46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 77 
of this island was examined it was found to be strewn with in- 
numerable fragments of pottery, some fractured stones, and a few 
stone implements. The amount of pottery was greater than is often 
found on any site, in any part of the country, and it was quite evi- 
dent this island was once occupied by a large, permanent native set- 
tlement. Without doubt this was the site of the village to which 
Hennepin was taken in a bark canoe, “an island where their cabins 
were.” At present this is in Sec. 25, T. 42, R. 27, Mille Lacs County, 
Minnesota. 
No description of the ancient village has been preserved, but it 
undoubtedly resembled the settlements of other tribes living in the 
midst of the great forests. The structures were probably bark or 
mat covered, many of an oval form quite similar to those of the Ojib- 
way, who later occupied the near-by sites on the shores of Mille Lae. 
And lke the Ojibway, the Mdewakanton may have had more than 
one type of dwelling in the same village, or structures of different 
forms may have served different purposes. 
The shores of Mille Lac, one of the most beautiful sheets of water 
in Minnesota, abound in traces of the ancient settlements which 
stood generations or centuries ago. Near several of the sites are 
groups of a hundred or more burial mounds, all of which may be at- 
tributed to the Siouan tribes. One village, the site of which is marked 
by a large number of mounds, stood on the shore of the bay in the 
northwestern part of the lake, shown in the photograph reproduced 
in plate 20, a. 
The sacred or mysterious island, known as such to the Sioux and 
later to the Ojibway, is in the southern part of the lake, several miles 
from the south shore. It is a remarkable spot, one to be looked upon 
by the Indian as a place of mystery. So small that often it is not 
visible from the shore, it consists of a great quantity of blocks of 
granitic formation which are piled to a height of 20 feet or more upon 
a ledge which comes to within a foot or less of the surface of the 
lake. The island is about 250 feet in length from east to west, the 
width from north to south being about one-half the length. Some of 
the great blocks are 10 or 12 feet in length, 4 or 5 feet in thickness 
and width, and would weigh many tons. The ledge extends for a — 
distance of about 150 feet to the north and east of the island, covered 
by a foot or more of water. There is no soil on the island, no vegeta- 
tion, and its only occupants are numbers of gulls. A photograph of 
this most interesting spot, made by the writer May 20, 1900, is re- 
produced as plate 20, d. ‘ 
According to the stories of the old Ojibway who were still living 
on the shore of Mille Lac during the spring of 1900, the Mdewakan- 
ton were driven from that region about the middle of the eighteenth 
