Remarks on Indian Sum^ners. 9 



so well known, that when the land is brought into market, the sec- 

 tions covering them are sought for with avidity by land speculators. 



Here they plant their corn, and a few other vegetables, the 

 squaws performing all the labor, while the men spend most of their 

 time in fishing. They rarely hunt, during the summer months, till 

 ducks and geese begin to abound and to be in good condition, which 

 is from the latter part of August to the first of November, during 

 which time they kill great numbers of them in the waters contigu- 

 ous to their villages. 



Thus they live from about May to November, collected together 

 by hundreds — sometimes even hundreds of families. 



After gathering their corn and wild rice, if in a rice country, dry- 

 ing their fish, and packing in small sacks provisions for a long march ; 

 they prepare for what they call their winter's hunt. That is, they 

 entirely desert their villages, and disperse in small bands to every 

 part of the country, diving into the darkest forests, and ascending 

 the various streams to the remotest parts of their territory, where 

 they pass the winter in hunting and trapping animals, whose skins 

 are valuable, and the flesh of which serves them for food. 



Thus much to come at the origin of the name, " Indian summer." 

 If you ask an Indian in the fall when he is going to his hunting 

 ground, he will tell you, when our fall summer comes, or when the 

 Great spirit sends us our fall summer — meaning the time in Novem- 

 ber which we call Indian summer. And they actually believe that 

 the Great spirit sends this mild season in November, after the cold 

 fall rains, for their special benefit. Thus you see, the poor untu- 

 tored Indian has faith in the goodness of the great " I am." May 

 it not be counted to him for righteousness ? 



We agree with the writer of the article as to the usual time of the 

 appearance of Indian summer. It is, in all latitudes in which we 

 have served, (from Fort Brady, outlet of Lake Superior, to Jeffer- 

 son Barracks, Missouri,) sometime in November, or not far from 

 that time. We leave it to others to explain the cause or causes of 

 our autumnal rains. We mean that succession of storms and rains, 

 commencing with what is commonly called the equinox, about the 

 last week in September, and ending, usually about the middle of 

 October, a little time after which, Indian summer commences. We 

 cannot subscribe to the assertion, that the south winds prevail during 

 Indian summer. So far as our experience goes, and we have kept a 

 diary of the weather for more than sixteen years, the prevailing 



Vol. XXX.— No. 1. 2 



