Here, doth not wake that thrill of awe-that feeling The mind and sense of him whose foot is scaling Blue ponds and streams are glancing, fringed with flowers,--- IS LA FAYETTE-the other, matchless WASHINGTON!❤ Great names! presiding spirits of each scene, Its lettered arm, pointing the traveller's eye, The compass of his plastic art to try. From the curved neck up to the shaggy hair That shoots in pine trees from the head on high, All, all is perfect-no illusions there To cheat the expecting eye with fancied forms of air! Most wondrous vision! the broad earth hath not More fit to stir the poet's phantasy The names of the two highest peaks, one of the Franconia, the other of the White Hills. The two groups are about twenty miles distant from each other Gray OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN-awfully, And curious travellers have descried the trace In that most grave and philosophic face If it be true, Old Man, that we do see Sage Franklin's countenance, thou indeed must be Since Earth began-here thou, too, oft hast played And viewed with deep and reverential awe The spot where the GREAT SPIRIT made abode, When storms obscured thee, and red lightnings glowed He saw thy form in anger veiled, nor rowed His birchen bark, nor sought the wild-deer chase, Till thy dark frown had passed, and sunshine filled its place. Oh! that some bard would rise-true heir of glory, To gather up each old romantic story That lingers round these scenes in memory, And consecrate to immortality— Some western SCOTT, within whose bosom thrills That fire which burneth to eternity, To pour his spirit o'er these mighty hills And make them classic ground, thrice hallowed by his spells! But backward turn-the wondrous shape hath gone- Nought but the ragged mountain side is seen,- And trace yon streamlet down the expanding gorge, For ages whirling in its foamy spray, Which issuing hence shoots gladly into day, Gladdening fair meadows as it onward goes, Where, 'mid the trees, rich towns their heav'nward spires disclose. And further down, from GARNSEY's lone abode, The rocks abrupt wall in the long, high room, But long, too long, I've dwelt as in a dream, Amid these scenes of high sublimity Another pen must eternize the theme Mine has essayed, though all unworthily. FRANCONIA, thy wild hills are dear to me— Would their green woods might be my spirit's home! Shall I look back, where'er I chance to roam And see their shining peaks rise o'er its angry foam! LANCASTER, N. H. H. EARLY AMERICAN TRAVELS. FATHER HENNEPIN. (Concluded from page 209.). On the twenty-ninth of February, 1680, Hennepin, with two of the men, left Fort Crevecœur, provided with a calumet and presents for the Indians. Old Father Gabriel bestowed on him a solemn benediction in the words of Scripture-Viriliter age etcomfortetur cor tuum. The Indians whom they met with on their voyage down the Illinois river endeavoured to dissuade them from the continuance of their enterprise; and Hennepin's companions were so impressed with what they heard, that they concluded to go off with the canoe and abandon him, as they confessed on the following day. A tribe called Tamaroa, or Maroa, dwelling at the mouth of the Illinois, invited the travellers to land and visit their village, and on their refusal pursued them-judging from their bearing arms that they were about to join their enemies. The lightness of their birchbark canoe enabled them to escape, and the discovery of some smoke from a projecting point of ground in their front, betrayed to them an ambuscade which the Indians had made to intercept them. The latitude of the mouth of the Illinois is given as between thirty-five and thirty-six degrees-four or five degrees too low. The floating ice detained them here until the twelfth of March. The country, froin the rivers to the hills, was filled with wild oxen; and we are told that "the country beyond the hills is so fine and pleasant, according to the account" he had of it, that "one might justly call it the Delight of America." It had been Hennepin's design, and so he had promised La Salle, to ascend the Mississippi, but his comrades determined to go down to its mouth, and threatened to land him if he refused to accompany them. He "thought it was reasonable to prefer" his own safety to the ambition of M. La Salle, and so he "agreed to follow" his men, who, seeing him "in that good disposition, promised that they would be faithful to" him. Six hours of difficult navigation through the floating ice brought them to the mouth of the Missouri. "It comes from the westward, and seems as big as the Meschasipi; but the water is so muddy, that 'tis almost impossible to drink of it." The Indians whom he afterwards met on the Upper Mississippi, told him that the Missouri was formed of several other streams rising in a mountain, twelve days' journey from the mouth, and that from the top of this mountain the sea was visible. 1 On the seventeenth of March they stopped at a village of the Akansa, where they were kindly received. These savages they found jovial and civil, differing from those of the north, who, he says, are commonly sad, pensive, and severe. He commends the modesty of the young men, who in the presence of their elders are silent until they are spoken to. Hennepin's comrades were so pleased with them, that there was danger of the voyage coming to a conclusion. They, however, got off on the following day, after being entertained with dancing and feasting. A short distance below, they landed and hid their goods, intending them for the Indians on the upper part of the river, whom they looked forward to meeting on their return. To know the spot again, they marked crosses upon the neighboring trees. At a second village of the Akansa they spent some time, and were received with as much kindness as at the first. Hennepin conjectures that the inhabitants of the first village had informed these of their approach. Presents were made to them, "which are symbols of peace in all those countries." Their hosts carried them to see a nation living farther back, called the Taensa, [Tennessee?] by whom they were received with great ceremony. The chief wore a white gown made of bark, woven and spun by the women. "Two men carried before him a thin plate of copper, as shining as gold." They who attended him kissed Hennepin's robe, whence he concluded that they had probably met with other Franciscans, from New Mexico. Their music was very disagreeable; their dancing more difficult than that of Europeans, "but perhaps as pleasant." The country abounded in palm, plum, mulberry, peach and apple trees, wild laurels, and walnuts of five or six kinds, bearing nuts much larger than those of Europe. These Indians appear to have impressed Hennepin favourably, in comparison with the Iroquois, Hurons and Illinois. They were civil, tractable and capable of instruction; but the Illinois and others he pronounces "meer brutes, as fierce and cruel as any wild beasts." For their amusement our travellers discharged their firearms, amongst which was a pistol which shot four balls in succession without requiring to be new-charged. Hennepin here erected a cross, and on the twenty-second accompanied the chief of the Koroa Indians to his village, about ten leagues down the river. Here again they were very kindly treated, and informed that they were seven days' journey from the sea. Several men were sent by this chief to bear them company to the ocean; but near an island, computed to be sixty leagues in breadth, the rapidity of the current carried the bark canoe with our voyagers away from the more heavy pyrogues of the Indians. |