Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America, Volume 1Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860 |
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ancient animals antiquity appear Asia banks beautiful borders called Canadian causes cedars century Christopher Columbus civilisation climate Colorado Chiquito colour contain Coteau des Prairies covered Cuzco descendants deserts discovery earth east emigrations exist fact feet in height fertile forests Fort Snelling globe Greenland Gulf of Mexico hair hieroglyphics hills human race Iceland ideography immense Indians inhabitants inscriptions island Lake land latitude lived Llano-Estacado maize Mexican Mexico miles Mississippi monuments nations nature Negroes North America ocean origin Pacific Ocean Peru plain population prairies Pueblo ravines Red River Red Skins regions resemblance rocks Rocky Mountains ruins Santa Fé savages Scythian seen serpent Sierra situated soil solitudes Spaniards species stone summit Texas tion Toltecs town traditions traverse trees tribes tumuli types valley village Votan walls waters whilst wild World writers yards Zuñi
Popular passages
Page 77 - And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth ; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Page 340 - River of the north ; thence to Hudson's Bay, the portage is short. I discovered no traces of any white man before me, when I visited Itasca Lake, in 1804. And if the late General PIKE did not lay it down as such, when he came to Leech Lake, it is because he did not happen to meet me.
Page 41 - Quiches' traditions, the primitive portion of the Xahoas, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a distant East, beyond immense seas and lands. Amongst the families and tribes that bore with least patience this long repose and immobility, those of Canub, and of Tlocab may be cited, for they were the first who determined to leave their country. The Nahoas sailed in seven barks or ships, which Sahagun calls Chicomoztoc, or the seven grottos. It is a fact worthy of note, that in all ages the number seven...
Page 320 - Missourians, will not be devoured by birds of prey, but by the red men, who have fought so long against you, and who have already so seriously reduced your number. At this very moment they are not far from us, watching the English to prevent them from taking possession of their new territories. If they find you here they will slay your warriors and make your wives and children slaves. This is what will happen to you, if, as you say, you follow the example of the ducks and geese, instead of listening...
Page 318 - ... valley of the Mississippi, which winds round the English possessions like the coiling serpent whose innumerable folds entwined the Laocoon. Unhappily for France, the statesmen of her luxurious court were short-sighted in this matter; they did not know the value of our transatlantic dominions, nor forsee what the future might do for them. Occupied with miserable palace intrigues, they basely abandoned our finest colonies, and merely sought feebly to prolong their agony. Napoleon himself committed...
Page 379 - The floors are formed of very rough beams 7^ inches in diameter, over which are transversely laid cross-beams of less size ; above these is a layer of bark and brushwood, covered over with mortar. These beams show no mark of having been wrought by axe or saw ; they rather appear to have been cut or broken off with some rude instrument more blunt than sharp.
Page 185 - ... the women made the mortar and built up the walls, and the men brought the wood and prepared the timbers. Underneath the houses * and the court-yards were subterraneous stoves, or drying-places, paved with large polished flagstones. In the middle was a furnace on which they threw, from time to time, a handful of thyme, which was sufficient to keep up an intense heat there, so that one felt as if in a bath. The men spent a considerable part of their time in those places; but the women could not...
Page 185 - This province was subdued after a resistance of fifty days on the part of the Indians. It contained twelve towns governed by a council of old men. The whole community helped to construct each house ; the women made the mortar and built up the walls, and the men brought the wood and prepared the timbers. Underneath the houses and the court-yards were subterraneous stoves, or drying-places, paved with large polished flagstones. In the middle was a furnace on which they threw, from time to...
Page 41 - It is a fact worthy of note, that in all ages the number seven was a sacred number among the American people, from one pole to the other. It was at Panuco, near Tampico, that those strangers disembarked; they established themselves at Paxil, with the Votanites' consent, and their state took the name of Huehue-Tlopallan. It is not stated from whence they came, but merely that they came out of the regions where the sun rises. The supreme command was in the hand of a chieftain, whom history calls Quetzalcolnmtl,...
Page 341 - He had to learn there where the source of the Mississippi was. He went to Cass Lake, and could proceed no further. He had been told that I knew the source, but could not see me, I being out at an outpost. This want of information made him commit the error ; some person, not knowing better, told him there was no river above Cass Lake. Cass Lake receives the waters of Cross Lake, and Cross Lake those of Itasca Lake, and five small streams that empty into Itasca Lake, then called Elk Lake. Those streams...