315 UXPEDITION TO 'IHE 



While at Prairie da Chien, we endeavoured to obtain 

 from Wennebea as much information as we could concern- 

 ing his nation ; and this, together with the notices collected 

 from him and Le Sellier during the journey, constitutes 

 the basis of the following account of the manners of the 

 Sauks. As they are evidently of Algonquin origin, and 

 therefore connected with the Potawatomis, we have only 

 retained such parts of the information as had not been 

 mentioned before, or in which a diflference was observed 

 between the two nations. 



The Sauks call themselves in their own language, S^a-ke- 

 w^e. They are a brave, warlike, and, as far as we 

 could learn, a generous people. The great reduction in 

 their numbers arose from their hostility to the French and 

 their allies, and also to the wars which they formerly 

 Waged against the Indians on the Missouri and Mississippi, 

 such as the Pawnees, the Omawhaws, the Sioux, the lowas, 

 &c. Owing to the rapid advance of the white population, 

 and the increasing influence of our government over them, 

 they are becoming more peaceable, and from this circum- 

 stance their numbers are probably on the increase. Their 

 historical recollections do not extend far back ; but they have 

 been told that about sixty years since, when the French 

 occupied the country, one of the Sauk chiefs by the name 

 of Me-ne-to-met, found himself surrounded with about sixty 

 of his nation by a party of French and Indians, belonging 

 to other tribes, amounting altogether to two thousand. 

 Menetomet then addressed his men, bidding them not to 

 fear, for he had been favoured with a vision from the Great 

 Spirit that informed him that if they all fought bravely, not 

 one of them should perish. Encouraged by this assertion, 

 they fought with such desperation as to break the ranks of 

 their assailants, and escape without the loss of a single man. 



