23d.  From the mention which is made of it in “Valerius,” I this day read the Gospel of Luke, and truly am surprised to find it so very important a part of the New Testament.  Indeed, were all the rest of the volume lost, this alone would be sufficient for the guidance of the Christian.  Divines tell us that Luke was the most learned of the evangelists.  He is called “the beloved physician,” by St. Paul.  His style is more descriptive than the other evangelists, and his narrative more clear, methodical, and precise, and abounds equally with sublime conceptions.[31]

[Footnote 31:  This opinion was thrown out from mere impulse, on a single perusal, and so far as it may be regarded as a literary criticism, the only possible light in which it can be considered, is vaguely hazarded, for I had not, at that time, read the other Gospels with any degree of care or understanding, so as to be capable thereby of judging of their style or merits as compositions. Spiritually considered, I did not understand Luke, or any of the Evangelists, for I regarded the Gospels as mere human compositions, without the aid of inspiration.  They were deemed to be a true history of events, interspersed with moral axioms, but derived no part of their value, or the admiration above expressed, as revealing the only way of salvation through Christ.]

24th.  Mr. Harman, from a long residence in the Indian country, in high northern latitudes, was qualified by his opportunities of observation, to speak of the comparative character of the Indian language in that quarter.  He considers them as radically different from those of the Algonquin stock.  The group which may be formed from his remarks, will embrace the Chippewayans, Beaver Indians, Sicaunies, Tacullies, and Nateotetains.  If we may judge of this family of dialects by Mackenzie’s vocabulary of the Chippewayan, it is very remote from the Chippewa, and abounds in those consonantal sounds which the latter studiously avoids.

Harman says, “The Sicaunies bury, while the Tacullies burn their dead.”  “Instances of suicide, by hanging, frequently occur among the women of all the tribes, with whom I have been acquainted; but the men are seldom known to take away their own lives.”

These Indians entertain the same opinions respecting the dress of the dead, with the more southerly tribes.  “Nothing,” he says, “pleases an Indian better than to see his deceased relative handsomely attired, for he believes that they will arrive in the other world in the same dress with which they are clad, when they are consigned to the grave.”

27th.  Our second express arrived at dusk, this evening, bringing papers from the seaboard to the 14th of January, containing the President’s message, proceedings of Congress, and foreign news, up to that date.  A friend who is in Congress writes to me—­“We go on slowly, but so far very harmoniously, in Congress.  The Red Jackets [32] are very quiet, and I believe are very much disposed to cease their warfare against Mr. Monroe, as they find the nation do not relish it.”