SOLON ROBINSON, 1841 187 



fied that, finally, he should be able to make himself ample 

 amends. 



His bravado in regard to the falsehood about the reser- 

 vation, soon came to the ears of those he would make his 

 victims, and caused no little uneasiness in their minds. 

 Scott also wrote to Washington, and received for answer, 

 that there was no such Indian name known to the Depart- 

 ment, and the only one on the treaty which began with 

 "Sho," was that of "Sho-bon-nier, for two sections of land 

 at his village" — which, as it was upon a treaty for lands 

 entirely in the state of Illinois, could not be the one of 

 which he sought information. This greatly shook the 

 faith of Scott in the whole story. Not so with Indiana. 

 To her, "love lent his potent aid," and she declared her 

 firm belief that this mist would yet clear away. In the 

 mean time, however, the period fixed by Western for his 

 return had expired, and they heard no tidings from him, 

 and now an occasional cloud could be seen upon the brow 

 even of the gay and cheerful Indiana. 



In this "melancholy mood," I shall leave the actors of 

 this drama of real life, while I shift the scene to a distant 

 land and introduce new characters upon the stage. 



And now the writer cannot bring his tale to a close, 

 without speaking more of himself than is his wont to do, 

 because he becomes an actor himself, and if a shade of 

 egotism should discover itself, my readers must forgive 

 and forget, nor set down aught in malice. 



The purchase made by the United States at the treaty 

 of Tippecanoe, in October, 1832, embraces a vast extent 

 of country. The greater part of all that tract north of 

 the Wabash river, now composing more than twenty 

 populous counties in Indiana, together with a large body 

 of land north of the St. Joseph river in Michigan, and 

 also an untold quantity in the north-east part of the state 

 of Illinois, was included. Out of this the Indians made 

 some two hundred "reservations," of all sizes and shapes, 

 from a quarter section, to a whole township, to all man- 

 ner df jaw-breaking Indian names, located upon rivers, 



