The following instance is very expressive of the fine use the Indians
make of simple and natural images:—the speaker was dressed in a robe
of several marten-skins sewed together; it was fastened to his right
shoulder, and passed under his left arm: he wrapped himself up in this
robe, and said—
“My heart laughs for joy on seeing myself before thee: we have all of us
heard the word which thou hast sent us. How beautiful is the sun to-day!
but lately it was red and angry, for our hands were stained with blood;
our tomahawks thirsted for it; our women howled for the loss of their
relations; at the least shriek of the birds of night, all our warriors
were on foot; the serpents angrily hissed at us, as we passed. Those we
left behind sang the songs of death.
“But now our whole nation laughs for joy to see us walk on the same road
with thyself, to join the Father of spirits: our hearts shall make but
one: come with us to the forests; come to our homes by the great river;
we shall plant the tree of life, of which thou speakest, there, and our
warriors shall rest beneath its leaves; and thou shalt tell us more
of that land where there is no storm or death, and the sun is always
bright. Will not that be good? What dost thou say to it, my father?”