American antiquities--Michilimackinack a summer resort--Death of Ogimau Keegido--Brothertons--An Indian election--Cherokee murders--Board of Regents of the Michigan University--Archaeological facts and rumors--Woman of the Green Valley--A new variety of fish--Visits of the Austrian and Sardinian Ministers to the U.S.--Mr. Gallup--Sioux murders--A remarkable display of aurora borealis--Ottawas of Maumee--Extent of auroral phenomena--Potawattomie cruelty--Mineralogy--Death of Ondiaka--Chippewa tradition--Fruit trees--Stone's preparation of the Life and Times of Sir William Johnson--Dialectic difference between the language of the Ottawas and the Chippewas--Philological remarks on the Indian languages--Mr. T. Hulbert.

1839. June 25th. ALEX V.V. BRADFORD, Esq., of New York, being about to publish a work on American antiquities,[93] solicits permission to use some of my engravings. I am glad to see an increasing interest in our archaeology, and hope to live to see the day when the popular tastes will permit books to be published on the subject.

[93] This work was published, I think, in 1841.

26th. Mrs. Morris brings a letter from Hon. A.E. Wing, of Monroe. She contemplates spending the summer on the island on account of impaired health. The pure air and fine summer climate of Mackinack begin to be appreciated within a year or two by valetudinarians. It is a perfect Montpelier to them. The inhaling of its pure and dry atmosphere in midsummer is found to act very favorably on the digestive organs. No process of health-making gymnastics is prescribed by physicians. They merely direct persons to walk about and enjoy the sights and scenes about them, to saunter along its winding paths, or go fishing or gunning. Its woods are delightful, and its cliffs command the sublimest views. One would think that if the muses are ever routed from the bare hills of Olympus and the springs of Helicon, they would take shelter in the glens of Michilimackinack, where the Indian pukwees, or fairies, danced of old. I received intelligence of the death of Ogimau Keegido (Speaker Chief), the head sachem of the Saginaws. He had indulged some time in drinking, and, after getting out of this debauch, was confined by sickness three days. Death came to his relief. Some years ago this man met with an accident by the discharge of a gun, by which his liver protruded; he took his knife and cut off a small piece, which he ate as a panacea. He was a man of strong passions and ungoverned will. He visited Washington in 1836, and, with other chiefs, sold the Saginaw reservations.

The party of Saginaws who brought me the above information had among them twenty-two orphan children, whose parents had died of small-pox. They were on their way to the Manitoulines.

28th. Mud-je-ke-wis, a minor chief of Grand Traverse Bay, surrenders a belt of blue and white wampum, and a gilt gorget, which he had received from some officer of the British Indian Department in Canada, saying he renounces allegiance to that government, and reports himself, from this day, as an American.

29th. Chingossamo (Big Sail), of Cheboigan, having migrated to the Manitouline Islands with thirteen families, about seventy-nine souls, an election was this day held, at this office, by the Indians, to supply the place of ruling chief. Sticks, of two colors, were prepared as ballots for the two candidates. Of these, Keeshowa received two-thirds, and was declared duly elected. I granted a certificate of this election. The present population is reduced to forty-four souls, who live in thirteen families. This band are Chippewas.

Gen. Scott arrives at this post, on a general tour of inspection of the northern posts, and proceeds the same day to Sault St. Marie, accompanied by Maj. Whiting.

July 2d. The Wisconsin Democrat, of this date, contains an interesting sketch of the history of the Brotherton Indians, which is represented to be "composed of the descendants of the six following named tribes of Indians, viz., the Naragansetts, of Rhode Island; the Stoningtons, or Pequoits, of Groton, Connecticut; the Montauks, of Long Island; the Mohegans, Nianticks, and Farmington Indians, also of Connecticut. Several years before the American Revolution, a single Indian of the Montauk tribe left his nation and traveled into the State of New York. He had no fixed purpose in view more than (as he expressed it) to see the world. During his absence, however, he fortunately paid a visit to the Oneidas, then a very large and powerful tribe of Indians residing in the State of New York. With them he concluded to rest a short time. They, discovering that he possessed 'some of the white man's learning,' employed him to teach a common reading and writing school among them. He remained with them longer than he at first intended. During this time the Oneida chief made many inquiries respecting his (the Montauk) tribe, and the other tribes before mentioned, and received, for answer, 'that they had almost become extinct--that their game was fast disappearing--that their landed possessions were very small--that the pure blood of their ancestors had become mixed with both the blood of the white man and the African---that new and fatal diseases had appeared among them--that the curse of all curses, the white man's stream of liquid fire, was inundating their very existence, and the gloomy prospect of inevitable annihilation seemed to stare them in the face--that no 'hope with a goodly prospect fed the eye.' The Oneida chief, actuated partly with a desire to extend the hand of brotherly affection to rescue the above tribes from the melancholy fate that seemed to await them, and partly with a desire to manifest his deep sense of the valuable services rendered to him and his nation in his having taught among them a school, gave to the schoolteacher a tract of land twelve miles square for the use and benefit of his tribe, and the other tribes mentioned."

The treaty of the 14th of January, 1837, with the Saginaws, is confirmed by the Senate.

3d. The Arkansas Little Rock Gazette, of this date, states that the long existing feud in the Cherokee nation, which has divided its old and new settlers, has terminated in a series of frightful murders. Its language is this:--

"We briefly alluded in our last to a report from the west that John Ridge, one of the principal chiefs of the Cherokee nation, had been assassinated. More recent accounts confirm the fact, and bring news of the murder of Ridge's father, together with Elias Boudinot and some ten or twelve men of less distinction (some accounts say thirty or forty), all belonging to Ridge's party.

"These murders are acknowledged to have been committed by the partisans of John Boss, between whom and Ridge a difference has for a long time subsisted, growing out of the removal of the Cherokees from the old nation to the west, Ridge having uniformly been favorable to that course and Ross opposing it."

A council was recently held to consult in relation to the laws to be adopted by the united nation in their present country, there being some essential differences between the code by which that portion of the nation recently emigrated from the east had been governed, and the laws adopted by the old settlers in the west. Each party contended for the adoption of its own code, and neither would concede to the other, and the council finally broke up without being able to come to any understanding on the subject. On his way from this council, Ridge was murdered. Ridge, although a recent emigrant, we understand agreed with the old settlers in regard to the adoption of their laws, while Ross contended for those of the old nation east.

After the murder of Ridge, General Arbuckle, the commander of the United States forces on this frontier, sent a detachment of dragoons to Ross, with a request that he would come to the garrison, who declined unless he could be allowed to bring with him some six or seven hundred of his armed partisans, and take them into the garrison with him. This, of course, could not be allowed, and so the detachment returned to the garrison, and after that the murders subsequent to that of Ridge were committed. One of them was perpetrated within the bounds of Washington County, in this State, and we hope the necessary steps will be taken by our authorities to secure and bring to trial the murderer, and thus preserve inviolate the jurisdiction of our State over her own soil. "We learn that a council was called of the whole nation, to be held yesterday, with a view of settling the existing difficulties, and we hope it may result in establishing peace among them."

3d. I received a letter introducing Mr. and Mrs. Kane, of Albany. We love an agreeable surprise. I recognized in Mrs. K. the daughter of an old friend--a most lady-like, agreeable, and talented woman; and deemed my time agreeably devoted in showing my visitors the curiosities of the island.

6th. The business of my superintendency calls me to Detroit. Fiscal questions, the employment of special agents, the collection of treasury drafts, the payment of annuities; these are some of the constant cares, full of responsibilities, which call for incessant vigilance. I reached the city in the steamer "Gen. Wayne," at 8 o'clock, in the morning.

8th. John A. Bell, and Sand Watie, Cherokee chiefs, publish in the Arkansas Gazette, an appeal to public justice, on the murder of the Ridges and Boudinot, which took place on the 22d of June previous.

13th. Rev. Mr. Duffield informs me of some geological antiquities, reported to have been recently discovered in Ohio, made in the course of the excavations on the line of the canal, between Cleaveland and Beaver.

15th. The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan inform me, by their secretary, of my having been placed on a committee, as chairman, to report "such amendments to the organic law of the University, as they shall deem essential, with a view to their presentation to the next legislature."

25th. Being on my passage from Detroit to Mackinack, on Lake Huron, a Mr. Wetzler, of Rock River, Wisconsin, stated to me that a Mr. Davy, an English emigrant, found, in making an excavation in his land near "Oregon," some antiquities, consisting of silver coins, for which Mr. Wetzler offered him, unsuccessfully, $50. The story looks very much like a humbug, but it was told with all seriousness by a respectable looking man.

A Mr. Ruggles, of Huron, Ohio, who was aboard of the same vessel, said, that hacks of an axe were found in buried cedars, some years ago, at a depth of about 40 feet below the surface, near the east edge of Huron County, Ohio. There are no cedars, he adds, now growing in that section of Ohio.

The Burlington Gazette (Iowa) says, "that a Sac and Fox war party recently returned from the Missouri, bringing eight scalps, and a number of female prisoners, and horses. The Indians murdered were of the Omaha tribe. The party consisted of ten men, with their squaws; and, although only eight scalps were brought in, it is supposed that not a single man escaped. We are not aware that feelings of hostility have heretofore existed between these nations. The ostensible object of the Sac and Fox party was to chastise the Sioux. The expedition was headed by Pa-ma-sa, the bold and daring brave who recently inflicted a dangerous wound upon the person of Ke-o-kuk."

26th. Arrived at Mackinack, in the steamer "United States," at 4 o'clock in the morning, after an absence of about twenty days.

27th. Mr. John R. Kellogg says, that during the early settlement of Onondaga, N.Y., say about 1800, in cutting into a tree, in the vicinity of Skaneateles, iron was struck. On searching, they cut out a rude chain, which was wound about in the wood, and appeared to have been fastened above. Query, had this been a pot trammel of some ancient explorer? Onondaga is known to have been early visited.

He also stated that three distinct hacks of an axe, of the ordinary size, were found, in cutting down an oak, at the same period, in Ontario County. Six hundred cortical layers were found outside of these antique hacks, indicating that they were made in the 12th century. I record these archaeological memoranda merely for inquiry.

29th. Osha-wus-coda-waqua, a daughter of Wabojeeg, a celebrated war chief of the close of last century, of Lake Superior, visited the office. She states that her name is the result of a dream, by some ancient crone, who officiated at her nativity, and that it means the Woman of the Green Valley. She is now about 60 years of age. When about 15 or 16, she is said to have been a slender, comely lass, with large bright hazel eyes, and a graceful figure. At this age, she married a young gentleman from the north of Ireland, of good family and standing, and high connections, who made a wild adventure into this region. This is the origin of the Johnston family, in the basin of Lake Superior, and the Straits of St. Mary's. She has had eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity, and all but the eldest are now living. Her husband, who became a noted merchant or outfitter, a man of great influence with the Indians, and high intelligence and social virtues, died in 1828, at the age of about 66 years. She is now subject to some infirmities; fleshy and heavy, and strongly inclined, I should judge, to apoplexy. Her father, Wabojeeg, died of consumption, not very old. She told me that the hieroglyphics and pictures which the Indians cut on trees, or draw on barks, or rocks, which are designed to convey instruction, are called KE-KÉE-WIN--a word which has its plural in un. It is a noun inanimate. She laughs at the attempts of the American and foreign traders to speak the Indian, the rules of which they perpetually, she says, violate.

31st. A new species of white fish appears in the St. Mary's this spring. It is characterized by a very small mouth, and pointed head, and a crowning back, and is a remarkably fat fish. The Odjibwas call it o-don-i-bee, or water-mouth. Hence the Canadian word Tulibee.

Wakazo, an Ottawa chief of Waganukizzie, and his band visit the office, to confer on their affairs. He persists in his former determination to form an agricultural settlement with his people, on the North Black River, Michigan shore, and says that they will go down, to open their farms, soon after the payment of the annuities.

Aug. 1st. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian Minister at Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister of the kingdom of Sardinia. These gentlemen both impressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and perfect freedom from all pretence. I went out with them, to show them the Arched Rock, the Sugar-loaf Rock, and other natural curiosities. At the Sugar-loaf Rock they got out of the carriage and strolled about. The baron and count at last seated themselves on the grass. The former was a tall, rather grave man, with blue eyes, well advanced in years, and a German air; the latter, three or four inches shorter of stature, with black eyes, an animated look, and many years the junior.

4th. My children arrived at Mackinack this evening, from their respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, on their summer vacation, and have, on examination, made good progress.

7th. Albert Gallup, Esq., of Albany, lands on his way to Green Bay as a U.S. commissioner to treat with the Stockbridges. This gentleman brought me official dispatches relative to his mission and the expenditures of it, and, by his ready and prompt mode of acting and speaking, led me to call to mind another class of visitors, who seem to aim by extreme formality and circumlocution to strive to hide want of capacity and narrow-mindedness. Mr. Gallup mentioned a passage of Scripture, which is generally quoted wrong--"he who reads may run"--which set me to hunting for it. The passage is "that he may run that readeth it."--HABAKKUK ii. 2.

10th. Mr. Stringham, of Green Bay, reports that he had recently visited the scene of a battle or affray between the Sioux and Chippewas, on Lake St. Croix, near the mouth of the St. Croix River, Upper Mississippi. One or two Sioux, it seems, had been killed by some thoughtless young men of a party of Chippewas, about three hundred strong. This party encamped on the south shores of Lake St. Croix. They were secretly followed by the Sioux, who, watching their opportunity, fell on the camp while they were asleep, near daylight. One hundred and twenty were killed in the onset. As soon as the Chippewas discovered their position, and recovered their self-possession, they rallied, and, attacking the assailants, drove them from the field, killed twenty, and chased them to near their village. Hearing of this, the captain of the steamer, on board of which Mr. S. was, went into the lake, and they viewed the dead bodies.

24th. Returned to Mackinack, after a trip of eight days to Detroit. The Iowa papers give accounts of the recent shocking murders committed by the Sioux. "We learn," says the Burlington Patriot, "from Governor Lucas and another gentleman, who came passengers on the 'Ione,' last evening, that two hundred and twenty Indians were killed in the upper country about the 1st inst. The facts, as they were related by a young gentleman who was at the treaty, are as follows: The Sioux had invited the Chippewas to meet them at St. Peter's, for the purpose of making a treaty of everlasting friendship. The Chippewas assembled accordingly--the pipe of peace was smoked--and they parted apparently good friends. A large party of the Chippewas was encamped at the Falls of St. Anthony, and a smaller party encamped on the St. Croix, on their way home, without the least suspicion of treachery on the part of the Sioux. While they were thus peaceably encamped, they were surprised by the Sioux, who commenced their butchery. They immediately rallied, but before the battle terminated the Chippewas lost one hundred and fifty at the Falls and twenty on the St. Croix. The number of Sioux killed on the occasion amounted to about fifty. We do not much wonder at the hostility that has been exhibited by the Sauks and Foxes against the Sioux, if this latter tribe has always been as treacherous as they were on the above occasion."

Sept. 3d. A remarkable and most magnificent display of the Aurora Borealis occurred in the evening. It began a quarter before eight, as I was sitting on the piazza in front of my house, which commands a view of the lake in front, and the whole southern hemisphere. From the zenith points of light flared down the southern hemisphere. The north had none. For five minutes the appearance, was most magnificent. Streaks of blue and crimson red light appeared in several parts. At ten minutes to eight, long lines began to form on the east, then west, and varying to north-west, very bright, silvery and phosphorescent. Before nine, the rays shot up from the horizon north-east, and finally north--the southern hemisphere, at the same time, losing its brilliance. This light continued in full activity of effulgence to ten, and, after my retiring from the piazza, its gleams were visible through the windows the greater part of the night, till two o'clock or later.

11th. A chief from St. Mary's, called Iawba Waddik (Male Reindeer), visited the office. This man's name affords an evidence of the manner in which a noun or adjective prefix is joined to a noun proper, namely, by the interposition of a consonant before the noun, whenever the latter begins, and the former ends, with a vowel. We cannot say, iawba-addik--male deer; but euphony requires that, in these cases, the letter w should precede, and soften the sound of the initial a.

This chief was first introduced to me in 1822. His tall and lithe form, his ease of manners, and a certain mild and civilized air, made me notice him. He turned out to be the youngest son of a noted war chief, called the White Fisher--Wa-bo-jeeg. He had, however, never been on the war path, but addressed himself early to the art of hunting, in which he excelled, and furnished his family with a plentiful supply of food and clothing. He had had twelve children by one wife, giving an impressive lesson, that peaceful habits and a plentiful supply of the means of subsistence, are conducive to their usual results.

He is now about 45 years of age. The seventeen years during which I have known him, have not detracted from his erect figure, his mild and easy manners, or his docile and decidedly domestic disposition.

12th. The payment of the Indian annuities, which commenced on the 3d instant, was continued till the 10th, and, skipping the 11th (Sunday), finished this day. These payments were made as usual, in specie, and per capita--man, woman, and child faring alike. The annuities in provisions, tobacco, salt, &c., were, in conformity with custom, turned over to the chiefs of bands in bulk; and by them divided, with scrupulous care, among their people. The payments and deliveries have engaged the whole force of the department for seven or eight days, and have ended satisfactory to the Indians, who have been subsisted, meantime, on the public provisions, without trenching on their own stock.

13th. The Maumee Ottawas arrive at Louisville, Ky., on their way to the west. Among this band there are two chiefs, Anto-kee, the head chief, and Petonoquette, a much younger man. Anto-kee is a son of the celebrated chief Tushquaquier, who was looked upon by the Ottawas as the father of the tribe. Petanoquette is half French, son of Louisan, a distinguished chief, who was killed, when Petonoquette was a mere child, by that most barbarous and ferocious of all warriors, Kish-kau-go, who afterwards committed suicide in the Detroit jail, in which he was confined for murder. Anto-kee and Petonoquette are represented as very good men, well informed, and not much inclined to barbarity. The former is said to be a relative of the great Pontiac.

14th. Leave Mackinack for Detroit.

27th. Return from an official visit to the office at Detroit.

30th. A London paper of Sept. 4th notices a brilliant display of the aurora borealis and falling stars, on the same day of the extraordinary display of the same kind, witnessed on this island. The first impression in that city, was of a great fire in some distant part of the city, there being, at first, a dense red light. The difference between the two places is about 25° of latitude. Its commencement was about half, or three quarters of an hour later. The editor says:--

"Between the hours of ten last night and three this morning in the heavens were observed one of the most magnificent specimens of that extraordinary phenomena--the falling stars and northern lights--ever witnessed for many years past. The first indication of this singular phenomenon was about ten minutes before ten, when a light crimson, apparently vapor, rose from the northern portion of the hemisphere, and gradually extended to the centre of the heavens, and by ten o'clock, or a quarter past, the whole, from east to west, was in one vast sheet of light. It had a most alarming appearance, and was exactly like that occasioned by a terrific fire. The light varied considerably; at one time it seemed to fall, and directly after rose with intense brightness. There were to be seen mingled with it volumes of smoke, which rolled over and over, and every beholder seemed convinced that it was 'a tremendous conflagration.' The consternation in the metropolis was very great; thousands of persons were running in the direction of the supposed catastrophe. The engines belonging to the fire brigade stations in Baker Street, Farringdon Street, Wattling Street, Waterloo Road, and likewise those belonging to the West of England station; in fact, every fire-engine in London was horsed, and galloped after the supposed 'scene of destruction' with more than ordinary energy, followed by carriages, horsemen, and vast mobs. Some of the engines proceeded as far as Highgate and Holloway before the error was discovered.

"These appearances lasted for upwards of two hours, and towards morning the spectacle became one of more grandeur. At two o'clock this morning, the phenomenon presented a most gorgeous scene, and one very difficult to describe. The whole of London was illuminated as light as noonday, and the atmosphere was remarkably clear. The southern hemisphere, at the time mentioned, although unclouded, was very dark, but the stars, which were innumerable, shone beautifully. The opposite side of the heavens presented a singular but magnificent contrast; it was clear to the extreme, and the light was very vivid; there was a continual succession of meteors, which varied in splendor. They apparently formed in the centre of the heavens, and spread till they seemed to burst; the effect was electrical; myriads of small stars shot out over the horizon, and darted with that swiftness towards the earth that the eye scarcely could follow the track; they seemed to burst also and throw a dark crimson over the entire hemisphere. The colors were the most magnificent that ever were seen. At half-past two o'clock the spectacle changed to darkness, which, on dispersing, displayed a luminous rainbow in the zenith of the heavens and round the ridge of darkness that overhung the southern portion of the country. Soon afterwards, columns of silvery light radiated from it; they increased wonderfully, intermingled amongst crimson vapor, which formed at the same time; and, when at the full height, the spectacle was beyond all imagination. Stars were darting about in all directions, and continued until four o'clock, and all died away. During the time that they lasted, a great many persons assembled on the bridges across the river Thames, where they had a commanding view of the heavens, and watched the progress of the phenomenon attentively."

Oct. 2d. Mr. J.H. Kinzie, of Chicago, mentioned to me, in a former interview, a striking trait of the barbarity of the Potawattomies in the treatment of their women. Two female slaves, or wives of Wabunsee, had a quarrel. One of them went, in her excited state of feeling, to the chief, and told him that the other had ill-treated his children. He ordered the accused to come before him. He told her to lie down on her back on the ground. He then directed the other (her accuser) to take a tomahawk and dispatch her. She split open her skull, and killed her immediately. He left her unburied, but was afterwards persuaded to direct the murderess to bury her. She dug a grave so shallow, that the Wolves dug out the body that night and partly devoured it.

3d. James L. Schoolcraft brought me some mineralogical and geological specimens from Isle Cariboo--the land of golden dreams and fogs in Lake Superior. The island has a basis of chocolate-colored sandstone.

5th. The Oneida Whig mentions the death, on the 20th ultimo, near Oneida Castle, New York, of Ondayaka, head chief of the Onondagas, aged about ninety-six. At the time of his death, Ondayaka, and the subordinate chiefs and principal men of his nation, were on their way to join in the ceremonies of electing a head chief of the Oneidas. Within a few miles of the council house of the latter tribe, Ondayaka placed himself at the head of the deputation of the Onondagas, and commenced the performance of the ceremonies observed on such occasions, when he was suddenly seized with the bilious colic. Calling the next chief in authority to fill his station, he withdrew to the road side, when he soon after expressed a consciousness that "it was the will of the Great Spirit that he should live no longer upon the earth." He then sent for his people, and took leave of them, after counseling them to cultivate and practice temperance and brotherly love in their councils and among the people of the nation, and friendship and integrity with all. He soon after became unable to speak, and in a few hours his spirit was gathered to the Great Spirit who gave it.

7th. The following is an Odjibwa tradition. Adjejauk and Oshugee were brothers, living at St. Mary's Falls. Oshugee was the elder. One day he took his brother's fishing-pole into the rapids, and accidentally broke it. This caused a quarrel. Oshugee went off south, and was referred to as Shawnee. This was the origin of that tribe who call the Chippewas Younger Brother, to this day. This is said by Nabunwa. The Shawnee (southman) here named is not the Shawnee tribe. With this explanation, the tradition may be admitted. It was probably the origin of the Potawattomies.

10th. Two plum trees, standing in front of the agency, which had attained their full growth, and borne fruit plentifully, for some few years, began to droop, and finally died during the autumn. I found, by examination, that their roots had extended into cold underground springs of water, which have their issue under the high cliff immediately behind the agency. They had originally been set out as wall fruit, within a few feet of the front wall of the house, on its southern side. The one was the common blue plum, the other an egg plum.

A mountain ash, standing some twenty feet west of them, had protruded its roots into a similar cold moisture, but, so far from injuring it, the tree grew more luxuriantly, putting forth leaves and berries in the greatest profusion. Seeing this disposition to flourish by its proximity to underground currents, I cut the bark of the tree, which is of a close binding character, to allow it to expand, and found this to have an excellent effect. This tree bears a white bell-shaped cluster of blossoms, which originate the most beautiful scarlet berries in the autumn. The one species is a native, the other an exotic.

12th. Pemid-jee, signifies in Chippewa across, sideways. Go-daus is a garment, or cloth designed for it. Hence mad-jee-co-ta a skirt or side-cloth.

17th. Col. Wm.L. Stone writes that he is making progress in his Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, and begs a copy of the old Military Orderly Book, in my possession, detailing the siege and taking of Fort Niagara, &c. He says of Algie Researches: "By the way, what a delightful book you furnished us. Don't you remember that I told you not to go to ---- for revision? He would have spoiled your simple and beautiful tales. President Wayland, my brother-in-law, was delighted with them."

Dec.5th. Abraham Schoolcraft, Special Emigrating Agent, reports the safe arrival of the Swan Creeks at their destination on the river Osage. The lands are fertile, the waters good, forest trees in abundance for fire-wood and fences. Everything promises well for their future prosperity.

13th. Wrote to Col. Stone, transmitting him a copy of the old journal, before alluded to, of the siege of Niagara, in 1759, the march of Gen. Bradstreet for the relief of Detroit, in 1763, &c.

26th. Mackinack has again assumed its winter phase. We are shut in from the tumult of the world, and must rely for our sources of intellectual sustenance and diversion on books, or researches, such as may present themselves.

The following words, I am assured, are different, in the Ottawa and Chippewa dialects:--

It is evident that these dialectic differences arise, not from the use of a different language, but a different mode of applying the same language--a language in which every syllable has a well-known primitive meaning. Thus, in the name for maple tree(8), the Chippewa means, spouted, or man tree (alluding to its being tapped for its sap), and the Ottawa, stoned, or cut tree, alluding to the same feature. The same terms are equally well known, and proper in both dialects. So in 10, the one says a collection of running water, the other, a little mass of water. So in 13, the one says, literally, it will be a bad day; the other, it will storm. So in 17, the one says strike-instrument; the other swing-instrument. So in 20, one uses an affirmative particle, the other says, certainly.

31st. Rev. Thomas Hulbert, of the Pic, on the north shores of Lake Superior, writes about the orthography and principles of the Indian languages. When this gentleman was on his way inland, he stopped at my house, and evinced much interest in the oral traditions of the Indians, as shown in Algic Researches, and presented me the conjugation of the Indian verb "to see," filling many pages of an old folio account book--all written in the wretched system of notation of Mr. Evans.[94] I stated to him the analytical mode which I had pursued in my lectures on the structure of the languages, with the very best helps at St. Mary's; and that I had found it to yield to this process--that the Algonquin was, in fact, an aggregation of monasyllabic roots: that words and expressions were formed entirely of a limited number of original roots and particles, which had generic meanings. That new words, however compounded, carried these meanings to the Indian ear, and were understood by it in all possible forms of accretion and syllabication. That the derivatives founded on these roots of one or two syllables, could all be taken apart and put together like a piece of machinery. That the principles were fixed, philosophical, and regular, and that, although the language had some glaring defects, as the want of a feminine pronoun, and many redundancies, they were admirably adapted to describe geographical and meteorological scenes. That it was a language of woods and wilds. That it failed to convey knowledge, only because it had apparently never been applied to it. And that those philologists who had represented it as an agglutinated mass, and capable of the most recondite, pronominal, and tensal meanings, exceeding those of Greece and Rome, had no clear conceptions of what they were speaking of. That its principles are not, in fact, polysynthetic, but on the contrary unasynthetic: its rules were all of one piece. That, in fine, we should never get at the truth till we pulled down the, erroneous fabric of the extreme polysynthesists, which was erected on materials furnished by an excellent, but entirely unlearned missionary. But that this could not be done now, such was the prestige of names; and that he and I, and all humble laborers in the field, must wait to submit our views till time had opened a favorable door for us. It was our present duty to accumulate facts, not to set up new theories, nor aim, by any means, to fight these intellectual giants while we were armed but with small weapons.

[94] A Wesleyan missionary, some time at Port Sarnia, opposite Fort Gratiot, Canada.

Mr. Hurlbut entered into these views. He had now reflected upon them, and he made some suggestions of philological value. He was an apt learner of the language, as spoken north of the basin of Lake Superior.

"Orthography," he writes, "though of much importance, did not engage so much of my attention as the construction of the language. I am not so sanguine as to that performance (the conjugation of the verb to see) as to be anxious to bring forward another. I am aware that an Indian speaker, who had never studied his own language, would pronounce much of that incorrect (in following a particular system imposed on him), particularly in the characterizing (definitive) form, for in this conjugation the root always undergoes a change. If the first syllable be short, it is lengthened, as be-moo-za, ba-moo-zad. If it be long, another is added, as ouu-bet, ou-euu-bed.[95] But when a particle is used, as is more generally the case, the root resumes its original form, as guu-ouu-bed. I thought it best to preserve uniformity. I inserted a note explaining this. Upon this, principle of euphony, Mr. Evans' orthography will answer better than may at first appear. When the towel is short, the final consonant is sharp, as mek, muk, met; but when the vowel is long, it sounds like meeg, seeg, neeg, nuug, meed."

[95] This is in Mr. Evans' System of Orthography.

I had thought of making a collection of words, as a commencement for a lexicon, but there are impediments in jay way for the present: 1st, I want a plan; I want the opinion of those versed in the language, as two roots frequently coalesce and form compound terms, and sometimes two verbs and a noun amalgamate by clipping all; and it requires a skillful hand to dissect them and show the originals. Should all these compound terms be introduced (in the contemplated lexicon), it would swell the work to a good size. If this be not done, we must find some rule for compounding the terms, that the learner may be able to do it for himself. This (the rule) I have not yet ascertained.

"I am favorably situated for making philological observations. I observe that the Cree, although essentially the same language as the Chippewa, yet drops, or never had, many of the suffix expletive particles of the latter, though the prefix particles are pretty much the same in both. The Cree has not, I believe, the double negative nor the adverbial and plaintive forms of verbs, as I have termed them. This renders the language less complex, and much more easy of acquisition than the Chippewa.

"One thought was forcibly impressed on my mind while perusing the publications of the American Antiquarian Society. In these publications they introduce the names of things in order to show the affinity of different tribes. From my knowledge of Indian, I am inclined to think that the names of things change the soonest in any language, and that, in order to ascertain the original stock of any tribe or nation by comparing languages, we must descend to the groundwork of the languages and search, not so much for similarity of sound as for the arrangement and essential and peculiar principles of the languages.

"A principle that prevails in the American languages, as far as my information extends, is, that the verb, with its nominative and objective cases, be inseparably connected. The Delaware, the Chippewa (under whatever name), and the Cree, &c., make the change in person, number, &c., by a change in the prefix or suffix. But the Mohawk and Chippewyan [96] make the change, in some cases, in the middle of the word, when the Chippewa and others always remain unchanged."

[96] It must be remembered that the Chippewas and Chippewyans, are diverse tribes. The two words are both Chippewa; but the tribes are of different groups. The one is ALGONQUIN; the other ATHAPASCA. The Mohawk belongs to a third group of languages, namely, the IROQUOIS.