SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Titavuna, A Canoe Voyage up the Sources of the Minnay Sotor ; with an Account of some Lead and Copper Deposits in Wisconsin, and of the Gold Region in the Cherokee Country, &c. &c. By G. W. Featherstonhaugh, P.R.S.,P.G.S., Author of "Excursion in

the Slave States." In two volumes Bentley. Proviow,

The Works of George Sand. Translated by Matilda M. Hays, Author of' Helen

Stanley." Part I. The Last Alan' Murton.

BWORYVHY,

Bishop Jeremy Taylor, his Predecessors, Contemporaries, and Successors a Biogra- ,phy. By the Reverend Robert Axis Willinott. Incumbent of Bear Wood, Berke;

Author of "Lives of the English Sacred Poets." Parker •

IlLATHERSTONHAUGH'S CANOE VOYAGE AND VISITS TO THE MINERAL REGIONS OF THE 'UNITED STATES.

IN Charlevoix's Histoire de la Nouvelle France there is a statement, that in 1698, a certain Le Seur had ascended the Makat5h, a tributary of the St. Peter's or ?dinnay Sotor River, and discovered a copper mine or rathera copper mountain. The rich surface veins of lead in Wiscon- sin, of gold in the Cherokee district, and the actual existence in Missouri oT the Pilot Knob, an iron mount about 650 feet in height, and entirely consisting of a micaceous iron ore, which yields from 50 to 65 per cent of pure iron, gave some analogous colour to this report. At all events, in the year after his "Excursion in the Slave States," Mr. Fea- therstonhaugh determined to test the accuracy of the statement. If he succeeded, he might possibly have turned mining speculator himself: if he failed, he would explore an important tributary of the Mississippi— it may even claim to be the Mississippi itself; and visit a district in- sufficiently described by Carter, (1768,) only passed over by Colonel Long, and whose geology was totally unknown. All this Mr. Feather- stonhaugh accomplished, in 1835. From Washington he journeyed to Cleaveland, and thence along the Lakes, so as to reach the upper part of the Mississippi, by ascending and descending the rivers that respect- ively find their way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. The story of the copper mine was discovered to have no foundation ; but our traveller enjoyed himself in his canoe, amused himself with the conduct and characters of his voyageurs, saw a good deal of life in the back set- tlements and among the Indians, and fulfilled his scientific objects. The district in which he may be considered all but a new traveller lies between the 43d and 46th degree of North latitude and the 89th and 97th degree of West longitude. In the following year, Mr. Featherstonhaugh determined on another tour, which should embrace the lead and copper mines of Wisconsin, the gold region of the Cherokee country, or rather of Georgia, (since the Che- rokees have been robbed of their lands and transported .across the Mis- sissippi,) and a visit to the Pilot Knob already described. Except in a scientific view this field is not so fresh as the other; for Mr. Murray had visited the Wisconsin mines, and Mr. Featherstonhaugh traversed the dis- trict of the Pilot Knob in his "Excursion in the Slave States " : but it has a more social interest than his first journey. The contrast which two years suffice to make in a new and favourable country with this pushing people, is often brought home to the reader ; and the manners in the Southern States furnish a series of sketches of constant interest especially as Mr. Featherstonhaugh often deviated from the common line of tra- vellers.

The botanist and geologist are the happiest tourists. The observer of men and manners is often in want of subjects to observe ; so in a lesser degree is the naturalist who directs his attention to sentient life— unless an entomologist. The botanist is often overwhelmed by an embarras de richesses, and must as often employ himself on minutke. But the geologist is occupied with grand features and grander results. Bitting at his ease in boat or coach, or on horseback, he can observe the forms of hills or rallies, the strata of artificial cuttings or natural channels; and *bile noting the facts before him, rise to the largest speculations on the formation of the world. Even his particular examinations partake of this character of largeness : his specimens, indeed, may be small, but the cliff he climbs, the waterfall he surveys, the cave he penetrates, or the stream which he follows through the precipitous course the waters have worn for themselves during unknown ages, all tend to fill the eye and the mind. This character of the interest and largeness of geology for the traveller is better impressed by Mr. Featherstonhaugh than by any other writer we have met with. Technicalities, conveying no idea to the un- scientific, are undoubtedly met with ; but they are brief and passing, the more scientific views having been already exhibited in appropriate publi- cations: the general speculations of Mr. Featherstonhaugh are of a popu- lar character, embracing geological operations on the large scale. Geo- logy, however, is a subordinate topic of the book. Travel, real travel, is its main subject ; involving descriptions of scenery, incident., and charac- ter, such as the explorer encounters in the wilds of nature, or in newly- settled spots where man has marred rather than improved, and where Campbell's definition "social savage " seems really applicable. Like the Excursion through the Slave States, strip the book of its scientific parti- culars and speculations and we haves story rather than a narrative of tra- vels. The cares and bustle of preparation for a canoe voyage, the characters of the voyageurs, the freshness and life of the daily incidents, whether of enjoyment, privation, hope, or depression, are given with as much effect as in Washington Irving's description of prairie adventure, but with more force from their greater closeness, and perhaps with more reality from the apparent absence of art,—though now and then some touches of coarse- ness might have been spared. There is the same graphic vigour in the sketches of American character that distinguished this author's Excur- lion in the Slave States, with some modifications and additions. The better class of Southern gentlemen are brought more prominently for- ward, and the character of the mass treated in a more philosophical way. There is also a good .account of the land .speculations by which the un- wary were swindled into the purchase of lots in the wilderness, on the faith of pictured towns which had no .existence, the very district itself having scarcely a settler. A force, too, is given to the description by the introduction of a particular incident. The meeting with the " New York fiat" who was in search of the city on the lake where he had purchased his town-lots,in a country where there was not a log-hut for leagues—ac- companied by the nearest settler, not to endeavour to find Madison City, but to see if he could find the particular acres the New York gentleman had purchased—is an incident for the American Gil Bias, if an Ameri- can Le Sage should ever arise to profit by the very ample materials in the States. At the same time, "fiat" is too strong& term for our author. to use. Such was the imposing audacity of the swindlers, that Mr. Featherstonhaugh, though he knew the country, was himself persuaded there must be a town or two of some kind. Ile only escaped the fate of the New Yorker by not having.a taste for dealing in land. During his wanderings in the wilderness, our traveller frequently fell in with the Red Indians ; and he describes their idleness, dirt, greediness,- and vanity, in terms similar to Murray. As regards the facts before hint he is a good witness, for his sympathies are evidently with the Red In- dians: but, though distance, insufficient observation, and the coarser condition of the earlier observers themselves, may have given some poetical halo to the character of the Indian, it must not be forgotten that our ancestors encountered him in his dominant and we in his subdued state. In the early period, the Sachems were sovereign princes granting favours to the colonists ; in a later day, waging terrible wars ; they are now the remnants of a once great people, diminished in their numbers, defrauded of their lands, corrupted by the vices of civilization, dependent upon its products for the supply of their wants, and, though individually perhaps still brave and independent, yet with the national apirit broken. Still, glimpses of that spirit which impressed mankind of yore appear in their amusements. Mr. Featherstonhaugh, though advanced in life, and himself a musician, was overcome by the exhibition of an Indian.scalp-, dance.

"On my return to Renville's, I partook of their evening meal, which was ex- actly like the first; and, as soon as it was over,I went to a scalp-dance to be cele- brated in the village, some wild young fellows having come in with-three scalps they had just taken from some Ojitiways near Elk Lake. A circle was formed of twenty warriors painted and bedaubed in the usual manner, and thirty women and girls with their blankets on; a few of these last having the red beauty-spot painted on their cheeks. In the centre of the ring three poles were held up, each with a hairy scalp' depending from it, stretched out and gaily ornamented. The men who held the poles up were the Indians themselves who bad taken the scalps. These had a song of self-glorification for themselves- the burden of which was that they were the bravest of all brave men.' This song was varied twice, and the second time the first wordei were, '1 have the proud Ojibway in my power; he cannot escape me.' "But there were other songs in which all the circle bore a part; and more pleasing and animating Indian music looser heard: it was aloud-strain of glcai- fication, accompanied with a sort of drum or -tambourine. The music rose and fell, and was loud and low, both sexes singing in the most exact concert. Some- times the men, after a bold sustained strain, would let it die away; and as their voices began to sink, the drum beating louder was a signal to the woment-who, taking the melody up with their soft and sweet voices, would continue it for awhile, when the men joining in with them once more, the women would give from time to time a curious cluck with their voices producing a peculiar sort Of harmony, when the whole would be suddenly concluded for two or three minutes by a war-whoop and yells on the part of the men, and a general laugh. After resting a few minutes, they began again as fresh as ever. "In dancing round the circle, the men, close together, advance in single file, treading gently with one foot alter-the other, and rather tending inwards; whilst the women advancing sidelong, and leaning against each other's shoulders, and still preserving an upright position, keep their small feet close together, and turn- ing their toes in, glide overthe ground without any violent motion of their feet, and scarce lifting them from the ground, the whole being done without any appa- rent personal effort The measure of the dance was exceedingly well kept by all; the ring being almost in constant motion, whilst the scalp-takers were shaking their poles. It was a most exhilarating scene' even to me; indeed, I was so-de- lighted with the music, that I remained with them until ten o'clock at night, on order to be able to note it down acetuately. As to the Indians, they appeared to be fall of enthusiasm daring the dance; all ages engaged in it; and beforelse- tired some of the mothers brought two or three dozen of young children, from four to ten years old, into the circle, all of whom joined in the dance most merrqy. "Introduced into scenes of this kind at so early an age' and then trained up to the chase, it is not surprising that they should afterwards find such enjoyment-in taking human life. With the pleasures of the scalp-dance impressed upon his memory, and habituated to the butchery of animals, the Indian youth takes up his tomahawk for the first time with about the same degree of feeling towards the individuals destined to be scalped, that an English boy entertains towards partridges when about to make his maiden effort in that line; and such is the in- tensity of the few pleasurable emotions which fall to the share of savage life, tha4, if we may judge from what we know of the ferocious indulgences they riot an when the excited warriors have an enemy in their power, they experience an-un- utterable delight in inflicting upon the conquered- torments the very recital of which fills us with horror."

As regards manners and money morals, Mr. Featherstonhaugh draws the usual distinction between the Northern and Southern States in favour of the latter. The terms, however, are to be taken with some limitation. It seems to us-that what the Virginians fondly call "the old dominion"—if we extend the term to all the original colonies—forms the broad distinction both in honesty and behaviour. The gentry of the two Carolinas, Maryland, and Virginia, may be more chivalrous and less mercenary both in feeling and discourse, than the same class in the North- ern States, the poorer Whites, analogous to the mechanical classes of other countries—may be corrupted by slavery ; the Yankees of the Trutt may be smart men; but they all seem to retain some vestiges of the civilization whence they sprang. The Western and New Southern States formed by the restless, the profligate, the needy, the embarrassed .settler, and the criminal—" eonvicti judiciis, aut pro factis judicium ti- mentes "—of America and other countries, appear to be sui generis, with- out manners, language, honesty, honour, cleanliness, godliness, or regard for life. Our author, from the facts betbre him, indulges in some specu- lations as.to the results of Democracy and Universal Suffrage; but can get no further than the present; and that seems bad enough. Here is a ,specimen of a Western Judge. Our traveller has got a bed at a village called 'Mineral Point. " May 20.—On awaking the next morning, I found it exceedingly cold, and asked permission to have a fire lighted; which was very obligingly granted. Some wood was accordingly brought in' and just as I had got it nicely burning and was preparing to make my toilette, a dirty, unshaven, but confident-looking fellow, walked into the room, with nothing but his nether garments on, and im- mediately turning his back to the fire, engrossed it all to himself His free-and- easy way was not all to my taste, and threatened to interfere very much with my comfort. Under other circumstances, I should not have hesitated to have turned him out; but, situated as I was, it was far from a safe proceeding, or, indeed, a justifiable one. It was certainly very cold, and I should have been glad to have bad the fire to myself; but I had been treated hospitably, and the least I could do was to be hoapitable to others; besides, my bare-footed friend had an air about him that imported something beyond the low swaggerer, something that smacked of authority—for authority is a thing that, from habit or from the dignity inherent in it, has a peculiar, inexplicable way of revealing itself. This might be the Go- vernor, or some great man, en dishabille; so I thought it best to meet him in his own manner, by slipping a pair of pantaloons on and then addressing him in a friendly manner. It was most fortunate that I acted just as it became me to do, for he soon let me know who he was. He was was no less a personage than • the Court," for so they generally call the presiding judge in the United States, and was beyond all question the greatest man in the place. He was, in fact, the per- sonage of the locality for the moment; and it turned out that the postmaster had given him up his only good bedroom, and that he had goodnatureclly given it up tome for one night, and had taken the majesty of the law' to sleep behind the counter, in a little shop where the post-office was kept, with blankets, crockery, cheese, and all sorts of things around him, and had very naturally come to warm himself in his own quarters. " The Court and myself now got along very well together: he had been bred to the law in the Western country, did not want for shrewdness, was goodnatured, but was evidently a man of low habits and manners. He VMS very much amused with my apparatus for dressing, which was simple enough; a nail-brush was quite new to him, and he remarked that it was a considerable better invention than a fork, which he said he had seen people use when they had too much dirt in their tails.' He didn't see why I wanted so many tooth-brushes.' Ile once carried one; but it was troublesome, though the handle was convenient to stir brandy- Sling with.' After a while he left me, to dress himself after his fashion."

It may be said that some of these things are "form" : but everything in nature is form ; we cannot even get at the essence of matter, and na- tural products as well as intellectual productions derive their character from the manner in which they are presented. Our friend "the Court," however, exhibited himself on the bench, to pass sentence on a murderer, in a state which was even too bad for the West.

11 The Court, my old friend, had not arrived when I entered the court-house, and .1 was occupied looking at the convicted prisoner, whose eyes were glancing in an 'et manner about the room, when the judge, his person in the greatest din- er, his neck-handkerchief awry, and Ins clothes partly unbuttoned, entered the court-room, staggering drunk, and after the most frightful exhibition of urn- 'potent inebriety, just managed to reach his judgment-seat without falling. "1 have been present at many- rare and curious spectacles, but never before as- sisted at one so peculiarly and intensely shocking as this; most of the persons present evinced great dissatisfaction, and some of them proposed to lead him away. Leaning sideways, and not looking at anybody, he attempted to address the jury; but be was too far gone even to 'talk straight.' This horrid burlesque was gra- dually creating a strong feeling of indignation in the spectators, and I-thought it 'probable at one time that they would seize him and duck him in the stream, which would certainly have been putting the cap a top,' as the solemn attorney said the preceding evening. As to the prisoner, who no doubt was turning the 'chances in his mind, he looked at his judge and seemed quite baffled at the 'probable nature of the coming sentence which the fiery dictates of whisky might suggest. The prosecuting attorney, now feeling that his own dignity was 'at stake, addressed him, and entreated him to defer the sentence until morning. tAs -it was out of his power to utter any reasons against the court's adjourning .until that. time, the attorney directed proclamation to be made; and we left the court, the reeling majesty of the law being led publicly to his lodgings by two of 'the constables."

The finale is a fitting one; yet it is melancholy to see good raw mate- rial like "the Court" ruined by his country.

"May 27.—After breakfast I returned to the court-house to witness the con- "elusion of this disgraceful affair. The judge arrived, and took his seat with that 'Wretched and haggard appearance that individuals bear who are far advanced in inania potu; and, after a few absurd phrases, sentenced the murderer to pay a fine of three hundred dollars, and to be imprisoned until the fine was paid. The dis- ..gu.sting farce being over, the convict was conducted to the log-hut which was ap- pointed to be the gaol; and as soon as they opened the door to let him in, I saw him make a couple of ground somersets, the last of which carried him into his lodgings. These consisted of a solitary log-house, with one room on the ground and a window with some iron bars. No sooner bad they locked him in, than he began to crow with all his might. His numerous friends now went to talk to him at the window, and during the day brought him food and whisky. In the course of the night be evaporated, and so ended the affair; for as to apprehending him a second time, few persons would be found to attempt that, it being universally known that when frontier bloods of his calibre once imbrue their hands in blood, they entertain no scruples about taking the lives of those who come with hostile intentions against them."

We turn from this to other subjects. Here, from the visit to the Che- .rokee gold district, is a singular picture of the weakness of the General .Government, as a government, both in the non-exercise of its proper functions and the patience with which it submits to their usurpation, as if-unconscious of its rights and duties.

"After breakfast, I walked a few miles to visit a German of the name of Bech- ler, who issued a gold coinage of which I had seen several pieces. He received me very civilly, and I passed a great part of the day with him at his cottage in the woods. Bechler emigrated with a very clever young man his sou, from the • Grand Dutchy of Baden, where he bad been a gunmaker and goldsmith of some reputation, and had acquired a considerable knowledge in the management of metals. He had resided seven years in this country, and had established for him- self a character for integrity, as well as skill in his profession. I found him rather mystical and imaginative, as many Germans are; and certainly if he had lived when alchemy flourished, he would have been a conspicuous operator in that in- viting art. It was probably this bias that induced him to settle in the Gold Re- gion of North Carolina, where his career had been a rather singular one, but 'hitherto distinguithed for much good sense. "The greater part of the small streams in this part of the Gold Region have more or less gold in them; so that all the settlers upon the streams were engaged, more or less, in washing for gold. Each of them possessing but a small quantity, and there being no general purchaser, it was an article not easily disposed of itithout taking the trouble to go great distances. Bechler had also obtained some in the usual manner, and having made a die, coined his gold into five-dollar .piecee, of the same intrinsic value as the half- eagles of the United States, which -are worth five oilers each. He also coined pieces of the value of two dollars lard a half, and stamped the value, as well as his own name, upon every piece that he coined. These, after awhile, found their way to the Mint of the United States, were assayed, and fbund to be correct. This becoming known, all the gold-finders in his vicinity—and indeed from greater distances—began to bring their gold to his mint to be coined. At the period of 'my visit, his gold coinage circulated more freely than that of the United States, which was very scarce. He told me that his books showed that he had coined about two millions of dollars from the gold found by the settlers; putting his name, with its weight and quality, to every piece. On receiving the gold from the country people—which in this part of the Gold Region is alloyed with silver—he first reduced it to a common standard, then made the Eve-dollar pieces equal to those of the United States in value, and when coined, delivered it to the respective proprietors, deducting two per cent for the seignorage. It would be in his power to take improper advantago of the confidence placed in him; but I heard of no instance of his having attempt. ed this. Some of the gold of this region is alloyed with platina, the specific gravity of which, compared with that of gold, is as 21 to 19. He might there- fore have made the difference in weight up with platina, which would have put fourteen per cent into his pocket. As a metallurgist, he had all the skill neces- sary to do this; but when I mentioned the possibility of this, as an argumetit against its being received into general circulation, he answered, that it was whit an honest man would not do, and that if any man were to do it, he would MOO be found out, for the gold did not remain long in circulation, since it found its way very soon to the United States Mint, where it was necessary for him to keep a good character."

We will close with a specimen of the occasional hardships of an early October night in the prairies.

"As the evening advanced it became excessively cold; and a sharp wind, ac- companied with frozen sleet, set in from the North-east: this soon became ea thick that I could scarcely look up, much more see anything in the direction in which I was proceeding. Securing my person and care as well as I could with my blanket-coat, I left it to the mare—who, Renville told me, had been more than once to Lake Travers—to take her own course. At length the sleet became so dense, that lost sight of everybody except the little foal, which, generally lag- ging behind in the wake of its dam, occasionally trotted up to her when in her great anxiety she called for it. I never saw greater marks of maternal feeling in an animal than in this poor creature to her young one.

"As we advanced, my situation became exceedingly painful; the frozen sleet came in streams upon my face and eyes when I looked up; my feet and hands

were so cold, that I had scarcely any power over them; my whole : exterior as

.

well as the head and neck of the mare, was covered with a glazing of tee; night was advancing, and we were without a guide, upon a dreary and ehelterleas moor of very great extent, and far beyond our present day's journey, with no prospect of an abatement of the storm. In the course of a somewhat adventurous life, e, I have occasionally had to meet with serious privations, and to look danger rather steadily in the face, but I had never been where there was so slight a chance iff any favourable change. I had not even.the comfort before me that every bleak moor in England offers under similar circumstances to the imagination—some kind of shelter'to receive us at last, if we were not overpowered by the inclemency of the weather. It became absolutely necessary to consider what it was best to do, if overtaken before dark by a deep snow. My first thought was, not to sepa- rate myself from my party, which I had not seen for some time; for they-had the cart, and the tent, and the provisions; and if we failed in our attempt to reach the few trees that grew near Grosses Isles—the only chance we had of finding materials to make a fire—we could at any rate burn the cbarette, eat something, and cover ourselves as well as we could with the tent. This we inevitably should have to do if we missed the station we were aiming at, and of which there was imminent danger, as it was too thick for us to discern any trees at a distance. therefore stopped the mare for a -while, and turned our backs to the storm, whieh seemed to be a great relief to us both. I had not heard the voices of the men for some time, but I knew the cart was slowly following me; and I thought it beet,to wait awhile ere I advanced towards them, as it was quite possible that I might deviate from the direction they were advancing in, and separate myself from them altogether. In about a quarter of an hour the voices of the men answered to the shouts I had from time to time made, and soon after they joined me, all of them covered with ice and icicles."