by a particular title, and whom the whites commonly call Sachem. The several towns or families that compose a tribe, have a chief who presides over it; and the several tribes composing a nation have a chief, who is the supreme ruler of the whole. These chiefs are generally men advanced in years, and distinguished by their wisdom in council. The chiefs of the towns settle the private affairs of their neighbours. The appointment of warriors, and settling differences between townships and families, are regulated at a council of the chiefs from the several towns; and making war, concluding peace, or forming alliances with the neighbouring nations, are the subjects of deliberation in the national council, attended by the principal warriors and chiefs from the towns, who are counsellors to the chief of the nation.

In every town there is a council-house. Every tribe has a fixed place for the transaction of the public business belonging to it; and in every nation there is the council-house, where consultations are. held on the affairs of the state.

Their religious ideas are confused with strange superstitions and absurd fables. They believe in the superintending providence of a Supreme Being, whom they adore under the title of the Great Spirit, or Lord of the Universe. Him they. invoke or protection at home, and assistance. in war; and honour him by feasts, in order to procure: favourable.

favourable seasons for hunting. These feasts are annually held in winter, on returning from the chase; when choice carcases are presented, and sometimes a white dog is sacrificed. They repeat these ceremonies in spring, before the seed is put into the ground; and after harvest, when they have gathered the produce. They believe also in the existence of inferior deities; especially two, of whom they relate a strange allegory, representing the good and evil principles. According to their tradition, the good being, to whom they give a very hard Indian name*, had a twin brother †, of an opposite disposition, under which they represent evil. Their grandmother, say they, was cast down from heaven, when she was with child of their mother, and falling on the back of a great turtle, began to form the earth. When the two brothers grew up, the evil one ever endeavoured to frustrate the good intentions of his beneficent brother. At last they fought, and the earth shook at the combat. They passed over the continent of America; and' according to their different agitations and tones of voice, the nations who afterwards were produced spoke different languages. Such is their history of the creation; and though very absurd, not more so than some of the fables of the natives of Indoostan. When compared with all other systems, how does the Mosaic account of the same

* Tcharonghyawagon.

G2

+ Tawiskaron.m

great

great event rise in sublimity! But my observations on this subject, to you, are needless.

I am, most respectfully, your's,

HENRY FRANKLIN.

LETTER XVIII.

From Arthur Middleton to his Brother.

DEAR EDWIN,

Nashville.

AFTER a few days' rest at Pensacola, Mr. Franklin, whose mind is ever active, became impatient to pursue the object he had undertaken, and I was ready to follow him. We therefore took our departure in a boat, well stored, by the kindness of our frinds, with every thing we could want; and keeping near the coast, upon which we observed several farms and plantations, proceeded to Pearl river. We landed on a small island of the same name: in the middle it rises to some height, but is nearly begirt with salt marshes, except a promontory, composed of white clam shells and sand. We embarked again, and were presently put ashore opposite to New Orleans, which we reached on foot, having disposed of our horses at Pensacola. New Orleans is the capital of Louisiana, and stands on the east side of the Mississippi. A few years

ago

ago it was almost destroyed by a dreadful fire; but its advantages for trade are so great, that it is rebuilding very fast, and is likely to become the grand mart for the natural productions of the fertile and extensive country that borders the Mississippi and the Ohio. Many of the inhabitants being ill of a pestilential fever, we decamped in haste, and having hired a boat, proceeded along the Mississippi to Manchac. During our row, we had leisure to admire this noble stream, which deserves the title of the Great Father of Rivers, that being the meaning of the word Mississippi. Every object that belongs to it bears the stamp of sublime grandeur. The banks rise high one above ano ther, and are clothed with majestic trees. At Manchac the shores are fifty feet above the surface of the river; but even these are overflowed in the spring by sudden inundations. We saw at an Indian village, a few miles from the town, manufactures of earthen-ware and pretty baskets; some of the latter we purchased. In our way back to our quarters, we passed a charming garden, glowing with fine flowers, particularly the fragrant tuberose, which grows here in the open air to great perfection.

The candleberry myrtle, or wax-tree, is common in these parts. It is a beautiful evergreen, that grows on wet, sandy ground, and produces great -numbers of large, round berries, which are covered G3

with

with a coat of a waxy substance, preferred by the inhabitants to bees' wax, for candles.

We suffered greatly from the stings of musquitoes, in our passage from Manchac to the Natches, a settlement that is often called the Mississippi territory. Though the climate is very unwholesome, causing intermitting fevers in the summer and autumn, numbers of emigrants fix their abodes there, on account of the profitable culture of the longwoolled cotton, a plant that succeeds admirably in that soil.

Here we were again obliged to procure horses, and join a party of traders who were going to Nashville. Except a few villages belonging to the Chicasaw Indians, there was no prospect of seeing a town, or the traces of a human habitation, for six hundred miles. Our company, of course, were under the necessity of loading a sufficient number of pack-horses with provisions for this dreary journey, not daring to rely on game and fish only, which we sometimes obtained on our way. Without attempting to weary you with the particulars of every day, I shall only say, that for nearly five hundred miles we traversed a sandy, level country, partly covered with pines, which would have been insufferably tedious, but for the ever-entertaining conversation, and uninterrupted kindness of Mr. Franklin, whose conduct daily increases my esteem and attachment to him.

As