l
bound in the same bright path to the same glorious home. After
travelling in this path for two suns, they came to a great city
surrounded by the shade of a high wall. Within this wall, which was of
immense extent, enclosing rivers and lakes, and forests and prairies,
and all the things which are found on earth, dwelt the souls of good
men; without, hovering around, as a hawk hovers around a dove's nest,
into which he dares not pounce, because he sees near it a bent bow in
the hands of a practised archer, were the souls of the bad, debarred
entrance, and, as often as they approached very near, driven away by the
ministering spirits of the Great Master of ail. Within the wall were
all the things which give pleasure to the red man; the river filled with
fishes disporting in their loved element, the lakes thronged with glad
fowls, wheeling in their devious paths, and the woods with beautiful
birds, singing their soft songs of love and joy from the flowery boughs
of the tulip-tree and the Osage apple. They saw in the open space a
panther, fangless and powerless, and heard in the thicket the growl of a
fat bear, that could neither bite nor scratch. The speed of the bison
was outstripped by that of the spirits; the wings of the wild turkey and
soland-goose could not convey them out of the reach of the sprightly
inhabitants of the City of Souls. Their corn grew up like trees, with
two ears upon every stalk, and the produce of their bean-garden was a
thousand for one. But while the souls of the good were so happy, and
their joys so many, miserable, miserable was the state of the bad who
were excluded from the city. They saw the happiness of the good souls,
many of whom had been known to them on the earth, and they gnashed their
teeth with impotent rage, and uttered a war-whoop, as a leg-broken bear
growls or a chained man threatens, at the sight of the bliss of which
they were not permitted to partake.

[Footnote A: Many of the Indians suppose that the God of the Waters
(Michabou) resides in the Cataract of St. Anthony.]

When they had remained three suns in the Joyful Abodes, the Great
Spirit bade them prepare for their return to the earth. He told them
there were human duties for them to perform before they could be
permitted to take up their residence for ever in the Happy City. He bade
Tamenund remember, that he had not taught his little son how to toughen
a young ash bow, nor how to splint a shaken arrow. And he told the