If, as we believe, the great ancestresses of these Northern women were _Leah_ and _Rachel_--the "tender-eyed," the "beautiful and well-favoured,"--then have their daughters on the Western continent lost no features of the mothers of Israel;--for they might hang _their_ harps upon the willows of their fate, as emblems of Jerusalem's children in captivity, and feel no shame in comparison of sorrow, grace, or beauty! The Northern Aborigines have a traditional knowledge of the Deluge and the Dove of peace, which to them under the name of the "medicine," or "_mystery_ bird," is sacred from the arrow of the hunter. They have their _Ark of Covenant_, in which is deposited some mystery, _seen only by the priests_ of the Tribe,--it is said to be a shell, and supposed to give out oracular sounds: this is in analogy to the Book of the Laws placed in the Ark of Covenant by MOSES, preceding his death on Mount Nebo,--the oracular wisdom of which has guided civilization to this day. The ark is _never suffered to touch the earth_, but is always raised on a stand of wood or stone; it is invariably carried by a Tribe when they march to battle,--a similitude is here to JOSHUA at the siege of Jericho. When it is in their peaceful encampment, it is surrounded by _twelve stones_, indicative of the original number of the Tribes of their ancestors;--this is strictly in analogy with the twelve statues (probably rude blocks of stone) erected by MOSES around the Altar of the Covenant to personify the twelve tribes of Israel. JOSHUA, also, after the passage of the Jordan, erected _twelve stones_ in his encampment at Gilgal, and the same number in the river at the place of the passage. They select their "medicine men" (_i. e._ priests or prophets) from among a portion of the tribe _not warriors_; here is the custom of the Levites, or descendants of AARON being in the sacred office of priesthood, for with the Israelites they were not to be taken from the ranks of the soldiery. These Aborigines "dwell in booths," as when "brought out of the land of Egypt," for they are still wanderers. [Lev. xxiii.] They offer a flesh, or burnt-offering from the chase, which is first cast into the flames, before even a starving family may eat. They have their corn and harvest feasts; also, one in observance of every new moon,--another in festivity of the first-fruits,--_and the great feast in direct analogy with the Hebrew Passover_, even to the blood being stained upon the posts and lintels, and the mingling of the most bitter herbs! Then their fastings and purifications are practised with the greatest severity. The breastplate, or ornament worn by their religious prophets, containing _twelve shells_, or stones of value, is in direct imitation of the ancient Pectoral worn by the Hebrew high-priest, and which contained _twelve precious stones_, inscribed with the names of all the twelve original tribes of Israel. They have their _cities of