of eagles and of redbirds, and stained quills of porcupine twisted in their hair, fiercely painted with smears and streaks of scarlet ochre, and gorgeously bedecked with flowing robes of figured wolfskins, and beaded moccasins, with chinking and jingling strings of purple wampum, and flint-headed arrows of hickory. From many a somber fastness in the wood along the shores of the river called Beautiful, and from many a patch of shining corn beside the Moose-Eye River, and from beneath the shadows of the Great Mound, the ancient and mysterious, they came in numbers, fearlessly leaving their growing maize and their wigwams without even a dog on sentry, for the matchless prowess and diplomacy of Tammany had made all tribes to fear them.

The wigwams of Tammany and of the chief of the Red Eyes were pitched about a tomahawk's throw apart, at the great encampment.

Whenever Tammany beheld a company approaching, he would advance about an arrow-shot to meet them, stop short before them, look earnestly and steadfastly into their faces, then salute them: "Welcome, my children. May the Great Spirit guide your minds, that you may vote with wisdom." To this they would reply, if they were White Eyes, "The Great Spirit is in you;" but if they were Red Eyes, "Ugh! ugh!" Then he would conduct them into his wigwam, pour a little fire-water into a gourd from a porcupine-skin, taste it himself, and hand it to all his guests in succession, each of whom remarked after tasting it, "Ugh, ugh!" After that, they would seat themselves in a circle, and he would take down a bladder of tobacco, fill the bowl of his red-stone Kanawha calumet, and pass it around the circle. All these solemn and decorous hospitalities were interspersed by Tammany, occasionally, with brief, judicious observations,

such as, "Ugh, ugh!" "May the Great Spirit guide you!" "The Red Eyes are fools," "Maize well watered grows fast."

These ceremonies of hospitality being finished, the braves would visit likewise the wigwam of the Red Eyes, partake of the hostile chief's fire-water, and smoke his calumet.

Meantime Tammany would go abroad, and mingle familiarly, yet with dignity, with the assembled braves of his tribe. To the younger ones he gave strings of wampum, fine embroidered moccasins, pipe-bowls, beautiful ashen bows and arrows, and whatever other things are either pleasant to see or to possess. If an aged brave was almost deaf, he told him that people did not speak so loudly nowadays as in former years, when he was young. If any one was blind, he led him by the hand, and spoke to him many words of kindness. He struck his tomahawk into a tree, so low that the youths could all leap over the handle, and told them they could all spring as high as Tammany could in his lustiest youth.

Two days the braves were in assembling together, and on the morning of the third day there was a mighty multitude. When the hour drew near that they should elect their chief sachem, Tammany caused a long and a strong blast to be blown on the hollow thigh-bone of a. moose, which was heard far and wide throughout the encampment. All the braves thereupon gathered about his wigwam, and squatted on their haunches beneath a widespreading beech.

Then Tammany issued forth, arrayed in gorgeous and barbaric splendor, with seven extra smears of ochre on his face, an imposing coronal of feathers on his head, two carved and beaded clam-shells depending from his ears, and robes and moccasins of great magnificence. Stand

ing before his wigwam, he made that oration which caused him to be canonized as the patron and great tutelary saint of all American politicians. He took a blackberry into his mouth to moisten it, and then spoke as follows:

"Men are not ruled by wisdom. My arms are not long, but I can reach above my head. My feet are not nice, but they carry my head wheresoever it goes.

"A full bladder gives no sound when it is struck. When the wolf howls he is empty.

"The deceit of man is great. The coon's tail is in the pond, but his body is on the log. The crawfish get a nibble of his tail, but the coon eats the crawfish.

"No man has eyes in the back of his head. I can see farther than I can reach. It is easier to pierce the heart through the back than through the breast.

"Go not too far. A man can sleep in a small sapling. If he climbs to the top it bends to the ground.

"Every man has a place made for him by the Great Spirit. A deer cannot climb a tree. The jay sits on the topmost bough. The arrow of the brave slays them both.

"It is easier for fools to go forward than backward. The cat can climb a tree, but she comes down tail first. A wise man does not go forward till he sees how he can come back. The duck dives after the corn, but its neck sticks fast in the net.

"If two braves contend for a squaw, and one wins her, does he give the other her beads? They are his own. What brave is there who kills his enemy and does not take his scalp? If he did not, men would count him no better than a fool and a squaw.

"A man cannot pull up a tree by the roots, but if he climbs to the top he can bend and break it down to the ground.

"Is anybody wise who is Tammany's enemy? He is

a fool. The Red Eyes are fools. This I know. They are knaves. The Great Spirit has told me this. Truth is not to be divided. Can you split the sun with a tomahawk? Are there two moons? The sun is in all things, and when fire springs forth from wood it is the sun. There is one light.

"When the Evil Spirit seizes a man, and torments him with fatness, do not men bleed him with flints? It is wise. Also, when the Evil Spirit seizes him, and he madly thinks to become a sachem to whom the Great Spirit has not given it, wampum is taken from him. These things I know well, and the custom is so. But there is no blood in a dead man. When he is dying he is not bled, but he is cast out, and men leap and dance on his stomach, and beat him with sticks. These things are true. "A wise brave does not strike his enemy's war-club, but his eyes. A dog has a long tail, but a squaw can cut it off. She cannot pluck out his teeth.

"The chief of the Red Eyes is an enemy of his people. This I know. If he were a friend to his people, he would be a White Eye. If you choose him to be sachem, the Great Spirit will be wroth, and our tribe will talk with owls, and become acquainted with bats. If the Red Eye chief becomes sachem, we shall take counsel with screech-owls. We shall seek the haunts of dogs, and find them. The grass will grow in our wigwams, and our sacred places will be deserted and silent. The howling of the wolf will be heard in our lodges, and in our ancient villages the fox will dig his hole unscared.

"Humbles are something, but wampum is greater. Tammany has wampum. Tammany is wise. The chief of the Red Eyes is a fool. know well. He wishes to wishes to save them.

This I

He is also a knave. ruin his people. Tammany

"The words of Tammany are ended."

The conclusion of this oration was received with very general exclamations of "Ugh, ugh!" as indicative of assent and applause. Then the multitude arose and gathered about the wigwam of the opposing chieftain, who came forth and stood before his door. After looking sternly and immovably toward the great warrior for some minutes, he slowly raised his right hand, pointed scornfully toward him with his forefinger, and began in a deep and solemn voice, scowling darkly:

"Tammany is not wise. He has not spoken the words of wisdom. The sound of his voice is as the west wind when it blows in the winter. Beside the noise of the blowing, there is nothing else at all."

At this point, Tammany strode majestically to the side of the speaker, confronted him with a lowering and terrible mien, and imparted to him his opinion of the entire misapprehension of facts under which he evidently labored. Thereupon the chief of the Red Eyes informed Tammany that his statement was diametrically opposed to the requirements of strict veracity, and that that virtue abode not in him. Upon that Tammany enlightened his adversary with an expression of his convictions respecting his personal character and descent, and the character of his mother, to which the chief of the Red Eyes replied with a reciprocal piece of information.

Thereupon Tammany drew near to him, and smote him with his fist between his two eyes, knocked him down, and spat in his right ear.

The assembled multitude greeted this triumph with prolonged and vigorous exclamations of "Ugh, ugh!" and at once Tammany was chosen sachem by acclamation.