38 



leaning together and covered over with grey moss, the smallest 

 twelve or fifteen feet in diameter. Under these two holes or 

 ovens are seen. One rock, a portion of the wall, is split off to 

 a distance of some eight feet and is called the "leaping rock." 

 Being perfectly polished it is a feat of great daring on the part 

 of the young braves to have gained a footing on it, and many 

 lives have been lost in the attempt. The face of the wall is cov- 

 ered by totems and emblems hundreds in number, of those who 

 have visited the sacred spot. It is by digging four or five feet 

 through the soil and loose slaty layers of the prairie surface 

 that the celebrated red pipestone is reached. Here then for ages 

 have been all the elements to make a most holy shrine for the 

 superstitious redmen. For centuries this spot was neutral 

 ground. Here all the Indians met, and before entering in the 

 quarry buried their weapons of war. Amid the terrible cruelties 

 of Indian warfare here was at least one place of sanctuary. The 

 legend of the Sioux, who live nearest the spot is : Many ages 

 ago the Great Spirit invited the tribes to meet him at the "Red 

 Pipe." He stood on the top of the rocks, and the people were as 

 sembled before him ; he took out of the rocks a piece of the red 

 stone, and made a large pipe ; he smoked it over them all ; told 

 them it was part of their flesh ; that though they were at war 

 they must meet at this place as friends ; that the stone belonged 

 to them all ; that they must make calumets from it and smoke 

 them to him ; the Spirit then disappeared in the clouds at the 

 last whiff of his pipe a blaze of fire rolled over the rocks and 

 melted their surface ; and two Indian women were carried un- 

 der the "medicine rocks" where they still remain and must be 

 propitiated by those who wish to take any of the pipestone 

 away." Longfellow in the opening canto of Hiawatha has close 

 ly followed Catlin's account of the traditions : 



" Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, 



Came the warriors of the nations, 

 Came the Delawares and Mohawks. 



Came the Choctaws and Comanches. 



Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet. 

 " Came the Pawnees and Omawhaws," 

 " Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, 



Came the Hurons and Ojibways. 



All the warriors drawn together 



By the signal of the Peace-pipe, 



To the mountains of the prairie. 



To the great Red-Pipestone Quarry." 



Following now the Souris in its last crossing over the In- 

 ternational boundary the point is reached where, coming from 

 the east, the exploring party in September last arrived, ten 

 miles north of the line. Here is met 



