost from the days of the discovery. But
what has been fancied as life in the forest, has had no little
resemblance to those Utopian schemes of government and happiness which
rather denote the human mind run mad, than supp