Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/104

Rh his muse, the goddess of song which shall inspire him; have at least a glimpse into the grandeur of her kingdom, and of the powers which she commands in nature; be able to form an idea of the life and development of those future generations which she will bring forth.

I saw in Mr. Schoolcraft's Collection of Indian Curiosities, among other things, small flutes, which the enamoured Indians make use of when they would declare their passion to the object of their affections. They paint and adorn themselves in their best manner, and go out in the quiet evening or night, and blow upon the flute in the neighbourhood of the tent or wigwam of their beloved. If the fair one be propitious to the lover, she shows herself outside the tent, and sometimes comes forth to him, and allows herself to be carried away. This flute is a very imperfect instrument, and the Indians, who are possessed of but very small musical powers, produce from it only a low note, almost without melody, resembling the whistling or twittering of a bird. Mr. S. has had the kindness to give me some paintings of Indian life and manners; one of them represents such a noctural wooing. It is not far removed from the life of the animal; one seems to see a fine bird whistling to his little mate.

I have had a view of the moon from the Observatory, through a very good telescope; have seen its sleeping “Mare Vaporum,” its mountains and valleys, and the chasm in one of its mountains, better than I had hitherto done. It is a pity that this beautiful Observatory has so unhealthy a site on the banks of the Potomac, so that no astronomer can live here without endangering his health.

I went one day with a handsome, young, new-married pair, and Miss Dix, to the “Little Falls” on the Potomac, in a wild and picturesque district. There dwells here, in great solitude, a kind of savage, with seven fingers on each hand, and seven toes on each foot. He is a giant in