432 APPENDIX. 



tions he had received, and related the foregoing circumstances to 

 his tribe. They mourned their death; but, delighted with the 

 bravery of their friends, unexampled in modern times, they v/ere 

 happy in their grief. 



"This account I received of the very Indian who was of the 

 party and had escaped." 



The Sioux are much more numerous than the Chippewas, and 

 would have overpowered them long since had the operations of 

 the former been consentaneous. But they are divided into so 

 many different bands, and are scattered over such an extensive 

 country, that their efforts have no regular combination. 



Believing it equally consistent with humanity and sound po- 

 licy that these border contests shoidd not be suffered to continue; 

 satisfied that you would approve of any plan of pacification 

 which might be adopted, and feeling that the Indians have a full 

 portion of moral and physical evils, without adding to them the 

 calamities of a war which had no definite object, and no probable 

 termination ; on our arrival at Sandy Lake, I proposed to the 

 Chippewa chiefs that a deputation should accompany us to the 

 mouth of the St, Peter's, with a view to establish a permanent 

 peace between them and the Sioux. The Chippewas readily 

 acceded to this proposition, and ten of their principal men de- 

 scended the Mississippi with ns. 



The computed distance from Sandy Lake to the St. Peter's is 

 six hundred miles, and, as I have already had the honor to inform 

 you, a considerable proportion of the country has been the theatre 

 of hostile enterprises. The Mississippi here traverses the immense 

 plains which extend to the Missouri, and which present to the 

 eye a spectacle at once interesting and fatiguing. Scarcely the 

 slightest variation in the surface occurs, and they ai'e entirely 

 destitute of timber. In this debatable land, the game is very 

 abundant; buffaloes, elks, and deer range unharmed, and uncon- 

 scious of harm. The mutual hostilities of the Chippewas and 

 Sioux render it dangerous for either, unless in strong parties, to 

 visit this portion of the country. The consequence has been a 

 great increase of all the animals whose flesh is used for food, or 

 whose fur is valuable for market. We found herds of buffaloes 

 quietly feeding upon the plains. There is little difficulty in ap- 

 proaching sufficiently near to kill them. "With an eagerness 



