Some of the Editor's English
friends--themselves being eminent in literature--have said to him, "We
have often heard that there is much of value in your literature and of
beauty in your poetry. Why does not some one of your literati translate
them into English, and furnish us with the means of judging for
ourselves? We possess translated specimens of the literature, and
especially the poetry of almost every other nation and people, and should
feel greater interest in reading those of the aborigines of this country,
with whom we have so much in common." It was to gratify this wish that
the Editor was induced to give his services in the present undertaking,
from which he has received and will receive no pecuniary benefit; and his
sole recompense will be the satisfaction of having attempted to extend
and perpetuate some of the treasures and beauties of the literature of
his native country.
INTRODUCTION.
The literature of a people always reflects their character. You may
discover in the prose and poetry of a nation its social condition, and in
their different phases its political progress.
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