eat fall of snow and hail. All at once, to
their unspeakable consternation and confusion, there stood, in the
centre of the space around which the dance was danced, a spirit of the
air, wearing the form and proportions of a woman of exceeding beauty.
White and pure was her skin, as the snow ere it touches the earth; her
hair, which flowed to her knees in many folds, was white as the snow
which was falling around her; but her eyes were blue as the sky from
which she had taken her flight, and these alone, of all that appertained
to her, were of a different hue from the snows which had accompanied
her descent to the earth. She was of the usual height of the women of
our nation, and more beautiful than any thing that had ever entered into
the imagination of mortals. In a moment the dance was suspended, and,
throughout the camp of the Tetons, not a voice or sound was heard, save
the hushed respiration of the terrified and astonished crowd, as they
gazed upon the beautiful and majestic spirit. Awhile it stood in earnest
but tranquil look upon the silent warriors, and then spoke in whispers
the words which I shall repeat to my brothers:

"Men of the Burntwood Tetons! I am the chief spirit of the Land of
Snows--the power which, by the decree of the Great Being, presides over
the regions of ice and frost. I have come from my dwelling in the far
north, to look upon the brave and good Tetons, and to behold the dances
which they are so famed for dancing, and to see with my own eyes their
skill in shooting with the bow, and throwing the spear, and their
strength in wielding the war-club, and their patience under afflictions,
and their endurance of fatigue, and hunger, and cold, and want. I had
heard in my dwelling-place in the bright skies that they were the best
and bravest of men; I shall see if the report is true. But not for this
alone have I left the glorious regions of the north; I have suffered
myself to be coaxed to the earth, by a wish to feel in my bosom the
workings of that soft passion, which possesses both mortals and
immortals--things of the earth, and the air--and sometimes blesses with
joy and happiness, but oftener afflicts with pain and misery, and days
of anxiety, and nights of anguish, those whose lot it is to make it the
all-controlling guest of their bosoms; thou knowest that I mean the
almighty passion of love. Although I dwell in the regions of eternal
frost and never-melting snows, yet would I that my bosom s