48 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION'. 



arrival of the canoes, respecting which there was some delay. It 

 was the 2'ith of May before we were ready to embark. Besides 

 the gentlemen mentioned as constituting the travelling p&^rty, ten 

 Canadian voyageurs were taken to manage the canoes, ten United 

 States soldiers to serve as an escort, and ten Ottowa, Chippewa, 

 and Shawnee Indians to act as hunters, under the directions of 

 James Biley, an Anglo-American, and Joseph Parks, a Shawnee 

 captive (at present, head chief of the Shawnee nation), as inter- 

 preters. This canoe contained a chief called Kewaygooshkum, a 

 sedate and respectable man, who, a year afterwards, played an im- 

 portant part at the treaty of Chicago. 



The grand point of departure and leave-taking, was at Grose 

 Point, at the foot of Lake St. Clair, a spot nine miles distant. For 

 this point, horses and carriages, with the numerous friends of 

 Gov. Cass, pushed forward at an early hour ; and there was as 

 much enthusiasm manifested, by aU classes, as if a new world was 

 about to be discovered. I had a strong wish to witness the mode 

 of canoe travelling, and, declining an opportunity to join the caval- 

 cade by laad, took my seat beside Major Forsyth in the Governor's 

 canoe. The Canadians immediately struck up one of their ani- 

 mating canoe songs, the military escort at the same moment dis- 

 played its flag and left the shore, and the auxiliary Indians, fired 

 with the animation of the scene, handled their paddles briskly, 

 and shot their canoe rapidly by us. A boat-race was the con- 

 sequence. The Indians at first kept their advantage, but the 

 firmer and more enduring nerves of the Canadians soon began 

 to tell on our speed, and as we finally passed them, the Indians 

 gracefully yielded the contest. We were two hours in going to 

 Grose Point, with the wind slightly ahead. 



The banks of the Eiver Detroit present continuous settlements, 

 in which the appearance of large old orchards and windmills, 

 among farm-houses and smooth cultivated fields, reminds the 

 visitor that the country has been long settled. And he will not 

 be long in observing, by the peculiarity of architecture, dress, 

 manners, and language, that the basis of the population is French. 

 We found our land party had preceded us, and as the winds were 

 adverse, we encamped in linen tents along the open shore. The 

 next day the wind increased, blowing quite a gale down the Lake. 

 I busied myself by making some meteorological and geological 



