remarkable degree, is attested by many witnesses who have lived
intimately among them; and is only denied by those whose acquaintance
with them has been superficial, or derived from second-hand and doubtful
sources.

The red man peoples air, earth, and the waters with countless creatures
of his fancy; his expressions are figurative and metaphorical; he is
quick to seize analogies; and when he cannot explain he is ever ready to
invent. This is shown in his inappeasable love of story telling. As a
_raconteur_ he is untiring. He has, in the highest degree, Goethe's
_Lust zu fabuliren_. In no Oriental city does the teller of strange
tales find a more willing audience than in the Indian wigwam. The folk
lore of every tribe which has been properly investigated has turned out
to be most ample. Tales of talking animals, of mythical warriors, of
giants, dwarfs, subtle women, potent magicians, impossible adventures,
abound to an extent that defies collection.[1]

Nor are these narratives repeated in a slip-shod, negligent style. The
hearers permit no such carelessness. They are sticklers for nicety of
expression; for clear and well turned periods; for vivid and accurate
description; for flowing and sonorous sentences. As a rule, their
languages lend themselves readily to these demands. It is a singular
error, due wholly to ignorance of the subject, to maintain that the
American tongues are cramped in their vocabularies, or that their syntax
does not permit them to define the more delicate relationships of ideas.
Nor is it less a mistake to assert, as has been done repeatedly, and
even by authorities of eminence in our own day, that they are not
capable of supplying the expressions of abstract reasonings. Although
pure abstractions were rarely objects of interest to these children of
nature, many, if not most, of their tongues favor the formation of