d made them, "among all those chiefs whom you have
mentioned, there is none who equals you in greatness; you are
considered not only as the greatest and bravest, but as the best man
in the nation." "Do you really believe as you say?" said the Indian,
looking them full in the face. "Indeed we do." Then, without saying
another word, he blackened himself, and, taking his knife and tomahawk
in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the unhappy victim,
crying out with a loud voice, "What have you to do with my prisoner?"
and at once cutting the cords with which he was tied, took him to his
house.--_Heckew._ 162, 3.

Nutall, in his Travels through the Arkansa territory, says, among the
most extraordinary actions which they (the Arkansas) performed against
the Chickasaws is the story which has been related to me by Major
Lewismore Vaugin, one of the most respectable residents in this
territory. The Chickasaws, instead of standing their ground against
the Quapaws (a band of Arkansaws) were retreating before the Quapaws,
whom they had descried at a distance, in consequence of the want of
ammunition. The latter, understanding the occasion, were determined to
obviate the excuse, whether real or pretended, and desired the
Chickasaws to land on an adjoining sand-beach of the Mississippi,
giving them the unexpected promise of supplying them with powder for
the contest. The chief of the Quapaws then ordered all his men to
empty their powder-horns into a blanket, after which he divided the
whole with a spoon, and gave the half to the Chickasaws. They then
proceeded to the combat, which terminated in the killing of ten
Chickasaws, and the loss of five prisoners, with the death of a single
Quapaw.--_Page 85._

THE KING OF THE ELKS.

When the Great Beaver, the spirit who next to Michabou had the
greatest share in the creation and government of men and things, made
the animals, he endowed certain of them with wisdom, and all with the
powers of speech. The black bear could then converse with the cayman,
and the whispers of the porpoise in the ears of the walruss and the
flounder expressed the thoughts which were passing in his mind. The
wants which the heron and the goosander now express by nods and winks,
were then conveyed by plain, straightforward words; and the grunts and
squeaks of the hog, and the bleating of the kid, and the neighing of
the horse, and the howl of the dog, and the crowing of the cock, and
the cackling