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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:03 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:03 -0700 |
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diff --git a/11119-h/11119-h.htm b/11119-h/11119-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6365174 --- /dev/null +++ b/11119-h/11119-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,28650 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of + Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers, + by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> + .ind { MARGIN-LEFT: 10%; MARGIN-RIGHT: 10% } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11119 ***</div> + +<h3>PERSONAL MEMOIRS</h3> + +<h4>OF A</h4> + +<h2>RESIDENCE OF THIRTY YEARS</h2> + +<h4>WITH THE</h4> + +<h1>INDIAN TRIBES</h1> + +<h4>ON THE</h4> + +<h2>AMERICAN FRONTIERS:</h2> + +<h4>WITH BRIEF</h4> + +<h3>NOTICES OF PASSING EVENTS, FACTS, AND OPINIONS,</h3> +<h3>A.D. 1812 TO A.D. 1842.</h3> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.</h2> + +<h4>1851.</h4> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h4>TO</h4> + +<h3>ALEXANDER B. JOHNSON, ESQ.</h3> + +<h4>OF UTICA.</h4> + +<p>My dear sir:--I feel impelled to place your name before these sheets, +from a natural impulse. It is many years since I accompanied you to the +Genesee country, which was, at that time, a favorite theatre of +enterprise, and called the "Garden of the West." This step, eventually, +led me to make deeper and more adventurous inroads into the American +wilderness.</p> + +<p>If I am not mistaken, you will peruse these brief memoranda of my +exploratory journeys and residence in the wide area of the west, and +among barbarous tribes, in a spirit of appreciation, and with a lively +sense of that providential care, in human affairs, that equally shields +the traveler amidst the vicissitudes of the forest, and the citizen at +his fireside.</p> + +<p>Very sincerely yours,</p> + +<p>HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>Ten years ago I returned from the area of the Mississippi Valley to New +York, my native State, after many years' residence and exploratory +travels of that quarter of the Union. Having become extensively known, +personally, and as an author, and my name having been associated with +several distinguished actors in our western history, the wish has often +been expressed to see some record of the events as they occurred. In +yielding to this wish, it must not be supposed that the writer is about +to submit an autobiography of himself; nor yet a methodical record of +his times--tasks which, were he ever so well qualified for, he does not +at all aspire to, and which, indeed, he has not now the leisure, if he +had the desire, to undertake.</p> + +<p>Still, his position on the frontiers, and especially in connection with +the management of the Indian tribes, is believed to have been one of +marked interest, and to have involved him in events and passages often +of thrilling and general moment. And the recital of these, in the simple +and unimposing forms of a diary, even in the instances where they may be +thought to fail in awakening deep sympathy, or creating high excitement, +will be found, he thinks, to possess a living moral <i>undertone</i>. In the +perpetual conflict between civilized and barbaric life, during the +settlement of the West, the recital will often recall incidents of toil +and peril, and frequently show the open or concealed murderer, with his +uplifted knife, or deadly gun. As a record of opinion, it will not be +too much to say, that the author's approvals are ever on the side of +virtue, honor, and right; that misconception is sometimes prevented by +it, and truth always vindicated. If he has sometimes met bad men; if he +has experienced detraction, or injustice; if even persons of good +general repute have sometimes persecuted him, it is only surprising, on +general grounds, that the evils of this kind have not been greater or +more frequent; but it is conceived that the record of such injustice +would neither render mankind wiser nor the author happier. The "crooked" +cannot be made "straight," and he who attempts it will often find that +his inordinate toils only vex his own soul. He who does the ill in +society is alone responsible for it, and if he chances not to be rebuked +for it on this imperfect theatre of human action, yet he cannot flatter +himself at all that he shall pass through a future state "scot free." +The author views man ever as an accountable being, who lives, in a +providential sense, that he may have an opportunity to bear record to +the principles of truth, wherever he is, and this, it is perceived, can +be as effectually done, so far as there are causes of action or +reflection, in the recesses of the forest, as in the area of the +drawing-room, or the purlieus of a court. It is believed that, in the +present case, the printing of the diary could be more appropriately +done, while most of those with whom the author has acted and +corresponded, thought and felt, were still on the stage of life. The +motives that, in a higher sphere, restrained a Wraxall and a Walpole in +withholding their remarks on passing events, do not operate here; for if +there be nothing intestimonial or faulty uttered, the power of a stern, +high-willed government cannot be brought to bear, to crush independence +of thought, or enslave the labors of intellect: for if there be a +species of freedom in America more valuable than another, it is that of +being pen-free.</p> + +<p>It is Sismondi, I think, who says that "time prepares for a long flight, +by relieving himself of every superfluous load, and by casting away +everything that he possibly can." The author certainly would not ask him +to carry an onerous weight. But, in the history of the settlement of +such a country and such a population as this, there must be little, as +well as great labors, before the result to be sent forward to posterity +can be prepared by the dignified pen of polished history; and the writer +seeks nothing more than to furnish some illustrative memoranda for that +ultimate task, whoever may perform it.</p> + +<p>He originally went to the west for the purpose of science. His +mineralogical rambles soon carried him into wide and untrodden fields; +and the share he was called on to take in the exploration of the +country, its geography, geology, and natural features, have thrown him +in positions of excitement and peril, which furnish, it is supposed, an +appropriate apology, if apology be necessary, for the publication of +these memoirs.</p> + +<p>But whatever degree of interest and originality may have been connected +with his early observations and discoveries in science, geography, or +antiquities, the circumstances which directed his attention to the +Indian tribes--their history, manners and customs, languages, and +general ethnology, have been deemed to lay his strongest claim to public +respect. The long period during which these observations have been +continued to be made, his intimate relations with the tribes, the +favorable circumstances of his position and studies, and the ardor and +assiduity with which he has availed himself of them, have created +expectations in his case which few persons, it is believed, in our +history, have excited.</p> + +<p>It is under these circumstances that the following selections from his +running journal are submitted. They form, as it were, a thread +connecting acts through a long period, and are essential to their true +understanding and development. A word may be said respecting the manner +of the record which is thus exhibited:--</p> + +<p>The time is fixed by quoting exactly the dates, and the names of persons +are invariably given wherever they could, with propriety, be employed; +often, indeed, in connection with what may be deemed trivial +occurrences; but these were thought essential to the proper relief and +understanding of more important matters. Indeed, a large part of the +journal consists of extracts from the letters of the individuals +referred to; and in this way it is conceived that a good deal of the +necessarily offensive character of the egotism of journalism is got rid +of. No one will object to see his name in print while it is used to +express a kind, just, or noble sentiment, or to advance the cause of +truth; and, if private names are ever employed for a contrary purpose, I +have failed in a designed cautiousness in this particular. Much that +required disapprobation has been omitted, which a ripening judgment and +more enlarged Christian and philosophic view has passed over; and much +more that invited condemnation was never committed to paper. Should +circumstances favor it, the passages which are omitted, but approved, to +keep the work in a compact shape, will be hereafter added, with some +pictorial illustrations of the scenery.</p> + +<p>The period referred to, is one of considerable interest. It is the +thirty years that succeeded the declaration of war by the United +States, in 1812, against Great Britain, and embraces a large and +important part of the time of the settlement of the Mississippi Valley, +and the great lake basins. During this period ten States have been added +to the Union. Many actors who now slumber in their graves are called up +to bear witness. Some of the number were distinguished men; others the +reverse. Red and white men alike express their opinions. Anecdotes and +incidents succeed each other without any attempt at method. The story +these incidentally tell, is the story of a people's settling the +wilderness. It is the Anglo-Saxon race occupying the sites of the Indian +wigwams. It is a field in which plumed sachems, farmers, legislators, +statesmen, speculators, professional and scientific men, and +missionaries of the gospel, figure in their respective capacities. +Nobody seems to have set down to compose an elaborate letter, and yet +the result of the whole, viewed by the philosophic eye, is a broad field +of elaboration.</p> +<br> + +<p>HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. +PHILADELPHIA, <i>Sept. 12th, 1851</i>.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h3>CONTENTS.</h3> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I.">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + +<p>Brief reminiscences of scenes from 1809 to 1817--Events preliminary to a +knowledge of western life--Embarkation on the source of the Alleghany +River--Descent to Pittsburgh--Valley of the Monongahela; its coal and +iron--Descent of the Ohio in an ark--Scenes and incidents by the +way--Cincinnati--Some personal incidents which happened there.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II.">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + +<p>Descent of the Ohio River from Cincinnati to its mouth--Ascent of the +Mississippi, from the junction to Herculaneum--Its rapid and turbid +character, and the difficulties of stemming its current by barges--Some +incidents by the way.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III.">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + +<p>Reception at Herculaneum, and introduction to the founder of the first +American colony in Texas, Mr. Austin--His character--Continuation of the +journey on foot to St. Louis--Incidents by the way--Trip to the +mines--Survey of the mine country--Expedition from Potosi into the Ozark +Mountains, and return, after a winter's absence, to Potosi.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + +<p>Sit down to write an account of the mines--Medical properties of the +Mississippi water--Expedition to the Yellow Stone--Resolve to visit +Washington with a plan of managing the mines--Descend the river from St. +Genevieve to New Orleans--Incidents of the trip--Take passage in a ship +for New York--Reception with my collection there--Publish my memoir on +the mines, and proceed with it to Washington--Result of my +plan--Appointed geologist and mineralogist on an expedition to the +sources of the Mississippi.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V.">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + +<p>Set out on the expedition to the north-west--Remain a few +weeks at New York--Visit Niagara Falls, and reach Detroit +in the first steamer--Preparations for a new style of +traveling--Correspondents--General sketch of the route pursued by the +expedition, and its results--Return to Albany, and publish my +narrative--Journal of it--Preparation for a scientific account of the +observations.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + +<p>Reception by the country on my return--Reasons for publishing my +narrative without my reports for a digested scientific account of the +expedition--Delays interposed to this--Correspondents--Locality of +strontian--Letter from Dr. Mitchell--Report on the copper mines of Lake +Superior--Theoretical geology--Indian symbols--Scientific +subjects--Complete the publication of my work--Its reception by the +press and the public--Effects on my mind--Receive the appointment of +Secretary to the Indian Commission at Chicago--Result of the expedition, +as shown by a letter of Dr. Mitchell to General Cass.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + +<p>Trip through the Miami of the lakes, and the Wabash Valley--Cross the +grand prairie of Illinois--Revisit the mines--Ascend the +Illinois--Fever--Return through the great lakes--Notice of the +"Trio"--Letter from Professor Silliman--Prospect of an appointment under +government--Loss of the "Walk-in-the-Water"--Geology of Detroit--Murder +of Dr. Madison by a Winnebago Indian.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + +<p>New-Yearing--A prospect opened--Poem of Ontwa--Indian biography--Fossil +tree--Letters from various persons--Notice of Ontwa--Professor +Silliman--Gov. Clinton--Hon. J. Meigs--Colonel Benton--Mr. +Dickenson--Professor Hall--Views of Ex-presidents Madison, Jefferson, +and Adams on geology--Geological notices--Plan of a gazetteer--Opinions +of my <i>Narrative Journal</i> by scientific gentlemen--The impostor John +Dunn Hunter--Trip up the Potomac--Mosaical chronology--Visit to +Mount Vernon.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IX.">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + +<p>Appointed an agent of Indian affairs for the United States at Saint +Mary's--Reasons for the acceptance of the office--Journey to +Detroit--Illness at that point--Arrival of a steamer with a battalion of +infantry to establish a new military post at the foot of Lake +Superior--Incidents of the voyage to that point--Reach our destination, +and reception by the residents and Indians--A European and man of honor +fled to the wilderness.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_X.">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + +<p>Incidents of the summer during the establishment of the now post at St. +Mary's--Life in a nut-shell--Scarcity of room--High prices of +everything--State of the Indians--Their rich and picturesque +costume--Council and its incidents--Fort site selected and occupied--The +evil of ardent spirits amongst the Indians--Note from Governor +De Witt Clinton--Mountain ash--Curious superstitions of the +Odjibwas--Language--Manito poles--Copper--Superstitious regard for +Venus--Fine harbor in Lake Superior--Star family--A locality of +necromancers--Ancient Chippewa capital--Eating of animals.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XI.">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3> + +<p>Murder of Soan-ga-ge-zhick, a Chippewa, at the head of the falls--Indian +mode of interment--Indian prophetess--Topic of interpreters and +interpretation--Mode of studying the Indian language--The Johnston +family--Visits--Katewabeda, chief of Sandy Lake--Indian mythology, and +oral tales and legends--Literary opinion--Political opinion--Visit of +the chief Little Pine--Visit of Wabishkepenais--A despairing +Indian--Geography.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XII.">CHAPTER XII.</a></h3> + +<p>A pic-nic party at the foot of Lake Superior--Canoe--Scenery--Descent of +St. Mary's Falls--Etymology of the Indian names of Sault Ste. Marie, and +Lake Superior--The wild rice plant--Indian trade--American Fur +Company--Distribution of presents--Death of Sassaba--Epitaph--Indian +capacity to count--Oral literature--Research--Self-reliance.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII.">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h3> + +<p>My first winter at the foot of Lake Superior--Copper mines--White +fish--A poetic name for a fish--Indian tale--Polygamy--A +reminiscence--Taking of Fort Niagara--Mythological and allegorical tales +among the aborigines--Chippewa language--Indian vowels--A polite and a +vulgar way of speaking the language--Public worship--Seclusion from +the world.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV.">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Amusements during the winter months, when the temperature is at the +lowest point--Etymology of the word Chippewa--A meteor--The Indian +"fireproof"--Temperature and weather--Chippewa interchangeables--Indian +names for the seasons--An incident in conjugating +verbs--Visiting--Gossip--The fur trade--Todd, McGillvray, Sir Alexander +Mackenzie--Wide dissimilarity of the English and Odjibwa syntax--Close +of the year.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XV.">CHAPTER XV.</a></h3> + +<p>New Year's day among the descendants of the Norman French--Anti-philosophic +speculations of Brydone--Schlegel on language--A peculiar native +expression evincing delicacy--Graywacke in the basin of Lake +Superior--Temperature--Snow shoes--Translation of Gen. i.3--Historical +reminiscences--Morals of visiting--Odjibwa numerals--Harmon's +travels--Mackenzie's vocabularies--Criticism--Mungo Park.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI.">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h3> + +<p>Novel reading--Greenough's "Geology"--The cariboo--Spiteful +plunder of private property on a large scale--Marshall's +Washington--St. Clair's "Narrative of his Campaign"--Etymology +of the word <i>totem</i>--A trait of transpositive languages--Polynesian +languages--A meteoric explosion at the maximum height of the winter's +temperature--Spafford's "Gazetteer"--Holmes on the Prophecies--Foreign +politics--Mythology--Gnomes--The Odjibwa based on monosyllables--No +auxiliary verbs--Pronouns declined for tense---Esprella's +letters--Valerius--Gospel of St. Luke--Chippewayan group of +languages--Home politics--Prospect of being appointed superintendent of +the lead mines of Missouri.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII.">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Close of the winter solstice, and introduction of a northern +spring--News from the world--The Indian languages--Narrative +Journal--Semi-civilization of the ancient Aztec tribes--Their arts and +languages--Hill's ironical review of the "Transactions of the Royal +Society"--A test of modern civilization--Sugar making--Trip to one of +the camps--Geology of Manhattan Island--Ontwa, an Indian poem--Northern +ornithology--Dreams--The Indian apowa--Printed queries of General +Cass--Prospect of the mineral agency--Exploration of the St. +Peter's--Information on that head.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII.">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Rapid advance of spring--Troops commence a stockade--Principles of the +Chippewa tongue--Idea of a new language containing the native principles +of syntax, with a monosyllabic method--Indian standard of +value--Archaeological evidences in growing trees--Mount Vernon--Signs of +spring in the appearance of birds--Expedition to St. Peter's--Lake +Superior open--A peculiarity in the orthography of Jefferson--True +sounds of the consonants--Philology--Advent of the arrival of a +vessel--Editors and editorials--Arrival from Fort William--A hope +fled--Sudden completion of the spring, and ushering in of +summer--Odjibwa language, and transmission of Inquiries.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX.">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Outlines of the incidents of the summer of 1823--Glance at the geography +of the lake country--Concretion of aluminous earth--General Wayne's body +naturally embalmed by this property of the soil of Erie--Free and easy +manners--Boundary Survey--An old friend--Western commerce--The Austins +of Texas memory--Collision of civil and military power--Advantages of a +visit to Europe.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XX.">CHAPTER XX.</a></h3> + +<p>Incidents of the year 1824--Indian researches--Diverse idioms of the +Ottawa and Chippewa--Conflict of opinion between the civil and military +authorities of the place--A winter of seclusion well spent--St. Paul's +idea of languages--Examples in the Chippewa--The Chippewa a pure form of +the Algonquin--Religion in the wilderness--Incidents--Congressional +excitements--Commercial view of the copper mine question--Trip to +Tackwymenon Falls, in Lake Superior.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI.">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h3> + +<p>Oral tales and legends of the Chippewas--First assemblage of a +legislative council in Michigan--Mineralogy and geology--Disasters of +the War of 1812--Character of the new legislature--Laconic +note--Narrative of a war party, and the disastrous murders committed at +Lake Pepin in July 1824--Speech of a friendly Indian chief from Lake +Superior on the subject--Notices of mineralogy and geology in the +west--Ohio and Erie Canal--Morals--Lafayette's progress--Hooking +minerals--A philosophical work on the Indians--Indian biography by +Samuel S. Conant--Want of books on American archaeology--Douglass's +proposed work on the expedition of 1820.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII.">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h3> + +<p>Parallelism of customs--Home scenes--Visit to Washington--Indian work +respecting the Western Tribes--Indian biography--Professor +Carter--Professor Silliman--Spiteful prosecution--Publication of Travels +in the Mississippi Valley--A northern Pocahontas--Return to the Lakes--A +new enterprise suggested--Impressions of turkeys' feet in +rock--Surrender of the Chippewa war party, who committed the murders in +1824, at Lake Pepin--Their examination, and the commitment of the actual +murderers.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII.">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Trip to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi--Large assemblage of +tribes--Their appearance and character--Sioux, Winnebagoes, Chippewas, +&c.--Striking and extraordinary appearance of the Sacs and Foxes, and of +the Iowas--Keokuk--Mongazid's speech--Treaty of limits--Whisky +question--A literary impostor--Journey through the valleys of the Fox +and Wisconsin rivers--Incidents--Menomonies--A big nose--Wisconsin +Portage.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV.">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Descent of Fox River--Blackbirds--Menomonies--Rice fields--Starving +Indians--Thunder storm--Dream--An Indian struck dead with +lightning--Green Bay--Death of Colonel Haines--Incidents of the journey +from Green Bay to Michilimackinack--Reminiscences of my early life and +travels--Choiswa--Further reminiscences of my early life--Ruins of the +first mission of Father Marquette--Reach Michilimackinack.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV.">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h3> + +<p>Journey from Mackinack to the Sault Ste. Marie--Outard Point--Head +winds--Lake Huron in a rage--Desperate embarkation--St. Vital--Double +the Detour--Return to St. Mary's--Letters--"Indian girl"--New volume of +travels--Guess' Cherokee alphabet--New views of the Indian languages and +their principles of construction--Georgia question--Post-office +difficulties--Glimpses from the civilized world.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI.">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></h3> + +<p>General aspects of the Indian cause--Public criticism on the state of +Indian researches, and literary storm raised by the new views--Political +rumor--Death of R. Pettibone, Esq.--Delegate election--Copper mines of +Lake Superior--Instructions for a treaty in the North--Death of Mr. +Pettit--Denial of post-office facilities--Arrival of commissioners to +hold the Fond du Lac treaty--Trip to Fond du Lac through Lake +Superior--Treaty--Return--Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII.">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Epidemical condition of the atmosphere at Detroit--Death of Henry J. +Hunt and A.G. Whitney, Esqrs.--Diary of the visits of Indians at St. +Mary's Agency--Indian affairs on the frontier under the supervision of +Col. McKenney--Criticisms on the state of Indian questions--Topic of +Indian eloquence--State of American researches in natural science--Dr. +Saml. L. Mitchell.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII.">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Mineralogy--Territorial affairs--Vindication of the American policy by +its treatment of the Indians--New York spirit of improvement--Taste for +cabinets of natural history--Fatalism in an Indian--Death of a first +born son--Flight from the house--Territorial matters--A literary +topic--Preparations for another treaty--Consolations--Boundary in the +North-west under the treaty of Ghent--Natural history--Trip to Green +Bay--Treaty of Butte des Morts--Winnebago outbreak--Intrepid conduct of +General Cass--Indian stabbing--Investment of the petticoat--Mohegan +language.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX.">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Treaty of Butte des Morts--Rencontre of an Indian with grizzly +bears--Agency site at Elmwood--Its picturesque and sylvan +character--Legislative council of the Territory--Character of its +parties, as hang-backs and toe-the-marks--Critical Reviews--Christmas.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX.">CHAPTER XXX.</a></h3> + +<p>Retrospect--United States Exploring Expedition to the South +Sea--Humanity of an Indian--Trip to Detroit from the Icy +Straits--Incidental action of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island +Historical Societies, and of the Montreal Natural History +Society--United States Exploring Expedition--Climatology--Lake vessels +ill found--Poetic view of the Indian--United States Exploring +Expedition--Theory of the interior world--Natural History--United States +Exploring Expedition--History of early legislation in Michigan--Return +to St. Mary's--Death of Governor De Witt Clinton.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI.">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></h3> + +<p>Official journal of the Indian intercourse--Question of freedmen, or +persons not bonded for--Indian chiefs, Chacopee, Neenaby, Mukwakwut, +<i>Tems Couvert</i>, Shingabowossin, Guelle Plat, Grosse Guelle--Further +notice of Wampum-hair--Red Devil--Biographical notice of Guelle Plat, or +Flat Mouth--<i>Brechet</i>--Meeshug, a widow--Iauwind--Mongazid, chief of +Fond du Lac--Chianokwut--White Bird--Annamikens, the hero of a bear +fight, &c. &c.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII.">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></h3> + +<p>Natural history of the north-west--Northern +zoology--Fox--Owl--Reindeer--A dastardly attempt at murder by a +soldier--Lawless spread of the population of northern Illinois over the +Winnebago land--New York Lyceum of Natural History--U.S. Ex. Ex.--Fiscal +embarrassments in the Department--Medical cause of Indian +depopulation--Remarks of Dr. Pitcher--Erroneous impressions of the +Indian character--Reviews--Death of John Johnston, Esq.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII.">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Treaty of St. Joseph--Tanner--Visits of the Indians in distress--Letters +from the civilized world--Indian code projected--Cause of Indian +suffering--The Indian cause--Estimation of the character of the late Mr. +Johnston--Autobiography--Historical Society of Michigan--Fiscal +embarrassments of the Indian Department.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV.">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Political horizon--Ahmo Society--Incoming of Gen. Jackson's +administration--Amusements of the winter--Peace policy among the +Indians--Revival at Mackinack--Money crisis--Idea of Lake tides--New +Indian code--Anti-masonry--Missions among the Indians--Copper mines--The +policy respecting them settled--Whisky among the Indians--Fur +trade--Legislative council--Mackinack mission--Officers of Wayne's +war--Historical Society of Michigan--Improved diurnal press.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV.">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></h3> + +<p>The new administration--Intellectual contest in the Senate--Sharp +contest for mayoralty of Detroit--Things shaping at Washington--Perilous +trip on the ice--Medical effects of this exposure--Legislative +Council--Visit to Niagara Falls--A visitor of note--History---Character +of the Chippewas--Ish-ko-da-wau-bo--Rotary sails--Hostilities between +the Chippewas and Sioux--Friendship and badinage--Social +intercourse--Sanillac--Gossip--Expedition to Lake Superior--Winter +Session of the Council--Historical disclosure--Historical Society of +Rhode Island--Domestic--French Revolution.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI.">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></h3> + +<p>Lecture before the Lyceum--Temperature in the North--Rum and taxes--A +mild winter adverse to Indians--Death of a friend--Christian +atonement--Threats of a Caliban, or an Indianized white man--Indian +emporium--Bringing up children--Youth gone astray--Mount Hope +Institution--Expedition into the Indian country--Natural History of the +United States--A reminiscence--Voyage inland.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII.">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Lake Superior--Its shores and character--Geology--Brigade of boats--Dog +and porcupine--Burrowing birds--Otter--Keweena Point--Unfledged +ducks--Minerals--Canadian resource in a tempest of rain--Tramp in search +of the picturesque--Search for native copper--Isle Royal +descried--Indian precaution--Their ingenuity--Lake action--Nebungunowin +River--Eagles--Indian tomb--Kaug Wudju.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII.">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Lake shores--Sub-Indian agency--Indian transactions--Old fort, site of a +tragedy--Maskigo River; its rapids and character--Great Wunnegum +Portage--Botany--Length of the Mauvais--Indian carriers--Lake +Kagenogumaug--Portage lakes--Namakagun River, its character, rapids, +pine lands, &c.--Pukwaéwa village--A new species of native +fruit--Incidents on the Namakagun; its birds, plants, &c.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX.">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Council with the Indians at Yellow Lake--Policy of the Treaty of Prairie +du Chien of 1825--Speech of Shaiwunegunaibee--Mounds of Yellow +River--Indian manners and customs--Pictography--Natural history--Nude +Indians--Geology--Portage to Lac Courtorielle--Lake of the Isles--Ottawa +Lake--Council--War party--Mozojeed's speech--Tecumseh--Mozojeed's +lodge--Indian movements--Trip to the Red Cedar Fork--Ca Ta--Lake +Chetac--Indian manners.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XL.">CHAPTER XL.</a></h3> + +<p>Betula Lake--Larch Lake--A war party surprised--Indian manners--Rice +Lake--Indian council--Red Cedar Lake--Speeches of Wabezhais and +Neenaba--Equal division of goods--Orifice for treading out rice--A live +beaver--Notices of natural history--Value of the Follavoine Valley--A +medal of the third President--War dance--Ornithology--A prairie country, +fertile and abounding in game--Saw mills--Chippewa River--Snake--La +Garde Mountain--Descent of the Mississippi--Sioux village--General +impression of the Mississippi--Arrival at Prairie du Chien.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI.">CHAPTER XLI.</a></h3> + +<p>Death of Mr. Monroe--Affair of the massacre of the Menomonies by the +Foxes--Descent to Galena--Trip in the lead mine country to Fort +Winnebago--Gratiot's Grove--Sac and Fox disturbances--Black Hawk--Irish +Diggings--Willow Springs--Vanmater's lead--An escape from falling into +a pit--Mineral Point--Ansley's copper mine--Gen. Dodge's--Mr. +Brigham's--Sugar Creek--Four Lakes--Seven Mile Prairie--A night in the +woods--Reach Port Winnebago--Return to the Sault--Political changes in +the cabinet--Gov. Cass called to Washington--Religious changes--G.B. +Porter appointed Governor--Natural history--Character of the new +governor--Arrival of the Rev. Jeremiah Porter--Organization of a church.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII.">CHAPTER XLII.</a></h3> + +<p>Revival of St. Mary's--Rejection of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to +England--Botany and Natural History of the North-west--Project of a new +expedition to find the Sources of the Mississippi--Algic +Society--Consolidation of the Agencies of St. Mary's and +Michilimackinack--Good effects of the American Home Missionary +Society--Organization of a new inland exploring expedition committed to +me--Its objects and composition of the corps of observers.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII.">CHAPTER XLIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Expedition to, and discovery of, Itasca Lake, the source of the +Mississippi River--Brief notice of the journey to the point of former +geographical discovery in the basin of Upper Red Cedar, or Cass +Lake--Ascent and portage to Queen Anne's Lake--Lake Pemetascodiac--The +Ten, or Metoswa Rapids--Pemidgegomag, or Cross-water Lake--Lake +Irving--Lake Marquette--Lake La Salle--Lake Plantagenet--Ascent of the +Plantagenian Pork--Naiwa, or Copper-snake River--Agate Rapids and +portage--Assawa Lake--Portage over the Hauteur des Terres--Itasca +Lake--Its picturesque character--Geographical and astronomical +position--Historical data.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV.">CHAPTER XLIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Descent of the Mississippi River, from Itasca Lake to Cass Lake--Traits +of its bank--Kabika Falls--Upsetting of a canoe--River descends by +steps, and through narrow rocky passes--Portage to the source of the +Crow-Wing River--Moss Lake--Shiba Lake--Leech Lake--Warpool Lake--Long +Lake Mountain portage--Kaginogomanug--Vermilion Lake--Ossawa Lake--Shell +River--Leaf River--Long Prairie River--Kioskk, or Gull River--Arrival at +its mouth--Descent to the Falls of St. Anthony, and St. Peter's--Return +to St. Mary's.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV.">CHAPTER XLV.</a></h3> + +<p>Letter from a mother--Cholera--Indian war--Royal Geographical +Society--Determine to leave the Sault--Death of Miss Cass--Death of Rev. +Mr. Richard--Notice of the establishment of a Methodist Mission at the +Sault--The Sault a religions place--Botany and Natural History--New +York University organized--Algic Society--Canadian boat song--Chaplains +in the army--Letter from a missionary--Affairs at Mackinack--Hazards of +lake commerce--Question of the temperance reform--Dr. D. Houghton--South +Carolina resists--Gen. Jackson re-elected President.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI.">CHAPTER XLVI.</a></h3> + +<p>An Indian woman builds a church--Conchology--South Carolina prepares to +resist the revenue laws--Moral affairs--Geography--Botany--Chippewas and +Sioux--A native evangelist in John Sunday--His letter in English; its +philological value--The plural pronoun <i>we</i>--An Indian battle--Political +affairs--South Carolina affairs--Tariff compromise of Mr. Clay--Algic +Society; it employs native evangelists--Plan of visiting +Europe--President's tour--History of Detroit--Fresh-water shells--Lake +tides--Prairie--Country--Reminiscence.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII.">CHAPTER XLVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Earliest point of French occupancy in the area of the Upper +Lakes--Removal of my residence from the Sault St. Marie to the island of +Michilimackinack--Trip to New York--Its objects--American Philosophical +Society--Michilimackinack; its etymology--The rage for investment in +western lands begins--Traditions of Saganosh--Of Porlier--Of +Perrault--Of Captain Thorn--Of the chief, Old Wing--Of Mudjekewis, of +Thunder Bay--Character of Indian tradition respecting the massacre at +old Fort Mackinack in 1763.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII.">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Anniversary of the Algic Society--Traditions of Chusco and Mukudapenais +respecting Gen. Wayne's treaty--Saliferous column in American +geology--Fact in lake commerce--Traditions of Mrs. Dousman and Mr. +Abbott respecting the first occupation of the Island of +Michilimackinack--Question of the substantive verb in the Chippewa +language--Meteoric phenomena during the month of December--Historical +fact--Minor incidents.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX.">CHAPTER XLIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Population of Michilimackinack--Notices of the weather--Indian name of +the Wolverine--Harbor closed--Intensity of temperature which can be +borne--Domestic incidents--State of the weather--Fort Mackinack +unsuccessfully attacked in 1814--Ossiganoc--Death of an Indian +woman--Death of my sister--Harbor open--Indian name of the Sabbath +day--Horticultural amusement--Tradition of the old church door--Turpid +conduct of Thomas Shepard, and his fate--Wind, tempests, sleet, snow--A +vessel beached in the harbor--Attempt of the American Fur Company to +force ardent spirits into the country, against the authority of +the agent.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_L.">CHAPTER L.</a></h3> + +<p>Visit to Isle Bond--Site of an ancient Indian village--Ossarie--Indian +prophet--Traditions of Chusco and Yon respecting the ancient village and +bone deposit--Indian speech--Tradition of Mrs. La Fromboise respecting +Chicago--Etymology of the name--Origin of the Bonga family among the +Chippewas--Traditions of Viancour--Of Nolan--Of the chief +Aishquagonaibe, and of Sagitondowa--Evidences of antique cultivation on +the Island of Mackinack--View of affairs at Washington--The Senate an +area of intellectual excitement--A road directed to be cut through the +wilderness from Saginaw--Traditions of Ossaganac and of Little Bear Skin +respecting the Lake Tribes.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LI.">CHAPTER LI.</a></h3> + +<p>Trip to Detroit--American Fur Company; its history and +organization--American Lyceum; its objects--Desire to write books on +Indian subjects by persons not having the information to render them +valuable--Reappearance of cholera--Mission of Mackinack; its history and +condition--Visit of a Russian officer of the Imperial Guards--Chicago; +its prime position for a great <i>entrepôt</i>--Area and destiny of the +Mississippi Valley.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LII.">CHAPTER LII.</a></h3> + +<p>Philology--Structure of the Indian languages--Letter from Mr. +Duponceau--Question of the philosophy of the Chippewa syntax--Letter +from a Russian officer on his travels in the West--Queries on the +physical history of the North--Leslie Duncan, a maniac--Arwin on the +force of dissipation--Missionary life on the sources of the +Mississippi--Letter from Mr. Boutwell--Theological Review--The Territory +of Michigan, tired of a long delay, determines to organize a State +Government.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LIIII.">CHAPTER LIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Indications of a moral revolution in the place--Political movements at +Detroit--Review of the state of society at Michilimackinack, arising +from its being the great central power of the north-west fur trade--A +letter from Dr. Greene--Prerequisites of the missionary +function--Discouragements--The state of the Mackinack Mission--Problem +of employing native teachers and evangelists--Letter of Mr. +Duponceau--Ethnological gossip--Translation of the Bible into +Algonquin--Don M. Najera--Premium offered by the French +Institute--Persistent Satanic influence among the Indian +tribes--Boundary dispute with Ohio--Character of the State Convention.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LIV.">CHAPTER LIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Requirements of a missionary laborer--Otwin--American +quadrupeds--Geological question--Taste of an Indian chief for +horticulture--Swiss missionaries to the Indians--Secretary of War visits +the island--Frivolous literary, diurnal, and periodical press--Letter of +Dr. Ives on this topic--Lost boxes of minerals and fresh-water +shells--Geological visit of Mr. Featherstonehaugh and Lieut. Mather--Mr. +Hastings--A theological graduate.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LV.">CHAPTER LV.</a></h3> + +<p>Rage for investment in western lands---Habits of the common +deer--Question of the punishment of Indian murders committed in the +Indian country--A chief calls to have his authority recognized on the +death of a predecessor--Dr. Julius, of Prussia--Gen. Robert +Patterson--Pressure of emigration--Otwin--Dr. Gilman and Mr. +Hoffman--Picturesque trip to Lake Superior--Indians desire to cede +territory--G.W. Featherstonehaugh--Sketch of his geological +reconnoissance of the St. Peter's River--Dr. Thomas H. Webb--Question of +inscriptions on American rocks--Antiquities--Embark for Washington, and +come down the lakes in the great tempest of 1835.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LVI.">CHAPTER LVI.</a></h3> + +<p>Florida war--Startling news of the Massacre of Dade--Peoria on the +Illinois--Abanaki language--Oregon--Things shaping for a territorial +claim--Responsibility of claim in an enemy's country--A true +soldier--Southern Literary Messenger--Missionary cause--Resources of +Missouri--Indian portfolio of Lewis--Literary gossip--Sir Francis +Head--The Crane and Addik totem--Treaty of March 28th, 1836, with the +Ottawas and Chippewas--Treaty with the Saginaws of May 20th--Treaty with +the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas of May 9th--Return to +Michilimackinack--Death of Charlotte, the daughter of Songageezhig.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LVII.">CHAPTER LVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Home matters--Massachusetts Historical Society--Question of the U.S. +Senate's action on certain treaties of the Lake Indians--Hugh L. +White--Dr. Morton's Crania Americana--Letter from Mozojeed--State of the +pillagers--Visit of Dr. Follen and Miss Martineau--Treaty +movements--Young Lord Selkirk--Character and value of Upper +Michigan--Hon. John Norvell's letter--Literary items--Execution of the +treaty of March 28th--Amount of money paid--Effects of the +treaty--Baron de Behr-Ornithology.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII.">CHAPTER LVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Value of the equivalent territory granted to Michigan, by +Congress, for the disputed Ohio boundary--Rapid improvement of +Michigan--Allegan--Indian legend--Baptism and death of Kagcosh, a very +aged chief at St. Mary's--New system of writing Indian, proposed by Mr. +Nash--Indian names for new towns--A Bishop's notion of the reason for +applying to Government for education funds under Indian treaties--Mr. +Gallatin's paper on the Indians--The temperance movement.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LIX.">CHAPTER LIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Difficulties resulting from a false impression of the Indian +character--Treaty with the Saginaws--Ottawas of Grand River +establish themselves in a colony in Barry County--Payments +to the Ottawas of Maumee, Ohio--Temperance--Assassination of +young Aitkin by an Indian at Leech Lake--Mackinack mission +abandoned--Wyandots complain of a trespass from a mill-dam--Mohegans +of Green Bay apply for aid on their way to visit Stockbridge, +Mass.--Mohegan traditions--Historical Society--Programme of a tour in +the East--Parental disobedience--Indian treaties--Dr. Warren's +Collection of Crania--Hebrew language--Geology--"Goods offer"--Mrs. +Jameson--Mastodon's tooth in Michigan--Captain Marryatt--The Icelandic +language--Munsees--Speech of Little Bear Skin chief, or Mukónsewyán.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LX.">CHAPTER LX.</a></h3> + +<p>Notions of foreigners about America--Mrs. Jameson--Appraisements of +Indian property--Le Jeune's early publication on the Iroquois--Troops +for Florida--A question of Indian genealogy--Annuity payments--Indians +present a claim of salvage--Death of the Prophet Chusco--Indian +sufferings--Gen. Dodge's treaty--Additional debt claims--Gazetteer of +Michigan--Stone's Life of Brant--University of Michigan--Christian +Keepsake--Indian etymology--Small-pox breaks out on the +Missouri--Missionary operations in the north-west--Treaty of Flint River +with the Saginaws.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXI.">CHAPTER LXI.</a></h3> + +<p>Tradition of Pontiac's conspiracy and death--Patriot war--Expedition of +a body of 250 men to Boisblanc--Question of schools and missions among +the Indians--Indian affairs--Storm at Michilimackinack--Life of +Brant--Interpreterships and Indian language--A Mohegan--Affair of the +"Caroline"--Makons--Plan of names for new towns--Indian legends--Florida +war--Patriot war--Arrival of Gen. Scott on the frontiers--Résumé of the +difficulties of the Florida war--Natural history and climate of +Florida--Death of Dr. Lutner.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXII.">CHAPTER LXII.</a></h3> + +<p>Indians tampered with at Grand River--Small-pox in the Missouri +Valley--Living history at home--Sunday schools--Agriculture--Indian +names--Murder of the Glass family--Dr. Morton's inquiries respecting +Indian crania--Necessity of one's writing his name plain--Michigan +Gazetteer in preparation--Attempt to make the Indian a political +pack-horse--Return to the Agency of Michilimackinack--Indian skulls +phrenologically examined--J. Toulmin Smith--Cherokee question--Trip to +Grand River--Treaty and annuity payments--The department accused of +injustice to the Indians.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIII.">CHAPTER LXIII.</a></h3> + +<p>Missions--Hard times, consequent on over-speculation--Question +of the rise of the lakes--Scientific theory--Trip to Washington--Trip +to Lake Superior and the Straits of St. Mary--John Tanner--Indian +improvements north of Michilimackinack--Great cave--Isle +Nabiquon--Superstitious ideas of the Indians connected with +females--Scotch royals--McKenzie--Climate of the United States--Foreign +coins and natural history--Antique fort in Adams County, Ohio--Royal +Society of Northern Antiquaries--Statistics of lands purchased from +the Indians--Sun's eclipse--Government payments.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIV.">CHAPTER LXIV.</a></h3> + +<p>Descendant of one spared at the massacre of St. Bartholomew's--Death of +Gen. Clarke--Massacre of Peurifoy's family in Florida--Gen. Harrison's +historical discourse--Death of an emigrant on board a steamboat--Murder +of an Indian--History of Mackinack--Incidents of the treaty of 29th +July, 1837--Mr. Fleming's account of the missionaries leaving +Georgia, and of the improvements of the Indians west--Death +of Black Hawk--Incidents of his life and character--Dreadful +cruelty of the Pawnees in burning a female captive--Cherokee +emigration--Phrenology--Return to Detroit--University--Indian +affairs--Cherokee removal--Indians shot at Fort Snelling.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXV.">CHAPTER LXV.</a></h3> + +<p>Embark for New York--A glimpse of Texan affairs--Toltecan +monuments--Indian population of Texas--Horrible effects of drinking +ardent spirits among the Indians--Mr. Gallatin--His opinions +on various subjects of philosophy and history--Visit to the +South--Philadelphia--Washington--Indian affairs--Debt claim--Leave to +visit Europe--Question of neutrality--Mr. Van Buren--American +imaginative literature--Knickerbocker--Résumé of the Indian question of +sovereignty.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVI.">CHAPTER LXVI.</a></h3> + +<p>Sentiments of loyalty--Northern Antiquarian Society--Indian statistics-- +Rhode Island Historical Society--Gen. Macomb--Lines in the Odjibwa +language by a mother on placing her children at school--Mehemet +Ali--Mrs. Jameson's opinion on publishers and publishing--Her opinion of +my Indian legends--False report of a new Indian language--Indian +compound words--Delafield's Antiquities--American Fur Company--State of +Indian disturbances in Texas and Florida--Causes of the failure of the +war in Florida, by an officer--Death of an Indian chief--Mr. Bancroft's +opinion on the Dighton Rook inscription--Skroellings not in New +England--Mr. Gallatin's opinion on points of Esquimaux language, +connected with our knowledge of our archaeology.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVII.">CHAPTER LXVII.</a></h3> + +<p>Workings of unshackled mind--Comity of the American Addison--Lake +periodical fluctuations--American antiquities--Indian doings in Florida +and Texas--Wood's New England's Prospect--Philological and historical +comments--Death of Ningwegon--Creeks--Brothertons made citizens--Charles +Fenno Hoffman--Indian names for places on the Hudson--Christians +Indians--Etymology--Theodoric--Appraisements of Indian property--Algic +researches--Plan and object.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVIII.">CHAPTER LXVIII.</a></h3> + +<p>American antiquities--Michilimackinack a summer resort--Death +of Ogimau Keegido--Brothertons--An Indian election--Cherokee +murders--Board of Regents of the Michigan University--Archaeological +facts and rumors--Woman of the Green Valley--A new variety of +fish--Visits of the Austrian and Sardinian Ministers to the +U.S.--Mr. Gallup--Sioux murders--A remarkable display of aurora +borealis--Ottawas of Maumee--Extent of auroral phenomena--Potawattomie +cruelty--Mineralogy--Death of Ondiaka--Chippewa tradition--Fruit +trees--Stone's preparation of the Life and Times of Sir William +Johnson--Dialectic difference between the language of the Ottawas +and the Chippewas--Philological remarks on the Indian languages--Mr. +T. Hulbert.</p> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIX.">CHAPTER LXIX.</a></h3> + +<p>Popular error respecting the Indian character and history--Remarkable +superstition--Theodoric--A missionary choosing a wild flower--Piety +and money--A fiscal collapse in Michigan--Mission of Grand +Traverse--Simplicity of the school-girl's hopes--Singular theory of the +Indians respecting story-telling--Oldest allegory on record--Political +aspects--Seneca treaty--Mineralogy--Farming and mission station on +Lake Michigan.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXX.">CHAPTER LXX.</a></h3> + +<p>Death of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft--Perils of the revolutionary +era--Otwin--Mr. Bancroft's history in the feature of its Indian +relations--A tradition of a noted chief on Lake Michigan--The collection +of information for a historical volume--Opinions of Mr. Paulding, Dr. +Webster, Mr. Duer, John Quincy Adams--Holyon and Alholyon--Family +monument--Mr. Stevenson, American Minister at London--Joanna +Baillie--Wisconsin--Ireland--Detroit--Michilimackinack.</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXI.">CHAPTER LXXI.</a></h3> + +<p>Philology of the Indian tongues--Its difficulties--Belles +lettres and money--Michigan and Georgia--Number of species +in natural history--Etymology--Nebahquam's dream--Trait in Indian +legends--Pictography--Numeration of the races of Polynesia and the Upper +Lakes--Love of one's native tongue--Death of Gen. Harrison--Rush for +office on his inauguration--Ornamental and shade trees--Historical +collections--Mission of "Old Wing".</p> +<br> + +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXII.">CHAPTER LXXII.</a></h3> + +<p>Popular common school education--Iroquois name for Mackinack--Its +scenic beauties poetically considered--Phenomenon of two currents +of adverse wind meeting--Audubon's proposed work on American +quadrupeds--Adario--Geographical range of the mocking-bird--Removal from +the West to the city of New York--An era accomplished--Visit to Europe.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h3>SKETCHES</h3> + +<h3>OF THE</h3> + +<h3>LIFE OF HENRY A. SCHOOLCRAFT.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>The early period at which Mr. Schoolcraft entered the field of +observation in the United States as a naturalist; the enterprise he has +from the outset manifested in exploring the geography and geology of the +Great West; and his subsequent researches as an ethnologist, in +investigating the Indian languages and history, are well known to the +public, and may be appropriately referred to as the grounds of the +present design, in furnishing some brief and connected sketches of his +life, family, studies, and literary labors. He is an example of what +early and continued zeal, talent, and diligence, united with energy of +character and consistent moral habits, may accomplish in the cause of +letters and science, by the force of solitary application, without the +advantage of hereditary wealth, the impulse of patronage, or the +<i>prestige</i> of early academic honors. Ardent in the pursuit of whatever +engaged his attention, quick in the observation of natural phenomena, +and assiduous in the accumulation of facts; with an ever present sense +of their practical and useful bearing--few men, in our modern history, +have accomplished so much, in the lines of research he has chosen, to +render science popular and letters honorable. To him we are indebted for +our first accounts of the geological constitution, and the mineral +wealth and resources of the great valley beyond the Alleghanies, and he +is the discoverer of the actual source of the Mississippi River in +Itasca Lake. For many years, beginning with 1817, he stirred up a zeal +for natural history from one end of the land to the other, and, after +his settlement in the West, he was a point of approach for +correspondents, as his personal memoirs denote, not only on these +topics, but for all that relates to the Indian tribes, in consequence of +which he has been emphatically pronounced "The Red Man's FRIEND."</p> + +<p>Mr. Schoolcraft is a native of New York, and is the descendant in the +third generation, by the paternal line, of an Englishman. James Calcraft +had served with reputation in the armies of the Duke of Marlborough +during the reign of Queen Anne, and was present in that general's +celebrated triumphs on the continent, in one of which he lost an eye, +from the premature explosion of the priming of a cannon. Owing to these +military services he enjoyed and cherished a high reputation for bravery +and loyalty.</p> + +<p>He was a descendant of a family of that name, who came to England with +William the Conqueror--and settled under grants from the crown in +Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire--three separate branches of the family +having received the honor of knighthood for their military services.</p> + +<p>In the reign of George the Second, consequently after 1727, he embarked +at Liverpool in a detachment of veteran troops, intended to act against +Canada. He was present in the operations connected with the building of +Forts Anne and Edwards, on the North River, and Fort William Henry on +Lake George.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of these campaigns he settled in Albany county, N.Y., +which has continued to be the residence of the family for more than a +century. Being a man of education, he at first devoted himself to the +business of a land surveyor, in which capacity he was employed by Col. +Vroman, to survey the boundaries of his tract of land in the then +frontier settlement of Schoharie. At the latter place he married the +only daughter and child of Christian Camerer, one of the Palatines--a +body of determined Saxons who had emigrated from the Upper Rhine in +1712, under the assurance or expectation of a patent from Queen Anne.<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a> +this marriage he had eight children--namely, James, Christian, John, +Margaret, Elizabeth, Lawrence, William, and Helen.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a> Simms' Schoharie. +</blockquote> + +<p>For many years during his old age, he conducted a large school in this +settlement, being the first English school that was taught in that then +frontier part of the country. This appears to be the only tenable +reason that has been assigned for the change of the family name from +Calcraft to Schoolcraft.</p> + +<p>When far advanced in life, he went to live with his son William, on the +New York grants on Otter Creek, in the rich agricultural region south of +Lake Champlain--which is now included in Vermont. Here he died at the +great age of one hundred and two, having been universally esteemed for +his loyalty to his king, his personal courage and energy, and the +uprightness of his character.</p> + +<p>After the death of his father, when the revolutionary troubles +commenced, William, his youngest son, removed into Lower Canada. The +other children all remained in Albany County, except Christian, who, +when the jangling land disputes and conflicts of titles arose in +Schoharie, followed Conrad Wiser, Esq. (a near relative), to the banks +of the Susquehanna. He appears eventually to have pushed his way to +Buchanan River, one of the sources of the Monongahela, in Lewis County, +Virginia, where some of his descendants must still reside. It appears +that they became deeply involved in the Indian wars which the Shawnees +kept up on the frontiers of Virginia. In this struggle they took an +active part, and were visited with the severest retribution by the +marauding Indians. It is stated by Withers that, between 1770 and 1779, +not less than fifteen of this family, men, women, and children, were +killed or taken prisoners, and carried into captivity.<a name="FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a> <i>Chronicles of the Border Warfare in North-western +Virginia</i>. By Alex Withers, Clarksbury, Virginia, 1831. 1 vol. 12mo. +page 319. +</blockquote> + +<p>Of the other children of the original progenitor, James, the eldest son, +died a bachelor. Lawrence was the ancestor of the persons of this name +in Schoharie County. Elizabeth and Helen married, in that county, in the +families of Rose and Haines, and, Margaret, the eldest daughter, married +Col. Green Brush, of the British army, at the house of Gen. Bradstreet, +Albany. Her daughter, Miss Francis Brush, married the celebrated Col. +Ethan Allen, after his return from the Tower of London.</p> + +<p>JOHN, the third son, settled in Watervleit, in the valley of the +Norman's Kill--or, as the Indians called it, Towasentha--Albany County. +He served in a winter's campaign against Oswego, in 1757, and took part +also in the successful siege and storming of Fort Niagara, under Gen. +Prideaux <a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a> and Sir William Johnson, in the summer of 1759. He married +a Miss Anna Barbara Boss, by whom he had three children, namely, Anne, +Lawrence, and John. He had the local reputation of great intrepidity, +strong muscular power, and unyielding decision of character. He died at +the age of 64. LAWRENCE, his eldest son, had entered his seventeenth +year when the American Revolution broke out. He embraced the patriotic +sentiments of that era with great ardor, and was in the first +revolutionary procession that marched through and canvassed the +settlement with martial music, and the Committee of Safety at its head, +to determine who was Whig or Tory.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a> This officer was shot in the trenches, which devolved the +command on Sir William. +</blockquote> + +<p>The military element had always commanded great respect in the family, +and he did not wait to be older, but enrolled himself among the +defenders of his country.</p> + +<p>He was present, in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read +to the troops drawn up in hollow square at Ticonderoga. He marched under +Gen. Schuyler to the relief of Montgomery, at Quebec, and continued to +be an indomitable actor in various positions, civil and military, in the +great drama of the Revolution during its entire continuance.</p> + +<p>In 1777, the darkest and most hopeless period of our revolutionary +contest, he led a reinforcement from Albany to Fort Stanwix, up the +Mohawk Valley, then alive with hostile Indians and Tories, and escaped +them all, and he was in this fort, under Col. Ganzevoort, during its +long and close siege by Col. St. Leger and his infuriated Indian allies. +The whole embodied militia of the Mohawk Valley marched to its relief, +under the bold and patriotic Gen. Herkimer. They were met by the +Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas, and British loyalists, lying in ambush +on the banks of the Oriskany, eight miles from the fort. A dreadful +battle ensued. Gen. Herkimer was soon wounded in the thigh, his leg +broken, and his horse shot under him. With the coolness of a Blucher, he +then directed his saddle to be placed on a small knoll, and, drawing out +his tobacco-box, lit his pipe and calmly smoked while his brave and +unconquerable men fought around him.</p> + +<p>This was one of the most stoutly contested battles of the Revolution. +Campbell says: "This battle made orphans of half the inhabitants of the +Mohawk Valley." <a name="FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a> It was a desperate struggle between neighbors, who +were ranged on opposite sides as Whig and Tory, and it was a triumph, +Herkimer remaining master of the field. During the hottest of the +battle, Col. Willett stepped on to the esplanade of the fort, where the +troops were paraded, and requested all who were willing to fight for +liberty and join a party for the relief of Herkimer, to step forward one +pace. Schoolcraft was the first to advance. Two hundred and fifty men +followed him. An immediate sally was made. They carried the camp of Sir +John Johnson; took all his baggage, military-chest, and papers; drove +him through the Mohawk River; and then turned upon the howling Mohawks +and swept and fired their camp. The results of this battle were +brilliant. The plunder was immense. The lines of the besiegers, which +had been thinned by the forces sent to Oriskany, were carried, and the +noise of firing and rumors of a reinforcement, animated the hearts of +the indomitable men of that day.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a> Annals of Teyon County. +</blockquote> + +<p>After the victory, Herkimer was carried by his men, in a litter, thirty +or forty miles to his own house, below the present town of Herkimer, +where he died, from an unskillful amputation, having just concluded +reading to his family the 38th Psalm.</p> + +<p>But the most dangerous enemy to the cause of freedom was not to be found +in the field, but among neighbors who were lurking at midnight around +the scenes of home. The districts of Albany and Schoharie was infested +by Tories, and young Schoolcraft was ever on the <i>qui vive</i> to ferret +out this most insidious and cruel of the enemy's power. On one occasion +he detected a Tory, who had returned from Canada with a lieutenant's +commission in his pocket. He immediately clapped spurs to his horse, and +reported him to Gov. George Clinton, the Chairman of the Committee of +Safety at Albany. Within three days the lieutenant was seized, tried, +condemned and hanged. Indeed, a volume of anecdotes might be written of +Lawrence Schoolcraft's revolutionary life; suffice it to say, that he +was a devoted, enthusiastic, enterprizing soldier and patriot, and came +out of the contest with an adjutant's commission and a high reputation +for bravery.</p> + +<p>About the close of the Revolutionary war, he married Miss Margaret Anne +Barbara Rowe, a native of Fishkill, Duchess County, New York, by whom he +had thirteen children.</p> + +<p>His disciplinary knowledge and tact in the government of men, united to +amenity of manners, led to his selection in 1802, by the Hon. Jeremiah +Van Rensselaer, as director of his extensive glass works at Hamilton, +near Albany, which he conducted with high reputation so many years, +during which time he bore several important civil and military trusts in +the county. The importance of this manufacture to the new settlements at +that early day, was deeply felt, and his ability and skill in the +management of these extensive works were widely known and appreciated.</p> + +<p>When the war of 1812 appeared inevitable, Gen. Ganzevoort, his old +commanding officer at Fort Stanwix, who was now at the head of the U.S. +army, placed him in command of the first regiment of uniformed +volunteers, who were mustered into service for that conflict. His +celebrity in the manufacture of glass, led capitalists in Western New +York to offer him large inducements to remove there, where he first +introduced this manufacture during the settlement of that new and +attractive part of the State, in which a mania for manufactories was +then rife. In this new field the sphere of his activity and skill were +greatly enlarged, and he enjoyed the consideration and respect of his +townsmen for many years. He died at Vernon, Oneida County, in 1840, at +the age of eighty-four, having lived long to enjoy the success of that +independence for which he had ardently thirsted and fought. A handsome +monument on the banks of the Skenando bears the inscription</p> + +<blockquote> +"A patriot, a Christian, and an honest man."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>A man who was never governed by expediency but by right, and in all his +expressions of opinion, original and fearless of consequences. These +details of the life and character of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, appeared +proper in proceeding to speak of one of his sons, who has for so +considerable a period occupied the public attention as an actor in other +fields, requiring not less energy, decision, enterprise and perseverance +of character.</p> + +<p>Henry Rowe Schoolcraft was born in Albany County, on the 28th of March, +1793, during the second presidential term of Washington. His childhood +and youth were spent in the village of Hamilton, a place once renowned +for its prosperous manufactories, but which has long since verified the +predictions of the bard--</p> + +<blockquote> +"That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,<br> +As ocean sweeps the labored mole away."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Its location is on one of the beautiful and sparkling affluents of the +Towasentha or Norman's Kill, popularly called the Hongerkill, which he +has in one of his occasional publications called the Iósco, from an +aboriginal term. That picturesque and lofty arm of the Catskills, which +is called the Helderberg, bounds the landscape on the west and south, +while the Pine Plains occupy the form of a crescent, between the Mohawk +and the Hudson, bearing the cities of Albany and Schenectady +respectively on its opposite edges. Across this crescent-like Plain of +Pines, by a line of sixteen miles, was the ancient Iroquois war and +trading path. The Towasentha lies on the south borders of this plain, +and was, on the first settlement of the country, the seat of an Indian +population. Here, during the official term of Gen. Hamilton, whose name +the village bears, the capitalists of Albany planted a manufacturing +village. The position is one where the arable forest and farming lands +are bounded by the half arabic waste of the pine plains of the +Honicroisa, whose deep gorges are still infested by the wolf and smaller +animals. The whole valley of the Norman's Kill abounds in lovely and +rural scenes, and quiet retreats and waterfalls, which are suited to +nourish poetic tastes. In these he indulged from his thirteenth year, +periodically writing, and as judgment ripened, destroying volumes of +manuscripts, while at the same time he evinced uncommon diligence at his +books and studies. The poetic talent was, indeed, strongly developed. +His power of versification was early and well formed, and the pieces +which were published anonymously at a maturer period, as "Geehale," and +"The Iroquois," &c., have long been embodied without a name in our +poetic literature. But this faculty, of which we have been permitted to +see the manuscript of some elaborate and vigorous trains of thought, did +not impede a decided intellectual progress in sterner studies in the +sciences and arts. His mind was early imbued with a thirst of knowledge, +and he made such proficiency as to attract the notice of persons of +education and taste. There was developed, too, in him, an early bias +for the philosophy of language. Mr. Van Kleeck, a townsman, in a recent +letter to Dr. R.W. Griswold, says:--</p> + +<p>"I revert with great pleasure to the scenes of my residence, in the part +of Albany County which was also the residence of Henry R. Schoolcraft. I +went to reside at the village of Hamilton, in the town of Guilderland, +in 1803. Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, the father of Henry, had then the +direction of the large manufactories of glass, for which that place was +long noted. The standing of young Henry, I remember, at his school, for +scholarship, was then very noted, and his reputation in the village most +prominent. He was spoken of as a lad of great promise, and a very +learned boy at twelve. Mr. Robert Buchanan, a Scotchman, and a man of +learning, took much pride in his advances, and finally came to his +father and told him that he had taught him all he knew. In Latin, I +think he was taught by Cleanthus Felt. He was at this age very arduous +and assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge. He discovered great +mechanical ingenuity. He drew and painted in water colors, and attracted +the notice of the Hon. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Lt. Governor of the +State, who became so much interested in his advancement, that he took +the initial steps to have him placed with a master. At an early age he +manifested a taste for mineralogy and natural science, which was then (I +speak of about 1808) almost unknown in the country. He was generally to +be found at home, at his studies, when other boys of his age were +attending horseraces, cock-fights, and other vicious amusements for +which the village was famous.</p> + +<p>"At this time he organized with persevering effort, a literary society, +in which discussions took place by the intelligent inhabitants on +subjects of popular and learned interests. At an early age, I think +sixteen, he went to the west, and the first that was afterwards heard of +him was his bringing to New York a splendid collection of the mineralogy +and natural history of the west." <a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a> Letter of L.L. Van Kleeck, Esq., to Dr. R.W. Griswold, June +4th, 1851. +</blockquote> + +<p>In a part of the country where books were scarce, it was not easy to +supply this want. He purchased several editions of English classics at +the sale of the valuable library of Dirck Ten Broeck, Esq., of Albany, +and his room in a short time showed the elements of a library and a +cabinet of minerals, and drawings, which were arranged with the greatest +care and neatness. Having finished his primary studies, with high +reputation, he prepared, under an improved instructor, to enter Union +College. It was at the age of fifteen that he set on foot, as Mr. Van +Kleeck mentions, an association for mental improvement. These meetings +drew together persons of literary tastes and acquirements in the +vicinity. The late John V. Veeder, Wm. McKown, and L.L. Van Kleeck, +Esqs., Mr. Robert Alsop, the late John Schoolcraft, Esq., G. Batterman, +John Sloan, and other well-known gentlemen of the town, all of whom were +his seniors in age, attended these meetings.</p> + +<p>Mineralogy was at that time an almost unknown science in the United +States. At first the heavy drift stratum of Albany County, as seen in +the bed of Norman's Kill; and its deep cuttings in the slate and other +rocks, were his field of mineralogical inquiries. Afterwards, while +living at Lake Dunmore, in Addison County, Vermont, he revised and +systematized the study under the teaching of Professor Hall, of +Middlebury College, to which he added chemistry, natural philosophy and +medicine. Having now the means, he erected a chemical furnace, and +ordered books, apparatus, and tests from the city of New York. By these +means he perfected the arts which were under his direction in the large +way; and he made investigations of the phenomena of the fusion of +various bodies, which he prepared for the press under the name of +Vitriology, an elaborate work of research. Amongst the facts brought to +light, it is apprehended, were revealed the essential principles of an +art which is said to have been discovered and lost in the days of +Tiberius Caesar.</p> + +<p>He taught himself the Hebrew and German, with the aid only of grammars +and lexicons; and, with the assistance of instructors, the reading of +French. His assiduity, his love of method, the great value he attached +to time, and his perseverance in whatever study or research he +undertook, were indeed indomitable, and serve to prove how far they will +carry the mind, and how much surer tests they are of ultimate usefulness +and attainment, than the most dazzling genius without these moral props. +Self-dependent, self-acting, and self-taught, it is apprehended that few +men, with so little means and few advantages, have been in so peculiar a +sense the architect of their own fortunes.</p> + +<p>He commenced writing for the newspapers and periodicals in 1808, in +which year he also published a poetic tribute to a friend, which excited +local notice, and was attributed to a person of literary celebrity. For, +notwithstanding the gravity of his studies and researches, he had +indulged an early poetic taste for a series of years, by compositions of +an imaginative character, and might, it should seem, have attained +distinction in that way. His remarks in the "<i>Literary and Philosophical +Repertory</i>," on the evolvement of hydrogen gas from the strata of +Western New York, under the name of Burning Springs, evinced an early +aptitude for philosophical discussion. In a notice of some +archaeological discoveries made in Hamburgh, Erie County, which were +published at Utica in 1817, he first denoted the necessity of +discriminating between the antique French and European, and the +aboriginal period in our antiquities; for the want of which +discrimination, casual observers and discoverers of articles in our +tumuli are perpetually over-estimating the state of ancient art.</p> + +<p>About 1816 he issued proposals, and made arrangements to publish his +elaborated work on vitreology, which, so far as published, was +favorably received.</p> + +<p>In 1817 he was attracted to go to the Valley of the Mississippi. A new +world appeared to be opening for American enterprise there. Its extent +and resources seemed to point it out as the future residence of +millions; and he determined to share in the exploration of its +geography, geology, mineralogy and general ethnology, for in this latter +respect also it offered, by its curious mounds and antiquities and +existing Indian tribes, a field of peculiar and undeveloped interest.</p> + +<p>He approached this field of observation by descending the Alleghany +River from Western New York to the Ohio. He made Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, +and Louisville centres of observation. At the latter place he published +in the papers an account of the discovery of a body of the black oxide +of manganese, on the banks of the Great Sandy River of Kentucky, and +watched the return papers from the old Atlantic States, to see whether +notices of this kind would be copied and approved. Finding this test +favorable, he felt encouraged in his mineralogical researches. Having +descended the Ohio to its mouth one thousand miles, by its involutions +below Pittsburgh, and entered the <i>Mississippi</i>, he urged his way up +the strong and turbid channel of the latter, in barges, by slow stages +of five or six miles a day, to St. Louis. This slowness of travel gave +him an opportunity of exploring on foot the whole of the Missouri shore, +so noted, from early Spanish and French days, for its mines. After +visiting the mounds of Illinois, he recrossed the Mississippi into the +mineral district of Missouri. Making Potosi the centre of his survey and +the deposit of his collections, he executed a thorough examination of +that district, where he found some seventy mines scattered over a large +surface of the public domain, which yielded, at the utmost, by a very +desultory process, about three millions of pounds of lead annually. +Having explored this region very minutely, he wished to ascertain its +geological connection with the Ozark and other highland ranges, which +spread at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and he planned an exploratory +expedition into that region. This bold and hazardous journey he +organized and commenced at Potosi early in the month of November, 1818, +and prosecuted it under many disadvantages during that fall and the +succeeding winter. Several expert and practiced woodsmen were to have +been of this party, but when the time for setting out came all but two +failed, under various excuses. One of these was finally obliged to turn +back from <i>Mine au Breton</i> with a continued attack of fever and ague. +Ardent in the plan, and with a strong desire to extend the dominions of +science, he determined to push on with a single companion, and a single +pack-horse, which bore the necessary camp conveniences, and was led +alternately by each from day to day. A pocket compass guided their march +by day, and they often slept in vast caverns in limestone cliffs at +night. Gigantic springs of the purest crystaline water frequently gushed +up from the soil or rocks. This track laid across highlands, which +divide the confluent waters of the Missouri from those of the +Mississippi. Indians, wild beasts, starvation, thirst, were the dangers +of the way. This journey, which led into the vast and desolate parts of +Arkansas, was replete with incidents and adventures of the +highest interest.</p> + +<p>While in Missouri, and after his return from this adventurous journey, +he drew up a description of the mines, geology, and mineralogy of the +country. Conceiving a plan for the better management of the lead mines +as a part of the public domain, he determined to visit Washington, to +submit it to the government. Packing up his collections of mineralogy +and geology, he ordered them to the nearest point of embarkation on the +Mississippi, and, getting on board a steamer at St. Genevieve, proceeded +to New Orleans. Thence he took shipping for New York, passing through +the Straits of Florida, and reached his destination during the +prevalence of the yellow fever in that city. He improved the time of his +quarantine at Staten Island by exploring its mineralogy and geology, +where he experienced a kind and appreciating reception from the health +officer, Dr. De Witt.</p> + +<p>His reception also from scientific men at New York was most favorable, +and produced a strong sensation. Being the first person who had brought +a collection of its scientific resources from the Mississippi Valley, +its exhibition and diffusion in private cabinets gave an impulse to +these studies in the country.</p> + +<p>Men of science and gentlemen of enlarged minds welcomed him. Drs. +Mitchell and Hosack, who were then at the summit of their influence, and +many other leading and professional characters extended a hand of +cordial encouragement and appreciation. Gov. De Witt Clinton was one of +his earliest and most constant friends. The Lyceum of Natural History +and the New York Historical Society admitted him to membership.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn of 1819, he published his work on the mines and +mineral resources of Missouri, and with this publication as an exponent +of his views, he proceeded to Washington, where he was favorably +received by President Monroe, and by Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crawford, +members of his cabinet. At the request of the latter he drew up a memoir +on the reorganization of the western mines, which was well received. +Some legislation appeared necessary. Meantime Mr. Calhoun, who was +struck by the earnestness of his views and scientific enterprise, +offered him the situation of geologist and mineralogist to an exploring +expedition, which the war department was about dispatching from Detroit +to the sources of the Mississippi under the orders of Gen. Cass.</p> + +<p>This he immediately accepted, and, after spending a few weeks at the +capital, returned in Feb., 1820, to New York, to await the opening of +the interior navigation. As soon as the lakes opened he proceeded to +Detroit, and in the course of two or three weeks embarked on this +celebrated tour of exploration. The great lake basins were visited and +explored, the reported copper mines on Lake Superior examined, and the +Upper Mississippi entered at Sandy Lake, and, after tracing it in its +remote mazes to the highest practical point, he descended its channel by +St. Anthony's Falls to Prairie du Chien and the Du Buque lead mines. The +original outward track north-westward was then regained, through the +valleys of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, and the extended shores of Lake +Michigan and Huron elaborately traced. In this he was accompanied by the +late Professor David B. Douglass, who collected the materials for a +correct map of the great lakes and the sources of the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>It was late in the autumn when Mr. Schoolcraft returned to his residence +at New York, when he was solicited to publish his "narrative journal." +This he completed early in the spring of 1821. This work, which evinces +accurate and original powers of observation, established his reputation +as a scientific and judicious traveler. Copies of it found their way to +England, where it was praised by Sir Humphrey Davy and the veteran +geographer, Major Rennel. His report to the Secretary of War on the +copper mines of Lake Superior, was published in advance by the American +Journal of Science, and by order of the Senate of the United States, and +gives the earliest scientific account of the mineral affluence of the +basin of that lake. His geological report to the same department made +subsequently, traces the formations of that part of the continent, which +gives origin to the Mississippi River, and denotes the latitudes where +it is crossed by the primitive and volcanic rocks. The ardor and +enthusiasm which he evinced in the cause of science, and his personal +enterprise in traversing vast regions, awakened a corresponding spirit; +and the publication of his narratives had the effect to popularize the +subject of mineralogy and geology throughout the country.</p> + +<p>In 1821, he executed a very extensive journey through the Miami of the +Lakes and the River Wabash, tracing those streams minutely to the +entrance of the latter into the Ohio River. He then proceeded to explore +the Oshawanoe Mountains, near Cave-in-Rock, with their deposits of the +fluate of lime, galena, and other mineral treasures. From this range he +crossed over the grand prairies of the Illinois to St. Louis, revisited +the mineral district of Potosi, and ascended the Illinois River and its +north-west fork, the <i>Des Plaines</i>, to Chicago, where a large body of +Indians were congregated to confer on the cession of their lands. At +these important conferences, he occupied the position of secretary. He +published an account of the incidents of this exploratory journey, under +the title of <i>Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi +Valley</i>. He found, in passing up the river <i>Des Plaines</i>, a remarkably +well characterized specimen of a fossil tree, completely converted to +stone, of which he prepared a descriptive memoir, which had the effect +further to direct the public mind to geological phenomena.</p> + +<p>We are not prepared to pursue minutely these first steps of his +energetic course in the early investigation of our natural history and +geography. In 1822, while the lead-mine problem was under advisement at +Washington, he was appointed by Mr. Monroe to the semi-diplomatic +position of Agent for Indian Affairs on the North-west Frontiers. This +opened a new field of inquiry, and, while it opposed no bar to the +pursuits of natural science, it presented a broad area of historical and +ethnological research. On this he entered with great ardor, and an event +of generally controlling influence on human pursuits occurred to enlarge +these studies, in his marriage to Miss Jane Johnston, a highly +cultivated young lady, who was equally well versed in the English and +Algonquin languages, being a descendant, by the mother's side, of +Wabojeeg, a celebrated war sachem, and ruling cacique of his nation. Her +father, Mr. John Johnston, was a gentleman of the highest connections, +fortune, and standing, from the north of Ireland, who had emigrated to +America during the presidency of Washington. He possessed great +enthusiasm and romance of character, united with poetic tastes, and +became deeply enamored of the beautiful daughter of Wabojeeg, married +her, and had eight children. His eldest daughter, Jane, was sent, at +nine years of age, to Europe to be thoroughly educated under the care of +his relatives there, and, when she returned to America, was placed at +the head of her father's household, where her refined dignified manners +and accomplishments attracted the notice and admiration of numerous +visitors to that seat of noble hospitality. Mr. Schoolcraft was among +the first suitors for her hand, and married her in October, 1823.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnston was a fine <i>belles lettres</i> scholar, and entered readily +into the discussions arising from the principles of the Indian +languages, and plans for their improvement.</p> + +<p>Mr. Schoolcraft's marriage into an aboriginal family gave no small +stimulus to these inquiries, which were pursued under such singularly +excellent advantages, and with untiring ardor in the seclusion of +Elmwood and Michilimackinack, for a period of nearly twenty years, and, +until his wife's lamented death, which happened during a visit to her +sister, at Dundas, Canada West, in the year 1842, and while he himself +was absent on a visit to England. Mr. Schoolcraft has not, at any period +of his life, sought advancement in political life, but executed with +energy and interest various civic offices, which were freely offered to +him. From 1828 to 1832, he was an efficient member of the Territorial +Legislature, where he introduced a system of township and county names, +formed on the basis of the aboriginal vocabulary, and also procured the +incorporation of a historical society, and, besides managing the +finances, as chairman of an appropriate committee, he introduced and +secured the passage of several laws respecting the treatment of the +native tribes.</p> + +<p>In 1828, the Navy Department offered him a prominent situation in the +scientific corps of the United States Exploring Expedition to the South +Seas. This was urged in several letters written to him at St. Mary's, by +Mr. Reynolds, with the approbation of Mr. Southard, then Secretary of +the Navy. However flattering such an offer was to his ambition, his +domestic relations did not permit his acceptance of the place. He +appeared to occupy his advanced position on the frontier solely to +further the interests of natural history, American geography, and +growing questions of philosophic moment.</p> + +<p>These particulars will enable the reader to appreciate the advantages +with which he commenced and pursued the study of the Indian languages, +and American ethnology. He made a complete lexicon of the Algonquin +language, and reduced its grammar to a philosophical system. "It is +really surprising," says Gen. Cass, in a letter, in 1824, in view of +these researches, "that so little valuable information has been given to +the world on these subjects."</p> + +<p>Mr. Duponceau, President of the American Philosophical Society, +translated two of Mr. Schoolcraft's lectures before the Algic Society, +on the grammatical structure of the Indian language, into French, for +the National Institute of France, where the prize for the best essay on +Algonquin language was awarded to him. He writes to Dr. James, in 1834, +in reference to these lectures: "His description of the composition of +words in the Chippewa language, is the most elegant I have yet seen. He +is an able and most perspicuous writer, and treats his subject +philosophically."</p> + +<p>Approbation from these high sources had only the effect to lead him to +renewed diligence and deeper exertions to further the interests of +natural science, geography, and ethnology; and, while engaged in the +active duties of an important government office, he maintained an +extensive correspondence with men of science, learning, and enterprise +throughout the Union.</p> + +<p>The American Philosophical, Geological, and Antiquarian Societies, with +numerous state and local institutions, admitted him to membership. The +Royal Geographical Society of London, the Royal Society of Northern +Antiquaries at Copenhagen, and the Ethnological Society of Paris, +inscribed his name among their foreign members. In 1846, the College of +Geneva conferred on him the degree of LL.D.</p> + +<p>While the interests of learning and science thus occupied his private +hours, the state of Indian affairs on the western frontiers called for +continued exertions, and journeys, and expeditions through remote +regions. The introduction of a fast accumulating population into the +Mississippi Valley, and the great lake basins, continually subjected the +Indian tribes to causes of uneasiness, and to a species of reflection, +of which they had had no examples in the long centuries of their +hunter state.</p> + +<p>In 1825, 1826, and 1827, he attended convocations of the tribes at very +remote points, which imposed the necessity of passing through forests, +wildernesses, and wild portages, where none but the healthy, the robust, +the fearless, and the enterprising can go.</p> + +<p>In 1831, circumstances inclined the tribes on the Upper Mississippi to +hostilities and extensive combinations. He was directed by the +Government to conduct an expedition through the country lying south and +west of Lake Superior, reaching from its banks, which have from the +earliest dates been the fastnesses of numerous warlike tribes. This he +accomplished satisfactorily, visiting the leading chiefs, and counseling +them to the policy of peace.</p> + +<p>In 1832, the Sauks and Foxes resolved to re-occupy lands which they had +previously relinquished in the Rock River Valley. This brought them into +collision with the citizens and militia of Illinois. The result was a +general conflict, which, from its prominent Indian leader, has been +called the Black Hawk war. From accounts of the previous year, its +combinations embraced <i>nine</i> of the leading tribes. It was uncertain how +far they extended. Mr. Schoolcraft was selected by the Indian and War +Department, to conduct a second expedition into the region embracing the +entire Upper Mississippi, north and west of St. Anthony's Falls. He +pursued this stream to the points to which it had been explored in 1806, +by Lieut. Pike, and in 1820, by Gen. Cass; and finding the state of the +water favorable for ascending, traced the river up to its ultimate +forks, and to its actual source in Itasca Lake. This point he reached on +the 23d July, 1832; but a fraction under 300 years after the discovery +of its lower portions by De Soto. This was Mr. Schoolcraft's crowning +geographical discovery, of which he published an account, with maps, in +1833. He is believed to be the only man in America who has seen the +Mississippi from its source in Itasca Lake to its mouth in the Gulf +of Mexico.</p> + +<p>In 1839, he published his collection of oral legends from the Indian +wigwams, under the general cognomen of <i>Algic Researches</i>. In these +volumes is revealed an amount of the Indian idiosyncrasies, of what may +be called their philosophy and mode of reasoning on life, death, and +immortality, and their singular modes of reasoning and action, which +makes this work one of the most unique and original contributions to +American literature. His love of investigation has always been a +characteristic trait.</p> + +<p>The writer of this sketch, who is thoroughly acquainted with Mr. +Schoolcraft's character, habits, and feelings, has long regarded him the +complete embodiment of industry and temperance in all things. He rises +early and retires early, eats moderately of simple food, never uses a +drop of stimulant, and does not even smoke a cigar. In temperament he is +among the happiest of human beings, always looks at the bright side of +circumstances--loves to hear of the prosperity of his neighbors, and +hopes for favorable turns of character, even in the most depraved. The +exaltation of his intellectual pursuits, and his sincere piety, have +enabled him to rise above all the petty disquietudes of everyday life, +and he seems utterly incapable of envy or detraction, or the indulgence +of any ignoble or unmanly passions. Indeed, one of his most intimate +friends remarked "that he was the <i>beau-ideal</i> of dignified manliness +and truthfulness of character." His manners possess all that +unostentatious frankness, and self-possessed urbanity and quietude, that +is indicative of refined feelings. That such a shining mark has not +escaped envy, detraction, and persecution, will surprise no one who is +well acquainted with the materials of which human nature is composed. +"Envy is the toll that is always paid to greatness."</p> + +<p>Mr. Schoolcraft has had enemies, bitter unrelenting enemies, from the +wiles of whom he has lost several fortunes, but they have not succeeded, +in spite of all their efforts, in depriving him of an honored name, that +will live as the friend of the red man and an aboriginal historian, for +countless ages.</p> + +<p>Some twenty years ago he became a professor of religion, and the +ennobling influences of Bible truth have mellowed, and devoted to the +most unselfish and exalted aims his natural determination and enthusiasm +of character. God has promised to his people "that their righteousness +shall shine as the light, and their just dealing as the noonday." +Protected in such an impregnable tower of defence from the strife of +tongues, Mr. Schoolcraft has been enabled freely to forgive, and even +befriend, those narrow-minded calumniators who have aimed so many +poisoned arrows at his fame, his character, and his success in life. +These are they who hate all excellence that they themselves can never +hope to reach.</p> + +<p>Mr. Schoolcraft's persevering industry is so indomitable, that he has +been known to write from sun to sun almost every day for many +consecutive years, taking no recreation, and yet these sedentary habits +of untiring application being regulated by system, have not impaired the +digestive functions of his usually robust health. One of his family +remarks, "that she believed that if his meals were weighed every day in +the year they would average the same amount every twenty-four hours." He +has, however, been partly lame for the last two years, from the effects, +it is thought, of early exposure in his explorations in the west, where +he used frequently to lie down in the swamps to sleep, with no pillow +save clumps of bog, and no covering but a traveling Indian blanket, +which sometimes when he awoke was cased in snow. This local impediment, +however, being entirely without neuralgic or rheumatic symptoms, has had +no effect whatever upon his mental activity, as every moment of his time +is still consecrated to literary pursuits.</p> + +<p>In 1841 he removed his residence from Michilimackinack to the city of +New York, where he was instrumental, with Mr. John R. Bartlett, Mr. H. +C. Murphy, Mr. Folsom and other ethnologists, in forming the American +Ethnological Society--which, under the auspices of the late Mr. Albert +Gallatin, has produced efficient labors. In 1842 he visited England and +the Continent. He attended the twelfth meeting of the British +Association for the Advancement of Science at Manchester. He then +visited France, Germany, Prussia, Belgium, and Holland. On returning to +New York he took an active interest in the deliberations of the New York +Historical Society, made an antiquarian tour to Western Virginia, Ohio, +and the Canadas, and published in numbers the first volume of an Indian +miscellany under the title of "Oneota, or the Indian in his Wigwam."</p> + +<p>In 1845 the Legislature of New York authorized him to take a census, and +collect the statistics of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, which were +published, together with materials illustrating their history and +character, in a volume entitled, NOTES ON THE IROQUOIS.</p> + +<p>This work was highly approved by the Legislature, and copies eagerly +sought by persons taking an interest in the fortunes of this celebrated +tribe. Contrary to expectation, their numbers were found to be +considerable, and their advance in agriculture and civilization of a +highly encouraging character; and the State has since made liberal +appropriations for their education.</p> + +<p>In 1846 he brought the subject of the American aborigines to the notice +of the members of Congress, expressing the opinion, and enforcing it by +facts drawn from many years' experience and residence on the frontiers, +that it was misunderstood, that the authentic published materials from +which the Indians were to be judged were fragmentary and scanty, and +that the public policy respecting them, and the mode of applying their +funds, and dealing with them, was in many things false and unjust. These +new views produced conviction in enlightened minds, and, during the +following session, in the winter of 1847, an appropriation was made, +authorizing the Secretary of War to collect the statistics of all the +tribes within the Union; together with materials to illustrate their +history, condition, and prospects. Mr. Schoolcraft was selected by the +government to conduct the inquiry, in connection with the Indian Bureau. +And he immediately prepared and issued blank forms, calling on the +officers of the department for the necessary statistical facts. At the +same time a comprehensive system of interrogatories was distributed, +intended to bring out the true state and condition of the Indian tribes +from gentlemen of experience, in all parts of the Union.</p> + +<p>These interrogatories are founded on a series of some thirty years' +personal observations on Indian society and manners, which were made +while living in their midst on the frontiers, and on the data preserved +in his well-filled portfolios and journals; and the comprehensive +character of the queries, consequently, evince a complete mastery of his +subject, such as no one could have been at all prepared to furnish, who +had had less full and favorable advantages. In these queries he views +the Indian race, not only as tribes having every claim on our sympathy +and humanity, but as one of the races of the human family, scattered by +an inscrutable Providence, whose origin and destiny is one of the most +interesting problems of American history, philosophy, and Christianity.</p> + +<p>The first part of this work, in an elaborate quarto volume, was +published in the autumn of 1850, with illustrations from the pencil of +Capt. Eastman, a gentleman of the army of the United States, and has +been received by Congress and the diurnal and periodical press with +decided approbation. It is a work which is national in its conception +and manner of execution; and, if carried out according to the plan +exhibited, will do ample justice, at once to the Indian tribes, their +history, condition, and destiny, and to the character of the government +as connected with them. We have been reproached by foreign pens for our +treatment of these tribes, and our policy, motives, and justice +impugned. If we are not mistaken, the materials here collected will show +how gratuitous such imputations have been. It is believed that no stock +of the aborigines found by civilized nations on the globe, have received +the same amount of considerate and benevolent and humane treatment, as +denoted by its laws, its treaties, and general administration of Indian +affairs, from the establishment of the Constitution, and this too, in +the face of the most hostile, wrongheaded, and capricious conduct on +their part, that ever signalized the history of a barbarous people.</p> + +<p>In January, 1847, he married Miss Mary Howard, of Beaufort District, +South Carolina, a lady of majestic stature, high toned moral sentiment, +dignified polished manners, gifted conversational powers and literary +tastes. This marriage has proved a peculiarly fortunate and happy one, +as they both highly appreciate and respect each other, and she warmly +sympathizes in his literary plans. She also relieves him of all domestic +care by her judicious management of his household affairs. Most of her +time, however, is spent with him in his study, where she revises and +copies his writings for the press. She is the descendant of a family who +emigrated to South Carolina from England, in the reign of George the +Second, from whom they received a large grant of land, situated near the +Broad River. Upon this original grant the family have from generation to +generation continued to reside. It is now a flourishing cotton and rice +growing plantation, and is at present owned by her brother, Gen. John +Howard. Her sister married a grandnephew of Gen. William Moultrie, who +was so distinguished in the revolutionary war, and her brother a +granddaughter of Judge Thomas Heyward, who was a ripe scholar and one of +the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Although one of her +brothers was in the battle of San Jacinto, she is herself the first +permanent emigrant of her family from South Carolina to the North, +having accompanied her husband to Washington, D.C., where he has ever +since been engaged in conducting the national work on the history of the +Indians. To this work, of which the second part is now in the press, +every power of his extensive observation and ripe experience is devoted, +and with results which justify the highest anticipations which have been +formed of it. Meantime it is understood that the present memoirs is the +first volume of a revised series of his complete works, including his +travels, reviews, papers on natural history, Indian tales, and +miscellanies.</p> + +<p>To this rapid sketch of a man rising to distinction without the +adventitious aids of hereditary patrimony, wealth, or early friends, it +requires little to be added to show the value of self-dependence. Such +examples must encourage all whose ambitions are sustained by assiduity, +temperance, self-reliance, and a consistent perseverance in well +weighed ends.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2>PERSONAL MEMOIRS.</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p>Brief reminiscences of scenes from 1809 to 1817--Events preliminary to a +knowledge of western life--Embarkation on the source of the Alleghany +River--Descent to Pittsburgh--Valley of the Monongahela; its coal and +iron--Descent of the Ohio in an ark--Scenes and incidents by the way-- +Cincinnati--Some personal incidents which happened there.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn of 1809, being then in my seventeenth year, I quitted +the village of Hamilton, Albany County (a county in which my family had +lived from an early part of the reign of George II.), and, after a +pleasant drive of half a day through the PINE PLAINS, accompanied by +some friends, reached the city of Schenectady, and from thence took the +western stage line, up the Valley of the Mohawk, to the village of +Utica, where we arrived, I think, on the third day, the roads being +heavy. The next day I proceeded to Vernon, the site of a busy and +thriving village, where my father had recently engaged in the +superintendency of extensive manufacturing operations. I was here within +a few miles of Oneida Castle, then the residence of the ancient Oneida +tribe of Iroquois. There was, also, in this town, a remnant of the old +Mohigans, who, under the name of Stockbridges, had, soon after the +Revolutionary War, removed from the Valley of the Housatonic, in +Massachusetts, to Oneida. Throngs of both tribes were daily in the +village, and I was thus first brought to notice their manners and +customs; not dreaming, however, that it was to be my lot to pass so many +of the subsequent years of my life as an observer of the Indian race.</p> + +<p>Early in the spring of 1810, I accompanied Mr. Alexander Bryan Johnson, +of Utica, a gentleman of wealth, intelligence, and enterprise, to the +area of the Genesee country, for the purpose of superintending a +manufactory for a company incorporated by the State Legislature. After +visiting Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario, it was finally resolved to locate +this company's works near Geneva, on the banks of Seneca Lake.</p> + +<p>During my residence here, the War of 1812 broke out; the events of which +fell with severity on this frontier, particularly on the lines included +between the Niagara and Lake Champlain, where contending armies and +navies operated. While these scenes of alarm and turmoil were enacting, +and our trade with Great Britain was cut off, an intense interest arose +for manufactures of first necessity, needed by the country, particularly +for that indispensable article of new settlements, window glass. In +directing the foreign artisans employed in the making of this product of +skill, my father, Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, had, from an early period +after the American Revolution, acquired celebrity, by the general +superintendency of the noted works of this kind near Albany, and +afterwards in Oneida County.</p> + +<p>Under his auspices, I directed the erection of similar works in Western +New York and in the States of Vermont and New Hampshire.</p> + +<p>While in Vermont, I received a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per +annum, which enabled me to pursue my studies, <i>ex academia</i>, at +Middlebury College. In conversation with President Davis, I learned that +this was the highest salary paid in the State, he himself receiving +eleven hundred, and the Governor of the State but eight hundred.</p> + +<p>The extensive and interesting journeys connected with the manufacturing +impulse of these engagements, reaching over a varied surface of several +hundred miles, opened up scenes of life and adventure which gave me a +foretaste of, and preparedness for, the deeper experiences of the +western wilderness; and the war with England was no sooner closed than I +made ready to share in the exploration of the FAR WEST. The wonderful +accounts brought from the Mississippi valley--its fertility, extent, and +resources--inspired a wish to see it for myself, and to this end I made +some preliminary explorations in Western New York, in 1816 and 1817. I +reached Olean, on the source of the Alleghany River, early in 1818, +while the snow was yet upon the ground, and had to wait several weeks +for the opening of that stream. I was surprised to see the crowd of +persons, from various quarters, who had pressed to this point, waiting +the opening of the navigation.</p> + +<p>It was a period of general migration from the East to the West. Commerce +had been checked for several years by the war with Great Britain. +Agriculture had been hindered by the raising of armies, and a harassing +warfare both on the seaboard and the frontiers; and manufactures had +been stimulated to an unnatural growth, only to be crushed by the peace. +Speculation had also been rife in some places, and hurried many +gentlemen of property into ruin. Banks exploded, and paper money flooded +the country.</p> + +<p>The fiscal crisis was indeed very striking. The very elements seemed +leagued against the interests of agriculture in the Atlantic States, +where a series of early and late frosts, in 1816 and 1817, had created +quite a panic, which helped to settle the West.</p> + +<p>I mingled in this crowd, and, while listening to the anticipations +indulged in, it seemed to me that the war had not, in reality, been +fought for "free trade and sailors' rights" where it commenced, but to +gain a knowledge of the world beyond the Alleghanies.</p> + +<p>Many came with their household stuff, which was to be embarked in arks +and flat boats. The children of Israel could scarcely have presented a +more motley array of men and women, with their "kneading troughs" on +their backs, and their "little ones," than were there assembled, on +their way to the new land of promise.</p> + +<p>To judge by the tone of general conversation, they meant, in their +generation, to plough the Mississippi Valley from its head to its foot. +There was not an idea short of it. What a world of golden dreams +was there!</p> + +<p>I took passage in the first ark that attempted the descent for the +season. This ark was built of stout planks, with the lower seams +caulked, forming a perfectly flat basis on the water. It was about +thirty feet wide and sixty long, with gunwales of some eighteen inches. +Upon this was raised a structure of posts and boards about eight feet +high, divided into rooms for cooking and sleeping, leaving a few feet +space in front and rear, to row and steer. The whole was covered by a +flat roof, which formed a promenade, and near the front part of this +deck were two long "sweeps," a species of gigantic oars, which were +occasionally resorted to in order to keep the unwieldy vessel from +running against islands or dangerous shores.</p> + +<p>We went on swimmingly, passing through the Seneca reservation, where the +picturesque costume of the Indians seen on shore served to give +additional interest to scenes of the deepest and wildest character. +Every night we tied our ark to a tree, and built a fire on shore. +Sometimes we narrowly escaped going over falls, and once encountered a +world of labor and trouble by getting into a wrong channel. I made +myself as useful and agreeable as possible to all. I had learned to row +a skiff with dexterity during my residence on Lake Dunmore, and turned +this art to account by taking the ladies ashore, as we floated on with +our ark, and picked up specimens while they culled shrubs and flowers. +In this way, and by lending a ready hand at the "sweeps" and at the oars +whenever there was a pinch, I made myself agreeable. The worst thing we +encountered was rain, against which our rude carpentry was but a poor +defence. We landed at everything like a town, and bought milk, and eggs, +and butter. Sometimes the Seneca Indians were passed, coming up stream +in their immensely long pine canoes. There was perpetual novelty and +freshness in this mode of wayfaring. The scenery was most enchanting. +The river ran high, with a strong spring current, and the hills +frequently rose in most picturesque cliffs.</p> + +<p>1818. I do not recollect the time consumed in this descent. We had gone +about three hundred miles, when we reached Pittsburgh. It was the 28th +of March when we landed at this place, which I remember because it was +my birthday. And I here bid adieu to the kind and excellent proprietor +of the ark, L. Pettiborne, Esq., who refused to receive any compensation +for my passage, saying, prettily, that he did not know how they could +have got along without me.</p> + +<p>I stopped at one of the best hotels, kept by a Mrs. McCullough, and, +after visiting the manufactories and coal mines, hired a horse, and went +up the Monongahela Valley, to explore its geology as high as +Williamsport. The rich coal and iron beds of this part of the country +interested me greatly; I was impressed with their extent, and value, and +the importance which they must eventually give to Pittsburgh. After +returning from this trip, I completed my visits to the various +workshops and foundries, and to the large glassworks of Bakewell and +of O'Hara.</p> + +<p>I was now at the head of the Ohio River, which is formed by the junction +of the Alleghany and Monongahela. My next step was to descend this +stream; and, while in search of an ark on the borders of the +Monongahela, I fell in with a Mr. Brigham, a worthy person from +Massachusetts, who had sallied out with the same view. We took passage +together on one of these floating houses, with the arrangements of which +I had now become familiar. I was charmed with the Ohio; with its +scenery, which was every moment shifting to the eye; and with the +incidents of such a novel voyage. Off Wheeling we made fast to another +ark, from the Monongahela, in charge of Capt. Hutchinson, an intelligent +man. There were a number of passengers, who, together with this +commander, added to our social circle, and made it more agreeable: among +these, the chief person was Dr. Selman, of Cincinnati, who had been a +surgeon in Wayne's army, and who had a fund of information of this era. +My acquaintance with subjects of chemistry and mineralogy enabled me to +make my conversation agreeable, which was afterwards of some +advantage to me.</p> + +<p>We came to at Grave Creek Fleets, and all went up to see the Great +Mound, the apex of which had a depression, with a large tree growing in +it having the names and dates of visit of several persons carved on its +trunk. One of the dates was, I think, as early as 1730. We also stopped +at Gallipolis--the site of a French colony of some notoriety. The river +was constantly enlarging; the spring was rapidly advancing, and making +its borders more beautiful; and the scenery could scarcely have been +more interesting. There was often, it is true, a state of newness and +rudeness in the towns, and villages, and farms, but it was ever +accompanied with the most pleasing anticipations of improvement and +progress. We had seldom to look at old things, save the Indian +antiquities. The most striking works of this kind were at Marietta, at +the junction of the Muskingum. This was, I believe, the earliest point +of settlement of the State of Ohio. But to us, it had a far more +interesting point of attraction in the very striking antique works +named, for which it is known. We visited the elevated square and the +mound. We gazed and wondered as others have done, and without fancying +that we were wiser than our predecessors had been.</p> + +<p>At Marietta, a third ark from the waters of the Muskingum was added to +our number, and making quite a flotilla. This turned out to be the +property of Hon. J.B. Thomas, of Illinois, a Senator in Congress, a +gentleman of great urbanity of manners and intelligence. By this +addition of deck, our promenade was now ample. And it would be difficult +to imagine a journey embracing a greater number of pleasing incidents +and prospects.</p> + +<p>When a little below Parkersburgh, we passed Blennerhasset's Island, +which recalled for a moment the name of Aaron Burr, and the eloquent +language of Mr. Wirt on the treasonable schemes of that bold, talented, +but unchastened politician. All was now ruin and devastation on the site +of forsaken gardens, into the shaded recesses of which a basilisk had +once entered. Some stacks of chimneys were all that was left to tell the +tale. It seemed remarkable that twelve short years should have worked so +complete a desolation. It would appear as if half a century had +intervened, so thorough had been the physical revolution of the island.</p> + +<p>One night we had lain with our flotilla on the Virginia coast. It was +perceived, at early daylight, that the inner ark, which was Mr. +Thomas's, and which was loaded with valuable machinery, was partly sunk, +being pressed against the bank by the other arks, and the water was +found to be flowing in above the caulked seams. A short time must have +carried the whole down. After a good deal of exertion to save the boat, +it was cut loose and abandoned. It occurred to me that two men, rapidly +bailing, would be able to throw out a larger quantity of water than +flowed through the seams. Willing to make myself useful, I told my +friend Brigham that I thought we could save the boat, if he would join +in the attempt. My theory proved correct. We succeeded, by a relief of +hands, in the effort, and saved the whole machinery unwetted. This +little affair proved gratifying to me from the share I had in it. Mr. +Thomas was so pleased that he ordered a sumptuous breakfast at a +neighboring house for all. We had an abundance of hot coffee, chickens, +and toast, which to voyagers in an ark was quite a treat; but it was +still less gratifying than the opportunity we had felt of doing a good +act. This little incident had a pleasing effect on the rest of the +voyage, and made Thomas my friend.</p> + +<p>But the voyage itself was now drawing to a close. When we reached +Cincinnati, the flotilla broke up. We were now five hundred miles below +Pittsburgh, and the Valley of the Ohio was, if possible, every day +becoming an object of more striking physical interest. By the advice of +Dr. Sellman, who invited me to dine with a large company of gentlemen, I +got a good boarding-house, and I spent several weeks very pleasantly in +this city and its immediate environs. Among the boarders were Dr. +Moorhead (Dr. S.'s partner), and John C.S. Harrison (the eldest son of +Gen. Harrison), with several other young gentlemen, whose names are +pleasingly associated in my memory. It was customary, after dinner, to +sit on a wooden settle, or long bench, in front of the house, facing the +open esplanade on the high banks of the river, at the foot of which +boats and arks were momentarily arriving. One afternoon, while engaged +in earnest conversation with Harrison, I observed a tall, gawky youth, +with white hair, and a few stray patches just appearing on his chin, as +precursors of a beard, approach furtively, and assume a listening +attitude. He had evidently just landed, and had put on his best clothes, +to go up and see the town. The moment he stopped to listen, I assumed a +tone of earnest badinage. Harrison, instantly seeing our intrusive and +raw guest, and humoring the joke, responded in a like style. In effect +we had a high controversy, which could only be settled by a duel, in +which our raw friend must act as second. He was strongly appealed to, +and told that his position as a gentleman required it. So far all was +well. We adjourned to an upper room; the pistols were charged with +powder, and shots were exchanged between Harrison and myself, while the +eyeballs of young Jonathan seemed ready to start from their sockets. But +no sooner were the shots fired than an undue advantage was instantly +alleged, which involved the responsibility of my antagonist's friend; +and thus the poor fellow, who had himself been inveigled in a scrape, +was peppered with powder, in a second exchange of shots, while all but +himself were ready to die with smothered laughter; and he was at last +glad to escape from the house with his life, and made the best of his +way back to his ark.</p> + +<p>This settle, in front of the door, was a capital point to perpetrate +tricks on the constantly arriving throngs from the East, who, with +characteristic enterprise, often stopped to inquire for employment. A +few days after the sham duel, Harrison determined to play a trick on +another emigrant, a shrewd, tolerably well-informed young man, who had +evinced a great deal of self-complacency and immodest pertinacity. He +told the pertinacious emigrant, who inquired for a place, that he had +not, himself, anything that could engage his attention, but that he had +a friend (alluding to me) who was now in town, who was extensively +engaged in milling and merchandizing on the Little Miami, and was in +want of a competent, responsible clerk. He added that, if he would call +in the evening, his friend would be in, and he would introduce him. +Meantime, I was informed of the character I was to play in rebuking +assumption. The man came, punctual to his appointment, in the evening, +and was formally introduced. I stated the duties and the peculiar +requisites and responsibilities of the trust. These he found but little +difficulty in meeting. Other difficulties were stated. These, with a +little thought, he also met. He had evidently scarcely any other quality +than presumption. I told him at last that, from the inhabitants in the +vicinity, it was necessary that he should speak <i>Dutch</i>. This seemed a +poser, but, after some hesitancy and hemming, and the re-mustering of +his cardinal presumption, he thought he could shortly render himself +qualified to speak. I admired the very presumption of the theory, and +finally told him to call the next day on my agent, Mr. Schenck, at such +a number (Martin Baum's) in Maine Street, to whom, in the mean time, I +transferred the hoax, and duly informing Schenck of the affair; and I do +not recollect, at this time, how he shuffled him off.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p>Descent of the Ohio River from Cincinnati to its mouth--Ascent of the +Mississippi, from the junction to Herculaneum--Its rapid and turbid +character, and the difficulties of stemming its current by barges--Some +incidents by the way.</p> + +<p>1818. At Cincinnati, I visited a sort of gigantic chimney or trunk, +constructed of wood, which had been continued from the plain, and +carried up against the side of one of the Walnut Hills, in order to +demonstrate the practicability of obtaining a mechanical power from +rarefied atmospheric air. I was certain that this would prove a failure, +although Captain Bliss, who had conducted the work under the auspices of +General Lytle, felt confident of success.</p> + +<p>When I was ready to proceed down the Ohio, I went to the shore, where I +met a Mr. Willers, who had come there on the same errand as myself. Our +object was to go to Louisville, at the falls of the Ohio. We were +pleased with a well-constructed skiff, which would conveniently hold our +baggage, and, after examination, purchased it, for the purpose of making +this part of the descent. I was expert with a light oar, and we agreed +in thinking that this would be a very picturesque, healthful, and +economical mode of travel. It was warm weather, the beginning of May, I +think, and the plan was to sleep ashore every night. We found this plan +to answer expectation. The trip was, in every respect, delightful. Mr. +Willers lent a ready hand at the oars and tiller by turns. He possessed +a good share of urbanity, had seen much of the world, and was of an age +and temper to vent no violent opinions. He gave me information on some +topics. We got along pleasantly. One day, a sleeping sawyer, as it is +called, rose up in the river behind us in a part of the course we had +just passed, which, if it had risen two minutes earlier, would have +pitched us in the air, and knocked our skiff in shivers. We stopped at +Vevay, to taste the wine of the vintage of that place, which was then +much talked of, and did not think it excellent. We were several days--I +do not recollect how many--in reaching Louisville, in Kentucky. I found +my fellow-voyager was a teacher of military science, late from +Baltimore, Maryland; he soon had a class of militia officers, to whom he +gave instructions, and exhibited diagrams of military evolutions.</p> + +<p>Louisville had all the elements of city life. I was much interested in +the place and its environs, and passed several weeks at that place. I +found organic remains of several species in the limestone rocks of the +falls, and published, anonymously, in the paper some notices of its +mineralogy.</p> + +<p>When prepared to continue my descent of the river, I went to the +beautiful natural mall, which exists between the mouth of the Beargrass +Creek and the Ohio, where boats usually land, and took passage in a fine +ark, which had just come down from the waters of the Monongahela. It was +owned and freighted by two adventurers from Maryland, of the names of +Kemp and Keen. A fine road existed to the foot of the falls at +Shippensport, a distance of two miles, which my new acquaintances +pursued; but, when I understood that there was a pilot present, I +preferred remaining on board, that I might witness the descent of the +falls: we descended on the Indiana side. The danger was imminent at one +part, where the entire current had a violent side action, but we went +safely and triumphantly down; and, after taking our owners on board, who +were unwilling to risk their lives with their property, we pursued our +voyage. It was about this point, or a little above, that we first +noticed the gay and noisy parroquet, flocks of which inhabited the +forests. The mode of attaching vessels of this kind into flotillas was +practiced on that part of the route, which brought us into acquaintance +with many persons.</p> + +<p>At Shawneetown, where we lay a short time, I went out hunting about the +mouth of the Wabash with one Hanlon, a native of Kentucky, who was so +expert in the use of the rifle that he brought down single pigeons and +squirrels, aiming only at their heads or necks.</p> + +<p>After passing below the Wabash, the Ohio assumed a truly majestic flow. +Its ample volume, great expanse, and noble shores, could not fail to be +admired. As we neared the picturesque Cavein-Rock shore, I took the +small boat, and, with some others, landed to view this traveler's +wonder. It recalled to me the dark robber era of the Ohio River, and the +tales of blood and strife which I had read of.</p> + +<p>The cave itself is a striking object for its large and yawning mouth, +but, to the geologist, presents nothing novel. Its ample area appears to +have been frequently encamped in by the buccaneers of the Mississippi. +We were told of narrow and secret passages leading above into the rock, +but did not find anything of much interest. The mouth of the cave was +formerly concealed by trees, which favored the boat robbers; but these +had been mostly felled. As the scene of a tale of imaginative +robber-life, it appeared to me to possess great attractions.</p> + +<p>Our conductor steered for Smithfield, I think it was called, at the +mouth of the Cumberland River, Tennessee, which was thought a favorable +place for transferring the cargo from an ark to a keel-boat, to prepare +it for the ascent of the Mississippi River; for we were now drawing +closely towards the mouth of the Ohio. Here ensued a delay of many days. +During this time, I made several excursions in this part of Tennessee, +and always with the rifle in hand, in the use of which I had now become +expert enough to kill small game without destroying it. While here, some +of General Jackson's volunteers from his wars against the Creeks and +Seminoles returned, and related some of the incidents of their perilous +campaign. At length a keel-boat, or barge, arrived, under the command of +Captain Ensminger, of Saline, which discharged its cargo at this point, +and took on board the freight of Kemp and Keen, bound to St. Louis, +in Missouri.</p> + +<p>We pursued our way, under the force of oars, which soon brought us to +the mouth of the Ohio, where the captain paused to prepare for stemming +the Mississippi. It was now the first day of July, warm and balmy during +the mornings and evenings, but of a torrid heat at noon. We were now one +thousand miles below Pittsburgh--a distance which it is impossible for +any man to realize from the mere reading of books. This splendid valley +is one of the prominent creations of the universe. Its fertility and +beauty are unequaled; and its capacities of sustaining a dense +population cannot be overrated. Seven States border on its waters, and +they are seven States which are destined to contribute no little part +to the commerce, wealth, and power of the Union. It is idle to talk of +the well-cultivated and garden-like little rivers of Europe, of some two +or three hundred miles in length, compared to the Ohio. There is nothing +like it in all Europe for its great length, uninterrupted fertility, and +varied resources, and consequent power to support an immense population. +Yet its banks consist not of a dead level, like the lower Nile and +Volga, but of undulating plains and hills, which afford a lively flow to +its waters, and supply an amount of hydraulic power which is amazing. +The river itself is composed of some of the prime streams of the +country. The Alleghany, the Monongahela, the Muskingum, the Miami, the +Wabash, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, are rivers of the most noble +proportions, and the congregated mass of water rolls forward, increasing +in volume and magnificence, until the scene delights the eye by its +displays of quiet, lovely, rural magnitude and physical grandeur.</p> + +<p>Yet all this is but an element in the vast system of western waters. It +reaches the Mississippi, but to be swallowed up and engulfed by that +turbid and rapid stream, which, like some gaping, gigantic monster, +running wild from the Rocky Mountains and the Itasca summit, stands +ready to gulp it down. The scene is truly magnificent, and the struggle +not slight. For more than twenty miles, the transparent blue waters of +the Ohio are crowded along the Tennessee coast; but the Mississippi, +swollen by its summer flood, as if disdainful of its rural and +peace-like properties, gains the mastery before reaching Memphis, and +carries its characteristic of turbid geologic power for a thousand miles +more, until its final exit into the Mexican Gulf.</p> + +<p>I had never seen such a sight. I had lost all my standards of +comparison. Compared to it, my little home streams would not fill a pint +cup; and, like a man suddenly ushered into a new world, I was amazed at +the scene before me. Mere <i>amplitude</i> of the most ordinary elements of +water and alluvial land has done this. The onward rush of eternal waters +was an idea vaguely floating in my mind. The Indians appeared to have +embodied this idea in the word Mississippi.</p> + +<p>Ensminger was a stout manly fellow, of the characteristic traits of +Anglo-Saxon daring; but he thought it prudent not to plunge too hastily +into this mad current, and we slept at the precise point of embouchure, +where, I think, Cairo is now located. Early the next morning the oarsmen +were paraded, like so many militia, on the slatted gunwales of the +barge, each armed with a long and stout setting pole, shod with iron. +Ensminger himself took the helm, and the toil and struggle of pushing +the barge up stream began. We were obliged to keep close to the shore, +in order to find bottom for the poles, and whenever that gave out, the +men instantly resorted to oars to gain some point on the opposite side, +where bottom could be reached. It was a struggle requiring the utmost +activity. The water was so turbid that we could not perceive objects an +inch below the surface. The current rushed with a velocity that +threatened to carry everything before it. The worst effect was its +perpetual tendency to undermine its banks. Often heavy portions of the +banks plunged into the river, endangering boats and men. The banks +consisted of dark alluvion ten to fifteen feet above the water, bearing +a dense growth of trees and shrubbery. The plunging of these banks into +the stream often sounded like thunder. With every exertion, we advanced +but five miles the first day, and it was a long July day. As evening +came on, the mosquitos were in hordes. It was impossible to perform the +offices of eating or drinking, without suffering the keenest torture +from their stings.</p> + +<p>The second day we ascended six miles, the third day seven miles, the +fourth day six miles, and the fifth eight miles, which brought us to the +first settlement on the Missouri shore, called Tyawapaty Bottom. The +banks in this distance became more elevated, and we appeared to be +quitting the more nascent region. We noticed the wild turkey and gray +squirrel ashore. The following day we went but three miles, when the +severe labor caused some of the hands to give out. Ensminger was a man +not easily discouraged. He lay by during the day, and the next morning +found means to move ahead. At an early hour we reached the head of the +settlement, and came to at a spot called the Little Chain of Rocks. The +fast lands of the Missouri shore here jut into the river, and I +examined, at this point, a remarkable bed of white clay, which is +extensively employed by the local mechanics for chalk, but which is +wholly destitute of carbonic acid. We ascended, this day, ten miles; and +the next day five miles, which carried us to Cape Girardeau--a town +estimated to be fifty miles above the mouth of the Ohio. Here were about +fifty houses, situated on a commanding eminence. We had been landed but +a short time, when one of the principal merchants of the place sent me +word that he had just received some drugs and medicines which he wished +me to examine. I went up directly to his store, when it turned out that +he was no druggist at all, nor wished my skill in this way, but, having +heard there was a doctor aboard, he had taken this facetious mode of +inviting me to partake of some refreshments. I regret that I have +forgotten his name.</p> + +<p>The next day we ascended seven miles, and next the same distance, and +stopped at the Moccason Spring, a basin of limpid water occupying a +crevice in the limestone rock. The day following we ascended but five +miles, and the next day seven miles, in which distance we passed the +Grand Tower, a geological monument rising from the bed of the river, +which stands to tell of some great revolution in the ancient face of the +country. The Mississippi River probably broke through one of its ancient +barriers at this place. We made three unsuccessful attempts to pass +Garlic Point, where we encountered a very strong current, and finally +dropped down and came to, for the night, below it, the men being much +exhausted with these attempts. We renewed the effort with a <i>cordelle</i> +the next morning, with success, but not without exhausting the men so +much that two of them refused to proceed, who were immediately paid off, +and furnished provisions to return. We succeeded in going to the mouth +of the Obrazo, about half a mile higher, when we lay by all day. This +delay enabled Ensminger to recruit his crew, and during the three +following days we ascended respectively six, seven, and ten miles, which +brought us to the commencement of Bois-brule bottom. This is a fertile, +and was then a comparatively populous, settlement. We ascended along it +about seven miles, the next day seven more, and the next eleven, which +completed the ascent to the antique town of St. Genevieve. About three +hundred houses were here clustered together, which, with their +inhabitants, had the looks which we may fancy to belong to the times of +Louis XIV. of France. It was the chief mart of the lead mines, situated +in the interior. I observed heavy stacks of pig lead piled up about the +warehouses. We remained here the next day, which was the 20th of July, +and then went forward twelve miles, the next day thirteen, and the next +five, which brought us, at noon, to the town of Herculaneum, containing +some thirty or forty buildings, excluding three picturesque-looking shot +towers on the top of the rocky cliffs of the river. This was another +mart of the lead mines.</p> + +<p>I determined to land definitively at this point, purposing to visit the +mines, after completing my ascent by land to St. Louis. It was now the +23d of July, the whole of which, from the 1st, we had spent in a +diligent ascent of the river, by setting pole and cordelle, from the +junction of the Ohio--a distance of one hundred and seventy miles. We +were still thirty miles above St. Louis.</p> + +<p>I have detailed some of the incidents of the journey, in order to denote +the difficulties of the ascent with barges prior to the introduction of +steam, and also the means which this slowness of motion gave me of +becoming acquainted with the physical character of this river and its +shores. A large part of the west banks I had traveled on foot, and +gleaned several facts in its mineralogy and geology which made it an +initial point in my future observations. The metalliferous formation is +first noticed at the little chain of rocks. From the Grand Tower, the +western shores become precipitous, showing sections and piled-up +pinnacles of the series of horizontal sandstones and limestones which +characterize the imposing coast. Had I passed it in a steamer, downward +bound, as at this day, in forty-eight hours, I should have had none but +the vaguest and most general conceptions of its character. But I went to +glean facts in its natural history, and I knew these required careful +personal inspection of minute as well as general features. There may be +a sort of horseback theory of geology; but mineralogy, and the natural +sciences generally, must be investigated on foot, hammer or +goniometer in hand.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p>Reception at Herculaneum, and introduction to the founder of the first +American colony in Texas, Mr. Austin--His character--Continuation of the +journey on foot to St. Louis--Incidents by the way--Trip to the +mines--Survey of the mine country--Expedition from Potosi into the Ozark +Mountains, and return, after a winter's absence, to Potosi.</p> + +<p>1818. The familiar conversation on shore of my friendly associates, +speaking of a doctor on board who was inquiring into the natural history +and value of the country at every point, procured me quite unexpectedly +a favorable reception at Herculaneum, as it had done at Cape Girardeau. +I was introduced to Mr. Austin, the elder, who, on learning my intention +of visiting the mines, offered every facility in his power to favor my +views. Mr. Austin was a gentleman of general information, easy and +polite manners, and enthusiastic character. He had, with his +connections, the Bates, I believe, been the founder of Herculaneum, and +was solicitous to secure it a share of the lead trade, which had been so +long and exclusively enjoyed by St. Genevieve. He was a man of very +decided enterprise, inclined to the manners of the old school gentlemen, +which had, I believe, narrowed his popularity, and exposed him to some +strong feuds in the interior, where his estates lay. He was a diligent +reader of the current things of the day, and watched closely the signs +of the times. He had lived in the capital of Virginia, where he married. +He had been engaged extensively as a merchant and miner in Wyeth county, +in the western part of that State. He had crossed the wilderness west of +the Ohio River, at an early day, to St. Louis, then a Spanish interior +capital. He had been received by the Spanish authorities with +attentions, and awarded a large grant of the mining lands. He had +remained under the French period of supremacy, and had been for about +sixteen years a resident of the region when it was transferred by +purchase to the United States. The family had been from an early day, +the first in point of civilization in the country. And as his position +seemed to wane, and clouds to hover over his estates, he seemed +restless, and desirous to transfer his influence to another theatre of +action. From my earliest conversations with him, he had fixed his mind +on Texas, and spoke with enthusiasm about it.</p> + +<p>I left my baggage, consisting of two well-filled trunks, in charge of +Mr. Ellis, a worthy innkeeper of the town, and when I was ready to +continue my way on foot for St. Louis, I was joined in this journey by +Messrs. Kemp and Keen, my fellow-voyagers on the water from Louisville. +We set out on the 26th of the month. The weather was hot and the +atmosphere seemed to be lifeless and heavy. Our road lay over gentle +hills, in a state of nature. The grass had but in few places been +disturbed by the plough, or the trees by the axe. The red clay soil +seemed fitter for the miner than the farmer.</p> + +<p>At the distance of seven miles, we came to a remarkable locality of +springs strongly impregnated with sulphur, which bubbled up from the +ground. They were remarkably clear and cold, and deposited a light +sediment of sulphur, along the little rills by which they found an +outlet into a rapid stream, which was tributary to the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>Five miles beyond these springs, we reached the valley of the Merrimack, +just at nightfall; and notwithstanding the threatening atmosphere, and +the commencement of rain, before we descended to the stream, we +prevailed with the ferryman to go down and set us over, which we urged +with the view of reaching a house within less than a mile of the other +bank. He landed us at the right spot; but the darkness had now become so +intense that we could not keep the road, and groped our way along an old +wheel-track into the forest. It also came on to rain hard. We at last +stood still. We were lost in utter darkness, and exposed to a pelting +storm. After a while we heard a faint stroke of a cow bell. We listened +attentively; it was repeated at long intervals, but faintly, as if the +animal was housed. It gave us the direction, which was quite different +from the course we had followed. No obstacle, though there were many, +prevented us from reaching the house, where we arrived wet and hungry, +and half dead with fatigue.</p> + +<p>The Merrimack, in whose valley we were thus entangled, is the prime +outlet of the various streams of the mine country, where Renault, and +Arnault, and other French explorers, expended their researches during +the exciting era of the celebrated illusory Mississippi scheme.</p> + +<p>The next day we crossed an elevated arid tract for twelve miles to the +village of Carondalet, without encountering a house, or an acre of land +in cultivation. On this tract, which formed a sort of oak orchard, with +high grass, and was a range for wild deer, Jefferson Barracks have since +been located. Six miles further brought us to the town of St. Louis, +over an elevated brushy plain, in which the soil assumed a decidedly +fertile aspect. We arrived about four o'clock in the afternoon, and had +a pleasant evening to view its fine site, based as it is on solid +limestone rock, where no encroachment of the headlong Mississippi can +ever endanger its safety. I was delighted with the site, and its +capacity for expansion, and cannot conceive of one in America, situated +in the interior, which appears destined to rival it in population, +wealth, power, and resources. It is idle to talk of any city of Europe +or Asia, situated as this is, twelve hundred miles from the sea, which +can be named as its future equal.</p> + +<p>It was now the 27th of July, and the river, which had been swollen by +the Missouri flood, was rapidly falling, and almost diminished to its +summer minimum. It left a heavy deposit of mud on its immediate shores, +which, as it dried in the sun, cracked into fragments, which were often +a foot thick. These cakes of dried sediment consisted chiefly of sand +and sufficient aluminous matter to render the whole body of the +deposit adhesive.</p> + +<p>I was kindly received by R. Pettibone, Esq., a townsman from New York, +from whom I had parted at Pittsburgh. This gentleman had established +himself in business with Col. Eastman, and as soon as he heard of my +arrival, invited me to his house, where I remained until I was ready to +proceed to the mines. I examined whatever seemed worth notice in the +town and its environs. I then descended the Mississippi in a skiff about +thirty miles to Herculaneum, and the next day set out, on foot, at an +early hour, for the mines. I had an idea that every effective labor +should be commenced right, and, as I purposed examining the mineralogy +and geology of the mine tract, I did not think that could be more +thoroughly accomplished than on foot. I ordered my baggage to follow me +by the earliest returning lead teams. True it was sultry, and much of +the first part of the way, I was informed, was very thinly settled. I +went the first day, sixteen miles, and reached the head of Joachim +Creek. In this distance, I did not, after quitting the environs of the +town, pass a house. The country lay in its primitive state. For the +purpose of obtaining a good road, an elevated arid ridge had been +pursued much of the way. In crossing this, I suffered severely from heat +and thirst, and the only place where I saw water was in a rut, which I +frightened a wild turkey from partaking of, in order to stoop down to it +myself. As soon as I reached the farm house, where I stopped at an early +hour, I went down to the creek, and bathed in its refreshing current. +This, with a night's repose, perfectly restored me. The next day I +crossed Grand River, and went to the vicinity of Old mines, when a +sudden storm compelled me to take shelter at the first house, where I +passed my second night. In this distance I visited the mining station of +John Smith T. at his place of Shibboleth. Smith was a bold and +indomitable man, originally from Tennessee, who possessed a marked +individuality of character, and being a great shot with pistol and +rifle, had put the country in dread of him.</p> + +<p>After crossing Big or Grand River, I was fairly within the mine country, +and new objects began to attract my attention on every hand. The third +day, at an early hour, I reached Potosi, and took up my residence at Mr. +W. Ficklin's, a most worthy and estimable Kentuckian, who had a fund of +adventurous lore of forest life to tell, having, in early life, been a +spy and a hunter "on the dark and bloody ground." With him I was soon at +home, and to him I owe much of my early knowledge of wood-craft. The day +after my arrival was the general election of the (then) Territory of +Missouri, and the district elected Mr. Stephen F. Austin to the local +legislature. I was introduced to him, and also to the leading gentlemen +of the county, on the day of the election, which brought them together. +Mr. Austin, the elder, also arrived. This gathering was a propitious +circumstance for my explorations; no mineralogist had ever visited the +country. Coming from the quarter I did, and with the object I had, there +was a general interest excited on the subject, and each one appeared to +feel a desire to show me attentions.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stephen F. Austin invited me to take rooms at the old Austin +mansion; he requested me to make one of them a depot for my +mineralogical collections, and he rode out with me to examine +several mines.</p> + +<p>He was a gentleman of an acute and cultivated mind, and great suavity of +manners. He appreciated the object of my visit, and saw at once the +advantages that might result from the publication of a work on the +subject. For Missouri, like the other portions of the Mississippi +Valley, had come out of the Late War with exhaustion. The effects of a +peace were to lower her staples, lead, and furs, and she also severely +felt the reaction of the paper money system, which had created extensive +derangement and depression. He possessed a cautious, penetrating mind, +and was a man of elevated views. He had looked deeply into the problem +of western settlement, and the progress of American arts, education, and +modes of thinking and action over the whole western world, and was then +meditating a movement on the Red River of Arkansas, and eventually +Texas. He foresaw the extension in the Mississippi Valley of the +American system of civilization, to the modification and exclusion of +the old Spanish and French elements.</p> + +<p>Mr. Austin accompanied me in several of my explorations. On one of these +excursions, while stopping at a planter's who owned a mill, I saw +several large masses of sienite, lying on the ground; and on inquiry +where this material could come from, in the midst of a limestone +country, was informed that it was brought from the waters of the St. +Francis, to serve the purpose of millstones. This furnished the hint for +a visit to that stream, which resulted in the discovery of the primitive +tract, embracing the sources of the St. Francis and Big Rivers.</p> + +<p>I found rising of forty principal mines scattered over a district of +some twenty miles, running parallel to, and about thirty miles west of, +the banks of the Mississippi. I spent about three months in these +examinations, and as auxiliary means thereto, built a chemical furnace, +for assays, in Mr. Austin's old smelting-house, and collected specimens +of the various minerals of the country. Some of my excursions were made +on foot, some on horseback, and some in a single wagon. I unwittingly +killed a horse in these trips, in swimming a river, when the animal was +over-heated; at least he was found dead next morning in the stable.</p> + +<p>In the month of October I resolved to push my examinations west beyond +the line of settlement, and to extend them into the Ozark Mountains. By +this term is meant a wide range of hill country running from the head of +the Merrimack southerly through Missouri and Arkansas. In this +enterprise several persons agreed to unite. I went to St. Louis, and +interested a brother of my friend Pettibone in the plan. I found my old +fellow-voyager, Brigham, on the American bottom in Illinois, where he +had cultivated some large fields of corn, and where he had contracted +fever and ague. He agreed, however, to go, and reached the point of +rendezvous, at Potosi; but he had been so enfeebled as to be obliged to +return from that point. The brother of Pettibone arrived. He had no +tastes for natural history, but it was a season of leisure, and he was +prone for the adventure. But the experienced woodsmen who had agreed to +go, and who had talked largely of encountering bears and Osage Indians, +and slaughtering buffalo, one by one gave out. I was resolved myself to +proceed, whoever might flinch. I had purchased a horse, constructed a +pack saddle with my own hands, and made every preparation that was +deemed necessary. On the 6th of November I set out. Mr. Ficklin, my good +host, accompanied me to the outskirts of the settlement. He was an old +woodsman, and gave me proper directions about hobbling my horse at +night, and imparted other precautions necessary to secure a man's life +against wild animals and savages. My St. Louis auxiliary stood stoutly +by me. If he had not much poetry in his composition, he was a reliable +man in all weathers, and might be counted upon to do his part willingly.</p> + +<p>This journey had, on reflection, much daring and adventure. It +constitutes my initial point of travels; but, as I have described it +from my journal, in a separate form, it will not be necessary here to do +more than say that it was successfully accomplished. After spending the +fall of 1818, and the winter of 1819, in a series of adventures in +barren, wild, and mountainous scenes, we came out on the tributary +waters of the Arkansas, down which we descended in a log canoe. On the +Strawberry River, my ankle, which I had injured by leaping from a wall +of rock while hunting in the Green Mountains four years before, +inflamed, and caused me to lie by a few days; which was the only injury +I received in the route.</p> + +<p>I returned to Potosi in February. The first man I met (Major Hawking), +on reaching the outer settlements, expressed surprise at seeing me, as +he had heard from the hunters, who had been on my trail about eighty +miles to the Saltpetre caves on the Currents River, that I had been +killed by the Indians. Every one was pleased to see me, and no one more +so than my kind Kentucky host, who had been the last to bid me adieu on +the verge of the wilderness.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p>Sit down to write an account of the mines--Medical properties of the +Mississippi water--Expedition to the Yellow Stone--Resolve to visit +Washington with a plan of managing the mines--Descend the river from St. +Genevieve to New Orleans--Incidents of the trip--Take passage in a ship +for New York--Reception with my collection there--Publish my memoir on +the mines, and proceed with it to Washington--Result of my plan-- +Appointed geologist and mineralogist on an expedition to the sources of +the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>1819. I now sat down to draw up a description of the mine country and +its various mineral resources. Having finished my expedition to the +south, I felt a strong desire to extend my observations up the +Mississippi to St. Anthony's Falls, and into the copper-bearing regions +of that latitude. Immediately I wrote to the Hon. J.B. Thomas, of +Illinois, the only gentleman I knew at Washington, on the subject, +giving him a brief description of my expedition into the Ozarks. I did +not know that another movement, in a far distant region, was then on +foot for exploring the same latitudes, with which it was my fortune +eventually to be connected. I allude to the expedition from Detroit in +1820, under General Cass.</p> + +<p>I had, at this time, personally visited every mine or digging of +consequence in the Missouri country, and had traced its geological +relations into Arkansas. I was engaged on this paper assiduously. When +it was finished, I read it to persons well acquainted with the region, +and sought opportunities of personal criticism upon it.</p> + +<p>The months of February and March had now glided away. Too close a +confinement to my room, however, affected my health. The great change of +life from camping out, and the rough scenes of the forest, could not +fail to disturb the functional secretions. An obstruction of the liver +developed itself in a decided case of jaundice. After the usual +remedies, I made a journey from Potosi to the Mississippi River, for +the purpose of ascending that stream on a barge, in order that I might +be compelled to drink its turbid, but healthy waters, and partake again +of something like field fare. The experiment succeeded.</p> + +<p>The trip had the desired effect, and I returned in a short time from St. +Louis to Mine au Breton in completely restored health.</p> + +<p>At Herculaneum, I was introduced to Major Stephen H. Long, of the United +States Topographical Engineers, who was now on his way, in the small +steamer Western Pioneer, up the Missouri to the Yellow Stone. I went on +board the boat and was also introduced to Mr. Say, the entomologist and +conchologist, Mr. Jessup the geologist, and other gentlemen composing +the scientific corps.</p> + +<p>This expedition was the first evidence to my mind of the United States +Government turning attention, in connection with practical objects, to +matters of science, and the effort was due, I understand, to the +enlightened mind of Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War.</p> + +<p>It occurred tome, after my return to Potosi, that the subject of the +mines which I had been inquiring about, so far as relates to their +management as a part of the public domain, was one that belonged +properly to the United States Government; Missouri was but a territory +having only inchoate rights. The whole mineral domain was held, in fee, +by the General Government, and whatever irregularity had been seen about +the collections of rents, &c., constituted a question which Congress +could only solve. I determined to visit Washington, and lay the subject +before the President. As soon as I had made this determination, +everything bowed to this idea. I made a rapid visit, on horseback, to +St. Louis, with my manuscript, to consult a friend, who entirely +concurred in this view. If the mines were ever to be put on a proper +basis, and the public to derive a benefit from them, the government +must do it.</p> + +<p>As soon as I returned to Potosi, I packed my collection of mineralogy, +&c. I ordered the boxes by the lead teams to St. Genevieve. I went to +the same point myself, and, taking passage in the new steamer "St. +Louis," descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. The trip occupied some +days. I repassed the junction of the Ohio with deep interest. It is not +only the importance of geographical events that impresses us. The nature +of the phenomena is often of the highest moral moment.</p> + +<p>An interesting incident occurred as soon as I got on board the steamer. +The captain handed me a letter. I opened it, and found it to contain +money from the secretary of a secret society. I was surprised at such an +occurrence, but I confess not displeased. I had kept my pecuniary +affairs to myself. My wardrobe and baggage were such as everywhere to +make a respectable appearance. If I economized in travel and outlay, I +possessed the dignity of keeping my own secret. One night, as I lay +sleepless in a dark but double-bedded room, an old gentleman--a +disbanded officer, I think, whose health disturbed his repose--began a +conversation of a peculiar kind, and asked me whether I was not a +Freemason. Darkness, and the distance I was from him, induced a +studiedly cautious reply. But a denouement the next day followed. This +incident was the only explanation the unwonted and wholly unexpected +remittance admitted. A stranger, traveling to a southern and sickly city +to embark for a distant State, perhaps never to return--the act appeared +to me one of pure benevolence, and it reveals a trait which should wipe +away many an error of judgment or feeling.</p> + +<p>The voyage down this stream was an exciting one, and replete with novel +scenes and incidents. The portion of the river above the mouth of the +Ohio, which it had taken me twenty days to ascend in a barge, we were +not forty-eight hours in descending. Trees, points of land, islands, +every physical object on shore, we rushed by with a velocity that left +but vague and indistinct impressions. We seemed floating, as it were, on +the waters of chaos, where mud, trees, boats, were carried along swiftly +by the current, without any additional impulse of a steam-engine, +puffing itself off at every stroke of the piston. The whole voyage to +New Orleans had some analogy to the recollection of a gay dream, in +which objects were recollected as a long line of loosely-connected +panoramic fragments.</p> + +<p>At New Orleans, where I remained several days, I took passage in the +brig Arethusa, Captain H. Leslie, for New York.</p> + +<p>While at anchor at the Balize, we were one night under apprehensions +from pirates, but the night passed away without any attack. The mud and +alluvial drift of the Mississippi extend many leagues into the gulf. It +was evident that the whole delta had been formed by the deposits made in +the course of ages. Buried trees, and other forms of organic life, which +have been disinterred from the banks of the river, as high, not only as +New Orleans and Natchez, but to the mouth of the Ohio, show this. It +must be evident to every one who takes the trouble to examine the +phenomena, that an arm of the gulf anciently extended to this point; and +that the Ohio, the Arkansas, Red River, and other tributaries of the +present day, as well as the main Mississippi, had at that epoch entered +this ancient arm of the gulf. I landed at the light-house at the Balize. +We had to walk on planks supported by stakes in the water. A sea of +waving grass rose above the liquid plain, and extended as far as the eye +could reach. About twelve or fourteen inches depth of water spread over +the land. A light-house of brick or stone, formerly built on this mud +plain, east of the main pass, had partially sunk, and hung in a diagonal +line to the horizon, reminding the spectator of the insecurity of all +solid structures on such a nascent basis. The present light-house was of +wood. It was evident, however, that here were deposited millions of +acres of the richest alluvion on the globe, and in future times another +Holland may be expected to be rescued from the dominions of the ocean. +As we passed out into the gulf, another evidence of the danger of the +channel met our view, in the wreck of a stranded vessel. The vast stain +of mud and alluvial filth extended for leagues into the gulf. As the +vessel began to take the rise and swell of the sea, I traversed the deck +diligently, and, by dint of perseverance in keeping the deck, escaped +sea-sickness. I had never been at sea before. When the land had vanished +at all points, and there was nothing in sight but deep blue water around +us and a sky above, the scene was truly sublime; there was a mental +reaction, impressing a lesson of the insignificance of man, which I had +never before felt.</p> + +<p>We passed the Gulf of Florida, heaving in sight on one side, as we +passed, of the Tortugas, and, on the other, of the Mora Castle of +Havana, after which there was little to be noticed, but changes in the +Gulf Stream, fishes, sea-birds, ships, and the constant mutations from +tempests to the deep blue waters of a calm, till we hove in sight of the +Neversinks, and entered the noble bay of New York.</p> + +<p>It was the third of August when I reached the city, having stayed out my +quarantine faithfully on Staten Island, the mineralogy and geological +structure of which I completely explored during that period of municipal +regimen--for it was the season of yellow fever, and there was a rigid +quarantine. Dr. Dewitt, the health officer, who had known my father, +received me very kindly, and my time wore off imperceptibly, while I +footed its serpentine vales and magnesian plains.</p> + +<p>On reaching the city, I fixed my lodgings at a point on the banks of the +Hudson, or rather at its point of confluence with the noble bay (71 +Courtland), where I could overlook its islands and busy water craft, +ever in motion.</p> + +<p>I had now completed, by land and water, a circuit of the Union, having +traveled some 6000 miles. My arrival was opportune. No traveler of +modern times had thrown himself upon the success of his scientific +observations, and I was hailed, by the scientific public, as the first +one who had ever brought a collection of the mineral productions of the +Mississippi Valley. My collection, which was large and splendid, was the +means of introducing me to men of science at New York and elsewhere. Dr. +Samuel L. Mitchell and Dr. D. Hosack, who were then in the zenith of +their fame, cordially received me. The natural sciences were then +chiefly in the hands of physicians, and there was scarcely a man of note +in these departments of inquiry who was not soon numbered among my +acquaintances. Dr. John Torrey was then a young man, who had just +published his first botanical work. Dr. A.W. Ives warmly interested +himself in my behalf, and I had literary friends on every side. Among +these Gov. De Witt Clinton was prominent.</p> + +<p>I had fixed my lodgings where the Hudson River, and the noble bay of New +York and its islands, were in full view from my window. Here I opened my +collection, and invited men of science to view it, I put to press my +observations on the mines and physical geography of the West. I also +wrote a letter on its resources, which was published by the +Corresponding Association of Internal Improvements, The Lyceum of +Natural History, and the Historical Society, each admitted me to +membership. My work was published about the 25th of November. As soon as +it was announced, I took copies of it, and proceeded to Washington, +where I was favorably received. I lost no time in calling on Mr. Monroe, +and the Secretaries of War and of the Treasury. Mr. Monroe took up his +commonplace-book, and made memorandums of my statements respecting the +mines. Mr. Calhoun received me cordially, and said that the +jurisdiction of the mines was not in his department. But he had +received a memoir from General Cass, Governor of Michigan, proposing to +explore the sources of the Mississippi, through the Lakes, and +suggesting that a naturalist, conversant with mineralogy, should +accompany him, to inquire into the supposed value of the Lake Superior +copper mines. He tendered me the place, and stated the compensation. The +latter was small, but the situation appeared to me to be one which was +not to be overlooked. I accepted it. It seemed to be the bottom step in +a ladder which I ought to climb. Small events, it has been said, lead a +man, and decide his course in life; and whether this step was important +in mine, may be better judged of, perhaps, when these notes shall have +been read.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, while I accepted this place, the subject of the +management and superintendence of the western mines appeared to be fully +appreciated by Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crawford, the latter of whom +requested a written statement on the subject; and it was held for +further consideration.<a name="FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a> I found during this, my first visit to the +capital, that the intelligence of my favorable reception at New York, +and of my tour in the West, had preceded me. Friends appeared, of whom, +at this distance of time, I may name the Vice-President, D.D. Tompkins, +Judge Smith Thompson, of the Supreme Court, Colonel Benton, Senator +elect from Missouri, Hon. John Scott, the delegate, Hon. Jesse B. +Thomas, Senator from Illinois, John D. Dickinson, Esq., Representative +from Troy, N.Y., Hon. Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land +Office, Gen. Sol. Van Rensselaer, and Dr. Darlington, Rep. from +Pennsylvania. To each of these, I have ever supposed myself to be under +obligations for aiding me in my object of exploration, and I certainly +was for civilities and attentions.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a> This effort became the cause of the government finally +taking definite action on the subject. Mr. Monroe presented it to the +consideration of Congress in the fall, and a superintendent was +subsequently appointed. +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Calhoun addressed a letter to Governor Cass, of Michigan, and I +proceeded immediately to the North, to be ready to avail myself of the +first opportunity of ascending the lakes to the place of departure.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p>Set out on the expedition to the north-west--Remain a few weeks +at New York--Visit Niagara Falls, and reach Detroit in the first +steamer--Preparations for a new style of traveling--Correspondents--General +sketch of the route pursued by the expedition, and its results--Return +to Albany, and publish my narrative--Journal of it--Preparation for a +scientific account of the observations.</p> + +<p>1820. I left Washington on the 5th of February, exactly one year from my +return to Potosi from the Ozarks; proceeded to New York, where I +remained till early in March; traveled by sleigh over the Highlands, was +at Niagara Falls on the 1st of May, and reached Detroit in the steamer +"Walk-in-the-water" on the 8th of May. Captain D.B. Douglass, of West +Point Academy, was appointed topographer, and joined me at Buffalo. We +proceeded up Lake Erie in company, and were received in a most cordial +manner by General Cass and the citizens generally of that yet remote and +gay military post.</p> + +<p>Arrangements were not completed for immediate embarkation. We were to +travel in the novel Indian bark canoe. Many little adaptations were +necessary, and while these things were being done we spent a couple of +weeks very agreeably, in partaking of the hospitalities of the place. My +correspondence now began to accumulate, and I took this occasion of a +little pause to attend to it. The publication of my work on the mines +had had the effect to awaken attention to the varied resources of the +Mississippi Valley, and the subject of geographical and geological +explorations. It also brought me a class of correspondents who are +simply anxious for practical information, and always set about getting +it in the most direct way, whether they are personal or introduced +acquaintances or not. I determined at once to reply to these, wherever +they appeared to be honest inquiries for geographical facts, which I +only, and not books, could communicate.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Bright, of Charleston, S.C., an English emigrant, having got +a copy of my work, wrote (Jan. 11) as to the business prospects of St. +Louis, intending apparently to go thither. Not knowing my correspondent, +but, on a moment's reflection, believing the communication of such +information would not make me poorer and might be important to him, by +helping him on in his fortunes in the world, I wrote to him, giving the +desired information, assigning to that spot, in my estimation, a highly +important central influence on the business and affairs of the +Mississippi Valley.</p> + +<p>The Hon. John Scott, delegate in Congress, from Missouri, speaking of +the work on the mineralogy, &c., of that territory, says, "Those sources +of individual and national wealth, which I have no doubt you have well +developed, have been too long neglected, and I trust that your +well-directed efforts to bring them to notice will be amply rewarded, +not only in the emoluments derived from the work, but what is still more +gratifying to the author, and the enlightened and patriotic statesman, +in seeing this portion of our resources brought into full operation."</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert C. Bruffey, of Missouri, writes (March 14th), giving a sketch +of a recent tour into the southern part of Arkansas:--</p> + +<p>"<i>Health of Southern Climates</i>.--When I returned from the Arkansas, +which was not till the 6th of October, with some few others, I brought a +particular 'specimen' of the country, namely, the ague and fever, which +I endured for two months, and until the commencement of cold weather.</p> + +<p>"I continued but three weeks at the Springs (Hot Springs of Wachita); +could I have spent the whole summer in the use of the water, no doubt I +should have been much benefited, if not entirely relieved from my +irksome complaint. I saw your friend Stephen P. Austin, at the Springs, +just recovered from a dangerous sickness, namely, fever and vomiting +blood. He inquired after you particularly.</p> + +<p>"<i>A New Field for Exploration</i>.--When I was in the lower country, I was +sorry you had not time to visit that interesting section of country +previous to the publication of your work (which, I understand, has been +received and appreciated with avidity); for I assure you, as relates to +scientific researches, you would have collected materials that would +have come within its purview, and repaid you liberally for your labor, +and the specimens added richly to your collection.</p> + +<p>"I will now give you a description, so far as my feeble abilities will +admit, of the things which I think worthy the attention of a devotee of +science. In the first place, the springs are worthy of notice, in a +natural as well as medical point of view. They contain in their +different issues all the different temperatures, from boiling, down to a +pleasure bath. They contain a combining principle, or the quality of +petrifying and uniting various substances that may come in contact with +them, such as flint, earth, stone, iron, &c. The bluff from which they +flow out is principally of an apparent calcareous substance, formed by +the water. In some of the springs a red, in others a green and yellow, +sediment is produced. The waters will remove rheumatism, purge out +mercury, and produce salivation, in those who have it in their system +previously; cure old sores and <i>consumptions</i>, in their early stages; +cure dropsies, palsies, &c., if taken in time.</p> + +<p>"The next curiosity is the loadstone, a specimen of which I have with +me; you can examine it when you visit this country. The next rock +crystal, of which I have two specimens.<a name="FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a> The fourth is alum, of which +I procured a small quantity, as I did not visit the cave where it is to +be obtained. The fifth is oil and whetstone, of which there is a great +abundance in that quarter. The sixth is asbestus. In a word, the +subjects are worthy the attention of those who wish to be instrumental +in enlarging or developing that branch of science."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a> Now in my cabinet. +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. William Ficklin, one of the pioneers of Kentucky, but now a resident +of Missouri, writes: "I am pleased to hear of your appointment, and wish +I could be with you on the route, as you will visit a section of the +country but little known to our government. I must advise you to be on +your guard against the Indians, the best of whom will murder a man for a +trifle, if they can meet him alone, or off his guard.</p> + +<p>"A Mr. Nabb, a few months ago, brought me some white metal, which, he +says, he smelted in a common forge--it was as bright as silver, but too +hard to bear the hammer. I think it must be zinc."</p> + +<p><i>March 18th</i>.--Mr. Amos Eaton writes from Troy: "A second edition of my +<i>Index to Geology</i> is in the press--about thirty-six pages struck off. I +have written the whole over anew, and extended it to about two hundred +and fifty pages 12mo. I have taken great pains to collect facts, in this +district, during the two years since my first edition was published. But +I am rather deficient in my knowledge of secondary and alluvial +formations; I wish to trouble you with a few inquiries upon +that subject.</p> + +<p>"From what knowledge I have been able to obtain in that department, I am +inclined to arrange the secondary class thus:--</p> + +<p>"Breccia: compact, or shell limestone; gypsum, secondary sandstone.</p> + +<p>"I leave much, also, for peculiar local formations.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman presented specimens to the Troy Lyceum, from Illinois, of +gypsum and secondary sandstone, and informed me that the latter overlaid +the former in regular structure. Myron Holly, and others, have given me +similar specimens, which they represent as being similarly situated, +from several localities in the western part of this State. This +secondary sandstone is sometimes more or less calcareous. I believe it +is used for a cement by the Canal Company, which hardens under water. +Will you do me the favor to settle this question?</p> + +<p>"On your way to Detroit, you may perhaps, without material +inconvenience, collect facts of importance to me, in relation to +secondary and alluvial formations. Anything transmitted to me by the +middle of April on these subjects will be in season, because I shall not +have printed all the transition part before that time.</p> + +<p>"Have you any knowledge of the strata constituting Rocky Mountains? Is +it primitive, or is it graywacke like Catskill Mountains? I have said, +in a note, that, after you and Dr. E. James set foot upon it, we shall +no longer be ignorant of it.</p> + +<p>"I intend to kindle a blaze of geological zeal before you return. I have +adapted the style of my index to the capacities of ladies, +plough-joggers, and mechanics."</p> + +<p><i>March 28th</i>.--While here, I received a notice of my election as a +member of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia.</p> + +<p><i>April 28th</i>.--James T. Johnston, Esq., of N.Y., writes on the +interesting character of the mineralogy of the interior of Georgia.</p> + +<p>The spirit of inquiry denoted by these letters gives but a faint idea +of the interest which was now awakened in the public mind, on the +exploration of the west, and it would require a reference to the public +prints of the day to denote this. If the delay had served no other +purpose, it had brought us into a familiar acquaintance with our +commander, who was frank and straightforward in his manners, and fully +disposed, not only to say, but to do everything to facilitate the +object. He put no veto on any request of this kind, holding the smiths +and mechanics of the government amenable to comply with any order. He +was not a man, indeed, who dealt in hems and haws--did not require to +sleep upon a simple question--and is not a person whose course is to be +stopped, as many little big men are, by two straws crossed.</p> + +<p>At length the canoes, which were our principal cause of delay, arrived +from Lake Huron, where they were constructed, and all things were ready +for our embarkation. It was the 24th of May when we set out. A small +detachment of infantry had been ordered to form a part of the +expedition, under Lieutenant Aeneas Mackay. Eight or ten Chippewa and +Ottowa Indians were taken in a separate canoe, as hunters, and gave +picturesqueness to the brigade by their costume. There were ten Canadian +voyagers of the north-west stamp. Professor Douglass and myself were the +only persons to whom separate classes of scientific duties were +assigned. A secretary and some assistants made the governor's mess +consist of nine persons. Altogether, we numbered, including guides and +interpreters, about forty persons; a truly formidable number of mouths +to feed in the "waste howling wilderness."</p> + +<p>Having kept and published a journal of the daily incidents of the +expedition, I refer to it for details.<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8">[8]</a> To plunge into the wilderness +is truly to take one's life in his hand. But nobody thought of this. The +enterprise was of a kind to produce exhilaration. The route lay up the +Detroit and St. Clair Rivers, and around the southern shores of Lakes +Huron and Superior to Fond du Lac. Thence up the St. Louis River in its +rugged passage through the Cabotian Mountains to the Savannah summit +which divides the great lakes from the Mississippi Valley. The latter +was entered through the <i>Comtaguma</i> or Sandy Lake River. From this +point the source of the Mississippi was sought up rapids and falls, and +through lakes and savannahs, in which the channel winds. We passed the +inlet of the Leech Lake, which was fixed upon by Lieutenant Pike as its +probable source, and traced it through Little Lake Winnipeg to the inlet +of Turtle Lake in upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake, in north lat. 47°. On +reaching this point, the waters were found unfavorable to proceeding +higher. The river was then descended to the falls of St. Anthony, St. +Peters, and Prairie du Chien. From the latter point we ascended the +Wisconsin to the portage into Fox River, and descended the latter to +Green Bay. At this point, the expedition was divided, a part going +north, in order to trace the shores to Michilimackinack, and part +steering south, by the shores of Lake Michigan to Chicago. At the latter +place, another division was made, Governor Cass and suite proceeding on +horseback, across the peninsula of Michigan, and Captain Douglass and +myself completing the survey of the eastern coast of Michigan, and +rejoining the party detached to strike Michilimackinack. The Huron +shores were coasted to the head of the River St. Clair and Detroit.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a> A Narrative Journal of Travels through the American Lakes +to the Sources of the Mississippi River. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 419: +Albany, 1821. +</blockquote> + +<p>About four thousand miles were traversed. Of this distance the +topography was accurately traced by Captain Douglass and his assistant, +Mr. Trowbridge. This officer also took observations for the latitude at +every practical point, and collected with much labor the materials for a +new and enlarged map. Its geology and mineralogy were the subjects of a +detailed report made by me to the War Department in 1822. Of the copper +deposits on Lake Superior, a detailed report was made to the same +department in November 1820. The Indian tribes were the subject of +observation made by General Cass. Its botany, its fresh water +conchology, and its zoology and ichthyology, received the attention that +a rapid transit permitted. Its soil, productions, and climate were the +topics of daily observation. In short, no exploration had before been +made which so completely revealed the features and physical geography of +so large a portion of the public domain. And the literary and scientific +public waited with an intense desire for the result of these +observations in every department.</p> + +<p>The first letter I received on my return route from that eventful tour, +was at the post of Green Bay, where a letter from J.T. Johnston, Esq., +of New York, awaited me: "Since you departed," he observes, "nothing of +importance has occurred, either in the moral or political world. The +disturbances which disgrace the kingdom of Great Britain are, and still +continue to be, favored by a few factionists. Thistlewood, and the +members of the Cato Street conspiracy, have been tried for high treason, +and condemned, and I presume the next arrivals must bring us an account +of their execution. The Cortes has been established in Spain, and there +floats a rumor that the <i>Saint</i>, the adored Ferdinand, has fled to +France. The public debates in France seem to me to thunder forth, as the +precursor of some event which will yet violently agitate the country. +(Napoleon was now in St. Helena.) The stormy wave of discord has not +subsided. The temple of ambition is not overthrown, and party spirit +will rush to inhabit it. The convulsive struggle for independence in the +South (America) still continues, but civil war appears about to +interrupt its progress. At home all is quiet. A virtuous chief +magistrate and a wise administration must benefit a people so PRONE TO +DOMESTIC FACTION."</p> + +<p>This gave me the first glimpse of home and its actualities, and the +letter was refreshing for the sympathies it expresses, after long months +of tugging over portages, and looking about to arrange in the mind +stratifications, to gather specimens of minerals, and fresh water +shells, and watch the strange antics which have been cut over the whole +face of the north-west by the Boulder Group of Rocks.</p> + +<p><i>Sept</i>. 6. Mr. C.C. Trowbridge writes from Michilimackinack: "I forward +the specimens collected by Mr. Doty and myself, on the tour (from Green +Bay, on the north shore, to Michilimackinack). The most interesting will +probably be the organic remains. They were collected in Little Noquet +Bay, on the N.E. side, where ridges of limestone show themselves +frequently. Near the top of the package you find a piece of limestone +weighing about two pounds, of which the upper stratum was composed; +there are two pieces of the lower stratum, resembling blue pipestone. +The middle stratum was composed of these remains. About ten miles N.E. +of Great Bay de Noquet, we found flint, or hornstone, in small +quantities in the limestone rocks. There is also a specimen of the +marble, which we saw little of; but since our arrival I am informed +that a large bluff, composed of the same, is seen 30 to 40 miles from +this. The gypsum I picked up on St. Martin's Islands."</p> + +<p>On reaching Detroit, Gov. Cass invited Capt. Douglass and myself to +recruit ourselves a few days at his "old mansion of the ancient era." I +examined and put in order my collection of specimens, selecting such as +were designed for various institutions. A local association of persons +inclined to foster literary efforts, under the name of "Detroit Lyceum," +elected me a member. The intrepid and energetic officer who had planned +and executed this scheme of western exploration gave me a copy of his +official letter to the Secretary of War, warmly approbating the conduct +of Capt. Douglass and myself, as members of the expedition. All its +results were attended with circumstances of high personal gratification.</p> + +<p>I left Detroit on the 13th of October at 4 o'clock P.M., in the steamer +"Walk-in-the-Water," the first boat built on the Lake waters, and +reached Black Rock at 7 o'clock in the morning of the 17th, being a +stormy passage, in a weak but elegant boat, of eighty-seven hours. Glad +to set my foot on dry land once more, I hurried on by stage and canal, +and reached Oneida Creek Depot on the 21st at 4 o'clock in the morning, +stopped for breakfast there, and then proceeded on foot, through the +forest, by a very muddy path, to Oneida Castle, a distance of three +miles--my trunk being carried by a man on horseback. Thence I took a +conveyance for Mr. W.H. Shearman's, at Vernon, where I arrived at ten +o'clock A.M.</p> + +<p>Capt. Douglass, who had preceded me, wrote from West Point Military +Academy, on the 27th, that in the sudden change of habits he had been +affected with a dreadful influenza. My own health continued to be +unimpaired, and my spirits were buoyant. After a few days' rest, I wrote +a report (Nov. 6th) to the Secretary of War on the metalliferous +character of the Lake Superior country, particularly in relation to its +reported wealth in copper. I proceeded to Albany on the 7th of December, +and arrived the day following, and was cordially greeted by all my +friends and acquaintances. It was my intention to have gone immediately +to New York, but the urgent entreaties of Mr. Carter and others induced +me to defer it. Very little had been said by the members of the party +about a publication. We looked to Capt. Douglass, who was the +topographer and a professor at West Point, to take the lead in the +matter. The death of Mr. Ellicott, Professor of Mathematics at that +institution, who was his father-in-law, and his appointment to the +vacant chair, from that of engineering, placed him in a very delicate +and arduous situation. He has never received credit for the noble manner +in which he met this crisis. He was not only almost immediately required +to teach his class the differential calculus, but the French copy--a +language with which he was not familiar--was the only one employed. He +was therefore not only obliged to study a comparatively new science, but +to do it in a new language; and when the course began, he had to +instruct his class daily in tasks which he committed nightly. Most men +would have sunk under the task, but he went triumphantly through it, and +I have never heard that the students or others ever had cause to suspect +his information or question his abilities. He wrote to me, and perhaps +to me only, on this subject.</p> + +<p>There was something like a public clamor for the results of the +expedition, and the narrative was hurried into press. A new zeal was +awakened upon the subject of mineralogy and geology. A friend wrote to +me on the mineral affluence of upper Georgia. Several letters from the +western district of the State, transmitting specimens, were received. +"The unexampled success of your expedition," observes one of these +correspondents, "in all respects is a subject of high congratulation, +not only for those of whom it was composed, but also to a great portion +of the people of the United States, and to this State in particular, as +we are the grand link that unites that vast region to our Atlantic +border." <a name="FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9">[9]</a> These feelings appear in letters from near and far. Captain +Douglass was aware of this interest, and anxious, amidst his arduous +duties, to get the necessary time to arrange his notes and materials. He +wrote to me (December 25) to furnish Professor Silliman some sketches +for the <i>American Journal of Science</i>. On the topic of topography +he says:--</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a> W.S.D.Z., 9th Dec. 1820. +</blockquote> + +<p>"With regard to our daily occurrences, ought not something to be done? I +intended to have had a conversation with Governor Cass and yourself on +the subject before I parted from you, but it escaped me, and I have +since written about it.</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to receive your delineation of the Mississippi below +Prairie du Chien, and your levels through the Fox and Wisconsin (I +believe in these we agree pretty nearly) would enable me to +consolidate mine.</p> + +<p>"While I think of it, let me tell you I have made some calculations +about the height of the Porcupine Mountains. My data are the distance at +which they were seen from Kewewena portage, under the influence of great +refraction, and the distance on the following day without unusual +refraction, and I am convinced they cannot be less than 2000 feet high; +if, however, this staggers you, say 1800, and I am confident you are +<i>within</i> the real elevation.</p> + +<p>"Estimates of heights, breadths of rivers, &c., and, in looking over +your journal, any other topographical facts which you may have to +dispose of, will be very acceptable to me. Will you be able to spare me +(that is, to let me copy) any of your drawings? You know, I believe, my +views in asking are to embellish my map and memoir with landscape views +in a light style."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p>Reception by the country on my return--Reasons for publishing my +narrative without my reports for a digested scientific account of the +expedition--Delays interposed to this--Correspondents--Locality of +strontian--Letter from Dr. Mitchell--Report on the copper mines of Lake +Superior--Theoretical geology--Indian symbols--Scientific +subjects--Complete the publication of my work--Its reception by the +press and the public--Effects on my mind--Receive the appointment of +Secretary to the Indian Commission at Chicago--Result of the expedition, +as shown by a letter of Dr. Mitchell to General Cass.</p> + +<p>1821. Governor Clinton offered me the use of his library while preparing +my journal for the press. Mr. Henry Inman, who was then beginning to +paint, re-drew some of the views. One of the leading booksellers made me +favorable proposals, which I agreed early in January to accept. I began +to transcribe my journal on the 8th of the month, and very assiduously +devoted myself to that object, sending off the sheets hurriedly as they +were written. The engravings were immediately put in hands. In this way, +the work went rapidly on; and I kept up, at the same time, an +industrious correspondence with scientific men in various places.</p> + +<p>It was at this time an object of moment, doubtless, that the results of +this expedition should have been combined in an elaborate and joint work +by the scientific gentlemen of the party. The topography and astronomy +had been most carefully attended to by Captain Douglass, and the +materials collected for an improved map. Its geology and mineralogy had +formed the topic of my daily notes. Its aboriginal population had been +seen under circumstances rarely enjoyed. Its fresh water conchology had +been carefully observed by Douglass and myself, and fine collections +made. Something had been done respecting its botany, and the whole chain +of events was ready to be linked together in a striking manner.</p> + +<p>But there was no one to take the initiative. Governor Cass, who had led +the expedition, did not think of writing. Professor Douglass, who was my +senior, and who occupied the post of topographer, by no means underrated +the subject, but deferred it, and, by accepting the Professorship of +Mathematics at West Point, assumed a duty which made it literally +impossible, though he did not see it immediately, that he should do +justice to his own notes. I simply went forward because no one of the +members of the expedition offered to. I had kept a journal from the +first to the last day, which I believe no one else had. I had been +diligent in the morning and evening in observing every line of coast and +river. I never allowed the sun to catch me asleep in my canoe or boat. I +had kept the domestic, as well as the more grave and important events. I +was importuned to give them to the public. I had written to Douglass +about it, but he was dilatory in answering me, and when at last he did, +and approved my suggestion for a joint work in which our observations +should be digested, it was too late, so far as my narrative went, to +withdraw it from my publishers. But I pledged to him at once my +geological and mineralogical reports, and I promptly sent him my +portfolio of sketches to embellish his map. This is simply the history +of the publication of my narrative journal.</p> + +<p>My position was, at this time, personally agreeable. My room was daily +visited by literary and scientific men. I was invited to the mansions of +distinguished men, who spoke of my recent journey as one implying +enterprise. Nothing, surely, when I threw myself into the current of +western emigration, in 1817, was farther from my thoughts than my being +an instrumental cause, to much extent, in stirring up and awakening a +zeal for scientific explorations and researches. The diurnal press, +however, gave this tone to the thing. The following is an extract:--<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10">[10]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor10">[10]</a> A New York Statesman, Jan. 1821. +</blockquote> + +<p>"During the last year, an expedition was authorized by the National +Government, which left Detroit some time in the month of May, under the +personal orders of Governor Cass, of the Michigan Territory, provided +with the necessary means of making observations upon the topography, +natural history, and aborigines of the country. We have had an +opportunity of conversing with one of the gentlemen who accompanied +Governor Cass in the expedition, Mr. H.R. Schoolcraft, who has recently +returned to this city, bringing a large collection of mineral and other +substances, calculated to illustrate the natural history of the regions +visited. We learn that the party passed through Lake Superior, and +penetrated to the sources of the Mississippi, which have been, for the +first time, satisfactorily ascertained. In returning, they passed down +the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien, and thence came across to Green +Bay, by means of the Ouisconsin and Fox Rivers. Indian tribes were found +in every part of the country visited, by whom they were generally well +received, except at the Sault St. Marie, where a hostile disposition was +manifested. The country was found to present a great variety in its +soil, climate, productions, and the character of the savages, and the +information collected must prove highly interesting both to men of +business and men of science.</p> + +<p>"It will be seen, by referring to an advertisement in our paper of +to-day, that Mr. Schoolcraft contemplates publishing an account of the +expedition, under the form of a personal narrative, embracing notices of +interesting scenery, the Indian tribes, topographical discoveries, the +quadrupeds, mineral productions, and geology of the country, accompanied +by an elegant map and a number of picturesque views. From an inspection +of the manuscript map and views, we are persuaded that no analogous +performances, of equal merit, have ever been submitted to the hands of +the engraver in this country. We have always been surprised that, while +we have had so many travelers through the Valley of the Ohio and Lower +Mississippi, no one should have thought of filling up the chasm in our +north-western geography. The field is certainly a very ample one--we +cannot but felicitate the public in having a person of the acknowledged +talents, industry, and original views of Mr. S. to supply the +deficiency."</p> + +<p>At length Professor Douglass (Feb. 9th) responded to my proposition to +club our wits in a general work. "Your propositions relative to a joint +publication, meet my views precisely, and of course I am inclined to +believe we may make an interesting 'work.' In addition to the usual +heads of topographical and geographical knowledge, which I propose to +treat of, in my memoir on that subject, I am promised by Dr. Torrey some +of the valuable aid which it will be in his power to render for the +article 'Botany,' and our collections should furnish the materials of a +description of the fresh water conchology." His proposition was based on +giving a complete account of the animal and mineral constituents of the +country, its hydrography and resources; the paper on the aboriginal +tribes to be contributed by General Cass.</p> + +<p>A difficulty is, however, denoted. "My duties here," he writes, "as they +engross everything at present, will force me to delay a little, and I am +in hopes, by so doing, to obtain some further data. I enter, in a few +days, on the discharge of my professional duties, under considerable +disadvantages, owing to the late introduction into our courses of some +French works on the highest branches of mathematics, which it falls to +my lot first to teach. Between French, therefore, and fluxions, and +moreover, the <i>French method of fluxions</i>, which is somewhat peculiar, I +have had my hands pretty full. I look forward to a respite in April."</p> + +<p>The professor had, in fact, to teach his class as he taught himself, and +just kept ahead of them--a very hard task.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, while this plan of an enlarged publication was kept in +view, I pushed my narrative forward. While it was going through the +press, almost every mail brought me something of interest respecting the +progress of scientific discovery. A few items may be noticed.</p> + +<p><i>Discovery of Strontian on Lake Erie</i>.--Mr. William A. Bird, of Troy, of +the Boundary Survey, writes (Jan. 22d):--</p> + +<p>"On our return down the lake, last fall, we were becalmed near the +islands in Lake Erie. I took a boat, and, accompanied by Major +Delafield, Mr. A. Stevenson, and Mr. De Russey (who was to be our +guide), went in search of the strontian to the <i>main</i> shore, where Mr. +De Russey says it was found in the summer of 1819. After an unsuccessful +search of an hour, we gave it up, and determined to return to our +vessel. On our way we stopped at Moss Island, when, immediately on +landing, we found the mineral in question. I wandered a little from the +others, and found the large bed of which I spoke to you. We there +procured large quantities, and some large crystals.</p> + +<p>"This strontian was on the south side of Moss Island, in a horizontal +vein of three feet in thickness, and from forty to fifty feet in +length. I had no means of judging its depth into the rock. The base of +the island is wholly composed of limestone, in which shells scarcely, if +ever, appear."</p> + +<p><i>Conchology--Mineralized Fungus, &c.</i>--Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, of New +York, writes (Jan. 30th): "I was glad to receive your letter and the +accompanying articles, by the hand of Colonel Gardiner; but I am sorry +your business is such as to prevent your meditated visit to the city +until spring.</p> + +<p>"I had a solemn conference with Mr. Barnes, our distinguished +conchologist, on the subject of your shells. We had Say's publication on +the land and fresh water molluscas before us. We believed the univalves +had been chiefly described by him; one, or probably two of the species +were not contained in his memoir. It would gratify me very much to +possess a complete collection of those molluscas. I gave Mr. Barnes, who +is an indefatigable collector, such duplicates as I could spare.</p> + +<p>"I showed your sandy fungus to my class at the college yesterday. Our +medical school was never so flourishing, there being nearly two hundred +students. In the evening, I showed it to the lyceum. All the members +regretted your determination to stay the residue of the winter +in Albany.</p> + +<p>"The little tortoise is referred, with a new and singular bird, to a +zoological committee for examination. The sulphate of strontian +is elegant.</p> + +<p>"I am forming a parcel for Professor Schreibers, curator of the Austrian +emperor's cabinet at Vienna; the opportunity will be excellent to send +a few."</p> + +<p><i>Report on the Copper of Lake Superior</i>.--Professor Silliman, in +announcing a notice of my work on the mines, for the next number of the +<i>Journal of Science</i>, Feb. 5th, says: "I have written to the Secretary +of War, and he has given his consent to have your report appear in the +<i>Journal of Science</i>."</p> + +<p>Governor Cass, of Michigan (Feb. 20th), expresses his thanks for a +manuscript copy of the MS. report. "I trust," he adds, "the report will +be published by the government. It would be no less useful and +satisfactory to the public than honorable to yourself." <i>Geology of +Western New York</i>.--Mr. Andrew McNabb, of Geneva (Feb. 26th), sends me +two separate memoirs on the mineralogy and geology of the country, to be +employed as materials in my contemplated memoir. The zeal and +intelligence of this gentleman have led him to outstrip every observer +who has entered into this field of local knowledge. Its importance to +the value of the lands, their mines, ores, resources, water power, and +general character, has led him to take the most enlarged views of +the subject.</p> + +<p>"Pursue," he says, "my dear sir, your career, for it is an honorable +one. The world, bad as it is, has been much worse than now for authors; +and through the great reading public, there are many generous souls, +whose views are not confined to sordidness and self. May all your +laudable exertions be crowned with ample success--with pleasure and +profit to yourself and fellow-citizens!"</p> + +<p><i>Boulder of Copper</i>.--A large specimen of native copper from Lake +Superior, procured by me, forwarded to Mr. Calhoun, by General Stephen +Van Rensselaer, representative in Congress, was cut up by his +directions, and presented to the foreign ministers and gentlemen from +abroad; and thus the resources of the country made known. In a letter of +Feb. 27th, Mr. Calhoun acknowledges the receipt of it.</p> + +<p><i>Theoretical Geology</i>.--Mr. McNabb, in forwarding additional papers +relative to western geology, observes: "Have you seen Greenough's +<i>Essays on Geology?</i> The reviewers speak of it as well as critics +usually do on such occasions. President Greenough has given a shock to +the 'Wernerian system;' his battery is pretty powerful, but he seems +more intent on <i>leveling</i> than on building. The Wernerian system is very +beautiful, ingenious, and plausible, and I would almost regret its +demolition, unless it should be found to stand in the way of <i>truth</i>.</p> + +<p>"Without some system or order in the investigation of nature's works and +nature's laws, the mind is puzzled and confounded, wandering, like +Noah's dove, over the face of the deep, without finding a resting-place. +What a pity that human knowledge and human powers are so limited!"</p> + +<p><i>Indian Symbolic Figures</i>.--Professor Douglass (March 17th) writes, +making some inquiries about certain symbolic figures on the Sioux bark +letter, found above Sank River.</p> + +<p><i>Expedition to the Yellow Stone</i>.--I fancy those western expeditions +intend to beat us all hollow, in <i>tough yarn</i>, as the sailors have it; +for it seems the Indian affair has got into the form of a newspaper +controversy already: vide <i>Aurora</i> and <i>National Gazette.</i></p> + +<p><i>Mineralogy of Georgia</i>.--J. T. Johnston, Esq., of New York, writes +(March 23d) that he has made an arrangement for procuring minerals for +me from this part of the Union.</p> + +<p><i>Scientific Subjects</i>.--Mr. McNabb writes (March 27th): "I deeply regret +that so little attention is bestowed by our legislatures (State and +National) on objects of such importance as those which engage your +thoughts, while so much time, breath, and treasure are wasted on +frivolous subjects and party objects. How long must the patriot and +philanthropist sigh for the termination of such driveling and delusion!"</p> + +<p>After a labor at my table of about fourteen weeks, the manuscript was +all delivered to my printers; and I returned to New York, and took up my +abode in my old quarters at 71 Courtland. The work was brought out on +the 20th of May, making an octavo volume of 419 pages, with six plates, +a map, and engraved title-page. Marks of the haste with which it was run +through the press were manifest, and not a few typographical errors. +Nobody was more sensible of this than myself, and of the value that more +time and attention would have imparted. But the public received it with +avidity, and the whole edition was disposed of in a short time. +Approbatory notices appeared in the principal papers and journals. The +<i>New York Columbian</i> says:--</p> + +<p>"The author has before given the public a valuable work upon the Lead +Mines of Missouri, and, if we mistake not, a book of instructions upon +the manufacture of glass. He is advantageously known as a man of science +and literary research, and well qualified to turn to beneficial account +the mass of information he must have collected in his tour through that +interesting part of the country, which has attracted universal +attention, though our knowledge of it has hitherto been extremely +limited. We think there is no fear that the just expectations of the +public will be disappointed; but that the book will be found to furnish +all the valuable and interesting information that the subject and +acquirements of the writer promised, conveyed in a chaste and easy style +appropriate for the journalist--occasionally enlivened by animating +descriptions of scenery. The author has not suffered his imagination to +run wild from a foolish vanity to win applause as a fine writer, when +the great object should be to give the reader a view of what he +describes, as far as language will permit, in the same light in which he +beheld it himself. He aims to give you a just and true account of what +he has seen and heard, and his book will be referred to as a record of +facts by the learned and scientific at home and abroad. It is a +production honorable to the country, and, if we mistake not, will +advance her reputation in the opinion of the fastidious reviewers of +Scotland and England, in spite of their deep-rooted prejudices."</p> + +<p>Mr. Walsh, of the <i>National Gazette</i>, deems it a valuable addition to +this class of literature.</p> + +<p>"Public attention," he remarks, "was much excited last year by the +prospectus of the expedition, of which Mr. Schoolcraft formed a part as +mineralogist, and whose journey he has now described. He remarks, in his +introduction, with truth, that but little detailed information was +before possessed of the extreme north-western region of the Union--of the +great chain of lakes--and of the sources of the Mississippi River, which +continued to be a subject of dispute between geographical writers. In +the autumn of 1819 Governor Cass, of Michigan Territory, projected an +expedition for exploring what was so imperfectly known, and yet so +worthy of being industriously surveyed.</p> + +<p>"The Secretary of War--to whom Mr. Schoolcraft's book is appropriately +dedicated, with a just testimony to the liberal and enlightened +character of his official administration--not only admitted the plan of +Governor Cass, but furnished him with the means of carrying it into full +effect by providing an escort of soldiers and directing the commandants +of the frontier garrisons to furnish every aid, of whatever +description, which the party might require. To the Governor, as chief of +the expedition, he associated several gentlemen qualified to accomplish +its objects; which were--a more correct knowledge of the names, numbers, +customs, history, mode of subsistence, and dispositions of the Indian +tribes--the collection of materials for an accurate map of the +country--the investigation of the subject of the north-western copper and +lead mines, and gypsum quarries; and the acquisition, from the Indians, +of such tracts as might be necessary to secure the benefit of them to +the United States.</p> + +<p>"In the course of last March, we published a letter of Governor Cass to +the Secretary of War, describing in a happy manner some of the scenes +and occurrences which fell within the observation or inquiry of the +expedition. Mr. Schoolcraft states, at the end of his introductory +remarks, that he does not profess to communicate <i>all</i> the topographical +information collected, and that a special topographical report and map +may be expected, together with other reports and the scientific +observations of the expedition in general. We anticipate, therefore, an +ample and valuable accession to our stock of knowledge respecting so +important a portion of the American territory; and such evidence of the +utility of enterprises of the kind, as will inspire every branch of the +government with a desire to see them repeated with equipments and +facilities adapted to the most comprehensive research, and fitted to +render them creditable in their fruits to the national character abroad.</p> + +<p>"The present narrative does not exhibit the author in his capacity of +mineralogist alone. In this he appears indeed more distinctively, and to +particular advantage; but he writes also as a general describer and +relater, and has furnished lively and ample accounts of the natural +objects, and novel, magnificent scenery which he witnessed; and of the +history, character, condition, and habits of the various Indian bands +whom he encountered in his route, or who belong especially to our +north-western territories."</p> + +<p>I was deeply sensible of the exalted feelings and enlarged sentiments +with which these and other notices were written. The effect on my mind +was a sense of literary humility, and a desire to prove myself in any +future attempts of the kind in some measure worthy of them. Literary +candidates are not ever, perhaps, so much pleased or gratified by those +who render them exact justice, of which there is always some notion, as +by warm, liberal, or high-minded thoughts and commendations, which are +incentives to future labors.</p> + +<p><i>May 22d</i>.--General Cass had, before leaving Detroit, offered me the +situation of Secretary to the Commissioners appointed to confer with the +Indians at Chicago in the summer of 1821, with a view, primarily, to the +interesting and circuitous journey which it was his intention to make, +in order to reach the place of meeting. This offer, as the time drew on, +he now put in the shape of a letter, which I determined at once to +accept, and made my arrangements to leave the city without loss of time.</p> + +<p>It was proposed to be at Detroit the 1st of July. The tour would lie +through the valleys of the Miami of the lakes, and the Wabash, which +interlock at the Fort Wayne summit; then across the Grand Prairie of the +Illinois to St. Louis, and up the Illinois River from its mouth to its +source. This would give me a personal knowledge of three great valleys, +which I had not before explored, and connect my former southern +explorations in Arkansas and Missouri with those of the great lake +basins and the upper Mississippi. I had been at the sources and the +mouth of that great river, and I had now the opportunity to complete the +knowledge of its central portions. It was with the utmost avidity, +therefore, that I turned my face again towards the West.</p> + +<p>Mr. Calhoun, who was written to on the subject, concurred in this plan, +and extended the time for the completion of my geological report.</p> + +<p><i>Joint Work on the Scientific Results of the Expedition of 1820</i>.-- +General Cass, who had been written to, thus expresses himself on this +subject:--</p> + +<p>"Captain Douglass has informed me that you and he meditate a joint work, +which shall comprise those objects, literary and scientific, which could +not properly find a place in a diurnal narrative. At what time is this +work to appear, and what are its plan and objects? My observations and +inquiries respecting the Indians will lead me much further than I +intended or expected. If I can prepare anything upon that subject prior +to the appearance of the work, I shall be happy to do it."</p> + +<p><i>Geological Survey of Dutchess County</i>.--Dr. Benjamin Allen, of Hyde +Park, writes to me (June 4th) on this subject, urging me to undertake +the survey; but the necessity of closing my engagements in the West +rendered it impossible.</p> + +<p><i>Expedition of</i> 1820.--Dr. Mitchell furnishes me opinions upon some of +the scientific objects collected by me and my associates in the +north-west in 1820:--</p> + +<p>"The Squirrel sent by General Cass is a species not heretofore +described, and has been named by Dr. Mitchell the <i>federation squirrel</i>, +or <i>sciurus tredecem striatus</i>.</p> + +<p>"The Pouched Rat, or <i>mus bursarius</i>, has been seen but once in Europe. +This was a specimen sent to the British Museum from Canada, and +described by Dr. Shaw. But its existence is rather questioned by +Charles Cuvier.</p> + +<p>"Both animals have been described and the descriptions published in the +21st Vol. of the <i>Medical Repository</i> of New York, p. 248 <i>et seq</i>. The +specimens are both preserved in my museum. Drawings have been executed +by the distinguished artist Milbert, and forwarded by him at my request +to the administrators of the King's Museum, at Paris, of which he is a +corresponding member. My descriptions accompany them. The originals are +retained as too valuable to be sent out of the country.</p> + +<p>"The Paddle Fish is the <i>spatularia</i> of Shaw and <i>polyodon</i> of Lacepede. +It lives in the Mississippi only, and the skeleton, though incomplete, +is better than any other person here possesses. It is carefully +preserved in my collection.</p> + +<p>"The Serpent is a species of the Linnaean genus Anguis, the <i>orveto</i> of +the French, and the <i>blind worm</i> of the English. The loss of the tail of +this fragile creature may render an opinion a little dubious, but it is +supposed to be an <i>ophias aureus</i> of Dandin, corresponding to the Anguis +ventralis of Linn, figured by Catesby.</p> + +<p>"The shells afford a rich amount of undescribed species. The whole of +the univalves and bivalves received from Messrs. Schoolcraft and +Douglass, have been assembled, and examined with all I possessed before, +and with Mr. Stacy Collins's molluscas brought from Ohio. Mr. Barnes is +charged with describing and delineating all the species not contained +in Mr. Say's memoir on these productions of the land and fresh waters of +North America. The finished work will be laid before the Lyceum, and +finally be printed in Silliman's New Haven <i>Journal</i>. The species with +which zoology will be enriched will amount probably to nine or ten. We +shall endeavor to be just to our friends and benefactors.</p> + +<p>"The pipe adorns my mantelpiece, and is much admired by connoisseurs."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p>Trip through the Miami of the lakes, and the Wabash Valley--Cross the +grand prairie of Illinois--Revisit the mines--Ascend the +Illinois--Fever--Return through the great lakes--Notice of the +"Trio"--Letter from Professor Silliman--Prospect of an appointment under +government--Loss of the "Walk-in-the-Water"--Geology of Detroit--Murder +of Dr. Madison by a Winnebago Indian.</p> + +<p>1821. I left New York for Chicago on the 16th June--hurried rapidly +through the western part of that State--passed up Lake Erie from +Buffalo, and reached Detroit just in season to embark, on the 4th of +July. General Cass was ready to proceed, with his canoe-elege in the +water. We passed, the same day, down the Detroit River, and through the +head of Lake Erie into the Maumee Bay to Port Lawrence, the present +site, I believe, of the city of Toledo. This was a distance of seventy +miles, a prodigious day's journey for a canoe. But we were shot along by +a strong wind, which was fair when we started, but had insensibly +increased to a gale in Lake Erie, when we found it impossible to turn to +land without the danger of filling. The wind, though a gale, was still +directly aft. On one occasion I thought we should have gone to the +bottom, the waves breaking in a long series, above our heads, and +rolling down our breasts into the canoe. I looked quietly at General +Cass, who sat close on my right, but saw no alarm in his countenance. +"That was a fatherly one," was his calm expression, and whatever was +thought, little was said. We weathered and entered the bay silently, but +with feelings such as a man may be supposed to have when there is but a +step between him and death.</p> + +<p>We ascended the Miami Valley, through scenes renowned by the events of +two or three wars. I walked over the scene of Dudley's defeat in 1812; +of Wayne's victory in 1793; and of the sites of forts Deposit and +Defiance, and other events celebrated in history. From Fort Defiance, +which is at the junction of the River <i>Auglaize</i>, we rode to Fort Wayne, +sleeping in a deserted hut half way. We passed the summit to the source +of the Wabash, horseback, sleeping at an Indian house, where all the men +were drunk, and kept up a howling that would have done credit to a pack +of hungry wolves. The Canadians, who managed our canoe, in the mean time +brought it from water to water on their shoulders, and we again +embarked, leaving our horses at the forks of the Wabash. The whole of +this long and splendid valley, then wild and in the state of nature, +till below the Tippecanoe, we traversed, day by day, stopping at +Vincennes, Terrehaute, and a hundred other points, and entered the Ohio +and landed safely at Shawneetown. Here it was determined to send the +Canadians with our canoe, round by water to St. Louis, while we hired a +sort of stage-wagon to cross the prairies. I visited the noted locality +of fluor spar in Pope County, Illinois, and crossing the mountainous +tract called the Knobs, rejoined the party at the Saline. Here I found +my old friend Enmenger, of Kemp and Keen memory, to be the innkeeper. On +reaching St. Louis, General Cass rode over the country to see the +Missouri, while I, in a sulky, revisited the mines in Washington, and +brought back a supply of its rich minerals. We proceeded in our canoe up +the River Illinois to the rapids, at what is called Fort Rock, or +Starved Rock, and from thence, finding the water low, rode on horseback +to Chicago, horses having been sent, for this purpose, from Chicago to +meet us. There was not a house from Peoria to John Craft's, four miles +from Chicago. I searched for, and found, the fossil tree, reported to +lie in the rocks in the bed of the river <i>Des Plaines</i>. The sight of +Lake Michigan, on nearing Chicago, was like the ocean. We found an +immense number of Indians assembled. The Potawattomies, in their gay +dresses and on horseback, gave the scene an air of Eastern magnificence. +Here we were joined by Judge Solomon Sibley, the other commissioner from +Detroit, whence he had crossed the peninsula on horseback, and we +remained in negotiation with the Indians during fifteen consecutive +days. A treaty was finally signed by them on the 24th of August, by +which, for a valuable consideration in annuities and goods, they ceded +to the United States about five millions of acres of choice lands.</p> + +<p>Before this negotiation was finished, I was seized with bilious fever, +and consequently did not sign the treaty. It was of the worst bilious +type, and acute in its character. I did not, indeed, ever expect to make +another entry in a human journal. But a vigorous constitution at length +prevailed, and weeks after all the party had left the ground, I was +permitted to embark in a vessel called the Decatur on the 23d of +September for Detroit. We reached Michilimackinack the seventh day of +our voyage, and returned to Detroit on the 6th of October. The incidents +and observations of this journey have been given to the public under the +title "Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley" (1 +vol. pp. 459, 8vo.: New York).</p> + +<p>I still felt the effects of my illness on reaching Detroit, where I +remained a few days before setting out for New York. On reaching Oneida +County, where I stopped to recruit my strength, I learned that some +envious persons, who shielded themselves under the name of "Trio," had +attacked my <i>Narrative Journal</i>, in one of the papers during my absence. +The attack was not of a character to demand a very grave notice, and was +happily exposed by Mr. Carter, in some remarks in the columns of the +<i>Statesman</i>, which first called my attention to the subject.</p> + +<p>"A trio of writers," he observes, in his paper of 17th August, "in the +<i>Daily Advertiser</i> of Wednesday, have commenced an attack on the +<i>Narrative Journal</i> of Mr. Schoolcraft, lately published in this city. +We should feel excessively mortified for the literary reputation of our +country, if it took any <i>three</i> of our writers to produce such a +specimen of criticism as the article alluded to; and 'for charity's +sweet sake,' we will suppose that by a typographical error the signature +is printed <i>Trio</i> instead of <i>Tyro</i>. At any rate, the essay, +notwithstanding all its <i>wes</i> and <i>ours</i>, bears the marks of being the +effort of <i>one</i> smatterer, rather than the joint production of <i>three</i> +critics, as the name imports."</p> + +<p>The Trio (if we admit there are <i>tria juncta in uno</i>, in this knot of +savans) pretend to be governed by patriotic motives in attacking Mr. +Schoolcraft. 'In what we have said, our object has been to expose error, +and to shield <i>ourselves</i> from the imputation which would justly be +thrown upon <i>ourselves</i>.' The construction of this sentence reminds us +of the exordium of Deacon Strong's speech at Stonington--'<i>the +generality of mankind in general</i> endeavor to try to take the +disadvantage of <i>the generality of mankind in general</i>.' But not to +indulge in levities on so grave a subject, we are happy in the belief +that the reputation of our country does not demand the condemnation of +Schoolcraft's <i>Journal</i>, as a proof of our taste, nor need such a shield +as the trio have interposed, to protect it from the attacks of foreign +reviewers:--</p> + +<blockquote> +'Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis<br> +Tempus eget.'<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It affords us great pleasure to relieve the anxiety of the Trio on the +subject of shielding 'ourselves from the imputation which would be +justly thrown upon ourselves,' by stating that one of the most +scientific gentlemen in the United States wrote to the publishers of +Schoolcraft's <i>Journal</i>, not a week since, for a copy of the work to +send to Paris, adding to his request, <i>the work is so valuable that I +doubt not it would be honorably noticed</i>.</p> + +<p>"We have not taken the trouble to examine the passages to which the Trio +have referred; for, admitting that a trifling error has been detected in +an arithmetical calculation--that a few plants (or <i>vegetables</i>, as this +botanist calls them) have been described as new, which were before +known--and that in the haste of composition some verbal errors may have +escaped the author, yet these slight defects do not detract essentially +from the merit of the work, or prove that it has improperly been +denominated a scientific, valuable, and interesting volume. Our sage +critics are not aware how many and whom they include in the denunciation +of 'a few men who <i>pretend</i> to all the knowledge, all the wisdom of the +country;' if by a <i>few</i> they mean all who have spoken in the most +favorable terms of Mr. Schoolcraft's book.</p> + +<p>"One word in respect to the 'candor' of the Trio, and we have done. It +would seem to have been more candid, and the disavowal of 'an intention +to injure' would have been more plausible, if the attack had been +commenced when the author was present to defend himself, and not when he +is in the depth of a wilderness, remote from his assailants and ignorant +of their criticisms. But we trust he has left many friends behind who +will promptly and cheerfully defend his reputation till his return."</p> + +<p>On reading the pieces, I found them to be based in a petty spirit of +fault-finding, uncandid, illiberal, and without wit, science, or +learning. It is said in a book, which my critics did not seem to have +caught the spirit of--"Should not the multitude of words be answered, +and should a man fall if talk be justified? Should thy lies make men +hold their peace, and when thou mockest shall no man make thee ashamed?" +(Job xi. 2, 3.) My blood boiled. I could have accepted and approved +candid and learned and scientific criticism. I replied in the papers, +pointing out the gross illiberality of the attack, and tried to provoke +a discovery of the authors. But they were still as death; the mask that +had been assumed to shield envy, hypercriticism, and falsehood, there +was neither elevation of moral purpose, courage, nor honor, to +lay aside.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, all my correspondents and friends sustained me. Men of +the highest standing in science and letters wrote to me. A friend of +high standing, in a note from Washington (Oct. 24th) congratulating me +on my recovery from the fever at Chicago, makes the following allusion +to this concealed and spiteful effort: "When in Albany I procured from +Mr. Webster copies of them (the pieces), with a view to say something in +the papers, had it been necessary. But, from their character and effect, +this would have been wholly unnecessary. They have fallen still-born +from the press."</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter (Oct. 28th) says: "G. C. was at my room, and spoke of the +numbers with the utmost contempt, and thought they were not worth +noticing. The same opinion is entertained by everyone whom I have heard +speak on the subject. Chancellor Kent told me that your book is the most +interesting he has ever read, and that the attack on it amounts to +nothing. Others have paid it the same compliment, and I think your fame +is in no danger of being injured by the Trio."</p> + +<p>Mr. Baldwin, a legal gentleman of high worth and standing, made the +following observations in one of the city papers, under the signature of +"Albanian":--</p> + +<p>"True criticism is a liberal and humane art, and teaches no less to +point out and admire what is deserving of applause, than to detect and +expose blemishes and defects. If this be a correct definition of +criticism, and 'Trio' were capable of filling the office he has assumed, +I am of opinion that a different judgment would have been pronounced +upon Mr. Schoolcraft's book of travels; and that they would have been +justly eulogized, and held up for the perusal of every person at all +anxious about acquiring an intimate knowledge of the interesting +country through which he traveled, and which he so ably and beautifully +described. It is certainly true, that we abound in snarling critics, +whose chief delight is in finding fault with works of native production; +and though it is not my business to tread upon their corns, I could wish +they might ever receive that castigation and contempt which they merit +from a liberal and enlightened public. In the first article which +appeared in your useful paper, over the signature of 'Trio,' I thought I +discovered only the effervescence of a pedantic and caviling +disposition; but, when I find that writer making false and erroneous +statements, and drawing deductions therefrom unfavorable to Mr. +Schoolcraft, I deprecate the evil, and invite the public to a free and +candid investigation of the truth. Not satisfied with detracting from +the merits of Mr. Schoolcraft's work, 'Trio' indulges in some bitter and +illiberal remarks upon those gentlemen who composed the Yellow Stone +River expedition; and to show how little qualified he is for the +subject, I will venture to declare him ignorant of the very first +principles upon which that expedition was organized."</p> + +<p>So much for the "Trio." No actual discovery of the authors was made; but +from information subsequently obtained, it is believed that their names +are denoted under the anagram LENICTRA.</p> + +<p>Other criticisms of a different stamp were, however, received from high +sources, speaking well of the work, which may here be mentioned. +Professor Silliman writes from New Haven, November 22d: "I perused your +travels with great satisfaction; they have imparted to me a great deal +of information and pleasure. Could any scientific friend of yours +(Captain Douglass, for instance) prepare a notice, or a review, I would +cheerfully insert it.</p> + +<p>"In reading your travels, I marked with a pencil the scientific notices, +and especially those on mineralogy and geology, thinking that I might at +a future period embody them into an article for the journal. Would it +not be consistent with your time and occupations to do this, and forward +me the article? I would be greatly pleased also to receive from you a +notice of the fluor spar from Illinois; of the fossil tree; and, in +short, any of your scientific or miscellaneous observations, which you +may see fit to intrust to the pages of the journal, I shall be happy to +receive, and trust they would not have a disadvantageous introduction to +the world."</p> + +<p>How different is this in its spirit and temper from the flimsy thoughts +of the Trio!</p> + +<p><i>Literary Honors</i>.--Dr. Alfred S. Monson, of New Haven, informs me +(November 23d) of my election as a member of the American Geological +Society. Mr. Austin Abbott communicates notice of my election as a +member of the Hudson Lyceum of Natural History.</p> + +<p><i>Appointment under Government</i>.--A friend in high confidence at +Washington writes (November 4th): "The proposition to remove from +Sackett's Harbor to the Sault of St. Mary a battalion of the army, and +to establish a military post at the latter place, has been submitted by +Mr. Calhoun to the President. The pressure of other subjects has +required an investigation and decision since his return; so that he has +not yet been able to examine this matter. Mr. Calhoun is himself +decidedly in favor of the measure, and I have no doubt but that such +will be the result of the Presidential deliberation. The question is too +plain, and the considerations connected with it too obvious and +important, to allow any prominent difficulties to intrude themselves +between the conception and the execution of the measure. If a post be +established, it is almost certain that an Indian agency will be located +there, and, in the event, it is quite certain that you will be appointed +the agent."</p> + +<p><i>Loss of the "Walk-in-the-water."</i>--This fine steamer was wrecked near +the foot of Lake Erie, in November. A friend in Detroit writes (November +17th): "This accident maybe considered as one of the greatest +misfortunes which have ever befallen Michigan, for in addition to its +having deprived us of all certain and speedy communication with the +civilized world, I am fearful it will greatly check the progress of +emigration and improvement. They speak of <i>three</i> new boats on Lake Erie +next season; I hope they may be erected, but such reports are always +exaggerated."</p> + +<p><i>Geology of Detroit</i>.--"No accurate measurement that I can find has ever +been made of the height of the bank of the river at this place. As near +as I can ascertain, however, from those who have endeavored to obtain +correct information respecting it, and from my own judgment, I should +suppose the base of the pillars at the upper end of the market-house, +which stand three hundred feet from the water's edge, to be thirty-three +feet above the surface of the river. The bank is of a gentle descent +towards the water, and gradually recedes from the river for one mile +above the lower line of the city.</p> + +<p>"In digging a well in the north-east part of the city, in the street near +the Council House, the loam appeared to be about a foot and a half deep. +The workmen then passed through a stratum of blue clay of eight or ten +feet, when they struck a vein of coarse sand, eight inches in thickness, +through which the water entered so fast, as to almost prevent them from +going deeper. They, however, proceeded through another bed of blue clay, +twenty or twenty-two feet, and came to a fine yellow sand, resembling +quicksand, into which they dug three feet and stopped, having found +sufficient water. The whole depth of the well was thirty-three feet.</p> + +<p>"The water is clear, and has no bad taste. No vegetable or other remains +were found, and only a few small stones and pebbles, such as are on the +shores of the river. A little coarse dark sand and gravel were found +below the last bed of clay, on the top of the yellow sand."</p> + +<p>The boring for water in 1830 was extended, on the Fort Shelby plateau, +260 feet. After passing ten feet of alluvion, the auger passed through +115 feet of blue clay, with quicksand, then two of beach sand and +pebbles, when the limestone rock was struck. It was geodiferous for +sixty feet, then lies sixty-five, then a carbonate of lime eight feet, +at which depth the effort was relinquished unsuccessfully.--<i>Historical +and Scientific Sketches of Michigan</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>Bed of the Detroit River</i>.--I am induced to believe the bed of the +River Detroit is clay, from the fact that it affords good anchorage for +vessels. Neither limestone nor any other rock has ever been +discovered in it."</p> + +<p><i>Murder of Dr. Madison.</i>--A gentleman at the West writes to me (Nov. +17): "As to the murder of Dr. Madison, the facts were, that he started +from Green Bay, with three soldiers, to go to Chicago, and from thence +to his wife in Kentucky, who, during his absence, had added 'one' to the +family. The Indian Ke-taw-kah had left the bay the day previous, had +passed the Indian village on the Manatoowack River, on his way to +Chebiogan on the west side of Lake Michigan, to see a relative, but had +turned back. When the Doctor met him, he was standing by the side of a +tree, apparently unemployed. The Indian, says the Doctor, addressed him, +and said something, from which he understood they wanted them to guide +him to Chicago. As he knew he should get something to eat from them, he +concluded he would go with them as far as Chebiogan. Accordingly, he +fell in with the party about 2 P.M., and walked on until they had passed +the Manatoowack River, about three miles.</p> + +<p>"They came to a small rise of ground, over which two of the soldiers had +passed, and the other was by the side of the Doctor's horse, and both +were just on the top. The Indian was about two rods in the rear, and was +at the foot of the hill, when a gun was fired in the rear, and Madison +received the charge in his shoulders and in the back of his neck, and +immediately fell from his horse. The Indian instantly disappeared. The +Doctor exclaimed, 'Oh! why has that Indian shot me? I never did him or +any of them any injury. To kill me, too, when I was just returning to my +wife and my little child, which I have never seen! It is more painful +than death.' His conversation was very pathetic, as related by the +soldier, and all who heard him were greatly affected.</p> + +<p>"The Indian says he shot him without any cause or malice; that the +thought came into his head, about two minutes before, that he would kill +one of the four; and when he saw the Doctor on the top of the hill, he +concluded he would fire at him, to see how pretty he would fall off +his horse."</p> + +<p>These things transpired late in the fall. I did not reach Albany till +late in December, and immediately began to prepare my geological report.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p>New-Yearing--A prospect opened--Poem of Ontwa--Indian biography--Fossil +tree--Letters from various persons--Notice of Ontwa--Professor +Silliman--Gov. Clinton--Hon. J. Meigs--Colonel Benton--Mr. +Dickenson--Professor Hall--Views of Ex-presidents Madison, Jefferson, +and Adams on geology--Geological notices--Plan of a gazetteer--Opinions +of my <i>Narrative Journal</i> by scientific gentlemen--The impostor John Dun +Hunter--Trip up the Potomac--Mosaical chronology--Visit to Mount Vernon.</p> + +<p>1822. <i>Jan. 1st</i>.--I spent this day a New-Yearing. Albany is a dear +place for the first of January; not only the <i>houses</i> of every one, but +the <i>hearts</i> of every one seem open on this day. It is no slight praise +to say that one day out of the three hundred and sixty-five is +consecrated to general hospitality and warm-hearted cordiality. If St. +Nicholas was the author of this custom, he was a social saint; and the +custom seems to be as completely kept up on the banks of the Hudson as +it ever could have been on the banks of the Rhine.</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 5th</i>.--My experience is that he who would rise, in science or +knowledge, must toil incessantly; it is the price at which success sells +her favors. During the last four years, I have passed not less than ten +thousand miles, and in all this time I have scarcely lain down one night +without a feeling that the next day's success must depend upon a fresh +appeal to continued effort. My pathway has certainly not lain over beds +of gold, nor my pillow been composed of down. And yet my success has +served to raise the envy and malignity of some minds. True, these have +been small minds; while a just appreciation and approval have marked the +course of the exalted and enlightened. A friend writes from Washington, +this day, assuring me that I am not forgotten in high quarters. "The +occupation," he says, "of the <i>Sault</i> has been decided on, and I have +but little doubt of your appointment to the agency. Make your mind easy. +I am certain the government will not forget you, and I never can. I +shall not lose sight of your interest a moment."</p> + +<p>Thus, while an envious little clique here has, in my absence, +clandestinely thrown most uncandid censure upon me and my labors, a +vista of honor is presented to my hopes from a higher source.</p> + +<p>While recovering from the prostrating effects of my Chicago fever, I had +drawn up a memoir for the American Geological Society, which had made me +a member, on the fossil tree observed in the stratification of the Des +Plaines, of the Illinois, and took the occasion of being detained here +in making my report, to print it, and circulate copies. It appeared to +be a good opportunity, while calling attention to the fact described, to +connect it with the system of secondary rocks, as explained by +geologists. In this way, the occurrence of perhaps a not absolutely +unique phenomenon is made a vehicle of conveying geological information, +which is now sought with avidity in the country. This step brought me +many correspondents of note.</p> + +<p>Mr. Madison (Ex-President United States) writes (Jan. 22): "The present +is a very inquisitive age, and its researches of late have been ardently +directed to the primitive composition and structure of our globe, as far +as it has been penetrated, and to the processes by which succeeding +changes have been produced. The discoveries already made are +encouraging; but vast room is left for the further industry and sagacity +of geologists. This is sufficiently shown by the opposite theories which +have been espoused; one of them regarding water, the other fire, as the +great agent employed by nature in her work.</p> + +<p>"It may well be expected that this hemisphere, which has been least +explored, will yield its full proportion of materials towards a +satisfactory system. Your zealous efforts to share in the contributions +do credit to your love of truth and devotion to the cause of science, +and I wish they may be rewarded with the success they promise, and with +all the personal gratifications to which they entitle you."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson (Ex-President United States) sends a note of thanks (Jan. +26th) in the following words: "It is a valuable element towards the +knowledge we wish to obtain of the crust of the globe we inhabit; and, +as crust alone is immediately interesting to us, we are only to guard +against drawing our conclusions deeper than we dig. You are entitled to +the thanks of the lovers of science for the preservation of this fact."</p> + +<p>Mr. John Adams (Ex-President United States, Jan. 27th) says: "I thank +you for your memoir on the fossil tree, which is very well written; and +the conjectures on the processes of nature in producing it are plausible +and probable.</p> + +<p>"I once lay a week wind-bound in Portland road, in England, and went +often ashore, and ascended the mountain from whence they get all the +Portland stone that they employ in building. In a morning walk with some +of the American passengers from the Lucretia, Captain Calehan, we passed +by a handsome house, at the foot of the hill, with a handsome front yard +before it. Upon the top of one of the posts of this yard lay a fish, +coiled up in a spiral figure, which caught my eye. I stopped and gazed +at it with some curiosity. Presently a person, in the habit and +appearance of a substantial and well-bred English gentleman, appeared at +his door and addressed me. 'Sir, I perceive that your attention is fixed +on my fish. That is a conger eel--a species that abounds in these seas; +we see them repeatedly, at the depth of twelve feet water, lying exactly +in that position. That stone, as it now appears, was dug up from the +bowels of this mountain, at the depth of twenty feet below the surface, +in the midst of the rocks. Now, sir,' said he, 'at the time of the +deluge, these neighboring seas were thrown up into that mountain, and +this fish, lying at the bottom, was thrown up with the rest, and then +petrified, in the very posture in which he lay.'</p> + +<p>"I was charmed with the eloquence of this profound philosopher, as well +as with his civility, and said that I could not account for the +phenomenon by any more plausible or probable hypothesis.</p> + +<p>"This is a lofty hill and very steep, and in the road up and down, there +are flat and smooth rocks of considerable extent. The commerce in +Portland stone frequently calls for huge masses, from ten to fifteen +tons weight. These are loaded on very strong wheels, and drawn by ten or +twelve pair of horses. When they come to one of those flat rocks on the +side of the hill where the descent is steep, they take off six or eight +pair of horses, and attach them behind the wagon, and lash them up hill, +while one or two pair of horses in front have to drag the wagon and its +load and six or eight pair of horses behind it, backwards.</p> + +<p>"I give you this history by way of comment on Dr. Franklin's famous +argument against a mixed government. That great man ought not to have +quoted this as a New England custom, because it was an English practice +before New England existed, and is a happy illustration of the necessity +of a balanced government.</p> + +<p>"And since I have mentioned Dr. Franklin, I will relate another fact +which I had from his mouth. When he lived at Passy, a new quarry of +stone was opened in the garden of Mr. Ray de Chaumont, and, at the depth +of twenty feet, was found among the rocks a shark's tooth, in perfect +preservation, which I suppose my Portland friend would account for as he +did for his conger eel, though the tooth was not petrified."</p> + +<p>Thus, my memoir was the cause of the expression of opinions and facts +from distinguished individuals, which possess an interest distinct from +the bearing of such opinions on geology.</p> + +<p>Mr. Carter, who has just transferred the publication of the <i>Statesman</i> +from Albany to New York, writes (Jan. 10th) from the latter city, urging +me to hasten my return to that city.</p> + +<p><i>Poem on the theme of the Aborigines</i>.--"I have," he remarks, "read +Ontwa, the Indian poem you spoke to me about last summer. The notes by +Governor Cass are extremely interesting, and written in a superior +style. I shall notice the work in a few days."</p> + +<p><i>Geology of New York Island</i>.--"I wish you to give me an article on the +mineralogy and geology of Manhattan Island, in the form of a letter +purporting to be by a foreign traveler. (See Appendix, No. 2.) It is my +intention to give a series of letters, partly by myself and partly by +others, which shall take notice of everything in and about the city +which may be deemed interesting. I wish to begin at the foundation by +giving a geographical and geological sketch of the Island."</p> + +<p><i>Indian Biography</i>.--"Colonel Haines also wishes you to unite with him +and myself, in writing a series of sketches of celebrated Indians."</p> + +<p>Professor Silliman writes (Jan. 20th), acknowledging the receipt of a +memoir on the fossil tree of the River Des Plaines, which was prepared +for the American Geological Society. He requests me to furnish him a +copy of my memoir on the geology of the regions visited by the recent +expedition, or, if it be too long for the purposes of the <i>American +Journal</i>, an abstract of it.</p> + +<p><i>Animal Impressions in Limestone</i>.--"I am much obliged to you for your +kind intention of furnishing me with a paper on the impressions in +limestone, and I hope you will bear it in mind, and execute it +accordingly.</p> + +<p>"I have observed the appointment which the newspapers state that you +have received from the government, and regret that it carries you so far +south,<a name="FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a> into an unhealthy climate; wishing you, however, health and +leisure to pursue those studies which you have hitherto prosecuted so +successfully."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor11">[11]</a> This is evidently an allusion to St. Mary's, in Georgia, +instead of Michigan. +</blockquote> + +<p>Professor Frederick Hall, of Middlebury College, addresses me (Jan. +14th) on the same subject. He alludes to my treatise "On the Mines, +Minerals, &c., of the western section of the United States;" a work for +which our country and the world are deeply indebted to your enlightened +enterprise and unrelaxing zeal. Before reading it, I had a very +inadequate conception of the actual extent and riches of the lead mines +of the West. It seems, according to your account, that these mines are +an exhaustless source of wealth to the United States. "I should feel glad +to have them put under your superintendence; and to have you nurture up +a race of expert mineralogists, and become a Werner among them."</p> + +<p>Professor Silliman writes (Jan. 25th): "When I wrote you last, I had not +been able to procure your memoir on the fossil tree. I read it, however, +immediately after, and was so much pleased with it, that I extracted the +most important parts in the <i>American Journal</i>, giving credit, of +course, to you and to the Geological Society."</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 29th</i>. Chester Dewy, Professor, &c., in Williams College, Mass., +writes a most kind and friendly letter, in which he presents various +subjects, in the great area of the West, visited by me.</p> + +<p><i>Chalk Formation</i>.--"Mr. Jessup, of Philadelphia, told me that he +believed you doubted respecting the <i>chalk</i> of Missouri, in which you +found nodules of flints. I wish to ask if this be fact. From the +situation, and characters and uses, you might easily be led into a +mistake, for such a bed of any other earth would be far less to be +expected, and be also a far greater curiosity."</p> + +<p><i>Petrosilex, &c.</i>--"By the way, I received from Dr. Torrey a curious +mixture of petrosilex and prehnite in radiating crystals, which was sent +him by you, and collected at the West. He did not tell me the name, but +examination showed me what it was."</p> + +<p><i>Tufa from Western New York</i>.--"To day, a Quaker from Sempronius, New +York, has shown me some fine tufa. I mention it, because you may, in +your travels, be able to see it. He says it covers an acre or more to a +great depth, is burned into excellent lime with great ease, and is very +valuable, as no good limestone is found near them. Some of it is very +soft, like agaric mineral, and would be so called, were it not +associated with beautiful tufa of a harder kind."</p> + +<p><i>Geology of America</i>.--"You have explored in fine situations, to extend +the knowledge of the geology of our country, and have made great +discoveries. I congratulate you on what you have been able to do; I hope +you may be able, if you wish it, to add still more to our knowledge."</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 29th</i>. Mr. McNabb says: "I have just received a specimen of +excellent pit-coal from Tioga county, Pennsylvania, near the head of the +south branch of the Tioga River, and about twenty miles south from +Painted Post, in Steuben County. The quantity is said to be +inexhaustible, and what renders it of still greater importance is, that +arks and rafts descend from within four or five miles of the mines."</p> + +<p><i>New Gazetteer of New York</i>.--Mr. Carter writes (Feb. 5th) +inauspiciously of the course of affairs at Washington, as not favoring +the spirit of exploration. He proposes, in the event of my not receiving +the contemplated appointment, the plan of a Gazetteer of New York, on an +enlarged and scientific basis. "I have often expressed to you my opinion +of the Spafford Gazetteer of this State. It is wholly unworthy of public +patronage, and would not stand in the way of a good work of the kind; +and such a one, I have the vanity to believe, our joint efforts could +produce. It would be a permanent work, with slight alterations, as the +State might undergo changes. My plan would be for you to travel over the +State, and make a complete mineralogical, and geological, and +statistical survey of it, which would probably take you a year or more. +In the mean time, I would devote all my leisure to the collection and +arrangement of such other materials as we should need in the compilation +of the work."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 18th</i>. Professor Dewy writes, vindicating my views of the +Huttonian doctrines, respecting the formation of secondary rocks, which +he had doubted, on the first perusal of my memoir of the fossil tree +of Illinois.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 20th</i>. Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Circleville, Ohio, the author of +the antiquarian papers in the first volume of <i>Archaeologiae Americana</i>, +writes on the occasion of my geological memoir. He completely confounds +the infiltrated specimen of an entire tree, in the external strata, and +of a recent age, which is prominently described in my paper, with +ordinary casts and impressions of organic remains in the elder secondary +rock column.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 24th</i>. Mr. McNabb communicates further facts and discoveries of +the mineral wealth, resources, and prospects of Western New York and +Pennsylvania.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p><i>Narrative Journal</i>.--Professor Silliman (March 5th) communicates an +extract of a letter to him from Daniel Wadsworth, Esq., of Hartford, to +whom he had loaned my <i>Narrative</i>.</p> + +<p>"I have been very much entertained with the tour to the western lakes. I +think Mr. Schoolcraft writes in a most agreeable manner; there is such +an entire absence of affectation in all he says, as well as his manner +of saying it, that no one can help being exceedingly pleased, even if +the book had not in any other respect a great deal of merit. The whole +seems such real and such absolute matter of fact, that I feel as if I +had performed the journey with the traveller.</p> + +<p>"All I regret about it is that it was not consistent with his plans to +tell us more of what might be considered the <i>domestic</i> part of the +expedition, the character and conduct of those who were of the party, +their health, difficulties, opinions, and treatment of each other, &c. +&c. As his book was a sort of official work, I suppose he thought this +would not do, and I wish he now would give his friends (and let us be +amongst them) a manuscript of the particulars that are not for the +public. Mrs. W. has also been as much pleased as myself."</p> + +<p>Under the date of March 22d, Sir Humphrey Davy, in a private letter to +Dr. Hosack, says:--</p> + +<p>"Mr. Schoolcraft's narrative is admirable, both for the facts it +develops and for the simplicity and clearness of the details; he has +accomplished great things by such means, and offers a good model for a +traveler in a new country. I lent his book to our veteran philosophical +geographer, Major Rennel, who was highly pleased with it; copies of it +would sell well in England."</p> + +<p>Dr. Silliman apprises me that Professor Douglass expects my geological +report as part of his work.</p> + +<p>Having now finished my geological report, I determined to take it to +Washington. On reaching New York, I took lodgings at the Franklin House, +then a private boarding-house, where my friends, Mr. Carter and Colonel +Haines, had rooms. While here, I was introduced one day to a man who +subsequently attracted a good deal of notice as a literary impostor. +This was a person named Hunter. He said that he derived this name from +his origin in the Indian country. He had a soft, compliant, half +quizzical look, and appeared to know nothing precisely, but dealt in +vague accounts and innuendoes. Having gone to London, the booksellers +thought him, it appears, a good subject for a book, and some hack was +employed to prepare it. It had a very slender basis in any observations +which this man was capable of furnishing; but abounded in misstatements +and vituperation of the policy of this government respecting the +Indians. This fellow is handled in the Oct. No. of the <i>North American +Review</i>, for 1825, in a manner which gives very little encouragement to +literary adventurers and cheats. The very man, John Dunn, of Missouri, +after whom he affected to have been named, denies that he ever heard +of him.</p> + +<p>I had, thus far, seen but little of the Atlantic, except what could be +observed in a trip from New Orleans to New York, and knew very little of +its coasts by personal examination. I had never seen more of the +Chesapeake than could be shown from the head of that noble bay, and +wished to explore the Valley of the Potomac. For this purpose, I took +passage in a coasting vessel at New York, and had a voyage of a novel +and agreeable kind, which supplied me with the desired information. At +Old Point Comfort, I remained at the hotel while the vessel tarried. In +ascending the Potomac one night, while anchored, a negro song was wafted +in the stillness of the atmosphere. I could distinctly hear the +following words:--</p> + +<blockquote> +Gentlemen, he come from de Maryland shore,<br> +See how massa gray mare go.<br> + Go, gray, go,<br> + Go, gray, go;<br> +See how massa gray mare go.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I reached Washington late in March, and sent in my geological report on +the 2d of April. Mr. Calhoun, who acknowledged it on the 6th, referred +it to the Topographical Bureau. Some question, connected with the +establishment of an agency in Florida, complicated my matter. Otherwise +it appeared to be a mere question of time. The Secretary of War left me +no room to doubt that his feelings were altogether friendly. Mr. Monroe +was also friendly.</p> + +<p><i>Additional Judicial District in Michigan</i>.--J.D. Doty, Esq., wrote to +me (April 8th) on this subject. So far as my judgment and observation +went, they were favorable to this project. Besides, if I was to become +an inhabitant of the district, as things now boded, it would be +desirable to me to dwell in a country where the laws, in their higher +aspects, were periodically administered. I had, therefore, every reason +to favor it.</p> + +<p><i>Skeptical Views of the Mosaical Chronology</i>.--Baptiste Irvine, Esq., +in referring to some criticism of his in relation to the discovery of +fossils by a distinguished individual, brings this subject forward in a +letter of April 19th. This individual had written to him, impugning his +criticisms.</p> + +<p>"I regret," he observes, "the cause, and shall endeavor to give +publicity to his (my friend's) observations; though hardly necessary to +him, they may yet awaken some ideas in the minds of the people on the +wonders of physics I had almost said the <i>slow miracles of creation</i>. +For if ever there was a time when matter existed not, it is pretty +evident that <i>millions of years</i> were necessary to establish order on +chaos, instead of six days. Let Cuvier, &c., temporize as they may. +However, it is the humble allotment of the herd to believe or stare; it +is the glory of intelligent men to acquire and admire." "For the memoir +I am very thankful, and I perceive it alters the case."</p> + +<p><i>April 22d. Mount Vernon</i>.--In a pilgrimage to this spot, if political +veneration may assume that name, I was accompanied by Honorable Albert +H. Tracy, Mr. Ruggles, and Mr. Alfred Conkling of the House of +Representatives, all of New York. We took a carriage, and reached the +hallowed place in good season, and were politely admitted to all the +apartments and grounds, which give interest to every tread. I brought +some pebbles of common quartz and bits of brown oxide of iron, from the +top of the rude tomb, and we all broke branches of the cedars growing +there. We gazed into the tomb, through an aperture over the door, where +bricks had been removed, and thought, at last, that we could distinguish +the coffin.</p> + +<p><i>Human Feet figured on Rock at St. Louis</i>.--The Honorable Thomas H. +Benton, in a letter of 29th April, expresses the opinion that these are +antiquities, and not "prints," and that they are of the age of the +mounds on the American bottom.</p> + +<p><i>Mineralogy</i>.--J.D. Doty, Esq., transmits (May 6th) from the vicinity of +Martinsburg, New York, specimens of the geological structure of that +neighborhood.</p> + +<p><i>Austin's Colony</i>.--"What you have said to me heretofore, concerning +Mr. Austin's settlement in Texas, has rather turned my attention in that +direction. Have you any means of communicating with your friend? What +are your views of that country?"</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX."></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p>Appointed an agent of Indian affairs for the United States at Saint +Mary's--Reasons for the acceptance of the office--Journey to +Detroit--Illness at that point--Arrival of a steamer with a battalion of +infantry to establish a new military post at the foot of Lake +Superior--Incidents of the voyage to that point--Reach our destination, +and reception by the residents and Indians--A European and man of honor +fled to the wilderness.</p> + +<p>1822. At length Congress passed an act, which left Mr. Calhoun free to +carry out his intentions respecting me, by the creation of a separate +Indian agency for Florida. This enabled him to transfer one of the +western agencies, namely, at Vincennes, Indiana, where the Indian +business had ceased, to the foot of the basin of Lake Superior, at the +ancient French village of <i>Sault de Ste. Marie</i>, Michigan. Had not this +act passed, it would have been necessary to transfer this agency to +Florida, for which Mr. Gad Humphreys was the recognized appointee. Mr. +Monroe immediately sent in my nomination for this old agency to the +Senate, by whom it was favorably acted on the 8th of May. The gentleman +(Mr. J.B. Thomas, Senator from Illinois) whose boat I had been +instrumental in saving in my descent of the Ohio in the spring of 1818, +I believe, moved its confirmation. It was from him, at any rate, that I +the same day obtained the information of the Senate's action.</p> + +<p>I had now attained a fixed position; not such as I desired in the +outset, and had striven for, but one that offered an interesting class +of duties, in the performance of which there was a wide field for +honorable exertion, and, if it was embraced, also of historical inquiry +and research. The taste for natural history might certainly be +transferred to that point, where the opportunity for discovery was the +greatest. At any rate, the trial of a residence on that remote frontier +might readily be made, and I may say it was in fact made only as a +temporary matter. It was an ancient agency in which General Harrison +had long exercised his superior authority over the fierce and wild +tribes of the West, which was an additional stimulus to exertion, after +its removal to Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>I called the next day on Mr. Calhoun, to express my obligation, and to +request instructions. For the latter object, he referred me to General +Cass, of Detroit, who was the superintendent of Indian affairs on the +North-Western frontier, and to whom the policy of pushing an agency and +a military post to that point is, I believe, due.</p> + +<p>I now turned my face to the North, made a brief stay in New York, +hurried through the western part of that State to Buffalo, and ascended +Lake Erie to Detroit. At this point I was attacked with fever and ague, +which I supposed to have been contracted during a temporary landing at +Sandusky. I directed my physician to treat it with renewed doses of +mercury, in quick succession, which terminated the fever, but completely +prostrated my strength, and induced, at first tic douloureux, and +eventually a paralysis of the left cheek.</p> + +<p>The troops destined for the new post arrived about the beginning of +July. They consisted of a battalion of the 2d Regiment of Infantry, +under Colonel Brady, from garrison duty at Sackett's Harbor, and they +possessed every element of high discipline and the most efficient +action, under active officers. Brady was himself an officer of Wayne's +war against the Indians, and had looked danger steadily in the face on +the Niagara frontier, in the Late War. In this condition, I hastily +snatched up my instructions, and embarked on board the new steamer +"Superior," which was chartered by the government for the occasion. It +was now the 2d of July.</p> + +<p>Before speaking of the voyage from this point, it may be well to refer +to another matter. The probability of Professor Douglass publishing the +joint results of our observations on the expedition of 1820, appeared +now unfavorable. Among the causes of this, I regarded my withdrawal to a +remote point as prominent but not decisive. Two years had already +elapsed; the professor was completely absorbed in his new professorship, +in which he was required to teach a new subject in a new language. +Governor Cass, who had undertaken the Indian subject, had greatly +enlarged the platform of his inquiries, which rendered it probable that +there would be a delay. My memoir on the geology and mineralogy only was +ready. Dr. Barnes had the conchology nearly ready, and the botany, +which was in the hands of Dr. Torrey, was well advanced. But it required +a degree of labor, zeal, and energy to push forward such a work, that +admits of no abatements, and which was sufficient to absorb all the +attention of the highest mind; and could not be expected from the +professor, already overtasked.</p> + +<p>Among the papers which were put in my hands at Detroit, I found a +printed copy of Governor Cass's Indian queries, based on his promise to +Douglass, by which I was gratified to perceive that his mind was +earnestly engaged in the subject, which he sought a body of original +materials to illustrate. I determined to be a laborer in this new field.</p> + +<p>Our voyage up Lake Huron to Michilimackinack, and thence east to the +entrance of the Straits of St. Mary's, at Detour, was one of pleasant +excitement. We ascended the straits and river, through Muddy Lake and +the narrow pass at Sailor's Encampment, to the foot of the great +Nibeesh <a name="FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a> rapids. Here the steamer came to anchor from an apprehension +that the bar of Lake George <a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13">[13]</a> could not be crossed in the existing +state of the water.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor12">[12]</a> This name signifies strong water, meaning bad for +navigation, from its strength. Here <i>Nebeesh</i> is the derogative form of +<i>Nebee</i>, water. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor13">[13]</a> The depth of water on this bar was then stated to be but +six feet two inches. +</blockquote> + +<p>It was early in the morning of the 6th of July when this fact was +announced. Colonel Brady determined to proceed with his staff in the +ship's yawl, by the shorter passage of the boat channel, and invited me +to a seat. Captain Rogers, of the steamer, himself took the helm. After +a voyage of about four or five hours, we landed at St. Mary's at ten +o'clock in the morning. Men, women, children, and dogs had collected to +greet us at the old wharf opposite the Nolan House--the ancient +"chateau" of the North-West Company. And the Indians, whose costume lent +an air of the picturesque to the scene, saluted us with ball, firing +over our heads as we landed. The <i>Chemoquemon</i> had indeed come! Thus the +American flag was carried to this point, and it was soon hoisted on a +tall staff in an open field east of Mr. Johnston's premises, where the +troops, as they came up, marched with inspiring music, and regularly +encamped. The roll of the drum was now the law for getting up and lying +down. It might be 168 or 170 years since the French first landed at +this point. It was just 59 since the British power had supervened, and +39 since the American right had been acknowledged by the sagacity of Dr. +Franklin's treaty of 1783. But to the Indian, who stood in a +contemplative and stoic attitude, wrapped in his fine blanket of +broadcloth, viewing the spectacle, it must have been equally striking, +and indicative that his reign in the North-West, that old hive of Indian +hostility, was done. And, had he been a man of letters, he might have +inscribed, with equal truth, as it was done for the ancient Persian +monarch, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL."</p> + +<p>To most persons on board, our voyage up these wide straits, after +entering them at Point de Tour, had, in point of indefiniteness, been +something like searching after the locality of the north pole. We wound +about among groups of islands and through passages which looked so +perfectly in the state of nature that, but for a few ruinous stone +chimneys on St. Joseph's, it could not be told that the foot of man had +ever trod the shores. The whole voyage, from Buffalo and Detroit, had +indeed been a novel and fairy scene. We were now some 350 miles +north-west of the latter city. We had been a couple of days on board, in +the area of the sea-like Huron, before we entered the St. Mary's +straits. The Superior, being the second steamer built on the Lakes,<a name="FNanchor14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a> +had proved herself a staunch boat.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor14">[14]</a> The first steamer built on the Lakes was called the +"Walk-in-the-Water," after an Indian chief of that name; it was launched +at Black Rock, Niagara River, in 1818, and visited Michilimackinack in +the summer of that year. +</blockquote> + +<p>The circumstances of this trip were peculiar, and the removal of a +detachment of the army to so remote a point in a time of profound peace, +had stimulated migratory enterprise. The measure was, in truth, one of +the results of the exploring expedition to the North-West in 1820, and +designed to curb and control the large Indian population on this extreme +frontier, and to give security to the expanding settlements south of +this point. It was in this light that Mr. Calhoun, the present +enlightened Secretary of War, viewed the matter, and it may be said to +constitute a part of his plan for throwing a <i>cordon</i> of advanced posts +in front of the wide area of our western settlements. From expressions +heard on our route, the breaking up in part of the exceedingly +well-quartered garrison of Madison barracks at Sackett's Harbor, N.Y., +was not particularly pleasing to the officers of this detachment, most +of whom were married gentlemen, having families, and all of whom were in +snug quarters at that point, surrounded as it is by a rich, thriving, +farming population, and commanding a good and cheap market of meats and +vegetables. To be ordered off suddenly a thousand miles or more, over +three of the great series of lakes, and pitched down here, on the verge +of the civilized world, at the foot of Lake Superior, amid Indians and +Indian traders, where butchers' meat is a thing only to be talked about, +and garden vegetables far more rare than "blackberries," was not, +certainly, an agreeable prospect for officers with wives and mothers +with babies. It might, I am inclined to think from what I heard, be +better justified on the grounds of <i>national</i> than of <i>domestic</i> policy. +They determined, however, on the best possible course under the +circumstances, and took their ladies and families along. This has given +an air of gayety and liveliness to the trip, and, united with the +calmness of the season, and the great novelty and beauty of the scenery, +rendered the passage a very agreeable one. The smoothness of the lakes, +the softness and purity of the air, the wild and picturesque character +of the scenes, and the perfect transparency of the waters, have been so +many themes of perpetual remark and admiration. The occasional +appearance of the feather-plumed Indian in his sylph-like canoe, or the +flapping of a covey of wild-fowl, frightened by the rushing sound of a +steamboat, with the quick pulsation of its paddle-strokes on the water, +but served to heighten the interest, and to cast a kind of fairy spell +over the prospect, particularly as, half shrouded in mist, we passed +among the green islands and brown rocks, fringed with fir trees, which +constituted a perfect panorama as we entered and ascended the Straits of +the St. Mary's.</p> + +<p>We sat down to our Fourth-of-July dinner on board the Superior, a little +above the Thunder Bay Islands, in Lake Huron, and as we neared the once +sacred island of Michilimackinack, and saw its tall cliffs start up, as +it were by magic, from the clear bosom of the pellucid lake, a true +aboriginal, whose fancy had been well imbued with the poetic mythology +of his nation, might have supposed he was now, indeed, approaching his +fondly-cherished "Island of the Blest." Apart from its picturesque +loveliness, we found it, however, a very flesh and blood and +matter-of-fact sort of place, and having taken a pilot on board, who +knew the sinuosities of the Saint Mary's channel, we veered around, the +next day, and steered into the capes of that expanded and intricate +strait, where we finally anchored on the morning denoted, and where the +whole detachment was quickly put under orders to ascend the river the +remainder of the distance, about fifteen miles, in boats, each company +under its own officers, while the colonel pushed forward in the yawl. It +was settled, at the same time, that the ladies and their "little ones" +should remain on board, till matters had assumed some definite shape for +their reception.</p> + +<p>We were received by the few residents favorably, as has been indicated. +Prominent among the number of residents who came to greet us was Mr. +John Johnston, a gentleman from the north of Ireland, of whose romantic +settlement and adventures here we had heard at Detroit. He gave us a +warm welcome, and freely offered every facility in his power to +contribute to the personal comfort of the officers and their families, +and the general objects of the government. Mr. J. is slightly lame, +walking with a cane. He is of the medium stature, with blue eyes, fair +complexion, hair which still bears traces of its original light brown, +and possesses manners and conversation so entirely easy and polite as to +impress us all very favorably.</p> + +<p>Colonel Brady selected some large open fields, not susceptible of a +surprise, for his encampment. To this spot, as boat after boat came up, +in fine style, with its complement of men from the steamer, the several +companies marched down, and before nightfall, the entire command was +encamped in a square, with their tents handsomely pitched, and the whole +covered by lines of sentinels, and under the exact government of troops +in the field. The roll of the drum which had attracted but little +attention on the steamer, assumed a deeper tone, as it was re-echoed +from the adjoining woods, and now distinctly announced, from time to +time, the placing of sentinels, the hour for supper, and other offices +of a clock, in civil life. The French population evinced, by their +countenances and gestures, as they clustered round, a manifest +satisfaction at the movement; the groups of Indians had gazed in a sort +of silent wonder at the pageant; they seemed, by a certain air of +secrecy and suspicion, to think it boded some evil to their long +supremacy in the land. Night imperceptibly threw her dark mantle over +the scene; the gazers, group by group, went to their lodges, and finally +the sharp roll of the tattoo bid every one within the camp to his tent. +Captain Alexander R. Thompson, who had claimed the commandant as his +guest, invited me also to spend the night in his tent. We could plainly +hear the deep murmur of the falls, after we lay down to rest, and also +the monotonous thump of the distant Indian <i>wabeno</i> drum. Yet at this +remote point, so far from the outer verge of civilization, we found in +Mr. Johnston a man of singular energy and independence of character, +from one of the most refined circles of Europe; who had pushed his way +here to the foot of Lake Superior about the year 1793; had engaged in +the fur trade, to repair the shattered fortunes of his house; had +married the daughter of the ruling Ogima or Forest King of the +Chippewas; had raised and educated a large family, and was then living, +in the only building in the place deserving the name of a comfortable +residence, with the manners and conversation of a perfect gentleman, the +sentiments of a man of honor, and the liberality of a lord. He had a +library of the best English works; spent most of his time in reading and +conducting the affairs of an extensive business; was a man of social +qualities, a practical philanthropist, a well-read historian, something +of a poet, and talked of Europe and its connections as things from which +he was probably forever separated, and looked back towards it only as +the land of reminiscences.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X."></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p>Incidents of the summer during the establishment of the new post at St. +Mary's--Life in a nut-shell--Scarcity of room--High prices of +everything--State of the Indians--Their rich and picturesque +costume--Council and its incidents--Fort site selected and occupied--The +evil of ardent spirits amongst the Indians--Note from Governor +De Witt Clinton--Mountain ash--Curious superstitions of the +Odjibwas--Language--Manito poles--Copper--Superstitious regard for +Venus--Fine harbor in Lake Superior--Star family--A locality of +necromancers--Ancient Chippewa capital--Eating of animals.</p> + +<p><i>1822. July 7th</i>. We left our pallets at the sound of the reveille, and +partook of a rich cup of coffee, with cream, which smoked on the camp +breakfast-board of our kind entertainer, Captain Thompson.<a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15">[15]</a> The ladies +and children came up from the steamer, under due escorts, during the +day, and were variously accommodated with temporary quarters. Dr. +Wheaton and lady, Captain Brant, quartermaster, and myself, were +received eventually at the table of Mr. Johnston. Captain Brant and +myself hired a small room hard by for an office to be used between us. +This room was a small log tenement, which had been occupied by one of +Mr. J.'s hands. It was about twelve by fourteen feet, with a small +window in front and in rear, and a very rural fire-place in one corner. +It is astonishing how much comfort can be enjoyed in a crowded and +ill-fitted place on a pinch. We felicitated ourselves at even this. We +really felt that we were quite fortunate in getting such a locality to +hail from. Captain N.S. Clark got an adjoining tenement, of similar +construction and use, but much larger, for his numerous family. Some of +the ladies took shelter at the domicil of an intelligent American family +(Mr. E.B. Allen's) who had preceded us a short time with an adventure of +merchandise. One or two of the ladies abode temporarily in the tents of +their husbands. The unmarried officers looked for nothing better than +life in camp. I accepted an invitation at the mess-table of the +officers. Besides this sudden influx of population, there were followers +and hucksters of various hues who hoped to make their profits from the +soldiery. There was not a nook in the scraggy-looking little antique +village but what was sought for with avidity and thronged with +occupants. Whoever has seen a flock of hungry pigeons, in the spring, +alight on the leaf-covered ground, beneath a forest, and apply the busy +powers of claw and beak to obtain a share of the hidden acorns that may +be scratched up from beneath, may form some just notion of the pressing +hurry and bustle that marked life in this place. The enhanced price that +everything bore was one of the results of this sudden influx of +consumers and occupants.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor15">[15]</a> This officer fell at the battle of Ochechubby, in Florida, +as colonel of the sixth infantry, gallantly leading his men to battle. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>8th</i>. I went to rest last night with the heavy murmuring sound of the +falls in my ears, broken at short intervals by the busy +thump-thump-thump of the Indian drum; for it is to be added, to the +otherwise crowded state of the place, that the open grounds and +river-side greens of the village, which stretch along irregularly for a +mile or two, are filled with the lodges of visiting Indian bands from +the interior. The last month of spring and the early summer constitute, +in fact, a kind of carnival for the natives. It is at this season that +the traders, who have wintered in the interior, come out with their furs +to the frontier posts of St. Mary's, Drummond Island, and +Michilimackinack, to renew their stocks of goods. The Indians, who have +done hunting at this season, as the furred animals are now changing +their hair, and the pelt becomes bad, follow them to enjoy themselves +along the open shores of the lakes, and share in the good things that +may fall to their lot, either from the traders at their places of +outfit, from presents issued by the British or American governments at +their chief posts, or from merchants in the towns, to whom a few +concealed skins are still reserved to trade. An Indian's time appears +to be worth but little to him at this season, if at any season. He lives +most precariously on small things, such as he can pick up as he travels +loitering along the lake shores, or strolls, with easy footsteps, about +the forest precincts of his lodge. A single fish, or a bird or squirrel, +now and then, serves to mitigate, if it does not satisfy, hunger. He has +but little, I am told, at the best estate; but, to make amends for +this, he is satisfied and even happy with little. This is certainly a +philosophic way of taking life, but it is, if I do not mistake it, stoic +philosophy, and has been learned, by painful lessons of want, from early +youth and childhood. Where want is the common lot, the power of +endurance which the race have must be a common attainment.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. This day I hired an interpreter for the government, to attend at +the office daily, a burly-faced, large man of some five-and-forty, by +the name of Yarns. He tells me that he was born at Fort Niagara, of +Irish parentage, to which an originally fair skin, blue eyes, and sandy +hair, bear testimony. He has spent life, it seems, knocking about +trading posts, in the Indian country, being married, has <i>metif</i> +children, and speaks the Chippewa tongue fluently--I do not know how +accurately.</p> + +<p>The day which has closed has been a busy day, having been signalized as +the date of my first public council with the Indians. It has ushered in +my first diplomatic effort. For this purpose, all the bands present were +invited to repair to camp, where Colonel Brady, at the appointed hour, +ordered his men under arms, in full dress. They were formed in a hollow +square in front of his marque. The American flag waved from a lofty +staff. The day was bright and fine, and everything was well arranged to +have the best effect upon the minds of the Indians. As the throng of +both resident and foreign bands approached, headed by their chiefs, they +were seated in the square. It was noticed that the chiefs were generally +tall and striking-looking persons, of dignified manners, and well and +even richly dressed. One of the chiefs of the home band, called Sassaba, +who was generally known by the sobriquet of the <i>Count,</i> appeared in a +scarlet uniform, with epaulets and a sword. The other chiefs observed +their native costume, which is, with this tribe, a toga of blue +broadcloth, folded and held by one hand on the breast, over a +light-figured calico shirt, red cloth leggins and beaded moccasons, a +belt or baldric about the waist, sustaining a knife-sheath and pouch, +and a frontlet of skin or something of the sort, around the forehead, +environed generally with eagles' feathers.</p> + +<p>When the whole were seated, the colonel informed them that I had been +sent by their great father the President to reside among them, that +respect was due me in that capacity, and that I would now address them. +I had directed a quantity of tobacco to be laid before them; and offered +them the pipe with the customary ceremonies. Being a novice in addresses +of this kind, I had sat down early in the morning, in my crowded log +hut, and written an address, couched in such a manner, and with such +allusions and appeals, as I supposed would be most appropriate. I was +not mistaken, if I could judge by the responses made at the close of +each sentence, as it was interpreted. The whole address was evidently +well received, and responded to in a friendly manner, by the ruling +chief, a tall, majestic, and graceful person named Shingabawossin, or +the Image Stone, and by all who spoke except the Count. He made use of +some intemperate, or ill-timed expressions, which were not interpreted, +but which brought out a strong rebuke from Mr. Johnston, who, being +familiar with the Indian language, gave vent in their tongue to his +quick and high-toned feelings of propriety on the occasion. Colonel +Brady then made some remarks to the chiefs, dictated by the position he +occupied as being about to take post, permanently, in their country. He +referred to the treaty of purchase made at these falls two years before +by Governor Cass. He told the Indians that he should not occupy their +ancient encamping and burial-ground on the hill, but would select the +next best site for his troops. This announcement was received with great +satisfaction, as denoted by a heavy response of approbation on the part +of the Indians; and the council closed to the apparent mutual +satisfaction of all. I augured well from all I heard respecting it, as +coming from the Indians, and was resolved to follow it up zealously, by +cultivating the best understanding with this powerful and hitherto +hostile tribe, namely the Chippewas, or, as they call themselves, +Od-jib-wä.<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a> To this end, as well as for my amusement, I commenced a +vocabulary, and resolved to study their language, manners, customs, &c.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor16">[16]</a> This word has its pluraling thus, Od-jib-wäig. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>10th</i>. On examining the topography and advantages of the ground, +Colonel Brady determined to take possession of a lot enclosed and +dwelling, originally the property of the North West Company, and known +as the Nolin House, but now the property of Mr. C.O. Ermatinger.<a name="FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a> To +this place the troops were marched, soon after the close of the Indian +council mentioned, and encamped within the area. This area was enclosed +with cedar pickets. The dwelling-house, which occupied an eminence some +eighth of a mile below the falls, was in old times regarded as a +princely château of the once powerful lords of the North West Fur Trade, +but is now in a decayed and ruinous state. It was nick-named "Hotel +Flanagan." Dilapidated as it was, there was a good deal of room under +its roof, and it afforded quarters for most of the officers' families, +who must otherwise have remained in open tents. The enclosure had also +one or two stone houses, which furnished accommodations to the +quartermaster's and subsistence and medical departments. Every nerve was +now directed to fit up the place, complete the enclosure, and furnish it +with gates; to build a temporary guard-house, and complete other +military fixtures of the new cantonment. The edifice also underwent such +repairs as served to fence out, as much as possible, the winds and snows +of a severe winter--a winter which every one dreads the approach of, and +the severity of which was perhaps magnified in proportion as it +was unknown.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor17">[17]</a> For the property thus taken possession of, the United +States Government, through the Quartermaster's Department, paid the +claimant the just and full amount awarded by appraisers. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>11th</i>. What my eyes have seen and my ears have heard, I must believe; +and what is their testimony respecting the condition of the Indian on +the frontiers? He is not, like Falstaff's men, "food for powder," but he +is food for whisky. Whisky is the great means of drawing from him his +furs and skins. To obtain it, he makes a beast of himself, and allows +his family to go hungry and half naked. And how feeble is the force of +law, where all are leagued in the golden bonds of interest to break it! +He is indeed</p> + +<blockquote> +"Like some neglected shrub at random cast<br> +That shades the steep and sighs at every blast."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>12th</i>. I received by to-day's mail a note from De Witt Clinton, +Governor of New York. America has produced few men who have united civic +and literary tastes and talents of a high order more fully than he does. +He early and ably investigated the history and antiquities of Western +New York. He views with a comprehensive judgment the great area of the +West, and knows that its fertility and resources must render it, at no +distant day, the home of future millions. He was among the earliest to +appreciate the mineralogical and geographical researches which I made in +that field. He renewed the interest, which, as a New Yorker, he felt in +my history and fortunes, after my return from the head of the +Mississippi in 1820. He opened his library and house to me freely; and I +have to notice his continued interest since my coming here. In the +letter which has just reached me, he encloses a favorable notice of my +recent <i>Narrative of the Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi</i>, +from Sir Humphrey Davy. If there were nothing else, in such a notice +from such a source but the stimulus it gives to exertion, that alone is +worth to a man in my position "pearls and diamonds."</p> + +<p>Colonel Brady, who is active in daily perambulating the woods, to make +himself acquainted with the environs, seeking, at the same time, the +best places of finding wood and timber, for the purposes of his command, +brought me a twig of the Sorbus Americana, a new species of tree to him, +in the American forest, of which he asked me the name. This tree is +found in occasional groups extensively in the region of the upper Lake +latitudes, where it is called the mountain ash. In the expedition to the +sources of the Mississippi in 1820, it was observed on the southern +shores of Lake Superior, which are on the average a little north of +latitude 36° 30'. This tree does not in these straits attain much size; +a trunk of six to eight inches diameter is large. Its leaves, flowers, +and fruit all tend to make it a very attractive species for shade and +ornament. It must have a rich soil, but, this requisite granted, it +delights in wet moist lands, and will thrive with its roots in +springy grounds.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. One of the curious superstitions of the Chippewas, respecting +the location of spiritual existences, revealed itself to-day. There is +quite an eminence nearly a mile back of the new cantonment, which is +called La Butte de Terre by the French, and Wudjuwong,<a name="FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a> or Place of +the Mountain, by the natives. This eminence is covered with a fine +growth of forest trees, and lies in the track of an ancient Indian +hunting path. About half way between the brow of the hill and the +cantonment, there formerly stood a large tree of this species, partly +hollow, from the recesses of which, Indian tradition says, there +issued, on a calm day, a sound like the voice of a spirit or monedo. It +resembled the sounds of their own drum. It was therefore considered as +the residence of some powerful spirit, and deemed sacred. To mark their +regard for the place, they began to deposit at its foot bows and twigs +of the same species of tree, as they passed it, from year to year, to +and from their hunting-grounds. These offerings began long before the +French came to the country, and were continued up to this time. Some +years ago, the tree had become so much decayed that it blew down during +a storm, but young shoots came up from its roots, and the natives +continued to make these offerings of twigs, long after the original +trunk had wholly decayed. A few days ago, Colonel Brady directed a road +to be cut from the cantonment to the hill, sixty feet wide, in order to +procure wood from the hill for the garrison. This road passed over the +site of the sacred tree, and the men, without knowing it, removed the +consecrated pile of offerings. It may serve to show a curious +coincidence in the superstitions of nations, between whom, however, +there is not the slightest probability of national affiliation, or even +intercourse, to remark that this sacred manito tree was a very large +species of the Scottish rowan or mountain ash.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor18">[18]</a> <i>Wudijoo</i>, a mountain--<i>ong</i> denotes locality. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>16th</i>. I this day left the mess-table of my kind friends, the officers +of the second infantry, and went to the hospitable domicil of Mr. +Johnston, who has the warm-hearted frankness of the Irish character, and +offers the civilities of life with the air and manner of a prince. I +flatter myself with the opportunity of profiting greatly while under his +roof, in the polished circle of his household, and in his ripe +experience and knowledge of the Indian character, manners, and customs, +and in the curious philosophical traits of the Indian language. It is +refreshing to find a person who, in reference to this language, knows +the difference between the conjugation of a verb and the declension of a +noun. There is a prospect, at least, of getting at the grammatical +principles, by which they conjoin and build up words. It has been +intolerable to me to converse with Indian traders and interpreters here, +who have, for half their lives, been using a language without being able +to identify with precision person, mood, tense, or any of the first laws +of grammatical utterance.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. It is customary with the Chippewas at this place, when an +inmate of the lodge is sick, to procure a thin sapling some twenty to +thirty feet long, from which, after it has been trimmed, the bark is +peeled. Native paints are then smeared over it as caprice dictates. To +the slender top are then tied bits of scarlet, blue cloth, beads, or +some other objects which are deemed acceptable to the manito or spirit, +who has, it is believed, sent sickness to the lodge as a mark of his +displeasure. The pole is then raised in front of the lodge and firmly +adjusted in the ground. The sight of these manito poles gives quite a +peculiar air to an Indian encampment. Not knowing, however, the value +attached to them, one of the officers, a few days after our arrival, +having occasion for tent poles, sent one of his men for one of these +poles of sacrifice; but its loss was soon observed by the Indians, who +promptly reclaimed it, and restored it to the exact position which it +occupied before. There is, in fact, such a subtle and universal belief +in the doctrine and agency of minor spirits of malign or benignant +influence among the Indians who surround the cantonment, or visit the +agency, and who are encamped at this season in great numbers in the open +spaces of the village or its vicinity, that we are in constant danger of +trespassing against some Indian custom, and of giving offence where it +was least intended. It is said that one cause of the preference which +the Indians have ever manifested for the French, is the respect which +they are accustomed to pay to all their religious or superstitious +observances, whereas an Englishman or an American is apt, either to take +no pains to conceal his disgust for their superstitions, or to speak out +bluntly against them.</p> + +<p><i>18th. Sulphuret of Copper</i>.--I received a specimen of this mineral, +which is represented to have been obtained on the Island of Saint +Joseph's, in these straits (Saint Mary's). It has the usual brass yellow +color of the sulphurets of this metal, and furnishes a hint for seeking +that hitherto undiscovered, but valuable species of the ore in this +vicinity. Hitherto, we have found the metal chiefly in the native form, +or in the condition of a carbonate, the first being a form of it which +has not in Europe been found in large quantities, and the second not +containing a sufficient per centage to repay well the cost of smelting.</p> + +<p><i>20th. Superstitious regard for Woman</i>.--Some of the rites and notions +of these northern barbarians are curious. The following custom is stated +to me to have been formerly prevalent among the Chippewas: After their +corn-planting, a labor which falls to the share of the women, and as +soon as the young blades began to shoot up from the hills, it was +customary for the female head of the family to perform a circuit around +the field in a state of nudity. For this purpose, she chose a dark +evening, and after divesting herself of her machecota, held it in her +hands dragging it behind her as she ran, and in this way compassed the +field. This singular rite was believed to protect the corn from blight +and the ravages of worms and vermin, and to insure a good crop. It was +believed that neither worms nor vermin could cross the mystic or +enchanted ring made by the nocturnal footsteps of the wife, nor any +mildew or canker affect the growing stalks and ears.</p> + +<p><i>21st. Grand Island, in Lake Superior</i>, lies transversely in the lake, +just beyond the termination of the precipitous coast of the Pictured +Rocks. Its southern end is crescent-shaped, and forms a singularly fine +harbor for vessels, which will one day be appreciated. The Indian band +occupying it was formerly numerous. There are many stories still current +of their former prowess and traits of hospitality and generosity, and of +the skill of their old seers, and divining-men, <i>i.e. Jossakeeds</i>. Its +present Indian population is reduced to forty-six souls, of whom ten are +men, sixteen women, and twenty children. Of the men, nine are married, +one of whom has two wives, and there are two widows.</p> + +<p>Of this band the Star family, so called, have long possessed the +chieftainship, and are remarkable on several accounts. There are eleven +children of them now living, five of whom are males, all by one mother, +who is still living. Sabboo is the principal man. The South Bird, his +elder, and the ruling chief, has removed to Bay de Nocquet. At this +island, story says, formerly lived the noted warrior and meta, Sagima; +and it was also, according to Indian mythology, the residence of +Mishosha, who owned a magic canoe, that would shoot through the water by +uttering a charmed word.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. I have heard much of the ancient Chippewa capital of La Pointe, +as the French call it, or Chegoimegon, in Lake Superior, situated near +its west end, or head. The Chippewas and their friends, the old traders +and <i>Boisbrules</i>, and Canadians, are never tired of telling of it. All +their great men of old times are located there. It was there that their +Mudjekewis, king or chief ruler, lived, and, as some relate, that an +eternal fire was kept up with a sort of rude temple service. At that +place lived, in comparatively modern times, Wabojeeg and Andaigweos, and +there still lives one of their descendants in Gitchee Waishkee, the +Great First-born, or, as he is familiarly called, Pezhickee, or the +Buffalo, a chief decorated with British insignia. His band is estimated +at one hundred and eighteen souls, of whom thirty-four are adult males, +forty-one females, and forty-three children. Mizi, the Catfish, one of +the heads of families of this band, who has figured about here this +summer, is not a chief, but a speaker, which gives him some <i>éclat</i>. He +is a sort of petty trader too, being credited with little adventures of +goods by a dealer on the opposite, or British shores.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. There are few animals which the Indians reject as food. On this +subject they literally fulfil the declaration of Paul, "that every +creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused;" but I fear the poor +creatures, in these straits, do anything but show the true spirit of +thanksgiving in which the admonition is given. There is nothing +apparently in the assertion respecting Indians distinguishing between +clean and unclean beasts; I have heard, however, that crows and vultures +are not eaten, but, when they are pushed by hunger, whatever can sustain +life is taken.</p> + +<p>The truth is, the calls of hunger are often so pressing to these +northern Indians, that anything in the shape of animal fibre, that will +keep soul and body together, is eaten in times of their greatest want. A +striking instance of this kind has just occurred, in the case of a horse +killed in the public service. The animal had, to use the teamster's +phrase, been snagged, and was obliged to be shot. To prevent unpleasant +effects in hot summer weather, the carcass was buried in the sand; but +as soon as the numerous bands of Indians, who are encamped here, learned +the fact, they dug up the animal, which was, however, nowise diseased, +and took it to their camp for food.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI."></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p>Murder of Soan-ga-ge-zhick, a Chippewa, at the head of the falls--Indian +mode of interment--Indian prophetess--Topic of interpreters and +interpretation--Mode of studying the Indian language--The Johnston +family--Visits--Katewabeda, chief of Sandy Lake--Indian mythology, and +oral tales and legends--Literary opinion--Political opinion--Visit of +the chief Little Pine--Visit of Wabishkepenais--A despairing +Indian--Geography.</p> + +<p>1822. <i>July 26th</i>. A tragic occurrence took place last night, at the +head of the portage, resulting in the death of a Chippewa, which is +believed to be wholly attributable to the use of ardent spirits in the +Indian camps. As soon as I heard the facts, and not knowing to what +lengths the spirit of retaliation might go, I requested of Colonel Brady +a few men, with a non-commissioned officer, and proceeded, taking my +interpreter along, to the spot. The portage road winds along about +three-fourths of a mile, near the rapids, and all the way, within the +full sound of the roaring water, when it opens on a green, which is the +ancient camping ground, at the head of the falls. A footpath leads still +higher, by clumps of bushes and copsewood, to the borders of a shallow +bay, where in a small opening I somewhat abruptly came to the body of +the murdered man. He was a Chippewa from the interior called +Soan-ga-ge-zhick, or the Strong Sky. He had been laid out, by his +relatives, and dressed in his best apparel, with a kind of cap of blue +cloth and a fillet round his head. His lodge, occupied by his widow and +three small children, stood near. On examination, he had been stabbed in +several places, deeply in both thighs. These wounds might not have +proved fatal; but there was a subsequent blow, with a small tomahawk, +upon his forehead, above the left eye. He was entirely dead, and had +been found so, on searching for him at night, by his wife. It appeared +that he had been drinking during the evening and night, with an Indian +half-breed of the Chippewa River, of the name of Gaulthier. This fellow, +finding he had killed him, had taken his canoe and fled. Both had been +intoxicated. I directed the body to be interred, at the public charge, +on the ancient burial hill of the Chippewas, near the cantonment. The +usual shroud, on such occasions, is a new blanket; a grave was dug, and +the body very carefully dressed, laid in the coffin, beside the grave. +Before the lid was fastened, an aged Indian came forward, and pronounced +a funeral oration. He recited the traits of his character. He addressed +the dead man direct. He told him that he had reached the end of his +journey first, that they should all follow him soon to the land of the +dead, and again meet. He gave him directions for his journey. He offered +a brief admonition of dangers. He bid him adieu. The brother of the +deceased then stept forward, and, having removed the head-dress of the +slain man, pulled out some locks of hair as a memento. The head-dress +was then carefully replaced, the lid of the coffin fastened, and the +corpse let down into the ground. Two stout poles were then laid over the +open grave. The brother approached the widow and stood still. The orator +then addressed a few words to both, telling the survivor to perform a +brother's part by the widow. He then took her by the hand, and led her +carefully across the open grave, over the two poles. This closed the +ceremony, and the grave was then filled, and the crowd of white and red +men dispersed. At night a small flickering fire was built by the Indian +relatives of the murdered man, at the head of the grave.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Making inquiries respecting the family of Soan-ga-ge-zhick, in +order to direct some provisions to be issued to them, I learned that the +widow is a prophetess among her people, or in other words a female +Jossakeed, and is supposed to have much influence in this way. This +denotes that the prophetic office is not, as has been supposed, confined +to males. I cannot better indicate the meaning of the word Jossakeed +than to say that it is a person who makes oracular responses from a +close lodge of peculiar construction, where the inmate is supposed to be +surrounded by superhuman influences, which impart the power of looking +into futurity. It is, manifestly, the ancient office of a seer, and +after making interrogatories about it, from persons supposed to be best +acquainted with the manners and customs of the people, the existence of +such an order of persons among them offers a curious coincidence with +one of the earliest superstitions of mankind. I further learn that +there is nothing hereditary in the descent of such priestly functions; +that any one, who acquires a character for sanctity or skill therein +among the bands, may assume the duties, and will secure a rank and +respect in proportion to his supposed skill therein. Having spoken of +descent, it is added, by my informants, that the widow of Strong Sky, is +a granddaughter of the noted war-chief Wabodjeeg,<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a> of Chegoimegon, +Lake Superior, who, some half a century ago, had obtained a high +reputation with his people for his military skill and bravery, in the +war against the Ottogamies and Sioux. They talk of him as having been a +sort of Rajah, who could at any time get men to follow him.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor19">[19]</a> White Fisher. The fisher is a small furred animal +resembling the mustela. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I have had an interview to-day with Ka-ba-konse (Little Hawk), +brother of the murdered Strong Sky.</p> + +<p>It does not seem possible to obtain much information respecting their +secret beliefs and superstitions direct from the Indians. The attempts I +have made thus far have, at least, been unsuccessful, partly, perhaps, +because the topic was not properly apprehended by them, or by my +ordinary office interpreter, who, I find, is soon run a-muck by anything +but the plainest and most ordinary line of inquiry. A man of the Indian +frontiers, who has lived all his life to eat and drink, to buy and sell, +and has grown old in this devotion to the means necessary to secure the +material necessaries of life is not easily roused up to intellectual +ardor. I find this to be the case with my present interpreter, and he +is, perhaps, not inferior to the general run of paid interpreters. But +as I find, in my intercourse, the growing difficulties of verbal +communication with the Indians on topics at all out of the ordinary +routine of business, I begin to feel less surprised at the numerous +misapprehensions of the actual character, manners, and customs of the +Indians, which are found in books. I speak as to the communication +of exact ideas of their beliefs. As to literal exactitude in +such communications, my inquiries have already convinced me +that there must be other and higher standards than a hap-hazard +<i>I-au-ne-kun-o-tau-gade</i>, or trade interpreter, before the thing can be +attempted. Fortunately, I have, in my kind and polite friend Mr. +Johnston, who has given me temporary quarters at his house, and the +several intelligent members of his family, the means of looking deeper +into the powers and structure of the language, and am pressing these +advantages, amidst the pauses of business, with all my ardor and +assiduity.</p> + +<p>The study of the language, and the formation of a vocabulary and grammar +have almost imperceptibly become an absorbing object, although I have +been but a short time at the place, and the plan interests me so much, +that I actually regret the time that is lost from it, in the ordinary +visits of comity and ceremony, which are, however, necessary. My method +is to interrogate all persons visiting the office, white and red, who +promise to be useful subjects of information during the day, and to test +my inquiries in the evening by reference to the Johnstons, who, being +educated, and speaking at once both the English and Odjibwa correctly, +offer a higher and more reliable standard than usual.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnston's family consists of ten persons, though all are not +constantly present. He is himself a native of the county of Antrim, in +the north of Ireland, his father having possessed an estate at Craige, +near the Giant's Causeway. He came to America in the last presidential +term of General Washington, having a brother at that time settled at +Albany, and after visiting Montreal and Quebec, he fell into company +with the sort of half-baronial class of north-west fur traders, who +struck his fancy. By their advice, he went to Michilimackinack and Lake +Superior, where he became attached to, and subsequently married the +younger daughter of Wabojeeg, a northern Powhatan, who has been before +mentioned. There are four sons and four daughters, to the education of +all of whom he has paid the utmost attention. His eldest son was first +placed in the English navy, and is now a lieutenant in the land service, +having been badly wounded and cut in the memorable battle with Commodore +Perry on Lake Eric, in 1813. The next eldest is engaged in commerce. The +eldest daughter was educated in Ireland, and the two next at Sandwich, +near Detroit. These constituted the adults; there are two sons and a +daughter, still in their school-days. All possess agreeable, easy +manners and refinement. Mrs. Johnston is a woman of excellent judgment +and good sense; she is referred to on abstruse points of the Indian +ceremonies and usages, so that I have in fact stumbled, as it were, on +the only family in North West America who could, in Indian lore, have +acted as my "guide, philosopher and friend."</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. I received yesterday a second visit from Ka-ta-wa-be-da, or the +Broken Tooth chief of Sandy Lake, on the Upper Mississippi, who is +generally known by his French name of Breshieu, and at the close of the +interview gave him a requisition on the commissary for some provisions +to enable him to return to his home. The Indians must be led by a very +plain path and a friendly hand. Feeling and preference are subsequent +manifestations. I took this occasion to state to him the objects and +policy of the government by the establishment at these falls of a post +and agency, placing it upon its true basis, namely, the preservation of +peace upon the frontiers, and the due observance, by all parties, of the +laws respecting trade and intercourse with the tribes, and securing +justice both to them and to our citizens, particularly by the act for +the exclusion of ardent spirits from the Indian country. By the agency, +a door was opened through which they could communicate their wishes to +the President, and he was also enabled to state his mind to them. All +who opened their ears truly to the voice of their American father would +be included among the recipients of his favors. He felt kindly to all, +but those only who hearkened to his council would be allowed, as <i>he</i> +had been, to share in the usual privileges which the agency at this +place secured to them. Having drawn his provisions, and duly reflected +on what was said by me, he returned to-day to bid me adieu, on his +setting out to go home, and to express his thanks for my kindness and +advice. The old chief, who has long exercised his sway in the region of +Sandy Lake, made a well-considered speech in reply to mine of yesterday, +in which he took the ground of neutrality as between the United States +and Great Britain, and averred that he had ever been the friend of the +white race and of traders who came into the country, and declared +himself the friend of peace.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of this interview, I gave him a small sea-shell from +my cabinet, as a mark of my respect, and a token which would remind him +of my advice. I remembered that the Indians of the continent have always +set a high value on wampum, which is made solely from sea-shells, and +have attributed a kind of sacredness for this class of productions.</p> + +<p><i>31st. Indian Mythology</i>.--Nothing has surprised me more in the +conversations which I have had with persons acquainted with the Indian +customs and character, than to find that the Chippewas amuse themselves +with oral tales of a mythological or allegorical character. Some of +these tales, which I have heard, are quite fanciful, and the wildest of +them are very characteristic of their notions and customs. They often +take the form of allegory, and in this shape appear designed to teach +some truth or illustrate some maxim. The fact, indeed, of such a fund of +fictitious legendary matter is quite a discovery, and speaks more for +the intellect of the race than any trait I have heard. Who would have +imagined that these wandering foresters should have possessed such a +resource? What have all the voyagers and remarkers from the days of +Cabot and Raleigh been about, not to have discovered this curious trait, +which lifts up indeed a curtain, as it were, upon the Indian mind, and +exhibits it in an entirely new character?</p> + +<p><i>August 1st</i>. Every day increases the interest which the question of the +investigation of the Indian languages and customs assumes in my mind. My +facilities for pursuing these inquiries and for the general transaction +of the official business has been increased this day by my removing into +a new and more convenient office, situated some ninety or a hundred +yards west of my former position, but on a line with it, and fronting, +like the former room, on an ancient green on the river's banks. The St. +Mary's River is here about three-fourths of a mile wide, and the green +in front of my office is covered with Indian lodges, and presents a +noble expanse. I have now a building some thirty-six feet square, built +of squared timber, jointed with mortar and whitewashed, so as to give it +a neat appearance. The interior is divided into a room some twenty feet +by thirty-six, with two small ante-rooms. A large cast iron Montreal +stove, which will take in three feet wood, occupies the centre. The +walls are plastered, and the room moderately lighted. The rear of the +lot has a blacksmith shop. The interpreter has quarters near by. The +gate of the new cantonment is some three hundred yards west of my door, +and there is thus brought within a small compass the means of +transacting the affairs of the agency during the approaching and +expected severe winter. These are the best arrangements that can be +made, better indeed than I had reason to expect on first landing here.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. I wrote to-day to Dr. Hosack, expressing my thanks for the extract +of a letter, which he had enclosed me from Sir Humphrey Davy, dated +London, March 24th, 1822, in which this eminent philosopher expresses +his opinion on my <i>Narrative Journal</i>, a copy of which Dr. Hosack had +sent him. "Schoolcraft's <i>Narrative</i> is admirable," observes Sir +Humphrey Davy, "both for the facts it develops, and for the simplicity +and clearness of the details. He has accomplished great things by such +means, and offers a good model for a traveler in a new country. I lent +his book to our veteran philosophical geographer, Major Kennel, who was +highly pleased with it. Copies of it would sell well in England."</p> + +<p>A friend sends me a prospectus for a paper under the title of +"<i>Washington Republican</i>," which has just been established at the seat +of government, earnestly advocating the election of John C. Calhoun for +the presidency in 1824.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. A chief of a shrewd and grave countenance, and more than the +ordinary cast of thought, visited me this morning, and gave me his hand, +with the ordinary salutation of Nosa (my father). The interpreter +introduced him by the name of Little Pine, or Shingwalkonee, and as a +person of some consequence among the Indians, being a meta, a wabeno, a +counselor, a war chief, and an orator or speaker. He had a tuft of beard +on his chin, wore a hat, and had some other traits in his dress and gear +which smacked of civilization. His residence is stated to be, for the +most part, on the British side of the river, but he traces his lineage +from the old Crane band here. I thought him to be a man of more than the +ordinary Indian forecast. He appeared to be a person who, having seen +all the military developments on these shores during the last month, +thought he would cross over the channel with a retinue, to see what the +Chemoquemon <a name="FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a> was about. He had also, perhaps, a shrewd Indian inkling +that some presents might be distributed here during the season.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor20">[20]</a> Chemoquemon, an American; from <i>Gitchee</i> great, <i>moquemon</i> +a knife. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>10th</i>. A strange-looking Indian came in from the forest wearing an +American silver medal. He looked haggard and forsaken. It will be +recollected by those who have read my <i>Narrative Journal</i> of the +expedition of 1820, that Governor Cass became lost and entangled among +the sharp mountainous passes of the River Ontonagon, in his attempts to +reach the party who had, at an early part of the day, gone forward to +the site of the Copper Rock; and that he bestowed a medal on a young +Chippewa, who had rendered his party and himself services during its +stay on that river. This individual was among the earlier visitors who +presented himself at my office. He recognized me as one of the party on +that occasion. He was introduced to me by the name of Wabish-ke-pe-nace, +or the White Bird, and seemed to rouse up from a settled look of +melancholy when referring to those events. It appears that his conduct +as a guide on that occasion had made him unpopular with the band, who +told him he had received an honor for that which should be condemned. +That it was a crime to show the Americans their wealth, and the Great +Spirit did not approve it. His dress had something wild and forlorn, as +well as his countenance.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. A week or two ago, an Indian, called Sa-ne-baw, or the Ribbon, +who encamped on the green in front of my office, fell sick. I requested +Dr. Wheaton to visit him, but it did not appear that there was any +disease of either an acute or chronic character which could be +ascertained. The man seemed to be in a low desponding state. Some small +medicines were administered, but he evinced no symptoms of restoration. +He rather appeared to be pining away, with some secret mental canker. +The very spirit of despair was depicted in his visage. Young Wheaton, a +brother of the Doctor, and Lieutenant C. Morton, United States Army, +visited him daily in company, with much solicitude; but no effort to +rally him, physically or mentally, was successful, and he died this +morning. "He died," said the former to me, "because he <i>would</i> die." The +Indians seem to me a people who are prone to despond, and easily sink +into frames of despair.</p> + +<p>I received a letter to-day from the veteran geographer, Mr. W. Darby, of +Philadelphia, brought by the hands of a friend, a Mr. Toosey, through +whom he submitted to me a list of geographical and statistical queries +relating to some generic points, which he is investigating in connection +with his forthcoming Gazetteer of the United States.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII."></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p>A pic-nic party at the foot of Lake Superior--Canoe--Scenery--Descent of +St. Mary's Falls--Etymology of the Indian names of Sault Ste. Marie, and +Lake Superior--The wild rice plant--Indian trade--American Fur +Company--Distribution of presents--Death of Sassaba--Epitaph--Indian +capacity to count--Oral literature--Research--Self-reliance.</p> + +<p>1822. <i>August 20th</i>. I Went with a pic-nic to Gross Cape, a romantic +promontory at the foot of Lake Superior. This elevation stands on the +north shore of the straits, and consequently in Canada. It overlooks a +noble expanse of waters and islands, constituting one of the most +magnificent series of views of American scenery. Immediately opposite +stands the scarcely less elevated, and not less celebrated promontory of +Point Iroquois, the Na-do-wa-we-gon-ing, or Place of Iroquois Bones, of +the Chippewas. These two promontories stand like the pillars of Hercules +which guard the entrance into the Mediterranean, and their office is to +mark the foot of the mighty Superior, a lake which may not, inaptly, be +deemed another Mediterranean Sea. The morning chosen to visit this scene +was fine; the means of conveyance chosen was the novel and fairy-like +barque of the Chippewas, which they denominate <i>Che-maun</i>, but which we, +from a corruption of a Charib term as old as the days of Columbus, call +<i>Canoe</i>. It is made of the rind of the betula papyracea, or white birch, +sewed together with the fine fibrous roots of the cedaror spruce, and is +made water-tight by covering the seams with boiled pine rosin, the whole +being distended over and supported by very thin ribs and cross-bars of +cedar, curiously carved and framed together. It is turned up, at either +end, like a gondola, and the sides and gunwales fancifully painted. The +whole structure is light, and was easily carried by two men on their +shoulders; yet will bear a weight of more than a ton on the water. It is +moved with cedar paddles, and the Canadians who managed it, kept time in +their strokes, and regulated them to the sonorous cadence of some of +their simple boat songs. Our party consisted of several ladies and +gentlemen. We carried the elements of a pic-nic. We moved rapidly. The +views on all sides were novel and delightful. The water in which the men +struck their paddles was pure as crystal. The air was perfectly +exhilarating from its purity. The distance about three leagues. We +landed a few moments at Point aux Pins, to range along the clean sandy +shore, and sandy plains, now abounding in fine whortleberries. Directly +on putting out from this, the broad view of the entrance into the lake +burst upon us. It is magnificent. A line of blue water stretched like a +thread on the horizon, between cape and cape, say five miles. Beyond it +is what the Chippewas call <i>Bub-eesh-ko-be,</i> meaning the far off, +indistinct prospect of a water scene, till the reality, in the feeble +power of human vision, loses itself in the clouds and sky. The two +prominences of Point Iroquois and Gross Cape are very different in +character. The former is a bold eminence covered with trees, and having +all the appearance of youth and verdure. The latter is but the end, so +to say, of a towering ridge of dark primary rocks with a few stunted +cedars. The first exhibits, on inspection, a formation of sandstone and +reproduced rocks, piled stratum super stratum, and covered with boulder +drifts and alluvion. The second is a massive mountain ridge of the +northern sienite, abounding in black crystaline hornblende, and flanked +at lower altitudes, in front, in some places, by a sort of trachyte. We +clambered up and over the bold undulations of the latter, till we were +fatigued. We stood on the highest pinnacle, and gazed on the "blue +profound" of Superior, the great water or Gitchegomee of the Indians. We +looked down far below at the clean ridges of pebbles, and the +transparent water. After gazing, and looking, and reveling in the wild +magnificence of views, we picked our way, crag by crag, to the shore, +and sat down on the shining banks of black, white, and mottled pebbles, +and did ample justice to the contents of our baskets of good things. +This always restores one's spirits. We forget the toil in the present +enjoyment. And having done this, and giving our last looks at what has +been poetically called the Father of Lakes, we put out, with paddles and +song, and every heart beating in unison with the scene, for our +starting-point at Bá-wa-teeg, or Pa-wa-teeg, alias Sault Ste. Marie. But +the half of my story would not be told, if I did not add that, as we +gained the brink of the rapids, and began to feel the suction of the +wide current that leaps, jump after jump, over that foaming bed, our +inclinations and our courage rose together to go down the formidable +pass; and having full faith in the long-tried pilotage of our guide, Tom +Shaw, down we went, rushing at times like a thunderbolt, then turned by +a dab of the pole of our guide, on a rock, shooting off in eschelon, and +then careering down another <i>schute</i>, or water bolt, till we thus dodged +every rock, and came out below with a full roaring chorus of our +Canadians, who, as they cleared the last danger, hoisted our starry flag +at the same moment that they struck up one of their wild and +joyous, songs.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. I have questioned the Indians closely for the names of Sault Ste. +Marie and Lake Superior. They are destined to hold an important rank in +our future geography. But the result is not agreeable to preconceived +poetic notions. When the French first came to these falls, they found +the Chippewas, the falls signifying, descriptively, Shallow water +pitching over rocks, or by a prepositional form of the term, at the +place of shallow water, pitching over rocks. Such is the meaning of the +words Pa-wa-teeg and Pa-wa-ting. The terms cover more precisely the idea +which we express by the word cascade. The French call a cascade a Leap +or Sault; but Sault alone would not be distinctive, as they had already +applied the term to some striking passes on the St. Lawrence and other +places. They therefore, in conformity with their general usage, added +the name of a patron saint to the term by calling it Sault de Ste. +Marie, i.e. Leap of Saint Mary, to distinguish it from other Leaps, or +Saults. Now as the word Sainte, as here used, is feminine, it must, in +its abbreviated form, be written Ste. The preposition <i>de</i> (the) is +usually dropped. Use has further now dropped the sound of the letter <i>l</i> +from Sault. But as, in the reforms of the French dictionary, the ancient +geographical names of places remain unaffected, the true phraseology is +SAULT STE. MARIE.</p> + +<p>Having named the falls a <i>Sault</i>, they went a step further, and called +the Odjibwa Indians who lived at it, <i>Saulteurs,</i> or People of the +Sault. Hence this has ever remained the French name for Chippewas.</p> + +<p>In the term Gitchegomee, the name for Superior, we have a specimen of +their mode of making compounds. <i>Gitche</i> signifies something great, or +possessing the property of positive magnitude. <i>Gomee</i> is itself a +compound phrase, denoting, when so conjoined, a large body of water. It +is the objective member of their term for the sea; but is governed by +its antecedent, and may be used in describing other and minor, even the +most minute liquid bodies, as we hear it, in the compound term +<i>mushkuagomee, i.e.</i> strong drink. Under the government of the term +<i>gitchee</i>, it appears to express simply the sense of great water, but +conveys the idea, to the Indian mind, of sea-water. I have cast about, +to find a sonorous form of elision, in which it may come into popular +use, but find nothing more eligible than <i>I-go-mee</i>, or <i>Igoma</i>. A more +practical word, in the shape of a new compound, may be made in Algoma, a +term in which the first syllable of the generic name of this tribe of +the Algonquin stock, harmonizes very well with the Indian idea of goma +(sea), giving us, Sea of the Algonquins. The term may be objected to, as +the result of a grammatical abbreviation, but if not adopted +practically, it may do as a poetical synonym for this great lake. Such +is, at least, the result of a full discussion of these names, with the +very best speakers of the language.</p> + +<p><i>30th. The Wild Rice Plant</i>.--Having received a request for some of this +native grain to send abroad, and knowing that the smoked rice, such as +the Indians usually bring in, will not germinate, I this day dispatched +my interpreter in a canoe, with some Indians, to the northern shores of +the straits to gather some of it for seed; the result was successful. +This plant may be deemed a precious gift of nature to the natives, who +spread over many degrees of northern latitude. They call it <i>mon-ó-min</i>, +a compound descriptive phrase, which differs only from their name for +the zea maize in putting an <i>o</i>--the third syllable--for the imperative +future in <i>dau</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 1st. Indian Trade</i>.--Congress has provided a code of laws to +regulate this, the object of which is a good one, and the provisions of +the various enactments appear to be founded on the highest principles of +justice and benevolence. It is still a question, it appears to me, +whether some of these provisions do not merely sanction by the forms of +law what was formerly done, not always well, without it, and whether +the measure of protection which they afford to the tribes against the +cupidity of the whites is very efficacious. It was heretofore pretended +by the British traders that all this country belonged to Great Britain, +and they told the Indians that the war of 1812 would settle all this. It +did so; but, contrary to their wishes and the predictions to the +Indians, it settled it precisely on the basis of the treaty of 1783, +which ran the boundary line through the straits of Saint Mary's and Lake +Superior to the Lake of the Woods. As soon as the smoke of the war +cleared off, namely, in 1816, Congress enacted that British traders and +capital should be excluded from the American lines, that no British +subjects should receive licenses to trade, and that all such persons who +went inland in subordinate capacities should be bonded for by the +American traders who employed them. This law seemed to bear particularly +on this section of country, and is generally understood to have been +passed to throw the old North West Company, and other British traders, +trading on their own account, out of this hitherto very lucrative branch +of trade. John Jacob Astor, of New York, went immediately to Montreal +and bought out all the posts and factories of that company, situated in +the north-west, which were south of the lines. With these posts, the +factors, trading clerks, and men were, as a matter of course, cast on +the patronage and employment of that eminent German furrier. That he +might cover their employment, he sent an agent from Montreal into +Vermont to engage enterprising young men, in whose names the licenses +could be taken out. He furnished the entire capital for the trade, and +sent agents, in the persons of two enterprising young Scotch gentlemen, +from Montreal and New York to Michilimackinack, to manage the business. +This new arrangement took the popular name of the American Fur Company. +In other respects, except those related, the mode of transacting the +trade, and the real actors therein, remained very much as they were. +American lads, whose names were inscribed in the licenses at +Michilimackinack, as principals, went inland in reality to learn the +business and the language; the <i>engagees</i>, or boatmen, who were chiefly +Canadians or metifs, were bonded for, in five hundred dollars each. In +this condition, I found things on my arrival here. The very thin +diffusion of American feeling or principle in both the traders and the +Indians, so far as I have seen them, renders it a matter of no little +difficulty to supervise this business, and it has required perpetual +activity in examining the boats and outfits of the traders who have +received their licenses at Mackinack, to search their packages, to +detect contraband goods, <i>i.e.</i> ardent spirits, and grant licenses, +passports, and permits to those who have applied to me. To me it seems +that the whole old resident population of the frontiers, together with +the new accessions to it, in the shape of petty dealers of all sorts, +are determined to have the Indians' furs, at any rate, whether these +poor red men live or die; and many of the dealers who profess to obey +the laws wish to get legally inland only that they may do as they +please, law or no law, after they have passed the flag-staff of Sainte +Marie's. There may be, and I trust there <i>are</i>, higher motives in some +persons, but they have not passed this way, to my knowledge, the present +season. I detected one scamp, a fellow named Gaulthier, who had carried +by, and secreted above the portage, no less than five large kegs of +whisky and high wines on a small invoice, but a few days after my +arrival. It will require vigilance and firmness, and yet mildness, to +secure anything like a faithful performance of the duties committed to +me on a remote frontier, and with very little means of action beyond the +precincts of the post, and this depends much on the moral influence on +the Indian mind of the military element of power.</p> + +<p><i>6th. First Distribution of Presents</i>.--In fulfilment of a general +declaration of friendly purposes, made on my opening speech to the +Chippewas in July last, the entire home band of St. Mary's, men, women, +and children, were assembled on the green in front of my office, this +morning, to receive a small invoice of goods and merchandise, which were +distributed amongst them as presents. These goods were the best that +could be purchased in the Detroit market, and were all of the best +description; and they were received with a lively satisfaction, which +betokened well for my future influence. Prominent among the pleased +recipients were the chiefs of the village, Shin-ga-ba-was-sin, the Image +Stone, She-wa-be-ke-tone, the Man of Jingling Metals, Kau-ga-osh, or the +Bird in Eternal Flight, Way-ish-kee, or The First Born Son, and two or +three others of minor note. Behind them were the warriors and young men, +the matrons and maids; and peppered in, as it were, the children of all +ages. All were in their best attire. The ceremony began by lighting the +pipe, and having it passed by suitable officials to the chiefs and +warriors in due order, and by placing a pile of tobacco before them, for +general use, which the chiefs with great care divided and distributed, +not forgetting the lowest claimant. I then stated the principles by +which the agency would be guided in its intercourse with them, the +benevolence and justice of the views entertained by their great father, +the President, and his wishes to keep improper traders out of their +country, to exclude ardent spirits, and to secure their peace and +happiness in every practicable way. Each sentence, as it was rendered +into Indian, was received with the response of Hoh! an exclamation of +approbation, which is uttered feebly or loud, in proportion as the +matter is warmly or coldly approved. The chiefs responded. All looked +pleased; the presents were divided, and the assembly broke up in harmony +and good will. It <i>does</i> seem that, according to the oriental maxim,<a name="FNanchor21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a> +a present is the readiest door to an Indian's heart.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor21">[21]</a> "Let thy present go before thee."--Proverbs of Solomon. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>25th</i>. The Indian mind appears to lack the mathematical element. It is +doubtful how far they can compute numbers. The Chippewas count +decimally, and after ten, add the names of the digits to the word ten, +up to twenty; then take the word for twenty, and add them as before, to +thirty; and so on to a hundred. They then add them to the term for a +hundred, up to a thousand.</p> + +<p>They cannot be made to understand the value of an American dollar, +without reducing it to the standard of skins. A striking instance of +this kind happened among the Potowattomies at Chicago last year (1821). +The commanding officer had offered a reward of thirty dollars for the +apprehension of a deserter. The Potowattomies pursued and caught him, +and received a certificate for the reward. The question with them now +was, how much they had got. They wished to sell the certificate to a +trader, and there were five claimants. They sat down and counted off as +many racoon skins. They then made thirty equal heaps, substituting +symbols for skins. Taking the store price of a racoon at five skins to +the dollar, they then found they had received the equivalent of one +hundred and fifty racoons, and at this price they sold the order or +certificate.</p> + +<p><i>26th. Death of Sassaba,<a name="FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a> or the Count</i>.--This chief, who has from the +day of our first landing here, rendered himself noted for his sentiments +of opposition to the Americans, met with a melancholy fate yesterday. He +was in the habit of using ardent spirits, and frequently rose from a +debauch of this kind of two or three days' continuance. Latterly he has +exhibited a singular figure, walking through the village, being divested +of every particle of clothing except a large gray wolf's skin, which he +had drawn over his body in such a manner as to let its tail dangle down +behind. It was in this unique costume that I last saw him, and as he was +a tall man, with rather prominent features, the spectacle was the more +striking. From this freak of dress he has been commonly called, for some +time, My-een-gun, or the Wolf. He had been drinking at Point aux Pins, +six miles above the rapids, with Odabit and some other boon companions, +and in this predicament embarked in his canoe, to come to the head of +the portage. Before reaching it, and while still in the strong tide or +suck of the current, he rose in his canoe for some purpose connected +with the sail, and tipped it over. Odabit succeeded in making land, but +the Count, his wife and child, and Odabit's wife, went over the rapids, +which was the last ever seen of them. Sassaba appeared to me to be a man +of strong feelings and an independent mind, not regarding consequences. +He had taken a deep prejudice against the Americans, from his brother +having been shot by his side in the battle under Tecumseh on the Thames. +This appeared to be the burden of his complaints. He was fond of +European dress, and articles of furniture. It was found that he had in +his tent, which was of duck, a set of silver tea and tablespoons, +knives, forks, cups and saucers, and a tea tray. Besides his military +coat, sword, and epaulets, and sash, which were presented to him, he had +some ruffled linen shirts, gloves, shoes and stockings, and an umbrella, +all of which were kept, however, in the spirit of a virtuoso, and he +took a pride in displaying these articles to visitors.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor22">[22]</a> The word means finery. +</blockquote> + +<p>Many a more worthless man than Sassaba has had his epitaph, or elegiac +wreath, which may serve as an apology for the following lines:--</p> + +<blockquote> +The Falls were thy grave, as they leapt mad along,<br> +And the roar of their waters thy funeral song:<br> +So wildly, so madly, thy people for aye,<br> +Are rapidly, ceaselessly, passing away.<br> +They are seen but a moment, then fade and are past,<br> +Like a cloud in the sky, or a leaf in the blast;<br> +The path thou hast trodden, thy nation shall tread,<br> +Chief, warrior, and kin, to the <i>Land</i> of the <i>Dead</i>;<br> +And soon on the lake, or the shore, or the green,<br> +Not a war drum shall sound, not a smoke shall be seen.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>27th. Oral Literature of the Indians</i>.--"I am extremely anxious," +writes a friend, "that Mr. Johnston and his family should furnish full +and detailed answers to my queries, more particularly upon all subjects +connected with the language, and, if I may so speak, the polite +literature of the Chippewas (I write the word in this way because I am +apprehensive that the orthography is inveterately fixed, and not because +I suppose it is correct)<a name="FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23">[23]</a>. There is no quarter from which I can expect +such full information upon these topics as from this. I must beg you to +aid me in the pursuit. Urge them during the long winter evenings to the +task. The time cannot be more profitably or pleasantly spent, and, as I +am told you are somewhat of an aboriginal scholar, you can assist them +with your advice and judgment. A perfect analysis of the language is a +great desideratum. I pray you, in the spring, to let me have the fruits +of their exertions."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor23">[23]</a> I had written, announcing the word <i>Od-jib-wa</i> to be the +true Indian pronunciation, and recommending its adoption. +</blockquote> + +<p>With a strong predisposition to these inquiries, with such additional +excitement to the work, and with the very highest advantages of +interpretation and no little fixity of application from boyhood, it must +go hard with me this winter if I do not fish up something from the well +of Indian researches and traditionary lore.</p> + +<blockquote> +Go, student, search, and if thou nothing find,<br> +Go search again; success is in the mind.--ALGON.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>28th. The right spirit, humble yet manful</i>.--A young man of purpose +and some talent, with considerable ambition, who is diligently seeking a +place in the world, writes me from Detroit to-day, in this strain: "True +it is, I have determined to pass the winter either in New York or +Washington, probably the latter place. But, my dear sir, my hope of +doing anything for myself in this world is the faintest possible, and I +begin to fatigue with the exertion. If I do not succeed this winter in +obtaining something permanent,<a name="FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24">[24]</a> I shall probably settle down, either +in this place or somewhere in New York, <i>a poor devil!</i>--from all which, +and many other things, 'good Lord deliver us!' Farewell; my best wishes +be with you this winter, to keep you warm. I shall expect next spring to +see you an accomplished <i>nichee</i>" <a name="FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a> [Në-jë].</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor24">[24]</a> He did succeed at W. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor25">[25]</a> A term signifying, in the Chippewa, <i>my friend</i>, but +popularly used at the time to some extent at Detroit to denote +an Indian. +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII."></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p>My first winter at the foot of Lake Superior--Copper mines--White +fish--A poetic name for a fish--Indian tale--Polygamy--A +reminiscence--Taking of Fort Niagara--Mythological and allegorical tales +among the aborigines--Chippewa language--Indian vowels--A polite and a +vulgar way of speaking the language--Public worship--Seclusion from +the world.</p> + +<p>1822. <i>Oct. 1st. Copper Mines of Lake Superior.</i>--On the 8th of May +last, the Senate of the United States passed a resolution in +these words:--</p> + +<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, that the President of the United States be requested to +communicate to the Senate, at the commencement of the next session of +Congress, any information which may be in the possession of the +government, derived from special agents or otherwise, showing the +number, value, and position of the copper mines on the south shore of +Lake Superior; the names of the Indian tribes who claim them; the +practicability of extinguishing their title, and the probable advantage +which may result to the Republic from the acquisition and working +these mines."</p> + +<p>The resolution having been referred to me by the Secretary of War, I, +this day, completed and transmitted a report on the subject, embracing +the principal facts known respecting them, insisting on their value and +importance, and warmly recommending their further exploration and +working.<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26">[26]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor26">[26]</a> See Public Doc. No. 365, 2d Sess., 17th Congress. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>4th. White Fish Fishery</i>.--No place in America has been so highly +celebrated as a locality for taking this really fine and delicious fish, +as Saint Mary's Falls, or the <i>Sault</i>,<a name="FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a> as it is more generally and +appropriately called. This fish resorts here in vast numbers, and is in +season after the autumnal equinox, and continues so till the ice begins +to run. It is worthy the attention of ichthyologists. It is a +remarkable, but not singular fact in its natural history, that it is +perpetually found in the attitude of ascent at these falls. It is taken +only in the swift water at the foot of the last leap or descent. Into +this swift water the Indians push their canoes. It requires great skill +and dexterity for this. The fishing canoe is of small size. It is +steered by a man in the stern. The fisherman takes his stand in the +bows, sometimes bestriding the light and frail vessel from gunwale to +gunwale, having a scoop-net in his hands. This net has a long slender +handle, ten feet or more in length. The net is made of strong twine, +open at the top, like an entomologist's. When the canoe has been run +into the uppermost rapids, and a school of fish is seen below or +alongside, he dexterously puts down his net, and having swooped up a +number of the fish, instantly reverses it in water, whips it up, and +discharges its contents into the canoe. This he repeats till his canoe +is loaded, when he shoots out of the tail of the rapids, and makes for +shore. The fish will average three pounds, but individuals are sometimes +two and three times that weight. It is shad-shaped, with well-developed +scales, easily removed, but has the mouth of the sucker, very small. The +flesh is perfectly white and firm, with very few bones. It is boiled by +the Indians in pure water, in a peculiar manner, the kettle hung high +above a small blaze; and thus cooked, it is eaten with the liquid for a +gravy, and is delicate and delicious. If boiled in the ordinary way, by +a low hung pot and quick fire, it is soft and comparatively flabby. It +is also broiled by the inhabitants, on a gridiron, after cutting it open +on the back, and brought on the table slightly browned. This must be +done, like a steak, quickly. It is the most delicious when immediately +taken from the water, and connoisseurs will tell you, by its taste at +the table, whether it is immediately from the water, or has lain any +time before cooking. It is sometimes made into small ovate masses, +dipped into batter, and fried in butter, and in this shape, it is called +<i>petite pâte.</i> It is also chowdered or baked in a pie. It is the great +resource of the Indians and the French, and of the poor generally at +these falls, who eat it with potatoes, which are abundantly raised here. +It is also a standing dish with all.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor27">[27]</a> This word is pronounced as if written <i>so</i>, not <i>soo</i>. It +is a derivative, through the French, from the Latin <i>saltus</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>A Poetic Name for a Fish.</i>--The Chippewas, who are ready to give every +object in creation, whose existence they cannot otherwise account for, +an allegorical origin, call the white fish <i>attikumaig</i>, a very curious +or very fanciful name, for it appears to be compounded of attik, a +reindeer, and the general compound <i>gumee</i>, or <i>guma</i>, before noticed, +as meaning water, or a liquid. To this the addition of the letter <i>g</i> +makes a plural in the animate form, so that the translation is <i>deer of +the water</i>, an evident acknowledgment of its importance as an item in +their means of subsistence. Who can say, after this, that the Chippewas +have not some imagination?</p> + +<p><i>Indian Tale</i>.--They have a legend about the origin of the white fish, +which is founded on the observation of a minute trait in its habits. +This fish, when opened, is found to have in its stomach very small white +particles which look like roe or particles of brain, but are, perhaps, +microscopic shells. They say the fish itself sprang from the brain of a +female, whose skull fell into these rapids, and was dashed out among the +rocks. A tale of domestic infidelity is woven with this, and the +denouement is made to turn on the premonition of a venerable crane, the +leading Totem of the band, who, having consented to carry the ghost of a +female across the falls on his back, threw her into the boiling and +foaming flood to accomplish the poetic justice of the tale.</p> + +<p><i>17th. Polygamy</i>.--This practice appears to be less common among the +Chippewas than the more westerly tribes. An instance of it came to my +notice to-day, in a complaint made by an Indian named Me-ta-koos-se-ga, +i.e. Smoking-Weed, or Pure Tobacco, who was living with two wives, a +mother and her daughter. He complained that a young woman whom he had +brought up had left his lodge, and taken shelter with the family of the +widow of a Canadian. It appears that the old fellow had been making +advances to this girl to become his <i>third wife</i>, and that she had fled +from his lodge to avoid his importunities.</p> + +<p><i>18th. Historical Reminiscences</i>.--This day sixty-three years ago, +General Wolf took Quebec, an event upon which hinged the fall of Canada. +That was a great historical era, and it is from this date, 1759, that we +may begin to date a change in the Indian policy of the country. Before +that time, the French, who had discovered this region of country and +established trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, were +acknowledged supreme by the natives. Since this event, the English rule +has been growing, and the allegiance of the tribes has been gradually +strengthened and fixed. It is not a light task to change habits of +political affiance, cemented by so many years. The object which is only +sought so far as the tribes fall within the American lines, may, +however, be attained by a mild, consistent, and persevering course of +policy. Time is a slow but sure innovator. A few years will carry the +more aged men, whose prejudices are strongest, to their graves. The +young are more pliant, and will see their interests in strengthening +their intercourse with the Americans, who can do so much to advance +them, and probably long before half another period of sixty-three years +is repeated, the Indians of the region will be as firmly attached to us +as they ever were to the French or the English.</p> + +<blockquote> +Never to doubt, and never to despair,<br> +Is to make acts what once but wishes were. ALGON.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>26th. Allegorical and Mythological Tales</i>.--"I shall be rejoiced," +observed Governor C., in a letter of this day, in reply to my +announcement of having detected fanciful traditionary stories among the +Chippewas, "to receive any mythological stories to which you allude, +even if they are enough to rival old Tooke in his Pantheon." He had put +into my hands, at Detroit, a list of printed queries respecting the +Indians, and calls me to remember them, during my winter seclusion here, +with the knowledge of the advantages I possess in the well-informed +circle of the Johnston family.</p> + +<p><i>25th. Chippewa Language</i>.--There is clearly a polite and a vulgar way +of speaking the language. Tradition says that great changes have taken +place, and that these changes keep pace with the decline of the tribe +from their ancient standard of forest morals and their departure from +their ancient customs. However this may be, their actual vocabulary is +pretty full. Difficulties exist in writing it, from the want of an exact +and uniform system of notation. The vowels assume their short and +slender as well as broad sounds. The language appears to want entirely +the consonant sounds of f, l, r, v, and x. In conjugating their verbs, +the three primary tenses are well made out, but it is doubtful how much +exactitude exists in the forms given for the oblique and conditional +tenses. If it be true that the language is more corrupt now than at a +former age, it is important to inquire in what this corruption consists, +and how it came about. "To rescue it," I observe at the close of a +letter now on my table to his Excellency Governor C., transmitting him a +vocabulary of one hundred and fifty words, "To rescue it from that +oblivion to which the tribe itself is rapidly hastening, while yet it +may be attempted, with a prospect of success, will constitute a novel +and pleasing species of amusement during the long evenings of that +dreary cold winter of which we have already had a foretaste."</p> + +<p><i>31st. Public Worship</i>.--As Colonel Brady is about to leave the post for +the season, some conversation has been had about authorizing him to get +a clergyman to come to the post. It is thought that if such a person +would devote a part of his time as an instructor, a voluntary +subscription could be got among the citizens to supply the sum requisite +for his support. I drew up a paper with this view this morning, and +after handing it round, found the sum of <i>ninety-seven dollars</i> +subscribed--seventy-five dollars of which are by four persons. This is +not half the stipend of "forty pounds a year" that poor Goldsmith's +brother thought himself rich upon; and it is apprehended the colonel +will hardly find the inducement sufficient to elicit attention to so +very remote a quarter.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 1st</i>. We have snow, cold, and chilly winds. On looking to the +north, there are huge piles of clouds hanging over Lake Superior. We may +say, with Burns,</p> + +<blockquote> +"The wintry wind is gathering fast."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>This is a holiday with the Canadian French--"All Saints." They appear as +lively and thoughtless as if all the saints in the calendar were to join +them in a dance. Well may it be said of them, "Where ignorance is bliss, +'tis folly to be wise."</p> + +<p><i>20th. Seclusion from the World realized</i>.--We are now shut out from the +world. The season of navigation has closed, the last vessel has +departed. Philosophers may write, and poets may sing of the charms of +solitude, but when the experiment comes to be tried, on a practical +scale, such as we are now, one and all, about to realize, theories and +fancies sink wonderfully in the scale. For some weeks past, everything +with the power of motion or locomotion has been exerting itself to quit +the place and the region, and hie to more kindly latitudes for the +winter. Nature has also become imperceptibly sour tempered, and shows +her teeth in ice and snows. <i>Man-kind</i> and <i>bird-kind</i> have concurred in +the effort to go. We have witnessed the long-drawn flight of swans, +brant, and cranes, towards the south. Singing birds have long since +gone. Ducks, all but a very few, have also silently disappeared, and +have probably gone to pick up spicy roots in the Susquehannah +or Altamaha.</p> + +<p>Prescient in the changes of the season, they have been the first to go. +Men, who can endure greater changes and vicissitudes than all the animal +creation put together, have lingered longer; but at last one after +another has left Pa-wa-teeg, till all who <i>can</i> go have gone. Col. Brady +did not leave his command till after the snow fell, and he saw them +tolerably "cantoned." The last vessel for the season has departed--the +last mail has been sent. Our population has been thinned off by the +departure of every temporary dweller, and lingering trader, and belated +visitor, till no one is left but the doomed and fated number whose duty +is here, who came here to abide the winter in all its regions, and who +cannot, on any fair principle or excuse, get away. They, and they alone, +are left to winter here. Of this number I am a resigned and willing +unit, and I have endeavored to prepare for the intellectual exigencies +of it, by a systematic study and analysis of the Indian language, +customs, and history, and character. My teachers and appliances are the +best. I have furnished myself with vocabularies and hand-books, +collected and written down, during the season. I have the post library +in my room, in addition to my own, with a free access to that of "mine +host" of the Emerald Isle, Mr. Johnston, to while away the time. My huge +Montreal stove will take long billets of wood, which, to use the +phraseology of Burns, "would mend a mill." The society of the officers +and their families of the garrison is at hand. The amusements of a +winter, in this latitude, are said to be rather novel, with their dog +trains and creole sleighs. There are some noble fellows of the old +"North West" order in the vicinity. There are thus the elements, at +least, of study, society, and amusement. Whatever else betide, I have +good health, and good spirits, and bright hopes, and I feel very much in +the humor of enjoying the wildest kind of tempests which Providence may +send to howl around my dwelling.</p> + +<p>We have, as the means of exchanging sentiment, one English family of +refinement and education, on the American side of the river, and two +others, an English family and the Hudson Bay House in charge of a Scotch +gentleman, on the Canada shore. We have the officers attached to a +battalion of infantry, most of them married and having their ladies and +families with them, and about a dozen American citizens besides, engaged +in traffic and other affairs. These, with the resident <i>metif</i> +population of above 300 souls, and the adjacent Indian tribes, +constitute the world--the little isolated world--in which we must move +for six months to come. About fifty miles off, S.E., is the British post +of Drummond Island, and about forty west of the latter, the ancient +position and island settlement of Michilimackinack, that bugbear to +children in all our earlier editions of Webster's Spelling Book.</p> + +<p>All the rest of the United States is a far-off land to us. For one, I +draw around my fire, get my table and chair properly located, and resort +to my books, and my Indian <i>ia-ne-kun-o-tau-gaid</i> let the storm whistle +as it may.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Zimmerman may write as much as he pleases about solitude. It is +all very well in one's study, by his stove, if it is winter, with a good +feather bed, and all comforts at hand; but he who would test his +theories should come <i>here</i>. It is a capital place, in the dead of +winter, for stripping poetic theories of their covering.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV."></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p>Amusements during the winter months, when the temperature +is at the lowest point--Etymology of the word Chippewa--A +meteor--The Indian "fire-proof"--Temperature and weather--Chippewa +interchangeables--Indian names for the seasons--An incident in +conjugating verbs--Visiting--Gossip--The fur trade--Todd, McGillvray, +Sir Alexander Mackenzie--Wide dissimilarity of the English and Odjibwa +syntax--Close of the year.</p> + +<p><i>1822. December 1st</i>. We have now plunged into the depths of a boreal +winter. The blustering of tempests, the whistling of winds, and the +careering of snow drifts form the daily topics of remark. We must make +shift to be happy, with the most scanty means of amusement. Books and +studies must supply the most important item in this--at least, so far as +I am concerned.</p> + +<p>It is observed by Dr. Johnson "that nothing can supply the want of +prudence, and that negligence and irregularity, long continued, will +render knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible." This +sententious apothegm is thrown out in contemplating the life of Savage, +one of the English poets who united some of the highest requisites of +genius with the lowest personal habits. But how much instruction does it +convey to all! It does not fall to the lot of all to have wit or genius, +or to be eminent in knowledge. None, however, who are not absolute +idiots are without some share of the one or the other. And in proportion +as these gifts are possessed, how fruitless, and comparatively useless +do they become, if not governed by prudence, assiduity, and regularity!</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. The Indian tribes in this vicinity call themselves Ojibwäg. This +expression is in the plural number. It is rendered singular by taking +off the <i>g</i>. The letter <i>a</i>, in this word, is pronounced like <i>a</i> in +hate, or <i>ey</i> in obey. Chippewa--often written with a useless terminal +<i>y</i>--is the Anglicized pronunciation. The meaning of this seems obscure. +The final syllable <i>wä</i>, in compound words, stands for voice. In the +ancient Massachusetts language, as preserved by Eliot, in his +translation of the Bible, as in Isaiah xi. 14, Chepwoieu means the east.</p> + +<p>What a curious subject for speculation the Indian language presents! +Since I began to dip into this topic, I have found myself irresistibly +carried forward in the inquiry, and been led to resume it, whenever the +calls of business or society have been intermitted. I have generally +felt, however, while pursuing it, like a mechanist who is required to +execute a delicate and difficult work without suitable implements. +Technical words may be considered as the working tools of inquiry, and +there seems to be a paucity of terms, in our common systems, to describe +such a many-syllabled, aggregated language as the Indian. I have been +sometimes half inclined to put my manuscripts in the fire, and to +exclaim with Dryden, respecting some metaphysical subject--</p> + +<blockquote> +"I cannot bolt this matter to the bran."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>It is not, however, the habitual temper of my mind to give up. "The +spider," it is said, "taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's +palaces;" and should a man have less perseverance than a <i>spider?</i></p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. A meteor, or fire-ball, passed through the village at twilight +this evening. The weather, which has been intensely cold for the last +three days, indicates a change this evening. Meteoric phenomena of a +luminous character were universally referred to electricity, after +Franklin's day. Chemistry has since put forth reasons why several of +these phenomena should be attributed to phosphorus or hydrogen liberated +by decomposition.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. The Chippewa jugglers, or Jassakeeds, as they are called, have an +art of rendering their flesh insensible, probably for a short time, to +the effects of a blaze of fire. Robert Dickson told me that he had seen +several of them strip themselves of their garments, and jump into a +bonfire. Voltaire says, in his Essay on History, that rubbing the hand +for a long time with spirit of vitriol and alum, with the juice of an +onion, is stated to render it capable of enduring hot water +without injury.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Acting as librarian for the garrison during the season, I am +privileged to fill up many of the leisure hours of my mornings and +evenings by reading. The difficulty appears to be, to read with such +reference to system as to render it profitable. History, novels, +voyages and travels, and various specific treatises of fancy or fact, +invite perusal, and like a common acquaintance, it requires some moral +effort to negative their claims. "Judgment," says a celebrated critic, +"is forced upon us by experience. He that reads many books must compare +one opinion, or one style with another, and when he compares must +necessarily distinguish, reject, prefer."</p> + +<p><i>Sunday 8th</i>. Quintilian says, "We palliate our sloth by the specious +pretext of difficulty." Nothing, in fact, is too difficult to +accomplish, which we set about, with a proper consideration of those +difficulties, and pursue with perseverance. The Indian language cannot +be acquired so easily as the Greek or Hebrew, but it can be mastered by +perseverance. Our Indian policy cannot be understood without looking at +the Indian history. The taking of Fort Niagara was the first decisive +blow at French power. Less than three months afterwards, that is, on the +18th of October of that year, General Wolf took Quebec. Goldsmith wrote +some stanzas on this event, eulogizing the heroism of the exploit. +England's consolation for the loss of Wolf is found in his heroic +example, which the poet refers to in his closing line,</p> + +<blockquote> +"Since from thy tomb a thousand heroes rise."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Names are the pegs of history. Velasco, it is said, on visiting +the gulf which receives the St. Lawrence, and finding the country cold +and inhospitable, cried out <i>aca nada</i>--"there is nothing here." This is +said to be the origin of the word Canada. Nothing could be more +improbable: Did the Indians of Canada hear him, and, if so, did they +understand or respect the language of a foreigner hovering on their +coast? We must look to the Iroquois for the origin of this word. Jacques +Cartier, in 1534, evidently mistook the Indian word Canada, signifying a +town, for the whole country. The Indians have no geographical terms for +districts. They name a hill, a river, or a fall, but do not deal in +generics. Some <i>à priori</i> reasoning seems constrained, where the facts +are granted, as this: All animals at Nova Zembla, it is said, are +carnivorous, because there is no grass.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Snow covers everything. We are shut out from the civilized +world, and thrown entirely on our own resources. I doubt, if we were in +Siberia, or Kamschatka, if we could be so completely isolated.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Ellis, in one of his northern voyages, asserts the opinion that +the northern lights kindle and disperse the vapors requisite to the +formation of lightning. Hence there is no thunder in high northern +latitudes. We admit the fact, but doubt the reasoning. Vapor is but +water in a gaseous state. It is a fine medium for the exhibition of +electricity, and we cannot say that electricity exists without it.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. When Lucas Fox sailed to discover the north-west passage to +India, in 1631, he carried a letter from Charles the First to the +Emperor of Japan. Such was public information, in Europe, twenty-two +years after the discovery of the River Hudson, and the settlement of New +England, eleven years later.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The state of the weather, during this month, has exhibited some +striking changes. The first three or four days were quite severe. On the +fifth it became mild, and continued so for eight or nine days. During +this time, nearly all the snow which had previously fallen was carried +off by rains, or the heat of the sun. The weather was so mild that I sat +in my office, on the 13th, without fire, for about two hours. Two +evenings previous, the snow fell from the roofs of buildings at nine +o'clock, and it continued thawing through the night. To day, the wind +has veered round to a northerly point, and the weather has resumed its +wintry temperature.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The River St. Mary's froze over during the night of this day. The +stream had been closed below, for about a week previous.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. The Tartars cannot pronounce the letter <i>b</i>. Those of Bulgaria +pronounce the word blacks as if written Iliacs. The Chippewas in this +quarter usually transpose the <i>b</i> and <i>p</i> in English words. They +substitute <i>n</i> for <i>l</i>, pronouncing Louis as if written Nouis. The +letter <i>r</i> is dropped, or sounded <i>au</i>. <i>P</i> is often substituted for +<i>f</i>, <i>b</i> for <i>v</i>, and <i>ch</i> for <i>j</i>. In words of their own language, the +letters <i>f, l, r, v</i>, and <i>x</i>, do not occur. The following are their +names for the seasons.</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Pe-boan</td><td>Winter</td></tr> +<tr><td>Se-gwun</td><td>Spring</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ne-bin</td><td>Summer</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ta-gwa-ge</td><td>Autumn</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>Years are counted by winters, months by moons, and days by nights. There +are terms for morning, mid-day, and evening. The year consists of +thirteen moons, each moon being designated by a descriptive name, as the +moon of flowers (May), the moon of strawberries (June), the moon of +berries (July), &c. Canoe and tomahawk are not terms belonging to the +Chippewa language. From inquiries I think the former is of Carib origin, +and the latter Mohegan. The Chippewa equivalents are in the order +stated, Cheman and Agákwut.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. In going out to dinner at 3 o'clock, a sheet of paper containing +conjugations of verbs, which had cost me much time and questioning, had +fallen from my table. On returning in the evening, I found my dog, +Ponty, a young pet, had torn my care-bought conjugations into small +pieces. What was to be done? It was useless to whip the dog, and I +scarcely had the courage to commence the labor anew. I consequently did +neither; but gathering up the fragments, carefully soaked the gnawed and +mutilated parts in warm water, and re-arranged and sealed them together. +And before bedtime I had restored the manuscript so as to be +intelligibly read. I imposed this task upon myself, but, had it been +imposed by another, I would have been ready to pronounce him a madman.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I devoted the day and evening in transcribing words into my +"Ojibwa Vocabulary." This is a labor requiring great caution. The +language is so concrete, that often, when I have supposed a word had +been dissected and traced to its root, subsequent attention has proved +it to be a compound. Thus verbs have been inserted with pronouns, or +with particles, indicating negation, or the past or future tense, when +it has been supposed they had been divested of these appendages. I am +now going over the work the third time. The simplest forms of the verb +seem to be the first and third persons singular of the imperative mood.</p> + +<p>Ennui, in situations like the present, being isolated and shut up as it +were from the world, requires to be guarded against. The surest +preventive of it is employment, and diversity in employment. It has been +determined to-day to get up a periodical sheet, or <i>jeu d'esprit</i> +newspaper, to be circulated from family to family, commencing on the +first of January. Mrs. Thompson asked me for a name. I suggested the +"Northern Light." It was finally determined to put this into Latin, and +call it Aurora Borealis.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Visits make up a part of the winter's amusements. We owe this +duty to society; but, like other duties, which are largely connected +with enjoyment, there is a constant danger that more time be given up to +it than is profitable. Conversation is the true index of feeling. We +read wise and grave books, but are not a whit better by them, than as +they introduce and fix in our minds such principles as shall shine out +in conversation or acts. Now were an ordinary social winter evening +party tested by such principles, what would a candid spectator judge to +have been the principal topics of reading or study? I remember once, in +my earlier years, to have passed an evening in a room where a number of +my intimate friends were engaged in playing at cards. As I did not play, +I took my seat at an office-table, and hastily sketched the conversation +which I afterwards read for their amusement. But the whole was in +reality a bitter satire on their language and sentiments, although it +was not so designed by me, nor received by them. I several years +afterwards saw the sketch of this conversation among my papers, and was +forcibly struck with this reflection.</p> + +<p>Let me revert to some of the topics of conversation introduced in the +circles where I have visited this day, or in my own room. It is +Goldsmith, I think, who says that our thoughts take their tinge from +contiguous objects. A man standing near a volcano would naturally speak +of burning mountains. A person traversing a field of snow would feel his +thoughts occupied with polar scenes. Thus are we here thrown together. +Ice, snow, winds, a high range of the thermometer, or a driving tempest, +are the almost ever present topics of remark: and these came in for a +due share of the conversation to-day. The probability of the ice in the +river's breaking up the <i>latter part of April</i>, and the arrival of a +vessel at the post <i>early in May!</i>--the dissolution of the seventeenth +Congress, which must take place on the 4th of March, the character and +administration of Governor Clinton (which were eulogized), were +adverted to.</p> + +<p>In the evening I went, by invitation, to Mr. Siveright's at the North +West House. The party was numerous, embracing most of the officers of +the American garrison, John Johnston, Esq., Mr. C.O. Ermatinger, a +resident who has accumulated a considerable property in trade, and +others. Conversation turned, as might have been expected, upon the topic +of the Fur Trade, and the enterprising men who established, or led to +the establishment of, the North West Company. Todd, Mackenzie, and +M'Gillvray were respectively described. Todd was a merchant of Montreal, +an Irishman by birth, who possessed enterprise, courage, address, and +general information. He paved the way for the establishment of the +Company, and was one of the first partners, but died untimely. He +possessed great powers of memory. His cousin, Don Andrew Todd, had the +monopoly of the fur trade of Louisiana.</p> + +<p>M'Gillvray possessed equal capacity for the trade with Todd, united to +engaging, gentlemanly manners. He introduced that feature in the Company +which makes every clerk, at a certain time, a partner. This first +enabled them successfully to combat the Hudson's Bay Company. His +passions, however, carried him too far, and he was sometimes unjust.</p> + +<p>Sir Alexander Mackenzie was at variance with M'Gillvray, and they never +spoke in each other's praise. Mackenzie commanded great respect from all +classes, and possessed a dignity of manners and firmness of purpose +which fitted him for great undertakings. He established the X.Y. +Company, in opposition to the North West.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. The days are still very short, the sun having but just passed +the winter solstice. We do not dine till four; Mr. Johnston, with whom I +take my meals, observing this custom, and it is dark within the coming +hour. I remained to family worship in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Read the articles in the "Edinburgh Review" on Accum's work on +the adulteration of food, and Curran's Life by his Son. Accum, it is +said, came to England as an adventurer. By assiduity and attention, he +became eminent as an operative chemist, and accumulated a fortune. +Curran was also of undistinguished parentage. His mother, in youth, +seems to have judged rightly of his future talents.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnston returned me "Walsh's Appeal," which he had read at my +request, and expressed himself gratified at the ability with which the +subject is handled. Captain Clarke, an industrious reader on local and +general subjects, had come in a short time before. Conversation became +general and animated. European politics, Greece, Turkey, and Russia, the +state of Ireland, radicalism in England, the unhappy variance between +the king and queen, Charles Fox, &c., were successively the subjects of +remark. We adjourned to Mr. Johnston's.</p> + +<p>In the evening I went into my office and wrote to Mr. Calhoun, the +Secretary of War, recommending Captain H.'s son William, for the +appointment of a cadet in the Military Academy.<a name="FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28">[28]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor28">[28]</a> The appointment was made. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Devoted the day to the Indian language. It scarcely seems +possible that any two languages should be more <i>unlike</i>, or have fewer +points of resemblance, than the English and Ojibwa. If an individual +from one of the nomadic tribes of farther Asia were suddenly set down in +London, he could hardly be more struck with the difference in buildings, +dress, manners, and customs, than with the utter discrepance in the +sounds of words, and the grammatical structure of sentences. The Ojibwa +has this advantage, considered as the material of future improvement; it +is entirely homogeneous, and admits of philosophical principles being +carried out, with very few, if any, of those exceptions which so +disfigure English grammar, and present such appalling obstacles to +foreigners in learning the language.</p> + +<p>On going to dine at the usual hour, I found company invited, among whom +were some gentlemen from Upper Canada. Conversation rolled on smoothly, +and embraced a wide range of topics. Some of the dark doings of the +North West Company, in their struggle for exclusive power in the Indian +country, were mentioned. Nobody appeared to utter a word in malice or +ill will. Dark and bright traits of individual character and conduct +floated along the stream of conversation, without being ruffled with a +breeze. In the evening I attended a party at the quarters of one of the +officers in the fort. Dancing was introduced. The evening passed off +agreeably till the hour of separation, which was a few minutes before +twelve. And thus closed the year eighteen hundred and twenty-two.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV."></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<p>New Year's day among the descendants of the Norman +French--Anti-philosophic speculations of Brydone--Schlegel +on language--A peculiar native expression evincing +delicacy--Graywacke in the basin of Lake Superior--Temperature--Snow +shoes--Translation of Gen. i. 3--Historical reminiscences--Morals of +visiting--Ojibwa numerals--Harmon's travels--Mackenzie's +vocabularies--Criticism--Mungo Park.</p> + +<p><i>January 1st</i>. This is a day of hilarity here, as in New York. Gayety +and good humor appear on every countenance. Visiting from house to house +is the order. The humblest individual is expected to make his appearance +in the routine, and "has his claims allowed." The French custom of +salutation prevails. The Indians are not the last to remember the day. +To them, it is a season of privileges, although, alas! it is only the +privilege to beg. Standing in an official relation to them, I was +occupied in receiving their visits from eight o'clock till three. I +read, however, at intervals, Dr. Johnson's Lives of Rochester, +Roscommon, Otway, Phillips, and Walsh.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Brydone, the traveler, says, on the authority of Recupero, a +priest, that in sinking a pit near Iaci in the region of Mount Etna, +they pierced through seven distinct formations of lava, with parallel +beds of earth interposed between each stratum. He estimates that two +thousand years were required to decompose the lava and form it into +soil, and consequently that fourteen thousand years were needed for the +whole series of formations. A little further on, he however furnishes +data, showing to every candid mind on what very vague estimates he had +before relied. He says the fertile district of Hybla was suddenly turned +to barrenness by an eruption of lava, and soon after restored to +fertility by a shower of ashes. The change which he had required two +thousand years to produce was here accomplished suddenly, and the whole +argument by which he had arrayed himself against the Mosaical +chronology overturned. Of such materials is a good deal of modern +pseudo-philosophy constructed.</p> + +<p>I received, this morning, a number of mineralogical specimens from Mr. +Johnston, which had been collected by him at various times in the +vicinity. Among them were specimens of copper pyrites in quartz, +sulphate of strontian, foliated gypsum, and numerous calcareous +petrifactions. He also presented me a fine antler of the Caribo, or +American reindeer, a species which is found to inhabit this region. This +animal is called Addik by the Ojibwas. <i>Ik</i> is a termination in the +Ojibwa denoting some hard substance.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Forster, in his "History of Northern Voyages," mentions some facts +which appear to be adverse to Mr. Hayden's theory of a north-western +current. The height of islands observed by Fox, in the arctic regions, +was found to be greatest on their eastern sides, and they were depressed +towards the west. "This observation," he says, "seems to me to prove +that, when the sea burst impetuously into Hudson's Bay, and tore away +these islands from the main land, it must have come rushing from the +east and south-east, and have washed away the earth towards the west--a +circumstance which has occasioned their present low position."</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. I read the review of Schlegel's "Treatise on the Sanscrit +Language." How far the languages of America may furnish coincidences in +their grammatical forms, is a deeply interesting inquiry. But thus +insulated, as I am, without books, the labor of comparison is, indeed, +almost hopeless! I must content myself, for the present, with furnishing +examples for others.</p> + +<p>The Indians still continue their New Year's visits. Fresh parties or +families, who come in from the woods, and were not able to come on the +day, consider themselves privileged to present their claims. It should +not be an object of disappointment to find that the Indians do not, in +their ordinary intercourse, evince those striking traits of exalted and +disinterested character which we are naturally accustomed to expect from +reading books. Books are, after all, but men's holiday opinions. It +requires observation on real life to be able to set a true estimate upon +things. The instances in which an Indian is enabled to give proofs of a +noble or heroic spirit cannot be expected to occur frequently. In all +the history of the seaboard tribes there was but one Pocahontas, one +Uncas, and one Philip. Whereas, everyday is calling for the exercise of +less splendid, but more generally useful virtues. To spare the life of a +prisoner, or to relieve a friend from imminent peril, may give applause, +and carry a name down to posterity. But it is the constant practice of +every day virtues and duties, domestic diligence, and common sense, that +renders life comfortable, and society prosperous and happy. How much of +this everyday stamina the Indians possess, it would be presumptuous in +me, with so short an opportunity of observation, to decide. But I am +inclined to the opinion that their defect of character lies here.</p> + +<p>Our express for Detroit, via Michilimackinack, set out at three o'clock +this morning, carrying some few short of a hundred letters. This, with +our actual numbers, is the best commentary on our insulated situation. +We divert ourselves by writing, and cling with a death-grasp, as it +were, to our friends and correspondents.</p> + +<p><i>5th. Gitche ie nay gow ge ait che gah</i>, "they have put the sand over +him" is a common expression among the Indians to indicate that a man is +dead and buried. Another mode, delicate and refined in its character, is +to suffix the inflection for perfect past tense, <i>bun</i>, to a man's name. +Thus Washington e bun would indicate that Washington is no more.</p> + +<p>I read the Life of Pope. It is strange that so great a poet should have +been so great a lover of wealth; mammon and the muses are not often +conjointly worshiped. Pope did not excel in familiar conversation, and +few sallies of wit, or pointed observation, are preserved. The following +is recorded: "When an objection raised against his inscription for +Shakspeare was defended by the authority of Patrick, he replied, +'horresco referens,' that he would allow the publisher of a dictionary +to know the meaning of a single word, but not of two words put +together."</p> + +<p>In the evening I read a number of the "London Literary Gazette," a +useful and interesting paper, which, in its plan, holds an intermediate +rank between a newspaper and a review. It contains short condensed +criticisms on new works, together with original brief essays and +anecdotes, and literary advertisements, which latter must render it a +valuable paper to booksellers. I think we have nothing on this plan, at +present, in the United States.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I received a specimen of slaty graywacke from Lake Superior. The +structure is tabular, and very well characterized. If there be no +mistake respecting the locality, it is therefore certain that this rock +is included among the Lake Superior group.<a name="FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29">[29]</a> It was not noticed in the +expedition of 1820. I also received a specimen of iron sand from <i>Point +aux Pins</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor29">[29]</a> I found graywacke <i>in sitû</i> at Iron River, in Lake +Superior, in 1826, and subsequently at Presque Isle River, where it is +slaty, and fine even grained, and apparently suitable for some +economical uses. +</blockquote> + +<p>The thermometer has stood at 25° below zero a few days during the +season. It was noticed at 10° below, this morning. Notwithstanding the +decidedly wintry character of the day, I received a visit from Mr. +Siveright, a Canadian gentleman, who came across the expanse of ice on +snow shoes. I loaned him Silliman's "Travels in England and Scotland," +feeling a natural desire to set off our countrymen, as authors and +travelers, to the best advantage. Mr. S., who has spent several years at +the north, mentioned that each of the Indian tribes has something +peculiar in the fashion of their snow shoes. The Chippewas form theirs +with acute points fore and aft, resembling two inverted sections of a +circle. The Crees make a square point in front, tapering away gradually +to the heel. The Chippewyans turn up the fore point, so that it may +offer less resistance in walking. Females have their snow shoes +constructed different from the men's. The difference consists in the +shape and size of the bows. The netting is more nicely wrought and +colored, and often ornamented, particularly in those worn by girls, with +tassels of colored worsted. The word "shoe," as applied to this +apparatus of the feet, is a complete <i>misnomer</i>. It consists of a +net-work of laced skin, extended between light wooden bows tied to the +feet, the whole object of which is to augment the space pressed upon, +and thus bear up the individual on the surface of the snow.</p> + +<p>I devoted the leisure hours of the day to the grammatical structure of +the Indian language. There is reason to suppose the word <i>moneto</i> not +very ancient. It is, properly speaking, not the name for God, or +Jehovah, but rather a generic term for spiritual agency in their +mythology. The word seems to have been derived from the notion of the +offerings left upon rocks and sacred places, being supernaturally <i>taken +away</i>. In any comparative views of the language, not much stress should +be laid upon the word, as marking a difference from other stocks. +<i>Maneton</i>, in the Delaware, is the verb "to make." <i>Ozheton</i> is the same +verb in Chippewa.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. History teaches its lessons in small, as well as great things. +Vessels from Albemarle, in Virginia, in 1586, first carried the potato +to Ireland. Thomas Harriot says the natives called it <i>open-awk</i>. The +Chippewas, at this place, call the potato <i>open-eeg</i>; but the +termination <i>eeg</i> is merely a form of the plural. <i>Open</i> (the <i>e</i> +sounded like short <i>i</i>) is the singular form. Thomas Jefferson gives the +word "Wha-poos" as the name of the Powhatanic tribes for hare. The +Chippewa term for this animal is <i>Wa-bos</i>, usually pronounced by white +men Wa-poos.</p> + +<p>Longinus remarks the sublimity of style of the third verse of Genesis i. +I have, with competent aid, put it into Chippewa, and give the +re-translation:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Appee dush</td><td>and then</td></tr> +<tr><td>Gezha Monedo</td><td>Merciful Spirit</td></tr> +<tr><td>Akeedood</td><td>He said</td></tr> +<tr><td>Tah</td><td>Let</td></tr> +<tr><td>Wassay-au,</td><td>Light be,</td></tr> +<tr><td>Appee dush</td><td>And then</td></tr> +<tr><td>Wassay-aug</td><td>Light was.</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>It is not to be expected that all parts of the language would exhibit +equal capacities to bear out the original. Yet in this instance, if the +translation be faithful, it is clearly, but not, to our apprehension, +elegantly done. I am apprehensive that the language generally has a +strong tendency to repetition and redundancy of forms, and to clutter +up, as it were, general ideas with particular meanings. At three o'clock +I went to dine with Mr. Siveright, at the North West Company's House. +The party was large, including the officers from the garrison. +Conversation took a political turn. Colonel Lawrence defended the +propriety of his recent toast, "The Senate of the United States, the +guardians of a free people," by which a Boston paper said "more was +meant than met the eye." The evening was passed with the ordinary +sources of amusement. I have for some time felt that the time devoted to +these amusements, in which I never made much advance, would be better +given up to reading, or some inquiry from which I might hope to derive +advantage. An incident this evening impressed me with this truth, and I +came home with a resolution that one source of them should no longer +engross a moment of my time.</p> + +<p>Harris, the author of Hermes, says, "It is certainly as easy to be a +scholar as a gamester, or any other character equally illiberal and low. +The same application, the same quantity of habit, will fit us for one as +completely as for the other. And as to those who tell us, with an air of +seeming wisdom, that it is men, and not books, that we must study to +become knowing; this I have always remarked, from repeated experience, +to be the common consolation and language of dunces." Now although I +have no purpose of aiming at extreme heights in knowledge, yet there are +some points in which every man should have that precision of knowledge +which is a concomitant of scholarship. And every man, by diligence, may +add to the number of these points, without aiming at all to put on a +character for extraordinary wisdom or profundity.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p><i>9th. Historical Reminiscences</i>.--On the third of April, 1764, Sir +William Johnson concluded preliminary articles of peace and friendship +with eight deputies of the Seneca nation, which was the only one of the +Iroquois who joined Pontiac. This was done at his residence at Johnson +Hall, on the Mohawk.</p> + +<p>In August, 1764, Colonel Bradstreet granted "Terms of Peace" to certain +deputies of the Delaware, Huron, and Shawnee tribes at Presque Isle, +being then on his way to relieve Detroit, which was then closely +invested by the Indians. These deputies gave in their adhesion to the +English cause, and agreed to give up all the English prisoners.</p> + +<p>In October of the same year, Colonel Bouquet granted similar terms to +another deputation of Shawnees, Delawares, &c., at Tuscarawas.</p> + +<p>The best account of the general transactions of the war of that era, +which I have seen, is contained in a "History of the Late War in North +America, and Islands of the West Indies. By Thomas Mante, Assistant +Engineer, &c., and Major of a Brigade. London, 1772:" 1 vol. quarto, 552 +pages. I am indebted to Governor Clinton for my acquaintance with +this work.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. I have employed the last three days, including this, very +diligently on my Indian vocabulary and inquiries, having read but +little. Too exclusive a devotion to this object is, however, an error. I +have almost grudged the time I devoted to eating and sleeping. And I +should certainly be unwilling that my visitors should know what I +thought of the interruptions created by their visits. It is true, +however, that I have gained but little by these visits in the way of +conversation. One of my visitors, a couple of days since, made me waste +a whole morning in talking of trifling subjects. Another, who is a +gourmand, is only interested in subjects connected with the +gratification of his palate. A third, who is a well-informed man, has +such lounging habits that he remained two hours and a half with me this +morning. No wonder that men in office must be guarded by the +paraphernalia of ante-rooms and messengers, if a poor individual at this +cold end of the world feels it an intrusion on his short winter days to +have lounging visitors. I will try to recollect, when I go to see +others, that although <i>I</i> may have leisure, perhaps <i>they</i> are engaged +in something of consequence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p><i>11th. History abounds in examples of excellence</i>.--Xenophon says of +Jason, "All who have served under Jason have learned this lesson, that +pleasure is the effect of toil; though as to sensual pleasures, I know +no person in the world more temperate than Jason. They never break in +upon his time; they always leave him leisure to do what must be done."</p> + +<p>Of Diphridas, the same author observes, "No bodily indulgence ever +gained the ascendant over him, but, on the contrary, he gave all his +attention to the business in hand." What admirable maxims for real life, +whether that life be passed in courts or camps, or a humble sphere!</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. I finished reading Thiebault's "Anecdotes of Frederick the +Great," which I had commenced in December. This is a pleasing and +instructive work. Every person should read it who wishes to understand +the history of Prussia, particularly the most interesting and important +period of it. We here find Frederick I. and II., and William depicted to +the life. We are made acquainted also with national traits of the +Russian, English, German, and French character, which are nowhere else +to be found.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. The ancient Thracians are thus described by Herodotus: "The most +honorable life with them is a life of indolence; the most contemptible +that of a husbandman. Their supreme delight is war and plunder." Who, if +the name and authority were concealed, but would suppose the remarks +were made of some of the tribes of the North American Indians?</p> + +<p>I divided the day between reading and writing. In the evening I went by +invitation to a party at Lieutenant B.'s in the cantonment.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The Chippewa names of the numerals, from one to ten, +are--pazhik, neezh, niswee, newin, nanun, neen-goodwaswa, neezh-waswa, +swaswa, shonguswa, metonna.</p> + +<p>Dined at Mr. Ermatinger's, a gentleman living on the Canada shore, who, +from small beginnings, has accumulated a considerable property by the +Indian trade, and has a numerous Anglo-Odjibwa family.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Completed the perusal of Harmon's Travels, and extracted the +notes contained in memorandum book N. Mr. Harmon was nineteen years in +the service of the North West Company, and became a partner after the +expiration of the first seven years. The volume contains interesting +data respecting the topography, natural history (incidental), and Indian +tribes of a remote and extensive region. The whole scope of the journal +is devoted to the area lying north of the territory of the United +States. It will be found a valuable book of reference to those who are +particularly directing their attention to northern scenes. The journal +was revised and published by a Mr. Haskell, who, it is said <i>here</i>, by +persons acquainted with Mr. Harmon, has introduced into the text +religious reflections, not believed to have been made by the author at +the time. No exceptions can be taken to the reflections; but his +companions and co-partners feel that they should have led the individual +to exemplify them in his life and conversation while <i>inland</i>.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harmon says, of the Canadians--"All their chat is about horses, +dogs, canoes, women, and strong men, who can fight a good battle." +Traders and Indians are placed in a loose juxtaposition. "Their +friendship," he states, "is little more than their fondness for our +property, and our eagerness to obtain their furs." European manufactures +are essential to the natives. "The Indians in this quarter have been so +long accustomed to European goods, that it would be with difficulty that +they could now obtain a livelihood without them. Especially do they +need firearms, axes, kettles, knives, &c. They have almost lost the use +of bows and arrows, and they would find it nearly impossible to cut +their fire wood with implements made of stone or bone."</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Examined Mackenzie's Travels, to compare his vocabulary of +Knisteneaux and Algonquin, with the Odjibwa, or Chippewa. There is so +close an agreement, in sense and sound, between the two latter, as to +make it manifest that the tribes could not have been separated at a +remote period. This agreement is more close and striking than it appears +to be by comparing the two written vocabularies. Mackenzie has adopted +the French orthography, giving the vowels, and some of the consonants +and diphthongs, sounds very different from their <i>English</i> powers. Were +the words arranged on a common plan of alphabetical notation, they would +generally be found to the eye, as they are to the ear, nearly identical. +The discrepancies would be rendered less in cases in which they appear +to be considerable, and the peculiarities of idiom, as they exist, would +be made more striking and instructive. I have heard both idioms spoken +by the natives, and therefore have more confidence in speaking of their +nearness and affinity, than I could have had from mere book comparison. +I am told that Mackenzie got his vocabulary from some of the priests in +Lower Canada, who are versed in the Algonquin. It does not seem to me at +all probable that an Englishman or a Scotchman should throw aside his +natural sounds of the vowels and consonants, and adopt sounds which are, +and must have been, from infancy, foreign.</p> + +<p>As I intend to put down things in the order of their occurrence, I will +add that I had a visitor to-day, a simple mechanic, who came to talk to +me about <i>nothing</i>; I could do no less than be civil to him, in +consequence of which he pestered me with hems and haws about one hour. I +think Job took no interest in philology.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Devoted the day to the language. A friend had loaned me a file +of Scottish papers called the <i>Montrose Review</i>, which I took occasion +to run over. This paper is more neatly and correctly printed than is +common with our papers of this class from the country. The strain of +remark is free, bold, and inquisitive, looking to the measures of +government, and advocating principles of rational liberty throughout +the world.</p> + +<p>Col. Lawrence, Capt. Thompson, and Lieut. Griswold called in the course +of the day. I commenced reading Mungo Parke's posthumous volume.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. The mind, like the body, will get tired. Quintilian remarks, +"Variety refreshes and renovates the mind." Composition and reading by +turns, wear away the weariness either may create; and though we have +done many things, we in some measure find ourselves fresh and recruited +at entering on a new thing. This day has been almost entirely given up +to society. Visitors seemed to come in, as if by concert. Col. Lawrence, +Capts. Clarke and Beal, Lieuts. Smith and Griswold. Mr. S.B. Griswold, +who was one of the American hostage officers at Quebec, Dr. Foot, and +Mr. Johnston came in to see me, at different times. I filled up the +intervals in reading.</p> + +<p><i>19th, Sabbath</i>. A party of Indians came to my door singing the begging +dance. These people do not respect the Sabbath.<a name="FNanchor30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30">[30]</a> The parties who came +in, on New Year's day, still linger about the settlements, and appear to +be satisfied to suffer hunger half the time, if their wants can be +gratuitously relieved the other half.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor30">[30]</a> About eighteen months afterwards, I interdicted all visits +of Indians on the <i>Sabbath</i>, and adopted it as an invariable rule, that +I would not transact any business, or receive visits, from any Indian +under the influence of liquor. I directed my interpreter to tell them +that the President had sent me to speak to <i>sober</i> men only. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>20th</i>. I continued to transcribe, from loose papers, into my Indian +lexicon. A large proportion of the words are derivatives. All are, more +or less, compounded in their oral forms, and they appear to be <i>glued</i>, +as it were, to objects of sense. This is not, however, peculiar to this +language. The author of "Hermes" says--"The first words of men, like +their first ideas, had an immediate reference to sensible objects, and +that in after days, when they began to discern with their intellect, +they took those words which they found already made, and transferred +them, by metaphor, to intellectual conceptions."</p> + +<p>On going to dinner, I found a party of officers and their ladies. "Mine +host," Mr. Johnston, with his fine and frank Belfast hospitality, does +the honors of his table with grace and ease. Nothing appears to give him +half so much delight as to see others happy around him. I read, in the +evening, the lives of Akenside, Gray, and Littleton. What a perfect +crab old Dr. Johnson was! But is there any sound criticism without +sternness?</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. I finished the reading of Mungo Parke, the most enterprising +traveler of modern times. He appears to me to have committed two errors +in his last expedition, and I think his death is fairly attributable to +impatience to reach the mouth of the Niger. He should not have attempted +to pass from the Gambia to the Niger during the rainy season. By this, +he lost thirty-five out of forty men. He should not have tried to +<i>force</i> a passage through the kingdom of Houssa, without making presents +to the local petty chiefs. By this, he lost his life. When will +geographers cease to talk about the mouth of the Niger? England has been +as indefatigable in solving this problem as she has been in finding out +the North West Passage, and, at present, as unsuccessful. We see no +abatement, however, in her spirit of heroic enterprise. America has sent +but one explorer to this field--Ledyard.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI."></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<p>Novel reading--Greenough's "Geology"--The cariboo--Spiteful +plunder of private property on a large scale--Marshall's +Washington--St. Clair's "Narrative of his Campaign"--Etymology of +the word <i>totem</i>--A trait of transpositive languages--Polynesian +languages--A meteoric explosion at the maximum height of the winter's +temperature--Spafford's "Gazetteer"--Holmes on the Prophecies--Foreign +politics--Mythology--Gnomes--The Odjibwa based on monosyllables--No +auxiliary verbs--Pronouns declined for tense--Esprella's +letters--Valerius--Gospel of St. Luke--Chippewayan group of +languages--Home politics--Prospect of being appointed superintendent of +the lead mines of Missouri.</p> + +<p>1823. <i>Jan. 22d</i>. A pinching cold winter wears away slowly. The whole +village seems to me like <i>so</i> many prescient beavers, in a vast +snow-bank, who cut away the snow and make paths, every morning, from one +lodge to another. In this reticulation of snow paths the drum is sounded +and the flag raised. Most dignified bipeds we are. Hurrah for progress, +and the extension of the Anglo-Saxon race!</p> + +<p>I read the "Recluse," translated from D'Arlincourt's popular novel <i>Le +Solitaire</i>, and think the commendations bestowed upon it, in the +translator's preface, just in the main. It is precisely such a novel as +I should suppose would be very popular in the highest circles of France, +and consequently, owing to difference of character, would be less +relished by the same circles in England. I suspect the author to be a +great admirer of Chateaubriand's "Atala," whose death is brought to mind +by the catastrophe of Elode's. Here, however, the similitude ends. There +is nothing to be said respecting the comparative features of Charles the +Bold and Chactas, except that the Indian possessed those qualities of +the heart which most ennoble human nature.</p> + +<p>To the readers of Scott's novels, however (for he is certainly the +"Great Unknown"), this pleasing poetical romance, with all its sparkling +passages, will present one glaring defect--it is not sufficiently +descriptive. We rise from the perusal of it with no definite ideas of +the scenery of the valley of Underlach. We suppose it to be sublime and +picturesque, and are frequently told so by the author; but he fails in +the description of particular scenes. Scott manages otherwise. When he +sends Baillie Nicoll Jarvie into the Highlands, he does not content +himself with generalities, but also brings before the mind such groups +and scenes as make one fear and tremble. To produce this excitement is +literary power.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. I devoted the time before breakfast, which, with us, happens at a +late hour, to the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>. I read the articles on Greenough's +"First Principles of Geology," and a new edition of Demosthenes. When +shall we hear the last panegyric of the Grecian orator, who, in the two +characteristics of his eloquence which have been most praised, +simplicity and nature, is every day equalled, or excelled, by our +Indian chiefs?</p> + +<p>Greenough's Essays are bold and original, and evince no weak powers of +observation and reasoning. But he is rather a leveler than a builder. It +seems better that we should have a poor house over our heads than none +at all. The facts mentioned on the authority of a traveler in Spain, +that the pebbles in the rivers of that country are not carried down +streams by the force of the current, are contradicted by all my +observations on the rivers of the United States. The very reverse is +true. Those streams which originate in, or run through districts of +granite, limestone, graywacke, &c., present pebbles of these respective +rocks abundantly along their banks, at points below the termination of +the fixed strata. These pebbles, and even boulders, are found far below +the termination of the rocky districts, and appear to owe their +transportation to the force of existing currents. I have found the +peculiar pebbles of the sources of the Mississippi as low down as St. +Louis and St. Genevieve.</p> + +<p>I resumed the perusal of Marshall's "Life of Washington," which I had +laid by in the fall. Lieutenants Barnum and Bicker and Mr. Johnston came +to visit me.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. I made one of a party of sixteen, who dined with Mr. Ermatinger. +I here first tasted the flesh of the <i>cariboo</i>, which is a fine flavored +venison. I do not recollect any wise or merry remark made during dinner, +which is worth recording. As toasts show the temper of the times, and +bespeak the sentiments of those who give them, a few of them may be +mentioned. After several formal and national toasts, we had Mr. Calhoun, +Governor Cass, General Brown, Mr. Sibley, the representative of +Michigan, Colonel Brady, and Major Thayer, superintendent of the +military academy. In coming home in the cariole, we all missed the +<i>balizes</i>, and got completely upset and pitched into the snow.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Mr. John Johnston returned me Silliman's Travels, and expressed +himself highly pleased with them. Mr. Johnston evinces by his manners +and conversation and liberal sentiments that he has passed many of his +years in polished and refined circles. He told me he came to America +during the presidency of General Washington, whom he esteems it a +privilege to have seen at New York, in 1793. Having letters to Lord +Dorchester, he went into Canada, and through a series of vicissitudes, +finally settled at these falls about thirty years ago. In 1814, his +property was plundered by the Americans, through the false +representations of some low-minded persons, his neighbors and opponents +in trade, with no more patriotism than he; in consequence of which he +returned to Europe, and sold his patrimonial estate at "Craige," in the +north of Ireland, within a short distance of the Giant's Causeway, and +thus repaired, in part, his losses.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Devoted to reading--a solid resource in the wilderness.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Finished the perusal of Marshall's Washington, and took the +notes contained in memorandums P. and R. The first volume of this work +is intended as introductory, and contains the best recital of the +political history of the colonies which I have read. The other four +volumes embrace a wide mass of facts, but are rather diffuse and prolix, +considered as biography, A good life of Washington, which shall comprise +within a small compass all his prominent public and private acts, still +remains a desideratum.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Our express returned this morning, bringing me New York papers +to the 11th of November. We are more than two months and a half behind +the current news of the day. We have Washington dates to the 9th of +November, but of course they convey nothing of the proceedings +of Congress.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. I read St. Clair's "Narrative of his Campaign" against the +Indians in 1791, and extracted the notes contained in memorandum A.A. +The causes of its failure are explained in a satisfactory manner, and +there is proof of Gen. St. Clair's vigilance and intrepidity. +Dissensions in his camp crippled the old general's power.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. I took up the subject of the Indian language, after an interval +of eight or nine days, and continued to transcribe into my vocabulary +until after the hour of midnight. It comprises now rising of fifteen +hundred words, including some synonyms.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. "<i>Totem</i>" is a word frequently heard in this quarter. In tracing +its origin, it is found to be a corruption of the Indian "<i>dodaim</i>," +signifying family mark, or armorial bearing. The word appears to be a +derivative from <i>odanah</i>, a town or village. Hence <i>neen dodaim</i>, my +townsman, or kindred-mark. Affinity in families is thus kept up, as in +the feudal system, and the institution seems to be of some importance to +the several bands. They often appeal to their "totem," as if it were +a surname.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock I went to dine at Col. Lawrence's. The party consisted +of Capts. Thompson and Beal, Lieuts. Barnum, Smith, Waite, and Griswold, +Mr. Johnston, Mr. Ermatinger and son, Dr. Foot and Mr. Siveright of the +H.B. House. In the evening the party adjourned to Mr. Johnston's.</p> + +<p><i>February 1st</i>. Transpositive languages, like the Indian, do not appear +to be well adapted to convey familiar, easy, flowing conversation. There +seems to be something cumbrous and stately in the utterance of their +long polysyllabic words, as if they could not readily be brought down to +the minute distinctions of every day family conversation. This may +arise, however, from a principle adverted to by Dr. Johnson, in speaking +of the ancient languages, in which he says "nothing is familiar," and by +the use of which "the writer conceals penury of thought and want of +novelty, often from the reader, and often from himself." The Indian +certainly has a very pompous way of expressing a common thought. He sets +about it with an array of prefix and suffix, and polysyllabic strength, +as if he were about to crush a cob-house with a crowbar.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. The languages of New Zealand, Tonga, and Malay have no declension +of nouns, nor conjugation of verbs. The purposes of declension are +answered by particles and prepositions. The distinctions of person, +tense, and mode are expressed by adverbs, pronouns, and other parts of +speech. This rigidity of the verb and noun is absolute, under every +order of arrangement, in which their words can be placed, and their +meaning is not helped out, by either prefixes or suffixes.</p> + +<p>I read Plutarch's "Life of Marcellus," to observe whether it bore the +points of resemblance to Washington's military character, suggested +by Marshall.</p> + +<p><i>3d. Abad</i> signifies abode, in Persian. <i>Abid</i> denotes where he is, or +dwells, in Chippewa.</p> + +<p>I refused, on an invitation of Mr. Ermatinger, to alter the resolution +formed on the seventh ultimo, as to <i>one</i> mode of evening's amusement.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. A loud meteoric report, as if from the explosion of some aerial +body, was heard about noon this day. The sound seemed to proceed from +the south-west. It was attended with a prolonged, or rumbling sound, and +was generally heard. Popular surmise, which attempts to account for +everything, has been very busy in assigning the cause of this +phenomenon.</p> + +<p>A high degree of cold has recently been experienced. The thermometer +stood at 28° below zero at one o'clock this morning. It had risen to 18° +at day-break--being the greatest observed degree of cold during the +season. It did not exceed 4° above zero during any part of the day.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. A year ago to-day, a literary friend wrote to me to join him in +preparing a Gazetteer of the State of New York, to supplant Spafford's. +Of the latter, he expresses himself in the letter, which is now before +me, in unreserved terms of disapprobation. "It is wholly unworthy," he +says, "of public patronage, and would not stand in the way of a good +work of the kind; and such a one, I have the vanity to believe, our +joint efforts could produce. It would be a permanent work, with slight +alterations, as the State might undergo changes. My plan would be for +you to travel over the State, and make a complete geological, +mineralogical, and statistical survey of it, which would probably take +you a year or more. In the mean time, I would devote all my leisure to +the collection and arrangement of such other materials as we should need +in the compilation of the work. I doubt not we could obtain the prompt +assistance of the first men in the State, in furnishing all the +information required. Our State is rapidly increasing in wealth and +population, and I am full in the faith that such a work would sell well +in different parts of the country."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I did nothing to-day, by which I mean that it was given up to +visiting and talking. It is Dr. Johnson, I think, who draws a +distinction between "<i>talk</i> and conversation." It is necessary, however, +to assign a portion of time in this way. "A man that hath friends must +show himself <i>friendly</i>," is a Bible maxim.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. The garrison library was this morning removed from my office, +where it had been placed in my charge on the arrival of the troops in +July, the state of preparations in the cantonment being now sufficiently +advanced to admit its reception. A party of gentlemen from the British +garrison on Drummond Island came up on a visit, on snow shoes. The +distance is about 45 miles.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. I commenced reading Holmes on "The Fulfilment of the Revelation +of St. John," a London work of 1819. The author says "that his +explanation of the symbols is founded upon one fixed and universal +rule--that the interpretation of a symbol is ever maintained; that the +chronological succession of the seals, trumpets, and vials is strictly +preserved; and that the history contained under them is a uniform and +homogeneous history of the Roman empire, at once comprehensive and +complete."--Attended a dining-party at Mr. Johnston's.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Continued the reading of Holmes, who is an energetic writer, and +appears to have looked closely into his subject. The least pleasing +trait in the work is a polemic spirit which is quite a clog to the +inquiry, especially to those who, like myself, have never read the +authors Faber, Cunningham, and Frere, whose interpretations he combats. +For a clergyman, he certainly handles them without gloves.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The principal Indian chief of the vicinity, Shingabawossin, sent +to inquire of me the cause of the aerial explosion, heard on the 4th. At +four I went to dine with Mr. Ermatinger on the British shore.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. I did something, although, from the round of visiting and gayety +which, in consequence of our Drummond Isle visitors, has existed for a +few days, but little, at my vocabulary. At half-past four, I went to +dine with Lieutenants Morton and Folger in the cantonment. The party was +nearly the same which has assembled for a few days, in honor of the +foreign gentlemen with us. In the evening a large party, with dancing, +at Mr. Johnston's.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. I read Lord Erskine's Letter to Lord Liverpool on the policy to +be pursued by Great Britain in relation to Greece and Turkey. The +arguments and sentiments do equal credit to his head and heart, and +evince no less his judgment as a statesman, than they do his taste and +erudition as a scholar. This interesting and valuable letter breathes +the true sentiments of rational liberty, such as must be felt by the +great body of the English nation, and such as must, sooner or later, +prevail among the enlightened nations of the earth. How painful to +reflect that this able appeal will produce no favorable effect on the +British ministry, whose decision, it is to be feared, is already made in +favor of the "legitimacy" of the Turkish government!</p> + +<p>At four o'clock, I laid by my employments, and went to dine at the +commanding officer's quarters, whence the party adjourned to a +handsomely arranged supper table at Capt. Beal's. The necessity of +complying with times and occasions, by accepting the current invitations +of the day, is an impediment to any system of intellectual employment; +and whatever the world may think of it, the time devoted to public +dinners and suppers, routs and parties, is little better than time +thrown away.</p> + +<blockquote> +"And yet the fate of all extremes is such;<br> +Books may be read, as well as men, too much."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>13th</i>. I re-perused Mackenzie's "History of the Fur Trade," to enable +me more fully to comprehend the allusions in a couple of volumes lately +put into my hands, on the "Disputes between Lord Selkirk and the North +West Company," and the "Report of Trials" for certain murders +perpetrated in the course of a strenuous contest for commercial mastery +in the country by the Hudson's Bay Company.</p> + +<p>Finding an opportunity of sending north, I recollected that the +surveyors of our northern boundary were passing the winter at Fort +William, on the north shore of Lake Superior; and wrote to one of the +gentlemen, enclosing him some of our latest papers.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The gentlemen from the neighboring British post left us this +morning. I devoted the day to my Indian inquiries.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. I commenced a vocabulary of conversation, in the Odjibwa.</p> + +<p><i>17th. Native Mythology</i>.--According to Indian mythology, <i>Weeng</i> is the +God of sleep. He has numerous emissaries, who are armed with war clubs, +of a tiny and unseen character. These fairy agents ascend the forehead, +and knock the individual to sleep. Pope's creation of Gnomes, in the +Rape of the Lock, is here prefigured.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. It has been said that the Indian languages possess no +monosyllables. This remark is not borne out with regard to the Chippewa. +Marked as it is with polysyllables, there are a considerable number of +exceptions. <i>Koan</i> is snow, <i>ais</i> a shell, <i>mong</i> a loon, <i>kaug</i> a +porcupine, &c. The number of dissyllables is numerous, and of +trisyllables still more so. The Chippewa has no auxiliary verbs. The +Chippewa primitive pronouns are, Neen, Keen, and Ween (I, Thou, He or +She). They are rendered plural in <i>wind</i> and <i>wau</i>. They are also +declined for tense, and thus, in the conjugation of verbs, take the +place of our auxiliary verbs.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Resumed the perusal of Holmes on "Revelations." He establishes a +dictionary of symbols, which are universally interpreted. In this +system, a day signifies a natural year; a week seven years; a month +thirty years; a year a period of 360 years. The air means "church and +state;" waters, "peoples, multitudes, tongues;" seven, the number of +perfection; twelve, totality or all; hail storms, armies of northern +invaders. If the work were divested of its controversial character, it +would produce more effect. Agreeably to this author, the downfall of +Popery will take place about the year 1866.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. I read "Esprella's Letters on England," a work attributed to +Southey, whose object appears to have been to render English manners and +customs familiar in Spain, at a time when the intercourse between the +two countries had very much augmented, and their sympathies were drawn +together by the common struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. I commenced "Valerius, a Roman Story." In the evening the +commanding officer (Col. L.) gave a party, in honor of Washington's +birthday. That the time might not be wholly anticipated, dancing was +introduced to give it wings, and continued until two o'clock of the +morning of (the actual birthday) the twenty-second.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Finished "Valerius." This is an interesting novel on the Waverley +plan, and must certainly be considered a successful attempt to +familiarize the class of novel-readers with Roman history and Roman +domestic manners. The story turns on the persecution of the Christians +under Trajan. The expression "of a truth," which is so abundantly used +in the narrative, is a Scripture phrase, and is very properly put into +the mouth of a converted Roman. I cannot say as much for the word +"alongst" used for along. There are also some false epithets, as "drop," +for run or flow, and "guesses" for conjectures. The only defect in the +plot, which occurs to me, is, that Valerius, after his escape with +Athanasia from Ostium, should have been landed safely in Britain, and +thus completed the happiness of a disconsolate and affectionate mother, +whom he left there, and who is never afterwards mentioned.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. From the mention which is made of it in "Valerius," I this day +read the Gospel of Luke, and truly am surprised to find it so very +important a part of the New Testament. Indeed, were all the rest of the +volume lost, this alone would be sufficient for the guidance of the +Christian. Divines tell us that Luke was the most learned of the +evangelists. He is called "the beloved physician," by St. Paul. His +style is more descriptive than the other evangelists, and his narrative +more clear, methodical, and precise, and abounds equally with sublime +conceptions.<a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31">[31]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor31">[31]</a> This opinion was thrown out from mere impulse, on a single +perusal, and so far as it may be regarded as a literary criticism, the +only possible light in which it can be considered, is vaguely hazarded, +for I had not, at that time, read the other Gospels with any degree of +care or understanding, so as to be capable thereby of judging of their +style or merits as compositions. <i>Spiritually</i> considered, I did not +understand Luke, or any of the Evangelists, for I regarded the Gospels +as mere human compositions, without the aid of inspiration. They were +deemed to be a true history of events, interspersed with moral axioms, +but derived no part of their value, or the admiration above expressed, +as revealing the only way of salvation through Christ. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Mr. Harman, from a long residence in the Indian country, in high +northern latitudes, was qualified by his opportunities of observation, +to speak of the comparative character of the Indian language in that +quarter. He considers them as radically different from those of the +Algonquin stock. The group which may be formed from his remarks, will +embrace the Chippewayans, Beaver Indians, Sicaunies, Tacullies, and +Nateotetains. If we may judge of this family of dialects by Mackenzie's +vocabulary of the Chippewayan, it is very remote from the Chippewa, and +abounds in those consonantal sounds which the latter studiously avoids.</p> + +<p>Harman says, "The Sicaunies bury, while the Tacullies burn their dead." +"Instances of suicide, by hanging, frequently occur among the women of +all the tribes, with whom I have been acquainted; but the men are seldom +known to take away their own lives."</p> + +<p>These Indians entertain the same opinions respecting the dress of the +dead, with the more southerly tribes. "Nothing," he says, "pleases an +Indian better than to see his deceased relative handsomely attired, for +he believes that they will arrive in the other world in the same dress +with which they are clad, when they are consigned to the grave."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Our second express arrived at dusk, this evening, bringing +papers from the seaboard to the 14th of January, containing the +President's message, proceedings of Congress, and foreign news, up to +that date. A friend who is in Congress writes to me--"We go on slowly, +but so far very harmoniously, in Congress. The Red Jackets <a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32">[32]</a> are very +quiet, and I believe are very much disposed to cease their warfare +against Mr. Monroe, as they find the nation do not relish it."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor32">[32]</a> Opponents of the then existing administration, who looked +to Gen. Cocke, of Tennessee, as a leader. +</blockquote> + +<p>Another friend at Washington writes (15th Dec.): "The message of the +President you will have seen ere this reaches you. It is thought very +well of here. He recommends the appointment of a Superintendent of the +Western Lead Mines, skilled in mineralogy. If Congress should make +provision for one, it is not to be doubted <i>who</i> will receive the +situation. In fact, in a conversation a few days since with Mr. C., he +told me he had you particularly in view when he recommended it to the +President."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Wrote an application to the Postmaster General for the +appointment of S.B. Griswold as postmaster at this place.<a name="FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor33">[33]</a> Mr. G. was appointed. +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII."></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<p>Close of the winter solstice, and introduction of a northern +spring--News from the world--The Indian languages--Narrative +Journal--Semi-civilization of the ancient Aztec tribes--Their arts and +languages--Hill's ironical review of the "Transactions of the Royal +Society"--A test of modern civilization--Sugar making--Trip to one of +the camps--Geology of Manhattan Island--Ontwa, an Indian poem--Northern +ornithology--Dreams--The Indian apowa--Printed queries of General +Cass--Prospect of the mineral agency--Exploration of the St. +Peter's--Information on that head.</p> + +<p>1823. <i>March 1st</i>. My reading hours, for the last few days, have been, +in great part, devoted to the newspapers. So long an exclusion from the +ordinary sources of information has the effect to increase the appetite +for this kind of intellectual food, and the circumstance probably leads +us to give up more time to it than we should were we not subject to +these periodical exclusions. The great point of interest is the +succession in the Presidential chair. Parties hinge upon this point. +Economy and retrenchment are talismanic words, used to affect the +populace, but used in reality only as means of affecting the balance of +party power. Messrs. Calhoun, Crawford, and Adams are the prominent +names which fill the papers.</p> + +<p>There is danger that newspapers in America will too much supersede and +usurp the place of books, and lead to a superficial knowledge of things. +Gleaning the papers in search of that which is really useful, candid, +and fair seems too much like hunting for grains of wheat in a chaos +of chaff.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Our third express went off this morning, freighted with our +letters, and, of course, with our reasons, our sentiments, our thanks, +our disappointments, our hopes, and our fears.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I resumed the subject of the Indian language.</p> + +<p><i>Osánimun</i> is the word for vermilion. This word is compounded from +<i>unimun</i>, or plant yielding a red dye, and <i>asawa</i>, yellow. The peculiar +color of yellow-red is thus indicated. <i>Bëizha</i> is the neuter verb "to +come." This verb appears to remain rigid in its conjugation, the tenses +being indicated exclusively by inflections of the pronoun. Thus <i>nim +beizha, I</i> come; <i>ningee peizha</i>, I came; <i>ninguh peizha</i>, I will come. +The pronoun alone is declined for past and future tense, namely <i>gee</i> +and <i>guh</i>.</p> + +<p>There does not appear to be any definite article in the Chippewa +language. <i>Pazhik</i> means one, or an. It may be doubtful whether the +former sense is not the exclusive one. <i>Ahow</i> is this person in the +animate form. <i>Ihiw</i> is the corresponding inanimate form. More care than +I have devoted may, however, be required to determine this matter.</p> + +<p>Verbs, in the Chippewa, must agree in number and tense with the noun. +They must also agree in gender, that is, verbs animate must have nouns +animate. They must also have animate pronouns and animate adjectives. +Vitality, or the want of vitality, seems to be the distinction which the +inventors of the language, seized upon, to set up the great rules of +its syntax.</p> + +<p>Verbs, in the Chippewa language, are converted into nouns by adding the +particle <i>win</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Kegido</i>, to speak. <i>Kegido-win,</i> speech. This appears to be a general +rule. The only doubt I have felt is, whether the noun formed is so +purely elementary as not to partake of a participial character.</p> + +<p>There are two plurals to express the word "we," one of which <i>includes</i>, +and the other <i>excludes</i>, the person addressed. Neither of these forms +is a dual.</p> + +<p><i>Os</i> signifies father; <i>nos</i> is my father; <i>kos</i>, thy father; <i>osun</i>, +his or her father. The vowel in this word is sounded like the <i>o</i>, +in note.</p> + +<p>The language has two relative pronouns, which are much used--<i>awanan</i>, +who; and <i>wagonan</i>, what. The vowel <i>a</i>, in these words, is the sound of +<i>a</i> in fate.</p> + +<p>There are two classes of adjectives, one of which applies to animate, +the other to inanimate objects.</p> + +<p>The Chippewa word for Sabbath is <i>animea geezhig</i>, and indicates +prayer-day. There is no evidence, from inquiry, that the Indians divided +their days into weeks. A moon was the measure of a month, but it is +questionable whether they had acquired sufficient exactitude in the +computation of time to have numbered the days comprehended in each +moon. The phases of the moon were accurately noted.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Professor S., of Yale College, writes to me under this date, +enclosing opinions respecting my "Narrative Journal" of travels, +contained in a familiar private letter from D. Wadsworth, Esq., of +Hartford. They terminate with this remark: "All I regret about it (the +work) is, that it was not consistent with his plans to tell us more of +what might be considered the <i>domestic</i> part of the expedition--the +character and conduct of those who were of the party, their health, +difficulties, opinions, and treatment of each other, &c. As his book was +a sort of official work, I suppose he thought it would not do, and I +wish now, he would give his friends (and let us be amongst them) a +manuscript of the particulars that are not for the public."</p> + +<p><i>17th. Semi-civilization of the Mexican Tribes</i>.--Nothing is more +manifest, on reading the "Conquest of Mexico" by De Solis, than that the +character and attainments of the ancient Mexicans are exalted far above +the reality, to enhance the fame of Cortez, and give an air of splendor +to the conquest. Superior as the Aztecs and some other tribes certainly +were, in many things, to the most advanced of the North American tribes, +they resemble the latter greatly, in their personal features, and mental +traits, and in several of their arts.</p> + +<p>The first presents sent by Montezuma to Cortez were "cotton cloths, +plumes, bows, arrows and targets of wood, collars and rings of gold, +precious stones, ornaments of gold in the shape of animals, and two +round plates of the precious metals resembling the sun and moon."</p> + +<p>The men had "rings in their ears and lips, which, though they were of +gold, were a deformity instead of an ornament."</p> + +<p>"Canoes and periogues" of wood were their usual means of conveyance by +water. The "books" mentioned at p. 100, were well-dressed skins, dressed +like parchment, and, after receiving the paintings observed, were +accurately folded up, in squares or parallelograms.</p> + +<p>The cacique of Zempoala, being the first dignitary who paid his respects +personally to Cortez on his entry into the town, is described, in +effect, as covered with a cotton blanket "flung over his naked body, +enriched with various jewels and pendants, which he also wore in his +ears and lips." This chief sent 200 men to carry the baggage of Cortez.</p> + +<p>By the nearest route from St. Juan de Ulloa, the point of landing to +Mexico, it was sixty leagues, or about 180 miles. This journey +Montezuma's runners performed to and fro in seven days, being +thirty-five to thirty-six miles per day. No great speed certainly; +nothing to demand astonishment or excite incredulity.</p> + +<p>Distance the Mexicans reckoned, like our Indians, by <i>time</i>, "A sun" was +a day's journey.</p> + +<p>De Solis says, "One of the points of his embassy (alluding to Cortez), +and the principal motive which the king had to offer his friendship to +Montezuma, was the obligation Christian princes lay under to oppose the +errors of idolatry, and the desire he had to instruct him in the +knowledge of the truth, and to help him to get rid of the slavery of +the devil."</p> + +<p>The empire of Mexico, according to this author, stretched "on the north +as far as Panuco, including that province, but was straitened +considerably by the mountains or hilly countries possessed by the +Chichimecas and Ottomies, a barbarous people."</p> + +<p>I have thought, on reading this work, that there is room for a literary +essay, with something like this title: "Strictures on the Hyperbolical +Accounts of the Ancient Mexicans given by the Spanish Historians," +deduced from a comparison of the condition of those tribes with the +Indians at the period of its settlement. Humboldt states that there are +twenty languages at present in Mexico, fourteen of which have grammars +and dictionaries tolerably complete. They are, Mexican or Aztec, +Otomite, Tarase, Zapatec, Mistec, Maye or Yucatan, Tatonac, Popolauc, +Matlazing, Huastec, Mixed, Caquiquel, Tarauma, Tepehuan, Cara.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. When the wind blows high, and the fine snow drifts, as it does +about the vernal equinox, in these latitudes, the Indians smilingly say, +"Ah! now Pup-puk-e-wiss is gathering his harvest," or words to this +effect. There is a mythological tale connected with it, which I +have sketched.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. I have amused myself in reading a rare old volume, just +presented to me, entitled "A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of +London, &c., by John Hill, M.D., London, 1751." It evinces an acute +mind, ready wit, and a general acquaintance with the subjects of +natural history, antiquities, and philosophical research, adverted to. +It is a racy work, which all modern naturalists, and modern discoverers +of secrets and inventions ought to read. I should think it must have +made some of the contributors to the "Transactions" of the Royal Society +wince in its day.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Knowledge of foreign nations has increased most wonderfully in +our day, and is one of the best tests of civilization. Josaphat Barbaro +traveled into the East in 1436. He says of the Georgians, "They have the +most horrid manners, and the worst customs of any people I ever met +with." Surely this is vague enough for even the clerk who kept the +log-book of Henry Hudson. Such items as the following were deemed "food" +for books of travels in those days: "The people of Cathay, in China, +believe that they are the only people in the world who have two eyes. To +the Latins they allow <i>one</i>, and all the rest of the world none at all."</p> + +<p>Marco Polo gives an account of a substance called "Andanicum," which he +states to be an <i>ore of steel</i>. In those days, when everything relating +to metallurgy and medicine was considered a secret, the populace did not +probably know that steel was an artificial production. Or the mineral +may have been sparry iron ore, which is readily converted into steel.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. It is now the season of making sugar from the rock maple by the +Indians and Canadians in this quarter. And it seems to be a business in +which almost every one is more or less interested. Winter has shown some +signs of relaxing its iron grasp, although the quantity of snow upon the +ground is still very great, and the streams appear to be as fast locked +in the embraces of frost as if it were the slumber of ages. Sleighs and +dog trains have been departing for the maple forests, in our +neighborhood, since about the 10th instant, until but few, +comparatively, of the resident inhabitants are left. Many buildings are +entirely deserted and closed, and all are more or less thinned of their +inhabitants. It is also the general season of sugar-making with +the Indians.</p> + +<p>I joined a party in visiting one of the camps. We had several carioles +in company, and went down the river about eight or nine miles to Mrs. +Johnston's camp. The party consisted of several officers and ladies from +the fort, Captain Thompson <a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34">[34]</a> and lady, Lieutenant Bicker and lady and +sister, the Miss Johnstons and Lieutenants Smith <a name="FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a> and Folger. We +pursued the river on the ice the greater part of the way, and then +proceeded inland about a mile. We found a large temporary building, +surrounded with piles of ready split wood for keeping a fire under the +kettles, and large ox hides arranged in such a manner as to serve as +vats for collecting the sap. About twenty kettles were boiling over an +elongated central fire.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor34">[34]</a> Killed in Florida, at the battle of Okechobbee, as Lt. Col. +of the 6th U.S. Infantry. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor35">[35]</a> Died at Vera Cruz, Mexico, as Quarter-Master U.S.A. +</blockquote> + +<p>The whole air of the place resembled that of a manufactory. The custom +on these occasions is to make up a pic-nic, in which each one +contributes something in the way of cold viands or refreshments.</p> + +<p>The principal amusement consisted in pulling candy, and eating the sugar +in every form. Having done this, and received the hospitalities of our +hostess, we tackled up our teams, and pursued our way back to the fort, +having narrowly escaped breaking through the river at one or two points.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I received a letter of this date from G.W. Rodgers, a gentleman +of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in behalf of himself and associates, +proposing a number of queries respecting the copper-yielding region of +Lake Superior, and the requisites and prospects of an expedition for +obtaining the metal from the Indians. Wrote to him adversely to the +project at this time. Doubtless the plan is feasible, but the Indians +are at present the sole owners and occupants of the metalliferous +region.</p> + +<p><i>28th. Dies natalis</i>.--A friend editing a paper on the seaboard writes +(10 Jan. 1822)--"I wish you to give me an article on the geology and +mineralogy of Manhattan Island, in the form of a letter purporting to be +given by a foreign traveler. It is my intention to give a series of +letters, partly by myself and partly by others, which shall take notice +of everything in and about the city, which may be deemed interesting. I +wish to begin at the foundation, by giving a geographical and geological +sketch of the island." <a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36">[36]</a> He continues:--</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor36">[36]</a> Furnished the article, as desired, under the signature of +"Germanicus." <i>Vide</i> "N.Y. Statesman." +</blockquote> + +<p>"I have read Ontwa, the Indian poem you spoke of last summer. The notes +by Gov. Cass are extremely interesting, and written in a superior style. +I shall notice the work in a few days." "I inform you, in confidence, +that M.E., of this city, is preparing a notice of your 'Journal' for the +next number of the <i>Repository</i>, which will appear on the first of +next month."</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Novelty has the greatest attraction for the human mind. There is +such a charm in novelty, says Dr. John Mason Good, that it often leads +us captive in spite of the most glaring errors, and intoxicates the +judgment as fatally as the cup of Circe. But is not variety at hand to +contest the palm?</p> + +<p>"The great source of pleasure," observes Dr. Johnson, "is variety. +Uniformity must tire at last, though it be uniformity of excellence."</p> + +<p><i>April 1st</i>. The ice and snow begin to be burthensome to the eye. We +were reconciled to winter, when it was the season of winter; but now our +longing eyes are cast to the south, and we are anxious for the time when +we can say, "Lo, the winter is past, the flowers appear on the earth, +the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is +heard in our land."</p> + +<p>The Chippewas have quite a poetic allegory of winter and spring, +personified by an old and a young man, who came from opposite points of +the world, to pass a night together and boast of their respective +powers. Winter blew his breath, and the streams were covered with ice. +Spring blew his breath, and the land was covered with flowers. The old +man is finally conquered, and vanishes into "thin air."</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. We talked to-day of dreams. Dreams are often talked about, and +have been often written about. But the subject is usually left where it +was taken up. Herodotus says, "Dreams in general originate from those +incidents which have most occupied the thoughts during the day." Locke +betters the matter but little, by saying, "The dreams of sleeping men +are all made up of waking men's ideas, though, for the most part, oddly +put together." Solomon's idea of "the multitude of business" is +embraced in this.</p> + +<p>Sacred dreams were something by themselves. God chose in ancient times +to communicate with the prophets in dreams and visions. But there is a +very strong and clear line of distinction drawn on this subject in the +23d of Jeremiah, from the 25th to the 28th verses. "He that hath a +dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word let him speak my +word." The sacred and the profane, or idle dream, are likened as +"chaff" to "wheat."</p> + +<p>The Indians, in this quarter, are very much besotted and spell-bound, as +it were, by dreams. Their whole lives are rendered a perfect scene of +doubts and fears and terrors by them. Their jugglers are both dreamers +and dream interpreters. If the "prince of the power of the air" has any +one hold upon them more sure and fast than another, it seems to be in +their blind and implicit reliance upon dreams. There is, however, with +them a sacred dream, distinct from common dreams. It is called +<i>a-po-wa.</i></p> + +<p>I have had before me, during a considerable part of the season, a +pamphlet of printed queries respecting the Indians and their languages, +put into my hands by Gov. C. when passing through Detroit in the summer. +Leaving to others the subjects connected with history and traditions, +&c., I have attempted an analysis of the language. Reading has been +resorted to as a refreshment from study. I used to read to gratify +excitement, but I find the chief pleasure of my present reading is more +and more turning to the acquisition and treasuring up of facts. This +principle is probably all that sustains and renders pleasurable the +inquiry into the Indian language.</p> + +<p>One of the printed queries before me is, "Do they (the Indians) believe +in ghosts?" I believe all ignorant and superstitious nations believe in +apparitions. It seems to be one of the most natural consequences of +ignorance; and we have seen, in the history of wise and learned men, +that it requires a high intellectual effort to shake this belief out of +the mind. If God possessed no other way of communicating with the +living, it is reasonable to believe that he would send dead men, or dead +men's souls. And this is the precise situation of the only well +authenticated account we have, namely, that of Saul at Endor [<i>vide</i> 1st +Samuel, 7th to 15th verses]. The Chippewas are apt to connect all their +ghost stories with fire. A lighted fire on the grave has a strong +connection with this idea, as if they deemed some mysterious analogy to +exist between spirituality and fire. Their name for ghost is <i>Jeebi</i>, a +word rendered plural in <i>ug</i>. Without nice attention, this word will be +pronounced <i>Chebi</i>, or <i>Tchebi</i>.</p> + +<p>Another is as follows: "Do they use any words equivalent to our habit of +swearing?" Many things the Indians may be accused of, but of the +practice of swearing they cannot. I have made many inquiries into the +state of their vocabulary, and do not, as yet, find any word which is +more bitter or reproachful than <i>matchi annemoash</i>, which indicates +simply, bad-dog. Many of their nouns have, however, adjective +inflections, by which they are rendered derogative. They have terms to +indicate cheat, liar, thief, murderer, coward, fool, lazy man, drunkard, +babbler. But I have never heard of an imprecation or oath. The genius of +the language does not seem to favor the formation of terms to be used in +oaths or for purposes of profanity. It is the result of the observation +of others, as well as my own, to say, that an Indian cannot curse.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. The ornithology of the north is very limited in the winter. We +have the white owl, the Canada jay, and some small species of +woodpeckers. I have known the white partridge, or ptermigan, to wander +thus far south. This bird is feathered to the toes. There are days when +the snow-bird appears. There is a species of duck, the <i>shingebis</i>, that +remains very late in the fall, and another, the <i>ä-ä-wa,</i> that comes +very early in the spring.</p> + +<p>The <i>T. polyglottis</i>, or buffoon-bird, is never found north of 46° N. +latitude in the summer. This bird pours forth all sorts of notes in a +short space of time, without any apparent order. The thrush, the wren, +the jay, and the robin are imitated in as short a time as it takes to +write these words.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. During severe winters, in the north, some species of birds extend +their migrations farther south than usual. This appears to have been the +case during the present season. A small bird, yellowish and cinereous, +of the grosbec species, appeared this day in the neighborhood of one of +the sugar-camps on the river below, and was shot with an arrow by an +Indian boy, who brought it up to me. The Chippewas call it +<i>Pashcundamo</i>, in allusion to the stoutness of its bill, and consequent +capacity for breaking surfaces.<a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37">[37]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor37">[37]</a> This specimen was sent to the New York Lyceum, where it was +determined to be an undescribed species, and named <i>Fringilia +vespertina</i>, or evening grosbec. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>9th</i>. The ice on the river still admits of the passage of horse trains, +and the night temperature is quite wintry, although the power of the +sun begins to be sensibly felt during the middle and after part of +the day.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. A friend recently at Washington writes from Detroit under the +date of the 12th March: "A proposition was submitted to a committee of +the Senate, soon after my arrival in the city, by the Secretary of War, +for the establishment of the office of Superintendent of Mines. To this +office, had the project been carried into execution, you would have been +appointed. But shortly before I left there, it was thought more +expedient to sell all the mines than to retain them in the hands of the +government. Of course, if this plan be adopted, as I think it will be, +the other will be superseded." Here, then, drops a project, which I had +conceived at Potosi, and which has been before my mind for some four +years, and which I am still satisfied might have been carried through +Congress, had I given my personal attention to the subject, during the +present session. I have supposed myself more peculiarly qualified to +fill the station indicated, than the one I now occupy. And I accepted +the present office under the expectation that it would be temporary. +When once a project of this kind, however, is superseded in the way this +has been, it is like raising the dead to bring it up again; and it is +therefore probable that my destiny is now fixed in the North-West +instead of the South-West, for a number of years. I thought I had read +Franklin's maxims to some purpose; but I now see that, although I have +observed one of them in nine cases, I missed it in the tenth:--</p> + +<blockquote> +"He that by the plough would thrive,<br> +Himself must either hold, or drive."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>I trusted, in the fall, that I could safely look on, and see this matter +accomplished.</p> + +<p>As to the mines, they will still require a local superintendent. They +cannot be sold until there are some persons to buy, and it is not +probable such extensive tracts of barren lands can be disposed of in +years. Meantime, the rents of the mines are an object. The preservation +of the public timber is an object. And the duties connected with these +objects cannot be performed, with justice to the government, and +convenience to the lessees, without a local agent. In proportion as some +of the districts of mineral lands are sold, others will claim +attention; and it <i>may be</i>, and most probably <i>will be</i>, years before +the intention of Congress, if expressed by law, can be fully carried +into effect.</p> + +<p>Life has more than one point of resemblance to a panorama. When one +object is past, another is brought to view. The same correspondent adds: +"Mr. Calhoun has come to the determination to authorize you to explore +the River St. Peter's this season. I think you may safely make the +necessary arrangements, as I feel confident the instructions will reach +you soon after the opening of the navigation."</p> + +<p>In consequence of this intimation, I have been casting about to find +some authors who treat of the region of country which embraces the St. +Peter's, but with little success. Hennipin's "Discovery of a large +Country in the Northern America, extending above Four Thousand Miles," I +have read with care. But care indeed it requires to separate truth from +error, both in his descriptions and opinions. He thinks "Japan a part of +the American Continent;" and describes the Wisconsin as "navigable for +large vessels above one hundred leagues." Yet, notwithstanding this +gross hyberbole, he describes the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin +at "half a league," which is within the actual distance. It may be +admitted that he was within the Sioux country, and went up the +Mississippi as high as the St. Francis.</p> + +<p>La Hontan, whose travels were published in London only a few years after +the translation of Hennipin's, is entitled, it is believed, to no credit +whatever, for all he relates of personal discoveries on the Mississippi. +His fiction of observations on "River La Long," is quite preposterous. I +once thought he had been as far as Prairie du Chien; but think it more +probable he never went beyond Green Bay.</p> + +<p>Carver, who went from Boston to the Mississippi in the latter part of +the 18th century, is not an author to glean much from. I, however, +re-perused his volume carefully, and extracted notes. Some of the +stories inserted in his work have thrown an air of discredit over it, +and caused the whole work to be regarded in rather an apocryphal light. +I think there is internal evidence enough in his narrative to prove that +he visited the chief portions of country described. But he probably +neglected to keep diurnal notes. When in London, starvation stared him +in the face. Those in office to whom he represented his plans probably +listened to him awhile, and afterwards lost sight of, or neglected him. +He naturally fell into the hands of the booksellers, who deemed him a +good subject to get a book from. But his original journal did not +probably afford matter enough, in point of bulk. In this exigency, the +old French and English authors appear to have been drawn upon; and +probably their works contributed by far the larger part of the volume +after the 114th page (Philadelphia ed. 1796), which concludes the +"Journal." I think it questionable whether some literary hack was not +employed, by the booksellers, to draw up the part of the work "On the +origin, manners, customs, religion, and language of the Indians." +Considerable portions of the matter are nearly verbatim in the language +of Charlevoix, La Hontan, and other authors of previous date. The +"vocabulary of Chippewa," so far as it is Chippewa at all, has the +French or a mixed orthography, which it is not probable that an +Englishman or an American would, <i>de novo</i>, employ.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII."></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<p>Rapid advance of spring--Troops commence a stockade--Principles of the +Chippewa tongue--Idea of a new language containing the native principles +of syntax, with a monosyllabic method--Indian standard of +value--Archaeological evidences in growing trees--Mount Vernon--Signs of +spring in the appearance of birds--Expedition to St. Peter's--Lake +Superior open--A peculiarity in the orthography of Jefferson--True +sounds of the consonants--Philology--Advent of the arrival of a +vessel.--Editors and editorials--Arrival from Fort William--A hope +fled--Sudden completion of the spring, and ushering in of +summer--Odjibwa language, and transmission of Inquiries.</p> + +<p>1823. <i>April 12th</i>. Spring is gradually advancing. The deepened roar of +the rapids indicates an increased volume of water. The state of the ice +is so bad this day that no persons have ventured to cross the river. +Yesterday, they still crossed. The bare ground begins to show itself in +spots; but the body of snow is still deep in the woods.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The <i>T. migratorius</i> or robin made its appearance. The Indians +have a pretty tale of the origin of this bird and its fondness for +domestic scenes.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Gray duck appeared in the rapids.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Large portions of the ground are now laid bare by the sun.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. A friend at New York, about to sail for Europe, writes me under +this date: "I expect to sail for St. Petersburgh. I shall take with me +some of our choicest specimens, in return for which I hope to procure +something new and interesting. The truth is, we know very little of the +mineralogy of Russia, and hence such specimens as can be procured will +almost necessarily prove interesting."</p> + +<p>"The Lyceum is about to publish its proceedings. The members are +increasing in numbers and activity. It has been recently agreed that +there shall be at least one paper read at every meeting; this will +ensure attention, and much increase the interest of the meetings. I hope +you may, before long, be able to add your personal attendance."</p> + +<p>"I feel it my duty to inform you that the minerals intrusted to my care +are situated in every respect as when left by you; they are, of course, +entirely dependent upon any order you may give concerning them. I do not +think it necessary that you should make any <i>immediate</i> provision for +them, or that there is any cause for uneasiness on their account." <a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38">[38]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor38">[38]</a> Notwithstanding, the collection of specimens referred to +was afterwards most sadly dealt with, and pillaged of its choicest +specimens. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>19th</i>. The troops began to set up the pickets of a stockade or fort, to +which the name of "Brady" is given, in allusion to Col. Hugh Brady, +U.S.A. The first canoe crossed the river to-day, although the ice still +lines each shore of the river for several hundred yards in width.</p> + +<p><i>20th. S</i>. My sister Maria writes to me: "I fancy, by the description +you have given of your residence and society at the Sault, that you have +enjoyed yourself, and seen as much of the refinements of civilized life +as you would have done in many places less remote. Who have you at the +Sault that writes such pretty poetry? The piece I refer to is signed +Alexina,<a name="FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39">[39]</a> and is a death-song of an Indian woman at the grave of her +murdered husband."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor39">[39]</a> Mrs. Thompson. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>22d</i>. One of the principal objections to be urged against the Indian +languages, considered as media of communication, is their cumbrousness. +There is certainly a great deal of verbiage and tautology about them. +The paucity of terms leads not only to the use of figures and metaphors, +but is the cause of circumlocution. This day we had a snow storm.</p> + +<p>The Chippewa is, in its structure, what is denominated by Mr. Du Ponceau +"polysynthetic." It seems the farthest removed possible from the +monosyllabic class of languages. I have thought that, if some of its +grammatical principles could be applied to monosyllables, a new language +of great brevity, terseness, regularity, and poetic expressiveness, +might be formed. It would be necessary to restore to its alphabet the +consonants <i>f, l</i>, and <i>r</i>, and <i>v</i>. Its primitive pronouns might be +retained, with simple inflections, instead of compound, for plural. It +would be necessary to invent a pronoun for <i>she</i>, as there is, +apparently, nothing of this kind in the language. The pronouns might +take the following form:--</p> + +<p>Ni, <i>I</i>. Nid, <i>We</i>. Niwin, <i>Myself</i>. Niwind, <i>Ourselves</i>.</p> + +<p>Ki, <i>Thou</i>. Kid, <i>Ye</i> or <i>you</i>. Kiwin, <i>Thyself</i>. Kiwind, <i>Yourselves</i>.</p> + +<p>Wi, <i>He</i>. Wid, <i>They</i>. Masculine. Wiwin, <i>Yourselves</i>. (Mas.) Wiwind.</p> + +<p>Si, <i>She</i>. Sid, <i>They</i>. Feminine. Siwin, <i>Yourselves</i>. (Fem.) Siwind.</p> + +<p>DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS.</p> + +<p>Ni, Nin, Nee--<i>I, Mine, Me</i>. Nid, Nida, Nidim--<i>We, Us, Ours</i>.</p> + +<p>Ki, Kin, Kee--<i>Thou, Thine, Thee</i>. Kid, Kida, Kidim--<i>Ye, You, Yours. +</i> Wi, Win, Wee--<i>Him, His, His</i>. Wid, Wida, Widim--<i>They, Their</i>, <i>Theirs</i>. (Mas.)</p> + +<p>Si, Sin, See--<i>Her, Hers, Hers</i>. Sid, Sida, Sidim--<i>They, Their, Theirs</i>. +(Fem.)</p> + +<p>The full meaning of the present class of verbs and substantives of the +language could be advantageously transferred to the first, or second, or +third syllable of the words, converting them into monosyllables. The +plural might be uniformly made in <i>d</i>, following a vowel, and if a word +terminate in a consonant, then in <i>ad</i>. So the class of plural +terminations would be <i>ad, ed, id, od, ud</i>. Many generic nouns would +require to be invented, and could easily be drawn from existing roots. +In the orthography of these, the initial consonant of the corresponding +English word might serve as an index, Thus, from the word <i>aindum</i>, +mind, might be derived,</p> + +<p>Ain, <i>Mind</i>. Sain, <i>Sorrow</i>.</p> + +<p>Tain, <i>Thought</i>. Jain, <i>Joy</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>Main, <i>Meditation</i>.</p> + +<p>So from <i>taibwawin</i>, truth, might be drawn <i>taib</i>, truth--<i>faib</i>, +faith--<i>raib</i>, religion--<i>vaib</i>, virtue. A principle of euphony, or +affinity of syllabication, might be applied in the abbreviation of a few +of this class of generic words: as <i>Eo</i>, God, from <i>monedo</i>.</p> + +<p>THE ORDINARY NOUNS WOULD RUN THUS:--</p> + +<p>In, <i>Man</i>. Ind, <i>Men</i>.</p> + +<p>Ee, <i>Woman</i>. Eed, <i>Women</i>.</p> + +<p>Ab, <i>Child</i>. Abad, <i>Children</i>.</p> + +<p>Kwi, <i>Boy</i>. Kwid, <i>Boys</i>.</p> + +<p>Kwa, <i>Girl</i>. Kwad, <i>Girls</i>.</p> + +<p>Os, <i>Father</i>. Osad, <i>Fathers</i>.</p> + +<p>Gai, <i>Mother</i>. Gaid, <i>Mothers</i>.</p> + +<p>All the existing monosyllables of the language would be retained, but +subjected to new laws of construction and concordance. Thus the plural +of <i>Koan</i>, snow, would be <i>koanad; of ais</i>, shell, <i>aisad; moaz, moas, +moazad</i>, &c. Variety in the production of sounds, and of proper cadences +in composition, might dictate retention of a certain class of the +dissyllables--as <i>ossin</i> a stone, <i>opin</i> a potato, <i>akki</i> earth, <i>mejim</i> +food, <i>assub</i> a net, <i>aubo</i> a liquid, <i>mittig </i> a tree, &c., the plurals +of which would be <i>assinad, opinad, akkid, mejimad, assubad, aubad, +mittigad</i>. Every substantive would have a diminutive form in <i>is</i>, and +an augmentative in <i>chi</i>, the vowel of the latter to be dropped where a +vowel begins the word. Thus, <i>chab</i>, a grandchild; <i>chigai</i>, a +grandmother. <i>Inis</i>, a little man; <i>osis</i>, a little father, &c.</p> + +<p>Adjectives would come under the same rules of abbreviation as nouns and +verbs. They would be deprived of their present accidents of number +and gender.</p> + +<p>Min, <i>Good</i>. Koona, <i>Ugly</i>.</p> + +<p>Mon, <i>Bad</i>. Soan, <i>Strong</i>.</p> + +<p>Bish, <i>Handsome</i>.</p> + +<p>The colors, seasons, cardinal points, &c., would consist of the first +syllable of the present words.</p> + +<p>The demonstrative pronouns, <i>this, that, there, those</i>, would take the +following forms: <i>Mau</i>, this; <i>aho</i>, that. By adding the common plural, +the terms for <i>these</i> and <i>those</i> would be produced: <i>Maud</i>, these; +<i>ahod</i>, those.</p> + +<p>The prepositions would fall naturally under the rule of abbreviation +applied to nouns, &c. <i>Chi</i>, by; <i>peen</i>, in; <i>kish</i>, if, &c.; <i>li</i>, of; +<i>ra</i>, to; <i>vi</i>, is; <i>af</i>, at.</p> + +<p><i>Ieau</i> is the verb <i>to be</i>. The auxiliary verbs, <i>have, shall, will</i>, +&c., taken from the tensal particles, are <i>ge, gu, gei, go, ga</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Pa</i> may stand for the definite article, being the first syllable of +<i>pazhik</i>; and a <i>comma</i> for the indefinite article.</p> + +<p><i>Ie</i> is matter. <i>Ishi</i>, heaven.</p> + +<p>EXAMPLES.</p> + +<p>Ni sa Eo--<i>I love God</i>. +Eo vi min--<i>The Lord is good</i>. +Nin os ge pa min in--<i>My father was a good man</i>. +Ishiod (Isheod)--<i>The heavens</i>.</p> + +<p>Thus a new language might be formed.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. The standard of value with the Indians is various. At this +place, a beaver skin is the standard of computation in accounts. When an +Indian has made a purchase, he inquires, not how many dollars, but how +many beaver skins he owes. Farther south, where racoon skins are plenty, +<i>they</i> become the standard. Some years ago, desertion became so frequent +at Chicago and other posts, that the commanding officer offered the +customary reward to the Indians of the post, if they would secure the +deserters. Five persons went in pursuit, and brought in the men, for +which they received a certificate for the amount. They then divided the +sum into five equal shares, and subdivided each share into its value in +racoon skins. It was not until this division was completed, and the +number of skins ascertained, that they could, by any fixed standard of +comparison, determine the reward which each had received.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. It is stated in the newspapers that hacks of an axe were lately +found in the central and solid parts of a large tree near Buffalo, which +were supposed to have been made by La Salle's party. Other evidences of +the early footsteps of Europeans on this continent have been mentioned. +A trammel was found in the solid substance of a tree in Onondaga. A gun +barrel in a similar position in the Wabash Valley.<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40">[40]</a> Growing wood soon +closes over articles left upon it, in the wilderness, where they are +long undisturbed.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor40">[40]</a> Hon. R.W. Thompson. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>27th. Monedo</i> is strictly a term belonging to the Indian mythology and +necromancy, and is constantly used to indicate a spirit. It has not the +regular termination of the noun in <i>win</i>, and seems rather verbal in its +aspect, and so far as we can decipher its meaning, <i>mon</i> is a syllable +having a bad meaning generally, as in <i>monaudud</i>, &c. <i>Edo</i> may possibly +be a derivation from <i>ekedo</i>, he speaks.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. It is a year ago to-day since I visited the tomb of Washington, +at Mount Vernon. There were three representatives in Congress, in +company. We left the city of Washington in the morning, in a private +carriage, and drove down in good season. I looked about the tomb +narrowly for some memento to bring away, and found some mineralogical +fragments on the small mound over the tomb, which would bear the +application of their book names. On coming back through Alexandria, we +dined at a public hotel, where, among other productions of the season, +we had cucumbers. What a contrast in climate to my present position! +Here, as the eyes search the fields, heaps of snow are still seen in +shaded situations, and the ice still disfigures the bays and +indentations of the shore in some places, as if it were animated with a +determination to hold out against the power of the sun to the utmost. +Nature, however, indicates its great vernal throe. White fish were first +taken during the season, this day, which is rare.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. A friend at Detroit writes under this date: "I had expected that +before now, instructions would have reached here requiring you to repair +to the St. Peter's. But as the season advances, and they do not arrive, +I begin to fear that one of those mutations, to which of all governments +upon this <i>mundane sphere</i> ours is the most exposed, has changed the +intended disposition."</p> + +<p><i>May 1st</i>. Winter still holds its grasp upon the ice in the lower part +of the river and straits.</p> + +<p>The <i>Claytonia Virginica</i> observed in flower in favorable spots.</p> + +<p>The bay opposite the fort on the north-west shore cleared of ice on the +2d, being the first day that the river has exhibited the appearance of +being completely clear, a strong north-west wind blowing. It is just +four months and ten days from the period of its final closing on the 22d +of December.</p> + +<p>The yellow sparrow, or boblinkin, appeared this day in the woods.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The surface of the earth is undergoing a rapid transformation, +although we are, at the same time, led to observe, that "winter +lingering chills the lap of May." Sudden changes of temperature are +experienced, which are governed very much by the course and changes of +the wind. Nature appears suddenly to have been awakened from her +torpid state.</p> + +<p>All eyes are now directed to the east, not because <i>the sun rises +there</i>, but it is the course from which, in our position, we expect +intelligence by vessels. We expect a deliverance from our winter's +incarceration.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Lake Superior appears to be entirely open. A gentleman attached +to the Boundary Survey at Fort William writes to me, under this date, +that the bay at that place is free from ice, so as to permit them to +resume their operations. They had been waiting for this occurrence for +two weeks previously.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. It is a year since I received from the President (Mr. Monroe) a +commission as agent for these tribes; and it is now more probable than +it then was that my residence here may assume a character of permanency. +I do not, however, cease to hope that Providence has a more eligible +situation in reserve for me.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. "Little things," says Dr. Johnson, "are not valued, when they are +done by those who cannot do greater." Thomas Jefferson uniformly spelled +knowledge without a <i>w</i>, which might not be mentioned, had he not +written the <i>Notes on Virginia</i>, and the <i>Declaration of Independence</i>.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. A trader proceeded with a boat into Lake Superior, which gives +assurance that this great inland sea is open for navigation. White fish +appeared in the rapids, which it is said they never do while there is +running ice.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Stearn sums up the points requisite for remembrance by +posterity, in these four things--"Plant a tree, write a book, build a +house, and get a child." Watts has a deeper tone of morality when +he says--</p> + +<blockquote> +"We should leave our <i>names</i>, our heirs.<br> +Old time and waning moons sweep all the rest away."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>12th</i>. When last at Washington, Dr. Thornton, of the Patent Office, +detained me some time talking of the powers of the letters of the +English alphabet. He drew a strong line of distinction between the +<i>names</i> and the <i>sounds</i> of the consonants. <i>L</i>, for instance, called +<i>el</i>, was sounded <i>le</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>Philology is one of the keys of knowledge which, I think, admits of its +being said that, although it is rather rusty, the rust is, however, a +proof of its antiquity. I am inclined to think that more true light is +destined to be thrown on the history of the Indians by a study of their +languages than of their traditions, or any other feature.</p> + +<p>The tendency of modern inquiries into languages seems rather to have +been to multiply than to simplify. I do not believe we have more than +three mother stocks of languages in all the United States east of the +Mississippi, embracing also large portions of territory west of it, +namely, the Algonquin, Iroquois, and what may be called Apallachian. +Perhaps a little Dakota.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Our first vessel for the season arrived this day. If by a +patient series of inquiries, during the winter, we had calculated the +appearance of a comet, and found our data verified by its actual +appearance, it could not be a subject of deeper interest than the +bringing ashore of the ship's mail. Had we not gone to so remote a +position, we could not possibly ever have become aware how deeply we are +indebted to the genius and discoveries of Cadmus and Faust, whose true +worshippers are the corps editorial. Now for a carnival of letters.</p> + +<p>Reading, reading, reading, "Big and small, scraps and all."</p> + +<p>If editors of newspapers knew the avidity with which their articles are +read by persons isolated as we are, I have the charity to believe they +would devote a little more time, and exert a little more candor, in +penning them. For, after all, how large a portion of all that a +newspaper contains is, at least to remote readers, "flat, stale, and +unprofitable." The mind soon reacts, and asks if this be valuable news.</p> + +<p>I observed the <i>Erythronium dens canis</i>, and <i>Panax trifolium</i> appeared +in flower on the 25th.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. The schooner "Recovery" arrived from Fort William on the north +shore of Lake Superior, bringing letters and despatches, political and +commercial. Mr. Siveright, the agent of the H. B. C., kindly sent over +to me, for my perusal, a letter of intelligence from an American +gentleman in the North.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. I have, for some time, relinquished the expectation of being +selected to conduct the exploring party, intended to be ordered by +government, into the region of the St. Peter's, at least the present +season. A letter of this date terminates the uncertainty. "Major +Delafield," says a correspondent, "informs me that an exploring party +has been ordered under Major Long, to make the tour which was intended +for you. Why this arrangement has been made, and the original plan +abandoned, I cannot conjecture, unless it resulted from the necessity of +placing a military officer at the head of the party. I presume this was +the fact, for I am certain that the change in the project did not arise +from any feeling in Mr. C.'s mind unfriendly, or even indifferent to +you. Upon that subject I can speak definitely, and say to you, that you +have a hold upon his esteem, not to be shaken." Thus falls another +cherished hope, namely, that of leading an expedition to the North.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Minute particulars are often indicative of general changes. This +is the first day that the mosquito has appeared. The weather for a few +days has been warm. Vegetation suddenly put forth; the wild cherry, &c., +is now in bloom, and gardening has commenced with fine prospects.</p> + +<p><i>31st. Odjibwa language</i>.--There are two generic words in the concrete +forms of the Chippewa for water or a liquid, in addition to the common +term <i>neebi</i>. They are <i>aubo</i> and <i>gomee</i>. Both are manifestly +compounds, but, in our present state of knowledge, they may be +temporarily considered as elements of other compounds. Thus, if the +letter <i>n</i> be prefixed to the former, and the sound of <i>b</i> suffixed, the +result is the term for soup, <i>nabob</i>. If to the same element of <i>aubo</i>, +the word for fire, <i>iscoda</i>, be prefixed, the result is their name for +ardent spirits, <i>iscodawabo</i>, literally fire-water. In the latter case, +the letter <i>w</i> is thrown in as a coalescent between the sound of a, as +<i>a</i> in hate; and the a, as <i>a</i> in fall. This is out of a mere regard +to euphony.</p> + +<p>"If they (the Chippewas) say 'A man loves me,' or 'I love a man,' is +there any variation in the word <i>man</i>?" They do not use the word <i>man</i> +in either of these instances. The adjective <i>white</i> takes the animate +pronoun form in <i>iz zi</i>, by which the object beloved is indicated, +<i>waub-ishk-iz-ze</i> Saugiau.</p> + +<p>"Does the object precede or follow the verb?" Generally, it precedes the +verb. Fish, have you any? not, Have you any fish?</p> + +<p>The substantive preceded the verb in the organization of the language. +Things were before the motion of things, or the acts or passions of men +which led to motion and emotion. Hence, all substances are changed into +and used as verbs.</p> + +<p>I this day completed and transmitted the results of my philological +inquiries, hoping they might prove acceptable to the distinguished +individual to whom they were addressed, and help to advance the subject. +This subject is only laid aside by the call of business, and to be +effectual must be again resumed with the recurrence of our long +winter evenings.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX."></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<p>Outlines of the incidents of the summer of 1823--Glance at the geography +of the lake country--Concretion of aluminous earth--General Wayne's body +naturally embalmed by this property of the soil of Erie--Free and easy +manners--Boundary Survey--An old friend--Western commerce--The Austins +of Texas memory--Collision of civil and military power--Advantages of a +visit to Europe.</p> + +<p>1823. <i>June 10th</i>. Mr. Thomas Tousey, of Virginia, writes from +Philadelphia, after completing a tour to the West: "The reading of books +and looking at maps make a fugitive impression on the mind, compared to +the ocular view and examination of a country, which make it seem as +though we cannot obtain valuable information, or money to serve a +valuable purpose, without great personal labor, fatigue, and often +danger. This was much verified to my satisfaction, from a view of the +great western lakes; the interesting position where you are--Mackinaw, +Green Bay, the fine country between Green Bay and Chicago, and Chicago +itself, and the whole country between the latter place and St. Louis.</p> + +<p>"Without seeing that country, supposed by many to be the region of cold +and sterility, I could not have believed there was in it such a store of +blessings yet to be drawn forth by the labor and enterprise of man, for +succeeding generations. As yet, there are too many objects to tempt and +attract the avarice of man to more mild, but more dangerous climates. +But the progress of population and improvement is certain in many parts +of the country, and with them will be connected prosperity and +happiness."</p> + +<p>When it is considered what a small population of civilized beings +inhabit that part of the world, it is not to be wondered at that so +little knowledge about it exists. I went from Green Bay, with the +Express, where but few people ever travel, which was attended with +fatigue and danger; but the journey produced this conviction on my mind, +that the Michigan Territory has in it a great extent of fine country.</p> + +<p>I regard Green Bay, at the mouth of Fox River, and Chicago, as two +very important positions, particularly the latter. For many years I have +felt a most anxious desire to see the country between Chicago and the +Illinois (River), where it has generally been, ignorantly, supposed that +only a small sum would be wanting to open a communication between them. +By traveling on horseback through the country, and down the Illinois, I +have conceived a different and more exalted opinion of this +communication, and of the country, than I had before, while I am +convinced that it will be attended with a much greater expense to open +it than I had supposed.<a name="FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor41">[41]</a> The Illinois Canal now exists here. +</blockquote> + +<p>I, with my two companions, found your fossil tree, in the Des Plaines, +with considerable labor and difficulty. This I anticipated, from the +commonly reputed opinion of the uncommon height of the waters. With your +memoir in my hand, we rode up and down the waters till the pursuit was +abandoned by the others, while my own curiosity and zeal did not yield +till it was discovered. The detached pieces were covered with twelve to +twenty inches of water, and each of us broke from them as much as we +could well bring away. I showed them to Col. Benton, the Senator in St. +Louis; to Major O'Fallon; Col. Strother, and other gentlemen there; to +Mr. Birkbeck in Wanboro'; to Mr. Rapp in Harmony; and to a number of +different people, through the countries I traveled, till my arrival +in Virginia.</p> + +<p>"On my arrival here (Philadelphia), I handed the pieces to Mr. Solomon +W. Conrad, who delivers lectures on mineralogy, which he made partly the +subject of one of his lectures. Since that, I had a piece of it made +into a hone, and I had marked on it, 'Schoolcraft's Fossil Tree.'</p> + +<p>"Brooke's <i>Gazetteer</i>, improved by Darby, has been ready for delivery +three or four months, and is allowed to be a most valuable book. He is, +I am sorry to say, truly poor, while his labor is incessant. He set out, +several weeks since, to deliver lectures, in the country, where he will +probably continue through the summer."</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. J. D. Doty, Esq., writes from Detroit that a District Court has +been established by Congress in the upper country--that he has been +appointed to the judgeship, and will hold a court at Michilimackinack, +on the third Monday in July. A beginning has thus been made in civil +jurisdiction among us benighted dwellers on this far-off land of God's +creation. He states, also, the passage of a law for claimants to lands, +which have been occupied since 1812. Where law goes, civilization will +soon follow.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Giles Sanford, of Erie (Penn.), sends me some curious specimens +of the concrete alum-slate of that vicinity--they are columnar, +fan-shaped--and requests a description. It is well known that the +presence of strong aluminous liquids in the soil of that area had a +tendency to preserve the flesh on General Wayne's body, which was found +undecayed when, after twenty years' burial, they removed it to Radnor +church, in Philadelphia.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Governor C. sends me a pamphlet of additional inquiries, founded +chiefly on my replies, respecting the Indian languages. He says--"You +see, I have given new scope to your inquiries, and added much to your +labors. But it is impracticable, without such assistance as you can +render me, to make any progress. I find so few--so very few--who are +competent to a rational investigation of the subject, that those who are +so must be loaded with a double burden."</p> + +<p><i>July 6th</i>. Mr. Harry Thompson, of Black Rock, N.Y., writes me that he +duly forwarded, by a careful teamster, my three lost boxes of minerals, +shells, &c., collected in the Wabash Valley, Missouri, and Illinois, in +1821, and that they were received by Mr. Meech of Geneva, and forwarded +by him to E.B. Shearman & Co., Utica. The loss of these collections of +1821 seems to me very grievous.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Judge Doty writes from Mackinac: "Believing the winds and fates +to have been propitious, I trust you had a speedy, safe, and pleasant +passage to your home. A boat arrived this morning, but I heard nothing. +Mr. Morrison leaves this evening, and I forward, by him, your +dictionary, with many--<i>many</i> thanks for the use. <i>We</i> completed the +copy of it last evening, making seventy-five pages of letter paper. I +hope I shall be able to return you the favor, and give you soon some +<i>nice</i> Sioux words."</p> + +<p><i>August 5th</i>. Judge Doty, in a letter of thanks for a book, and some +philological suggestions, transmits a list of inquiries on the legal +code of the Indians--a rather hard subject--in which, quotations must +not be Coke upon Littleton, but the law of <i>tomahawk upon craniums</i>.</p> + +<p>"The Sioux," he says, "must be slippery fellows indeed, if I do not +squeeze their language, and several other valuable things, out of them +next winter. I expect to leave for the Mississippi this week, in a +barge, with Mr. Rolette."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Mr. D. H. Barnes, of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, +reports that the shells sent to him from the mouth of the Columbia, and +with which the Indians garnish their pouches, are a species of the +Dentalium, particularly described in Jewett's "Narrative of the Loss of +the Ship Boston at Nootka Sound." He transmits proof plates of the fresh +water shells collected by Professor Douglass and myself on the late +expedition to the sources of the Mississippi.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. The Adjutant-General of the Territory, General J. R. Williams, +transmits me a commission as captain of an independent company of +militia infantry, with a view, it is presumed, on the part of the +executive, that it will tend to strengthen the capacity of resistance to +an Indian combination on this frontier.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Mr. Giles Sanford, of Erie, sends me a specimen of gypsum from +Sandusky Bay, and a specimen of the strontian-yielding limestone of +Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie.</p> + +<p><i>September 10th</i>. Judge Doty writes from Prairie du Chien, that he had a +pleasant passage, with his family, of fifteen days from Mackinaw; that +he is pleased with the place; and that the delegate election went almost +unanimously for Major Biddle. A specimen of native copper, weighing four +pounds, was found by Mr. Bolvin, at Pine River, a tributary from the +north of the Wisconsin, agreeing in its characters with those in my +cabinet from the basin of Lake Superior.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Dr. John Bigsby, of Nottingham, England, writes from the +North-West House, that he arrived yesterday from the Boundary Survey, +and is desirous of exchanging some of his geological and conchological +specimens for species in my possession. The doctor has a very bustling, +clerk-like manner, which does not impress one with the quiet and repose +of a philosopher. He evidently thinks we Americans, at this remote +point, are mere barbarians, and have some shrewd design of making a +chowder, or a speculation out of our granites, and agates, and native +copper. Not a look or word, however, of mine was permitted to disturb +the gentleman in his stilted notions.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Major Joseph Delafield, with his party, report the Boundary +Survey as completed to the contemplated point on the Lake of the Woods, +as called for by the Treaty of Ghent. The ease and repose of the major's +manners contrast rather favorably with the fussiness of the +British subs.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mr. Felix Hinchman, of Mackinac, transmits returns of the recent +delegate election, denoting the election of Major Biddle, by a rather +close run, over the Catholic priest <i>Richard</i>.</p> + +<p><i>October 9th</i>. Mr. W.H. Shearman of Vernon, New York, writes that my +boxes of minerals and fresh water shells are irretrievably lost; that +Mr. Meech, of Geneva, remains mum on the subject; and that they have not +arrived at Utica. Hard fate thus to be despoiled of the fruits of +my labor!</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Mr. Ebenezer Brigham of Springfield, Illinois, an honest +gentleman with whom I embarked at Pittsburgh, in the spring of 1818 for +the great West and the land of fortune, writes a letter of friendly +reminiscences and sympathies at my success, particularly in getting a +healthy location. Brigham was to have been one of my adventurous party +at Potosi, in the fall of 1818, but the fever and ague laid violent +hands on him. He managed to reach Potosi, but only to bid me good-by, +and a God-speed.</p> + +<p>"In this country," he says, "life is at least fifty per cent, below par +in the months of August and September. I have often thought that I run +as great a risk every season which I spend here, as I would in an +ordinary battle. I really believe it seldom happens that a greater +proportion of an army fall victims to the sword, during a campaign, than +there was, of the inhabitants of Illinois, falling victims to disease +during a season that I have been here."</p> + +<p>"I have little doubt but the trade of this part of the State of Illinois +will pass through that channel (the northern lakes). Our produce is of a +description that ought to find its way to a northern market, and that, +too, without passing through a tropical climate. Our pork and beef may +arrive at Chicago with nearly the same ease that it can at St. Louis; +and, if packed there and taken through the lakes, would be much more +valuable than if taken by the way of the South; besides, the posts +spoken of (Chicago, Green Bay, &c.) may possibly be supplied cheaper +from this than any other source."</p> + +<p>"Moses Austin, I presume you have heard, is dead, and his son Stephen is +acting a very conspicuous part in the province of Texas. Old Mr. Bates, +and his son William, of Herculaneum, both died last summer."</p> + +<p>"I should like to know if the same warlike disposition appears amongst +the northern Indians that does amongst those of the west. Nearly, or +quite every expedition to the west of the Mississippi in the fur trade, +this season, has been attacked by different tribes, and some have been +defeated and robbed, and a great many lives have been lost. Those in the +neighborhood of this place, to wit, the Kickapoos and Potawattomies, are +getting cross and troublesome. I should not be surprised if a war with +the Indians generally should take place soon. The troops at the Council +Bluffs have found it necessary to chastise one tribe already (the +Aurickarees), which they have done pretty effectually, having killed a +goodly number, and burnt their towns."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Governor C. writes, in response to a letter detailing +difficulties which have arisen oh this frontier between the military and +citizens: "Military gentlemen, when stationed at remote posts, too often +'feel power and forget right,' and the history of our army is replete +with instances proving incontestably by how frail a tenure our liberties +would be held, were it not for the paramount authority and redeeming +spirit of our civil institutions."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," he observes, "for the specimens of copper you have sent +me. I participate with you in your feelings upon the important discovery +you have been the instrument of communicating to the world, respecting +the existence of that metal upon the long point of Lake Superior. This +circumstance, in conjunction with others, will, I hope, lead to a +congressional appropriation, at the next session, for exploring that +country, and making such purchases of the Indians as may promise the +valuable supplies."</p> + +<p>"My Indian materials are rapidly accumulating; but, unfortunately, they +are more valuable for quantity than quality. It is almost impossible to +rely upon the information which is communicated to me on the subject of +the languages. There is a lamentable obtuseness of intellect manifested +in both collector and contributor; and there is no systematic +arrangement--no analytical process, and, in fact, no correctness of +detail. I may safely say that what I received from you is more valuable +than all my other stock.</p> + +<p>"It has recurred to me that you ought to visit Europe. Don't startle at +the suggestion! I have thought of it frequently. You might easily +procure some person to execute your duties, &c., and I think there would +be no difficulty in procuring permission from the government. I speak, +however, <i>without book</i>. Think of the matter. I see incalculable +advantages which would result to you from it, and you would go under +very favorable auspices, and with a rich harvest of literary fame."</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. B. F. Stickney, Esq., writes on the occasion of not having +earlier acknowledged my memoir on the Fossil Tree of the Des Plaines, in +Illinois. "How little we know of the laws of nature," he observes, "of +which we profess to know so much."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX."></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<p>Incidents of the year 1824--Indian researches--Diverse idioms of the +Ottowa and Chippewa--Conflict of opinion between the civil and military +authorities of the place--A winter of seclusion well spent--St. Paul's +idea of languages--Examples in the Chippewa--The Chippewa a pure form of +the Algonquin--Religion in the wilderness--Incidents--Congressional +excitements--Commercial view of the copper mine question--Trip to +Tackwymenon Falls, in Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>1824. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. As soon as the business season closed, I resumed my +Indian researches.</p> + +<p>General C. writes: "The result of your inquiries into the Indian +language is highly valuable and satisfactory. I return you my sincere +thanks for the papers. I have examined them attentively. I should be +happy to have you prosecute your inquiries into the manners, customs, +&c., of the Indians. You are favorably situated, and have withal such +unconquerable perseverance, that I must tax you more than other persons. +My stock of materials, already ample, is rapidly increasing, and many +new and important facts have been disclosed. It is really surprising +that so little valuable information has been given to the world on +this subject."</p> + +<p>Mr. B.F. Stickney, formerly an agent at Fort Wayne, Indiana, writes from +Depot (now Toledo): "I am pleased to see that your mind is engaged on +the Chippewa language. It affords a field sufficiently extensive for the +range of all the intellect and industry that the nation can bring into +action. If the materials already collected should, after a scrutiny and +arrangement, be thrown upon the literary world, it would excite so much +interest as not to permit the inquiry thus to stop at the threshold. It +is really an original inquiry concerning the operations of the human +mind, wherein a portion of the human race, living apart from the rest, +have independently devised means for the interchange of thoughts and +ideas. Their grammatical rules are so widely different from all our +European forms that it forces the mind to a retrospective view of first +principles.</p> + +<p>"I have observed the differences you mention between the Ottowa and +Chippewa dialects. Notwithstanding I conceive them to be (as you +observe) radically the same language, I think there is less difference +between the band of Ottowas you mention, of <i>L'Arbre Croche</i>, than the +Ottowas of this vicinity. It appears that their languages are subject to +very rapid changes. From not being written, they have no standard to +resort to, and I have observed it demonstrated in bands of the same +tribe, residing at considerable distances from each other, and having +but little intercourse for half a century; these have with difficulty +been able to understand each other.</p> + +<p>"I am pleased to learn that you are still advancing the sciences of +mineralogy and conchology. Your discovery of native silver imbedded in +native copper is certainly a very extraordinary one."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Major E. Cutler, commanding officer, applies to me, as a +magistrate, to prosecute all citizens who have settled on the reserve at +St. Mary's, and opened "shops for the sale of liquor." Not being a +public prosecuting attorney, it does not appear how this can at all be +done, without his designating the names of the offenders, and the +offences for which they are to be tried.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The same officer reports that his duties will not permit him to +erect quarters for the Indian agent, which he is required to put up, +till another year. If this step is to be regarded, as it seems, as a +retaliatory measure for my not issuing process, <i>en masse</i>, against the +citizens, without he or his subordinates condescending to name +individuals, it manifests an utter ignorance of the first principles of +law, and is certainly a queer request to be made of a justice of the +peace. Nor does it appear how the adoption of such whims or assumptions +is compatible with a just official comity or an enlarged sense of public +duty, on his part, and pointed instructions, to boot, in co-operating +with the Indian department on a remote and exposed frontier.</p> + +<p>There seems to be a period, on the history of the frontiers, where +conflicts between the military and civil authorities are almost +inevitable; but there are, perhaps, few examples to be found where the +former power has been more aggressively and offensively exercised than +it has been under the martinet who is now in command at this post. It is +an ancient point of settlement by the French, who are generally a mild +and obliging people, and disposed to submit to authorities. Some of +these are descended from persons who settled here under Louis XIV. That +a few Americans have followed the troops with more rigid views of +private rights, and who cannot be easily trampled on, is true. And the +military have, justly, no doubt, felt annoyances from a freedom of trade +with the soldiery, who cannot be kept within their pickets by bayonets +and commands. But he must be far gone in his sublimated notions of +self-complacency and temporary importance who supposes that a magistrate +would surrender his sense of independence, and impartiality between man +and man, by assuming new and unheard-of duties, at the beck of a +military functionary who happens to overrate his own, or misjudge +another's position.</p> + +<p><i>March 31st</i>. I have given no little part of the winter to a revision of +my manuscript journal of travels through the Miami and Wabash Valleys in +1821. The season has been severe, and offered few inducements to go +beyond the pale of the usual walk to my office, the cantonment, and to +the village seated at the foot of the rapids. Variety, in this pursuit, +has been sought, in turning from the transcription of these records of a +tourist to the discussion of the principles of the Indian languages--a +labor, if literary amusement can be deemed a labor, which was generally +adjourned from my office, to be resumed in the domestic circle during +the long winter evenings. A moral enjoyment has seldom yielded more of +the fruits of pleasure. In truth, the winter has passed almost +imperceptibly away. Tempests howled around us, without diminishing our +comforts. We often stood, in the clear winter evenings, to gaze at the +splendid displays of the Aurora Borealis. The cariole was sometimes put +in requisition. We sometimes tied on the augim, or snow-shoe, and +ventured over drifts of snow, whose depth rendered them impassable to +the horse. We assembled twice a week, at a room, to listen to the chaste +preaching of a man of deep-toned piety and sound judgment, whose life +and manners resemble an apostle's.</p> + +<p>In looking back at the scenes and studies of such a season, there was +little to regret, and much to excite in the mind pleasing vistas of hope +and anticipation. The spring came with less observation than had been +devoted to the winter previous; and the usual harbingers of advancing +warmth--the small singing birds and northern flowers--were present ere +we were well aware of their welcome appearance.</p> + +<blockquote> +Hope is a flower that fills the sentient mind<br> +With sweets of rapturous and of heavenly kind;<br> +And those, who in her gardens love to tread,<br> +Alone can tell how soft the odors spread.<br> + +HETHERWOLD. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>April 20th</i>. "There are, it may be," says Paul, "many kinds of voices +in the world, and none of them is without signification." It could +easily be proved that many of these voices are very rude; but it would +take more philological acumen than was possessed by Horne Tooke to prove +that any of them are without "signification." By the way, Tooke's +"Diversions of Purley" does not seem to me so odd a title as it +once appeared.</p> + +<p>C. writes to me, under this date, "I pray you to push your philological +inquiries as far as possible; and to them, add such views as you may be +able to collect of the various topics embraced in my plan."</p> + +<p>There is, undoubtedly, some danger that, in making the Indian history +and languages a topic of investigation, the great practicable objects of +their reclamation may be overlooked. We should be careful, while +cultivating the mere literary element, not to palliate our delinquencies +in philanthropic efforts in their behalf, under the notion that nothing +can be effectively done, that the Indian is not accessible to moral +truths, and that former efforts having failed of general results, such +as those of Eliot and Brainerd, they are beyond the reach of <i>ordinary</i> +means. I am inclined to believe that the error lies just here--that is, +in the belief that some extraordinary effort is thought to be necessary, +that their sons must be cooped up in boarding-schools and colleges, +where they are taught many things wholly unsuited to their condition and +wants, while the mass of the tribes is left at home, in the forests, in +their ignorance and vices, untaught and neglected.</p> + +<p>In the exemplification of St. Paul's idea, that all languages are given +to men, with an exact significance of words and forms, and therefore not +vaguely, there is the highest warrant for their study; and the time thus +devoted cannot be deemed as wasted or thrown away. How shall a man say +"raca," or "that fox," if there be no equivalents for the words in +barbarous languages? The truth is that this people find no-difficulty in +expressing the exact meanings, although the form of the words is +peculiar. The derogative sense of sly and cunning, which is, in the +original, implied by the demonstrative pronoun "that," a Chippewa would +express by a mere inflection of the word fox, conveying a bad or +reproachful idea; and the pronoun cannot be charged with an +ironical meaning.</p> + +<p>In <i>ke-bau-diz-ze,</i> which is an equivalent for <i>raca</i>, there is a +personal pronominal prefix, and an objective pronominal suffix. The +radix, in <i>baud</i>, has thus the second person thou in <i>ke</i>; and the +objective inflection, <i>iz-ze,</i> means a person in a general sense. This +reveals two forms of the Chippewa substantive, which are applicable to +all words, and leaves nothing superfluous or without "significance." In +fact, the whole language is susceptible of the most clear and exact +analysis. This language is one of the most pure, clear, and +comprehensive forms of the Algonquin.</p> + +<p><i>May 20th</i>. The Rev. Robert McMurtrie Laird, of Princess Anne, Maryland, +but now temporarily at Detroit, writes to me in a spirit of affectionate +kindness and Christian solicitude. The history of this pious man's +labors on the remotest frontiers of Michigan is probably recorded where +it will be known and acknowledged, in hymns of gladness, when this +feeble and frail memorial of ink and paper has long perished.</p> + +<p>Late in the autumn of 1823, he came, an unheralded stranger, to St. +Mary's. No power but God's, it would seem, could have directed his +footsteps there. There was everything to render them repulsive. The +Indian <i>wabene</i> drum, proclaiming the forest tribes to be under the +influence of their native diviners and jossakeeds, was nightly sending +forth its monotonous sounds. But he did not come to them. His object was +the soldiery and settlement, to whom he could utter truths in the +English tongue. He was assigned quarters in the cantonment, where an +entire battalion of infantry-was then stationed. To all these, but one +single family, it may be said that his preaching was received as +"sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Certainly, there were the +elements of almost everything else there but religion. And, while +occupying a room in the fort, his fervent and holy spirit was +often tried</p> + +<blockquote> +"By most unseemly mirth and wassail rife."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>He came to see me, at my office and at my lodgings, frequently during +the season, and never came when he did not appear to me to be one of the +purest and most devoted, yet gentle and most unostentatious, of human +beings. It is hoped his labors were not without some witness to the +truths which he so faithfully taught. But, as soon as the straits were +relieved from the icy fetters of winter, he went away, never, perhaps, +to see us more. He now writes to apprise me of the spread of a rumor +respecting my personal interest in the theme of his labors, which had, +without permission from his lips, reached the ears of some of my friends +at Detroit. Blessed sensitiveness to rumor, how few possess it!</p> + +<p>Having said this much, I may add that, in the course of the winter, my +mind was arrested by his mode of exhibiting truth. The doctrine of the +Trinity, which had seemed to me the mere jingle of a triad, as deduced +from him, appeared to be a unity, which derived all its coherence and +vitality from a belief in the Second Person. The word "Lord" became +clothed with a majesty and power which rendered it inapplicable, in my +views, to any human person. The assiduity that I had devoted, night and +day, to my manuscripts, in the search after scientific truths, and the +knowledge arising from study, did not appear to me to be wrong in +itself, but was thought to be pursued with an intensity that withdrew my +mind from, or, rather, had never allowed it properly to contemplate and +appreciate the character of God.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A literary friend writes: "I am rejoiced to learn that you have +made such progress in your new work. I hope and trust that the celerity +with which you have written has not withdrawn your attention from those +subjects connected with literary success, which are more important than +even time itself."</p> + +<p>"My prospects of seeing you at the Sault, this season," writes the same +hand, "grows weaker and weaker every day. I cannot ascertain in what +situation Col. Benton's bill is, for the purchase of the copper country +upon Lake Superior, nor the prospects of its eventual passage. Our last +Washington dates are of the 8th instant, and at that time there was a +vast mass of business pending before both Houses, and the period of +adjournment was uncertain. Mr. Lowrie and Governor Edwards have +furnished abundant matter for congressional excitement. It really +appears to me that, as soon as two or three hundred men are associated +together to talk at, and about one another, and everything else, their +passions and feelings usurp the place of their reason. Like children, +they are excited by every question having a local or personal aspect. +Their powers of dispassionate deliberation are lost, and everything is +forgotten but the momentary excitement."</p> + +<p><i>25th. Commercial View of Copper Mine Question</i>.--M.M. Dox, Esq., +Collector at Buffalo, writes:--</p> + +<p>I have long had it in contemplation to write to you, not only on the +score of old friendship, but also to learn the feasibility of a scheme +relating to the copper mines of Lake Superior. This subject has so often +annoyed my meditations, or rather taken up so considerable a proportion +of them, that I have been disposed, with the poet, to exclaim--</p> + +<blockquote> +'Visions of (copper <a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42">[42]</a>) spare my aching sight.'<br> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor42">[42]</a> "Glory."--<i>Gray</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>"I have just met Mr. Griswold, from whom I learn that you made some +inquiries in reference to the price of transportation, &c. I will answer +them for him. Copper in pig, or unmanufactured, is free of duty, on +entry into the United States; its price in the New York market is, at +this time (very low), sixteen cents per pound. Copper in sheets for +sheeting of vessels (also free), about twenty-five cents per pound, and +brazier's copper (paying a duty of fifteen per cent, on its cost in +England), equal to about two and a half cents per pound. Until this +year, and a few previous, the article has uniformly been from thirty to +forty per cent, higher than the prices now quoted, that is, in time of +peace. In time of war (in Europe) the price is enhanced ten or twenty +per cent. above peace prices: and in this country, during the Late War, +the price was, at one time, as high as $1.50 to $2.00 per pound.</p> + +<p>"The history of England and this country does not furnish a period when +copper was as low as at the present time, according to its relative +value with the medium of exchange. Time and invention have developed +richer mines and produced greater facilities for obtaining it; but the +world does not probably know a region from whence the article can be +furnished so cheaply as from the shores of Lake Superior. All accounts +concur in representing the metal in that quarter of a superior quality, +and furnish strong indications that it may be obtained, in quantities, +with more than ordinary facility. When obtained, if on the navigable +waters of the lake, the transportation to the strait will be easy and +cheap, and the smelting not cost to exceed $20 per ton (for copper), and +the transportation thence to New York one or one and a half cent per +pound; one cent per pound, in addition, will carry it to any market in +the world.</p> + +<p>"If the difficulties to be incurred in obtaining the ore should prove to +be no greater than may be reasonably anticipated, it is evident that it +must be a very profitable business. Will the government then have the +mines worked? I answer for them, <i>No</i>. The experience had by Congress in +regard to the Indian trade (the Factory System) will, for many years at +least, prevent that body from making any appropriation for such a +purpose. The most safe and judicious course for the government is to +draw private enterprise into the business; and, by holding out proper +inducements, it will be enabled, without a dollar of extra expense, to +derive, before many years, a handsome revenue from this source."</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p><i>30th. Trip to Tacquimenon Falls, Lake Superior</i>.--Accounts from the +Indians represented the falls of the Tacquimenon River of Lake Superior +as presenting picturesque features which were eminently worthy of a +visit. Confined to the house during the winter, I thought an excursion +proper. I determined to take the earliest opportunity, when the ice had +left the lake, and before the turmoil of the summer's business began, to +execute this wish. For this purpose, I took a canoe, with a crew of +Chippewa Indians, with whom I was well acquainted, and who were familiar +with the scene. I provisioned myself well, and took along my office +interpreter. I found this arrangement was one which was agreeable to +them, and it put them perfectly at their ease. They traveled along in +the Indian manner, talking and laughing as they pleased with each other, +and with the interpreter. Nothing could have been better suited to +obtain an insight into their manners and opinions. One of their most +common topics of talk was the flight of birds, particularly the +carnivorous species, to which they addressed talks as they flew. This +subject, I perceived, connected itself with the notions of war and the +enemy's country.</p> + +<p>On one occasion after we had entered Lake Superior, and were leisurely +paddling, not remote from the shore, one of the Indians fired at, and +wounded a duck. The bird could not rise so as to fly, but swam ashore, +and, by the time we reached land, was completely missing. A white man +would have been nonplused. Not so the Indian. He saw a fallen tree, and +carefully looked for an orifice in the under side, and, when he found +one, thrust in his hand and drew out of it the poor wounded bird. +Frightened and in pain, it appeared to roll its eyeballs +completely round.</p> + +<p>By their conversation and familiar remarks, I observed that they were +habitually under the influence of their peculiar mythology and religion. +They referred to classes of <i>monetos</i>, which are spirits, in a manner +which disclosed the belief that the woods and waters were replete with +their agency. On the second day, we reached and entered the Tacquimenon +River. It carried a deep and strong current to the foot of the first +falls, which they call Fairy Rocks. This Indian word denotes a species +of little men or fairies, which, they say, love to dwell on rocks. The +falls are broken into innumerable cascades, which give them a peculiarly +sylvan air. From the brink of these falls to the upper falls, a distance +of about six miles, the channel of the river is a perfect torrent, and +would seem to defy navigation. But before I was well aware of it, they +had the canoe in it, with a single man with a long pole in the bow and +stern. I took my seat between the centre bars, and was in admiration at +the perfect composure and <i>sangfroid</i> with which these two men managed +it--now shooting across the stream to find better water, and always +putting in their poles exactly at the right instant, and singing some +Indian cantata all the while. The upper falls at length burst on our +view, on rounding a point. The river has a complete drop, of some forty +feet, over a formation of sandstone. The water forms a complete curtain. +There is nothing to break the sheet, or intercept it, till it reaches +the deep water below. They said there was some danger of the canoe's +being drawn under the sheet, by a kind of suction. This' stream in fact, +geologically considered, crosses through, and falls over, the high ridge +of sandstone rock which stretches from Point Iroquois to the Pictured +Rocks. I took sketches of both the upper and lower falls.</p> + +<p>Being connected by marriage with an educated and intelligent lady, who +is descended, by her mother's side, from the former ruler of the +Chippewa nation--a man of renown--I was received, on this trip, with a +degree of confidence and cordiality by the Indians, which I had not +expected. I threw myself, naked handed, into their midst, and was +received with a noble spirit of hospitality and welcome. And the +incidents of this trip revealed to me some of the most interesting +scenes of Indian domestic life.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI."></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<p>Oral tales and legends of the Chippewas--First assemblage of a +legislative council at Michigan--Mineralogy and geology--Disasters of +the War of 1812--Character of the new legislature--Laconic +note--Narrative of a war party, and the disastrous murders committed at +Lake Pepin in July 1824--Speech of a friendly Indian chief from Lake +Superior on the subject--Notices of mineralogy and geology in the +west--Ohio and Erie Canal--Morals--Lafayette's progress--Hooking +minerals--A philosophical work on the Indians--Indian biography by +Samuel L. Conant--Want of books on American archaeology--Douglass's +proposed work on the expedition of 1820.</p> + +<p>1824. <i>May 30th</i>. Having found, in the circle of the Chippewa wigwams, a +species of oral fictitious lore, I sent some specimens of it to friends +in the lower country, where the subject excited interest. "I am +anxious," writes a distinguished person, under this date, "that you +should bring with you, when you come down, your collection of Indian +tales. I should be happy to see them." <a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43">[43]</a> That the Indians should +possess this mental trait of indulging in lodge stories, impressed me as +a novel characteristic, which nothing I had ever heard of the race had +prepared me for. I had always heard the Indian spoken of as a +revengeful, bloodthirsty man, who was steeled to endurance and delighted +in deeds of cruelty. To find him a man capable of feelings and +affections, with a heart open to the wants, and responsive to the ties +of social life, was amazing. But the surprise reached its acme, when I +found him whiling away a part of the tedium of his long winter evenings +in relating tales and legends for the amusement of the lodge circle. +These fictions were sometimes employed, I observed, to convey +instruction, or impress examples of courage, daring, or right action. +But they were, at all times, replete with the wild forest notions of +spiritual agencies, necromancy, and demonology. They revealed abundantly +the causes of his hopes and fears--his notions of a Deity, and his +belief in a future state.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor43">[43]</a> This counsel I pursued in the autumn of that year, and +published specimens of the legends in the winter of 1825, in "Travels in +the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley," and in 1839 submitted +to the public two duodecimo volumes, under the title of "Algie +Researches, Part I." +</blockquote> + +<p><i>June 18th</i>. Michigan is gradually assuming steps which are a part of +that train which will in time develop her resources and importance. She +has lately taken measures to enter what is called the second grade of +government. General Charles Larned, of Detroit, writes me that the first +session of the first territorial legislature is now convened, and that +the members acquit themselves with credit.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The mineralogy and geology of the region furnish topics of +interest, which help to fill up pauses in the intervals of business. By +making my office a focus for collecting whatever is new in the +unexplored regions, excitement is kept alive, and knowledge in the end +promoted. Lewis Saurin Johnston, of Drummond Island, sends me a box of +specimens from that locality. This gentleman, who occupies a situation +in the British Indian department, is a grandson of the late Waubojeeg, a +celebrated orator and warrior formerly of La Pointe, in Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>On the 26th, Mr. Giles Sanford, of Erie in Pennsylvania, contributes a +collection of the minerals of that vicinity.</p> + +<p><i>July 10th</i>. The War of 1812 proved disastrous to some individuals on +this frontier. After a delay of ten years, the British government has +announced its intention to indemnify those of its subjects who lost +property. Mr. Johnston, who suffered heavily, determined to visit +Toronto with the view of laying his case before Lieutenant-Governor +Maitland. He writes, on his way down, during a delay at Drummond Island, +in his usual hopeful, warm-hearted strain--full of love to those left +behind, and free forgiveness to all who have injured him. With the +highest purposes of honor, and the soul of hospitality and social +kindness, surely such a man deserves to succeed.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Dr. J.J. Bigsby, of England, writes a letter introducing +Lieutenant Bolton of the British engineers, a zealous naturalist, and +Major Mercer of the artillery--both being on an official tour of +inspection.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Judge J.D. Doty announces himself at Michilimackinack, on his +return from Detroit to Green Bay. He says that the members of the +legislative council are disposed to be rather menders of <i>old</i> laws than +makers of <i>new</i> ones, and that they are guided by the spirit +of prudence.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. John Tanner, the returned captive, dictates from Mackinac this +laconic appeal for employment: "All my property is now made away with, +so that I have nothing left but one old blanket. I am in such a +situation that I am unable to go anywhere--have no money, no clothes, +and nothing to eat."</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 19th</i>. Mr. George Johnston writes from the sub-agency of La +Pointe, Lake Superior, that a rumor prevails of a murder lately +committed by a Chippewa war party, on American citizens, on the upper +Mississippi.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Mr. John Holiday, a trader, arrived from the Ance Kewy-winenon +in Lake Superior, bringing a small coffin painted black, inclosing an +American scalp, with the astounding intelligence that a shocking murder +had been committed by a war party of Chippewas at Lake Pepin, on the +Mississippi. The facts turned out to be these: In the spring of the year +(1824), Kewaynokwut (Returning Cloud), a chief of Lake Vieux Desert, at +the source of the Wisconsin, suffered a severe fit of sickness, and +made, a vow, if he recovered, to collect a war party and lead it against +the Sioux, which he did early in the summer. He passed the trading-post +of Lac du Flambeau, with twenty-nine men in canoes on the 1st of July. +He pursued down the Waswagon branch into the main Chippewa River, after +a cautious journey, and came to its mouth early in July, at an early +hour in the morning, when a fog prevailed. This river enters the +Mississippi at the foot of the expanse called Lake Pepin, which is a +common place for encampment. It is the usual point of issue for Chippewa +war parties against the Sioux, for which it has been celebrated since +the first migration of the Chippewas into the rice lake region at its +sources. Prom the usual lookout, called Mount Le Gard, they discovered +imperfectly an encampment on the shores of Lake Pepin. On coming to it, +it proved to be an American, a trader of the name of Finley, with three +Canadians, on his way from Prairie du Chien to St. Peter's. One of the +men spoke Chippewa. They were asleep when the advance of the Indian +party arrived. When they awoke they saw the Indians with terror and +surprise. The Indians cried out to their comrades in the rear that they +were not Sioux, that they were white people. The party then all came +up. The war chief Kewaynokwut Said, "Do not be afraid. This party you +see are my young men; and I command them. They will not do you any harm, +nor hurt you." Some of the party soon began to pillage. They appeared to +be half famished, first taking their provisions, which consisted of half +a bag of flour, half a bag of corn, a few biscuits, and half a hog. The +biscuits they immediately eat, and then began to rob the clothing, which +they parted among themselves.</p> + +<p>The Indians diligently inquired where the Sioux abroad on the river +were, what number they might be, where they came from, and whither they +were going? to all which judicious replies appear to have been made, but +one, namely, that they consisted of thirty, on their way from St. +Peter's to Prairie du Chien. Being but twenty-nine men, the rencontre +appeared to them to be unequal, and, in fact, alarmed them. They +immediately prepared to return, filing off one after another, in order +to embark in their canoes, which were lying at a short distance. Before +this movement, Kakabika had taken his gun to fire at the whites, but was +prevented by the others. But they went off disappointed, and +grumblingly. This was the case particularly with Kakabika, Okwagin, +Whitehead, Wamitegosh, and Sagito, who began crying they wanted to kill +the whites. Sagito then said that it was a very hard thing that they +should return light--that when one went out a hunting, he did not like +to return without killing something. "What," he said, "did we come here +for? Was it not to kill?" At this Kewaynokwut wavered, who had promised +safety, and did not interpose his authority to check the brooding evil, +although he took no part in it. Whitehead, Okwaykun, and Wamitegosh, who +were in the rear of the party, leveled their arms and fired, killing on +the spot the three men, who were immediately scalped. The wildest fury +was instantly excited.</p> + +<p>Finley, in the mean time, had gone to the Indian canoes to recover his +papers, saying they were of no use to them, and of importance to him. +Hearing the report of guns behind him, he perceived that his companions +were killed, and took to flight. He threw himself into the water. +Annamikees, or the Little Thunder, then fired at him and missed. He +quickly reloaded his gun, and fired again, effectively. Finley was +mortally shot. The Indian then threw himself into the water, and cut off +the unfortunate man's head, for the purpose of scalping it, leaving the +body in the water. The party then quickly returned back into the region +whence they had sallied, and danced the scalps in their villages as +Indian scalps.</p> + +<p>Mr. Holliday was also the bearer of a speech from Gitshe Iauba, the +ruling chief of Ance Kewywenon, through whose influence this occurrence +was brought to light. He first addressed his trader in the +following words:--</p> + +<p>"We were deceived. Word was sent to us to come and fetch the scalp of a +Sioux Indian of our enemy. This was my reason for sending for it. But, +ah me! when they brought word that it was the scalp of an American, I +sent for the young man whom you left in charge of your house and store, +and asked him what should be done with the scalp of our friend. It was +concluded to have it buried in the burying-ground."</p> + +<p>He then addressed the United States agent at Sault Ste. Marie, in the +following words, accompanying them with a string of wampum:--</p> + +<p>"Our father. This wampum was given to me that I might remain in peace. I +shook hands with you when I left St. Mary's. My heart was in friendship. +I have taken no rest since I heard of the foul deed of our friends, the +people of Vieux Desert, and Torch Lake, in killing a citizen of the +American Government, the government that protects me.</p> + +<p>"Now, Americans, my situation is to be pitied. My wish is, that we +should live in friendship together. Since I shook hands with you, +nothing on my part shall be wanting to keep us so."</p> + +<p>I immediately forwarded the little scalp-coffin received from the +interior, with a report of this high-handed outrage to the Executive of +the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, at Detroit, that the +occurrence might be reported promptly to the War Office at Washington.</p> + +<p><i>November 27th</i>. I determined to spend the winter in New York; to place +the agency, in the interim, in charge of an officer of the garrison, and +to visit Washington from this city during the season. Captain N.S. +Clarke, 2d Infantry, consented to perform the duties of the agency +during my absence. And having obtained leave of absence from my superior +in the department, I embarked, in September, on board a schooner for +Detroit, with Mrs. Schoolcraft, her infant son William Henry, my +sister-in-law, Miss Anna Maria Johnston, and a servant, making a little +group of five. We touched at Michilimackinack.</p> + +<p>We were kindly received at Detroit by General and Mrs. Cass, who had +invited us to be their guests, and pursued our way, without accident, to +New York, where we arrived the day prior to the annual celebration of +the Evacuation. New scenes and new situations here rapidly developed +themselves. But before these are named, some letters that followed me +from the Lake may be noticed.</p> + +<p>B.F. Stickney, Esq., writes (October 15th) from the foot of the Miami +of the Lakes (now Toledo): "Recently I have had brought to me a specimen +of manganese, the bed of which is located about nine miles south-west of +this. The quantity is represented to be very extensive."</p> + +<p>I find that strontian is much more extensively interspersed through the +rock formations of this region than I had heretofore conceived. At the +foot of the rapids of this river, there are extensive strata of +carbonate of lime, sufficiently charged with magnesia to destroy all +vegetation, when converted to the state of quicklime; although Dr. +Mitchell, in his "Notes to Phillips' Mineralogy," denies to magnesian +carbonate of lime this quality. But I have tested it fully. I rather +think the doctor's mistake must have arisen from a supposition that Mr. +Phillips intended to say that the magnesia, when in combination with +carbonate of lime, and <i>in sitû</i>, was destructive to vegetation.</p> + +<p><i>Ohio and Erie Canal</i>.--"A commissioner of the State of Ohio, with +engineers, is taking levels, examining water-courses, and making +estimates of cost, to ascertain the practicability of making a canal +from Cincinnati up the valley of the Big Miami, and Loromier's creek, +across the summit level, to the Auglaize and Miami of Lake Erie, to the +level of the lake water. These surveys will give us much assistance in +judging of the geological formations between the Lake and the +Mississippi."</p> + +<p><i>Geology</i>.--"As an outline sketch, I should say that, from the rock +basin of the Erie-sea to the Ohio River, by the way of Fort Wayne, there +is a ridge, of about 200 feet elevation, of rock formation, all new +floetz, with a covering of from ten to seventy feet of pulverulent +earth. At the summit this layer is twenty feet. That the Miami and +Wabash have cut their courses down to the rock, with only here and there +a little sand and gravel upon its surface. As far as conjecture will go, +for the levels of the strata on the Wabash and Miami, the same +mineralogical characters are to be found in the strata, at the same +elevation. This would be an important fact to be ascertained, by the +levels accurately taken."</p> + +<p>"I am pleased that you have not abated your usual industry in the +pursuit of knowledge in the science of geology and mineralogy, first in +magnitude and first in the order of nature."</p> + +<p><i>Morals of Green Bay</i>.--J.D. Doty, Esq., Judge of the District, reports +(Oct. 15th) that the Grand Jury for Brown County, at the late special +session of court, presented forty indictments! Most of these appear to +have been petty affairs; but they denote a lax state of society.</p> + +<p>John Johnston, Esq., writes (Oct. 30th): "Since the arrival of the mail, +I have been the constant companion in thought of the great and good +Lafayette, throughout his tour, or rather splendid procession as far as +the account has reached us, and for which history has no parallel. Oh! +how poor, how base, the adulation given by interested sycophants to +kings and despots, compared to the warm affections of the grateful +heart, and spontaneous bursts of admiration and affection from a great, +free, and happy people."</p> + +<p><i>Hooking Minerals</i>.--L. Bull, now of Philadelphia, writes respecting the +position of several boxes of minerals left in the Lyceum of Natural +History, of New York, in 1822, which have, been sadly depredated on.</p> + +<p><i>Plan of a Philosophical Work on the Indians</i>.--General C. announces to +me (Dec. 5th) that he has settled on a plan for bringing forward the +results of his researches on the subject of the Indian tribes. The +details of this appear to be well selected and arranged, and the +experiment on the popular taste of readers, for as such the work is +designed, cannot but be hailed by every one who has thought upon the +subject. Few men have seen more of the Indians in peace and war. Nobody +has made the original collections which he has, and I know of no man +possessing the capacity of throwing around them so much literary +attraction. It is only to be hoped that his courage will not fail him +when he comes to the sticking point. It requires more courage on some +minds to write a book than to face a cannon.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Major Joseph Delafield, of New York, commends to my acquaintance +Samuel S. Conant, Esq., of the city; a gentleman of a high moral +character and literary tone, an occasional writer for the "American" +newspaper, who proposes to compile a work on Indian eloquence. Charles +King, Esq., the editor of the paper, transmits a note to the major, +which is enclosed, speaking of Mr. Conant as "a man of merit and +talents, who in his design is seeking to save a noble but +persecuted race."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. General Cass writes further of his literary plans: "If I am +favorably situated, in some respects, to procure information, as a +drawback upon this, I feel many disadvantages. I have no books to refer +to but what I can purchase, and independently of the means which any one +person can apply to this object, those books which can alone be useful +to me are so rare that nothing but accident can enable a person to +purchase them."</p> + +<p><i>Lake Superior Copper Mines</i>.--"I have written to Colonel Benton fully +on the subject of the copper country, and I have referred him to you for +further information."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. <i>Expedition of</i> 1820.--Professor D. B. Douglass, of West Point, +returns a portfolio of sketches and drawings of scenery, made by me on +the expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, in 1820, with several +of which he has illustrated the borders of his map of that expedition. +"Have you," he says, "seen <i>Long's Second Expedition?</i> We have only one +copy on the Point, and I have only had time to look at the map. It makes +me more than ever desirous to consummate my original views of publishing +relative to that country. I have never lost sight of this matter; and, +if my professional engagements continue to engross as much of my time as +they have done, I will send my map to Tanner, and let him publish it, +hap-hazard."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII."></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + + +<p>Parallelism of customs--Home scenes--Visit to Washington--Indian work +respecting the Western Tribes--Indian biography--Professor +Carter--Professor Silliman--Spiteful prosecution--Publication of Travels +in the Mississippi Valley--A northern Pocahontas--Return to the Lakes--A +new enterprise suggested--Impressions of turkeys' feet in +rock--Surrender of the Chippewa war party, who committed the murders in +1824, at Lake Pepin--Their examination, and the commitment of the actual +murderers.</p> + +<p>1825. <i>January 1st</i>. New Year's day here, as among the metif, and also +the pure descendants of the ancient French of Normandy in Michigan, is a +day of friendly visiting from house to house, and cordial +congratulations, with refreshments spread on the board for all. As this +was also the custom of the ancient Hollanders, who, from the Texel and +Scheldt, landed here in 1609, it affords a species of proof of the +wide-spread influence of the customs of the Middle Ages in Western +Europe, which is remarkable. And it would form an interesting topic of +historical inquiry.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Home and its scenes. The sympathy kept up by domestic letters +when absent from home is one of the purest supports of the heart and +mind. Mr. John Johnston, of St. Mary's, writes me one of his +warm-hearted letters of friendship, which breathes the ardor of his +mind, and shows a degree of sympathy that is refreshing, and such as +must ever be a great encouragement in every noble pursuit. The +how-d'ye-do, everyday visitor is satisfied with his "how d'ye do;" but +there is a friend that "sticketh closer than a brother."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. My position at St. Mary's, and the prominent part I occupied in +the collision of authority between the military and the citizens, on +some points, and between the former and the Indian department, was +anything but agreeable, and would have been intolerable to any one, +having less resources than I had, in an absorbing study, which every day +and every evening turned up some new and fresh point of interest. I had +therefore sources of enjoyment which were a constant support, and this +was particularly the case, after the scenes which were opened up in the +winter of 1824 by my intercourse with the Rev. Mr. Laird. But I resolved +early in the summer to spend the winter in New York, and to visit +Washington, to place some of the official transactions to which I have +referred, in their proper lights. This day I therefore left the city, to +visit the Capitol. During the expected absence; Mrs. Schoolcraft, with +her child, little sister, and nurse, had accepted an invitation to spend +the time with Mr. and Mrs. Samuel S. Conant, who had a pleasant +residence on the Bloomingdale road, some two or three miles from the +Park. My visit was altogether agreeable. So far as the subjects at issue +on the frontier were not of local jurisdiction, in which I was fully and +promptly sustained by the Executive, I was met by Mr. Calhoun in his +usual frank, explicit, and friendly manner. I was authorized to erect +buildings for the agency, and to define the Indian reservation under the +treaty, and counseled to go forward in a firm, cautious, and +conciliatory policy in establishing the intercourses with the bands of +the agency, and to take every proper measure to see that the intercourse +laws were faithfully executed, and a good understanding cultivated with +the tribes. And I returned to New York early in February, with "flying +colors," as a friend wrote.</p> + +<p>During my absence, some letters, disclosing matters of literary +interest, were received. General C. writes (January 20th):--</p> + +<p>"In investigating the subject before me, agreeably to the views I have +communicated to you, it appears to me that Purchas's <i>Pilgrimage</i>, and +Hackluyt's collection are indispensable to my progress. They contain +translations or abstracts of all the earlier voyages and travels to this +country." "In considering the various points which are involved in the +subject I have undertaken, a thousand doubtful facts present themselves, +which require time, labor, and opportunities to solve. For instance, I +strongly suspect that the Eries, who are said to have been destroyed by +the Iroquois, were the Shawnese, who were driven from their ancient seat +upon Lake Erie to the south-west." "Volney mentions two works upon the +Indians. One is Umphraville, and the other Oldmixon."</p> + +<p>On the 7th of February, he encloses an extensive list of books, which he +wishes to procure, to aid him in his contemplated examinations of +aboriginal subjects, with discriminating remarks on their character. In +calling my attention to a close examination of them in the various +book-stores and libraries of the Atlantic cities, where they may be +found, he imposes no light nor important labor. "You know my general +object is confined to the Indians of this quarter (the west). Their +particular history, however, will be preceded by a review of the +condition of the Indians in this part of America, at the time it became +known to Europeans. I have myself little doubt but that they were then +pretty much as they are now.</p> + +<p>"There is, however, one historical event, the narrator of which +represents the Indians to have been in an entirely different condition +from what they are now, or have been since. This is the account of +Ferdinand de Soto's expedition to Florida. There are two historians of +this expedition. One is Garcilasso de la Vega, and the other is an +anonymous gentleman of Elvas. I believe both are found in Purchas or +Hackluyt. I believe the narrative is almost entirely fabulous. One mode +of ascertaining this is by an examination of the earlier accounts of the +Indians. If they agree with De Soto's history, the latter may be +correct. If not, they must be unworthy of credit, more particularly in +the amount of the Indian population, which was certainly greatly +misrepresented by the Spanish historians, and which has been always +overrated.</p> + +<p>"If any of the above works touch upon these subjects, they may be useful +to me; if not, I do not wish them. Can you find any of the other Spanish +writers describing or alluding to this expedition?</p> + +<p>"Is there any account of the expedition of Pamphilo Narvaez into Florida +in 1528?"</p> + +<p>"Should I go to Prairie du Chien, would you not like the trip? I see +many reasons to induce you to take such a measure. If you come on, as I +hope you will, by the first boat, we can make all the necessary +arrangements; for, if I go, I shall go early, certainly in May. Unless I +am greatly deceived, you would make something interesting out of the +proposed treaty."</p> + +<p>Samuel S. Conant, Esq., informs me (January 21st) that he is making +progress in his contemplated work on Indian biography.</p> + +<p>"I shall read," he says, "everything which speaks of Indians, and my +enthusiasm may take the place of ability, and enable me to present not +only honorable testimonials of Indian genius and valor, but some defence +of their character, and an exposition of the slanders and vulgar errors +which, through blind traditions, have obtained the authority of truth."</p> + +<p>"It would have pleased me," says he (Feb. 16th), "to have presented Mr. +Theodore Dwight, Jr., to you in person. But this introductory note will +do as well. He is one of those who feel an interest, disinterested and +benevolent, in the fate of the remnants of the Indian tribes, and wishes +some conversation with you relative to their feelings on the subject of +their removal west of the Mississippi."</p> + +<p><i>March 18th</i>. Mr. Nathaniel H. Carter, editor of the <i>Statesman</i>, +announces his recovery from a dangerous illness, and wishes, in his +usual spirit of friendship, to express the pleasure it will afford him +to aid me in any literary labor I may have in hand.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. The plan of a magazine devoted to Indian subjects, which has +been discussed between Mr. Conant, Mr. Dwight, and myself, is now +definitely arranged with Messrs. Wilder and Campbell, publishers.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Professor Silliman renews his friendly correspondence, and +tenders me the use of the pages of his journal, as the medium of +communicating observations to the public.</p> + +<p><i>April 8th</i>. I am officially called on, by the authority of General +Gaines, as a witness in the case of Lieutenant Walter Bicker, U.S.A., +who is summoned to a court martial in Fort Brady. This is the gentleman +whose family is referred to in a previous part of my journal in the +autumn of 1822, on the occasion of the gentle Mr. Laird's missionary +visit to St. Mary's; and his high moral character and correct deportment +render it a subject of mystery to me what cause of complaint his brother +officers could conjure up against him.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The superintendence of the press in the printing of my "Travels +in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley," has constituted a +groundwork to my amusements during the winter. The work is this day +published by Collins and Hannay. I immediately prepared to return to the +lakes. About five months had passed away, almost imperceptibly. We had +held a most gratifying intercourse with a highly moral and refined +portion of society. The city had been seen in its various phases of +amusement and instruction. A large part of the interest to others and +attention excited arose manifestly from the presence of a person of +Indian descent, and of refined manners and education, in the person of +Mrs. Schoolcraft, with an infant son of more than ordinary beauty of +lineament and mental promise. There was something like a sensation in +every circle, and often persons, whose curiosity was superior to their +moral capacity of appreciation, looked intensely to see the northern +Pocahontas. Her education had been finished abroad. She wrote a most +exquisite hand, and composed with ability, and grammatical skill and +taste. Her voice was soft, and her expression clear and pure, as her +father, who was from one of the highest and proudest circles of Irish +society, had been particularly attentive to her orthography and +pronunciation and selection of words of the best usage abroad.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. This day we left the mansion of our kind hostess, Mrs. Mann, on +lower Broadway, and ascended the Hudson by daylight, in order to view +its attractive scenery.</p> + +<p>We discussed the etymology of some of the ancient Indian names along the +river, which we found to be in the Manhattan or Mohegan dialects of the +Algonquin, and which appeared so nearly identical in the grammatical +principles and sounds with the Chippewa, as to permit Mrs. S. in many +cases to recover the exact meanings. Thus, Coxackie is founded on an +Indian term which means <i>Falling-in bank</i>, or cut bank.</p> + +<p>We stopped a week or two in Western New York at my brother-in-law's, in +Vernon, Oneida County. I took along to the West, which had been +favorable to me, my youngest brother James, and my sister Maria Eliza. +We pursued our route through Western New York and Buffalo, and reached +Detroit on the 6th of May.</p> + +<p>I here found a letter from Dr. J. V. Rensselaer, of New York, written +two days after leaving the city, saying: "I have this morning finished +the perusal of your last work, and consider myself much your debtor for +the new views you have given me of the interesting region you describe. +Nor am I more pleased with the matter than with the simple unpretending +manner in which you have chosen to clothe it."</p> + +<p>I also found a note informing me that Gov. Cass had gone to hold a +conference with the Wyandot Indians at Wapakennota, Ohio, that he would +return about the 10th of June, and immediately set out for Prairie du +Chien by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and would have me to +go with him.</p> + +<p>"You must calculate the time when I shall probably reach Mackinack, and +I trust you will join us there. I have a thousand reasons why you should +undertake the tour. Many of the Indians will be from your agency, and +such a convocation will never again be seen upon this frontier. You can +return by the Chippewa River, which will give you a fine opportunity of +becoming acquainted with a part of the country very little known."</p> + +<p>Leaving my sister with friends temporarily at Detroit, I pursued my way, +without loss of time, to the Sault; where, among the correspondence +accumulated, I found some subjects that may be noticed. Mr. C. C. +Trowbridge gives this testimony respecting Mr. A. E. Wing, a gentleman +then prominent as a politician.</p> + +<p>"He is an intelligent, high minded and honorable man, and gifted with +habits of perseverance and industry which eminently qualify him to +represent the Territory in Congress."</p> + +<p>On the 1st of June the Executive of the Territory apprizes me of his +return from Wapekennota, and that he is bending all his force for the +contemplated trip to Prairie du Chien.</p> + +<p>"I enclose you," he adds, "the copy of a letter from the war department, +by which you will perceive that the Secretary has determined, that the +outrage of last fall shall not go unpunished. His determination is a +wise one, for the apprehension of the Chippewa murderers is essential to +the preservation of our character and influence among the Indians."</p> + +<p><i>June 17th</i>. Business and science, antiquities and politics are +curiously jumbled along in the same path, without, however (as I believe +they never do where the true spirit of knowledge is present), at all +mingling, or making turbid the stream of inquiry.</p> + +<p>Colonel Thomas L. M'Kenney, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in a letter +of this date says: "At the Little Falls of the Potomac, are to be seen +the prints of turkeys' feet in stone, made just as the tracks of the +animal appear, when it runs upon dust or in the snow."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. On this day, there suddenly presented themselves, at the office +of Indian Agency, the Chippewa war party who committed the murders at +Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi, last year, who, on the demand made upon +the nation, with a threat of military punishment, surrendered the +murderers. I immediately commenced their examination, after having an +additional special interpreter sworn in (Truman A. Warren), and sending +for a justice of the peace to assist in their examination. The entire +day was devoted in this manner, and at the close, six of the party +against whom an indictment for murder would lay, committed on a +mittimus, with a note requesting the commanding officer to imprison them +in the guard house, until he could have them conveyed to the sheriff of +the county, at Michilimackinack. Their names were, Sagetone, Otagami, +Kakabisha, Annimikence, and Nawa-jiwienoce--to whom was afterwards added +Kewaynokwut, the leader of the party. The incidents of this transaction, +as they appeared in that examination, have been narrated on a +previous page.</p> + +<p>This surrendery was evidently made on representations of the traders, +who acted on strong assurance that it would avert the marching of a +military force against them, and on some mistaken notions of their own +about public clemency.</p> + +<p>When the examination was finished, and while preliminary steps were in +process, for their committment, I addressed them as follows:--</p> + +<p>Chippewas--I have listened attentively to all that has been said, +either for or against you, and have been careful to have it put upon +paper, that nothing might be forgotten. It appears you went to the +Mississippi, for the purpose of attacking the Sioux, to revenge murders +which they had committed in your country. In an evil hour you +encountered a party of Americans, consisting of four persons, encamped +at the foot of Lake Pepin. It was night. They were all asleep. You went +to their tent in a hostile manner, and were received as friends. They +gave you tobacco and presents; and your war chief told them they need +not fear, that they should not be molested.</p> + +<p>On this declaration he withdrew, followed by the whole party, and had +proceeded some distance, when an evil suggestion occurred to one of the +party, who said, "that when he went out hunting he did not like to +return without having killed something." Guns were fired. An electric +effect was produced and a rush towards the tent they had left took place +among those who were in the rear. The strife seemed who should get there +first, and imbrue his hands in blood.</p> + +<p>"Of this number <i>you</i> Sagetone, <i>you</i> Kakabisha, <i>you</i> Otagami, <i>you</i> +Annimikence, and <i>you</i> Nawajiwienoce, were principal actors, and you +had the meanness to put to death men who had never harmed you, and who, +by your own confession, you had robbed of their arms, but whom you had, +nevertheless, promised their lives. This was not an evidence of courage, +but of cowardice. By this perfidious act you also violated your +promises, and proved yourselves to be the most debased of human +beings--liars!</p> + +<p>"You have asked me many times in the course of this day to take pity on +you. How have you the hearts to stand up and ask me for pity, when you +have showed no pity yourselves. When those poor disarmed and despairing +men implored you to pity their condition, reminding you of your +promises, and their generosity in making you presents, when you saw them +afterwards submit to be plundered, you gave them not pity but the war +club and scalping knife. Did you suppose the God of white men would +permit you to go unpunished? Did you think you had got so far in the +woods that no person could find you out? Or, did you think your great +father, the President, governed by a pusillanimous principle, would +allow you to kill any of his people, without seeking to be revenged?</p> + +<p>"Let this day open your eyes. You have richly deserved death, and not a +man of your nation could complain, if I should order you at this +instant, to be drawn out before my door, and shot. But a less +<i>honorable</i> death awaits you.</p> + +<p>"I have before told you, that your Great Father the President is as just +as he is powerful; and that he seeks to take away the life of no man, +without full, just, and clear proof of guilt. For this purpose he has +appointed other chiefs, whose duty it is to hear, try, and punish +all offences.</p> + +<p>"Before these judges you shall now be sent. You will be closely +examined. You will have counsel assigned to defend your cause. You will +have every advantage that one of our own citizens could claim. If any +cause can be shown why one of you is less guilty than another it will +then appear; if not, your bodies will be hung on a gallows."</p> + +<p>I then addressed Kewaynockwut. "No person has accused you of murder; but +you have led men who committed murder, and have thereby excited the +anger of your Great Father, who is slow to forgive when any of his +people, even the poorest of them, have been injured, far less when a +murder has been committed. Though I include you with those cowards who +first took away the arms of our people, and then shot them--those mean +dogs who sit trembling before me--I do not forgive you. The blood of our +citizens rests upon you. I can neither take you by the hand, nor smoke +the pipe you offer to me. You lie under the severe censure of your Great +Father, whose anger, like a dark cloud, rests upon you and your people.</p> + +<p>"Four of the chief murderers, namely, Okwagun, Pasigwetung, Metakossiga, +and Wamitegosh, yet remain inland. Go, in order to appease his anger; +take your followers with you, and bring them out. You cannot do a more +pleasing act to him and to your own nation. For you must reflect that if +these murderers are not promptly brought out, war will be immediately +made against your villages, and the most signal vengeance taken."</p> + +<p>Great alarm was manifested by the murderers, when they saw that the +questions and answers were written down, and a strict course of +accountability taken as the basis of the examination. I had foreseen +something of this alarm, and requested the commanding officer to send me +a detachment of men. Lieutenant C. F. Morton, 2d Infantry, to whom this +matter was entrusted, managed it well. He paraded his men in a hollow +square, in front of the office, in such manner that the office formed +one angle of the square, so that the main issue from the door ushered +the individual into a square bristling with bayonets. He stood himself +with a drawn sword.</p> + +<p>It was eleven o'clock in the evening when their examination and the +final arrangements were completed; and when I directed the interpreter +to open the door and lead out the murderers, they were greatly alarmed +by the appearance of the bright array of musquetry, supposing, +evidently, that they were to be instantly shot. They trembled.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII."></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<p>Trip to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi--Large assemblage of +tribes--Their appearance and character--Sioux, Winnebagoes, Chippewas, +&c.--Striking and extraordinary appearance of the Sacs and Foxes, and of +the Iowas--Keokuk--Mongazid's speech--Treaty of limits--Whisky +question--A literary impostor--Journey through the valleys of the Fox +and Wisconsin rivers--Incidents--Menomonies--A big nose--Wisconsin +Portage.</p> + +<p><i>June 23d</i>. The whole village was alive with the excitement of the +surrendery of the murderers. The agency office had been crowded with +spectators during the examination; and both white and red men saw in +their voluntary delivery into the hands of the agent, an evidence of the +power of the government in watching over and vindicating the lives and +interests of its citizens in the wildest wilderness, which was +gratifying to all.</p> + +<p>To Gitche Iauba, the chief at the bay of Kewywenon, in Lake Superior, +who had been instrumental in producing the delivery, I presented a +silver medal of the first class, with a written speech approbatory of +the act, and complimentary of himself. In the meantime, my preparations +for attending the general convocation of tribes, at Prairie du Chien, +were completed. I placed the agency under the charge of Captain N. S. +Clark, 2d Infantry, who had satisfactorily and ably performed its duties +during my absence at New York. I had selected a delegation of the most +influential chiefs to attend the contemplated council. And all things +being ready, and my <i>canoe-allége</i> in the water, with its flag set, I +embarked for the trip on the 24th. I descended the straits that day, and +having turned Point Detour reached Michilimackinack the next morning. +The party from Detroit had reached that point the same morning, after +traversing the Huron coasts for upwards of 300 miles, in a light canoe. +Congratulations on the success that had attended the demand for the +Chippewa murderers, awaited me. Some practical questions, deemed +indispensable respecting that transaction, required my immediate return +to St. Mary's, which was effected on the 27th, and I again embarked at +St. Mary's on the 28th, and rejoined the party at Mackinack on the 30th. +The distance traversed is about ninety miles, which was four times +passed and repassed in six days, a feat that could only have been +accomplished in the calms of summer.</p> + +<p>We finally left Mackinack for our destination on the Mississippi, on the +1st of July. The convocation to which we were now proceeding was for the +purpose of settling internal disputes between the tribes, by fixing the +boundaries to their respective territories, and thus laying the +foundation of a lasting peace on the frontiers. And it marks an era in +the policy of our negotiations with the Indians, which is memorable. No +such gathering of the tribes had ever before occurred, and its results +have taken away the necessity of any in future, so far as relates to the +lines on the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>We encountered head winds, and met with some delay in passing through +the straits into Lake Michigan, and after escaping an imminent hazard of +being blown off into the open lake, in a fog, reached Green Bay on the +4th. The journey up the Fox River, and its numerous portages, was +resumed on the 14th, and after having ascended the river to its head, we +crossed over the Fox and Wisconsin portage, and descending the latter +with safety, reached Prairie du Chien on the 21st, making the whole +journey from Mackinack in twenty-one days.</p> + +<p>We found a very large number of the various tribes assembled. Not only +the village, but the entire banks of the river for miles above and below +the town, and the island in the river, was covered with their tents. The +Dakotahs, with their high pointed buffalo skin tents, above the town, +and their decorations and implements of flags, feathers, skins and +personal "braveries," presented the scene of a Bedouin encampment. Some +of the chiefs had the skins of skunks tied to their heels, to symbolize +that they never ran, as that animal is noted for its slow and +self-possessed movements.</p> + +<p>Wanita, the Yankton chief, had a most magnificent robe of the buffalo, +curiously worked with dyed porcupine's quills and sweet grass. A kind of +war flag, made of eagles' and vultures' large feathers, presented quite +a martial air. War clubs and lances presented almost every imaginable +device of paint; but by far the most elaborate thing was their pipes of +red stone, curiously carved, and having flat wooden handles of some four +feet in length, ornamented with the scalps of the red-headed woodpecker +and male duck, and tail feathers of birds artificially attached by +strings and quill work, so as to hang in the figure of a quadrant. But +the most elaborately wrought part of the devices consisted of dyed +porcupines' quills, arranged as a kind of aboriginal mosaic.</p> + +<p>The Winnebagoes, who speak a cognate dialect of the Dacotah, were +encamped near; and resembled them in their style of lodges, arts, and +general decorations.</p> + +<p>The Chippewas presented the more usually known traits, manners and +customs of the great Algonquin family--of whom they are, indeed, the +best representative. The tall and warlike bands from the sources of the +Mississippi--from La Point, in Lake Superior--from the valleys of the +Chippewa and St. Croix rivers, and the Rice Lake region of Lac du +Flambeau, and of Sault Ste. Marie, were well represented.</p> + +<p>The cognate tribe of the Menomonies, and of the Potawattomies and +Ottowas from Lake Michigan, assimilated and mingled with the Chippewas. +Some of the Iroquois of Green Bay were present.</p> + +<p>But no tribes attracted as intense a degree of interest as the Iowas, +and the Sacs and Foxes--tribes of radically diverse languages, yet +united in a league against the Sioux. These tribes were encamped on the +island, or opposite coast. They came to the treaty ground, armed and +dressed as a war party. They were all armed with spears, clubs, guns and +knives. Many of the warriors had a long tuft of red-horse hair tied at +their elbows, and bore a neck lace of grizzly bears' claws. Their +head-dress consisted of red dyed horse-hair, tied in such manner to the +scalp lock as to present the shape of the decoration of a Roman helmet. +The rest of the head was completely shaved and painted. A long iron shod +lance was carried in the hand. A species of baldric supported part of +their arms. The azian, moccason and leggins constituted a part of their +dress. They were, indeed, nearly nude, and painted. Often the print of a +hand, in white clay, marked the back or shoulders. They bore flags of +feathers. They beat drums. They uttered yells, at definite points. They +landed in compact ranks. They looked the very spirit of defiance. Their +leader stood as a prince, majestic and frowning. The wild, native pride +of man, in the savage state, flushed by success in war, and confident in +the strength of his arm, was never so fully depicted to my eyes. And the +forest tribes of the continent may be challenged to have ever presented +a spectacle of bold daring, and martial prowess, equal to their landing.</p> + +<p>Their martial bearing, their high tone, and whole behavior during their +stay, in and out of council, was impressive, and demonstrated, in an +eminent degree, to what a high pitch of physical and moral courage, +bravery and success in war may lead a savage people. Keokuk, who led +them, stood with his war lance, high crest of feathers, and daring eye, +like another Coriolanus, and when he spoke in council, and at the same +time shook his lance at his enemies, the Sioux, it was evident that he +wanted but an opportunity to make their blood flow like water. Wapelo, +and other chiefs backed him, and the whole array, with their shaved +heads and high crests of red horse-hair, told the spectator plainly, +that each of these men held his life in his hand, and was ready to +spring to the work of slaughter at the cry of their chief.</p> + +<p>General William Clark, from St. Louis, was associated with General Cass +in this negotiation. The great object was to lay the foundation of a +permanent peace by establishing boundaries. Day after day was assigned +to this, the agents laboring with the chiefs, and making themselves +familiar with Indian bark maps and drawings. The thing pleased the +Indians. They clearly saw that it was a benevolent effort for their +good, and showed a hearty mind to work in the attainment of the object. +The United States asked for no cession. Many glowing harangues were made +by the chiefs, which gave scope to their peculiar oratory, which is well +worth the preserving. Mongazid, of Fond du Lac, Lake Superior, said: +"When I heard the voice of my Great Father, coming up the Mississippi +Valley calling me to this treaty, it seemed as a murmuring wind; I got +up from my mat where I sat musing, and hastened to obey it. My pathway +has been clear and bright. Truly it is a pleasant sky above our heads +this day. There is not a cloud to darken it. I hear nothing but pleasant +words. The raven is not waiting for his prey, I hear no eagle +cry--'Come, let us go. The feast is ready--the Indian has killed his +brother.'"</p> + +<p>When nearly a whole month had been consumed in these negotiations, a +treaty of limits was signed, which will long be remembered in the Indian +reminiscences. This was on the 19th of August (1825), <i>vide</i> Indian +Treaties, p. 371. It was a pleasing sight to see the explorer of the +Columbia in 1806, and the writer of the proclamation of the army that +invaded Canada in 1812, uniting in a task boding so much good to the +tribes whose passions and trespasses on each other's lands keep them +perpetually at war.</p> + +<blockquote> +'Tis war alone that gluts the Indian's mind,<br> +As eating meats, inflames the tiger kind.<br> +HETH.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>At the close of the treaty, an experiment was made on the moral sense of +the Indians, with regard to intoxicating liquors, which was evidently of +too refined a character for their just appreciation. It had been said by +the tribes that the true reason for the Commissioners of the United +States government speaking against the use of ardent spirits by the +Indians, and refusing to give them, was not a sense of its bad effects, +so much, as the fear of the expense. To show them that the government +was above such a petty principle, the Commissioners had a long row of +tin camp kettles, holding several gallons each, placed on the grass, +from one end of the council house to the other, and then, after some +suitable remarks, each kettle was spilled out in their presence. The +thing was evidently ill relished by the Indians. They loved the whisky +better than the joke.</p> + +<p><i>Impostor</i>.--Among the books which I purchased for General Cass, at New +York, was the narrative of one John Dunn Hunter. I remember being +introduced to the man, at one of my visits to New York, by Mr. Carter. +He appeared to be one of those anomalous persons, of easy good nature, +without much energy or will, and little or no moral sense, who might be +made a tool of. It seems no one at New York was taken in by him, but +having wandered over to London, the booksellers found him a good subject +for a book, and some hack there, with considerable cleverness, made him +a pack-horse for carrying a load of stuff about America's treatment of +the Indians. It was called a "captivity," and he was made to play the +part of an adventurer among the Indians--somewhat after the manner of +John Tanner. C. reviewed the book, on our route and at the Prairie, for +the <i>North American</i>, in an article which created quite a sensation, and +will be remembered for its force and eloquence. He first read to me some +of these glowing sentences, while on the portages of the Fox. It was +continued, during the leisure hours of the conferences, and finally the +critique was finished, after his visiting the place and the person, in +Missouri, to which Hunter had alluded as his sponsor in baptism. The man +denied all knowledge of him. Hunter was utterly demolished, and his book +shown to be as great a tissue of misrepresentation as that of +Psalmanazar himself.</p> + +<p><i>August 21st</i>. The party separates. I had determined to return to the +Sault by way of Lake Superior, through Chippewa River. But, owing to the +murder of Finley and his men at its mouth in 1824, I found it impossible +to engage men at Prairie du Chien, to take that route. I determined +therefore to go up the Wisconsin, and by the way of Green Bay. For this +purpose, I purchased a light canoe, engaged men to paddle it, and laid +in provisions and stores to last to Green Bay. Having done so, I +embarked about 3 o'clock P.M., descending the majestic Mississippi, with +spirits enlivened by the hope of soon rejoining friends far away. At the +same time, Mr. Holliday left for the same destination in a separate +canoe. On reaching the mouth of the Wisconsin, we entered that broad +tributary, and found the current strong. We passed the point of rocks +called <i>Petite Grès</i>, and encamped at <i>Grand Grès</i>.</p> + +<p>Several hours previous to leaving the prairie, a friend handed me an +enveloped packet, saying, "Read it when you get to the mouth of the +Wisconsin." I had no conception what it related to, but felt great +anxiety to reach the place mentioned. I then opened it, and read as +follows: "I cannot separate from you without expressing my grateful +acknowledgments for the honor you have done me, by connecting my name +with your <i>Narrative of Travels in the Central Portions of the +Mississippi Valley, &c.</i>" Nothing could have been more gratifying or +unexpected.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. A fog in the valley detained us till 5 o'clock A.M. After +traveling about two hours, Mr. Holliday's canoe was crushed against a +rock. While detained in repairing it, I ordered my cook to prepare +breakfast. It was now 9 o'clock, when we again proceeded, till the heat +of noon much affected the men. We pushed our canoes under some +overhanging trees, where we found fine clusters of ripe grapes.</p> + +<p>In going forward we passed two canoes of Menomonies, going out on their +fall hunt, on the Chippewa River. These people have no hunting grounds +of their own, and are obliged to the courtesy of neighboring nations for +a subsistence. They are the most erratic of all our tribes, and may be +said to be almost nomadic. We had already passed the canoes, when Mr. +Lewis, the portrait painter, called out stoutly behind us, from an +island in the river. "Oh! ho! I did not know but there was some other +breaking of the canoe, or worse disaster, and directed the men to put +back. See, see," said he, "that fellow's nose! Did you ever see such a +protuberance?" It was one of the Menomonies from <i>Butte des Morts</i>, with +a globular irregular lump on the end of his nose, half as big as a man's +fist. Lewis's artistic risibles were at their height, and he set to work +to draw him. I could think of nothing appropriate, but Sterne and +Strasbourg.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A heavy fog detained us at Caramani's village, till near 6 A.M. +The fog, however, still continued, so thick as to conceal objects at +twenty yards distance. We consequently went cautiously. Both this day +and yesterday we have been constantly in sight of Indian canoes, on +their return from the treaty. Wooden canoes are exclusively used by the +Winnebagoes. They are pushed along with poles.</p> + +<p>We passed a precipitous range of hills near Pine Creek, on one of which +is a cave, called by our boatmen <i>L'diable au Port</i>. This superstition +of peopling dens and other dark places with the "arch fiend," is common. +If the "old serpent" has given any proofs to the French boatmen of his +residence here, I shall only hope that he will confine himself to this +river, and not go about troubling quiet folks in the land of the Lakes.</p> + +<p>At Pine River we went inland about a mile to see an old mine, probably +the remains of French enterprise, or French credulity. But all its +golden ores had flown, probably frightened off by the old fellow of +<i>L'diable au Port</i>. We saw only pits dug in the sand overgrown +with trees.</p> + +<p>Near this spot in the river, we overtook Shingabowossin and his party +of Chippewas. They had left the prairie on the same day that we did, but +earlier. They had been in some dread of the Winnebagoes, and stopped on +the island to wait for us.</p> + +<p>In passing the channel of <i>Detour</i>, we observed many thousand tons of +white rock lying in the river, which had lately fallen from the bank, +leaving a solid perpendicular precipice. This rock, banks and ruins, is, +like all the Wisconsin Valley rocks, a very white and fine sandstone.</p> + +<p>We passed five canoes of Menomonies, on their way to hunt on Chippewa +River, to whom I presented some powder, lead, and flour. They gave me a +couple of fish, of the kind called <i>pe-can-o</i> by the Indians.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. We were again detained by the fog, till half past five A.M., and +after a hard day's fatiguing toil, I encamped at eight o'clock P.M. on a +sandy island in the centre of the Wisconsin. The water in the river is +low, and spreads stragglingly over a wide surface. The very bed of the +river is moving sand. While supper was preparing, I took from my trunk a +towel, clean shirt, and cake of soap, and spent half an hour in bathing +in the river upon the clean yellow sand. After this grateful +refreshment, I sank sweetly to repose in my tent.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. The fog dispersed earlier this morning than usual. We embarked a +few minutes after four A.M., and landed for breakfast at ten. The +weather now, was quite sultry, as indeed it has been during the greater +part of every day, since leaving <i>Tipesage</i>--i.e. the Prairie. Our route +this day carried us through the most picturesque and interesting part of +the Wisconsin, called the Highlands or River Hills. Some of these hills +are high, with precipitous faces towards the river. Others terminate in +round grassy knobs, with oaks dispersed about the sides. The name is +supposed to have been taken from this feature.<a name="FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44">[44]</a> Generally speaking, +the country has a bald and barren aspect. Not a tree has apparently been +cut upon its banks, and not a village is seen to relieve the tedium of +an unimproved wilderness. The huts of an Indian locality seem "at random +cast." I have already said these conical and angular hills present +masses of white sandstone, whereever they are precipitous. The river +itself is almost a moving mass of white and yellow sand, broad, clear, +shallow, and abounding in small woody islands, and willowy sandbars.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor44">[44]</a> <i>Sin</i>, the terminal syllable, is clearly from the +Algonquin, <i>Os-sin</i>, a stone. The French added the letter <i>g</i>, which is +the regular <i>local</i> form of the word, agreeably to the true Indian. +</blockquote> + +<p>While making these notes I have been compelled to hold my book, pencil +and umbrella, the latter being indispensable to keep off the almost +tropical fervor of the sun's rays. As the umbrella and book must be held +in one hand, you may judge that I have managed with some difficulty; and +this will account to you for many uncouth letters and much disjointed +orthography. Between the annoyance of insects, the heat of the sun, and +the difficulties of the way, we had incessant employment.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock P.M. we put ashore for dinner, in a very shaded and +romantic spot. Poetic images were thick about us. We sat upon mats +spread upon a narrow carpet of grass between the river and a high +perpendicular cliff. The latter threw its broad shade far beyond us. +This strip of land was not more than ten feet wide, and had any +fragments of rock fallen, they would have crushed us. But we saw no +reason to fear such an event, nor did it at all take from the relish of +our dinner. Green moss had covered the face of the rock, and formed a +soft velvet covering, against which we leaned. The broad and cool river +ran at our feet. Overhanging trees formed a grateful bower around us. +Alas, how are those to be pitied who prefer palaces built with human +hands to such sequestered scenes. What perversity is there in the human +understanding, to quit the delightful and peaceful abodes of nature, for +noisy towns and dusty streets.</p> + +<blockquote> +"To me more dear, congenial to my heart,<br> +One native charm than all the gloss of art."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>At a late hour in the evening we reached the Wisconsin portage, and +found Dr. Wood. U.S.A., encamped there. He had arrived a short time +before us, with four Indians and one Canadian in a canoe, on his way to +St. Peter's. He had a mail in his trunk, and I had reasons to believe I +should receive letters, but to my sore disappointment I found nothing. I +invited Dr. Wood to supper, having some ducks and snipes to offer in +addition to my usual stock of solids, such as ham, venison and +buffalo tongues.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV."></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<p>Descent of Fox River--Blackbirds--Menomonies--Rice fields--Starving +Indians--Thunder storm--Dream--An Indian struck dead with +lightning--Green Bay--Death of Colonel Haines--Incidents of the journey +from Green Bay to Michilimackinack--Reminiscences of my early life and +travels--Choiswa--Further reminiscences of my early life--Ruins of the +first mission of Father Marquette--Reach Michilimackinack.</p> + +<p>1825. <i>August 26th</i>. A PORTAGE of about one mile and a quarter was +before us.</p> + +<p>At day-break two ox carts, which I had ordered in the evening, came, and +took our baggage across to the banks of Fox River. The canoes were +carried over by the different crews. On reaching the banks of the Fox +River, I concluded to stay for the purpose of breakfasting. I added to +my stock of eatables, a bag of potatoes, and some butter and milk, +purchased from a Frenchman, who resided here. It was about nine o'clock +A.M. when we embarked on the Fox, and we began its descent with feelings +not widely different from those of a boy who has carried his sled, in +winter, <i>up</i> the steep side of a hill, that he may enjoy the pleasure of +riding <i>down</i>. The Fox River is serpentine, almost without a parallel; +it winds about like a string that doubles and redoubles, and its channel +is choked with fields of wild rice; from which rose, continually, +immense flocks of blackbirds. They reminded me very forcibly of the +poet's line--</p> + +<blockquote> +"The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Holliday the elder and his son made several unsuccessful shots at +them. I did not regret their ill success, and was pleased to hear +them singing--</p> + +<blockquote> +"As sweetly and gayly as ever before."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We met several canoes of Menomonies. We stopped for dinner near a lodge +of them, who were in a starving condition. I distributed bread and corn +among them. They presented me a couple of dishes of a species of berry, +which they call <i>Neekimen-een</i>, or Brant-berry. It is a black, tasteless +berry, a little larger than the whortleberry. We encamped at the head of +<i>Pukwa</i> Lake.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. A very severe shower of rain fell about three o'clock A.M.; it +detained us in our camp until five, when we embarked. Why should I +relate to you our dull progress through fields of rice--through +intricate channels, and amidst myriads of ducks and wild water fowl. +This day has been hot, beyond any experience on the journey. I sank back +in my canoe, in a state of apathy and lassitude, partly from the heat, +and partly from indisposition. My thoughts were employed upon home. A +thousand phantoms passed through my head. I tried to imagine how you +were employed at this moment, whether busy, or sick in your own room. It +would require a volume to trace my wandering thoughts. Let it suffice +that another day is nearly gone, and it has lessened the distance which +separated us, about seventy miles.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I encamped, last night, near a large village of Winnebagoes and +Menomonies. They complained to me of want of food and ammunition. I +distributed among them a quantity of powder, ball, and shot, and some +bread, hard biscuit, pork, and tobacco. Never were people more grateful, +and never, I believe, was a more appropriate distribution made. I had +purchased these articles for the Chippewa Nation, to be used on my +contemplated voyage home, from the Prairie, through Chippewa River and +Lake Superior, before the design of going that way was relinquished. The +fact was, I could get no men to go that way, so alarmed were they by the +recent murder of Finley and his party.</p> + +<p>About two o'clock A.M. I was awoke by a very heavy storm of rain and +wind, attended with loud peals of thunder. The violence of the wind blew +down my tent, and my blankets, &c. received some damage. After this +mishap the wind abated, and having got my tent re-arranged, I again went +to sleep. I dreamt of attending the funeral of an esteemed friend, who +was buried with honors, attended to the grave by a large train. I have +no recollection of the name of this friend, nor whether male or female. +I afterwards visited the house of this person, and the room in which he +(or she) died. I closed the door with dread and sorrow, afflicted by the +views of the couch where one so much esteemed had expired. The mansion +was large, and elegantly furnished. I lost my way in it, and rung a +large bell that hung in the hall. At this, many persons, male and +female, came quickly into the hall from folding doors, as if, I thought, +they had been summoned to dinner. As you have sometimes inclined to +believe in these fantastic operations of the human mind, when asleep, I +record them for your amusement, or reflection. Was this an allegory of +the destructive effects of the storm, mixed with my banquet to my Indian +friends, the Menomonies and Winnebagoes?</p> + +<p>After descending the river more than twenty miles we landed at <i>la Butte +des Morts</i> to cook breakfast. Immediately on landing my attention was +attracted by a small white flag hanging from a high pole. I went to It +and found a recent Indian grave, very neatly and carefully covered with +boards. The Indian had been struck dead by lightning a few days +previous. Is this the interpretation of my dream, or must I follow my +fears to St. Mary's, to witness some of our family suffering on the bed +of sickness. God, in his mercy, forbid!</p> + +<p>This day was comparatively cool. On the previous days it was my custom +to sit in my shirt and sleeves. To-day, I kept on my surtout all day, +and my cloak over it until twelve. Such sudden changes in the +temperature of the seasons are the reproach of our climate. My health +has been better than for a few days back, owing, I believe, solely to my +abstinence both yesterday and the day before. How much illness would be +prevented by a proper attention to regimen. It is now eight o'clock in +the evening, I am sitting in my tent with a candle standing on a rush +mat, and my black trunk for a writing desk. I am interrupted by the news +that my supper is ready to be brought in. How happy I should be if you +could participate in my frugal meal. In the language of Burns--</p> + +<blockquote> +"Adieu a heart-warm fond adieu."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>29th</i>. I encamped last night, at the foot of the Winnebago Rapids, one +mile below Winnebago Lake. I found the rapids of Fox River, which begin +here, more difficult to pass than on our ascent, the water being much +lower. We were necessarily detained many hours, and most of the men +compelled to walk. About six o'clock, P.M. we reached the upper part of +the settlement of Green Bay. I stopped a few moments at Judge Doty's, +and also a little below at Major Brevoort's, the Indian agent of the +post. We then proceeded to the lower settlements, and encamped near the +fort at Arndt's. Dr. Wheaton met me on the beach, with several others. I +supped and lodged at Arndt's, having declined Dr. Wheaton's polite +invitation to sup, and take a bed with him. At tea I saw Mrs. Cotton, +whom you will recollect as Miss Arndt, and was introduced to her +husband, Lieutenant Cotton, U.S.A. I was also introduced to the Rev. Mr. +Nash, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal order, on missionary duty +here. I went to my room, as soon as I could disentangle myself from +these greetings, with a bundle of papers, to read up the news, and was +truly pained to hear of the death of my early friend Colonel Charles G. +Haines of New York, an account of which, with the funeral honors paid to +him, I read in the papers.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The repair of my canoe, and the purchase of provisions to +recruit my supplies, consumed the morning, until twelve o'clock, when I +embarked, and called at the fort to pay my respects to Dr. Wheaton. I +found the dinner-table set. He insisted on my stopping with Mr. H. to +dinner, which, being an old friend and as one of my men had absconded, +and I was, therefore, delayed, I assented to. The doctor and family +evinced the greatest cordiality, and he sent down to my canoe, after +dinner, a quantity of melons, some cabbages, and a bag of new potatoes. +Before I could obtain another man and set out again, it was three +o'clock. I was obliged to forego the return of some visits. We continued +our voyage down the bay about 40 miles, and encamped at 8 o'clock, +having run down with a fair wind.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Soon after quitting our camp this morning, a heavy wind arose. +It was partly fair, so as to permit our hoisting sail for a few hours, +but then shifted ahead, and drove us ashore. We landed on a small island +called Vermilion, off the south cape of Sturgeon Bay. Here we remained +all the remainder of the day and night. While there detained I read +"China, its Arts, Manufactures, &c.," a work translated from the French, +and giving a lively, and apparently correct account of that +singular people.</p> + +<p>About two o'clock, P.M., we cut some of the water and musk-melons +presented by Dr. Wharton, and found them delicious. About 6 o'clock, +P.M., my cook informed me that he had prepared a supper, agreeably to my +directions, and we found his skill in this way by no means despicable. +Such are the trifles which must fill up my journal, for did I only write +what was fit for grave divines, or the scrutinizing eye of philosophy to +read, I fear I should have but a few meagre sheets to present you on my +return, and perhaps not a single syllable witty or wise.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 1st</i>. The wind abated during the night, and we were early on the +waters, and went on until eleven o'clock, when we landed for breakfast. +At twelve o'clock we went forward again, with a fair wind. I read +another volume of "China." "The Chinese ladies," says the author, "live +very retired, wholly engaged in their household affairs, and how to +please their husbands. They are not, however, confined quite so closely +as is commonly supposed. The females visit entirely amongst each other. +There is no society or circles in China to which the women are admitted. +Marriages are a mere matter of convenience, or, to speak with greater +propriety, a kind of bargain settled between the parents and relatives."</p> + +<p>We came on very well, and encamped at the Little Detroit, or strait, so +called, in the Grand Traverse. This traverse separates Green Bay from +Lake Michigan. It is computed to be twenty miles over. A cluster of +islands enables canoes to pass. There are some hieroglyphics on +the rocks.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. We embarked at three o'clock, A.M., and went on very well, until +ten, when we stopped on one of the islands for breakfast, having nearly +completed the traverse. In the meantime the wind arose in our favor, and +we went on along the north shore of Lake Michigan gayly. We passed the +mouth of the Manistee River, which interlocks with the Tacquimenon of +Lake Superior, where some of our St. Mary's Chippewas make their +gardens. An aft wind and light spirits are inseparable, whether a man be +in a frigate or a canoe. There is something in the air exhilarating. I +have been passing in retrospect, the various journeys I have made, but +during none has my anxieties to return been so great as this. What a +wonderful destiny it is that makes one man a traveler and another a +poet, a mathematician, &c. We appear to be guided by some innate +principle which has a predominating force. No man was more unlikely to +be a traveler than myself. I always thought myself to be domestic in my +feelings, habits, and inclinations, and even in very early youth, +proposed to live a life of domestic felicity. I thought such a life +inseparable from the married state, and resolved, therefore, to get +married, as soon as prudence and inclination would permit. +Notwithstanding this way of thinking my life has been a series of active +employment and arduous journeyings. I may say my travels began even in +childhood, for when only six or seven years old, I recollect to have +wandered off a long distance into the pine plains of my native town, to +view Honicroisa Hill, a noted object in that part of the country, to the +great alarm of all the family, who sent out to search for me. My next +journey was in my eleventh year, when I accompanied my father, in his +chaise, he dressed out in his regimentals, to attend a general +court-martial at Saratoga. I had not then read any history of our +Revolution, but had heard its battles and hardships, told over by my +father, which created a deep interest, and among the events was +Burgoyne's surrender. My mind was filled with the subject as we +proceeded on our way, and I expected to see a field covered with skulls, +and guns, and broken swords.</p> + +<p>In my fifteenth year I accompanied my father, in his chaise, up the +Valley of the Mohawk to Utica. This gave me some idea of the western +country, and the rapid improvements going on there. I returned with some +more knowledge of the world, and with my mind filled with enthusiastic +notions of new settlements and fortunes made in the woods. I was highly +pleased with the frank and hospitable manners of the west. The next +spring I was sent by a manufacturing company to Philadelphia, as an +agent to procure and select on the banks of the Delaware, between +Bristol and Bordentown, a cargo of crucible clay. This journey and its +incidents opened a new field to me, and greatly increased my knowledge +of the world; of the vastness of commerce; and of the multifarious +occupations of men. I acquitted myself well of my agency, having made a +good selection of my cargo. I was a judge of the mineralogical +properties of the article, but a novice in almost everything else. I +supposed the world honest, and every man disposed to act properly and to +do right. I now first witnessed a theatre. It was at New York. When the +tragedy was over, seeing many go out, I also took a check and went home, +to be laughed at by the captain of the sloop, with whom I was a +passenger. At Philadelphia I fell into the hands of a professed +sharper; He was a gentleman in dress, manners, and conversation. He +showed me the city, and was very useful in directing my inquiries. But +he borrowed of me thirty dollars one day, to pay an unexpected demand, +as he said, and that was the last I ever saw of my money. The lesson was +not, however, lost upon me. I have never since lent a stranger or casual +acquaintance money.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. I was compelled to break off my notes yesterday suddenly. A storm +came on which drove us forward with great swiftness, and put us in some +peril. We made the land about three o'clock, after much exertion and +very considerable wetting. After the storm had passed over, a calm +succeeded, when we again put out, and kept the lake till eight o'clock. +We had a very bad encampment--loose rough stones to lie on, and scarcely +wood enough to make a fire. To finish our misery, it soon began to rain, +but ceased before ten. At four o'clock this morning we arose, the +weather being quite cold. At an early hour, after getting afloat, we +reached and passed a noted landing for canoes and boats, called +<i>Choishwa</i> (Smooth-rock.) This shelter, is formed by a ledge of rock +running into the lake. On the inner, or perpendicular face, hundreds of +names are cut or scratched upon the rock. This <i>cacoethes scribendi</i> is +the pest of every local curiosity or public watering-place. Even here, +in the wilderness, it is developed.</p> + +<blockquote> +Wise men ne'er cut their names on doors or rock-heads,<br> +But leave the task to scribblers and to blockheads;<br> +Pert, trifling folks, who, bent on being witty,<br> +Scrawl on each post some fag-end of a ditty,<br> +Spinning, with spider's web, their shallow brains,<br> +O'er wainscots, borrowed books, or window panes.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>At one o'clock the wind became decidedly fair, and the men, relieved +from their paddles, are nearly all asleep, in the bottom of the canoe. +While the wind drives us forward beautifully I embrace the time to +resume my narrative of early journeyings, dropt yesterday.</p> + +<p>In the year 1808, my father removed from Albany to Oneida County. I +remained at the old homestead in Guilderland, in charge of his affairs, +until the following year, when I also came to the west. The next spring +I was offered handsome inducements to go to the Genesee country, by a +manufacturing company, who contemplated the saving of a heavy land +transportation from Albany on the article of window-glass, if the rude +materials employed in it could be found in that area of country. I +visited it with that view; found its native resources ample, and was +still more delighted with the flourishing appearance of this part of the +Western country than I had been with Utica and its environs. Auburn, +Geneva, Canandaigua, and other incipient towns, seemed to me the germs +of a land "flowing with milk and honey."</p> + +<p>In 1811, I went on a second trip to Philadelphia, and executed the +object of it with a success equal to my initial visit. On this trip I +had letters to some gentlemen at Philadelphia, who received me in a most +clever spirit, and I visited the Academy of Arts, Peale's Museum, the +Water Works, Navy Yard, &c. I here received my first definite ideas of +painting and sculpture. I returned with new stores of information and +new ideas of the world, but I had lost little or nothing of my primitive +simplicity of feeling or rustic notions of human perfection. And, as I +began to see something of the iniquities of men, I clung more firmly to +my native opinions.</p> + +<p>My personal knowledge of my native State, and of the States of New +Jersey and Pennsylvania, was now superior to that of most men with whom +I was in the habit of conversing, and I subsequently made several little +journeys and excursions that furthered me in the knowledge.</p> + +<p>As yet, I knew nothing by personal observation of New England. In the +early part of 1813, having completed my nineteenth year, I went to +Middlebury, in Vermont, on the banks of Otter Creek, where, I +understand, my great-grandfather, who was an Englishman, to have died. +Soon after I accompanied Mr. Ep. Jones, a man of decided enterprise, but +some eccentricities of character, on an extensive tour through the New +England States. We set out from Lake Dunmore, in Salisbury, in a chaise, +and proceeding over the Green Mountains across the State of Vermont, to +Bellows' Falls, on the Connecticut River, there struck the State of New +Hampshire, and went across it, and a part of Massachusetts, to Boston. +Thence, after a few days' stop, we continued our route to Hartford, the +seat of government of Connecticut, and thence south to the valley of the +Hudson at Rhinebeck. Here we crossed the Hudson to Kingston (the Esopus +of Indian days), and proceeded inland, somewhat circuitously, to the +Catskill Mountains; after visiting which, we returned to the river, came +up its valley to Albany, and returned, by way of Salem, to Salisbury. +All this was done with one horse, a compact small-boned animal, who was +a good oats-eater, and of whom we took the very best care. I made this +distich on him:--</p> + +<blockquote> +Feed me well with oats and hay,<br> +And I'll carry you forty miles a-day.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>This long and circuitous tour gave me a general idea of this portion of +the Union, and enabled me to institute many comparisons between the +manners and customs and advantages of New York and New England.</p> + +<p>I am again compelled to lay my pencil aside by the quantity of water +thrown into the canoe by the paddles of the men, who have been roused up +by the increasing waves.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. We went on under a press of sail last evening until eight +o'clock, when we encamped in a wide sandy bay in the Straits of +Michigan, having come a computed distance of 80 miles. On looking about, +we found in the sand the stumps of cedar pickets, forming an antique +enclosure, which, I judged, must have been the first site of the Mission +of St. Ignace, founded by Pierre Marquette, upwards of a hundred and +eighty years ago. Not a lisp of such a ruin had been heard by me +previously. French and Indian tradition says nothing of it. The +inference is, however, inevitable. Point St. Ignace draws its name from +it. It was afterwards removed and fixed at the blunt peninsula, or +headland, which the Indians call <i>Peekwutino</i>, the old Mackinac of +the French.</p> + +<p>Leaving this spot at an early hour, we went to Point St. Ignace to +breakfast, and made the traverse to the Island of Michilimackinac by +eleven o'clock. We were greeted by a number of persons on the beach; +among them was Mr. Agnew, of the <i>Sault</i>, who reported friends all well. +This was a great relief to my mind, as I had been for a number of days +under the impression that some one near and dear to me was ill. It was +Sunday morning; many of the inhabitants were at church, and appearances +indicated more respect for the day than I recollect to have noticed +before. The good effect of the mission established in the island, under +the auspices of the Rev. Mr. Ferry, are clearly visible. Mr. Robert +Stuart invited me to take a room at the company's house, which I +declined, but dined and supped there.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV."></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<p>Journey from Mackinac to the Sault Ste. Marie--Outard Point--Head +winds--Lake Huron in a rage--Desperate embarkation--St. Vital--Double +the Detour--Return to St. Mary's--Letters--"Indian girl"--New volume of +travels--Guess' Cherokee alphabet--New views of the Indian languages and +their principles of construction--Georgia question--Post-office +difficulties--Glimpses from the civilized world.</p> + +<p>1825. <i>Sept. 5th</i>. I arose at seven, and we had breakfast at half-past +seven. I then went to the Company's store and ordered an invoice of +goods for the Indian department. This occupied the time till dinner was +announced. I then went to my camp and ordered the tent to be struck and +the canoe to be put into the water; but found two of my men so ill with +the fever and ague that they could not go, and three others were much +intoxicated. The atmosphere was very cloudy and threatening, and to +attempt the traverse to Goose Island, under such circumstances, was +deemed improper. Mr. Robert and David Stuart, men noted in the Astoria +enterprise; Mr. Agnew, Capt. Knapp, Mr. Conner, Mr. Abbott, Mr. Currey, +&c., had kindly accompanied me to the beach, but all were very urgent in +their opinion that I should defer the starting. I ordered the men to be +ready at two o'clock in the morning should the weather not prove +tempestuous.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I arose at three o'clock, but found a heavy fog enveloping the +whole island, and concealing objects at a short distance. It was not +till half-past six that I could embark, when the fog began to disperse, +but the clearing away of the fog introduced a light head wind. I reached +Goose Island, a distance of ten miles, after a march of three hours, and +afterwards went to Outard Point, but could go no further from the +increased violence of the wind.</p> + +<p><i>Outard Point, 8 o'clock P.M.</i> Here have I been encamped since noon, +with a head wind, a dense damp atmosphere, and the lake in a foam. I +expected the wind would fall with the sun, but, alas! it blows stronger +than ever. I fondly hoped on quitting Mackinac this morning, that I +should see home to-morrow, but that is now impossible. How confidently +do we hope and expect in this life, and how little do we know what is to +befall us for even a few hours beyond the present moment. It has pleased +the All-wise Being to give me an adverse wind, and I must submit to it. +I, doubtless, exulted too soon and too much. On reaching Mackinac, I +said to myself: "My journey is accomplished; my route to the Sault is +nothing; I can go there in a day and a half, wind or no wind." This +vanity and presumption is now punished, and, I acknowledge, justly. I +should have left it to Providence. Wise are the ways of the Almighty, +and salutary all His dispensations to man. Were we not continually put +in mind of an overruling Providence by reverses of this kind, the human +heart, exalted with its own consequence, would soon cease to implore +protection from on high.</p> + +<p>I feel solitary. The loud dashing of the waves on shore, and the +darkness and dreariness of all without my tent, conspire to give a +saddened train to my reflections. I endeavored to divert myself, soon +after landing, by a stroll along the shore. I sought in vain among the +loose fragments of rock for some specimens worthy of preservation. I +gleaned the evidences of crystallization and the traces of organic forms +among the cast-up fragments of limestone and sandstone. I amused myself +with the reflection that I should, perhaps, meet you coming from an +opposite direction on the beach, and I half fancied that, perhaps, it +would actually take place. Vain sport of the mind! It served to cheat +away a tedious hour, and I returned to my tent fatigued and half sick. I +am in hopes a cup of tea and a night's rest will restore my equipoise of +mind and body. Thus</p> + +<blockquote> +"Every pang that rends the heart,<br> +Bids expectation rise."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Still detained on this bleak and desolate Point. A heavy rain and +very strong gale continued all night. The rain was driven with such +violence as to penetrate through the texture of my tent, and fall +copiously upon me. Daybreak brought with it no abatement of the storm, +but presented to my view a wide vista of white foaming surge as far as +the eye could reach. In consequence of the increasing violence of the +storm, I was compelled to order my baggage and canoe to be removed, and +my tent to be pitched back among the trees. How long I am to remain here +I cannot conjecture. It is a real equinoxial storm. My ears are stunned +with the incessant roaring of the water and the loud murmuring of the +wind among the foliage. Thick murky clouds obscure the sky, and a chill +damp air compels me to sit in my tent with my cloak on. I may exclaim, +in the language of the Chippewas, <i>Tyau, gitche sunnahgud</i> (oh, how hard +is my fate.)</p> + +<p>At two o'clock I made another excursion to view the broad lake and see +if some favorable sign could not be drawn, but returned with nothing to +cast a gleam on the angry vista. It seemed as if the lake was convulsed +to its bottom.</p> + +<blockquote> +OUTARD POINT.<br> + +What narrowed pleasures swell the bosom here,<br> +A shore most sterile, and a clime severe,<br> +Where every shrub seems stinted in its size,<br> +"Where genius sickens and where fancy dies."<br><br> + +If to the lake I cast my longing view,<br> +The curling waves their noisy way pursue;<br> +That noise reminds me of my prison-strand,<br> +Those waves I most admire, but cannot stand.<br><br> + +If to the shore I cast my anxious eye,<br> +There broken rocks and sand commingled lie,<br> +Mixed with the wrecks of shells and weeds and wood,<br> +Crushed by the storm and driven by the flood.<br><br> + +E'en fishes there, high cast upon the shore,<br> +Yet pant with life and stain the rocks with gore.<br> +Would here the curious eye expect to meet<br> +Aught precious in the sands beneath his feet,<br> +Ores, gems, or crystals, fitting for the case,<br> +No spot affords so poor, so drear a place.<br> +Rough rounded stones, the sport of every wind,<br> +Is all th' inquirer shall with caution find.<br> +A beach unvaried spreads before the eye;<br> +Drear is the land and stormy is the sky.<br><br> + +Would the fixed eye, that dotes on sylvan scenes,<br> +Draw pleasure from these dark funereal greens,<br> +These stunted cedars and low scraggy pines,<br> +Where nature stagnates and the soil repines--<br><br> + +Alas! the source is small--small every bliss,<br> +That e'er can dwell on such a place as this.<br> +Bleak, barren, sandy, dreary, and confined,<br> +Bathed by the waves and chilled by every wind;<br> +Without a flower to beautify the scene,<br> +Without a cultured shore--a shady green--<br> +Without a harbor on a dangerous shore,<br> +Without a friend to joy with or deplore.<br> +He who can feel one lonely ray of bliss<br> +In such a thought-appalling spot as this,<br> +His mind in fogs and mists must ever roll,<br> +Without a heart, and torpid all his soul.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>About three o'clock P.M. there was a transient gleam of sunshine, and, +for a few moments, a slight abatement of wind. I ordered my canoe and +baggage taken inland to another narrow little bay, having issue into the +lake, where the water was calm enough to permit its being loaded; but +before this was accomplished, a most portentous cloud gathered in the +west, and the wind arose more fierce than before. Huron, like an +offended and capricious mistress, seemed to be determined, at last, on +fury, and threw herself into the most extravagant attitudes. I again had +my tent pitched, and sat down quietly to wait till the tempest should +subside; but up to a late hour at night the elemental war continued, +and, committing myself to the Divine mercy, I put out my candle and +retired to my pallet.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. The frowning mistress, Lake Huron, still has the pouts. About +seven o'clock I walked, or scrambled my way through close-matted spruce +and brambles to get a view of the open lake. The force of the waves was +not, perhaps, much different from the day before, but they were directly +from the west, and blowing directly down the lake. Could I get out from +the nook of a bay where I was encamped, and get directly before them, it +appeared possible, with a close-reefed sail, to go on my way. My +<i>engagees</i> thought it too hazardous to try, but their habitual sense of +obedience to a <i>bourgeoise</i> led them to put the canoe in the water, and +at 10 o'clock we left our encampment on Outard Point, got out into the +lake, not without imminent hazard, and began our career "like a +racehorse" for the Capes of the St. Mary's. The wind blew as if "'twad +blawn its last." We had reefed our sail to less than four feet, and I +put an extra man with the steersman. We literally went "on the wings of +the wind." I do not think myself ever to have run such hazards. I was +tossed up and down the waves like Sancho Panza on the blanket. Three +hours and twenty minutes brought me to Isle St. Vital, behind which we +got shelter. The good saint who presides over the island of gravel and +sand permitted me to take a glass of cordial from my basket, and to +refresh myself with a slice of cold tongue and a biscuit. Who this St. +Vital may have been, I know not, having been brought up a Protestant; +but I suppose the Catholic calendar would tell. If his saintship was as +fond of good living as some of his friends are said to be, I make no +doubt but he will freely forgive this trespass upon his territory. +Taking courage by this refreshment, we again put out before the gale, +and got in to the De Tour, and by seven o'clock, P.M., were safely +encamped on an island in St. Mary's Straits, opposite St. Joseph's. The +wind was here ahead.</p> + +<p>On entering the straits, I found a vessel at anchor. On coming alongside +it proved to be the schooner Harriet, Capt. Allen, of Mont Clemens, on +her way from the Sault. A passenger on board says that he was at Mr. +Johnston's house two days ago, and all are well. He says the Chippewa +chiefs arrived yesterday. Regret that I had not forwarded by them the +letter which I had prepared at the Prairie to transmit by Mr. Holliday, +when I supposed I should return by way of Chippewa River and +Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>I procured from the Harriet a whitefish, of which I have just partaken a +supper. This delicious fish is always a treat to me, but was never more +so than on the present occasion. I landed here fatigued, wet, and cold, +but, from the effects of a cheerful fire, good news from home, and +bright anticipations for to-morrow, I feel quite re-invigorated. "Tired +nature's sweet restorer" must complete what tea and whitefish have so +successfully begun.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. My journal has no entry for this day, but it brought me safely +(some 40 miles) to my own domicil at "Elmwood." The excitement of +getting back and finding all well drove away almost all other thoughts.</p> + +<p>The impressions made on society by our visit to New York, and the +circles in which we moved, are given in a letter from Mr. Saml. C. +Conant, of the 19th July, which I found among those awaiting my arrival. +To introduce a descendant of one of the native race into society, as +had been done in my choice, was not an ordinary event, and did not +presuppose, it seems, ordinary independence of character. Her +grandfather, by the maternal side, had been a distinguished chief of his +nation at the ancient council-fire, or seat of its government at +Chegoimegon and Lapointe. By her father, a native of Antrim, in the +north of Ireland, she was connected with a class of clergy and gentry of +high respectability, including the Bishop of Dromore and Mr. Saurin, the +Attorney-General of Ireland. Two very diverse sources of pride of +ancestry met in her father's family--that of the noble and free sons of +the forest, and that of ancestral origin founded on the notice of +British aristocracy. With me, the former was of the highest honor, when +I beheld it, as it was in her case, united to manners and education in a +marked degree gentle, polished, retiring, and refined. No two such +diverse races and states of society, uniting to produce such a result, +had ever come to my notice, and I was, of course, gratified when any +persons of intellect and refinement concurred in the wisdom of my +choice. Such was Mr. Conant and his family, a group ever to be +remembered with kindness and respect. Having passed some weeks in his +family, with her infant boy and nurse, during my absence South, his +opportunities for judging were of the best kind.</p> + +<p>"If you will suffer me to indulge the expression of both my own and Mrs. +Conant's feelings, I am sure that you cannot but be pleased that the +frankness and generosity of one, and the virtues and gentleness of the +other of you, have made so lively an impression on our hearts, and +rendered your acquaintance to us a matter of very sweet and grateful +reflection. Truly modest and worthy persons often exhibit virtues and +possess attainments so much allied to their nature as to be themselves +unconscious of the treasures. It does not hurt such ones to be informed +of their good qualities.</p> + +<p>"When I first visited Mr. Schoolcraft, I looked about for his <i>Indian +girl</i>. I carried such a report to my wife that we were determined to +seek her acquaintance, and were not less surprised than recompensed to +find such gentleness, urbanity, affection, and intelligence, under +circumstances so illy calculated, as might be supposed, to produce such +amiable virtues. But all have learned to estimate human nature more +correctly, and to determine that nature herself, not less than the +culture of skillful hands, has much to do with the refinement and polish +of the mind.</p> + +<p>"Mr. S.'s book ('Trav. Cent. Ports. Miss. Valley') has also received +several generous and laudatory notices; one from the <i>U.S. Literary +Gazette</i>, printed at Boston. I saw Gov. Clinton, also, who spoke very +highly both of the book and the author. He thought that Mr. W.'s +ill-natured critique would not do any injury either here or in Europe."</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 23d</i>. C.C. Trowbridge, Esq., sends me a copy of "Guess' Cherokee +Alphabet." It is, with a few exceptions, syllabic. Eighty-four +characters express the whole language, but will express no other +Indian language.</p> + +<p>Maj. John Biddle communicates the result of the delegate election. By +throwing out the vote of Sault Ste. Marie, the election was awarded by +the canvassers to Mr. Wing.</p> + +<p>New views of Indian philology. "You know," says a literary friend, "I +began with a design to refute the calumnies of the <i>Quarterly</i> +respecting our treatment of the Indians, and our conduct during the +recent war. This is precisely what I have not done. My stock of +materials for this purpose was most ample, and the most of the labor +performed. But I found the whole could not be inserted in one number, +and no other part but this could be omitted without breaking the +continuity of the discussion. I concluded, therefore, it would be better +to save it for another article, and hereafter remodel it."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Mr. C. writes that he has completed his review, and transmits, +for my perusal, some of the new parts of it. "I also transmit my rough +draft of those parts of the review which relate to Hunter, to Adelang's +survey, and to ----. These may amuse an idle hour. The remarks on ---- +are, as you will perceive, materially altered. The alteration was +rendered necessary by an examination of the work. The 'survey' is a new +item, and I think, you will consider, the occasion of it, with me, a +precious specimen of Dutch impudence and ignorance. Bad as it is, it is +bepraised and bedaubed by that quack D. as though it were written with +the judgment of a Charlevoix."</p> + +<p>This article utters a species of criticism in America which we have long +wanted.</p> + +<p>It breaks the ice on new ground--the ground of independent +philosophical thought and inquiry. Truth to tell, we have known very +little on the philosophy of the Indian languages, and that little has +been the re-echo of foreign continental opinions. It has been written +without a knowledge of the Indian character and history. Its allusions +have mixed up the tribes in double confusion. Mere synonyms have been +taken for different tribes, and their history and language has been +criss-crossed as if the facts had been heaped together with a pitchfork. +Mr. C. has made a bold stroke to lay the foundation of a better and +truer philological basis, which must at last prevail. It is true the +<i>prestige</i> of respected names will rise up to oppose the new views, +which, I confess, to be sustained in their main features by my own views +and researches here on the ground and in the midst of the Indians, and +men will rise to sustain the <i>old</i> views--the original literary mummery +and philological hocus-pocus based on the papers and letters and +blunders of Heckewelder. There was a great predisposition to admire and +overrate everything relative to Indian history and language, as detailed +by this good and sincere missionary in his retirement at Bethlehem. He +was appealed to as an oracle. This I found by an acquaintance which I +formed, in 1810, with the late amiable Dr. Wistar, while rusticating at +Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware. The confused letters which the +missionary wrote many years later, were mainly due to Dr. Wistar's +philosophical interest in the subject. They were rewritten and +thoroughly revised and systematized by the learned Mr. Duponceau, in +1816, and thus the philological system laid, which was published by the +Penn. Hist. Soc. in 1819. During the six years that has elapsed, nobody +has had the facts to examine the system. It has been now done, and I +shall be widely mistaken if this does not prove a new era in our Indian +philology.</p> + +<p>Whatever the review does on this head, however, and admitting that it +pushes some positions to an ultra point, it will blow the impostor +Hunter sky high. His book is an utter fabrication, in which there is +scarcely a grain of truth hid in a bushel of chaff.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 4th</i>. Difficulties have arisen, at this remote post, between the +citizens and the military, the latter of whom have shown a disposition +to feel power and forget right, by excluding, except with onerous +humiliations, some citizens from free access to the post-office. In a +letter of this date, the Postmaster-General (Mr. McLean) declines to +order the office to be kept out of the fort, and thus, in effect, +decides against the citizens. How very unimportant a citizen is 1000 +miles from the seat of government! The national aegis is not big enough +to reach so far. The bed is too long for the covering. A man cannot wrap +himself in it. It is to be hoped that the Postmaster-General will live +long enough to find out that he has been deceived in this matter.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Mr. Conant, of New York, writes: "I hope you will not fail to +prosecute your Indian inquiries this winter, getting out of them all the +stories and all the <i>Indian</i> you can. I conclude you hear an echo now +and then from the big world, notwithstanding your seclusion. The Creek +Delegation is at Washington, unfriendly to the late treaty, and I expect +some changes not a little interesting to the aboriginal cause. Mr. Adams +looks at his 'red children' with a friendly eye, and, I trust, 'the men +of his house,' as the Indian orator called Congress, will prove +themselves so. I have been charmed with the quietude and coolness +manifested in Congress in reference to the Georgia business."</p> + +<p>And with these last words from the civilized world, we are prepared to +plunge into another winter, with all its dreary accompaniments of ice +and snow and tempests, and with the <i>consoling</i> reflection that when our +poor and long-looked-for monthly express arrives, we can get our letters +and papers from the office after duly performing our genuflections to a +petty military chief, with the obsequiousness of a Hindoo to the image +of Juggernaut.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI."></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<p>General aspects of the Indian cause--Public criticism on the state of +Indian researches, and literary storm raised by the new views--Political +rumor--Death of R. Pettibone, Esq.--Delegate election--Copper mines of +Lake Superior--Instructions for a treaty in the North--Death of Mr. +Pettit--Denial of post-office facilities--Arrival of commissioners to +hold the Fond du Lac treaty--Trip to Fond du Lac through Lake +Superior--Treaty--Return--Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.</p> + +<p><i>1826. Feb. 1st</i>. The year opens with unfavorable symptoms for the +Indian cause. The administration is strong in Congress, and the +President favorable to the Indian view of their right to the soil they +occupy east of the Mississippi until it is acquired by free cession. But +the doctrine of state sovereignty contended for by Georgia, seems to be +an element which all the States will, in the end, unite in contending +for. And the Creeks may settle their accounts with the fact that they +must finally go to the West. This is a practical view of the subject--a +sort of political necessity which seems to outride everything else. +Poetry and sympathy are rode over roughshod in the contest for the race. +We feel nothing of this <i>here</i> at present, but it is only, perhaps, +because we are too remote and unimportant to waste a thought about. +Happy insignificance! As one of the little means of supporting existence +in so remote a spot, and keeping alive, at the same time, the spark of +literary excitement, I began, in December, a manuscript <i>jeu d'esprit</i> +newspaper, to be put in covers and sent from house to house, with the +perhaps too ambitious cognomen of "The Literary Voyager."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The author of a leading and pungent critique for the <i>North +American Review</i> writes in fine spirits from Washington, and in his +usual literary tone and temper about his review: "Dr. Sparks' letter +will show you his opinion. He altered the manuscript in some places, and +makes me say of--what I do not think and what I would not have +said. But let that pass. I gave him <i>carte blanche</i>, so I have no right +to find fault with his exercise of his discretion. W. is in a terrible +passion. He says that the article is written with ability, and that he +always entertained the opinion expressed in the review of Heckewelder's +work. But he is provoked at the comments on ----'s work, and, above all, +at the compliment to you. Douglass, who is here, says this is merely +Philadelphia <i>versus</i> New York, and that it is a principle with the +former to puff all that is printed there, and to decry all that is not."</p> + +<p>This appears to have been known to Gov. Clinton, and is the ground of +the opinion he expressed of W. to Mr. Conant.</p> + +<p><i>March 6th</i>. Col. De Garmo Jones writes from Detroit that it is rumored +that McLean is to leave the General Post-office Department, and to be +appointed one of the United States Judges.</p> + +<p>Mr. L. Pettibone, of Missouri, my companion in exploring the Ozark +Mountains in 1818 and 1819, writes from that quarter that his brother, +Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis, died on the 31st July last. He was +a man of noble, correct, and generous sentiments, who had practiced law +with reputation in Western New York. I accompanied him and his family on +going to the Western country, on his way from Olean to Pittsburgh. His +generous and manly character and fair talents, make his death a loss to +the community, and to the growing and enterprising population of the +West. He was one of the men who cheered me in my early explorations in +the West, and ever met me with a smile.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. My sister Maria writes, posting me up in the local news of +Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Mr. Trowbridge informs me that Congress settled the contested +delegate question by casting aside the Sault votes. We are so +unimportant that even our votes are considered as worthless. However +that may be, nothing could be a greater misrepresentation than that +"Indians from their lodges were allowed to vote."</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Col. Thomas H. Benton, of the Senate, writes that an +appropriation of $10,000 has been granted for carrying out a clause in +the Prairie du Chien treaty, and that a convocation of the Indians in +Lake Superior will take place, "so that the copper-mine business is +arranged."</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Maj. Joseph Delafield, of New York, says that Baron Lederer is +desirous of entering into an arrangement for the exchange of my large +mass of Lake Superior copper, for mineralogical specimens for the +Imperial Cabinet of Vienna.</p> + +<p><i>April 16th</i>. A letter from the Department contains incipient directions +for convening the Indians to meet in council at the head of Lake +Superior, and committing the general arrangements for that purpose to my +hands, and, indeed, my hands are already full. Boats, canoes, supplies, +transportation for all who are to go, and a thousand minor questions, +call for attention. A treaty at Fond du Lac, 500 miles distant, and the +throwing of a commissariat department through the lake, is no +light task.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. A moral question of much interest is presented to me in a +communication from the Rev. Alvan Coe. Of the disinterested nature and +character of this man's benevolence for the Indian race, no man knowing +him ever doubted. He has literally been going about doing good among +them since our first arrival here in 1822. In his zeal to shield them +from the arts of petty traders, he has often gone so far as to incur the +ill-will and provoke the slanderous tongues of some few people. That he +should deem it necessary to address me a letter to counteract such +rumors, is the only thing remarkable. Wiser, in some senses, and more +prudent people in their worldly affairs, probably exist; but no man of a +purer, simpler, and more exalted faith. No one whom I ever knew lives +less for "the rewards that perish." Even Mr. Laird, whose name is +mentioned in these records, although he went far beyond him in talents, +gifts, and acquirements of every sort, had not a purer faith, yet he +will, like that holy man, receive his rewards from the same "Master."</p> + +<p><i>May 2d</i>. Mr. Trowbridge writes me of the death of Wm. W. Pettit, Esq., +of Detroit, a man respected and admired. He loaned me a haversack, +suitable for a loose mineral bag, on my expedition in 1820.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Difficulties between the military and citizens continue. The +Postmaster-General declined, on a renewed memorial of the citizens, to +remove the post-office without the garrison. He says the officers have +evinced "much sensibility" on the subject, and denied that "any +restraints or embarrassments" have been imposed, when every man and +woman in the settlement knows that the only way to the <i>post-office</i> +lies through the <i>guard-house</i>, which is open and shut by tap of drum. +Restraints, indeed! Where has the worthy Postmaster-General picked up +his military information?</p> + +<p><i>June 6th</i>. Definite information is received that the appropriation for +the Lake Superior treaty has passed Congress.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mr. John Agnew, designated a special agent for preliminaries at +Fond du Lac, writes of his prompt arrival at that place and +good progress.</p> + +<p>Gov. C. writes: "We must remove the copper-rock, and, therefore, you +will have to provide such ropes and blocks as may be necessary."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The citizens on this frontier, early in the season, petitioned +the Legislative Council for the erection of a new county, embracing the +Straits of St. Mary's and the Basin of Lake Superior, proposing to call +it Chippewa, in allusion to the tribe occupying it. Maj. Robert A. +Forsyth, of Detroit, M.C., writes of the success of the +contemplated measure.</p> + +<p><i>July 4th</i>. The proposed treaty of Fond du Lac has filled the place with +bustle for the last month. At an early hour this morning expectation was +gratified by the arrival of His Excellency, Gov. Cass, accompanied by +the Hon. Thomas L. McKenney, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. They +reached the village in boats from Mackinac.</p> + +<p>These gentlemen are appointed by the President to hold the conferences +at Fond du Lac.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Everything has been put in requisition for the last six days to +facilitate the necessary embarkation. Jason could not have been more +busy in preparing for his famous expedition to Argos. The military +element of the party consisted of a company of the 2d Infantry, with its +commissariat and medical department, numbering, all told, sixty-two men. +It was placed under the command of Capt. Boardman. They embarked in +three twelve-oared barges, and formed the advance. The provisions, +presents of goods, and subsistence supplies of the commissioners' table, +occupied four boats, and went next. I proceeded in a canoe <i>allége</i> with +ten men, with every appendage to render the trip convenient and +agreeable. Col. McKenney, struck with "the coach-and-six" sort of style +of this kind of conveyance, determined to take a seat with me, and +relying upon our speed and capacity to overtake the heavy boats, we +embarked a day later. The whole expedition, with flags and music, was +spread out over miles, and formed an impressive and imposing spectacle +to the natives, who saw their "closed lake," as Superior was called in +1820, yield before the Anglo-Saxon power. The weather was fine, the +scenery enchanting, and the incidents such as might fill a volume.<a name="FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45">[45]</a> We +were eighteen days in traversing the lake by its shores and bays. The +distance is about 530 miles, which gives an average of thirty miles +per day.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor45">[45]</a> Vide "Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and +Customs of the Chippewa Indians, and of Incidents connected with the +Treaty of Fond du Lac, by Thomas L. McKenney." Baltimore, Fielding +Lucas, 1827; one vol. 8vo., 493 pp. +</blockquote> + +<p>On reaching the post of Fond du Lac, of St. Louis, near the point where +that bold stream deploys below the Cabotian Mountains,<a name="FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a> we found a +large assemblage of Indians from every part of the wide-spread Chippewa +territories. It embraced delegations from the extreme sources of the +Mississippi, the Rainy Lake borders, and Old Grand Portage, besides the +entire American borders of Lake Superior and the Rice Lake region, the +sources of the Wisconsin, Chippewa, and St. Croix valleys. The +negotiations were held under a large bower, supported by posts, and +provided with rude seats. The principles of the treaty of Prairie du +Chien, of 1825, were fully explained and assented to. They ceded the +right to explore and take away the native copper and copper-ores, and to +work the mines and minerals in the country. They agreed to surrender the +murderers still inland, who belonged to the misguided war party of 1824. +They fully acknowledged the sovereign authority of the United States, +and disclaimed all connection whatever with foreign powers. They +stipulated that the boundary lines of the treaty of Prairie du Chien +should be carried out in 1827 with the Menomonies and Winnebagoes, in +the region of the sources of the Fox, Wisconsin, and Menomonee rivers. +They provided for an Indian school at St. Mary's, and made some further +important stipulations respecting their advance in the arts and +education, through the element of their half-breeds. The effects of this +treaty were to place our Indian relations in this quarter on a permanent +basis, and to ensure the future peace of the frontier. My agency was now +fixed on a sure basis, and my influence fully established among the +tribes. During the treaty I had been the medium of placing about forty +silver medals, of the first, second, and third classes, on the necks of +the chiefs. A list of their names is appended.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor46">[46]</a> From Cabot. +</blockquote> + +<p>While the Commissioners were engaged in the treaty, an effort was made, +under their direction, to get out the large copper-boulder on the +Ontonagon. It was entrusted to Col. Clemens, of Mount Clemens, and a Mr. +Porter. The trucks and ropes taken inland by them proved inadequate. +They then piled up the dry trees in the valley on the rock, and set them +on fire. They found this effort to melt it inefficacious. They then +poured on water from the river on whose brink it lays. This cracked off +some of the adhering rock. And this attempt to mutilate and falsify the +noblest specimen of native copper on the globe was the result of +this effort.</p> + +<p>The whole expedition re-embarked on the 9th of August, and being now +relieved of its heavy supplies and favored with winds, returned to the +Sault St. Marie on the 18th of that month.</p> + +<p>No sooner were we arrived at St. Mary's than we were informed of the +remarkable coincident deaths, on the 4th July, 1826, of John Adams and +Thomas Jefferson, the second and third Presidents of the United States.</p> + +<p>Among the letters accumulated during my absence, was one of Aug. 2d, +from Gov. Clinton, requesting some wild rice for foreign distribution.</p> + +<p>Another one was from my excellent friend Conant, of N.Y., who, with a +fine sensitive mind, just appreciation of facts, and no ordinary +capacity, appears to be literally breaking down in health and spirits, +although still a young man. In a joint letter to Mrs. S. and myself, he +says: "It appears you do not escape afflictions and visitations to teach +you 'how frail you are,' how liable at any moment to render up to Him +who gave them, your spirit and your life. Mr. S.," he adds, in evident +allusion to my excess of "hope," "firm in body and ambitious in his +pursuits, does not, I suppose, give over yet, and can scarcely +understand how anybody should tire of life, and look at its pursuits +with disgust."</p> + +<p>Among my unread letters was one, Aug. 28th, from a Mr. Myer and Mr. +Cocke, of Washington, District of Columbia, who propose to establish a +periodical to be called "The Potomac Magazine," and solicit +contributions. These abortive attempts to establish periodicals by +unknown men are becoming more frequent as population increases in the +land. It is felt truly that the number of <i>readers</i> must increase, but +it is a mistake to suppose that they will read anything but the very +best matter from the first sources, European and American. It is, at any +rate, a mistake to suppose that a man who has attained reputation in any +branch of science, literature, or general knowledge, should not seek the +highest medium of communicating it, or that he would throw away his time +and efforts in writing for these mere idealities of magazines without +the strong inducements of either fame, money, or, at least, personal +friendship.</p> + +<p>E.A. Brush, Esq., of Detroit, writes (Aug. 28th) from Mackinac, that +honors were performed that day by the military authorities on the +island, in commemoration of the deaths of Adams and Jefferson. "The +obsequies have this morning commenced here; but at this moment it is +rather difficult to select the report of a cannon, at intervals of half +an hour, from the claps of thunder at those of half a minute."</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 20th</i>. Mr. Robert Stuart, agent of the A.M. Fur Co., writes a +letter of congratulations on the good policy to result from placing a +sub-agent at La Pointe, in Lake Superior, a location where the interior +tricks of the trade may be reported for the notice of the government. +The selection of the sub-agent appointed by Commissioner McKenney is +gall and wormwood to him. He strives to conceal the deep chagrin he +feels at the selection of Mr. George Johnston as the incumbent.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII."></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<p>Epidemical condition of the atmosphere at Detroit--Death of Henry J. +Hunt and A. G. Whitney, Esqrs.--Diary of the visits of Indians at St. +Mary's Agency--Indian affairs on the frontier under the supervision of +Col. McKenney--Criticisms on the state of Indian questions--Topic of +Indian eloquence--State of American researches in natural science--Dr. +Saml. L. Mitchell.</p> + +<p>1826. <i>September</i>. Sickness, which often assumed a mortal type, broke +out during this month at Detroit, and carried away many of its most +esteemed citizens. Col. McKenney writes (Sep. 13th) that the +Commissioners reached that place from Mackinac in ten days, and that an +alarming sickness prevails--one hundred cases! Among the latter is Mrs. +Judge Hunt, an esteemed lady.</p> + +<p>Gov. C. (Sep. 14th) announces the death of Col. Henry J. Hunt, one of +the most respectable citizens; a man who, for many years, has occupied a +position of the highest respect and esteem. His honor, integrity, and +general usefulness, urbanity of manners and kindness to all classes, +have never been called in question, and his loss to society will create +a vacancy which will long be felt. Called away suddenly, his death has +produced a shock in all classes, from the highest to the lowest.</p> + +<p>Edmund A. Brush, Esq., writes (Sept. 17th): "Our unhappy mortality +prevails." On the 23d, he says: "Mr. Whitney has been lying at the point +of death for the last ten or twelve days. We hope he begins to improve." +These hopes were delusive. He died. Mr. Whitney had been abroad; he was +an assiduous and talented advocate--a native of Hudson, N.Y.--was on the +high road to political distinction--a moral man and a public loss.</p> + +<p>I amused myself this fall by keeping notes of the official visits of my +Indian neighbors. They may denote the kind of daily wants against which +this people struggle.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 2d</i>. Monetogeezhig complained that he had not been able to take +any fish for several days, and solicited some food for himself and +family, being five persons. The dress and general appearance of himself +and wife and the children, nearly naked, bore evidence to the truth of +his repeated expressions, that they were "poor, very poor, and hungry." +He also presented a kettle and an axe to be repaired. I gave him a +ticket on the Agency blacksmith, and caused sixteen rations of flour and +pork to be issued to him.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. The petty chief, Cheegud, with his wife and two children, arrived +from Lake Superior, and reported that since leaving the Taquimenon he +had killed nothing. While inland, he had broken his axe and trap. This +young chief is son-in-law of Shingauba W'ossin, principal chief of the +Chippewas. He is one of the home band, has been intimate at the agency +from its establishment, and is very much attached to the government. He +attended the treaty of Prairie du Chien, in 1825, and the treaty of Fond +du Lac, in 1826, and received at the latter a medal of the third size. +He has always properly appreciated the presents given him, and by his +temperate, consistent, and respectable course of life, merited +attention. Directed a ticket on the shop and twenty rations.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. An Indian woman, wife of Sirdeland, a resident Canadian, in very +low circumstances, and living in the Indian mode, requested a kettle to +be mended. My rule, in cases of this sort, excludes Indian females who +are under the protection of Canadian husbands from a participation in +the presents distributed at the office. But it is proper to make +exceptions, in some instances, where repairs of ironwork are solicited. +Directed a ticket on the blacksmith.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Issued to Waykwauking and family twelve rations.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Shingwaukoance, <i>The Little Pine</i> (17th July, 1822, first +visit), accompanied by twenty persons, visited the office. This is one +of the signers of the Treaty of St. Mary of 1820, where his mark is +prefixed to his <i>French</i> name, Augustin Bart. He told me he had come to +visit me, attended with all his young men, and requested I would listen +to what he had to say. He made a speech at great length, in which he +recapitulated his good offices and exertions towards the Americans, from +the time of Gov. Cass's arrival in 1820. He stated that a plot had then +been formed to cut off the Gov.'s party, and that he and Mr. G. Johnston +had been instrumental in thwarting the design. He was glad to see the +fire I had lighted up here in 1822 was kept burning, that the Indians +might come and warm themselves by it. He had now determined to come and +live permanently on the American side of the river, and put himself +under my protection.</p> + +<p>He repeated his friendship, and gave a "parole" of blue wampum to +confirm his words. One of his party then lighted a pipe and handed it to +me to smoke in the usual manner. Caused tobacco and sixty rations of +food to be distributed among his band.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Oshawano solicited food, declaring that his boys had not been +able to take any fish from the rapids for several days. This is an old +man, and a chief resident at St. Mary's. I told him that it was not my +practice, which he knew, to issue provision to the families of fishermen +during the fishing season, and that I expected his children to supply +him; that, besides, he was one of the persons who had visited the B. +Post at D. Isd. during the last summer, and that he knew I made no +presents of any kind to Indians who received presents there; that if he +went to his B. father in the summer, when it was pleasant weather, he +must also go in the fall and winter, when the weather was bad; that if +they gave him presents of goods, they must also give him food. He looked +very grave, and, after a short silence, said that he had got little or +nothing at D.I. He said his home was <i>here</i>, and he was very poor, &c. +Knowing, from personal observation, that he was suffering for food, I +ordered twenty-six-rations.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Cheegud came to say that he was about to go to his wintering +grounds, and wished some provisions to commence the journey. This young +chief has been welcomed at the agency, and is friendly to the American +government. He attended the treaties of P.D.C. and F. du Lac; at the +latter he received a medal. He has always appreciated attentions, and by +his sober, consistent, and respectful course of life, merits the notice +of the office. I gave him some necessary ironwork, a knife, tobacco, +ammunition, provisions (18).</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Visited by Shingauwosh (4 p.)</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Akeewayzee (4 per.)</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Keewikoance and band, eleven persons. This is a chief residing +on the lower part of the river St. Mary. Having visited him last spring, +he gave me an ancient clay pot, such as the Indians used before the +arrival of Europeans. He told me he was the seventh chief, in a direct +line, since the French first arrived. He and his band plant some corn +and potatoes upon an island. He appears a sensible discreet man, and has +a good deal of the pride and dignity of the Indian character. He is in +the British interest, and his feelings are all that way, being always +received at D. I. with marked attention. He has a British medal, but +wishes to keep on friendly terms here.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Metosh came in the office and said: "My father, I am very poor; +I have nothing, not even an axe to cut wood. Show me pity." +Thirteen rations.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Visited by Wayishkee, a chief, having a medal of the first +class, formerly of La Pointe, in Lake Superior, and of an ancient line +of chiefs, but for the last three years a resident of St. Mary's. He had +a wife and nine children. Has been in the constant habit of visiting the +office since its establishment; but it is only within the last year that +he has given up visiting D. I. He is one of the signers of the treaty of +St. Mary. He attended the treaty of F. du Lac last summer. Received a +medal and flag from me in the spring. Is a good hunter and a kind and +affectionate parent. Had all his children by one wife. Came to inform me +that he was on his way to make his first hunt on Red Carp river, L. S. +Gave him ironwork, &c.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Neegaubeyun, <i>The West Wind</i>, a chief by descent of the home +band; is a man about forty; has lost one eye; much given to +intemperance, and generally badly clothed; will sometimes labor for +whisky; visits D.I. every season. In consequence of his poor character +and political bias, has never been recognized by me as a chief, nor +honored with the marks of one. He said that he was poor, and did not +come to trouble me often, and hoped I would show him charity. I told him +he must not construe my charity into approbation of his conduct, +particularly his visits to D.I., which were displeasing to me and had +been forbidden by his American Father (3b.)</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Muckudaywuckooneyea. This is a young man about 18. His father +was a steady friend to the American cause even during the late war, and +many years before an Agent resided here. He had received a Jefferson +medal at Detroit; was drowned in the St. Mary a few years ago. The son +has been an irregular visitor at the office for the last four years, and +is ambitious to be invested with the authority of his father, but +possesses neither age, ability, or discretion. In consequence of his +visiting D.I., contrary to my request and <i>his</i> promise, I took away his +father's medal from him, in 1823, hanging it up in my office, and +telling him when he was worthy of it, and not before, he should have it. +His conduct of late has been more considerate, and his professions of +friendship for the American government are profuse; but he has not +ceased his Canada visits. Ten rations.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 5th</i>. Ketuckeewagauboway. This being Sunday, I told him he knew +very well that I never listened to Indians on the Prayer Day unless they +were just come from a journey, &c. He went away, saying he had +forgot, &c.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Oshkinaway and brother, 18 p., of the British shore. Brought a +present of some partridges.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Metacosegay. This man resides the greater part of the time on the +Canadian side of the river, but hunts often on the American shore. He +resided many years ago with a French family at St. Mary, and has imbibed +something of the French taste and manners, always wearing an ornamental +hat, and making a bow on entering and leaving the office. He has been in +the regular habit of visiting me from the year 1822, and generally +applies for what is termed <i>nwappo</i> on setting out for his fall and +winter hunts. His elder wife, for he has two, is a Sioux slave, taken in +youth. (3, 12 r.)</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Nauwequay Wegauboway. (4, 20.)</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. This day Bisconaosh visited me for the first time since my +residence here. He came with his wife and two children. This man is of +the ancient band of the Falls, but being strongly attached to the +British government, has been shy of approaching me. This has been taken +advantage of by Mr. E., a trader on the opposite shore, who told him the +Americans would cause him to be whipped, with other idle stuff of that +sort, if he came over. He stated these facts as the cause for his not +coming earlier to see me, and said he was anxious to return to the seat +of his forefathers, &c. Presented him with an axe, pair of spears, +ice-chisel, knife, and a couple of flints, and with sixteen rations of +flour, pork, and beans. <i>10th</i>. Ketuckeewagauboway. This is a resident +Indian of this place. He is a fisherman during the summer, and scarcely +ever does more in the winter than to snare hares or kill partridges, +which he exposes for sale. He also makes snow-shoes, &c. He is +intemperate and improvident, wasting in liquor what would be useful to +his family if laid out for provisions, &c. It is impossible to avoid +issues to such persons occasionally. Advice and reproof he always takes +well, acknowledges their justice with good nature, and is even +facetiously pleasant. This man used formerly to come to the office +intoxicated; but my undeviating rule of listening to no Indian in that +state, has had good effect.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Kewazee, a fisherman in the fall, a hunter in the winter, is the +eldest son of the old hereditary chief Oshawano. Keeps himself well +clothed, and supports his family of four persons comfortably in the +Indian way. Having concluded to stop fishing for the season, he came to +solicit some provision to go inland. This is one of the home band who +adheres to the American government, and has entirely broken off all +visits to D.I., even contrary to the practice of his father and all the +other members of his family.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Iawbeance, <i>The Little Male</i>, a young man.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Margret, wife of Metakoosega, came in the name of her husband, +confined by a sore hand and unable to work. 3, 10.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Wabishkipenaysee, 6, 18, an Ontonagon Indian, who thinks he is +abandoned by his Manito.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Naugitshigome and band, 12, 48. This is an old man, a chief by +descent, but has neither medal nor flag from the British or American +government. His followers, consisting of some relations, entitle him to +some respect, although his foreign attachments have prevented my +receiving him as a chief. His visits are, however, constant, and he +professes himself friendly. His prejudices have evidently given way a +good deal, and the kindness and charity shown to him, mixed with +admonition, have produced a sensible change in his feelings.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Caubaonaquet, 6, 36.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Moazomonee, 4, 14, of St. Croix, L.S., made a speech, stating +the circumstances which brought him down, and imploring charity in +clothes, &c. Presented a pipe to him; gave him an axe, spears, chisel, +fire-steel, leggings, &c.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Oaugaugee, <i>Little Crow</i>, 4, 12, a son-in-law of Naugitchigome, +brought some hares as a present.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Ochipway, a stout, athletic young Indian, having a wife and +children. He said his youngest child was ill, and requested a physician +to be sent to see him.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Negaubeyun, 12, 36.</p> + +<p>Oshawano. Told him to come some other time. Axe and spears.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Akewaizee applied for provisions and an axe, saying his axe had +been stolen; that he wished to go down the river. I taxed him with +selling his axe for liquor, but he denied this, saying that he never +sold what he received as presents, and that it was stolen while he was +fishing. Gave him an axe, with an injunction that he must take better +care of it than he did of the last. Ten rations.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Metacosseguay and wife. Said he had not been able to hunt or +fish for some time, and had been disappointed in getting flour for some +fish he had sold; that the trader had promised him flour when the vessel +came, but no vessel had come. This being the <i>third</i> visit of this man +and family within three weeks, I told him that while he was unwell I had +given him, but now he was able to hunt or trap or fish, he must do so; +that he came to me too often, and sometimes after he had sold the avails +of his hunt, and taken the whole in liquor, he relied upon me for +provisions; that I saw clearly what was going on about me, and he could +not deceive me by idle stories, &c.; that he was constantly calling me +father, and entreating me to look upon him as a child, and I did so, not +only in giving, but also in refusing; that reasonable children did not +trouble their fathers too often, and never requested anything but when +they were <i>really</i> in need, &c. I ordered him a plug of tobacco, and +told him to go to his lodge and <i>smoke upon my words</i>, and he would find +them good. He went away seemingly as well pleased as if I had met his +requests, shaking me and my interpreter cordially by the hand, and his +wife dropping a curtsey as she left the office.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Moazomonee, nephew, and brother-in-law, came for some muskrat +traps I had promised him on his last visit. As this man belongs to a +band on the head of River St. Croix, 700 miles inland, and will return +there in the spring, the opinions he may imbibe of our government may +have an important influence with his relatives, and I therefore +determined to make a favorable impression upon him by issuing some +presents. In his lodge are four men, three women, and a number of +children. Issued sixteen rations.</p> + +<p><i>Decr. 1st</i>. Cath. and Gikkaw applied for awls.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Oshawano and his youngest son. Said he had three daughters who had +to cut wood every day, and had no axe of their own; that he was in want +of an ice-chisel; fever in family. Gave him twenty rations. Thanked me +and bade me good-day.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Caubamossa, nephew, wife, and child. Twelve rations.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Odawau, Refused provisions. Elder brother to Oshawano, alias +Weenekiz.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Getsha Akkewaize. Refused provisions. Told him that on account of +visits to D.I., &c.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Moazonee came for traps promised him, also a knife and +fire-steel. Told him to hunt assiduously, but if he could procure +nothing, to come to me for provisions.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Merchand. Old iron to mend.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Nauwaquaygahig. 12, axe, &c.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Namewunagunboway. 12.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Merchand. Twenty rations, five persons.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Meesho.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Ketetckeewagauboway. Axe and spears.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Gitshee Ojibway.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Metackossegay.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Naugitchigome called at house. Sent off with, a reprimand never +to call on Sunday.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Iaubence brought some birds. Gave rations.</p> + +<p>My correspondence during the autumn was by no means neglected. Col. +McKenney, Com. Ind. Affairs, writes (Oct. 17th) in his usual friendly +vein. The official influence of his visit to this remote portion of the +country is seen in several things. He has placed a sub-agent at La +Pointe. He has approved the agent's course of policy pursued here, and +placed the Indian affairs generally on a better basis.</p> + +<p>In his "sketches" of his recent tour, he seeks to embody personal and +amusing things which daily befell the party--matters upon which he was +quite at home. I had mentioned to him, while here, that the time and +labor necessary to collect information on Indian topics, of a literary +character, imposed a species of research worthy of departmental +patronage; that I was quite willing to contribute in this way, and to +devote my leisure moments to further researches on the aboriginal +history and languages, if the government would appropriate means to this +end. I took the occasion to put these views in writing, and, by way of +earnest, enclosed him part of a vocabulary.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 1st.</i> The false views of Indian history and philology, engendered +in some degree by the misapprehensions of Mr. Heckewelder and some other +writers, which were exposed by a glowing article in the <i>North American +Review</i> last year, have had the effect to provoke further discussion. C. +is disposed to prepare another article for that paper, and is looking +about him keenly for new facts. In a letter of this date, he says: "I am +extremely anxious for your conjugation of the Chippewa substantive verb. +Let nothing prevent you from sending it to me, as it is more essential +than I have time to explain to you. Send me also your observations on +the Chippewa language. Let them come as you had them. Take no time to +copy them."</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Mr. R. S. writes one of his peculiar letters, in which the +sentiments seem to be compressed, as if some species of <i>finesse</i> were +at work--an attenuated worldly precaution which leads him perpetually to +half conceal sentiment, purpose and acts, as if the operations and +business of life were not ten times better effected by plain +straightforwardness than by any other mode. He has, however, so long +dealt with tricky fur-traders and dealers in interested sentiment, that +it seems his intellectual habits are formed, to some extent, on that +model. What annoys me is, that he supposes himself hid, when, like the +ostrich, it is only his own head that is concealed in the sand. Yet this +man is alive to general moral effort, unites freely in all the +benevolent movements of the day, and has the general air of friendliness +in his personal manners. It continually seems that all the outer world's +affairs are well judged of, but when he comes to draw conclusions of +moral men who have the power of affecting his own interests, there is +apparent constraint, or palpable narrow-mindedness.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Professor Chas. Anthon, of Columbia College, writes for +specimens of Indian eloquence. The world has been grossly misled on this +subject. The great simplicity, and occasional strength, of an Indian's +thoughts, have sometimes led to the use of figures and epithets of +beauty. He is surrounded by all the elements of poetry and +eloquence--tempests, woods, waters, skies. His mythology is poetic. His +world is replete with spirits and gods of all imaginable kinds and hues. +His very position--a race falling before civilization, and obliged to +give up the bow and arrow for the plough--is poetic and artistic. But he +has no sustained eloquence, no continuous trains of varying thought. It +is the flash, the crack of contending elements. It is not the steady +sound of the waterfall. Such was the eloquent appeal of Logan, revised +and pointed by Gibson. Such was the more sustained speech of Garangula +to La Barrie, the Governor-General of Canada, with La Hontan as a +reporter. Such were the speeches of Pontiac and the eloquent Sagoyawata, +or Red Jacket, the readiest reasoner of them all, which were diluted +rather than improved by admiring paragraphists. Many persons have +purposed to write a volume of Indian eloquence. Mr. Conant's design on +this subject is fresh. The present request is to supply Mr. Barker, the +publisher of "Stephen's Greek Thesaurus," Cambridge, England. What under +the sun do the learned world suppose the Indians are made of? A man +spending his time painfully to catch a beaver, or entrap an enemy, +without stores of thought, without leisure, with nothing often to eat, +and nothing to put on but tatters and rags, and, withal, with the whole +Anglo-Saxon race treading on his toes and burning out his vitals with +ardent spirits. Such is the Indian.</p> + +<p>I sent the learned professor some perfectly truthful specimens, recently +delivered here on the occasion of a surgeon from the fort digging up the +body of an Indian woman for dissection. They expressed plain truth +without eloquence, and I never heard anything more of the professor.</p> + +<p><i>30th. Science in America</i>.--I received a friendly letter from Dr. +Samuel L. Mitchell, N. Y. There are, of recent years, more purely +scientific men in the land, no doubt, than the venerable doctor. But +could this have been said truly even ten years ago? He is now, perhaps, +the best ichthyologist in the Union. He is a well-read zoologist, an +intelligent botanist and a general physiologist, and has been for a long +series of years the focus of the diffusion of knowledge on a great +variety of subjects. Gov. Clinton has well called him the "Delphic +Oracle" in one of his Letters of Hibernicus, because every one who has a +scientific question to ask comes to him.</p> + +<p>"The Lyceum of Natural History," he writes, "is going on prosperously in +the collection of articles and in the publication of intelligence. The +museum is enlarging and the annals progressing. The intercourse of New +York city with almost numberless parts of the globe, aided by the +enterprise and generosity of our navigating citizens, is productive of +an almost constant supply of natural productions, some familiar, some +known to naturalists, but not before seen by us, and others new to the +whole class of observers."</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 1st</i>. Much leisure during the four years I have been at this +agency, added to an early developed distaste for the ordinary modes of +killing time, has enabled me to give no little of my leisure to literary +pursuits. The interesting phenomena of the Indian grammar have come in +for a large share of my attention. This has caused me to revise and +extend my early studies, and to rummage such books on general grammar +and philology as I could lay my hands on. Every winter, beginning as +soon as the navigation closes and the world is fairly shut out, has thus +constituted a season of studies. My attention has been perpetually +divided between books and living interpreters. This may be said to be my +fourth year's <i>course</i> with the Johnstons on the languages.</p> + +<p>I have also resumed, as an alternate amusement, "The Literary Voyager." +I wrote this year "The Man of Bronze," an essay on the Indian character, +which has contributed to my own amusement, nor have I determined to show +it to a human eye.</p> + +<blockquote> +Let others write what others deftly may,<br> +I aim with thought to fill my wintry day.<br> +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII."></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<p>Mineralogy--Territorial affairs--Vindication of the American policy by +its treatment of the Indians--New York spirit of improvement--Taste for +cabinets of natural history--Fatalism in an Indian--Death of a first +born son--Flight from the house--Territorial matters--A literary +topic--Preparations for another treaty--Consolations--Boundary in the +North-west under the treaty of Ghent--Natural history--Trip to Green +Bay--Treaty of Butte des Morts--Winnebago outbreak--Intrepid conduct of +General Cass--Indian stabbing--Investment of the petticoat--Mohegan +language.</p> + +<p><i>1827. January 10th</i>.--Mineralogy became a popular study in the United +States, I believe, about 1817 or thereabouts, when Professor Cleveland +published the first edition of his <i>Elements of Mineralogy</i>, and +Silliman began his <i>Journal of Science</i>. It is true Bruce had published +his <i>Mineralogical Journal</i> in 1814, but the science can, by no means, +be said to have attracted much, or general attention for several years. +It was not till 1819 that Cleveland's work first came into my hands. The +professor writes me under this date, that he is about preparing a new +edition of the work, and he solicits the communication of new +localities. This work has been about ten years before the public. It was +the first work on that subject produced on this side of the Atlantic, +and has acquired great popularity as a text-book to classes and +amateurs. It adopts a classification on chemical principles; but +recognizes the Wernerian system of erecting species by external +characters; and also Hany's system of crystallography, so far as it +extends, as being coincident, in the respective proofs which these +systems afford to the chemical mode of pure analysis. As such it +commends itself to the common sense of observers.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Territorial affairs now began more particularly to attract my +attention. Robert Irwin, Jr., Esq., M.C. of Detroit, writes on +territorial affairs, growing out of the organization of a new county, on +the St. Mary's, and in the basin of Lake Superior. I had furnished him +the choice of three names, Allegan, Algonac, and Chippewa.</p> + +<p>Major R.A. Forsyth, M.C., says (Jan. 22d), "the new county bill passed +on the last of December (1826). It is contemplated to tender to you the +appointment of first judge of the new county. We have selected the name +of 'Chippewa.'"</p> + +<p>Mr. C.C. Trowbridge writes (25th) that "it is proposed in Congress to +lay off a new territory, embracing all Michigan west of the lake. This +territory, at first proposed to be called Huron, was eventually named +Wisconsin."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Mr. Cass has examined, in an able article in the <i>North American +Review</i>, the policy of the American government in its treatment of the +Indians, in contrast with that of Great Britain. In this article, the +charges of the <i>London Quarterly</i> are controverted, and a full +vindication made of our policy and treatment of these tribes, which must +be gratifying to every lover of our institutions, and our public sense +of justice. As between government and government, this paper is a +powerful and triumphant one. As a legal question it is not less so. The +question of political sovereignty is clear. Did our English Elizabeths, +James', and Charles', ever doubt their full right of sovereignty? The +public sense of justice and benevolence, the Republic, if not the parent +monarchy, fully recognized, by tracing to these tribes the fee of the +soil, and by punctually paying its value, as established by public +treaties, at all times.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mr. T.G. Anderson, of Drummond Island, transmits a translation +of the Lord's Prayer, in Odjibwa, which he requests to be examined.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 5th</i>. No State seems comparable, for its enterprise and rapid +improvements, to New York. Mr. E.B. Allen, who recently removed from +this remote village to Ogdensburgh, New York, expresses his agreeable +surprise, after seven years' absence in the West, at the vast +improvements that have been made in that State. "There is a spirit of +enterprise and energy, that is deeply interesting to men of business and +also men of science."</p> + +<p><i>March 1st</i>. Dr. Martyn Paine, of New York, proposes a system of +philosophic exchanges. The large and fine collection of mineralogical +and geological specimens which I brought from Missouri and other parts +of the Mississippi valley in 1819, appears to have had an effect on the +prevalent taste for these subjects, and at least, it has fixed the eyes +of naturalists on my position on the frontiers. Cabinets of minerals +have been in vogue for about nine or ten years. Mr. Maclure, of +Philadelphia, Colonel Gibbs, of New Haven, and Drs. De Witt, Bruce and +Mitchill, of New York, and above Profs. Silliman and Cleveland, may be +said to have originated the taste. Before their day, minerals were +regarded as mere "stones." Now, it is rare to find a college or academy +without, at least, the nucleus of a cabinet. By transferring my +collection here, I have increased very much my own means of intellectual +enjoyment and resistance to the power of solitariness, if it has not +been the means of promoting discovery in others.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p><i>4th. Fatalism</i>,--An Indian, called Wabishkipenace, <i>The White Bird</i>, +brings an express mail from the sub-agency of La Pointe, in Lake +Superior. This proved to be the individual who, in 1820, acted as one of +the guides of the exploring expedition to the Copper Rock, on the +Ontonagon River. Trifles light as air arouse an Indian's suspicions, and +the circumstance of his being thus employed by the government agents, +was made use of by his fellows to his prejudice. They told him that this +act was displeasing to the Great Spirit, who had visited him with his +displeasure. Whatever influence this idea had on others, on +Wabishkipenace it seemed to tell. He looked the image of despair. He +wore his hair long, and was nearly naked. He had a countenance of the +most melancholy cast. Poverty itself could not be poorer. Now, he +appears to have taken courage, and is willing once more to enter into +the conflicts of life. But, alas! what are these conflicts with an +Indian? A mere struggle for meat and bread enough to live.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. This is a day long to be remembered in my domestic annals, as it +carried to the tomb the gem of a once happy circle, the cherished +darling of it, in the person of a beloved, beautiful, intellectually +promising, and only son. William Henry had not yet quite completed his +third year, and yet such had been the impression created by his manly +precocity, his decision of character, perpetual liveliness of temper and +manners, and sweet and classic lineaments, and attachable traits, that +he appeared to have lived a long time. The word <i>time</i> is, indeed, a +relative term, and ever means much or little, as much or little has been +enjoyed or suffered. Our enjoyment of him, and communion with him, was +intimate. From the earliest day of his existence, his intelligence and +quick expressive eye was remarkable, and all his waking hours were full +of pleasing innocent action and affectionate appreciation.</p> + +<p>We took him to the city of New York during the winter of 1824-25, where +he made many friends and had many admirers. He was always remembered by +the youthful name of Willy and <i>Penaci</i>, or the bird--a term that was +playfully bestowed by the Chippewas while he was still in his cradle. He +was, indeed, a bird in our circle, for the agility of his motions, the +liveliness of his voice, and the diamond sparkle of his full hazel eyes, +reminded one of nothing so much. The month of March was more than +usually changeable in its temperature, with disagreeable rains and much +humidity, which nearly carried away the heavy amount of snow on the +ground. A cold and croup rapidly developed themselves, and no efforts of +skill or kindness had power to arrest its fatal progress. He sank under +it about eleven o'clock at night. Such was the rapidity of this fatal +disease, that his silver playful voice still seemed to ring through the +house when he lay a placid corpse. Several poetic tributes to his memory +were made, but none more touching than some lines from his own mother, +which are fit to be preserved as a specimen of native composition.<a name="FNanchor47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47">[47]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor47">[47]</a><br> +Who was it nestled on my breast,<br> +And on my cheek sweet kisses prest,<br> +And in whose smile I felt so blest?<br> + Sweet Willy.<br> +<br> +Who hail'd my form as home I stept,<br> +And in my arms so eager leapt,<br> +And to my bosom joyous crept?<br> + My Willy.<br> +<br> +Who was it wiped my tearful eye,<br> +And kiss'd away the coming sigh,<br> +And smiling, bid me say, "good boy?"<br> + Sweet Willy.<br> +<br> +Who was it, looked divinely fair,<br> +Whilst lisping sweet the evening pray'r,<br> +Guileless and free from earthly care?<br> + My Willy.<br> +<br> +Where is that voice attuned to love,<br> +That bid me say "my darling dove?"<br> +But, oh! that soul has flown above,<br> + Sweet Willy.<br> +<br> +Whither has fled the rose's hue?<br> +The lily's whiteness blending grew<br> +Upon thy cheek--so fair to view,<br> + My Willy.<br> +<br> +Oft have I gaz'd with rapt delight,<br> +Upon those eyes that sparkled bright,<br> +Emitting beams of joy and light!<br> + Sweet Willy.<br> +<br> +Oft have I kiss'd that forehead high,<br> +Like polished marble to the eye,<br> +And blessing, breathed an anxious sigh,<br> + For Willy.<br> +<br> +My son! thy coral lips are pale--<br> +Can I believe the heart-sick tale,<br> +That I thy loss must ever wail?<br> + My Willy.<br> +<br> +The clouds in darkness seemed to low'r,<br> +The storm has past with awful pow'r,<br> +And nipt my tender, beauteous flow'r!<br> + Sweet Willy.<br> +<br> +But soon my spirit will be free,<br> +And I my lovely son shall see,<br> +For God, I know did this decree!<br> + My Willy.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>17th</i>. This being St. Patrick's day, we dined with our excellent, +warm-hearted, and truly sympathizing friend, Mr. Johnston, in a private +way. He is the soul of hospitality, honor, friendship, and love, and no +one can be in his company an hour without loving and admiring a man who +gave up everything at home to raise up a family of most interesting +children in the heart of the American wilderness. No man's motives have +been more mistaken, no one has been more wronged, in public and private, +by opposing traders and misjudging governments, than he, and no one I +have ever known has a more forgiving and truly gentle and +high-minded spirit.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I began housekeeping, first on my return from the visit to New +York, in the spring of 1825, in the so-called Allen House, on the +eminence west of the fort, having purchased my furniture at Buffalo, and +made it a pretty and attractive residence. But after the death of my +son, the place became insupportable from the vivid associations which it +presented with the scenes of his daily amusements.</p> + +<p>I determined this day to close the house, and, leaving the furniture +standing, we took refuge at Mr. Johnston's. Idolatry such as ours for a +child, was fit to be rebuked, and the severity of the blow led me to +take a retrospect of life, such as it is too common to defer, but, +doubtless, wise to entertain. Why Providence should have a controversy +with us for placing our affections too deeply on a sublunary object, is +less easy at all times to reconcile to our limited perceptions than it +is to recognize in holy writ the existence of the great moral fact. "I +will be honored," says Jehovah, "and my glory will I not give to +another." It is clear that there is a mental assent in our attachments, +in which the very principle of idolatry is involved. If so, why not give +up the point, and submit to the dispensations of an inevitable and +far-seeing moral government, of affairs of every sort, with entire +resignation and oneness of purpose? How often has death drawn his dart +fatally since Adam fell before it, and how few of the millions on +millions that have followed him have precisely known <i>why</i>, or been +<i>entirely prepared</i> for the blow! To me it seems that it has been the +temper of my mind to fasten itself too strongly on life and all its +objects; to hope too deeply and fully under all circumstances; to +grapple, as it were, in its issues with as "hooks of steel," and never +to give up, never to despair; and this blow, this bereavement, appears +to me the first link that is broken to loosen my hold on this sublunary +trust. My thoughts, three years ago, were turned strongly, and with a +mysterious power, to this point, namely, my excessive ardor of earthly +pursuits, of men's approbation. Here, then, if these reflections be +rightly taken, is the <i>second</i> admonition. Such, at least, has been the +current of my thoughts since the 13th of the present month, and they +were deeply felt when I took my Bible, the first I ever owned or had +bought with my own money, and requested that it might be placed as the +basis of the little pillow that supported the head of the lifeless child +in his coffin.</p> + +<p><i>April 30th</i>. A progress in territorial affairs, in the upper lakes, +seems to have commenced; but it is slow. Emigrants are carried further +south and west. Slow as it is, however, we flatter ourselves it is of a +good and healthy character. The lower peninsula is filling up. My +letters, during this spring, denote this. Our county organization is +complete. Colonel McKenney, on the 10th, apprises me that he is coming +north, to complete the settlement of the Indian boundary, began in 1825, +at Prairie du Chien, and that his sketches of his tour of last year is +just issued from the press. He adds, "It is rather a ladies' book. I +prefer the sex and their opinions. They are worth ten times as much as +we, in all that is enlightened, and amiable, and blissful." Undoubtedly +so! This is gallant. I conclude it is a gossiping tour; and, if so, it +will please the sex for whom it is mainly intended. But will not the +graver male sex look for more? Ought not an author to put himself out a +little to make his work as high, in all departments, as he can?</p> + +<p>Governor C. informs me (April 10th) that he will proceed to Green Bay, +to attend the contemplated treaty on the Fox River, and that I am +expected to be there with a delegation of the Chippewas from the +midlands, on the sources of the Ontonagon, Wisconsin, Chippewa, and +Menominie rivers.</p> + +<p>Business and science, politics and literature, curiously mingle, as +usual, in my correspondence. Mr. M. Dousman (April 10) writes that a +knave has worried him, dogged his heels away from home, and sued him, at +unawares. Mr. Stuart (April 15) writes about the election of members of +council. Dr. Paine, of New York, writes respecting minerals.</p> + +<p><i>May 10th</i>. An eminent citizen of Detroit thus alludes to my recent +bereavement: "We sympathize with you most sincerely, in the loss you +have sustained. We can do it with the deeper interest, for we have +preceded you in this heaviest of all calamities. Time will soothe you +something, but the solace of even time will yet leave too much for the +memory and affections to brood over."</p> + +<p>Another correspondent, in expressing his sympathies on the occasion +says: "The lines composed by Mrs. Schoolcraft struck me with such +peculiar force, as well in regard to the pathos of style, as the +singular felicity of expression, that I have taken the liberty to submit +them for perusal to one or two mutual friends. The G---- has advised me +to publish them."</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. National boundary, as established by the treaty of Ghent. Major +Delafield, the agent, writes: "Our contemplated expedition, however, is +relinquished, by reason of instructions from the British government to +their commissioners. It had been agreed to determine the par. of lat. N. +49°, where it intersects the Lake of the Woods and the Red River. But +the British government, for reasons unknown to us, now decline any +further boundary operations than those provided for under the +Ghent treaty.</p> + +<p>"We have been prevented closing the 7th article of that treaty, on +account of some extraordinary claims of the British party. They claim +Sugar, or St. George's Island, and inland, by the St. Louis, or Fond du +Lac. Both claims are unsupported by either reason, evidence, or anything +but their desire to gain something. We, of course, claim Sugar Island, +and will not relinquish it under any circumstances. We also claim inland +by the Kamanistiquia, and have sustained this claim by much evidence. +The Pigeon River by the Grand Portage will be the boundary, if our +commissioners can come to any reasonable decision. If not, I have no +doubt, upon a reference, we shall gain the Kamanistiquia, if properly +managed; the whole of the evidence being in favor of it."</p> + +<p>ORNITHOLOGY.--An Indian boy brought me lately, the stuffed skin of a new +species of bird, which appeared early in the spring at one of the sugar +camps near St. Mary's. "We are desirous," he adds, "to see the +Fringilla, about which you wrote me some time ago."</p> + +<p>NATIVE COPPER.--"The copper mass is safe, and the object of admiration +in my collection. Baron Lederer is shortly expected from Austria, when +he will, no doubt, make some proposition concerning it, which I will +communicate."</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Many letters have been received since the 13th of March, +offering condolence in our bitter loss; but none of them, from a more +sincere, or more welcome source, than one of this date from the Conants, +of New York.</p> + +<p><i>June 3d</i>. Mr. Carter (N.H.) observes, in a letter of this date: "If +there be any real pleasure arising from the acquisition of reputation, +it consists chiefly in the satisfaction of proving ourselves worthy of +the confidence reposed in our talents and characters, and in the +strengthening of those ties of friendship which we are anxious to +preserve."</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Mr. Robert Stuart says, in relation to our recent affliction: +"Once parents, we must make up our minds to submit to such grievous +dispensations, for, although hard, it may be for the best."</p> + +<p>I embarked for Green Bay, to attend the treaty of <i>Butte des Morts</i> +early in June, taking Mrs. S. on a visit to Green Bay, as a means of +diverting her mind from the scene of our recent calamity. At Mackinac, +we met the steamboat Henry Clay, chartered to take the commissioners to +the bay, with Governor Cass, Colonel McKenney, and General Scott on +board, with a large company of visitors, travelers and strangers, among +them, many ladies. We joined the group, and had a pleasant passage till +getting into the bay, where an obstinate head wind tossed us up and down +like a cork on the sea. Sea-sickness, in a crowded boat, and the +retching of the waves, soon turned everything and every one topsy-turvy; +every being, in fine, bearing a stomach which had not been seasoned to +such tossings among anchors and halyards, was prostrate. At last the +steamer itself, as we came nearer the head of the bay, was pitched out +of the right channel and driven a-muck. She stuck fast on the mud, and +we were all glad to escape and go up to the town of Navarino in boats. +After spending some days here in an agreeable manner, most of the party, +indeed nearly all who were not connected with the commission, returned +in the boat, Mrs. S. in the number, and the commissioners soon proceeded +up the Fox River to <i>Butte des Morts</i>. Here temporary buildings of logs, +a mess house, etc., were constructed, and a very large number of Indians +were collected. We found the Menomonies assembled in mass, with full +delegations of the midland Chippewas, and the removed bands of Iroquois +and Stockbridges, some Pottowattomies from the west shores of Lake +Michigan, and one hand of the Winnebagoes. Circumstances had prepared +this latter tribe for hostilities against the United States. The replies +of the leading chief, Four-Legs, were evasive and contradictory; in the +meantime, reports from the Wisconsin and the Mississippi rivers denoted +this tribe ripe for a blow. They had fired into a boat descending the +Mississippi, at Prairie du Chien, and committed other outrages. General +Cass was not slow to perceive or provide the only remedy for this state +of things, and, leaving the camp under the charge of Colonel McKenney +and the agents, he took a strongly manned light canoe, and passed over +to the Mississippi, and, pushing night and day, reached St. Louis, and +ordered up troops from Jefferson Barracks, for the protection of the +settlement. In this trip, he passed through the centre of the tribe, and +incurred some extraordinary risks. He then returned up the Illinois, and +through Lake Michigan, and reached the <i>Butte des Morts</i> in an +incredibly short space of time. Within a few days, the Mississippi +settlements were covered; the Winnebagoes were overawed, and the +business of the treaty was resumed, and successfully concluded on the +11th of August.</p> + +<p>During the long assemblage of the Indians on these grounds, I was +sitting one afternoon, in the Governor's log shanty, with the doors +open, when a sharp cry of murder suddenly fell on our ears. I sprang +impulsively to the spot, with Major Forsyth, who was present. Within +fifty yards, directly in front of the house, stood two Indians, who +were, apparently, the murderers, and a middle aged female, near them, +bleeding profusely. I seized one of them by his long black hair, and, +giving him a sudden wrench, brought him to his back in an instant, and, +placing my knees firmly on his breast, held him there, my hand clenched +in his hair. The Major had done something similar with the other fellow. +Inquiry proved one of these men to be the perpetrator of the deed. He +had drawn his knife to stab his mother-in-law, she quickly placed her +arms over her breast and chest and received the wounds, two strokes, in +them, and thus saved her life. It was determined, as her life was saved, +though the wounds were ghastly, to degrade the man in a public +assemblage of all the Indians, the next day, by <i>investing him with a +petticoat</i>, for so unmanly an act. The thing was, accordingly, done with +great ceremony. The man then sneaked away in this imposed <i>matchcota</i>, +in a stolid manner, slowly, all the Indians looking stedfastly, but +uttering no sound approvingly or disapprovingly.</p> + +<p>I embraced the opportunity of the delay created by the Winnebago +outbreak, and the presence of the Stockbridges on the treaty ground, to +obtain from them some outlines of their history and language. Every day, +the chiefs and old men came to my quarters, and spent some time with me. +Metoxon gave me the words for a vocabulary of the language, and, +together with Quinney, entered so far into its principles, and furnished +such examples, as led me, at once, to perceive that it was of the +Algonquin type, near akin, indeed, to the Chippewa, and the conclusion +followed, that all the New England dialects, which were cognate with +this, were of the same type. The history of this people clears up, with +such disclosures, and the fact shows us how little we can know of their +history without the languages.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX."></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<p>Treaty of Butte des Morts--Rencontre of an Indian with grizzly +bears--Agency site at Elmwood--Its picturesque and sylvan +character--Legislative council of the Territory--Character of its +parties, as hang-back and toe-the-marks--Critical Reviews--Christmas.</p> + +<p><i>1827. August 11th</i>.--The treaty of Butte des Morts was signed this day. +It completes the system of Indian boundaries, which was commenced by the +treaty of Prairie du Chien, on the 19th of August, 1825, and continued +by the treaty of Fond du Lac of the 5th of August, 1826. These three +conferences, which may, from their having been concluded in the month of +August of the respective years, be called the <i>Augustic</i> treaties, +embody a new course and policy for keeping the tribes in peace, and are +founded on the most enlarged consideration of the aboriginal right of +fee simple to the soil. They have been held exclusively at the charges +and expenses of the United States, and contain no cession of territory.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was signed I embarked for Green Bay, on a gloomy, +drizzling day, and pursued my way to Michilimackinac and the Sault, +without a moment's loss of time. I found the place still active, and +filled with the summer visiting parties of Indians from the Lake +Superior, the Upper Mississippi, and even from Pembina and the plains of +Red River of the North.</p> + +<p>Among the latter I observed a small and lithe Indian called Annamikens, +or Little Thunder, also called Joseph, whose face had been terribly +lacerated in a contest on the plains west of Pembina, with grizzly +bears. The wounds were now closed, but the disfiguration was permanent. +He told me the following story of the affair:--</p> + +<p>The Sioux, Chippewas, Assinaboines, Crees, and Mandans, called by him in +general Miggaudiwag, which means fighters, were at variance. About 400 +half-breeds and 100 Chippewas went out from Pembina to make peace, and +hunt the buffalo.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day's march they reached the open plains, and met a large +body of Assinaboines and Crees encamped. Their camp was fixed on +eligible ground, and the lodges extended across the plain. Annamikens +and his followers encamped with them. After they had encamped, they +observed every hour during the night that fresh arrivals of Assinaboines +and Crees took place. On the third day of their encampment he was sent +for to Cuthbert Grant's tent, where he found a large circle of Indians +formed, and all things in readiness for a council of the three nations, +Assinaboines, Chippewas, and Crees. Grant was the trader of the Pembina +metifs, and had followed them out. In the centre of the ring, buffalo +robes were spread, and he with others was given a seat there. The object +of this council was to decide upon a plan to attack a body of 200 Sioux +lodges, which had been discovered at half a day's ride on horseback +distant. The principal chiefs, &c., were agreed as to the propriety of +an attack. He was asked to unite with them. He said he felt not only for +the chiefs and young men, but also for the women and children, hereby +expressing his dissent. Two of the principal chiefs stood up, each +holding a pipe. He was then asked to take one of the pipes and hand it +to the bravest man, giving him the power to elect the war chief. He gave +it to one he knew to be brave.</p> + +<p>This chief had no sooner received it than he presented it to Francis, +his brother, to hand it round, thereby hoping that he would not refuse +to smoke the war-pipe when handed by his brother. He took the pipe in +both hands and smoked, then handed it to his brother, who also smoked +it, and handed it to a chief who stood next to him, and it went round. +He said, however, after smoking, "I do not consent to go to war, I am +against it." After some talk the council broke up, it beginning to be +late. At night he heard that some movement was on foot. He went to the +quarter of the camp indicated, and used his influence against the plan. +He had scarcely reached his tent when other reports of a like nature +were brought from various parts of the camp, and he was most of the +night busied in controverting the war spirit.</p> + +<p>In the morning he made a descent through the camp, speaking openly +against the meditated attack on the Sioux, and concluded by saying that +for himself and the metifs, he had one thing to say, that they wished to +preserve peace with all, and they should join and fight for the nation +first attacked, and against whoever might raise a war-club. About 100 +Crees, however, were determined to go, and in about four hours the whole +camp was broken up and dispersed. He broke up his camp rather in anger, +mounted his horse, put his family in the cart, and set out for home. +Many followed him. Francis, not seeing his brother go, also set out, and +many followed him, a greater number in fact than had followed Joseph. At +night the hunters from each party met, and they found the two parties +had traveled the same distance. On hearing this Francis sent a despatch +in the morning to his brother, but they found he had departed, and, the +country being a grassy plain, they could not exactly tell their course.</p> + +<p>Meantime Joseph and his party had reached a point of woods, being the +first woods seen since leaving Pembina, at about nine o'clock in the +morning. Here they encamped at this early hour. He caught two wild +geese, and told his wife to cook them. His followers all dispersed to +hunt buffalo, as they were plenty about. He then put a new flint in his +gun, and stripped himself all but his breech-cloth, and went out to +explore the route he should pass on the next day.</p> + +<p>He came into a ravine, and discovered three white bears' lairs fresh, +saw several carcasses of buffaloes lying round, more or less eaten and +decayed, and smelt quite a stench from them. One particularly was fresh +killed, and partly eaten by the bears. He passed on across a brook, and +after looking farther returned to the lairs. On returning to the brook +he found several sticks in the way of his passage for the carts on the +following day, which he commenced removing, having set his gun against a +tree. One stick being larger than the rest, some exertion was necessary +to displace it, and while in the act of doing this he heard a noise of +some animal, and saw at a distance what he took to be a buffalo, as +these animals were plenty, and running in all directions. He then took +up his gun and went on, when the sounds were repeated close behind him, +and looking over his shoulder he saw three white bears in full +pursuit of him.</p> + +<p>He turned, cocked his gun, and took deliberate aim at the head of the +foremost, which proved to be the dam, and his gun missed fire. He +re-cocked his piece and again snapped. At this moment the bear was so +near that the muzzle nearly touched it. He knows not exactly how the +bear struck him, but at the next moment his gun flew in one direction +and he was cast about ten feet in another. He lit on his feet. The bear +then raised on her paws and took his head in her mouth, closing her +jaws, not with force, but just sufficient to make the tusks enter the +top of his shoulders. He at this moment, with the impulse of fear, put +up his hands and seized the bear by her head, and, making a violent +exertion, threw her from her balance to one side; in the act of falling +she let go his head.</p> + +<p>At this time one of the cubs struck his right leg, being covered with +<i>metasses</i> of their leather, and drew him down upon the ground, and he +fell upon his right side, partly on his right arm. The right arm, which +was extended in falling, was now drawn under his body by another blow +from one of the cubs, and his hand was by this motion brought into +contact with the handle of his knife (a large <i>couteau</i> used for cutting +up buffalo-meat), and this bringing the knife to his recollection, he +drew it, and struck a back-handed blow into the right side of the dam, +whom he still held by the hair with his left. The knife went in to the +hilt. On withdrawing it, one of the cubs struck his right hand, her +nails piercing right through it in several places. He then let go of the +dam and took the knife in his left hand, and made a pass at the cub, and +struck it about half its length, the knife going into it, it being very +bloody. The stroke was impeded, and the knife partly slipped. The left +arm was then struck by one of the cubs, and the knife dropped from his +grasp. He was now left with his naked hand to make such resistance as he +could. The dam now struck him upon the abdomen with a force that +deprived him for awhile of breath, and tore it open, so that when he +rose his bowels fell upon his knees. He at first supposed that it was +his powder-horn that had fallen upon his knees, but looking down, saw +his entrails. The dam then repeated her blow, striking him upon the left +cheek, the forenail entering just below the left eye, and tore out the +cheek-bone, a part of the jaw, including three teeth, maimed his tongue, +and tore down the flesh so that it hung upon his left shoulder.</p> + +<p>He now fell back exhausted with the loss of blood, and being conquered, +the bears ceased to molest him. But consciousness was not gone; he heard +them walk off. He lay some time. He opened and shut his hands, and found +he had not lost the use of them. He moved his neck, and found it had its +natural motion. He then raised himself up into a sitting posture, and +gathering up some grass, put it first to his left eye and cheek to wipe +off the blood, but found that it struck the bone. He then passed it to +his right cheek, wiped down the blood, and opening his eye, found he +could see clearly. He saw his gun, powder-horn, and knife scattered +about. He then got up, having bound his wounds.</p> + +<p>He had at this time no clothing upon his body but the moccasin upon his +left foot. He took his gun, re-primed it, and while in the act of +priming, heard the peculiar noise this animal utters, and turning, saw +the old bear close upon him. He put the muzzle into her mouth, and again +missed fire. All hope now was lost, and all idea of resistance. They +pawed and tore him at will, he knows not how long. At one time they +seized him by the neck and dragged him some distance. They then once +more left him.</p> + +<p>After they left him, he lay some time. He then bethought himself that +possibly he might still be able to rise and return to his camp, which +was not distant. After some exertion and preparation, he got up, and +again took his gun and powder-horn and knife. He picked the flint, +addressing his gun, saying, "that the bears could not kill it, and that +he hoped the gun would have more courage," &c., and putting it on his +shoulder, commenced his way to his camp.</p> + +<p>He had not proceeded far when the snorting of the old dam before him +reminded him of his danger. He found his limbs stiff and swollen, and +that he could not bring up the gun to his shoulder to take aim. He held +it before him, and when the dam, still in front, advanced near him, +fired at her head, and the ball entered just behind the shoulder. She +fell dead. He saw the smoke issue from the wound.</p> + +<p>One of the yearlings now rose on his hind paws and growled. He raised +his knife (which was in his left hand, upon which the gun rested on +firing), and made a pass at the bear, which the latter avoided by +throwing himself to one side. The third bear now rose up before him, but +at a greater distance than the second, and he made a pass at him, but +found him out of reach. Yet the bear threw himself to one side, as the +former had done.</p> + +<p>Having them now on the run, he followed a short distance, but soon felt +very faint. A darkness seemed before his eyes, and he sank down. In this +act the blood gushed from his body. This appeared to relieve him. After +sitting some time, he rose and proceeded homeward. He saw no more of the +two yearling bears. Before reaching the lodge, he was met by a party who +had been seeking him. As he walked along, he felt something striking the +calf of his right leg, and found it to be a piece of flesh from his +thigh behind. There were six open holes in his body through which air +escaped, one in each side, one in his breast, abdomen, and stomach, +besides the torn cheek. He found, on reaching home, he could not speak, +but, after being bandaged, his utterance revived. On the next day the +physician from the forks of Red River arrived and attended him.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Annamikens resumed his narrative:--</p> + +<p>"On the next day, I have said, the doctor arrived, but not having +medicine sufficient to dress all my wounds, he put what he had on the +principal wounds. On the same day my brother and the party who had +separated on the council-ground also arrived. They remained that and the +next day, and on the third day all moved for Pembina. To carry me they +constructed a litter, carried by four persons; but I found the motion +too great to endure. They then formed a bier by fastening two poles to a +horse's sides, and placing such fixtures upon them, behind the horse, as +to permit my being carried. I found this motion easier to endure. The +Chippewas accompanied me, and were resolved, if I died, to go +immediately to war against the Sioux. My condition was, at this moment, +such that they hourly expected my death. I was prepared for it, and +directed that I should be buried at the spot where I might die. On the +third day we reached Pembina. For nine days I resisted food, feigning +that I could not eat, but wishing to starve myself, as I was so +disfigured and injured that I had no wish to survive, and would have +been ashamed to show myself in such a state. On the ninth day my hunger +was so great that I called for a piece of fish, and swallowed it; in +about two hours after I called for another piece of fish, and also ate +it. Six days after my arrival, Mr. Plavier, and another priest from Red +River, arrived to baptize me. I resisted, saying that if there was no +hope of living I would consent, but not otherwise. After fifteen days, I +was so much recovered that the priest returned, as I had every +appearance of recovery. I would neither permit white nor Indian doctors +to attend me after my arrival; but had myself regularly washed in cold +water, my wounds kept clean, and the bandages properly attended to. In +about one month from the time I could walk; but it was two years before +the wounds were closed."</p> + +<p>I requested Dr. Z. Pitcher, the Post surgeon, to examine Annamikens, +with a view to test the narrative, and to determine on the capacity of +the human frame to survive such wounds. He found portions of the +cheek-bones gone, and cicatrices of fearful extent upon that and other +parts of the body, which gave the narrative the appearance of +truthfulness.</p> + +<p>On returning from Green Bay, I gave my attention, with renewed interest, +to the means of expediting the completion of the Agency buildings, and +occupying the lot and grounds. I have alluded to the success of my +reference of this subject to the Secretary of War, in 1825. A site was +selected on a handsomely elevated bank of the river, covered with elms, +about half a mile east of the fort, where the foundation of a spacious +building and office were laid in the autumn of 1826, and the frame +raised as early in the ensuing spring as the snow left the ground.</p> + +<p>Few sites command a more varied or magnificient view. The broad and +limpid St. Mary, nearly a mile wide, runs in front of the grounds. The +Falls, whose murmuring sound falls pleasantly on the ear, are in plain +view. The wide vista of waters is perpetually filled by canoes and boats +passing across to the opposite settlement on the British shore. The +picturesque Indian costume gives an oriental cast to the moving +panorama. The azure mountains of Lake Superior rise in the distance. +Sailing vessels and steamboats from Detroit, Cleaveland, and Buffalo, +occasionally glide by, and to this wide and magnificent view, as seen by +daylight, by sunset, and by moonlight, the frequent displays of aurora +borealis give an attraction of no ordinary force.</p> + +<p>In selecting this spot, I had left standing a large part of the fine +elms, maples, mountain ash, and other native forest trees, and the +building was, in fact, embowered by tall clumps of the richest foliage. +I indulged an early taste in horticulture, and planting trees to add to +the natural attractions of the spot, which, from the chief trees upon +it, was named "Elmwood," and every flowering plant and fruit that would +thrive in the climate, was tried. Part of the grounds were laid down in +grass. Portions of them on the water's edge that were low and quaggy, +were sowed with the redtop, which will thrive in very moist soil, and +gives it firmness. The building was ample, containing fifteen rooms, +including the office, and was executed, in all respects, in the best +modern style.</p> + +<p>In addition to these arrangements for insuring domestic comfort and +official respect, my agency abroad among the tribes was now well +established, to the utmost sources of the Mississippi. The name and +power of "Chimoqemon" (American) among the northern tribes, was no +longer a term of derision, or uncertainty of character. The military +post established at these ancient falls, where the power of France was +first revealed as early as 1652; the numerous journeys I had made into +the interior, often in company with the highest civil and military +functionaries; the presents annually issued; the firm basis of a +commissariat for all visiting and indigent Indians; the mechanics +employed for their benefit; the control exercised over the fur traders, +and the general effects of American opinions and manners; had placed the +agency in the very highest point of view. It was a frontier agency, in +immediate juxtaposition with Canada and Hudson's Bay, fifteen hundred +miles of whose boundary closed upon them, separated only by the chain of +lakes and rivers. Questions of national policy frequently came up, and +tended much to augment the interest, which grew out of the national +intercourse.</p> + +<p>I had now attained that position of repose and quiet which were so +congenial to my mind. The influence I exercised; the respect I enjoyed, +both as an officer and as a scientific and literary man: every +circumstance, in fact, that can add to the enjoyment of a man of +moderate desires, seeking to run no political race, was calculated to +insure my happiness. And I was happy. No part of my life had so +completely all the elements of entire contentment, as my residence at +the wild and picturesque homestead of Elmwood. I removed my family to +this spot in October, having now a little daughter to enlarge my family +circle, and take away, in a measure, the solitariness effected by the +loss of my son, William Henry.</p> + +<p>I resumed my Indian researches with twofold interest. The public duties +of an agent for Indian affairs, if an industrious man, leave him a good +deal of leisure on his hands, and, in a position so remote as this, if a +man have no inclination for studies or belles lettres, he must often be +puzzled to employ his leisure. I amused myself by passing from one +literary study to another, and this is ever refreshing to the mind, +which tires of one thing. Thus, such amusements as the <i>Appeal of +Pontiac, Rise of the West</i>, and the <i>Man of Bronze</i>, found place among +graver matters. In this manner, a man without literary society may amuse +and instruct himself.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 1st</i>. I have been elected a member of the Legislative Council of +the territory--an office not solicited, and which is not declined. Party +spirit has not yet reached and distracted this territory. So far as I +know, political divisions of a general character, have not entered into +society. The chief magistrate is an eminently conservative man, and by +his moderation of tone and suavity of manners, has been instrumental in +keeping political society in a state of tranquillity. All our parties +have been founded on personal preference. If there has been any more +general principles developed in the legislature, it has been a <i>promptly +debt paying</i>, and a <i>not promptly debt paying party</i>--a <i>non divorce</i>, +and a <i>divorce party</i>. I have been ever of the former class of thinkers; +and shall let my votes tell for the right and good old way--<i>i.e.</i> pay +your debts and keep your wife.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 22d</i>. My study of the Indian language and history has not only +enlarged my own sources of intellectual gratification, but it has, +without my seeking it, procured me a number of highly intellectual +philosophic correspondents, whose letters operate as an aliment to +further exertion. My natural assiduity is thus continually stimulated, +and I find myself begrudging a single hour, spent in gossiping hum-drum +society--for even <i>here</i> there is society, or an apology for society.</p> + +<p>The editor of the <i>North American Review</i>, inviting me to write for its +pages, says (Sept. 1st): "Your knowledge and experience will enable you +to say much concerning the western country, and its aboriginal +inhabitants, which will be interesting to the community of readers. You +cannot be too full in your facts and reflections on Indians and Indian +character."</p> + +<p>Judge H. Chipman, of Detroit, says (Oct. 21st): "If it were just cause +of offence, that men should estimate differently the merits of opposing +candidates, popular elections would be the greatest curse that could be +inflicted upon a people."</p> + +<p>Mr. Everett (Hon. E.) says: "I beg leave to unite with Mr. Sparks in +expressing the hope that you will become a contributor to its pages +(<i>North American Review</i>), as often as your leisure, the seasonableness +of topics, and the appearance of works to be noticed, may admit."</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. This day brought one of Mr. Johnston's warm-hearted notes, to +take a Christmas dinner with him to-morrow. "I anticipate," he says, +"great pleasure in seeing many dear relatives about me, on one of the +greatest festivals the world has ever witnessed."</p> + +<p>It was the last festival of that kind he ever enjoyed, though nothing +could be further from our imaginations then; for before its recurrence +in 1828, we were called to follow his body to the grave.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX."></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<p>Retrospect--United States Exploring Expedition to the South +Sea--Humanity of an Indian--Trip to Detroit from the Icy +Straits--Incidental action of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island +Historical Societies, and of the Montreal Natural History +Society--United States Exploring Expedition--Climatology--Lake vessels +ill found--Poetic view of the Indian--United States Exploring +Expedition--Theory of the interior world--Natural History--United States +Exploring Expedition.--History of early legislation in Michigan--Return +to St. Mary's--Death of Governor De Witt Clinton.</p> + +<p><i>1828. January 1st</i>.--During ten years, omitting 1823, I had now +performed, each year, a journey or expedition of more or less peril and +adventure in the great American wilderness, west of the Alleghanies. I +had now attained a point, ardently sought, for many years, where I was +likely to be permitted to sit down quietly at home, and leave traveling +to others. I had, in fact, just removed into a quiet home, a retired, +convenient, tasteful, and even elegant seat, which filled every wish of +retired intellectual enjoyment, where I was encompassed by books, +studies, cabinets, and domestic affections. At this moment, when there +appeared nothing in the prospect to call me to new fields of +observation, I was elected a member of the legislative council, which +opened a civic and quite different scene of duties. This step, I found, +pleased my friends. The executive of the territory writes from Detroit, +February 22d: "We have understood that you have been elected a member of +the legislative council, and there is a prevalent wish that this report +may prove true. I mention the subject now, to inform you that the +council will probably be convened about the beginning of May, in order +that you may make the necessary preparations for visiting this place at +that time."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 5th</i>. An exploring expedition for discoveries in the South Sea, +has, for some time, been under consideration in the Senate of the United +States, to be organized in the navy, and to go out under the patronage +of the Secretary, Mr. Southard. Mr. G.N. Reynolds invites me to take a +position in the scientific corps, to accompany it, under an +official sanction.</p> + +<p>A friend from Washington writes me (Feb. 6th), on the same topic; +"Whether matrimony has stripped you of your erratic notions and habits, +'and brought you within narrower limits,' or whether the geography of +the earth is no longer of interest to you, I cannot, of course, pretend +to say. But considering you, as I do, a devotee to science, I had +thought it possible that you might feel a desire to engage in her cause +to the South, by occupying some eminent station in the expedition."</p> + +<p>The reasons which I have mentioned, at the opening of the year, have +inclined me to seek repose from further travel. Besides which, my +position as a married man, and the peculiar relations I have thereby +assumed, impress me, very deeply, with the opinion that my sphere of +duty, whatever may be my ambition, lies nearer at home than the proposed +and very attractive field of discovery. I therefore wrote declining +the offer.</p> + +<p><i>April 7th</i>, A DOMESTIC CURTAIN LIFTED.--My sister Helen Margaret +writes, from New York: "This afternoon, as I was sitting by the fire, +having become the prey of ill health, a thought struck my mind to write +a few lines to you, not, however, to give you much news, but merely to +acquaint you that we are still in the land of the living, and that, +though our friends are far removed, we still live among them in +imagination. Yes, dear brother, believe me, my imagination has often +wandered, and passed hours with <i>you</i>--<i>hours</i>, during the silence of +the night, which should have been sacred to sleep.</p> + +<p>"I have been out of health about five weeks; the complaint under which I +labor is chronic inflammation of the liver, but I have, under the pain +of sickness, forced my mind to forget its troubles. Most of my time, +last winter, has been spent with Debby; while at home, my time has been +devoted to reading, mapping, and the study of philosophy.</p> + +<p>"Probably James has acquainted you of the illness of Margaret. She is +now very low, and is, to all human appearance, soon to leave this world +for a better, 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are +at rest.' Her sufferings are great; she has not been able to sit up, +more than nine minutes at one time, for two months. Her mind is calm. +She is ready and willing to leave this vain world, whenever it is the +will of God to take her.</p> + +<p>"Mother's health is poor, and has been during all last winter; yet +notwithstanding her daily sufferings, in her harassed body, she +vigorously wrestles with ill luck. As it pains me to write, I must close +with a few words. I have frequently thought, should I be bereft of my +<i>mother</i>, what other friend, like her, would watch over the uneasy hours +of sickness? What other friend would bear its petulance, and smooth its +feverish pillow?"</p> + +<p>This proved to be her last earthly message to me. She died on the 12th +of April, 1829, aged twenty-three.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. I, this day, had an official visit from Magisaunikwa +(Wampum-hair), a Chippewa Indian, who, recently, rescued the Inspector +of Customs of the place, John Agnew, Esq., from drowning. This gentleman +was returning from Mackinac, on the ice, with a <i>train de glis</i>, drawn +by dogs. Having ascended the straits to the rapids of the South Nebishe +channel, he found the ice faulty and rotten, and, after some exertions +to avoid the bad places, fell in, with train and dogs. The struggle to +get out only involved him worse, and, overcome by fatigue and false +footings, he at length gave over the strife, and, but as a last resort, +uttered a yell.</p> + +<p>It chanced that Magisaunikwa was encamped in the woods, at a distance, +and, with the ever ready ear of the aborigines, caught the sounds and +came to his relief. By this time he had relinquished the struggle, and +resigned himself to his fate. By arts known to a people who are familiar +with such dangers, he rescued him from the water, but in an insensible +state. He then put the body on a sled and drew it to his lodge, where he +disrobed it, and, placing it before the fire, succeeded in +restoring him.</p> + +<p>I invested him with a silver medal for the act, and gave him a chief's +flag, with goods and cutlery, &c. to the value of above fifty dollars.</p> + +<p>My attention was now turned to Detroit: "You are elected," says a +friend, "a member of the council. It is essential you should be here as +speedily as possible. Leave everything to Audrain, and come down. You +can return before the busy season."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I left the Sault this day, for Detroit, to attend the +Legislative Council. Patches of snow still lined the banks of the St. +Mary's, and fields of ice were yet in Muddy Lake. It was not until +entering the St. Clair, and passing down beyond the chilling influences +of Lake Huron, that spring began to show striking evidences of her rapid +advances, and on reaching Detroit, the state of horticulture and fruit +trees betokened a quite different and benign climate. The difference in +latitude, in this journey, is full four degrees, carrying the voyager +from about 46-1/2° to about 42-1/2°. This fact, which it is difficult to +realize from the mere inspection of maps, and reading of books, it is +important at all times to bear in mind, in setting a just value on the +country and its agricultural advantages.</p> + +<p>On reaching the city, and before the organization of the legislature, I +received a letter from the Hon. John Davis, President of the +Massachusetts Historical Society, suggesting the publication of my +researches on Indian language.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pickering concurs with me, that it is very desirable to have this +publication effected. Some tracts of this description have been +occasionally published in the collections of our society, and we have no +doubt that this course would be pursued with your work, if such should +be your wish, and no preferable mode of publication should occur."</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>.--I received from the Rhode Island Historical Society, a copy of +their publication of Roger Williams' Key to the Indian languages. This +tract was greatly needed by philologists. The language commented on is +clearly of the Algonquin stock. Dr. Edwards, in his "Observations on the +Mukhekanieu," demonstrates that the old Mohecan, as spoken on the +Housatonic, was also of this type.</p> + +<p>He says, indeed, that the difference in all the New England languages +spoken by the nations were merely dialectic. What I have heard of +Eliot's Bible of the Natic, or Massachusetts language, favors the same +conclusion. All this shows that the ancestors of the present lake tribes +who speak these dialects, must have overspread all New England. History +is thus taught by language. The lake tribes have only this tradition +respecting the fact, that they came from the <i>East</i>.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>.--Dr. A.F. Homes transmits me a diploma of membership of the +Montreal Natural History Society.</p> + +<p><i>May 14th</i>.--Mr. Reynolds recurs to the subject of the Ex. Expedition, +which he announced to me on the 5th of February. "It is probable," he +observes, "that an expedition to the South Sea will sail from the City +of New York in September next. I wish, and so do several members of the +national cabinet, that you would join it, and be the head of the +scientific corps. Your salary shall be almost anything you ask, and your +relation to the general government shall not be prejudiced by a +temporary absence. The expedition will be absent about eighteen months +or two years. Will you not feel some ambition in being connected with +the first American expedition of discovery?"</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>.--Death is ever busy, thinning the ranks of our friends and +relatives. Mr. Shearman, of N.Y., communicates the death of my niece, +Margaret Catharine (S.) at Vernon, New York. She was a young lady of +pleasing manners, and many fine personal and mental traits. She +conversed on her fate with perfect composure, and selected hymns to be +sung at her funeral.</p> + +<p>I accomplished my passage to Detroit I think on the 21st of May, being +twenty-four days from St. Mary's, without counting the trip in that +season one of unusual length, and without any serious mishaps, which is, +perhaps, remarkable, as all our lake vessels are ill found, and I +attribute more of success to good luck, or rather Providence, than to +any amount of seamanlike precaution. It is, indeed, remarkable that a +hundred vessels are not every year lost on the upper lakes where one now +is, by being ill supplied or equipped, or through foolhardy intrepidity.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>.--A friend sent me the manuscript of his poem of "Sanillac" to +read, and to furnish some notes. The subject of the Indian is, +certainly, susceptible of being handled by the Muses, in a manner to +interest and amuse; and I regard every attempt of the kind as +meritorious, although it may be the lot of but few to succeed. The +writer on the frontier, who fills up a kind of elegant leisure by +composition, not only pleases himself, which is a thing nobody can +deprive him of, but dodges the coarser amusements of bowling, whist, and +other resorts for time-killing. He forgets his remote position for the +time, and hides from himself the feeling of that loneliness which is +best conquered by literary employment.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Mr. Reynolds again writes, pressing the matter of the +contemplated expedition, and the prospect it opens for discovery, and +its advantage every way. He couples his offer with most liberal and +exalted sentiments, and with the opinions of distinguished men, whose +approval is praise. But notwithstanding all, there is something about +the getting up and organization of the expedition, which I do not +altogether like; and there is considerable doubt whether Congress will +not cripple it, by voting meagre supplies and outfits, if they do not +knock it in the head.</p> + +<p>The expedition itself is a measure of the highest national moment, as it +is connected with scientific discovery, and reflects the greatest credit +on the projectors. The experiments of Dr. Maskelyn denote a greater +specific gravity in the central portions of the globe, than in its +crust, and consequently do not favor the theory advocated by Mr. R., of +an interior void. Yet we are advertised, by the phenomena of +earthquakes, that this interior abounds with oxygen, hydrogen gas, +caloric, and sulphur; and that extraordinary geological changes are +effected by their action. It does seem improbable that the proposed +expedition will trace any open connection "with such an interior world;" +but it may accumulate facts of the highest importance. I am not, +therefore, insensible of the high honor of this offer, and however I may +glow with the secret ardor of discovery, and the honor of place, my +present engagements, domestic and public, have woven about me such a +web, that it is impossible suddenly to break from it. On full +consideration and reconsideration, therefore, I declined going.<a name="FNanchor48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48">[48]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor48">[48]</a> The expedition was, in fact, checked by various causes, and +the project lingered for some years. At length, the expedition started +under the orders of Captain Charles Wilkes, United States Navy. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>June 1st</i>. Major Delafield, of New York, transmits a box of duplicate +specimens of mineralogy from England.</p> + +<p>"The box you forwarded for the Lyceum has not yet been sent to the +rooms. The catalogue I will present in your name to-night. The several +objects will prove extremely interesting. The lake tortoise we have been +endeavoring to obtain for a year past, to complete a paper relative to +these animals. Cooper is in Philadelphia editing the second volume of +<i>Bonaparte's Ornithology</i>. He will be disappointed in not receiving the +grosbeak,<a name="FNanchor49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49">[49]</a> of which I had spoken to him."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor49">[49]</a> A new species discovered by me at Sault St. Marie. +</blockquote> + +<p>The study of Natural History presents some of the most pleasing +evidences of exactitude and order, in every department of creation, and +adds to life many hours of the most innocent and exalted enjoyment. It +drops, as it were, golden tissues in the walks of life, which there is a +perpetual enjoyment in unraveling.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mr. Reynolds writes again, without having received my last +reply, respecting the exploring expedition. He says: "Mr. Southard, +Secretary of the Navy, has expressed his deep regret that you will not +be able to find it convenient to go on the expedition."</p> + +<p>Mr. Reynolds again writes (June 22d): "I had a conversation to-day with +the Secretary of the Navy, in relation to your joining the expedition. +He informs me that the President, as well as himself, was anxious that +you should do so; and that in case you did, an Assistant Agent might be +appointed to do your duties, as United States Agent, and thus reserve +your office until your return."</p> + +<p>Nothing, certainly, could exceed this spirit of liberality and kind +appreciation.</p> + +<p>No reasons for altering my prior decisions appeared, however, weighty +enough to change them.</p> + +<p><i>July 1st</i>.--The legislative council organized in due form, being sworn +in by the governor. The first assemblage of this kind in the Territory +met, I believe, four years ago. Prior to that era, the governor and +judges were authorized to adopt laws from the "old" States, which led to +a system rather objectionable, and certainly anomalous, so far as it +made the judges both <i>makers</i> and <i>expounders</i> of the laws; for it was +said, I know not how truly, that they picked out a clause here and +there, to fit exigencies, or cases in hand, and did not take whole +statutes. It was said that when the judges, in the exercise of their +judicial functions, got to a "tight place," they adjourned the court, +and devoted their legal acumen to picking out clauses from the statutes +of the old States, to be adopted, in order to meet the circumstances; +but these stories were, probably, to be received a little after the +manner of the slanderous reports of the Van Twiller administration, of +Knickerbocker memory. It is certain that their honors, Judges Woodward, +Griffin, and Witherall, the latter of whom was generally voted down, +have acquired no small popular notoriety as judicial and legislative +functionaries, and they must figure largely in the early annals of +Michigan, especially should this territory ever prove so fortunate as to +have a Cervantes or an Irving for its historian.</p> + +<p>I found the members of the council to be nearly all of the old residents +of Michigan, one a Frenchman, several sent in by French votes, one or +two old volunteer officers of Hull's day, one an Indian captive, and +three lawyers by profession. When assembled they presented a body of +shrewd, grave, common-sense men, with not much legal or forensic talent, +perhaps, and no eloquence or power of speaking. There were just +<i>thirteen</i> men, only one of whom was a demagogue, and had gained his +election by going about from house to house and asking votes. The worst +trait in the majority was a total want of moral courage, and a +disposition to favor a negligent and indebted population, by passing a +species of stop laws, and divorce laws, and of running after local and +temporary expedients, to the lowering of the tone of just legislation. I +had no constituents at home to hold me up to promises on these heads. I +was every way independent, in a political sense, and could square my +course at all times, by pursuing the right, instead of being forced into +the expedient, in cases where there was a conflict between the two. This +made my position agreeable.</p> + +<p>I was appointed chairman of the committee on expenditures, and a member +of the judiciary, &c. I directed my attention to the incorporation of a +Historical Society; to the preparation of a system of township names +derived from the aboriginal languages; and to some efforts for bettering +the condition of the natives, by making it penal to sell or give them +ardent spirits, and thus desired to render my position as a legislator +useful, where there was but little chance of general action. As chairman +of the committee on expenditures, I kept the public expenditures snug, +and, in every respect, conformable to the laws of congress. The session +was closed about the first of July--early enough to permit me to return +to St. Mary's, to attend to the summer visits of the interior traders +and Indians.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i> While engaged in the council, a friend writing from New York, who +is a close watcher of political movements, alludes to the sudden and +lamented death of Governor Clinton, last winter, and its effects on the +political parties of that State. Heavy, indeed, is the blow that removes +from the field of action a man who had occupied so wide a space in the +public esteem; and long will it be till another arises to concentrate +and control public opinion as he did. To me, as a personal friend, and +one who early counselled and directed me in my investigations in natural +history, it is a loss I feel deeply. Politicians spring up daily, but +men like him, who take a wider view of things, belong to their country.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI."></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<p>Official journal of the Indian intercourse--Question of freedmen, or +persons not bonded for--Indian chiefs, Chacopee, Neenaby, Mukwakwut, +<i>Tems Couvert</i>, Shingabowossin, Guelle Plat, Grosse Guelle--Further +notice of Wampum-hair--Red Devil--Biographical notice of Guelle Plat, or +Flat Mouth--<i>Brechet</i>--Meeshug, a widow--Iauwind--Mongazid, chief of +Fond du Lac--Chianokwut--White Bird--Annamikens, the hero of a bear +fight, &c. &c.</p> + +<p><i>1828. July 6th</i>.--My return to the Agency at the Sault was in the midst +of its summer business. Indians and Indian traders from remote interior +positions, were encamped on every green spot. No trader had yet renewed +his license from the government to return. It would be difficult to +indicate a place more favorable than this was, to observe the manners +and customs of the Indians, and the peculiar questions connected with +the Indian trade. I amused myself a few days, by keeping minutes of the +visits of the mixed Indian and metif multitude.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Antoine Maucè, Alexis Blais, and Joseph Montrè, freedmen, of +Indian blood or connections, ordered from the Indian villages last fall, +presented themselves for a decision on their respective cases.</p> + +<p>Maucè stated several facts in extenuation of his offence. He said he had +served as a boatman in the Indian trade ten years, had married an Indian +wife and raised a family, and during all this time, with the exception +of short visits to Mackinac with his <i>bourgeois</i>, had resided in the +Indian country. On the expiration of his last engagement he went to St. +Peters, and while there, made eight canoes for Mr. Bailly, from whom he +got the few goods that were seized at Sandy Lake by Mr. Johnston. He had +intended, however, to go to Mr. Johnston for a license, and he had used +the goods, in a great measure, to procure a mere support for his family. +He had left Sandy Lake last fall, passed the winter at La Pointe, and +had come down early in the spring, and, as he had lost a great deal of +time, and performed a very long journey, leaving his family behind him, +he requested that he might be allowed to return with a permit to trade. +I told him that his remaining inland, after the expiration of his +engagement, was contrary to instructions. That, being a Canadian by +birth, he could not be licensed as a trader. That he might go inland in +his old capacity of a boatman, should any American citizen be willing to +employ him, and give a bond for his future conduct, and that I should +refer the final decision upon his goods and peltries to Mr. Johnston, on +account of my imperfect knowledge of some circumstances necessary to a +correct decision.</p> + +<p>Alexis Blais pleaded ignorance of the instructions which were given to +traders. He had no other object in remaining inland than to get a +livelihood. He came out as soon after being notified as his health would +allow. And he supposed, had he been willing to serve Mr. Aikin at Sandy +Lake, or to give him the avails of his hunt, no complaints would have +been made against him. No goods or peltries were found in his +possession, and he did not desire to return to the Indian country. I +informed him that the construction put on the Indian laws prohibited any +white man from following the pursuits of a hunter on Indian land; that +it also forbids the residence of boatmen at Indian camps or villages, +after they have served out their engagements, &c.</p> + +<p>Joseph Montrè is a metif, step-son of Maucè. Says he was born and +brought up in the Indian country, and has subsisted by hunting. Is +unacquainted with the laws, but will follow the directions given him. I +took pains to impress upon his mind, through the medium of an +interpreter, the situation in which he was placed with respect to our +government and laws, and the steps it would be necessary for him +hereafter to pursue.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>CHACOPEE (The Six), a minor chief, from Snake River, on the St. Croix, +visited the office, accompanied by seven young warriors. He brought a +note from the Sub-agent at La Pointe, in which he is recommended as "a +deserving manly Indian, attached to the U.S. Government." As he had been +several days without food on his voyage through Lake Superior, I +directed a requisition to be made out for him and his young men, and +told them to call on me after they had appeased their hunger.</p> + +<p>Neenaby (the person who hitches on his seat), of Sault St. Marie, lodged +a complaint against Mr. Butterfield and one of his runners (<i>i.e.</i> +persons employed to look after credits given to Indians, or carry on a +petty traffic by visiting their camps). He states that, in making the +traverse from Point Iroquois across the straits of St. Mary, he was met +by young Holiday, who lashed his canoe alongside, and, after giving him +a drink of whisky, persuaded him to land on the Canada shore, where they +are out of reach of the trade and intercourse laws. They landed at +<i>Point aux Chenes,</i> where H.'s tent was found pitched, who invited him +into it, and gave him more drink. H. then went to the Indian's canoe, +and brought in his furs. Something was then given him to eat, and they +embarked together in H.'s canoe, taking the furs, and leaving his own +canoe, with his wife, to follow. On reaching St. Marie's he was +conducted to Mr. B.'s store, and told to trade. He consented to trade +six large and two small beavers, and twenty muskrats, for which he +acknowledged to have received satisfaction. He was freely supplied with +whisky, and strongly urged to trade the other pack, containing the +principal part of his hunt, but he refused, saying he had brought it to +pay a credit taken of Mr. Johnston. This pack, he says, consisted of six +large and two small beavers, two otters, six martins, ninety muskrats, +and four minks. As an equivalent for it, they proceeded to lay out for +him, as he was told and shown next morning, a blanket, hat, pair of +leggins of green cloth, two fathoms strouds, one barrel of flour, one +bag of corn, and three kegs of whisky. He, however, on examining it, +refused to receive it, and demanded the pack of furs to go and pay his +credit. Decision deferred for inquiry into the facts.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Chegud, accompanied by a train, &c., made a visit of +congratulation on my return (after a temporary absence).</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Revisited by Chacopee and his young men. He addressed me in a +fine manly tone and air. He referred to his attendance and conduct at +the treaties of Prairie du Chien and Fond du Lac, as an era from which +it might be known that he was attached to our government and counsel. +The object of his present visit was to renew the acquaintance he had +formed with me at those places, to say that he had not forgotten the +good advice given him, and to solicit charity for his followers. He +presented an ornamented pipe as an evidence of his friendship.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Visited by Monomine Kashee (the Rice Maker), a chief from Post +Lake in that part of the Chippewa country bordering on Green Bay. He was +accompanied by Mukwakwut (Satan's Ball in the Clouds), and five other +persons composing their families. In the speech made by this chief, +whose influence and authority are, I believe, quite limited, he said +that his visit to me had been produced by the favorable impressions he +had received while attending the treaty of <i>Butte des Morts</i> +(Wisconsin). That he had preserved the words which had been uttered in +council by his American fathers, and was happy that all cause of +difference with their neighbors, the Winnebagoes and Menomonies had been +taken away by fixing the lines of their lands, &c. He presented four +stands of wampum to confirm his professions of good will. His companion +also got up, and spoke for several minutes, and concluded by requesting +"that his father would not overlook him, in distributing any presents he +intended to make them." He presented a pipe. After he was seated, I +asked, as I was penning these minutes, the signification of his name, +Mukwakwut, as the meaning did not appear obvious. He smiled and replied +"that in former times his ancestors had seen devils playing ball in the +air, and that his name was in allusion to the ball."</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Visited by Tems Couvert (the Lowering or Dark Cloud), a noted +war chief of Leech Lake, upper Mississippi. He states that Mr. Oaks took +from him, two years ago, nine <i>plus</i>,<a name="FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a> and has not yet paid him, +together with a medal, which last was not returned to him until his +arrival at Fond du Lac this spring. He also states that Mr. Warren took +from him, while he was at La Pointe on his way out, a pack of thirty +obiminicqua <a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51">[51]</a> (equal to thirty full-sized, seasonable beavers), and has +not, as yet, offered him anything in payment.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor50">[50]</a> <i>Plus</i>, Fr. A skin's worth. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor51">[51]</a> <i>Obiminicqua</i>, Alg. The value of a full beaver skin. +</blockquote> + +<p>Shingabowossin (the Image Stone), Shewabeketon (the Jingling Metals), +and Wayishkee (the First-born Son), the three principal chiefs of the +Home Band, with seventy-one men, women and children, visited me to +congratulate me on my safe return from Detroit. The old chief inquired +if there was any news, and whether all remains quiet between us and +the English.</p> + +<p>Guelle Plat, or Ashkebuggecoash (the Flat Mouth), of Leech Lake, upper +Mississippi, announced his arrival, with sixty persons, chiefly warriors +and hunters. He brought a letter from one of the principal traders in +that quarter, backed by the Sub-agent of La Pointe, recommending him as +"the most respectable man in the Chippewa nation." He is said by general +consent to be the most influential man in the large and powerful band of +Leech Lake, comprising, by my latest accounts, seventeen hundred souls. +His authority is, however, that of a village or civil chief, his +coadjutor, the Lowering Cloud, having long had the principal sway with +the warriors.</p> + +<p>Being his first visit to this agency, although he had sent me his pipe +in 1822, and, as he said, the first time he had been so far from his +native place in a south-easterly course, I offered him the attentions +due to his rank, and his visit being an introductory one, was commenced +and ended by the customary ceremonies of the pipe.</p> + +<p>The chief, Grosse Guelle (Big Throat), together with Majegábowe, and the +Breche's son, all of Sandy Lake, arrived this day, accompanied by four +other persons, and were received with the customary respect and +attention. Having come a long distance, their first and most pressing +want was food. It is indeed astonishing that the desire of showing +themselves off as men of consequence in their nation, the expectation of +any presents or gratifications, or the hope of any notice or preferment +whatever should induce these people to undertake such long and hazardous +journeys with such totally inadequate means.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. The <i>Grosse Guelle</i> repeated his visit, saying that his family +had been so long without a meal of hearty food that the issue of +yesterday had not sufficed to satisfy them.</p> + +<p>Magisaunikwa (Wampum-hair) applied for provisions for himself and +family, to enable them to return to his usual place of dwelling. This +man's case has been previously noticed. He happened to be sitting in +front of his lodge last spring, in a copse of woods near the banks of +Muddy Lake, at the instant when the Inspector of Customs of St. Mary's +(Mr. Agnew) had broken through the ice with his dog-train, and had +exhausted himself in vain efforts to extricate himself. A cry reached +the ever-open ear of the Indian, who hastened to the shore, and, after +much exertion and hazard, aided by his father and family, was the means +of preserving Mr. A.'s life. After getting the body out of the water, +they drew it upon a small train to his lodge; where they applied dry +clothing, prepared a kind of tea, and were unremitting in their +attentions. When sufficiently restored, they conducted him safely to +St. Mary's.</p> + +<p>I invested him with a medal of the first class for this noble act, +wishing by this mark of respect, and the presents of clothing and food +accompanying it, to forcibly impress his mind with the high respect and +admiration such deeds excite among civilized people, and in the further +hope that it might prove a stimulus to the lukewarm benevolence of +others, if, indeed, any of the natives can be justly accused of +lukewarmness in this respect. On visiting Fort Brady, Lt. C. F. Morton, +of N.Y., presented him a sword-knot, belt, &c. Some other presents +were, I believe, made him, in addition to those given him by Mr. +Agnew himself.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Miscomonetoes (the Red Insect, or Red Devil; the term may mean +both), and family and followers, twelve persons in all, visited the +office. His personal appearance, and that of his family, bespoke +wretchedness, and appeared to give force to his strong complaints +against the traders who visit Ottowa Lake and the headwaters of Chippewa +River of the Mississippi. He observed that the prices they are compelled +to pay are extortionate, that their lands are quite destitute of the +larger animals, and that the beaver is nearly destroyed.</p> + +<p>He also complained of white and half-breed hunters intruding on their +grounds, whose means for trapping and killing animals are superior to +those of the Indians. According to his statement, as high as four <i>plus</i> +(about $20) have been paid for a fathom of strouds, and the same for a +two-and-a-half point blanket, two <i>plus</i> for a pair of scarlet +leggins, &c.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Ten separate parties of Indians, numbering ninety-four souls, +presented themselves at the office this day, in addition to the above, +from various parts of the interior, and were heard on the subject of +their wants and wishes. <i>19th</i>. Guelle Plat repeated his visit with his +followers, and made a speech, in which he took a view of his intercourse +with the English and Americans. He had passed his youth in the plains +west of Red River, and was first drawn into an intercourse with the +British agents at Fort William (L. S.), where he received a medal from +the late Wm. McGilvray. This medal was taken by Lieut. Pike, on visiting +Leech Lake, in 1806. He has visited the agency at St. Peter's, but +complains that his path to that post has been marked with blood. He was +present during the attack made upon the Chippewa camp by the Sioux, near +Fort Snelling, in the summer of 1827. Is not satisfied with the +adjustment of this affair, but is inclined to peace, and has recommended +it to his young men. They can never, however, he says, count upon the +good-will of the enemy, and are obliged to live in a constant state of +preparation for war. They go out to hunt as if they were going on a war +party. They often meet the Sioux and smoke with them, but they cannot +confide in them.</p> + +<p>Speaking of the authority exercised over their country for the purpose +of trade, he said: "The Americans are not our masters; the English are +not our masters; the country is ours." He wished that traders should be +allowed to visit them who would sell their goods <i>cheaper</i>, and said +that more than <i>one</i> trader at each trading post was desired by him and +his people.</p> + +<p>He modestly disclaimed authority over his band; said he was <i>no</i> chief. +The Indians sometimes followed his advice; but they oftener followed +their own will. He said Indians were fond of change, and were always in +hopes of finding things better in another place. He believed it would be +better if they would not rove so much. He had ever acted on this +principle, and recommended it. He had never visited this place before, +but now that he had come this far, it was his wish to go to +Michilimackinac, of which he had heard much, and desired to see it. He +was in hopes his journey would prove of some service to him, &c. He +solicited a rifle and a hat.</p> + +<p>The <i>Brèche,</i> alias Catawabeta (Broken Tooth), entered the office with +one or two followers, in company with the preceding. Seeing the office +crowded, he said he would defer speaking till another day. This +venerable chief is the patriarch of the region around Sandy Lake, on the +Upper Mississippi. He made his first visit to me a few days after the +landing of the troops at this post, in 1822. In turning to some minutes +of that date, I find he pronounced himself "the friend and advocate of +peace," and he referred to facts to prove that his practice had been in +accordance with his professions. He discountenanced the idea of the +Indians taking part in our wars. He said he was a small boy at the +taking of <i>old</i> Mackinac (1763). The French wished him to take up the +war-club, but he refused. The English afterwards thanked him for this, +and requested him to raise the tomahawk in their favor, but he refused. +The Americans afterwards thanked him for this refusal, but they did not +ask him to go to war. "They all talked of peace," he said, "but still, +though they talk of peace, the Sioux continue to make war upon us. Very +lately they killed three people."</p> + +<p>The neutral policy which this chief so early unfolded, I have found +quite characteristic of his oratory, though his political feelings are +known to be decidedly favorable to the British government.</p> + +<p>Omeeshug, widow of Ningotook, of Leech Lake, presented a memorandum +given by me to her late husband, during my attendance at the treaty of +Prairie du Chien, in 1825, claiming a medal for her infant son, in +exchange for a British medal which had been given up. On inquiry, the +medal surrendered originally belonged to Waukimmenas, a prior husband, +by whom she also had a son named Tinnegans (<i>Shoulder Blade</i>), now a man +grown, and an active and promising Indian. I decided the latter to be +the rightful heir, and intrusted a new medal of the second size to Mr. +Roussain, to be delivered to him on his arrival at Leech Lake, with the +customary formalities.</p> + +<p>Iauwind announced himself as having arrived yesterday, with twenty-eight +followers belonging to the band of Fond du Lac. He had, it appeared, +visited Drummond Island, and took occasion in his speech to intimate +that he had not been very favorably received. Before closing, he ran +very nearly through the catalogue of Indian wants, and trusted his +"American father" would supply them. He concluded by presenting a pipe. +I informed him that he had not visited Drummond's in ignorance of my +wishes on the subject, and that if he did not receive the presents he +expected from me, he could not mistake the cause of their +being withheld.</p> + +<p>The Red Devil came to take leave, as he had sent his canoe to the head +of the rapids, and was ready to embark. He made a very earnest and +vehement speech, in which he once more depicted the misery of his +condition, and begged earnestly that I would consider the forlorn and +impoverished situation of himself and his young men. He presented a +pipe. I told him it was contrary to the commands of his great father, +the President, that presents should be given to any of his red children +who disregarded his wishes so much as to continue their visits to +foreign agencies. That such visits were very injurious to them both in a +moral and economical point of view. That they thereby neglected their +hunting and gardens, contracted diseases, and never failed to indulge in +the most immoderate use of strong drink. That to procure the latter, +they would sell their presents, pawn their ornaments, &c., and, I verily +believed, were their hands and feet <i>loose</i>, they would pawn them, so as +to be forever after incapable of doing anything towards their own +subsistence. I told him that if, under such circumstances, I should give +him, or any other Indian, provisions to carry them home, they must not +construe it into any approbation of their late conduct, but must ascribe +it wholly to feelings of pity and commiseration for their situation, &c.</p> + +<p>Mongazid (the Loon's Foot), a noted speaker, and Jossakeed, or <i>Seer of +Fond du Lac</i>, arrived in the afternoon, attended by eleven persons. He +had scarcely exchanged salutations with me when he said that his +followers and himself were in a starving condition, having had very +little food for several days.</p> + +<p>Oshogay (the Osprey), solicited provisions to return home. This young +man had been sent down to deliver a speech from his father, Kabamappa, +of the river St. Croix, in which he regretted his inability to come in +person. The father had first attracted my notice at the treaty of +Prairie du Chien, and afterwards received a small medal, by my +recommendation, from the Commissioners at Fond du Lac. He appeared to +consider himself under obligations to renew the assurance of his +friendship, and this, with the hope of receiving some presents, appeared +to constitute the object of his son's mission, who conducted himself +with more modesty and timidity before me than prudence afterwards; for, +by extending his visit to Drummond Island, where both he and his father +were unknown, he got nothing, and forfeited the right to claim anything +for himself on his return here.</p> + +<p>I sent, however, in his charge, a present of goods of small amount, to +be delivered to his father, who has not countenanced his foreign visit.</p> + +<p>Thirteen separate parties, amounting to one hundred and eighty-three +souls, visited the office and received issues of provisions this day.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Mikkeingwum, of Ottoway Lake, made complaint that his canoe had +been stolen, and he was left with his family on the beach, without the +means of returning. On inquiring into the facts, and finding them as +stated, I purchased and presented him a canoe of a capacity suitable to +convey his family home.</p> + +<p>Chianokwut (Lowering Cloud), called <i>Tems Couvert</i> by the French, +principal war chief of Leech Lake, addressed me in a speech of some +length, and presented a garnished war-club, which he requested might be +hung up in the office. He said that it was not presented as a hostile +symbol. He had <i>done</i> using it, and he wished to put it aside. He had +followed the war path <i>much</i> in his youth, but he was now getting <i>old</i>, +and he desired <i>peace.</i> He had attended the treaty of Prairie du Chien, +to assist in fixing the lines of their lands. He recollected the good +counsel given to him at that place. He should respect the treaty, and +his ears were open to the good advice of his great American father, the +President, to whose words he had listened for the last ten years. He +referred to the treachery of the Sioux, their frequent violation of +treaties, &c. He hoped they should hear no <i>bad news</i> (alluding to the +Sioux) on their return home, &c.</p> + +<p>Wabishke Penais (the White Bird) solicited food. This young chief had +volunteered to carry an express from the Sub-agency of La Pointe in the +spring, and now called to announce his intention of returning to the +upper part of Lake Superior. His attachment to the American government, +his having received a small medal from his excellency Governor Cass, on +his visit to the Ontonagon River, in 1826, added to the circumstance of +his having served as a guide to the party who visited the mass of native +copper in that quarter in 1820, had rendered him quite unpopular with +his band, and led to his migration farther west. He appears, however, +recently to have reassumed himself of success, and is as anxious as +ever to recommend himself to notice. This anxiety is, however, carried +to a fault, being unsupported by an equal degree of good sense.</p> + +<p>Annamikens (Little Thunder), a Chippewa of mixed blood, from Red River, +expressed a wish to speak, preparatory to his return, and drew a vivid +outline of his various journeys on the frontier, and his intercourse +with the Hudson's Bay and Canadian governments. This man had rendered +himself noted upon the frontier by a successful encounter with three +grizzly bears, and the hairbreadth escape he had made from their +clutches. He made, however, no allusion to this feat, in his speech, but +referred in general terms to the Indians present for testimonies of his +character as a warrior and hunter. He said he had now taken the American +government fast by the hand, and offered to carry any counsel I might +wish to send to the Indians on Red River, Red Lake, &c., and to use his +influence in causing it to be respected.</p> + +<p>His appeal to the Indians, was subsequently responded to by the chief, +Tems Couvert, who fully confirmed his statements, &c.</p> + +<p>Dugah Beshue (Spotted Lynx), of Pelican Lake, requested another trader +to be sent to that place. Complains of the high prices of goods, the +scarcity of animals, and the great poverty to which they are reduced. +Says the traders are very rigorous in their dealings; that they take +their furs from their lodges without ceremony, and that ammunition, in +particular, is so high they cannot get skins enough to purchase +a supply.</p> + +<p>Visited by nine parties, comprising ninety-one souls.</p> + +<p><i/>22d</i>. Received visits from, and issued provisions to eighty-one +persons.</p> + +<p><i/>23d</i>. Wayoond applied for food for his family, consisting of six +persons, saying that they had been destitute for some time. I found, on +inquiry, that he had been drinking for several days previous, and his +haggard looks sufficiently bespoke the excesses he had indulged in. On +the following day, being in a state of partial delirium, he ran into the +river, and was so far exhausted before he could be got out, that he died +in the course of the night. It is my custom to bury all Indians who die +at the post, at the public expense. A plain coffin, a new blanket, and +shirt, and digging a grave, generally comprises this expense, which is +paid out of the contingent fund allowed the office.</p> + +<p>Mizye (the Catfish) called on me, being on his return voyage from +Drummond Island, begging that I would give him some food to enable him +to reach his home at La Pointe. This Indian has the character of being +very turbulent, and active in the propagation of stories calculated to +keep up a British feeling amongst the Indians of Lapointe. The +reprimands he has received, would probably have led him to shun the +office, were he not prompted by hunger, and the hope of relief.</p> + +<p>Whole number of visitors one hundred and thirty-five.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Mongazid entered the office with his ornamented pipe, and +pipe-bearer, and expressed his wish to speak. He went at some length +into the details of his own life, and the history of the Fond du Lac +band, with which he appears to be very well acquainted. Referred to the +proofs he had given of attachment to government, in his conduct at the +treaties of Prairie du Chien and Fond du Lac; and to his services, as a +speaker for the Fond du Lac band, which had been acknowledged by the +Chippewas generally, and procured him many followers. Said the influence +of the old chief at Fond du Lac (Sappa) had declined, as his own had +extended, &c. He complained in general terms of the conduct of the +traders of that post, but did not specify any acts. Said he had advised +his young men to assent to their father's request respecting the copper +lands on Lake Superior, &c.</p> + +<p>Having alluded in his speech to the strength of the band, and the amount +of their hunt, I asked him, after he had seated himself, what was the +population of Fond du Lac post. He replied, with readiness, two hundred +and twenty, of whom sixty-six were males grown, and fifty-four hunters. +He said that these fifty-four hunters had killed during the last year +(1828) nine hundred and ninety-four bears--that thirty-nine packs of +furs were made at the post, and ninety packs in the whole department.</p> + +<p>Grosse Guelle made a formal speech, the drift of which was to show his +influence among the Indians, the numerous places in which he had acted +in an official capacity for them, and the proofs of attachment he had +given to the American government. He rested his merits upon these +points. He said he and his people had visited the agency on account of +what had been promised at Fond du Lac. Several of his people had, +however, gone home, fearing sickness; others had gone to Drummond Island +for their presents. For himself, he said, he should remain content to +take what his American father should see fit to offer him.</p> + +<p>I inquired of him, if his influence with his people and attachment to +the American government were such as he had represented, how it came, +that so many of the Sandy Lake Indians, of whom he was the chief, had +gone to Drummond Island?</p> + +<p>Shingabowossin requested that another Chippewa interpreter might be +employed, in which he was seconded by Kagayosh (A Bird in Everlasting +Flight), Wayishkee, and Shewabekaton, chiefs of the home band. They did +not wish me to put the present interpreter out of his place, but hoped I +would be able to employ another one, whom they could better understand, +and who could understand them better. They pointed out a person whom +they would be pleased with. But his qualifications extended only to a +knowledge of the Chippewa and French languages. He was deficient in +moral character and trustworthiness; and it was sufficiently apparent +that <i>the person thus recommended</i> had solicited them to make this novel +application.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. The wife of Metakoossega (Pure Tobacco) applied for food for her +husband, whom she represented as being sick at his lodge, and unable to +apply himself. The peculiar features and defective Chippewa +pronunciation of this woman indicated her foreign origin. She is a Sioux +by birth, having been taken captive by the Chippewas when quite young. A +residence of probably thirty years has not been sufficient to give her a +correct knowledge of the principles or pronunciation of the language. +She often applies animate verbs and adjectives to inanimate nouns, &c., +a proof, perhaps, that no such distinctions are known in her +native tongue.</p> + +<p>Chacopa, a chief of Snake River, intimated his wish to be heard. He said +he had visited the agency in the hope that some respect <a name="FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52">[52]</a> would be +shown the medal he carried. The government had thought him worthy of +this honor; the traders had also thought him deserving of it; and many +of the young men of Snake River looked up to him to speak for them. +"But what," he asked, "can I say? My father knows how we live, and what +we want. We are always needy. My young men are expecting something. I do +not speak for myself; but I must ask my father to take compassion on +those who have followed me, &c. We expect, from what our great father +said to us at the treaty of Fond du Lac, that they would all be +clothed yearly."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor52">[52]</a> This term was not meant to apply to personal respect, but +to presents of goods. +</blockquote> + +<p>Ahkakanongwa presented a note from Mr. Johnston, Sub-agent at La Pointe, +recommending him as "a peaceable and obedient Indian." He requested +permission to be allowed to take a keg of whisky inland on his return, +and to have a permit for it in writing. I asked him the name of the +trader who had sold him the liquor, and who had <i>sent</i> him to ask +this permit.</p> + +<p>Wayoond's widow requested provisions to enable her to return to her +country. Granted.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Chegud, a minor chief of Tacquimenon River, embraced the +opportunity presented by his applying for food for his family, to add +some remarks on the subject of the School promised them at the signing +of the treaty of Fond du Lac. He was desirous of sending three of his +children. The conduct of this young man for several years past, his +sobriety, industry in hunting, punctuality in paying debts contracted +with the traders, and his modest, and, at the same time, manly +deportment, have attracted general notice. He is neat in his dress, +wearing a capot, like the Canada French, is emulous of the good will of +white men, and desirous to adopt, in part, their mode of living, and +have his children educated. I informed him that the United States +Senate, in ratifying the treaty, had struck out this article providing +for a school.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i> Shanegwunaibe, a visiting Indian from the sources of Menomonie +River of Green Bay, stated his object in making so circuitous a journey. +(He had come by way of Michilimackinac), to visit the agency. He had +been induced, from what he had heard of the Lake Superior Indians, to +expect that general presents of clothing would be issued to all the +Chippewas.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," observes the Sub-agent at La Pointe, "but their wretchedness +could induce the Indians to wander."</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 3d</i>. Guelle Plat returned from his visit to Michilimackinac; +states that the Agent at that post (Mr. Boyd) had given him a sheep, +but had referred him to me, when speaking on the subject of presents, +&c., saying that he belonged to my agency.</p> + +<p>Finding in this chief a degree of intelligence, united to habits of the +strictest order and sobriety, and a vein of reflection which had enabled +him to observe more than I thought he appeared anxious to communicate, I +invited him into my house, and drew him into conversation on the state +of the trade, and the condition of the Indians at Leech Lake, &c. He +said the prices of goods were high, that the traders were rigorous, and +that there were some practices which he could wish to see abolished, not +so much for his own sake,<a name="FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53">[53]</a> as for the sake of the Indians generally; +that the traders found it for their interest to treat him and the +principal chiefs well; that he hunted diligently, and supplied himself +with necessary articles. But the generality of the Indians were +miserably poor and were severely dealt by. He said, the last thing that +they had enjoined upon him, on leaving Leech Lake, was to solicit from +me another trader. He had not, however, deemed it proper to make the +request in public council.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor53">[53]</a> He was flattered and pampered by them. +</blockquote> + +<p>He states that the Indians are compelled to sell their furs to <i>one +man</i>, and to take what he pleases to give them in return. That the +trader fixes his own prices, both on the furs and on the goods he gives +in exchange. The Indians have no choice in the matter. And if it +happens, as it did last spring (1828), that there is a deficiency in the +outfit of goods, they are not permitted quietly to bring out their +surplus furs, and sell them to whom they please. He says that he saw a +remarkable instance of this at <i>Point au Pins</i>, on his way out, where +young Holiday drew a dirk on an Indian on refusing to let him take a +pack of furs from his canoe. He said, on speaking of this subject, "I +wish my father to take away the sword that hangs over us, and let us +bring down our furs, and sell them to whom we please."</p> + +<p>He says that he killed last fall, nearly one thousand muskrats, thirteen +bears, twenty martins, twelve fishers. Beavers he killed none, as they +were all killed off some years ago. He says, that fifty rats are exacted +for cloth for a coat (this chief wears coats) the same for a three point +blanket, forty for a two-and-a-half point blanket, one hundred for a +Montreal gun, one <i>plus</i> for a gill of powder, for a gill of shot, or +for twenty-five bullets, thirty martins for a beaver trap, fifteen for +a rat trap.</p> + +<p>Speaking of the war, which has been so long waged between the Chippewas +and Sioux, to the mutual detriment of both, he said that it had +originated in the rival pretensions of a Sioux and Chippewa chief, for a +Sioux woman, and that various causes had since added fuel to the flame. +He said that, in this long war, the Chippewas had been gainers of +territory, that they were better woodsmen than the Sioux, and were able +to stand their ground. But that the fear of an enemy prevented them from +hunting some of the best beaver land, without imminent hazard. He had +himself, in the course of his life, been a member of twenty-five +different war parties, and had escaped without even a wound, though on +one occasion, he with three companions, was compelled to cut his way +through the enemy, two of whom were slain.</p> + +<p>These remarks were made in private conversation. Anxious to secure the +influence and good-will of a man so respectable both for his standing +and his understanding, I had presented him, on his previous visit (July +19), with the President's large medal, accompanied by silver +wrist-bands, gorget, &c., silver hat-band, a hat for himself and son, +&c. I now added full patterns of clothing for himself and family, +kettles, traps, a fine rifle, ammunition, &c., and, observing his +attachment for dress of European fashion, ordered an ample cloak of +plaid, which would, in point of warmth, make a good substitute for +the blanket.</p> + +<p>On a visit which he made to Fort Brady on the following day, Dr. Pitcher +presented his only son, a fine youth of sixteen, a gilt sword, and, I +believe, some other presents were made by the officers of the +2d Regiment.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Issued an invoice of goods, traps, kettles, &c. to the Indians, +who were assembled in front of the office, and seated upon the green for +the purpose of making a proper distribution. I took this occasion to +remind them of the interest which their great father, the President, +constantly took in their welfare, and of his ardent desire that they +might live in peace and friendship with each other, and with their +ancient enemies, the Sioux. That he was desirous to see them increase in +numbers, as well as prosperity, to cultivate the arts of peace, so far +as they were compatible with their present condition and position, to +participate in the benefits of instruction, and to abstain from the use +of ardent spirits, that they might continue to live upon the lands of +their forefathers, and increase in all good knowledge. I told them they +must consider the presents, that had now been distributed, as an +evidence of these feelings and sentiments on the part of the President, +who expected that they would be ready to hearken to his counsels, &c.</p> + +<p>I deemed this a suitable opportunity to reply to some remarks that had +fallen from several of the speakers, in the course of their summer +visits, on the subject of the stipulations contained in the treaty of +Fond du Lac, and informed them that I had put the substance of their +remarks into the shape of a letter to the department (see Official Let., +Aug. 2d, 1828), that this letter would be submitted to the President, +and when I received a reply it should be communicated to them.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Shingabowossin and his band called to take leave previous to +their setting out on their fall hunts. He thanked me in behalf of all +the Indians, for the presents distributed to them yesterday.</p> + +<p>Wayishkee (the First Born), a chief of the home band, on calling to take +leave for the season, stated that he had been disabled by sickness from +killing many animals during the last year, that his family was large, +und that he felt grateful for the charity shown to his children, &c.</p> + +<p>This chief is a son of the celebrated war chief Waubodjeeg (the White +Fisher), who died at La Pointe about thirty years ago, from whom he +inherited a broad wampum belt and gorget, delivered to his grandfather +(also a noted chief) by Sir Wm. Johnson, on the taking of Fort +Niagara, in 1759.</p> + +<p>The allusion made to his family recalled to my mind the fact, that he +has had twelve children by one wife, nine of whom are now living; a +proof that a cold climate and hardships are not always adverse to the +increase of the human species.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Annamikens made a speech, in which he expressed himself very +favorably of our government, and said he should carry back a good report +of his reception. He contrasted some things very adroitly with the +practices he had observed at Red River, Fort William, and Drummond's +Island. Deeming it proper to secure the influence of a person who stands +well with the Indians on that remote frontier, I presented him a medal +of the second class, accompanying it by some presents of clothing, &c., +and an address to be delivered to the Chippewas, at the sources of the +Mississippi, in which I referred to the friendly and humane disposition +of our government, its desire that the Indians should live in peace, +refrain from drink, &c.</p> + +<p>Terns Couvert, in a short speech, expressed himself favorably towards +Annamikens, corroborating some statements the latter had made.</p> + +<p>Chacopee came to make his farewell speech, being on the point of +embarking. He recommended some of his followers to my notice, who were +not present when the goods were distributed on the fifth instant. He +again referred to the wants and wishes of the Indians of Snake River, +who lived near the boundary lines, and were subject to the incursions of +the Sioux. Says that the Sioux intrude beyond the line settled at the +Prairie, &c. Requests permission to take inland, for his own use, two +kegs of whisky, which had been presented to him by Mr. Dingley and Mr. +Warren. [This mode of evading the intercourse act, by presenting or +selling liquor on territory where the laws of Congress do not operate, +shifting on the Indians the risk and responsibility of taking it inland, +is a new phase of the trade, and evinces the <i>moral</i> ingenuity of the +American Fur Company, or their servants.]</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Grosse Guelle stated that, as he was nearly ready to return, he +wished to say a few words, to which he hoped I would listen. He +complained of the hardness of times, high prices of goods, and poverty +of the Indians, and hoped that presents would be given to them.<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54">[54]</a> He +alleged these causes for his visit, and that of the Sandy Lake Indians +generally. Adverted to the outrage committed by the Sioux at St. Peters, +and to the treaty of Prairie du Chien, at which his fathers (alluding to +Gen. Clarke and Gov. Cass) promised to punish the first aggressors. +Requested permission to take in some whisky--presses this topic, and +says, in reply to objections, that "Indians die whether they drink +whisky or not." He presented a pipe in his own name, and another in the +names of the two young chiefs Wazhus-Kuk-Koon (Muskrat's Liver), and +Nauganosh, who both received small medals at the treaty of Fond du Lac.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor54">[54]</a> By visiting Drummond's Island contrary to instructions, +this chief and his band had excluded themselves from the distribution +made on the 5th of August. +</blockquote> + +<p>Katewabeda, having announced his wish to speak to me on the 6th instant, +came into the office for that purpose. He took a view of the standing +his family had maintained among the Sandy Lake Indians from an early +day, and said that he had in his possession until very lately a French +flag, which had been presented to some of his ancestors, but had been +taken to exhibit at Montreal by his son-in-law (Mr. Ermatinger, an +English trader recently retired from business). He had received a +muzinni'egun <a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55">[55]</a> from Lieut. Pike, on his visit to Sandy Lake, in 1806, +but it had been lost in a war excursion on the Mississippi. He concluded +by asking a permit to return with some mdz. and liquor, upon the sale of +which, and not on hunting, he depended for his support <a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56">[56]</a> I took +occasion to inform him that I had been well acquainted with his +standing, character, and sentiments from the time of my arrival in the +country in the capacity of an agent; that I knew him to be friendly to +the traders who visited the Upper Mississippi, desirous to keep the +Indians at peace, and not less desirous to keep up friendly relations +with the authorities of both the British and American governments; but +that I also very well knew that whatever political influence he exerted, +was not exerted to instil into the minds of the Indians sentiments +favorable to our system of government, or to make them feel the +importance of making them strictly comply with the American intercourse +laws, &c. I referred to the commencement of my acquaintance with him, +twenty days after my first landing at St. Mary's, and by narrating +facts, and naming dates and particulars, endeavored to convince him that +I had not been an indifferent observer of what had passed both <i>within</i> +and <i>without</i> the Indian country. I also referred to recent events here, +to which I attributed an application to trade, which he had not thought +proper or deemed necessary to make in <i>previous</i> years.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor55">[55]</a> A paper; any written or printed document. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor56">[56]</a> This is one of the modern modes of getting goods into the +country in contravention of law, Mr. Ermatinger being a foreigner +trading on the Canadian side of the river. +</blockquote> + +<p>I concluded by telling him that he would see that it was impossible, in +conformity with the principles I acted upon, and the respect which I +claimed of Indians for my counsels, to grant his request.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Guelle Plat came to take leave preparatory to his return. He +expressed his sense of the kindness and respect with which he had been +treated, and intimated his intention of repeating his visit to the +Agency during the next season, should his health be spared. He said, in +the course of conversation, that "there was one thing in which he had +observed a great difference between the practice of this and St. Peter's +Agency. <i>There</i> whisky is given out in abundance; <i>here</i> I see it is +your practice to give none."</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Invested Oshkinahwa (the Young Man of the totem of the Loon of +Leech Lake), with a medal.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Issued provisions to the family of Kussepogoo, a Chippewyan +woman from Athabasca, recently settled at St. Mary's. It seems the name +by which this remote tribe is usually known is of Chippewa origin (being +a corruption of <i>Ojeegewyan</i>, a fisher's skin), but they trace no +affinity with the Chippewa stock, and the language is radically +different, having very little analogy either in its structure or sounds. +It is comparatively harsh and barren, and so defective and vague in its +application that it even seems questionable whether nouns and verbs +have number.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Visited by the Little Pine (Shingwaukonce), the leading chief on +the British shore of the St. Mary's, a shrewd and politic man, who has +united, at sundry periods, in himself the offices and influence of a war +chief, a priest, or Jossakeed, and a civil ruler. The giving of public +presents on the 5th had evidently led to his visit, although he had not +pursued the policy expected from him, so far as his influence reached +among the Chippewas on the American shores of the straits. He made a +speech well suited to his position, and glossed off with some fine +generalities, avoiding commitments on main points and making them on +minor ones, concluding with a string of wampum. I smoked and shook hands +with him, and accepted his tenders of friendship by re-pledging the +pipe, but narrowed his visit to official proprieties, and refused +his wampum.</p> + +<p><i>22d.</i> Magisanikwa, or the Wampum-hair, renewed his visit, gave me +another opportunity to remember his humane act in the spring, and had +his claims on this score allowed. The Indians never forget a good act +done by them, and we should not permit them to surpass us in +this respect.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII."></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<p>Natural history of the north-west--Northern +zoology--Fox--Owl--Reindeer--A dastardly attempt at murder by a +soldier---Lawless spread of the population of northern Illinois over the +Winnebago land--New York Lyceum of Natural History--U.S. Ex. +Ex.--Fiscal embarrassments in the Department--Medical cause of Indian +depopulation--Remarks of Dr. Pitcher--Erroneous impressions of the +Indian character--Reviews--Death of John Johnston, Esq.</p> + +<p>1828. <i>July 24th</i>. The ardor with which I thought it proper to address +myself to the Indian duties of my office, did not induce me, by any +means, to neglect my correspondence or the claims of visitors +to Elmwood.</p> + +<p>This day Lt. Col. Lindsay and Capt. Spotts, U.S.A., being on court +martial duty at Fort Brady, paid their respects to me, and the Col. +expressed his pleasure and surprise at the taste, order, and disposition +of the grounds and the Agency.</p> + +<p>Nor did the official duties of my position interfere with the +investigation of the natural history of the country.</p> + +<p>A large box of stuffed birds and quadrupeds, containing twenty-three +specimens of various species, was sent to the Lyceum of Natural History +at New York, in the month of April. Mr. William Cooper writes, under +this date, that they have been received and examined. "The lynx appears +to be the northern species, different from that common in this part of +the country, and very rarely seen here even in the public collections. +Several of the birds, also, I had never had an opportunity of examining +before. The spruce partridge, <i>Tetrae Canadensis</i>, is very rare in the +United States. There is no other species in this city besides yours. It +was entirely unknown to Wilson; but it is to appear in the third vol. of +Bonaparte's continuation of Wilson, to be published in the ensuing +autumn. The circumstance of its being found in the Michigan Territory, +is interesting on account of the few localities in which this bird has +been found in our boundaries. The three-toed woodpecker, <i>Picus +tridactylus</i>, was equally unknown to Wilson, and the second volume of +Bonaparte, now about to be issued, contains an elegant figure and +history of this bird, which also inhabits the north of Europe and Asia. +The other birds and quadrupeds of your collection, though better known, +were very interesting, as affording materials for the history of their +geographical distribution, a subject now become exceedingly interesting. +The plover of the plain is the turnstone, <i>strepsilus interpres</i>.</p> + +<p>"The large fish is one of the genus <i>Amia</i>, and Dr. Dekay is inclined to +think it different from the <i>A. caloa</i> found in our southern rivers, but +of much smaller size. The tortoises belong to three species, viz., <i>T. +scabra</i>, <i>T. pieta</i>, and <i>T. serpentina</i>. It is the first information I +have obtained of their inhabiting so far to the north-west. There are +also others found in your vicinity, which, if it would not be asking too +much, I should be much pleased if you could obtain for the Lyceum."</p> + +<p>"I hope you will excuse me, if I take the liberty to recommend to you, +to direct your observation more particularly to those birds which come +to you in winter, from the north, or in any direction from beyond the +United States territory. It is among these that you may expect to find +specimens new to our ornithology.</p> + +<p>"The beautiful <i>Fringilla</i>, which you sent to us a few years since, is +figured and described from your specimen, and in an elegant manner, in +the volume just about to be published of Bonaparte's work."</p> + +<p>Mr. G. Johnston of La Pointe, Lake Superior, writes: "Since I had the +honor of receiving a printed letter from the Lyceum of Natural History, +I have been enabled to procure, at this place, two specimens of the +jumping mouse.</p> + +<p>"The history the Indians give of its habits is as follows: It burrows +under ground, and in summer lives on the bark of small trees. It +provides and lays up a store of corn, nuts, &c., for winter consumption. +It also climbs and lives in hollow parts of trees. It is also possessed +of a carnivorous habit, it being peculiarly fond of burrowing in old +burying places, where it lives, principally on the corpse. It is never +seen in winter."</p> + +<p>There is something in the northern zoology besides the determination of +species, which denotes a very minute care in preparing animals for the +particular latitudes the several species are designed for, by protecting +the legs and feet against the power of intense cold. And the dispersion +and migration of birds and quadrupeds are thus confined to general +boundaries. The fox, in high northern latitudes, is perfectly white +except the nose and tips of the ears, which are black, and the hair +extends so as to cover its nails. The various kinds of owls, and the +Canada jay, which winter in these latitudes, have a feathery, half-hairy +protection to the toes. The American species of the reindeer, which +under the name of cariboo, inhabits the country around the foot of Lake +Superior, has its hoof split in such a manner that it, in fact, serves +as a kind of snow shoe, spreading quite thin over about forty +superficial inches, which enables it to walk on the crusted snow.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Dr. William Augustus Ficklin, of Louisiana (Jackson), recalls my +attention to the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the programme of which +embraces my name. "You will want a physician and surgeon attached to the +expedition. Is the place yet filled?" My acquaintance with this young +gentleman, then a lad at his father's house, in Missouri, recalls many +pleasing recollections, which gives me every inducement to favor +his wishes.</p> + +<p><i>August 2d</i>. Mr. Robert Irwin, Junr., of Green Bay, writes that a most +diabolical attempt was recently made at that place, a few days ago, to +take the life of Maj. Twiggs, by a corporal belonging to his command. +The circumstances were briefly these: About two o'clock in the +afternoon, the major had retired to his room to repose himself. Soon +after the corporal entered the room so secretly that he presented a +loaded musket within a few inches of his head, and, as Providence would +have it, the gun missed fire. The noise awoke the major, who +involuntarily seized the muzzle, and, while looking the fellow full in +the face, he cocked the gun and again snapped it; but it missed fire the +second time. With that the major sprang up in bed and wrenched the gun +out of the assassin's hands, and with the breech knocked the fellow +down, fracturing his skull so much that his life was for many days +despaired of.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Gov. Cass, who has proceeded to Green Bay as a Commissioner for +treating with the Indians, writes: "I am waiting here very impatiently +for arrivals from the Indian country. But nothing comes, as yet, except +proof stronger and stronger of the injustice done to the Winnebagoes by +the actual seizure of their country." To repress this spirit of the +people of northern Illinois, much time and negotiation was required. By +his knowledge of the Indian and frontier character, an arrangement was +at length concluded for the occupation of the Rock River and +Galena country.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. An official letter of the New York Lyceum of Natural History +expresses their thanks for recent donations. Dr. Van Rensselaer says: +"Your birds, reptiles, and quadrupeds have been most graciously +received.... The expedition to the South Seas (heretofore noticed in +this journal) will afford a field for some naturalist to labor in. Dr. +Dekay intends to apply for the situation. We are at present engaged in +drawing up some instructions for the naturalist (whoever he may be), +which we shall hand to Mr. Southard, who is now here and has requested +it. We trust the expedition will add something to our knowledge as well +as to our pecuniary wealth."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. <i>Fiscal</i>--Something has been out of kelter at Washington these +two years with regard to the rigid application of appropriations, at +least in the Indian Department. We have been literally without money, +and issuing paper to public creditors and employees. Surely a government +that collects its own revenues should never want funds to pay its agents +and officers.</p> + +<p>Mr. Trowbridge writes: "The money pressure is nearly or quite over in +New York, but we feel it here in a dreadful degree. The want of public +disbursements this year, upon which we have always rested our hopes with +so much confidence, added to the over-introduction of goods for a year +or two past, has produced this state of things, and I sometimes think +that there will be no great improvement in this generation."</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. <i>Medical Causes of Depopulation</i>.--The causes of Indian +depopulation are wars, the want of abundance of food, intemperance, and +idleness. Dr. Pitcher, in a letter of this date, says: "In your note (to +'Sanillac') on the subject of the diminution in numbers of our +aboriginal neighbors, you have seized upon the most conspicuous, and, +during their continuance, the most fatal causes of their decline. With +the small-pox you might, however, associate the measles, which, in +consequence of their manner of treating the fever preceding the +eruption, viz., the use of vapor and cold baths combined, most commonly +tends to a mortal termination. To these two evils, propagated by the +diffusion of a specific virus, may be added the prevalence of general +epidemics, such as influenza, &c., whose virulence expends its force +without restraint upon the Indians. They are not (as you are aware) a +people who draw much instruction from the school of experience, +particularly in the department of medicine, and, when by the side of +this fact you place the protean forms which the diseases of epidemic +seasons assume, the inference must follow that multitudes of them perish +where the civilized man would escape (of which I could furnish +examples).</p> + +<p>"It is the province of the science of medicine to preserve to society +its feeble and invalid members, which, notwithstanding the war it wages +upon the principle of political economists, augments considerably the +sum of human life. The victims of the diseases of civilization do not +balance the casualties, &c. of a ruder state of society, as may be seen +by inspecting the tables of the rates of mortality for a century past.</p> + +<p>"I will suggest to you the propriety of improving this opportunity for +setting the public right on one point, and that is the effects of +aboriginal manners upon the physical character. For my part, I have long +since ceased to believe that they are indebted to their mode of life for +the vigor, as a race, which they exhibit, but that the naturally feeble +are destroyed by the vicissitudes to which they are exposed, and which, +in part, gives them an appearance, hardy and athletic, above their +civilized neighbors."</p> + +<p><i>Erroneous impressions of Indians</i>.--Maj. Whiting, of Detroit, says +(27th inst.): "I dare say I may find many things which will suit our +purposes well. Something new and genuine is what we want, and the source +gives assurance these things all bear that character. It is time the +public should know that neither ladies nor gentlemen who have never +crossed the lakes or the Alleghany, can have any but vague ideas of the +children of the forest. An Indian might not succeed well in portraying +life in New York, because he does not read much, and would have to trust +pretty much, if not altogether, to imagination; but his task would +differ only in degree from that of the literary pretender who has never +traveled West beyond the march of fresh oysters (though by the way, +these have been seen in Detroit), and yet thinks he can penetrate the +shadows and darkness of the wilderness. They put a hatchet in his hand, +and stick a feather in his cap, and call him 'Nitche Nawba.' If I +recollect right, in Yamoyden a soup was made of some white children. +Indians have not been over dainty at times, and no doubt have done worse +things; but on such occasions their <i>modus operandi</i> was not likely to +be so much in accordance with the precepts of Madam Glass."</p> + +<p><i>Reviews</i>.--"I read over your last article in the N.A., and thought it +had rather less point and connection than you had probably given it; but +it still has much to recommend it. The remarks on language were more +intelligible to me than any I have before seen, and have given me many +clues which I have vainly sought for in preceding dissertations of +the kind."</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 22d</i>. This day the patriarch of the place, John Johnston, Esq., +breathed his last. He had attained the age of sixty-six. A native of the +county of Antrim, in the north of Ireland; a resident for some +thirty-eight years of this frontier; a gentleman in manners; a merchant, +in chief, in the hazardous fur trade; a man of high social feelings and +refinements; a cotemporary of the long list of men eminent in that +department; a man allied to bishops and nobles at home; connected in +marriage with a celebrated Chippewa family of Algonquins; he was another +Rolfe, in fact, in his position between the Anglo-Saxon and the Indian +races; his life and death afford subjects for remark which are of the +deepest interest, and would justify a biography, not a mere notice. I +wrote a brief sketch for the <i>New York Albion</i>, and transmitted copies +of the paper to some of his connections in Ireland.</p> + +<p>His coming out from that country was during the first presidency of +Washington, and a few years before the breaking out of the Irish +Rebellion. He had a deep sense of his country's injuries, and of the +effect of the laws which pressed so heavily on her energies, political +and commercial; but was entirely loyal, and maintained the highest tone +of loyalism in argument. He saw deeply the evils, but not the remedy, +which he thought to lay rather in future and peaceful developments.</p> + +<p>He suffered greatly and unjustly in the war of 1812, in which his place +was pillaged by the American troops, and some forty thousand dollars of +his private property destroyed, contrary to the instructions of the +American commandant. Low-minded persons who had been in his service as +clerks, and disliked his pretensions to aristocracy, were the cause of +this, and piloted the detachment up the river. He was, however, in +nowise connected with the North-west Company, far less "one of its +agents." He was a civil magistrate under Gov.-Gen. Prevost, and was +honestly attached to the British cause, and he had never accepted any +office or offers from the American government. The Canadian British +authorities did not, however, compensate him for his losses, on the +ground of his living over the lines, at a time, too, when Gen. Brock had +taken the country and assumed the functions of civil and military +governor over all Michigan. The American Congress did not acknowledge +the obligation to sustain the orders to respect private property, +the Chairman of the Committee of Claims reporting that the actors +"might be prosecuted," and the old gentleman's last years were thus +embittered, and he went down to the grave the victim of double +misconceptions--leaving to a large family of the Indo-Irish stock little +beyond an honorable and unspotted name.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII."></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<p>Treaty of St. Joseph--Tanner--Visits of the Indians in distress--Letters +from the civilized world--Indian code projected--Cause of Indian +suffering--The Indian cause--Estimation of the character of the late Mr. +Johnston--Autobiography--Historical Society of Michigan--Fiscal +embarrassments of the Indian Department.</p> + +<p>1828. Tanner was a singular being--out of humor with the world, speaking +ill of everybody, suspicious of every human action, a very savage in his +feelings, reasonings, and philosophy of life, and yet exciting +commiseration by the very isolation of his position. He had been stolen +by the Indians in the Ohio Valley when a mere boy, during the marauding +forays which they waged against the frontiers about 1777. He was not +then, perhaps, over seven years of age--so young, indeed, as to have +forgotten, to a great degree, names and dates. His captors were Saganaw +Chippewas, among whom he learned the language, manners and customs, and +superstitions of the Indians. They passed him on, after a time, to the +Ottowas of L'Arbre Croche, near Mackinac, among whom he became settled +in his pronunciation of the Ottowa dialect of the great Algonquin +family. By this tribe, who were probably fearful a captive among them +would be reclaimed after Wayne's war and the defeat of the combined +Indians on the Miami of the Lakes, he was transferred to kindred tribes +far in the north-west. He appears to have grown to manhood and learned +the arts of hunting and the wild magic notions of the Indians on the Red +River of the North, in the territory of Hudson's Bay. Lord Selkirk, in +the course of his difficulties with the North-west Company, appears to +have first learned of his early captivity.</p> + +<p>He came out to Mackinac with the traders about 1825, and went to find +his relatives in Kentucky, with whom, however, he could not long live. +His habits were now so inveterately savage that he could not tolerate +civilization. He came back to the frontiers and obtained an +interpretership at the U.S. Agency at Mackinac. The elements of his mind +were, however, morose, sour, suspicious, antisocial, revengeful, and +bad. In a short time he was out with everybody. He caused to be written +to me a piteous letter. Dr. James, who was post surgeon at the place, +conceived that his narrative would form a popular introduction to his +observations on some points of the Indian character and customs, which +was the origin of a volume that was some years afterwards given to +the public.</p> + +<p>A note he brought me in 1828, from a high source, procured him my +notice. I felt interested in his history, received him in a friendly +manner, and gave him the place of interpreter. He entered on the duties +faithfully; but with the dignity and reserve of an Indian chief. He had +so long looked on the dark side of human nature that he seldom or never +smiled. He considered everybody an enemy. His view of the state of +Indian society in the wilderness made it a perfect hell. They were +thieves and murderers. No one from the interior agreed with him in this. +The traders, who called him a bad man, represent the Indians as social +when removed from the face of white men, and capable of noble and +generous acts. He was, evidently, his own judge and his own avenger in +every question. I drew out of him some information of the Indian +superstitions, and he was well acquainted practically with the species +of animals and birds in the northern latitudes.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. A letter informs me that a treaty has just been concluded with +the Potawattomies of St. Joseph's, who cede to the United States about a +million and a half acres, comprising the balance of their lands in +Michigan. I received, at the same time, a few lines from Gen. Cass, +speaking a word for the captive, John Tanner, the object of which was to +suggest his employment as an interpreter in the Indian Department.<a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57">[57]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor57">[57]</a> This man served a short time, but turned out, for eighteen +years, to be the pest of that settlement, being a remarkably suspicious, +lying, bad-minded man, having lost every virtue of the white man, and +accumulated every vice of the Indian. He became more and more morose and +sour because the world would not support him in idleness, and went about +half crazed, in which state he hid himself one day, in 1836, in the +bushes, and shot and killed my brother, James L. Schoolcraft. He then +fled back to the Indians, and has not been caught. The musket with which +this nefarious act was done, is said to have been loaned to him from the +guard-house at Fort Brady. Dr. Bagg pronounced the ball an ounce-ball, +such as is employed in the U.S. service. The wad was the torn leaf of a +hymn book. It was extensively reported by the diurnal press, that I had +been the victim of this unprovoked perfidy. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>October 31st</i>. The Indian visits, from remote bands, which were very +remarkable this year, continued through the entire month of August, and +beyond the date at which I dropped the notices of them, during +September, when they were reduced, as party after party returned to the +interior, to the calls of the ordinary bands living about the post, and, +at furthest, to the foot of Lake Superior and the valley and straits of +the St. Mary's. With them, or rather before them, went the traders with +their new outfits and retinues, chiefly from Michilimackinac. As one +after another departed, there was less need of that vigilance, "by night +and by day," to see that none of the latter class went without due +license; that the foreign boatmen on their descriptive lists were duly +bonded for; that no "freedmen" slipped in; and that no ardent spirits +were taken in contrary to law. Gradually my public duties were thus +narrowed down to the benevolent wants of the bands that were immediately +around me, to seeing that the mechanics employed by the Department did +their duties, and to keeping the office at Washington duly informed of +the occurrences and incidents belonging to Indian affairs. All this, +after the close of summer, requires but a small portion of a man's time, +and as winter, which begins here the first of November, approached, I +felt impelled to devote a larger share of attention to subjects of +research or literary amusement. I missed two men in plunging into the +leisure hours of my seventh winter (omitting 1825), in this latitude, +namely, Mr. Johnston, whose conversation and social sympathies were +always felt, and Dr. Pitcher, whose tastes for natural science and +general knowledge rendered him a valuable visitor.</p> + +<p>Letters from the civilized world tended to keep alive the general +sympathies, which none more appreciate than those who are shut out from +its circles. Mr. Edward Everett (Oct. 6th) communicates his sentiments +favorably, respecting the preparation of an article for the <i>North +American Review</i>. The Rev. Mr. Cadle (Oct. 7th) sends a package of +Bibles and Prayer Books for distribution among the soldiers, which he +entrusts to Mrs. S. The Rev. Mr. Wells, of Detroit, writes of some +temporality. Mr. Trowbridge keeps me advised respecting the all +important and growing importance of the department's fiscal affairs.</p> + +<p>The author of "Sanillac" (Oct. 8th) acknowledges the reception and +reading of my "Notes," with which he expresses himself pleased. The head +of the Indian office writes, "The plan has been adopted of compiling a +code of regulations for the Indian intercourse during the winter. For +this duty, Gen. Clarke, of St. Louis, and Gen. Cass, of Detroit, have +been selected." Such were some of the extraneous subjects which the +month of October brought from without.</p> + +<p>The month of November was not without some incidents of interest. From +the first to the fifteenth, a number of Indian families applied for +food, under circumstances speaking loudly in their favor. The misfortune +is, that these poor creatures are induced to part with everything for +the means of gratifying their passion for drink, and then lingering +around the settlements as long as charity offers to supply their daily +wants. The usual term of application for this class is, Kittemaugizzi, +or Nim bukkudda, I am in want, or I am hungry. By making my office a +study, I am always found in the place of public duty, and the latter is +only, in fact, a temporary relief from literary labor. I have often been +asked how I support solitude in the wilderness. Here is the answer: the +wilderness and the busy city are alike to him who derives his amusements +from mental employment.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 7th</i>. The Indian Cause.--In a letter of this date from Mr. J.D. +Stevens, of the Mission of Michilimackinac, he suggests a colony to be +formed at some point in the Chippeway country of Lake Superior, and +inquires whether government will not patronize such an effort to reclaim +this stock. The Indian is, in every view, entitled to sympathy. The +misfortune with the race is, that, seated on the skirts of the domain of +a popular government, they have no vote to give. They are politically a +nonentity. The moral and benevolent powers of our system are with the +people. Government has nothing to do with them. The whole Indian race is +not, in the political scales, worth one white man's vote. Here is the +difficulty in any benevolent scheme. If the Indian were raised to the +right of giving his suffrage, a plenty of politicians, on the +frontiers, would enter into plans to better him. Now the subject drags +along as an incubus on Congress. Legislation for them is only taken up +on a pinch. It is a mere expedient to get along with the subject; it is +taken up unwillingly, and dropped in a hurry. This is the Indian system. +Nobody knows really what to do, and those who have more information are +deemed to be a little moon-struck.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. ESTIMATION OF MR. JOHNSTON.--Gov. Cass writes from Washington: +"Mr. Johnston's death is an event I sincerely deplore, and one upon +which I tender my condolements to the family. He was really no common +man. To preserve the manners of a perfect gentleman, and the +intelligence and information of a well-educated man, in the dreary +wastes around him, and in his seclusion from all society but that of his +own family, required a vigor and elasticity of mind rarely to be found."</p> + +<p>NEW INDIAN CODE.--The loose and fragmentary character of the Indian code +has, at length, arrested attention at Washington, and led to some +attempts to consolidate it. A correspondent writes (Nov. 18th): "Gen. +Clarke has not yet arrived, but is expected daily. In the meantime, I +have prepared an analysis of the subject, which has been approved by the +department, and, on the arrival of Gen. Clarke, we shall be prepared to +proceed to the compilation of our code, which, I do hope, will put +things in a better situation for all."</p> + +<p>The derangements in the fiscal affairs of the Indian department are in +the extreme. One would think that appropriations had been handled with a +pitchfork. A correspondent writes: "For 1827, we were promised $48,000, +and received $30,000. For 1828, we were promised $40,000, and have +received $25,000; and, besides these promises, were all the extra +expenditures authorized to be incurred, amounting to not less than +$15,000. It is impossible this can continue." And these derangements are +only with regard to the north. How the south and west stand, it is +impossible to say. But there is a screw loose in the public machinery +somewhere.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 5th</i>. AUTOBIOGRAPHY.--"It is to be regretted," writes Dr. Edwin +James, "that our lamented friend (Mr. Johnston) had not lived to +complete his autobiography. This deficiency constitutes no valid +objection to the publication of the memoirs, though it appears to me +highly desirable that you should complete the sketch, so as to include +the history of the latter portion of his life. In perfect accordance +with the plan of such a continuation, you would embody much valuable +detail in relation to the history and condition of this section of the +country for the last thirty years. You must, doubtless, have access to +all the existing materials, and to many sources of authentic +information, which could, very appropriately, be given to the public in +such a form."</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. UNION OF THE PURSUITS OF NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY.--I brought +forward, and had passed at the last session of the Legislature, an act +incorporating the Historical Society of Michigan. Dr. Pitcher, who has +recently changed his position to Fort Gratiot, at the foot of Lake +Huron, proposes the embracing of natural history among its studies. He +finds his position, at that point, to be still unfavorable in some +aspects, and not much, if anything, superior to what it was at +St. Mary's.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. FISCAL PERPLEXITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT.--These were alluded to +before. No improvement appears, but we are all destined to suffer. A +friend, who is versed in the subject, writes from Washington: "The fact +is, that nothing could be worse managed than the fiscal concerns of the +department. Not the slightest regard has been paid to the apportionment +made, and there is now due to our superintendency more than the sum of +$40,000. You can well conceive how this happens, and I have neither time +nor patience to enter into the details; suffice it to say, that I am +promised by the Secretary that the moment the appropriation law passes, +which will probably be early in January, every dollar of arrearages +shall be paid off. This is all the consolation I can furnish you, and, I +suppose I need not say that I have left no stone unturned to effect a +more desirable result. It is manifest, however, that the whole +department will be exceedingly pressed for funds next year, as a +considerable part of the appropriation must be assigned to the payment +of arrearages, which have been suffered to accumulate; and it is not +considered expedient, in the present state of affairs, to ask for a +specific appropriation. It will require at least two years to bring our +fiscal concerns to a healthy state."</p> + +<p>In fact, to meet these embarrassments, many retrenchments became +necessary; some sub-agencies were drawn in from the Indian country, +mechanics and interpreters were dismissed, and things put on the very +lowest scale of expenditure.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV."></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<p>Political horizon--Ahmo Society--Incoming of Gen. Jackson's +administration--Amusements of the winter--Peace policy among the +Indians--Revival at Mackinac--Money crisis--Idea of Lake tides--New +Indian code--Anti-masonry--Missions among the Indians--Copper mines--The +policy respecting them settled--Whisky among the Indians--Fur +trade--Legislative council--Mackinac mission---Officers of Wayne's +war--Historical Society of Michigan--Improved diurnal press.</p> + +<p><i>1829. Jan. 1st</i>. The administration of John Quincy Adams now draws to a +close, and that of Gen. Jackson is anticipated to commence. Political +things shape themselves for these events. The close of the old year and +the opening of the new one have been remarkable for heralding many +rumors of change which precede the incoming of the new administration. +Many of these relate to the probable composition of Gen. Jackson's +cabinet. Among the persons named in my letters is Gov. Cass, who has +attracted a good deal of exterior notoriety during the last year. Within +the territory, his superiority of talents and energy have never been +questioned. Michigan would have much to lament by such a transference, +for it is to be feared that party rancor, which he has admirably kept +down, would break forth in all its accustomed violence.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. AHMO SOCIETY.--Under this aboriginal term, which signifies a +bee, the ladies of the fort and village have organized themselves into a +sewing society for benevolent purposes. I find myself honored with a +letter of thanks from them by their secretary, Mrs. E.S. Russell. Truly, +the example of Dorcas was not mentioned in vain in the Scriptures, for +its effect is to excite the benevolent and charitable everywhere to do +likewise. Every such little influence helps to make society better, and +aids its sources of pleasing and self-sustaining reflection.</p> + +<p><i>February 12th</i>. A letter from the editor of the <i>North American +Review</i> acknowledges the receipt of a paper to appear in <i>its</i> columns.</p> + +<p><i>March 4th</i>, The administration of the government this day passes into +the hands of a man of extraordinary individuality of character, +indomitable will, high purpose, and decided moral courage. He was +fighting the Creeks and Seminoles when I first went to the West, and +they told the most striking anecdotes of him, illustrating each of these +traits of character. Ten or eleven years have carried him into the +presidential chair. Such is the popular feeling with respect to military +achievements and strong individuality of character. Men like to follow +one who shows a capacity to lead.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. The winter has passed with less effect from the intensity of its +cold and external dreariness, from the fact of my being ensconsed in a +new house, with double window-sashes, fine storm-houses, plenty of maple +fuel, books, and studies. Besides the fruitful theme of the Indian +language, I amused myself, in the early part of the season, by writing a +review for one of the periodicals, and with keeping up, throughout the +season, an extensive correspondence with friends and men of letters in +various parts of the Union. I revised and refreshed myself in some of my +early studies, I continued to read whatever I could lay my hands on +respecting the philosophy of language. Appearances of spring--the more +deepened sound of the falls, the floating of large cakes of ice from the +great northern depository, Lake Superior, and the return of some early +species of ducks and other birds--presented themselves as harbingers of +spring almost unawares. It is still wintry cold during the nights and +mornings, but there is a degree of solar heat at noon which betokens the +speedy decline of the reign of frosts and snows.</p> + +<p>The Indians, to whom the rising of the sap in its capillary vessels in +the rock-maple is the sign of a sort of carnival, are now in the midst +of their season of sugar-making. It is one of their old customs to move, +men, women, children, and dogs, to their accustomed sugar-forests about +the 20th of March. Besides the quantity of maple-sugar that all eat, +which bears no small proportion to all that is made, some of them sell a +quantity to the merchants. Their name for this species of tree is +In-in-au-tig, which means man-tree.</p> + +<p><i>April 5th</i>. PEACE POLICY.--The agent from La Pointe, in Lake Superior, +writes: "My expressman from the Fond du Lac arrived on the 31st of last +month, by whom I learned that the Leech Lake Indians were unsuccessful +in their war excursion last fall, not having met with their enemies, the +Sioux, and I trust my communication with Mr. Aitkin will be in time to +check parties that may be forming in the spring.</p> + +<p>"The state of the Indians throughout the country is generally in a +critical way of starvation, the wild-rice crops and bear-hunts having +completely failed last fall."</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. REVIVAL OF RELIGION AT MACKINAC.--My brother James, who crossed +the country on snow-shoes, writes: "Mr. Stuart, Satterlee, Mitchell, +Miss N. Dousman, Aitken, and some twenty others, have joined Ferry's +church." This may be considered as the crowning point of the Reverend +Mr. Ferry's labors at that point. This gentleman, if I mistake not, came +up in the same steamer with me seven years ago. It is seed--seed +literally sown in the wilderness, and reaped in the wilderness.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. MONEY CRISIS.--"The fact is," says a person high in power, "the +fiscal concerns of the department have come to a dead stand, and nothing +remains but to ascertain the arrearages, and pay them up. You well know +how all this has happened (by diversions and misappropriations of the +funds at Washington). Such management you can form no conception of. +There will be, during the year, a thorough change.</p> + +<p>"I was glad to see your article. It is an able, and temperate, and +practical view of the subject (<i>N.A.R.</i>, Ap. 1829), grossly exaggerated, +and grossly misunderstood."</p> + +<p><i>May 19th</i>. IDEA OF LAKE TIDES.--Maj. W. writes: "If you see <i>Silliman's +Journal</i>, you will observe an article on the subject of the <i>Lake +Tides</i>, as Gen. Dearborn calls them, in which he has inserted some hasty +letters I wrote to him on this subject, without, however, ever expecting +to see them in such a respectable guise. The Governor made some more +extended observations at Green Bay. If you can give anything more +definite in relation to the changes of Lake Superior, pray let me have a +letter, and we will try to spread before Mr. Silliman a better view of +the case. I have no idea that anything in the shape, of a tide exists, +The Governor is of the same opinion."</p> + +<p>To these opinions I can merely add, Amen. It requires more exactitude of +observation than falls to the lot of casual observers, to upset the +conclusions of known laws and phenomena.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. NEW INDIAN CODE.--Mr. Wing, the delegate in Congress, forwards +to me a printed copy of the report of laws proposed for the Indian +department. It denotes much labor on the part of the two gentlemen who +have had it in hand, and will be productive of improvement. I should +have liked a bolder course, and not so careful a respect all along, for +what has previously been done. Congress requires, sometimes, to be +instructed, or informed, and not to be copied in its attempts to manage +Indian, affairs.</p> + +<p>Every paper brings accounts of removals and appointments under the new +administration; but nothing, so far as I can judge, that promises much, +in this way, of material benefit to Indian affairs. The department at +head-quarters has been, so far as respects fiscal questions, wretchedly +managed, and is over head and ears in debt, and the result of all this +mal-administration is visited on the frontiers, in the bitter want of +means for the agents, sub-agents, and mechanics, and interpreters, who +are obliged to be either suspended, or put on short allowance. +Doubtless, Gen. Jackson, who is a man of high purpose, would remedy this +thing, if the facts were laid before him.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. MASONRY.--It has recently been discovered, that there is a +hidden danger in this ancient fraternity, and that society has been all +the while sitting, as it were, on the top of a volcano, liable, at any +moment, to burst. Such, at least, appear to be the views of some +politicians, who have seized upon the foolish and apparently <i>criminal +acts</i> of some lack-wits in western New York, to make it a new political +element for demagogues to ride. Already it has reached these hitherto +quiet regions, and zealots are now busy by conventions, and anxious in +hurrying candidates up to the point. "Anti-masonic" is the word, a kind +of "shibboleth" for those who are to cross the political "fords" of the +new Jordan.</p> + +<p><i>June 1st</i>. MISSIONARY LABORS AMONG THE INDIANS.--There are evidently +some defects in the system. There is too much expended for costly +buildings, and the formation of a kind of literary institutes of much +too high a grade, where some few of the Indians are withdrawn and very +expensively supported, and undergo a sort of incarceration for a time, +and are then sent back to the bosom of the tribes, with the elements of +the knowledge of letters and history, which their parents and friends +are utterly unable to appreciate, and which they, in fact, ridicule. The +instructed youth is soon discouraged, and they most commonly fall back +into habits worse than before, and end their course by inebriety, while +the body of the tribe is nowise bettered. Whatever the defects are, +there are certainly some things to amend in our measures and +general policy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stevens and Mr. Coe, both missionaries, have recently been appointed +to visit the Indian country, with the object of observing whether some +less expensive and more general effort to instruct and benefit the body +of the tribes, cannot be made. The latter has a commentatory letter to +this end, from Gen. Jackson, dated the 19th of March, which denotes an +interest on this topic that argues favorably of his views of +moral things.</p> + +<p>"The true system of converting the Indians was, it is apprehended, +adopted by David Brainerd in 1744. He took the Bible, and declared its +truths with simplicity and earnestness in the Indian villages. There was +no preparation of buildings or outlays. In one year he had gathered a +church of pure believers. Their manners immediately reformed; they +became industrious and cleanly, and built houses, and schools, and +tilled the land. All this was a <i>consequence</i>, and not a <i>cause</i> of +Christianity." <a name="FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor58">[58]</a> Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 10. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>2d</i>. A friend writes: "I believe the literary world is rather lazy just +at this time; at least nothing novel, except words, has reached my eye. +Your <i>Literary Voyager</i> has lately been traveling the rounds amongst +your friends."</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. COPPER MINES.--A private letter, from a high quarter, says: +"Col. Benton's bill, respecting the copper mines, which passed Congress, +only provided for permission being granted to individuals to work them +at their own expense. There is no intention of doing anything on public +account." This, it will be perceived, was the view presented (ante) by +Mr. Dox, in his able letter to me on the subject, several years ago. +Congress will not authorize the working of the mines. It is a matter for +private enterprize.</p> + +<p><i>July 14th</i>. WHISKY AMONG THE INDIANS.--Mr. Robert Stuart, Agent to the +American Fur Company, writes from Mackinac, that some of the American +Fur Company's clerks are not inclined to take whisky, under the general +government permit, <i>provided their opponents take none</i>. This tampering +with the subject and with me, in the conduct of the agent of that +company, whose duty it is rigidly to exclude the article by every means, +would accord better, it should seem, with the spirit of one who had not +recently taken obligations which are applicable to all times and all +space. Little does the spirit of commerce care how many Indians die +inebriates, if it can be assured of beaver skins. The situation of any +of its agents, who may acknowledge Christian obligations, is doubtless +an embarrassing one; and such persons should seek to get out of such an +employment as soon as possible. The true direction, in all cases of this +kind, is, to take high moral grounds. The department, by granting such +permits, violates a law. The agent of the company who seeks to exclude +"opponents" in the trade, errs by attempting to throw the responsibility +of the minor question upon the local agent, over whose head he already +shakes his permits from a superior power. Now the "opponents," be it +understood, have no such "permits," and the agent can give them none.</p> + +<p>This subject of ardent spirits is a constantly recurring one in every +possible form; and no little time of an agent of Indian affairs, and no +small part of his troubles and vexations, are due to it. The traders and +citizens generally, on the frontiers, are leagued in their <i>supposed</i> +interests to break down, or evade the laws, Congressional and +territorial, which exclude it, or make it an offence to sell or give it. +If an agent aims honestly to put the law in force, he must expect to +encounter obloquy. If he appeals to the local courts, it is ten to one +that nine-tenths of his jury are offenders in this very thing. So far as +the American Fur Company is concerned, it is seen, I think, by the +course of the managers, that it would conduce to better hunts if the +Indians were kept sober, and liquor were rigidly excluded; but the +argument is, that "<i>on the lines</i>"--that the Hudson's Bay Company use +it, and that their trade would suffer if they had not "<i>some</i>." And they +thus override the agents, by appealing to higher powers, and so get +permits annually, for a limited quantity, of which <i>they</i> and not the +<i>agents</i> are the judges. In this way the independence of the agents is +constantly kept down, and made to bend to a species of mock +popular will.</p> + +<p>In view of the counteracting influence of the American Fur Company on +this frontier, it would be better for the credit of morals, properly so +considered, if the chief agent of that concern at Michilimackinac were +not a professor of religion, or otherwise, if he were in a position to +act out its precepts boldly and frankly on this subject. For, as it now +is, his position is perpetually mistaken. A temperance man, he is yet a +member of a local temperance society, which only operates against the +retailers, but leaves members free to sell by the barrel. Bound, by the +principles of law, not to introduce whisky into the interior, he yet +sells it to others, knowing their intention to be to run it over the +lines, in spite of the agents. This is done by white and red men. And he +obtains "permits" besides, as head of the company, at head-quarters at +Washington, to take in, openly, a certain quantity of high wines every +year. Talk to that gentleman on the subject, and he is eloquent in +defence of temperance. Thus the obligation is kept to the ear, but +broken in the practice. A business that thus compels a man to hamper his +conscience, and cause scandal to the church, should be abandoned +at once.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 29th</i>. FUR TRADE.--Mr. Sparks, Ed. <i>N.A. Rev</i>., reminds me of an +intimation mentioned to Mr. Palfrey, to write an article on this +subject, "From observation," he remarks, "and inquiry you have enjoyed +peculiar advantages for gaining a knowledge of the Indians, their +history, character and habits, and the world will be greatly indebted to +you for continuing to diffuse this knowledge, as your opportunities +may allow."</p> + +<p>The fur trade has certainly been productive of a market to Indians for +the result of their forest labors, without which they would want many +necessaries. But while it has stimulated hunting, and so far as this +goes, <i>industry</i>, in the Indian race, it has tended directly to +diminish the animals upon which they subsist, and thus hastened the +period of the Indian supremacy, while it has introduced the evil of +intoxication by ardent spirits.</p> + +<p>LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.--I left St. Mary's the latter part of August, to +attend the second session of the third legislative council at Detroit. +The same tendency was manifested as in the first session, to lean +favorably to the old pioneers and early settlers of an exposed frontier, +which has suffered severely from Indian wars, and other causes of +depression. With the exception of divorce cases, there were really no +bad laws passed; and no disposition manifested to excessive legislation, +or to encumber the statute book with new schemes. Local and specific +acts absorbed the chief attention during the session.</p> + +<p>Deeming it ever better to keep good old laws than to try ill-digested +and doubtful new ones, I used my influence to repress the spirit of +legislating for the sake of legislation, wherever I saw appearances of +it. As Chairman of the Committee on Finances, I managed that branch with +every possible care. I busied myself with the plan of trying to +introduce terse and tasty names for the new townships, taken from the +Indian vocabulary--to suppress the sale of ardent spirits to the Indian +race, and to secure something like protection for that part of the +population which had amalgamated with the European blood.</p> + +<p>MACKINAC MISSION.--Towards the close of the session, a movement was made +against the Mackinac Mission by an attempt to repeal the law exempting +the persons engaged in it from militia and jury service. A formal attack +was made by one of the members against that establishment, its mode of +management, and character. This I resisted. Being in my district, and +familiar with the facts and persons implicated, I repelled the charge as +being entirely unjust to the Rev. Mr. Ferry, the gentleman at the head +of that institution. I drew up a report on the subject, vindicating the +institution, which was adopted and printed. This was a triumph achieved +with some exertions.</p> + +<p>NAMES OF THE OFFICERS WHO SERVED WITH GEN. WAYNE.--Gen. Brady gave me, +during this session, a list of the names of the officers who had served +reputably in the Indian campaigns conducted by Gen. Wayne in 1791-2-3. I +proposed to retain them in naming the townships, the possession of the +territorial area of which we owe to their bravery and gallantry.</p> + +<p>HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN.--This institution was incorporated at +the first session of the Third Legislative Council, in 1828. The bill +for this purpose was introduced by me, after consultation with some +literary friends. It contained the plan of constituting the members of +the Legislative Council members ex-officio. This, it was apprehended, +and rightly so, would give it an official countenance, and serve, in +some things, as a convenient basis for meetings during the few years +that precede a State government, while our literary population continues +sparse. My experience in the East had shown me that quorums are not +readily attained in literary societies, which is a sore hindrance to the +half dozen efficient laborers out of a populous city, who generally hold +the laboring oar of such institutions.</p> + +<p>The historical incidents of this section of the Union are quite +attractive, and, while general history has cognizance of the leading +events, there is much in the local keeping of old men who are ready to +drop off. There is more in the aboriginal history and languages that +invites attention, while the modern history--the exploration and +settlement of the country, and the leading incidents which are turning a +wilderness into abodes of civilization--is replete with matter that will +be of deep interest to posterity. To glean in this broad field appears +an important literary object.</p> + +<p>Gov. Cass gave us this session the first discourse, in a rapid and +general and eloquent review of the French period, including the transfer +of authority to Great Britain, and an account of the bold and original +attempted surprise of the English garrison at Detroit, by Pontiac. This +well-written and eloquently-digested discourse was listened to with +profound interest, and ordered to be printed.<a name="FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59">[59]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor59">[59]</a> Vide <i>Historical and Scientific Sketches of Michigan</i>, 1 +vol. 12mo; Wells and Whitney, 1834. +</blockquote> + +<p>IMPROVED PRESS.--In a state of society which relies so much on popular +information through the diurnal press, its improvement is of the highest +consequence. Mr. William Ward, of Massachusetts, performed this office +for the city of Detroit and Michigan this fall, by the establishment of +a new paper, which at first bore the title of <i>North-west Journal</i>, and +afterwards of <i>Detroit Journal</i>. This sheet exhibits a marked advance in +editorial ability, maturity of thought, and critical acumen.</p> + +<p>I embarked at Detroit, on my return to St. Mary's, late in October, +leaving the council still in session, and reached that place on one of +the last days of the month.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 20th</i>. Mr. Ward writes: "We have published <i>The Rise of the West, +and the Ages of Michigan</i>. It is printed well, but bound, sorry I am to +say, carelessly. I suppose the Major will send you a copy."</p> + +<p><i>Rise of the West, or a Prospect of the Mississippi Valley</i>, embraces +reminiscences of this noble stream, and of its banks being settled by +the Anglo-Saxons.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV."></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<p>The new administration--Intellectual contest in the Senate--Sharp +contest for mayoralty of Detroit--Things shaping at Washington--Perilous +trip on the ice--Medical effects of this exposure--Legislative +Council--Visit to Niagara Falls--A visitor of note--History--Character +of the Chippewas--Ish-ko-da-wau-bo--Rotary sails--Hostilities between +the Chippewas and Sioux--Friendship and badinage--Social +intercourse--Sanillac--Gossip--Expedition to Lake Superior--Winter +Session of the Council--Historical disclosure--Historical Society of +Rhode Island--Domestic--French Revolution.</p> + +<p><i>1830. Jan. 26th</i>. THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.--A friend from Washington +writes: "Nothing has yet been touched in the Indian department. It is +doubtful whether our code will be considered. The engrossing topic of +the session will be the removal of the Indians. It occupies the public +mind through the Union, and petitions and remonstrances are pouring in, +without number. The article (<i>On the Removal of the Indians</i>) was +luckily hit. It has been well received, and is very acceptable to the +government."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 23d</i>. INTELLECTUAL CONTEST IN THE SENATE.--A correspondent from +Detroit writes: "I refer you to your papers, which will give you the +history of the contest between those intellectual giants, Hayne and +Webster, rather Webster and Hayne, on the land question, which seems to +absorb public interest entirely. My books containing <i>Extracts of the +Eloquence of the British Parliament</i>, furnish me no such models as that +second speech. Such clearness, simplicity, and comprehensiveness; such a +grave and impressive tread; such imposing countenance and manner; such +power of thought, and vigor of intellect, and opulence of diction, and +chastened brilliance of imagination, have seldom, I was about to say +never, startled the listeners of that chamber."</p> + +<p>SHARP CONTEST FOR MAYORALTY OF DETROIT.--A shrewd and observant +correspondent writes: "John R. Williams has been elected mayor, after a +close election, disputed by Chapin. The enemy practised a good thing on +him. During one of the delegate elections, when his ambition seemed to +tower higher than it now does, he published a sort of memorabilia, like +that of Dr. Mitchell, in which was set forth, with much minuteness of +detail, all that he had ever done, and much of all he ever thought, for +the good of this poor territory. Such, for instance, as that in 1802, he +was appointed town-clerk of Hamtramck; that he offered, in 1811, his +services to Congress in a military capacity, which offer was rejected, +and 'was the first who received intelligence of the capture of +Mackinac,' &c. This thing the remorseless enemy republished, after it +had been fervently hoped, no doubt, that the unlucky bantling had +descended to the tomb of the Capulets. It was so unaccountably weak and +stupid, and so unkindly contrasted at bottom with sundry specifications +'of how' he had, with a pertinacious consistency, opposed every +projected public improvement here, that his friends pronounced it a +<i>forgery</i>."</p> + +<p><i>April 14th</i>. THINGS SHAPING AT WASHINGTON.--"I reached home," says a +friend, "last week, after a pleasant journey. The time passed off, at +Washington, pretty comfortably. There was much to see and hear. The +elements of political affairs are combining and recombining, and it is +difficult to predict the future course of things.</p> + +<p>"You will see that, in the fiscal way, the department is better off than +last year. Our friend, Col. McKenney, stands his ground well, and I see +no difference in his situation."</p> + +<p>PERILOUS TRIP ON THE ICE.--My brother James left the Sault St. Marie on +the ice with a train, about the 1st of April. He writes from Mackinac, +on the 14th of April: "We arrived here on the 12th, after a stay of +seven days at Point St. Ignace. We were seven days from the Sault to the +Point, at which place we arrived in a cold rain storm, half starved, +lame, and tired. I suppose this trip ranks anything of the kind since +the days of Henry. I am sure mortals never suffered more than us. After +leaving the Sault, disappointment, hunger, and fatigue, were our +constant companions. The children of Israel traveled a crooked road, +'tis said, but I think it was not equal to our circuit.</p> + +<p>"We found the ice in Muddy Lake very good, in comparison to that of +Huron. After leaving Detour, we were obliged to coast, and that too over +piles of snow, mountains of ice, and innumerable rocks. In one instance, +we were obliged to make a portage across a cedar swamp with our baggage, +and drove Jack about a mile through the water, in order to continue the +'voyage in a train.' We were obliged to round all those long points on +Huron, afraid if we went through the snow of being caught on +some island.</p> + +<p>"Jack fell through the ice three times out of soundings, and it was with +great difficulty we succeeded in getting him out. We lost all our +harness in the Lake, and were obliged to 'rig out' with an old bag, a +portage collar, and a small piece of rope-yarn. Jack was three days +without eating, except what he could pick on the shore. Take it all in +all, I think it rather a severe trip."</p> + +<p>MEDICAL OR PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF THIS EXPOSURE TO COLD AND WET.--"I came +to this place (Vernon, N.Y.) much fatigued, and not in the best health. +I think my voyage from the Sault to Mackinac has impaired my health. I +was most strangely attacked on board the Aurora. As I was reading in the +cabin, all at once I was struck perfectly blind; then a severe pain in +the head and face and throat, which was remedied by rubbing with +vinegar; on the whole, rather a strange variety of attack."</p> + +<p>KINDNESS TO AN OLD DECAYED "MERCHANT VOYAGEUR."--There lived near me, on +the Canadian shore, an aged Frenchman, a native of Trois Rivières, in +Lower Canada, whose reminiscences of life in the wilderness, in the last +century, had the charm of novelty. He was about seventy years of age, +and had raised a family of children by a half-English half-Chippewa +wife, all of whom had grown up and departed. His wife and himself were +left alone, and were very poor. His education had been such as to read +and write French well; he had, in fact, received his education in the +College of Quebec, where he studied six years, and he spoke that +language with considerable purity. As the cold weather drew on in the +fall of 1829, I invited him, with his wife, to live in my basement, and +took lessons of him in French every morning after breakfast. He had all +the polite and respectful manners of a <i>habitant</i>, and never came up to +these recitations without the best attention in his power to +his costume.</p> + +<p>Such was Jean Baptiste Perrault, who was from one of the best families +in Lower Canada. He had been early enamored with stories of voyageur +adventure and freedom in the Indian country, where he had spent his +life. He was a man of good judgment, quick perceptions, and most +extraordinary memory of things. At my request, he committed to paper, in +French, a narrative of his wild adventures, reaching from St. Louis to +Pembina, between 1783 and 1820. Most of the facts illustrate the +hardships and risks of the Indian trade and Indian manners and customs. +They supply something for the history of the region while the country +was under the English dominion.</p> + +<p>Never was a man more grateful for this winter's attention. He moved back +with his wife, who was quite attentive to him, to his little domicil on +the opposite shore in the spring, and lived, I am informed, till Nov. +12, 1844, when he was about 85.</p> + +<p>FOURTH LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.--I was re-elected a member of the +Legislative Council, and as soon as the lakes and river were fairly +open, proceeded to Detroit, where I arrived about the middle of May. In +this trip I was accompanied by Mrs. S. and my infant son and daughter, +with their nurse; and by Miss Charlotte Johnston, a young lady just +coming out into society. The council met and organized without delay, +the committees being cast much in the manner of the preceding council, +as a majority of the members were re-elected. So far as changes of men +had supervened, they were, perhaps, for the better.</p> + +<p>VISIT TO NIAGARA FALLS.--Early in June, however, it was determined to +take a recess, and I embraced this opportunity to proceed with my family +to visit Niagara Falls. Miss Elizabeth Cass accepted an invitation to +join us, and we had a most interesting and delightful visit. We were, +perhaps, the first party of pure pleasure, having no objects of business +of any kind, who ever went from the upper lakes to see this grand +feature in American scenery. We were most kindly received by friends and +acquaintances at Buffalo, where many parties were given. We visited both +banks of the falls, and crossed over below the sheet. On passing Black +Rock, we were kindly received by Gen. Porter and his accomplished and +talented lady. We returned to Detroit with the most pleasing +reminiscences of the trip.</p> + +<p>A VISITOR OF NOTE.--About the 20th of July, Gen. Erastus Root, long a +veteran in the New York Legislature, visited Detroit, having, if I +mistake not, some public business in the upper country. Persons who have +been long before the public acquire a reputation which appears to make +every one familiar with them, and there was much curiosity to see a +person who had so long opposed Clinton, opposed the canal, and stood +forth in some things as a political reformer. I went with him and his +companion, Judge M'Call, after a very hot day, to take some lemonade in +the evening at Gen. Cass's. Gen. Root was not refined and polished in +his manners and converse. He was purposely rough in many things, and +appeared to say things in strong terms to produce effect. To call the +N.Y. Canal the "big ditch" was one of these inventions which helped him +to keep up his individuality in the legislature. He appeared to me to be +a man something after the type of Ethan Allen.</p> + +<p>HISTORY.--During this session of the legislature, I delivered the annual +discourse before the Historical Society. I felt so much misgiving about +reading it before the large assemblage at the State House, that I had +arranged with a literary and legal friend to put it in his hands the +moment I began to falter. For this purpose he occupied the secretary's +desk; but I found myself sufficiently collected to go on and read it +through, not quite loud enough for all, but in a manner, I think, to +give satisfaction.</p> + +<p>CHARACTER OF THE CHIPPEWAS.--Wm. S. Mosely, Esq., writes (July 12th) +respecting this influential and wide-spread tribe, proposing a list of +queries transmitted to him by Theodore Dwight, Junr., a philanthropist +of N.Y. One of the questions is as follows: "What have been the chief +impediments between the Indian and civilization? How would it alter +their opinions or influence their conduct if they could associate with +white people without being despised, imposed upon, or rendered +suspicious of their motives? In short, if they came in contact only with +the best white men, and were neither furnished with ardent spirits nor +threatened with extermination by encroachment?"</p> + +<p>ISH-KO-DA-WAU-BO.--I had a pleasant passage up the Lakes in the steamer +"Sheldon Thompson." Among the passengers were James B. Gardiner, of +Ohio; charged, with duties from Washington, and John T. Mason, +Commissioner for treating with the Indians at Green Bay. In a letter of +the 13th August, written on his return at Mackinac, Mr. Gardiner, who is +quite a philanthropist and a gentleman of most liberal opinions, says: +"I conceive it my duty to inform you that I have obtained information +from the contractor himself (Mr. Stanard, who is a fourth owner of the +Sheldon Thompson), that under the head of 'provisions,' he has +contracted to deliver, and has actually delivered, two hundred barrels +of whisky, and two hundred barrels of high wines, at the place for the +American Fur Company, which, no doubt, is designed to be sent into the +Indian country the ensuing fall."</p> + +<p>ROTARY SAILS.--John B. Perrault, whose name has been before mentioned, +invented a novel boat, to be propelled by the force of rotary sails +acting on machinery, which turns paddle-wheels; a very ingenious thing. +The result of experiments is, however, unfavorable to its +practical adoption.</p> + +<p>HOSTILITIES BETWEEN THE SIOUX AND CHIPPEWAS.--These hostilities have +reached such a point, that the department has deemed it necessary to +interpose its friendly offices in a more formidable manner, by +dispatching an expedition into the principal seat of the war. The +instructions, however (of Aug. 9th), by which I was designated for that +purpose, reached me so late in that month, that it was not deemed +practicable to carry them into effect until the next year. I reported +the facts, which are deemed necessary to be known at head-quarters, in +order to give efficacy to this necessary and proper measure, +recommending that the expedition be deferred, and that, in the meantime, +suitable means be provided for making it, to the greatest extent, +effectual.</p> + +<p>FRIENDSHIP AND BADINAGE.--A friend writes from Detroit (Aug. 14th): "For +a brief space, that is, about a quarter of an hour, I can borrow a +little use of my own soul, though I cannot call it exactly my own. You +will not fail to note, I trust, how eminently judicious is the +appropriation.</p> + +<p>"A few days since, the letter containing the notice of your appointment +to the Lake Superior destination, was mailed for you. The purpose of +this is to suggest the memory of your doubtful promise, to come down in +the fall for the winter session. The Gov. thinks it too late in the +season to attempt your expedition this fall; and I presume, that it is, +I hope, your papers will not reach you in time to leave this summer, an +opinion of questionable correctness.</p> + +<p>"You can have your table placed in the corner, and amuse yourself with +preparing an article for the <i>N.A.</i>, Thus you will discharge a double +duty to your country; one to its political interests, and another to its +department of letters. Whatever preparations are necessary at your +place, can be made in the winter, under directions left there when you +come down, and such as could be more conveniently made here, you shall +have every aid in forwarding. The fact is, I see not a single objection, +I <i>cannot</i> see one, and more than that, I won't. This I conceive to be +the only rational view to be taken of the subject, and, of course, it +follows like the consequence to the minor of a syllogism; the only one +you take. So don't say any more about it, but come along down, and then +you shall, with more pleasure, satisfaction, and comfort, <i>go along up</i>. +It is, in fact, just as clear, as that one and one, you and me, will +make two."</p> + +<p>SOCIAL INTERCOURSE,--Maj. W. writes (21st Aug.): "I was sorry, on my +return, to find you gone, for we have left undone that which I hoped to +have done, with your assistance, that is, the arrangement of our museum. +But circumstances were unlucky. Cases were made wrong, or not made in +due time, and absences took <i>some</i> folks away (an allusion to the trip +to Niagara), and the council <i>would</i> adjourn, &c. You are, however, I +understand, to be down here New Year's day, to which time, for the +special accommodation of the up-country members, I presume the council, +as it is said, has adjourned. An appropriation for snow shoes ought to +have been made."</p> + +<p>SANILLAC.--"I made an arrangement in Boston for the printing of my MSS. +As I found I was to bear the brunt of the expense, I determined to make +it as small as I consistently could, and have, therefore, made the +volume somewhat smaller than was in my original plan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ward showed me a hasty note from you relative to the address +(before the Historical Society). I have examined it as published, and I +told him your suggestions were out of the question. There is not an +error that I could detect that is not clearly typographical; and your +fears, that either yourself or the society will be discredited, are all +idle. I do not recollect any of your books which, I think, do you +more credit."</p> + +<p>GOSSIP.--Mr. Ward writes: "We have but little news. The governor and +Elizabeth are off to Utica and Troy, and we hope the springs. Mr. Cass, +Lewis, and Isabel to the Maumee. Major and Mrs. Kearsley to New York and +Philadelphia, with Miss Colt in keeping. For all persons else, one note +will answer. They eat drink, and sleep as they did, and are 'partly +as usual.'"</p> + +<p>EXPEDITION INTO LAKE SUPERIOR.--"I do not answer you officially," says +Gov. C. "concerning the expedition into Lake Superior, because I shall +expect you will be here in the last vessel, to attend the meeting of the +council, and Mr. Brush speaks with certainty-upon the subject. As Mr. +Irwin has resigned, and there is no provision for ordering a new +election, your district will be wholly unrepresented unless you attend. +In the mean time I have received the sum allowed for this service, which +you can draw for whenever you please. There is no doubt but the matter +will go on. After you arrive here, and We have conversed together, I +will restate the project of a more extended expedition, agreeably to +your suggestions, and submit it to the department. I agree with you +fully, that the thing should be enlarged, to embrace the persons and +objects you suggest. It would be an important expedition, and not a +little honorable to you, to have the direction of it, as it will be the +first authorized by the administration."</p> + +<p>WINTER SESSION OF THE COUNCIL.--On the 16th of November, I embarked in a +large boat at St. Mary's with a view of reaching Mackinack in season to +take the last vessel returning down the lakes. The weather was hazy, +warm, and calm, and we could not descry objects at any considerable +distance. If we were not in "Sleepy Hollow" while descending the broad +valley and stretched out waters of the St. Mary's, we were, at least, in +such a hazy atmosphere, that our eyes might almost as well have been +shut. It seemed an interlude in the weather, between the boisterous +winds of autumn and the severe cold of December. In this maze I came +down the river safely, and proceeded to Mackinack, where I remained +several days before I found a vessel. These were days of pleasing moral +intercourse at the mission. I do not recollect how many days the voyage +lasted, but it was late in the evening of a day in December, dark and +very muddy when the schooner dropped anchor off the city, and I plodded +my way from the shore to the <i>Old Stone Mansion House</i> in Detroit.</p> + +<p>HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.--Mr. Madison, the Ex-president, transmits a very +neat and terse note of acknowledgment for a copy of my address, in the +following words, which are quite a compensation for the time devoted to +its composition:--</p> + +<p>"J. Madison, with his respects to Mr. Schoolcraft, thanks him for the +copy of his valuable discourse before 'the Historical Society of +Michigan.' To the seasonable exhortation it gives to others, it adds an +example which may be advantageously followed." (<i>Oct. 23d</i>.)</p> + +<p>HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF RHODE ISLAND.--I received a copy of a circular +issued by this institution (Nov. 1), asking Congress for aid in the +transcription of foreign historical manuscripts. "We alone, (almost,)" +say the committee, "among nations, have it in our power to trace +clearly, certainly, and satisfactorily, at a very trifling expense, the +whole of our career, from its very outset, throughout its progress, down +to the present moment--and shall we manifest a supineness, a perfect +listlessness and complete indifference respecting a subject, that by +every other people has been, and is still esteemed of so vast magnitude, +and deep interest, as to have induced, and still to induce them to pour +forth funds from their treasuries unsparingly, to aid the historians in +removing, if possible, the veil that conceals in dark obscurity +their origin?"</p> + +<p>DOMESTIC.--Mrs. Schoolcraft writes from <i>Elmwood,</i> St. Mary's (Dec. +6th): "I continue to instruct our dear little girl every day, and I +trust you will find her improved on your return, should it please Heaven +to restore you in peace and safety. Johnston has quite recovered, and +can now stand alone, and could walk, <i>if he would.</i> I have called on +Mrs. Baxley, and find her a very agreeable woman. She said she saw you +several times at Prairie du Chien. (1825.) I also went to see the +mission farm, and was much pleased with the teacher, Miss McComber. The +weather has remained very fine, till within two days, when we have had, +for the first time, a <i>sprinkling</i> of snow. Such a season has never been +heard of in this country--not a particle of ice has, as yet, formed +anywhere."</p> + +<p>FRENCH REVOLUTION.--This political revolution has come like an +avalanche, and the citizens have determined to celebrate it, and have a +public address, for which Major Whiting has been designated. +Thirty-seven years ago the French cut off the head of the reigning +Bourbon, Louis XVI., and now they have called another branch of the same +house, of whom Bonaparte said: "They never learn anything, and they +never forget anything." As the French please, however. We are all joy +and rejoicing at the event. It seems the consummation of a +long struggle.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ward (Ed. Jour.) writes 25th Dec.: "Will you send me, by the bearer, +the lines you showed me in Brush's office. They will be quite <i>apropos</i> +next week. Should like to close our form this evening."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI."></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<p>Lecture before the Lyceum--Temperature in the North--Rum and taxes--A +mild winter adverse to Indians--Death of a friend--Christian +atonement--Threats of a Caliban, or an Indianized white man--Indian +emporium--Bringing up children--Youth gone astray--Mount Hope +Institution--Expedition into the Indian country--Natural History of the +United States--A reminiscence--Voyage inland.</p> + +<p>1831. LECTURE BEFORE THE LYCEUM.--The executive committee of this +popular institution asks me by a note (Jan. 14th), to lecture before +them a short time ahead. Public duty is an excuse, which on such +occasions is very generally made by men in office, who in nine cases out +of ten seek to conceal the onerousness of literary labor under that +ample cloak. To me there is no duty more important than that which +diverts a town from idle gratifications, and fixes its attention on +moral or intellectual themes. Although the notice was short, I +determined to sit up a few nights and comply with it. I selected the +natural history of Michigan, as a subject very tangible, and one about +which a good deal of interest could be thrown. I had devoted much +interest to it for years--understood it, perhaps, better than any one in +the territory, and could lecture upon it <i>con amore</i>.</p> + +<p>When the appointed evening arrived, I found a highly respectable and +very crowded audience, in the upper chamber of the old Indian council +house. It was certainly a better use of the building than paying the +price of blood for white men's and women's scalps, during the fierce +seven years' struggle of the American Revolution, and the succeeding +Indian wars. My lights were badly placed for reading, and I got on +indifferently in that respect, for I could not see well, but my facts +and matter altogether were well and approvingly received; and the +address was immediately published.</p> + +<p>TEMPERATURE AT THE FOOT OF LAKE SUPERIOR.--Mr. F. Andrain writes to me +from St. Mary's (Jan. 26th): "The weather has been very mild indeed, +here, until within a few days: there has not been sufficient snow, as +yet, to cover the stubble in the fields. The severe weather commenced on +the 23d instant. The thermometer stood as follows:--"</p> + +<blockquote> +On the 23d, at 9 o'clock A.M., 11 degrees below zero.<br> + 24th, " " 13 " "<br> + 25th, " " 2 " "<br> + 26th, " " 1 " "<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>RUM AND TAXES.--A trader at St. Mary's writes (26th Jan.) as follows: +"It is the wish of several individuals, who keep stores in the village, +to be informed whether the sutler in Fort Brady is not obliged to pay +taxes as well as we. For he has almost the exclusive trade of the +Canadians. It is tempting to purchase liquor at 2<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. per gallon, +when they have to pay 4<i>s</i>. in the village. The temperance society is of +no use, when any of its members can dispose of liquor <i>at so low a +rate</i>." I put the last words in italics.</p> + +<p>A MILD WINTER ADVERSE TO THE INDIANS.--Mr. George Johnston observes (8th +March): "The weather on Lake Superior has been uncommonly mild the whole +winter. The southern shore of the lake from White Fish Point to Ance +Kewywenon presents a scene of open lake, not any ice forming to enable +the poor Indians to spear fish."</p> + +<p>DEATH OF A FRIEND.--Mrs. Schoolcraft says (Feb. 3d): "Mrs. Bingham +passed the day with me a short time since, and brought me some Vermont +religious papers, which I read yesterday, and found an account of the +death of our poor friend Mr. Conant, which took place in November last +in Brandon, Vermont, leaving his disconsolate widow and five children. +He suffered greatly for five years, but I am happy to find he was +resigned in suffering to the will of the Almighty with patience; and I +trust he is now a happy member of the souls made perfect in the precious +blood of the Lamb." Thus ended the career of a man of high moral worth, +mental vigor, and exalted benevolence of feeling and purpose. This is +the man, and the family, who showed us such marked kindness and +attentions in the city of New York, in the winter of 1825--kindness and +attentions never to be forgotten. <i>Feb. 7th</i>. This day is very +memorable in my private history, for my having assumed, after long +delay, the moral intrepidity to acknowledge, <i>publicly</i>, a truth which +has never been lost sight of since my intercourse with the Rev. Mr. +Laird, in the, to me, memorable winter of 1824--when it first flashed, +as it were, on my mind. That truth was the divine atonement for human +sin made by the long foretold, the rejected, the persecuted, the +crucified Messiah.</p> + +<p>Threat of an Indianized White Man.--A friend at St. Mary's writes: +"Tanner has again made bold threats, agreeably to Jack Hotley's +statement, and in Doctor James' presence, saying, that had you still +been here, he would have killed you; and as the Johnstons were acting in +concert with you, he kept himself constantly armed." This being, in his +strange manners and opinions, at least, appears to offer a realization +of Shakspeare's idea of Caliban.</p> + +<p>Indian Emporium.--Col. T. McKenney, who has been superseded in the +Indian Bureau at Washington, announces, by a circular, that he is about +to establish a commercial house, or agency, on a general plan, for +supplying articles designed for the Indian trade and the sale of furs +and peltries. This appears to me a striking mistake of judgment. The +colonel, of all things, is not suited for a merchant.</p> + +<p>Bringing up of Children.--Mrs. Schoolcraft writes: "I find the time +passes more swiftly than I thought it would; indeed, my friends have +been unwearied in striving to make my solitary situation as pleasant as +possible, and they have favored me with their company often. I strive to +be as friendly as I possibly can to every one, and I find I am no loser +by so doing. I wish it was in your power to bring along with you a good +little girl who can speak English, for I do not see how I can manage +during the summer (if my life is spared) without some assistance in the +care of the children. I feel anxious, more particularly on Jane's +account, for she is now at that age when children are apt to be biased +by the habits of those they associate with, and as I cannot be with her +<i>all the time</i>, the greater will be the necessity of the person to whom +she is entrusted (let it be ever so short a time) to be one who has been +brought up by pious, and, of course, conscientious parents, where no bad +example can be apprehended. I feel daily the importance of bringing up +children, not merely to pass with advantage through the world, but with +advantage to their souls to all eternity."</p> + +<p>I find great pleasure in sister Anna Maria's company. She is to stay +with me till you return. Little Jan<i>ee</i> improves rapidly under her +tuition. Janee (she was now three and a half years of age) has commenced +saying by heart two pieces out of the little book you sent her. One is +'My Mother,' and the other is 'How doth the little busy Bee.' It is +pleasant to see her smooth down her apron and hear her say, "So I shall +stand by my father, and say my lessons, and he will call me his dear +little <i>Tee-gee,</i> and say I am a good girl." She will do this with so +much gravity, and then skip about in an instant after and repeat, half +singing, "My father will come home again in the spring, when the birds +sing and the grass and flowers come out of the ground; he will call me +his <i>wild Irish girl</i>."</p> + +<p>"Janee has just come into the room, and insists on my telling you that +she can spell her name very prettily, 'Schoolcraft and all.' She seems +anxious to gain your approbation for her acquirements, and I encourage +the feeling in order to excite attention to her lessons, as she is so +full of life and spirits that it is hard to get her to keep still long +enough to recite them properly. Johnston has improved more than you can +imagine, and has such endearing ways that one cannot help loving the +dear child. Oh, that they would both grow up wise unto salvation, and I +should be happy."</p> + +<p>Youthful Blood.--James --- was a young man of promise--bright mentally +and physically, lively and witty, and of a figure and manners pleasing +to all. In a moment of passion he dirked a man at a French ball. The +victim of this scene of revelry lingered a few months and recovered. +This recovery is announced in a letter of Mrs. Schoolcraft's (Feb. +16th), in which she says:--</p> + +<p>"Dr. James sent a certificate of the young man's returning health by the +last express, and an Indian was also sent to accompany James back to +this place; but how great was our astonishment at the arrival of the +Indian <i>alone</i>, on the 3d ultimo, and bringing news of James' escape +from Mackinack. We felt a good deal alarmed for his safety on the way, +and an Indian was sent down the river in quest of him; but we were +relieved of our fears by the arrival of James himself on the following +day, very much exhausted. I immediately sent to Dechaume to ask how he +did, and learnt that his fatigue, &c., had not in the least abated his +natural <i>vivacity and gayety</i>.</p> + +<p>"Three days after his arrival (being Sunday) I was at dinner at my +mother's, when he came in, and could not refrain from tears. He seemed +much affected at what I said, and I felt encouraged to hope some little +change in his conduct. The next day, on mature reflection, I thought no +time was to be lost in striving by all <i>human</i> means to reclaim him, and +my promise to co-operate with you all I could for that desirable object, +induced me to write a note inviting him to come and spend a quiet social +evening with sister Anna Maria and myself, and I sent the sleigh to +bring him down, so that he could have no excuse to decline coming, and I +was pleased that he came without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"I conversed a long time with him, pointing out, in the most gentle and +affectionate manner I could, where he had erred, and in what way he +might have become not only respected and esteemed, but independent, +whereas his excesses had brought him to embarrassment and disgrace; and +conjured him, as he valued his temporal and spiritual welfare, to +abandon some, at least (to begin with) of his evil courses, and to +strive with all his might to avert the wrath of that Holy Being whom he +had hitherto so despised, and whose just laws he had, in more than <i>one</i> +instance, violated, and a great deal more that I cannot now mention. I +got him at last to promise to strive to become better.</p> + +<p>"We passed the rest of the evening in a rational and pleasant manner by +reading chiefly in the <i>Literary Voyager</i>, thinking it might help to +call forth former occupations, which were comparatively innocent, and +reading some of his own pieces, <i>renew</i> a taste of what was virtuous and +praiseworthy. I inwardly prayed that by such means, feeble as they were, +they might tend to draw him off insensibly from his former haunts and +habits. I have been enabled to pursue this course of conduct towards him +ever since that evening, and I am pleased to find that he comes oftener +to Elmwood than I at first expected; but I perceive that there is some +<i>other</i> attraction besides my <i>sage discourses</i> that draws him so often +to the now leafless shades of Elmwood. And he may fancy that either a +<i>rose</i> or a <i>lily</i> has taken shelter within its walls. Be that as it +may, I shall not say a word; most of my thoughts are more occupied with +the best method I can take to do him good to all eternity, and I do not +forget to ask aid of ONE that never errs.</p> + +<p>"Some evenings since, Mr. Agnew and some of the officers gave a ball at +one of the French houses, and not doubting but that James was invited to +join in the amusement, I instantly addressed a long letter to him, +encouraging him in his recent resolution of amendment, and told him +<i>now</i> was the time to put those wise resolves to the test by practice, +and that he ought to know, by sad experience, that attending such low +scenes of dissipation was the source of almost all the iniquity in the +place. I had afterwards the satisfaction to find that he did not attend; +but my fears for him are still very great, and will be justly so as long +as he is so taken up by that disgraceful connection where he spends a +great deal of his precious time. My ambition is not only to <i>civilize</i> +him (if I may be allowed that expression, which is not out of the way, +after all, as he has despised the forms and restraints of refined +society), but my ardent wish is to <i>Christianize</i> him in every sense of +the word--he is, at present, skeptical. But let us only do our duty as +Christians, and leave the rest in the hands of the Almighty."</p> + +<p>Mount Hope, Baltimore.--My old instructor and friend, Prof. Frederick +Hall, sends me a programme of his collegiate institution, at this place, +and writes me (April 6th) a most friendly letter, renewing old +acquaintanceship and scientific reminiscences. Death makes such heavy +inroads on our friends, that we ought to cherish the more those that +are left.</p> + +<p>Legislation proceeded quietly while these events occurred, and the +winter wore away almost imperceptibly till the session closed. I +embraced the first opportunity of ascending the Lakes to the entrance of +the. St. Mary's, and from thence up the river, and reached home about +the 25th of April, making altogether about five months absence. But at +home I am not destined long to remain, as the expedition into the Lake, +for which I was designated in August, was only deferred till spring.</p> + +<p>I had now served four years in the legislature; but, understanding that +the President had expressed an opinion that official officers should not +engage in the business of legislation, I declined a reelection by a +public notice to the electors of my district.</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"> + +<p>EXPEDITION TO THE REGION OF THE ST. CROIX AND CHIPPEWIA RIVERS.--The +Executive of the territory writes from Washington (April 19th): "I +arrived here day before yesterday, and this morning talked with Gen. +Eaton. You will go into Lake Superior, and I am to submit a project +to-day. I shall have it properly arranged. In a day or two, I trust, I +shall have the official papers off. I write in a hurry now to apprise +you of the fact. The letter you received from Mr. Hamilton, was written +before I arrived." The same person, three days later, says: "The +official instructions are preparing for your expedition, and will, I +hope, be off to-day." They were written on the 3d of May, and are as +follows:--</p> + +<p>"Your letter of Feb. 13th has been received, and its general views are +approved. The Secretary of War deems it important that you should +proceed to the country upon the head of the Mississippi, and visit as +many of the Indians in that and the intermediate region, as +circumstances will permit.</p> + +<p>"Reports have reached this department from various quarters, that the +Indians upon our frontiers are in an unquiet state,<a name="FNanchor60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60">[60]</a> and that there is +a prospect of extensive hostilities among themselves. It is no less the +dictate of humanity, than of policy, to repress this feeling and to +establish permanent peace among these tribes. It is also important to +inspect the condition of the trade in that remote country, and the +conduct of the traders. To ascertain whether the regulations and the +laws are complied with, and to suggest such alterations as may be +required. And finally, to inquire into the numbers, standing, +disposition, and prospects of the Indians, and to report all the +statistical facts you can procure, and which will be useful to the +government in its operations, or to the community in the investigation +of these subjects."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor60">[60]</a> The Sauc war under Blackhawk broke out within the year. +</blockquote> + +<p>"In addition to these objects, you will direct your attention to the +vaccination of the Indians. An act for that purpose has passed Congress, +and you are authorized to take a surgeon with you. Vaccine matter +prepared and put up by the Surgeon General, is herewith transmitted to +you, and you will, upon your whole route, explain to the Indians the +advantages of vaccination, and endeavor to persuade them to submit to +the process. You will keep and report an account of the number, ages, +sex, tribe, and local situation of the Indians who may be vaccinated, +and also of the prevalence, from time to time, of the small-pox among +them, and of its effects as far as these can be ascertained."</p> + +<p>While preparations for this expedition were being made, some things that +transpired deserve notice.</p> + +<p>NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES.--On the 26th of May, Mr. G.W. +Featherstonhaugh, of Philadelphia, sends me a printed copy of a +prospectus for a "Monthly American Journal of Natural Science," with the +following note: "As the annexed prospectus will explain itself, I shall +only say, that I shall be most happy to receive any paper from you for +insertion, on subjects connected with <i>Natural History</i>. Your minute +acquaintance with the North-western Territory must have placed many +materials in your possession, and I trust you may be induced to transfer +some of them to the periodical about to be issued.</p> + +<p>"We consider Mr. Eaton's geological notions and nomenclature as very +empirical here, as they are considered in France and England, and his +day has passed by."</p> + +<p>The prospectus says: "Amidst these general contributions to science, it +is painful to perceive what conspicuous blanks are yet left for America +to fill up, and especially in those important branches, American geology +and American organic remains. This feeling is greatly increased by the +occasional taunts and sneers we see directed against us in foreign +scientific works. They are aimed, it is true, against individuals +insignificant enough to elude them, and therefore the larger body, the +nation, is hit and wounded by them. Neither is there any defence open to +us. We send abroad gigantic stories of huge antediluvian lizards, +'larger than the largest size,' and we ourselves are kept upon the stare +at our own wonders from Georgia to Maine, until we find out we have been +exulting over the stranded remains of a common spermaceti whale. At +this present moment, a huge animal dug out of the Big Bone Lick, sixty +feet long, and twenty-five feet high, is parading through the columns of +the European newspapers, after making its progress through our own. This +is, what every naturalist supposed it be, also a great imposition. +Within these few days, drums and trumpets have been sounded for other +monsters. A piece of one of our common coal plants is conjured into a +petrified rattlesnake, and one of the most familiar fossils solemnly +announced all the way from Canada, under a name exploded, and long +forgotten by naturalists. All these gibes and reproaches we ought to +have been spared. There ought to have been the ready means amongst us, +together with the independence and intelligence, to put down these +impostures and puerilities as they arose."</p> + +<p>This is well said, and if it be intended to refer to the popular class, +who have not made science a study; to men who make wheelbarrows or sell +cotton and sugar--to the same classes of men, in fact, who in England, +are busied in the daily pursuits by which they earn their bread, leaving +science to scientific men, but respecting its truths, cannot tell "a +hawk from a handsaw"--it is all true enough. But if it be applied to the +power and determination of American mind, professedly, or as in a +private capacity, devoted to the various classes of natural history +spoken of, it is not only unjust in a high degree, but an evidence of +overweening self-complaisance, imprecision of thought, or arrogance. No +trait of the American scientific character has been more uniformly and +highly approbated, by the foreign journals of England, France, and +Germany, than its capacity to accumulate, discriminate, and describe +facts. For fourteen years past <i>Silliman's Journal of Science</i>, though +not exclusively devoted to natural sciences, has kept both the +scientific and the popular intelligent mind of the public well and +accurately advised of the state of natural science the world over. +Before it, <i>Bruce's Mineralogical Journal</i>, though continued but for a +few years, was eminently scientific, <i>Cleaveland's Mineralogy</i> has had +the effect to diffuse scientific knowledge not only among men of +science, but other classes of readers. In ornithology, in conchology, +and especially in botany, geology and mineralogy, American mind has +proved itself eminently fitted for the highest tasks.</p> + +<p>A REMINISCENCE.--When I returned from the West to the city of New York +in 1819, Mr. John Griscomb was a popular lecturer on chemistry in the +old almshouse. He apprised me that the peculiar friable white clay, +which I had labeled chalk from its external characters, contained no +carbonic acid. It was a chemical fact that impressed me. I was reminded +of this fact, and of his friendly countenance, ever after, on receiving +a letter of introduction from him by a Mr. William R. Smith, with three +volumes of his writings (28th May). I am satisfied that we store up the +memory of a kind or friendly act, however small (if it be done in a +crisis of our affairs), as long as, and more tenaciously than, an +unkind one.</p> + +<p>VOYAGE INLAND.--At length, all things being ready, I embarked at the +head of the portage of the St. Mary's, and proceeded to the small sandy +plain at the foot of Point Iroquois, at the entrance into Lake Superior, +where I encamped. To this point I was accompanied by Mrs. Schoolcraft +and the children, and Lt. Allen and the Miss Johnstons, the day being +calm and delightful, and the views on every hand the most enchanting and +magnificent. While at Detroit during the winter, I had invited Dr. +Douglass Houghton to accompany me to vaccinate the Indians. He was a man +of pleasing manners and deportment, small of stature, and of a compact +make, and apparently well suited to withstand the fatigues incidental to +such a journey. He was a good botanist and geologist--objects of +interest to me at all times; but especially so now, for I should have +considered it inexcusable to conduct an expedition into the Indian +country, without collecting data over and above the public duties, to +understand its natural history. I charged myself, on this occasion, more +particularly with the Indian subject--their manners and customs, +conditions, languages, and history, and the policy best suited to +advance them in the scale of thinking beings, responsible for their +acts, moral and political.</p> + +<p>Lt. Robt. E. Clary, 2d U.S. Infantry, commanded a small detachment of +troops, which was ordered to accompany me through the Indian country. I +had invited Mr. Melancthon Woolsey, a printer of Detroit, a young man of +pleasing manners and morals, to accompany me as an aid in procuring +statistical information. I had an excellent crew of experienced men, +guides and interpreters, and full supplies of everything suited to +insure respect among the tribes, and to accomplish, not only the +government business, but to give a good account of the natural history +of the country to be explored. It was the first public expedition, +authorized by the new administration at Washington, and bespoke a lively +interest on the subject of Indian Affairs, and the topics incidentally +connected with it. I was now to enter, after crossing Lake Superior, the +country of the Indian murderers, mentioned 22d June, 1825, and to visit +their most remote villages and hiding places.</p> + +<p>It was the 27th of June when we left that point--the exploring party to +pursue its way in the lake, and the ladies, in charge of Lt. Allen, to +return to St. Mary's.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII."></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<p>Lake Superior--Its shores and character--Geology--Brigade of boats--Dog +and porcupine--Burrowing birds--Otter--Keweena Point--Unfledged +ducks--Minerals--Canadian resource in a tempest of rain--Tramp in search +of the picturesque--Search for native copper--Isle Royal +descried--Indian precaution--Their ingenuity--Lake action--Nebungunowin +River--Eagles--Indian tomb--Kaug Wudju.</p> + +<p>1831. LAKE SUPERIOR lay before us. He who, for the first time, lifts his +eyes upon this expanse, is amazed and delighted at its magnitude. +Vastness is the term by which it is, more than any other, described. +Clouds robed in sunshine, hanging in fleecy or nebular masses above--a +bright, pure illimitable plain of water--blue mountains, or dim islands +in the distance--a shore of green foliage on the one hand--a waste of +waters on the other. These are the prominent objects on which the eye +rests. We are diverted by the flight of birds, as on the ocean. A tiny +sail in the distance reveals the locality of an Indian canoe. Sometimes +there is a smoke on the shore. Sometimes an Indian trader returns with +the avails of his winter's traffic. A gathering storm or threatening +wind arises. All at once the <i>voyageurs</i> burst out into one of their +simple and melodious boat-songs, and the gazing at vastness is relieved +and sympathy at once awakened in gayety. Such are the scenes that attend +the navigation of this mighty but solitary body of water. That nature +has created such a scene of magnificence merely to look at, is contrary +to her usual economy. The sources of a busy future commerce lie +concealed, and but half concealed, in its rocks. Its depths abound in +fish, which will be eagerly sought, and even its forests are not without +timber to swell the objects of a future commerce. If the plough is +destined to add but little to its wealth, it must be recollected that +the labors of the plough are most valuable where the area suitable for +its dominion is the smallest. But even the prairies of the West are +destined to waft their superabundance here.</p> + +<p>We passed the lengthened shores which give outline to Taquimenon Bay. We +turned the long and bleak peninsula of White Fish Point, and went on to +the sandy margin of Vermilion Bay. Here we encamped at three o'clock in +the afternoon, and waited all the next day for the arrival of Lieut. +Robert Clary and his detachment of men, from Fort Brady, who were to +form a part of the expedition. With him was expected a canoe, under the +charge of James L. Schoolcraft, with some supplies left behind, and an +express mail. They both arrived near evening on the 28th, and thus the +whole expedition was formed and completed, and we were prepared to set +out with the latest mail. Mr. Holliday came in from his wintering +grounds about the same time, and we left Vermilion Bay at four o'clock +on the morning of the 29th, J.L.S. in his light canoe, and chanting +Canadians for Sault St. Marie, and we for the theatre of our +destination.</p> + +<p>We went about forty miles along a shore exclusively sandy, and encamped +at five o'clock in the evening at Grand Marais. This is a striking inlet +in the coast, which has much enlarged itself within late years, owing to +the force of the north-west storms. It exhibits a striking proof of lake +action. The next day we passed the naked and high dunes called Grand +Sable, and the storm-beaten and impressive horizontal coat of the +Pictured Rocks, and encamped at Grand Island, a distance of about 130 +miles. I found masses of gypsum and small veins of calcareous spar +imbedded in the sandstone rock of the point of Grand Sable. Ironsand +exists in consolidated layers at the cliff called Doric Rock.</p> + +<p>The men and boats were now in good traveling trim, and we went on finely +but leisurely, examining such features in the natural history as Dr. +Houghton, who had not been <i>here</i> before, was anxious to see. On the 1st +of July, we encamped at Dead River, from whence I sent forward a canoe +with a message, and wampum, and tobacco, to Gitchee Iauba, the head +chief of Ancekewywenon, requesting him to send a canoe and four men to +supply the place of an equal number from the Sault St. Marie, sent back, +and to accompany me in my voyage as far as <i>La Pointe</i>.</p> + +<p>GEOLOGY.--We spent the next day in examining the magnesian and +calcareous rubblestone which appears to constitute strata resting +against and upon the serpentine rock of Presque Isle. This rock is +highly charged with what appears to be chromate of iron. We examined the +bay behind this peninsula, which appears to be a harbor capable of +admitting large vessels. We ascended a conical hill rising from the bay, +which the Indians call <i>Totösh</i>, or Breast Mountain. Having been the +first to ascend its apex, the party named it Schoolcraft's Mountain. +Near and west of it, is a lower saddle-shaped mountain, called by the +natives The Cradle Top. Granite Point exhibits trap dykes in syenite. +The horizontal red sandstone, which forms the peninsula connecting this +point with the main, rests against and upon portions of the granite, +showing its subsidence from water at a period subsequent to the upheaval +of the syenite and trap. This entire coast, reaching from Chocolate +River to Huron Bay--a distance of some seventy miles--consists of +granite hills, which, viewed from the top of the Totösh, has the rolling +appearance of the sea in violent motion. Its chief value must result +from its minerals, of which iron appears to constitute an +important item.</p> + +<p>We reached Huron River on the 4th of July about three o'clock in the +afternoon, having come on with a fine wind. At this place we met Mr. +Aitkin's brigade of boats, seven in number, with the year's hunts of the +Fond du Lac department. I landed and wrote official notes to the Sault +St. Marie and to Washington, acquainting the government with my +progress, and giving intelligence of the state of the Indians.</p> + +<p>TRADERS' BOATS.--Mr. Aitkin reports that a great number of the Indians +died of starvation, at his distant posts, during the winter, owing to +the failure of the wild rice. That he collected for his own use but +eight bushels, instead of about as many hundreds. That he had visited +Gov. Simpson at Pembina, and found the latter unwilling to make any +arrangements on the subject of discontinuing the sale of whisky to the +Indians. That I was expected by the Indians on the Upper Mississippi, in +consequence of the messages sent in, last fall. That efforts continue to +be made by the agent at St. Peters, to draw the Chippewas to that post, +notwithstanding the bloodshed and evils resulting from such visits. +That a hard opposition in trade has been manifested by the Hudson's Bay +Company. That they have given out medals to strengthen and increase +their influence with our Indians. And that liquor is required to oppose +them at Pembina, War Road, Rainy Lake, Vermilion Lake and Grand Portage.</p> + +<p>DOG AND PORCUPINE.--While at Huron River, we saw a lost dog left ashore, +who had been goaded by hunger to attack a porcupine. The quills of the +latter were stuck thickly into the sides of the nose and head of the +dog. Inflammation had taken place, rendering the poor beast an object of +pity and disgust.</p> + +<p>BURROWING BIRDS.--At Point Aux Beignes (Pancake Point) one of the men +caught a kingfisher by clapping his hand over an orifice in the bank. He +also took from its nest six eggs. The bank was perforated by numbers of +these orifices. At this point we observed the provisions of our advance +camp, put <i>in cache</i>, to lighten it for the trip down the bay. Leaving +Mr. G. Johnston and Mr. Melancthon Woolsey at this point to await the +return of the canoe, I proceeded to Cascade, or, as it is generally +called, Little Montreal River. Johnston and Woolsey came up during the +night. Next morning an Indian came from a lodge, leading a young otter +by a string. The animal played about gracefully, but we had no +temptation to purchase him with our faces set to the wilderness. At the +latter place, which is on a part of the Sandy-bay of Graybeast River, +the trap formation, which is the copper-bearing rock, is first seen. +This rock, which forms the great peninsula of Kewywenon, rises into +cliffs on this bay, which at the elevation called Mammels by the French, +deserve the name of mountains. Portions of this rock, viewed in extenso, +are overlaid by amygdaloid and rubblestone--the latter of which forms a +remarkable edging to the formation, in some places, on the north-west +shore, that makes a canal, as at the Little Marrias.</p> + +<p>KEWEENA PENINSULA.--We were six days in coasting around this peninsula, +which is highly metalliferous. At some points we employed the blast, to +ascertain the true character and contents of the soil. At others we went +inland, and devoted the time in exploring its range and extent. We +examined the outstanding isolated vein of carbonate of copper, called +<i>Roche Vert</i> by the French. In seeking for its connection on the main +shore, I discovered the black oxide in the same vein. In the range of +the greenstone about two leagues south of this point, a vein of native +copper, with ores and veinstones, was observed, and specimens taken.</p> + +<p>The N.W. coast of the peninsula is greatly serrated and broken, +abounding in little bays and inlets, and giving proofs of the terrible +action of the storms on this rugged shore.</p> + +<p>Notes of these examinations and of a trip inland were made, which cannot +here be referred to more particularly.</p> + +<p>UNFLEDGED DUCKS.--The men had rare and very exciting sport, in coasting +around the peninsula, in catching the young of the onzig--which is the +sawbill. In the early part of the month of July, the wings of the young +are not sufficiently developed to enable them to fly. They will run on +the water, flapping their unfledged wings, with great speed, but the gay +Frenchmen, shouting at the top of their lungs, would propel their canoes +so as to overtake them whenever the little fugitives could not find some +nook in the rock to hide in. They chased down one day thirteen in this +way, which were found a most tender and delicate dish. The excitement in +these chases was extreme. At the <i>Grand Marrias</i> (now near Fort Wilkins) +we obtained from the shore of the inner bay, agates, stilbite, and smoky +quartz, &c.</p> + +<p>SINGULAR VIVACITY.--In going from this bay through a rock-bound strait, +the rain fell literally in sheets. There was no escape, and our only +philosophy was to sit still and bear it. The shower was so great that it +obscured objects at a short distance. All at once the men struck up a +cheerful boat song, which they continued, paddling with renewed energy, +till the shower abated. I believe no other people under the sun would +have thought of such a resource.</p> + +<p>TRAMP IN SEARCH OF THE PICTURESQUE.--The wind rising ahead, we took +shelter in an inlet through the trap range, which we called Houghton's +Cove. After taking a lunch and drying our things, it was proposed to +visit a little lake, said to give origin to the stream falling into its +head. The journey proved a toilsome one; but, after passing through +woods and defiles, we at length stood on a cliff which overlooked the +object sought for--a pond covered with aquatic plants. Wherever we might +have gone in search of the picturesque, this seemed the last place to +find it. On again reaching the lake the wind was found less fierce, and +we went on to Pine River, where we encamped on coarse, loose gravel.</p> + +<p>SEARCH FOR NATIVE COPPER.--The next day the wind blew fiercely, and we +could not travel. In consequence of reports from the Indians of a large +mass of copper inland, I manned a light canoe, and, leaving the baggage +and camp in charge of Lesart, went back to a small bay called Mushkeeg, +and went inland under their guidance. We wandered many miles, always on +the point of making the discovery, but never making it; and returned +with our fatigue for our pains. It was seven o'clock in the evening +before we returned to our camp--at eight the wind abated, and we +embarked, and, after traveling diligently all night, reached the western +terminus of the Keweena portage at two o'clock next morning--having +advanced in this time about twenty-four miles. Next day, July 10, the +wind rose again violently ahead.</p> + +<p>ISLE ROYAL DESCRIED.--In coming down the coast of the Keweena Peninsula, +we descried the peaks of this island seen dimly in the distance, which +it is not probable could have been done if the distance were over +sixty miles.</p> + +<p>INDIAN PRECAUTION, THEIR INGENUITY.--We found several Chippewa Indians +encamped. They brought a trout, the large lake trout, and were, +as-usual, very friendly. We saw a fresh beaver's skin stretched on the +drying hoop, at the Buffalo's son's lodge. But the women had secreted +themselves and children in the woods, with the dried skins, supposing +that a trader's canoe had landed, as we had landed in the night. This +may give some idea of the demands of trade that are usually made, and +the caution that is observed by them when a trader lands.</p> + +<p>We here saw the claws-of two owls, with the skin and leg feathers +adhering, sewed together so closely and skilfully, by the Indian, women, +as to resemble a nondescript with eight claws. It was only by a close +inspection that we could discover the joinings.</p> + +<p>LAKE ACTION.--The geological action of the lake against the high banks +of diluvion, at this spot, is very striking. It has torn away nearly all +the ancient encamping ground, including the Indian burials. Human bones +were found scattered along the declivity of fallen earth. An entire +skull was picked up, with the bark wrappings of the body, tibia, &c.</p> + +<p>At seven in the evening the tempest ceased so as to enable us to embark. +We kept close in shore, as the wind was off land, a common occurrence on +these lakes at night. On turning the point of red sandstone rock, which +the Indians call <i>Pug-ge-do-wau</i> (Portage), the Porcupine Mountains rose +to our view, directly west, presenting an azure outline of very striking +lineaments--an animal couchant. As night drew on, the water became +constantly smoother; it was nine before daylight could be said to leave +us. We passed, in rapid succession, the <i>Mauzhe-ma-gwoos</i> or Trout, +Graverod's, <i>Unnebish</i>, or Elm, and Pug-ge-do-wa, or Misery River, in +Fishing Bay. Here we overtook Lieut. Clary, and encamped at one o'clock +A.M. (11th). We were on the lake again at five o'clock. We turned point +<i>a la Peche</i>, and stopped at River <i>Nebau-gum-o-win</i> for breakfast. +While thus engaged, the wind rose and shifted ahead. This confined us +to the spot.</p> + +<p>NEBAUGUMOWIN RIVER.--Mr. Johnston, Dr. Houghton, and Mr. Woolsey, made +an excursion in a canoe up the river. They went about three or four +miles--found the water deep, and the banks high and dry on the right +side (going up), and covered with maple, ash, birch, &c. At that +distance the stream was obstructed by logs, but the depth of water +continued. Dr. H. added to his botanical collection. Altogether +appearances are represented more favorable than would be inferred from +the sandy and swampy character of the land about its discharge into +the lake.</p> + +<p>EAGLES.--While at the <i>Mauzhe-ma-gwoos</i> River, Lieut. Clary captured a +couple of young eagles, by letting his men cut down a large pine. One of +the birds had a wing broken in falling. They were of the bald-headed +kind, to which the Chippewas apply the term <i>Megizzi</i>, or barker. He +also got a young mink from an Indian called <i>Wabeno</i>. The men also +caught some trout in that river, for which it is remarkable.</p> + +<p>At two o'clock the wind had somewhat abated, so as to allow us to take +the lake, and we reached and entered the Ontonagon River at half past +four o'clock. Mr. Johnston with the store canoe, and Lieut. Clary with +his boat, came in successively with colors flying. <i>Kon-te-ka,</i> the +chief, and his band saluted us with several rounds of musketry from the +opposite shore. Afterwards they crossed to our camp, and the usual +exchange of ceremonies and civilities took place. In a speech from the +chief he complained much of hunger, and presented his band as objects of +charitable notice. I explained to him the pacific object of my journey, +and the route to be pursued, and requested the efficient co-operation of +himself and his band in putting a stop to war parties, referring +particularly to that by Kewaynokwut in 1824, which, although raised +against the Sioux, had murdered Finley and his men at Lake Pepin. This +party was raised on the sources of the Ontonagon and Chippewa. I told +him how impossible it was that his Great Father should ever see their +faces in peace while they countenance or connive at such dastardly war +parties, who went in quest of a foe, and not finding him, fell upon a +friend. He said he had not forgotten this. Even now, I continued, a +chief of the Sauks was trying to enlist the Indians in a scheme of +extreme hostilities. It was a delusion. They had no British allies to +rally on as in former wars. The time was past--past forever for such +plans. We are in profound peace. And their Great Father, the President, +would, if the scheme was pursued by that chief, order his whole army to +crush him. I requested him to inform me of any messages, or tobacco, or +wampum they might receive, on the subject of that chief's movement, or +any other government matter. And to send no answer to any such message +without giving me notice.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock on the morning of the next day (12th July), Dr. +Houghton, Mr. Johnston, Lieut. Clary, and Mr. Woolsey, with nine +Canadians and one soldier, set out in my canoe to visit the copper rock. +Konteka sent me a fine carp in the morning. Afterwards he and the other +chief come over to visit me. The chief said that his child, who had been +very ill, was better, and asked me for some white rice (<i>waube monomin</i>) +for it, which I gave. I also directed a dish of flour and other +provisions to enable him to have a feast.</p> + +<p>INDIAN TOMB.--One of the Indians had a son drowned a few days before +our arrival; the grave was neatly picketed in. On the west side of the +river is a grave or tomb above ground, resembling a lodge, containing +the coffin of a chief, who desired to be thus buried, as he believed his +spirit would go directly up.</p> + +<p>Konteka has a countenance indicative of sense and benevolence. I asked +him the number of his band. He replied sixty-four men and boys, women +and girls. Sixteen were hunters, of whom thirteen were men grown.</p> + +<p>KAUGWUDJU.--The Porcupine Mountains, which first loomed up after passing +Puggedawa Point, were very plainly pictured before us in the landscape. +I asked Konteka their Indian name. He replied Kaug Wudju. I asked him +why they were so called. He said from a resemblance to a couching +porcupine. I put several questions to him to ascertain the best place of +ascent. He said that the mountain properly faced the south, in a very +high perpendicular cliff, having a lake at its bottom. The latter was on +a level with Lake Superior. To see this lake it was necessary to go +round towards the south. It was a day's journey from the lake to the top +of the cliff. To the first elevation it was as far as to the Red +Rocks--say three miles, but through a cedar thicket, and bad walking.</p> + +<p>VISIT TO THE COPPER ROCK.--The party returned from this place on the +13th, late in the afternoon, bringing specimens of the native copper. +They were nine hours in getting to the forks, and continued the rest of +the day in getting to the rack, where they encamped. They had been four +hours in descending what required nine in going up. The doctor brought +several fine and large masses of the pure metal.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII."></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<p>ACCOUNT OF THE HIGHLANDS BETWEEN LAKE SUPERIOR AND THE MISSISSIPPI.</p> + +<p>Lake shores--Sub-Indian agency--Indian transactions--Old fort, site of a +tragedy--Maskigo River; its rapids and character--Great Wunnegum +Portage--Botany--Length of the Mauvais--Indian carriers--Lake +Kagenogumaug--Portage lakes--Namakagun River, its character, rapids, +pine lands, &c.--Pukwaéwa village--A new species of native +fruit--Incidents on the Namakagun; its birds, plants, &c.</p> + +<p>1831. LAKE SHORES.--I had a final conference with the Indians of the +Ontanagon on the morning of the 14th July, and at its conclusion +distributed presents to all. I sent Germain with a canoe and men for St. +Mary's with dispatches, and embarked for La Pointe at half past eight, +A.M. After keeping the lake for two hours, we were compelled by adverse +winds to put ashore near Iron River; we were detained here the rest of +the day. After botanizing at this spot, Dr. Houghton remarks, that since +arriving at the Ontanagon, he finds plants which belong to a more +southerly climate.</p> + +<p>The next morning (15th) we embarked at three o'clock and went on +finely<b>--</b>stopped for breakfast at Carp River, under the Porcupine +Mountains--the <i>Pesabic</i> of the Indians. On coming out into the lake +again the wind was fair, and increased to blow freshly. We went on to +Montreal River, where it became a side wind, and prevented our keeping +the lake. I took this occasion to walk inland eleven <i>pauses</i> on the old +portage path to Fountain Hill, for the purpose of enjoying the fine view +of the lake, which is presented from that elevation. The rocks are +pudding-stone and sandstone, and belong to the Porcupine Mountain +development.</p> + +<p>Returned from this excursion at seven o'clock<b>--</b>took a cup of tea, +and finding the wind abated, re-embarked. By ten o'clock at night we +reached and entered the Mauvaise or Maskigo River, where we found Lieut. +Clary encamped. After drying our clothes, we went on to La Pointe, which +we reached at one o'clock in the morning (16th), and immediately went to +Mr. Johnston's buildings.</p> + +<p>SUB-AGENCY.--Mr. George Johnston was appointed Sub-agent of Indian +Affairs at this point in 1826, after the visit of that year of Gen. Cass +and Col. McKenney to this remote section of the country. It has proved a +useful office for acquiring information of the state and views of the +interior Indians, and as supervising the Indian trade. We were made very +comfortable in his quarters.</p> + +<p>INDIAN TRANSACTIONS.--<i>Pezhike,</i> with the secondary chief, <i>Tagwaugig</i> +and his band, visited me. Conferred with them on the state of the +Indians on the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers at Lac Courtorielle, &c., +the best route for entering the region intermediate between Lake +Superior and the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>Pezhike thought my canoes too large to, pass the small bends on the +route of the Lac du Flambeau: he said the waters of the <i>Broule,</i> or +Misakoda River, were too low at this time to ascend that stream. He said +that <i>Mozojeed</i>, the chief of Lac Courtorielle, had been here awaiting +me, but, concluding I would not come, had returned. His return had been +hastened by a report that the Sioux had formed a league with the +Winnebagoes and Menomonies to attack his village.</p> + +<p><i>Pezhike</i> gave in his population at eighty souls, of which number +eighteen were men, twenty-six women, and the remainder children. He made +a speech responding to the sentiments uttered by me, and promising the +aid of his band in the pacification of the country. As an evidence of +his sincerity he presented a peace-pipe. I concluded the interview by +distributing presents of ammunition and iron works to each man, +agreeably to his count. I then sent Indian runners with messages to +<i>Bwoinace</i> at Yellow River, on the St. Croix, to be forwarded by hand to +Chacopee, on Snake River, to meet me at Yellow River in twelve days. +Sent a message to the same chief, to be forwarded to Mozojeed at <i>Lac +Courtorielle</i>, to meet me at that place with his band on the 1st August, +and another message to be forwarded by him to Lac du Flambeau, at the +head of the Chippewa River, with directions for the Indians to meet me +at their principal village, as soon after the 1st August as I can get +there, of which they will be the best judges. I determined to enter the +country myself, by the Mauvais or Maskigo River, notwithstanding the +numerous rafts of trees that embarrass the navigation--the water +being abundant.</p> + +<p>OLD FORT, SITE OF A TRAGEDY.--The military barge, Lieut. Clary, started +for the Maskigo, with a fair wind, on the 18th. A soldier had previously +deserted. I sent to the chief, Pezhike, to dispatch his young men to +catch him, and they immediately went. After setting out, the wind was +found too strong to resist with paddies, and I turned into the sheltered +bay of the old French fort. The site and ground lines are only left.</p> + +<p>It was a square with bastions. The site is overgrown with red haw and +sumac. The site of a blacksmith shop was also pointed out. This is an +evidence of early French and Missionary enterprise, and dates about +1660. There is a tale of a tragedy connected with a female, at its +abandonment. The guns, it is said, were thrown in the bay. The wind +having abated, we again put out at eight o'clock in the evening, and +went safely into the Maskigo and encamped.</p> + +<p>MASKIGO RIVER.--We began the ascent of this stream on the 19th, at +half-past four A.M.; landed at seven for breakfast, at the old Indian +gardens; at eight went on; at ten reached the first portage, passed it +in an hour; went on till one o'clock; afterwards passed two other +portages of about three hundred yards each; and went on to the great +raft of flood wood, being the fourth portage, where we encamped at three +o'clock, at its head. Mosquitoes very annoying. Estimate our distance at +thirty miles.</p> + +<p>On the next morning (20th) we embarked in good deep water at eight +o'clock. We reached rapids at eleven o'clock. Passed a portage of <i>two +pauses,</i> and took dinner at the terminus. Sandstone forms the bed of the +river at the rapids here. It inclined E.S.E. about 75°. A continual +rapid, called the Galley, being over a brown sandstone rock, succeeds, +in which rapids follow rapids at short intervals. We encamped at the +Raft rapids. The men toiled like dogs, but willingly and without +grumbling. Next day (21st) we were early on the water, and passed the +crossing of the Indian portage path from St. Charles Bay, at La Pointe, +to the Falls of St. Anthony. We followed a wide bend of the river, +around the four <i>pause</i> portage. This was a continued rapid. The men +toiled incessantly, being constantly in the water. The bark of the +canoes became so saturated with water that they were limber, and bent +under the weight of carrying them on the portages. We encamped, very +much tired, but the men soon rallied, and never complained. It was +admirable to see such fidelity and buoyancy of character.</p> + +<p>We were now daily toiling up the ascent of the summit which separates +the basin of Lake Superior from the valley of the upper Mississippi. The +exertion was incredible. I expected every day some of the men to give +out, but their pride to conquer hardships was, with them, the point of +honor. They gloried in feats under which ordinary men would have +fainted. To carry a horse load over a portage path which a horse could +not walk, is an exploit which none but a Canadian voyageur would sigh +for the accomplishment of.</p> + +<p>On the 22d, we came to a short portage, after going about six miles, +during a violent rain storm. Then three portages of short extent, say +fifty to three hundred yards each, in quick succession. After the last, +some comparatively slight rapids. Finally, smooth water and a sylvan +country, level and grassy. We were evidently near the summit. Soon came +to the forks, and took the left hand. Came afterwards to three branches, +and took the south. Followed a distance through alder bushes bending +from each side; this required skill in dodging, for the bushes were +covered with caterpillars. We formed an encampment on this narrow stream +by cutting away bushes, and beating down high grass and nettles. Here +was good soil capable of profitable agriculture.</p> + +<p>GREAT WUNNEGUM PORTAGE.--The next morning we resumed the ascent of this +branch at six o'clock, and reached the beginning of the Gitchy +Wun-ne-gum portage at nine o'clock A.M. This was the last great struggle +in the ascent. We spent about three hours in drying baggage, corn, +tents, beds, &c. Then went on four <i>pauses</i> over the portage and +encamped in sight of a pond. The next day we accomplished ten <i>pauses,</i> +a hard day's work. We encamped near a boulder of granite of the drift +stratum, which contained brilliant plates of mica. Water scarce and bad. +Our tea was made of a brown pondy liquid, which looked like water in a +tanner's vat.</p> + +<p>We passed, and stopped to examine, Indian symbols on the blazed side of +a tree, which told a story to our auxiliary Indians of a moose having +been killed; by certain men, whose family name, or mark, was denoted, +&c. We had previously passed several of these hunting inscriptions in +our ascent of the Mauvais, and one in particular at the eastern end of +the four <i>pause</i> portage. We were astonished to perceive that these +figures were read as easy as perfect gazettes by our Indian guides.</p> + +<p>We were also pleased, notwithstanding the severe labor of the <i>apecun</i>, +to observe the three auxiliary Chippewas, with us, playing in the +evening at the game of the bowl, an amusement in which some of the men +participated.</p> + +<p>On the 25th we went three <i>pauses</i> to breakfast, in a hollow or ravine, +and pushing on, crossed the last ridge, and at one o'clock reached the +foot of Lake Ka-ge-no-gum-aug, a beautiful and elongated sheet of water, +which is the source of this branch of the Maskigo River. Thus a point +was gained. An hour after, the baggage arrived, and by six o'clock in +the evening, the canoes all arrived. This lake is about nine miles long.</p> + +<p>BOTANY.--In the ascent of this stream, Dr. Houghton has collected about +two hundred plants. The forest trees are elm, pine, spruce, maple, +ironwood, linden, cherry, oak, and beach. Leatherwood is a shrub common +on the portage.</p> + +<p>The length of this river, from the mouth of the river to the point at +which we left it, we compute at one hundred and four miles.</p> + +<p>The three young Indians, sent from La Pointe, by Pezhike, to help us on +the portages, having faithfully attended us all the way, were dismissed +to go back, at seven o'clock this morning--after being abundantly and +satisfactorily paid for their services in ammunition and provisions. On +parting, they expressed a design of visiting at the agency, next spring.</p> + +<p>LAKE KA-GE-NO-GUM-AUG.--At nine in the morning, we embarked on the lake +in four canoes, having left the fifth at the other end of the portage +for the La Pointe Indians to return. Two of the flotilla of canoes were +occupied by the military under Lieut. Clary. After proceeding a little, +less than two hours through a very irregular, elongated, and romantic +lake, we reached a portage in the direction of the Namakagun, fork of +the St. Croix River. Its waters were clear; we observed fish and ducks. +This portage is called Mikenok, or the Turtle. It proved to be two +hundred and eighty yards to a pond, or small lake, named Turtle Lake. +About two hundred yards of this portage lies over a dry pine ridge, the +remainder bog. On crossing this little sheet, we encountered another +portage of one thousand and seventy-five yards, terminating at a second +lake named Clary's Lake. This portage lies over an open pine ridge, from +which the timber has been chiefly burned. The shrubs and plants are +young bush poplars, whortleberries, shad-bush, brake and sweet fern. +Both ends of it are skirted with bog. The highest grounds exhibit +boulders. About five o'clock the canoes came up, and we embarked on the +lake and crossed it, and, striking the portage path, went four hundred +and seventy-five yards to a third lake, called Polyganum, from the +abundance of plant. We crossed this and encamped on its border.</p> + +<p>This frequent shifting and changing of baggage and canoes exhausted the +men, who have not yet recovered from the toils of the long portage. +Three of them were disabled from wounds or bruises. Laporte, the eldest +man of our party, fell with a heavy load, on the great Wunnegum portage, +and drove a small knot into his scalp. The doctor bandaged it, and +wondered why he had not fractured his skull. Yet the old man's voyageur +pride would not permit him to lie idle. If he died under the +carrying-strap, he was determined to die game.</p> + +<p>NAMAKAGUN RIVER.--Early on the 27th we were astir, and followed the path +1050 yards, which we made in two <i>pauses</i> to the banks of the Namakagun +River, the most southerly fork of the St. Croix. We were now on the +waters tributary to the Mississippi, and sat down to our breakfast of +fried pork and tea with exultation.</p> + +<p>Dead pines cover the ground between Lake Polyganum and the Namakagun. A +great fire appears to have raged here formerly, destroying thousands of +acres of the most thrifty and tall pines. Nobody can estimate the extent +of this destruction. The plain is now grown up with poplar, hazle-bush, +scrub-oak, and whortleberry. The river, where the portage strikes it, +is about seventy-five feet wide, and shallow, the deepest parts not +exceeding eighteen inches. It is bordered on the opposite side with +large pines, hardwood, and spruce. Observed amygdaloid under foot among +the granite, and sandstone boulders.</p> + +<p>About one o'clock the baggage and canoes had all come up, and we +embarked on the waters of the Namakagun. Rapids soon obstructed our +descent. At these it was necessary for the men to get out and lift the +canoes. It was soon necessary for us to get out ourselves and walk in +the bed of the stream. It was at last found necessary to throw overboard +the kegs of pork, &c., and let them float down. This they would not do +without men to guide them and roll them along in bad places. Some of the +bags from the canoes were next obliged to be put on men's shoulders to +be carried down stream over the worst shallows. After proceeding in this +way probably six or seven miles, we encamped at half-past seven o'clock. +Mr. Johnston, with his canoe, did not come up. We fired guns to apprize +him of our place of encampment, but received no reply. There had been +partial showers during the day, and the weather was dark and gloomy. It +rained hard during the night. Our canoes were badly injured, the bark +peeling off the bows and bottoms. The men had not yet had time to +recover from their bruises on the great Wannegum portage. Mr. Clary had +shot some ducks and pigeons, on which, at his invitation, we made our +evening repast, with coffee, an article which he had among his stores. +Some of the men had also caught trout--this fish being abundant here, +though it never descends into the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>On the next morning I sent a small canoe (Clary's) to aid Johnston. +Found him with his canoe broke. Brought down part of his loading, and +dispatched the canoe back again. By eleven o'clock the canoe returned on +her second trip. Finding the difficulties so great, put six kegs of +pork, seven bags of flour, one keg of salt, &c., in depot. One of the +greatest embarrassments in passing among such impoverished tribes is the +necessity of taking along extra provisions to meet the various bands and +to pay for their contingent services.</p> + +<p>PUCKWAÉWA VILLAGE.---At four o'clock we had got everything down the +shallows, mended our canoe, and reached the <i>Pukwaéwa</i>--a noted Indian +village, where we encamped. The distance is about nine miles from the +western terminus of the portage, course W.S.W. We found it completely +deserted, according to the custom of the Indians, who after planting +their gardens, leave them to go on their summer hunts, eating berries, +&c. We found eight large permanent bark lodges, with fields of corn, +potatoes, pumpkins, and beans, in fine condition. The lodges were +carefully closed, and the grounds and paths around cleanly swept, giving +the premises a neat air. The corn fields were partially or lightly +fenced. The corn was in tassel. The pumpkins partly grown, the beans fit +for boiling. The whole appearance of thrift and industry was pleasing.</p> + +<p>I sent two canoes immediately up stream, to bring down the stores put in +deposit. I arranged things for taking a <i>canoe elège</i> on the next day, +and proceeding rapidly down the river to its junction with the main St. +Croix and Yellow River, in order to meet my engagements, made by a +runner from La Pointe. I took along Dr. Houghton and Mr. Johnston, +leaving the heavy baggage in charge of Mr. Woolsey, with directions to +accompany Lieut. Clary across the portage from the Namakagun to Ottowa +Lake. It was half-past five on the morning of the 29th, when, bidding +adieu to Lieut. Clary and Mr. Woolsey, we embarked.</p> + +<p>A NEW SPECIES OF NATIVE FRUIT.--In coming down the Namakagun, we found a +species of the currant on its banks--the <i>albinervum</i>. It was fully +ripe, and of delicious taste.</p> + +<p><i>Incidents on the Namakagun, its Birds, Plants, &c</i>.--About ten o'clock +we entered and passed an expansion, having deserted Indian lodges, and a +high wooden cross on the south bank. Hence we called it the Lake of the +Cross. It is called Pukwaéwa by the Indians. A little below we met the +chief Pukquamoo, and his band, returning to the upper village. Held a +conference with him on the water on the subject of my mission and +movements. He appeared, not only by his village, which we had inspected, +but by his words, eminently pacific. On parting he reciprocated my +presents by some dried whortleberries. At this conference with the +Red-headed Woodpecker chief, I requested him to go up and aid Mr. +Woolsey in bringing down the baggage and provisions, and wrote to Mr. +Woolsey accordingly.</p> + +<p>About four o'clock the chief of this party hailed us from shore, having +headed us by taking a short land route from the Lake of the Cross. He +sought more perfect information on some points, which was given, and he +was requested to attend the general council appointed to be held at <i>Lac +Courtorielle</i> (Ottawa Lake). We continued the descent till eight o'clock +P.M., having descended about thirty-five miles.</p> + +<p>On the 30th we embarked at five in the morning, and reached the +contemplated portage to Ottawa Lake at seven. I stopped, and having +written notes for Lieut. Clary and Mr. Woolsey, put them in the end of a +split pole, according to the Indian method. At ten I landed for +breakfast with my canoe badly broken, and the corn, &c., wetted. +Detained till twelve. Near night met a band of Chippewas ascending. Got +a canoe from them to proceed to Yellow River, and, after dividing the +baggage and provisions, put Mr. Johnston with two men in it. This +facilitated our descent, as we had found frequent shallows, in +consequence of low water, to impede our progress. Yet our estimate for +the day's travel is forty miles.</p> + +<p>The cicuta is a frequent plant on this river; we found the fox grape +this afternoon nearly ripe. Both banks of the river are literally +covered with the ripe whortleberry--it is large and delicious. The +Indians feast on it. Thousands on thousands of bushels of this fruit +could be gathered with little labor. It is seen in the dried state at +every lodge. All the careful Indian housewives dry it. It is used as a +seasoning to soups.</p> + +<p>On the 31st we were on the water at six A.M. Soon passed seven Indians +in canoes, to whom a passing salute of a few words and tobacco were +given. We landed at ten to breakfast. The current had now augmented so +as to be very strong, and permit the full force of the paddles. Stopped +a few moments at a Chippewa camp to get out some tobacco, and, leaving +Mr. Johnston to make the necessary inquiries and give the necessary +information, pushed on. Heard T., our Indian messenger from La Pointe, +had accomplished his business and gone back four days ago, Indian +conferences now succeeded each other continually, at distances from one +to five miles. The bands are now on the move, returning up the river to +their spring villages at the Little and Great Rice Places (this is the +meaning of <i>Pukwaewau</i>), and the Lake of the Cross. Their first request +is tobacco, although they are half starved, and have lived on nothing +but whortleberries for weeks. "<i>Suguswau</i>, let us smoke," is the first +expression.</p> + +<p>The country as we descend assumes more the appearance of upland prairie, +from the repeated burnings of the forest. The effect is, nearly all the +small trees have been consumed, and grass has taken their place. One +result of this is, the deer are drawn up from the more open parts of the +Mississippi, to follow the advance of the prairie and open lands towards +Lake Superior. The moose is also an inhabitant of the Namakagun. The +Chippewas, at a hunting camp we passed yesterday, said they had been on +the tracks of a moose, but lost them in high brush. Ducks and pigeons +appear common. Among smaller birds are the blackbird, robin, catbird, +red-headed woodpecker, kingfisher, kingbird, plover and yellow-hammer.</p> + +<p>We frequently passed the figure of a man, drawn on a blazed pine, with +horns, giving the idea of an evil spirit. The occiput of the bear, and +head bones of other animals killed in the chase, are hung upon poles at +the water's side, with some ideographic signs. The antlers of the deer +are conspicuous. Other marks of success in hunting are left on trees, so +that those Indians who pass and are acquainted with the signs, obtain a +species of information. The want of letters is thus, in a manner, +supplied by signs and pictographic symbols.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon we passed the inlet of the Totogun--one of the +principal forks of the Namakagun. The name is indicative of its origin. +<i>Totosh</i> is the female breast. This term is rendered geographical by +exchanging <i>sh</i> for <i>gun.</i> It describes a peculiar kind of soft or +dancing bog. Soon after, we broke our canoe--stopped three-fourths of an +hour to mend it--reached the forks of the St. Croix directly after, +passed down the main channel about nine miles, and encamped a little +below Pine River. We built ten fires to keep off the mosquitoes, and put +our tent and cooking-fire in the centre. It rained during the night.</p> + +<p>The next morning (Aug. 1st) we reached the Yellow River, and found the +chiefs Kabamappa, Bwoinace, and their bands awaiting my arrival.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX."></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<p>INCIDENTS ON THE SOURCES OF THE ST. CROIX AND CHIPPEWA RIVERS.</p> + +<p>Council with the Indians at Yellow Lake--Policy of the Treaty of Prairie +du Chien of 1825--Speech of Shaiwunegunaibee--Mounds of Yellow +River--Indian manners and customs--Pictography--Natural history--Nude +Indians--Geology--Portage to Lac Courtorielle--Lake of the Isles--Ottawa +Lake--Council--War party--Mozojeed's speech--Tecumseh--Mozojeed's +lodge--Indian movements--Trip to the Red Cedar Fork--Ca Ta--Lake +Chetac--Indian manners.</p> + +<p>1831. COUNCIL.--I pitched my tent and erected my flag on an eminence +called by the Chippewas Pe-li-co-gun-au-gun, or The Hip-Bone. Accounts +represented a war party against the Sioux to be organizing at Rice Lake, +on a branch of the Chippewa River, under the lead of Neenaba, a partisan +leader, who had recently visited Yellow River for the purpose of +enlisting volunteers. He had appealed to all the bands on the head +waters of the Chippewa and St. Croix to join, by sending their young men +who were ambitious of fame in this expedition. Neenaba himself was an +approved warrior who panted for glory by leading an attack against their +old foe, the Dacotahs. It was still possible to arrest it or break it +up. I wrote to the Indian Agent at St. Peter's. A message was dispatched +by Kabamappa to Chacopee and Buffalo at Snake Rivers, with directions to +forward it to Petit Corbeau, the leading chief of the River Sioux. I +determined to hasten back so as to meet my appointment with the large +band of Mozojeed at Lac Courtorielle, and to proceed myself to Neenaba's +village. I stated my determination to the Yellow Lake Indians, and urged +their concurrence in my plans, assuring them that I spoke the voice of +the President of the United States, who was determined to preserve and +carry out the principles of pacification which had been commenced and +agreed to, as the basis of the general treaty of Prairie du Chien of +1825. He had spoken to them at that treaty by two men whom they all well +know from St. Louis to Lake Superior--namely, by the Red-Head (so they +call General William Clark) and their Great Father at Detroit (General +Cass). He would not suffer their words to fall to the ground and be +buried. I stood up to renew them. It was by peace and not war that they +could alone flourish. Their boundaries were all plainly established by +that treaty, and there was no sound pretence why one tribe should pass +over on the lands of another. If he did pass, there was no reason at all +why he should carry a hatchet in his hand or a war eagle's feather +in his hair.</p> + +<p>Shai-wun-e-gun-aibee responded in favorable terms as to the general +subject. The old men desired peace, but could not always control their +young men, especially when they heard that their men had been struck. +His voice and hand would be ever on the side of his great American +father, and he believed his hands were long enough to reach out and hold +them still. He concluded by some complaints against their trader +Dingley. Said that he had presented them a map of the Yellow River +country, and wished them to give it to him. That he had ill-used some of +them by taking away goods which he had before sold them, because they +had not paid all.</p> + +<p>MOUNDS, SO CALLED.--Before quitting Yellow River, I asked Kabamappa +whether the Pe-li-co-gun-au-gun was a natural or artificial mound. He +replied, that it was natural. There were three more of these elevations +on the opposite side of the river. He knew nothing further of them. A +large pine was growing on the top of one of them.</p> + +<p>Having concluded the business with the Indians, I distributed presents +of provisions, ammunition, and tobacco. I purchased a canoe of small +draft from an Indian named Shoga, and immediately embarked on my return +up the St. Croix. That night we lodged in our camp of the 31st. The next +morning we were in motion by five o'clock, and reached the grand forks +by nine. We entered and began the ascent of the Namakagun.</p> + +<p>INDIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.--We soon met a brother of Kabamappa, called +the Day Ghost, and four other heads of families, with their families, +on their way to the council at Yellow River. Informed them of what had +been done, and gave them tobacco, whereupon they determined to re-ascend +the Namakagun with us. There were ten persons. One of the young men +fired at a flock of pigeons, hitting and killing two. A distance above, +they went through a cut-off, and saved a mile or more, while we went +round, showing their superior knowledge of the geography. At the great +bends, the women got out of the canoes and walked. The old men also +walked up. We reached their lodges about 4 o'clock. I exchanged canoes +with Day Ghost, and gave him the difference. We encamped at a late hour +on the left bank (ascending), having come about forty-two miles--a +prodigious effort for the men. To make amends, they ate prodigiously, +and then lay down and slept with the nightmare. Poor fellows, they +screamed out in their sleep. But they were up and ready again at 5 +o'clock the next morning, with paddle and song.</p> + +<p>PICTOGRAPHY.--At 11 o'clock we landed, on the right bank, at the site of +an old encampment, for breakfast. I observed a symbolic inscription, in +the ideographic manner, on a large blazed pine--the <i>Pinus resinosa</i>. It +consisted of seven representative, and four symbolic devices, denoting +the totems, or family names, of two heads of families, while encamped +here, and their success in hunting and fishing. The story told was this: +That two men, one of whom was of the Catfish clan, and the other of the +clan of the Copper-tailed Bear--a mythological animal--had been rewarded +with mysterious good luck, each according to his totem. The Catfish man +had caught six large catfish, and the Copper-tailed Bear man had killed +a black bear. The resin of the pine had covered the inscription, +rendering it impervious to the weather.</p> + +<p>NATURAL HISTORY.--The <i>nymphaea odorata</i> borders the edge of the river. +Dr. H., this morning, found the <i>bidens</i>, which has but two localities +in the United States besides. He has also, within the last forty-eight +hours, discovered a species of the locust, on the lower part of the +Namakagun. The fresh-water shells on this river are chiefly unios. Wild +rice, the <i>palustris</i>, is chiefly found at the two Pukwaéwas, more +rarely along the banks, but not in abundance. The <i>polyganum amphibia</i> +stands just in the edge of the water along its banks, and is now in +flower. The copper-head snake is found at the Yellow River; also the +thirteen striped squirrel.</p> + +<p>NUDE INDIANS.--The Indians whom we met casually on the Namakagun, had +nothing whatever on them, but the <i>auzeaun</i>. They put on a blanket, when +expecting a stranger. The females have a petticoat and breastpiece. When +we passed the Woodpecker Chiefs party, an old woman, without upperments, +who had been poling up one of the canoes, hastily landed, and hid +herself in the bushes, when her exclamation of Nyau! Nyau! revealed her +position as we passed. Two young married women had also landed, but +stood on the banks with their children; one of the latter screaming, in +fear, at the top of its lungs.</p> + +<p>The men were much fatigued with this day's journey. They had to use the +pole when the water became shallow. Yet they went about thirty-six +miles. At night one of them screamed out with pains in his arms. We were +up and on the river again at six the next morning (the 4th). The word +with me was, PUSH; to accomplish the object, not a day, not half a day +was to be lost, and the men all entered into the spirit of the thing. At +half past nine, we reached our breakfast place of the 30th, and there +gummed our canoes. We noticed yesterday the red haw, and <i>pembina</i>--the +latter of which is the service berry. This day the calamus was often +seen in quantity.</p> + +<p>GEOLOGY.--Rapids were encountered at various points, at which there +appeared large boulders of syenite and greenstone trap. No rock stratum +appears in place, but from the size of the boulders, it seems probable +that the trap formation crosses the bed of the Namakagun. There is no +limestone--no slate. Small boulders of amygdaloid, quartz, granite, and +sandstone mark the prevalence of the drift stratum, such as overspreads +the upper Mississippi uplands. The weather was cloudy and overcast, +producing coolness. I found the air but 64° at 2 o'clock, when the water +stood at 69°.</p> + +<p>Some fish are caught in this stream, which serve to eke out the very +scanty, and precarious subsistence of the Indians at this season. At the +lodge of an Indian, whom we knew as the "Jack of Diamonds"--being the +same who loaned us a canoe--I observed some small pieces of duck in a +large kettle of boiling water, which was thickened with whortleberries, +for the family supper.</p> + +<p>PORTAGE TO LAC COURTORIELLE.--We reached the portage at two o'clock +A.M., and immediately began to cross it, the men carrying all our +baggage at one load. Just after passing the middle <i>pause</i>, the path +mounts and is carried along a considerable ridge, from which there is a +good view of the country. It is open as far as the eye can reach. +Sometimes there is a fine range of large pines: in by far the largest +space ancient fires appear to have spread, destroying the forest and +giving rise to a young growth of pines, aspen, shad-bush, and bramble. +Some portions are marshy. A deep cup-shaped cavity exists a little to +the right of the path on the ridge, denoting it to be cavernous or +filled with springs.</p> + +<p>We saw evidences of Lieut. Clary and Mr. Woolsey's march and encampment +on this height. We saw also evidences of Old Laporte's prowess in +voyageur life and exploits, by a notice of one of his long <i>pauses</i>, +recorded by Lieut. Clary in pencil, on a blazed tree.</p> + +<p>LAKE OF THE ISLES.--On reaching the Lake of the Isles at three o'clock +P.M., we found, by a little bark letter on a pole, that Lieut. Clary and +Mr. Woolsey had slept at that spot on the 1st of August. All things had +proceeded well. They were ahead of us but four days.</p> + +<p>While the men were sent back to the other end of the portage after the +canoes, I embarked on the lake in a small canoe found in the bushes, +with Mr. Johnston, to search out the proper channel. We found it to draw +to a narrow neck and then widen out, with six or seven islands, giving a +very sylvan and beautiful appearance. We passed through it, then crossed +a short portage that connects the path with Lac du Grès, and then +returned to the south end of Lake of the Isles, where I determined to +encamp and light up a fire, while Mr. Johnston was sent back in the +little Indian canoe to bring up the canoes and men. While thus awaiting +the arrival of the party, I scrutinized the mineralogy of the pebbles +and drift of its shores, where I observed small fragments of the +agates, quartz, amygdaloids, &c., which characterize all the drift of +the upper Mississippi.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Johnston did not return till long after sunset. I was growing +uneasy and full of anxieties when he hove in sight in the same small +Indian hunting-canoe, with Dr. Houghton and one voyageur, bringing the +tent, beds, and mess-basket. They reported that the men had not yet +arrived with the large canoe, and it was doubted whether they would come +in in season to cross the lake. But they came up and joined us during +the night.</p> + +<p>The next morning (Aug. 5th) we crossed the portage at Lac du Grès before +sunrise. This is the origin of the north-west fork of Chippewa River. +The atmosphere was foggy, but, from what we could see, we thought the +lake pretty. Pine on its shores, bottom sandy, shells in its bed, no +rock seen in place, but loose pieces of coarse gray sandstone around +its shores.</p> + +<p>The outlet of this lake proved to be the entrance into Ottawa Lake--the +Lac Courtorielle of the French--a fine body of water some ten miles +long. It was still too foggy on reaching this point to tell which way to +steer. A gun was fired; it was soon answered by Lieut. Clary and Mr. +Woolsey from the opposite side of the lake. The sound was sufficient to +indicate the course, and we crossed in safety, rejoining our party at +the hour of early breakfast. We found all well.</p> + +<p>OTTAWA LAKE.--We were received with a salute from the Indians. I counted +twenty-eight canoes turned up on the beach. Mozojeed and Waubezhais, the +son of Miscomoneto (or The Red Devil), were present. Also Odabossa and +his band. The Indians crowded down to the beach to shake hands. I +informed them, while tobacco was being distributed, that I would meet +them in council that day at the firing of three guns by the military.</p> + +<p>COUNCIL.--At eleven o'clock I met the Indians in council. The military +were drawn up to the best advantage, their arms glittering in the sun. +My auxiliaries of the Michico-Canadian stock and the gentlemen of my +party were in their best trim. We occupied the beautiful eminence at the +outlet of the lake. The assemblage of Indians was large, but I was +struck by the great disproportion, or excess, of women and children.</p> + +<p>Mozojeed, the principal man, was a tall, not portly, red-mouthed, and +pucker-mouthed man,<a name="FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61">[61]</a> with an unusual amount of cunning and sagacity, +and exercising an unlimited popularity by his skill and reputation as a +<i>jossakeed</i>, or seer. He had three wives, and, so far as observation +went, I should judge that most of the men present had imitated his +voluptuous tastes and apparently lax morals. He had an elaborately-built +<i>jaunglery</i>, or seer's lodge, sheathed with rolls of bark carefully and +skillfully united, and stained black inside. Its construction, which was +intricate, resembled the whorls of a sea-shell. The white prints of a +man's hand, as if smeared with white clay, was impressed on the black +surface. I have never witnessed so complete a piece of Indian +architectural structure, nor one more worthy of the name of a temple +of darkness.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor61">[61]</a> He was named by the Indians from these two traits. +</blockquote> + +<p>This man, who had effectually succeeded to the power and influence of +Miscomoneto (or the Red Devil), had been present at the treaty of +Prairie du Chien, in 1825, and heard Gens. Clark and Cass address the +assembled Indians on that memorable occasion. I had been in +communication with him there. He was perfectly familiar with the +principles of pacification advanced and established on that occasion. It +was the more easy for me, therefore, to revive and enforce these +principles.</p> + +<p>WAR PARTY.--Mozojeed's son was himself one of Neenaba's leaders in the +war party, and was now absent with the volunteers which he had been able +to raise in and about the Ottawa Lake village. He was directly +implicated in this movement against the Sioux. Mozojeed's village was, +in fact, completely caught almost in the very act of sending out its +quota of warriors. They had, but a short time before, marched to join +the main party at Rica Lake on the Red Cedar Fork of the Chippewa. He +felt the embarrassment of his position, but, true to the character of +his race, exhibited not a sign of it in his words or countenance. Stolid +and unmoved, he pondered on his reply. Divested of its unnecessary +points and personal localisms, this speech was substantially as +follows:--</p> + +<p>MOZOJEED'S SPEECH.--"Nosa. I have listened to your voice. I have +listened to it heretofore at Kipesaugee. It is to me the voice of one +that is strong and able to do. Our Great Father speaks in it. I hear but +one thing. It is to sit still. It is not to cross the enemies' lines. It +is to drop the war club. It is to send word of all our disputes to him.</p> + +<p>"Nosa. This is wise. This is good. This is to stop blood. But my young +men are foolish. They wish to go on the war path. They wish to sing +triumphs. My counsels too are weak and as nothing. It seems like trying +to catch the winds and holding them in my fists, when I try to stay +their war spirit. How shall we dance? How shall we sing? These are +their words.</p> + +<p>"Nosa. I do not lift the war-club. My words are for peace. I helped to +draw the lines at Kipesaugee six years, ago. I will keep them. My advice +to my people is to sit still. You have shown, by bringing your flag here +and hoisting it with your own hands in my village, that you are strong, +and able, and willing. You are the Indian's friend. You encourage us by +this hard journey through our streams when the waters are low. You have +spied us out and see how we live, and how poor we are."</p> + +<p>Waubezhais, the son of Miscomoneto, and bearing his medal and authority, +then spoke, responding frankly. Odebossa, of the Upper Pukwaéwa, spoke +also favorably to my object, and thanking me for my visit to his village +on the Namakagun, which he said, metaphorically, "had rekindled their +fires, which were almost out."</p> + +<p>All agreed that the waters were too low to go to the Lac du Flambeau, +and that my proposed council with the Indians at that point must be +given up or deferred. Besides, if the war party on the Red Cedar or +Folavoine Fork of the Chippewa was to be arrested, it could only be done +by an immediate move in that direction. I therefore determined to leave +Ottawa Lake the same day. I invested Mozobodo with a silver medal of the +first class, and a U.S. flag. Presents of ammunition, provisions, iron +works, a few dry goods, and tobacco were given to all, and statistics of +their population and of their means taken. For a population of eighteen +men, there were forty-eight women and seventy-one children. Thirteen or +fourteen of the latter were Mozojeed's. Red Devil's son's band numbered +forty-nine men, twenty-seven women, and forty-six children. Odabossa's +village consisted of eighteen men, thirty-eight women, and seventy-one +children--making 406 souls, who were chiefly assembled at this point.</p> + +<p>TECUMSEH.--I snatched this piece of history. During the late war +Tecumseh's messages reached this place, and produced their usual effect. +The Indians seized the post, took the goods, and burnt the building +occupied as a place of trade. Mr. Corban, having notice from friendly +Indians, escaped with his men to St. Mary's. This post stood opposite +the outlet, being on the present site of Mozojeed's village.</p> + +<p>MOZOJEED'S LODGE--This fabric is quite remarkable, and yields more +comforts and conveniences than usual. It has also the mysterious +insignia of a prophet. The faces of four men or gods are carved at the +four cardinal points. A hole with a carved image of a bird is in front. +Three drums hang on the walls, and many rattles. At his official lodge +men are painted joining hands. A bundle of red sticks lies in +one corner.</p> + +<p>INDIAN MOVEMENTS.--I was informed by M. and W. that the Lac du Flambeau +Indians were not on Chippewa River, and that the message from Yellow +Lake had not reached them. That many of the Chippewas were at Rice Lake +on the Red Cedar Fork. That they had received a message from Mr. Street, +Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien, and were in alarm on account of the +Menomonies.</p> + +<p>TRIP TO THE RED CEDAR FORK.--We embarked at four o'clock in the +afternoon in four canoes, one canoe of Indians to aid on the portages, +and two canoes of the military--Lieut. Clary's command. Mr. B. Cadotte +acted as guide as far as Rice Lake, the whole making quite a formidable +"brigade," to use a trader's term. Our course lay down the Little +Chippewa River. The water was very good and deep as far as the fish dam. +There our troubles began. Our canoes had to be led along, as if they had +been baskets of eggs, in channels made by the Indians, who had carefully +picked out the big stones. We met a son of old Misco's, having a fawn +and three muskrats recently killed. I gave him a full reward of corn and +tobacco for the former, which was an acceptable addition to our +traveling <i>cuisine</i>. It was observed that he had nothing besides in his +canoe but a gun and war club, a little boy being in the boat. We +descended the stream some seven or eight miles, and encamped on the +right bank. It rained hard during the night. Next morning (6th) we were +in motion at six o'clock, which was as early as the atmosphere would +permit. An hour's travel brought us to the mouth of a creek, which led +us in the required direction. It was a narrow and deep stream, very +tortuous, and making bends so short that we with difficulty forced our +canoes through. In two hours we came to the portage to the Ca Ta--a pond +at the distance of 1916 yards, which we crossed at two <i>pauses</i>.</p> + +<p>LAKE CHETAC.--Before the canoes and baggage came up, I crossed over to +Lake Chetac. There is a portage road around the pond. After passing the +first <i>poze</i> from it, the canoes may be put in a brook and poled down +two pozes--then they must be taken out and carried 1600 yards to Lake +Chetac. The whole portage is 5600 yards.</p> + +<p>It was seven o'clock in the evening before we could embark on the lake. +We went down it four miles to an island and encamped. The lake is six +miles long, shallow, marshy, with some wild rice and bad water. Bad as +it was, we had to make tea of it.</p> + +<p>INDIAN MANNERS.--We found but a single lodge on the island, which was +occupied by a Chippewa woman and a dog. I heard her say to one of our +men, in the Chippewa tongue, that there was no man in the lodge--that +her husband had gone out fishing. She appeared in alarm, and soon after +I saw her paddle away in a small canoe, leaving her lodge with a fire +burning. On awaking in the morning, I heard the sound of talking in the +lodge, and, before we embarked, the man, his wife, and two children, and +an old woman came out.</p> + +<p>Four lodges of Indians, say about twenty souls, usually make their homes +at this lake, which yields them fish and wild rice. But at present the +whole tendency of the Indian population is to Rice Lake. The war party +mustering at that point absorbs all attention.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL."></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<p>EXPLORATION OF THE RED CEDAR OR FOLLAVOINE VALLEY OF THE CHIPPEWA RIVER.</p> + +<p>Betula Lake--Larch Lake--A war party surprised--Indian manners--Rice +Lake--Indian council--Red Cedar Lake--Speeches of Wabezhais and +Neenaba--Equal division of goods--Orifice for treading out rice--A live +beaver--Notices of natural history--Value of the Follavoine Valley--A +medal of the third President--War dance--Ornithology--A prairie country, +fertile and abounding in game--Saw mills--Chippewa River--Snake--La +Garde Mountain--Descent of the Mississippi--Sioux village--General +impression of the Mississippi--Arrival at Prairie du Chien.</p> + +<p>1831. BETULA LAKE. LARCH LAKE.--The 7th of August, which dawned upon us +in Lake Chetac, proved foggy and cool. The thermometer at 4, 7 and 8 +A.M., stood respectively at 50°, 52° and 56°. We found the outlet very +shallow, so much so, that the canoes could with difficulty be got out +while we walked. It led us by a short portage into a small lake called +Betula, or Birch Lake, a sylvan little body of water having three +islands, which we were just twenty-five minutes in crossing by free +strokes of the paddles. Its outlet was still too shallow for any other +purpose than to enable the men to lead down the empty canoes. We made a +portage of twelve hundred and ninety-five yards into another lake, +called Larch or Sapin Lake--which is about double the size of the former +lake. We were half an hour in crossing it with an animated and free +stroke of the paddle--the men's spirits rising as they find themselves +getting out of these harassing defiles and portages.</p> + +<p>A WAR PARTY SURPRISED.--We took breakfast on the beach while the canoes +were for the last time being led down the outlet. We had nearly finished +it on the last morsel of the fawn, and were glancing all the while over +the placid and bright expanse, with its dark foliage, when suddenly a +small Indian canoe, very light, and successively seven others, with a +warrior in the bow and stern of each, glided from a side channel, being +the outlet into its other extremity. As soon as our position was +revealed, they stopped in utter amazement, and lighting their pipes +began to smoke; and we, nearly as much amazed, immediately put up our +flag, and Lt. Clary paraded his men. We were more than two to one on the +basis of a fight. A few moments revealed our respective relations. It +was the <i>Lac Courtorielle</i> detachment of the Rice Lake war party, and +gave us the first intimation of its return. It was now evident that the +man on the Little Chippewa from whom we purchased the fawn was but an +advanced member of the same party. As soon as they perceived our +national character, they fired a salute and cautiously advanced. It +proved to be the brother of Mozojeed and two of his sons, with thirteen +other warriors, on their return. Each had a gun, a shot-bag and powder +horn, a scalping knife and a war club, and was painted with vermilion +lines on the face. The men were nearly naked, having little but the +<i>auzeaun</i> and moccasons and the leather baldric that confines the knife +and necessary warlike appendages and their head gear. They had +absolutely no baggage in the canoe. When the warrior leaped out, it was +seen to be a mere elongated and ribbed dish of the white birch bark, and +a man with one hand could easily lift it. Such a display of the Indian +manners and customs on a war party, it is not one in a thousand even of +those on the frontiers is ever so fortunate as to see.</p> + +<p>They still landed under some trepidation, but I took each personally by +the hand as they came up to my flag, and the ceremony was united in by +Lieut. Clary, and continued by them until every gentleman of my party +had been taken by the hand. The Indians understood this ceremony as a +committal of friendship. I directed tobacco to be distributed to them, +and immediately gathered them in council. They stated that the war party +had encountered signs of Sioux outnumbering them on the lower part of +the Chippewa River, and footsteps of strange persons coming. This inroad +of an apparently new combination against them had alarmed the moose, +which had fled before them; and that six of the party had been sent in +advance while the main body lay back to await the news. From whatever +cause the party had retreated, it was evidently broken up for the +season; and, the object of my official visit and advice accomplished, I +turned this to advantage in the interview, and left them, I trust, +better prepared to understand their true duties and policy hereafter, +and we crossed the lake with spirits more elevated.</p> + +<p>RED CEDAR LAKE.--A short outlet conducted us into Red Cedar Lake, a +handsome body of water which we were an hour in passing through, say +four or five miles. The men raised their songs, which had not been heard +for some time. It presents some islands, which add to its +picturesqueness. Formerly there stood a single red cedar on one of +these, which gave the name to the lake, but no other tree of this +species is known in the region. Half a mile south of its banks the +Indians procure a kind of red pipe stone, similar to that brought from +the <i>Coteau des Prairies</i>, but of a duller red color. We met four +Indians in a canoe in passing it, who saluted us. The outlet is filled +with long flowing grass and aquatic plants. Two Indian women in a canoe +who were met here guided us down its somewhat intricate channel. We +observed the spiralis or eel weed and the rattlesnake leaf (scrofula +weed or goodyeara) ashore. The tulip tree and butternut were noticed +along the banks.</p> + +<p>INDIAN MANNERS.---In passing down the outlet of the Red Cedar Lake we, +soon after leaving our guides, met three canoes at short distances +apart, two of which had a little boy in each end, and the third an old +woman and child. We next met a Chippewa with his wife and child on the +banks. They had landed from a canoe, evidently in fear, but, learning +our character, embarked and followed us to Rice Lake. The woman had her +hair hanging loose about her head, and not clubbed up in the usual +fashion. I asked, and understood in reply, that this was a fashion +peculiar to a band of Chippewas who live north of Rice Lake. On coming +into Rice Lake we found the whole area of it, except a channel, covered +with wild rice not yet ripe. We here met a number of boys and girls in a +canoe, who, on seeing us, put ashore and fled in the utmost trepidation +into the tall grasses and hid themselves.</p> + +<p>RICE LAKE, or MONOMINEKANING.--As we came in sight of the village, every +canoe was put in the best trim for display. The flags were hoisted; the +military canoes paid all possible devotion to Mars. There were five +canoes. I led the advance, the men striking up one of their liveliest +songs--which by the way was some rural ditty of love and adventure of +the age of Louis XIV.--and we landed in front of the village with a +flourish of air (purely a matter of ceremony) as if the Grand Mogul were +coming, and they would be swallowed up. I immediately sent to the +chiefs, to point out the best place for encamping, which they did.</p> + +<p>COUNCIL AT RICE LAKE.--As soon as my tent was pitched, Neenaba, +Wabezhais, and their followers, to the number of twenty-two persons, +visited me, were received with a shake of the hand and a "bon-jour," and +presented with tobacco. Notice was immediately given that I would meet +them in council at the firing of signal guns by the military. They +attended accordingly. This council was preliminary, as I intended to +halt here for a couple of days, in order to put new bottoms to my +canoes. I wished, also, some geographical and other information from +them, prior to my final council. Neenaba agreed to draw a map of the +lower part of the river, &c., denoting the lines drawn by the treaty of +Prairie du Chien, and the sites of the saw-mills erected, without leave, +by squatters.</p> + +<p>NATIVE SPEECHES.--Next day (8th) the final council was held, at the +usual signal. Wabezhais and Neenaba were the principal speakers. They +both disclaimed setting themselves up against the authority or wishes of +the United States. They knew the lines, and meant to keep them. But they +were on the frontiers. The Sioux came out against them. They came up the +river. They had last year killed a man and his two sons in a canoe, on +the opposite banks of Rice Lake, where they lay concealed. Left to +protect themselves, they had no choice. They must strike, or die. Their +fathers had left them councils, which, although young and foolish, they +must respect. They did not disregard the voice of the President. They +were glad to listen to it. They were pleased that he had honored them +with this visit, and this advice. This is the substance of +both speeches.</p> + +<p>Neenaba complained that the lumbermen had built mills on their land, and +cut pine logs, without right. That the Indians got nothing but civil +treatment, when they went to the mills, and tobacco. This young chief +appears to have drawn a temporary notoriety upon himself by his position +in the late war party, which is, to some extent, fallacious. His modesty +is, however, a recommendation. I proposed to have invested him with a +second class medal and flag; but he brought them to me again, laying +them down, and saying that he perceived that it would produce +dissatisfaction and discord in his tribe; and that they were not +necessary to insure his good influence and friendship for the United +States. On consultation with the band, these marks of authority were +finally awarded to WABEZHAIS. Presents, including the last of my dry +goods, were then distributed. Among them, was a small piece of fine +scarlet cloth, but too little to make a present to each. The divider of +the goods, which were given in camp, who was Indian, when he came to +this tore it into small strips, so as to make a head-band or baldric for +each. The utmost exactness of division was observed in everything.</p> + +<p>ORIFICES FOR TREADING OUT RICE.--I saw artificial orifices in the ground +near our encampment. On inquiry, I learned that these were used for +treading out the wild rice. A skin is put in these holes which are +filled with ears. A man then treads out the grain. This appears to be +the only part of rice making that is performed by the men. The women +gather, dry, and winnow it.</p> + +<p>A LIVE BEAVER.--The Indians brought into camp one morning, while I was +at Rice Lake, a young beaver; an animal more completely amphibious, it +would be difficult to find. The head and front part of the body resemble +the muskrat. The fore legs are short, and have five toes. The hind legs +are long, stout, and web-footed. The spine projects back in a thick +mass, and terminates in a spatula-shaped tail, naked and scale-form. The +animal is young, and was taken about ten days ago. Previously to being +brought in, it had been taken out in a canoe into the lake, and +immersed. It appeared to be cold, and shivered slightly. Its hair was +saturated with water, and it made use of its fore paws in attempts to +express the water, sometimes like a cat, and at others, like a squirrel. +It sat up, like the latter, on its hind legs, and ate bread in the +manner of a squirrel. In this position it gave some idea of the +kangaroo. Its color was a black body, brownish on the cheeks and under +the body. The eye small and not very brilliant. Its cry is not unlike +that of a young child. The owner said, it would eat rice and fish. It +was perfectly tamed in this short time, and would run to its owner.</p> + +<p>NOTICES OF NATURAL HISTORY.--I took out of the bed of the river, in the +descent below Red Cedar Lake, a greenish substance attached to stone, +having an animal organization resembling the sponge. In our descent, the +men caught, and killed with their poles, a proteus. The wild rice, which +fills this part of the river, is monoecious. The river abounds in +muscles, among which the species of unios is common, but not of large +size, so far as we observed. The forest growth improves about this +point, and denotes a better soil and climate. Pine species are still +present, but have become more mixed with hard wood, and what the French +canoe-men denominate "Bois Franc."</p> + +<p>VALUE OF THE FOLLEAVOINE FORK.--The name by which this tributary of the +Chippewa is called, on the Lake Superior side, namely, Red Cedar, is +quite inappropriate. Above Rice Lake it is characterized by the wild +rice plant, and the name of Folleavoine, which we found in use on the +Mississippi border, better expresses its character. The lower part of +the stream appears to be not only more plenteous in the class of +resources on which an Indian population rely, but far better adapted to +the purposes of agriculture, grazing, and hydraulics.</p> + +<p>MEDAL OF THE THIRD PRESIDENT.--During the assemblages at Rice Lake, I +observed a lad called Ogeima Geezhick, or Chief Day, having a Jefferson +medal around his neck. I called him and his father, and, while inquiring +its history, put a new ribbon to it. It was probably given by the late +Col. Bolvin, Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, to the chief called +Peesh-a-Peevely, of Ottawa Lake. The latter died at his village, an old +man, last winter. He gave it to a young man who was killed by the Sioux. +His brother having a boy named after him, namely, Ogeima Geezhick, gave +it to him.</p> + +<p>WAR-DANCE.--This ceremony, together with what is called <i>striking the +post</i>, was performed during our stay. The warriors, arrayed for war, +danced in a circle to the music of their drum and rattles. After making +a fixed number of revolutions, they stopped simultaneously and uttered +the sharp war yell. A man then stepped out, and, raising his club and +striking a pole in the centre, related a personal exploit in war. The +dance was then resumed, and terminated in like manner by yells, when +another warrior related his exploits. This was repeated as long as there +were exploits to tell. One of the warriors had seven feathers in his +head, denoting that he had marched seven times against the enemy. +Another had two. One of the young men asked for Lieut. Clary's sword, +and danced with it in the circle.</p> + +<p>An old woman, sitting in a ring of women on the left, when the dancing +and drumming had reached its height, could not restrain her feelings. +She rose up, and, seizing a war-club which one of the young men +gallantly offered, joined the dance. As soon as they paused, and gave +the war-whoop, she stepped forward and shook her club towards the Sioux +lines, and related that a war party of Chippewas had gone to the +Warwater River, and killed a Sioux, and when they returned they threw +the scalp at her feet. A very old, deaf, and gray-headed man, tottering +with age, also stepped out to tell the exploits of his youth, on the +war path.</p> + +<p>Among the dancers, I noticed a man with a British medal. It was the +medal of the late Chief Peesh-a-Peevely, and had probably been given him +while the British held the supremacy in the country. I explained to him +that it, was a symbol of nationality, which it was now improper to +display as such. That I would recognize the personal authority of it, by +exchanging for it an American silver medal of equal size.</p> + +<p>ORNITHOLOGY.--While at Rice Lake, I heard, for the first time, the +meadow-lark, and should judge it a favorite place for birds obtaining +their food. The thirteen striped squirrel is also common. A quantity of +the fresh-water shells of the lake were, at my request, brought in by +the Indian girls. There was very little variety. Most of them were unios +of a small size.</p> + +<p>I found the entire population to be one hundred and forty-two souls, of +whom eleven were absent.</p> + +<p>One of the last acts of Neenaba was to present a pipe and speech, to be +forwarded to the President, to request him to use his power to prevent +the Sioux from crossing the lines. Having now finished repairing my +canoes, I embarked on the ninth, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and +went down the river four hours and a half, probably about eighteen +miles, and encamped. Encountered four Indians, from whom we obtained +some pieces of venison. During the night wolves set up their howls near +our camp, a sure sign that we were in a deer country.</p> + +<p>A PRAIRIE COUNTRY.--The next morning (10th Aug.) we embarked at five, +and remained in our canoes till ten A.M., when we landed for breakfast. +We had now entered a prairie country, of a pleasing and picturesque +aspect. We observed a red deer during the morning; we passed many +hunting encampments of the Indians, and the horns and bones of +slaughtered deers, and other evidences of our being in a valuable game +country. These signs continued and increased after breakfast. The river +had now increased in volume, so as to allow a free navigation, and the +men could venture to put out their strength in following down a current, +always strong, and often rapid. We were passing a country of sylvan +attractions, of great fertility, and abounding in deer, elk, and other +animals. We also saw a mink, and a flock of brant. Mr. Clary shot a +turkey-buzzard, the first intimation that we had reached within the +range of that bird. As evening approached we saw a raccoon on a fallen +bank. We came at nightfall to the Kakabika Falls, carried our baggage +across the portage, and encamped at the western end, ready to embark in +the morning, having descended the river, by estimation, seventy miles. +These falls are over sandstone, a rock which has shown itself at all the +rapids below Rice Lake.</p> + +<p>SAW MILLS.--The next morning (11th) we embarked at six o'clock, and, +after descending strong and rapid waters for a distance of about fifteen +miles, reached the site of a saw mill. A Mr. Wallace, who with ten men +was in charge of it, and was engaged in reconstructing a dam that had +been carried off by the last spring freshet, represented Messrs. Rolette +and Lockwood of Prairie du Chien. Another mill, he said, was constructed +on a creek just below, and out of sight.</p> + +<p>I asked Mr. Wallace where the lines between the Sioux and Chippewas +crossed. He said above. He had no doubt, however, but that the land +belonged to the Chippewas. He said that no Sioux had been here for seven +years. At that time a mill was built here, and Sioux came and encamped +at it, but they were attacked by the Chippewas and several killed, since +which they have not appeared. He told us that this stream is called the +FOLLEAVOINE.</p> + +<p>The country near the mills is not, in fact, occupied by either Chippewa +or Sioux, in consequence of which game is abundant on it. We saw a wolf, +on turning a dense point of woods, in the morning. The animal stood a +moment, and then turned and fled into the forest. After passing the +mills we saw groups of two, five and four deer, and of two wolves at +separate points. Mr. Johnston shot at a flight of brant, and brought +down one. The exclamations, indeed, of "<i>un loup! un chèvreuil!"</i> were +continually in the men's mouths.</p> + +<p>CHIPPEWA RIVER.--At twelve o'clock precisely we came to the confluence +of this fork with the main stream. The Chippewa is a noble mass of +water, flowing with a wide sweeping majesty to the Mississippi. It +excites the idea of magnitude. Wide plains, and the most sylvan and +picturesque hills bound the view. We abandoned our smallest canoe at +this point, and, pushing into the central channel of the grand current, +pursued for six hours our way to its mouth, where we encamped on a long +spit of naked sand, which marked its entrance into the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>SNAKE.--The only thing that opposed our passage was a large serpent in +the centre of the channel, whose liberty being impinged, coiled himself +up, and raised his head in defiance. Its colors were greenish-yellow and +brownish. It appeared to be of the thickness at the maximum of a man's +wrist. The bowsman struck it with a pole, not without some trepidation +at his proximity to the reptile, but it made off, apparently unhurt, or +not disabled.</p> + +<p>MONT LE GARDE.--The picturesque and grass-clad elevation called <i>Le +Garde</i> by the canoe-men, attracted our notice. It is a high hill, the +top of which commands a view of the whole length of Lake Pepin, where +Chippewa war parties look out for their enemies. It was from this +elevation that Kewaynokwut's party spied poor Finley and his men in +1824, and there could have been no reason whatever for mistaking their +character, for he had a linen tent and other unmistakeable insignia of +a trader.</p> + +<p>The Chippewa enters the Mississippi by several channels, which at this +stage of the water, are formed by long sand bars, which are but a few +inches above the water. The tracks of deer and elk were abundant on +these bars. We had found something of this kind on a bar of the +Folleavoine below the mills, where we landed to dry the doctor's +herbarium and press, which had been knocked overboard in a rapid. The +tracks of elk at that spot were as numerous as those of cattle in a barn +yard. There are high hills on the west banks of the Mississippi opposite +the entrance, and an enchanting view is had of the foot of Lake Pepin +and its beautiful shores.</p> + +<p>Deer appear to come on to these sand bars at night, to avoid the +mosquitoes. Wolves follow them. We estimate our distance at forty miles, +inclusive of the stop at the mill. We had the brant roasted on a stick +for supper.</p> + +<p>DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--We embarked on our descent at four o'clock +A.M. We passed three canoes of Sioux men with their families. The +canoes were wooden. We stopped alongside, and gave them tobacco. The +women club their hair like the Chippewas, and wear short gowns of cloth. +Soon afterwards we overtook four Sioux of Wabashaw's band, in a canoe. +We stopped for breakfast at nine o'clock, under a high shore on the west +bank. Found fine unios of a large size, very abundant on a little sandy +bay. I found the <i>unio alatus, overtus, rugosus and gibbosus</i>, also some +<i>anadontas</i>. The Sioux came up, and gave us to understand that a murder +had been committed by the Menomonies in the mine country. Some of my +voyageurs laughed outright to hear the Sioux language spoken, the sound +of its frequent palatals falling very flat on men's ears accustomed only +to the Algonquin.</p> + +<p>SIOUX VILLAGE.--About two o'clock, having taken a right-hand fork of the +river, we unexpectedly came to a Sioux village, consisting of a part of +Wabashaw's band, under Wah-koo-ta. Landed and found a Sioux who could +speak Chippewa, and serve as interpreter. I informed them of my route +and the object of my visit, and of my having communicated a message with +wampum and tobacco to Wabashaw. They told us that the Menomonies had +killed twenty-five Foxes at Prairie du Chien a few days ago, having +first made them drunk, and then cut their throats and scalped them. We +encamped, at seven o'clock in the evening, under high cliffs on the west +shore, having been fifteen hours in our canoes. Found mint among the +high grass, where our tent poles were put. On the next morning we set +off at half-past four o'clock, and went until ten to breakfast. At a low +point of land of the shore, we had a view of a red fox, who scampered +away gayly. He had been probably gleaning among the shell-fish +along shore.</p> + +<p>At a subsequent point we met a boat laden with Indian goods, bound to +St. Peters, and manned by Canadians. The person in charge of it informed +us that it was Menomonies and not Foxes who had, to the number of +twenty-six, been recently murdered.</p> + +<p>GENERAL IMPRESSION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--The engrossing idea, in passing +down the Mississippi, is the power of its waters during the spring +flood. Trees carried from above are piled on the heads of islands, and +also lie, like vast stranded rocks, on its sand bars and lower shores. +Generally the butt ends and roots are elevated in the air, and remain +like gibbeted men by the roadside, to tell the traveler of the POWER +once exerted there.</p> + +<p>We traveled till near ten o'clock (13th) in the morning, when we reached +and encamped at Prairie du Chien.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI."></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<p>Death of Mr. Monroe--Affair of the massacre of the Menomonies by the +Foxes--Descent to Galena--Trip in the lead mine country to Fort +Winnebago--Gratiot's Grove--Sac and Fox disturbances--Black Hawk--Irish +Diggings--Willow Springs--Vanmater's lead--An escape from falling into a +pit--Mineral Point--Ansley's copper mine--Gen. Dodge's--Mr. +Brigham's--Sugar Creek--Four Lakes--Seven Mile Prairie--A night in the +woods--Reach Fort Winnebago--Return to the Sault--Political changes in +the cabinet--Gov. Cass called to Washington--Religious changes--G.B. +Porter appointed Governor--Natural history--Character of the new +governor--Arrival of the Rev. Jeremiah Porter--Organization of a church.</p> + +<p>1831, <i>Aug. 14th</i>. One of the first things we heard, on reaching Prairie +du Chien, was the death of ex-President Monroe, which happened on the +4th of July, at the City of New York. The demise of three ex-Presidents +of the revolutionary era (Jefferson, Adams, and Monroe), on this +political jubilee of the republic, is certainly extraordinary, and +appears, so far as human judgment goes, to lend a providential sanction +to the bold act of confederated resistance to taxation and oppression, +made in 1776.</p> + +<p>The affray between the Foxes and Menomonies turns out thus. The Foxes +had killed a young Menomonie hunter, near the mouth of the Wisconsin, +and cut off his head. The Menomonies had retaliated by killing Foxes. +The Foxes then made a war party against the Menomonies, and went up the +Mississippi in search of them. They did not find them, till their +return, when they discovered a Menomonie encampment on the upper part of +the Prairie. They instantly attacked them, and killed seven men, five +women, and thirteen children. The act was perfectly dastardly, for the +Menomonies were some domestic lodges of persons living, as +non-combatants, under the guns of the fort and the civil institutions of +the town. The Menomonies complained to me. I told them to go to their +Agent, and have a proper statement of the massacre drawn up by him, and +transmitted to Washington.</p> + +<p>I called on the commanding officer, Captain Loomis, and accepted his +invitation to dine. He introduced me to Mr. Street, the Indian Agent. At +four o'clock in the evening, I embarked for Galena, and, after +descending the Mississippi as long as daylight lasted, encamped on a +sand bar. The next morning (15th), we were again in motion before 5 +o'clock. We passed Cassville and Dubuque at successive points, and, +entering the river of Galena, reached the town about half-past eight +o'clock, in the evening, and encamped on the banks of the river.</p> + +<p>On the following day (16th) I dispatched my canoe back to the Wisconsin +in charge of Mr. Johnston, accompanied by Dr. D. Houghton, and Mr. +Melancthon Woolsey, with directions to meet me at the portage. I then +hired a light wagon to visit the mine country, taking letters from +Captain Legate, U.S.A., and Mr. C. Hemstead. Mr. Bennet, the landlord, +went with me to bring back the team. We left Galena about ten o'clock in +the morning (17th), and, passing over an open, rolling country, reached +Gratiot's Grove, at a distance of fifteen miles. The Messrs. Gratiot +received me kindly, and showed me the various ores, and their mode of +preparing and smelting them, which are, in all respects, similar to the +method pursued in Missouri, with which I was familiar.</p> + +<p>Mr. Henry Gratiot was the sub-Indian agent for the Winnebagoes, and was +present at the late disturbances at the head of Rock Island. His band is +the Winnebagoes living on Rock River, which is the residence of their +prophet. He says the latter is a half Sauk, and a very shrewd, cunning +man. They are peaceable now, and disclaim all connection with Black +Hawk, for war purposes. Mr. G. assured me that he places no confidence +in these declarations, nor in the stability of the Sacs and Foxes. He +deems the latter treacherous, as usual, and related to me several acts +of their former villainy--all in accordance with their late attack and +murder of the Menomonies at Prairie du Chien. This murder was committed +by a part of Black Hawk's band, who had been driven from their villages +on the Mississippi below the rapids. They ascended the river to +Dubuque--from thence the party set out, and fell on the unsuspicious and +defenceless Menomonies.</p> + +<p>Having examined whatever was deemed worthy of attention here, I drove on +about fifteen miles to Willow Springs. In this drive we had the Platte +Mounds, a prominent object, all the afternoon on our left. We stopped +at Irish Diggings, and I took specimens of the various spars, ores, and +rocks. Lead ore is found here in fissures in the rock. An extraordinary +mass of galena was recently discovered, in this geological position, by +two men named Doyle and Hanley. It is stated to have been twenty-two +feet wide by one hundred feet in length, and weighed many tons. It was +of the kind of formation called sheet mineral, which occupies what +appears to have once been an open fissure.</p> + +<p>The face of the country is exceedingly beautiful, the soil fertile, and +bearing oaks and shagbark hickory. Grass and flowers cover the prairies +as far as the eye can reach. The hills are moderately elevated, and the +roads excellent, except for short distances where streams are crossed. +We passed the night at Willow Springs, where we were well accommodated +by Mr. Ray.</p> + +<p>On the 18th it rained in the morning. We stopped at Rocky Branch +Diggings, and I obtained here some interesting specimens. We also +stopped at Bracken's Furnace, where I procured some organic remains. I +examined Vanmater's lead; it runs east and west nearly nine miles. There +was so much certainty in tracing the course of this lead, that it was +sought out with a compass. The top strata are thirty-six to forty +feet--then the mineral clay and galena occur.</p> + +<p>While examining some large specimens which had been thrown out of an old +pit forty feet deep, whose edges were concealed by bushes, I had nearly +fallen in backwards, by which I should have been inevitably killed. The +fate that I escaped fell to the lot of Bennet's dog. The poor fellow +jumped over the cluster of bushes without seeing the pit beyond. By +looking down we could see that he was still living. Mr. Vanmater +promised to erect a windlass over the pit and get him out before Mr. +Bennet returned.</p> + +<p>We reached Mineral Point about eleven o'clock. I immediately called on +Mr. Ansley, to whom I had a letter, and went with him to visit his +copper ore discovery. On the way he lost his mule, and, after some +exertions to catch the animal, being under the effects of a fever and +ague, he went back. A Mr. Black went with me to the diggings. Green and +blue carbonates of copper were found in rolled lumps in the clay soil, +much like that kind of lead ore which is called, from its abraded form, +gravel ore. Taking specimens of each kind of ore, I went back to the +town to dinner, and then drove on two or three miles to General +Dodge's. The General received me with great urbanity. I was introduced +to his son Augustus, a young gentleman of striking and agreeable +manners. Mrs. Dodge had prepared in a few moments a cup of coffee, which +formed a very acceptable appendage to my late dinner. We then continued +our way, passing through Dodgeville to Porter's Grove, where we stopped +for the night, and were made very comfortable at Morrison's.</p> + +<p>On the 19th we drove to breakfast at Brigham's at the Blue Mounds. I +here found in my host my old friend with whom I had set out from +Pittsburgh for the western world some thirteen or fourteen years before, +and whom I last saw, I believe, fighting with the crows on the Illinois +bottoms for the produce of a fine field of corn. I went on to the mound +with him to view the extraordinary growth of the same grain at this +place. The stalks were so high that it really required a tall man to +reach up and pull off the ears.</p> + +<p>Ten miles beyond Brigham's we came to Sugar Creek and a tree marked by +Mr. Lyon. From this point we found the trail measured and mile stakes +driven by Mr. Lyon's party, but the Indians have removed several. From +Sugar Creek it is ten miles to the head of the Four Lakes. We then +crossed the Seven Mile Prairie. To the left as we passed there rose a +high point of rocks, on the top of which the Indians had placed image +stones. Night overtook us soon after crossing this prairie. We took the +horse out of the shafts and tied him to the wagon. My friend Bennet, +though <i>au fait</i> on these trips, failed to strike a fire. We ate +something, and made shift to pass the night.</p> + +<p>Next morning we drove twelve miles to a house (Hasting's), where we got +breakfast. We drove through Duck Creek with some ado, the skies +threatening rain, and came in to Fort Winnebago by one o'clock, during a +pouring rain. The canoes sent from Galena had not yet arrived. I spent +the next day at the Winnebago agency, Mr. John H. Kinzie's, where I was +received with great kindness. The canoe with Dr. Houghton and his +companions did not arrive till the 23d, and I embarked the same day on +my return to St. Mary's. It will not be necessary to describe this +route. We were three days in descending the Fox River and its portages +to Green Bay. It required eight days to traverse the shores and bays to +Mackinack, and three more to reach St. Mary's, where I arrived on the +4th of September.</p> + +<p>During my absence on this expedition, there were some things in my +correspondence that require notice. Gen. Cass had been transferred to +the War Office at Washington. He writes to me from Detroit (July 22d): +"Very much to my surprise I have found myself called to another sphere +of action. The change I am afraid will be not less unfavorable to my +health and comfort than it certainly is adverse to my pecuniary +interest. But I am forced by irresistible circumstances to accept the +appointment. I have no time to detail these now. When I next have the +pleasure of meeting you, I will fully lay them open to you. You will +then see and say that no other choice was before me."</p> + +<p>Gen. Eaton, the former incumbent, goes out as minister to Spain. The +most important aspect is, perhaps, that we shall have a new governor, +under whose rule we shall be happy, if he does not rashly derange Indian +affairs in a too eager zeal to mend them. For a long and eventful era +Gen. Cass has presided as an umpire between the Indian tribes and the +citizens. His force and urbanity of character have equally inspired the +respect of both. He has equally secured the confidence of every class of +citizens in a wise civil administration of affairs. He has carried the +territory from a state of war and desolation, which it presented at the +close of 1815, when the whole population was less than three thousand +souls, to a state of sound prosperity, which, in a few years, will +develop resources that must class us one of the first of the +Lake States.</p> + +<p><i>July 26th</i>. The Rev. Absalom Peters, Sec. Home Miss. Society, holds out +the prospect of bringing our remote position, at the foot of Lake +Superior, within the pale of the operations of that society. He views +and describes a graduate of Dartmouth College, who may, probably, be +induced to venture himself on this frontier. He asks: "Please to say +whether you desire such a man as I have described? Will it be best for +him to go this fall, or wait until next spring? How much can you raise +for his support? How much will be necessary to sustain him and his +family with suitable economy? What will be his peculiar trials?"</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 23d</i>. It is announced that Mr. Geo. B. Porter, of Lancaster, +Penn., is to be the new governor.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 4th</i>. The last mail brings me a letter from an early and esteemed +friend, a Prof. in the Med. Col. at New York, offering me +congratulations on the moral stand recently taken by me. Approvals, +indeed, of this act reach me from many quarters. The way seemed open, +with very little exertion on my part, to run a political course. But my +impressions were averse to it. There is so much of independent honest +opinion to be offered up by politicians--such continual calls to forsake +the right for the expedient--such large sacrifices to be made in various +ways to the god of public opinion, that a political career is rather +startling to a quiet, unambitious, home-loving individual like myself, +one, too, who is largely interested in other studies and pursuits, the +rewards of which are not, indeed, very prompt, very sure, nor very full; +but they are fraught with gratifications of a more enduring kind, and +furnish aliment to moral conceptions which exalt and purify the soul.</p> + +<p>Dr. Torrey also alludes, in the same letter, to my recent journey in the +Indian country: "I am anxious to make some inquiries of you concerning +your expedition to the Falls of St. Anthony, &c. Though your principal +object was more important, perhaps, than natural science, I hope the +latter was not entirely neglected. I know that you have heretofore +devoted as much of your attention as possible to the observation of +natural objects, and the preservation of specimens, and your last +expedition was through a country well deserving of your highest +exertions. I know that part of it is the same as that explored while you +attended Gov. Cass, many years ago; but much of the ground, if I am +rightly informed, is new. You know that I have long devoted much of my +time to the study of N. American botany, and that I am collecting +materials for a general Flora of our country. Now, my dear sir, if you +or Mr. Houghton (the young gentleman whom, I am informed, accompanied +you) have made any collections in botany, I should esteem it a peculiar +favor to have the examination of the specimens.</p> + +<p>"Our Lyceum prospers. We have removed to the N.Y. Dispensatory, a new +building lately erected in White Street, where we have excellent +accommodations. The Corporation of the city had use for the N.Y. +Institution, and nearly all the societies who occupied it have been +obliged to decamp. You doubtless have heard of the death of Dr. +Mitchell. Dr. Akerly will pronounce his eulogy soon, and probably Dr. +Hosick will give a more elaborate account of his life.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Cooper now devotes himself to shells and birds. If you have +anything rare or new in these departments, we should be greatly obliged +to you for such specimens as you can spare.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Dekay went to Russia with his father, Mr. Eckford, last summer."</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A friend and shrewd observer from Detroit, writes: "You ask how +we like our new Governor. Very well. He is a well-informed plain man, +unassuming in his manners and conciliatory, always ready for business, +and accustomed to do everything <i>en ordre</i>. His wife is a fine-looking +agreeable woman, with several pretty well-behaved children."</p> + +<p>Another correspondent says: "Mr. Porter is very much such a man as A. E. +Wing, and will, no doubt, generally suit the citizens of the territory,"</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. W. Ward, Esq., says: "I remove hence to Washington, with no +certain prospects, only hopes. I cannot go without thanking you for much +enjoyment in the hours passed with you, and for the manifestations of +interest and friendship."</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 12th</i>. Rev. W. S. Boutwell says: "I am happy to hear that my +friend and classmate, Porter, is at Mackinack, on his way to this +people. The Lord speed him on his way."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Dr. Houghton writes from Fredonia, communicating the results of +his analyses of the Lake Superior copper-ores.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 31st</i>. The person named in a prior letter from the Home Missionary +Society, prefers a more southerly location, in consequence of which a +new selection has been made by Dr. Peters, in the person of Rev. +Jeremiah Porter, a graduate of Princeton and Andover, and a lineal +descendant, I understand, by the mother's side, of the great Dr. +Edwards. We have been favorably impressed by the manner and deportment, +and not less so by the piety and learning of the man. I felt happy, the +moment of his landing, in offering him a furnished chamber, bed and +plate, at Elmwood, while residing on this frontier. He has taken steps +to organize a church. He preaches in an animated and persuasive style, +and has commenced a system of moral instruction in detail, which, in our +local history, constitutes an era. It has been written that "where vice +abounds, grace shall much more abound," and St. Mary's may now be well +included in the list of favorable examples. The lordly "wassail" of the +fur-trader, the long-continued dance of the gay French "habitant," the +roll of the billiard-ball, the shuffle of the card, and the frequent +potations of wine "when it is red in the cup," will now, at least, no +longer retain their places in the customs of this spot on the frontier +without the hope of having their immoral tendencies pointed out. Some of +the soldiers have also shown a disposition to attend the several +meetings for instruction. The claims of temperance have likewise led to +an organized effort, and if the pious and gentle Mr. Laird were +permitted once again to visit the place, after a lapse of seven years, +he might fervently exclaim, in the language of the Gospel, "What hath +God wrought?"</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII."></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<p>Revival of St. Mary's--Rejection of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to +England--Botany and Natural History of the North-west--Project of a new +expedition to find the Sources of the Mississippi--Algie +Society--Consolidation of the Agencies of St. Mary's and +Michilimackinack--Good effects of the American Home Missionary +Society--Organization of a new inland exploring expedition committed to +me--Its objects and composition of the corps of observers.</p> + +<p>1832, <i>Jan. 31st</i>. I was now to spend a winter to aid a preacher in +promoting the diffusion and understanding of the detailed facts, which +all go to establish a great truth--a truth which was first brought to +the world's notice eighteen hundred and thirty-two years before, namely, +that God, who was incarnate in the Messiah, under the name of Jesus +Christ, offered himself a public sacrifice for human sins, amidst the +most striking and imposing circumstances of a Roman execution--a fact +which, in an age of extraordinary moral stolidity and ecclesiastical +delusion, was regarded as the behest of a mere human tribunal.</p> + +<p>For this work the circumstances of our position and exclusion from +society was very favorable. The world, with all its political and +commercial care, was, in fact, shut out with the closing of the river. +Three hundred miles of a waste, howling wilderness separated us +south-easterly from the settlements at Detroit. Ninety miles in a +south-westerly direction lay the island and little settlement and +mission of Mackinack.</p> + +<p>In addition to the exertions of Mr. Porter, who was our pastor, the +winter had enclosed, at that point, a zealous missionary of the American +Board, destined for a more northerly position, in the person of Mr. +Boutwell, who with the person, Mr. Bingham, in charge of the Indian +mission at the same point, maintained by the Baptist Convention, +constituted a moral force that was not likely to be without its results. +They derived mutual aid from each other in various ways, and directed +their entire efforts upon a limited community, wholly excluded from open +contact with the busy world, and having, by their very isolation, +much leisure.</p> + +<p>The result was an awakened attention to the truth, to which I have +adverted, not as a mere historical event, but one personally interesting +and important to every person, without regard at all to their +circumstances or position. Severity of climate, deep snows, the +temperature often below zero, and frequently but little above, blinding +snow storms, and every inconvenience of the place or places of meeting, +appeared only to have the effect to give greater efficacy to the +inquiry, as the workings of unshackled mind and will. Early in the +season, a comparatively large number of persons of every class deemed it +their duty to profess a personal interest in the atonement, the great +truth dwelt on, and made eventually a profession of faith by uniting +with, and recording their names as members of some branch of the church. +Among these were several natives. Mrs. Johnston, known to her people by +the name of the Sha-go-wash-co-da-wa-qua, being the most noted. Also +four of her daughters, and one of her sons, one or two Catholic +soldiers, several officers of Fort Brady, citizens, &c., &c.</p> + +<p>This statement will tend to render many of the allusions in my journal +of this winter's transactions intelligible. Indeed some of them would +not be at all understood without it. Historically considered, there was +deep instruction "hid" in this event. It was now precisely 222 years +since the Puritans, with the principles of the Scriptures for their +guidance, in fleeing to lay the foundation of a new government in the +West, had landed at Plymouth. It had required this time, leaving events +to develop themselves, for the circle of civilization to reach the foot +of Lake Superior. Ten years after the first landing at this remote spot +in 1822, had been sufficient to warm these ancient principles into life. +John Eliot, and the band of eminent saints who began the labor with him +in 1632, had been centuries in their tombs, but the great principles +which they upheld and enforced were invested with the sacred vitality +which they possessed at that day. Two truths are revealed by this +reminiscence. 1. That the Scriptures will be promulgated by human means. +2. That time, in the Divine mind, is to be measured in a more enlarged +sense; but the propagation of truth goes on, as obstacle after obstacle +is withdrawn, surely, steadily, unalterably, and that its spread over +the entire globe is a mere question of time.</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 31st</i>. Mr. Wing, delegate in Congress, writes from Washington, +that the nomination of Mr. Van Buren as minister to England has been +rejected by the Senate, by a majority of one--and that one the casting +vote of the Vice-President. A letter from Albany, Feb. 1, says: "Albany +(and the State generally) is considerably excited this morning in +consequence of the rejection of Mr. Van Buren. Nothing could have more +promoted the interest of Mr. Van Buren than this step of the Senate. New +York city has resolved to receive him, on his return from England, with +all the 'pomp and magnificence in its power, and to show that her +'favorite son' shall be sustained.' I heard this read in public from a +letter received by a person in this city."</p> + +<p>"A report reached this a few days ago, stating that the 'cholera' had +been brought to New Orleans in a Spanish vessel."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Woolsey, the young gentleman of your tour last summer, died at New +York a short time since." In a letter which he wrote to me (Sept. 27th), +on the eve of his leaving Detroit, he says: "Permit me now, sir, in +closing this note, again to express my gratitude for the opportunity you +have afforded me of visiting a very interesting portion of our country, +and for the uniform kindness that I have experienced at your hands, and +for the friendly wishes, that prosperity may crown my exertions +in life."</p> + +<p>Dr. Houghton says (Feb. 8) respecting this moral young man: "The tears +of regret might flow freely for the loss of such true unsophisticated +worth, even with those who knew him imperfectly, but to me, who felt as +a brother, the loss is doubly great. We have, however, when reflecting +upon his untimely death, the sweet consolation that he died as he lived, +a Christian."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 4th</i>. Dr. Torrey expresses his interest in the botany and natural +history, generally, of the country visited by me last summer. "Your kind +offer to place in my hands the botanical rarities which, from time to +time, you may acquire, in your interesting journeys, I fully appreciate. +It will give me great pleasure to examine the collections made by Dr. +Houghton during your last expedition.</p> + +<p>"My friend Mr. William Cooper, of the Lyceum, will be happy to lend you +all the assistance in his power in determining the shells you have +collected. He is decidedly our beat conchologist in New York, and I +would rather trust him than most men--for he is by no means afflicted +with the mania of desiring to multiply new species, which, is, at +present, the bane of natural history.</p> + +<p>"You speak of having discovered some interesting minerals, especially +some good native copper. Above all the specimens which you obtained, I +should like to see the native magnesia which you found in serpentine. I +am desirous of analyzing the mineral, to ascertain whether its +composition agrees with that of Hoboken and Unst (the only recorded +localities in our mineralogical works)."</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Submitted, in a letter to the department at Washington, A +PROJECT of an expedition to the North-west, during the ensuing season, +in order to carry out the views expressed in the instructions of last +year, to preserve peace on the western frontiers, inclosing the +necessary estimates, &c.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Mr. W. H. Sherman, of Vernon, N.Y., communicates intelligence +of the death of my mother, which took place about ten o'clock on the +morning of this day. She was seventy-five years of age, and a +Christian--and died as she had lived, in a full hope. I had read the +letters before breakfast, and while the family were assembling for +prayers. I had announced the fact with great composure, and afterward +proceeded to read in course the 42d Psalm, and went on well, until I +came to the verse--"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou +disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who +is the health of my countenance, and my God."</p> + +<p>The emotions of this painful event, which I had striven to conceal, +swelled up in all their reality, my utterance was suddenly choked, and I +was obliged to close the book, and wait for calmness to go on.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. The initial steps were taken for forming an association of +persons interested in the cause of the reclamation of the Indians, to be +known under the name of the Algic Society. Connected with this, one of +its objects was to collect and disseminate practical information +respecting their language, history, traditions, customs, and character; +their numbers and condition; the geographical features of the country +they inhabit; and its natural history and productions.</p> + +<p>It proposes some definite means of action for furthering their moral +instruction, and reclamation from the evils of intemperance and the +principles of war, and to subserve the general purposes of a society of +moral inquiry. The place was deemed favorable both for the collection of +original information, and for offering a helping hand to missionaries +and teachers who should visit the frontiers in carrying forward the +great moral question of the exaltation of the tribes from barbarism to +civilization and Christianity.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Instructions are issued at Washington, consolidating the +agencies of St. Mary's and Michilimackinack--and placing the joint +agency under my charge. By this arrangement, Col. Boyd, the agent at the +latter point, is transferred to Green Bay, and I am left at liberty to +reside at St. Mary's or Michilimackinack, placing a sub-agent at the +point where I do not reside.</p> + +<p>This measure is announced to me in a private letter of this day, from +the Secretary of War, who says: "I think the time has arrived when a +just economy requires such a measure." By it the entire expenses of one +full agency are dispensed with--the duties of which are devolved upon +me, in addition to those I before had. By being allowed the choice of +selection, two hundred dollars are added to my salary. Here is opened a +new field, and certainly a very ample one, for exertions.</p> + +<p><i>April 8th</i>. The object contemplated by invoking the aid of the Home +Missionary Society, in the establishment of a church at this remote +point on the frontiers--in connection with the means already possessed, +and the aid providentially present, have, it will have been seen, had +the effect to work quite a moral revolution. The evils of a lax society +have been rebuked in various ways. Intemperance and disorder have been +made to stand out as such, and already a spirit of rendering the use, or +rather <i>misuse</i> of time, subservient to the general purposes of social +dissipation, has been shown to be unwise and immoral in every view. More +than all, the Sabbath-day has been vindicated as a part of time set +apart as holy. The claims and obligations of the decalogue have been +enforced; and the great truths of the Gospel thus prominently brought +forward. The result has been every way propitious.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Wm. M. Ferry, of Mackinack, writes (Feb. 21): "The intelligence +we have received by your letters, Mr. Boutwell, &c., of the Lord's +doings among you, as a people, at the Sault, has rejoiced our hearts +much. Surely it is with you a time of the right hand of the Most High." +"All of us," writes Mr. Robert Stuart (March 29) "who love the Lord, +were much pleased at the indications of God's goodness and presence +among you."</p> + +<p>The Rev. J. Porter, in subsequently referring to the results of these +additions to the church, observes, that they embraced five officers and +four ladies of the garrison; two gentlemen and seven ladies of the +settlement, and thirty soldiers and four women of Fort Brady, numbering +fifty-two in all. Of these, twenty-six were adults added by baptism.</p> + +<p>At Detroit a similar result was experienced. Mr. Trowbridge writes +(April 8th), that about seventy persons united themselves a few days +previous to Mr. Wells' church, to which the influence has been +principally, but not wholly confined. Among these were many who had, +unaffectedly, listened to the Gospel, if not all their lives, certainly +no small part of it.</p> + +<p><i>May 3d</i>. Public instructions are issued for my organizing and taking +command of an expedition to the country upon the sources of the +Mississippi River, to effect a pacification between the Indian tribes, +in order to carry out, with increased means, the efforts made in 1831. +Those efforts were confined to tribes living in latitudes south of St. +Anthony's Falls. It was now proposed to extend them to the Indian +population living north of that point, reaching to the sources of that +river. This opened the prospect of settling a long contested point in +the geography of that stream, namely, its actual source--a question in +which I had long felt the deepest interest.</p> + +<p>The outbreak of Indian hostility, under Black Hawk, which characterized +the summer of 1832, was apprehended, and it became the policy of the +Indian Bureau, in the actual state of its information, to prevent the +northern tribes from joining in the Sac and Fox league under that +influential leader. I forwarded to the Superintendent and Governor of +the territory, a report of a message and war-club sent to the Chippewas +to join in the war, for which I was indebted to the chief, Chingwauk, or +Little Pine.</p> + +<p>"Reports from various quarters of the Indian country," says the +Secretary of War, in a private letter so early as March 28th, "lead to +the belief that the Indians are in an unsettled state, and prudence +requires that we should advise and restrain them. I think one more tour +would be very useful in this respect, and would complete our knowledge +of the geography of that region."</p> + +<p>"There is a prospect," says the official instructions (May 3d), "of +extensive hostilities among themselves. It is no less the dictate of +humanity than of policy to repress this feeling, and to establish +permanent peace among the tribe.</p> + +<p>"It is also important to inspect the condition of the trade, and the +conduct of the traders. To ascertain whether the regulations and the +laws are complied with, and to suggest such alterations as may be +required. And, finally, to inquire into the number, standing, +disposition, and prospect of the Indians, and to report all the +statistical facts you can procure, and which will be useful to the +government in its operations, or to the community in the investigation +of these subjects."</p> + +<p>Congress, during the session, passed an act for vaccinating the Indians. +This constituted a separate duty, and enabled me to take along a +physician and surgeon. I offered the situation to Dr. Douglass Houghton, +of Fredonia, who, in the discharge of it, was prepared to take +cognizance of the subjects of botany, geology, and mineralogy. I offered +to the American Board of Missions, at Boston, to take a missionary +agent, to observe the condition and prospects of the Indian tribes in +the north-west, as presenting a field for their operations, and named +the Rev. W.T. Boutwell, then at Michilimackinack, for the post, which +the Board confirmed, with a formal vote of thanks. Lieut. James Allen, +5th U.S. Infantry, who was assigned to the command of the detachment of +troops, assumed the duties of topographer and draughtsman. Mr. George +Johnston, of St. Mary's, was appointed interpreter and baggage-master. I +retained myself the topics of Indian history, archaeology, and language. +The party numbered about thirty souls. All this appeared strictly +compatible with the practical objects to be attained--keeping the +expenses within the sum appropriated for the object.</p> + +<p>Some few weeks were required completely to organize the expedition, to +prepare the necessary supplies, and to permit the several persons to +reach the place of rendezvous. Meantime I visited Michilimackinack to +receive the agency from Col. Boyd; after which it was left temporarily +in charge of a sub-agent and interpreter, with the supervision of the +commanding officer of Fort Mackinack.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The Secretary of War writes a private letter: "We have allowed +all it was possible, and you must on no account exceed the sum, as the +pressure upon our funds is very great."</p> + +<p>Maj. W. writes from Detroit (May 7th): "I am glad to hear that you are +about going on another expedition, and that Mr. Houghton is to accompany +you. I hope you will find time to send us some specimens collected on +your former tour before you start."</p> + +<p>Dr. Houghton writes from Fredonia (May 12th): "I shall leave here +immediately after the twenty-fourth, and hope to see you as early as the +second or third of June. I have heard from Torrey, and have sent him a +suit of plants."</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War again writes (May 22d): "It has been impossible +before now, to make you a remittance of funds, and they cannot yet all +be sent for your expedition. Our annual appropriation has not yet +passed, and when it will I am sure I cannot tell. So you must get along +as well as you can. I trust, however, the amount now sent will be +sufficient to enable you to start upon your expedition. The residue +promised to you, as well as the funds for your ordinary expenditures, +shall be sent as soon as the appropriation is made."</p> + +<p>The sub-agent, in charge of the agency at Mackinack, writes (May 22d): +"Gen. Brook arrived yesterday from Green Bay, and has concluded to make +this post his head-quarters. I was up, yesterday, in the garrison, and +Capt. McCabe introduced me to him. I found him a very pleasant, plain, +unassuming man. Col. Boyd has handed me a list of articles which you +will find inclosed, &c."</p> + +<p>"The committee," says the Rev. David Green, Boston, "wish me to express +to you the satisfaction they have in learning that your views respecting +the importance of making known the great truths of the Gospel to the +Indians, as the basis on which to build their improvement, in all +respects accords so perfectly with their own. It is our earnest desire +that our missionaries should act wisely in all their labors for the +benefit of the Indians, and that all the measures which may be adopted +by them, or by others who seek to promote the present or future welfare +of this unhappy and long-abused people, may be under the Divine +guidance, and crowned with great success."</p> + +<p>These triple claims, which have now been mentioned, of business, of +science, and of religion, on my attention created not the least +distraction on my mind, but, on the contrary, appeared to have +propitious and harmonizing influences.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII."></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<p>Expedition to, and discovery of, Itasca Lake, the source of the +Mississippi River--Brief notice of the journey to the point of former +geographical discovery in the basin of Upper Red Cedar, or Cass +Lake--Ascent and portage to Queen Anne's Lake--Lake Pemetascodiac--The +Ten, or Metoswa Rapids--Pemidgegomag, or Cross-water Lake--Lake +Irving--Lake Marquette--Lake La Salle--Lake Plantagenet--Ascent of the +Plantagenian Fork--Naiwa, or Copper-snake River--Agate Rapids and +portage--Assawa Lake--Portage over the Hauteur des Terres--Itasca +Lake--Its picturesque character--Geographical and astronomical +position--Historical data.</p> + +<p>1832. <i>June 7th</i>. It was not until this day that the expedition was +ready to embark at the head of the portage at St. Mary's. I had +organized it strictly on temperance principles, observation having +convinced me, during frequent expeditions in the wilderness, that not +only is there no situation, unless administered from the medicine-chest, +where men are advantaged by its use, but in nearly every instance of +fatigue or exhaustion their powers are enfeebled by it, while, in a +moral and intellectual sense, they are rendered incapable, neglectful, +or disobedient. This exclusion constituted a special clause in every +verbal agreement with the men, who were Canadians, which I thought +necessary to make, in order that they might have no reason to complain +while inland of its exclusion. They were promised, instead of it, +abundance of good wholesome food at all times. The effects of this were +apparent even at the start. They all presented smiling faces, and took +hold of their paddles with a conscious feeling of satisfaction in the +wisdom of their agreement.</p> + +<p>The military and their supplies occupied a large Mackinack boat; my +heavy stores filled another. I traveled in a <i>canoe-elège,</i> as being +better adapted to speed and the celerity of landing. Each carried a +national flag. We slept the first night at Point Iroquois, which +commands a full view of the magnificent entrance into the lake. We were +fifteen days in traversing the lake, being my fifth trip through this +inland sea. We passed up the St. Louis River by its numerous portages +and falls to the Sandy Lake summit, and reached the banks of the +Mississippi on the third of July, and ascertained its width above the +junction of the Sandy Lake outlet to be 331 feet. We were six days in +ascending it to the central island in Cass Lake. This being the point at +which geographical discovery rests, I decided to encamp the men, deposit +my heavy baggage, and fitted out a light party in hunting canoes to +trace the stream to its source. The Indians supplied me with five canoes +of two fathoms each, and requiring but two men to manage each, which +would allow one canoe to each of the gentlemen of my party. I took three +Indians and seven white men as the joint crew, making, with the sitters, +fifteen persons. We were provisioned for a few days, carried a flag, +mess-basket, tent, and other necessary apparatus. We left the island +early the next morning, and reached the influx of the Mississippi into +the Lake at an early hour. To avoid a very circuitous bay, which I +called Allen's Bay, we made a short portage through open pine woods.</p> + +<p>Fifty yards' walk brought us and our canoe and baggage to the banks of +Queen Anne's Lake, a small sylvan lake through which the whole channel +of the Mississippi passed. A few miles above its termination we entered +another lake of limited size, which the Indians called Pemetascodiac. +The river winds about in this portion of it--through savannas, bordered +by sandhills, and pines in the distance--for about fifteen miles. At +this distance, rapids commence, and the bed of the river exhibited +greenstone and gneissoid boulders. We counted ten of these rapids, which +our guide called the Metoswa, or Ten Rapids. They extend about twenty +miles, during which there is a gradual ascent of about forty feet. The +men got out at each of these rapids, and lifted or drew the canoes up by +their gunwales. We ascended slowly and with toil. At the computed +distance of forty-five miles, we entered a very handsome sheet of water, +lying transverse to our course, which the Indians called Pamidjegumag, +which means crosswater, and which the French call <i>Lac Traverse</i>. It is +about twelve miles long from east to west, and five or six wide. It is +surrounded with hardwood forest, presenting a picturesque appearance.</p> + +<p>We stopped a few moments to observe a rude idol on its shores; it +consisted of a granitic boulder, of an extraordinary shape, with some +rings and spots of paint, designed to give it a resemblance to a human +statue. We observed the passenger-pigeon and some small fresh-water +shells of the species of unios and anadontas.</p> + +<p>A short channel, with a strong current, connects this lake with another +of less than a third of its dimensions, to which I gave the name of +Washington Irving. Not more than three or four miles above the latter, +the Mississippi exhibits the junction of its ultimate forks. The right +hand, or Itasca branch, was represented as by far the longest, the most +circuitous, and most difficult of ascent. It brings down much the +largest volume of water. I availed myself of the geographical knowledge +of my Indian guide by taking the left hand, or what I had occasion soon +to call the Plantagenian branch. It expanded, in the course of a few +miles, into a lake, which I called Marquette, and, a little further, +into another, which I named La Salle. About four miles above the latter, +we entered into a more considerable sheet of water, which I named +Plantagenet, being the site of an old Indian encampment called +Kubbakunna, or the Rest in the Path.</p> + +<p>We encamped a short distance above the upper end of this lake at the +close of the day, on a point of low land covered with a small growth of +gray pine, fringed with alder, tamarisk, spruce, and willow. A bed of +moss covered the soil, into which the foot sank at every step. Long moss +hung from every branch. Everything indicated a cold frigid soil. In the +act of encamping, it commenced raining, which gave a double gloom to the +place. Several species of duck were brought from the different canoes as +the result of the day's hunt.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning we resumed the ascent. The river became narrow +and tortuous. Clumps of willow and alder lined the shore. Wherever +larger species were seen they were gray pines or tamarack. One of the +Indians killed a deer, of the species <i>C. Virginea</i>, during the morning. +Ducks were frequently disturbed as we pushed up the winding channel. The +shores were often too sedgy and wet to permit our landing, and we went +on till twelve o'clock before finding a suitable spot to breakfast.</p> + +<p>About five o'clock we came to a high diluvial ridge of gravel and sand, +mixed with boulders of syenite, trap-rock, quartz, and sandstone. +Ozawandib, our guide, said we were near the junction of the Naiwa, or +Copper-snake River, the principal tributary of this branch of the +Mississippi, and that it was necessary to make a passage over this ridge +to avoid a formidable series of rapids. Our track lay across a +peninsula. This occupied the remainder of the day, and we encamped on +the banks of the stream above the rapids and pitched our tent, before +daylight had finally departed. The position of the sun, in this +latitude, it must be recollected, is protracted, very perceptibly, above +the horizon. We ascended to the summit in a series of geological steps +or plateaux. There is but little perceptible rise from the Cross-water +level to this point--called Agate Rapids and Portage, from the +occurrence of this mineral in the drift. The descent of water at this +place cannot be less than seventy feet. On resuming the journey the next +morning (13th) we found the water above these rapids had almost the +appearance of a dead level. The current is very gentle; and, by its +diminished volume, denotes clearly the absence of the contributions from +the Naiwa. About seven miles above the Agate Portage we entered Lake +Assawa, which our Indian guide informed us was the source of this +branch. We were precisely twenty minutes in passing through it, with the +full force of paddles. It receives two small inlets, the most southerly +of which we entered, and the canoes soon stuck fast, amidst aquatic +plants, on a boggy shore. I did not know, for a moment, the cause of our +having grounded, till Ozawandib exclaimed, "O-um-a, mikun-na!" here is +the portage! We were at the Southern flanks of the diluvial hills, +called HAUTEUR DES TERRES--a geological formation of drift materials, +which form one of the continental water-sheds, dividing the streams +tributary to the Gulf of Mexico, from those of Hudson's Bay. He +described the portage as consisting of twelve <i>pug-gi-de-nun</i>, or +resting places, where the men are temporarily eased of their burdens. +This was indefinite, depending on the measure of a man's strength to +carry. Not only our baggage, but the canoes were to be carried. After +taking breakfast, on the nearest dry ground, the different back-loads +for the men were prepared. Ozawandib threw my canoe over his shoulders +and led the way. The rest followed, with their appointed loads. I +charged myself with a spy-glass, strapped, and portfolio. Dr. Houghton +carried a plant press. Each one had something, and the men toiled with +five canoes, Our provisions, beds, tent, &c. The path was one of the +most intricate and tangled that I ever knew. Tornadoes appeared to have +cast down the trees in every direction. A soft spongy mass, that gave +way under the tread, covered the interstices between the fallen timber. +The toil and fatigue were incessant. At length we ascended the first +height. It was an arid eminence of the pebble and erratic block era, +bearing small gray pines and shrubbery. This constituted our first +pause, or <i>puggidenun.</i> On descending it, we were again plunged among +bramble. Path, there was none, or trail that any mortal eye, but an +Indian's, could trace. We ascended another eminence. We descended it, +and entered a thicket of bramble, every twig of which seemed placed +there to bear some token of our wardrobe, as we passed. To avoid this, +the guide passed through a lengthened shallow pond, beyond which the +walking was easier. Hill succeeded hill. It was a hot day in July, and +the sun shone out brightly. Although we were evidently passing an alpine +height, where a long winter reigned, and the vegetation bore every +indication of being imperfectly developed. We observed the passenger +pigeon, and one or two species of the <i>falco</i> family. There were +indications of the common deer. Moss hung abundantly from the trees. The +gray pine predominated in the forest growth.</p> + +<p>At length, the glittering of water appeared, at a distance below, as +viewed from the summit of one of these eminences. It was declared by our +Indian guide to be Itasca Lake--the source of the main, or South fork of +the Mississippi. I passed him, as we descended a long winding slope, and +was the first man to reach its banks. A little grassy opening served as +the terminus of our trail, and proved that the Indians had been in the +practice of crossing this eminence in their hunts. As one after another +of the party came, we exulted in the accomplishment of our search. A +fire was quickly kindled, and the canoes gummed, preparatory to +embarkation.</p> + +<p>We had struck within a mile of the southern extremity of the lake, and +could plainly see its terminus from the place of our embarking. The view +was quite enchanting. The waters were of the most limpid character. The +shores were overhung with hard wood foliage, mixed with species of +spruce, larch, and aspen. We judged it to be about seven miles in +length, by an average of one to two broad. A bay, near its eastern-end, +gave it somewhat the shape of the letter y. We observed a deer standing +in the water. Wild fowl appeared to be abundant. We landed at the only +island it contains--a beautiful spot for encampment, covered with the +elm, cherry, larch, maple, and birch, and giving evidence, by the +remains of old camp-fires, and scattered bones of species killed in the +chase, of its having been much resorted to by the aborigines.</p> + +<p>This picturesque island the party honored me by calling after my +name--in which they have been sanctioned by Nicollet and other +geographers. I caused some trees to be felled, pitched my tent, and +raised the American flag on a high staff, the Indians firing a salute +as it rose.</p> + +<p>This flag, as the evidence of the government having extended its +jurisdiction to this quarter, I left flying, on quitting the island--and +presume the band of Ozawandib, at Cass Lake, afterwards appropriated it +to themselves.</p> + +<p>Questions of geography and astronomy may deserve a moment's attention. +If we assume the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi to have been +made by Narvaez in 1527--a doubtful point!--a period of 305 years has +elapsed before its actual source has been fixed. If the date of De +Soto's journey (1541) be taken, which is undisputed, this period is +reduced to 290 years. Hennepin saw it as high as the mouth of the river +St. Francis in 1680. Lt. Pike, under the administration of Mr. +Jefferson, ascended it by water in 1805, near to the entrance of Elk +River, south of the Crow Wing Fork, and being overtaken at this spot by +frosts and snow, and winter setting in strongly, he afterwards ascended +its banks, on snow shoes, his men carrying his baggage on hand sleds, to +Sandy Lake, then a post of the North-west Company. From this point he +was carried forward, under their auspices, by the Canadian train +<i>de-glis,</i> drawn by dogs to Leech Lake; and eventually, by the same +conveyance, to what is now denominated Cass Lake, or upper <i>Lac Cedre +Rogue</i>. This he reached in January, 1806, and it formed the terminus of +his journey.</p> + +<p>In 1820, Gen. Cass visited Sandy Lake, by the way of Lake Superior, with +a strong party, and exploratory outfit, under the authority of the +government. He encamped the bulk of his party at Sandy Lake, depositing +all his heavy supplies, and fitted out a light party in two canoes, to +trace up the river to its source. After ascending to the point of land +at the entrance of Turtle River into Cass Lake, it was found, from +Indian accounts, that he could not ascend higher in the state of the +water with his heavy canoes, if, indeed, his supplies or the time at +his command would have permitted him to accomplish it, compatibly with +other objects of his instructions. This, therefore, constituted the +terminal point of his journey.</p> + +<p>The length of the river, from the Gulf of Mexico to Itasca Lake, has +been estimated at 3,160 miles. Barometrical observations show its +altitude, above the same point, to be 1,680 feet--which denotes an +average descent of a fraction over six inches per mile.</p> + +<p>The latitude of Itasca Lake has been accurately determined to be 47° 13' +35"--which is nearly two degrees south of the position assigned to it by +the best geographers in 1783, the date of the definite treaty of peace +between the United States and Great Britain.</p> + +<p>The reason of this geographical mistake has been satisfactorily shown in +traversing up the stream from the summit of the Pemidjegomag, or +Cross-water Lake--during which, the general course of the ascent is +due south.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV."></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<p>Descent of the Mississippi River, from Itasca Lake to Cass Lake--Traits +of its bank--Kabika Falls--Upsetting of a canoe--River descends by +steps, and through narrow rocky passes--Portage to the source of the +Crow-Wing River--Moss Lake--Shiba Lake--Leech Lake--Warpool Lake--Long +Lake Mountain portage--Kaginogomanug--Vermilion Lake--Ossawa Lake-Shell +River--Leaf River--Long Prairie River--Kioskk, or Gull River--Arrival at +its mouth--Descent to the Falls of St. Anthony, and St. Peter's--Return +to St. Mary's.</p> + +<p>1832, <i>July 14th</i>. I found the outlet of Itasca Lake to be about twelve +feet wide, and some twelve to fourteen inches deep. The water is of +crystal purity, and the current very rapid. We were urged along with +great velocity. It required incessant vigilance on the part of the men +to prevent our frail vessels from being dashed against boulders. For +about twelve miles the channel was not only narrow, but exceedingly +crooked. Often, where the water was most deep and rapid, it did not +appear to exceed ten feet in width. Trees which had fallen from the +banks required, sometimes, to be cut away to allow the canoes to pass, +and it required unceasing vigilance to avoid piles of drifted wood or +boulders. As we were borne along in vessels of bark, not more than +one-eighth of an inch thick, a failure to fend off, or hit the proper +guiding point, in any one place, would have been fraught with instant +destruction. And we sat in a perfect excitement during this distance. +The stream then deployed, for a distance of some eight miles, into a +savannah or plain, with narrow grassy borders in which its width was +doubled, its depth decreased, and the current less furious. We went +through these windings with more assurance and composure. It was one of +the minor plateaux in which this stream descends. The channel then +narrowed and deepened itself for another plunge, and soon brought us to +the top of the Kabika Palls. This pass, as the name imports, is a +cascade over rocks. The river is pent up, between opposing trap rock, +which are not over ten feet apart. Its depth is about four feet, and +velocity perfectly furious. It is not impossible to descend it, as there +is no abrupt pitch, but such a trial would seem next to madness. We made +a portage with our canoes of about a quarter of a mile across a +peninsula, and embarked again at the foot of the falls, where the stream +again expands to more than double its former width, and the scenery +assumes a milder aspect. It is another plateau.</p> + +<p>Daylight had departed when we encamped on a high sandy bank on the left +shore. We were perfectly exhausted with labor, and the thrilling +excitement of the day. It seemed, while flying through its furious +passes, as if this stream was impatient for its development, and, like +an unrestrained youth, was bent on overthrowing every obstacle, on the +instant, that opposed its advance and expansion. A war horse could not +have been more impatient to rush on to his destiny.</p> + +<p>We were in motion again in our canoes at five o'clock the next morning. +At an early hour my Indian guide landed to fire at some deer. He could +not, however, get close enough to make an effectual shot. Before the +animals were, however, out of range, he loaded, without wadding, and +fired again, but also without effect. After passing a third plateau +through which the river winds, with grassy borders, we found it once +more to contract for another descent, which we made without leaving our +canoes, not, however, without imminent peril and loss. Lieut. Allen had +halted to make some observations, when his men incautiously failed for a +moment to keep his canoe direct in the current. The moment it assumed a +transverse position, which they attempted to fix by grasping some bushes +on the opposite bank, the water dashed over the gunwales, and swept all +to the bottom. He succeeded in gaining his feet, though the current was +waist high, and recovered his fowling piece, but irretrievably lost his +canoe-compass, a nautical balanced instrument, and everything besides. +Fortunately I had a fine small land-compass, which Gen. Macomb had +presented to the late John Johnston, Esq., of St. Mary's, many years +before, and thus I measurably repaired his loss. On descending this +channel, the river again displayed itself in savannas, and assumed a +width which it afterwards maintained, and lost its savage ferocity of +current, though still strong.</p> + +<p>On this plateau, the river receiving on its left the War River, or +Piniddiwin (the term has relation to the mangled flesh of those slain in +battle), a considerable stream, at the mouth of which the Indian reed +first shows itself. We had, the day previous, noticed the Chemaun, or +Canoe River, tributary from the right bank. Minor tributaries were not +noticed. The volume of water was manifestly increased from various +sources. At a spot where we landed, as evening came on, we observed a +species of striped lizard, which our guide called Okautekinabic, which +signifies legged-snake. Various species of the duck and other water fowl +were almost continually in sight. We reached the junction of the +Plantagenet Fork about one o'clock at night (15th), and rapidly passing +the Irving and Cross-water Lakes, descended to Cass Lake, reaching our +encampment at nine o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>A day's rest restored the party from its fatigues, and we set out at ten +o'clock the following day (16th) for Leech Lake, by the overland route. +Two hours rowing brought us to a fine sandy beach at the head of a bay, +which was named Pike's Bay, from Lieut. Pike having approached from this +direction in the winter of 1806. Here the baggage and canoes were +prepared for a portage. A walk of nine hundred and fifty yards, through +open pine forest, brought us to the banks of Moss Lake, which we passed +in canoes. A portage of about two miles and a-half was now made to the +banks of a small lake, which, as I heard no name for it, was called +Shiba, from the initials of the names of the five gentlemen of the +party.<a name="FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62">[62]</a> This lake has an outlet into a large stream, which the +Pillager Chippewas call Kapuka Sagitawag. It was nearly dark when we +embarked on this stream, which soon led, by a very narrow and winding +channel, into the main river. Pushing on, we reached and crossed an arm +of the lake to the principal Indian village of Guelle Plat, Leech Lake, +which we reached at ten o'clock at night.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor62">[62]</a> Schoolcraft, Houghton, Johnston, Boutwell, Allen. +</blockquote> + +<p>The next day (17th) was passed in council with them, till late in the +afternoon, when I embarked, and went a couple of leagues to encamp, in +order to rid myself fully of the village throng, and be ready for an +early start in the morning. It was my determination to pass inland +south-westerly by an Indian trail, so as to strike the source of the +Crow Wing or De Corbeau River, one of the great tributaries of the +Mississippi which remained unexplored.</p> + +<p>We found the entrance to this portage early the next morning (18th). +After following the trail about three-fourths of a mile we reached and +crossed a small lake called Warpool. A small and intricate outlet led +successively to Little Long Lake, the Two Lakes, and the Lake of the +Mountain. Here commenced a highland portage of over 900 yards to the +Lake of the Island--another portage of some 2000 yards was then made to +Midlake, and finally another of one <i>puggidenun</i>, partly through a bog, +but terminating on elevated grounds at the head of a considerable and +handsome body of water called Kaginogamaug, or The Long Water. This is +the source of the De Corbeau River, and here we encamped for the night. +We had how crossed the summit between Leech Lake and the source of the +Crow Wing River. We commenced the descent on the morning of the 19th, +and passed successively through eleven lakes, connected by a series of +short channels. The names of these in their order, are Kaginogamaug, +Little Vermilion, Birch, Ple, Assawa, Vieu Desert, Summit, Longrice, +Allen's, Johnston's, and Kaitchibo Sagitawa. Two tributary streams enter +the river in this distance, the principal of which is Shell River; the +stream assumes an ample size, and there is no further apprehension of +shallows. Next day (20th) we passed the influx of six rivers, the +largest of which is Leaf River, coming in from the West. The channel has +now attained a bold and sweeping force. It required part of another day +to reach its mouth, in the course of which it is joined by the Long +Prairie River from the right, and the Kioshk or Gall River from the +left. An alluvial island, with a heavy forest, exists at the point of +its confluence with the Mississippi River. We encamped at the Pierced +Prairie, eighteen miles below the junction, and were less than two days +in a high state of the water, in reaching St. Anthony's falls.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. I arrived at St. Peter's about two o'clock in the afternoon, and +entered and encamped on the open common on the banks of the river. The +Indian agent (Mr. Tallieferro) was absent. I found Captain Jouett in +command of the fort, and in charge of Indian affairs. He received me in +a cordial manner, and offered every facility in his power to effect the +objects of my mission among the hostile tribes. No recent news from the +seat of operation against the Black Hawk and his adherents was known. +Recent details were, however, imprecise. Captain Jouett had kept up, I +think, the mail communication with Prairie du Chien, by a canoe sent +once a fortnight. The murder of St. Vrain, the events on the Rock River +with the Illinois militia, and the movements on foot to chastise the +hostile Sauks and Foxes, were among the latest items of intelligence. +But nothing was known of the actual position of the Black Hawk and his +followers. My determinations, therefore, as to the route to be pursued, +in returning home, were made in entire ignorance of the fact, that at +that time, the Black Hawk had been driven before Gens. Atkinson and +Dodge to the banks of the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Badaxe +River--where he completely intercepted all communication between the +posts of St. Peter's and Prairie du Chien.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. I held a council with the Sioux at the Agency Buildings; at +which the tribe disclaimed, by their speakers, having any connection +with the Sauk and Fox league, or having permitted any of their warriors +to join in it. They professed a readiness to furnish warriors to aid the +government in suppressing it.</p> + +<p>On returning to my tent, I sat down and wrote to the editor of a Western +paper, as follows:--</p> + +<p>ST. PETERS, <i>July 25th</i>, 1882.</p> + +<p>SIR:--I arrived at this place yesterday, from an expedition through the +Chippewa country on the sources of the Mississippi, accompanied by a +detachment of troops under Lieut. Allen of the 5th Infantry. I have +traced this river to its actual source. On reaching the point to which +it had been formerly explored, I found the water in a favorable state +for ascending; and I availed myself of this circumstance to carry into +effect the desire of visiting its actual source, a point which has +continued to be problematical in our geography. Pike placed it at Leech +Lake in 1806. Gov. Cass carried it much further north, and left it at +Upper Red Cedar Lake in 1820. But it was then ascertained that its +sources were considerably north and west of that lake, which is in lat. +47° 25'. I encamped the expedition, the troops and heavy baggage, at +this lake, and proceeded up the river in five small birch canoes, +capable of containing one man and his bed, in addition to the Indian and +Canadian who conducted it. The Mississippi expands into several lakes, +the largest of which is called Lac Traverse. A few miles above this +occurs the junction of its south-west and north-west branch. The former +I called the Plantagenet, and ascended it through La Salle, Marquette, +and Assawa Lakes to a small creek at the foot of the Hauteur des Terres. +From this point a portage was made over difficult ascents, and through +defiles for about six miles, when we reached the banks of Itasca Lake, +the source of the other and longer branch. To this point we transported +our canoes and baggage. It is a most beautiful and clear lake, about +seven miles long, and lying somewhat in the shape of a y. I found an +island in it, upon which I landed and encamped, and, after causing some +trees to be felled, hoisted the United States flag. I left this flag +flying, and returned down the Itascan branch to my starting point.</p> + +<p>I found the Indians friendly, and having no apparent connection with the +movements of Black Hawk, although they are subject to an unpropitious +influence from the Hudson's Bay Company, the agents of which allure them +to carry their trade into that province. The American traders complain +of this with great reason. Many of the Chippewas visit the British posts +in Canada, and their old prejudices are kept alive in various ways; but +I was everywhere received with amity and respect.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Having concluded my affairs at St, Peters, I determined to +return to the basin of Lake Superior, by ascending the river St. Croix +to its source, and passing across the portage of the Misakoda, or +Burntwood River, into the Fond du Lac Bay. This I accomplished with +great toil, owing to the low state of the water, in ten days; and, after +spending ten days more in traversing the lengthened shores and bays of +Lake Superior from <i>La Pointe</i>, returned to Sault St. Marie on the 14th +of August.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 15th</i>. I had now accomplished the discovery of the true source of +the Mississippi River--and settled a problem which has so long remained +a subject of uncertainty in the geography of this celebrated river. If +De Soto began it (and of this there seems little question, for Narvaez +perished before reaching it), and Marquette and Joliet continued it; if +Hennepin and Pike and Cass carried these explorations higher, I, at +least, went to its remoter points, and thence traced the river to its +primary forks--ascended the one, crossed the heights of Itasca to the +other, and descended the latter in its whole length. This has been done +in a quiet way, without heralding or noise, but under the orders and at +the expense of the United States.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV."></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<p>Letter from a mother--Cholera--Indian war--Royal Geographical +Society--Determine to leave the Sault--Death of Miss Cass--Death of Rev. +Mr. Richard--Notice of the establishment of a Methodist Mission at +the--The Sault a religious place--Botany and Natural History--New +University organized--Algic Society--Canadian boat song--Chaplains in +the army--Letter from a missionary--Affairs at Mackinack--Hazards lake +commerce--Question of the temperance reform--Dr. D. Houghton--South +Carolina resists--Gen. Jackson re-elected President.</p> + +<p>1832. <i>Aug. 25th</i>. To clear my table of the correspondence accumulated +during my absence, and report my proceedings to government, required my +first attention. Among the matters purely personal, was a letter of +inquiry from a mother anxious to learn the fate of an apparently wayward +son (named George J. Clark). "I had a letter from him, dated 24th June, +1881, in which he stated he was about to start with you on an expedition +to the Upper Mississippi, and this is the last intelligence we have ever +had of him.</p> + +<p>"If he went with you on that expedition, you have, probably some +information to give relative to his present condition, if alive, or of +his fate, if dead.</p> + +<p>"Will you be kind enough to give the information desired by letter to +me, at this place (Canandaigua, N. Y.)? By so doing you will confer a +favor on a fond mother and many friends." Not a lisp had ever been heard +of such a person, at least by that name.</p> + +<p>The whole country, it was found, had now been in commotion for a month +or more, owing to the ravages of the cholera and the Black Hawk war. The +cholera had first broken out, it appears, in the Upper Lakes, on board +the steamers Sheldon Thompson and Henry Clay, containing troops for the +war. Its ravages on board of both were fearful. One of the boats landed +several soldiers at the island of Michilimackinack, who died there. A +boatman engaged in the fur trade took the disease and died after he had +reached the Little Rapids, and another at <i>Point aux Pins</i>, at the foot +of Lake Superior. But the disease did not spread in that latitude. "We +have heard," says a correspondent (25th July), "from Chicago, that the +ravages of the cholera are tenfold worse than the scalping-knife of the +Black Hawk and his party. A great many soldiers died, while on their way +to Chicago, on board the steamers."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. The agent of the dead-letter post-office, at Washington, +transmits me a diploma of membership of the Royal Geographical Society +of London, which appears to have been originally misdirected and gone +astray to St. Mary's, Georgia. The envelope had on it the general +direction of "United States, America"--a wide place to find a man in.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 11th</i>. A letter, of this date, from the head of the Department, +at Washington, leaves it optional with me, under the consolidation of +agencies, to choose my place of residence. "You can make your own choice +of residence between the Sault and Mackinack, and arrange your +subordinate offices as you think proper."</p> + +<p>I determined to remove the seat of the agency to Mackinack next spring, +and to make this my last winter at the Sault. I have now been ten years +a resident of this place.</p> + +<p>The most serious inroad upon my circle of friends, made by death during +my absence, was the sudden death, at Detroit, of the eldest daughter of +the Secretary of War. Miss Elizabeth Selden Cass was a young lady of +bright mental qualities, and easy, cultivated manners and deportment, +and her sudden removal, though prepared by her moral experience for the +change, must leave a blank in social circles which will be long felt +and deplored.</p> + +<p>Her father writes, upon this irreparable loss: "A breach has been made +in our domestic circle which can never be repaired. I can yet hardly +realize the change. It has almost prostrated me, and I should abandon +office without hesitation were it not that a change of climate seems +indispensable to Mrs. C., and I trust she will avoid in Washington those +severe attacks to which she has been subject for the last five winters."</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Mr. Trowbridge writes: "Mr. Richard is dead. He was attacked by +a diarrhoea, and neglected it too long." Mr. R. was the Catholic priest +at Detroit, and as such has been a prominent man in the territory for +many years. He was elected Delegate to Congress in 1824, I think, and +served two years in that capacity. I once heard him preach nearly two +hours on the real presence. He finally said, "that if this doctrine was +not true, Jesus Christ must be a fool." These, I think, were the precise +words. When attending, by rotation, as one of the chaplains for the +Legislative Council while I was a member, he used to pray very shrewdly +"that the legislators might make laws for the people and not for +themselves." He spoke English in a broken manner and with a false +accent, which often gave interest to what he said when the matter was +not otherwise remarkable.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Rev. John Clark, of Northville, Montgomery Co., N.Y., of the +Methodist Connection, writes: "Should it please Divine Providence, I +hope to be at your place in May or June next, for the purpose of opening +a permanent mission and school among the Chippewas at such place, and as +early as may be advisable."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Rev. W. T. Boutwell, of the A. B. Commissioners for Foreign +Missions, now at La Pointe, Lake Superior, writes: "I could not, to a +degree, help entering into all your anxieties about the cholera, which +reports were calculated to beget, but rejoice, not less than yourself, +that the Lord has spared those who are dear to us both. My fears, I +rejoice to say, have not been realized, in relation to my friends at +Mackinack and the Sault, when I heard of the disease actually existing +at Mackinack. Were it not that the Lord is righteous and knoweth them +that are his, the righteous even might fear and tremble, when judgments +are abroad in the land.</p> + +<p>"I was happy indeed to learn that you remain at the Sault, the present +winter. Happy for brother Porter's sake, and for the sake of those whose +hands you may and will strengthen, and hearts encourage. I never think +of the Sault but I wish myself there. 'It is now a happy spot--a place +favored of heaven,' said one of my Mackinack friends to me once in +conversation; 'I once felt as though I could never see that place, as I +always associated with it everything wicked, but now I should love to go +there--the Lord is there.'"</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 5th</i>. Dr. Torrey writes from N.Y.: "I rejoice to learn that you +have returned in safety from your fatiguing and perilous journey to the +north-west. Dr. Houghton wrote me a letter which I received a few days +ago, dated Sault de St. Marie, stating the general results of the +expedition, but I have read, with great satisfaction, the account which +was published in the <i>Detroit Journal</i> of Sept. 26th. A kind Providence +has preserved you during another absence, and I hope He will cause the +results of your labors to prove a blessing to our Red brethren, as well +as the United States at large."</p> + +<p>"Dr. Houghton sent me some of the more interesting plants which he +brought with him last year, but he said the best part of your +collections were destroyed by getting wet.</p> + +<p>"By all means send Mr. Cooper your shells. He knows more about fresh +water shells than any naturalist in New York. By the way, have you seen +Mr. Lea's splendid monograph (with colored plates) of Unios, in the +<i>Transactions of the American Philosophical Society?"</i></p> + +<p>"Are we to have a narrative of the two expeditions in print? I hope you +consent to publish, and let us have an appendix containing descriptions +of the objects in natural history.</p> + +<p>"You have heard, perhaps, something about the University of the City of +New York, which was planned about two years ago. It went into operation +a few days ago, under the most favorable prospects. The council have +given me a place in it (Prof. Chem. Bot. and Mineralogy), the duties of +which I can discharge in addition to those which I attend to in the +medical college, as the latter occupies only four months in the year."</p> + +<p>About the middle of September I embarked at the Sault for Detroit, for +the purpose chiefly of meeting the Secretary of War--taking with me thus +far, my little sister Anna Maria, on her way to school at Hadley, in +Massachusetts. While at Detroit, several meetings of benevolent +individuals were held, and the constitution of the Algic Society was +signed by many gentlemen of standing and note, and an election of +officers made. Having been honored with the presidency, I delivered a +brief address at one of these meetings. This, together with the +following resolutions, which were passed at the same time, indicate the +contemplated mode of action.<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63">[63]</a> It was not intended to be exclusively a +missionary or educational society, but also, to collect scientific and +statistical information essential to both objects, and to offer +facilities to laborers on the frontiers, and answer inquiries made by +agents authorized by the General Boards from the old States. The effort +was appreciated and warmly approved by the friends of missions and +humanity; but it required great and continual personal efforts to enlist +a sufficient number of persons in the true objects, and to keep their +minds alive in the work. It demanded, in fact, a kind of literary +research, which it is always difficult to command on the frontiers. To +act, and not to pursue the quiet paths of study, is the tendency of the +frontier mind.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor63">[63]</a> <i>Resolved</i>, That the thanks of the society be presented to +Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., for the valuable introductory remarks +offered by him, and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same +for publication. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the Domestic Secretary, be directed to prepare and +submit for the approbation of the Official Board, a Circular, to be +addressed to such persons as have been elected members of this society, +and others, setting forth its objects, its organization, constitution, +and initial proceedings, which circular, when so prepared, shall be +printed for the purpose of distribution. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the Official Board be directed to prepare a succinct +Temperance and Peace Circular, suited to the wants and situation of the +North-western Tribes, to be addressed, through the intervention of the +Hon. the Secretary of War, to the Agents of the Government and Officers +commanding posts on the frontiers, and also to persons engaged in the +fur trade; to travelers, and to gentlemen residing in the country, +requesting their aid in spreading its influence. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That it is expedient for this society to procure an exact +statistical account of the names, numbers and location of the different +bands of Indians, of the Algonquin stock, now living within the limits +of the United States:--also, the number of missionaries who are now +amongst them, and the extent of the field of labor which they present. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That this society will aid in sending a winter express to +the missionaries who are now stationed near the western extremity of +Lake Superior. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the members of this society residing at Sault St. Marie +and at Michilimackinack, shall constitute a standing committee of this +society, during the ensuing year, with power to meet for the transaction +of business, and shall report from time to time, such measures as they +may have adopted to promote the objects of this institution: which +proceedings shall be submitted to the society at any stated or special +meeting of the same, and if approved by them, shall be entered on the +records of the society. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the President of this society be requested to deliver, +at such time as shall be convenient to himself, a course of Lectures on +the Grammatical construction of the Algonquin language, as spoken by the +North-Western Tribes, and to procure, from living and authentic sources, +a full and complete Lexicon of that language, for the use of +the society. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the Rev. Beriah Green, of the Western Reserve College, +be requested to deliver an address before the society at its next annual +meeting: and, that Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., be requested to deliver a +poem on the Indian Character, at the same meeting. +<br><br> +<i>Resolved</i>, That the first anniversary of this society be held at +Detroit, on the second Thursday of October, A.D. 1833. +</blockquote> + +<p>I returned to St. Mary's about the middle of October. It was a proof of +the care and precision with which my friends looked out for me, that I +was met by my "<i>canoe-elège"</i> with a French crew and flag flying at the +Detour, before the vessel had dropped anchor, so that I went up the +river with the accustomed gayety of a song. These French songs have been +often alluded to. One of them, the measure of which is adapted, by its +music, to the short stroke of the paddle, is given below.<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64">[64]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor64">[64]</a> Omitted. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Dr. Peters, Secretary of Home Missions, writes to me, from on +board a steamboat on Lake Erie, proposing a plan for bringing the +subject of chaplaincies in the army to the notice of the Secretary +of War.</p> + +<p>A letter from a missionary (Boutwell) at La Pointe, L.S., says: "I +endeavor daily to do something at the language. But imagine for one +moment, what you could do with a boy (his interpreter) who knows neither +English, French nor Indian, and yet is in the habit of mangling all. +Still I am satisfied he is the best Brother F. could send, though but +<i>one</i> remove from none. Of one thing I am determined, that if I cannot +teach him English, I can to cut bushes. However, I find, by daily +visiting the lodges, that I may retain, and probably add a little now +and then. I find there is a trifling difference between the language +here, and as spoken at the Sault. The difference consists principally in +the accent. I find the interchangeables, if possible, more irregular +here than there.</p> + +<p>"The old chief (Pezhiki) is very pleasant and kind. I find him a very +good standard for testing accents. His enunciation is very distinct."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. The sub-agent in charge at Mackinack writes: "The schooner +'White Pigeon' came in this afternoon from Green Bay, having on board +Major Fowle's Company. She is to sail early to-morrow morning for +the Sault.</p> + +<p>"The Indians appear satisfied with their treatment at this office, and +it has been observed by them, that more work has been done for them +since my arrival here than Colonel B. did for them in one year."</p> + +<p>His Excellency, Gov. Porter, called here (on his way to Green Bay) and +examined the buildings and rooms of the agency. Casting a hasty look, he +observed that the building would bring an income of four or five hundred +dollars annually, were it at Detroit, for rent. He was of opinion that +the outer steps required repairs, &c.</p> + +<p>"Gen. Brook sailed on board the 'Black Hawk' for Green Bay on Sabbath +last, accompanied by Lieut. Stockton, and Messrs. Dousman, Abbott, and +King. Major Thomson (who relieves him) arrived on Monday last, with the +whole of his troops and the officers under his command, Captain Cobbs, +Lieut. Gallagher, and Lieut. Patten.</p> + +<p>"Lieut. Gallagher joined us at our evening social prayer meeting last +night, and it was really cheering and reviving to hear him pray. He is +gifted with talent and abilities, and withal meekness and humility."</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 1st</i>. The same agent writes: "I forward to you the chief +Shaubowayway's map of that section of the country lying between the +Detour and Point St. Ignace, including all the islands on that coast. I +am now waiting for the chief to proceed to Chenos as a guide, to enable +us to strike in a straight line from thence to Muddy Lake River. Messrs. +David Stuart and Mitchell will accompany me."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Mr. Johnston writes: "I volunteered my services to accompany Mr. +Ferry to get off the partial wreck of the mission schooner 'Supply,' +near the second entrance of the Chenos, eighteen miles from this. Major +Thompson furnished a detachment of fifteen men under Captain Cobbs. +George Dousman went also with three of the Company's men. Four days' +efforts were cheerfully rendered, and the vessel saved and brought into +the harbor."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. As commerce increases, and stretches out her Briarean hands into +the stormy roads and bays of these heretofore uninhabited lakes, losses +from wrecks annually redouble. And the want of light-houses, buoys, and +harbors is more strongly shown. James Abbott, a licensed trader, was +cast ashore by the tempests of Lake Superior, at La Pointe, and, being +unable to proceed to his designated post, was obliged to winter there. +He gave out his credits, and spread his men, therefore, in another +man's district. The agent at Mackinack (E. Stuart) writes, complaining +of, and requesting me to interpose in the matter, so as "to confine his +trade to such limits as may be equitable to all." It would be impossible +to foresee such accidents, and appears almost equally so to correct the +irregularities, now that they are done. The difficulty seems rather to +have been the employment of a clerk, whose action the Company could not +fully control.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Mr. B. E. Stickney, of Vistula (now Toledo), writes: "A few days +ago I received from the author, with which I was much pleased, 'an +Address before the Chippewa County Temperance Society on the Influence +of Ardent Spirits on the Condition of the North American Indians.' We +conceived it to be the most fortunate effort of your pen upon the +greatest subject. While we have so much reason to approve, we hope you +will permit us to be frank. We conceive that, although you have been +more cautious than is common, in touching sectarianism, yet, if you had +not named, or made any kind of allusion to any religious sect, +Christian, Jew, Pagan, or Mohammedan, you would have produced more +effect. There are many individuals who neither touch, taste, nor handle +this most dangerous of all poisons, who yet refuse to join in the +general effort to destroy, prevent the use, or furnish an antidote, +because they conceive that the sectarian poison is not an inferior evil, +unless it may, perhaps, be so to the use of alcohol."</p> + +<p>The true, but concealed, objection of this class of non-concurrents in +the cause is not, it is apprehended to "sectarianism," <i>per se,</i> or in +any other sense than that it is an evidence of practical +Christianity--of morals and axioms based on the teachings of the great +Founder of the system--of a belief in a moral accountability to give all +influence possessed to advance the adoption of its maxims among men--in +fine, of a living, constant, undying faith, not only in the truth of +these maxims, but in the divinity of the sublime UTTERER of them.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 10th</i>. Dr. Houghton, my companion in two expeditions into the +Indian country, writes from Detroit: "You will undoubtedly be a little +surprised to learn that I am now in Detroit, but probably not more than +I am in being here. My passage through Lake Huron was tedious beyond +endurance; and so long was I detained in consequence of it, that it +became useless for me to proceed to New York. Under these circumstances, +after having visited Fredonia, I determined to engage in the practice +of my profession, in this place, at least until spring. It is only these +three days since I arrived here and I am not yet completely settled, but +probably will be in a few days."</p> + +<p>[Here are the initial motives of a man who became a permanent and noted +citizen of the territory, and engaged with great ardor in exploring its +physical geography and resources. For two years, he was intimately +associated with me; and I saw him under various circumstances of fatigue +and trial in the wilderness, but always preserving his equanimity and +cheerfulness. He was a zealous botanist, and a discriminating geologist. +Assiduous and temperate, an accurate observer of phenomena, he +accumulated facts in the physical history of the country which +continually increased the knowledge of its features and character. He +was the means of connecting geological observations with the linear +surveys of the General Land Office, and had been several years engaged +on the geological survey of Michigan, when the melancholy event of his +death, in 1846, in a storm on Lake Superior, was announced.]</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. E.A. Brush, Esq., of Detroit, writes: "Everybody--not here only, +but through the Union--seems to think with just foreboding of the result +of the measures taken by South Carolina. Their convention have +determined to resist, after the first day of (I think) February.</p> + +<p>"Gov. Cass's family are well, but he has not been heard from personally +since he left here. He is too much occupied, I suppose, with the affairs +of his department, at the opening of the session. Of course, you know +that General Jackson and Van Buren are in."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI."></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<p>An Indian woman builds a church--Conchology--South Carolina prepares to +resist the revenue laws--Moral affairs--Geography--Botany--Chippewas and +Sioux--A native evangelist in John Sunday--His letter in English; its +philological value--The plural pronoun <i>we</i>--An Indian battle--Political +affairs--South Carolina affairs--Tariff compromise of Mr. Clay--Algic +Society; it employs native evangelists--Plan of visiting +Europe--President's tour--History of Detroit--Fresh-water shells--Lake +tides--Prairie--Country--Reminiscence.</p> + +<p>1833. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. A remarkable thing recently transpired. Mrs. Susan +Johnston, a widow--an Indian woman by father and mother--built a church +for the Presbyterian congregation at this place. The building, which is +neat and plain, without a steeple, was finished early in the fall, and +has been occupied this season for preaching, lectures, &c. Certainly, on +the assumption of theories, there is nothing predicted against the +descendants of Shem ministering in good things to those of Japhet; but +it is an instance, the like of which I doubt whether there has happened +since the Discovery. The translation of the Indian name of this female +is Woman of the Green Valley; or, according to the polysyllabical system +of her people, O-shé-wush-ko-da-wá-qua.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Mr. John M. Earle, of Worcester, Mass., solicits contributions to +his collection of fresh-water shells. "I have a higher object in view," +he remarks, "than the mere making of a collection--viz., doing what I +can to ascertain what new species remain undescribed, and what ones of +those already described may be only varieties of others; and, in fine, +by a careful examination of a large number of shells, brought together +from various localities, to fix, more accurately than it has heretofore +been done, the nomenclature of the several genera and species, and so +particularly to define their specific characteristics as to leave little +doubt on the subject. The great variety of our fresh-water shells, +exceeding that of any other country, seems to require something of this +kind, in addition to the valuable labors of Say, Barnes, Lea, and +others, who, although they have done much, have yet left much to be done +by others, and have made some mistakes which require rectifying."</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Mr. Trowbridge writes from Detroit: "The period intervening +since your last visit to this place has been an eventful one to the +nation. South Carolina, driven on by a few infatuated men, has made a +bold effort to shake off the bonds of Union and Federal Law, and, to the +minds of some in whom you and I repose the utmost confidence, a happy +government seems to totter on the brink of dissolution. It is a long +story, and the papers will tell you all. God grant that the impending +evil may be averted, and that the moral and religious improvement of +this government may not be retarded by civil war." It is thought that +this event, and the course taken by the President, will produce a great +reaction in his favor, and that he will be supported by his old +political opponents. The governor is much occupied. It is supposed the +proclamation is from his pen.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. M. Merrill announces the opening of an infant school, in which +he is to be assisted by Mrs. Merrill, on Monday next.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Rev. J. Porter, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, reports to +the Algic Society, that there is but little in the present state of +religion here that is propitious. "Of the little church gathered here +during the last year, ten persons are absent, scattered wildly through +our land. There now remain twenty-six or twenty-eight communicants. +These seem, in a measure, discouraged by the present indifference. The +recent apparent conversion of three or four soldiers, and the increasing +interest in their prayer-meetings and Bible class, give us some promise. +The Sabbath School, taught entirely by members of the church, is now in +a state of pleasing prosperity. And the infant school, lately organized +under the direction of an admirably qualified teacher, promises to +gratify the hearts of parents."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The geography of the line of country between Sault St. Marie and +the shores of Lake Huron, opposite to the island of Mackinack, is a +perfect terra incognita. It has been passed in the winter only on snow +shoes. The distance in a direct line from N.E. to S.W. is about forty +or forty-five miles. It is about double that distance by the St. Mary's +River and Lake Huron--which is and has been the ordinary route, from +the earliest French days, and for uncounted centuries before. Mr. G. +Johnston, who has just passed it, with Indian guides on snow shoes, +writes: "I reached this place at half-past twelve this day, after +experiencing great fatigue, caused by a heavy fall of snow and the river +rising. I inclose herein a rough sketched map of the region through +which I passed, that is, from Lake Superior to Lake Huron in a direct +southerly line.</p> + +<p>"The banks of the Pe-ke-sa-we-see, which we ascended, are elevated and +pretty uniform. From its mouth to the first fork, is a growth of cedar, +on either bank, intermixed with hemlock, pine, birch, and a few +scattered maples. Thence to the third fork, denoted on the map, the +growth is exclusively pine and fir. This river is sluggish and deep, and +is navigable for boats of ten to fifteen tons burden, without any +obstruction to the third forks. Its width is uniform, about sixty to +seventy feet wide.</p> + +<p>"From this point to Pine River of Lake Huron, is invariably level, +gently rising to a maple ridge, and susceptible of a road, to be cut +with facility.</p> + +<p>"The banks of Pine River are very high. The river we found open in many +places, indicating rapids. It is obstructed in many places with drift +wood. The pine ridge, on either bank, indicates a vigorous growth of the +handsomest pine trees I ever beheld. The water marks are high--say ten +to twelve feet, owing to the spring freshets.</p> + +<p>"I reached the mouth of the river on the Sabbath, and encamped, which +gave the Methodist Indian an opportunity of revealing God's Holy Word to +Cacogish's band, consisting of thirty souls. We were very kindly +received, and supplied with an abundance of food--hares, partridges, +trout, pork, corn and flour. We had clean and new mats to sleep on."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 4th</i>. The American Lyceum at New York invite me, by a letter from +their Secretary, to prepare an essay on the subject of educating in +the West.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Dr. John Torrey, of N.Y., writes on the eve of his embarkation +for Europe: "I shall take with me all very rare and doubtful plants, for +examination and comparison with the celebrated herbaria of Europe.</p> + +<p>"Your boxes and packages of specimens must have been detained on the +way by the closing of the (N. Y.) canal, as I have as yet received +nothing from you. The plan of your proposed narrative I like much, and I +hope the work will be given to the public as early as possible. Dr. +Houghton did not come to New York, but has settled himself (as you +doubtless know) at Detroit."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Lyman M. Warren writes from Lake Superior: "Our country at +present is in a very unsettled state, caused by the unhappy wars between +the Sioux and Chippewas. The latter have been defeated on Rum River--six +men and one woman killed. All our Chippewas are looking to you for +protection, as they consider themselves wronged by the Sioux, the latter +being, and constantly hunting within the Chippewa territory. I am afraid +that a very extensive war will commence the ensuing summer, through this +region, and the whole upper country, if some effectual method is not +adopted to stop it."</p> + +<p>This war has all the bitterness of a war of races--it is the great +Algonquin family against the wide-spread Dacota stock--the one powerful +in the east, the other equally so in the west. And the measures to be +adopted to restrain it, and to curb the young warriors on both sides, +who pant for fame and scalps, must ever remain, to a great extent, +ineffective and temporary, so long as they are not backed up by strong +lines of military posts. Mr. Calhoun was right in his policy of 1820.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Mr. Boutwell writes from the same region: "We rejoice that you +enter so fully into our views and feelings relative to the intellectual +and moral improvement of the Indians, and rest assured we can most +heartily unite with you in bidding God speed, to such as are willing to +go and do them good."</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. John Sunday, a Chippewa evangelist from Upper Canada among the +Chippewas of Lake Superior, writes from the Bay of Keweena, where he is +stationed during the winter:--</p> + +<p>"I received your kind letter. I undersand you--you want here the Indians +from this place. I will tell you what to the Indians doing. They +worshiped Idol God. They make God their own. I undersand Mr. D., he told +all Indians not going to hear the word of God. So the Indians he +believed him. He tell the Indians do worship your own way. Your will get +heaven quick is us. So the Indians they do not care to hear the word +of God.</p> + +<p>"But some willing to hear preaching. One family they love to come the +meeting. That Indian, by and by, he got ligion. He is happy now in his +heart. After he got ligion that Indian say, Indian ligion not good. I +have been worship Idol god many years. He never make happy. Now I know +Jesus. His ligion is good, because I feel it in my heart. I say white +people ligion very good. That Indian he can say all in Lord's prayer and +ten commandments, and apostle creed by heart. Perhaps you know him. His +name is Shah-wau-ne-noo-tin.</p> + +<p>"I never forget your kindness to me. I thing I shall stay here till the +May. I want it to do what the Lord say."</p> + +<p>Aside from his teaching among the Chippewas, which was unanswerably +effective, this letter is of the highest consequence to philology, as +its variations from the rules of English syntax and orthography, denote +some of the leading principles of aboriginal construction, as they have +been revealed to me by the study of the Indian language. In truth he +uses the Indian language to a considerable extent, according to the +principles of the Chippewa syntax.</p> + +<p>Thus it is perceived from the letter, which is printed verbatim--</p> + +<p>1. That the letter <i>t</i> is not uttered when standing between a consonant +and vowel, as in "understand."</p> + +<p>2. The want and misuse of the prepositions <i>of, from</i>, and <i>to</i>.</p> + +<p>3. The use of the participial form of the verb for the indicative.</p> + +<p>4. The use of pronouns immediately after nouns to which they refer.</p> + +<p>5. The interchange of <i>d</i> for <i>t</i>, and <i>g</i> for <i>k</i>, as in <i>do</i> for <i>to</i>, +and "<i>thing</i>" for <i>think</i>.</p> + +<p>6. The suppression of the sound of <i>r</i> altogether, as heard in <i>re</i>, and +<i>re</i>ligion, &c.</p> + +<p>7. Confounding the perfect past with the present tense.</p> + +<p>8. The misuse of the indefinite article, which is wanting, in the +Indian.</p> + +<p>9. The habitual non-use of the imperative mood.</p> + +<p>10. The transitive character of verbs requiring <i>objective</i> inflections, +for the nominative, &c.</p> + +<p>11. The absence of simple possessives.</p> + +<p>12. The want of the auxiliary verbs <i>have, are, is</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>John Sunday came to St. Mary's in the autumn of 1832. His prayers and +exhortatory teaching completely non-plussed the Chippewas. They heard +him refute all their arguments in their own language. He had, but a +short time before, been one like themselves--a Manito worshiper, an +idler, a drunkard. He produced a great sensation among them, and +overthrew the loose fabric of their theology and mythology with a strong +hand. I had never before heard the Chippewa language applied to +religion, and listened with great interest to catch his phrases. I was +anxious to hear how he would get along in the use of the dual pronoun +<i>we</i>, as applied to inclusive and exclusive persons. He spoke at once of +the affections as they exist between a father and his children, and +addressed the Deity at all times as Nosa, which is the term for my +father. He thus made God the inclusive head of every family, and brushed +away the whole cobweb system of imaginary spirits, of the native +Jossakeed, Medas, and Wabanos.</p> + +<p><i>March 7th</i>. "My heart was made glad," writes Mr. Boutwell from Lake +Superior, "that Providence directed you to Detroit at a season so +timely, bringing you into contact with the great and the good--giving +you an opportunity of laying before them facts relative to the condition +of the Indians, which eventuated in so much good. We do indeed rejoice +in the formation of the 'Algic Society,' which is, I trust, the +harbinger of great and extensive blessings to this poor and +dying people."</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Mr. L. M. Warren reports from La Pointe, at the head of Lake +Superior: "Since my last, Mr. Ayer has arrived from Sandy Lake. He +reports that there have been two war parties sent out against the Sioux, +by the Sandy Lake Band, thirty or forty men each, without accomplishing +anything. Afterwards a third party of sixty men assembled and went out +under the command of Songegomik--a young chief of distinguished +character of the Sandy Lake Band. They discovered a Sioux camp of +nineteen lodges, and succeeded in approaching them before daylight +undiscovered, until they reached, in the form of a circle, within ten +yards. They then opened a tremendous fire, and, as fast as the Sioux +attempted to come from their lodges, they were shot dead, The yelling of +Indians, screaming of women, and crying of children were distressing. +One Sioux escaped unhurt, and notified a neighboring camp. Their +approach to the assistance of their friends was ascertained by a distant +firing of guns. The Chippewas, who by this time had exhausted their +ammunition, began, and effected a retreat, leaving nineteen of their +enemy dead, and forty wounded. This victory was achieved without the +loss of a man on the part of the Chippewas.</p> + +<p>"Since that battle was fought, a body of one hundred Sioux have attacked +a fortified camp of the Mille Lac and Snake River band, and killed nine +men and one woman."</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Mr. Trowbridge writes from Detroit: "We have just heard of the +adjournment of Congress; a new tariff has been passed, together with a +law empowering the President to enforce the collection of duties by +calling in aid the force of the Union. These bills are accompanied by +Mr. Clay's Law of Compromise, providing for the gradual reduction of +duties to a revenue standard. So that the dreaded Carolina question +will, it is supposed, blow over, leaving the Union as it was. The great +men, too, who have been on opposite sides of this question, have shaken +hands at parting, and this is looked upon as another auspicious sign.</p> + +<p>"The release of the missionaries in Georgia, having settled that +disagreeable and disgraceful affair to the State, although not done with +that magnanimity which ought to have characterized the proceeding, +leaves no general question at issue, but the Indian question; and from +the prudent measures of government in that regard, it is to be hoped +that that also will be, at length, amicably arranged.</p> + +<p>"I mention these facts because I am told that no newspapers will be sent +to the upper country."</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Lieut. J. Allen, U.S.A., way topographer on the recent +expedition, sends me maps of Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Itasca Lake, to +be used in my narrative of the journey to the source of the Mississippi +River. Correspondents appear solicitous for a published account of this +expedition, and frequently allude to it, and to the opportunity it gave +for extending our knowledge of the geology and natural history of +the country.</p> + +<p><i>April 8th</i>. Dr. J.B. Crawe, of Waterton, N.Y., proposes an interchange +of specimens in several departments of science. Hon. Micah Sterling, of +the same place, commends to my notice Dr. Richard Clark, who is ordered +on this frontier, as a "young man of merit and respectability." My +correspondence with naturalists, in all parts of the Union, and my list +of exchanges, had, indeed, for some years been large and active, and +was by no means diminished since my last two expeditions. But new +sympathies have been awakened, particularly during the last two years, +with philanthropists and Christians, which added greatly to the number +of my correspondents, without taking from its gratifications.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Rev. Ansel R. Clark of Hudson, Ohio, an agent of the Education +Society, writes on the importance of that cause, on the state and +prospects of American society, the spread of vital morals in +neighborhoods on the great line of the frontiers, Indian civilization, +&c. In connection with the last topic, he acknowledges the receipt of +the proceedings published by the Algic Society, and expresses his +interest in its objects.</p> + +<p>This society, by its standing committee here, received Elder John Sunday +in the autumn, furnished him with lodgings while at the place, and an +outfit for his missions to the Indians at Keweena Bay in Lake Superior. +It also furnished John Cabeach and John Otanchey--all converted +Chippewas from the vicinity of Toronto, U.C., with the means of +practical teaching and traveling among various bands of the Northern +Chippewas. It sent an express in the month of January to La Pointe, +L.S., to communicate with the mission family there, with their papers, +letters, &c. Regular monthly meetings of the St. Mary's committee were +held, and the proceedings denote the collection of much information of +high interest to the cause of the red man.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. I was anxious now to extend the sphere of my observation to +Europe. I had been engaged twelve consecutive years out of a period of +fifteen (omitting 1823, 1828, 1829 and 1830) in journeys chiefly in the +great Valley of the Mississippi, the vast flanks of the Rocky Mountains, +the Upper Lakes, and the north-western frontiers. And I began to sigh for +a prospect of older countries and institutions. The time seemed +favorable, in my mind, for such a movement, and I wrote to a friend high +in influence at Washington, on the subject. In a reply of this date, he +throws, with adroitness, cold water on the subject. He weighs matters in +scales which will only keep their equipoise at the place of the seat of +government; and, if I may say so, require their equipoise to be kept up +by casting on the golden weights of political expediency. Like those +seemingly mysterious charms which produce the variations in the +compass, the effects are always instantly visible, we see the dip and +intensity of the needle, while the causes are in great measure out +of sight.</p> + +<p>A correspondent at Washington writes--"The President" talks of a tour to +the East. He will probably leave here about the last of May. He will go +to Portland, then through New Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain, +and thence through the western part of New York to Buffalo. This was +originally the programme of Gen. Jackson's tour to New England in 1833.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Charles Cleland, Esq., of Detroit, writes: "My partner, Franklin +Sawyer, Jr., has, for some months past, been collecting materials to +enable him to publish a history of Detroit, and he has this moment +requested me to solicit your friendly aid. You might have in your +possession many interesting facts, and much information which might give +great value to the work."</p> + +<p>The true history of Detroit lies scattered abroad in the public archives +of Paris and London, and in the Catholic College of Quebec. It is +inseparable in a measure, not only from the history of Michigan, but +New France.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. George L. Whitney, of Detroit, writes me respecting the printing +of the narrative of my expedition to Itasca Lake.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Rev. John Clark writes from New York, that the Methodist Society +have determined to establish a mission among the Chippewas at Sault St. +Marie--that he is pleased to hear the "native speakers" (Sunday, Cabeach +and Tanchay) have wintered in the county, and that he expects to reach +St. Mary's by the 10th of June.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Dr. D. Houghton transmits from Detroit, a map necessary to +illustrate my narrative of the expedition to Itasca Lake.</p> + +<p><i>May 9th</i>. Wm. Cooper, of New York, undertakes to describe the +collection of fresh-water shells made on the recent expedition. "You are +not, perhaps, aware," he adds, "that Dr. Torrey is gone to Europe. He +sailed rather unexpectedly in February, and will be absent until next +October. I hope this will not be too great a delay for you, as it would +be difficult to find another botanist equally capable of describing +your plants.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Dekay is in New York at present, and I have no doubt will +contribute his assistance in the examination of your collection."</p> + +<p>Major H. Whiting remarks: "The lake here is about two feet lower than +it was at this time the last year. How is the level with you? I have the +cause fixed on record this time. <i>Mem</i>.--Not much snow during the +winter, and a dry, a very dry spring--only one brief rain during the +months of March and April. We must watch over these things and fix data, +which will show that the theorizing of the past, has sprung mostly from +the barrenness of observation.</p> + +<p>"Emigration is settling again this way, as if the East were in love with +the West. I am not surprised at it. An admirer of the picturesque might +like the hills of the former, but a farmer would prefer to see them lie +down on one of our prairies--such as Prairie Rond. I found out all their +fascination when lately on a visit to the St. Joseph's country."</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. I had now performed my last labor at St. Mary's--which was the +preparation of my narrative of the expedition to Itasca Lake. I looked, +in parting, with fond regret at the trees I had planted, the house I had +built, the walks I had constructed, the garden I had cultivated, the +meadow lands I had reclaimed from the tangled forest, and the wide and +noble prospects which surrounded Elmwood. All was to be left--and I only +waited for a suitable vessel to embark, bag and baggage, for the sacred +island whose formal polysyllables had formed the dread of my spelling +days at school--Michilimackinack.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII."></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<p>Earliest point of French occupancy in the area of the Upper +Lakes--Removal of my residence from the Sault St. Marie to the island of +Michilimackinack--Trip to New York--Its objects--American Philosophical +Society--Michilimackinack; its etymology--The rage for investment in +western lands begins--Traditions of Saganosh--Of Porlier--Of +Perrault--Of Captain Thorn--Of the chief, Old Wing--Of Mudjekewis, of +Thunder Bay--Character of Indian tradition respecting the massacre at +old Fort Mackinack in 1763.</p> + +<p>1833. <i>June 1st</i>. The cascades, or rapids of <i>Sault de Ste. Marie</i>, +which occur at the point of the sinking of the water level between Lakes +Superior and Huron, were, it seems, first visited, under the French +government, by Charles Raumbault, in 1641. It appears to have been one +of the earliest points occupied. In 1668, Claude D'Ablon and James +Marquette established there the mission of St. Mary--since which, the +place and the rapids have borne that name.</p> + +<p>I had been a member of the first exploring expedition which the U.S. +Government sent into that region in 1820. Troops landed here to occupy +it in 1822, on which occasion I was entrusted by the President, with the +management of Indian affairs. I had now lived almost eleven years at +this ancient and remote point of settlement, which is at the foot of the +geological basin of Lake Superior--a period which, aside from official +duties, was, in truth, devoted to the study of the history, customs, and +languages of the Indians. These years are consecrated in my memory as a +period of intellectual enjoyment, and of profound and pleasing seclusion +from the world. It was not without deep regret that I quitted long +cherished scenes, abounding in the wild magnificence of nature, and went +back one step into the area of the noisy world, for it was impressed on +my mind, that I should never find a theatre of equal repose, and one so +well adapted to my simple and domestic tastes and habits. For I left +here in the precincts of Elmwood, a beautiful seat, which I had adorned +with trees of my own planting, which abounded in every convenience and +comfort, and commanded one of the most magnificent prospects in +the world.</p> + +<p>The change seemed, however, to flow naturally from the development of +events. The decision once made, I only waited the entrance into the +straits of a first class schooner, which could be chartered to take my +collections in natural history, books, and furniture--all which were +embarked, with my family, on board the schooner "Mariner" the last week +in May. Captain Fowle (who met a melancholy fate many years afterwards, +while a Lieutenant-Colonel on board the steamer "Moselle" on the Ohio) +had been relieved, as commanding officer of the post, at the same time, +and embarked on board the same vessel with his family. We had a pleasant +passage out of the river and up the lake, until reaching the harbor of +Mackinack, which we entered early on the morning of the 27th of May. +Coming in with an easterly wind, which blows directly into it, the +vessel pitched badly at anchor, causing sea-sickness, and the rain +falling at the same time. As soon as it could be done, I took Mrs. S. +and the children and servants in the ship's yawl, and we soon stood on +terra firma, and found ourselves at ease in the rural and picturesque +grounds and domicil of the U.S. Agency, overhung, as it is, by +impending cliffs, and commanding one of the most pleasing and +captivating views of lake scenery. Here the great whirl of lake commerce +from Buffalo to Chicago, continually passed. The picturesque canoe of +the Indian was constantly gliding, and the footsteps of visitors were +frequently seen to tread in haste the "sacred island," rendering it a +point of continual contact with the busy world. Emigrants of every +class, agog for new El Dorados in the West, eager merchants prudently +looking to their interests in the great area of migration, domestic and +foreign visitors, with note-book in hand, and some valetudinarians, +hoping in the benefits of a pure air and "white fish"--these constantly +filled the harbor, and constituted the ever-moving panorama of our +enlarged landscape.</p> + +<p>The necessary repairs to the buildings were not yet completed, when I +embarked about the 10th of June for New York, in order to fall in with +the President's cortege to the East. About seven weeks were devoted to +this excursion, during which I made an arrangement with the Harpers to +publish my narrative of the expedition to Itasca Lake, the printing to +be done at Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>July 19th</i>. The American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia informs +me of my election as a member.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I returned to Michilimackinack from my excursion to New York, +and began to inquire of aged persons, white and red, as they visited the +office, into the local traditions of the place.</p> + +<p>There is a hiatus in the history of the island, extending from 1763, the +date of the massacre of the British garrison on the mainland, to about +1780, the probable date of the removal of the post from the apex of the +peninsula (Peekwutinong of the Indians) to the island.</p> + +<p>The name of the place is pronounced Mish-i-nim-auk-in-ong, by the +Indians, The term <i>mishi</i>, as heard in <i>mishipishiu</i>, panther, and +<i>mishigenabik</i>, a gigantic serpent of fabled notoriety, signifies +<i>great; nim</i>, appears to be derived from <i>nimi</i>, to dance, and <i>auk</i> +from <i>autig</i>, tree or standing object; <i>ong</i> is the common termination +for locality, the vowels <i>i</i> (second and fifth syllable) being brought +into the compound word as connectives. In a language which separates all +matter, the whole creation, in fact, into two classes of nouns--deemed +animates and inanimates--the distinctions of gender are lost, so far as +the laws of syntax are involved. It is necessary only to speak of +objects as possessing and wanting vitality, to communicate to them the +property named, whether it in reality possesses it in nature or not. For +this purpose words which lack it in their penultimate syllables, take +the consonant <i>n</i> to make their plurals for inanimates, and <i>g</i> for +animates. By this simple method, the whole inanimate creation--woods, +trees, rocks, clouds, waters, &c.--is clothed at will with life, or the +opposite class of objects are shorn of it, which enables the speaker, +whose mind is imbued with his peculiar mythology and necromancy, to +create a spiritual world around him. In this creation it is known to all +who have investigated the subject, that the Indian mind has exercised +its ingenuity, by creating classes and species of spirits, of all +imaginable kinds, which, to his fancied eye, fill all surrounding space. +If he be skilled in the magic rites of the sacred meda, or jesukewin, it +is but to call on these spirits, and his necromantic behest is at its +highest point of energy.</p> + +<p>In reference to this spiritual creation, the word <i>mish</i> signifies +great, or rather big, but as adjectives are, like substantives, +transitive, the term requires a transitive objective sign, to mark the +thing or person that is big, hence the term <i>michi</i> signifies big +spirit, or "fairy"--for it is a kind of <i>pukwudjininne</i>, and not of +<i>monetoes</i> that are described. The terms <i>nim</i> and <i>auk</i>, dance and +tree, and the local <i>ong</i>, are introduced to describe the particular +locality and circumstances of the mythologic dances. The true meaning of +the phrase, therefore, appears to be, Place of the Dancing Spirits. The +popular etymology that derives the word from Big Turtle, is still +farther back in the chain of etymology, and is founded on the fact that +the <i>michi</i> are turtle spirits. This is the result of my inquiries with +the best interpreters of the language. The French, to whom we owe the +original orthography, used <i>ch</i> for <i>sh</i>, interchanged <i>n</i> for <i>l</i> in +the third syllable, and modified the syllables <i>auk</i> and <i>ong</i> into the +sounds of <i>ack</i>--which are, I believe, general rules founded on the +organs of utterance, in their adoption by that nation of Indian words. +Hence Michilimackinack. The word has, in Indian, a plural inflective in +<i>oag</i>, which the French threw away. The Iroquois, who extended their +incursions here, called it Ti-e-don-de-ro-ga.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 1st</i>. While at Detroit (July 24th) Mr. Arthur Bronson, the money +capitalist, and Mr. Charles Butler, from New York, came to that place +with a large sum for investment in lands. This appeared to be the first +unmistakeable sign in this quarter, of that rage for investment in +western lands, which the country experienced for several years, and +which, acting universally, produced in 1836 a surplus revenue to the U. +S. treasury of fifty millions of dollars.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Saganosh, an Ottawa chief of St. Martin's Island, visited the +office with eleven followers. I asked him if any of the relatives of +Gitche Naigow, of whom tradition spoke, yet lived. He pointed to his +wife, and said she was a daughter of Gitche Naigow. I asked her her age. +She did not know (probably fifty-five to sixty). She said her father +died and was buried at the Manistee River (North), that he was very old, +and died of old age--probably ninety. She said he was so old and feeble, +that the last spring before his death, when they came out from their +sugar camp to the open lake shore, she carried him on her back.</p> + +<p>He had not, she said, been at the massacre of old Mackinack (described +by Henry), being then at <i>L'Arbre Croche</i>, but he came to the spot soon +afterwards. She had heard him speak of it. Says she was a little girl +when the British, in removing the post from the main land, first brought +over their cattle, and began to take possession of the present island of +Mackinack.</p> + +<p>The old fort on the peninsula was called <i>Bik-wut-in-ong</i> by the +Indians, but the island always had the name of <i>Mish-in-e-mauk-in-ong</i>. +Her father used to encamp where the village of Mackinack is now built. +Her name is <i>Na-do-wa-kwa</i>, Iroquois woman. Thus far the wife of +Saganosh. The man added that he lived on the island of Boisblanc, where +he had a garden, when the English vessel arrived to take possession of +Mackinack. He then went to the largest of the St. Martin's islands, +where he has continued to reside to this day, with intervals of absence. +He does not know his age, he may be seventy. Neither of them recollect +to have heard of "Wawetum," or "Menehwehwa," mentioned by +Alexander Henry.<a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65">[65]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor65">[65]</a> Henry's Travels. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Mr. Porlier, of Green Bay, remarks that he is now in the +sixty-ninth year of his age. Fifty years ago, he says, he first came to +Michilimackinack, and the post had then been removed from the main land +about three years. This would place the date of the removal about 1780.</p> + +<p>On turning to the MSS. of John Baptiste Perrault, in my possession, he +says that he arrived at Mackinack on the 28th of June, 1783. That the +merchants had not then completed all their buildings consequent on the +removal. That the removal had taken place recently under Gov. Sinclair, +a commanding officer, so called by the French, who had been relieved the +preceding year by Captain Robinson. And that the 15th of July was kept +as the anniversary of the removal. It is probable, therefore, that the +post had been transferred in 1780 or '81.</p> + +<p>The transfer from old to new Mackinack seems to have been gradual with +the inhabitants. Among the reasons for it, I was told, was the fear of +disturbance from the American war. The main reason doubtless was the +superiority of the island as a strong military position against +Indian attacks.</p> + +<p>Captain Thorn told me that he had sailed to old Mackinack <i>seven</i> years +<i>after</i> the massacre. The inhabitants did not go all at once. They +dismantled their houses, and took away the windows, doors, &c.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 19th</i>. Ningwegon (or the Wing) visited, with his band, consisting +(by the bundles of sticks) of ten men, twelve women, and six children.</p> + +<p>Asked him where he was when the British took possession of this island +in 1812. He said at Detroit; that he had gone there previous to the +taking of the fort by the party from St. Joseph's; that he remained at +Detroit during the war; formed an acquaintance with Gov. Cass, who was +then commanding officer at that post, and had promised that his services +should be remembered.<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66">[66]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor66">[66]</a> This chief received an annuity under the treaty of 28th +March, 1836. +</blockquote> + +<p>He said his father was a native of Detroit, having lived a little above +the present site of the city. He was an Ottawa. He emigrated, with his +father and grandmother, to Waganukizzi (<i>L'Arbre Croche</i>), when young, +and he had since lived there. His father died, not many years since, a +very old man, at Maskigon River. He is himself seventy-six years of age, +and gray headed--the little hair he has (his head being shaved after the +Indian fashion). His eyesight fails in relation to near objects, but is +good in viewing distant ones. He bears his age well, looks firm, and is +erect of body, face full, and voice unimpaired. He is a man above six +feet in height, and well proportioned.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the Seneca nation, he called them <i>As-sig-un-aigs,</i> a +term by which they are distinguished from the general Algonquin term of +Na-do-wa, or Iroquis.</p> + +<p>Of the establishment of the present military post of Mackinack, he said +that, when young, he had come over from the main with his father, along +with the party of British officers who came to reconnoitre the place for +the purpose of establishing a post on it. The party dined under the +trees (pointing to some large sugar-maples then standing in the military +garden, under the cliffs). The British officer, who had led the party, +then asked the Indians' consent to occupy it. This was not immediately +given; they took time to consider, and the removal of the fort was +next year.</p> + +<p>Presented him a nest of kettles (twelve), two pieces of factory cloth, +two guns, five pounds of net-thread, and two hoes, together with a +requisition for provisions.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Mud-je-ke-wiss, chief of Thunder Bay, a descendant of the captor +of old Mackinack, being questioned of his family, their former +residence, his knowledge and remembrance of affairs at old Mackinack, +replied that his father's name was Mud-je-ke-wiss; it had been +Kaigwiaidosa when he had been a young man. He had lived at Mackinack, +going to Thunder Bay to hunt. He died, not very old, at a treaty held on +the Maumee. He (himself) had heard of the taking of old Mackinack, but +was born after the removal of the post to the island, and his father +died before he had instructed him. He had not heard of Wawitum, or +Menehwehwa, of whom I questioned him.</p> + +<p>This answer is a specimen of Indian caution and suspicion of white men. +I knew but little of the man then, and had seen him but once or twice. +He evidently "played shy," and was determined the Anglo-Saxon race +should get no facts from him that might ever be told to the disadvantage +of the Indians who had once, under the lead of a noted chief (Pontiac), +been led, under the deception of a ball-play, to fall on the unprepared +ranks of a British garrison, and stain their history with a horrible +tale of blood. Henry's travels preserve the most vivid account of this +massacre, for he was himself an eye witness of some of its atrocities, +and was spared, by a remarkable Providence, from being one of +its victims.</p> + +<p>It was not credible that seventy years should have left so little of +Indian tradition of that sanguinary event.</p> + +<p>It is reported that letters written by Longlade, Indian interpreter at +old Mackinack, at and during the era of the massacre of the English +garrison, are in the possession of the Greenough family, at Green Bay. +They would, perhaps, throw some light on a transaction which is by far +the most tragic event of this <i>transition</i> period of our Indian history. +By transition, I mean the era of the change from French to English +supremacy.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII."></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<p>Anniversary of the Algic Society--Traditions of Chusco and Mukudapenais +respecting Gen. Wayne's treaty--Saliferous column in American +geology--Fact in lake commerce--Traditions of Mrs. Dousman and Mr. +Abbott respecting the first occupation of the Island of +Michilimackinack--Question of the substantive verb in the Chippewa +language--Meteoric phenomena during the month of December--Historical +fact--Minor incidents.</p> + +<p>1833. <i>Oct. 12th</i>. Business called me to Detroit, where I had a work in +the press, early in October. The Algic Society held its first +anniversary this day, in the Session Room of the Presbyterian Church. +The Secretary read a report of its proceedings, and submitted a body of +the vital statistics of the tribes of the Upper Lakes, which elicited an +animated discussion. Mr. Lathrop called attention to the singular fact, +that of the mothers reported in the tables, the rate of reproduction in +the hunter tribes did not exceed an average of over two children per +female. Mr. Sheldon thought the causes of their depopulation, since we +have been their neighbors, were rather seated in their extraordinary +attachment to the use of ardent spirits, than in the effects of wars, +internal or external. Mr. Clark believed the Indian youth were capable +of being brought under the power of moral and religious instruction. Mr. +Schoolcraft depicted the adverse circumstances under which the masses +had heretofore labored, in coming under plans of instruction and +Christianity, owing to their poverty; their dispersion over large areas +of country for large parts of the year; the impracticability of their +finding subsistence in large bodies at one place; and the deleterious +influence of the commerce in furs and peltries, on their moral and +mental character. He submitted a report of the proceedings of the St. +Mary's committee, showing, in detail, operations within the year. With +the limited sum of $151 10, they had been able to furnish elder John +Sunday an outfit for Keweena Bay in Lake Superior, and given two other +native converts, namely, John Otanchey and John Cabeach, the means of +pursuing their labors amongst the Chippewas during the winter of 1833. +They had sent an express, during the month of February, to the mission +of the American Board at La Pointe, in Lake Superior. Their minutes of +monthly meetings denoted that a valuable body of information had been +collected, respecting the population and statistics of the Chippewa +nation, and the grammatical structure of their language, &c.</p> + +<p>The occasion being coincident with the meeting of the Synod of the +Western Reserve, at Detroit, many gentlemen of learning, benevolence, +and piety, were brought together, and a high degree of interest excited +respecting the condition and prospects of the tribes.</p> + +<p>In accordance with a resolution passed the year previous, I recited a +poetic address on the character of the race, which was received with +approbation, and directed to be printed. This had been, in fact, +sketched in a time of leisure in the wilderness some years before.</p> + +<p>I returned to Mackinack near the close of October, when I resumed my +traditionary inquiries. It was sought, as a mere matter of tradition, to +obtain from the Indians a recognition of the cession of this island, &c. +made by them to the United States through the instrumentality of Gen. +Wayne, at Greenville, in Ohio, in 1793.</p> + +<p>Chusco <a name="FNanchor67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67">[67]</a> (muskrat), the old prophet or jossakeed of the Ottawa nation, +had told me of his presence at Greenville, at the treaty, while a young +man, along with others of his tribe. He was a man who would attract +attention, naturally, from the peculiarities of his person and +character. He had been a man of small stature, not over five feet four +inches, when young, and of very light make. But he was now bent by age, +and walked with a staff. His hazel eyes still sparkled in a head of no +striking development, and with a peculiarity of expression of his lips, +gave him a striking expression of placidity in cunning. Hence his name, +which was given by the Indians from some fancied resemblance to this +animal, when jutting its head above water. He had, for forty years, made +<i>jeesuckáwin</i> (prophecying) for his people, when he was converted to +Christianity at the Mackinack Mission. He gave up at once his Indian +rites, but retained, to a great degree, his characteristic expression. +Some one had given him an old blue broadcloth coat with yellow metal +buttons, which he matched with dark-colored trousers, a vest, hat, and +moccasins. I always received him with marked attention, and often sent +him to the kitchen for a meal, where, indeed, the Indians had their +claims ever allowed by Mrs. S.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor67">[67]</a> From Wauzhusko. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Muekudapenais, or Blackbird, an Ottawa, chief of L'Arbre Croche, +visited the office. I directed his attention to the tradition mentioned +by Chusco, respecting Wayne's treaty, and the inclusion of +Michilimackinack in the cessions. He confirmed this tradition. He said +that his uncle, Ish-ke-bug-ish-kum, gave the island, and that when he +returned he denied that he had given it, but the British took away his +medal in consequence. He said that three men of the party, who attended +this treaty, were still living. They were Op-wagun, Che-mo-ke-maun, and +Chusco. He thinks the land taken by the late surveys of Mr. Ellis, at +Point St. Ignace, was not given, but admits that the cession embraced +the area around old Mackinack, and the island of Boisblanc. The Indians +called Gen. Wayne <i>Che Nóden</i>, the Strong Wind.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The series of deposits, which embrace fossil salt, or produce +strong brine water, in the geological column of the rocks of the United +States, constitute a deeply important subject in science, and public +economy. Mr. James R. Rees, of Clyde, Ontario County, N.Y., sends me +the result of borings, made at that place, to the depth of 376 feet, +with samples of the rock, which appear to denote, if I have rightly +judged the geological data, a <i>roof and floor</i>, to the saliferous +formation. And the result gives a stimulant to further investigations.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Commerce is rapidly invading the wilderness. Wheat in bulk, and +flour in bags and barrels, were brought down from St. Joseph's, through +the straits of Michigan, this fall; which is the first instance of the +kind, but one, in the commercial history of the country. Beef and wheat +were brought from the same post last season.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 13th.</i> A remarkable display of the aurora borealis was observed +last night. The Indians, who call this phenomenon <i>Jebiug nemeiddewaud</i>, +or dancing spirits, describe it as radiating balls, streams of fire or +falling stars from the zenith into the lake.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wm. Johnston, who was at Leech Lake, on the sources of the +Mississippi, describes the changing phenomena as wonderful. "The +weather," he says (13th Nov.), "is still very pleasant, with very little +frost at night. About two or three o'clock in the morning one of the men +came and awoke me. 'Come and see a strange sight,' he said. We went to +the door, where we saw, every now and then, stars shooting or falling. +The centre from whence they first appeared to the eye was, to us, nearly +in a direct line above our heads--from whence they went in all +directions, to all points of the compass. Most all our village people +were looking at them with fearful astonishment, and they were making +their remarks as their feelings caused them. We went in the house, and +each smoked his pipe, and we could not say much about the cause of what +we had seen, but only expressed our astonishment to each other.</p> + +<p>"Before going to bed, we thought we would take another look at the +heavens. What a sight it was! The whole heaven appeared to be lit with +the falling stars, and we could now more plainly see, as it were, the +centre from whence they would shoot. The night was calm, the air clear; +nothing to disturb the stillness, but the hushed breathings of the men. +The stars were accompanied with a rustling noise, and, though they +appeared to fall as fast and as thick as hail, above them, now and then, +we could see some of the fixed stars, shining as bright as ever. But +these (falling stars) appeared to be far below them. I can compare it to +nothing more comprehensive than a hail storm. The sight was grand beyond +description. Yet I must confess that my feelings were awed into a +perfect silence. We stood and gazed, till we saw the bright streaks of +day appearing, and the stars began gradually to be less in number, till +the light of the sun caused them to disappear."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I resumed the old traditions. Mrs. Michael Dousman observes that +her father (McDonnel) came to the island, with the troops, in 1782. That +the government house, so called, was then built, and a few other +buildings, but nothing as yet had been done towards the present fort on +the cliff. Gov. Sinclair, so called, was then in command. He was +relieved that year by Captain Robinson.</p> + +<p>She thinks the removal from old Mackinack must have taken place about +1778 or 1779, under Sinclair. The inhabitants transferred their +residences gradually, bringing over the sashes and doors of their old +houses and setting them up here.</p> + +<p>After the massacre, the troops remained some time. The Indians had not +burned the fort.</p> + +<p>Says that Wawetum, the Indian chief, became blind, and was burned, +accidentally, in his lodge at the point (Ottawa Point). I had been +inquiring about Henry's account of him.</p> + +<p>The Indians at Mackinack, she says, opposed its occupancy. Things came +to such a height in 1782 that Gov. Sinclair sent to Detroit for cannon. +It was a remarkable fact that the brig Dunmore, sent down on this +occasion, was absent from the island but <i>eight day</i>, during which she +went to and returned from Detroit, bringing the expected supply. She +entered Mackinack harbor on the eighth day, on the same hour she had +left it, and fired a salute.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dousman says that charges had been preferred against Gov. Sinclair +(the term constantly used by the old inhabitants) for extravagance. He +had, as an example, paid at the rate of a dollar per stump for clearing +a cedar swamp, which is now part of the public fields.</p> + +<p>Respecting the massacre in 1763, she says that Mr. Solomons and a Mr. +Clark, the latter long resident with Mr. Abbot, were present.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Mr. Abbot (Sam.) says he arrived at Mackinack in 1803. The +government-house was then occupied by Col. Hunt. A man named Clark, who +had formerly lived with him, was a boy in the employ of Solomons at the +massacre of old Mackinack. He crept up a chimney, where he remained a +day or two, and was thus saved. Solomons hid himself under a heap of +corn, and was thus saved.</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbot does not know, with certainty, the date of the transfer of the +post, but says the papers of all the notaries, including all grants of +commanding officers, are in a trunk at Mr. Dousman's. Thinks these, by +showing the date of the earliest grants, will decide the question.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 1st</i>. Finished an article for the <i>Literary and Theological +Review</i>, on the influence of the native priests, or metais, and the +adaptation of the general principles of Christianity to the North +American Indians. Some of the phenomena of the Chippewa language are of +deep interest. The substantive verb <i>to be</i>, deemed by many philologists +to be wanting in the Indian language of this continent, is perceived to +be freely used by Mr. Peter Jones in the translation of John, as in c. +i. 1, 6, 15, &c. The existence of this verb in the northern dialects may +be adverted to as affording the probable root of many active verbs. It +is a subject eliciting discussion, as bearing on a point early stated by +theologians, viz., the origin of the tribes. The verb <i>iau</i>, spelled +"ahyah" in the verses referred to, with the particle, for past tense, +"ke," prefixed, and "bun" suffixed, appears to be restricted in its use +to objects possessed of <i>vitality</i>, but cannot, it seems, be applied to +mere <i>passion</i> or <i>feeling</i>. These, by a peculiarity of the grammar, are +referred to as subordinate parts, or increments inanimate of the +organization, <i>i. e.</i>, as things without flesh and blood, and not as +units or whole bodies. The native speaker does not, therefore, say I +<i>am</i> glad, I <i>am</i> sorry, &c., but merely I glad, I sorry, &c. This has, +probably, led philologists to observe that the verb declarative of +existence, was wanting, and discouraged them in the search of it. But is +it so? When it becomes necessary for the Indian to describe the abstract +truth of existence--as that God <i>is</i>--the appropriate pronominal form of +the verb <i>iau</i> or <i>I-e-au</i> is used, and apparently with great force and +propriety. It is a rule of this grammar, not to apply it to emotions. +When nouns inanimate proper are used, or objects of a non-vital +character, the corresponding verb is <i>atta</i>. The present tense, +indicative of these two parallel verbs, for material and for god-like +existence, are as follows:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Iau (animate) <i>To be</i>.</td><td>Atta (inanimate)--<i>To be</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Nin, Diau--<i>I am</i>, or <i>my spirit is</i>.</td><td>Atta--<i>It is</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ki, Diau--<i>Thou art</i>, &c.</td><td>Atta-aun--<i>They are</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Iau--<i>He (or she) is</i>.</td><td> Atta-bun--<i>it was</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Nin, Diau-min (ex.)--<i>We</i> (excluding you) <i>are</i>.</td><td>Atta-aubun--<i>They have been</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ki, Diau-min (in.)--<i>We</i> (including you) <i>are</i>.</td><td>Iah atta--<i>It shall be</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Ki, Diau-ni--<i>Ye are</i>.</td><td>Iah atta-win--<i>They shall be</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Iau-wug--<i>They are</i>.</td><td> </td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>There is probably no language so barbarous as not to have words to +address God. But, of all languages under heaven, the Indian dialects +appear to me the most fruitful in terminations and adjuncts to point +their expressions, and to give to them living and spiritual meanings. +They appear, by their words, to live in a world of spirits. Aside from +the direct words for Father, as the universal Parent, and of Maker, and +Great Spirit, they have an exact term for the Holy Ghost; and he who has +ever heard a converted Indian pray, and can understand his petition, +will never afterwards wish to read any philological disquisitions about +the adaptation of their languages to the purposes of Christianity.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 2d</i>. I determined that part of the diversions of my first winter +at Mackinack should consist of notices of its meteorology, the changes +of winds and currents in the straits, &c. Shut out from the world by a +long expanse of coasts, which cannot be navigated in the winter, much of +the sum of our daily observation must necessarily take its impress from +local objects. To pass a winter in the midst of one of the great +lakes--the Huron--was itself a subject of excitement. Mild weather had +characterized the season, which had been predicted by some persons as +the consequence of the remarkable meteoric displays in November.</p> + +<p>At the monthly concert in the evening, interesting statements were made +on the efforts now in progress to evangelize the world. In this the +Bible, tract, and mission causes were shown to act with +harmonious power.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. I employed myself in the morning in a revision of papers relating +to subjects of natural history, and in references to Conybeare and +Phillips. In the evening, the Rev. Mr. Ferry and Mr. Barber +were visitors.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The last vessel for the season, the "Marengo," left the harbor +for Detroit, taking on board our expressmen, who are to return by land. +The weather has continued mild, with the winds from the westward and +southward.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Some rain fell in the evening, which did not, however, prevent +friends from passing the evening with us.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Weather still mild.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The continued mildness of the atmosphere has induced the Indians +from the adjacent shores to visit the island. There are no Indians +permanently resident on it. Within the last ten days, rising of eighty +souls have visited the agency and shops. Some have iron work to mend. +Most of them have applied for provisions. Several aged persons and +widows have asked for blankets.</p> + +<p>I employed the day in reading Humboldt's "Superposition of Rocks in +both Hemispheres." Humboldt is the Dr. Johnson of geology.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Kwewis, a Chippewa convert, returned, after spending a week or +more among the Point St. Ignace Indians. He complained of the +listlessness and want of attention of the Indians to the truths by Mr. +G., his spiritual guide.</p> + +<p>I determined to send an express, as soon as the state of the ice will +permit, to St. Mary's, with directions for its continuance from that +place to La Pointe, in Lake Superior--the missionary station.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. The meteorologic phenomena begin to thicken. The thermometer, at +2 P.M. to-day, stood at 48°, Some snow, of a moist, sleety character. +Wind easterly. Not a particle of ice has formed in the harbor up to +this day.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Perused Stewart's visit to the South Seas and the Sandwich +Islands. Certainly the author is one of the most gifted religious +travelers. He reminds the reader, by his graphic descriptions, sometimes +of Bishop Heber. It is remarkable, that with every improvement, the +population of these islands declines.</p> + +<p>A blow from the east, with depression of temperature, and some snow.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Easterly wind continues. Thermometer at noon 38°.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Strong easterly winds.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. On rising this morning and drawing the curtains aside, I +observed a vessel in the harbor from Detroit. It proved to be the +"General Warren," with supplies for the inhabitants, ordered in the +fall, but, for two or three weeks back, not expected. By her we have New +York city papers to Nov. 26th, and Detroit dates to Dec. 4th. What a +jumble is a newspaper! Here we have the death of Ferdinand of Spain, and +the report of troubles in Europe: the appointment of Mr. Butler as +Attorney-General, and the busy note of editorial discussion preparatory +to the meeting of Congress; the result of elections, progress of +nullification, "cussin and discussion" by Jack Downing, a terrible list +of murders, accidents, &c. Prominent among things for scientific +readers, are accounts of the meteoric phenomena of November.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Dispatched an express to St. Mary's with letters for the +sub-agency, missionaries, &c. In the evening the vessel sailed for +Detroit with a light westerly breeze, which is fair.</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbot, being in the office during the day, remarked that he had +examined the old records before alluded to; that the first public act of +the commanding officer is the appointment of a notary by Gov. Sinclair +in 1780; the next is a grant of land in 1781.</p> + +<p>Stating these facts afterwards to Mr. Mitchell (William), he observed +that his father, who was the post surgeon, remarked that the removal of +the troops from old Mackinack was the year after the massacre, which +would be 1764. This is astounding. Yet Carver's Mackinack, in 1766, +appears to have been "old Mackinack."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Thanksgiving day for the territory. A practical discourse from +Mr. Ferry. Lieut. and Mrs. K., &c., to dinner. The Indian Kwewis returns +to St. Mary's, accompanied by Mr. Cameron.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Mr. Mitchell passed the evening.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Visited Mr. Ferry in the afternoon. Conversation on various +religious topics. Coming home, found company; Lieut. and Mrs. P., Miss +D., and Miss H., who remained to tea, and spent the evening.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. S. visited the infant-school in the village, and made some +remarks.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Visited Mr. Barber, who directed conversation to various +theological points, and the state of religion on the island.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Christmas. The Catholics have had the usual services, and have +gone to the usual extremes of a pantomimic ceremony at midnight, &c. As +a question of time, we cannot say that this is the exact day of the +anniversary of the Saviour's birth; but the computation and adjustment +of dates were made, I believe, on the best astronomical data, and before +the Romish Church assumed political power.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Wind N. W. Depression of temperature; freezes all day. Mr. F. +visited me, and directed my attention to the Mosaical geology, or +account of the creation, which he thinks the pride of science has sadly +misunderstood.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Snow. No ice; not the slightest <i>bordage</i> yet in the harbor. +Lieut. P., Mrs. P., Mrs. K., and Dr. Turner visit. In the afternoon, the +Maternal Association, at Mrs. Schoolcraft's invitation, assemble. I +wrote to Prof. Olmstead a notice of the falling stars of Nov. 13th, as +described by the Indians.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Wind from the westward and southward; moderate for the season.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Wind veers to the east.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. A blow on the lake, creating a perfect tempest. Before noon, the +wind veers south-easterly, and snow melts on the roofs.</p> + +<p>Ackuckojeesh and band, from the north shore, visit the office. He +presents me a small <i>mukuk</i> of maple sugar, made during the month, as a +proof of the mildness of the weather.</p> + +<p>Continue my biblical readings, with a view of noticing the coincidence +of passages referred to by clergymen who have visited me. Quite +satisfied that "day," in Gen. i, 5, means, in that place, a natural day +of twenty-four hours. The context cannot be read without it. Mr. M. and +Mr. Stuart pass the evening.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. No thawing to-day. There has been quite a blow on the lake. +Began some sketches of biblical geology.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX."></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<p>Population of Michilimackinack--Notices of the weather--Indian name of +the Wolverine--Harbor closed--Intensity of temperature which can be +borne--Domestic incidents--State of the weather--Fort Mackinack +unsuccessfully attacked in 1814--Ossiganoc--Death of an Indian +woman--Death of my sister--Harbor open--Indian name of the Sabbath +day--Horticultural amusement--Tradition of the old church door--Turpid +conduct of Thomas Shepard, and his fate--Wind, tempests, sleet, snow--A +vessel beached in the harbor--Attempt of the American Fur Company to +force ardent spirits into the country, against the authority of +the Agent.</p> + +<p>1834. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. My journal for this winter will be almost purely +domestic. It is intended to exhibit a picture of men and things, +immediately surrounding a person isolated from the world, on an island +in the wide area of Lake Huron, at the point where the current, driven +by the winds, rushes furiously through the straits connected with Lake +Michigan. Where the ice in the winter freezes and breaks up continually, +where the temperature fluctuates greatly with every wind, and where the +tempests of snow, rain and hail create a perpetual scene of changing +phenomena.</p> + +<p>Society here is scarcely less a subject of remark. It is based on the +old French element of the fur trade--that is, a commonalty who are the +descendants of French or Canadian boatmen, and clerks and interpreters +who have invariably married Indian women. The English, who succeeded to +power after the fall of Quebec, chiefly withdrew, but have also left +another element in the mixture of Anglo-Saxons, Irishmen or Celts, and +Gauls, founded also upon intermarriages with the natives. Under the +American rule, the society received an accession of a few females of +various European or American lineage, from educated and refined circles. +In the modern accession, since about 1800, are included the chief +factors of the fur trade, and the persons charged by benevolent +societies with the duties of education and of missionaries; and, more +than all, with the families of the officers of the military and civil +service of the government.</p> + +<p>In such a mass of diverse elements the French language, the Algonquin, +in several dialects, and the English, are employed. And among the +uneducated, no small mixture of all are brought into vogue in the +existing vocabulary. To <i>fouchet</i>, and to <i>chemai</i>, were here quite +common expressions.</p> + +<p>The continued mildness of the weather enabled the Indians from the +surrounding shore to approach the island, not less than fifty-four of +whom, in different parties, visited the office during the day. This day +is a sort of carnival to these people, who are ever on the <i>qui vive</i> +for occasions "to ask an alms." I had prepared for this. To each person +a loaf of bread.</p> + +<p>To adult males a plug of tobacco. No drink of any kind, but water, to a +soul.</p> + +<p>Snow fell during the day, rendering it unpleasant.</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 2d</i>. Shabowâwa, a Chippewa chief, and part of his band, with the +remainder of the Point St. Ignace band, got across the <i>Traverse</i> this +morning. The whole number who visited the office during the day was +thirty. Shabowâwa said we might soon expect cold weather.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Visits from a number of Indians (about twenty), who had not before +called, to offer the <i>bon jour</i> of the season. Among them were several +widows and disabled old people, to whom presents of clothing were given.</p> + +<p>The atmosphere has been severely cold. A hard frost last night. I killed +an ox for winter beef, and packed it, when cut into pieces, in snow. +There has been floating ice, for the first time, in the harbor. The +severe weather prevented the St. Ignace Indians from returning.</p> + +<p>One of the St. Ignace Indians, referring to the meteoric phenomenon of +the morning of the 13th of November, said that the stars shot over in +the form of a bow, and seemed to drop into the lake. Such a display, he +added, was never before seen. He says that the Chippewa Indians called +the Wolverine "Gween-guh-auga," which means underground drummer. This +animal is a great digger or burrower.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Stormy and cold.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. S. Cold. Mr. Barber preached on the character and trials of +Noah. The old N.E. divines loved to preach from texts in the Old +Testament.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. A change of wind from N. to S.W. created a very perceptible +increase of temperature. Indians, who had been detained by floating ice +since New Year's day, got over to Point St. Ignace.</p> + +<p>The postmaster sends me word that the second express will start +to-morrow, without awaiting the return of the first.</p> + +<p>On visiting the monthly concert in the evening, I was reminded that this +day had been set apart by various churches for imploring a special +blessing on the Word of God, in the conversion of the world.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Yesterday afternoon the harbor filled with floating ice. This +morning it is frozen over into a solid body, completely closing up the +harbor. But the passage between it and Round Island is open, and the +lake in other directions. Wind northerly and westwardly; thermometer as +on the 3d, 4th, and 5th; but the air does not <i>feel</i> to be as cold as +those days. This is the effect of its having remained about a week of +nearly the same temperature. It is, in truth, the range of the +thermometer between given points, and not the absolute degree of it, +that creates the sensation of intense change. And herein must be sought +the secret of people's standing a great degree of cold in the north, +without being duly sensible of the extreme degree of it. This remark +ought, perhaps, to be limited to such severe degree of cold (say 40° +below zero), as a man can withstand or live in.</p> + +<p>The ice, being only glued together, separated about 2 o'clock, and left +the harbor free again before night.</p> + +<p>The express from St. Mary's came in, about two hours after our Detroit +express left. By letters brought by it, I learn that letters of recall +have recently passed the <i>Sault</i> for Capt. Back. It is stated that Capt. +Ross has unexpectedly returned to England, after an absence of four +years, great part of which time he had passed among the Esquimaux, or in +an open boat on the sea. That he had made observations to fix the +magnetic meridian, and had discovered a large island, almost the size of +Great Britain, which he named Boothea.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ferry, Lieut. Kingsbury, and Mr. P. passed the evening with us.</p> + +<p>Fires were seen on the main land, which are supposed to be signals from +our express men.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Snow--blustering--cold. Our first express to Detroit has so far +overstayed its time, that it is impossible to say when it may now be +expected. Fires again seen on the main land, and an unsuccessful attempt +made to reach them, the floating ice preventing.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Maternal Association meets at my house, which, Mrs. S. reports, +is well attended. In the evening, Mr. H., Mr. J., Miss McF., and Miss S.</p> + +<p>Floating ice in the straits, and no crossing.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Snowing--blustering. Expecting the mail soon, I prepared my +letters, and, being Saturday, sent them to the post-office, lest the +mail should arrive and depart on Sunday.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>, Deep snow drifts, stormy--cold. Very difficult, in consequence +of the drifts, to reach the teacher's concert, in the evening, which met +at the Court House. Meeting between Mr. D. and Mr. Ferry at my house, to +try the effects of conciliation.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. High wind died away last night: the sun rose, this morning, +clear and pleasant, but the air still cold. Ice completely fills the +channel between Boisblanc and the main harbor; the outer channel is +still open.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Kingsbury passed the day with us. The church session on examination +accepts her, and Mr. D. Stuart, the gentleman named in Irving's +<i>Astoria</i>.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The express from Detroit arrives, having crossed from the main +to Boisblanc on the ice, and from thence in a boat. By this mail we have +a week's later dates than were brought by the "Warren." No political +intelligence of importance. I received a number of printed sheets of the +appendix to the narrative of my tour to <i>Itasca Lake</i>. Heard also from +LeConte, the engraver, at New York.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Took Mr. D. in my cariole to Mr. Ferry's, to further the object +of a reconciliation of the matters in difference between them. It +commenced raining, soon after we got there, and continued steadily all +evening. Got a complete wetting in coming home, and in driving to the +fort Mrs. Kingsbury, whom I found there.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Yesterday's fain has much diminished the quantity of snow; bare +ground is to be seen in some spots. Atmosphere murky, and surcharged +with moisture, rendering it disagreeable to be out of doors.</p> + +<p>The soldiery of the garrison invite Mr. F. to hold a meeting in the +garrison every Sabbath afternoon, showing an awakened moral sense +among them.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Depression of the atmospheric temperature. Frost renders the +walking slippery, and the snow crusted and hard. This condition of +things, in the forest, is fatal to wild hoofed animals, which at every +step are subject to break through, and cut their ankles. In this way the +Indians successfully pursue and take the moose and reindeer of +our region.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Mr. David S. and Mrs. K. are admitted to the communion, on a +profession of faith, and Mr. Seymour, Miss Owen, and Miss Leverett, by +letter. The Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Barber were also, for the first +time, present.</p> + +<p>Snow fell upon the previous glare surface, and, being attended with +wind, rendered the day very blustering and boisterous. The wind being +from the west, was very strong--so strong as to blow some persons down. +The temperature at the same time was quite cold.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Coldness continued; the thermometer stood at only 2° above zero +at 8 o'clock in the morning; the west wind continuing. The air, in +consequence of this depression, became colder than the water of the +lake, producing an interchange of temperature, and the striking +phenomenon of rising vapor. The open lake waters gave out their latent +heat, like a boiling pot, till the equilibrium was restored. This +singular phenomenon I had seen before in the North, and it is to be +observed, in the basin of the upper lakes, some days every winter.</p> + +<p>I received a visit from Mr. Barber. Conversation on the state of +religious knowledge. Do geology and the natural sciences afford external +evidence of the truth of God's word?</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Atmospheric temperature still low; the thermometer at 8 o'clock +A.M. standing at 9° above zero. The harbor and straits, between the +island and Point St. Ignace, frozen over; but the channel, in which, +there is a strong current, between the outer edge of the harbor and +Round Island, still open. Along this edge very deep water is immediately +found, and these waters, under the pressure of lake causes, rush with +the force of a mill-race. <i>22d</i>. The air is slightly warmer, the +thermometer standing at 8 o'clock, A.M., at 16° above zero. The +soldiery further request of Mr. F. to hold a Bible class in the fort.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. The temperature still rises a few degrees, the thermometer +standing at 21° at 8 o'clock, A.M. The express from the <i>Sault</i> +arrives. Prepared my mail matter and dispatched it to the office.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. The thermometer falls five degrees, standing at 16° at 8 o'clock +A.M.; but in consequence of the cessation of winds at night, and +accumulation of floating ice, the open districts of the lake were +entirely frozen over. Kebec, the <i>Sault</i> expressman, went off on his way +to Detroit, at a very early hour, walking on the ice from about abreast +of the Old Still House, direct to the main. The thermometer in the fort +was observed to be, at one time during the night, at 5° below zero, +denoting more intense cold than my 8 o'clock observation indicates. This +is, therefore, so far, the maximum cold for January.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. A strong easterly wind broke up the ice, which was solid, as far +as the Light-House, about ten miles, and again exposed the limpid bosom +of the lake in that direction; but it did not disturb the straits west. +My son John began, this day, to pronounce words having the sound of <i>r</i>, +for which, agreeably to a natural organic law recognized by +philologists, he has heretofore substituted the sound of <i>l</i>.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. S. A sermon on the inefficacy of the prayer of faith without +submission to God's better wisdom. I was this day set apart as an elder.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. The temperature, which has risen since the 24th, still rises, +creating a perceptible change in feelings. Visited Mr. Agnew, who +reached the island from the Sault yesterday.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. The harbor breaks up with a south-east wind, but the ice remains +firm between the island and the main, and in the direction to Pt. St, +Ignace. This wind is attended with a farther moderation of the +temperature. I fell in descending the steep hill, which is exposed to +the south, in coming back from a visit to Lieut. Penrose, in the fort. +This fort is what engineers call a <i>talus</i>, being, as I suppose, the +exact area, very nearly, of the top of a cliff overlooking the town. It +was very effective for controlling the Indians, but was found in 1812 to +be commanded by a still higher point within cannon range, which was +seized and fortified by the British.</p> + +<p>This apex they made the site of Fort George; the Americans changed the +name to Fort Holmes, after a gallant officer, a Kentuckian, who fell in +the unsuccessful attempt of Col. Croghan to retake the island in 1814.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. The temperature still rises, and is mild for the season. Gave +each of my children a new copy of the Scriptures. If these truths are +important, as is acknowledged, they cannot too early know them. I +visited Mr. Mitchell.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>, The temperature continues to moderate. Drove to the mission, +accompanied by Mr. D., to converse, at his request, with Mr. Barber, on +the unhappy topics of difference between him and Mr. F. Mr. and Mrs. +Abbott called at my house, in the interval, and were received by Mrs. S. +In the evening I attended the social prayer meeting at Mr. Dousman's.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. The sun shone clear; no snow, no high winds, but a serene and +pleasant atmosphere. Visits were received from Maj. Whistler and Lieut. +Kingsbury. Conversation on the probable reception of the President's +Message, etc., by our next express.</p> + +<p>This being Mrs. Schoolcraft's birth-day, I presented her a Bible.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 1st</i>. The mildness and pleasantness of the weather continued. +Drove out to Mr. Davenport's with Mrs. Schoolcraft and the children. +Davenport is a Virginian. He was one of the residents driven off the +island by the events of the late war, and was on board of Commodore St. +Clair's squadron, sailing around the island, and in sight of his own +home, during the expedition to recapture the island, in 1814. For his +sufferings and losses he ought to have been remunerated by the +Government, whom he faithfully served.</p> + +<p>Our second express from Detroit arrived, bringing us the expected +newspaper intelligence, and letters from friends. Heard of the alarming +illness of my sister, in Oneida County, N.Y.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. S. A sermon on the often handled subjects of election and free +grace--how God elects, and how man is free to come himself.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Devoted to newspaper reading. In the evening attended the monthly +concert.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. A small party at dinner, namely, Major Whistler, Lieut. +Kingsbury, Mr. Agnew, Mr. Stuart the elder, Mr. Abbott, Mr. Dousman, and +Mr. Johnston. The weather continues mild, clear, and calm. In the +evening I prepared my mail matter for the Sault, intending to dispatch +it by a private express to-morrow.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Finished and dispatched my mail for St. Mary's by two Indians, +who set out at ten o'clock A.M. I received an official visit from +Ossiganac, and seven men from the village of L'Arbre Croche. He stated +it to be the wish of the Ottawas, to visit Washington. The reasons for +such a visit arose from a desire to see the President, on the subject of +their lands. Many of these lands were denuded of game. Drummond Island +had been abandoned. They thought themselves entitled to compensation for +it. They were poor and indebted to the traders. The settlements would +soon intrude on their territories. Wood was now cut for the use of +steamboats and not paid for. They had various topics to confer about. +This was, in fact, the first move of the Lake Indians, leading in the +sequel to the important treaty of March 28th, 1836.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The thermometer is again depressed, and a recurrence of easterly +winds.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. The depression of temperature creates the sensation of <i>coldness</i> +after the late mild weather, although the thermometer, examined at 8 +o'clock, has not fallen below 26°, but six degrees below the +freezing point.</p> + +<p>I embodied Ossiganac's remarks in a letter to the Department, and also +requesting the survey of the old grants under Wayne's Treaty of 1793. I +likewise proposed the establishment of an Indian Academy at +Michilimackinack for the Indian tribes of the upper lakes. Mackinack has +peculiar facilities of access in the open months for a large circle of +cognate tribes; and, in view of a future cession of the country, these +tribes will possess ample means. I wrote to my sister Catharine, in the +prospect of her dying of consumption; directing her mind to the great +moral remedy in the intercession of Christ.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Our third express for Detroit left this morning. The day was +clear and calm, with the thermometer at 30° at 8 o'clock. I began +sketching some remarks, to be transmitted to the American Lyceum, on the +best mode of educating the Indians.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. S. Mild. An Indian woman was buried to-day, who has borne the +character of a Christian. As her end drew near she said she did not fear +to "pass through the valley of death." She appeared to be prepared to +die, and had the testimony of Christians in her behalf, many of whom +attended her funeral. As a general fact, the Christian Indians whom I +have known, seize with great simplicity of faith on an Intercessor and +his promises.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mild. In consequence of the protracted mildness of the weather, +Indians from Thunder Bay visited the office. They spoke of the meteoric +phenomenon of November. I asked the leader of the party what he thought +of it. He replied that it betokened evil to the Indian race--that +sickness would visit them calamitously.</p> + +<p>In the evening the wind veered from a favorable quarter suddenly to the +north, producing a strong sensation of cold.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Dine with Kingsbury.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Dine with Mitchell. In the afternoon Mr. F. and Mr. D. met by +appointment at my house, to endeavor to close their accounts and +terminate their difficulties.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Yesterday's effort to compromise matters between F. and D. was +continued and brought to a close, so far as respected items of account; +but this left unhealed the wounds caused by mutual hard thoughts, of a +moral character, and for which there has seemed, to Christians, in Mr. +D., a cause of disciplinary inquiry. I felt friendly to Mr. D., and +thought that he was a man whose pride and temper, and partly Christian +ignorance, had induced to stand unwittingly in error. But he took +counsel of those who do not appear to have been actuated by the most +conciliatory views. He stood upon his weakest points with an iron brow +and "sinews of brass."</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Visited Mr. Barber. Meeting in the evening at Mr. Mitchell's.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Snow.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. The temperature fell several degrees, and lake closed, as seen +at a distance. I finished my remarks for the American Lyceum.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Engaged in pursuing Mr. F.'s lectures, delivered at a prior +time, on the character and differences between the Protestant and +Romish Churches.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. The weather assumes a milder turn, and gives us rain. Messrs. +F. and D., having called on Mr. Mitchell, renew their meeting at +my house.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Rain and thunder.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Temperate; sinks and turns cold in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Cold, with some snow.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Thermometer continues to sink, and the ice is reported as having +become strong everywhere.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. The third express from Detroit came in at an early hour, and my +letters and papers were brought in before breakfast. During breakfast I +opened a letter, announcing the death of my sister Catharine, on the 9th +of January, at Vernon, N. Y.</p> + +<p>Mr. Agnew and Mr. Chapman, who have been guests on the island, set out +for the Sault. The lake is now finally and strongly closed by a covering +of solid ice. Trains cross to-day, for the first time, to Point +St. Ignace.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Mr. Levake, another guest on the island, called at eight o'clock +for my letters, with a view of overtaking the party who left yesterday.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Wind west, and so strong as to drive the ice out between the +harbor and the light-house, but did not affect the harbor itself, nor +the straits.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Snow and rain. Richardson May, a discharged soldier, and Manito +Geezhig (Spirit-sky), a Chippewa Indian, arrived with the express mail +for Saginaw.</p> + +<p><i>28th.</i> The weather is mild again. An express from the Hudson's Bay +Company departed for Saginaw, at seven o'clock A.M. The adverb +"fiducially" first brought to my notice, as the synonym of confidently, +steadily. Finished the perusal of Mr. F.'s manuscript lectures, on the +Romish Church. Think them an offhand practical appeal to truth, clear in +method, forcible in illustration. Learning and research, such as are to +be drawn from books other than the Bible, have not been evidently relied +on. They might not do to print without revision. The New Testament does +not, as an example, declare that Peter ever was at Rome, and yet that +fact, got from other sources, is much relied on by that Church.</p> + +<p><i>March 1st.</i> The change in temperature continues. It is so mild and warm +that the snow melts.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. S. Mild, and Sabbath exercise as usual.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. The temperature falls, and it becomes sensibly cold and wintry. +The sky and lower atmosphere, however, remain clear.</p> + +<p>Cadotte, an expressman from La Pointe, Lake Superior, arrived in the +course of the afternoon, with letters from Mr. Warren. Miss W., Miss D. +and Mr. J., pass the evening.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Weather mild; snow soft and sloppy. Receive visits from Mr. +Abbott, Mr. Ferry, and Mr. Mitchell.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Snow has melted so much, in consequence of the change of +temperature, that I am compelled to stop my team from drawing wood. The +ice is so bad that it is dangerous to cross. The lake has been open from +the point of the village to the light-house, since the tempest of the +26th ultimo. The broad lake below the latter point has been open all +winter. The lake west has been, in fact, fast and solidly frozen, so as +to be crossed with trains, but twelve days!</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren's express set out for Lake Superior this morning. Our fourth +express from Detroit came in during the evening, bringing New York dates +to the 4th of February.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The evidences of the approach of spring continue. The sun shines +with a clear power, unobstructed by clouds. Snow and ice melt rapidly. +Visited the Mission's house in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Clouds intercept the sun's rays. An east wind broke up the ice in +the harbor, and drives much floating ice up the lake.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. The wind drives away the broken and floating ice from the harbor, +and leaves all clear between it and Round Island. It became cold and +freezing in the afternoon. Conference and prayer meetings at my house.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Very slippery, and bad walking, and icy roads. Freezes.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. In consequence of the increase of cold, and the prevalence of a +calm during the night, there was formed a complete coating of ice over +the bay, extending to Round Island. This ice was two inches thick. Mrs. +Schoolcraft spent the evening at Mrs. Dousman's. On coming home, about +nine o'clock, we found the ice suddenly and completely broken up by a +south wind, and heaped up along shore.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Harbor and channel quite clear; the weather has assumed a +mildness, although the sky is overcast, and snow drifted in the roads +during the morning. Miss Jones, Mr. D. Stuart, Dr. Turner, and Mr. +Johnston spent the evening with me.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Filled my ice-house with ice of a granular and indifferent +quality, none other to be had.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Mild, thawing, spring-like weather. Visits by Captain and Mrs. +Barnum.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. About eight o'clock this morning, a vessel from Detroit dropped +anchor in the harbor, causing all hearts to be gay at the termination of +our wintry exclusion from the world. It proved to be the "Commodore +Lawrence," of Huron, Ohio, on a trip to Green Bay. Our last vessel left +the harbor on the 18th of December, making the period of our +incarceration just eighty-five days, or but two and a half months. +Visited by Lieut. and Mrs. Lavenworth.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Mild and pleasant. Plucked the seed of the mountain ash in front +of the agency dwelling, and planted it on the face of the cliff behind +the house. Mr. Chapman arrived with express news from the <i>Sault</i>.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. S. <i>Anni-me-au-gee-zhick-ud</i>, as the Indians term it, and a far +more appropriate term it is than the unmeaning Saxon phrase of +<i>/Sunday</i>.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Very mild and pleasant day. The snow is rapidly disappearing +under the influence of the sun. Mackinack stands on a horse-shoe bay, on +a narrow southern slope of land, having cliffs and high lands +immediately back of it, some three hundred feet maximum height. It is, +therefore, exposed to the earliest influences of spring, and they +develop themselves rapidly. Mr. Hulbert arrived from the <i>Sault</i> in the +morning, bringing letters from Rev. Mr. Clark, Mr. Audrain, my sub-agent +at that point, &c.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Wind southerly. This drives the ice from the peninsula into the +harbor, it then shifts west, and drives it down the lake. A lowering sky +ends with a sprinkling of rain in the forenoon; it then clears up, and +the sun appears in the afternoon. Dr. Turner visits me at the office. +Conversation turns on my translations into the Indian, and the +principles of the language. An Indian has a term for man and for white; +but, when he wishes to express the sense of white man, he employs +neither. He then compounds the term <i>wa-bish-kiz-zi-</i>--that is, +white person.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. The weather is quite spring-like. Prune cherry trees and currant +bushes. Transplant plum tree sprouts. Messrs. Biddle and Drew finish +preparing their vessel, and anchor her out.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. The thermometer sinks to 18° at eight o'clock A.M. Snows, and +is boisterous all day, the wind being north-east.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. The snow, which has continued falling all night, is twelve to +fourteen inches deep in the morning; being the heaviest fall of snow, at +one time, all winter. Some ice is formed.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The body of snow on the ground, and the continuance of cold, give +quite a wintery aspect to the landscape. In the course of the day, Mr. +Ferry, Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. Stuart call.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. S. Cold.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Wintery feeling and aspect.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. The temperature still sinks. Visits from Mr. Mitchell, Mr. +Ferry, and Mr. Stuart. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Chapman, +and Mr. Johnston spend the evening.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Drove, with Mr. Ferry, to Mr. Boyd's, and thence to Mr. +Davenport's.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Ice still lingers in the harbor, but the day is clear and +sunshiny, and the snow melts rapidly. Visit the mission, and inquire +into the effects of its government and discipline on the character of +the boys, one or two of whom have been recently the subject of some +scandals. Accompanied in this visit by Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Stuart, and Mr. +Mitchell. Thomas Shepard, a mission boy, calls on me at an early hour, +and states his contrition for his agency in any reports referred to.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Weather mild; snow melts; wind S.W.; some rain.</p> + +<blockquote> +With this evening's setting sun,<br> +Years I number forty-one.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>Visited the officers in the fort. Rode out in my carriage in the +evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft, to see Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, and Mr. +and Mrs. Ferry. Satan's emissaries appear to be busy in circulating +scandal respecting our pastor, Mr. F., a person of high moral worth +and probity.</p> + +<p>To put these down effectively, it appears necessary to probe them to the +bottom, and ascertain their length and breadth. This was a duty of the +eldership, and it could be thoroughly performed without fear, respecting +a man of Mr. F.'s character. It was necessary, I found, to unmask all +the actors. The scandal appears to be one originating with certain Metif +boys of the Mission school. One of these, it was averred, had looked +through the key-hole of the common parlor door of the Mission house, +and beheld the Rev. Mr. F. sitting near a Miss S., one of the assistant +missionaries of the establishment. The door was locked. The hair of the +young lady was dishevelled; her comb had fallen on the floor. It was +early in the morning. Another boy was called to look; no change of +position was observed--nothing that was not respectful and proper.</p> + +<p>This story was detailed, a night or two afterwards, by Thomas Shepard, +one of the boys, at a drinking conclave in the village, where <i>bon +vivants</i>, and some persons inimical to Mr. F. were present, and created +high merriment. From that den it was spread. It appeared that Miss S. +had, for some time, had doubts on the subject of her conversion, and +sought a conversation with her pastor to resolve them.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Moderate temperature continues. A meeting of some of the leading +persons of the place, citizens and officers, at which statements, +embracing the above narrative, were made, which were quite satisfactory +in regard to the reports above mentioned. The reports are traced to a +knot of free livers, free drinkers, and infidels, who meet a-nights, in +the village, to be merry, and who drew some of the mission boys into +their revelries. A case of discipline in the church, which led, finally, +to the excommunication of one of the leading persons of the place, has +raised enemies to the Rev. Mr. F., who were present at these orgies, and +helped to spread the report.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Service as usual, but more than usually interesting.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Mild weather continues; clear and sunny; snow melts. The +remaining ice is completely broken up by an easterly wind. Visit Mr. +Stuart's child, which is very low.</p> + +<p><i>April 1st</i>. A dark drizzly morning terminates before ten o'clock in +rain. It cleared away at noon; the broken ice of the day and night +previous, is mostly driven down the lake by westerly winds.</p> + +<p>Satisfied of the excellency of the mission school, I sent my children to +it this morning. The Rev. Mr. Ferry, Rev. Mr. Barber, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. +D. Stuart, and Mr. Chapman dine with me. In the evening, Capt. and Mrs. +Barnum, and Lieut. Kingsbury make a visit.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. The harbor is now entirely clear of ice, with a west wind. Wrote +to Rev. D. Greene, Missionary Rooms, Boston, giving my opinion +respecting the establishment of a mission among the Odjibwas at Fond du +Lac, Lake Superior.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Pleasant, mild, clear. Winter has now clearly relaxed his hold. +Indians who came in to-day from L'Arbre Croche, report that the ice is, +however, still firm at Point Wa-gosh-ains (Little Fox Point), on the +straits above. This point forms the bight of the straits, some twenty +miles off, at their entrance into Lake Michigan. Attended the funeral of +William Dolly, a Metif boy, of Indian extraction.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The season is visibly advancing in its warmth and mildness. Began +to prepare hot-beds. Set boxes for flowers and tubs for roots.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. The mission schooner "Supply" leaves the harbor on her first trip +to Detroit, with a fine west wind, carrying our recent guests from St. +Mary's. Transplant flowering shrubs. Miss McFarland passes the day with +Mrs. Schoolcraft at the agency.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Cloudy but mild. Adjusting fixtures for gooseberry bushes, &c.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Superintending the construction of a small ornamental mound and +side wall to the piazza, for shrubbery and flowers. Books are now thrown +by for the excitement of horticulture. Some Indians visit the office. It +is remarkable what straits and suffering these people undergo every +winter for a bare existence. They struggle against cold and hunger, and +are very grateful for the least relief. <i>Kitte-mau-giz-ze +Sho-wain-e-min</i>, is their common expression to an agent--I am poor, show +me pity, (or rather) charity me; for they use their substantives +for verbs.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. The schooner "White Pigeon," (the name of an Indian chief,) +enters the harbor, with a mail from Detroit. "A mail! a mail!" is the +cry. Old Saganosh and five Indian families come in. The Indians start up +from their wintering places, as if from a cemetery. They seem almost as +lean and hungry as their dogs--for an Indian always has dogs--and, if +they fare poor, the dogs fare poorer.</p> + +<p>Resumed my preparations at the garden hot-beds.</p> + +<p>The mail brought me letters from Washington, speaking of political +excitements. The project for an Indian academy is bluffed off, by saying +it should come through the Delegate. Major Whiting writes that he is +authorized to have a road surveyed from Saginaw to Mackinack.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Engaged at my horticultural mound. The weather continues mild.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Transplanting cherry trees.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Complete hot-bed, and sow it in part.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The calmness and mildness of the last few days are continued. +Spring advances rapidly.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Mild, strong wind from the west, but falls at evening. Write to +Washington respecting an Indian academy.</p> + +<p>Walking with the Rev. Wm. M. Ferry through the second street of the +village (M.), leading south, as we came near the corner, turning to +Ottawa Point, he pointed out to me, on the right hand, half of a large +door, painted red, arched and filled with nails, which tradition asserts +was the half of the door of the Roman Catholic church at old Mackinack. +The fixtures of the church, as of other buildings, were removed and set +up on this spot. I afterwards saw the other half of the door standing +against an adjoining house.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Wind westerly. Begin to enlarge piazza to the agency. A party of +Beaver Island Indians come in, and report the water of the Straits as +clear of ice, and the navigation for some days open.</p> + +<p>The schooner "President," from Detroit, dropped anchor in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. The schooners "Lawrence," "White Pigeon," and "President," left +the harbor this morning, on their way to various ports on Lake Michigan, +and we are once more united to the commercial world, on the great chain +of lakes above and below us. The "Lawrence," it will be remembered, +entered the harbor on the 14th of March, and has waited thirty-two days +for the Straits to open.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Wind N.E., chilly. It began to rain after twelve o'clock A.M., +which was much wanted by the gardens, as we have had no rain for nearly +a month. All this while the sun has poured down its rays on our narrow +pebbly plain under the cliffs, and made it quite dry.</p> + +<p>I was present this morning at the Mission, at the examination of the +Metif boy Thomas Shepard, and was surprised at the recklessness and +turpidity of his moral course, as disclosed by himself, and, at the +announcement of the names of his abettors.</p> + +<p>The fate of this boy was singular. He set out alone to return to Sault +Ste. Marie, where his relations lived, across the wilderness. After +striking the main land, his companions returned. All that was ever heard +of him afterwards, was the report of Indians whom I sent to follow his +trail, as the season opened, who found a spot where he had attempted, +unsuccessfully, to strike a fire and encamp. From obscure Indian reports +from the channels called Chenos, the Indians there had been alarmed by +news of the inroads of Na-do-was (Iroquois), and seeing some one on the +shore, in a questionable plight, they fired and killed him. This is +supposed to have been Thomas Shepard.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Wind westerly--chilly--cloudy--dark.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. The "Austerlitz," and "Prince Eugene," two of Mr. Newbery's +vessels, arrived during the afternoon. Rain fell in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. The schooner "Nancy Dousman" arrived in the morning from below. +A change of weather supervened. Wind N.E., with snow. The ground is +covered with it to the depth of one or two inches. Water frozen, giving +a sad check to vegetation.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. This morning develops a north-east storm, during which the "Nancy +Dousman" is wrecked, but all the cargo saved: a proof that the harbor is +no refuge from a north-easter. The wind abates in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Wind west, cloudy, rainy, and some sleet. About midnight the +schooner "Oregon" came in, having rode out the tempest under Point +St. Ignace.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Still cold and backward, the air not having recovered its +equilibrium since the late storm.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Cloudy and cold--flurries of snow during the day.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. The weather recovers its warm tone, giving a calm sky and clear +sunshine. The snow of the 21st rapidly disappears, and by noon is quite +gone, and the weather is quite pleasant. The vessels in the harbor +continue their voyages.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. S. A boat reaches us from the Sault, showing the Straits and +River St. Mary to be open. It brought the Rev. Mr. Clark, of the +Methodist Episcopal Church, who occupies Mr. F.'s position, before the +soldiery, in the evening.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. The atmosphere is still overcast, although the thermometer +ranges high.</p> + +<p>Levake, a trader for the Indian country, went off about two o'clock P.M. +On granting him his license, I directed him to take no ardent spirits. +He therefore ordered a barrel of whisky to be taken back to the American +Fur Company's store, where he had purchased it. Mr. Abbot, the agent, +sent it back to him. Mr. Levake finally remanded it. Mr. Abbot said, +"Why! Mr. Schoolcraft has no authority to prevent your taking it!" The +moment, in fact, the boats leave the island they enter the Indian +country, where the act provides that this article shall not be taken on +any pretence. This was an open triumph of the Agent of the United States +against the Fur Company. I wrote to the Rev. Mr. Boutwell, at Leech +Lake, by this opportunity.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. The atmosphere has regained its equilibrium fully. It is mild +throughout the day. Indians begin to come in freely from the adjacent +shores. Sow radishes and other early seeds.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The schooner "Napoleon," and the "Eliza," from Lake Ontario, +come in. The Indian world, also, seems to have awaked from its winter's +repose. Pabaumitabi visits the office with a large retinue of Ottawas. +Shabowawa with his band appear from the Chenoes. Vessels and canoes now +again cross, each other's track in the harbor.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L."></a>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<p>Visit to Isle Rond--Site of an ancient Indian village--Ossuarie--Indian +prophet--Traditions of Chusco and Yon respecting the ancient village and +bone deposit--Indian speech--Tradition of Mrs. La Fromboise respecting +Chicago--Etymology of the name--Origin of the Bonga family among the +Chippewas--Traditions of Viancour--Of Nolan--Of the chief +Aishquagonaibe, and of Sagitondowa--Evidences of antique cultivation on +the Island of Mackinack--View of affairs at Washington--The Senate an +area of intellectual excitement--A road directed to be cut through the +wilderness from Saginaw--Traditions of Ossaganac and of Little Bear Skin +respecting the Lake Tribes.</p> + +<p><i>1834. May 1st</i>. At last "the winter is gone and past," and the voice of +the robin, if not of the "turtle," begins to be heard in the land. The +whole day is mild, clear, and pleasant, notwithstanding a moderate wind +from the east. The schooner "Huron" comes in without a <i>mail</i>--a sad +disappointment, as we have been a long time without one.</p> + +<p>I strolled up over the cliffs with my children, after their return from +school at noon, to gather wild flowers, it being May-day. We came in +with the spring beauty, called <i>miscodeed</i> by the Indians, the adder's +tongue, and some wild violets.</p> + +<p>The day being fine and the lake calm, I visited the Isle Rond--the +locality of an old and long abandoned village. On landing on the south +side, discovered the site of an ancient Indian town--an open area of +several acres, with graves and boulder grave stones. Deep paths had been +worn to the water. The graves had inclosures, more or less decayed, of +cedar and birch bark, and the whole had the appearance of having been +last occupied about seventy years ago. Yet the graves were, as usual, +east and west. I discovered near this site remains of more ancient +occupancy, in a deposit of human bones laid in a trench <i>north</i> and +<i>south</i>. This had all the appearance of one of the antique ossuaries, +constructed by an elder race, who collected the bones of their dead +periodically. The Indians call this island <i>Min-nis-ais</i>, Little +Island. Speaking <i>of</i> it, the local termination <i>ing</i> is added.</p> + +<p>During the day the old Indian prophet Chusco came in, having passed the +winter at Chingossamo's village on the Cheboigan River, accompanied by +an Indian of that village, who calls himself Yon, which is probably a +corruption of John, for he says that his father was an Englishman, and +his mother a Chippewa of St. Mary's.</p> + +<p>Chusco and Yon concur in stating that the old town on Round Island was +Chi Naigow's, where he and Aishquonaibee's <a name="FNanchor68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68">[68]</a> father ruled. It was a +large village, occupied still while the British held old Mackinack, and +not finally abandoned until after the occupancy of the island-post. It +consisted of Chippewas. Chi Naigow afterwards went to a bay of +Boisblanc, where the public wharf now is, where he cultivated land +and died.<a name="FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69">[69]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor68">[68]</a> A Chief of Grand Traverse. +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor69">[69]</a> His daughter, who was most likely to know, says he died at +Manista. See prior part of Journal. +</blockquote> + +<p>These Indians also state, that at the existence of the town on Round +Island, a large Indian village was seated around the present harbor of +Mackinack, and the Indians cultivated gardens there. Yon says, that at +that time there was a stratum of black earth over the gravel, and that +it was not bare gravel as it is now.<a name="FNanchor70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70">[70]</a> (He is speaking of the shores of +the harbor.)</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor70">[70]</a> At Mackinack, they, in some places, raise potatoes in clean +gravel. +</blockquote> + +<p>Yon says that a man, called Sagitondowa, is now living at Chingassamo's +village, who once lived in Chi Naigow's village at Minnissais--and that +he is about his age. Yon was about seventy. He further says that the +traverse to Old Mackinack was made directly from the old town, on Round +Island, and that it was from thence they-went over to get rum.</p> + +<p>Chusco made the following speech: "Nosa, when I first spoke to you it +was at the camp of the Strong Wind (Gen. Wayne). You then told me that I +should not be troubled with the smoke, (meaning intrusion from +settlement.) It was said to me that a place should be provided by our +Great Father for us. My home was then at Waganukizzi, the place of the +crotched tree (L'Arbre Croche).</p> + +<p>"About twenty men had the courage to go, and united in the treaty. +Chemokoman was one of them. The old chief Niskauzhininna did not go. He +was afraid of the Americans. I carried my ancient implements, which you +know I have forever laid aside. (He was the Seer.)</p> + +<p>"The English did not come up to their promises. The land was lost. The +posts were lost. They were all given up, and we only were the sufferers. +Hard is our fate.</p> + +<p>"Strong Wind said to the chiefs that there should be a place for the old +and disabled, where they should have food. We were absent at this treaty +all summer. We came back late in the fall."</p> + +<p>"Forty winters have past. I am poor and old, and cannot go about any +more. Look at me. I want a house and a shelter. Tell me, shall I +have it?" <a name="FNanchor71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71">[71]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor71">[71]</a> In the treaty of 28th March, 1836, a dormitory was provided +for the Indians visiting the post of Mackinack. Chusco was granted an +annuity in coin. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Having, on the 19th of April, called the attention of Mrs. La +Fromboise, an aged Metif lady, to the former state of things here, she +says that the post of Chicago was first established under English rule, +by a negro man named <i>Pointe aux Sables</i>, who was a respectable man.</p> + +<p>The etymology of Chicago appears to be this:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Chi-cag,</td><td><i>Animal of the Leek or Wild Onion</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chi-cag-o-wunz,</td><td><i>The Wild Leek or Pole-cat Plant</i>.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Chi-ca-go,</td><td><i>Place of the Wild Leek</i>.</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>She also says that Captain Robinson, while commanding at Mackinack, +discharged a negro servant named Bonga, who afterwards, with his wife, +purchased the house and lot in which Mr. Wendell now lives (the old red +house next Dousman's, south), where he kept a tavern, and maintained a +respectable character. He afterwards sold out and went to Detroit, and +lived with Mr. Meldrum.</p> + +<p>She adds: "The son of this Bonga was the late Bonga, who died as a +<i>comme</i>, at Lake Winnepec, of the Fond du Lac Department. The present +Stephen Bonga of Folleavoine, a trustworthy trader, is the grandson of +this Bonga--Robinson's freed slave. His connections are Chippewas, and +all speak the Chippewa language fluently."</p> + +<p>Having seen and known this Bonga, the grandson, I was led to remark +that climate and intermarriage have had little or no appreciable effect +on the color of the skin.</p> + +<p>The traditions of Mr. Viancourt, one of the oldest French residents of +Point St. Ignace, who visited the office (24th April), relate that he +was born the year Montreal was taken, 1759. That Mackinack (the island) +was first occupied four years after.</p> + +<p>He further says that Gov. Sinclair built a small fort on Black River, +and that he gave his name to that part of the straits which have since +been called St. Clair.<a name="FNanchor72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72">[72]</a> Says he has been on the island forty-seven +years, consequently came in 1788.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor72">[72]</a> Consult Charlevoix's Journal. Is not so, go far as the +origin of the name is concerned. +</blockquote> + +<p>The late Mr. J.B. Nolin, of Sault St. Marie, remarked to John Johnson, +Esq., that Governor Sinclair came up with troops the year after the +massacre at old Mackinack; and that he landed with a broad belt of +wampum in his hands.</p> + +<p>Aishkwagon-ai-bee, or the feather of honor, first chief of the Chippewas +of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, says that the Nadowas (Iroquois) +formerly lived at Point St. Ignace--that they fell out with the +Chippewas and Ottawas on a certain day, at a ball-playing, when a +Chippewa was killed. Hereupon, the Chippewas and Ottawas united their +strength and drove them away, destroying their village.</p> + +<p>The Chippewas and Ottawas then divided the land by natural boundaries. +Grand Traverse Bay fell to the Chippewas.</p> + +<p>Another Indian tradition respecting the old village on Isle Rond, was +gleaned:--</p> + +<p>Sagitondowa visits the office: he says he lacks one year of fifty. His +earliest recollections are of the old village on Round Island. It was +then (say 1783, the close of the American Revolutionary War) a large +village, and nearly half the island in cultivation. It was not finally +abandoned until lately.</p> + +<p>Having his attention called to the deposit of old bones exposed by the +action of the lake, he finally said he knew not how they came there; +that they must be of ancient date, and were probably of the same era +with the bones in the caves of the island of Mackinack. He said when he +was young there was no village on that part of the bay of Mackinack +situated between the old Government house, and the present Catholic +church. This was formerly a cedar swamp. There was a village near +Porkman's (Mr. Edward Biddle's), and another near the Presbyterian +Church.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Seed the borders around the garden lots with clover and timothy, +united with oats. Continue to plant in hot-beds, and in the ornamental +mound. The "Huron" departs up the lake, the "Austerlitz" returns.</p> + +<p>Drove out in my carriage with Mrs. Schoolcraft and children, round the +island. I found no traces of snow or ice.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. A gale from the east, which began to show itself yesterday.</p> + +<p>The schooner "Lady of the Lake" comes in, <i>without a mail</i>. During the +afternoon, the wind also brings in the "Marengo," with a mail, and in +the night, the "Supply."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Wind from the S.W. and W. Rain, chilly, cloudy.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. A complete counterpart of the weather of yesterday.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. The same weather in every respect, with light snow flurries. The +last four or five days have been most disheartening weather for this +season, and retarded gardening. The leaves of the pie plant have been +partially nipped by the frost.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Clear and pleasant--wind west. Drove out with Mrs. Schoolcraft +and children to see the arched rock, the sugar-loaf rock, Henry's cave, +and other prominent curiosities of the island. There are extensive old +fields on the eastern part of the island, to which the French apply the +term of <i>Grands Jardins.</i> No resident pretends to know their origin. +Whether due to the labors of the Hurons or the Wyandots, who are known +to have been driven by the Iroquois to this island from the St. Lawrence +valley, early in the 17th century; or to a still earlier period, when +the ancient bones were deposited in the caves, is not known. It is +certain that the extent of the fields evince an agricultural industry +which is not characteristic of the present Algonquin race. The stones +have been carefully gathered into heaps, as in the little valley near +the arched rock, to facilitate cultivation. These heaps of stones, in +various places might be mistaken for Celtic cairns.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The schooner "Mariner," our old friend, comes into port with +forty emigrants for Chicago. During the evening the "Commerce" and +"America" join her.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. S. Cold north-west wind, gloomy and cloudy.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. A report is received that the President has communicated a +protest to the Senate on the expression of their views respecting the +removal of the deposits.</p> + +<p>I told a party of Ottawas, who applied for food, that their Great Father +was not pleased that his bounties should be misused by their employing +them merely to further their journeys to foreign agencies, where the +counsels they got were such as he could not approve. That hereafter such +bounties must not be expected; that the poor and suffering would always +find the agency doors open, but I should be compelled to close them to +such as turned a deaf ear to his advice, if their practices in visiting +these foreign assemblies were persisted in.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. A slight snow covers the ground in the morning, it melts soon, +but the day is ungenial, with S.W. wind, and cloudy atmosphere.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. A powder of snow covers the ground in the north, the wind in the +N.W. It varies from N.W. to S.W., and by ten o'clock, A.M., it is +pleasant and clear. Plant garden corn, an early species cultivated by +the Ottawas.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Cold and clear most of the day.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Young Robert Gravereat first came to the office in the capacity +of interpreter. It is a calm and mild day; the sun shines out. The +thermometer stands at 50° at 8 o'clock, A.M., and the weather appears to +be settled for the season. Miss Louisa Johnston comes to pass +the summer.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Ploughed potato land, the backward state of the season having +rendered it useless earlier. Even now the soil is cold, and requires to +lay some time after being ploughed up.</p> + +<p>The steamer "Oliver Newberry" arrives in the afternoon, bringing Detroit +dates of May 5th, and Washington dates a week later.</p> + +<p>The new brig "John Kinzie" enters the harbor on the 19th, bringing up +Gov. D.R. Porter, of Pennsylvania, and suit, with forty passengers.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. I may now advert to what the busy world has been about, while we +have been watching fields of floating ice, and battling it with the +elements through an entire season. A letter from E.A. Brush, Esq., +Washington, March 13th, says: "Nothing is talked about here, as I may +well presume you know from the papers, but the deposits and their +removal, and their restoration; and that frightful mother of all +mischief, the money maker (U.S. Bank). Every morning (the morning begins +here at twelve, meridian) the Senate chamber is thronged with ladies and +feathers, and their obsequious satellites, to hear the sparring. Every +morning a speech is made upon presentation of some petition representing +that the country is overwhelmed with ruin and disasters, and that the +fact is notorious and palpable; or, that the country is highly +prosperous and flourishing, and that everybody knows it. One, that its +only safety lies in the continuance of the Bank; and the other, that our +liberties will be prostrated if it is re-chartered. Of course, the well +in which poor truth has taken refuge, in this exigency, is very deep.</p> + +<p>"But the Senate is, at this moment, an extraordinary constellation of +talent. There is Mr. Webster, and Mr. Clay, and Mr. Calhoun, and a +no-way inferior, Mr. Preston, the famous debater in the South Carolina +troubles, and Mr. Benj. Watkins Leigh, the equally celebrated ambassador +near the government of South Carolina. All are ranged on one side, and +it is a phalanx as formidable, in point of moral force, as the +twenty-four can produce. Mr. Forsyth is the atlas upon whose shoulders +are made to rest all the sins of the administration. Every shaft flies +at him, or rather is intended for others through him; and his Ajax +shield of seven bull hides is more than once pierced, in the course of +the frequent encounters to which he is invited, and from which they will +not permit him to secede. But it is all talk. They will do nothing. A +constitutional majority in the Senate (two-thirds) is very doubtful, and +a bare one in the House, still more problematical. Of course, you are +aware that the executive has expressed its unyielding determination not +to sign a bill for the re-charter, or to permit a restoration of +the deposits.</p> + +<p>"Houses are cracking in the cities, as if in the midst of an earthquake, +and there is hardly a man engaged in mercantile operations (I might say +not one) who will not feel the 'pressure.'"</p> + +<p>Major W. Whiting writes from Detroit, March 28th: "I spoke of the +project of a road to Mackinack, which you wished me to bear in mind. The +Secretary approved the project, and the Quarter-Master General said it +might be done without a special appropriation. I was authorized to have +the survey made as soon as the season will permit, and an officer has +reported to me for that purpose. He will start from Saginaw some time in +the next month, to make a reconnoisance of the country, and will appear +at the head of the peninsula when perhaps you little expect such +a visitor.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the survey shall be completed, the cutting out will be put +under contract. When this road shall be completed, you will feel more +neighborly to us. The express will be able to perform the journey in +half the time, and, of course, the trips can be multiplied."</p> + +<p><i>June 4th</i>. Reuben Smith, a Mission scholar of the Algonquin lineage, +determines to leave his temporary employment at the agency, and complete +his education at the eastward.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Ossiganac, an Ottawa, who was formerly interpreter at the British +post at Drummond Island, says that Ottawa tradition points back to the +Manitouline Islands, as the place of their origin. They call those +islands Ottawa Islands, and Lake Huron Ottawa Lake. They call Lake +Superior Chippewa Lake. All the Ottawas, he says, of L'Arbre Croche, +Grand River, &c., came from the Ottawa or Manitouline Islands. The +French first found them there.<a name="FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73">[73]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor73">[73]</a> This is pretty well for Indian tradition, but is not so, in +truth, as Charlevoix's Hist. of New France denotes. +</blockquote> + +<p>They migrated down Lake Michigan, and lived with the Potawattomies. +After awhile, the Potawattomies growing uneasy of their presence, +accused them of using bad medicine, which was the cause of their people +dying. The Ottawas replied, that if they were jealous of them, they +would retire, and they accordingly withdrew up the peninsula. While in +the course of withdrawing, one of their number was killed by the +Potawattomies.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Ossiganac, at an interview at my house this afternoon, says that +the Ottawas of Maumee, Ohio, sent a message to the Ottawas of L'Arbre +Croche, in Governor Hull's time--consequently between 1805 and +1812--saying: "We were originally of one fire, and we wish to come back +again to you, that we may all derive heat again from the same fire."</p> + +<p>The Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche replied: "True, but you took a coal to +warm yourselves by. Now, it will be better that you remain by your own +coal, which you saw fit long ago to take from our fire. Remain where you +are." From that day the Ottawas of Maumee have said nothing more about +joining us.</p> + +<p>Now (1834) the Potawattomies come with a request to join our fire. +Shall we receive them, when we refused our brethren, who are more nearly +related to us? I think not.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. The Little Bear Skin, Muk-ons-e-wy-an-ais, of Manistee, inquires +respecting the truth of a rumor, that the Potawattomies, since selling +their lands at Chicago, are coming to the North, amongst the Ottawas and +Chippewas. He deprecates such a movement. Says the habits of the +Potawattomies are so different that they would not be satisfied were +they to come. Their horses are their canoes. They know nothing of +traveling by water; beyond shore navigation. They are sea-sick on +the lakes.</p> + +<p>Little Bear Skin says he lives on the first forks of the Manistee. +Although a Chippewa, he is in the habit of cultivating gardens. He is +originally, by his parents, from the North--is related to the St. Mary's +and Taquimenon Indians. He himself was born on the Manistee. He is a +temperance man.</p> + +<p>Cherry trees in full bloom. The steamer "Uncle Sam" enters the harbor, +being the first of a line established to Chicago.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Apple and plum trees pretty full in flower.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mrs. Robert Stuart makes a handsome present of conchological +species from foreign localities to be added to my cabinet.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Major Whistler interdicts preaching in the fort. Mr. B. Stuart, +having returned recently from the East, resumes the superintendence of +the Sabbath School at the Mission, from which I had relieved him in +the autumn.</p> + +<p>I have written these sketches for my own satisfaction and the +refreshment of my memory, in the leading scenes and events of my first +winter on the island, giving prominence to the state and changes of the +weather, the occurrences among the natives, and the moral, social, and +domestic events around me. But the curtain of the world's great drama is +now fully raised, by our free commercial and postal union with the +region below us; new scenes and topics daily occur, which it would be +impossible to note if I tried, and which would be useless if possible. +Hereafter my notices must be of isolated things, and may be "few and +far between."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI."></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<p>Trip to Detroit--American Fur Company; its history and +organization--American Lyceum; its objects--Desire to write books on +Indian subjects by persons not having the information to render them +valuable--Reappearance of cholera--Mission of Mackinack; its history and +condition--Visit of a Russian officer of the Imperial Guards--Chicago; +its prime position for a great <i>entrepôt</i>--Area and destiny of the +Mississippi Valley.</p> + +<p>1834. About the first of July, I embarked for Detroit, for the purpose +chiefly of meeting the Secretary of War, during his summer refuge from +the busy scenes at Washington. There were some questions to be decided +important to my duties at Mackinack and St. Mary's, arising from recent +changes in the laws or regulations. He wrote to me on the 21st of July, +from the White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, that he should probably +reach Detroit before the 10th or 12th of August; but his delay had been +protracted so much, that after reaching the city I felt compelled to +return to my agency without seeing him.</p> + +<p>One reason for this step, which operated upon my mind, was the change in +the partnership and management of the affairs of the American Fur +Company, consequent on Mr. John Jacob Astor's withdrawal from it. This +company was founded by this noted and successful merchant's having +purchased, at the close of the war, about 1815, the trading posts, +consisting of buildings, property, &c., of the British North-West +Company, who had been so long the commercial, and to all practical +intents, the political lords of the regions of the north-west. He +organized the concern in shares, under an act of incorporation of the +Legislature of New York, and began operations by establishing his +central point of interior action at Michilimackinack. This was in 1816. +From data submitted at a treaty at Prairie du Chien by Mr. R. Stuart, +the whole capital invested in the business, was not less than 300,000 +dollars. The interior sub-posts were spread over the entire area of the +frontiers up to the parallel of 59° north latitude, extending to the +Missouri. Together with the posts, indeed, the North-West Company turned +over, in effect, some of its agents and the principal part of its +clerks, interpreters, and boatmen for this area, who were, I believe, +without a single exception, foreigners, chiefly Canadian French, +Scotchmen, Irishmen, and perhaps a few Englishmen.</p> + +<p>Congress passed an act the same year (1816) providing that this trade +should be carried on under licenses, by American citizens, who were +permitted, however, to employ this class of foreigners, by entering into +bonds for their proper conduct. This created a class of duties for the +agents, on the line of the Canada frontiers, which was at all times +onerous. To carry on the trade at all, the old and experienced "servants +of the N.W.," as they were called, were necessary, and it was sometimes +essential to take out the license in the names of American boys, or +persons by no means competent, by their experience in this trade, to +conduct the business, which was, in fact, still in the hands of the old +employees.</p> + +<p>It was a false theory, from the start, that ardent spirits was one of +the articles necessary to trade. Congress entertained an opinion of its +injuriousness to the character of the Indians, and passed laws excluding +it. This constituted another class of duties of the agents who were +entrusted with their execution, and required them to "search packages," +and to judge of the probabilities of all persons applying for licenses +keeping the laws.</p> + +<p>To expect that this mixed body of foreigners would exert any very +favorable political influence on the mass of Indian minds in the +north-west, was indulging a hope not very likely to be fulfilled. They +were employed to glean the Indian lodges of furs, and expected to make +good returns to their employers at Michilimackinack; and, if they kept +the ground of neutrality with respect to governments, it was considered +as exempting them from censure.</p> + +<p>The great body of the Indians in the upper lakes, and throughout the +north-west, extending to the sources of the Mississippi, were averse to +the American rule. Many of them had been embodied to fight against the +Americans, who were successively met by ambuscade, surprise, or +otherwise, as at Chicago, at Michilimackinack, Brownstown, River Raisin, +Maumee, Fort Harrison, and other places. They had been assembled in +large bodies, by the delusive prophesyings of Elksatawa, and by the not +less delusive promises of the agents of the British Indian Department, +on the lines, that the Americans were to be driven back to the line of +the Illinois, if not of the Ohio--an old and very popular idea with the +lake Indians from early days.</p> + +<p>The lake Indians had suffered severely from the war, chiefly from the +camp fevers and irregularities. They had finally been defeated--their +great war captain killed, their false prophet driven from the Wabash +into Canada; and, to crown the whole, were themselves abandoned, one and +all, by their allies, at the treaty of Ghent. Many never returned to the +homes of their fathers--entire villages were depopulated, and their +sites overgrown in a few years with shrubbery. Those who came back from +the active campaign of 1814, were sullen and desponding. As an evidence +of what they had suffered, and how completely they had been abandoned by +their allies, the transactions of the first treaty at Springwells, at +the close of the war, may be referred to. The tribes were literally +starving and in rags.</p> + +<p>The agents of the Executive and Governors, who were appointed to conduct +their intercourse after the war, were, in reality, called to execute a +high class of diplomatic functions, second only in general importance to +those required at the prime courts of Europe. The several classes of +duties which have been described denote, to some extent, in what this +importance consisted. Eighteen years had now elapsed since this +important commercial company had furnished traders to the discomfited +tribes. During twelve years of this period I had had charge of the +intercourse with by far the largest and most unfriendly and warlike of +the tribes; and, when I saw that Mr. Astor had disconnected himself from +the concern which he had organized; and that, to some extent, new agents +and actors were called to the field, I felt anxious to be at my post, to +supervise, personally, the intercourse act, and to see that no improper +persons should enter the country.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Dr. L.D. Gale, of New York, writes me that the American Lyceum +has resolved to enlarge the scope of its objects. "We have, therefore," +he remarks, "as we now stand, 1. The department of education. 2. The +department of physical science. 3. Moral and political science. 4. +Literature and the arts. The influence of the society has been very much +enlarged since its last meeting, and it now enrolls amongst its active +members many, indeed I may say a large share of the most valuable men of +science of the United States. The chief object of the physical science +department is to obtain, as far as possible, a report of the recent +history and progress, and, in some cases, the future prospects of the +different departments. So that we may be enabled to form a volume of +transactions that shall embrace all that is new or recent in the +departments, posted up to the present time.</p> + +<p>"The subject of the antiquities of the western countries of the United +States, and especially the remains of towns and fortifications, which +appear to have been built by a civilized population, has been frequently +agitated this side of the Alleghanies, and it was thought by the +executive committee that justice would be done to the subject in your +hands. They have, accordingly, requested that you would consent to give +them a paper on the subject. They presumed that you were in possession +of much interesting and valuable matter that has never yet come to the +eyes of the world."</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. I have been often written to, by persons at a distance wishing +for information on the Indian tribes, or their languages, or +antiquities, and uniformly responded favorably to such applications, +sending a little where it was not practicable to do more. It has ever +appeared to me, that the giving of information was just one of those +points which rendered me not a whit more ignorant myself, and might add +something to the knowledge, as it certainly would to the gratifications +of others. The only good objection is, that time and attention is +required for every such effort. But cannot this be easily redeemed from +waste hours, when the object is to add to the moral gratifications +of others?</p> + +<p>A letter was addressed to me, this day, from a Mr. H. Newcomb, +Alleghany, near Pittsburg, which certainly seems a little onerous in the +tax it imposes on my time; as the writer announces his intention of +publishing two or three volumes, on the subject of the Indians, and +presents a formidable array of subjects respecting which he is to treat. +In only one respect it strikes me as singular, namely, that any writer +west of the Alleghanies should set down to write a work on such a +subject, without personal observation. In older areas, where the Indian +has disappeared, books must alone be relied on; but in the West, there +should be something fresh, something distinctive and personal, to give +vitality to such a work. The writer observes, "I have not yet been able +to obtain materials for the first two volumes satisfactory to myself."</p> + +<p><i>August 1st</i>. Mr. Theodore Dwight, Jr., writes: "Cannot a syllabic, or +semi-syllabic alphabet, be applied to our Indian tongues?"</p> + +<p>Rev. Leonard Woods, Jr., of New York, Editor of the New York Theological +Review, desires a paper on the subject of the American Indians. "I have +found," he says, "that while the subject is one of very general +interest, there are few who possess the requisite information to do +it justice."</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The cholera, which first appeared in this country in 1833, made +its second appearance in Detroit, in the month of July. It was not, +however, of the same virulence as the first attack. "From present +appearances," writes a friend at that place, "the cholera is vanishing." +Having matters of eminent concern there, I determined to make a brief +visit to the place. My health was very good, and had never, indeed, been +subject to violent fluctuations of the digestive functions, and, after +attaining the object, I returned to Mackinack. I again visited Detroit +for a short time, during the latter part of August, and resumed my +position at Mackinack in September. Indian affairs, in the upper lakes, +were now hastening to a crisis, which in a year or two, developed +themselves in extensive sales of territory by the Indians, who, as game +failed, saw themselves in straits. These events will be mentioned as +they take definite shapes of action.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 2d</i>. Mr. David Green, Secretary of the Board of Commissioners for +American Missions, Missionary Rooms, Boston, depicts a crisis in the +mission at Mackinack. "Your favor by Mr. Ferry," he remarks, "has come +to hand. As you anticipated, he has requested our Missionary Board to +relieve him from the missionary service, and they, though with much +reluctance, have granted his request. He seems fully convinced that he +is not likely to be hereafter useful, to any great extent, in connection +with the Mackinack mission; and that the claims of his family call him +to a different situation. This movement on his part, though he has +before suggested that such a step might be expedient, was quite +unexpected by us at this time; and I fear that we shall not find it easy +to obtain a suitable man to fill his place. No such person is now at our +disposal. I have written to the Rev. Dr. Peters, of New York, Secretary +of the American Home Missionary Society, stating the circumstances of +the place, inquiring if it would not properly fall within that portion +of the Lord's Vineyard, and whether they could not furnish a suitable +man to cultivate it.</p> + +<p>"That Society, as well as ours, is, I believe, pressed for missionaries +on every hand. The prayers of all the Lord's people should be, in these +exigencies, 'Send forth laborers into thy harvest.' <i>Men of devoted +piety and zeal, and of high intellectual character, and judgment, and +enterprise, are needed in great numbers both in our own land and +abroad</i>. The want of such men is now the most serious impediment which +our societies have to contend with.</p> + +<p>"You may be assured, sir, that we shall do all in our power, consistent +with the claims of our other missions, to send some person to Mackinack; +but we cannot promise to succeed immediately. Mr. Ferry, we hope, will +remain the next spring.</p> + +<p>"Some embarrassment is felt by our Board, from the fact that foreign +fields, offering access to densely populated districts, where millions +speaking the same language, can be easily approached--are more +attractive to the candidates for the missionary work than the small, +scattered, and migratory bands of our Indians.</p> + +<p>"I fear that a preference of this nature will cause our friends--the +Indians--to be neglected, if not forgotten. As Providence seems, in so +many ways, to be against the Indians, I often fear that no considerable +portion of them are ever to enjoy the blessings of civilization and +Christianity. But we must leave them in the hands of God, after using +faithfully the means which he places at our disposal."</p> + +<p>"We are glad to hear that you still approve of the course pursued by our +missionaries in the north-west, and that the advancement of the cause of +Christ, in that quarter, is still a subject of care with you, and truth, +and divine grace, will enable you rightly to bear the responsibility in +this respect, which rests on you."</p> + +<p>I have put in italics, in the above letter, a high moral truth, which +accords with all my observation and experience on the frontiers; and +upon the due appreciation and carrying out of which, the success of the +missionary cause over the world, in my judgment, depends. It is a +sentence that should be inscribed in letters of gold in every missionary +room in America. It is certainly a mistake to send feeble men on the +frontier, who are not deemed to have sufficient energy, talents, and +sound discretion to enter foreign fields. Our frontiers are full of +cavillers, and shrewd and bold gainsayers of Christianity, men of +personal energy and will, who generally stand aloof from such efforts, +and who, when they come into contact with missionary laborers, judge +them by common rules of judgment--who are, indeed, not the best fitted +to estimate "devoted piety and zeal," but who are, nevertheless, +disposed to respect it, in proportion as it is joined with "high +intellectual character, and judgment, and enterprise." In the frequent +want of this--we do not include Mackinack in this category--is to be +sought the true cause of our failures with the Indians, to whom the +strange and intense story of the Gospel appears at first in something as +wild and marvelous as some of their own relations; and who are, at any +rate, firmly fixed in their heathenish rites and devotions to a subtil +system of deism, and the invocation of gods of the elements and demons.</p> + +<p>With respect to the mission of Mackinack, its influence, on the whole, +has been eminently good, and not evil. Mr. Ferry possessed business +talents of a high order, with that strict reference to moral +responsibilities and accountabilities, which compose the golden fibres +of the Gospel net. He sought to bring all, white and red men, into this +net; and its influences were extensively spread from that central point +into the Indian country. He gathered, from the remotest quarters, the +half-breed children of the traders and clerks, into a large and well +organized boarding school, where they were instructed in the points +essential to their becoming useful and respectable men and women. They +were then sent abroad as teachers and interpreters, and traders' clerks, +over a wide space of wilderness, where they disseminated Gospel +principles. Many of their parents also embraced Christianity. Many of +the girls turned out to be ladies of finished education and manners, and +married officers of the army or citizens. There were some pure Indian +converts of both sexes, among whom was the chief prophet of the +Ottawas--the aged Chusco. In 1829, after seven years' labor, he +witnessed a revival among the citizens of that town, which appeared to +be his crowning labor, and it had the effect to renovate the place, and +for many years to drive vice and disorder, if not entirely away, into +holes and corners, where they avoided the light. He came to this island +first, to begin his mission, I believe, in 1822. The effort to set up a +mission there seemed as wild and hopeless, to common judgments, as it +would be to dig down the pyramids of the Nile with a pin. I defended its +course of proceedings from an unjust attack in the legislative council +of the territory, in 1830, having had extensive opportunities to scan +its principles and workings--which were only offensive to worldly men, +because, in upholding the Gospel banner, a shrewd knowledge of business +transactions was at the same time evinced. To be a fool in worldly +things is sometimes supposed, by the wits of the world, to be an +evidence of pious zeal.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Being on my passage this day up the River St. Clair, in the +steamboat "Gen. Gratiot," in company with several others, I asked Capt. +Wm. Thorn several historical questions respecting the settlement of +Michilimackinack. The following memoranda embrace his replies: He is a +native of Newport, Rhode Island, although he was for many years engaged, +before the transfer of posts in 1796, in sailing British vessels on the +lakes, and therefore deemed, when he was taken prisoner during the late +war, to have been a British subject.</p> + +<p>He says he began his voyages to old Mackinack seven years before the +removal of the post to the Island. This was, he says, in 1767. The post +was then in command of a Capt. Glazier, afterwards of De Peyster (who +subsequently commanded at Detroit), then of Patrick Sinclair (who had +previously built a fort at the mouth of Pine River--St. Clair Co. seat), +and then of Gov. Sinclair (so called). The Indians, at the massacre of +the garrison of old Mackinack, did not burn the fort. It was +re-occupied, and it was not till the breaking out of the revolutionary +war that the removal from the main to the island took place. It must +have been (if he is correct as to the period of seven years) in 1774, +and the occupancy of the island is, therefore, coincident with the +earliest period of the movement for Independence--fifty-nine years.<a name="FNanchor74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74">[74]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor74">[74]</a> See <i>ante</i>. +</blockquote> + +<p>Previous to that era, Mackinack was the spot where the men stopped to +shave and dress preparatory to the traverse. About the time Capt. Thorn +first began sailing to old Mackinack, the Indians plundered a boat at +the island while the owner stopped to dress, in consequence of which +the interpreter at the old post (Hanson, I think) went over to demand +redress, and killed the depredator, an Indian.</p> + +<p>My inquiries on this topic of old men, red and white, which were +commenced last spring, may here drop. It is now rendered certain that +the occupancy of old Mackinack--the Beekwutinong of the Indians--was +kept up by British troops till 1774; between that date and 1780 the flag +was transferred (the letters of the commanding officers to their +generals would alone give this date). The principal traders, probably, +went with it; the Indian intercourse likewise. Some residents lingered a +few years, but the place was finally abandoned, and the town site is now +covered with loose sand. The walls of the fort, which are of stone, +remain, and the whole site constitutes an interesting ruin. The post was +first founded by Marquette as a missionary station about 1668.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Major Whiting, of Detroit, writes a letter of introduction in +the following terms:--</p> + +<p>"Captain Tchehachoff, of the Russian Imperial Guards, is traveling +through our country with a view to see its extent and null--its +geographical and scenic varieties. As he proposes to visit +Michilimackinack, I wish him to become acquainted with you, who can give +him so much information relative to those portions of it which he may +not be able to visit. I have put into his hands some of your works, +which may have anticipated something you will have to say.</p> + +<p>"He is, probably, the first Russian who has been on our N.W. interior +since the enterprising gentlemen who thought to speculate on the 'copper +rock.' But Capt. Tchehachoff has no other views than those of an +enlightened and disinterested observer. I am sure that it will give you +pleasure to show him all kindly attentions."</p> + +<p>Capt. Tchehachoff visited the island during the month, and accepted an +invitation to spend a few days with me. He repaid me for this attention +with much agreeable conversation and many anecdotes of Russia, Germany +(where he was educated), and Poland. He possesses a character of extreme +interest to me, as being a Circassian, or descendant of that people, who +are the local representatives of the Circassian race. He was very fair +in complexion, and possessed a fine, manly, tall, and well-proportioned +figure, and a beautiful red and white countenance, with dark hair and +eyes. He spoke English very well, but with a broad Scottish, or rather +provincial accent, on some words, which he had evidently got from his +early teacher--whom he told me was a female--such as <i>ouwn</i>, for +own, &c.</p> + +<p>He told me that, on Mr. Randolph's first presentation to the Russian +Empress, he kneeled, although he had been notified that such a ceremony +would not be expected of him. He told some very characteristic anecdotes +of the wild pranks of the German students at the university. He was, I +think, in some way related to descendants of Count Orloff, who was so +remarkably strong and compact of muscle that he could push an iron +spike, with his thumb, to its head in the sides or planking of a vessel.</p> + +<p>Capt. Tchehachoff was certainly strong himself; he had a powerful +strength of hands and arms. He used great politeness, and was very +punctilious on entering the dining-room, &c. He interested himself in +the apparently tidal phenomena of strong currents setting through the +harbor and straits, which were in fine view from the piazza of my house, +and made some notes upon them. He asked me why I had not concentrated +and published my travels, and various works respecting the geology of +the Western country, and the history and philology of the aboriginal +tribes--subjects of such deep and general interest to the philosopher of +Europe. One morning early in October (9th), he bade us an affectionate +adieu, and embarked in a schooner for Chicago.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 10th</i>. Chicago is now the centre of an intense and everyday +growing commercial excitement, and however the value of every foot of +ground and <i>water</i> of its site is over-estimated, and its prospects +inflated, it is evidently the nucleus of a permanent city, destined to +be one of the great lake capitals.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Jer. Porter, our former pastor at St. Mary's, who was the first +of his church order, I believe, to carry the Gospel there in 1833, +writes me, under this date, detailing his labors and prospects. These +are flattering, and go to prove that the religious element, if means be +used, is everywhere destined to attend the tread of the commercial and +political elements of power into the great area of the Valley of the +Mississippi. Chicago is, in fact, the first and great city of the +prairies, where the abundance of its products are destined to be +embarked to find a northern market by the way of the lakes, without the +risks of entering southern latitudes. This is an advantage which it will +ever possess. Nature has opened the way for a heavy tonnage by the lake +seas. Other modes of transportation may divert passengers and light +goods, but the staples must ever go in ships, propelled by wind or +steam, through the Straits of Mackinack.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII."></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<p>Philology--Structure of the Indian languages--Letter from Mr. +Duponceau--Question of the philosophy of the Chippewa syntax--Letter +from a Russian officer on his travels in the West--Queries on the +physical history of the North--Leslie Duncan, a maniac--Arwin on the +force of dissipation--Missionary life on the sources of the +Mississippi--Letter from Mr. Boutwell--Theological Review--The Territory +of Michigan, tired of a long delay, determines to organize a State +Government.</p> + +<p>1834. <i>Oct. 11th</i>. Mr. Peter S. Duponceau, of Philadelphia, addresses me +on the structure of the Indian languages, in terms which are very +complimentary, coming, as they do, as a voluntary tribute from a person +whom I never saw, and who has taken the lead in investigations on this +abtruse topic in America. "I have read," he remarks, "with very great +pleasure, your interesting narrative of the expedition to the sources of +the Mississippi, and particularly your lectures on the Chippewa +language, and the vocabulary which follows it. It is one of the most +philosophical works on the Indian languages I have ever read; it gives a +true view of their structure, without exaggeration or censure, and must +satisfy the mind of every rational man. It is a matter of sincere regret +that you have proceeded in your lectures no farther than the noun, and +your vocabulary no farther than the letter B. It is much to be hoped +that the work will be completed. I should hope that our government could +have no objection to printing it at its expense, as a national work,<a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75">[75]</a> +indispensably necessary for the instruction of our agents and +interpreters, and even the military officers employed among the Indians."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor75">[75]</a> This was begun thirteen years afterwards, when a general +investigation into the subject of the Indians generally, was directed by +Congress, and placed in my hands. <i>Vide</i> Information respecting the +History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United +States. Part I. Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851. +</blockquote> + +<p>"The Chippewa, like the Algonquin of old,<a name="FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76">[76]</a> is the common language of +business among the Indians, and is as necessary among them as the French +is in the courts of Europe. The object of this letter, sir, is to be +informed whether the remainder of the work is to be published. If +government will not do it, some of our learned societies might. At any +rate, sir, if my services can be of use to you for this object, I shall +be happy to do everything in my power to aid it."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor76">[76]</a> The languages are, in fact, identical in structure; the +word Chippewa being a comparatively modern term, which was not used by +the old French writers of the missionary era. +</blockquote> + +<p>This testimony, from the first and most learned philologist in America, +gratified and agreeably surprised me. I had studied the Chippewa +language alone in the forest, without the aid of learned men, or books +to aid me. I addressed myself to it with ardor, it is true, and with the +very best oral helps, precisely as I would to investigate any moral or +physical truth. I found that nouns and verbs had a ground form, or root; +that this root carried its general and primary meaning into all words or +phrases of which it was a compound; and that every syllable or sound of +a letter, put before or behind it, conveyed a new and distinct meaning. +By keeping the purposes of a strict philological analysis before me, and +by preserving a record of my work, the language soon revealed its +principles. When I had attained a clear idea of these principles myself, +and had verified them by reference to, and discussion with, the best +native speakers, I could as clearly state them to another. This is what +Mr. Duponceau means by the term "most philosophical." The philosophy of +the syntax I did not in any respect overstate, but merely recognized or +discovered.</p> + +<p>In one respect it seemed to me a far more simple language than this +eminent writer had represented the Indian languages generally. And this +was in this very philosophy of its syntax. By synthesis I understand the +opposite of analysis--the one resolving into its elements what the other +compounds. If so, the synthesis of the Chippewa language is clearly, to +my mind, homogeneous and of a piece--a perfect unity, in fact It seems +to be, all along, the result of one kind of reasoning, or thinking, or +philosophizing. If, therefore, by the term "polysynthetic," which Mr. +Duponceau, in 1819, introduced for the class of Indian languages, it be +meant that its grammar consists of many syntheses, or plans of thought, +it did not appear to me that the Chippewa was polysynthetic. But this I +could not state to a man of his learning and standing with the literary +public, without incurring the imputation of rashness or assumption.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. P. de Tchehachoff, the Russian gentleman before named, writes to +me in the idiom of a foreigner, from Peoria, on his progress through the +western country. "I am anxious," he remarks, "to take advantage of the +first opportunity of writing to you from this remote western world, +where since seven days I did not meet with any other beings but wolves +and money-getting Yankees. I must acknowledge that one must have a large +lot of curiosity to visit these one-fourth civilized regions (that are +by far worse than any real wilderness), for, although they are getting +settled at an incredible speed, they don't offer to the mere lover of +the beauties of nature, or improvement of human civilization, any great +charm. Here nature is rich, but, <i>farmerly</i> or <i>businessly</i> speaking, +killingly prosaic--no romance--no Lake Superior water--no +scenery--nothing, finally, that could captivate a poetical glance.</p> + +<p>"I am now writing these poor lines under a regular storm of +smoke-clouds, and chewing tobacco expectorations. I never experienced so +much the benefit of being brought up as a warlike soldier, to stand all +that. However, my courage is sinking down, and, therefore, I shoot ahead +to-morrow at day-break, as fast as possible, either by water or by land. +The coaches here are rather comfortable, but extremely slow.</p> + +<p>"As I intend to make but a very short stay in St. Louis and Ohio, I'll +not be able to have the pleasure of writing to you again before reaching +New York or Havana; but, if you continue always to be, for me, as kind +as formerly, I hope you'll grant me the particular favor of writing to +me once in a while. This will be an impudent theft, on my part, of time +so usefully consecrated to scientific pursuits. Still I flatter myself +you'll pardon it, consequently founded on that (perhaps gratuitous) +supposition. I'll ask you to direct your letter to Charleston, South +Carolina (until called for), towards the middle of the next month, and, +if possible, answer me on the following queries: 1. What are the +inducements to imagine that any volcanic action exists in the Porcupine +Mountains, and mentioning, approximately, their distance from the +Ontonagon River; and their probable influence on the diffusion of the +copper ores and copper boulders on its shores? 2. What are the most +accurate or probable limits (by degrees) of the primitive region of +North America; and whether it forms any chain, or has any probable +communication with all its different branches, or the main ridges of the +Cordilleras or Andes? 3. Is there any remarkable evaporation, or any +other hygrometric phenomenon, or influence of currents that sustains the +level of Lakes Superior and Michigan, so diametrically opposite in their +geographical situation? 4. What constitutes, mainly, the predominating +geognostic features of Lake Superior, the Upper Mississippi, and the +Missouri? I shall be extremely happy to see these problems solved."</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. This day terminated, at St. Mary's, the melancholy fate of poor +Leslie Duncan. Insanity is dreadful in all its phases. This man wrote to +me early in the spring for some favor, which I granted. He was a dealer +in merchandise, in a small way, at St. Mary's, where he was known as a +reputable, modest, and temperate man, who had been honorably discharged, +with some small means, from the army. He visited Detroit in May to renew +his stock. Symptoms of aberration there showed themselves, which became +very decided after his return. Utter madness supervened. It was +necessary to confine him in a separate building, and to chain him to a +post, where he passed five months as an appalling spectacle of a human +being, without memory, affection, or judgment, and perpetually goaded by +the most raving passion. It appeared that the piles--a disease under +which he had suffered for many years--had been cured by exsection or +scarifying, which healed the issue, but threw the blood upon his brain.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A functionary of the general government at Washington writes me, +to bespeak my favorable interest for the wayward son of a friend. Arwin, +for I will call him by this name, was the son of a kind, intelligent, +and indulgent father, dwelling in the District of Columbia, who had +spared nothing to fit him for a useful and honorable life. The young man +also possessed a handsome person, and agreeable and engaging manners and +accomplishments. But his love for the coarser amusements of the world +and its dissipations, absorbed faculties that were suited for higher +objects. As a last, resort, he was commended to some adventurous +gentleman engaged in the fur trade on the higher Missouri; where, it was +hoped, the stern realities of life would arrest his mind, and fix it on +nobler pursuits. But a winter or two in those latitudes appeared to have +wrought little change. He came to Mackinack, on his way back to +civilized life, late in the fall of 1834, exhausted in means, poor and +shabby in his wardrobe, and evidently not a pilgrim from the "land of +steady habits."</p> + +<p>I invited him to my house, in the hope of winning him over to the side +of morals, gave him a bed and plate, and treated him with courteous and +respectful attention. He was placed under restraint by these attentions, +but it was found to be restraint only. He was secretly engaged in +dissipations, which finally became so low, that I was compelled to leave +him to pursue his course, and thus to witness another example of the +application of that striking remark of Dr. Johnson, "that negligence and +irregularity, if long continued, will render knowledge useless, wit +ridiculous, and genius contemptible."</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 29th</i>. The rough scenes required by a missionary life on the +sources of the Mississippi, are depicted in a letter from the Rev. W.S. +Boutwell, who has just planted himself among the Pillagers at Leech +Lake. This is the same gentleman who accompanied me to Itasca Lake in +1835. "Your favors," he says, "of April 28th and July 26th, are before +me; and would that I could command time to compensate you for at least +half! But look at a man whose head and hands are full of cares and +duties. The only time I get to write is stolen, if I may so say, from +the hours of repose. October the ninth I arrived here. There was not a +sack of corn nor rice to be bought or sold. I had but two men, and with +these a house must be built and a winter's stock of fish laid up. What +must be done? I will briefly tell you what I did. Four days after my +arrival I sent my fisherman to Pelican Island, and pulled off my coat +and shouldered my axe, and led the other into the bush to make a house. +In about ten days, with the help of one man, I had the timber cut and on +the spot for a log-cottage twenty-two by twenty-four. Some part of this +I not only cut, but assisted in carrying on my own back. But for every +inch of over-exertion I got my pay at night, when I was sure to be +'double and twisted' with the rheumatism. I have located about two miles +east of the old fort, where you counseled with the Indians at this +place. As you cross the point of land upon which the old fort is built, +you fall on a beautiful bay, a mile and a half broad, on the east side +of which I have located, in the midst of a delightful grove of maples. +South-west, three-fourths of a mile, is the present trading house.</p> + +<p>"When I arrived I had not sufficient corn to feed my men three days. +There was also at that time a great scarcity of fish. But the God of +Elijah did not forsake us. We soon were in the midst of plenty. On the +11th of the present instant my fisherman returned, having been absent +not quite four weeks, and with but four nets, yet I had nearly 6000 +tulibees (this is a small species of whitefish) on my scaffold. My +house, in the meantime, was going forward, though rather tardily, with +but one man. In two days more I hope to quit my bark lodge for my log +and mud-walled cottage, though it has neither chair nor three-legged +stool, table nor bedstead. But all this does not frighten me. No, it is +good for a man sometimes to stand in need, that he may the better know +how to feel for his fellow-man.</p> + +<p>"You mention the receipt of a letter from Mr. Greene, relative to the +field at Fond du Lac. I am happy to hear so full an expression of your +views in relation to that post. As the Board were unable to supply a +teacher, Mr. Hall, on visiting them in September, with myself and Mr. +Ely--we were all of the same opinion, that it must be occupied--and +finally, with the advice of Mr. Aitkin, concluded that it was best for +Mr. Ely to pass the winter there. Mr. Cotè was also very desirous of a +school being opened. Sandy Lake, of course, is without a teacher this +winter. I was not a little disappointed, after the repeated assurances +and encouragements of the Board to expect aid, and after the provision I +had made for a fellow-laborer, to be directed to return and pass another +winter as I did the past. Suffice it to say, I have learned more of +Indian habits, customs, prejudices, &c., than I knew two years, or even +one year before.</p> + +<p>"To pass my time in the family of the trader, I could not avoid giving +the impression that I was more interested in the trade than in their +temporal and spiritual welfare. To live alone I could not, and live +above their suspicion from the habits of single men who are engaged in +the trade. To live in the family with my hired man, would be quite as +bad. I, therefore, concluded that the time had now come when duty was +too imperious not to receive a hearing. A sense of duty, duty to God, +the cause of Christianity, myself and this people, therefore, led me to +change my condition.</p> + +<p>"I am giving you no news (I presume), only the reasons which satisfy +myself, and that for an enlightened moral being is enough, at least it +is all I need or wish to meet friend or foe.</p> + +<p>"The Indians now are all at their wintering grounds, and on good terms +with the Sioux, as I, this evening, learn from Mr. D., who has just +returned from an excursion among them. They have appeared quite as +friendly, and by far more civil, this fall than last."</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 8th</i>. Mr. Leonard Woods, and Dr. A.W. Ives, of New York, press me +to write for the pages of the <i>Theological Review</i>, a periodical of +great spirit and judgment in its department.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. The people of this territory have evinced, in various ways, +great uneasiness in not being admitted, by a preparatory act of +Congress, to the right of forming a state constitution, and admission +into the Union, agreeably to the Ordinance of 1787. The population has, +for some time, been more than sufficient to authorize one +representative. In some respects, the term of territorial probation and +privilege has been extraordinary, and bears a striking analogy to that +of a plant, thrice plucked up by the roots, and watered, and nourished, +and set out again. It has been <i>twenty-nine</i> years a territory, having +been first organized, I believe, in 1805, For the first seven years it +was under the government of Gen. Hull, by whom it was lost, and fell +under foreign conquest. It then had about a year of military government +under Gen. Brock, and, after being re-conquered in 1814, lived on, +awhile, under the rule of our own commanding generals. Gen. Cass was, I +think, appointed by Mr. Monroe, late in 1814, and governed it for the +long period of eighteen years. Geo. B. Porter succeeded, and, since his +death, there has been a confused interregnum of secretaries.</p> + +<p>"Thrice plucked up" was it, by the total destruction of Detroit (which +was in fact the territory) by fire in 1806, by the terrible Indian and +British war in 1812, and by the Indian war of the Black Hawk of 1832. It +has suffered in blood and toil more than any, or all the other +north-western territories together. It has been the entering point for +all hostilities from Canada; and, to symbolize its position, it has +been the anvil on which all the grand weapons of our Indian scath have +been hammered. Its old French and American families have been threshed +by the flail of war, like grain on a floor. And it is no wonder that the +people are tired of waiting for sovereignty, and think of taking the +remedy into their own hands. On the 9th of September, the Legislative +Council passed an act for taking the census. The result shows a +population of 85,856, in the fourteen lower counties, and the first +steps for a self-called convention are in progress.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIIII."></a>CHAPTER LIIII.</h2> + +<p>Indications of a moral revolution in the place--Political movements at +Detroit--Review of the state of society at Michilimackinack, arising +from its being the great central power of the north-west fur trade--A +letter from Dr. Greene--Prerequisites of the missionary +function--Discouragements--The state of the Mackinack Mission--Problem +of employing native teachers and evangelists--Letter of Mr. +Duponceau--Ethnological gossip--Translation of the Bible into +Algonquin--Don M. Najera--Premium offered by the French +Institute--Persistent Satanic influence among the Indian +tribes--Boundary dispute with Ohio--Character of the State Convention.</p> + +<p>1835. <i>Jan. 10th.</i> The year opened with some bright moral gleams. The +members of the church had, early in the autumn, felt the necessity of a +close union. Left by their esteemed pastor, who had been their "guide, +philosopher, and friend" for twelve years, and by some of its leading +members, they rested with more directness and simplicity of faith on +God. They ordained a fast. Evening and lecture meetings were observed to +be full of eager listeners. A marked attention was paid on the Sabbath +when Mr. J.D. Stevens, who had come into the harbor late in the fall, +bound westward, agreed to pass the winter and occupied Mr. Ferry's empty +desk. The Sabbath schools in the village and at the mission were +observed to be well attended. Indeed, it was not long in being noticed +that we were in the midst of a quiet and deeply-spread revival. Never, +it would seem, was there a truer exemplification of the maxim that "the +race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong," for we +had supposed ourselves to be shorn of all strength by the loss of our +pastor, by the failure of help from the Home Missionary Society, and by +the withdrawal from the island of some of our most efficient members. +This feeling of weakness and desertion was, in fact, the secret of our +strength, which laid in the church's humility. Ere we were aware of it, +a spirit of profound seriousness stole over the community like a soft +and gentle wind.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Maj. Whiting writes, from Detroit: "There is nothing new in the +political world, excepting that Michigan has no governor yet, and that +the council has authorized a convention to form a State Government next +April. Some think the step premature; others that it is all a matter of +course. The cold has been excessive on the Atlantic seaboard--down to +about 40° below zero in New England, and even 22° below at Washington. +Here we have had it hardly down to 0."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 3d</i>. Mr. Robert Stuart writes, from Brooklyn, in relation to the +revival in a portion of the inhabitants of this island, among whom he +has so long lived, in terms of Christian sympathy. Mackinack is a point +where, to amass "silver and gold," has been the great struggle of men +from the earliest days of our history. Few places on the continent have +been so celebrated a locality, for so long a period, of wild and +unlicensed enjoyment, for both <i>burgeois</i> and <i>voyageur</i> engaged in the +perilous and adventuresome business of the fur trade. Those who speak of +its history during the last half of the eighteenth and beginning of the +nineteenth century, depict the periods of the annual return of the +traders from their wintering stations in the great panorama of the +wilderness, east, west, north, and south, as a perfect carnival, in +which eating and drinking and wild carousals prevailed. The earnings of +a year were often spent in a week or a day. As to practical morality, it +was regarded by the higher order of "merchant-voyageurs" as something +spoken of in books, but not worth the while of a <i>bon vivant</i>. The +common hands, who paddled canoes and underwent the drudgery of the trade +(who were exclusively of the lower order of Canadian peasantry), squared +their moral accounts once a year with a well-conducted confessional +interview and a crown, and felt as happy as the "Christian Pilgrim" when +he had been relieved of his burden. It would, probably, be wrong to say +that the lordly Highlander, the impetuous son of Erin, or the proud and +independent Englishman, who vied with each other in feats of sumptuous +hospitality during these periods of relaxation, did much better on the +score of moral responsibilities. They broke, generally, nine out of the +ten commandments without a wince, but kept the other very scrupulously, +and would flash up and call their companions to a duel who doubted them +on that point. But of the practical things of religion, as they are +depicted by Paul and the Apostles, they lived in utter disregard; these +things were laid aside, like the heavier parts of Dr. Drowsy's sermon, +for "some more fitting opportunity," that is to say, till a fortune was +secured from the avails of "skins and peltries," and they returned +triumphantly to the precincts of civilized and Christian society. Of the +wild and picturesque Indian, who was ever a man most scrupulous of rites +and ceremonies, it was hardly deemed worth inquiry whether he had a +soul, or whether the deity of the elements, whom he worshiped under the +name of the Great Spirit, was not, in the language of the Universalist +Poet, "Jehovah, Jove, or Lord."</p> + +<p>A society which, like that of Michilimackinack, was based on such a +state of affairs but a few years back, could hardly be regarded without +strong solicitude, for my correspondent had been a witness, in the first +revival under Mr. Ferry, in 1828, of which he was himself a subject, +that there is a "POWER that breaketh the flinty heart in pieces, who +also giveth freely and upbraideth not." Most, of the subjects of hope at +this time were, however, of a younger growth and a more recent type of +migration. "May the spirit of Lord Jesus Christ," is his pious remark, +"be with, and direct you all in the great work of leading souls into the +kingdom of his grace! It is a fearful responsibility, but if you look to +him, and him alone, for guidance, he will bless and prosper +your efforts."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Rev. David Greene, Missionary Rooms, Boston, discusses in a +letter of this date, some questions respecting the policy and high +function of missionary labor--the present state of the Mackinack +mission; and the character and fitness of educated persons of the native +stocks for evangelists, which are of high importance. He remarks:--</p> + +<p>"All you write respecting the impropriety of being disheartened--the +demand of the Indians on our church, and candidates for missionary +service--the necessity of withdrawing our dependence for success and the +work of converting men, from any particular human instruments, and +placing them on God alone; and the propriety of having missionaries +released from secular cares and labors, as far as practicable, accords +perfectly with my own views, and, so far as I know, with those +entertained by our committee.</p> + +<p>"But the difficulty, after all, remains, of obtaining suitable persons +to carry forward our plans--of making our young men feel that they ought +to turn away from the millions, in the populous nations of Asia, and go +among our scattered tribes. Here is our whole ground of discouragement. +So far as conversions are concerned (and these are the great objects of +a missionary's labor), none of our missions have been more successful +than those among the Indians; and if we had a hundred men of the spirit +and activity of David Brainerd, or Eliot, I should have the strongest +expectations that all our Indian tribes would be converted without great +delay. But we have no prospect of obtaining them. I fear there are few +such in our churches.</p> + +<p>"I think that the mission of Mackinack has been a very successful one, +especially in exerting an extensive religious influence, and being, as +you justly remark, 'the nucleus of Christianity in the north-west.' How +far the recent changes in the arrangements of the American Fur Company +are going to affect its importance in these respects and others, I +cannot say, but our Committee are by no means disposed to relinquish it, +while there is a hope of doing sufficient good there to justify the +keeping up of the requisite establishment. The farm we do not wish to +retain, if we can sell it at a reasonable price. All the secular affairs +we would be glad to reduce, and intend to do it as soon as it can be +done without too great sacrifice of property. The family, we know, is +too large, and we hope it may be reduced; but there are some impediments +in the way of doing it at once, especially as the females there have +been worn out in the service, and possess a genuine missionary spirit. +We desire to obtain a missionary, and have made many inquiries for one, +but hear of none with whom the church and other residents, together with +the visitors at Mackinack, would be satisfied.</p> + +<p>"As to a school for evangelists and teachers. Do you think, dear sir, +that the persons of Indian descent could now be found, possessed of +piety, talents, good character, and a disposition to take this course of +life, in sufficient numbers to justify giving the school such a turn? +Or, are there youths sufficiently promising, though not pious, with +whose education you would think it advisable to proceed, hoping that, by +the blessings of God, they would be converted and made heralds of mercy +to their red brethren? I have supposed there were not, and that an +attempt of this kind would almost certainly prove abortive. A more +detailed knowledge of facts, which you are in a situation to possess, +might change my opinion. There is nothing we more desire and labor for, +at all our missions, than <i>good native helpers</i>. They are an invaluable +acquisition, but our experience teaches us that they are exceedingly +rare. Not one educated heathen youth in ten, even if pious when he +commences his studies, has been found fit for an office requiring +judgment, good common sense, and energy of character. Still we do not +think that this ought to deter us from attempts to raise up native +teachers and evangelists. Most of the work of converting the heathen +nations must unquestionably be performed by them. If the opening should +seem fair, we would try it at Mackinack."</p> + +<p><i>28th.</i> In a letter from Mr. Duponceau, respecting the publication of my +lectures on the grammatical structure of the Chippewa language, he +communicates the latest philological news in this and other parts of the +world, respecting the Indian languages.</p> + +<p>"You will not be a little astonished that a translation of the <i>Bible</i> +is now making at Rome into the Algonquin (which I presume to be the +same, or nearly the same as the Chippewa) language, under the auspices +of the present Pope, Gregory XVI. The translator is a French missionary, +who has long resided among those Indians in Canada. He has written a +grammar and dictionary of that idiom, which he writes me he is shortly +going to put to press. It will be curious to compare that grammar and +that dictionary with your own, and to see how far the two languages, the +Algonquin and the Chippewa, agree with or differ from each other. When I +was in Canada I heard much of this Mr. Thavenet, the name of that +missionary. He enjoys a great reputation in this country, and it seems +he has obtained the favor of the Pope.</p> + +<p>"We have in this city a Mexican gentleman, Don Manuel Najera, a man of +letters, well skilled in the Mexican and other Indian languages of that +country. He says they are all, as I call them, polysynthetic, and +resemble in that respect those of the Indians of the United States. One +only he excepts, the Othomi, and that, he says, is monosyllabic, like +the Chinese. He has translated into it, from the Greek, the eleventh Ode +of Anacreon, which I am going to present to the Philosophical Society. +He has added grammatical notes, which are extremely curious. He has also +written in Latin, several interesting dissertations on other Mexican +idioms, also for the society, which I expect will be published in their +transactions, either in the original or in a translation. He is greatly +pleased with your specimen of a Chippewa grammar. He understands English +very well, also French, Italian, and, of course, his native Spanish.</p> + +<p>"The philosophy of our Indian languages has become very fashionable +among the learned in Europe. The Institute of France has offered a +premium of a gold medal, of the value of 1200 francs, for the best essay +on the grammatical construction of the family of North American +languages, of which the Chippewa, the Delaware and Mohegan are +considered the principal branches, of course including the Iroquois, +Wyandot, Naudowessie, &c. The premium is to be awarded on the 1st of May +next. I would have informed you of it at the time, if it had not been +made a <i>sine qua non</i> that the memoirs should be written in Latin or +French. I have, therefore, ventured on sending one, in which I have +availed myself of your excellent grammar, giving credit for it, as in +duty bound. I have literally translated what you say at the beginning of +your first and of your second lecture, which will be found the best part +of my work, as it is impossible to describe the character of those +languages with more clearness and elegance."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. A young gentleman (Mr. W. Fred. Williams) spent a few days at my +house, at Michilimackinack, much to our gratification, and, it seems +from a kind letter of this date, written from Buffalo, also to his own. +He sends me a box of geological specimens, and a Chinese idol, and some +sticks of frankincense--just received by him from a relative, who is a +missionary in Canton, as an offering of remembrance. The heart is +gratified with friendly little interchanges of respect, and it is a +false sense of human dignity that prevents their instant acknowledgment. +We study, read, investigate, compare, experiment, judge as philosophers, +but we live as men--as common men. Facts move or startle the judgment; +but such little things as the gift of even an apple, or a smiling +friendly countenance, appeal to the heart.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. My article for the <i>Theological Review</i> was well received. "It +was in time," says the editor, "for the March number, and you will +receive it in a few days. I read it, and so did the committee, with the +highest satisfaction. It contains much new information relating to the +superstitions of the Indians, and is well calculated to have the effect +you designed, of awakening the interest of the Christian community in +behalf of our aborigines. I was particularly gratified with the +coincidence of your judgment with the opinion I have entertained for +some years, respecting the <i>reality of Satanic influence at the present +time</i>. We intend shortly to publish on this point."</p> + +<p>This is a point incidentally brought out, in the examination of the aged +converted <i>jossakeed</i>, or prophet of the Ottawa nation, called Chusco. +He insisted, and could not be made, to waver from the point, that +Satanic influences alone helped him to perform his tricks of jugglery, +particularly the often noted one of shaking and agitating the +tight-wound pyramidal, oracular lodge. No cross-questioning could make +him give up this explanation. He avowed, that, aside of his +incantations, he had no part in the matter, and never put his hands to +the poles. It resulted, as the only conclusion to be drawn from this +instance of his art, that the Satanic influence, although invisible, was +veritably present, adapting itself to the devices of the Indian +priesthood, for the purpose of deceiving the tribe. I reported this to +his pastor who had admitted his evidences of faith, who replied, on +reflection, that this was the Gospel doctrine, which was everywhere +disclosed by the New Testament, which depicts the "Prince of the Power +of the Air" as really present and free to act in the deception of men +and nations, the world over. If so, we should no longer wonder at human +crime and folly. Murders and robberies of the blackest dye become +intelligible. And every plan of false prophecy, from the Arabian, who +has enslaved half Asia, to the simple performer of forest juggling on +the banks of Lakes Huron and Michigan, is explained as with beams +of light.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. A Mr. H. Howe, of Worcester, Mass., writes, wishing to be +informed of same stream of the Upper Mississippi, having sufficient +water power, with pine timber, and means of ready issue into the +Mississippi, to furnish a suitable site for a saw-mill. The question is +readily answered: there are many such, but it is entirely Indian +country, and cannot be entered for such a purpose without violating the +Indian intercourse act, which it is a part of my duty, as an Indian +Agent, to enforce. It would be a trespass, subjecting him to a suit in +the U.S. District Court. I replied to him, stating these views.</p> + +<p><i>April 7th</i>. The dispute with Ohio, respecting our southern boundary, +grows warmer, and is fomented, on her part, by speculators in public +lands on the western shores of Maumee Bay. Otherwise it could be easily +settled. The mere historical and geographical question, as founded on +the language of the Ordinance of 1787, would appear to leave the right +with Michigan. Ohio legislation, or constitutional encroachment, could +not surely overrule an act of Congress. "The difficulty with Ohio," says +Major W., of Detroit, "is of a threatening character. It is not now, +perhaps, any nearer adjustment that at any previous stage, although +pacificators have been sent on by the President. But the 'million of +freemen' State does not think it comports with her dignity to desist, or +vacate Michigan, is prepared for war, and is determined to proceed to +blood if need be. Gov. Cass will be here, it is said on good authority, +in May or June. Political divisions here, unfortunately, run too high +for a proper convention. Party feeling has governed exclusively, in a +case where they, perhaps, can have no operation. Whoever goes into the +convention will probably have nearly the same views, and it would have +been well to have sent the best and most intelligent. But, on the whole, +probably three-fourths of the members will find it as new business as if +they were to undertake astronomy."</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Charles Fotheringay, of Toronto, U.C., issues and forwards a +circular headed "Lyceum of Natural History and the Fine Arts." The +object is to found, in that city, a cabinet which shall do justice to +the claims of science and philosophical learning on this subject.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV."></a>CHAPTER LIV.</h2> + +<p>Requirements of a missionary laborer--Otwin--American +quadrupeds--Geological question--Taste of an Indian chief for +horticulture--Swiss missionaries to the Indians--Secretary of War visits +the island--Frivolous literary, diurnal, and periodical press--Letter of +Dr. Ives on this topic--Lost boxes of minerals and fresh-water +shells--Geological visit of Mr. Featherstonehaugh and Lieut. Mather--Mr. +Hastings--A theological graduate.</p> + +<p><i>April 21st</i>. Missionary labor requires an energy and will that surmount +aft obstacles and brave all climates and all risks. A feeble +constitution, a liability to take colds on every slight change of +temperature, a sick wife who fears to put her feet on the ground, are +the very last things to bring on to the frontiers. The risks must be +run; the determined mind makes a way for everything. To ponder and doubt +on a thousand points which may occur on such a subject, is something in +effect like asking a bond of the Lord, in addition to his promises, that +he will preserve the man and his family in all scenes of sickness and +dangers, in the forest and out of the forest, scathless. Such a man has +no call clearly for the work; but he may yet labor efficiently at home. +There is a species of moral heroism required for the true missionary, +such as Brainerd and Henry Martin felt.</p> + +<p>These feelings result from a letter of this date, written by a reverend +gentleman of Phillipsburg, N.Y., whose mind has been directed to the +Mackinack field. He puts too many questions respecting the phenomena of +temperature, the liability to colds, and the general diseases of the +country, for one who has fearlessly "put on the whole armor of God," to +invade the heathen wilderness. The truth is, in relation to this +position, the climate is generally dry, and has no causes of disease in +it. The air is a perfect restorative to invalids, and never fails to +provoke appetite and health. It is already a partial resort for persons +out of health, and cannot fail to be appreciated as a watering place in +the summer months as the country increases in population. To Chicago, +St. Louis, Natchez, and New Orleans, as well as Detroit, Cleveland, +Cincinnati, and Buffalo, I should suppose it to be a perfect Montpelier +in the summer season.</p> + +<p><i>May 6th</i>. In the scenes of domestic and social and moral significancy, +which have rendered the island a place of delight to many persons during +the seclusion of the winter, no one has entered with a more pleasing +zeal into the area than a young man whose birth, I think, was not far +from the Rock of Plymouth. I shall call him Otwin. I invited him to pass +the winter as a guest in my house, where his conversation, manners, and +deep enthusiastic and poetic feeling, and just discrimination of the +moral obligation in men, rendered him an agreeable inmate. He had a +saying and a text for almost everybody, but uttered all he said in such +a pleasing spirit as to give offence to none. He was ever in the midst +of those who came together to sing and pray, and was quite a favorite +with the soldiers of the garrison. He wrote during the season some +poetic sketches of Bible scenes, which he sent by a friend to New York +in the hope that they might merit publication. Dr. Ives, of N.Y., to +whom I wrote in relation to them, put the manuscript into the hands of +the Sabbath School Publishing Committee, which appeared to be a +judicious disposition. It was, probably, thought to require something +more than moral didactic dialogues to justify the experiment of printing +them. Otwin himself went into the missionary field of Lake Superior.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The Indians have brought me at various times the skins of a +white deer, of an Arctic fox, of a wolverine, and some other species +which have either past out of their usual latitudes or assumed some new +trait. Elks' and deers' horns, the foot, horns, and skin of the cariboo, +which is the <i>C. Sylvestris</i>, are deposited in my cabinet, and are +mementos of their gifts from the forest. One of the questions hardest +for the Christian geologist to solve is--how the animals of our forests +got to America. For there is every evidence, both from the Sacred Record +and from the examination of the strata, that the ancient disruption was +universal, and destroyed the species and genera which could not exist in +water. One of two conditions of the globe seems necessary, on the basis +of the Pentateuch, to account for their migration--either that a +continental connection existed, or that the seas in northern latitudes +were frozen over. But, in the latter case, how did the tropical animals +<i>subsist</i> and <i>exist?</i> The Polar bear, the Arctic fox, and the musk ox +would do well enough; but how was the armadillo, the cougar, the lama, +and even the bison to fare?</p> + +<p>This question is far more difficult to solve than that of the migration +of the aborigines, for they could cross in various ways; but quadrupeds +could not come in boats. Birds could fly from island to island, snakes +and dogs might swim, but how came the sloth and the other quadrupeds of +the torrid zone? Who can assert that there has not been a powerful +disruptive geological action in the now peaceable Pacific? It is replete +with volcanic powers.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Chabowawa, an Indian chief, a Chippewa, called to get some slips +of the currant-bush from my garden, to take to his village. Although the +buds were too near the point of expansion, in the open and sunny parts +of the garden, some slips were found near the fences more backward, and +he was thus supplied.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. I have long deliberated what I should do with my materials, +denoting a kind of oral literature among the Chippewas and other tribes, +in the shape of legends and wild tales of the imagination. The +narrations themselves are often so incongruous, grotesque, and +fragmentary, as to require some hand better than mine, to put them in +shape. And yet, I feel that nearly all their value, as indices of Indian +imagination, must depend on preserving their original form. Some little +time since, I wrote to Washington Irving on the subject. In a response +of this date, he observes:--</p> + +<p>"The little I have seen of our Indian tribes has awakened an earnest +anxiety to know more concerning them, and, if possible, to embody some +of their fast-fading characteristics and traditions in our popular +literature. My own personal opportunities of observing them must, +necessarily, be few and casual; but I would gladly avail myself of any +information derived from others who have been enabled to mingle among +them, and capacitated to perceive and appreciate their habits, customs, +and moral qualities. I know of no one to whom I would look with more +confidence, in these respects, than to yourself; and, I assure you, I +should receive as high and unexpected favors any communication of the +kind you suggest, that would aid me in furnishing biographies, tales or +sketches, illustrative of Indian life, Indian character, and Indian +mythology and superstitions."</p> + +<p>I had never regarded these manuscripts, gleaned from the lodges with no +little pains-taking, as mere materials to be worked up by the literary +loom, although the work should be done by one of the most popular and +fascinating American pens. I feared that the roughness, which gave them +their characteristic originality and Doric truthfulness, would be +smoothed and polished off to assume the shape of a sort of Indo-American +series of tales; a cross between the Anglo-Saxon and the Algonquin.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Switzerland enters the missionary field of America for the +purpose of improving the condition of the aborigines. This impressed me +as well. We leave the red man sitting in every want, at our doors, and +rush to India. It is true, that field counts its millions, where we can +thousands. But an appeal to the missionary record shows, if I am not +greatly mistaken, that the proportionate number of converts from an +Indian tribe is greater than that of the tribes of Asia, and that an +infinitely greater sum is expended by our churches for every convert to +Christianity made among the heathen of Asia than of America. The Rev. +Henry Olivier, from the Evangelical Society in Switzerland, visited me, +this day, with a companion in his labors. He detailed to me his plans. +It is his design to select the Dacotah tribe, on the Upper Mississippi, +as the object of his exertions.</p> + +<p><i>June 2d</i>. Commenced setting new pickets in front of the agency lot, and +removing the old ones of white cedar, which, tradition says, have stood +near half a century.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The editors of the Knickerbocker Magazine (Clark and Edson) +solicit contributions to its pages. This periodical has always +maintained a respectable rank, and appears destined to hold on its +course. I am too far out of the world to judge well. The conflict of +periodicals appears to increase; but I do not think that the number of +sound readers, who seek useful knowledge, keeps pace with it. I think +not. We seem to be on the eve of a light and trifling kind of +literature, which is hashed up with condiments for weak stomachs.</p> + +<p><i>July 2d</i>. The weather, for the entire month of June, was most +delightful and charming. On one of the latter days of the month the +fine and large steamer "Michigan" came into the harbor, with a brilliant +throng of visitors, among the number the Secretary of War (Gen. Cass) +and his daughter. The arrival put joy and animation into every +countenance. The Secretary reviewed the troops, and visited the Agency, +and the workshops for the benefit of the Indians. He, and the gay and +brilliant throng, visited whatever was curious and interesting, and +embarked on their return to Detroit, after receiving the warm +congratulations of the citizens. I took the occasion to accompany the +party to Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The debasing character of the light and popular literature which +is coming into vogue, is happily alluded to in a casual letter from Dr. +A.W. Ives, of New York. "I regret," he says, "that the well directed +labors of the excellent Otwin cannot be made available, but the truth +is, there is such an unspeakable mass of matter written for the press at +the present day, that all of it cannot be printed, much less be read. I +think it one of the great toils of the age. Indolence is a natural +attribute of man, and he dislikes intellectual even more than physical +toil. Most men read, therefore, only such things as require no thought, +and consequently there is a bounty offered for the most frivolous +literary productions....</p> + +<p>"Your isolated position prevents your realizing, to its greatest extent, +the evil of this superfluity of books; but if you were constantly +receiving from thirty to forty daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, +besides one or more ponderous volumes, every week, I cannot but think +that, with all your ambition and thirst for knowledge, you would wish +rather for an Alexandrian conflagration than an increase of books.</p> + +<p>"Every man who thinks he has a new thought, or striking thought, thinks +himself justified in writing a volume. Of this I would not complain if +he would have the ingenuousness to inform the reader, in a <i>nota bene</i>, +on what page the new idea could be found, so that, if he paid for the +book, he should be spared the trouble of hunting for the kernel in the +bushel of compiled and often incongruous chaff, in which the author has +dexterously hid it.</p> + +<p>"But the labor and expense of new publications are the least of their +evils. You cannot imagine what an influence is exerted, in this city, at +the present time, by 'penny newspapers.' There are from fifteen to +twenty, I believe, published daily, and not less on an average, I +presume, than 5000 copies of each. A number of them strike off from +10,000 to 20,000 every day. They have no regular subscribers, or at +least, they do not depend upon subscribers for a support. They are +hawked about the streets, the steamboats and taverns by boys, and are, +for the most part, extravagant stories, caricature descriptions, police +reports, infidel vulgarity and profanity, and, in short, of just such +matter as unprincipled, selfish, and bad men know to be best fitted to +pamper the appetites and passions of the populace, and so uproot and +destroy all that is valuable and sacred in our literary, civil, and +religious institutions.</p> + +<p>"A spirit of ultraism seems to pervade the whole community. The language +of Milton's archdevil 'Evil, be thou my good,' is the creed of modern +reformers, or, in other words--<i>anything for a change</i>. What is to come +of all this, I have not wisdom even to guess. It is an age of +<i>transition</i>, and whether you and I live to see the elements of the +moral and political world at rest, is, I think, extremely doubtful. But +our consolation should be that the Lord reigns--that he loves good order +and truth better than we do--and, blessed be his name, he is able to +establish and maintain them.</p> + +<p>"This is the anniversary of our national independence, and ought to be +celebrated with thanksgiving and praise to God. Alas! how it is +perverted."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Mr. Green, of the Missionary Rooms, Boston, again writes about +the Mackinack Mission. "I believe that my views accord very nearly with +your own, as to what it would be desirable to do, provided the suitable +persons could be procured to perform the work. There is a great +deficiency in well qualified laborers. We can generally obtain persons +who will answer our purpose, if we will wait long enough, but it often +happens, in the mean time, that the circumstances so change that the +proposed plan becomes of doubtful expediency. We have been continually +on the lookout, since Mr. Ferry left Mackinack, for some one to fill his +place, but as yet have found no one, and have no one in view."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Mr. W. Fred. Williams, of Buffalo, communicates information +respecting three boxes of specimens of natural history, which I lost in +the fall of 1821. "My conversation with you having made me acquainted +with the fact that you once lost two boxes of minerals and one of +shells, I have been rather on the lookout for information respecting +them, and am now able to inform you as to what became of them, and to +correct the statement which I made (as I said) on supposition of the +manner in which Edgerton became possessed of them.</p> + +<p>"In the spring of 1832, a stranger from Troy or Albany came to Mr. +Edgerton, at Utica, and told him that he had two boxes of minerals which +he had received from Mr. Schoolcraft, and that if he (E.) would label +them, he (E.) might take what he wished to retain for his trouble. He +said, also, that he was about to establish a school at Lockport, but, +knowing nothing of mineralogy, he wished to get the specimens labeled. +Mr. Edgerton unpacked the boxes, took a few for himself, labeled and +repacked the rest, and returned them to the stranger.</p> + +<p>"The box of shells was left at the tavern of Levi Cozzens, in Utica, +where they remained two years, waiting for some one to claim them; about +this time Mr. C., closing up his concern, opened the box and gave the +shells to his children for playthings, and sent the <i>mocock</i> of sugar +(which had your name on or about it) to his mother. If the person who +had the minerals still remains at Lockport, perhaps they may be +recovered, but the shells are all destroyed."</p> + +<p>The minerals referred to consisted of choice and large specimens of the +colored and crystaline fluates of lime from Illinois, and the attractive +species and varieties of sulphates of barytes, sulphurets of lead, +radiated quartz, &c. &c., from Missouri, which I had revisited in 1821. +They were fine cabinet specimens, but contained no new species or +varieties. Not so with the fresh-water shells. They embraced all the +species of the Wabash River, whose entire length I had traversed that +year, from its primary forks to its entrance into the Ohio. Among them +were some new things, which would, at that time, have proved a treat to +my conchological friends.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Mukonsewyan, or the Little Bear Skin, visited the office, with a +retinue. He asked whether any Indians from the Fond du Lac, or Upper +Mississippi, had visited the office this season. I stated to him the +renewal of hostilities between the Sioux and Chippewas, as a probable +reason why they had not. He entered freely into conversation on the +history of the Sioux, and spoke of their perfidy to the Chippewas. I +asked him if they were as treacherous to the Americans as they had been +to the British--several of whose traders they had in former days killed. +He said he had seen the Sioux offenders of that day, encamped at +Mackinack, while the British held it, under the guns of the fort, and +all the Indians expected that they would have been seized. But they were +suffered to retire unmolested.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. I went to Round Island with Mr. Featherstonehaugh and Lieut. +Mather. Examined the ancient ossuaries and the scenery on that island. +Mr. F. is on his way to the Upper Mississippi as a geologist in the +service of the Topographical Bureau. He took a good deal of interest in +examining my cabinet, and proposed I should exchange the Lake Superior +minerals for the gold ores of Virginia, &c. He showed me his idea of the +geological column, and drew it out. I accompanied him around the island, +to view its reticulated and agaric filled limestone cliffs; but derived +no certain information from him of the position in the geological scale +of this very striking stratum. It is, manifestly, the magnesian +limestone of Conybeare and Phillips, or <i>muschelkalk</i> of the Germans.</p> + +<p>Lieut. Mather brought me a letter from Major Whiting, from which I learn +that he has been professor of mineralogy in the Military Academy at West +Point. I found him to be animated with a zeal for scientific discovery, +united with accurate and discriminating powers of observation.</p> + +<p>Among my visitors about this time, none impressed me more pleasingly +than a young gentleman from Cincinnati--a graduate of Lane Seminary--a +Mr. Hastings, who brought me a letter from a friend at Detroit. He +appeared to be imbued with the true spirit of piety, to be learned in +his vocation without ostentation, and discriminating without ultraism. +And he left me, after a brief stay, with an impression that he was +destined to enter the field of moral instruction usefully to his +fellow-men, believing that it is far better to undertake to persuade +than to drive men by assault, as with cannon, from their strongholds +of opinion.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV."></a>CHAPTER LV.</h2> + +<p>Rage for investment in western lands--Habits of the common +deer--Question of the punishment of Indian murders committed in the +Indian country--A chief calls to have his authority recognized on the +death of a predecessor--Dr. Julius, of Prussia--Gen. Robert +Patterson--Pressure of emigration--Otwin--Dr. Gilman and Mr. +Hoffman--Picturesque trip to Lake Superior--Indians desire to cede +territory--G.W. Featherstonehaugh--Sketch of his geological +reconnoisance of the St. Peter's River--Dr. Thomas H. Webb--Question of +inscriptions on American rocks--Antiquities--Embark for Washington, and +come down the lakes in the great tempest of 1835.</p> + +<p>1835. <i>August</i>. The rage for investment in lands was now manifest in +every visitor that came from the East to the West. Everybody, more or +less, yielded to it. I saw that friends, in whose prudence and judgment +I had confided for years, were engaged in it. I doubted the soundness of +the ultra predictions which were based on every sort of investment of +this kind, whether of town property or farming land, and held quite +conservative opinions on the subject, but yielded partially, and in a +moderate way, to the general impulse, by making some investments in +Wisconsin. Among other plans, an opinion arose that Michilimackinack +must become a favorite watering place, or refuge for the opulent and +invalids during the summer; and lots were eagerly bought up from Detroit +and Chicago.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. I embarked in a steamer for Green Bay--where I attended the +first land sales, and made several purchases. While there, I remarked +the curious fluctuations in the level of the waters at the mouth of Fox +River. The lake (Michigan) and the bay appear to hold the relation of +separate parts of a syphon. It was now fourteen years since I had first +noticed this phenomenon, as a member of the expedition to the sources of +the Mississippi. While at Green Bay I procured a young fawn, and carried +it to be a tenant of my garden and grounds. This animal grew to its +full size, and revealed many interesting traits. Its motions were most +graceful. It was perfectly tame. It would walk into the hall and +dining-room, when the door was open, and was once observed to step up, +gracefully, and take bread from the table. It perambulated the garden +walks. It would, when the back-gate was shut, jump over a six feet +picket fence, with the ease and lightness of a bird.</p> + +<p>Some of its instincts were remarkable. At night it would choose its +place of lying down invariably to the leeward of an object which +sheltered it from the prevailing wind. One of its most remarkable +instincts was developed with respect to ladies. On one occasion, while +an unattended lady was walking up the avenue from my front gate to the +door, through the garden grounds, the animal approached from behind, in +the gentlest manner possible, and placed his fore feet on her shoulders. +This happened more than once. Its propensity to eat plum leaves at last +banished it from the garden. It was then allowed to visit distant parts +of the island, and, at length, some vicious person broke one of its +legs, from its propensity to browse on the young leaves of fruit trees. +This was fatal to it, and I was induced to allow its being shot, after +it had been an inmate of my grounds for about three years, where it was +familiarly known to all by the name of Nimmi.</p> + +<blockquote> +Poor Nimmi, some are hanged for being thieves,<br> +But thou, poor beast! wast killed for eating leaves.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>24th</i>. I received instructions from Washington respecting recent +murders of Chippewas by the Sioux. This is a constantly recurring topic +for the action of an Indian agent. Unfortunately, his powers in the +matter are only advisory. The intercourse act does not declare it a +crime for one Indian nation to make reprisals, club in hand, on another +Indian nation, on the area in which their sovereignty is acknowledged. +It only makes it a criminal offence to kill a white man in such a +position, for which his nation can be invaded, and the murderer seized +and delivered up to justice.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Ottawance, chief of the Beaver Islands, died last summer (1834). +Kin-wa-be-kiz-ze, or Man of the Long Stone (noun inanimate), called to +day, and announced himself as the successor, and asked for the usual +present of tobacco, &c. By this recognition of the office, his authority +was sought to be confirmed.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Dr. Julius, of Prussia, visited me, being on his return from +Chicago. He evinced a deep interest in the history of the Indian race. +He remarked the strong resemblance they bore in features and manners to +the Asiatics. He had remarked that the Potawattomies seem like dogs, +which he observed was also the custom of the Tartars; but that the eyes +of the latter were set diagonally, whereas the American Indians had +theirs parallel. In other respects, he saw great resemblances. He +expressed himself as greatly interested in the discovery of an oral +literature among the Indians, in the form of imaginative legends.</p> + +<p>Gen. Robert Patterson, of Philadelphia, with his daughter and niece, +make a brief visit, on their way from Chicago and the West, and view the +curiosities of the island. These visits of gentlemen of wealth, to the +great area of the upper lakes, may be noticed as commencing with this +year. People seem to have suddenly waked up in the East, and are just +becoming aware that there <i>is a West</i>--to which they hie, in a measure, +as one who hunts for a pleasant land fancied in dreams. But the great +Mississippi Valley is a waking reality. Fifty years will tell her story +on the population and resources of the world.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 12th</i>. Received instructions from the Department, to ascertain +whether the Indians north of Grand River would sell their lands, and on +what terms. The letter to which this was a reply was the first official +step in the causes which led to the treaty of March 28th, 1836. A +leading step in the policy of the Department respecting the tribes of +the Upper Lakes.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The great lakes can no longer be regarded as solitary seas, +where the Indian war-whoop has alone for so many uncounted centuries +startled its echoes. The Eastern World seems to be alive, and roused up +to the value of the West. Every vessel, every steamboat, brings up +persons of all classes, whose countenances the desire of acquisition, or +some other motive, has rendered sharp, or imparted a fresh glow of hope +to their eyes. More persons, of some note or distinction, natives or +foreigners, have visited me, and brought me letters of introduction this +season, than during years before. Sitting on my piazza, in front of +which the great stream of ships and commerce passes, it is a spectacle +at once novel, and calculated to inspire high anticipations of the +future glory of the Mississippi Valley.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 5th</i>. Washington Irving responds, in the kindest terms, to my +letter transmitting some manuscript materials relative to the +Indian history.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Mr. Green, of Boston, wrote me on the 8th instant unfavorably to +the stability of the Christian character of my friend Otwin, whom I had +recommended to the Board for employment in the missionary field in Lake +Superior, in connection with the missionary family at La Pointe. Mr. S. +Hall, the head of that Mission, writes (Oct. 12th): "I am glad that the +providence of God directed (him) this way, and trust his coming into +this region will be for the interest of Zion's Kingdom here. He appears +to be a man of faith and prayer. I trust he will be the means of +stirring up to more diligence in the service of our Master." What +greater aid could be given to a lone far off Indian mission, than "a man +of faith and prayer." When an observer in the vast panorama of the West +and North has seen a poor missionary and his family, living five-hundred +miles from the nearest verge of civilization, solitary and desolate, +surrounded with heathen red men, and worse than heathen white men, with +none out of his little circle to honor God or appreciate his word, it is +presumable to him that any reinforcement of help must be hailed as cold +water to a parched tongue. Not that there is any supposed difference of +opinion on the main question, between the Head and the forest hands, so +to say, of the Board, but it is difficult, at Boston, to appreciate the +disheartening circumstances surrounding the missionary in the field. And +any youthful instability, or eccentricity of means in the way of +advancing the Gospel, should be forgiven, for the cause, after years of +experience, and not written against "a man of faith and prayer," as it +appears to have been by the pastor of Middleburgh, as with a pen +of iron.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Pendonwa, son of Wahazo, a brother of the Ottawa chief, Wing, +reports himself as electing to become "an American," and says he had so +declared himself to Col. Boyd, the former Indian agent.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Dr. C.R. Gilman, of New York, having, with Major M. Hoffman, of +Wall Street, paid me a visit and made a picturesque "trip to the +Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior," writes me after his safe return to the +city, piquing himself on that adventure, after having exchanged +congratulations with his less enterprising cityloving friends. It was +certainly an event to be booked, that two civilians so soldered down to +the habits of city life in different lines as the Doctor and the Major, +should have extended their summer excursion as far as Michilimackinack. +But it was a farther evidence of enterprise, and the love of the +picturesque, that they should have taken an Indian canoe, and a crew of +engagees, at that point, and ventured to visit the Pictured Rocks in +Lake Superior. "Life on the Lakes" (the title of Dr. G.'s book) was +certainly a widely different affair to "Life in New York."</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Circumstances had now inclined the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes of +Indians to cede to the United States a portion of their extensive +territory. Game had failed in the greater part of it, and they had no +other method of raising funds to pay their large outstanding credits to +the class of traders, and to provide for an interval of transition, +which must indeed happen, in view of their future improvement, between +the hunter and agricultural state.</p> + +<p>The Drummond Island band had, for a year or two, advocated a sale. The +Ottawas of the peninsula determined to send a delegation to Washington +on the subject. I could not hesitate as to the course which duty +proscribed to me, under these important circumstances, and determined to +proceed to Washington, although the Secretary and acting Governor of the +Territory, Mr. Horner, on being consulted by letter, refused his assent +to this step. His want of proper information on the subject, being but +recently come to the territory, did not appear to be such as to justify +me in remaining on the island, while the question had been carried by +the Indians themselves to, and was, probably, to be decided at +Washington before another season. I determined, therefore, to proceed to +Washington, taking one of the latest vessels for the season, on their +return from the ports on Lake Michigan.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 2d</i>. Mr. Featherstonehaugh writes to me from Galena, on his return +from his geological reconnoisance in the north-west, sketching some of +the leading events of his progress:--</p> + +<p>"Desirous of giving you a passing notice of my progress, I make time, a +few moments' leisure, to say that, when I had entered the Terre Bleu +River, which you remember is that tributary of the St. Peter's I was +anxious to visit, I found I could not penetrate to the Coteau de Prairie +from that quarter, and no resource was left to me but to return, or go +about three hundred miles higher up, where I was aware I should meet a +pretty insolent set of fellows amongst the Yanktons and Tetons. The +Sioux, who had committed pretty bad Indian murders amongst the +Chippewas, were in great numbers about Lac qui Parle, and there was no +avoiding them. However, it was in the line of the duty I had undertaken, +and I was willing to run some risks to see them. They were a precious +set when I got to them, but by prudence and presents I got along with +them, and, having began to sputter a little Sioux, I took courage, left +my canoe and men there, and took a guide and interpreter and pushed on +to Lac Traverse, and from thence to Coteau de Prairie, the head waters +of the St. Peter's, and to within four days' march of the Mandan +Village, Here I wheeled about back, afraid of winter. Indeed, on my +arrival at Lac Traverse, the weather was bitterly cold, and wood and +water were sometimes found with great difficulty, in the intermediate +prairies. The day I left Fort Snelling, the thermometer was very low, +the snow six or eight inches deep on the ground; in fact it was quite +winter, and all were of opinion, at the fort, that ice would form and +drive in a few days.</p> + +<p>"I found Mr. Keating's account of the Mississippi, and especially of the +St. Peter's, most surprisingly erroneous, and old Jonathan Carver's +book, which he is constantly denouncing, <i>very accurate</i>.</p> + +<p>"I ascertained, to my perfect satisfaction, the termination of the +horizontal beds of sandstone of carboniferous limestone formation, and +came upon the outcrop of the adjacent granite, just where I expected to +find the primary rocks."</p> + +<p>"You will greatly oblige me by communicating to me your opinion, +approximatively, of the course held by the primary rocks south of Lake +Superior, as far as you are acquainted with it, or with the edges of the +secondary rocks, which have a junction line with, or near them. I found +no primary rocks on my way from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien. The rocks +in place at Fort Winnebago, are secondary sandstone of the +carboniferous series."</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. The question of "inscriptions" on rocks by the aborigines has +recently attracted some attention. Dr. Thomas H. Webb, of Providence, +Rhode Island, in a letter of this date, notifying me of my election as +an honorary member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, calls my +attention to this subject. "In your last work," he remarks, "you allude +to some hieroglyphics on a tree. Have you particularly examined any on +rocks; and if so, were they mere paintings, or were they inscribed +thereon? If the latter, in what manner do they appear to have been +done--pecked in with a pointed instrument, or chizzled out? Are they +simply representations of men and animals, without method in their +arrangement, or combinations of these, with other characters bearing +evidence of greater design? Will you be kind enough to furnish me with +the locations of those with which you are acquainted? Is it possible for +me to procure drawings of them? Do you know any one living near such +rocks, whom I could hire to take copies of them, and upon the accuracy +of whose work reliance can be placed?</p> + +<p>"I do not wish finished views--correct drawings of the <i>characters</i> with +a pen will be amply sufficient for my purposes; although I should not +object to outlines of the rocks themselves. I would also ask if some of +the 'relics of things that have passed away,' which are found so +abundantly in the west, <i>e.g.</i>, articles of pottery, iron and copper +implements, &c., can be procured by purchase, or in the way of exchange +for minerals, or in some other way?"</p> + +<p>Imprimis--no "iron" implements have ever been found. Secondly, no +observations not made by an antiquarian can be relied on.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. I embarked for Detroit, on board a schooner under command of an +experienced navigator (Capt. Ward), just on the eve, unknown to us, of a +great tempest, which rendered that season memorable in the history of +wrecks on the great lakes. We had scarcely well cleared the light-house, +when the wind increased to a gale. We soon went on furiously. Sails were +reefed, and every preparation made to keep on our way, but the wind did +not admit of it. The captain made every effort to hug the shore, and +finally came to anchor in great peril, under the highlands of Sauble. +Here we pitched terribly, and were momently in peril of being cast on +shore. In the effort to work the ship, one of the men fell from the +bowsprit, and passed under the vessel, and was lost. It was thought that +our poor little craft must go to the bottom; it seemed like a chip on +the ocean contending against the powers of the Almighty. It seemed as +if, agreeably to Indian fable, Ishkwondameka himself was raising a +tempest mountain high for some sinister purposes of his own. But, owing +to the skill of the old lake mariner, we eventually triumphed. He never +faltered in the darkest exigency. For a day and night he struggled +against the elements, and finally entered the straits at Fort Gratiot, +and he brought us safely into the port of our destination.</p> + +<p>On reaching Detroit, the lateness of the season admonished me to lose no +time in making my way over the stormy Erie to Buffalo, whence I pursued +my journey to New York. I reached the latter city the day prior to the +great fire, in December. I took lodgings at the Atlantic Hotel, which is +near the foot of Broadway, and immediately west of the great scene of +conflagration. The cold was so bitter while the fire raged that I could +not long endure the open air, which seemed to be surcharged with oxygen. +I reached Philadelphia the 19th, and Washington a day or two after.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI."></a>CHAPTER LVI.</h2> + +<p>Florida war--Startling news of the Massacre of Dade--Peoria on the +Illinois--Abanaki language--Oregon--Things shaping for a territorial +claim--Responsibility of claim in an enemy's country--A true +soldier--Southern Literary Messenger--Missionary cause--Resources of +Missouri--Indian portfolio of Lewis--Literary gossip--Sir Francis +Head--The Crane and Addik totem--Treaty of March 28th, 1836, with the +Ottawas and Chippewas--Treaty with the Saginaws of May 20th--Treaty with +the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas of May 9th--Return to +Michilimackinack--Death of Charlotte, the daughter of Songageezhig.</p> + +<p>1836. The year opened with the portentous news of Indian hostilities. +The massacre of Major Dade and his entire command on the waters of the +Wythlacootche River in Florida, and the prospect of an Indian war in +Florida, excited great sensation in all circles. I was at the Secretary +of War's domicil one evening, when he first received and read out the +shocking details. The same night troops were ordered to be put in motion +from every point in the Union, to be concentrated in that territory; and +the greatest activity pervaded the departments. Gen. Jackson expressed +himself with energy on the subject. He had formerly conducted a +successful campaign against the Seminoles, but he could not be persuaded +that there were more than five hundred of this tribe in the whole +territory. This led him to believe that the troops actually put in +motion for the field of action, were fully adequate to cope with the +enemy, and promptly to put them down.</p> + +<p><i>Jan. 4th</i>. The American Lyceum request me to prepare a paper for their +sixth anniversary.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I received a letter from my former pastor, Rev. J. Porter, at +Peoria, Ill., denoting him to be in a new field of ministerial labor.</p> + +<p>"I bade adieu to my dear people at Chicago, on the second Sabbath in +November, and commenced my labors here on the fourth Sabbath of the +same month--just four years from the day I first preached at the Sault.</p> + +<p>"The town is on the north bank of Lake Peoria, which is an expansion of +the Illinois. The site is one of the first in our land. The ground rises +with a delightful slope from the water's edge for the distance of half a +mile--then there is table land for another half mile back to a high +bluff. The town began to be built about two years since; it has now a +population of eight hundred and fifty."</p> + +<p>A descendant of the great theologian Edwards, it is pleasing to note +that this gentleman is destined to be employed in various fields, in +diffusing Christianity through the great valley.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Mr. Thomas L. Winthrop, of Boston, transmits me "the first volume +of a new series of the Transactions of the American Academy of Arts and +Sciences. This volume, amongst other valuable matter, contains a +Dictionary of the Abinaki Language of North America, by Father +Sebastian Rasles."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. I addressed a memoir to the Secretary of War on the state of +Indian affairs in Oregon. My position at St. Mary's being on the great +line of communication between Montreal and the principal posts at +Vancouver, &c., north of the Columbia, has afforded me opportunities of +becoming familiar with the leading policy of the Hudson's Bay factors in +relation to that region. The means pursued are such as must influence +all the Indian tribes in that quarter strongly in favor of the political +power wielded by that company, and as strongly against the government of +the United States, which has not a shadow of a power of any kind on the +Pacific. Silently, but surely, a vast influence is being built up on +those coasts, adverse to our claims to the territory, and it cannot be +long till those intrepid factors, sustained by the government at home, +will assert it in a manner not easy to be resisted. I embodied these +ideas strongly in my paper. The Secretary was arrested by the justice of +my conclusions, and seemed disposed to do something, but the subject +was, apparently, weighed down and forgotten in the press of +other matters.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Hon. E. Whittlesey, Chairman of the Committee on Claims, House +of Representatives, remarks in effect, in a letter of this date, that to +create a just claim against the United States, it must be shown that +property and provisions taken by the troops, when operating in an +enemy's country, were applied to the subsistence or clothing of the +army or navy, although it was private property, and the orders of the +commandant were, in all cases, to respect "private property." +Consequently, that the disrespect of such orders might make the +commander or his troops <i>personally</i> liable to amercement; but the +government is not justly liable. Certainly, that officer is to be pitied +whose sovereign will not stand by him in the execution of written +orders! Nor do I see how the strict legality and morality of the +question is to be got along with. May the government turn pirate with +impunity? Does it war against women and children, and the ordinary +private and domestic rights guaranteed to the citizen by the original +rights of society defined in Blackstone?</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. A soldier, in garrison at Fort Mackinack, writes to me, wishing, +on the expiration of his term of enlistment, to become "a soldier of +Christ," and to enter the missionary field. That is a good thought, +Sergeant Humphrey Snow! Better to fight against human sins than to shoot +down sinners.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Dr. C.R. Gilman inquires, "Is the rock at Gros Cap granite? Can +you give me particulars about the Indian fairies?"</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I am requested, from a high quarter, to furnish an article for +the <i>Southern Literary Messenger</i>. "You are in for a scrape," says a gay +note on the subject. "I have told Mr. White all about it. I am greatly +obliged to you for relieving me." Truth is, I have never regarded the +employment of literary time as thrown away. The discipline of the mind, +induced by composition, is something, and it is surprising what may be +done by a person who carefully "redeems" all his time. It does not, in +the least, incapacitate him for business. It rather quickens his +intellect for it.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 1st</i>. My former agreeable guest at Mackinack (Rev. Geo. H. +Hastings) writes me from Walnut Hills, Ohio: "There is a missionary +spirit in our institution (Lane Seminary) that responds to the wants of +the world. The faculty have pressed upon the minds of us all the duty of +examining early the question, 'Ought I to be a missionary?'"</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. My brother James writes from St. Mary's, foot of Lake Superior: +"The month has been remarkably cold, the thermometer having ranged from +13°.23 to 38° below zero. Snow we have had in great abundance."</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Hon. Lewis F. Linn, U.S. Senator, writes respecting the +scientific character and resources of Missouri, in view of a project, +matured by him, for establishing a western armory: "Your intimate +knowledge of the Ozark Mountains, its streams descending north and +south, and those passing through to the east, with its unequaled mineral +resources, would be, to me, of infinite service, to accomplish the +purpose I have in view, should you be so kind as to communicate them, in +reference to this particular measure, and by so doing you would confer a +lasting obligation."</p> + +<p>The resources of Missouri in iron, lead, and coal, to which I first +called attention in 1819, are of such a noble character as surely to +require no bolstering from the effects of particular measures.</p> + +<p><i>March 4th</i>. Mr. J.O. Lewis, of Philadelphia, furnishes me seven numbers +of his <i>Indian Portfolio</i>. Few artists have had his means of observation +of the aboriginal man, in the great panorama of the west, where he has +carried his easel. The results are given, in this work, with +biographical notices of the common events in the lives of the chiefs. +Altogether, it is to be regarded as a valuable contribution to this +species of knowledge. He has painted the Indian lineaments on the spot, +and is entitled to patronage--not as supplying all that is desirable, or +practicable, perhaps, but as a first and original effort. We should +cherish all such efforts.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. A shrewd and discriminating judge of literary things in New York, +writes: "Have you seen the last number of Hoffman's Magazine? There is a +pretty thing of his in it about Indian corn, and an Indian story by the +author of 'Tales in the North-west,' which I do not, think good. The +number generally is indifferent. Some one recently told me, that the +true orthography of Illinois is Illinwa, like Ottawa, &c. Do you think +that the fact?<a name="FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77">[77]</a> By the way, why have you, and all other Indian +travelers, used the French word 'lodge,' instead of the Indian wigwam? +Don't you think the latter the better term? I do, and if my book was to +print again, I would always use wigwam instead of <i>lodge</i>. We have so +few relics of the poor Indians, that I am unwilling to part with any +one, even so trifling as adopting the red man's name for the red +man's house."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor77">[77]</a> No. +</blockquote> + +<p>We have no news here. Paulding's book on slavery has been little +noticed. Dr. Hawk's 'History of Episcopacy in Virginia' is good--very +good, so they say, for I have not read it. Some Jerseyman has written a +bad novel called "Herbert--" something or other--I forget what. What do +they say at Washington, and what do you say about Gen. Macomb's +'Pontiac?'<a name="FNanchor78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78">[78]</a> Is the Indian Prince, who was traveling in these parts a +while ago, one of the getters up of this affair? I suspect him. Does the +prince go to 'profane stageplays and such like vanities,' as the dear +old Puritans would say?</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor78">[78]</a> Fudge! +</blockquote> + +<p>"I hear nothing of Mr. Gallatin and his Indian languages. Do you? I see, +by the English magazines, that Willis and his 'pencilings' get little +quarter there; they deserve none. The book is not yet published here. +Walsh, they say, will kill it, unless it should chance to be still-born. +Hoffman is a friend of it, or rather he has made up his mind to join +hands with the 'Mirror' set. I think he has made a mistake. They will +sink him before he raises them. I suppose, however, if he will praise +them they will praise him, and praise is sweet, we all know."</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Rev. William McMurray writes, from the Canadian side of Sault St. +Marie: "Our excellent governor, Sir John Colbourne, has resigned his +situation, which is at present filled by Sir Francis Head, who has +recently arrived from England. As far as I can learn, he is rather a +literary character, and is the same person who, some years ago, visited +South America on a mining expedition. The most correct intelligence I +have received respecting him is by an express from Toronto. From it I +learn that he is disposed to be kind and good towards the poor Indians. +As an instance of which, he intends visiting every Indian mission next +summer, in order that he may see for himself their secret wants, and how +their condition may be best ameliorated."</p> + +<p>My brother James gives a somewhat amusing account of Indian matters at +the Sault after the leaving of their delegates for Washington.</p> + +<p>"Since Whaiskee's departure, the whole Sault has been troubled; I mean +the 'busy bodies,' and this, by the way, comprises nearly the whole +population. A council has accordingly been held before the Major-Agent, +in which the British chief, Gitshee Kawgaosh, appeared as orator. The +harangue from the sachem ran very much as follows:--"</p> + +<p>'Father, <i>why</i> and for what purpose has the man Whaiskee gone to the +home of our great father? <i>Why</i> did he leave without notifying <i>me</i>, and +the other men of <i>influence</i> of my tribe, of the nature of his mission? +Why should he, whose <i>totem-fathers</i> live about Shaugawaumekong (La +Pointe), be, at his own will, made the representative of the ancient +band of the red men whose <i>totem</i> is the lofty Crane? Say, father? +Father, we ask you to know; we ask of you to tell <i>why</i> this strange man +has so strangely gone to smoke with the great chief of the "long +knives?" Kunnah-gakunnah!'</p> + +<p>"Here the chief, drawing the folds of his blanket with perfect grace, +and extending his right arm with dignity to the agent, seated himself +again upon the floor, while, at the same time, a warrior of distinction, +whose eagle-plumed head spoke him the fiercest of his tribe, gave to the +sachem the lighted pipe. The eyes of the red men, like those of their +snowy chief, were now riveted to the floor."</p> + +<p>'Sons of the forest,' answered the American agent, '<i>I</i>, like +yourselves, know nothing of this strange business! <i>I</i>, the father of +all the red men, have not been consulted in this man's going beyond the +lakes to "the great waters!" <i>I</i> am the man through whom such messages +should come! <i>I</i>, the man who should hand the wampum, and <i>I</i>, the man +to whom the red men should look for redress! Friends, your speech shall +reach the ears of our great father, and then this strange man of the +far-off <i>totem</i> of Addik shall know that the Crane <i>totem</i> is protected +by me, the hero of the Southern clime! Men of the forest, I am done.'</p> + +<p>"Tobacco was then distributed to the assembly, and, after many <i>hoghs</i>, +the red men dispersed."</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Mr. Bancroft, bringing a few lines from the Secretary of War, +came to see me to confer on the character of the Indians, which he is +about to handle in the next volume of his History. This care to assure +himself of the truth of the conclusions to be introduced in his work, is +calculated to inspire confidence in his mode of research.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Washington. My reception here has been most cordial, and such +as to assure me in the propriety of the step I took, in resolving to +proceed to the capital, without the approval of the secretary and acting +governor (Horner), who was, indeed, from his recent arrival and little +experience in this matter, quite in the dark respecting the true +condition of Indian affairs in Michigan. The self-constituted Ottawa +delegation of chiefs from the lower peninsula had preceded me a few +days. After a conference between them and the Secretary of War, they +were referred to me, under authority from the President, communicated by +special appointment, as commissioner for treating with them. It was +found that the deputation was quite too local for the transaction of any +general business. The Ottawas, from the valley of Grand River, an +important section, were unrepresented. The various bands of Chippewas +living intercalated among them, on the lower peninsula, extending down +the Huron shore to Thunder Bay, were unapprized of the movement. The +Chippewas of the upper peninsula, north of Michilimackinack, were +entirely unrepresented. I immediately wrote, authorizing deputations to +be sent from each of the unrepresented districts, and transmitting funds +for the purpose. This authority to collect delegates from the two +nations, whose interests in the lands were held in common, was promptly +and efficiently carried out; and, when the chiefs and delegates arrived, +they were assembled in public council, at the Masonic Hall, corner of +4-1/2 street, and negotiations formally opened. These meetings were +continued from day to day, and resulted in an important cession of +territory, comprising all their lands lying in the lower peninsula of +Michigan, north of Grand River and west of Thunder Bay; and on the upper +peninsula, extending from Drummond Island and Detour, through the +Straits of St. Mary, west to Chocolate River, on Lake Superior, and +thence southerly to Green Bay. This cession was obtained on the +principle of making limited reserves for the principal villages, and +granting the mass of Indian population the right to live on and occupy +any portion of the lands until it is actually required for settlement. +The compensation, for all objects, was about two millions of dollars. It +had been arranged to close and sign the treaty on the 26th of March, but +some objections were made by the Ottawas to a matter of detail, which +led to a renewed discussion, and it was not until the 28th that the +treaty was signed. It did not occur to me, till afterwards, that this +was my birth-day. The Senate who, at the same time, had the important +Cherokee treaty of New Echota before them, did not give it their assent +till the 20th of May, and then ratified it with some essential +modifications, which have not had a wholly propitious tendency.</p> + +<p>Liberal provisions were made for their education and instruction in +agriculture and the arts. Their outstanding debts to the merchants were +provided for, and such aid given them in the initial labor of subsisting +themselves, as were required by a gradual change from the life of +hunters to that of husbandmen. About twelve and a half cents per acre +was given for the entire area, which includes some secondary lands and +portions of muskeegs and waste grounds about the lakes--which it was, +however, thought ought, in justice to the Indians, to be included in the +cession. The whole area could not be certainly told, but was estimated +at about sixteen millions of acres.</p> + +<p>About the beginning of May a delegation of Saginaws arrived, for the +purpose of ceding to the government the reservations in Michigan, made +under the treaty of 1819. This delegation was referred to me, with +instructions to form a treaty with them. The terms of it were agreed on +in several interviews, and the treaty was signed on the 20th of +May, 1836.</p> + +<p>A third delegation of Chippewas, from Michigan, having separate interest +in the regions of Swan Creek and Black River, presented themselves, with +the view of ceding the reservations made to them by a treaty concluded +by Gen. Hull, Nov. 17th, 1807. They were also referred to me to adjust +the terms of a sale of these reservations. The treaty was signed by +their chiefs on the 9th of May, 1836.</p> + +<p>As soon as these several treaties were acted on by the Senate, I left +the city on my return. It was one of the last days of May when I left +Washington. A new era had now dawned in the upper lake country, and joy +and gladness sat in every face I met. The Indians rejoiced, because they +had accomplished their end and provided for their wants. The class of +merchants and inland traders rejoiced, because they would now be paid +the amount of their credits to the Indians. The class of metifs and +half-breeds were glad, because they had been remembered by the chiefs, +who set apart a fund for their benefit. The citizens generally +participated in these feelings, because the effect of the treaties +would be to elicit new means and sources of prosperity.</p> + +<p>I reached Mackinack on the 15th of June, in the steamer "Columbia." I +found all my family well and ready to welcome me home, but +one--Charlotte, the daughter of Songageezhig, who had been brought up +from a child as one of my family. Her father, a Chippewa, had been +killed in an affray at the Sault St. Marie in 1822, leaving a wife and +three children. She had been adopted and carefully instructed in every +moral and religious duty. She could read her Bible well, and was a +member of the Church, in good standing at the time of her death. A rapid +consumption developed itself during the winter of my absence, which no +medical skill could arrest. She had attained about her fifteenth year, +and died leaving behind her a consecrated memory of pleasing piety and +gentle manners.</p> + +<blockquote> +A forest flower, but few so well could claim<br> +A daughter's, sister's, and a Christian's name.<br> +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII."></a>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + +<p>Home matters--Massachusetts Historical Society--Question of the U.S. +Senate's action on certain treaties of the Lake Indians--Hugh L. +White--Dr. Morton's Crania Americana--Letter from Mozojeed--State of the +pillagers--Visit of Dr. Follen and Miss Martineau--Treaty +movements--Young Lord Selkirk--Character and value of Upper +Michigan--Hon. John Norvell's letter--Literary Items--Execution of the +treaty of March 28th--Amount of money paid--Effects of the treaty--Baron +de Behr--Ornithology.</p> + +<p>1836. <i>June 16th</i>. My winter in Washington had thrown my correspondence +sadly in the rear. Most of my letters had been addressed to me directly +at Mackinack, and they were first read several months after date. Whilst +at the seat of government my duties had been of an arduous character, +and left me but little time on my hands. And now, that I had got back to +my post in the interior, the duties growing out of the recent treaties +had been in no small degree multiplied. While preparing for the latter, +the former were not, however, to be wholly neglected, or left unnoticed. +I will revert to them.</p> + +<p><i>April 28th</i>. The Massachusetts Historical Society this day approved a +report from a committee charged with the subject--"That, in their +opinion, the dissertation on the Odjibwa language with a vocabulary of +the same, contemplated by Mr. Schoolcraft, would be a suitable and +valuable contribution to our collections, and that he be requested to +proceed and complete the work, and transmit it to the society for +publication." This was communicated to me by Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, +their president, on the 2d of May, and opened an eligible way for my +bringing forward my investigations of this language, without expense to +myself. The difficulty now was, that the offer had come, at a time when +it was impossible to complete the paper. I was compelled to defer it +till the pressure of business, which now began to thicken on my hands, +should abate. It was in this manner, and in the hope that the next +season would afford me leisure, that the matter was put off, from time +to time, till it was in a measure cast behind and out of sight, and not +from a due appreciation of the offer.</p> + +<p><i>May 17th</i> In the letter of appointment to me, of this date, from the +Secretary of War, to treat with the Saginaws, it is stated: "You are +authorized to offer them the proceeds which their lands may bring, +deducting such expenses as may be necessary for its survey, sale, &c. +You will take care that a sufficient fund is reserved to provide for +their removal, and such arrangements made for the security and +application of the residue as will be most beneficial to them." These +instructions were carried out, in articles of a compact, in which the +government furthermore agreed, in view of the lands not being +immediately brought into market, to make a reasonable advance to these +Indians. Yet the Senate rejected it, not, it would seem, for the +liberality of the offer of the nett proceeds of the lands, but for the +almost <i>per necessitate</i> offer of a moderate advance, to enable the +people to turn themselves in straitened circumstances, which had been +the prime motive for selling.</p> + +<p>The advance was, in fact, as I have reason to believe, a mere bagatelle, +but the chairman of the Indian Committee in the Senate was rather on the +lookout for something, or anything, to embarrass or disoblige General +Jackson and his agents, having fallen out with him, and being then, +indeed, a candidate for President of the U.S. himself, at the coming +election. If I had not heard the pointed expressions of Hon. Hugh L. +White, on more than one occasion, in which my three treaties were before +him, in relation to this matter of not affording the presidential +incumbent new sources of patronage, &c., I should not deem it just to +add the latter remark. He was a man of strong will and feelings, which +often betrayed themselves when subjects of public policy were the +topics. And, so far as he interfered with the principles of the treaties +which I had negotiated with the Lake Indians in 1836, he evinced an +utter ignorance of their history, character, and best interests. He +violated, in some respects, the very principle on which alone two of the +original cessions, namely, those of the Ottawas and Chippewas and of the +Saginaws, were obtained; and introduced features of discord, which +disturb the tribes, and some of which will long continue to be felt. And +the result is a severe caution against the Senate's ever putting +private reasons in the place of public, and interfering with matters +which they necessarily know but little about.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Dr. Samuel George Morton, of Philadelphia, makes an appeal to +gentlemen interested in the philosophical and historical questions +connected with the Indians, to aid him in the collection of crania--to +be used in the comprehensive work which he is preparing on the subject.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Hon. J. B. Sutherland expresses the wish to see an Indian +lexicography prepared under the auspices of the Indian Department, and +urges me to undertake it.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Mozojeed, or the Moose's Tail, an Ojibwa chief of Ottawa Lake, +in the region at the source of Chippewa River of the Upper Mississippi, +dictates a letter to me. The following is an extract:--</p> + +<p>"My Father--I have a few remarks to make. Every <i>morning of the year</i> I +wish to come and see you. As soon as I take up my paddle I fall sick. It +is now two years since I began to be sick. Sometimes I am +better--sometimes worse. I am pained in mind that I am not to see you +this summer.</p> + +<p>"Since you gave me the shonea nahbekawahgun (silver medal) I think I +<i>have walked in your commands</i>. I have done all I could to have the +Indians sit still. Those that are far off I could not sway, but those +that are near have listened to me."</p> + +<p>His influence to keep the Indians at peace, and the reasons which have +hindered the influence in part, are thus, partly by symbolic figures, as +well expressed as could be done by an educated mind. I have italicised +two sentences for their peculiarity of thought.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Mr. Featherstonehaugh expresses a wish to have me point out the +best map extant of the eastern borders of the Upper Mississippi, above +the point visited by him in his recent reconnoissance, in order "to +avoid gross blunders--<i>all</i> I do not expect to avoid!" Why undertake to +make a map of a part of the country which he did not see?</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Rev. Alvan Coe, of Vernon, O., expresses his interest in the +provisions of the late treaty with the Ottawas and Chippewas, which +regards their instruction.</p> + +<p><i>June 1st</i>. Mr. W. T. Boutwell, from Leech Lake, depicts the present +condition of the Odjibwas on the extreme sources of the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>"There has been nothing, so far as I have discovered, or been informed, +like a disposition to go to war this spring. There is, evidently, a +growing desire on the part of not a few, to cultivate their gardens more +extensively and better. These are making gardens by the side of me. I +have furnished them with seed and lent them hoes, on condition that they +do not work on the Sabbath. From fifteen to twenty bushels of potatoes I +have given to one and another to plant.</p> + +<p>"The Big Cloud has required his two children to attend regularly to +instruction; others occasionally. The Elder Brother has procured him a +comfortable log house to be built--bought a horse and cow. I have bought +a calf of Mr. A. for him.</p> + +<p>"I am making the experiment whether I can keep cattle here. They have +wintered and passed the spring, and we are now favored with milk, which +is a rarity and luxury here.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Aitkin is establishing a permanent post at Otter Tail Lake. G. +Bonga had gone with a small assortment of goods to build and pass the +summer there. The Indians are divided in opinion and feeling with regard +to the measure. Those who belong to this lake, or who make gardens in +this vicinity, are opposed to the measure. Those who pass the summer in +the deer country and make rice towards the height of land, are in its +favor. It is on the line dividing us and our enemies--some say, where we +do not wish to go. Whether he has consulted the agent on the subject, +I know not.</p> + +<p>"The past winter has been severe--the depth of snow greater, by far, +than has fallen for several years. Feb. 1 the mercury fell to 40° below +zero. This is the extreme. Graduated on the scale I have--it fell nearly +into the ball."</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. The Secretary of War writes me a private letter, suggesting the +employment of Mr. Ryly, of Schenectady, in carrying out the large +deliveries of goods ($150,000) required by the late treaty, and speaking +most favorably of him, as a former resident of Michigan, and a patriotic +man in days when patriotism meant something.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. My brother James writes in his usual frank and above-board +manner: "If the Indians are to audit accounts against the Indians +(agreeably to the Senate's alteration of the treaty), there will be a +pretty humbug made of it; then he that has most <i>whisky</i> will get +most <i>money</i>."</p> + +<p><i>July 5th</i>. Dr. Follen and lady, of Cambridge, Mass., accompanied by +Miss Martineau, of England, visited me in the morning, having landed in +the ship Milwaukee. They had, previously, visited the chief curiosities +and sights on the island. Miss Martineau expressed her gratification in +having visited the upper lakes and the island. She said she had, from +early childhood, felt an interest in them. I remarked, that I supposed +she had seen enough of America and the Americans, to have formed a +definite opinion, and asked her what she thought of them? She said she +had not asked herself that question. She had hardly made up an opinion, +and did not know what it might be, on getting back to England. She +thought society hardly formed here, that it was rather early to express +opinions; but she thought favorably of the elements of such a mixed +society, as suited to lead to the most liberal traits. She spoke highly +of Cincinnati, and some other places, and expressed an enthusiastic +admiration for the natural beauties of Michilimackinack. She said she +had been nearly two years in America, and was now going to the seaboard +to embark on her return to England.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Instructions were issued at Washington for the execution of the +treaty, which had been ratified, with amendments, by the Senate.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The admission of Michigan as one of the States, had left the +office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs, for the region, vacant. An +Act of Congress, passed near the close of the session, had devolved the +duties of this office on the agent at Michilimackinack. Instructions +were, this day, issued to carry this act into effect.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. The chiefs in general council assembled by special messengers at +the Agency at Mackinack, this day assented to the Senate's alterations +of the treaty. Its principles were freely and fully discussed.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i> and <i>14th</i>. Signatures continue to be affixed to the articles of +assent.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. I notified the various bands of Indians to attend in mass, the +payments, which were appointed to commence on the 1st of September.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. A friend writes from Detroit: "Lord Selkirk, from Scotland, +is on his route to Lake Superior, and, as he passes through Mackinack, I +write to introduce him to you, as a gentleman with whom you would be +pleased to have more than a transient association. The name of his +father is connected with many north-western events of much interest and +notoriety, and a most agreeable recollection of his mother, Lady +Selkirk, has recommended him strongly to our kindness. I feel assured +you will befriend him, in the way of information, as to the best means +of getting on to the Sault St. Marie."</p> + +<p>I found the bearer an easy, quiet, young gentleman, with not the least +air of pretence or superciliousness, and one of those men to whom +attentions ever become a pleasure.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 2d</i>. Hon. John Norvell, U.S.S., calls my attention to the recent +annexation to Michigan of the vast region north of the Straits of +Michilimackinack.</p> + +<p>"Your personal knowledge," he observes, "of the country on Lake +Superior, which, by a late act of Congress has been annexed to, and made +a part of the State of Michigan, induces me respectfully to request of +you information concerning the nature and extent of the territory thus +attached to the State; the qualities of its various soils; the timber +and water-powers embraced in it; its minerals and their probable value; +the extent of lake-coast added to Michigan; the fisheries and their +probable value and duration; the capabilities and conveniences of Lake +Superior and the northern Michigan shores, and the cheapness and +facility with which a communication may be opened with the lower lakes; +together with such other information as it may be in your power to +furnish, and as may enable the people of Michigan duly to appreciate the +importance of the acquisition." <i>Vide</i> Letters of Albion in reply.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Mr. Daniel B. Woods, of New York, announces the project of the +publication of "a religious and missionary souvenir," and solicits my +aid in the preparation of an article.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. The citizens, merchants, and traders of the town agree not to +sell or furnish whisky or ardent spirits to the Indians during the +payments and preliminary examinations--a conclusive evidence this that, +where the <i>interests</i> of the population combine to stop the traffic in +ardent spirits, it requires no Congressional or State laws.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 26th</i>. John G. Palfrey, Esq., editor of the <i>North American +Review</i>, wishes me to review Mr. Gallatin's forthcoming paper on the +Indian languages, which is about to appear in the second volume of the +collections of the American Antiquarian Society.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. A busy business summer, replete with incident and excitement on +the island, closes this day by the termination of the several classes of +payments made under the treaty of March 28th, 1836. Upwards of four +thousand Indians have been encamped along the pebbly beaches and coves +of the island, and subsisted by the Indian Department for about a month. +To these an annuity of $42,000 has been paid <i>per capita</i>. Of these +there were 143 chiefs, namely, 25 of the first class, 51 of the second, +and 67 of the third class, who received an additional payment of +$30,000. In addition to the provisions consumed, two thousand dollars +worth of flour, pork, rice, and corn were delivered to the separate +villages in bulk prior to their departure, and one hundred and fifty +thousand dollars in the best quality of Indian goods and merchandise, +cutlery, and other articles of prime necessity, systematically divided +amongst the mass. The sum of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars has +been paid on accounts exhibited to the agent, and approved by the +creditors of the two tribes. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars have +also been paid to the half-breed relatives of the two tribes on +carefully prepared lists.</p> + +<p>These several duties required care and involved responsibilities of no +ordinary character. They have been shared by Major H. Whiting, the +Paymaster of the Northern Department, by whom the funds were exclusively +paid, and John W. Edwards, Esq., of New York, who divided the half-breed +fund, to both of whom I am indebted for the diligence with which they +addressed themselves to the duty, and the kindness and urbanity of +their manners.</p> + +<p>So large an assemblage of red and white men probably never assembled +here before, and a greater degree of joy and satisfaction was never +evinced by the same number. The Indians went away with their canoes +literally loaded with all an Indian wants, from silver to a steel trap, +and a practical demonstration was given which will shut their mouths +forever with regard to the oft-repeated scandal of the stinginess and +injustice of the American government.</p> + +<p>Not a man was left, of any caste or shade of nativity, to utter a word +to gainsay or cavil with the noble and high public manner in which +these proceedings were done. The blood-relatives of the Indian found +that the two nations, actuated by a sense of their kindness and real +friendship for years, had remembered them in the day of their +prosperity. The large number of Indian creditors, who had toiled and +suffered and lost property in a trade which is always hazardous, were +glad in seeing the ample provision for their payment.</p> + +<p>The agents of the government also rejoiced in the happy termination of +their labors, and the drum, whose roll had carried away the troops who +had been present to preserve order, now converted to a symbol of peace, +was never more destined to be beaten to assemble white men to march in +hostility against these tribes. They were forever our friends. What war +had not accomplished, the arts of peace certainly had. Kindness, +justice, and liberality, like the "still small voice" at Sinai, had done +what the whirlwind and the tempest failed to do.</p> + +<p>Fourteen years before, I had taken the management of these tribes in +hand, to conduct their intercourse and to mould and guide their +feelings, on the part of the government. They were then poor, in a +region denuded of game, and without one dollar in annuities. They were +yet smarting under the war of 1812, and all but one man, the noble Wing, +or Ningwegon, hostile to the American name. They were now at the acme of +Indian hunter prosperity, with every want supplied, and a futurity of +pleasing anticipation. They were friends of the American government. I +had allied myself to the race. I was earnest and sincere in desiring and +advancing their welfare. I was gratified with a result so auspicious to +every humane and exalted wish.</p> + +<blockquote> +War, ye wild tribes, hath no rewards like this;<br> +'tis peaceful labors that result in bliss.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Baron de Behr, Minister of Belgium, presented himself at my +office. He was cordially received, although bringing me no letter to +apprize me of his official standing at Washington. He had been to the +Sault Ste. Marie, and visited the entrance into Lake Superior. He +presented me a petrifaction picked up on Drummond Island, and looked at +my cabinet with interest.</p> + +<p>The troops under Major Hoffman embarked in a steamer for Detroit. Also +Major Whiting, the U.S. Paymaster, and Mr. Edmonds, my adjuncts in +official labor.</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 17th.</i> Old friends from Middlebury, Vermont, came up in a steamer +bound to Green Bay, among whom I was happy to recognize Mrs. Henshaw, +mother of the bishop of that name of Rhode Island.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Alfred Schoolcraft, who had commenced the study of ornithology +with decided ability, hands me the following list of birds, which have +been observed to extend their visits to this island and the basin of +Lake Huron.</p> +<br> + +<center> +<table border="1" width="80%"> +<tr align="center"><th>Common Name.</th><th>Order.</th><th>Family.</th><th>Genus.</th><th> </th></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Brown Thrush</td><td>Passeres</td><td>Canori</td><td>Turdus</td><td>T. Rufus.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Cedar Bird</td><td>"</td><td>Sericati</td><td>Bonelycilla</td><td>B. Carolinensis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Canada Jay</td><td>"</td><td>Gregarii</td><td>Corvus</td><td>C. Canadensis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Crow</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>C. Corone.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>House Wren</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>Trylodites</td><td>T. Edom.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Blue Jay</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>Corvus</td><td>C. Vociferus.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Raven</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>C. Corax.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Snow Bird</td><td>"</td><td>Passerini</td><td>Fringilla</td><td>F. Hyemalis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Sing Cicily</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>F. Melodia.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Robin</td><td>"</td><td>Canori</td><td>Turdus</td><td>T. Migratoria.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td> </td><td>"</td><td>Passerini</td><td>Loxia</td><td>L. Corvurostra.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Red Winged Starling</td><td>"</td><td>Gregarii</td><td>Icterus</td><td>I. Phoenicus.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Goldfinch</td><td>"</td><td>Passerini</td><td>Fringilla</td><td>F. Tristis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Little Owl</td><td>Accipetres</td><td>Stapaces</td><td>Stryx</td><td>S.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Sparrow Hawk</td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>Falco</td><td>F. Sparverius.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Golden Plover</td><td>Gralle</td><td>Pressirostre</td><td>Charadrus</td><td>C. Plurailis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Woodcock</td><td>"</td><td>Semicole</td><td>Scolipax</td><td>S. Minor.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Green Winged Teal</td><td> </td><td>Lamelasodenta</td><td>Anas</td><td>Anas Crecca.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Wood Duck</td><td> </td><td>"</td><td>"</td><td>A. Sponsa.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Golden Eyed Duck</td><td> </td><td>"</td><td>Fatigula</td><td>F. Clengula.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Hooping Crane</td><td> </td><td>Herodii</td><td>Grus</td><td>G. Americana.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Kingfisher</td><td>Passeres</td><td>Augubrostres</td><td>Alcedo</td><td>A. Alcyon.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Loon</td><td> </td><td>Pygopodes</td><td>Colymbus</td><td>C. Glacialis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Partridge</td><td> </td><td>Galinacia</td><td>Perdix</td><td>P. Virginiana.</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> +<p>Of their habits he appends the following remarks:--</p> + +<p>"The Canada Jay (<i>C. Canadensis</i>) preys upon smaller birds of the +sparrow kind. This fact has been related to me by persons of undoubted +veracity, and I have myself seen one of them in pursuit of small birds.</p> + +<p>"There is a small species of sparrow, that inhabits the forests near the +settlements in this region, of a very interesting character. It matters +not how intense the cold, it never deserts our woods, but remains +hunting for insects in the cavities and among the branches of the trees +with the most assiduous caution. They hatch their young in holes, which +they perforate in decayed trees with their sharp bills. If a person +happens to come near their nests during the time of incubation, it +vociferates most strenuously against the intrusion, while its feathers +expand, its eyes sparkle with rage, and it darts from branch to branch +with the most astonishing rapidity. It is frequently to be seen near our +houses in the winter, and in the most severe and inclement weather they +will tend, by their chirping and gambols, to amuse and enliven our +minds, while at the same time they afford us an entertaining study.</p> + +<p>"Their wants are very small. If a piece of meat, weighing two or three +pounds, is hung against some tree or fence near to our houses in the +winter, we can have the pleasure of witnessing them merrily banqueting +on it every day for several weeks.</p> + +<p>"Sandpipers of the smaller kinds can swim on the surface of the water, +dive beneath and remain under it with the same facility as the duck and +other aquatic birds, although they do not make use of this property +unless driven to extremity. This fact I can pledge my veracity on from +personal observation. They need not use this power of swimming for the +purpose of procuring food, as the substances on which they subsist are +found on the margin of the water."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII."></a>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> + +<p>Value of the equivalent territory granted to Michigan, by +Congress, for the disputed Ohio boundary--Rapid improvement of +Michigan--Allegan--Indian legend--Baptism and death of Kagoosh, a very +aged chief at St. Mary's--New system of writing Indian, proposed by Mr. +Nash--Indian names for new towns--A Bishop's notion of the reason for +applying to Government for education funds under Indian treaties--Mr. +Gallatin's paper on the Indians--The temperance movement.</p> + +<p><i>1836. Oct. 27th</i>. I embarked this day, at Michilimackinack, with my +family, for Detroit, to assume the duties of the superintendency at that +point. Nothing, demanding notice, occurred on the passage; we reached +our destination on the 30th. Political feeling still ran high respecting +the terms of admission proposed by Congress to Michigan, and the +convention, which recently met at Ann Arbor, refused their assent to +these terms, under a mistaken view of the case, as I think, and the lead +of rash and heady advisors; for there is no doubt in my mind that the +large area of territory in the upper country, offered as an equivalent +for the disputed boundary with Ohio, will be found of far greater value +and importance to the State than the "seven mile strip" surrendered--an +opinion, the grounds of which are discussed in my "Albion" letters. I +expressed this opinion in the spring of the year, before the Judiciary +Committee of the Senate, where I attended, on the invitation of Hon. +Silas Wright, to impart information, which I was supposed to possess, on +the geography and natural resources of the Lake Superior region.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 2d/</i>. Mr. J.G. Palfrey, acting editor of the <i>N.A. Review</i>, +invites me to become a contributor to the pages of that standard +periodical.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. No territory in the Union has required so long, so very long a +time for its appreciation, as Michigan, and now, that emigration is +freely coming in, it is difficult to estimate the very rapid +improvement of places. An instance of the kind occurs in the details of +a letter which I have just received. "It may not be amiss," says Mr. +A.L. Ely, "to give you a short description of the growth of Allegan. The +site was bought at government prices, in the spring of 1833, by two +gentlemen now living at Bronson, namely, Anthony Cooly and Stephen +Vickery. In November of that year, my father, who was then in Michigan +looking for a location, both for him and myself, purchased for me +one-third of the property, there being in all about 452 acres of land, +for which he paid $1750. In June, 1834, we sent one family from +Rochester, who built two log houses, and grubbed the ground for a mill +race. In October, 1834, Mr. Sidney Ketchum, as agent for some gentlemen +in Boston, purchased all the interests in the property, except those +held by me, for something under $5,000.</p> + +<p>"The winter of '34 and '35 was spent in making roads, and getting +provisions together, and preparing to commence improvements. In April, +1835, we commenced the dam and canal for a double saw mill, which were +completed that fall. In May, our plat was laid out in lots. In June, we +commenced selling them. We have sold up to this date 175 lots. In June, +1835, the second family came into the place. In November, the first +merchant commenced selling goods. In December, we commenced the erection +of a small building for a church; it was completed in May, 1836, and a +few days after, accidentally burnt down.</p> + +<p>"There are now (Nov. 1836) in Allegan three stores, two large taverns, a +cupola furnace, a chairmaker's shop, two cabinet shops, two blacksmiths, +a shoemaker's shop, a tailor's shop, a school house 20 by 40, costing +$1200; about 40 frame buildings, and over 500 people."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. I have for many years been collecting from the Indian lodges a +species of oral fictitious legends, which attest in the race no little +power of imagination; and certainly exhibit them in a different light +from any in which they have been heretofore viewed. The Rev. Mr. +McMurray, of St. Mary's, transmits me a story of this kind, obtained +some two months ago by his wife (who is a descendant, by the mother's +side, of Chippewa parents) from one of the natives. This tale impressed +me as worthy of being preserved. I have applied to it, from one of its +leading traits, the name of "The Enchanted Moccasons." "I have written +the story," he remarks, "as near the language in which Charlotte +repeated it as possible, leaving you the task to clothe it with such +garb as may suit those which you have already collected, or as the +substance will merit."</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 7th</i>. Mr. McMurray (who is an Episcopal Missionary at St. Mary's) +announces the death of one of the principal and most aged chiefs of the +Odjibwas, in that quarter of the country--Kagcosh. "He bade adieu to +this world of trouble last evening at sunset. I visited him about two +weeks since, and conversed with him on religious subjects, to which he +gave the utmost attention, and on that occasion requested me to baptize +him. I told him that I was willing to do so whenever I could, without +leaving a doubt in my mind as to his preparedness for the rite. I, +however, promised, if his mind did not change, to administer it soon. He +sent for me the day before he died, and requested me again, without +delay, to baptize him, which I did, and have every reason to believe +that he understood and felt the necessity of it."</p> + +<p>This venerable chief must have been about ninety years of age. His head +was white. He was about six feet two inches in height, lithe of form, +and long featured, with a grave countenance, and cranial developments of +decided intellectuality. He was of the Crane totem, the reigning family +of that place, and the last survivor of seven brothers, of whom +Shingabowossin, who died in the fall of 1828, was noted as the most +distinguished, and as a good speaker. He was entitled to $500, under the +treaty of 28th March, as one of the first class chiefs of his nation.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 2d</i>. Rev. Mr. Nash presented me letters as a missionary to the +Chippewas. He had prepared a new set of characters by which to write +that language, and presented me a copy of it. Every one is not a Cadmus, +and the want of success which has, therefore, attended the efforts at +new systems of signs to express sounds, should teach men that it is +easier, and there are more practical advantages attending the use of an +old and well-known system, like that of the English alphabet, than a new +and unknown system, however ingenious and exact. The misfortune is that +all attempts of this sort, like new systems of notation with the Roman +alphabet, are designed rather to show that their authors are inventive +and exact, than to benefit the Indian race. For if an Indian be taught +by these systems to read, yet he can read nothing but books prepared +for him by this system; and the whole body of English literature, +history, and poetry, is a dead letter to him. Above all, he cannot read +the English version of the Bible.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A friend asked me to furnish him an aboriginal name for a new +town. I gave him the choice of several. He selected Algonac. In this +word the particle <i>ac</i>, is taken from <i>ace</i>, land or earth; and its +prefixed dissyllable <i>Algon</i>, from the word Algonquin. This system, by +which a part of a word is made to stand for, and carry the meaning of a +whole word, is common to Indian compound substantives. Thus +<i>Wa-we-a-tun-ong</i>, the Algonquin name for Detroit, is made up from the +term <i>wa-we</i>, a roundabout course, <i>atun</i> a channel, and <i>ong</i>, +locality. Our geographical terminology might be greatly mended by this +system. At least repetition, by some such attention to-our geographical +names, to the liability of misdirecting letters, might be, to a great +extent, avoided.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Mr. Bishop Rese, of the Catholic Church, called to make some +inquiry respecting a provision in the late treaty, designed to benefit +his church. I had traveled on the lake with the Bishop. He is a short, +club nosed, smiling man, of a quizzical physiognomy. He asked me what I +supposed was the cause of the press for the treaty appropriations for +educations, by Protestant missions. I told him that I supposed the +conversion of the souls of the Indians constituted the object of these +applications. "Poh! poh!" said he, "it is the money itself."</p> + +<p><i>Dec 19th</i>. Mr. Gallatin's <i>Synopsis of the Indian Tribes</i> is forwarded +to me for a review. "The publication," says Mr. Palfrey, "of the second +volume of <i>Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society</i> was delayed +considerably beyond the time appointed. It was only a week ago that a +copy reached me. I transmit it by mail. Should it not reach you within a +week after the receipt of this, will you have the goodness to inform me, +and I will forthwith let another copy try its fortune."</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. The temperance movement has excited the community of Detroit this +season, as a subject essential to the cause of sound morals. Its +importance is undeniable on all hands, but there is always a tendency in +new measures of reform, to make the method insisted on a sort of moral +panacea, capable of doing all things, to the no little danger of setting +up a standard higher than that of the Decalogue itself. In the midst of +this tendency to ultraism, the least particle of conservative opinion +would be seized upon by its leaders as the want of a thorough +acquiescence and heartiness in the cause. Rev. Mr. Cleaveland transmits +me a resolution of the "Total Abstinence City Temperance Society," for +an address to be delivered in one week. "Do not, do not, do not," he +remarks, "say us nay."</p> + +<p>I determined to devote two or three winter evenings to gratify this +desire.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX."></a>CHAPTER LIX.</h2> + +<p>Difficulties resulting from a false impression of the Indian +character--Treaty with the Saginaws--Ottawas of Grand River establish +themselves in a colony in Barry County--Payments to the Ottawas of +Maumee, Ohio--Temperance--Assassination of young Aitkin by an Indian at +Leech Lake--Mackinack mission abandoned--Wyandots complain of a trespass +from a mill-dam--Mohegans of Green Bay apply for aid on their way to +visit Stockbridge, Mass.--Mohegan traditions--Historical +Society--Programme of a tour in the East--Parental disobedience--Indian +treaties--Dr. Warren's Collection of Crania--Hebrew +language--Geology--"Goods offer"--Mrs. Jameson--Mastodon's tooth in +Michigan--Captain Marryatt--The Icelandic language--Munsees--Speech of +Little Bear Skin chief, or Mu-kónsewyán.</p> + +<p>OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS, DETROIT.</p> + +<p><i>1837. Jan. 5th</i>. Difficulties are reported as existing between a party +of Indians (of about fifteen souls) of Bobish, and the settlers of +Coldwater, Branch county, (township 8, S. range, 5 west.) About forty +families have settled there within the last fall and summer. The +Indians, who have been in the habit of making sugar and hunting on the +public lands, are disposed not to relinquish these privileges, probably +not understanding fully their right. Mutual threats have passed, which +are repeated by Thomas G. Holden, who requests the interposition of the +Department.</p> + +<p>Settlers generally move into the new districts with strong prejudices +against the Indians, whom they regard, mistakingly, as thirsting for +blood and plunder. It only requires a little conciliation, and proper +explanations, as in this case, to induce them at once to adopt the +proper course.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Articles of a new treaty were this day signed at my office, by +the Saginaw chiefs, for the sale of all their reservations in Michigan. +These reservations were made under the treaty of September 24th, 1819. +They were ceded by them at Washington, in the spring of 1836, but the +terms, and particularly the advance of money stipulated to be made, were +deemed too liberal by the Senate, and, in consequence, the treaty was +rejected. The object is now attained in a manner which, it is hoped, +will prove satisfactory. By this, as the former treaty, this tribe are +allowed the entire proceeds of the sale of their lands.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Rev. Mr. Slater reports that the Ottawas of Grand River, who +were parties to the treaty of 28th of March, have purchased lands in +Barry county for the $6,400 allowed by the ninth article of the treaty, +in trust for Chiminonoquet; and that a mission has been established on +the lands purchased, which is called Ottawa Colony. Difficulties have +occurred with pre-emption claimants in the same lands.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Captain Simonton reports the payment of the annuity, amounting +to $1,700, due to the Ottawas of Maumee, Ohio. The entire number of +persons paid by him was four hundred and thirty-three, dividing a +fraction under $4 per soul. In these payments old and young fare alike. +Henry Connor, Esq., the interpreter present, confirms the report of the +equal division, <i>per capita</i>, among the Indians, and the satisfaction +which attended the payment, on their part.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 1st</i>. Delivered an address at the Presbyterian Church, before a +crowded audience, on the temperance movement, showing that the whole +question to be decided was, in which class of moderate drinkers men +elected themselves to be arranged, and that ardent spirits, as a +beverage, were wholly unnecessary to a healthy constitution.</p> + +<p>Transmitted to Mr. Palfrey a review of Mr. Gallatin's "Synopsis of the +Indian Tribes of America."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 1st</i>. Mr. William A. Aitkin writes from Sandy Lake: "Since I left +you at St. Peter's I have had a severe trial to go through. I came up by +Swan River, but heard nothing there of the melancholy event which had +taken place during my absence at Upper Red Cedar Lake. My eldest son had +been placed at that place last fall, in charge of that post. You saw +him, I believe, last summer; he was in charge of Leech Lake when you +were at that place. He was a young man of twenty-two years of age, of a +very amiable temper, humane and brave, possessed of the most unbounded +obedience to my will, and of the most filial affection for my person. +This, my son, was murdered in the most atrocious manner by a bloody +monster of an Indian. My poor boy had arrived the evening previous to +the bloody act, from a voyage to Red Lake. Early the next morning he +sent off all the men he had to Lake Winnipeck, excepting one Frenchman, +to bring up some things which he had left there in the fall. A short +time after his men had gone, he sent the remaining man to bring some +water from the river; the man returned into the house immediately, and +told him an Indian had broken open the store, and was in it. He went +very deliberately to the store, took hold of the villain, who tried to +strike him with his tomahawk, dragged him out of the store and disarmed +him of his axe, threw him on the ground, and then let him go--and was +turned round in the act of locking the store-door. The villain stepped +behind the door, where he had hid his gun, came on him unawares and shot +him dead, without the least previous provocation whatever on the part of +my poor lost boy. When arrived, I found the feelings of every one +prepared for vengeance. I immediately, without one moment's loss of +time, proceeded to Leech Lake. In a moment there were twenty half-breeds +gathered round, with Francis Brunette at their head, full-armed, ready +to execute any commands that I should give them. We went immediately to +the camp where the villain was, beyond Red Cedar Lake, determined to cut +off the whole band if they should raise a finger in his defence. Our +mutual friend, Mr. Boutwell, joined the party, with his musket on his +shoulder, as a man and a Christian, for he knew it was a righteous +cause, and that the arm of God was with him. We arrived on the wretches +unawares, disarmed the band, and dragged the monster from his lodge. I +would have put the villain to death in the midst of his relations, but +Mr. Boutwell advised it would be better to take him where he might be +made an example of. The monster escaped from us two days after we had +taken him, but my half-breeds pursued him for six days and brought him +back, and he is now on his way to St. Peter's in irons, under a strong +guard. My dear friend, I cannot express to you the anguish of my heart +at this present moment.</p> + +<p>"The Indians of all this department have behaved like villains during my +absence, particularly the Indians of Leech Lake, committing the greatest +depredations on our people, and would surely have murdered them if they +had shown the least disposition to resist their aggravations. You will +excuse me from giving you any other news at present. I'm not in a state +of mind to do it."</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 3d</i>. Rev. David Green, of Boston, communicates the determination +of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to break up and +abandon the school and mission at Mackinack. This decision I have long +feared, and cannot but deplore. The school is large, and the education +of many of the pupils is such that in a few years they would make useful +practicable men and women, and carry a Christian influence over a wide +circle. By dispersing them now the labor is to some extent lost.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Received, a vote of thanks of the Detroit Total Abstinence +Society, for my temperance address of the 1st instant, which is +courteously called "elegant and appropriate." So, ho!</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. A party of Wyandots from the River Huron, of Michigan, visited +the office. They complain that trespasses are committed by settlers on +the lands reserved to them. The trespasses arise from the construction +of mill-dams, by which their grounds are overflowed. They asked whether +they hold the reservation for fifty years or otherwise. I replied that +they hold them, by the terms of the treaty, as long as they shall have +any posterity to live on the lands. They only escheat to the United +States in failure of this. But that I would send an agent to inquire +into the justice of their complaint, and to redress it.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Robert Kankapot presents himself with about twenty followers. He +is a Stockbridge Indian of Green Bay, Wisconsin, on his way to the East. +He is short of funds, and asks for relief. No annuity or other funds are +payable, at this office, to this tribe. I deemed his plea, however, a +reasonable one, and loaned him personally one hundred dollars.</p> + +<p>I detained him with some historical questions. He says he is sixty-four +years of age, that he was born in Stockbridge, on the head of the +Housatonic River, in Massachusetts. From this town they take their +present name. They are, however, the descendants of the ancient +Mohegans, who lived on the sea coast and in the Hudson Valley. They were +instructed by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the eminent theologian, who was +afterwards president of Princeton College. Their first migration was +into New Stockbridge, in Oneida County, New York, where the Oneida tribe +assigned them lands. This was about the era of the American Revolution. +They next went, about 1822, to Fox River of Green Bay, where they now +reside. Their oldest chief, at that point, is Metoxon, who is now +sixty-nine.</p> + +<p>He says his remote ancestry were from Long Island (Metoacs), and that +Montauk means great sea island. (This does not appear probable +philologically.) He says the opposite coast, across the East River, was +called <i>Monhautonuk</i>. He afterwards, the next day, said that Long Island +was called <i>Paum-nuk-kah-huk.</i></p> + +<p><i>March 1st</i>. To a friend abroad I wrote: "I have written during the +winter an article on Mr. Gallatin's recently published paper on the +Indian languages, entitled <i>A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes</i>, which is +published by the American Antiquarian Society. It was with great +reluctance that I took up the subject, and when I did, I have been so +complete a fact hunter all my life, that I found it as difficult to lay +it down. The result is probably an article too long for ninety-nine +readers out of a hundred, and too short for the hundredth man."</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Mr. Palfrey acknowledges the safe arrival of my article for the +<i>North American Review</i>.</p> + +<p>The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions decline $6000 +for the abandoned missionary house at Mackinack, offered under the view +of its being converted into a dormitory for receiving Indian visitors at +that point under the provisions of the treaty of 1836.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Received a letter of thanks from old Zachariah Chusco, the +converted Jos-sa-keed, for kindness.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i> Received a commission from Gov. Mason, appointing me a regent of +the University of Michigan.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The Historical Society of Michigan hold their annual meeting at +my office. In the election for officers I was honored by being selected +its President. A deep interest in historical letters had been manifested +by this institution since its organization in 1828, particularly in the +history of the aboriginal tribes, and means have been put on foot for +the collection of facts. To these, the recent and extraordinary +settlement of the country by emigration from the Bast, has added a new +branch of inquiry, respecting town, county, and neighborhood +settlements. Much of this is held in the memory of old persons, and will +be lost if not gleaned up and preserved in the shape of narratives. +Resolutions for this purpose were adopted, and an appeal made to the +legislature to facilitate the collection of pamphlets and printed +documents. Men live so rapidly now that few think of posterity; society +hastens at a horse's pace, and we pass over so large a surface in so +short a time, that the historian and antiquarian will stand aghast, in a +few years, and exclaim "would that more minute facts were within +our reach!"</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. The Department at Washington instructs me to examine additional +and unsatisfied claims arising under the 5th article of the treaty of +March 28th, 1836, and, after submitting them to the Indians, to report +them for payment.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Very different are the diurnal scenes enacted from those which +passed before my eyes at the ice-closed post of Mackinack last winter. +Yet in one respect they are entitled to have a similar effect on my +mind; it is in the craving that exists to fill the intervals of business +with some moral and intellectual occupation that may tend to relieve it +of the tedium of long periods of leisure. When a visitor is dismissed, +or a transaction is settled, and the door closes on a man habituated to +mental labor, the ever-ready inquiry is, What next? To sit still--to do +nothing absolutely but to turn over the thoughts of other men, though +this be a privilege, is not ultimate happiness. There is still a void, +which the desire to be remembered, or something else, must fill.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Gen. Cass writes from Paris that he is on the eve of setting +out, with his family, for the Levant, to embark on a tour to the East, +to visit the ancient seats of oriental power. "We proceed directly to +Toulon, where we shall embark on board the frigate Constitution. From +thence we touch at Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Naples, and Sicily, and then +proceed to Alexandria. After seeing Cairo, the Pyramids, Memphis, and, I +hope, the Red Sea, we shall proceed to Palestine, look at Jerusalem, see +the Dead Sea, and other interesting places of Holy Writ, pass by and +touch at Tyre and Sidon, land at Beyrout, and visit Damascus and +Baalbec, and probably Palmyra; touch at Smyrna, proceed to +Constantinople and the Black Sea, and then to Greece, &c.; after that to +the islands of the Archipelago, then up the Adriatic to Venice and +Trieste, and thence return to this place. So, you see, here is the +programme of a pretty good expedition, certainly a very +interesting one."</p> + +<p><i>April 6th</i>. By letters received from Albany, a singular chapter of the +inscrutable course and awards of Providence for parental disobedience +and youthful deception is revealed. Alfredus, who departed from my +office in Detroit early in March last, to receive a warrant as a cadet +at West Point, has not appeared among his friends. He was a young man of +good mind, figure, and address, and would doubtless have justified the +judgment of his friends in giving him a military education. His father +had been one of the patriots of 1776, and served on the memorable field +of Saratoga. But the young man was smitten with the romance of going to +Texas and joining the ranks of that country, striving for a rank among +nations. This secret wish he carefully concealed from me, and, setting +out with the view of returning to his father's roof, and solacing his +age by entering the military academy, he secretly took the stage to +Columbus, Ohio. Thence he pushed his way to New Orleans and Galveston. +The next intelligence received of him, was a careful measurement of his +length, by unknown hands, and the statement that, in ascending the +Brazos, he had taken the fever and died.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Issued notice to claimants for Indian debts, under the 5th +article of the treaty of March 28th, 1886; that additional claims would +be considered, and that such claims, with the evidence in support of +them, must be produced previous to the first of June next.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Received notice of my election as a corresponding member of the +Hartford Natural History Society, Connecticut.</p> + +<p>I have filled the pauses of official duty, during the season, by +preparing for the press the oral legends which have been gleaned from +the Indians since my residence at Sault St. Marie, in the basin of Lake +Superior, and at Michilimackinack, under the name of <i>Algic +Researches</i>, vol. i.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. By the treaty of 9th May, 1836, with the Swan Creek and Black +River Chippewas, the United States agree to furnish them thirteen +sections of land West, in lieu of the cessions relinquished in Michigan, +besides accounting to them for the nett proceeds of the land ceded. +Measures were now taken to induce them to send delegates to the Indian +territory west of the Missouri, to locate this tract, and an agent was +appointed to accompany them.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Received a copy of my article on Indian languages.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. The Saginaws, by the cession of the 14th of January, agreed to +leave Michigan, and accept a location elsewhere; and they were now urged +to send delegates to the head waters of the Osage River, where they can +be provided with fine lands, and placed in juxtaposition to +cognate tribes.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Received a letter from the editor of the "Knickerbocker." <a name="FNanchor79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79">[79]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor79">[79]</a> Birchen Canoe: Song of the Ship. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>May 18th</i>. Received notice of my election as one of the vice presidents +of the American Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, at +New York.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. William Ward, Esq., of the War Office, Washington, D.C., writes: +"I have received two communications from Dr. Warren, of Boston, on the +subject of a collection of crania and bones of the aborigines. He is +desirous of procuring specimens from the different tribes, and from the +mounds in the different sections of the country.</p> + +<p>"Trusting, in a great measure, to your readiness to co-operate in every +effort to advance the cause of science, I have promised him to use the +means my connection with the office might give me to forward his views. +His high reputation must be known to you, and I am sure you will aid him +to complete a collection which, I understand, he has been occupied many +years in making.</p> + +<p>"I gather from his letters, that he wishes to procure a few complete +skeletons, and a number of crania, and that it will be desirable to have +as much as possible of the history of each head."</p> + +<p><i>June 4th</i>. Michilimackinack. Received a copy of <i>Bush's Grammar of the +Hebrew Language</i>, and commenced comparing the Indian tongues with it. +This language has twenty-two letters. In order to impress the elements +upon my own mind, as well as improve theirs, I commenced teaching my +children the language, just keeping ahead of them, and hearing their +recitations every morning.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Receive a letter of introduction from Governor Mason, by Mr. +Massingberd, of England, an intelligent and estimable traveler +in America.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Dr. Edward Spring, son of the Rev. Gardiner Spring, of New York, +visits the island with the view of a temporary practice.</p> + +<p><i>July 1st</i>. A copy of <i>Stuart's Hebrew Grammar</i> reached me this morning. +I have a special motive in making myself acquainted with this ancient, +and, as I find, simple tongue. The course of my investigation of the +Algonquin language, has shown me the want of the means of enlarged +comparison, which I could not institute without it.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Major Whiting writes: "I have lately begun <i>Buckland's Treatise,</i> +and a noble work it is; the subject he treats just in that way which +will communicate the greatest amount of information to the reading +public. That part which explains the bearing of the Scriptures on +geology, will have a most salutary effect on the public mind. It was all +important that such explanations should be given. Many good minds have +been startled, and approached geology with averted eyes, apprehending +that it ran counter to the great truths of the Bible. Viewed as the +Bible generally has been, geological facts are likely to disturb the +moral world. Either they must be disbelieved, or that literal +interpretation of Genesis, so long received, must be abandoned. To make +this abandonment, without having satisfactory reasons for it, would have +risked much, that never should be put in jeopardy. It had come to this, +geology must be sealed up and anathematized, or it must be reconciled +with the Sacred Writ. Buckland has undoubtedly done the latter; and he +has thus conferred an inestimable blessing on mankind."</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. A remarkable land claim, upon the Indians, who are parties to +the late treaty of 1836, came before me. This consisted of a grant given +by the Chippewas in 1760, to Major Robert Rodgers, of anti-revolutionary +fame, to a valuable part of the upper region on Lake Superior. The +present heir is James Chaloner Alabaster, who says the deed, of which a +copy is furnished, has been in the possession of his family in England +about sixty years. It appears to have been executed in due form for a +consideration. It is prior to the proclamation of George III. +interdicting grants.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. A band of Chippewas, originally hailing from Grand Island, in +Lake Superior, but now living on the extreme northern head of Green Bay, +visited the office. It embraced the eldest son of the late Oshawn +Epenaysee (South Bird), who died, in the first class of chiefs, at Grand +Island last fall. His name is Ado-wa-wa-e-go (something of an inanimate +kind beating about in the water on shore). They requested that he might +be recognized as their chief. On examination this request was acceded +to, and I invested him with a flag.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. The department submitted a proposition to the Indians, to take +half their annuities under the treaty of 1836, at the approaching +payments, in goods, and half in silver. If the goods were declined, they +were requested to receive the half annuity in silver, with the other +annuities provided by the treaty, in kind, and to wait for the other +moiety till the next year.</p> + +<p>I submitted the offer to a full council of the chiefs and warriors this +day. They debated it fully. A delegation visited the goods, which were +shown by an agent. They decline receiving them, but agree to receive the +half annuity in coin, and wait, as requested, for the other half till +the next payment. This proposition was called the "goods offer," and was +much distorted by the public-press. I was blamed for having carried the +offer into effect, whereas it was declined, and the half annuity in +silver accepted, and the credit asked for, given for the rest.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Two bands who had not united in this decision, namely, the bands +of Point St. Ignace and Chenos, came in, by their chiefs, and yielded +their assent to the arrangement of yesterday. Thus the consent became +unanimous on the part of the Indians.</p> + +<p>A notification, by a special messenger, to the Grand River Ottawas, is +dispatched to attend the payments at this place on the 1st of September, +and to signify their assent or dissent to the proposed arrangement. Rix +Robinson and Louis Campeau, Esqrs., of that valley, and the Rev. Leonard +Slater, of Barry, are requested to give this notice publicity.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mrs. Jameson embarks in an open boat for Sault Ste. Marie, +accompanied by Mrs. Schoolcraft, after having spent a short time as a +most intelligent and agreeable inmate under our roof. This lady, +respecting whom I had received letters from my brother-in-law Mr. +McMurray, a clergyman of Canada West, evinced a most familiar knowledge +of artistic life and society in England and Germany. Her acquaintance +with Goethe, and other distinguished writers, gave a life and piquancy +to her conversation and anecdotes, which made us cherish her society the +more. She is, herself, an eminent landscape painter, or rather sketcher +in crayon, and had her portfolio ever in hand. She did not hesitate +freely to walk out to prominent points, of which the island has many, to +complete her sketches. This freedom from restraint in her motions, was +an agreeable trait in a person of her literary tastes and abilities. She +took a very lively interest in the Indian race, and their manners and +customs, doubtless with views of benevolence for them as a peculiar race +of man, but also as a fine subject of artistic observation. +Notwithstanding her strong author-like traits and peculiarities, we +thought her a woman of hearty and warm affections and attachments; the +want of which, in her friends, we think she would exquisitely feel.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jameson several times came into the office and heard the Indians +speaking. She also stepped out on the piazza and saw the wild Indians +dancing; she evidently looked on with the eye of a Claude Lorraine or +Michael Angelo.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. The term <i>ego</i>, added to an active Indian verb, renders it +passive. I have given an example of this before in the case of a man's +name. Here is another: The verb <i>to carry</i> is Be-moan in the Algonquin. +By the pronominal prefix <i>Nim</i>, we have the sense <i>I carry</i>. By adding +to the latter the suffix <i>ego</i>, the action is reflected and this sense +is rendered passive.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. A treaty is concluded this day at Fort Snelling, St. Peter's, +between Governor H. Dodge and the Chippewa Indians, by which they cede a +large and important tract to the United States.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 1st</i>. A discovery of a tooth of the Mastodon has lately been made +in the bed of the Papaw River, in Berrian County, Michigan. It is about +six inches long and three broad. The enamel is nearly perfect, and that +part of the tooth which was covered by it nearly whole, while the +portion which must have been inserted in the socket is mostly broken +off. The diluvian soil of the Michigan Peninsula is thus added to the +wide area of the <i>mastodonic period</i>.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Capt. Marryatt came up in the steamer of last night. A friend +writes: "He is one of Smollett's sea captains---much more of the +Trunnion than one would have expected to find in a literary man. Stick +Mackinack into him, with all its <i>rock-osities.</i> He is not much disposed +to the <i>admirari</i> without the <i>nil</i>--affects little enthusiasm about +anything, and perhaps feels as little." He turned out here a perfect sea +urchin, ugly, rough, ill-mannered, and conceited beyond all bounds. +Solomon says, "answer not a fool according to his folly," so I paid him +all attention, drove him over the island in my carriage, and rigged him +out with my <i>canoe-elège</i> to go to St. Mary's.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. George Tucker, Professor in the University of Virginia, came up +in the last steamer. I hasted, while it stayed, to drive him out and +show off the curiosities of the island to the best advantage.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Mrs. Schoolcraft writes from the <i>Sault</i>, that Mrs. Jameson and +the children suffered much on the trip to that place from mosquitoes, +but by dint of a douceur of five dollars extra to the men, which Mrs. +Jameson made to the crew, they rowed all night, from Sailor's +encampment, and reached the Sault at 6 o'clock in the morning. "I feel +delighted," she says, "at my having come with Mrs. Jameson, as I found +that she did not know how to get along at all at all. Mr. McMurray and +family and Mrs. Jameson started off on Tuesday morning for Manitouline +with a fair wind and fair day, and I think they have had a fine voyage +down. Poor Mrs. Jameson cried heartily when she parted with me and my +children; she is indeed a woman in a thousand. While here, George came +down the rapids with her in fine style and spirits. She insisted on +being baptized and named in Indian, after her <i>sail</i> down the falls. We +named her Was-sa-je-wun-e-qua (Woman of the Bright Stream), with which +she was mightily pleased."</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Delegates from the Saginaws, from the Swan Creek and Black +Chippewas of Lower Michigan, stop, on their way, to explore a new +location west, in charge of a special exploring agent.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ord, recently appointed a sub-agent in this superintendency, reaches +the island. He is the second person I have known who has made the names +of his children an object of singularity. Mr. Stickney, who figured +prominently in the Toledo War, called his male children One, Two, &c. +Mr. Ord has not evidently differed in this respect from general custom, +for the same reason, namely, an objection to <i>Christian</i> prejudice for +John and James, or Aaron and Moses. He has simply given them Latin +nominatives, from the mere love he has apparently for that tongue. I +believe he was formerly a Georgetown professor.</p> + +<p>Capt. Marryatt embarked on board the steamer Michigan, on his return +from the island, after having spent several days in a social visit, +including a trip to the Sault, in company with Mr. Lay, of Batavia. +While here, I saw a good deal of the novelist. His manners and style of +conversation appeared to be those of a sailor, and such as we should +look for in his own Peter Simple. Temperance and religion, if not +morality, were to him mere cant words, and whether he was observed, +either before dinner or after dinner--in the parlor or out of it--his +words and manners were anything but those of a quiet, modest, English +gentleman.</p> + +<p>I drove Mr. Lay and himself out one day after dinner to see the +curiosities of the island. He would insist walking over the arched rock. +"It is a fearful and dizzy height." When on the top he stumbled. My +heart was in my throat; I thought he would have been hurled to the rocks +below and dashed to a thousand pieces; but, like a true sailor, he +crouched down, as if on a yardarm, and again arose and completed his +perilous walk.</p> + +<p>We spoke of railroads. He said they were not built permanently in this +country, and attributed the fault to our excessive go-aheadiveness. Mr. +Lay: "True; but if we expended the sums you do on such works, they could +not be built at all. They answer a present purpose, and we can afford to +renew them in a few years from their own profits."</p> + +<p>The captain's knowledge of natural history was not precise. He aimed to +be knowing when it was difficult to conceal ignorance. He called some +well-characterized species of <i>septaria</i> in my cabinet <i>pudding-stone,</i> +beautiful specimens of limpid hexagonal crystals of quartz, <i>common +quartz</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>Mr. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, brings me a letter of introduction. +This gentleman has the quiet easy air of a man who has seen the world. +His fine taste and acquirements have procured him a wide reputation. His +translation of <i>Rusk's Icelandic Grammar</i> is a scholar-like performance, +and every way indicative of the propensities of his mind for +philological studies.</p> + +<p>It is curious to observe, in this language, the roots of many English +words, and it denotes through what lengths of mutations of history the +stock words of a generic language may be traced. Lond, skip, flaska, +sumar, hamar, ketill, dal, are clearly the radices respectively of land, +ship, flask, summer, hammer, kettle, dale. This property of the +endurance of orthographical forms gives one a definite illustration of +the importance of language on history.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. A large party of Munsees and Delawares from the River Thames, in +Upper Canada, reach the harbor in a vessel bound for Green Bay, +Wisconsin. The Rev. Mr. Vogel, in whose charge they are, lands and +visits the office with some of the principal men. He says that most of +them have been known as "Christian Indians." That the number recognized +by this title on the Thames is 282, of whom 50 have been excommunicated. +Of these Christian Indians, 84 have been left on the Thames, in charge +of the Rev. Abraham Lukenbach.</p> + +<p>Mr. Vogel has in his company 202 persons, but says that others, +rendering their number 260 souls inclusive, are on their way by land. +Thirteen of this party, with White Eyes, son of White Eyes of frontier +war celebrity, came on the 9th instant, and have been lodged in the +public dormitory. They are on their way, in the first place, to the +Stockbridges, at Green Bay, and, finally, to their kindred, the +Delawares, on the Kanzas.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Early one morning I was agreeably surprised by the arrival of +Mrs. Jameson, whom I had previously expected to spend some time with me, +and found her a most agreeable, refined and intelligent guest, with none +of the supercilious and conceited airs, which I had noticed in some of +her traveling countrywomen of the class of authors.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Mukonsiwyan, a Chippewa chief of the first class, calls, on his +way back from a visit to the British annual meeting of the Indians, to +get their subsidies at the Manitouline Islands. He was evidently piqued +in not having received as much as he expected. He attempted to throw +dust in the agent's eyes by the following speech:--</p> + +<p>"My father, I wish to warm myself by your fire. I have tried to warm +myself by the British fire, but I could not, although I sat close by. +They put on <i>green poplar</i>, which would throw out no heat. <i>This</i> is the +place where hard wood grows,<a name="FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80">[80]</a> and I expect to be warmed by its heat."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor80">[80]</a> The island of Mackinack was formerly covered with a forest +of rock-maple, ironwood, &c., and much of it is still characterized by +these species. +</blockquote> + +<p>It was said that an <i>inferior</i> quality of blankets had been issued at +Manitouline. This was the <i>green poplar</i>. No guns and no kettles were +given. This is the coldness and want of heat, although sitting close by +the fire. On the contrary, large and extraordinary presents, and of the +best quality, were issued here last season at the execution of the +treaty of 1836. This is the <i>hard wood</i> and <i>good heat</i> thrown out to +all. The figure derived appositeness from the prevalence of such species +on the island.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LX."></a>CHAPTER LX.</h2> + +<p>Notions of foreigners about America--Mrs. Jameson--Appraisements of +Indian property--Le Jeune's early publication on the Iroquois--Troops +for Florida--A question of Indian genealogy--Annuity payments--Indians +present a claim of salvage--Death of the Prophet Chusco--Indian +sufferings--Gen. Dodge's treaty--Additional debt claims--Gazetteer of +Michigan--Stone's Life of Brant--University of Michigan--Christian +Keepsake--Indian etymology--Small-pox breaks out on the +Missouri--Missionary operation in the north-west--Treaty of Flint River +with the Saginaws.</p> + +<p>1837. <i>Aug. 16th</i>. A Mr. Nathan, an English traveler, of quiet and +pleasing manners, was introduced. He had been to St. Mary's Falls, and +to the magnificent entrance into Lake Superior, of whose fine scenery he +spoke in terms of admiration. It seems to me that Englishmen and +Englishwomen, for I have had a good many of both sexes to visit me +recently, look on America very much as one does when he peeps through a +magnifying glass on pictures of foreign scenes, and the picturesque +ruins of old cities, and the like. They are really very fine, but it is +difficult to realize that such things are. It is all an optical +deception.</p> + +<p>It was clearly so with Marryatt, a very superficial observer; Miss +Martineau, who was in search of something ultra and elementary, and even +Mrs. Jameson, who had the most accurate and artistic eye of all, but +who, with the exception of some bits of womanly heart, appeared to +regard our vast woods, and wilds, and lakes, as a magnificent panorama, +a painting in oil. It does not appear to occur to them, that here are +the very descendants of that old Saxa-Gothic race who sacked Rome, who +banished the Stuarts from the English throne, and who have ever, in all +positions, used all their might to battle tyranny and oppression, who +hate taxations as they hate snakes, and whose day and night dreams have +ever been of liberty, that dear cry of <i>Freiheit</i>, whichever war made +"Germania" ring. It has appeared to me to be very much the same with the +Austrian and Italian functionaries who have wandered as far as +Michilimackinack within a few years, but who are yet more slow to +appreciate our institutions than the English. The whole problem of our +system, one would judge, seems to them like "apples of ashes," instead +of the golden fruits of Hesperides. They alike mistake realities for +fancies; real states of flesh and blood, bone and muscle, for cosmoramic +pictures on a wall. They do not appear to dream how fast our millions +reduplicate, what triumphs the plough, and the engine, and loom, are +making, how the principles of a well guarded representative system are +spreading over the world, and what indomitable moral, and sound +inductive principles lie at the bottom of the whole fabric.</p> + +<p>Troops arrived from St. Mary's this day, to garrison the Fort, to keep +order during the annuity payments. The chiefs from St. Mary's send over +a boat for their share of the treaty, tobacco, salt, rice, &c.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Mr. Conner, the sub-agent, writes that the Saginaws are +afflicted by want and threatened by starvation; and, to render their +condition extreme, the small-pox has broken out amongst them. Ordered +relief to be given in the cases specified.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Mrs. Jameson writes to Mrs. Schoolcraft, from Toronto: "If I +were to begin by expressing all the pain it gave me to part from you, I +should not know when or where to end. I do sometimes thank God, that in +many different countries I possess friends worthy that name; kind hearts +that feel <i>with</i> and <i>for</i> me; hearts upon which my own could be +satisfied to rest; but then that parting, that forced, and often +hopeless separation which too often follows such a meeting, makes me +repine. I will not say, pettishly, that I could wish <i>never</i> to have +known or seen a treasure I cannot possess: no! how can I think of you +and feel regret that I have known you? As long as I live, the impression +of your kindness, and of your character altogether, remains with me; +your image will often come back to me, and I dare to hope that you will +not forget me <i>quite</i>. I am not so unreasonable as to ask you to write +to me; I know too well how entirely your time is occupied to presume to +claim even a few moments of it, and it is a pity, for 'we do not live by +bread alone,' and every faculty and affection implanted in us by the +good God of nature, craves the food which he has prepared for it, even +in this world; so that I do wish you had a little leisure from eating +and drinking, cares and household matters, to bestow on less important +things, on me for instance! poor little me, at the other side of +the world.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. McMurray has told you the incidents of our voyage to the +Manitouline Island, from thence to Toronto; it was all delightful; the +most extraordinary scenery I ever beheld, the wildest! I recall it as a +dream. I arrived at my own house at three o'clock on the morning of the +13th, tired and much eaten by those abominable mosquitoes, but otherwise +better in health than I have been for many months. Still I have but +imperfectly achieved the object of my journey; and I feel that, though I +seized on my return every opportunity of seeing and visiting the Indian +lodges, I know but too little of them, of the women particularly. If +only I had been able to talk a little more to my dear Neengay! how often +I think of her with regret, and of you all! But it is in vain to repine. +I must be thankful for what I have gained, what I have seen and done! I +have written to Mrs. McMurray, and troubled her with several questions +relative to the women. I remark generally, that the propinquity of the +white man is destruction to the red man; and the farther the Indians are +removed from us, the better for them. In their own woods, they are a +noble race; brought near to us, a degraded and stupid race. We are +destroying them off the face of the earth. May God forgive us our +tyranny, our avarice, our ignorance, for it is very terrible to +think of!"</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Judge McDonnel, of Detroit, reached the island with Captain +Clark of St. Clair, these gentlemen having been engaged since spring, in +a careful and elaborate appraisement of the Indian improvements, under +the 8th article of the treaty of 28th March, 1836. They commenced their +labor in the Grand River Valley, and continued it along the entire +eastern coast of Lake Michigan, to Michilimackinack, not omitting +anything which could, by the most liberal construction, be considered +"as giving value to the lands ceded." Not an apple tree, not a house, or +log wigwam, and not an acre, once in cultivation, though now waste, +was omitted.</p> + +<p>They report the whole number of villages in this district at twenty-two, +the whole number of improvements at 485, and the gross population at +3,257 souls. This population live in log and bark dwellings of every +grade, cultivate 2477 acres of land, on which there are 3,212 apple +trees; besides old fields, the aggregate value of which is put at +$74,998. They add that these appraisements have been deemed everywhere +fully satisfactory to the Indians.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. A poor decrepit Indian woman, who was abandoned on the beach by +her relatives some ten days ago, applied for relief. It is found that +she has been indebted for food in the interim to the benevolence of Mrs. +Lafromboise.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. "I take the liberty," says A. W. Buel, Esq., of Detroit, "of +addressing you concerning the little book in my possession, touching the +early history of New France and the Iroquois. You may recollect, +perhaps, that on one occasion last winter or spring, when you were in +this city, I had some conversation with you concerning it. It is written +in French, of old orthography, and was published at Paris, A. D. 1658. +It purports to have been written by a Jesuit, Paul Le Jeune; I am +however, inclined to think that it was not all written by him, inasmuch +as the orthography of the same Indian words varies in different parts of +the book. It is rather a small duodecimo volume and contains about 210 +pages, of rather coarse print. To give you a better idea of the +contents, I will mention the titles of the several chapters." These +are omitted.</p> + +<p>"A few others are appended. The early history of the Iroquois, and of +our own country, even after its settlement by Europeans, you are well +aware, is buried in great obscurity. Even Charlevoix's <i>Histoire de +Nouvelle France</i>, I believe, has never been translated into English. I +have never seen it, if it has been. That work I suppose to be at present +the starting point in the history of the Iroquois and New France, as +regards minuteness of detail.</p> + +<p>"This little book (Le Jeune) was published a considerable time previous. +It appears by it that the Jesuits had, for several years previously, +sent some letters; but I am confident that this is the first book ever +published touching directly and minutely the history of the Iroquois. +Caleb Atwater, in his book on western antiquities, speaks of a little +work published in Latin at Paris, I think, in 1664, as the first +touching the history of New France and the Iroquois. I could not at +first decide whether it be of much value, I thought it to be such a book +as would immediately find its way to the missionaries, and so small as +to be easily overlooked. I became at once so far interested in it, as +to translate it into English, not certain that I should ever make any +further use of it. I have, however, been solicited by some, either to +publish a translation of it, or a compendium of the principal matter +contained in it, and beg to trouble you so much as to ask your views of +the probability of the utility of doing so. Will the task be equal to +the reward?"</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Troops from Green Bay pass Mackinack on their way to Florida, to +act in the campaign against the Seminoles--a weary long way to send +reinforcements; but our army is so small, and has so large a frontier to +guard, that it must face to the right and left as often as raw recruits +under drill.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Received a copy of the <i>Miner's Free Press</i> of Wisconsin of the +11th of August, containing an abstract of a treaty concluded by Gov. +Dodge with the Chippewas of the Upper Mississippi, ceding an important +tract of country, lying below the Crow-wing River.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 3d</i>. The old chief Saganosh died.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. The Chippewas of Sault Ste. Marie got into a difficulty, among +each other, respecting the true succession of the principal +chieftainship, and the chiefs came in a body to leave the matter to me. +The point of genealogy to be settled runs through three generations, and +was stated thus:--</p> + +<p>Gitcheojeedebun, of the Crane totem, had four sons, namely, Maidosagee, +Bwoinais, Nawgitchigomee, and Kezhawokumijishkum. Maidosagee, being the +eldest, had nine sons, called, Shingabowossin, Sizzah, Kaugayosh, +Nattaowa, Ussaba, Wabidjejauk, Muckadaywuckwut, Wabidjejaukons, and +Odjeeg. On the principles of Indian descent, these were all Cranes of +the proper mark, but the chieftainship would descend in the line of the +eldest son's children. This would leave Shingabowossin's eldest son +without a competitor. I determined, therefore, to award the first chiefs +medal to Kabay Noden, the deceased chief Shingabowossin's eldest son.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The annuity payments commence.</p> + +<p>Major Jno. Garland, U.S.A., having succeeded Major Whiting as the +general disbursing officer on this frontier, arrived early in the month. +This officer has been engaged, with his assistants and the aid of the +Indian department, about a week, in preparing the pay rolls of the +Indian families, and correcting the lists for deaths, births, and new +families. All the payments which were made in silver, at the agency, in +my presence, were divided <i>per capita</i>. This business of counting and +division took three days, during which time the proportionate share of +$21,000, in half dollars, was paid. The annuities in provisions, +tobacco, &c., were delivered in bulk to the chiefs of villages, to be +divided by them.</p> + +<p>Mr. John J. Blois, of Detroit, proposes to publish a gazetteer of +Michigan, and writes requesting statistical information, &c., of the +upper country, an Indian nomenclature, &c.</p> + +<p>Mr. Palfrey writes proposing to me to review Stone's <i>Life of Brant</i>, +and Mr. Dearborn, the publisher at New York, sends me the proofs.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The payments are finished, and the Indians begin to disperse. I +invested Kabay Noden with his father's medal, and his uncle, +Muckadaywuckwut, with a flag; recommending at the same time the division +of the St. Mary's Chippewas into three bands, agreeably to fixed +geographical boundaries.</p> + +<p>Having finished the business of the payments, the disbursing agent +embarks on board of the steamer Michigan, and the island, which has been +thronged for three weeks with Indians, Indian traders, and visitors, +began immediately to empty itself of population. During this assemblage, +to pay the Ottawas and Chippewas their annuity, great care and +exactitude have been observed by the concurrently acting officers of the +army and the Indian department, to carry out strictly the agreements +made with them in the spring, by which the payment of half their annuity +in silver, due for 1837, was postponed till 1838. Yet it was reported in +a few days, and reiterated by the press, that the Indians had been +defrauded out of half their annuities, and that goods, and those of a +bad quality, had been given them for silver. And my name was coupled +with the transaction, although the Indians of all nations who were under +my charge, in the State of Michigan, had, from first to last, been +treated with the kindness and justice of a father. The Government at +Washington came in for no little abuse. Mrs. Jameson wrote from Toronto, +asking "whether it was true that a Miami chief had offered $70,000 to +enable the Indian Department to pay their debt to the Indians +in specie."</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. The Indians Akukojeesh and Akawkoway brought a case of salvage +for my action. They had found a new carriage body, and harness; a box of +7 by 9 glass, and 18 chairs, floating on the lake (Huron), N.E. of the +island. They supposed the articles had been thrown overboard, in a +recent storm, or by a vessel aground on the point of Goose Island, +called Nekuhmenis. The Nekuh is a brant.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Chusco dies.</p> + +<p>Completed and transmitted the returns and abstracts of the year's +proceedings and expenditures.</p> + +<p><i>Oct 1st</i>. I sent the interpreter and farmers of the Department to +perform the funeral rites for Chusco, the Ottawa jossakeed, who died +yesterday at the house erected for him on Round Island. He was about 70 +years of age; a small man, of light frame and walked a little bent. He +had an expression of cunning and knowingness, which induced his people, +when young, to think he resembled the muskrat, just rising from the +water, after a dive. This trait was implied by his name. For many years +he had acted as a jossakeed, or seer, for his tribe. In this business he +told me that the powers he relied on, were the spirits <a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81">[81]</a> of the +tortoise, crow, swan, and woodpecker. These he considered his familiar +spirits, who received their miraculous power to aid him directly from +<i>Mudjee Moneto</i>, or the Great Evil Spirit. After the establishment of +the Mission at Mackinack, his wife embraced Christianity. This made him +mad. At length his mind ran so much on the theme, that he fell into +doubts and glooms when thinking it over, and finally embraced +Christianity himself; and he was admitted, after a probation of a year +or two, to church membership. I asked him, after this period, how he had +deceived his people by the art of powwowing, or jugglery. He said that +he had accomplished it by the direct influence of Satan. He had +addressed him, on these occasions, and sung his songs to him, beating +the drum or shaking the rattle. He adhered firmly to this opinion. He +appeared to have great faith in the atonement of Christ, and relied with +extraordinary simplicity upon it. He gave a striking proof of this, the +autumn after his conversion, when he went with his wife, according to +custom, to dig his potatoes on a neighboring island. The wife +immediately began to dig. "Stop," said he, "let us first kneel and +return thanks for their growth." He was aware of his former weakness on +the subject of strong drink, and would not indulge in it after he became +a church member.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor81">[81]</a> Indians believe animals have souls. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Received an application for relief from the Black River +Chippewas, near Fort Gratiot. It is astonishing how completely the +resources of the Indians have failed with the game, on which they +formerly relied. When a calamity arrives, such as a white settlement +would surmount without an effort, they at once become objects of public +charity. Kittemagizzi is their immediate cry. This is now raised by the +Black River band, under the influence of small-pox.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Received a copy of the treaty of the 29th of July last with the +Chippewas. This tribe, like all the other leading tribes of the race, is +destined to fritter away their large domain for temporary and local +ends, without making any general and permanent provision for their +prosperity. The system of temporary annuities will, at last, leave them +without a home. When the buffalo, and the deer, and the beaver, are +extinct, the Indian must work or die. In a higher view, there is no +blessing which is not pronounced in connection with <i>labor</i> and <i>faith</i>. +These the nation falter at.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Finished my report on the additional debt claim, under the +treaty of 1836, agreeably to the instructions of the Commission of +Indian Affairs, of the 23d March last, and to the published notice of +April 10th. These claims on the debt fund of the treaty have received +the best consideration of the agent and the Indian chiefs, with the aid +of a secretary authorized at Washington, and the result is forwarded +with confidence to head-quarters.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. My arduous duties during the summer had thrown some of my +private correspondence in the rear. It may now be proper to notice some +of it. A letter (Aug. 20th) from St. Mary's says: "The schooner John +Jacob Astor arrived on the 18th instant from the head of Lake Superior, +and the captain brings us information of Mr. Warren's arrival at La +Pointe. He attended the treaty at St. Peter's, concluded by Gov. Dodge. +The Indians are to receive $700,000 in annuities for twenty years, +$100,000 to the half-breeds, and $70,000 for Indian creditors."</p> + +<p>"Captain Stanard brought down a specimen of native copper, similar to +the piece of forty-nine pounds weight in your cabinet. It was at De +l'Isle, fifteen leagues on the north shore from Fond du Lac."</p> + +<p>Mr. John T. Blois, of Detroit (Sept. 20th), informs me that he is +preparing a Gazetteer of Michigan. "Of the topics," he remarks, "I had +proposed to submit to your consideration, one was the etymology of the +Indian nomenclature, to the extent it has been adopted in the +application of proper names to our lakes, rivers, and other inanimate +objects. In the preparation of my work, this subject has frequently +presented itself to my mind as one of interesting importance, and whose +development is more auspicious, at the present time, than it may be at a +future day. I had a particular desire to rescue the Indian names from +that oblivion to which the negligence of the early settlers of other +States has permitted them to descend, by the substitution, for no +reasonable cause, of insignificant English or French names, without +regard to either good taste or propriety.</p> + +<p>"I wish, among other things, to ask of you the favor to inform me of the +origin and signification of the name of our adopted State, Michigan."</p> + +<p>A correspondent at Detroit (J.L.S.) writes (21st Sept.): "Bills have +been introduced into both Houses to carry out the President's +sub-treasury system, and 'tis said Calhoun will support the measure. +These bills, which were introduced by Wright and Cambreleng, propose +that treasury notes shall be issued not to exceed $12,000,000."</p> + +<p>Mr. Palfrey (25th Sept.) suggests my reviewing Col. Stone's "Life of +Joseph Brant," and the publishers (Geo. Dearborn and Co.) transmit me +the proof sheets on sized paper. I sat down with enthusiasm to read them +(as far as sent) preparatory to a decision. Many things are desirable, +and most worthy of commendation. But there were some errors of fact and +opinions, which I could not pass over without bringing forward facts +which I felt no capacity to manage, without giving offence to one whom I +had every reason to regard as a friend. Brant had been the scourge of my +native State during all the long and bloody war of the Revolution; and +his enormities had the less excuse to be plastered over on account of +his having received a Christian education, and speaking and writing his +own language. He was doubtless a man much above his red brethren +generally, for mental conception and boldness. It is true, I had heard +all the terrific details of his cruelties from the lips of my father, +who was an actor in the scenes described, at an age when impressions +sink deep. But I had outlived my youthful impressions, and felt disposed +to regard him as one of the most celebrated individuals of his race, +which race I had learned to regard as one of the peculiar types of +mankind. But I thought it injudicious to lay the story of the Revolution +on his shoulders--with the real causes of which his life had about as +much to do as the fly on the wagon-wheel, in turning it. I therefore on +broad grounds declined it.</p> + +<p>The establishment of the University of Michigan and its branches over +the State, now excited considerable attention, and I began to receive +letters from various quarters on the subject. "At a meeting of the +people of this county (Kalamazoo)," says A. Edwards, Esq., "very +advantageous offers were made to the Board, in case it was by them +deemed proper to establish here one of the two branches contemplated +within the senatorial district."</p> + +<p>Mr. Daniel B. Woods, Dorchester, Mass., writes me respecting an article +for the "Christian Keepsake," which has passed to the hands of the Rev. +Mr. Clark, of Philadelphia.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Letters were received to-day from the Secretaries of the +Presbyterian, and from the Methodist Boards of Missions at New York, +proposing the establishment of missions for the Ottawas and Chippewas, +under the fourth article of the treaty of 1836. I advised Mr. Lowry, the +organ of the former, and also the Methodist Society, to select positions +south of this island in Lake Michigan.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. The first snow falls for the season.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The chiefs of the Ottawas at L'Arbre Croche request that I would +procure and send them vaccine matter, having heard that the small-pox +existed at Grand River, and at Maskigo,</p> + +<p>An Ottawa Indian, called Mis-kweiu-wauk (Red Cedar) brought a +counterfeit half dollar, saying that he had received it at the payments, +from Major Garland. It seemed to me that such was not the fact, but that +he had been sent by some saucy fellow. But I thought prudent to give him +a good half dollar in its place.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 4th</i>. Information was received, that a strong party of Boisbrules +and Indians, who went west from Red River early in the fall, to hunt the +buffalo agreeably to their custom, were met and attacked by the Gros +Venters and Sioux of the plains, and one hundred of their number killed +in the affray.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Completed arrangements to leave the office during the winter in +charge of Mr. F. W. Shearman.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Embarked at Mackinack on board the steamer "Madison," for the +lower country.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Arrived at Detroit, and resumed the duties of the +superintendency at that point. Charles Rodd reports that three hundred +Saginaws have taken shelter on the St. Clair, from the ravages of the +small-pox, that they will pass the winter in the vicinity of Point au +Barques; and that, consequently, they will not attend the payments at +Saginaw this fall.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Asked H. Conner, Esq., the signification 'of "Monguagon," He +replied, the true name is Mo-gwau-go [nong], and was a man's name, +signifying dirty backsides. It was the name of a Wyandot who died there. +<i>Mo</i>, in the Algonquin, means excrement; <i>gwau</i> is a personal term; <i>o</i>, +the accusative; and <i>nong</i>, place. I observe that, in the Hebrew, the +same word <i>Mo</i>, denotes semen. The mode of combination, too, is not +diverse; thus, <i>mo-ab,</i> in Hebrew, is a substantive of two roots, <i>mo</i>, +semen, and <i>ab</i>, father.</p> + +<p>Paukad [Hebrew], Hebrew, means to strike upon or against any person or +thing. Pukatai Chip, is to strike anything animate or inanimate. Paukad, +in the same tongue, means a stroke of lightning.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Judge Riggs, who has charge of affairs at Saginaw, reports that +about twenty Indians have been carried off by the small-pox, on the +Shiawassa, and the same number on the Flint River. Says the disease was +first brought to Saginaw by Mr. Gardiner D. Williams, and it was +afterwards extended to the Flint by Mr. Campau.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Rev. J. A. Agnew, of N.Y., addresses me as one of the Regents +of the University, under a belief that the Board will, very soon, +proceed to the election of a chancellor and professors. He takes a very +just view of the importance of making it a fundamental point, to base +the course of instruction on a sound morality, and of insuring the +confidence of religious teachers of evangelical views,</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Mr. Conner brought me, some days ago, a cranium of an Indian, +named B-tow-i-ge-zhig (Both Sides of the Sun), who was killed and buried +near his house in a singular way.</p> + +<p>It seems that another Indian, a young man, had fallen from a tree, and, +in his descent, injured his testicles, which swelled up amazingly. +Etowigezhig laughed at him, which so incensed the young fellow that he +suddenly picked up a pot-hook and struck him on the skull. It fractured +it, and killed him. So he died for a laugh. He was a good-natured man, +about forty-five, and a good hunter. I gave the skull to Mr. Toulmin +Smith, a phrenological lecturer.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mr. Cleaveland (Rev. John) preached his farewell sermon to the +First Presbyterian Church, Detroit, from Jonah iii. 2: "Arise and go to +Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid +thee." This message he has faithfully and ably delivered to them for +about five years that he has occupied this pulpit.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. A letter of this date, from Fort Union, on the Missouri, +published in the St. Louis Bulletin, gives a frightful account of the +ravages of the small-pox among the Mandans, Aurickerees, Minitares and +Gros Venters, of the Missouri. This disease, which first broke out about +the 15th of July, among the Mandans, carried off about fifteen hundred +of that tribe. It left about one hundred and thirty souls.<a name="FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82">[82]</a> It spread +rapidly, and during the autumn carried off about half of the two tribes +mentioned. It was carried to the Blackfeet, Crees, and Assinaboines, who +also suffered dreadfully. Upwards of one thousand of the Blackfeet +perished, and about five hundred Minitares. Whole lodges were swept +away, and the desolations created were frightful.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor82">[82]</a> The report that they were entirely extinguished was an +error. The survivors fled to their relatives, the Minnitares, where they +increased rapidly, when they returned to their ancient villages on the +Missouri, where they now (1851) reside, numbering about five +hundred souls. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Mr. F. Ayer writes from Pokegoma, on Snake River, of the St. +Croix Valley of the Upper Mississippi: "Shall we be molested by +government soon, or at a future time; or, in case the government sell +the land to a company, or to individuals, will they consider our case +and make any reservation in our favor?"</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 2d</i>. Rev. Oren O. Thompson writes in relation to +Michilimackinack:--</p> + +<p>"1. Have you a missionary engaged for that station?</p> + +<p>"2. Do you feel the importance and necessity of obtaining one who is +already acquainted with the Indian language?</p> + +<p>"3. Do you wish to engage one for that station, who is in sentiment a +Presbyterian?</p> + +<p>"4. Are there appropriations for his support?</p> + +<p>"5. What will be his business particularly?</p> + +<p>"6. How long will he probably be wanted there?</p> + +<p>"7. What, in your opinion, is the prospect of his usefulness there?"</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 1st</i>. Mr. Hamill, of Lawrenceville, N.J., responds to my inquiry +for a suitable school for my son--a matter respecting which I am just +now very solicitous.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Set out by railroad for Flint River, accompanied by Major +Garland and Mr. Conner. Weather very cold, and the snow forming a good +road. At Pontiac, we took a double sleigh, and drove out to Flint +Village. I was invited to his house by Mr. Hascall, who did everything +to render the visit agreeable. Between 400 and 500 Indians were +assembled. They appeared poorly clad, and needy, having suffered greatly +from the small-pox during the autumn and winter. About 40 had died on +the Shiawassa River, and some 30 on the Flint. After the Major had +completed the payment of their annuities and delivery of goods, I opened +a negotiation with them to complete the sale of their reservations.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. In a letter of this date, Dr. Greene, Sec. of the A.B.C., for F. +Missions, adverts to the positions heretofore taken, by that board, +respecting the missionary establishment at Mackinack. The moral position +of that Board, with respect to <i>that</i> Mission, appears to me to be +wrong. This mission involves the mission cause, in some important +respects, with the entire question of missionary operations over the +North-west--reaching from lat. 42° to 49°, with many degrees of +longitude; for, from all this region, the Indian boys and girls of the +mission have been collected. It began operations with them, I think, in +1822; and having, in this interval, expended many thousand dollars, and +erected expensive buildings, it now drops the thing, just at the point +when the Indians have commenced important cessions, and when their +condition is such that they are not only inclined to receive interior +teachers and evangelists, which have been raised at that central point, +but, by these cessions to the government, they have provided funds for +schools and teachers.</p> + +<p>Merely because the excellent superintendent determined, two or three +years ago, to leave this important point and enter into secular +business, to provide for a growing family; and because the attraction of +foreign fields carries young clergymen abroad, to the detriment of the +home field, it does not, I think, fulfil the highest requisitions of +duty to abandon the field, and thereby to leave it to be said that the +Board doubts God's purposes with regard to the red man. If the +missionary himself, who has so many years conducted the concern with +approbation, was not willing to trust his rewards to a higher power, but +aimed, as it were, to steady himself by stretching forth his hand, it +seems to me the race ought not to be the sufferers for such a course. +They constitute a vastly more appropriate field of labor than the +"millions of foreign lands," who sit, to a large extent, unaffected by +the Gospel. Not, indeed, that those fields should be neglected; but the +Indian race, and these large families of it, are worthy of a warmer +sympathy than I can see in Dr. Greene's letters, or the decisions of the +Board by whom he is governed.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Signed a supplementary treaty with the Saginaws at Flint. By +this treaty the Saginaws relinquish their reserves in this valuable and +rapidly settling portion of the country, and agree to accept a location +on the head waters of the Osage, which their chiefs, have explored. They +are to occupy two of their reservations on the west shores of Saginaw +Bay, for five years. The government is to pay them the entire proceeds +of the land, as sold in the public land offices. They set apart funds +for schools, and to pay their debts. This tribe has now no instructors. +They have the reputation of being turbulent, and averse to all plans of +improvement. Their history is fraught with deeds of violence. They made +bloody inroads on the settlements of Western Virginia and Pennsylvania, +after the close of the war of the Revolution, and brought away captives. +One of these was the notorious and infamous John Tanner. They lived +under a perfect dictator, in the person of Kish-ka-ko, who made and +altered laws to suit a strong-willed savage mind. They were originally a +band of Chippewa refugees. They settled here when the Sauks in the 17th +century were driven off. Their name is derived from this. The true sound +of the word is <i>Saukinong</i>, or Place of the Sauks. It has been +improperly assimilated to Saganosh, <i>i.e.</i>, Englishman.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Rev. John A. Clark, of Philadelphia, writes, requesting a +contribution to the "Christian Keepsake," which denotes the interest in +the Indian subject to be unabated.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXI."></a>CHAPTER LXI.</h2> + +<p>Tradition of Pontiac's conspiracy and death--Patriot war--Expedition of +a body of 250 men to Boisblanc--Question of schools and missions among +the Indians--Indian affairs--Storm at Michilimackinack--Life of +Brant--Interpreterships and Indian language--A Mohegan--Affair of the +"Caroline"--Makons--Plan of names for new towns--Indian legends--Florida +war--Patriot war--Arrival of Gen. Scott on the frontiers--Résumé of the +difficulties of the Florida war--Natural history and climate of +Florida--Death of Doctor Lutner.</p> + +<p>1838. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DETROIT,--In the recent trip +to Flint River, Mr. Henry Conner told me one day that he had been +acquainted with the Indian person who, in 1763, informed Major Gladwyn, +the commanding officer at Detroit, of Pontiac's conspiracy.</p> + +<p>The affair had other motives than Carver imagines. She thought more of +saving the life of Major Gladwin than of saving the whole Anglo-Saxon +race. She had been a very handsome person in her youth, being nearly +white, though of Indian blood. Owing to her gallantries, her husband had +bit off her nose. When an old woman, she became intemperate, and, on one +of these occasions, at a sugar camp on the Clinton River, she fell +backward into a boiling kettle of sap, and thus perished. Truly "the way +of the transgressor is hard."</p> + +<p>He stated the tradition respecting Pontiac's death as it was related by +a chief who well knew the facts. The English made great efforts to +conciliate a man of such powerful abilities and influence, and +endeavored to enlist him as an ambassador among the Western Indians to +bring them into their interests. Pontiac used deception in appearing to +fall in with their views, and went on this business to the country of +the Illinois, which was then about to be surrendered to them. They took +the precaution to send with him, as an associate, a chief called +Chianocquot, or the Big Cloud, who was strongly attached to their +interests. When Pontiac reached the region of the Illinois posts, +instead of persuading the Indians to peace and friendship with the +English, he advised them not to surrender the country, and, in his +addresses to them, he used the most persuasive arguments to dissuade +them from permitting the surrendry at all, and gave vent to his natural +feelings and sentiments in favor of the French and against the English.</p> + +<p>This had been his policy at Detroit. He appeared instinctively to dread +the advance of the English race, or, perhaps, really foresaw that their +arts and industry, against the adoption of which he so vehemently +inveighed, would uproot and crush the aboriginal race. Chianocquot was +roused to anger by this duplicity and dispatched him.<a name="FNanchor83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83">[83]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor83">[83]</a> Nicollet, in his <i>Hydrographical Report</i> in 1841, has +placed this tradition in its proper light. He gives a somewhat different +account of Pontiac's death, which he states to have taken place when he +was in liquor, and the blow was insidiously given. +<br><br> +A Kaskaskia Indian, it seems, was hired for a barrel of rum by an Indian +trader to commit the act. The blow he inflicted by his club fractured +the skull of his victim, who lingered a while, but eventually died of +the wound. This was at Fort Chartres, in Illinois. +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Conner continued: Pontiac's village and residence near Detroit was +Peach Island and the main shore directly abreast of it, north-east. In +the summer he lived on the island, and in the winter on the main land.</p> + +<p>Pontiac was offended at the Indian who, during the siege, killed +McDougel, and would have put him to death for the act had the murderer +not fled. The man who did it had been absent, and did not know that this +officer had received permission to return to the fort.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Walter Lowrie, Esq., Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of +Foreign Missions at New York, writes that the Executive Committee have +determined to establish a mission and school among the Chippewas and +Ottawas of Lake Michigan as early in the spring as suitable men can +be procured.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. The Canadian, or patriot war, is now at its height. The city has +been kept in a perfect turmoil by it for weeks. The setting fire to +outbuildings or deserted houses almost every dark night, appears to be +connected with it. One dark night I stumbled and fell on an uneven +pavement on a part of Jefferson Avenue, and immediately a voice cried +"Hurrah for Canada!" There was an intense excitement among the lower +classes in its favor, which it required a high degree of moral energy in +the lovers of law and order to keep down.</p> + +<p>This morning a conservative force of 250 volunteer militia embarked, at +two P.M., in a steamer for Amherstburg (the Malden of the war of 1812), +to demand the surrendry of the State arms recently taken from their +place of deposit--the city jail. This demand is to be made of the +patriot refugee force from Canada, who are about to take post on the +island of Boisblanc, at the mouth of the Detroit River. It was a +well-armed force, with muskets and cartridge-boxes well filled; but it +was found that, on the way down the river, their cartridge-boxes had +been relieved, by persons friendly to the patriots on board, of every +particle of ammunition. The detachment returned about eleven o'clock at +night, having proved wholly unsuccessful in the object of the movement.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ball, a representative in the local legislature from Kent County, +called this day to inquire into the propriety of establishing a +sub-agency at Grand Rapids, on Grand River, for the ostensible benefit +of the Ottawas in that quarter. The question of the division of funds +between schools established for a part of the same people at Gull +Prairie, under the care of Mr. Slater, and the separate school at Sault +Ste. Marie, in Chippewa County, in the care of Mr. Bingham, both of +which are under the general direction of the Baptist Missionary Board at +Boston, was considered and approved, and letters written accordingly.</p> + +<p>These efforts, at detached points, to improve the race must, we are +inclined to believe, eventually fail. Two races so diverse in mind and +habits cannot prosper together permanently; but the hope is that +temporary good may be done. An Indian who is converted and dies in the +faith, is essentially "a brand plucked out of the fire," and no man can +undertake to estimate the moral value of the act. A child who is taught +to read and write is armed with two requisites for entering civilized +life. But the want of general efficient efforts, unobstructed by local +laws and deleterious influences, cannot but, in a few years, convince +the Boards that the colonization of the tribes West is the best, if not +the only hope of prosperity to the race <i>as a race</i>.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. Lieut. E. S. Sibley, U.S.A., sets out to pay the Grand River +Indians. I commissioned Charles H. Oakes, Esq., to witness the pay +rolls. Mr. Conner returns the same day from attending the payments of +the Swan Creek and Black River bands. He reports the Indians on the +American side of the lines not disposed to engage in the present unhappy +contest in the Canadas. Exertions, he affirms, have been made by the +British authorities to induce the Chippewas living in Canada, opposite +to the mouth of Black River, to engage in the conflict against their +revolted people, but without success. They threatened, if matters were +pushed, to flee to the American side. He states, also, that a council to +the same effect had been held with the Canada Indians opposite Peach +Island, at the foot of Lake St. Glair, which resulted in the same +declaration.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. The appraisement rolls transmitted to Washington by Messrs. +Macdonnel & Clarke, the appraisers appointed under the 8th article of +the treaty of 28th March, 1836, were judged to be too high; and the +subject was referred for revision to Maj. Garland and myself. I this day +transmitted a joint reply of the major and myself, stating how +impossible it would be to revise so complex a subject without +opportunities of personal examination in each case--a business which +neither of us desires.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Received the first winter express from Mackinack, transmitting +reports from the various persons in official employ there. They report a +great storm at that place on the 8th and 9th of December, 1837, in the +course of which the light-house on Boisblanc was blown down, and other +damage done by the rise of water.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Received the Senate's printed document, No. 1, containing the +President's annual message and all the Secretaries' reports. The +Commissioner of Indian Affairs recommends the abolition of sub-agencies, +and the raising of the pay of interpreters--two measures recommended in +my annual report. The department is very much in the hands of ignorant +and immoral interpreters, who frequently misconceive the point to be +interpreted. Could we raise up a set of educated and moral men for this +duty, the department would stand on high grounds. Surely, a sort of +normal institute could teach the principles of the Indian grammar, as +well as the Greek. There is no <i>sound</i> without a <i>meaning</i>, and no +meaning conveyed without an orthographical <i>rule</i>. They do not <i>gabble</i> +at random, as some think. Their modes of utterance are, it is true, +often defective, but they are not without grammatical <i>laws</i>, I inquired +into this matter at my first entrance into the Indian country of the +Algonquins, sixteen years ago. I found that verbs had eight classes of +conjugations, and ten including the broad vowels; five declensions of +nouns, and two sets of pronouns, one to be placed before and the other +at the end of the verb and substantive. That all substantives could be +changed into verbs; that there were a stock of adjective and +prepositional participles, and that the mode of forming compounds and +derivatives was varied, but all subject to the most exact rules. They +have a very accurate appreciation of <i>sound</i> and its varied meanings, +and are pushed to use figures to help out or illustrate a meaning; but +the excessive refinements of syntax, for which some contend, are +theories in the minds of unpracticed collaborators.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. I wrote to Mr. Palfrey, E.N.A.R., declining to review Stone's +"Brant," and apprizing him of the preparation of an article on the +"North-west," by Mr. I. Lanman. "I take this occasion to say that I have +received the proof-sheets of some hundred and fifty pages of Col. +Stone's <i>Life of Brant</i>. It is a work somewhat discursive, and involves +some critical points in Indian history and customs. I should not feel +willing to commence a notice of it, without having the whole before me. +The hero of the work hardly exerts influence enough on the revolutionary +contest to justify the attempt of piling on him so much of the materials +of that momentous contest, and I think, moreover, there is a perceptible +attempt made to <i>whitewash</i> a man who lived and died with no slight nor +undeserved opprobrium."</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. Hendrick Apaumut, a Mohegan chief, of Wisconsin, applied for +aid, in money, to facilitate his journey to Washington. What the Indians +lack, in their business affairs, is system and method; foresight to +plan, and stability to carry into effect.</p> + +<p>Received a copy of the message of the President, communicating the +thrilling circumstances of the recent massacre on board of the ill-fated +steamer "Caroline," and the gross outrage of national rights committed +by the burning of that boat and the destruction of her crew. Palliatives +for the act will undoubtedly be plead; but the act itself will probably +make a hero, in the estimation of his countrymen, of Mr. McNab, if it +does nothing more.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. The friends of education in Michigan, having assembled in +convention, issue a circular calling attention to that vital subject, +and recommend a "Journal of Public Instruction" to the patronage of the +people. There can be no fear of our institutions as long as education is +cherished.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Maconse (the Little Bear), chief of the Swan Creeks, writes to +Gov. Mason that it is reported some of his people are about to join the +Canadian authorities to put down the partial revolt. The Governor, +probably thinking I would better know how to deal with him, sends the +letter to me. The fellow, whose moral code is not very high, only meant +to give himself a little consequence by it. Both he and his people will +take good care to keep out of harm's way.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Gov. Mason informs me that he has communicated to the +Legislature of Michigan my plan for a system of Indian names +communicated to him on the 12th instant, for the new counties and towns, +founded on the idea of the avoidance of the number of dead letters +reported as annually received at Washington, from their misdirection. +This misdirection is supposed to arise chiefly from great repetition of +old township, city, county, and village names. Let any one take up a +gazetteer or post-office list who wishes to see this. Names that are +sonorous and appropriate are rejected; but there is hardly a county in +any of the new States without their Springfields, and Fairfields, and +Oxfords, and Warwicks without number. Where they do not abound taste is +often put to shame. Mud Creek, and Jack's Corner, and Shingle Hollow are +doubtless appropriate names compared to some. But cannot <i>we supply a +remedy by drawing on the aboriginal vocabulary</i>?</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Completed the revision of a body of Indian oral legends, +collected during many years with labor. These oral tales show up the +Indian in a new light. Their chief value consists in their exhibition of +aboriginal opinions. But, if published, incredulity will start up +critics to call their authenticity in question. There are so many Indian +tales fancied, by writers, that it will hardly be admitted that there +exist any <i>real</i> legends. If there be any literary labor which has cost +me more than usual pains, it is this. I have weeded out many vulgarisms. +I have endeavored to restore the simplicity of the original style. In +this I have not always fully succeeded, and it has been sometimes found +necessary, to avoid incongruity, to break a legend in two, or cut it +short off.</p> + +<p>The steamer "Robert Fulton" arrived at Detroit, with three companies of +U.S. troops, under the command of Col. Worth, to keep up neutrality, put +down the wild "patriot movement," and prevent disturbances on +the frontier.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Mr. Trowbridge tells me that he has heard of the arrival of our +minister to France (Gen. Cass), at Port Mahon, with his family, on his +return to Paris, from his Mediterranean tour. He had carried out a +letter to Com. Elliot, from the President, to offer him every facility +in this trip to visit the sites of Oriental cities.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Transmit to Washington a plan and estimates for building a +dormitory at Mackinack, under the provision of the treaty of March, +1836. Such a building has been long called for at that point, where the +Indians are often sojourners, without a place to sleep, or cook the +provisions furnished them.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 1st</i>. The <i>Knickerbocker Magazine says</i>: "That the Indian oratory +contains many attributes of true eloquence. With a language so barren, +and minds too free for the rules of rhetoric, they still attained a +power of touching the feelings, and a sublimity of style, which rival +the highest productions of their more cultivated enemies."</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Mr. Palfrey, in a letter of this date, observes: "I have only to +repeat that, in the preparation of the article (on Stone's +'Brant'--which I hope you will not think of giving up), I trust you will +not hesitate to introduce, with the utmost freedom, whatever your +respect for the truth of history, and distaste for the tricks of +bookmaking, may dictate."</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. General Jessup writes to the department that, "we have committed +the error of attempting to remove the Seminoles, when their lands were +not required for agricultural purposes, when they were not in the way of +the white inhabitants, and when the greater portion of their country was +an unexplored wilderness, of the interior of which we were as ignorant +as of the interior of China." He recommends a line of occupancy west of +the Kissamee and Okee Chubbe, which they may be allowed to occupy.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. W. Lowrie, Esq., S.P.B.F. Missions, in a letter of this date, +says: "I was glad to see your suggestion to the government in relation +to a cabinet and library in the Indian office."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Charles E. Anderson, Esq., of New York, announces his intention +to visit Europe. "I will not leave here until the 15th of March, at +least, when I shall take out my wife with me, and anticipate much +gratification in presenting her to such a pattern of goodness and true +feminine excellence as Mrs. Cass. Anything you wish to forward I will +attend to with pleasure, and when in Paris will not forget the +interesting subject of your letter, and will inform you what books may +be obtained respecting the early history of the country."</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Gen. Scott this day arrived at Detroit, with a view to quiet the +disturbances on the lines, and see to the proper disposition of the +troops along the chain of lakes to effect this end. I immediately called +on him, and offered him any of the peculiar facilities, which are at the +command of the Indian department, in sending expresses in the Indian +country, &c.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Major H. Whiting, U.S.A., writes from St. Augustine, Florida: +"I have been favored with your letter of a month since, it having, I +dare say, made all due diligence the post office arrangements admit. But +the time shows the sort of intercourse I am doomed to have with my +Detroit friends. I consider that the country ought to feel under +obligations to one who serves her at such a sacrifice. Indeed, she can +make us no adequate return, but to allow me to return--the only <i>return</i> +I ask. When, however, that favor will be granted is past my guessing. +You ask when the war will terminate? You could not puzzle any of us more +than by putting such a question. We are more at our wit's end than the +war's end. And yet I do not see that anything has been left undone, that +might have been done. The army has moved steadily toward its objects. +But those objects are like a mirage, they are always nearly the same +distance off. What can we do in such a case?</p> + +<p>"The army for the last few weeks has been operating in a country that is +more than half under water. It has often been difficult to find a spot +dry enough for an encampment. If the troops do not all come out +web-footed, it is because water can't make a duck's leg.</p> + +<p>"I am on the lookout for specimens. I have one small alligator's bones, +and have laid in for those of a larger one, an old settler, no doubt +going back to Bartram's days. Alligators here have suffered more than +the Indians in this war. I should judge that several hundreds have been +killed from the boats as they pass up and down. They all have a bed +just in the bank of the river, where they sleep in the sun, and the +temptation is too great for any rifle, and they generally wake up a +little too late. Mineral specimens here are not various. I have +collected a few in order to show my friends, who can draw inferences +from them. Shells have had a principal hand in the formation of this +peninsula. They form the ninety-ninth part of the rock in this quarter. +It is a most convenient formation, being worked almost as easily as +clay, and yet it makes substantial walls. Frost, I presume, would play +the deuce with it. But that is a thing not much known here. I have not +yet had the pleasure to fix my northern eye on a piece of ice this +winter, though there has been a cream thickness of it once or twice. A +pitcher frozen over here makes more noise than the river frozen over at +Detroit. The frogs have piped here all winter--happy dogs. I have been +out at all times and in all places, and I don't think my nose has been +blue but once since I have been here--I have not been blue myself once. +I have not yet been to Ponce de Leon's spring. But there are some +springs here of a wondrous look. They are so transparent that the fish +can scarce believe themselves there in their own element. The Mackinack +waters are almost turbid to them. They have a most sulphurous odour, and +<i>might</i> renew a man's youth, but it must be at the expense of all sweet +smells. I would rather keep on than go back on such conditions.</p> + +<p>"In the fight which Lieut. Powell had with the Indians, a Doctor Lutner +was killed, who was a scientific man, and had joined the expedition to +botanize, &c. He had already done something in that way, and would have +done much more. Such a life is a great loss."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXII."></a>CHAPTER LXII.</h2> + +<p>Indiana tampered with at Grand River--Small-pox in the Missouri +Valley--Living history at home--Sunday schools--Agriculture--Indian +names--Murder of the Glass family--Dr. Morton's inquiries respecting +Indian crania--Necessity of one's writing his name plain--Michigan +Gazetteer in preparation--Attempt to make the Indian a political +pack-horse--Return to the Agency of Michilimackinack--Indian skulls +phrenologically examined--J. Toulmin Smith--Cherokee question--Trip to +Grand River--Treaty and annuity payments--The department accused of +injustice to the Indians.</p> + +<p>1838. <i>March 2d</i>. LIEUT. E. S. SIBLEY, U.S.A., called at the office, +and reported certain things which had been put into the heads of the +Indians of Grand River, by interested persons, which they had at the +recent annuity payments, requested him to state to me. Also, the fact of +an outrage upon one of their number, committed by a white person, which +should have been redressed at once by the civil magistrates. There is +but one way of escape for the Indians living in white communities, that +is, to place them, at once, under the protection, and subject to the +penalties of our criminal and civil codes.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Renewed and confirmatory accounts are published at St. Louis, of +the desolating effects of the small-pox among the Indian tribes on the +Missouri. In addition to the tribes mentioned in the first accounts as +having suffered, the Upsarokees, or Crows, have been dreadfully +afflicted. The various bands of the Pie-gans, Blood Indians, and +Blackfeet, have lost great numbers. And the visitation of this appalling +disease, against which they have no remedy, has been one of the severest +ever felt by these tribes. Compared to it, the loss that the Saginaws +and other local bands in Michigan have felt, is small; but it is an +instructive fact, that the outbreak has been concurrent in point of +time, on the Missouri and in Michigan, which would seem to imply a +climatic condition of the atmosphere, on a wide scale, favorable to +morbid eruptions.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. A.E. Wing, Esq., declines to deliver the annual address before +the Michigan Historical Society, owing to other engagements. Few men who +have capacity are found willing to devote the time necessary for the +preparation of a literary address, even where the materials for it would +appear to lie ready. The pressing practical calls of life, in a new +country, where there is no hereditary wealth, appear to furnish a valid +reason for this. But another reason is, that the materials and frame-work +of an address are sought for at too great a distance, and are thought to +lie too deeply buried, to be disinterred by any but extraordinary hands. +This is a mistake. The subjects are at home, and exist not only in +exploring old literary mines, but in the very circumstances around us. +What more extraordinary than the current which throws such masses of +people daily among us, tearing up, as it were, the old plan of life, and +laying the foundations of new social ties in the wilderness. Not a +county is settled in the West, the initial steps of which does not +furnish legitimate materials for an address which would edify the living +generation, and instruct those which are to follow us. A single century +hence, and how much tradition will sleep in the grave that might now be +rescued! Somebody has written a book "How to Observe," but there is good +need of another--"HOW TO THINK."</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. A new and growing society has every kind of moral want. The +necessity for education exists in a thousand forms; and if the friends +of it do not bestir themselves, the enemies will. The friends of the +Sunday School Union, in Michigan, feeling impressed with these views, +issued a circular this day, making an appeal which deserves a hearty +response. Michigan mind appears very active in every department.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Received a circular (from Messrs. Baloh & Wales, of Marshall, +Calhoun Co.) for the issue of an agricultural paper, adequate to the +wants of that interest.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Dr. D. Houghton, the agent of the Geological Survey of the +State, which is in progress, commits to me, in a letter of this date, +the topic of the Indian terminology, and the bestowal of new names, from +the aboriginal vocabulary.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. An inquest was held this day, in Ionia, on the head waters of +Grand River, on the bodies of a woman and two children, supposed +(mistakingly) to have been murdered by the Indians. By the testimony +adduced, it is shown that a Mr. Aensel D. Glass, of whose family the +bodies consist, lived about four miles from the nearest neighbor. He had +not been seen since the 14th of the month. On the 28th, a Mr. Hiram +Brown, one of his nearest neighbors, went there on business, and found +the house burned, and the bodies of his wife and children lying half +burned in the area of the house (which was of logs), having been +previously most horribly mutilated. No trace could be found of Mr. +Glass, nor of a good rifle, two axes, and two barrels of flour, which he +was known to have had.</p> + +<p>Suspicion first fell on the Grand River Ottawas. I investigated the +subject, and found this unjust. They are a peaceable, orderly, +agricultural people, friendly to the settlers, and having no cause of +dislike to them. Suspicion next fell on the Saginaws, who hunt in that +quarter, and whose character has not recovered from the imputation of +murder and plunder committed during the war of 1812. Petossegay was +named as the probable aggressor. But on an investigation made by Mr. +Conner, at Saginaw, this imputation was also found improbable, and he +was dismissed, leaving the horrible mystery unexplained.<a name="FNanchor84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84">[84]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor84">[84]</a> Mr. Glass was subsequently, in 1841, found alive in +Wisconsin. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>April 1st</i>. Dr. Samuel George Morton, of Philadelphia, who is preparing +a comprehensive work on aboriginal crania, writes:--"Your obliging +letter, offering me any information you might possess that would promote +my work on the skulls of the American tribes, makes me free to put to +you the following inquiries, inasmuch as I am desirous of seeing as many +tribes, and as many individuals as possible, in a limited space of time.</p> + +<p>"When will the next annual payment be made at Mackinaw, and how many +tribes, and what number of people do you think will assemble on +that occasion?</p> + +<p>"If I visit Mackinaw, can I readily cross the country to the +Mississippi, and what length of time will be required on the journey?</p> + +<p>"It is my intention to visit Mackinaw, or any adjacent place, that, in +your judgment, will give me the greatest opportunity for seeing the +Indians, and I shall await your advice thereon.</p> + +<p>"My work progresses rapidly. Twenty of sixty plates are already +finished, and I hope to complete the work before the close of the year. +I shall soon have an opportunity of forwarding, as far as Detroit, a set +of my plates for your inspection and acceptance."</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Washington Irving writes: "I have to acknowledge the receipt of +a letter informing me of my having been elected an honorary member of +the Michigan Historical Society, of which, I perceive, you are +President. Not being able to make out the name of the Corresponding +Secretary, I have to ask the favor of you to assure the Society of the +deep sense I entertain of the honor they have done me, and my ready +disposition to promote the views of so meritorious an institution." What +is worthy of note herein is this, that the name which the distinguished +writer could not make out, is that of one of our most fluent penmen, +namely, C.C. Trowbridge, Esq., but who, on scrutiny, I perceive, writes +his name worse than anything else, and so inconceivably bad that a +stranger might not be able to guess it.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Mr. John T. Blois, who is engaged on a Gazetteer of the State of +Michigan, acknowledges the receipt from me of some details respecting +the statistical and topographical departments of his work. The +difficulty to be met with by all gazetteers of the new States, consists +in this, that most classes of the data alter so much in a few years that +the books do not present the true state of things. Towns and counties +spring up like magic, and if old Aladdin had his lamp he could not more +expeditiously cover the shores of streams, and valleys, and plains, with +seats, mills, and various institutions belonging to our system.<a name="FNanchor85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85">[85]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor85">[85]</a> This was proved by the result. The work was published in +Oct., 1838, and was a very creditable performance, but the author had +been two or three or even four years about it, and the information was +just this time out of date. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>19th</i>. A memorial is got up in Ionia County, on Grand River, respecting +the Indians, their feelings and their affairs. In it facts are +distorted, opinions misapprehended, and the acts and policy of the +government and its agents greatly misconceived in some things, and +wholly misrepresented in others. And the paper, when examined by the +lights of treaties and acts, as they really occurred, is to be regarded +as the work of some ambitious man who wishes to get on the backs of the +Indians to ride into office, or to promote, in some other way, selfish +and concealed ends. All such attempts, though they may seem to "run +well" for a time, and may result in temporary success, may be safely +left to the counteraction of right opinions. For it has always remained +an axiom of truth, verified by every day's experience, "That he that +diggeth a pit for his neighbor shall himself fall into it."</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. General Jo. M. Brown, of the militia, who with the valor of the +redoubtable Peter Stuyvesant at Christina, marched into Toledo, +"brimful of wrath and cabbage," transmits the above precious memorial, +not to the Department, or the President, to whom it is ostensibly +addressed, but to the editor of a political party paper at Detroit, to +"manufacture" public opinion, claiming, at the same time, very high +motives for so very disinterested an act, in which the good of the +Indians, and the integrity of public faith, are clearly held forth as +the aim of the writer. The editor endorsing it with most high-sounding +phrases, in which he speaks of it as taking fit place beside the most +atrocious fictions, which have been conjured up by mistaken heads and +zealous hearts, anxious to ride the aforesaid "Indian question," in +relation to the Cherokees and Florida Indians. When all this +grandiloquent display of parental sympathy, and a sense of outraged +justice, is stripped of its false garbs and put into the crucible of +truth, the result is, that political capital can be made just now of the +handling of the topic. A delay of a few months (owing to the fiscal +crisis at Washington) in the payment of half the annuity for the year, +and the neglect or refusal of a few bands to come for the other moiety, +as ready in silver, and paid at the stipulated time and place, is made +the subject of allusion in this political hue and cry. As to these +bands, they are the most peaceable, corn-planting, and semi-agricultural +bands in the State. They have been pre-eminently cultivators from an +early date of their history, and have been so characteristically +addicted to barter, in the products of their industry as to be called by +the other Algonquin bands, Ottawas, or traders from the days of +Champlain. They had probably as little to do with the Glass murder in +Ionia, which is alleged as an instance of hostility to the United +States, as Gen. Jo. M. Brown himself.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, one of our female writers, in a note of +acknowledgment to the Hist. Soc., falls into the same quandary about +making out the signature of one of our most expert and beautiful penmen, +that Washington Irving did. She could by no means make out Mr. +Trowbridge's name, and addressed her reply to me.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Having passed the winter at Detroit, I left the Superintendency +office in charge of Mr. Lee, an efficient clerk, and embraced the +sailing of one of the earliest vessels for the Upper Lakes, to return to +Michilimackinack. Winter still showed some of its aspects there, +although gardening at Detroit had been commenced for weeks. The +difference in latitude is nearly four and a half degrees; the +geographical distance is computed by mariners at 300 miles.</p> + +<p><i>May 1st.</i> In a communication from Mr. J. Toulmin Smith, he expresses +his anxiety to procure some Indian skulls from the tribes of the Upper +Lakes, to be employed in his lectures on phrenology; and, also, for the +purpose of transmission to London. This gentleman lectured acceptably on +this topic during the winter at Detroit. During these lectures, I gave +him the skull of Etowigezhik, a Chippewa, who was killed on Mr. Conner's +farm about four or five years ago. He pronounced the anterior portion to +exceed in measurement by one-half an inch the posterior, and drew +conclusions favorable to the natural intellect.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. The Cherokee question assumes a definite crisis. Gen. Scott +issues, under this date, a friendly proclamation to the Cherokees, +calling on them to remove peaceably, under the terms of the treaty of +1835, telling them that more than two years had already elapsed after +the time agreed on, and that they would be provided, in their removal to +the west of the Mississippi, with food, clothing, and every means of +transportation; and making a just and humane appeal to their sense of +justice to remote; but assuring them that, if these considerations were +allowed to pass unheeded, his instructions were imperative, and he had +an army at his command, and would be compelled to order it to act in the +premises. Such an appeal must be successful.</p> + +<p>However much we may sympathize with the poetic view of the subject, and +admire that spirit of the human heart which loves to linger about its +ancient seats and homes, the question in this case has assumed a purely +practical aspect founded on public transactions, which cannot be +recalled. The inaptitude of the Indian tribes generally, for conducting +the business of self-government, and their want of a wise foresight in +anticipating the relative power and position of the two great opposing +races in America, namely, the white and red, has been the primary cause +of all their treaty difficulties. The treaties themselves are not +violated in any respect, but being written by lawyers and legalists, the +true intent of some of these provisions, or the relative condition of +the parties at a given time, are not sometimes fully appreciated; and at +other times, the Indian chiefs exercise diplomatic functions which their +nation has not restored, as in the case of the Creeks of Georgia, or to +the exercise of which the majority are actually opposed, as in the +treaty of New Echota with the Cherokees. Some of their most intelligent +and best minds led the way to and signed the treaty of final cession of +New Echota, in 1835. But the compensation being found ample, and the +provisions wise, and such as would, in the judgment of the United States +Senate, secure their prosperity and advancement permanently, that body, +on large consideration, yielded its assent, making, at the same time, +further concessions to satisfy the malcontents. These are the final +arrangements for leaving the land to which Gen. Scott, in his +proclamation, alludes.</p> + +<p>This tribe has lived in its present central position longer than the +period of exact history denotes. They are first heard of under the name +of "Achalaques," by the narrator of De Soto's Conquest of Florida, in +1540; within a dozen years of three centuries ago.</p> + +<p><i>June 2d</i>. I proceeded, during the latter part of May, to visit the +Ottawas of the southern part of Michigan, to inquire about their schools +under the treaty of '36, and to learn, personally, their condition +during the state of the rapid settlements pressing around them. I went +to Chicago by steamboat, and there found a schooner for Grand River. +Here I was pleased to meet our old pastor, Mr. Ferry, as a proprietor +and pastor of the newly-planned town of Grand Haven. I had to wait here, +some days, for a conveyance to the Grand Rapids, which gave me time to +ramble, with my little son, about the sandy eminences of the +neighborhood, and to pluck the early spring flowers in the valley. The +"Washtenong," a small steamer with a stern-wheel, in due time carried us +up. Among the passengers was an emigrant English family from Canada, who +landed at a log house in the woods. I was invited, at the Rapids, to +take lodgings with Mr. Lewis Campeau, the proprietor of the village. The +fall of Grand River here creates an ample water power. The surrounding +country is one of the most beautiful and fertile imaginable, and its +rise to wealth and populousness must be a mere question of time, and +that time hurried on by a speed that is astonishing. This generation +will hardly be in their graves before it will have the growth and +improvements which, in other countries, are the results of centuries.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. I this day, in a public council at the court house, paid the +Indians the deferred half annuity of last year (1837) in silver coin, +and afterwards concluded a treaty with them, modifying the treaty of +28th March, 1836, so far as to make it obligatory on the government to +pay their annuities here instead of Michilimackinack. The annuities in +salt, tobacco, provisions and goods, were also delivered to them by +agents appointed for the purpose. They expressed themselves, and +appeared to be highly gratified, with the just fulfilment of every +treaty obligation, and with the kind and benevolent policy and treatment +of the American government.</p> + +<p>I took this occasion to call their attention to the murder of the Glass +family in Ionia, in the month of March last. They utterly disclaimed it, +or any participation of any kind in its perpetration. They agreed to +send delegates west, in accordance with the 8th art. of the treaty of +'36, to explore the country on the sources of the Osage River, for their +future permanent residence. They were well content with their teachers +and missionaries of all denominations. The Chief Nawequageezhig, in +particular, spoke with a commanding voice and just appreciation on the +subject, which evinced no ordinary mental elevation, purpose +and dignity.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. George Bancroft, Esq., of Boston, in a letter of this date, +observes: "I can only repeat, what before I have urged on you, to +collect all the materials that can illustrate the language, character +and origin of the natives, and the early settlement of the French." The +encouragement I receive from my literary and scientific friends, and +which has been continued these many years, is, indeed, of a character +which is calculated to stimulate to new exertions, although the love for +such exertions pre-exists. I do not know that I shall live to make use +of the materials I collect, or that I have the capacity to digest and +employ them; but if not, they may be useful in the hands of +other laborers.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Office of Indian Affairs, Michilimackinack. On returning from +Grand River, I observed a continuation of the misrepresentations begun +last winter, respecting the Indian policy and proceedings of the +Department. A ground for these misconceptions, and in some things, +perversions, arose from the <i>goods' offer</i> for the half annuity, made in +1837. This offer being rejected by the Michigan Indians, was renewed to +those of Wisconsin, and accepted by the Menomonies of Green Bay. Traders +and merchants who were expecting the usual payments of cash annuities to +the Indians, were sorely disappointed by finding a single tribe in the +lake country paid in merchandise. The policy itself was a bad one, and +denoted the inexperience and consequent unfitness of Mr. Carey A. Harris +for the post of Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington. I +anticipated the storm it would raise on the frontiers, and, when the +project was transmitted to me, did not attempt to influence my Indians +(the Michigan Indians) to accept or reject it, but left it entirely to +their own judgments, after appointing two honest men to show the goods +and state the prices. A less impartial course appears to have been +pursued at Green Bay, where this policy of the "goods offer" of 1837 was +loudly called in question. I had shielded the tribes under my care from +it, and should have had credit for it from all honest and candid men, +but finding no disposition in some quarters to discriminate, I +immediately, on reaching home, sat down and wrote a plain and clear +statement of the affair for the public press, and having thus satisfied +my sense of justice and truth, left others, who had acted wholly out of +my jurisdiction and influence, to vindicate themselves. J.W. Edmonds, +Esq., and Maj. John Garland, who had been chief actors in the matter, +did so. But it seemed like talking against a whirlwind. The whole action +of this offer, on the Michigan Indians, <i>was to postpone, by their own +consent</i>, the payment of the half annuity in coin one year.</p> + +<p>The Grand River Indians declined to come to Mackinack, the place +specially named in the treaty, to receive their half annuity, in +consequence of which, it was not practicable to send it to them till the +next spring. I paid it myself on the 5th of June, 1848, in silver. Yet +the rumor of gross injustice to the Indians only gained force as it +spread. The Grand River memorialists made "nuts" of it, and General Jim +Wilson wielded it for my benefit, in his classical stump speeches in New +Hampshire. I had carefully shielded my Indians from a cent's loss, yet +my name was pitched into the general condemnation, like the thirteenth +biscuit in a baker's dozen. Nothing rolls up so fast as a lie, when once +afloat.<a name="FNanchor86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86">[86]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor86">[86]</a> Harris felt disobliged by my independence of action +respecting the "goods offer." He had, in fact, been overreached by a +noted commercial house, who dealt heavily in Indian goods in New York, +who sold him the goods on credit; but who actually collected the +<i>specie</i> from the western land offices, on public drafts, before the +year expired. He vented this pique officially, by suspending my report +of Oct. 18th, 1837, on the debt claims against the Indians, finally +<i>assumed</i> powers in relation to them, directly subversive of the +principles of the treaty of March 28th, 1836, which had been negotiated +by me, and referred them for revision to a more supple agent of his +wishes at New York, who had been one of the efficient actors in the +"goods offer" at Green Bay, Wisconsin, as above detailed. +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIII."></a>CHAPTER LXIII.</h2> + +<p>Missions--Hard times, consequent on over-speculation--Question of the +rise of the lakes--Scientific theory--Trip to Washington--Trip to Lake +Superior and the Straits of St. Mary--John Tanner--Indian improvements +north of Michilimackinack--Great cave--Isle Nabiquon--Superstitious +ideas of the Indians connected with females--Scotch +royals--McKenzie--Climate of the United States--Foreign coins and +natural history--Antique fort in Adams County, Ohio--Royal Society of +Northern Antiquaries--Statistics of lands purchased from the +Indians--Sun's eclipse--Government payments.</p> + +<p>1838. <i>June 18th</i>. W. Lowrie, Esq., Missionary Rooms, N.Y., announces +the sending of an agent to explore the missionary field, which it is +proposed to occupy by the Presbyterian Board, in the region of Lake +Michigan, bespeaking my friendly offices to the agent.</p> + +<p>The plethora of success which has animated every department of life and +business, puffing them up like gas in a balloon, since about '35 has +departed and left the fiscal system perfectly flaccid and lifeless. The +rage for speculation in real estate has absorbed all loose cash, and the +country is now groaning for its fast-locked circulating medium. A friend +at Detroit writes: "With fifty thousand dollars of productive real +estate in the city, and as much more in stocks and mortgages, I am +absolutely in want of small sums to pay my current expenses, and to rid +myself of the mortification produced by this feeling I am prepared to +make almost any sacrifice."</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Received a communication from the chief engineer of the New York +canal (Alfred Barrett, Esq.) on the subject of the rise of water in the +lakes. "A question of considerable importance," he says, "has arisen in +our State Legislature, in relation to the rise of water in Lake Erie. +The lake has been gradually increasing in its height for the last ten +years, and has gained an elevation of four feet above that of 1826. The +inhabitants along the shores of the lake as far as Detroit, upon both +sides, and many throughout our State, have been led to attribute this +increase to the erection of the State and the United States pier at the +outlet of the lake, opposite Black Rock, which presents an obstruction +to the action of the river. But this evidently is not the only cause of +the rise of the lake, for, by observation, we find the Niagara River +below the dam, and the surface of Lake Ontario, to have increased in the +same ratio in the same time. Lake Ontario is four feet higher than it +was in 1826.</p> + +<p>"Our Legislature has called for information on the subject. And for many +important facts we shall be indebted to the goodness of persons residing +or acquainted at the places where they may exist. The canal +commissioners of the State have desired me to communicate with you, +desiring such data as you may have in your possession relevant to the +subject. And we are induced to trouble you for information respecting +the condition of the water in Lake Superior and other western waters, +believing that your extensive acquaintance and close observation in that +region have put you in possession of facts which will enable you to +determine, with a degree of accuracy, the fluctuations of these waters, +and their present increased or diminished height, as well as to trace +some of the causes which have an influence in producing the results that +are experienced in the rise and fall of the lakes."</p> + +<p>This rise and fall is found to be concurrent in volume and time in the +whole series of lake basins, and is not at all influenced by artificial +constructions. It is believed to be dependent on the annual fall of +water, on the water sheds of the lake basins, and the comparative +evaporation caused by the annual diffusion of solar heat during the same +periods. Nothing less than the accumulation of facts to illustrate these +general laws, for considerable periods of time, will, it is believed, +philosophically account for the phenomena. Tables of solar heat, rain +guages, and scientific measures, to determine the fall of snow over the +large continental era of the whole series of basins, are, therefore, the +scientific means that should be employed before we can theorize +properly. As to periodical rises, actually observed, they are believed +to be the very measure of these phenomena, namely, the fall of +atmospheric moisture, and the concurrent intensity of solar heat +<i>between the unknown periods of the rise</i>.</p> + +<p>The fluctuations in Lake Michigan and the Straits of Michilimackinack +are capable of being accounted for on a separate theory, namely, the +theory of lake winds.</p> + +<p><i>4th July</i>. Letters from Detroit show that the political agitations +respecting Canada still continue. One correspondent remarks: "The fourth +of July passed off here with more <i>apparent</i> patriotic feeling than I +have ever known before. Canada is still across the river--the +<i>pat-riots</i> have not yet removed any part of it; they are, however, +still busy."</p> + +<p>Another says: "Times look troublesome, but I am in hopes that it will +all blow over and peace continue, which should be the earnest wish of +every Christian."</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Public business calling me to Washington, I left Mackinack late +in June, and, pushing day and night, reached that city on the 9th of +July. The day of my arrival was a hot one, and, during our temporary +stop in the cars between the Relay House and Bladensburg, some +pickpocket eased me of my pocket-book, containing a treasury-note for +$50, about $60 in bills, and sundry papers. The man must have been a +genteel and well-dressed fellow, for I conversed with none other, and +very adroit at his business. I did not discover my loss till reaching +the hotel, and all inquiry was then fruitless. After four days I again +set out for the North in an immense train of cars, having half of +Congress aboard, as they had just adjourned, and reached Mackinack about +the tenth day's travel. This was a toilsome trip, the whole journey to +the seat of government and back, say 2,000 miles, being made in some +twenty-five days, all stops inclusive.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. I set out this day from Mackinack in a boat for Lake Superior +and the Straits of St. Mary, for the purpose of estimating the value of +the Indian improvements North, under the eighth art. of the treaty of +March 28th, 1836. The weather being fine, and anticipating no high winds +at this season, I determined, as a means of health and recreation, to +take Mrs. S. and her niece, Julia, a maid, and the children along, +having tents and every camping apparatus to make the trip a pleasant +one. My boat was one of the largest and best of those usually employed +in the trade, manned with seven rowers and provided with a mast and +sails. An awning was prepared to cover the centre-bar, which was +furnished with seats made of our rolled-up beds. Magazines, a +spy-glass, &c., &c., served to while away the time, and a +well-furnished mess-basket served to make us quite easy in that +department. At Sault St. Marie I took on board Mr. Placidus Ord to keep, +the record of appraisements.</p> + +<p>While here, the notorious John Tanner, who had been on very ill terms +with the civilized world for many years--for no reason, it seems, but +that it would not support him in idleness--this man, whose thoughts were +bitter and suspicious of every one, followed me one day unperceived into +a canoe-house, where I had gone alone to inspect a newly-made canoe. He +began to talk after his manner, when, lifting my eyes to meet his +glance, I saw mischief evidently in their cold, malicious, bandit air, +and, looking him determinedly in the eyes, instantly raising my heavy +walking-cane, confronted him with the declaration of his secret purpose +with a degree of decision of tone and manner which caused him to step +back out of the open door and leave the premises. I was perfectly +surprised at his dastardly movement, for I had supposed him before to be +a brave man, and I heard or saw no more of him while there.<a name="FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87">[87]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor87">[87]</a> Eight years afterwards, namely, in July, 1846, this lawless +vagabond waylaid and shot my brother James, having concealed himself in +a cedar thicket. +</blockquote> + +<p>Tanner was stolen by old Kishkako, the Saginaw, from Kentucky, when he +was a boy of about nine years old. He is now a gray-headed, +hard-featured old man, whose feelings are at war with every one on +earth, white and red. Every attempt to meliorate his manners and Indian +notions, has failed. He has invariably misapprehended them, and is more +suspicious, revengeful, and bad tempered than any Indian I ever knew. +Dr. James, who made, by the way, a mere pack-horse of Indian opinions of +him, did not suspect his fidelity, and put many things in his narrative +which made the whites about St. Mary's call him an old liar. This +enraged him against the Doctor, whom he threatened to kill. He had +served me awhile as an interpreter, and, while thus employed, he went to +Detroit, and was pleased with a country girl, who was a chambermaid at +old Ben. Woodworth's hotel. He married her, but, after having one child, +and living with him a year, she was glad to escape with life, and, under +the plea of a visit, made some arrangement with the ladies of Fort Brady +to slip off, on board of a vessel, and so eluded him. The Legislature +afterwards granted her a divorce. He blamed me for the escape, though I +was entirely ignorant of its execution, and knew nothing of it, till it +had transpired.</p> + +<p>In this trip to the North, I called on the Indians to show me their old +fields and gardens at every point.</p> + +<p>It was found that there were <i>eight</i> geographical bands, consisting of +separate villages, living on the ceded tract. The whole population of +these did not exceed, by a close count, 569 souls. The population had +evidently deteriorated from the days of the French and British rule, +when game was abundant. This was the tradition they gave, and was proved +by the comparatively large old fields, not now in cultivation, +particularly at Portagunisee, at various points on the Straits of St. +Mary's, and at Grand Island and its coasts on Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>They cultivate chiefly, the potato, and retire in the spring to certain +points, where the <i>Acer saccharinum</i> abounds, and all rely on the +quantity of maple sugar made. This is eaten by all, and appears to have +a fattening effect, particularly on the children. The season of +sugar-making is indeed a sort of carnival, at which there is general joy +and hilarity. The whole number of acres found in cultivation by +individuals, was 125-1/2 acres; and by bands, and in common, 100-3/4 +acres, which would give an average of a little over 1/3 of an acre per +soul. Even this is thought high. There were 1459 acres of old fields, +partly run up in brush. There were also 3162 acres of abandoned village +sites, where not a soul lived. I counted 27 dwellings which had a +fixity, and nineteen apple trees in the forest. In proportion as they +had little, they set a high value on it, and insisted on showing +everything, and they gave me a good deal of information. The whole sum +appraised to individuals was $3,428 25; and to collective bands, $11,173 +$11,173 50.</p> + +<p>While off the mural coast of the Pictured Rocks, the lake was perfectly +calm, and the wind hushed. I directed the men to row in to the cave or +opening of the part where the water has made the most striking inroad +upon the solid coast. This coast is a coarse sandstone, easily +disintegrated. I doubted if the oarsmen could enter without pulling in +their oars. But nothing seemed easier when we attempted it. They, in +fact, rowed us, in a few moments, masts standing, into a most +extraordinary and gigantic cave, under the loftiest part of the coast. +I thought of the rotunda in the Capitol at Washington, as giving some +idea of its vastness, but nothing of its dark and sombre appearance; its +vast side arches, and the singular influence of the light beaming in +from the open lake. I took out my note-book and drew a sketch of this +very unique view.<a name="FNanchor88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88">[88]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor88">[88]</a> See Ethnological Researches, vol. i., plate xliv. +</blockquote> + +<p>The next day the calmness continued on the lake, and I took advantage of +it to visit the dimly seen island in the lake, off Presque Isle and +Granite Point, called <i>Nabikwon</i> by the Indians, from the effects of +mirage. Its deep volcanic chasms, and upheaved rocks, tell a story of +mighty elemental conflicts in the season of storms; but it did not +reward me with much in the way of natural history, except in geological +specimens.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 7th</i>. The Chippewas have some strange notions. Articles which have +been stepped over by Indian females are considered unclean, and are +condemned by the men. Great aversion is shown by the females at finding +hairs drawn out by the comb, which they roll up, and, making a hole in +the ashes, bury.</p> + +<p>Indian females never go before a man: they never walk in front in the +path, or cross in front of the place where a sachem is sitting.</p> + +<p>A man will never eat out of the same dish with a woman. The +lodge-separation, at the period of illness, is universally observed, +where the original manners have not been broken down. If she have no +barks, or apukwas to make a separate lodge, a mere booth or bower of +branches is made near by.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mrs. Deborah Schoolcraft Johnson died at Albany, aged fifty-four +years. The father of this lady (John McKenzie, usually called McKenny) +was a native of Scotland, and served with credit in the regiment of +Royal Highlanders, before the Revolutionary War, of whose movements he +kept a journal. He was present during the siege of Fort Niagara, in +1759, witnessed the death of Gen. Prideau, and participated in the +capture of the works, under Sir William Johnson. He was also engaged in +the movements of Gen. Bradstreet, to relieve the fort of Detroit from +the hosts brought against it by Pontiac and his confederates three or +four years after. He settled, after the war, as a merchant at Anthony's +Nose, on the Mohawk, where he was surprised, his store and +dwelling-house pillaged, and himself scalped. He recovered from this, as +the blow he received had only been stunning, and the copious bleeding, +as is usual in such cases, had soon restored consciousness. He then +settled at Albany, a place of comparative safety, and devoted himself in +old age to instruction. He left a numerous family. His son John, who +embraced the medical profession, became a distinguished man in +Washington County (N.Y.), where his science, as a practitioner, and his +talents as a politician, rendered him alike eminent. But he embraced the +politics of Burr, a man whose talents he admired, when that erratic man +ran for Governor of the State, and shortly after died. Five daughters +married respectable individuals in the county, all of whom have left +families. Of such threads of genealogy is the base of society in all +parts of America composed. One of her granddaughters, now living in +Paris, is a lady entitled to respect, on various accounts. Deborah, +whose death is announced, married in early life, as her first husband, +John Schoolcraft, Jr., Esq., a most gifted son of one of the actors and +patriots of the revolution--a man who was engaged in one of its earliest +movements; who shared its deepest perils, and lived long to enjoy its +triumphs. The early death of this object of her choice, induced her in +after years to contract a second marriage with an enterprising son of +Massachusetts (R. Johnson), with whom she migrated to Detroit. Death +here again, in a few years, left her free to rejoin her relatives in +Albany, where, at last at ease in her temporal affairs, she finally fell +a victim to consumption, at a not very advanced age, meeting her death +with the calmness and preparedness of a Christian.</p> + +<blockquote> +"As those we love decay, we die in part."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Returned to Michilimackinack, at a quarter past one o'clock, +A.M., from my trip to the north, for the appraisal of the Indian +improvements.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. According to observations kept, the average temperature of the +month of August (lat. 42°) was 69.16 degrees. Last year the average +temperature of the same month was sixty-five degrees. The average +temperature of the entire summer of 1838 was 70.85; while that of the +summer of 1837 was but 65.48. Our lakes must sink with such a +temperature, if the comparative degree of heat has been kept up in the +upper lakes during the year.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 4th</i>. Troops arrive at Fort Mackinack to attend the payments.</p> + +<p>An officer of the army, who has spent a year or so in Florida, and has +just returned to Michigan, says: "I have seen much that was well worth +seeing, am much wiser than I was before, and am all the better contented +with a lot midway of the map. The climate of Florida, during the winter, +was truly delicious, but the summers, a part of one of which I saw and +felt, are uncomfortable, perhaps more so than our winters. This puts the +scales even, if, it do not incline the balance in our favor. The summer +annoyances of insects, &c., are more than a counterbalance for our ice +and snow, especially when we can rectify their influences by a +well-warmed house."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. A literary friend in Paris writes: "I send a box to Detroit +to-day, to the address of Mr. Trowbridge. It contains, for you, upwards +of 200 coins, among which is one Chinese, and the rest ancient. You must +busy yourself in arranging and deciphering them. I send you, also, some +specimens, one from the catacombs of Paris, others from the great +excavations of Maestricht, where such large antediluvian remains have +been found, also relics from the field of Waterloo. The petrifactions +are from Mount Lebanon."</p> + +<p>Mr. Palfrey writes in relation to the expected notice of Stone's +"Brant," but my engagements have not permitted me to write a line on +the subject.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Dr. John Locke, of Ohio, announces the discovery in Adams +County, in that State, of the remains of an antique fort, supposed to be +600 years old. It is on a plateau 500 feet above Brush Creek, and is +estimated at 800 to 1000 feet above the Ohio at low water. It is covered +by soil, forest, and trees. Some of the trees in the vicinity are +twenty-one feet in diameter. He infers the age from a large chestnut in +the enclosure. His data would give A.D. 1238, as the date of the +abandonment. We must approach the subject of our western antiquities +with great care and not allow hasty and warm fancies to run away +with us.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. A communication from Mr. Rafn informs me that the Royal Society +of Antiquaries of Copenhagen, Denmark, have honored me by enrolling my +name as one of its members.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Congress publishes a statement submitted by the Indian Bureau, +showing, 1. That upwards of fifty treaties have been concluded with +various tribes since Jan. 1, 1830, for their removal to the west, in +accordance with the principles of the organic act of May 28th, 1830. 2. +That by these treaties 109,879,937 acres of land have been acquired. 3. +That the probable value of this land to the United States is +$137,349,946. 4. That the total cost of these cessions, including the +various expenses of carrying the treaties into effect, is $70,059,505.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Major Chancy Bush, Assistant to Major Garland, the Disbursing +Agent, arrives with funds to make the annuity payments.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. The Cherokees West, meet in general council to consult on their +affairs, and adopt some measures preparatory to the arrival of the +eastern body of the nation. John Ridge, a chief of note of the Cherokees +West, states, that this meeting is entirely pacific--entirely +deliberative--and by no means of a hostile character, as has been +falsely reported.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. The obscurity which attends an Indian's power of ratiocination +may be judged of by the following claim, verbally made to me and +supported by some bit of writing, this day, by Gabriel Muccutapenais, an +Ottawa chief of L'Arbre Croche. He states that, at one time, a trader +took from him forty beavers; at another, thirty beavers and bears; at +another, ten beavers, and at another, thirty beavers, and four carcasses +of beavers, for all which he received no pay, although promised it. He +also served as a clerk or sub-trader for a merchant, for which he was to +have received $500, and never received a cent. He requests the President +of the United States to pay for all these things. On inquiry, the skins +were hunted, and the service rendered, and the wrong received at +Athabasca Lake, in the Hudson's Bay Territory, when he was a young man. +He is now about sixty-six years old.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. The sun's eclipse took place, and was very plainly visible to +the naked eye, agreeably to the calculation for its commencement and +termination. I took the occasion of its termination (four o'clock, fifty +minutes) to set my watch by astronomical time.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. The Indian payments were completed by Major Bush this day. These +payments included the full annuity for 1838, and the deferred half +annuity for 1837, making a total of $47,000, which was paid in coin +<i>per capita</i>.</p> + +<p>The whole number of Indians on the pay rolls this year amounted to +4,872, of whom 1,197 were in the Grand River Valley. Last year they +numbered, in all, 4,561, denoting an increase of 311. This increase, +however, is partly due to emigrations from the south, and partly to +imperfect counts last season, and but partially to the increase of +<i>births</i> over <i>deaths</i>. The annuity divided $12 57 on the North, $22 50 +in the Middle, or Thunder Bay district, and $11 50 on the Southern pay +list. The Indians requested that these <i>per capita</i> divisions might be +equalized, but the terms in the treaty itself create the geographical +districts.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIV."></a>CHAPTER LXIV.</h2> + +<p>Descendant of one spared at the massacre of St. Bartholomew's--Death of +Gen. Clarke--Massacre of Peurifoy's family in Florida--Gen. Harrison's +historical discourse--Death of an emigrant on board a steamboat--Murder +of an Indian--History of Mackinack--Incidents of the treaty of 29th +July, 1837--Mr. Fleming's account of the missionaries leaving +Georgia, and of the improvements of the Indians west--Death +of Black Hawk--Incidents of his life and character--Dreadful +cruelty of the Pawnees in burning a female captive--Cherokee +emigration--Phrenology--Return to Detroit--University--Indian +affairs--Cherokee removal--Indians shot at Fort Snelling.</p> + +<p>1838. <i>Sept. 20th</i>, COUNT CASTLENEAU, a French gentleman on his travels +in America, brings me a note of introduction from a friend. I was +impressed with his suavity of manners, and the interest he manifested in +natural history, and furnished him some of our characteristic northern +specimens in mineralogy. I understood him to say, in some familiar +conversation, that he was the descendant of a child saved accidentally +at the memorable massacre of St. Bartholomew's; and suppose, of course, +that he is of Protestant parentage.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. The St. Louis papers are dressed in mourning, on account of the +death of Gen. William Clarke. Few men have acted a more distinguished +part in the Indian history of the country. He was widely known and +respected by the Indians on the prairies, who sent in their delegations +to him with all the pomp and pride of so many eastern Rajahs. Gen. +Clarke was, I believe, the second territorial governor of Missouri, an +office which he held until it became a state, when Congress provided the +office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs for him. He contributed +largely, by his enterprise and knowledge, to the prosperity of the west. +The expedition which he led, in conjunction with Capt. Meriwether Lewis, +across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, in 1805 and 1806, first +opened the way to the consideration of its resources and occupancy. +Without that expedition, Oregon would have been a foreign province.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Letters from Florida indicate the war with the Seminoles to be +lingering, without reasonable expectation of bringing it soon to a +close. Etha Emathla, however, the chief of the Tallasees, is daily +expected to come in, his children being already arrived, and he has +promised to bring in his people.</p> + +<p>But what a war of details, which are harassing to the troops, whose +action is paralyzed in a maze of swamps and morasses; and how many +scenes has it given birth to which are appalling to the heart! A recent +letter from a Mr. T.D. Peurifoy, Superintendent of the Alachua Mission, +describes a most shocking murder in his own family, communicated to him +at first by letter:--</p> + +<p>"It informed me," he says, "that the Indians had murdered my family! I +set out for home, hoping that it might not prove as bad as the letter +stated; but, O my God, it is even worse! My precious children, Corick, +Pierce and Elizabeth, were killed and burned up in the house. My dear +wife was stabbed, shot, and stamped, seemingly to death, in the yard. +But after the wretches went to pack up their plunder, she revived and +crawled off from the scene of death, to suffer a thousand deaths during +the dreadful night which she spent alone by the side of a pond, bleeding +at four bullet holes and more than half a dozen stabs--three deep gashes +to the bone on her head and three stabs through the ribs, besides a +number of small cuts and bruises. She is yet living; and O, help me to +pray that she may yet live! My negroes lay dead all about the yard and +woods, and my everything else burned to ashes."</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 1st</i>. Mr. Palfrey, Editor of the <i>North American Review</i>, requests +me (Sept. 20th) to notice Gen. Harrison's late discourse on the +aboriginal history, delivered before the Ohio Historical Society. The +difficulty in all these cares is to steer clear of some objectional +theory. To the General, the Delawares have appeared to play the +key-note. But it has not fallen to his lot, while bearing a +distinguished part in Indian affairs in the west, to examine their +ancient history with much attention.</p> + +<p>The steamer Madison arrived with a crowd of emigrants for the west, one +of whom had died on the passage from Detroit. It proved to be a young +man named Jesse Cummings, from Groton, N.H., a member of the +Congregational Church of that place. Having no pastor, I conducted the +religious observance of the funeral, and selected a spot for his burial, +in a high part of the Presbyterian burial ground, towards the N.E., +where a few loose stones are gathered to mark the place.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. Wakazo, a chief, sent to tell me that an Ottawa Indian, +Ishquondaim's son, had killed a Chippewa called Debaindung, of Manistee +River. Both had been drinking. I informed him that an Indian killing an +Indian on a reserve, where the case occurred, which is still "Indian +country," did not call for the interposition of our law. Our criminal +Indian code, which is defective, applies only to the murder of white men +killed in the Indian country. So that justice for a white man and an +Indian is weighed in two scales.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Mrs. Therese Schindler, a daughter of a former factor of the N.W. +Company at Mackinack, visited the office. I inquired her age. She +replied 63, which would give the year 1775 as her birth. Having lived +through a historical era of much interest, on this island, and +possessing her faculties unimpaired, I obtained the following facts from +her. The British commanding officers remembered by her were Sinclair, +Robinson, and Doyle. The interpreters acting under them, extending to a +later period, were Charles Góthier, Lamott, Charles Chabollier, and John +Asken. The first interpreter here was Hans, a half-breed, and father to +the present chief Ance, of Point St. Ignace. His father had been a +Hollander, as the name implies. Longlade was the interpreter at old Fort +Mackinack, on the main, at the massacre. She says she recollects the +transference of the post to the island. If so, that event could not have +happened, so as to be recollected by her, till about 1780. Asken went +along with the British troops on the final surrender of the island to +the Americans in 1796, and returned in the surprise and taking of the +island in 1812.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Finished my report on a resolution of Congress of March 19th +respecting the interference of the British Indian Department in the +Indian affairs of the frontier. The treaty of Ghent terminated the war +between Great Britain and the United States, but it did not terminate +the feelings and spirit with which the Indian tribes had, from the fall +of their French power regarded them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren (Lyman M.), of La Pointe, Lake Superior, visited the office. +Having been long a trader in the north, and well acquainted with Indian +affairs in that quarter, I took occasion to inquire into the +circumstances of the cession of the treaty of the 29th of July, 1837, +and asked him why it was that so little had been given for so large a +cession, comprehending the very best lands of the Chippewas in the +Mississippi Valley. He detailed a series of petty intrigues by the St. +Peter's agent, who had flattered two of the Pillager chiefs, and loaded +them with new clothes and presents. One of these, Hole-in-the-Day, came +down twenty days before the time. The Pillagers, in fact, made the +treaty. The bands of the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, who really lived +on the land and owned it, had, in effect, no voice. So with respect to +the La Pointe Indians. He stated that Gen. Dodge really knew nothing of +the fertility and value of the country purchased, having never set foot +on it. Governor Dodge thought the tract chiefly valuable for its pine, +and natural mill-power; and there was no one to undeceive him. He had +been authorized to offer $1,300; but the Chippewas managed badly--they +knew nothing of <i>thousands</i>, or how the annuity would divide among so +many, and were, in fact, cowed down by the braggadocia of the flattered +Pillager war chief, Hole-in-the-Day.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren stated that the <i>Lac Courtorielle</i> band had not united in the +sale, and would not attend the payment of the annuities; nor would the +St. Croix and Lac du Flambeau Indians. He said the present of $19,000 +would not exceed a breech-cloth and a pair of leggins apiece. I have not +the means of testing these facts, but have the highest confidence in the +character, sense of justice, and good natural judgment of Gov. Dodge. He +may have been ill advised of some facts. The Pillagers certainly do not, +I think, as a band, own or occupy a foot of the soil east of the +Mississippi below Sandy Lake, but their warlike character has a sensible +influence on those tribes, quite down to the St. Croix and Chippewa +Rivers. The sources of these rivers are valuable only for their +pineries, and their valleys only become fertile below their falls and +principal rapids.</p> + +<p>From Mr. Warren's statements, the sub-agencies of Crow-wing River and La +Pointe have been improperly divided by a <i>longitudinal</i> instead of a +<i>latitudinal</i> line, by which it happens that the St. Croix and Chippewa +River Indians are required to travel from 200 to 350 miles up the +Mississippi, by all its falls and rapids, to Crow-wing River, to get +their pay. The chief, Hole-in-the-Day, referred to, was one of the most +hardened, blood-thirsty wretches of whom I have ever heard. Mr. Aitkin, +the elder, told me that having once surprised and killed a Sioux family, +the fellow picked up a little girl, who had fled from the lodge, and +pitched her into the Mississippi. The current bore her against a point +of land. Seeing it, the hardened wretch ran down and again pushed +her in.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. The Rev. Mr. Fleming and the Rev. Mr. Dougherty arrived as +missionaries under the Presbyterian Board at New York. Mr. Fleming +stated that he had been one of the expelled missionaries from the Creek +country, Georgia. That he had labored four years there, under the +American Board of Commissioners, and had learned the Creek language so +as to preach in it, by first <i>writing</i> his discourse. The order to have +the missionaries quit the Creek country was given by Capt. Armstrong +(now Act. Supt. Western Territory), who then lived at the Choctaw +agency, sixty miles off, and was sudden and unexpected. He went to see +him for the purpose of refuting the charges, but found Gen. Arbuckle +there, as acting agent, who told him that, in Capt. Armstrong's absence, +he had nothing to do but to enforce the order.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fleming said that he had since been in the Indian country, west, in +the region of the Osage, &c., and spoke highly in favor of the fertility +of the country, and the advanced state of the Indians who had emigrated. +He said the belt of country immediately west of Missouri State line, was +decidedly the richest in point of natural fertility in the region. That +there was considerable wood on the streams, and of an excellent kind, +namely: hickory, hackberry, cottonwood, cypress, with blackjack on the +hills, which made excellent fire-wood.</p> + +<p>As an instance of the improvement made by the Indians in their removal, +he said that the first party of Creeks who went west, immediately after +Mackintosh's Treaty, were the most degraded Indians in Georgia; but that +recently, on the arrival of the large body of Creeks at the west, they +found their brethren in the possession of every comfort, and decidedly +superior to them. He said that the Maumee Ottawas, so besotted in their +habits on leaving Ohio, had already improved; were planting; had given +up drink, and listened to teachers of the Gospel. He spoke of the +Shawnese as being in a state of enviable advancement, &c.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. First frost at Mackinack for the season.</p> + +<p>A friend at Detroit writes: "The Rev. Mr. Duffield (called as pastor +here) preached last Sabbath. In the morning, when he finished, there was +scarce a dry eye in the house. He excels in the pathetic--his voice and +whole manner being suited to that style. He is clear-headed, and has +considerable power of illustration, though different from Mr. +Cleaveland. I like him much on first hearing."</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Finished grading and planting trees in front of the dormitory.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. The <i>Iowa Gazette</i> mentions the death of Black Hawk, who was +buried, agreeably to his own request, by being placed on the surface of +the earth, in a sitting posture, with his cane clenched in his hands. +His body was then enclosed with palings, and the earth filled in. This +is said to be the method in which Sac chiefs are usually buried. The +spectacle of his sepulchre was witnessed by many persons who were +anxious to witness the last resting place of a man who had made so much +noise and disturbance.</p> + +<p>He was 71 years of age, having, by his own account, published in 1833, +been born in the Sac village on Rock River, in 1767--the year of the +death of Pontiac. In his indomitable enmity to the (<i>American type of +the</i>) Anglo-Saxon race, he was animated with the spirit of this +celebrated chief, and had some of his powers of combination. His strong +predilections for the British Government were undoubtedly fostered by +the annual visits of his tribe to the depot of Malden. His denial of the +authority of the men who, in 1804, sold the Sac and Fox country, east of +the Mississippi, may have had the sanction of his own judgment, but +without it he would have found it no difficult matter to hatch up a +cause of war with the United States. That war seems to have been brooded +over many years: it had been the subject of innumerable war messages to +the various tribes, a large number of whom had favored his views. And +when it broke out in the spring of 1832, the suddenness of the movement, +the great cruelties of the onset, and the comparatively defenceless +state of the frontier, gave it all its alarming power. As soon as the +army could be got to the frontiers, and the Indian force brought to +action, the contest was over. The battle of the Badaxe annihilated his +forces, and he was carried a prisoner to Washington. But he was more to +be respected and pitied than blamed. His errors were the result of +ignorance, and none of the cruelties of the war were directly chargeable +to him. He was honest in his belief--honest in the opinion that the +country east of the Mississippi had been unjustly wrested from him; and +there is no doubt but the trespasses and injuries received from the +reckless frontier emigrants were of a character that provoked +retaliation. He has been compared, in some things, to Pontiac. Like him, +he sought to restore his people to a position and rights, which he did +not perceive were inevitably lost. He possessed a degree of intellectual +vigor and decision of character far beyond the mass, and may be regarded +as one of the principal minds of the Indians of the first half of the +19th century.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. A letter of this date from Council Bluffs, describes a most +shocking and tragic death of a Sioux girl, of only fourteen years of +age, who was sacrificed to the spirit of corn, by the Pawnees, on the +22d of February last. For this purpose she was placed on a foot-rest, +between two trees, about two feet apart, and raised above the ground, +just high enough to have a torturing fire built under her feet. Here she +was held by two warriors, who mounted the rest beside her, and who +applied lighted splinters under her arms. At a given signal a hundred +arrows were let fly, and her whole body was pierced. These were +immediately withdrawn, and her flesh cut from her bones in small pieces, +which were put into baskets, and carried into the corn-field, where the +grain was being planted, and the blood squeezed out in each hill.</p> + +<p>CHEROKEE EMIGRATION.--A letter from Gen. Scott of this date, to the +Governor of Georgia, states that, of the two parties of Cherokees, or +those who are for and against the treaty of New Echota, only about five +hundred (including three hundred and seventy-sixty Creeks) remain east +of the Mississippi, and of the anties a little over five thousand souls. +About two thousand five hundred of these had been emigrated in June, +when the emigration was suspended on account of sickness. An arrangement +was made in the month of September, by which John Ross was, in effect, +constituted the contractor for the removal of the remainder (twelve +thousand five hundred) of his people.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Mr. J. Toulmin Smith, the phrenologist, of Boston, writes: "I +perfectly concur with you in your remarks on the <i>minor details</i> of +phrenology. They have hitherto been loose and vague, but though at first +sight they seem <i>minor</i>, they will be found, in truth, of great +importance to the thorough elucidation and application of the subject.</p> + +<p>"The Indian tribes do, indeed, present most interesting subjects for +examination, and it is an anxious wish of my mind to be able to examine +them thoroughly (per crania), and also to compare them with the crania +found in their ancient burial-places, supposed to be the remnants of an +anterior race. Not only will this throw light on their history, but it +will do so also on those 'minor' but most interesting points, to the +elucidation of which my attention has been, and is particularly +directed. I should be exceedingly happy to be able to compare also one +or two <i>female</i> Indian skulls with the males of the same tribe. The +females, I presume, may be easily recognized phrenologically; it may be +done with facility by the large philoprogenitiveness, and the smaller +general size of the head."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Rumor says that Mr. Harris, Com. Indian Affairs, had entered into +land speculations in Arkansas, which led Mr. Van Buren to call for a +report, which, being made, the President returned it with the pithy and +laconic endorsement "unsatisfactory," whereupon Mr. H. tendered his +resignation. Rumor also says, that Mr. T. Hartley Crawford, of +Pennsylvania, is appointed in his stead. This gentleman is represented +to be a person of some ability; an old black-letter lawyer, but a man +who is apt to lose sight of main questions in the search after +technicalities. They say he is very opinionated and dogmatical; +personally unacquainted with the character of the Indians, and the +geography of the western country, and not likely, therefore, to be very +ready or practical in the administrative duties of the office. Time must +test this, and time sometimes agreeably disappoints us.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. I reached Detroit this day, with my family, in the new steamer +"Illinois," having had a pleasant passage, for the season, from +Mackinack. The style of the lake steamboats is greatly improved within +the last few years, and one of the first-class boats bears no slight +resemblance to a floating parlor, where every attention and comfort is +promptly provided. He must be fastidious, indeed, who is not pleased.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Col. Whiting called at my office to get the loan of an +elementary work on conchology. Dr. Pitcher stated that the Board of +Regents of the University of Michigan had adopted a plan of buildings to +be erected at Ann Arbor. Four Saginaw delegates are sent in by Ogema +Kegido, to ascertain the time and place of their annuity payments.</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 4th</i>. The Regents of the University of Michigan adopt resolutions +respecting the establishment of branches in the counties, which are +apprehended to be rather in advance of their means; but the measure is +stated to be popular.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Mr. James Lawrence Schoolcraft, the acting agent of Indian Affairs +at Michilimackinack, writes respecting the additional claim of the +estate of John Johnston, an Irish gentleman of the upper country, whose +name is mentioned in a prior part of these memoirs: "I have looked over +the old books belonging to the estate, and find the following result +upon the most critical examination.</p> + +<p>"William's account of the beaver skins due was 7,221. Mr. Edmonds' +account was 4,313. My own 6,043. William's account exceeded mine 1,178. +Mine exceeds Mr. Edmonds' 1,730. In my account I have cast out all debts +(or skins) charged for liquor. William did not. Mr. Edmonds did.</p> + +<p>"I found all the books but one in the box, which one, according to +William's account, contained five hundred and sixty skins. From these +five hundred and sixty, I made deductions corresponding with the skins +found to be charged in all the other books, so that the difference can +be but very trifling, and, by the liberal discount made, I think, will +be in favor of the claim."</p> + +<p>The account stands thus:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="80%"> +<tr><td>Due 6,043 beavers at $4</td><td> </td> +<td align="right">$24,172 00</td></tr> +<tr><td>Average loss on four years' trade, from 1813 to 1816, at $2,014 per annum</td><td> </td> +<td align="right">$8,056 00</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>Add:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="80%"> +<tr><td>Item 2 as allowed in 1836</td> +<td align="right">$6,040 00</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td> " 6 " "</td> +<td align="right">$9,192 00</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td> " 7 " "</td> +<td align="right">$1,141 00</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td> " 8 " "</td> +<td align="right">$44 90</td><td align="right"><u>$10,384 72</u></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td align="right">$42,612 72</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Allowed in 1836</td><td> </td><td align="right"><u>$32,436 72</u></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td> </td><td align="right">$10,176 00</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>"Books are shown from 1816 to 1828, a period of twelve years; +consequently twelve divided into 24,172 will give the average loss for +the four years' trade, for which no books are shown. Mr. Edmonds made +an error in computing the number of skins due; the other difference was, +of course, in consequence. I am inclined to think Mr. E. was prejudiced +against the claim, as I cannot see how he could so much reduce the +number of skins due."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The Rev. Mr. Potter, a missionary for sixteen years among the +Cherokees, called and introduced himself to me. He said that he thought +the Cherokees had received enough for their lands; that they were +peaceably emigrating west, but had been delayed by low water in the +streams. While thus waiting, about five hundred persons had died.</p> + +<p>This gentleman had been stationed at Creek Path, where the morally +celebrated Catherine Brown and her brother and parents lived. While +there, he had a church of about sixty members, and thinks they exhibited +as good evidences of Christianity as the same number of whites would do. +He speaks in raptures of the country this people are living in, and are +now emigrating from, in the Cumberland Mountains, as full of springs, a +region of great salubrity, fertility, and picturesque beauty. Says a +portion of the country, to which they are embarking west, is +also fertile.</p> + +<p>Florida, the papers of this date tell us, is now free from Indians. This +can only be strictly true of the towns on the Apalachicola, &c. The +majority of them are doubtless gone.</p> + +<p>A Wyandot, of Michigan, named Thomas Short, complains that his lands, at +Flat Rock, are overflowed by raising a mill-dam. Dispatched a special +agent to inquire into and remedy this trespass.</p> + +<p>The Swan Creeks complain that a Frenchman, named Yaks, having been +permitted to live in one of their houses at Salt River, on rent, refuses +to leave it, intending to set up a pre-emption right to the lands. I +replied, "That is a matter I will inquire into. But you have ceded the +land without stipulating for improvements, and cannot prevent +pre-emptions."</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. I received instructions from Washington, dated 29th Oct., to draw +requisitions in favor of the Ottawas and Chippewas, for the amounts +awarded for their <i>public</i> improvements in the lower peninsula, +agreeably to the estimates of Messrs. MacDonnel and Clarke, under the +treaty of March 28th, 1836.</p> + +<p>Eshtonaquot (Clear Sky), principal chief of the Swan Creeks, states that +his people will be ready to remove to their location on the Osage, by +the middle of next summer. He states that his brother-in-law, an Indian, +living at River <i>Au Sables</i>, in Upper Canada, reports that a large +number of Potawattomies have fled to that province from Illinois; and +that many of the Grand River Ottawas, during the past summer, visited +the Manitoulines, and gave in their names to migrate thither. Little +reliance can be placed on this information. Besides, the government does +not propose to hinder the movements of the Indians.</p> + +<p>Maj. Garland states that he was present, a few years ago, at Fort +Snelling, Upper Mississippi, at the time the fracas occurred in which +the Sioux fired on the Chippewas and killed four of their number. Col. +Snelling exhibited the greatest decision of character on this occasion. +He immediately put the garrison under arms, and seized four Sioux, and +put them in hold till their tribe should surrender the real murderers. +Next day the demand was complied with, by the delivery of two men, to +replace two of the four hostages, the other two of the prisoners being, +by hap, the murderers. The Indian agent vacillated as to the course to +be adopted. Col. Snelling said that he would take the responsibility of +acting. He then turned the aggressors over to the Chippewas, saying: +"Punish them according to your law; and, if you do not, I will." The +Chippewas selected nine of their party as executioners. They then told +the prisoners to run, and shot them down as they fled. Two were shot on +the very day after the murder, and two the following day, when they were +brought in. One of the latter was a fine, bold, tall young fellow, who, +having hold of the other prisoner's hand, observed him to tremble. He +instantly threw his hand loose from him, declaring "that he was ashamed +of being made to suffer with a coward."</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Col. Whiting exhibited to me, at his office, several bound +volumes of MSS., being the orderly book of his father, an adjutant in a +regiment of Massachusetts Continentals, during the great struggle of +1776. Many of the orders of Gen. Washington show the exact care and +knowledge of details, which went to make up a part of his military +reputation.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Texas is involved in troubles with fierce and intractable bands +of Indians. Among these the Camanches are prominent, who have shown +themselves, in force, near Bexar, and in a conflict killed ten Americans +with arrows.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXV."></a>CHAPTER LXV.</h2> + +<p>Embark for New York--A glimpse of Texan affairs--Toltecan +monuments--Indian population of Texas--Horrible effects of drinking +ardent spirits among the Indians--Mr. Gallatin--His opinions +on various subjects of philosophy and history--Visit to the +South--Philadelphia--Washington--Indian affairs--Debt claim--Leave to +visit Europe--Question of neutrality--Mr. Van Buren--American +imaginative literature--Knickerbocker--Résumé of the Indian question of +sovereignty.</p> + +<p>1838. <i>Nov. 14th</i>. I Embarked in a steamer, with my family, for New +York, having the double object of placing my children at eligible +boarding-schools, and seeking the renovation of Mrs. S.'s health. The +season being boisterous, we ran along shore from river to river, putting +in and putting out, in nautical phrase, as we could. On the way, +scarlatina developed itself in my daughter. Fortunately a Dr. Hume was +among the passengers, by whose timely remedies the case was successfully +treated, and a temporary stop at Buffalo enabled us to pursue our way +down the canal. Ice and frost were now the cause of apprehension, and +our canal packet was at length frozen in, when reaching the vicinity of +Utica, which we entered in sleighs. In conversation on board the packet +boat on the canal, Mr. Thomas Borden, of Buffalo Bayou, Texas, stated +that there is a mistake in the current report of the Camanche Indians +being about to join the Mexicans. They are, perhaps, in league with the +Spaniards of Nacogdoches, who now cry out for the federal constitution +of 1824; but there is no coalition between them and the Mexicans. Lamar +is elected president, the population has greatly increased within the +last year, customs are collected, taxes paid, and a revenue raised to +support the government. Mr. Borden said, he was one of the original +three hundred families who went to Texas, with my early friend Stephen +F. Austin, Esq., the founder of Texas, of whom he spoke highly.</p> + +<p>"Hurry" was the word on all parts of our route; but, after reaching the +Hudson, we felt more at ease, and we reached New York and got into +lodgings, on the evening of the 24th (Nov.). The next day was +celebrated, to the joy of the children, as "Evacuation Day," by a +brilliant display of the military, our windows overlooking the Park, +which was the focus of this turnout.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. In conversation with the Rev. Henry Dwight, of. Geneva, he made +some pertinent remarks on the Toltecan monuments, and the skill of this +ancient people in architecture, in connection with some specimens of +antiquities just deposited in the New York Historical Society. This +nation had not only preceded the Aztecs in time, as is very clearly +shown by the traditions of the latter, but also, there is every reason +to believe, in knowledge.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Texas papers contain the following statistics of the Indian +population of that Republic, of whom it is estimated that there may be +20,000. "The different tribes known as wild Indians, comprise about +24,000, west and south-west. There are on the north ten tribes, known as +the 'Ten United Bands,' between the Trinity and Red River, numbering +between 3 and 4000. Of these latter tribes, three are said to have +wandered off beyond the Rio Grande and the Rocky Mountains. Of the +<i>Comances</i>, nearly one-half of the Indians known by that name are, and +have always been, <i>without</i> the limits, and press upon the tribes of New +Mexico. In all it appears that we have within the limits of Texas, an +Indian population of 20,000--of whom one-fifth may be accounted +Warriors. There are one or two remnants of tribes (perhaps not more than +fifty in number) living within the settlements of the whites, whom they +supply with venison, and in that way support themselves.</p> + +<p>"Some of these tribes are the hereditary enemies of Mexico, who has +nevertheless furnished them with arms and ammunition, in the hope of +inciting them against our people, at a risk to her own. If, looking +beyond our borders, we turn our eyes to the north, we behold within +striking distance of the United States frontier on the north-west, an +indigenous Indian population of 150,000, and on their western frontier +46,000; in all between 2 and 300,000 Indians within the jurisdiction of +the United States--against whom, were they to combine, they could at any +moment direct a war force of 60,000 men."</p> + +<p>These popular estimates, may serve the purpose of general comparison, +but require some considerable abatements. There is a tendency to +estimate the numbers of Indian tribes like those of flocks of birds and +schools of fish. We soon get into thousands, and where the theme is +guessing, thousands are soon added to thousands.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 4th</i>. James L. Schoolcraft of Michilimackinack, in a letter of +Nov. 10th, describes a most revolting scene of murder, which, owing to +the effects of drinking, recently occurred at the Menomonie pay-ground +at Grande Chute, Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>"Since closing my letter of this morning, Lieut. Root, just from Fort +Winnebago, informs me that he attended the payment of the Menomonies, at +the <i>Grande Chute</i>; that liquor, as usual, had found its way to the +place of payment, and that, in consequence, an Indian had killed two +Indian women. That the individual (murderer) was taken to the tent of +the agent, Colonel Boyd, but that, in consequence of the repeated and +threatening demands of the Indians for the man, the agent was obliged to +deliver him up to them, and that they then, in front of the tent, +inflicted wounds of death, from six different blades, upon the body of +the murderer, beat his brain out with clubs, and then threw his body +upon a burning fire, after which he was dragged some distance, to which +place he might be traced by attached embers strewed along the path.</p> + +<p>"A child was crushed to death by a drunken Indian accidentally. Lieut. +Root informs me that he left the ground, soon after the scene above +alluded to, and that many of the Indians were armed with knives, and in +much excitement."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. I visited Mr. Gallatin at his house in Bleecker Street, and spent +the entire morning in listening to his instructive conversation, in the +course of which he spoke of early education, geometric arithmetic, the +principles of languages and history, American and European. He said, +speaking of the</p> + +<p>EARLY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.--Few children are taught to read well +early, and, in consequence, they never can become good readers. A page +should, as it were, dissolve before the eye, and be absorbed by the +mind. Reading and spelling correctly cannot be too early taught, and +should be thoroughly taught.</p> + +<p><i>Arithmetic</i>.--<i>G</i>. There is no good arithmetic in which the reasons are +given, so as to be intelligible to children. Condorcet wrote the best +tract on the subject, while in confinement at a widow's house near +Paris, before his execution. The language of arithmetic is universal, +the eight digits serving all combinations. They were not introduced till +1200. The Russians count by sticks and beads. The Romans must have had +some such method. M stood for 1000, D for 500, C for 100, L for 50, X +for ten, V for five, and I for one. But how could they multiply complex +sums by placing one under another.</p> + +<p>LANGUAGES.--<i>S</i>. How desirable it would be if so simple a system could +be applied to language.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. Ah! it was not designed by the Creator. He evidently designed +diversity. I have recently received some of the native vocabularies from +Mackenzie--the Blackfeet and Fall Indians, &c. Parker had furnished in +his travels vocabularies of the Nez Perces, Chinooks, &c.</p> + +<p>LEADING FAMILIES.--<i>S</i>. The term Algonquin, as commonly understood, is +not sufficiently comprehensive for the people indicated.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. I intended to extend it by adding the term "Lenape." The Choctaw +and the Muscogee is radically the same. The Chickasaw and Choctaw has +been previously deemed one. Du Pratz wrote about the Mobilian language +without even suspecting that it was the Choctaw.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. The National Institute at Paris has printed Mr. Duponceau's Prize +Essay on the Algonquin. Dr. James wrote unsuccessfully for the prize. +Duponceau first mentioned you to me. He has freely translated from your +lectures on the substantive, which gives you a European reputation.</p> + +<p>PUBLISHERS ON PHILOLOGY.--<i>G</i>. There is no patronage for such works +here. Germany and France are the only countries where treatises on +philology can be published. It is Berlin or Paris, and of these Berlin +holds the first place. In Great Britain, as in this country, there is +not sufficient interest on the subject for booksellers to take hold of +mere works of fact of this sort. They are given to reading tales and +light literature, as here.</p> + +<p>ORAL TALES OF THE INDIANS--<i>G</i>. Your "Indian Tales" and your +"Hieroglyphics" would sell here; but grammatical materials on the +languages will not do, unless they can be arranged as appendices.</p> + +<p><i>S</i>. I urged Governor Cass to write on this subject, and he declined.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. Does he understand the languages?</p> + +<p><i>S</i>. Pronouns, in our Indian languages, are of a more permanent +character than philologists have admitted. They endure in some form, in +kindred dialects, the most diverse.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. This is true, the sign is always left, and enables one, clearly +enough, to trace stocks. Dialects are easily made. There are many in +France, and they fill other parts of Europe. Every department in +France has one.</p> + +<p>DISCRIMINATING VIEWS OF PHILOLOGY AND PHILOLOGISTS.--<i>G</i>. It is not +clear what Heckewelder meant by "whistling sound," in the prefix +pronouns. I told Mr. Duponceau that it had been better that the +gentleman's MSS. were left as he originally wrote them, with mere +corrections as to grammar--that we should then, in fact, have had +<i>Indian</i> information. For Heckewelder thought and felt like a Delaware, +and believed all their stories.<a name="FNanchor89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89">[89]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor89">[89]</a> This admission of the re-composition of Mr. Heckewelder's +letters, and the excellent missionary's general deficiency, furnishes a +striking confirmation of the views and sagacity of a critic of the +<i>North American Review</i>, writing on that topic, in 1825. And the more +so, as those views were conjectural, but they were the conjectures of +one who had personally known Mr. Heckewelder. +</blockquote> + +<p>MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGE.--<i>G</i>. You have asserted that all the Indian roots +are monosyllables.</p> + +<p><i>S</i>. Most of them, not all. This is a branch to which I have paid +particular attention; and if there is anything in Indian philology in +which I deem myself at home, it is in the analysis of Indian words, the +digging out of roots, and showing their derivatives and compounds.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. The societies would print your observations on these topics. They +are of much interest.</p> + +<p>ORIGIN OF THE INDIAN LANGUAGE.--<i>S</i>. The Hebrew is based on roots like +the Indian, which appear to have strong analogies to the Semitic family. +It is not clearly Hindostanee, or Chinese, or Norse. I have perused +Rafn's Grammar by Marsh. The Icelandic (language) clearly lies at the +foundation of the Teutonic.</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. I have not seen this. The grammatical principles of the Hebrew <a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90">[90]</a> +are widely different (from the Indian). There is, in this respect, no +resemblance. I think the Indian language has principles akin to the +Greek. The middle moods, or voices, in the Greek and Indian dialects are +alike; they make the imperfect past, or <i>aorist</i>, in a similar manner.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor90">[90]</a> Mr. G. did not understand the Hebrew, and was not aware +that the person he addressed had made a study of it in particular +reference to the Indian. +</blockquote> + +<p>PATOIS.--<i>G</i>. The great impediment to popular instruction in France, is +the multiplicity of <i>patois</i>, and the tenacity of the peasantry for +them. The same objection exists to the use of so many Indian dialects by +such numbers of petty tribes. Pity these were not all abolished. They +can never prosper without coming on to general grounds in this respect.</p> + +<p>CHINESE.--Mr. Duponceau had published Col. Galindo's account of the +Ottomic of Mexico, and likened it to the Chinese. It was the +very reverse.</p> + +<p>ENGLISH LANGUAGE.--<i>S</i>. The English language of Chaucer's day, is based +on the Frisic, Belgic, and Low Dutch; and not on the Saxon. (Examples +were given. He fully assented to this, and used his familiarity with +European history to demonstrate it.)</p> + +<p><i>G</i>. There was, in fact, no Anglo-Saxon but that of Alfred, which was +the old English. The early migrations were from Belgium. Doubtless the +Teutons had made the conquest ascribed to them, but I think they did not +revolutionize the language. They conquered the people, but not +the language.</p> + +<p>WASHINGTON IRVING.--<i>G</i>. Washington Irving is the most popular writer. +Anything from his pen would sell.</p> + +<p>JOHN JACOB ASTOR.--Several years ago, J. J. A. put into my hands the +journal of his traders on the Columbia, desiring me to use it. I put it +into the hands of Malte Brun, at Paris, who employed the geographical +facts in his work, but paid but little respect to Mr. Astor, whom he +regarded merely as a merchant seeking his own profit, and not a +discoverer. He had not even sent a man to observe the facts in the +natural history. Astor did not like it. He was restive several years, +and then gave Washington Irving $5,000 to take up the MSS. This is the +History of "Astoria."</p> + +<p>RAFINESQUE.--This erratic naturalist being referred to, he said--</p> + +<p>"Who is Rafinesque, and what is his character?"</p> + +<p>NAPOLEON AND NERO.--Bonaparte was a mathematician; but, whatever he did, +he did not appreciate other branches of science and research. On taking +Rome, he carried to Paris all the Pope's archives, containing, in fact, +the materials for the secret history of Europe. The papers occupied +seventy large boxes, which were carefully corded and sealed, and put +away in a garret of the Louvre at Paris, and never opened. On the +restoration of the Bourbons, Louis XVIII. gave them back to the Pope's +nuncio. The seals had never been broken.</p> + +<p>Bonaparte hated Tacitus. He was an aristocrat, he said, and lied in his +history. He had blackened the character of Nero merely because he was a +republican. "That may be, sire," said ----, "but it is not the generally +received opinion, and authorities sustain him." "Read Suetonius," said +he. "Truly," said M. Gallatin, "it is there stated that the people +strewed flowers on Nero's grave for years."</p> + +<p>ALGIC RESEARCHES.--The oral legends of the Indians collected by me being +adhered to, he said, "Take care that, in publishing your Indian legends, +you do not subject yourself to the imputations made against Macpherson."</p> + +<p>On leaving the hall, whither he came to see me out, he said: "I am +seventy-eight, and (assuming a gayer vein) in a good state of +preservation." He was then a little bent, but preserved in conversation +the vivacity of his prime. He had, I think, been a man of about five +feet ten or eleven inches. His accent and tone of voice are decidedly +French. His eye, which is black and penetrating, kindled up readily. He +wore a black silk cap to hide baldness.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. A singular coincidence of the names and ages of Indian chiefs, +is shown in the following notice from a Russian source:--</p> + +<p>"We have just received from Nova Archangesk, an account of the death of +the chief of one of the most powerful tribes of North America, Black +Hawk, who was suddenly carried off on the banks of the River Moivna, in +the seventy-first year of his age. The loss of this chief, who kept up +friendly relations with the authorities of the Russian colony, and was +always hostile to the English, is felt in a lively manner by the Russian +government, who rested great hopes on the influence exercised by Black +Hawk, not only over his own tribe, but also over all the neighboring +nations. The Czar has ordered the new governor-general of the Russian +colony in America to endeavor by all means to secure the friendship of +the three sons of Black Hawk, the eldest of whom, now forty-eight years +of age, has succeeded his father in the government of the tribe."--<i>Le +Commerce</i>.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. I left New York on the 12th, in the cars, with Mrs. Schoolcraft +and the children, for Washington, stopping at the Princeton depot, and +taking a carriage for Princeton. I determined to leave my son at the +Round Hill School, in charge of Mr. Hart, and the next day went to +Philadelphia, where I accepted the invitation of Gen. Robert Patterson +to spend a few days at his tasteful mansion in Locust street. I visited +the Academy of Natural Sciences, and examined Dr. Samuel George Morton's +extensive collection of Indian crania. While here, I placed my daughter +in the private school of the Misses Guild, South Fourth Street. I +attended one of the "Wistar parties" of the season, on the 15th, at Mr. +Lea's, the distinguished bookseller and conchologist, and reached the +city of Washington on the 21st, taking lodgings at my excellent friends, +the Miss Polks.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Submitted an application to the department for expending a small +part of the Indian education fund, for furthering the general object, by +publishing, for the use of teachers and scholars, a compendious +dictionary, and general grammar of the Indian languages.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. In a conference with Mr. Murray, of Pennsylvania, a recent +commissioner to adjust Indian claims at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, he +gave me Mr. Robert Stuart's testimony respecting the Indian trade, to +read. It appears from the document that the gain on trade of the +American Fur Company, from 1824 to 1827, was $167,000. From 1827 to 1834 +it was $195,000. From the aggregate of ten years' business, there is to +be deducted $45,000, being a loss from 1817 to 1824, which leaves a +profit on seventeen years' trade of $317,000.</p> + +<p>Mr. Murray presented me a copy of the Commissioner's report. These +claims have not yet received the action of the department. The +commissioners set out with requiring of traders high evidence of the +<i>individual</i> indebtedness by Indians. They finally decided that the +Winnebago debts were <i>national</i>. They went further--they approved and +adopted the decision of a meeting of the claimants themselves, as to the +application to individual firms, of the fund. This decision was +subsequently sanctioned by <i>eight</i> Winnebago chiefs, who were stated to +be authorized to act for the nation.</p> + +<p>The error, in all these cases, seems to be, that where a tribe has +agreed to set apart a generic sum to satisfy debts, and the United +States has accepted the trusteeship of determining the individual +shares, that the Indians, who cannot <i>read, or write, or understand +figures, or accounts at all</i>, and cannot possibly tell the arithmetical +difference between one figure and another, should yet be made the +subject of these minor appeals. The TRUSTEE himself should determine +<i>that</i>, by such testimony as he approves, and not appear to seek to +bolster up the decisions of truth and faithfulness, by calling on Indian +ignorance and imbecility, which is subject to be operated on by every +species of selfishness.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. I applied to the department this day, by letter, for leave of +absence from my post on the frontier, to visit Europe.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. I called on Mr. Poinsett, the Secretary of War, and received +from him the permission which I had yesterday solicited. I also called +on the President (Mr. Van Buren), who, in turning the conversation to +the state of disturbances on the frontier, evinced the deepest interest +that neutrality should be preserved, and asked me whether the United +States Marshal at Detroit had faithfully performed his duty.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Visited Mr. Paulding (Secretary of the Navy) in the evening. +Found him a father aged bald-headed man, of striking physiognomy, +prominent intellectual developments, and easy dignified manners. It was +pleasing to recognize one of the prominent authors of <i>Salmagundi</i>, +which I had read in my schoolboy days, and never even hoped to see the +author of this bit of fun in our incipient literature. For it is upon +this, and the still higher effort of Irving's facetious History of New +York, that we must base our imaginative literature. They first taught us +that we had a right to laugh. We were going on, on so very stiff a +model, that, without the Knickerbocker, we should not have found it out.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. I prepared a list of queries for the department, designed to +elicit a more precise and reliable account of the Indian tribes than has +yet appeared. It is astonishing how much gross error exists in the +popular mind respecting their true character.</p> + +<blockquote> +Talk of an Indian--why the very stare<br> +Says, plain as language, Sir, have you been there?<br> +Do tell me, has a Potawattomie a soul,<br> +And have the tribes a language? Now that's droll--<br> +They tell me some have tails like wolves, and others claws,<br> +Those Winnebagoes, and Piankashaws.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Mr. Paulding transmits a note of thanks for some Indian words. +The euphony of the aboriginal vocabulary impresses most persons. In most +of their languages this appears to result, in part, from the fact that a +vowel and a consonant go in pairs--<i>i.e.</i> a vowel either precedes or +follows a consonant, and it is comparatively rare that two consonants +are required to be uttered together. There is but one language that has +the <i>th</i>, so common in English. <i>Sh</i> and <i>gh</i> are, however, frequently +sounded in the Chippewa. The most musical words are found in the great +Muscogee and Algonquin families, and it is in these that the regular +succession of vowels and consonants is found.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. The year 1838 has been a marked one in our Indian relations. The +southern Indians have experienced an extensive breaking up, in their +social institutions, and been thrown, by the process of emigration, west +of the Mississippi, and the policy of the government on this head, which +was first shadowed out in 1825, and finally sanctioned by the act of +land exchanges, 1830, may be deemed as having been practically settled. +The Cherokees, who required the movements of an army to induce them to +carry out the principles of the treaty of New Echota, have made their +first geographical movement since the discovery of the continent, a +period of 331 years. How much longer they had dwelt in the country +abandoned we know not. They clung to it with almost a death grasp. It is +a lovely region, and replete with a thousand advantages and a thousand +reminiscences. Nothing but the drum of the Anglo-Saxon race could have +given them an effectual warning to go. Gen. Scott, in his well advised +admonitory proclamation, well said, that the voice under which both he +and they acted is imperative, and that by heeding it, it is hoped that +"they will spare him the horror of witnessing the destruction of the +Cherokees." The great Muskogee family had been broken up, by the act of +Georgia, before. The Seminoles, who belong to that family, broke out +themselves in a foolish hostility very late in 1835, and have kept up a +perfectly senseless warfare, in the shelter of hummocks and quagmires +since. The Choctaws and Chickasaws, with a wise forecast, had forseen +their position, and the utter impossibility of setting up independent +governments in the boundaries of the States. It is now evident to all, +that the salvation of these interesting relics of Oriental races lies in +colonization west. Their teachers, the last to see the truth, have fully +assented to it. Public sentiment has settled on that ground; sound +policy dictates it; and the most enlarged philanthropy for the Indian +race perceives its best hopes in the measure.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVI."></a>CHAPTER LXVI.</h2> + +<p>Sentiments of loyalty--Northern Antiquarian Society--Indian +statistics--Rhode Island Historical Society--Gen. Macomb--Lines in the +Odjibwa language by a mother on placing her children at school--Mehemet +Ali--Mrs. Jameson's opinion on publishers and publishing--Her opinion of +my Indian legends--False report of a new Indian language--Indian +compound words--Delafield's Antiquities--American Fur Company--State of +Indian disturbances in Texas and Florida--Causes of the failure of the +war in Florida, by an officer--Death of an Indian chief--Mr. Bancroft's +opinion on the Dighton Rock inscription--Skroellings not in New +England--Mr. Gallatin's opinion on points of Esquimaux language, +connected with our knowledge of our archaeology.</p> + +<p>1839. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. I called, amid the throng, on the President. His +manners were bland and conciliatory. These visits, on set days, are not +without the sentiment of strong personality in many of the visitors, but +what gives them their most significant character is the general loyalty +they evince to the constitution, and government, and supreme law of the +land. The President is regarded, for the time, as the embodiment of this +sentiment, and the tacit fealty paid to him, as the supreme law officer, +is far more elevating to the self-balanced and independent mind than if +he were a monarch <i>ad libitum</i>, and not for four years merely.</p> + +<p><i>2d</i>. I received a notice of my election as a member of the Royal +Northern Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen, of which fact I had been +previously notified by that Society. This Society shows us how the art +of engraving may be brought in as an auxiliary to antiquarian letters; +but it certainly undervalues American sagacity if it conjectures that +such researches and speculations as those of Mr. Magnusen, on the +Dighton Rock, and what it is fashionable now-a-days to call the NEWPORT +RUIN, can satisfy the purposes of a sound investigation of the +Anti-Columbian period of American history.</p> + +<p>There was a perfect jam this evening at Blair's. What sort of a +compliment is it to be one of five or six hundred people, not half of +whom can be squeezed into a small house, and not one of whom can pretend +to taste a morsel without the danger of having server and all jammed +down his throat.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. The mail hunts up everybody. Go where you will, and particularly +to the seat of government, and letters will follow you. Whoever is in +the service of government bears a part of the functions of it, though it +be but an infinitesimal part. Mr. H. Conner, the Saginaw sub-agent, in a +letter of this date, reports the Saginaws at one thousand four hundred +and forty-three souls, and the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas at +one hundred and ninety-eight. One of the most singular facts in the +statistics of the most of the frontier Indian tribes of the Lakes, is, +in the long run, that they neither <i>increase</i> nor <i>decline</i>, but just +keep up a sort of dying existence.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. Dr. Thomas H. Webb, Secretary of the Rhode Island Historical +Society, announces the plan of that Society in publishing a series of +works illustrating, in the first place, the history and language of the +Indians, and soliciting me to become a contributor of original +observations. The difficulty in all true efforts of our literary history +is the want of means. A man must devote all his leisure in researches, +and then finds that there is no way in which these labors can be made to +aid in supplying him the means of subsistence. He must throw away his +time, and yet buy his bread. There is no real taste for letters in a +people who will not pay for them. It is too early in our history, +perhaps, to patronize them as a general thing. Making and inventing new +ploughs will pay, but not books.</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. The Secretary of War confirms my leave of absence, to visit +Europe, and extends it beyond the contingencies of a re-appointment, on +the 4th of March next.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Attended a general and crowded party at Gen. Macomb's, in the +evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft. The General has always appeared to me a +perfect amateur in military science, although he has distinguished +himself in the field. He is a most polished and easy man in all +positions in society, and there is an air and manner by which he +constantly reveals his French blood. He has a keen perception of the +ridiculous, and a nice appreciation of the mock gravity of the heroic in +character, and related to me a very effective scene of this latter kind, +which occurred at Mr. John Johnston's, at St. Mary's Falls, on the +close of the late war. He had visited that place in perhaps 1815 or +1816, as military commander of the District of Michigan, in the suite of +Major-Gen. Brown. They were guests of Mr. Johnston. In going up the +river to see Gros Cape, at the foot of Lake Superior, the American party +had been fired upon by the Chippewas, who were yet hostile in feeling. +When the party returned to the house of Mr. Johnston, their host, the +latter drew himself up in the spirit of the border times of Waverley, +and, with the air and accent of a chief of those days--which, by the +way, was not altogether unnatural to him--manifested the high +gentlemanly indignation of a host whose hospitality had been violated. +He exclaimed to his eldest son, "Let our followers be ready to repel +this gross affront." The General's eye danced in telling it. The thing +of the firing had been done--nobody was hurt--nobody was in fact in +hostile array; and far less was the party itself alarmed. It had been +some crack-brained Indian, I believe Sassaba, who yet smarted at the +remembrance of the death of his brother, who was killed with Tecumseh in +the Battle of the Thames.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Left Washington, with my family, in the cars for Baltimore, +where we lodged; reached Philadelphia the next day, at four P.M.; +remained the 13th and 14th, and reached New York on the 16th, at 4 +o'clock P.M.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Mrs. Schoolcraft, having left her children at school, at +Philadelphia and Princeton, remained pensive, and wrote the following +lines in the Indian tongue, on parting from them, which. I thought so +just that I made a translation of them.</p> + +<blockquote> +Nyau nin de nain dum<br> +May kow e yaun in<br> +Ain dah nuk ki yaun<br> +Waus sa wa kom eg<br> +Ain dah nuk ki yaun<br><br> + +Ne dau nig ainse e<br> +Ne gwis is ainse e<br> +Ishe nau gun ug wau<br> +Waus sa wa kom eg<br><br> + +She gwau go sha ween<br> +Ba sho waud e we<br> +Nin zhe ka we yea<br> +Ishe ez hau jau yaun<br> +Ain dah nuk ke yaun<br><br> + +Ain dah nuk ke yaun<br> +Nin zhe ke we yea<br> +Ishe ke way aun e<br> +Nyau ne gush kain dum<br><br> + +[FREE TRANSLATION.]<br><br> + +Ah! when thought reverts to my country so dear,<br> +My heart fills with pleasure, and throbs with a fear:<br> +My country, my country, my own native land,<br> +So lovely in aspect, in features so grand,<br> +Far, far in the West. What are cities to me,<br> +Oh! land of my mother, compared unto thee?<br><br> + +Fair land of the lakes! thou are blest to my sight,<br> +With thy beaming bright waters, and landscapes of light;<br> +The breeze and the murmur, the dash and the roar,<br> +That summer and autumn cast over the shore,<br> +They spring to my thoughts, like the lullaby tongue,<br> +That soothed me to slumber when youthful and young.<br><br> + +One feeling more strongly still binds me to thee,<br> +There roved my forefathers, in liberty free--<br> +There shook they the war lance, and sported the plume,<br> +Ere Europe had cast o'er this country a gloom;<br> +Nor thought they that kingdoms more happy could be,<br> +White lords of a land so resplendent and free.<br><br> + +Yet it is not alone that my country is fair,<br> +And my home and my friends are inviting me there;<br> +While they beckon me onward, my heart is still here,<br> +With my sweet lovely daughter, and bonny boy dear:<br> +And oh! what's the joy that a home can impart,<br> +Removed from the dear ones who cling to my heart.<br><br> + +It is learning that calls them; but tell me, can schools<br> +Repay for my love, or give nature new rules?<br> +They may teach them the lore of the wit and the sage,<br> +To be grave in their youth, and be gay in their age;<br> +But ah! my poor heart, what are schools to thy view,<br> +While severed from children thou lovest so true!<br><br> + +I return to my country, I haste on my way,<br> +For duty commands me, and duty must sway;<br> +Yet I leave the bright land where my little ones dwell,<br> +With a sober regret, and a bitter farewell;<br> +For there I must leave the dear jewels I love,<br> +The dearest of gifts from my Master above.<br><br> + +NEW YORK, <i>March 18th</i>, 1839.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Went, in the evening, to hear Mr. Stephens, the celebrated +traveler, lecture before the Historical Society, at the Stuyvesant +Institute, on Mehemet Ali. Public opinion places lecturers sometimes in +a false position. An attempt was here made to make out Mehemet Ali a +great personage, exercising much influence in his times. An old despotic +rajah in a tea-pot! Who looks to him for exaltation of sentiment, +liberality and enlargement of views, or as an exemplar of political +truth? Mr. Stephens, however, knew the feeling and expectation of his +audience, and drew a picture, which was eloquently done, and well +received. This popular mode of lecturing is certainly better than the +run-a-muck amusements of the day. But it panders to an excited +intellectual appetite, and is anything but philosophical, historical, or +strictly just.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. I received instructions from Washington, to form a treaty with +the Saginaws, for the cession of a tract of ground on which to build a +light-house on Saginaw Bay.</p> + +<p>The next letter I opened was from Mrs. Jameson, of London, who writes +that her plan of publication is, to divide the profits with her +publishers, and, as these are honest men and gentlemen, she has found +that the best way. She advises me to adopt the same course with respect +to my Indian legends.<a name="FNanchor91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91">[91]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor91">[91]</a> I followed this advice, but fell into the hands of the +Philistines. +</blockquote> + +<p>"I published," she says, "in my little journal, one or two legends which +Mrs. Schoolcraft gave me, and they have excited very general interest. +The more exactly you can (in translation) adhere to the <i>style</i> of the +language of the Indian nations, instead of emulating a fine or correct +English style--the more characteristic in all respects--the more +original--the more interesting your work will be."</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. I read the following article in the New York Herald:--</p> + +<p>NEW INDIAN TRIBE.--Dr. Jackson, in his report of the geology of the +public lands, states that at the mouth of the Tobique there is an Indian +settlement, where a large tribe of Indians reside, and gain a livelihood +by trapping the otter and beaver. These Indians are quite distinct from +the Penobscot tribe, and speak a peculiar language.</p> + +<p><i>Query</i>. What is the name of this tribe? what language do they speak? +and what evidence is there that they are not Souriquois or Miemacks, +who have been known to us since the first settlement of Acadia and +Nova Scotia?</p> + +<p>Indian compound words are very composite. <i>Aco</i>, in the names of places +once occupied by Algonquin bands, means, <i>a limit</i>, or <i>as far as</i>, and +is intended to designate the boundary or reach of woods and waters. +<i>Ac-ow</i> means length of area. <i>Accomac</i> appears to mean, at the place of +the trees, or, as far as the open lands extend to the woods: <i>mac</i>, in +this word, may be either a derivative from <i>acké</i>, earth, or, more +probably, <i>auk</i>, a generic participle for tree or trunk.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. The editor of the <i>North American Review</i> directs my attention +to Delafield's Antiquities as the subject of a notice for his pages. +Delafield appears to have undertaken a course of reading on Mexican +antiquities. The result is given in this work, with his conjectures and +speculations on the origin of the race. The cause of antiquarian +knowledge is indebted to him for the first publication of the pictorial +Aztec map of Butturini.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Called on Mr. Ramsey Crooks, president of the American Fur +Company, at his counting-house, in Ann street. He gave me an interesting +sketch of his late tour from La Pointe, Lake Superior, to the +Mississippi. The Chippewas were not paid at La Pointe till October. This +made him late at the country. The St. Croix River froze before he +reached the Mississippi, and he went down the latter, from St. Peter's, +in a sleigh. Bonga had been sent to notify the Milles Lacs, Sandy Lake, +and Leoch Lake Indians to come to the payments. When he reached Leech +Lake, Guelle Plat had gone, with twenty-four canoes, to open a trade +with the Hudson's Bay Factor, at Rainy Lake. Mr. Crooks thinks that the +dissatisfaction among these bands can be readily allayed by judicious +measures. Thinks the Governor of Wisconsin ought to call the chiefs +together at some central point within the country, and make +explanations. That the payments, in future, should be made at <i>one</i> +place, and not divided. That the Leech Lake, and other bands <i>living +without the ceded district</i>, ought not to participate in the annuities.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crook's manner is always prompt and cordial. He concentrates, in his +reminiscences, the history of the fur trade in America for the last +forty years. I have always thought it a subject of regret, that such a +man should not have kept a journal. There was much, it is true, that +could not be put down, and he was always so exclusively an active +business man that mere literary memoranda never attracted his attention; +they were not adverse to his tastes. He has nearly, I should judge, +recovered from the severe hardships and privations which attended his +perilous journey across the Rocky Mountains, on the abandonment of +Astoria, on the Pacific, in 1812.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Texas and Florida continue to be the rallying points of Indian +warfare. The frontier of Texas is harassed by wandering parties of +Indians. A Mr. Morgan, who resided near the falls of Brazos, had been +killed, and three women carried off by a band of fifteen savages. A +company of rangers was sent in pursuit.</p> + +<p>The Florida War still lingers, without decisive results. The <i>New +Orleans Bee</i> says that General Taylor has been very active, the past +season, in trying to bring it to a close. A writer from Tampa Bay, of +the 25th instant, who appears to have good knowledge of matters, states +three causes, particularly as opposing a successful prosecution and +consummation of it, namely:--</p> + +<p>"1st. An ignorance of the topography of Florida--the position of the +numerous swamps and hummocks, the usual hiding-places of the Indians.</p> + +<p>"2d. A want of proper interpreters.</p> + +<p>"3d. A countervailing influence from some unknown quarter."</p> + +<p>He supports his view as follows: "It is a well known fact that, previous +to the year 1836, the portion of Florida south of the Military Road from +Tampa to Garey's Ferry was unexplored and unknown, and since that time +the only information has been derived from the hasty reconnoissances of +officers, made in the progress of the several divisions of the army +through the country. Since the organization of the Corps of +Topographical Engineers, several have been sent to this country, and are +now actively engaged in making surveys and plotting maps. Could the +information they are expected to give have been known even before the +commencement of the last campaign, it would have aided materially in the +subjugation of the enemy. A correct knowledge of this country is needed +more especially because such another theatre of war probably has not a +place on the earth; a theatre so peculiarly favorable to the Indians and +disadvantageous to the white man. Swamps may be delineated as well +perhaps as any other natural object; but <i>such</i> swamps as are found in +Florida, are not to be imitated in painting or described by words. As an +instance, I may mention the Halpataokee or Alligator Water, which is +made up of small islands, surrounded by water of various depths, through +which for two miles the road of the army passed during the winter +of 1838."</p> + +<p>"<i>2d</i>. The only Interpreters are Seminole negroes, who, for the most +part, find it difficult to understand English. As an instance of the +numerous mistakes occurring daily, may be mentioned the following: The +General told the interpreter to say to Nettetok Emathla, that 'patience +and perseverance would accomplish everything.' While he was speaking to +the Indian, the remark was made that he did not know the meaning of the +sentence. When questioned the following day, he said 'patience and +'suverance mean a little book,' Our laughter convinced him he was +mistaken, and he said 'patience mean you must be patien; I don't zackly +know what 'suverance do mean, sar!' Numerous errors of this nature are +doubtless occurring daily, and among a people who are so scrupulously +nice and formal in their 'talks,' such trifling mistakes may be +injurious.</p> + +<p>"<i>3d</i>. We are now to speak of the most important difficulty in the way +of termination of hostilities, and the removal of the Seminoles to their +new homes beyond the 'Muddy Water.' That the Indians are and have been +supplied by whites, Americans or Spaniards, is a point so decisively +settled that 'no hinge is left whereon to hang a doubt.' However +shameless it may appear, proofs are not wanting to establish the fact, +so much to the discredit of our patriotism. When Coacoochee escaped from +St. Augustine he carried with him bolts of calico and factory cloths, +which he afterwards sold to the Indians in the woods for three chalks +(six shillings) per yard. It was reported to Colonel Taylor, then at +Fort Bassinger, by an Indian woman, who ran away from Coacoochee's camp, +that he had one poney packed solely with powder; that he had plenty of +lead, provisions, etc., and was determined never to come in or go to +Arkansas. On several occasions when Indians have been killed or taken, +or their camps surprised, new calico, fresh tobacco, bank bills, and +other articles of a <i>civilized</i> character, have been found in their +possession. Besides, this, the Indians are constantly reporting in their +talks that some persons on the other side of the territory prevent the +hostiles from complying with the treaty. Ethlo Emathla, Governor of the +Tallahassees, promised the general to be in with his people on a +specified day. It is reduced almost to a certainty that he has been +prevented from doing so by the representations of some person or persons +in a quarter, the name of which charity alone forbids to mention. The +only object is, and for a long time has been, to keep entirely out of +the way, to hide themselves from the whites, and every effort to bring +them to battle, either by sending small or large parties among them, has +proved useless. <i>They will not fight</i>, and thirty thousand men cannot +find them, broken up as they are into small parties. What then is to be +done? Protect the inhabitants of the frontiers, gradually push the +Indians south, and at no distant day, the necessary, unavoidable and +melancholy consummation must arrive, viz., the expulsion of the last +tribe of red men from the soil over which they once roamed the sole +lords and possessors."</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The oldest man in the Ottawa nation, a chief called +Nish-caud-jin-in-a, or the Man of Wrath, died this day at L'Arbre +Croche, Michigan. He was between ninety and one hundred years of age, +withered and dry, and slightly bent, but still preserving the outlines +of a man of strength, good figure, and intellect. What a mass of +reminiscences and elements of history dies with every old person of +observation, white or red.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 4th</i>. Mr. James H. Lanman writes respecting the prospects of his +publishing a history of Michigan--a subject which I gave him every +encouragement to go forward in, while he lived in that State. The theme +is an ambitious one, involving as it does the French era of settlements, +and the day for handling it effectively has not yet arrived. But the +sketches that may be made from easily-got, existing materials, may +subserve a useful purpose, with the hope always that some new fact may +be elicited, which will add to the mass of materials. "I have been +delayed here," he says, "in preparing the book, and the delay has been +occasioned by my publishers having failed. It is now, however, +stereotyped, and will be out in about a fortnight." <a name="FNanchor92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92">[92]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor92">[92]</a> He afterwards re-cast the work, and it was published by the +Harpers as one of the volumes of their library. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>21st</i>. Mr. Bancroft writes to me, giving every encouragement to bring +forward before the public my collections and researches on Indian +history and language, and expressing his opinion of success, unless I +should be "cursed with a bad publisher."</p> + +<p>"Father Duponceau," he says, "won his prize out of your books, and +Gallatin owes much to you. Go on; persevere; build a monument to +yourself and the unhappy Algonquin race."</p> + +<p>Making every allowance for Mr. Bancroft's enthusiastic way of speaking, +it yet appears to me that I should endeavor to publish the results of +investigations of Indian subjects. My connection with the Johnston +family has thrown open to me the whole arcanum of the Indian's thoughts.</p> + +<p>I wrote an article for Dr. Absalom Peter's Magazine, expressing my +dissent from the very fanciful explanations of the Dighton Rock +characters, as given by Mr. Magrusen in the first volume of the Royal +Society of Northern Antiquarians, published at Copenhagen. It appears to +me that those characters (throwing out two or three) are the Indian +<i>Kekéwin</i>--a species of hieroglyphics or symbolic devices, still in +vogue among them. To this view of the matter Mr. Bancroft assents. "If +you have a proof-sheet of your article on the Daneschrift, send it me. +All they say about the Dighton Rock is, I think, the sublime of +humbuggery."</p> + +<p>What is said in the interpreted Sagas, of the Skroellings or Esquimaux +being in New England at the date of Eric's voyage (A. D. 1001) is, I +think, problematical. Those tribes are not known to have extended +further south than the Straits of Belleisle, about 60°, or to parts of +Newfoundland. The term deduced from the old journals appear to belong to +the Esquimaux proper, rather than to the New England class of the +Algonquins. The Esquimaux had the free use of the sound of the letter +<i>l</i>, which was not used at all by the N.E. Indians.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gallatin, in a letter of Feb. 22, in response to me on this subject, +says: "The letter <i>L</i> occurs in every Esquimaux dialect of which I have +any knowledge. Thus heaven or sky, is in Greenland, <i>Killak</i>; Hudson's +Bay, <i>Keiluk</i>; Kadick Islands, <i>Kelisk</i>; Kotzebue's Sound, <i>Keilyak</i>; +Asiatic Tshuktchi, <i>Kuelok</i>.</p> + +<p>"I am not so certain about the <i>v</i>, which I find used only by Egede, or +Crantz (not distinguished from each other in my collection) for the +Greenland dialect. In their conjurations I find 'we (sing. and dual) +wash them' Ernikp-auvut, and Ernikp-auvuk. In the Mithradites, the same +letter <i>v</i> is repeatedly used in dual examples of the Greenland and +Labrador dialects, principally (as it appears to me) but not exclusively +in the pronominal terminations, <i>picksaukonik, akeetvor, tivut</i>, +Profetiv-vit! that is, good ours, debtors ours, a prophet art thou.</p> + +<p>"By comparing this with the pronouns of the other Esquimaux dialects, I +suspect that <i>oo</i> and <i>w</i> in these, are used instead of <i>v</i>. But the +difference may arise from that in the mother tongue, or in the delicacy +of the ear, of those who have supplied us with other verbal and +pronominal forms or vocabularies."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>, The Indian names may be studied analytically.</p> + +<p><i>Ches</i> (pronounced by the Algonquin Indians <i>Chees</i>), signifies a plant +of the turnip family. <i>Beeg</i> is the plural, and denotes water existing +in large bodies, such as accumulations in the form of lakes and seas. If +these two roots be connected by the usual sound in Algonquin words, thus +Ches-a-beeg, a sound much resembling Chesapeake would be produced. The +Nanticokes, who inhabited this bay on its discovery, were of the +Algonquin stock.</p> + +<p>Potomac appears to be a clipped expression, derived, I believe, from +Po-to-wau-me-ac. Po-to-wau, as we have it, in Potawattomie, means to +make a fire in a place where fires, such as council fires, are usually +made. The <i>ac</i> in the word is apparently from <i>ak</i> or <i>wak</i>, a standing +tree. The whole appears descriptive of a burning tree, or a +burning forest.</p> + +<p>Megiddo in the Algonquin means he barks, or a barker. Hence me-giz-ze, +an eagle or the bird that barks.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVII."></a>CHAPTER LXVII.</h2> + +<p>Workings of unshackled mind--Comity of the American Addison--Lake +periodical fluctuations--American antiquities--Indian doings in Florida +and Texas--Wood's New England's Prospect--Philological and historical +comments--Death of Ningwegon--Creeks--Brothertons made citizens--Charles +Fenno Hoffman--Indian names for places on the Hudson--Christian +Indians--Etymology--Theodoric--Appraisements of Indian property--Algic +researches--Plan and object.</p> + +<p>1839. <i>Feb. 22d</i>. Hon. Lucius Lyon, Senator in Congress from Michigan, +writes, informing me of the movements of political affairs in that +State. The working of our system in the new States is peculiar. Popular +opinion must have its full swing. It rights itself. Natural good sense +and sound moral appreciation of right are at work at the bottom, and the +lamp of knowledge is continually replenished with oil, by schools and +teaching. That light cannot be put out. It will burn on till the world +is not only free, but enlightened and renovated.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Washington Irving kindly encloses me a letter to Colonel +Aspinwall of London, commending to him my contemplated publication on +the oral legends of the North American Indians. "I regret to say," he +adds, "that the last time he wrote to me, he was in great uneasiness, +apprehending the loss of one of his daughters, who appeared to be in a +rapid decline."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Mrs. Jameson, on returning from her trip to the lakes, writes +for my opinion on the causes of the phenomenon of the rise in the waters +of the lakes. Alluding to this subject, the Superintendent of the works +in the Ohio says: "The water of Lake Erie, which has been rising for +many years, and has attained a height unequaled in the memory of man, +seems to have attained its maximum, and to have commenced its reflux. +Since the first day of June last, as I have ascertained by means of +graduated rods at different points along the coast of Lake Erie, the +water has fallen perpendicularly nineteen inches, and is still falling. +The meteorological character of the present season, as compared with +that of several previous seasons, clearly shows the cause of the rise +and fall of the lakes not to be periodical, as has heretofore been +asserted, but entirely accidental. For several years the summers have +been cloudy and cold, with a prevalence of easterly winds and rainy +weather. The last summer has been excessively warm for the whole season, +and of exceeding drought. When it is remembered that the amount of water +evaporated over the surface of these vast bodies of water, during a +period of warm sunny weather, greatly exceeds that which passes the +outlet of one of these lakes (Niagara River, for example), the cause of +the phenomenon is apparent."--See <i>Mr. Barrett's inquiries, ante</i>.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. The <i>New York Star</i> publishes a notice of <i>Delafield's +Antiquities</i>. This handsomely printed and illustrated work contains four +things that are new to the antiquarian inquirer: 1. A theory by the +author, by which he conceives the Indian race to be descended from the +ancient Cuthites, who are Hamitic. This is wrong. 2. A curious and +valuable pictographic map of the migration of the Aztecs, not heretofore +printed. This is an acquisition. 3. A disquisition of Dr. Lakey, of +Cincinnati, on the superiority of the northern to the southern race of +red men. This seems true. 4. A preface, by Bishop McIlvaine, showing the +importance in all inquiries of the kind, of keeping the record of the +Bible strictly in view. This is right.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. The <i>Houston Telegraph</i> of this date gays: "A party of about +eighty men from Bastrop County, accompanied by Castro and forty Lipan +warriors, recently made an expedition into the Comanche country, and, +near the San Saba, attacked and routed a large body of Comanches, who, +with their women and children, were encamped on a small branch of the +stream. About thirty of the Comanche warriors were killed in the +engagement, many huts and considerable baggage destroyed, and a large +number of horses and mules captured. On their return, however, a few +Comanches stole silently into the droves of horses, while feeding at +night, and recaptured the whole except ninety-three horses, which the +shrewd Castro, with ten of his warriors, had driven far in advance of +the main company, and which he subsequently brought in safety to +Lagrange. Only two of the citizens of Texas were injured on this +expedition."</p> + +<p>"General Burlison, at the head of about seventy men, recently +encountered a large body of Indians on the Brushy, and, after one or two +skirmishes, finding the enemy numerous, retreated to a ravine in order +to engage them with more advantage; but the Indians, fearing to attack +him in his new position, drew off and retreated into a neighboring +thicket. Being unable to pursue them, he returned to Bastrop. It is +reported that he has lost three men in this engagement; the loss of the +Indians is not known; it, however, must have been considerable, as most +of the men under Burlison were excellent marksmen, and had often been +engaged in Indian warfare."</p> + +<p><i>March 4th</i>. The <i>N. Y. Evening Post</i> says, that a gentleman from +Tallahassee, just arrived at Washington, states that murders by the +Indians are of everyday occurrence in that vicinity, and that between +the 17th and 21st Feb. fifteen persons had been killed.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. Finished the perusal of William Wood's "<i>New England's +Prospects</i>," a work of 98 12mo pages, printed at London, 1634. This was +fourteen years after the first landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth, and +the same year that John Eliot came over. Its chief claim to notice is +its antiquity. "Some have thought," he says, "that they (the Indians) +might be descendants of the Jews, because some of their words be near +unto the Hebrew; but by the same rule they may conclude them to be some +of the gleanings of all nations, because they have words which sound +after the Greek, Latin, French, and other tongues. Their language is +hard to learn, few of the English being able to speak any of it, or +capable of the right pronunciation, which is the chief grace of their +tongue. They pronounce much after the diphthongs, excluding B and L, +which, in our English tongue, they pronounce with much difficulty, as +most of the Dutch do T and H, calling a lobster, a <i>nobstan</i>."</p> + +<p>The examples of a vocabulary he gives show them to be Algonquins, and +not "Skroellings," or Esquimaux, as they are represented to have been by +the Scandinavians (vide Ant. Amer.), who visited the present area of +Massachusetts in the tenth century.</p> + +<p>The close alliance of their language with the existing Chippewa and +Ottawa of the north, is shown by the following specimens:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="60%"> +<tr align="center"><th> </th><th><i>New England Tribes</i>.</th><th><i>Chippewa of Lake Superior</i>.</th></tr> +<tr align="center"><th> </th><th>1634.</th><th>1839.</th></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>Woman</i>,</td><td>Squa,</td><td>E-qua.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>Water</i>,</td><td>Nip-pe,</td><td>Ne-bé.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>A raccoon</i>,</td><td>Au-supp,</td><td>A se-bun.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>Daughter</i>,</td><td>Tawonis,</td><td>O-dau-nis.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>A duck</i>,</td><td>Sea-sceep,</td><td>She-sheeb.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>Summer</i>,</td><td>Se-quan,</td><td>Se-gwun.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>Red</i></td><td>Squi,</td><td>Mis-qui.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td><i>A house</i>,</td><td>Wig-wam,</td><td>Weeg-wam.</td></tr> +</table> +</center><br> + +<p>He divides the tribes into:--</p> +<br> +<center> +<table width="60%"> +<tr><td>Tarrenteens.</td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Churhers</td><td align="center">(local tribes even then under instruction).</td></tr> +<tr><td>Aberginians</td><td align="center">(Algonquins of the St. Lawrence, probably).</td></tr> +<tr><td>Narragansetts</td><td align="center">(a tribe of the N.E. Algonquins with dialectic peculiarities).</td></tr> +<tr><td>Pequants</td><td align="center">( " " " )</td></tr> +<tr><td>Nepnets</td><td align="center">( " " " )</td></tr> +<tr><td>Connectacuts</td><td align="center">( " " " )</td></tr> +<tr><td>Mohawks</td><td align="center">(a tribe of Iroquois).</td></tr> +</table> +</center><br><br> + +<p>The people whom he calls "Tarrenteens," are clearly Abenakies.</p> + +<p>Cotton Mather, L. of E., 1691, p. 78, denominates the Indians "the +veriest ruins of mankind. Their name for an Englishman was a knifeman; +stone was used instead of metal for their tools; and for their coins +they have only little beads, with holes in them, to string them upon a +bracelet, whereof some are <i>white</i>, and of these there go six for a +penny; some are <i>black</i> or <i>blue</i>, and of these go three for a penny; +this <i>wampum</i>, as they call it, is made of shell fish, which lies upon +the sea-coast continually."</p> + +<p>P. 79. "<i>Nokehick</i>, that is, a spoonful of parched meal with a spoonful +of water, which will strengthen them to travel a day."</p> + +<p>"Reading and writing are altogether unknown to them, though there is a +stone or two in the country that has unaccountable characters +engraved upon it."</p> + +<p>The intention of the King in granting the royal charter to Massachusetts +was, says Cotton Mather:--</p> + +<p>"To win and invite the natives of that country to the knowledge and +obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind, and the Christian +faith, is our Royal intentions, and the adventurer's free profession is +the principal end of the plantation."--<i>Life of Eliot</i>, p. 77.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Died at Little Traverse Bay, on Lake Michigan, Ningwegon, or +the Wing, the well-known American-Ottawa chief--a man who distinguished +himself for the American cause at Detroit, in 1812, and was thrown into +prison by the British officers for his boldness in expressing his +sentiments. He received a life annuity under the treaty of 28th +March, 1836.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Received notice of my election as a corresponding member of the +Brooklyn Lyceum.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. A small party of chiefs of the Seneca tribe under the command of +"Blacksmith," successor to Red Jacket, arrived in this city yesterday +from Washington, and took lodgings at the Western Hotel in Courtland +Street. They were received by the Mayor at the Governor's room about 12 +o'clock. In the address made by one of the number, it was stated that +the object of their visit had been to urge upon the President the +impropriety of driving them from their present possessions.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. PEACE AMONG THE INDIANS.--The two nations of Upper and Lower +Creeks, who were hostile while residing east of the Mississippi, have, +in their new homes in Arkansas, united in general council, at which +fifteen hundred were present. The oratory on this occasion, of smoking +the calumet, is described as of the highest order.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Judge Bronson, of Florida, last evening, at a party at his +cousin's (Arthur Bronson, 46 Bond Street, N. Y.), states that, as +Chairman of a Committee in Congress, a few years ago, he had reported a +bill for allowing the Brotherton Indians to hold their property in +Wisconsin individually, and to enjoy the rights of citizenship; and that +this bill passed both houses.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Went to dine with Charles Fenno Hoffman, at his lodgings in +Houston Street. Found his room garnished with curiosities of various +sorts, indicative, among other things, of his interest in the Indian +race. A poet in his garret I had long heard of, but a liberal +gentlemanly fellow, surrounded by all the elegances of life, I had not +thought of as the domicil of the Muses. Mr. Hoffman impressed me as +being very English in his appearance and manners. His forehead is quite +Byronic in its craniological developments. His eye and countenance are +of the most commanding character. Pity that such a handsome man, so +active in everything that calls for the gun, the rod, the boat, the +horse, the dog, should have been shorn of so essential a prerequisite as +a leg. His conversational powers are quite extraordinary. I felt +constantly as if I were in the presence of a lover of nature and natural +things; a <i>bon vivant</i> perhaps, or an epicure, a Tom Moore, in some +sense, whose day-dreams of heaven are mixed up with glowing images of +women and wine.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I was directed from Washington to relieve the principal +disbursing officer at Detroit. Here then my hopes of visiting Europe are +blown sky high for the present. I must return to the north, and, so far +as labor is concerned, "heap Pelion on Ossa."</p> + +<p><i>April 6th</i>. There is hardly a word in the Indian languages which does +not readily yield to the power of analysis. They call tobacco, Ussama. +<i>Ussa</i>, means to put (anything inanimate). <i>Ma</i>, is a particle denoting +smell. The <i>us</i>, in the first syllable, is sounded very slight, and +often, perhaps, nearly dropt, and the word then seems as if spelt <i>Sa +ma</i>. The last vowel is broad.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Left the city for Detroit. In ascending the Hudson, with so good +an interpreter at my side as Mrs. Schoolcraft, whom I have carried +through a perfect course of philological training in the English, Latin, +and Hebrew principles of formation, I analyzed many of the old Indian +names, which, until we reached Albany, are all in a peculiar dialect of +the Algonquin.</p> + +<p>SING SING.--This name is the local form of the name for rocks, and +conveys the idea of the plural in the terminal letter. <i>Os-sin</i> in +modern Algonquin (the Chippewa dialect), is stone, or rock. <i>Ing</i>, is +the local form of all nouns proper. The term may be rendered simply +<i>place of rocks</i>.</p> + +<p>NYAC.--This appears to be the name of a band of Indians who lived there. +The termination in <i>ac</i>, is generally from <i>acke</i>, land.</p> + +<p>CROTON.--Historically, this is known to have been the name of a noted +Indian chief, who resided near the mouth of the river. The word appears +to be derived from <i>nötin</i>, a wind. If we admit the interchange of +sounds of <i>n</i> for <i>r</i>, as being made, and the ordinary change of <i>t</i> for +<i>d</i>, between the Holland and Indian races, this derivation is probable. +The letter c seems to be the sign of a pronoun.</p> + +<p>TAPPAN SEA.--It is perceived from Vanderdonk, and from old maps and +records, that a band of Indians lived here, who were called the +"<i>Tappansees</i>."</p> + +<p>POUGHKEEPSIE is a derivative of <i>Au-po-keep-sing, i.e.</i>, Place of +shelter. The entrance of the Fall Kill into the Hudson is the +feature meant.</p> + +<p>COXACKIE, is evidently made up in the original from <i>kuk</i>, to cut, and +<i>aukie</i>, earth, which was, probably, in old days, as it is in fact yet, +a graphic description of a ridge cut and tumbled in by the waters of the +Hudson pressing hard on that shore.</p> + +<p>CLAVERACK is not Indian. <i>Clove</i>, in the Hollandais, is an opening or +side-gorge in the valley. <i>Rack</i>, is a reach or bend in the river, the +whole length of which was known, as we see, to the old skippers as +separate <i>racks</i>. The <i>reach of cloves</i> began at what is now the city of +Hudson, the old Claverack landing.</p> + +<p>TAWASENTHA.--Normanskill is the first Iroquois name noticed. It means +the hill of the dead. Albany itself has taken the name of a Scottish +dukedom for its ancient Iroquois cognomen, Ske-nek-ta-dea: of this +compound term, <i>Ske</i> is a propositional particle, and means beyond; +<i>nek</i> is the Mohawk name for a pine; and the term <i>ta-dea</i> is +descriptive of a valley.</p> + +<p><i>18th</i>. Reached Detroit in the steamer "Gen. Wayne," and assumed the +duties of my new appointment. One of the earliest Washington papers I +opened, gave an account of the death of Mr. William Ward, a most +valuable clerk in the Indian Bureau; a man of a fine literary taste, who +formerly edited and established the <i>North-west Journal</i>, at the City +of Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. A singular denouement is made this morning, which appeals +strongly to my feelings. On getting in the stage at Vernon, in Western +New York, a gentleman of easy manners, good figure, and polite address, +whom we will call Theodoric, kindly made way for me and my family, which +led us to notice him, and we traveled together quite to Detroit, and +put up at the same hotel. This morning a note from him reveals him to be +a young Virginian, seeking his fortune west, and out of funds, and makes +precisely such an appeal as it is hard, and wrong in fact, to resist. I +told Theodoric to take his trunk and go, by the next steamer, to my +house at Mackinack, and I should be up in a short time, and furnish him +employment in the Indian department.</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Rev. Mr. Lukenbach, of the Moravian towns, Canada, writes, that +the proportional annuity of the Christian Indians, for 1838, is unpaid. +He says they were paid 33/100ths, in 1837, being one-third of the +original annuity. He states that Mr. Vogler and Mr. Mickeh arrived on +the Kanzas with upwards of seventy souls, having left nearly one hundred +at Green Bay, who are to follow them; and that these two men have +commenced a new mission among the Delawares. Mr. L. says that there are +but about one hundred and twenty souls left, who propose to remain in +Canada with him.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. Ke-bic! An exclamation of the Algonquins in passing dangerous +rocky shores in their canoes, when the current is strong. Query. Is not +this the origin of the name Quebec?</p> + +<p><i>May 2d</i>. Major Garland, my predecessor in the disbursements, writes +from Washington: "You have a heavy task on your hands for this season; +and, in addition to the hands of Briareus, you will need the eyes +of Argus."</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. I made the payments to the Saginaw chiefs in specie, under the +treaty of the 14th of January, 1837.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mr. F.W. Shearman, the able and ingenious editor of the <i>Journal +of Education</i>, writes from Marshall, that it receives an increased +circulation and excites a deeper interest in the people, with his plans +for further improvements.</p> + +<p><i>16th</i>. Letters from Mackinack informs me that the Ottawas design +leaving their location in the United States for the Manitouline Islands, +in Canada, where inducements are held out to them by agents of the +British government. They fear going west: they cling to the north.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. The Harpers, publishers at New York, send me copies of the first +issue of my <i>Algic Researches</i>, in two vols., 12mo. They intend to +<i>publish</i> the work on the 1st proximo.</p> + +<p><i>23d</i>. Letters from Washington speak of the treasury as being low in +specie funds.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Sales of the lands of the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas, +are made at the Land Office in Detroit, in conformity with the treaty of +May 9th, 1836. The <i>three</i> years that have elapsed in this operation, +have brought the prices of lands from the summer heat to the zero +of prices.</p> + +<p><i>27th. Na</i>, in the Algonquin language, means excellent or transcendent, +and <i>wa</i>, motion. Thus the names of two chiefs who visited me to day on +business, are <i>Na-geezhig</i>, excellent or transcendent day, and +<i>Ke-wa-geezhig</i>, or returning cloud. Whether the word <i>geezhig</i> shall be +rendered day, or cloud, or sky, depends on the nature of its prefix. To +move back is <i>ke-wa</i>, and hence the prefixed term to the latter name.</p> + +<p><i>June 4th</i>. Received from Col. De Garme Jones, Mayor of Detroit, sundry +manuscript documents relative to the administration of Indian affairs of +Gov. Hull, of the dates of 1807, '8 and '9.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnstone, of Aloor, near Edinburgh, Scotland, brings me a note of +introduction from Gen. James Talmadge, of New York. Mr. J. is a highly +respected man at home, and is traveling in America to gratify a laudable +curiosity.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Reached Mackinack, on board the steamer Great Western, Capt. +Walker.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. <i>The Albany Evening Journal</i> has a short editorial under the +head of <i>Algic Researches</i>: "Such is the title of a work from our +countryman Schoolcraft, which the Harpers have just published, in two +volumes. It consists of Tales and Legends, which the Author has gleaned +in the course of his long and familiar intercourse with the children of +the Forest, illustrating the mental powers and characteristics of the +North American Indians.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Schoolcraft has traveled far into the western wilds. He has lived +much with the Indians, and has studied their character thoroughly. He is +withal a scholar and a gentleman, whose name is a sufficient guarantee +for the excellence of all he writes."</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. I set out to complete the appraisement of the Indian +improvements on the north shore of Lake Huron, under the 8th article of +the treaty of March 28th, 1836.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. Paid the Indians of L'Arbre Croche villages at Little Traverse +Bay, the amount of the appraisement of their <i>public</i> improvements, made +under the treaty of 1836.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Proceed to Grand Traverse Bay, to view the location of a mission +by Messrs. Dougherty and Fleming. Found it located on the sands, near +the bottom of the bay, where a vessel could not unload, at a point so +utterly destitute of advantages that it would not have been possible to +select a worse site in the compass of the whole bay, which is large, and +abounds in ship harbors. Condemned the site forthwith, and the same day +removed the site of operations to Kosa's village, on a bay near the end +of the peninsula. I afterwards encamped on the open lake shore, behind a +sand drift, to avoid the force of the wind, and, as soon as the waters +of the lake lulled, made the traverse to the Beaver Islands, to appraise +the value of the Indian improvements at that place, and, having done +this, put across to the main shore north, for the same purpose. In this +trip Mr. Turner accompanied me to keep the lists, and Dr. Douglass to +vaccine the Indians, the latter of whom reported 214 persons as having +submitted to receive the virus.</p> + +<p>The Albany papers continue to publish notices of <i>Algic Researches</i>. The +<i>Argus</i> of the 13th June, says: "Mr. H.R. Schoolcraft has added another +to his claims upon the consideration of the reading public, by a recent +work (from the press of the Messrs. Harper), entitled '<i>Algic +Researches</i>, comprising inquiries respecting the mental characteristics +of the North American Indians.' It is the first of a series, which the +author promises to continue at a future day, illustrative of the +mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character of the +aborigines. These volumes comprise their oral tales, with preliminary +observations and a general introduction. The term <i>Algic</i>, is introduced +by the author, in a generic sense, for all the tribes, with few +exceptions, that were found in 1600 spread out between the Atlantic and +the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.' It is indeed a spot of +rare attractiveness. Standing upon the promontory, in the rear of the +fort and town, the view embraces to the north the head waters of the +Huron and the far-off isles of St. Martin, to the west Green Isle and +the straits of Mackinaw, and to the east and south Bois Blanc and the +Great Lake. It is a delightful summer retreat, and many are the legends +and reminiscences of the scenes of enjoyment passed here in absolute, +and we are assured happy, exclusion from the outward world, during the +winter months. It has been regarded, at no distant day, as important not +only as the rendezvous of the Fur Companies' agents and employers and +the Indian traders, but as a government military post. It is still a +great resort of the northern Indians. Often their lodges and their bark +canoes, of beautiful construction, line the pebbly shore; and the +aboriginal habits and mental characteristics may be studied on the spot.</p> + +<p>"It is to be hoped that Mr. S. will resume the course of inquiry and +research that he has marked out for himself; and that he will be induced +to give to the public the results of his long and intimate familiarity +with the Indian life and character."</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. The <i>Detroit Daily Advertiser</i>, of this day, has the following +critical notice on the work of <i>Algic Researches</i>, under the head of +<i>Indian Tales and Legends</i>.</p> + +<p>"This work has just been offered for sale at our book-stores, and we +strongly recommend it to all those who feel an interest in the character +of our aborigines. It is well known to many of us here, that Mr. +Schoolcraft has, for the last several years, been industriously engaged +in collecting facts which illustrate the 'mythology, distinctive +opinions, and intellectual character' of the Indians. His researches +have embraced 'their oral tales, fictitious and historical; their +hieroglyphics, music, and poetry; and the grammatical structure of their +languages, the principles of their construction, and the actual state +of their vocabulary.' The materials he has now on hand afford him the +means of fulfilling this extensive plan, and this 'first series' is only +a leading publication.</p> + +<p>"When the position which Mr. S. has occupied for the last seventeen or +more years is recollected, as well as his fitness and exertions to +improve all its advantages, we shall at once see the benefit to the +literary and scientific world which his researches in these various +departments are likely to produce. The subjects which have engaged his +attention are regarded with deep interest by the philanthropist, the +philologist, the archaeologist, as well as many other liberal inquirers, +both in Europe and America, who, amid the scanty facts, cursory +observations, and hurried, random conjectures of those who have been +favored with a comparatively near view of them, have lamented the want +of such deliberate investigations and comparative examinations, +continued with sober judgment through a long series of years, as are now +offered to the public. We trust that a proper and enlightened patronage +will warrant Mr. Schoolcraft in completing his design. No man, +possessing his qualifications, has enjoyed his advantages. He has been +able to take up, at his leisure, the scattered links of a broken chain, +and fit them together. A chaos of aboriginal facts will be reduced, +under his hand, to some degree of order.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Schoolcraft and Mr. Catlin have done more to preserve the fleeting +traits of aboriginal character and history than all their predecessors +in this field of inquiry, and none can follow them with the same +success, as none can have the same range of subjects before them. The +scene is changing with each year, and the past, with respect to the +Savages, does not recur. They fall back with no hope to recover lost +ground; they diminish with no hope to increase again; they degenerate +with no hope to revive in physical or moral strength. Those who have +seen them most during the last few years, have seen them best. After +observers will find mere fragments, or a heterogeneous mass, in which +all original identity is distorted or gone.</p> + +<p>"The Tales now published must not be estimated for their intrinsic merit +alone. They may have less variety of construction, less beauty of +imagination, less singularity of incident, than belong to oriental +tales, the productions of more refined times, or more excitable people. +But the estimate must not be comparative. They are to be regarded as +the type of aboriginal mind, as the measure of intellectual power of our +Sons of the Forest; as speaking their sentiments, their hopes and their +fears, whatever they were or are, whether elevated or depressed, whether +raising the race or sinking it in the scale of untutored nations. +Whether they prove a poverty of mental energy, a feebleness of +imagination, a want of invention, or the reverse, cannot affect the +value of these volumes in the opinion of those who look into them for +evidences of the true character of the Indians. Mr. Schoolcraft, or any +other gentleman of taste and skill, might have formed out of these +materials a series of Tales, highly finished in their unity and design, +strikingly colored by fancy, such as would have caught the popular whim. +But this was not his object. He has been honest in his renderings of the +aboriginal sense, whether pointed or mystical, of the Indian's +mythology, whether intelligible or obscure; of their shadowy glimpses of +the past and the future; of the beginning and end of things, without +alteration or embellishment. Such a work was wanted, and such a work was +expected from Mr. Schoolcraft.</p> + +<p>"If we have room, we will quote one or two of the shorter tales, such as +'Mon-daw-min, or the origin of Indian corn,' and the 'Celestial +Sisters,' both of which are very characteristic, and show, under the +garb of much figurative beauty, how Indians appreciate the blessings of +a kind Providence, and, how his domestic affections may glow and endure. +Indeed, there are few of these tales that would not give interest to our +columns, and we shall be pleased to give our readers an occasional +taste, provided we thereby induce them to supply themselves with the +full feast in their power."</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. It is stated that the oldest town in the United States is St. +Augustine, Florida, by more than forty years. It was founded forty years +before Virginia was colonized. Some of the houses are yet standing which +are said to have been built more than three centuries ago, that is to +say, about 1540. De Soto landed in Florida in 1539. Narvaez, in his +unfortunate expedition, landed in 1537. Both these expeditions were +confined to the exploration of the country west and north of the Bay of +Espiritu Santo, reaching to the Mississippi. De Soto crossed the latter +into the southeastern corner of the present State of Missouri, and into +the area of Arkansas, where he died.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. <i>The Detroit Free Press</i>, of this day, has the following +remarks:--</p> + +<p>"Much interest is manifested in this work of Mr. Schoolcraft, as a +timely rescue from oblivion of an important portion of the great world +of mind--important inasmuch as it is a manifestation of two principles +of human nature prominent in an interesting variety of the human race, +the sense of the marvelous and the sense of the beautiful, or the +developments of wonder and ideality. The character of a people cannot be +fully understood without a reference to its tales of fiction and its +poetry. Poetry is the offspring of the beautiful and the wonderful, and +much of it the reader will find embodied in the Indian tales to which +the author of the <i>Algic Researches</i> has given an enduring record.</p> + +<p>"Much of this work strongly reminds the reader of the Grecian Mythology +and the <i>Arabian Nights Entertainments</i>.</p> + +<p>"According to one of the Odjibwa tales, the morning star was once a +beautiful damsel that longed to go to 'the place of the breaking of +daylight." By the following poetic invocation of her brother, she was +raised upon the winds, blowing from 'the four corners of the earth,' to +the heaven of her hopes:--</p> + + +<blockquote> +Blow winds, blow! my sister lingers<br> + From her dwelling in the sky,<br> +Where <i>the morn with rosy fingers</i>,<br> + Shall her cheeks with vermil dye.<br> + +There, my earliest views directed,<br> + Shall from her their color take,<br> +And her smiles, through clouds reflected,<br> + Guide me on, by wood and lake.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>"The work abounds with similar beautiful thoughts and inventions.</p> + +<p>"Catlin may be called the red man's painter; Schoolcraft his poetical +historian. They have each painted in living colors the workings of the +Indian mind, and painted nature in her unadorned simplicity. They have +done much which, without them, would, perhaps, have remained undone, and +become extinct with the Indian race. As monuments of history for future +ages, their works are not sufficiently appreciated.</p> + +<p>"The author of these volumes has stamped upon his page much of the +intellectual existence of the simple children of the forest, and +bequeathed us a detail map of their <i>terra incognita</i>--their fireside +amusements in legendary lore."</p> + +<p>I am willing to notice this and some other criticisms of this work as +popular expressions of opinion on the subject. But it is difficult for +an editor to judge, from the mere face of the volumes, what an amount of +auxiliary labor it has required to collect these legends from the Indian +wigwams. They had to be gleaned and translated from time to time. +Seventeen years have passed since I first began them--not that anything +like this time, or the half of it, has been devoted to it. It was one of +my amusements in the long winter evenings--the only time of the year +when Indians will tell stories and legends. They required pruning and +dressing, like wild vines in a garden. But they are, exclusively (with +the exception of the allegory of the vine and oak), wild vines, and not +pumpings up of my own fancy. The attempts to lop off excrescences are +not, perhaps, always happy. There might, perhaps, have been a fuller +adherence to the original language and expressions; but if so, what a +world of verbiage must have been retained. The Indians are prolix, and +attach value to many minutiae in the relation which not only does not +help forward the denouement, but is tedious and witless to the last +degree. The gems of the legends--the essential points--the invention and +thought-work are all preserved.</p> + +<p>Their chief value I have ever thought to consist in the insight they +give into the dark cave of the Indian mind--its beliefs, dogmas, and +opinions--its secret modes of turning over thought--its real philosophy; +and it is for this trait that I believe posterity will sustain the book.</p> + +<p>A literary friend, of good judgment, of Detroit, writes (19th): "Your +tales have reached me, and I have read them over with a deep interest, +arising from a double source--the intrinsic value of such stories and +the insight they give of Indian intellect and modes of thought. They +form a truly important acquisition to our literary treasures, as they +throw a light oft the Indian character which has been imparted from no +other quarter. They form a standard by which to determine what is true +and what is false in the representations made heretofore of the +aboriginal nations on most prominent subjects. No one will doubt that +you render the genuine Indian mind and heart. Those who conform to +these renderings will pass muster; the rest will be rejected. Let Mr. +Cooper and others be thus measured."</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Muk-kud-da Ka-niew (or the Black War Eagle), chief of the coasts +of Arenac, brought me an antique pipe of peculiar construction, +disinterred at Thunder Bay. It was found about six feet underground; and +was disclosed by the blowing down of a large pine, which tore up a +quantity of earth by its roots. The tree was two fathoms round, and +would make a large canoe. With the pipe were found two earthen vases, +which broke on taking them up. In these vases were some small bones of +the pickerel's spine. He saw also the leg bones of an Indian, but the +upper part of the skeleton appeared to be decomposed, and was not +visible. He thinks the tree must have grown up on an old grave. The pipe +consisted of a squared and ornamented bowl, with a curved and tapering +handle, all made solid from a sort of coarse <i>terra cotta</i>. He says it +was used by taking the small end in the mouth, and thinks such was the +practice of the ancient Indians, although the mode is now so different +by their descendants. The chief ornament consists of eight dots on each +face, separated by longitudinal strokes, leaving four in a compartment. +If the tree was four feet diameter, as he states, it denotes an ancient +occupation of the shores of Lake Huron, which was probably of the old +era of the mining for copper in Lake Superior.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVIII."></a>CHAPTER LXVIII.</h2> + +<p>American antiquities--Michilimackinack a summer resort--Death of Ogimau +Keegido--Brothertons--An Indian election--Cherokee murders--Board of +Regents of the Michigan University--Archaeological facts and +rumors--Woman of the Green Valley--A new variety of fish--Visits of the +Austrian and Sardinian Ministers to the U.S.--Mr. Gallup--Sioux +murders--A remarkable display of aurora borealis--Ottawas +of Maumee--Extent of auroral phenomena--Potawattomie +cruelty--Mineralogy--Death of Ondiaka--Chippewa tradition--Fruit +trees--Stone's preparation of the Life and Times of Sir William +Johnson--Dialectic difference between the language of the Ottawas and +the Chippewas--Philological remarks on the Indian languages--Mr. +T. Hulbert.</p> + +<p>1839. <i>June 25th</i>. ALEX V.V. BRADFORD, Esq., of New York, being about to +publish a work on American antiquities,<a name="FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93">[93]</a> solicits permission to use +some of my engravings. I am glad to see an increasing interest in our +archaeology, and hope to live to see the day when the popular tastes +will permit books to be published on the subject.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor93">[93]</a> This work was published, I think, in 1841. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mrs. Morris brings a letter from Hon. A.E. Wing, of Monroe. She +contemplates spending the summer on the island on account of impaired +health. The pure air and fine summer climate of Mackinack begin to be +appreciated within a year or two by valetudinarians. It is a perfect +Montpelier to them. The inhaling of its pure and dry atmosphere in +midsummer is found to act very favorably on the digestive organs. No +process of <i>health-making gymnastics</i> is prescribed by physicians. They +merely direct persons to walk about and enjoy the sights and scenes +about them, to saunter along its winding paths, or go fishing or +gunning. Its woods are delightful, and its cliffs command the sublimest +views. One would think that if the muses are ever routed from the bare +hills of Olympus and the springs of Helicon, they would take shelter in +the glens of Michilimackinack, where the Indian <i>pukwees</i>, or <i>fairies</i>, +danced of old. I received intelligence of the death of Ogimau Keegido +(Speaker Chief), the head sachem of the Saginaws. He had indulged some +time in drinking, and, after getting out of this debauch, was confined +by sickness three days. Death came to his relief. Some years ago this +man met with an accident by the discharge of a gun, by which his liver +protruded; he took his knife and cut off a small piece, which he ate as +a panacea. He was a man of strong passions and ungoverned will. He +visited Washington in 1836, and, with other chiefs, sold the Saginaw +reservations.</p> + +<p>The party of Saginaws who brought me the above information had among +them twenty-two orphan children, whose parents had died of small-pox. +They were on their way to the Manitoulines.</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. Mud-je-ke-wis, a minor chief of Grand Traverse Bay, surrenders a +belt of blue and white wampum, and a gilt gorget, which he had received +from some officer of the British Indian Department in Canada, saying he +renounces allegiance to that government, and reports himself, from this +day, as an American.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Chingossamo (Big Sail), of Cheboigan, having migrated to the +Manitouline Islands with thirteen families, about seventy-nine souls, an +election was this day held, at this office, by the Indians, to supply +the place of ruling chief. Sticks, of two colors, were prepared as +ballots for the two candidates. Of these, Keeshowa received two-thirds, +and was declared duly elected. I granted a certificate of this election. +The present population is reduced to forty-four souls, who live in +thirteen families. This band are Chippewas.</p> + +<p>Gen. Scott arrives at this post, on a general tour of inspection of the +northern posts, and proceeds the same day to Sault St. Marie, +accompanied by Maj. Whiting.</p> + +<p><i>July 2d</i>. The <i>Wisconsin Democrat</i>, of this date, contains an +interesting sketch of the history of the Brotherton Indians, which is +represented to be "composed of the descendants of the six following +named tribes of Indians, viz., the Naragansetts, of Rhode Island; the +Stoningtons, or Pequoits, of Groton, Connecticut; the Montauks, of Long +Island; the Mohegans, Nianticks, and Farmington Indians, also of +Connecticut. Several years before the American Revolution, a single +Indian of the Montauk tribe left his nation and traveled into the State +of New York. He had no fixed purpose in view more than (as he expressed +it) to see the world. During his absence, however, he fortunately paid +a visit to the Oneidas, then a very large and powerful tribe of Indians +residing in the State of New York. With them he concluded to rest a +short time. They, discovering that he possessed 'some of the white man's +learning,' employed him to teach a common reading and writing school +among them. He remained with them longer than he at first intended. +During this time the Oneida chief made many inquiries respecting his +(the Montauk) tribe, and the other tribes before mentioned, and +received, for answer, 'that they had almost become extinct--that their +game was fast disappearing--that their landed possessions were very +small--that the pure blood of their ancestors had become mixed with both +the blood of the white man and the African---that new and fatal diseases +had appeared among them--that the curse of all curses, the white man's +stream of liquid fire, was inundating their very existence, and the +gloomy prospect of inevitable annihilation seemed to stare them in the +face--that no 'hope with a goodly prospect fed the eye.' The Oneida +chief, actuated partly with a desire to extend the hand of brotherly +affection to rescue the above tribes from the melancholy fate that +seemed to await them, and partly with a desire to manifest his deep +sense of the valuable services rendered to him and his nation in his +having taught among them a school, gave to the schoolteacher a tract of +land twelve miles square for the use and benefit of his tribe, and the +other tribes mentioned."</p> + +<p>The treaty of the 14th of January, 1837, with the Saginaws, is confirmed +by the Senate.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. The <i>Arkansas Little Rock Gazette</i>, of this date, states that the +long existing feud in the Cherokee nation, which has divided its old and +new settlers, has terminated in a series of frightful murders. Its +language is this:--</p> + +<p>"We briefly alluded in our last to a report from the west that John +Ridge, one of the principal chiefs of the Cherokee nation, had been +assassinated. More recent accounts confirm the fact, and bring news of +the murder of Ridge's father, together with Elias Boudinot and some ten +or twelve men of less distinction (some accounts say thirty or forty), +all belonging to Ridge's party.</p> + +<p>"These murders are acknowledged to have been committed by the partisans +of John Boss, between whom and Ridge a difference has for a long time +subsisted, growing out of the removal of the Cherokees from the old +nation to the west, Ridge having uniformly been favorable to that course +and Ross opposing it."</p> + +<p>A council was recently held to consult in relation to the laws to be +adopted by the united nation in their present country, there being some +essential differences between the code by which that portion of the +nation recently emigrated from the east had been governed, and the laws +adopted by the old settlers in the west. Each party contended for the +adoption of its own code, and neither would concede to the other, and +the council finally broke up without being able to come to any +understanding on the subject. On his way from this council, Ridge was +murdered. Ridge, although a recent emigrant, we understand agreed with +the old settlers in regard to the adoption of their laws, while Ross +contended for those of the old nation east.</p> + +<p>After the murder of Ridge, General Arbuckle, the commander of the United +States forces on this frontier, sent a detachment of dragoons to Ross, +with a request that he would come to the garrison, who declined unless +he could be allowed to bring with him some six or seven hundred of his +armed partisans, and take them into the garrison with him. This, of +course, could not be allowed, and so the detachment returned to the +garrison, and after that the murders subsequent to that of Ridge were +committed. One of them was perpetrated within the bounds of Washington +County, in this State, and we hope the necessary steps will be taken by +our authorities to secure and bring to trial the murderer, and thus +preserve inviolate the jurisdiction of our State over her own soil. "We +learn that a council was called of the whole nation, to be held +yesterday, with a view of settling the existing difficulties, and we +hope it may result in establishing peace among them."</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. I received a letter introducing Mr. and Mrs. Kane, of Albany. We +love an agreeable surprise. I recognized in Mrs. K. the daughter of an +old friend--a most lady-like, agreeable, and talented woman; and deemed +my time agreeably devoted in showing my visitors the curiosities of +the island.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The business of my superintendency calls me to Detroit. Fiscal +questions, the employment of special agents, the collection of treasury +drafts, the payment of annuities; these are some of the constant cares, +full of responsibilities, which call for incessant vigilance. I reached +the city in the steamer "Gen. Wayne," at 8 o'clock, in the morning.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. John A. Bell, and Sand Watie, Cherokee chiefs, publish in the +<i>Arkansas Gazette</i>, an appeal to public justice, on the murder of the +Ridges and Boudinot, which took place on the 22d of June previous.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Rev. Mr. Duffield informs me of some geological antiquities, +reported to have been recently discovered in Ohio, made in the course of +the excavations on the line of the canal, between Cleaveland and Beaver.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan inform me, by +their secretary, of my having been placed on a committee, as chairman, +to report "such amendments to the organic law of the University, as they +shall deem essential, with a view to their presentation to the next +legislature."</p> + +<p><i>25th</i>. Being on my passage from Detroit to Mackinack, on Lake Huron, a +Mr. Wetzler, of Rock River, Wisconsin, stated to me that a Mr. Davy, an +English emigrant, found, in making an excavation in his land near +"Oregon," some antiquities, consisting of silver coins, for which Mr. +Wetzler offered him, unsuccessfully, $50. The story looks very much like +a humbug, but it was told with all seriousness by a respectable +looking man.</p> + +<p>A Mr. Ruggles, of Huron, Ohio, who was aboard of the same vessel, said, +that hacks of an axe were found in buried cedars, some years ago, at a +depth of about 40 feet below the surface, near the east edge of Huron +County, Ohio. There are no cedars, he adds, now growing in that +section of Ohio.</p> + +<p>The <i>Burlington Gazette</i> (Iowa) says, "that a Sac and Fox war party +recently returned from the Missouri, bringing eight scalps, and a number +of female prisoners, and horses. The Indians murdered were of the Omaha +tribe. The party consisted of ten men, with their squaws; and, although +only eight scalps were brought in, it is supposed that not a single man +escaped. We are not aware that feelings of hostility have heretofore +existed between these nations. The ostensible object of the Sac and Fox +party was to chastise the Sioux. The expedition was headed by Pa-ma-sa, +the bold and daring brave who recently inflicted a dangerous wound upon +the person of Ke-o-kuk."</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Arrived at Mackinack, in the steamer "United States," at 4 +o'clock in the morning, after an absence of about twenty days.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Mr. John R. Kellogg says, that during the early settlement of +Onondaga, N.Y., say about 1800, in cutting into a tree, in the vicinity +of Skaneateles, <i>iron</i> was struck. On searching, they cut out a rude +chain, which was wound about in the wood, and appeared to have been +fastened above. Query, had this been a pot trammel of some ancient +explorer? Onondaga is known to have been early visited.</p> + +<p>He also stated that three distinct hacks of an axe, of the ordinary +size, were found, in cutting down an oak, at the same period, in Ontario +County. Six hundred cortical layers were found <i>outside</i> of these +antique hacks, indicating that they were made in the 12th century. I +record these archaeological memoranda merely for inquiry.</p> + +<p><i>29th</i>. Osha-wus-coda-waqua, a daughter of Wabojeeg, a celebrated war +chief of the close of last century, of Lake Superior, visited the +office. She states that her name is the result of a dream, by some +ancient crone, who officiated at her nativity, and that it means <i>the +Woman of the Green Valley</i>. She is now about 60 years of age. When about +15 or 16, she is said to have been a slender, comely lass, with large +bright hazel eyes, and a graceful figure. At this age, she married a +young gentleman from the north of Ireland, of good family and standing, +and high connections, who made a wild adventure into this region. This +is the origin of the Johnston family, in the basin of Lake Superior, and +the Straits of St. Mary's. She has had eight children, four sons and +four daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity, and all but the eldest +are now living. Her husband, who became a noted merchant or outfitter, a +man of great influence with the Indians, and high intelligence and +social virtues, died in 1828, at the age of about 66 years. She is now +subject to some infirmities; fleshy and heavy, and strongly inclined, I +should judge, to apoplexy. Her father, Wabojeeg, died of consumption, +not very old. She told me that the hieroglyphics and pictures which the +Indians cut on trees, or draw on barks, or rocks, which are designed to +convey <i>instruction</i>, are called KE-KÉE-WIN--a word which has its plural +in <i>un</i>. It is a noun inanimate. She laughs at the attempts of the +American and foreign traders to speak the Indian, the rules of which +they perpetually, she says, violate.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. A new species of white fish appears in the St. Mary's this +spring. It is characterized by a very small mouth, and pointed head, and +a crowning back, and is a remarkably <i>fat</i> fish. The Odjibwas call it +<i>o-don-i-bee,</i> or water-mouth. Hence the Canadian word <i>Tulibee</i>.</p> + +<p>Wakazo, an Ottawa chief of Waganukizzie, and his band visit the office, +to confer on their affairs. He persists in his former determination to +form an agricultural settlement with his people, on the North Black +River, Michigan shore, and says that they will go down, to open their +farms, soon after the payment of the annuities.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 1st</i>. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian Minister at +Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister of the kingdom of Sardinia. +These gentlemen both impressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and +perfect freedom from all pretence. I went out with them, to show them +the Arched Rock, the Sugar-loaf Rock, and other natural curiosities. At +the Sugar-loaf Rock they got out of the carriage and strolled about. The +baron and count at last seated themselves on the grass. The former was a +tall, rather grave man, with blue eyes, well advanced in years, and a +German air; the latter, three or four inches shorter of stature, with +black eyes, an animated look, and many years the junior.</p> + +<p><i>4th</i>. My children arrived at Mackinack this evening, from their +respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, on their summer +vacation, and have, on examination, made good progress.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Albert Gallup, Esq., of Albany, lands on his way to Green Bay as +a U.S. commissioner to treat with the Stockbridges. This gentleman +brought me official dispatches relative to his mission and the +expenditures of it, and, by his ready and prompt mode of acting and +speaking, led me to call to mind another class of visitors, who seem to +aim by extreme formality and circumlocution to strive to hide want of +capacity and narrow-mindedness. Mr. Gallup mentioned a passage of +Scripture, which is generally quoted wrong--"he who reads may +run"--which set me to hunting for it. The passage is "that he may run +that readeth it."--HABAKKUK ii. 2.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Mr. Stringham, of Green Bay, reports that he had recently +visited the scene of a battle or affray between the Sioux and +Chippewas, on Lake St. Croix, near the mouth of the St. Croix River, +Upper Mississippi. One or two Sioux, it seems, had been killed by some +thoughtless young men of a party of Chippewas, about three hundred +strong. This party encamped on the south shores of Lake St. Croix. They +were secretly followed by the Sioux, who, watching their opportunity, +fell on the camp while they were asleep, near daylight. One hundred and +twenty were killed in the onset. As soon as the Chippewas discovered +their position, and recovered their self-possession, they rallied, and, +attacking the assailants, drove them from the field, killed twenty, and +chased them to near their village. Hearing of this, the captain of the +steamer, on board of which Mr. S. was, went into the lake, and they +viewed the dead bodies.</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Returned to Mackinack, after a trip of eight days to Detroit. +The Iowa papers give accounts of the recent shocking murders committed +by the Sioux. "We learn," says the <i>Burlington Patriot</i>, "from Governor +Lucas and another gentleman, who came passengers on the 'Ione,' last +evening, that two hundred and twenty Indians were killed in the upper +country about the 1st inst. The facts, as they were related by a young +gentleman who was at the treaty, are as follows: The Sioux had invited +the Chippewas to meet them at St. Peter's, for the purpose of making a +treaty of everlasting friendship. The Chippewas assembled +accordingly--the pipe of peace was smoked--and they parted apparently +good friends. A large party of the Chippewas was encamped at the Falls +of St. Anthony, and a smaller party encamped on the St. Croix, on their +way home, without the least suspicion of treachery on the part of the +Sioux. While they were thus peaceably encamped, they were surprised by +the Sioux, who commenced their butchery. They immediately rallied, but +before the battle terminated the Chippewas lost one hundred and fifty at +the Falls and twenty on the St. Croix. The number of Sioux killed on the +occasion amounted to about fifty. We do not much wonder at the hostility +that has been exhibited by the Sauks and Foxes against the Sioux, if +this latter tribe has always been as treacherous as they were on the +above occasion."</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 3d</i>. A remarkable and most magnificent display of the Aurora +Borealis occurred in the evening. It began a quarter before eight, as I +was sitting on the piazza in front of my house, which commands a view +of the lake in front, and the whole southern hemisphere. From the zenith +points of light flared down the southern hemisphere. The north had none. +For five minutes the appearance, was most magnificent. Streaks of blue +and crimson red light appeared in several parts. At ten minutes to +eight, long lines began to form on the east, then west, and varying to +north-west, very bright, silvery and phosphorescent. Before nine, the +rays shot up from the horizon north-east, and finally north--the +southern hemisphere, at the same time, losing its brilliance. This light +continued in full activity of effulgence to ten, and, after my retiring +from the piazza, its gleams were visible through the windows the greater +part of the night, till two o'clock or later.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. A chief from St. Mary's, called Iawba Waddik (Male Reindeer), +visited the office. This man's name affords an evidence of the manner in +which a noun or adjective prefix is joined to a noun proper, namely, by +the interposition of a consonant before the noun, whenever the latter +<i>begins</i>, and the former <i>ends</i>, with a vowel. We cannot say, +iawba-<i>addik</i>--male deer; but euphony requires that, in these cases, the +letter <i>w</i> should precede, and soften the sound of the initial <i>a</i>.</p> + +<p>This chief was first introduced to me in 1822. His tall and lithe form, +his ease of manners, and a certain mild and civilized air, made me +notice him. He turned out to be the youngest son of a noted war chief, +called the White Fisher--Wa-bo-jeeg. He had, however, never been on the +war path, but addressed himself early to the art of hunting, in which he +excelled, and furnished his family with a plentiful supply of food and +clothing. He had had twelve children by one wife, giving an impressive +lesson, that peaceful habits and a plentiful supply of the means of +subsistence, are conducive to their usual results.</p> + +<p>He is now about 45 years of age. The seventeen years during which I have +known him, have not detracted from his erect figure, his mild and easy +manners, or his docile and decidedly domestic disposition.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. The payment of the Indian annuities, which commenced on the 3d +instant, was continued till the 10th, and, skipping the 11th (Sunday), +finished this day. These payments were made as usual, in specie, and +<i>per capita</i>--man, woman, and child faring alike. The annuities in +provisions, tobacco, salt, &c., were, in conformity with custom, turned +over to the chiefs of bands in bulk; and by them divided, with +scrupulous care, among their people. The payments and deliveries have +engaged the whole force of the department for seven or eight days, and +have ended satisfactory to the Indians, who have been subsisted, +meantime, on the public provisions, without trenching on their +own stock.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. The Maumee Ottawas arrive at Louisville, Ky., on their way to +the west. Among this band there are two chiefs, Anto-kee, the head +chief, and Petonoquette, a much younger man. Anto-kee is a son of the +celebrated chief Tushquaquier, who was looked upon by the Ottawas as the +father of the tribe. Petanoquette is half French, son of Louisan, a +distinguished chief, who was killed, when Petonoquette was a mere child, +by that most barbarous and ferocious of all warriors, Kish-kau-go, who +afterwards committed suicide in the Detroit jail, in which he was +confined for murder. Anto-kee and Petonoquette are represented as very +good men, well informed, and not much inclined to barbarity. The former +is said to be a relative of the great Pontiac.</p> + +<p><i>14th</i>. Leave Mackinack for Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Return from an official visit to the office at Detroit.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. A London paper of Sept. 4th notices a brilliant display of the +aurora borealis and falling stars, on the same day of the extraordinary +display of the same kind, witnessed on this island. The first impression +in that city, was of a great fire in some distant part of the city, +there being, at first, a dense red light. The difference between the two +places is about 25° of latitude. Its commencement was about half, or +three quarters of an hour later. The editor says:--</p> + +<p>"Between the hours of ten last night and three this morning in the +heavens were observed one of the most magnificent specimens of that +extraordinary phenomena--the falling stars and northern lights--ever +witnessed for many years past. The first indication of this singular +phenomenon was about ten minutes before ten, when a light crimson, +apparently vapor, rose from the northern portion of the hemisphere, and +gradually extended to the centre of the heavens, and by ten o'clock, or +a quarter past, the whole, from east to west, was in one vast sheet of +light. It had a most alarming appearance, and was exactly like that +occasioned by a terrific fire. The light varied considerably; at one +time it seemed to fall, and directly after rose with intense brightness. +There were to be seen mingled with it volumes of smoke, which rolled +over and over, and every beholder seemed convinced that it was 'a +tremendous conflagration.' The consternation in the metropolis was very +great; thousands of persons were running in the direction of the +supposed catastrophe. The engines belonging to the fire brigade stations +in Baker Street, Farringdon Street, Wattling Street, Waterloo Road, and +likewise those belonging to the West of England station; in fact, every +fire-engine in London was horsed, and galloped after the supposed 'scene +of destruction' with more than ordinary energy, followed by carriages, +horsemen, and vast mobs. Some of the engines proceeded as far as +Highgate and Holloway before the error was discovered.</p> + +<p>"These appearances lasted for upwards of two hours, and towards morning +the spectacle became one of more grandeur. At two o'clock this morning, +the phenomenon presented a most gorgeous scene, and one very difficult +to describe. The whole of London was illuminated as light as noonday, +and the atmosphere was remarkably clear. The southern hemisphere, at the +time mentioned, although unclouded, was very dark, but the stars, which +were innumerable, shone beautifully. The opposite side of the heavens +presented a singular but magnificent contrast; it was clear to the +extreme, and the light was very vivid; there was a continual succession +of meteors, which varied in splendor. They apparently formed in the +centre of the heavens, and spread till they seemed to burst; the effect +was electrical; myriads of small stars shot out over the horizon, and +darted with that swiftness towards the earth that the eye scarcely could +follow the track; they seemed to burst also and throw a dark crimson +over the entire hemisphere. The colors were the most magnificent that +ever were seen. At half-past two o'clock the spectacle changed to +darkness, which, on dispersing, displayed a luminous rainbow in the +zenith of the heavens and round the ridge of darkness that overhung the +southern portion of the country. Soon afterwards, columns of silvery +light radiated from it; they increased wonderfully, intermingled amongst +crimson vapor, which formed at the same time; and, when at the full +height, the spectacle was beyond all imagination. Stars were darting +about in all directions, and continued until four o'clock, and all died +away. During the time that they lasted, a great many persons assembled +on the bridges across the river Thames, where they had a commanding view +of the heavens, and watched the progress of the phenomenon attentively."</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 2d</i>. Mr. J.H. Kinzie, of Chicago, mentioned to me, in a former +interview, a striking trait of the barbarity of the Potawattomies in the +treatment of their women. Two female slaves, or wives of Wabunsee, had a +quarrel. One of them went, in her excited state of feeling, to the +chief, and told him that the other had ill-treated his children. He +ordered the accused to come before him. He told her to lie down on her +back on the ground. He then directed the other (her accuser) to take a +tomahawk and dispatch her. She split open her skull, and killed her +immediately. He left her unburied, but was afterwards persuaded to +direct the murderess to bury her. She dug a grave so shallow, that the +Wolves dug out the body that night and partly devoured it.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. James L. Schoolcraft brought me some mineralogical and geological +specimens from <i>Isle Cariboo</i>--the land of golden dreams and fogs in +Lake Superior. The island has a basis of chocolate-colored sandstone.</p> + +<p><i>5th</i>. The <i>Oneida Whig</i> mentions the death, on the 20th ultimo, near +Oneida Castle, New York, of Ondayaka, head chief of the Onondagas, aged +about ninety-six. At the time of his death, Ondayaka, and the +subordinate chiefs and principal men of his nation, were on their way to +join in the ceremonies of electing a head chief of the Oneidas. Within a +few miles of the council house of the latter tribe, Ondayaka placed +himself at the head of the deputation of the Onondagas, and commenced +the performance of the ceremonies observed on such occasions, when he +was suddenly seized with the bilious colic. Calling the next chief in +authority to fill his station, he withdrew to the road side, when he +soon after expressed a consciousness that "it was the will of the <i>Great +Spirit</i> that he should live no longer upon the earth." He then sent for +his people, and took leave of them, after counseling them to cultivate +and practice temperance and brotherly love in their councils and among +the people of the nation, and friendship and integrity with all. He soon +after became unable to speak, and in a few hours his spirit was gathered +to the Great Spirit who gave it.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. The following is an Odjibwa tradition. Adjejauk and Oshugee were +brothers, living at St. Mary's Falls. Oshugee was the elder. One day he +took his brother's fishing-pole into the rapids, and accidentally broke +it. This caused a quarrel. Oshugee went off south, and was referred to +as Shawnee. This was the origin of that tribe who call the Chippewas +<i>Younger Brother</i>, to this day. This is said by Nabunwa. The Shawnee +(southman) here named is not the Shawnee tribe. With this explanation, +the tradition may be admitted. It was probably the origin of the +Potawattomies.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Two plum trees, standing in front of the agency, which had +attained their full growth, and borne fruit plentifully, for some few +years, began to droop, and finally died during the autumn. I found, by +examination, that their roots had extended into cold underground springs +of water, which have their issue under the high cliff immediately behind +the agency. They had originally been set out as wall fruit, within a few +feet of the front wall of the house, on its southern side. The one was +the common blue plum, the other an egg plum.</p> + +<p>A mountain ash, standing some twenty feet west of them, had protruded +its roots into a similar cold moisture, but, so far from injuring it, +the tree grew more luxuriantly, putting forth leaves and berries in the +greatest profusion. Seeing this disposition to flourish by its proximity +to underground currents, I cut the bark of the tree, which is of a close +binding character, to allow it to expand, and found this to have an +excellent effect. This tree bears a white bell-shaped cluster of +blossoms, which originate the most beautiful scarlet berries in the +autumn. The one species is a native, the other an exotic.</p> + +<p><i>12th</i>. <i>Pemid-jee</i>, signifies in Chippewa across, sideways. <i>Go-daus</i> +is a garment, or cloth designed for it. Hence <i>mad-jee-co-ta</i> a skirt or +side-cloth.</p> + +<p><i>17th</i>. Col. Wm.L. Stone writes that he is making progress in his <i>Life +and Times of Sir William Johnson</i>, and begs a copy of the old Military +Orderly Book, in my possession, detailing the siege and taking of Fort +Niagara, &c. He says of <i>Algie Researches</i>: "By the way, what a +delightful book you furnished us. Don't you remember that I told you not +to go to ---- for revision? He would have spoiled your simple and +beautiful tales. President Wayland, my brother-in-law, was delighted +with them."</p> + +<p><i>Dec.5th</i>. Abraham Schoolcraft, Special Emigrating Agent, reports the +safe arrival of the Swan Creeks at their destination on the river Osage. +The lands are fertile, the waters good, forest trees in abundance for +fire-wood and fences. Everything promises well for their future +prosperity.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Wrote to Col. Stone, transmitting him a copy of the old journal, +before alluded to, of the siege of Niagara, in 1759, the march of Gen. +Bradstreet for the relief of Detroit, in 1763, &c.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mackinack has again assumed its winter phase. We are shut in +from the tumult of the world, and must rely for our sources of +intellectual sustenance and diversion on books, or researches, such as +may present themselves.</p> + +<p>The following words, I am assured, are different, in the Ottawa and +Chippewa dialects:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="60%"> +<tr align="center"><th> </th><th>CHIPPEWA.</th><th>OTTAWA.</th></tr> +<tr><td> 1. Axe,</td><td align="center">Wag-á-kwut,</td><td align="center">Nah-bah-gun.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 2. Point,</td><td align="center">Na-au-shi,</td><td align="center">Sin-gang.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 3. Spring (season),</td><td align="center">Se-gwun,</td><td align="center">Me-no-ka-mi.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 4. Scissors,</td><td align="center">Mozh-wá-gun,</td><td align="center">Sip-po-ne-gun.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 5. Spear,</td><td align="center">Ah-nit,</td><td align="center">Nah-bah-e-gun.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 6. Stop; cease; be still,</td><td align="center">Ah-no-wa-tan,</td><td align="center">Mah-ga-nick.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 7. It's flown away,</td><td align="center">Ke-pah-ze-qwah-o,</td><td align="center">Ke-ke-ze-kay.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 8. Maple tree,</td><td align="center">In-ne-nah-tig,</td><td align="center">As-sin-ah-mish.</td></tr> +<tr><td> 9. Milk,</td><td align="center">To-dosh-á-bo,</td><td align="center">Mo-nah-gan-á-bo.</td></tr> +<tr><td>10. Small lake, or pond,</td><td align="center">Sah-gi-e-gan,</td><td align="center">Ne-bis.</td></tr> +<tr><td>11. He smokes,</td><td align="center">Sug-gus-wau,</td><td align="center">Pin-dah-qua.</td></tr> +<tr><td>12. It is calm,</td><td align="center">Ah-no-wá-tin,</td><td align="center">To-kis-sin.</td></tr> +<tr><td>13. It will be a severe, or bad day,</td><td align="center">Tah-mat-chi-geezh-ik-ud.</td><td align="center">Tah-goot-au-gan.</td></tr> +<tr><td>14. I will visit,</td><td align="center">Ningah-mah-wa-tish-e-way,</td><td align="center">Ningah-Ne-bwatch-e-way.</td></tr> +<tr><td>15. He will quarrel (with) you,</td><td align="center">Kegah-Ke-kau-mig,</td><td align="center">Kegau-ne-tehi-we-ig.</td></tr> +<tr><td>16. He will strike you,</td><td align="center">Kegah-Puk-e-tay-og,</td><td align="center">Kegah-wa-po-taig.</td></tr> +<tr><td>17. Hammer,</td><td align="center">Puk-ke-tai-e-gun,</td><td align="center">Wap-o-ge-gin.</td></tr> +<tr><td>18. Dog,</td><td align="center">An-ne-moosh,</td><td align="center">An-ne-mo-kau-gi.</td></tr> +<tr><td>19. My mother,</td><td align="center">Nin-guh,</td><td align="center">Nin-gush.</td></tr> +<tr><td>20. Yes,</td><td align="center">Aih,</td><td align="center">Au-nin-da.</td></tr> +</table> +</center><br> + +<p>It is evident that these dialectic differences arise, not from the use +of a different language, but a different mode of applying the same +language--a language in which every syllable has a well-known primitive +meaning. Thus, in the name for maple tree(8), the Chippewa means, +spouted, or man tree (alluding to its being tapped for its sap), and the +Ottawa, stoned, or cut tree, alluding to the same feature. The same +terms are equally well known, and proper in both dialects. So in 10, the +one says a collection of running water, the other, a little mass of +water. So in 13, the one says, literally, it will be a bad day; the +other, it will storm. So in 17, the one says strike-instrument; the +other swing-instrument. So in 20, one uses an affirmative particle, the +other says, certainly.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of the Pic, on the north shores of Lake +Superior, writes about the orthography and principles of the Indian +languages. When this gentleman was on his way inland, he stopped at my +house, and evinced much interest in the oral traditions of the Indians, +as shown in <i>Algic Researches</i>, and presented me the conjugation of the +Indian verb "<i>to see</i>," filling many pages of an old folio account +book--all written in the wretched system of notation of Mr. Evans.<a name="FNanchor94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94">[94]</a> I +stated to him the analytical mode which I had pursued in my lectures on +the structure of the languages, with the very best helps at St. Mary's; +and that I had found it to yield to this process--that the Algonquin +was, in fact, an aggregation of monasyllabic roots: that words and +expressions were formed entirely of a limited number of original roots +and particles, which had generic meanings. That new words, however +compounded, carried these meanings to the Indian ear, and were +understood by it in all possible forms of accretion and syllabication. +That the derivatives founded on these roots of one or two syllables, +could all be taken apart and put together like a piece of machinery. +That the principles were fixed, philosophical, and regular, and that, +although the language had some glaring defects, as the want of a +feminine pronoun, and many redundancies, they were admirably adapted to +describe geographical and meteorological scenes. That it was a language +of <i>woods and wilds</i>. That it failed to convey knowledge, only because +it had apparently never been applied to it. And that those philologists +who had represented it as an <i>agglutinated mass</i>, and capable of the +most recondite, pronominal, and tensal meanings, exceeding those of +Greece and Rome, had no clear conceptions of what they were speaking +of. That its principles are not, in fact, polysynthetic, but on the +contrary <i>unasynthetic</i>: its rules were all of one piece. That, in fine, +we should never get at the truth till we pulled down the, erroneous +fabric of the extreme polysynthesists, which was erected on materials +furnished by an excellent, but entirely unlearned missionary. But that +this could not be done now, such was the <i>prestige</i> of names; and that +he and I, and all humble laborers in the field, must wait to submit our +views till time had opened a favorable door for us. It was our present +duty to accumulate facts, not to set up new theories, nor aim, by any +means, to fight these intellectual giants while we were armed but with +small weapons.</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor94">[94]</a> A Wesleyan missionary, some time at Port Sarnia, opposite +Fort Gratiot, Canada. +</blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Hurlbut entered into these views. He had now reflected upon them, +and he made some suggestions of philological value. He was an apt +learner of the language, as spoken north of the basin of Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>"Orthography," he writes, "though of much importance, did not engage so +much of my attention as the construction of the language. I am not so +sanguine as to that performance (the conjugation of the verb <i>to see</i>) +as to be anxious to bring forward another. I am aware that an Indian +speaker, who had never studied his own language, would pronounce much of +that incorrect (in following a particular system imposed on him), +particularly in the characterizing (definitive) form, for in this +conjugation the root always undergoes a change. If the first syllable be +short, it is lengthened, as <i>be-moo-za, ba-moo-zad.</i> If it be long, +another is added, as <i>ouu-bet, ou-euu-bed.</i><a name="FNanchor95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95">[95]</a> But when a particle is +used, as is more generally the case, the root resumes its original form, +as <i>guu-ouu-bed.</i> I thought it best to preserve uniformity. I inserted a +note explaining this. Upon this, principle of euphony, Mr. Evans' +orthography will answer better than may at first appear. When the towel +is short, the final consonant is sharp, as <i>mek, muk, met</i>; but when the +vowel is long, it sounds like <i>meeg, seeg, neeg, nuug, meed</i>."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor95">[95]</a> This is in Mr. Evans' System of Orthography. +</blockquote> + +<p>I had thought of making a collection of words, as a commencement for a +lexicon, but there are impediments in jay way for the present: 1st, I +want a plan; I want the opinion of those versed in the language, as two +roots frequently coalesce and form compound terms, and sometimes two +verbs and a noun amalgamate by clipping all; and it requires a skillful +hand to dissect them and show the originals. Should all these compound +terms be introduced (in the contemplated lexicon), it would swell the +work to a good size. If this be not done, <i>we must find some rule for +compounding the terms</i>, that the learner may be able to do it for +himself. This (the rule) I have not yet ascertained.</p> + +<p>"I am favorably situated for making philological observations. I observe +that the Cree, although essentially the same language as the Chippewa, +yet drops, or never had, many of the suffix expletive particles of the +latter, though the prefix particles are pretty much the same in both. +The Cree has not, I believe, the double negative nor the adverbial and +plaintive forms of verbs, as I have termed them. This renders the +language less complex, and much more easy of acquisition than +the Chippewa.</p> + +<p>"One thought was forcibly impressed on my mind while perusing the +publications of the American Antiquarian Society. In these publications +they introduce the names of things in order to show the affinity of +different tribes. From my knowledge of Indian, I am inclined to think +that the names of things change the soonest in any language, and that, +in order to ascertain the original stock of any tribe or nation by +comparing languages, we must descend to the groundwork of the languages +and search, not so much for similarity of sound as for the arrangement +and essential and peculiar principles of the languages.</p> + +<p>"A principle that prevails in the American languages, as far as my +information extends, is, that the verb, with its nominative and +objective cases, be inseparably connected. The Delaware, the Chippewa +(under whatever name), and the Cree, &c., make the change in person, +number, &c., by a change in the prefix or suffix. But the Mohawk and +Chippewyan <a name="FNanchor96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96">[96]</a> make the change, in some cases, in the middle of the word, +when the Chippewa and others always remain unchanged."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor96">[96]</a> It must be remembered that the Chippewas and Chippewyans, +are diverse tribes. The two words are both Chippewa; but the tribes are +of different groups. The one is ALGONQUIN; the other ATHAPASCA. The +Mohawk belongs to a third group of languages, namely, the IROQUOIS. +</blockquote> + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIX."></a>CHAPTER LXIX.</h2> + +<p>Popular error respecting the Indian character and history--Remarkable +superstition--Theodoric--A missionary choosing a wild flower--Piety +and money--A fiscal collapse in Michigan--Mission of Grand +Traverse--Simplicity of the school-girl's hopes--Singular theory of the +Indians respecting story-telling--Oldest allegory on record--Political +aspects--Seneca treaty--Mineralogy--Farming and mission station on +Lake Michigan.</p> + +<p>1840. <i>Jan. 1st</i>. Having determined to pass another winter (some ten +weeks of which are past) at Mackinack, I have found my best and +pleasantest employment in my old resource, the investigation of the +Indian character and history. The subject is exhaustless in every branch +of inquiry, but the more it is turned over and sifted, the more cause +there is to see that there is error to be encountered at almost every +step. Travelers have been chiefly intent on the picturesque, and have +given themselves but little trouble to investigate. The historian has +had his mind full of prepossessions derived from ancient reading, and +has, generally, been seated three thousand miles across the water, where +the work of personal comparison was impossible. Left to the repose of +himself, mentally and physically, without being placed in the crucible +of war, without being made the tool of selfishness, or driven to a state +of half idiocy by the use of liquor, the Indian is a man of naturally +good feelings and affections, and of a sense of justice, and, although +destitute of an inductive mind, is led to appreciate truth and virtue as +he apprehends them. But he is subject to be swayed by every breath of +opinion, has little fixity of purpose, and, from a defect of business +capacity, is often led to pursue just those means which are least +calculated to advance his permanent interests, and his mind is driven to +and fro like a feather in the winds. <i>This</i> man, and <i>that</i> man, are +continually bringing up Indians to speak for some selfish object, which, +being a little out of sight, he does not perceive in its true light, but +which he nevertheless is soon made to comprehend, if a public agent +sets it plainly before him. But there is a perpetual watch necessary to +protect him from deception, and this necessity becomes stringent in the +exact proportion that a tribe has <i>funds</i> or <i>treaty rights</i> of any +kind. If these attempts to make the Indian a stalking-horse for masked +or misstated objects be independently met, and with just sentiments of +dissent, the agent of the government is liable to calumniation, and it +becomes the policy of unscrupulous men to get their affairs placed in +hands having less well-defined notions of moral right, or more easily +swayed in their opinions.</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. The season of New-year has been as usual a holiday, that is to +say, a time of hilarity and good wishes, with the Indians in this +vicinity, numbers of which have visited the office.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. Some of the superstitions of the Indians are explicable only on +the ground of their belief in magic. An old blind man of Grand Traverse +Bay, called Ogimauwish (literally bad chief), referring to the early +period of the visits of Europeans to the continent, related the +following:--</p> + +<p>When the whites first came to this country, wars and atrocious cruelties +existed between the new race of men and the Indians. When this animosity +began to abate, a treaty was held, which was attended by the Indians far +and wide. They were told by an interpreter, one of the white men who had +already learned their language, that the Indian tribes appeared, in the +eyes of white men, while in action, like the beasts of the forests and +the birds of prey, changing from one form to the other, and that the +bullets of the foreigners had no effect on them. The reason for this +exemption from harm was this:--</p> + +<p>In those times the Indians made use of the Pazhikewash, or buffalo-weed, +which is still used by some of them to this day, especially on war +excursions. This made them invulnerable to balls. They made a liquor +from it, and sprinkled themselves and their implements, and carried it +in their meda bags. They are under the belief that this medicine not +only wards off the balls and missiles, but tends to make them invisible. +This, with their reliance on the guardian spirits of whom they have +dreamed at their initial fasts, throws around them a double influence, +making them both invisible and invulnerable.</p> + +<p>There is a root used by the Pillagers, to which they attribute similar +protecting influences, or attribute the gift of courage in war. It is +called by them OZHIGAWAK.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Theodoric (<i>vide ante</i>, April 19th,) writes me from Detroit in +terms of the kindest appreciation for my kindness of him. On his arrival +at Mackinack he most acceptably executed several trusts--writing a good +hand, being of gentlemanly manners and deportment, and an obliging +disposition, and withal a high moral tone of character--as the winter +drew on, I judged he would make a good representative for the county in +the legislature, and started him in political life. He received the +popular vote, and proceeded to the Capitol accordingly.</p> + +<p>He writes: "I wish to say to you that my reception here, both in my +public and private capacity, has been all that my best friends could +desire, and far above what I had any reason to expect. I allude to this +subject because it furnishes me with an occasion to acknowledge my deep +indebtedness to your kindness, and it affords me pleasure to recognize +it, under God, as the chief instrument in conferring on me my present +advantages. And I assure you my great and constant anxiety shall be, so +to conduct myself as not to disappoint any expectations which you may +have been instrumental in raising in regard to me."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>. A zealous and pious missionary of the Church of England came to +the Chippewas located on the left, or British, side of the St. Mary's +River some years ago, under the patronage of the ecclesiastical +authorities of Toronto. At this place he married one of the daughters of +the Woman of the Green Valley (Ozhawuscodawaqua) heretofore noticed as +the daughter of Wabojeeg. He now writes from Canada West: "Charlotte and +myself are very much obliged to you for your kind offer of assistance, +of which we will avail ourselves. Although I have now a promise of this +Rectory, or I may say, a former one has been confirmed by Bishop +Strachan two or three days ago."</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. A friend--a trustee of one of the principal churches at Detroit, +writes: "You may think it strange that we of the first Protestant +Society of this city are not able to pay our very worthy and deserving +pastor, and so it is; but it is no less strange than true! Some of our +subscribers are dead; some have failed, and so they can pay nothing, and +others have left the country in search of a more congenial clime, and +those remaining and much difficulty in meeting their money engagements, +though nearly all are in the habit of attending the preaching of this +best of men, and we are driven to the necessity of making a call on you, +though at a distance.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Duffield is continuing his Sunday evening lectures, with his +Thursday evening Bible class exercises, and they are constantly +increasing in interest. We think him a <i>wonder;</i> he renders every +subject he touches, simple, and gives the doctrines he treats upon, what +the Scriptures pronounce them to be, 'A man, though a fool, need not +err therein.'</p> + +<p>"Our legislature is moving on slowly; the shafts of wit wielded at each +other by ----, and ----, are, as the common phrase is, 'a caution;' it +requires a man of more than common discernment to see their point. You +have, doubtless, before this, seen the announcement of the appointment +of Hastings and Stuart, as Auditor and Treasurer; what will become of +the Internal Improvement system, is doubtful. Committees are now engaged +in examining the Bank of Michigan, and the Farmers' and +Mechanics' Bank."</p> + +<p>Another friend, who was <i>au fait</i> on fiscal affairs (5th Feb.), says: +"We get on quite well. The legislative committee will be compelled to +state facts, and if they do nothing more they must give us a clean bill +of health. I miss you much this winter, and hope, if we are spared, you +will not immure yourself again so long."</p> + +<p>The fiscal crisis that was now impending over Michigan, it was evident +was in the process of advance; but it was not possible to tell when it +would fall, nor with what severity. All had been +over-speculating--over-trading--over-banking, overdoing everything, in +short, that prudence should dictate. But the public were <i>in</i> for it, +and could not, it seems, back out, and every one hoped for the best. My +best friends, the most cautious guides of my youth, had entered into the +speculating mania, and there appeared to be, in fact, nobody of means or +standing, who had been proof against the temptation of getting rich +soon. I "immured" myself far away from the scene of turmoil and strife, +and was happy so long as I kept my eyes on my books and manuscripts.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 8th</i>. The mission recently established by the Presbyterian Board +at Grand Traverse Bay, flourishes as well as it is reasonable to expect. +Mr. Johnston writes: "The chief Kosa, and another Indian, have cut logs +sufficient for their houses. This finishes our pinery on this point. We +cannot now get timber short of the river on the south-east side of the +bay, or at the bottom of it, twelve miles distant. Mr. Dougherty has a +prayer meeting on Saturday night, and Bible class on Sabbath afternoon. +His meetings on Sunday are regularly attended by all the Indians who +spend the winter with us; they continue to manifest a kind feeling +towards us, and appear anxious to acquire useful knowledge."</p> + +<p><i>March 7th</i>. While politicians, financiers, speculators in real estate, +anxious holders of bank stock, and missionaries careful of the Indian +tribes are thus busy--each class animated by a separate hope--it is +refreshing to see that my little daughter (Jane) who writes under this +date from her school at Philadelphia, is striving after p's and g's. "I +am getting along in my studies very well. I love music as much as ever. +I like my French studies much. I have got all p's for my lessons, but +one g. G is for good, and p for perfect." What a pity that all classes +of adult men were not pursuing their g's and p's with equal simplicity +of emulation and purity of purpose.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. Prof. L. Fasquelle, of Livingston, transmits to me a translation +of the so-called "Pontiac manuscript." This document consists of an +ancient French journal, of daily events during the siege of the fort of +Detroit by that redoubtable chief and his confederates in 1763. It was +found in the garret of one of the French <i>habitants</i>, thrust away +between the plate and the roof; partly torn, and much soiled by rains +and the effects of time.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. The Chippewa Indians say that the woods and shores, bays and +islands, are inhabited by innumerable spirits, who are ever wakeful and +quick to hear everything during the summer season, but during the +winter, after the snow falls, these spirits appear to exist in a torpid +state, or find their abodes in inanimate bodies. The tellers of legends +and oral tales among them are, therefore, permitted to exercise their +fancies and functions to amuse their listeners during the winter season, +for the spirits are then in a state of inactivity, and cannot hear. But +their vocation as story tellers is ended the moment the spring opens. +The shrill piping of the frog, waking from his wintry repose, is the +signal for the termination of their story craft, and I have in vain +endeavored to get any of them to relate this species of imaginary lore +at any other time. It is evaded by some easy and indifferent remark. +But the true reason is given above. Young and old adhere to this +superstition. It is said that, if they violate the custom, the snakes, +toads, and other reptiles, which are believed to be under the influence +of the spirits, will punish them.</p> + +<p>It is remarkable that this propensity of inventing tales and allegories, +which is so common to our Indians, is one of the most general traits of +the human mind. The most ancient effort of this kind by far, in the way +of the allegorical, is in the following words: "The Thistle that was in +Lebanon sent to the Cedar, saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife: +and there passed by a wild beast and trod down the Thistle." (2 +Kings, xiv. 9.)</p> + +<p><i>April 5th</i>. A representative in Congress writes from Washington: "The +House moves very slowly in its business--that is, the business of the +nation. The principal object seems to be to make or unmake a President."</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. The Rev. Benj. Dorr, of Christ Church, Philadelphia, commends to +my attentions a Mr. Wagner, a gentleman of intelligence, refinement, and +scientific tastes, who leaves that city on a tour to the lakes and St. +Anthony's Falls. "His object is to see as much as possible, in one +summer's tour, of our great Western World, and I hope he may stop a +short time at Mackinack, that he may have an opportunity of forming your +acquaintance, of seeing your beautiful island, and examining your +splendid cabinet of minerals, which would particularly interest him, as +he, has a taste for geological studies."</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Hon. A. Vanderpool, M.C. from N.Y., observes: "The Senate has, by +the casting vote of the Vice President, decided in favor of the Seneca +treaty, i.e., that the Indians shall be removed. Much opposition has +been made to the treaty, as you will perceive from the speech of Senator +Linn, which I send you."</p> + +<p>It has been alleged against this treaty that it was carried through by +the zealous efforts of the persons holding (by an old compact) the +reversionary right to the soil after the Senecas should decide to leave +it, and that the obvious interests of these persons produced an undue +influence on this feature in the result. It is averred that the +Tonewonda band of the Senecas, who hold a separate and valuable +reservation on the banks of the Tonewonda River, opposed the proposition +altogether, and refused to place their signatures to the instrument.</p> + +<p>It was supposed that small Indian communities, living on limited +reservations, surrounded entirely on all sides by white settlements, +could not sustain themselves, but must be inevitably swept away. But the +result, in the case of the Senecas and other remnants of the ancient +Iroquois, does not sustain this theory. It is true that numbers have +yielded to dissipation, idleness, and vice, and thus perished; but the +very pressure upon the mass of the tribes, and the danger of their +speedy destruction without resorting to agriculture, appear to have +brought out latent powers in the race which were not believed to exist. +They have taken manfully hold of the plough, cultivated crops of wheat +and corn, and raised horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. They have adopted +the style of houses, fences, implements, carriages, dress, and, to some +extent, the language, manners, and modes of transacting business, of +their neighbors. And, perceiving their ability to sustain themselves by +cultivation and the arts, now turn round and solicit the protecting arms +of the State and General Government to permit them to develop their +industrial capacities. Too late, almost, they have been convinced of the +erroneous policy of their ancestors, &c. Every right-thinking man must +approve this.</p> + +<p><i>May 12th</i>. Prof. Orren Root, of Syracuse Academy, New York, appeals to +me to contribute towards the formation of a mineralogical cabinet at +that institution.</p> + +<p><i>30th</i>. The new farming station and mission for the Chippewas of Grand +Traverse Bay is successfully established. The Rev. Mr. Dougherty reports +that a school for Indian children has been well attended since November. +A blacksmith's shop is in successful operation. The U.S. Farmer reports +that he has just completed ploughing the Indian fields. He has put in +several acres of oats, and the corn is about six inches above the +ground. The Indians generally are making large fields, and have planted +more corn than usual, and manifest a disposition to become industrious, +and to avail themselves of the double advantage that is furnished them +by the Department of Indian Affairs and by the Mission Board which has +taken them in hand.</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXX."></a>CHAPTER LXX.</h2> + +<p>Death of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft--Perils of the revolutionary +era--Otwin--Mr. Bancroft's history in the feature of its Indian +relations--A tradition of a noted chief on Lake Michigan--The collection +of information for a historical volume--Opinions of Mr. Paulding, Dr. +Webster, Mr. Duer, John Quincy Adams--Holyon and Alholyon--Family +monument--Mr. Stevenson, American Minister at London--Joanna +Baillie--Wisconsin--Ireland--Detroit--Michilimackinack.</p> + +<p>1840. <i>June 7th</i>. The first of June found me in Detroit, on my way to +Washington, where I was in a few days met by the appalling intelligence +of the death of my father (Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft), an event which +took place on this day at Vernon, Oneida County, New York. He had +reached his eighty-fourth year, and possessed a vigor of constitution +which promised longer life, until within a few days of his demise. A +dark spot appeared on one of his feet, which had, I think, been badly +gashed with an axe in early life. This discoloration expanded upwards in +the limb, and terminated in what appeared to be a dry mortification.</p> + +<p>In him terminated the life of one of the most zealous actors in the +drama of the American Revolution, in which he was at various times a +soldier and an officer, a citizen and a civil magistrate. "Temperate, +ardent and active, of a mind vigorous and energetic, of a spirit bold +and daring, nay, even indomitable in its aspirations for freedom, he +became at once conspicuous among his brethren in arms, and a terror to +his country's foes." <a name="FNanchor97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97">[97]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor97">[97]</a> Nat. Intell. July 31, 1840. +</blockquote> + +<p>His grandfather was an Englishman, and had served with reputation under +the Duke of Marlborough in some of his famous continental battles, in +the days of Queen Anne, and he cherished the military principle with +great ardor. He spoke fluently the German and Dutch languages, and was +thus able to communicate with the masses of the varied population, +originally from the Upper Rhine and the Scheldt, who formed a large +portion of the inhabitants of the then frontier portions of Albany +County, including the wild and picturesque range of the Helderbergs and +of the new settlements of Schoharie, the latter being in immediate +contact with the Mohawk Iroquois. The influence of the British +government over this tribe, through the administration of Sir William +Johnson, was unbounded. Many of the foreign emigrants and their +descendants were also under this sway, and the whole frontier was +spotted with loyalists under the ever hateful name of Tories. These kept +the enemy minutely informed of all movements of the revolutionists, and +were, at the same time, the most cruel of America's foes, not excepting +the Mohawks. For the fury of the latter was generally in battle, but the +former exercised their cruelties in cold blood, and generally made +deliberate preparations for them, by assuming the guise of Indians. In +these infernal masks they gave vent to private malice, and cut the +throats of their neighbors and their innocent children. In such a +position a patriot's life was doubly assailed, and it was often the +price of it, to declare himself "a son of liberty," a term then often +used by the revolutionists.</p> + +<p>He had just entered his seventeenth year when the war against the +British authorities in the land broke out, and he immediately declared +for it; the wealthy farmer (Swartz) with whom he lived, being one of the +first who were overhauled and "spotted" by the LOCAL COMMITTEE OF +SAFETY, who paraded through the settlement with a drum and fife. He was +at the disarming of Sir John Johnson, at Johnstown, under Gen. Schuyler, +where a near relative, Conrad Wiser, Esq., was the government +interpreter. He was at Ticonderoga when the troops were formed into +hollow square to hear the Declaration of Independence read. He marched +with the army that went to reinforce Gen. Montgomery, at Quebec, and was +one of the besieged in Fort Stanwix, on the source of the Mohawk, while +Gen. Burgoyne, with his fine army, was being drawn into the toils of +destruction by Gen. Schuyler, at Saratoga--a fate from which his +<i>supersedeas</i> by Gen. Gates, the only unjust act of Washington, did not +extricate him.</p> + +<p>The adventures, perils, and anecdotes of this period, he loved in his +after days to recite; and I have sometimes purposed to record them, in +connection with his name; but the prospect of my doing so, while still +blessed with an excellent memory, becomes fainter and fainter.</p> + +<p><i>8th</i>. Otwin (<i>vide ante</i>) writes from La Pointe, in Lake Superior, in +the following terms:--</p> + +<p>"I often look back to the happy days I spent in your family, and feel +grateful in view of them. A thousand blessings rest on your head, my +dear friend, and that of your wife, for all your kindness to me, when +first a stranger in a distant land. I cannot reward you, but know that +you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the just."</p> + +<p><i>9th</i>. "I know of no good reason," says a correspondent, "why a man +should not, at all times, stand ready to sustain the truth." This is a +maxim worthy Dr. Johnson; but the experience of life shows that such +high moral independence is rare. Most men will speak out, and even +vindicate the truth, <i>sometimes</i>. But the worldling will stand mute, or +<i>evade</i> its declaration, whenever his interests are to be unfavorably +affected by it.</p> + +<p>I reached Washington on public business during the heats of June, and, +coming from northern latitudes, felt their oppressiveness severely.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, pursues exactly the course he +should, to ferret out all facts, new and old. He does not hold himself +too dignified to pick up information, or investigate facts, whenever and +wherever he can find them. In what he has to say about the Indians, a +subject that lies as a superstratum under his work, he is anxious to +hear all that can be said. "Let me hear from you," he adds in a letter +of this date, "before you go back. I want to consult you on my chapter +about the Indians, and for that end should like to send you a copy +of it."</p> + +<p>The chief, Eshquagonaby, of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, relates +the following traditions: When Gezha Manido (the Good Spirit) created +this island (continent), it was a perfect plain, without trees or +shrubs. He then created an Indian man and woman. When they had +multiplied so as to number ten persons, death happened. At this the man +lamented, and went to and fro over the earth, complaining. Why, he +exclaimed, did the Good Spirit create me to know death and misery so +soon? The Good Spirit heard this, and, after assembling his angels to +counsel, said to them, What shall we do to better the condition of man? +I have created him frail and weak. They answered, O, Good Spirit, thou +hast created us, and thou art everlasting, and knowest all things; thou +alone knowest what is best.</p> + +<p>Six days were given to this consultation. During this time not a breath +of wind blew to disturb the waters. This is now called <i>unwatin</i> (a +calm). On the seventh day not a cloud was seen; the sky was blue and +serene. This is called <i>nageezhik</i> (excellent day) by the Indians.</p> + +<p>During this day he sent down a messenger, placing in his right bosom a +piece of white hare skin, and in his left, part of the head of the +white-headed eagle. Both these substances had a blue stripe on them of +the nature and substance of the blue sky, being symbols of peace.</p> + +<p>The messenger said to the man that complained: "Your words are heard, +and I am come from the Good Spirit with good words. You must conform +yourself to his commands. I bring pieces of the white hare skin and the +white eagle's head, which you must use in your MEDAWA (religico-medical +rites), and whatsoever is asked on those occasions will be granted, and +long life given to the sick." The messenger also gave them a white otter +skin, with a blue stripe painted on the back part of the head. Other +ceremonial rites and directions were added, but these may suffice to +indicate the character of Mr. Eshquagonaby's tradition, which has just +been sent to me.</p> + +<p><i>July 1st</i>. I was now anxious to collect materials for the publication +of a volume of collections by the Michigan Historical Society, and +addressed several gentlemen of eminence on the subject. Mr. J. K. +Paulding, Sec. of the Navy (July 9th), pleads official engagements as +preventing him from doing much in the literary way while thus employed.</p> + +<p>Dr. Noah Webster, of New Haven, expresses his interest in the history of +the country generally, and his willingness to contribute to the +collection and preservation of passing materials. "In answer to the +request for aid in collecting national documents, I can sincerely say it +will give me pleasure to lend any aid in my power. Respecting the State +of Michigan, I presume I could furnish nothing of importance. Respecting +the history of our government for the last fifty years, I might be able +to add something to the stock of information possessed by the present +generation, for I find men in middle life absolutely ignorant of some +material facts which have a bearing on our political concerns. But +little can be expected, however, from a man of <i>eighty-two,</i> whose toils +must be drawing to a close."</p> + +<p>The Hon. John A. Duer, Prest. Col. College (July 15th), while expressing +a sympathy in the object, declares himself too much occupied in the +duties of his charge to permit him to hold forth any promise of +usefulness in the case specified.</p> + +<p>Hon. John Quincy Adams forwarded, with the expression of his interest in +the subject, twelve pamphlets of historical value, the titles of each of +which he carefully recites in his letter. "It will give me much +pleasure," he says, "to transmit to the society, when it may be in my +power, any of the articles pertaining to the history of the country and +mentioned in your letter, as suited to promote the purposes for which it +was instituted."</p> + +<p>From other quarters and observers less absorbed in the discharge of +specific functions, I received several valuable manuscript +communications, chiefly relative, to transactions on the frontiers or to +Indian history.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Two half-breeds from the upper lakes, whom I shall designate +Holyon and Alholyon, made their way to the seat of government during the +winter of 1840. Holyon had been dismissed for improper conduct from the +office of Indian interpreter at Mackinack about May. Alholyon had been +frustrated in two several attempts to get himself recognized as head +chief by the Ottawas, and consequently to some influence in the use of +the public funds, which were now considerable. One was of the Chippewa, +the other of the Ottawa stock. Holyon was bold and reckless, Alholyon +more timid and polite, but equally destitute of moral principles. They +induced some of the Indians to believe that, if furnished by them with +funds, they could exercise a favorable influence at Washington, in +regard to the sale of their lands. The poor ignorant Indians are easily +hoodwinked in matters of business. At the same time they presented, in +secret council, a draft for $4000 for their services, which they induced +some of the chiefs to sign. This draft they succeeded in negotiating to +some merchant for a small part of its value. No sooner had they got to +head-quarters, and found they were anticipated in the <i>draft matter</i>, +and the <i>project of a chieftainship</i>, by letters from the agent, than +they drew up a long list of accusations against him, containing every +imaginable and abominable abuse of office. This was presented at the +Indian office, where its obvious character should have, it would seem, +been at once suspected. The head of that Bureau, who began to see from +the strong political demonstrations around him, "how the cat was about +to jump," acceded to a request of Holyon and Alholyon, that the matter +be referred for local examination to one or two of their personal +advisers inland. This step (in entire ignorance of the private relations +of the parties, it must be presumed,) was assented to. In a letter of +Holyon to J.L.S., of May 19th, 1840, he says: "The department was +predisposed against him (the agent), and wanted only a cause to proceed +against him." But it left a stain on its fairness and candor by omitting +the usual course of furnishing the agent a copy of the charges and +requesting his attention thereto, or even of informing him of the +pendency of an investigation. As the charges were entirely unfounded, +and had been the diseased imaginings of disappointed and unprincipled +minds, it only put the agent to the necessity of confronting his +assailants, and with every advantage of accusers, examiners and the +appellant power against him, he was triumphantly acquitted, by an +official letter, of every charge whatever, and of every moral imputation +of wrong. "Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou +mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?" (Job xi. 3.)</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. I left Washington for the north, taking my children along from +their respective schools at Philadelphia and Brooklyn, for their summer +vacation, and only halting long enough at Utica and Vernon, to direct a +marble monument to be erected to the memory of my father. The site +selected for this was the cemetery on the Scanado (usually spelled +without regard however to the popular pronunciation <i>Skenandoah</i>), +Vernon. It appeared expedient to make this a family monument, and I +directed the several faces to be inscribed as follows:--</p> + +<br> +<center> +THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED<br> +In memory of<br> +A FATHER, A MOTHER AND A SISTER,<br> +By the surviving children.<br> +</center><br> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"><br> + +<center> +COLONEL LAWRENCE SCHOOLCRAFT,<br> +A soldier of the Revolution of 1776,<br> +(He being the second in descent from James,<br> + who came from England in the reign of Queen Anne,)<br> +Born Feb. 3d, 1757. Died June 7th, 1840,<br> +In his 84th year.<br> +He lived and died a patriot, a Christian, and an honest man.<br> +</center><br> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"><br> + +<center> +MARGARET ANN BARBARA,<br> +Consort of Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft,<br> +Died Feb. 16th, 1832, aged 72.<br> +"Her children rise up and call her blessed."--PROV.<br> +</center><br> + +<hr style="width: 25%;"><br> + +<center> +MISS MARGARET HELEN,<br> +Daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Ann Barbara Schoolcraft,<br> +Born 18th June, 1806<br> +Died 12th April, 1829, in her 23d year.<br> +</center><br><br> + +<p>I reached Detroit early in August. A letter from Mackinack, of the 13th +of that month, says: "The children arrived at midnight past, safe and +sound, and they seem quite delighted. Eveline seems to be the centre of +attraction with them all. I have not a word new to say. A change has +come over the spirit of our notables. Samuel, the day before your letter +was received, expressed his opinion, that 'it would go hard with you.' A +dog when he supposes himself unnoticed in the act of stealing, looks +mean, but when he is <i>discovered</i> in the act, he looks meaner still. And +I know of no better comparison than <i>this</i> clique, and <i>that</i> dog."</p> + +<p><i>24th</i>. Hon. Andrew Stevenson, American Minister in London, responds to +my inquiries on certain historical points, respecting which he has +kindly charged his agent to institute inquiries.</p> + +<p><i>Sept. 5th</i>. I reached the agency at Mackinack about the beginning of +September. Facilis, a young man of equally ready and respectable +talents, writes me, from Detroit, under this date, expressing a wish to +be employed in the execution of some of the fiscal duties of the +superintendency during the season. "I write to you," he adds, "as a +friend. Times are hard, and every little that is directed to aid one in +his efforts to stem the current of life, possesses an incalculable +value." I yielded the more readily to this request from the chain of +circumstances which, however favorable, had hitherto disappointed his +most ardent aims and the just expectations of his friends.</p> + +<p><i>11th</i>. Joanna Baillie, the celebrated authoress, who has spent a long +life in the most honorable and deeply characteristic literary labors, +writes from her residence at Hampstead (Eng.), as if with undiminished +vigor of hope, expressing her interest in the progress of historical +letters in this (to her) remote part of the world. How much closer bonds +these literary sympathies are in drawing two nations of a kindred blood +together, than dry and formal diplomatics, in which it is the object, as +Talleyrand says, of human language to conceal thought!</p> + +<p><i>Oct. 16th</i>. Wisconsin is slowly, but surely, filling up with a healthy +population, and founding her moral, as well as political institutions, +on a solid basis. Rev. Jer. Porter, my old friend during the interesting +scenes at St. Mary's, in 1832 and 1833, writes me, that, after passing a +few years in Illinois, he has settled at Green Bay, as the pastor of a +healthful and increasing church. "I have recently," he writes, "made an +excursion on horseback, in the interior of the territory. I traveled +about 400 miles, being from home sixteen days. I went to meet a +convention of ministers and delegates from Presbyterian and +Congregational churches, to see if we could form a union of the two +denominations in the territory, so that we might have a perfect +co-operation in every good work. We had twelve ministers of these +denominations present, all but four or five now in the territory, and +were so happy as to form a basis of union, which will, I trust, prove +permanent, and be a great blessing to our churches. This seems to us a +very favorable beginning.</p> + +<p>"I find the beautiful prairies of the interior rapidly settling with a +very good population from the Eastern States, and the healthiness of the +country gives it some advantages over Illinois. With the blessing of the +Lord, I think this may yet be one of the best States in the Union."</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. The Rev. Henry Kearney, of Kitternan Glebe, Dublin (Ireland), +communicates notices of some of the inroads made by death on the rank of +our friends and relatives in that land. "Since my last, the valued +friend of the family, the Right Hon'ble Wm. Saurin (late +Attorney-General) was removed from this world of changes to the world of +durable realities. He was past eighty. The bishop (Dromore) is still +alive, not more than a year younger than his brother. Old age--found in +the ways of righteousness--how honorable!</p> + +<p>"You will have learned, from the European newspapers, the agitated state +of all the countries from China to Great Britain. Is the Lord about to +bring to pass the predicted days of retribution on the nations for +abused responsibility, and the restoration of the ancient nation of +Israel, to be, once more, the depository of his judgment and truth for +the recovery of all nations to the great principles of government and +religion taught us in His holy word?"</p> + +<p><i>Nov. 1st</i>. Having concluded the Indian business in the Upper Lakes for +the season, I returned with my family to Detroit, and employed my +leisure in literary investigations.</p> + +<p><i>Dec. 3d</i>. Mr. Josiah Snow apprizes me that he is about, in a few weeks, +to issue the first number of a newspaper devoted to agriculture, in +which he solicits my aid.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. J. K. Tefft, Esq., of Savannah, informs me of my election, on +the 9th Sept. last, as an honorary member of the Georgia +Historical Society.</p> + +<p><i>19th</i>. I wrote the following lines in memory of my father:--</p> + +<blockquote> +The drum no more shall rouse his heart to beat with patriot fires,<br> +Nor to his kindling eye impart the flash of martial ires:<br> +Montgomery's fall, Burgoyne's advance, awake no transient fear;<br> +E'en joy be dumb that noble France grasped in our cause the spear.<br><br> + +The cloud that, lowering northward spread, presaging woe and blight,<br> +In that wild host St. Leger led, no longer arm for fight;<br> +The bomb, the shell, the flash, the shot, the sortie, and the roar,<br> +No longer nerve for battle hot--the soldier is no more.<br><br> + +But long shall memory speak his praise, and mark the grave that blest,<br> +When eighty years had crowned his days, he laid him down to rest;<br> +The stone that marks the sylvan spot, the line that tells his name,<br> +The stream, the shore; be ne'er forgot, and freedom's be his fame.<br><br> + +'Twas liberty that fired him first, when kings and tyrants plan'd,<br> +And proud oppression's car accurst, drove madly o'er the land;<br> +And long he lived when that red car--the driver and the foe<br> +Unhorsed in fight, o'ermatched in war--laid impotent and low.<br><br> + +He told his children oft the tale--how tyrants would have bound,<br> +And murderous yells filled all the vale, and blood begrimed the ground.<br> +They loved the story of the harms that patriot hands repelled,<br> +And glowed with ire of wars and arms, and fast the words they held.<br><br> + +The right, the power, the wealth, the fame, for which the valiant fought,<br> +Have long been ours in deed and name--life, liberty, and thought;<br> +And while we hold these blessings, bought with valor, blood, and thrall,<br> +Embalmed in thought be those who fought and freely periled all.<br><br> +</blockquote> + +<p><i>23d</i>. The Detroit Branch of the University of Michigan organized, and +the Principal sends me a programme of its studies. Mr. Williams also +sends me the programme of the Pontiac Branch.</p> + +<p><i>31st</i>. "We were in hopes," says James L. Schoolcraft, in a letter from +Mackinack, "of seeing a steamboat up during the fine weather in the +latter part of November. It is now, however, since 14th inst., cold. +Theodoric has undertaken to conduct a weekly paper, the <i>Pic Nic</i>, +which, thus far, goes off well. Lieut. Pemberton, in the fort, is +engaged in getting up a private theatre. Thus, you see, we endeavor to +ward off winter and solitude in various ways. The rats are playing the +devil with your house. I have removed all the bedding. They have injured +some of your books."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXI."></a>CHAPTER LXXI.</h2> + +<p>Philology of the Indian tongues--Its difficulties--Belles +lettres and money--Michigan and Georgia--Number of species in +natural history--Etymology--Nebahquam's dream--Trait in Indian +legends--Pictography--Numeration of the races of Polynesia and the Upper +Lakes--Love of one's native tongue--Death of Gen. Harrison--Rush for +office on his inauguration--Ornamental and shade trees--Historical +collections--Mission of "Old Wing."</p> + +<p>1841. <i>Jan. 12th</i>. The Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of Pic, Lake Superior, who +has studied the Chippewa language, says: "I fully concur in your remarks +on the claims of philology. Circumstances may be easily conceived in +which the missionary could in no way serve the cause of Christianity so +effectually as by the study of barbarous languages. His primary object, +it is true, is Christian instruction; but he would, at the same time, +serve the cause of science, by assisting in the advance of comparative +philology. In this light I view your <i>Algic, Researches</i>, which I +consider a valuable acquisition to the missionary, as it introduces him +into the stronghold of Indian prejudices. The introductory remarks I +studied with peculiar interest.</p> + +<p>"I find the principal difficulty in getting at the principles of the +language to be in the compounds. I have long thought upon the subject, +but have as yet ascertained no rule to guide me. However, I do not +despair. If it cannot be taken by a '<i>coup de main</i>,' patience and +perseverance may in the end prevail. I intend to bend my mind to this +subject for the future. It will probably require much research to settle +this matter. There are some compounds that I form readily, in others I +fail. I have not observed anything in the language like the rythmatic +flow of Greek and Latin poetry; there is no alternation of long and +short syllables; some words are composed entirely of long syllables, +others of short ones, but generally there is at least one of each in +a word.</p> + +<p>"I have nothing in the shape of Indian poetry or hieroglyphics, neither +have I seen the rocks you mention south-east of this place, but I have +heard of them. All their traditions, or comic and tragic lore, should be +collected, though it could not all be published in consequence of its +obscenity. Almost all the <i>Ah-te-soo-kaum</i> I have heard, has had more or +less of this ingredient."</p> + +<p>Those who contend for a Welsh element in the languages of the American +stocks, find little or no support in modern vocabularies.</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr align="center"><th>ENGLISH.</th><th>GERMAN.</th><th>WELSH.</th><th>ALGONQUIN.</th></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Fire,</td><td>Feuer,</td><td>Tan,</td><td>Schoda.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Water,</td><td>Wasser,</td><td>Duel,</td><td>Neebi.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Earth,</td><td>Erde,</td><td>Daal,</td><td>Aki.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td> </td><td>Welt,</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Wind,</td><td>Wind,</td><td>Gwint,</td><td>Noden.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Sky,</td><td>Volka,</td><td>Avere,</td><td>Geezhikud.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Sea,</td><td>Meer,</td><td>More,</td><td>Gitchigomi.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Book,</td><td>Buch,</td><td>Llyfer,</td><td>Muzzenyegun.</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p>This topic requires, however, to be investigated on a broad scale. It is +merely adverted to here. It is among the western nations that inquiries +should be extended.</p> + +<p><i>Feb. 4th.</i> I received a diploma of membership from the Georgia +Historical Society, forwarded in accordance with a previous notice; and +a few days after, through the medium of the Hon. A.S. Porter, the first +volume of their transactions. Southern zeal quite outdoes us, in our +literary efforts here of late. The truth is, men have speculated so +wildly, they have no money to devote to historical or literary plans. A +correspondent writes me (Feb. 12th) on these visionary plans of +investment.</p> + +<p>"H. wants me to go farther in the Cass Front; But I am determined to +fall in the rear, as I have written to him. For the last three years I +have been going on the Dutch plan, which, had I always pursued, I should +now have had $10,000 in gold in my trunk, instead of having ten thousand +trunks full of <i>ground</i>."</p> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Dick says that there are about 60,000 species in the animal +kingdom. Of these, 600 species are mammalia, or sucklings, mostly +four-footed; 4,000 birds, 3,000 fish, 700 reptiles, 44,000 insects, +about 3,000 shell fish, and 80 to 100,000 animalcula, invisible to the +naked eye. Perhaps these species may reach to 300,000 altogether. Yet +here are no estimates for plants, ferns, mosses, madrepores, extinct +fossil species, minerals and rocks. What a field for the naturalist! Yet +Pope could exclaim--</p> + +<blockquote> +"Say what the use, were finer optics given,<br> + T' inspect a mite--not comprehend the heaven."<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>We are, in fact, equally and as much in want of microscopic and +telescopic knowledge.</p> + +<p><i>20th</i>. An Indian, a Chippewa, recently visited the office, whose name +is Nageezhik. This is one of the simplest compounds. I spent some time, +however, with the man and his companions to get its exact etymology. +<i>Geezhik</i> is the sky, or visible firmament, seen through the clouds. The +word denotes two phenomena: first, something visible to the eye that is +fixed and does not move, which is implied by the root <i>geezh</i>, and the +inflection <i>ik</i>, which seems applicable to all inanimate substances, to +denote the fact of their substantivity. The sky is thus described +apparently as a created, or made thing. <i>Na</i> (the <i>aa</i> in Aaron) is a +qualifying particle of very general use. It appears to place substances +to which it is affixed in a superlative sense, and always as exalting +the object. Thus its meaning may be fair, admirable, or excellent. +Applied to geezhik, it implies an excellent quality in only one sense, +that is excellent or fair, for a spot on the blue profound, of which +geezhik is the description. For fairness or excellence cannot exist, or +be described in their language, unless seen plainly by the eye. It is +the spot made by a small cloud that makes it excellent or fair. The +meaning is the fair or excellent (spot) on the sky.</p> + +<p><i>March 1st</i>. Madwaybuggashe, a Chippewa Indian, of Grand Traverse Bay, +Lake Michigan, related the following dream of Nebahquam, an Indian who +recently died at that place:--</p> + +<p>Nebahquam dreamed that he saw a white man coming towards him, who said, +You are called. He replied, Where am I called? The white man pointed to +a straight path, leading south-east. Follow that. Nebahquam obeyed and +followed it, till he came to a thick wooded country through which the +path led. He soon came to stumps of trees newly cut down, and afterwards +heard a cock crowing. He next passed through a new town, where he was +inclined to stop, but was told to go on. Again the cock crew. He next +came to an immense plain, through which his path led straight forward +for some time, till he came to the foot of a ladder. He was told to +ascend this, but it reached up as he went, till, looking back, he had a +wide bird's-eye view of towns, cities, and villages. He continued to go +up until he reached the skies. Here stood another white man, who told +him to look round a new earth. There were four splendid houses. His +guide told him to enter one of these. As he got near it, a door opened, +and he entered into a splendid apartment where four white men were +seated. Two of these had heads white as snow. They spoke to him saying, +Here is the place to which you are called. No Indian has ever reached +here before. Few white men come here. Look down and behold the bones of +those who have attempted to ascend, bleaching at the foot of the ladder.</p> + +<p>The two venerable men then gave him a bright-red deer's tail, and an +eagle's feather, which he was directed to wear on his head; they were +talismans that would protect him from peril and danger, and insure him +the favor of the Master of Life. Both white and red men could have +reached the place, they continued, but for refusing to receive Him who +was sent to save them, and for reviling and killing him. Look around +again, they continued to say, and he saw animals and birds of every kind +in abundance. These are for the red men, and are placed here to show the +peculiar care of the Great Spirit for them.</p> + +<p>Nebahquam was a Roman Catholic, and died in that faith. But he said that +he had heard the dream in his youth, and he regarded it as sacred. Such +are the blendings of superstition and religion in the Indian mind.</p> + +<p><i>3d</i>. Some of the incidents of the fictitious legends of the Indians +teach lessons which would scarcely be expected. Manibozho, when he had +killed a moose, was greatly troubled as to the manner in which he should +eat the animal. "If I begin at the head," said he, "they will say I eat +him head first. If I begin at the side, they will say I eat him +sideways. If I begin at the tail, they will say I eat him tail first."</p> + +<p>While he deliberated, the wind caused two limbs of a tree that touched +to make a harsh creaking noise. "I cannot eat with this noise," said he, +and immediately climbed the tree to prevent it, where he was caught by +the arm and held fast between the two trees. Whilst thus held, a pack of +hungry wolves came that way and devoured the carcass of the moose +before his eyes.</p> + +<p>The listener to the story is plainly taught to draw this conclusion: If +thou hast meat in thy wanderings, trouble not thyself as to little +things, nor let trifles disturb thy temper, lest in trying to rectify +small things thou lose greater ones.</p> + +<p><i>13th</i>. Some years ago, a Chippewa hunter of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake +Michigan, found that an Indian of a separate band had been found +trespassing on his hunting grounds by trapping furred animals. He +determined to visit him, but found on reaching his lodge the family +absent, and the lodge door carefully closed and tied. In one corner of +the lodge he found two small packs of furs. These he seized. He then +took his hatchet and blazed a large tree. With a pencil made of a burned +end of a stick, he then drew on this surface the figure of a man holding +a gun, pointing at another man having traps in his hands. The two packs +of furs were placed between them. By these figures he told the tale of +the trespass, the seizure of the furs, and the threat of shooting him if +he persevered in his trespass. This system of figurative symbols I am +inclined to call pictography, as it appears to me to be a peculiar and +characteristic mode of picture-writing.</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Mr. Ellis, in his Polynesian Researches, represents the Pacific +Islands as being inhabited by two distinct races of men, each of whom +appears to preserve the separate essential marks of a physical and +mental type. The first, which is thought the most ancient, consists of +the Oceanic negroes, who are distinguished by dark skins, small stature, +and woolly or crisped hair. They are clearly Hametic. They occupy +Australia, and are found to be aborigines in Tasmania, New Guinea, New +Britain, New Caledonia and New Hebrides. The other race has many of the +features of the Malays and South Americans, yet differs materially +from either.</p> + +<p>Yet what is most remarkable, the latter have an ingenious system of +numeration, by which they can compute very high numbers. They proceed by +decimals, precisely like the Algonquin tribes, but while the +arithmetical theory is precisely the same, a comparison shows that the +names of the numerals have not the slightest resemblance.</p> + +<blockquote> +<table width="50%"> +<tr align="center"><th> </th><th>POLYNESIAN.</th><th>ALGONQUIN.</th></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>One,</td><td>Atabi,</td><td>Pazhik.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Two,</td><td>Arua,</td><td>Neezh.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Three,</td><td>Atora,</td><td>Niswi.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Four,</td><td>Amaha,</td><td>Newin.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Five,</td><td>Arima,</td><td>Nanun.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Six,</td><td>Aono,</td><td>Ningodwaswa.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Seven,</td><td>Ahitu,</td><td>Nizhwaswa.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Eight,</td><td>Avaru,</td><td>Schwaswa.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Nine,</td><td>Aiva,</td><td>Shonguswa.</td></tr> +<tr align="center"><td>Ten,</td><td>Ahuru,</td><td>Metonna.</td></tr> +</table> +</blockquote> + +<p>The Polynesians, like the Algonquins, then say, ten and one for eleven, +&c., till twenty, which is <i>erua ahuru</i>, this is two tens; twenty-one +consists of the terms for two tens and one. In this manner they count to +ten tens, which is <i>rau</i>. Ten <i>raus</i> is one <i>mano</i>, or thousand; ten +<i>manos</i> one million, and so on. How exactly the Algonquin method, but +not a speck of analogy in words.</p> + +<p><i>27th</i>. One of the emigrant Germans who swarm about the city, a poor +ill-dressed wood-sawyer, met me, on coming out of my office door, and, +mistaking me for the owner of a visible pile of wood, addressed me in +one of the Rhine dialects, inquiring the owner. I replied: <i>Ich wies +necht--es is necht mein</i>. He looked with delighted astonishment at an +American speaking his language--"a stranger in a strange land"--and was +ready to proffer any services in his power.</p> + +<p><i>April 4th</i>. A friend from Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, writes: "It was +my luck to be called to Washington the latter part of February, and to +be detained until the 11th ultimo, and in that great city business +occupied my attention all the time. The congregation of strangers from +all parts of the Union was immense; the number estimated at fifty +thousand. Thirty thousand of them, at least, expectants, or thinking +themselves worthy of office. But, alas! for the ingratitude of man, they +were, almost to a man, sent home without getting their share of the +pottage.... There has yet been no change in the head of the Indian +Bureau, although there are three candidates in the field.</p> + +<p>"I have just heard the rumor of the death of Gen. Harrison (the +newly-elected President of U.S.), and, upon inquiry, find that it is +well founded. It is said that he died last night at twelve o'clock. He +has been suffering for a week past with a severe attack of pneumonia, or +bilious pleurisy. Should this be so,<a name="FNanchor98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98">[98]</a> it will make a great change in +the political destiny of the country for four years to come. Mr. Tyler +is a southern man with southern principles, rather a conservative, +opposed to a heavy tariff, if in favor of any. There will be a different +policy pursued, and you will find great disappointment and confusion. He +is not a man who will pursue a proscriptive course in turning out and +putting into office, but who will go upon the great principle of the +Virginia school in regard to office-holders. 'Is he honest? Is he +capable?' I am of the opinion that the chartering of a national bank +will not meet his approval. But there is no telling. Politicians, in +these days of humbug, make so many turnabouts that it is impossible to +scan their future conduct by their past deeds."</p> + +<blockquote> +<a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor98">[98]</a> It was. +</blockquote> + +<p><i>7th</i>. Wrote a communication for the <i>Michigan Farmer</i>, on the important +subject, as a matter of taste, of "ornamental and shade trees." New +settlers are bent on denuding their lands of every tree, and a newly +opened farm looks as if a tornado had passed over it.</p> + +<p><i>6th</i>. Messrs. Dawson and Bates submit estimates for the contemplated +historical volume, for which I am taking every means of preparing the +materials. I am satisfied that without publication the Hist. Society +cannot acquire a basis with the literary world to stand upon. My own +collections respecting the language and history of the Indian tribes are +alone adequate to the publication of several volumes, and I have long +sought, without being able to find, a proper medium of bringing these +materials forward. My local position is unfavorable to sending them to +the American Philosophical Society, or to any of the cities on the +seaboard, where they would, however, be mangled, as I told Mr. +Duponceau, for want of proof-reading; and here, alas! it is a question +of <i>dollars</i>.</p> + +<p><i>15th</i>. Rev. Geo. N. Smith reports the state of the new mission at "Old +Wing," on Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, as encouraging. The +American Board (who gave up this general field just at a time when, some +thought, it was ready to bear fruits) transferred the treaty fund under +which this mission was undertaken.</p> + +<p>"We chopped in all," writes Mr. S. "about forty-five acres, but a team +is necessary to clear off the timber, so that the land can be cleared +and prepared for a crop this season. During the winter we had a school, +which produced very encouraging results. I taught it in my own house. +The scholars applied themselves closely to their studies and made great +progress in learning, so that, if we had funds to go forward without +embarrassment, our progress of ameliorating the condition of this band +would be very flattering.</p> + +<p>"The Indians say they are going to remain here this summer, and improve +their lands, and that, if they can get their oxen, wagons, tools, &c., +this spring, those who have never been here since they purchased (these +purchases were in the U.S. Land Office), will come immediately and +settle. And, I think, if their expectations in this respect could be +realized, they would go forward with renewed encouragement, and with a +success which would well compare with our best expectations. Also if +their annuities could be paid somewhere in this vicinity, it would be of +great advantage to them, as it would save much time which might be very +profitably spent at home."</p> + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXII."></a>CHAPTER LXXII.</h2> + +<p>Popular common school education--Iroquois name for Mackinack--Its scenic +beauties poetically considered--Phenomenon of two currents of adverse +wind meeting--Audubon's proposed work on American quadrupeds-- +Adario--Geographical range of the mocking-bird--Removal from the West to +the city of New York--An era accomplished--Visit to Europe.</p> + +<p>1841. <i>May 3d</i>. F. SAWYER, Jr., Esq., a gentleman recently appointed +Superintendent of Public Instruction, from Ann Arbor, writes: "Yours of +the 19th April came during my absence at Marshall, and I take the first +opportunity to reply, thanking you for the suggestions made. It is my +intention to attempt the publication of a monthly, something after the +manner of the <i>Boston Common School Journal</i>, one of the best things of +the kind, in my humble opinion, to be found in the Union. As the +legislative resolution authorizing a subscription for such a publication +is repealed, a journal, if started, will depend upon the disposition of +the people to sustain it.</p> + +<p>"My intention is to address a circular to the different Boards of School +Inspectors throughout Michigan, urging upon them the necessity of doing +something for the cause, and invoking their efficiency in the matter. If +they will take hold and raise a certain amount in their district, and +pledge their constant exertions to excite and keep alive public interest +on the subject of common schools, much will have been effected.</p> + +<p>"To succeed, the journal must treat of subjects in the most popular +manner, avoiding, as far as is consistent with the dignity of the object +in view, very elaborate and prosy disquisitions. I shall endeavor to get +a circular out next week. Meantime accept my thanks for the interest you +take in the subject, and be assured that if I succeed in starting the +journal, I shall, at all times, be grateful for contributions from you."</p> + +<p><i>22d</i>. Landed at Mackinack after having passed the winter at Detroit. It +appears from Colden that the Iroquois called this island +Teiodondoraghie. What an amount of word-craft is here--what a poetic +description thrown into the form of a compound phrase! The local term in +<i>doraghie</i> is apparently the same heard in Ticon<i>deroga</i>--the +imprecision of writing Indian making the difference. <i>Ti</i> is the +Iroquois particle for water, as in <i>Tioga</i>, &c. <i>On</i> is, in like manner, +the clipped or coalescent particle for hill or mountain, as heard in +Onondaga. The vowels <i>i, o</i>, carry the same meaning, evidently, that +they do in Ontario and Ohio, where they are an exclamatory description +for beautiful scenery. What a philosophy of language is here!</p> + +<p><i>June 15th</i>. The balmy, soft influence of a June atmosphere, resting +upon this lovely scene of water, woods, and rocks--a perfect gem in +creation, deeply impressed me. Under a strong sense of its geological +frame-work of cliffs and winding paths, it appeared that it only +required a poetic drapery to be thrown over it and its historical +associations, to render it a pleasing theme of description. So unlike +English scenery, and yet so characteristic--so very American.</p> + +<p><i>21st</i>. While standing on the piazza in front of the agency house at +Mackinack, about five o'clock P.M., my attention was directed to the +strong current which set through the strait, west, under the influence +of a strong easterly wind. The waves were worked up into a perfect +series of foam wreaths, succeeding each other for miles. While admiring +this phenomenon, a cloud gathered suddenly in the west, and, in a few +minutes, poured forth a gust of wind towards the east, attended with +heavy rain. So suddenly was this jet of wind propagated towards the +east, that the foam of waves running west was driven back eastwardly, +before the waves had time to reverse their motion, which created the +unusual spectacle of two opposing currents of wind and waves, in the +most active and striking manner. The wave current still running west, +while the wind current seized its foam and carried it in a long line +towards the east. The new current soon prevailed. At half-past six +o'clock the storm had quite abated, and the wind settled lightly from +the south-west.</p> + +<p><i>26th</i>. Mr. John J. Audubon announces his intention to prepare a +complete work on American quadrupeds, correspondent, in the style of +execution, to his great work on ornithology. "As I do not know," he +modestly says, "whether you are aware of my having published a work on +the birds of America, I take this opportunity to assure you that I +have, and, at the same time, to apprise you of my having undertaken, and +in fact, began another on the viviparous quadrupeds of our country, +which it is also my intention to publish as soon as I can.</p> + +<p>"In all such undertakings, the simple though unintermitted labors of an +individual are not sufficient, and assistance from others is not only +agreeable, but is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary to render them as +complete as possible.</p> + +<p>"Having not only heard, but also read, of your having rendered essential +services to Charles Bonaparte, Mr. Cooper of this city, and other +eminent naturalists, I think that perhaps, you would not look upon my +endeavors to advance science as not unworthy of the same species of +assistance at your hands, and I will therefore say, at once, what my +desires are, and wish of you to have the goodness to let me know, +whether it is agreeable or convenient for you to assist me.</p> + +<p>"My wishes are to procure of quadrupeds, of moderate and small sizes, +preserved entire in the flesh, and in strong common rum (no other +spiritous liquor will preserve them equally well), and the <i>heads</i> and +<i>feet</i> of the larger species, likewise in rum. The large animals in the +skins, after having taken accurate notes of measurements, the color of +the eyes, date of capture, locality, and also, whatever may relate to +their <i>habits</i> and <i>habitats</i>! By the first of which, I more +particularly mean, their usual and unusual postures, gaits, &c., and +whether they climb trees, or are altogether terrestrial. My desire to +have the animals in the flesh, is in connection with my wish to give +their anatomy, or as much of it as may be thought useful or necessary to +the student of nature, and by which the species may be better hereafter +known than heretofore."</p> + +<p><i>28th</i>, Maj. Delafield writes respecting the contemplated work of +Audubon: "If in your power to aid him as proposed, you will contribute +to another magnificent American work on natural science, intended to be +on the same grand scale with his ornithology."</p> + +<p><i>July 7th</i>. Among the most noted aboriginal characters who have, in +bygone times, lived here, was Adario, a Wyandot, who flourished while +that tribe were in exile on this island. He appears to me, from the +descriptions given of him, to have had larger inductive powers than the +Indians generally though they were only employed on stratagems and in +negotiations, in which, curiously enough, he succeeded in making the +Iroquois vengeance fall on the French, his allies. To be wise with him +was more than to be just. Look at Colden. The philosophy put into his +mouth by La Hontan, probably has some basis, in actual talk, with the +gay baron.</p> + +<p>The following appear to be turning points in Iroquois history:--</p> + +<center> +<table width="50%"> +<tr><td>Father de Moyn discovers the Onondaga country</td><td>1653</td></tr> +<tr><td>Erie war closes</td><td>1655</td></tr> +<tr><td>New Amsterdam surrenders to the Duke of York</td><td>1664</td></tr> +<tr><td>First treaty of the Iroquois with the French</td><td>1667</td></tr> +<tr><td>La Salle builds the first vessel on the lakes</td><td>1679</td></tr> +<tr><td>La Salle lays the foundation of Fort Niagara</td><td>1679</td></tr> +<tr><td>English revolution bringing in a new dynasty in William</td><td>1688</td></tr> +<tr><td>Capture and burning of Schenectady</td><td>1690</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<p><i>27th</i>. I received notice of my election as an honorary member of the +Pennsylvania Historical Society.</p> + +<p><i>Aug. 1st</i>. During the number of years I have passed in the country of +the upper lakes, I have noticed the mocking bird, <i>T. polyglottis</i>, but +once or twice as far north as the Island of Michilimackinack. I have +listened to its varied notes, during the spring season, with delight. It +is not an ordinary inhabitant, nor have I ever noticed it on, the St. +Mary's Straits, or on the shores of Lake Huron north of this island. +This island may, I think, be referred to as its extreme, northern and +occasional limit.</p> + +<p><i>10th</i>. I determined to remove from Michilimackinack to the city of New +York. More than thirty years of my life have been spent in Western +scenes, in various situations, in Western New York, the Mississippi +Valley, and the basins of the Great Lakes, The position is one which, +however suitable it is for observation on several topics, is by no means +favorable to the publication of them, while the seaboard cities possess +numerous advantages of residence, particularly for the education of the +young. So much of my time had been given to certain topics of natural +history, and to the languages and history, antiquities, manners, and +customs of the Indian tribes, that I felt a desire to preserve the +record of it, and, in fact, to study my own materials in a position more +favorable to the object than the shores, however pleasing, of these vast +inland seas. The health of Mrs. Schoolcraft having been impaired for +several years, furnished another motive for a change of residence. +However great was the geographical area to be traversed, the change +could be readily effected, and promised many of the highest +concomitants of civilization. Beyond all, it was a return to my native +State after long years of travel and wandering, adventure, and +residence, which would bear, I thought, to-be looked at and reflected on +through the mellowed medium of reminiscence and study.</p> + +<p>The journey was easily performed by steamers and railroads, which occupy +every foot of the way, and it was accomplished without any but agreeable +incidents. I left the island, which is the object of so many pleasant +recollections, about the middle of August, and reached the city of New +York during that month, in season, after some weeks agreeably passed at +a hotel, to take a private dwelling-house in the upper part of it +(Chelsea, 19th street) early in September. I now cast myself about to +publish the results of my observation on the RED RACE, whom I had found, +in many traits, a subject of deep interest; in some things wholly +misunderstood and misrepresented; and altogether an object of the +highest humanitarian interest. But our booksellers, or rather +book-publishers, were not yet prepared in their views to undertake +anything corresponding to my ideas. The next year I executed my +long-deferred purpose of visiting England and the Continent with this +plan in view, and was highly gratified with the means of comparison +which these finished countries afforded with the rough scenes of Western +America. France, Belgium, Prussia, Germany and Holland were embraced in +this tour.</p> + +<p>This visit was one of high intellectual gratification, and carried me +into scenes and situations for which the reading of books had but poorly +prepared me. I kept a journal to refresh my memory of things seen and +heard, approved and disapproved.</p> + +<blockquote> +The Western World, they tell me, turns too fast,<br> +By European optics scanned and glassed;<br> +But when we look at Europe, although fair,<br> +They must have had new Joshuas working there;<br> +For, be our eagerness just what it will,<br> +She, spell-bound, seems to stand profoundly still.<br> +</blockquote> + +<p>THE END.</p> + + + +<br><br><hr style="width: 35%;"><br><br> +<center> +CATALOGUE<br> +OF<br> +VALUABLE BOOKS,<br> +PUBLISHED BY<br> +LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO.,<br> +(SUCCESSORS TO GRIGG, ELLIOT & CO.)<br> +NO. 14 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA;<br> +CONSISTING OF A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF<br> +Bibles, Prayer-Books, Commentaries, Standard Poets,<br> +MEDICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKS, ETC.,<br> +PARTICULARLY SUITABLE FOR<br> +PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBRARIES.<br> +FOR SALE BY BOOKSELLERS AND COUNTRY MERCHANTS GENERALLY THROUGHOUT<br> +THE UNITED STATES.<br> +</center> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<center> +<b>THE BEST & MOST COMPLETE FAMILY COMMENTARY.</b><br> +The Comprehensive Commentary on the Holy Bible;<br> +CONTAINING<br> +THE TEXT ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORIZED VERSION,<br> +SCOTTS MARGINAL REFERENCES; MATTHEW HENRY'S COMMENTARY,<br> +CONDENSED, BUT RETAINING EVERY USEFUL THOUGHT; THE<br> +PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS OF REV. 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