The wild Indian, however, whose contact with the European race has not been enough to vitiate his habits, or subdue his self-importance—who still prowls the forest in the pride of his independence—who looks upon all nations and tribes, but his own, as unworthy of the contemptuous glance of his eye—whose dreams of importance become to him a constant reality, and actually have the same influence in the formation of his character as if they were all they _seem_ to him—he regards himself as the _centre_ of a world made purposely for him. Such a being (and the wild Indian is much more than this) who is not a creature of the imagination, but a living actor in the scenes of the earth, becomes at least an interesting object, if not, also, a _problem_ yet to be solved in both moral philosophy and politics, and in the nature and character of man as a social being. His _bearing_ may be imagined from the following description of the war-dance:— “A hundred warriors now advance, All dressed and painted for the dance; And sounding club and hollow skin, A slow and measured _time_ begin. With rigid limb and sliding foot, And murmurs low the time to suit, For ever varying with the sound, The circling band moves round and round. Now slowly rise the swelling notes, And every crest more lively floats. Now tossed on high with gesture proud Then lowly ’mid the circle bowed; While clanging arms grow louder still, And every voice becomes more shrill, Till fierce and strong the clamour grows, And the wild _war-whoop_ bids it close, Then starts SKUNTONGA forth, whose band Came far from Huron’s storm-beat strand, And loud recounts his _hunting_ feats, Whilst his dark club the measure beats.”—ONTWA. Sabbath-day Point presents one of the most beautiful of the many views upon the lake. It received its name from Lord Amherst, who landed there with his suite to breakfast on a Sunday morning. It is about twenty-five miles from the head of the lake. END OF VOL. I. PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD-STREET-HILL. TRANSCRIBER NOTES Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings of names occur, the majority spelling was used. Changes include: - Indian Fall to Indian Falls; - Bull-Hill to Bull Hill; - Horseshoe Fall to Horseshoe Falls; - and Susquehannah to Susquehanna. Inconsistencies in punctuation have been maintained. Some illustrations have been moved to facilitate page layout. A cover was created for this eBook. [The end of _American Scenery; Volume I_, by N. P. (Nathaniel Parker) Willis.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of American Scenery, Vol. I (of 2), by Nathaniel Parker Willis