struck each other, and it was often only after a long struggle, that any of them raised it.

In the midst of one of these long contests, whilst the players with their backs bent, pressed in a circle round the ball, an Indian separated from the group, went a little distance, came again running, rushed forward, after having turned himself round several times, fell upon the robust shoulders of the others, without bending them: leaped into the middle of the circle, seized the ball, and for seven times threw it to the mark. This was M'Intosh. The camp of which he was the chief was victorious-he came to receive our congratulations, in the midst of the acclamations of a party of Indian women, whilst the wives of the vanquished seemed to address them in words of consolation. The general, after this feat, which amused him very much, went to visit the interior of some of their habitations, and some of the Indian schools. When we were ready to begin our route, young M'Intosh re-appeared in a European habit. He asked the general's permission to accompany him to Montgomery, where he was going to conduct his brother, a boy ten years old, willing to trust his education to an American. The general consented to it, and we all departed together for Uchee Creek, an American inn, situated on the borders of a torrent which bears that name. We arrived early at this station and were able to visit the environs, which are delightful. Accompanied by M'Intosh, I soon made acquaintance with the Indians of this country; we found some exercising themselves in drawing the bow. I wished to try my strength like the rest; M'Intosh also armed himself with a bow; he has the arm and the eyesight of William Tell. Some of the trials of skill which he exhibited, if told, would scarcely be believed. I particularly admired the dexterity with which, while lying on the green plat, he threw an arrow, which, striking the earth at a little distance, rose with a light bound, and flew to a prodigious distance. It is a way, which the Indians employ to throw far, and without being seen by the enemy. I tried in vain this singular feat; each time my arrow instead of rebounding sank in the earth.

We returned to Uchee Creek where we had a meeting with an Indian chief who kept an inn. Some steps from the house, the Indian alighted, went to salute the general, and made a few purchases. The woman in the mean time, took care of the horse, and led him back, and when he set out again, put on the bridle and saddle and sprang up be hind him. I asked my travelling companions if this woman

was the wife of the Indian, and if such was the condition of the women of this nation. They answered that in general they lived with their husbands in this kind of servitude, that in the agricultural countries, they cultivated the field, laboured, sowed and reaped; that with the Indian hunters, they carried the game, the household utensils, and the materials for encampment, and travelled thus loaded to considerable distances, and that the cares of a mother hardly relieved them from these rude labours, In the walks which I afterwards took in the environs of Uchee Creek, their fate never appeared so bad as these statements made them. I saw women ranged in a circle before almost all the habitations, occupied in weaving mats and panniers, and amusing themselves with games and exercises of the body, in which the young men joined before them: and I did not remark any trait of severity on the part of the men, or servile dependence on that of the women. I had been so well received in all these Indian habitations near Uchee Creek, and all the countries watered by the streams were so beautiful, that it still seems one of the most delightful places that I have met with.

From Uchee Creek to the hut of the Big Warrior, the nearest halt, is about a day's journey. It led us through a country peopled by Indians. We often met them assembled on our route, and were assisted by them to cross the dangerous passages; for the storms had filled the roads and swelled the torrents. In one of these situations the general received a very touching proof of the veneration which these simple men have for him. One of the torrents which we had to cross ran over a wooden bridge, without a railing, and over which the carriage of the general must pass. What was our astonishment, on arriving at the river side, to find a hundred Indians, who, taking each other by the hand and up to their breasts in water, formed a double guard in the direction of the bridge! We were very glad to have this assistance, and the Indians, for their recompense, only wished the favour of kissing the hand of the general, whom they called their white father, the ambassador of the Great Spirit, the great French warrior who formerly came to deliver them from the tyranny of the English.-M'Intosh, who translated their discourse to us, explained to them the wishes of the general and of the rest of us. The hamlet of the Big Warrior was so called on account of the extraordinary courage and high stature of its chief. We arrived there too late, the chief had been dead for some time: the council of the old men had been assemNOVEMBER, 1826.-NO. 289, 55

bled to give a successor, and had chosen one of his sons as remarkable for strength of body as his father. This son talked much with M. George Lafayette: he expressed himself in English, and astonished us by the singular insensibility with which he spoke of the death of his father. But on this point the Indians have not the same ideas as we have; death does not appear an evil to them, either for him who quits life, or for those from whom he is separated,

The son of the Big Warrior was only sorry that the death of his father happened too late to permit him to dispose of his inheritance; and to present to the general one of the suits of armour of this celebrated chief. We only passed a night with the family of the Big Warrior. The next day we arrived at Lime Creek, that is to say, in the frontiers of the Indian country. We were received there by an American, who had married the daughter of a Creek chief, and who lived the life of an Indian. He was a captain Lewis, an old officer in the army of the United States. His house was commodious and elegant for an Indian hut. He was a man distinguished for his knowledge and character, and appeared to us to exercise great influence over the Indians. He had brought together a number of them on horseback and armed for war, to form an escort for the general. His discourse, which appeared studied, was quite long, and was translated to us by the interpreter. He began by praising the skill and courage that the general had before shown against the English. The most brilliant circumstances of this war were recalled and related in a language not unpoetical. The Indian chief concluded with nearly these words, "Father, they will tell for a long time among us, that you returned to visit our forests and huts; you, whom the Great Spirit formerly sent from the other side of the Great lake, to drive away those enemies of men, the English, as usual stained with blood. The youngest among us will tell their grandchildren that they have touched your hand, and seen your person. They will still see you again perhaps, for you are the favorite of the Great Spirit, and you cannot grow old: you will be able still to defend us, when we are threatened." The generai answered, by the help of the interpreter, the farewell of the Indians. He gave them counsels of wisdom and temperance, recommended to them to live always on good terms with the Americans, and to regard them always as friends and brothers. He told them that he would think of them and pray for the prosperity of their huts, and the glory of their warriors.

We then turned towards the river, which separates the country of the Creeks from the state of Alabama. The Indian cavaliers of captain Lewis, mounted little light horses, which were fleet as roe-bucks, some armed with bows and arrows, and others with tomahawks and battle axes; we followed in a long file, without order, the extremity of which was lost in the thickness of the forest. Having arrived on the bank of the river, they turned their horses and disappeared, uttering loud cries. Some of the chiefs bade us a last farewell, and we took leave of the Indian country.

For the Port Folio.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Monthly Review very properly accounts for the want of poetry among us: "Masses of wood," say these critics, "gigantic mountains, rivers, and lakes, are not of themselves sufficient to call forth the diviner mind of poetry. They are indeed among the favourite haunts of the muse, but it would seem that in order to attract her peculiar favour, they must have been time out of mind crowned with temples sacred to her name, and peopled with her worshippers. The banks of Avon are "beautiful in song," not because nature has been propitious to them, but because they are associated with the name of Shakspere. The traveller is wrapt in enthusiasm among the hills, and streams, and promontories of Greece, not so much on account of their appearance as pieces of exquisite scenery, but because they remind him of the poets, the sages, and the heroes, who, by their verse, eloquence, and bravery, have rendered the leading features of their country so many monuments of their glory. America is not old enough as yet, she has no mysteries, no associations, for attractive fiction. Man and his works, his sufferings, and his happiness, can alone bestow on rude or cultivated nature that magnetic power which will always command the sympathies of his kind."

There is no work so well calculated as Col. Leake's Historical outline of the Greek Revolution to lead to a fair view of the merits of the Greek cause, and the probable results of the Greek contest. The principal events of the various campaigns by sea and land, from the commencement of the insurrection to January last, are rapidly sketched. Then the author examines the means which the contending powers have brought into operation, and the resources which are at

their command respectively; and this detail is followed by an analysis of the cause, of the success of one party and the failure of the other. He is evidently a rational friend to the independence of the Greeks; but his generous sympathy in their favour is properly kept in check by his attachment for truth, and his anxiety to arrive at just conclusions.

The Sketches of Portuguese Life, Manners, Costume, and Character, by A. P. D. G. bear internal evidence of faithful observation, independently of the statement which the author gives in his preface of his long experience of Portugal and its inhabitants; his long residence in the country satisfactorily accounts for his intimate acquaintance with his subject. To his other qualifications he has added the agreeable power of illustrating his descriptions by some very spirited drawings. The chapter on Portuguese equipages is amusing, though sketched too much in caricature. The author speaks of the establishment and retinue of noble families in Portugal, and of the degrading habits of the young fidalgos, who are brought up totally without mental cultivation, and suffered to find their associates among the lackeys and stableboys of their paternal households. The result of this system he declares to be, that "with the exception of a few of the order who are distinguished for the highest degree of mental acquirements and employed in diplomacy at foreign courts, the great mass of them are plunged in brutal ignorance."

Mrs. Thompson's Memoirs of the Court of Henry VIII, is an amusing work. Necessarily possessing only the same sources of information which are open to all, and which are, for the most part perfectly familiar to the historical inquirer, she has doubtless not aspired to the discovery of new facts, nor found reason to place those which were previously known in any new or very striking light. But her volumes still bear, in a great degree, the charm of novelty; for the nature of her design enabled her to blend and harmonise the public transactions, which usually engross the whole care of professed historians, with all those minute and curious notices of the state of literature and the domestic condition of society, which are elsewhere to be found only in scattered and disjointed fragments. All the lighter sketches of her subject she has invested with a grace and an animation which are truly feminine: the coarser details are managed with delicate tact and propriety, honourable alike to her good sense and purity of mind; and even the weightier and more arduous task of delineating the ecclesiastical and political affairs of so remarkable a period she has accomplished with no inconsiderable talent and vigour.