to the wise counsel of its more heaven-minded | vague and momentary glances are afforded him of sister part, and now repents of its miserable deaf- solemn Death, standing grim-lighted upon the ness, and, turning thankfully to the light now shown extreme verge of his life, yet receiving indubitato it, finds Death to be no longer a frowning gate bleness, not from this world, but from the light of darkness, but a silver gleaming portal, beyond shining from the sure and certain truth of the life which is bliss. Through joy and sorrow, pleasure and suffering ; through years of hope, whether crowned by realization or not, must this me of mine struggle on with in its perishable clay palace. Yet for what else was it placed there than to struggle and work out its reward, beneficially to itself or otherwise, till Death rids it of that shell of a body which it has so long, snail-like, painfully, yet necessarily, carried about, and in which it has dreamt through this short life-sleep, and it awakes into an eternal being? Strenuously is it to be endeavored after, that such awaking may be a rosy dawn of paradise. Thou also, O mistaken lover! now findest that there is much to be struggled against within thee. That there is a war raging there between the flesh and the spirit, the judgment and the heart, sober thought and wild fancy; and according to which of these proves the strongest, will depend what manner of man thou wilt become, and the life or nolife to be led by thee. Amid such wrestlings thou hast now begun to learn to live, towards the best attainment of which knowledge is suffering inestimable. In such trials, help comes to the soul that seeks it beyond the stars; where, indeed, under such circumstances it alone finds rest for thought. For until discovery of such haven of rest, what are all the glories of the universe to thee, but only so much to remind thee of the past, and of thy thoughts in it. to come. Miserable Brown! foolish also! Death will come to thee quickly enough without thy seeking him. The black-despair life thou almost inclinest by help of him to get out of, into what would such assistance precipitate thee! Sinful passion cannot easily merge itself into divine peace. Thou art now passing through one of the purifying fires, from which holy reliance will bring thee patient and submissive to His will who giveth and taketh away. Then wilt thou be able profitably to meditate on the wonder of life and the mystery of death, and to live according to their teachings. Often do I now (says Teufelsdröckh), in that old arm-chair of mine up among the stars and chimneys above Weissichnichtwo, sit waiting for Death without dread. For the soul that has worked its un-rest out of it, looks forward with, perhaps, somewhat of philosophic expectation as well as of shadow of the world which we call night, out of it theosophic peace, to gently falling asleep amid that to awaken into a day-spring that will have no evening. Cheer up, thou forlorn Brown! Is not thy soul, is not every man's soul, an hypæstral temple, which, under endeavor to roof out the stars, becomes a dark pit of destruction? Doubt not the Infinite! believe in eternity! only those old fancies of thine must die, not thou. There is time laid up for thee in the future, walk thou forward manfully to meet it. All the sorrow is, with all the joy that caused it, buried forever in the past. Inscribe thou, therefore, on the heart-tablet over Our desponding lover is, however, at present only living painfully oppressed by the past without those memories, a future, which as yet is not visible to his most piercing thought, but remains full of opaque cloud- but not vapor and drear desolation, amid which only TO A RIVULET. TEN years, with all their changes, have passed by, THE YEARS. THE years roll on, the years roll on; And dusky hours to me have come, Hic jacet, Resurgam. I now look backward on the path Of bitterness to tell; But life's a hard lesson must be learned; By goading care is wisdom earnedThen upward let the eye be turned And all life's scenes are well! On roll the years, the swift, still years; And as they pass, how feeling searsHow drieth up the fount of tears Emotion's fires grow dim; This pulse of life not long can last, And as the years go hurrying past, The blooms of life are earthward cast, And withered heart and limb. The years, the years sublimely roll, The treasures of their lore; THE SCENERY OF THE OTTAWA. From Bentley's Miscellany. lament the tendency of modern improvement to sacrifice landscape to utility, deforming nature with the stiffness of straight lines; and I can well remember the shock it caused me when I first saw St. Anne's. No river in North America, perhaps, affords a greater attraction to the lover of the picturesque than the Ottawa. Its broad sheets of water and foaming rapids, its wooded islands and rugged steeps, impress themselves indelibly upon the mind, and imagination fondly indulges in many a lingering reminiscence of the diversified prospects that border its romantic shores. This important tributary of the St. Lawrence forms a natural line of division between what is now termed "Canada East" and "Canada West," since the union of the two provinces, and under the name of "La Grande Rivière" is celebrated in the annals of the French dominion, as the route by which a ready access was obtained to the Great Lakes and the vast region adjoining, the savage recesses of which, at that early period, few, except the Jesuit, and the fur-trader, had either the inclination or the hardihood to explore. This village, the scene of Moore's well known boat-song, is situated near a series of rapids at the south-west end of the Island of Montreal, twenty miles above Lachine. Here it was that the young canoeman employed in the fur-trade, received his first lesson at the outset of his career, in stemming the fierce current of the stream, and sang a "parting hymn" in the little chapel dedicated to the patron saint of voyageurs. It is a pretty place still, with its cluster of green islets, between which the pent-up Ottawa rushes with fretful vehemence, but the romance of the thing is gone-annihilated by a huge lock, which in all the offensive trimness of rule and square, usurps the natural margin of the river, and absorbs every object in the vicinity with its glaring walls. There was nothing for it but to turn the back upon civilization, and repeat the beautiful stanzas of the poet to the islands and waters, where all else was changed. Hence it forms the subject of many a thrilling tale of conflict between the first colonists and the warlike natives, who were wont to lie in ambush at some convenient spot, and pounce upon the adventurers, in their passage to and fro, with a sudden impetuosity that often insured success, and left many a mourner in the thinly peopled settle-its tributaries, and rafted down by a branch of the ments of New France. But these are the legendary associations of a past age, that cling still, though more faintly with the lapse of years, to the most remarkable spots on the Ottawa, and give an additional interest and wildness to its torrents and gloomy defiles. The chief part of the lumber supplied by the Canadian market is derived from the Ottawa and river which forms the western boundary of the Island of Montreal. These rafts are very curious objects; and may often be seen moving slowly over the lake of the Two Mountains to the north-eastern channel, propelled by long sweeps, of numerous sails, which at a distance have the appearance of a fleet of small craft sailing in close order, a peculiarity that at once arrests the eye. The genius of the Saxon, however, has made a wonderous alteration here, and obtained a complete triumph over the difficulties which both nature The lake above mentioned, an expansion of the and the Indian threw in his way. The forest has Ottawa, receives its name from two lofty ridges on disappeared from the fertile levels and uplands, the northern side, in the vicinity of which is a giving place to thriving farms and villages sur-large Indian village, prettily seated on a point of rounded by fields of waving grain-great roads land, with its neat church and thickly clustered and canals skirt the unnavigable portions of the dwellings built close to the water's edge. Here river-locks are erected at the shorter rapids-reside the feeble remnants of two celebrated tribes, steamers puff and plough along, towing huge the Mohawks and Algonquins, who obtain a prebarges and freighted with goods and passengers carious subsistence by hunting on the upper parts discoursing in a Babylonish plurality of tongues. of the river. Bustle and prosperous industry are the characteristics of the numerous stopping places; while enormous rafts of timber from the remote tributaries suggest the nature of the occupation in which most of the people are engaged, and the certainty of the conquest achieved by sturdy enterprise and indefatigable toil. At Bytown, one hundred and thirty-two miles from the St. Lawrence, the character of the scenery is entirely changed; and here, where the tourist usually completes his ascent of the river, a true idea is first obtained of its wild and imposing grandeur. The town, of considerable size, and possessing many fine buildings of cut stone, is The voyageur, as he bivouacs at some lonely built upon the left bank of the Ottawa, which is portage, on his return from Hudson Bay, or the here completely walled in by lofty precipices, regions of the north-west, no longer dreads an as- fringed with evergreens; and up a narrow gorge sault from the ruthless foe; and resting his paddle in this barrier of rock, one above another, arise as "the evening chime" comes softly over the the locks of the Rideau Canal, eight in number, water, from the belfry of some neighboring ham-forming a giant staircase by which the steamers let, he crosses himself devoutly, and with a brief and barges engaged in the carrying trade, ascend acknowledgment to the "Bon Dieu" for his safe to the upper level, and wend their way by the return, strikes up some merry chanson recalled by beautiful chain of lakes through which the canal the thought of home. route passes to its termination at Kingston Bay, Yet here, as elsewhere, the traveller has to near the foot of Lake Ontario. From the heights at the barracks, in the Upper town, the view is one of the most magnificent in Canada, and perhaps nowhere can be found a more striking combination of the soft, the savage, and the picturesque. The whole is now before me as I first beheld it, and never shall I forget the sensations of wonder and delight it awakened, heightened as the splendor of the coup-d'œil was by an accidental effect of light and shade. A broad river, whirling and foaming down an inclined plain, perpendicular steeps bristling with firs, and sweeping in grand curves around the entire sheet of water, divided half way by an hourglass contraction of the shores-a winding passage torn through the most projecting cape, and insulating a shapeless fragment-a gleam as of plunging waves in the narrow strait, arched by a suspension-bridge, with a cloud of snowy vapor rising behind it and sailing away on the breeze; a group of tinny islets set in the calm expanse beyond, "like emeralds in a silver sea,"-the jutting points of the stream receding into hazy distance above-fancy all this, and that you behold it in the light of a gorgeous sunset, from a bird'seye elevation, and a faint conception may be formed, perhaps, of what it would be far easier to describe with the pencil than with the pen. Attracted by the vapory cloud, and by an incessant din of waters that reminded me of my proximity to the well known Chaudière Falls I set off in their direction, and soon reached the insulated point, and the suspension-bridge already alluded to, which last spans the river directly in front of the falls. The flood of the Ottawa, descending over a jagged ledge, and parted by passes of rock, forms here a line of curious cascades that extend quite across the river in endless variety, throwing up their wreaths of mist from the wildest places, where a most fantastic spectacle greets the beholder. The best point of observation is the wire-bridge, a substantial and elegant construction -the work, I believe, of an American-from which an imposing scene is visible. A deep, circular chasm in the rocky ledge causes the fall to recede from the general line, and the principal body of water pouring into this, as into an enormous reservoir, whirls and dances with frantic rage as it surges through a narrow outlet to reach the lower bed, resembling somewhat the appearance of a boiling kettle, whence the name-chaudière. The outlet is formed by two insular rocks that stand high above the foaming gulf, and upon one of these dissevered cliffs, not long since, a lumberman saved himself from a drifting raft, which was drawn into the vortex and dashed to pieces against the surrounding rocks. He remained for some time in the midst of the roaring waves, until a rope was thrown to him from the shore. Upon this ran a second rope, by means of rings, and making the first secure to a projecting part of the rock he attached himself to the other, and was drawn safely across. 66 "If you are fond of this sort of thing," said an inhabitant of Bytown, (in allusion to the falls,) you should visit Les Chats, thirty-five miles above; that is a rare sight, indeed, and I well remember the deep impression it made upon me when I came out from the old country." Here was a temptation! I had never heard of Les Chats before; and further inquiry elicited such a marvellous account of them that I determined not to proceed by the canal to Kingston until I had made a trip to the spot. Accordingly that same day I left in a four-wheeled nondescript which conveyed passengers to Aylmer, a distance of ten miles; and arrived there after dark. Upon the way a party of uproarious Highlanders sang Gaelic songs, in loud chorus, which afforded morc gratification to themselves than to one, at least, of the fellow-passengers. At this thriving little village, the Ottawa spreads out into a noble lake (Lac Duchene) thirty miles long, upon which a small steamer plies for the accommodation of the parties engaged in the extensive lumbering business carried on above. Here terminates the steam-navigation of the Ottawa, which is interrupted below by the Chaudière, and above by Les Chats, situated at the head of the lake. Upon the strand were lying several large canoes of birch-bark, shaped in the Iroquois fashion; and on the way up the lake, next morning, we passed more than one manned by Canadians, who sat two abreast, and dipped their narrow-bladed paddles quick in the waves, often to the time of one of those animating réfrains so frequently heard on the waters of French Canada-very unlike Moore's boat-song, it must be confessed. but indescribably wild in their effect. particularly when heard at night around the forest-camp fire, or repeated by the echoes of some solitary stream. The country on the borders of the lake has a rugged and uninviting look, and a mountainous range arises in the immediate neighborhood. The land is only of medium quality; nevertheless, several retired officers are settled on the cultivated clearings around. I learned that a large portion of the farmers in this section were Scotch, and that in one place an entire clan with its chief was located. These hardy Highlanders have, no doubt, been attracted to this wild region by the obvious features of resemblance it bears to their own mountain-land. "What smoke is that?" I inquired, as the boat rounded a point near the extremity of the lake, and gave to view several thick clouds that issued at different points, from among the trees. "The woods are on fire here." "No, monsieur," replied a facetious habitant, with a smile; "it's only de fuss what de rivière kick up, when he jump down, enrage, voyez vous, like good many wild cats, into dis Lac Duchene." "Do you mean that these are the falls of Les Chats?" "Oui, monsieur. You will see dem toute, altogether, bientôt, par exemple." Accordingly, to my utter astonishment, fall after the hunter intended to pass the night on the portfall came into sight in rapid succession, as the steamer swept around the wooded bay, which terminates the lake in a double curve. These falls are ranged, with remarkable precision, along the entire breadth of the bay, to the village of Fitzroy, which is placed at an inner cove, and facing one end of the barrier of islands that obstructs, thus singularly, the passage of the river; for the foaming cataracts are the exit of as many channels into which the Ottawa is divided, in its descent from a lake, fifty-one feet higher than the level of Lac Duchene. Nothing can exceed the wild magnificence of this natural phenomenon, or the beautiful variety in which the different falls present themselves to the spectator. Here is seen a broad and mighty flood, glittering like a pile of snow through its vista of dark green, and rolling over a precipice in slow and solemn grandeur; there an unbroken sheet descends in the form of a horse-shoe, half veiled in mist-a miniature Niagara. In one place, a wrathful torrent leaps and roars along, among boulders and fallen trees, to rush obliquely into the bay; in another a silvery rill dances merrily into light, from the canopy of leaves, and terminates its career with a skip into the lake below. And as you look right and left, along the front of the islands, brief glimpses are obtained of foaming waters rushing through the woods, while the position of other falls is denoted by the spray that rises over the tops of the fir-trees. age, we sat down together on a mossy ledge overlooking the fall; and while his gentle helpmate kindled a fire and attended to the boiling of a dingy kettle, slung over it by a forked stick, he folded his arms sedately, and related the following legend concerning the place. A long time ago, when, as the Iroquois said, the Indians owned the whole of this country, before the white men came up from the Great Water, and took it from them-the Five Nations lived in a large town, where Montreal now stands. They were the most powerful of the surrounding nations, and dwelt in large cabins made of logs, and roofed with bark; these were enclosed within wooden ramparts, from which, upon occasion, they could hurl down stones and darts at their enemies. The Adirondacks hunted then along the borders of this river. They were a numerous and warlike race, the forefathers of the Algonquins and Montagnais, and being very proud of their skill in the chase, they called the Five Nations women, because they planted corn. Thence a bitter hatred arose between them, and they went to war. After a time, however. the two nations grew tired of killing one another, and wished for peace, and the Adirondacks said, that if the Five Nations sent an ambassador, with the voice of the people, to exchange wampum with them, they would receive him honorably, and bury the hatchet and be friends. But it so happened that a third nation lived further to the west, on the banks of the Great Lakes, a numerous and cunning people, called Yendots, the ancestors of those whom the French named Hurons-because they shaved their heads and wore scalp-locks on the top, which reminded them of the crest of a wild boar; but the Five Nations did the same, and so did the Adirondacks of the north. It was the warrior-fashion of those days. There are nine grand cascades-any one of which it is worth going miles to see-with numerous smaller ones; the number being indefinitely increased at the time of the spring freshets, when the swollen waters of the Ottawa, bursting from the lake above, force their way by new channels through the islands, to the lower level. I was told by a lumberman, that, at such seasons, he had Now the Yendots had never been upon very counted thirty-nine. The effect of so many falls, good terms with the Five Nations, and only waited all within a space of less than half a league, must for a pretext to turn their arms against the latter. then be indescribably impressive and romantic; Accordingly, when they heard of the proposed nor do I think that the known world can furnish a alliance, they were sorely grieved; for they wished more extraordinary spectacle of the kind. Here, to unite with the Adirondacks themselves, and thus likewise, the utilitarian has been at work, con- be enabled to drive the Five Nations from the verting one of the outlets into a slide by which island where they dwelt, and from the country the timber is shot, with the speed of an arrow, northward of the St. Lawrence. into the lake. At one of the principal falls is the old portage used by the fur-traders, whose canoes, with their loads, were formerly obliged to be carried, on the backs of the men, up a steep path, to the lake above, a distance of three miles. Here I fell in with an Iroquois, who, with his small family, was on his way to the hunting-grounds higher up the river. He seemed to be an honest soul, and I had some friendly talk with him, while, assisted by his squaw, he discharged his birchen craft, which contained, I verily believe, every item of property he possessed, including a plump-cheeked urchin, with a pair of wicked black eyes, and, strange anomaly -a young pig! that seemed quite reconciled to its fate, and was evidently a pet of the family. As They took council, therefore, and resolved to send a war-chief of repute, called "The Leaping Carcajou," on a secret mission to defeat the plans of their neighbors. He was well named "The Leaping Carcajou," for he was full of malice and deceit, with a nature like the vicious quadruped itself-half-weasel, half-tiger, and half-devil. He went smilingly among the Five Nations, without motive seemingly, except to smoke with them and call them brothers; and as he was known to be a distinguished orator, as well as a brave, he was invited to accompany Tuyagon, the wampum bearer, that he might represent his tribe, and give éclat to the occasion in the councils of the Adirondacks. The party left, upon its mission of peace, and, solicited his aid in unravelling the mystery to which it referred. This the magician promised to do, telling her to come again, when, having consulted his art, he would acquaint her with the result. There was a third party to the interview-this was the Leaping Carcajou, who, lingering still about the place, dogged the footsteps of the maiden, and listened at the door of the lodge. The evening after, Ertel betook herself once more towards the solitary abode of the magician, when, to her surprise, he met her in the path, uncouthly clothed and masked in the shaggy skin of the wild cow, surmounted by the horns. "Listen, my child," said he; "this is the command of the Manitous. Obey it, and all will be well. There is a stranger in the lodges of the Five Nations, a warrior of renown, who has cast his eye upon the daughter of Tuyagon. Tomorrow he will ask her to live in his lodge. Should she consent then will she find out that which she wishes to know-it is enough." "His name?" demanded Ertel; a feeling of awe struggling with the quick suspicion that seized upon her. "The Leaping Carcajou." The girl's eye flashed up instantly with anger, and her lip curled scornfully, but this she took care to hide from the Yendot chief-as he, in truth, it was; for he had surprised the Mystery Man, gagged and bound him in his cell, and disguised himself in his attire, to impose upon the maid, whom he loved. But Ertel knew him, for all his cunning, and with a brave effort she quelled her emotion, and said composedly ;— "The medicine of my father is very powerful, can he not tell the daughter of Tuyagon where the belt is concealed? She would know that, first of all, ere she is a bride, for her heart is not glad." "He can," replied the other, thrown off his guard by the apparent acquiescence of his companion. "If the soft-faced squaw had eyes that could reach to the portage of the Cats, she might see it where it lies in the water, at the foot of the fall. Let her light the fire of the Leaping Carcajou of the Yendots after that, the Manitous will tell her all she wants to know." "Good," was the low reply, as Ertel veiled her face with her robe, and hurried quickly away. Yet she went not back to her home; her little heart beat wildly in her bosom, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes flashed fire. The road was long, but she reached her cousin's wigwam on the shore of the Ottawa, at the close of day. A young hunter stood at the door, shaping a bow. ascending the Ottawa, arrived one evening at Les obey the mandate; selecting an ornament from her Chats, and encamped at the foot of the portage. small stock, she went to the wise man of the tribe, The weather being warm, the Indians threw them-related her dream, and depositing her offering, selves down, just as they were, and soon slept; all save one-whose turn of watching it happened to be-and the Yendot chief, who lay awake, with his eyes half-closed, and his limbs drawn up like a panther gathering for the spring. Next morning there was a wild commotion in the camp. The sentinel was discovered dead at his post, with his head crushed by a terrible blow; and what was still worse, the aged Tuyagon, upon feeling in his breast for the council belt, where he usually carried it, found that it was gone. They seized their arms, they leaped about like maniacs, they filled the woods around with their fierce war-cries, and searched everywhere for the subtile foe who had inflicted this double injury, but in vain; and none was more vehement in his indignation or his zeal, than the Leaping Carcajou. The envoy alone preserved an unbroken composure. He was a man of years, well schooled in the art of restraining emotion, and invested with an office that enjoined an especial show of dignity and reserve; but he was stricken to the soul. The mission with which he had been charged, one of the highest honor and importance, was rendered entirely nugatory now, for the Adirondacks would only laugh at him, if he presented himself without the usual credential and expression of the national wish, the purposes of which the councilwampum was well known to serve-and he was aware of the disgrace that would be visited upon him, at his return, empty-handed, from his bootless embassy. There was no help for it, nevertheless; so the party retraced their way back, in not a very amiable mood, we may be sure. Tuyagon was correct in his surmise. Like other unlucky statesmen his character was assailed by his rivals, who accused him of faithlessness and a host of other crimes which no one had imputed to him before, and succeeded in degrading him in the popular esteem. The Adirondacks, moreover, misconstruing the matter, looked upon it as an intentional insult, and spurning all thoughts of peace, threw themselves once more, like famished wolves, upon the frontiers of the Five Nations. Tuyagon did not long survive the loss of his honor. The old man took it so much to heart that he died, leaving an only child, a girl of sixteen, quick and supple as a fawn, with a soft voice, a dreamy eye, but a most resolute spirit, that instantly became aroused in defence of her father whenever any one ventured to cast reproach upon his memory; her name was Ertel, which signifies a rose. One night, being asleep, she dreamt that the Great Spirit stood before her, and said, "Grieve not, my child, the speech-belt was stolen from thy father, and the thief is still in the wigwams of the Five Nations. Recover the belt, and denounce the traitor, that the cloud may pass away from the name of Tuyagon, and the grave in which he lies be honored." Speak," said she abruptly addressing him; "does Red Arrow love Ertel?" "How can he tell?" was the reply. "He is a warrior, and not soft-hearted, like a woman. Ertel awoke with a start, and determined to Red Arrow feels happy when the Little Rose is |