ac, Popolauc,
Matlazing, Huastec, Mixed, Caquiquel, Tarauma, Tepehuan, Cara.

_20th_. When the wind blows high, and the fine snow drifts, as it does
about the vernal equinox, in these latitudes, the Indians smilingly say,
"Ah! now Pup-puk-e-wiss is gathering his harvest," or words to this
effect. There is a mythological tale connected with it, which I
have sketched.

_21st_. I have amused myself in reading a rare old volume, just
presented to me, entitled "A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of
London, &c., by John Hill, M.D., London, 1751." It evinces an acute
mind, ready wit, and a general acquaintance with the subjects of
natural history, antiquities, and philosophical research, adverted to.
It is a racy work, which all modern naturalists, and modern discoverers
of secrets and inventions ought to read. I should think it must have
made some of the contributors to the "Transactions" of the Royal Society
wince in its day.

_22d_. Knowledge of foreign nations has increased most wonderfully in
our day, and is one of the best tests of civilization. Josaphat Barbaro
traveled into the East in 1436. He says of the Georgians, "They have the
most horrid manners, and the worst customs of any people I ever met
with." Surely this is vague enough for even the clerk who kept the
log-book of Henry Hudson. Such items as the following were deemed "food"
for books of travels in those days: "The people of Cathay, in China,
believe that they are the only people in the world who have two eyes. To
the Latins they allow _one_, and all the rest of the world none at all."

Marco Polo gives an account of a substance called "Andanicum," which he
states to be an _ore of steel_. In those days, when everything relating
to metallurgy and medicine was considered a secret, the populace did not
probably know that steel was an artificial production. Or the mineral
may have been sparry iron ore, which is readily converted into steel.

_26th_. It is now the season of making sugar from the rock maple by the
Indians and Canadians in this quarter. And it seems to be a business in
which almost every one is more or less interested. Winter has shown some
signs of relaxing its iron grasp, although the quantity of snow upon the
ground is still very great, and the streams appear to be as fast locked
in the embraces of frost as if it were the slumber of ages. Sleighs and
dog trains have been departing for the maple forests, in our
neighborhood, since ab