from the view. It was the place to which we have given the name of West Point, and which is now never passed without thinking of the guilt of the mercenary Arnold, and the melancholy fate of the generous André. Then they neared the eastern shore, and passed close to the mouth of the Mattoavoan, where it quietly and sluggishly mingles with the Hudson—so close that they could hear from the depth of the woods, the incessant dashing of the stream, leaping over the last of the precipices that cross its channel. High above, and a little way inland, rose the round, bleak, and bald summit of Beacon Hill, on which afterwards blazed the watch-fires of the American revolution, when it made one of a range of signal posts reaching southward to the British lines, established to alarm the upper country in case of incursion. These are scenes now rich in historical remembrances-there were others at the time of which I am speaking, but they have passed away with the race whom we have dispossessed.

They continued to pass along under the shore, until the roar of the Mattoavoan was lost to the ear. They were not far from the foot of the northernmost of the mountains washed by the Hudson, that form the gigantic brotherhood of the Highlands, when a softer and lighter rush of

T*

water was heard. A rivulet, whose path was fenced on each side with thick trees and shrubs bound together by vines of the wild grape and the labrusca, came down over the loose stones, and fell with a merry gurgle into the calm water below. It was the rivulet of Melsingah. The interlacing boughs and vines formed a low arch over its mouth, that looked like the entrance into a dark cavern. The young woman pointed towards it, and intimated to the warrior that up that stream lay the path to that asylum whither she intended to conduct him. At this he took his oar from the water, and in a low voice began to remonstrate with her on the imprudence of remaining so near the haunts of his enemies. The parley lasted for a considerable time, during which she briefly explained to him what he had heard something of before, the profound religious reverence in which the Cascade of Melsingah, intended by her as the place of their retreat, was held, and related the interposition of its benevolent spirit in behalf of her own life. He was at length satisfied, and turned his canoe to the shore. They landed, and the warrior taking the light barque on his shoulders, they passed through the arch of shrubs and vines up the path of the rivulet, and soon stood by the cascade. The maiden untied from her neck a string of

beads and copper ornaments, obtained from the whites of the island of Manhadoes, dropped them into the water, and murmured a prayer for safety and protection to the Manitto of the place. On the west side of the deep glen in which they found themselves, was a shelf of rock projecting from the steep bank, which has since crumbled away, and under this the warrior and his gentle guide sheltered themselves till morning.

The return of light showed the inhabitants of the Indian village on the Mawenawasigh in unwonted bustle and confusion. All the warriors were out, the track of the fugitives was sought for, discovered, and followed to the bank of the river. The print of their steps on the sand, the marks of the canoe where it had been fastened to the bank, and of the oars where they had been planted to shove it away from the shore, left no doubt that the warrior had carried off the young woman to his own tribe, and they abandoned all further pursuit.

In the mean time, the warrior was occupied in constructing a habitation. A row of poles was placed against the projecting shelf of rock, which thus served for a roof; these were covered with leafy branches, and over the whole was laid a quantity of dead brushwood, so irregularly piled, as when seen at a little distance to give no sus

picion of human design. The inmates of this rude dwelling subsisted on game found in the forest, on fish from the mouth of the rivulet, and on the wild fruits and roots of the soil. The warrior's costume of the wolf-skin mantle and eagle feathers had been suggested by the idea that in case of an emergency it might enable him to pass for the Manitto of the waterfall, and on one occasion he found the convenience of his disguise. As he was sitting one day at the door of his cabin, he heard the voices of two persons in the wood, who seemed to be approaching the place. He saw that if he attempted to hide himself by going in, they might enter the glen and discover the secret of his retreat. He therefore took up his bow which was lying beside him, and placed himself in an upright motionless attitude on the edge of the pool in front of the water falling over the rock. In a moment two Indians made their appearance coming through the trees. At sight of the majestic figure in the grey mantle and plumes, they started and uttered an exclamation of surprise. He waved his bow motioning them away. One of them threw towards him a couple of arrow heads which he carried in his hand, and which fell into the water at the warrior's feet, sprinkling him with the spray they dashed up; and making gestures of reve

rence and supplication, the savages instantly retired.

Thus the time passed-swiftly and pleasantly passed-from the end of May until the beginning of September. The wants of savage life are few, and easily supplied, and for the little inconveniences that might attend their situation, the tradition says that the inmates of the glen of Melsingah found a compensation in their mutual affection. At length when the warrior had one day ventured across the ridge that rises to the south-east of the cascade, and was hunting in the deep narrow valley beyond, he suddenly came upon an Indian of his own tribe, who immediately recognised him. An explanation took place, in the course of which he learned that a peace had been settled between the tribe of Mohegans above and that below the Highlands. The Mohawks, to whom both were tributary, who governed them with a rigid authority, and who claimed the right of making war and peace for them, having heard of their differences, had des-. patched one of their chiefs to adjust them, and to command the two tribes to live in friendship. "My children," said Garrangula, the ambassador of the Confederates, in a council to which the chiefs of both tribes were called, "it is not good that ye who are brethren should spill each other's