430 APPENDIX. 



7. INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS, OR PICTURE WRITING, 

 LANGUAGES, AND HISTORY. 



XX. 



Pictograpliic Mode of Communicating Ideas among the Northwestern 

 Indians^ observed during the Exjjedition to the Sources of the Mis- 

 sissijojyi 'in 1820, in a Letter to the Secretary of War. By Hon. 

 Lewis Cass. 



Detroit, February 2, 1821. 



Sir: Au incident occurred upon my recent tour to the North- 

 west, so rare in itself, and which so clearly shows the facility with 

 which communications may be opened between savage nations, 

 without the intervention of letters, that I have thought it not im- 

 proper to communicate it to you. 



The Chippewas and Sioux are hereditary enemies, and Charle- 

 voix says they were at war when the French first reached the 

 Mississippi. I endeavored, when among them, to learn the cause 

 which first excited them to war, and the time when it commenced. 

 But they can give no rational account. An intelligent Chippewa 

 chief informed me that the disputed boundary between them was 

 a subject of little importance, and that the question respecting it 

 could be easily adjusted. He appeared to think that they fought 

 because their fathers fought before them. This war has been 

 waged with various success, and, in its prosecution, instances of 

 courage and self-devotion have occurred, within a few years, which 

 would not have disgraced the pages of Grecian or of Eoman his- 

 tory. Some years since, mutually weary of hostilities, the chiefs 

 of both nations met and agreed upon a truce. But the Sioux, 

 disregarding the solemn compact which they had formed, and 

 actuated by some sudden impulse, attacked the Chippewas, and 

 murdered a number of them. The old Chippewa chief who de- 

 scended the Mississippi with us was present upon this occasion, and 

 his life was saved by the intrepidity and generous self-devotion of 

 a Sioux chief. This man entreated, remonstrated, and threatened. 

 He urged his countrymen, by every motive, to abstain from any 

 violation of their faith, and, when he found his remonstrances 

 useless, he attached himself to this Chippewa chief, and avowed 



