o. Few
adjectives are employed, because there are few in the original.[1] The
Indian effects his purposes, almost entirely, by changes of the verb
and demonstrative pronoun, or by adjective inflections of the
substantive. Good and bad, high and low, black and white, are in all
cases employed in a transitive sense, and with strict relation to the
objects characterized. The Indian compound terms are so descriptive, so
graphic, so local, so characterizing, yet so flexible and transpositive,
that the legends derive no little of their characteristic features as
well as melody of utterance from these traits. Sometimes these terms
cannot be literally translated, and they cannot, in these cases, be
left out without damaging the stories.

With regard to the thought-work of the legends, those who have deemed
the Indians exclusively a cruel and blood-thirsty race, always seeking
revenge, always invoking evil powers, will not be disappointed that
giants, enchanters, demons, and dark supernatural agencies, should form
so large a part of the dramatis personae. Surprise has been
expressed,[2] that the kindlier affections come in for notice at all,
and particularly at the occurrence of such refined and terse allegories
as the origin of Indian Corn, Winter and Spring, and the poetic
conception of the Celestial Sisters, &c. I can only add, that my own
surprise was as great when these traits were first revealed. And the
trait may be quoted to show how deeply the tribes have wandered away
from the type of the human race in which love and affection absorb the
heart;[3] and how little, indeed, we know of their mental character.

These legends have been out of print several years. They are now
reproduced, with additional legendary lore of this description from the
portfolios of the author, in a revised, and, it is believed, a more
terse, condensed, and acceptable form, both in a literary and business
garb.[4]

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

Washington, D.C., _April 28, 1856_.

[1] If Edwards the younger, to whom the Mohican was familiar from
his childhood, could say, that he doubted whether there were any
true adjectives in that language, it can easily be imagined that
the subtlety of the transitive principle had not been
sufficiently analyzed; but the remark is here quoted in relation
to the paucity of adjectives.

[2] _Vide_ Criterion.

[3] When the volumes of Algic Researches, in 1839, were