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Richardson, John, 1796-1852

"Wacousta : a tale of the Pontiac conspiracy (Complete)"

His stature was considerably
beyond that of the ordinary race of men, and his athletic
and muscular limbs united the extremes of strength and
activity in a singular degree. His features, marked and
prominent, wore a cast of habitual thought, strangely
tinctured with ferocity; and the general expression of
his otherwise not unhandsome countenance was repellent
and disdainful. At the first glance he might have been
taken for one of the swarthy natives of the soil; but
though time and constant exposure to scorching suns had
given to his complexion a dusky hue, still there were
wanting the quick, black, penetrating eye; the high
cheek-bone; the straight, coarse, shining, black hair;
the small bony hand and foot; and the placidly proud and
serious air, by which the former is distinguished. His
own eye was of a deep bluish grey; his hair short, dark,
and wavy; his hands large and muscular; and so far from
exhibiting any of the self-command of the Indian, the
constant play of his features betrayed each passing
thought with the same rapidity with which it was conceived.
But if any doubt could have existed in the mind of him
who beheld this strangely accoutred figure, it would have
been instantly dispelled by a glance at his lower limbs.


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