Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers Part 41

_Resolved_, That the Domestic Secretary, be directed to prepare and submit for the approbation of the Official Board, a Circular, to be addressed to such persons as have been elected members of this society, and others, setting forth its objects, its organization, const.i.tution, and initial proceedings, which circular, when so prepared, shall be printed for the purpose of distribution.

_Resolved_, That the Official Board be directed to prepare a succinct Temperance and Peace Circular, suited to the wants and situation of the North-western Tribes, to be addressed, through the intervention of the Hon. the Secretary of War, to the Agents of the Government and Officers commanding posts on the frontiers, and also to persons engaged in the fur trade; to travelers, and to gentlemen residing in the country, requesting their aid in spreading its influence.

_Resolved_, That it is expedient for this society to procure an exact statistical account of the names, numbers and location of the different bands of Indians, of the Algonquin stock, now living within the limits of the United States:--also, the number of missionaries who are now amongst them, and the extent of the field of labor which they present.

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

_Resolved_, That the members of this society residing at Sault St. Marie and at Michilimackinack, shall const.i.tute a standing committee of this society, during the ensuing year, with power to meet for the transaction of business, and shall report from time to time, such measures as they may have adopted to promote the objects of this inst.i.tution: which proceedings shall be submitted to the society at any stated or special meeting of the same, and if approved by them, shall be entered on the records of the society.

_Resolved_, That the President of this society be requested to deliver, at such time as shall be convenient to himself, a course of Lectures on the Grammatical construction of the Algonquin language, as spoken by the North-Western Tribes, and to procure, from living and authentic sources, a full and complete Lexicon of that language, for the use of the society.

_Resolved_, That the Rev. Beriah Green, of the Western Reserve College, be requested to deliver an address before the society at its next annual meeting: and, that Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., be requested to deliver a poem on the Indian Character, at the same meeting.

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

I returned to St. Mary's about the middle of October. It was a proof of the care and precision with which my friends looked out for me, that I was met by my "_canoe-elege"_ with a French crew and flag flying at the Detour, before the vessel had dropped anchor, so that I went up the river with the accustomed gayety of a song. These French songs have been often alluded to. One of them, the measure of which is adapted, by its music, to the short stroke of the paddle, is given below.[64]

[Footnote 64: Omitted.]

_15th_. Dr. Peters, Secretary of Home Missions, writes to me, from on board a steamboat on Lake Erie, proposing a plan for bringing the subject of chaplaincies in the army to the notice of the Secretary of War.

A letter from a missionary (Boutwell) at La Pointe, L.S., says: "I endeavor daily to do something at the language. But imagine for one moment, what you could do with a boy (his interpreter) who knows neither English, French nor Indian, and yet is in the habit of mangling all.

Still I am satisfied he is the best Brother F. could send, though but _one_ remove from none. Of one thing I am determined, that if I cannot teach him English, I can to cut bushes. However, I find, by daily visiting the lodges, that I may retain, and probably add a little now and then. I find there is a trifling difference between the language here, and as spoken at the Sault. The difference consists princ.i.p.ally in the accent. I find the interchangeables, if possible, more irregular here than there.

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

_25th_. The sub-agent in charge at Mackinack writes: "The schooner 'White Pigeon' came in this afternoon from Green Bay, having on board Major Fowle's Company. She is to sail early to-morrow morning for the Sault.

"The Indians appear satisfied with their treatment at this office, and it has been observed by them, that more work has been done for them since my arrival here than Colonel B. did for them in one year."

His Excellency, Gov. Porter, called here (on his way to Green Bay) and examined the buildings and rooms of the agency. Casting a hasty look, he observed that the building would bring an income of four or five hundred dollars annually, were it at Detroit, for rent. He was of opinion that the outer steps required repairs, &c.

"Gen. Brook sailed on board the 'Black Hawk' for Green Bay on Sabbath last, accompanied by Lieut. Stockton, and Messrs. Dousman, Abbott, and King. Major Thomson (who relieves him) arrived on Monday last, with the whole of his troops and the officers under his command, Captain Cobbs, Lieut. Gallagher, and Lieut. Patten.

"Lieut. Gallagher joined us at our evening social prayer meeting last night, and it was really cheering and reviving to hear him pray. He is gifted with talent and abilities, and withal meekness and humility."

_Nov. 1st_. The same agent writes: "I forward to you the chief Shaubowayway's map of that section of the country lying between the Detour and Point St. Ignace, including all the islands on that coast. I am now waiting for the chief to proceed to Chenos as a guide, to enable us to strike in a straight line from thence to Muddy Lake River. Messrs.

David Stuart and Mitch.e.l.l will accompany me."

_19th_. Mr. Johnston writes: "I volunteered my services to accompany Mr.

Ferry to get off the partial wreck of the mission schooner 'Supply,'

near the second entrance of the Chenos, eighteen miles from this. Major Thompson furnished a detachment of fifteen men under Captain Cobbs.

George Dousman went also with three of the Company's men. Four days'

efforts were cheerfully rendered, and the vessel saved and brought into the harbor."

_25th_. As commerce increases, and stretches out her Briarean hands into the stormy roads and bays of these heretofore uninhabited lakes, losses from wrecks annually redouble. And the want of light-houses, buoys, and harbors is more strongly shown. James Abbott, a licensed trader, was cast ash.o.r.e by the tempests of Lake Superior, at La Pointe, and, being unable to proceed to his designated post, was obliged to winter there.

He gave out his credits, and spread his men, therefore, in another man's district. The agent at Mackinack (E. Stuart) writes, complaining of, and requesting me to interpose in the matter, so as "to confine his trade to such limits as may be equitable to all." It would be impossible to foresee such accidents, and appears almost equally so to correct the irregularities, now that they are done. The difficulty seems rather to have been the employment of a clerk, whose action the Company could not fully control.

_29th_. Mr. B. E. Stickney, of Vistula (now Toledo), writes: "A few days ago I received from the author, with which I was much pleased, 'an Address before the Chippewa County Temperance Society on the Influence of Ardent Spirits on the Condition of the North American Indians.' We conceived it to be the most fortunate effort of your pen upon the greatest subject. While we have so much reason to approve, we hope you will permit us to be frank. We conceive that, although you have been more cautious than is common, in touching sectarianism, yet, if you had not named, or made any kind of allusion to any religious sect, Christian, Jew, Pagan, or Mohammedan, you would have produced more effect. There are many individuals who neither touch, taste, nor handle this most dangerous of all poisons, who yet refuse to join in the general effort to destroy, prevent the use, or furnish an antidote, because they conceive that the sectarian poison is not an inferior evil, unless it may, perhaps, be so to the use of alcohol."

The true, but concealed, objection of this cla.s.s of non-concurrents in the cause is not, it is apprehended to "sectarianism," _per se,_ or in any other sense than that it is an evidence of practical Christianity--of morals and axioms based on the teachings of the great Founder of the system--of a belief in a moral accountability to give all influence possessed to advance the adoption of its maxims among men--in fine, of a living, constant, undying faith, not only in the truth of these maxims, but in the divinity of the sublime UTTERER of them.

_Dec. 10th_. Dr. Houghton, my companion in two expeditions into the Indian country, writes from Detroit: "You will undoubtedly be a little surprised to learn that I am now in Detroit, but probably not more than I am in being here. My pa.s.sage through Lake Huron was tedious beyond endurance; and so long was I detained in consequence of it, that it became useless for me to proceed to New York. Under these circ.u.mstances, after having visited Fredonia, I determined to engage in the practice of my profession, in this place, at least until spring. It is only these three days since I arrived here and I am not yet completely settled, but probably will be in a few days."

[Here are the initial motives of a man who became a permanent and noted citizen of the territory, and engaged with great ardor in exploring its physical geography and resources. For two years, he was intimately a.s.sociated with me; and I saw him under various circ.u.mstances of fatigue and trial in the wilderness, but always preserving his equanimity and cheerfulness. He was a zealous botanist, and a discriminating geologist.

a.s.siduous and temperate, an accurate observer of phenomena, he acc.u.mulated facts in the physical history of the country which continually increased the knowledge of its features and character. He was the means of connecting geological observations with the linear surveys of the General Land Office, and had been several years engaged on the geological survey of Michigan, when the melancholy event of his death, in 1846, in a storm on Lake Superior, was announced.]

_12th_. E.A. Brush, Esq., of Detroit, writes: "Everybody--not here only, but through the Union--seems to think with just foreboding of the result of the measures taken by South Carolina. Their convention have determined to resist, after the first day of (I think) February.

"Gov. Ca.s.s's family are well, but he has not been heard from personally since he left here. He is too much occupied, I suppose, with the affairs of his department, at the opening of the session. Of course, you know that General Jackson and Van Buren are in."

CHAPTER XLVI.

An Indian woman builds a church--Conchology--South Carolina prepares to resist the revenue laws--Moral affairs--Geography--Botany--Chippewas and Sioux--A native evangelist in John Sunday--His letter in English; its philological value--The plural p.r.o.noun _we_--An Indian battle--Political affairs--South Carolina affairs--Tariff compromise of Mr. Clay--Algic Society; it employs native evangelists--Plan of visiting Europe--President's tour--History of Detroit--Fresh-water sh.e.l.ls--Lake tides--Prairie--Country--Reminiscence.

1833. _Jan. 1st_. A remarkable thing recently transpired. Mrs. Susan Johnston, a widow--an Indian woman by father and mother--built a church for the Presbyterian congregation at this place. The building, which is neat and plain, without a steeple, was finished early in the fall, and has been occupied this season for preaching, lectures, &c. Certainly, on the a.s.sumption of theories, there is nothing predicted against the descendants of Shem ministering in good things to those of j.a.phet; but it is an instance, the like of which I doubt whether there has happened since the Discovery. The translation of the Indian name of this female is Woman of the Green Valley; or, according to the polysyllabical system of her people, O-she-wush-ko-da-wa-qua.

_2d_. Mr. John M. Earle, of Worcester, Ma.s.s., solicits contributions to his collection of fresh-water sh.e.l.ls. "I have a higher object in view,"

he remarks, "than the mere making of a collection--viz., doing what I can to ascertain what new species remain undescribed, and what ones of those already described may be only varieties of others; and, in fine, by a careful examination of a large number of sh.e.l.ls, brought together from various localities, to fix, more accurately than it has heretofore been done, the nomenclature of the several genera and species, and so particularly to define their specific characteristics as to leave little doubt on the subject. The great variety of our fresh-water sh.e.l.ls, exceeding that of any other country, seems to require something of this kind, in addition to the valuable labors of Say, Barnes, Lea, and others, who, although they have done much, have yet left much to be done by others, and have made some mistakes which require rectifying."

_14th_. Mr. Trowbridge writes from Detroit: "The period intervening since your last visit to this place has been an eventful one to the nation. South Carolina, driven on by a few infatuated men, has made a bold effort to shake off the bonds of Union and Federal Law, and, to the minds of some in whom you and I repose the utmost confidence, a happy government seems to totter on the brink of dissolution. It is a long story, and the papers will tell you all. G.o.d grant that the impending evil may be averted, and that the moral and religious improvement of this government may not be r.e.t.a.r.ded by civil war." It is thought that this event, and the course taken by the President, will produce a great reaction in his favor, and that he will be supported by his old political opponents. The governor is much occupied. It is supposed the proclamation is from his pen.

_18th_. M. Merrill announces the opening of an infant school, in which he is to be a.s.sisted by Mrs. Merrill, on Monday next.

_21st_. Rev. J. Porter, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, reports to the Algic Society, that there is but little in the present state of religion here that is propitious. "Of the little church gathered here during the last year, ten persons are absent, scattered wildly through our land. There now remain twenty-six or twenty-eight communicants.

These seem, in a measure, discouraged by the present indifference. The recent apparent conversion of three or four soldiers, and the increasing interest in their prayer-meetings and Bible cla.s.s, give us some promise.

The Sabbath School, taught entirely by members of the church, is now in a state of pleasing prosperity. And the infant school, lately organized under the direction of an admirably qualified teacher, promises to gratify the hearts of parents."

_22d_. The geography of the line of country between Sault St. Marie and the sh.o.r.es of Lake Huron, opposite to the island of Mackinack, is a perfect terra incognita. It has been pa.s.sed in the winter only on snow shoes. The distance in a direct line from N.E. to S.W. is about forty or forty-five miles. It is about double that distance by the St. Mary's River and Lake Huron--which is and has been the ordinary route, from the earliest French days, and for uncounted centuries before. Mr. G.

Johnston, who has just pa.s.sed it, with Indian guides on snow shoes, writes: "I reached this place at half-past twelve this day, after experiencing great fatigue, caused by a heavy fall of snow and the river rising. I inclose herein a rough sketched map of the region through which I pa.s.sed, that is, from Lake Superior to Lake Huron in a direct southerly line.

"The banks of the Pe-ke-sa-we-see, which we ascended, are elevated and pretty uniform. From its mouth to the first fork, is a growth of cedar, on either bank, intermixed with hemlock, pine, birch, and a few scattered maples. Thence to the third fork, denoted on the map, the growth is exclusively pine and fir. This river is sluggish and deep, and is navigable for boats of ten to fifteen tons burden, without any obstruction to the third forks. Its width is uniform, about sixty to seventy feet wide.

"From this point to Pine River of Lake Huron, is invariably level, gently rising to a maple ridge, and susceptible of a road, to be cut with facility.

"The banks of Pine River are very high. The river we found open in many places, indicating rapids. It is obstructed in many places with drift wood. The pine ridge, on either bank, indicates a vigorous growth of the handsomest pine trees I ever beheld. The water marks are high--say ten to twelve feet, owing to the spring freshets.

"I reached the mouth of the river on the Sabbath, and encamped, which gave the Methodist Indian an opportunity of revealing G.o.d's Holy Word to Cacogish's band, consisting of thirty souls. We were very kindly received, and supplied with an abundance of food--hares, partridges, trout, pork, corn and flour. We had clean and new mats to sleep on."

_Feb. 4th_. The American Lyceum at New York invite me, by a letter from their Secretary, to prepare an essay on the subject of educating in the West.

_6th_. Dr. John Torrey, of N.Y., writes on the eve of his embarkation for Europe: "I shall take with me all very rare and doubtful plants, for examination and comparison with the celebrated herbaria of Europe.

"Your boxes and packages of specimens must have been detained on the way by the closing of the (N. Y.) ca.n.a.l, as I have as yet received nothing from you. The plan of your proposed narrative I like much, and I hope the work will be given to the public as early as possible. Dr.

Houghton did not come to New York, but has settled himself (as you doubtless know) at Detroit."