_27th_. I received a letter of this date from G.W. Rodgers, a gentleman

of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in behalf of himself and associates,

proposing a number of queries respecting the copper-yielding region of

Lake Superior, and the requisites and prospects of an expedition for

obtaining the metal from the Indians. Wrote to him adversely to the

project at this time. Doubtless the plan is feasible, but the Indians

are at present the sole owners and occupants of the metalliferous

region.

_28th. Dies natalis_.--A friend editing a paper on the seaboard writes

(10 Jan. 1822)--"I wish you to give me an article on the geology and

mineralogy of Manhattan Island, in the form of a letter purporting to be

given by a foreign traveler. It is my intention to give a series of

letters, partly by myself and partly by others, which shall take notice

of everything in and about the city, which may be deemed interesting. I

wish to begin at the foundation, by giving a geographical and geological

sketch of the island." [36] He continues:--

[Footnote 36: Furnished the article, as desired, under the signature of

"Germanicus." _Vide_ "N.Y. Statesman."]

"I have read Ontwa, the Indian poem you spoke of last summer. The notes

by Gov. Cass are extremely interesting, and written in a superior style.

I shall notice the work in a few days." "I inform you, in confidence,

that M.E., of this city, is preparing a notice of your 'Journal' for the

next number of the _Repository_, which will appear on the first of

next month."

_29th_. Novelty has the greatest attraction for the human mind. There is

such a charm in novelty, says Dr. John Mason Good, that it often leads

us captive in spite of the most glaring errors, and intoxicates the

judgment as fatally as the cup of Circe. But is not variety at hand to

contest the palm?

"The great source of pleasure," observes Dr. Johnson, "is variety.

Uniformity must tire at last, though it be uniformity of excellence."

_April 1st_. The ice and snow begin to be burthensome to the eye. We

were reconciled to winter, when it was the season of winter; but now our

longing eyes are cast to the south, and we are anxious for the time when

we can say, "Lo, the winter is past, the flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is

heard in our land."

The Chippewas have quite a poetic allegory of winter and spring,

personified by an old and a young man, who came from opposite points of

the world, to pass a night together and boast of their respective

powers. Winter blew his breath, and the streams were covered with ice.

Spring blew his breath, and the land was covered with flowers. The old

man is finally conquered, and vanishes into "thin air."

_2d_. We talked to-day of dreams. Dreams are often talked about, and

have been often written about. But the subject is usually left where it

was taken up. Herodotus says, "Dreams in general originate from those

incidents which have most occupied the thoughts during the day." Locke

betters the matter but little, by saying, "The dreams of sleeping men

are all made up of waking men's ideas, though, for the most part, oddly

put together." Solomon's idea of "the multitude of business" is

embraced in this.

Sacred dreams were something by themselves. God chose in ancient times

to communicate with the prophets in dreams and visions. But there is a

very strong and clear line of distinction drawn on this subject in the

23d of Jeremiah, from the 25th to the 28th verses. "He that hath a

dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word let him speak my

word." The sacred and the profane, or idle dream, are likened as

"chaff" to "wheat."

The Indians, in this quarter, are very much besotted and spell-bound, as

it were, by dreams. Their whole lives are rendered a perfect scene of

doubts and fears and terrors by them. Their jugglers are both dreamers

and dream interpreters. If the "prince of the power of the air" has any

one hold upon them more sure and fast than another, it seems to be in

their blind and implicit reliance upon dreams. There is, however, with

them a sacred dream, distinct from common dreams. It is called

_a-po-wa._

I have had before me, during a considerable part of the season, a

pamphlet of printed queries respecting the Indians and their languages,

put into my hands by Gov. C. when passing through Detroit in the summer.

Leaving to others the subjects connected with history and traditions,

&c., I have attempted an analysis of the language. Reading has been

resorted to as a refreshment from study. I used to read to gratify

excitement, but I find the chief pleasure of my present reading is more

and more turning to the acquisition and treasuring up of facts. This

principle is probably all that sustains and renders pleasurable the

inquiry into the Indian language.

One of the printed queries before me is, "Do they (the Indians) believe

in ghosts?" I believe all ignorant and superstitious nations believe in

apparitions. It seems to be one of the most natural consequences of

ignorance; and we have seen, in the history of wise and learned men,

that it requires a high intellectual effort to shake this belief out of

the mind. If God possessed no other way of communicating with the

living, it is reasonable to believe that he would send dead men, or dead

men's souls. And this is the precise situation of the only well

authenticated account we have, namely, that of Saul at Endor [_vide_ 1st

Samuel, 7th to 15th verses]. The Chippewas are apt to connect all their

ghost stories with fire. A lighted fire on the grave has a strong

connection with this idea, as if they deemed some mysterious analogy to

exist between spirituality and fire. Their name for ghost is _Jeebi_, a

word rendered plural in _ug_. Without nice attention, this word will be

pronounced _Chebi_, or _Tchebi_.

Another is as follows: "Do they use any words equivalent to our habit of

swearing?" Many things the Indians may be accused of, but of the

practice of swearing they cannot. I have made many inquiries into the

state of their vocabulary, and do not, as yet, find any word which is

more bitter or reproachful than _matchi annemoash_, which indicates

simply, bad-dog. Many of their nouns have, however, adjective

inflections, by which they are rendered derogative. They have terms to

indicate cheat, liar, thief, murderer, coward, fool, lazy man, drunkard,

babbler. But I have never heard of an imprecation or oath. The genius of

the language does not seem to favor the formation of terms to be used in

oaths or for purposes of profanity. It is the result of the observation

of others, as well as my own, to say, that an Indian cannot curse.

_31st_. The ornithology of the north is very limited in the winter. We

have the white owl, the Canada jay, and some small species of

woodpeckers. I have known the white partridge, or ptermigan, to wander

thus far south. This bird is feathered to the toes. There are days when

the snow-bird appears. There is a species of duck, the _shingebis_, that

remains very late in the fall, and another, the _ä-ä-wa,_ that comes

very early in the spring.

The _T. polyglottis_, or buffoon-bird, is never found north of 46° N.

latitude in the summer. This bird pours forth all sorts of notes in a

short space of time, without any apparent order. The thrush, the wren,

the jay, and the robin are imitated in as short a time as it takes to

write these words.

_7th_. During severe winters, in the north, some species of birds extend

their migrations farther south than usual. This appears to have been the

case during the present season. A small bird, yellowish and cinereous,

of the grosbec species, appeared this day in the neighborhood of one of

the sugar-camps on the river below, and was shot with an arrow by an

Indian boy, who brought it up to me. The Chippewas call it

_Pashcundamo_, in allusion to the stoutness of its bill, and consequent

capacity for breaking surfaces.[37]

[Footnote 37: This specimen was sent to the New York Lyceum, where it was

determined to be an undescribed species, and named _Fringilia

vespertina_, or evening grosbec.]

_8th_. The ice on the river still admits of the passage of horse trains,

and the night temperature is quite wintry, although the power of the

sun begins to be sensibly felt during the middle and after part of

the day.

_9th_. A friend recently at Washington writes from Detroit under the

date of the 12th March: "A proposition was submitted to a committee of

the Senate, soon after my arrival in the city, by the Secretary of War,

for the establishment of the office of Superintendent of Mines. To this

office, had the project been carried into execution, you would have been

appointed. But shortly before I left there, it was thought more

expedient to sell all the mines than to retain them in the hands of the

government. Of course, if this plan be adopted, as I think it will be,

the other will be superseded." Here, then, drops a project, which I had

conceived at Potosi, and which has been before my mind for some four

years, and which I am still satisfied might have been carried through

Congress, had I given my personal attention to the subject, during the

present session. I have supposed myself more peculiarly qualified to

fill the station indicated, than the one I now occupy. And I accepted

the present office under the expectation that it would be temporary.

When once a project of this kind, however, is superseded in the way this

has been, it is like raising the dead to bring it up again; and it is

therefore probable that my destiny is now fixed in the North-West

instead of the South-West, for a number of years. I thought I had read

Franklin's maxims to some purpose; but I now see that, although I have

observed one of them in nine cases, I missed it in the tenth:--

"He that by the plough would thrive,

Himself must either hold, or drive."

I trusted, in the fall, that I could safely look on, and see this matter

accomplished.

As to the mines, they will still require a local superintendent. They

cannot be sold until there are some persons to buy, and it is not

probable such extensive tracts of barren lands can be disposed of in

years. Meantime, the rents of the mines are an object. The preservation

of the public timber is an object. And the duties connected with these

objects cannot be performed, with justice to the government, and

convenience to the lessees, without a local agent. In proportion as some

of the districts of mineral lands are sold, others will claim

attention; and it _may be_, and most probably _will be_, years before

the intention of Congress, if expressed by law, can be fully carried

into effect.

Life has more than one point of resemblance to a panorama. When one

object is past, another is brought to view. The same correspondent adds:

"Mr. Calhoun has come to the determination to authorize you to explore

the River St. Peter's this season. I think you may safely make the

necessary arrangements, as I feel confident the instructions will reach

you soon after the opening of the navigation."

In consequence of this intimation, I have been casting about to find

some authors who treat of the region of country which embraces the St.

Peter's, but with little success. Hennipin's "Discovery of a large

Country in the Northern America, extending above Four Thousand Miles," I

have read with care. But care indeed it requires to separate truth from

error, both in his descriptions and opinions. He thinks "Japan a part of

the American Continent;" and describes the Wisconsin as "navigable for

large vessels above one hundred leagues." Yet, notwithstanding this

gross hyberbole, he describes the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin

at "half a league," which is within the actual distance. It may be

admitted that he was within the Sioux country, and went up the

Mississippi as high as the St. Francis.

La Hontan, whose travels were published in London only a few years after

the translation of Hennipin's, is entitled, it is believed, to no credit

whatever, for all he relates of personal discoveries on the Mississippi.

His fiction of observations on "River La Long," is quite preposterous. I

once thought he had been as far as Prairie du Chien; but think it more

probable he never went beyond Green Bay.

Carver, who went from Boston to the Mississippi in the latter part of

the 18th century, is not an author to glean much from. I, however,

re-perused his volume carefully, and extracted notes. Some of the

stories inserted in his work have thrown an air of discredit over it,

and caused the whole work to be regarded in rather an apocryphal light.

I think there is internal evidence enough in his narrative to prove that

he visited the chief portions of country described. But he probably

neglected to keep diurnal notes. When in London, starvation stared him

in the face. Those in office to whom he represented his plans probably

listened to him awhile, and afterwards lost sight of, or neglected him.

He naturally fell into the hands of the booksellers, who deemed him a

good subject to get a book from. But his original journal did not

probably afford matter enough, in point of bulk. In this exigency, the

old French and English authors appear to have been drawn upon; and

probably their works contributed by far the larger part of the volume

after the 114th page (Philadelphia ed. 1796), which concludes the

"Journal." I think it questionable whether some literary hack was not

employed, by the booksellers, to draw up the part of the work "On the

origin, manners, customs, religion, and language of the Indians."

Considerable portions of the matter are nearly verbatim in the language

of Charlevoix, La Hontan, and other authors of previous date. The

"vocabulary of Chippewa," so far as it is Chippewa at all, has the

French or a mixed orthography, which it is not probable that an

Englishman or an American would, _de novo_, employ. CHAPTER XVIII.

Rapid advance of spring--Troops commence a stockade--Principles of the

Chippewa tongue--Idea of a new language containing the native principles

of syntax, with a monosyllabic method--Indian standard of

value--Archaeological evidences in growing trees--Mount Vernon--Signs of

spring in the appearance of birds--Expedition to St. Peter's--Lake

Superior open--A peculiarity in the orthography of Jefferson--True

sounds of the consonants--Philology--Advent of the arrival of a

vessel.--Editors and editorials--Arrival from Fort William--A hope

fled--Sudden completion of the spring, and ushering in of

summer--Odjibwa language, and transmission of Inquiries.

1823. _April 12th_. Spring is gradually advancing. The deepened roar of

the rapids indicates an increased volume of water. The state of the ice

is so bad this day that no persons have ventured to cross the river.

Yesterday, they still crossed. The bare ground begins to show itself in

spots; but the body of snow is still deep in the woods.

_14th_. The _T. migratorius_ or robin made its appearance. The Indians

have a pretty tale of the origin of this bird and its fondness for

domestic scenes.

_16th_. Gray duck appeared in the rapids.

_17th_. Large portions of the ground are now laid bare by the sun.

_18th_. A friend at New York, about to sail for Europe, writes me under

this date: "I expect to sail for St. Petersburgh. I shall take with me

some of our choicest specimens, in return for which I hope to procure

something new and interesting. The truth is, we know very little of the

mineralogy of Russia, and hence such specimens as can be procured will

almost necessarily prove interesting."

"The Lyceum is about to publish its proceedings. The members are

increasing in numbers and activity. It has been recently agreed that

there shall be at least one paper read at every meeting; this will

ensure attention, and much increase the interest of the meetings. I hope

you may, before long, be able to add your personal attendance."

"I feel it my duty to inform you that the minerals intrusted to my care

are situated in every respect as when left by you; they are, of course,

entirely dependent upon any order you may give concerning them. I do not

think it necessary that you should make any _immediate_ provision for

them, or that there is any cause for uneasiness on their account." [38]

[Footnote 38: Notwithstanding, the collection of specimens referred to

was afterwards most sadly dealt with, and pillaged of its choicest

specimens.]

_19th_. The troops began to set up the pickets of a stockade or fort, to

which the name of "Brady" is given, in allusion to Col. Hugh Brady,

U.S.A. The first canoe crossed the river to-day, although the ice still

lines each shore of the river for several hundred yards in width.

_20th. S_. My sister Maria writes to me: "I fancy, by the description

you have given of your residence and society at the Sault, that you have

enjoyed yourself, and seen as much of the refinements of civilized life

as you would have done in many places less remote. Who have you at the

Sault that writes such pretty poetry? The piece I refer to is signed

Alexina,[39] and is a death-song of an Indian woman at the grave of her

murdered husband."

[Footnote 39: Mrs. Thompson.]

_22d_. One of the principal objections to be urged against the Indian

languages, considered as media of communication, is their cumbrousness.

There is certainly a great deal of verbiage and tautology about them.

The paucity of terms leads not only to the use of figures and metaphors,

but is the cause of circumlocution. This day we had a snow storm.

The Chippewa is, in its structure, what is denominated by Mr. Du Ponceau

"polysynthetic." It seems the farthest removed possible from the

monosyllabic class of languages. I have thought that, if some of its

grammatical principles could be applied to monosyllables, a new language

of great brevity, terseness, regularity, and poetic expressiveness,

might be formed. It would be necessary to restore to its alphabet the

consonants _f, l_, and _r_, and _v_. Its primitive pronouns might be

retained, with simple inflections, instead of compound, for plural. It

would be necessary to invent a pronoun for _she_, as there is,

apparently, nothing of this kind in the language. The pronouns might

take the following form:--

Ni, _I_. Nid, _We_. Niwin, _Myself_. Niwind, _Ourselves_.

Ki, _Thou_. Kid, _Ye_ or _you_. Kiwin, _Thyself_. Kiwind, _Yourselves_.

Wi, _He_. Wid, _They_. Masculine. Wiwin, _Yourselves_. (Mas.) Wiwind.

Si, _She_. Sid, _They_. Feminine. Siwin, _Yourselves_. (Fem.) Siwind.

DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS.

Ni, Nin, Nee--_I, Mine, Me_. Nid, Nida, Nidim--_We, Us, Ours_.

Ki, Kin, Kee--_Thou, Thine, Thee_. Kid, Kida, Kidim--_Ye, You, Yours.

_ Wi, Win, Wee--_Him, His, His_. Wid, Wida, Widim--_They, Their_, _Theirs_. (Mas.)

Si, Sin, See--_Her, Hers, Hers_. Sid, Sida, Sidim--_They, Their, Theirs_.

(Fem.)

The full meaning of the present class of verbs and substantives of the

language could be advantageously transferred to the first, or second, or

third syllable of the words, converting them into monosyllables. The

plural might be uniformly made in _d_, following a vowel, and if a word

terminate in a consonant, then in _ad_. So the class of plural

terminations would be _ad, ed, id, od, ud_. Many generic nouns would

require to be invented, and could easily be drawn from existing roots.

In the orthography of these, the initial consonant of the corresponding

English word might serve as an index, Thus, from the word _aindum_,

mind, might be derived,

Ain, _Mind_. Sain, _Sorrow_.

Tain, _Thought_. Jain, _Joy_, &c.

Main, _Meditation_.

So from _taibwawin_, truth, might be drawn _taib_, truth--_faib_,

faith--_raib_, religion--_vaib_, virtue. A principle of euphony, or

affinity of syllabication, might be applied in the abbreviation of a few

of this class of generic words: as _Eo_, God, from _monedo_.

THE ORDINARY NOUNS WOULD RUN THUS:--

In, _Man_. Ind, _Men_.

Ee, _Woman_. Eed, _Women_.

Ab, _Child_. Abad, _Children_.

Kwi, _Boy_. Kwid, _Boys_.

Kwa, _Girl_. Kwad, _Girls_.

Os, _Father_. Osad, _Fathers_.

Gai, _Mother_. Gaid, _Mothers_.

All the existing monosyllables of the language would be retained, but

subjected to new laws of construction and concordance. Thus the plural

of _Koan_, snow, would be _koanad; of ais_, shell, _aisad; moaz, moas,

moazad_, &c. Variety in the production of sounds, and of proper cadences

in composition, might dictate retention of a certain class of the

dissyllables--as _ossin_ a stone, _opin_ a potato, _akki_ earth, _mejim_

food, _assub_ a net, _aubo_ a liquid, _mittig _ a tree, &c., the plurals

of which would be _assinad, opinad, akkid, mejimad, assubad, aubad,

mittigad_. Every substantive would have a diminutive form in _is_, and

an augmentative in _chi_, the vowel of the latter to be dropped where a

vowel begins the word. Thus, _chab_, a grandchild; _chigai_, a

grandmother. _Inis_, a little man; _osis_, a little father, &c.

Adjectives would come under the same rules of abbreviation as nouns and

verbs. They would be deprived of their present accidents of number

and gender.

Min, _Good_. Koona, _Ugly_.

Mon, _Bad_. Soan, _Strong_.

Bish, _Handsome_.

The colors, seasons, cardinal points, &c., would consist of the first

syllable of the present words.

The demonstrative pronouns, _this, that, there, those_, would take the

following forms: _Mau_, this; _aho_, that. By adding the common plural,

the terms for _these_ and _those_ would be produced: _Maud_, these;

_ahod_, those.

The prepositions would fall naturally under the rule of abbreviation

applied to nouns, &c. _Chi_, by; _peen_, in; _kish_, if, &c.; _li_, of;

_ra_, to; _vi_, is; _af_, at.

_Ieau_ is the verb _to be_. The auxiliary verbs, _have, shall, will_,

&c., taken from the tensal particles, are _ge, gu, gei, go, ga_.

_Pa_ may stand for the definite article, being the first syllable of

_pazhik_; and a _comma_ for the indefinite article.

_Ie_ is matter. _Ishi_, heaven.

EXAMPLES.

Ni sa Eo--_I love God_.

Eo vi min--_The Lord is good_.

Nin os ge pa min in--_My father was a good man_.

Ishiod (Isheod)--_The heavens_.

Thus a new language might be formed.

_24th_. The standard of value with the Indians is various. At this

place, a beaver skin is the standard of computation in accounts. When an

Indian has made a purchase, he inquires, not how many dollars, but how

many beaver skins he owes. Farther south, where racoon skins are plenty,

_they_ become the standard. Some years ago, desertion became so frequent

at Chicago and other posts, that the commanding officer offered the

customary reward to the Indians of the post, if they would secure the

deserters. Five persons went in pursuit, and brought in the men, for

which they received a certificate for the amount. They then divided the

sum into five equal shares, and subdivided each share into its value in

racoon skins. It was not until this division was completed, and the

number of skins ascertained, that they could, by any fixed standard of

comparison, determine the reward which each had received.

_25th_. It is stated in the newspapers that hacks of an axe were lately

found in the central and solid parts of a large tree near Buffalo, which

were supposed to have been made by La Salle's party. Other evidences of

the early footsteps of Europeans on this continent have been mentioned.

A trammel was found in the solid substance of a tree in Onondaga. A gun

barrel in a similar position in the Wabash Valley.[40] Growing wood soon

closes over articles left upon it, in the wilderness, where they are

long undisturbed.

[Footnote 40: Hon. R.W. Thompson.]

_27th. Monedo_ is strictly a term belonging to the Indian mythology and

necromancy, and is constantly used to indicate a spirit. It has not the

regular termination of the noun in _win_, and seems rather verbal in its

aspect, and so far as we can decipher its meaning, _mon_ is a syllable

having a bad meaning generally, as in _monaudud_, &c. _Edo_ may possibly

be a derivation from _ekedo_, he speaks.

_28th_. It is a year ago to-day since I visited the tomb of Washington,

at Mount Vernon. There were three representatives in Congress, in

company. We left the city of Washington in the morning, in a private

carriage, and drove down in good season. I looked about the tomb

narrowly for some memento to bring away, and found some mineralogical

fragments on the small mound over the tomb, which would bear the

application of their book names. On coming back through Alexandria, we

dined at a public hotel, where, among other productions of the season,

we had cucumbers. What a contrast in climate to my present position!

Here, as the eyes search the fields, heaps of snow are still seen in

shaded situations, and the ice still disfigures the bays and

indentations of the shore in some places, as if it were animated with a

determination to hold out against the power of the sun to the utmost.

Nature, however, indicates its great vernal throe. White fish were first

taken during the season, this day, which is rare.

_29th_. A friend at Detroit writes under this date: "I had expected that

before now, instructions would have reached here requiring you to repair

to the St. Peter's. But as the season advances, and they do not arrive,

I begin to fear that one of those mutations, to which of all governments

upon this _mundane sphere_ ours is the most exposed, has changed the

intended disposition."

_May 1st_. Winter still holds its grasp upon the ice in the lower part

of the river and straits.

The _Claytonia Virginica_ observed in flower in favorable spots.

The bay opposite the fort on the north-west shore cleared of ice on the

2d, being the first day that the river has exhibited the appearance of

being completely clear, a strong north-west wind blowing. It is just

four months and ten days from the period of its final closing on the 22d

of December.

The yellow sparrow, or boblinkin, appeared this day in the woods.

_4th_. The surface of the earth is undergoing a rapid transformation,

although we are, at the same time, led to observe, that "winter

lingering chills the lap of May." Sudden changes of temperature are

experienced, which are governed very much by the course and changes of

the wind. Nature appears suddenly to have been awakened from her

torpid state.

All eyes are now directed to the east, not because _the sun rises

there_, but it is the course from which, in our position, we expect

intelligence by vessels. We expect a deliverance from our winter's

incarceration.

_6th_. Lake Superior appears to be entirely open. A gentleman attached

to the Boundary Survey at Fort William writes to me, under this date,

that the bay at that place is free from ice, so as to permit them to

resume their operations. They had been waiting for this occurrence for

two weeks previously.

_8th_. It is a year since I received from the President (Mr. Monroe) a

commission as agent for these tribes; and it is now more probable than

it then was that my residence here may assume a character of permanency.

I do not, however, cease to hope that Providence has a more eligible

situation in reserve for me.

_9th_. "Little things," says Dr. Johnson, "are not valued, when they are

done by those who cannot do greater." Thomas Jefferson uniformly spelled

knowledge without a _w_, which might not be mentioned, had he not

written the _Notes on Virginia_, and the _Declaration of Independence_.

_10th_. A trader proceeded with a boat into Lake Superior, which gives

assurance that this great inland sea is open for navigation. White fish

appeared in the rapids, which it is said they never do while there is

running ice.

_11th_. Stearn sums up the points requisite for remembrance by

posterity, in these four things--"Plant a tree, write a book, build a

house, and get a child." Watts has a deeper tone of morality when

he says--

"We should leave our _names_, our heirs.

Old time and waning moons sweep all the rest away."

_12th_. When last at Washington, Dr. Thornton, of the Patent Office,

detained me some time talking of the powers of the letters of the

English alphabet. He drew a strong line of distinction between the

_names_ and the _sounds_ of the consonants. _L_, for instance, called

_el_, was sounded _le_, &c.

Philology is one of the keys of knowledge which, I think, admits of its

being said that, although it is rather rusty, the rust is, however, a

proof of its antiquity. I am inclined to think that more true light is

destined to be thrown on the history of the Indians by a study of their

languages than of their traditions, or any other feature.

The tendency of modern inquiries into languages seems rather to have

been to multiply than to simplify. I do not believe we have more than

three mother stocks of languages in all the United States east of the

Mississippi, embracing also large portions of territory west of it,

namely, the Algonquin, Iroquois, and what may be called Apallachian.

Perhaps a little Dakota.

_15th_. Our first vessel for the season arrived this day. If by a

patient series of inquiries, during the winter, we had calculated the

appearance of a comet, and found our data verified by its actual

appearance, it could not be a subject of deeper interest than the

bringing ashore of the ship's mail. Had we not gone to so remote a

position, we could not possibly ever have become aware how deeply we are

indebted to the genius and discoveries of Cadmus and Faust, whose true

worshippers are the corps editorial. Now for a carnival of letters.

Reading, reading, reading, "Big and small, scraps and all."

If editors of newspapers knew the avidity with which their articles are

read by persons isolated as we are, I have the charity to believe they

would devote a little more time, and exert a little more candor, in

penning them. For, after all, how large a portion of all that a

newspaper contains is, at least to remote readers, "flat, stale, and

unprofitable." The mind soon reacts, and asks if this be valuable news.

I observed the _Erythronium dens canis_, and _Panax trifolium_ appeared

in flower on the 25th.

_28th_. The schooner "Recovery" arrived from Fort William on the north

shore of Lake Superior, bringing letters and despatches, political and

commercial. Mr. Siveright, the agent of the H. B. C., kindly sent over

to me, for my perusal, a letter of intelligence from an American

gentleman in the North.

_29th_. I have, for some time, relinquished the expectation of being

selected to conduct the exploring party, intended to be ordered by

government, into the region of the St. Peter's, at least the present

season. A letter of this date terminates the uncertainty. "Major

Delafield," says a correspondent, "informs me that an exploring party

has been ordered under Major Long, to make the tour which was intended

for you. Why this arrangement has been made, and the original plan

abandoned, I cannot conjecture, unless it resulted from the necessity of

placing a military officer at the head of the party. I presume this was

the fact, for I am certain that the change in the project did not arise

from any feeling in Mr. C.'s mind unfriendly, or even indifferent to

you. Upon that subject I can speak definitely, and say to you, that you

have a hold upon his esteem, not to be shaken." Thus falls another

cherished hope, namely, that of leading an expedition to the North.

_30th_. Minute particulars are often indicative of general changes. This

is the first day that the mosquito has appeared. The weather for a few

days has been warm. Vegetation suddenly put forth; the wild cherry, &c.,

is now in bloom, and gardening has commenced with fine prospects.

_31st. Odjibwa language_.--There are two generic words in the concrete

forms of the Chippewa for water or a liquid, in addition to the common

term _neebi_. They are _aubo_ and _gomee_. Both are manifestly

compounds, but, in our present state of knowledge, they may be

temporarily considered as elements of other compounds. Thus, if the

letter _n_ be prefixed to the former, and the sound of _b_ suffixed, the

result is the term for soup, _nabob_. If to the same element of _aubo_,

the word for fire, _iscoda_, be prefixed, the result is their name for

ardent spirits, _iscodawabo_, literally fire-water. In the latter case,

the letter _w_ is thrown in as a coalescent between the sound of a, as

_a_ in hate; and the a, as _a_ in fall. This is out of a mere regard

to euphony.

"If they (the Chippewas) say 'A man loves me,' or 'I love a man,' is

there any variation in the word _man_?" They do not use the word _man_

in either of these instances. The adjective _white_ takes the animate

pronoun form in _iz zi_, by which the object beloved is indicated,

_waub-ishk-iz-ze_ Saugiau.

"Does the object precede or follow the verb?" Generally, it precedes the

verb. Fish, have you any? not, Have you any fish?

The substantive preceded the verb in the organization of the language.

Things were before the motion of things, or the acts or passions of men

which led to motion and emotion. Hence, all substances are changed into

and used as verbs.

I this day completed and transmitted the results of my philological

inquiries, hoping they might prove acceptable to the distinguished

individual to whom they were addressed, and help to advance the subject.

This subject is only laid aside by the call of business, and to be

effectual must be again resumed with the recurrence of our long

winter evenings.

CHAPTER XIX.

Outlines of the incidents of the summer of 1823--Glance at the geography

of the lake country--Concretion of aluminous earth--General Wayne's body

naturally embalmed by this property of the soil of Erie--Free and easy

manners--Boundary Survey--An old friend--Western commerce--The Austins

of Texas memory--Collision of civil and military power--Advantages of a

visit to Europe.

1823. _June 10th_. Mr. Thomas Tousey, of Virginia, writes from

Philadelphia, after completing a tour to the West: "The reading of books

and looking at maps make a fugitive impression on the mind, compared to

the ocular view and examination of a country, which make it seem as

though we cannot obtain valuable information, or money to serve a

valuable purpose, without great personal labor, fatigue, and often

danger. This was much verified to my satisfaction, from a view of the

great western lakes; the interesting position where you are--Mackinaw,

Green Bay, the fine country between Green Bay and Chicago, and Chicago

itself, and the whole country between the latter place and St. Louis.

"Without seeing that country, supposed by many to be the region of cold

and sterility, I could not have believed there was in it such a store of

blessings yet to be drawn forth by the labor and enterprise of man, for

succeeding generations. As yet, there are too many objects to tempt and

attract the avarice of man to more mild, but more dangerous climates.

But the progress of population and improvement is certain in many parts

of the country, and with them will be connected prosperity and

happiness."

When it is considered what a small population of civilized beings

inhabit that part of the world, it is not to be wondered at that so

little knowledge about it exists. I went from Green Bay, with the

Express, where but few people ever travel, which was attended with

fatigue and danger; but the journey produced this conviction on my mind,

that the Michigan Territory has in it a great extent of fine country.

I regard Green Bay, at the mouth of Fox River, and Chicago, as two

very important positions, particularly the latter. For many years I have

felt a most anxious desire to see the country between Chicago and the

Illinois (River), where it has generally been, ignorantly, supposed that

only a small sum would be wanting to open a communication between them.

By traveling on horseback through the country, and down the Illinois, I

have conceived a different and more exalted opinion of this

communication, and of the country, than I had before, while I am

convinced that it will be attended with a much greater expense to open

it than I had supposed.[41]

[Footnote 41: The Illinois Canal now exists here.]

I, with my two companions, found your fossil tree, in the Des Plaines,

with considerable labor and difficulty. This I anticipated, from the

commonly reputed opinion of the uncommon height of the waters. With your

memoir in my hand, we rode up and down the waters till the pursuit was

abandoned by the others, while my own curiosity and zeal did not yield

till it was discovered. The detached pieces were covered with twelve to

twenty inches of water, and each of us broke from them as much as we

could well bring away. I showed them to Col. Benton, the Senator in St.

Louis; to Major O'Fallon; Col. Strother, and other gentlemen there; to

Mr. Birkbeck in Wanboro'; to Mr. Rapp in Harmony; and to a number of

different people, through the countries I traveled, till my arrival

in Virginia.

"On my arrival here (Philadelphia), I handed the pieces to Mr. Solomon

W. Conrad, who delivers lectures on mineralogy, which he made partly the

subject of one of his lectures. Since that, I had a piece of it made

into a hone, and I had marked on it, 'Schoolcraft's Fossil Tree.'

"Brooke's _Gazetteer_, improved by Darby, has been ready for delivery

three or four months, and is allowed to be a most valuable book. He is,

I am sorry to say, truly poor, while his labor is incessant. He set out,

several weeks since, to deliver lectures, in the country, where he will

probably continue through the summer."

_16th_. J. D. Doty, Esq., writes from Detroit that a District Court has

been established by Congress in the upper country--that he has been

appointed to the judgeship, and will hold a court at Michilimackinack,

on the third Monday in July. A beginning has thus been made in civil

jurisdiction among us benighted dwellers on this far-off land of God's

creation. He states, also, the passage of a law for claimants to lands,

which have been occupied since 1812. Where law goes, civilization will

soon follow.

_23d_. Giles Sanford, of Erie (Penn.), sends me some curious specimens

of the concrete alum-slate of that vicinity--they are columnar,

fan-shaped--and requests a description. It is well known that the

presence of strong aluminous liquids in the soil of that area had a

tendency to preserve the flesh on General Wayne's body, which was found

undecayed when, after twenty years' burial, they removed it to Radnor

church, in Philadelphia.

_28th_. Governor C. sends me a pamphlet of additional inquiries, founded

chiefly on my replies, respecting the Indian languages. He says--"You

see, I have given new scope to your inquiries, and added much to your

labors. But it is impracticable, without such assistance as you can

render me, to make any progress. I find so few--so very few--who are

competent to a rational investigation of the subject, that those who are

so must be loaded with a double burden."

_July 6th_. Mr. Harry Thompson, of Black Rock, N.Y., writes me that he

duly forwarded, by a careful teamster, my three lost boxes of minerals,

shells, &c., collected in the Wabash Valley, Missouri, and Illinois, in

1821, and that they were received by Mr. Meech of Geneva, and forwarded

by him to E.B. Shearman & Co., Utica. The loss of these collections of

1821 seems to me very grievous.

_19th_. Judge Doty writes from Mackinac: "Believing the winds and fates

to have been propitious, I trust you had a speedy, safe, and pleasant

passage to your home. A boat arrived this morning, but I heard nothing.

Mr. Morrison leaves this evening, and I forward, by him, your

dictionary, with many--_many_ thanks for the use. _We_ completed the

copy of it last evening, making seventy-five pages of letter paper. I

hope I shall be able to return you the favor, and give you soon some

_nice_ Sioux words."

_August 5th_. Judge Doty, in a letter of thanks for a book, and some

philological suggestions, transmits a list of inquiries on the legal

code of the Indians--a rather hard subject--in which, quotations must

not be Coke upon Littleton, but the law of _tomahawk upon craniums_.

"The Sioux," he says, "must be slippery fellows indeed, if I do not

squeeze their language, and several other valuable things, out of them

next winter. I expect to leave for the Mississippi this week, in a

barge, with Mr. Rolette."

_6th_. Mr. D. H. Barnes, of the New York Lyceum of Natural History,

reports that the shells sent to him from the mouth of the Columbia, and

with which the Indians garnish their pouches, are a species of the

Dentalium, particularly described in Jewett's "Narrative of the Loss of

the Ship Boston at Nootka Sound." He transmits proof plates of the fresh

water shells collected by Professor Douglass and myself on the late

expedition to the sources of the Mississippi.

_11th_. The Adjutant-General of the Territory, General J. R. Williams,

transmits me a commission as captain of an independent company of

militia infantry, with a view, it is presumed, on the part of the

executive, that it will tend to strengthen the capacity of resistance to

an Indian combination on this frontier.

_20th_. Mr. Giles Sanford, of Erie, sends me a specimen of gypsum from

Sandusky Bay, and a specimen of the strontian-yielding limestone of

Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie.

_September 10th_. Judge Doty writes from Prairie du Chien, that he had a

pleasant passage, with his family, of fifteen days from Mackinaw; that

he is pleased with the place; and that the delegate election went almost

unanimously for Major Biddle. A specimen of native copper, weighing four

pounds, was found by Mr. Bolvin, at Pine River, a tributary from the

north of the Wisconsin, agreeing in its characters with those in my

cabinet from the basin of Lake Superior.

_15th_. Dr. John Bigsby, of Nottingham, England, writes from the

North-West House, that he arrived yesterday from the Boundary Survey,

and is desirous of exchanging some of his geological and conchological

specimens for species in my possession. The doctor has a very bustling,

clerk-like manner, which does not impress one with the quiet and repose

of a philosopher. He evidently thinks we Americans, at this remote

point, are mere barbarians, and have some shrewd design of making a

chowder, or a speculation out of our granites, and agates, and native

copper. Not a look or word, however, of mine was permitted to disturb

the gentleman in his stilted notions.

_16th_. Major Joseph Delafield, with his party, report the Boundary

Survey as completed to the contemplated point on the Lake of the Woods,

as called for by the Treaty of Ghent. The ease and repose of the major's

manners contrast rather favorably with the fussiness of the

British subs.

_26th_. Mr. Felix Hinchman, of Mackinac, transmits returns of the recent

delegate election, denoting the election of Major Biddle, by a rather

close run, over the Catholic priest _Richard_.

_October 9th_. Mr. W.H. Shearman of Vernon, New York, writes that my

boxes of minerals and fresh water shells are irretrievably lost; that

Mr. Meech, of Geneva, remains mum on the subject; and that they have not

arrived at Utica. Hard fate thus to be despoiled of the fruits of

my labor!

_14th_. Mr. Ebenezer Brigham of Springfield, Illinois, an honest

gentleman with whom I embarked at Pittsburgh, in the spring of 1818 for

the great West and the land of fortune, writes a letter of friendly

reminiscences and sympathies at my success, particularly in getting a

healthy location. Brigham was to have been one of my adventurous party

at Potosi, in the fall of 1818, but the fever and ague laid violent

hands on him. He managed to reach Potosi, but only to bid me good-by,

and a God-speed.

"In this country," he says, "life is at least fifty per cent, below par

in the months of August and September. I have often thought that I run

as great a risk every season which I spend here, as I would in an

ordinary battle. I really believe it seldom happens that a greater

proportion of an army fall victims to the sword, during a campaign, than

there was, of the inhabitants of Illinois, falling victims to disease

during a season that I have been here."

"I have little doubt but the trade of this part of the State of Illinois

will pass through that channel (the northern lakes). Our produce is of a

description that ought to find its way to a northern market, and that,

too, without passing through a tropical climate. Our pork and beef may

arrive at Chicago with nearly the same ease that it can at St. Louis;

and, if packed there and taken through the lakes, would be much more

valuable than if taken by the way of the South; besides, the posts

spoken of (Chicago, Green Bay, &c.) may possibly be supplied cheaper

from this than any other source."

"Moses Austin, I presume you have heard, is dead, and his son Stephen is

acting a very conspicuous part in the province of Texas. Old Mr. Bates,

and his son William, of Herculaneum, both died last summer."

"I should like to know if the same warlike disposition appears amongst

the northern Indians that does amongst those of the west. Nearly, or

quite every expedition to the west of the Mississippi in the fur trade,

this season, has been attacked by different tribes, and some have been

defeated and robbed, and a great many lives have been lost. Those in the

neighborhood of this place, to wit, the Kickapoos and Potawattomies, are

getting cross and troublesome. I should not be surprised if a war with

the Indians generally should take place soon. The troops at the Council

Bluffs have found it necessary to chastise one tribe already (the

Aurickarees), which they have done pretty effectually, having killed a

goodly number, and burnt their towns."

_19th_. Governor C. writes, in response to a letter detailing

difficulties which have arisen oh this frontier between the military and

citizens: "Military gentlemen, when stationed at remote posts, too often

'feel power and forget right,' and the history of our army is replete

with instances proving incontestably by how frail a tenure our liberties

would be held, were it not for the paramount authority and redeeming

spirit of our civil institutions."

"I thank you," he observes, "for the specimens of copper you have sent

me. I participate with you in your feelings upon the important discovery

you have been the instrument of communicating to the world, respecting

the existence of that metal upon the long point of Lake Superior. This

circumstance, in conjunction with others, will, I hope, lead to a

congressional appropriation, at the next session, for exploring that

country, and making such purchases of the Indians as may promise the

valuable supplies."

"My Indian materials are rapidly accumulating; but, unfortunately, they

are more valuable for quantity than quality. It is almost impossible to

rely upon the information which is communicated to me on the subject of

the languages. There is a lamentable obtuseness of intellect manifested

in both collector and contributor; and there is no systematic

arrangement--no analytical process, and, in fact, no correctness of

detail. I may safely say that what I received from you is more valuable

than all my other stock.

"It has recurred to me that you ought to visit Europe. Don't startle at

the suggestion! I have thought of it frequently. You might easily

procure some person to execute your duties, &c., and I think there would

be no difficulty in procuring permission from the government. I speak,

however, _without book_. Think of the matter. I see incalculable

advantages which would result to you from it, and you would go under

very favorable auspices, and with a rich harvest of literary fame."

_23d_. B. F. Stickney, Esq., writes on the occasion of not having

earlier acknowledged my memoir on the Fossil Tree of the Des Plaines, in

Illinois. "How little we know of the laws of nature," he observes, "of

which we profess to know so much."

CHAPTER XX.

Incidents of the year 1824--Indian researches--Diverse idioms of the

Ottowa and Chippewa--Conflict of opinion between the civil and military

authorities of the place--A winter of seclusion well spent--St. Paul's

idea of languages--Examples in the Chippewa--The Chippewa a pure form of

the Algonquin--Religion in the wilderness--Incidents--Congressional

excitements--Commercial view of the copper mine question--Trip to

Tackwymenon Falls, in Lake Superior.

1824. _Jan. 1st_. As soon as the business season closed, I resumed my

Indian researches.

General C. writes: "The result of your inquiries into the Indian

language is highly valuable and satisfactory. I return you my sincere

thanks for the papers. I have examined them attentively. I should be

happy to have you prosecute your inquiries into the manners, customs,

&c., of the Indians. You are favorably situated, and have withal such

unconquerable perseverance, that I must tax you more than other persons.

My stock of materials, already ample, is rapidly increasing, and many

new and important facts have been disclosed. It is really surprising

that so little valuable information has been given to the world on

this subject."

Mr. B.F. Stickney, formerly an agent at Fort Wayne, Indiana, writes from

Depot (now Toledo): "I am pleased to see that your mind is engaged on

the Chippewa language. It affords a field sufficiently extensive for the

range of all the intellect and industry that the nation can bring into

action. If the materials already collected should, after a scrutiny and

arrangement, be thrown upon the literary world, it would excite so much

interest as not to permit the inquiry thus to stop at the threshold. It

is really an original inquiry concerning the operations of the human

mind, wherein a portion of the human race, living apart from the rest,

have independently devised means for the interchange of thoughts and

ideas. Their grammatical rules are so widely different from all our

European forms that it forces the mind to a retrospective view of first

principles.

"I have observed the differences you mention between the Ottowa and

Chippewa dialects. Notwithstanding I conceive them to be (as you

observe) radically the same language, I think there is less difference

between the band of Ottowas you mention, of _L'Arbre Croche_, than the

Ottowas of this vicinity. It appears that their languages are subject to

very rapid changes. From not being written, they have no standard to

resort to, and I have observed it demonstrated in bands of the same

tribe, residing at considerable distances from each other, and having

but little intercourse for half a century; these have with difficulty

been able to understand each other.

"I am pleased to learn that you are still advancing the sciences of

mineralogy and conchology. Your discovery of native silver imbedded in

native copper is certainly a very extraordinary one."

_28th_. Major E. Cutler, commanding officer, applies to me, as a

magistrate, to prosecute all citizens who have settled on the reserve at

St. Mary's, and opened "shops for the sale of liquor." Not being a

public prosecuting attorney, it does not appear how this can at all be

done, without his designating the names of the offenders, and the

offences for which they are to be tried.

_30th_. The same officer reports that his duties will not permit him to

erect quarters for the Indian agent, which he is required to put up,

till another year. If this step is to be regarded, as it seems, as a

retaliatory measure for my not issuing process, _en masse_, against the

citizens, without he or his subordinates condescending to name

individuals, it manifests an utter ignorance of the first principles of

law, and is certainly a queer request to be made of a justice of the

peace. Nor does it appear how the adoption of such whims or assumptions

is compatible with a just official comity or an enlarged sense of public

duty, on his part, and pointed instructions, to boot, in co-operating

with the Indian department on a remote and exposed frontier.

There seems to be a period, on the history of the frontiers, where

conflicts between the military and civil authorities are almost

inevitable; but there are, perhaps, few examples to be found where the

former power has been more aggressively and offensively exercised than

it has been under the martinet who is now in command at this post. It is

an ancient point of settlement by the French, who are generally a mild

and obliging people, and disposed to submit to authorities. Some of

these are descended from persons who settled here under Louis XIV. That

a few Americans have followed the troops with more rigid views of

private rights, and who cannot be easily trampled on, is true. And the

military have, justly, no doubt, felt annoyances from a freedom of trade

with the soldiery, who cannot be kept within their pickets by bayonets

and commands. But he must be far gone in his sublimated notions of

self-complacency and temporary importance who supposes that a magistrate

would surrender his sense of independence, and impartiality between man

and man, by assuming new and unheard-of duties, at the beck of a

military functionary who happens to overrate his own, or misjudge

another's position.

_March 31st_. I have given no little part of the winter to a revision of

my manuscript journal of travels through the Miami and Wabash Valleys in

1821. The season has been severe, and offered few inducements to go

beyond the pale of the usual walk to my office, the cantonment, and to

the village seated at the foot of the rapids. Variety, in this pursuit,

has been sought, in turning from the transcription of these records of a

tourist to the discussion of the principles of the Indian languages--a

labor, if literary amusement can be deemed a labor, which was generally

adjourned from my office, to be resumed in the domestic circle during

the long winter evenings. A moral enjoyment has seldom yielded more of

the fruits of pleasure. In truth, the winter has passed almost

imperceptibly away. Tempests howled around us, without diminishing our

comforts. We often stood, in the clear winter evenings, to gaze at the

splendid displays of the Aurora Borealis. The cariole was sometimes put

in requisition. We sometimes tied on the augim, or snow-shoe, and

ventured over drifts of snow, whose depth rendered them impassable to

the horse. We assembled twice a week, at a room, to listen to the chaste

preaching of a man of deep-toned piety and sound judgment, whose life

and manners resemble an apostle's.

In looking back at the scenes and studies of such a season, there was

little to regret, and much to excite in the mind pleasing vistas of hope

and anticipation. The spring came with less observation than had been

devoted to the winter previous; and the usual harbingers of advancing

warmth--the small singing birds and northern flowers--were present ere

we were well aware of their welcome appearance.

Hope is a flower that fills the sentient mind

With sweets of rapturous and of heavenly kind;

And those, who in her gardens love to tread,

Alone can tell how soft the odors spread.

HETHERWOLD.

_April 20th_. "There are, it may be," says Paul, "many kinds of voices

in the world, and none of them is without signification." It could

easily be proved that many of these voices are very rude; but it would

take more philological acumen than was possessed by Horne Tooke to prove

that any of them are without "signification." By the way, Tooke's

"Diversions of Purley" does not seem to me so odd a title as it

once appeared.

C. writes to me, under this date, "I pray you to push your philological

inquiries as far as possible; and to them, add such views as you may be

able to collect of the various topics embraced in my plan."

There is, undoubtedly, some danger that, in making the Indian history

and languages a topic of investigation, the great practicable objects of

their reclamation may be overlooked. We should be careful, while

cultivating the mere literary element, not to palliate our delinquencies

in philanthropic efforts in their behalf, under the notion that nothing

can be effectively done, that the Indian is not accessible to moral

truths, and that former efforts having failed of general results, such

as those of Eliot and Brainerd, they are beyond the reach of _ordinary_

means. I am inclined to believe that the error lies just here--that is,

in the belief that some extraordinary effort is thought to be necessary,

that their sons must be cooped up in boarding-schools and colleges,

where they are taught many things wholly unsuited to their condition and

wants, while the mass of the tribes is left at home, in the forests, in

their ignorance and vices, untaught and neglected.

In the exemplification of St. Paul's idea, that all languages are given

to men, with an exact significance of words and forms, and therefore not

vaguely, there is the highest warrant for their study; and the time thus

devoted cannot be deemed as wasted or thrown away. How shall a man say

"raca," or "that fox," if there be no equivalents for the words in

barbarous languages? The truth is that this people find no-difficulty in

expressing the exact meanings, although the form of the words is

peculiar. The derogative sense of sly and cunning, which is, in the

original, implied by the demonstrative pronoun "that," a Chippewa would

express by a mere inflection of the word fox, conveying a bad or

reproachful idea; and the pronoun cannot be charged with an

ironical meaning.

In _ke-bau-diz-ze,_ which is an equivalent for _raca_, there is a

personal pronominal prefix, and an objective pronominal suffix. The

radix, in _baud_, has thus the second person thou in _ke_; and the

objective inflection, _iz-ze,_ means a person in a general sense. This

reveals two forms of the Chippewa substantive, which are applicable to

all words, and leaves nothing superfluous or without "significance." In

fact, the whole language is susceptible of the most clear and exact

analysis. This language is one of the most pure, clear, and

comprehensive forms of the Algonquin.

_May 20th_. The Rev. Robert McMurtrie Laird, of Princess Anne, Maryland,

but now temporarily at Detroit, writes to me in a spirit of affectionate

kindness and Christian solicitude. The history of this pious man's

labors on the remotest frontiers of Michigan is probably recorded where

it will be known and acknowledged, in hymns of gladness, when this

feeble and frail memorial of ink and paper has long perished.

Late in the autumn of 1823, he came, an unheralded stranger, to St.

Mary's. No power but God's, it would seem, could have directed his

footsteps there. There was everything to render them repulsive. The

Indian _wabene_ drum, proclaiming the forest tribes to be under the

influence of their native diviners and jossakeeds, was nightly sending

forth its monotonous sounds. But he did not come to them. His object was

the soldiery and settlement, to whom he could utter truths in the

English tongue. He was assigned quarters in the cantonment, where an

entire battalion of infantry-was then stationed. To all these, but one

single family, it may be said that his preaching was received as

"sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Certainly, there were the

elements of almost everything else there but religion. And, while

occupying a room in the fort, his fervent and holy spirit was

often tried

"By most unseemly mirth and wassail rife."

He came to see me, at my office and at my lodgings, frequently during

the season, and never came when he did not appear to me to be one of the

purest and most devoted, yet gentle and most unostentatious, of human

beings. It is hoped his labors were not without some witness to the

truths which he so faithfully taught. But, as soon as the straits were

relieved from the icy fetters of winter, he went away, never, perhaps,

to see us more. He now writes to apprise me of the spread of a rumor

respecting my personal interest in the theme of his labors, which had,

without permission from his lips, reached the ears of some of my friends

at Detroit. Blessed sensitiveness to rumor, how few possess it!

Having said this much, I may add that, in the course of the winter, my

mind was arrested by his mode of exhibiting truth. The doctrine of the

Trinity, which had seemed to me the mere jingle of a triad, as deduced

from him, appeared to be a unity, which derived all its coherence and

vitality from a belief in the Second Person. The word "Lord" became

clothed with a majesty and power which rendered it inapplicable, in my

views, to any human person. The assiduity that I had devoted, night and

day, to my manuscripts, in the search after scientific truths, and the

knowledge arising from study, did not appear to me to be wrong in

itself, but was thought to be pursued with an intensity that withdrew my

mind from, or, rather, had never allowed it properly to contemplate and

appreciate the character of God.

_23d_. A literary friend writes: "I am rejoiced to learn that you have

made such progress in your new work. I hope and trust that the celerity

with which you have written has not withdrawn your attention from those

subjects connected with literary success, which are more important than

even time itself."

"My prospects of seeing you at the Sault, this season," writes the same

hand, "grows weaker and weaker every day. I cannot ascertain in what

situation Col. Benton's bill is, for the purchase of the copper country

upon Lake Superior, nor the prospects of its eventual passage. Our last

Washington dates are of the 8th instant, and at that time there was a

vast mass of business pending before both Houses, and the period of

adjournment was uncertain. Mr. Lowrie and Governor Edwards have

furnished abundant matter for congressional excitement. It really

appears to me that, as soon as two or three hundred men are associated

together to talk at, and about one another, and everything else, their

passions and feelings usurp the place of their reason. Like children,

they are excited by every question having a local or personal aspect.

Their powers of dispassionate deliberation are lost, and everything is

forgotten but the momentary excitement."

_25th. Commercial View of Copper Mine Question_.--M.M. Dox, Esq.,

Collector at Buffalo, writes:--

I have long had it in contemplation to write to you, not only on the

score of old friendship, but also to learn the feasibility of a scheme

relating to the copper mines of Lake Superior. This subject has so often

annoyed my meditations, or rather taken up so considerable a proportion

of them, that I have been disposed, with the poet, to exclaim--

'Visions of (copper [42]) spare my aching sight.'

[Footnote 42: "Glory."--_Gray_.]

"I have just met Mr. Griswold, from whom I learn that you made some

inquiries in reference to the price of transportation, &c. I will answer

them for him. Copper in pig, or unmanufactured, is free of duty, on

entry into the United States; its price in the New York market is, at

this time (very low), sixteen cents per pound. Copper in sheets for

sheeting of vessels (also free), about twenty-five cents per pound, and

brazier's copper (paying a duty of fifteen per cent, on its cost in

England), equal to about two and a half cents per pound. Until this

year, and a few previous, the article has uniformly been from thirty to

forty per cent, higher than the prices now quoted, that is, in time of

peace. In time of war (in Europe) the price is enhanced ten or twenty

per cent. above peace prices: and in this country, during the Late War,

the price was, at one time, as high as $1.50 to $2.00 per pound.

"The history of England and this country does not furnish a period when

copper was as low as at the present time, according to its relative

value with the medium of exchange. Time and invention have developed

richer mines and produced greater facilities for obtaining it; but the

world does not probably know a region from whence the article can be

furnished so cheaply as from the shores of Lake Superior. All accounts

concur in representing the metal in that quarter of a superior quality,

and furnish strong indications that it may be obtained, in quantities,

with more than ordinary facility. When obtained, if on the navigable

waters of the lake, the transportation to the strait will be easy and

cheap, and the smelting not cost to exceed $20 per ton (for copper), and

the transportation thence to New York one or one and a half cent per

pound; one cent per pound, in addition, will carry it to any market in

the world.

"If the difficulties to be incurred in obtaining the ore should prove to

be no greater than may be reasonably anticipated, it is evident that it

must be a very profitable business. Will the government then have the

mines worked? I answer for them, _No_. The experience had by Congress in

regard to the Indian trade (the Factory System) will, for many years at

least, prevent that body from making any appropriation for such a

purpose. The most safe and judicious course for the government is to

draw private enterprise into the business; and, by holding out proper

inducements, it will be enabled, without a dollar of extra expense, to

derive, before many years, a handsome revenue from this source."

* * * * *

_30th. Trip to Tacquimenon Falls, Lake Superior_.--Accounts from the

Indians represented the falls of the Tacquimenon River of Lake Superior

as presenting picturesque features which were eminently worthy of a

visit. Confined to the house during the winter, I thought an excursion

proper. I determined to take the earliest opportunity, when the ice had

left the lake, and before the turmoil of the summer's business began, to

execute this wish. For this purpose, I took a canoe, with a crew of

Chippewa Indians, with whom I was well acquainted, and who were familiar

with the scene. I provisioned myself well, and took along my office

interpreter. I found this arrangement was one which was agreeable to

them, and it put them perfectly at their ease. They traveled along in

the Indian manner, talking and laughing as they pleased with each other,

and with the interpreter. Nothing could have been better suited to

obtain an insight into their manners and opinions. One of their most

common topics of talk was the flight of birds, particularly the

carnivorous species, to which they addressed talks as they flew. This

subject, I perceived, connected itself with the notions of war and the

enemy's country.

On one occasion after we had entered Lake Superior, and were leisurely

paddling, not remote from the shore, one of the Indians fired at, and

wounded a duck. The bird could not rise so as to fly, but swam ashore,

and, by the time we reached land, was completely missing. A white man

would have been nonplused. Not so the Indian. He saw a fallen tree, and

carefully looked for an orifice in the under side, and, when he found

one, thrust in his hand and drew out of it the poor wounded bird.

Frightened and in pain, it appeared to roll its eyeballs

completely round.

By their conversation and familiar remarks, I observed that they were

habitually under the influence of their peculiar mythology and religion.

They referred to classes of _monetos_, which are spirits, in a manner

which disclosed the belief that the woods and waters were replete with

their agency. On the second day, we reached and entered the Tacquimenon

River. It carried a deep and strong current to the foot of the first

falls, which they call Fairy Rocks. This Indian word denotes a species

of little men or fairies, which, they say, love to dwell on rocks. The

falls are broken into innumerable cascades, which give them a peculiarly

sylvan air. From the brink of these falls to the upper falls, a distance

of about six miles, the channel of the river is a perfect torrent, and

would seem to defy navigation. But before I was well aware of it, they

had the canoe in it, with a single man with a long pole in the bow and

stern. I took my seat between the centre bars, and was in admiration at

the perfect composure and _sangfroid_ with which these two men managed

it--now shooting across the stream to find better water, and always

putting in their poles exactly at the right instant, and singing some

Indian cantata all the while. The upper falls at length burst on our

view, on rounding a point. The river has a complete drop, of some forty

feet, over a formation of sandstone. The water forms a complete curtain.

There is nothing to break the sheet, or intercept it, till it reaches

the deep water below. They said there was some danger of the canoe's

being drawn under the sheet, by a kind of suction. This' stream in fact,

geologically considered, crosses through, and falls over, the high ridge

of sandstone rock which stretches from Point Iroquois to the Pictured

Rocks. I took sketches of both the upper and lower falls.

Being connected by marriage with an educated and intelligent lady, who

is descended, by her mother's side, from the former ruler of the

Chippewa nation--a man of renown--I was received, on this trip, with a

degree of confidence and cordiality by the Indians, which I had not

expected. I threw myself, naked handed, into their midst, and was

received with a noble spirit of hospitality and welcome. And the

incidents of this trip revealed to me some of the most interesting

scenes of Indian domestic life.

CHAPTER XXI.

Oral tales and legends of the Chippewas--First assemblage of a

legislative council at Michigan--Mineralogy and geology--Disasters of

the War of 1812--Character of the new legislature--Laconic

note--Narrative of a war party, and the disastrous murders committed at

Lake Pepin in July 1824--Speech of a friendly Indian chief from Lake

Superior on the subject--Notices of mineralogy and geology in the

west--Ohio and Erie Canal--Morals--Lafayette's progress--Hooking

minerals--A philosophical work on the Indians--Indian biography by

Samuel L. Conant--Want of books on American archaeology--Douglass's

proposed work on the expedition of 1820.

1824. _May 30th_. Having found, in the circle of the Chippewa wigwams, a

species of oral fictitious lore, I sent some specimens of it to friends

in the lower country, where the subject excited interest. "I am

anxious," writes a distinguished person, under this date, "that you

should bring with you, when you come down, your collection of Indian

tales. I should be happy to see them." [43] That the Indians should

possess this mental trait of indulging in lodge stories, impressed me as

a novel characteristic, which nothing I had ever heard of the race had

prepared me for. I had always heard the Indian spoken of as a

revengeful, bloodthirsty man, who was steeled to endurance and delighted

in deeds of cruelty. To find him a man capable of feelings and

affections, with a heart open to the wants, and responsive to the ties

of social life, was amazing. But the surprise reached its acme, when I

found him whiling away a part of the tedium of his long winter evenings

in relating tales and legends for the amusement of the lodge circle.

These fictions were sometimes employed, I observed, to convey

instruction, or impress examples of courage, daring, or right action.

But they were, at all times, replete with the wild forest notions of

spiritual agencies, necromancy, and demonology. They revealed abundantly

the causes of his hopes and fears--his notions of a Deity, and his

belief in a future state.

[Footnote 43: This counsel I pursued in the autumn of that year, and

published specimens of the legends in the winter of 1825, in "Travels in

the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley," and in 1839 submitted

to the public two duodecimo volumes, under the title of "Algie

Researches, Part I."]

_June 18th_. Michigan is gradually assuming steps which are a part of

that train which will in time develop her resources and importance. She

has lately taken measures to enter what is called the second grade of

government. General Charles Larned, of Detroit, writes me that the first

session of the first territorial legislature is now convened, and that

the members acquit themselves with credit.

_22d_. The mineralogy and geology of the region furnish topics of

interest, which help to fill up pauses in the intervals of business. By

making my office a focus for collecting whatever is new in the

unexplored regions, excitement is kept alive, and knowledge in the end

promoted. Lewis Saurin Johnston, of Drummond Island, sends me a box of

specimens from that locality. This gentleman, who occupies a situation

in the British Indian department, is a grandson of the late Waubojeeg, a

celebrated orator and warrior formerly of La Pointe, in Lake Superior.

On the 26th, Mr. Giles Sanford, of Erie in Pennsylvania, contributes a

collection of the minerals of that vicinity.

_July 10th_. The War of 1812 proved disastrous to some individuals on

this frontier. After a delay of ten years, the British government has

announced its intention to indemnify those of its subjects who lost

property. Mr. Johnston, who suffered heavily, determined to visit

Toronto with the view of laying his case before Lieutenant-Governor

Maitland. He writes, on his way down, during a delay at Drummond Island,

in his usual hopeful, warm-hearted strain--full of love to those left

behind, and free forgiveness to all who have injured him. With the

highest purposes of honor, and the soul of hospitality and social

kindness, surely such a man deserves to succeed.

_12th_. Dr. J.J. Bigsby, of England, writes a letter introducing

Lieutenant Bolton of the British engineers, a zealous naturalist, and

Major Mercer of the artillery--both being on an official tour of

inspection.

_18th_. Judge J.D. Doty announces himself at Michilimackinack, on his

return from Detroit to Green Bay. He says that the members of the

legislative council are disposed to be rather menders of _old_ laws than

makers of _new_ ones, and that they are guided by the spirit

of prudence.

_21st_. John Tanner, the returned captive, dictates from Mackinac this

laconic appeal for employment: "All my property is now made away with,

so that I have nothing left but one old blanket. I am in such a

situation that I am unable to go anywhere--have no money, no clothes,

and nothing to eat."

_Aug. 19th_. Mr. George Johnston writes from the sub-agency of La

Pointe, Lake Superior, that a rumor prevails of a murder lately

committed by a Chippewa war party, on American citizens, on the upper

Mississippi.

_31st_. Mr. John Holiday, a trader, arrived from the Ance Kewy-winenon

in Lake Superior, bringing a small coffin painted black, inclosing an

American scalp, with the astounding intelligence that a shocking murder

had been committed by a war party of Chippewas at Lake Pepin, on the

Mississippi. The facts turned out to be these: In the spring of the year

(1824), Kewaynokwut (Returning Cloud), a chief of Lake Vieux Desert, at

the source of the Wisconsin, suffered a severe fit of sickness, and

made, a vow, if he recovered, to collect a war party and lead it against

the Sioux, which he did early in the summer. He passed the trading-post

of Lac du Flambeau, with twenty-nine men in canoes on the 1st of July.

He pursued down the Waswagon branch into the main Chippewa River, after

a cautious journey, and came to its mouth early in July, at an early

hour in the morning, when a fog prevailed. This river enters the

Mississippi at the foot of the expanse called Lake Pepin, which is a

common place for encampment. It is the usual point of issue for Chippewa

war parties against the Sioux, for which it has been celebrated since

the first migration of the Chippewas into the rice lake region at its

sources. Prom the usual lookout, called Mount Le Gard, they discovered

imperfectly an encampment on the shores of Lake Pepin. On coming to it,

it proved to be an American, a trader of the name of Finley, with three

Canadians, on his way from Prairie du Chien to St. Peter's. One of the

men spoke Chippewa. They were asleep when the advance of the Indian

party arrived. When they awoke they saw the Indians with terror and

surprise. The Indians cried out to their comrades in the rear that they

were not Sioux, that they were white people. The party then all came

up. The war chief Kewaynokwut Said, "Do not be afraid. This party you

see are my young men; and I command them. They will not do you any harm,

nor hurt you." Some of the party soon began to pillage. They appeared to

be half famished, first taking their provisions, which consisted of half

a bag of flour, half a bag of corn, a few biscuits, and half a hog. The

biscuits they immediately eat, and then began to rob the clothing, which

they parted among themselves.

The Indians diligently inquired where the Sioux abroad on the river

were, what number they might be, where they came from, and whither they

were going? to all which judicious replies appear to have been made, but

one, namely, that they consisted of thirty, on their way from St.

Peter's to Prairie du Chien. Being but twenty-nine men, the rencontre

appeared to them to be unequal, and, in fact, alarmed them. They

immediately prepared to return, filing off one after another, in order

to embark in their canoes, which were lying at a short distance. Before

this movement, Kakabika had taken his gun to fire at the whites, but was

prevented by the others. But they went off disappointed, and

grumblingly. This was the case particularly with Kakabika, Okwagin,

Whitehead, Wamitegosh, and Sagito, who began crying they wanted to kill

the whites. Sagito then said that it was a very hard thing that they

should return light--that when one went out a hunting, he did not like

to return without killing something. "What," he said, "did we come here

for? Was it not to kill?" At this Kewaynokwut wavered, who had promised

safety, and did not interpose his authority to check the brooding evil,

although he took no part in it. Whitehead, Okwaykun, and Wamitegosh, who

were in the rear of the party, leveled their arms and fired, killing on

the spot the three men, who were immediately scalped. The wildest fury

was instantly excited.

Finley, in the mean time, had gone to the Indian canoes to recover his

papers, saying they were of no use to them, and of importance to him.

Hearing the report of guns behind him, he perceived that his companions

were killed, and took to flight. He threw himself into the water.

Annamikees, or the Little Thunder, then fired at him and missed. He

quickly reloaded his gun, and fired again, effectively. Finley was

mortally shot. The Indian then threw himself into the water, and cut off

the unfortunate man's head, for the purpose of scalping it, leaving the

body in the water. The party then quickly returned back into the region

whence they had sallied, and danced the scalps in their villages as

Indian scalps.

Mr. Holliday was also the bearer of a speech from Gitshe Iauba, the

ruling chief of Ance Kewywenon, through whose influence this occurrence

was brought to light. He first addressed his trader in the

following words:--

"We were deceived. Word was sent to us to come and fetch the scalp of a

Sioux Indian of our enemy. This was my reason for sending for it. But,

ah me! when they brought word that it was the scalp of an American, I

sent for the young man whom you left in charge of your house and store,

and asked him what should be done with the scalp of our friend. It was

concluded to have it buried in the burying-ground."

He then addressed the United States agent at Sault Ste. Marie, in the

following words, accompanying them with a string of wampum:--

"Our father. This wampum was given to me that I might remain in peace. I

shook hands with you when I left St. Mary's. My heart was in friendship.

I have taken no rest since I heard of the foul deed of our friends, the

people of Vieux Desert, and Torch Lake, in killing a citizen of the

American Government, the government that protects me.

"Now, Americans, my situation is to be pitied. My wish is, that we

should live in friendship together. Since I shook hands with you,

nothing on my part shall be wanting to keep us so."

I immediately forwarded the little scalp-coffin received from the

interior, with a report of this high-handed outrage to the Executive of

the Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs, at Detroit, that the

occurrence might be reported promptly to the War Office at Washington.

_November 27th_. I determined to spend the winter in New York; to place

the agency, in the interim, in charge of an officer of the garrison, and

to visit Washington from this city during the season. Captain N.S.

Clarke, 2d Infantry, consented to perform the duties of the agency

during my absence. And having obtained leave of absence from my superior

in the department, I embarked, in September, on board a schooner for

Detroit, with Mrs. Schoolcraft, her infant son William Henry, my

sister-in-law, Miss Anna Maria Johnston, and a servant, making a little

group of five. We touched at Michilimackinack.

We were kindly received at Detroit by General and Mrs. Cass, who had

invited us to be their guests, and pursued our way, without accident, to

New York, where we arrived the day prior to the annual celebration of

the Evacuation. New scenes and new situations here rapidly developed

themselves. But before these are named, some letters that followed me

from the Lake may be noticed.

B. F. Stickney, Esq., writes (October 15th) from the foot of the Miami

of the Lakes (now Toledo): "Recently I have had brought to me a specimen

of manganese, the bed of which is located about nine miles south-west of

this. The quantity is represented to be very extensive."

I find that strontian is much more extensively interspersed through the

rock formations of this region than I had heretofore conceived. At the

foot of the rapids of this river, there are extensive strata of

carbonate of lime, sufficiently charged with magnesia to destroy all

vegetation, when converted to the state of quicklime; although Dr.

Mitchell, in his "Notes to Phillips' Mineralogy," denies to magnesian

carbonate of lime this quality. But I have tested it fully. I rather

think the doctor's mistake must have arisen from a supposition that Mr.

Phillips intended to say that the magnesia, when in combination with

carbonate of lime, and _in sitû_, was destructive to vegetation.

_Ohio and Erie Canal_.--"A commissioner of the State of Ohio, with

engineers, is taking levels, examining water-courses, and making

estimates of cost, to ascertain the practicability of making a canal

from Cincinnati up the valley of the Big Miami, and Loromier's creek,

across the summit level, to the Auglaize and Miami of Lake Erie, to the

level of the lake water. These surveys will give us much assistance in

judging of the geological formations between the Lake and the

Mississippi."

_Geology_.--"As an outline sketch, I should say that, from the rock

basin of the Erie-sea to the Ohio River, by the way of Fort Wayne, there

is a ridge, of about 200 feet elevation, of rock formation, all new

floetz, with a covering of from ten to seventy feet of pulverulent

earth. At the summit this layer is twenty feet. That the Miami and

Wabash have cut their courses down to the rock, with only here and there

a little sand and gravel upon its surface. As far as conjecture will go,

for the levels of the strata on the Wabash and Miami, the same

mineralogical characters are to be found in the strata, at the same

elevation. This would be an important fact to be ascertained, by the

levels accurately taken."

"I am pleased that you have not abated your usual industry in the

pursuit of knowledge in the science of geology and mineralogy, first in

magnitude and first in the order of nature."

_Morals of Green Bay_.--J.D. Doty, Esq., Judge of the District, reports

(Oct. 15th) that the Grand Jury for Brown County, at the late special

session of court, presented forty indictments! Most of these appear to

have been petty affairs; but they denote a lax state of society.

John Johnston, Esq., writes (Oct. 30th): "Since the arrival of the mail,

I have been the constant companion in thought of the great and good

Lafayette, throughout his tour, or rather splendid procession as far as

the account has reached us, and for which history has no parallel. Oh!

how poor, how base, the adulation given by interested sycophants to

kings and despots, compared to the warm affections of the grateful

heart, and spontaneous bursts of admiration and affection from a great,

free, and happy people."

_Hooking Minerals_.--L. Bull, now of Philadelphia, writes respecting the

position of several boxes of minerals left in the Lyceum of Natural

History, of New York, in 1822, which have, been sadly depredated on.

_Plan of a Philosophical Work on the Indians_.--General C. announces to

me (Dec. 5th) that he has settled on a plan for bringing forward the

results of his researches on the subject of the Indian tribes. The

details of this appear to be well selected and arranged, and the

experiment on the popular taste of readers, for as such the work is

designed, cannot but be hailed by every one who has thought upon the

subject. Few men have seen more of the Indians in peace and war. Nobody

has made the original collections which he has, and I know of no man

possessing the capacity of throwing around them so much literary

attraction. It is only to be hoped that his courage will not fail him

when he comes to the sticking point. It requires more courage on some

minds to write a book than to face a cannon.

_14th_. Major Joseph Delafield, of New York, commends to my acquaintance

Samuel S. Conant, Esq., of the city; a gentleman of a high moral

character and literary tone, an occasional writer for the "American"

newspaper, who proposes to compile a work on Indian eloquence. Charles

King, Esq., the editor of the paper, transmits a note to the major,

which is enclosed, speaking of Mr. Conant as "a man of merit and

talents, who in his design is seeking to save a noble but

persecuted race."

_19th_. General Cass writes further of his literary plans: "If I am

favorably situated, in some respects, to procure information, as a

drawback upon this, I feel many disadvantages. I have no books to refer

to but what I can purchase, and independently of the means which any one

person can apply to this object, those books which can alone be useful

to me are so rare that nothing but accident can enable a person to

purchase them."

_Lake Superior Copper Mines_.--"I have written to Colonel Benton fully

on the subject of the copper country, and I have referred him to you for

further information."

_25th_. _Expedition of_ 1820.--Professor D. B. Douglass, of West Point,

returns a portfolio of sketches and drawings of scenery, made by me on

the expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, in 1820, with several

of which he has illustrated the borders of his map of that expedition.

"Have you," he says, "seen _Long's Second Expedition?_ We have only one

copy on the Point, and I have only had time to look at the map. It makes

me more than ever desirous to consummate my original views of publishing

relative to that country. I have never lost sight of this matter; and,

if my professional engagements continue to engross as much of my time as

they have done, I will send my map to Tanner, and let him publish it,

hap-hazard."

CHAPTER XXII.

Parallelism of customs--Home scenes--Visit to Washington--Indian work

respecting the Western Tribes--Indian biography--Professor

Carter--Professor Silliman--Spiteful prosecution--Publication of Travels

in the Mississippi Valley--A northern Pocahontas--Return to the Lakes--A

new enterprise suggested--Impressions of turkeys' feet in

rock--Surrender of the Chippewa war party, who committed the murders in

1824, at Lake Pepin--Their examination, and the commitment of the actual

murderers.

1825. _January 1st_. New Year's day here, as among the metif, and also

the pure descendants of the ancient French of Normandy in Michigan, is a

day of friendly visiting from house to house, and cordial

congratulations, with refreshments spread on the board for all. As this

was also the custom of the ancient Hollanders, who, from the Texel and

Scheldt, landed here in 1609, it affords a species of proof of the

wide-spread influence of the customs of the Middle Ages in Western

Europe, which is remarkable. And it would form an interesting topic of

historical inquiry.

_4th_. Home and its scenes. The sympathy kept up by domestic letters

when absent from home is one of the purest supports of the heart and

mind. Mr. John Johnston, of St. Mary's, writes me one of his

warm-hearted letters of friendship, which breathes the ardor of his

mind, and shows a degree of sympathy that is refreshing, and such as

must ever be a great encouragement in every noble pursuit. The

how-d'ye-do, everyday visitor is satisfied with his "how d'ye do;" but

there is a friend that "sticketh closer than a brother."

_10th_. My position at St. Mary's, and the prominent part I occupied in

the collision of authority between the military and the citizens, on

some points, and between the former and the Indian department, was

anything but agreeable, and would have been intolerable to any one,

having less resources than I had, in an absorbing study, which every day

and every evening turned up some new and fresh point of interest. I had

therefore sources of enjoyment which were a constant support, and this

was particularly the case, after the scenes which were opened up in the

winter of 1824 by my intercourse with the Rev. Mr. Laird. But I resolved

early in the summer to spend the winter in New York, and to visit

Washington, to place some of the official transactions to which I have

referred, in their proper lights. This day I therefore left the city, to

visit the Capitol. During the expected absence; Mrs. Schoolcraft, with

her child, little sister, and nurse, had accepted an invitation to spend

the time with Mr. and Mrs. Samuel S. Conant, who had a pleasant

residence on the Bloomingdale road, some two or three miles from the

Park. My visit was altogether agreeable. So far as the subjects at issue

on the frontier were not of local jurisdiction, in which I was fully and

promptly sustained by the Executive, I was met by Mr. Calhoun in his

usual frank, explicit, and friendly manner. I was authorized to erect

buildings for the agency, and to define the Indian reservation under the

treaty, and counseled to go forward in a firm, cautious, and

conciliatory policy in establishing the intercourses with the bands of

the agency, and to take every proper measure to see that the intercourse

laws were faithfully executed, and a good understanding cultivated with

the tribes. And I returned to New York early in February, with "flying

colors," as a friend wrote.

During my absence, some letters, disclosing matters of literary

interest, were received. General C. writes (January 20th):--

"In investigating the subject before me, agreeably to the views I have

communicated to you, it appears to me that Purchas's _Pilgrimage_, and

Hackluyt's collection are indispensable to my progress. They contain

translations or abstracts of all the earlier voyages and travels to this

country." "In considering the various points which are involved in the

subject I have undertaken, a thousand doubtful facts present themselves,

which require time, labor, and opportunities to solve. For instance, I

strongly suspect that the Eries, who are said to have been destroyed by

the Iroquois, were the Shawnese, who were driven from their ancient seat

upon Lake Erie to the south-west." "Volney mentions two works upon the

Indians. One is Umphraville, and the other Oldmixon."

On the 7th of February, he encloses an extensive list of books, which he

wishes to procure, to aid him in his contemplated examinations of

aboriginal subjects, with discriminating remarks on their character. In

calling my attention to a close examination of them in the various

book-stores and libraries of the Atlantic cities, where they may be

found, he imposes no light nor important labor. "You know my general

object is confined to the Indians of this quarter (the west). Their

particular history, however, will be preceded by a review of the

condition of the Indians in this part of America, at the time it became

known to Europeans. I have myself little doubt but that they were then

pretty much as they are now.

"There is, however, one historical event, the narrator of which

represents the Indians to have been in an entirely different condition

from what they are now, or have been since. This is the account of

Ferdinand de Soto's expedition to Florida. There are two historians of

this expedition. One is Garcilasso de la Vega, and the other is an

anonymous gentleman of Elvas. I believe both are found in Purchas or

Hackluyt. I believe the narrative is almost entirely fabulous. One mode

of ascertaining this is by an examination of the earlier accounts of the

Indians. If they agree with De Soto's history, the latter may be

correct. If not, they must be unworthy of credit, more particularly in

the amount of the Indian population, which was certainly greatly

misrepresented by the Spanish historians, and which has been always

overrated.

"If any of the above works touch upon these subjects, they may be useful

to me; if not, I do not wish them. Can you find any of the other Spanish

writers describing or alluding to this expedition?

"Is there any account of the expedition of Pamphilo Narvaez into Florida

in 1528?"

"Should I go to Prairie du Chien, would you not like the trip? I see

many reasons to induce you to take such a measure. If you come on, as I

hope you will, by the first boat, we can make all the necessary

arrangements; for, if I go, I shall go early, certainly in May. Unless I

am greatly deceived, you would make something interesting out of the

proposed treaty."

Samuel S. Conant, Esq., informs me (January 21st) that he is making

progress in his contemplated work on Indian biography.

"I shall read," he says, "everything which speaks of Indians, and my

enthusiasm may take the place of ability, and enable me to present not

only honorable testimonials of Indian genius and valor, but some defence

of their character, and an exposition of the slanders and vulgar errors

which, through blind traditions, have obtained the authority of truth."

"It would have pleased me," says he (Feb. 16th), "to have presented Mr.

Theodore Dwight, Jr., to you in person. But this introductory note will

do as well. He is one of those who feel an interest, disinterested and

benevolent, in the fate of the remnants of the Indian tribes, and wishes

some conversation with you relative to their feelings on the subject of

their removal west of the Mississippi."

_March 18th_. Mr. Nathaniel H. Carter, editor of the _Statesman_,

announces his recovery from a dangerous illness, and wishes, in his

usual spirit of friendship, to express the pleasure it will afford him

to aid me in any literary labor I may have in hand.

_20th_. The plan of a magazine devoted to Indian subjects, which has

been discussed between Mr. Conant, Mr. Dwight, and myself, is now

definitely arranged with Messrs. Wilder and Campbell, publishers.

_28th_. Professor Silliman renews his friendly correspondence, and

tenders me the use of the pages of his journal, as the medium of

communicating observations to the public.

_April 8th_. I am officially called on, by the authority of General

Gaines, as a witness in the case of Lieutenant Walter Bicker, U.S.A.,

who is summoned to a court martial in Fort Brady. This is the gentleman

whose family is referred to in a previous part of my journal in the

autumn of 1822, on the occasion of the gentle Mr. Laird's missionary

visit to St. Mary's; and his high moral character and correct deportment

render it a subject of mystery to me what cause of complaint his brother

officers could conjure up against him.

_14th_. The superintendence of the press in the printing of my "Travels

in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley," has constituted a

groundwork to my amusements during the winter. The work is this day

published by Collins and Hannay. I immediately prepared to return to the

lakes. About five months had passed away, almost imperceptibly. We had

held a most gratifying intercourse with a highly moral and refined

portion of society. The city had been seen in its various phases of

amusement and instruction. A large part of the interest to others and

attention excited arose manifestly from the presence of a person of

Indian descent, and of refined manners and education, in the person of

Mrs. Schoolcraft, with an infant son of more than ordinary beauty of

lineament and mental promise. There was something like a sensation in

every circle, and often persons, whose curiosity was superior to their

moral capacity of appreciation, looked intensely to see the northern

Pocahontas. Her education had been finished abroad. She wrote a most

exquisite hand, and composed with ability, and grammatical skill and

taste. Her voice was soft, and her expression clear and pure, as her

father, who was from one of the highest and proudest circles of Irish

society, had been particularly attentive to her orthography and

pronunciation and selection of words of the best usage abroad.

_20th_. This day we left the mansion of our kind hostess, Mrs. Mann, on

lower Broadway, and ascended the Hudson by daylight, in order to view

its attractive scenery.

We discussed the etymology of some of the ancient Indian names along the

river, which we found to be in the Manhattan or Mohegan dialects of the

Algonquin, and which appeared so nearly identical in the grammatical

principles and sounds with the Chippewa, as to permit Mrs. S. in many

cases to recover the exact meanings. Thus, Coxackie is founded on an

Indian term which means _Falling-in bank_, or cut bank.

We stopped a week or two in Western New York at my brother-in-law's, in

Vernon, Oneida County. I took along to the West, which had been

favorable to me, my youngest brother James, and my sister Maria Eliza.

We pursued our route through Western New York and Buffalo, and reached

Detroit on the 6th of May.

I here found a letter from Dr. J. V. Rensselaer, of New York, written

two days after leaving the city, saying: "I have this morning finished

the perusal of your last work, and consider myself much your debtor for

the new views you have given me of the interesting region you describe.

Nor am I more pleased with the matter than with the simple unpretending

manner in which you have chosen to clothe it."

I also found a note informing me that Gov. Cass had gone to hold a

conference with the Wyandot Indians at Wapakennota, Ohio, that he would

return about the 10th of June, and immediately set out for Prairie du

Chien by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and would have me to

go with him.

"You must calculate the time when I shall probably reach Mackinack, and

I trust you will join us there. I have a thousand reasons why you should

undertake the tour. Many of the Indians will be from your agency, and

such a convocation will never again be seen upon this frontier. You can

return by the Chippewa River, which will give you a fine opportunity of

becoming acquainted with a part of the country very little known."

Leaving my sister with friends temporarily at Detroit, I pursued my way,

without loss of time, to the Sault; where, among the correspondence

accumulated, I found some subjects that may be noticed. Mr. C. C.

Trowbridge gives this testimony respecting Mr. A. E. Wing, a gentleman

then prominent as a politician.

"He is an intelligent, high minded and honorable man, and gifted with

habits of perseverance and industry which eminently qualify him to

represent the Territory in Congress."

On the 1st of June the Executive of the Territory apprizes me of his

return from Wapekennota, and that he is bending all his force for the

contemplated trip to Prairie du Chien.

"I enclose you," he adds, "the copy of a letter from the war department,

by which you will perceive that the Secretary has determined, that the

outrage of last fall shall not go unpunished. His determination is a

wise one, for the apprehension of the Chippewa murderers is essential to

the preservation of our character and influence among the Indians."

_June 17th_. Business and science, antiquities and politics are

curiously jumbled along in the same path, without, however (as I believe

they never do where the true spirit of knowledge is present), at all

mingling, or making turbid the stream of inquiry.

Colonel Thomas L. M'Kenney, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in a letter

of this date says: "At the Little Falls of the Potomac, are to be seen

the prints of turkeys' feet in stone, made just as the tracks of the

animal appear, when it runs upon dust or in the snow."

_22d_. On this day, there suddenly presented themselves, at the office

of Indian Agency, the Chippewa war party who committed the murders at

Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi, last year, who, on the demand made upon

the nation, with a threat of military punishment, surrendered the

murderers. I immediately commenced their examination, after having an

additional special interpreter sworn in (Truman A. Warren), and sending

for a justice of the peace to assist in their examination. The entire

day was devoted in this manner, and at the close, six of the party

against whom an indictment for murder would lay, committed on a

mittimus, with a note requesting the commanding officer to imprison them

in the guard house, until he could have them conveyed to the sheriff of

the county, at Michilimackinack. Their names were, Sagetone, Otagami,

Kakabisha, Annimikence, and Nawa-jiwienoce--to whom was afterwards added

Kewaynokwut, the leader of the party. The incidents of this transaction,

as they appeared in that examination, have been narrated on a

previous page.

This surrendery was evidently made on representations of the traders,

who acted on strong assurance that it would avert the marching of a

military force against them, and on some mistaken notions of their own

about public clemency.

When the examination was finished, and while preliminary steps were in

process, for their committment, I addressed them as follows:--

Chippewas--I have listened attentively to all that has been said,

either for or against you, and have been careful to have it put upon

paper, that nothing might be forgotten. It appears you went to the

Mississippi, for the purpose of attacking the Sioux, to revenge murders

which they had committed in your country. In an evil hour you

encountered a party of Americans, consisting of four persons, encamped

at the foot of Lake Pepin. It was night. They were all asleep. You went

to their tent in a hostile manner, and were received as friends. They

gave you tobacco and presents; and your war chief told them they need

not fear, that they should not be molested.

On this declaration he withdrew, followed by the whole party, and had

proceeded some distance, when an evil suggestion occurred to one of the

party, who said, "that when he went out hunting he did not like to

return without having killed something." Guns were fired. An electric

effect was produced and a rush towards the tent they had left took place

among those who were in the rear. The strife seemed who should get there

first, and imbrue his hands in blood.

"Of this number _you_ Sagetone, _you_ Kakabisha, _you_ Otagami, _you_

Annimikence, and _you_ Nawajiwienoce, were principal actors, and you

had the meanness to put to death men who had never harmed you, and who,

by your own confession, you had robbed of their arms, but whom you had,

nevertheless, promised their lives. This was not an evidence of courage,

but of cowardice. By this perfidious act you also violated your

promises, and proved yourselves to be the most debased of human

beings--liars!

"You have asked me many times in the course of this day to take pity on

you. How have you the hearts to stand up and ask me for pity, when you

have showed no pity yourselves. When those poor disarmed and despairing

men implored you to pity their condition, reminding you of your

promises, and their generosity in making you presents, when you saw them

afterwards submit to be plundered, you gave them not pity but the war

club and scalping knife. Did you suppose the God of white men would

permit you to go unpunished? Did you think you had got so far in the

woods that no person could find you out? Or, did you think your great

father, the President, governed by a pusillanimous principle, would

allow you to kill any of his people, without seeking to be revenged?

"Let this day open your eyes. You have richly deserved death, and not a

man of your nation could complain, if I should order you at this

instant, to be drawn out before my door, and shot. But a less

_honorable_ death awaits you.

"I have before told you, that your Great Father the President is as just

as he is powerful; and that he seeks to take away the life of no man,

without full, just, and clear proof of guilt. For this purpose he has

appointed other chiefs, whose duty it is to hear, try, and punish

all offences.

"Before these judges you shall now be sent. You will be closely

examined. You will have counsel assigned to defend your cause. You will

have every advantage that one of our own citizens could claim. If any

cause can be shown why one of you is less guilty than another it will

then appear; if not, your bodies will be hung on a gallows."

I then addressed Kewaynockwut. "No person has accused you of murder; but

you have led men who committed murder, and have thereby excited the

anger of your Great Father, who is slow to forgive when any of his

people, even the poorest of them, have been injured, far less when a

murder has been committed. Though I include you with those cowards who

first took away the arms of our people, and then shot them--those mean

dogs who sit trembling before me--I do not forgive you. The blood of our

citizens rests upon you. I can neither take you by the hand, nor smoke

the pipe you offer to me. You lie under the severe censure of your Great

Father, whose anger, like a dark cloud, rests upon you and your people.

"Four of the chief murderers, namely, Okwagun, Pasigwetung, Metakossiga,

and Wamitegosh, yet remain inland. Go, in order to appease his anger;

take your followers with you, and bring them out. You cannot do a more

pleasing act to him and to your own nation. For you must reflect that if

these murderers are not promptly brought out, war will be immediately

made against your villages, and the most signal vengeance taken."

Great alarm was manifested by the murderers, when they saw that the

questions and answers were written down, and a strict course of

accountability taken as the basis of the examination. I had foreseen

something of this alarm, and requested the commanding officer to send me

a detachment of men. Lieutenant C. F. Morton, 2d Infantry, to whom this

matter was entrusted, managed it well. He paraded his men in a hollow

square, in front of the office, in such manner that the office formed

one angle of the square, so that the main issue from the door ushered

the individual into a square bristling with bayonets. He stood himself

with a drawn sword.

It was eleven o'clock in the evening when their examination and the

final arrangements were completed; and when I directed the interpreter

to open the door and lead out the murderers, they were greatly alarmed

by the appearance of the bright array of musquetry, supposing,

evidently, that they were to be instantly shot. They trembled.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Trip to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi--Large assemblage of

tribes--Their appearance and character--Sioux, Winnebagoes, Chippewas,

&c.--Striking and extraordinary appearance of the Sacs and Foxes, and of

the Iowas--Keokuk--Mongazid's speech--Treaty of limits--Whisky

question--A literary impostor--Journey through the valleys of the Fox

and Wisconsin rivers--Incidents--Menomonies--A big nose--Wisconsin

Portage.

_June 23d_. The whole village was alive with the excitement of the

surrendery of the murderers. The agency office had been crowded with

spectators during the examination; and both white and red men saw in

their voluntary delivery into the hands of the agent, an evidence of the

power of the government in watching over and vindicating the lives and

interests of its citizens in the wildest wilderness, which was

gratifying to all.

To Gitche Iauba, the chief at the bay of Kewywenon, in Lake Superior,

who had been instrumental in producing the delivery, I presented a

silver medal of the first class, with a written speech approbatory of

the act, and complimentary of himself. In the meantime, my preparations

for attending the general convocation of tribes, at Prairie du Chien,

were completed. I placed the agency under the charge of Captain N. S.

Clark, 2d Infantry, who had satisfactorily and ably performed its duties

during my absence at New York. I had selected a delegation of the most

influential chiefs to attend the contemplated council. And all things

being ready, and my _canoe-allége_ in the water, with its flag set, I

embarked for the trip on the 24th. I descended the straits that day, and

having turned Point Detour reached Michilimackinack the next morning.

The party from Detroit had reached that point the same morning, after

traversing the Huron coasts for upwards of 300 miles, in a light canoe.

Congratulations on the success that had attended the demand for the

Chippewa murderers, awaited me. Some practical questions, deemed

indispensable respecting that transaction, required my immediate return

to St. Mary's, which was effected on the 27th, and I again embarked at

St. Mary's on the 28th, and rejoined the party at Mackinack on the 30th.

The distance traversed is about ninety miles, which was four times

passed and repassed in six days, a feat that could only have been

accomplished in the calms of summer.

We finally left Mackinack for our destination on the Mississippi, on the

1st of July. The convocation to which we were now proceeding was for the

purpose of settling internal disputes between the tribes, by fixing the

boundaries to their respective territories, and thus laying the

foundation of a lasting peace on the frontiers. And it marks an era in

the policy of our negotiations with the Indians, which is memorable. No

such gathering of the tribes had ever before occurred, and its results

have taken away the necessity of any in future, so far as relates to the

lines on the Mississippi.

We encountered head winds, and met with some delay in passing through

the straits into Lake Michigan, and after escaping an imminent hazard of

being blown off into the open lake, in a fog, reached Green Bay on the

4th. The journey up the Fox River, and its numerous portages, was

resumed on the 14th, and after having ascended the river to its head, we

crossed over the Fox and Wisconsin portage, and descending the latter

with safety, reached Prairie du Chien on the 21st, making the whole

journey from Mackinack in twenty-one days.

We found a very large number of the various tribes assembled. Not only

the village, but the entire banks of the river for miles above and below

the town, and the island in the river, was covered with their tents. The

Dakotahs, with their high pointed buffalo skin tents, above the town,

and their decorations and implements of flags, feathers, skins and

personal "braveries," presented the scene of a Bedouin encampment. Some

of the chiefs had the skins of skunks tied to their heels, to symbolize

that they never ran, as that animal is noted for its slow and

self-possessed movements.

Wanita, the Yankton chief, had a most magnificent robe of the buffalo,

curiously worked with dyed porcupine's quills and sweet grass. A kind of

war flag, made of eagles' and vultures' large feathers, presented quite

a martial air. War clubs and lances presented almost every imaginable

device of paint; but by far the most elaborate thing was their pipes of

red stone, curiously carved, and having flat wooden handles of some four

feet in length, ornamented with the scalps of the red-headed woodpecker

and male duck, and tail feathers of birds artificially attached by

strings and quill work, so as to hang in the figure of a quadrant. But

the most elaborately wrought part of the devices consisted of dyed

porcupines' quills, arranged as a kind of aboriginal mosaic.

The Winnebagoes, who speak a cognate dialect of the Dacotah, were

encamped near; and resembled them in their style of lodges, arts, and

general decorations.

The Chippewas presented the more usually known traits, manners and

customs of the great Algonquin family--of whom they are, indeed, the

best representative. The tall and warlike bands from the sources of the

Mississippi--from La Point, in Lake Superior--from the valleys of the

Chippewa and St. Croix rivers, and the Rice Lake region of Lac du

Flambeau, and of Sault Ste. Marie, were well represented.

The cognate tribe of the Menomonies, and of the Potawattomies and

Ottowas from Lake Michigan, assimilated and mingled with the Chippewas.

Some of the Iroquois of Green Bay were present.

But no tribes attracted as intense a degree of interest as the Iowas,

and the Sacs and Foxes--tribes of radically diverse languages, yet

united in a league against the Sioux. These tribes were encamped on the

island, or opposite coast. They came to the treaty ground, armed and

dressed as a war party. They were all armed with spears, clubs, guns and

knives. Many of the warriors had a long tuft of red-horse hair tied at

their elbows, and bore a neck lace of grizzly bears' claws. Their

head-dress consisted of red dyed horse-hair, tied in such manner to the

scalp lock as to present the shape of the decoration of a Roman helmet.

The rest of the head was completely shaved and painted. A long iron shod

lance was carried in the hand. A species of baldric supported part of

their arms. The azian, moccason and leggins constituted a part of their

dress. They were, indeed, nearly nude, and painted. Often the print of a

hand, in white clay, marked the back or shoulders. They bore flags of

feathers. They beat drums. They uttered yells, at definite points. They

landed in compact ranks. They looked the very spirit of defiance. Their

leader stood as a prince, majestic and frowning. The wild, native pride

of man, in the savage state, flushed by success in war, and confident in

the strength of his arm, was never so fully depicted to my eyes. And the

forest tribes of the continent may be challenged to have ever presented

a spectacle of bold daring, and martial prowess, equal to their landing.

Their martial bearing, their high tone, and whole behavior during their

stay, in and out of council, was impressive, and demonstrated, in an

eminent degree, to what a high pitch of physical and moral courage,

bravery and success in war may lead a savage people. Keokuk, who led

them, stood with his war lance, high crest of feathers, and daring eye,

like another Coriolanus, and when he spoke in council, and at the same

time shook his lance at his enemies, the Sioux, it was evident that he

wanted but an opportunity to make their blood flow like water. Wapelo,

and other chiefs backed him, and the whole array, with their shaved

heads and high crests of red horse-hair, told the spectator plainly,

that each of these men held his life in his hand, and was ready to

spring to the work of slaughter at the cry of their chief.

General William Clark, from St. Louis, was associated with General Cass

in this negotiation. The great object was to lay the foundation of a

permanent peace by establishing boundaries. Day after day was assigned

to this, the agents laboring with the chiefs, and making themselves

familiar with Indian bark maps and drawings. The thing pleased the

Indians. They clearly saw that it was a benevolent effort for their

good, and showed a hearty mind to work in the attainment of the object.

The United States asked for no cession. Many glowing harangues were made

by the chiefs, which gave scope to their peculiar oratory, which is well

worth the preserving. Mongazid, of Fond du Lac, Lake Superior, said:

"When I heard the voice of my Great Father, coming up the Mississippi

Valley calling me to this treaty, it seemed as a murmuring wind; I got

up from my mat where I sat musing, and hastened to obey it. My pathway

has been clear and bright. Truly it is a pleasant sky above our heads

this day. There is not a cloud to darken it. I hear nothing but pleasant

words. The raven is not waiting for his prey, I hear no eagle

cry--'Come, let us go. The feast is ready--the Indian has killed his

brother.'"