It is perceived from Mr. Pickett's History of Alabama, that remains of such structures are found in many places in the extensive area of the United States denoted by de la Vega. They are clearly distinguished from the mass of remains called, indiscriminately, tumuli and mounds, by being flat at top, sometimes square, and assuming the character of precipitous raised plains or platforms, while the tumuli proper are conical, often acutely so, and carried up sometimes to the height of ninety feet. When they are not terminated in a cone, the horizontal area is small, and appears by its reduced size to have been rather suited to the temple-wigwam than the micco's residence.

These remarks appear to be deserving of attention. At an age of our Indian population, when every few hundred men constituted a separate nation, who lived in constant hostility, such platforms of elevated earth afforded vantage ground, not only for residence, but for a battle; and it was quite natural that afterwards, when they combined into confederacies, as the large Muscogee stock is known to have done, the use of these select places for the rulers should have been forgotten in the lapse of centuries, or concealed from the curiosity of inquirers.

The observation of these ancient plateaux throws light on this class of our antiquities. It is not only the earliest light we have on the subject north of the Gulf of Mexico, but it reveals one of the purposes of these antique tumuli which are scattered so profusely over portions of the ancient area of the western and southern parts of the United States.

The Muscogees, under several cognate names, trace their origin to the Mexican empire; and these plateaux appear to have had their prototype in the more imposing Mexican teocalli; and thus we may perceive that the United States, and indeed all North America, was overspread in its native population by religious rites and notions, which became, indeed, fainter and fainter, as they spread northward, and escaped from a species of sacerdotal tyranny, but were yet of the same general character.

It is something in all archזological investigation, to reach a period where wonder and speculation end, and reality begins. It is perceived that in the extension of these artificial heaps of honored earth, from the Gulf northward, they became teocalli or platform pyramids of less area and greater acuteness; but they were in all instances of this kind, truncated, or had a level area at their tops. We allude here exclusively to the "tumuli proper," and not to the "redoubt mounds" or "the barrows," or to small

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THE occupation of the shores and islands of this lake by the ancient and extinct tribe of the Eries, who were once the acknowledged pacificators of the neighboring Indians, and who preceded the Iroquois in warlike and civic power within that basin, gives a melancholy interest to whatever, in the existing archaeological remains of the country, serves to restore the memory of their power.

The recent discovery of ancient earthworks, and two inscriptions in the pictographic character, on Cunningham's Island, in the archipelago of islands in the western part of this lake, gives birth to the idea that these islands were one of the strongholds of that tribe when attacked by the Iroquois. They appear to have been in all the plenitude of their power and barbaric boast of strength and influence, at the period of the first discoveries of the French, in the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Wyandots, who afterwards were known to have exercised a controlling influence on the contiguous waters of Sandusky Bay and the Straits of Detroit, had not yet been disturbed from their ancient seats in the Valley of the St. Lawrence. Le Jeune, who published the first account of the Iroquois, in Paris, in 1658, mentions the angry negotiations carried on at Hochelaga, the site of Montreal, by which the Iroquois attempted to control that tribe; and during which they commanded them, on pain of their highest vengeance, to break their league with the French : and when this threat was put into execution in a few years, and the Wyandots were defeated in the St. Lawrence Valley, they fled west through the country of the friendly Algonquins, into the basin of Lake HURON, where they first located and lived; and not till a later period to the basin of Lake Erie, where the canoes of the vengeful Iroquois were already prowling in their adventurous thirst for military renown.

The Eries present one claim to remembrance which cannot be urged by any other American tribe, namely, as the ancient kindlers of the council-fire of peace for all the tribes prior to the rise and destruction of this institution, and before the origin of the Iroquois confederacy.

I here can be no question, from the early accounts of the French missionaries, that they were at the head of that singular confederation of tribes called the Neutral

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The history of this people, — their rise, their spread, and final fall, is involved in a degree of obscurity which is the more stimulating to curiosity from the few gleams of light which tradition gives. There is no doubt that an institution which must always have been subject to a very delicate exercise of, and often a fluctuating power, was finally overthrown for some indiscreet act. The power to light this pacific fire is represented as having been held by female hands, before its final extinction in the area of western New York. It is equally clear that, after it began to flicker, it was finally put out in blood by the increasing Iroquois, who appear to have conquered some of the bands in battle, and driven others, or the remnants of others, away.

The present state of our traditions on this subject is interesting, and adds new motives to research. It is affirmed by traditions recently received from the Catawbas, that this tribe originated in the extreme north, in the area of the lakes, whence they were violently expelled. This supplies a hint for research, which, it must be confessed, is thus far without fruits. The Catawba language has no resemblances to the vocabulary of either dialect of the Iroquois, or to the Algonquin; while it differs as much from those of all the Appalachian tribes, and it must be regarded in the present state of our knowledge, as being peculiar.

While, therefore, the search for the history of this tribe in the lake basins appears to be blocked up, the fact of the expulsion or extirpation of the Eries, by the Iroquois, remains well attested; and the prolonged war kept up against the Catawbas and their confederates the Cherokees, by that confederacy, favors the idea of an ancient, as it is confessed to have been, a very extraordinary and bloody feud. At least the announcement of the fact of the Catawba tradition, throws a renewed interest around the history of that struggle of the Eries with the predominating Iroquois power, and it gives a new impulse to inquiry to find archaeological traces like those disclosed on Cunningham's Island, which appear to attest the former Eriean power.

These remains have been accurately surveyed, and are illustrated in the several maps and sketches from the pencil of Captain Eastman, U.S.A., herewith furnished.

In Plate 34, the island is topographically depicted, with the localities of several antiquarian objects. It consists of a basis of horizontal limestone of the species common

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Plate 35, denotes a crescent-shaped and irregular earth-work, on the south side of the island, which has the general appearance of an embankment, or circumvallation intended to enclose and defend a village. The gates, or sally-ports, which were probably constructed of wood, occupy the east side and the extreme north-western angle. The embankment is twelve hundred and forty-six feet around the crescent-shaped part, and about four hundred feet on the rock-brink of the island.

Plate 36, represents a second enclosure, marked by a circumvallation, situated at a short distance west of the former, fronting like it, on the rocky and precipitous margin of the lake. This front line is 614 feet. The embankment, which is wholly without gate or sally-port, is 1243 feet around.

Within these enclosures have been found stone axes, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, Plate 37, and Figs. 2 and 3, Plate 38; pipes, Figs. 5 and 6, Plate 38; perforators, Fig. 1, Plate 38; bone fish-hooks, Fig. 4, Plate 38; fragments of pottery, Figs. 7 and 8, Plate 38; arrowheads, vide group, Fig. 1, Plate 39; net-sinkers, Fig. 2, Plate 39; and fragments of human bones. The arrow-heads were found in a fissure of the rock in large quantity, and were apparently new, and had been concealed in this kind of rude armory. With them was found the largest species of axe, figured, which has also apparently been unused. These vestiges of art correspond entirely with the general state of knowledge and wants of the surrounding aborigines.

Five small mounds on the southern and western part of the island, (Plate 34,) are of the kind denominated barrows, (vide definition, Part I., p. 49.) On a bay on the north shore of the island there is a brief pictographic inscription, on a limestone boulder, which has been reversed by the action of tempests on that shore. This is depicted in Plate 40.

The interest arising from these evidences of former occupancy in the aboriginal period, is inferior however to that excited by a sculptured rock lying on the south shore of the island, about two hundred feet from the west angle of the enclosure. (Plate 35.) This rock is thirty-two feet in its greatest length, by twenty-one feet in

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Plate 42, exhibits a perspective view of the relative position of this natural monument; also of the lake itself, and of the quiet picturesque beauty of the adjacent shores; and the entire scene is characteristic of Lake Erie in its summer phase. The sculpture itself has been referred, for interpretation, to the same aboriginal pictographist who interpreted the inscription of the Dighton Rock, Part I., page 112. It would be premature, therefore, to attempt its reading in the present state of the question. Of one thing, however, a definite opinion may be expressed. It is by far the most extensive and well sculptured and well preserved inscription of the antiquarian period ever found in America. Being on an islet separated from the shore, with precipitous sides, it has remained undiscovered till within late years. It is in the pictographic character of the natives. Its leading symbols are readily interpreted. The human figures —the pipes; smoking groups; the presents; and other figures, denote tribes, negotiations, crimes, turmoils, which tell a story of thrilling interest, in which the white man or European, plays a part. There are many subordinate figures which require study. There are some in which the effects of atmospheric and lake action have destroyed the connexion, and others of an anomalous character. The whole inscription is manifestly one connected with the occupation of the basin of this lake by the Eries — of the coming of the Wyandots — of the final triumph of the Iroquois, and the flight of the people who have left their name on the lake.

THE vestiges of aboriginal occupancy in South Carolina have not been examined in the field — or, but cursorily and incidentally.

If the investigations of a recent observer in Alabama be correct in the opinions he expresses of the eccentric line of march of the expedition of De Soto, the site of the ancient "Cofitchiqui" was on the South Carolina banks of the Savannah River. It

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Monday, Sept. 24th, half an hour after sunrise. Thermometer, 72°, Barometer, 30.119 inches. The grass here is good, and so abundant that we will be enabled to wait here for our remaining trains, and recruit the weary animals. We are now in the midst of the desert, and at the recruiting place of all travellers. The white tents of the numerous emigrants give the place quite the air of a village. The grass upon the plains is short, green, and tender. Upon the banks of the stream it grows tall and thick. Dr. Perry, the botanist, thinks the grass a new species, which he proposes to call "Chrondrosium Desutorum." Although the river bears no marks of being new — as its name implies, the grass which grows in its vicinity has probably but lately made its appearance upon the desert. A change seems passing over this region, rain becomes more abundant, mizquite grows, and careless weed springs up, soon to give place to more tender herbage.

NEW RIVER JORNADA, Sept. 25th, 1849 —

(Observed with Fox's Dip Circle for Magnetic Inclination and Intensity.)

Sept. 20th. A sunrise. Thermometer, 75°; barometer, 29.880 inches. This day made a reconnoissance in the vicinity of New River. Three and a half miles S. S. E. from camp, crossed the bed of New River upon dry ground. Careless weed and grass very luxuriant. The bank of the mizquite grove was gay with the songs of small birds. South, the mountain range, patches of green grass, with here and there a kreosote plant, appeared. All else was hard clay, baked and cracked in the sun to appear like a pavement of wood. Every where, near the banks of the stream, the Planorbus and other fresh-water shells have been found in abundance; and here small volutes covered the ground, and in some places were heaped up in such quantities as to appear like snow. The heat was intense. An astonishing mirage often presented

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Dr. Parry went to the mountains to-day, by taking a course nearly S.W. He crossed no streams except the one at camp. The foot of the hills was sprinkled with locust trees, but the mountains seemed destitute of vegetation.

Sept. 27th, at sunrise. — Thermometer 70°, Barometer 29.814 in. At 5^h P. M. recommenced our journey. Two miles from New River our route lay over a level plain, green with the characteristic grass, and the Laurea Mexicana. Grass by degrees gave way to drifting sand; and buttes covered with green shrubs alone broke the monotony of the desert. Five miles from camp we crossed the dry bed of an ancient stream, with steep banks, and a sandy level bed ten feet below the surface of the desert, and one hundred and eighty feet wide. Mizquite lined its banks, while kreosote and wild-sage sprinkled the valley.

Eight miles from New River we encamped at the "Lagoon," where we found water, but no grass or beans for the animals.

Sept. 28th. — Left the "Lagoon" at 4^h A. M., and by the aid of Venus, whose light was so strong as to cast a decided shadow, we ascended a bank to the upper desert, leaving in the valley upon our right, one and a half miles from camp, the "Second Wells." We moved on east over the desert, covered with pebbles of jasper or deep-drifting sand, and without shells; with no green thing to relieve the eye save the Laurea Mexicana, which covets solitude. Twenty miles brought us again upon the steep sand-banks which long had bounded our horizon. We descended eighty to one hundred feet, into a muzquite-covered canada, or valley, extending from this point about twenty miles in width to the Rio Colorado. Upon this lower plain, where were found the same fresh-water shells as distinguished the region of New River, we pursued a N.E. course, parallel to the bank which bounds the desert proper, for seven miles, to the three "Wells." Here we encamped, twenty-seven miles from the Lagoon. The wells are dug ten feet deep, at the bottom of a small natural basin, which seems scooped from the plain.

At the camp of the "Three Wells," twelve miles west from the crossing of the Rio Colorado, 1849, September 28th, at 8^h 15^m P. M., there occurred an earthquake. The oscillatory motion was from east to west. It shook the tents, spilled water from a nearly full bucket, awoke those who were asleep, and frightened many of those who were awake. The rocking motion continued about two minutes.

Sept. 29th. — At 5½^h. A.M., left "Three Wells," and kept along the foot of the sand-banks, a little N. of east, for eight miles. Met many emigrants with women and children, facing the desert with cheerful looks. Frank says "that the happiest set of

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At the fork of the road we were met by our old guide Tomaso, who had been despatched to warn the Indians of our approach. He was accompanied by Santiago, chief, and the principal men of the band of Yumas, which occupies the village at the lower crossing of the Colorado. Santiago wore a blue great-coat, and a fancy cotton handkerchief bound his head. His legs and feet were bare; others were clad in the simple breech-cloth. All were mounted on spirited horses. The road up to the bank to the left, is the emigrant trail over the deep-drifting sands of the desert. Taking the more circuitous route to the right, we were escorted by the Indians a short distance, to their village in the Canada, luxuriant with maize and melons. We were at once surrounded by great numbers of Indian men and women, evincing friendliness, curiosity, and intelligence. The women are generally fat, and their dress consists of a fringe made of strips of bark bound around the hips, and hanging loosely to the middle of the thighs. The men are large, muscular, and well-formed. Their countenances are pleasing, and seem lighted by intelligence. I doubt whether America can boast of a finer race of Indians. Their warriors wear the white breech-cloth, and their hair hanging in plaits to the middle of their backs, is adorned with eagle-feathers and the rattle of a rattlesnake. They are exquisite horsemen, and carry their bow and lance with inimitable grace. A dozen of these warriors conducted us beyond their village three miles, through fields of maize, and groves of alamo and willow to the Rio Colorado, where we encamped; twelve miles below where the Rio Gila unites its "sea-green waters" with the rightly-named Colorado.

Until October 1st we remained at the lower crossing of the Colorado, waiting for a road to be cut upon the right bank, five miles to the emigrant crossing. Our Indian neighbors were very sociable, bringing us grass, beans, melons, and squashes; for which they received in return, tobacco or money. Old Santiago, their chief, could not speak Spanish, and so our guide Tomaso was made interpreter. There were also here a few of the Co-mo-ya Indians from the desert or San Felipe, and they could converse with us. Santiago and his people professed great friendship for Americans in general, and us in particular. They had never stolen from the emigrants, nor maltreated them in any way; but the Indians higher up, near the mouth of the Gila, they represented as being a desperate set of rascals. They plundered the emigrants of what they could not steal. The day before, a German had been decoyed away from his party and murdered. They had even come to open hostility with some parties of the emigrants, and fought pitched battles; and, as they numbered from five to ten thousand people, they were always victorious. These accounts seemed the more probable, as they agreed with those given by the emigrants themselves. Santiago concluded by requesting us to remain with him, as we were, as he said, too few and too weak to cope with those at the mouth of the Gila.

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The basis of our road along the bank of the Colorado, was an Indian foot-path, which wound around every tree that time had thrown across its ancient track, doubling the true distance.

Passing through a forest of cotton-wood and willow, we came to the foot of "Pilot Knob," and having crossed a spur which extends to the river, found ourselves upon the bank at the emigrant crossing. Here we encamped. Pilot Knob is an isolated mountain, and rises above us to the height of about fifteen hundred feet. We ascend the highest peak to fire rockets, and watch for signals from the Sierra beyond the desert.

Tuesday, Oct. 2d, 1849. — Left the foot of Pilot Knob, and travelled on through groves of mizquite, upon the banks of the Colorado; not an Indian had we seen since leaving the village of Santiago; but Tomaso, with some alarm, pointed out fresh footprints in the path we followed. We emerged upon the river. The branching paths were soon after lost. A densely-wooded ravine rendered it impossible to follow the immediate bank of the river. In search of the way, I soon found myself separated from the escort, and alone following a well-trodden path. Eager to reach my destination, I pushed on for an Indian guide. At length the winding path led me into a village of the Yumas. As I rode to the principal hut, without an interpreter, I felt it was imprudent thus to throw myself into the power of these savages. They at once surrounded me. One, with an emerald pendant from his nose, held the bridle of my mule, some played with my pistols, others handled my sword. Seeming to put perfect confidence in their honesty, I nevertheless watched them narrowly, while I endeavored to explain, in Spanish, the object of my visit. Him with the jewelled nose I found to be Anton, a petty chief, or captain of his village. He understood but little of Spanish. Soon there rode up upon a spirited horse, an Indian, whom I found to be a Comoya from San Felipe, called "Mal Anton," and with him I could converse. They having consented to guide me to the mouth of the Rio Gila, I shook off the curious men, women, and children that nearly buried my mule, and rode on; I passed through large patches of maize, melons, zandias, and squashes, leaving villages to the left and to the right. Lost in the maze of paths, and being unable to elicit a word from the grim-looking Indians I met, I turned for my guides. Soon they appeared, coming at full run; the chief in advance, armed with a musket, and Mal Anton followed upon his wild pony, gracefully swinging over his head the noose of his lariat. The chief then led the way, while the other followed me through deep ravines and rude plantations. At length, having no fancy for sharing the fate of my namesake in Mexico, I ordered Mai Anton with his lariat in advance. "Tuirc v un bon Corazon?" he inquired as he passed. I assured him of protection as long as Americans were well-treated by them. They led me two miles, to the junction of the Rio Gila with the Colorado, where I found a hill, excellent for an astronomical observatory. Eating a melon Anton had gathered for me, I returned and conducted the whole party

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Wednesday, Oct. 3d. — To-day came Pablo, grand chief of the Yumas, with his scarlet coat trimmed with gold lace, his epaulettes of silver wire, and, to crown all, green goggles. His legs and feet were bare, but he did not allow that to detract from the dignity of his manner. Tomaso ushered him in and acted as interpreter, translating my Spanish into Indian for him, and his Indian into Spanish for me. I explained to him, that their territory now belonged to the United States; that the government took an interest in the welfare of the Indians who were honest and well-disposed; that we were disposed to live in amity with them, but were prepared to chastise those who were inclined to evil. He promised that his people should not steal from, or otherwise injure Americans, and I gave him those presents that I had prepared. Having taken a glass of agua-ardiente, his tongue was loosed, his dignity was overcome, and he no longer needed an interpreter. Pablo spoke Spanish better, by far, than I could.

Oct. 4th, 1849. — Many Indians in camp; all, as I ever expected to find them, most peaceably disposed. Bows, and arrows pointed with jasper, guns and pistols, (mostly broken and discarded by the emigrants,) are constantly brought into camp. There is, however, perfect confidence among all parties.

Friday, Oct. 5th, 1849. To-day the Indians of the Yuma tribe held a grand council in honor of our arrival; and as Pablo Coelum, the great chief in epaulettes and green goggles, had been chosen under the Mexican reign, they determined to show their adherence to the United States by deposing their old chief, and, in a republican manner, electing a new one. The successful candidate was our old friend Santiago, captain of the band of Cuchans at the lower crossing. He seems a good old man, and worthy of his honors. Upon his election, he was escorted to my tent for the customary presents, and promised good faith towards all Americans.

Tomaso soon returned with three minor chiefs, or "Captaines de los Cuchanes," Anastasio, Anton, and Pasqual. The band of Anton lives eight or ten miles above us, and is famed for theft, robbery, and murder. Anton is one of their orators, and replied to me in a speech of half an hour's length: but Tomaso pretended that he did not understand the Cuchan language, and would not translate it.

Oct. 7th, 1849. — Took a walk into the villages to see how the Indians live. They all knew me, and received me kindly enough into their family circles, composed of about a dozen men, women, and children, sitting or lying upon the ground, under the shade of a flat roof of branches of trees supported by posts at the four corners. The women, dressed in girdles of bark stripped into thongs, and, partially braided, hanging in a fringe to the thighs, and ornamented with many strings of shell or glass beads, were making a mush of zandias, (water-melons,) or grinding grass seed into flour.

The men, with breech-cloths, or perhaps a shirt cast off by the emigrants, were

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The laborious part of their toilet, that in which all their taste and skill are put in requisition, consists in painting. Warriors dye their faces jet-black, with a strip of red from the forehead, down the nose, and across the chin. Women and young men usually paint with red, and ornament their chins with dots or stripes of blue or black. Around their eyes are circles of black. Their bodies are generally of a dark red, and polished with an oily substance, so as to resemble well-cleaned mahogany. The face and body are sometimes fancifully striped with black. Of their hair they are quite proud, and take great care in dressing and trimming it. It falls naturally from the crown of the head, and is neatly and squarely trimmed in front to reach to the eyebrows. The rest is matted into plaits, and falls upon the back, reaching nearly to the ground.

Strings of broken shells called "pook," are highly valued among them. These consist of circular pieces of sea-shell, with holes very nicely driven in the centre. They are very ancient, and were formerly used as money. A string is now worth a horse. An Indian dandy is never dressed without them, and the number of strings worn indicates the wealth of the possessor. The figure of the young dandy, though large, is so faultless in its proportions, that, when I have seen him dressed in his clean white breech-cloth, with no other covering to his carefully painted person, except the graceful plume upon his head, and the wide bracelet of leather, with buckskin fringe, and bright brass buttons, which serve as mirrors, upon his left arm, I could but applaud the scorn with which he looked upon European dress, and the resolute firmness with which he refused the proffered gift of pants.

The Yumas, or as those near the mouth of the Gila call themselves, Cuchans, appear to be skilled in none of the arts. They have neither sheep, cattle, nor poultry. Horses and a few pet lap-dogs, are the only domestic animals found at their ranches. The men are warriors, and occasionally fish and hunt. The women not only attend to their household duties, but also cultivate fields of maize and melons, and collect grass-seed, which they pound to flour for bread.

Returning to camp, I found the deposed chief Pablo Coelum, and his friend, Captain Anton, loaded with presents of melons, for which in return was expected tobacco, red flannel, &c.

Learned from Pablo many words of the Yuma language. Rio Colorado is in their tongue "Hahwith-e-cha-whut," meaning as in Spanish, red river. Rio Gila they call "Hah-qua-su-ethel," meaning salt river. The water is indeed brackish, and salt-water plants grow upon its banks.

Oct. 12th, 1849. — To-day large numbers of Yumas have started upon an expedition against the Mar-i-co-pas. They are mounted on good horses, which they stride without

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Monday, Oct. 15th. — Arrived Colonel Collyer, Collector of the port of San Francisco, escorted by Captain Thorne, with thirty dragoons. Under their protection is also a party of emigrants commanded by Mr. Audubon the younger, naturalist, and Lieutenant Browning of the Navy.

Mr. Langdon Haven, and a son of Commodore Sloat, were with this party, which was suffering for the want of provisions.

Oct. 10th. — This evening has furnished a sad occurrence. Brevet Captain Thorne, son of Mr. Herman Thorne of New York, while superintending the transportation of his party across the Rio Colorado, just below the junction of the Rio Gila, was thrown into the river by the upsetting of his heavily-laden boat, and was drowned. The current of the river was so rapid, that all exertions, even those of the Yuma Indians, the best swimmers in the world, were unavailing. Captain Thorne was succeeded in the command of the escort by Lieutenant Beckwith.

Oct. 10th. — Mr. Ingraham has just informed me that the wooden box in which is kept Chronometer No. 719, cracked into pieces last night while used in keeping time. This is another proof of the exceeding dryness of this climate, and I regret that I have no hygrometer to determine it. All the boxes in which the instruments were packed are being destroyed. The nicely-seasoned and well-finished cases made in England many years since for instruments of Troughton and Simms, have shrunk so as not to admit the original contents.

A few nights since, while I was reading the micrometer of the zenith sector, the horn with which my reading lens was incased snapped, and flew from my fingers in three pieces. The peculiar state of the atmosphere was the only cause assignable for such an occurrence.

Oct. 25th. — Continued the survey at the junction of the two rivers. The Rio Gila, a short distance from its mouth, is so shallow that the Indians wade across it. The Colorado at the ferry, a short distance below the junction, is about twelve feet deep. The waters of the Colorado are almost opaque with clay tinctured with the red oxide of iron. But the water is sweet, and when allowed to rest, becomes limpid. The waters of the Gila are covered with a sediment nearly black, and have a brackish taste; making appropriate the Yuma name for it — Ha-qua-siul — meaning "salt water." Both rivers are rapid, and their junction forms a distinctly marked and nearly straight line, leading from the east bank of the Gila to the channel of the Colorado. They unite, and, singularly enough, contract to one-fifth the width of the

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I have the honor to be be,
Very respectfully, your obedient Servant,
Robert S. Neighbors, Special Agent.

The Comanches know nothing positively of their origin, and their traditions on this point are very vague and unsatisfactory. They believe they have always lived near the same country they now occupy, and they know of but one migration of their tribes; this took place many years since, when they travelled from the west, and met with what they term the "Mountain Spaniards" in the mountains of New Mexico. They lived with them many years, and intermarried with each other. The first chief they recollect was named "Ish-shu-ku," (Wolf-house); he was a great and wise chief. At the time he lived, they still resided in Mexico. From thence they visited the prairies for the purpose of hunting, and intermarried with the other tribes inhabiting those regions. These were the Wacos, Tah-wac-car-ros, Toriuash, and branches of the Pawnee tribes.

They call themselves "Na-�ni," which signifies — first alive, or live people. They are called Comanche by the Mexicans, Nar-a-tah, by the Wacos, Tah-wac-car-ros, &c., Par-too-ku by the Osages, and Sow-a-to by the Caddoes. When they came from the west, there were no people living on the lands they now occupy. The first white people they saw were on the west side of the Rio Grande or Del Norte. They lived there at that time, and made a treaty with the white traders that they met. The first guns they ever saw they got from the Spaniards; they were common shot-guns. The first rifle, they saw with American traders. The first cloth or dry goods was bought from the French "many years since." They had never heard of it until that time. They got the first tobacco from the Wacos, who raised it themselves; but they are ignorant at what time this took place. Afterwards, they bought from the French who traded them, the cloth, &c.

They have an imperfect tradition that another race of people inhabited this country before them, and that there was a great flood of waters which covered the whole earth, and that the inhabitants, who they suppose were white and civilized, were metamorphosed into "white birds" and flew away; by which means they saved themselves from being destroyed. After this, they believe the Great Spirit made the Comanches on this continent.

They have never heard of any animals except those which are generally known in this region; neither are they aware of anything connected with crossing the large

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They believe that the will of the Great Spirit is supreme; that he dispenses good and evil at his will, also life and death. They think if they lie to the Great Spirit, he will cause them to die; and many other punishments are inflicted if they displease him. All their success in war or hunting is derived from Him whom they worship: it is called "making medicine."

They use many charms, and are very superstitious. All charms are supposed to be derived from the Great Spirit, which they buy from their "medicine men." They offer Him many sacrifices. The first puff of smoke is offered to the Supreme, the second to the Sun, the third to the Earth, and after these, to whatever they venerate. The first morsel of what they intend to eat is presented to the Great Spirit, and then buried in the ground. All their implements of war are made by, or undergo charms from, their priests or magicians, who practise charms for the purpose. Their shields are made in imitation of the sun, and before going to war they are stuck upon their lances, facing the rising sun; and no person is permitted to handle or touch them except their owners. They believe that they were made by a secondary spirit, who was sent down to the earth by the Supreme. When he first made them, they were imperfect. The spirit returned to the Supreme, and told what he had made. He was then directed to return and complete his work by giving the beings he had created sense, and instruct them how to live. He taught them how to make bows and arrows, and gave them horses, &c. &c.

They have no name for the country they inhabit, or for the whole continent. They know of no great changes in their tribe, but they have increased greatly in numbers since they left Mexico, by their connexion with other small prairie bands, and the numerous captives taken in their wars — principally from Mexico.

They are at present divided into eight distinct bands, each ruled by their own chiefs, and appear to have a strong connecting link in the similarity of habits and language, and frequently they unite in war or council; occasionally one band is at war with a nation, and the others at peace. The eight divisions of the tribe are classed and named by themselves as follows:

1st. Ho-is, or Timber people, because they live in a timbered country. They are also called "Pine-takers" or honey-eaters, being fond of honey.

2d. "No-ko-nies," because they always live and travel in a circle; their country that they claim being circular.

3d. "Teu-a-wish," or Liver-eaters, because they eat the liver of all game they kill in its raw state.

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4th. "No-na-um," because they live in the high prairie where there is no timber or running water, and never leave that kind of country.

5th. "It-chit-a-bud-ah." Cold people, or the northern band, because they live in a cold country.

6th. "Hai-ne-na-une," or Corn-eaters, being fond of corn.

7th. "Koo-che-ta-kers," or Buffalo-eaters.

8th. "Par-kce-na-um," or Water-people; because they always camp as near the waters of lakes or creeks as they can get.

A large number of them speak Spanish imperfectly, and some few understand a little English. All their business is transacted in their own language, for which an interpreter is sufficient. There are at the present time very few pure-blooded Comanches, having intermarried as previously stated. They have not changed their location since their emigration, and their territory in Texas has diminished by the continued encroachments of the whites. The principal chiefs that are known are "Pa-ha-yu-ca," or one who has connexion with his uncle's wife; "Mo-po-cho-co-pie," or Old owl; "Pochan-a-qua-hiep," or Bull-hump, commonly known as Buffalo-hump; "Santa Anna;" "Sah-vi-artce," or Small Wolf; "Tuna-cio-quasha," or Bear's Tail; "Moora-ke-toph," or Mule-dung — Hois chiefs — "Po-hu-ca-wa-kit," or Medicine-hunter; "O-ha-wa-kit," or Yellow-hunter, Ten-a-wish chiefs; "Chip-es-se-ah," or Growing-chief, Koo-chi-ta-ku; "Oho-is," or Naked-head, No-ko-nie. They assume the pre-eminence of all prairie Indians; but this is only allowed by the small tribes, who live on the borders of their country. They have no proof, by monuments, &c., of any other race having existed where they at present live, previous to themselves; and the few traditions preserved by the old men are very imperfect. They believe that the earth is a plain or flat surface.

The principal rivers in their country are the head-waters of the Brazos, Colorado, and Red Rivers; all emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. There are no lakes known, but there are large springs, affording great water-power on the heads of the principal rivers. The surface of the country is generally hilly, which is sterile; but there are many beautiful valleys, abounding in vegetation, and susceptible of the highest cultivation. Wood is scarce, but a sufficiency for future settlers. The prairies are covered with a species of grass, called, by the whites and Mexicans, "musquite," which is highly nutritious.

The constant firing of the prairies checks the increase of timber, and visibly impoverishes the soil. There are no marshes or swamps of any extent in the country, and the only obstacle to roads is the rocks, through which passes can be found with little difficulty. No volcanic eruptions exist at the present time, and no signs of any at a former period, as far as has yet been discovered.

The climate is usually very dry. The heat of the weather varies greatly; changing with a rapidity unknown in any other latitude, the thermometer frequently descending

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They believe the Indian Paradise to be beyond the sun, where the Great Spirit sits and rules.

Numeration. — They count by decimals, from one to one thousand, as I am informed by the principal chiefs, but they now frequently count by the Caddo mode — from one to ten, and by tens to one hundred, &c.

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They have no accounts; all their business transactions are simple trade and barter. They are ignorant of the elements of figures; even of a perpendicular stroke for 1, 11, &c. They make no grave-posts or monuments indicating the rank of a deceased person. There is little known of their medicines. So far as has been discovered, they are confined to simple roots and herbs. They trust more to incantations made by the medicine-men, who also bleed in fevers by scarification on the part affected, and not in the veins. Their principal treatment in diseases is starvation. They do not understand amputation, but bind up a broken limb with splints. Their litters for conveying the wounded or sick are composed of simply two poles, with skins stretched across them, and long enough to be supported by a horse in front and rear.

The position of a chief is not hereditary, but the result of his own superior cunning, knowledge, or success in war, or some act or acts that rank him according to his merits. The subjects under discussion in council are at all times open to popular opinion, and the chiefs are the main exponents of it. The democratic principle is strongly implanted in them. They consult, principally, the warrior class, and the weaker minds are wholly influenced by popular opinion. Each man endeavors to obtain as high a position as their merits allow. War chiefs commit hostilities without consulting the other tribes. Any proposition or treaties proposed by the whites are discussed privately, and the answer given by the chief as the unanimous voice of the tribe. In deliberations in council, they consult each other, and one addresses the meeting. The council is opened by passing the council pipe from one to the other, and invoking the Deity to preside. It is conducted with great propriety, and closed in the same manner. There is one appointed as crier or messenger, whose duty it is to fill the pipe, &c. Questions, especially of importance, are deliberately considered, and considerable time frequently elapses before they are answered; but they are all decided on the principle of apparent unanimity. Capital punishments are rare; each party acting generally for himself, and avenging his own injuries. Each chief is ranked according to his popularity, and his rank is maintained on the same principle.

He is deprived of his office by any misfortune, such as loss of many men in battle, or even a signal defeat, or being taken prisoner, but never for any private act unconnected with the welfare of the whole tribe. They have no medals except those lately

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There are no subdivisions of land acknowledged in their territory, and no exclusive right of game. He who kills the game retains the skin, and the meat is divided according to the necessity of the party, always without contention, as each individual shares his food with every member of the tribe, or with strangers who visit them. No dispute ever arises between tribes with regard to their hunting grounds, the whole being held in common.

The intercourse laws of the United States Indians, never having been extended over those in the state of Texas, no conclusions can be drawn from their effect. Negotiations can be carried on with better results in their own country than at the seat of government, as absent chiefs do not place much reliance in what they are told by others, but at the same time, an actual intercourse with the head of the government gives the tribe a decidedly, better view of its character and influence. The principal chiefs have shown every disposition to advance in civilization, and only require the co-operation of the Americans, to influence their followers in the same course.

No individual action is considered as a crime, but every man acts for himself according to his own judgment, unless some superior power, for instance, that of a popular chief, should exercise authority over him. They believe that when they were created, the Great Spirit gave them the privilege of a free and unconstrained use of their individual faculties. They do not worship any Evil Spirit, and are not aware of its existence, attributing every thing to arise from the Great Spirit, whether of good or evil. They use fire in all their religious observances and dances, or Medicine-making, but I am unacquainted with the estimation in which it is held.

They believe in the immortality of the soul, in their happy hunting-grounds, but have no definite idea of its transit from this life to another, or in what manner they will re-appear hereafter. The ties of consanguity are very strong, not only with regard to their blood relations, but extends itself to relations by marriage, &c., who are considered as, and generally called "brothers" — all offences committed against any member, are avenged by all, or any member connected with the family. In this nation a hunter will generally supply a sufficiency of food and clothing for a family. The marriage state only continues during the pleasure of the parties, as a man claims the right to divorce himself whenever he chooses. Polygamy is practised to a great

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They are formal and suspicious to strangers, but hospitable and social to those they consider their friends. They have no regular meals, but eat when they feel hungry, each party helping himself, and joining in the meal without invitation or ceremony. The parents exercise full control in giving their daughters in marriage, they being generally purchased at a stipulated price by their suitors. There is no marriage ceremony of any description — they enter the marriage state at a very early age, frequently before the age of puberty. The children are named from some circumstance in tender years, which is frequently changed in after life by some act of greater importance. Whatever children are stolen from their enemies, are incorporated in the family to whom they belong, and treated as their own children, without distinction of color or nation. There is considerable respect shown by the younger branches of the community to the patriarchal chiefs of the tribe.

When they make a sacred pledge or promise, they call upon the great spirit as their father, and the earth as their mother, to testify to the truth of their asseverations. Their talk in council is short, and their oratorical powers considered of little value; but good judgment is held in high estimation. The children are practised at a very early age to the use of the bow and arrow, but the chiefs and principal braves are now accustomed to the use of the shot-gun and rifle, without dispensing with the bow and arrow, which are always carried and used in war. When a chieftain wishes to go to war, he declares his intentions, and the preliminaries are discussed at a war-dance. When the affair is agreed upon, a certain place is designated near the point of action, where to congregate at a specified time, to which place the chiefs repair, the warriors proceeding separately in small bands by various routes, in order, if discovered, to deceive the enemy as to the point of attack, and to procure subsistence, each party living on the produce of the chase; no provisions being carried for public use. They fight on horseback with whatever arms they can procure; but their principal reliance is on the bow and arrow.

They are the most expert riders in the world. Men are never taken prisoners by them in battle, but killed and scalped in all cases. The women are sometimes made prisoners, in which case their chastity is uniformly not respected.

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They have dances of various descriptions, always characteristic of the subject. Females are frequently admitted to the dance, but these dances are entirely distinct from those of the men. They have contests in racing, and several games of chance. Their principal game is the same as all the northern bands, called "bullet," "button," &c., which consists in changing a bullet rapidly from one hand to the other, accompanied by a song to which they keep time with the motion of their arms, and the opposite party guessing which hand it is in. They sometimes stake all they possess on a single game.

When pressed by hunger from scarcity of game, they subsist on their young horses and mules. The flesh of the young wild-horse is considered a delicacy.

Their common dress is the breech-cloth and moccasins, with a buffalo robe flung loosely over the shoulders; but some have now begun to imitate the more civilized tribes. They have a great variety of ornaments, many of which are of pure silver, principally fashioned into large brooches. Their decorations are derived from birds and shells which are bartered to them by the traders. The hawk and eagle feathers are the most esteemed of the bird. They use several native dyes, produced from roots, but I am ignorant of the names or the process of manufacture. Vermilion, indigo, and verdigris, are sold them by the traders. They also paint with white and red clay on particular occasions. They are of a light character, with a gay cast of mind, and rather fervid temperament. From observation I am induced to believe that their minds are susceptible of a considerable degree of cultivation. Christianity has never been introduced among them. This tribe is subject to many trespassers, not only from the whites, but also from the neighboring tribes of Indians, who hunt through portions of their country, destroying great quantities of game.

The scarcity of fire-arms, and their incomplete knowledge of that weapon, renders them unequal to contend with the frontier tribes, who have obtained experience from contact with the whites. Their burials are strictly private. When a man dies, his horses are generally killed and buried, and all his principal effects burnt. The first to carry him to his paradise, and the latter for his use on his arrival. They formerly also killed their favorite wife, but this custom has been done away with, from intercourse with the more civilized Indians.

The death of a chief causes great tribulation to the tribe — on such occasions they assemble without distinction, and bewail his death with extreme lamentation, until they receive from the relatives of the deceased, sufficient presents to cause them to stop; for instance, if a man wants a favorite horse belonging to the brother of the deceased, he continues crying till he obtains it. When they are killed in battle, it is a cause of much greater lamentation than from a natural death, and a much greater number of mourners bewail the loss. The presents given by relatives are also much more valuable. The deceased is packed upon a horse as soon as he expires, and taken to the highest hill in the neighborhood, and buried privately, without any monument to note the place, as far as has been discovered. The wives of the deceased,

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From the liberality with which they dispose of their effects on all occasions of the kind, it would induce the belief that they acquire property merely for the purpose of giving it to others."

Plate 33 is an illustration of the mode of attack by the Comanches on the emigrants, when crossing the western prairies, en route for New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, and California.

When the emigrants are suddenly attacked by these tribes, (all of whom are mounted) they drive their wagons together, forming a circle, with the heads of the animals towards the centre, and the fore-wheel of one wagon locking in with the hind-wheel of the next, thus forming a compact and strong enclosure, from which they are enabled to defend themselves with efficiency and safety to themselves and animals. If a growth of wood be near, the wagons are driven into it, and the wheels locked against the trees, thus preventing the animals from running off with the wagons. The attack is made without much order, but every effort is made to frighten the animals, by whooping, hallooing, and wounding them with their arrows, so as to produce as much confusion as possible among the emigrants. Often the animals become so furious, that they break away from their teams, and are then captured by the Indians.

For their language, which is found to be cognate with the Shoshonee group, reference is made to the article LANGUAGE, No. IX. This vocabulary is derived from Mr. Neighbours.

Their numeral terms, to thirty, have been given in the preceding pages.
H.R.S.

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[The following traditions are given, as being entitled to the highest respect, but without endorsing the opinions incidentally expressed, or the particular archזological dates. Mr. Warren is himself the descendant, by the maternal side, of one of the most respectable Indian families of the ancient capital of this nation, to which he refers; and his sources of oral information are the best. He is a graduate, I think, of Union Theological Seminary, N. Y., and is well versed in the Ojibwa language, as well as with the traditions and manners and customs of this important and far-stretching tribe of the Algonquin group. — H. R. S.]

THE ancient history of the Ojibwas consists in oral traditions, which partake mostly, if not altogether, of the marvellous and supernatural; and the writer is not prepared, at this early stage of his inquiries and studies, to give a decided opinion, deduced from these fabulous traditions, of their origin and history prior to the landing of the Pale-faces in America.

He is, however, collecting every tradition that pertains to, or can throw any light on this subject; and he hopes, at some future day, to be able to place the fruits of his inquiries in abler hands, who are better qualified to handle the subject.

Through a close acquaintance with their religious rites and beliefs, I have formed an opinion which I will offer at this time, leaving it to those who have studied the Red Race, their rites and traditions, much more closely than myself, either to reject or more fully carry out the idea. The Ojibwa believes that his soul or shadow, after the death of the body, follows a wide beaten path which leads towards the west, and that it goes to a country abounding in every thing that the Indian covets on earth —game in abundance, dancing, and rejoicing. The soul enters a long lodge, in which all his relatives, for generations past, are congregated, and they welcome him with gladness. To reach this land of joy and bliss, he crosses a deep and rapid water, &c. From this universal belief I am led to think, that formerly, ages past, these Indians lived in a land of plenty — "a land flowing with milk and honey" — towards the west; that they have, by coercion or otherwise, emigrated east, till the broad Atlantic arrested their further progress, and the white man has turned the faces of tribes and remnants of

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It is believed by some eminent men and writers, that the Red Race of America are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. I mention this belief here to say, that I have noted much, in the course of my inquiries, that would induce me to fall into the same belief, besides the general reasons that are adduced to prove the fact. I have noticed that in all their principal and oldest traditions and lodge tales, twelve brothers are spoken of: they are the sons of Ge-tub-e, a name nearly similar to Jacob. The oldest of these brothers is called Mujekewis, and the youngest Wa-jeeg-e-wa-kon-ay, named after his coat of fisher's skins, with which he resisted the machinations of evil spirits. He was the beloved of his father and the Great Spirit; the wisest and most powerful of his twelve brothers.

The tradition also in which originated the Ke-na-big-wusk, or snake-root, which forms one of the four main branches of the Me-da-win, is similar in character to the brazen serpent of Moses, that saved the lives of the unbelieving Israelites. In the Indian tradition, the serpent is made to show to man a root, which saved the lives of a great town, which was being depopulated by pestilence.

Not only in these instances is the similarity of the Ojibwa oral traditions, and the written history of the Hebrews, evident and most striking. It is out of place here, to particularize further, as I consider this a subject deserving separate attention, and closer investigation than ever it has received. Of late years the Ojibwas have been progressing westward, and from their traditions, it is evident they had commenced it before the white man landed in America. They were probably driven from the east by more powerful tribes, till they made their final stand, above two centuries and a half ago, on Lake Superior, and made their central town on an island in the lake (Lapointe), where they were found by the first whites, who visited them in the attitude of an encroaching and invading tribe, surrounded on all sides by enemies, whom they denominate Nodowaig, or Iroquois, Odugameeg, or Foxes, Aboinug, or Sioux, and Omameeg.

They date with certainty their first acquaintance with the whites, eight generations ago, and for a long time before this, they agree in stating that Moningwunakaun (Lapointe) had formed their central seat and town. Many of the chiefs, and less thinking old men, even affirm and believe, that this is the spot in which their ancestors have lived since "the world was new." It is only by a study of their varied and numerous fable-like traditions, that I can trace them as coming from an easterly direction, prior to their residence on the island of Lapointe. From these traditions we learn that they once were familiar with the great salt ocean — again, that they once lived on a great river, — again, on a great lake, where they exterminated a powerful tribe they call the Mundau; at last we find them on Lake Superior, from which place

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With the same progressive advance they have been making for two hundred years past, it has taken this tribe eight hundred years, from the time they left the eastern sea-board of the Atlantic, to assume their present local position on this continent. This time and progress, however, are only assumed, as they may have been driven west to Lake Superior, with much more celerity than they have advanced, since our acquaintance with them as a tribe.

In the inquiries set on foot by the Indian Department of our Government, respecting the history of the Indian tribes, facts only are sought; for this reason we do not introduce fabulous traditions that pertain to their history, but will commence from the time they relate events with any truth and certainty, and this is from the time they first became acquainted with the white man. For a long time prior to this event, the Ojibwa branch of the Algonquin stock, of the aboriginal race of America, had been living on Lake Superior; their principal town was on the island of Mo-ning-wun-a-kבn-ing, and covered a space of ground more than three miles in length, and two miles wide, judging from the vestiges still plainly visible — especially to be seen in the small growth of trees now covering the spot, compared to trees growing on other parts of the island; and also in deep-beaten paths, that a few years since were still visible in different parts of the island.

Besides the main body on the island, bands lived on different points of the lake shore, at the bays of Shag-waum-e-leong, Kult-e-wa-on-aun, Ka-puk-wa-e-ka, and other places; but it was in fear and trembling, for in those days the Ojibwas had many enemies that sought to exterminate them.

They practised the arts of agriculture, and raised on the island large quantities of corn and potatoes. They lived also by hunting. The main land opposite their village abounded in moose, bear, elk, deer; and the buffalo, in those days, ranged in herds within half a day's journey from the lake shore. Every stream that flowed into the lake abounded in beaver, otter, and muskrat. The waters of the lake also afforded them fish of many kinds. The trout, sisquoet, white fish, and sturgeon, which, in spawning time, would fill their rivers, where, making racks across the stream, they would spear and hook up great quantities as the fish came down after spawning. They made nets of cedar and basswood bark, and from the sinews of animals.

The ribs of the moose and buffalo made materials for their knives; a stone tied to the end of a stick, with which they broke sticks and branches, answered the purpose of an axe; the thigh-bone of a muskrat made their awls, clay their kettles, and bows of wood, stone-headed arrows, and spear heads made of bone, formed their implements of hunting and war.

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Fire was made from the friction of two sticks. Their shirts and legging were made of finely dressed skins. Blankets of beaver-skins, eight of which sewed together formed the robe of a man.

It is a fact worthy of record, that copper, though abounding in their country on the lake shore, they never used or formed into implements for use. They considered it, and still do, at the present day, in the light of a sacred article, and never used it but as ornaments to their medicine-bags.

If ancient tools have been found, and marks are discovered showing that copper was worked on Lake Superior ages ago, it is not at all probable, on this account, that the race now living there were the workers of it.

At this era, there was maintained at Mo-ning-wun-a-kan-ing, the central town and power of the Ojibwas, a continual fire as a symbol of their nationality. They maintained also a civil polity, which, however, was much mixed up with their religious and medicinal beliefs.

The totem of the Ah-בw-wa ruled over them, and Muk-wah, or Bear Totem, led them to war.

The rites of the Me-da-we-win, or their mode of worshipping the one Great Spirit, and the lesser spirits, that fill earth, sky, and water, was practised in those days in its purest and most original forms.

They say that a large wigwam was erected on the Island, which they called Me-da-wig-wam, and in which all the holier rites of their religion were practised. Though probably rude in its structure and build, and not lasting in its materials, yet it was the temple of these primitive sons of the forest. And in their religious phraseology, the island of their ancient temple is known to this day as Me-da-wig-wam, or Me-da-we-lodge.

In those days their native and primitive customs were in full force and rigidly adhered to. Neither man nor woman ever passed the age of puberty without severe and protracted fasts. Besides the one great and overruling spirit, each person sought in dreams and fasts his particular guardian, or dream-spirit.

Many more persons are said to have lived the full term of life allotted to mankind than do at the present day.

"When a person fell sick, a small-pox lodge was immediately made, purposely for him, and a medicine-man called to attend and cure. Only this personage had any intercourse with the sick.

If a person died of a severe or violent disease, his clothing, the barks, and even the poles that formed his lodge, were burned by fire. Thus did they of old guard against pestilence; and sickness appears to have been more rare than at the present day.

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The old men all agree in saying that before the white man found and resided among them, there were fewer murders, thefts, and lying; more fear and devotion to the Great Spirit; more obedience to their parents, respect for old age, and chastity in man and woman, than exists among them now. The council of the Me-da-we initiators partook, and partakes still, of the spirit of the ten commandments, that was given to the children by the great Jehovah, amid the lightnings and thunderings of Mount Sinai.

In those days the ties of blood were stronger among them. There was more good-will, hospitality, and charity, practised towards one another; and the widow and orphan were never allowed to live in poverty and want.

In the traditionary emigration of the tribe from the east, a portion of them moved in the direction of the North of Lake Superior, and are now known as the Muskegoes and Sug-waun-dug-ali-win-ine-wug, or "Thick Woodsmen." Other portions of the tribe stopped at Sault Ste-Marie, which has also been one of the oldest towns they now tell of.

In the Straits of "Me-she-ni-mick-in-auk-ong" or "Great Turtle," they parted from their relations, the Ottawa and Po-da-waud-um-eeg. With these two tribes, together with the O-dish-quag-um-ceg or Algonquins, they to this day claim the closest affinity.

The confederation of the six nations, whom they denominate Nod-o-way-se-wug, from Nod-o-way, "The Adder," appears to have been their most inveterate foes, and who, having been first discovered by the whites, and armed with guns, succeeded in driving west the remnant of these Ojibwa tribes, that had remained behind their main body, who were at this era already living on Lake Superior. With them went the Wy-an-dot, Po-da-wand-um-ee, Ottawa, and O-dish-quag-umee.

The old men of the Ojibways claim, that before this event happened, the main body of their tribe had already found their way to Lake Superior, and were living at Lapointe. With the portion of the tribe stopping at St. Marie, Saganaw, and the Muskegoes, I claim no close acquaintance, and will mention them only as they are connected with the general history of the tribes. That portion of the tribe that made their town at Lapointe, as it were, formed the advance guard, or van of the Algic stock. They now number eight thousand souls, spread over a large extent of country. At the time they were hemmed in by their enemies at Lapointe, they say that they numbered more: and it is natural to suppose, that their bloody, exterminating wars, in connexion with pestilence, that has twice visited them within the past hundred

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Their extermination of the Mundua tribe is a traditionary event, related to me by the Sandy Lake chief, and others, and which I have thought proper to introduce here, as an answer in part to the query respecting the lost tribe of Eries, and as an event happening many hundred years ago. There was at one time, living on the shores of a large lake, a grand and powerful tribe of people called Munduas. They were congregated in one single town, which was so large, that one standing on a hill in the centre, could not see the limits of it. This tribe were fierce and warlike; their hand was against every other tribe. Their prisoners they burned with fire, as offerings to their spirits. All the surrounding tribes lived in great fear of them, till their Ojibwa brother called them to council, and sent the wampum of war to collect the warriors of many tribes together. A war-party was raised, whose line of warriors extended as far as the eye could reach. They marched against the great town of the Mundua, and attacked it on all sides that it could be approached by land. Though the numbers of their assailants was overwhelming, the Mundua had such full confidence in their own prowess and numerical strength, that the first day of attack they sent only their boys to repel the invaders. The boys being driven in, they on the second day turned out their young men to fight their foes, while the rest of the town were feasting and dancing. Still, however, the Ojibwas and their allies gradually beat them back, till on the eve of the second day's fight, they found themselves in possession of half of the great town. The third day dawned, and the Mundua beginning to think it a serious business, their old and tried warriors, "mighty men of valor," sang their war-song, put on their paints and ornaments of war, and sallied out to drive back their invaders.

This day, the fight was hand to hand and fierce as fire. There is nothing in their traditionary accounts to equal the violence of the struggle in this battle; the bravest warriors in America had met: one fighting for vengeance, glory, and renown; the other for every thing that is dear to man, even their very existence. The Mundua were obliged at last to give way, and, hotly pressed by their foes, men, women, and children, threw themselves into the lake. At this juncture their aged chief, (who was also a medicine-man,) seeing the dead bodies of his bravest warriors covering the ground, called with a loud voice for the assistance of the Great Spirit, but no answer being made to his prayer, he called on the evil spirits of earth and water, and suddenly there arose from the bosom of the lake a dark and heavy fog, and covered in folds of darkness the scene of the bloody fight.

The old chief gathered together the remnants of his slaughtered tribe, and, under cover of the evil spirits' fog, they left their town for ever. For a day and a night,

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We will now relate events happening a few years prior to their acquaintance with the whites. The exact time, however, is uncertain.

One prominent reason why the Ojibwas chose to live on an island, is evident; and that was, for more security from their numerous foes. The Nodowa war-parties did not here reach them, as they came no farther than the Sault at the foot of the lake. But they had as powerful and inveterate enemies in the Odugaumeeg and Aboinug, into whose country they were encroaching.

The Odug-aum-eeg occupied a country towards the southwest, about the waters of Wisconsin, on Ton-a-gun and Chippeway Rivers.

The Sioux lived about the waters of St. Croix, Mississippi, and St. Louis Rivers. Sandy Lake, Mille Lac, and Yellow Lake, being then the sites of their principal towns.

A tribe also, called O-man-ee, is told of as their earliest enemies. They are spoken of as living at Mille Lac in earthern houses, and were in a general battle exterminated or driven off.

The Ojibwas were most harassed by the Odug-aum-eeg and A-boin-ug, or Sioux and Foxes.

The lake shores of Superior were familiar to the war-parties of these two warlike tribes.

At one time, a war-party of Sioux found their way from the nearest point of the main, to the island of La Pointe, and during the night two of their warriors crossed on a log, a distance of two miles, and returned in a canoe, with four scalps they had taken on the island.

On another occasion, a large party of Foxes floated down the Ontonagun in their small inland bark canoes. They landed in the night on the island of their foes, and early in the morning captured four women that had gone to gather wood; the spot is still pointed out.

The revenge of the Ojibwas was quick and complete; as the Foxes, by their

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Soon after the above occurrence, a party of Foxes fell on a camp of Ojibwas at Kah-puk-wa-ka, while the men were out hunting. They captured two youths, having driven them into boggy ground. One of these prisoners was the son of a principal Ojibwa chief named Bi-ans-wah, and belonging to the Ah-awh-wauk family.

A tale was told me by a direct descendant of this Ah-awh-wauk family connected with the capture of this youth, which deserves a place in the records of the tribe. At the time the capture was made, the father of the young man was out on a hunt. Returning home, he heard the heart-rending news, and knowing that his son's fate would be the stake, he immediately pursued the returning captors singly and alone. Following in their trail, he arrived at one of their principal villages while the Foxes were in the act of burning his son with fire. He stepped boldly into the midst of his enemies, and offered to take the place of his son. "My son," said he, "has seen but a few winters; his feet have never trod the war-path: but the hairs of my head are white, and over the graves of my relatives I have hung many scalps that I have taken from the heads of your warriors." The old chief's offer was accepted by the Foxes, — his son released, and himself burnt at the stake with all the tortures that savage ingenuity could invent. The son returned to his people, and was afterwards known by his father's name. He became a noted man in his tribe, and, in the course of his history, we will have occasion to notice his deeds in after life.

The act related above was terribly avenged by the Ojibwa tribe. A large war-party was collected and marched against the towns of the Foxes, on the Chippewa river; and they returned not until six villages of their enemies had been laid waste, and their inhabitants destroyed. After this event the Fox tribe retired from the country bordering on Lake Superior, and fell back on the Mississippi.

The war between the two tribes was bloody in the extreme, and carried on with all the cruelty of savage warfare. Captives were taken and burnt by fire. This custom originated in the following manner,

A noted warrior of the Ojibwas was once taken captive by his own nephew, son to his sister, who had been captured and married among the Foxes. The nephew, to

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Soon after their lake fight with this tribe, a war-party of Sioux, numbering one hundred and fifty men, found their way to the extreme point of Shag-ah-waum-ik, directly opposite the town of Lapointe, one mile distant. Here they laid in wait, and one morning attacked two young men who had gone to the point to look for ducks. The spot being in those days covered with numerous sand-hills, they defended themselves till the village opposite became alarmed, and the Ojibwa warriors, quickly collecting, ran to the southern extremity of their town, and at Gooseberry creek embarked in their canoes, and paddled straight across to the little portage, a place where Shag-ah-waum-ik is but a few rods wide — once in possession of this spot, the Sioux were entirely cut off from retreat. The van of both parties arrived there at the same moment, and a severe fight for egress was maintained by the Sioux; they were however driven back, and being caught as it were in a trap, were to a man killed, except two who swam into the lake, and as their bodies were not found, it was supposed that they had performed the almost superhuman act of swimming three or four miles in fresh water.

The particles of bones still strewn over the whole point are said to be the remains of the slain warriors.

An anecdote is told of a warrior of the Crane family, who, being left by his fellows in the hurry of embarking, lashed his bow and quiver of arrows to his back, and swam to Shag-ah-waumick, over a mile distant; so eager was he for the fight. He arrived after the battle was over, and was so enraged by disappointment, that he struck, indiscriminately, his fellows, for having left him behind.

The encounters which I have briefly mentioned are related by the old men with great minuteness, and interspersed with anecdotes. Happening before their intercourse

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We now come to the period when the white man first became known to them. The tradition of this important era in their history is briefly as follows:

A principal man of the Me-da-we-win, named Ma-se-wa-pe-ga, dreamed a dream, in which he beheld spirits in the shape of men, but having white skins, and their heads were covered. They approached him with a smile on the face, and the hands extended.

This dream he told to the principal men of his tribe, in a council, and over a feast to his dream-spirit. He informed them that the spirits he had seen in his dream resided in the east, and that he would go and find them.

For one year Ma-se-wa-pe-ga prepared for his journey. He made a strong canoe, and dried meat for his wappo, and, with only his wife as a companion, he left Lapointe to go and find the spirits he had seen in his dream. He went down the Great Lake, and entered into a river that flowed towards the rising of the sun. He passed through tribes of the red man that spoke different languages.

At last, when the river had become wide, and like a lake, he found on the banks one night, as he encamped, a hut built of logs, and the stumps of large trees that had been cut by other and sharper instruments than their rude axes.

The signs thus discovered were apparently two winters old.

Much encouraged, Ma-se-wa-pe-ga continued his course down stream, and the next day again came to another deserted log hut.

The third day he saw another log hut, from the chimney of "which arose a smoke. It was occupied by the white spirits of his dream, who came out and cordially welcomed him with a shake of the hand.

When he returned to his people, he brought the presents he had received of an axe, a knife, beads, and some scarlet cloth, which he had carefully secured in his medicine-bag, and brought safely to Mo-ning-wan-a-kaun-ing.

Collecting his people to council, he showed them the sacred presents of the white spirits.

The next season numbers followed Ma-se-wa-pe-ga on his second visit to the whites. They carried with them many beaver-skins, and returned with the fire-arms that from this time made them the terror of their enemies.

From this time the dispersion of the tribe from La Pointe can be dated. The Indians say, eight generations or "string of lives" ago, which, estimating an Indian generation at thirty-five years, would make two hundred and eighty years ago.

One cause has been given to me, in the course of my inquiries, by persons of the tribe, which is said to have led to their dispersion from the island.

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Poisoning, in those days, was a common mode of revenging an injury. These Indians, on a small scale, have had their ages of Medicis, Borgias and poisons, as well as the whites; and it is told that it required but the slightest cause for a person to draw down upon himself the displeasure of a medicine-man, and die of his poison. Instances occurred, where the poisoners are known, to have dug up their victims, and invite the relatives to a feast on the body.

This horrid ceremony was got up in utter darkness, and not till the friends of the deceased had received their share of the feast were torches suddenly lighted, and they became aware of the nature of the banquet. Fear of the poisoner's power and vengeance would constrain them to eat what was placed before them. This was a usual sacrificial feast to the spirit of the poison.

At this period, the tribe lived in great awe of one another, and especially of their medicine-men: the fear of whom has not yet quite died away, and which is the secret of the power of this body among them.

At this period, it is also affirmed that it was customary to offer to their different Me-da-we spirits, human sacrifices of one another, and of their children. This sacrifice is said to have been made at the roots of a huge pine-tree that stood somewhere in the centre of the island, which reared its branches far above other trees.

The virgin feast of human flesh, which we sometimes hear spoken of, and read of, was also in full practice; and there was an old woman alive at La Pointe a few years since, who could tell tales on this head (her own experience) that would make the blood run cold.

To such an extent were these evil practices carried, that at last fear fell on the inhabitants of La Pointe; the weeping and wailing of je-bi-ug or ghosts were heard nightly resounding through their town, till at last they fled, and a general dispersion took place, which left their island entirely deserted.

I have asked old Be-she-ke and Tug-waug-aun-ay, chiefs at La Pointe, and old men of other bands, for corroboration of this tale I have here related; and though not denying it altogether, they are unwilling to acknowledge the fact, which is but natural they should, from respect to the memory of their ancestors.

My information was derived from old half-breeds of the Cadotte family, who were informed of the above facts by very old Indians, who, thirty or forty years since, were still living at La Pointe, some of them over a century old, and who could remember the tales their immediate fathers related to them.

It is a fact also worthy of mention, that before traders came and made their residence on the island, no Indian, it is said, dare sleep over-night on the site of their old town, for fear of the Je-bi-ug.

The first traders that built on the island, during the old French domination, found their gardens overgrown with many years' growth of trees, and it is comparatively

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Being hard pressed by their enemies, or in time of great famine, such a thing as eating human flesh might have been adopted to save life — as even at the present time it often happens among the Indians north of Lake Superior. This, together with the fact of their poisoning one another, might have given rise to the above story, and might have conduced in some measure to their dispersion, which I am inclined to believe took place naturally, as they prevailed against their enemies, and became possessed of a larger extent of country.

After this, being aware of the white man's presence on the continent, the next occurrence of importance was the taking of the Sioux village of Sandy Lake, on the Mississippi.

Bi-ans-wah, the young man whose father had died for him at the stake, became, after this occurrence, a fierce and inveterate enemy of the Sioux and Foxes, taking every opportunity, and indeed making it the business of his life, to revenge the death of his brave father.

With a large band of his tribe, he pushed on up the lake, and made a stand at Fond du Lac, Wi-a-quak-ke-che-gum-e. At this point Bi-ans-wah collected a large war-party, from the different villages of the Ojibwas on the lake shore, at the head of which be proceeded in canoes up the St. Louis, and attacked with great success the then large Sioux town of Sandy Lake. They destroyed numbers of their enemies, and drove them forever from the lake. Here Bi-ans-wah, with his band, eventually made their abiding-place and village. It is at this point that the Ojibwas, in their western conquests, first came on to the Mississippi. They made this their central point and rally ing-place, where parties collected, who marched against and wrested from the Sioux Leech, Cass, Winnipeg, Mille Lac, and Red lakes. It is from this point that the different bands, now living on and over the head-waters of the Mississippi, radiated.

Si-ans-wah, besides his deeds in war, is also noted as having put a stop to the inhuman custom of burning prisoners by fire. This he effected by a treaty of peace with the Sioux, and though the peace was soon after broken, yet both parties mutually refrained from the above practice. From this time prisoners were seldom taken, and if taken never burnt.

Besides the large band that pushed their way to the head-waters of the great river, other bands left the lake shore, and made their towns at Courtoreille, Lac du Flambeau, and on the St. Croix river; conquering, at the expense of much blood, the country as they advanced.

One morning a party of young men going out from the Bay of Shag-ב-wבum-ik, to spear fish through the ice in the fore part of the winter, discovered a smoke arising from the eastern extremity of the then unfrequented island of their old town, La Pointe. They proceeded thither, and found, in a rude cabin made of logs, two white

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The Indians carefully conveyed them to their village, and fed them with judicious kindness. But one, however, survived; who, after remaining with them through the winter, returned to Quebec, where he came from.

The above story is invariably given by the old men of Lapointe on being asked the question, "Who was the first white man that found the Indians at Lapointe after they were known to be on the continent?"

The events narrated happened seven string of lives ago.

Of Fathers Marquette and Alloez, whom Mr. Bancroft states as having, one hundred and eighty-two years ago, found their way to the Bay of Shag-ב-wבum-ik, and there opened a mission among a large band of Indians, I cannot obtain from them corroborative testimony sufficient to invalidate the fact that they were the people thus visited.

Unless they were the white men found as the above story relates, the Indians have no knowledge or account of them.

An old antique silver crucifix was, in 1847, found by an old woman in her garden, near Lapointe, after its having been ploughed up. This circumstance would go to prove that the fearless and enterprising Jesuits had been of old about the spot.

The first white men that made a permanent residence among them were traders. During the old French domination, a post was built on the Island of La Pointe, at the mouth of a creek or slough between the present site of the American Fur Company's post and the Presbyterian mission.

The buildings were surrounded by palisades of cedar, and cannon are said to have been mounted on guard.

A tragedy happened here which is minutely spoken of by the Indians, and which caused the dismantling and evacuation of the post.

The trader in charge, whose name was Joseph ———, was murdered, with his wife and two children, in cold blood, by his hired man. Two causes are given for this outrage: first, the man, being discovered pilfering goods from his master, was afraid to be denounced and punished in the spring, on the arrival of the master, or governor, and for this reason he determined on his death; and second, he had become enamoured with his master's wife, and wished to get possession of her. After killing her husband he tried to force her to his wishes, but she defended herself in such a manner with an Indian spear, that he was obliged, in self-defence, to despatch her, and afterwards her two children. He buried the bodies in a pile of chips and shavings heaped up in one corner of the fort.

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This act was perpetrated in the spring, while the Indians were all camped in their sugar bushes on the main shore, and the ice was become weak and rotten.

The murderer told the Indians who inquired for their trader, the plausible story that his master had gone with his family on a dog train, to visit them at their sugar camps. The ice being bad, all supposed that he had broken in, and drowned in the lake. A few days after, when the bay became free of ice, the Indians turned out to hunt for the bodies of their trader and family along the shores of the island and main, but without success.

In the course of the spring, a light canoe arrived from Quebec with a partner of the trading company that owned the post. At first, the story of the murderer was believed, but spots of blood, afterwards discovered on the door and walls of the apartment where he had murdered the trader's wife, led to suspicion, and the man was ordered to be bound and confined. A day or two after this, the partner, walking round the place endeavoring to find further traces of the supposed murder, stuck his sword into the pile of rubbish lying in the comer of the fort. The stench arising from the point of his cane told, that there the bodies were concealed. They were immediately dug up in presence of the murderer, who thereupon confessed his crime.

The fort was razed to the ground, and the cannon and ironworks thrown into the adjacent pond, where, the bottom being deep and miry, they have never been discovered.

The culprit was taken to Quebec for punishment, but, as some have it, escaped on the way, and was afterwards tomahawked by an Indian warrior, while boasting of his deed of blood at the red pole, where warriors were telling of their feats in war.

It had become customary, during the French domination, for the Ojibwas of Lake Superior to visit yearly Mackinac, Montreal, and even Quebec. They were well treated by the French, who had, at this time, already intermarried with them, and thus formed a link that made them, ever after, their fast friends.

In their wars with the British, the Ojibwas took active part with the French, and numbers of their warriors, headed by their chief, Ma-mong-e-se-da, were present at the battle and fall of Quebec, where the two great captains, Wolfe and Montcalm, fell.

The Ojibwas also joined the league of their relative, the great Ottowa chief, Pontiac, and were mainly instrumental at the taking of Fort Mackinac, through the stratagem of playing ball for the amusement of the fated garrison.

After the conquest of Canada by the British, the different French trading-posts were dismantled, and but a few of the old French traders and voyagers remained in Lake Superior. Among these, they mention Ke-che-sub-ud-ese, or John Baptist Cadotte, who was in the vicinity at the taking of Fort Mackinac, and massacre of the garrison by the Ojibwas and Ottowas. It was this man's Indian wife who is said to have saved the life of Alexander Henry, the only Englishman that survived the massacre.

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Cadotte, in partnership with Henry, were the first traders after the fall of the French, who came into the country of the Ojibwas. They wintered two years at Na-בsh-ib-ik-ong, a point of sand-rock in the bay of Shag-a-waum-ik, and for two years are said to have worked the mines of copper on the Ontanagun river.

Cadotte was the first permanent white settler on the Sault Ste. Marie, where he died at an advanced age, leaving a family of children and grand-children, half-breeds, spread over the whole Ojibwa country.

It is about the period of the taking of Fort Mackinac, that the last fight between the Ojibwas and Iroquois is told of, as having happened. The St. Marie Indians know probably this circumstance better than old Besheke of Lapointe, from whom I obtained it. As the story goes, a war-party of Ojibwas were collected to march into the Nod-o-wa country, in search of scalps. When arrived a short distance below the rapids of Ste. Marie, on encamping, they heard yelling, singing, and much noise on the river below them, and sending out scouts, they soon learned that it was a party of Nod-o-ways, bound on a war-excursion into their country. The enemy had also encamped, and were making merry in liquor, stolen, probably, from white traders.

The Ojibwas, waiting until they had drunk themselves asleep, fell on them, and nearly destroyed the whole party.

The spot from this circumstance was named Point Iroquois. This is the last war-party that the Nodowas are said to have sent against the Lake Superior Ojibwas.

Some years after this occurred, a man arose among the Ojibwas of La Pointe, who became a renowned war-leader, and took up with great success the quarrels of hie tribe with the Sioux and Foxes. Waub-o-jeeg, or White Fisher of the Reindeer, Totem, was the son of Ma-mong-e-se-da, the chief that led the Ojibwa warriors under Montcalm, at the taking of Quebec. He was by blood partly of Sioux extraction, being related to old Wabashaw, chief of a band of Men-da-wבk-an-ton, Sionx, living at the foot of Lake Pepin.

When arrived at the full age of maturity, he collected a war-party of three hundred warriors, and floated down the St. Croix river at their head, into the country of their enemies.

At the mouth of Snake river they were to meet a party collected from Mille-Lac and Sandy Lake, to join them on their-war excursion. Not finding the party as expected, and confident in his numbers, Waub-o-jeeg pursued his way down stream, leaving marks, however, by which the other party would be guided.

Arriving early in the morning at the head of the portage that leads around the falls of St. Croix, the men had already lifted their light canoes on their heads, to carry across the portage, when the scouts came in with the news, that a large body of Sioux and Foxes were landing at the foot of the portage. The Ojibwas put on their warpaints and ornaments, and in the middle of the portage they met their enemies, who were bound on the same errand as themselves. The combined Sioux and Fox

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The fight is said to have been fierce and hardly contested. About noon, the Foxes commenced to give ground, having lost some of their leading men. At last they turned and fairly fled, the Ojibwas after them. They would probably have been killed to a man, and driven into the water, had not, at this moment, the Sioux, eager and fresh for a fight, raised their war-whoop, and rushed to the rescue of their defeated allies.

The Ojibwas resisted their new enemies manfully, and it was not till their ammunition had failed, that they, in turn, showed their backs in flight.

But few would have escaped to tell the sad tale of their defeat, had not, at this juncture, the party from Sandy Lake, who were to have met them at Snake River, arrived at the head of the portage, and, seeing their friends driven over the rocks into the water, they jumped out of their canoes, and sixty warriors, fresh for the contest, withstood the onset of the Sioux and Foxes till their friends rallied again to the fight.

The allied Sioux and Foxes, being out of ammunition, are said to have, in turn, fled, and their slaughter to have been great. Many were driven over the steep rocks into the boiling rapids below; and every crevice in the rocks contained a dead or wounded enemy.

From this time, the Foxes retired south, and gave up the contest with their victorious enemies.

Wau-bo-jeeg, who led the Lake Superior bands in this battle, often afterwards led his warriors with great success against the Sioux, and became noted for his bravery and wisdom. He swayed the influence of a master-spirit over his whole tribe. He is one of those that the Ojibwa of the present day speak of with pride.

Bi-ans-wah and Wau-bo-jeeg fought for their people and for conquests; Ma-mong-e-se-da for the French, and An-dag-weos, another chief, cotemporaneous with Waub-o-jeeg, was justly noted for his peaceable disposition, and unwavering friendship for the whites. He was a chief of the Ah-auh-wauk stock, and had great influence with his people, who were, in those days, wild and untameable, and required a strong hand to check a propensity for pillaging from white traders, to whom An-dag-weos was as a guardian spirit. He was the grandfather of the present old chief Be-she-ke of La Pointe.

We will now return to the northern wing of the tribe, who, under their chief Bi-ans-wah, had pushed their way to Sandy Lake. From this place we have said that they harassed the Sioux till they drove them from Leech, Cass, Winnipeg, Red, and Mille Lakes, which last was a large and favorite village of their enemies. These lakes, in every way adapted to their mode of living — abounding in game, wild rice, fish, maple to make sugar, and birch bark for canoes, were occupied by detached bands

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From the time, now over a century ago, when they first conquered these places, not a year has passed but their blood has been spilled in their defence; and many, very many, have lost their lives: notwithstanding which, they have hung on, unyielding and tenacious, till they have compelled their enemies to retire west of the St. Peters, and Red River of the North; and south, to the mouth of the St. Peters.

Their hunts are made altogether on the hunting grounds of the Sioux, and it was a common boast of their late war-chief Hole-in-the-day, Bug-on-a-ke-shig, that had not the white man interfered, and at the treaty of Prairie-du-Chien drawn the lines between them, his people would now be dwelling at St. Peters.

The bands now living on and over the head-waters of the Mississippi, now live over a country embraced within the area of four hundred miles north and south, and two hundred east and west, from Mille-Lac to Pembina, and from Sandy Lake to the Red River of the North.

They number between three and four thousand souls.

On the tract of country they occupy, many spots are pointed out where the warriors of these two contending tribes have met in battle, and their blood flowed freely. More fights, massacres, and surprises are told of, than would, if detailed, fill a large book. In this condensed account, however, we shall only notice their principal battles.

A few years after the smoke of the Ojibwa lodges had first arisen from Sandy Lake, one of their war-parties met a party of their enemies the Sioux, on a point in Lake Winnipeg, where a considerable fight ensued, the consequence of which was the eventual evacuation of the lake by the Sioux.

The Ojibwas note this fight, as having killed in it a one-footed Sioux, the other having been either cut or froze off.

About ninety years ago, as near as we can compute from Indian time, a party of about three hundred Sioux warriors ascended the Mississippi in their canoes, went up the Crow-wing, made portages across to Leech Lake, and floated down the Mississippi through Lake Winnipeg, capturing and killing straggling Ojibwas as they went. They arrived at Sandy Lake, and attacked the village of the Ojibwas. The men being away on a war-excursion, the Sioux with ease killed and captured their women and children. The Ojibwa warriors had left their fated village, to the number of sixty warriors. On arriving at the confluence of the Mississippi, they discovered the traces of their enemies, who had gone up the Crow-wing. Too late to return to the defence of their village, they laid in wait a short distance below the mouth of the Crow-wing, for the descent of their enemies.

They dug hiding-holes on the high eastern bank of the Mississippi, where the river makes a sudden curve, and the whole force of the current flows under the bank. They had not waited long before the Sioux came floating in triumph, with many scalps and

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The Ojibwas, perfectly enraged at the sight, impatiently waited till their more numerous foes had again embarked, and came floating down within a few feet of and under them. In the canoes of their enemies they recognised their wives and children, that had been taken captive, and it was with a perfect phrensy of rage that they let fly their bullets and arrows with unerring aim, picking out the most prominent figures and plumed heads of the Sioux. In the surprise and excitement which ensued, the prisoners purposely tripped over the canoes of their captors, and many escaped to the shore, from which their husbands were, with dreadful yells, dealing out the death-winged bullet and arrow among their enemies. Many Sioux were killed while they were within range of the Ojibwa missiles, and some were drowned in the deep current. The remainder, still more than doubly outnumbering their enemies, landed about half a mile below, and returned bravely to give battle to the Ojibwas, and revenge the warriors they had lost. They first tied their remaining captives to trees.

The fight is said to have lasted three days with great fierceness. The Ojibwas were only saved from annihilation from their more numerous foes by being posted on a hill where they had dug holes, from which, entirely concealed themselves, they let fly their bullets and arrows on their less hidden enemies.

The ammunition of both parties is said to have failed in the earlier part of the fight, and the Sioux digging counter holes, they fought with stones, knives, and war-clubs.

The Sioux were the first to retreat, taking with them their remaining prisoners.

This occurrence nearly depopulated the then flourishing village of Sandy Lake. Their numbers were, however, gradually increased by families from the Great Lake; and forty years after, they had regained their former numbers and consequence. At this time, they were again almost cut off to a man.

Headed by their chief, this band would, in the fall of the year, move their camps about Mille Lac and Crow-wing river to hunt the deer, bear, buffalo, and elk, that abounded in these regions. While thus encamped in force, the Sioux never dared to attack them, though straggling parties and hunters were often set upon and never returned.

One season, however, the Sioux mustered their warriors in force, and with four hundred men, they followed the return trail of the Ojibwa camp, as they returned to their village in March, to camp in their sugar bushes.

The Ojibwas were encamped, when attacked, at Sa-sub-a-gum-a, or Cross Lake, about thirty miles northeast from the mouth of Crow-wing river.

A day before the attack, a part of the camp had separated from the main body and moved off towards Mille Lac; and early in the morning, before the attack was begun, a

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The camp numbered about twenty lodges, eight of which were long, and averaged twenty persons in a lodge; the whole number probably between two and three hundred, men, women, and children.

The camp was located on a long point of land running out into the lake, and was approachable only by the ice on the lake. The scouts of the Sioux were discovered early in the morning, and the Ojibwas gained a short time to prepare for defence. The attack was bravely made by the Sioux, in open day, and in a long line on the ice. The Ojibwas, on seeing their enemies thus advance, dancing and yelling, straight against their lodges, two of their bravest warriors (Bedud and She-sheeb) sallied forth, and, meeting their foes on the open ice, commenced the engagement. Their fellows following their example, the Ojibwa warriors formed a barrier of their bodies on the ice, for the shelter of their women and children. They sustained the unequal light for a long time; many lives were lost, for they had no shelter to protect them. The snow on the ice is said to have melted with the blood of the slain, and wounded.

The remnant of the Ojibwa warriors at last retreated to their lodges, where they maintained the conflict a long time in defence of their helpless families; not a lodge pole, or shrub, or tree, but what was perforated with bullets, in the area where they made this last-stand.

To make our story short, when the Sioux had silenced the last yell and gun of their enemies, they killed the women and children, taking a few captive.

Some of these captives returned, and are still living — others, among whom was a grandson of the famous Bi-ans-wah, is said to be still living; now, an aged man among the Sioux.

Soon after the second almost entire annihilation of the Sandy Lake band at Cross Lake, the Pillagers received a severe blow in the loss of a number of their bravest warriors, in a hard fight with the north, or Sisseton Sioux.

This band of Ojibwas had fearlessly pushed their way westward from Sandy Lake, in the footsteps of their retreating foe, till they came to Leech Lake, which place, finding that it was adapted to their mode of life, and defence against the war-parties of the Sioux, they made the site of their permanent rallying-point or village.

The name of the Pillagers, or Muk-un-dua-win-in-e-wug, pillage-men, was given to them by their fellow Ojibwas and whites, on account of their having taken away the goods of a trader, about eighty years ago, at the mouth of a creek still known as Pillage creek, emptying into the Crow-wing river.

The band is also noted for their wildness, and as having on several later occasions acted to the letter of their name in their dealings with traders and missionaries.

Out of the numberless occasions of bloodshed, in which this band have been engaged with the Sioux, I will relate a fight wherein they lost many of their bravest warriors;

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A party of forty of their best warriors left Leech Lake on an excursion against the Sioux. Arriving in the vicinity of Leaf Lake, the head-waters of Leaf river, which empties in the Crow-wing, they heard the occasional report of guns in the direction of a distant hill; early in the morning they approached the place where they expected to find the enemy. The Sioux had just decamped, leaving their fires still burning. Their trail led in the direction of Leaf Lake, and though apparently numerous, the Ojibwas recklessly followed them.

In a wide, open prairie, they discovered three of their enemies ahead of them, and though still a quarter of a mile off, one of their number urging on the rest, the Pillagers commenced the chase. The Sioux instantly perceiving them to be enemies, ran for their lives, and kept their distance ahead, occasionally stopping on a hill for a moment, and throwing up their blankets, in order to lure their pursuers on. In this manner the chase was followed up a long distance at full speed, when they at last came on to Leaf Lake. The Pillagers were strung along for over a mile, the fleetest of foot keeping ahead. The Sioux still led the chase around the sandy beach of the lake, till they at last disappeared into a ravine, thickly wooded. Fearless of consequences, the foremost Pillagers rushed after them; on running up a hill, a sight burst on them, that, for the first time, made them think of turning back.

On a smooth prairie, there stood a camp of over three hundred Sioux lodges; the inmates had been alarmed by the pursued, and figures were running to and fro in wild disorder, and warriors were collecting at the beat of the drum. The poor Pillagers, viewing all this from a distance, turned back, out of breath, and in the centre of their enemies, who were supplied with horses; they could do nothing but sell their lives as dearly as possible; this they determined to do, and when half of their number had collected, they laid an ambush for the coining of their foes.

On the shores of the lake, near a ravine which led to the Sioux camp, was a low narrow piece of ground, covered with high grass: on one side was the lake, and on the other, a watery marsh, which extended some distance inland. This pass the Ojibwas occupied, hiding in the tall grass; while their numbers kept increasing from the stragglers behind, till nearly their whole party was thus collected.

The Sioux had, by this time, gathered their warriors and put on their war-ornaments, and appeared from the ravine in a dense body of painted warriors, whooping and yelling. At their head ran backwards and forwards a prominent figure, who held in his hand the war-flag of feathers, and on his breast shone a large white medal. He wore a blue garnished coat, and being a prominent mark, at the first fire of the ambushed Ojibwas he fell dead.

At the fall of their leader the Sioux, regardless of the usual Indian mode of fighting, of dodging up and down, and behind trees, rushed on in a body to overwhelm at one

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Not one-third of those forty warriors ever returned to Leech Lake. A few years since, the leaders, Kukunshawinin and Wenongay, were still alive, and it was the boast of the latter, when he struck the war-pole to relate his exploits, that in this fight he shot down seven Sioux, and brought home their scalps. At this rate, the slaughter among the Sesseton ranks must have been great.

In relating the above fight, I have gone ahead of my narration, as some important battles happened prior to this time.

From the best Indian information, I have calculated seventy-five years as the time since the Ojibwas first visited the St. Peters River.

This was on an occasion when a large war-party was collected by the Ojibwas to revenge the sacking of Sandy Lake, and the fight at Crow-wing. In imitation of the Sioux, they pierced into the heart of their enemies' country, and attacked a village a short distance above the mouth of the St. Peters. This daring party was led by No-kay, a celebrated warrior in his time, and grandfather of the present noted chief Waub-o-jeeg

From this time, the Ojibwas on and over the head-waters of the Mississippi, made the broad current of this river their chief war-trail. They found it an easy matter to embark in their canoes, and float down to the vicinity of their enemies' villages; where, after securing one or more scalps, they returned home by land.

This practice they have kept up to the present day with great success, and it is only the interference of the whites, and the rapid increase of civilized population about St. Peters, that has saved the Men-da-wak-an-ton (Sioux) from being driven off or annihilated.

The course of the streams, the head-waters of which the Ojibwas have secured by conquest, flowing down to the haunts and villages of their enemies, has given them an advantage, which, in searching for the causes that have conduced to their great success against the warlike and numerous Sioux, should not be forgotten.

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The Ojibwas innately respect the bravery of the Da-ko-tas, and call them strong-hearted men. It is only by hard, unremitted fighting, and much loss of life and blood, that the Ojibwa holds the position he now does, as the conquering tribe.

Shortly after their first incursion to St. Peters, under No-kay, the Ojibwas again collected a war-party of one hundred and twenty men, and embarking in their canoes, floated down the Mississippi.

In floating down a river on a war-party, one canoe is always sent in advance, and scouts are sometimes sent ahead by land. This is to guard against ambush on the river banks, which, in their warfare, has been much practised.

On this occasion, when the party had arrived near the mouth of Elk river, the scouts in the foremost canoe, as they were silently floating down, close to the eastern bank of the Mississippi, heard Sioux talking and laughing on the bank immediately above them.

Instantly turning their canoe up stream, they stole along the bank, and escaped behind a point, unseen by their enemies. Here meeting the foremost canoes of their friends, the alarm was quickly but silently spread from canoe to canoe, which were strung along for half a mile. They happened to be opposite an extensive bottom, thickly wooded. The Ojibwas sprang to land, and pulling their canoes after them, rushed through the woods to attack their enemies.

Emerging from the wood on to the open prairie, they saw a long line of their enemies, equal in number to themselves. They were leisurely walking along, bent on a war-excursion; being out of bullet range from the wood, the Ojibwa warriors rushed on as if to a feast, "first come, best served." Their war-yell was answered by the Sioux, and bullet and arrow were returned for bullet and arrow.

For a short time the Sioux stood the eager onset of their enemies, when seeing warrior after warrior emerge from the woods, on a line of half a mile, the idea must have seized them, that their enemies many times outnumbered them. Under this impression they turned and fled, occasionally turning and firing at their pursuers; thus a running fight was kept up for upwards of three miles, when the Sioux, at the mouth of Elk river, met a large party of their fellows, who had come across the country from the St. Peters river, to join the war-party. With this addition, they outnumbered the Ojibwas nearly double, and the chase was turned the other way. The Ojibwas ran up and along the banks of Elk river, and when tired of their long run, they stopped in a fine grove of oak trees, determined to make a stand.

Here the fight was sustained for some time, — the Ojibwas firing from the shelter of

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When all hopes of dislodging the Ojibwa force had failed, the Sioux set fire to the dry prairie grass, and the wind blowing against them, the Ojibwas were effectually made to run. Their foes, making their approach in the smoke of the fire, again renewed the chase. They were at last driven on to an island, where the Sioux not daring to molest them, the fight ended.

The Ojibwas lost eight killed, and many wounded. Among the killed was a brave warrior, Ke-che-waub-ish-ash. Three of their number were burnt by the fire.

The Sioux are said to have suffered a greater loss; as they themselves concede that the Ojibwas in battle are better shots than they are.

The following summer, after the above engagement, another fight took place at this point, by the adverse parties again accidentally meeting. The place of these fights is now known as Me-gaud-e-win-ing, or the battle-ground.

The Sioux never advanced far within the lines of country occupied by the Ojibwas, after the noted fight at Crow-wing- river.

Short intervals of peace have occasionally happened in the course of the bloody feud between these two tribes.

One peace is mentioned as having occurred during the lifetime of the great-grandfathers of the present generation.

It was brought about by the chief Bi-ans-wah, who in this place proposed to the Sioux the discarding of their old custom of burning captives by fire. This peace was broken by the Sioux again, about fifty years ago, and another short peace was effected between the two tribes in the following manner:

A large war-party of Sioux was discovered by the scouts of an Ojibwa camp on Platte river. The Ojibwas, on account of their women and children, fearing the result of an attack, determined on a bold manoeuvre, which, should it fail, they were to fight to the last.

A flag was attached to a pole, and a brave warrior sallied out singly to meet the Sioux. He discovered them as they were stealing along to attack their camp. He shouted to them, and, as the whole party were preparing to rush towards him, he threw down his gun, and with his flag he fearlessly ran into their midst, when he was caught in the arms of two stalwart warriors; many blows were aimed at him with war-clubs and knives, and he expected every moment to suffer death; but a tall Sioux took his part, and defended him, warding off the blows that were aimed at his head. After the excitement in the Sioux ranks had in a measure subsided, one of their warriors stepped up, and taking hold of the Ojibwa, offered to wrestle with him. He was easily

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The war-club for a little time was buried.

During this peace, a party of thirty Ojibwas, headed by Kבh-dב-waub-e-da, or Broken Tooth, chief of Sandy Lake, and grandson of Bi-ans-wah, made a peace visit to St. Peters. They floated down the Mississippi, and arrived at the mouth of the St. Peters river, as the Sioux were preparing a war-party against the Ojibwas, intending to surprise them during the lull of peace.

The British flag, that hung over the prow of the Ojibwa chief's canoe, was pierced with bullet-holes, as the Sioux saluted their landing. There was great excitement among the Sioux ranks — chiefs ran to and fro to prevent their warriors from murdering the small peace party. Their trader also remonstrated with them, and they were at last prevailed upon to welcome the Ojibwas in peace.

Shortly after the return of this party in safety to their homes, the Sioux broke the peace, as it has ever been their practice to do.

The injuries that the Ojibwas have heaped on them, in conquering the lands of their fathers, are such, that they never have rested in peace for any length of time. The Sioux constantly brooded over their injuries, and frequently the Ojibwas, lulled into security by peace, have been surprised by them when they were unprepared for resistance.

Even within the last few years, the Sioux, caring little for the interference of the whites, in an outrageous manner have broken their faith, and sullied the soil of their Great Father with the blood of helpless women and children, and in a time of profound peace. The fourteen Ojibwas thus killed on Apple river, furnish but a sample of Sioux faith for the past two centuries, with their enemies.

On the occasion of the peace mentioned above that was broken, the Sioux reached Gull Lake on a war-party, and at the entry of Gull river killed an Ojibwa. The body was much mangled, and a war-club was left sticking in the body — a fit token that war was again declared.

The Ojibwas of the Mississippi, under their chief Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a, quickly collecting, and floating down the Mississippi, arrived at the mouth of the St. Peters nearly as soon as their returning enemy. On the low point beneath the cliff, upon which Fort Snelling now stands, the Ojibwas hid their canoes and laid in wait. Towards evening a long canoe load of young women, dressed and painted in their best style, floated down the Minnesota, on their way to join the scalp-dance that was being danced every night (at Little Crow's village below,) over the Ojibwa scalp recently

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The war-club which the Sioux had left sticking in the mutilated body of the Ojibwa they had killed at Gull Lake, was now left sticking, with peculiar marks, in the body of one of the Sioux women, to teach them that the vengeance of the Ojibwa was quick and sure.

It is needless to notice every engagement of the kind that happened between these two tribes: we have mentioned enough to give a sample of the deadly feud that has existed between them for the past two centuries.

The actors in the fights I have thus far related have all now passed away.

The few old men of the tribe still living have also passed through the same dangers and the same fire, and their blood has flowed as freely as did that of their fathers.

The men of middle age also now living can boast of having extended the conquests of their ancestors. Their heads are decked with eagle plumes, which have been won in many a hard-contested struggle.

If possession gives a right, nearly all the country north and east of the Minnesota river belongs to them.

About fifty years ago, bands of the Ojibwas from Sandy Lake, Leech, and Mille Lakes, commenced to reside permanently on the Lower Mississippi at Gull Lake, Crowding river, and down as far as Little Rock.

These bands soon formed under one chief, and became known as the "Great River men." Their chief was Ke-che Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a, or Big Curly-head.

About this time, an event of importance in their history happened, viz., the fight at Long Prairie; some of the actors in which, though old men, are still living.

This fight occurred in the fall of the year, between forty and fifty years ago. A party of one hundred and sixty warriors was collected by Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a, chief of the Mississippi men, and Esh-ke-bug-e-cosh, or Flat-mouth, chief of the Pillagers.

At the head of their warriors they marched against the Sioux. In passing through Long Prairie, (which was then Sioux country,) they fell on a large trail of their enemies; following it up, they discovered a camp of about forty of their lodges, a short distance below the Pine Bend. Early in the morning, this large camp, situated on Long Prairie river, was attacked by the Ojibwas. The whole party repeatedly fired into the lodges from a short distance, and before the Sioux warriors had prepared to resist, many must have been killed. They at last sallied out to the number of sixty-six men, and resisted manfully. The battle lasted the whole day, and but seven of the Sioux were seen to continue the fight, and they were apparently determined to die on the spot. Miraculously, they escaped the many missiles aimed at them, till the Ojibwas, being entirely out of ammunition, and fearing their foes would be reinforced from neighboring camps, retreated.

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The loss of the Sioux in this attack was great, and probably equalled the loss they inflicted on the Ojibwas on a former occasion, at Cross Lake. From this time, the Sioux fell back from the woods on to their western prairies, and after receiving repeated blows from the late Bug-on-a-ke-shig, Song-uk-um-ig, and others, they eventually altogether evacuated that portion of their former country lying north of Sac river and south and east of Leaf river to the Mississippi.

The attack on Long Prairie was made by the Ojibwas, in revenge of the massacre of two of their bravest warriors and their families, while camped out hunting. These were Waub-o-jeeg, namesake of the noted chief of that name, and She-sheeb. These two men had fought side by side at Cross Lake, and other fights. When attacked, Waub-o-jeeg was killed at the first fire, but She-sheeb fired one shot, killing one enemy and wounding another. Waub-o-jeeg was a head man, and much loved by his tribe; his death was therefore a common grief, and quickly revenged. His relics were scattered on the bloody battle-ground of Long Prairie, and his ammunition served to kill his murderers.

Long Prairie is noted as having been on four different occasions wetted with the blood of the two hostile tribes — Crow-wing three times, Elk river three times, Gull Lake twice, Sandy Lake thrice, Mille-Lac, and indeed every place of any note on the present border of the two tribes between Selkirk's settlement and Wisconsin river, has been freely baptized in blood.

We have now pursued the different events of importance connected with their wars in the history of the upper Mississippi branch or wing of the Ojibwa tribe, to the time of men still living; or would be living, had the Great Spirit allotted them the full term of life.

Before we come to relate events happening in the days of Strong Ground, or Sצng-uk-um-eg, and Hole-in-the-sky, or Bug-on-a-ke-shig, who but lately, still in their prime, departed for the land of spirits. We will mention a few names that have been noted in the history of this important portion of their tribe.

Bi-ans-wah, as I have mentioned, may be called their pioneer to these regions. Here he laid the foundation of a dynasty or chieftaindom, which has descended to his children, and the benefits of which they are reaping after him. His grandson, Ka-da-wב-be-da,) became a noted chief of the Sandy Lake bands — not so much for prowess in war, as for the great influence he exerted over his bands; to whom he was truly a father. He was a warm friend to the whites, and the traders of the country loved him. These were of the old North-West, Astor, and other minor companies, that at different times in his day, sent clerks with goods to Sandy Lake and the Mississippi. Their presents to the hunters were given through the hands of Ka-da-wב-be-da. He

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Another of his sons was taken prisoner by the Sioux at Cross Lake when a child, and is residing still amongst them. His third son, Kah-win-dum-a-win-so, is present chief of the Sandy Lake band. Of his four daughters, one married Captain Charles Ermitinger, a noted Canadian gentleman: he took his wife to Montreal, where she died. Another daughter married Samuel Ashmun, Esq., one of the most respectable citizens of Ste. Marie. She is the mother of a fine family of men and women grown. The other daughters, one was wife to the celebrated chief and warrior, Hole-in-the-sky, and became the mother of the present first chief of the Mississippi bands. This family are thus interlocked by the strong ties of blood with the Saxon race.

Another noted chief of the Mississippi bands flourished contemporaneously with Kah-do-waub-e-da. His name was Ke-che-ba-be-se-gun-dib-a, (Big Curly-Head,) and was chief of the lower and more hardy bands, who followed close in the retreating footsteps of the Sioux on the Mississippi. This chief is aptly spoken of, as the vanguard or bulwark of his tribe. His is a name that will long be cherished in the memory of the Ojibwas. In the words of one of their principal men, "He was a father to our fathers, who looked on him as a parent: his lightest wish was quickly obeyed; his lodge was ever hung with meat; and the traders vied with each other who should treat him best: his hand was open, and when he had plenty, our fathers wanted not." He was noted not only for his charity and goodness of heart, but also for the strength of it for bravery.

Three times he led his warriors with success against their enemies. Each time he returned with them with bloody knives and reeking scalps. At Long Prairie fight, he led on the warriors of the Mississippi, Mille Lac, and Sandy Lake; while Flat-mouth led on the Pillagers. He was leader of the party that so quickly took back the war-club that the Sioux had left sticking in the body of one of their men at Gull Lake.

Twice the brave chief was attacked in his hunting camp by Sioux war-parties, and both times he, with his warriors, repulsed them.

Strong Ground and Hole-in-the-day were in their youth his pipe-bearers, and waited on him till the day of his death.

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He died on the, road, returning from Prairie-du-chien to his own country, after the great council of Indian tribes convened at that place by the United States Government, to the end that lines dividing their several countries might be marked out, and that peace might reign between them.

In this council or treaty, Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a almost singly represented the great body of his tribe, living on and over the head-waters of the Mississippi.

The firm, unyielding front which he presented to the Sioux, and the force of his deeds and reputation, gained for these bands the advantageous lines that, for their tribe, were drawn.

He may well be said to have secured, by a lasting treaty, the conquests of his people. Had he been aided by the presence and voice of his cotemporary chiefs, Flat-mouth and Kah-do-waub-e-da, probably much more might have been done.

Not being used to a southern climate, many of the Ojibwas present at this treaty died from sickness.

A number of their best chiefs were among the victims. Ba-be-se-gun-dib-ay was of the number; who died much lamented by the tribe in general, and all those that had known the many good qualities of this native-bred chieftain.

Strong Ground and Hole-in-the-sky attended him to Prairie-du-chien, and assiduously cared for his wants during his last illness.

Just before he expired, he called these two young men to his bed-side, and counselled them on their future course of life. He left in their charge his Mississippi bands, and this circumstance laid the foundation of the chieftainship of these afterwards noted men.

Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a had been three times given a medal.

He left no children to reap the fruits of his name and actions, and indeed there is none now living on the great river, of close affinity to the deceased chieftain.

His totem was a crane, one of the oldest families in the tribe now residing mostly at Lake Superior.

No-ka was a noted warrior, and flourished in his prime about eighty years ago.

In revenge for the great Sioux excursion to Leech, Winnipeg, and Sandy Lakes, (which resulted in the three days' fight at Crow-wing,) he collected a war-party, which was the first to penetrate to the St. Peters river: a little above the mouth of which river, they attacked a camp of Sioux with great slaughter.

He, at another time also, with a small party of fearless spirits, penetrated into the very heart of the Sioux country.

This party returned from the Pipe-stone river, which runs into the great Pa-go-no or Missouri.

No-ka was noted as being in all the fights of any consequence during his lifetime on the Mississippi border.

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He was also noted as a hunter, and the fruits of one day's hunt is worth mentioning, as well to show the abundance of game in those days, as his prowess in the chase.

Starting from his lodge at the mouth of Crow-wing, he in one day killed, on the first snow, sixteen elk, four buffalo, five deer, three bears, one porcupine, and one lynx.

The fruits of this day's hunt he gave to his trader, who was wintering at this place.

A story is also told of this hunter; that he fought a mad buffalo bull (in rutting time,) for half a day, with only his tomahawk-pipe; he used a small pine-tree for shelter.

The Noka river is said to have been named after this man, who used to live much about the lake from which it takes its rise.

Punk river, emptying from the west into the Mississippi, is named, in like manner, after Sug-ut-aug-un, father of the present chief Ka-dos-waub-e-da, who hunted in the vicinity, and on the said river, during his lifetime.

No-ka left a son, named Be-dud, who distinguished himself in the feud of his tribe with the Sioux. He with She-sheeb (another brave character, who was killed at Mille Lac with Waub-o-jeeg were the two who went out at Cross Lake, on the open ice, to meet four hundred Sioux warriors as they were advancing to attack their village. Their brave example instigated their fellows to follow them; and one of the most bloody fights told of in their history was here fought.

This man was in ten different fights, where blood flowed freely. He was ever in the van, — the wadding of the Sioux's guns often burning his clothes.

It was his boast, that he had passed the ordeal of over one bag of bullets aimed at him during his lifetime.

He is buried at Long Lake, near the Mississippi.

His son, the third Waub-o-jeeg, is now a noted chief of the Mississippi bands, fully sustaining the name of his two ancestors and two illustrious namesakes, though he has turned his attention more to peace than war.

Through an intimacy with the Sioux: in his early days, he talks their language freely. He has passed through many hairbreadth escapes during his lifetime, and will bear to the grave nine wounds inflicted by the Sioux. By their hands he has lost two favorite children and five brothers and sisters. His biography, however, more properly comes under a more modern era in the history of the tribe.

Another noted character, in his day, lived cotemporary with Be-dud, and equalled him in bravery and note.

Wush-ush-ko-con (Muskrat's liver) was the chief in his time of the Mille Lac band, under Ba-be-se-gun-dib-a.

The numerous fights and hairbreadth escapes, wherein this man earned a name and rank among his fellows, would fill a book as they are related by the present generation.

Ne-gan-e-ke-shig, (Day-ahead,) had he lived the full term of human existence, was a

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On one occasion he singly followed the trail of a large Sioux war-party, who had been to Gull Lake and killed an Ojibwa. The party encamped at the mouth of Noka river, and early in the morning the first riser in their camp received the bullet of Ne-gan-e-ke-shig. The Sioux, suspecting an ambush of their enemies, did not chase him far. A day or two after he pursued the same party to the St. Peters river, and was one of those that killed the women, at the mouth of that river, within the hearing of the drums of a large Sioux village.

On the occasion of his death, he had left Gull Lake (where he usually resided) to go to the mouth of the Crow-wing to hunt deer by torch-light.

There he found Wush-sh-ko-kon and another Indian. They encamped a short distance above the entry of the river. After dark, Ne-gan-e-ke-shig, with his wife to steer his canoe, started on his hunt. The current brought them silently to the island that lies at the mouth of the Crow-wing, causing it to divide into two mouths or entries.

Here he discovered the prow of a wooden canoe, that had been drawn partly ashore. On searching, he discovered that he had fallen on the camp of a Sioux war-party. He blew out his torch, and stept noiselessly ashore to reconnoitre. In a few moments he returned, and requested his wife to make the best of her way to their friends at Gull Lake, (fifteen miles distant,) telling her that he intended, after giving her sufficient time to make her escape, to stab as many Sioux, as he could, in their sleep, with his knife, and when discovered, to fight them with his gun, calculating in the darkness to be able to make his escape by jumping into the river.

His wife, whom he had but lately married, refused to leave him, and used every endearing epithet to induce him to forego his mad intent. He was at last, through her tears and entreaties, prevailed upon to embark and return to his camp; telling his wife, however, that now he would run into more danger than if she had allowed him to have his own will — for he intended to fight the Sioux in open day, to prevent their further advance into the country.

Sending his wife early in the morning to Gull Lake, Ne-gan-e-ke-shig, Wush-ush-ko-kon, and their comrade, laid in wait on the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite a sudden bend in the river. The Sioux betimes embarked in their canoes, and commenced their course up the river. They numbered about one hundred canoes, averaging three in each canoe.

The three Ojibwa warriors allowed the main body to pass their ambush, and picking out their victims in warriors, whose heads were most bedecked with plumes, they shot down three as they passed within a few steps of their hiding-place. After their first fire they jumped up, and ran on to the hill in their rear. Here We-gan-e-ke-shig stopped,

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His companions, who narrowly escaped, said, that for a long time his single yell and report of his gun was heard, before silenced by the repeated volleys of the Sioux.

His enemies, out of respect for his bravery, did not scalp or mutilate the body, but left it in a sitting posture, decked with plumes — all the honors of Indian warfare.

From this spot the war-party returned, and the object for which Ne-gan-e-ke-shig died was thus fulfilled.

This man was father to the Little Curly Head, chief of the Gull Lake band, which numbered during his lifetime three hundred souls. He was killed during a time of peace by the Sioux four years ago, and has been succeeded by his half-brother, Que-we-san-sish, or Bad Boy,

We-non-ga (Turkey-Buzzard) distinguished himself at Leaf Lake and Long Prairie fights, and also at the late massacre on Lake St. Croix. When he was an old man, he was at last scalped by his enemies. Besides the above, he was present at three minor engagements. He was the principal or head-warrior of the chief Big Curly Head.

Ke-che-waub-ish-ash (Big Marten) was also a noted brave. At Neeb-o-je-wun-ong, a few miles below the mouth of Rabbit river, on the Mississippi, he singly fought and repelled an attacking party of Sioux, or Sissetons. They often joined the Knis-ten-o and Assineboins in their excursions. They boast among their brave warriors of old Muk-ud-a-chib, or Black Duck. This man, with forty braves, attacked a Sisseton camp, and killed great numbers. Being warned by a friendly Assineboin from the camp, that three hundred Sioux warriors were coming to the rescue from an adjacent village, the Ojibwas retreated; but on a wide open prairie their enemies (all mounted) caught up with and surrounded them. They kept them at a distance as long as their ammunition lasted; and when this failed, the Sioux closed in with them, and the battle was hand to hand. But one of this band of forty heroes ever returned to tell the sad tale of their fate.

The above happened about forty or fifty years ago.

Aissance (Little Clam) is the name of one of their noted chiefs and braves, who was killed at Spirit Lake about forty years ago; and the Red Lake band have still living some warriors who have distinguished themselves by noted acts of great bravery.

Of the Pillagers: when you ask them, who were their most noted warriors and men? the answer is — "They all fought alike; not one of our fathers passed through life without seeing the shedding of blood."

As a war-leader, Mons-o-mo was distinguished; — and the names of Muk-ud-a-waun-o-quod (Black Cloud) and Sha-wa-ke-shig, as warriors, ought to be recorded in the annals of their history.

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It ceases to be a matter of surprise, that a phalanx of such men could conquer and hold the country they have bequeathed to their offspring.

We now come, in the course of our history, to the noted characters and events in the days of a generation not yet passed away. These events (so far as their relations with the whites are concerned) are within the reach of all who are curious to know. I will, therefore, but cursorily speak of the different treaties, in which they have sold the best portions of their blood-earned country.

The first treaty was at St. Peters, in 1837; again, at La Pointe, in 1842, and at Fond du Lac and Leech Lake, in 1847.

To give an idea of the condition of the Mississippi bands for the past thirty-five years, it will be necessary to mention briefly the noted characters that figured at their head.

The deeds and life of Song-uk-um-ig of Bug-on-ke-shig, Ba-be-se-gun-dib-ance, Ke-che, Shag-o-ba, Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, and of Waub-o-jeeg, require in telling much more space and time than is permitted me in this present account.

Song-uk-um-ig and his younger brother, Bug-on-a-ke-shig, were the pipe-bearers and warriors of the chief, Big Curly Head, who, on his death-bed, left to them his chieftainship and bands.

They distinguished themselves in the warfare of their tribe with the Sioux; and by their deeds obtained an influence over their fellows of the Mississippi.

During their short career, they earned a name that will be long remembered.

Song-uk-um-ig was as fine a specimen of an Indian as ever proudly trod the soil of America. He was one of those honor-loving chiefs, not only by name, but by nature also. He was noted for his unflinching bravery, generosity, and solidity or firmness; the last of which is a rare quality in the Indian, among whom but one out of ten is possessed of any firmness of character.

As an instance of his daring, on one occasion, he fought singly, by the side of a mounted comrade, with seven Sioux, and drove them off with loss.

His first fight was, when a mere boy, at Long Prairie battle. Again, he was present on an attack of a Sioux camp at Poplar Grove, on Long Prairie, where they killed many of their foes. Again, he led a night attack on a camp at Crow river.

At Round Prairie, also, he with an Ottowa cut off, from a large Sioux camp, three boys while they were sliding on the ice, in plain view of their friends.

At Fort Snelling, he was the one who fearlessly went into the guard-house, and led out four Sioux prisoners, armed with their knives, who had shot into their camp, (as usual in time of peace,) and killed four Ojibwas. These prisoners Song-uk-um-ig took out of the fort, and in presence of the officers and garrison of the fort and a large assembly of Sioux; he bade them run for their lives from the bullets of the Ojibwas, whose relatives they had killed.

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He was present on many other occasions that tried the man's heart. He died but a few years since, at about the age of forty-eight.

Bug-on-a-ke-shig, his younger brother, was equally brave at the moment of trial, but some of his cotemporary warriors say of him, that his extreme bravery did not last. "At the moment of excitement he could have thrown himself into the fire." These are the words of one of his noted braves who often fought at his side. He had not the firmness of his brother Song-uk-um-ig, but was more cunning, and soon came to understand the policy of the whites perfectly. He was ambitious, and, through his cunning, stepped above his more straight-forward brother, and became head chief. He was a proud and domineering spirit, and loved to be implicitly obeyed. He had a quick and impatient temper. A spirit like this is little calculated to be loved and obeyed by the free wild sons of the forest, who love liberty too well to become the slaves of any man. Bug-on-a-ke-shig was more feared than loved by his bands, and had it not been for the strong support of his more influential brother, he could never have been really chief over his bands.

On one occasion, he turned out and dispersed a whole camp of his fellows with a wooden paddle. The Indians were drinking liquor, and fighting among themselves, after Bug-on-a-ke-shig had twice loudly ordered them to drink in quiet. He struck with his paddle promiscuously, and on this single occasion mortally offended some of his best warriors.

Notwithstanding his harsh and haughty temper, there was in the breast of this man much of the milk of human kindness; and he had that way about him that induced the few who really loved him to be willing even to die for him.

During his lifetime, he distinguished himself in eight different fights, where blood was freely shed. At St. Peters, he was almost mortally wounded — a bullet passing through his right breast and coming out near the spine. On this occasion, his daughter was killed; and from this time can be dated the bloodthirstiness with which he ever afterwards pursued his enemies.

His bravery was fully proved by his crossing the Mississippi, and with but two brave comrades, firing on the large Sioux village of Ka-po-sia below the mouth of the St. Peters. They narrowly escaped the general chase that was made for them by many Sioux warriors, crossing the Mississippi under a shower of bullets. There is nothing in modern Indian warfare to equal this hardy exploit.

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[THE following responses to interrogatories drawn up by the Indian Bureau of the United States in 1847, are from Mr. Philander Prescott, U. S. Interpreter at St. Peters. The respondent is himself allied to the Sioux tribe; of whom he records the customs and traditions, speaks their language fluently, and has lived many years among them in various situations and positions. His means of personal observation have, therefore, been ample; he is, moreover, a man of entire integrity of character, and unimpeachable veracity. A plain man, without pretence to education, he records simply what he has seen and heard. There is no attempt to assimilate the native words he employs to any plan of orthography. It has been deemed better, in all respects, to leave his paper in its original garb. The testimony it bears to the actual state of Indian opinion and tradition is important; and its manifest truthfulness commends it to respect. The question of the popular division of the Sioux tribe into six or seven bands, he discusses himself, more at length, in a note. Their numbers, according to the most recent count, as given by him, will be found under the statistical head, — H.R.S.]

2. "By what name are they called among themselves; and by what name, or names, are they known among other tribes; and what is the meaning of these respective names?"

Dacota is the word generally used for the Sioux nation, but they have different names for separate bands or villages.

Mendawahkanton — People of sacred or spirit lakes.
Wahkpatons — People of the leaves.
Wahkpacoota — People who shoot in the leaves.
Sussetonwah — People who shoot in the leaves.

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66. "What is the general character of their medical practice?"

Their sick are attended as well as could be expected by a people so ignorant and superstitious. Children and youth are better nursed than the old and decrepid. The Indians say that many years ago, the E-yankton of the plains had an old man that could scarcely walk, and his sons and relations got tired of handing him about, and therefore told the old man they were going to leave him, but not to suffer a lingering death; that they would give him a gun, and put him out on the plain to be shot at by the young warriors, that he might defend himself the best way he could, and that if he succeeded in killing any one of them, it would be an honor he could take with him to the land of spirits. The young warriors, however, were quite too active for the old man, who could not hit one of them, before he himself was shot.

67. "Have their professed doctors and practitioners of medicine any exact knowledge of anatomy, of the theory of the circulation of the blood, or the pathology of diseases?"

None.

68. "How do they treat fevers, pleurisy, consumption of the lungs, obstructions of the liver, deranged or impeded functions of the stomach, constipation, or any of the leading complaints?"

By charming, or singing over the sick, and shaking a gourd-shell over them. (Plate 46, Part 1st.) The gourd-shell has beads in it, to make it rattle. They also stuff the patient with meat and strong soup.

69. What species of plants or other roots are employed as emetics or cathartics?"

They have many plants and roots that they use, but know not the properties of but few of them. Some of them use old bones of a large animal that they say once existed in the country, and others use pieces of stone for medicine. They dig the roots and dry them, to preserve them, and then pound them when they want to use them. They have one root that is very powerful, and used as a cathartic; but it often operates as an emetic also.

70. "Do they bleed in fevers? and what are the general principles of the application of the Indian lancet? Is the kind of cupping which they perform with the horn of the deer efficacious, and in what manner do they produce a vacuum?"

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The Indians bleed in the arm, but not when they are very sick. When they bleed, it is generally before they get very low. They cup sometimes for the headache. The Indian's knife or lancet, in these cases, is a piece of flint. A scale of the common flint is knocked off, generally with the fire-steel, which is very sharp, and a piece of this is used for scarifying and for cupping. Sometimes they tie a small piece of wood, six or eight inches long, to the flint, and use it like a phlegm. The point of the flint is laid on the vein, and struck a light tap with a small stick; the blood then runs very freely. They most generally use the tip-end of a buffalo horn for cupping.

71. "Have they any good styptics, or healing or drawing plasters?"

They have some roots that heal new wounds very easily. Bandages and lint are not skilfully applied, nor removed in time.

72. "Is the known success with which they treat gun-shot wounds, cuts, or stabs, the result of the particular mode of treatment, or of the assiduity and care of the physicians?"

The healing-art of gun-shot wounds is mostly in nature itself.

73. "Do they ever amputate a limb, and how, and with what success? Are the arteries previously compressed?"

They seldom amputate a limb. They have no surgical instruments. They are not skilful in splints. If a limb is broken, it is almost sure to be crooked afterwards. The mode of carrying the sick or wounded is in a litter on two poles lashed together, and a blanket fastened on to it. (Plate 25.) Two men carry it, one at each end of the litter, by his head-strap, which he fastens to each side of the litter, then brings the strap over his neck. It is wonderful to see how far two Indians will carry a heavy man in this way.

74. "What is the state of the Indian Materia Medica?"

They have some medicine, that is, roots and plants. They have no metallic medicine. Their compound decoctions are simple, but no reliance can be placed on them. They have some roots that are healing to wounds. They all use one kind of medicine for cathartics. They have also medicine for injections; but the principal catholicon for all diseases is the gourd-shell, or a shell made of birch-bark, by which they charm away sickness and pain. They say the sick person has been afflicted by some quadruped, biped, or amphibious animal. The remedy to remove the animal from the body of the sick is for the doctor or conjurer to get the shape of the animal cut out of bark, which is placed outside of the lodge near the door, in a small bowl of water with some red earth mixed in it. The juggler is inside of the lodge, where the sick person is, making all sorts of noises, shaking his shell, and gesticulating in every

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If this does not cure the sick, a similar ceremony is performed, but some other kind of an animal is shaped out and shot at.

75. "How do they treat imposthumes and eruptions of the skin? Do men ever interpose their skill in difficult cases of parturition; and what is the general character of the medical treatment of mothers and children? Do they employ vapor-baths efficaciously for the health of their patients?"

There is not much done for eruptions of the skin except greasing it with such soft fat meat as they can get. Small-pox is a disease they know nothing about the treatment of; and in fact any diseases that are dangerous and difficult they have no idea of a remedy for. In cases of parturition the men seldom, if ever, are called upon to assist; but if a man and his wife should be on a hunting excursion, and such a thing should happen, then of course he is forced to do what he can to assist her. The women crack many jokes at the men for their unskilfulness in such matters.

It is seldom they have a difficult case in parturition, owing, I suppose, to the women being accustomed to hardships. There have been instances known of women going out after a load of wood, and returning in a short time with the wood on their backs and a new-born babe on the top of the load. (Plate 26.) There is seldom any thing done to the mother in these cases, as she is generally well enough in one or two days to do any ordinary work. The child is wrapped in a new blanket, and kept very warm a few days. Then they begin to lash it on the cradle for carrying about on the back, by a strap attached to each side of the cradle, and then brought over the forehead. (Fig. 2, Plate 15.) In this way they will carry a child half a day, and sometimes a whole day, and the child appears perfectly at ease.

They have no treatment for paralysis but shaking the shell and singing, and

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76. "Does the tribe consist of one or more clans or subdivisions, &c.?"

See No. 12, for clans. See No. 2, of this book.

78. "Were the chiefs originally hereditary or elective? If hereditary, is the descent in the male or female line, &c.?"

The chieftainship is of modern date; that is, since the Indians first became acquainted with the whites. Tradition says, they knew of no chiefs until the white people began to make distinctions. The first Sioux that was ever made a chief among the Dacotas, was Wah-ba-shaw, and this was done by the British. Since that time, chieftainship has been hereditary. There are small bands existing that have no recognized chiefs. The females have nothing to do with, nor any rights in the chieftainship. There is no particular ceremony to instal a man chief, only the father, before he dies, may tell the band that he leaves his son to take his place. The son generally presents himself to the Indian agent, the principal soldier speaking for him, saying to the agent, "Our former chief has left this his son to be our chief." This is about all of the ceremony.

79. "To what extent is an Indian Council a representative assembly of the tribe, and how far are the chiefs invested with authority to act for the mass of the tribe, &c.?"

The chiefs have but little power. If an Indian wishes to do mischief, the only way a chief can influence him is to give him something, or pay him to desist from his evil intentions. The chief has no authority to act for the tribe, and dare not do it. If he does, he will be severely beaten, or killed at some future time. Their office is not of much consequence as chief, for they have no salary, and are obliged to seek a livelihood in the same way that a common Indian does; that is, by hunting. A chief is not better dressed than the rest of the Indians, and often not so well. The chief is sustained by relationship. The band of which an Indian is chief is almost always of a kin totem, which helps to sustain him.

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81. "Do the chiefs, in public council, speak the opinions and sentiments of the warrior class, previously expressed by the latter in their separate or home councils; or do they particularly consult the old men, priests, warriors, and young men composing the tribe, &c.?"

The democratic principle is implanted a little too deep in the Indians in general. They all wish to govern and not to be governed. Every Indian thinks he has a right to do as he pleases, and that no one is better than himself; and he will fight before he will give up what he thinks right. No votes are cast. All business is done by the majority of the band assembling and consulting each other. Some one will set up for or against a motion; and the one that appears the best is adopted by general consent. The voice of the chief is not considered decisive until a majority of the band have had a voice, and then the chief has to be governed according to that voice or opinion of the tribe.

82. "In what manner are the deliberations opened, conducted and closed, &c.?"

Councils are generally opened by some chief. When the subject-matter concerns the soldiers or "braves," the first or principal soldier is authorized to speak or act as orator for the party assembled. There is most generally some remark made about the weather, as an omen that the Great Spirit accords with or opposes their wishes. Questions of a grave character, that is, with the white people, are deliberated upon by all interested; and cases of revenge acted on precipitately. (Plate 27.)

83. "Are decisions made by single chiefs, or by a body of chiefs in council, carried implicitly into effect, &c.?"

Decisions made by a delegation are considered lawful and binding, but the acts of a single chief are binding only upon his own village. In cases of murder, the parties aggrieved generally seek revenge themselves, although there are some instances where a murderer is put to death by the authority of the council. An instance of this kind happened near this place in 1846, at Little Crow's village.

An old chief had three wives, and also had children by each of the three, who were always wrangling with each other, although the father had taken great pains to bring them up to be good men. After the old chief's death, the eldest son of each of these three sets of children, set up claims to the chieftainship, although their father had previously given it to his first son. The younger brothers were very jealous, and made an attempt to kill him, and very nearly succeeded. They shot him with ball and shot; both his arms were broken, and he was also wounded in the face and breast. After this heinous act, the young men made their escape, and a month afterwards returned home again, got drunk, and threatened to kill other persons. The village called a council, and resolved to put the young men to death. One of them had fallen asleep, the other was awake. The three appointed to kill them, one of whom was a

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84. "Is the succession of a chief to an office vacated by death, or otherwise debated and decided in council, or may a person legally in the right line of descent, forthwith assume the functions of office?"

At the death of a chief, the one nearest of kin, in a right line, has a right to set himself up as chief. If there are no relatives, a chief is made by a council of the band. It seldom happens that a chief is deposed. There is but one chief in each band or village. Some villages have a second chief, but his functions are very limited. The custom of wearing medals is modern, and from the whites.

85. "What is the power of the priesthood as an element in the decision of political questions, &c.?"

The power of the priesthood is very great. The priests or jugglers sit in council, and have a voice in all national affairs. They are the persons that make war, and they also have a voice in the sale or cession of lands.

86. "Define the power of the war-chiefs."

The power of a civil and the power of a war chief is distinct; the civil chiefs scarcely ever make a war-party. The war chiefs often get some of the priests or jugglers to make war for them. In fact, any of the jugglers can make a war-party when they choose. The war chiefs are generally distinguished from the other officers of the band. The young men often sit in councils, but seldom speak before they are twenty-five or thirty years old. Matrons never appear in council, but the women express their opinion at home; in fact, I have seen cases where the wishes of women have been carried.

89. "State what is the law of retaliation, or the private right to take life."

Any one, two, or three, may revenge the death of a relative, and it sometimes happens that two or three are killed for one. A compromise is frequently made by the offending party giving large presents. Fleeing, too, from justice has saved the

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90. "What are the game laws, or rights of the chase, &c.?"

Each village has a certain district of country they hunt in, but do not object to families of other villages hunting with them. Among the Dacotas, I never knew an instance of blood being shed in any disputes or difficulties on the hunting grounds. The Sesetons and Yanktons have sometimes objected to the Mendawahkcantons hunting on their lands, but they can obtain permission to do so by giving some small presents.

91. "Are furs surreptitiously hunted on another man's limits subject to be seized by the party aggrieved, &c.?"

All furs and game are held in common. The person that finds and kills game is the rightful owner. There are instances of great contention over the carcase of an animal, and some get severely cut; but this only occurs when the Indians are starving. The furs they seldom quarrel about, unless it is from stealing from each other which is the cause of quarrels among some of them. The chief rarely meddles in these contentions.

92. "Are warnings of local intrusions frequently given? or is injury to property redressed privately, like injury to life?"

Injury to property is sometimes privately revenged by destroying other property in place thereof. Indians sometimes kill each other for killing horses.

93. "If hunting parties or companions agree to hunt together for a special time, or for the season, what are the usual laws or customs regulating the hunt?"

The rules of the hunters are, to divide the meat of the animal they kill. There are many instances where an Indian kills a deer, and reserves only the hide and the very smallest portion for himself. If four or five others should come up while he is dressing the deer, they must all get a piece. As soon as a deer is killed, the Indians kindle a fire and commence roasting bits of it, so that they generally make a good meal in a few minutes. While the deer is being dressed and divided out, if an Indian wounds another deer, and it runs a considerable distance, and then another Indian kills it, he claims the animal and gets the hide, but the first man, if he comes up in time, will get a part of the meat. Stealing from each other's traps is a frequent occurrence. The loser satisfies himself by doing the same thing to the one that he suspects, on some one else.

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94. "If a tribe or band pass over the lines, and hunt on the lands of another tribe, and kill game there, is it deemed a just cause of war?"

Yes, but they remonstrate first with each other.

95. "Has commercial intercourse promoted the general cause of Indian civilization?"

We believe that commerce has done nothing towards civilizing the Indians, but rather retarded it, and many of the traders oppose civilization, because they say it will stop the Indians from hunting, and the trade will decrease on that account. The traffic in furs and skins is carried on by companies, and by individuals. The goods, most of them, come from England to New York, then are re-shipped, with a profitable tariff, west to Mackinac and St. Louis. At these places the traders assemble once a year, and take their outfits, with another tariff put upon the goods. These outfits are taken into the Indian country, and petty traders and voyagers are furnished or outfitted again. So it is tariff upon tariff, and when the goods get into the hands of the Indians, the blankets cost from eight to fifteen dollars a pair, and sometimes that much for single blankets. The risk in trade is considerable; first, failures in hunting, and second, irregular prices in furs. A trader in the wilderness is guided by his last year's prices, and pays the Indians accordingly. Being so far from market, he does not learn the fluctuations, and then when he makes his return of furs, he will probably find that they are not worth half as much as the year before. So the Indians are benefited by the high price, and the actual trader has to be the loser; while the equippers at New York hoard up immense fortunes. Look at John J. Astor, for instance, as equipper.

96. "Are the chiefs and hunters shrewd, cautious, and exact in their dealings, making the purchases with judgment, and paying up their debts faithfully?" &c.

The chiefs and hunters are shrewd enough in dealing and bartering. Many people say the poor Indians are imposed upon, but it is a rare case that the trader gets the advantage. Competition is so great, that an Indian can go from one trader to another until he gets a fair price for his furs. In fact I have known instances where an Indian has got one-third more for his furs than they were worth. They rely on memory to keep their accounts, but sometimes an Indian notches on his pipe-stem, to keep an account of the amount he gets on credit. Some Indians are punctual in paying their debts, but many of them fail. I have known some of them to fall short four and five hundred dollars, which amounts stand on the trader's books until the next year. But the trader does not often get any of the old debt paid; for the Indians, owing to their improvidence, are alike every year needy, consequently the trader is compelled to give as much credit the following year, and the old debt stands unpaid for years, and probably never is paid at all. Furs diminish sometimes, owing to low water or drought, and only a small quantity of snow, so that the ponds and lakes freeze to the bottom,

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97. "Is it necessary for the trader to send runners to the Indian hunters' camps, or private lodges, to collect their debts, &c.?"

It is frequently necessary to send runners after debtors, because some other trader might come along and purchase the furs, or a part of them, and so the proper claimant lose his debt. The runners are generally Canadians, employed by companies or individuals. Floods do not affect the animals only for the better. Seasons of abundant rain and high water are considered good years for furs, but dry seasons are always the contrary.

98. "Is the tariff of exchanges such as generally to protect the trader from loss?"

The tariff of the traders would protect them from loss if the Indians would punctually pay, but many of the traders make shipwreck in Indian trade, owing to the many bad debts. Those debts are hardly ever thought of by the Indians after the first year, and the actual Indian trader becomes bankrupt, of which there are many instances. It is customary for the trader to give large quantities of provisions to hungry Indians, particularly to the Dacotas, who are always hungry. The sick also get a considerable quantity of necessaries. These are seldom paid for: in fact, the Indian thinks the white man ought to give him all he asks for, because they have an idea that a white man has only to ask in order to get what he wants at the very lowest rates. The trader seldom makes a charge of provisions, unless an Indian wants a large quantity. Three and four, and sometimes as many as ten, arrive at a trader's house, with furs to sell or to pay a debt. They all get supper and breakfast, and even sometimes stay two or three days, without any charge being made. I think a small trader gives away as many as a thousand meals a year in this way, and, in many instances, saves families from suffering by such liberality.

99. "Have the purposes of commerce, since the discovery of the continent, had the effect to stimulate the hunters to increased exertions, and thus to hasten the diminution or destruction of the races of animals whose furs are sought?"

The introduction of fire-arms, and traps, and commerce, has caused all kinds of animals, whose furs and peltries are sought by the white people, to decrease.

100. "What animals flee first, or diminish in the highest ratio, on the opening of a new district of the remote forest to trade? Is the buffalo first to flee? is the beaver next?"

It is difficult to tell which diminishes first, the buffalo or the beaver. The buffalo is more abundant in the Dacota country than the beaver, at the present time.

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101. "Are the lands, when denuded of furs, of comparatively little value to the Indians while they remain in the hunter state? Is not the sale of such hunted lands beneficial to them?"

An Indian's land, without game, is of little value to him, for he cultivates but a small part of it — say from one-fourth to two acres is about the extent of the farm of any one family; and Indians drawing an annuity of fifteen to thirty dollars per capita, is more than most of them make by hunting at present, or for many years past.

102. "What quantity of territory is required to be kept in its wilderness state, in order to afford a sufficient number of wild animals to sustain an Indian family?"

The territory required to sustain an Indian family would be two thousand and two hundred acres of land, or thereabouts.

103. "What are the ultimate effects of the failure of game on the race? Does it not benefit by leading the native tribes to turn to industry and agriculture? And is not the pressure of commerce on the boundaries of hunting a cause of Indian civilization? Has not the introduction of heavy and coarse woollen goods, in place of valuable furs and skins, as articles of clothing, increased the means of subsistence of the native tribes?"

The failure of wild animals has, in some instances, led the Indians to believe in planting corn as a safeguard against want; but the greatest obstacle to the success of agricultural life among them is the unqualified laziness of the men and the boys, who will not work. They have a haughty spirit of pride, and I dare say you would as soon see a president or a king working with the hoe, as a young man of the Indian race. The men hunt a little in summer, go to war, kill an enemy, dance, lounge, sleep, and smoke. The women do every thing — nurse, chop wood, and carry it on their backs from a half to a whole mile; hoe the ground for planting, plant, hoe the corn, gather wild fruit, carry the lodge, and in winter cut and carry the poles to pitch it with; clear off the snow, &c., &c.; and the men often sit and look on. Commerce, I believe, does little towards the civilization of the Indians. I have resided among them twenty odd years, and I do believe they are more filthy and degraded than when I first came. I cannot observe that the introduction of woollen goods increases civilization in the least, or aids them materially in subsistence.

104. "What are the moral consequences of civilized intercourse, &c., &c.? Has not the introduction of ardent spirits been by far the most fruitful, general, and appalling cause of the depopulation of the tribes?"

The evil effects of whiskey-traders is immense, but the moral effects of Indian trade by lawful traders in the Indian country has not been detrimental, especially when carried on by the American people. The Indians complain bitterly of the white people

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105. "Are there any serious or valid objections on the part of the Indians to the introduction of schools, agriculture, the mechanic arts, or Christianity?"

The Indians think all people are bad except themselves, and they have no faith in the whites. They say the white people cannot be trusted; that if they make a treaty with them for land, the stipulations are not fulfilled; and that Indians are always imposed on by the white people, (which is not the case.) The Indians make strong opposition to schools, but the money is the cause of this. The traders want the money, and they encourage the Indians to oppose schools, by telling them that the school-fund would be paid over to them if there were no schools, and that the money would do them much more good than the schools ever would. The Indian, fond of idleness, would like to drink and smoke away the remainder of his days, and let his family look out for themselves.

Our government ought not to listen to the Indians, but go on and establish good schools; and then, when the traders find the funds are appropriated, and there is no chance of getting hold of the money, the opposition will cease. Agriculture is an art that the Indians are as fond of the proceeds of, as any human being. The most of them are the greatest gormandizers that ever lived. The only way to make them till the soil, and become civilized, is to take from them all their war-implements, and stop their jugglers, and give them physicians in the place thereof. The jugglers or Indian doctors are a curse to the nation, and help them on to ruin as fast as any thing else can. They oppose the schools on account of this system. The jugglers say schools will break up the system after a time, and cause their ruin. Christianity they acknowledge

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106. "Are the existing intercourse laws of the United States, as last revised, efficient in removing causes of discord, and preserving peace between the advanced bodies of emigrants or settlers on the frontiers and the Indian tribes?"

The existing laws have very little practical effect on the Indians or the white people. All that keeps the Indians in subjection is the troops stationed in the Indian country. I have heard them say, "If it was not for the stone walls at Fort Snelling, they would have fine times." The laws now existing have no influence between tribe and tribe. The Indians set all laws at defiance, and go to war, and murder or kill whenever they choose. They say the white people make war when they please, and they will do the same. It is of no use to make laws for Indians, unless they are carried out. It only makes the matter worse. The late law respecting the whiskey-trade the Indians say is all a humbug, and can avail nothing. The most contemptible of the whiskey-traders laugh at the law, and sell as much, if not more, than if there was no law on the subject; because there is no one to enforce it. The late law of making Indian testimony lawful in the Indian country, is also of no effect at all, because the Indians go to the ceded land for the whiskey. The whiskey traders are very careful about crossing the Mississippi with whiskey; when they do so, it is at a time when no person can see them. In fact, it is almost impossible to get any testimony against them, under the now existing laws. The Indians came and reported the white people for selling whiskey to Indians on the ceded lands, and they were told that their testimony was good only in their own country. They laughed, and said such laws were of no use.

107. "From whence do causes of difficulties and war usually arise, and how are they best prevented?"

The sources of discord have existed from time immemorial. One of the causes is, that the different nations cannot understand each other; another is revenge; and another the evil and wicked propensities of the heart. The only way to prevent Indian wars, is to hang the guilty. It would require only a few examples to put a stop to them, within any reasonable distance of a military force. Some might say this would be hard usage, but by hanging a few guilty ones, you may save the lives of many of the innocent, and establish a permanent peace amongst the tribes and the nations.

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108. "What provisions of existing laws appear susceptible, in your opinion, of amendment, in order to secure more effectually the rights or welfare of the Indians?"

The existing laws protect the Indians from the intrusion of white people upon their rights, and also keep the white people from entering their country or purchasing their land. Of course the white man can take no advantage, unless sanctioned by the government. In order to secure more effectually the rights of Indians among themselves, give them law, and help them to enforce it, until they are capable of doing it themselves. Give to each family or individual a tract of land, to be held for life, and then for the heirs to inherit in succession, but never allow them to sell it. This would give them a permanent home and protection of property, and would lead them to industry; but as it now is, the Indians are in villages of from two to five hundred souls. The children steal every thing in the vegetable line before it is half-grown, and the owner seeing the fruits of his or her labour taken away from him in this way, feels discouraged from planting — when if they were scattered, say a half mile or a mile apart, it would be a great preventive against pilfering children.

109. "Could important objects be secured by the introduction of any modifications of the provisions respecting the payment or distribution of annuities, the subsistence of assembled bodies of Indians, or the investment or application of treaty funds?"

We perceive that annuities facilitate the means of the Indians getting whiskey, particularly the money part. If the Government would give the Indians goods in lieu of money, the whiskey-dealers would have but a small inducement to give as much liquor to the Indians. Their annuities could then be applied to better purposes, for farming and houses, and stock, and schooling; but Government would have to control the whole business for several years; but this might be done at the expense of the Indians. The investment of the treaty fund could be advantageously employed by laying off farms for the Indians, and employing farmers to instruct them by families, say one farmer for four families, and keep them at least half a mile apart, and have good plain warm houses built for them, for they suffer very much in the winter from cold in their open lodges.

The Dacotas have two kinds of huts or wigwams; one of a conical form, made of dressed buffalo-skins, which are easily transported. This kind of wigwam is used in the winter season, and when on their hunting excursions. To erect one of them, it is only necessary to cut a few saplings about fifteen feet in length, place the large ends on the ground in a circle, letting the tops meet, thus forming a cone. The buffalo-skins, sewed together in the form of a cape, are then thrown over them, and fastened together with a few splints. The fire is made on the ground, in the centre of the wigwam, and the smoke escapes through an aperture at the top. These wigwams are warm and comfortable. (Plate 28.)

The other kind of hut is made of bark, usually that of the elm. A frame-work for

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110. "Is there any feature in the present laws which could be adapted more exactly to their present location, or to the advanced or altered state of society at present existing in the tribe?"

Keep up the intercourse law, or else forbid the Indians from passing over into the ceded country, and be sure to punish any of them who pass over the boundary. Give them traders who will supply their wants as far as their money will go, and ensure the trader or traders their payment. In this way the Indians will have no excuse for crossing into the ceded territory for goods.

111. "What provisions would tend more effectually to shield the tribes from the introduction of ardent spirits into their territories, and from the pressure of lawless or illicit traffic?"

There is but a small quantity of alcoholic drink carried into the Indian country by white men. It is done mostly by the Indians themselves. Some of the Indians travel as many as four hundred miles, and come into the ceded territory where the whiskey-traders are, and get whole barrels of whiskey, and carry it off to the Sisseton country.

112. "Is there any feature in the present system of negotiation with the tribes susceptible of amendment and improvement?"

The chiefs prefer going to Washington to treat, but the Indians, in general, would prefer treating in their own country. It would be easier to treat with the Dacotas at Washington than in their own country, on account of the influence of the traders and their relatives. The expenses would be about the same either way. The Indians often speak of the President, and say his views or orders are not carried out; that they believe their great father wishes to do them justice, but his officers will not do as he tells them.

113. "Are the game, and wood, and timber of the tribes subject to unnecessary or injurious curtailment, or trespass from the intrusion of emigrating bands, abiding for long periods on their territories?"

The principal complaint is against other nations destroying their game. Chippewas and British half-breeds are the ones they complain of most.

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114. "Are any of the tribes sufficiently advanced in your district to have their funds paid to a treasurer of the tribe, to be kept by him and disbursed, agreeably to the laws of their local legislature?"

No; there is none.

115. "Are payments of annuities to chiefs, or to separate heads of families, most beneficial? Should the principal of an Indian fund be paid in annuities to the Indians at the present period, under any circumstances, and are members of the tribe generally capable of the wise or prudent application of money?"

It is best to pay annuities to separate heads of families; and it is far more beneficial to the Indians to receive only the interest of the principal. A large number of the Indians spend their money for the benefit of their families.

116. "How is the elective franchise expressed and guarded, &c. &c. ?"

In giving a vote, no qualifications are required, no individual rights are surrendered. Murder, and the other crimes, are sometimes punished by council; and, frequently, individual murderers stand as high in office as the best of them. No boon is offered as security for life.

117. "Have original defects been remedied by adapting them more exactly to the genius and character of the people than they were, apparently, in the first rough drafts?"

This is what is very much wanted, but it has never been tried by this people.

118. "Have the legislative assemblies adopted a practical system of laws for the enforcement of public order, the trial of public offences, the collection of debts, the raising of revenue, the erection of public buildings, and ferries, and school-houses, and churches; or the promotion of education, the support of Christianity, and the general advance of virtue, temperance, and the public welfare, &c. &c.?"

No; but could such a system as this be established, it would, no doubt, save this nation from ruin.

119. "What ideas have the Indians of property? How do they believe private rights accrued? Have they any true views of the legal idea of property, &c. &c.?"

Private rights are held and respected by this people. Purchase, conquest, or labor, give private or national rights as long as life lasts. The starting of a deer, and pursuing it, gives no right if another Indian kills it; but if the man that first started the deer wounds it, he naturally claims it, even if another should kill it, but they generally divide the meat, the skin going to the first shot. The fact of an Indian going and planting on another person's field gives him no right to the land. Instances

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Two brothers were Indian traders. One was trading with the Dacotas, the other with the Chippewas. The debtors of the Dacota trader went to war, and killed one of the debtors of the Chippewa trader, (who was hunting and stealing on the Dacota hunting grounds,) and took his furs that he had collected, and brought them to the Dacota trader in payment of his debts. The Chippewa trader claimed the furs, and applied to his brother, the Dacota trader, for them, but his brother refused to give them up, on the ground that he came lawfully by them. The Indians highly approved of the decision, as they were taken by conquest, and the Chippewa had been stealing off of the Dacota hunting ground.

120. "Was the right of a nation to the tract of country originally possessed by it, acquired by its occupancy of it by them, to the exclusion of all others, &c. &c.?"

They believe the Great Spirit gave them their land, and that no other nation has a right to hunt within the circle or territory that they occupy from time to time. They have no idea in what way they came in possession of the land they formerly possessed. Each nation thinks it is doing itself justice in taking from the enemy's land all the game it can kill. The Indians do not pretend to own or claim any country but that they occupy in hunting. As to the rights of invasion of territory, the Indians acknowledge the claims of each nation to the country they travel over in hunting; and the murderous war which is carried on they say is right, because each nation should stay within their hunting boundaries.

121. "Is the descent of property fixed? Is the eldest son entitled to any greater rights or larger share of property than the other children? Does a parent express his will or wishes before death, as the descendant of Uncas did, how his property should be disposed of, &c. &c.?"

As to property among the Dacotas, there is rarely any thing of any consequence left at the death of a parent. All the property is most generally used up in employing jugglers to sing, or charm, or drive away the disease by magic.

Orphan children among the Indians are very miserable, although their relations do all they can for them. The eldest son of the chief is entitled to his father's office. Sometimes a chief is suddenly killed in war, or by accident, on which occasion the bund or village make his eldest son chief. The general usage, when a parent dies, is that the other Indians step in and take what little property is left without any sort of ceremony, and the children consequently are thrown upon their relations, to get a

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122. "What are the obligations felt by the Indians to pay debt? Does time greatly diminish, in their view, these obligations, and how? Does the Indian fancy that ill luck in hunting is a dispensation from the Great Spirit, and that he is exonerated thereby from the obligation of paying his debts, &c.?"

Time does diminish, in their view, the obligation to pay a debt, because they say the white people can get goods by merely going after them, or writing for them, and that when a trader obtains a new supply of goods, he is not in want of the debts due him, and that the Indian is in greater need of the amount than the trader is. Therefore they often cheat the trader by selling his furs to some person they do not owe.

If an Indian has bad luck in hunting, he says it is caused by the misconduct of some of his family, or by some enemy; that is, his family have not properly adhered to the laws of honoring the spirits of the dead, or some one owes him a spite, and by supernatural powers has caused his bad success and misery, for which he will take revenge on the person he suspects the first time an opportunity offers.

The Indians are, many of them, punctual in paying their debts as far as lies in their power. There is, I think, a general inclination to pay their national debts, which are, by Indian rule, individual debts of such long standing, that they cannot pay them within themselves. They know they all owe their traders, and they are willing to make it a national business to pay them.

As to the value of property in skins and furs, they always over-estimate it. Indeed any kind of property that they are judges of, is valued too high, and they often suffer by so doing. There are cases where Indians have sold the same article twice, but this rarely happens.

123. "What constitutes crime? Has man a right to take his fellow's blood? Is the taking of life an offence to the individual murdered, or to the Great Spirit, who gave him his life, &c. &c.?"

The Indians say it is lawful to take revenge, but otherwise, it is not right to take their fellow's blood; they consider it a great crime. When murder is committed, they regard the victim as injured, and not the Great Spirit, because all have a right to live. They have very little notion of punishment for crime hereafter in eternity: indeed, they know very little about whether the Great Spirit has any thing to do with their affairs, present or future. All the fear they have is of the spirit of the departed. They stand in great awe of the spirits of the dead, because they think it is in the power of the departed spirits to injure them in any way they please; this superstition has, in some measure, a salutary effect. It operates on them just as strong as our laws

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124. "Can the Deity be offended? Is a man under high obligations, by the fact of his creation, to worship the Great Spirit?"

The Deity, they say, is always offended with them. They do not know by what means they were created; and when any calamity befalls them, they do not understand why. They worship, it is true, but what? — they hardly know themselves. Large stones are painted and worshipped; these stones they call their grandfathers. For the expiation of sins or crimes, a sacrifice is made of some kind of an animal. Sometimes, the skin of an animal dressed, sometimes, rare pieces of white cotton and new blankets, are made use of for sacrifices, all of which are suspended in the air.

125. "Is falsehood a moral offence, because the Great Spirit abhors it, or because injuries may result to man, &c. &c.?"

The practice of lying, among the Indians, is considered very bad. In this respect, every one sees the mote in his brother's eye, but does not discover the beam that is in his own. They often would like to see falsehood punished, but have not the moral stamina to speak truth themselves. Many even desire to reward truth, but have not the ability to do so, often.

126. "Is want of veneration a crime among the Indians? Is an Indian priest or a chief more venerated than a common man, &c. &c.?"

Veneration is very great in some Indians for old age, and they all feel it for the dead. Their priests or jugglers, also, are very much venerated, but it is from fear, as much as any thing else, of some supernatural punishment. The Indians are very remarkable for their fear of uttering certain names. The father-in-law must not call the son-in-law by name; neither must the mother-in-law: and the son-in-law must not call his father-in-law or mother-in-law by name. There are also many others, in the line of relationship, who cannot call each other by name. I have heard of instances where the forbidden name has been called, and the offender was punished by having all of his or her clothes cut off of their backs and thrown away. An Indian priest or juggler is fully as much venerated as a father or mother, but it is from superstitious fear. Indian children sometimes, but very rarely, strike their parents: the punishment is generally a blow in return. We have no accounts of Indians having been stoned to death. I have known Indians killed, however, in a drunken riot, both with stones and clubs.

127. "What can the sages and wise men of the tribe say, in defence of the Indian code of doing like for like?"

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There are cases where the Indians say retaliation is wrong, and they try to prevent it, and sometimes succeed in pacifying the parties. If a bad deed is done, and the offender is punished in some way, they say he has got what he gave. A person of bad character among the Indians, is scorned by them; but from fear of his cutting their lodges, killing their horses, or doing some mischief, they are obliged to invite him to their feasts. A bad man often runs at large amongst the Indians for years, on account of the above named fears. They even are obliged to let him join in their great medicine-dance. The chastity of the women is much more attended to than many people would suppose. There are but few lewd, loose women among them, and only a few will drink ardent spirits.

128. "Do they believe that there is a Deity pervading the Universe, who is the maker of all things. What ideas do they possess of the Great Spirit?" &c.

The Indians believe there is a Great Spirit; his powers they do not comprehend, nor by what means man was created, or for what purpose. They believe the Deity consists of two persons, or as they themselves express it, "The Great Spirit and his wife." How man became possessed of the power he now possesses over the animal creation they cannot account for. They have no knowledge of God's having given any laws for the Indians to follow, and they do not know or believe that they will have to give an account of their deeds in another world.

129. "How does the Great Spirit manifest his presence on the earth, or in the sky? In what forms is he recognized? Is thunder considered his voice? Are storms regarded as his acts? Are cataracts evidences of his power?"

The Indians say there is a Great Spirit, but where he is they know not. They say the Great Spirit did not make the wild-rice, it came by chance. All things else the Great Spirit made. There are instances where the Indians charge the Deities with being angry with them, in cases of heavy storms; and they even go so far as to say the Deity is bad, for sending storms to give them misery.

130. "Is death the act of the Great Spirit? Do war and peace happen according to his will?"&c.

Some of the Indians say that death is caused by the Great Spirit; others, that it is caused by the supernatural power of individuals. All evil, they say, comes from the heart; but who or what implanted it there, they know not. The Indians know nothing of the Devil, except what the white people have told them. All the punishment they expect to receive is in this world.

They fear the persons they have offended, and the spirits of the dead more than any thing else.

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131. "How are they excused from offences against the Great Spirit?"

The Indians make sacrifices to appease the spirits, but they hardly know what kind of spirits sacrifices are made to. All of their sacrifices are made upon supposition. They often say after a violent storm, and when much injury has been done by it, "Now that the storm has done so and so, it will stop."

132. "Have they any idea whatever of atonement, or a belief or expectation that some great personage was to come on earth and answer for them to the Great Spirit?"

They have no idea of atonement, nor do they show in any of their religious ceremonies any signs of Christianity. The sacrifice of animals is to appease something that they suppose is offended with them. We never heard of but one human sacrifice, and that was a father who offered up his infant child, but for what cause we never could learn. The bad treatment of prisoners is from revenge.

133. "What is the moral character of the Priesthood? Do they bear any badge of office, &c.?"

The Indian Priesthood is made up of the very worst class. They have no badge of the office. There is but one kind or class. The priest is both prophet and doctor. Any person belonging to the great medicine-dance has a right to perform its rites and ceremonies. The office of the priests is not hereditary. Women take part in the ceremonies; they pretend to foretell events, and also to find lost articles. I once lost my watch, and told an Indian juggler that I wanted him to find it. He said yes, but I must first give him a looking-glass to look through. I gave him a small glass, and he looked into it for some time, when he asked for a black silk handkerchief, which I also gave him, together with some other little things. And when he wanted to know if I could show him pretty near the place where I had lost the watch, I told him I thought I had lost it in a certain foot-path. He asked me to go along with him there, so I went. Every now and then he would look in his glass, and keep on walking, and at last nearly stept on the watch, but did not see it either with his glass or the naked eye; so I found it myself, and showed it to him. He did not appear to care any thing about it, as he had already got possession of the glass, the black silk handkerchief, and some other little things, and he walked off. There is a class of Indians that say they can bring blessings or curses by their own power. This class is called We-chas-tah-wah-kan, or spiritual men. They attend the sick, and doctor them, when well paid for it. If an Indian is taken sick, some of the family will go to the lodge of the juggler, carrying with him a gun, a new blanket, or some other article; sometimes a horse. With a pipe filled with tobacco, this messenger approaches the juggler, pipe and payment in hand. The pipe is lighted, and the messenger presents the stem to him. Sometimes the messenger makes great lamentations while the doctor or juggler is smoking. He then takes the payment, puts it aside, and goes to see the sick man,

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134. "What general beliefs and superstitions prevail? Are there some points in which all agree? Do they believe in angels or special messengers of the Great Spirit, &c. &c.?"

Superstition prevails throughout the Indian tribes. They believe in spirits, and also that if the Indians do not live up to the laws or customs of their forefathers, the spirits will punish them for their misconduct, particularly if they omit to make feasts for the dead. They suppose these spirits have power to send the spirit of some animal to enter their bodies, and make them sick. (See No. 74.)

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VI. Intellectual Capacity and Character.

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Synopsis.

WE place on record the following additional facts on this topic, and shall cont: to present, in succeeding parts, the accumulating materials, from the consideration which, the inductive and inventive faculties of the race may be judged.

A. NUMERATION.
1. Choctaw.
2. Dacotas.
3. Cherokee.
4. Ojibwa of Chegoimegon.
5. Winnebago.
6. Chippewa.
7. Wyandot.
8. Hitchittee.
9. Cumanche.
10. Cuchan or Yuma.

B. ART OF RECORDING IDEAS.

1. PICTOGRAPHY.
1. Indian Census Roll.
2. Magic Song.
3. Medicine Animal of the Winnebagoes.
4. Haצkah — a Dacota God.
5. Indian Signatures.
6. Mnemonic Symbols for Music.

2. ALPHABETICAL NOTATION.
1. Cherokee Syllabical Alphabet.

C. ORAL IMAGINATIVE LEGENDS.
1. Transformation of a Hunter Lad.
2. Origin of the Zea Maize.
3. The Wolf Brother.
4. Sayadio.

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A. Numeration.

1. Choctaw.
2. Dacota.
3. Cherokee.
4. Ojibwa of Chegoimegon.
5. Winnebago.
6. Chippewa of the Upper Mississippi.
7. Wyandot.
8. Hitchittee or Chellokee.
9. Comanche.
10. Cuchan or Yuma.

1. CHOCTAW.
Transmitted by John Drennen, Esq., U. S. Agent.

1. One.............................Chuffa
2. Two.............................Tuk lo
3. Three...........................Tu chi na
4. Four.............................Ush ta
5. Five.............................Tath la pi
6. Six...............................Han a li
7. Seven...........................Tin tuk lo
8. Eight............................Un tu chi na
9. Nine.............................Chak ka li
10. Ten...............................Po ko li
11. Eleven...........................An ah chuffa
12. Twelve..........................An ah tuk lo
13. Thirteen........................An ah tu chi na
14. Fourteen.......................An ah ush ta
15. Fifteen..........................An ah tath la pi
16. Sixteen.........................An ah han a li
17. Seventeen.....................An ah un tuk lo
18. Eighteen.......................An ah un tu chi na
19. Nineteen.......................Abi cha ka li
20. Twenty........................Po ko li tuk lo
21. Twenty-one..................Po ko li tuk lo a ku cha chuffa
22. Twenty-two.................... " " " tuklo

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2. DACOTA.
By Philander Prescott.
Transmitted by Nathaniel McLain, Esq., U.S. Agent.

1. One.............................Wan chah, or Wa je tah
2. Two.............................Nom pah
3. Three...........................Yah mo nee
4. Four.............................To pah
5. Five..............................Zah pe tah
6. Six................................Shack coope
7. Seven............................Shack o
8. Eight.............................Shah en do
9 .Nine..............................Nep e chu wink ah
10. Ten...............................Wick o chimen ee
11. Eleven...........................Akka wah ju (ten and one)
12. Twelve..........................Akka nom pa (ten and two)

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The Indians themselves have no kind of an idea what these amounts are; the only way they could form any kind of an idea would be to let them see the amount counted out. One thousand is more than or a higher number than some of them can count. We hear some of them talk about thousands, and sometimes a million, but still they can give no correct idea how much of a bulk it would make; and I believe if a Sioux Indian was told he could have a million of dollars if he would count it correctly, he could not do it. P. Prescott.

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3. CHEROKEE.
Transmitted by William Butler, Esq., U.S. Agent.
Te Sai Stee (Numerals).

1. One...........................Sar quoh
2. Two...........................Tar lee
3. Three.........................Chaw ie
4. Four..........................Ner kee
5. Five...........................Hisk skee
6. Six............................Su tah lee
7. Seven.........................Gar le quoh kee
8. Eight.........................Choo na lah
9. Nine...........................Law na lah
10. Ten...........................Ar sko hee
11. Eleven........................Lar too
12. Twelve.......................Tul too
13. Thirteen.....................Chaw i gar too
14. Fourteen.....................Nee gar too
15. Fifteen........................Skee gar too
16. Sixteen.......................Dar lah too
17. Seventeen....................Gar le quah too
18. Eighteen.....................Nai lar too
19. Nineteen.....................So na lah too
20. Twenty.......................Tah lar sko kee
21. Twenty-one..................So i chaw na
22. Twenty-two..................Tah le chaw na
23. Twenty-three................Chaw i chaw na
24. Twenty-four.................Ner kee chaw na
25. Twenty-five..................Hisk ku chaw na
26. Twenty-six...................Su tah lu chaw na
27. Twenty-seven...............Gar le quoh ku chaw na
28. Twenty-eight................Nai lar chaw na
29. Twenty-nine.................Lo nai lar chaw na
30. Thirty........................Chaw ar sko hee
40. Forty.........................Ner gar sko hee
50. Fifty.........................Hisk skar sko hee
60. Sixty..........................Su dar lee sko hee
70. Seventy......................Gar lee quah sko hee
80. Eighty........................Na lah sko hee
90. Ninety........................Lo nah lah sko hee

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4. OJIBWA OF CHEGOIMEGON.
By William W. Warren.

1. One...........................Ba shik
2. Two...........................Neensh
8. Three.........................Nis we
4. Four..........................Ne win
5. Five...........................Nב nun
6. Six............................Nin god wבs we
7. Seven ........................Ninsh wבs we
8. Eight.........................Shous we
9. Nine..........................Shang בs we
10. Ten............................Me dבs we
11. Eleven........................Me dבs we בshe ba shig
12. Twelve........................Me dבs we ashe neensh
13. Thirteen......................Me dבs we ashe nis we
14. Fourteen.....................Me dבs we ashe ne win
15. Fifteen........................Me dבs we ashe nב nun
16. Sixteen.......................Me dבs we ashe nin god wבs e
17. Seventeen ...................Me dבs we ashe ninsh was we
18. Eighteen......................Me dבs we ashe shous we
19. Nineteen.....................Me dבs we ashe shבng as we
20. Twenty.......................Nish tun ב
21. Twenty-one..................Nish tun ב ashe ba shig
22. Twenty-two..................Nish tun ב ashe neensh
23. Twenty-three................Nish tun ב ashe nis we
24. Twenty-four.................Nish tun ב ashe ne win

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One million is also called Ke che med as wac, which would abbreviate a great deal in counting. There is no more limit (in thus counting) in the Ojibwa than there is in the English language.
W. Warren.

OJIBWA COUNTING.

There is another mode of counting the decimals, which is more commonly used by the Pillagers and northern Ojibwas, as follows:

1. One...........................Nin god juבsh
2. Two...........................Ninsh wבs
3. Three ........................Nis wבs
4. Four..........................Ne wבs
5. Five...........................Nan wבs
6. Six............................Nin god was we
7. Seven........................Nin shous we
8. Eight.........................Shous we
9. Nine...........................Shבsng
10. Ten...........................Quetch

From this point, the counting is as interpreted in the printed form. — W. W.

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5. WINNEBAGO.
By Miss Elizabeth Lowry.
Transmitted by J.E. Fletcher, Esq., U.S. Agent.

1. One...........................He zun ke ra
2. Two...........................Noomp
3. Three.........................Taun
4. Four..........................Jope
5. Five...........................Sarch
6. Six............................Ha ka wa
7. Seven.........................Sha ko we
8. Eight.........................Ha roo wunk
9. Nine...........................He zun ke choo shkoo ne
10. Ten...........................Ka ra pa ne za
11. Eleven........................Ka ra pa ne za nuka he zun ke ra shun na
12. Twelve.......................Ka ra pa ne za nuka noompa shun na
13. Thirteen.....................Ka ra pa ne za nuka tan e a shun na
14. Fourteen.....................Ka ra pa ne za nuka jope a shun na
15. Fifteen.........................Ka ra pa ne za nuka sarch a shun na
16. Sixteen.......................Ka ra pa ne za nuka ha ka wa a shun na
17. Seventeen....................Ka ra pa ne za nuka sha ko we a shun na
18. Eighteen.....................Ka ra pa ne za nuka ha roo wunk a shun na
19. Nineteen.....................Ka ra pa ne za nuka he zun ke choo shkoon a shun na
20. Twenty.......................Ka ra pa ne noomp
21. Twenty-one..................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka he zun ke ra shun na
22. Twenty-two..................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka noomp a shun na
23. Twenty-three................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka tan e a shun na
24. Twenty-four.................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka jope a shun na
25. Twenty-five..................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka sarch a shun na
26. Twenty-six...................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka ha ka wa a shun na
27. Twenty-seven...............Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka sha ko we a shun na
28. Twenty-eight................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka ha roo wunk a shun na
29. Twenty-nine.................Ka ra pa ne noompa nuka he zun ke choo shkoon a shun na
30. Thirty........................Ka ra pa ne taun
40. Forty.........................Ka ra pa ne jope
50. Fifty.........................Ka ra pa ne sarch
60. Sixty..........................Ka ra pa ne ha ka wa
70. Seventy......................Ka ra pa ne sha ko we
80. Eighty........................Ka ra pa ne ha roo wunk

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6. CHIPPEWA (OJIBWA) OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
By MR. Fairbanks.

1. One...........................Ba shick
2. Two...........................Nizh
3. Three.........................Niss wi
4. Four..........................Ni win
5. Five...........................Na nun
6. Six............................Ning o dwa swi
7. Seven ........................Nizh was swi
8. Eight.........................Nish was swi
9. Nine..........................Shong gas swi
10. Ten............................Mi das swi
11. Eleven........................Mi das swi a shi ba shick or ba jig
12. Twelve........................Mi das swi a shi nizh
13. Thirteen......................Mi das swi a shi nis swi
14. Fourteen.....................Mi das swi a shi ni win
15. Fifteen........................Mi das swi a shi na nun
16. Sixteen.......................Mi das swi a shi ning o dwa swi
17. Seventeen ...................Mi das swi a shi nizh wa swi
18. Eighteen......................Mi das swi a shi nish was swi
19. Nineteen.....................Mi das swi a shi shong gas swi
20. Twenty.......................Nizh ta na
21. Twenty-one..................Nizh ta na a shi pa shick
22. Twenty-two..................Nizh ta na a shi nizh
23. Twenty-three................Nizh ta na a shi nis swi

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7. WYANDOT.
By William Walker.
Transmitted by D.D. Mitchel, Esq., Superintendent of the Indian Department, St. Louis.

1. One...........................Skot
2. Two...........................Tendee
3. Three........................Schenk
4. Four..........................N'dauhk
5. Five...........................Oo wיehsh
6. Six............................Watt zhבu
7. Seven ........................Tsoo tau rיh
8. Eight.........................Au a ta rיh
9. Nine...........................Eh en tr×£oh
10. Ten...........................Auh seh
11. Eleven........................ " scot e skau reh
12. Twelve........................ " ten dee ta skau reh
13. Thirteen...................... " schenk e skau reh
14. Fourteen...................... " n'dauhk e skau reh
15. Fifteen........................ " oo weehsh e skau reh
16. Sixteen....................... " wau zhau e skau reh
17. Seventeen................... " tsoo tau reh e skau reh
18. Eighteen..................... " au a ta reh e skau reh
19. Nineteen..................... " eh en trooh e skau reh
20. Twenty.......................Ten dee ta wבu seh
21. Twenty-one.................. " " " scot e skau reh
22. Twenty-two.................. " " " ten dee ta skau reh
23. Twenty-three............... " " " schenk e skau reh
24. Twenty-four................. " " " n'dauhk e skau reh
25. Twenty-five.................. " " " oo weehsh e skau reh
26. Twenty-six................... " " " wau zhau e skau reh
27. Twenty-seven............... " " " tsoo tau reh e skau reh
28. Twenty-eight................ " " " au a ta reh e skau reh

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