frontier, I presented him a medal of the second class, accompanying it by some presents of clothing, &c., and an address to be delivered. to the Chippewas, at the sources of the Mississippi, in which I referred to the friendly and humane disposition of our government, its desire that the Indians should live in peace, refrain from drink, &c.

Tems Couvert, in a short speech, expressed himself favorably towards Annamikens, corroborating some statements the latter had made.

Chacopee came to make his farewell speech, being on the point of embarking. He recommended some of his followers to my notice, who were not present when the goods were distributed on the fifth instant. He again referred to the wants and wishes of the Indians of Snake River, who lived near the boundary lines, and were subject to the incursions of the Sioux. Says that the Sioux intrude beyond the line settled at the Prairie, &c. Requests permission to take inland, for his own use, two kegs of whisky, which had been presented to him by Mr. Dingley and Mr. Warren. [This mode of evading the intercourse act, by presenting or selling liquor on territory where the laws of Congress do not operate, shifting on the Indians the risk and responsibility of taking it inland, is a new phase of the trade, and evinces the moral ingenuity of the American Fur Company, or their servants.]

8th. Grosse Guelle stated that, as he was nearly ready to return, he wished to say a few words, to which he hoped I would listen. He complained of the hardness of times, high prices of goods, and poverty of the Indians, and hoped that presents would be given to them. He alleged these causes for his visit, and that of the Sandy Lake Indians generally. Adverted to the outrage committed by the Sioux at St. Peters, and to the treaty of Prairie du Chien, at which his fathers (alluding to Gen. Clarke and Gov. Cass) promised to punish the first aggressors. Requested permission to take in some whisky-presses this topic, and says, in reply to objections, that "Indians die whether they drink whisky or not." He presented a pipe in his own name, and

* By visiting Drummond's Island contrary to instructions, this chief and his band had excluded themselves from the distribution made on the 5th of August.

another in the names of the two young chiefs Wazhus-Kuk-Koon (Muskrat's Liver), and Nauganosh, who both received small medals at the treaty of Fond du Lac.

Katewabeda, having announced his wish to speak to me on the 6th instant, came into the office for that purpose. He took a view of the standing his family had maintained among the Sandy Lake Indians from an early day, and said that he had in his possession until very lately a French flag, which had been presented to some of his ancestors, but had been taken to exhibit at Montreal by his son-in-law (Mr. Ermatinger, an English trader recently retired from business). He had received a muzinni'egun* from Lieut. Pike, on his visit to Sandy Lake, in 1806, but it had been lost in a war excursion on the Mississippi. He concluded by asking a permit to return with some mdz. and liquor, upon the sale of which, and not on hunting, he depended for his support. † I took occasion to inform him that I had been well acquainted with his standing, character, and sentiments from the time of my arrival in the country in the capacity of an agent; that I knew him to be friendly to the traders who visited the Upper Mississippi, desirous to keep the Indians at peace, and not less desirous to keep up friendly relations with the authorities of both the British and American governments; but that I also very well knew that whatever political influence he exerted, was not exerted to instil. into the minds of the Indians sentiments favorable to our system. of government, or to make them feel the importance of making them strictly comply with the American intercourse laws, &c. I referred to the commencement of my acquaintance with him, twenty days after my first landing at St. Mary's, and by narrating facts, and naming dates and particulars, endeavored to convince him that I had not been an indifferent observer of what had passed both within and without the Indian country. I also referred to recent events here, to which I attributed an application to trade, which he had not thought proper or deemed necessary to make in previous years.

* A paper; any written or printed document.

This is one of the modern modes of getting goods into the country in contravention of law, Mr. Ermatinger being a foreigner trading on the Canadian side of the river.

I concluded by telling him that he would see that it was impossible, in conformity with the principles I acted upon, and the respect which I claimed of Indians for my counsels, to grant his request.

11th. Guelle Plat came to take leave preparatory to his return. He expressed his sense of the kindness and respect with which he had been treated, and intimated his intention of repeating his visit to the Agency during the next season, should his health be spared. He said, in the course of conversation, that "there was one thing in which he had observed a great difference between the practice of this and St. Peter's Agency. There whisky is given out in abundance; here I see it is your practice to give

none."

12th. Invested Oshkinahwa (the Young Man of the totem of the Loon of Leech Lake), with a medal.

15th. Issued provisions to the family of Kussepogoo, a Chippewyan woman from Athabasca, recently settled at St. Mary's. It seems the name by which this remote tribe is usually known is of Chippewa origin (being a corruption of Ojeegewyan, a fisher's skin), but they trace no affinity with the Chippewa stock, and the language is radically different, having very little analogy either in its structure or sounds. It is comparatively harsh and barren, and so defective and vague in its application that it even seems questionable whether nouns and verbs have number.

18th. Visited by the Little Pine (Shingwaukonce), the leading chief on the British shore of the St. Mary's, a shrewd and politic man, who has united, at sundry periods, in himself the offices and influence of a war chief, a priest, or Jossakeed, and a civil ruler. The giving of public presents on the 5th had evidently led to his visit, although he had not pursued the policy expected from him, so far as his influence reached among the Chippewas on the American shores of the straits. He made a speech well suited to his position, and glossed off with some fine generalities, avoiding commitments on main points and making them on minor ones, concluding with a string of wampum. I smoked and shook hands with him, and accepted his tenders of friendship by re-pledging the pipe, but narrowed his visit to official proprieties, and refused his wampum.

22d. Magisanikwa, or the Wampum-hair, renewed his visit, gave me another opportunity to remember his humane act in the spring, and had his claims on this score allowed. The Indians never forget a good act done by them, and we should not permit them to surpass us in this respect.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Natural history of the north-west-Northern zoology-Fox-Owl-Reindeer -A dastardly attempt at murder by a soldier-Lawless spread of the population of northern Illinois over the Winnebago land-New York Lyceum of Natural History-U. S. Ex. Ex.-Fiscal embarrassments in the Department Medical cause of Indian depopulation-Remarks of Dr. Pitcher-Erroneous impressions of the Indian character-Reviews-Death of John Johnston, Esq.

1828. July 24th. THE ardor with which I thought it proper to address myself to the Indian duties of my office, did not induce me, by any means, to neglect my correspondence or the claims of visitors to Elmwood.

This day Lt. Col. Lindsay and Capt. Spotts, U. S. A., being on court martial duty at Fort Brady, paid their respects to me, and the Col. expressed his pleasure and surprise at the taste, order, and disposition of the grounds and the Agency.

Nor did the official duties of my position interfere with the investigation of the natural history of the country.

A large box of stuffed birds and quadrupeds, containing twentythree specimens of various species, was sent to the Lyceum of Natural History at New York, in the month of April. Mr. William Cooper writes, under this date, that they have been received and examined. "The lynx appears to be the northern species, different from that common in this part of the country, and very rarely seen here even in the public collections. Several of the birds, also, I had never had an opportunity of examining before. The spruce partridge, Tetræ Canadensis, is very rare in the United States. There is no other species in this city besides yours. It was entirely unknown to Wilson; but it is to appear in the third vol. of Bonaparte's continuation of Wilson, to be published in the ensuing autumn. The circumstance of its being found in the Michigan. Territory, is interesting on account of the few localities in which