ether pointed or mystical, of the Indian's
mythology, whether intelligible or obscure; of their shadowy glimpses of
the past and the future; of the beginning and end of things, without
alteration or embellishment. Such a work was wanted, and such a work was
expected from Mr. Schoolcraft.

"If we have room, we will quote one or two of the shorter tales, such as
'Mon-daw-min, or the origin of Indian corn,' and the 'Celestial
Sisters,' both of which are very characteristic, and show, under the
garb of much figurative beauty, how Indians appreciate the blessings of
a kind Providence, and, how his domestic affections may glow and endure.
Indeed, there are few of these tales that would not give interest to our
columns, and we shall be pleased to give our readers an occasional
taste, provided we thereby induce them to supply themselves with the
full feast in their power."

_20th_. It is stated that the oldest town in the United States is St.
Augustine, Florida, by more than forty years. It was founded forty years
before Virginia was colonized. Some of the houses are yet standing which
are said to have been built more than three centuries ago, that is to
say, about 1540. De Soto landed in Florida in 1539. Narvaez, in his
unfortunate expedition, landed in 1537. Both these expeditions were
confined to the exploration of the country west and north of the Bay of
Espiritu Santo, reaching to the Mississippi. De Soto crossed the latter
into the southeastern corner of the present State of Missouri, and into
the area of Arkansas, where he died.

_21st_. _The Detroit Free Press_, of this day, has the following
remarks:--

"Much interest is manifested in this work of Mr. Schoolcraft, as a
timely rescue from oblivion of an important portion of the great world
of mind--important inasmuch as it is a manifestation of two principles
of human nature prominent in an interesting variety of the human race,
the sense of the marvelous and the sense of the beautiful, or the
developments of wonder and ideality. The character of a people cannot be
fully understood without a reference to its tales of fiction and its
poetry. Poetry is the offspring of the beautiful and the wonderful, and
much of it the reader will find embodied in the Indian tales to which
the author of the _Algic Researches_ has given an enduring record.

"Much of this work strongly reminds the reader of the Grecian Mythology
and the _Arabian Nights Entertainments_.

"According t