One of the St. Ignace Indians, referring to the meteoric phenomenon of the morning of the 13th of November, said that the stars shot over in the form of a bow, and seemed to drop into the lake. Such a display, he added, was never before seen. He says that the Chippewa Indians called the Wolverine "Gween-guh-auga," which means underground drummer. This animal is a great digger or burrower.

4th. Stormy and cold.

5th. S. Cold. Mr. Barber preached on the character and trials of Noah. The old N.E. divines loved to preach from texts in the Old Testament.

6th. A change of wind from N. to S.W. created a very perceptible increase of temperature. Indians, who had been detained by floating ice since New Year's day, got over to Point St. Ignace.

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

On visiting the monthly concert in the evening, I was reminded that this day had been set apart by various churches for imploring a special blessing on the Word of God, in the conversion of the world.

7th. Yesterday afternoon the harbor filled with floating ice. This morning it is frozen over into a solid body, completely closing up the harbor. But the passage between it and Round Island is open, and the lake in other directions. Wind northerly and westwardly; thermometer as on the 3d, 4th, and 5th; but the air does not feel to be as cold as those days. This is the effect of its having remained about a week of nearly the same temperature. It is, in truth, the range of the thermometer between given points, and not the absolute degree of it, that creates the sensation of intense change. And herein must be sought the secret of people's standing a great degree of cold in the north, without being duly sensible of the extreme degree of it. This remark ought, perhaps, to be limited to such severe degree of cold (say 40 deg. below zero), as a man can withstand or live in.

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

The express from St. Mary's came in, about two hours after our Detroit express left. By letters brought by it, I learn that letters of recall have recently passed the Sault for Capt. Back. It is stated that Capt. Ross has unexpectedly returned to England, after an absence of four years, great part of which time he had passed among the Esquimaux, or in an open boat on the sea. That he had made observations to fix the magnetic meridian, and had discovered a large island, almost the size of Great Britain, which he named Boothea.

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

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

8th. Snow—blustering—cold. Our first express to Detroit has so far overstayed its time, that it is impossible to say when it may now be expected. Fires again seen on the main land, and an unsuccessful attempt made to reach them, the floating ice preventing.

9th. Maternal Association meets at my house, which, Mrs. S. reports, is well attended. In the evening, Mr. H., Mr. J., Miss McF., and Miss S.

Floating ice in the straits, and no crossing.

11th. Snowing—blustering. Expecting the mail soon, I prepared my letters, and, being Saturday, sent them to the post-office, lest the mail should arrive and depart on Sunday.

13th, Deep snow drifts, stormy—cold. Very difficult, in consequence of the drifts, to reach the teacher's concert, in the evening, which met at the Court House. Meeting between Mr. D. and Mr. Ferry at my house, to try the effects of conciliation.

14th. High wind died away last night: the sun rose, this morning, clear and pleasant, but the air still cold. Ice completely fills the channel between Boisblanc and the main harbor; the outer channel is still open.

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

15th. The express from Detroit arrives, having crossed from the main to Boisblanc on the ice, and from thence in a boat. By this mail we have a week's later dates than were brought by the "Warren." No political intelligence of importance. I received a number of printed sheets of the appendix to the narrative of my tour to Itasca Lake. Heard also from LeConte, the engraver, at New York.

16th. Took Mr. D. in my cariole to Mr. Ferry's, to further the object of a reconciliation of the matters in difference between them. It commenced raining, soon after we got there, and continued steadily all evening. Got a complete wetting in coming home, and in driving to the fort Mrs. Kingsbury, whom I found there.

17th. Yesterday's fain has much diminished the quantity of snow; bare ground is to be seen in some spots. Atmosphere murky, and surcharged with moisture, rendering it disagreeable to be out of doors.

The soldiery of the garrison invite Mr. F. to hold a meeting in the garrison every Sabbath afternoon, showing an awakened moral sense among them.

18th. Depression of the atmospheric temperature. Frost renders the walking slippery, and the snow crusted and hard. This condition of things, in the forest, is fatal to wild hoofed animals, which at every step are subject to break through, and cut their ankles. In this way the Indians successfully pursue and take the moose and reindeer of our region.

19th. Mr. David S. and Mrs. K. are admitted to the communion, on a profession of faith, and Mr. Seymour, Miss Owen, and Miss Leverett, by letter. The Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Barber were also, for the first time, present.

Snow fell upon the previous glare surface, and, being attended with wind, rendered the day very blustering and boisterous. The wind being from the west, was very strong—so strong as to blow some persons down. The temperature at the same time was quite cold.

20th. Coldness continued; the thermometer stood at only 2 deg. above zero at 8 o'clock in the morning; the west wind continuing. The air, in consequence of this depression, became colder than the water of the lake, producing an interchange of temperature, and the striking phenomenon of rising vapor. The open lake waters gave out their latent heat, like a boiling pot, till the equilibrium was restored. This singular phenomenon I had seen before in the North, and it is to be observed, in the basin of the upper lakes, some days every winter.

I received a visit from Mr. Barber. Conversation on the state of religious knowledge. Do geology and the natural sciences afford external evidence of the truth of God's word?

21st. Atmospheric temperature still low; the thermometer at 8 o'clock A.M. standing at 9 deg. above zero. The harbor and straits, between the island and Point St. Ignace, frozen over; but the channel, in which, there is a strong current, between the outer edge of the harbor and Round Island, still open. Along this edge very deep water is immediately found, and these waters, under the pressure of lake causes, rush with the force of a mill-race. 22d. The air is slightly warmer, the thermometer standing at 8 o'clock, A.M., at 16 deg. above zero. The soldiery further request of Mr. F. to hold a Bible class in the fort.

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

24th. The thermometer falls five degrees, standing at 16 deg. at 8 o'clock A.M.; but in consequence of the cessation of winds at night, and accumulation of floating ice, the open districts of the lake were entirely frozen over. Kebec, the Sault expressman, went off on his way to Detroit, at a very early hour, walking on the ice from about abreast of the Old Still House, direct to the main. The thermometer in the fort was observed to be, at one time during the night, at 5 deg. below zero, denoting more intense cold than my 8 o'clock observation indicates. This is, therefore, so far, the maximum cold for January.

25th. A strong easterly wind broke up the ice, which was solid, as far as the Light-House, about ten miles, and again exposed the limpid bosom of the lake in that direction; but it did not disturb the straits west. My son John began, this day, to pronounce words having the sound of r, for which, agreeably to a natural organic law recognized by philologists, he has heretofore substituted the sound of l.

26th. S. A sermon on the inefficacy of the prayer of faith without submission to God's better wisdom. I was this day set apart as an elder.

27th. The temperature, which has risen since the 24th, still rises, creating a perceptible change in feelings. Visited Mr. Agnew, who reached the island from the Sault yesterday.

28th. The harbor breaks up with a south-east wind, but the ice remains firm between the island and the main, and in the direction to Pt. St, Ignace. This wind is attended with a farther moderation of the temperature. I fell in descending the steep hill, which is exposed to the south, in coming back from a visit to Lieut. Penrose, in the fort. This fort is what engineers call a talus, being, as I suppose, the exact area, very nearly, of the top of a cliff overlooking the town. It was very effective for controlling the Indians, but was found in 1812 to be commanded by a still higher point within cannon range, which was seized and fortified by the British.

This apex they made the site of Fort George; the Americans changed the name to Fort Holmes, after a gallant officer, a Kentuckian, who fell in the unsuccessful attempt of Col. Croghan to retake the island in 1814.

29th. The temperature still rises, and is mild for the season. Gave each of my children a new copy of the Scriptures. If these truths are important, as is acknowledged, they cannot too early know them. I visited Mr. Mitchell.

30th, The temperature continues to moderate. Drove to the mission, accompanied by Mr. D., to converse, at his request, with Mr. Barber, on the unhappy topics of difference between him and Mr. F. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott called at my house, in the interval, and were received by Mrs. S. In the evening I attended the social prayer meeting at Mr. Dousman's.

31st. The sun shone clear; no snow, no high winds, but a serene and pleasant atmosphere. Visits were received from Maj. Whistler and Lieut. Kingsbury. Conversation on the probable reception of the President's Message, etc., by our next express.

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

Feb. 1st. The mildness and pleasantness of the weather continued. Drove out to Mr. Davenport's with Mrs. Schoolcraft and the children. Davenport is a Virginian. He was one of the residents driven off the island by the events of the late war, and was on board of Commodore St. Clair's squadron, sailing around the island, and in sight of his own home, during the expedition to recapture the island, in 1814. For his sufferings and losses he ought to have been remunerated by the Government, whom he faithfully served.

Our second express from Detroit arrived, bringing us the expected newspaper intelligence, and letters from friends. Heard of the alarming illness of my sister, in Oneida County, N.Y.

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

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

4th. A small party at dinner, namely, Major Whistler, Lieut. Kingsbury, Mr. Agnew, Mr. Stuart the elder, Mr. Abbott, Mr. Dousman, and Mr. Johnston. The weather continues mild, clear, and calm. In the evening I prepared my mail matter for the Sault, intending to dispatch it by a private express to-morrow.

5th. Finished and dispatched my mail for St. Mary's by two Indians, who set out at ten o'clock A.M. I received an official visit from Ossiganac, and seven men from the village of L'Arbre Croche. He stated it to be the wish of the Ottawas, to visit Washington. The reasons for such a visit arose from a desire to see the President, on the subject of their lands. Many of these lands were denuded of game. Drummond Island had been abandoned. They thought themselves entitled to compensation for it. They were poor and indebted to the traders. The settlements would soon intrude on their territories. Wood was now cut for the use of steamboats and not paid for. They had various topics to confer about. This was, in fact, the first move of the Lake Indians, leading in the sequel to the important treaty of March 28th, 1836.

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

7th. The depression of temperature creates the sensation of coldness after the late mild weather, although the thermometer, examined at 8 o'clock, has not fallen below 26 deg., but six degrees below the freezing point.

I embodied Ossiganac's remarks in a letter to the Department, and also requesting the survey of the old grants under Wayne's Treaty of 1793. I likewise proposed the establishment of an Indian Academy at Michilimackinack for the Indian tribes of the upper lakes. Mackinack has peculiar facilities of access in the open months for a large circle of cognate tribes; and, in view of a future cession of the country, these tribes will possess ample means. I wrote to my sister Catharine, in the prospect of her dying of consumption; directing her mind to the great moral remedy in the intercession of Christ.

8th. Our third express for Detroit left this morning. The day was clear and calm, with the thermometer at 30 deg. at 8 o'clock. I began sketching some remarks, to be transmitted to the American Lyceum, on the best mode of educating the Indians.

9th. S. Mild. An Indian woman was buried to-day, who has borne the character of a Christian. As her end drew near she said she did not fear to "pass through the valley of death." She appeared to be prepared to die, and had the testimony of Christians in her behalf, many of whom attended her funeral. As a general fact, the Christian Indians whom I have known, seize with great simplicity of faith on an Intercessor and his promises.

10th. Mild. In consequence of the protracted mildness of the weather, Indians from Thunder Bay visited the office. They spoke of the meteoric phenomenon of November. I asked the leader of the party what he thought of it. He replied that it betokened evil to the Indian race—that sickness would visit them calamitously.

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

12th. Dine with Kingsbury.

13th. Dine with Mitchell. In the afternoon Mr. F. and Mr. D. met by appointment at my house, to endeavor to close their accounts and terminate their difficulties.

14th. Yesterday's effort to compromise matters between F. and D. was continued and brought to a close, so far as respected items of account; but this left unhealed the wounds caused by mutual hard thoughts, of a moral character, and for which there has seemed, to Christians, in Mr. D., a cause of disciplinary inquiry. I felt friendly to Mr. D., and thought that he was a man whose pride and temper, and partly Christian ignorance, had induced to stand unwittingly in error. But he took counsel of those who do not appear to have been actuated by the most conciliatory views. He stood upon his weakest points with an iron brow and "sinews of brass."

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

16th. Snow.

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

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

19th. The weather assumes a milder turn, and gives us rain. Messrs. F. and D., having called on Mr. Mitchell, renew their meeting at my house.

20th. Rain and thunder.

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

22d. Cold, with some snow.

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

24th. The third express from Detroit came in at an early hour, and my letters and papers were brought in before breakfast. During breakfast I opened a letter, announcing the death of my sister Catharine, on the 9th of January, at Vernon, N. Y.

Mr. Agnew and Mr. Chapman, who have been guests on the island, set out for the Sault. The lake is now finally and strongly closed by a covering of solid ice. Trains cross to-day, for the first time, to Point St. Ignace.

25th. Mr. Levake, another guest on the island, called at eight o'clock for my letters, with a view of overtaking the party who left yesterday.

26th. Wind west, and so strong as to drive the ice out between the harbor and the light-house, but did not affect the harbor itself, nor the straits.

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

28th. The weather is mild again. An express from the Hudson's Bay Company departed for Saginaw, at seven o'clock A.M. The adverb "fiducially" first brought to my notice, as the synonym of confidently, steadily. Finished the perusal of Mr. F.'s manuscript lectures, on the Romish Church. Think them an offhand practical appeal to truth, clear in method, forcible in illustration. Learning and research, such as are to be drawn from books other than the Bible, have not been evidently relied on. They might not do to print without revision. The New Testament does not, as an example, declare that Peter ever was at Rome, and yet that fact, got from other sources, is much relied on by that Church.

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

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

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

Cadotte, an expressman from La Pointe, Lake Superior, arrived in the course of the afternoon, with letters from Mr. Warren. Miss W., Miss D. and Mr. J., pass the evening.

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

5th. Snow has melted so much, in consequence of the change of temperature, that I am compelled to stop my team from drawing wood. The ice is so bad that it is dangerous to cross. The lake has been open from the point of the village to the light-house, since the tempest of the 26th ultimo. The broad lake below the latter point has been open all winter. The lake west has been, in fact, fast and solidly frozen, so as to be crossed with trains, but twelve days!

Mr. Warren's express set out for Lake Superior this morning. Our fourth express from Detroit came in during the evening, bringing New York dates to the 4th of February.

6th. The evidences of the approach of spring continue. The sun shines with a clear power, unobstructed by clouds. Snow and ice melt rapidly. Visited the Mission's house in the evening.

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

8th. The wind drives away the broken and floating ice from the harbor, and leaves all clear between it and Round Island. It became cold and freezing in the afternoon. Conference and prayer meetings at my house.

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

10th. In consequence of the increase of cold, and the prevalence of a calm during the night, there was formed a complete coating of ice over the bay, extending to Round Island. This ice was two inches thick. Mrs. Schoolcraft spent the evening at Mrs. Dousman's. On coming home, about nine o'clock, we found the ice suddenly and completely broken up by a south wind, and heaped up along shore.

11th. Harbor and channel quite clear; the weather has assumed a mildness, although the sky is overcast, and snow drifted in the roads during the morning. Miss Jones, Mr. D. Stuart, Dr. Turner, and Mr. Johnston spent the evening with me.

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

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

14th. About eight o'clock this morning, a vessel from Detroit dropped anchor in the harbor, causing all hearts to be gay at the termination of our wintry exclusion from the world. It proved to be the "Commodore Lawrence," of Huron, Ohio, on a trip to Green Bay. Our last vessel left the harbor on the 18th of December, making the period of our incarceration just eighty-five days, or but two and a half months. Visited by Lieut. and Mrs. Lavenworth.

15th. Mild and pleasant. Plucked the seed of the mountain ash in front of the agency dwelling, and planted it on the face of the cliff behind the house. Mr. Chapman arrived with express news from the Sault.

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

17th. Very mild and pleasant day. The snow is rapidly disappearing under the influence of the sun. Mackinack stands on a horse-shoe bay, on a narrow southern slope of land, having cliffs and high lands immediately back of it, some three hundred feet maximum height. It is, therefore, exposed to the earliest influences of spring, and they develop themselves rapidly. Mr. Hulbert arrived from the Sault in the morning, bringing letters from Rev. Mr. Clark, Mr. Audrain, my sub-agent at that point, &c.

18th. Wind southerly. This drives the ice from the peninsula into the harbor, it then shifts west, and drives it down the lake. A lowering sky ends with a sprinkling of rain in the forenoon; it then clears up, and the sun appears in the afternoon. Dr. Turner visits me at the office. Conversation turns on my translations into the Indian, and the principles of the language. An Indian has a term for man and for white; but, when he wishes to express the sense of white man, he employs neither. He then compounds the term wa-bish-kiz-zi-—that is, white person.

19th. The weather is quite spring-like. Prune cherry trees and currant bushes. Transplant plum tree sprouts. Messrs. Biddle and Drew finish preparing their vessel, and anchor her out.

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

21st. The snow, which has continued falling all night, is twelve to fourteen inches deep in the morning; being the heaviest fall of snow, at one time, all winter. Some ice is formed.

22d. The body of snow on the ground, and the continuance of cold, give quite a wintery aspect to the landscape. In the course of the day, Mr. Ferry, Mr. Mitchell, and Mr. Stuart call.

23d. S. Cold.

24th. Wintery feeling and aspect.

25th. The temperature still sinks. Visits from Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Ferry, and Mr. Stuart. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Johnston spend the evening.

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

27th. Ice still lingers in the harbor, but the day is clear and sunshiny, and the snow melts rapidly. Visit the mission, and inquire into the effects of its government and discipline on the character of the boys, one or two of whom have been recently the subject of some scandals. Accompanied in this visit by Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Stuart, and Mr. Mitchell. Thomas Shepard, a mission boy, calls on me at an early hour, and states his contrition for his agency in any reports referred to.

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

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

Visited the officers in the fort. Rode out in my carriage in the evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft, to see Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, and Mr. and Mrs. Ferry. Satan's emissaries appear to be busy in circulating scandal respecting our pastor, Mr. F., a person of high moral worth and probity.

To put these down effectively, it appears necessary to probe them to the bottom, and ascertain their length and breadth. This was a duty of the eldership, and it could be thoroughly performed without fear, respecting a man of Mr. F.'s character. It was necessary, I found, to unmask all the actors. The scandal appears to be one originating with certain Metif boys of the Mission school. One of these, it was averred, had looked through the key-hole of the common parlor door of the Mission house, and beheld the Rev. Mr. F. sitting near a Miss S., one of the assistant missionaries of the establishment. The door was locked. The hair of the young lady was dishevelled; her comb had fallen on the floor. It was early in the morning. Another boy was called to look; no change of position was observed—nothing that was not respectful and proper.

This story was detailed, a night or two afterwards, by Thomas Shepard, one of the boys, at a drinking conclave in the village, where bon vivants, and some persons inimical to Mr. F. were present, and created high merriment. From that den it was spread. It appeared that Miss S. had, for some time, had doubts on the subject of her conversion, and sought a conversation with her pastor to resolve them.

29th. Moderate temperature continues. A meeting of some of the leading persons of the place, citizens and officers, at which statements, embracing the above narrative, were made, which were quite satisfactory in regard to the reports above mentioned. The reports are traced to a knot of free livers, free drinkers, and infidels, who meet a-nights, in the village, to be merry, and who drew some of the mission boys into their revelries. A case of discipline in the church, which led, finally, to the excommunication of one of the leading persons of the place, has raised enemies to the Rev. Mr. F., who were present at these orgies, and helped to spread the report.

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

31st. Mild weather continues; clear and sunny; snow melts. The remaining ice is completely broken up by an easterly wind. Visit Mr. Stuart's child, which is very low.

April 1st. A dark drizzly morning terminates before ten o'clock in rain. It cleared away at noon; the broken ice of the day and night previous, is mostly driven down the lake by westerly winds.

Satisfied of the excellency of the mission school, I sent my children to it this morning. The Rev. Mr. Ferry, Rev. Mr. Barber, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. D. Stuart, and Mr. Chapman dine with me. In the evening, Capt. and Mrs. Barnum, and Lieut. Kingsbury make a visit.

2d. The harbor is now entirely clear of ice, with a west wind. Wrote to Rev. D. Greene, Missionary Rooms, Boston, giving my opinion respecting the establishment of a mission among the Odjibwas at Fond du Lac, Lake Superior.

3d. Pleasant, mild, clear. Winter has now clearly relaxed his hold. Indians who came in to-day from L'Arbre Croche, report that the ice is, however, still firm at Point Wa-gosh-ains (Little Fox Point), on the straits above. This point forms the bight of the straits, some twenty miles off, at their entrance into Lake Michigan. Attended the funeral of William Dolly, a Metif boy, of Indian extraction.

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

5th. The mission schooner "Supply" leaves the harbor on her first trip to Detroit, with a fine west wind, carrying our recent guests from St. Mary's. Transplant flowering shrubs. Miss McFarland passes the day with Mrs. Schoolcraft at the agency.

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

8th. Superintending the construction of a small ornamental mound and side wall to the piazza, for shrubbery and flowers. Books are now thrown by for the excitement of horticulture. Some Indians visit the office. It is remarkable what straits and suffering these people undergo every winter for a bare existence. They struggle against cold and hunger, and are very grateful for the least relief. Kitte-mau-giz-ze Sho-wain-e-min, is their common expression to an agent—I am poor, show me pity, (or rather) charity me; for they use their substantives for verbs.

9th. The schooner "White Pigeon," (the name of an Indian chief,) enters the harbor, with a mail from Detroit. "A mail! a mail!" is the cry. Old Saganosh and five Indian families come in. The Indians start up from their wintering places, as if from a cemetery. They seem almost as lean and hungry as their dogs—for an Indian always has dogs—and, if they fare poor, the dogs fare poorer.

Resumed my preparations at the garden hot-beds.

The mail brought me letters from Washington, speaking of political excitements. The project for an Indian academy is bluffed off, by saying it should come through the Delegate. Major Whiting writes that he is authorized to have a road surveyed from Saginaw to Mackinack.

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

11th. Transplanting cherry trees.

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

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

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

Walking with the Rev. Wm. M. Ferry through the second street of the village (M.), leading south, as we came near the corner, turning to Ottawa Point, he pointed out to me, on the right hand, half of a large door, painted red, arched and filled with nails, which tradition asserts was the half of the door of the Roman Catholic church at old Mackinack. The fixtures of the church, as of other buildings, were removed and set up on this spot. I afterwards saw the other half of the door standing against an adjoining house.

16th. Wind westerly. Begin to enlarge piazza to the agency. A party of Beaver Island Indians come in, and report the water of the Straits as clear of ice, and the navigation for some days open.

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

17th. The schooners "Lawrence," "White Pigeon," and "President," left the harbor this morning, on their way to various ports on Lake Michigan, and we are once more united to the commercial world, on the great chain of lakes above and below us. The "Lawrence," it will be remembered, entered the harbor on the 14th of March, and has waited thirty-two days for the Straits to open.

18th. Wind N.E., chilly. It began to rain after twelve o'clock A.M., which was much wanted by the gardens, as we have had no rain for nearly a month. All this while the sun has poured down its rays on our narrow pebbly plain under the cliffs, and made it quite dry.

I was present this morning at the Mission, at the examination of the Metif boy Thomas Shepard, and was surprised at the recklessness and turpidity of his moral course, as disclosed by himself, and, at the announcement of the names of his abettors.

The fate of this boy was singular. He set out alone to return to Sault Ste. Marie, where his relations lived, across the wilderness. After striking the main land, his companions returned. All that was ever heard of him afterwards, was the report of Indians whom I sent to follow his trail, as the season opened, who found a spot where he had attempted, unsuccessfully, to strike a fire and encamp. From obscure Indian reports from the channels called Chenos, the Indians there had been alarmed by news of the inroads of Na-do-was (Iroquois), and seeing some one on the shore, in a questionable plight, they fired and killed him. This is supposed to have been Thomas Shepard.

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

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

21st. The schooner "Nancy Dousman" arrived in the morning from below. A change of weather supervened. Wind N.E., with snow. The ground is covered with it to the depth of one or two inches. Water frozen, giving a sad check to vegetation.

22d. This morning develops a north-east storm, during which the "Nancy Dousman" is wrecked, but all the cargo saved: a proof that the harbor is no refuge from a north-easter. The wind abates in the evening.

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

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

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

26th. The weather recovers its warm tone, giving a calm sky and clear sunshine. The snow of the 21st rapidly disappears, and by noon is quite gone, and the weather is quite pleasant. The vessels in the harbor continue their voyages.

27th. S. A boat reaches us from the Sault, showing the Straits and River St. Mary to be open. It brought the Rev. Mr. Clark, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who occupies Mr. F.'s position, before the soldiery, in the evening.

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

Levake, a trader for the Indian country, went off about two o'clock P.M. On granting him his license, I directed him to take no ardent spirits. He therefore ordered a barrel of whisky to be taken back to the American Fur Company's store, where he had purchased it. Mr. Abbot, the agent, sent it back to him. Mr. Levake finally remanded it. Mr. Abbot said, "Why! Mr. Schoolcraft has no authority to prevent your taking it!" The moment, in fact, the boats leave the island they enter the Indian country, where the act provides that this article shall not be taken on any pretence. This was an open triumph of the Agent of the United States against the Fur Company. I wrote to the Rev. Mr. Boutwell, at Leech Lake, by this opportunity.

29th. The atmosphere has regained its equilibrium fully. It is mild throughout the day. Indians begin to come in freely from the adjacent shores. Sow radishes and other early seeds.

30th. The schooner "Napoleon," and the "Eliza," from Lake Ontario, come in. The Indian world, also, seems to have awaked from its winter's repose. Pabaumitabi visits the office with a large retinue of Ottawas. Shabowawa with his band appear from the Chenoes. Vessels and canoes now again cross, each other's track in the harbor.



CHAPTER L.

Visit to Isle Rond—Site of an ancient Indian village—Ossuarie—Indian prophet—Traditions of Chusco and Yon respecting the ancient village and bone deposit—Indian speech—Tradition of Mrs. La Fromboise respecting Chicago—Etymology of the name—Origin of the Bonga family among the Chippewas—Traditions of Viancour—Of Nolan—Of the chief Aishquagonaibe, and of Sagitondowa—Evidences of antique cultivation on the Island of Mackinack—View of affairs at Washington—The Senate an area of intellectual excitement—A road directed to be cut through the wilderness from Saginaw—Traditions of Ossaganac and of Little Bear Skin respecting the Lake Tribes.

1834. May 1st. At last "the winter is gone and past," and the voice of the robin, if not of the "turtle," begins to be heard in the land. The whole day is mild, clear, and pleasant, notwithstanding a moderate wind from the east. The schooner "Huron" comes in without a mail—a sad disappointment, as we have been a long time without one.

I strolled up over the cliffs with my children, after their return from school at noon, to gather wild flowers, it being May-day. We came in with the spring beauty, called miscodeed by the Indians, the adder's tongue, and some wild violets.

The day being fine and the lake calm, I visited the Isle Rond—the locality of an old and long abandoned village. On landing on the south side, discovered the site of an ancient Indian town—an open area of several acres, with graves and boulder grave stones. Deep paths had been worn to the water. The graves had inclosures, more or less decayed, of cedar and birch bark, and the whole had the appearance of having been last occupied about seventy years ago. Yet the graves were, as usual, east and west. I discovered near this site remains of more ancient occupancy, in a deposit of human bones laid in a trench north and south. This had all the appearance of one of the antique ossuaries, constructed by an elder race, who collected the bones of their dead periodically. The Indians call this island Min-nis-ais, Little Island. Speaking of it, the local termination ing is added.

During the day the old Indian prophet Chusco came in, having passed the winter at Chingossamo's village on the Cheboigan River, accompanied by an Indian of that village, who calls himself Yon, which is probably a corruption of John, for he says that his father was an Englishman, and his mother a Chippewa of St. Mary's.

Chusco and Yon concur in stating that the old town on Round Island was Chi Naigow's, where he and Aishquonaibee's [68] father ruled. It was a large village, occupied still while the British held old Mackinack, and not finally abandoned until after the occupancy of the island-post. It consisted of Chippewas. Chi Naigow afterwards went to a bay of Boisblanc, where the public wharf now is, where he cultivated land and died.[69]

[Footnote 68: A Chief of Grand Traverse.]

[Footnote 69: His daughter, who was most likely to know, says he died at Manista. See prior part of Journal.]

These Indians also state, that at the existence of the town on Round Island, a large Indian village was seated around the present harbor of Mackinack, and the Indians cultivated gardens there. Yon says, that at that time there was a stratum of black earth over the gravel, and that it was not bare gravel as it is now.[70] (He is speaking of the shores of the harbor.)

[Footnote 70: At Mackinack, they, in some places, raise potatoes in clean gravel.]

Yon says that a man, called Sagitondowa, is now living at Chingassamo's village, who once lived in Chi Naigow's village at Minnissais—and that he is about his age. Yon was about seventy. He further says that the traverse to Old Mackinack was made directly from the old town, on Round Island, and that it was from thence they-went over to get rum.

Chusco made the following speech: "Nosa, when I first spoke to you it was at the camp of the Strong Wind (Gen. Wayne). You then told me that I should not be troubled with the smoke, (meaning intrusion from settlement.) It was said to me that a place should be provided by our Great Father for us. My home was then at Waganukizzi, the place of the crotched tree (L'Arbre Croche).

"About twenty men had the courage to go, and united in the treaty. Chemokoman was one of them. The old chief Niskauzhininna did not go. He was afraid of the Americans. I carried my ancient implements, which you know I have forever laid aside. (He was the Seer.)

"The English did not come up to their promises. The land was lost. The posts were lost. They were all given up, and we only were the sufferers. Hard is our fate.

"Strong Wind said to the chiefs that there should be a place for the old and disabled, where they should have food. We were absent at this treaty all summer. We came back late in the fall."

"Forty winters have past. I am poor and old, and cannot go about any more. Look at me. I want a house and a shelter. Tell me, shall I have it?" [71]

[Footnote 71: In the treaty of 28th March, 1836, a dormitory was provided for the Indians visiting the post of Mackinack. Chusco was granted an annuity in coin.]

2d. Having, on the 19th of April, called the attention of Mrs. La Fromboise, an aged Metif lady, to the former state of things here, she says that the post of Chicago was first established under English rule, by a negro man named Pointe aux Sables, who was a respectable man.

The etymology of Chicago appears to be this:—

Chi-cag, Animal of the Leek or Wild Onion. Chi-cag-o-wunz, The Wild Leek or Pole-cat Plant. Chi-ca-go, Place of the Wild Leek.

She also says that Captain Robinson, while commanding at Mackinack, discharged a negro servant named Bonga, who afterwards, with his wife, purchased the house and lot in which Mr. Wendell now lives (the old red house next Dousman's, south), where he kept a tavern, and maintained a respectable character. He afterwards sold out and went to Detroit, and lived with Mr. Meldrum.

She adds: "The son of this Bonga was the late Bonga, who died as a comme, at Lake Winnepec, of the Fond du Lac Department. The present Stephen Bonga of Folleavoine, a trustworthy trader, is the grandson of this Bonga—Robinson's freed slave. His connections are Chippewas, and all speak the Chippewa language fluently."

Having seen and known this Bonga, the grandson, I was led to remark that climate and intermarriage have had little or no appreciable effect on the color of the skin.

The traditions of Mr. Viancourt, one of the oldest French residents of Point St. Ignace, who visited the office (24th April), relate that he was born the year Montreal was taken, 1759. That Mackinack (the island) was first occupied four years after.

He further says that Gov. Sinclair built a small fort on Black River, and that he gave his name to that part of the straits which have since been called St. Clair.[72] Says he has been on the island forty-seven years, consequently came in 1788.

[Footnote 72: Consult Charlevoix's Journal. Is not so, go far as the origin of the name is concerned.]

The late Mr. J.B. Nolin, of Sault St. Marie, remarked to John Johnson, Esq., that Governor Sinclair came up with troops the year after the massacre at old Mackinack; and that he landed with a broad belt of wampum in his hands.

Aishkwagon-ai-bee, or the feather of honor, first chief of the Chippewas of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, says that the Nadowas (Iroquois) formerly lived at Point St. Ignace—that they fell out with the Chippewas and Ottawas on a certain day, at a ball-playing, when a Chippewa was killed. Hereupon, the Chippewas and Ottawas united their strength and drove them away, destroying their village.

The Chippewas and Ottawas then divided the land by natural boundaries. Grand Traverse Bay fell to the Chippewas.

Another Indian tradition respecting the old village on Isle Rond, was gleaned:—

Sagitondowa visits the office: he says he lacks one year of fifty. His earliest recollections are of the old village on Round Island. It was then (say 1783, the close of the American Revolutionary War) a large village, and nearly half the island in cultivation. It was not finally abandoned until lately.

Having his attention called to the deposit of old bones exposed by the action of the lake, he finally said he knew not how they came there; that they must be of ancient date, and were probably of the same era with the bones in the caves of the island of Mackinack. He said when he was young there was no village on that part of the bay of Mackinack situated between the old Government house, and the present Catholic church. This was formerly a cedar swamp. There was a village near Porkman's (Mr. Edward Biddle's), and another near the Presbyterian Church.

3d. Seed the borders around the garden lots with clover and timothy, united with oats. Continue to plant in hot-beds, and in the ornamental mound. The "Huron" departs up the lake, the "Austerlitz" returns.

Drove out in my carriage with Mrs. Schoolcraft and children, round the island. I found no traces of snow or ice.

5th. A gale from the east, which began to show itself yesterday.

The schooner "Lady of the Lake" comes in, without a mail. During the afternoon, the wind also brings in the "Marengo," with a mail, and in the night, the "Supply."

6th. Wind from the S.W. and W. Rain, chilly, cloudy.

7th. A complete counterpart of the weather of yesterday.

8th. The same weather in every respect, with light snow flurries. The last four or five days have been most disheartening weather for this season, and retarded gardening. The leaves of the pie plant have been partially nipped by the frost.

9th. Clear and pleasant—wind west. Drove out with Mrs. Schoolcraft and children to see the arched rock, the sugar-loaf rock, Henry's cave, and other prominent curiosities of the island. There are extensive old fields on the eastern part of the island, to which the French apply the term of Grands Jardins. No resident pretends to know their origin. Whether due to the labors of the Hurons or the Wyandots, who are known to have been driven by the Iroquois to this island from the St. Lawrence valley, early in the 17th century; or to a still earlier period, when the ancient bones were deposited in the caves, is not known. It is certain that the extent of the fields evince an agricultural industry which is not characteristic of the present Algonquin race. The stones have been carefully gathered into heaps, as in the little valley near the arched rock, to facilitate cultivation. These heaps of stones, in various places might be mistaken for Celtic cairns.

10th. The schooner "Mariner," our old friend, comes into port with forty emigrants for Chicago. During the evening the "Commerce" and "America" join her.

11th. S. Cold north-west wind, gloomy and cloudy.

12th. A report is received that the President has communicated a protest to the Senate on the expression of their views respecting the removal of the deposits.

I told a party of Ottawas, who applied for food, that their Great Father was not pleased that his bounties should be misused by their employing them merely to further their journeys to foreign agencies, where the counsels they got were such as he could not approve. That hereafter such bounties must not be expected; that the poor and suffering would always find the agency doors open, but I should be compelled to close them to such as turned a deaf ear to his advice, if their practices in visiting these foreign assemblies were persisted in.

13th. A slight snow covers the ground in the morning, it melts soon, but the day is ungenial, with S.W. wind, and cloudy atmosphere.

14th. A powder of snow covers the ground in the north, the wind in the N.W. It varies from N.W. to S.W., and by ten o'clock, A.M., it is pleasant and clear. Plant garden corn, an early species cultivated by the Ottawas.

15th. Cold and clear most of the day.

16th. Young Robert Gravereat first came to the office in the capacity of interpreter. It is a calm and mild day; the sun shines out. The thermometer stands at 50 deg. at 8 o'clock, A.M., and the weather appears to be settled for the season. Miss Louisa Johnston comes to pass the summer.

15th. Ploughed potato land, the backward state of the season having rendered it useless earlier. Even now the soil is cold, and requires to lay some time after being ploughed up.

The steamer "Oliver Newberry" arrives in the afternoon, bringing Detroit dates of May 5th, and Washington dates a week later.

The new brig "John Kinzie" enters the harbor on the 19th, bringing up Gov. D.R. Porter, of Pennsylvania, and suit, with forty passengers.

20th. I may now advert to what the busy world has been about, while we have been watching fields of floating ice, and battling it with the elements through an entire season. A letter from E.A. Brush, Esq., Washington, March 13th, says: "Nothing is talked about here, as I may well presume you know from the papers, but the deposits and their removal, and their restoration; and that frightful mother of all mischief, the money maker (U.S. Bank). Every morning (the morning begins here at twelve, meridian) the Senate chamber is thronged with ladies and feathers, and their obsequious satellites, to hear the sparring. Every morning a speech is made upon presentation of some petition representing that the country is overwhelmed with ruin and disasters, and that the fact is notorious and palpable; or, that the country is highly prosperous and flourishing, and that everybody knows it. One, that its only safety lies in the continuance of the Bank; and the other, that our liberties will be prostrated if it is re-chartered. Of course, the well in which poor truth has taken refuge, in this exigency, is very deep.

"But the Senate is, at this moment, an extraordinary constellation of talent. There is Mr. Webster, and Mr. Clay, and Mr. Calhoun, and a no-way inferior, Mr. Preston, the famous debater in the South Carolina troubles, and Mr. Benj. Watkins Leigh, the equally celebrated ambassador near the government of South Carolina. All are ranged on one side, and it is a phalanx as formidable, in point of moral force, as the twenty-four can produce. Mr. Forsyth is the atlas upon whose shoulders are made to rest all the sins of the administration. Every shaft flies at him, or rather is intended for others through him; and his Ajax shield of seven bull hides is more than once pierced, in the course of the frequent encounters to which he is invited, and from which they will not permit him to secede. But it is all talk. They will do nothing. A constitutional majority in the Senate (two-thirds) is very doubtful, and a bare one in the House, still more problematical. Of course, you are aware that the executive has expressed its unyielding determination not to sign a bill for the re-charter, or to permit a restoration of the deposits.

"Houses are cracking in the cities, as if in the midst of an earthquake, and there is hardly a man engaged in mercantile operations (I might say not one) who will not feel the 'pressure.'"

Major W. Whiting writes from Detroit, March 28th: "I spoke of the project of a road to Mackinack, which you wished me to bear in mind. The Secretary approved the project, and the Quarter-Master General said it might be done without a special appropriation. I was authorized to have the survey made as soon as the season will permit, and an officer has reported to me for that purpose. He will start from Saginaw some time in the next month, to make a reconnoisance of the country, and will appear at the head of the peninsula when perhaps you little expect such a visitor.

"As soon as the survey shall be completed, the cutting out will be put under contract. When this road shall be completed, you will feel more neighborly to us. The express will be able to perform the journey in half the time, and, of course, the trips can be multiplied."

June 4th. Reuben Smith, a Mission scholar of the Algonquin lineage, determines to leave his temporary employment at the agency, and complete his education at the eastward.

5th. Ossiganac, an Ottawa, who was formerly interpreter at the British post at Drummond Island, says that Ottawa tradition points back to the Manitouline Islands, as the place of their origin. They call those islands Ottawa Islands, and Lake Huron Ottawa Lake. They call Lake Superior Chippewa Lake. All the Ottawas, he says, of L'Arbre Croche, Grand River, &c., came from the Ottawa or Manitouline Islands. The French first found them there.[73]

[Footnote 73: This is pretty well for Indian tradition, but is not so, in truth, as Charlevoix's Hist. of New France denotes.]

They migrated down Lake Michigan, and lived with the Potawattomies. After awhile, the Potawattomies growing uneasy of their presence, accused them of using bad medicine, which was the cause of their people dying. The Ottawas replied, that if they were jealous of them, they would retire, and they accordingly withdrew up the peninsula. While in the course of withdrawing, one of their number was killed by the Potawattomies.

6th. Ossiganac, at an interview at my house this afternoon, says that the Ottawas of Maumee, Ohio, sent a message to the Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche, in Governor Hull's time—consequently between 1805 and 1812—saying: "We were originally of one fire, and we wish to come back again to you, that we may all derive heat again from the same fire."

The Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche replied: "True, but you took a coal to warm yourselves by. Now, it will be better that you remain by your own coal, which you saw fit long ago to take from our fire. Remain where you are." From that day the Ottawas of Maumee have said nothing more about joining us.

Now (1834) the Potawattomies come with a request to join our fire. Shall we receive them, when we refused our brethren, who are more nearly related to us? I think not.

7th. The Little Bear Skin, Muk-ons-e-wy-an-ais, of Manistee, inquires respecting the truth of a rumor, that the Potawattomies, since selling their lands at Chicago, are coming to the North, amongst the Ottawas and Chippewas. He deprecates such a movement. Says the habits of the Potawattomies are so different that they would not be satisfied were they to come. Their horses are their canoes. They know nothing of traveling by water; beyond shore navigation. They are sea-sick on the lakes.

Little Bear Skin says he lives on the first forks of the Manistee. Although a Chippewa, he is in the habit of cultivating gardens. He is originally, by his parents, from the North—is related to the St. Mary's and Taquimenon Indians. He himself was born on the Manistee. He is a temperance man.

Cherry trees in full bloom. The steamer "Uncle Sam" enters the harbor, being the first of a line established to Chicago.

9th. Apple and plum trees pretty full in flower.

10th. Mrs. Robert Stuart makes a handsome present of conchological species from foreign localities to be added to my cabinet.

15th. Major Whistler interdicts preaching in the fort. Mr. B. Stuart, having returned recently from the East, resumes the superintendence of the Sabbath School at the Mission, from which I had relieved him in the autumn.

I have written these sketches for my own satisfaction and the refreshment of my memory, in the leading scenes and events of my first winter on the island, giving prominence to the state and changes of the weather, the occurrences among the natives, and the moral, social, and domestic events around me. But the curtain of the world's great drama is now fully raised, by our free commercial and postal union with the region below us; new scenes and topics daily occur, which it would be impossible to note if I tried, and which would be useless if possible. Hereafter my notices must be of isolated things, and may be "few and far between."



CHAPTER LI.

Trip to Detroit—American Fur Company; its history and organization—American Lyceum; its objects—Desire to write books on Indian subjects by persons not having the information to render them valuable—Reappearance of cholera—Mission of Mackinack; its history and condition—Visit of a Russian officer of the Imperial Guards—Chicago; its prime position for a great entrepot—Area and destiny of the Mississippi Valley.

1834. About the first of July, I embarked for Detroit, for the purpose chiefly of meeting the Secretary of War, during his summer refuge from the busy scenes at Washington. There were some questions to be decided important to my duties at Mackinack and St. Mary's, arising from recent changes in the laws or regulations. He wrote to me on the 21st of July, from the White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, that he should probably reach Detroit before the 10th or 12th of August; but his delay had been protracted so much, that after reaching the city I felt compelled to return to my agency without seeing him.

One reason for this step, which operated upon my mind, was the change in the partnership and management of the affairs of the American Fur Company, consequent on Mr. John Jacob Astor's withdrawal from it. This company was founded by this noted and successful merchant's having purchased, at the close of the war, about 1815, the trading posts, consisting of buildings, property, &c., of the British North-West Company, who had been so long the commercial, and to all practical intents, the political lords of the regions of the north-west. He organized the concern in shares, under an act of incorporation of the Legislature of New York, and began operations by establishing his central point of interior action at Michilimackinack. This was in 1816. From data submitted at a treaty at Prairie du Chien by Mr. R. Stuart, the whole capital invested in the business, was not less than 300,000 dollars. The interior sub-posts were spread over the entire area of the frontiers up to the parallel of 59 deg. north latitude, extending to the Missouri. Together with the posts, indeed, the North-West Company turned over, in effect, some of its agents and the principal part of its clerks, interpreters, and boatmen for this area, who were, I believe, without a single exception, foreigners, chiefly Canadian French, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and perhaps a few Englishmen.

Congress passed an act the same year (1816) providing that this trade should be carried on under licenses, by American citizens, who were permitted, however, to employ this class of foreigners, by entering into bonds for their proper conduct. This created a class of duties for the agents, on the line of the Canada frontiers, which was at all times onerous. To carry on the trade at all, the old and experienced "servants of the N.W.," as they were called, were necessary, and it was sometimes essential to take out the license in the names of American boys, or persons by no means competent, by their experience in this trade, to conduct the business, which was, in fact, still in the hands of the old employees.

It was a false theory, from the start, that ardent spirits was one of the articles necessary to trade. Congress entertained an opinion of its injuriousness to the character of the Indians, and passed laws excluding it. This constituted another class of duties of the agents who were entrusted with their execution, and required them to "search packages," and to judge of the probabilities of all persons applying for licenses keeping the laws.

To expect that this mixed body of foreigners would exert any very favorable political influence on the mass of Indian minds in the north-west, was indulging a hope not very likely to be fulfilled. They were employed to glean the Indian lodges of furs, and expected to make good returns to their employers at Michilimackinack; and, if they kept the ground of neutrality with respect to governments, it was considered as exempting them from censure.

The great body of the Indians in the upper lakes, and throughout the north-west, extending to the sources of the Mississippi, were averse to the American rule. Many of them had been embodied to fight against the Americans, who were successively met by ambuscade, surprise, or otherwise, as at Chicago, at Michilimackinack, Brownstown, River Raisin, Maumee, Fort Harrison, and other places. They had been assembled in large bodies, by the delusive prophesyings of Elksatawa, and by the not less delusive promises of the agents of the British Indian Department, on the lines, that the Americans were to be driven back to the line of the Illinois, if not of the Ohio—an old and very popular idea with the lake Indians from early days.

The lake Indians had suffered severely from the war, chiefly from the camp fevers and irregularities. They had finally been defeated—their great war captain killed, their false prophet driven from the Wabash into Canada; and, to crown the whole, were themselves abandoned, one and all, by their allies, at the treaty of Ghent. Many never returned to the homes of their fathers—entire villages were depopulated, and their sites overgrown in a few years with shrubbery. Those who came back from the active campaign of 1814, were sullen and desponding. As an evidence of what they had suffered, and how completely they had been abandoned by their allies, the transactions of the first treaty at Springwells, at the close of the war, may be referred to. The tribes were literally starving and in rags.

The agents of the Executive and Governors, who were appointed to conduct their intercourse after the war, were, in reality, called to execute a high class of diplomatic functions, second only in general importance to those required at the prime courts of Europe. The several classes of duties which have been described denote, to some extent, in what this importance consisted. Eighteen years had now elapsed since this important commercial company had furnished traders to the discomfited tribes. During twelve years of this period I had had charge of the intercourse with by far the largest and most unfriendly and warlike of the tribes; and, when I saw that Mr. Astor had disconnected himself from the concern which he had organized; and that, to some extent, new agents and actors were called to the field, I felt anxious to be at my post, to supervise, personally, the intercourse act, and to see that no improper persons should enter the country.

15th. Dr. L.D. Gale, of New York, writes me that the American Lyceum has resolved to enlarge the scope of its objects. "We have, therefore," he remarks, "as we now stand, 1. The department of education. 2. The department of physical science. 3. Moral and political science. 4. Literature and the arts. The influence of the society has been very much enlarged since its last meeting, and it now enrolls amongst its active members many, indeed I may say a large share of the most valuable men of science of the United States. The chief object of the physical science department is to obtain, as far as possible, a report of the recent history and progress, and, in some cases, the future prospects of the different departments. So that we may be enabled to form a volume of transactions that shall embrace all that is new or recent in the departments, posted up to the present time.

"The subject of the antiquities of the western countries of the United States, and especially the remains of towns and fortifications, which appear to have been built by a civilized population, has been frequently agitated this side of the Alleghanies, and it was thought by the executive committee that justice would be done to the subject in your hands. They have, accordingly, requested that you would consent to give them a paper on the subject. They presumed that you were in possession of much interesting and valuable matter that has never yet come to the eyes of the world."

26th. I have been often written to, by persons at a distance wishing for information on the Indian tribes, or their languages, or antiquities, and uniformly responded favorably to such applications, sending a little where it was not practicable to do more. It has ever appeared to me, that the giving of information was just one of those points which rendered me not a whit more ignorant myself, and might add something to the knowledge, as it certainly would to the gratifications of others. The only good objection is, that time and attention is required for every such effort. But cannot this be easily redeemed from waste hours, when the object is to add to the moral gratifications of others?

A letter was addressed to me, this day, from a Mr. H. Newcomb, Alleghany, near Pittsburg, which certainly seems a little onerous in the tax it imposes on my time; as the writer announces his intention of publishing two or three volumes, on the subject of the Indians, and presents a formidable array of subjects respecting which he is to treat. In only one respect it strikes me as singular, namely, that any writer west of the Alleghanies should set down to write a work on such a subject, without personal observation. In older areas, where the Indian has disappeared, books must alone be relied on; but in the West, there should be something fresh, something distinctive and personal, to give vitality to such a work. The writer observes, "I have not yet been able to obtain materials for the first two volumes satisfactory to myself."

August 1st. Mr. Theodore Dwight, Jr., writes: "Cannot a syllabic, or semi-syllabic alphabet, be applied to our Indian tongues?"

Rev. Leonard Woods, Jr., of New York, Editor of the New York Theological Review, desires a paper on the subject of the American Indians. "I have found," he says, "that while the subject is one of very general interest, there are few who possess the requisite information to do it justice."

15th. The cholera, which first appeared in this country in 1833, made its second appearance in Detroit, in the month of July. It was not, however, of the same virulence as the first attack. "From present appearances," writes a friend at that place, "the cholera is vanishing." Having matters of eminent concern there, I determined to make a brief visit to the place. My health was very good, and had never, indeed, been subject to violent fluctuations of the digestive functions, and, after attaining the object, I returned to Mackinack. I again visited Detroit for a short time, during the latter part of August, and resumed my position at Mackinack in September. Indian affairs, in the upper lakes, were now hastening to a crisis, which in a year or two, developed themselves in extensive sales of territory by the Indians, who, as game failed, saw themselves in straits. These events will be mentioned as they take definite shapes of action.

Sept. 2d. Mr. David Green, Secretary of the Board of Commissioners for American Missions, Missionary Rooms, Boston, depicts a crisis in the mission at Mackinack. "Your favor by Mr. Ferry," he remarks, "has come to hand. As you anticipated, he has requested our Missionary Board to relieve him from the missionary service, and they, though with much reluctance, have granted his request. He seems fully convinced that he is not likely to be hereafter useful, to any great extent, in connection with the Mackinack mission; and that the claims of his family call him to a different situation. This movement on his part, though he has before suggested that such a step might be expedient, was quite unexpected by us at this time; and I fear that we shall not find it easy to obtain a suitable man to fill his place. No such person is now at our disposal. I have written to the Rev. Dr. Peters, of New York, Secretary of the American Home Missionary Society, stating the circumstances of the place, inquiring if it would not properly fall within that portion of the Lord's Vineyard, and whether they could not furnish a suitable man to cultivate it.

"That Society, as well as ours, is, I believe, pressed for missionaries on every hand. The prayers of all the Lord's people should be, in these exigencies, 'Send forth laborers into thy harvest.' Men of devoted piety and zeal, and of high intellectual character, and judgment, and enterprise, are needed in great numbers both in our own land and abroad. The want of such men is now the most serious impediment which our societies have to contend with.

"You may be assured, sir, that we shall do all in our power, consistent with the claims of our other missions, to send some person to Mackinack; but we cannot promise to succeed immediately. Mr. Ferry, we hope, will remain the next spring.

"Some embarrassment is felt by our Board, from the fact that foreign fields, offering access to densely populated districts, where millions speaking the same language, can be easily approached—are more attractive to the candidates for the missionary work than the small, scattered, and migratory bands of our Indians.

"I fear that a preference of this nature will cause our friends—the Indians—to be neglected, if not forgotten. As Providence seems, in so many ways, to be against the Indians, I often fear that no considerable portion of them are ever to enjoy the blessings of civilization and Christianity. But we must leave them in the hands of God, after using faithfully the means which he places at our disposal."

"We are glad to hear that you still approve of the course pursued by our missionaries in the north-west, and that the advancement of the cause of Christ, in that quarter, is still a subject of care with you, and truth, and divine grace, will enable you rightly to bear the responsibility in this respect, which rests on you."

I have put in italics, in the above letter, a high moral truth, which accords with all my observation and experience on the frontiers; and upon the due appreciation and carrying out of which, the success of the missionary cause over the world, in my judgment, depends. It is a sentence that should be inscribed in letters of gold in every missionary room in America. It is certainly a mistake to send feeble men on the frontier, who are not deemed to have sufficient energy, talents, and sound discretion to enter foreign fields. Our frontiers are full of cavillers, and shrewd and bold gainsayers of Christianity, men of personal energy and will, who generally stand aloof from such efforts, and who, when they come into contact with missionary laborers, judge them by common rules of judgment—who are, indeed, not the best fitted to estimate "devoted piety and zeal," but who are, nevertheless, disposed to respect it, in proportion as it is joined with "high intellectual character, and judgment, and enterprise." In the frequent want of this—we do not include Mackinack in this category—is to be sought the true cause of our failures with the Indians, to whom the strange and intense story of the Gospel appears at first in something as wild and marvelous as some of their own relations; and who are, at any rate, firmly fixed in their heathenish rites and devotions to a subtil system of deism, and the invocation of gods of the elements and demons.

With respect to the mission of Mackinack, its influence, on the whole, has been eminently good, and not evil. Mr. Ferry possessed business talents of a high order, with that strict reference to moral responsibilities and accountabilities, which compose the golden fibres of the Gospel net. He sought to bring all, white and red men, into this net; and its influences were extensively spread from that central point into the Indian country. He gathered, from the remotest quarters, the half-breed children of the traders and clerks, into a large and well organized boarding school, where they were instructed in the points essential to their becoming useful and respectable men and women. They were then sent abroad as teachers and interpreters, and traders' clerks, over a wide space of wilderness, where they disseminated Gospel principles. Many of their parents also embraced Christianity. Many of the girls turned out to be ladies of finished education and manners, and married officers of the army or citizens. There were some pure Indian converts of both sexes, among whom was the chief prophet of the Ottawas—the aged Chusco. In 1829, after seven years' labor, he witnessed a revival among the citizens of that town, which appeared to be his crowning labor, and it had the effect to renovate the place, and for many years to drive vice and disorder, if not entirely away, into holes and corners, where they avoided the light. He came to this island first, to begin his mission, I believe, in 1822. The effort to set up a mission there seemed as wild and hopeless, to common judgments, as it would be to dig down the pyramids of the Nile with a pin. I defended its course of proceedings from an unjust attack in the legislative council of the territory, in 1830, having had extensive opportunities to scan its principles and workings—which were only offensive to worldly men, because, in upholding the Gospel banner, a shrewd knowledge of business transactions was at the same time evinced. To be a fool in worldly things is sometimes supposed, by the wits of the world, to be an evidence of pious zeal.

6th. Being on my passage this day up the River St. Clair, in the steamboat "Gen. Gratiot," in company with several others, I asked Capt. Wm. Thorn several historical questions respecting the settlement of Michilimackinack. The following memoranda embrace his replies: He is a native of Newport, Rhode Island, although he was for many years engaged, before the transfer of posts in 1796, in sailing British vessels on the lakes, and therefore deemed, when he was taken prisoner during the late war, to have been a British subject.

He says he began his voyages to old Mackinack seven years before the removal of the post to the Island. This was, he says, in 1767. The post was then in command of a Capt. Glazier, afterwards of De Peyster (who subsequently commanded at Detroit), then of Patrick Sinclair (who had previously built a fort at the mouth of Pine River—St. Clair Co. seat), and then of Gov. Sinclair (so called). The Indians, at the massacre of the garrison of old Mackinack, did not burn the fort. It was re-occupied, and it was not till the breaking out of the revolutionary war that the removal from the main to the island took place. It must have been (if he is correct as to the period of seven years) in 1774, and the occupancy of the island is, therefore, coincident with the earliest period of the movement for Independence—fifty-nine years.[74]

[Footnote 74: See ante.]

Previous to that era, Mackinack was the spot where the men stopped to shave and dress preparatory to the traverse. About the time Capt. Thorn first began sailing to old Mackinack, the Indians plundered a boat at the island while the owner stopped to dress, in consequence of which the interpreter at the old post (Hanson, I think) went over to demand redress, and killed the depredator, an Indian.

My inquiries on this topic of old men, red and white, which were commenced last spring, may here drop. It is now rendered certain that the occupancy of old Mackinack—the Beekwutinong of the Indians—was kept up by British troops till 1774; between that date and 1780 the flag was transferred (the letters of the commanding officers to their generals would alone give this date). The principal traders, probably, went with it; the Indian intercourse likewise. Some residents lingered a few years, but the place was finally abandoned, and the town site is now covered with loose sand. The walls of the fort, which are of stone, remain, and the whole site constitutes an interesting ruin. The post was first founded by Marquette as a missionary station about 1668.

11th. Major Whiting, of Detroit, writes a letter of introduction in the following terms:—

"Captain Tchehachoff, of the Russian Imperial Guards, is traveling through our country with a view to see its extent and null—its geographical and scenic varieties. As he proposes to visit Michilimackinack, I wish him to become acquainted with you, who can give him so much information relative to those portions of it which he may not be able to visit. I have put into his hands some of your works, which may have anticipated something you will have to say.

"He is, probably, the first Russian who has been on our N.W. interior since the enterprising gentlemen who thought to speculate on the 'copper rock.' But Capt. Tchehachoff has no other views than those of an enlightened and disinterested observer. I am sure that it will give you pleasure to show him all kindly attentions."

Capt. Tchehachoff visited the island during the month, and accepted an invitation to spend a few days with me. He repaid me for this attention with much agreeable conversation and many anecdotes of Russia, Germany (where he was educated), and Poland. He possesses a character of extreme interest to me, as being a Circassian, or descendant of that people, who are the local representatives of the Circassian race. He was very fair in complexion, and possessed a fine, manly, tall, and well-proportioned figure, and a beautiful red and white countenance, with dark hair and eyes. He spoke English very well, but with a broad Scottish, or rather provincial accent, on some words, which he had evidently got from his early teacher—whom he told me was a female—such as ouwn, for own, &c.

He told me that, on Mr. Randolph's first presentation to the Russian Empress, he kneeled, although he had been notified that such a ceremony would not be expected of him. He told some very characteristic anecdotes of the wild pranks of the German students at the university. He was, I think, in some way related to descendants of Count Orloff, who was so remarkably strong and compact of muscle that he could push an iron spike, with his thumb, to its head in the sides or planking of a vessel.

Capt. Tchehachoff was certainly strong himself; he had a powerful strength of hands and arms. He used great politeness, and was very punctilious on entering the dining-room, &c. He interested himself in the apparently tidal phenomena of strong currents setting through the harbor and straits, which were in fine view from the piazza of my house, and made some notes upon them. He asked me why I had not concentrated and published my travels, and various works respecting the geology of the Western country, and the history and philology of the aboriginal tribes—subjects of such deep and general interest to the philosopher of Europe. One morning early in October (9th), he bade us an affectionate adieu, and embarked in a schooner for Chicago.

Oct. 10th. Chicago is now the centre of an intense and everyday growing commercial excitement, and however the value of every foot of ground and water of its site is over-estimated, and its prospects inflated, it is evidently the nucleus of a permanent city, destined to be one of the great lake capitals.

The Rev. Jer. Porter, our former pastor at St. Mary's, who was the first of his church order, I believe, to carry the Gospel there in 1833, writes me, under this date, detailing his labors and prospects. These are flattering, and go to prove that the religious element, if means be used, is everywhere destined to attend the tread of the commercial and political elements of power into the great area of the Valley of the Mississippi. Chicago is, in fact, the first and great city of the prairies, where the abundance of its products are destined to be embarked to find a northern market by the way of the lakes, without the risks of entering southern latitudes. This is an advantage which it will ever possess. Nature has opened the way for a heavy tonnage by the lake seas. Other modes of transportation may divert passengers and light goods, but the staples must ever go in ships, propelled by wind or steam, through the Straits of Mackinack.



CHAPTER LII.

Philology—Structure of the Indian languages—Letter from Mr. Duponceau—Question of the philosophy of the Chippewa syntax—Letter from a Russian officer on his travels in the West—Queries on the physical history of the North—Leslie Duncan, a maniac—Arwin on the force of dissipation—Missionary life on the sources of the Mississippi—Letter from Mr. Boutwell—Theological Review—The Territory of Michigan, tired of a long delay, determines to organize a State Government.

1834. Oct. 11th. Mr. Peter S. Duponceau, of Philadelphia, addresses me on the structure of the Indian languages, in terms which are very complimentary, coming, as they do, as a voluntary tribute from a person whom I never saw, and who has taken the lead in investigations on this abtruse topic in America. "I have read," he remarks, "with very great pleasure, your interesting narrative of the expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, and particularly your lectures on the Chippewa language, and the vocabulary which follows it. It is one of the most philosophical works on the Indian languages I have ever read; it gives a true view of their structure, without exaggeration or censure, and must satisfy the mind of every rational man. It is a matter of sincere regret that you have proceeded in your lectures no farther than the noun, and your vocabulary no farther than the letter B. It is much to be hoped that the work will be completed. I should hope that our government could have no objection to printing it at its expense, as a national work,[75] indispensably necessary for the instruction of our agents and interpreters, and even the military officers employed among the Indians."

[Footnote 75: This was begun thirteen years afterwards, when a general investigation into the subject of the Indians generally, was directed by Congress, and placed in my hands. Vide Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. Part I. Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851.]

"The Chippewa, like the Algonquin of old,[76] is the common language of business among the Indians, and is as necessary among them as the French is in the courts of Europe. The object of this letter, sir, is to be informed whether the remainder of the work is to be published. If government will not do it, some of our learned societies might. At any rate, sir, if my services can be of use to you for this object, I shall be happy to do everything in my power to aid it."

[Footnote 76: The languages are, in fact, identical in structure; the word Chippewa being a comparatively modern term, which was not used by the old French writers of the missionary era.]

This testimony, from the first and most learned philologist in America, gratified and agreeably surprised me. I had studied the Chippewa language alone in the forest, without the aid of learned men, or books to aid me. I addressed myself to it with ardor, it is true, and with the very best oral helps, precisely as I would to investigate any moral or physical truth. I found that nouns and verbs had a ground form, or root; that this root carried its general and primary meaning into all words or phrases of which it was a compound; and that every syllable or sound of a letter, put before or behind it, conveyed a new and distinct meaning. By keeping the purposes of a strict philological analysis before me, and by preserving a record of my work, the language soon revealed its principles. When I had attained a clear idea of these principles myself, and had verified them by reference to, and discussion with, the best native speakers, I could as clearly state them to another. This is what Mr. Duponceau means by the term "most philosophical." The philosophy of the syntax I did not in any respect overstate, but merely recognized or discovered.

In one respect it seemed to me a far more simple language than this eminent writer had represented the Indian languages generally. And this was in this very philosophy of its syntax. By synthesis I understand the opposite of analysis—the one resolving into its elements what the other compounds. If so, the synthesis of the Chippewa language is clearly, to my mind, homogeneous and of a piece—a perfect unity, in fact It seems to be, all along, the result of one kind of reasoning, or thinking, or philosophizing. If, therefore, by the term "polysynthetic," which Mr. Duponceau, in 1819, introduced for the class of Indian languages, it be meant that its grammar consists of many syntheses, or plans of thought, it did not appear to me that the Chippewa was polysynthetic. But this I could not state to a man of his learning and standing with the literary public, without incurring the imputation of rashness or assumption.

15th. P. de Tchehachoff, the Russian gentleman before named, writes to me in the idiom of a foreigner, from Peoria, on his progress through the western country. "I am anxious," he remarks, "to take advantage of the first opportunity of writing to you from this remote western world, where since seven days I did not meet with any other beings but wolves and money-getting Yankees. I must acknowledge that one must have a large lot of curiosity to visit these one-fourth civilized regions (that are by far worse than any real wilderness), for, although they are getting settled at an incredible speed, they don't offer to the mere lover of the beauties of nature, or improvement of human civilization, any great charm. Here nature is rich, but, farmerly or businessly speaking, killingly prosaic—no romance—no Lake Superior water—no scenery—nothing, finally, that could captivate a poetical glance.

"I am now writing these poor lines under a regular storm of smoke-clouds, and chewing tobacco expectorations. I never experienced so much the benefit of being brought up as a warlike soldier, to stand all that. However, my courage is sinking down, and, therefore, I shoot ahead to-morrow at day-break, as fast as possible, either by water or by land. The coaches here are rather comfortable, but extremely slow.

"As I intend to make but a very short stay in St. Louis and Ohio, I'll not be able to have the pleasure of writing to you again before reaching New York or Havana; but, if you continue always to be, for me, as kind as formerly, I hope you'll grant me the particular favor of writing to me once in a while. This will be an impudent theft, on my part, of time so usefully consecrated to scientific pursuits. Still I flatter myself you'll pardon it, consequently founded on that (perhaps gratuitous) supposition. I'll ask you to direct your letter to Charleston, South Carolina (until called for), towards the middle of the next month, and, if possible, answer me on the following queries: 1. What are the inducements to imagine that any volcanic action exists in the Porcupine Mountains, and mentioning, approximately, their distance from the Ontonagon River; and their probable influence on the diffusion of the copper ores and copper boulders on its shores? 2. What are the most accurate or probable limits (by degrees) of the primitive region of North America; and whether it forms any chain, or has any probable communication with all its different branches, or the main ridges of the Cordilleras or Andes? 3. Is there any remarkable evaporation, or any other hygrometric phenomenon, or influence of currents that sustains the level of Lakes Superior and Michigan, so diametrically opposite in their geographical situation? 4. What constitutes, mainly, the predominating geognostic features of Lake Superior, the Upper Mississippi, and the Missouri? I shall be extremely happy to see these problems solved."

17th. This day terminated, at St. Mary's, the melancholy fate of poor Leslie Duncan. Insanity is dreadful in all its phases. This man wrote to me early in the spring for some favor, which I granted. He was a dealer in merchandise, in a small way, at St. Mary's, where he was known as a reputable, modest, and temperate man, who had been honorably discharged, with some small means, from the army. He visited Detroit in May to renew his stock. Symptoms of aberration there showed themselves, which became very decided after his return. Utter madness supervened. It was necessary to confine him in a separate building, and to chain him to a post, where he passed five months as an appalling spectacle of a human being, without memory, affection, or judgment, and perpetually goaded by the most raving passion. It appeared that the piles—a disease under which he had suffered for many years—had been cured by exsection or scarifying, which healed the issue, but threw the blood upon his brain.

23d. A functionary of the general government at Washington writes me, to bespeak my favorable interest for the wayward son of a friend. Arwin, for I will call him by this name, was the son of a kind, intelligent, and indulgent father, dwelling in the District of Columbia, who had spared nothing to fit him for a useful and honorable life. The young man also possessed a handsome person, and agreeable and engaging manners and accomplishments. But his love for the coarser amusements of the world and its dissipations, absorbed faculties that were suited for higher objects. As a last, resort, he was commended to some adventurous gentleman engaged in the fur trade on the higher Missouri; where, it was hoped, the stern realities of life would arrest his mind, and fix it on nobler pursuits. But a winter or two in those latitudes appeared to have wrought little change. He came to Mackinack, on his way back to civilized life, late in the fall of 1834, exhausted in means, poor and shabby in his wardrobe, and evidently not a pilgrim from the "land of steady habits."

I invited him to my house, in the hope of winning him over to the side of morals, gave him a bed and plate, and treated him with courteous and respectful attention. He was placed under restraint by these attentions, but it was found to be restraint only. He was secretly engaged in dissipations, which finally became so low, that I was compelled to leave him to pursue his course, and thus to witness another example of the application of that striking remark of Dr. Johnson, "that negligence and irregularity, if long continued, will render knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible."

Nov. 29th. The rough scenes required by a missionary life on the sources of the Mississippi, are depicted in a letter from the Rev. W.S. Boutwell, who has just planted himself among the Pillagers at Leech Lake. This is the same gentleman who accompanied me to Itasca Lake in 1835. "Your favors," he says, "of April 28th and July 26th, are before me; and would that I could command time to compensate you for at least half! But look at a man whose head and hands are full of cares and duties. The only time I get to write is stolen, if I may so say, from the hours of repose. October the ninth I arrived here. There was not a sack of corn nor rice to be bought or sold. I had but two men, and with these a house must be built and a winter's stock of fish laid up. What must be done? I will briefly tell you what I did. Four days after my arrival I sent my fisherman to Pelican Island, and pulled off my coat and shouldered my axe, and led the other into the bush to make a house. In about ten days, with the help of one man, I had the timber cut and on the spot for a log-cottage twenty-two by twenty-four. Some part of this I not only cut, but assisted in carrying on my own back. But for every inch of over-exertion I got my pay at night, when I was sure to be 'double and twisted' with the rheumatism. I have located about two miles east of the old fort, where you counseled with the Indians at this place. As you cross the point of land upon which the old fort is built, you fall on a beautiful bay, a mile and a half broad, on the east side of which I have located, in the midst of a delightful grove of maples. South-west, three-fourths of a mile, is the present trading house.

"When I arrived I had not sufficient corn to feed my men three days. There was also at that time a great scarcity of fish. But the God of Elijah did not forsake us. We soon were in the midst of plenty. On the 11th of the present instant my fisherman returned, having been absent not quite four weeks, and with but four nets, yet I had nearly 6000 tulibees (this is a small species of whitefish) on my scaffold. My house, in the meantime, was going forward, though rather tardily, with but one man. In two days more I hope to quit my bark lodge for my log and mud-walled cottage, though it has neither chair nor three-legged stool, table nor bedstead. But all this does not frighten me. No, it is good for a man sometimes to stand in need, that he may the better know how to feel for his fellow-man.

"You mention the receipt of a letter from Mr. Greene, relative to the field at Fond du Lac. I am happy to hear so full an expression of your views in relation to that post. As the Board were unable to supply a teacher, Mr. Hall, on visiting them in September, with myself and Mr. Ely—we were all of the same opinion, that it must be occupied—and finally, with the advice of Mr. Aitkin, concluded that it was best for Mr. Ely to pass the winter there. Mr. Cote was also very desirous of a school being opened. Sandy Lake, of course, is without a teacher this winter. I was not a little disappointed, after the repeated assurances and encouragements of the Board to expect aid, and after the provision I had made for a fellow-laborer, to be directed to return and pass another winter as I did the past. Suffice it to say, I have learned more of Indian habits, customs, prejudices, &c., than I knew two years, or even one year before.

"To pass my time in the family of the trader, I could not avoid giving the impression that I was more interested in the trade than in their temporal and spiritual welfare. To live alone I could not, and live above their suspicion from the habits of single men who are engaged in the trade. To live in the family with my hired man, would be quite as bad. I, therefore, concluded that the time had now come when duty was too imperious not to receive a hearing. A sense of duty, duty to God, the cause of Christianity, myself and this people, therefore, led me to change my condition.

"I am giving you no news (I presume), only the reasons which satisfy myself, and that for an enlightened moral being is enough, at least it is all I need or wish to meet friend or foe.

"The Indians now are all at their wintering grounds, and on good terms with the Sioux, as I, this evening, learn from Mr. D., who has just returned from an excursion among them. They have appeared quite as friendly, and by far more civil, this fall than last."

Dec. 8th. Mr. Leonard Woods, and Dr. A.W. Ives, of New York, press me to write for the pages of the Theological Review, a periodical of great spirit and judgment in its department.

31st. The people of this territory have evinced, in various ways, great uneasiness in not being admitted, by a preparatory act of Congress, to the right of forming a state constitution, and admission into the Union, agreeably to the Ordinance of 1787. The population has, for some time, been more than sufficient to authorize one representative. In some respects, the term of territorial probation and privilege has been extraordinary, and bears a striking analogy to that of a plant, thrice plucked up by the roots, and watered, and nourished, and set out again. It has been twenty-nine years a territory, having been first organized, I believe, in 1805, For the first seven years it was under the government of Gen. Hull, by whom it was lost, and fell under foreign conquest. It then had about a year of military government under Gen. Brock, and, after being re-conquered in 1814, lived on, awhile, under the rule of our own commanding generals. Gen. Cass was, I think, appointed by Mr. Monroe, late in 1814, and governed it for the long period of eighteen years. Geo. B. Porter succeeded, and, since his death, there has been a confused interregnum of secretaries.

"Thrice plucked up" was it, by the total destruction of Detroit (which was in fact the territory) by fire in 1806, by the terrible Indian and British war in 1812, and by the Indian war of the Black Hawk of 1832. It has suffered in blood and toil more than any, or all the other north-western territories together. It has been the entering point for all hostilities from Canada; and, to symbolize its position, it has been the anvil on which all the grand weapons of our Indian scath have been hammered. Its old French and American families have been threshed by the flail of war, like grain on a floor. And it is no wonder that the people are tired of waiting for sovereignty, and think of taking the remedy into their own hands. On the 9th of September, the Legislative Council passed an act for taking the census. The result shows a population of 85,856, in the fourteen lower counties, and the first steps for a self-called convention are in progress.



CHAPTER LIIII.

Indications of a moral revolution in the place—Political movements at Detroit—Review of the state of society at Michilimackinack, arising from its being the great central power of the north-west fur trade—A letter from Dr. Greene—Prerequisites of the missionary function—Discouragements—The state of the Mackinack Mission—Problem of employing native teachers and evangelists—Letter of Mr. Duponceau—Ethnological gossip—Translation of the Bible into Algonquin—Don M. Najera—Premium offered by the French Institute—Persistent Satanic influence among the Indian tribes—Boundary dispute with Ohio—Character of the State Convention.

1835. Jan. 10th. The year opened with some bright moral gleams. The members of the church had, early in the autumn, felt the necessity of a close union. Left by their esteemed pastor, who had been their "guide, philosopher, and friend" for twelve years, and by some of its leading members, they rested with more directness and simplicity of faith on God. They ordained a fast. Evening and lecture meetings were observed to be full of eager listeners. A marked attention was paid on the Sabbath when Mr. J.D. Stevens, who had come into the harbor late in the fall, bound westward, agreed to pass the winter and occupied Mr. Ferry's empty desk. The Sabbath schools in the village and at the mission were observed to be well attended. Indeed, it was not long in being noticed that we were in the midst of a quiet and deeply-spread revival. Never, it would seem, was there a truer exemplification of the maxim that "the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong," for we had supposed ourselves to be shorn of all strength by the loss of our pastor, by the failure of help from the Home Missionary Society, and by the withdrawal from the island of some of our most efficient members. This feeling of weakness and desertion was, in fact, the secret of our strength, which laid in the church's humility. Ere we were aware of it, a spirit of profound seriousness stole over the community like a soft and gentle wind.

28th. Maj. Whiting writes, from Detroit: "There is nothing new in the political world, excepting that Michigan has no governor yet, and that the council has authorized a convention to form a State Government next April. Some think the step premature; others that it is all a matter of course. The cold has been excessive on the Atlantic seaboard—down to about 40 deg. below zero in New England, and even 22 deg. below at Washington. Here we have had it hardly down to 0."