n friends?"

"I promise that also," replied Hodges, after a brief pause.

"Then may the bones of his fathers moulder in peace," said the old man,
laying his hands on the shoulders of the Englishman. "The Miko will
clear his brother's path from thorns, and his runners shall show him the
way to the Coshattoes. But my brother is hungry," he added, "and his
path is a long one."

He made a sign to his followers, and one of them emptied a hunting-pouch
upon the grass; the Miko sat down, and, beckoning Hodges to do the same,
offered him some cold game, of which he himself sparingly partook. A
handful of roasted corn, and a calabash of tolerable wine, completed the
repast. The meal dispatched, Tokeah rose, nodded in a friendly manner,
and plunged into the forest, followed by all but one of the Indians.
Hodges cast a last glance after their dark figures, as they disappeared
between the trees, and then seized the canoe to carry it to the water.
Upon reaching the opposite shore, the Indian concealed the boat amongst
the bushes, and started off across the prairie at a pace with which the
young Englishman had some difficulty in keeping up.

IRELAND--ITS CONDITION--THE LIFE AND PROPERTY BILL--THE DEBATE, AND THE
FAMINE.

It is now some years since, in the pages of this Periodical, we pointed
out to Sir Robert Peel's government the necessity of adopting coercive
measures towards Ireland, in mercy to the peasantry themselves, and the
folly of permitting sedition to run its course, in the delusive hope
that the fallacy on which the arguments of the demagogues were founded
would at length be discovered by their dupes, and that the repeated
disappointment of their expectations would ultimately induce the deluded
people to withdraw the confidence which they reposed in their political
leaders. But our remonstrances, as well as the advice of others who
equally understood the Irish character, were disregarded; and the
consequences have been the destruction of property, the sacrifice of
life, and the increase of crime, to such an appalling extent, that very
shame compels the administration to propose _now_ (with small chance of
its efficiency, even should it be adopted) a measure, which, incomplete
though it be, might then have been attended with considerable success.

The coercion bill introduced by Lord St Germains, is, though much to be
approved of so far as it goes, perfectly inadequate to accomplish what
it is intended to ef