The Wail of the Light-Bearer.*

BY C. DONALD MACLEOD.

IN the deep night when stars were burning,
And high and white the full moon reign'd;
While my wild heart was sadly yearning
For the Divine and Unattain'd.

I thought upon that fallen one,

The morning's proud Light-bearing Son :
And dream'd I saw him as when hurl'd
Forever from the starry world.

One hour he seem'd in grief to bow,
And veil'd the dim plumes o'er his brow;
The next, gazed on the starry clime,
Outcast, but awfully sublime !

Gazed on the heights he strove to scale,

Accursed, unwept for, and alone,

And pour'd his sad yet scornful wail

To the bright planet once his throne.

* "Light-bearer," 'Hoopvpos, Lucifer. The Son of the Morn

Indian Missions.

BY JOHN M. PECK.

mer.

"Lo! the poor Indian."

THE name Indian, given to the aborigines of America by Columbus, from the supposition that he had reached the eastern shore of Asia, is a misnoWhence their origin, and by what means they reached the continent of America, are questions yet unsolved. We differ wholly from Thoroughgood, Adair, Boudinot, and other writers, who suppose they are of Jewish descent. After much observation and inquiry we have discerned no marks of Judaism but what are common to other tribes of savage, barbarous, or semi-civilized humanity.

In language, religion, manners, customs, figure, and other characteristics, the native inhabitants of North America were originally divided into four distinct classes; and these, again, subdivided into numerous smaller confederacies and tribes, differing each from the other in dialect or pronunciation, and by slight modifications of character.

The four grand divisions may be arranged under

the generic names of Esquimaux, Algonkin, Dahcotah, and Cherokee.

The division is clearly defined in their respective languages, and their physiology.

The ESQUIMAUX includes the nomadic bands along the coast of Labrador and the Northern Ocean.

The ALGONKIN, formerly the most numerous race, has been reduced in numbers below either of the others.

In this class were included all the tribes of Canada and New England, the Iroquois, the Lenni Lenopi, or Delawares, the various branches of the great Powhattan confederacy in Maryland and Virginia, and the Chouannons, or Shawnees, from James River to Florida. In the northwest, of the same stock we find the O'jibways, Ottawas, Pottawatamies, Saukies, Miamis, the Illinois confederacy of seven or eight tribes, and many others.

A third distinct class is found chiefly west of the Mississippi. The N'DAHCOTAH, or Sioux, are a type. To this class belong the Winnebagoes, Osages, Kauzaus, O'Mahaus, Ottoes, Pawnees, Quappaws, Ioways, and many other tribes.

The fourth radical stock is found in the southwest. The CHEROKEES, Choctaws, Muscogees, or Creeks, Chickasaws, Natchez, and many other tribes were of this stock. These were probably offsets from the Mexican or Atzec race.

The tribes into which these four classes became

subdivided were found united in confederacies, with a common name, which was often derived from the leading tribe.

The most powerful and perfect confederacy was that of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, for they had something like a regular federal government. Their external relations and general interests were managed by a great council-fire. In 1712 they were joined by the Tuscaroras from North Carolina, and from that time were known as the Six Nations. They were the conquerors of the other Indians east of the Mississippi, and claimed, by virtue of conquest, sovereignty over the land, and the exaction of tribute, but allowed the subjugated tribes to manage their own affairs.

The only organization that deserved the name of government, was the grand confederacy of the Five Nations, and they had no executive or judiciary department. Government amongst the Indians was little more than anarchy, and their legislation was merely the result of councils, and had no greater influence over the people than advice.

The condition of human nature, unimproved by civilization, unblest with the influences of the Gospel of Christ, is pitiable in the extreme. Such was the character of the "red-skin" before his country was visited by the "pale-faces." We have often seen the aboriginal man of America in all his primeval wildness, when he first came in contact with the

evils and benefits of civilization-have gazed on his noble form, admired his lofty bearing, listened to his untutored yet powerful eloquence, but have found in him the same humbling proofs of depravity, wretchedness, and want, as are still manifested by the remnant on our western borders. The introduction of

ardent spirits, and that terrible disease, the variolus, are the evils we have furnished the Indian race, while in all other respects their condition has been improved by intercourse with us.

The Indians generally believe in a Great Spirit, or rather Being, for their notions of spiritual existence, Creation and a Creator, are extremely vague. They believe in numerous other beings who have an agency in human affairs, and to whom they make offerings. All believe in a future state of rewards and punishments, though their ideas are gross and carnal. The religious notions of different nations, and consequently their forms of worship, vary. The Algonkin race worshipped both a good and an evil Spirit, besides a multitude of subordinate or inferior spirits, good and bad. Some nations were idolaters. The Natchez worshipped the sun, and kept the fire perpetually burning in their rude temples. Their male and female priests were called in their language suns and suneses. We have had ocular demonstration that some of the Indians actually worshipped images, in examining the differently shaped idols that were undoubtedly worshipped by the southern Indians.