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may think worthy of note, will be very agreeable to me, not merely as matters of curiosity, which in this case I think is very natural, but as facts which may be of service to know; the place they have gone to is a material fact.

TO NONSENSE.

DEAR Nonsense! peerless treasure!

I love thee, for thou art
The only earthly pleasure
That will not soon depart.

But as for solemn Reason,
That stalking ten-foot rule;
She's always out of season,
A prim old-fashioned fool.

She's like a walking steeple,
With clock for face and eyes,
Still bawling to the people,
"Time bids us all be wise."

While Nonsense, on the spire,
A weathercock you'll find,
Perched many a fathom higher,
And changing with the wind.

The clock too oft deceives,
Says what it cannot prove,

But every one believes

The vane that turns above.

Reason oft speaks unbidden,
And blames you to your face,
For which she should be chidden,
And taught to know her place.

While well-bred Nonsense flatters
With such delightful skill,
And so divinely chatters,

You cannot wish her still.

Her charms, from Fancy borrow'd,
Declare her Fancy's pet;

Her name is on her forehead,
In drops of rainbow set.

Then fondly let us cherish
A thing so gay and bright,
Nor suffer her to perish

In Reason's withering light.

E.

INTELLIGENCE.

Progress of Indian civilization.-Among the documents annexed to the late report of the Secretary of War, in relation to the preservation and civilization of the Indian tribes within the United States, is a very interesting letter from Thomas L. M'Kenney, relating to the condition of the south-western Indians. The writer affirms, that the effects of the present system of civilizing the aborigines, are every where most happy and beneficial. More than eleven hundred children are now receiving the benefits of a civilized education, and numbers of the older Indians are endeavouring to practise the useful lessons they receive from their children. The Choctaws have applied twelve thousand dollars per annum, for nearly twenty years, towards the support of the schools established among their tribe; and the Chickesaws have given one year's annuity, amounting, says the writer, to more than thirty thousand dollars, as a fund for the same object. But the most extraordinary instance of the good effects of the system our government are pursuing with regard to these tribes, is seen in the Cherokees, on this side of the Mississippi. A letter from David Brown, a native Cherokee, is given by Mr. M'Kenny, by which it appears that they may now be considered as a civilized people. The country is full of flourishing villages, connected by public roads; agriculture is successfully pursued; the natives have their orchards, their gardens, their wheat fields, their tobacco plantations, and almost every family raises cotton enough for its own consumption. Horses are plenty; numerous .flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of swine are seen every where. Droves of cattle, which furnish the tribe with butter and cheese, are pastured in the fine natural meadows of the country. Various mechanic arts are followed, cotton and woollen cloths are manufactured, and a considerable commerce is carried on with the adjoining states by merchants, nearly all of whom are native Cherokees. Cotton is exported in boats

down the Tennessee to the Mississippi, and thence to NewOrleans. In 1819, the number of Cherokees east of the Mississippi was estimated at 10,000; by a census taken in 1825, it appeared that it had increased to 13,563, exclusive of whites

and negro slaves. Of whites there are 210, of African slaves 1,277. The slaves have been brought in and sold by the whites, and are better satisfied, says Brown, with a residence in the nation than among the citizens of the United States. The whites resident in the nation enjoy all the privileges of native Cherokees, except that they are not eligible to any public offices.

The legislative power of the nation resides in a national committee, and council, called, in the Cherokee dialect, Tsalagi Tinilawigi; the members of both branches of which are elected by and from the people for a limited period. Newtown, situated in the centre of the nation, at the junction of two fine rivers, the Canasagi and the Gusuwati, is the seat of government, and during the session of the legislature is the resort of an immense concourse of people, who are drawn to hear the debates of the Cherokee statesmen on the politics of their little republic.

The Christian religion is the religion of the nation, and their progress in theological investigations is attested by the many sects which have already their zealous followers, the most numerous of which, says Brown, are the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Baptists, and the Moravians. The number of schools is every year increasing, learning is encouraged, indolence is becoming disreputable, and the female sex begins to receive that respect which is the criterion of a civilized nation. A printing press, a national library, and a museum, are about to be established at Newtown.

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"The success," says Mr. M'Kenny, "which has attended the philological researches of one in the nation,' and whose ystem of education has met, among the Cherokees, with universal approbation, certainly entitles him to great consideration, and to rank with the benefactors of man. His name is Guess, and he is a native and unlettered Cherokee. Like Cadmus, he has given to his people the alphabet of their language. It is composed of eighty-six characters, by which, in a few days, the older Indians, who had despaired of deriving an education by means of the schools, and who are not included in the existing school system as participators of its benefits, may read and correspond!"

This alphabet, as given by Mr. McKenney, is very curious, and appears to be a mixture of the syllabic and the literal alphabet. Some of the characters represent combinations of vowels, and many of them combinations of a vowel and a consonant. The readiness with which it is acquired and employed, is certainly a strong proof of the ingenuity of its construction.

THE

NEW-YORK REVIEW.

MAY, 1826.

[We give place in this number to the first part of an article on an interesting subject, which we insert as it has been put into our hands, without alteration. We could have wished that its tone had been more temperate towards the North American Review, than that which the author's respect for the memory of Heckewelder, and the character of many eminent living writers, has led him to assume.]

ART. XXVIII.-Examination of an Article in the North American Review, for January, 1826, respecting the Indians of America.

W'tohtimoin neg k'tuwonganu mo wahtiawaun ka matta k'wohtamu w'toh anuwahettit: that is, A nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.-Jeremiah, v. 15.

By KASS-TI-GA-TOR-SKEE, or THE FEATHERED Arrow.

THE North American Review for January, 1826, has lately reached this city; and I have read it, with that interest which I always feel, on looking into a work that has done so much honour to our country. My attention, however, has been most attracted by an elaborate article, of about seventy pages, upon the Indians of North America. The article purports to be a review of John D. Hunter's Narrative, and Mr. Halkett's Historical Notes, respecting the Indians; but it is, in fact, according to the license now allowed to reviewers, a general discussion of the subject of the North American Indians; in the course of which the author deals out, with a sufficient degree of confidence, his animadversions on Major Long's Expeditions; Mr. Heckewelder's Account of the Indians; The Correspondence of Mr. Du Ponceau with Mr. Heckewelder; and, the Errors of Philologists respecting the Indian languages.

The higher the reputation of a Journal is, the more necessary it becomes that every thing in it, which is erroneous in point of fact, or unsound in principle, should be brought distinctly under the notice of the public, and attentively examined. And, as I have a strong belief, that the article in question is, in some VOL. II.

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particulars, liable to both those objections, I have thought it proper to ask the attention of the public to a brief consideration of it. Perhaps it may turn out, in the end, that it is not the reviewer, but myself, that is in an error: in which case I shall be allowed the same right with this respectable journal, to change my opinion, in regard to the merits of the works reviewed, and the subjects brought under discussion. But, in any event, the public, I hope, will derive some benefit from hearing both sides.

I dare not boast of so great familiarity with the Indians and their languages, as this reviewer would have us believe he possesses: yet I have not been an inattentive observer of that remarkable race of men. I have had intercourse with natives of different tribes, and have seen many specimens of the "red man," from the pure and uncontaminated nations of the West, to the mongrel and sluggish remnants of our Eastern frontier.

I may remark here, that, in what I shall have occasion to say respecting any of the individuals whose names are drawn into this discussion, I shall avail myself only of the information which is to be found in their writings, and is accessible to every reader. I have not withheld my real name, through fear or any other motive which I should scorn; but the reviewer has withheld his name, according to usage; and if mine were disclosed, we might not stand upon an equal footing: besides, the public, after hearing both of us, without the influence of names, will be the better enabled to decide with impartiality. I shall not, however, make use of this circumstance, in order to indulge myself in a style of animadversion, which, if necessary, I should not use openly. I have no unjust partialities nor unworthy prejudices to gratify, either in respect to this reviewer or the different persons who are the subjects of his criticisms.

The article is, as the editor of the National Gazette has justly observed, in his paper of the 25th of January, "the most ambitious in the number, and likely to attract more general notice than any thing of the kind which has been published of late years, in this country." He adds, that the writer displays ability and information; but evidently he would wish the reader to suppose, that no one ever possessed so much knowledge of the subject as himself, and that more valuable communications are to be expected from him, than could be furnished from any other source.

It is, indeed, written with some ability, but with more spirit and boldness; both which qualities, upon that sort of perusal which we generally give to a review or a newspaper, are apt to

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