lt his affections were so
engaged, that his self-command could not be depended on to keep their
secret. Their promise was not carefully observed, and, in consequence of
the baseness of a French Canadian in whose house Henry took
refuge,--baseness such as has not, even by their foes, been recorded of
any Indian, his life was placed in great hazard. But Wawatam returned in
time to save him. The scene in which he appears, accompanied by his
wife--who seems to have gone hand in hand with him in this matter--lays
down all his best things in a heap, in the middle of the hall, as a
ransom for the captive, and his little, quiet speech, are as good as the
Iliad. They have the same simplicity, the same lively force and
tenderness.

Henry goes away with his adopted brother, and lives for some time among
the tribe. The details of this life are truly interesting. One time he
is lost for several days while on the chase. The description of these
weary, groping days, the aspect of natural objects and of the feelings
thus inspired, and the mental change after a good night's sleep, form a
little episode worthy the epic muse. He stripped off the entire bark of
a tree for a coverlet in the snow-storm, going to sleep with "the most
distracted thoughts in the world, while the wolves around seemed to know
the distress to which he was reduced;" but he waked in the morning
another man, clear-headed, able to think out the way to safety.

When living in the lodge, he says: "At one time much scarcity of food
prevailed. We were often twenty-four hours without eating; and when in
the morning we had no victuals for the day before us, the custom was to
black our faces with grease and charcoal, and exhibit, through
resignation, a temper as cheerful as in the midst of plenty." This wise
and dignified proceeding reminds one of a charming expression of what is
best in French character, as described by Rigolette, in the Mysteries of
Paris, of the household of Pere Cretu and Ramnonette.

He bears witness to much virtue among them. Their superstitions, as
described by him, seem childlike and touching. He gives with much humor,
traits that show their sympathy with the lower animals, such as I have
mentioned. He speaks of them as, on the whole, taciturn, because their
range of topics is so limited, and seems to have seen nothing of their
talent for narration. Catlin, on the contrary, describes them as lively
and garrulous, and says, that their apparent tacit