, and adventurous, sagacious and
powerful as any that ever sounded the war-whoop, or startled the deer,
in those interminable wilds--he was noble, generous, warm-hearted, and
devotedly tender to the objects of his love.

The winning tones, and the affectionate glances of Minaree, as she
chanted her simple prophetic lay, had almost won Ash-te-o-lah from his
purpose. But, half doubting whether her oracular dream was any thing
more than a little artifice of affection, and always superior to that
prevailing superstition of his people, which gave to dreams all the
sanctity and force of divine revelation, and excited by the preparations
he had been making, he flung his rattling quiver to his back, whispered
a gentle intimation that Ash-te-o-lah feared neither tiger nor foeman,
and returning the affectionate glance of his bride, left the wigwam.

It was a clear bright summer morning. There was a balmy sweetness in the
air, and melody in all the groves; but they won not the ear, they
regaled not the sense of Minaree, whose heart sunk within her, as she
saw her beloved Ash-te-o-lah launch his canoe into the stream, and dash
away over its glassy surface, like a swallow on the wing. Ere he dipped
his paddle in the water, he turned and gracefully waved her a parting
salute, the affectionate desire to stay and soothe the troubled spirit
of her dream, still struggling with that lofty pride which told him that
he had never yet shrunk from any form of danger, or known the name of
fear.

The lands bordering on the Katahba, were covered, for many a league,
with a dense and thriving population. More than twenty tribes were
clustered there into one powerful fraternity, capable of bringing two
thousand warriors into the field. Their grounds were extensively
cultivated, their forests abounded with the choicest game, and their
rivers with fish, and they regarded themselves as the most prosperous of
the nations.

Nothing could exceed the romantic beauty and loveliness of some of their
villages. Stretching along the banks of the rivers, and embowered deeply
in the luxurious forests of that favored clime, the numerous wigwams,
simple enough in their construction, but adorned here and there with the
trophies of war or the chase, and often alive with the athletic sports
of the young Indians, formed a scene as animated and picturesque as ever
glowed on the bosom of the earth--a scene of patriarchal life, such as
cannot now be found among all th