SOITRCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 397 



probably no white man could have resisted, their conduct 

 was generally blamed ; and two of them having died a 

 short time afterwards, their death was supposed to have been 

 brought on by this food. The third still lives; she is re- 

 garded with horrour by the rest of the nation, who also 

 consider her present state of corpulence as produced by 

 that fatal food ; they state it, as their opinion, that she will 

 die choked with the fat of the man of whom she ate. 



We have heard some cases of cannibalism related of 

 them by their neighbours, but none appeared so well sub- 

 stantiated as to be entitled to belief, especially as the opi- 

 nion which we have adopted, is supported by the uniform 

 testimony of all the travellers who have visited them, from 

 Hennepin to the present day.* 



The treatment of their prisoners, by the Dacotas, has ge- 

 nerally been considered as kind ; and we find that even as far 

 back as the visit of that traveller, they deserved that cha- 

 racter. Hennepin, who certainly was much addicted to ex- 

 aggeration, and who might have been alarmed at innocent 

 gestures, the intention of which he might mistake, has 

 given such an account of the treatment which he receivec^ 



*It appears that Tommo, (the Dacota who guided Major Long's 

 party from Prairie da Cliien,) told Mr. Colhoun that he had eaten of 

 a Chippewa, called Hahatong; he spoke of it without any repug- 

 nance, pointed to his breast, saying that he had found that part 

 to be the most delicate. This appears to be a solitary instance, 

 and we only mention it because we wish to avoid the charge of 

 concealing any fact that may affect our general position, that the 

 Dacotas do not imitate their neighbours in this gratification of a de- 

 praved appetite. Otherwise, we should have taken no notice of the 

 fact, as the only interpreter at that time was George Wade, a youth 

 whose qualifications in that capacity, both as to the knowledge of the 

 language and integrity, we strongly suspect. 



