Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Walk gently, (O camel,) and remember thy master's kindness; for thy lord is well pleased, and sits fast upon thy back." (El Oeza is the extremity of the sacks, into which a stone is put, in order to be able to tie the rope round it, by which it is fastened to the sack on the other side of the camel.) (To be continued.)

AN INDIAN ECLOGUE.-Advertisement.

Sunt illis hæc quoque Carmina, quorum relatu, quem barditum vocant, accedunt animos, futuræque pugnæ fortunam, ipso cantu, augurantur." Tacitus de Mor. Ger. c. 3.

THERE is a striking resemblance in the manners of all savage nations; and much of what Tacitus has so well said of the ancient Germans, is applicable to the scattered hordes of our North American wilds. ·

But before proceeding with this thought, courteous reader! I wish to call your attention to one word in my motto, which seems deserving of a digression. I mean that marked in Italic letters-" barditum." Here is the etymon of our English word bard; which the ingenious critics inform us is derived originally from blaritum,-the cry or blare, (as we express it,) of calves! Others derive it, very elegantly, from baritum, quasi, "a baer, ursorum murmur," the growling of bears! Others, reflecting with singular sagacity on the condition of Germans, have deduced it from barrire, alluding to the cry of that northern animal, the elephant.*

Leaving it to others to settle the conflicting opinions, it becomes us to notice one thing, in particular, in which perhaps all agree: which is, that this beautiful word, like the British constitution, was "invented in the woods." Nay, more, this agreeable, this ear-delighting expression had its origin in the honest adulation of the brute creation!

Now, reader, why should the story of Orpheus be thought incredible, which so many dying swans have sung; which Palæphatus has endeavoured to explain, and to which Cicero has so beautifully alluded in his oration for Archias? Orpheus was a poet, indeed, and when HE sang, the wild beasts themselves gathered around him in the forests, and affectionately called him bard!

* See the profound notes to Erneste's Tacitus: "Quis talia legens temperet a risu! -Our author is sometimes strikingly facetious.---Ed.

+ See Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws.

To return to the train of thought with which I commenced. The Indians, as well as the Germans, are said to have had their bards,-considerable bards, too; at least as respectable as our ancestors the Druids, notwithstanding the huge architecture which was piled by the latter upon Salisbury Plain. Upon the banks of a beautiful and romantic river, not unlike the Teleboas* of Xenophon, and which discharges its waters into the Pequod or Thames river, in Connecticut, there lived more than a century ago, an Indian poet, whose name was Ahauton. Tradition, which usually envelops the events of the past in the cloudy drapery of mystery, has handed down to us little besides obscure legends concerning him; but from them we learn that he was esteemed among his countrymen as a youth of rare facetiousness, and of matchless valour. His name, it is said, is still kept alive among the smoking embers of Indian ruins, and the songs of Ahauton are the burden of a summer's day.

They tell us, amongst other pleasant tales, concerning him, that he was accustomed to hold nightly converse with the " man in the moon," who taught him to express the sweet influence of that luminary upon an autumnal evening. Often was he seen seated upon the mountain's crags, or upon the verdant banks of his native rill, confabulating with the stars ;-and when the night was wasted, and the glories of the morning returned, he would wander through the mazy labyrinths of the wilderness, and seek out some sequestered spot beneath the tumbling waters of the cataract, or would pursue the bear through the lonely thicket, and the dangerous ravine.

The fame of Ahauton soon spread among the neighbouring tribes; and his songs were rehearsed in the cabins of princes. The distant Aberginians left their beautiful bay,† to listen to his voice; and the stern sachems of the .Wampanoags, for many years after his death, shed tears of affection at the grave of their poet!

The person of Ahauton is described to have been like his, whose praises the Syrian damselst sang, and whose death was celebrated by the Grecian bards: but, said the daughters of his nation, "Ahauton was more than beautiful: he was war

* σε Μεγαςμον ου καλοσ δε

The Indians upon Massachusetts bay were called Aberginians. See Hutch.

Tamnuz-"Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,
In amorous ditties all a summer's day."

PARDISE LOST, b. i. p. 29.

like. The oak of the plains could not vie with him in strength; and in gracefulness he surpassed the elm. His courage outdid the panther's; and his activity was like that of the mountain roe! Danger but awakened his energies, and the noise of the battle was music to his ear! But when the conflict was over, and the war-song had died away, the smile of the young poet was like the rainbow after the shower;—the fair ones of his nation sought to gaze upon it!"

From what I can gather from his verses, the heart of Ahauton was not unlike the Shepherds in Virgil, attuned to love; and whatever is remembered of his songs, is conformed to the structure of the Idylls of Greece. This is nothing surprising, since all accounts go to confirm us in the opinion, that the wastes of our hemisphere were originally peopled from Asia: and we have the authority of an erudite scholar* for the presumption, that the Sanscrit, one of the polite languages of Asia, bears a near affinity to the idiom of the Greeks! With these premises, it does not need much logic to convince us, that the pastorals of our poet were borrowed from "the Isles of the

sea!"

It is singular, indeed, that any thing remains of his, through the vicissitudes of Indian history; but, perhaps, not more so than the preservation of the poems of Homer: only one of his productions has fallen into my hands, in a written form; this I have translated, in my own poor way, into the heroic rhyme of our vernacular tongue. I make no apology for presenting it to the reader, since, however humble my Ahauton may seem, compared with English poets, he can hardly sink below the Virgil of Doctor Trapp! "Aliquando dormitat bonus Homerus," Quinctilian said, (after Horace,) near two thousand years ago; and I am conscious that Ahauton nods sometimes: but I must entreat the reader, if he be disposed to respuate these verses, not to conclude, that ours was no poet, any more than that Virgil was a drowsy writer, because he slumbers in the version of the immortal Trapp!

I hope the student of the aboriginal languages of this country may hereafter be induced to present this distinguished bard, under more favourable auspices, to the public, gifted as he may be, with a better genius for poetry than I ever dreamed myself to possess, even in the most flattering visions of vanity.

Owing to my imperfect knowledge of the Mohegan dialect, the strictness of the original has not always been followed:

[blocks in formation]

sometimes, too, I have changed the style, to accommodate it to English idiom,-perhaps to the detriment of the original. My version is certainly imperfect, but I console myself with the sentiment of a Roman poet:

"Si deficient vires, audacia ceste
Lauserit!"

FROPERT. ELEG.

IDYLLIUM.

By fair Shetucket's pebble-studded wave,
That flows meand'ring o'er the Pequod's grave
Far, far remote from ocean's troubled flood,
Beneath the ancient shelter of the wood,—
Where nature loves to sport her graceful plan,
In climing wild flowers and the form of man---
There chanc'd to meet, as suits the mimic lay,
Twomanly youths upon a summer's day.
Skenandoh this-Onanto that was nam'd:
And both, 'tis said, for manly sports were fam'd.
The first was tall of port and masculine-
Strong as the oak, and graceful as the pine:
His giant shoulders towered far above;
Yet on his eyelids sat the God of love.

The next was milder in his gen'ral air,
But staunch and active as the flying hare.
In deeds of arms their glory was the same;
For both in war had gain'd a warrior's name.
Then on the banks, as o'er the cliffs they bend,
Thus spoke Skenandoh to his rival friend :

"Know'st thou Onanto, that the fairest maid
Among the dancers, 'neath the hazel shade,
When autumn's moonlight smiles upon their gaze,
And thoughtful matrons husk the ripen'd maize ;—
The bright-hair'd Shennah, bold Skenandoh's pride,
Hath not a rival on Shetucket's side ?"

Onanto.- -" My brown Owampah dances 'neath the trees
Light as the wild-roe or the waving breeze;
And sure no damsel with her smiles so fair,
E'er had so graceful-so divine an air.
Yet not Shetucket my Owampah gave—
But gently flowing Willomantic's wave.
No rill that gushes through the melting snow,
And foams in silence o'er its bed below,
When April's sun dissolves December's chill,
And swollen torrents murmur down the hill,-
Could e'er be named the Willomantic nigh;
Nor can your Shennah with Owampah vie.”

Oneko. -"What voice is that, which echoes through the Thus spoke Onekostepping from the shade.

[glade ?"

Sken." Hark, father, Hark!" Skenandoh quick replied; "We sing our loves-do you for us decide!

A bow of ash, and carv'd with matchless skill
Hangs in my cabin, subject to your will,
If I shall fail to prove Skenandoh's pride,
The fairest damsel on Shetucket's side."

Onanto." This hatchet pipe, which late Alnomook made,
Plated with quills of porcupine inlaid,
Receive Oneko as my pledge to show
Owampah is the fairer of the two."

Oneko. Begin my children, said the ancient chief,
Since love in singing, finds its own relief.

Begin; for old Oneko once was young :"

Thus spoke the chief, and thus Skenandoh sung.

Sken." As on the hills I sought the bounding deer,
Forth stepping from the woods, I paused to hear
If ought were passing; when before me lay
Shetucket gleaming with the parting day;
While in the distant vale beneath me spread,
The deer were grazing on the level mead.
It was an evening of the last of June,
And all was silent as the rising moon :

When from beneath the fragrant birch-tree's shade
A hand came bounding o'er the strawberry glade,
Of damsels lovelier than the white man's pride-
They were the daughters of Shetucket's side.
No robe fair nature's dignity confin'd;
And their dark tresses floated on the wind.
In joyous games they tript it o'er the mead,
Where e'en the lily droop'd its vanquish'd head.
Such rounded grace--such loveliness of frame
Methought, Onanto, from the gods they came !*
But one there was, of magic grace and tall;
It was my Shennah-fairest of them all!"

Onan." When late the northern enemy by night,
Rous'd all our sleeping cabins to the fight:

When direful shrieks arose upon the gale,

And the shrill war-hoop echoed through the vale,
Then stood Owampah, calm without alarm,

Firm by my side, confiding in my arm;

And when our foes ignobly fled the plain,

Forc'd to retire to gloomy moors again,

When victory rais'd the battle's thrilling song,

And hymns of praise were borne the breeze along,

Weary, I sought my native cabin free,

And there Owampah ran to welcome me.

Roger Williams says, "when they (the Indians) saw one man excelling others in wisdom, valour, strength, &c. they would cry out he is a god.'

Hutchinson's Massachusetts, Vol. i. p. 477.

« PreviousContinue »