sky," for "prosperity"--the latter being the nearest
approximation to an abstract idea observed in Indian oratory. Upon
examining these, and kindred forms of speech, we shall at once perceive
that they are not the result of imagination, but are suggested by
_material_ analogies. Peace, to the savage, is, at best, but a negative
idea; and the _state_ of peacefulness, abstracted from the absence of
war, finds no corresponding word in his language. Even friendship only
means that relation, in which friends may be of _use_ to each other. As
his dialects are all synthetic,[18] his ideas are all concrete. To say,
"_I love_" without expressing _what_ or _whom_ I love, would be, so to
speak, very bad Indian grammar. He can not even say "two" correctly,
without applying the numeral to some object. The notion of absolute
being, number, emotion, feeling, posture, or relation, is utterly
foreign to his mode of thought and speech.

So, also, of the "cloudless sky," used to express a state of prosperity.
He does not mean, by the phrase, the serenity of mind which prosperity
produces, nor any other abstract inflexion or suggestion of the figure.
He is constantly exposed to the storms of heaven, in the chase, and on
the war path; and, even in his best "lodge," he finds but little shelter
from their fury. Clear weather is, therefore, grateful to him--bright
sunshine associates itself, in his mind, with comfort, or (that
supremest of Indian pleasures) undisturbed indolence. And the
transition, though, as we have said, an approach to an abstract
conception, is easy, even to the mind of a savage. His employment of
such illustrations is rather an evidence of rudeness, than of
eloquence--of barrenness, than of luxuriance of idea.[19]

From these considerations, it results, that even the very best specimens
of Indian oratory, deserve the name of _picturesque_, rather than of
_eloquent_--two characteristics which bear no greater affinity to each
other, than do the picture-writing of the Aztec and the alphabetical
system of the Greek. The speech of Logan--the most celebrated of Indian
harangues--even if genuine,[20] is but a feeble support to the theory of
savage eloquence. It is a mixture of the lament and the song of triumph,
which may be found in equal perfection among all barbarous people; but,
so far as we are aware, was never elsewhere dignified with that sounding
name. The slander of a brave and honorable man,[21] which it contains,
mig