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The First American Geography 323
other animals which had been created for the ufe of the Indians; that the Great Man, above, looking down, and feeing this, was fo enraged that he feized his lightning, defcended to the earth, feated himfelf upon a neighboring mountain, on a rock, on which his feat and the print of his feet are ftill to be feen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole were flaughtered, except the big bull, who, prefenting his forehead to the fhafts, fhook them off as they fell; but at length, miffing one, it wounded him in the fide; whereupon, fpringing round, he bounded over the Ohio, the Wabafh, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is living at this day."
Sapajon, Sagoin. There are various fpecies of animals faid to inhabit the country on the lower part of the Miffif-fippi, called Sapajons and Sagoins. The former are capable of fupporting themfelves by their tails ; the latter are not. They have a general refemblance to monkeys, but are not fufHciently known to be particularly defcribed.
The sapajon and sagoin are not as mythical as might be fancied from what the book says of them. They both belong to the monkey tribe, but dwell in South America instead of on the lower Mississippi. Another curious item is this : —
Grey Squirrels fometimes migrate in confiderable numbers. If in their courfe they meet with a river, each of them takes a fhingle, piece of bark, or the like, and carries it to the water; thus equipped they embark, and erect their tails to the gentle breeze, which foon wafts them over in fafety; but a Hidden flaw of wind fometimes produces a deftructive fhipwreck.
Fifty " quadrupede " animals are described in all, and then we have a section devoted to " Birds." |
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