It is believed that the scene of this tale, and most
of the information necessary to understand its allusions,
are rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader in
the text itself, or in the accompanying notes.
Still there is so much obscurity in the Indian traditions,
and so much confusion in the Indian names, as to render
some explanation useful.
Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so
express it, greater antithesis of character, than
the native warrior of North America. In war,
he is daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying,
and self-devoted; in peace, just, generous, hospitable,
revengeful, superstitious, modest, and commonly chaste.
These are qualities, it is true, which do not distinguish
all alike; but they are so far the predominating traits
of these remarkable people as to be characteristic.
It is generally believed that the Aborigines of the
American continent have an Asiatic origin. There
are many physical as well as moral facts which corroborate
this opinion, and some few that would seem to weigh
against it.
The color of the Indian, the writer believes, is peculiar
to himself, and while his cheek-bones have a very
striking indication of a Tartar origin, his eyes have
not. Climate may have had great influence on
the former, but it is difficult to see how it can have
produced the substantial difference which exists in
the latter. The imagery of the Indian, both in
his poetry and in his oratory, is oriental; chastened,
and perhaps improved, by the limited range of his practical
knowledge. He draws his metaphors from the clouds,
the seasons, the birds, the beasts, and the vegetable
world. In this, perhaps, he does no more than
any other energetic and imaginative race would do,
being compelled to set bounds to fancy by experience;
but the North American Indian clothes his ideas in
a dress which is different from that of the African,
and is oriental in itself. His language has the
richness and sententious fullness of the Chinese.
He will express a phrase in a word, and he will qualify
the meaning of an entire sentence by a syllable; he
will even convey different significations by the simplest
inflections of the voice.
Philologists have said that there are but two or three
languages, properly speaking, among all the numerous
tribes which formerly occupied the country that now
composes the United States. They ascribe the known
difficulty one people have to understand another to
corruptions and dialects. The writer remembers
to have been present at an interview between two chiefs
of the Great Prairies west of the Mississippi, and
when an interpreter was in attendance who spoke both
their languages. The warriors appeared to be
on the most friendly terms, and seemingly conversed
much together; yet, according to the account of the
interpreter, each was absolutely ignorant of what the
other said. They were of hostile tribes, brought
