154 NAERATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



is 44° 52' 46" * The atmosphere is represented as serene and 

 transparent during the summer and spring seasons, and free from 

 the humidity which is so objectionable a trait of our eastern lati- 

 tudes. The mean temperature is 45°.t Its geology and mine- 

 ralogy will be noticed in my official reports. It will be sufficient 

 here to say that the stratification, at and below St. Anthony's 

 Falls, consists wholly of formations of sandstones and limestones, 

 horizontally deposited, whose relative positions and ages are 

 chiefly inferable from the evidences of organic life, in the shape 

 of petrifactions, which they embrace. The lowest of this series 

 of rocks is a white sandstone, consisting of transparent, loosely- 

 cohering grains, special allusion to which is made by Carver, in 

 his travels in 1766, and which may be received as testimony, were 

 there no other, that this too much discredited author had actually 

 visited this region. 



I have mentioned the interest excited by our Chippewas find- 

 ing the bark letter, or pictographic memorial at the deserted 

 Sioux encampment above Sac Eiver. It turned out, as we were 

 informed, that this Aboriginal missive was a reply to a similar 

 proposition transmitted from Sandy Lake, by the Chippewas. 

 The very person, indeed, who inscribed the Chippewa bark mes- 

 sage, was one of the ten persons who had accompanied us from 

 that lake. Gov. Cass, on learning this fact, requested him to draw 

 a duplicate of it on a roll of bark. He executed this task im- 

 mediately. We thus had before us the proposition in this sym- 

 bolic character, which is called he ke win by the Chippewas, and 

 its answer. By this mode of communication two nations of the 

 most diverse language found no difficulty in understanding each 

 other.:}: 



On the second day after our arrival, the Indians consummated 

 their intentions, as signified by the bark letter, and the Sandy- 

 Lake delegation assembled with the Sioux at the old quarters of 

 the military, now occupied as an Indian agency, and smoked the 

 pipe of peace. There were present at this pacification, besides 

 the chiefs Shacopee and Babasikundiba, and minor chieftains, 

 His Excellency Gov. Cass, Col. Leavenworth, and sundry officers 



* Ex. Doc, No. 237. | Army Register. 



X Vide Appendix, for a letter from Gen. Cass to the Secretary of War on this 

 curious topic. 



