80 NARRATIVE, &c. 



of subsistence ; and may be considered as having paved the 

 way for further changes in the mode of living and dress. But 

 it brought with it the onorous evil of intemperance, and it left 

 the mental habits essentially unchanged. All that related to a 

 system of dances, sacrifices, and ceremonies, which stood in the 

 place of religion, still occupies that position, presenting a sub- 

 ject which is deemed the peculiar labor of evangelists and 

 teachers. Missionaries have been slow to avail themselves of 

 this field of labor, and it should not excite surprise, that the peo- 

 ple themselves are, to so great a degree, mentally the same in 

 1832, that they were on the arrival of the French in the St. 

 Lawrence in 1532. 



t: Unknown the measured joys of peaceful art, 

 " Love, hatred, pity, storm, by turns, the heart, 

 " And all the evils of the savage state, 

 "Arise from false conceits of being great." 



Partial exceptions in the acquisition of civil information, are 

 to be found ; and the incident 1 am about to relate, is the more 

 remarkable as connected with the history of a chief, who has 

 passed his life in so very unfrequented a part of the continent, 

 with only the advantages of occasional short visits to the posts 

 of St. Mary's, St. Peter's and Michilimackinac. Aish Kibug 

 Ekozh, or the Guelle Plat, is the ruler of the Pillager band, ex- 

 ercising the authority of both a civil and war chief. And he is 

 endowed with talents which certainly entitle him to this distinc- 

 tion. Complying with European customs, he directed his young 

 men to fire a salute on the morning of my arrival. Soon after 

 he sent one of his officials to invite me to breakfast. I accep- 

 ted the invitation. Bui not knowing how the meal could be 

 suitably got along with, without bread, I took the precaution to 

 send up a tin dish of pilot bread. I w T ent to his residence at 

 the proper time, accompanied by Mr. Johnston. I found him 

 living in a comfortable log building of two rooms, well floored, 

 and roofed, with a couple of small glass windows. A mat was 

 spread upon the centre of the floor, which contained the break- 



