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opened it, and turned over the leaves. This," said he, "is silent; it tells me nothing." And he threw it down on the ground. The priest, angry at this, exclaimed, "To arms! Christians, to arms! the word of God is profaned."

Pizarro instantly gave the signal for attack. His soldiers fell upon the poor, defenceless, astonished people; the muskets and cannon were fired; the cavalry rode in among them. Pizarro himself advanced to seize the Inca. The Peruvians gathered round offering themselves willing to die for him; but Pizarro seizing him by the arm, dragged him away a prisoner to the Spanish quarters; still the bloody work went on; and the Spaniards are said to have killed on that day, four thousand of the natives of Peru!

The captive Inca, as soon as he had recovered a little from the deep distress into which he was plunged at finding himself a prisoner, began to think how he could regain his liberty; and soon observing the Spaniard's thirst for gold, he offered an immense ransom for his freedom. He undertook to fill the apartment in which he was confined, which was twenty-two feet in length, and sixteen in breadth, with vessels of gold as high as he could reach.

Pizarro, delighted, eagerly accepted the offer; and the prince sent orders to his subjects, in all parts of the kingdom, to collect these vessels of gold. The Spaniards were astonished at the expedition with which his orders were executed. Every day, parties of the natives arrived, bringing in their contributions; and when all were collected, and the gold melted, it amounted to an immense sum of money.

After this you will expect to hear that Pizarro set at liberty the poor monarch, according to his agreement. Alas, no! that was far from his thoughts. Almagro, who was not so hardened, begged earnestly, that so wicked and base a part might not be acted towards this prince. But Pizarro was determined on

the death of Atahualpa; and regardless of what could be said, he brought him to a formal trial, and then caused him to be put to death.

This cruel action greatly disgusted Almagro and many of his friends; and, at length, struck with abhorrence at this and other instances of Pizarro's cruelty, they revolted from him. Thus a civil war began between the conquerors of Peru. Almagro after a time, was taken prisoner by Pizarro and strangled; but his death was revenged by his son, who assassinated Pizarro in the year 1541.

LESSON SEVENTY-FIRST.

Ode on Solitude.

Thou gentle nurse of pleasing wo!
To thee, from crowds, and noise, and show,
With eager haste I fly.
Thrice welcome, friendly Solitude!

O let no busy foot intrude,

Nor list'ning ear be nigh.

Soft, silent, melancholy maid!
With thee to yon sequestered shade
My pensive steps I bend;

Still, at the mild approach of night,
When Cynthia lends her sober light,
Do thou my walk attend!

To thee alone my conscious heart
Its tender sorrow dares impart,
And ease my lab'ring breast;
To thee I trust the rising sigh,
And bid the tear that swells mine eye
No longer be suppressed.

Oh, guide me to the humble cell
Where Resignation loves to dwell,
Contentment's bower in view.
Nor pining Grief with Absence drear,
Nor sick Suspense nor anxious Fear,
Shall there my steps pursue.

Then let my soul to Him aspire
Whom none e'er sought with vain desire,
Nor loved in sad despair!
There, to his gracious will divine,
My dearest, fondest hope resign,
And all my tend'rest care!

Then peace shall heal this wounded breast,
That pants to see another blest,

From selfish passion pure;

Peace, which when human wishes rise
Intense, for aught beneath the skies,
Can never be secure.

Dr Franklin says we call the North American Indians savages, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs. Perhaps, if we could examine the manners of different nations with impartiality, we should find no people so rude as to be without any rules of politeness; nor any so polite as not to have some remains of rudeness.

The Indian men, when young, are hunters and warriors; when old, counsellors; for all their government is by the counsel or advice of the sages; there is no force, there are no prisons, no officers to compel obe

dience, or inflict punishment. Hence they generally study oratory; the best speaker having the most influence. The Indian women till the ground, dress the food, nurse and bring up the children, and preserve and hand down to posterity the memory of public transactions.

These employments of men and women are account ed natural and honorable. Having few artificia wants, they have abundance of leisure for improvement by conversation. Our laborious manner of life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base; and the learning on which we value ourselves, they regard as frivolous and useless. An instance of this occurred at the treaty of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, A. D. 1744, between the government of Virginia and the Six Nations.

After the principal business was settled, the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians by a speech, that there was at Williamsburg, a college, with a fund, for educating Indian youth; and that if the chiefs of the Six Nations would send down half a dozen of their sons to that college, the government would take care that they should be well provided for, and instructed-in all the learning of the white people.

It is one of the Indian rules of politeness not to answer a public proposition the same day that it is made; they think it would be treating it as a light matter, and that they show it respect by taking time to consider it, as of a matter important. They therefore deferred their answer till the day following; when their speaker began, by expressing their deep sense of the kindness of the Virginia government, in making them that offer.

"For we know," says he, "that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those colleges, and that the maintenance of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are con

vinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you who are wise must know, that different nations have different conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same with yours.

"We have had some experience of it: several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the northern provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but when they came back to us, they were bad runners; ignorant of every means of living in the woods; unable to bear either cold or hunger; knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy; spoke our language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counsellors; they were totally good for nothing. We are, however, not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it: and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them."

Having frequent occasions to hold public councils, they have acquired great order and decency in conducting them. The old men sit in the foremost ranks, the warriors in the next, and the women and children in the hindmost. The business of the women is to take exact notice of what passes, imprint it in their memories, for they have no writing, and communicate it to their children. They are the records of the council, and they preserve tradition of the stipulations in treaties a hundred years back; which, when we compare with our writings, we always find exact. He that would speak rises. The rest observe a profound silence. When he has finished, and sits down, they leave him five or six minutes to recollect, that if he has omitted any thing he intended to say, or has any thing to add, he may rise again and deliver it