SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 341 



offered in sacrifice to the deceased, by those who danced 

 at the funeral. 



Our guides told us, that the mouth of the Terre Bleue 

 River was about six leagues to the south-east of this spot. 

 This is the principal tributary of the St. Peter, and is said 

 to furnish about two-thirds as much water as the main 

 branch of the river which retains the name of St. Peter. It 

 enters from the right bank, and rises in the " Coteau des 

 Prairies," a highland that stretches in a northerly direction 

 between the Missouri and the St. Peter, and of which we 

 shall have occasion to speak hereafter. By the Dacotas it 

 is called Mikito ^OsA Watapa, which signifies " the river 

 where blue earth is gathered." We never were nearer to 

 this river than at this place, and we regretted that circum- 

 stances prevented our visiting it in order to acquire some 

 knowledge of its character. We were unsuccessful in our 

 attempts to obtain some of the blue earth from the Indians, 

 an object which appeared to us of some importance, in or- 

 der to determine its composition by analysis. It is evi- 

 dent that this is the same thing that was worked by le Sueur 

 at the close of the 17th century, for a copper ore. From 

 its colour, we are inclined to consider it as more probably 

 a phosphate of iron ; but we have had no means of ascer- 

 taining its nature. Our guides informed us, that had we 

 proceeded in our canoes it would have required two days 

 to reach the mouth of the Blue Earth river, on account of 

 the great bend which the river makes at the Crescent, but 

 by the route which we pursued we avoided the bend. It 

 has been stated, that the locality of this blue earth, as well 

 as that of the red stone used for pipes, were considered as 

 neutral grounds, where the different nations of Indians 

 would meet and collect these substances without appre- 

 hension of being attacked ; but we have not heard this re- 



