or twelve, custom obliges the boy to
ascend to a hill-top, or other elevated position, fasting, that he may
cry aloud to the Wahconda. At the proper season his mother reminds him
that 'the ice is breaking up in the river, the ducks and geese are
migrating, and it is time for you to prepare to go in clay.' He then
rubs his person over with a whitish clay, and is sent off to the
hill-top at sunrise, previously instructed by a warrior what to say, and
how to demean himself in the presence of the Master of Life. From this
elevation he cries out to the great Wahconda, humming a melancholy tune,
and calling on him to have pity on him, and make him a great hunter,
horse-stealer, and warrior. This is repeated once or twice a week,
during the months of March and April."--_Long's First Expedition, vol._.
i. p. 240.

DISCOVERY OF THE UPPER WORLD.

A TRADITION OF THE MINNATAREES.

The Minnatarees, and all the other Indians who are of the stock of the
grandfather of nations, were once not of this upper air, but dwelt in
the bowels of the earth. The Good Spirit, when he made them, no doubt
meant, at a proper time, to put them in the enjoyment of all the good
things which he had prepared for them upon the earth, but he ordered
that their first stage of existence should be within it, as the infant
is formed, and takes its first growth in the womb of its natural mother.
They all dwelt under ground, like moles, in one great cavern, which
covered the whole island; when they emerged, it was in different places,
but generally near where they now inhabit. At that time, few of the
Indian tribes wore the human form; some had the figures or semblances of
beasts. The Paukunnawkuts were rabbits, some of the Delawares were
ground-hogs, others tortoises, and the Tuscaroras and a great many
others, were rattlesnakes. The Sioux were the hissing-snake(1); but the
Minatarees were always men. Their part of the great cavern was situated
far towards the Mountains of Snow.

The great cavern in which the Indians dwelt was indeed a dark and dismal
region. In the country of the Minnatarees it was lighted up only by the
rays of the sun which strayed through the fissures of the rock, and the
crevices in the roof of the cavern, while in that of the Mengwe it was
dark and sunless. The life of the Indians was a life of misery compared
with that they now enjoy, and it was endured only because they were
ignorant of a fairer or richer world, or a better