grew upon the bank, I wore it to his honour; and have reason to fancy
my piety was rewarded, as not a fly or an insect dared to buzz about
me the whole evening.

You never saw a brighter sky nor more glowing clouds than gilded our
horizon. The air was impregnated with the perfume of clover, and for
ten miles we beheld no other objects than smooth levels enamelled
with flowers, and interspersed with thickets of oak, beyond which
appeared a long series of mountains, that distance and the evening
tinged with an interesting azure. Such were the very spots for
youthful games and exercises, open spaces for tilts, and spreading
shades to screen the spectators.

Father Lafiteau tells us, there are many such vast and flowery meads
in the interior of America, to which the roving tribes of Indians
repair once or twice in a century to settle the rights of the chase,
and lead their solemn dances; and so deep an impression do these
assemblies leave on the minds of the savages, that the highest ideas
they entertain of future felicity consist in the perpetual enjoyment
of songs and dances upon the green boundless lawns of their elysium.
In the midst of these visionary plains rises the abode of Aneantsic,
encircled by choirs of departed chieftains leaping in cadence to the
mournful sound of spears as they ring on the shell of the tortoise.
Their favourite attendants, long separated from them whilst on earth,
are restored again in this ethereal region, and skim freely over the
vast level space; now hailing one group of beloved friends, and now
another. Mortals newly ushered by death into this world of pure blue
sky and boundless meads, see the long-lost objects of their affection
advancing across the lawn to meet them. Flights of familiar birds,
the purveyors of many an earthly chase, once more attend their