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with artificial comforts, which only render them sensible of the comparative wretchedness of their own condition. Luxury spreads its ample board before their eyes, but they are expelled from the banquet. The forest, which once furnished them with ample means of subsistence, has been levelled to the ground-waving fields of grain have sprung up in its place, but they have no participation in the harvest; plenty revels around them, but they are starving amidst its stores; the whole wilderness blossoms like a garden, but they feel like the reptiles which infest it.”1

The Tuscaroras, however, who were gathering around me, presented a remarkable and cheering contrast. They were all decently, some of them even showily dressed, and in almost all of them might be recognized marks of the enjoyment of personal and social comfort. There was indeed in every red countenance a dash of seriousness-perhaps of gloom-which seemed to say, "Indians are not what they once were;" yet it seemed rather the gloom of resignation than that of despair, and we might suppose them mentally to add, "but we are not without hopes of better things."

Indians are still remarkable for their tacitur

1 An extract from a paper, by Mr. Washington Irving, in the American Analectic Magazine for February 1815, in which the author warmly pleads the cause of the poor Indians. He has subse.. quently altered it considerably, and published it in the British edition of the Sketch Book; it may interest some readers to remark the sedulous care with which Mr. Irving elaborates his compositions.

nity, and little conversation took place among those who were assembling. About twelve o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Crane, the missionary and his wife, arrived, and all followed them into the church. The building serves the double purpose of a church on Sabbath, and a school-house during the week.

A small desk at the upper end was Mr. Crane's pulpit; benches ranged around served for pews to the congregation, and on the walls were hung the large alphabets and spelling lessons which are used in Lancasterian schools. The aspect of the congregation was to me novel and interesting. The Indians wore dresses of broad cloth, of various colours; the men a kind of frock coat and leggings; the women a large mantle, red, blue, or green, with leggings and moccassins fancifully embroidered; some of them had a profusion of silver ornaments on various parts of their dress. The whole preserved the most decorous silence and solemnity; the women sitting enveloped in their mantle, with its folds brought up with the left hand across the mouth, so that only the upper part of the countenance was visible.

The service was begun by a hymn which the ndians sung in their own language, and in a very pleasing style, to one of our ordinary church tunes. Most of them had music books open before them. Of the sentiment and spirit which were embodied in their melody, I could of course form no judgment, but from what I afterwards learned, I doubt

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not that it was with some of them the acceptable worship of a renewed and grateful heart.

At the conclusion of the hymn, Mr. Crane gave a short and familiar address on the nature and importance of the gospel. He has not yet been long enough among them to acquire their language, but for the present is obliged to communicate through an interpreter. An old Indian, whose name as I afterwards learned was Kusick, placed himself by the side of Mr. Crane's desk, and interpreted the address to his brethren, sentence by sentence.

Another hymn by the Indian auditory succeeded, after which Mr. Crane offered up a fervent prayer for the presence and blessing of God. He then read out his text from the Epistle to the Galatians, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain ;" and proceeded to address his red audience upon the importance of improving by the great advantages which they enjoyed. A brief outline of what I afterwards wrote down of the discourse, may not be uninteresting.2

"The Great Spirit," said Mr. Crane, "has been particularly kind to this nation; he has bestowed upon you privileges and blessings, which very few of the Indian nations enjoy. He has sent

2 Shortly after the author's return from America he published a familiar, but rather more detailed account, of the events of this day, in the form of a premium book for Sabbath schools; it is entitled "A Sabbath among the Tuscarora Indians," and may be referred to for some additional information respecting them.

you that greatest of all blessings, his Holy Word, to instruct you in a knowledge of yourselves, his dependent creatures; to tell you that you are sinners, but to show you also how your sins may be forgiven; to make known to you how you may enjoy God's favour in this world, and everlasting life and happiness in the world to come."

Mr. Crane then proclaimed the prominent and all important truth of the glorious gospel, and urged its reception by many arguments, addressed to the consciences of his hearers. He then reverted to the phraseology of his text, and stated that he felt himself compelled to adopt it, as applicable to many of those to whom he had for a long time been accustomed to preach. Of many of them he much feared, that, as regards the ultimate end of preaching, he had hitherto entirely failed; his labour had been bestowed in vain-they were still callous and indifferent-not convinced of their sins-not convinced of their need of a Saviouranxiously engaged in the pursuit of present. enjoyment, but utterly unconcerned about judgment and eternity.

He then vindicated the authority of the Bible, as a message from the Most High God; arguing that none but He could have devised or executed a plan of salvation, so admirably suited to our situation, and displaying so intimate a knowledge of the deceitful heart, and ruined state of man. He asserted the mighty power of the gospel, in promoting good

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conduct and happiness among all who believed it. He compared the condition of the Tuscarora nation, with that of the other Indian nations which were around them; he compared their present condition with that in which they had formerly lived, before the gospel was preached among them; he compared the conduct of those who had embraced the gospel, with that in which they had indulged before they felt its power; and he pressed it home upon them as an unquestionable fact, that the effect of true religion was to promote individual and universal happiness.

He then warned them of the awful danger of trifling with the communications of the Great Spirit, of resisting and neglecting the word of God; declaring that sooner or later, irremediable destruction would be the portion of all who hardened their hearts in unbelief.

“Oh then,” said Mr. Crane in conclusion, " let not this labour be bestowed on you in vain! Believe the truths which are declared to you; listen to the proclamation of mercy which is published to you; obey the counsel which is given to you, and thus your souls shall live. Recollect also, that if you reject the offers of mercy which the Great Spirit has made, he will inflict more dreadful punishments upon you, than upon those who never heard his name proclaimed. If the labour has been "bestowed upon you in vain," then your guilt is much greater than it was before. You had