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Spirit. The inventions of early times are shrouded in mystery. See-qunh- yah disdained all quackery. He did not stop here, hut carried his discove ries to numbers. He of course knew nothing of the Arabic digits, nor of the power of Roman letters in the sci ence. The Cherokees had mental numerals to one hundred, and had words for all numbers up to that, but they had no signs or characters to as sist them in enumerating, adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing. He reflected upon them until he had created their elementary principle in his mind, but he was at first obliged to make words to express his mean ing, and then signs to'explain it. By this .process he soon had a clear con ception of numbers up to a million.— His great difficulty was at the thresh- hold. to fix the powers of his signs ac cording to their places. When this was overcome, his next step was in order to put down the fraction of the decimal and give the whole number to his next place—but when I knew him he 1ml overcome all these diffi culties and was quite a ready arith metician in the fundamental rules. This was the result of my inter view, and I can safely say that I have seldom met a man of more shrewdness than See-quah-yah. He adhered to to all the customs of his country, and when his associate chiefs on the mis sion, assumed our costume, he was dressed in all respects like an Indian See-quah-yah is a man of diversified talents; he passes from metaphysical and philosophical investigations to me chanical occupations with the great est ease. The only practical me chanics he was acquainted with, were a few bungling blacksmith, who could make a rough tomahawk, or tinker the lock of a rifle; yet he be came a white and silver-smith without any instruction, and made spears and silver spoons with neatness and skill, to the great admiration of people of the Cherokee nation. See-quah-yah has also a great t$ste for painting, lie mixes his col ors with skill, taking all the arts and science of his tribe upon the subject, lie added to it many chemical experi ments of his own, ami some of them were very successful, and would be worth being known to our painters.— For his drawings he had no model but what nature furnished, ainl he often copied them with astonishing faithful ness. His resemblances of the hu man form, it is true, are coarse, but often spirited and correct, and be • gave action and sometimes grace to his representations of animals. He had never seen a camel hair pencil when he made use of the hair of wild anim als for his brushes. Some of his pro ductions discover a considerable prac tical knowledge of perspective: but he could not have formed rules for this. The painters in the early ages were many years coming to a knowl edge of this part of their art; and e- ven now they are more successful in the art than perfect in the rules of it. The manners of the American Cad mus are the most easy, and his habits those of the most assiduous scholar, & v his disposition more lively than of any Indian I ever saw. He understood and felt the advantages the white man had long enjoyed, of leaving the accu mulations of every branch of knowl edge, from generation to generation, by means of a written language, while the red man could only commit his thoughts to uncertain tradition. He reasoned correctly when he urged this to his friends as the cause why the red man had made so few advances in knowledge in comparison with us, and to remedy this was one of his great aims, and one which he has ac complished beyond that of any other roan living or perhaps any other who ever existed in a rude state of na ture. It perhaps may not be known to all, that the government of the United States had a font of types cut for his alphabet, and that a newspaper prim ed partly in the Cherokee language, and partly in English, has been estab lished at New Ecliota, and is charac terized by decency and good sense, and thus many of the Cherokees are able to read both languages. After putting these remarks to paper, I bad the pleasure of seeing the bead Chief of the Cherokees, who confirmed the statements of See-quah-yah, and add ed that be was an Indian of the strict est veracity and sobriety. The west ern wilderness is not only to blossom like the rose, but there, mart lias started up and proved that he has not degenerated since the primitive days of Cecrops, and the romantic ages of wonderful effort and god-like renown. CURIOUS INDIAN TRADITION. In their last treaty with the Flori da Indians, the government of the U- nited States agreed to allow $1,000 a year for the support of a teach er among them at Tampa Bity; Gov. Duval slates- that a council being called, the Indians declined receiving a teacher, because, “as far as ob servation extended, learning had made those Indians who received it, ‘great rascals,’ having enabled them to sign away the lands of the rest without their knowledge or consent. They say also that the Great Spirit intend ed them for warriors and hunters and give in proof the following tradi tion.—JV. Y. Obs. The Great Spirit, they say, first made the black man, but did not like him; he then made tin? red man; was better pleased with him, but not en tirely satisfied; he then made white man, and was very much pleased with him. lie then summoned all three in his presence. Near him were three great boxes, one contain ing hoes, axes, and other agricultural and working implements. In another were spears, arrows, tomahawks, &.c. and in the third, books, maps, charts &c. He called the white man first,- and bid him choose. He advanced,, attentively surveyed each of the box es, passed by that filled with working implements, and drew near that in which were tomahawks, spears, &c Then the Indian’s heart sunk withii him. The white man however pass ed it, and chose that in which werf hooks, maps, &c. Then they say tie Indian’s heart leaped for joy. The red man was next summoned to makp his choice, lie advanced, and will- out any hesitation, chose the box coi- taining the war and hunting impb- ments. The otheT box was therefoie left for the black man. The destii- ics of each were thus fixed, and it was impossible to change them.— They inferred, therefore, that learn ing was for the white man, war and hunting for the Indian, and labor for the poor negro. From the Christian Advocate and Jour nal. RELIGION AMONG THE ONEI DA INDIANS. Rev. and Dear Sir—The refor mation which is now prevailing a- mongthe natives on the Oneida Res ervation promises to have a general influence bn the minds and manners of that rude and dissipated people.— Like most of their brethren of the Six Nations, many of the Oneidas have been much given to intemper ance. This destructive habit has continued to increase until the late awakenings, which, from the present hopeful appearances, will produce the same happy changes which have taken place among the Wyandols of Upper Sandusky, and the Mississau- gahs and Mohawks of Upper Canada. The present awakenings commenc ed the latter part of February, un der the labors of Win Doxtator. Soon after Wm. commenced preaching to his brethren in a language which they understood, Several were brought to reflect on their sinful state, & to seek the salvation of their souls. This con cern continued to spread and increase, till in the course of about six weeks, considerable numbers, forsaking their haunts of intemperance, resorted to places appointed for religious instruc tion. At the date of April 6th, broth er Doxtator writes me thus: “The cause of our Saviour appears to be prospering here. I have had the happiness to witness great chang es among my brethren at Oneida.— More than fifty have been converted, and the work goes on powerfully.— Two of the chiefs are friendly to the reformation. I have three places for preaching, and meetings arc held four times in the week. The re mainder of mv time is employed in visiting the Indian families. In our class meetings the power of God is displayed in a wonderful manner. Some are praising God, others are crying to God for mercy. My heart rejoices while I see my brethren turning from sin and drunkenness to the service of God.” On the same subject the Rev. Dan. Barnes writes, under date of April 7th:— “I rejoice to inform you that the Lord is doing great things among the Oneida Indians. Since brother Dox tator commenced his labors among, that people, about fifty have been converted. Great numbers attend meetings, and the prospects are glo rious. I think if William can remain, hundreds will be led to turn to the Lord.—They have much confidence in him, and he spares no pains, but labours night and day for their good. The Indians here arc very desirous for a school, and more than fifty chil dren are in readiness to attend tho school. On sabbath more than forty of the Indians attended the quarterly mcetiig. The scene was very affect ing. On Friday I visited and preach ed to hem. It was one of the hap piest diys of my life. I never saw the power of God more evident in the awakening of sinners.” On our arrival in Utica we met with brother Barnes and Doxtator. They both spcakof the work os being very powerful, ^reading mighty, and effecting great changes among the Indians. This ii complained of by some who have kept grog shops for drunken Indians far years past. The number who prcfess to have experi enced a change Ins increased to about seventy. Ilopei are entertained that at the camp meeting to be held in the fore part of June near the Oneida, others may bo brought under the influence of the gospel, and become r sincere Christians. William Doxtator, whose name is mentioned above, is a youth of about twenty-six. He has been favored with some advantages of education, principally in Mohawk—He reads and expounds the Mohawk Scriptures fluently, and writes in the same tongue with readiness. His writing in Eng lish, like his conversation, is broken. It is now about twenty-three months since his conversion. Till that time he was very much given to intemper ance. But since his conversion, which took place at a camp meeting held in Ancastcr in June of 1827, he has been deeply devoted to the service of God, and untiring in his efforts in behalf of his brethren. Since the day of his conversion he has ceased not t® warn his brethren against sin, and to in struct them in the way of life. Soon after his conversion an awakening took place in the mission on the Grand river, (then under the care of Rev. Alvin Torry,) which produced about seventy converts. In October of 1S28 William visit ed a body of his brethren residing at Bay Quinty, about 200 miles east of Grand river. By his labours, togeth er with the services of other Mohawk speakers, an awakening took place. Such was the success of their labors that in the course of about four months about thirty were brought to repen tance. These all appear to be chting- ed from confirmed habits of drunken ness to those of sobriety and devotion. Brother Doxtator had for some time expressed a desire to visit his breth ren at Oneida, but as his services were much needed in Canada, we ad vised him to defer his visit. Our journey to your city appearing to af ford a favorable opportunity of com pany, we advised him to come, and his labors have been great and abundantly blessed. lie will continue till after the June camp meeting, when he will return to labor on the Grand river.— Ilis place it is hoped, will be supplied at the Oneida by other laborers from the Grand river, till the Lord shall raise up native teachers among them, and thereby render the further Servi ces of our Canada brethren unneces-. sary. Yours in the gospel of Jesus Christ, W. CASE. Vegetable Diet.—The Indians (of South America) are very strong limb ed, and capable of enduring great fa tigue. Their every day pedestrian feats are truly astonishing. Guides perform a long journey at the rate of 20 or 25 leagues a day. Their usu al pace is a jog trot. They take short steps and carry their feet close to the ground. They go up and down mountain sides quicker than a mule; and horsemen, whom they accompany as guides, have frequent occasion to call them, to request them to slacken their pace. A battalion, eight hundred strong, has been known to march 13 or 14 leagues in one day, without having more than ten or a dozen strag glers on the road. The Indian sub sists on a very small quantity of the simplest food. A leathern pouch con taining cocoa, suspended from his neck, is worn next to the breast. A handful or two of roasted maize is tied up in one cofner of his pouch, and, in ge*neral, these are the only provis ions for a very long day’s journey. lirlwwlW&r" WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1829. In reference to the complimentary no tice of Se-quo-yah in our first page, it may be proper to mention, that most of the in cidents related, took place among the t^ierokees of the Arkansas. He com menced his labors here, but removed to the west before the practicability of his in vention was tested. Se-quo-yah certainly deserves to be held in remembrance by all who respect native genius, but more par ticularly* by his country-men, on whom be has conferred a lasting blessing—they are reaping a full harvest from bis invention, which, for its simplicity, is unrivalled.— Its simplicity is fully demonstrated by its rapid extension since it was introduced.— Without the aid of a single schoolmaster,, or a single book, it has been generally ac quired in the nation, and now we venture to assert reading and writing are as com mon here as among the neighboring whites, and certainly those Cherokees who have attended to their Alphabet one week, write more correctly, than the English scholar who has been stedfast to his book two years. I*. S. The font of type how used in this place was not procured by the general gov ernment, but at the public expense of the Cherokee nation; though it is true the U. States have appropriated, (not however altogether gratuitously) one thousand dol lars, for the establishment of a jjpess among the Cherokees of the Arkansas. We have understood that quite a dis satisfaction prevails among the people of the upper Districts, founded on false re ports circulated respecting the late Dele gation. It is the policy of the whites to take advantage of the ignorance of many of the Cherokees, and we have no doubt they are now assiduous in attempting to create division and distrust among the peo ple. A report has some how originated, that the Delegation, during their late visit to Washington, ceded to the United States a portion of the Country; and this report is strengthened, in the view of many who are easily led estray by credulity, by the protracted silence of the Delegation, &. the survey that has lately taken place. It may be well, an'd we recommend it to the Del egation to make the result of their Mission as public as possible. It Was the intention of the principal chief, with two others, to make a tour through the nation and report their doings, but the sickness of one of them has frustrated the design for the pres ent. One thing however is certain—the common people arc jealous of their rights, and are ready at all times, to bring their chiefs to an account. How does this ac cord with the assertion which has been frequently made, that the Cherokees are but slaves to their tyrannical chiefs? Melancholy Shipwreck and Starva tion.—The Quebec Gazette contains a’hotice of a melancholy shipwreck, on the la^e uninhabited island of An ticosti, near the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, which took place probably in October or November last. It would seem that after the loss of the vessel, about twenty of the crew and passengers escaped to the island, where they all perished from starvation, except perhaps a few who were killed to feed the horrid vppetitc of the last survivors! The dead bodies were discovered a few weeks since in the following manner: About the middle of May a number of men belonging to the Magdalen Is lands who had associated themselves in a sailing voyage, were overtaken by-a storm off the North East end of Anticosti, and the ice drifting forced them to take shelter, choosing the place where they knew that Godin, kept one of the provision posts. In landing they observed a boat on shore which was not damaged. They pro ceeded to the bouse, and on entering were struck with horror at the sight of a number of dead bodies, and a quantity of bones and putrid flesli.— Upon further examination they con ceived that they could discern the bodies of twelve or thirteen individu als—three grown females, three chil dren, and seven or eight men. The last, survivor appeared to be a man who had died of famine and cold in his hammock, and from his appearance was above a common sailor, (his name was B. Harrington:) the men began to rather the chest clothes and other ar ticles in the house. and buried the remains of the bodies and a larire box of cleanly picked bones which lay in a corner of a room. On the firo there was a pot in which flesh had been boiled and a part remained in its bottom. They afterwards went into a small out house where they were surprised to find five more bodies, suspended by a rope thrown across some beams; the entrails had been re moved, & little more than the skele tons remained; the flesh having ap parently been cut, o(T. These they left unburied, and sailed, taking the boat for the Magdalen Islands. , From the clothing and other arti-, cles found upon the bodies, and other circumstances, it is supposed that the lost vessel was the bark Granicus* which Hailed from Quebec for Cork on the 29th of October last, and has never been accounted for. “Mr. Godin” says the Gazette, “who was stationed at the post, where these urr- fortunate persons have perished, came up to Quebec in October last, and did not return.” DOMESTIC. Northampton County Court. Commonwealth, vs. John B. Teel —Indictment for murder. The prisoner being arraigned pleaded not guilty. It appeared from, the evidence that on Sunday the 22d of March 1829, the prisoner shot his son, William Teel, a boy of about five years of age, which cause his death. The circumstances were as follows:—The prisoner who had been absent from home during the greater part of the day, returned and com^ plained of being unwelU His chil dren commplained to him that a slut belonging to the family destroyed the eggs and in order to satisfy them, said he would shoot her. He accordingly took his gun and went out before dark but could not find her. At dusk he was in the room with the children helping them to cut and roast potatoes. The little boy in .the mean time slipp ed out of the house, unobserved by any of the family and w ent into a lit tle garden or pen. The $ogs making a noise, the prisoner fequested his wife and mother in-law to b,e silence, that the dogs Were about and that he. would go out and shoot them. He took his gun and left the house, when upon opproaching the pen he saw some move in it without being able to dis* tinguish precisely what it was!, it be* ing nearly dark. Under the impres sion that he had left all his children in the room, he levelled his gun, and after some hesitation, fired. He then retunrned to the house and asked his wife if sho had ever heard a dog make such a mournful noise? She replied Lord have mercy! it is one of the children! He immediately became alarmed and went to the spot, when he indeed found that his wife’s mel ancholy anticipations were but too fully realized, and that he had indeed been instrumental in destroying the life of his own son. The boy was shot in the head and the whole shot lodged in his brain. Governor Houston.—The late mys terious conduct of this gentleman, in resigning his office, and leaving his family, &c. has been a subject of much animadversion. Public curiosi ty has been aroused, and various ru mors and evil surmisihgs set afloat. Any thing, therefore, in relation to the matter, in which confidence can he placed, will not fail to he interesting. A letter to one of the Editors of this paper, from a gentleman of respecta bility In Covington. Tennessee, dated 14th May, savs, “Governor Houston passed dowu the Mississippi a few days since in the steamer Red Riv er, for the Cherokee nation of In dians, in the Arkansas Territory, He says he never wishes to see the face of a white man again—that when he frets to Red River, his cloth coat which he now wears, is to he destroyed, and he assumes the Indian costume throughout. He is taking on a parcel of rifles, and savs his policy will he bv example, to inculcate peace and civilization among the Indians, and dissuade them from warring a- gainst one another, and particularly to bring about a beace between the Cherokees and Osages; that he will endeavor to cultivate a friendlv feel ing amongst them towards the United States. The cause, or causes which have nrodpeed the unhappy separa tion of the Governor, from his lady,, and resignation of office of Governor, are a Profound secret, not known to his most intimate friends. Thev are. by solemn agreement of himself and ladv, never to he divulged. This in formation. comes from a gentleman