78 EXPEDITION TO THE 



gii'lh. Having found a small patch of tame grass, (which 

 from its colour, is known here by the name of blue-grass,) 

 we attempted to stop and pasture our horses, but this we 

 found impossible on account of the immense swarms of 

 mosquitoes, (Culex,) and horseflies, ( Tahaimis,) which 

 tormented both horses and riders in a manner that ex- 

 cluded all possibility of rest. 



At a distance of about nine miles from Fort Wayne, wc 

 observed a large ash which had been blown down, the tree 

 had been divided in two, in part of its length; a small trough 

 had been excavated in it, in which an Indian child had been 

 deposited, the upper segment of the tree had been replac- 

 ed to cover the corpse, and the whole secured by a neat 

 little frame. This rude grave had been torn open, doubtless 

 by some white man, to rob it of the trifles with which the 

 tenderness of an Indian parent supplies its offspring when 

 about to travel to the land of spirits ; the deceased must 

 have been an infant, for the trough was not more than 

 twelve inches long. We were informed that among the 

 Potawatomis, this is a frequent, though not an universal 

 mode of disposing of their dead. These solid cofiins or 

 rude sarcophages are often suspended in trees. 



We arrived at Fort Wayne at an early hour in the after- 

 noon of the 26th of May. The distance from Wheeling 

 to Columbus is one hundred and forty miles, which we 

 travelled in six days, that from Columbus to Fort Wayne 

 amounts to one hundred and fifty-eight miles, which were 

 performed in the same time, making an average of twenty- 

 five miles per day. 



