proposal of preliminaries. On such occasions a few of the most respectable heads of the tribe, attended by those chiefs who have undertaken to be mediators, proceed to the nation with which they are to treat. Before them is carried the pipe of peace,-a sacred symbol, the rights of which no Indian will presume to violate. This pipe is about four feet long; its bowl is of red marble, and its stem of wood, adorned with the feathers of birds, and painted with hieroglyphics. From the variety of these ornaments, an Indian can immediately judge to what nation it belongs. Having reached the encampment of the hostile nation, an inferior chief fills the pipe of peace with tobacco; and having lighted it, presents it, first to heaven, then to earth, and, lastly, in a circle, to all parts of the horizon; thereby invoking the spirits that dwell in heaven, in earth, and air, to be present at the treaty. He next presents it to the hereditary chief, who takes a few whiffs; blowing the smoke, first towards heaven, and then around him towards the earth. In turn, it is presented to all the chiefs in their gradations, none presuming to touch it but with his lips. A council is immediately held; and, if the parties agree, a red hatchet is buried as a symbol of the promised oblivion of their animosity.

Amusements.] Their meetings for business are always concluded with a feast. Dancing is likewise a favourite amusement. The women dance more gracefully than the men, but never mix in the same dance. They carry themselves erect, their arms close by their sides, moving a few yards, alternately to the right and left. This movement is performed on their heels and toes, without any steps like the Europeans. They move with a great deal of agility, and keep time with the greatest accuracy. They have several principal dances such as the pipe-dance, the wardance, and the marriage-dance, all differing in their movements. The chief of these is the pipe-dance: it is pleasing to a spectator, and is used by the ambassadors negotiating a peace. The war-dance is used when they set out to make war, and when they return: and is intended to express all the particulars of an Indian campaign. In this dance, each performer brandishes his weapon, whirling it about with a variety of threatening gestures, and the whole is accompanied with the war-whoop, so that to a stranger it is a terrifying spectacle. Another of their amusements is gaming, to which they are much addicted. They have one game in which the different parties endeavour to drive a ball made of deer-skin, to two opposite goals, with a kind of racket, with which they keep the ball from reaching the ground. Another game, of which they are very fond, has some resemblance to dice. The Indians engage in these sports with much keenness; at the former they are often hurt; at the latter they will sometimes stake all they possess, and sometimes even their personal liberty.

Language, &c.] "In North America," says Malte Brun, "the language of the Aztequas extends from the lake Nicaragua to the 37th degree, along an extent of 400 leagues. It is less sonorous, but fully as rich as that of the Incas. The sound tl, which in the Azlequa is only added to nouns, is met with in the idiom of Nootka as the termination of verbs. In the idiom of Cora, the principal forms of the verb are similar to the Aztequa conjugations, and the words present some affinities. After the Mexican, or Aztequa language, that of the Otomites is the one that is most generally spoken in New Spain. But, besides these two principal languages, there are, between the isthmus of Darien, and the 23d degree of latitude, a score of others, to fourteen of which we are already in possession of very complete grammars

The

and dictionaries. The greater number of these languages, far from being mere dialects of one only, are at least as different the one from the others as the Greek is from the German, or the French from the Polish. It is only between the Aztequa idiom and that of Yucatan, that some resemblance is discovered. New Mexico, California, and the N.W. coast, form a region which is still but little known; and it is precisely from these that Mexican tradition derives the origin of many nations. The languages of this region would constitute a very interesting subject of research; yet we scarcely possess more than a vague idea of them. There is a great conformity of language between the Osages, the Kanses, the Otos, the Missouris, and the Mohanks. The guttural pronunciation of the fierce Sioux is common with the Panis. The language of the Appaches and the Panis extends from Louisiana to the sea of California. The Eslenes, and the Runselen, in California, likewise speak a widely extended idiom. The Tancards, on the banks of the Red river, are remarkable for a peculiar clucking sound; and their language is so poor, that they express one-half of their ideas by signs. In the southern provinces of the United States, as far as the Mississippi, there is an immediate affinity between the idioms of the Choktaws and of the Chickasaws, which have likewise some appearance of being connected with that of the Cherokees. Creeks or Muskohgees, and the Katahbas, have borrowed words from them. Farther to the N., the once powerful tribe of the Six Nations speaks one single language, which, amongst others, forms the dialects of the Seneccas, Mohawks, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Cochnewagoes, Wyandotes, and Oneidas. The numerous Nadowassians have a separate idiom. The dialects of the Chippaway language are common to the Penobscots, the Mahicannis, the Minsis, the Narragansets, Natixes, Algonquins, and Knistenaux. The Miamis, with whom Charlevoix classes the Illinois, also borrow from them some words and forms. Lastly, on the confines of the Knistenaux, in the most remote part of the north, the Esquimaux are met with, whose idiom extends from Greenland to Oonalaska. Even the language of the Aleutian islands appears to possess an intimate resemblance with the dialects of the Esquimaux, in like manner as these do to the Samoid and Ostiac. In the midst of this belt of polar nations-resembling each other in language as well as in complexion and form-we find the inhabitants of the coasts of America, at Behring's straits, constituting, with the Tchouktches in Asia, an isolated family, which is distinguished by a particular idiom and a more imposing figure, and, in all probability, originating from the new continent. This great number of idioms proves that a considerable portion of the American tribes have long existed in that savage solitude in which they are still plunged." Of all these, the Chippaway language is the most prevailing, and is spoken in most of the general councils and negotiations of the tribes. It is said to be easily pronounced, and to be the most copious of all the Indian languages. These tribes have no letters; they make use of hieroglyphics to convey their meaning to others. Cutting the bark from a tree, they represent on it the figures of those transactions of which they wish to convey information. They reckon their time by nights; their months are lunar. Distances are computed by days' journeys,-a day's journey being supposed to be nearly 20 miles; and they divide it into quarters. From their great knowledge of the face of the country, they frequently make draughts or maps of it, which are found to be very cor

rect. They can count to any number, but have no idea of arithmetic ; their enumeration is in the decimal progression.

CHAP. III.-GREENLAND.

Situation and Boundaries.] Greenland, which has been generally reckoned part of America, in its general outline and position, resembles the vast promontory of South America. It reaches, as far as the land is discovered, from Cape Farewell, a small island divided from the shore by a narrow inlet, in 59° 30', to 80° N. lat. Its eastern coast stretches in a N.E. direction towards and beyond Spitzbergen, and is bounded by the Atlantic ocean. Its western coast runs N.W., and is bounded by Davis' straits and Baffin's bay. Its northern coast has never been explored. Its eastern coast, usually denominated East Greenland, was by the Norwegians and Icelanders called Osterbygd, or the Eastern settlement;' and its western coast, or West Greenland, Westerbygd, or 'the Western settlement.' The former, being earliest discovered, is called Old Greenland; the latter New Greenland. Under the general name of Greenland, the whale-fishers include the islands of Spitzbergen, so called from the sharppointed mountains with which they abound. By them also the whole W. coast of this country is called Davis' straits. The Danes divide the W. coast into North and South Greenland; the former reaching from 59° 30' to 68° N. lat., the latter from 68° to 78".

Historical Notice.] Greenland was first discovered to Europeans, in the 8th or 9th century, by Ericke Raude, an Icelander, who was driven by accident upon the coast. On his return he represented the country so favourably to his countrymen that several families followed him thither, where they soon became a thriving colony, and bestowed upon their new habitation the name of Groënland, that is, 'green land,' on account of its verdant appearance. This colony was converted to Christianity by a missionary from Norway, sent thither by the celebrated Olaf, the first Norwegian monarch who embraced Christianity. Under his protection, the settlement continued greatly to increase; and in a little time the country contained 12 parishes, 190 villages, a bishop's see, and 2 convents, under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Drontheim. A regular intercourse was maintained between this settlement and Norway till the year 1408. In that year the 17th bishop was sent to take possession of his see, but the coast of East Greenland was found to be surrounded by such vast quantities of ice as to be wholly inaccessible, and from this period all communication has been cut off with those unfortunate colonists.

A colony had also been settled in West Greenland, probably in the latitude of 60°, which maintained a constant intercourse with Europe, and soon increased to 4 parishes containing 100 villages. But this colony, from about the year 1376, appears to have been totally neglected by the mother country; and, being engaged in continual hostility with the Esquimaux, the native inhabitants, are supposed to have been entirely extirpated by their barbarous enemies, and by the ravages of that dreadful pestilence termed the black death.

In the year 1380, Greenland was visited by Antonio and Nicolo Zeno, two Italian nobleman who drew the first map of that country; it was also successively visited by Martin Frobisher in 1576 and 1578; by John Davis in 1585; and by William Baffin in 1616. In 1621, Hans Egede, a Norwegian clergyman, prompted by a laudable zeal for the promotion of

Christianity, resigned the benefice which he held in Norway, and sailed for Greenland, with the view of endeavouring to diffuse true religion among the natives. It was not without great difficulty and danger that he at length arrived off a place called Baal's river, on the W. side of Greenland, in lat. 64. Here M. Egede, and 43 men who remained with him, immediately set about building a house, in which they were most cordially assisted by the natives. He then applied himself to learning the language, and by his liberality and sweetness of manners greatly endeared himself to the inhabitants. This new colony was from year to year carefully supplied by the mother-country; but, as it brought no profit, a royal edict was published, in 1731, enjoining all the king's subjects in Greenland to return home. M. Egede, however, zealous for the salvation of the inhabitants, staid behind, with his family and a few others, who chose to follow his fortunes. In 1733, the Greenland trade was resumed with great vigour; and a gratuity or pension of 2,000 rix dollars a-year granted to the mission.

Face of the Country.] Malte Brun affirms that this country is "nothing more than a mass of rocks intermingled with immense blocks of ice." From its northern limits, as far as has yet been discovered, to its southern extremity, Greenland exhibits a range of inaccessible rocky mountains, separated by narrow valleys which are never visited by the sun. The higher regions are covered with enormous masses of ice, which being undermined by rapid torrents, are frequently precipitated into the valleys. Some of the mountains, in the 62d degree of latitude, rise to the height of 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and, excepting in a few hollow places, are free from snow during the summer. There are innumerable gulfs on the western side. Rivers are few in number and small in magnitude, owing, no doubt, to the perpetual prevalence of frost ; Baal's River is the largest. The springs and rivulets which flow from the mountains are frequently dried up in summer; they are most abundant in the spring, when, from the melting of the snow, they overflow their banks, and impart a considerable degree of fertility to the shores of the friths. In the valleys large lakes are often formed from the melting of the ice and snow upon the mountains. Spring-wells have been discovered; and one exhibits the singular phenomenon of rising and falling with the tide, although it is 36 feet above the level of the sea; while another, a warm spring, is remarkable for having at all times a temperature equal to 104° of Fahrenheit.

The coast is everywhere bold and rocky like that of Norway; and the navigation of the shores, particularly the eastern, is at all times more or less impeded by ice which is of two kinds, fresh and salt water ice. Fresh water ice appears in icebergs or masses of enormous magnitude and surprising shapes, sometimes rising to the height of 500 feet above water; while the salt water forms what are called fields of ice, which often seem to be of interminable extent. The ice formed by the fresh water is clear, hard, and brittle, having an appearance entirely glassy, and displaying sometimes a variety of the most brilliant colours. The icebergs form an immense rampart, stretching along the western coast of Greenland into Davis's straits. Nothing can present a more dazzling appearance, when they are illuminated by the sun, and glowing with the reflection of his ray. When, on the other hand, the wind begins to blow, and the sea to rise in vast billows, the violence with which they dash against each other fills the spectator with astonishment and terror. The driving ice is always

accompanied by thick fogs, which renders it still more dangerous to navigators.

Climate.] The climate of Greenland, owing to its northern position, and the winds which blow over its icy surface, is extremely cold; in winter, while the N.E. wind blows, the thermometer is often at 48" below zero. Before the ice begins to be formed, the sea smokes, and produces a fog, called frost smoke, which has the singular effect of blistering the skin. The aurora borealis sometimes appears here in great splendour, and fills the whole horizon with the finest tints of the rainbow, while the crackling sound, like that of electric sparks, by which it is usually attended, is distinctly heard. Mock suns are very frequent. From the peculiar state of the atmosphere in clear weather, the islands off the continent seem to the spectator to approach nearer him, and to increase in size; sometimes they assume the form of groups different from the real shape, and appear suspended in the air. Lightning is sometimes observed, but thunder is very rare. The rains are generally of short duration, the air is pure, and in some places the heat in summer exceeds 80°.

Productions.] During the short spring and summer-which seldom exceeds four months-vegetation is rapid in this country; and the plants, except being of a more dwarfish character-the tallest trees being only 18 feet high-are nearly the same as those of the northern districts of Britain. There is some land that admits of cultivation, and probably barley might be made to grow.

Animals.] Among marine animals, the whale tribe is here conspicuous. The great whale, or Greenland whale, balœna mysticetus, is said sometimes to exceed 60 feet in length; but of 322 individuals, in the capture of which Mr Scoresby was concerned, none occurred of a length exceeding 58 feet. The fin-fish, balæna physalis, is an annual visitant of the shores, and is often taken by the natives: he is considerably longer than the mysticetus, and is a more powerful and swifter animal, moving at the rate of 12 miles an hour. An individual of this species, found dead in Davis's straits, measured 105 feet in length. Besides these, three other species, the balona rostrata, or the beaked whale,-the balœna musculus, and balena boops, are also inhabitants of the same seas. The porpoise, the sword-fish, and the narwal, or sea-unicorn, frequently appear on the coast. Various species of seal inhabit the surrounding seas, and are of immense importance to the Greenlanders in supplying them with food and clothing, as well as with various articles useful in their simple arts and domestic economy. The walrus or morse, the trichecus rosmarus of zoologists, is a native of the same seas. Different species of cod-fish are common, and species of the salmon tribe are not rare; the salmo arcticus approaches the coast in immense shoals about the commencement of summer, and is then taken in great numbers. It is dried in the sun, and eaten during the winter as a substitute for bread. We cannot resist the opportunity here afforded us of quoting the following excellent and interesting remarks on animal life in the Polar regions, from the 1st volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library: "When we contemplate," say the learned editors of that work, "the aspect of the northern world,—bleak, naked, dreary, beaten by the raging tempest, snd subject to an extremity of cold which, with us, is fatal to life and to all by which life is supported,-we naturally imagine that animal nature must exist there on a small scale, and under diminutive forms. It might be expected, that only a few dwarf and stunted species would be scattered along its melancholy shores, and that life.