Chapter XL…

Chapter XL

EXPLORATION OF THE RED CEDAR OR FOLLAVOINE VALLEY OF THE CHIPPEWA RIVER.

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.

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.

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 Lac Courtorielle 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 auzeaun 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.

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.

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 Coteau des Prairies, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

WAR-DANCE.--This ceremony, together with what is called striking the post, 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.

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.

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.

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.

I found the entire population to be one hundred and forty-two souls, of whom eleven were absent.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 "un loup! un chèvreuil!" were continually in the men's mouths.

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.

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.

MONT LE GARDE.--The picturesque and grass-clad elevation called Le Garde 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.

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.

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.

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 unio alatus, overtus, rugosus and gibbosus, also some anadontas. 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.

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.

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.

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.

We traveled till near ten o'clock (13th) in the morning, when we reached and encamped at Prairie du Chien.

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Chapter XLI

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.

1831, Aug. 14th. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 au fait on these trips, failed to strike a fire. We ate something, and made shift to pass the night.

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.

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."

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.

July 26th. 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?"

Aug. 23d. It is announced that Mr. Geo. B. Porter, of Lancaster, Penn., is to be the new governor.

Oct. 4th. 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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"Dr. Dekay went to Russia with his father, Mr. Eckford, last summer."

23d. 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 en ordre. His wife is a fine-looking agreeable woman, with several pretty well-behaved children."

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,"

30th. 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."

Nov. 12th. 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."

22d. Dr. Houghton writes from Fredonia, communicating the results of his analyses of the Lake Superior copper-ores.

Dec. 31st. 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?"

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Chapter XLII

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.

1832, Jan. 31st. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jan. 31st. 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."

"A report reached this a few days ago, stating that the 'cholera' had been brought to New Orleans in a Spanish vessel."

"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."

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."

Feb. 4th. 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.

"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.

"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)."

13th. 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.

16th. 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."

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.

28th. 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.

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.

28th. 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.

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.

April 8th. 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 misuse 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.

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."

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.

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.

May 3d. 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.

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.

"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."

"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.

"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."

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.

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.

4th. 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."

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."

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."

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."

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."

"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."

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.

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Chapter XLIII

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.

1832. June 7th. 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.

The military and their supplies occupied a large Mackinack boat; my heavy stores filled another. I traveled in a canoe-elège, 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.

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 Lac Traverse. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 C. Virginea, 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.

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 pug-gi-de-nun, 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 puggidenun. 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 falco family. There were indications of the common deer. Moss hung abundantly from the trees. The gray pine predominated in the forest growth.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 de-glis, drawn by dogs to Leech Lake; and eventually, by the same conveyance, to what is now denominated Cass Lake, or upper Lac Cedre Rogue. This he reached in January, 1806, and it formed the terminus of his journey.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Chapter XLIV

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.

1832, July 14th. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.[62] 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.

[Footnote 62: Schoolcraft, Houghton, Johnston, Boutwell, Allen.]

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.

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 puggidenun, 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.

24th. 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.

25th. 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.

On returning to my tent, I sat down and wrote to the editor of a Western paper, as follows:--

ST. PETERS, July 25th, 1882.

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.

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.

26th. 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 La Pointe, returned to Sault St. Marie on the 14th of August.

Aug. 15th. 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.

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Chapter XLV

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.

1832. Aug. 25th. 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.

"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.

"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.

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 Point aux Pins, 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."

27th. 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.

Sept. 11th. 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."

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.

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.

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."

12th. 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.

22d. 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."

27th. 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.

"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.'"

Oct. 5th. 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 Detroit Journal 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."

"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.

"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 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society?"

"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.

"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."

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.[63] 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.

[Footnote 63: Resolved, 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.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, That this society will aid in sending a winter express to the missionaries who are now stationed near the western extremity of Lake Superior.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, 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.

Resolved, That the first anniversary of this society be held at Detroit, on the second Thursday of October, A. D. 1833.]

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 "canoe-elège" 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.[64]

[Footnote 64: Omitted.]

15th. 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.

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 one 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.

"The old chief (Pezhiki) is very pleasant and kind. I find him a very good standard for testing accents. His enunciation is very distinct."

25th. 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.

"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."

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.

"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.

"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."

Nov. 1st. 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."

19th. 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."

25th. 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.

29th. 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."

The true, but concealed, objection of this class of non-concurrents in the cause is not, it is apprehended to "sectarianism," per se, 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.

Dec. 10th. 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."

[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.]

12th. 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.

"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."

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Chapter XLVI

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 we--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.

1833. Jan. 1st. 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.

2d. 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."

14th. 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.

18th. M. Merrill announces the opening of an infant school, in which he is to be assisted by Mrs. Merrill, on Monday next.

21st. 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."

22d. 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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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."

Feb. 4th. 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.

6th. 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.

"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."

10th. 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."

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.

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."

14th. 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:--

"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.

"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.

"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."

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.

Thus it is perceived from the letter, which is printed verbatim--

1. That the letter t is not uttered when standing between a consonant and vowel, as in "understand."

2. The want and misuse of the prepositions of, from, and to.

3. The use of the participial form of the verb for the indicative.

4. The use of pronouns immediately after nouns to which they refer.

5. The interchange of d for t, and g for k, as in do for to, and "thing" for think.

6. The suppression of the sound of r altogether, as heard in re, and _re_ligion, &c.

7. Confounding the perfect past with the present tense.

8. The misuse of the indefinite article, which is wanting, in the Indian.

9. The habitual non-use of the imperative mood.

10. The transitive character of verbs requiring objective inflections, for the nominative, &c.

11. The absence of simple possessives.

12. The want of the auxiliary verbs have, are, is, &c.

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 we, 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.

March 7th. "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."

8th. 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.

"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."

18th. 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.

"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.

"I mention these facts because I am told that no newspapers will be sent to the upper country."

18th. 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.

April 8th. 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.

12th. 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.

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.

15th. 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.

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.

16th. 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."

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.

17th. George L. Whitney, of Detroit, writes me respecting the printing of the narrative of my expedition to Itasca Lake.

19th. 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.

20th. Dr. D. Houghton transmits from Detroit, a map necessary to illustrate my narrative of the expedition to Itasca Lake.

May 9th. 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.

"Dr. Dekay is in New York at present, and I have no doubt will contribute his assistance in the examination of your collection."

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. Mem.--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.

"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."

20th. 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.

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Chapter XLVII

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.

1833. June 1st. The cascades, or rapids of Sault de Ste. Marie, 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.

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.

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.

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.

July 19th. The American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia informs me of my election as a member.

28th. 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.

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.

The name of the place is pronounced Mish-i-nim-auk-in-ong, by the Indians, The term mishi, as heard in mishipishiu, panther, and mishigenabik, a gigantic serpent of fabled notoriety, signifies great; nim, appears to be derived from nimi, to dance, and auk from autig, tree or standing object; ong is the common termination for locality, the vowels 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 n to make their plurals for inanimates, and g 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.

In reference to this spiritual creation, the word mish 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 michi signifies big spirit, or "fairy"--for it is a kind of pukwudjininne, and not of monetoes that are described. The terms nim and auk, dance and tree, and the local ong, 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 michi 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 ch for sh, interchanged n for l in the third syllable, and modified the syllables auk and ong into the sounds of ack--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 oag, which the French threw away. The Iroquois, who extended their incursions here, called it Ti-e-don-de-ro-ga.

Aug. 1st. 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.

15th. 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.

He had not, she said, been at the massacre of old Mackinack (described by Henry), being then at L'Arbre Croche, 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.

The old fort on the peninsula was called Bik-wut-in-ong by the Indians, but the island always had the name of Mish-in-e-mauk-in-ong. Her father used to encamp where the village of Mackinack is now built. Her name is Na-do-wa-kwa, 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.[65]

[Footnote 65: Henry's Travels.]

16th. 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.

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.

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.

Captain Thorn told me that he had sailed to old Mackinack seven years after the massacre. The inhabitants did not go all at once. They dismantled their houses, and took away the windows, doors, &c.

Aug. 19th. Ningwegon (or the Wing) visited, with his band, consisting (by the bundles of sticks) of ten men, twelve women, and six children.

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.[66]

[Footnote 66: This chief received an annuity under the treaty of 28th March, 1836.]

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 (L'Arbre Croche), 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.

In speaking of the Seneca nation, he called them As-sig-un-aigs, a term by which they are distinguished from the general Algonquin term of Na-do-wa, or Iroquis.

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.

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.

24th. 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.

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.

It was not credible that seventy years should have left so little of Indian tradition of that sanguinary event.

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 transition period of our Indian history. By transition, I mean the era of the change from French to English supremacy.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

Chapter XLVIII

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.

1833. Oct. 12th. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Chusco [67] (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, al[67]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 jeesuckáwin (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.

[Footnote 67: From Wauzhusko.]

27th. 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 Che Nóden, the Strong Wind.

30th. 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 roof and floor, to the saliferous formation. And the result gives a stimulant to further investigations.

9th. 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.

Nov. 13th. A remarkable display of the aurora borealis was observed last night. The Indians, who call this phenomenon Jebiug nemeiddewaud, or dancing spirits, describe it as radiating balls, streams of fire or falling stars from the zenith into the lake.

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.

"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."

28th. 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.

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.

After the massacre, the troops remained some time. The Indians had not burned the fort.

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.

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 eight day, 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.

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.

Respecting the massacre in 1763, she says that Mr. Solomons and a Mr. Clark, the latter long resident with Mr. Abbot, were present.

30th. 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.

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.

Dec. 1st. Finished an article for the Literary and Theological Review, 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 to be, 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 iau, 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 vitality, but cannot, it seems, be applied to mere passion or feeling. These, by a peculiarity of the grammar, are referred to as subordinate parts, or increments inanimate of the organization, i. e., as things without flesh and blood, and not as units or whole bodies. The native speaker does not, therefore, say I am glad, I am 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 is--the appropriate pronominal form of the verb iau or I-e-au 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 atta. The present tense, indicative of these two parallel verbs, for material and for god-like existence, are as follows:--

Iau (animate) To be. Atta (inanimate)--To be.

Nin, Diau--I am, or my spirit is. Atta--It is.

Ki, Diau--Thou art, &c. Atta-aun--They are.

Iau--He (or she) is. Atta-bun--it was.

Nin, Diau-min (ex.)--We (excluding you) are. Atta-aubun--They have been.

Ki, Diau-min (in.)--We (including you) are. Iah atta--It shall be.

Ki, Diau-ni--Ye are. Iah atta-win--They shall be.

Iau-wug--They are.

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.

Dec. 2d. 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.

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.

3d. 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.

4th. 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.

6th. Some rain fell in the evening, which did not, however, prevent friends from passing the evening with us.

7th. Weather still mild.

10th. 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.

I employed the day in reading Humboldt's "Superposition of Rocks in both Hemispheres." Humboldt is the Dr. Johnson of geology.

11th. 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.

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.

12th. 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.

13th. 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.

A blow from the east, with depression of temperature, and some snow.

14th. Easterly wind continues. Thermometer at noon 38°.

16th. Strong easterly winds.

17th. 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.

18th. 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.

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.

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."

19th. 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.

20th. Mr. Mitchell passed the evening.

21st. 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.

22d. S. visited the infant-school in the village, and made some remarks.

24th. Visited Mr. Barber, who directed conversation to various theological points, and the state of religion on the island.

25th. 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.

26th. 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.

27th. Snow. No ice; not the slightest bordage 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.

28th. Wind from the westward and southward; moderate for the season.

29th. Wind veers to the east.

30th. A blow on the lake, creating a perfect tempest. Before noon, the wind veers south-easterly, and snow melts on the roofs.

Ackuckojeesh and band, from the north shore, visit the office. He presents me a small mukuk of maple sugar, made during the month, as a proof of the mildness of the weather.

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.

31st. No thawing to-day. There has been quite a blow on the lake. Began some sketches of biblical geology.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

Chapter XLIX

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.

1834. Jan. 1st. 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.

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.

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 fouchet, and to chemai, were here quite common expressions.

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 qui vive for occasions "to ask an alms." I had prepared for this. To each person a loaf of bread.

To adult males a plug of tobacco. No drink of any kind, but water, to a soul.

Snow fell during the day, rendering it unpleasant.

Jan. 2d. Shabowâwa, a Chippewa chief, and part of his band, with the remainder of the Point St. Ignace band, got across the Traverse this morning. The whole number who visited the office during the day was thirty. Shabowâwa said we might soon expect cold weather.

3d. Visits from a number of Indians (about twenty), who had not before called, to offer the bon jour of the season. Among them were several widows and disabled old people, to whom presents of clothing were given.

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.

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.

4th. Stormy and cold.

5th. 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.

6th. 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.

The postmaster sends me word that the second express will start to-morrow, without awaiting the return of the first.

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.

7th. 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 feel 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.

The ice, being only glued together, separated about 2 o'clock, and left the harbor free again before night.

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 Sault 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.

Mr. Ferry, Lieut. Kingsbury, and Mr. P. passed the evening with us.

Fires were seen on the main land, which are supposed to be signals from our express men.

8th. 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.

9th. 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.

Floating ice in the straits, and no crossing.

11th. 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.

13th, 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.

14th. 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.

Mrs. Kingsbury passed the day with us. The church session on examination accepts her, and Mr. D. Stuart, the gentleman named in Irving's Astoria.

15th. 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 Itasca Lake. Heard also from LeConte, the engraver, at New York.

16th. 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.

17th. 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.

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.

18th. 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.

19th. 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.

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.

20th. 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.

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?

21st. 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. 22d. 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.

23d. The temperature still rises a few degrees, the thermometer standing at 21° at 8 o'clock, A.M. The express from the Sault arrives. Prepared my mail matter and dispatched it to the office.

24th. 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 Sault 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.

25th. 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 r, for which, agreeably to a natural organic law recognized by philologists, he has heretofore substituted the sound of l.

26th. 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.

27th. 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.

28th. 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 talus, 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.

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.

29th. 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.

30th, 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.

31st. 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.

This being Mrs. Schoolcraft's birth-day, I presented her a Bible.

Feb. 1st. 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.

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.

2d. S. A sermon on the often handled subjects of election and free grace--how God elects, and how man is free to come himself.

3d. Devoted to newspaper reading. In the evening attended the monthly concert.

4th. 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.

5th. 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.

6th. The thermometer is again depressed, and a recurrence of easterly winds.

7th. The depression of temperature creates the sensation of coldness 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.

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.

8th. 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.

9th. 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.

10th. 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.

In the evening the wind veered from a favorable quarter suddenly to the north, producing a strong sensation of cold.

12th. Dine with Kingsbury.

13th. 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.

14th. 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."

15th. Visited Mr. Barber. Meeting in the evening at Mr. Mitchell's.

16th. Snow.

17th. The temperature fell several degrees, and lake closed, as seen at a distance. I finished my remarks for the American Lyceum.

18th. Engaged in pursuing Mr. F.'s lectures, delivered at a prior time, on the character and differences between the Protestant and Romish Churches.

19th. 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.

20th. Rain and thunder.

21st. Temperate; sinks and turns cold in the evening.

22d. Cold, with some snow.

23d. Thermometer continues to sink, and the ice is reported as having become strong everywhere.

24th. 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.

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.

25th. 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.

26th. 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.

27th. Snow and rain. Richardson May, a discharged soldier, and Manito Geezhig (Spirit-sky), a Chippewa Indian, arrived with the express mail for Saginaw.

28th. 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.

March 1st. The change in temperature continues. It is so mild and warm that the snow melts.

2d. S. Mild, and Sabbath exercise as usual.

3d. The temperature falls, and it becomes sensibly cold and wintry. The sky and lower atmosphere, however, remain clear.

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.

4th. Weather mild; snow soft and sloppy. Receive visits from Mr. Abbott, Mr. Ferry, and Mr. Mitchell.

5th. 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!

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.

6th. 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.

7th. Clouds intercept the sun's rays. An east wind broke up the ice in the harbor, and drives much floating ice up the lake.

8th. 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.

9th. Very slippery, and bad walking, and icy roads. Freezes.

10th. 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.

11th. 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.

12th. Filled my ice-house with ice of a granular and indifferent quality, none other to be had.

13th. Mild, thawing, spring-like weather. Visits by Captain and Mrs. Barnum.

14th. 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.

15th. 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 Sault.

16th. S. Anni-me-au-gee-zhick-ud, as the Indians term it, and a far more appropriate term it is than the unmeaning Saxon phrase of /Sunday.

17th. 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 Sault in the morning, bringing letters from Rev. Mr. Clark, Mr. Audrain, my sub-agent at that point, &c.

18th. 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 wa-bish-kiz-zi---that is, white person.

19th. 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.

20th. The thermometer sinks to 18° at eight o'clock A.M. Snows, and is boisterous all day, the wind being north-east.

21st. 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.

22d. 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.

23d. S. Cold.

24th. Wintery feeling and aspect.

25th. 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.

26th. Drove, with Mr. Ferry, to Mr. Boyd's, and thence to Mr. Davenport's.

27th. 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.

28th. Weather mild; snow melts; wind S.W.; some rain.

With this evening's setting sun, Years I number forty-one.

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.

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.

This story was detailed, a night or two afterwards, by Thomas Shepard, one of the boys, at a drinking conclave in the village, where bon vivants, 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.

29th. 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.

30th. Service as usual, but more than usually interesting.

31st. 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.

April 1st. 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.

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.

2d. 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.

3d. 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.

4th. The season is visibly advancing in its warmth and mildness. Began to prepare hot-beds. Set boxes for flowers and tubs for roots.

5th. 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.

7th. Cloudy but mild. Adjusting fixtures for gooseberry bushes, &c.

8th. 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. Kitte-mau-giz-ze Sho-wain-e-min, is their common expression to an agent--I am poor, show me pity, (or rather) charity me; for they use their substantives for verbs.

9th. 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.

Resumed my preparations at the garden hot-beds.

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.

10th. Engaged at my horticultural mound. The weather continues mild.

11th. Transplanting cherry trees.

12th. Complete hot-bed, and sow it in part.

14th. The calmness and mildness of the last few days are continued. Spring advances rapidly.

15th. Mild, strong wind from the west, but falls at evening. Write to Washington respecting an Indian academy.

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.

16th. 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.

The schooner "President," from Detroit, dropped anchor in the evening.

17th. 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.

18th. 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.

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.

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.

19th. Wind westerly--chilly--cloudy--dark.

20th. The "Austerlitz," and "Prince Eugene," two of Mr. Newbery's vessels, arrived during the afternoon. Rain fell in the evening.

21st. 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.

22d. 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.

23d. Wind west, cloudy, rainy, and some sleet. About midnight the schooner "Oregon" came in, having rode out the tempest under Point St. Ignace.

24th. Still cold and backward, the air not having recovered its equilibrium since the late storm.

25th. Cloudy and cold--flurries of snow during the day.

26th. 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.

27th. 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.

28th. The atmosphere is still overcast, although the thermometer ranges high.

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.

29th. 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.

30th. 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.

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