98 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



the island had been cultivated by the Lake of the Woods 

 Ojibway Indians for generations. 



My companion and the Iroquois, Pierre, both com- 

 plained that evening for the first time of being unwell. 



Our camp fire evidently soon attracted the attention of 

 a number of Indians, who were then living on a neigh- 

 bouring island about four miles from us, for at midnight 

 we were aroused by the sudden appearance at the door 

 of the tent of two of these people, and in half an hour 

 twenty or more had arrived. In the morning we an- 

 swered their inquiries, and were requested to visit their 

 chief, who remained with his tribe on the island already 

 referred to. Declining their invitation, as we were 

 anxious to hasten to the mouth of the Muskeg Eiver, 

 they told us they would send for their chief, who would 

 arrive as soon as t e wind fell. We made the necessary 

 preparations for a long council, and about noon the chiefs 

 son, who was one of the first arrivals on the evening 

 previous, announced that the canoes were coming. 



We counted thirteen canoes, and found that they con- 

 tained in all fifty-three men and boys, there being seven 

 of the latter ; the others were the chief and warriors of 

 the tribe. A portion of them had just returned from an 

 expedition against the Sioux, and were decorated or dis- 

 figured, according to taste, with whatever advantages 

 paint, feathers, and ornaments could confer. As the 

 object of their visit was to ascertain the reasons why we 

 wished to pass through this part of their country, a long 

 council or " talk " was the result of the visit. 



The council terminated by a distinct refusal, on the 

 part of the chief, to allow any of the tribe to guide us 

 through the swamps which separate the Lake of the 

 Woods from the prairie country to the west. The replies 

 and objections of the chief were often couched in very 



