APPENDIX. 56S 



except the apparatus for managing the canoe. They were all 

 young men, and belonged to the vicinity of Ottowa Lake. Their 

 unexpected appearance at this place gave me the first information 

 that the war-party at Neenaba had been broken up. They re- 

 ported that some of their number had been near the mill, and that 

 they had discovered signs of the Sioux being out, in the moose 

 having been driven up, &c. In a short conference, I recited to 

 them the purpose of the council at Ottowa Lake, and referred 

 them to their chiefs for particulars, enjoining their acquiescence 

 in the proposed measures. 



I found at Eice Lake a band of Chippewas, most of them young 

 men, having a prompt and martial air, encamped in a very com- 

 pact form, and prepared at a moment's notice, for action. They 

 saluted our advance with a smartness and precision of firing that 

 would have done honor to drilled troops. Neenaba was absent 

 on a hunting-party ; but one of the elder men pointed out a suita- 

 ble place for my encampment, as I intended here to put new bot- 

 toms to my bark canoes. He arrived in the evening, and visited 

 my camp with forty-two men. This visit was one of ceremony 

 m.erely; as it was late, I deferred anything further until the fol- 

 lowing day. I remained at this place part of the 7th, the 8th, 

 and until 3 o'clock on the 9th of August. And the following facts 

 present the result of several conferences with this' distinguished 

 young man, whose influence is entirely of his own creation, and 

 whose endowments, personal and mental, had not been misrepre- 

 sented by the Indians on my route, who uniformly spoke of him 

 in favorable terms. He is located at the most advanced point 

 towards the Sioux borders, and, although not in the line of ancient 

 chiefs, upon him rests essentially the conduct of affairs in this 

 quarter. I therefore deemed it important to acquire his confi- 

 dence and secure his influence, and held frequent conversations 

 with him. His manner was frank and bold, equally free from 

 servility and repulsiveness. I drew his attention to several sub- 

 jects. I asked him whether the saw-mill on the lower part of the 

 Eed Cedar, was located on Chippewa lands? He said. Yes. 

 Whether it was built with the consent of the Chippewas ? He 

 said, No ; it had been built, as it were, by stealth. I asked him 

 if anything had been subsequently given them in acknowledg- 

 ment of their right to the soil ? He said, No ; that the only ac- 



