"To those who care to look into the philosophy of the Indian character,
these oral fictions will be read with interest. They are curious in
themselves, and not less so as a material step in the researches that
may serve, in the sequel, to unveil the origin, as well as the
intellectual traits, of these tribes. They will at least establish the
fact of 'an oral imaginative lore' among the aborigines of this
continent, of which they give us faithful specimens.
"Probably no man in this country is better qualified to pursue these
researches than Mr. Schoolcraft. A long residence in the Indian country,
and official intercourse with the tribes, have given him an access to
the Indian mind which few have enjoyed, and which none have improved to
a greater extent by habits of observation and philosophical
investigation. A residence at Mackinaw is of itself calculated to beget,
as it is to gratify, a taste for the prosecution of these inquiries. It
is described by Miss Martineau as 'the wildest and tenderest piece of
beauty that she had yet seen on God's earth.
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