94 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Chippewa Tillage at the mouth of the Ontonagon — Organize an expedition to ex- 

 plore its mineralogy — Incidents of the trip — Rough nature of the country — 

 Reach the copper rock — Misadventure — Kill a bear — Discoveries of copper — 

 General remarks on the mineral aflBuence of the basin of Lake Superior. 



A SMALL Chippewa village, under tlie chieftainsliip of TsliAvee- 

 tshweesli-ke-wa, or the Plover, and Kundekund, the Net Buoy, 

 was found on the west bank of the river, near its mouth, the chiefs 

 and warriors of which received us in the most friendly man- 

 ner. If not originally a people of a serene and placid tempera- 

 ment, they have been so long in habits of intercourse with the 

 white race that they are quite familiar with their manners and 

 customs, and mode of doing business. They appeared to regard the 

 Canadian-Frenchmen of our party as if they were of their own 

 mode of thinking, and, indeed, almost identical with themselves. 



The Ontonagon Eiver had, from the outset, formed an object 

 of examination, from the early and continued reports of copper 

 on its borders. It was determined to lose no time in examining 

 it. Guides were furnished to conduct a party up the river to 

 the locality of the large mass of this metal, known from early 

 daj^s. This being one of the peculiar duties of my appointment, 

 I felt the deepest interest in its success, and took with me the 

 apparatus I had brought for cutting the rock and securing prober 

 specimens. 



The party consisted of Governor Cass, Dr. Wolcott, Captain 

 Douglass, Lieutenant Mackay, J. D. Doty, Esq., and myself. "We 

 embarked in two canoes, with their complement of men and 

 guides. It was six o'clock, when, leaving the balance of the ex- 

 pedition encamped at the mouth of the river, east shore, we took 



