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nated by a great number of torches made of splinters cut from the pine or birch tree, which the Indians held in their hands.

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In a few minutes the priest entered; when an amazing large elk's skin being spread on the ground, juft at my feet, he laid himfelf down upon it, after having ftript himfelf of every garment except that which he wore clofe about his middle. Being now pro ftrate on his back, he first laid hold of one fide of the skin, and folded it over him, and then the other; leaving only his head uns covered. This was no fooner done, than two of the young men who stood by took about forty yards of ftrong cord, made alfo of an elk's hide, and rolled it tight round his body, fo that he was com pletely fwathed within the skin. Being thus bound up like an Egyptian mummy, one took him by the heels, and the other by the head, and lifted him over the pales into the inclosure. I could now also discern him as plain as I had hitherto done, and I took care not to turn my eyes a moment from the object before me, that I might the more readily detect the artifice, for fuch I doubted not but that it would turn out to be.

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The priest had not lain in this fituation more than a few feconds, when he began to mutter. This he continued to do for fome time, and then by degrees grew louder and louder, till at length he spoke articulately; however, what he uttered was in fuch a mixed jargon of the Chipeway, Ottawaw, and Killifinoe languages, that I could understand but very little of it. Having continued in this tone for a confiderable while, he at laft exerted his voice to its utmost pitch, fometimes raving and fometimes praying, till he had worked himself into fuch an agitation, that he foamed at his mouth.

• After having remained near three-quarters of an hour in the place, and continued his vociferation with unabated vigour, he feemed to be quite exhaufted, and remained fpeechlefs. But in an inftant he sprung upon his feet, notwithstanding at the time he was put in, it appeared impoffible for him to move either his legs or arms, and thaking off his covering, as quick as if the bands with which it had been bound were burned afunder, he began to addrefs those who flood around in a firm and audible voice: " My Brothers," faid he, "the Great Spirit has deigned to hold a Talk with his fervant at my earnest request. He has not, indeed, told me when the perfons we expect will be here, but to-morrow, foon after the fun has reached his highest point in the heavens, a canoe will arrive, and the people in that will inform us when the traders will come.' Having faid this, he ftepped out of the inclofure, and after he had' put on his robes, difmiffed the affembly. I own I was greatly aftonifhed at what I had feen, but as I obferved that every eye in the company was fixed on me with a view to discover my fentiments, I' carefully concealed every emotion.

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• The next day the fun shone bright, and long before noon all the Indians were gathered together on the eminence that overlooked the; Lake. The old king came to me and asked me, whether I had fo much confidence in what the priest had foretold, as to join his people. on the hill, and wait for the completion of it? I told him that I was at a loss what opinion to form of the prediction, but that I would readily attend him. On this we walked together to the place where

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the others were affembled. Every eye was again fixed by turns on me and on the Lake; when juft as the fun had reached his zenith, agreeable to what the priest had foretold, a canoe came round a point of land about a league diftant. The Indians no fooner beheld it, than they fent up an univerfal fhout, and by their looks feemed to triumph in the intereft their priest thus evidently had with the Great Spirit,

In less than an hour the canoe reached the fhore, when I attended the king and chiefs to receive thofe who were on board. As foon as the men were landed, we walked all together to the king's tent, where, according to their invariable cullom, we began to fmoke; and this we did, notwithstanding our impatience to know the tidings they brought, without asking any queftions; for the Indians are the moft deliberate people in the world. However, after fome trivial converfation, the king inquired of them whether they had feen any thing of the traders? The men replied, that they had parted from them a few days before, and that they propofed being here the fe cond day from the prefent. They accordingly arrived at that time, greatly to our fatisfaction, but more particularly fo to that of the Indians, who found by this event the importance both of their priest and of their nation, greatly augmented in the fight of a stranger.

This flory, I acknowledge, appears to carry with it marks of great credulity in the relator. But no one is lefs tinctured with that weakness than myfelf. The circumftances of it, I own, are of a very extraordinary nature; however, as I can vouch for their being free from either exaggeration or mifreprefentation, being myself a cool and difpaffionate obferver of them all, I thought it neceffary to give them to the Public. And this I do without wishing to mislead the judgment of my Readers, or to make any fuperftitious impref. fions on their minds, but leaving them to draw from it what conclufions they pleafe.'

This is, indeed, a curious narrative; concerning which, in imitation of our Author, we fhall leave cur Readers to their own remarks and conclufions; and proceed to mention his account of the manners and customs of the Indians, in their ancient purity. This, Mr. Carver flatters himself, he has been enabled to do, with more juftice than former writers, having made his obfervations on thirty Indian nations. He is, accordingly, very diffufe in his account of these people, who seem to be a race as totally diftinct from the reft of mankind, as the negroes are from the whites. He defcribes, and illuftrates by fome good engravings, their perfons, drefs, arms, habitations, cookery, temper and difpofitions, method of computing time, government, feafts, dances, games, hunting, methods of making war and peace, language, marriage ceremonies, religion, difeafes,' and the treatment of their dead. Under all thefe diftinct heads we have a great variety of information, and many very entertaining defcriptions and details: in which the fair fex (if it be proper fo to flyle the Indian women) come in for a due share of notice. He clofes with a general character of the Indians;

in which he appears to have difcriminated, with great propriety, between their good and bad qualities. He obferves that they are of a cruel, revengeful, inexorable difpofition; that they will watch whole days, unmindful of the calls of nature, and make their way through pathless and almost unbounded woods, fubfifting only on the fcanty produce of them, to purfue and revenge themselves of an enemy; that they hear unmoved the piercing cries of fuch as unhappily fall into their hands, and receive a diabolical pleasure from the tortures they inflict on their prifoners: but, adds he, let us look on the reverse of this terrifying picture, and we shall find them temperate both in their diet and potations (it must be remembered, that I fpeak of those tribes, who have little communication with Europeans), that they withstand, with unexampled patience, the attacks of hunger, or the inclemency of the feafons, and efteem the gratification of their appetites but as a fecondary confideration.

We fhall likewife fee them fociable and humane to thofe whom they confider as their friends, and even to their adopted enemies; and ready to partake with them of the laft morfel, or to risk their lives in their defence.

In contradiction to the reports of many other travellers, all of which have been tinctured with prejudice, I can affert, that notwithstanding the apparent indifference with which an Indian meets his wife and children after a long abfence, an indifference proceeding rather from cuftom than infenfibility, he is not unmindful of the claims either of connubial or parental tenderness; the little ftory I have introduced in the preceding chapter of the Naudoweffie woman lamenting her child, and the immature death of the father, will elucidate this point, and enforce the affertion much better than the most studied arguments I can make use of.

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Accuftomed from their youth to innumerable hardships, they foon become fuperior to a fenfe of danger, or the dread of death; and their fortitude, implanted by nature, and nurtured by example, by precept, and accident, never experiences a moment's allay.

Though flothful and inactive whilft their ftore of provision remains unexhaufted, and their foes are at a diftance, they are indefatigable and perfevering in purfuit of their game, or in circumventing their enemies.

If they are artful and defigning, and ready to take every advantage, if they are cool and deliberate in their councils, and cautious in the extreme either of difcovering their fentiments, or of revealing a fecret, they might at the fame time boaft of poffeffing qualifications of a more animated nature, of the fagacity of a hound, the penetrating fight of a lynx, the cunning of the fox, the agility of a bounding roe, and the unconquerable fierceness of the tyger.

In their public characters, as forming part of a community, they poffefs an attachment for that band to which they belong, unknown to the inhabitants of any other country. They combine, as if they were actuated only by one foul, againit the enemies of their nation,

and banish from their minds every confideration oppofed to this. every

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They confult without unneceffary oppofition, or without giving way t to the excitements of envy or ambition, on the measures neceffary to be pursued for the destruction of thofe who have drawn on themselves their difpleafure. No selfish views ever influence their advice, or obftruct their confultations. Nor is it in the power of bribes or threats to diminish the love they bear their country.

• The honour of their tribe, and the welfare of their nation, is the first and most predominant emotion of their hearts; and from hence proceed, in a great measure, all their virtues and their vices, Actuated by this, they brave every danger, endure the most exquifite torments, and expire triumphing in their fortitude, not as a perfonal qualification, but as a national characteristic.

From thence alfo flow that infatiable revenge towards thofe with whom they are at war, and all the confequent horrors that difgrace their name. Their uncultivated minds being incapable of judging of the propriety of an action, in oppofition to their paffions which are totally infenfible to the controul of reafon or humanity, they know not how to keep their fury within any bounds, and confequently that courage and refolution which would otherwife do them honour, degenerates into a favage ferocity.

But this thort differtation muft fuffice; the limits of my work will not permit me to treat the fubject more copiously, or to pursue it with a logical regularity. The obfervations already made by my readers on the preceding pages, will, I truft, render it unneceffary; as by them they will be enabled to form a tolerably juft idea of the people I have been defcribing. Experience teaches, that anecdotes, and relations of particular events, however trifling they might appear, enable us to form a truer judgment of the manners and cuf toms of a people, and are much more declaratory of their real ftate, than the molt ftudied and elaborate difquifition, without thefe aids.

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The natural bifiary forms a confiderable part of this work, and is given under the diftinct heads of beafts, birds, fishes, reptiles, infects, trees, fhrubs, roots, herbs, and flowers. The Author has likewife given a vocabulary of the Chipeway and Naudoweffe languages; and he concludes with an Appendix, intended to evince the probability of the interior parts of North America becoming commercial colonies; pointing out the means by which this may be effected; with the tracts of land on which colonies may be eftablished with the greatest advantage: he has alfo a differtation on the discovery of a north-west paffage.

We fhall conclude this Article with an extract from Capt. Caryer's general view of his great defign, in exploring these unknown regions; with his reflections on the fuccefs of his undertaking; viz.

In October, 1768, I arrived at Bofton, it on this expedition two years and five time travelled near feven thousand miles.

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having been abfent from months, and during that From thence, as foon as

I had properly digefted my journal and charts, I fet out for England, to communicate the discoveries I had made, and to render them beneficial to the kingdom. But the profecution of my plans for reaping these advantages has hitherto been obstructed by the unhappy divifions that have been fomented between Great Britain and the Colonies by their mutual enemies. Should peace once more be reftored, I doubt not but that the countries I have described will prove a more abundant fource of riches to this nation than either its Batt or Weft Indian fettlements; and I shall not only price myself, but fincerely rejoice in being the means of pointing out to it to valcable an acquifition.

• I cannot conclude the account of my extenáre travels, without expreffing my gratitude to that beneficen: Being who invicbly protected me through thofe perils which unavoidably attended to long a tour among fierce and untutored favages."

ART. VI. An Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Seal, and its instinctive Senje of Gud azi Ēsti, Sr. Sc. With an Appendix, in Answer to Dr. Prief'ey's Diiquifitions on Marter and Spirit. By the Author of the Letters in Proof of a particular as well as a general Providence, which were added to Dr. Hawkefworth, &c. &c. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Dodley. --8.

THOUGH this Effayift declares, at the commencement of

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his work, that he thinks metaphyfical ftudies wither inftructive, nor entertaining,'—and that he fhould never have been at the trouble of reading either Dr. Hartley's Obfervations on Man, or the Introductory Eays which Dr. Priestley has prefixed to his abridgment of that work;' had not a Mr. Stator's well-known advertisement informed him that Dr. Prieffley had' denied the immortality of the foul:-he has nevertheless, himfelf, compiled a metaphyfical work, confifting of no less than 466 pages in octavo; and doubtless expects that there are readers, befide the Monthly Reviewers, who will take the trouble of perufing it, and may hope to receive inftruction or entertainment from it. A very brief account of the work will ferve to fhew how far fuch hopes are well founded.

Our Author firft endeavours to fhew the general bad tendency of Dr. Prieftley's Introductory Eays above mentioned; and that his arguments in fupport of the materiality of the ha man foul are equally inconfiftent with that beef in a future ftate, which is derived from the light of nature, and with the doctrines of revelation contained in the fcripture. He next feems inclined to enliven the fubject by a ftudied detail of the "ridiculous confequences,' which, he alleges, mud follow from denying the immateriality of the foul of man These are, indeed, ridiculous enough.-We mean the Autor's conféquences; -and that we too may enliven the prefent Article, and render it as entertaining as is confiftent with the nature of the fubjectputting

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