“ On an eminence overlooking the common stands the State House; a conspicuous and striking edifice, the view from whose dome is most interesting and extensive. The broad harbor with its green and picturesque islands, the adjacent country covered by pleasant villages, and with a pleasing alternation of hill and valley, interspersed with orchards and woodland—and at its base, the avenues of a crowded and busy city, form a combination of beauty that cannot fail to delight every beholder. Beyond the islands of the bay, the eye stretches eastward to the waters of the ocean ”

“ Blue limestone is the base of the whole cave; every where covered with incrustations of carbonates. In some places the uneven sides of the rocks are quite covered with white crystals of the carbonate of lime, and appear like banks of salt. Sometimes the pavement sparkles as a floor of diamonds; and again the pathway is pebbled, and resembles the deserted bed of a river. It is impossible to convey any idea of the number and variety of shapes which the stalactites assume; resembling every thing in nature, and in the worlds of imagination, they are still unlike every thing but themselves. ”

“ The hunter, anxious to prove the value of his rifle, marks one of the eyes of the largest alligator, and, as the hair trigger is touched, the alligator dies. Should the ball strike one inch astray from the eye, the animal flounces, rolls over and over, beating furiously about him with his tail, frightening all his companions, who sink immediately, whilst the fishes, like blades of burnished metal, leap in all directions out of the water, so terrified are they at this uproar. ”

“ Through its whole extent this valley is almost a continual succession of delightful scenery. The Connecticut is one of the most beautiful rivers in the world; the purity, salubrity and sweetness of its waters, the frequency and elegance of its meadows, its absolute freedom from aquatic vegetables, the enchanting elegance and grandeur of its banks, sometimes consisting of a smooth and winding beach, here covered with rich verdure, there fringed with bushes, now crowned with lofty trees, and now formed by the intruding hill, the rude bluff, and the shaggy mountain ”

“ It is a cheering sight to see an Indian buffalo hunt. The tread of the herd shakes the solid earth; the hunters animate each other with loud shouts, and the guns flash incessantly. Here a rider is seen fleeing for life before some infuriated animal; there a buffalo stands at bay. Altogether, the scene produces an excitement which those only who have felt can conceive. The passion for this chase increases with time, and few professed buffalo hunters leave it before age disables them. ”

“ The system which makes the presidential chair a mere scramble for office, and the chief executive of the nation a dispenser of loaves and fishes to political adherents, is too mean, narrow, and contemptible, not to be subversive of all the best purposes of government, and must end in the subversion of government itself. The political forum is converted into an arena of battle, and the first moments of victory are sacred to spoil, devastation, and rapine. ”

“ The spectator, who, on alighting at Niagara, walks hastily to the brink, feels his attention imperceptibly riveted to the novel and striking phenomenon before him, and at this moment is apt either to overrate or to underrate the magnitude of the Fall. It is not easy to erect a standard of comparison; and the view requires to be studied, in order to attain a just conception and appreciation of its grandeur and its beauties. The ear is at first stunned by the incessant roar, and the eye bewildered in the general view. ”

“ On walking through the fine broad streets, with rows of locust or other trees, which, planted on the edge of the causeway, form a most delightful shade, and take away the glare of the brick buildings, he is struck immediately with the air of simplicity, yet strength and durability which all the public edifices possess, while the private dwellings, with their neat white marble steps and window sills, bespeak wealth and respectability. ”

“ Every man must assert his own rights, and avenge his own wrongs. He is neither restrained nor protected by any thing but a sense of shame and the approbation or disapprobation of his tribe. He acknowledges no master, and submits to no superior authority; so that an Indian community seems like a mound of sand on the sea-shore, which one gale has accumulated, and which the next may disperse.
But, amidst this apparent disunion, the Indian is strongly attached to his nation. He is jealous of its honor, proud of its success, and zealous for its welfare. ”

“ This was lined with lofty trees, whose verdant tops, varying from the dark hemlock to the light maple, were bending with the wind. Through this waving forest the cascade appeared at various distances, sparkling with the rays of the sun, and forming a fine contrast to the sombre rocks which surrounded it. From this cavity, at the distance of several miles, a peak rose to an elevation of two thousand feet, while the mountains on the right and left, impressed their bold outlines on the sky beyond them. ”

“ If the prisoner be rejected by the family to which he is offered, he is then put to death with every circumstance of cruelty; and the constancy and fortitude of the sufferer are as remarkable as the barbarity of his murderers. The victim, fastened to a stake, sings his death song, insults his tormentors, bears with unshrinking firmness the most dreadful tortures, and expires without a groan. He triumphs in his fortitude, not merely as a personal virtue, but chiefly as a national characteristic. ”

“ We have not here to describe the influence of religion upon savages, nor upon a race fettered with the shackles of superstition, and of a predominant church government. We find a civilized and intelligent community in a situation to which history shows no parallel. Save the effect of knowledge and principle, there is nothing to influence the faith of the American citizen, no form of worship prescribed by law, no predominance of sects, no physical intolerance, no advantage or disadvantage to hope or fear from difference of opinion. ”

“ The Blue Jay is peculiar to North America, and is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants of our woods, by the brilliancy of his dress, and, like most other coxcombs, makes himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity and the oddness of his tones and gestures. He is an almost universal inhabitant of the woods, frequenting the thickest settlements as well as the deepest recesses of the forest, where his squalling voice often alarms the deer, to the great disappointment of the hunter. ”

“ Prodigality is no longer a principal virtue; war is no longer the chief pursuit of life; the mind acquires new ideas and new habits of exercise, and thus the way to entire civilization and Christianity is prepared. Could we see the coast of the Pacific settled by white men, who should advance into the interior, driving the western Indians before them as we have done the eastern, till the entire race should be hemmed within limits too narrow for their existence as hunters, we should entertain a hope of seeing a remnant of them saved and civilized. ”

“ It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat, and exhausted by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant enemy, well appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency through New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. ”

“ If they have time, they paint themselves and smoke: they also paint their shields with rude representations of the objects on which they rely for success. The partisan gives the order to advance, and they move on with cautious steps, as their great aim is to fall upon the enemy by surprise. If they succeed in this, the attack begins with the horrible yell of the war-whoop. This is their only martial music. They kill, indiscriminately, all who fall in their way; but if discovered, they either make a hasty retreat, or rush to the attack with impetuous but disorderly fury. ”

“ Here the student gets a general insight into the principles, and a familiarity with the practice of the law, rather than any acquaintance with the study as a science. With this instruction, he enters the world as a practitioner. Instead of existing in a state of dreaming retrospection, lost in a maze of theories, he is at once turned loose into the jostlings of the world. If, perchance, he encounters an antagonist a little more erudite than himself, he seizes the natural truth for his sheet-anchor, and leaves precedent and quaint follies to him who has made them his study and delight. ”

“ On the banks of the Ohio, the white beech attains the height of more than one hundred feet, with a circumference of eight to eleven feet. In the forests, where these trees vegetate in a deep and fertile soil, their roots sometimes extend to a great distance even with the surface, and being entangled so as to cover the ground, they embarrass the steps of the traveller and render the land peculiarly difficult to clear. This tree is more slender and less branchy than the red beech; but its foliage is superb, and its general appearance magnificent. ”

“ The benefits of the bank have been of too general a character, to be readily appreciated by the mass. They consist in restoring and maintaining a sound currency, and though this is as indispensable to prosperous commerce, as a pure atmosphere is to a healthy man; still no special feeling is excited in the minds of those who use the one and breathe the other with a happy forgetfulness, that adulterated coin and irredeemable paper will cause as much desolation among merchants, as a pestilential miasma in a crowded city. ”

“ On the Red river, before it was navigated by steam vessels, they were so extremely abundant that, to see hundreds at a sight along the shores, or on the immense rafts of floating or stranded timber, was quite a common occurrence, the smaller on the backs of the larger, groaning and uttering their bellowing noise, like thousands of irritated bulls about to meet in fight, but all so careless of man that, unless shot at, or positively disturbed, they remained motionless, suffering boats or canoes to pass within a few yards of them, without noticing them in the least. ”

“ It mounts a few yards into the air, shakes the water from its plumage, squeezes the fish with its talons, and immediately proceeds towards its nest, to feed its young, or to a tree, to devour the fruit of its industry in peace. When it has satisfied its hunger, it does not, like other hawks, stay perched until hunger again urges it forth, but usually sails about at a great height over the neighboring waters. ”

“ Fear not death; none but cowards fear to die. Obey and venerate old people, particularly your parents. Fear and propitiate the bad Spirit, that he may do you no harm; love and adore the Good Spirit, who made us all, who supplies our hunting grounds, and keeps all alive.’ After recounting his achievements, he was wont to add, ‘Like a decayed prairie tree, I stand alone:—the friends of my youth, the companions of my sports, my toils, and my dangers, rest their heads on the bosom of our mother. ”

“ Great Britain claimed a right to search for and seize English sailors, even on board neutral vessels while traversing the ocean. In the exercise of this pretended right, citizens of the United States were seized, dragged from their friends, transported to distant parts of the world, compelled to perform the duty of British sailors, and to fight with nations at peace with their own. Against this outrage upon personal liberty and the rights of American citizens, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had remonstrated in vain. ”

“ He has been taught, from infancy, to consider courage and fortitude as the glory of man; to endure privations and pain without a murmur, and with an unsubdued heart, and to despise tortures and death; and, in his last moments, he proves the efficacy of the education which he has received. In these tragical scenes, the women always take an active part; and their inhumanity, like the fortitude of the men, springs from education.
Previous to their intercourse with Europeans, the arms of the Indians were bows and arrows, spears, tomahawks, scalping knives, and war clubs. ”