NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 149 



rock formations rising througli the prairies, winch liad attracted 

 my notice from the river, I found them to consist of sienite, 

 which was almost exclusively made up of a trinary compound* 

 of white quartz, hornblende, and feldspar — the two former 

 species predominating. The feldspar exhibited its splendent black 

 crystals in fine relief in the massy quartz. This formation ex- 

 tended a mile or more. What excited marked attention, in sur- 

 veying these rocks, was their smoothly rubbed surfaces, which 

 seemed as if they must have been produced by equally hard and 

 heavy masses of rock, driven over them from the north. I re- 

 gistered this locality, in my Geological Journal, as the Peace Rock, 

 in allusion to the purport of the Indian mission, evidences of 

 which were found at the opposite encampment.* 



During our night's encampment at this spot Ave heard the howl- 

 ing of a pack of wolves, on the opposite bank — a sure indication, 

 hunters say, that there are deer, or objects of prey in the vicinity. 

 There are two species of wolves on the plains of the Mississippi — 

 the canis lupus, and the animal called coyote by the Spanish. 

 The latter is smaller, of' a dingy yellow color, and bears the 

 generic name of prairie wolf. I have also seen a black wolf on 

 the prairies of Missouri and Arkansas, three feet nine inches long, 

 with coarse, bristly, bear-like hair. As daylight approached, our 

 ears were saluted with the hollow cry of the strix nictea, a species 

 which is asserted to be found, sometimes, as far south as the Falls 

 of St. Anthony. 



On embarking, at an early hour, we found the humidity of the 

 night atmosphere to be such, that articles left exposed to it were 

 completely saturated. Yet, the temperature stood at 50° at half- 

 past four o'clock, the moment of our embarkation. On descend- 

 ing six miles we passed the mouth of the Osakis, or Sac River, a 



* In the treaty of Indian boundaries of Prairie du Chien, of 1825, this mission 

 of the Sioux became a point of reference by the Sioux chiefs Wabishaw, Petite Cor- 

 beau, and Wanita, as denoting the limit of their excursions north. The Chippewas, 

 on the contrary, by the mouths of Babasekundabi, Kadawabeda, and the Broken 

 Ai"m of Sandy Lake, contended for Sac River as the line. I discussed this subject, 

 having Indian maps, at length, -with the chiefs and Mr. Taliaferro, the Sioux agent, 

 of St. Peter's. An intermediate stream, the W^atab River, was eventually fixed on, 

 as the separating boundary between these two warlike tribes. — Indian Treaties; 

 Washington, D. C. 1837. Vol. i. 8vo. p. 370. 



