34 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS 



have no occasion, and they get thereby the additional advantage 

 of having no clouds of dust blown up from the denuded surface. 

 There is (as we should say) a public square, or rather, an open 

 grassy spot, where councils and dances are held, and the cere- 

 monies of the wabeno and medicine society performed. Hil- 

 locks and elevated grounds are selected for erecting their lodges: 

 on ; and clumps of small trees and shrubs are sought. Large 

 trees are avoided, for the simple reason, that they often loose a 

 limb during windy weather, and are liable to be blown down by 

 tempests. But the whole circular opening, constituting a town 

 plat, is surrounded with forest, to shelter them, in summer and 

 winter. Gardens are variously located, and generally without 

 fences, as there are no domesticated cattle. Such, at least, was 

 the town of Oza Windib, situated nearly a mile from the spot of 

 our landing, to which he was welcomed, on his return, by groups 

 of men, women, and children. The total population, as coun- 

 ted during our stay, was 157, and it does not, probably, at any 

 time, exceed 200 or 250. They rely, in the main, on hunting 

 for a subsistence, deriving considerable aid, as the season shifts, 

 from fishing, the gathering of wild rice, and the products of 

 small fields of corn and potatoes, cultivated by the women. 

 We were assured that the corn crop was always relied on, and 

 that seed corn is preserved from year to year, and has not been 

 known to fail. About sixty miles northwest, at Red Lake, corn 

 is stated by the traders, to be a profitable crop, and it is among 

 the singularities of the fur trade, that this article has, within a 

 few of the last years, been furnished in considerable quantity, 

 from that lake, to the posts on the Upper Mississippi, and even 

 as far east as Fond du Lac. 



The hunting grounds of Yellow Head's band, embrace the 

 extreme sources of the Mississippi, and his village is the last fix- 

 ed location in the ascent. Part of them go to Lac Travers, 

 and encamp there, for the purpose of making the winter hunt. 

 And from this point, they ascend southerly, which carries them 

 still further into the red deer and stag and hind country of (the 



