NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 65 



river, find after having pitclied our camp, we were visited by a 

 band of Chippewa Indians, with friendly salutations. It appeared 

 that the arrival of the expedition had been anticipated by them, 

 they having themselves constructed and furnished the canoes for 

 it, and behig well acquainted with the official position, at Detroit, 

 of the leader of our party. The principal Chief, the Black Eagle, 

 addressed a speech to Governor Cass, in which he appropriately 

 recognized these relations, welcomed him to his village, and re- 

 commended the condition of his people to his notice. The 

 calumet was then smoked in the usual style of Indian ceremony, 

 the pipe-bearer beginning with persons of first rank, and handing 

 it in the supposed order of grade, to the lowest member of the 

 ofiicial family. The ceremony was ended by shaking of hands. 

 All this was done with the ease and dignity of an oriental sheikh. 

 ^Ye had anticipated savages, and savage manners, and armed our- 

 selves to the teeth, pushing a point with an army oflicial at 

 Detroit, until we were each provided with a short rilie. But this 

 first formal council with the sons of the forest, began to open 

 our eyes to the true character of the Indian manners and diplo- 

 macy, in their intercourse with government officials. 



The chiefs, after their departure, sent to our encampment a 

 present of fresh sturgeon, a species which is caught abundantly 

 in the aux. Sables at this time, for which returns were made of 

 such articles as were most acceptable to them. Being out of 

 the Bay, we employed the following day making advances along 

 the Huron coast, an estimated distance of forty-eight miles. In 

 this distance, we passed Thunder Bay. Encamped on a low, calca- 

 reous shore, bearing cedar and spruce, which the Indians call 

 Sho-shedco-naAv-be-ko-king, or Flat Rock Point. A few miles 

 after leaving River aux Sables, the Highlands of Sables present 

 themselves at a short distance back from the shore. This ridge, 

 which is a landmark for mariners, runs from southeast to north- 

 west, and is visible as far as Thunder Bay. The limestone, which 

 is dark and of an earthy fracture, is very much broken up on the 

 shore, and contains various species of organic remains. On cross- 

 ing the Bay, we landed on an island covered with debris, where 

 we observed one of those imitative, water- worn, primitive boulders, 

 resembling altars, which are frequently set up by the Indians as 

 the places of depositing some offering, or out of mere respect for 

 some local god. 



