SKETCH OF HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. 117 



of which, there was a wide field for honorable exertion, and, if it 

 was embraced, also of historical inquiry and research. The taste 

 for natural history might certainly be transferred to that point, 

 where the opportunity for discovery was the greatest." The posi- 

 tion afforded him excellent opportunities for studying the Chip- 

 pewa language and Indian mythology and superstition, character- 

 istics, and customs, of which he made the best use. He deter- 

 mined to be a laborer in the new field of Indian studies. His 

 diary during the whole term of his office shows him leading a 

 busy and varied life. We find in it notes on his subjects of 

 study, of his readings on various general topics, observations 

 on the natural features of the region, remarks on mineralogical 

 specimens, and incidents of official work. 



Mr. Schoolcraft spent the winter of 1824- J 25, on leave of ab- 

 sence, in New York, where he superintended the printing of his 

 Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley. " So- 

 ciety " was much interested in Mrs. Schoolcraft, the Northern 

 Pocahontas," a lady of aristocratic Irish descent on one side, and 

 tracing her ancestors on the other side to the royal house of the 

 Chippewas, who was withal, having been educated abroad, highly 

 accomplished and refined in her manners. She was the daughter 

 of Mr. John Johnston, of Sault Ste. Marie, who had married the 

 daughter of Wabojeeg, a distinguished Chippewa chieftain. In 

 1825 he attended a convocation of the Indian tribes at Prairie du 

 Chien, where a treaty was signed, through which it was hoped 

 internal disputes between the tribes might be settled by fixing the 

 boundaries to their respective territories. In the next year he at- 

 tended a similar gathering of the Chippewa tribes at Fond du Lac, 

 where the principles of the treaty of Prairie du Chien were reaf- 

 firmed, and a new treaty was made, under which the Indians ac- 

 knowledged the sovereign authority of the United States ; ceded the 

 right to explore and take away the native copper and copper ores, 

 and to work the mines and minerals in the country ; and provision 

 was made for the education of the Indians and their advancement 

 in the arts. The system of Indian boundaries established by these 

 treaties was completed by the treaty of Butte des Morts, August, 

 1827. The three treaties embodied a new course and policy for 

 keeping the tribes in peace, and were founded " on the most en- 

 larged consideration of the aboriginal right of fee simple to the 

 soil." In 1827 he was elected a member of the Legislative Council 

 of the newly organized Territory of Michigan — an office which was 

 not solicited, and was not declined. As a member of this body 

 during four sessions, he directed his attention to the incorporation 

 of a historical society ; to the preparation of a system of township 

 names derived from the aboriginal languages ; and to some efforts 

 for bettering the condition of the natives. 



