Ynld LI nr» ers it \ Library iiiiniiin 39002002921196 li tok-i c MACKINAC 1JWIN O WOOI» .1 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN MEMORY OF SAMUEL AMOS YORK YALE 1863 FROM THE FUND ESTABLISHED IN 1924 BY HIS SON SAMUEL ALBERT YORK YALE 1890 HISTORIC MACKINAC Volume II THE MACMILLAN COMPANY HEW YORK ¦ BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA ¦ SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON ¦ BOMBAY ¦ CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltdi. TORONTO Historic Mackinac THE HISTORICAL, PICTURESQUE AND LEGENDARY FEATURES OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES, DRAWINGS, MAPS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH AN ORIGINAL MAP OF MACKINAC ISLAND, MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK BY EDWIN 0. WOOD, LL.D. »** Formerly President Michigan Historical Commission, Vice-president of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, Trustee of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, Life Member of the American His torical Association, the American Irish Historical Society, the New York Historical Society, the New York State Histori cal Association, Life Fellow of the American Geo graphical Society, Member of the Mississippi Valley Historical Society, and of the State Historical Societies of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota IN TWO VOLUMES Volume II NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 Copyright, 1918 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and printed. Published, March, 1918 FOREWORD Volume I of Historic Mackinac is made up largely of data pertaining to the early history of the Mackinac coun try. The charms of Mackinac Island, with its old Fort, its beautiful scenery, pure and healthful air, the delights of its Indian trails, and the romantic legends interwoven with fascinating stories of the fairies, have attracted to its shores many of the most noted authors of their day. They have written of Mackinac, and have brought both fiction and fact into their productions, adding much to America's best literature through the inspiration given them by the richness of Mackinac's store of historical, legendary and picturesque resources. Meredith Nicholson, Charles Major, Edward Everett Hale, Constance Fenimore Wool- son, and many other well-known writers, have found here a perfect environment and setting in which to weave their stories of life and of love. The aim has been to bring together and preserve for the reader of today and in years to come, some of the graphic descriptions given by cele brated travellers who visited the Island many years ago. To this end, Volume II is largely a collection of extracts from books long since out of print, all of which will ever hold an important place in the story of the "Fairy Isle." TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I II Volume I French Exploration in the Mackinac Father Marquette at Michilimacki- Pages 1- 21 " 22- 47 III La Salle and the Griffin .... 48- 59 IV The Coureurs de Bois and the Fur 60- 76 V Removal of Fort and Mission to Old 77- 89 VI The Parish Register at Michilimacki- " 90-121 VII The French and the English . . . " 122-133 VIII The English and the Indians . . . " 134-156 IX " 157-168 X Minavavana and Wawatam .... " 169-180 XI Henry's Account of the Massacre: His Escape and Adventures . " 181-209 XII Old Mackinaw after the Massacre; Major Robert Rogers .... " 210-236 XIII Removal of the Fort to Mackinac " 237-266 XIV The English Fur Trade .... " 267-283 XV The War of 1812 " 284-318 XVI The American Fur Trade; Astor, " 319-339 XVII Dr. William Beaumont and Alexis St. " 340-361 XVIII Mackinac and the Mormons of Beaver " 362-378 CONTENTS CHAPTER XIX Churches of Mackinac Island . . Pages 379-429 XX The Lost Prince " 430-462 XXI Fort Mackinac, 1815-1918 ..." 463^85 XXII Mackinac National Park; Mackinac Island State Park " 486-506 XXIII Descriptive Notes on Names and Places at Mackinac Island ..." 507-606 Appendix " 607-679 Chronology " 681-697 Volume II I The Induns of the Mackinac Country Pages 1- 49 II Myths and Legends of Mackinac . . " 50-113 III Early Days on Mackinac Island, 1814-1821 " 114-134 IV Schoolcraft's Visit to the Island in 1820 " 135-146 V McKenney's Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, 1826 " 147-160 VI Mrs. Kinzie Visits Mackinac, 1830 . " 161-168 VII Mackinac in Winter — 1834 ..." 169-185 VIII Dr. Gilman's Life on the Lakes — 1835 " 186-214 IX Sketches from Schoolcraft's Diary at Mackinac — 1835-1841 ..." 215-254 X Harriet Martineau — 1836 ..." 255-269 XI Mrs. Jameson — 1837 " 270-299 XII The Induns at Mackinac — 1837 . . " 300-333 XIII A Canoe Voyage from Mackinac to the " Soo " in 1837 " 334-360 XIV Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes — 1843 " 361-376 XV William Cullen Bryant's Letters of a Traveller — 1846 " 377-402 XVI Bayard Taylor — 1855 " 403-406 CONTENTS CHAPTER XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV " Fairy Island " as seen by Constance Fenimore Woolson — 1870 . . . Pages 407-417 Mackinac in Story " 418-484 Jean Nicolet " 485-506 Lewis Cass " 507-548 Tshusick " 549-561 Miscellaneous Selections . . . . " 562-623 Indun Names in the Mackinac Coun try " 624-640 The Flowering Plants, Ferns and Their Allies of Mackinac Island . " 641-678 Bibliography " 679-740 Index " 741 ILLUSTRATIONS Volume II Dwightwood Spring .... Frontispiece Facing Title Page Fort Mackinac, 1856 Facing Page 22 Group of Lake Superior Indians " "23 Indian Wigwams Page 49 Marquette Monument, St. Ignace, Michigan . Facing Page 64 Indians at the Kitchen and Sister Rocks, Mack inac Island " "65 Stone Officers' Quarters, Fort Mackinac . . Page 113 View of Mackinac from Straits off Round Is land Facing Page 122 View of Moran Bay, St. Ignace .... British Landing, Mackinac Island .... Scene at Old Fort Mackinac Mackinac Island Harbor, following Annual Yacht Race, Chicago to Mackinac . Baby Manitou Fine View of St. Anne's Church, and Harbor . Homes and Grounds of Mackinac Island's Sum mer Residents Mackinac Island View, showing Mission Point Mackinac Island View, — 1917 The Old Mitchell House, Market Street, Mack inac Island Scene at Unveiling of Marquette Statue . Steep Pathway to Fort Mackinac .... View of Harbor from Cass Cliff, Mackinac Is land Marquette Statue, Marquette Park View of Fort Mackinac and Marquette Park . View of Straits of Mackinac from the Island by Moonlight " "260 it " 122 it " 123 Page 134 Facing Page 140 a " 141 ti " 154 cc " 155 a " 164 it " 165 it " 178 It " 179 Page 185 Facing Page 194 it " 195 it " 228 it " 229 ILLUSTRATIONS One of Mackinac Island's Interesting Forma tions Facing Page 261 Devil's Kitchen " "290 Robinson's Folly " 291 View of Marquette Park from Fort Mackinac " " 316 Gitchi Manitou " "317 Trinity Episcopal Church, Mackinac Island . " 344 Mission House and School at Mackinac Island " " 345 Missionary and Explorer " 368 Death of Father Marquette " "369 A Relic of the Early Days at Mackinac Island " * 390 Old View of a Mackinac Island Street ... " " 390 James Lasley, Pioneer Postmaster at Mackinac Island " "391 South Sally Port, Fort Mackinac .... Page 402 Market Street, Mackinac Island Facing Page 404 The Cadotte Homes, Old Bark Houses at Biddle Point " "405 Typical Street in the Old Days at Mackinac Island " "405 Mackinac Harbor, showing Old Agency . . " " 412 Arch Rock. From an early print . . . . " " 413 One of the old Block Houses, Fort Mackinac . Page 417 Two Interesting Formations at Mackinac Island Facing Page 460 View of the Dock at Mackinac Island ... " 461 Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, S.J " "490 John Nicolet Memorial Tablet " "491 North Sally Port, Fort Mackinac .... Page 506 Fort Mackinac. From an early sketch . . " 508 Lewis Cass Facing Page 526 Lewis Cass Memorial Tablet " "527 Statue of Father Jogues " " 554 Father Edward Jacker " "555 Steps leading to Fort Mackinac .... Page 561 An American Indian " 567 Major Robert Rogers Facing Page 572 Michael Dousman " "572 Observation Tower, Fort Holmes . . . . " " 573 ILLUSTRATIONS Scene at Mackinac Island's old Post Office . Facing Page 573 An old Picture of the Fort Page 594 Sugar Loaf Rock. From an old print . . Facing Page 610 The Business Street of Mackinac Island . . " " 611 An Indian Cradle Page 618 Sally Port, Fort Mackinac "623 Conflict of Ojibwas, Sacs and Foxes on Lake Superior Facing Page 626 Martyrdom of the Missionaries . . . . " " 627 Edwin 0. Wood, LL.D., Author of Historic Mackinac " "636 Bird's Eye View of Mackinac Island ..." " 637 Old Block House, Fort Mackinac .... Page 640 One of Mackinac Island's points of interest; rich in legendary lore Facing Page 650 Mackinac Island Summer Home of the Author of Historic Mackinac " " 651 Distance Guide to Mackinac Island (Double page) " "678 "Beauteous Isle! I sing to thee, Mackinac, my Mackinac; Thy lake-bound shores I love to see, Mackinac, my Mackinac. From Arch Rock's height and shelving steep To western cliffs and Lover's Leap, Where memories of the lost one sleep, Mackinac, my Mackinac. "Thy northern shore trod British foe, Mackinac, my Mackinac, That day saw gallant Holmes laid low, Mackinac, my Mackinac. Now Freedom's flag above thee waves, And guards the rest of fallen braves, Their requiem sung by Huron's waves, Mackinac, my Mackinac." HISTORIC MACKINAC Volume II HISTORIC MACKINAC CHAPTER I THE INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY Now they are gone — gone as thy setting blaze Goes down the west, while night is pressing on, And with them the old tale of better days, And trophies of remembered power are gone. Bryant. "TNDIAN tradition," says Schoolcraft,1 "makes the Chip- I pewas one of the chief, certainly by far the most nu merous and widely spread, of the Algonquin stock proper. It represents them to have migrated from the East to the West. On reaching the vicinity of Michilimackinac, they separated at a comparatively modern era into three tribes, calling themselves, respectively, Odjibwas, Odawas, and Podawadumees. What their name was before this era, is not known. It is manifest that the term Odjibwa is not a very ancient one, for it does not occur in the earliest authors. They were probably of the Nipercinean or true Algonquin stock, and had taken the route of the Utawas river, from the St. Lawrence Valley into Lake Huron. The term itself is clearly from Bwa, a voice; and its prefix, Odji, was probably designed to mark a peculiar intonation which the muscles are, as it were, gathered up to denote." 1 The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 136. 2 HISTORIC MACKINAC Mr. William W. Warren, author of the History of the Ojibway Nation,2 commenting on Schoolcraft's derivation of the name, says: "From this, the writer, through his knowledge of the language, is constrained to differ, though acknowledging that so far as the mere word may be regarded, Mr. School craft has given what, in a measure may be considered a natural definition; it is, however, improbable, for the reason that there is not the slightest perceivable pucker or 'drawing up,' in their manner of utterance, as the word O-jib would indicate. The word ojib or Ojibwa, means literally 'puckered, or drawn up.' The answer of their old men when questioned respecting the derivation of their tribal name, is generally evasive; when hard pressed, and surmises given them to go by, they assent in the conclusion that the name is derived from a peculiarity in the make or fashion of their moccasin, which has a puckered seam lengthways over the foot, and which is termed amongst themselves, and in other tribes, the O-jib-wa moccasin. "There is, however, another definition which the writer is disposed to consider the true one, and which has been cor roborated to him by several of their most reliable old men. "The word is composed of O-jib, 'pucker up,' and ub- way, 'to roast,' and it means, 'To roast till puckered up.' "It is well authenticated by their traditions, and by the writings of their early white discoverers, that before they became acquainted with, and made use of the fire arm and other European deadly weapons of war, instead of their primitive bow and arrow and war-club, their wars with other tribes were less deadly, and they were more accus tomed to secure captives, whom under the uncontrolled 2 Minn. Hist. Colls., pp. 35-37. INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 3 feeling incited by aggravated wrong, and revenge for sim ilar injuries, they tortured by fire in various ways. "The name Ab-boin-ug (roasters), which the Ojibways have given to the Dahcotas or Sioux, originated in their roasting their captives, and it is as likely that the word Ojibwa (to roast till puckered up), originated in the same manner. "They have a tradition which will be given under the head of their wars with the Foxes, which is told by their old men as giving the origin of the practice of torturing by fire, and which will fully illustrate the meaning of their tribal name. The writer is even of the opinion that the name is derived from a circumstance which forms part of the tradition.3 "The name does not date far back. As a race or dis tinct people they denominate themselves A-wish-in-aub-ay. "The name of the tribe has been most commonly spelt, Chippeway, and is thus laid down in our different treaties with them, and officially used by our Government. "Mr. Schoolcraft presents it as Od-jib-wa, which is nearer the name as pronounced by themselves. The writer, however, makes use of 0- jib-way as being simpler spelled, and embodying the truest pronunciation; where it is ended with wa, as in Schoolcraft's spelling, the reader would naturally mispronounce it in the plural, which by adding the s would spell was, whereas by ending the word with y preserves its true pronunciation both in singular and plural." The same author gives the following interesting sug gestion as to the probable migrations of this people: 4 3 For other views as to the meaning of Ojibway, see Ibid., pp. 82, 107. 4 Schoolcraft, Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge, II, 135. 4 HISTORIC MACKINAC "Through a close acquaintance with their religious rites and beliefs, I have formed an opinion which I will offer at this time, leaving it to those who have studied the Red race, their rites and traditions, much more closely than myself, either to reject or more fully carry out the idea. The Ojibwa believes that his soul or shadow, after the death of the body, follows a wide beaten path which leads towards the West, and that it goes to a country abounding in every thing that the Indian covets on earth — game in abundance, dancing, and rejoicing. The soul enters a long lodge, in which all his relatives, for generations past, are congre gated, and they welcome him with gladness. To reach this land of joy and bliss, he crosses a deep and rapid water, &c. From this universal belief I am led to think, that formerly, ages past, these Indians lived in a land of plenty — 'a land flowing with milk and honey' — towards the West; that they have, by coercion or otherwise, emigrated east, till the broad Atlantic arrested their further progress, and the white man has turned the faces of tribes and rem nants of tribes again in the direction whence they originally came. It is natural that this event in their ancient history should, in the course of ages, have merged into the present belief of a western home of spirits." In the charming volume, Twenty Years Among our Hos tile Indians, Mr. J. Lee Humfreville, late Captain United States Cavalry, writes of the "Chippewas" : 5 "The hunting ground of the Chippewas extended from the Great Lakes as far west as the Blackfoot country. At one time they were estimated to number from fifteen thou sand to twenty thousand, and were divided into many small tribes, which were scattered over the large territory Op. cit., p. 253. INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 31 "the Notturni of Blangini, for instance, — you will find them very like this Chippewa canzonetta, in the no-meaning and perpetual repetition of certain words and phrases; at the same time, I doubt if it be always necessary for a song to have a meaning — it is enough if it have a sentiment." Note the iteration in the following love song: ' 'Tis now two days, two long days, Since last I tasted food; 'Tis for you, for you, my love, That I grieve, that I grieve, 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve! "The waters flow deep and wide, On which, love, you have sailed; Dividing you far from me. 'Tis for you, for you, my love, 'Tis for you, for you that I grieve!" The following Ojibway love song reflects an appealing sentiment: 21 "They tell me, the men with a white-white face Belong to a purer, nobler race; But why, if they do, and it may be so, Do their tongues cry, 'Yes' — and their actions, 'No'? "They tell me, that white is a heavenly hue, And it may be so, but the sky is blue; And the first of men — as our old men say, Had earth-brown skins, and were made of clay. 21 Schoolcraft, Myth of Hiawatha, p. 307. 32 HISTORIC MACKINAC "But throughout my life, I've heard it said, There's nothing surpasses a tint of red; Oh, the white man's cheeks look pale and sad, Compared to my beautiful Indian lad. "Then let them talk of their race divine, Their glittering domes, and sparkling wine; Give me a lodge, like my fathers had, And my tall, straight, beautiful Indian lad." Quite another aspect of the Ojibway muse is presented by Schoolcraft in his introduction to the traditionary war songs of the Ojibways: 22 "Whoever has heard an Odjibwa war song," he says, "and witnessed an Indian war dance, must be satisfied that the occasion wakes up all the fire and energy of the Indian's soul. His flashing eye — his muscular energy, as he begins the dance — his violent gesticulation as he raises his war- cry — the whole frame and expression of the man, demon strate this. And long before it comes to his turn to utter his stave, or portion of the chant, his mind has been worked up to the most intense point of excitement: his imagination has pictured the enemy — the ambush and the onset — the victory and the bleeding victim, writhing under his prow ess: in imagination he has already stamped him under foot, and torn off his reeking scalp : he has seen the eagles hover ing in the air, ready to pounce on the dead carcass, as soon as the combatants quit the field. "It would require strong and graphic language to give descriptive utterance, in the shape of song, to all he has fancied, and seen and feels on the subject. He himself, 22 The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 410. INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 33 makes no such effort. Physical excitement has absorbed his energies. He is in no mood for calm and connected descriptions of battle scenes. He has no stores of meas ured rhymes to fall back on. All he can do is to utter brief, and often highly symbolic expressions of courage — of defiance — of indomitable rage. His feet stamp the ground, as if he would shake it to its centre. The inspiring drum and mystic rattle communicate new energy to every step, while they serve, by the observance of the most exact time, to concentrate his energy. His very looks depict the spirit of rage, and his yells, uttered quick, sharp, and cut off by the application of the hand to the mouth, are startling and horrific." The following war-song is translated by C. F. Hoffman, from the Algonquin of Schoolcraft: 23 "Hear ye not their shrill-piping screams on the air? Up! Braves for the conflict prepare ye — prepare! Aroused from the canebrake, far south by your drum, With beaks whet from carnage, the Battle Birds come. "Oh, God of my Fathers, as swiftly as they, I ask but to swoop from the hills on my prey : Give this frame to the winds, on the Prairie below, 23 Ibid., p. 412. 34 HISTORIC MACKINAC But my soul — like thy bolt — I would hurl on the foe! "On the forehead of Earth strikes the Sun in his might, Oh, gift me with glances as searching as light. In the front of the onslaught, to single each crest, Till my hatchet grows red on their bravest and best. "Why stand ye back idly, ye Sons of the Lakes? Who boast of the scalp-locks, ye tremble to take. Fear-dreamers may linger, my skies are all bright — Charge — charge — on the War-Path, For God and the Right." From the same source is this translation of the war-song of Wabojeeg, chanted on the eve of battle: 2i "Where are my foes? say, warriors, where? No forest is so black, That it can hide from my quick eye, the vestige of their track: There is no lake so boundless, no path where man can go, Can shield them from my sharp pursuit, or save them from my blow. 2ilbid., p. 4i6. INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 35 The winds that whisper in the trees, the clouds that spot the sky, Impart a soft intelligence, to show me where they lie, The very birds that sail the air, and scream as on they go, Give me a clue my course to tread, and lead me to the foe. "The sun, at dawn, lifts up his head, to guide me on my way, The moon, at night, looks softly down, and cheers me with her ray. The war-crowned stars, those beaming lights, my spirit casts at night, Direct me as I thread the maze, and lead me to the fight. In sacred dreams within my lodge, while resting on the land, Bright omens of success arise, and nerve my warlike hand. Where'er I turn, where'er I go, there is a whispering sound, That tells me I shall crush the foe, and drive him from my ground. "The beaming West invites me on, with smiles of vermil hue, And clouds of promise fill the sky, and deck its heavenly blue, There is no breeze — there is no sign, in ocean, earth or sky, That does not swell my breast with hope, or animate my eye. If to the stormy beach I go, where heavy tempests play, They tell me but, how warriors brave, should conquer in the fray. All nature fills my heart with fires, that prompt me on to go, To rush with rage, and lifted spear, upon my country's foe." Schoolcraft gives the following excellent resume of the 36 HISTORIC MACKINAC traditions, mythology, superstitions and religion of these people: 25 "Their traditions and belief, on the origin of the globe, and the existence of a Supreme Being, are quite accordant with some things in our own history and theory. They believe that the Great Spirit created material matter, and that he made the earth and heavens, by the power of his will. He afterwards made animals and men, out of the earth, and he filled space with subordinate spirits, having something of his own nature, to whom he gave a part of his own power. He made one great and master spirit of evil, to whom he also gave assimilated and subordinate evil spirits, to execute his will. Two antagonist powers, they believe, were thus placed in the world who are continually striving for the mastery, and who have power to affect the fortunes and lives of men. This constitutes the ground work of their religion, sacrifices and worship. "They believe that animals were created before men, and that they originally had rule on the earth. By the power of necromancy, some of these animals were transformed to men, who, as soon as they assumed this new form, began to hunt the animals, and make war against them. It is expected that these animals will resume their human shapes, in a future state, and hence their hunters feign some clumsy excuses, for their present policy of killing them. They believe that all animals, and birds and reptiles, and even insects, possess reasoning faculties, and have souls. It is in these opinions, that we detect the ancient doctrine of transmigration. 25 Ibid., pp. 203-206, 212-217. INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 37 "Their most intelligent priests tell us, that their fore fathers worshipped the sun; this luminary was regarded by them, as one of their Medas told me, as the symbol of divine intelligence, and the figure of it is drawn in their system of picture writing, to denote the Great Spirit. This symbol very often occurs in their pictures of the medicine dance, and the wabeno dance, and other sacred forms of their rude inscriptions. "They believe, at least to some extent, in a duality of souls, one of which is fleshly, or corporeal; the other is in corporeal or mental. The fleshly soul goes immediately, at death, to the land of spirits, or future bliss. The mental soul abides with the body, and hovers round the place of sepulture. A future state is regarded by them, as a state of rewards, and not of punishments. They expect to in habit a paradise, filled with pleasures for the eye, and the ear, and the taste. A strong and universal belief in divine mercies absorbs every other attribute of the Great Spirit, except his power and ubiquity; and they believe, so far as we can gather it, that this mercy will be shown to all. There is not, in general, a very discriminating sense of moral distinctions and responsibilities, and the faint out- shadowings, which we sometimes hear among them, of a deep and sombre stream to be crossed by the adventurous soul, in its way to the land of bliss, does not exercise such a practical influence over their lives, as to interfere with the belief of universal acceptance after death. So firm is this belief, that their proper and most reverent term for the Great Spirit, is Gezha Monedo, that is to say, Merciful Spirit. Gitchy Monedo, which is also employed, is often an equivocal phrase. The term Wazheaud, or Maker, is 38 HISTORIC MACKINAC used to designate the Creator, when speaking of his ani mated works. The compound phrase Wasosemigoyan, or universal Father, is also heard. "The great spirit of evil, called Mudje Monedo, and Matche Monito, is regarded as a created, and not a pre-ex isting being. Subordinate spirits of evil are denoted by using the derogative form of the word, in sh by which Moneto is rendered Monetosh. The exceeding flexibility of the language is well calculated to enable them to ex press distinction of this nature. "The tribe has a general tradition of a deluge, in which the earth was covered with water, reaching above the high est hills, or mountains, but not above a tree which grew on the latter, by climbing which a man was saved. This man was the demi-god of their fictions, who is called Manabozho, by whose means the waters were stayed and the earth re created. He employed for this purpose various animals who were sent to dive down for some of the primordial earth, of which a little was, at length, brought up by the beaver, and this formed the germ or nucleus of the new, or rather rescued planet. What particular allegories are hid under this story, is not certain; but it is known that this, and other tribes, are much in the habit of employing allegories, and symbols, under which we may suspect, they have con cealed parts of their historical traditions and beliefs. This deluge of the Algonquin tribes was produced, as their leg ends tell, by the agency of the chief of the evil spirits, sym bolized by a great serpent, who is placed, throughout the tale, in an antagonistical position to the demi-god Mana bozho, is the same, it is thought, with the Abou, and the Michabou, or the Great Hare of elder writers. . . . "One of the most curious opinions of this people is their INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 39 belief in the mysterious and sacred character of fire. They obtain sacred fire, for all national and ecclesiastical pur poses, from the flint. Their national pipes are lighted with this fire. It is symbolical of purity. Their notions of the boundary between life and death, which is also symbolically the limit of the material verge between this and a future state, are revealed in connection with the exhibition of flames of fire. They also make sacrifices by fire of some part of the first fruits of the chase. These traits are to be viewed, perhaps, in relation to their ancient worship of the sun, above noticed, of which the traditions and belief, are still generally preserved. The existence among them of the numerous classes of Jossakeeds, or mutterers — (the word is from the utterance of sounds low on the earth), is a trait that will remind the reader of a similar class of men, in early ages, in the eastern hemisphere. These persons constitute, indeed, the Magi of our western forests. In the exhibition of their art, and of the peculiar notions they pro mulgate on the subject of a sacred fire, and the doctrine of transmigration, they would seem to have their affiliation of descent rather with the disciples of Zoroaster and the fruitful Persian stock, than with the less mentally refined Mongolian hordes. . . . "To give some idea of the Indian mythology as above denoted, it is necessary to conceive every department of the universe to be filled with invisible spirits. These spirits hold in their belief nearly the same relation to matter that the soul does to the body; they pervade it. They believe not only that every man, but also that every animal has a soul; and as might be expected under this belief, they make no distinction between instinct and reason. Every animal is supposed to be endowed with a reasoning faculty. The 40 HISTORIC MACKINAC movements of birds and other animals are deemed to be the result, not of mere instinctive animal powers implanted and limited by the creation, without inherent power to ex ceed or enlarge them, but of a process of ratiocination. They go a step farther, and believe that animals, particu larly birds, can look into, and are familiar with the vast operations of the world above. Hence the great respect they pay to birds as agents of omen, and also to some ani mals, whose souls they expect to encounter in another life. Nay, it is the settled belief among the northern Algonquins, that animals will fare better in another world, in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments have been curtailed in this life. "Dreams are considered by them as a means of direct communication with the spiritual world; and hence the great influence which dreams exert over the Indian mind and conduct. They are generally regarded as friendly warnings of their personal manitos. No labor or enter prise is undertaken against their indications. A whole army is turned back if the dreams of an officiating priest are unfavorable. A family lodge has been known to be deserted by all its inmates at midnight, leaving the fixtures behind, because one of the family had dreamt of an attack, and been frightened with the impression of blood and tomahawks. To give more solemnity to his office the priest or leading meta exhibits a sack containing the carved or stuffed images of animals, with medicines and bones con stituting the sacred charms. These are never exhibited to the common gaze, but, on a march, the sack is hung up in plain view. To profane the medicine sack would be equivalent to violating the altar. Dreams are carefully sought by every Indian, whatever be their rank, at certain INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 41 periods of youth, with fasting. These fasts are sometimes continued a great number of days, until the devotee be comes pale and emaciated. The animals that appear pro pitiously to the mind during these dreams, are fixed on and selected as personal manitos, and are ever after viewed as guardians. This period of fasting and dreaming is deemed as essential by them as any religious rite whatever em ployed by Christians. The initial fast of a young man or girl holds the relative importance of baptism, with this pe culiarity, that it is a free-will, or self -dedicatory rite. "The naming of children has an intimate connection with the system of mythological agency. Names are usually bestowed by some aged person, most commonly under the supposed guidance of a particular spirit. They are often derived from the mystic scenes presented in a dream, and refer to aerial phenomena. Yellow Thunder, Bright Sky, Big Cloud, Spirit Sky, Spot in the Sky, are common names for males. Females are more commonly named from the vernal or autumnal landscape, as Woman of the Valley, Woman of the Rock, &c. Females are not excluded from participation in the prophetical office or jugglership. Instances of their having assumed this func tion are known to have occurred, although it is commonly confined to males. In every other department of life they are apparently regarded as inferior or inclusive beings. Names bestowed with ceremony in childhood are deemed sacred, and are seldom pronounced, out of respect, it would seem, to the spirit under whose favor they are sup posed to have been selected. Children are usually called in the family by some name which can be familiarly used. A male child is frequently called by the mother, a bird, or young one, or old man, as terms of endearment, or bad boy, 42 HISTORIC MACKINAC evil-doer, &c, in the way of light reproach; and these names often adhere to the individual through life. Parents avoid the true name often by saying, my son, my younger, or my elder son, or my younger or my elder daughter, for which the language has separate words. This subject of a reluc tance to tell their names is very curious and deserving of investigation. "The Indian 'art and mystery' of hunting is a tissue of necromantic or mythological reliances. The personal spirits of the hunter are invoked to give success in the chase. Images of the animals sought for are sometimes carved in wood, or drawn by the metas on tabular pieces of wood. By applying their mystic medicines to these, the animals are supposed to be drawn into the hunter's path; and when animals have been killed, the Indian feels, that although they are an authorized and lawful prey, yet there is some thing like accountability to the animal's suppositional soul. An Indian has been known to ask the pardon of an animal, which he had just killed. Drumming, shaking the rattle, and dancing and singing, are the common accompaniments of all these superstitious observances, and are not peculiar to one class alone. In the wabeno dance, which is esteemed by the Indians as the most latitudinarian co-fraternity, love songs are introduced. They are never heard in the medi cine dances. They would subject one to utter contempt in the war dance. "The system of Manito worship has another peculiarity, which is illustrative of Indian character. During the fasts and ceremonial dances by which a warrior prepares himself to come up to the duties of war, everything that savors of effeminacy is put aside. The spirits which preside over bravery and war are alone relied on, and these are supposed INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 43 to be offended by the votary's paying attention to objects less stern and manly than themselves. Venus and Mars cannot be worshipped at the same time. It would be con sidered a complete desecration for a warrior, while engaged in war, to entangle himself by another, or more tender sentiment. We think this opinion should be duly estimated in the general award which history gives to the chastity of warriors. We would record the fact to their praise, as fully as it has been done; but we would subtract something from the motive, in view of his paramount obligations of a sacred character, and also the fear of the ridicule of his co-warriors. "In these leading doctrines of an oral and mystic school of wild philosophy may be perceived the ground-work of their mythology, and the general motive for selecting familiar spirits. Manito, or as the Chippewas pronounce it, monedo, signifies simply a spirit, and there is neither a good nor a bad meaning attached to it, when not under the government of some adjective or qualifying particle. We think, however, that so far as there is a meaning dis tinct from an invisible existence, the tendency is to a bad meaning. A bad meaning is, however, distinctly con veyed by the inflection, osh or ish. The particle wee, added in the same relation, indicates a witch. Like nu merous other nouns, it has its diminutive in os, its plural in wug, and its local form in ing. To add 'great,' as the Jesuit writers did, is far from deciding the moral character of the spirit, and hence modern translators prefix gezha, signifying merciful. Yet we doubt whether the word God should not be carried boldly into translations of the scrip tures. In the conference and prayer-room, the native teachers use the inclusive pronominal form of Father, 44 HISTORIC MACKINAC altogether. Truth breaks slowly on the mind, sunk in so profound a darkness as the Indians are, and there is danger in retaining the use of words like those which they have so long employed in a problematical, if not a derogative sense. "The love for mystery and magic which pervades the native ceremonies, has affected the forms of their lan guage. They have given it a power to impart life to dead masses. Vitality in their forms of utterance is deeply implanted in all these dialects, which have been examined; they provide, by the process of inflection, for keeping a perpetual distinction between the animate and inanimate kingdoms. But when vitality and spirituality are so blended as we see them in their doctrine of animal souls, the inevitable result must be, either to exalt the principle of life, in all the classes of nature, into immortality, or to sink the latter to the level of mere organic life. Indian word-workers have taken the former dilemma, and peopled their paradise not only with the souls of men, but with the souls of every imaginable kind of beasts. Spirituality is thus clogged with sensual accidents. The human soul hun gers, and it must have food deposited upon the grave. It suffers from cold, and the body must be wrapped about with cloths. It is in darkness, and a light must be kindled at the head of the grave. It wanders through plains and across streams, subject to the providences of this life, in quest of its place of enjoyment, and when it reaches it, it finds every species of sensual trial, which renders the place not indeed a heaven of rest, but another experimental world — very much like this. Of punish ments, we hear nothing; rewards are looked for abundantly, and the idea that the Master of life, or the merciful Spirit, INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 45 will be alike merciful to all, irrespective of the acts of this life, or the degree of moral turpitude, appears to leave for their theology a belief in restorations or universalism. There is nothing to refer them to a Saviour; that idea was beyond their conception, and of course there was no occasion for the offices of the Holy Ghost. Darker and more chilling views to a theologian, it would be impossible to present. Yet it may be asked, what more benign result could have been, or can now be, anticipated in the hearts of an ignorant, uninstructed and wandering people, exposed to sore vicissitudes in their lives and fortunes, and without the guidance of the light of Revelation? "Of their mythology proper, we have space only to make a few remarks. Some of the mythologic existences of the Indians admit of poetic uses. Manabozho may be consid ered as a sort of terrene Jove, who could perform all things whatever, but lived some time on earth, and excelled particularly in feats of strength and manual dexterity. All the animals were subject to him. He also survived a deluge, which the traditions mention, having climbed a tree on an extreme elevation during the prevalence of the waters, and sent down various animals for some earth, out of which he re-created the globe. The four cardinal points are so many demi-gods, of whom the West, called KA- BEUN, has priority of age. The East, North and South are deemed to be his sons, by a maid who incautiously exposed herself to the west wind. IAGOO (Iagoo) is the god of the marvellous, and many most extravagant tales of forest and domestic adventure are heaped upon him. KWASIND is a sort of Samson, who threw a huge mass of rock such as the Cyclops cast at Mentor. WEENG is the god of sleep, who is represented to have numerous 46 HISTORIC MACKINAC small emissaries at his service, reminding us of Pope's creation of gnomes. These minute emissaries climb up the forehead, and wielding a tiny club, knock individuals to sleep. PAUGUK is death, in his symbolic attitude. He is armed with a bow and arrows. It would be easy to extend this enumeration. "The mental powers of the Indian constitutes a topic which we do not design to discuss. But it must be manifest that some of their peculiarities are brought out by their system of mythology and spirit-craft. War, public policy, hunting, abstinence, endurance, and courageous adventure, form the leading topics of their mental efforts. These are deemed the appropriate themes of men, sages and war riors. But their intellectual essays have also a domestic theatre of exhibition. It is here that the Indian mind un bends itself and reveals some of its less obvious traits. Their public speakers cultivate a particular branch of oratory. They are careful in the use of words, and are regarded as standards of purity in the language. They appear to have an accurate ear for sounds, and delight in rounding off a period, for which the languages afford great facilities, by their long and stately words, and multiform inflexions. A drift of thought — an elevation of style, is observable in their public speaking which is dropt in private conversation. Voice, attitude and motion, are deemed of the highest consequence. Much of the meaning of their expressions is varied by the vehement, subdued, or pro longed tone in which they are uttered. In private con versation, on the contrary, all is altered. There is an equanimity of tone, an easy vein of narration or dia logue, in which the power of mimicry is most strikingly brought out. The very voice and words of the supposed INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 47 speakers, in their fictitious legends, are assumed. Fear, supplication, timidity or boasting, are exactly depicted, and the deepest interest excited. All is ease and freedom from restraint. There is nothing of the coldness or severe formality of the council. The pipe is put to its ordinary use, and all its symbolic sanctity is laid aside with the wampum belt and the often reiterated state epithets, 'Nosa' and 'Kosinan,' i.e., my father and our father. "Another striking trait of the race is found in their leg ends and tales. Those of the aboriginal race who excel in private conversation, become to their tribes oral chron iclers, and are relied on for historical traditions as well as tales. It is necessary, in listening to them, to distinguish between the gossip and the historian, the narrator of real events, and of nursery tales. For they gather together everything from the fabulous feats of Manabozho and Mishosha, to the hair-breadth escapes of a Pontiac, or a Black Hawk. These narrators are generally men of a good memory and a certain degree of humor, who have experienced vicissitudes, and are cast into the vale of tears. In the rehearsal of their tales, transformations and trans migrations are a part of the machinery relied on; and some of them are as accurately adapted to the purposes of amusement or instruction, as if Zoroaster or Ovid himself had been consulted in their production. Many objects in the inanimate creation, according to these tales, were orig inally men and women. And numerous animals had other forms in their first stages of existence, which they, as well as human beings, forfeited, by the power of necromancy and transmigration. The evening star, it is fabled, was formerly a woman. An ambitious boy became one of the planets. Three brothers, traveling in a canoe, were trans- 48 HISTORIC MACKINAC lated into a group of stars. The fox, the lynx, hare, robin, eagle and numerous other species, retain places in the Indian system of astronomy. The mouse obtained celes tial elevation by creeping up the rainbow, which Indian story makes a flossy mass of bright threads, and by the power of gnawing them, he relieved a captive in the sky. It is a coincidence, which we note, that ursa major is called by them the bear. "These legends are not confined to the sky alone. The earth also is a fruitful theatre of transformations. The wolf was formerly a boy, who, being neglected by his parents, was transformed into this animal. A shell, lying on the shore, was transformed to the racoon. The brains of an adultress were converted into the addikumaig, or white fish. "The power of transformation was variously exercised. It most commonly existed in magicians, of whom Abo, Manabosh or Manabozho, and Mishosha, retain much celeb rity. The latter possessed a magic canoe which would rush forward through the water on the utterance of a charm, with a speed that would outstrip the wind. Hundreds of miles were performed in as many minutes. The charm which he uttered, consisted of a monosyllable, containing one consonant, which does not belong to the language; and this word has no definable meaning. So that the language of magic and demonology has one feature in common in all ages and with every nation. "Man, in his common shape, is not alone the subject of their legends. The intellectual creations of the Indians admit of the agency of giants and fairies. Anak and his progeny could not have created more alarm in the minds of the ten faithless spies, than do the race of fabulous Ween- INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 49 digos to the Indian tribes. These giants are represented as cannibals, who ate up men, women and children. In dian fairies are of two classes, distinguished as the place of their revels is either the land or water. Land-fairies are imagined to choose their residences about promontories, water-falls and solemn groves. The water, besides its appropriate class of aquatic fairies, is supposed to be the residence of a race of beings called Nibanaba which have their analogy, except as to sex, in the mermaid. The In dian word indicates a male. Ghosts are the ordinary ma chinery in their tales of terror and mystery. There is, perhaps, a glimmering of the idea of retributive justice in the belief that ghosts and spirits are capable of existing in fire." CHAPTER II MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 0' a/~\N Huron's wave there stands an isle,1 Which lifts on high its tower-like pile, Guarding the strait, whose promont sides Press into union various tides, From broad Superior rushing down, Chilled with the arctic winter's frown, Or coming up from milder skies, Where Michigania's sources rise. This isle — by wild tradition long Made theme of forest tale and song — In ev'ry age has caught the eye Of Indian, as he wanders by, Who sees it rise, like giant mound, O'erlooking all the region round, The clust'ring islands, sever'd main, And straits drawn out, like liquid chain ; And as his light canoe draws near, He stays awhile its fleet career, That, off'ring up a simple prayer, And leaving simple tribute there, The Manitou, whom fancy sees Enshrouded 'mong the rocks and trees, May send him on his course with fav'ring breeze." i Henry Whiting, Sannillac, p. 3. 50 MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 51 "Sugar Loaf, on Mackinac," writes Mr. Stanley Newton,2 "is easily the best example of Manito worship in the North country. This rock has been the object of superstitious reverence by thousands of Chippewas, Hurons, Ottawas, Potawatomies and Sioux for hundreds of years; and even the hot-blooded Mohawks and Senecas are said to have laid down their arms and knelt in fear before its peculiar forma tion. It was considered the abode of the one Great Spirit. Here he dwelt in impenetrable dignity and majesty; and received at the foot of his dwelling the offerings of his red children. So sacred was the ground that it is only in com paratively modern times that we read of its being inhab ited; tradition tells us that formerly it was left to Manito alone. His devotees brought their sacrifices from the mainland ; stepped ashore with awe and trembling, and car ried their votive offerings to the Rock; and after a short supplication to the deity lost no time in leaving a place of such dread solemnity. The bones of the greatest of the chiefs, their wives and children, were deposited on the Island, to rest forever under the immediate protection of the Keeper of Souls." "Indeed," he continues,3 "for aught poor mortals can tell, it was he who called the Island into being for his special purpose. Do we not know that the Chippewas once fished over its very site? And that once upon a time a blinding fog hung upon the Straits for the space of three suns, and that when it arose, there loomed the Island, full-panoplied and beautiful, with all its trees and flowers in bloom? Surely it was then the Great Spirit came. For a long time the Indians durst not venture near, 2 Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie, by Stanley Newton, p. 26. 3 P. 66. 52 HISTORIC MACKINAC but at last they came timidly, with canoes filled with wampum and offerings to propitiate the god, and honor his new home. And he was gracious unto them, and filled their waters with fish, and their hunting grounds with game; he tipped the tongues of their chiefs with silver, and made their warriors unconquerable in battle. Truly it was a golden age, until the white man came. "Be it known to all pale-faces that Gitchi Manito cannot abide the white men. Their scoffings and scomings, their contempt for his ancient rites, their ways of living, their fire-water, these things are not acceptable in his sight. So, with the coming of the Europeans, he left his sacred shrine in sorrow and anger, and flew to the distant regions of the North, where he dwells for a space in the flaming tongues of the Aurora Borealis. "But think not that the whites will finally prevail. As the god took flight from his Island temple, he stamped his foot on the high plateau, and caused a great seam to open in the limestone, extending down to an unmeasured depth, and known to the Islanders and tourists of our day as 'The Crack.' When the Great Spirit has completed his mighty spells the crack will widen and deepen as the days go by, and finally, at his command, a great storm will come, and the Island will split and fall apart, sinking once more, and forever, beneath the waters of the Straits." Says Mr. Charles Ellis: 4 "Mackinac Island, a rock- walled piece of land in Lake Huron, is the most interesting spot in all our Great Lakes, having been the home of the first man and the first woman who ever trod upon the globe. Here it was, according to the ancient Indian legend of creation, that Michi Manitou, the Great Spirit, dwelt when 4 The American Magazine, March, 1888, pp. 515-517. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 53 on earth; and here he placed the red Adam and Eve to have the care of his island home. "Schoolcraft says the modern meaning of the name Mis- silimackinac among the Indians is 'the place of dancing spirits.' Sheldon thought the name meant 'great turtle,' and that its origin was the resemblance of the Island to that animal: Charlevoix, who was among the Indians of the lake country about 1720-1, found a tradition that Michi- bou was Manitou, or God of Waters — that is, of the lakes; that he was born on this Island; that he created the lakes and the beaver for the red people; and that they made sac rifices to him for his providence. Such offerings were also made at that time to Lake Superior, as having been es pecially created for the purpose of raising beaver. If the Indians made proper sacrifices, they would catch many beaver, and at death would be admitted to the celestial regions away to the West, beyond the mountains. If they failed to make the right offerings, they would lose beaver, and at death be compelled to wander up and down about the lakes and woods, with no wigwams, under the watchful ness of sleepless giants or monsters, sixty feet high. "These giants or monsters were tall, conical rocks, which still exist, and they explain the long name. The word Michi is 'great.' The French spelled it Missi. It is the first part of the name of the great river of the West. In another form, it was the first name of Lake Superior, the greatest of lakes. It is in the name of Michigan — the Land of Great Waters. "One of these monsters stands on Mackinac Island, an other in the village of St. Ignace, and still others are to be found in the lower parts of the upper peninsula of Michi gan. That on the Island is about ninety feet high, and 54 HISTORIC MACKINAC it is as much of a curiosity to the average white man as it was centuries ago to the ordinary red. From the legend of the creation to which I have referred, and whose ex istence it was my good fortune to discover, we learn that this rocky cone was made by Manitou to be his home. A cave in the rock is pointed out as proof of this. The Indians probably reasoned about these objects in some such way as this: If Manitou made this stone wigwam for himself, he made all the Michi Mackinack, that is, all the great monsters, for some special purpose of his own. If Manitou himself lived in one of these on the Island, other spirits live in those about the shores and forests. In time they concluded that these spirits were there to see that the red people paid Manitou for his beaver. In time, also, the name of these objects became the name of the land, and hence all this region was Michilimackinack. "The conception of 'dancing spirits' as the meaning of the name, sprang from the old legendary belief that when the original father and mother of the race died, they became spirits, and continued thus to watch over the Island home of Manitou. The other conception that it meant 'great turtle,' grew out of the same legend of creation, which says that Manitou made a turtle out of a drop of his own sweat and sent it to the bottom of the lake; that it brought up a mouthful of mud, from which Manitou cre ated the Island, and then as a reward to the turtle for his part in the act, placed him upon the Island to sleep and dream forever in the summer sun of paradise. It is not surprising that in the course of ages the ancient legend has become somewhat frayed, or even that tom bits of it have served to start new ones. All of them however, come to- MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 55 gether beautifully in the grand legend of the red Adam and Eve." This legend, curiously like that of the Hebraic Adam and Eve, is the story of Atoacan and Atahensic: 5 "Michabou, or the Great Hare, sat upon the face of the waters — he, and his creatures, which were all four-legged. The form of this being was unlike that of anything ever seen on the earth, before or since. He had four legs, or rather two legs and two arms, but he used them as if they were legs, and he used the two arms for purposes for which legs could not be used to advantage. So he had four legs and two arms, and yet there were but four in all. Each of his creatures was unlike the others; all were known and distinguished by something which did not belong to another. Some had but one leg, some had twenty ; some had no legs, but many arms ; and some had neither legs nor arms. The same diversity prevailed with regard to the eyes, and mouth, and nose, and ears. Indeed, they were a strange crowd of creatures, and not the least strange of all was Michabou himself, the head chief, or rather great father of all the creatures which moved over the face of the mighty waters. "Michabou was married to a woman quite as odd and deformed as himself, who bore him many children of strange and various shapes. When the time had come for her to bring forth her one-thousandth child, she had a strange dream. She dreamed that the child within her refused to see the light, till he had something firm and stable to stand upon — something which would permit him to enjoy rest undisturbed by motion. She told this dream 5 Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, II, 43-48. 56 HISTORIC MACKINAC to her husband, whom it puzzled very much. At length he made out that he was to create a world. He knew be fore, that the bottom of the ocean was covered with sand. So he dived down, and brought up from thence a glittering grain to serve as the germ of the world. "Having taken this grain of glittering sand into the hollow of his hand, Michabou blew upon it until it so expanded, that it became a little earth. He then set it afloat upon the waters, where it continued increasing in magnitude, until it was large enough to sustain, without sinking, the child which the wife of the great chief, after bearing about her for forty seasons, brought forth to the light of day. This child, upon being born, had the form of a man, and was placed upon the earth thus created. He was the first being which had ever borne the form of a man, and the first occupier of the earth. They gave him the name of Atoacan, which signifies the 'great father, or beginner of a race.' When he was born, he was larger in stature than any man that has been born since, and he increased in size, until his head towered above the tallest woods. "But Atoacan was alone, and life soon became a burthen to him. He was solitary and sad, and found no pleasure in the beautiful things which were daily, hourly, springing up on the earth. He saw the flowers bloom, and scent the air, but they afforded no pleasure to his eyes, no refresh ment to his soul. Sweet fruits were bending the bushes to the earth, or clustering on the boughs, but they were taste less; for it was in his nature to enjoy nothing, prize nothing, unless participated in by another — the counterpart of him self. So he put clay upon his head, and cried loud to his father, the Great Hare, for a companion. Michabou, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 57 perceiving that he and his strange-shaped creatures would be supplanted in power by the son whom he had begotten, the new creature man, had ascended to the heavens: he heard the prayer of his son, and listened to it. "There was among the people of the skies a beautiful maiden, whose name was Atahensic. She was fairest of all the daughters of the air, beautiful as the sun, mild as the moon, and sportive as the stars. Michabou asked her if she would descend to earth, and become the com panion and wife of his son; and she, delighted as women always are, at the prospect of a journey, no matter whither, consented. So Michabou made a long string of the sinews and tendons of the various land animals, and by this string he lowered Atahensic into the arms of his delighted son. "The man, no longer solitary, but furnished with the being, intended by the constitution of nature and the Great Master of all for the companion and comfort of his life, set about appropriating to his use the various things he saw. He was no longer solitary, but met the difficulties which spring up in the path of human life, and the labours which he is compelled to bestow upon the procuring of food, with cheerfulness and alacrity. He now went in the morn ing to the forest glade to hunt the red deer, and his toils were not thought of, because, when they were ended, when the woods, made dark by the coming shades of night, rang shrill with the lay of the fire-bird, and his shafts were all spent, he could bear home the spoils they had won, and be rejoiced by the smiles of his companion and wife. "Atahensic bore her husband two children, a son and a daughter. These two married and built themselves a lodge far from their parents. They had many children, but 58 HISTORIC MACKINAC Michabou, who came down now and then, to see how things were going on, observing the slow rate at which the world was peopling, determined to adopt another plan. So he told Atoacan that, upon the death of every animal, he must skin it. He must bum the skin, drop a drop of his own blood upon the carcass, and cover it up carefully with dry leaves from the forest trees. Upon the fourth day after he had covered it with leaves, if he would remove the leaves, he would find beneath them a sleeping infant, which, upon waking, would utter a cry of surprise, at finding itself no longer a beast but a human being. Each of these beings would possess the power to assist in the like multiplication of the species, but be denied other power of procreation. Having thus left directions for the speedy peopling of the world, Michabou again ascended to the heavens, which he has not left since. "Atoacan and his son carefully obeyed the commands which had been laid upon them, and of every beast or four- footed creature that died he formed a human being. These human beings were gifted with the qualities and passions which belonged to them in life; these they have retained, and thence it is that, at this day, the dispositions of men are so various. We see one crafty and subtle — he has the blood of the fox; another cruel, malicious, blood-thirsty — he is descended from the wolf. The red skin is courag eous — the horse was his father; the white man is a coward — his mother was a sheep. One is full of sprightliness and agility — he is of the blood of the mountain-cat; another is clumsy — the musk-ox was his father. Strange and vari ous are the dispositions which the men have — cunning, subtle, sly, wise, brave, prudent, careless, cowardly, peace able, blood-thirsty. These are qualities derived from the MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 59 beasts which died as beasts, and became men and the ancestors of the tribes living on the earth." According to Schoolcraft, the name of the Island was called "Mish-i-nim-auk-in-ong" by the Indians.6 "The term mishi," he says, "as heard in mishipishiu, panther, and mishigenabik, a gigantic serpent of fabled notoriety, signifies great; nim, appears to be derived from nimi, to dance, and auk from autig, tree or standing object; ong is the common termination for locality, the vowels i (second and fifth syllable) being brought into the compound word as connectives. In a language which separates all matter, the whole creation, in fact, into two classes of nouns — deemed animates and inanimates — the distinctions of gen der are lost, so far as the laws of syntax are involved. It is necessary only to speak of objects as possessing and wanting vitality, to communicate to them the property named, whether it in reality possesses it in nature or not. For this purpose words which lack it in their penultimate syllables, take the consonant n to make their plurals for inanimates, and g for animates. By this simple method, the whole inanimate creation — woods, trees, rocks, clouds, waters, &c. — is clothed at will with life, or the opposite class of objects are shorn of it, which enables the speaker, whose mind is imbued with his peculiar mythology and necromancy, to create a spiritual world around him. In this creation it is well known to all who have investigated the subject, that the Indian mind has exercised its in genuity, by creating classes and species of spirits, of all imaginable kinds, which, to his fancied eye, fill all sur rounding space. If he be skilled in the magic rites of the sacred meda, or jesukewin, it is but to call on these spirits, 6 Personal Memoirs, p. 443-444. 60 HISTORIC MACKINAC and his necromantic behest is at its highest point of energy. "In reference to this spiritual creation, the word mish signifies great, or rather big, but as adjectives are, like substantives, transitive, the term requires a transitive objec tive sign, to mark the thing or person that is big, hence the term Michi signifies big spirit, or 'fairy' — for it is a kind of pukwudjininne, and not of monetoes that are described. The terms nim and auk, dance and tree, and the local ong, are introduced to describe the particular locality and circumstances of the mythologic dances. The true mean ing of the phrase, therefore, appears to be, Place of the Dancing Spirits. The popular etymology that derives the word from Big Turtle is still farther back in the chain of etymology, and is founded on the fact that the michi are turtle spirits. This is the result of my inquiries with the best interpreters of the language. The French, to whom we owe the original orthography, used ch for sh, interchanged n for I in the third syllable, and modified the syllables auk and ong into the sounds of ack — which are, I believe, general rules founded on the organs of utterance, in their adoption by that nation of Indian words. Hence Michilimackinack. The word has, in Indian, a plural inflective in oag, which the French threw away. The Iroquois, who extended their incursions here, called it Ti-e-don-de-ro-ga." A still different origin is given by' Andrew J. Blackbird, son of an Ottawa chief, who finds a historical definition: T "Again, most every historian, or annalist so-called, who writes about the Island of Mackinac and the Straits and vicinity, tells us that the definition or the meaning of the word 'Michilimackinac' in the Ottawa and Chippewa lan- 7 History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, pp. 19-20. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 61 guage, is 'large turtle,' derived from the word Mi-she-mi- ki-nock in the Chippewa language. That is, 'Mi-she' as one of the adnominals or adjectives in the Ottawa and Chippewa languages, which would signify tremendous in size; and 'Mikinock' is the name of mud turtle — meaning, therefore, 'monstrous large turtle,' as the historians would have it. But we consider this to be a clear error. Wher ever those annalists, or those who write about the Island of Mackinac, obtain their information as to the definition of the word Michilimackinac, I don't know, when our tra dition is so direct and so clear with regard to the historical definition of that word, and is far from being derived from the word 'Michimikinock,' as the historians have told us. Our tradition says that when the Island was first discovered by the Ottawas, which was some time before America was known as an existing country by the white man, there was a small independent tribe, a remnant race of Indians who occupied this Island, who became confederated with the Ottawas when the Ottawas were living at Manitoulin, for merly called Ottawa Island, which is situated north of Lake Huron. The Ottawas thought a good deal of this unfortu nate race of people, as they were a kind of interesting sort of people; but, unfortunately, they had most powerful ene mies, who every now and then would come among them to make war with them. Their enemies were of the Iro quois of New York. Therefore, once in the dead of the winter while the Ottawas were having a great jubilee and war dances at their island, now Manitoulin, on account of the great conquest over the We-ne-be-goes of Wisconsin, of which I will speak more fully in subsequent chapters, during which time the Senecas of New York, of the Iroquois family of Indians, came upon the remnant race and 62 HISTORIC MACKINAC fought them, and almost entirely annihilated them. But two escaped to tell the story, who affected their escape by flight and by hiding in one of the natural caves at the Island, and therefore that was the end of this race. And according to our understanding and traditions the tribal name of those disastrous people was 'Mi-shi-ne-macki-naw-go,' which is still existing to this day as a monument of their former existence; for the Ottawas and Chippewas named this little Island 'Mi-shi-ne-macki-nong' for memorial sake of those their former confederates, which word is the locative case of the Indian noun 'Michinemackinawgo.' Therefore, we contend, this is properly where the name Michilimackinac is originated." The legend of Osseo, or Son of the Evening Star, is in accord with the generally accepted derivation of the Island's name as advanced by Schoolcraft. It is as follows: 8 "There once lived an Indian in the north, who had ten daughters, all of whom grew up to womanhood. They were noted for their beauty, but especially Oweenee, the youngest, who was very independent in her way of thinking. She was a great admirer of romantic places, and paid very little attention to the numerous young men who came to her father's lodge for the purpose of seeing her. Her elder sisters were all solicited in marriage from their parents, and one after another, went off to dwell in the lodges of their husbands, or mothers-in-law, but she would listen to no proposals of the kind. At last she married an old man called Osseo, who was scarcely able to walk, and was too poor to have things like others. They jeered and laughed at her, on all sides, but she seemed to be quite happy, and said to them, 'It is my choice, and you will see in the end, 8 Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, pp. 152-159. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 63 who has acted the wisest.' Soon after, the sisters and their husbands and their parents were all invited to a feast, and as they walked along the path, they could not help pitying their young and handsome sister, who had such an unsuitable mate. Osseo often stopped and gazed up wards, but they could perceive nothing in the direction he looked, unless it was the faint glimmering of the evening star. They heard him muttering to himself as they went along, and one of the elder sisters caught the words, 'Sho- wain-ne-me-shin-nosa.' 9 'Poor old man,' said she, 'he is talking to his father, what a pity it is, that he would not fall and break his neck, that our sister might have a handsome young husband.' Presently they passed a large hollow log, lying with one end toward the path. The moment Osseo, who was of the turtle totem, came to it, he stopped short, uttered a loud and peculiar yell, and then dashing into one end of the log, he came out at the other, a most beautiful young man, and springing back to the road, he led off the party with steps as light as the reindeer. But on turning round to look for his wife, behold, she had been changed into an old, decrepit woman, who was bent almost double, and walked with a cane. The husband, however, treated her very kindly, as she had treated him during the time of his enchantment, and constantly ad dressed her by the term of ne-ne-moosh-a, or 'my sweet heart.' "When they came to the hunter's lodge with whom they were to feast, they found the feast ready prepared, and as soon as their entertainer had finished his harangue, (in which he told them his feasting was in honour of the Evening, or Woman's Star), they began to partake of the [Notes 9-10 are Schoolcraft's.] 9 "Pity me, my father." 64 HISTORIC MACKINAC portion dealt out, according to age and character, to each one. The food was very delicious, and they were all happy but Osseo, who looked at his wife and then gazed upward, as if he were looking into the substance of the sky. Sounds were soon heard, as if from far-off voices in the air, and they became plainer and plainer, till he could clearly distinguish some of the words. " 'My son — my son,' said the voice, 'I have seen your afflictions and pity your wants. I come to call you away from a scene that is stained with blood and tears. The earth is full of sorrows. Giants and sorcerers, the ene mies of mankind, walk abroad in it, and are scattered throughout its length. Every night they are lifting their voices to the Power of Evil, and every day they make themselves busy in casting evil in the hunter's path. You have long been their victim, but shall be their victim no more. The spell you were under is broken. Your evil genius is overcome. I have cast him down by my superior strength, and it is this strength I now exert for your hap piness. Ascend, my son — ascend into the skies, and par take of the feast I have prepared for you in the stars, and bring with you those you love. " 'The food set before you is enchanted and blessed. Fear not to partake of it. It is endowed with magic power to give immortality to mortals, and to change men to spirits. Your bowls and kettles shall be no longer wood and earth. The one shall become silver, and the other wampum. They shall shine like fire, and glisten like the most beautiful scarlet. Every female shall also change her state and looks, and no longer be doomed to laborious tasks. She shall put on the beauty of the starlight, and become a shining bird of the air, clothed with shining MARQUETTE MONUMENT, ST. IGNACE, MICHIGAN INDIANS AT THE KITCHEN, AND SISTER ROCKS, MACKINAC ISLAND MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 65 feathers. She shall dance and not work — she shall sing and not cry.' ' 'My beams,' continued the voice, 'shine faintly on your lodge, but they have a power to transform it into the lightness of the skies, and decorate it with the colours of the clouds. Come, Osseo, my son, and dwell no longer on earth. Think strongly on my words, and look steadfastly at my beams. My power is now at its height. Doubt not — delay not. It is the voice of the Spirit of the stars that calls you away to happiness and celestial rest.' "The words were intelligible to Osseo, but his compan ions thought them some far-off sounds of music, or birds singing in the woods. Very soon the lodge began to shake and tremble, and they felt it rising into the air. It was too late to run out, for they were already as high as the tops of the trees. Osseo looked around him as the lodge passed through the topmost boughs, and behold! their wooden dishes were changed into shells of a scarlet colour, the poles of the lodge to glittering wires of silver, and the bark that covered them into the gorgeous wings of insects. A mo ment more, and his brothers and sisters, and their parents and friends, were transformed into birds of various plum age. Some were jays, some partridges and pigeons, and others gay singing birds, who hopped about displaying their glittering feathers, and singing their songs. But Oweenee still kept her earthly garb, and exhibited all the indications of extreme age. He again cast his eyes in the direction of the clouds and uttered that peculiar yell, which had given him the victory of the hollow log. In a moment the youth and beauty of his wife returned; her dingy garments as sumed the shining appearance of green silk, and her cane was changed into a silver feather. The lodge again shook 66 HISTORIC MACKINAC and trembled, for they were now passing through the upper most clouds, and they immediately after found themselves in the Evening Star, the residence of Osseo's father. " 'My son,' said the old man, 'hang that cage of birds, which you have brought along in your hands, at the door, and I will inform you why you and your wife have been sent for.' Osseo obeyed the directions, and then took his seat in the lodge. 'Pity was shown to you,' resumed the king of the star, 'on account of the contempt of your wife's sister, who laughed at her ill fortune, and ridiculed you while you were under the power of that wicked spirit, whom you overcame at the log. That spirit lives in the next lodge, being a small star you see on the left of mine, and he has always felt envious of my family, because we had greater power than he had, and especially on account of our having had the care committed to us of the female world. He failed in several attempts to destroy your brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, but succeeded at last in transforming yourself and your wife into decrepit old per sons. You must be careful and not let the light of his beams fall on you, while you are here, for therein is the power of his enchantment; a ray of light is the bow and arrow he uses.' "Osseo lived happy and contented in the parental lodge, and in due time his wife presented him with a son, who grew up rapidly, and was the image of his father. He was very quick and ready in learning everything that was done in his grandfather's dominions, but he wished also to learn the art of hunting, for he had heard that this was a favorite pursuit below. To gratify him his father made him a bow and arrows, and he then let the birds out of the cage that he might practice in shooting. He soon became MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 67 expert, and the very first day brought down a bird, but when he went to pick it up, to his amazement, it was a beau tiful young woman with the arrow sticking in her breast. It was one of his younger aunts. The moment her blood fell upon the surface of that pure and spotless planet, the charm was dissolved. The boy immediately found himself sinking, but was partly upheld, by something like wings, till he passed through the lower clouds, and he then sud denly dropped upon a high, romantic island in a large lake. He was pleased on looking up, to see all his aunts and uncles following him in the form of birds, and he soon discovered the silver lodge, with his father and mother, de scending with its waving barks looking like so many in sects' gilded wings. It rested on the highest cliffs of the Island, and here they fixed their residence. They all re sumed their natural shapes, but were diminished to the size of fairies, and as a mark of homage to the King of the Evening Star, they never failed, on every pleasant evening, during the summer season, to join hands, and dance upon the top of the rocks. These rocks were quickly observed by the Indians to be covered, in moonlight evenings, with a larger sort of Puk Wudj Ininees, or little men, and were called Mish-in-e-mok-in-ok-ong, or turtle spirits, and the Island is named from them to this day.10 Their shining lodge can be seen in the summer evenings when the moon shines strongly on the pinnacles of the rocks, and the fish ermen, who go near those high cliffs at night, have even heard the voices of the happy little dancers." There are legends connected with most of the natural cu- i° "Michilimackinac, the term alluded to, is the original French orthog raphy of MISH EN I MOK IN ONG, the local form (sing, and plu.) of Turtle Spirits." 68 HISTORIC MACKINAC riosities of the Island. A few of these may be of interest to the reader. LEGEND OF ARCH ROCK " "After the Gitchi Manitou had called into existence the beautiful Island of Mackinac and given it into the care of the kindred spirits of the earth, air, and water, and had told them it was only to be the abode of peace and quiet, it was so pleasant in his own eyes that he thought, 'Here will I also come to dwell, this shall be my abode and my children may come and worship me here. Here in the depths of the beautiful forest they shall come.' "Then calling his messengers, he bade them fly to all lands of heat and noise and troublous insects, and tell the suffering ones of every race and clime that in these north ern waters was a place prepared where they could come and rest, leaving all care behind. "In the straits of Mackinac In the clear, pellucid wave, Sitting like an emerald gem, Is the rock-girt Fairy Isle. "Round its bold and craggy shore Sweep the billows far and wide, With a gentle sinuous swell, And the moan of distant seas. "Blue its waters, blue the sky, Soft the west wind from afar Moving o'er the scented grass, And the many myriad flowers. 11 Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac, p. 67. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 69 " 'The cool invigorating breezes shall bring health and elasticity to the weak and weary. Here diseases shall not dare invade the pleasant glens or beautiful hilltops. Here let them come and receive my blessing. " 'Ye shall also tell the stranger friends, who may come to seek me, that my royal landing is on the eastern shore; there shall they draw up the canoes upon the pebbly beach under the shadow of the Arched Gateway. Under the Arch which they can see from afar, let them come with songs of rejoicing — neither night nor day shall it be closed to any one who may seek me. Let them land before it and pass through it and ascend to my dwelling, and worship before me.' "When the Great Spirit made known his wish to dwell with men, all nature seemed to rejoice and to make prepara tions for his abode. "The tallest trees claimed the privilege of being the poles of his wigwam, and sweet balsam firs laid themselves at his feet for use. "The birch trees unsheathed themselves and sent their bark in all its soft creamy whiteness to form the outside of the covering. "The trees of the forest vied with each other in seeking a place in the future home of the Gitchi Manitou. "Scarcely had the poles fitted themselves into their places and the birch bark unrolled itself and arranged its clinging sheets in orderly rows upon the outside, when the noise of distant paddles was heard from the lake— swiftly and gaily they drew near, guided by the spirits of earth, air and wa ter. Never had such a sight been witnessed on this earth. "The Gitchi Manitou went to meet them, and stood upon the Arch and upheld his hands in blessing. 70 HISTORIC MACKINAC "As his children unloaded their offerings of beaver, white bear and other skins, they marched in procession up to the gateway and fell upon their knees and offered their thanks to the Great Spirit for the happy privilege of con tributing to the comforts of his earthly home. " 'Yes, my children dear, my loved ones, I am here in joy and gladness. Here to live in peace among you. I have come to teach you wisdom In the arts of love and living. I accept your native offerings, These white bear, and fox skins silvery, Shall a couch of warmth and comfort Make for me when around my fire, I am resting from my labors. Of the beaver skins and otters They shall line the wigwam smoothly, So Ka-bi-bo-nok-ka, the north wind, Ne'er shall peep or whistle through them. Enter in my gateway proudly, And ascend my staircase slowly, And see the home of the Great Spirit, Where he dwells among his children.' "They did as he commanded, and when they were about to return he thus addressed them: "Now, my children, as you leave me, Forth to go upon your journeyings, Tell to all who know and love me, That whenever a chieftain Woos and weds a dark-eyed maiden, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 71 He shall bring her here before me, Gay with garlands, sweet with roses. With the sound of music fleeting Far and near from every islet That lies sleeping in these waters. Sweetest strains of music blending Shall salute them, as the billows Of the mighty lake of wonders Bears them onward to the portals, Where my blessing will await them, And as long as they thus serve me I will dwell upon this island, Henceforth blessing youth and maiden Joined in closest bonds of wedlock. But if in the coming seasons, Some foul spirit roams among you, And destroys my loving children, This fair home that I have built Shall become a rocky fastness, Where they all may fly for shelter And be safe in my protection." "Many, many years have passed. The wigwam of the Great Spirit has been transmuted into stone, and is now known as the Pyramid. (Sugar Loaf.) "The Arched Gateway can still be seen as in ancient times, with its portals guarded by tall green sentinels." Referring to the mythological significance of the Arch as the "bridge," by which Gitchi Manitou was enabled to ascend to his wigwam, the following reminiscent lines were written in 1874 by a resident of Ann Arbor: 12 i2 Disturnell, Island of Mackinac, p. 27. 72 HISTORIC MACKINAC "After long years, again the Rock I view, Far seen, far famed, and wonder of the Isle. The sunlit clouds look down with quiet smile, And roar of winds and waters coming through The mighty Arch, too suddenly renew The days of Long Ago! 0 vanished years! That were, but are not now! How can I mourn, As mourn I should, the hopes that changed to fears, The friends, 'departed, never to return!' The purposes of life that missed their aim! The faithless vows that were not made to last! The Arch for triumph is and loud acclaim ; I like the Indian as the better name,13 'The Bridge!' between the present and the Past." DEVIL'S KITCHEN "Aikie-wai-sie was blind and very old; 14 and when his people took down their wigwams and fire poles, unearthed their sacred things, and removed with all their possessions to the distant hunting grounds, leaving him behind to die of starvation, he thought it very hard. By accident, his grand-daughter, Willow-Wand, had been left also; and the fact that he had a young and delicate girl dependent on him but added to his unhappiness. "Willow-Wand was angry when she was told that they were prisoners, unable to escape from the Island, because the boats had been taken away; but she was not afraid, and thought that, if signalled to, the fishermen, who often came to set their nets in the deep and sheltered waters of the 13 "The real Indian name is 'Po-quah-nah Siper,' i.e., the perforated rocks, referring to the two arches." i* Kane, Myths and Legends of the Mackinacs, pp. 38-49. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 73 bay, would take them off. With the old man's help, she hung a red blanket against the side of the white cliff, in a way that the fishermen would be sure to be attracted when they came again. "Willow- Wand was loved by a young man by the name of Kewe-naw; he had thrown a white doe at the door of her lodge, in token that he desired her for his wife; it had been accepted, and he soon after left the Island. Aikie-wai-sie hoped that, when Kewe-naw heard of their desertion, he would come to rescue them; for well the young man knew the dangers to which they were exposed; but Kewe-naw was at the fishing grounds, and might not hear of their plight for months. "This thought caused the old man much anxiety. He was anxious to see his grand-daughter wedded to the young man, for he had seen 'the glance of love' exchanged be tween them, and believed that the union would be a happy one. "After satisfying herself that the red signal had been properly placed, by her grand-father's direction Willow- Wand led the way to a hidden ledge in the side of the cliff, where they might watch for the fishermen without being seen themselves. Aikie-wai-sie's fear was that some of the hungry men of his tribe might return to make a feast off him, and drag Willow-Wand away to a more cruel fate. The ledge they sought was near the cave of the Red Geebis, who fed on nothing but human flesh; and on this account the old man believed they would be secure from any human devils who might look for them. Old and blind as he was, Aikie-wai-sie was ready to fight the whole demon popula tion in defense of his child; but as he feared flesh and blood, he hid from it. A great she-bear slept on the ledge 74 HISTORIC MACKINAC behind them; and Willow- Wand, thinking this a fine oppor tunity to provide themselves with food, offered to kill it, but the old man forbade. " 'There is room for all,' he said. 'Mockway (bear) offers us no harm. We are not yet in need of food. Let her sleep.' "The girl obeyed, and threw herself upon a heap of leaves, which had lately been the bed of the bear, and en deavored to forget her hunger. Their early meal had been but a handful of dried maize and some pounded pemmican; and though the old man had not felt the need of anything more, the girl was suffering for food. The provision in the old man's pouch was scanty, and he hated to draw upon it unnecessarily, so he told her to go to sleep, and, to quiet her, repeated wonderful tales of the turtle- shaped god, whose robes of state were of brightest green, and whose medicine was always good; of the caves where the souls of giant fairies dwelt until the time when they should be called to perform the last dance; of toadstools which once grew to such great size that the giants used them for lodges; and of how he had once been under the spell of witchcraft himself, and compelled to assume the shape of a reindeer; of how he had shed his horns many times with others of his kind; and how it was only by consenting to entire blindness that he has been permitted to resume his natural shape. He spoke of the beauty of her mother, Whispering Birch; of her wedding with The Willow, a man brave as he was wise, and who early followed his young bride down the misty paths of the dead. Under the soothing influence of his voice the hungry girl fell into a deep sleep. "The sun went down, and though Aikie-wai-sie's sightless MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 75 eyes beheld it not, he knew that night was falling by the chilliness of the air. In the darkest night he could tell the direction of the prevailing winds, and the names of the forest trees by passing his hands over their leaves, or by feeling of their bark. Impossible to deceive him. He feared not death, having faced it daily in his life among wild beasts and wilder men; but he feared the evil ones of the cave, not because he was old, but because of his blind ness, which prevented his seeing and warning his child when danger assailed them. "There was no moon and no stars in the sky, but a flam ing red light from the Devil's Cave streamed over the snowy head of the blind man, and upon the flushed face of the sleeping girl, whose parched lips, even in her dreams, de manded 'Water! Water!' to relieve her thirst. The anguish of Aikie-wai-sie was almost as great as that of Willow- Wand; for with the 'Big Water' lying so near them, it seemed cruel that he could not provide her with drink. "At the girl's feverish mutterings his memory went back to the last hours of her mother, who with her latest breath had confided to him the secret of a magical gift possessed by her child — a gift inherited from her father, The Willow — which, if carefully used, would add great power and many honors to her womanhood. At her command springs of pure water would show themselves, and flow in whatever place or quantity she desired. 'This power,' said the dy ing woman, 'will bring her great fame as a prophetess and healer, but the knowledge of it must not be revealed to her until she becomes a woman.' "The old man wondered if this was not the moment to di vulge the secret. All things had turned out as Whispering Birch had wished. Her daughter was good and pure and 76 HISTORIC MACKINAC wise beyond her years; she had cared for and provided for all his needs, so that the loss of his old wife had not been unendurable. But no; he dared not risk it until she had undergone the fast which should prepare her for a woman's privileges, though he hated to think of the suffering she must endure in the performance of it. "For seven days and nights Willow-Wand endured the pangs of hunger and of thirst; and Aikie-wai-sie, fearing that she would die, and in spite of the danger of being caught by the red devils which infested the place, made his way to the lake to procure the water she so constantly called for. He moistened the poor girl's parched lips and cooled her burning cheeks, but not a drop could he force her to swallow, though 'Water! Water!' was ever her delirious cry. " 'Nature is working in the child to confirm her mother's words,' was the old one's thought; when suddenly in Wil low-Wand's breast the 'power' rose like a wave, and, leaping to her feet, she struck the outward curving rock, and de manded once more, 'Water!' "The old man invoked the aid of the Spirit, and soon heard the musical sound of the tiny stream which ran through the fingers of the surprised girl with a wonderful healing power. Instantly her pains fled, her health re turned, and she felt stronger and braver than ever. Re membering her grand-father's need, she quickly gave him of the water, and drank herself until she could drink no more. "When Willow- Wand had broken her fast, she was told the story of her wonderful gift. A long line of wise women had owned the same power, her grand-father said; but, as she valued her life, she must use it discreetly and reverently and never abuse it. He enumerated the many blessings she MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 77 would be able to bestow and enjoy; and as he spoke she thought she heard another voice warning her of approach ing danger. 'Watch!' it said; and as Aikie-wai-sie, worn out with his long vigils, fell into a deep slumber, she con cluded to give heed to the warning, and seated herself be side him to 'watch' while he slept. "Night came, and she could see the flaming fires of the Devil's Cave, hear the shrieks of the men whom the Geebis were torturing, and the sounds of suffering which she was powerless to alleviate filled her tender heart with pain. The bear crowded near to her side, and seemed so sensible of their dangerous situation, and showed such real sorrow for the poor creatures in the cave, that Willow-Wand felt sure that the shaggy-haired animal was one of those unfor tunates who had been bewitched by the Evil One, and was glad to have so human a thing to keep her company. "The storm increased as the night advanced; black and ragged clouds whirled across the sky; birds of evil omen circled overhead; and creeping things scurried into the crevices of the rocks to escape its fury. 'Yen-ad-diz-zee, the crazy gambler, is playing for high stakes to-night,' was the girl's thought as she watched the winds striving against each other in the game whose score was marked by lightning strokes or washed away by the rain. "Her heart ached for the unhappy ones who awaited their doom in the fiery pit, and she was wondering if she could not use her magical power in their behalf, when to her horror and dismay she saw Kewe-naw led into the cave and placed near the central fire. "Willow-Wand's shrieks awakened her grand-father, and his grief was great when she told him what had happened. His fears for his own safety and that of his child were in- 78 HISTORIC MACKINAC creased tenfold, until the bear whispered in his ear, 'Watch, but fear not.' " 'The spirit of thy mother lives in this she-bear,' he whispered. 'Have no fear. Where the spirits of the good abide, no harm can come. Let us obey her commands. Watch!' "The girl controlled her grief as well as she could, and threw herself upon the bear's neck to gather comfort from the mother spirit which dwelt within the creature's shaggy breast, while her eyes remained fixed upon the horrors which demons were perpetrating in obedience to the orders of their chief. Young men, whom her people had long given up as dead, were brought in and offered, one after another, in sacrifice to the wicked Manitous, who were ever ready to assist in evil doings, and nightly fed on human flesh as reward for their services. "Terrified lest the next to be cast into the pit should be Kewe-naw, Willow-Wand leapt to her feet with the deter mination to attempt his rescue. Her movements were no ticed by the devils, who recognized her as the 'Wand of Power' which their chief desired to possess, and who or dered the infernal ceremonies stopped until he should cap ture and return with the prize. "In the confusion which followed, it happened that Kewe- naw was left standing near the entrance of the cave, from which place he could see Willow- Wand and her grand father, in company with the bear, standing on the ledge, while near by, the chief devil of the pit made his prepara tions to capture the girl, to whom Kewe-naw was betrothed. Behind him, in the cave, he could distinctly hear the jab- berings and demoniac laughter of the loathsome demons, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 79 who were finishing up the feast of smoking human flesh which had been interrupted. "The bear, pleased at the unselfishness which had prompted Willow- Wand's act, told Aikie-wai-sie to leave her alone, as all would be well if she were left to follow the promptings of her nature; and when the girl's light and scornful laughter, at the sight of the hideous Geebi endeav oring to make up as a man for her conquest, pealed with a thousand musical echoes among the rocks and hills around them, the bear quietly slipped down the steep side of the cliff and disappeared from sight, confident that all would go well with the child and those whom she desired to pro tect and defend. "The aged man was troubled by the bear's disappear ance, but Willow- Wand had no misgivings. 'Fear not, my grand-father,' she said; 'my mother's spirit mingles with my own! Kewe-naw shall be rescued, and to-morrow's sun will look upon our happiness.' "The devil had disguised as a warrior whom Aikie-wai- sie and his people feared as one particularly treacherous and bloodthirsty. He thought to terrify the old man into accepting him for his son-in-law, and thought not that Wil low-Wand's magical power would be used against him. Well contrived as was his disguise, the girl recognized the devil under it, and scornfully bade him 'Begone!' She defied him ; and the infuriated monster, forgetting his role, leapt from the projecting rocks to seize the girl, whose power, could he but secure it, would be of inestimable value to him. But Willow- Wand saw him leaping over the crags above her; and as he sprang from the wall, a single blow of her small hand upon its blistered side brought forth such 80 HISTORIC MACKINAC a gush of water as flung him shrieking into the whirling eddies of the Dead Hole. The fires of the cave were drenched with it, and Kewe-naw began to hope that his life would be saved, even though the Okies and Red Spirits declared that they would rekindle the flames when they had stopped up the holes through which the water poured, and make the roasting pit hotter than ever. Kewe-naw did not believe that they would accomplish this, for he felt that the Spirit of Good was answering his prayers. He looked around for some means of escape ; and Willow- Wand, see ing his need, waved a bridge of rainbow mists toward him, by which he safely reached the ledge, to find the girl whom he loved reclining upon the shoulder of her sleeping grand father, apparently as if nothing unusual had happened. "The eastern sky showed streaks of red as Kewe-naw seated himself beside the old man to await his awakening. With a knife taken from her grand-father's belt, Willow- Wand cut the thongs which bound his arms, prepared a pipe for his smoking, and left him. "No word of welcome or joyful greeting was uttered by these grave lovers; no trembling of his hand, no glance of her eye, spoke the happiness they felt. "All day the grand-father slept, all day the lover smoked, and all day the maiden worked to clear the cave of its re maining horrors. She flung the howling demons into the lake; and quenched the smouldering fires of the pit, that they might do no further harm; and it was late when she returned to the ledge to share her lover's vigil. "Evening came. Aikie-wai-sie woke to find the desire of his heart fulfilled. The lovers embraced ; he gave them his blessing, and joined their hands in marriage. "Kewe-naw told the story of his adventures. He had MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 81 been under an evil spell. The fishing season being over, he set sail for the Island to join his people before they left for the winter; his boat, capsized by a sudden squall, went to the bottom as if made of iron, and he was thinking that he must soon have to follow it, because impossible to swim long in such a storm, when he saw a pair of moccasins floating before him on the crests of the waves. He put his feet into them, only to find them shod with lightning, which bore him in a flash to the cave from which he had just escaped. "Willow- Wand then related to him something of the gift of which she had become possessed; and of how she had driven the devils from the cave and made the bridge by which he had escaped. Then she told him of the day spent in making the cave habitable, and that with his help she hoped to make a comfortable home there. "The red blanket had not brought the fishermen as soon as expected, but when they did come Kewe-naw purchased one of their boats, and with their assistance soon conveyed to his cave the store of provisions which he had prepared for winter use. Pemmican, dried venison and bears' meat, and fruits which he had found time to collect and dry be tween the 'setting' and 'taking' of the nets, were among the good things of their larder; and with rush mats for the floors, sacks of leaves and pine needles for couches, and warm furs for clothing and coverings, they looked forward to the winter without fear. "The Devil's fuel, for once, was put to good use, enough being found in the recesses of the cave to last them a life time; with it the new home was made warm and comfort able; and here the young couple passed the first happy months of their married life. 82 HISTORIC MACKINAC The Indians returned in the spring to find Aikie-wai-sie living contentedly amid the comforts which his children provided; and when they were told that Willow- Wand had worked all the changes by a powerful magic which she possessed, they easily believed it, and said that 'nothing but magic could banish evil spirits and make a happy home out of what was once a place of torment' ; but when the young couple showed them the whirling pool which lay between the 'Island of the Round Game' and their own, and they saw the bodies of the demons rise to the surface of the water in proof of what Willow-Wand had done, they were at once accepted as prophets whose 'medicine was good.' "The Cave of the Red Geebis is marked in the guide books as Devil's Kitchen, from the fact that Indians were known to have roasted and feasted upon human flesh there." THE CRACK IN THE ISLAND Story of the Giant's Fingers "Mackinac Island was once the home of a band of red- skinned giants, of whom Hiawatha was the chief.15 When these giants passed from the earth, they became 'waiting spirits' or 'wandering demons,' according to the judgment of the Master of Souls ; if the former, they took the shape of conical rocks, pinnacles or boulders ; and if the latter, they were given the forms of men of the most heartless and un feeling disposition and nature. Many stories are told concerning them. "Near Wacheo' — a part of Hubbard's Annex — is a field is Ibid., p. 67. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 83 of several acres belonging to the Government; and splitting its level ground from end to end is a deep and mysterious chasm, put down in the guide books as the 'Crack.' A frightful place, full of dark shadows and mournful echo- ings, which no man ever penetrated successfully, its steep sides offering no foothold; and of the unwary ones who have stumbled headlong into the 'Crack,' none have re turned to tell its mysteries. "Indians, or half-breed hunters or trappers, are super stitious in regard to taking game from this locality; they avoid the place, and would refuse to eat of food procured there, if starving. "The tradition is that this crack is haunted by a giant demon, who was so foolish as to wish to penetrate the Under Land where the Spirits of the Dead held sway. This, of course, was not permitted, and the Giant's Fingers were never released from the fissure in the rock where he clung, and from which those who have good eyes declare he may still be seen hanging above the abyss. "Five immense fingers, the knuckles, back of the hand, and wrist are still distinctly visible beneath the scales of limestone with which the ages have covered them. It is believed that the curse of the Giant falls upon those who by accident or design tread upon his clinging digits. Sick ness, blindness, loss of wealth, misfortune in love affairs being among the dire calamities brought by contact with the demon, who, though a prisoner undergoing punishment, has still a malignant power which he does not hesitate to use." [Note: This story of the Crack in the Island is of course extravagant and fiction of the most exaggerated type. The facts are that the vicinity of the crack is one of the most delightful places on the entire Island.] 84 HISTORIC MACKINAC GIANT FAIRIES "Long years before the white man came into these re gions, many fairies lived here, rollicking fairies, who laughed and danced and sung their lives away.16 "Every flower and bush and tree, every rock and hill and glen, was thickly peopled with these canny folk, and on moonlight nights all the Indians in their wigwams sat in breathless attention — "Then they hear, now sweet and low, Sounds as of a distant lyre, Touched by fairy hands so light That the trembling tones scarce are heard. "What the music none can tell, So unearthly and so pure, — But it seems as if the notes Loosened all the magic sounds Held within the tinkling grass, — In the mosses and the ferns, In the vines which climb and creep, In the flowers of every hue, — In the heavy-folded rose, In the violets at its feet, In the lily's gentle swing. "Sweeping o'er the lonely streams, Through the sands on deserts low, Through the snows on mountains high, Through the flowers on the plains, Through the sylvan shady bowers, Through the forests dark and hoar, 18 Kelton, op. cit., p. 77. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 85 Through the lofty oaks and elms, Through the leaves of tulip trees, Through catalpas, white with bloom, Through magnolias kingly crowned, Through the poplars, amber sweet, Through the towering cypresses, Pendant with the gray old mosses, Patriarchs of the lowlier tribes. With the sound of laughing brooks, And the notes of singing birds; Softened by the cooing dove, By the plover's gentle dip, By the lonely, limpid rills, By the silence, deep, profound, Resting o'er the wilderness. "With the thunder's distant roar, Rolling, rumbling through the sky, Over mountains, hills, and plains, Over rivers, lakes and seas; Chiming with the overture In its massive undertones, Mellowing, melting all its chords Into dulcet harmonies; Into dirge-like requiems; Into rhythmic symphonies; Gathering all the breath of song In its weird and wayward moods; In its plaintive, touching strains; In its playful, laughing trills; In its wild and fearful tones; Trancing all the insect tribes, 86 HISTORIC MACKINAC Hid in thicket, bush, and grove; — Butterflies of every hue, Bees, of wondrous skill and lore ; Beetles, puzzled, lost, and wild; Mites and emmets, flies and gnats, Maddened, ravished, filled with joy, — Frenzied with the flush of song. Birds, in forest, tree, and copse, In the jungle, in the grass, Near the lonely stream and lake, On the wing in winding flocks, Wildered with the rapturous sounds, Pause to listen, still and mute, Till the tempest rushes past, — "0, the music! 0, the sweet! Breathing fragrance, breathing song, Mingling all of earth and air, That can charm the wakened sense. Thus with odors rich and rare, Music lent its magic power, Dirge and requiem, ditty, lay, Fugue and march, and waltz and hymn Silver-toned, euphonious, grave; Chimes of measured step and grace, Dulcet strains of sweetest rhythm, Overtures of matchless sweep, — All that fills the hungry air, All that wakes the sleeping sense, Blending with the virgin soil; With the creeping juniper, With the cedar and the pine, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 87 With the rich magnolia's bloom, With the jasmine and the grape, With the scent of early fruits; — Such the music, such the air, Sweeping westward o'er the lakes, Such, — the Isle of Mackinac." ROBINSON'S FOLLY The Fate of Wintemoyeh "It is well known, that, although the French, on their first landing in Canada, waged many and bloody wars with the Indians, yet it was not long ere a feeling of kindness took the place of hostility.17 There is something in the character of Frenchmen, which peculiarly fits them for friendly intercourse with foreign nations. This feature has been of especial advantage to them in their communica tions with the Indians. The French traders penetrate every part of the Indian country, they live with the Aborigines, adopt many of their customs, quarrel with none of their prejudices; in fact, they are willing to become, for the time of their sojourn in the woods, Indians in everything. "From the universal prevalence of friendly feeling to wards the French, it resulted, of course, that when Canada was invaded by the English, the Red Men took an active part in the war, as the zealous, and very often efficient, al lies of France. "When the war was ended, and Canada yielded to the English, the feeling of enmity against them was not soon extinguished in the breasts of the Indian tribes. The new comers were everywhere received, if not with open 17 Life on the Lakes, I, 119-157. 88 HISTORIC MACKINAC hostility, with lowering discontent or hollow professions of friendship. "These feelings were, no doubt, fomented by the French traders who resided in the Indian country. Having en joyed for a long time a monopoly of the very lucrative fur trade, they were naturally unwilling to resign even a share of it to their hereditary enemies, now presenting themselves in the still more invidious character of conquerors. "That they did absolutely intend to bring about open war has never been fully proved; but that they were anxious the display of hostile feeling, on the part of the Indians, should be sufficient to deter any English traders from penetrating their country, is past all doubt. "Hostilities did, however, result; and under Pontiac, the war was prosecuted for years with the avowed intent of driving the Sagaunash out of the country. Mackina fell into his hands, and Detroit was only saved by the friend ship of one of the Ottawa women, who informed Major Gladwin, the commandant, of the plot by which Pontiac meditated to gain possession of the fort. "Of the war of Pontiac, how boldly he prosecuted it, how he was at every step hindered by the stupidity or be trayed by the treachery of his associates, till he finally fell a victim to the jealous fury of a nameless wanderer, we do not now need to speak. Our business is with one of the subordinate characters in the great drama. "Peezhicki, or Le Boeuf, as the Canadians called him, was the chief of the St. Mary's band of the Chippewas, the children of Tarhe, the Crane, which was their totem. He joined heart and hand in the schemes of Pontiac, was fore most in the assault of Mackina, and assisted at the siege of Detroit. When, however, Pontiac was compelled to retire, MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 89 the Buffalo was returned, with the few warriors that re mained of his band, to his home by the falls of St. Marie. "Peace soon prevailed throughout the Indian country, and many of the chiefs became attached to the English. Peezhicki was not of the number. He had loved Pontiac, he had hated the Sagaunash; and as he had been, so he was, the deadly foe of these white men. "Years rolled on. The war with the Americans broke out, but Peezhicki took no part in it; he hated all white men but the French, the friends of Pontiac; and he rejoiced in the hope that the English, and their children, the Ameri cans, would destroy each other. "The War of the Revolution had just terminated, when, in the spring of 1783, the Indian country was ravaged by that fell destroyer, the small pox. The band of Peezhicki, which had increased to forty lodges, was nearly cut off; his three sons, his wife, and one daughter, all fell its victims; and, in the lodge of the Buffalo, Wintemoyeh, his youngest daughter only remained. "On her he centered all his hopes and lavished all his affection; and his sole remaining cares were to prevent the small remnant of his band from associating with the hated Sagaunash, and provide a suitable match for his beloved daughter. "In the hope of escaping the dreadful malady, he re moved his band from St. Marie to a small island fifteen miles distant, at the entrance of the Great Lake, called Isle des Iroquois. He had been there but a short time when his heart was made glad by a message from Waab-ojeeg, the White Fisher, the son of Mongozid, the great Mudjekiwis or head chief of the Chippewas, who ruled the Rein-Deer band at Chegoimegon, now called La Pointe, the place of the an- 90 HISTORIC MACKINAC cient council fire of the nation. The messenger of the great Waab-ojeeg came not empty handed; he brought rich presents for the Buffalo and his warriors — furs, moccasins, and skins, a peace pipe superbly ornamented with feathers and porcupine work, a robe of Buffalo skin, and many other valuable gifts. He brought, too, wampum, to speak his friendship, and among the rest, an ancient belt which Mon gozid had received many years before from the father of Peezhicki. This was shown, that the friendship of their fathers might not be forgotten. "When the messenger had presented his gifts, and been requested to make known the thoughts of the White Fisher, he said, that Waab-ojeeg had grieved with his brothers at the loss of so many of his young men ; that he now sent his messenger to ask that the daughter of Peezhicki might be given in marriage to Aissibun or the Raccoon, the cousin of Waab-ojeeg, and one of the bravest of his warriors. This proposal could not but be agreeable to Peezhicki, and as soon as propriety would admit, he sent an acceptance of the offer of Waab-ojeeg, and charged the messenger, in de livering it, to make such presents as should convince the chief that his friend was not insensible to his kindness. Blankets of the finest quality — green, scarlet, and white — two rifles, and such other articles as his vicinity to the trad ing post enabled him to procure, and which would be most acceptable at a point so distant as Chegoimegon. "It was not till after the departure of this messenger that Peezhicki thought it necessary to communicate to Winte moyeh the tidings in which she was so deeply concerned. When he did so, all his sense of his own dignity and im portance could not conceal, even from the inexperienced eye of his daughter, that the Buffalo was greatly elated at MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 91 the proposed match. The strong conviction that such an alliance must, of course, be as acceptable to his daughter as to himself, prevented Peezhicki from reading, in the elo quent looks of Wintemoyeh, her disgust at the proposal. "The Indian custom, of which Peezhicki obliged all his tribe to be very strict observers, would not allow that a young girl on such an occasion should express openly any feeling of preference or aversion. Wintemoyeh, of course, said nothing, and her feelings remained unknown to her father. She remembered to have heard Ayahwindib, her aunt, speak of the Raccoon ; true, he was a brave, had taken many scalps from the Sioux, the hereditary enemies of the Chippewas, and from the Foxes, the foes of Waab-ojeeg; but Aissibun was a giant in size, hideously ugly, and nearly as old as her father. Above all, the Chippewa maiden re membered that Aissibun had already two wives of his own age ; so that, should she be united with him, she must always have a mistress and probably not a very kind one, in her husband's lodge. Such were the objections to an union with the friend of Waab-ojeeg, which Wintemoyeh ac knowledged to herself; but in her secret soul there lurked another, which was of more power than all the rest beside. "She had seen a young white warrior; and his noble form, his fine expressive face, his soft and flattering words, had won for him an interest in her heart, of the strength of which she was herself still unconscious. Had Wintemoyeh been told that she loved the white man, the destroyer of her race, the detested enemies of her father, she would have scorned the word. But it was true. Months had passed since their first accidental meeting; yet that one, that short interview, was scarce ever absent from her thoughts. It was soon after their removal to the island that Wintemoyeh 92 HISTORIC MACKINAC one day passed over, in her light canoe, to the Canadian shore; she landed, and rambled about the woods. Sud denly her quick ear caught the sound of martial music, and through a long vista of trees she saw the glitter of arms and of scarlet dresses; and she knew that the Englishmen were there. "Wintemoyeh had rarely seen an Englishman, and never an English soldier; her father's detestation of the whole race was so strong, that he kept his children perfectly se cluded, and no white man but the French trader ever entered his lodge. Was it very extraordinary that she should seek, now that accident had brought her so near their tents, to catch a glance at these warriors of whom she had heard so much? Creeping cautiously and slowly through the woods, she gained at last a small elevation whence she could com mand a perfect view of the camp in the open valley below. "Two tents were pitched, and around them lounged sev eral officers and soldiers, chatting over the adventures of the morning's hunt, or laying new plans for the sport of to-morrow. "Wintemoyeh gazed upon the novel and beautiful sight with girlish pleasure, when suddenly a crackling among the branches behind her gave warning of approaching foot steps, and ere she could do more than rise from her in cumbent posture, a white warrior stood before her. "The Chippewa maid gazed like one entranced on the gallant figure; his whole mien, his glittering arms, his brilliant scarlet dress. The soldier, too, was evidently struck with the beauty of the young savage; perhaps the admiration which beamed in her sparkling eye and flushed her dusky cheek, gave her added charms. He soon ap proached, and uttered a few broken and imperfect phrases MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 93 in her own language. She was too much confused to reply, or even fully to understand his meaning; but the low mu sic of his voice fell upon her heart like honey to the lip. She could not fly, still less could she utter the words of anger, defiance, and scorn, which she well knew Peezhicki would wish and expect his daughter to return to words of peace coming from the treacherous white man. No — she listened with a charmed ear; and when the sweet melody of that voice was hushed, the daughter of the war chief of St. Marie replied in a few not unfriendly words. "Robinson, for that was the white man's name, soon dis covered to whom he was speaking; and communicated, in return, his own name, and his rank as Governor of Mackina. "Professions of love, such as man in every clime and in every age has poisoned woman's ear withal and turned her brain, were added ; and they parted not till he had placed on the finger of Wintemoyeh a sparkling gem, the pledge of his love, and of the truth of those promises by which he bound himself soon to return, and demand, even from Peezhicki, the Englishman's enemy, his daughter as a bride. "With such pledges, rashly made on one hand and scarce understood on the other, they parted. "Months had now passed away; the green leaves of the maple assumed their red autumnal hue, and the appointed time for the return of the white warrior drew near. Winte moyeh knew not whether she most desired or dreaded his coming; so strongly did old habitual prejudices contend with new and vehement feelings that had sprung up in her heart. "In the meantime the messenger who had been sent to Waab-ojeeg returned, and informed Peezhicki that the White Fisher, Aissibun, and many more of the warriors 94 HISTORIC MACKINAC from Chegoimegon, were on their way to Isle des Iroquois to visit him, and celebrate the nuptial feast of his daughter. "Wintemoyeh was not present when this message was delivered, but she soon heard though she scarcely heeded its import. Ayahwindib had that very day given her a love token from Robinson, and a message entreating her to meet him at midnight at Gros Cap, the scene of their former interview. The fears which might have prevented a daugh ter of the white man from keeping such a tryst were un known to the Chippewa girl. But she thought of her fa ther, his kindness, his care, his love; should she visit his enemy? Then she thought of that enemy, so mild, so gentle, so different from the cruel, the exacting Sagaunash which had been described to her; then the idea of Aissibun crossed her mind, the giant, the hideous, the old — of his wives, and she the third, — the lowest in rank — it was enough; she resolved to go — to see that white man, to hear the music of his voice, to gladden her heart by the sound of his protestations of love and admiration. "At their midnight interview the Chippewa maiden com municated to her lover the new difficulties which beset her; he urged her to escape from them all, by flying with him to distant Mackinac. But against this the gentle, and yet dutiful heart of Wintemoyeh revolted. She could not leave her father; she could not desert him in his old age to live with his hated enemy. The utmost influence of Robinson could no further prevail than to extort from her a promise to meet her again in a few days. Then they parted. Winte moyeh returned to her lodge and Robinson to St. Marie. "Next day her father requested Wintemoyeh to cross to Gros Cap and catch a few trout, which abounded there. She prepared her small canoe, and left the island. In go- MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 95 ing to the fishing ground, she paused for a long time oppo site the landing where she had met Robinson; she recalled his every word and look; and drank, from the cup of mem ory, poisonous draughts of love. At last she was about to tear herself away, when, looking across to the opposite shore, she saw six large canoes emerge from behind Point Iroquois, and bear for the Island. Just as they rounded the point, the canoes ranged in line, an3 the warriors gave a loud shout; not the cheerful hurra with which the return ing white man hails his home, but a rapid succession of screams or yells, which, to a stranger's ear might seem to express either rage or sorrow, joy or despair. "Wintemoyeh, however, understood every modulation of these sounds. She knew that it was the band of Waab- ojeeg, who thus expressed their joy at the completion of their voyage, and the near prospect of the union of the brav est of their warriors with the fairest maiden among the children of Tarhe, the daughter of Peezhicki, the great chief, the friend of Pontiac. "Wintemoyeh watched the canoes till they approached the landing-place near her father's lodge. She saw the chiefs land, and advance in proud array to greet Peezhicki, who stood in front of his lodge, surrounded by the few warriors who yet remained of his once powerful band. She could not hear their greetings, but had no doubt they were cordial and sincere. "Willingly would Wintemoyeh have delayed her own re turn, but she feared to excite suspicion in her father's mind by her too long absence at such a time. She hurried back, not to the landing place, but to a distant cave, whence she could return to her lodge as if from a stroll round the island. 96 HISTORIC MACKINAC "She was soon summoned to assist in preparing the splen did feast with which her father had resolved to welcome his friend Waab-ojeeg. A white dog, which had for many days been kept in the lodge of Peezhicki for this occasion, was killed, and the aged Ayahwindib made a savory stew of his flesh. This was the principal dish, the dish of cere mony; a beaver's tail, that richest and most succulent of Indian dainties, was also prepared ; some pork, a rare and choice luxury, had been supplied by La Grange, the French trader; then there was the flesh of the deer, the bear, and the buffalo; ducks, pigeons, and other birds; fish of every kind, corn, and to crown all, the Ishkodaiwabo, the fire drink of the white man, flowed freely as the water of the lake. When all was prepared, the large dish of stewed dog was given to Wintemoyeh, and she entered the lodge. In dian ideas of decorum would not admit of her being pre sented to, or in any way noticed by, the warriors ; but as she placed the dish on the mat before the White Fisher, she did not fail to cast an eager glance at the features of the war rior who sat by his side, and whom she rightly supposed was the far-famed Raccoon. One look was sufficient to assure her that all, and more than all, she had heard from Ayahwindib of his ugliness was true. "Aissibun was about six feet six, and, for an Indian, re markably stout. His low wide forehead was wrinkled with the furrows of age, but age had taken nothing from the savage fierceness of his eye or the terror of his scowling brow. A huge scar occupied the whole of one cheek, the mark of a blow received many years before, from the toma hawk of a warrior among the Foxes. The face was painted of one glowing fiery red, only around the eyes a wide streak of white gave a ten-fold power to their glaring ferocity. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 97 On either side of his face his hair hung in long lank masses ; on his head he wore a sort of coronet of feathers, of all col ours and sizes. Around his neck, suspended by a string of wampum, hung a gold medal, which he had received in his early youth from Montcalm, when he accompanied Mongo- zid, the father of Waab-ojeeg, to Quebec, to assist the French against their enemies. Such was Aissibun, the appointed husband of the young, the gentle Wintemoyeh. "The hurried glance she took at his face was enough to add disgust to the feelings of dislike with which Winte moyeh had formerly regarded the Racoon. It was no time to indulge such feelings. The feast was duly prepared, and the two chiefs, and their warriors, to the number of perhaps a score, sat down to provisions which would have furnished an ample meal to a hundred white men. Yet Indian politeness does not allow that any portion of the food which a host prepares for his guests should be left uneaten; and accordingly this enormous quantity of flesh, fish, and fowl was duly devoured by the Buffalo and his friends. "Then came the Ishkodaiwabo; it was swallowed by the gallons. "The feast was protracted to a late hour in the night, and when Wintemoyeh next morning entered her father's lodge, she found him still sleeping, a deep but feverish sleep. She roused him, though with some difficulty; but his lan guage was wild and wandering. At first she thought it was only the effect of the yesterday's feast; but she was soon convinced from the appearance and manner of Peezhicki that he was sick. "Fortunately among the warriors of Waab-ojeeg came Mainotagooz, or the handsome speaker; a noted Miskeke- 98 HISTORIC MACKINAC winini or medicine man. He was summoned without de lay, and after examining his patient, declared that he was very sick, and that unless the Wabeno was celebrated imme diately, and the spirit of the air propitiated by many and great gifts, the chief of the Crane band would pass to the great village, the country of souls. All was now hurry and confusion. Mainotagooz returned to his lodge to pre pare his medicine bag, his dress of ceremony, his drum and his rattle; while the warriors erected beside the lodge of Peezhicki a huge pole, and each in his turn suspended a gift to Gitchee Monedo. First, Waab-ojeeg advanced, and attached to the pole a valuable rifle. Aissibun came next; his offering was a huge war club and the scalp of a Sioux warrior, whom he had slain with that redoubtable weapon. "Pipes, knives, blankets, wampum belts, moccasins, and many other choice articles were brought forward by the other warriors, all of whom were desirous to show, by the magnitude of their gifts, the sincerity of their regard for the Buffalo. "The last warrior had made his offering, and now Win temoyeh advanced. She raised her hand and touched the pole; but if she made any offering, it was so small that no eye could see it. She did, however, make an offering, and one which her own heart told her was most likely to appease the angry Monedo ; angry, she had too much reason to believe, with her, for her love of the white man. She hung up the ring which Robinson had given her: ' 'Tis my best gift,' thought she; 'by it will Gitchee Monedo know how ardently I desire my father's recovery, since I offer that which is nearest and dearest to my heart.' "Mainotagooz now drew near to begin the Wabeno, and the warriors who were to assist at the important ceremony MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 99 were just about to follow, when suddenly the Miskekewinini sprang backward and rushed from the tent, crying 'Small Pox! Small Pox!' At the cry of that terrible plague the warriors all fled from the tent; some even ran into the woods to escape a danger, the more terrible to their superstitious minds because they knew nothing of its nature. "Not so the brave Waab-ojeeg. He chided the fright ened medicine man, and, commanding him to return to his patient, himself set the example of courage by fearlessly stepping into the tainted lodge. The trembling Mainota gooz followed, and behind him came Aissibun ; but none of the other warriors could be induced, even by the example and authority of the White Fisher, to come near. "A few hours had made a terrible change in the appear ance of Peezhicki. It is probable that the disease had been long latent in his system, and the last night's feasting had kindled it into a flame of fever. The spots were already appearing on his face and neck, his eyes were nearly closed by the swelling lids; and his voice, hoarse and croaking, showed that the eruption was spreading into his throat. When he recognized Waab-ojeeg, he spoke to him with great earnestness, though he enunciated with extreme diffi culty: 'My brother, I am going; the Great Spirit calls and I must follow his voice; but before I go I will speak to you a few words; the son of Mongozid, my father's friend, will not let my words be forgotten. I go to the great village at the setting sun, and the name of Peezhicki will be no more among the children of the Crane; let my child, let Wintemoyeh be made this night the wife of the brave Aissibun; so shall the spirit of Peezhicki rejoice in the thought that his child has a home among the children of the Rein Deer at Chegoimegon, and under the eye of 100 HISTORIC MACKINAC Waab-ojeeg, the Mudjikiwis of the Ojibways, her father's friend.' "The White Fisher gave a ready assent to the request of Peezhicki; and then, at the urgent entreaties of some of his warriors who stood without the lodge, seconded by those of Peezhicki, he withdrew. "A few old women entered at the same time, and Winte moyeh would have followed them, but her father forbade it; and she was forced to retire by the friendly violence of Waab-ojeeg. "Under the direction of Mainotagooz, whom a scowling look from the White Fisher had warned not to again desert his patient, the old women proceeded to put in practice the means usually adopted by the Chippewas for the cure of the small pox. "The fire in the lodge was extinguished; then the lodge itself was made perfectly tight, every crack or crevice by which air could enter being stopped; a fire was kindled without, in it they placed a number of large stones, which, when red hot, they pushed into the lodge; water was then thrown upon them till it was filled with hot steam. "In the meantime, Waab-ojeeg had communicated the wishes of Peezhicki to his warriors, and the preparations for the marriage feast were made under his superintendence and at his own lodge. "When Wintemoyeh heard that a few hours were to seal her fate, and unite her for ever to the abhorred Aissibun, she gave herself up to despair. Even her father's sick ness was forgotten; her whole soul was filled with horror at the thought of wedding that savage giant, whose look, even of fondness, made her tremble. "There was little danger of her secret thoughts being MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 101 discovered. Every one was too fully occupied, either in making preparations for the marriage feast, or in continu ing the treatment of the sick man. "At the setting of the sun the steaming was suspended, and Waab-ojeeg entered the lodge to announce to the Buf falo that all was now ready for the bridal feast. " 'Twas long before the sick man could be made to com prehend him, so rapidly had the disease prostrated his mental as well as bodily powers. When, however, he at last understood the words of Waab-ojeeg, he expressed an ardent desire that the feast should be celebrated imme diately. "The White Fisher passed out of the lodge seeing Winte moyeh near; he told her the resolution of her father, and bade her prepare immediately for the bridal. The soul of the maiden died within her. Was there no escape? no deliverance? no hope, even of delay? "While these thoughts were chasing each other wildly through her brain, Ayahwindib touched her arm, and placed in her hand a small golden trinket, which she well remembered to have seen Robinson wear; at the same moment the old woman whispered, 'He is there' ; indicating by a slight gesture, the little cove on the opposite side of the island. "Wintemoyeh started — she trembled — she made a few steps towards the cove, then paused — she looked towards that closed lodge where her dying father lay; and as she thought of that father and his boundless love, she returned towards the lodge with a firm purpose never to leave him. She stood still, with eyes fixed on the ground; some one approached her; she raised her eyes, 'twas Aissibun, looking more hideous, more disgusting, than ever. She 102 HISTORIC MACKINAC thought no more, but gave one bound into the woods and fled, with the swiftness of a deer, towards the cove. She reached the landing-place; Robinson was there; breathless, and almost senseless, she threw herself into his arms, and in a moment was borne into his canoe. The voyagers ply their paddles, and before Wintemoyeh is fully conscious of the rash and wicked act she has committed, she is landed among the white warriors at St. Marie, and conveyed to the tent of Robinson. "Captain Robinson had returned to Mackina with his Chippewa bride, when one day, about a fortnight after his arrival, as he was seated at his desk in the fort, Sergeant MacWhorter, an old and favourite subaltern of his com pany, entered; and, in his usual brief official tone, said, touching his cap, 'Captain Robinson, the Buffalo of St. Marie, or Peezhicki as he calls himself, has come to Mackina.' "Robinson sprang to his feet: 'Come to Mackina! Le Boeuf come to Mackina!' Then collecting his thoughts a little, he continued in a calmer tone, 'Impossible, Mac; it can't be, Le Boeuf is dead. Who told you this foolish story?' 'I saw him myself.' 'Saw him? and here? God forbid; but pho! I am as great a fool as you are. I tell you again Le Boeuf is dead; he died at Isle Iroquois two weeks ago. La Grange, who was on the island at the time, says he was dead before Wintemoyeh left the lodge.' 'Well, Captain,' replied MacWhorter, 'if you say the Buf falo died at Isle Iroquois two weeks ago, 'tis not for me to contradict you. The Buffalo may have died half a dozen times for aught that I know; all I have to say is, he is MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 103 now on the Island of Mackina, I saw him with my own eyes.' 'Nonsense, Mac; I tell you 'tis all nonsense! You have taken some other savage for Le Boeuf.' 'Under favour, Captain, I am not likely to mistake one Indian for another, I have seen too many of them ; and as for this Peezhicki, any body that has seen him fight, as I did when the old fort was taken, will never mistake any other man for him to the longest day they have to live. Again I tell you he is on the Island, I saw him go into the Skull Rock not half an hour ago.' 'Are you quite sure that you have not mistaken your man?' 'Sure, Captain,' replied the Sergeant; after a short pause, during which Robinson seemed buried in deep thought, MacWhorter continued, 'I thought I would tell you, Captain, because if you wish it done, I can take half a dozen of the boys down to the rock, and either shoot him down or smoke him to death in the hole where he is; they say his tribe did that favour to some Hurons long ago in the very same spot.' 'Never, Mac, never! I will not permit it.' 'Bless you, Captain,' replied the Sergeant, 'I don't want to shoot the savage; if you say let him live, 'tis all one to Sandy MacWhorter; Peezhicki never did me any harm, and even now he has not come to Mackina for my squaw, not to mention that he would be welcome to her if he had. But I saw the old fellow at the Skull Rock, and I told your Honour; he had on all his war paint and feathers, and there is mischief in him, or I do not know when mis chief lurks in an Indian eye.' "Robinson made no reply. He was at a loss what to think, he could not believe that the old chief was really in bodily presence on the Island, that could not be; some superstitious fears darted athwart his mind, but he would 104 HISTORIC MACKINAC not for an instant entertain them. Could MacWhorter, clear-sighted as he was, be mistaken? 'twas certainly most probable. "MacWhorter saw that the Captain was perplexed, and he again kindly interfered; 'I can make him safe with only the help of Alick; or, if your Honour is particular about not having it known that we did for the old fellow, as 'tis likely you may be,' and he nodded towards the inner room now tenanted by Wintemoyeh, 'I would not mind under taking it myself. I fear no man that ever trod on Indian shanks, and this Peezhicki is a good half -score of years older than I am; so I can put him out of your way easily.' " 'Silence, Mac,' interrupted the Captain, 'and don't name that name; she may hear you. This is all nonsense; your eyes have deceived you, say no more about it, but get everything ready for our party at the Rock; it never shall be said that Jammie Robinson stayed away from good beef and brandy for any savage of them all, dead or alive.' "Thus in defiance of the fears he could not help feeling, Robinson determined to disregard the intelligence of his subaltern — yet that intelligence was true. "Grief, or rather rage, which sometimes kills, had in this instance restored the dying to life. "When the flight of Wintemoyeh was first discovered, the warriors and the women filled the air with their shouts and execrations. The sounds awoke Peezhicki from the death-like trance into which he had sunk. In a faint husky voice, he demanded the cause; no one was found hardy enough to communicate the fatal tidings till they sent for Waab-ojeeg. He entered the lodge of his brother to tell the sad story of his child's unworthiness. 'Twas long be- MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 105 fore Peezhicki could hear or understand. At last the whole truth flashed upon his mind. One furious bound he made, and sprang from the lodge. 'Where is she?' 'where is she?' he cried. "The figure of the naked chief, his body quite covered with scabs, his face so swollen that not a single feature could be distinguished, while with his arms of skeleton thinness, he groped about in darkness, seeking his child, was too much even for Indian self-command. The war riors and the women fled together. Even Waab-ojeeg could scarce bear to approach the frightful figure. He did at length address Peezhicki; but no answer could he obtain but, 'My child! where is she?' Then the father groped forward, calling for his canoe and his warriors to chase the white man who had stolen his child. Maddened to fury by the neglect of those he called, the Buffalo now rushed forward, blind as he was, to the landing-place. Waab- ojeeg followed, but before he could overtake him Peezhicki reached the margin of the lake, stumbled over the side of the canoe and fell into the water. Waab-ojeeg drew him out, and bore him nearly senseless to his lodge. In a few hours the Buffalo was relieved of all the violent symptoms of the disease. The fever left his mind; he spoke with his usual calm, cold dignity; never, however, alluding to his child. "Next day, he rose from his mat, though still scabbed all over, and very feeble. He bade his friend, Waab-ojeeg, farewell; and taking a small canoe, pulled slowly from the landing place, singing his death-song as he went. Waab-ojeeg and his warriors stood by; they saw the de parture of Peezhicki without any attempt to hinder or 106 HISTORIC MACKINAC delay his purpose. They watched his canoe till it dis appeared round Gros Cap; then, turning away, they pre pared for their own departure to their distant home. "At two hours past noon, of the day on which Captain Robinson had held the conversation with MacWhorter, which we have detailed above, the preparations for the party at the rock, now called Robinson's Folly, were com pleted. "In the center of the small cleared spot, and so near the verge of the rock as to command a full view of the lake, was erected a rustic bower or lodge. The posts were four small untrimmed cedar trees, planted at the corners; from their bushy tops, long festoons of evergreens hung; on these again were laid branches, small and large, till the whole together formed a beautiful verdant roof. "Within this lodge was placed a table, long enough to accommodate twenty or thirty guests. At the head was a large double chair, on each side of which were placed flagstaffs. The folds of these banners were first put be hind the chair, and then gathered overhead into a sort of canopy. Here, canopied by his country's flag, sat the young commandant of the Island and his Indian bride. Wintemoyeh, for the first time, sat at a public table surrounded by white men. "At first the scene was too new and strange to be enjoyed but gradually, as she became more accustomed to its splen dour, she could not refuse to partake of the gayety around her. The songs, the laughter, the music (for the small band of the garrison was there) gradually raised her spirits, and she was happy. Hours flew by, and the sun had sunk into the bosom of the lake, when MacWhorter, who, as a great favourite of his commander, was allowed to sit at MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 107 the foot of the table, sprang from his seat, and in attempt ing to leap over the table, threw table, dishes, bottles, and not a few of the scarce sober guests, upon the grass. 'There he is — there he is! — I see him! I see him!' shouted the subaltern. He had cleared the table, and advanced a step towards the canopied seat, when the sharp crack of a rifle rang through the wood. MacWhorter bounded into the air, and fell upon the grass a dead man. The ball of Peez hicki, aimed at Robinson, had found a mark in the bold breast of his subaltern, who, at the moment when the savage pulled the trigger, had crossed the range of his gun. At the instant Peezhicki sprang forward, and beating down with his clubbed rifle a soldier who stood in his way, seized his daughter, and was about to bear her away, when Robin son, recovering from the first stupor of surprise, sprang from his seat and seized him by the throat. Peezhicki felt that escape from the white man was impossible, bur dened as he was by the weight of his nearly senseless daugh ter; he hurled her with fury to the ground, then, by a moment's struggle, freed himself from the grasp of Robin son, drew forth his tomahawk, and made one backward step that he might give full force to the meditated blow. But that backward step brought him to the very edge of the rock; the treacherous stone gives way beneath his foot; he falls; but, by a strong effort, he caught at a pine which hung over the precipice; the branch bends, as his whole weight bears upon it, but the wood is tough; it holds, and though the first sway carried his figure quite out of sight, yet the bent trunk rises, and with it the form of Peezhicki appears, his features convulsed, his eyes absolutely blaz ing with rage. There he swung off the sheer descent, his feet resting on the edge of the rock, his body now rising, so 108 HISTORIC MACKINAC that it would seem to have required but a slight effort to regain his footing, then sinking down till he was nearly hid from view. For a moment the horrid spectacle seemed to have frozen every heart and stiffened every limb. 'Twas but for a moment; the next, Wintemoyeh, raised by the arm of Robinson from the ground where her angry father had cast her, sees her father hanging as it were by a thread, so small does that branch appear to her frightened eye, over the cliff. With one wild scream she sprang forward, and ere Robinson was aware of her purpose, she stood on the very verge of the precipice, her foot close beside her father's and her arms extended towards him. The chief saw her, and a gleam of savage triumph shot athwart his dark features. By a vigorous exertion of the arms, he raised himself up to near the level where his daughter stood; then quitting his hold of the pine branch, he darts upon her, he seizes her wrist, he clutches her fast; then springs from the cliff. The figure of the triumphant savage and his child gleamed for a moment like a meteor in the air; then they sank behind the precipice, and though the whole wood rang with the exulting war-whoop of Peez hicki, yet clear above it, in its piercing shrillness, was heard the shriek of despair with which his beautiful daugh ter met her fate." LOVER'S LEAP "Long before the pale faces profaned this Island home of the Genii, a young Ojibwa girl, just maturing into woman hood, often wandered there, and gazed into its dizzy heights and witnessed the receding canoes of the large war parties of the combined bands of the Ojibwas and Ottawas speed ing south, seeking for fame and scalps. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 109 "It was there she often sat, mused and hummed the songs Ge-niw-e-gwon loved; this spot was endeared to her, for it was there that she and Ge-niw-e-gwon first met and exchanged words of love, and found an affinity of souls existing between them. It was there she often sat and sang the Ojibwa love song — "A loon, I thought, was looming, A loon, I thought, was looming: Why! it is he, my lover; Why! it is he, my lover; His paddle in the waters gleaming. His paddle in the waters gleaming. "From this bluff she often watched and listened for the return of the war parties, for amongst them she knew was Ge-niw-e-gwon; his head decorated with war-eagle plumes, which none but a brave could sport. The west wind often wafted far in advance the shouts of victory and death, as they shouted and sang upon leaving Pe-quod-e-nong (Old Mackinaw) to make the traverse to the Spirit, or Fairy Island. "One season, when the war party returned, she could not distinguish his familiar and loving war shout. Her spirit told her that he had gone to the Spirit-Land of the West. It was so: an enemy's arrow had pierced his breast, and after his body was placed leaning against a tree, his face fronting his enemies, he died; but ere he died he wished the mourning warriors to remember him to the sweet maid of his heart. Thus he died far away from home and the friends he loved. "Me-she-ne-mock-e-nong-o-qua's heart hushed its beat ings, and all the warm emotions of that heart were chilled and dead. The moving, living spirit of the beloved Ge- 110 HISTORIC MACKINAC niw-e-gwon, she witnessed continually beckoning her to fol low him to the happy hunting grounds of spirits in the West — he appeared to her in human shape, but was in visible to others of his tribe. "One morning her body was found mangled at the foot of the bluff. The soul had thrown aside its covering of earth, and had gone to join the spirit of her beloved Ge- niw-e-gwon, to travel together to the land of spirits." Quoting again from Mr. Ellis,18 who sketches the ex planation of Lover's Leap given in the ancient Creation myth: "The red Adam was driven from the Island by an evil-minded angel who was enamored of the red Eve, and she, having denounced the angel as 'devil,' with whom she could not be compelled to remain longer than to express her hate of him, 'fled like the wind as it wantons down from far Waugoshance' and leaped from the cliff. Her ban ished mate, who was paddling sorrowfully along the shore and saw her fall, urged his canoe forward and saved her life; and Manitou restored them to the Island and banished the angel from Heaven. He fell to the underworld of bad spirits and there became a great leader and the father of the white race of beings called men, who, filled with the hatred of their father towards the red Eve, have never ceased to work for the ruin of her descendants. This re markable legend of Creation has made 'the Island' a holy land to me, and shows more plausibly than anything I have ever found, a relationship between the North American Indians and the ancient inhabitants of the eastern hemi sphere; while Lover's Leap stands as pre-historic evidence that love is as old as the human heart. "Let us pass," he continues, "from the cloud-land of « Op. cit., p. 522 ff. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 111 legend to the solid world of fact. What is the origin of these great rock cones that the ancient reds conceived to be giants watching the interests of Gitchi Manitou? They are just what is left of the strata of rock that once covered all the land up here, probably to a depth of several hundred feet, certainly to a depth that more than equaled the present height of the cones. That mass of brittle limestone, sand stone and what not, was broken, torn, ground and pulver ized by glacial action, and spread out over the country to the south. Here and there were spots hard enough to resist the action of the ice, and these remained and long ages subsequently became the stone giants of Manitou to Indian imagination. At one time there were two such cones on Mackinac Island. Looking at our illustration of Fort Hill you will observe that, at the right of the picture, under lying the old British wall, and forming a natural breast work, is a portion of the cliff. On either side of it the rock has crumbled away, leaving this standing in the debris. That bit of exposed cliff has been carefully examined by geologists, who pronounce it a cone that once stood on the brow of the Island, and add that the lower rock gradually rotted and fell from beneath the cone until it toppled over and lodged, probably, in a crevasse, the outer wall of which has since rotted away. In proof of this it may be said that the material of this exposed cliff is the same as of Manitou's Wigwam, and is wholly unlike that of the Island stratum immediately beneath the layer of which these cones were a part. There is, however, no indication to be found in the legendary lore of the Island that the Indians ever knew of more than one of the stone wigwams here. It has always been to them substantially as it is now: the Turtle on its summit, the Landing, and the Gateway, the Wigwam and 112 HISTORIC MACKINAC Mother Eve's Pinnacle were fixed in their minds in the long ago; and they remain the same to-day, saving only where the action of the elements little by little has crumbled them away. "Taking it all in all, I must write again that the Island is to me sacred, with its beautiful story of the Indian's con ception of Creation, and the love of Manitou for his first- bom, or first-made, children. Drinking deep of the sweet water that laves the Island shores; breathing the balmy air that fans its leafy crown; sleeping myself to strength and health through its dreamless nights; looking back in imag ination through the light of its restful summer days upon those pre-historic ages when peaceful red men and women (far superior to any we can ever meet after 250 years of contact with the vices of civilization) , conceived a Heavenly Father so much like our own highest conception that I am continually astonished at the close resemblance: — I love the old Island as a spot too sacred to be polluted as it has been by drunkenness, avarice, vice, and the ruin of so many of the helpless forest children through the wild greed of our heartless whites ! "The old bluffs are enticing places to lie prone, and rest and weave the colors of hope into the web of imagina tion. Reclining upon the heights at Lover's Leap on a sum mer day, and looking down upon the silken sheen of the charming sweet-water sea, and away across to the wooded mainland south and west that stretches like a dark belt of night around the waist of the world, or upon the fair wind ing shore where St. Ignace sits in peace upon the strand, or upon the noble proportions of McGulpin's Head, and the long, tapering finger of far Waugoshance, or upon the graceful lines of Little Island Rond and low-lying 'Bobbels,' MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 113 and quaffing freely of the health-giving air that falls gently through the blue from polar zone, you will not wonder that the Indians of the elder time held this as a sacred shrine. Indeed, I think it will be strange if you do not feel some feeble indications, at least, of a pure, unselfish worship struggling upwards in the depths of your own soul." WISHING SPRING The legends connected with the "Wishing Spring," are many and most beautiful in sentiment. All convey the thought that whoever makes a wish before drinking of the water from this famous spring, will have it fulfilled in large measure, provided the nature of the wish is not divulged. CHAPTER III EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND, 1814-1821 AMONG the reminiscences of early days at Mackinac, few are more interesting and instructive than those written by Elizabeth Therese Baird for the Wis consin Historical Collections.1 Her father was an em ploye of the American Fur Company in its palmy days following the War of 1812. Her mother was the daughter of Kewinaquot, a Chief of the Ottawas. A large part of Therese's youth was spent on Mackinac Island, where she was married in 1824 when only fourteen years old to Henry S. Baird, a young lawyer of Green Bay. A good education, a wide acquaintance, much travel, and a re tentive memory, fitted her, in a special way, to gather and record the experiences of her life at Mackinac. Following are some selections from her reminiscences: "I was particularly fond of the Island of Mackinac in winter, with its ice-bound shore. In some seasons, ice mountains loomed up, picturesque and color-enticing, in every direction. At other occasions, the ice would be as smooth as one could wish. There was then hardly any win ter communication with the outer world; for about eight months in the year, the Island lay dormant. A mail would come across the ice from the mainland, once a month, to disturb the peace of the inhabitants ; its arrival was a matter of profound and agitating interest. "The dwellers on the Island were mostly Roman Catho- i XIV, 17 ff. 114 EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 115 lies. There was, however, no priest stationed here at that early day; but occasionally one would come, and keep alive the little spark, kindled so many years before by the devoted Jesuit missionaries. . . . "The Catholic faith prevailing, it followed as a matter of course that the special holidays of the church were al ways observed in a memorable, pleasant manner, in one's own family, in which some friends and neighbors would participate. Some weeks before Christmas, the denizens of the Island met in turn at each other's homes, and read the prayers, chanted psalms, and unfailingly repeated the litany of the Saints. On Christmas eve, both sexes would read and sing, the service lasting till midnight. After this, a reveillon (midnight treat) would be partaken of by all. The last meeting of this sort which I attended, was at our own home, in 1823. This affair was considered the high feast of the season, and no pains were spared to make the accompanying meal as good as the Island afforded. The cooking was done at an open fire. I wish I could remem ber in full the bill of fare; however, I will give all that I recall. We will begin with the roast pig; roast goose; chicken pie; round of beef, a la mode; pattes d'ours (bear's paws, called so from the shape, and made of chopped meat in crust, corresponding to rissoles) ; sausage; head-cheese; souse; small-fruit preserves; small cakes. Such was the array. No one was expected to take of every dish, unless he chose. Christmas was observed as a holy-day. The children were kept at home, and from play, until nearly night-time, when they would be allowed to run out and bid their friends a 'Merry Christmas,' spending the evening, however, at home with the family, the service of prayer and song being observed as before mentioned. All would 116 HISTORIC MACKINAC sing; there was no particular master, — it was the sentiment, that was so pleasing to us; the music we did not care so much for. "As soon as la fete de Noel, or Christmas-tide, had passed, all the young people were set at work to prepare for New Year's. Christmas was not the day to give and re ceive presents; this was reserved for New Year's. On the eve of that day, great preparations were made by a certain class of elderly men, usually fishermen, who went from house to house in grotesque dress, singing and dancing. Following this they would receive gifts. Their song was often quite terrifying to little girls, as the gift asked for in the song was la fille ainee, the eldest daughter.2 The song ran thus:"Bon jour, le Maitre et la Maitresse, Et tout le monde du loger. Si vous voulez nous rien donner, dites-le nous ; Nous vous demandons seulement la fille ainee ! "As they were always expected, every one was prepared to receive them. This ended the last day of the year. After evening prayer in the family, the children would re tire early. At the dawn of the New Year, each child would go to the bedside of its parents to receive their benediction — a most beautiful custom. My sympathies always went out to children who had no parents near. . . . "Reminiscences of childhood at Mackinac hold much The following notes are taken from the Wis. Hist. Colls. 2 The lines here given are but one of many versions of the Guignolee — a song, and also a custom, brought to Canada by its first French colonists; and a more or less Christianized survival of Druidic times. This name (also appearing as La Ignolee, Guillonee, etc.) is a corruption of the cry, Au gui Van neuf! "To the mistletoe, this new year!" See account of this custom, with the words and music of the song. Gagnon's Chansons Popu lates du Canada (Quebec, 1894), pp. 238-253. EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 117 that to-day would be novel to many, if not of interest to all. A description of my carriole, or dog-sledge, holds a pleas ant place in memory. It was handsome in shape, with a high back, and sides sloping gracefully to the front. The outside color was a dark green, the inside a cream color, and the runners black. It was drawn by two large dogs, harnessed tandem — one perfectly white, the other black. The white was an old dog which had seen much service; his name was 'Caribou'; the black responded to the name of 'Nero.' The young man who drove them was Francois Lacroix. This rig he owned from the time I was about seven years old until I reached ten, possibly later. The name of my carriole was 'la Boudeuse' (pouter) ; why, I cannot imagine. Dogs cannot be broken or trained to the harness in the manner that horses are; they will not be driven with bridle or rein. A person must run along be side them to keep them in order. In a long journey the traveler takes the risk of a continuous trip. His team may pursue its way steadily for a while, doing so as long as nothing appears in the way to excite them; but let a bird or a rabbit or any other game cross their vision and away they will go, the dog-sledge, passenger and all, as there is no way of stopping them. One may have a merry ride, if the way be smooth, before they give up the chase. "How well I remember my out-door gear in winter; a long circular cloak, of snuff -brown broadcloth; over this a large cape of the same material, braided all round in Roman border. Let me say here that machine-made braid was not to be purchased in this part of the world ; this was plaited, of black worsted. My cap was of plucked beaver, and my mittens were of buckskin, fur-lined. Moccasins were, of course, indispensable. 118 HISTORIC MACKINAC "A snow storm occurred at Mackinac in my childhood, which is always recalled each season, as it was the snow storm that surpassed all others. It began after the man ner of all such storms, but its ending proved something more formidable. As hour after hour feathery flakes fol lowed each other down, no one paid much attention to them, save the weather-wise fisherman who went often to his door to study the clouds. Many were the anxious thoughts he gave to his nets on the lake, which he knew his dogs could not reach in the newly-fallen snow. All day it snowed, and during the night the storm increased in vio lence, yet no one was apprehensive. But the next morn ing revealed a buried town — only the fort and a few houses on the hill side showing at all through the white mass. People had to dig themselves out of this 'beautiful snow'; or, as in most cases, wait to be dug out. The com manding officer of the fort, Benjamin K. Pierce, (a brother of the President), sent a detachment of soldiers to the rescue. The place looked novel indeed, with only narrow, high-walled paths from house to house. As the storm came from the northeast, our home was sheltered in such a way as to be among the few not out of sight. This snow storm afforded rare sport for the boys, who made other thoroughfares by tunnelling paths from house to house. I do not remember that this storm was in any sense disas trous, for as the wind blew strongly towards the Island it left the ice clear of snow and the fishermen were able to get to their nets; thus no suffering was entailed upon the little town. . . . "A visit to the sugar camp was a great treat to the young folks as well as to the old. In the days I write of, sugar was a scarce article, save in the Northwest, where maple- EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 119 sugar was largely manufactured. All who were able, possessed a sugar camp. My grandmother had one on Bois Blanc Island, about five miles east of Mackinac. About the first of March, nearly half of the inhabitants of our town, as well as many from the garrison, would move to Bois Blanc to prepare for the work. Our camp was delightfully situated in the midst of a forest of maple, or a maple grove. A thousand or more trees claimed our care, and three men and two women were employed to do the work. "The trip to Bois Blanc I made on my dog-sled. Fran- gois Lacroix (the son of a slave), whom my grandmother reared, was my companion. The ride over the ice, across the lake, was a delightful one; and the drive through the woods (which were notably clear of underbrush), to the camp, about a mile from the shore, was equally charming. "The pleasures of the camp were varied. In out-of- door amusement, I found delight in playing about great trees that had been uprooted in some wind storm. Fre quently, each season, near the close of susar-making, parties of ladies and gentlemen would come over from Mackinac, bent on a merry time, which they never failed to secure. "One time, a party of five ladies and five gentlemen were invited to the camp. Each lady brought a frying- pan in which to cook and turn Ies crepes or pancakes, which was to be the special feature and fun of the occasion. All due preparation was made for using the frying-pan. We were notified that no girl was fitted to be married until she could turn a crepe. Naturally, all were desirous to try their skill in that direction, whether matrimonally in- 120 HISTORIC MACKINAC clined or not. The gentlemen of the party tried their hand at it, as well as the ladies. It may not be amiss here to explain what to turn the crepe meant; when the cake was cooked on one side, it was dexterously tossed in the air and expected to land, the other side up, back in the pan. Never did I see objects miss so widely the mark aimed at. It seemed indeed that the crepes were influ enced by the glee of the party; they turned and flew every where, but where wanted. Many fell into the fire, as if the turner had so intended. Some went to the ground, and one even found its way to the platform, over the head of the turner. One gentleman (Henry S. Baird) came up to Mrs. John Dousman, and holding out his nice fur cap, said, 'Now turn your cake, and I will catch it.' Mrs. Dousman was an adept at turning, and before the chal lenger had time to withdraw his cap, with a toss she deftly turned the cake and landed it fairly into the cap. You may imagine the sport all this afforded. In due time, a nice dinner was prepared. We had partridges roasted on sticks before the fire; rabbit and stuffed squirrel, cooked French fashion; and finally had as many crepes, with syrup, as we desired. Every one departed with a bark of wax, and sugar cakes. . . . "In the early days of which these articles treat, the society at Mackinac was very small in the winter. The people were mostly French, with the habits of France, but not with the frivolities of Paris — instead, good, sensible people. There were a few families on the Island of Scotch descent, and several of mixed blood. Although small, the society was aristocratic in tendency. The fort was gar risoned by American officers, some of whom had French EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 121 wives; among them may be mentioned Captain Brooks, whose wife was a French lady from Detroit, whose sister, Miss Mai, made her home with them. Then there was Mrs. Whistler, wife of Major Whistler; she was of Scotch and French descent. "One interesting and wealthy family was that of Dr. David Mitchell,3 which consisted of his wife (of mixed blood), and a number of sons and daughters. The daugh ters at the time now mentioned had returned from Europe, where they had received the education which at that day was given young ladies. The sons were sent to Montreal for their education. This family were, of course, all British subjects. When the Island was ceded to the United States, Dr. Mitchell would not remain there but followed the troops to Drummond's Island, where he made himself a home, and where the remainder of his days were spent. His wife retained her old home at Mackinac, with the daughters and two sons. Mrs. Mitchell and her sons con tinued in the fur trade and added much to an already large fortune, for the trade made all rich. The mother and daughters would, in turn, visit Dr. Mitchell during the sum mer, but would not take the risk of a winter's visit. Two of the sons, however, remained with their father. "The old homestead, which was built while Mackinac was under British rule, is still standing. It was the largest dwelling house ever erected on the Island. It is two stories high, with a high attic, this having dormer windows. The grounds surrounding it were considered large, running through from one street to another. The three daughters 3 Mitchell was a surgeon in the British army, who married an Ottawa woman. He had been Surgeon at Old Mackinaw, but soon after the Pon tiac massacre moved to the Island. 122 HISTORIC MACKINAC were handsome, attractive, and entertaining ladies. Win ter being long and dull, these young ladies would invite a lady friend or two to spend it with them. In the winter of 1808-9, Miss Marianne Lasaliere (my mother) visited them. The July following, one of the daughters was mar ried and went to Europe to make her home there. My mother was also married in the same month, and she went to make her home at Prairie du Chien. The two young ladies remaining now felt more lonely than ever, and de sired greatly the presence of some of their young lady friends to shorten the otherwise dreary winter days. In the winter of 1816-17, Miss Josette Laframboise visited them, and it was on this visit that she made the acquaintance of Capt. Benjamin K. Pierce, commander of Fort Mackinac, whom she afterwards married. "In addition to this home, Mrs. David Mitchell owned and cultivated a large farm on the southwest side of the Island. It might be called a hay farm, as hay was the principal, and always a large crop. Hay was a very ex pensive article at Mackinac, at that time. It was customary for men to go to the surrounding islands, mow what grass they could among the bushes, remain there until the hay was cured, then return for boats to convey it to Mackinac. Potatoes were also largely cultivated by Mrs. Mitchell, and 'Mackinac potatoes' were regarded as the choicest in this part of the country. Oats and com were also raised. An attempt was made to raise fruit trees, but with small suc cess; these did better in town. The farm house was com fortable-looking, one story in height, painted white, with green blinds; a long porch ran across the front. This house stood in about the center of the farm, far back from the road. The farm was noted also for its fine springs. VIEW OF MORAN BAY AT ST. IGNACE VIEW OF MACKINAC ISLAND FROM THE STRAITS OFF ROUND ISLAND BRITISH LANDING, MACKINAC ISLAND EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 123 Then there was Mrs. Mitchell's garden, which lay between the bluff, or hill, and the lake; on one side lay the govern ment garden, and on the other was 'the point.' It was a large plot, two or three acres in extent, and was entirely enclosed by cedar pickets five feet high, whitewashed, as were all enclosures at Mackinac. All vegetables that would grow in so cold a climate were cultivated. It was an every-day occurrence to see Mrs. Mitchell coming to inspect her garden, riding in her calash, a two-wheeled vehicle, being her own driver. When the old lady arrived the men would hasten to open the gate, then she would drive in; and there, in the large space in front of the garden beds, in the shade, the man would fasten the horse, while 'my lady' would walk all over the grounds giving her or ders. The refuse of this garden, the rakings, etc., were carried to the shore and made a conspicuous dark spot, like an island on the white beach, which in later years grew into a considerable point and was covered with verdure. "Her speech was peculiar. English she could not speak at all, but would mix the French with her own language, which was neither Ottawa nor Chippewa. There were not many who could understand her; there was, however, one old man who had lived for a great many years with the family, who was a natural interpreter and seemed per fectly to comprehend her. And yet, she got along ad mirably in company. She had many signs that were ex pressive, and managed to make her wishes clear to the ladies. When her daughters were at home, her linguistic troubles vanished. She was quite large, tall, and heavy. Her dress was as peculiar as her conversation. She always wore black, — usually her dresses were of black silk, which 124 HISTORIC MACKINAC were always made in the same manner. A full skirt was gathered and attached to a plain waist. There were two large pockets on the skirt, and she always stood with her hands in these. About her neck was a black neckerchief; on her head she wore a black beaver hat, with a modest plume at one side. There were ties, but nowhere else on the bonnet was ribbon used. This bonnet she wore day and night. I do not think she slept in it, but never did I know of any one who had ever seen her without it. She was an intelligent woman, with exceptional business facul ties, although devoid of book-learning. Her skill in read ing character was considerable. Such was the 'Mistress of the manse.' "The home became greatly changed, after the daughters were all married and had taken up their abode elsewhere. but on the arrival of the younger son from school, social life again awakened, and the former gayety of the house was revived. He gave many parties of all kinds, including card parties, which his mother particularly enjoyed, as she was an experienced whist player. He frequently gave dancing parties, which one of his lady neighbors — the wife of John K. Pierce, a brother of the President, — managed for him, his mother never assuming any care in regard to them. Yet she was fond of social gatherings, and at tended all that were given. When there was no card- playing, she sat by and watched the dancing, and was always surrounded by a group of ladies and gentlemen. She must have been more attractive than my youthful eyes could perceive, for she received much attention. She kept many servants, who were in the charge of a house-keeper. It was said she knew not the use of a needle. Her young est son was a gentleman of the world, though not at all EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 125 wild. He spent as much money as he could, on the dear Island home. The first winter after his return home, in 1823, he had two handsome horses, one black and the other white, which he drove tandem; it was an attractive turnout. He died poor. "Joseph Laframboise, a Frenchman, father of Josette Laframboise, dealt largely with the Indians. He was a firm, determined man, and moreover was especially devout, adhering to all the rights and usages of the Catholic Church. He was especially particular as to the observance of the Angelas. Out in the Indian country, timed by his watch, he was as faithful in this discharge of duty as elsewhere. Whenever in any town where the bells of his church rang out three times three, — he and his family paid reverent heed to it. Madame Laframboise, his widow, maintained this custom as long as she lived, and it was very impressive. The moment the Angelus sounded, she would drop her work, make the sign of the cross, and with bowed head and crossed hands would say the short prayers, which did not last much longer than the solemn ringing of the bells. "In 1809, Laframboise left Mackinac with his wife and baby boy (the daughter being at Montreal, at school) for his usual wintering-place on the upper part of the Grand River, in Michigan. They traveled in Mackinaw boats, or bateaux. There were two boats, with a crew of six men to each. They were also accompanied by their servants, — old Angelique, a slave, and her son, Louizon, — all of whom made a large party. ~ At the last encampment, before reach ing Grand River, Laframboise, while kneeling in his tent one night saying his prayers, was shot dead by an Indian, who had previously asked for liquor and had been refused. The widowed wife, knowing that she was nearer Grand 126 HISTORIC MACKINAC River than her own home, journeyed on, taking the remains of her husband with her, and had them buried at the only town in that vicinity, which was near the entrance of the river — the present Grand Haven, Mich. Now was devel oped the unselfish devotion of her servant, Angelique, whose faithfulness was displayed in many ways through the deep affliction which had fallen upon her mistress. She greatly endeared herself to Madame Laframboise, and was ever after her constant companion in all journeyings, Madame becoming in time very dependent upon her; the tie that bound them together remained unbroken until the death of the mistress. "After Madame Laframboise had laid away her hus band, she proceeded to her place of business. Here she remained, until spring, trading with the Indians. Then she returned to Mackinac and procured a license as a trader, and added much to her already large fortune. In the course of that winter the Indians captured the murderer of Laframboise, and, bringing him to her, desired that she should decide his fate, — whether he should be shot or burned. Madame addressed them eloquently, referring, in words profoundly touching, to her dead husband, his piety, and his good deeds. Then displaying in her forgiv ing spirit a most Christ-like quality, she continued: 'I will do as I know he would do, could he now speak to you; I will forgive him, and leave him to the Great Spirit. He will do what is right.' She never again saw that man. "Madame Laframboise would in June return with her furs to Mackinac. The servants whom she left in care of her home there, would have it in readiness upon her arrival, and here she would keep house for about three months and then go back to her work. Among these servants was one i EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 127 notably faithful, Genevieve Maranda, who remained with her until her death. "Madame Laframboise was a remarkable woman iD many ways. As long as her father, Jean Baptiste Marcotte, lived, his children, when old enough, were sent to Montreal to be educated. But she and her sister, Grandmother Schindler, did not share these advantages, they being the youngest of the family, and the father dying when Madame Laframboise was but three months old. Her mother was of chiefly blood, being the daughter of Ke-wi-na-quot (Re turning Cloud), one of the most powerful chiefs of the Ottawa tribe. She had no book-lore, but many might be proud of her attainments. She spoke French easily, hav ing learned it from her husband. All conversation in that day was as a rule held in French. Robert Stuart, a Scotch man, who was educated in Paris, used to say that her dic tion was as pure as that of a Parisian. She was a graceful and refined person, and remarkably entertaining. She al ways wore the full Indian costume, and there was at that time no better fur trader than she. She had both the love and respect of the Indians that her husband had had before her. She, indeed, had no fear of the Indians, no matter what their condition; she was always able to control them. "Now to return to Josette Laframboise's marriage to Captain Benjamin K. Pierce, commandant at Fort Mack inac (and brother of the President). This marriage took place at the home of a great friend of the young lady. An officer's widow, in writing her husband's military life, speaks of his being ordered to the command of Captain Pierce, at Fort Mackinac, in 1816, and says that the captain there met a half-breed girl whom he addressed and married. This 'half breed girl' was a highly educated and cultivated 128 HISTORIC MACKINAC woman. Her graceful demeanor was a charm. She was small in person, a clear brunette with black eyes and very black, wavy hair. She was both handsome and agreeable. What wonder was it, that a young man should be won by so winsome a maiden? "In May, 1817, Madame Laframboise arrived at Mack inac by bateau with her furs. She then hired a birch-bark canoe and Indian crew to take her to Montreal, where she went to place her boy in school. Her daughter was to be married that summer, but had to await her mother's return. As soon as the mother did return, the wedding took place. As Madame could not have time to open her house and make preparations at that late date, the home of Mrs. Mit chell, previously mentioned, was insisted upon, by her whole family, as being the place for the wedding. The friend ship between the families was sincere, and in this home, famed for its handsome weddings, another was added to the list. To this wedding, none but the officers and families of the garrison, and only two families of the town, were invited. The mother and aunt (Madame Schindler) were present in full Indian costume. "After the marriage, the captain took his wife to the Fort, and Madame Laframboise departed to resume her winter's work. Mrs. Pierce did not live long. She died in 1821, leaving two children. The son did not long survive his mother. Captain Pierce was ordered from Mackinac that winter. The following spring he came for his daughter, Harriet. From that date, Madame Laframboise closed her business with the American Fur Company, and re mained at home. She at this time left her old house and went into that which Captain Pierce had, with her means, built for her. Both houses are yet standing. I have stated EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 129 that Madame Laframboise was a remarkable woman. When she was between forty and fifty years of age, she taught herself to read. It was no indifferent piece of work either, as she became able to read any French book she could obtain. She was a devoted Catholic, and worked for the Church as long as she lived, greatly to the satisfaction of the poor, for whom she did much. It had been her prac tice to take girls, or any young woman who had had no op portunity to receive instruction in Church matters, and have them taught by persons whom she herself hired. In this way she began to teach herself. It was not long before she could instruct children in their catechism. It was through her, mainly, that the priest was supported. Among her gifts to the Church at Mackinac was the lot on which the church now stands, and she and her daughter lie buried be neath that edifice.4 "The former home of Madame Laframboise was within a few rods of the home of her sister, Madame Schindler. The pleasures of that home, for the few weeks she remained there, are vividly recalled ; yet they were pleasures that one can hardly understand at the present time. The pleasures of past times cannot readily be made real in the minds of the younger generation. There being no children at Ma- dame's home, and being fond of her sister's grandchild,5 she begged that the little girl might stay with her while at Mackinac, to which they all agreed. But as she was an only and spoiled child, it turned out that she had more than one home during that summer. The child was a precocious one, and afforded much amusement to her grand-aunt. 4 See sketch of Madame Madeline Laframboise in Wis. Hist. Colls., xi, pp. 373, 374. 5 Mrs. Baird here refers to herself. 130 HISTORIC MACKINAC Old Angelique petted the little one greatly, and yet essayed to teach her some of the kinds of work in which she was proficient. Among the lessons imparted was that of wax ing and polishing furniture. No one could tell who was the prouder, teacher or pupil. Angelique lived to see and play with the children of this petted and only child. She was an excellent housekeeper; she died at the residence of her son, Frangois Lacroix, who had married and moved to Cross Village,6 where his descendants now live. When he became of age, Madame Schindler gave him his freedom. His younger brother, Louizon, married, and with his family left Mackinac in a schooner in 1834, to go to Grand River. The vessel was wrecked on the way and all on board were lost. Angelique's daughter, Catishe, lived to be an old woman. She was the nurse of the spoiled child. "Madame Laframboise lived in her new home for sev eral years. It was there that I and my children were made happy in after years. To visit at that home, also, came Madame's grand-daughter, Miss Harriet Pierce, who after wards married an army officer. She, too, died young. Her daughter, who is still living, is the wife of an officer in the army. The son, who was placed at school at Mont real, came home in due time and became a fur trader, married out in the Western country, and died there about 1854, leaving a large family. Madame Laframboise died April 4, 1846, aged 66 years. At the same early period in which occurred the fore going events, there lived at Mackinac Joseph Bailly, a Frenchman — and a fur trader, of course, — who was living with his second family. Belonging to a distinguished fam ily at Montreal, he had been well educated, yet his nature 6 L'arbre Croche ; now Harbor Springs, Mich. EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 131 remained unchanged. He was not gentle, not coarse, but noisy. One was never at a loss to locate him, no matter what part of the Island might contain him. His loud laughter and speech always betrayed his whereabouts. He was an exceptionally good-natured man, fond of entertain ing his friends. "At one time he had an Indian wife and two children, a son and a daughter. After a time he left this family and took another Indian wife; a widow with one daughter, the latter's father being an Indian. Bailly had, by the second wife, four daughters, besides the step-daughter. All of these children he had had educated except the step-daugh ter. The daughter of the first wife, and two of those be longing to the second wife, attended the school which my mother opened for the children of the fur-traders. Bailly's son was sent to Montreal to school, and returned a few years later a pompous man and a great dandy. He entered the American Fur Company's employ as a clerk, and lived at Prairie du Chien. He afterwards married a Miss Fari bault, of a prominent family in Minnesota. All the chil dren of the elder Bailly turned out well, and in the course of time he was legally married to the second wife An In dian of unalloyed blood, who had been very little among the white people, she was a good woman, and possessed the gift so much prized among her people — that of a good story-teller. Her stories quite surpassed the "Arabian Nights" in interest; one could have listened to her all day and never tired. They were told in the Ottawa language; perhaps they might not have been so interesting in any other. "But it is of the step-daughter I have the most to tell. She developed into a superior woman, and was pretty. 132 HISTORIC MACKINAC She retained her mother's style of dress. The step-father was kind to her, yet it never seemed to occur to him to give her the education that was bestowed upon the others. She was fair-complexioned for an Indian, although her eyes were very black, and her hair equally so and of the thickest and longest. She was about seven years of age when her mother married Bailly, and when she began to know people other than her own, Madame Laframboise converted her to the Catholic faith. In the course of time there came to the Island of Mackinac, a young man from the East, who was of an old and honoured family of Philadelphia. He was a brother of Nicholas Biddle, president of the United States Bank during the administration of Andrew Jackson, and a relative of Commodore Biddle. "Edward Biddle became very much attached to this In dian girl. The attachment warmed into a sincere love on both sides. He did not know her language, neither did she understand his; but love needed no tongue. In 1819 they were married at her step-father's home. The ceremony was performed by the Notary Public, Samuel Abbott, who for years, was the only functionary there invested with the necessary authority for that purpose. "Would that my pen might do justice to this wedding! It was the most picturesque, yet no one can fully understand its attractiveness and novelty without some description of the style of dress worn by the bride and others of the women: a double skirt made of fine narrow broadcloth, with but one pleat on each side ; no fullness in front nor in the back. The skirt reached about half way between the ankle and the knee, and was elaborately embroidered with ribbon and beads on both the lower and upper edges. On EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 133 the lower, the width of the trimming was six inches, and on the upper, five inches. The same trimming extended up the overlapping edge of the skirt. Above this horizontal trimming were rows upon rows of ribbon, four or five inches wide, placed so near together that only a narrow strip of the cloth showed, like a narrow cord. Accompanying this was worn a pair of leggins made of broadcloth. When the skirt is black, the leggins are of scarlet broad cloth, the embroidery about three inches from the side edge. Around the bottom the trimming is between four and five inches in width. The moccasins, also, were embroidered with ribbon and beads. Then we come to the blanket, as it is called, which is of fine broadcloth, either black or red, with most elaborate work of ribbon; no beads, however, are used on it. This is worn somewhat as the Spanish women wear their mantles. The waist, or sacque, is a sort of loose- fitting garment made of silk for extra occasions, but usually of calico. It is made plain, without either embroidery of ribbon or beads. The sleeves snugly fit the arm and wrist, and the neck has only a binding to finish it. Beads enough are worn around the neck to fill in and come down in front. Silver brooches are worn according to taste. The hair is worn plain, parted in the middle, braided down the back and tied up again, making a double queue. At this wed ding, four such dresses appeared — those of the bride, her mother, Madame Laframboise, and Madame Schindler. "Bailly himself was more noisy than ever, over this marriage. He was a vain man, and proud of his step daughter; such a marriage and connection was more than he could bear quietly. Not long after he removed from the Island, but made occasional visits there. 134 HISTORIC MACKINAC "The newly married pair settled at Mackinac. They occupied one house for a few months, then moved into that which was their home for about fifty years, and where they both died." CHAPTER IV SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND IN 1820 HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT, pioneer in the study of the Indian tribes of the Old Northwest, author of many treatises on the Indians of North America, and for eight years a resident on Mackinac Is land, was in his day probably more widely known than any other citizen of Michigan.1 He was born in Albany, New York, in 1793, and educated at Middlebury College, Ver mont. Later, he travelled in the West, and in 1820 was ap pointed geologist to accompany an expedition with Gov ernor Lewis Cass. In 1820 he was appointed Indian Agent with headquarters at Sault Ste. Marie, and later on Mack inac Island. At the Sault, he married, in 1823, Miss Jane Johnston, a grand-daughter of the Ojibway chief, Wabo jeeg. He was a charter member of the Michigan Histori cal Society, for the study of the manners, customs, habits and language of the Algonquin Indians. From 1828 to 1832, he was a member of the Michigan territorial legisla ture. After 1832 he engaged in various exploring expedi tions and travels, including a trip to Europe. Beginning with 1847, under authority of Congress, he entered upon a labour for which he was so eminently prepared, the collec- ing and editing of all the information obtainable about the Indians of North America. Besides this monumental work, he produced in all, some thirty important works on 1 The materials for this biographical sketch of Schoolcraft are taken from Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, D. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y., Vol. 5. 135 136 HISTORIC MACKINAC his travels and Indian researches, some of which were writ ten by the aid of others after he had lost, by paralysis, the use of his hands. Schoolcraft was married a second time, to Mary Howard, a Southern woman, in 1847, five years after the death of his first wife. "Earnest, ready, diligent, sagacious, original, and mod est" in all his richly varied endeavours, he was in addition a charming writer, as shown by the selections here given from his Summary Narrative of an Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820.2 This enter prise was under the auspices of the national government, and was made in company with Governor Lewis Cass and others. Schoolcraft was secretary of the expedition. At the beginning of our narrative, their canoes, following the Michigan shores of Lake Huron from Detroit had ar rived within a short distance of Mackinac Island : "Another day along the Huron coast. It was now the 6th of June. The voyageurs began now to manifest a great anxiety to reach Michilimackinac, and had their canoes in the water at a very early hour. We all participated in this feeling, and saw with pleasure the long lines of sandy shores, strewn with boulders and pebbles, that were swiftly passed. We had traced about forty miles of the coast, when we reached the foot of Bois Blanc Island, and pushed over the intervening arm of the lake to get its south or lee shore. This was a labor of hazard, as the wind was di rectly ahead, and drove the waves into the canoes. When accomplished, we had the shelter of this island for twelve miles, till reaching its southwest part. We then passed, due north, between it and Isle Ronde, which brought the wind again ahead. But the men had not kept this course 2 Edition, 1855, pp. 57 ff. SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 137 long, when Michilimackinac, with its picturesque and im posing features, burst upon our view. Nothing can present a more refreshing and inspiring landscape. From that mo ment the voyageurs appeared to disregard the wind. Strik ing into the water with bolder paddles, and opening one of their animating boat-songs, all thought of past toils was forgotten, and, urged forward with a new impetus, we entered the handsome little crescent-shaped harbor at four o'clock. The expedition was received with a salute from the fort, in command of Captain B. K. Pierce, U. S. A., in compliment to the Governor of the Territory, and we landed amid the congratulations of the citizens, who pressed for ward to welcome us. . . . "Nothing can exceed the beauty of this Island. It is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Hu ron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinnacles like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places; and in these caverns, the ancient Indians, like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Ves sels anchor in it, and find good holding. The little old- fashioned French town nesdes around it in a very primi tive style. The Fort frowns above it, like another Alham- bra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area of the Island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and val leys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these there are circles of gathered-up stones, as if the Druids 138 HISTORIC MACKINAC themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down limestones. The Island was formerly covered with a dense growth of rock-maples, oaks, ironwood, and other hard wood species, and there are still parts of this ancient forest left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth. There are walks and winding paths among its little hills, and precipices of the most romantic character. And when ever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he is transported with sublime views of a most illimitable and magnificent water prospect. If the poetic muses are ever to have a new Parnassus in America, they should inevitably fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her temple here, for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest, and most healthful atmospheres. "We remained encamped upon this lovely Island six days, while awaiting the arrival of supplies and provisions for the journey, or their being prepared for transportation by hand over the northern portages. Meats, bread, Indian corn, and flour, had to be put in kegs, or stout linen bags. "The traders and old citizens said so much about the dif ficulties and toils of these northern portages that we did not know but what we, ourselves, were to be put in bags; but we escaped that process. This delay gave us the oppor tunity of more closely examining the Island. It is about three and a half miles long, two in its greatest width, and nine in circumference. The site of Fort Holmes, the apex, is three hundred and twelve feet above the lake. The east ern margin consists of precipitous cliffs, which, in many places, overhang the water, and furnish a picturesque, rocky fringe, as it were, to the elevated plain. The whole rock foundation is calcareous. It exhibits the effects of a SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 139 powerful diluvial action at early periods, as well as the continued influence of elemental action, still at work. Large portions of the cliffs have been precipitated upon the beach, where the process of degradation has been carried on by the waves. A most striking instance of such precipi tations is to be witnessed at the eastern cliff, called Rob inson's Folly, which fell, by its own gravitation, within the period of tradition. The formation, at this point, formerly overhung the beach, commanding a fine view of the lake and islands in all directions, in consequence of which it was occupied with a summer-house, by the officers of the British garrison, after the abandonment of the old peninsular fort, about 1780. "The mineralogical features of the Island are not without interest. I examined the large fragments of debris, which are still prominent, and which exhibit comparatively fresh fractures. The rock contains a portion of sparry matter, which is arranged in reticulae, filled with white carbonate of lime, in such a state of loose disintegration that the weather soon converts it to the condition of agaric mineral. These reticulae are commonly in the shape of calcspar, crystallized in minute crystals. The stratum on which this loose formation rests is compact and firm, and agrees in structure with the encrinal limestone of Drummond Island and the Manitoulin chain. But the vesicular stratum, which may be one hundred and ten or twenty feet thick, has been deposited in such a condition that it has not had, in some localities, firmness enough permanently to sustain itself. The consequence is, that the table-land has caved in, and exhibits singular depressions, or grass-covered, cup- shaped cavities, which have no visible outlet for the rain water that falls in them, unless it percolates through the 140 HISTORIC MACKINAC shelly strata. Portions of it, subject to this structure, have been pressed off, during changing seasons, by frosts, and carried away by rains, creating that castellated appearance of pinnacles, which gives so much peculiarity to the rocky outlines of the Island. "The Arched Rock is an isolated mass of self-sustaining rock, on the eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those coincidences of geological degradation in which the firmer texture of the silicious and calcareous portions of it have, thus far, resisted decomposition. Its explanation, is, how ever, simple: The apex of this geological monument is on a level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While the diluvial action, of which the whole Island gives striking proofs, carried away the rest of the reticulated or magne- sian limestone, this singular point, having a firmer texture, resisted its power, and remains to tell the visitor who gazes at it, that waters have once held dominion over the highest part of the Island. "Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenom ena of this Island, it may be observed that it is covered with the erratic block or drift stratum. Primitive, or crystalline pebbles and boulders are found, but not plentifully, on the surface. They are observed, however, on the highest sum mit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading north, in the approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is a remarkable accumulation of blocks of granite and horn blende drift boulders. The principal drift of the Island consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone boulders are not rare. Over the plain leading from the fort north by way of the Skull Rock, are spread extensive MACKINAC ISLAND HARBOR, FOLLOWINC ANNUAL YACHT RACE CHICAGO TO MACKINAC BABY MANITOU, EAST SHORE BOULEVARD, MACKINAC ISLAND SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 141 beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel, the particles of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot, which makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadam ized roads of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage wheels run upon it as smoothly, but far more solid, than they could over a plank floor. This formation appears to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which ar ranged itself agreeable to the laws of its own gravitation, on the recession of the watery element, to which its com minution is clearly due. It would be worth transportation, in boxes, for gravelling ornamental garden-walks. The soil of the Island is highly charged with the calcareous element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in pure beds of small limestone pebbles, where the seed pota toes have been merely covered in a slight way, to shield them from the sun, until they had taken root. . . . "The present town is pleasantly situated around a little bay that affords good clay anchorage and a protection from west and north winds. It has a very antique and foreign look, and most of the inhabitants are, indeed, of the Cana dian type of the French. The French language is chiefly spoken. It consists of about one hundred and fifty houses and some four hundred and fifty permanent inhabitants. "It is the seat of justice for the most northerly county of Michigan. According to the observation of Lieut. Eve- lith, the Island lies in north latitude 45° 54', which is only twenty-three minutes north of Montreal, as stated by Prof. Silliman. It is in west longitude 7° 10' from Washing ton. . . . "Fort 'Mackina' is eligibly situated on a cliff overlooking 142 HISTORIC MACKINAC the town and harbor, and is garrisoned by a company of ar tillery. The min of Fort Holmes, formerly Fort George, occupies the apex of the Island, and has been dismantled since the British evacuated it in 1815 . . . "To observe the structure and character of the Island of Michilimackinac, I determined to walk entirely around it, following the beach at the foot of the cliffs. This, al though a difficult task, from bmsh and debris, became a practicable one, except on the north and northwest borders, where there was, for limited spaces, no margin of debris, at which points it became necessary to wade in the water at the base of the low precipitous rocks. In addition to the reticulated masses of limestone covered with calcspar from the fallen cliffs, the search disclosed small tubular pieces of minutely crystallized quartz and angular masses of a kind of striped hornstone, gray and lead colored, which had been liberated from similar positions on the cliffs. On passing the west margin of the Island, I observed a bed of a species of light-blue clay, which is stated to part with its coloring matter in baking it, becoming white. "While the British possessed the Island, they attempted to procure water by digging two wells at the site of Fort George (now Holmes), but were induced to relinquish the work without success, at the depth of about one hundred feet. Among the fragments of rock thrown out, are im pressions of bivalve and univalve shells, with an impression resembling the head of a trilobite. These are generally in the condition of chalcedony, covered with very minute crystals of quartz. I also discovered a drift specimen of brown oxide of iron, on the north quarter. This sketch em braces all that is important in its mineralogical character. SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 143 "This Island appears to have been occupied by the In dians from an early period. Human bones have been dis covered at more than one point, in the cavernous structure of the Island; but no place has been so much celebrated for disclosure of this kind, as the Skull Cave. This cave has a prominent entrance, shaded by a few trees, and appears to have been once devoted to the offices of a charnel-house by the Indians. It is not mentioned at all, however, by writers, until 1763, in the month of June, of which year the Fort of Old Mackinaw on the peninsula, was treacherously taken by the Sac and Chippewa Indians. . . . "Society at Michilimackinac consists of so many diverse elements, which impart their hue to it, that it is not easy for a passing traveller to form any just estimate of it. The Indian, with his plumes, and gay and easy costume, always imparts an oriental air to it. To this, the Canadian, gay, thoughtless, ever bent on the present, and caring nothing for tomorrow, adds another phase. The trader, or interior clerk, who takes his outfit of goods to the Indians, and spends eleven months of the year in toil, and want, and petty traffic, appears to dissipate his means with a sailor like improvidence in a few weeks, and then returns to his forest wanderings; and boiled corn, pork, and wild rice again supply his wants. There is in these periodical re sorts to the central quarters of the Fur Company, much to remind one of the old feudal manners, in which there is proud hospitality and a show of lordliness on the one side, and gay obsequiousness and cringing dependence on the other, at least till the annual bargains for the trade are closed. "We were informed that there is neither school, preach ing, a physician (other than at the garrison), nor an attor- 144 HISTORIC MACKINAC ney, in the place. There are, however, courts of law, a post-office, and a jail, and one or more justices of the peace. "There is a fish market every morning, where may be had the trout — two species — and the white fish, the former of which are caught with hooks in deep water, and the latter in gill nets. Occasionally other species appear, but the trout and white fish, which are highly esteemed, are staples, and may be relied on in the shore market daily; whole canoe loads of them are brought in. "The name of this Island is said to signify a great turtle, to which it has a fancied resemblance, when viewed from a distance. Mikenok, and not Mackenok, is, however, the name for a tortoise. The term, as pronounced by the Indians, is Michinemockinokong, signifying a place of the Great Michinamockinocks, or rock-spirits. Of this word, Mich is from Michau (adjective-animate), great. The term mackinok, in the Algonquin mythology, denotes in the singular, a species of spirits, called turtle spirits, or large fairies, who are thought to frequent its mysterious cliffs and glens. The plural of this word, which is an in animate plural, is ong, which is the ordinary form of all nouns ending in the vowel o. When the French came to write this, they cast away the Indian local in ong, changed the sound of n to I, and gave the force mack and nack, to mok and nok. The vowel e, after the first syllable, is merely a connective in the Indian, and which is represented in the French orthography in this word by i. The ordinary interpretation of great turtle is, therefore, not widely amiss; but in its true meaning, the term enters more deeply into the Indian mythology than is conjectured. The Island was deemed, in a peculiar sense, the residence of spirits during all its earlier ages. Its cliffs, and dense and dark groves SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 145 of maples, beech, and iron-wood, cast fearful shadows ; and it was landed on by them in fearfulness, and regarded far and near as the Sacred Island. Its apex is, indeed, the true Indian Olympus of the tribes, whose superstitions and myth ology peopled it by gods, or monitos. "Since our arrival here, there has been a great number of Indians of the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes encamped near the town. The beach of the lake has been constantly lined with Indian wigwams and bark canoes. These tribes are generally well dressed in their own costume, which is light and artistic, and exhibit physiognomies with more regularity of features and mildness of expression than it is common to find among them. This is probably attrib utable to a greater intermixture of blood in this vicinity. They resort to the Island, at this season, for the purpose of exchanging their furs, maple-sugar, mats, and small manu factures. Among the latter are various articles of orna ment, made by the females, from the fine white deer skin, or yellow birch bark, embroidered with colored porcupine quills. The floor mats, made from rushes, are generally more or less figured. Mockasins, miniature sugar-boxes, called mo-cocks, shot-pouches, and a kind of pin and needle-holders, or housewives, are elaborately beaded. But nothing exceeds in value the largest mercantile mock- ocks of sugar, which are brought in for sale. They receive for this article six cents per pound, in merchandise, and the amount made in a season, by a single family, is sometimes fifteen hundred pounds. The Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche are estimated at one thousand souls, which, divided by five, would give two hundred families; and by admitting each family to manufacture but two hundred pounds per annum. would give a total of forty thousand pounds; and there are 146 HISTORIC MACKINAC probably as many Chippewas within the basins of Lakes Huron and Michigan. This item alone shows the impor tance of the Indian trade, distinct from the question of furs. "During the time we remained on this Island, the atmos phere denoted a mean temperature of 55° Fahrenheit. The changes are often sudden and great. The Island is subject to be enveloped in fogs, which frequently rise rap idly. These fogs are sometimes so dense, as to obscure completely objects at but a short distance. I visited Round Island one day with Lieut. Mackay, and we were both en gaged in taking views of the Fort and town of Michilimack inac when one of these dense fogs came on, and spread it self with such rapidity, that we were compelled to relin quish our designs unfinished, and it was not without diffi culty that we could make our way across the narrow chan nel, and return to the Island. This fact enabled me to realize what the old travellers of the region have affirmed on this topic. "We were received during our visit there in the most hospitable manner, as well as with official courtesy, by Capt. B. K. Pierce, the commanding officer, Major Pothuff, the Indian agent, and by the active and intelligent agents of Mr. John Jacob Astor, the great fiscal head of the Fur trade in this quarter." CHAPTER V McKENNEY'S SKETCHES OF A TOUR TO THE LAKES, 1826 THOMAS L. McKENNEY, a native of Maryland, and educated at Washington College, was a mer chant in Georgetown, D. C, when in 1816 he was ap pointed by President Madison to be Superintendent of Indian affairs. His successful experience in this position led to his appointment, in 1826, as joint Commissioner with Governor Lewis Cass to negotiate a treaty with the Ojibways at Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, then in the Territory of Michi gan. On his way thither he stopped at Mackinac Island, and in the following year published an interesting account of his observations, in a volume with the above title. He is also the author, in conjunction with James Hall, of the well-known McKenney and Hall's History of the Indian Tribes. It is said, "his personal appearance was so im posing that the famous artist, Charles Loring Elliott, re quested him to sit for his picture, when was produced one of the most superb portraits ever painted in this country." x The book here noticed is written in the form of letters to a friend. At the point where we begin he has just left Sault Ste. Marie, having spent some days with the Schoolcrafts. He is describing the canoe that is bearing his party towards Mackinac: 2 1 Lanman, Red Book of Michigan, p. 467. 2 P. 383-397. 147 148 HISTORIC MACKINAC "Around the sides, and upon a white ground, is a festoon of green and red paint. The rim is alternate green, red, and white. On each side of the bow, on a white ground, is the bust of an Indian chief, smoking, even larger than life. The awning is bordered with green, and red, and white; in the stem our flag flies, and in the bow is an enormous wooden pipe. The canoe is thirty-six feet long, and five wide, across the centre, and is paddled by ten men. This is the canoe that was made at Fond du Lac; and on both sides, and against the swell of the middle, is painted in large letters, FOND DU LAC. That in which I voyaged up and down the lake, I have parted from, and forever — by leaving it with its owner, Mr. Schoolcraft. In this, be sides our voyageurs, are the Governor, myself, and Mr. Brush. The remainder of our company is in barges. Mr. Holliday keeps company in his canoe, and has with him Mr. Agnew, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Lewis — and these, sitting face to face, between the central bars of the canoe, look as close packed as (Cowper once said his summer house would be under certain circumstances) 'wax figures in an old fashion picture frame.' "At one o'clock we were off the mouth of the St. Mary's; and at half past four, opposite Drummond's Island. En camped six miles beyond the Detour. Wind north-west, and cold. We are now thirty-six miles from Michilimack inac. "Sunday, Aug. 27th. "Embarked at half past five, wind north, and blowing fresh. At half past seven saw the Island of Michilimack inac, looking to be about four hundred yards in diameter. Landed on an island to breakfast — from thence made the traverse to Goose Island, before a fresh breeze, and over a McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 149 high and rugged swell. I saw the voyageurs were alarmed. Ran around the southwest side of the island, and landed at eleven o'clock. Found some Indians here, who told us it was not safe to proceed. A cloud rose in the south, and looked threatening. Some thunder. It passed over, and there was an appearance of calmer weather; but the waves were running high. One of the voyageurs refused to pro ceed, and said we knew nothing of the danger. In an hour we all thought we might venture across — distant to Michili mackinac, nine miles in a straight line. Put out. The lake (Huron) boisterous beyond what we had expected. Arrived at Michilimackinac, preceded by the barges, which, having ventured well out in the lake, took the wind from the cloud, and were fortunately blown in. Arrived at Mackinac at half past two o'clock in a heavy shower of rain, which levelled the waves of the lake, and made the water comparatively smooth. "We were met at the landing by several gentlemen, and politely invited by Mr. R. Stuart, principal of the American Fur Company, to take up our quarters with him, which invitation was accepted. "Dined, and visited, in company with Mr. Stuart, the missionary establishment in charge of Mr. Ferry. Found the whole family at supper; after which, we joined them in their prayers, which are offered up after this meal, and be fore the children disperse. After an introduction to the members, we returned and took tea with Mrs. Stuart, an interesting lady, of accomplished manners and fine intelli gence, and who has additional interest in my eyes on ac count of her warm attachment to the missionary establish ment. "Heard that the Ghent, in which we came to Drummond's 150 HISTORIC MACKINAC Island, had returned to Detroit, was condemned, and sunk! Her bottom was entirely decayed, so much so as to yield to the slightest pressure! She went from the Detour, after we parted from her, to Michilimackinac, took in part of a cargo, returned to Detroit, and while in the act of receiving her return cargo, sunk! — Our escape was indeed narrow! "Monday, Aug. 28th. "Weather unpleasant, too wet to examine the Island. Received a visit from the officers of the garrison. After dinner returned the compliment, under a salute from the Fort. There is only one company here, of forty-seven men, including officers. The place is impregnable if well for tified. "I inclose a sketch of the Island, reduced from a drawing by Lieut. Eveleth, who was drowned some years ago in Lake Michigan. The drawing represents the Island as it is ap proached from the south-east, and is an excellent repre sentation of it, judging from what I have seen. Interesting historical events crowd in upon my mind in regard to this Island; and old Mackinac — (you see I write the name some times in extenso, and sometimes as now abbreviated) to some of which I will refer in the course of my correspond ence from here; and as I intend travelling all over the Is land, I may have some descriptive notes to give. But these, like the rest of my efforts to gratify you, will be sketches, and rapid ones only. "Island Michilimackinac, Aug. 29, 1826. "My Dear— "All the world knows that the name of this Island is In dian, and means Great Turtle. Some have thought it came McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 151 from Imakinakos, from the belief that an Indian spirit once inhabited the Island. The figure of the Island, its top resembling the shell of a turtle, would confirm the suppo sition that its name is derived from its form. "The morning was clear, and was ushered in by a salute of thirteen guns from the Fort, and these were the tokens of those mingled feelings of sorrow and joy which are going the rounds of our country, for the loss of the two great men whose spirits, on the fourth of July last, joined in their ascent to their great reward, and to run together from the same starting place, the rounds of the same eternity. The tidings of their deaths have just been received here. "At seven o'clock the sky was suddenly blackened over with clouds from the north, and a heavy rain fell, accom panied with lightning and thunder. Minute guns were fired, after the salute, through the day, and I could but re mark, that often their flash was followed by one more bril liant from the clouds; and their roar with a peal of thunder. It seemed like reflection and echo. Minute guns, you know, are fired every half hour; and I believe I counted four distinct echoes of this sort, which followed imme diately, though with louder sounds, the discharges of the artillery. The Revenue Cutter displayed her flag at half mast, and thus the emblems of mourning have been exhib ited at this post, and fifty-six days after our venerable fa thers, to whose memories these honours have been awarded, had fallen asleep. And further on yet are these honours destined to be shewn. At the Sault, and up the Mississippi ; nor will they cease until every spot, on which the power of the country rests, or floats, shall have assisted in circulating the funeral dirge, and proclaiming that two great men have fallen in our Israel. We met the tidings, as I have already 152 HISTORIC MACKINAC written you, at the Sault; and first witnessed these mournful honours here. Col. Laurence was waiting for the arrival of the official despatch. The newspapers had outrun it; but on their annunciation he thought it best not to act. . . . "Dr. S e politely offered to accompany me over the Island, and to furnish me with a pony. After dinner we set out. We commenced our ramble by riding round the south-eastern shore of the Island, along by the ruins of Robertson's Folly, and thence on to the celebrated Arch Rock. After surveying this wonderful formation for some time, we dismounted, tied our horses, and commenced a steep ascent by a way which led through an immense arch, just beyond which we took our stations to gaze on the arch above us, about one-third of the way to which we had clam bered. I wish I had a drawing of this wonderful forma tion. I find some difficulty in describing it. You will, however, imagine a shore of about fifty yards in width, washed by the waters of an immense lake, covered with huge fragments of rock, and grown up with cedars; and then precipitous and irregular and broken elevations, which look as if the elements from the north-east had been at war upon them since the creation, and varying from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high. From these, at this place, a rocky projection stands out in a northerly di rection, in the side of which an arch-like opening has been made, through which you ascend about fifty feet, when over your head you behold the Giant's arch, with a perfect, but rugged outline, one base resting on this rocky projection, and the other on the hill. The span of the arch I estimate at fifty feet, and its centre, from shore to shore, one hun dred and fifty feet. You would, on seeing the white clouds McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 153 and the blue sky through this opening, be led to fancy it a drawing against the heavens. But this arch is crumbling, and a few years will deprive the Island of Michilimackinac of a curiosity which it is worth visiting to see, even if this were the only inducement. Where it rests on the rocky projection, and the main land, the span is thicker and firmer, but as it approaches the centre, it decreases in di mensions, and does not appear to be more than four feet through, with a breadth across of not more than three feet. A few shrubs grow out of the top. I was told by Dr. S that not long ago a young gentleman had the temerity to walk over this span from the main to the rocky projection ! "After gazing for some time at this immense and tower ing arch, and being deeply impressed with the rocky gran deur of the scene, we descended to the shore, mounted our horses, and returned by the route we had come, and just beyond Robertson's Folly, which is about a mile north-east from the village, and ascended a precipitous and narrow pathway to a summit of about thirty feet, and of most ir regular ascent. Here we dismounted, and taking our bridle reins in our hands, the Doctor leading the way, we clambered up another pathway, just wide enough, and hardly so, for the horses feet, and fifty feet above our rest ing place, where we paused to rest, and to survey the gulfy way by which we had reached our present elevation. I never was so completely exhausted in my life. The horses pressed on us, nor was it possible for them to stop with any kind of safety — whilst the narrowness of the way, and its angles, across which the horses had sometimes to step, made it necessary for us to ascend at such a pace as to insure to these animals a freedom in placing their feet in such way 154 HISTORIC MACKINAC as to secure them from a false step — one of which, it ap peared to me, would have lost them their balance, and their lives! "Having rested ourselves, we mounted, and pursued our way to the Giant's arch, to take a look at it from above. The view is appalling from this giddy height, but sublime from below. Thence we proceeded to the pyramid, or Sug ar-loaf rock. I should judge this rock to be about eighty feet high; at the top, about ten feet through, and at its base, thirty. It is irregular in its form, and broken in cracks, or fissures, and out of these grow little cedars. It rises out of nearly a level plain, and is north-easterly from Fort Holmes, which is the apex of the Island, and which cannot be much short, if any, of three hundred and fifty feet from the water of the lake. "From this we proceeded to Skull Rock. This rock is due north from the fort, and about four hundred yards from it. Its form is very irregular, and rises out of a level sur face, but by the abrasion of the rock, a mound is raised round it of about ten feet, and which is level with the floor of the opening which looks south; and which opening is about four feet high, and ten wide, and shell-shaped. It is irregular and broken about the mouth. This rock is famed as having been the hiding-place selected by the In dian at the massacre of old Michilimackinac, in 1763, for the preservation of Henry. I cannot describe my feelings as I sat at the mouth of this rock, and looked in upon the very ground on which this adventurous traveller had spent hours of suspense, and amidst circumstances the most dis astrous and appalling. "All this was in my recollection. I had read the account, H ty'lClfc: FINE VIEW OF ST. ANNE'S CHURCH AND HARBOR HOMES AND GROUNDS OF MACKINAC ISLAND'S SUMMER RESIDENTS McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 155 but had hardly ventured to anticipate that I should ever see a place made thus famous. After surveying the open ing for some time, I entered it, and found it to be, in a gen eral way, just as Henry had described it. I sat down upon the spot on which, doubdess, he had slept on the branches of the trees, and saw around me pieces of the same bones that he had seen, and perhaps handled. 'The further aper ture' is to the left of the entrance, and is yet 'too small to be explored.' I got into it to the distance of five feet, but no further; and by the light that passed my body, saw its ter mination, which was not over ten feet further. With my cane, I drew out several bones from its extreme end, and shall take them home with me, as relics of a place so re markable and so interesting. The depth of the opening, with its 'further end rounded like an oven,' is not more than six or eight feet; and in circumference, I should judge, about thirty feet. "It appears, from Henry, that Wawatam had no knowl edge that bones were in this rock; and on returning, and mentioning it to the rest of the Indians, they all flocked to see the place, and were all ignorant, until now, of its char acter. . . . "For myself, I have no opinion to give in regard to the subject, but incline to Henry's. One thing is certain, and that is, the time has gone by when anything certain can be known in regard to the matter. "From Skull Rock, we ascended the crown of the Island, that highest part as seen in the drawing, which is just back, and north of the rock, and on which are the remains of the works thrown up by the British in the late war, and called by them Fort George, but known now by the title of Fort 156 HISTORIC MACKINAC Holmes, and so called in honour of the gallant officer who fell in the late war in an unsuccessful attack upon the Island by Colonel Croghan. "It is not possible to give you, my dear , even the slightest conception of the grandeur of the view from this vast elevation! The lake, Huron, spreads out before you in the east as far as the eye can see; its islands, green and ornamental, varying and beautifying the scene — Round Island — Bois Blanc, and others; and then the main to the west and north-west — the Rabbits' Back, and the opening into Lake Michigan, with the scenery of Michilimackinac itself, with its fort and beautifully varied surface, make al together the most commanding display which the lake makes anywhere of its vastness and variety, and grandeur. I wish you could see it all. "Fort Holmes is nearly a parallelogram, and though now in ruins, except some of its nearly horizonal pickets, which incline out over the trenches, and the breastwork out of which they rise, and the interior of a store room, enough remains to demonstrate the strength of the design, and its superiority over the old Fort, which this completely com mands. For offensive operations, however, against an attack by water, its position would be of little avail, as ships may lie under the bluffs and out of range of the shot. Under such circumstances a garrison could be starved into a surrender. There is one way to it also, that from the north-west, by which a siege, regularly carried on, might succeed; but not without a great expense both of blood and treasure. "From Fort Holmes we visited Croghan's battle-ground, and the place of his landing, which is on the north-western side of the Island, in nearly a direct line from the Fort as McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 157 seen in the drawing, and about three miles from it. The Island is about nine miles in circumference. We had the place pointed out to us where it is said Holmes fell. It is a double rocky mound, just back of Dousman's stables. Col. Croghan, I understand, says he fell on the field half a mile west of this spot. "It is never an ungrateful task to speak of the attachment and fidelity of even a slave. It was to the faithfulness of one of this class of people, that the feelings of Croghan's army were spared the pain of believing that Holmes, like many other gallant fellows, had been the subject of savage ferocity. When he fell, pierced as he was by two balls, this domestic, a black man, took him in his arms and hur ried the body away into the woods bordering the battle ground, and there covered it carefully with brush and leaves, and then hastening to the landing, conveyed to the commanding officer the gratifying information that the body was safe. A flag of truce was sent, which was accompanied by this faithful domestic, who piloted the officer to the spot where the body was found just as the faithful negro had left it. It now lies at Fort Gratiot, in the rest and retire ment of a warrior's grave, instead of having been stripped, and scalped, and mangled by the savage allies of the enemy, and his bones left to bleach on the battle-field where he fell. "From this landing we rode around the western and southern shores of the Island, and saw the chimney rock, which is pretty much like the one at Harper's Ferry of the same name, and stands like that on the side of a hill. It is like that also, a body of stones, which happened to have been supported by resting one on another in the hill, which once embosomed them, but the earth and looser particles having been washed away, these now stand out exposed to 158 HISTORIC MACKINAC the view. I suppose this chimney rock to be about fifty feet high. Further on we came to a huge rock fronting the south-west, which projects out of the hill, and is in height about seventy feet, in which is a cavern, into which we rode our ponies. This we called the Manitoulin rock. It is full of openings for twenty feet above our heads, and is, no doubt, a place at which the Indians have often listened in dismay to the echoes of the surge on the lake shore, not knowing whence they came, and attributing them to the voice of a manito! "Still keeping the shore of the lake, as indeed we were obliged to do, from the rocky and towering elevations which bind it — we arrived opposite an Indian burying-ground, near which, and along the beach, were several lodges ; and Indian women engaged in weaving mats ; and, as usual, any quantity of their half -wild dogs, with their pointed noses and fox ears. About half a mile further on, is the village of Mackinac. "I will not venture upon the history of those regions, the most famous periods of which are those of Pontiac's war, and of our late contest with England. For the incidents connected with the former, I refer you to Henry; those which relate to the latter need not be repeated here. "This Island is bold and rugged, as seen in the approach to it, and on all sides, except the north-west, there the hills incline gradually down to the shore. There are the most decided marks of the action of water for two hundred feet above the level of the lake, indeed up to Fort Holmes. This forms the first mound; the next is that on which the fortress is built, which is just on the edge of an almost per pendicular descent of an hundred and fifty feet; against a large portion of this hill a stone wall has been built, by the McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 159 side of which the way leads, by means of steps, into the gateway of the Fort. Below this is another terrace, of about four hundred yards deep, of nearly level ground, and just under the hill on which the Fort stands. On this the town is built, and the gardens are cultivated, in which are about fifty trees. This terrace stretches, varying in width, from the southern point of the Island to the mission ary buildings, which are near its north-eastern extremity. The village occupies a place which is about fifteen feet above the water of the lake — from it to the water is another gradual descent. All these appear to me to mark a period ical recession of the waters. Indeed, I was shewn the stump of a cedar tree, which is near the gateway of the Fort, and to the right of the steps, as you ascend them, and which is not much short of eighty feet above the level of the lake, to which an Indian, who was known by persons now living on the Island, has been often heard to say his father, in his time, used to fasten his canoe. "The houses are, with the exception of those owned by the American Fur Company, all of logs, and small; most of them are covered with bark, and nearly all are going to decay. The Fur Company's buildings are extremely val uable, and well adapted to the purposes for which they were built. "Mackinac is really worth seeing. I think it by no means improbable, especially should the steamboats extend their route to it, that it will become a place of fashionable resort for the summer. There is no finer summer climate in the world. The purest, sweetest air — lake scenery in all its aged and grand magnificence, and the purest water; white fish in perfection, the very best fish, I believe, in the world, and trout, weighing from five to fifty pounds. No 160 HISTORIC MACKINAC flies and no mosquitoes, nothing to annoy, but every va riety for the eye, the taste, and the imagination, with all that earth, and water, and sky can furnish, (except good fresh meat, and where such fish are plenty, this can be dispensed with) to make it agreeable and delightful. There are no bilious fevers here; and temperate people may, with some thing like certainty, if not organically diseased, spin out life's thread to its utmost tenuity. But in winter I would prefer not to be here; and that would form an exception, as to temperature, of at least seven months out of the twelve. "We shall leave Michilimackinac in the morning. "Ever yours." CHAPTER VI MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 ONE of the best known writers associated with early Mackinac is Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, whose husband, John Harris Kinzie, was a clerk for Robert Stuart, in the Mackinac fur trade, and one of the sons of the re puted "Father of Chicago." x In 1856, Mrs. Kinzie pub lished Wau-Bun, the "Early Day" in the Northwest, which includes a charming impression of Mackinac Island as it was in 1830. In September of that year she set out with a party from Detroit, on board the steamer Henry Clay, and after some exciting experiences in a storm off Thunder Bay, arrived safe at Mackinac, where she was received affectionately by her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stuart. Following are her impressions of the Fairy Isle: 2 "Michilimackinac! that gem of the Lakes! How bright and beautiful it looked as we walked abroad on the following morning. The rain had passed away, but had left all things glittering in the light of the sun as it rose up over the waters of Lake Huron, far away to the East. Be fore us was the lovely bay, scarcely yet tranquil after the storm, but dotted with canoes and the boats of the fishermen already getting out their nets for the trout and whitefish, those treasures of the deep. Along the beach were scat tered the wigwams or lodges of the Ottawas who had come i Wis. Hist. Colls., XX, 315,— note. 2 Wau-Bun, pp. 18-26. 161 162 HISTORIC MACKINAC to the Island to trade. The inmates came forth to gaze upon us. A shout of welcome was sent forth, as they rec ognized Shaw-nee-aw-kee, who from a seven years' resi dence among them, was well-known to each individual. "A shake of the hand, and an emphatic 'Bon-jour — bon- jour,' is the customary salutation between the Indian and the white man. " 'Do the Indians speak French?' I inquired of my hus band. 'No; this is a fashion they have learned of the French traders during many years of intercourse.' "Not less hearty was the greeting of each Canadian engage, as he trotted forward to pay his respects to 'Mon sieur John,' and to utter a long string of felicitations, in a most incomprehensible patois. I was forced to take for granted all the good wishes showered upon 'Madame John,' of which I could comprehend nothing but the hope that I should be happy and contented in my 'vie sauvage.' "The object of our early walk was to visit the Mission- house and school which had been some few years previous established at this place, by the Presbyterian Board of Missions. It was an object of especial interest to Mr. and Mrs. Stuart, and its flourishing condition at this period, and the prospects of extensive future usefulness it held out, might well gladden their philanthropic hearts. They had lived many years on the Island, and had witnessed its transformation, through God's blessing on Christian efforts, from a worldly community to one of which it might almost be said, 'Religion was every man's business.' This mis sion establishment was the beloved child and the common centre of interest of the few Protestant families clustered around it. Through the zeal and good management of Mr. and Mrs. Ferry, and the fostering encouragement of MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 163 the congregation, the school was in great repute, and it was pleasant to observe the effect of mental and religious culture in subduing the mischievous, tricky propensities of the half-breed, and rousing the stolid apathy of the genu ine Indian. "These were the palmy days of Mackinac. As the head quarters of the American Fur Company, and the entrepot of the whole Northwest, all the trade in supplies and goods on the one hand, and in furs and products of the Indian country on the other, was in the hands of the parent establishment or its numerous outposts scattered along Lakes Superior and Michigan, the Mississippi, or through still more distant regions. "Probably few are ignorant of the fact, that all the Indian tribes, with the exception of the Miamis and the Wyandots, had, since the transfer of the old French posses sions to the British Crown, maintained a firm alliance with the latter. The independence achieved by the United States did not alter the policy of the natives, nor did our government succeed in winning or purchasing their friend ship. Great Britain, it is true, bid high to retain them. Every year, the leading men of the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottowattamies, Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Sauks and Foxes, and even the still more remote tribes, journeyed from their distant homes to Fort Maiden in Upper Canada, to receive their annual amount of presents from their Great Father across the water. It was a master-policy thus to keep them in pay, and had enabled those who prac tised it to do fearful execution through the aid of such allies in the last war between the two countries. "The presents they thus received were of considerable value, consisting of blankets, broadcloths or strouding, 164 HISTORIC MACKINAC calicoes, guns, kettles, traps, silver-works (comprising arm bands, bracelets, brooches, and ear-bobs), looking-glasses, combs, and various other trinkets distributed with no nig gardly hand. "The magazines and store-houses of the Fur Company were the resort of all the upper tribes for the sale of their commodities, and the purchase of all such articles as they had need of, including those above enumerated, and also ammunition, which, as well as money and liquor, their British friends very commendably omitted to furnish them. "Besides their furs, various in kind and often of great value — beaver, otter, marten, mink, silver-gray and red fox, wolf, bear, and wild cat, musk-rat, and smoked deer skins — the Indians brought for trade maple-sugar in abundance, considerable quantities of both Indian corn and petit-ble,s beans and the folles avoines,4 or wild rice, while the squaws added to their quota of merchandise a contri bution in the form of moccasins, hunting-pouches, mococks, or little boxes of birch-bark embroidered with porcupine quills and filled with maple-sugar, mats of a neat and durable fabric, and toy-models of Indian cradles, snow shoes, canoes, &c, &c. "It was no unusual thing, at this period, to see a hundred or more canoes of Indians at once approaching the Island, laden with their articles of traffic; and if to these we add the squadrons of large Mackinaw boats constantly arriving from the outposts, with the furs, peltries, and buffalo-robes collected by the distant traders, some idea may be formed of the extensive operations and important position of the The following notes are Mrs. Kinzie's. 8 Corn which has been parboiled, shelled from the cob, and dried in the sun. 4 Literally, crazy oats. It is the French name for the Menomonees. MACKINAC ISLAND, VIEW SHOWING MISSION POINT MACKINAC ISLAND VIEW. 1917 MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 165 American Fur Company, as well as of the vast circle of human beings either immediately or remotely connected with it. "It is no wonder that the philanthropic mind, surveying these races of uncultivated heathen, should stretch forward to the time when, by an unwearied devotion to the white man's energies, and an untiring sacrifice of self and for tune, his red brethren might rise in the scale of social civilization — when Education and Christianity should go hand in hand to make 'the wilderness blossom as the rose.' "Little did the noble souls at this day rejoicing in the success of their labors at Mackinac, anticipate that in less than a quarter of a century there would remain of all these numerous tribes but a few scattered bands, squalid, de graded, with scarce a vestige remaining of their former lofty character — their lands cajoled or wrested from them — the graves of their fathers turned up by the ploughshare — themselves chased farther and farther towards the set ting sun, until they were literally grudged a resting place on the face of the earth! "Our visit to the Mission school was of short duration, for the Henry Clay was to leave at two o'clock, and in the meantime we were to see what we could of the village and its environs, and after that, dine with Mr. Mitchell, an old friend of my husband. As we walked leisurely along over the white gravelly road, many of the residences of the old inhabitants were pointed out to me. There was the dwelling of Madame Laframboise, an Ottawa woman, whose husband had taught her to read and write, and who had ever after continued to use the knowledge she had acquired for the instruction and improvement of the youth among her own people. It was her custom to receive a 166 HISTORIC MACKINAC class of young pupils daily at her house, that she might give them lessons in the branches mentioned, and also in the principles of the Roman Catholic religion, to which she was deeply devoted. She was a woman of a vast deal of energy and enterprise — of a tall and commanding figure, and most dignified deportment. After the death of her husband, who was killed while away at his trading-post by a Winnebago named White Ox, she was accustomed to visit herself the trading-posts, superintend the clerks and engages, and satisfy herself that the business was carried on in a regular and profitable manner. "The Agency-house, with its usual luxuries of piazza and gardens, was situated at the foot of the hill on which the Fort was built. It was a lovely spot, notwithstanding the stunted and dwarfish appearance of all cultivated vegeta tion in this cold northern latitude. "The collection of rickety, primitive-looking buildings, occupied by the officials of the Fur Company, reflected no great credit on the architectural skill of my husband, who had superintended their construction, he told me, when little more than a boy. "There were, besides these, the residences of the Dous- mans, the Abbotts, the Biddies, the Drews, and the Lashleys, stretching away along the base of the beautiful hill, crowned with the white walls and buildings of the Fort, the ascent to which was so steep, that on the precipitous face nearest the beach staircases were built by which to mount from below. "My head ached intensely, the effect of the motion of the boat on the previous day, but I did not like to give up to it; so after I had been shown all that could be seen MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 167 of the little settlement in the short time allowed us, we repaired to Mr. Mitchell's. "We were received by Mrs. M., an extremely pretty, delicate woman, part French and part Sioux, whose early life had been passed at Prairie du Chien, on the Mississippi. She had been a great belle among the young officers at Fort Crawford ; so much so, indeed, that the suicide of the post- surgeon was attributed to an unsuccessful attachment he had conceived for her. I was greatly struck with her soft and gentle manners, and the musical intonation of her voice, which I soon learned was a distinguishing pecul iarity of those women in whom are united the French and native blood. "A lady, then upon a visit to the Mission, was of the company. She insisted on my lying down upon the sofa, and ministered most kindly to my suffering head. As she sat lty my side, and expatiated upon the new sphere open ing before me, she inquired : " t)o you not realize very strongly the entire depriva tion cf religious privileges you will be obliged to suffer in your distant home?' " "Ihe deprivation,' said I, "will doubtless be great, but not enire; for I shall have my Prayer-Book, and though destitute of a church, we need not be without a mode of worship' "Howoften afterwards, when cheered by the consolations of this p-ecious book in the midst of the lonely wilder ness, did I remember this conversation, and bless God that I couil never, while retaining it, be without 'religious privileges. "We had not yet left the dinner-table, when the bell of 168 HISTORIC MACKINAC the little steamer sounded to summon us on board, and we bade a hurried farewell to all our kind friends, bearing with us their hearty wishes for a safe and prosperous voyage. "A finer sight can scarcely be imagined than Mackinac, from the water. As we steamed away from the shore, the view came full upon us — the sloping beach with the scat tered wigwams, and canoes drawn up here and there — the irregular, quaint-looking houses — the white walls of the Fort, and beyond one eminence still more lofty, crowned with the remains of old Fort Holmes. The whole picture completed, showed the perfect outline that had given the Island its original Indian name, Mich-i-li-mack-i-nack, the Big Turtle. "Then those pure, living waters, in whose depths the Ash might be seen gliding and darting to and fro, whose clear ness is such that an object dropped to the bottom may be discerned at the depth of fifty or sixty feet, a dollar iying far down on its green bed, looking no larger than a half dime. I could hardly wonder at the enthusiastic lady who exclaimed: 'Oh! I could wish to be drowned ir these pure, beautiful waters!' " CHAPTER VII MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 SINCE Schoolcraft's visit to Mackinac in 1820 he had been appointed an agent of Indian affairs for the United States at Sault Ste. Marie. This was in 1822. In 1823 he married Miss Jane Johnston, a young woman of education and culture, a grand-daughter of the Ojibway chief Wabo-jeeg. Her father was Mr. John Johnston, an Irish fur-trader of wealth and social distinction. Jane had been sent in early life to Europe for her education, in care of Mr. Johnston's relatives. Schoolcraft's marriage to a woman equally well versed in English and Algonquin was a great aid to his researches, which he carried on with her intelligent assistance at the Sault and at Mackinac. She accompanied him to his new scene of labour at Mack inac in 1833. It may be of interest to give Schoolcraft's own words on the occasion of his transfer to the Island, which reveal something of the man and his family as well as of the busy life of the Island at that time.1 "I had been," he says, "a member of the first exploring expedition which the U. S. Government sent into that region in 1820. Troops landed here to occupy it in 1822, on which occasion I was entrusted by the President, with the management of Indian affairs. I had now lived almost eleven years at this ancient and remote point of settlement, i Personal Memoirs, pp. 441-442. 169 170 HISTORIC MACKINAC which is at the foot of the geological basin of Lake Supe rior — a period which, aside from official duties, was, in truth, devoted to the study of the history, customs, and languages of the Indians. These years are consecrated in my memory as a period of intellectual enjoyment, and of profound and pleasing seclusion from the world. It was not without deep regret that I quitted long cherished scenes, abounding in the wild magnificence of nature, and went back one step into the area of the noisy world, for it was impressed on my mind, that I should never find a theatre of equal repose, and one so well adapted to my simple and domestic taste and habits. For I left here in the precincts of Elmwood, a beautiful seat, which I had adorned with trees of my own planting, which abounded in every convenience and comfort, and commanded one of the most magnificent prospects in the world. "The change seemed, however, to flow naturally from the development of events. The decision once made, I only waited the entrance into the straits of a first class schooner, which could be chartered to take my collections in natural history, books, and furniture — all which were embarked, with my family, on board the schooner Mariner the last week in May. Captain Fowle (who met a melan choly fate many years afterwards, while a Lieutenant-Col onel on board the steamer Moselle on the Ohio) had been relieved, as commanding officer of the post, at the same time, and embarked on board the same vessel with his family. We had a pleasant voyage out of the river and up the lake, until reaching the harbor of Mackinac, which we entered early on the morning of the 27th of May. Coming in with an easterly wind, which blows directly into it, the vessel pitched badly at anchor, causing sea- MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 171 sickness, and the rain falling at the same time. As soon as it could be done, I took Mrs. S. and the children and servants in the ship's yawl, and we stood on terra-firma, and found ourselves at ease in the rural and picturesque grounds and domicile of the U. S. Agency, overhung, as it is, by impending cliffs, and commanding one of the most pleasing and captivating views of lake scenery. Here the great whirl of lake commerce, from Buffalo to Chicago, continually passed. The picturesque canoe of the Indian was constantly gliding, and the footsteps of visitors were frequently seen to tread in haste the 'Sacred Island,' render ing it a point of continual contact with the busy world. Emigrants of every class, agog for new El Dorados in the West, eager merchants prudendy looking to their in terests in the great area of migration, domestic and foreign visitors, with note-book in hand, and some valetudinarians, hoping in the benefits of a pure air and 'white-fish' — these continually filled the harbor, and constituted the ever- moving panorama of our enlarged landscape." It was a habit of Schoolcraft's, in common with many men of that leisurely day, to keep a journal of events. In 1851, Schoolcraft published his journal under the title, Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers: with Brief Notices of Passing Events, Facts, and Opinions, A. d. 1812 to A. D. 1842. During his first visit at Mackinac he kept a very complete diary,2 the reason for which he explains in his entry for New Year's Day: "1834, Jan. 1st. My journal for this winter will be almost purely domestic. It is intended to exhibit a picture 2 Ibid., pp. 458-484. 172 HISTORIC MACKINAC of men and things, immediately surrounding a person iso lated from the world, on an island in the wide area of Lake Huron, at the point where the current, driven by the winds, rushes furiously through the straits connected with Lake Michigan. Where the ice in the winter freezes and breaks up continually, where the temperature fluctuates greatly with every wind, and where the tempests of snow, rain and hail create a perpetual scene of changing phenomena. "Society here is scarcely less a subject of remark. It is based on the old French element of the fur trade — that is, a commonalty who are the descendants of French or Cana dian boatmen, and clerks and interpreters who have in variably married Indian women. The English, who suc ceeded to power after the fall of Quebec, chiefly withdrew, but have also left another element in the mixture of Anglo- Saxons, Irishmen or Celts, and Gauls, founded also upon intermarriages with the natives. Under the American rule, the society received an accession of a few females of vari ous European or American lineage, from educated and refined circles. In the modern accession, since about 1800, are included the chief factors of the fur trade, and the persons charged by benevolent societies with the duties of education and of missionaries; and, more than all, with the families of the officers of the military and civil service of the government. "In such a mass of diverse elements the French lan guage, the Algonquin, in several dialects, and the English, are employed. And among the uneducated, no small mix ture of all are brought into vogue in the existing vocabu lary. To fouchet, and to chemai, were here quite com mon expressions. . . . "[3rd]. The atmosphere has been severely cold. A MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 173 hard frost last night. I killed an ox for winter beef, and packed it, when cut into pieces, in snow. There has been floating ice, for the first time, in the harbor. The severe weather prevented the St. Ignace Indians from returning. "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 under ground dmmmer. This animal is a great digger or bur- rower. . . . "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. . . . "13th. Deep snow drifts, stormy — cold. Very diffi cult, 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. . . . " [14>t h] . 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. . . . "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. . . . "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 direc- 174 HISTORIC MACKINAC tion; 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 /. "26^. S. A sermon on the efficacy of the prayer of faith without submission to God's better wisdom. I was this day set apart as an elder. . . . "29th. The temperature still rises, and is mild for the season. Gave each of my children a new copy of the Scrip tures. If these truths are important, as is acknowledged, they cannot too early know them. I visited Mr. Mitch ell. . . . "[31st]. This being Mrs. Schoolcraft's birth-day, I presented her a Bible. "[Feb.] 3rd. Devoted to newspaper reading. In the evening attended the monthly concert. "4th. The third express from Detroit came in at an early hour, and my letters and papers were brought in be fore breakfast. During breakfast I opened a letter, an nouncing the death of my sister Catherine, on the 9th of January, at Vernon, N. Y. . . . "[March] 5th. Snow has melted so much, in conse quence 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 MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 175 from the point of the village to the light-house, since the tempest of the 26fh 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! . . . "6th. The evidences of the approach of spring con tinue. The sun shines with a clear power, unobstructed by clouds. Snow and ice melt rapidly. Visited the Mis sion's house in the evening. . . . "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. . . . "Uth. 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. . . . "17th. Very mild and pleasant day. The snow is rap idly disappearing under the influence of the sun. Mack inac 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. . . . "19th. The weather is quite spring-like. Prune cherry 176 HISTORIC MACKINAC trees and currant bushes. Transplant plum tree sprouts. Messrs. Biddle and Drew finish preparing their vessel, and anchor her out. . . . "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. . . . "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. "29th. Moderate temperature continues. "[April] 1st. Satisfied of the excellency of the mis sion 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. . . . "4th. The season is visibly advancing in its warmth and mildness. Began to prepare hot-beds. Set boxes for flow ers 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. School craft at the Agency. . . . "8th. Superintending the construction of a small orna mental mound and side wall to the piazza, for shrubbery and flowers. Books are now thrown by for the excitement MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 177 of horticulture. Some Indians visit the office. It is re markable what straits and sufferings 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 expres sion 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 In dian 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 winter ing 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 acad emy 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 Mackinac. "10th. Engaged at my horticultural mound. The weather continues mild. "1 1th. Transplanting cherry trees. "12th. Complete hot-bed, and sow it in part. "14^. 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 acad emy. "Walking with the Rev. Wm. M. Ferry through the second street of the village (M.), leading south, as we came near the comer, turning to Ottawa Point, he pointed out to 178 HISTORIC MACKINAC 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 Mackinaw. The fixtures of the church, as of other buildings, were removed and set up on this spot. I after wards 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 navi gation 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 remem bered, entered the harbor on the 14fh of March, and has waited thirty-two days for the Straits to open. . . . "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. "22nd. This morning develops a north-east storm, dur ing 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. . . . "26^. 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 u mhhhiv >>1t1>1111'111i11AA^L THE OLD MITCHELL HOUSE, MARKET STREET, MACKINAC ISLAND SCENE AT UNVEILING OF FATHER MARQUETTE STATUE Marqueltc Park, Mackinac Island, 1909 MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 179 quite pleasant. The vessels in the harbor continue their voyages. . . . "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 early seeds. "30th. The schooner Napoleon, and the Eliza, from Lake Ontario, come in. The Indian world, also seems to have waked from its winter 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. "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 disappoint ment, 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 an cient 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. 180 HISTORIC MACKINAC I discovered near this site remains of more ancient occu pancy, 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 col lected 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 Aishquonai- bee's 3 father ruled. It was a large village, occupied still while the British held Old Mackinaw, and not finally aban doned until after the occupancy of the Island post. It con sisted of Chippewas. Chi Naigow afterwards went to a bay of Boisblanc, where the public wharf now is, where he cultivated land and died.4 "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 Mackinac, 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.5 (He is speaking of the shores of the harbour.) . . . "2nd. Having, on the 19th of April, called the attention Azotes 3-5 are Mr. Schoolcraft's. 3 A Chief of the Grand Traverse. * His daughter, who was most likely to know, says he died at Manista. 5 At Mackinac, they, in some places, raise potatoes in clean gravel. MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 181 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-ca-go-wunz, The Wild Leek or Pole-cat Plant. Chi-ca-go, Place of the Wild Leek. "3rd. 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 de parts 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. . . . "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 garden ing. 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 curios ities 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 cave, is not known. It 182 HISTORIC MACKINAC is certain that the extent of the fields evince an agricultural industry which is not characteristic of the present Algon quin race. The stones have been carefully gathered into heaps, as in the little valley near the arched rock, to facili tate cultivation. These heaps of stones, in various places might be mistaken for Celtic cairns. . . . "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° 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. . . . "20th. I may now advert to what the busy world has been about, while we have been watching the fields of float ing 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, merid ian) the Senate chamber is thronged with ladies and feath ers, 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 pal pable; or, that the country is highly prosperous and flour ishing, and that everybody knows it. One, that its only safety lies in the continuance of the Bank; and the other, MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 183 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, Mr. Calhoun, and a no-way inferior, Mr. Preston, the famous debater in the South Carolina troubles, and Mr. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, the equally celebrated ambas sador 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 bullhides 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 ma jority 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-char ter, 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 mer cantile 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 Mackinac, 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 184 HISTORIC MACKINAC 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 reconnoissance 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 ex press 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 Al gonquin lineage, determines to leave his temporary employ ment at the Agency, and complete his education at the east ward. . . . "7th. 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 the foreign localities to be added to my cabinet. "15th. Major Whistler interdicts preaching in the Fort. Mr. R. Stuart, having returned recently from the East, re sumes 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 promi nence to the state and changes of the weather, the occur rences among the natives, and the moral, social, and domes tic events around me. But the curtain of the world's great MACKINAC IN WINTER— 1834 185 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 VIII DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 IN 1836, during Schoolcraft's residence on the Island, there appeared from a New York house, two little vol umes entitled Life on the Lakes: being Tales and Sketches Collected during a Trip to the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior. It contains no preface and purports to be written "By the author of Legends of a Log Cabin." There is internal evidence that the work was written by a physi cian.1 Under date of October 27, 1835, Schoolcraft's diary enters a visit from Dr. C. R. Gilman, of New York, and notice of a letter received from him after returning to the city. Schoolcraft comments: "Life on the Lakes 2 was cer tainly a widely different affair to Life in New York. Dr. Gilman was probably the author." There is a freshness about these volumes, like a breeze off the lakes. They are full of the joy of abounding en ergy, and the author had a keen sense of humour. There is not a dry line between their covers. They are written in the form of letters, and "Letter X," dated Friday, Sept. 4, begins with the approach to Mackinac: 3 "We had a pleasant run up Huron yesterday, passing Presque Isle, false Presque Isle, Forty Mile Point (so called from its distance from Mackina). Next we doubled one of the points of a large crescent-shaped island, called by the i See especially letters XX and XXVI of Volume II. 2 The title of Dr. Gilman's book. <• Pp. 88-119, 158-164, 170-181. 186 DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 187 French, Bois Blanc, and by the Americans 'Bob lank,' 'Bob low,' or 'Bobby loo' ; for I have heard all three of these elegant synonyms. The sun was just sinking beneath the horizon, casting long streams of light athwart the ruffled waves, when the Captain called me forward to take the first look at Mackina. "The first glance of a long looked for object almost al ways disappoints, but it was not so now; and as I gazed on the distant Island, its steep cliffs rising, as they seemed to do, right out of the water, and towering high in air, their dark outline marked so boldly on the yet glowing West, and, even at the distance we were, the white chalky craigs shining like little pearl spots in the dark face of the Island, my ut most expectations were more than realized. "The deepening twilight soon made every object indis tinct, and I was just resigning myself to the idea of seeing no more of the Island till morning, when from the eastern sky the darkness fled, a faint streak of reddish light heralds the rising moon, it kindles with a ruddier glow, and then from the bosom of the waters, which seem to burn all around her, the moon arose; and soon the whole scene around us was bathed in her bright beams. Far to the North and East we see the shores of the main land, one or two islands standing forward and breaking the regular sweep of the coast; to the Southeast lays the wide expanse of Huron, now all ablaze with moonlight. "Further to the South, Bois Blanc stretches her horns, spanning in a capacious and well-sheltered bay. To the West, and right over our larboard bow, lays Round Island ; round in shape as in name. Its dark tree tops mark almost a perfect arch upon the sky, so regularly does the land rise from every side towards the centre, and so completely is it 188 HISTORIC MACKINAC clothed with an unbroken forest. Now let us pass over to the starboard bow, and we have a full and perfect view of 'the Island' of Mackina. We had advanced so rapidly, that it was now in plain sight to the East. It is well wooded, though very precipitous, rising nearly perpendicularly to the height of three to four hundred feet. Further to the left stands a cliff, called Robinson's Folly, which is bare of fo liage, and now shines in the bright moon. "From the base of Robinson's Folly the flat land begins to stretch out; and in the space thus formed is situated the town of Mackina, now only to be distinguished by the lights which glance from house to house, so deep and dark is the shadow cast over the town, and far out into the little bay, by the over-hanging cliffs. On its summit, and just back of the town, stands the Fort; its white walls circling the brow of the hill like a silver crown ; a wide carriage-way as cends from the town below, slanting along the face of the bluff to the Fort. "This scene was enchanting. The tall white cliff, the whiter Fort, the winding yet still precipitous pathway, the village below buried in a deep gloomy shade, the little bay, where two or three small half -rigged sloops lay asleep upon the dark water; would that I could make you know, would that I could make you feel, its beauties. It recalled to my mind some of the descriptions I have read of Spanish scen ery, where the white walls of some Moorish castle crown the brow of the lofty Sierra. Oh, for the pen of Hoffman! Oh, for the pencil of Cole! But I have neither, so may as well content myself by saying, in my own quiet way: 'The schooner entered the little bay, then lay to; the boat is hauled alongside; trunks, bags, &c, are thrown in; the Cap tain takes his stand at the stem, tiller in hand; we exchange DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 189 a hasty word of parting with our fellow-passengers, descend to the boat, shove off, give way! We have parted for the last time from the White Pigeon; a few moments' rowing, we near the wharf. Some figures are already distinguish able in the darkness; we are alongside; a few moments of hurry and bustle, and two half-breeds are bearing our lug gage to the tavern. We bade a cordial farewell to our excellent friend Captain N and followed our porters through the darkness. They stop — " 'Halloa! what is here? You are taking us into a stable yard.' 'Tavern, sir,' was the abrupt and broken reply of one to whom the speaking of English was evidently a la bour. We enter through a wide gateway into the yard, cross it, and pass through a smaller wicket gate; then as cending one step, we enter a sort of shed, and finally, into a low, wide hall. All is yet dark. 'Where is the land lord?' 'To-bed.' 'The servants?' 'None.' 'Well, let us at least arrange our luggage.' "Before this was well done, a gentleman entered, and eagerly inquired for the news from New- York. The voice is certainly familiar. Under his guidance we find our way into the parlour, where a light is still burning. We ap proach the light together. 'Ah! H !' 'Why, Doctor!' 'George, can this be you?' We are warmly welcomed by an old friend from New- York. Our greetings over (and they were loud and long) G found time to introduce us to Mr. , a young lawyer, who had been standing by, a quiet, though apparently very much amused, observer of our mutual transports. He promised to interest himself in getting us accommodations, and we left him engaged in the charitable effort; while, under the guidance of George, went over to the Company's house. Here we had the pleasure 190 HISTORIC MACKINAC of meeting another New-Yorker, Mr. H , and being cordially welcomed to Mackina by Mr. A , the Com pany's agent. "We spent a delightful hour with them, giving and re ceiving news. Mr. A produced a bottle of old wine, which made good his honest boast that they did not drink bad wine in the Island of Mackina. It was superlative; mild, yet with sufficient body, delicate, yet high flavoured. In short, 'twas what the judge (for that is Mr. A 's title) called it, 'Good Old Madeira.' "The clock striking ten warned us to bid good night; at the same time we were obliged to bid farewell to George, who was to sail at the dawn of day. We returned to our tavern. It is indeed a primitive structure, but one story high, built of hewn logs and roofed with cedar bark; yet the white-wash with which every part is covered, and which was clearly visible in the bright moon-light, gives a particu larly clean appearance to the exterior, which is not belied by the looks of everything within. The ceiling, or rather the garret floor (for there is no ceiling properly so called) is so low, that where the beams cross the room I cannot stand erect. By the kindness of our friend, the lawyer, we were accommodated with beds in different rooms ; they were clean and nice, though to a very fastidious person the cir cumstance that there were two beds in the Major's room and three in mine, might be an objection. This we cared not for; we came here to see the country and its inhabitants (as they are), not to sleep in elegant chambers and lie on soft beds. "This morning I waked very early. At dawn heard the morning gun from the Fort, and soon after a clattering DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 191 about the house; and the noise of cow-bells under the win dows gave us notice that the world was astir. "N. B. There are more cows in Mackina than in any other place of its size in the known world; and every cow wears at least one bell. "Warned by this matin music, I arose, and dressed in time for our very early breakfast. We had a broiled white fish at each end of the table; this is the first time we have seen them, they look like shad, but the taste is more that of black fish. Our friends all say that the one at our end of the table was by no means a fair specimen of the fish, of which every North-western epicure speaks in raptures. It will therefore be the most prudent to reserve our opinions on their merits. After breakfast the Major and I took a stroll along the shore and through the town. The Island of Mackina consists of two very distinct and widely different portions ; one a high mass of secondary limestone rock, ris ing from four to five hundred feet above the level of the lake, covered for the most part with a deep soil of decayed vegetable matter. This is the original Island, but around this the constant action of the waves has thrown up a shoal which is gradually stretching out into the water. This lower shelf or terrace is now covered with a thin sandy soil, and on it the town of Mackina is built. It varies very much in width; in some places the water approaches within a few feet of the base of the limestone rock, at others the terrace runs out for near a mile. The town of Mackina is com posed entirely of one-story log-houses, roofed with cedar bark ; it has a very dilapidated appearance, and is, in fact, fast going to decay. "Its prosperity was entirely dependent on the fur trade, 192 HISTORIC MACKINAC of which it was for very many years the centre. Here the Company had their depot, from which all the traders were supplied with their annual outfit; but now the trade centers on Lake Superior. The Company have their depot at La Pointe, and Mackina depends for its existence on its very trifling fisheries, and on the military post. "We passed through a half -desolate street to the beach; the wind was high, and the surf came tumbling in with a furious roar. The beach is entirely composed of pebbles. In walking half a mile along it, I did not see a single stone as large as my hat, nor a peck of sand ; it was all pebbles, varying in size from an almond to an orange. "On this beach, close to the roaring surf, we saw two Indian lodges, the first we had ever seen. I need not tell you that I examined them with great interest. The first was made by tying six or eight long poles together at one end, and then spreading them out at the other, as muskets are stacked; round these some Indian matting, made from a species of tall rush, which abounds all through the North west, is wound, beginning at the top of the poles, and wind ing diagonally downwards to the ground; thus inclosing a space nearly circular, and about six or eight feet, varying with the length of the poles, in diameter. At the termina tion of the fold of matting a small triangular opening is left, barely large enough to allow a man to creep in and out; this is the door. Such is the external appearance of the Red Man's home. "I stooped at the entrance to gain a view of the interior. A small fire was burning in the centre, the smoke from which, after filling the lodge, curls out at the top, where the projecting ends of the poles leave a small aperture. • DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 193 Around the fire lay four or five Indians wrapped in their blankets, and apparently half asleep; a squaw stood in the centre cooking some corn in a small kettle ; and a half -naked boy and a quite naked infant completed the family group. "The next lodge differed from this only in the poles be ing in part covered with an old ragged sail. From the top of one of the tent poles hung several white fish heads, strung, as the good folks of Connecticut do apples to dry. Within this lodge I saw an infant bound to a board. This board is by no means the simple affair I had supposed; it is about eighteen inches wide ; near the top a cross piece is fastened edgewise, so as to form a sort of projecting shelf above the infant's head; at each side are handles, by which it is strapped on to the shoulders of the mother. A small hoop is bent from side to side, in front of the infant's face, to prevent its being struck by branches when the mother is walking through the woods, and also to protect it in case of a fall. Leaving these two lodges, we passed along the beach, and soon came to a new, and really very pretty birch bark canoe. As I expect to make a long voyage in one, I examined this with some care. The Indian canoe has been often described, and I dare say you have seen, or at any rate you can see, one in the Museum. Here, near their native element, I looked rather to its safety than to its beauty; though they are beyond doubt very pretty little affairs. It is very light, must be buoyant as a cork on the water, and feels tolerably firm; but I should think the high bow and stern would give the wind great power over her, and make it very difficult to steer her in rough weather. But why should I stop to calculate the chances, and reason a priori. Thousands of men have travelled thousands of miles in 194 HISTORIC MACKINAC them, and I will go on without fear. Aye, but hundreds, if not thousands, have been lost in them — so much the worse for them. "Following the line of the beach, we came to a knot of Indian lodges; several like the one I first saw, but some much more wretched. One poor fellow, not having mat enough to form a lodge, had turned his canoe on its side, her bottom windward; stuck his poles in front, and cover ing them with mat, made between the two his narrow and confined lodge. Another had placed his canoe in the same way, and merely stretched an old sail on two sticks, planted at stem and stern, and lay down in the space thus half shel tered. Another depended on his upturned canoe, entirely without appliances or means to boot; and even he was not very badly off. The canoe, when turned on its side, as they always place them here, rests on one gunwale and the high bow and stern; and thus it forms a shelter, under which half a dozen men can be very comfortable; that is, comfortable 'fagon du nord.' "While we were loitering round among these lodges, a fishing boat came in sight. All the idlers along the shore, we among the rest, ran down to the water's edge to see what luck the fishermen had had. Their draught had been very good ; with two nets they had taken half a dozen large trout and near a hundred white fish. One of the trout was so large we were induced to have him weighed. He weighed forty-seven pounds. As some one opened his huge mouth, I saw in his throat the tail of a white fish. I pointed it out to the Indians, or rather half-breeds, for such the fishermen were, and immediately one of them went to work to pull it out. He tugged a long time in vain, and was at last obliged GRAND HOTEL, MACKINAC ISLAND VIEW OF HARBOR FROM CASS CLIFF, MACKINAC ISLAND DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 195 to cut the mouth a good deal before he could get it. Out it came at last, a white fish of twenty inches long. I was amused to see the coolness with which the half-breed threw this fish among the others ; for by this time the whole cargo was ashore, and the women busy cleaning them. He an swered an objection which I ventured, by an assurance that the half-swallowed white fish was 'tout aussi bon que Ies autres.' At the fish-boat our friend H joined us, and proposed a ramble over the Island. We ascended the hill on which the Fort stands, and passing behind it through an open space where the soldiers have a ninepin alley and a shooting ground 'pour passer le temps' we entered a wood of scrubby oak and dwarf maple ; the ground gradually ris ing as we approach the centre of the Island. At the very highest point are the ruins of the Fort, which was built by the English. They called it Fort George, I believe; but it is now only known by the name of the gallant Holmes who fell in the unsuccessful attack made on it by Croghan. The general outline of the Fort can still be very distinctly traced ; the sodded walls have lost but little of their height, the embrasures where the cannon were placed, the reser voir for water, and the bakehouse, were each pointed out by our friend. "From the ramparts of Fort Holmes we could look over nearly the whole Island; almost immediately before, and a little below us, stands the present Fort; the palisades that surround it, the quarters of the officers and men, all white and clean as possible; beyond, and so far below that it is but partially in sight, lays the town, its old blackened and dilapidated buildings contrasting sadly enough with the bright newness of everything about the Fort. "To the West was an expanse of well-wooded land, rising 196 HISTORIC MACKINAC into moderate eminences or falling away into valleys; though both hill and valley are far below where we stand. Further to the right, that is North-west from Fort Holmes, the land rises to near the level of the Fort, and of course the view in that direction is very limited. Turning still to wards the right, we find that the land soon sinks, and gives us a view of the shore of Mackina and the strait which sep arates it from the main land. In this strait are several islands — the two St. Martins, greater and less, and some smaller ones, which are yet, I believe, nameless; beyond St. Martins, and nearly due east from where we stood, lies Goose Island. Behind it, yet still in plain sight, at a dis tance of twelve miles, lays the main land, very irregular, and as it stretches to the East, cut up into many islands, in dented with bays, till finally only its general outline can be seen, and soon even that blue line is lost in the distance, or mingles with the blue clouds or bluer waters. To the South-east nothing is seen but the wide waste of waters ; but south, we find the horns of Bois Blanc, and the woody sum mit of Round Island completes the magnificent circle of view. "When we had sated our eyes with the prospect, our kind friend conducted us to the North-eastern part of the Island. We passed direcdy through a growth of small trees (there are no large trees on Mackina), and then came to an open space of half a dozen acres, covered with a rich sward, dot ted here and there of a deeper green by the low wide-spread juniper bushes. "Advancing a few steps, we found ourselves at the edge of a rocky bluff more than two hundred feet high, and so nearly perpendicular that the least spring would have cleared it. Below was an expanse of thickly-wooded land, DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 197 perhaps half a mile wide. The trees stood so closely to gether that we could not see the ground in any part, their tops formed an unbroken green carpet the whole distance from the water's edge to the base of the cliff. Did I say unbroken? Not so; in the very midst of this thick wood rises the Sugar Loaf rock; a huge conical mass of limestone. It is, I think, about eighty feet high, perhaps one hundred and fifty in circumference at the base, and not more than two or three yards across at the summit. It is so steep that the ascent is extremely difficult, yet now and then men do attempt it, and some succeed. "It is a bare rock for the most part, yet in the clefts and crannies a few pines and cedars have found root, and now in part obscure the view of the rocks, yet rather adding to, than diminishing, its beauty. "We lounged about the edge of the bluff for a long time, gazing on the scene below. There was wind enough to keep the tree tops in the plain constantly in motion, and they rose and sank in long sweeping waves, as if in mimicry of the lake beyond. "At length we turned away, and following a winding and irregular path towards the center of the Island, we came to the Skull Rock. It is of limestone, about thirty feet high. At the base there is a small opening, some four feet wide and perhaps three high. This is the entrance of a cave, which was formerly used by the Indians as a place of sepul ture; indeed, bones are still found in it — hence its name. "Here it was that poor Henry was concealed by his adopted Indian brother, after the terrible massacre at Old Mackina in 1763. Here he remained three or four days. "I can scarce imagine a situation more terrible. The single circumstance of being shut up in a dark and narrow 198 . HISTORIC MACKINAC cave, surrounded on all sides by the mouldering remains of mortality, seems almost too horrible for endurance. You remember Juliet's anticipations of the terrors of such a scene : " 'Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthful air breathes in, And there die strangled? Or, if I live, is it not very like The horrible concert of death and night, Together with the terror of the place, As in a vault — an ancient receptacle, Where, for these many hundred years, the bones — lie pack'd? — I shall be destraught.' "But these, the natural and necessary horrors of the place, were, we may suppose, as nothing to Henry's mind, haunted as it must have been by the recollection of the savage butcheries he had the day before witnessed, and har assed by the apprehension that his place of retreat (which at the thought must have grown even dear to him) might be discovered, and his life, so often and so strangely preserved, be lost at last. It was a situation to try the heart of man ; and that Henry came out of it without being as poor Juliet says, 'destraught,' is proof that his was a stout one. "The cave has fallen in very much, and, though both the Major and myself entered it, yet, after advancing a few feet, finding a place through which we could only pass by crawling flat on the ground, our discretion got the better of our curiosity, and we came out. "H tells us that, a short time ago, a gentleman pene trated some distance, though with great difficulty, the pas sage being so low that he could only creep, and not wide DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 199 enough at any part to allow him to turn round, so that he was obliged to make his way out feet foremost. "Leaving the Skull Rock, from which I broke off some pieces as mementos of the place, and cut a branch of a beau tiful mountain ash which grew just above the entrance, too beautiful to be even in thought connected with such a spot of gloom — leaving the Skull Rock, we rambled through the woods, till at length we passed near the burying-ground of the garrison. "There are about a dozen graves, enclosed in a neat picket fence. This fence, by the way, was put up by an of ficer formerly in command of Mackina, at his own expense ; before his time the graves had been entirely unprotected, as well as unhonoured. The deed does him credit. I wish I knew his name. "But two of the graves have head-stones, or rather head boards. They are erected, as the inscriptions painted in black letters on them tell, over the graves of two privates of the garrison, one of whom was drowned in Mackina har bour last year. "From hence we returned to the Fort, and entering it, were introduced to the officers. They received us with the perfect courtesy which distinguishes the gentlemen of the army, and of which, as well as of their high literary and professional attainments, our country may be proud. "The physician of this post escorted us to his quarters, where we had some pleasant chat. I have already, I be lieve, told you that the Fort is built on the very edge of the bluff; from the rear of the Doctor's quarters we could have tossed a biscuit into the garden several hundred feet below. East of the garden, and on the same level, stands the very 200 HISTORIC MACKINAC pretty cottage ornee of Mr. Schoolcraft the geologist; it is a charming spot, surrounded by grounds laid out with great taste, with several forest trees, and two splendid mountain ash. The bluff, which towers up at a short distance behind the house, must shelter it from the North and North-west winds very perfectly. "Leaving the doctor's quarters, we descended by the broad way which passes diagonally in front of the rock, and which forms so striking a feature in the view from the water to the town. "Certainly I have never seen a place which presented as many picturesque objects as Mackina; not only in the scenes I have tried to describe, but in a thousand others. The old half-decayed town, the dilapidated houses, some of un- barked, others of squared logs, others again coated with cedar bark, as they lay on shingles with us. The roofs are of cedar bark, laid on in the same manner as on the sides, and kept down by long narrow strips of wood extending from one side of the building to the other along the middle of the pieces of bark. The doors are low, the windows small, and sometimes, though this is now rare, have shutters of cedar bark. "Many of the houses are dreary enough; roofs full of holes, doors broken down, sashes driven in, shutters torn away or only hanging by loose leather thongs. In these wretched hovels you will sometimes find large families of squalid looking Indians, or more commonly half- breeds. "Yet the half-breed population is by no means always in a condition so miserable; many of them are very comfort ably situated, and I have seen several neatly dressed chil dren that were extremely pretty." DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 201 Mackinac, Sept. 5th. "This morning took another stroll through the Island to visit the arched rock. On our way out of town we passed a house, now partly in decay, which was built of piles driven into the ground close together as they make fences here. These were all of the same height, and formed the walls of the house. On them a light frame was erected, and then the gable ends and roof, completed with cedar bark. Next we passed some Indian lodges. With the 'bo jou,' the uni versal salutation in this country, I went into one of them. An old cross-looking man lay wrapped in a blanket, smok ing; a woman sat on a low stool busied in stripping the husks off some green corn; two half -grown girls were loung ing about. At the woman's feet sat a boy of three or four years, perfectly naked; and beside him stood the carrying- board, tipped over so as to rest on one end and one handle. On this an infant of six or eight months was strapped, with folds of some kind of Indian cloth ornamented with porcu pine quills. "The little fellow did not seem to be very uncomfortable, but smiled when I chucked him under the chin. The mother, too, smiled, pleased, apparently, with the notice taken of her child. A mother is a mother still, even among the Mackina Indians. "Near another lodge I saw an Indian girl pounding corn. Her mortar was made of a log two or three feet long, hol lowed out for two thirds its length. In this huge mortar she had three or four pints of corn, which she pounded with a pestle of proportionate size; at a little distance, I had supposed, from the size of the mortar and pestle, she was churning. The girl worked as all Indians about here and everywhere else I believe do, very lazily; striking five or six 202 HISTORIC MACKINAC blows a minute, she would be half a day probably preparing meal enough for one small loaf of bread. After this you will not wonder that the Indians are poor. "Near another lodge a group of women were engaged cleaning fish, and a large pile of fish heads lay behind the lodge drying and putrefying in the sun. "The Indians rarely eat the fish heads (which I believe I told you is their perquisite for cleaning the fish) till it is more than half putrid. On this wretched stuff they live, for every cent of money they can get is sure to go for rum, to which they are slaves. Indeed, a large proportion of these poor half-breeds are literally slaves; they sell them selves to the grog-shop keepers, in whose debt they always are; and all they earn, whether in the service of their im mediate master or of any other person, goes to pay for the rum they have drank or are drinking. This wretched man ner of life, however, soon makes an end of them; they rarely reach, and scarce ever live beyond, middle age. "Leaving the lodges, we ascend to the Fort, and passing behind it, we followed the line of the coast, sometimes striking a short distance inward to avoid impediments. When in this way we had advanced a mile from the Fort through the woods, we came to one of the cleared spots which are common all over the Island, and which probably mark the sites of Indian villages.4 This one was small, however, and extends only a few rods back from the edge of the precipitous rock called Robinson's Folly. We ap proach the edge of the cliff; it is almost perpendicular, and stands on the margin of the lake, there being in this spot [The following notes are Dr. Gilman's] * Here we found a number of wild gooseberry bushes, which I am told, I think by Mr. Schoolcraft, are not found except at the sites of Indian villages. DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 203 none of that low land which at almost every other point sur rounds Mackina. Below, at a sheer descent of more than two hundred feet, lay large masses of rock, which had fallen from the cliff above. The place has its name from having been chosen by a former commandant of Mackina as the scene of his revels; it was also the scene of a great crime. The legend may amuse you, and I will give it you, instead of a letter, tomorrow. "We left Robinson's Folly, and continued a mile further, following the coast till we came to the Arched Rock. I do not know that I can give you a clearer idea of this very curious object than by describing it as a place where the solid limestone rock, of which I have so often spoken as forming the basis of Mackina, is hollowed out into an ir regular crater, a hundred feet deep and about one hundred wide at the top. This crater is situated close to the edge of the cliff, which at this place, as at Robinson's Folly, overhangs the lake. Now imagine the side of the crater, such as I have described it, nearest the lake, to be broken through below while it remains whole above, and you have the arched rock of Mackina. "As we stood on the inner side of the crater, we could look upon the arch which bridged over the opening on the other side right into the lake. "This bridge is very narrow in one place, I think not more than a foot or eighteen inches wide, and five or six feet through. It is a common exploit of the over-courag eous to pass over the arch of the bridge; but the falling of the stone renders the passage more and more difficult and dangerous every year. "To the right of the main arch, and near the bottom of the crater, is a small opening, six or eight feet high and per- 204 HISTORIC MACKINAC haps ten wide, which leads by a winding passage to the beach below. The Major and Mr. descended the crater, passed through the lower arch, and returned. It is a work of some labour, at least the ascent, and not accom plished without the certainty of soiling and the probability of tearing the nether garments; both of which adverse acci dents occurred to our companions. "A few yards beyond the Arched Rock, the bluff rises considerably, and from its top we had an enchanting view of the lake, Mackina, the main land, studded with small green islands, the hundred little capes and bays, which indent the shore; and to the East and South the clear bright waters of the lake, smooth and glassy, shining in the sun-beams like a vast mirror. But I fear I weary you with my descriptions of scenery. Adieu!" "September 6th. "After our return from the Arched Rock yesterday, we called on Mr. Schoolcraft. He has a fine collection of minerals, among the rest a large piece of the Copper Rock as it is called. This rock, as you have doubtless heard, is at the Ontenaugan river, up Lake Superior. It is nearly pure copper; I understood Mr. S to say it was in his opinion ninety-eight per cent, copper. Here, too, we saw the skin of a Wolverine, an animal partaking about equally of the nature of fox and wolf, from which the people of Michigan get their soubriquet of Wolverines. Mr. S has a large number of Indian curiosities, and is possessed of more information on the subject of the Indian tribes of the North-west than any man now living. He has been for many years a diligent collector of facts, not a spinner out of DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 205 theories; and much, I think, may yet be expected from his vast and daily increasing stores. "He is making a collection of the moral tales of the Chippewas, and will, I hope, soon publish them; he gave me permission to copy one, and I will give it to you as it was taken down by Mrs. S verbatim, from the lips of an old Chippewa woman. Mrs. S tells me she has since been assured by very many of the oldest and most intelligent of the tribe that the story of the 'Origin of the Robin-red breast' has been current in the tribe from their earliest rec ollections. I know you will agree with me in thinking it a most beautiful fable. In Mr. Schoolcraft's garden we ate some cherries and currants. Cherries and currants in September! something late in the season. There is a tame deer browsing round. "In the evening we had several visitors, among the rest Mr. B. , the store-keeper; he is an old voyageur, and talks very familiarly of being out of provisions, and obliged, as he expressed it, to browse round the woods for a few days, eating leaves and buds, and the inner bark of the cedar, (a very common substitute for food among the Indians.) B was compelled, a few years ago, to live in this way about a week; he amused us very much by a detail of his adventures on the occasion. "He did not seem to value himself at all for his fortitude and courage, but spoke with great satisfaction of his having scared a gallant officer of the army, who was his companion, (they were cast away on Lake Superior) by threatening to eat him, when other means of sustenance failed him. "B was very anxious that I should order some high wines for a poor old vagabond voyageur opposite, who is dying of the dropsy, and whom I visited to-day with my 206 HISTORIC MACKINAC friend Dr. Turner. He had two reasons for his prescrip tion — one moral, the other medical. First, the moral — the man is dying, he will certainly die in a few days: why, then, argued B not make him comfortable and happy while he does live, by giving him some high wines. Finding this argument fail, B brought forward his medical reason: 'Doctor,' says he, 'you don't understand the cli mate. You can't conceive how cold it is here. Why, sir, you may rest assured the water will freeze in that man's belly unless you warm it with high wines.' This, I confess, was new to me ; and I craved time to consider of it. This morning I found that I should not be required to decide upon the merit of B 's practice, as my poor patient was dead. "It is terribly cold here, as you will suppose, and it is astonishing how the half-breeds and Frenchmen bear it. One very remarkable instance of their endurance was men tioned last night. "A half-breed of St. Marie, named C , carried the mail between that place and Saginaw Bay four trips last winter. He went all the way on snow-shoes, carrying the mail bag and his provisions, weighing together near one hundred pounds, strapped to his shoulders, and fastened, in the Indian manner, by a strap round his forehead. The distance is over two hundred miles, and he was obliged to camp out every night (the trip took him ten days) except one spent at Mackina. This terrible labour he performed for twenty -five dollars the trip; that is, twenty-five dollars for more than four hundred miles travel. "So little did C make of these trips, that on one occasion, when he arrived at Mackina from Saginaw in the afternoon, and heard that there was to be a ball there DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 207 among his friends, he danced all night, and started off next morning, having had hardly an hour's sleep. "On his last trip, however, he suffered very severely from the Mal de Rachette, an inflammation of the synovial membrane of the ankle joint, caused by the weight of the snow-shoes. "This morning we went to church. The building is neat and commodious, but I was sorry to see the congregation so small. They have no protestant clergyman at Mackina. Mr. Schoolcraft read a very good sermon and conducted the service. The singing I was delighted with; one voice in particular, a rich pure treble. A sergeant from the Fort was the leader of the choir, and two other singers were in the uniform of private soldiers. This had a strange look, but the whole appearance of the congregation was strik ing. Officers and soldiers in uniform were mingled, in the body of the church, with well-dressed gentlemen and ladies; behind them were a few persons in more common dresses, with here and there an Indian, either in blue or white blanket coats; towards the door two or three, in the ordinary savage dress, stared round in utter unconcern at the worship. Many of the half-breeds, however, were very devout, and Mr. S. tells me that some of them give satis factory evidence that they have embraced religion with the heart and affections. "A settled clergyman is very much wanted at Mackina. Mr. S. does all that an individual who has many other duties can do; but they want some one who will devote his whole time and talents to the propagation of the truth. I was surprised to hear from Mr. S. that they could not induce a Missionary to come here; the situation was ob jected to, I do not know why. To me, it seems to present 208 HISTORIC MACKINAC all the attractions which a Mission station can or should have, except, perhaps, the eclat of having one's name bruited about as going to foreign and barbarous lands. "The Catholics are unwearied in their efforts to extend the influence of their religion, and almost all the working classes, who are under any religious influence at all, are Catholics. They have a large mission settlement at L'Ar- bre Croche, about fifty miles from Mackina; where they have, I am informed, been very successful in weaning the Indians from the hunter's life and accustoming them to labour. This is a great point, and if it is indeed gained, the labour and the lives it has cost that Church have not been spent in vain." "Monday, Sept. 7th. "This morning we rose at peep of day to urge on the preparations for our trip to Lake Superior. As we have to camp out all the way, except one night, which we expect to spend at Saulte. St. Marie, we are obliged to take a good deal of equipage with us. The first thing to be done was to secure a good canoe. Mr. Schoolcraft very kindly of fered us his, but we finally selected one belonging to the American Fur Company. It is rather large; twenty-eight or thirty feet long, and five feet wide, very strong and firm. "The next point was to secure good men. This is not in general difficult; there are usually at Mackina great num bers of half-breeds, who are by turns fishermen or voy ageurs; the only thing is to select good ones, and particu larly a good guide, for on him will depend much of our comfort, and perhaps safety, during the trip. His duty is to steer the canoe, select the landing places, take charge of the luggage and command of the men or monde, as DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 209 they call it; and in general to direct, under the orders of the bourgeois, the whole expedition. "To fill this important station we have been fortunate enough to secure Charles Cloutier, an old half-breed, who has been five and thirty years a voyageur on the lake. "I like his looks very much; a short, rather small but very compact figure, a good open face, bright eye, and high though wrinkled forehead. He speaks French, or rather the miserable jargon which, among the voyageurs, goes by that name ; and Indian, of course, but no English. A very fair share of confidence in himself may also be numbered among Cloutier's good qualities. "He laughed very heartily when I asked him if there was no danger of being drowned in crossing the lake. 'Oh non, Monsieur, pas de danger avec moi.' It was impos sible not in some degree to partake of the confidence so heartily and honestly expressed. The emphasis with which Cloutier pronounced his 'avec moi,' reminded me of the great Roman and his 'Caesarem vehis.' "After all, I can't but think the old half-breed's confi dence has the more rational foundation. "Next to Cloutier comes a young half-breed named Pel- leau, about twenty; a tall slightly made fellow, with a very wild cast of countenance, particularly the eye, which is 'sauvage pure' as they say at the North; his face, when in repose, has the peculiar stolid look which characterizes the Indian physiognomy ; but when it kindles up, there is a something in the look that 'likes me not' ; perhaps it may be in part owing to the long straight hair which covers his head, and is all the while falling over his face; good or bad, however, he is engaged our compagnion de voyage for the next ten days. 210 ' HISTORIC MACKINAC "The next, Robert Chinlier, the same age as Pelleau, shorter, stouter, with a broad good-humoured face, full of laughter and fun, a regularly merry devil. "Le Tour, the fourth man, is a full, or, as they call it here, a pure Canadian; but he looks so exactly like an Irishman that I can never hear French coming out of his wide mouth without a sense of ridiculous incongruity. He has a fair skin, though tanned by exposure; light grey eyes, sandy or dirt coloured hair, a low forehead, and a mouth and chin true Milesian. He too, has a merry look, and, what I always like in a man, an honest hearty laugh. This test of men, by the way, I have great confidence in; 'a man may smile, and smile again, and be a villain,' that I admit; but to laugh loudly, heartily, 'tis the Shibboleth of honesty ; your rogue hath no part nor lot in the matter. "Le Tour completed our original number; but at the last moment we were persuaded to take a young Indian 'sauvage pure.' He is not more than eighteen, and looks like a poor shiftless creature; but our friend, the lawyer, recommended him to us as a sober, good fellow; besides, he can speak English, which none of the others do ; and as my French is none of the best, and the Major's worse still, an interpreter will not be amiss even though he come in the shape of this miserable, whom, by the way, they call, 'the Doctor.' He bears the soubriquet very willingly, as it prevents the necessity of telling his own name. This un willingness to tell their own names is a singular peculiarity of the Indians. I believe it is universal. Certainly among the Chippewas it is impossible to induce an Indian to tell his own name; even the traders, when they advance goods to an Indian, if they do not know his name, can never per suade him to tell it ; he will sooner deny himself the goods. DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 211 The difficulty is, however, very easily gotten over, as they have no scruple about telling the name of another person; so you have only to ask A for B's name, and B for A's. "The Doctor completes our muster roll. These men are hired at seventy-five cents per day and voyageurs rations. For this they engage to go with us into the lake as far as we choose.5 "The men having been engaged, we next look for the equipage. Our kind friend, Mr. A , furnished us with a tent and its oil-cloth bag, eight large heavy Mackina blankets and an oil-cloth to spread on the ground at night, lest the damp should strike through to the bedding. In this same oil-cloth the bedding is wrapped up during the day to keep it dry. Our good hostess, Mrs. L , added two pillows, an unwonted luxury among voyageurs, but one which was conceded to the presumed nicety of citizens like us. "Next in importance is the travelling basket; for this also we were indebted to Mr. A . It resembles, both in shape and size, a large oval clothes basket; has a cover fastened on with hinges, a hasp, staple, and a padlock to secure the contents. "This basket is divided inside into one large and six small compartments. In it are carried our cooking and table apparatus, neither very extensive, viz. a frying-pan, some tin cups, plates, knives and forks, spoons, a teapot, and two small pewter cans. In the basket we also put part of our viands, 'creature comforts,' as the dear old Puritans called them, viz. a ham boiled, two bottles of wine, two ditto 5 The men sometimes demand a ration of whiskey; it should never be allowed them. Independent of all moral considerations, and having regard only to the comfort of the trip, they should not be allowed a drop; they do a great deal better without it. 212 , HISTORIC MACKINAC of whiskey (which we ought not to have taken), salt and pepper, sugar, tea, biscuit, &c. &c. "The stores for the men are laid in separately. We allowed ours a pound of pork, a pound of biscuit, (ship bread) and a pint of hulled com per day per man. This is a very large ration; these stores we gave in charge to Cloutier. "The men had but one cooking utensil, a large kettle, which, when not in use, is put into a basket made to fit it. We had a tea-kettle also in its wicker basket. Just be fore starting we added to our stores a bushel of potatoes; in the cooking of which vegetable, even my modesty does not prevent my confessing that I excel. "While we were busy engaging and collecting together those various articles, Cloutier and his men took the canoe from the lofts of the Company's store, where she had been snugly stowed away, and brought her down to the water side, where the old man, himself a canoe maker of no mean fame, made a survey to ascertain her condition. After due examination he reported favorably; she was in good order, except that one of the thwarts had been broken in getting her down from the loft; this, however, could be mended at any time, and for the present, she only needed gumming. "To this he now devoted himself. "A piece of the resin of the Canada pine (it looks like burgundy pitch, and is of the same nature, but here they call it gum) is put into a frying-pan to melt; a small bit of tallow is added, and when it is all melted and thoroughly incorporated together, it is laid on the seams of the canoe with a flat stick. As it cannot be put on very smoothly in this way, they take a couple of brands in one hand, DR. GILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES— 1835 213 and blowing to increase the heat, hold them near enough to the seams to melt the gum; then wet the fingers with spittle (your true voyageur is never a very cleanly animal) press the gum down, and rub it smooth; spitting on it and rubbing till it has a fine polish. "In this way every seam in the canoe must be gone over. This labour was at last completed, and Cloutier went round the canoe to see if any spot wanted retouching; nothing was imperfect. 'Bain, bain,' 6 said the old man to himself; then shouted to his monde, 'a I'eau — a I' eau.' The men have no difficulty in lifting the canoe, and placing her in the water. To be sure, they were compelled to wade in half-leg deep, but this they seem not at all to regard. It is all important that the canoe should never touch the ground, as a stick or stone may tear a hole in her. Now began the lading. "First of all some long poles, a spare oar or two, and two to three paddles are laid along the bottom. This gives strength and stiffness, and enables the canoe to resist the beating of the waves in going over rough seas. Next, a frame, or rather a stout lattice-work, is laid on in the centre, where the 'bourgeois' as the Canadians call the passengers, are to sit. Something of the same sort is then put in the stern of the canoe for the guide to stand upon. Now to stow in the luggage. But first, I must tell you, that in all cases the two center spaces between the thwarts are re served for the bourgeois. In this, then, the lattice-work having been previously covered with an Indian mat by way of a carpet, is laid our bedding, which, being rolled up in the oil-cloth to the shape of a large pillow and placed athwart the canoe, serves very well for a seat. The basket, 6 Meaning bien. 214 HISTORIC MACKINAC a box filled with bread, our cloaks, &c. &c. are put into the other space. The lading of the canoe finished, the voya geurs were dispatched for their bedding. They returned after a little space, each carrying a little bundle wrapped up in a mat, and tightly corded. These are placed in the for ward or after part of the canoe, due regard being had to the trim of the boat; and now all is ready. With many cordial shakes of the hand, and many kind wishes, we bid our friends adieu, and step into our canoe. Here, however, I committed a blunder, which had nearly proved the cause of further delay. I stepped on one of the thwarts; the slight thing bent under my weight, but fortunately did not break. I seated myself on the bedding, the Major sprang in and took his place beside me. Cloutier flour ishing his paddle over his head, brought it down into the water with an air: 'Hoh! Hoh!' cried he, 'en avant.' The voyageurs ply their light oars with short, quick strokes; and Robert, whom Cloutier has already christened 'Le Diable,' struck up a Chanson a rames, in the burthen of which 'en partant, on dont chanter,' the men join — keep ing time with their oars. And thus we part for the Pictured Rocks." CHAPTER IX SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY AT MACKINAC— 1835-1841 AS announced by Schoolcraft, in the closing June entry given in a previous chapter, his notices for the years following are "few and far between," and yet they make a voluminous collection. Those given in this chapter are only a small part.1 Their charm lies in Schoolcraft's wide interest in human affairs, and in his penetration. They embrace social events, boat arrivals, visits from noted men and women, bits of correspondence, notes on the climate, reflections on current events, the wild life of the Island, Indian affairs, and many others. The first entry given is dated April 21, 1835, motivated by a letter recently received expressing doubts about the health- fulness of the Island. "The truth is, in relation to this position, the climate is generally dry, and has no causes of disease in it. The air is a perfect restorative to invalids, and never fails to provoke appetite and health. It is already a partial resort for persons out of health, and cannot fail to be appreciated as a watering place in the summer months as the country increases in population. To Chicago, St. Louis, Natchez, and New Orleans, as well as Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, I should presume it to be a perfect Montpelier in the summer season. 1/61U, pp. 512-703. 215 216 HISTORIC MACKINAC "May 6th. In the scenes of domestic and social and moral significancy, which have rendered the Island a place of delight to many persons during the seclusion of the winter, no one has entered with a more pleasing zeal into the area than a young man whose birth, I think, was not far from the Rock of Plymouth. I shall call him Otwin. I invited him to pass the winter as a guest in my house, where his conversation, manners, and deep enthusiastic and poetic feeling, and just determination of the moral obligation in men, rendered him an agreeable inmate. He had a say ing and a text for almost everybody, but uttered all he said in such a pleasing spirit as to give offence to none. He was ever in the midst of those who came together to sing and pray, and was quite a favorite with the soldiers of the garrison. . . . "July 2nd. The weather, for the entire month of June, was most delightful and charming. On one of the latter days of the month the fine and large steamer Michigan came into the harbor, with a brilliant throng of visitors, among the number the Secretary of War (Gen. Cass) and his daughter. The arrival put joy and animation into every countenance. The Secretary reviewed the troops, and visited the Agency, and the workshops for the benefit of the Indians. He, and the gay and brilliant throng, visited whatever was curious and interesting, and embarked on their return to Detroit, after receiving the warm con gratulations of the citizens. I took the occasion to accom pany the party to Detroit. . . . "14th. I went to Round Island with Mr. Featherstone- haugh and Lieut. Mather. Examined the ancient ossuaries and the scenery on that island. Mr. F. is on his way to the Upper Mississippi as a geologist in the service of the SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 217 Topographical Bureau. He took a good deal of interest in examining my cabinet, and proposed I should exchange the Lake Superior minerals for the gold ores of Virginia, &c. He showed me his idea of the geological column, and drew it out. I accompanied him around the island, to view its reticulated and agaric filled limestone cliffs; but derived no certain information from him of the position of the geological scale of this very striking stratum. It is, mani festly, the magnesian limestone of Conybeare and Phil lips, or muschelkalk of the Germans. "Lieut. Mather brought me a letter from Major Whit ing, from which I learn that he has been professor of mineralogy in the Military Academy at West Point. I found him to be animated with a zeal for scientific dis covery, united with accurate and discriminating powers of observation. "Among my visitors about this time, none impressed me more pleasingly than a young gentleman from Cincinnati — a graduate of Lane Seminary — a Mr. Hastings, who brought me a letter from a friend at Detroit. He appeared to be imbued with the true spirit of piety, to be learned in his vocation without ostentation, and discriminating with out ultraism. And he left me, after a brief stay, with an impression that he was destined to enter the field of moral instruction usefully to his fellow-men, believing that it is far better to undertake to persuade than to drive men by assault, as with cannon, from their strongholds of opinion. "1835. August. The rage for investment in lands was now manifest in every visitor that came from the East to the West. Everybody, more or less, yielded to it. I saw that friends, in whose prudence and judgment I had con fided for years, were engaged in it. I doubted the sound- 218 HISTORIC MACKINAC ness of the ultra predictions which were based on every sort of investment of this kind, whether of town property or farming land, and held quite conservative opinions on the subject, but yielded partially, and in a moderate way, to the general impulse, by making some investments in Wis consin. Among other plans, an opinion arose that Michili- mackinack must become a favorite watering place, or refuge for the opulent and invalids during the summer; and lots were eagerly bought up from Detroit and Chi cago. . . . "29th. Dr. Julius, of Prussia, visited me, being on his return from Chicago. He evinced a deep interest in the history of the Indian race. He remarked the strong re semblance they bore in features and manners to the Asiatics. He had remarked that the Pottawottomies seem like dogs, which he observed was also the custom of the Tartars ; but that the eyes of the latter were set diagonally, whereas the American Indians had theirs parallel. In other respects, he saw great resemblances. He expressed himself as greatly interested in the discovery of an oral literature among the Indians, in the form of imaginative legends. "Gen. Robert Patterson, of Philadelphia, with his daugh ter and niece, make a brief visit, on their way from Chicago and the West, and view the curiosities of the Island. These visits of gentlemen of wealth, to the great area of the upper lakes, may be noticed as commencing with this year. People seem to have suddenly waked up in the East, and are just becoming aware that there is a West — to which they hie, in a measure, as one who hunts for a pleasant land fancied in dreams. But the great Mississippi Valley is a waking reality. Fifty years will tell her story on the popu lation and resources of the world. . . . SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 219 "[Sept.] 15th. The Great Lakes can no longer be re garded as solitary seas, where the Indian war-whoop has alone for so many uncounted centuries startled its echoes. The Eastern World seems to be alive, and roused up to the value of the West. Every vessel, every steamboat, brings up persons of all classes, whose countenances the desire of acquisition, or some other motive, has rendered sharp, or imparted a fresh glow of hope to their eyes. More per sons, of some note or distinction, natives or foreigners, have visited me, and brought me letters of introduction this season, than during years before. Sitting on my piazza, in front of which the great stream of ships and commerce passes, it is a spectacle at once novel, and cal culated to inspire high anticipations in the future glory of the Mississippi Valley. . . . "27th. Dr. C. R. Gilman, of New York, having, with Major M. Hoffman, of Wall Street, paid me a visit and made a picturesque 'trip to the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior,' writes me after his safe return to the city, piquing himself on that adventure, after having exchanged congratulations with his less enterprising city-loving friends. It was certainly an event to be booked, that two civilians so soldered down to the habits of city life in different lines as the Doctor and the Major, should have extended their summer excursion as far as Michilimack- inack. But it was a farther evidence of enterprise, and the love of the picturesque, that they should have taken an Indian canoe, and a crew of engagees, at that point, and ventured to visit the Pictured Rocks in Lake Superior. Life on the Lakes (the title of Dr. G.'s book) was certainly a widely different affair to Life in New York. . . . "1836. July 5th. Dr. Follen and lady, of Cambridge, 220 HISTORIC MACKINAC Mass., accompanied by Miss Martineau, of England, vis ited me in the morning, having landed in the ship Milwau kee. They had, previously, visited the chief curiosities and sights on the Island. Miss Martineau expressed her gratification in having visited the upper lakes and the Is land. She said she had, from early childhood, felt an interest in them. I remarked, that I supposed she had seen enough of America and the Americans, to have formed a definite opinion, and asked her what she thought of them? She said she had not asked herself that question. She had hardly made up an opinion, and did not know what it might be, on getting back to England. She thought society hardly formed here, that it was rather early to express opinions ; but she thought favorably of the elements of such a mixed society, as suited to lead to the most liberal traits. She spoke highly of Cincinnati, and some other places, and expressed an enthusiastic admiration for the natural beauties of Michilimackinack. She said she had been nearly two years in America, and was now going to the seaboard to embark on her return to England. . . . "27th. A friend writes from Detroit: 'Lord Selkirk, from Scotland, is on his route to Lake Superior, and, as he passes through Mackinac, I write to introduce him to you, as a gentleman with whom you would be pleased to have more than a transient association. The name of his father is connected with many north-western events of much interest and notoriety, and a most agreeable recollection of his mother, Lady Selkirk, has recommended him strongly to our kindness. I feel assured you will befriend him, in the way of information, as to the best means of getting on to the Sault St. Marie.' > SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 221 "I found the bearer an easy, quiet, young gentleman, with not the least air of pretence or superciliousness, and one of those men to whom attentions ever become a pleas ure. . . . "29th. Baron de Behr, Minister of Belgium, presented himself at my office. He was cordially received, although bringing me no letter to apprize me of his official standing at Washington. He had been to the Sault Ste. Marie, and visited the entrance into Lake Superior. He presented me a petrification picked up on Drummond Island, and looked at my cabinet with interest. . . . "Oct. 17^. Old friends from Middlebury, Vermont, came up in a steamer bound to Green Bay, among whom I was happy to recognize Mrs. Henshaw, mother of the Bishop of that name of Rhode Island. "18th. Alfred Schoolcraft, who had commenced the study of ornithology with decided ability, hands me the fol lowing list of birds, which have been observed to extend their visits to this Island and the basin of Lake Huron : "Brown Thrush, Cedar Bird, Canada Jay, Crow, House Wren, Blue Jay, Raven, Snow Bird, Sing Cicily, Robin, Red Winged Starling, Goldfinch, Little Owl, Sparrow Hawk, Golden Plover, Woodcock, Green Winged Teal, Wood Duck, Golden Eyed Duck, Hopping Crane, King fisher, Loon, Partridge. "1837 [March] 8th. The American Board of Commis sioners for Foreign Missions decline $6000 for the aban doned missionary house at Mackinac, offered under the view of its being converted into a dormitory for receiving Indian visitors at that point under the provisions of the treaty of 1836. . . . 222 HISTORIC MACKINAC "May 26th. Received a letter of introduction from Governor Mason, by Mr. Massingberd, of England, an in telligent and estimable traveler in America. "27th. Dr. Edward Spring, son of the Rev. Gardiner Spring, of New York, visits the Island with the view of a temporary practice. . . . "July 26th. Mrs. Jameson embarks in an open boat for Sault Ste. Marie, accompanied by Mrs. Schoolcraft, after having spent a short time as a most intelligent and agree able inmate under our roof. This lady, respecting whom I had received letters from my brother-in-law Mr. McMur ray, a clergyman of Canada West, evinced a most familiar knowledge of artistic life and society in England and Ger many. Her acquaintance with Goethe, and other distin guished writers, gave a life and piquancy to her conversa tion and anecdotes, which made us cherish her society the more. She is, herself, an eminent landscape painter, or rather sketcher in crayon, and had her portfolio ever in hand. She did not hesitate freely to walk out to promi nent points, of which the Island has many, to complete her sketches. This freedom from restraint in her motions, was an agreeable trait in a person of her literary tastes and abilities. She took a very lively interest in the Indian race, and their manners and customs, doubtless with views of benevolence for them as a peculiar race of man, but also as a fine subject of artistic observation. Notwith standing her strong author-like traits and peculiarities, we thought her a woman of hearty and warm affections and attachments; the want of which, in her friends, we think she would exquisitely feel. "Mrs. Jameson several times came into the office and heard the Indians speaking. She also stepped out on the SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 223 piazza and saw the wild Indians dancing; she evidently looked on with the eye of a Claude Lorraine or Michael Angelo. . . . "Aug. 2nd. Capt. Marryatt came up in the steamer of last night. A friend writes: 'He is one of Smollett's sea captains — much more of the Trunnion than one would have expected to find in a literary man. Stick Mackinac into him, with all its rock-osities. He is not much dis posed to the admirari without the nil — affects little en thusiasm about anything, and perhaps feels as little." He turned out here a perfect sea-urchin, ugly, rough, ill-man nered, and conceited beyond all bounds. Solomon says, 'answer not a fool according to his folly,' so I paid him all attention, drove him over the Island in my carriage, and rigged him out with my canoe-elege to go to St. Mary's. "3rd. George Tucker, Professor in the University of Virginia, came up in the last steamer. I hasted, while he stayed, to drive him out and show off the curiosities of the Island to the best advantage. "5th. Mrs. Schoolcraft writes from the Sault, that Mrs. Jameson and the children suffered much on the trip to that place from mosquitoes, but by dint of a douceur of five dollars extra to the men, which Mrs. Jameson made to the crew, they rowed all night, from Sailor's encamp ment, and reached the Sault at 6 o'clock in the morning. 'I feel delighted,' she says, 'at my having come with Mrs. Jameson, as I found that she did not know how to get along at all, at all. Mr. McMurray and family and Mrs. Jameson started off on Tuesday morning for Manitouline with a fair wind and fair day, and I think they have had a fine voyage down. Poor Mrs. Jameson cried heartily when she parted with me and my children; she is indeed a woman 224 HISTORIC MACKINAC in a thousand. While here, George came down the rapids with her in fine style and spirits. She insisted on being baptized and named in Indian, after her sail down the falls. We named her Was-sa-je-wun-e-qua (Woman of the Bright Stream) with which she was mightily pleased." "[9th]. Mr. Ord, recently appointed a sub-agent in this superintendency, reaches the Island. He is the second person I have known who has made the names of his chil dren an object of singularity. Mr. Stickney, who figured prominently in the Toledo War, called his male children One, Two, &c. Mr. Ord has not evidently differed in this respect from general custom, for the same reason, namely, an objection to Christian prejudice for John and James, or Aaron and Moses. He has simply given them Latin nominatives, from the mere love he has apparently for that tongue. I believe he was formerly a Georgetown professor. "Capt. Marryatt embarked on board the steamer Michi gan, on his return from the Island, after having spent sev eral days in a social visit, including a trip to the Sault, in company with Mr. Lay, of Batavia. While here, I saw a good deal of the novelist. His manner and style of con versation appeared to be those of a sailor, and such as we should look for in his own Peter Simple. Temperance and religion, if not morality, were to him mere cant words, and whether he was observed, either before dinner or after dinner — in the parlor or out of it — his words and manners were anything but those of a quiet, modest, English gentle man. "I drove Mr. Lay and himself out one day after dinner to see the curiosities of the Island. He would insist walk ing over the arched rock. 'It is a fearful and dizzy height.' SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 225 When on the top he stumbled. My heart was in my throat; I thought he would have been hurled to the rocks below and dashed to a thousand pieces; but, like a true sailor, he crouched down, as if on a yard-arm, and again arose and completed his perilous walk. "We spoke of railroads. He said they were not built permanently in this country, and attributed the fault to our excessive go-aheadiveness. Mr. Lay: 'True; but if we expended the sums you do in such works, they could not be built at all. They answer a present purpose, and we can afford to renew them in a few years from their own profits.' "The captain's knowledge of natural history was not precise. He aimed to be knowing when it was difficult to conceal ignorance. He called some well-characterized species of septaria in my cabinet pudding-stone, beautiful specimens of limpid hexagonal crystals of quartz, common quartz, &c. "Mr. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, brings me a letter of introduction. This gentleman has the quiet easy air of a man who has seen the world. His fine taste and acquire ments have procured him a wide reputation. His transla tion of Rusk's Icelandic Grammar is a scholar-like per formance, and every way indicative of the propensities of his mind for philological studies. . . . "13th. Early one morning I was agreeably surprised by the arrival of Mrs. Jameson, whom I had previously expected to spend some time with me, and found her a most agreeable, refined and intelligent guest, with none of the supercilious and conceited airs, which I had noticed in some of her traveling countrywomen of the class of authors. . . . 226 HISTORIC MACKINAC "1837. Aug. 16th. A Mr. Nathan, an English traveler, of quiet and pleasing manners, was introduced. He had been to St. Mary's Falls, and to the magnificent entrance into Lake Superior, of whose fine scenery he spoke in terms of admiration. It seems to me that Englishmen and Eng lishwomen, for I have had a good many of both sexes to visit me recently, look on America very much as one does when he peeps through a magnifying glass on pictures of foreign scenes, and the picturesque ruins of old cities, and the like. They are really very fine, but it is difficult to realize that such things are. It is all an optical deception. "It was clearly so with Marryatt, a very superficial ob server; Miss Martineau, who was in search of something ultra and elementary, and even Mrs. Jameson, who had the most accurate and artistic eye of all, but who, with the exception of some bits of womanly heart, appeared to re gard our vast woods, and wilds, and lakes, as a magnificent panorama, a painting in oil. It does not appear to occur to them, that here are the very descendants of that old Saxa- Gothic race who sacked Rome, who banished the Stuarts from the English throne, and who have ever, in all positions, used all their might to battle tyranny and oppression, who hate taxations as they hate snakes, and whose day and night dreams have ever been of liberty, that dear cry of Freiheit, whichever [has] made 'Germania' ring. It has appeared to me to be very much the same with the Austrian and Italian functionaries who have wandered as far as Michilimackinack within a few years, but who are yet more slow to appreciate our institutions than the English. The whole problem of our system, one would judge, seems to them like 'apples of ashes,' instead of the golden fruits of Hesperides. They alike mistake realities for fancies; real SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 227 states of flesh and blood, bone and muscle, for cosmoramic pictures on a wall. They do not appear to dream how fast our millions reduplicate, what triumphs the plow, and the engine, and loom, are making, how the principles of a well guarded representative system are spreading over the world, and what indomitable moral, and sound inductive principles lie at the bottom of the whole fabric. "20th. Mrs. Jameson writes to Mrs. Schoolcraft, from Toronto : 'If I were to begin by expressing all the pain it gave me to part from you, I should not know when or where to end. I do sometimes thank God, that in many different countries I possess friends worthy that name ; kind hearts that feel with and for me; hearts upon which my own could be satisfied to rest; but then that parting, that forced, and often hopeless separation which too often follows such a meeting, makes me repine. I will not say, pettishly, that I could wish never to have known or seen a treasure I cannot possess: no! how can I think of you and feel regret that I have known you? As long as I live, the impression of your kindness, and of your character alto gether, remains with me ; your image will often come back to me, and I dare to hope that you will not forget. me quite. I am not so unreasonable as to ask you to write to me; I know too well how entirely your time is occupied to presume to claim even a few moments of it, and it is a pity, for 'we do not live by bread alone,' and every faculty and affection implanted in us by the good God of nature, craves the food which he has prepared for it, even in this world; so that I do wish you had a little leisure from eating and drinking, cares and household matters, to bestow on less important things, on me for instance! poor little me, at the other side of the world. 228 HISTORIC MACKINAC "Mrs. McMurray has told you the incidents of our voy age to the Manitouline Island, from thence to Toronto; it was all delightful; the most extraordinary scenery I ever beheld, the wildest! I recall it as a dream. I arrived at my own house at three o'clock on the morning of the 13th, tired and much eaten by those abominable mosquitoes, but otherwise better in health than I have been for many months. Still I have but imperfectly achieved the object of my journey; and I feel that, though I seized on my return every opportunity of seeing and visiting the Indian lodges, I know but too little of them, of the women particu larly. If only I had been able to talk a little more to my dear Neengay! how often I think of her with regret, and of you all! But it is in vain to repine. I must be thankful for what I have gained, what I have seen and done! I have written to Mrs. McMurray, and troubled her with several questions relative to the women. I remark gen erally, that the propiniquity of the white man is destruc tive to the red man; and the farther the Indians are removed from us, the better for them. In their own woods, they are a noble race; brought near to us, a degraded and stupid race. We are destroying them off the face of the earth. May God forgive us our tyranny, our avarice, our ignor ance, for it is very terrible to think of!' . . . "23rd. A poor decrepit Indian woman, who was aban doned on the beach by her relatives some ten days ago, applied for relief. It is found that she has been indebted for food in the interim to the benevolence of Mrs. Lafrom boise. . . . "Sept. 15th. The payments are finished, and the Indians begin to disperse. I invested Kabay Noden with his fath er's medal, and his uncle, Muckadaywuckwut, with a flag; MARQUETTE STATUE, MARQUETTE PARK Mackinac Island VIEW OF FORT MACKINAC AND MARQUETTE PARK, 1917 SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 229 recommending at the same time the division of the St. Mary's Chippewas into three bands, agreeably to fixed geographical boundaries. "23rd. The Indians Akukojeesh and Akawoway brought a case of salvage for my action. They had found a new carriage body, and harness; a box of 7 by 9 glass, and 18 chairs, floating on the lake (Huron), N. E. of the Island. They supposed the articles had been thrown over board in a recent storm, or by a vessel aground on the point of Goose Island, called Nekuhmenis. The Nekuh is a brant. "30th. Chusco dies. "Completed and transmitted the returns and abstracts of the year's proceedings and expenditures. "Oct. 1st. Sent the interpreter and farmers of the Department to perform the funeral rites for Chusco, the Ottawa jossakeed, who died yesterday at the house erected for him on Round Island. He was about 70 years of age; a small man, of light frame, and walked a little bent. He had an expression of cunning and knowingness, which induced his people, when young, to think he resembled the muskrat, just rising from the water after a dive. This trait was implied by his name. For many years he had acted as a jossakeed, or seer, for his tribe. In this business he told me that the powers he relied on, were the spirits of the tortoise, crow, swan, and woodpecker. These he con sidered his familiar spirits, who received their miraculous power to aid him directly from Mudjee Moneto, or the Great Evil Spirit. After the establishment of the Mission at Mackinac, his wife embraced Christianity. This made him mad. At length his mind ran so much on the theme, that he fell into doubts and glooms when thinking it over, 230 HISTORIC MACKINAC and finally embraced Christianity himself; and he was admitted, after a probation of a year or two, to church membership. I asked him, after this period, how he had deceived his people by the art of powwowing, or jug glery. He said that he had accomplished it by the direct influence of Satan. He had addressed him, on these occa sions and sung his songs to him, beating the drum or shaking the rattle. He adhered firmly to this opinion. He appeared to have great faith in the atonement of Christ, and relied with extraordinary simplicity upon it. He gave a striking proof of this, the autumn after his conversion, when he went with his wife, according to cus tom, to dig his potatoes on a neighboring island. The wife immediately began to dig. 'Stop,' said he, 'let us first kneel and return thanks for their growth.' He was aware of his former weakness on the subject of strong drink, and would not indulge in it after he became a church member. . . . "27th. The first snow falls for the season. . . . "Nov. 11th. Embarked at Mackinac on board the steamer Madison, for the lower country. "13th. Arrived at Detroit, and resumed the duties of the superintendency at that point. . . . "Dec. 1st. Mr. Hamill, of Lawrenceville, N. J., re sponds to my inquiry for a suitable school for my son — a matter respecting which I am just now very solicit ous. . . . "[1838 Jan.] 16th. Received the first winter express from Mackinac, transmitting reports from the various persons in official employ there. They report a great storm at that place on the 8th and 9th of December, 1837, in the course of which the light-house on Boisblanc was SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 231 blown down, and other damage done by the rise of water. . . . "26th. Completed the revision of a body of Indian oral legends, collected during many years with labor. These oral tales show up the Indian in a new light. Their chief value consists in their exhibition of aboriginal opinions. But, if published, incredulity will start up critics to call their authenticity in question. There are so many Indian tales fancied, by writers, that it will hardly be admitted that there exist any real legends, If there be any literary labor which has cost me more than usual pains, it is this. I have weeded out many vulgarisms. I have endeavored to restore the simplicity of the original style. In this I have not always fully succeeded, and it has been sometimes found necessary to avoid incongruity, to break a legend in two, or cut it short off. . . . "30^. Transmit to Washington a plan and estimates for building a dormitory at Mackinac, under the pro vision of the treaty of March, 1836. Such a building has been long called for at that point, where the Indians are often sojourners, without a place to sleep, or cook the pro visions furnished them. . . . "[April] 21st. Having passed the winter at Detroit, I left the Superintendency office in charge of Mr. Lee, an efficient clerk, and embraced the sailing of one of the earliest vessels for the Upper Lakes, to return to Michili mackinac. Winter still showed some of its aspects there, although gardening at Detroit had been commenced for weeks. . . . "June 2nd. I proceeded, during the latter part of May, to visit the Ottawas of the southern part of Michigan, to inquire about their schools under the treaty of '36, and to 232 HISTORIC MACKINAC learn, personally, their condition during the state of the rapid settlements pressing around them. I went to Chicago by steamboat, and there found a schooner for Grand River. Here I was pleased to meet our old pastor, Mr. Ferry, as a proprietor and pastor of the newly-planned town of Grand Haven. I had to wait here, some days, for a con veyance to the Grand Rapids, which gave me time to ram ble, with my little son, about the sandy eminences of the neighborhood, and to pluck the early spring flowers in the valley. The Washtenong, a small steamer with a stem- wheel, in due time carried us up. Among the passengers was an emigrant English family from Canada, who landed at a log house in the woods. I was invited, at the Rapids, to take lodgings with Mr. Lewis Campeau, the proprietor of the village. The fall of Grand River here creates an ample water power. The surrounding country is one of the most beautiful and fertile imaginable, and its rise to wealth and populousness must be a mere question of time, and that time hurried on by a speed that is astonishing. This generation will hardly be in their graves before it will have the growth and improvements which, in other coun tries, are the results of centuries. . . . "18th. The plethora of success which has animated every department of life and business, puffing them up like gas in a balloon, since about '35 has departed and left the fiscal system perfectly flaccid and lifeless. The rage for speculation in real estate has absorbed all loose cash, and the country is now groaning for its fast-locked circulating medium. A friend at Detroit writes: 'With fifty thou sand dollars of productive real estate in the city, and as much more in stocks and mortgages, I am absolutely in want of small sums to pay my current expenses, and to - SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 233 rid myself of the mortification produced by this feeling I am prepared to make almost any sacrifice.' "July 23d. Public business calling me to Washington, I left Mackinac late in June, and, pushing day and night, reached that city on the 9th of July. The day of my arrival was a hot one, and, during our temporary stop in the cars between the Relay House and Bladensburg, some pick pockets eased me of my pocket-book, containing a treasury- note for $50, about $60 in bills, and sundry papers. The man must have been a genteel and well-dressed fellow, for I conversed with none other, and very adroit at his busi ness. I did not discover my loss till reaching the hotel, and all inquiry was then fruidess. After four days I again set out for the North in an immense train of cars, having half of Congress aboard, as they had just adjourned, and reached Mackinac about the tenth day's travel. This was a toilsome trip, the whole journey to the seat of gov ernment and back, say 2,000 miles, being made in some twenty-five days, all stops inclusive. "31st. I set out this day from Mackinac in a boat for Lake Superior and the Straits of St. Mary, for the purpose of estimating the value of the Indian improvements North, under the 8th Art. of the treaty of March 28th. The weather being fine, and anticipating no high winds at this season, I determined, as a means of health and recreation, to take Mrs. S. and her niece, Julia, a maid, and the chil dren along, having tents and every camping apparatus to make the trip a pleasant one. My boat was one of the largest and best of those usually employed in the trade, manned with seven rowers and provided with a mast and sails. An awning was prepared to cover the centre-bar, which was furnished with seats made of our rolled-up 234 HISTORIC MACKINAC beds. Magazines, a spy-glass, &c, &c, served to while away the time, and a well-furnished mess-basket served to make us quite easy in that department. At Sault St. Marie I took on board Mr. Placidus Ord to keep the record of appraisements. "While here, the notorious John Tanner, who had been on very ill terms with the civilized world for many years — for no reason, it seems, but that it would not support him in idleness — this man, whose thoughts were bitter and suspicious of every one, followed me one day unperceived into a canoe-house, where I had gone alone to inspect a newly-made canoe. He began to talk after his manner, when, lifting my eyes to meet his glance, I saw mischief evidently, in their cold, malicious, bandit air, and, looking him determinedly in the eyes, instantly raised my heavy walking-cane, confronted him with the declaration of his secret purpose with a degree of decision of tone and manner which caused him to step back out of the open door and leave the premises. I was perfectly surprised at his das tardly movement, for I had supposed him before to be a brave man, and I heard or saw no more of him while there.2 "Tanner was stolen by old Kishkako, the Saginaw, from Kentucky, when he was a boy of about nine years old. He is now a gray-headed, hard-featured old man, whose feel ings are at war with every one on earth, white and red. Every attempt to meliorate his manners and Indian notions, has failed. He has invariably misapprehended them, and is more suspicious, revengeful, and bad tempered than any Indian I ever knew. Dr. James, who made, by the way, a 2 Eight years afterwards, namely, in July, 1846, this lawless vagabond waylaid and shot my brother James, having concealed himself in a cedar thicket. SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 235 mere pack-horse of Indian opinions of him, did not suspect his fidelity, and put many things in his narrative which made the whites about St. Mary's call him an old liar. This enraged him against the Doctor, whom he threatened to kill. He had served me awhile as an interpreter, and, while thus employed, he went to Detroit, and was pleased with a country girl, who was a chamber-maid at old Ben. Woodworm's hotel. He married her, but, after having one child, and living with him a year, she was glad to escape with life, and, under the plea of a visit, made some arrange ment with the ladies of Fort Brady to slip off on board of a vessel, and so eluded him. The Legislature afterwards granted her a divorce. He blamed me for the escape, though I was entirely ignorant of its execution, and knew nothing of it, till it had transpired. "In this trip to the North, I called on the Indians to show me their old fields and gardens at every point. "It was found that there were eight geographical bands, consisting of separate villages, living on the ceded tract. The whole population of these did not exceed, by a close count, 569 souls. The population had evidently deterior ated from the days of the French and British rule, when game was abundant. This was the tradition they gave, and was proved by the comparatively large old fields, not now in cultivation, particularly at Portagunisee, at various points on the Straits of St. Mary's, and at Grand Island and its coasts on Lake Superior. "They cultivate chiefly, the potato, and retire in the spring to certain points, where the Acer saccharinum abounds, and all rely on the quantity of maple sugar made. This is eaten by all, and appears to have a fattening effect, particularly on the children. The season of sugar-making 236 HISTORIC MACKINAC is indeed a sort of carnival, at which there is general joy and hilarity. The whole number of acres found in cul tivation by individuals, was 125/4 acres; and by bands, and in common, 100% acres, which would give an average of a litde over % of an acre per soul. Even this is thought high. There were 1459 acres of old fields, partly mn up in brash. There were also 3162 acres of abandoned village sites, where not a soul lived. I counted 27 dwell ings which had a fixity, and nineteen apple trees in the forest. In proportion as they had little, they set a high value on it, and insisted on showing everything, and they gave me a good deal of information. The whole sum appraised to individuals was $3,428.25; and to collective bands, $11,173.50. "While off the mural coast of the Pictured Rocks, the lake was perfectly calm, and the wind hushed. I directed the men to row in to the cave or opening of the part where the water has made the most striking inroad upon the solid coast. This coast is a coarse sandstone, easily disinte grated. I doubted if the oarsmen could enter without pull ing in their oars. But nothing seemed easier when we attempted it. They, in fact, rowed us, in a few moments, masts standing, into a most extraordinary and gigantic cave, under the loftiest part of the coast. I thought of the rotunda in the Capitol at Washington, as giving some idea of its vastness, but nothing of its dark and sombre appearance, its vast side arches, and the singular influence of the light beaming in from the open lake. I took out my note-book and drew a sketch of this very unique view. "The next day the calmness continued on the lake, and I took advantage of it to visit the dimly seen island in the lake, off Presque Isle and Granite Point, called Nabikwon SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY, 237 by the Indians, from the effects of mirage. Its deep vol canic chasms, and upheaved rocks, tell a story of mighty elemental conflicts in the season of storms; but it did not reward me with much in the way of natural history, except in geological specimens. . . . Aug. 25th. Returned to Michilimackinac, at a quarter past one o'clock, A. m., from my trip to the north, for the appraisal of the Indian improvements. . . . "Sept. 20th. Count Castleneau, a French gentleman on his travels in America, brings me a note of introduction from a friend. I was impressed with his suavity of man ners, and the interest he manifested in natural history, and furnished him some of our characteristic northern speci mens in mineralogy. I understood him to say, in some familiar conversation, that he was the descendant of a child saved accidentally at the memorable massacre of St. Bar tholomew's. . . . "Oct. 1st. The steamer Madison arrived with a crowd of emigrants for the west, one of whom had died on the passage from Detroit. It proved to be a young man named Jesse Cummings, from Groton, N. H., a member of the Congregational Church of that place. Having no pastor, I conducted the religious observance of the funeral, and selected a spot for his burial, in a high part of the Presby terian burial ground, towards the N. E., where a few loose stones were gathered to mark the place. . . . "3rd. Mrs. Therese Schindler, a daughter of a former factor of the N. W. Company at Mackinac, visited the office. I inquired her age. She replied 63, which would give the year 1775 as her birth. Having lived through a historical era of much interest, on this Island, and possess ing her faculties unimpaired, I obtained the following facts 238 HISTORIC MACKINAC from her. The British commanding officers remembered by her were Sinclair, Robinson, and Doyle. The inter preters acting under them, extending to a later period, were Charles Gothier, Lamott, Charles Chabollier, and John Askin. The first interpreter here was Hans, a half-breed, and father to the present chief Ance, of Point St. Ignace. His father had been a Hollander, as the name implies. Langlade was the interpreter at old Fort Michilimackinac, on the main, at the massacre. She says she recollects the transference of the post to the Island. If so, that event could not have happened, so as to be recollected by her, till about 1780. Askin went along with the British troops on the final surrender of the Island to the Americans in 1796, and returned in the surprise and taking of the Island in 1812. . . . "8^. The Rev. Mr. Fleming and the Rev. Mr. Dough erty arrived as missionaries under the Presbyterian Board at New York. . . . "11th. First frost at Mackinac for the season. . . . "13th. Finished grading and planting trees in front of the dormitory. . . . "29th. I reached Detroit this day, with my family, in the new steamer Illinois, having had a pleasant passage for the season, from Mackinac. The style of the lake steam boats is greatly improved within the last few years, and one of the first-class boats bears no slight resemblance to a floating parlor, where every attention and comfort is promptly provided. He must be fastidious, indeed, who is not pleased. . . . "Nov. 14th. I embarked in a steamer, with my family, for New York, having the double object of placing my SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 239 children at eligible boarding-schools, and seeking the reno vation of Mrs. S 's health. . . . " 'Hurry,' was the word on all parts of our route; but, after reaching the Hudson, we felt more at ease, and we reached New York and got into lodgings, on the evening of the 24th (Nov.). The next day was celebrated, to the joy of the children, as 'Evacuation Day,' by brilliant display of the military, our windows overlooking the Park, which was the focus of this turnout. . . . "Dec. 6th. I visited Mr. Gallatin at his house in Bleecker Street, and spent the entire morning in listening to his instructive conversation, in the course of which he spoke of early education, geometric arithmetic, the prin ciples of languages and history, American and Euro pean. . . . "22d. I left New York on the 12th, in the cars, with Mrs. Schoolcraft and the children, for Washington, stop ping at the Princeton depot, and taking a carriage for Princeton. I determined to leave my son at the Round Hill School, in charge of Mr. Hart, and the next day went to Philadelphia, where I accepted the invitation of Gen. Robert Patterson to spend a few days at his tasteful man sion in Locust Street. I visited the Academy of Natural Sciences, and examined Dr. Samuel George Morton's exten sive collection of Indian crania. While here, I placed my daughter in the private school of the Misses Guild, South Fourth Street. I attended one of the 'Wistar parties' of the season, on the 15th, at Mr. Lea's, the distinguished book seller and conchologist, and reached the city of Washing ton on the 21st, taking lodgings at my excellent friends, the Miss Polks. . . . 240 HISTORIC MACKINAC "27th. Visited Mr. Paulding (Secretary of the Navy) in the evening. Found him a rather aged bald-headed man, of striking physiognomy, prominent intellectual devel opments, and easy dignified manners. It was pleasing to recognize one of the prominent authors of Salmagundi, which I had read in my schoolboy days, and never even hoped to see that author of this bit of fun in our incipient literature. For it is upon this, and the still higher effort of Irving's facetious History of New York, that we must base our imaginative literature. They first taught us that we had a right to laugh. We were going on, on so very stiff a model, that, without the Knickerbocker, we should not have found it out. "28th. I prepared a list of queries for the department, designed to elicit a more precise and reliable account of the Indian tribes than has yet appeared. It is astonishing how much gross error exists in the popular mind respecting their true character. "Talk of an Indian — why the very stare Says, plain as language, Sir, have you been there? Do tell me, has a Pottowottomie a soul, And have the tribes a language? Now that's droll — They tell me some have tails like wolves, and others claws, Those Winnebagoes, and Piankashaws. "1839. Jan. 1st. I called, amid the throng, on the President. His manners were bland and conciliatory. . . . "10th. Attended a general and crowded party at Gen. Macomb's, in the evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft. The General has always appeared to me a perfect amateur in military science, although he has distinguished himself in the field. He is a most polished and easy man in all posi tions in society, and there is an air and manner by which he SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 241 constantly reveals his French blood. He has a keen per ception of the ridiculous, and a nice appreciation of the mock gravity of the heroic in character, and related to me a very effective scene of this latter kind, which occurred at Mr. John Johnston's, at St. Mary's Falls, on the close of the late war. . . . "11th. Left Washington, with my family, in the cars for Baltimore, where we lodged; reached Philadelphia the next day, at four P. M. ; remained the 13th and 14th, and reached New York on the 16th, at 4 o'clock P. M. "14th. Mrs. Schoolcraft, having left her children at school, at Philadelphia and Princeton, remained pensive, and wrote the following lines in the Indian tongue, on part ing from them, which I thought so just that I made a trans lation of them. Ah! when thought reverts to my country so dear, My heart fills with pleasure, and throbs with a fear : My country, my country, my own native land, So lovely in aspect, in feature so grand, Far, far in the West, What are cities to me, Oh! land of my mother, compared unto thee? Fair land of the lakes! thou art blest to my sight, With thy beaming bright waters, and landscapes of light; The breeze and the murmur, the dash and the roar, That summer and autumn cast over the shore, They spring to my thoughts, like the lullaby tongue, That soothed me to slumber when youthful and young. One feeling more strongly still binds me to thee, There roved my forefathers, in liberty free — There shook they the war lance, and sported the plume, Ere Europe had cast o'er this country a gloom ; Nor thought they that kingdoms more happy could be, While lords of a land so resplendant and free. 242 HISTORIC MACKINAC Yet it is not alone that my country is fair, And my home and my friends are inviting me there; While they beckon me onward, my heart is still here, With my sweet lovely daughter, and bonny boy dear: And oh! what's the joy that a home can impart, Removed from the dear ones who cling to my heart. It is learning that calls them; but tell me, can schools Repay for my love, or give nature new rules? They may teach them the lore of the wit and the sage, To be grave in their youth, and be gay in their age; But ah! my poor heart, what are schools to thy view, While severed from children thou lovest so true! I return to my country, I haste on my way, For duty commands me, and duty must sway; Yet I leave the bright land where my little ones dwell, With a sober regret, and a bitter farewell ; For there I must leave the dear jewels I love, The dearest of gifts from my Master above. "new york, March 18th, 1839. "18th. I received instructions from Washington, to form a treaty with the Saginaws, for the cession of a tract of ground on which to build a light-house on Saginaw Bay. "The next letter I opened was from Mrs. Jameson, of London, who writes that her plan of publication is, to divide the profits with her publishers, and, as these are honest men and gentlemen, she has found that the best way. She ad vises me to adopt the same course with respect to my Indian legends.3 " 'I published,' she says, 'in my little journal, one or two legends which Mrs. Schoolcraft gave me, and they have ex- 8 1 followed this advice, but fell into the hands of the Philistines. SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 243 cited very general interest. The more exactly you can (in translation) adhere to the style of the language of the In dian nations, instead of emulating a fine or correct English style — the more characteristic in all respects — the more original — the more interesting your work will be.' . . . "24^. Called on Mr. Ramsey Crooks, president of the American Fur Company, at his counting-house, in Ann street. He gave me an interesting sketch of his late tour from La Pointe, Lake Superior, to the Mississippi. . . . "Feb. 4th. Mr. James H. Lanman writes respecting the prospects of his publishing a history of Michigan — a sub ject which I gave him every encouragement to go forward in, while he lived in that State. "21st. Mr. Bancroft writes me, giving every encour agement to bring forward before the public my collections and researches on Indian history and language, and ex pressing his opinion of success, unless I should be 'cursed with a bad publisher.' " 'Father Duponceau,' he says, 'won his prize out of your books, and Gallatin owes much to you. Go on; persevere; build a monument to yourself and the unhappy Algonquin race.' "Making every allowance for Mr. Bancroft's enthusiastic way of speaking, it yet appears to me that I should en deavor to publish the results of investigations of Indian subjects. My connection with the Johnston family has thrown open to me the whole arcanum of the Indian's thoughts. . . . "1839. April 19th. A singular denouement is made this morning, which appeals strongly to my feelings. On getting in the stage at Vemon, in Western New York, a gentleman of easy manners, good figure, and polite ad- 244 HISTORIC MACKINAC dress, whom we will call Theodoric, kindly made way for me and my family, which led us to notice him, and we trav eled together quite to Detroit, and put up at the same hotel. This morning a note from him reveals him to be a young Virginian, seeking his fortune west, and out of funds, and makes precisely such an appeal as it is hard, and wrong in fact, to resist. I told Theodoric to take his trunk and go, by the next steamer, to my house at Mackinac, and I should be up in a short time, and furnish him employment in the Indian department. . . . "June 4th. Mr. Johnstone, of Aloor, near Edinburgh, Scotland, brings me a note of introduction from Gen. James Talmadge, of New York. Mr. J is a highly respected man at home, and is traveling in America to gratify a laud able curiosity. "7th. Reached Mackinac, on board the steamer Great Western, Capt. Walker. "10th. The Albany Evening Journal has a short edi torial under the head of Algic Researches: 'Such is the title of a work from our countryman Schoolcraft, which the Harpers have just published, in two volumes. It consists of Tales and Legends, which the Author has gleaned in the course of his long and familiar intercourse with the children of the Forest, illustrating the mental powers and character istics of the North American Indians. " 'Mr. Schoolcraft has traveled far into the western wilds. He has lived much with the Indians, and has stud ied their character thoroughly. He is withal a scholar and a gentleman, whose name is a sufficient guarantee of the excellence of all he writes.' . . . "13th. The Albany papers continue to publish no tices of Algic Researches. The Argus of the 13th June, SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 245 says : . . . 'A residence at Mackinac is of itself calculated to beget, as it is to gratify, a taste for the prosecution of these inquiries. It is described by Miss Martineau as "the wildest and tenderest piece of beauty that she had yet seen on God's earth." It is indeed a spot of rare attractiveness. Standing upon the promontory, in the rear of the Fort and town, the view embraces to the north the head waters of the Huron and the far-off isles of St. Martin, to the west Green Isle and the straits of Mackinac, and to the east and south Bois Blanc and the Great Lake. It is a delightful summer retreat, and many are the legends and reminis cences of the scenes of enjoyment passed here in absolute, and we are assured happy, exclusion from the outward world, during the winter months. It has been regarded, at no distant day, as important not only as the rendezvous of the Fur Companies' agents and employers and the Indian traders, but as a government military post. It is still a great resort of the northern Indians. Often their lodges and their bark canoes, of beautiful construction, line the pebbly shore; and the aboriginal habits and mental charac teristics may be studied on the spot. . . .' "1839. June 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 Mackinac 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 246 HISTORIC MACKINAC 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 Michilimackinac, where the Indian pukwees, or fairies, danced of old. . . . "29th. 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] 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. . . . "Aug. 1st. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian Minister at Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister of the kingdom of Sardinia. These gentlemen both im pressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and perfect free dom 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 Mackinac this evening, from their respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia, on their summer vacation, and have, on examination, made good progress. SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY, 247 "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 dis patches 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. Gal lup 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 read- eth it.' — Habakkuk ii. 2. . . . "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 ap peared 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 retiring from my piazza, its gleams were visible through the windows the greater part of the night, till two o'clock or later. . . . "[Oct.] 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 248 HISTORIC MACKINAC 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 imme diately 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. . . . "26th. Mackinac 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. . . . "1840. Jan. 1st. Having determined to pass another winter (some ten weeks of which are past) at Mackinac, I have found my best and pleasantest employment in my old resource, the investigation of the Indian character and his tory. The subject is exhaustless in every branch of in quiry, but the more it is turned over and sifted, the more cause there is to see that there is error to be encountered at almost every step. Travelers have been chiefly intent on the picturesque, and have given themselves but little trouble to investigate. The historian has had his mind full of prepossessions derived from ancient reading, and has, gen erally, been seated three thousand miles across the water, where the work of personal comparison was impossible. Left to the repose of himself, mentally and physically, with out being placed in the crucible of war, without being made the tool of selfishness, or driven to a state of half idiocy by the use of liquor, the Indian is a man of naturally good feel ings and affections, and of a sense of justice, and, although destitute of an inductive mind, is led to appreciate truth and virtue as he apprehends them. But he is subject to be swayed by every breath of opinion, has little fixity of pur- SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 249 pose, and, from a defect of business capacity, is often led to pursue just those means which are least calculated to ad vance his permanent interests, and his mind is driven to and fro like a feather in the winds. . . . "7th. The season of New-year has been as usual a holi day, that is to say, a time of hilarity and good wishes, with the Indians in this vicinity, numbers of which have visited the office. . . . "22d. Theodoric (vide ante, April 19th) writes me from Detroit in terms of the kindest appreciation for my kindness to him. On his arrival at Mackinac he most ac ceptably executed several trusts — writing a good hand, be ing of gentlemanly manners and deportment, and an oblig ing disposition, and withal a high moral tone of character — as the winter drew on, I judged he would make a good rep resentative for the county in the legislature, and started him in political life. He received the popular vote, and pro ceeded to the Capitol accordingly. . . . "31st. The fiscal crisis that was now impending over Michigan, it was evident was in the process of advance; but it was not possible to tell when it would fall, nor with what severity. All had been over-speculating — over-trad ing — over-banking, overdoing everything, in short, that prudence should dictate. But the public were in for it, and could not, it seems, back out, and every one hoped for the best. My best friends, the most cautious guides of my youth, had entered into the speculating mania, and there appeared to be, in fact, nobody of means or standing, who had been proof against the temptation of getting rich soon. I 'immured' myself far away from the scene of turmoil and strife, and was happy so long as I kept my eyes on my books and manuscripts. . . . 250 HISTORIC MACKINAC "March 7th. While politicians, financiers, speculators in real estate, anxious holders of bank stock, and mission aries careful of the Indian tribes are thus busy — each class animated by a separate hope — it is refreshing to see that my little daughter (Jane) who writes under this date from her school at Philadelphia, is striving after p's and g's. 'I am getting along in my studies very well. I love music as much as ever. I like my French studies much. I have got all p's for my lessons, but one g. G is for good, and p for perfect.' What a pity that all classes of adult men were not pursuing their g's and p's with equal simplicity of emula tion and purity of purpose. "10th. Prof. L. Fasquelle, of Livingston, transmits to me a translation of the so-called 'Pontiac manuscript.' This document consists of an ancient French journal, of daily events during the siege of the fort of Detroit by that redoubtable chief and his confederates in 1763. It was found in the garret of one of the French habitants, thrust away between the plate and the roof; partly torn, and much soiled by rains and the effects of time. "13th. The Chippewa Indians say that the woods and shores, bays and islands, are inhabited by innumerable spirits, who are ever wakeful and quick to hear everything during the summer season, but during the winter, after the snow falls, these spirits appear to exist in a torpid state, or find their abodes in inanimate bodies. The tellers of leg ends and oral tales among them are, therefore, permitted to exercise their fancies and functions to amuse their listen ers during the winter season, for the spirits are then in a state of inactivity, and cannot hear. But their vocation as story tellers is ended the moment the spring opens. The shrill piping of the frog, waking from his wintry repose, is SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 251 the signal for the termination of their story craft, and I have in vain endeavored to get any of them to relate this species of imaginary lore at any other time. It is evaded by some easy and indifferent remark. But the true reason is given above. Young and old adhere to this superstition. It is said that, if they violate the custom, the snakes, toads, and other reptiles, which are believed to be under the in fluence of the spirits, will punish them. . . . "April 30th. The new farming station and mission for the Chippewas of Grand Traverse Bay is successfully es tablished. The Rev. Mr. Dougherty reports that a school for Indian children has been well attended since November. A blacksmith's shop is in successful operation. The U. S. Farmer reports that he has just completed ploughing the Indian fields. He has put in several acres of oats, and the corn is about six inches above the ground. The Indians generally are making large fields, and have planted more corn than usual, and manifest a disposition to become in dustrious, and to avail themselves of the double advantage that is furnished them by the Department of Indian affairs and by the Mission Board which has taken them in hand. "Sept. 11th. Joanna Baillie, the celebrated authoress, who has spent a long life in the most honorable and deeply characteristic literary labors, writes from her residence at Hampstead (Eng.), as if with undiminished vigor of hope, expressing her interest in the progress of historical letters in this (to her) remote part of the world. How much closer bonds these literary sympathies are in drawing two nations of a kindred blood together, than dry and formal diplomatics, in which it is the object, as Talleyrand says, of human language to conceal thought! . . . "Nov. 1st. Having concluded the Indian business in 252 HISTORIC MACKINAC the Upper Lakes for the season, I returned with my family to Detroit, and employed my leisure in literary investiga tions. . . . "Dec. 31st. 'We were in hopes,' says James L. School craft, in a letter from Mackinac, 'of seeing a steamboat up during the fine weather in the latter part of November. It is now, however, since 14th inst., cold. Theodoric has undertaken to conduct a weekly paper, the Pic Nic, which, thus far, goes off well. Lieut. Pemberton, in the Fort, is engaged in getting up a private theatre. Thus, you see, we endeavor to ward off winter and solitude in various ways. The rats are playing the devil with your house. I have re moved all the bedding. They have injured some of your books.' . . . "1841. May 22nd. Landed at Mackinac after having passed the winter at Detroit. It appears from Colden that the Iroquois called this island Teiodondoraghie. What an amount of word-craft is here — what a poetic description thrown into the form of a compound phrase! The local term doraghie is apparently the same heard in Ticonderoga — the imprecision of writing Indian making the difference. Ti is the Iroquois particle for water, as in Tioga, &c. On is, in like manner, the clipped or coalescent particle for hill or mountain, as heard in Onondaga. The vowels i, o, carry the same meaning, evidently, that they do in Ontario and Ohio, where they are an exclamatory description for beau tiful scenery. What a philosophy of language is here! . . . "Aug. 1st. During the number of years I have passed in the country of the upper lakes, I have noticed the mocking bird, T. polyglottis, but once or twice as far north as the Island of Michilimackinac. I have listened to its varied notes, during the spring season, with delight. It is not an SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 253 ordinary inhabitant, nor have I ever noticed it on the St. Mary's Straits, or on the shores of Lake Huron north of this Island. This Island may, I think, be referred to as its ex treme northern and occasional limit. "10th. I determined to remove from Michilimackinac to the city of New York. More than thirty years of my life have been spent in Western scenes, in various situations, in Western New York, the Mississippi Valley, and the basins of the Great Lakes. The position is one which, how ever suitable it is for observation on several topics, is by no means favorable to the publication of them, while the sea board cities possess numerous advantages of residence, particularly for the education of the young. So much of my time had been given to certain topics of natural his tory, and to the languages and history, antiquities, man ners, and customs of the Indian tribes, that I felt a desire to preserve the record of it, and, in fact, to study my own materials in a position more favorable to the object than the shores, however pleasing, of these vast inland seas. The health of Mrs. Schoolcraft having been impaired for several years, furnished another motive for a change of residence. However great was the geographical area to be traversed, the change could be readily effected, and promised many of the highest concomitants of civilization. Beyond all, it was a return to my native State after long years of travel and wandering, adventure, and residence, which would bear, I thought, to be looked at and reflected on through the mellowed medium of reminiscence and study. "The journey was easily performed by steamers and railroads, which occupy every foot of the way, and it was accomplished without any but agreeable incidents. I left 254 HISTORIC MACKINAC the Island, which is the object of so many pleasant recollec tions, about the middle of August, and reached the city of New York during that month, in season, after some weeks agreeably passed at a hotel, to take a private dwelling- house in the upper part of it (Chelsea, 19th street) early in September. I now cast myself about to publish the results of my observation on the Red Race, whom I had found, in many traits, a subject of deep interest; in some things wholly misunderstood and misrepresented; and altogether an object of the highest humanitarian interest. But our booksellers, or rather book-publishers, were not yet pre pared in their views to undertake anything corresponding to my ideas. The next year I executed my long-deferred purpose of visiting England and the continent with this plan in view, and was highly gratified with the means of com parison which these finished countries afforded with the rough scenes of Western America. France, Belgium, Prussia, Germany and Holland were embraced in this tour. "This visit was one of high intellectual gratification, and carried me into scenes and situations for which the reading of books had but poorly prepared me. I kept a journal to refresh my memory of things seen and heard, approved and disapproved. "The Western World, they tell me, turns too fast, By European optics scanned and glassed; But when we look at Europe, although fair, They must have had new Joshuas working there; For, be our eagerness just what it will, She, spell-bound, seems to stand profoundly still." CHAPTER X HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 HARRIET MARTINEAU, the English author, visited Mackinac in 1836, where she met Schoolcraft. "Miss Martineau," he says,1 "expressed her grati fication in having visited the upper lakes and the Island. She said she had from early childhood felt an interest in them." On her return to England, in that year, she em bodied her observations in the first of her three volumes, Society in America, published in 1837, Born in 1802, Miss Martineau came of a family of French Huguenots, who settled in Norwich, England, only a little while before. Her father, a manufacturer, who died early, left in poor circumstances a family of eight children, and Harriet was obliged to provide for herself. Her uncle, a surgeon of some prominence, personally supervised her education, under whom she developed unusual literary ability, and determined to attempt a livelihood with her pen. Her travels in America in 1834-1836 gave her the experience for one of her best known works. Considering the literary quality of this work, together with the date of her visit to Mackinac, at the beginning of Michigan's state hood, it may be of interest to include in this sketch her ac count of the trip to Mackinac from Chicago. The trip was made in the last days of June and the first days of July: 2 "While we were in Detroit," she says, "we were most i Personal Memoirs, p. 541. 2 Society in America, (Paris, 1837), I. 187-197. 255 256 HISTORIC MACKINAC strongly urged to return thither by the Lakes, instead of by either of the Michigan roads. From place to place in my previous travelling, I had been told of the charms of the Lakes, and especially of the Island of Mackinac. Every officer's lady who has been in garrison there, is eloquent upon the delights of Mackinac. As our whole party, how ever, could not spare time to make so wide a circuit, we had not intended to indulge ourselves with a further variation in our travels than to take the upper road back to Detroit; having left it by the lower. On Sunday, June 27th, news arrived at Chicago, that this upper road had been rendered impassable by the rains. A sailing vessel, the only one on the lakes, and now on her first trip, was to leave Chicago for Detroit and Buffalo, the next day. The case was clear; the party must divide. Those who were obliged to hasten home must return by the road we came; the rest must pro ceed by water. On Charley's account, the change of plan was desirable; as the heats were beginning to be so op pressive as to render travelling in open wagons unsafe for a child. It was painful to break up our party at the extreme point of our journey; but it was clearly right. So Mr. and Mrs. L took their chance by land, and the rest of us went on board the Milwaukee, at two o'clock on the after noon of the 28th. "Mrs. F and I were the only ladies on board; and there was no stewardess. The steward was obliging, and the ladies' cabin was clean and capacious ; and we took pos session of it with a feeling of comfort. Our pleasant im pressions, however, were not of long duration. The vessel was crowded with persons who had come to the land sales at Chicago, and were taking their passage back to Milwaukee; a settlement on the western shore of the lake, about eighty HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 257 miles from Chicago. Till we should reach Milwaukee, we could have the ladies' cabin only during a part of the day. I say a part of the day, because some of the gentry did not leave our cabin till near nine in the morning; and others chose to come down and go to bed, as early as seven in the evening, without troubling themselves to give us five min utes' notice, or to wait till we could put up our needles, or wipe our pens. This ship was the only place in America where I saw a prevalence of bad manners. It was the place of all others to select for the study of such; and no reasonable person would look for anything better among land speculators, and settlers in regions so new as to be al most without women. None of us had ever before seen, in America, a disregard of women. The swearing was inces sant; and the spitting such as to amaze my American com panions as much as myself. "Supper was announced presently after we had sailed; and when we came to the table, it was full, and no one of fered to stir, to make room for us. The captain, who was very careful of our comfort, arranged that we should be better served henceforth; and no difficulty afterwards oc curred. At dinner the next day, we had a specimen of how such personages as we had on board are managed on an emergency. The captain gave notice, from the head of the table, that he did not choose our party to be intruded on in the cabin; and that any one who did not behave with civility at table should be turned out. He spoke with de cision and good humour; and the effect was remarkable. Everything on the table was handed to us ; and no more of the gentry came down into our cabin to smoke, or throw themselves on the cushions to sleep, while we sat at work. "Our fare was what might be expected on Lake Michigan. 258 HISTORIC MACKINAC Salt beef and pork, and sea-biscuit; tea without milk, bread, and potatoes. Charley throve upon potatoes and bread; and we all had the best results of food — health and strength. "A little schooner which left Chicago at the same time with ourselves, and reached Milwaukee first, was a pretty object. On the 29th, we were only twenty-five miles from the settlement; but the wind was so unfavourable that it was doubtful whether we should reach it that day. Some of the passengers amused themselves by gaming, down in the hold; others by parodying a Methodist sermon, and singing a mock hymn. We did not get rid of them till noon on the 30th, when we had the pleasure of seeing our ship disgorge twenty-five into one boat and two into another. The atmos phere was so transparent as to make the whole scene appear as if viewed through an opera glass ; the still, green waters, the dark boats with their busy oars, the moving passengers, and the struggles of one to recover his hat, which had fallen overboard. We were yet five miles from Milwaukee; but we could see the bright, wooded coast, with a few white dots of houses. "While Dr. F went on shore, to see what was to be seen, we had the cabin cleaned out, and took, once more, complete possession of it, for both day and night. As soon as this was done, seven young women came down the com- panionway, seated themselves round the cabin, and began to question us. They were the total female population of Milwaukee; which settlement now contains four hundred souls. We were glad to see these ladies ; for it was natural enough that the seven women should wish to behold two more, when such a chance offered. A gendeman of the place, who came on board this afternoon, told me that a printing-press had arrived a few hours before; and that a HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 259 newspaper would speedily appear. He was kind enough to forward the first number to me a few weeks afterwards; and I was amused to see how pathetic an appeal to the ladies of more thickly-settled districts it contained, imploring them to cast a favourable eye on Milwaukee, and its hundreds of bachelors. "Milwaukee had been settled since the preceding No vember. It had good stores; (to judge by the nature and quantity of goods sent ashore from our ship) ; it had a print ing press and newspaper, before the settlers had had time to get wives; I heard these new settlements sometimes called 'patriarchal'; but what would the patriarchs have said to such an order of affairs? "Dr. F returned from the town, with apple-pies, cheese, and ale, wherewith to vary our ship diet. With him arrived such a number of towns-people, that the stew ard wanted to turn us out of our cabin once more; but we were sturdy, appealed to the captain, and were confirmed in possession. From this time, began the delights of our voyage. The moon, with her long train of glory, was mag nificent to-night; the vast body of waters on which she shone being as calm as if the winds were dead. "The navigation of these lakes is, at present, a mystery. They have not yet been properly surveyed. Our Captain had gone to and fro on Lake Huron, but had never before been on Lake Michigan; and this was rather an anxious voyage to him. We had got aground on the sand bar before Milwaukee harbour; and on the 1st of July, all hands were busy in unshipping the cargo, to lighten the ves sel, instead of carrying her up to the town. An elegant little schooner was riding at anchor near us; and we were well amused in admiring her, and in watching the bustle on 260 HISTORIC MACKINAC deck, till some New England youths, and our Milwaukee acquaintance, brought us, from the shore, two newspapers, some pebbles, flowers, and a pitcher of fine strawberries. "As soon as we were off the bar, the vessel hove round, and we cast anchor in deeper water. Charley was called to see the sailors work the windlass, and to have a ride thereon. The sailors were very kind to the boy. They dressed up their dog for him in sheep-skins and a man's hat; a sight to make older people than Charley laugh. They took him down into the forecastle to show him prints that were pasted up there. They asked him to drink rum and water with them: to which Charley answered that he should be happy to drink water with them, but had rather not have any rum. While we were watching the red sunset over the leaden waters, betokening a change of weather, the steamer New York came ploughing the bay, three weeks after her time; such is the uncertainty in the navigation of these stormy lakes. She got aground on the sand-bank, as we had done ; and boats were going from her to the shore and back, as long as we could see. "The next day there was rain and some wind. The cap tain and steward went off to make final purchases: but the fresh meat which had been bespoken for us had been bought up by somebody else; and no milk was to be had; only two cows being visible in all the place. Ale was the only lux ury we could obtain. When the captain returned, he brought with him a stout gentleman, one of the proprietors of the vessel, who must have a berth in our cabin as far as Mackinac; those elsewhere being too small for him. Un der the circumstances, we had no right to complain ; so we helped the steward to partition off a portion of the cabin with a counterpane, fastened with four forks. This gentle- VIEW OF THE STRAITS OF MACKINAC FROM THE ISLAND BY MOONLIGHT ONE OF MACKINAC ISLAND'S INTERESTING FORMATIONS HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 261 man, Mr. D , was engaged in the fur trade at Mack inac, and had a farm there, to which he kindly invited us. "On Sunday, the 3rd, there was much speculation as to whether we should be at Mackinac in time to witness the celebration of the great day. All desired it; but I was afraid of missing the Manitou Isles in the dark. There was much fog; the wind was nearly fair; the question was whether it would last. Towards evening, the fog thick ened, and the wind freshened. The mate would not believe we were in the middle of the lake, as every one else sup posed. He said the fog was too warm not to come from near land. Charley caught something of the spirit of un certainty, and came to me in high, joyous excitement, to drag me to the side of the ship, that I might see how fast we cut through the waves, and how steadily we leaned over the water, till Charley almost thought he could touch it. He burst out about the 'kind of feeling' that it was 'not to see a bit of land,' and not to know where we were; and to think 'if we should upset!' and that we never did upset: — it was 'a good and a bad feeling at once;' and he should never be able to tell people at home what it was like. The boy had no fear; he was roused, as the brave man loves to be. Just as the dim light of the sunset was fading from the fog, it opened, and disclosed to us, just at hand, the high, sandy shore of Michigan. It was well that this happened before dark. The captain hastened up to the mast-head, and reported that we were off Cape Sable, forty miles from the Manitou Isles. "Three bats and several butter-flies were seen to-day, clinging to the mainsail, — blown over from the shore. The sailors set their dog at a bat, of which it was evidently afraid. A flock of pretty pigeons flew round over the ship ; 262 HISTORIC MACKINAC of which six were shot. Four fell into the water; and the other two were reserved for the mate's breakfast; he being an invalid. "We were up before five, on the morning of the 4th of July to see the Manitou Isles, which were then just coming in sight. They are the Sacred Isles of the Indians, to whom they belong. Manitou is the name of their Great Spirit, and of everything sacred. It is said that they believe these islands to be the resort of the spirits of the departed. They are two : sandy and precipitous at the south end ; and clothed with wood, from the crest of the cliffs to the north extremity, which slopes down gradually to the water. It was a cool, sunny morning, and these dark islands lay still, and appar ently deserted, on the bright green waters. Far behind, to the south, were two glittering white sails, on the horizon. They remained in sight all day, and lessened the feeling of loneliness which the navigators of these vast lakes can not but have, while careering among the solemn islands and shores. On our right lay the Michigan shore, high and sandy, with the dark eminence, called the Sleeping Bear, conspicuous on the ridge. No land speculators have set foot here yet. A few Indian dwellings, with evergreen woods and sandy cliffs, are all. Just here, Mr. D pointed out to us a schooner of his which was wrecked, in a snow storm, the preceding November. She looked pretty and forlorn, lying on her side in that desolate place, seem ing a mere plaything thrown in among the cliffs. 'Ah!' said her owner, 'she was a lovely creature, and as stiff as a church.' Two lives were lost. Two young Germans, stout lads, could not comprehend the orders given them to put on all their clothing, and keep themselves warm. They only half dressed themselves: 'the cold took them,' and they HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 263 died. The rest tried to make fire by friction of wood ; but got only smoke. Someone found traces of a dog in the snow. These were followed for three miles, and ended at an Indian lodge, where the sailors were warmed and kindly treated. "During the bright morning of this day we passed the Fox and Beaver Islands. The captain was in fine spirits, though there was no longer any prospect of reaching Mack inac in time for the festivities of the day. This Island is chiefly known as a principal station of the great north western fur trade. Others know it as the seat of an Indian mission. Others, again, as a frontier garrison. It is known to me as the wildest and tenderest little piece of beauty that I have yet seen on God's earth. It is a small Island, nine miles in circumference, being in the strait be tween the Lakes Michigan and Huron, and between the coasts of Michigan and Wisconsin. "Towards evening the Wisconsin coast came into view, the strait suddenly narrowed, and we were about to bid farewell to the great Lake whose length we had traversed, after sweeping round its southern extremity. The ugly light-ship, which looked heavy enough, came into view about six o'clock; the first token of our approach to Mack inac. The office of the light-ship is to tow vessels in the dark through the strait. We were too early for this; but perhaps it performed that office for the two schooners whose white specks of sails had been on our southern horizon all day. Next day we saw a white speck before us; it was the barracks of Mackinac, stretching along the side of its green hills, and clearly visible before the town came into view. "The Island looked enchanting as we approached, as I 264 HISTORIC MACKINAC think it always must, though we had the advantage of seeing it first steeped in the most golden sunshine that ever hal lowed lake or shore. The colours were up on all the little vessels in the harbour. The national flag streamed from the garrison. The soldiers thronged the walls of the bar racks; half-breed boys were paddling about in their little canoes, in the transparent waters; the half -French, half- Indian population of the place were all abroad in their best. An Indian lodge was on the shore, and a picturesque dark group stood beside it. The cows were coming down the steep green slopes to the milking. Nothing could be more bright and joyous. "The houses of the old French village are shabby-look ing, dusky, and roofed with bark. There are some neat yel low houses, with red shutters, which have a foreign air, with their porches and flights of steps. The better houses stand on the first of the three terraces which are distinctly marked. Behind them are swelling green knolls; before them gar dens sloping down to the narrow slip of white beach, so that the grass seems to grow almost into the clear rippling waves. The gardens were rich with mountain ash, roses, stocks, currant bushes, springing corn, and a great variety of kitchen vegetables. There were two small piers with little barks alongside, and piles of wood for the steam-boats. Some way to the right stood the quadrangle of missionary buildings, and the white mission church. Still further to the right was a shmbby precipice down to the lake; and beyond, the blue waters. While we were gazing at all this, a pretty schooner sailed into the harbour after us, in fine style, sweeping round our bows so suddenly as nearly to swamp a little fleet of canoes, each with its pair of half- breed boys. HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 265 "We had been alarmed by a declaration from the cap tain that he should stay only three hours at the Island. He seemed to have no intention of taking us ashore this eve ning. The dreadful idea occurred to us that we might be carried away from this paradise, without having set foot in it. We looked at each other in dismay. Mr. D stood our friend. He had some furs on board which were to be landed. He said this should not be done till the morning; and he would take care his people did it with the utmost possible slowness. He thought he could gain us an additional hour in this way. Meantime, thunder clouds were coming up rapidly from the west, and the sun was near its setting. After much consultation, and an as surance having been obtained from the captain that we might command the boat at any hour in the morning, we decided that Dr. F and Charley should go ashore, and deliver our letters, and accept any arrangements that might be offered for our seeing the best of the scenery in the morning. "Scarcely any one was left in the ship but Mrs. F and myself. We sat on deck, and gazed as if this were to be the last use we were ever to have of our eyes. There was growling thunder now, and the church bell, and Charley's clear voice from afar: the waters were so still. The Indians lighted a fire before their lodge; and we saw their shining red forms as they bent over the blaze; we watched Dr. F and Charley mounting to the garrison ; we saw them descend again with the commanding officer, and go to the house of the Indian agent. Then we traced them along the shore, and into the Indian lodge; then to the church; then the parting with the commandant on the shore, and lastly, the passage of the dark boat to our ship's 266 HISTORIC MACKINAC side. They brought news that the commandant and his family would be on the watch for us before five in the morn ing, and be our guides to as much of the Island as the cap tain would allow us time to see. "Some pretty purchases of Indian manufactures were brought on board this evening; light matting of various colours, and small baskets of birch-bark, embroidered with porcupine quills, and filled with maple sugar. "The next morning all was bright. At five o'clock we descended the ship's side, and from the boat could see the commandant and his dog hastening down from the garrison to the landing-place. We returned with him up the hill, through the barrack-yard; and were joined by three mem bers of his family on the velvet green slope behind the gar rison. No words can give an idea of the charms of this morning walk. We wound about in a vast shrubbery, with ripe straw-berries under foot, wild flowers all around, and scattered knolls and opening vistas tempting curiosity in every direction. 'Now run up,' said the commandant, as we arrived at the foot of one of these knolls. I did so, and was almost struck backwards by what I saw. Below me was the Natural Bridge of Mackinac, of which I had heard frequent mention. It is a limestone arch, about one hun dred and fifty feet high in the center, with a span of fifty feet; one pillar resting on a rocky projection in the lake, the other on the hill. We viewed it from above, so that the horizon of the lake fell behind the bridge, and the blue ex panse of waters filled the entire arch. Birch and ash grew around the bases of the pillars, and shrubbery tufted the sides and dangled from the bridge. The soft rich hues in which the whole was dressed seemed borrowed from the autumn sky. HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 267 "But even this scene was nothing to the one we saw from the Fort, on the crown of the Island; old Fort Holmes, called Fort George when in possession of the British. I can compare it to nothing but to what Noah might have seen, the first bright morning after the deluge. Such a cluster of little paradises rising out of such a congregation of waters, I can hardly fancy to have been seen elsewhere. The ca pacity of the human eye seems here suddenly enlarged, as if it could see to the verge of the watery creation. Blue, level waters appear to expand for thousands of miles in every direction; wholly unlike any aspect of the sea. Cloud shadows, and specks of white vessels, at rare inter vals, alone diversify it. Bowery islands rise out of it; bowery promontories stretch down into it; while at one's feet lies the melting beauty which one almost fears will vanish in its softness before one's eyes; the beauty of the shadowy dells and sunny mounds, with browsing cattle, and springing fruit and flowers. Thus, and no otherwise, would I fain think did the world emerge from the flood. I was never before so unwilling to have objects named. The essential unity of the scene seemed to be marred by any distinction of its parts. But this feeling, to me new, did not alter the state of the case; that it was Lake Huron that we saw stretching to the eastward; Lake Michigan opening to the west; the Island of Bois Blanc, green to the brink in front; and Round Island and others interspersed. I stood now at the confluence of those great northern lakes, the very names of which awed my childhood; calling up, as they did, images of the fearful red man of the deep pine-forest, and the music of the moaning winds, imprisoned beneath the ice of winter. How different from the scene, as actually beheld, 268 HISTORIC MACKINAC dressed in verdure, flowers, and the sunshine of a summer's morning! "It was breakfast-time when we descended to the bar racks; and we despatched a messenger to the captain to know whether we might breakfast with the commandant; we sat in the piazza, and overlooked the village, the harbour, the straits, and the white beach, where there were now four Indian lodges. The Island is so healthy that, according to the commandant, people who want to die must go some where else. I saw only three tombstones in the cemetery. The commandant has lost but one man since he has been stationed at Mackinac ; and that was by drowning. I asked about the climate; the answer was, 'We have nine months winter, and three months cold weather.' "It would have been a pity to have missed the breakfast at the garrison, which afforded a strong contrast with any we had seen for a week. We concealed, as well as we could, our glee at the appearance of the rich cream, the new bread and butter, fresh lake trout, and pile of snow-white eggs. "The Indians have been proved, by the success of the French among them, to be capable of civilization. Near Little Traverse, in the north-west part of Michigan, within easy reach of Mackinac, there is an Indian village, full of orderly and industrious inhabitants, employed chiefly in agriculture. The English and Americans have never suc ceeded with the aborigines so well as the French. "It was with great regret that we parted with the com mandant and his large young family, and stepped into the boat to return to the ship. The captain looked a little grave upon the delay which all his passengers had helped to achieve. We sailed about nine. We were in great delight HARRIET MARTINEAU— 1836 269 at having seen Mackinac, at having the possession of its singular imagery for life: but this delight was at present dashed with the sorrow of leaving it. I could not have believed how deeply it is possible to regret a place, after so brief an acquaintance with it. We watched the Island as we rapidly receded, trying to catch the aspect of it which had given it its name — the Great Turtle. Its flag first van ished ; then its green terraces and slopes, its white barracks, and dark promontories faded, till the whole disappeared behind a headland and lighthouse of the Michigan shore." WeSm '^^Sm^y^^SmSS^ CHAPTER XI MRS. JAMESON— 1837 IN the year in which Michigan was admitted to the Union, Mrs. Jameson, a charming English writer living at Toronto, Canada, visited among other places, Mack inac, and later brought out an English edition of her travels entitled Winter Studies and Summer Rambles. There was much that was merely transient and personal in these volumes, and this was eliminated in 1852, in a new edition entitled Sketches in Canada and Rambles among the Red Men. Among the portions considered of perma nent value and retained, is her account of the trip to Mackinac. This is here reproduced, beginning with her departure from Detroit.1 "July 18. "This evening the Thomas Jefferson arrived in the river from Buffalo, and starts early to-morrow morning for Chicago. I hastened to secure a passage as far as the Island of Mackinac; when once there, I must tmst to Prov idence for some opportunity of going up Lake Huron to the Sault Ste. Marie to visit my friends the MacMurrays; or down the lake to the Great Manitoulin Island, where the annual distribution of presents to the Indians is to take place under the auspices of the Governor. If both these plans — wild plans they are, I am told — should fail, I have only to retrace my way and come down the lake, iPp. 163-187; 190-191; 219. 270 MRS. JAMESON— 1837 271 as I went up, in a steamer; but this were horribly tedious and prosaic, and I hope better things. So evviva la sper- anza! and Westward Ho! "On board the Jefferson, "River St. Clair, July 19. "This morning I came down early to the steam-boat, at tended by a cortege of amiable people, who had heard of my sojourn at Detroit too late to be of any solace or service to me, but had seized this last and only opportunity of showing politeness and good-will. The sister of the Gov ernor, two other ladies, and a gentleman, came on board with me at that early hour, and remained on deck till the paddles were in motion. The talk was so pleasant, I could not but regret that I had not seen some of these kind people earlier, or might hope to see more of them; but it was too late. Time and steam wait neither for man nor woman; all expressions of hope and regret on both sides were cut short by the parting signal, which the great bell swung out from on high; all compliments and questions "fumbled up into a loose adieu"; and these new friendly faces — seen but for a moment, then to be lost, yet not quite forgotten — were soon left far behind. "The morning was most lovely and auspicious; blazing hot, though, and scarce a breath of air; and the magnifi cent machine, admirably appointed in all respects, gaily painted and gilt, with flags waving, glided over the daz zling waters with an easy, stately motion. "I had suffered so much at Detroit, that as it disappeared and melted away in the bright southern haze like a vision, I turned from it with a sense of relief, put the past out of 272 HISTORIC MACKINAC my mind, and resigned myself to the present — like a wise woman — or wiser child. "The captain told me that last season he had never gone up the lakes wth less than four or five hundred passengers. This year, fortunately for my individual comfort, the case is greatly altered : we have not more than one hundred and eighty passengers, consequently an abundance of accommo dation, and air, and space — inestimable blessings in this sultry weather, and in the enjoyment of which I did not sympathize in the lamentations of the good-natured cap tain as much as I ought to have done. "We passed a large and beautifully green island, for merly called Snake Island, from the immense number of rattle snakes which infested it. These were destroyed by turning large herds of swine upon it, and it is now, in compliment to its last conquerors and possessors, the swinish multitude, called Hog Island. This was the scene of some most horrid Indian atrocities during the Pontiac war. A large party of British prisoners, surprised while they were coming up to relieve Detroit, were brought over here, and, almost within sight of their friends in the Fort, put to death with all the unutterable accompaniments of savage ferocity. (Note: Now known as Belle Isle, in the Detroit River.) "I have been told that since this war the custom of tor turing persons to death has fallen gradually into disuse among the Indian tribes of these regions, and even along the whole frontier of the States an instance has not been known within these forty years. "Leaving the channel of the river, and the cluster of is lands at its entrance, we stretched northward across Lake St. Clair. This beautiful lake, though three times the size MRS. JAMESON— 1837 273 of the Lake of Geneva, is a mere pond compared with the enormous seas in its neighborhood. About one o'clock we entered the river St. Clair, (which, like the Detroit, is rather a strait or channel than a river) forming the com munication between Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. As cending this beautiful river, we had, on the right, part of the western district of Upper Canada, and on the left the Michigan territory. The shores on either side, though low and bounded always by the line of forest, were broken into bays and little promontories, or diversified by islands, richly wooded, and of every variety of form. The bateaux of the Canadians, or the canoes of the Indians, were per petually seen gliding among these winding channels, or shooting across the river from side to side, as if playing at hide-and-seek among the leafy recesses. Now and then a beautiful schooner, with white sails, relieved against the green masses of foliage, passed us, gracefully courtesying and sidling along. Innumerable flocks of wild fowl were disporting among the reedy islets, and here and there the great black loon was seen diving and dipping, or skim ming over the waters. As usual, the British coast is here the most beautiful and fertile, and the American coast the best setded and cleared. Along the former I see a few isolated log-shanties, and groups of Indian lodges; along the latter, several extensive clearings, and some hamlets and rising villages. The facility afforded by the American steam-boats for the transport of goods and sale of produce, &c, is one reason of this. There is a boat, for instance, which leaves Detroit every morning for Fort Gratiot, stop ping at the intermediate 'landings.' We are now moored at a place called 'Palmer's Landing,' for the purpose of taking in wood for the voyage. This process has already 274 HISTORIC MACKINAC occupied two hours, and is to detain us two more, though there are fourteen men employed in flinging logs into the wood-hold. Meantime I have been sketching and lounging about the little hamlet, where there is a good grocery store, a sawing-mill worked by steam, and about twenty houses. "I was amused at Detroit to find the phraseology of the people imbued with metaphors taken from the most familiar mode of locomotion. 'Will you take in wood?' signifies, will you take refreshment? 'Is your steam up?' means, are you ready? The common phrase, 'go ahead' has, I suppose, the same derivation. A witty friend of mine once wrote to me not to be lightly alarmed at the political and social ferments in America, nor mistake the whizzing of the safety-valves for the bursting of the boilers! "But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my companions on board; and one of these great American steamers is really a little world, a little social system in itself, where a near observer of faces and manners may find endless subjects of observation, amusement and inter est. At the other end of the vessel we have about one hundred emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the settlements to the west of Lake Michigan. Among them I find a large party of Germans and Norwegians, with their wives and families, a very respectable, orderly community, consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with them a large quantity of stock and utensils — just the sort of people best calculated to improve and enrich their adopted country, wherever that may be. Then we have twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants, with good- natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men are smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children squalling and rolling about. MRS. JAMESON— 1837 275 "The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very differ ent scene; there are about twenty ladies and children in the cabin and state-rooms, which are beautifully furnished and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c. On the upper deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs, and people lounging up and down; some reading, some chattering, some sleeping; there are missionaries and mis sionaries' wives, and officers on their way to the garrisons on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and traders, and some few nondescripts — like myself. "Also among the passengers I find the Bishop of Michi gan. The Governor's sister, Miss Mason, introduced us at starting, and bespoke his good offices for me. His con versation has been a great resource and interest for me during the long day. He is still a young man, who began life as a lawyer, and afterwards from a real vocation adopted his present profession; his talents and popularity have placed him in the rank he now holds. He is on his way to visit the missions and churches in the back settle ments, and at Green Bay. "At Detroit I had purchased Miss Sedgwick's tale of 'The Rich Poor Man and the Poor Rich Man,' and this sent away two hours delightfully, as we were gliding over the expanse of Lake St. Clair. Those who glanced on my book while I was reading always smiled — a significant sympathizing smile, very expressive of that unenvious, affectionate homage and admiration which this genuine American writer inspires among her countrymen. I do not think I ever mentioned her name to any of them, that the countenance did not light up with pleasure and gratified pride. I have also a sensible little book, called 'Three Experiments in Living,' written by Mrs. Lee, of Boston: it 276 HISTORIC MACKINAC must be popular, and true to life and nature, for the edition I bought is the tenth. I have also another book to which I must introduce you more particularly — The Travels and Adventures of Alexander Henry. Did you ever hear of such a man? No. Listen then, and perpend. "This Mr. Henry was a fur-trader who journeyed over these lake regions about seventy years ago, and is quoted as first-rate authority in more recent books of travels. His book, which was lent to me at Toronto, struck me so much as to have had some influence in directing the course of my present tour. Plain, unaffected, telling what he has to tell in few and simple words, and without comment — the internal evidence of truth — the natural sensibiltiy and power of fancy, betrayed rather than displayed — render not only the narrative, but the man himself, his personal character, unspeakably interesting. Wild as are the tales of his hairbreadth escapes, I never heard the slightest im peachment of his veracity. He was living at Montreal so late as 1810 or 1811, when a friend of mine saw him, and described him to me as a very old man past eighty, with white hair, and still hale-looking and cheerful, so that his hard and adventurous life, and the horrors he had wit nessed and suffered, had in no respect impaired his spirits or his constitution. His book has been long out of print. I had the greatest difficulty in procuring the loan of a copy, after sending to Montreal, Quebec, and New York, in vain. Mr. Henry is to be my travelling companion. I do not know how he might have figured as a squire of dames when living, but I assure you that being dead he makes a very respectable hero of epic or romance. He is the Ulysses of these parts; and to cruise among the shores, rocks, and islands of Lake Huron without Henry's MRS. JAMESON— 1837 277 Travels, were like coasting Calabria and Sicily without the Odyssey in your head or hand — only here you have the Island of Mackinac instead of the Island of Circe; the land of the Ottawas instead of the shores of the Lotophagi ; cannibal Chippewas, instead of man-eating Laestrigons. Pontiac figures as Polypheme; and Wa, wa, tarn plays the part of good king Alcinous. I can find no type for the women, as Henry does not tell us his adventures among the squaws ; but no doubt he might have found both Calyp- sos and Nausicaas, and even a Penelope, among them. "June 20. "Before I went down to my rest yesterday evening, I beheld a strange and beautiful scene. The night was com ing on; the moon had risen round and full, like an enor mous globe of fire; we were still in the channel of the river, when, to the right, I saw a crowd of Indians on a projecting point of land. They were encamping for the night, some hauling up their canoes, some building up their wigwams: there were numerous fires blazing amid the thick foliage, and the dusky figures of the Indians were seen glancing to and fro; and I heard loud laughs and shouts as our huge steamer swept past them. In another moment we turned a point, and all was dark: the whole land had vanished like a scene in a melodrama. I rubbed my eyes, and began to think I was already dreaming. "At the entrance of the River St. Clair, the Americans have a fort and garrison (Fort Gratiot), and a light-house, which we passed in the night. On the opposite side we have no station; so that, in case of any misunderstanding between the two nations, it would be in the power of the Americans to shut the entrance of Lake Huron upon us. 278 HISTORIC MACKINAC "At seven this morning, when I went on deck, we had advanced about one hundred miles into Lake Huron. We were coasting along the south shore, about four miles from the land, while, on the other side, we had about two hundred miles of open sea, and the same expanse before us. Soon after, we had to pass the entrance of Saginaw Bay. Here we lost sight of land for the first time. Saginaw Bay, I should suppose, is as large as the Gulf of Genoa; it runs seventy or eighty miles up into the land, and is as famous for storms as the Bay of Biscay. Here, if there be a cap ful of wind, or a cupful of sea, one is sure to have the benefit of it; even in the finest weather there is a con siderable swell. We were about three hours crossing from the Pointe Aux Barques to Cape Thunder; and during this time a number of my companions were put hors de combat. "All this part of Michigan is unsettled, and is said to be sandy and barren. Along the whole horizon was noth ing visible but the dark omnipresent pine-forest. The Saginaw Indians, whose hunting-grounds extend along the shore, are, I believe, a tribe of Ottawas. I should add, that the Americans have built a lighthouse on a little island near Thunder Bay. A situation more terrific in its solitude you cannot imagine than that of the keeper of this lonely tower, among rocks, tempests, and savages. All their pro visions come from a distance of at least one hundred miles, and a long course of stormy weather, which sometimes occurs, would place them in danger of starvation." THE ISLAND OF MACKINAC Doth the bright sun from the high arch of heaven, In all his beauteous robes of flecker'd clouds, And ruddy vapours, and deep glowing flames, MRS. JAMESON— 1837 279 And softly varied shades, look gloriously? Do the green woods dance to the wind? the lakes Cast up their sparkling waters to the light? Joanna Baillie. "The next morning at earliest dawn, I was awakened by an unusual noise and movement on board, and putting out my head to inquire the cause, was informed that we were arrived at the Island of Mackinac, and that the captain being most anxious to proceed on his voyage, only half an hour was allowed to make all arrangements, take out my luggage, and so forth. I dressed in all haste and ran up to the deck, and there a scene burst at once on my en chanted gaze, such as I never had imagined, such as I wish I could place before you in words — but I despair, unless words were of light, and lustrous hues, and breathing music. However, here is the picture, as well as I can paint it. We were lying in a tiny bay, crescent-shaped, of which the two horns or extremities were formed by long narrow prom ontories projecting into the lake. On the east the whole sky was flushed with a deep amber glow, fleckered with softest shades of rose-colour — the same intense splendour being reflected in the lake; and upon the extremity of the point, between the glory above and the glory below, stood the little Mission church, its light spire and belfry de fined against the sky. On the opposite side of the heavens hung the moon, waxing paler and paler, and melting away, as it seemed, before the splendour of the rising day. Im mediately in front rose the abrupt and picturesque heights of the Island, robed in richest foliage, and crowned by the lines of the little fortress, snow-white, and gleaming in the morning light. At the base of these cliffs, all along the shore, immediately on the edge of the lake, which, trans- 280 HISTORIC MACKINAC parent and unruffled, reflected every form as in a mirror, an encampment of Indian lodges extended as far as my eye could reach on either side. Even while I looked, the in mates were beginning to bestir themselves, and dusky fig ures were seen emerging into sight from their picturesque dormitories, and stood gazing on us with folded arms, or were busied about their canoes, of which some hundreds lay along the beach. "There was not a breath of air: and while heaven and earth were glowing with light, and colour, and life, an elysian stillness, a delicious balmy serenity wrapt and interfused the whole. 0 how passing lovely it was! how wondrously beautiful and strange ! I cannot tell how long I may have stood, lost — absolutely lost, and fearing even to wink my eyes, lest the spell should dissolve, and all should vanish away like some air-wrought phantasy, some dream out of fairy land, — when the good Bishop of Michi gan came up to me, and with a smiling benevolence waked me out of my ecstatic trance ; and reminding me that I had but two minutes left, seized upon some of my packages himself, and hurried me on to the little wooden pier just in time. We were then conducted to a little inn, or boarding- house, kept by a very fat half-caste Indian woman, who spoke Indian, bad French, and worse English, and who was addressed as Madame. Here I was able to arrange my hasty toilette, and we sat down to an excellent breakfast of white-fish, eggs, tea and coffee, for which the charge was twice what I should have given at the first hotel in the United States, and yet not unreasonable, considering that European luxuries were placed before us in this remote spot. By the time breakfast was finished it was past six o'clock, and taking my sketch book in my hand, I sauntered MRS. JAMESON— 1837 281 forth alone to the beach till it should be a fitting hour to present myself at the door of the American agent, Mr. Schoolcraft, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. MacMurray. "The first object which caught my eye was the immense steamer gliding swifdy away towards the Straits of Michili mackinac, already far, far to the West. Suddenly the thought of my extreme loneliness came over me — a momen tary wonder and alarm to find myself so far from any human being who took the least interest about my fate. I had no letter to Mr. Schoolcraft; and if Mr. and Mrs. Mac- Murray had not passed this way, or had forgotten to men tion me, what would be my reception? what should I do? Here I must stay for some days at least. All the accommo dation that could be afforded by the half French, half In dian 'Madame' had been already secured, and, without turning out the Bishop, there was not even a room for me. These thoughts and many others, some natural doubts, and fears, came across my mind, but I cannot say that they re mained there long, or that they had the effect of rendering me uneasy and anxious for more than half a minute. With a sense of enjoyment keen and unanticipative as that of a child — looking neither before nor after — I soon abandoned myself to the present, and all its delicious exciting novelty, leaving the future to take care of itself, — which I am more and more convinced is the truest wisdom, the most real philosophy after all. "The sun had now risen in cloudless glory — all was life and movement. I strayed and loitered for full three hours along the shore, I hardly knew whither, sitting down occa sionally under the shadow of a cliff or cedar fence to rest, and watching the operations of the Indian families. It were endless to tell you of each individual group or picture 282 HISTORIC MACKINAC as successively presented before me. But there were some general features of the scene which struck me at once. There were more than one hundred lodges, and round each of these lurked several ill-looking, half -starved, yelping dogs. The women were busied about their children, or making fires and cooking, or pounding Indian corn, in a primitive sort of mortar, formed of part of a tree hollowed out, with a heavy rude pestle which they moved up and down, as if churning. The dress of the men was very vari ous — the cotton shirt, blue or scarlet leggings, and deer-skin moccasins and blanket coat, were most general; but many had no shirt nor vest, merely the cloth leggings, and a blanket thrown round them as drapery ; the faces of several being most grotesquely painted. The dress of the women was more uniform, — a cotton shirt, and cloth leggings and moccasins, and a dark blue blanket. Necklaces, silver armlets, silver ear-rings, and circular plates of silver fas tened on the breast, were the usual ornaments of both sexes. There may be a general equality of rank among the In dians ; but there is evidently all that inequality of condition which difference of character and intellect might naturally produce; there were rich wigwams and poor wigwams; whole families ragged, meagre, and squalid, and others gay with dress and ornaments, fat and well-favoured: on the whole, these were beings quite distinct from any Indians I had yet seen, and realized all my ideas of the wild and lordly savage. I remember I came upon a family group, consisting of a fine tall young man and two squaws; one had a child swaddled in one of their curious bark cradles, which she composedly hung up against the side of the wig wam. They were then busied launching a canoe, and in a moment it was dancing upon the rippling waves: one woman MRS. JAMESON— 1837 283 guided the canoe, the other paddled: the young man stood in the prow in a striking and graceful attitude, poising his fish-spear in his hand. When they were about one hundred yards from the shore, suddenly I saw the fish-spear darted into the water, and disappear beneath it; as it sprang up again to the surface, it was rapidly seized, and a large fish was sticking to the prongs; the same process was repeated with unerring success, and then the canoe was paddled back to the land. The young man flung his spear into the bottom of the canoe, and lounged away without troubling himself farther; the women drew up the canoe, kindled a fire, and suspended the fish over it, to be cooked a la mode Indienne. "There was another group which amused me exceed ingly: it was a large family, and, compared with some others, they were certainly people of distinction and sub stance, rich in beads, blankets, and brass kettles, with 'all things handsome about them' ; they had two lodges and two canoes. But I must begin by making you understand the construction of an Indian lodge, — such, at least, as those which now crowded the shore. "Eight or twelve long poles are stuck in the ground in a circle, meeting at a point at the top, where they are all fas tened together. The skeleton thus erected is covered over, thatched in some sort with mats, or large pieces of birch bark, beginning at the bottom, and leaving an opening at the top for the emission of smoke; there is a door about four feet high, before which a skin or blanket is suspended; and as it is summer time, they do not seem particular about closing the chinks and apertures.2 As to the canoes, they [The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.] 2 1 learned subsequently, that the cone-like form of the wigwam is proper to the Ottawas and Pottowottomies, and that the oblong form, in which the branches or poles are bent over at top in an arch, is proper to the Chippewa tribe. But as this latter is more troublesome to erect, the 284 HISTORIC MACKINAC are uniformly of birch bark, exceedingly light, flat-bot tomed, and most elegant in shape, varying in size from eighteen to thirty-six feet in length, and from a foot and a half to four feet in width. The family I have mentioned were preparing to embark, and were dismantling their wig wams and packing up their goods, not at all discomposed by my vicinity, as I sat on a bank watching the whole process with no little interest. The most striking personage in this group was a very old man, seated on a log of wood, close upon the edge of the water; his head was quite bald, excepting a few gray hairs which were gathered in a tuft at the top, and decorated with a single feather — I think an eagle's feather; his blanket of scarlet cloth was so arranged as to fall around his limbs in graceful folds, leaving his chest and shoulders exposed ; he held a green umbrella over his head, (a gift or purchase from some white trader) and in the other hand a long pipe — and he smoked away, never stirring, nor taking the slightest interest in anything which was going on. Then there were two fine young men, and three women, one old and hideous, with matted grizzled hair, the youngest really a beautiful girl about fifteen. There were also three children; the eldest had on a cotton shirt, the breast of which was covered with silver ornaments. The men were examining the canoes, and preparing to launch them ; the women were taking down their wigwams, and as they uncovered them, I had an opportunity of ob serving the whole interior of their dwellings. "The ground was spread over with mats, two or three deep, and skins and blankets, so as to form a general couch: then all around the internal circle of the wigwam former construction is usually adopted by the Chippewas also in their temporary encampments. MRS. JAMESON— 1837 285 were ranged their goods and chattels in very tidy order: I observed wooden chests, of European make, bags of woven grass, baskets and cases of birch bark (called mokkuks) also brass kettles, pans, and to my surprise, a large coffee pot of queen's metal. "When all was arranged, and the canoes afloat, the poles of the wigwams were first placed at the bottom, then the mats and bundles, which served apparently to sit on, and the kettles and chests were stowed in the middle; the old man was assisted by the others into the largest canoe; women, children, and dogs followed; the young men stood in the stern with their paddles as steersmen; the women and boys squatted down, each with a paddle ; — with all this weight, the elegant buoyant little canoes scarcely sank an inch deeper in the water — and in this guise away they guided with surprising swiftness over the sparkling waves, directing their course eastwards for the Manitoulin Islands, where I hope to see them again. The whole process of preparation and embarkation did not occupy an hour. "About ten o'clock I ventured to call on Mr. Schoolcraft, and was received by him with grave and quiet politeness. They were prepared, he said, for my arrival, and then he apologized for whatever might be deficient in my reception, and for the absence of his wife, by informing me that she was ill, and had not left her room for some days. "Much was I discomposed and shocked to find myself an intruder under such circumstances! I said so, and begged that they would not think of me — that I could easily provide for myself — and so I could and would. I would have laid myself down in one of the Indian lodges rather than have been de trop. But Mr. Schoolcraft said, with 286 HISTORIC MACKINAC much kindness, that they knew already of my arrival by one of my fellow-passengers — that a room was prepared for me, a servant already sent down for my goods, and Mrs. School craft, who was a little better that morning, hoped to see me. Here, I am installed for the next few days — and I know not how many more — so completely am I at the mercy of 'fates, destinies, and such branches of learning!' "I am charmed with Mrs. Schoolcraft. When able to appear, she received me with true lady-like simplicity. The damp, tremulous hand, the soft, plaintive voice, the touching expression of her countenance, told too plainly of resigned and habitual suffering. Mrs. Schoolcraft's fea tures are more decidedly Indian than those of her sister, Mrs. MacMurray. Her accent is slightly foreign — her choice of language pure and remarkably elegant. In the course of an hour's talk, all my sympathies were enlisted in her behalf, and I thought that she, on her part, was in clined to return those benignant feelings. I promised my self to repay her hospitality by all the attention and grati tude in my power. I am here a lonely stranger, thrown upon her sufferance; but she is good, gentle, and in most delicate health, and there are a thousand quiet ways in which woman may be kind and useful to her sister woman. Then she has two sweet children about eight and nine years old — no fear, you see, but that we shall soon be the best friends in the world! "This day, however, I took care not to be a charge, so I ran about along the lovely shore, and among the Indians, inexpressibly amused, and occupied, and excited by all I saw and heard. At last I returned — 0 so wearied out — so spent in body and mind! I was fain to go to rest soon after sunset. A nice little room had been prepared for me, MRS. JAMESON— 1837 287 and a wide comfortable bed, into which I sank with such a feeling of peace, security, and thankfulness, as could only be conceived by one who had been living in comfortless inns and close steam-boats for the last fortnight." "On a little platform, not quite half way up the wooded height which overlooks the bay, embowered in foliage, and sheltered from the tyrannous breathing of the north by the precipitous cliff, rising almost perpendicularly behind, stands the house in which I find myself at present a grateful and contented inmate. The ground in front sloping down to the shore, is laid out in a garden, with an avenue of fruit • trees, the gate at the end opening on the very edge of the lake. From the porch I look down upon the scene I have endeavoured — how inadequately! — to describe to you: the little crescent bay; the village of Mackinac; the beach thickly studded with Indian lodges ; canoes fishing, or dart ing hither and thither, light and buoyant as sea-birds: a tall, graceful schooner swinging at anchor. Opposite rises the Island of Bois-blanc, with its tufted and most luxuriant foliage. To the east we see the open lake, and in the far western distance the promontory of Michilimackinac, and the strait of that name, the portal of Lake Michigan. The exceeding beauty of this little paradise of an island, the at tention which has been excited by its enchanting scenery, and the salubrity of its summer climate, the facility of com munication lately afforded by the lake steamers, and its situation half way between Detroit and the newly settled re gions of the west, are likely to render Mackinac a sort of watering-place for the Michigan and Wisconsin fashion ables, or, as the Bishop expressed it, the 'Rockaway of the west'; so at least it is anticipated. How far such an acces- 288 HISTORIC MACKINAC sion of fashion and reputation may be desirable, I know not; I am only glad it has not yet taken place, and that I have beheld this lovely Island in all its wild beauty. "When I left my room this morning, I remained for some time in the parlour, looking over the Wisconsin Ga zette, a good sized, well printed newspaper, published on the west shore of Lake Michigan. I was reading a most pa thetic and serious address from the new settlers in Wiscon sin to the down-east girls (i.e. the women of the eastern states) who are invited to the relief of these hapless hard working bachelors in the backwoods. They are promised affluence and love — the 'picking and choosing among a set of the finest young fellows in the world,' who are ready to fall at their feet, and make the most adoring and most obe dient of husbands! Can you fancy what a pretty thing a Wisconsin pastoral might be? Only imagine one of these despairing backwoodsmen inditing an Ovidian epistle to his unknown mistress — 'down east,' — wooing her to come and be wooed! Well, I was enjoying this comical effusion, and thinking that women must certainly be at a premium in these parts, when suddenly the windows were darkened, and looking up, I beheld a crowd of faces, dusky, wild, grotesque — with flashing eyes and white teeth, staring in upon me. I quickly threw down the paper and hastened out. The porch, the little lawn, the garden walks, were crowded with Indians, the elder chiefs and warriors sitting on the ground, or leaning silently against the pillars; the young men, women, and boys lounging and peeping about, with eager and animated looks, but all perfectly well con ducted, and their voices low and pleasing to the ear. They were chiefly Ottawas and Pottowottomies, two tribes which 'call brother,' that is, claim relationship, and are usually in MRS. JAMESON— 1837 289 alliance, but widely different. The Ottawas are the most civilized, the Pottowottomies the least so of all the lake tribes. The Ottawa I soon distinguished by the decency of his dress, and the handkerchief knotted round the head — a custom borrowed from the early French settlers, with whom they have had much intercourse: the Pottowottomie by the more savage finery of his costume, his tall figure, and a sort of swagger in his gait. The dandyism of some of these Pottowottomie warriors is inexpressibly amusing and gro tesque: I defy all Regent Street and Bond Street to go be yond them in the exhibition of self -decoration and self-com placency. One of these exquisites, whom I called Beau Brummel, was not indeed much indebted to the tailor, seeing he had neither a coat nor anything else that gentlemen are accustomed to wear; but then his face was most artistically painted, the upper half of it being vermilion, with a black circle round one eye, and a white circle round the other; the lower half of a bright green, except the tip of his nose, which was also vermilion. His leggings of scarlet cloth were embroidered down the sides, and decorated with tufts of hair. The band, or garter, which confines the leg gings, is always an especial bit of finery; and his were gor geous, all embroidered with gay beads, and strings and tassels of the liveliest colours hanging down to his ankle. His moccasins were also beautifully worked with porcupine quills; he had armlets and bracelets of silver: and round his head a silver band stuck with tufts of moosehair dyed blue and red; and, conspicuous above all, the eagle feather in his hair, showing he was a warrior, and had taken a scalp — i.e. killed his man. Over his shoulders hung a blanket of scarlet cloth, very long and ample, which he had thrown back a little, so as to display his chest, on which a large 290 HISTORIC MACKINAC outspread hand was painted in white. It is impossible to describe the air of perfect self-complacency with which this youth strutted about. Seeing my attention fixed upon him he came up and shook hands with me, repeating 'bojou! bojou!' 3 Others immediately pressed forward also to shake hands, or rather take my hand, for they do not shake it; and I was soon in the midst of a crowd of perhaps thirty or forty Indians, all holding out their hands to me, or snatching mine, and repeating 'bojou with every expres sion of delight and good-humour. "This must suffice in the way of description, for I cannot further particularize dresses; they were very various, and few so fine as that of my young Pottowottomie. I remem ber another young man, who had a common black beaver hat, all round which, in several silver bands, he had stuck a profusion of feathers, and long tufts of dyed hair, so that it formed a most gorgeous helmet. Some wore their hair hanging loose and wild in elf-locks, but others again had combed and arranged it with much care and pains. "The men seemed to engross the finery; none of the women that I saw were painted. Their blankets were mostly dark blue; some had strings of beads round their necks, and silver armlets. The hair of some of the young women was very prettily arranged, being parted smooth upon the forehead and twisted in a knot behind, very much a la Grecque. There is, I imagine, a very general and hearty aversion to cold water." "This morning, there was a 'talk' held in the commis sioner's office, and he kindly invited me to witness the pro ceedings. About twenty of their principal men, including 3 This universal Indian salutation is merely a corruption of bon jour. DEVIL'S KITCHEN West Shore Boulevard ROBINSON'S FOLLY MRS. JAMESON— 1837 291 a venerable old chief, were present; the rest stood outside, crowding the doors and windows, but never attempting to enter, nor causing the slightest interruption. The old chief wore a quantity of wampum, but was otherwise undistin guished, except by his fine head and acute features. His gray hair was drawn back, and tied on the top of his head with a single feather. All, as they entered, took me by the hand with a quiet smile and a 'bojou,' to which I replied as I had been instructed, 'bojou, neeje!' (good day, friend). They then sat down upon the floor, all round the room. Mr. Johnston, Mrs. Schoolcraft's brother, acted as interpreter, and the business proceeded with the utmost gravity. "After some whispering among themselves, an orator of the party addressed the commissioner with great emphasis. Extending his hand and raising his voice, he began: 'Father, I am come to tell you a piece of my mind.' But when he had uttered a few sentences, Mr. Schoolcraft desired the interpreter to tell him that it was useless to speak further on that subject, (I understood it to relate to some land- payments). The orator stopped immediately, and then, after a pause, he went up and took Mr. Schoolcraft's hand with a friendly air, as if to show he was not offended. An other orator then arose, and proceeded to the object of the visit, which was to ask an allowance of corn, salt, and to bacco, while they remained on the Island, a request, which I presume was granted, as they departed with much appar ent satisfaction. "There was not a figure among them that was not a study for a painter; and how I wished that my hand had been readier with the pencil to snatch some of those picturesque heads and attitudes. But it was all so new. I was so lost 292 HISTORIC MACKINAC in gazing, listening, observing, and trying to comprehend, that I could not make a single sketch, except the above, in most poor and inadequate words." "The Indians here — and fresh parties are constantly ar riving — are chiefly Ottawas, from Arbre Croche, on the east of Lake Michigan; Pottowottomies; and Winnebagos from the west of the lake ; a few Menomonies and Chippe was from the shores north-west of us; the occasion of this assemblage being the same with all. They are on the way to the Manitoulin Islands, to receive the presents annually distributed by the British government to all those Indian tribes who were friendly to us during the wars with Amer ica, and call themselves our allies and our children, though living within the bounds of another state. Some of them make a voyage of five hundred miles to receive a few blan kets and ketdes; coasting along the shores, encamping at night, and paddling all day from sunrise to sunset, living on the fish or game they may meet, and the little provision they can carry with them, which consists chiefly of parched Indian corn and bear's fat. Some are out on this excursion during six weeks, or more, every year; returning to their hunting grounds by the end of September, when the great hunting season begins, which continues through October and November; they then return to their villages and wintering grounds. This applies generally to the tribes I find here, except the Ottawas of Arbre Croche, who have a good deal of land in cultivation, and are more stationary and civilized than the other Lake Indians. They have been for nearly a century under the care of the Jesuit missions; but do not seem to have made much advance since Henry's time, and the days when they were organized under Pontiac; they MRS. JAMESON— 1837 293 were even then considered superior in humanity and intel ligence to the Chippewas and Pottowotomies, and more in clined to agriculture. "After some most sultry weather, we have had a grand storm. The wind shifted to the north-east, and rose to a hurricane. I was then sitting with my Irish friend in the mission-house ; and while the litde bay lay almost tranquil, gleam and shadow floating over its bosom, the expanse of the main lake was like the ocean lashed to a fury. On the east side of the Island, the billows came 'rolling with might,' flinging themselves in wrath and foam far up the land. It was a magnificent spectacle. Returning home, I was anx ious to see how the Indian establishment had stood out the storm, and was surprised to find that little or no damage had been done. I peeped into several, with a nod and a bojou, and found the inmates very snug. Here and there a mat was blown away, but none of the poles were displaced or blown down, which I had firmly expected. "Though all these lodges seem nearly alike to a casual observer, I was soon aware of differences and gradations in the particular arrangements, which are amusingly charac teristic of the various inhabitants. There is one lodge, a litde to the east of us, which I call the Chateau. It is ra ther larger and loftier than the others; the mats which cover it are whiter and of a neater texture than usual. The blan ket which hangs before the opening is new and clean. The inmates, ten in number, are well and handsomely dressed; even the women and children have abundance of orna ments; and as for the gay cradle of the baby, I quite covet it — it is so gorgeously elegant. I supposed at first that this must be the lodge of a chief; but I have since understood that the chief is seldom either so well lodged or so well 294 HISTORIC MACKINAC dressed as the others, it being a part of his policy to avoid everything like ostentation, or rather to be ostentatiously poor and plain in his apparel and possessions. This wig wam belongs to an Ottawa, remarkable for his skill in hunt ing, and for his habitual abstinence from the 'fire-water.' He is a baptized Roman Catholic belonging to the mission of Arbre Croche, and is reputed a rich man. "Not far from this, and almost immediately in front of our house, stands another wigwam, a most wretched con cern. The owners have not mats enough to screen them from the weather; and the bare poles are exposed on every side. The woman, with her long neglected hair, is always seen cowering despondingly over the embers of her fire, as if lost in sad reveries. Two naked children are scrambling among the pebbles on the shore. The man wrapt in a dirty ragged blanket, without a single ornament, looks the image of savage inebriety and ferocity. Observe that these are two extremes, and that between them are many gradations of comfort, order and respectability. An Indian is respec table in his own community, in proportion as his wife and children look fat and well fed; this being a proof of his prowess and success as a hunter, and his consequent riches. "I was loitering by the garden gate this evening, about sunset, looking at the beautiful effects which the storm of the morning had left in the sky and on the lake. I heard the sound of the Indian drum, mingled with the shouts and yells and shrieks of the intoxicated savages, who were drinking in front of the village whiskey store ; when at this moment a man came slowly up, whom I recognized as one of the Ottawa chiefs, who had often attracted my attention. His name is Kim,e,wun, which signifies the Rain, or rather, 'it rains.' He now stood before me, one of the noblest fig- MRS. JAMESON— 1837 295 ures I ever beheld, above six feet high, erect as a forest pine. A red and green handkerchief was twined round his head with much elegance, and knotted in front, with the two ends projecting; his black hair fell from beneath it, and his small black piercing eyes glittered from among its masses, like stars glancing through the thunder clouds. His ample blanket was thrown over his left shoulder, and brought un der his right arm, so as to leave it free and exposed ; and a sculptor might have envied the disposition of the whole drapery — it was so felicitous, so richly graceful. He stood in a contemplative attitude evidently undecided whether he should join his drunken companions in their night revel, or return, like a wise man, to his lodge and his mat. He ad vanced a few steps, then turned, then paused and listened — then turned back again. I retired a little within the gate, to watch, unseen the issue of the conflict. Alas! it was soon decided — the fatal temptation prevailed over better thoughts. He suddenly drew his blanket round him, and strided onwards in the direction of the village, treading the earth with an air of defiance, and a step which would have become a prince. "On returning home, I mentioned this scene to Mr. and Mrs. Schoolcraft, as I do everything which strikes me, that I may profit by their remarks and explanation. Mr. S told me a laughable anecdote. "A distinguished Pottowottomie warrior presented him self to the Indian agent at Chicago, and observing that he was a very good man, very good indeed — and a good friend to the Longknives (the Americans) requested a dram of whisky. The agent replied, that he never gave whisky to good men — good men never asked for whisky; and never drank it. It was only bad Indians who asked for whisky, 296 HISTORIC MACKINAC or liked to drink it. 'Then,' replied the Indian quickly in his broken English, 'me damn rascal!' " "The revel continued far through the night, for I heard the wild yelling and whooping of the savages long after I had gone to rest. I can now conceive what it must be to hear that shrill prolonged cry (unlike any sound I ever heard in my life before), in the solitude of the forest, and when it is the certain harbinger of death. "It is surprising to me, considering the number of sav ages congregated together, and the excess of drunkenness, that no mischief is done; that there has been no fighting, no robberies committed, and that there is a feeling of perfect security around me. The women, they tell me, have taken away their husbands' knives and tomahawks, and hidden them — wisely enough. At this time there are about twelve hundred Indians here. The Fort is empty — the garrison having been withdrawn as useless; and perhaps there are not a hundred white men in the Island, — rather unequal odds! And then that fearful Michilimackinac in full view, with all its horrid, murderous associations! 4 But do not for a moment imagine that I feel fear, or the slightest doubt of security; only a sort of thrill which enhances the enjoyment I have in these wild scenes — a thrill such as one feels in the presence of danger when most safe from it — such as» I felt when bending over the rapids of Niagara. "The Indians, apparently, have no idea of correcting or restraining their children; personal chastisement is unheard * Michilimackinac was one of the forts surprised by the Indians at the breaking out of the Pontiac war, when seventy British soldiers and their officers were murdered and scalped. Henry gives a most vivid description of this scene of horror in few words. He was present, and escaped, through the friendship of an Indian (Wa, wa, tam) who, in consequence of a dream in early youth, had adopted him as his brother. MRS. JAMESON— 1837 297 of. They say that before a child has any understanding there is no use in correcting it; and when old enough to understand, no one has a right to correct it. Thus the fixed, inherent sentiment of personal independence grows up with the Indians from earliest infancy. The will of an Indian child is not forced; he has nothing to learn but what he sees done around him, and he leams by imitation. I hear no scolding, no tones of command or reproof; but I see no evil results from this mild system, for the general reverence and affection of children for parents is delightful; where there is no obedience exacted, there can be no rebellion; they dream not of either, and all live in peace in the same lodge. "I observe, while loitering among them, that they seldom raise their voices, and they pronounce several words much more sofdy than we write them. Wigwam, a house, they pronounce wee-ga-waum; moccasin, a shoe, muck-a-zeen; manito, spirit, mo-nee-do — lengthening the vowels, and soft ening the aspirates. Chippewa is properly 0 'jib-way; ab,bin,no,jee is a little child. The accent of the women is particularly soft, with a sort of plaintive modulation, re minding me of recitative. Their low laugh is quite musi cal, and has something infantine in it. I sometimes hear them sing, and the strain is generally in a minor key; but I cannot succeed in detecting or retaining an entire or distinct tune." "We have taken several delicious drives over this lovely little Island, and traversed it in different directions. It is not more than three miles in length, and wonderfully beau tiful. There is no large or lofty timber upon it, but a per petual succession of low, rich groves, 'alleys green, din gles, and bosky dells.' There is on the eastern coast a nat- 298 HISTORIC MACKINAC ural arch or bridge, where the waters of the lake have un dermined the rock, and left a fragment thrown across a chasm two hundred feet high. Strawberries, raspberries, whortleberries, and cherries, were growing everywhere wild, and in abundance. The whole Island, when seen from a distance, has the form of a turtle sleeping on the water: hence its Indian appellation, Michilimackinac, which signifies the great turtle. The same name is given to a spirit of great power and might, 'a spirit who never lies,' whom the Indians invoke and consult before undertaking any important or dangerous enterprise ; 5 and this Island, as I apprehend, has been peculiarly dedicated to him; at all events, it has been from time immemorial a place of note and sanctity among the Indians. Its history, as far as the Europeans are connected with it, may be told in a few words. "After the destruction of the Fort at Michilimackinac, arid the massacre of the garrison in 1763, the English re moved the fort and the trading post to this Island, and it continued for a long time a station of great importance. In 1796 it was ceded, with the whole of the Michigan territory, to the United States. The Fort was then strengthened, and garrisoned by a detachment of General Wayne's army. "In the War of 1812 it was taken and garrisoned by the British, who added to the strength of the fortifications. The Americans were so sensible of its importance, that they fitted out an expensive expedition in 1814 for the pur pose of retaking it, but were repulsed with the loss of one of their bravest commanders and a great number of men, and forced to retreat to their vessels. After this, Michilimack- 5 See Henry's Travels, Bain's Edition, George N. Morang & Co., To ronto, p. 117. MRS. JAMESON— 1837 299 inac remained in possession of the British, till at the peace it was again quietly ceded, one hardly knows why, to the Americans, and in their possession it now remains. The garrison, not being required in time of profound peace, has been withdrawn. The pretty little fort remains." "Mackinac, as seen from hence, has exacdy the form its name implies, that of a large turtle sleeping on the water. I believe Mackinac is merely the abbreviation of Michili mackinac, the great turtle. It was a mass of purple shad ow ; and just at one extremity the sun plunged into the lake, leaving its reflection on the water, like the skirts of a robe of fire, floating. This too vanished, and we returned in the soft calm twilight, singing as we went." r--«l.,V.iA~A- *4,,sU.~H - A-.'.hUJL.* M CHAPTER XII THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 "RS. JAMESON gives the following very sympa thetic and appreciative account of the Indians about her on the Island, mainly Ojibways, her in terest deriving something, doubtless, from her fondness for Mrs. Schoolcraft. "The most delightful as well as most profitable hours I spent here," x she says, "are those passed in the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft. Her genuine refinement and simplicity, and native taste for literature, are charming; and the ex ceeding delicacy of her health, and the trials to which it is exposed, interest all my womanly sympathies. While in conversation with her, new ideas of the Indian character suggest themselves; new sources of information are opened to me, such as are granted to few, and such as I gratefully appreciate. She is proud of her Indian origin; she takes an enthusiastic and enlightened interest in the welfare of her people, and in their conversion to Christianity, being herself most unaffectedly pious. But there is a melancholy and pity in her voice, when speaking of them, as if she did indeed consider them a doomed race. We were conversing to-day of her grand-father, Waub-ojeeg, (the White Fisher) , a distinguished Chippewa chief and warrior, of whose life and exploits she has promised to give me some connected particulars. Of her mother, 0,shah,gush,ko,da,wa,qua, she 1 Mrs. Jameson's Sketches in Canada, pp. 191-219. 300 THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 301 speaks with fond and even longing affection, as if the very sight of this beloved mother would be sufficient to restore her to health and strength. 'I should be well if I could see my mother,' seems the predominant feeling. Nowhere is the instinctive affection between parent and child so strong, so deep, so sacred, as among these people. "Celibacy in either sex is almost unknown among the In dians; equally rare is all profligate excess. One instance I heard of a woman who had remained unmarried from choice, not from accident or necessity. In consequence of a dream in early youth (the Indians are great dreamers), she not only regarded the sun as her manito or tutelary spirit (this had been a common case), but considered her self especially dedicated, or in fact, married, to the lumin ary. She lived alone; she had built a wigwam for herself, which was remarkably neat and commodious ; she could use a rifle, hunt, and provide herself with food and clothing. She had carved a rude image of the sun, and set it up in her lodge; the husband's place, the best mat, and a portion of food, were always appropriated to this image. She lived to a great age, and no one ever interfered with her mode of life, for that would have been contrary to all their ideas of individual freedom. Suppose that, according to our most approved European notions, the poor woman had been burnt at the stake, corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted beyond the pale of the village, for deviating from the law of custom, no doubt there would have been directly a new female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of wives of the sun, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these wise people trusted to nature and common sense. The vo cation apparently was not generally admired, and found no imitators. 302 HISTORIC MACKINAC "Their laws, or rather their customs, command certain virtues and practices, as truth, abstinence, courage, hos pitality; but they have no prohibitory laws whatever that I could hear of. In this respect their moral code has some thing of the spirit of Christianity, as contrasted with the Hebrew dispensation. Polygamy is allowed, but it is not common; the second wife is considered as subject to the first, who remains mistress of the household, even though the younger wife should be the favourite. Jealousy, how ever, is a strong passion among them. Not only has a man been known to murder a woman whose fidelity he suspected, but Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned to me an instance of a woman, who, in a transport of jealousy, had stabbed her husband. But these extremes are very rare. "Some time ago, a young Chippewa girl conceived a vio lent passion for a hunter of a different tribe, and followed him from his winter hunting-ground to his own village. He was already married, and the wife, not being inclined to admit the rival, drove this love-sick damsel away, and treated her with the utmost indignity. The girl, in desper ation, offered herself as a slave to the wife, to carry wood and water, and lie at her feet — anything to be admitted within the same lodge and only look upon the object of her affection. She prevailed at length. Now, the mere cir cumstance of her residing within the same lodge made her also the wife of the man, according to the Indian custom; but apparently she was content to forego all the privileges and honours of a wife. She endured, for several months, with uncomplaining resignation, every species of ill usage and cruelty on the part of the first wife, till at length this woman, unable any longer to suffer even the presence of a rival, watched an opportunity as the other entered the wig- THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 303 warn with a load of fire-wood, and cleft her skull with the husband's tomahawk. " 'And did the man permit all this?' was the natural question. "The answer was remarkable. 'What could he do? he could not help it: a woman is always absolute mistress in her own wigwam!' "In the end, the murder was not punished. The poor victim having fled from a distant tribe, there were no rela tives to take vengeance, or do justice, and it concerned no one else. She lies buried at a short distance from the Sault-Ste-Marie, where the murderess and her husband yet live. "Women sometimes perish of grief for the loss of a hus band or a child, and men have been known to starve them selves on the grave of a beloved wife. Men have also been known to give up their wives to the traders for goods and whiskey; but this, though forbidden by no law, is consid ered disreputable, or, as my informant expressed it, 'only bad Indians do so.' "I should doubt, from all I see and hear, that the Indian squaw is that absolute slave, drudge, and nonentity in the community, which she has been described. She is des potic in her lodge, and every thing it contains is hers; even the game her husband kills, she has the uncontrolled dis posal. If her husband does not please her, she scolds, and even cuffs him; and it is in the highest degree unmanly to answer or strike her. I have seen here a woman scold ing and quarreling with her husband, seize him by the hair, in a style that might have become civilized Billingsgate, or christian St. Giles's, and the next day I have beheld the same couple sit lovingly together on the sunny side of the 304 . HISTORIC MACKINAC wigwam, she kneeling behind him, and combing and ar ranging the hair she had been pulling from his head the day before; just such a group as I remember to have seen about Naples, or the Campagna di Roma, with very little obvious difference either in costume or complexion. "There is no law against marrying near relations ; but it is always avoided; it is contrary to their customs: even first cousins do not marry. The tie of blood seems consid ered as stronger than that of marriage. A woman con siders that she belongs more to her own relatives than to her husband or his relatives; yet, notwithstanding this and the facility of divorce, separations between husband and wife are very rare. A couple will go on 'squabbling and making it up' all their lives, without having recourse to this expedient. If from displeasure, satiety, or any other cause, a man sends his wife away, she goes back to her rela tions, and invariably takes her children with her. The indefeasible right of the mother to her offspring is Indian law, or rather, the contrary notion does not seem to have entered their minds. A widow remains subject to her husband's relations for two years after his death; this is the decent period of mourning. At the end of two years, she returns some of the presents made to her by her late husband, goes back to her own relatives, and may marry again. "These particulars, and others which may follow, apply to the Chippewas and Ottawas around me; other tribes have other customs. I speak merely of those things which are brought under my own immediate observation and atten tion. "During the last American War of 1812, the young widow of a chief who had been killed in batde, assumed his THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 305 arms, ornaments, wampum, medal, and went out with sev eral war parties, in which she distinguished herself by her exploits. Mrs. Schoolcraft, when a girl of eleven or twelve years old, saw this woman, who was brought into the Fort at Mackinac and introduced to the commanding officer; and retains a lively recollection of her appearance, and the in terest and curiosity she excited. She was rather below the middle size, slight and delicate in figure, like most of the squaws: — covered with rich ornaments, silver armlets, with the scalping-knife, pouch, medals, tomahawk — all the in signia, in short, of an Indian warrior, except the war-paint and feathers. In the room hung a large mirror, in which she surveyed herself with evident admiration and delight, turning round and round before it, and laughing trium phantly. She was invited to dine at the officers' mess, per haps as a joke, but conducted herself with so much intuitive propriety and decorum, that she was dismissed with all honour and respect, and with handsome presents. I could not learn what became of her afterwards. "Heroic women are not rare among the Indians, women who can bravely suffer — bravely die; but Amazonian women, female amateur warriors, are very extraordinary ; I never heard but of this one instance. Generally, the squaws around me give me the impression of exceeding feminine delicacy and modesty, and of the most submissive gentleness. Female chiefs, however, are not unknown in Indian history. There was a famous Squaw Sachem, or chief, in the time of the early settlers. The present head chief of the Ottawas, a very fine old man, succeeded a fe male, who, it is further said, abdicated in his favor. "Even the standing rule or custom that women are never admitted to councils has been evaded. At the treaty of 306 <¦ HISTORIC MACKINAC Butte des Morts, in 1827, an old Chippewa woman, the wife of a superannuated chief, appeared in place of her husband, wearing his medal, and to all intents and purposes representing him. The American commissioners treated her with studied respect and distinction, and made her rich presents in cloth, ornaments, tobacco, &c. On her return to her own village, she was waylaid and murdered by a party of Menomonies. The next year two Menomonie women were taken and put to death by the Chippewas; such is the Indian law of retaliation. "The language spoken around me is the Chippewa tongue, which, with little variation, is spoken also by the Ottawas, Pottowottomies and Missasaguas, and diffused all over the country of the lakes, and through a population of about seventy thousand. It is in these countries what the French is in Europe, the language of trade and diplomacy, understood and spoken by those tribes, with whom it is not vernacular. In this language Mrs. Schoolcraft generally speaks to her children and Indian domestics. It is not only very sweet and musical to the ear, with its soft inflections and lengthened vowels, but very complex and artificial in its construction, and subject to strict grammatical rules; this, for an unwritten language — for they have no alphabet — appears to me very curious. The particulars which fol low I have from Mr. Schoolcraft, who has deeply studied the Chippewa language, and what he terms, not without reason, the philosophy of its syntax. "The great division of all words, and the pervading prin ciple of the language, is the distinction into animate and in animate objects; not only nouns, but adjectives, verbs, pro nouns, are inflected in accordance with this principle. The THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 307 distinction, however, seems as arbitrary as that between masculine and feminine nouns in some European languages. Trees, for instance, are of the animate gender. The sun, moon, thunder and lightning, a canoe, a pipe, a water-fall, are all animate. The verb is not only modified to agree with the subject, it must be farther modified to agree with the subject spoken of, whether animate or inanimate: an Indian cannot say simply, I love, I eat; the word must express by its inflection what he loves or eats, whether it belong to the animate or inanimate gender. "What is curious enough is, that the noun or name can be conjugated like a verb; the word man, for instance, can be inflected to express, I am a man, thou art a man, he is a man, I was a man, I will be a man, and so forth; and the word husband can be so inflected as to signify by a change of syllables, / have a husband, and / have not a husband. "They have three numbers, like the Greek, but of differ ent signification; they have the singular, and two plurals, one indefinite and general like ours, and one including the persons or things present, and excluding those which are absent; and distinct inflections are required for these two plurals. "There are distinct words to express certain distinctions of sex, as with us; for instance, man, woman, father, mother, sister, brother, are distinct words, but more com monly sex is distinguished by a masculine or feminine syllable or termination. The word equay, a woman, is thus used as a feminine termination where persons are con cerned. Ogima, is a chief, and Ogimquay a female chief. "There are certain words and expressions which are in a manner masculine and feminine by some prescriptive right, and cannot be used indifferently by the two sexes. Thus, 308 HISTORIC MACKINAC one man addressing another says, 'nichi,' or 'neejee,' my friend. One woman addressing another woman says, 'Nin,- dong,quay' (as nearly as I can imitate the sound), my friend, or rather, I believe, female relation; and it would be indelicacy in one sex, and arrogance in the other, to ex change these terms between man and woman. When a woman is surprised at anything she sees or hears, she ex claims, 'N'ya!' When a man is surprised he exclaims, 'T'ya!' and it would be contrary to all Indian notions of propriety and decorum, if a man condescended to say 'N'ya!' or if a woman presumed to use the masculine inter jection 'T'ya!' I could give you other curious instances of the same kind. They have different words for eldest brother, eldest sister, and for brother and sister in general. Brother is a common expression of kindness, father of re spect, and grand-father is a title of very great respect. "They have no form of imprecation or swearing. Clos ing the hand, then throwing it forth and opening it suddenly with a jerk, is the strongest gesture of contempt, and the words 'bad dog' the strongest expression of abuse and vitu peration; both are unpardonable insults, and used spar ingly. "A mother's term of endearment to her child is 'My bird — my young one,' and sometimes playfully, 'My old man.' When I asked what words were used of reproach or menace, I was told that Indian children were never scolded — never menaced. "The form of salutation in common use between the In dians and the whites is the bo-jou, borrowed from the early French settlers, the first Europeans with whom the North west Indians were brought in contact. Among themselves there is no set form of salutation; when two friends meet THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 309 after a long absence, they take hands, and exclaim, 'We see each other!' "I have been 'working like a beaver,' to borrow an Indian phrase. This has been a rich and busy day. What with listening, learning, scribbling, transcribing, my wits as well as my pen are well nigh worn to a stump. But I am not going to tell here of well-known Indian customs, and repeat anecdotes to be found in all the popular books of travel. With the general characteristics of Indian life and manners I suppose the reader already familiar, from the works of Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Hoffman, and others. I can add nothing to these sources of information; only bear testimony to the vigour, and liveliness and truth of the pictures they have drawn. I am amused at every moment by the coincidence between what I see and what I have read ; but I must confess I never read anything like the Indian fictions I have just been transcribing from the first and highest authority. "We can easily understand that among a people whose objects in life are few and simple, society cannot be very brilliant, nor conversation very amusing. The taciturnity of the Indians does not arise from any ideas of gravity, decorum, or personal dignity, but rather from the dearth of ideas and of subjects of interest. Henry mentions the dul- ness of the long winters, when he was residing in the wig wam of his brother, Wa,wa,tam, whose family were yet benevolent and intelligent. He had nothing to do but to smoke. Among the Indians, he says, the topics of conver sation are few, and are limited to the transactions of the day and the incidents of the chase. The want of all variety in their lives, of all intellectual amusement, is one cause of 310 HISTORIC MACKINAC their passion for gambling and for ardent spirits. The chase is to them a severe toil, not a recreation — the means of existence, not the means of excitement. They have, how ever, an amusement which I do not remember to have seen noticed anywhere. Like the Arabians, they have among them story-tellers by profession, persons who go about from lodge to lodge, amusing the inmates with traditional tales, histories of the wars and exploits of their ancestors, or inventions of their own, which are sometimes in the form of allegories or parables, and are either intended to teach them some moral lesson, or are extravagant inventions, hav ing no other aim or purpose but to excite wonder or amuse ment. The story-tellers are estimated according to their eloquence and powers of invention, and are always wel come, sure of the best place in the lodge, and the choicest mess of food wherever they go. Some individuals, not story-tellers by profession, possess and exercise these gifts of memory and invention. Mrs. Schoolcraft mentioned an Indian living at the Sault-Ste-Marie, who in this manner amuses and instructs his family almost every night before they go to rest. Her own mother is also celebrated for her stock of traditional lore, and her poetical and inventive fac ulties, which she inherited from her father, Waub-ojeeg, who was the greatest poet and story-teller, as well as the greatest warrior of his tribe. "The stories I give you from Mrs. Schoolcraft's transla tion have at least the merit of being genuine. Their very wildness and childishness, and dissimilarity to all other fictions, will recommend them. The first story was evi dently intended to inculcate domestic union and brotherly love. THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 311 THE FORSAKEN BROTHER "It was a fine summer evening; the sun was scarcely an hour high, its departing rays shone through the leaves of the tall elms that skirted a little green knoll, whereon stood a solitary Indian lodge. The deep, deep silence that reigned around seemed to the dwellers in that lonely hut like the long sleep of death which was now about to close the eyes of the chief of this poor family; his low breathing was answered by the sighs and sobs of his wife and three children ; two of the children were almost grown up, one was yet a mere child. These were the only human beings near the dying man : the door of the lodge 2 was thrown aside to admit the refreshing breeze of the lake on the banks of which it stood, and when the cool air visited the brow of the poor man, he felt a mo mentary return of strength. Raising himself a little, he thus ad dressed his weeping family: " 'I leave ye — I leave ye ! thou who hast been my partner in life, thou wilt not stay long behind me, thou wilt soon join me in the pleasant land of spirits; therefore thou hast not long to suffer in this world. But 0 my children, my poor children, you have just commenced life, and unkindness, and ingratitude, and all wickedness, is in the scene before you. I have contented my self with the company of your mother and yourselves for many years, and you will find that my motive for separating myself from other men has been to preserve you from evil example. But I die content, if you, my children, promise me to love each other, and on no account to forsake your youngest brother. Of him I give you both particular charge — love him and cherish him.' "The father then became exhausted, and taking a hand of each of his elder children, he continued — 'My daughter, never for sake your little brother! my son, never forsake your little brother! — 'Never ! never ! ' they both exclaimed : — 'Never ! never ! ' repeated the father, and expired. "The poor man died happy, because he thought that his com- [The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.] 2 The skin or blanket suspended before the opening. 312 . HISTORIC MACKINAC mands would be obeyed; the sun sank down behind the trees and left a golden sky, which the family were wont to behold with pleasure; but now no one heeded it. The lodge, so still an hour before, was now filled with loud cries and lamentations. "Time wore heavily away. Five long moons had passed, and the sixth was nearly full, when the mother also died. In her last moments, she pressed upon her children the fulfillment of their promise to their departed father. They readily renewed this promise, because they were as yet free from any selfish motives to break it. The winter passed away and spring came. The girl being the eldest, directed her brothers and seemed to feel a more tender and sisterly affection for the youngest, who was sickly and delicate. The other boy soon showed signs of selfishness, and thus addressed his sister: — " 'My sister, are we always to live as if there were no other human beings in the world? Must I be deprived of the pleasure of associating with men ? I go to seek the villages of my brothers and my tribe. I have resolved, and you prevent me.' "The girl replied: — 'My brother, I do not say no to what you desire. We were not forbidden to associate with men, but we were commanded to cherish and never forsake each other — if we sep arate to follow our own selfish desire, will it not oblige us to for sake him, our brother, who we are both bound to support?' "The young man made no answer to this remonstrance, but taking up his bow and arrows, he left the wigwam and returned no more. "Many moons had come and gone after the young man's de parture, and still the girl ministered kindly and constantly to the wants of her little brother. At length, however, she too began to weary of solitude and her charge. Years added to her strength and her power of providing for the household wants, but also brought the desire of society, and made her solitude more and more irksome. At last she became quite impatient; she thought only of herself, and cruelly resolved to abandon her little brother, as her elder brother had done before. i "One day, after having collected all the provisions she had set apart for emergencies, and brought a quantity of wood to the THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 313 door, she said to her little brother, 'My brother, you must not stray far from the lodge. I am going to seek our brother, I shall soon be back.' Then taking her bundle, she set off in search of the habitations of men. She soon found them, and became so much occupied with the pleasures of her new life, that all affec tion and remembrance of her brother were by degrees effaced from her heart. At last she was married, and after that she never more thought of her poor helpless little brother, whom she had abandoned in the woods. "In the mean time the eldest brother had also settled on the shores of the same lake, near which reposed the bones of his pa rents, and the abode of his forsaken brother. " 'Now, as soon as the little boy had eaten all the provisions left by his sister, he was obliged to pick berries and dig up roots for food. Winter came on, and the poor child was exposed to all its rigor ; the snow covered the earth ; he was forced to quit the lodge in search of food, and strayed about without shelter or home; sometimes he passed the night in the clefts of old trees, and ate the fragments left by the wolves. Soon he had no other resource ; and in seeking for food he became so fearless of these animals, that he would sit close to them while they devoured their prey, and the fierce, hungry wolves themselves seemed to pity his condi tion, and would always leave something for him. Thus he lived on the bounty of the wolves till the spring. As soon as the lake was free from ice, he followed his new friends and companions to the shore. Now it happened that his brother was fishing in his canoe, out far on the lake, when he thought he heard a cry as of a child, and wondered how any one could exist on the bleak shore. He listened again more attentively, and heard the cry re peated, and he paddled towards the shore as quickly as possible, and there he beheld his little brother, whom he heard singing in a plaintive voice: — "Neesya, neesya, shyegwich gushuh! Ween, ne myeeguniwh!" That is, 'My brother, my brother, I am now turning into a wolf, I am turning into a wolf.' At the end of his song he howled like 314 , HISTORIC MACKINAC a wolf, and his brother approaching was dismayed to find him half a wolf and half a human being. He, however, leaped to the shore, strove to catch him in his arms, and said, soothingly, 'My brother, my brother, come to me!' But the boy eluded his grasp and fled, still singing as he fled, 'I am turning into a wolf! I am turning into a wolf!' and howled frightfully at the end of his song. "His elder brother, conscious-struck, and feeling all his love return, exclaimed in anguish, 'My brother, 0 my brother, come to me!' but the nearer he approached the child the more rapidly the transformation proceeded. Still he sung, and howling called upon his brother and sister alternately in his song, till the change was complete, and he fled towards the wood a perfect wolf. At last he cried, 'I am a wolf!' and bounded out of sight. "The young man felt the bitterness of remorse all his days; and the sister when she heard the fate of her little brother whom she had promised to protect and cherish, wept many tears, and never ceased to mourn him till she died. "The next story seems intended to admonish parental ambition and inculcate filial obedience. The bird here called the robin is three times as large as the English robin redbreast, but in its form and habits very similar. THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN "An old man had an only son, a fine promising lad, who had arrived at that age when the Chippewas thought it proper to make the long and final fast which is to secure through life a guardian spirit, on whom future prosperity or adversity are to depend, and who forms the character to great and noble deeds.3 3 This custom is universal among the Chippewas and their kindred tribes. At a certain age, about twelve or fourteen, the youth or girl is shut up in a separate lodge to fast and dream. The usual term is from three to five or six days, or even longer. The object which during this time is most frequently presented in sleep — the disturbed feverish sleep of an exhausted frame and excited imagination — is the tutelary spirit or manito of the future life: it is the sun or moon or evening star; an eagle, a moose, deer, a crane, a bat, &c. Wawatam, the Indian friend of Henry THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 315 "This old man was ambitious that his son should surpass all others in whatever was deemed most wise and great among his tribe; and to this effect he thought it necessary that his son should fast a much longer time than any of those persons celebrated for their uncommon power or wisdom, and whose fame he envied. "He therefore directed his son to prepare with great ceremony for the important event; after he had been in the bath several times, he ordered him to lie down on a clean mat in a little lodge, expressly prepared for him, telling him at the same time to bear himself like a man, and that at the expiration of twelve days he should receive food and his father's blessing. "The youth carefully observed these injunctions, lying with his face covered, with perfect composure, awaiting those spiritual vis itations which were to seal his good or evil fortune. His father visited him every morning regularly to encourage him to perse verance, — expatiating on the renown and honour which would attend him through life, if he accomplished the full term pre scribed. To these exhortations the boy never replied, but lay still without a murmur till the ninth day, when he thus addressed his father — 'My father, my dreams are ominous of evil. May I break my fast now, and at a more propitious time make a new fast?' "The father answered — 'My son, you know not what you ask; if you rise now, all your glory will depart. Wait patiently a little longer, you have but three days yet to accomplish what I desire: You know it is for your own good.' "The son assented, and covering himself up close, he lay till the eleventh day, when he repeated his request to his father. But the same answer was given by the old man, who, however, added that the next day he would himself prepare his first meal, and bring it to him. The boy remained silent, and lay like death. No one could have known he was living, but by the gentle heaving of his breast. "The next morning, the father, elate at having gained his ob- the traveller, had dreamed of a white man, whom the Great Spirit brought to him in his hand and presented as his brother. This dream saved Henry's life. 316 HISTORIC MACKINAC ject, prepared a repast for his son, and hastened to set it before him. On coming to the door, he was surprised to hear his son talking to himself; he stooped to listen, and looking through a small aperture, he was more astonished when he saw his son painted with vermilion on his breast, and in the act of finishing his work by laying the paint as far as his hand could reach on his shoulders, saying at the same time, 'My father has destroyed me as a man — he would not listen to my request — he will now be the loser, while I shall be forever happy in my new state, since I have been obedient to my parent. He alone will be a sufferer, for the Spirit is a just one, though not propitious to me. He has shown me pity, and now I must go!' "At that moment the father, in despair, burst into the lodge, exclaiming, 'My son, my son, do not leave me ! ' But his son, with the quickness of a bird, had flown up to the top of the lodge, and perched upon the highest pole, a beautiful Robin Redbreast. He looked down on his father with pity beaming in his eyes, and told him he should always love to be near man's dwellings — that he should always be seen happy and contented by the constant sprightliness and joy he would display — and that he would ever strive to cheer his father by his songs, which would be some consolation to him for the loss of the glory he had expected — and that although no longer a man, he would ever be the harbinger of peace and joy to the human race. "It is a mistake to suppose that these Indians are idol aters; heathens and pagans you may call them if you will; but the belief in one Great Spirit, who created all things, and is paramount to all things, and the belief in the dis tinction between body and soul, and the immortality of the latter — these two sublime principles pervade their wildest superstitions; but though none doubt of a future state, they have no distinct or universal tenets with regard to the condi tion of the soul after death. Each individual seems to have his own thoughts on the subject, and some doubdess never VIEW OF MARQUETTE PARK FROM FORT MACKINAC ¦¦'" GITCHI MANITOU East Shore Boulevard, underneath Arch Rock THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 317 think about it at all. In general, however, their idea of a paradise, (the land of spirits) is some far off country to wards the south-west, abounding in sun-shine, and placid lakes, and rivers full of fish, and forest full of game, whither they are transported by the Great Spirit, and where those who are separated on earth meet again in happiness, and part no more. "Not only man, but everything animate, is spirit, and des tined to immortality. According to the Indians, (and Sir Humphry Davy) nothing dies, nothing is destroyed; what we look upon as death and destruction is only transition and change. The ancients, it is said — for I cannot speak from my own knowledge — without telescopes or logarithms, di vined the grandest principles of astronomy, and calculated the revolutions of the planets; and so these Indians, who never heard of philosophy or chemistry, have contrived to hit upon some of the profoundest truths in physics and metaphysics ; but they seem content, like Jaques, 'to praise God, and make no boast of it.' "In some things, it is true, they are as far as possible from orthodox. Their idea of a hell seems altogether vague and negative. It consists in a temporary rejection from the land of good spirits, in a separation from lost relatives, and friends, in being doomed to wander up and down desolately, having no fixed abode, weary, restless, and melancholy. To how many is the Indian hell al ready realized on this earth? Physical pain, or any pain which calls for the exercise of courage, and which it is manliness to meet and endure, does not apparently enter into their notions of punishment. They believe in evil spirits, but the idea of the Evil Spirit, a permitted agency of evil and mischief who divides with the Great Spirit the 318 HISTORIC MACKINAC empire of the universe — who contradicts or renders nuga tory His will, and takes especially in hand the province of tormenting sinners — of the devil, in short, they cer tainly had not an idea, till it was introduced by Euro peans. Those Indians whose politeness will not allow them to contradict this article of the white man's faith, still insist that the place of eternal torment was never intended for the Red-skins, the especial favourites of the Great Spirit, but for white men only. "Formerly it was customary with Chippewas to bury many articles with the dead, such as would be useful on their journey to the land of spirits. "Henry describes in a touching manner the interment of a young girl, with an axe, snow-shoes, a small kettle, several pairs of moccasins, her own ornaments, and strings of beads; and, because it was a female — destined, it seems, to toil and carry burthens in the other world as well as this — the carrying-belt and the paddle. The last act before the burial, performed by the poor mother, crying over the dead body of the child, was that of taking from it a lock of hair for a memorial. 'While she did this,' says Henry, 'I endeavored to console her by offering the usual argu ments, that the child was happy in being released from the miseries of this life, and that she should forbear to grieve, because it would be restored to her in another world, happy and everlasting. She answered, that she knew it well, and that by the lock of hair she would know her daughter in the other world, for she would take it with her — alluding to the time when this relic, with the carrying-belt and axe, would be placed in her own grave. "This custom of burying property with the dead was formerly carried to excess from the piety and generosity THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 319 of surviving friends, until a chief greatly respected and admired among them for his bravery and talents, took an ingenious method of giving his people a lesson. He was seized with a fit of illness, and after a few days expired, or seemed to expire. But after lying in this death-trance for some hours, he came to life again, and recovering his voice and senses, he informed his friends, that he had been half-way to the land of spirits; that he found the road thither crowded with the souls of the dead, all so heavily laden with the guns, kettles, axes, blankets, and other arti cles buried with them, that their journey was retarded, and they complained grievously of the burthens which the love of their friends had laid on them. 'I will tell you,' said Gitchee Gauzinee, for that was his name, 'our fathers have been wrong; they have buried too many things with the dead. It is too burthensome to them, and they have complained to me bitterly. There are many who, by reason of the heavy loads they bear, have not yet reached the land of spirits. Clothing will be very acceptable to the dead, also his moccasins to travel in, and his pipe to refresh him on the way; but let his other possessions be divided among his relatives and friends.' "This sensible hint was taken in good part. The cus tom of kindling a fire on the grave, to light the departed spirit on its road to the land of the dead, is very general, and will remind you of the oriental customs. "A Chippewa chief, heading his war party against the Sioux, received an arrow in his breast, and fell. No war rior, thus slain, is ever buried. According to ancient cus tom, he was placed in a sitting posture, with his back against a tree, his face towards his flying enemies; his head-dress, ornaments, and all his war-equipments, were 320 HISTORIC MACKINAC arranged, with care, and thus he was left. But the chief was not dead; though he could neither move nor speak, he was sensible to all that passed. When he found him self abandoned by his friends as one dead, he was seized with a paroxysm of rage and anguish. When they took leave of him, lamenting, he rose up and followed them, but they saw him not. He pursued their track, and whereso ever they went, he went; when they ran, he ran; when they camped and slept, he did the like; but he could not eat with them, and when he spoke they heard him not. 'Is it possible,' he cried, exalting his voice, 'that my brothers do not see me — do not hear me? Will you suffer me to bleed to death without stanching my wounds? will you let me starve in the midst of food? have my fellow-warriors al ready forgotten me? is there none who will recollect my face, or offer me a morsel of flesh?' Thus he lamented and upbraided, but the sound of his voice reached them not. If they heard it at all they mistook it for that of the summer wind rustling among the leaves. "The war party returned to the village; the women and children came out to welcome them. The chief heard the inquiries for himself, and the lamentations of his friends and relatives over his death. 'It is not true!' he shrieked with a loud voice, 'I am not dead, — I was not left on the field: I am here! I live! I move! see me! touch me! I shall again raise my spear in the battle, and sound my dmm at the feast!' But no one heeded him; they mistook his voice for the wind rising and whistling among the boughs. He walked to his wigwam, and found his wife tearing her hair, and weeping for his death. He tried to comfort her, but she seemed insensible to his presence. He besought her to bind up his wounds — she moved not. THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 321 He put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted, 'I am hun gry, give me food!' She thought she heard a mosquito buzzing in her ear. The chief, enraged past endurance, now summoned all his strength, and struck her a violent blow on the temple; on which she raised her hand to her head, and remarked, 'I feel a slight aching here!' "When the chief beheld these things, he began to reflect that possibly his body might have remained on the field of battle, while only his spirit was among his friends; so he determined to go back and seek his body. It was four days' journey thither, and on the last day, just as he was approaching the spot, he saw a flame in the path before him ; he endeavored to step aside and pass it, but was still opposed; whichever way he turned, still it was before him. 'Thou spirit,' he exclaimed in anger, 'why dost thou oppose me? knowest thou not that I too am a spirit, and seek only to re-enter my body? thinkest thou to make me turn back? Know that I was never conquered by the enemies of my nation, and will not be conquered by thee!' So saying, he made an effort, and leapt through the opposing flame. He found himself seated under a tree on the field of battle, in all his warlike array, his bow and arrows at his side, just as he had been left by his friends, and looking up, beheld a great war-eagle seated on the boughs; it was the manitou of whom he had dreamed in his youth, his tutelary spirit who had kept watch over his body for eight days, and prevented the ravenous beasts and carrion birds from de vouring it. In the end, he bound up his wounds and sus tained himself by his bow and arrows, until he reached his village; there he was received with transport by his wife and friends, and concluded his account of his adventures by telling them that it is four days' journey to the land of 322 HISTORIC MACKINAC spirits, and that the spirit stood in need of a fire every night; therefore the friends and relatives should build the funeral fire for four nights upon the grave, otherwise the spirit would be obliged to build and tend the fire himself, — a task which is always considered slavish and irksome. "Such is the tradition by which the Chippewas account for the custom of lighting the funeral fire. "The Indians have a very fanciful mythology, which would make exquisite machinery for poetry. It is quite distinct from the polytheism of the Greeks. The Greek mythology personified all nature, and materialized all ab stractions : the Indians spiritualize all nature. They do not indeed place dryads and fauns in their woods, nor naiads in their streams; but every tree has a spirit, every rock, every river, every star that glistens, every wind that breathes, has a spirit; every thing they cannot comprehend is a spirit: this is the ready solution of every mystery, or rather makes every thing around them a mystery as great as the blending of soul and body in humanity. A watch, a compass, a gun, have each their spirit. The thunder is an angry spirit; the aurora borealis, dancing and rejoicing spirits. Birds, perhaps from their aerial movements, they consider as in some way particularly connected with the invisible world of spirits. Not only all animals have souls, but it is the settled belief of the Chippewa Indians that their souls will fare the better in another world, in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments are curtailed in this: hence, they have no remorse in hunting; but when they have killed a bear or rattle-snake, they solemnly beg his pardon, and excuse themselves on the plea of necessity. "Besides the general spiritualization of the whole uni verse, which to an Indian is all spirit in diversity of forms THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 323 (how delighted Bishop Berkeley would have been with them!), they have certain mythologic existences. Mana bozho is a being very analogous to the Seeva of the Hindoo mythology. The four cardinal points are spirits, the West being the oldest and the father of the others, by a beautiful girl, who, one day, while bathing, suffered the west wind to blow upon her. Weeng is the spirit of sleep, with nu merous little subordinate spirits, his emissaries, whose em ployment is to close the eyes of mortals, and by tapping their foreheads knock them to sleep. Then they have Weendigos — great giants and cannibals, like the Ascaparts and Morgantes of the old romances; and little tiny spirits or fairies, which haunt the woods and cataracts. The Nib- anaba, half human half fish, dwell in the waters of Lake Superior. Ghosts are plentiful, and so are transforma tions, as you have seen. The raccoon was once a shell lying on the lake shore, and vivified by the sun-beams: the Indian name of the raccoon, aisebun, is literally, he was a shell. The brains of a wicked adultress, whose skull was beaten to pieces against the rocks, as it tumbled down a cataract, became the white fish. As to the belief in sorcery, spells, talismans, incantations, all which go by the general name of medicine, it is unbounded. Henry mentions, that among the goods which some traders took up the country to exchange for furs, they had a large collection of the little rude prints, published for children, at a halfpenny a piece — I recollect such when I was a child. They sold these at a high price, for medicines (i.e talismans), and found them a very profitable and popular article of commerce. One of these, a little print of a sailor kissing his sweetheart, was an esteemed medicine among the young, and eagerly pur chased for a love spell. A soldier presenting his gun, or 324 HISTORIC MACKINAC brandishing his sabre, was a medicine to promote warlike courage — and so on. "The medicines and manitos of the Indians will remind you of the fetishes of the negroes. "With regard to the belief in omens and incantations, I should like to see it ascertained how far we civilized Chris tians, with all our schools, our pastors, and our masters, are in advance of these (so-called) savages? 4 " 'Who would believe that with a smile, whose blessing Would, like the patriarch's, soothe a dying hour; With voice as low, as gentle, as caressing. As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower; With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil; With motions graceful as a bird's in air; Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil, That e'er clench'd fingers in captive's hair!' HALLECK. "Mr. Johnston tells me, what pleases me much, that the Indians like me, and are gratified by my presence, and the interest I express for them, and that I am the subject of much conversation and speculation. Being in manners and complexion unlike the European women they have been accustomed to see, they have given me, he says, a name among themselves expressive of the most obvious charac- * One of the most distinguished men of the age, who has left a reputa tion which will be as lasting as it is great, was, when a boy, in constant care of a very able but unmerciful schoolmaster, and in the state of mind which that constant fear produced, he fixed upon a great spider for his fetish (or manito), and used every day to pray to it that he might not be flogged. The Doctor, vol. V. When a child, I was myself taken to a witch (or medicine woman) to be cured of an accidental burn by charms and incantations. I was then about six years old, and have a very distinct recollection of the whole scene, which left a strong and frightful impression on my childish fancy. THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 325 teristics in my appearance, and call me the white or fair English chieftainess (Ogima-quay). I go among them quite familiarly, and am always received with smiling good humour. With the assistance of a few words, as ninni, a man; minno, good; mudjee, bad; mee gwedge, thank you; maja, good-bye; with nods, signs, smiles, and friendly hand-shaking, — we hold most eloquent conversa tions. Even the little babies smile at me out of their comi cal cradles, slung at their mothers' backs, and with the help of beads and lolly-pops from the village store, I get on amazingly well; only when asked for some 'English milk' (rum or whisky), I frown as much as I can, and cry Mudjee! Mudjee! bad! bad! then they laugh, and we are friends again. "The scenes I at first described are of constant reitera tion. Every morning when I leave my room and come out into the porch, I have to exchange bo-jou! and shake hands with some twenty or thirty of my dingy, dusky, greasy, painted, blanketed smiling friends: but today we have had some new scenes. "First, however, I forgot to tell you that yesterday after noon there came in a numerous fleet of canoes, thirty or forty at least; and the wind blowing fresh from the West, each with its square blanket sail came scudding over the waters with astonishing velocity; it was a beautiful sight. Then there was the usual bustle, and wigwam building, fire- lighting and cooking, all along the shore, which is now ex cessively crowded; and yelling, shouting, drinking and dancing at the whisky store. But all this I have formerly described to you. "I presume it was in consequence of these new arrivals 326 HISTORIC MACKINAC that we had a grand talk or council after breakfast this morning, at which I was permitted to be present, or, as the French say, to assist. "There were fifty-four of their chiefs, or rather chief men, present, and not less than two hundred Indians round the house, their dark eager faces filling up the windows and door-ways; but they were silent, quiet, and none but those first admitted attempted to enter. All as they came up took my hand: some I had seen before, and some were entire strangers, but there was no look of surprise, and all was ease and grave self-possession : a set of more perfect gentle men, in manner, I never met with. "The council was convened to ask them if they would consent to receive goods instead of dollars in payment of the pensions due to them on the sale of their lands, and which, by the conditions of sale, were to be paid in money. So completely do the white men reckon on having every thing their own way with the poor Indians, that a trader had contracted with the government to supply the goods which the Indians had not yet consented to receive, and was ac tually now on the Island, having come with me in the steamer. "As the chiefs entered, they sat down on the floor. The principal person was a venerable old man with a bald head, who did not speak. The orator of the party wore a long, gray, blanket coat, crimson sash, and black neck-cloth, with leggings and moccasins. There was also a well-look ing young man dressed in the European fashion, and in black; he was of mixed blood, French and Indian; he had been carried early to Europe by the Catholic priests, had been educated in the Propaganda College at Rome, and was lately come out to settle as a teacher and interpreter THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 327 among his people. He was the only person besides Mr. Schoolcraft who was seated on a chair, and he watched the proceedings with great attention. On examining one by one the assembled chiefs, I remarked five or six who had good heads — well developed, intellectual, and benevolent. The old chief, and my friend the Rain, were conspicuous among them, and also an old man with a fine square head and lofty brow, like the picture of Red-jacket,5 and a young man with a pleasing countenance, and two scalps hung as ornaments to his belt. Some faces were mild and vacant, some were stupid and coarse, but in none was there a trace of insolence or ferocity, or of that vile expression I have seen in a depraved European of the lower class. The worst physiognomy was that of a famous medicine-man — it was mean and cunning. Not only the countenances, but the features differed; even the distinct characteristics of the Indian, the small deep-set eye, breadth of face and high cheek-bones, were not universal: there were among them regular features, oval faces, aquiline noses. One chief had a head and face which reminded me strongly of the Marquis Wellesley. All looked dirty, grave, and pic turesque, and most of them, on taking their seats on the ground, pulled out their tobacco-pouches and lighted their wooden pipes. "The proposition made to them was evidently displeas- 6 The picture by Weir, in the possession of Samuel Ward, Esq., of New York, which see — or rather see the beautiful lines of Halleck: — "'If he were with me, King of Tuscarora! Gazing as I upon thy portrait now, In all its medalled, fring'd, and beaded glory, Its eyes' dark beauty and its tranquil brow — Its brow, half martial, and half diplomatic, Its eye, upsoaring like an eagle's wings — Well might he boast that we, the democratic, Outrival Europe, even in our kings!'" 328 HISTORIC MACKINAC ing. The orator, after whispering with the chief, made a long and vehement speech in a loud, emphatic voice, and at every pause the auditors exclaimed, 'Hah!' in sign of appro bation. I remarked that he sometimes made a jest which called forth a general smile, even from the interpreter and Mr. Schoolcraft. Only a few sentences were translated: from which I understood that they all considered this offer as a violation of the treaty which their great father at Wash ington, the President, had made with them. They did not want goods — they wanted the stipulated dollars. Many of their young men had procured goods from the traders on credit, and depended on the money due to them to discharge their debts; and, in short, the refusal was distinct and decided. I am afraid, however, it will not avail them much.6 The mean petty-trader style in which the Ameri can officials make (and break) their treaties with the Indians is shameful. I met with none who attempted to deny it or excuse it. Mr. Schoolcraft told me that during the time he had been Indian agent (five-and-twenty years) he had never known the Indians to violate a treaty or break a promise. He could not say the same of his government, and the present business appeared most distasteful to him; but he was obliged to obey the order from the head of his department. "The Indians make witty jests on the bad faith of the 'Big Knives ! ' 7 'My father ! ' said a distinguished Pottowot- 6 Since my return to England I found the following passage in the Morning Chronicle, extracted from the American papers:— The Indians of Michigan have committed several shocking murders, in consequence of the payments due to them on land-treaties being made in goods instead of money. Serious alarm on that subject prevails in the State. The wretched individuals murdered were probably settlers, quite inno cent in this business, probably women and children; but such is the well- known Indian law of retaliation. 7 The Indians gave the name of Cheemokomaun (Long Knives, or THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 329 tomie chief at the treaty of Chicago — 'my father, you have made several promises to your red children, and you have put the money down upon the table ; but as fast as you put it upon the top, it has slipped away to the bottom, in a man ner that is incomprehensible to us. We do not know what becomes of it. When we get together, and divide it among ourselves, it is nothing! and we remain as poor as ever. My father, I only explain to you the words of my brethren. We can only see what is before our eyes, and are unable to comprehend all things.' Then pointing to a newspaper which lay on the table — 'you see that paper on the table before you — it is double. You can see what is upon the upper sheet, but you cannot see what is below. We cannot tell how our money goes!' "On the present occasion, two orators spoke, and the council lasted above two hours; but I left the room long before the proceedings were over. I must needs confess it to you — I cannot overcome one disagreeable obstacle to a near communion with these people. The genuine Indian has a very peculiar odour, unlike anything of the kind that ever annoyed my fastidious senses. One ought to get over these things; and after all it is not so offensive as it is peculiar. You have probably heard that horses brought up in the white settlements can smell an Indian at a great distance, and show evident signs of perturbation and terror whenever they snuff an Indian in the air. For myself, on passing over the place on which a lodge has stood, and whence it has been removed several hours, though it was the hard pebbly beach on the water edge, I could scent the Indian in the atmosphere. You can imagine, therefore, Big Knives) to the Americans at the time they were defeated by General Wayne, near the Miami River, in 1795, and suffered so severely from the sabres of the cavalry. 330 HISTORIC MACKINAC that fifty of them in one room, added to the smell of their tobacco, which is detestable, and the smoking and all its unmentionable consequences, drove me from the spot. The truth is, that a woman of very delicate and fastidious habits must leam to endure some very disagreeable things, or she had best stay at home. "In the afternoon, Mr. Johnston informed me that the Indians were preparing to dance, for my particular amuse ment. I was, of course, most thankful and delighted. Almost in the same moment, I heard their yells and shrieks resounding along the shore, mingled with the measured monotonous dmm. We had taken our place on an elevated platform behind the house — a kind of little lawn on the hill-side: — the precipitous rocks, clothed with trees and bushes, rose high like a wall above us; the glorious sun shine of a cloudless summer's day was over our heads — the dazzling blue lake and its islands at our feet. Soft and elysian in its beauty was all around. And when these wild and more than half -naked figures came up, leaping, whooping, drumming, shrieking, hideously painted, and flourishing clubs, tomahawks, javelins, it was like a masque of fiends breaking into paradise! The rabble of Comus might have boasted themselves comely in comparison, even though no self-deluding potion had bleared their eyes and intellect. It was a grotesque and horrible phantasmagoria. Of their style of clothing, I say nothing — for, as it is wisely said, nothing can come of nothing: — only if 'all symbols be clothes,' according td a great modern philosopher — my Indian friends were as little symbolical as you can dare to imagine: — passons par la. If the blankets and leggings were thrown aside, all the resources of the Indian toilette, all their store of feathers, and bears' claws, hawks' bells, THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 331 vermilion, soot, and verdigris, were brought into requisition as decoration : and no two were alike. One man wore three or four heads of hair, composed of the manes and tails of animals; another wore a pair of deers' horns; another was coiffe with the skins and feathers of a crane or some such bird — its long bill projecting from his forehead; another had the shell of a small turtle suspended from his back, and dangling behind ; another used the skin of a polecat for the same purpose. One had painted his right leg with red bars, and his left leg with green lines; parti-coloured eyes and faces, green noses, and blue chins, or vice versa, were general. I observed that in this grotesque deformity, in the care with which every thing like symmetry or harmony in form or colours was avoided, there was something evi dently studied and artistical. The orchestra was composed of two drums and two rattles, and a chorus of voices. The song was without melody — a perpetual repetition of three or four notes, melancholy, harsh, and monotonous. A flag was stuck in the ground, and round this they began their dance — if dance it could be called, — the movements con sisting of the alternate raising of one foot, then the other, and swinging the body to and fro. Every now and then they paused, and set forth that dreadful, prolonged, tremulous yell, which re-echoed from the cliffs, and pierced my ears and thrilled along my nerves. The whole exhibition was of that finished barbarism, that it was at least complete in its way, and for a time I looked on with curiosity and interest. But that innate loathing which dwells within me for all that is discordant and deformed, rendered it anything but pleas ant to witness. It grated horribly upon all my perceptions. In the midst, one of those odd and unaccountable transi tions of thought caused by some mental or physical reaction 332 HISTORIC MACKINAC — the law which brings extremes in contrast together — came across me. I was reminded that even on this very day last year I was seated in a box at the opera, looking at Carlotta Grisi and Perrot dancing, or rather flying through the galoppe in 'Benyowsky.' The oddity of this sudden association made me laugh, which being interpreted into the expression of my highest approbation, they became every moment more horribly ferocious and animated; re doubled the vigour of their detestably awkward movements and the shrillness of their savage yells, till I began invol untarily to look about for some means of escape — but this would have been absolutely rude, and I restrained myself. "I should not forget to mention that the figures of most of the men were superb ; more agile and elegant, however, than muscular, more fitted for the chase than for labour, with small and well-formed hands and feet. When the dance was ended, a young warrior, leaving the group, sat himself down on a little knoll to rest. His spear lay across his knees, and he reposed his head upon his hand. He was not painted, except with a little vermilion on his chest, and on his head he wore only the wing of the osprey. He sat there, a model for a sculptor. The perfection of his form, the graceful abandonment of his attitude, reminded me of a young Mercury, or of Thorwaldsen's 'Shepherd Boy.' I went up to speak to him, and thanked him for his exertions in the dance, which indeed had been conspicuous; and then, for want of something else to say, I asked him if he had a wife and children? The whole expression of his face suddenly changed, and with an air as tenderly coy as that of a young girl listening to the first whisper of a lover, he looked down and answered softly, 'Kah-ween!' No indeed! Feeling that I had for the first time embarrassed THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC— 1837 333 an Indian, I withdrew, really as much out of countenance as the youth himself. I did not ask him his name, for that were a violation of the Indian form of good breeding, but I learn that he is called the Pouncing Hawk. West's com parison of the Apollo Belvedere to a young Mohawk war rior has more of likelihood and reasonableness than I ever believed or acknowledged before. "A keg of tobacco and a barrel of flour were given to them, and they dispersed as they came, drumming, and yelling and leaping, and flourishing their clubs and war hatchets." CHAPTER XIII A CANOE VOYAGE FROM MACKINAC TO THE "SOO" IN 1837 THIS delightful sketch is a continuation of Mrs. Jame son's account of her visit to the North.1 It is dated July 29: "Where was I? Where did I leave off four days ago? 0 — at Mackinac! that Fairy Island, which I shall never see again, and which I should have dearly liked to filch from the Americans, and carry home to you in my dressing box, or, perdie, in my tooth-pick case ; but, good lack, to see the ups and downs of this (new) world. I take up my tale a hundred miles from it; but before I tell you where I am now, I must take you over the ground, or rather over the water, in a proper and journal-like style. "I was sitting last Friday, at sultry noon-tide, under the shadow of a schooner which had just anchored alongside the little pier — sketching and dreaming — when up came a messenger, breathless, to say that a boat was going off for the Sault-Sainte-Marie, in which I could be accommodated with a passage. Now this was precisely what I had been wishing and waiting for, and yet I heard the information with an emotion of regret. I had become every day more attached to the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft, more interested about her; and the idea of parting, and parting suddenly, took me by surprise, and was anything but agreeable. On 1 Mrs. Jameson's Sketches in Canada, pp. 219-242 ¦ 262-263 334 A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 335 reaching the house, I found all in movement, and learned, to my inexpressible delight, that my friend would take the opportunity of paying a visit to her mother and family, and, with her children, was to accompany me on my voyage. "We had but one hour to prepare packages, provisions, everything, — and in one hour all was ready. "This voyage of two days was to be made in a litde Cana dian bateau, rowed by five voyageurs from the Sault. The boat might have carried fifteen persons, hardly more, and was rather clumsy in form. The two ends were appro priated to the rowers, baggage, and provisions; in the centre there was a clear space, with a locker on each side, on which we sat or reclined, having stowed away in them our small and more valuable packages. This was the internal arrangement. "The distance to the Sault, or as the Americans call it, the Soo, is not more than thirty miles overland as the bird flies ; but the whole region being one mass of tangled forest and swamp, infested with bears and mosquitoes, it is seldom crossed but in winter, and in snow-shoes. The usual route by water is ninety-four miles. "At three o'clock in the afternoon, with a favourable breeze, we launched forth on the lake, and having rowed about a mile from the shore, the little square sail was hoisted, and away we went merrily over the blue waters. "For a detailed account of the voyageurs, or Canadian boatmen, their peculiar condition and mode of life, I refer you to Washington Irving's Astoria. What he describes them to have been, and what Henry represents them in his time, they are even now, in these regions of the upper lakes. But the voyageurs in our boat were not favourable speci mens of their very amusing and peculiar class. They were 336 HISTORIC MACKINAC fatigued with rowing for three days previous, and had only two helpless women to deal with. As soon, therefore, as the sail was hoisted, two began to play cards on the top of a keg, the other two went to sleep. The youngest and most intelligent of the set, a lively half-breed boy of eighteen, took the helm. He told us with great self-complacency that he was captain, and that it was already the third time that he had been elected by his comrades to this dignity; but I cannot say he had a very obedient crew. "About seven o'clock we landed to cook our supper on an island which is commemorated by Henry as the Isle des Outardes, and is now Goose Island. Mrs. Schoolcraft undertook the general management with all the alertness of one accustomed to these impromptu arrangements, and I did my best in my new vocation — dragged one or two blasted boughs to the fire, the least of them twice as big as myself, and laid the cloth upon the pebbly beach. The enormous fire was to keep off the mosquitoes, in which we succeeded pretty well, swallowing, however, as much smoke as would have dried us externally into hams or red her rings. We then returned to the boat, spread a bed for the children (who were my delight) in the bottom of it with mats and blankets, and disposed our own, on the lockers on each side, with buffalo skins, blankets, shawls, cloaks, and whatever was available, with my writing case for a pillow. "After sunset, the breeze fell; the men were urged to row, but pleaded fatigue, and that they were hired for the day and not for the night (which is the custom). One by one they sulkily abandoned their oars, and sunk to sleep under their blankets, all but our young captain: like Ulysses when steering away from Calypso — A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 337 " 'Placed at the helm, he sat, and watched the skies, Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes.' "He kept himself awake by singing hymns, in which Mrs. Schoolcraft joined him. I lay still, looking up at the stars and listening: when there was a pause in the singing, we kept up the conversation, fearing lest sleep should over come our only pilot and guardian. Thus we floated on beneath that divine canopy — 'which love had spread to cur tain the sleeping world': it was a most lovely and blessed night, bright and calm and warm, and we made some little way, for both wind and current were in our favour. "As we were coasting a little shadowy island, our captain mentioned a strange circumstance, very illustrative of In dian life and character. A short time ago a young Chip pewa hunter, whom he knew, was shooting squirrels on this spot, when by some chance a blighted pine fell upon him, knocking him down and crushing his leg, which was frac tured in two places. He could not rise, he could not remove the tree which was lying across his broken leg. He was in a little uninhabited island, without the slightest probability of passing aid; and to lie there and starve in agonies, seemed all that was left to him. In this dilemma, with all the fortitude and promptitude of resource of a thorough-bred Indian, he took out his knife, cut off his own leg, bound it up, dragged himself along the ground to his hunting canoe, and paddled himself home to his wigwam on a distant island, where the cure of his wound was com pleted. The man is still alive. "Perhaps this story appears incredible. I believe it firmly. At the time, and since then, I heard other instances of Indian fortitude, and of their courage and skill in per forming some of the boldest and most critical operations in 338 HISTORIC MACKINAC surgery, which I really cannot venture to set down. But I will mention two of the least marvellous. There was a young chief, and famous hunter, whose arm was shattered by the bursting of his rifle. No one would venture the amputation, and it was bound up with certain herbs and dressings, accompanied with many magical ceremonies. The young man, who seemed aware of the inefficacy of such expedients, waited till the moment when he should be left alone. He had meantime, with pain and difficulty, hacked one of his knives into a saw; with this he completed the amputation of his own arm; and when his relations ap peared they found the arm lying at one end of the wigwam, and the patient sitting at the other, with his wound bound up, and smoking with great tranquility. "We remained in conversation till long after midnight; then the boat was moored to a tree, but kept off shore, for fear of the mosquitoes, and we addressed ourselves to sleep. I remember lying awake for some minutes, looking up at the quiet stars, and around upon the dark weltering waters, and at the faint waning moon, just suspended on the very edge of the horizon. I saw it sink — sink into the bosom of the lake as if to rest, and then with a thought of far-off friends, and a most fervent thanksgiving, I dropped to sleep. It is odd that I did not think of praying for pro tection, and that no sense of fear came over me; it seemed as if the eye of God himself looked down upon me; that I was protected. I do not say I thought this any more than the unweaned child in its cradle; but I had some such feel ing of unconscious tmst and love, now I recall those mo ments. "I slept, however, uneasily, not being yet accustomed to A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 339 a board and a blanket; ga viendra avec le temps. About dawn I awoke in a sort of stupor, but after bathing my face and hands over the boat side, I felt refreshed. The voyageurs, after a good night's rest, were in better humour, and took manfully to their oars. Soon after sunrise, we passed round that very conspicuous cape, famous in the history of north-west adventure, called the 'Grand Detour,' half-way between Mackinac and the Sault. Now, if you look at the map you will see that our course was henceforth quite altered; we had been running down the coast of the mainland towards the east; we had now to turn short round the point, and steer almost due west; hence its most fitting name, the Grand Detour. The wind, hitherto favourable, was now dead against us. This part of Lake Huron is studded with litde islands, which, as well as the neighbor ing mainland, are all uninhabited, yet clothed with the richest, loveliest, most fantastic vegetation, and no doubt swarming with animal life. "I cannot, I dare not, attempt to describe to you the strange sensation one has, thus thrown for a time beyond the bounds of civilized humanity, or, indeed, any humanity ; nor the wild yet solemn reveries which come over one in the midst of this wilderness of woods and waters. All was so solitary, so grand in its solitude, as if nature unviolated sufficed to herself. Two days and nights the solitude was unbroken; not a trace of social life, not a human being, not a canoe, not even a deserted wigwam, met our view. Our little boat held on its way over the placid lake, and among green tufted islands; and we its inmates, two women, dif fering in clime, nation, complexion, strangers to each other but a few days ago, might have fancied ourselves alone in a new-born world. 340 HISTORIC MACKINAC "We landed to boil our kettle, and breakfast on a point of the island of St. Joseph's. This most beautiful island is between thirty and forty miles in length, and nearly a hundred miles in circumference, and towards the centre the land is high and picturesque. They tell me that on the other side of the island there is a settlement of whites and Indians. Another large island, Drummond's Isle, was for a short time in view. We had also a settlement here, but it was unaccountably surrendered to the Americans. If now you look at the map, you will wonder, as I did, that in retaining St. Joseph's and the Manitoulin Islands, we gave up Drummond's Island. Both these islands had forts and garrisons during the war. "By the time breakfast was over, the children had gath ered some fine strawberries; the heat had now become al most intolerable, and unluckily we had no awning. The men rowed languidly, and we made but little way; we coasted along the south shore of St. Joseph's, through fields of rashes, miles in extent, across Lake George, and Muddy Lake (the name, I thought, must be a libel, for it was as clear as crystal and as blue as heaven; but they say that, like a sulky temper, the least ruffle of wind turns it as black as ditchwater, and it does not subside again in a hurry) , and then came a succession of openings spotted with lovely islands, all solitary. The sky was without a cloud, a speck — except when the great fish-eagle was descried sailing over its blue depths — the water without a wave. We were too hot and too languid to converse. Nothing dis turbed the deep noon-tide stillness, but the dip of the oars, or the spring and splash of a sturgeon as he leapt from the surface of the lake, leaving a circle of little wavelets spreading around. All the islands we passed were so A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 341 woody, and so infested with mosquitoes, that we could not land and light our fire, till we reached the entrance of St. Mary's River, between Neebish Island and the mainland. "Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening on a flat shore, called the Encampment, because a party of boatmen coming down from Lake Superior, and camp ing here for the night, were surprised by the frost, and obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven o'clock against the wind (what there was of it), and against the current coming rapidly and strongly down from Lake Superior, we did at length reach this promised harbour of rest and refreshment. "I offered an extra gratuity to the men, if they would keep to their oars without interruption; and then, fairly exhausted, lay down on my locker and blanket. But when ever I woke from uneasy, restless slumbers, there was Mrs. Schoolcraft, bending over her sleeping children, singing all the time a low, melancholy Indian song; while the north ern lights were streaming and dancing in the sky, and the fitful moaning of the wind, the gathering clouds, and chilly atmosphere foretold a change of weather. This would have been the comble de malheur. When daylight came, we passed Sugar Island, where immense quantities of maple sugar are made every spring, and just as the rain began to fall in earnest we arrived at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. On one side of the river, Mrs. Schoolcraft was welcomed by her mother; and on the other, my friends, the MacMurrays, received me with delighted and delightful hospitality. I went to bed — oh! the luxury! — and slept for six hours. "Enough of solemn reveries on star-lit lakes — enough — 342 HISTORIC MACKINAC too much — of self and self-communings; I turn over a new leaf, and this shall be a chapter of geography, and topogra phy, natural philosophy, and such wise-like things. Draw the curtain first, for if I look out any longer on those surg ing rapids, I shall certainly turn giddy — forget all the memoranda I have been collecting for you, lose my reckon ing, and become unintelligible to you and myself too. "This River of St. Mary is, like the Detroit and the St. Clair, already described, properly a strait, the channel of communication between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. About ten miles higher up, the great ocean-lake narrows to a point; then, forcing a channel through the high lands, comes rushing along till it meets with a downward ledge, or cliff, over which it throws itself in foam and fury, tearing a path for its billows through the rocks. The descent is about twenty-seven feet in three quarters of a mile, but the rush begins above, and the tumult continues below the fall, so that, on the whole, the eye embraces an expanse of white foam measuring about a mile each way, the effect being exactly that of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore : not so terrific, nor on so large a scale, as the rapids of Niagara, but quite as beautiful — quite as animated. "What the French call a saut (leap), we term a fall; the Sault-Sainte-Marie is translated into the falls of St. Mary. By this name the rapids are often mentioned, but the village on their shore still retains its old name, and is called the Sault. I do not know why the beautiful river and its glorious cataracts should have been placed under the peculiar patronage of the Blessed Virgin; perhaps from the union of exceeding loveliness with irresistible power; or, more probably, because the first adventurers reached the spot on some day hallowed in the calendar. A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 343 "The French, ever active and enterprising, were the first who penetrated to this wild region. They had an important trading post here early in the last century, and also a small fort. They were ceded, with the rest of the country, to Great Britain, in 1762.2 I wonder whether, at that time, the young king or any of his ministers had the least concep tion of the value and immensity of the magnificent country thrown into our possession, or gave a thought to the respon sibilities it brought with it! — to be sure they made good haste, both king and ministers, to get rid of most of the responsibility. The American war began, and at its con clusion the south shore of St. Mary's, and the fort, were surrendered to the Americans. "The rapids of Niagara, as I once told you, reminded me of a monstrous tiger at play, and threw me into a sort of ecstatic terror; but these rapids of St. Mary suggest quite another idea: as they come fretting and fuming down, curling up their light foam, and wreathing their glancing billows round the opposing rocks, with a sort of passionate self-will, they remind me of an exquisitely beautiful woman in a fit of rage, or of Walter Scott's simile — 'one of the Graces possessed by a Fury;' — there is no terror in their anger, only the sense of excitement and loveliness; when it has spent this sudden, transient fit of impatience, the beautiful river resumes all its placid dignity, and holds on its course, deep and wide enough to float a squadron of seventy-fours, and rapid and pellucid as a mountain trout-stream. "Here, as everywhere else, I am struck by the difference [The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.] 2 The first British commandant of the fort was Lieutenant Jemette, who was scalped at the massacre at Michilimackinac. 344 HISTORIC MACKINAC between the two shores. On the American side there is a settlement of whites, as well as a large village of Chip pewas; there is also a mission (I believe of the Methodists), for the conversion of the Indians. The fort, which has been lately strengthened, is merely a strong and high en closure, surrounded with pickets of cedar-wood; within the stockade are the barracks, and the principal trading store. This fortress is called Fort Brady, after that gallant officer whom I have already mentioned to you. The gar rison may be very effective for aught I know, but I never beheld such an unmilitary-looking set. When I was there to-day, the sentinels were lounging up and down in their flannel jackets and shirt sleeves, with muskets thrown over their shoulders — just for all the world like ploughboys going to shoot sparrows; however, they are in keeping with the fortress of cedar-posts, and no doubt both answer their purpose very well. The village is increasing into a town, and the commercial advantages of its situation must raise it ere long to a place of importance. "On the Canada side we have not even these demonstra tions of power or prosperity. Nearly opposite to the American fort there is a small factory belonging to the North-west Fur Company; below this, a few miserable log huts, occupied by some French Canadians and voyageurs in the service of the company, a set of lawless mauvais sujets, from all I can leam. Lower down stands the house of Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray, with the Chippewa village under their care and tuition; but most of the wigwams and their inhabitants are now on their way down the lake, to join the congress at the Manitoulin Islands. A lofty eminence, partly cleared and partly clothed with forest, rises behind the house, on which stand the little mission church and TRINITV EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT MACKINAC ISLAND MISSION HOUSE AND SCHOOL AT MACKINAC ISLAND From an old print appearing in Quarterly Paper of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. No. XX. 1835. A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 345 school-house for the use of the Indian converts. From the summit of this hill you look over the traverse into Lake Superior, and the two giant capes which guard its entrance. One of these capes is called Gros-Cap, from its bold and lofty cliffs, the yet unviolated haunt of the eagle. The op posite cape is more accessible, and bears an Indian name, which I cannot pretend to spell, but which signifies 'the place of the Iroquois' bones' : it was the scene of a wild and terrific tradition. At the time that the Iroquois (or Six Nations) were driven before the French and Hurons up to the western lakes, they endeavored to possess themselves of the hunting-grounds of the Chippewas, and hence a bitter and lasting feud between the two nations. The Iroquois, after defeating the Chippewas, encamped, a thousand strong, upon this point, where, thinking themselves secure, they made a war feast to torture and devour their prisoners. The Chippewas, from the opposite shore, beheld the suffer ings and humiliation of their friends, and, roused to sud den fury by the sight, collected their warriors, only three hundred in all, crossed the channel, and at break of day fell upon the Iroquois, now sleeping after their horrible excesses, and massacred every one of them, men, women and children. Of their own party they lost but one warrior, who was stabbed with an awl by an old woman who was sitting at the entrance of her wigwam, stitching moccasins: thus runs the tale. The bodies were left to bleach on the shore, and they say that bones and skulls are still found there. "Here, at the foot of the rapids, the celebrated white-fish of the lakes is caught in its highest perfection. The people down below,3 who boast of the excellence of the white-fish, 3 That is, in tlie neighborhood of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. 346 HISTORIC MACKINAC really know nothing of the matter. There is no more com parison between St. Mary's than between plaice and turbot, or between a clam and a Sandwich oyster. I ought to be a judge, who have eaten them fresh out of the water four times a day, and I declare to you that I never tasted any thing of the fish kind half so exquisite. If the Roman Apicius had lived in these latter days, he would certainly have made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the white-fish of St. Mary's river, and would not have returned in dudgeon, as he did, from the coast of Africa. But the epicures of our degenerate times have nothing of that gastronomical enthusiasm which inspired their ancient models, else we should have them all coming here to eat white-fish at the Sault, and scorning cockney white-bait. Henry declares that the flavour of the white-fish is 'beyond any comparison whatever' and I add my testimony thereto — probatum est! "I have eaten tunny in the gulf of Genoa, anchovies fresh out of the bay of Naples, and trout of the Salz-kammergut, and divers other fishy dainties rich and rare — but the exquisite, the refined white-fish exceeds them all; con cerning those cannibal fish (mullets were they, or lam preys?) which Lucullus fed in his fish-ponds, I cannot speak, never having tasted them; but even if they could be resuscitated, I would not degrade the refined, the delicate white-fish by a comparison with any such barbarian luxury. "But seriously, and badinage apart, it is really the most luxurious delicacy that swims the waters. It is said that people never tire of them. Mr. MacMurray tells me that he has eaten them every day of his life for seven years, and that his relish for them is undiminished. The enor mous quantities caught here, and in the bays and creeks A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 347 round Lake Superior, remind me of herrings in the lochs of Scotland ; besides subsisting the inhabitants, whites and Indians, during a great part of the year, vast quantities are cured and barrelled every fall, and sent down to the eastern states. Not less than eight thousand barrels were shipped last year. "These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another profitable speculation here; there is a fish found in great quantities in the upper part of Lake Superior, called the skevat,4 so exceedingly rich, luscious, and oily, when fresh, as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman here told me that he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any time, and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two or three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that this fish makes a most luxurious pickle. It is very excel lent, but so rich even in this state, that, like tunny marinee, it is necessary either to taste abstemiously, or die heroically of indigestion. This fish is becoming a fashionable lux ury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred bar rels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several schooners on the lakes employed in these fisheries; we have not one. They have besides planned a ship canal through the portage here, which will open a communication for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, as our Wetland Canal has united Lake Erie and Lake On tario. The ground has already been surveyed for this purpose. When this canal is completed, a vessel may load in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper end of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you, that you may take in at a glance this wonderful extent of inland navigation. Ought a country possessing it, and all 4 1 spell the word as pronounced, never having seen it written. 348 HISTORIC MACKINAC the means of life beside, to remain poor, oppressed, uncul tivated, unknown? "But to return to my beautiful river and glorious rapids, which are to be treated, you see, as a man treats a beautiful passionate beauty — he does not oppose her, for that were madness — but he gets round her. Well, on the American side, further down the river, is the house of Tanner, the Indian interpreter, of whose story you may have heard — for, as I remember, it excited some attention in England. He is a European, of unmixed blood, with the language, manners, habits of a Red-skin. He had been kidnapped somewhere on the American frontiers when a mere boy, and brought up among the Chippewas. He afterwards returned to civilized life, and having re-learned his own language, drew up a very entertaining and valuable account of his adopted tribe. He is now in the American service here, having an Indian wife, and is still attached to his Indian mode of life. "Just above the fort is the ancient burial-place of the Chippewas. I need not tell you of the profound veneration with which all the Indian tribes regard the places of their dead. In all their treaties for the cession of their lands, they stipulate with the white man for the inviolability of their sepulchres. They did the same with regard to this place, but I am sorry to say that it has not been attended to, for in enlarging one side of the fort, they have consid erably encroached on the cemetery. The outrage excited both the sorrow and indignation of some of my friends here, but there is no redress. Perhaps it was this circum stance that gave rise to the allusion of the Indian chief here, when in speaking of the French he said, 'They never mo lested the places of our dead!' A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 349 "The view of the rapids from this spot is inexpressibly beautiful, and it has besides another attraction, which makes it to me a frequent lounge whenever I cross the river; — but of this by-and-bye. To complete my sketch of the localities, I will only add, that the whole country around is in its primitive state, covered with the interminable swamp and forest, where the bear and the moose-deer roam — and lakes and living streams where the beaver builds his hut.B The cariboo, or rein-deer, is still found on the northern shores. "The hunting-grounds of the Chippewas are in the imme diate neighborhood and extended all round Lake Superior. Beyond these, on the north, are the Chippewyans; and on the south, the Sioux, Ottagamis, and Pottowottomies. "I might here multiply facts and details, but I have been obliged to throw these particulars together in haste, just to give you an idea of my present situation. Time presses, and my sojourn in this remote and interesting spot is like to be of short duration. "One of the gratifications I had anticipated in coming hither — my strongest inducement perhaps — was an intro duction to the mother of my two friends, of whom her chil dren so delighted to speak, and of whom I had heard much from other sources. A woman of pure Indian blood, of a race celebrated in these regions as warriors and chiefs from generation to generation, who had never re- 5 The beaver is, however, becoming rare in these regions. It is a curious fact connected with the physiology and psychology of instinct, that the beaver is found to change its instincts and modes of life, as it has been more and more persecuted, and, instead of being a gregarious, it is now a solitary animal. The beavers, which are found living in solitary holes instead of communities and villages, the Indian call by a name which signifies Old Bachelor. 350 HISTORIC MACKINAC sided within the pale of what we call civilized life, whose habits and manners were those of a genuine Indian squaw, and whose talents and domestic virtues commanded the highest respect, was, as you may suppose, an object of the deepest interest to me. I observed that not only her own children, but her two sons-in-law, Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Schoolcraft, both educated in good society, the one a clergy man and the other a man of science and literature, looked up to this remarkable woman with sentiments of affection and veneration. "As soon, then, as I was a little refreshed after my two nights on the lake, and my battles with the mosquitoes, we paddled over the river to dine with Mrs. Johnston; she resides in a large log-house close upon the shore; there is a little portico in front with seats, and the interior is most comfortable. The old lady herself is rather large in person, with the strongest marked Indian features, a countenance open, benevolent, and intelligent, and a man ner perfectly easy — simple, yet with something of motherly dignity, becoming the head of her large family. She re ceived me most affectionately, and we entered into conver sation — Mrs. Schoolcraft, who looked all animation and happiness, acting as interpreter. Mrs. Johnston speaks no English, but can understand it a little, and the Cana dian French still better; but in her own language she is eloquent, and her voice, like that of her people, low and musical; many kind words were exchanged, and when I said anything that pleased her, she laughed softly like a child. I was not well and much fevered, and I remember she took me in her arms, laid me down on a couch, and began to mb my feet, soothing and caressing me. She called me Nindannis, daughter, and I called her Neengai, A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 351 mother (though how different from my own fair mother, I thought, as I looked up gratefully in her dark Indian face! ) . She set before us the best dressed and best served dinner I had seen since I left Toronto, and presided at her table, and did the honours of her house with unem barrassed, unaffected propriety. My attempts to speak Indian caused, of course, considerable amusement; if I do not make progress, it will not be for want of teaching and teachers. "After dinner we took a walk to visit Mrs. Johnston's brother, Wayish,ky, whose wigwam is at a little distance, on the verge of the burial-ground. The lodge is of the genuine Chippewa form, like an egg cut in half lengthways. It is formed of poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at top, strengthened with a few wattles and boards; the whole is covered over with mats, birch-bark, and skins; a large blanket formed the door or curtain, which was not ungracefully looped aside. Wayish,ky, being a great man, has also a smaller lodge hard by, which serves as a store house and kitchen. "Rude as was the exterior of Wayish,ky's hut, the interior presented every appearance of comfort, and even elegance, according to the Indian notions of both. It formed a good- sized room: a raised couch ran all round like a Turkish divan, serving both for seats and beds, and covered with very soft and beautiful matting of various colours and patterns. The chests and baskets of birch-bark, containing the family ward-robe and property; the rifles, the hunting and fishing tackle, were stowed away all round very tidily; I observed a coffee-mill nailed up to one of the posts or stakes; the floor was trodden down hard and perfectly clean, and there was a place for a fire in the middle: there was no 352 HISTORIC MACKINAC window, but quite sufficient light and air were admitted through the door, and through an aperture in the roof. There was no disagreeable smell, and everything looked neat and clean. We found Wayish,ky and his wife and three of their children seated in the lodge, and as it was Sunday, and they are all Christians, no work was going forward. They received me with genuine and simple po liteness, each taking my hand with a gentle inclination of the head, and some words of welcome murmured in their own soft language. We then sat down. "The conversation became very lively; and, if I might judge from looks and tones, very affectionate. I sported my last new words and phrases with great effect, and when I had exhausted my vocabulary — which was very soon — I amused myself with looking and listening. "Mrs. Wayish,ky (I forgot her proper name) must have been a very beautiful woman. Though now no longer young, and the mother of twelve children, she is one of the handsomest Indian women I have yet seen. The number of her children is remarkable, for in general there are few large families among the Indians. Her daughter, Zah,- gah,see,ga,quay (the sunbeams breaking through a cloud) is a very beautiful girl, with eyes that are a warrant for her poetical name — she is about sixteen. Wayish,ky him self is a grave, dignified man about fifty. He told me that his eldest son had gone down to the Manitoulin Island to represent his family, and receive his quota of presents. His youngest son he had sent to a college in the United States, to be educated in the learning of the white men. Mrs. Schoolcraft whispered me that this poor boy is now dying of consumption, owing to the confinement and change of living, and that the parents knew it. Wayish,ky seemed A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 353 aware that we were alluding to his son, for his eye at that moment rested on me, and such an expression of keen pain came suddenly over his fine countenance, it was as if a knife had struck him, and I really felt it in my heart, and see it still before me — that look of misery. "After about an hour we left this good and interesting family. I lingered for a while on the burial-ground, look ing over the rapids, and watching with a mixture of admira tion and terror several little canoes which were fishing in the midst of the boiling surge, dancing and popping about like corks. The canoe used for fishing is very small and light; one man, (or woman more commonly) sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle; the fisher places himself upright on the prow, balancing a long pole with both hands, at the end of which is a scoop-net. This he every minute dips into the water, bringing up at each dip a fish, and sometimes two. I used to admire the fishermen on the Arno, and those on the Lagune, and above all the Neapol itan fishermen, hauling in their nets, or diving like ducks, but I never saw anything like these Indians. The manner in which they keep their position upon a footing of a few inches, is to me as incomprehensible as the beauty of their forms and attitudes, swayed by every movement and turn of their dancing, fragile barks, is admirable. "George Johnston, on whose arm I was leaning (and I had much ado to reach it), gave me such a vivid idea of the delight of coming down the cataract in a canoe, that I am half resolved to attempt it. Terrific as it appears, yet in a good canoe, and with experienced guides, there is no absolute danger, and it must be a glorious sensation. "Mr. Johnston had spent the last fall and winter in the regions beyond Lake Superior, towards the forks of the 354 HISTORIC MACKINAC Mississippi, where he had been employed as American agent to arrange the boundary line between the country of the Chippewas and that of their neighbours and implacable enemies, the Sioux. His mediation appeared successful for the time, and he smoked the pipe of peace with both tribes; but during the spring this ferocious war has again broken out, and he seems to think that nothing but the annihilation of either one nation or the other will entirely put an end to their conflicts; 'for there is no point at which the law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of one of the parties.' "I asked him how it is that in their wars the Indians make no distinction between the warriors opposed to them and helpless women and children? — how could it be with a brave and manly people, that the scalps taken from the weak, the helpless, the unresisting, were as honourable as those torn from the warrior's skull? And I described to him the horror which this custom inspired — this, which of all their customs, most justifies the name of savage! "He said it was inseparable from their principles of war and their mode of warfare; the first consists of inflicting the greatest possible insult and injury on their foe with the least possible risk to themselves. This truly savage law of hon our we might call cowardly, but that, being associated with the bravest contempt of danger and pain, it seems nearer to the natural law. With regard to the mode of warfare, they have rarely pitched battles, but skirmishes, surprises, am buscades, and sudden forays into each other's hunting- grounds and villages. The usual practice is to creep stealthily on the enemy's village or hunting-encampment, and wait till just after the dawn; then, at the moment the sleepers in the lodges are rising, the ambushed warriors A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 355 stoop and level their pieces about two feet from the ground, which thus slaughter indiscriminately. If they find one of the enemy's lodges undefended they murder its inmates, that when the owner returns he may find his hearth deso late; for this is exquisite vengeance! But outrage against the chastity of women is absolutely unknown under any degree whatever of furious excitement.6 "This respect for female honour will remind you of the ancient Germans, as described by Julius Caesar; he con trasts in some surprise their forbearance with the very opposite conduct of the Romans; and even down to this present day, if I recollect rightly, the history of our Euro pean wars and sieges will bear out this early and character istic distinction between the Latin and the Teutonic nations. Am I right, or am I not? "To return to the Indians. After telling me some other particulars, which gave me a clearer view of their notions and feelings on these points than I ever had before, my informant mildly added, — 'It is a constant and favourite subject of reproach against the Indians — this barbarism of their desultory warfare; but I should think more women and children had perished in one of your civilized sieges, and that in late times, than during the whole war between the Chippewas and Sioux, and that has lasted a century.' "I was silent, for there is a sensible proverb about taking care of our own glass windows; I wonder if any of the recorded atrocities of Indian warfare or Indian vengeance, or all of them together, ever exceeded Massena's retreat 8 "The whole history of Indian warfare," says Mr. Schoolcraft, "might be challenged in vain for a solitary instance of this kind. The Indians be lieve that to take a dishonourable advantage of their female prisoners would destroy their luck in hunting; it would be considered as effeminate and degrading in a warrior, and render him unfit for, and unworthy of, all manly achievement." 356 HISTORIC MACKINAC from Portugal — and the French call themselves civilized. A war party of Indians, perhaps two or three hundred (and that is a very large number), dance their war dance, go out and bum a village, and bring back twenty or thirty scalps. They are savages and heathens. We Europeans fight a bat tle, leave fifty thousand dead or dying by inches on the field, and a hundred thousand to mourn them, desolate; but we are civilized and Christians. Then only look into the motives and causes of our bloodiest European wars as revealed in the private history of courts: — the miserable, puerile, degrading intrigues which set man against man — so horribly disproportioned to the horrid result! and then see the Indian take up his war-hatchet in vengeance for some personal injury, or from motives that rouse all the natural feelings of the natural man within him! Really I do not see that an Indian warrior, flourishing his toma hawk, and smeared with his enemy's blood, is so very much a greater savage than the pipe-clayed, padded, embroid ered personage, who, without cause or motive, has sold himself to slay or be slain : one scalps his enemy, the other rips him open with a sabre; one smashes his brains with a tomahawk, and the other blows him to atoms with a cannon- ball: and to me, femininely speaking, there is not a needle's point difference between the one and the other. If war be unchristian and barbarous, then war as a science is more absurd, unnatural, unchristian than war as a passion. "This, perhaps, is putting it all too strongly, and a little exaggerated — "God forbid that I should think to disparage the bless ings of civilization! I am a woman, and to the progress of civilization alone can we women look for release from many pains and penalties and liabilities, which now lie A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 357 heavily upon us. Neither am I greatly in love with savage life, with all its picturesque accompaniments and lofty virtues. I see no reason why these virtues should be neces sarily connected with dirt, ignorance, and barbarism. I am thankful to live in a land of literature and steam- engines. Chatsworth is better than a wigwam, and a seventy-four is a finer thing than a bark canoe. I do not positively assert that Taglioni dances more gracefully than the Little-Pure tobacco-smoker, nor that soap and water are preferable cosmetics to tallow and charcoal; for these are matters of taste, and mine may be disputed. But I do say, that if our advantages of intellect and refinement are not to lead on to farther moral superiority, I prefer the Indians on the score of consistency; they are what they profess to be. They profess to be warriors and hunters, and are so; we profess to be Christians and civilized — are we so? "Then as to the mere point of cruelty: — there is some thing to be said on this point too. Ferocity, when the hot blood is up, and all the demon in man is roused by every conceivable excitement, I can understand better than the Indian can comprehend the tender mercies of our law. Owyawatta, better known by his English name, Red- Jacket, was once seen hurrying from the town of Buffalo, with rapid strides, and every mark of disgust and consternation on his face. Three malefactors were to be hung that morn ing, and the Indian warrior had not nerve to face the horrid spectacle, although — " 'In sober truth the veriest devil That ere clinched fingers in a captive's hair.' "The more I looked upon those glancing, dancing rapids, the more resolute I grew to venture myself in the midst of 358 HISTORIC MACKINAC them. George Johnston went to seek a fit canoe and a dexterous steersman, and meantime I strolled away to pay a visit to Wayish,ky's family, and make a sketch of their lodge, while pretty Zah,gah,see,gah,qua, held the umbrella to shade me. "The canoe being ready, I went up to the top of the portage, and we launched into the river. It was a small fishing canoe about ten feet long, quite new, and light and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the waters. I re clined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are no seats in a genuine Indian canoe) ; in a minute we were within the verge of the rapids, and down we went, with a whirl and a splash! — the white surge leaping around me — over me. The Indian with astonishing dexterity kept the head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other we danced through them. I could see, as I looked over the edge of the canoe, that the passage between the rocks was sometimes not more than two feet in width, and we had to turn sharp angles — a touch of which would have sent us to destruction — all this I could see through the trans parent eddying waters, but I can truly say, I had not even a momentary sensation of fear, but rather of giddy, breath less, delicious excitement. I could even admire the beau tiful attitude of a fisher, past whom we swept as we came to the bottom. The whole affair, from the moment I entered the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied seven minutes, and the distance is about three-quarters of a mile.7 7 "The total descent of the Fall of St. Mary's has been ascertained to be twenty-two and a half perpendicular feet. It has been found impracticable to ascend the rapid; but canoes have ventured down, though the experi ment is extremely nervous and hazardous, and avoided by a portage, two miles long, which connects the navigable parts of the strait." — Bouchette's Canada. A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 359 "My Indians were enchanted, and when I reached home, my good friends were not less delighted at my exploit: they told me I was the first European female who had ever performed it, and assuredly I shall not be the last. I recommended it as an exercise before breakfast. As for my Neengai, she laughed, clapped her hands, and embraced me several times. I was declared duly initiated, and adopted into the family by the name of Wah, sah, ge, wah, no, qua. They had already called me among themselves, in reference to my complexion and my travelling propensi ties, 0, daw, yaun, gee, the fair changing moon, or rather, the fair moon which changes her place: but now, in com pliment to my successful achievement, Mrs. Johnston be stowed this new appellation, which I much prefer. It signi fies the bright foam, or more properly, with the feminine adjunct, qua, the woman of the bright foam; and by this name I am henceforth to be known among the Chippewas. "July 31. "This last evening of my so-journ at the Sault-Sainte- Marie, is very melancholy — we have been all very sad. Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray are to accompany me on my voyage down the lake to the Manitoulin Islands, having some business to transact with the Governor: — so you see Providence does take care of me! how I could have got there alone, I cannot tell, but I must have tried. At first we had arranged to go in a bark canoe; the very canoe which be longed to Captain Back, and which is now lying in Mr. MacMurray's court-yard: but our party will be large, and we shall be encumbered with much baggage and provisions — not having yet learned to live on the portable maize and fat: our voyage is likely to take three days and a half, even 360 HISTORIC MACKINAC if the weather continues favourable, and if it do not, why we shall be obliged to put up into some creek or harbour, and pitch our tent, gipsy fashion, for a day or two. There is not a settlement nor a habitation on our route, nothing but lake and forest. The distance is about one hundred and seventy miles, rather more than less; Mr. MacMurray therefore advises a bateau, in which, if we do not get on so quickly, we shall have more space and comfort — and thus it is to be. "I am sorry to leave these kind, excellent people, but most I regret Mrs. Schoolcraft.8 "August 1. "The morning of our departure rose bright and beauti ful, and the loading and arranging our little boat was a scene of great animation. I thought I had said all my adieus the night before, but at early dawn my good Neengai came paddling across the river with various kind offerings for her daughter, Wa,sah,ge,wo,no,qua, which she thought might be pleasant or useful, and more last affec tionate words from Mrs. Schoolcraft. We then exchanged a long farewell embrace, and she turned away with tears, got into her little canoe, which could scarcely contain two persons, and handling her paddle with singular grace and dexterity, shot over the blue water, without venturing once to look back! I leaned over the side of our boat, and strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of the white spray of the rapids, and her little canoe skimming over the ex panse between, like a black dot: and this was the last I saw of my dear good Chippewa mamma!" 8 This amiable and interesting woman died a few years ago. CHAPTER XIV MARGARET FULLER'S SUMMER ON THE LAKES —1843 M "ARGARET FULLER, bom in 1810, was the eldest of eight children. "She derived her first teaching from her father, studied Latin at the age of six, and injured her health by over-application." 1 She began the study of Greek at thirteen. When her father died, "Margaret vowed that she would do her whole duty toward her brothers and sisters, and she faithfully kept the vow, teaching school in Boston and Providence, and afterward taking private pupils, for whom she was paid at the rate of two dollars an hour." She was an intimate friend of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Channing, "in the com pany of whom she was very brilliant, meeting them as equals." She conducted the philosophical magazine known as the Dial, translated works from the German, and served as literary critic for the New York Tribune, then under the management of Horace Greeley, in whose home she lived for a time. "While in New York she visited the prisons, penitentiaries, asylums, theatres, opera-houses, music halls, picture galleries, and lecture-rooms, writing about every thing in the Tribune, and doing much to move the level of thought on philanthropic, literary and artistic matters." When by unremitting labours she had saved enough money, she went to Europe, where she met the foremost people in every phase of life, and travelled, especially i Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, II, 561, from which the biographical sketch is taken. D. Appleton & Co., New York. 361 362 HISTORIC MACKINAC in Switzerland and Italy, establishing herself in Rome. There she married, in 1847, the Marquis Ossoli, "was a mother in 1848, and entered with zeal into the Italian straggle for independence in 1849. Her conduct during the siege of the city by the French was of the most heroic, disinterested, humane, and tender kind. Her service in the hospitals won the heartiest praise." On the capture of Rome, she escaped with her family, and later took pas sage for America on the merchant vessel Elizabeth. In a storm the vessel was wrecked off Fire Island, and all on board were lost. The lifeless body of the little son was cast on the beach, but neither mother nor father was heard of more. In the summer of 1843, three years before sailing for Europe, she visited the Great Lakes, and the little volume, Summer on the Lakes, is the pleasing memorial of these travels and reflections. "Late at night," she says,2 "we reached this Island, so famous for its beauty, and to which I proposed a visit of some length. It was the last week in August, when a large representation from the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes were here to receive their annual payments from the Ameri can government. As their habits make travelling easy and inexpensive to them, neither being obliged to wait for steamboats, or write to see whether hotels are full, they come hither by thousands, and those thousands in families, secure of accommodation on the beach, and food from the lake, to make a long holiday out of the occasion. There were near two thousand encamped on the Island already, and more arriving every day. 2 Pp. 169-176. SUMMER ON THE LAKES— 1843 363 "As our boat came in, the captain had some rockets let off. This greatly excited the Indians, and their yells and wild cries resounded along the shore. Except for the mo mentary flash of the rockets, it was perfectly dark, and my sensations as I walked with a stranger to a strange hotel, through the midst of these shrieking savages, and heard the pants and snorts of the departing steamer, which carried away all my companions, were somewhat of the dismal sort; though it was pleasant, too, in the way that everything strange is; everything that breaks in upon the routine that so easily incrusts us. "I had reason to expect a room to myself at the hotel, but found none, and was obliged to take up my rest in the common parlor and eating-room, a circumstance which insured my being an early riser. "With the first rosy streak, I was out among my Indian neighbors, whose lodges honey-combed the beautiful beach, that curved away in long, fair outline on either side the house. They were already on the alert, the children creep ing out from beneath the blanket door of the lodge; the women pounding corn in their rude mortars, the young men playing on their pipes. I had been much amused, when the strain proper to the Winnebago courting flute was played to me on another instrument, at any one fancying it a melody ; but now, when I heard the notes in their true tone and time, I thought it not unworthy comparison, in its graceful sequence, and the light flourish, at the close, with the sweetest bird-songs; and this, like the bird-song, is only practised to allure a mate. The Indian, become a citizen and a husband, no more thinks of playing the flute than one of the 'settled down' members of our society would 364 HISTORIC MACKINAC of choosing the 'purple light of love' as dye-stuff for a surtout. "Mackinac has been fully described by able pens, and I can only add my tribute to the exceeding beauty of the spot and its position. It is charming to be on an island so small that you can sail round it in an afternoon, yet large enough to admit of long secluded walks through its gentle groves. You can go round it in your boat ; or, on foot, you can tread its narrow beach, resting at times, beneath the lofty walls of stone, richly wooded, which rise from it in various architectural forms. In this stone, caves are con tinually forming, from the action of the atmosphere; one of these is quite deep, and with a fragment left at its mouth, wreathed with little creeping plants, that looks, as you sit within, like a ruined pillar. "The arched rock surprised me, much as I had heard of it, from the perfection of the arch. It is perfect, whether you look up through it from the lake, or down through it to the transparent waters. We both ascended and de scended, no very easy matter, the steep and crumbling path, and rested at the summit, beneath the trees, and at the foot, upon the cool mossy stones beside the lapping wave. Nature has carefully decorated all this architecture with shrubs that take root within the crevices, and small creep ing vines. These natural ruins may vie for beautiful effect with the remains of European grandeur, and have, beside, a charm as of a playful mood in nature. "The Sugar Loaf rock is a fragment of the same kind as the pine rock we saw in Illinois. It has the same air of a helmet, as seen from an eminence at the side, which you descend by a long and steep path. The rock itself may be ascended by the bold and agile. Half way up is a SUMMER ON THE LAKES— 1843 365 niche, to which those, who are neither, can climb by a lad der. A very handsome young officer and lady who were with us did so, and then, facing round, stood there side by side, looking in the niche, if not like saints or angels wrought by pious hands in stone, as romantically, if not as holily, worthy the gazer's eye. "The woods which adorn the central ridge of the Island are very full in foliage, and, in August, showed the tender green and pliant leaf of June elsewhere. They are rich in beautiful mosses and the wild raspberry. "From Fort Holmes, the old fort, we had the most commanding view of the lake and straits, opposite shores, and fair islets. Mackinac, itself, is best seen from the water. Its peculiar shape is supposed to have been the origin of its name, Michilimackinac, which means the Great Turtle. One person whom I saw, wished to establish another etymology, which he fancied to be more refined; but, I doubt not, this is the true one, both because the shape might suggest such a name, and that the existence of an island in this commanding position, which did so, would seem a significant fact to the Indians. For Henry gives the details of peculiar worship paid to the Great Turtle, and the oracles received from this extraordinary Apollo of the Indian Delphos. "It is crowned most picturesquely, by the white Fort, with its gay flag. From this, on one side, stretches the town. How pleasing a sight, after the raw, crude, staring assemblage of houses, everywhere else to be met in this country, an old French town, mellow in its coloring, and with the harmonious effect of a slow growth, which assimi lates, naturally, with objects round it. The people in its streets, Indian, French, half-breeds, and others, walked 366 HISTORIC MACKINAC with a leisure step, as of those who live a life of taste and inclination, rather than of the hard press of business, as in American towns elsewhere. "On the other side, along the fair, curving beach, below the white houses scattered on the declivity, clustered the Indian lodges, with their amber brown matting, so soft, and bright of hue, in the late afternoon sun. The first afternoon I was there, looking down from a near height, I felt that I never wished to see a more fascinating picture. It was an hour of the deepest serenity; bright blue and gold, rich shadows. Every moment the sunlight fell more mel low. The Indians were grouped and scattered among the lodges; the women preparing food, in the kettle or frying pan, over the many small fires; the children, half -naked, wild as little goblins, were playing both in and out of the water. Here and there lounged a young girl, with a baby at her back, whose bright eyes glanced, as if born into a world of courage and of joy, instead of ignominious servi tude and slow decay. Some girls were cutting wood, a little way from me, talking and laughing, in the low musical tone, so charming in the Indian women. Many bark canoes were upturned upon the beach, and, by that light, of almost the same amber as the lodges. Others, coming in, their square sails set, and with almost arrowy speed, though heavily laden with dusky forms, and all the apparatus of their household. Here and there a sail-boat glided by, with a different, but scarce less pleasing motion. "It was a scene of ideal loveliness, and these wild forms adorned it, as looking so at home in it. All seemed happy, and they were happy that day, for they had no fire-water to madden them, as it was Sunday, and the shops were shut. "From my window, at the boarding-house, my eye was SUMMER ON THE LAKES— 1843 367 constantly attracted by these picturesque groups. I was never tired of seeing the canoes come in, and the new arriv als set up their temporary dwellings. The women ran to set up the tentpoles, and spread the mats on the ground. The men brought the chests, kettles, &c. ; the mats were then laid on the outside, the cedar boughs strewed on the ground, the blanket hung up for a door, and all was completed in less than twenty minutes. Then they began to prepare the night meal, and to learn of their neighbors the news of the day. "The habit of preparing food out of doors gave all the gipsy charm and variety to their conduct. Continually I wanted Sir Walter Scott to have been there. If such ro mantic sketches were suggested to him, by the sight of a few gipsies, not a group near one of these fires but would have furnished him material for a separate canvas. I was so taken up with the spirit of the scene, that I could not follow out the stories suggested by these weather-beaten, sullen, but eloquent figures. "They talked a great deal, and with much variety of ges ture, so that I often had a good guess at the meaning of their discourse. I saw that, whatever the Indian may be among the whites, he is anything but taciturn with his own people. And he often would declaim, or narrate at length, as indeed it is obvious, that these tribes possess a great power that way, if only from the fables taken from their stores, by Mr. Schoolcraft. "I liked very much to walk or sit among them. With the women I held much communication by signs. They are almost invariably coarse and ugly, with the exception of their eyes, with a peculiarly awkward gait, and forms bent by burthens. This gait, so different from the steady and 368 HISTORIC MACKINAC noble step of the men, marks the inferior position they occupy. I had heard much contradiction of this. Mrs. Schoolcraft had maintained to a friend, that they were in fact as nearly on a par with their husbands as the white woman with hers. 'Although,' said she, 'on account of inevitable causes, the Indian woman is subjected to many hardships of a peculiar nature, yet her position, compared with that of the man, is higher and freer than that of the white woman.' Why will people look only on one side? They either exalt the Red man into a Demigod or degrade him into a beast. They say that he compels his wife to do all the drudgery, while he does nothing but hunt and amuse himself; forgetting that, upon his activity and power of endurance as a hunter, depends the support of his fam ily; that this is labor of the most fatiguing kind, and that it is absolutely necessary that he should keep his frame unbent by burdens and unworn by toil, that he may be able to obtain the means of subsistence. I have witnessed scenes of conjugal and parental love in the Indian's wigwam from which I have often, often thought the educated white man, proud of his superior civilization, might learn an useful lesson. When he returns from hunting, worn out with fa tigue, having tasted nothing since dawn, his wife, if she is a good wife, will take off his moccasins and replace them with dry ones, and will prepare his game for their repast, while his children will climb upon him, and he will caress them with all the tenderness of a woman; and in the evening the Indian wigwam is the scene of the purest domestic pleasures. The father will relate for the amuse ment of the wife, and for the instruction of the children, all the events of the day's hunt, while they will treasure MISSIONARY AND EXPLORER /'' !-\y .".'¦¦ ; " y'- l', '- '.Ml wHH W wKH