258 APPENDIX. 



ADDENDA— 1. 



Office of Indian Agency, > 

 Sault Ste. Marie, February, 13, 1832. > 

 Elbert Herring, Esq., ) 



Office of Indian Affairs, Washington. ) 

 Sir, 

 Events growing out of the political condition of the Indian 

 tribes on the head-waters of the Mississippi, call for the contin- 

 ued interposition of the friendly influence of the government on 

 that remote part of our north-western frontier. It has been long 

 known that desperate and deep-rooted feuds continue to harass 

 the tribes whose local position brings them into frequent contact. 

 These contests operate to divert their attention from hunting, and 

 to abstract their minds from objects essential to their well-being. 

 They embarrass every effort to better their condition. They 

 repel the advance of teachers. They deaden the effect of counsel. 

 And by keeping the Indian mind in a state of perpetual alarm, 

 destroy its capacities of healthful action. Every year is giving 

 new proofs of the inveteracy of their hatred for each other, and 

 the deteriorating effects of cultivating, as they do, the passion 

 for warlike achievement. It is destructive to the industry of 

 jhe young, and paralyzing to the counsels of the old. 



The effect of the expedition ordered by the government last 

 year, into the country of the Chippewas, is believed to have been 

 efficacious in checking this spirit of predatory warfare, and im- 

 pressing upon their minds the true character of our government, 

 its benevolent intentions towards them, and its watchfulness, 

 power, and resources. It was not practicable, however, to go over 

 the whole area proposed to be visited, the effect of the expedi- 

 tion having been directed exclusively to the bands located south 

 of the latitude of St. Anthony's Falls. It is believed that a sim- 

 ilar mission to the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, living north 

 of that point in our geography, would result in effects equally 



