with several quaint colored illustrations, and it is one of the rare
products of the Godthaab press in Greenland to which we can assign a
genuine native origin.[14]

Another, which reveals still more distinctly the artistic and
imaginative capacities of that strange race, was published at Godthaab,
in 1860. Mr. Field remarks of it:--"An Esquimau of Greenland, with his
pencil, has, in this work, attempted to give representations of the
traditions, manners, weapons and habits of life of his own race."[15]

Among the tribes of the eastern United States there were a few
individuals who attempted to compose somewhat extensive records in their
native languages.

One of the most curious examples is that known as the _Walum Olum_,
a short account of the early history of the Delaware tribe, written in
that idiom, with mnemonic symbols attached. Its history is not very
complete. A "Dr. Ward, of Indiana" is said to have obtained it from a
member of the nation, in 1822. From him it passed into the hands of
Prof. C.S. Rafinesque, an eccentric and visionary Frenchman, who passed
the later years of his life in Philadelphia. He undertook to translate
it, and after his death the translation, together with the original,
came into the possession of Mr. E.G. Squier. By him it was first
published, but in a partial and incomplete manner, much of the original
text and many of the mnemonic symbols being omitted, and no effort being
made to improve Rafinesque's translation.[16]

The _Book of Rites_[17] of the Iroquois or Six Nations, lately
edited by Mr. Horatio Hale, is one of the most remarkable native
productions north of Mexico. Its authenticity and antiquity are