APPENDIX. 645 



Chippewa, are indicated. And I refer you to it for several details 

 which arc omitted iu this report. 



The present state of the controversy between the Sioux and 

 the Chippewas will be best inferred from the facts that follow. 

 In stating them, I have deemed it essential to preserve the order 

 of my conferences with the Indians, and to confine myself, almost 

 wholly, to results. 



Along the borders of Lake Superior, comparatively little alarm 

 was felt from the hostile relation with the Sioux. But I found 

 them well informed of the state of the dif&culties, and the result 

 of the several war-parties that had been sent out the last year. 

 A sj'stem of information and advice is constantly kept up by run- 

 ners ; and there is no movement meditated on the Sioux borders, 

 which is not known and canvassed by the lake bands. 



They sent warriors to the scene of conflict last year, in conse- 

 quence of the murder committed by the Sioux on the St. Croix. 

 Their sufferings from hunger during the winter, and the existence 

 of disease at Torch Lake {Lac du Flambeau), and some other 

 places, together with the entire failure of the rice crop, had pro- 

 duced effects, which were depicted by them and by the traders in 

 striking colors. They made these sufferings the basis of frequent 

 and urgent requests for provisions. This theme was strenuously 

 dwelt upon. AYhatever other gifts they asked for, they never 

 omitted the gift of food. They made it their first, their second, 

 and their third request. 



At Chegoimegon, on Lake Superior (or La Pomte, emphatic- 

 ally so called), I held my first and stated council with the In- 

 dians. This is the ancient seat of the Chippewa power in this 

 quarter. It is a central and commanding point, with respect to 

 the country lying north, and west, and south of it. It appears 

 to be the focus from which, as radii from a centre, the ancient 

 population emigrated ; and the interior bands consequently look 

 back to it with something of the feelings of parental relation. 

 News from the frontiers flies back to it with a celerity which is 

 peculiar to the Indian mode of express. I found here, as I had 

 expected, the fullest and most recent information from the lines. 

 Mozojeed, the principal man at Ottowa Lake, had recently visited 

 them for the purpose of consultation ; but returned on the alarm 

 of an attack upon his village. 

 35 



