228 FAIR OCCURRENCES AT CHICAGO. 



ally loquacious, and their chief delight consisted in venting 

 low shouts, resembling something between the mewing of a 

 cat and the barking of a dog. I observed a powerful Indian, 

 stupified with spirits, attempting to gain admittance to a shop, 

 vociferating in a noisy manner; as soon as he reached the 

 highest step, a white man gave him a push, and he fell with 

 violence on his back in a pool of mud. He repeated his at 

 tempt five or six times in my sight, and was uniformly thrown 

 back in the same manner. Male and female Indians were 

 looking on and enjoying the sufferings of their countryman. 

 The inhuman wretch who thus tortured the poor Indian, was 

 the vender of the poison which had deprived him of his senses- 



Besides the assemblage of Indians, there seemed to be a 

 general fair at Chicago. Large waggons drawn by six or 

 eight oxen, and heavily laden with merchandise, were arriving 

 from, and departing to, distant parts of the country. There 

 was also a kind of horse-market, and 1 had much conversation 

 with a dealer from the State of New York, having serious 

 intentions of purchasing a horse to carry me to the banks of 

 the Mississippi, if one could have been got suitable for the jour 

 ney. The dealers attempted to palm colts on me for aged 

 horses, and seemed versed in all the trickery which is practised 

 by their profession in Britain. 



A person showed me a model of a thrashing-machine and a 

 churn, for which he was taking orders, and said he furnished 

 the former at 830, or L.6, 10s. sterling. There were a num 

 ber of French descendants, who are engaged in the fur-trade, 

 met in Chicago, for the purpose of settling accounts with the 

 Indians. They were dressed in broadcloths and boots, and 

 boarded in the hotels. They are a swarthy scowling race, 

 evidently tinged with Indian blood, speaking the French and 

 English languages fluently, and much addicted to swearing 

 and whisky. 



The hotel at which our party was set down, was so dis 

 agreeably crowded, that the landlord could not positively 

 promise beds, although he would do every thing in his power 

 to accommodate us. The house was dirty in the extreme, and 

 confusion reigned throughout, which the extraordinary cir 

 cumstances of the village went far to extenuate. I contrived, 



