diction which may emphatically be called prosing, because it stu diously shuns the picturesque or brilliant colouring of poetic eloquence, a larger succession of sheets is thickened into a heavy book. Were we employed to distil back to its essence this fluid mass, and to separate those elemental ideas which are here diluted and accommodated to the thirst of the multitude, we should ob serve that the first volume is employed to enforce the duty of attention; that the second is made to enforce the duty of diverting that attention from self; and that the pith, the substance, and the result of the whole, may consequently best be expressed and condensed in these two emphatic words: MIND OTHERS.

The study of works on female education may expediently be recommended not only to the mother but to the daughter. They inspire docility, and prepare superintendence. Indeed, it is not to the female world alone that they are likely to be useful: since commonly, as here, they contain a multitude of sage, benevolent, and familiar exhortations, practically sound and elegantly phrased, which are adapted not merely to be read in the parlour but to be proclaimed from the pulpit; which on the week-day would instruct, and on the Sunday would properly amuse.

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ORIGINAL.

History of the Expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. Performed during the years 1804-5-6. By order of the government of the United States. Prepared for the press by Paul Allen, Esquire. 2 vols. 8vo. Philadelphia.

1814.

The

THERE is something peculiarly interesting in the narrative of the adventures of men, who, leaving the circle of civilized life, and cultivated nature, traverse unknown seas on a voyage of discovery, or break their way through the unvisited deserts of a continent, exploring the hidden sources of some immense river, or penetrating to the remote confines of an exterior ocean. strange perils that continually await them, the privations, hardships, and sufferings they are exposed to, and the fund of courage and fortitude necessary to encounter and surmount them, make them appear to us in the light of champions and heroes. We feel a deep concern in their personal safety; are astonished at their fortunate escapes from apparently inevitable fatalities, and are filled with admiration at their enterprising spirit and persevering energy, while at the same time our curiosity is gratified, by the development of new views and traits of nature, and of her children.

We do not recollect any expedition of the kind more happily calculated to produce the effects above described, or which reflects more credit and honour on the adventurers than the one of which we now propose to give a brief account. Our object is not so much to attempt a criticism on the work, as to give a concise analysis of it for such of our readers as have not an opportunity of perusing the original, and for such as are desirous of becoming acquainted with the most remarkable places and incidents, without having leisure or perseverance to accompany our indefatigable travellers through all the intermediate stages and minute details of their long journey.

Mr. Jefferson, in his brief memoir of Captain Lewis, prefixed to these volumes, explains the motive and object of the expedition. In the year 1803, he remarks, the act of Congress for establishing trading houses with the Indian tribes being about to expire, some modifications were recommended by a confidential message of the president, and an extension of its views to the Indians of the Missouri. In order to prepare the way, it was proposed to send an exploring party to trace the Missouri to its source; to cross the Rocky Mountains, and follow the best water communication that offered itself from thence to the Pacific ocean. This plan meeting with the approbation of congress, measures were accordingly adopted for carrying it into execution. Captain Lewis, who had been private secretary to Mr. Jefferson, was appointed to take the direction of the enterprise, and Captain Clarke was associated with him as second in command.

The party consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, four teen soldiers of the United States' army who volunteered their services, two French watermen, an interpreter and a hunter, and a black man belonging to Captain Clarke. In addition to these, were seven soldiers and nine watermen, who were to accompany them only as far as the Mandan villages.

We can attempt at present only a mere sketch of the journey, touching on the principal events, and detailing a few of the most curious and interesting particulars.

On the 14th of May, 1804, the party began their journey, and entered the mouth of the Missouri with five boats, carrying with them a large supply of goods, and articles of different descriptions, intended as presents to be distributed among the various tribes of Indians they expected to meet with inhabiting the vast regions that separate the Mississippi from the Pacific. We all remember the Osages; the chieftains of which nation visited the principal cities of the United States ten or twelve years ago. They dwell on the banks of the Osage river, which discharges itself into the Missouri in about 133 miles from its mouth. This is the first tribe of Indians of which our travellers speak, and as the tra dition of their origin is an instance of allegorical history somewhat curious and amusing, we shall select it as our first extract: we say allegorical, because it appears to be descriptive of the manner in

which a small obscure tribe became a powerful nation by emigra. tion and alliance with another.

"In person the Osages are among the largest and best formed Indians, and are said to possess fine military capacities; but residing as they do in villages, and having made considerable advance in agriculture, they seem less addicted to war than their northern neighbours, to whom the use of rifles gives a great superiority. Among the peculiarities of this people, there is nothing more remarkable than the tradition relative to their origin. According to universal belief, the founder of the nation was a snail passing a quiet existence along the banks of the Osage, till a high flood swept him down to the Missouri, and left him exposed on the shore. The heat of the sun at length ripened him into a man; but with the change of his nature he had not forgotten his native seats on the Osage, towards which he immediately bent his way. He was, however, soon overtaken by hunger and fatigue, when happily the Great Spirit appeared, and giving him a bow and arrow showed him how to kill and cook deer, and cover himself with the skin. He then proceeded to his original residence, but as he approached the river, he was met by a beaver, who inquired haughtily who he was, and by what authority he came to disturb his possession. The Osage answered that the river was his own, for he had once lived on its borders. As they stood disputing, the daughter of the beaver came, and having by her entreaties reconciled her father to this young stranger, it was proposed that the Osage should marry the young beaver, and share with her family the enjoyment of the river. The Osage readily consented, and from this happy union there soon came the vil lage and the nation of the Wasbasha, or Osages, who have ever since preserved a pious reverence for their ancestors, abstaining from the chase of the beaver, because in killing that animal, they killed a brother of the Osage. Of late years, however, since the trade with the whites has rendered beaver skins more valuable, the sanctity of these maternal relatives has visibly reduced, and the poor animals have nearly lost all the privileges of kindred." Vol. I. p. 8, 9.

After passing the Great Bend of the Missouri, and holding a very solemn and ceremonious council with the Ricara Indians, by whom they are treated with great kindness and hospitality, the party arrive among the old Mandan villages, the remains of which are scattered along each side of the river within a space of twenVOL. V. New Series.

17

ty miles: almost all that remains of them is the surrounding wall, the fallen heaps of earth which covered the houses, and here and there human skulls, and the teeth and bones of men and different animals, which lay scattered over the surface of the ground-the melancholy vestiges of savage warfare; for it seems that the Sioux, the various tribes of which great and warlike nation inhabit both sides of the Missouri under different names, drove the Mandans from their villages, and compelled them to retire forty miles higher up the river: instances of this kind frequently occur, and evince the instability of the Indian nations. The original seats of the Sioux were on the Mississippi, but they have gradually spread themselves abroad, and are now subdivided into numerous tribes, some of which still remain on the Mississippi, and all of them maintaining an intercourse and communication with each other.

It was in the neighbourhood of the present settlement of the Mandans, that our travellers found themselves under the necessity of suspending their journey on account of the increasing severity of the season, and of providing themselves with winter. quarters on the banks of the river. After some trouble in restoring peace and a good understanding between the Mandans and Ricaras, the latter of whom were continually instigated by the implacable Sioux to continue their hostilities with the former, the winter-quarters were completed, and the fort piqueted in, so that on Christmas day the flag of the United States was hoisted for the first time in these regions, and the day was passed in great festivity. The country abounding in buffalo, the principal difficulty in supplying themselves with provisions was, the severity of the cold and the depth of the snow, which occasionally subjected them to great sufferings, and often rendered it impracticable for the hunters to bring in the game they had killed. Being in the latitude of between 47° and 48°, the mercury was sometimes 30 and 40 degrees below zero, and the snow eighteen inches deep. The Indians hunt the buffalo on horseback with bows and arrows. Having encircled a herd, they gradually drive them into a plain, and then dashing in among them, discharge their arrows, till, by repeated strokes, they have inflicted the mortal wound, and killed the requisite number; when the game being collected, the attend