his story in the
following words:

When I left my five brothers, said he, I crossed the river that glides
by my cabin, and travelled towards the mountains which are called by
Indians the Backbone of the Great Spirit. Upon the sixth day, I came
to the hither part of the mountain, and sat down upon its eastern edge
to rest my wearied limbs. It was near the hour of evening; the sun had
not retired from the earth, but the lofty peaks of the mountains hid
his beams from those who sat in the shade of those peaks, making it
night to them. At length the sun set, and a thick veil of darkness was
cast over the face of the earth. The ugly bat came forth, the mournful
night-bird began his song, the wise owl hooted on the limb of the
tree, and the dazzling little fire-fly twinkled in the glades, and
among the trunks of the giant oaks. Then it was that a distant sound
of music came to the ears of Apaumax the Nanticoke, who is myself. He
listened, and caught the words, of a song issuing from a valley near
the hillock upon which he sate. Softer than the plaintive cry of the
dove, sweeter than the love-notes of the song-sparrow, was that song.
Presently other voices could be heard laughing or singing, singly, or
in concert. The Nanticoke was so greatly charmed with those notes that
he determined to know whence they issued, and whose were the voices
that sang them. So, descending the hill, he approached cautiously the
spot where he had heard them, until he came suddenly upon a company of
strange women who were dancing upon a green spot in the valley. They
were the greater part of them very small, many being not taller than
the sprout of three moons; but there were others, whose stature arose
to the height of a full-grown person. Of the latter there was one whom
the whole seemed to obey, the tallest woman of the group, and the most
beautiful. She did not seem very youthful; at least her features spoke
not of youth, nor did they imply age, but the period of life when
woman is like a ripe grape, the sweetness of which is diminished by
being suffered to hang a single day more on the vine untasted. She had
a pale skin--ye see how pale--her cheeks were red as the flower that
blooms among thorns, and her eye shone like the little flower which
emulates the blue of the sky. Her lips were red and pouting, and her
teeth whiter than the lily. Beautiful creature! lovely and beloved
woman!

Cautiously did the Nanticoke approach the merry dancers, a