and to
give to those over whom thou presidest the light of the knowledge I
have conducted to my own realms. I have brought with me those who are
the pioneers of my footsteps whithersoever I go."

"It is well," answered the genius of the wilderness. "Take as much as
thou wilt of my lands. Choose for thyself the fairest spots--make my
people as thine own--we are sisters, thou sayest, and I believe thee,
for I love thee--sisters should dwell together in peace and love. Yon
river bank is very fertile."

"It is indeed very fertile," answered the strange genius, her
countenance brightening up as she surveyed the beautiful spot to which
her attention was directed.

"Thou shalt have it for thine own," said the elder sister kindly.

"Thou art very good," answered the other. "What use dost thou make of
yonder broad, and beautiful, and rapid river?"

"It furnishes food to my people. In the summer moons, the light canoes
of my beloved red men are seen gliding over it in swift pursuit of the
sturgeon; the fishes which sport in its clear bosom are the sweetest
in all the waters of my wide domain."

"I should like to have that river to be mine own," said the pale
genius.

"I can spare it," answered the other kindly. "It is thine."

"Yon is a beautiful lake," said the younger. "How calm and unruffled
is its surface!"

"It is a very beautiful lake, but thou hast not seen it in its most
beautiful season," answered the elder. "Thou shouldst behold it when
it waves a wide sea of water-lilies, white as the snow of winter, or
when myriads of gay wild-fowl skim its level surface, or settle down
upon its pellucid bosom, to take their repast. Then it is indeed
beautiful--very beautiful."

"A river and a lake should go together," said the younger.

"They should," answered she of the land, "nor will I be the one to
separate them. I give thee the lake."

"How much loftier than all the mountains of my own clime is that which
I see towering in the distance towards the land of the warm breezes!"

"That mountain is indeed very lofty," answered the dark Genius.

"I have a noble river, with a flowery bank rising above it, and I have
a level lake, but thou hast not given me a mountain, to whose cool and
refreshing breezes I may retire, when the fervid and scorching suns of
summer invade the lowlands. I would--thou wilt deem me greedy as the
hawk or the heron--I would have some such spot, whose breezes, when
they kindly dispense health,