of our country, while the Chippeways are a branch words, and the attempt must lead us into the regions of what they call the Algonquins-and without any of fancy. Col. Leavenworth, who made considerable conventional character established between them, The Sioux language is probably one of the most these savages had thus opened a communication barren which is spoken by any of our aboriginal upon the most important subject which could occu- tribes. py their attention. Propositions leading to a peace proficiency in it, calculated, I believe, that the numwere made and accepted, and the simplicity of the ber of words did not exceed one thousand. They mode could only be equalled by the distinctness of use more gestures in their conversation than any result the representations, and by the ease with which they Indians I have seen, and this is a necessary were understood. of the poverty of their language. An incident like this, of rare occurrence at the present day, and throwing some light upon the mode of communication before the invention of letters, excited in us all, as may be expected, the greatest interest. It is only necessary to add, that on our arrival at St. Peter's, we found that Col. Leavenworth had been as attentive and indefatigable upon this subject, as upon every other which fell within the sphere of his command. During the preceding winter, he visited a tribe of the Chippeways upon this pacifick mission, and had, with the aid of the agent, Mr. Taliferro, prepared the minds of both tribes for a permanent peace. The Sioux and Chippeways met in council, at which we all attended, and smoked the pipe of peace together. They then, as they say in their figurative language, buried the tomahawk so deep that it could never be dug up again, and our Chippeway friends departed well satisfied with the results of the mission. The We discovered a remarkable coincidence, as well in the sound as in the application, between a word in the Sioux language and one in our own. circumstance is singular, and I deem it worthy of notice. The Sioux call the falls of St. Anthony, Ha, Ha, and the pronunciation is in every respect similar to the same word in the English language. I could not learn that this word was used for any other purpose, and I believe it is confined in its application to that place alone. The traveller, in ascending the Mississippi, turns a projecting point, and these falls suddenly appear before him at a short distance. Every man, savage or civilized, must be struck with the magnificent spectacle which immediately opens to his view. There is an assemblage of objects, which, added to the solitary grandeur of the scene, to the height of the cataract, and to the eternal roar of its waters, inspire the spectator with awe and admiration. In his anecdotes of painting, it is stated by Horace Walpole, that "on the intervention of fosses for boundaries, the common people called them Ha, Ha, to express their surprise at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk." I believe the name is yet used in this manner in England. a The gland which prepares the tears. The opening by which they are poured out on the inside of the eye. c The glands which prepare the oily fluid that prevents the tears from running on the cheek. d The orifice of the lachrymal passage. e The points which take up the tears from the eye, and by which they are conveyed to the nose. It is certainly not a little remarkable that the same word should be applied by one of the most The gland for preparing the tears is of the size civilized and by one of the most barbarous people, of an almond, and sunk into a depression of the to objects, which, although not the same, were yet bone at the upper part of the cheek. The fluid calculated to excite the admiration of the observer. which it prepares passes to the inside of the upper Nothing can show more clearly how fallacious eyelid by seven orifices; it is prevented from runare those deductions of comparative etymology ning on the cheek by the oily fluid from the small which are founded upon a few words, carefully glands, and is collected at the inner corner of the gleaned, here and there, from languages having no eye from which unless too abundant it is conveyed common origin, and which are used by people hav- into the tear-bag f, through two little pipes, the opening neither connexion nor intercourse. mon descent of two nations can never be traced by the accidental consonance of a few syllables or The com "The Structure of the Eye with Reference to Natural Theology, by W. C. Wallace, Oculist to the New York Institution for the Blind." a The oblique muscle, through the edge of which the pyramidal muscle b plays over the hook d. To supply the necessities of birds, which are observed during their rapid movements among branches of trees, they have a third eyelid, which, when drawn over the eye, is an effectual protection of the organ by its toughness; and by its partial transparency, vision is not altogether obscured. It is moved by two flat muscles, which, having no room elsewhere, are closely applied to the back of the eye. One of the edges of the broader muscle, resembles a string case, through which passes the tendon or cord of the other muscle, which is fixed to the membrane. In the owl there is a small hook projecting from the circle of bone which surrounds the clear part of the eye; when the muscles act they pull the cord over this hook and draw the membrane across the eye. The eyes of quadrupeds are also furnished with a third eyelid called the haw, on the internal surface of which there is a gland that prepares a gummy fluid, which the animal sweeps across the eye to keep it moist and transparent. In the rhinoceros, this gland is of enormous size when compared with other animals. This animal is said to plough the ground with its horn, and to throw earth and dust on its enemies; the eye is consequently much exposed, and requires unusual protection. A STORY OF LAKE ERIE. [Eye of Rhinoceros.] projecting branches. He sat astride upon this, alAN Indian woman and her child, who was about most beyond the reach of the surges, while she five years old, were travelling along the beach to a continued watching him in an agony of grief, hesicamp a few miles distant. The boy observed some tating whether she should endeavour to find her wild grapes growing upon the top of the bank, and way to camp, and procure assistance, or remain expressed such a desire to obtain them, that his near her boy. However, evening was about to mother, seeing a ravine at a little distance, by which close, and, as she could not proceed through the she thought she could gain the edge of the preci- woods in the dark, she resolved at least to wait unpice, resolved to gratify him. Having desired him til the moon rose. She sat on the top of the precito remain where he was, she ascended the steep, pice a whole hour, and, during that time, occasionand was allured much farther into the woods than ally ascertained that her son was alive, by hearing she at first intended. In the meantime, the wind his cries amidst the roaring of the waves; but when began to blow vehemently, but the boy wandered the moon appeared he was not to be seen. She carelessly along the beach, seeking for shells, till now felt convinced that he was drowned, and giv the rapid rise of the water rendered it impossible ing way to utter despair, threw herself on the turf. for him to return to the spot where he had been left Presently she heard a feeble voice cry, (in Indian,) by his mother. He immediately began to cry aloud," Mama, I'm here, come and help me." She startand she being on her return, heard him, but instead ed up, and saw her boy scrambling up the edge of of descending the ravine, hastened to the edge of the bank, she sprang forward to catch his hand, but the precipice, from the bottom of which the noise the ground by which he held, giving way, he was seemed to proceed. On looking down, she beheld precipitated into the lake, and perished among the her son struggling with the waves, and vainly en- rushing billows! deavouring to climb up the bank, which was fifty fet, perpendicular height, and very slippery. There being no possibility of rendering him assistance, she was on the point of throwing herself down the steep, when she saw him catch hold of a tree that had fallen into the lake, and mount one of its most Oysters. The liquor of oysters contains innumerable embryos, with transparent shell--one hundred and twenty to the inch; and also other animalculæ, as three kinds of worms, etc. The sea-star, men, cockles, and muscles, are their enemies. DESTRUCTION OF THE MORAVIAN TOWNS, As early as the middle of the fifteenth century, a sect of harmless and peaceable Christians sprung up in Moravia, in the dominions of Austria, amid the general fermentation, which seems so remarkably to have seized the publick mind in Europe, about that time. These Christians, under the title of Moravians, or United Brethren, established themselves about the middle of the sixteenth century in Pennsylvania, at Freedenshutten, on Big Beaver, Wyolussing, and Sheshequon, on the Susquehannah. Here, these exemplary fathers devoted themselves to Christianizing and civilizing the Indians, with signal success. They exerted their best energies to keep down the spirit of war and devastation, so prevalent in a border country, by teaching, that " it must be displeasing to the Great Being, who made men not to destroy men, but to love and assist one another." To carry these beneficent views more effectually into practice with the native tribes of our forests, these true missionarics of the Christian cross removed in 1769 into the heart of the northwestern wilderness, and established the towns of Gnadenhutten, Salem, and Shoebrun, on the banks of the Muskingum. pious labourers, and dismissed them to their beloved flock, for whose religious interests they braved such dangers and suffered such privations, as the pure spirit of Christian philanthropy can alone prepare the soul to endure. The Indians were left to shift for themselves in the Sandusky plains, where most of their horses perished from famine. This, too, when the labour of the Christian Indian had raised abundant corn, which they had not been allowed to gather. But the misfortunes of the band of Christian Indians, who seem so unhappily to have been before their time, and out of place, for the enjoyment of their peaceful doctrines, were also destined to come from men, bearing the name of Christians as well as themselves, and professing the same mild and merciful worship of our heavenly Father. the About the latter end of this year, the militia of the Pennsylvania frontier, (yet, however, in dispute with Virginia,) came to a determination of breaking up Moravian towns. For this purpose, a party of men, under the command of Col. David Williamson, proceeded to the Indian villages, for the of sepurpose curing these suspected enemies. They, however, found the towns almost deserted; the few prisoners whom they did take, were delivered in safety to the commandant of Fort Pitt. After a confinement of some time, the prisoners were released; much to the displeasure of the inhabitants, infuriated as they had almost necessarily become, by the horrible barbarities of Indian warfare. In March, 1782, the militia of the same portion of the country resolved upon a second expedition against the Moravian towns. Col. Williamson again commanded the men, if command can be applicable to such insubordinate and lawless movements. They amounted to eighty or ninety persons, collected without any publick authority; but solely moved by the private determination of the party, and so far the character of our country is saved from some portion of the flagrant enormities which were perpetrated by this self-appointed military body. The object avowed was, to remove the Moravian Indians peaceably, but certainly to destroy their houses and their crops. In this perilous position, the pious and philanthropick labours of these devoted servants of humanity were blessed with prosperity; and they gathered a flock of three or four hundred Christians out of the Ishmaelites of our wilderness. The arts of peaceful and civilized life were sown, and were producing much fruit worthy of the good seed; the red man was becoming reclaimed from his ferocity, and the standard of Christian civilization was successfully set up in the wigwams of the savage. But a blight was coming over this goodly prospect; war, with more than its usual fury, burst out again between the Indian and his white neighbours. The towns of the Moravians with their proselytes occupied the middle parties; exposed, as Gibbon remarks, with his usual point, to the fire of both parties. They were situated about sixty miles from the villages of hostile Indians, and "not much farther than the whites; hence they were called the halfway houses of the warriours." In this way they wanted to break up the halfway Both the parties at war passed by or through the asylums for the depredators on the frontier, if they Moravian towns, and committed whatever violations did not, as was perhaps unjustly suspected, originate of neutrality their resentments or their caprices dic-in these villages. The white party took up its line tated. Nor were the Moravians exempt from the of march from the Mingo bottom, on the west side suspicions of both parties, for being auxiliaries to of the Ohio; and on the second night thereafter, they their enemies. Often indeed had neutrality been violated in favour of the whites, by communicating intelligence of schemes of Indian incursion. The attack on Wheeling Fort had been distinctly announced by the friendly Moravians; and might not similar intelligence have been conveyed to the Indians? It would have been but fair, between the belligerants, and quite consistent with the Moravian abhorrence of war from all quarters. encamped within one mile of the town of Gnadenhutten, the middle town of the Moravians, which extended on both sides of the Muskingum. When the party had reached the river, it was divided into equal portions, one of which was ordered to cross about a mile above the town, and to take possession of the western part of it; while the residue of the force was separated into three divisions, one to march above, another below, and the third opposite to the This condition of irritation and suspicion, continu- middle of the town, with orders to occupy it. The ed with more or less aggravation, through the Indian detachment intended for the western attack, on reachwar until the fall of 1781. At this time the hostility ing the river bank, found no means of conveyance of their unconverted countrymen broke out against except a large trough designed for holding sugar-wathe praying Indians, as the Moravians were expres- ter, or maple-sap; and even that was on the sively called; their towns and their property were destroyed, and the missionaries were taken prisoners to Detroit. After some confinement, the British commandant became satisfied of the innocence of the oppo site side of the river. The ice was floating in the river, and its waters high, but a young man of the name of Slaughter, Cassius-like, buffeted the flood and safely brought the trough over; still it was capa perished in this worse than Indian massacre. Worse because committed against all the lights of religion, law, and civilization. ble of holding but two persons. It was then conclu- |commended their souls to God, and were ready. ded to place the arms and ammunition of the men in The particulars of this atrocious butchery, in cold this vehicle, while they should swim over. Thus, at blood, without form of trial, or shadow of publick the very outset of the attack, were the invaders pla- authority, are too horrible, too bloody for detail. ced at the mercy of the Moravians, had they intended Suffice it to say, that the two houses in which the hostilities even in defence of their houses and their prisoners were confined, were made slaughter-pens families. When about sixteen men had effected the for these betrayed Indians, who were, according to passage of the river; two of the sentinels, who had the strongest grounds of presumption, the suspicions been posted in advance, discovered a Moravian In- of both parties, innocent of white men's blood. There dian by the name of Shahosh; they shot and toma- was no exception of age or sex in this massacre, hawked him. The eastern detachment was then perpetrated by misnamed Christians; all perished“ at directed to commence the attack, in order to antici- one fell swoop" of these degenerate Americans. pate the alarm which must be produced by the firing: Ninety-six out of one hundred and fifty of these peoit was done. The detachment on the west proceed-ple, fatally confiding in the faith of their murderers, ed to the town on that side, where they found the Indians in a cornfield, gathering the crop of corn, which had been left on the stalk, when they had been hurried off by their own countrymen in the preceding fall. This Indian party had obtained leave from the Delawares, to return to their old town, for the purpose of getting a supply of provisions to keep their people from starving. Could the situation of a Gladly does the author pass from an enormity, people well be more deplorable than this? Permitted which makes him blush to own its authors as fellowby the mercy of the Indians to come back and col- countrymen, to some of the circumstances which lect the fruits of their labour, for the support of their may, in some slight degree, palliate, though nothing suffering people, and at their own towns to meet a can justify, a transaction so utterly at war with jushostile party of the whites, who treated them with a tice and mercy, and the professed principles of the ferocity alone worthy of that corrupt religion which American people. In the first place, "very few of the Moravian Indians had in abhorrence abandoned. our men imbrued their hands in the blood of the "On the arrival of the white men at the town, they Moravians, even those who had not voted for saving proposed peace and good will to the Moravians, and their lives, retired from the scene of slaughter with informed them, that they had come to take them to horrour and disgust." Still they were accessaries Fort Pitt, for their safety. The Indians surrender to the foul massacre by their dastardly inactivity. ed, delivered up their arms, and appeared highly In such momentous cases of high moral principle, delighted with the prospect of their removal; they he who is not for it, is against it. There is no methen began with all speed to prepare victuals to sub-dium, no middle ground, between crime and innosist the white men and themselves on the journey." cenee, in such extremities; then, backwardness is After this insidious capture, another party was the highest guilt. Of the number massacred, "sixty-two were grown persons, one third of whom were females, and the remaining thirty-four were children." The houses and the remains of the dead were burned together. despatched to Salem, to bring in the Indians there, Next, the country in which this expedition originwho were also gathering corn. They too were suc-ated was a debateable land, claimed by Pennsylvacessful. The Indians were all brought from Salem, to Gnadenhutten. Here they were secured as prisoners, and a council of officers was held upon their fate. This tribunal would not determine the matter, but with unmanly and unofficer-like dereliction from their duty, referred it to the men. Upon this, the private soldiers were drawn up in a line, and the awful question was accordingly submitted to them, by their own colonel," whether the Moravian Indians should be taken prisoners to Pittsburgh, or put to death." Those who were in favour of saving their lives, were directed to step out of the ranks; upon this, sixteen, some say eighteen, were only found in favour of mercy. The prisoners were then told to prepare for death. This cruel result seems to have been foreseen by the deceived Indians, when they were once confined in the guard-house. They began their devotions by singing hymns, praying, and exhorting each other to place a firm reliance in the mercy of the Saviour of men. When their fate was announced to them, these devoted people embraced, kissed, and bedewed each other's faces and bosoms, with their mutual tears, asked pardon of the brothers and sisters for any offence they might have given them through life. Thus at peace with their God and each other, on being asked by those who were impatient for the slaughter, they answered, they had nia and Virginia, and had become the theatre of Whatever of our One conclusive proof of the innocence of the Moravians is found in the fact, that "when attacked by our people, although they might have defended | plainness of food may in some degree counteract the themselves, they did not. They never fired a sin-evils resulting from so artificial a mode of life, our gle shot. They were prisoners and had been prom-commercial relations are so much extended, that ised protection, and every dictate of justice and humanity required that their lives should be spared." No doubt the frontier was festering under the wounds of Indian barbarity; and that Indians were hot thought entitled to the mercy they had never shown to others. Still this is but slight extenuation admitting at once the truth of a transaction which brands its perpetrators with indelible infamy. Mann Butler. POPULAR MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS. A PAGE of practical remarks on purgative medicines will not, perhaps, be without its use to the readers of this magazine. Eastern luxuries, spices and condiment spirits, and fermented liquors, are attainable by almost every inhabitant of our large towns. Thus it is the stomach that becomes the seat in which almost all modern ailments begin, and from which they, as it were radiate through the whole system; and, therefore, the remedies which act on the stomach and its adjacent and assistant organ, the liver, are the most likely to be beneficial to the system. It is for these reasons we think that those purgatives which act especially on the upper part of the bowels, are to be preferred, and to this class belong rhubarb and bluepill. If an occasional purgative only is wanted, the "compound rhubarb pill" is, perhaps, the best preparation; and of this, ten grains may be taken, with Purgatives are divisible, according to their mode or without one, two, or three grains of blue-pill. But of action, into three classes: first, those which act if an aperient is to be taken regularly, the best way chiefly on the upper part of the bowels; second, is to procure a piece of the root of Turkey rhubarb, those which act chiefly on the lower part of the and, breaking a portion off with the teeth, to chew it bowels; and third, those which act on the whole thoroughly, and not to swallow the woody part. The intestinal canal. The first are especially useful in palate very soon becomes accustomed to the taste correcting disordered states of the stomach and liv-of rhubarb, and in a very short time it ceases to be er; such are the preparations of mercury, that is, nauseous. The woody part is astringent, and is, calomel and blue-pill, rhubarb and jalap. The sec- therefore, very apt to disorder the stomach, and to ond act especially on the lower part of the bowels; interfere with the operation of the purgative princisuch are aloes. The third act on the whole extent ple which rhubarb contains. of the bowels; such are castor oil, and the various salines, to wit, Epsom salts, tartrate of soda, &c. Now it will require no great stretch of sagacity | to perceive, that it is important to know which of these classes should be preferred; and that, while some purgative may be strongly called for, one will be much more likely to be beneficial that another; indeed, that while one would essentially relieve the overloaded, or the lethargick, or the irritable state of the system, another would only aggravate these complaints. Aloetick purgatives have long been the prime favourites with the mass of the people, and a large proportion of the quack pills have aloes for their principal ingredient. This has arisen from the fact that aloes act only, or almost only, on the lower part of the bowels; and, therefore, there is less likely to be subsequent costiveness, than there is after the aperients, which empty the whole intestinal canal. But aloetick purgatives are apt to irritate the lower part of the bowels; if continued even for a short time, they are apt to cause piles, &c., and hardly ever afford that decided relief to the system which is given by the other kinds of purgatives. On these accounts we think that aloetick purgatives do not deserve the extensive popularity they have acquired. Every body knows that the great cause of our bodily ailments is repletion--that is eating a larger quantity of food than is wanted to supply the necessities of the system. The mass of the people are more sedentary in their habits than they ever were before. A larger number is engaged in manufactories, &c., where little or no active bodily exercise is enjoyed; and while they are thus deprived of the benefits of exercise, they are also deprived of the health-fraught influences of a pure and undulterated atmosphere; and, although these considerations point out the necessity of attention to diet, that the There are, however, many people who cannot take rhubarb in the way we have spoken of. It disturbs the functions of their stomachs, loading the tongue, and impairing the appetite, and in some it causes squeamishness or nausea for hours after taking it. Many such will find, that by taking a little of the powdered rhubarb in milk, the taste is in great measure covered, a not unpleasant bitter only remaining, and very often rhubarb, taken in this way will agree with the stomach, where, otherwise exhibited, it had produced nausea and stomach disturbance. The effect of rhubarb is often greatly increased by mixing it with an alkali, as soda; or an alkaline earth, as magnesia or lime. Five or ten grains of bi-carbonate of soda, or a scruple of carbonate of magnesia or a tablespoonful of lime water, with two tablespoonfuls of water may be added to the dose of rhubarb for this purpose. The addition of Castile-soap to rhubarb when made into pills, answers the same end, although not quite so efficiently. Should the rhubarb produce pain or griping in the bowels, it will commonly be well to add some aromatick to it. Powdered ginger is perhaps the best. The proportion is half the quantity of aromatick to that which constitutes the the dose of rhubarb. Rhubarb is, beyond all doubt, the aperient, the use of which may be the longest persevered in with safety, or without risk; and it should never be lost sight of that it does agree, in some of the forms we have mentioned, with most people; and that, where it does agree, it strengthens instead of weakens, the stomach and the bowels; and this is an observation which is applicable to few others of the various medicines which act as aperients. We have slightly mentioned the preparations of mercury, and especially blue-pill. It will be useful if we say a few words about this powerful drug. The action of mercury is usually thought to be only on |