Pages and Pictures; From the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1861. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... Ere "The Mohicans" was published, a second romance of Indian adventure had been already planned. B, ut the scene was changed. The ground was no longer overshadowed by the boundless forest and timbered heights; the limpid lakes, the falling streams of the eastern valleys, were no longer accessories in the picture. In the course of his inquiries regarding the habits and character of the red man, while writing "The Mohicans," Mr. Cooper was thrown repeatedly into temporary associations with parties of warriors from the tribes beyond the Mississippi, on their way to smoke the calumet at the council halls in Washington. iie was much interested by some of the chiefs--the anecdotes of their different deeds of wild prowess, told by the interpreters; of their singular fortitude and powers of physical endurance; of their wily cunning and fierce passions; the vein of poetry and laconic eloquence, if the expression may be used, marking their brief speeches; their natural dignity of manner and grace of gesture, blended with their strongly-marked savage mien and accoutrements, struck him very forcibly. Tales of great buffalo hunts; of battles between the mounted tribes, of vast fires sweeping over these boundless plains, were listened to with the vivid interest and sympathy and searching inquiry always aroused in him by narratives of adventure. The result was a determination to attempt a second Indian book, whose scenes should be laid on the wild Western plains, among the mounted tribes beyond the Mississippi. The prairies he had never seen. His travels westward had not extended farther than Buffalo and Niagara, where he had gone on duty, when serving in the navy. And at the moment of planning the book, he had not leisure for an excursion beyond the Mississippi, much as he wis...