quested leave to see the white Indian, which they denied me, alledging as an excuse, that he was sick, and could not see me; my man Edom was however brought to the hut, who assured me that he was free, as the Indians thought that he was not guilty, and would not have gone had it not been for me.

On the morning of the third day I was conducted from my hut to the great square, where I found every inhabitant of the village who was over fourteen years of age. In the centre of the square sat the same chiefs who tried me a few days before; on one side stood all the girls of the village, and on the other all the warriors, who were armed with bows and arrows.

I was now brought forward, and the old chief addressed me, charging me with a wish to destroy their nation by tempting white men to come among them; he charged me with falsehood in telling them that it was the first time I had been at the mine, as I had more platina in my hut than could be brought away at once; he uncovered a heap that lay at one end of the stage, and showed me all I had brought from the mine; he then told me that I must prepare for death as I should be shot in about an hour.

My feelings cannot be described when this information was communicated to me; but it was grateful to me to see that the greater part of the Indians, particularly the females, were much affected at the severity of the sentence; indeed I had conducted myself with such strict propriety, and made the natives such a number of little presents that there was not one who had any ill will towards me.

I requested to see Edom, and he was conducted towards me. When the poor fellow understood I was to be shot, he could scarce keep within the bounds of reason; he tore his hair, threw himself upon the ground, and was some time before I could induce him to hearken to me; at last he became more calm. I told him he must endeavour to get back to New-Orleans, on my account, as I wanted him to carry information to my friends; I told him that after my death he must collect such articles as were allowed him of mine, particularly my papers, and deliver them to Dr. De Fludcar; he promised me he would. I then requested him to leave me, as my time was short, and I had some preparation to make before I went hence to "that bourne from whence no traveller returns.”

He now left me, and I turned my attention to that Being in whose hands are the "issues of life and death." Although I had by no means been faithful to the divine commands, and had, in common with all mankind, gone far from the path which is marked out by strict rectitude and propriety, I nevertheless knew he was a God who cast none off in the hour that they ap

These Indians have two towns which I saw, one containing about 150 huts, and the other about twice that number. The huts are constructed in a neater manner than any I had before seen; they consist of poles driven into the ground a proper distance, in proportion to the size of the hut; these are fastened at the top with strong thongs of buffalo hide, or twigs of trees they are then interlaced with strips of bark, which are rubbed smooth, and some of them stained with the juice of berries, which gives them a very neat appearance. They have a raised bench of earth all around their huts, on which they sleep at night. Their cooking utensils are few in number, as they dry the principal part of their provisions in the air.

Their arms, marriages, burials, &c. I have already described, and shall therefore conclude with a few observations on the tribe in general. They are honest, and as far as the nature of a savage life will admit, are industrious; their dispositions are naturally mild, and on the whole they are far from being so savage as many tribes who are situated on the borders of the Red river. They are jealous of admitting white men among them, although I have reason to think they have been visited by very few; their jealousy is principally on account of their mine of platina, which is encouraged by the white man who is settled among them.

Platina is a metal which has been but recently discovered, but is very valuable, and well worthy the attention of government. I estimated that the mine would yield upwards of a million of pounds sterling worth of platina; for the veins are so rich, that without any proper tools, I got more than a hundred and twenty pounds of pure metal, in the three visits I made to the nine; and that under, every disadvantage, and without remaining more than an hour each time.

THE WORKS OF GOD DISPLAYED.

Natural History of the Earth and of the effects of the Deluge.

THE Earth or terraqueous globe is a congeries of many different bodies. It contains sand, clay, various sorts of earth, stones, salts of various kinds, sulphur, bituraen, metals, minerals, and other fossils almost innumerable. Upon the earth are the waters, and on or near its surface animals or vegetables of all kinds. But how was this whole mass formed into a sphere or globe, containing mountains, valleys, seas, rivers, and islands?

Des Cartes advances one hypothesis, Dr. Burnet another, Dr. Woodward again another, Mr. Whiston, also M. Buffon, and of late Dr. Hutton and Mr. Whitehurst, have each presented us with a new Theory. And each world-builder advances various reasons for his own hypothesis. But none of those reasons are demonstrative: nay several of them have been shewn to be very improbable.

That the earth is round, manifestly appears from the eclipses of the moon, in all which the shadow appears circular, which way soever it be projected. The natural cause of its roundness is supposed to be the great principle of attraction, which the Creator, it seems has stamped on all the matter of the universe, whereby all bodies and all the parts of bodies continually attract each other. Through this, as all the parts of bodies tend naturally to their centre, so they take a globous figure, unless some other more prevalent cause interpose. Hence drops of quicksilver put on a spherical form, the parts strongly attracting each other: drops of water have the same form when falling in the air, but are only half round when they lie on a hard body, because their gravity overpowers their attraction. Yet the earth is not exaetly round, but swells out towards the equator, and is flatter towards the poles, as has been undeniably proved by the observations of modern mathematicians. Now the question here is, Why the natural cause which gave the earth so much of a spherical figure, did not make it a complete and exact sphere?

We know it has been usual to account for this spheroidal figure of the earth from its diurnal rotation on its axis, producing a greater centrifugal force of the equatorial than of the polar parts; but this explication can by no means be deemed sufficient. The globe we inhabit is composed of two very different kinds of matter, earth and water. The former has a very considerable power of cohesion, besides the gravitating power: The latter has very little cohesion, and its parts may be separated from each other by whatever will overcome its weight. It follows, therefore, that the solid parts of the earth, resisting, by their cohesion, the centrifugal force more than the water, ought not to dilate so much. The waters of the ocean, therefore, about the Equator, according to this hypothesis, ought to swell up and overflow the land: and this they ought to do at this present moment as much as at the first creation.That this ought to be the case is evident from the phenomena of the tides. It is not to be doubted but that the attraction of the moon affects the solid earth as well as the sea: But because of the greater cohesion of the parts of the former, it cannot yield as the ocean does, and therefore the waters are raised to some height above it. Mr. Whitehurst and some others, solve

These Indians have two towns which I saw, one containing about 150 huts, and the other about twice that number. The huts are constructed in a neater manner than any I had before seen; they consist of poles driven into the ground a proper distance, in proportion to the size of the hut; these are fastened at the top with strong thongs of buffalo hide, or twigs of trees: they are then interlaced with strips of bark, which are rubbed smooth, and some of them stained with the juice of berries, which gives them a very neat appearance. They have a raised bench of earth all around their huts, on which they sleep at night. Their cooking utensils are few in number, as they dry the principal part of their provisions in the air.

Their arms, marriages, burials, &c. I have already described, and shall therefore conclude with a few observations on the tribe in general. They are honest, and as far as the nature of a savage life will admit, are industrious; their dispositions are naturally mild, and on the whole they are far from being so savage as many tribes who are situated on the borders of the Red river. They are jealous of admitting white men among them, although I have reason to think they have been visited by very few; their jealousy is principally on account of their mine of platina, which is encouraged by the white man who is settled among them.

Platina is a metal which has been but recently discovered, but is very valuable, and well worthy the attention of government. I estimated that the mine would yield upwards of a million of pounds sterling worth of platina; for the veins are so rich, that without any proper tools, I got more than a hundred and twenty pounds of pure metal, in the three visits I made to the mine; and that under, every disadvantage, and without remaining more than an hour each time.

THE WORKS OF GOD DISPLAYED.

Natural History of the Earth and of the effects of the Deluge.

THE Earth or terraqueous globe is a congeries of many dif ferent bodies. It contains sand, clay, various sorts of earth, stones, salts of various kinds, sulphur, bitumen, metals, minerals, and other fossils almost innumerable. Upon the earth are the waters, and on or near its surface animals or vegetables of all kinds. But how was this whole mass formed into a sphere or globe, containing mountains, valleys, seas, rivers, and islands?

but inclined to the horizon at different angles. These stra seem not to be disposed either according to the laws of gravit or acording to their density, but, as it were, by chance. B sides, in the internal parts of the earth are vast chasms and v cuities. By what means were these strata originally deposite the fissures and chasms, &c. made?

Once more: In many places of the earth, both on the surfac and at great depths under it, vast quantities of marine produ tions, such as shells, &c. are to be met with. Sometimes thes shells are found in the midst of solid rocks of marble and lime stone. In the very heart of the hardest stones, also, small ve getable substances, as leaves, &c. are to be found. The ques tion is, by what means were they brought thither?

These are some of the most striking difficulties which presen themselves to one who undertakes to write a Natural History or Theory of the Earth.

In the terraqueous globe are 1. The external part, from which vegetables grow, and animals are nourished. 2. The middle part, which is possessed by fossils, and extends further than human labour can penetrate. 3. The internal, of which we know nothing, the deepest cavities, natural or artificial, known to us, scarce penetrating a mile below the surface.

In the external part we meet with various strata, formed, as is generally supposed, by the deluge. The exterior parts of the earth were then dissolved, and mixed with the water, in one common mass. Afterwards they sunk ; but not always according to the laws of gravity, for which very sufficient reasons may be assigned. Every one who has had an opportunity of seeing the effects of a violent land flood, will be ready to own, that it has performed things which he would not before-hand have thought it possible it could have done. But how infinitely must these effects have been exceeded by one vast deluge, in which not only the dry land was softened, and even dissolved, by an incessant rain of six weeks and that so violent, that Moses describes it by saying "the windows of heaven were opened;" but all "the fountains of the great deep were broken up" from beneath, and the immense collection of waters, then in the bowels of the earth, issued forth, while the sea rose on all sides, and poured in upon it, with all its moveable contents, which the waters carried along with them. That great numbers of shells, already formed, would be brought along with the waters of the ocean cannot be doubted; and we shall be inclined to look on this number as exceeding great, if we consider that, by the waters issuing from the bottom of the ocean, as well as from every pore of the earth: all the light bodies at the bottom of the sea, must have been turned topsy-turvy, and carried up no one can