213 EXPEDITION TO THE 



subject, which we are disposed to consider as altogether of 

 his own invention.* 



On the 17th of June our route was diversified by hills 

 and valleys. The Smoky mountain to the east, and Du- 

 buque's to the west, formed distinct objects of vision, while 

 the long ridge, covered with forests, which extended to 

 the left, indicated the course of the " Great river," as the 

 Mississippi has been emphatically called in the Algonquin 

 languages. 



A badger was this day discovered by the dogs in the 

 prairie, and after they had brought it to bay, the Indian 

 killed it with his tomahawk ; it was cooked for dinner, and 

 those who eat of it, found it very good. This was near a 

 small stream, called by the Indians Mi-k'^-be-'a, Sepe, or 

 Small-pox river ; it is the Riviere de la Fievre, which is 

 said to enter the Mississippi opposite to Dubuque's mines. 



On the morning of the ISth, the sun shone indistinctly 

 through a mist, which offered us the singular phenomenon 

 of a beautiful Iris without rain. We encamped that after- 

 noon at an early hour, on a small stream which is a tributary 

 of the Wisconsan and, as we supposed, at a distance of about 

 twelve miles from the place where we intended to cross 

 that river. 



The next morning, after a fatiguing ride over a rough 

 and hilly country, we reached the banks of the Wisconsan ; 

 as we could not ford it, we prepared a light raft, and sent 

 Bemis across to obtain boats at Fort Crawford, From the 

 account of our guides, we thought we were opposite to a 

 point in the river, known by the name of the Petit cap 

 au Gres, (little sand-stone bluff,) situated about six miles 

 above the confluence of the Wisconsan and Mississippi ; 



* Joannis de Laet, Americcc utrlusqTie Descriptio. Lugd. Bat, 

 J 633, lib. 5, cap. 27, or p. 273. 



